Lessons from their lives – Talk 27
Paul (Part 1). Acts 26:19
Welcome to Talk 27 in our series, Lessons from their lives. Today our subject is Paul. We’ll be concentrating on Acts 26:19 where Paul is on trial before Agrippa and declares, I was not disobedient to the vision from heaven.
We’ll be spending more than one talk on Paul and so today we’ll begin with the vision he received on the road to Damascus which is recorded for us initially in Acts 9 and then again in Paul’s own words in Acts 26.
If possible, it would be good to read this chapter before listening any further to this podcast. If that’s not possible, it would at least be helpful to have your bible open there, as I won’t be taking time to read through the whole chapter.
We’re starting in Acts 22 where we see that:
Paul was a highly privileged young man.
He was a Roman citizen
born free – Acts 22:25, 28
He had had a good education
Acts 22:3
Under Gamaliel I was thoroughly trained in the law of our fathers and was just as zealous for God as any of you are today.
He knew the right people
Acts 22:5
As also the high priest and all the council can testify. I even obtained letters from them to their brothers in Damascus, and went there to bring these people as prisoners to Jerusalem to be punished.
But in chapter 26 he explains the reason for the dramatic change in his life and declares I was not disobedient to the vision from heaven.
Today I want to talk about this vision and relate it to our lives, because without vision there is no real direction.
The Source of the Vision
The vision was from heaven.
26:19 I was not disobedient to the vision from heaven.
Compare v.13
About noon, O king, as I was on the road, I saw a light from heaven, brighter than the sun, blazing around me and my companions.
We all need vision in our lives. But not just any vision. It’s not true that any dream will do (Joseph and the technicolour dreamcoat). The vision must come from heaven – not yourself, not other people. God’s purpose for your life is best. It’s brighter than the sun. Better than the best.
The Purpose of the Vision
To turn him from his own way and turn him to Christ
- I heard a voice saying to me in Aramaic, Saul,Saul, why do you persecute me? It is hard for you to kick against the goads
To reveal God’s purpose for his life
- Now get up and stand on your feet. I have appeared to you to appoint you as a servant and as a witness of what you have seen of me and what I will show you.
To reveal something of God’s overall purpose for mankind
- To open their eyes and turn them from darkness to light, and from the power of Satan to God, so that they may receive forgiveness of sins and a place among those who are sanctified by faith in me.
To prepare him for future difficulties
Acts 9:15-16
But the Lord said to Ananias, ‘Go! This man is my chosen instrument to carry my name before the Gentiles and their kings and before the people of Israel. I will show him how much he must suffer for my name’.
The Nature of the Vision
Beyond the natural
V.13. About noon, O king, as I was on the road, I saw a light from heaven, brighter than the sun, blazing around me and my companions.
Christ centred
V.15. Then I asked, ‘Who are you, Lord?’ ‘I am Jesus whom you are persecuting’, the Lord replied.
Scriptural
Vv.22-23 …but I have had God’s help to this very day, and so I stand here and testify to small and great alike. I am saying nothing beyond what the prophets and Moses said would happen, that the Christ would suffer and, as the first to rise from the dead, would proclaim light to his own people and to the Gentiles.
Cf. Isaiah 8:20 …to the law and to the testimony! If they do not speak according to this word they have no light of dawn.
Reasonable
- ‘I am not insane, most excellent Festus’, Paul replied. ‘What I am saying is true and reasonable’.
Cf. V. 8. Why should any of you consider it incredible that God raises the dead?
Sustained him through trial
Paul had been arrested in Acts 21 and in 24:27 he had been in prison for two years. Cf. 2 Corinthians 11:23-33; 12:1-9.
Promised further revelation
- Now get up and stand on your feet. I have appeared to you to appoint you as a servant and as a witness of what you have seen of me and what I will show you.
Response to the vision
Paul’s. I was not disobedient … This implies that he could have been.
Ours
We all need vision to have purpose in life
Heaven has a vision for all of us and God’s plans are best
It does not depend on our worthiness (Cf. Paul)
It does not depend on our age Acts 2:17 – young… old
Surrender to Christ. Ask him to show you. Romans 12:1-2.