Acts 26:1-32

Acts 26

St. Paul's Defence before Agrippa.

Observe:

I. What is the central truth of the Christian system. It is a very suggestive fact that Festus had got hold of the kernel of the whole subject, as we see in his conversation with Agrippa, when he said, "Against whom when the accusers stood up, they brought none accusation of such things as I supposed: but had certain questions against him of their own superstition, and of one Jesus, which was dead, whom Paul affirmed to be alive." Now, this can be accounted for only on the supposition that Paul had given special prominence to the resurrection of Christ. It was, and is in fact, the very keystone of the arch, and everything else depends on it.

II. What is the normal type of the Christian man. It is a man of faith. Paul's faith had a peculiar influence. He was not one of those who seek to divorce religion from life. Nay, rather, his religion was his life, and his life was his religion. The two things interpenetrated each other. Religion was the very atmosphere in which he lived and moved and had his being; and his faith regulated even the minutest details of his conduct. To be a Christian is to have faith in the living personal Saviour, Jesus Christ, and to have that faith itself a living thing pervading the conduct.

III. Observe the gate of entrance into the Christian life. This is illustrated both in Paul and in Agrippa. St. Paul was not disobedient to the heavenly vision. But now look at Agrippa. In Paul's appeal a heavenly vision had been given to him also. He is urged to accept Jesus and His salvation; but he is disobedient, and resists the appeal, either with disdain or with a twinge of conscience which makes him feel that he is doing violence to his better nature. No man becomes a Christian against his will; it is by willing to be so that he becomes a Christian, and it is over this willing that the whole battle of conversion has to be fought. The if he willis the Thermopylæ of the whole conflict, the narrow and intense hinge on which the whole matter turns the gate into the Christian life.

IV. Observe, finally, that short of this gate of entrance, no matter whether we be near or far from it, there is no salvation. "Almost saved," if it be no more, is in the end altogether lost, and that in the most melancholy circumstances.

W. M. Taylor, Paul the Missionary,p. 425.

References: Acts 26 W. M. Taylor, The Gospel Miracles,p. 61; J. Natt, Posthumous Sermons,p. 371; Three Hundred Outlines on the New Testament,p. 1.20; R. L. Browne, Sussex Sermons,p. 127; Sermons for Boys and Girls,p. 200; Spurgeon, Sermons,vol. iv., No. 202; vol. xxx., No. 1774; vol. xv., No. 871; C. J. Vaughan, The Church of the First Days,vol. iii., p. 321; Parker, City Temple,vol. iii., p. 217; A. Maclaren, Sermons Preached in Manchester,1863, p. 180; A. Brookfield, Sermons,p. 168; R. W. Dale, Discourses on Special Occasions,p. 179. Acts 27:1. T. Gasquoine, Christian World Pulpit,vol. iii., p. 401.Acts 27:1. Homiletic Magazine,vol. viii., p. 60. Acts 27:6. A. M. Brown, Christian World Pulpit,vol. xiv., p. 184.Acts 27:13; Acts 27:14. J. M. Neale, Sermons in a Religious House,2nd series, vol. ii., p. 485.Acts 27:15. T. Gasquoine, Christian World Pulpit,vol. iv., p. 27. Acts 27:20. Spurgeon, Sermons,vol. xviii., No. 1070; R. D. B. Rawnsley, Village Sermons,p. 71.Acts 27:21. G. E. L. Cotton, Sermons and Addresses in Marlborough College,p. 28. Acts 27:22. J. O. Davies, Christian World Pulpit,vol. xxxi., p. 560.