“Acts 26:19-32”

Monday, February 22, 2016

“‘So, King Agrippa, I did not prove disobedient to the heavenly vision, but kept declaring both to those of Damascus first, and also at Jerusalem and then throughout all the region of Judea, and even to the Gentiles, that they should repent and turn to God, performing deeds appropriate to repentance. For this reason some Jews seized me in the temple and tried to put me to death. So, having obtained help from God, I stand to this day testifying both to small and great, stating nothing but what the Prophets and Moses said was going to take place; that the Christ was to suffer, and that by reason of His resurrection from the dead He would be the first to proclaim light both to the Jewish people and to the Gentiles.’ While Paul was saying this in his defense, Festus said in a loud voice, ‘Paul, you are out of your mind! Your great learning is driving you mad.’ But Paul said, ‘I am not out of my mind, most excellent Festus, but I utter words of sober truth. For the king knows about these matters, and I speak to him also with confidence, since I am persuaded that none of these things escape his notice; for this has not been done in a corner. King Agrippa, do you believe the Prophets? I know that you do.’ Agrippa replied to Paul, ‘In a short time you will persuade me to become a Christian.’ And Paul said, ‘I would wish to God, that whether in a short or long time, not only you, but also all who hear me this day, might become such as I am, except for these chains.’ The king stood up and the governor and Bernice, and those who were sitting with them, and when they had gone aside, they began talking to one another, saying, ‘This man is not doing anything worthy of death or imprisonment.’ And Agrippa said to Festus, ‘This man might have been set free if he had not appealed to Caesar.’”

---End of Scripture verses---

After Paul had been blinded by the light of the truth of Jesus Christ, he turned the course of his life completely in the opposite direction. He chose to obey the commands of Jesus (verse 19) and he went about teaching everyone he met to, “repent and turn to God, performing deeds appropriate to repentance” (verse 20).

Repentance is an often misunderstood biblical concept and command from God. I believe that most people are convinced that if they truly believe in Jesus and accept Him as their Savior that they will be eternally saved from their sins. Some people who even admit that baptism is necessary for salvation (which it most definitely is), still come short of understanding that more is involved in true conversion than even belief and immersion. Paul shows us in verse 20 that God commands authentic, profound change to take place in the heart of a believer. That’s where repentance comes into play in God’s plan of salvation.

Repentance is a mental process and any genuine conversion requires a person’s mind to be affected by the Gospel’s power to convict of wrongdoing (Acts 2:37; Hebrews 4:12). The Greek word for repent is “metanoeo” and Vine’s Expository Dictionary of Bible Words defines the word “repent” in the following way: “To perceive afterwards (meta, ‘after,’ implying ‘change,’ noeo, ‘to perceive;’ nous, ‘the mind, the seat of moral reflection’), in contrast to pronoeo, ‘to perceive beforehand,’ hence signifies ‘to change one's mind or purpose,’ always, in the NT, involving a change for the better, an amendment, and always, except in Luke 17:3-Luke 17:4, of ‘repentance from sin.’”

A person can believe in Jesus with all their heart, but unless the word of God has “pierced their heart” (Acts 2:37), or convicted their minds of the problem of sin, they will never do what is necessary to be and stay saved. Once that “seed of change” has been internally planted, it must produce external fruit (Matthew 3:8; Luke 3:8). Once the mind is changed about sin, that’s when the “deeds appropriate to repentance” must take place. Belief and mental conviction get our minds going in the right direction, but our actions must follow suit.

I believe the reason that King Agrippa was only “almost persuaded” to become a Christian (verse 28) was that he wasn’t ready to make the changes necessary to “produce fruit in keeping with repentance”. I will give him credit for his honesty. He believed in Jesus and he knew that belief was not enough for him to become a Christian. He was even convicted mentally that things were not right in his life, but he knew that internal conviction wasn’t enough to make him right in the sight of God either. He knew, because Paul had told him clearly, that he had to change his mind about sin and perform deeds appropriate to repentance, and he was just not ready to do that. He was a person of great power, prestige and prosperity, and I’m certain that he liked his life very much just the way that it was.

Change can be very hard. Most people don’t like it very much. But if you truly want to be a Christian and please God and have a home in heaven, you simply must think and act differently than you did before you found about Jesus. Making godly changes in your life is not always easy, but it is always worth it when you consider just how much is at stake and for how long. Repentance and the righteous deeds that follow are critical and ongoing components necessary for salvation of the soul.

Read the words of the haunting old church hymn, “Almost
Persuaded”:
1 “Almost persuaded,” now to believe;
“Almost persuaded,” Christ to receive;
Seems now some soul to say,
“Go, Spirit, go Thy way,
Some more convenient day
On Thee I’ll call.”

2 “Almost persuaded,” come, come today;
“Almost persuaded,” turn not away;
Jesus invites you here,
Angels are ling’ring near,
Prayers rise from hearts so dear,
O wand’rer, come.

3 “Almost persuaded,” harvest is past!
“Almost persuaded,” doom comes at last!
“Almost” cannot avail;
“Almost” is but to fail!
Sad, sad, that bitter wail,
“Almost,” but lost.

Please read Acts 27:1-20 for tomorrow.

Have a great day!

-Louie Taylor

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