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Acts 26:16-23  PAULS CALL TO THE MINISTRY

Introduction:

	In a hearing before Festus, the new governor of Judea, the Apostle Paul 
had appealed his case to be heard before the Roman Caesar.  Had he not done so, 
he would have been sent back to Jerusalem to be tried before the Jewish 
Sanhedrin Counsel.  But Paul knew that the Jews never intended to try his case.  
What they intended was that if Paul was sent back to Jerusalem, they would 
ambush him and kill him before he ever got to Jerusalem.  So Paul had appealed 
his case to the Caesar.  
	While Festus was waiting for a ship to arrive at Caesarea on which he 
could send Paul to Rome, King Agrippa from a neighboring Roman province arrived 
with his sister, Bernice, and desired to hear Paul.  So Paul was brought in 
chains before governor Festus, King Agrippa and Bernice, and before a large 
gathering of big shots from the city of Caesarea.
	King Agrippa gave Paul and opportunity to speak in his own defense.  
Although King Agrippa was of Gentile blood line, he was a member of the Jewish 
religion and was familiar with the writings of the Jewish prophets of old.  
Therefore Paul’s first line of defense was to show that the things he preached 
about Jesus was in keeping with Old Testament scriptures.  The prophets of old 
had foretold the coming of the Christ, who would be put to death and who would 
then be raised from the dead.  Therefore, it was in keeping with the teaching of 
the Jewish religion for him to preach that Jesus is the Christ, the Savior of 
men.  
	Paul’s second line of defense was that he, himself, had earlier been a 
fierce persecutor of the followers of Jesus who were saying that Jesus had been 
risen from the dead and that it had taken overwhelming evidence to convince him 
that he was wrong and that Jesus is the promised Christ.  But after being struck 
down by a light from heaven and after seeing a man in heaven and hearing that 
man ask, “Saul, Saul, why persecutest thou me?” and after hearing that man say, 
“I am Jesus whom thou persecutest” Paul was overwhelmingly convinced that Jesus 
had arisen from the dead and that Jesus is, indeed the Christ of God.  
	So up to the point of our text Paul was explaining why he had ceased be a 
persecutor of Christians and had become a Christian himself.  But in our text 
today Paul goes beyond explaining to Agrippa why he had become a Christian.  He 
explains why he had devoted his life full time to the preaching ministry trying 
to persuade others to become Christians.  
	Paul wanted to especially explain to Agrippa why he had he had gone to the 
Gentiles to seek to persuade Gentiles that they could go to heaven by trusting 
Jesus to save them from their sin.  This was one of the things that the Jews 
were especially angry at him about.  They were not only angry at him for 
preaching that Jesus is the Christ, the Savior of men.  But they were especially 
angry at him for preaching that Gentiles could be saved and have their sins 
forgiven and go to heaven by calling on Jesus and trusting Him to be their 
Savior.  The Jews firmly believed that the only way that Gentiles could go to 
heaven was by renouncing their idol gods, joining the Jewish religion and coming 
under the law of Moses.  This was what King Agrippa had done.  He, himself, had 
been persuaded by the Jews that this was the only way that he could go to heaven 
and he had believed them.  He had renounced his idol gods and had joined the 
Jewish religion.  He had been circumcised and had come under the law of Moses 
thinking that this was the way he could go to heaven.  
	So Paul is explaining to this former Gentile why he was going among the 
Gentiles preaching that they could go to heaven by placing their faith in Jesus 
Christ.  The answer is that he is doing this because Jesus, Himself, told him to 
do so.  Right after Paul had been struck to the ground by the light from heaven 
and right after Jesus had identified Himself to Paul as Jesus, Jesus told Paul 
that He wanted Paul to preach.  

I.  Paul’s call to preach the gospel of Jesus Christ

	V. 16, “But rise, and stand upon thy feet...”  Since it had been the power 
of the light from heaven which had knocked Paul to his feet, I suspect that he 
did not dare to rise to his feet until he was given permission to do so.  But 
Jesus did more than to give him permission to stand.  He was instructed to 
stand.  He should stand and give attention to what Jesus is about to say to him.  
He is to stand and give attention as a servant would stand and give attention 
when his master speaks and gives him instructions what to do..  He was to stand 
and give attention as a soldier stands and gives attention when his superior 
officer speaks and gives him orders.  He was to stand and to be ready to carry 
out the orders of Jesus Christ, the Son of God.  
	(V. 16), “...for I have appeared unto thee for this purpose, to make thee 
a minister and a witness both of these things which thou hast seen, and of those 
things in the which I will appear unto thee.”  Note that Jesus said, “...I have 
appeared unto thee...”  This means that Jesus had been visible to Paul.  Paul 
could see Jesus alive and well in heaven.  Paul could see that Jesus had, 
indeed, risen from the grave as the disciples had said that He did.  
	But Jesus told Paul that He had appeared to him for a purpose and Jesus 
tells Paul what that purpose is.  Jesus had appeared to Paul for the purpose of 
calling him to the ministry.  Jesus said, “...to make thee a minister...”  The 
Greek word which here is translated “minister” means “one who is a personal 
attendant or assistant to another.”  In scripture it is used to refer to a 
person in a Jewish synagogue who is an assistant to the ruler of the synagogue.  
In secular writings it was used to speak of the oarsmen in a boat who would pull 
the oar only at the command of the steersman.  It took many oarsmen to maneuver 
a heavy boat through the waters.  In order to get the boat to move at the 
particular speed which the steersman wanted and to go to the particular place 
which the steersman wanted they all had to pull their oars only at the command 
of the steersman.  The oarsmen were called ministers to the steersman.  So it 
was that Jesus had called Paul to be His minister --- to go where Jesus wanted 
him to go and to speak the things that Jesus wanted him to speak.  
	Jesus told Paul that He wanted Paul to be His minister and to be a witness 
concerning the things which he had seen and heard.  Paul had not been a witness 
to the life and ministry of Jesus here on earth as the other apostles had been.  
He had not witnessed the miracles nor sat at the feet of Jesus as He taught.  He 
had not seen Jesus as He made numerous appearances to His disciples after His 
crucifixion and resurrection.  But He had appeared to Paul there on the Damascus 
road and he had heard Jesus speak from heaven identifying Himself as Jesus whom 
Paul had persecuted.  Paul was to be a witness of these things to others.  He 
was instructed by Jesus to tell others that he had seen and heard Jesus.  
Further more Jesus said that He would make other appearances to Paul in the 
future and Paul should tell others about those appearances. So Paul was going to 
be able to say to people, “I have personally seen Jesus after His crucifixion 
and I can personally testify that Jesus has arisen from the grave.”

II.  A promise from Jesus to provide deliverance to Paul 

	Jesus, of course, knew that when Paul would testify on His behalf, telling 
them that Jesus is the Christ, that He is the Savior of men and that whosoever 
would call upon Him for salvation would be saved and would go to heaven that 
Paul would have the enemies of Jesus to rise up against him.  The enemies of 
Jesus would become the enemies of Paul.  But Jesus promised Paul that He would 
deliver him.  V. 17, “Delivering thee from the people...”   Jesus said that He 
would deliver Paul from “the people.”  By this expression Jesus was talking 
about Paul’s own people, the Jews.  The Jewish people --- in the main --- would 
remain enemies of Jesus and now that Paul had become a believer in Jesus and an 
ardent promoter of the gospel of Jesus, they would be enemies of Paul.  
	But the Jews would hate Paul for another reason.  They would not only hate 
him and seek to kill him because he had become a follower of Jesus, but they 
would hate him even more because Paul preached to the Gentiles and told them 
that they could get to heaven some way other than by becoming members of the 
Jewish faith and by the keeping of the Law of Moses.  This describes the way 
that the great majority of the Jews would feel toward Paul.  The majority of 
them would reject the gospel and the majority would seek to persecute Paul.  
	Yet the Jews were not the only ones who would become the bitter enemies of 
Paul. (V. 17), “...and [from] the Gentiles, unto whom now I send thee...”  Large 
numbers of the Gentiles, the people to whom Paul would chiefly minister, would 
reject the gospel of Jesus and would despise Paul for preaching to them.  Paul 
would tell them to turn from the idol gods which they worshipped and to place 
their faith in Jesus Christ, the Son of God, to save them from their sin.  
Likewise he would admonish them to turn from their gross immorality which they 
loved and to live morally clean lives.  Like the unbelieving Jews, they would 
hate Paul for telling them the truth and they would seek to kill him.  But Jesus 
promised to deliver Paul from both the Jews and the Gentiles who would seek his 
life.  
	So by preaching the gospel of Jesus Christ, the Apostle Paul would make 
enemies among both Jews and Gentiles.  Some would believe his message and get 
saved, but a great majority would reject his message and seek to harm him and 
even seek to kill him.  But God had promised to protect Paul from both Jew and 
Gentile.  It would be Paul’s responsibility to be faithful to preach the gospel 
of Jesus and to teach the truths of God in spite of the dangers that he would 
face as a result.  It would also be the responsibility of Paul to trust Jesus to 
keep the promise that He had made to protect him from his enemies.  It would 
then be the responsibility of the Lord Jesus Christ to keep His promise to Paul 
and to protect him from the enemies who sought to kill him.  

III.  A promise from Jesus that He would bless the preaching of Paul

	V. 18, “To open their eyes, [and] to turn [them] from darkness to light, 
and [from] the power of Satan unto God, that they may receive forgiveness of 
sins...” In this verse Paul speaks first about the Gentiles being in spiritual 
blindness.  But Jesus promised to bless the preaching of His word by the Apostle 
Paul.  God promised that through the preaching of Paul the spiritual eyes of 
Gentile people would be opened and that many of them would receive the truth and 
be saved.  Through the preaching of the gospel truth men, women, boys and girls, 
who had been under the power of Satan would turn away from Satan and turn to the 
power of God.  People who had been shackled by the chains of sin would receive 
the forgiveness of sin.  This forgiveness would not come by becoming proselyte 
Jews and coming under the Law of Moses.  It would not come by turning over a new 
leaf and promising to do better.  It would not come by walking a church aisle 
and taking the preacher by the hand.  It would not come by being baptized and 
joining the church.  It would not come by stopping one’s bad habits and doing 
good deeds.  It would come only by trusting in the shed blood of Jesus Christ.  
John the Baptist had introduced Jesus to the nation of Israel as The Lamb of God 
Who Takes Away The Sin of The World.  Jesus was slain.  His blood was shed.  He 
was the Sacrificial Lamb.  It is by faith and trust in Jesus and in His shed 
blood that the sins of the guilty sinner are all forgiven.  I John 1:7 says that 
it is through the blood of Jesus Christ, the Son of God, that all of the sins of 
a guilty sinner are forgive.  
	Jesus promised the Apostle Paul that through his ministry to the Gentiles, 
that saved Gentiles would have an inheritance in God’s spiritual kingdom right 
along with saved Jews.  (V. 18), “...and inheritance among them which are 
sanctified by faith that is in me.”  The word, faith, as it is used in this 
verse, does not refer to saving faith, but rather to the doctrinal faith.  That 
is, because the Apostle Paul was preaching a plan of salvation which was in 
harmony with the doctrinal truth of God, then people would be saved under his 
preaching and would receive a spiritual inheritance in the kingdom of God.  God 
would bless his ministry, not for Paul’s sake, but for truth’s sake.  

IV.  Paul’s faithfulness to his calling

	V. 19, “Whereupon, O king Agrippa, I was not disobedient unto the heavenly 
vision.”  Paul had been hard to convince that Jesus is really the Christ.  But 
once he was convinced he was thoroughly convinced.  Once he had seen the Christ 
in heaven and had been told by Jesus, Himself, that He is the Christ, Paul 
believed it.  He never turned back from that truth as long as he lived.  
	Furthermore, once Jesus informed him that he was to go and preach the 
gospel message, Paul was faithful to do the work that Jesus had called him to 
do.  V. 20, “But shewed first unto them of Damascus, and at Jerusalem, and 
throughout all the coasts of Judaea, and [then] to the Gentiles, that they 
should repent and turn to God, and do works meet for repentance.”  After Jesus 
called Paul to preach Paul did not have but two options open to him.  He could 
either be disobedient to Jesus or else he could preach as Jesus had called him 
to do.  Paul obeyed the call of the Lord.  He surrendered to the call to the 
ministry.  Those are the only two options open to any man whom the Lord has 
called to preach.  
	Before I move on to the other verses in our text, let me say just a few 
words about the call to the ministry.  I am often asked, “How do you know if the 
Lord has called you to preach?”  Let me try to answer that question in a very 
few words.  If the Lord has called you to preach, you can never be happy without 
surrendering to that call.  If you can be happy without surrendering to the 
call, then that is a pretty good indication that the Lord has not called you to 
preach.  But if you just cannot be happy without preaching, then that is a 
pretty good indication that the Lord has called you and the sooner you surrender 
to the call the sooner you will be happy.   
	V. 21, “For these causes the Jews caught me in the temple, and went about 
to kill [me].”  The point that Paul was making to King Agrippa in this verse is 
that he had not been accused by the Jews at Jerusalem because of any wrong doing 
on his part.  He had not deserted the old time Jewish faith.  He had been 
faithful to it.  All that he preached was in perfect harmony with Old Testament 
teachings.  The things that he had preached about Jesus were not in 
contradiction to the teachings of the Old Testament.  Rather, they were in 
fulfillment to the prophecies of the Old Testament.  He had not in any way 
profaned the temple of God at Jerusalem nor had he attempted to do so.  Not one 
witness had ever testified against him in any of the court hearings.  
	The reason the Jews hated Paul and brought false charges against him was 
because he preached the truth about Jesus Christ.  What he preached was in 
harmony with the Old Testament and King Agrippa knew this to be true.  But the 
majority of the Jews who had a part in having Jesus crucified refused to believe 
the truth and they hated Paul because what he preached pointed out the 
wickedness of their deeds.  
	V. 22-23, “Having therefore obtained help of God, I continue unto this 
day, witnessing both to small and great, saying none other things than those 
which the prophets and Moses did say should come:  That Christ should suffer, 
[and] that he should be the first that should rise from the dead, and should 
shew light unto the people, and to the Gentiles.”
 
VI.  Special needs today

	Just as the Gentiles of Paul’s day were in spiritual darkness even so the 
great majority of people today, both Jew and Gentile, are living in spiritual 
darkness.  They need the light of the blessed gospel of Jesus Christ to shine 
unto them.  They need the true gospel message.  There is a lot of religion in 
the world today, but most religions do not teach that salvation comes by 
repenting of one’s sin and trusting in the Lord Jesus Christ for forgiveness of 
sin.  There is the possibility that there is someone in this service who has 
never been saved and who is still in the darkness of sin headed downward into 
the everlasting fires of hell.  There is the probability that each of us have 
brothers or sisters, aunts or uncles, mothers or daddy, sons or daughters who 
are lost in sin and in need of the spiritual light of the gospel of Jesus 
Christ.  
	Just as the Lord called the Apostle  Paul to preach the gospel in that 
day, even so the Lord Jesus Christ still calls men to preach the gospel in our 
day.  There is the likelihood that somewhere in our own East Texas area that the 
Lord will impress it on the heart of some man or boy that the Lord wants him to 
be a preacher and that he should surrender to that calling.  It could be that He 
is calling someone in this service or that He is calling someone in the family 
of someone in this service.  Let us pray that whoever God is calling will 
surrender to that call.