141 Acts 26:31-32 King Agrippas Opinion of Paul Given To Governor Festus Introduction: In our previous text Paul’s hearing before King Agrippa came to a sudden ending. It ended with Agrippa saying, “Paul, almost thou persuadest me to be a Christian” and Paul saying back to him, “I wish that you were not just almost, but altogether persuaded to be like me, except these bonds” (referring to the chains on his arms and legs). With this King Agrippa had arisen and left the court room and Governor Festus and all of the others followed after them. Thus the meeting ended without any kind of decision or even any kind of opinion concerning Paul. In our text today we hear King Agrippa give his opinion concerning Paul to Governor Festus. I. The setting of this text For quiet some time the Apostle Paul had been a prisoner of the Roman government. He had been rescued by Roman soldiers from an angry Jewish mob. The Roman centurion who was in charge had suspected that the mob was beating him because he had committed some terrible crime, but he was unable to find out what Paul was thought to have done. Even after he carried Paul before the Jewish Sanhedrin Council he was unable to learn of any specific crime of which they thought that Paul had done. The Jewish leaders did accuse him of being a trouble maker and falsely accuse him of polluting the Jewish temple, but failed to produce any witnesses to prove his guilt of polluting the temple or of causing any other trouble. . When the centurion learned that the Jews plotted to murder his prisoner, he sent Paul to Caesarea to Governor Felix. Jewish leaders traveled to Caesarea and before the Governor again accused him of polluting the temple. They also accused him of teaching contrary to the Jewish religion. What they really meant by that but did not say so was that Paul taught that Jesus had been raised from the dead and that He is the Christ whom the prophets of old had promised. Felix concluded that Paul was not guilty of any crime, but kept Paul prisoner anyway. He did so for two reasons. For one thing, he kept hoping that Paul would offer him a bribe to gain his freedom. He wanted bribe money before he would set him free. For another thing, he saw that it pleased the Jewish leaders for him to keep Paul in prison. For two years he kept Paul a prisoner even after he was convinced that Paul was not guilty of any crime. After about two years Felix was removed from his office by the Roman Caesar and was replaced as Governor of Judea by Festus. Governor Festus called for the Jewish leaders to come from Jerusalem to Caesarea to present to him their charges against Paul.. In this hearing Festus also concluded that Paul had not committed any crime. He concluded that the only complaints which the Jewish leaders had against Paul involved some kind of religious differences of opinion regarding the Jewish religion. Festus, being a Gentile, did not regard himself knowledgeable in matters pertaining to the Jewish religion and so he asked Paul if he would be willing to go back to Jerusalem and be tried before the Jewish Sanhedrin Council instead of before a Roman court. The reason he gave Paul a choice in the matter was because Paul was a Roman citizen and Roman law gave him the privilege of choice. Paul knew that if he should choose to go back to Jerusalem for trial that the Jews planned to kill him before he ever reached Jerusalem. So Paul’s only option was to choose to go to Rome to be tried by the Roman Caesar. This was just exactly where Paul had wanted to go even long before he was arrested. Even back while he was in Macedonia at the city of Corinth Paul had written to the church at Rome and expressed his desire and his plans to go to Rome to visit with them. He told the brethren in the church at Rome that he must first go to Jerusalem to carry a special offering which was being raised by the Macedonian churches for the aid of the Christians at Jerusalem who were suffering because of a great drought. Paul had long been praying that God would open up the door so that he could go to Rome. So it pleased him well that he was going to Rome even though he was going as a prisoner of the Roman government. While Paul waited at Caesarea for transportation to be arranged to Rome, King Agrippa and his sister, Bernice, had arrived to visit with the new Governor Festus. While they were in Caesarea, Festus told Agrippa about Paul hoping that King Agrippa could help him to word a letter which he could send along with Paul to the Caesar. Upon the mention of Paul, King Agrippa expressed a desire to see and talk with Paul. So Paul was brought in for a hearing before Governor Festus, before King Agrippa and before a large gathering of city big shots. In that hearing Paul was given opportunity to speak. He declared to them all that he was not preaching and teaching some strange new religion which was in opposition to the Jewish religion, but that the things he preached and taught about Jesus was perfectly in keeping with the teachings of the Old Testament Jewish prophets. He pointed out that the prophets of old had prophesied that the Christ would be rejected, that He would be crucified and that He would be resurrected from the grave. He pointed out that the rejection and crucifixion of Jesus by the Jewish leaders was in keeping with Old Testament prophecies and that the resurrection of Jesus was, likewise, in keeping with the teachings of the Old Testament prophets. He further explained that the reason he had stopped persecuting Christians and had started preaching the gospel to both Jews and Gentiles is that he had seen and talked to Jesus and that Jesus had commanded him to be a witness for Him --- especially to the Gentiles. Paul’s speech was ended abruptly when Festus interrupted Paul loudly declaring that Paul was insane. He thought that Paul had become mad (insane) by his much learning. But Paul spoke up again and, in effect, said that if Festus thought him to be insane then he must also think King Agrippa to be insane because King Agrippa also believed the Old Testament prophets concerning the coming of Christ. Paul even turned to King Agrippa right there before everybody and called upon Agrippa to acknowledge that he believed the promises which the prophets had made concerning the coming of Christ. King Agrippa did not directly say, “Yes, Paul, I believe the prophets of old,” but what he did say acknowledged that he believed them. He said, “Almost thou persuadest me to be a Christian.” Paul then appealed to Agrippa and to Festus and to each one present to be altogether persuaded to be a Christian. II. The end results of Paul’s hearing before Festus and Agrippa With that the entire hearing ended abruptly. King Agrippa stood up without saying a word and walked out of the room. The entire group followed after him. His sister, Bernice, walked silently behind him. Festus did likewise and the entire group of people present did likewise. They all silently walked out of the assembly hall and left Paul, still in chains, still standing there between his guards. There is no doubt that he was quickly returned to his cell. V. 31, “And when they were gone aside, they talked between themselves, saying, This man doeth nothing worthy of death or of bonds.” This verse contains a remark that was made by King Agrippa to Governor Festus. It is a rather brief remark, but it reveals a great deal to us. First of all it reveals that neither one of these two men were at this time persuaded to become altogether persuaded to be a Christian. Agrippa was almost persuaded as he had said to Paul. But it seems evident that if he had altogether been persuaded he would have said so. I might add, that there is no evidence in Scripture that to indicate that he ever became a Christian. What a great opportunity he missed! As Festus, there is no indication that Festus came anywhere near being persuaded to be a Christian. He had thought that Paul was insane because Paul believed that Jesus had arisen from the dead after being crucified. He found that just too hard to believe. He had been further convinced that Paul was insane when Paul said that Jesus had appeared to him and spoken with him. He may have mellowed somewhat in his opinion of Paul when King Agrippa expressed that he believed that such things as this could really happen. He may have mellowed to the point that he thought it possible for a man to believe such things without being insane, but there is no evidence that he was ever persuaded to believe in his own mind that such things were possible. V. 32, “Then said Agrippa unto Festus, This man might have been set at liberty, if he had not appealed unto Caesar.” This statement by Agrippa indicates that if had Paul not already appealed his case to Caesar that he would recommend to Festus that Festus release Paul. There seems little doubt that Festus would been receptive to that suggestion from this neighboring king. He, himself, was already persuaded that Paul had done nothing worthy of bonds. Now Agrippa expresses that same conclusion. He would not likely want to reject the advice of Agrippa after asking Agrippa for his advice. Of course Agrippa was not suggesting to Festus that he should release Paul now. Paul had already appealed his case to Caesar and that settled that matter. Paul must be sent to Rome. But if Paul had not already appealed his case to Caesar, Agrippa would suggest that Paul be released. It would appear to both these men that Paul had made a big mistake by asking that his case be heard by the Caesar. Now let me point out to you that as far as Paul was concerned, it was not at all a mistake. In the first place, had he not appealed his case to Caesar he would have been sent back to Jerusalem for trial before the Sanhedrin Council and he already knew that the leaders of the Sanhedrin Council planned to asassinate him before he ever appeared before the court. So there was no regrets on Paul’s part that he had requested to go to Rome for his case to be heard before the Caesar. Furthermore, this was working out much to Paul’s his advantage because Rome was the very place that he had been wanting to go. He had been planning to go to Rome. He had been praying that he would get to carry out his plans. He had been praying that he would get to go to Rome. So now he would not only get to go to Rome, but he would go there at the expense of the Roman government. Furthermore, he would go to Rome with Roman guards to protect him from the many enemies who were out there just waiting for an opportunity to kill him. No, Paul was not at all downhearted and dejected that he was still a prisoner. He was not disappointed that he was going to Rome. To the contrary. He must have been elated. He must have been exceedingly happy to be going to Rome. There was another good result of this hearing. It meant that Governor Festus now had the kind of information which he could use in writing a letter to the Roman Caesar to send by the soldiers who would carry Paul to Rome. He could not just send a prisoner to Rome without telling the Caesar something about what he was accused of doing and what he, himself, knew about the case. It most certainly would not have done Paul any good for him to write a letter to Caesar and say, “I do not know that crime this man has done, but I think that he is mad. I think he is insane and therefore should be kept in prison.” That kind of letter would likely have prompted the Caesar to continued to keep Paul in prison lest he be a threat to the community. But now Festus could write a letter to the Caesar that would read something like this: “It is the opinion of both myself and King Agrippa that this man has done nothing worthy of death nor worthy of being kept in prison. After a hearing before King Agrippa and myself I would have released him and set him free had he not have already appealed his case to you. It is the recommendation of both King Agrippa and myself that he be released.” What ever the wording of the letter from Governor Festus actually turned out to be, it must have been much more in the favor of Paul than it would have been without this hearing before King Agrippa. III. How this relates to our own lives Just as the Apostle Paul had a desire to go to Rome, even so we have a desire to go to heaven. I do and I feel sure that you do. I know for sure that I do not want to go to hell like the rich man did in Luke chapter 16. He had just about everything his heart could desire as far as earthly possessions were concerned, but he apparently had very little desire to go to heaven. At least he did not have enough desire to go to heaven to make the necessary preparation to go there. He died unprepared to meet God and he went out into a place where he was tormented in flame. He went out into a place of torment from which he could never escape. He went out into a place where surely would not want anybody else to come. He especially did not want his own fleshly brothers to go there. I feel confident that he would not want either Festus or King Agrippa to go there. King Agrippa apparently gave some serious thought about where he was going to spend eternity, but apparently he did not care enough about where he was going to make the necessary preparations. He had a great opportunity to repent of his sins and call upon Jesus and trust Jesus to save his soul, but apparently he did not do so. One thing for certain is that today he would give anything in the world for another opportunity to call on Jesus and ask Jesus to save his soul. There are a lot of people in this world right now who would want to go to heaven when they die, but they are not really much concerned about making the necessary preparation in order to go there. Jesus said that unless one repents of his sin he will perish. That means that he will not go to heaven. He will miss heaven entirely. He will go into the everlasting fires of hell. Some people, like Festus, think that a person would foolish to place their hope of heaven in Jesus. They really do not believe that Jesus is the Son of God. They really do not believe that Jesus died on the cross in order to pay for our sin. They really do not believe that Jesus arose from the grave. They really do not believe that if they trust in Jesus to save them that Jesus will cleanse them from their sin and take them to heaven. To them that sounds foolish. But that is just exactly what the Bible teaches and that is just exactly what happens. When a person sees himself as being guilty of sin and unworthy of going to heaven and he turns to Jesus Christ and trusts Jesus to save his soul, then Jesus saves that person and Jesus will keep that person out of hell and take that person to heaven when he dies. Some people, like Agrippa, know that the Bible teaches and they believe that what the Bible teaches is true, but for some reason they fail to take advantage of their opportunity to call on Jesus for salvation. They pass up opportunity after opportunity. They know that they are lost in sin. They know that time is slipping away. They know that they are taking a big chance on going to hell, but they keep on passing up there opportunity anyway. Eventually they will die and go to hell in spite of the fact that they wanted to get saved, but just did not call on Jesus and trust Him to save their soul. We may reasonably conclude that the Apostle Paul received a good report from Governor Festus recommending that the Caesar set Paul free. We can know for certain that the person who repents of his sin and trusts in Jesus Christ to save his soul will receive a good recommendation from Jesus Christ. The report will be something to this effect: “This person is well aware that he has sinned many times, but he has called upon me asking me to be his Savior. Therefore, I have forgiven all his sins. There is no reason for him to be imprisoned in the Lake of Fire and Brimstone. I recommend that he be set free from all charges against him and that he be given a choice place in heaven.” Conclusion: Perhaps there is somebody here who really wants to go to heaven when he dies, but he knows that if he were to die right now he would not make it to heaven. Perhaps there is somebody right here in this service who knows within his heart that he is unsaved and that he needs to trust in Jesus today. Please do not wait another day. Come right now and trust Jesus Christ the Son of God to take care of your soul and get you into heaven.