Today’s devotion comes from Acts 25:23 through Acts 26:18 which covers Paul appearing before King Agrippa who carried on the investigation as suggested by Festus the governor who wanted to have something more to write about Paul before sending him to Caesar. We will focus on the following verses which are part of Paul’s defense against the charges.
“9 “So then, I thought to myself that I had to do many things hostile to the name of Jesus of Nazareth.
10 And this is just what I did in Jerusalem; not only did I lock up many of the saints in prisons, having received authority from the chief priests, but also when they were being put to death I cast my vote against them.
11 And as I punished them often in all the synagogues, I tried to force them to blaspheme; and being furiously enraged at them, I kept pursuing them even to foreign cities.
12 “While so engaged as I was journeying to Damascus with the authority and commission of the chief priests,
13 at midday, O King, I saw on the way a light from heaven, brighter than the sun, shining all around me and those who were journeying with me.
14 And when we had all fallen to the ground, I heard a voice saying to me in the Hebrew dialect, ‘Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting Me? It is hard for you to kick against the goads.’
15 And I said, ‘Who are You, Lord?’ And the Lord said, ‘I am Jesus whom you are persecuting.
16 But get up and stand on your feet; for this purpose I have appeared to you, to appoint you a minister and a witness not only to the things which you have seen, but also to the things in which I will appear to you;
17 rescuing you from the Jewish people and from the Gentiles, to whom I am sending you,
18 to open their eyes so that they may turn from darkness to light and from the dominion of Satan to God, that they may receive forgiveness of sins and an inheritance among those who have been sanctified by faith in Me.’ ” Acts 26:9-18.
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From today’s Scripture, we learn a little more about “Total Depravity”, the “T” of “TULIP”, the Reformed doctrine of salvation. Paul, along with all other men in their fallen condition, is “hostile” to God. See Acts 26:9.
“because the mind set on the flesh is hostile toward God; for it does not subject itself to the law of God, for it is not even able to do so,” Romans 8:7.
“And although you were formerly alienated and hostile in mind, engaged in evil deeds,” Colossians 1:21.
“And you were dead in your trespasses and sins, in which you formerly walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, of the spirit that is now working in the sons of disobedience. Among them we too all formerly lived in the lusts of our flesh, indulging the desires of the flesh and of the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, even as the rest.” Ephesians 2:1-3.
“And you were dead in your trespasses and sins, in which you formerly walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, of the spirit that is now working in the sons of disobedience. Among them we too all formerly lived in the lusts of our flesh, indulging the desires of the flesh and of the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, even as the rest.” Ephesians 2:1-3.
Therefore, it should not seem unusual to us to learn that Paul persecuted Christ, nor later, that both Jews and Gentiles persecuted Paul for teaching about Christ.
What hope is there?
We need a sovereign all powerful God to open our eyes and turn us around and bring us from darkness to light and from the dominion of Satan to God. See above Acts 26:18. We need the “Irresistible Grace”, the “I” of “TULIP”, the Reformed doctrine of salvation.
As the following verses after the above-stated Ephesians 2:1-3 state, we need to be made alive. “But God, being rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us, even when we were dead in our transgressions, made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved), and raised us up with Him, and seated us with Him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, so that in the ages to come He might show the surpassing riches of His grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus. For by grace you have been saved through faith; and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God; not as a result of works, so that no one may boast.” Ephesians 2:4-9.
