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What does it truly mean to say “Yes, Lord” when the path ahead involves real hardship rather than comfort? As we live in a culture where following Jesus often costs little, one man’s story reveals a depth of commitment that challenges us all to examine our own readiness. Discover whether you have already decided in advance what you will choose when obedience demands more than you might expect.
📝 Study Notes, Scripture List, Transcript, and more: https://medicallake.church/sermons/the-cost-of-obedience
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📝 Study Notes, Scripture List, Transcript, and more: https://medicallake.church/sermons/the-cost-of-obedience
#mlcc #church #churchonline
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00:00So, there's an Old Daily Bread, and the author was DCM, and someone was kind enough to actually
00:04look it up after the first survey, and I found out his name is David C. McCaseland, so now I
00:09know
00:09who the DCM is. But he was writing about this in Old Daily Bread, and it was very interesting. He
00:13said, you know, there's an owner of a business, he lives in Texas, there's an owner of a business
00:17in Texas that would put up on their sign, you know, Bible verses or encouraging motivational
00:22phrases on their sign. And so, he said, I would look forward when I drove by the sign every day,
00:27I would look forward to whatever the new wording on the sign was. He said, he drove by one day,
00:32and there was only two words on the sign. Yes, Lord. And he thought about that for a second,
00:40he drove around, he's doing his errands. And then he said, you know, was there any situation to which
00:46those two words did not hold the key? Yes, Lord. Yes, Lord.
00:55Lord, what great joy it would bring to Jesus if every day he's writing, if every day I would begin
01:00with these two words, yes, Lord. Yes, whatever you want, Lord. You are Lord, you are my king,
01:07I'm your subject, I'm your child, whatever you want. Yes, Lord. Yes, Lord, I'll be content with
01:14where I am instead of asking and wishing I were somewhere else. And yes, Lord, I will trust you
01:18for the outcome of the uncertainty that's gnawing on my mind. Yes, Lord. And you know, to be honest,
01:25it's easy to say yes, Lord, when it's something that we want to do. Okay, I can do that. But
01:31what
01:31happens if he's asking us to do something that may seem beyond what we can do, or that's frightening to
01:39do, or like, hey, why don't you go witness to that person over there? Well, I don't think I really
01:45want to do that right now. Or what about you going to the mission field and be part of a
01:49missionary
01:50and go, well, I'm not sure, Lord, I really want to do that right now. It's easy to say yes,
01:53Lord,
01:54when it's something we want to do. But what happens when we say yes, Lord, that brings us into problems
02:00and hardships by our obedience? Martha Thatcher, not to be confused with Margaret Thatcher, this is Martha
02:10in her book, The Freedom of Obedience, wrote, whenever I take the opportunity to actively love
02:16God and personal obedience, I end up sensing a new tenderness in my heart toward Him and a stronger
02:23resolve to obey again next time. I like that. There's what happens inside with a motivation to
02:31continue doing it again. Obedience is not an end, but a means, a means to express our love to God.
02:38I'll
02:38obey you because I love you, God. And a means to increase our love for God. I'm demonstrating love
02:42for you because I'm obeying you. It is a catalyst in the process of loving God and becoming more like
02:49Jesus. Today in the text, Paul is showing us that he is willing, he's prepared, and he counts in an
02:58honor
03:00to pay the price of obedience to follow Jesus. Here's a man who said, yes, Lord, and we can,
03:08we've been walking through the book of Acts. We're nearly finished now. We've seen everything
03:12that's happened to Paul since chapter nine when he said, yes, Lord, on the road to Damascus.
03:20Obedience to Christ may bring us into hardships. It may, it did Paul, but he was willing and he
03:27was prepared and he counted it an honor to pay the cost of obedience because he loved the Lord Jesus
03:33Christ. So, Acts chapter 26, we'll look at today, we'll see that there is a cost for obedience to
03:40Christ and Paul was willing to pay it. There's a cost for following Christ and Paul was willing to
03:46pay it. He counted the cost and he was willing to pay it. Sometimes, you know, you and I, we
03:52don't
03:53necessarily count that, especially in America. You come to faith, well, that's okay, great, happy for you,
03:58you found Jesus. You do your thing as what people will say, but you go to North Korea and you
04:04tell
04:04your neighbor that you come to Christ and guess what? You're going to find yourself in prison or
04:07perhaps dead. They know what it means to count the cost. I don't know if we understand that much
04:15in America. There's not much cost to be a follower of Jesus in America yet.
04:24But here, what you're going to notice, it's the longest record he gives us of his conversion
04:27experience. And it's longer, we get more details than we've ever had before. But let's take a look
04:32at chapter 26, verse number one. So, hopefully you have your Bibles, you open up to chapter 26,
04:37verse one, Acts 26, one, or on your phone, whichever, wherever your Bible's located.
04:43So, Agrippa, if you remember what's going on, we kind of, we've been gone a week, so we kind of
04:46back
04:46up a little bit. So, we have Festus, who's a governor, Roman governor. We have Agrippa II and the
04:51sister Bernice. They had met together and sat with Paul and Paul had talked. And then Agrippa says,
04:56I want to talk to him tomorrow. So, this is the next day. They come back in with all their
05:02pomp and
05:02splendor. They come back in to hear Paul and to give his defense here right now. So, that's where
05:06we're at in the storyline. So, Agrippa said to Paul, you have permission to speak. Agrippa is the king.
05:13The king is telling him, you may speak for yourself. Then Paul stretched out his hand and made his
05:18defense. And here's his defense. I consider myself fortunate that it is before you, King Agrippa,
05:25I'm going to make my defense today against all the accusations of the Jews, especially because
05:32you're familiar with all the customs and controversies of the Jews. He being a practicing
05:37Jew himself, maybe not so faithful, he would understand how the Jews function and the teachings
05:42of the law. Therefore, I beg you to listen to me patiently. My manner of life from my youth spent
05:49from the beginning among my own nation and in Jerusalem, remember as a child, he likely moved,
05:53the family moved to Jerusalem where he studied under Gamaliel, is known by all the Jews. So,
05:58you just ask him, they know who he is. They have known for a long time, if they are willing
06:03to testify
06:03that according to the strictest party of our religion, I have lived as a Pharisee.
06:09And now I stand here on trial today, on trial, because of my hope and the promise made by God
06:16to our fathers, to which our 12 tribes hope to attain as they earnestly worship night and day.
06:23And for this hope, I am accused by the Jews, O King. Why is it thought incredible by any of
06:29you
06:30that God raises the dead? So again, the center of this discussion is on the resurrection of Christ.
06:34Christ. He always, part of the gospel message is the resurrection of Christ. Verse 9,
06:39I myself was convinced, he was fully convinced, he was doing God's will, that I ought to do many
06:45things in opposing the name of Jesus of Nazareth. Not just Jesus, but a particular one coming out of
06:50Nazareth. And I did so in Jerusalem. I not only locked up many of the saints in prison after receiving
06:58authority from the chief priests, but when they were put to death, murdered, I cast my vote against
07:05them. I said, do it. And I punished them often in all the synagogues and tried to make them blaspheme.
07:13In other words, to deny the name of Christ. And in raging fury, he's not just a little bit mad.
07:19And in raging fury against them, I persecuted them even to foreign cities. So he's kind of laying out
07:26his background, what he was before he met Christ. He's going to talk about in the next section,
07:31how he met Christ. But this is what it was like before he met Christ. So just like a Greek
07:36order,
07:37he's given permission to speak. So he motions with his hands. It's basically saying, I'm about ready
07:41to talk. And then people started paying attention. So he motions with his hands. Agrippa understood
07:46Jewish customs. So he's a good person. Remember, Festus is having this problem. He doesn't know what to
07:52write the emperor about Paul because they have found nothing worthy of death or imprisonment,
07:56by his actions. So he doesn't know what to write the emperor. He's going to send him to the emperor,
08:00but he doesn't. Hey, here comes Paul. Well, what about him? Well, we couldn't find anything. He doesn't
08:06have anything to write. So he's looking for what to write and Agrippa is supposed to help him.
08:11That's the idea. Most of the accusations against Paul had dropped for lack of support. There's no
08:16evidence against him. One of the things that he brought a Greek or a non-Jew into the proper temper
08:22proper,
08:22and the people who accuse him of that are nowhere to be seen. They didn't come in the court and
08:27give
08:28testimony. There's no test. The only thing they have him on still is they think that he has violated
08:33the teaching of the Jewish law, and he's going to show them, no, no, no. I haven't violated the
08:38teaching of the Jewish law. As a matter of fact, I believe in the fulfillment of the teaching of the
08:42Jewish law, and he's going to talk about that in a second. It was Paul's faith in the resurrection
08:46that showed his fidelity to the Jewish law. That's the hope that Israel has had, the resurrection.
08:53He was still a faithful Jew. He was still abiding by the law of Moses. He still was understanding
08:59that this is what was taught about the Messiah and the law. And I have believed that. And Paul
09:05was arrested for faithfully fulfilling his heavenly calling. He was arrested. He was arrested.
09:12Felix brought him in, protected him, actually, and saved his life. But he's arrested simply for
09:17telling the truth about Jesus. We talked about this at the beginning. There is a cost for obedience.
09:25There's a cost for obedience. And the question is, are we willing to pay that cost? He's willing to pay
09:30that cost. He was arrested simply for being faithful to what Jesus asked him to do. You notice in the
09:39text,
09:39he mentions, to which our 12 tribes hope to attain, that's the resurrection, our 12 tribes hope to
09:45attain. Paul understood that there were 10 tribes that did not go missing, okay? There's this theory
09:50out there that 10 of the tribes went missing during the Assyrian captivity, never came back to Israel,
09:54and therefore they're somewhere, maybe in England. We don't know exactly where they're at. There are 10
09:58missing tribes. Paul says, no, no, God knows exactly where all the tribes are at. It's not a mystery to
10:03God
10:04where all of the tribes are. It's not a mystery to God who the Jewish people are. People that are
10:08descendants of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. It's not a mystery to God. He knows exactly where they're
10:12at, whether they're in Israel, whether they're, he knows where they're at. It's not a mystery to him.
10:16Paul says, they're not lost. We know where the 12 tribes are. And before his conversion, Paul felt it
10:22was God's will to persecute Christians. I'm being a good Jew. I'm killing these Christians who are
10:28blaspheming the name of God by saying that God had a son, that Jesus was God in the flesh. That's
10:33blasphemy.
10:37He, it's my job to kill him. Jesus warned us about this in John 16. He told his disciples before
10:44his
10:44death, they will put you out of the synagogues. Indeed, the hour is coming when whoever kills you
10:50will think he is offering service to God. Paul goes, that's right. I'm serving God by killing
10:54these Christians. I'm persecuting them to death. I voted against them. I don't want them to live.
11:02He tried to make them blaspheme, which means that it's written in a way, you know, I'm a grammar
11:07geek. All right. It's written in a way that he said it over and over. In other words, he tried
11:11to get
11:11them to blaspheme. They wouldn't. He tried to get them to blaspheme. They wouldn't. He tried to get
11:15them to blaspheme. Over and over, he tried, but they wouldn't blaspheme. They couldn't blaspheme the
11:19name that saved them, the one who redeemed them. First Timothy, Paul says, I was a blasphemer,
11:26though formerly I was the blasphemer, a persecutor, an insolent opponent, but I received
11:33mercy because I had acted ignorantly in unbelief. I thought I was doing the right thing, but then
11:38when Jesus appeared to me on the road to Damascus, everything changed in my life. And now I see things
11:43clearly like I never saw them before. If the pre-saved Paul had an official ID, it would say
11:51official persecutor for the Sanhedrin. That was his badge, a little name tag, official
11:57persecutor for the Sanhedrin, and he left it. Now, the third time in Acts, we hear his salvation
12:05experience on the road to Damascus here, starting in verse number 12. In this connection, connection
12:11to what? What he was doing to arrest the saints, to see that they're killed, and in raging fury
12:18against semi-person. In this connection, so doing his job, I journeyed to Damascus with
12:24the authority and commission of the chief priest, the Sanhedrin. At midday, so he's traveling,
12:29at midday, O king, I saw on the way a light from heaven, brighter than the sun that shone
12:35around me and those who journeyed with me. And when we had all fallen to the ground, I heard
12:41a voice saying to me in the Hebrew language, Saul, that's his Hebrew name, Saul, Saul, why are you
12:47persecuting me? And I'm thinking, he's probably going, what? That's what he says. And then Jesus
12:54goes on to say, it is hard for you to kick against the goads. And I say, Paul says, who
13:00are you, Lord?
13:01And the Lord said, I am Jesus, whom you are persecuting. He was persecuting the church. There's
13:08a connection there, I'll show in just a second. I am Jesus, whom you are persecuting, but rise and
13:14stand upon your feet. It sounds like some of the prophets in the Old Testament, Jeremiah and
13:19Ezekiel, that same phrase, rise and stand on your feet. For I have appeared to you for this purpose,
13:24what? To appoint you as a servant and a witness to the things in which you have seen me and
13:32to those
13:32in which I will appear to you, delivering you from your people and from the Gentiles to whom I am
13:38sending
13:38you to open their eyes so that they may turn from darkness to light and from the power of Satan
13:45to
13:45God, that they may receive forgiveness of sins and a place among those who are sanctified by faith in
13:51me. Therefore, O King Agrippa, King, listen, I was not disobedient to the heavenly vision.
14:00Another way of saying that was, I was obedient to the heavenly vision. I mean, he's just saying,
14:05I was not disobedient. It's easier to say, I was obedient to the heavenly vision. I was not
14:10disobedient to the heavenly vision, but declared first to those in Damascus. Immediately, he preached
14:15Christ in Damascus. Then in Jerusalem, then throughout all the region of Judea and also to
14:21the Gentiles, we've seen all of his three missionary journeys. He's actually going to go on to Rome on the
14:26last part of that journey, that they should repent and turn to God, performing deeds in keeping with
14:32their repentance. For this reason, the Jews seized me in the temple and tried to kill me
14:36because I was being obedient to Jesus. I was not disobedient to the heavenly calling, the heavenly
14:42vision. To this day, I've had the help that comes from God. So I stand here, I'm here, testifying both
14:50to the small and great kings and those people that are your servants here today, saying nothing but what
14:56the prophets and Moses said would come to pass. I fulfilled what the law said, that the Christ must
15:02suffer and that by being the first to rise from the dead, he would proclaim light both to our people
15:07and to the Gentiles. Here's Paul's calling, his heavenly vision. Third time now we see this
15:15conversion experience. And this one's a lot more detailed than some of the other ones. Ananias is not
15:20mentioned here, but we have a lot of details in this one. Because Paul was persecuting Christians,
15:25he was in essence persecuting Jesus because Christians are the body of Christ. So when he's
15:31persecuting the church, he's literally persecuting Jesus. So when anyone persecutes the church,
15:36they're persecuting God, they're persecuting Jesus. And then this idiom, it is hard for you to kick
15:42against the goads. The goads, the little spiky things on the carts normally that would keep the animals
15:47from kicking backwards and kick the cart, it would hurt. Makes sense. It has the idea to resist one's
15:53destiny and fight the will of the gods. It was a Greek Roman proverb, but it wasn't even Jewish.
15:59It wasn't even a Jewish proverb. And he's speaking to Greek and Latin people, so they would understand
16:04the proverb well. Robert Utley says, this proverb was used to denote the human futility of resisting
16:11divine initiatives. When God speaks, we are to act. When God says, we are to obey. Not resist. Don't kick
16:19back
16:20against the goads. That hurts. Don't do that, but be obedient. Don't deny divine initiatives. Two important
16:28words pop out of his commissioning. Two important words, servant and witness. Now, I want you to think of that
16:34word servant for just a second. We understand what a servant is. Servant. He was, the master was Jesus.
16:40He was a faithful to his master's call. But think about what Paul was prior to that, before he met
16:46Jesus on the road to Damascus. He is at the top of his game. He is the official persecutor of
16:52the church.
16:53People are looking to him for leadership. He is the guy at the very top. And now he meets Christ
16:58and he's called a servant. It actually has a word, an under rower, one who rose under from the top
17:09of
17:09the heap to the bottom in the world's eyes. To be a witness, person who bears testimony to what they
17:17have seen and heard, to be a witness for Jesus. We just heard about someone giving witness to Jesus
17:22in their life, witnessing about what Christ has done and who he is. Pastor Eric Rich was told the
17:28story of Peter Yakov Levvich. Hopefully Vins is his last name. Hopefully I got it right. He wrote his
17:35family from his Russian prison in 1936. He asked them to pray that Jesus would empower him so he could
17:42be
17:42a faithful witness for his Lord. Then he concluded with this statement, it is better to be with him in
17:48prison than at liberty without him. Just make me a good witness. No matter what the circumstance,
17:55I find myself in prison by the communists, but I want to be a good witness. I want to make
18:00sure that
18:00all of my captors know who Jesus is, that they could get saved. Because people need to have their eyes
18:06opened so they can turn from darkness to light, from the power of Satan to the power of God. They
18:11cannot do it on their own for we are dead in trespasses and sins. Our eyes need to be opened
18:15by God that we
18:16can see the truth. Paul knew how to turn the light on because he knew that Jesus was the light
18:22of the
18:22world. So he presented Jesus to everybody to turn the light on. Go from darkness to light, from the
18:28power of Satan to the power of God. Opening their eyes through repentance, that vital part of the
18:33gospel preaching is to repent. No, we don't like to talk about that, but it's part of what it means
18:38is
18:38I repent of my sins. I confess them before a holy God. I repent and I beg for his mercy
18:44that he would
18:45save me by his grace. Second Timothy, Paul told, correcting his opponents with gentleness.
18:52God may perhaps grant them, that's the opponent's repentance leading to a knowledge of the truth,
18:57that he would grant them repentance, that they would understand the truth.
19:02To repent in the Hebrew Bible means to, if you're going this direction, you would turn around and go 180
19:08degrees in the other direction. It's an action word to repent. In the Greek, repent means to change
19:14one's mind. So it's not to turn around. Obviously, when you, behavior drives, excuse me, beliefs drives
19:22behaviors. So if you change beliefs, you're going to change behaviors. That's true, but it's not wrapped
19:27up in an action. It's more of a change of mind, but real repentance involves both. It's a change of
19:34mind
19:34and it's a change of action. And it's shown by our good works. There is a call to repentance with
19:41evidence that good works follow out of the salvation, out of our faith. James says,
19:46for as a body apart from the spirit is dead, so faith apart from works is dead also.
19:52So this is the salvation that God has produced a radical change of allegiance. We were under the
19:57power of Satan serving him. Now we're brought under the power of God. That's the allegiance and
20:02environment. We went from light, from darkness to light. So not only we change allegiance,
20:06we change environment as well. We were children of the night. Now we're children of the light,
20:12children of the day. We were under the power of Satan in his kingdom, playing in his kingdom,
20:17playing all the rules along his kingdom. But we were moved to the kingdom of God's dear son,
20:21transferred from darkness to light, from the power of Satan to the power of God.
20:29Heed that. And then it says, those who are sanctified by faith, sanctified by faith in me.
20:36Now, again, you know, I'm a grammar Greek. I just think that the Greek language is very particular.
20:41And I like the way the verbs have particular meanings. There's some that are just past tense
20:46that happened in the past tense. There's some that happened in the past tense that they did
20:49often in the past tense. And some means that happened in the past tense with a continual result
20:54into the future. And that's what this word is. Some point in past, you were sanctified by faith in
20:59the Lord Jesus Christ. And now today, you still stand sanctified. And 10 years from now, you'll
21:05still be sanctified. That's what this word means. It's a perfect verb. It means it puts you in a
21:10different state that you stay in now. We're sanctified by faith in the Lord Jesus Christ,
21:14set apart for the service of God. Hebrews 10 says, and by that will, we have been sanctified through
21:21the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all. Once for all. And Paul goes, hey, King Agrippa,
21:31if you would have seen what I saw, you would behave the same way I think that I did.
21:37I was not disobedient to the heavenly vision. He asked me to go to the Gentiles. I'm a Jew.
21:43We don't really like Gentiles, but I was willing to go. I was willing to start there in Damascus and
21:48preach the gospel right away after I came to, I was not disobedient to the heavenly vision.
21:55I was not. No way. That fact, Agrippa, that's why I'm standing here today. That's why I'm standing
22:02before you today here in custody, two years in Caesarea. I'm standing here today because I was
22:07not disobedient to the heavenly vision. I was obedient. That's why I'm here today.
22:15I was not disobedient to the heavenly vision. There is a cost to obedience. And I was willing
22:20to prepare. I was willing and prepared to pay the cost. I also counted an honor to pay the cost
22:29to suffer for the name of Christ. There's a cost to obedience. Paul could say, that is why the Jews
22:37plotted to kill me in Damascus. I mean, he's preaching the gospel and right away, they want to kill him.
22:41They have to let him out of the window on the wall, down a basket so he could escape Damascus.
22:46Immediately, they're trying to kill him. You would think he would say, well, I'm not quite sure. Yes,
22:51Lord is the correct answer. But he doesn't, does he? He carries on to the next place. He goes and
22:57preaches the gospel there and he preaches the gospel there. He keeps saying, yes, Lord, whatever you want.
23:02He understood that there's a cost to discipleship. That is why the Jews incited important men and women
23:07of the city to drive him out of Antioch. That's why at Iconium, they tried to stone me.
23:13The Jews stoned me at Lystra and they left me for dead because I was obedient to the heavenly calling.
23:19They beat me at Philippi and threw me in prison. They tried to kill me in the temple and the
23:24tribune
23:25arrested me thinking I was some Egyptian revolutionary. And then 40 men made a covenant.
23:31I will not eat or drink until Paul is dead. That's why I'm here. It's why, because I was not
23:36disobedient to the heavenly vision. I carry out exactly. I said, yes, Lord, whatever you want,
23:41Jesus, I'm in 100%. They held me in house arrest for two years because I was not disobedient to the
23:49heavenly calling. They planned an ambush to kill me in Jerusalem and Felix stopped it because
23:55Ephesus stopped it because I was obedient to the heavenly calling. There is a cost to obedience.
24:01There's a cost to obedience. And you know, if we could say today, if we would ask Paul,
24:07Paul would have it no other way. This is exactly how he wants it. He wants to say, yes, Lord.
24:12He
24:12understands there's a cost to obedience, but he's willing to pay it. He's prepared to pay it. And he
24:16counts an honor to pay it. We see the depth of his loyalty to Christ. He trusted him. He loved
24:23him.
24:24It's deep commitment by those obedience that he had. This is to be honored.
24:29Henry Blackaby wrote, following God's will demands sacrifice and recognizing what obedience requires
24:36represents a major adjustment believers must make. You know, each week we pray for our brothers and
24:45sisters in the persecuted and hostile nations. They know what it means to pay the cost of obedience.
24:53They understand that there's a cost to obedience. They, if we were to ask them to write us a little
24:59thing, tell us what it means to follow Christ. And they will tell us we love him and we'll say
25:04yes
25:04to him. And yes, I've lost my family because of him. Yes. I lost my job because of him. Yes.
25:12The tribe
25:12kicked me out and I'm no longer allowed to live in that tribe. Yes. But it doesn't matter. Oh,
25:17the excellent worth of knowing Christ as my savior. I'm willing to pay any cost.
25:24Honestly, it's hard for me to talk about the cost of obedience to American churches.
25:30Very few of us have paid any cost for our obedience to Jesus Christ in America.
25:35No one's saying you can't come in and preach and we still come in anyway. We,
25:41we have, we have not paid a very big cost in America for obedience to Jesus yet.
25:51I don't know what the future holds. I don't know. There may come a day where they're going to shut
25:56our doors down. In communist led countries, the church has no authority. Churches shut, go to North
26:05Korea. Churches shut down. No churches around. If you found you'll be killed immediately as a believer in
26:11North Korea. I don't know what's coming our way. And it's hard to talk about the cost of obedience
26:16to us because we don't really pay. Some of us have paid a cost. We know what it means. We
26:20may have
26:20lost a job because of obedience or we may have lost of a friend because of obedience. We understand a
26:24little, but the cost of obedience, it's not very high in America today. However, I think we need to be
26:35ready. I think we need to steal our minds to the fact that things may not always remain the
26:40same as they are now. Lord willing, they will, and God will bless this nation continually. And we will
26:47not have those problems. However, I don't know what the, what the future is going to bring.
26:52We know that obedience proves costly. It's why Jesus instructed his followers to count the cost
26:58beforehand. Many rationalize away God's calling through practical concerns about family, healthcare,
27:04and education. This is from Eddie Byron and Chip Ingram. Yet God provides for those who obey his direction.
27:10Following God frequently invites criticism and misunderstanding with Jesus explicitly warning
27:16his followers to expect persecution. So the question is, we as American Christians, are we
27:22willing to pay the cost of obedience? Are we prepared to pay the cost of obedience? There is a cost
27:30to
27:31obedience to follow Jesus. We must be prepared to pay that cost. Even though, even though we're not
27:37paying one right now, I understand that. Things may change in the future. We have to be willing to pay
27:43the cost. In other words, determine now that when the time comes that it's going to be Jesus or this,
27:48you're going to choose Jesus. I'm willing to pay the cost and I'm prepared. That's why I always tell
27:53teenagers when I was working with teenagers, listen, don't make a decision not to have premarital sex
27:58while you're kissing a boy and while you're making out. You make that six months or a year ahead of
28:04time.
28:04So when that comes, number one, you're not going to be kissing and making out because you already
28:08made a decision. You wait for the heat of the moment. You may not make a good decision.
28:12So make a decision beforehand. When the heat of the moment comes, you've already decided what
28:16you're going to do. Lastly, we must count it an honor to pay the cost. Paul's preaching to kings.
28:23Paul preaches to the servants that were there that day. He doesn't matter. Small or great.
28:27It doesn't matter. Like God, Paul doesn't play favorites. He preaches to the small and great alike.
28:31He's talking about Jesus, the promise fulfillment of the law and the prophets. He's the one that
28:36Moses spoke about. On the road to Emmaus, Jesus said this to these followers. Then he said to them,
28:42these are my words that I spoke to you while I was still with you, that everything written about me
28:47in the law of Moses and the prophets and the Psalms must be fulfilled. He is the fulfillment of all
28:52the Jewish teaching. That's what Paul's trying to say. I haven't even violated that. I'm just telling
28:58you the fulfillment of Jewish teaching is Jesus the Messiah. He is the one who brings light into
29:03darkness. That's what Jesus said he would do. Matthew chapter four, and leaving Nazareth, he went
29:09and lived in Capernaum. This is Jesus by the sea in the territory of Zebulun and Naphtali. So that what
29:14was spoken by the prophet Isaiah might be fulfilled. The land of Zebulun and the land of Naphtali,
29:20the way of the sea beyond the Jordan, Galilee of the Gentiles, the people dwelling in darkness have
29:26seen a great light. And for those dwelling in the region and shadow of death on them, a light has
29:31dawned. The light of the world has come. And people go from darkness now to light, from the power of
29:38Satan to the power of God. And they tried to kill him. The Jews did over and over and over
29:45again,
29:46over. The Jews could not understand how a Messiah could die. They didn't get that picture. They didn't
29:53understand that, that he must suffer and die. Back to the road to Emmaus, Luke 24.
29:58And he said to them, O foolish ones, and slow of heart to believe all that the prophets have spoken.
30:03Was it not necessary that the Christ should suffer these things and enter into his glory?
30:08And beginning with Moses and all the prophets, he interpreted to them in all the scriptures,
30:13the things concerning himself. They just didn't understand that, that the Messiah had to suffer
30:17and die. That was just foreign to their thinking. That was prophesied. That was told.
30:24God stood by Paul so Paul could stand before kings. So when we're out there obeying him,
30:31he's standing by us. So Festus believes Paul is now insane. He's insane. No intelligent Roman person
30:41would ever believe someone rises from the dead. You're insane. Look at verse 24.
30:46And as he was saying these things in his defense, Festus said with a loud voice, Paul, you're out
30:51of your mind. Your great learning has driven you out of your mind. But Paul said, I'm not out of
30:57my
30:57mind, most excellent Festus, but I'm speaking true and rational words. For the king knows about these
31:03things, the King Agrippa, and to him I speak boldly. For I am persuaded that none of these things has
31:08escaped his notice. For this has not been done in a corner. This is open and public. Everyone knows
31:13these things. King Agrippa, do you believe the prophets? I know that you believe. And Agrippa
31:18said to Paul, in a short time, would you persuade me to be a Christian? And Paul said, whether short
31:25or long, I would like to God that not only you, but also all who hear me this day might
31:29become such
31:30as I am, except for these chains. Then the king rose. And when the king rises, the interview is over.
31:37Then the king rose and the governor and Bernice and all those who were sitting with them.
31:41And when they had withdrawn, they said to one another, this man is doing nothing to deserve
31:45death or imprisonment. The fifth time we've heard that statement. And Agrippa said to Festus,
31:50this man could have been set free if he had not appealed to Caesar. Not appealed to Caesar,
31:55he could have just set him free. Festus says, you're out of your mind. Or one could say it like
32:00this,
32:00too much learning alters the perspective, puts one out of touch with the real world. People don't rise
32:05from the dead. Any sensible Greek or Roman knows that. You're crazy, Paul. You're crazy.
32:12I don't know. No one has really ever called me crazy before. Not because I believe in Jesus. Well,
32:17maybe so, but you're crazy, Paul. How could you believe this stuff? But Paul was not insane,
32:24for he had a sound mind. That is, he had a balanced approach to life and thinking.
32:28He's not sane. You know, nobody called D.L. Moody crazy when he was selling shoes in a shoe store,
32:34but as soon as he started winning people to Christ, they gave him the nickname of crazy moody.
32:39Crazy. No one has ever called me crazy. Paul said, but Paul said, I'm not crazy. I'm in my right
32:44mind.
32:45And I like this. Paul presses Agrippa to make a decision. He asked him, when we're witnessing the
32:52people, don't hesitate to ask them if they want to believe on Jesus Christ for salvation.
32:56Thank you for that testimony today that we heard. Ask him, will you believe on Jesus today? Don't
33:02hesitate to ask him. He didn't. He said, so Agrippa goes, well, you will make me a Christian?
33:08So apparently Christian was a well-known term in those days. The description Christian was well,
33:13wide known for Agrippa uses the term here. And I like what Agrippa does. He evades the question.
33:19Do you believe in the prophets? Well, he doesn't want to say yes, because then Paul's going to say,
33:22well, then why don't you believe what they wrote about Jesus? So he doesn't really answer them.
33:26He kind of evades the question. He tries to play both sides, almost like a politician.
33:29He wants to play both sides of the aisle here. He gave a bold witness. And now the questioner,
33:36Agrippa, has become the questioned, and the tables have turned on him. Paul wanted Agrippa
33:42to understand that faith in Jesus the Messiah is the ultimate fulfillment of Jewish teaching.
33:46He's not even guilty of that. None of the accusations. Five times, he's innocent. He's not guilty.
33:52Festus is really on a quandary. He doesn't know what to write still at this point.
33:58Paul was not guilty of any breach of Roman law or Jewish law. And both of them said,
34:05well, we could have just released him, but he appealed to Caesar. Well, he appealed to Caesar
34:08because that's where Jesus wants him to go, to Rome. He's going to go to Rome. So Paul,
34:13the persecuted becomes Paul, the proclaimer, who has yielded his life in obedience to Jesus Christ.
34:18He said, yes, Lord. Whatever. Yes, Lord. I'm in. I'm all in. No hesitation. Yes, Lord.
34:27Paul was bold. He didn't seem to be afraid of anything. He never seemed to get down. His life
34:32wasn't always easy. Read 2 Corinthians 11. Yeah. In fact, it was very difficult. But the words he
34:38penned to the believers at Philippi seemed to always hold true. I have learned in whatever state I am to
34:43be content. He was fully convinced of the faithfulness of God and was sustained by that
34:48conviction to remain faithful and to pay any cost of obedience for his Lord. Yes, Lord. Whatever you
34:55want, I'm doing. Three things to take away. You've heard them about four times in the sermon. Number one,
35:01be prepared to pay the cost of obedience. Be prepared. It may come our way. Be prepared.
35:10Secondly, be willing to pay the cost of obedience. And that willingness means I predetermine ahead before
35:16it comes that I'm willing to do it. So when it comes, there's no question in my mind.
35:22Lastly, count in an honor to pay the cost of obedience. It's an honor. It honors God by saying,
35:31I love you. I trust you. I believe what you're saying is true. And I'm willing to follow you to
35:36the
35:36ends of the earth. Yes, Lord. Yes, Lord. Yes, Lord. Let's pray. Father, I pray for us
35:46whose obedience has not been fully tested yet here in America, not like our brothers and sisters
35:52around the world. I pray for us that our obedience to you would be manifest at all times. Even if
36:00people
36:00call us crazy, I'm okay with that. Because in the valuation I want to hear is from you saying to
36:08me,
36:08well done, good and faithful servant. I don't care what the world says to me. But Father, I pray that
36:14we
36:14would be ready, prepared, and willing, and that we will count it an honor to pay the cost of obedience
36:22because it shows that we love you. It shows that we trust you. It shows that we're willing to follow
36:29you no matter what comes in our life. And Paul is such a perfect example of that. He said,
36:34I was not disobedient to the heavenly vision. Oh, I've not had a vision like Paul did on the road
36:40to Damascus, but I have seen Jesus in your word, Father, and I have repented of my sins and believed,
36:46and you changed my life. So I thank you. And I want always out of my mouth, Lord. Yes, Lord.
36:56Yes,
36:56Lord. I thank you in Jesus' name. Amen.
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