Acts 26:16-18 English Standard Version
16 But rise and stand upon your feet, for I have appeared to you for this purpose, to appoint you as a servant and witness to the things in which you have seen me and to those in which I will appear to you, 17 delivering you from your 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 power of Satan to God, that they may receive forgiveness of sins and a place among those who are sanctified by faith in me.’
This witness is about Jesus speaking to Saul, who becomes Paul. He had met Jesus on the road to Damascus. We all know the story. We have read it many times. Getting around to this point in Paul’s testimony to King Agrippa has taken up four chapters of the book of Acts.
At the beginning of chapter 26 Paul is given the chance to defend himself against his accusers. His situation is one in which he has been passed from Felix to Festus to Agrippa all the while in chains.
Finally we come to the point of this telling tale.
What do we tell people when they ask a difficult question?
“How do I put my faith in Christ?”
Listen to what Paul began with in his defense of his faith.
4 “My manner of life from my youth, spent from the beginning among my own nation and in Jerusalem, is known by all the Jews. 5 They have known for a long time, if they are willing to testify, that according to the strictest party of our religion I have lived as a Pharisee.”
The testimony of how faith is placed in Christ starts with what we were and what we believed that was wrong to begin with. It is a confession of condition, being wrong.
The truth cannot be heard until we come to this understanding; we were wrong.