which I make now unto you." I've
entitled this message, Paul's Defense. Now it's going to take
two messages to bring this message. This is actually divided into
two parts. We'll consider the other part
tonight. But I want to read a verse of
scripture from 1 Timothy 1, verse 16. Paul says, how be it for
this cause I obtain mercy that in me first Jesus Christ might
show forth all longsuffering for a pattern to them which should
hereafter believe on him to life everlasting." Now Paul says,
I'm a pattern for every believer. If you and I are saved, we will
follow this pattern. Men and brethren and fathers,
hear ye my defense, which I now make unto you. Now, the people
that he is calling men and brethren and fathers are the same people
who tried to kill him. You look in verse 31 of chapter
21. And as they went about to kill
him, that's what they wanted to do. They wanted to murder
the apostle Paul and look how he addresses them as men and
brethren and fathers. And he says, here, my defense. This is why I have said what
I've said. This is why I've done what I've
done. Here my defense, which I now
give to you. Now that word defense is where
we get the word apologetics from. Now maybe you've run across this
term. People, preachers particularly,
Reformed preachers like to talk about apologetics. and they get
it from this word, and by it they mean what we're supposed
to do is defend the truth. We're supposed to answer the
critics and the opponents of the truth and defend the truth
against their criticism, against their opposition. May I suggest to you that the
truth does not need my defense. And that is not what defense
means. It's not an attempt to answer
the critics. The defense of the truth is to
preach the truth. It's to declare the truth, not
to attempt to answer the opponents of the truth. Now, verse 40, of chapter 21, and when he, the Roman soldier who had arrested
Paul, had given him license, allowed him to speak, Paul stood
on the stairs, and remember he's speaking to these men who had
just tried to kill him, and he beckoned with a hand unto the
people. And when there was made a great
silence, he spake unto them in the Hebrew tongue. Now, people
who did not know Hebrew at this time didn't know what he was
talking about. He was speaking to the Jews and
they knew that. And there was a great silence.
Men and brethren and fathers, hear ye my defense, which I now
make unto you. And when they heard that he spake
in the Hebrew tongue to them, they kept the more silence. You
could have heard a pin drop at this time. You know, when the
Lord speaks, silence, listen. And now he gives his defense. And my dear friends, if you and
I are believers, we're going to follow this pattern. We really
will. Let's hear what it is. I am verily a man which am a
Jew." I'm a Jew just like you are, born in Tarsus, a city in
Cilicia, yet brought up in this city, Jerusalem, at the feet
of Gamaliel. He tells them where he went to
seminary. And everybody knew who Gamaliel was. He was the
main Jewish teacher. This is my credentials. I was
brought up at the feet of Gamaliel and taught according to the perfect
manner of the law of the fathers and was zealous toward God as
you are this day. I was a fundamentalist. I believed
in the letter of the law and I sought to follow it. And I was zealous toward God
as you all are this day. What he says in verse four, and
I persecuted this way. Now he's talking about him who
said, I am the way and they're called the people of the way. I persecuted this way. Let me
give you some new Testament descriptions of the way it's called in the
new Testament, the way of the Lord, the way of God. the way of righteousness, the
way of peace, the way of truth, the right way, the way of salvation,
the narrow way, the more excellent way, the way they call heresy. I persecuted this way. I felt it my moral obligation
before God to persecute people of this way. He thought he was
doing the right thing. I persecuted this way, even unto
the death, binding and delivering into prisons, both men and women. That's how strongly I felt about
this. I felt it was my duty to God
to do this. Verse five, as also the high
priest doth bear me witness, and all the estate of the elders,
from whom also I received letters unto the brethren and went to
Damascus to bring unto them which were there bound unto Jerusalem
for to be punished." I was on my way to arrest and kill Christians
in any way I can. Verse six, and it came to pass. I love that statement that's
found so often in the scripture. It came to pass. Why? Because God purposed it. God
purposed it, and it came to pass. You know, that can be said of
everything. Everything. God purposed it. You see, God's
God. Not just in name, but in everything. And it came to pass. That as I made my journey and was come nigh unto Damascus,
where I was going to arrest people and bring them into prison, have
them put to death, about noon, suddenly there shone from heaven A great light round about me. When we read of this in Acts
chapter 9, Luke telling about it, not Paul giving his testimony,
we read that the light shined above the greatness of the sun. Now, I can't even imagine that.
You look in the bright, shining sun, you can't look. But this
light was brighter than the sun. And this light is the Lord Jesus
Christ. And when God does something for
somebody, it begins with light. It always begins with light. Now, if you're in a dark room,
You cannot see what's there. It's there, but you can't see
it. When the light is turned on, you see what is there. I love what John said in 1 John
1, verse 5. This is the message that we've
heard of him. And declare we unto you that
God is light. And in Him is no darkness at
all. If we say we have fellowship
with Him and walk in darkness, we lie. You know, a lot of people
make that claim, I have fellowship with God. I speak to God, He
speaks to me. I have fellowship with God. Well, if we say that and walk
in the darkness of salvation by works, and human religion,
we lie. We don't have any fellowship
with God. Oh, we may claim it, but we lie
and we're not doing the truth. Now Paul's experience of Christ
began with light. And it came to pass that as I
made my journey and was come nigh in Damascus about noon,
suddenly there shone from heaven a great light round about me. Now, when God gives you light,
you see the true character of God. Not until then. All your thoughts, all my thoughts
of God naturally are wrong. But when God gives you light,
You see who he really is. And when you see who he really
is, if not before then, you'll see who you really are. A sinful,
sinful man. And when God gives you light,
you're gonna have light as to how he saved sinners by Christ
Jesus, the Lord. Now look what happened, verse
seven. And I fell unto the ground. Now this is what happens when
you're given light. Now I think it's interesting
that all the artists that depict this taking place, and there's
been all kinds of pictures of Paul falling down, and it's always
off a horse. And I've used this statement,
you'll be knocked off your high horse, but you know there's nothing
about the horse in the Bible here. Maybe he was on a horse, I don't
know, but I do know this, he went down. When he was given
light, light above the brightness of the sun, he went down. And if you and I ever see the
light, we will fall. It will humble us. It'll rip
out those high thoughts we have of ourself. It'll rip out that
arrogance and cockiness and bring us into the dust. That's what happens when God
gives light. It always brings you down and look what it says
next. I fell into the ground and I
heard a voice saying unto me, Saul, Saul. Let me say this. These are the
words of love. Saul, Saul. You see, he loved
Saul. I think that Saul is that rich
young ruler whom the Lord loved, the scripture says. Jesus, looking
upon him, loved him. I don't know that that's the
case, that's speculation, but when he said, Saul, Saul, This
was his chosen vessel to bear his name. And I have no doubt
that when he said this, it was the word of love. Saul, Saul,
why persecutest thou me? Now, in that statement, we're
given the eternal union between every believer and Jesus Christ. When Paul was persecuting believers,
the Lord said, you're persecuting me. You can't separate Jesus
Christ and one of his people. To persecute them is to persecute
him. And that's what he says, why
are you persecuting me? And I love Saul's answer, verse eight,
and I answered, Who art thou, Lord? You know, most people never
ask this question. They have all their preconceived
notions of God and of Christ and hold on to them all the way
to hell and never ask the question, who are you? What a blessing when we find
out we don't know God. And we ask this question, who
are you? Does thou believe on the Son
of God? Who is he, Lord, that I might believe? Who are you, Lord? One thing
he knew is he didn't know who the Lord was. When you get light,
That's when you find out you don't know God. Now, it's not
gonna stop there, but when you get light, here's where it begins. You find out you don't know God. My, that's a good place to be. Who are you, Lord? And he said unto me, verse eight,
I am Jesus of Nazareth. He tells them exactly who he
is. I'm Jesus of Nazareth. I'm that great light speaking
from heaven above the brightness of the sun. I am Jesus of Nazareth,
whom thou persecuted. Verse nine. And they that were
with me saw indeed the light. He had a group with him. And
they saw the light and they were afraid. I'm sure they hit the
dirt right along with Paul, but they heard not the voice of him
that spake to me. They had light, but they didn't
hear the voice. You know, there are folks who
have light, but they've never heard the voice of God. They have light. They see that
God must be sovereign. It's only logical. I remember
reading in Stephen Hawking's book, if there is a God, there's
no such thing as free will. He was writing that book on a
brief history of time. He was a physicist and he made
this statement and it's logical. If there is a God, there's no
such thing as free will. It just makes sense. If I read
the Bible, the pages of the scripture, I see that the Bible does teach
that men are evil. I mean, you can't read the Bible
and not come up with anything but that. The Bible does teach
God elected a people and that Christ died for his sheep and
that God's grace actually saves and God's people persevere. I
see that from the scripture. I can read that and I can see
it from the scripture, from the live scripture. but they never
hear the voice of God and it soon becomes dry doctrine to
them. They get tired of it. They learn some doctrine and
now they're going on something else. They got some light, but
they've never heard the voice. Now what does that mean? I've
never heard the voice of God, I've never heard the voice of
Christ audibly, but I've heard his voice and his word. And here's
the difference. When you've heard the voice of
God, you worship that God is sovereign. You don't just believe
He's sovereign, you worship in your heart and bow before the
God who's sovereign. You believe that you're totally
depraved. Not just in the doctrine of total
depravity, you believe you're the one that's totally depraved.
And oh, God's elective mercy is the only hope you have. The
effectual redemption of Christ is the only hope you have. You've
heard. when grace is not a doctrine
but a necessity. The only way you will be saved. Now there was a bunch of folks
who saw the light, but they didn't hear the voice. Verse 10, and I said, what shall
I do, Lord? Now he's asking the same question
that the Philippian jailer asked, sirs, what must I do to be saved? Now, he didn't say, what must
I do to save myself? He said, what must I do to be
saved? And Paul is asking the same thing.
I'm clueless. What shall I do? You're this
bright light. What shall I do? I don't know
what to do. What shall I do? And I love the
way Paul answered the Philippian jailer, believe. on the Lord
Jesus Christ and thou shalt be saved. Verse 10, go on reading, and
the Lord said unto me, Arise and go into Damascus and there
it shall be told thee of all things which are appointed for
thee to do. Now notice the language. This is a divine appointment.
And it's an appointment that cannot be broken. And it must
be. You go to Damascus and it'll
be told you what you must do. Verse 11, and when I could not
see for the glory of that light, you know when you're blinded?
When you see the light. Not until then. You see the light,
you'll see your own blindness. I love that passage of scripture
in John chapter nine where the Lord said, for judgment am I
coming to the world, that they which see not might see. And that they which see might
be made blind. Now he was blinded at this time
when he saw the light. And when I could not see for
the glory of the light, Being led by the hand of them that
were with me, I came unto Damascus and won Ananias. A devout man, according to the
law, having a good report of all the Jews which dwelt there,
came unto me and stood and said unto me, brother Saul, receive
thy sight. Now who is Ananias? Well, he, for all intents and
purposes was a nobody. You don't hear him of him before
this or after this. Did you know that? Now, if I
was going to say Paul, I would have sent John or Peter or one
of the big shots, but the Lord sends Paul a nobody from nowhere. Ananias. I think it's interesting,
his name means one whom Jehovah has graciously given. Now, here's the point, Paul is
following the pattern. God sent him a preacher. He first
heard the gospel from a preacher, not from the Lord himself. The
Lord said, you go to Damascus, and I'm gonna send a nobody.
You think you're somebody, well, I'm just gonna deal with you
with a nobody, Ananias. And he's gonna tell you what
you must do. You know, that was humbling to
Paul. Of course, not really, because Paul had already been
humbled at this time. He was happy for anything that would
come his way at this time. But Ananias, he comes with a
message. God told him about Paul. You can read about that in Acts
chapter nine. Ananias said, I've heard of the
evil things he does. I don't know about going to him.
And the Lord said, you can go. He's a chosen vessel unto me
to bear my name among the Gentiles. And so I see Ananias coming to
this man, and you see the power of divine grace here. Brother
Saul, brother Saul, receive thy sight. In the same hour, verse 13, I
looked upon him and he said, the God of our fathers hath chosen
thee. That thou shouldest know his
will and see that just one and shouldst hear the voice of his For thou shalt be his witness
unto all men of what you've seen and what you've heard. The first thing Ananias speaks
of is election. First thing he heard, the God of our fathers hath chosen
thee. Now it's been said that election
should not be preached to unbelievers or young believers. It'll confuse
them. They're already confused. The best thing an unbeliever
or a young believer or an old believer, or an in-between, is
this, God is God. He elected a people. That's a good starting point,
isn't it? Listen to me. God elected a people before time
began to be saved. You see, he's God. And election is God Being God
Ephesians 1 4 says according as he hath chosen us in him before
the foundation of the world now if you are saved If God does
something for you You were chosen to be saved before there was
ever a creation That's what the Bible teaches Now listen to this. You cannot
preach the gospel and not preach election. You cannot preach grace
and not preach election. You cannot preach Christ and
not preach election. You cannot preach the true character
of God and not preach election. Somebody that does not preach
publicly declare election is a false prophet period. Anybody that knows God. knows
that God is God, the first cause of all things. And actually this
is where true evangelism begins. This was Ananias' starting point
with the apostle Paul. The God of our fathers hath chosen
thee. Deal with it. I don't know what
else to say. Deal with it. This is who God
is. But what else he said next? The
God of our fathers hath chosen thee, number one, that thou shouldst
know his will. Now, this is not talking about
Knowing His will for your life in the sense that I just want
to know God's will for my life, who I should marry, where I should
live, what I should do for a living. That's not talking about that. You know, preachers say, God's
got a wonderful plan for your life. Such a shame if you mess
it up. Well, that's stupid. Well, I
use that word. Sorry, Lynn's listening. Sorry,
Lynn. She told me not to say that. It just comes out. I can't help it. That's, okay,
let's say plumb-dumb. Plumb-dumb. God's got a wonderful
plan for your life if you just let him know. That's not talking
about that. And it's not talking about the
thou shalt knowest will of command. Paul knew that in backwards and
forwards. He knew the Ten Commandments.
He said, all these have I kept from my youth up. He said, concerning
the righteousness which is in law, I was blameless. He knew
that. What that's talking about is God's will of redemption. John chapter six, I want you
to read this with your own eyes. I could quote it, but I want
you to turn to it. John chapter six. Verse 38, for I came down from
heaven, John chapter 6, 38. I came down from heaven, not
to do mine own will, but the will of him that sent me. And this is the father's will,
which has sent me that of all which he has given me, I should
lose nothing. but should raise it up again
at the last day. And this is the will of him that
sent me that everyone which seeth the sun and believeth on him
may have everlasting life. And I'll raise him up at the
last day." Now there's God's will. It's his will for all of
the elect to be saved. It's His will for everyone who
sees the Son as God, as everything in salvation, to be saved. That's God's will. And to know
God's will is to love God's will. If you know God's will, you love
God's will. All your salvation is in that
statement. And the next thing he says, and
remember, he's the pattern. If me and you were saved, we're
saved the same way he was. God chose me. Why? To know his
will, his will of redemption. And secondly, to see that just
one. Now he doesn't say to see the
merciful one. He doesn't say to see the forgiving one. He
doesn't say to see the gracious one. Although he is all those
things. But when you see him, you see
that just one. The only salvation that gives
meaning and comfort is a just salvation. A salvation that magnifies
all the attributes of God. A just salvation. And if it's not an absolutely
just salvation, I don't have any confidence in it. It won't
save me. But the salvation of Christ, He is the just one. He's the one who made the way
for God to be just and justify the ungodly. He's how that publican
could come down to his house justified. Even when he said,
God be merciful to me, the sinner, it's a just salvation. Sin paid
for, righteousness established. Just lot. Just lot. That righteous man. See that just one and hear the
voice of his mouth. Now, what that means is, well,
Paul heard it audibly, but when you hear the gospel, you know
it's God's word. It's not some denominational
distinctive. It's not man's opinion. It's
God's word. That's when you hear, when you
know that it's God's word. It's not man's word. It's not
the preacher's word. It's God's word. You hear the voice of his
mouth and what he says in verse 15, for thou shalt be his witness unto all
men of what you've seen and what you've heard." Now, here is the
problem with most religious people. All they have is second-hand
information. They're parroting what somebody else has told them,
and they've never really seen or heard anything. You can't
be a witness about what somebody else has seen and what somebody
else has heard. Thou shalt be his witness of
what thou hast seen and what thou hast heard. Now, I've seen that he is the just one. I've heard the voice of his mouth
in that sense. For thou shalt be his witness,
may the Lord, that's, I wanna speak as his witness. as his
witness. I've seen something. If you haven't
seen something, you can't bear witness to it. Thou shalt be
his witness unto all men of what you've seen and heard. And now
why tarryest thou? What are you waiting on? Evidently, he was waiting on
something. Arise and be baptized. Wash away thy sins, calling on
the name of the Lord. Now, what are you waiting on? To get better? To stop some sin? And to start doing some good
thing? What are you waiting on? Do you understand more? Arise
and be baptized. Don't wait on anything. Don't
wait for yourself to become more savable. Arise and confess Christ
in believer's baptism. I love what the Ethiopian eunuch
said, what hinders me from being baptized? If you believe with
all your heart, you may. I believe that Jesus Christ is
the son of God. Now let me remind you, faith
is not believing you're saved. Faith is believing who he is. And when he said wash away your
sins, Baptism doesn't wash away your sins. What baptism represents
does wash away your sins. Saved by the death, the burial,
and the resurrection of Christ. Now, Lord willing, tonight, we're
gonna consider the second half of his defense. And there's something
he said during this second half that made everybody say, away
with such a fella. It's not fit that he should live.
Get him off the earth. And we'll consider that tonight.
Let's pray. Lord, we ask in Christ's name
that you will appear to us as you did to Paul, and that we
might be knocked off our high thoughts of ourself, and that
we might be made to ask, who are you, Lord, and that you'd
reveal to us who you are. that we might hear that you have
chosen us to know thy will, to see the just one and hear the
voice of his mouth and be his witness. Lord, bless this message
for your glory and for our good. In Christ's name we pray.