Would you turn back to Acts chapter
9 while you're turning there? Tonight, I'm going to be speaking
from the verse, Awake thou that sleepest, and rise from the dead,
and Christ shall give thee light. Now he's speaking to believers.
Yes, it's to unbelievers, but it's to believers too. Awake
thou that sleepest, rise from the dead, and Christ shall give
thee light. Look back at our text in Acts
chapter nine. I've entitled this message life's
two greatest questions, and you'll see them as we read these verses. Verse five, and he said, Who
art thou, Lord? There's life's first, greatest
question. Who art thou, Lord? And the Lord said, I am Jesus,
whom thou persecutest. It's hard for thee to kick against
the pricks. And he, trembling and astonished,
said, Here's life's second greatest question. Lord, what wilt thou have me to do? Life's two greatest questions. Who are you, Lord? And Lord, what would you have
me to do? These are life's two greatest
questions. Not, is there a God? Everybody already knows the answer
to that. Intuitively, we're born with that knowledge. And by the
light of creation, we can see somebody made all this and nobody
made him. Everybody is born with that knowledge.
There's no such thing as atheism in that sense. And the question
is not, well, what's my purpose? If there's a God, your purpose
is to glorify Him. Now, these are not the questions
that someone asks is truly seeking the living God. The question
is, who art thou, Lord? And what would you have me to
do? Not what can I do to get you
to act for me, but what would you have me to do? Now, this is one of three times
this question is asked in the book of Acts. On the day of Pentecost,
after Peter preached that message, their response was, men and brethren,
what should we do? They had seen that they were
guilty of crucifying the Lord of glory. We're in a mess. We're
in trouble. What shall we do? And then you
remember the Philippian jailer. After Paul and Silas had prevented
him from committing suicide, he was in such straits. He said,
sirs, what must I do to be saved? And here in this passage of scripture, Paul, after finding out who the
Lord is, says, what would you have me to do? Now, this question
is only asked after we're knocked down. That's what happened with
the men on the day of Pentecost. They saw what they were guilty
of. That's when they ask this question. The Philippian jailer
was at the point of suicide and Paul and Silas stopped him. That's
when he asked this question. And Paul is knocked off his horse
and sees this great light from heaven. And that's when he asks
this question. When this takes place, when I,
when you are brought down, This then becomes life's most important,
most paramount, and most critical question. Who are you, Lord? And Lord, what will thou have
me to do? Life's two greatest questions. Now, the most important question
is, who art thou, Lord? Who asks this question? Well,
look in Acts chapter 7, verse 58. This is at the stoning of Stephen.
Verse 57, then they cried with a loud voice and stopped their
ears and ran upon him with one accord. and cast him out of the
city and stoned him. And the witnesses laid down their
clothes at a young man's feet, whose name was Saul. He was the instigator of this.
Chapter eight, verse one, and Saul was consenting unto his
death. He was a complete agreement.
Look in verse three, as for Saul, he made havoc of the church.
entering into every house and hailing men and women, committed
them to prison. Chapter nine, and Saul, yet breathing
out threatenings and slaughter against the disciples of the
Lord, went to the high priest and desired of him letters to
Damascus, to the synagogues, that if he found any of this
way, whether they were men or women, he might bring them bound
unto Jerusalem. And as he journeyed, He came
near Damascus and suddenly there shined round about him a light
from heaven. And when you have a light from
heaven, here's what's gonna happen to you and here's what's gonna
happen to me. He fell to the earth and he heard a voice saying
unto him, Saul, Saul, why persecutest thou me? And he said, who art
thou, Lord? Now when light comes, and this
is so important, Acts 26 says there was a light above the brightness
of the sun. This light that came to Paul,
this represents Paul was in darkness, now he's given this light. When the Lord comes to you, if
he comes, he'll come as light. And you're going to see that
this book, he is the light of it. You're going to understand
that. You're going to understand that he's not the central theme
of this book. He's the only theme of this book. And you'll see
that. You know, when I hear people
talk about the scriptures and they say, well, the scriptures
are given to help us to live and teach us how to walk in this
world. That's such a shallow view of
the scriptures. That's all I can say about it. It's a trite, in
the Bible is given to reveal Christ. That's the message of
this book. Somebody says, doesn't it teach
us how to live? You already know how to live. Everybody in here does.
You're born with the law written in your heart. You're born knowing
the difference between right and wrong. You know what to do.
The only light there is is Christ Jesus, the light, the only message
of this book. He's the light of who God is.
That's how he appeared to Paul. All you're ever gonna know of
the God of glory is Jesus Christ. He's the light of who the living
God is. There is no knowledge of God. There is no understanding of
the God of glory, the eternal God, apart from Jesus Christ. He's the light by which we see
ourselves. Job said, I've heard of thee
with the hearing of the ear, but now mine eyes have seen thee.
Wherefore I hate myself and repent in dust and ashes. You're not
gonna see how sinful you are until you see him. If you see
him, you'll see how sinful you are. And if you don't see him,
you won't see it. He's the light of how a holy
God can be just and justify a guilty sinner. He's the light of how
God can say, I'll by no means clear the guilty and yet save
someone who in and of themselves are nothing but guilt. He said to that woman who was
caught in adultery, neither do I condemn thee. Hath no man condemned
thee? No man, Lord, nothing to condemn
her for. Neither do I, condemned thee.
Go and sin no more. Now, who art thou, Lord? I'd love for somebody to ask
me that question. What a blessing that would be. Who is Jesus Christ? Who art thou, Lord? Well, he is the eternal, uncreated
Son of God. Now, remember, me and you are
creatures. We're creatures. The Lord created. But He's no
creature. He is the uncreated, eternal
Son of God. I love the way the Gospel of
Mark begins. The beginning of the Gospel of
Jesus Christ. The Son of God. Who art thou, Lord? He's the
uncreated Son. of God. Now when he calls himself
the Son of God, we know from John 5, 18, they got mad at him
for this reason. He called God his Father, making
himself equal with God. That's who Jesus Christ is. The
one who is equal with God. Now let me remind you, the only
one who is equal with God is God. Jesus Christ. is the uncreated, eternal Son
of God. In the beginning was the Word,
and the Word was with God. It's a distinct person, and the
Word was God. The same was, eternally was,
in the beginning with God. I love Isaiah 9, verse 6. It becomes more mysterious, more
glorious the more I read it. Unto us a child is born. He's born at a point in time,
some 2,000 years ago, but unto us a son is given. That son was never born. That's
the eternal son of God. And the government, the dominion,
the control, the sovereignty shall be upon his shoulders. That means he's ruling and reigning
in every way, controlling everything. Somebody says, I don't believe
that. He's controlling that too. He's in absolute sovereign control. The government is upon his shoulders. His name shall be called Wonderful
Counselor. And let me remind you, that counselor
isn't talking about somebody who you go and get good advice
from. He said, I will do all my counsel. He's the one who
decrees and counsels all things that take place. His name shall
be called Wonderful Counselor, the Mighty God, the Everlasting
Father. Somebody says, explain that.
I wouldn't even attempt to. But I love it that it says that.
Remember when he said to Philip, he that has seen me has seen
the Father? the Prince of Peace. Turn with me to Hebrews chapter
1. Who art thou, Lord? Hebrews chapter 1. who at sundry times and in diverse
manners, spake in times past unto the fathers by the prophets,
hath in these last days spoken to us by, I like the way he is
in italics, by son. All he has to say is his son. That's it. That's God's final
word. Whom, here's who his son is,
whom he hath appointed heir. of all things by whom also he
made the worlds, he's the creator, who being the brightness of his
glory and the express image of his person and upholding all
things by the word of his power when he had by himself purged
our sins, sat down on the right hand of the majesty on high being
made so much better than the angels as he hath by inheritance
because of who he is, obtained a more excellent name than they. I love the way, who art thou
Lord? I love it when the Pharisees
were questioning him and he said, before Abraham was, I am. That's his name from the bush.
I am that I am. And I love to think of that bush
that burned but could not be consumed. What a beautiful picture
of the Lord Jesus Christ. That bush did not need the energy
of the wood to keep the flame going. The utter independence
of the Lord Jesus Christ. He has no needs. That bush could
not be consumed. The perfect humanity of the Lord
Jesus Christ could not be consumed by the wrath of God. He consumed
the wrath. I am that I am. Who art thou,
Lord? I am that I am. Upon the announcement of his
birth, the angel said that holy thing. And I love, it's almost
like, what are we gonna call him? That holy thing, what word
can we use? That holy thing which shall be
born of thee shall be called the Son of God. Equal with the
Father, the Creator. At his baptism, the voice came
down from heaven, this is my beloved Son. in whom I am well
pleased. What did Satan question? If you're
the son of God. I have no doubt that he was there
when that voice came down from heaven and that's the question
he put, if you're the son of God, prove it. What God says
does not need to be proved. If he said it, nothing else is
needed. When he preached that message
in John chapter 6 and the multitudes left him, he watched them leave. And he didn't say anything about,
let me rephrase that, let me state it differently, maybe you'll
stay. No. He looked at the 12 and he said,
will you also go away? Peter said, to whom shall we
go? Thou hast the words of eternal life and we believe and are sure
that thou art that Christ, the Son of the living God. When he said to his disciples,
Whom say men that I am? Well, they put you in some high
cotton. Some say John the Baptist, others Elias, one of the prophets.
Whom say ye that I am? Thou art that Christ, the Son
of the living God. Now this is the issue. Who is
He? What God thinks about you is
seen in what you think concerning His Son. Thou art the Christ, God's prophet
like no other prophet. I've said this several times
recently, but I'm going to say it again. I like saying this. Every other prophet said, thus
saith the Lord. He said, I say unto you. Every other priest brought the
blood of an animal sacrifice. It could never put away sin.
He brought his own blood that puts away sin. Every other king
has only borrowed authority. He's the king of kings and the
Lord of Who art thou, Lord? He is the uncreated, eternal
Son of God, God's prophet, God's priest, God's king, and he has
every attribute of God dwelling in his body. That's who he is.
In him dwelleth all the fullness of the Godhead bodily. Now, I
wish I could talk about what all that means, but do you know
all the fullness of the Father is in him? and all of the fullness
of the Spirit is in him. All the fullness of the Godhead,
all that God is, resides. Every attribute of God resides
in his body. When the Roman centurion heard
him cry, it is finished, he said, surely this is. The Son of God. Who art thou,
Lord? The Son of God. And this one
who is the Son of God is Jesus of Nazareth, a real man. The Word was made flesh and dwelt
among us. Great is the mystery of godliness. God was manifest in the flesh. The Word was made flesh born
of a virgin. Somebody says, explain that to
me. I'm not going to try it, but he was born of a virgin.
Born of a virgin. You see, if he would have been
born with Adam's seed, he'd be a sinner like Adam. And that's
not going to be. He was born of a virgin. I love that passage
of Scripture where John says, whosoever confesseth that Jesus
Christ has come in the flesh is of God. In that simple confession,
we have He was before He came, His eternal sonship. He came in the flesh. The Word
was made flesh and He did what He came to do. He saved His people
from their sins. Who art thou, Lord? He's the
Lord. You know what that means? You know, people talk about the
Lordship issue. There's no issue to the Lordship of Christ. He's
the Lord. He's everybody's Lord. He's Lord
of creation. He's Lord of providence. Everything
that's taking place right now, He's in control of. He's the
first cause. He's Lord of salvation. That means if you're saved, it's
up to Him. He's the Lord of unbelievers
and believers. Somebody says, how can you say
that? Well, the scripture says He's the Lord of both the dead and
living. He is Lord. Who art thou, Lord? He found
out, Jesus of Nazareth. Now, the question that arises
out of that, who is, who art thou, Lord? Well, He's the Son
of God. He's the Creator. He's the absolute sovereign of
the universe. He's the man Christ Jesus. He came in the flesh and
did what God sent him to do. Here's the question that arises
out of that, that must come out of that. Lord, what will thou
have me to do? Now notice the wording of that
question. Not Lord, what can I do to get you to respond to
me? Not what can I do to get you to act? Nothing like that.
Lord, what would you have me to do? What is your will for
me to do? Now, we ask this question and
a lot of some things that we've learned that we cannot do and
we're knocked down. You see, all the men that asked
this question had been knocked down by the Lord Himself. And
what a blessing that is when that takes place. The men of Pentecost learned
this when they found out they were guilty of crucifying Christ. The Philippian jailer had learned
to ask this question when he's getting ready to commit suicide
and Paul and Silas stops him. And Paul asked this question
when he sees that great light and he's knocked down. Now, you'll
only ask this question when you're taught that there's absolutely
nothing we can do. to obligate God to save us. Have you learned that? There's absolutely nothing me
or you can do to obligate God to save us. You and people talk about, well,
how can it be fair for God to elect some and not elect everybody?
How can it be fair for Christ to die only for the elect and
not die for everybody? Well, what you're saying is,
how could it be fair for God to not save me? That's it. That's the
bottom line. And you haven't been knocked
down yet. Because if you're ever knocked down, if I'm ever knocked
down, we'll quit that foolishness of, how could God be fair? Whatever
God does is right, just, holy, and true. And if He passes me
by, holy is His name. We've learned that we can't please
God. Romans 8, 7 and 8 says the carnal mind is enmity with God. It's not subject to the law of
God. Neither indeed can be. So then they that are in the
flesh cannot please God. We cannot, by natural wisdom
and searching, figure this thing out. I'm completely dependent
upon him to reveal himself to me. I don't have any control
on this. If he doesn't reveal himself to me, I'll never know
him. We can't even come to Christ
unless He draws us. No man can come to Me except
the Father which has sent Me draw him. You know, you've never
come to Christ until you found out you can't. We can't of ourselves
believe. Faith is His gift. By grace He
is saved through faith. And that not of yourselves, it's
the gift of God. You see, faith, you don't choose
to believe. You don't decide to believe.
Now it's only when I am brought here that I'm going to ask this
question, what will thou have me to do? Not what am I able
to do, but what would you have me to do? If you don't will me
to do it, I won't do it. I realize that. But what will
you have me to do? Now, life's first great question,
who art thou, Lord? Life's second great question,
what will thou have me to do? And when the Philippian jailer
asked this question, sirs, what must I do to be saved? Paul didn't say, well, there's
nothing you can do. That's coming to the Lord on
legal grounds. He didn't say that, did he? He
said, believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shalt be saved. What would the Lord have me do? Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ
right now. Right now. You trust Him as all
there is in making you accepted before God. When the men on the day of Pentecost
said, men and brethren, what shall we do? I love Peter's answer. Repent. What's that mean? Change your mind. Everything
you thought is wrong. Everything. Change your mind. Particularly change your mind
about salvation, that there's something you can do to get it. Change your mind. What am I called upon to do?
Seek the Lord. You know, Zacchaeus, when he
went up in that tree, what was he doing? He sought to see Jesus,
who he was. When the publican went to the
temple to pray, he was seeking the Lord, wasn't he? When that
Ethiopian eunuch was reading the Bible, he'd gone to Jerusalem,
he's coming back, he was seeking the Lord. He didn't know what
it was he was seeking totally, but he was seeking the Lord.
Seek the Lord. What am I to do? What would he
have me do? Well, he'd have you take your
place as a sinner before him. You know, the Lord, God will
meet me and you on the ground we come. This is so important. You think of those two men that
went to the temple to pray. They came on totally different
grounds. The one came on the ground of
his works. Lord, I thank you that I'm not as other men are.
And God met him on that ground. If you want to come to God that
way, he'll meet you there. God always pays his debts too.
You can count on that. But how did the publican come? God be merciful to me, the sinner. And the Lord met him on that
ground. He said, I say unto you, that man went down to his house
and justified rather than the other. Lord, what would you have me
do? Well, he'd have us renounce all hope of salvation. except
in Christ. What's that mean? If my salvation
is dependent upon my knowledge, or my experience, or my faith,
or my repentance, or my holy living, I have no hope. My salvation is entirely in the
Lord Jesus to where all God requires of me, he looks to his son for. And I look nowhere else. What am I to do? What would he
have me to do? I'm to cast myself on the mercy
of God, just like that leopard did. You remember how the leopard
came to him? Oh, this is somebody says, what?
What am I to do? What would you have me do? Here's
what you're to do. Here's what he would have you
do. Come to Christ just like that leper did right now. Lord, first he worshipped him. You worship him for who he is.
Lord, if you will, I'm casting myself on your mercy, Lord, if
you will. You can make me clean. And the
Lord said, I will be thou clean. Romans 10, 13, whosoever shall
call, whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be
saved. Lord, what would you have me
do? Well, if you believe, confess him before men. Confess him before men. Identify with his gospel, with
his people. Confess him in believer's baptism. Men and brethren, what shall
we do? Repent and be baptized, every one of you, in the name
of Jesus Christ. You're confessing that all your
salvation is in what He did. Confess Him before me. You know,
I want to be identified with Him, don't you? I want to be
identified with His gospel. That's all I want to be identified
with, is Him. Now, what would you have me do?
Repent, believe, Seek the Lord, take my place as a sinner, renounce
all other hopes of salvation but Christ. Cast myself on his
mercy and confess him before men. Now these are life's two
greatest questions. Who are you, Lord? And when you find out who he
is, here's your next question, Lord. What would you have me
to do? Let's pray. Lord, would you, by your grace
and by your spirit, cause each one of us to ask these questions
Who are you? And Lord, answer us for Christ's
sake. Make yourself known to us and
give us the grace to say, Lord, what would you
have me to do? And Lord, give us the grace to
do what you would have us to do, to believe, to repent, to
cast ourself on your mercy, to take our place as a sinner, to
look to Christ only. Lord, this is above the strength
and energy of the flesh. We ask that you would be pleased
to do this for us and in us, for Christ's sake. In His name
we pray, amen.