So I wanted to look at what it
is to be in fellowship this morning and I wanted us to look at the
one who spoke such sweet words about this fellowship and we've
spent this last several years in the company of our friend
Paul as he's journeyed. from his bitter enmity against
the Gospel to being this man who is commissioned of our Lord
God to write half the New Testament Scriptures. And it's remarkable to think
of how God takes the weak things of this world and takes the foolish
things of this world and the things that are despised, the
things that men can set it nought like Paul himself, and use this
man for his glory and for our good. And here we are 2,000 years
later almost, and we're still reading the words of Paul, and
we still find the words of Paul the words of God, and we find
ourselves We find ourselves delighting, brothers and sisters, don't we,
in the same God that Paul delighted in. He met the Lord Jesus Christ.
He was personally commissioned by the Lord Jesus Christ. And
the remarkable thing is that you would think that Paul would
be this extraordinarily impressive man when you met him. you would
think that he would be sort of powerful in speech and powerful
in presence and this imposing character who strides across
this last 2,000 years of history as the most significant man apart
from the Lord Jesus Christ. And yet he says himself that
he has this treasure in an earthen vessel It says in 2 Corinthians
10.10 that his letters, they say, are weighty and powerful,
but his bodily presence is weak. Other people can compare themselves
with themselves, says Paul, but he, when he is looked at by men,
His bodily presence is weak and his speech contemptible. He says elsewhere in chapter
11, he says his speech was rude. He abases himself. He says in
1 Corinthians 2, these remarkable things, he came to them, in verse
1, he says, he came to them not with excellency of speech or
of wisdom. And he says he was determined
to know nothing among them save Jesus Christ and him crucified. Verse 2 he says, verse 3, I'm
sorry, 1 Corinthians 2, he says, I was with you, you Corinthians, It's remarkable, isn't it? I suppose one of the things that
really is endearing of Paul is the reality of his humanity. And that's the thing that's so
endearing about all the figures that we read of in the Scriptures,
is the reality of their humanity. And the fact that, as Paul goes
on to say, In the next verse in 1 Corinthians 2, in my speech
and preaching was not with the enticing words of man's wisdom. You didn't sit and listen to
Paul and think this man is appealing to my intellect with his great
wisdom or his speech. His bodily presence was nothing.
So there he was, a wizened up looking character and his speech
His speech was contemptible. And my speech, he says, and my
preaching was not with the enticing words of man's wisdom, but in
demonstration of the spirit and of power. The point being made,
of course, isn't it, is that the power of conversion, the
power of the delivery of the Gospel, doesn't rest in what
we see with our fleshly eyes. It rests in who God is. And listen
to why he says this in verse 5. That your faith should not
stand in the wisdom of men, but in the power of God. You see,
we have a spiritual message to deliver to God's spiritual children. And all of God's witnesses, including
the Lord Jesus Christ, were so human. and seemed so frail in
his humanity that you could dismiss him as a nothing. Herod took
him into his court with his soldiers there and it says that he set
the Lord Jesus Christ at naught. Now of course the Lord Jesus
humbled himself and became as a servant and bearing the guilt
of his people he didn't open his mouth. But his servants not
only declare the Lord Jesus Christ but they reflect him in many
other ways indeed. As I read earlier in Romans 1,
verse 11, he longed to see these people. He was there to see them,
this vessel, this treasure in an earthen vessel. He longed
to see them. He was longing to be with them.
He was longing to impart some spiritual gift. He was longing
to be encouraged by them, mutually encouraged, mutually comforted.
by their faith, he had this desire wherever he went to preach the
gospel. So why all of this history of
Paul? In Acts 20, this last Acts, we
have him declaring his conversion story an extra two times. We
have him declaring who the Lord Jesus Christ is on occasions,
but most of that two years in Caesarea Philpi, he was in jail.
He had three months on Melita, and no doubt he preached the
Gospel. But the Holy Spirit is silent
about the establishment of a church on the island of Malta at that
time. We can't say that there weren't believers there, but
we have nothing in the Scriptures that says that there was a church
established there. And so Paul, it seems, has spent
his time travelling, locked up in jail, And we have this history
that the Holy Spirit has given us of him. So why so much of
this history of Paul? I think the simple answer is
that Paul is God's witness to the Gentiles. And Paul's history
is given us so that we might know from God his word of promise. We might know from God his providence. We might know from God that he
raises up his witnesses and he protects and he directs the paths
of these witnesses and those witnesses will always perfectly
fulfill the purposes of God. that we might know the sovereignty
of God, that we might know the faithfulness of God to his promise.
He promised that Braun was going to Rome, and it didn't matter
what the storms did, and it didn't matter what the wicked Jews did,
and it didn't matter what deceitful Felix was trying to do. God would
deliver his servant to Rome. This man is an earthen vessel,
he says in 2 Corinthians 4, we have a treasure in earthen vessels
that the excellency of the power might be of God and not of us. We are to look beyond what we
see with fleshly eyes. This man is an earthen vessel,
but he's God's earthen vessel. You believe him, You believe
his testimony by the grace of God and you believe to the salvation
of your souls. You believe not his testimony.
You believe not his testimony and you'll answer to God for
it. He says of himself in 2 Corinthians I have spoken. God's servants
are witnesses. We can only witness to what we
have seen, witness to what we have heard. We spent some time
a little while ago looking at Acts chapter 26 and it's good
to go back and think about it and answer the question, well
how did you come to believe Paul? And who did you come to believe?
And why then do you speak? I believe therefore I have spoken. We are given in the New Testament,
in the book of Acts, we're given three recordings of this remarkable
meeting of the Lord Jesus Christ. So how did you come to believe?
Verse 13 of Acts chapter 26, a light from heaven at midday. King I saw a light from heaven
a light from heaven there must be an illumination from on high
How did you believe Paul there was an illumination from on high
the second thing is? That we're all fallen to the
ground There is, when you meet with God, there is a humbling
of the flesh of all men, and you'll never get over it if you
are a child of God. And you'll hear a voice, listen
to it, I heard a voice speaking. When Paul was preaching the gospel,
who was speaking, the hearts regenerated by heard God speaking
to them, and God speaking to them as like a light from heaven
that shines upon the Lord Jesus Christ. He heard a voice speaking,
and when the voice speaks, you'll hear it speaking personally,
Saul, Saul, why persecutest thou me? You will hear this voice
from heaven you will be humbled and you'll have your sin and
your presence before this awesome God revealed. And then Paul says this question,
which is the question of everyone in religion who hasn't met the
Lord Jesus Christ. It doesn't matter whether it's
in pagan religion or so-called Christian religion. Paul was
a five-point Calvinist, for want of a better word. He believed
in the absolute sovereignty of God. He believed that Christ
was coming for the elect children of God. He believed that those
who were elected from before the foundation of the world were
going to persevere in faith. He believed all of these things.
He believed the scriptures, or so he thought he did. And he
didn't have a clue who God was. It will have revealed to them
that their religious understanding was just darkness. What they
thought was light was darkness. What they thought was the knowledge
of the character of God was just ignorance of him. Who are they?
And all of God's children will hear the word from the Lord,
won't they? I am Jesus, whom thou And listen to this commissioning
of Paul's. He says, but rise, verse 16, and stand upon thy
feet, for I have appeared unto thee for this purpose. God never
appears to anyone without there being a purpose. Appeared unto
thee for this purpose, to make thee a minister, to make him
a servant. Paul spent the rest of his life
as a servant. Wherever he went, he was just
a servant. He humbled himself before all
the people he ever met just to be a servant. He worked with
his hands so that he could be a servant. He did everything
he could that he might just be a servant or minister. And a
witness both of these things which thou hast seen and those
things in which I will appear unto you. The Lord Jesus Christ
appears but he continues to reveal himself to his people Delivering
thee from the people and from the Gentiles unto whom I now
send thee, God's people will be sent people. Did he long to
be sent? Did he long to be sent like Paul? He was anxious to get to Rome,
wasn't he? He was anxious to get to these
people in Rome. He was anxious to go wherever
he possibly could. is sent. We are brothers and
sisters in Christ. We are sent into this world for
this very short time. We have this very short time
to exercise faith. We have this very short time
to exercise our witness. Paul was anxious about it, and
he prayed about it. But when God's people are sent
on the purpose of God, what happens? description of conversionism,
to open their eyes to see who the Lord Jesus Christ really
is, to turn them from darkness to light. from the power of Satan
unto God, that they may receive the forgiveness of sins, not
earn the forgiveness of sins, they receive the forgiveness
of sins. Your sins, brothers and sisters, were forgiven by
the Lord Jesus Christ on Calvary Street. Paul's sins were forgiven
when he was an enemy and hated God. His sins of hatred, his
sins of enmity, his sins of rebellion against God, his sins of rebellion
against the open witness of the Lord Jesus Christ, they were
put away long before Paul was met by the Lord Jesus Christ.
They received the forgiveness of sins and inheritance among
them. All of God's children are inheritors. All the brethren of God, all
the brethren are inheritors. you earn an inheritance, you
receive an inheritance because of someone else's activities
and someone else's promise, and by your association with them,
your normally family association with them. To among them which
are sanctified, declared to be holy, holy because
of the work of the Lord Jesus Christ, sanctified by faith that
is in me. Paul says, I believed. He believed
God, therefore he spanked. He didn't need anyone's approval.
He didn't have to go to the apostles and find out whether they approved
of what his message was. He simply immediately began preaching
the Lord Jesus Christ, it says in Acts chapter 9. See, salvation
is belief in the truth, the truth of who the Lord Jesus Christ
is, a truth delivered to us by a man like us in every way. The whole proclamation of the
gospel requires a humbling, doesn't it? A humbling in the person
speaking, and a humbling in the people listening. Just a man. You can look at this man, and
you can look at the man speaking to you now, and the easiest thing
in the world is to find fault, and say, well this man could
be this, and he could be that. in it. I'd love to be something
other than what I am, but we are what we are, says Paul, by
the grace of God. Salvation is belief in the truth,
the truth that's in the Lord Jesus Christ and is delivered
to us by men, which is why not only do we have Paul's gospel
proclaimed again and again throughout these New Testament accounts
in Acts, but we have the witness of his life. Paul's life was
recorded in Scripture that the witness, the testimony of God,
might be fully known. See, Paul, when he was speaking
and when he was writing, wrote with all the very authority of
God. Peter says he's writing Scripture, even when he's condemning
Peter for his hypocrisy in Antioch. Peter says he's writing Scripture. The book that we have is the
book of God's testimony, God's testimony about himself and God's
testimony of his work in the hearts of people. Paul was an
earthen vessel. He says in 2 Corinthians 4 verse
8, he says, I'm troubled on every side, yet not distressed, perplexed,
but not in despair. persecuted but not forsaken,
cast down but not destroyed. Can you bear witness to some
of that? You will. You will, children
of God, in this world, you will bear testimonies. One of the
reasons we have this testimony of Paul's life is that we will
journey through this world and we will suffer in one way or
another the many things that's given unto you to suffer for
the sake of the Lord Jesus Christ. Paul wasn't called into a Club
Med holiday when he met the Lord Jesus Christ. We're called into
a battle, aren't we? We're called into a war. And
some people quite rightly categorize church as a hospital. But it's
a hospital, it's a field hospital for those who've been out in
the battleground. They come in, come into a place
of sanctuary and comfort, and we hear yet again from our Master
saying, it's well with the righteous. Whatever you see that causes
distress through the eyes of flesh, We need to walk by faith,
not by sight, because our sight will always, always let us down. Paul says he's always bearing
about in his body the dying of the Lord Jesus Christ, that the
life also of Jesus might be made manifest in our body. Other people And people in religion
can glory in appearances. When Paul was marching down the
Damascus road with all of his extraordinary learning and all
of his zeal which was commended by other people, he appeared
someone great. Gamaliel and Caiaphas and the
others appeared to be great. Beware of people. God's people are humbled people. God's people are humbled by the
circumstances of life in this world. It's extraordinary, isn't
it, that Paul was seen as so human and seen as so frail that
when powerful and impressive people came to Corinth and came
to Galatia, they could be critical of Paul.
Isn't it extraordinary that our apostle Paul, the apostle to
the Gentiles, had the right to defend himself? It's extraordinary,
isn't it? You think back on it with horror. But such was the nature of this
earthen vessel. He says, that he's an ambassador
of Christ, as though God did beseech you by us. He says we
are workers together with Christ, but in that same letter he's
defending himself against those who would bring faction and division
in the Corinthian church. Listen to what he says in 2 Corinthians
6 about his life. I want us to see, brothers and
sisters, that just as the Lord Jesus Christ was touched with
the feeling of our infirmities, Paul the Apostle was touched
with the feeling of our infirmities. He's not standing above us and
saying, look at the life that I've lived and I'm free of all
these things because of my victorious faith, like so many silly people
say today. He suffered like we did in 2 Corinthians. He says in verse 3, giving no
offence in anything that the ministry might not be blamed.
God's people hate the thought of giving offence, that the gospel
may be hindered by our behaviour. But in all things approving ourselves
as ministers of God, in much patience, in afflictions, in
necessities, in distresses, in stripes, in imprisonments, in
tumults, in labours, in watchings, in fastings, by pureness, by
knowledge, by long-suffering, by kindness, by the Holy Spirit,
and by love unfeigned. By the word of truth and by the
power of God, by the armour of righteousness on the right hand
and the left, by honour and dishonour, good report, as deceivers. He was considered to be a deceiver. How do you get into those churches
in Galatia and establish yourself as a pastor and a preacher over
those people that Paul had been there? You had plenty of flesh
in Paul to criticize, didn't you? And you had plenty of your
activities, your fleshly activities to boast in. They simply said
that Christ is wonderful for salvation, but Christ is not
completely sufficient for all of your salvation. We'll show
you how to live. We'll show you some things to
do. We'll show you how you can honour God by being like us. They had credentials. Paul says, unknown, and yet well
known, as dying and behold we live, as chastened and not killed,
as sorrowful yet always rejoicing, as poor yet making many rich,
as having nothing, as having nothing, yet possessing all things. You see, Paul had his heart,
as he did with the Romans, he did with the Corinthians, he
did with other believers, a heart, a new heart that was given him
of the Lord Jesus Christ, a heart that loved his brothers and sisters. Listen to what he says to these
Corinthians. O ye Corinthians, our mouth is open unto you, our
heart is enlarged. If you're downcast by the things
of this world, child of God, the fellowship of the brethren
encourages the saints of God. And then he says, you are not
straightened in us. So he's saying you're not constrained
in any way. There's nothing in us that constrains
our love and our affection for you, but you are straightened. You are the ones that are turning
yourselves away from me. He's saying, don't do it. Don't
do it. I have a flesh that is so weak
that it can be considered contemptible. But he's an ambassador. He's
an ambassador with a message from the king. And when the king
sends out an ambassador, The king takes full responsibility
for the ambassador's message and he takes full responsibility
for the ambassador's life. The ambassador is just to deliver
a letter. This is what God says. This is who the Lord Jesus Christ
is. This is where salvation is. This is the only place there
is where there is salvation. There is no other place. We might, by the grace of God,
have Paul's example and his testimony and his weakness as a message
to us in our distresses. That it is our King who is responsible
for his message. He's responsible for the delivery
of it. He's responsible for the response to it. He's responsible
for the fruit of it. one, isn't it? We just simply
say, thus saith the Lord. And for nearly all of what we
say in the New Testament, we say, thus saith Paul. To disagree
with Paul on any issues of doctrine is to disagree with God entirely. You'll have to take up that case
with God when you meet him. All I can do is warn you. Some
believed wherever Paul went, some believed and some believed
not. See, believing not is an active
turning from the truth. There is a gospel witness that
we bear, a gospel witness that brings companionship and brings
fellowship and brings delight to the hearts of God's people.
because it's a fellowship in the Lord Jesus Christ. It's a
fellowship that's brought to us by the most humbling means
that God could possibly have. It humbles everyone. And to be
humbled before God, to be stripped of our pride, to be stripped
of our religious righteousness, to be stripped of all things,
and to be left humbled at the feet of our God May God cause us to be people
who have fellowship with Paul, fellowship with his saviour,
fellowship with his doctrine, fellowship with the people that
Paul's now fellowshiping with in heaven right now. What a glorious
thought. glorious thought of being amongst
the brethren in heaven. See religion is continually telling
people how to live in this world. God's people are continually
saying and preparing people for the next world and meeting the
Lord Jesus robed in his righteousness, washed in his blood, sanctified
by his blessed Holy Spirit. You'll meet him with joy because
this word has become powerful in your hearts and you've received
it as the Thessalonians did, not as a word from God, not as
a word from men. but as a word from God Himself,
declaring the glories of our successful, sovereign, substitutionary
Saviour. May Lord bless His words to us.
Let's have a break for a little bit.