Oh, okay. Yeah, we've finished
our business meeting. Thank you, Cole. Now we can turn
to what all of this has come to. Why don't we turn in our
scriptures to Exodus 33. I'm looking again at what it
is to be a Christian, and a Christian is someone who is led and has
someone, has the gospel revealed to him, but a Christian is to
find in so many wonderful ways in the Scriptures, but mostly
as someone who belongs to the Lord Jesus Christ. And someone
who belongs to the Lord Jesus Christ is a recipient of grace
and recipients of grace call out for more grace. So in Exodus
33, there is this verse that we've repeated many, many times
in the last 12 or 15 years that we've been together. Verse 12,
Exodus 33, And Moses said unto the Lord, See thou sayest unto
me, bring up this people, and thou hast not let me know whom
thou wilt send with me. Yet thou hast said, I know thee
by name, and thou hast found grace in my sight. Now therefore I pray thee, if
I have found grace in thy sight, show me now thy way. that I may know thee, that I
may find grace in thy sight, and consider that this nation
is thy people.' And he said, My presence shall go with thee,
and I will give thee rest. And he said unto him, if thy
presence go not with me, carry us not up hence. Don't you carry
us up from here. If your presence isn't with us,
we don't want to take another step. For wherein shall it be
known here that I and thy people have found grace in thy sight?
Is it not that thou goest with us? So shall we be separated,
I and thy people, from all the people that are on the face of
the earth. And the Lord said unto Moses,
I will do this thing that thou hast spoken, for thou hast found
grace in my sight, and I know thee by name. There's a glorious
intimacy, isn't there? And there's a glorious personal
interaction between the Lord and his people. And the Lord
of glory makes amazing promises to his people. His presence goes
with us. He knows us by name. And he separates
us from all the people of this earth. Let's pray. Our Heavenly
Father, we do pray yet again that your presence would go with
us, that we who are your children are recipients of the most remarkable
grace. And all of the grace that all
of your people receive in this world is blood-borne grace, Heavenly
Father. It flows to us through the person
and work and the merits of your dear and precious Son, who now
is seated on the throne of heaven and intercedes for us, intercedes
with those wounds that are still visible now, Heavenly Father.
And we pray that you would cause him to be precious, Heavenly
Father, that you would direct our footsteps into just a knowledge
of him and a rest in the fact that you are our sovereign God
and you've gathered us to yourself. You separated us from the world
and you revealed yourself to us and you carry us, our Father. Oh, Heavenly Father, may we find
ourselves at rest in your arms and carried in the arms of our
Saviour above the trials and troubles of this world, carried
by our faithful God and Saviour, our Lord Jesus Christ. Carry
us, our Father, for we pray in his precious name. Amen. We're
going to sing Praise Him, Praise Him. Thank you, Norm. Praise Him, praise Him, Jesus
our blessed Redeemer. Sing, O earth, His wonderful
love proclaim. Hail Him, hail Him, highest archangels
in glory, strength and honor. Give to His holy name like a
shepherd. Jesus will guard His children
in His arms. He carries them all day long. Praise Him! Praise Him! Tell of His excellent greatness. Praise Him! Praise Him! Ever in joyful song. Praise Him, praise Him, Jesus,
our blessed Redeemer. For our sins He suffered and
bled and died. He, our rock, Our hope of eternal
salvation. Hail Him, hail Him, Jesus the
crucified. Sound His praises, Jesus who
bore our sorrows. Love unbounded, wonderful, deep,
and strong. Praise Him, praise Him, tell
of His excellent greatness. Praise Him, praise Him, ever
in joyful song. Praise Him, praise Him, Jesus,
our blessed Redeemer. Heavenly portals loud with hosanna
sing. Jesus, Savior, reigneth forever
and ever. Crown Him, crown Him, prophet
and priest and king. Christ is coming over the world
victorious. Power and glory unto the Lord
belong. Praise Him, praise Him, tell
of His excellent greatness. Praise Him, praise Him, ever
in joyful song. Once again, thank you, Carl.
One of the things that used to frustrate me enormously in religion
is endless meetings that meant nothing. Endless meetings anyway. I appreciate the fact that we
can do these things and keep them in perspective. I appreciate
the fact that all of that happens with a lot of diligence. Why
don't you turn in your scriptures with me to Acts 26. I want us
to take us back into the the court of Festus, which is now
the court for this small time of King Agrippa. Festus was the
Roman governor of this province. Agrippa was the king, the Jewish
king, as it were. They were puppet kings, of course,
the Jews. They had their authority because
they received it from Rome. And so these people, these two
men, these two extraordinarily powerful men, needed to get along
as best they possibly could. Verse one of chapter 26 of Acts. Then Agrippa said unto Paul,
Thou art permitted to speak for thyself. Then Paul stretched
forth his hand and answered for himself, I think myself happy,
King Agrippa. because I shall answer for myself
this day before thee touching all the things whereof I am accused
of the Jews, especially because I know thee to be an expert in
all customs and questions which are among the Jews. Wherefore
I beseech thee to hear me patiently. My manner of life from my youth,
which was at first among my own nation at Jerusalem, know all
the Jews, which knew me from the beginning, if they would
testify, that after the most straightest sect of our religion,
I lived a Pharisee. And now I stand and am judged
for the hope of the promise made of God unto our fathers, unto
which promise our twelve tribes, instantly serving God day and
night, hope to come. For which hope, say King Agrippa,
I am accused of the Jews. Why should it be thought, a thing
incredible with you, that God should raise the dead? Verily
I thought with myself that I ought to do many things contrary to
the name of Jesus of Nazareth. Which things also I did in Jerusalem,
and many of the saints did I shut up in prison, having received
authority from the chief priests. And when they were put to death,
I gave my voice against them, and I punished them oft in every
synagogue and compelled them to blaspheme, being exceedingly
mad against them. I persecuted them even under
strange cities. Whereupon, as I went to Damascus
with authority and commission from the chief priests, at midday,
O King, I saw in the way a light from heaven, above the brightness
of the sun, shining round about me and them which journeyed with
me. And when we were all fallen to
the earth, I heard a voice speaking unto me, saying in the Hebrew
tongue, Saul, Saul, why persecutest thou me? It is hard for thee
to kick against the pricks. And I said, who art thou, Lord?
And he said, I am Jesus, whom thou persecutest. but rise and
stand upon thy feet, for I have appeared unto thee for this purpose,
to make thee a minister and a witness both of these things which thou
hast seen and those things in which I will appear unto thee,
delivering thee from the people and from the Gentiles unto whom
I now send thee, to open their eyes, and to turn them from darkness
to light, and from the power of Satan unto God, that they
may receive forgiveness of sins, and inheritance among them which
are sanctified by faith that is in me. Whereupon, O King Agrippa,
I was not disobedient unto the heavenly vision. We're going
to sing again. I Need The Every Hour. Thanks,
Norm. Number 47, yeah. I need Thee every hour, most gracious
Lord. No tender voice like Thine can
peace afford. I need Thee, O I need Thee, every
hour I need Thee. O bless me now, my Savior, I
come to Thee. I need Thee every hour, stay
Thou nearby. Temptations lose their power
when Thou art nigh. I need Thee, oh, I need Thee,
every hour I need Thee. Oh, bless me now, my Savior,
I've come to Thee. I need Thee every hour, in joy
or pain. Come quickly and abide, for life
is vain. I need Thee, oh, I need Thee,
every hour I need Thee. O bless me now, my Savior, I
come to Thee. I need Thee every hour, Most
Holy One. O make me Thine indeed, Thou
blessed Son. I need Thee, O I need Thee, every
hour I need Thee. O bless me now, my Savior, I
come to Thee. So here we have our apostle to
the Gentiles and our pattern. Pattern of salvation, a pattern
of the Lord's work, sovereign God's work in the lives of his
people. And there is much that's extraordinarily
instructive in this passage and I'd like us to think back to
what Verse 16 says, it says, the Lord says to Paul, having
put him in his right and proper place before the Lord Jesus Christ,
which is in the dust, on your face in the dust. And he says,
but rise and stand on thy feet. In fact, it could easily be translated,
stand up and take a stand. Stand up and take a stand. And that's what we have witnessed as we
go through the Book of Acts, don't we? That's what we have
witnessed as we have not just followed the journey of the Lord
Jesus Christ gathering his church to himself and bearing witness
to himself as the resurrected reigning Lord. We've seen him
gather his church together, we've seen him raise up people like
the Apostle Paul, We've seen him take the gospel to the Gentiles. We've seen him take it to the
ends of the earth. And it follows a pattern, a glorious
pattern. And it is that the Lord makes
his people to stand. He makes his people to take a
stand, not on what they are and what they have done, but on the
person and work of the Lord Jesus Christ. We stand here because
of who he is. We stand here because of who
he has revealed himself to be and what he has revealed himself
to be is exactly what he has revealed himself to be in the
scriptures. So the God of Paul and the saviour of Paul is the
saviour of all Christians throughout this world. the true Church of
God always has this particular Lord Jesus Christ front and centre
in all of what they do and say. So here in Acts 26 we have a
sevenfold description of a believer and we don't have time to look
at all seven of them today but I want you to just go through
them with me and contemplate these things. The first one is
that a Christian is someone who has heard the gospel from a preacher
sent of God. Go back to verse 16 with me.
He says, rise, you stand up and take a stand, Paul, for I have
appeared unto thee for this purpose, to make thee a minister and a
witness, both of these things which thou hast seen and those
things in which I will appear unto you. He makes him. Our God makes his ministers. He makes them to stand and he
makes them to take a stand. And the things that he has seen
and the things in which I will appear unto thee. See, Christ
bears witness to himself in an ongoing way. He bears witness.
Historically, he bears witness in the scriptures, but he wears
witness in an ongoing way in the lives and hearts of his people. And down in verse 18 is the verse
that I will be hoping that we can, Lord willing, spend some
time on over the next couple of weeks or so. This is the work,
isn't it? He says, you stand in your, I'm
going to, I've appeared to you and I will appear to you. Delivering
thee, verse 17, from the people and from the Gentiles unto whom
I now send thee, that Paul is sent purposefully of his God. He's delivered purposely and
he's sent with a particular purpose. And this is what happens when
the Lord Jesus Christ is revealed. This is what happened to Paul
on the road to Damascus. This is what happens when the
gospel is preached as it was in those days, it is in our day.
A Christian is a person who's heard. He's heard a word from
God. He's heard a word from God's
servants. But also a Christian is a person whose eyes have been
opened, look at it with verse 18, he's sending them to open
their eyes, not as if Paul could open their eyes, to open their
eyes and to turn them from darkness to light and from the power of
Satan unto God that they may receive. So there's an illumination,
there's a revelation, there's a declaration, there is a work
of God in the lives of people a turning work of God, an opening
work of God, a revealing work of God, a powerful work of God
that he has to overcome the power of Satan in the lives of people.
And then there is a giving, isn't there? Look at the receiving. That they may receive forgiveness
of sins and inheritance among them. which are sanctified by
faith that is in me. All of those words have such
extraordinary import, isn't it? You see, forgiveness of sins
is something you receive, it's not something you earn. And inheritance
is something you get because you belong to a family. Sanctification is not something
you do. Sanctification is the work of
God in the hearts of His people. They're sanctified by the faith
that is in me. But before we go and look at
those glorious elements of the work of God, they are a twofold
thing, aren't they? They are the promise of the risen
Saviour. about the work that he will bring
into the lives of his people. And they are a sevenfold description
of a believer. People use that word Christian
as the most loosely word used in the world, probably that and
love I would think, but it's the most loosely used term and
it's hardly ever defined with any clarity whatsoever. I much,
much prefer the words that the scriptures use more often and
that is a believer. So when someone says they're
a believer you can then ask them to define the one they believe
in. The other description that the scriptures use of believers
is that they're brethren. They're fellows in the same ship. a fellowship with one another
because they fellowship with God that causes them to fellowship
together. But before we go and look at
those things I would just like to take note of the fact that
Paul is speaking to an individual. Here he is in court, he's in
chains. He spent the last two and a bit
years in jail, in a Roman jail. He may have been well looked
after in that jail. He was given a freedom for the
people in Caesarea to come and care for him. And as a Roman
citizen, the Romans would not have want him to have looked
too disheveled, I don't think. I think he would have earned
some respect for those things. But nevertheless, there he was
in chains. And into this hall comes a gripper in all of his
finery with him, no doubt, robed in his royal robes and his crown. And he's got Bernice, who is
his sister, at his side. She is the sister of Drusilla
who was Felix's wife. It was a wholly incestuous relationship. It seems as if Festus and Bernice
were both sisters and lovers from what the historians say.
But Paul is given an opportunity to speak by Agrippa and he speaks
personally to him. Do you see what he says? He says
in verse 2, he says, I'm happy King Agrippa, that I shall answer
for myself this day before thee touching things of which I am
accused of the Jews. And then when he talks about
his experience he says, O King, I saw in the way a light from
heaven. In verse 19 he says, O King Agrippa,
I was not disobedient to this heavenly vision. Verse 26 he
says, A king knoweth these things. Verse 27, King Agrippa, believest
thou the prophets? I know that thou believest. I
know that you've heard all of these things. This wasn't done
in a corner. This is a public activity of
the Lord Jesus Christ. His resurrection was publicly
attested to. The growth of his church is publicly
attested to. He's bearing witness to himself
in this world. Now, my point is that the Gospel
is always personal. The Gospel is always personal. It's not an intellectual exercise.
Paul is addressing a person. See, Paul had remarkable experiences,
didn't he? He could have said, look, I've
been to heaven. I've raised the dead. I've performed miracles. I've done all these things. I've
planted churches all over the known world. I'm on my way to
Rome with a promise from God. And yet when he's dealing personally
with King Agrippa, He has one thing in his mind. He has one
thing in his mind. He just wants to testify to who
the Lord Jesus Christ is. He doesn't want to talk about
all those other things. He just has one thing in his
mind. He stood, he was made to stand,
and he stood for one thing, the truth of the character of God.
the truth of the character of God in salvation, the truth of
a God who was revealed by revelation, the truth of a God who was revealed
by the preaching of the Gospel. Which is why we are here, brothers
and sisters. We're not here to hear stories,
we're not here to hear historic facts and things, we're here
to hear about the Lord Jesus Christ. That's the stand, isn't
it? When the Lord said to him, you
stand and you make a stand. I'm going to make you to stand.
And you will stand, you will stand in this world as a witness
to me, a witness. We're a witness, we're a witnessing
church. See, Paul's journey is as much
our journey as Abraham's journey was our journey. The same Lord
who met Abraham, the same Lord that Enoch knew, the same Lord
that Adam and Eve met in the garden is the same Lord that
Paul knew. Paul's journey and Abraham's
journey and Moses' journey and Noah's journey, they're all our
journey. We're reading our history, we're
reading our biography in the scriptures. And this Lord, is personal and
he comes personally and he meets and deals with his people personally
and particularly. See their salvation is our salvation. Paul is here set before us in
all of the scriptures as a trophy of the grace of God. He had absolutely
nothing in himself to commend him to God in any way at all.
He was a prisoner captive of Satan. He was an enemy of God
and he lived a hard life. That's what the Lord Jesus said,
didn't he? He says, it's hard for thee to kick against the
pricks. What it means is of course that everything you do in opposition
to God is hard. You'll find yourself kicking
against him. That idea of the pricks was that they had behind
the oxen there. The oxen were prone to kick.
They're not like our cattle. I was reared on a farm here,
a cattle farm, a dairy farm. And our cattle, those ones that
come from Europe, are generally fairly quiet in disposition.
They can be nasty. But I lived in India for five
years and those cattle from that part of the world are far more
ferocious than we can imagine. And they're not as easily tamed
as we think. Even the tamed ones aren't very
tamed. And so what they did to stop the kicking is that behind
them, between them and the ploughman, they had a board. with spikes
on it, so as the beast kicked, it would hurt itself. That's
what the Lord Jesus Christ said to Paul. He said, your religion
is hard. The religion of man is hard.
Any religion that's working and kicking against the Lord Jesus
Christ is just doing damage to itself, but it's hard. Religion
is hard. The Gospel is gentle. The Gospel
is a Gospel of grace. The Gospel is coming to a Saviour
who is meek and lowly and humble in heart. The Gospel is coming
to a Saviour who says, I'll give you rest for your souls. The
Gospel is coming to a saviour who says it's done and it's finished.
All the work of your salvation, all the work of carrying you
through this world, all the work of taking you into eternity is
all done by me. And that's what he says, that's
what opening the eyes is to see. To see a saviour in his glory,
to see a saviour finished, to see that shed blood, as effectual. To see a God who says, when I
see the blood I'll pass over you. To see a saviour who not
only was walked into that tomb and carried into that tomb, but
to see a saviour who walked out of that tomb. A saviour who is
the light of the world, who illuminates the world for his people. See,
Paul wants to talk to Agrippa about the Lord Jesus Christ.
The one thing that matters to Agrippa is the Lord Jesus Christ. The one thing that was going
to have any hope in the salvation of his soul or Bernice's soul
or all those other people that were there standing opposed to
Paul. He stood there just as one man
and he wasn't alone. Brothers and sisters, you are
never alone in this world. You stand and take a stand. See, Paul was a captive of sovereign
grace and he'd been turned from any sense of having any confidence
in anything he'd ever did. All of his confidence, you can
read it in Philippians 3, all of his confidence was in his
religion and his heritage and all the things that he's done.
And he must have been extraordinarily complimented. They say that he
had the equivalent of two PhDs by the time he was 21. There
probably has hardly been a person on this earth who was as intelligent
and as learned as Paul. He may well have been able to
start at Genesis 1-1 and recite all of the scriptures through
to Malachi 4. He was a remarkable man above all the other Jews
and there were 7,000 Pharisees who were equally zealous as he
and he was the best. He was the best. and he knew the scriptures and
he didn't know God. In fact, not only did he not
know God, he was an enemy to the true and living God, putting
his people to death. And now Paul stands there as
a prisoner and he was the only free man in that room. He had
physical chains on him. The rest of them had chains,
didn't they? The chains of their self-righteousness,
the chains of Satan declaring to them that you can stand in
judgment of God and stand in judgment of his word and judgment
of his character and you can be like God and you can know
good and evil, you can do all these things. Paul was now captive. He doesn't talk about his experiences,
he talks about the revelation of the true and living God. So he'd been shut up, hadn't
he? He's been shut up to the Lord Jesus Christ. He was shut
up by him. He had no place else to go. Coming
to the Lord Jesus Christ is not a decision. Paul didn't have
to make a decision on the Damascus Road. He was shut up to him. He was
shut up by him. He had no place else to go. He had no one else to go to and
he had no desire to go anywhere else or to anyone else. You see,
he was saying, as he stood there, wasn't he, Lord, I'm yours. I've
been bought with a price. Your precious blood. And like
Moses, as we read in Exodus 33, those who have received grace
are crying out for more grace. Isn't that your experience, brothers
and sisters? You've made captive. Don't we
say, Make me yours again. Please cause me to hear your
voice. That's at the end of Song of
Solomon when she's had the most remarkable experiences, been
taken into the banqueting house and the banner over her was love.
She'd witnessed all of those remarkable things and at the
end she says, cause me to hear your voice again. Moses said,
I've received grace, I know I'm a recipient of grace. I've stood
in front of you at that burning bush and you said take off, you're
standing on holy ground, you're standing in the very presence
of the great I am. You can only do that by grace,
by his invitation, by his coming to you. Cause me to hear your
voice. Cause me, come again, come again
to cause me to live for you, to live for your glory. to stand as you make us to stand, to stand and to stand, to take a stand. Paul was an ambassador of Christ
on purpose, but he's speaking to Agrippa here on purpose. He has a purpose in all of this.
He has a man before him who's asked him to speak. He's had
an invitation to speak and he wants the Lord Jesus Christ to
be glorified. So the first aspect of salvation
that comes in this, isn't it, is that you must hear from someone
who is sent of God. See, Christ sent Paul. That's
what we read in the text, don't we? Christ sent him on purpose,
for this purpose. Christ revealed to him was his
message. Christ reigning and glorious. Christ coming with light. Christ
being revealed as the light of the world. See, Christ was his
message, and he had no other message for Agrippa. So Christ
empowered him and Christ ensured the absolute success of his ministry. And what's his reward at the
end of all? That I may win Christ and be found in him. Turn over
to Philippians chapter three, it's glorious the way he describes
this turning from darkness to light. He says in verse 7 of Philippians
3, For whatever things were gained to me, those I counted lost for
Christ. Yea, doubtless I count all things
but lost for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus
my Lord, for whom I have suffered the loss of all things. I do
count them but done. You can have all the treasures
of this world, and Paul's saying to Agrippa with all of his power
and all of his authority and all of his wealth and all the
pomp and ceremony, he says to him, it's done. It's done. It's done. That I may win Christ, verse
nine, and be found in him. not having mine own righteousness
which is of the law, but that which is through the faith of
Christ, the righteousness which is of God by faith, that I may
know him and the power of his resurrection and the fellowship
of his sufferings being made conformable unto his death. See, Paul has attained all these
things. He's telling Ripper he's attained all these things. And
he tells the Philippians when he's writing to them from Rome,
he's actually seeking more of it. If you're a recipient of
grace like Moses, you'll be seeking more grace. Not having mine own rights, that
I may know him and the power of his resurrection and the fellowship
of his suffering being made conformable unto his death. if by any means
I might attain to the resurrection of the dead, not as though I
had already attained, either were already perfect, but I follow
after that if I may apprehend that for which I'm also apprehended
of Christ Jesus. Paul was taken captive by the
Lord Jesus Christ, and here he is taking his stand and saying,
I'm standing before you Agrippa, and I'm not going to tell you
about experiences and other things. I'm just going to tell you about
the risen Lord Jesus Christ, and I'm going to tell you about
the promises that he's done, that he's made, and what he's
actually doing in the lives of all of his people. What he's
doing throughout this world, what he's done to me as a pattern,
is what he's doing. The gospel is personal, but the
gospel is powerful. the declaration of the Lord Jesus
Christ and him crucified, the declaration of him in his true
character, the declaration of him and what he has done and
what he is doing. It's not just the historic facts,
is it? It's how that Christ died for
our sins according to the scriptures. He died as a substitute, he died
as a sacrifice, he died as an offering to God and God accepts
it. And when God accepts him, he
accepts everyone in him. Because of what he says he's
done, he's opened eyes, he's turned his people from darkness
to light, he's undone the work of the devil, he's turned them
from the power of Satan unto God. They are the recipients
of the forgiveness of sins. They have an inheritance. sanctified,
they're sanctified. They're made holy by the faithfulness
of Christ Jesus. Why would you want to talk about
anything else? Why would you want to talk about
anything else? Why, even in the presence of this hostile crowd,
stirred up by the Jews in Jerusalem, stirred up by the opposing Jews
down in Caesarea, who had spent two years stirring up the Romans
against Paul, Stand up and take a stand, brothers
and sisters in Christ. That's what God's called us to,
isn't he? May he bless his word to our hearts. Why don't we have
a break normally, then we'll come back and sing number 65
in five minutes. Okay, we're gonna sing number
65, crown him with many crowns. He's 65 so far, isn't he? No, he's over 60. crown Him with many crowns, the
Lamb upon His throne. Hark how the heavenly anthem
drowns all music but its own. Awake, my soul, and sing of Him
who died for thee, and hail Him as thy matchless King through
all eternity. crown him the lord of love behold
his hands and side rich wounds yet visible above in beauty glorified
No angel in the sky can fully bear that sight. But downward bends his wandering
eye, that mystery so bright. Crown Him the Lord of life, Who
triumphed o'er the grave, Who rose victorious to the strife,
For those He came to save. His glories now we sing, Who
died and rose on high, Who died eternal life to bring, And lives
that death may die. Crown Him the Lord of heaven,
One with the Father known, One with the Spirit through Him given,
From yonder glorious throne. To Thee be endless praise, For
Thou for us hast done, Be Thou, O Lord, through endless days
adored and magnified. Let's pray. The Lord, the psalmist
prayed, open thou mine eyes that I may behold wondrous things
out of thy law. Our father, we pray that you
would illuminate the scriptures that we might see not just the
words, but see the word made flesh. And that we might see
him in something of his glory, heavenly father, and we might
find ourselves at rest and at peace. in this Saviour being
our Saviour, this God being our God, this Redeemer redeeming
us in the way that he has promised. Lord, you alone who created the
eyes can open them, so we come humbly seeking you to be the
one that is revealed and revealing to us today the glory of your
dear and precious Son. May the Holy Spirit Take the
words and take the life and the death and the glory of the Lord
Jesus and cause it to be revealed to us again. For we pray in his
name and for his glory, our Father. Amen. The preaching of the gospel brings
the opening of eyes. The opening of their eyes. So the only cure for blindness
is sight and you can only witness what you've experienced and that's
exactly what Paul is told, isn't it? He says, you're going out,
you're going to be sent out, you're commissioned to go out.
To open their eyes, to turn them, verse 18 of Acts 26, to turn
them from darkness to light and from the power of Satan unto
God that they may receive forgiveness of sins and inheritance among
them which are sanctified by faith that is in me." So the
only cure, isn't it? The only cure for blindness is
sight. You can only witness what you've
experienced. You can only be a witness to
what you have seen. When I was in religion and wondering
again and again when I was living in that community in India with
hundreds of missionaries around and missionary children that
I was responsible for caring for in so many different ways,
but caring for them spiritually, I kept wondering whether these
people just needed better education. Did they need to spend more time
studying their scriptures? Did they need more teaching? to those who here and throughout
this world who stand opposed to the God and then go about
to establish their own righteousness and go about establishing their
own religion and working hard like Paul did and kicking against
the pricks. More and more, as time goes on,
I'm caused to see that the one thing they need is the one thing
Agrippa needed. They need to hear the gospel. The one problem
that they have, The one problem that people who play religious
games and make merchandise of people solve, the biggest problem
they have is they just don't know him and they haven't met
him. Paul met the Lord Jesus Christ and that was enough. If you meet
the Lord Jesus Christ as he is in his true character, as he's
revealed in his word, you'll be taught of God as God has promised. These are promises from God,
aren't they? To open eyes, to open eyes that are blind, to
turn people from darkness to light. These are promises of
God. What was the darkness like? For Paul, the darkness was being
a self-righteous religious Pharisee. He was as moral as anything and
as decent as you could possibly imagine in every way. In every way in this world except
one crucial thing, he had no idea who God was. He had all
the religion, all the religion that was esteemed of men and
he had no idea who God was. This opening the eyes to people
is a specific messianic miracle. It's a specific messianic miracle
today as it was in the days of the Lord Jesus Christ. It's a
specific messianic miracle to show that salvation and knowledge
of God comes by revelation and not the perspiration of men.
It is the work of God alone. to open the eyes of the blind. It's the work of God to shed
light. See, two essential things, aren't they, are necessary to
see. One is you need light, and the
other thing is you need eyes to see. And light comes before
salvation. Psalm 27 verse 1, David says,
the Lord is my light and my salvation. Whom shall I fear? You'll stand,
David. You'll stand and you'll be made
to stand. The Lord is the strength of my life. Of whom shall I be
afraid? The gospel comes as light. You see, millions of people,
possibly millions of Jews, saw the Lord Jesus Christ in the
flesh. They saw him doing only what
Messiah could do. Paul says to Agrippa, this wasn't
done in the corner, this was a public activity. They followed
him and they saw these things and they left his presence as
blind as they were when they saw him. so that the light we're
talking about, the opening of these eyes, is not just the opening
of natural eyes. They saw him. You might recall
in John chapter 9, there's that glorious story of the blind man,
the man who's blind from his birth. And the Lord comes to him, particularly
of all the blind people in that city and in that land, he comes
to him particularly. He passed by this man, He saw
a man which was blind from his birth. He may not have even had
eyes. You see, opening the eyes of
the blind is a creative miracle. It's a creative miracle that
brings revelation. And it's a creative miracle which
is a promise from God. And it was reserved. We'll look
at some of the verses in Isaiah, but all through Isaiah and the
Old Testament, the opening the eyes of the blind was never done
by anyone. Elijah and Elisha raised the
dead. Elijah and Elisha created food
where there was none. They created healthy food where
there was poison. Moses was a witness to the most
extraordinary miracles. and yet none of them, not one
of them in all of the Old Testament ever opened the eyes of the blind. You see, in verse 26 of John chapter 9, they
said to him again, What did he to you? What did he to thee?
How opened he thine eyes? And he answered them, I've told
you already. He told them so many times. And you did not hear. I've told you the truth and you
didn't hear. Wherefore would you hear it again?
Will you also be his disciples? Then they reviled him. That's
what the religious people always do to those who have their eyes
opened. And said, Thou art his disciple. We are Moses' disciple.
We know that God spoke unto Moses. As for this fellow, we know not
from whence he is. The man answered and said unto
them, Why, hearing is a marvellous thing, that ye know not from
whence he is, and yet he hath opened mine eyes. We know that
God heareth not sinners, but if any man be a worshipper of
God, and doeth his will, he heareth him. Him he heareth. Verse 32, since the world began,
since the world began, Was it not heard that any man
opened the eyes of one that was born blind? And then he says,
if this man were not of God, if his origin was not, that's
what that word of means, he could do nothing. They answered and
said unto him, thou wast altogether born in sins and thou dost teach
us. and they cast him out. See, verse
25, he says, the one thing I know, he says, I just know one thing.
When the Lord opens the eyes of people, when he opens the
eyes of the blind, the one thing I know, whereas I was blind,
now I see. That's all I need to know. I
was blind, but now I see. Light comes before salvation. The darkness must be illuminated
by a light from heaven. There must be a creative miracle.
There must be a revelation from on high. Psalm 146 verse 8 says, The Lord
openeth the eyes of the blind. The Lord raises them that are
bowed down. The Lord loveth the righteous.
Don't forget, Paul spent three days in blindness, three days
in that darkness, three days. Then Ananias came and told him
of the Lord Jesus Christ. See, God works through men, even
Paul. had his eyes opened, and the
scales, as it were, fell from his eyes. He spent that three
days, bowed down. Verse nine of Psalm 146, the
Lord preserves the strangers, he relieves the fatherless and
the widows, but the way of the wicked he turns upside down.
When you see that the Lord has opened the eyes, Psalm 146 verse
10 will be true for you. The Lord shall reign forever,
even thy God, Isaiah, unto all generations. Praise ye the Lord. The Old Testament spoke of this
day of the Lord, Isaiah 29 verse 18 says, In that day shall the
deaf hear the words of a book. They couldn't hear before, they
couldn't hear. The deaf shall hear the words
of the book, and the eyes of the blind shall see out of obscurity
and out of darkness. Isaiah 32 verse 3 says, the eyes
of them that see shall not be dimmed, the ears of them that
hear shall hearken. Isaiah, turn with me to Isaiah
35, I love Isaiah 35, we've read it. Many times, it's one of the
early descriptions in the Old Testament of the way. And that's
what Christians were called. They were called followers of
the way. But Isaiah 35, verse five. Let's go back to verse four.
Say unto them that are of a fearful heart, be strong, fear not, behold,
your God will come with vengeance. Even God with a recompense and
he will come and save you. Then the eyes of the blind shall
be open and the ears of the deaf shall be unstopped. Then shall
the lame man leap as a heart and the tongue of the dumb sing.
For in the wilderness shall waters break out. Those rivers of water
out of the belly of believers, rivers of water will flow. and streams in the desert, and
the parched ground shall become a pool, and the thirsty land
springs of water, and in the habitation of dragons where each
lays shall be grass with reeds and rushes. I love verse eight. And a highway shall be there,
and a way, and it shall be called the way of holiness. The unclean
shall not pass over it, but it shall be for those, though wayfaring
men. Men who just walk around with
nowhere to go, lost as it were, those fools shall not err therein. So this is not about intelligence,
brothers and sisters. This is not about an acquisition
of knowledge of particular things. It's about Him opening the eyes
of people and Him taking them on this highway. No lion shall
be there, nor any ravenous beast shall go up there on it shall
not be found, but the redeemed shall walk there. So he's going
to open their eyes and they're going to walk. And the ransomed
of the Lord, those who have been bought out of captivity with
a price that's paid for their freedom, the ransomed of the
Lord shall return and come to Zion with songs. When your eyes are open. You'll
come to Zion. What's Zion? Zion's the church
of the living God. It's the gathering of God's people
around him and his gospel. They'll come to Zion with songs
and everlasting joy on their heads. I like the idea of having
everlasting joy. There's not a heck of a lot of
it in this part of this world, is there? It's a wilderness and
we're strangers here. Everlasting joy upon their heads. They shall obtain joy and gladness
and sorrow and sighing shall flee away. That's what it is
to have eyes open, brothers and sisters, to see the glory of
the Lord Jesus Christ. See, God, what God had promised
Paul to perform is what the Lord Jesus Christ performed physically,
and Paul would perform by the preaching of the gospel, and
nothing's changed to this day. Nothing's changed to this day.
Isaiah 42.7 says, this is part of the particular declaration,
it's only over a couple of pages, but it's a declaration of the
covenant purposes of our God, and we like to speak of the covenant,
eternal covenant of our God, because it speaks of the glory
of the Lord Jesus Christ. Verse seven is, to open blind
eyes. But see who he is first. Verse
five, thus saith God the Lord, he that created the heavens and
stretched them out, he that spread forth the earth and that which
cometh out of it, he that giveth breath unto all people upon it
and spirit to them that walk therein, I the Lord have called
thee in righteousness and will hold thine hand and will keep
thee and give thee, this is the Lord Jesus Christ, give thee
for a covenant of the people and a light of the Gentiles,
that's us. To open blind eyes, this is the
covenant work of our great God and saviour, to open blind eyes,
to bring out the prisoners from the prison and them that sit
in darkness out of the prison house. I am the Lord, that is
my name, and my glory will I not give to another, neither my praise
to grave and images. Behold, the former things are
come to pass, and new things do I declare before they spring
forth. I tell you of them." See, we're
reading about it, aren't we, brothers and sisters? The Lord
Jesus Christ performed these things and did them. As no one
else other than the Messiah, they are proof that he's Messiah. That's why when he began his
public ministry in his hometown of Nazareth, he says, the spirit
of the Lord is upon me because he's anointed me. I'm the anointed
one, I'm the Messiah. To preach the gospel to the poor,
he has sent me to heal the brokenhearted, to preach deliverance of the
captives, the recovery of sight to the blind, and to set at liberty
them that are bruised. And it's exactly what happens
in the preaching of the gospel. You might recall when those two
men left Jerusalem and went on their way to Emmaus on that day
of that glorious resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ. What
did he do? He hid himself as it were from
them and he preached himself to them. He preached all the
way to Emmaus to those men. And what was it said then? opened
he their understanding, Luke 24, 45, that they might understand
the scriptures. So he opened their eyes, didn't
he? At the breaking of bread at that
inn, he revealed himself. And what did they say on their
way back? Didn't our hearts burn within us? Do you ever have open
eyes and you see him? Your heart will burn within you. Lord Jesus Christ, to go back
to John chapter 9 when he comes and he performs this miracle
which so evidently and so clearly and so much from their scriptures
proves that he is the anointed one, he is the Messiah. In John 9 verse 39, he came to do it for
a particular people, didn't he? The blind man said in verse 38,
he said, Lord, I believe, and he worshipped him. He believed,
he believed on the Lord Jesus Christ. And then the Lord Jesus
Christ said, verse 39, for judgment, I am come into this world that
they which see, they which claim to see, might not see, and they Sorry. They which see not might
see, but the blind might see, and they which see might be made
blind. There is a judicial blindness.
There is, by the grace of God and opening the eyes of the blind,
and there is a judicial blinding of those who claim to see. those
who claim to see, and with that sight that they have of their
natural eyes, they stand in judgment of God, as these people did.
Stand in judgment of his word, stand in judgment of his people. A judicial blindness. May the Lord give us hearts that
simply say, like this man, I was blind, but now I see. Lord, I
believe. Lord, I believe. I simply take
you at your word and trust you for who you say you are. The opening of the eyes of the
blind is a creative miracle. It's a creative miracle to show
that the creator is there to reveal himself. He that formed
the eye, shall he not see? The seeing eye and the hearing
ear, both of these are from the Lord. It pictures the fact that
naturally men are blind, and the most blind men in all of
the world are the ones who are the most religious, and the most
blinded men in all of the world, according to the scriptures and
according to the testimony of Paul, are those who have had
the most extraordinary revelation. in their own minds rather than
a revelation that comes with light from heaven. See, that's
what happened to Paul on the road to Damascus, didn't he?
He fell to the ground when that light came. And then he says,
who art thou, Lord? He had absolutely no idea. And
then his eyes were opened. See, the sovereign creator alone
creates. We're in his hands. And when
he creates, He creates what previously didn't exist. And he creates
out of nothing. He doesn't need something in
you to work with, brothers and sisters in Christ. It's all of
grace, it's all of grace. And he creates by speaking a
word. He creates by speaking a word. See God spoke a word, the first
word that God spoke is Light Be and Light Was. Let there be light. You see it's
not natural light that he's talking about because the sun and the
moon and the stars weren't created for another three days. It's
a spiritual light. Exists before created light. Our Lord Jesus Christ is before
all things. He's the beginning. See, there's
a reality before the foundation of the world. There is a light,
a spiritual light before the foundation of the world. And
that light is the reality. And that light is the governing,
controlling thing of all the existence of all men. See, he
comes sovereignly to some people, like he comes sovereignly to
Paul. And he says, I am the light of the world. The light shines
in the darkness and it overcomes the darkness. The darkness can't
understand the light, it can't comprehend it, says John. See,
the light is the Word made flesh, which is why Paul preached the
Word to Agrippa. God was manifest in the flesh,
said Paul in his letter to Timothy. It's a great mystery, isn't it?
God was manifest in the flesh. God was manifest in the flesh. See, on the Mount of Transfiguration,
the Lord revealed to Peter, James and John what he really was. His humanity, the veil of his
humanity was taken away for just that brief time. And they saw
a light which shone brighter and whiter than the sun, or any
fool could make it. Moses and Elijah were there on
that mountain. And what were they speaking about?
Luke will tell you. In Luke chapter nine, he says
they were speaking of the decease that he would accomplish at Jerusalem
on the cross. See, his death was an accomplishment.
He accomplished that. It's a mystery. As Paul says
at the end of his days without controversy, great is the mystery
of godliness. God was manifest in the flesh,
justified in the spirit, seen of angels, preached under the
Gentiles, believed on in the world and received up into glory. So God was manifest. And he's manifest today in exactly
the same way he was manifested all those years ago. He manifests
himself today as he did to Abraham and to Paul and to Noah and to
Moses. There's a great question asked
at the Last Supper. Philip. We're so thankful for
the ignorance of these disciples. They asked the most wonderful
questions that we would have the most wonderful answers from
the Lord. Judas, sorry, I beg your pardon,
not Iscariot, said, how is it that you will manifest yourself
under us and not under the two? How is it that you're going to
manifest yourself under us? And the answer is amazing. John
14, 23, Jesus answered and said unto him, This is how he manifests himself
to people. This is how he manifests himself
to his people and not to the world. He says, if any man love
me, if any man love me, he will keep my words. He will hold my words as precious
and dear. And my father will love him. And we will come unto him. and make our abode with him. Great promises, isn't it? He'll
keep my words. His words will be spirit and
life, and they'll be kept by God's people. The Father will
love him, and we will come. That's how he manifests himself
to his people, and not to the world. So Paul's task was to
declare the Lord Jesus Christ to men. That was his mission. He was sent, and God's task was
to declare the Lord Jesus Christ to the hearts of his people.
Paul's prayer for the Ephesians. We're not sure how many letters
Paul wrote in his two years in jail, in Caesarea Philippi, but
he may well have written Colossians and Ephesians. And this is what his prayer was,
wasn't it? He heard, verse 15 of Ephesians
chapter one, he's declared the glories of the Lord Jesus Christ
and the work of God the Spirit and God the Father and God the
Son in the salvation and the sealing of God's people. He says
in verse 15, wherefore also after I heard of your faith in the
Lord Jesus Christ and love unto all the saints. So he's heard
about their faith, he's heard about their love, he's heard
about the fact that they're believers. I cease not to give thanks for
you, making mention of you in my prayers. So that scene, and
he praises that scene some more. This is what he's praying for
these believers. This is what we ought to be praying
for our brothers and sisters in Christ. That the God of our
Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give you the spirit
of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of Him, that the eyes
of your understanding being enlightened, that you may know. What is the
hope of his calling and what the riches of the glory of his
inheritance in the same. He's praying that their eyes
would be opened. He acknowledges that their eyes have been opened.
They're believers and he's praying that they'd have more light.
It's like Moses, isn't it? I'm a recipient of grace, give
me more grace. You've come and you've revealed
yourself to me. You've opened my eyes. You've turned me from
this kingdom of darkness and taken me into the kingdom of
the light of your dear son. Give me more light. you might know the hope of his
calling, the riches of his glory in his heritance, and what is
the exceeding greatness of his power, verse 19, to us who believe
according to the working of his mighty power. It's a creative, powerful act
of our God. The working of his mighty power
and it's evidence in the raising of the Lord Jesus Christ from
the dead. Opened eyes, see him, the word. See him as the word
of promise. And the light shines in the darkness. What extraordinary darkness our
parents were plunged into in the Garden of Eden. and it says
that their eyes were opened and all they saw was shame and nakedness. When the eyes of God's people
are opened, they see that the Lord Jesus Christ bore all of
that shame and suffered all of that nakedness and bore all of
the sins of all of his people on Calvary's tree. When your
eyes are opened, you see your precious saviour. a crucified
saviour, a risen saviour, a glorified saviour, a revealed saviour and
a revealing saviour, a graciously giving saviour who continues
to give. Let's pray. Heavenly Father,
we thank you for the power and the particularity of your revelation, Heavenly
Father. We praise you that you have promised to open eyes. We
thank you, Heavenly Father, that you do this as you have promised
through the preaching of your word. And your words become life
to us because they reveal the Lord Jesus Christ who is our
life. Oh, our Father, we pray that
having done that, you might continue to do it more and more, Heavenly
Father, that we might see more and again the wonders of His
glory, the power of His absolute sovereignty over all things,
and the glory of His great success, Heavenly Father, that He reigns
sovereignly supreme, that you are still coming by the preaching
of your gospel and revealing yourself to dead, lost, helpless,
hopeless sinners such as us, our Father. Oh, our Father, may
you manifest yourself yet again. May we take these elements which
cause us to remember your broken body and your shed blood, and
may we, Heavenly Father, be simply saying, I believe Help thou mine
unbelief. We thank you, Heavenly Father,
for revealing your Son to us. We pray that the Holy Spirit
might take the words that we proclaim in this place, and it
might be for the salvation of people, but most of all, Heavenly
Father, for the glory of the proclamation in this dark world
of your glorious son, our Lord Jesus Christ. We pray in his
name, heavenly Father, bless your people. Bless them in him,
bless them with him. We pray in his name, amen.