Well, I'm delighted to meet you. I did it. I pushed it. I didn't
forget. I usually do at home also. But I'm delighted to meet you,
to be here. I haven't I haven't met anyone
in here previously except Cheryl. I know Clay and Melinda well. I've known them for a year. But
I talked with Brother Cyril on the phone several times and he
didn't look anything like I thought he would look. I don't know how
I thought he would look, nor you me. But we're strangers to
one another, I know that, but hopefully it won't be for long. Brothers and men that have come
up here to preach to you, Brother Todd and Brother Bob Coffey and
Brother Greg Yelmquist. These are dear friends of mine
and I've heard about you and I was looking forward to being
with you. So I'm glad to be here. I appreciate you having me and
I hope the Lord will Bless our time together. We couldn't have
sung two better hymns than those, two more worshipful hymns. Worship
the King and holy, holy, holy. Would you turn with me to the
book of Acts, chapter 22? Book of Acts, chapter 22. And I do want to thank brother
Cyril and Lenore for keeping us in their home and the other
men and for also opening up this building to the church, to everyone. I appreciate that. There was a family, a family
of Obed Edom in the Old Testament that housed the Ark for a while
before the Ark had a permanent place, and they housed the Ark
in their home. It says, the Lord blessed the
house of Obed-Edom because of the Ark. And that Ark is the
Gospel, a picture of Christ in the Gospel, and the Lord will
bless that sacrifice. I appreciate it. Look
at verses 14 through 13 through 16. This is Paul the
Apostle giving the account of how the Lord saved him. And he
says in verse 13, Ananias came unto me, a preacher, and stood
and said unto me, Brother Saul, receive thy sight. In the same
hour I looked up upon him, and he said, the God of our fathers
hath chosen thee, that thou shouldest know his will, and see that just
one, and shouldest hear the voice of his mouth. For thou shalt
be his witness unto all men of what thou hast seen and heard. And now, whiterest thou, arise
and be baptized, and wash away thy sins, calling on the name
of the Lord." Now, this is the story of the salvation of Saul
of Tarsus, whom the Lord changed his name to Paul. And he told
this story over and over again, everywhere he went. In fact,
he told it many times, and it was before, I think, Agrippa,
I forget, Felix or Gripper, one of them said, now, what's this
story? I want you to tell me your story.
And he said, and he'd already told it many times, and he said,
I thank myself happy to tell it again. Just delighted to tell
you how the Lord revealed Himself to me. And the way that God Almighty,
the way that Christ spoke to Saul of Tarsus, is the very same
way in which He saves all of His people. Different situations,
circumstances, but the same way. As the Lord said, the Lord Jesus
Christ said in John 17, verse 3, He said, this is life eternal. This is what it means to be saved.
that they might know Thee, the only true God, the only one who
is truly God, and Jesus Christ whom Thou hast sent, the one
that God sent to this earth to do something, which He did, which
He effectually accomplished. Our Lord said that. This is life
eternal. This is what it means to be saved, to know the true
God and to know Christ. Well, Paul and Ananias, this
preacher, said to Saul at the time, and this is what every
one of God's elect hear and see, to know the true one. Verse 14,
that thou shouldest know his will, the true God, and see the
just one, capital J, capital O, the just one, and hear the
voice of his mouth. That's what every single one
of God's elect will see and hear. Isn't it, Brother Platt? Every
one of them. This is what I heard. And you, if you, if the Lord
has dealt with you. All right, look at verses 1 through
3 with me. He's telling, Paul is recounting
his story. And, you know, the Lord told
us, and he told Saul, you'll be a witness unto all men of
what you've seen and heard. And the Lord told Someone one
time, he said, you go home and tell your family and tell others
what great things the Lord has done for you. That's what witnessing
it, just telling your story. You sing that song. This is my
story. This is my song. Praising my Savior all the day
long. You go tell them what the Lord did for you. You tell them
how he's revealed himself to you, who he is. Well, Paul does
that. several times. Saul, men, brethren,
fathers, hear my defense which I make now unto you. They heard
him speak in their language, and they kept silence. And he
said, verse 3, I verily, truly am a man which am a Jew born
in Tarsus, a city in Cilicia, yet brought up in this city at
the feet of Gamaliel, and taught according to the perfect manner
of the law of the fathers and was zealous toward God as you
all are this day." He said, I'm a man. I'm just like you. I'm
no different than you. I'm not special. I'm just a man. I'm a Jew, he said. He's religious. Nearly everybody is, aren't they?
It's hard to find someone that's not religious today, some kind
of religious. Everybody says, well, I'm a Baptist,
or I'm a Methodist, or I'm a Catholic. What are you? Brother Dan Parks, I don't know if you know Brother
Dan Parks or not. Most people call him Moose. Anyway,
he's a missionary to the Virgin Islands, and his son, when he
was a child, they had to go to the hospital one day. And they
had to fill out a form for him, and on those forms, it asked
you what your religion is, you know. They asked Dan, what's
your son's religion? And he was six years old at the
time. Dan said, he doesn't have any.
He's six years old. And they said, well, he's got
to have a religion. What is it? Dan said, he's not. He's six
years old. He doesn't have a religion. And
they said, well, he's got to write down something. So Dan
said, well, write down heathen. He's a heathen. He doesn't know
God. He doesn't know Christ. He's
a heathen. That's what he is. Everybody's religious though,
aren't they? It's hard to find somebody today that's not religious.
Paul said, I was brought up, I was raised, and we're generally
religious the way we're brought up, aren't we? The way we're
raised, that's what we believe. He said, I was taught, I was
catechized, I was taught, I was brought up this way, verse 3,
according to the perfect manner of the law of the fathers. He
could easily have said, I was brought up here in the Ten Commandments.
And Paul went on later to attend religious school. He went to
the school of Gamaliel, which would be the equivalent today
of a seminary. Brother Greg Elquist and I like
to call them cemeteries, because that's where they are. That's
what only the dead teach there and come from there, really.
Saul was the only man in Scripture who had formal religious training,
and he called it a waste of time. That's right. He had to unlearn
everything he learned under the feet of Gamaliel. Didn't he,
Brother Clay? And he called it horse manure. Dumb. That's what
he called it. He said, I was brought up under
the feet of Gamaliel. He said, I was zealous, verse
3, I was zealous toward God as all you are today. He was talking
to his Jewish brethren or kinsmen and men, the Jews. And he said,
I was zealous just like you, toward God. Later on, he wrote
to the Romans and he said, To them, he said, I bear them record,
my kinsmen, according to the flesh, which are Jews. He said,
I bear them record. They have a zeal toward God.
They're very enthusiastic about God. They're very enthusiastic
about their religion, but they don't even know God. He said,
I was just like them. I didn't know God, thought I
did. I loved the God that I loved, but he wasn't the true God. He
said, I was zealous toward God, but he said, like you, I was
ignorant. Ignorant. Now how ignorant was
he? Well, Paul actually thought he
was blameless according to the law, didn't he? He said that. He said, in Philippians, we might
look at that tomorrow, chapter 3, he said, Concerning the righteousness
of the law, he said, I was blameless. How ignorant can a man be? We
sang that song just now. Holy, holy, holy, Lord God Almighty. God who dwelleth in light which
no man can approach unto. God that looks on the heart.
that sees on every thought, intent of the heart, searches the heart
out. And a man or a woman would dare
say, call themselves blameless before God? How ignorant can
you be? Well, most people are, aren't
they? Saul was. Saul was ignorant and
he said, I know I was just like you. Well, verse 4, he said,
and I persecuted this way. This way. Now, this way, he said earlier when
he was preaching at Athens just a few chapters back, they called
what he was preaching strange doctrine, didn't they? When he
came to Athens, Mars Hill, they said, we want to hear this strange
doctrine. We've heard about this way, you
believe. And they said, you seem to be the setter forth of a strange
God. Your God is strange. We've heard
about this way that you believe, this sovereign and holy God,
a God who's in absolute control of all things, all flesh, all
souls, a God whom you say does not love everybody. Well, who
ever heard of such a thing? Hey, don't you know everybody
believes that? Who believes like you this way that you believe?
The sovereign God, this righteousness. And this is what people say today.
Let's always talk about needing a righteousness. When do you
ever hear that word today in preaching, modern preaching?
You ever hear the word? You ever hear a man talk about
the righteousness of God and our need to have a righteousness
before God? Ever? You don't hear that, do
you? 500 times in the Bible, righteousness. 500 times! And what's all this talk about
shed blood? You don't even hear the word
blood anymore, do you, in religion? They thought this was old-fashioned,
archaic religion in Athens, Greece, you know? We're educated, we're
civilized people. What's all this talk about a
holy God and needing blood to remit sins? We never heard of
such a thing. What's this way you're talking
about? God electing a people? God electing a people, choosing
whom He will, and passing by others. That's... Who ever heard
of such a thing? That's what they said to Solomon. This way of sovereign mercy and
sovereign grace doesn't... We believe everybody deserves
a chance to be saved. Who ever heard of such a thing?
You talking about God electing some and passing by others. Why,
everybody deserves a chance to be saved. No, they don't. Salvation
is not for the deserving, it's for the unworthy. Salvation is
not by chance, it's by the purpose of God. This way that they called
heresy back then is the way they call heresy today. It hasn't
changed. Men haven't changed in their
thoughts of Noah. When Noah was building that ark
back then, 120 years, says he was a preacher of what? Righteousness. Whose? He wasn't telling people,
you better make yourself righteous, or God will damn you. He was
telling you, you better get in this ark, or God will damn you.
And that ark is a picture of Christ. A picture of Christ. And for 120 years, with every
blow of his hammer, building that ark, he was preaching a
judgment of God against the world. God is holy. God is holy. God
will by no means clear the guilty. And all are guilty, including
me, Noah would say. Noah would be the first to say
that. And any preacher that comes across as being anything other
than a sinner, saved by grace, is a false one. But he would
say, he'd say, we need a righteousness. God is holy. Better get in this
ark. That ark's a picture of Christ.
How many people went on that ark? There were millions of people
on earth at that time. And the more time went by, they
laughed and scoffed at Noah. Peter said the same thing would
happen, 2 Peter 3. In the last days, mockers, scoffers
will come. We don't, what's all this talk
about a holy God, about destroying the world? Who ever heard of
such a thing? The truth hasn't changed. God hasn't changed. Well, Paul said, after the way
they call heresy, that's what I believe. How about you? The
way that most people in the world call heresy, that's the way I
believe. The church that I grew up in,
my father was a pastor for over 50 years. And every place that
preaches this gospel, the gospel, the truth, the true God, will take on a stigma. you'll be a marked people. They'll
think you're a cult. They'll think you're strange.
They'll think your God's strange. They'll think your doctrine's
strange. One man, one time, he was asked by somebody where he
worked where he went to church. And he told them, and they said,
oh, oh. Pretty much summed it up. Everybody,
oh, you go to the O church. So we started calling ourselves
the O, the O church. Go anywhere but that. Another
man told one of the members, one of the members moved there
in town and he asked him where he could go to worship. And the
man said, go anywhere but, and he told the name of our church,
go anywhere but there. There's a man, I worked on the
railroad for 12 years, and a man told me, we were talking about
the truth, and he told me, he said, I'll believe anything but
that. And he did. And they do. Anything. No matter how wild. Anything but the truth. Oh, church,
that way. And Paul said, I persecuted that
way. Saul said, I persecuted that way. And I don't know how
many in here. I don't know anybody in here.
I don't know your background. Maybe you were in religion before.
And this is a story of a religious man, the most moral, upright,
religious man you'd ever meet, but he's lost. the most zealous,
enthusiastic, door-to-door religious person, he's lost, Lenore, he's
lost. If ever you ask anybody, everybody
thinks if anybody's saved, it's Saul of Tarsus. Well, he's lost. There's an old preacher named
Ralph Barnard, years ago, and everybody in here and everybody
I know that's heard the gospel in our day, in some way has indirectly
came from that man preaching. He was a John the Baptist back
in the 40s and the 50s and throughout the Southeast. And he used to
say things like this. He said, I'm not trying to get
people saved. I'm trying to get them lost. Nobody's saved until they're
lost. He asked a lady one time, how long have you been saved?
She said, well, about all my life. He said, that's too long.
There has to be a time when you're lost, doesn't it? You've got
to be lost before you're found. The Lord God got Saul lost first. Look at verse 5. He said, the
high priests and the elders, they all knew me. They all knew
Him, and they liked Him before. They liked Him the way He was
before. They liked Him religious before. They didn't like Him
this way. That's true, folks. People will
take you religious, but just don't believe that grace stuff. I'm out. They'll tolerate anything
and everything but that. Well, Paul said in verse 6, he
said, It came to pass I made my journey. As everyone is, they're making
some kind of journey. Paul was moving up the ladder
in religion, wasn't he? I believe Saul of Tarsus would
have been the high priest. I believe he would have been
the high priest. Brother Todd Nybert and I think
he's the rich young ruler. We think that's who that rich
young ruler was, Saul of Tarsus. Could be. He was rich. He said, I got great gain from
my religion. He was a ruler. He was a religious
ruler. And he was moving up the ladder
in religion. And most people are going up
some kind of, making some kind of journey, Moving up, going
away that seems right. Paul saw was going away that
seemed right to him, but it was all wrong. What? All wrong. And most folks think they're
going to heaven. The way they're trying to get there is all wrong.
Suddenly, verse 6, suddenly there shone from heaven a great light
round about me. Suddenly, unexpectedly. Salvation. Salvation is an unexpected thing. Salvation is a miracle. Brother Cyril and I were talking
about that on his back porch. Salvation is a miracle. The salvation
of every single human being is a miracle of God's saving grace. No less than this man. The actual circumstances may
not be the same. happened to Paul and what he
heard and who he heard of and what the Lord did to him is exactly
the way the Lord deals with every single person. Our Lord said
this, he said, I am sought of them that asks not for me. Saul
wasn't asking, he wasn't seeking the Lord, he wasn't. And I tell
you what, the Lord was seeking him wasn't he? And found him.
The Lord said this, He said, I'm the good shepherd and I go
after my sheep. I leave the ninety and nine and
I go after the one that is lost. And when I find it, not if I
find it, but when I find it, I put it on my shoulder and I
bring it all the way home. And they rejoice in what I have
done. Every one of God's sheep are
sought by the shepherd and found by the shepherd. And how you
know He's seeking them They begin to seek Him. It's a mystery really,
but He seeks them first. Our Lord said, I am found of
them that sought Me not. I said, I'm reading Isaiah 65,
verse 1, I said, behold Me, behold Me, unto a people who was not
called by My name. Paul said, suddenly there shone
from heaven, salvations of the Lord, a great light round about
me. God who is light, Christ who
is light, shone down upon him, surrounded him. Paul later said
that I was apprehended. I was apprehended. You know,
our Lord one time called the gospel a net, didn't he? Any
fishermen in here? He said, no. Well, there's a
lot of fishermen. All right, there's one. The Lord
called the gospel a net. And everything our Lord said
is full of infinite wisdom and divine, the truth. And he called
the gospel a net. Now a net, when you throw a net,
I've thrown a net, I've cast a net on the water. And what
a net does is surrounds fish and apprehends them. That's what
God does when He finds one of His sheep. He apprehends them.
This light, the Lord Himself, surrounded Paul, came down upon
Paul. Modern religion is like modern
fishing. They use lures. Right? Artificial bait. Bait. Promised
men trying to lure people in. Give them dead stuff. Bait. and promised them things. When
they get them in, they're trapped in. They're dead. But the gospel's a net. Suddenly
this light, God who is like Christ who is light, said, I'm the light
of the world, God who dwelleth in light which no man can approach
unto, apprehended Paul, came down upon Paul. Verse 7, Paul,
he said, I fell under the ground. Would you turn with me to Isaiah
chapter 2? Isaiah 2. Paul hit the dust,
as all men should and they do when they meet the true Christ.
He hit the dust. I fell to the ground. You know what the chief characteristic
of this modern world is? Religion, especially. Pride. Pride. The Lord said that's the
first thing he hates. Go with the four falls, the scripture
said. Our Lord, in Isaiah chapter 2,
verse 10, look at it. Isaiah 2, 10, He said, Enter
into the rock and hide thee in the dust for the fear of the
Lord, for the glory of His majesty. The lofty looks of man shall
be humble, and the haughtiness of men shall be bowed down. You
see the look on people's faces? young people, you know, haughtiness,
like I'm really somebody, you know, strutting their stuff.
These six things that the Lord hate, yea, seven are an abomination
to Him. The first is a proud look, and
that's what characterizes this modern generation more than anything
else, starting with the kids, children. The haughtiness of
men, Scripture says, shall be bowed down and the Lord alone
shall be exalted in that day. Why does the Lord hate pride
so much? Because what do we have that we have not received? Everything we are and have. He
said, let not the wise man glory in his wisdom. Why? Because you're
one germ away from being a vegetable. And the only reason that person
born without a mind is born without a mind and you're born with a
mind is the sovereign grace of God. He determined that. You
get no credit for anything. No credit. And men ought to be
giving God all the glory for all that they are and know and
have. All of it. That's all God requires,
really. You know, that's what worship
is. Coming to thank God, acknowledge God, praise God, from whom all
blessings flow. Blessed be the God and Father
of our Lord Jesus Christ, who hath blessed us with all blessing,
anything. A man can receive nothing, nothing,
except it be given him from above. Everything is given to us from
above. Everything is by grace. That's
all God requires of men. is to acknowledge Him, to worship
Him, and to bow the knee to His Son. Someday, every knee shall
bow. Every knee shall bow. Salvation
is for God Almighty to bow our knee now. And bless God, He does
that for some people. Causes them to bow the knee now,
to see who He is now, and bow their knee. The Lord breaks proud
hearts. He puts His fear in us. What
is one of the most common statements? Several years ago, it was a slogan
that especially young people wore on T-shirts and put it on
where I come from, on the back of their four-wheel drive pickup
trucks, you know, no fear. No fear. That's what Scripture
says in Romans 3, 18. There's no fear of God before
their eyes. That characterizes this generation more than anything
else. No fear. When God Almighty does a saving
work in a human being, this is the first thing. This is the
beginning of wisdom. He puts the fear of God in their
heart. Fear of His name. That's what happened at Pentecost.
Peter never mentioned love in his sermon at Pentecost. In fact,
the word love is not in the book of Acts anywhere. Nowhere. Not one single sermon
in the book of Acts, and it's all the recorded sermon, public
sermon. Not one man ever brought up the love of God, did he? Not
once. Do you know that? And at Pentecost,
when Peter stood up, all he preached was, you're in the hands of a
sovereign Lord. The one you thought was in your
hands, it ain't that way at all. It was like what an old black
preacher told everybody, it ain't like you thought it was. Well,
this is the way I think it is. Well, it ain't like you thought
it was. It's the way it is. God is the way He is. And that Peter preached at Pentecost
that all men are in the sovereign hands of the Lord Jesus Christ. Not Jesus, but the Lord Jesus. And he said, look at that verse
10 in Isaiah again. Enter into the rock and hide
thee in the dust. That's what happened to Saul.
He hit the dust, didn't he? I told you I worked on the railroad
for 12 years and I always sang that song. I've been working
on the railroad. All the live long day. But anyway,
one time, I took my lunch to work with me.
Mindy always, most of the time, fixed me a plate lunch. And she'd
put it on a plate, and I'd cover it with aluminum foil. And I
would put it in the refrigerator of the little lunchroom where
we ate. And go to work and in lunchtime, come in there, get
my lunch out and put it in the microwave and eat it. And she
had made me my favorite, well, it was leftover from the night
before, roast beef and mashed potatoes and so on. I was looking so forward to eating
that lunch. And I came in, oh boy, roast beef. And I got that
plate out of the, A little refrigerator there,
and I peeled that aluminum foil back, and it was black with ants. It was covered. I mean, it was
black. You couldn't see any of that
food. Those ants had covered my plate lunch. That's my lunch. Covered it. That was for me. They were taking what belonged
to me. And I looked down, and those ants had a trail. Down
the table, all the way out the door, every ant in two counties,
I guess, was after my lunch. And, you know, I got so angry
that they don't have any right to mess up my lunch like that.
And I got one of these, called a fusee, used on the railroad. You strike it, you know, and
flare. I got one of those, and I took
that whole plate and all, all those ant plate and all, and
went outside in a big can and dumped that plate in there, and
I set that can on fire, and I took that flare, and I went burning
up every ant I could find. I burnt their little hineys, buddy.
Every ant I could find. I was furious. I was furious. And I sat down after I did all
that, and I thought, I've got them all. And I looked down,
and between my feet, there was one ant. And I thought, I'm gonna get
you too, buddy. And lo and behold, that ant crawled under a rock. And I almost cried. Enter into
the rock. and hide you in the dust for
the fear of the Lord." Is this a fable? Peter said, we have
not followed cunningly devised fables when we made known unto
you the majesty of the Lord, the fear of the Lord. This is
not some wild man preacher talking to Lord Jesus Christ. This is
God's Word. Scripture says God is angry with
the wicked every day. But there is no condemnation
to them that are in Christ. In the rock, in the cleft of
the rock, he told Moses, he said, I'm going to put you, there's
a place by me. And when I come by, you won't
be consumed. God really is angry. It's truth
in it, Brother Cyril. It's what God's Word says. He
really is angry with people. And He has a right to be angry
with us. We're proud too. We're still proud. But there's
a place. The cleft of the rock. Inside
of the Lord Jesus Christ. The ribbon side. Christ, the
Rock of Ages. He said, you hide you in the
rock, and it won't come to you. Where's the love of God? It's
in Jesus Christ. The love of God, if there was
a bumper sticker on that ark that said, smile, God loves you,
is on the inside. It wasn't on the outside. There's no love of God outside
of Christ. That's a fact. Oh my, what manner of love the
Father has bestowed upon us. Who gets in Christ? Who comes to Christ? This is
the story of that. Saul wasn't looking for Him.
And that was me. Paul didn't say, I saw the light,
like Hank Williams, you know. I saw that Hank Williams saw
a light, but he didn't see the Lord Jesus Christ. He didn't
hear Christ speak. Look at verse 9 in our text,
Acts 22. He says in verse 9, they that
were with me saw indeed the light and were afraid, but they didn't
hear the voice. They didn't hear his voice. Christ
said, my sheep hear my voice. All of them. They'll all be taught
of God. Our Lord said that. All the father's
children shall be taught of the Lord. God's people don't have
different conceptions of God. The children of God don't have
different conceptions of God. There were four of us kids in
my family. Three sons and a daughter. I
was a baby. I was a spoiled baby. But anyway,
we all had the same earthly father. We didn't think of him four different
ways. We all knew Him as He is. So
it is with God's children. They don't have different conceptions
of God. They all know Him as He is. If you ask God's people,
describe God. What's the first word going to
be out of their mouth? Clay, what is it? Holy. We just sang that. Holy. The angels in Isaiah 6,
the cherubs cry night and day, not love, love, love. But holy,
holy, holy is the Lord God of hosts. The whole earth is full
of His what? glory. So what's His glory? Ask anybody. Ask any child of
God. They'll tell you what the glory
of God is. It's His sovereign mercy and grace. Moses said,
Lord, show me Your glory. What'd He say? I'll be merciful. What's mercy? Something you don't
deserve. Sparing the guilty. That's what
mercy is. Is anybody guilty today? All
of God's people are. Every one of God's people are
guilty as charged. Oh, but they're innocent in Christ. No condemnation in Christ. Paul said, "...this light, the
Lord Jesus Christ..." Read on, verse 10, "...and I said..." Saul said, "...what shall I do,
Lord?" In Acts 9, the original account, he said, he told the
Lord, he said, What will you have me to do? What will you have me to do?
Oh, how different is the true Christ of Scripture as opposed
to this other Jesus that men are proclaiming. My, my. What will you have me to do?
You know, salvation is for the Lord to bring a proud man down,
to make a righteous man or woman guilty, to make someone who thinks
they see blind. Didn't the Lord say that? I like
the fact that that light's shining on me right now. You said it
would, I like that. to make someone who thinks they
see. Our Lord said this to the Pharisees.
He said, if you were blind, you'd have no sin. But because you
think you see, you say you see, your sin remaineth. God's people understand what
He said. The Lord makes a high man low,
brings him down. He makes a person who thinks
they're somebody into nothing. The Lord changed Saul's name
to Paul. I've got an apt name. You know
what Paul means? Little. Saul, who thought he
was big shot, riding his high horse, thought he was somebody,
thought he knew everything, he now became little in his own
eyes, and that was just fine with him. He said, I'm less than
the least, didn't he? I'm not fit to be called a disciple.
That the salvation is for God Almighty to take someone who
thinks they're good and make them believe they're bad. In
my flesh dwelleth no good thing. Paul said that. Finest man you'd
ever meet. Paul, the apostle, said, there's
no good thing in my flesh. Now, he said, 55 or 60 years
old. Salvation is for God Almighty
to take a person who thinks they're godly and make them believe and
know they're ungodly. Think they know everything and
make them think they don't know anything. That's what salvation
is. And Paul said, Who are you, Lord?
Who are you, Lord? And the Lord said, I'm Jesus.
Look at verse 9, verse 8. Who art thou, Lord? He said,
I'm Jesus of Nazareth, whom thou persecute. The Lord's telling
him, I'm the one you hated. I'm the one that you thought
was in your hands. I'm the one that you thought
you were going to do something with. Now the question is, now
you know that I'm not the one to be accepted or rejected. Now you're in my hands to do
with as I please. Every single person that God
Almighty reveals Himself to and reveals the Sovereign Lord to
comes to this point. They realize that the Jesus I
used to believe wasn't the Jesus Christ of Scripture. The God
I used to believe was no God at all. He was an idol. Now I
know the living and true God who is God. He is God. Not trying to be God. He is God. God never tries anything. Verse
9, they saw the light, but they didn't hear the voice, and men
don't. And he said, what shall I do, Lord? You know, when a man, when a person meets
the Lord, sovereign Lord Jesus Christ, they'll pretty much quit
calling him Jesus. And they'll quit arguing. Paul
before argued, he debated, now he's just listening. Men will
quit deciding, they'll start begging. Quit arguing, start
believing. No one whom the Lord reveals
Himself to argues about whose suffering, whose will it is. Look at verse 11. He said, When
I could not see for the glory of that light. He said, I could not see for
the glory of that light. I was led by the hand of them
that were with me." Oh, that's a good verse, isn't it? Couldn't
see for the glory of that light. When you see Christ, when we
see Christ, we won't see much of anything else at all. When
a person finally sees the glory of the Lord Jesus Christ, they
won't see any glory in anything or anyone else. When a person
finally sees that Christ, His righteousness, His holiness,
they won't see any holiness in anybody or anything else. When
a person finally sees that He alone is worthy, they'll call
themselves unworthy. When they see He is holy, we
sang that. Holy, holy, holy. Thou alone
art holy. Holy. They'll quit calling themselves
holy people. Imagine the ignorance of people.
thinking that they can dress a certain way, wear their sleeves
a certain way, their hair a certain way, or not do this and not do
that. And God Almighty, who's thrice holy, is actually pleased
with it, more pleased with it. One old preacher said, we're
all just a bunch of dogs. Some dogs wear ribbons and bows,
some don't. They're all the same. The only
difference that separates us is some of us are his dogs. It belonged to Him. He called
that Syrophoenician woman a dog, didn't He? She said, Truth, Lord. Truth. My, my. Quit talking about man's glory
and start talking about His glory. When you see, when a person sees
the true God and the true Christ, they won't see any glory or any
majesty in anything or anyone else, especially themselves.
Never again. And from then on, have you ever
looked into the sun for any length of time? Have you? You can't, can you? What will
happen to you if you look at the sun? You'll see spots. I'm seeing them right now. You'll
see sunspots. It's a good illustration, darling.
It's fine. I like this. It's a good illustration. If you ever look, if you ever
see Christ, really see Christ, that He's all. It's not just
a slogan. It's the truth. Christ is all.
He's all there is. He's all the righteousness there
is. He's all the wisdom there is. He's all the sanctification
there is. He's all the holiness there is. He's all the salvation
there is. He's the way, the truth, and the life. There is no other
way. Christ said no man, Muslim, Hindu, whoever it be, no man,
no human being comes unto the Father but by Me. I'm the way. If you see Him as the way, the
truth, and the life, You won't see anything else from then on. If the Lord ever shows you Christ
from the Scripture, you'll see Him all the way through the Scripture.
Every story, every line. Our Lord said, They are they
which testify of me. All of them testify of me. It's
all about me. God wrote this book about His
Son. It's all about the Son. And if
you ever see the Son, You'll see sunspots in everything you
see. You'll see Christ. Well, look
at verse, and here's what the Lord said to him through Ananias. He sent him a preacher. You know,
how shall they believe in him whom they have not heard? And
how shall they hear without a preacher? Please God by the foolishness
of preaching. Preachers aren't anything. They really aren't.
They're nothing. If any man stands up and says
he is, he's nothing. He's a liar. Preachers are nothing. I'm a
nothing. I'm a nobody. I'm delivering a message. That's
it. That's all we're doing. But now, verse 13, He came unto
Saul and stood and said unto me, Brother Saul, receive thy
sight. In the same hour, I looked up. upon him. There was a time when Paul never
looked up to anybody. Self-righteous people, they look
down on everybody, don't they? They do. Saul was self-righteous. He looked down on everybody.
He thought he was above everybody else. When God Almighty saves
a person, they'll think everybody's better than they are. He likes
all. He said, I'm less than the least.
I'm not fit to be called a disciple. I'm unworthy. I'm unworthy. I'm
the chief of sinners. That's right. It's not fake humility. It's true. Because the Lord will
keep you humble. See in the wickedness of your
own heart. Yes, He will. Yes, He will. In
light of Christ. And Paul looked up to and esteemed
others better than ourselves. We do. In verse 14, he said,
the God of our fathers has chosen you. You're one of his elect.
Well, you're not supposed to preach election to a new convert. He wouldn't even be here if God
hadn't elected him. That's where it all started,
Brother Cyril, didn't it? With the sovereign electing grace
of God, when God chose a people before the foundation of the
world, God chose you. What? To do what? That you should
know His will. His will? What's that? Paul wrote
to the Ephesians later on, he said, it is God that worketh
all things after the counsel of His will. His will? What's
that? Sovereign will. Man doesn't have
a free will. It's a lie. Anybody believe that? Never seen God, have they? They
don't know God. We can't say, I will do anything.
We can't say, I will do anything. I can't say, I will breathe in
a minute from now, can I? I can't say for a fact, I will
move my hand. You can't say that, can you?
The Lord will and I will. God is the only one that says,
I will. And buddy, it will happen. Right? He said, I've thought it. I'll
bring it to pass. I've spoke it. It'll happen.
Known unto God are all His works from the beginning of the world. Anybody that talks about their
will hadn't seen God. That's a fact. Man is so blasphemous,
he puts his free will on top of his building. He flaunts it
in the face of God. Free will. Yeah, you're going
to find out. You're going to find out. Too
late, Mark. Too late. Paul found out whose will. Here's
what Paul saw. I'm going to do away with this
Jesus fellow. I'm going to do away with these people that follow
this way. I'm going to put an end to this
all. You are, are you? This is what I'm going to do
with Jesus. Oh, now, he's in the dust. Who are you? I'm Jesus. Oh, you're not the Jesus I always
thought you were. The one I thought I could do
something with. Oh, my. You know, Saul, he said, you're
going to know my will. His will. The will. Our Lord
said, this is the will of the Father which hath sent me. Listen
to it. All the Father giveth me shall
come to me. He said, I came down from heaven not to do mine own
will, but the will of Him that sent me. What's that? That a
people that God gave to Christ, He came to save every last one
of them. Those chosen by the Father before the foundation
of the world, He gave them to Christ in a covenant, and Christ
came to this world to save every one of them. Did He do it? When
He hung on that cross, what did He say? Last words. Finish. His first words as a 12-year-old
boy were this, I must be about my father's business. The will
of the Father. His last words on earth, hanging
on the cross were, finish. He did it. That's the will of
God. He does according to His will.
His will. None can stay His hand. This
is the will, our Lord said, of Him that hath sent me, that of
all which He hath given me, I should lose nothing. This is the will
of Him that sent me. Everyone that seeth the Son and
believeth on Him shall have everlasting life. Not to him that worketh,
not to him that runneth, but believeth. And even that's not
of yourself. It's a gift of God. Just look
to Christ. Is that it? That's a miracle. You know that?
That's a miracle to cause a A person who's self-righteous by nature
just to look to Christ, isn't it? That's a miracle. Men think
they have to do something. Look unto me and be ye saved.
The Father hath chosen you. The God of your father has chosen
you. You should know his will and see that just one. There's
not a just man on the earth that doeth good and sinneth not, Scripture
said. Until Christ came. There's just
one. He's the holy one of Israel.
He's the just one. Just one. He's the righteous
one. He's the just one. That God may
be just and justifier, the substitute, the satisfier, the law keeper. He's the only one. We can't keep
the law. Christ did. And that's our salvation,
isn't it? Well, he said that you may hear
the voice of his mouth. The voice of his mouth. Christ
said, my sheep, hear my voice. They come to me. I have an old
dog. He's 13 years old now, named
Abner. Australian Shepherd. I love that
old dog. And you know how you know he's
my dog? He comes when I call him. Now,
Mindy's dog, she gets tired of me talking about her dog like
that. She's a shih tzu. He doesn't come when you call
him. He doesn't come when anybody calls him. But anyway, my dog
does. He comes when I call him. One day, can an old dog get into
meanness? Can an old believer sin? Till
the day they die, they will. But they keep coming back to
Christ. Keep coming. Keep coming. This is how you
know his sheep, his people. They come. They come to Christ.
My old dog one day, there was a pack of dogs outside. Mindy came in and told me they
were out there, and some of them without collar, pit bulls, a
big pack of dogs. When you get two or three dogs
together, you've got a problem. When you get a pack of dogs,
you've got a real problem. There's a pack of dogs out there.
She said, come, you got to do something about these dogs. I
can't let Charlie out. And I said, okay, I'll do something
about them. If they're back tomorrow, I'll
do something about them. I mean, I was going to do whatever I
had to do, you know, as the Lord is. And anyway, next day they
were out there. So I was about to do something
with those dogs, you know. That's it. And I looked, and
right in the middle of that pack of dogs was Abner, my dog. He knows better than that. I've
taught him better than that. I raised him better than that.
He's running wild with those other dogs. Well, there he is. No better than those other dogs,
okay? And if he wasn't my dog, I was
going to do something about him. How you'd know he was my dog?
I just said one word. Didn't even call his name. Come! And one dog out of that whole
pack came. And, buddy, he had his head hanging
down. He doesn't have a tail. It's
cropped. But if he did, it'd been between his legs. And if
he could talk, I could hear him now. Oh, no, I didn't mean to
do that. I didn't know better. You know,
please don't. You know, I'm sorry. He came right down to between
my legs, contrite, broken, repentant. He's my dog and my dog comes
when I call him and so does the Lord Jesus Christ people every
time. Come. Come. That's how you know
him. That's how you know him. Well,
old Saul began this day riding in splendor. He finished it in
the dust. He began this day calling Jesus
an imposter. He ended up calling him Lord.
He began this day seeing everything, knowing everything. He ended
this day not seeing anything, not knowing anything. Everybody
had a teaching. He began this day a leader of
men. He ended this day being led like a little child. He began
this day breathing out threatenings and slaughter against the Lord
and his people. He ended this day crying out for mercy. He
began this day telling everybody what he's going to do. He ended
this day asking the Lord, what are you going to do with me?
He began this day against the people of God. When this was
over, he was with them, coming and going. He began this day
hoping that this way would die. He ended this day willing to
die for this way. He began this day as Saul. Somebody, end of this day, little
old nobody, Paul, but saved by the grace of God. That's the
way the Lord saves everybody. Same way. Hasn't changed. God
hasn't changed. Hasn't changed a bit. Okay, stand
with me and I'll dismiss this in prayer.