May I please God to bless us
for a few moments as we continue our meditation in the Acts of
the Apostles, chapter 22, and we'll consider this evening from
verse 17 to verse 21. The Acts of the Apostles, chapter
22, and reading from verse 17. And it came to pass that when
I was come again to Jerusalem, even while I prayed in the temple,
I was in a trance. and saw him saying unto me, make
haste and get thee quickly out of Jerusalem, for they will not
receive thy testimony concerning me. And I said, Lord, they know
that I imprisoned and beat in every synagogue them that believed
on thee. And when the blood of thy martyr
Stephen was shed, I also was standing by and consenting unto
his death. and kept the raiment of them
that slew him. And he said unto me, depart,
for I will send thee far hence unto the Gentiles. Well, these verses conclude the
defense of the Apostle Paul before the guard and those people that
he was addressing. And he is referring now, so we
can commence the 17th verse. And it came to pass that when
I was come again to Jerusalem, now you may remember, after he
was converted on that Damascus road and he went into Arabia
for some three years, and then he came back to Jerusalem. And we must consider that those
three years were years of no doubt much instruction for the
Apostle, much revelation. We may think, well, it took a
long time. Well, the Lord, you see, does
that at his time scale. And he therefore was gracious
to the Apostle who was so well equipped with that knowledge
of the Old Testament, but he hadn't seen Christ. But you see
the Spirit of God then, in that desert place, revealed to him,
the Saviour, so beautifully set forth in the Old Testament. And
therefore what instruction it was, he indeed went to God's
college in Arabia. And so he comes and he says,
and when I was come again to Jerusalem, even while I prayed
in the temple, you see, he knew the place to go to. He went into
the temple and then we're told he was, I was in a trance. and we're told I saw in a vision
yes he's I prayed in the temple I was in a trance now we're not
absolutely sure of course whether that was the same instance that
we read of in that 12th chapter of the second of Corinthians
But on both occasions, or the one occasion, it was very evident
that the Apostle was greatly blessed. And greatly blessed
to have that wonderful privilege, therefore, of being in union
with the Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ. And surely it wonderfully
equipped him to be numbered amongst the Apostles. And as we read
together in that 12 chapter, he refers to it in the third
person. He didn't want to claim anything
for himself. And it's good, you know, when
preachers refer to things in the third person and don't exhort
themselves. It's a dangerous thing to exhort
ourselves because we can easily become proud of some testimony
or experience or perhaps vision that God has given to us. And
so he speaks like this, and he tells us, it is not expedient
for me to doubtness to glory. I will come to visions and revelations
of the Lord. He tells us, I knew a man in
Christ about 14 years ago. So it was some time ago that
a Lord had appeared to him. Early on, it would seem in his
ministry, the Lord had come to him and granted him this wonderful
revelation. Above 14 years, he tells us, that together, whether in the
body, I cannot tell, or whether out of the body, I cannot tell.
God knoweth of such a one caught up to the third heaven, and I
knew such a man, whether in the body or out of the body, I cannot
tell. God knoweth. how that he was caught up into
paradise and heard unspeakable words which it is not lawful
for a man to offer. Utter, of such a man a one will
I glory, yet not of myself I will not glory, but in mine afflictions."
And so he tells us there of that wonderful occasion and what a
view he had of the Savior himself. Well, he refers here then to
that vision which God gave to him. I was in a trance and saw
him saying unto me, make haste and get thee quickly out of Jerusalem
for they will not receive thy testimony concerning me. Now the apostle had a good testimony
to speak of, a good testimony concerning the Lord Jesus Christ,
but here The Spirit instructed him to get out of Jerusalem. And the Lord does instruct. You
may remember he instructed on that occasion, the apostle to
go into Macedonia and how important it is to have directions from
Almighty God. And so he tells us and said,
and I said, Lord, they know that I imprisoned and beat in every
synagogue them that believed on them. And when the blood of
thy martyr Stephen was shed, I also was standing by and consenting
unto his death and kept the raiment of them that slew him." Now,
it's important to recognize and to observe that the apostle here
doesn't only home in on the good things we might say, He also
homes in on the bad things. And he's a very honest person.
And it's good, isn't it, when we are honest in God's dealings
with us, that we don't just speak about the good things, but we
have to acknowledge the wrong things we've done, the sinful
things that we've done. And the apostle had to confess
that it was him that stood by when God's servant, Stephen,
was stoned to death. He wasn't proud of it, was he? Indeed, he was ashamed of it. Because he says, and when the
blood of the martyr Stephen was shed, I also was standing by
and consenting unto his death. He didn't try and make any excuses. You know, we might indeed faced
with a situation making a defense of our case we might be tempted
to make an excuse and give a reason why we might say well of course
there were all those people that needed their clothes to be looked
after and therefore that's what I had to do he doesn't say things
like that he tells us and he was consenting unto his death
a solemn confession wasn't it of the Apostle, and kept the
raiment of them that slew him." And the Lord continues speaking
to the Apostle, and the Apostle tells us what the Lord spoke
to him. You tell that multitude, you
might think, well, Paul, why have you gone into those details?
And this multitude wouldn't be interested in these things and
the captain and the centurions and the soldiers. Well, the apostle
was directed by the spirit of God to declare plainly the details
that God had appointed for him. Sometimes, you know, people bring
that scripture not to cast their pearls before swine and therefore
it's a good excuse not to say anything. Well, my friends, that's
not true. We have the example of the apostle,
and when that word was spoken, there are those very special
blessings sometimes the Lord does grant to us, and they are
what we might term pearls in our experience, which it would
not be prudent to actually explain and to tell people. But here
the apostle is very honest with his situation, and therefore
he tells them, and tells them what God has spoken to him, and
how he acted and how he reacted. And he said unto me, depart,
for I will send thee for hence unto the Gentiles. He wasn't
afraid to speak of God's leadings and God's directions to him.
And here it was, no doubt not what these people wanted to hear.
They would have expected to hear a man like this who was a Jew,
a true Jew, a true Pharisee and he would have commented that
he regretted what those things were he'd done and now he decided
to perhaps turn around but no he followed the word of the Lord
and my friends how good it is for us today as we have such
solid examples in the word of God examples which speak to us
so clearly so that we may never be ashamed of God's leading and
of God's direction. And Paul, he wasn't one to count
the cost. He didn't think, well, if I say
that, of course, I'll have a much worse time. No, he was very honest
and he spoke the things how God had led him, how God had directed
him and how God had blessed him. So as we have these testimonies
before us, in the word of God, may we be found following that
path that those who were indeed led by the Spirit and were able
to record for our encouragement in a day and age in which we
live. Amen.