Would you turn to Acts chapter
22? This will not be my text. I do
want to share some thoughts concerning Saul's conversion, the Apostle
Paul's conversion, that I trust the Lord will use to prepare
us for our text in 2 Timothy chapter 4. Paul was a very religious
man, steeped in religion. He, the apostle to the Gentiles,
in his unregenerate state, was a very well-educated man. And he sat at the feet of the
best teacher of the law money could buy at that time, a man
by the name of Gamaliel. Paul was probably a member of
the Sanhedrin. He was the apple of the high priest's eye,
so to speak. Saul of Tarsus was the high priest
over Israel, fair-haired boy. Paul delighted in the fact that
he had a little preeminence amongst the religious people. Steeped
in self-righteousness as an Israelite from the tribe of Benjamin, Saul
of Tarsus had his trust completely in who he was and what he was
doing. He had no need of Christ and
no love for Christ at all. Matter of fact, he was seeking
to destroy true followers of Christ when the Lord knocked
him off his high horse, so to speak, on his road to Damascus
with letters from the high priest to persecute those who were true
followers of the Lord Jesus. All of that and more, Paul understood,
he understood the things concerning the Gentiles
to the point where he was able to deal with them when the Lord
called them out of darkness on their level. He knew what they
believed. He knew a little about their
false gods. He knew a little bit about the
games that they played and how they conducted themselves as
worldly people. And he was prepared by God himself
to be an apostle to the Gentiles. But all of that preparation,
all of what Paul or Saul of Tarsus was a part of, none of those
things contributed to Paul's conversion. None of them. Matter of fact, writing under
divine inspiration, he referred to those things as done. D-U-N-G, done. You all know what that is. That's
something you try not to step in when you're on a barnyard
where there's chickens and ducks and cows and those kinds of animals. And to him, that's all religion
was, nothing but just a waste because he didn't know Christ.
And he's giving his testimony to some unbelieving Jews here
in Acts chapter 22. So, let me share some Scripture,
starting at verse 1, make a few comments. Saul of Tarsus says, Men, brethren,
and fathers, hear ye my defense which I make now unto you. And
when they heard that he spake in the Hebrew tongue to them,
They kept the Lord's silence, and he saith, I am verily 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. And I persecuted this way
unto death, unto the death, binding and delivering into prison both
men and women. And just for the record, he didn't
care if they had children or not. He had them cast into prison
and the children had to find places to stay. And you can be
assured that they were taught by unbelievers, for the most
part, And it was just a tragedy, just terrible. And those things
are going on today. Paul, as Saul of Tarsus, talking
to these unbelieving Jews, says, "...as also the high priest doth
bear me witness, and all the estate of the elders, from whom
also I received letters unto the brethren, I went to Damascus
to bring them which were there, bound unto Jerusalem, for to
be punished." And it came to pass, and this is Paul's personal
testimony, he says, it came to pass that as I made my journey
and was come nigh unto Damascus about noon, suddenly there shone
from heaven a great light round about me. Paul saw the light. What a wonderful, wonderful testimony
to give to others. God commanded the light to shine
in our hearts, to give the light of the knowledge of the glory
of God in the face of Jesus Christ our Lord. And we have this treasure
in earthen vessels, that the excellency of the power may be
of God and not of us. Paul said, I saw a great light
round about me. And I fell unto the ground, and
I heard a voice saying unto me, Saul, Saul, why persecutest thou
me? Now this voice came from heaven. Paul heard it. Others heard a
noise, but they didn't know the voice. They didn't hear the voice.
Our Lord Jesus was speaking personally to one of his elect. And Saul
said, I answered. Who art thou, Lord? He knew it
was the Lord talking to him, but he didn't know it was Jesus
Christ until he was revealed to him. So verse 8 says, And
he, that is the Lord Jesus, said unto me, I am Jesus of Nazareth,
whom thou persecutest. And they that were with me saw
indeed the light and were afraid, but they heard not the voice
of him who spake to me. And I said, What shall I do,
Lord? And the Lord said unto me, arise
and go into Damascus, and there shall be told thee of all things
which are appointed for thee to do. Now let me just stop there
for a moment. This is the Lord Jesus speaking
personally to Saul of Tarsus. You've heard this from our pastor. You've heard this from Brother
Larry Brown. You've heard this from me. If
you've heard any other gospel preacher, I'm sure you've heard
it from them as well. God has ordained men, preachers
of his gospel, and God sends them where he wants to send them
to preach his glorious gospel truths to the people in that
area And He, by Himself, Jesus Christ our Lord, by Himself,
enlightens the mind and brings us out of darkness into His marvelous
light. But it's a preacher, an ordained
preacher, sent by God, who brings the Gospel to us. We must hear
the voice of Jesus Christ. But the preacher must preach
the Gospel. Whosoever shall call upon the
name of the Lord shall be saved. Well, how will anybody call upon
the name of the Lord to be saved unless they know who the Lord
is? Unless they hear and believe that Jesus Christ is the Lord,
they cannot call upon Him for salvation. He must be revealed,
but we must hear about Him. Folks, listen. Jesus Christ is
the Savior of His chosen people. And we just heard from Larry
Brown as he read the scriptures from the book of Philippians
that tells us that our Lord Jesus was obedient unto death, even
the death of the cross. Because of that, wherefore God
has highly exalted him and given him a name which is above every
name. that at the name of Jesus every
knee should bow of things in heaven, things in earth, and
things under the earth, and that every tongue should confess that
Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of God the Father. So he's on
his sovereign throne. Jesus Christ is Jehovah. He's
God Almighty. He's running this show. He by
himself moves hearts as it pleases him. You might have been invited
to attend a gospel preaching church by one of God's faithful
saints. and thought you were going there
just because that was your will, but no, sir. That was God's sovereign
will, bringing you under the preaching of his gospel, and
at his appointed time of love for all of you who have been
enlightened by his spirit, he delivered you from the power
of darkness, showing each one of us that Jesus Christ ransomed
us with his precious blood. And so, Paul is going to hear
from one of God's ordained preachers. And he says in verse 11, when
I could not see for the glory of that light being led by the
hand of them that were with me, I came into Damascus. And I liked
the way he refers the light. He says, when I could not see
for the glory of that light. Oh, if we've seen Jesus Christ
through the eye of God given faith. He is most glorious in
our sight. And that light that He commanded
to shine just fills our heart with praise to God, giving our
wonderful Savior praise and adoration for His glorious gospel that's
been revealed to us. So Paul was led, being blinded
by the glory of that light, into Damascus. Now look at verse 12.
And one Adonias, A devout man, and by the way, when God told
Ananias to go and minister to Saul of Tarsus, he argued with
the Lord. He said, I've heard of him. He's
a bad man. He persecutes Christians. And that's just, that's not a
verbatim, but anyway, he was arguing and the Lord said, you
go, I've chosen him. And so, Ananias obeyed the Lord
and he went to Damascus, but he was a little reluctant, I
can understand that too. But he says, or Saul giving his
testimony, a devout man, according to the law, having a good report
of all the Jews which dwelt there, came unto me and stood and said,
brother Saul, receive thy sight. And the same hour, I looked upon
him. The scales fell off of his eyes,
and he could see Ananias. In verse 14, these are the words
of Ananias to a babe in Christ. Let me stress that. Saul of Tarsus,
had been a Christian for three days, blinded by the glory of
that light that he saw on the Damascus road, and Ananias, God's
chosen preacher, said to this babe in Christ, 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. Saul of Tarsus heard what I believe
every sinner, dead in trespasses and sins, need to hear. Let me take you to 1 Timothy
chapter 1 and show you something concerning Saul's conversion,
something that I believe we just overlook when we read it. Saul
of Tarsus heard the gospel when he was a babe in Christ. And
I've heard this, and maybe you have too, that election, God's sovereign electing grace
is too strong for babes in Christ. Don't you believe that for a
moment. Saul of Tarsus was a babe in Christ. And Ananias said to
him, The God of our fathers hath chosen thee. As a babe in Christ,
he heard that God had chosen him, and he preached that. He
preached that without fear of men, for the glory of Christ
our Savior, that we were chosen in Christ before the foundation
of the world. Our names were written in the
Lamb's Book of Life before the foundation of the world. and
Saul of Tarsus heard this as a babe in Christ, the God of
our fathers hath chosen thee." Isn't that wonderful? That's just absolutely I'm without words to express
myself. That's just absolutely wonderful
beyond words, that God would choose a wretch like me. Is that
the way you feel? That God chose me in Christ before
the foundation of the world? And then, Anna and I said through
Saul of Tarsus, a babe in Christ, the God of our fathers had chosen
me, that thou shouldest know His will. Preaching God's sovereign
will in the salvation of his elect is not too strong for babes
in Christ. Saul of Tarsus heard that it
was God's will that commanded the light to shine while he was
on that Damascus road. And that's true of all of us. Our Lord Jesus said, this is
the will of the Father which has sent me that of all which
he hath given me I should lose n-o-t-h-i-n-g. Nothing. That's God's will. He gave a chosen people to his
beloved Son Christ Jesus our Lord, and all of them are going
to come. Our Lord Jesus said so. He said,
all of the Father giveth me shall come to me. He didn't say, I
hope they will. He didn't say if they'll just
give me a chance. Salvation is not by chance. Salvation
is by the sovereign grace of God through the merits of Christ
alone. And those who receive him will
not stand for anything with that glorious truth that gives our
Lord Jesus all the glory. Then Saul of Tarsus heard something
else. The God of our fathers hath chosen
thee, that thou shouldest know his will and see that just one. He saw Jesus Christ. He saw him
with these physical eyes. That was one of the qualifications
of becoming an apostle of Jesus Christ. His apostles had to see
him with The natural eyes. It had blinded Saul for three
days. But hear the gospel. You must
see that just one. You must see Jesus Christ. I must see Jesus Christ. I must
see Him. as my beloved Savior. I must see Him as my risen Lord. I must see Him on His sovereign
throne of power, accomplishing His will amongst His whole universe. People say, well, there might
be life on other planets. I'll tell you if there is, I
don't believe that, but if there is, Jesus Christ is Lord over
all of them. He's Lord over everything. If
he's not Lord of all, he's not Lord at all, but he's Lord of
all. He's our sovereign Lord, and he's the one who left the
splendors of glory and came to this earth to redeem a particular
people given to him by God the Father and the eternal covenant
of grace before a star ever twinkled in the sky. We must see him. Is that too strong to preach
to babes in Christ? Saul of Tarsus was a babe in
Christ and that's exactly what God's preacher told him. And
then he said this, not only must you see that just one, The just
for the unjust, you must hear His voice. John the Baptist was a voice
crying in the wilderness. That's all God's preachers are,
just a voice. But we must preach His gospel. This voice, if the Lord allows
me to preach, I must preach His gospel. The Apostle Paul said,
woe is me if I preach not the gospel. He didn't say, woe is
me if I don't preach. He said, woe is me if I don't
preach the gospel. So when God opens the door, and
I'll guarantee you, I've heard him many, many, many times, I
guarantee you that our pastor, David Edmondson, is preaching
the gospel in Crossville, Tennessee to the saints there under Don
Bell's ministry right now. He's telling them about Jesus
Christ. We must preach him. But if the preacher's voice is
all we hear, that's not gonna amount to anything. We must hear
the voice of Jesus Christ. We must hear him speaking to
our hearts. saying, you're mine. I bought
you. I purchased you with my own precious
blood. Come out from amongst them and
be separate. Come, follow me. We must hear
his voice. And he tells us in his word that
his sheep will hear his voice. He said to some unbelieving Jews,
you believe not because you're not my sheep. So he made a distinction
between them and those he laid down his life for. He said, I
laid down my life for the sheep, but you don't believe because
you're not my sheep. So he didn't lay down his life
for them. Then he said this, our Lord said, my sheep hear
my voice. He didn't say, I hope they'll
hear. He didn't say, if they'll just allow me the permission
to speak to them, they'll hear my voice. No, that's blasphemy. He said, my sheep hear my voice. So we must hear him speaking
from heaven to the new heart he gives us. And when we hear
his voice, our Lord Jesus said, my sheep hear my voice and I
know them and they follow me. and I give unto them eternal
life, and they shall never perish, neither shall any man pluck them
out of my hand. My Father which gave them is
greater than all, and no man is able to pluck them out of
my Father's hand. I and my Father are one." So
Paul, Saul of Tarsus, who is the Apostle Paul, he heard those
glorious truths from one of God's preachers when he was a babe
in Christ. Now, that's just an introduction. Go over, if you will, to 2 Timothy
chapter 4. 2 Timothy chapter 4. And let me share some things
concerning the words of the Apostle Paul writing under divine inspiration. We know, or at least we should
know, that these things that God has revealed to us in His
Word are for our learning. You know what? I didn't read
the scripture in 1 Timothy I wanted to read. Turn back there, if
you will. 1 Timothy. I'm not going to look at my notes
to find what I want to read to you. 1 Timothy 1, verses 15 and
16, Paul said, This is a faithful saying, and worthy of all acceptation,
that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners, of whom
I am chief. And that's why Christ came. to
save sinners. Did he? Yes, he did. He absolutely
did. He saved those of his people
that were given to him by God the Father from all sin. He by himself purged our sins. He ransomed me. He took this
old hell-deserving sinner, washed me in His precious blood, and
cleansed me from all my sin, and put joy in my heart for such
a Redeemer as mine. But listen to this, in verse
16, Paul says, Howbeit for this cause I obtain mercy, that in
me first Jesus Christ might show forth all longsuffering, for
a pattern to them which should hereafter believe on him to life
everlasting." Now you all know what a pattern is. It's a model
for imitation. You ladies, and some of you men
might do this as well, but you ladies who make dresses, you
usually have a pattern to go by. Some women are wise enough
and talented enough to maybe do it without a pattern. I think
most of you women would like to have a pattern when you do
that. And so a pattern is a model for imitation. And whatever Saul
of Tarsus went through, whatever he experienced, he was a pattern. It says in verse 16, to them which should hereafter
believe on Him, to life everlasting. So what happened to Saul of Tarsus
on the Damascus road applies to all of us who are called out
of darkness into the marvelous light of Christ our Savior. We
experienced the same miracle that Saul of Tarsus experienced. In spite of what modern religionists
might be saying, The new birth is not an act performed by man,
it's a miracle of God's grace. Ye must be born again. If we're
not born again, we cannot see, we cannot perceive, we cannot
understand the things concerning the kingdom of God. But if we
experience the miracle of the new birth, here's what we'll experience
for the glory of Christ our Savior. Nothing in my hands I bring,
simply to thy cross I cling. We will cling to Jesus Christ
and renounce all the deeds of the flesh and will have nothing
to do, listen to me, will have nothing to do with any religion
And we heard this in Sunday school. Any religion that promotes man's
doings and salvation is a false religion. And the Armenian free
will doctrine is a false religion. Just as false as Buddhism or
any other ism. Now, if you're with me in 2 Timothy
chapter 4, the apostle Paul is about to leave this life. His
ministry is coming to a close. He's about to be martyred. I
don't know that he understood just exactly how he was going
to be martyred. He did the day before, I'm sure,
and on that day that he was martyred, he knew. But they laid his head
on a chopping block, and a man with a sharp, Two bladed axe
severed the head of the apostle Paul from his body. I know that sounds terrible.
I know it does. But that was God's ordained path
for Paul to take. And we'll see here in a few moments
where this wonderful preacher of the gospel, who wrote at least
13 books of the New Testament, established more churches than
we can count, was more zealous toward the glory of Jesus Christ
than all of the other apostles put together, that this man never
feared coming death. He had a reverential fear of
God and knew that God was in control of everything, and he
submitted to the sovereign will of Jesus Christ our Lord. So
in verse 6 of 2 Timothy chapter 4, we read where the Apostle
Paul, riding on a divine inspiration, said, for I am now ready to be
offered. to lay down his life for the
glory of Jesus Christ. And that's why they killed him,
because he was preaching the gospel. He wasn't an insurrectionist. He wasn't a thief. He wasn't
a murderer. He was martyred for preaching
the gospel. And he said, the time of my departure
is at hand, near, close. He knew that. Now, I like the
word departure. Because it not only signifies
leaving one place, but it also gives us reason to believe that
Paul was talking about arriving at another place. He's departing
this life, he's arriving at another place. Brethren, eternal life is in store for everybody that
comes into this world. Everybody's gonna live forever.
Some in eternal torment, some in eternal bliss. Your time of
departure might be closer than you think. Our hope better be
in Jesus Christ and only in Jesus Christ. We have no guarantee
that we'll see tomorrow. We might leave this life today,
but if our faith is in Jesus Christ, I can tell you on the
authority of God's word that whatever instrument God is pleased
to use to take us out of this life, we're going to wake up
in glory and see Christ face to face. What a day to look forward
to. We have absolutely nothing to
fear. There is therefore now no condemnation,
no judgment to them which are in Christ Jesus. Why would we
fear coming judgment? There's no judgment to those
who have no sin. We don't have any sin. If we believe what the Word of
God teaches, all of our sins were laid on our substitute.
God must punish sin. He must. I'll deal with that
in just a couple of moments. But He did. He punished His chosen
people in His beloved Son, Jesus Christ our Lord. We have nothing
to fear. So Paul says, my departure is
at hand. Very close. Very near. And he
said, I have fought a good fight. Look at verse 7. I have fought
a good fight. And he did. He fought against
the lawmongers, those who thought they were righteous in God's
sight by keeping the law, by keeping the law of Moses. He
fought against them. He declared unto them in no uncertain
terms, Jesus Christ is the end of the law for righteousness
to all who believe. There's only one righteousness
that God will accept, and that's the righteousness of His beloved
Son, Jesus Christ, our Lord. And if we have Him, We have it
all. If we have Him, we have His righteousness. That's perfect. And we must be
perfect before God will accept us. I don't care how moral you
might be. I don't care how you might think
about your being accepted in God's sight by what you're doing.
You're wrong. You're absolutely wrong. The
arrow falls short of the mark every time it's fired, from a
hell deserving sinner trying to gain favor with God. You can't. You can't. God has accepted his
beloved son and we've been made accepted in him. to the point
where all of our sins have been forgiven by God Himself for Christ's
sake. So he says, I have fought a good
fight. He fought against Arminian free
will believers. He fought against lawmongers.
He fought against the Gentiles who were steeped in religion,
bowing down to false idols. He knew about them. And he warned
them over and over and over again. If your faith is in any of these
things, you're going to eternal torment. Get rid of them. Cling
to Christ and only to Christ. He said, I have fought a good
fight. And we're in that same fight
today. It's all around us. Aren't you thankful for our pastor
who keeps Christ before us? I have never heard Him preach
without bringing Christ before us in a way that glorifies Him
and gives this hell-deserving sinner hope in Christ and only
in Christ. And we're in a battle. We're
fighting against those who are filled with their own righteousness,
thinking they're going to heaven by something they have done.
We're fighting against those who go to church on a regular
basis, read the same scriptures that we read, sing the same hymns
that we sing, whose hope is in Christ plus what they have done. And it's nothing but an abomination
to God. So he said, I have fought a good
fight. And he did. He fought a good fight. That's
why they martyred him. That's why Paul had his head
severed. That's why he was martyred while he suffered
death for preaching the glorious gospel of God's sovereign, amazing
grace bestowed upon hell-deserving sinners through the merits of
Christ alone. Do you realize that we're in
that fight? We cannot, we dare not give anybody the impression that
we think they're going to heaven because they're going to church
because they say they're followers of Christ and believe that they
have gained favor with God by decision for Jesus. We dare not
give them that impression. Stand firm. Fight the good fight
of faith. That's what he says. I have finished
my course. He was on a divine course, a
course that God himself set for Paul to be on before this world
was created. Each one of us are on this divine
course that God has established for us, and we'll finish that
course. It's like running a race. And
it's alluded to in the scriptures. And a runner in a race runs to
win. He has his eye or her eye on
the finish line. And they stripped down to absolutely
an embarrassing nothing. They wear the lightest apparel
they can wear. with the best tennis shoes that
money can buy, and they run to win. And they keep their eye
on that finish line. They don't look back to see if
somebody's closing in on them. They don't look to the left to
see who's cheering them on, or to the right to see who's cheering
them on. They lose valuable time when they do that. But they have
their eye on that finish line. And brethren, we're wearing the
best tennis shoes that money can buy. We're shod with the
preparation of the gospel of peace. The Lord Jesus Christ
has put His beloved shoes on our feet. And we walk or we run
or we do this or we do that because we're on that ordained path that
He has put us on. And we're running to win. And
we keep our eye on that finish line. And Christ is there at
the finish line. He's the author and the finisher
of our faith. And we keep looking to Him. knowing
that He has already, by His grace and His mercy, determined that
we would win the race. We heard this morning, we can
do all things through Christ who strengthens us. And that's
true. I know we're weak. I know we
have problems in the flesh. But Paul tells us in verse 7,
the last few words, I have kept the faith. Now all men have not
the faith, the faith of God's elect. I've heard this, and it's
kind of caused me to be a little nauseous, sick to my stomach,
but I've heard it. You believe that chair is going
to hold you up? That's faith. Believe in Christ. Well, I'm
going to tell you something. That chair might not hold you
up, but Christ will. That's the faith of God's elect.
He will never let us fall from his everlasting arms. We're kept
by the power of God through faith unto salvation, ready to be revealed
at the last time. Well, what is true saving faith? Brother Henry Mahan made this
statement years ago. He said, you can no sooner tell
somebody something you don't know, than you can come back
from a place you have never been. He was witty. But think about that. You can't
tell somebody you don't know, but if you know Christ, you know
more than the best known theologians of this day know, who are graduating
from colleges that are steeped in Armenian free will doctrine.
We know Him. We know Jesus Christ. And true
saving faith believes God. Will you hear me? True saving
faith believes God. We believe what God says about
Himself. We just heard this from our pastor
not long ago. God tells us that He is holy. And He is. He's infinitely holy. He's immaculately holy. He's
immutably holy. He cannot even look upon sin. That's why when our Lord Jesus
hung there on the cross, He cried out, my God, my God, why hast
thou forsaken me? God had to turn His back on His
beloved Son Because He bore in His body, when He hung there
on the tree, all the sins of His chosen people. God cannot
look upon sin. He must punish sin. So we believe
what God says about Himself. True saving faith believes what
God says about us. All have sinned and come short
of the glory of God. This is you, you, you, me. That's what I said earlier. We've sinned against our Maker.
We deserve eternal punishment. And we believe God is just when
we're enlightened by His Spirit. We believe God is just in punishing
sinners. Will you hear this? Jesus Christ,
my Savior, was punished in my room and in my stead. God poured
out His wrath on His beloved Son to set me free from the wrath
to come. Is that good news or what? It's
good news for a sinner. It's good news for this sinner
because I believe that I've already been punished in my substitute.
True saving faith believes what God says about Jesus Christ,
His Son. He by Himself purged my sins. He by the supreme sacrifice of
Himself reconcile me to God, He not only perfected me forever
by that sacrifice, He sanctified me. And the word sanctified means
made holy. He made all of His chosen people
holy in God's sight by the supreme sacrifice of Himself. True saving
faith believes that. We believe that God Himself has
forgiven us for Christ's sake. Now let me share one more verse,
verse eight. Henceforth, there is laid up
for me a crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous
judge, shall give me at that day, and not to me only, but
unto all them also that love his appearing. So Paul said,
I have kept the faith, And we can't keep that which we don't
have. But if God is pleased to enlighten
our minds and give us true saving faith to believe on the Christ
of Holy Scripture, if we believe that, there's a crown of righteousness
laid up for us as well. Let me close this message by
reading a passage of Scripture from the book of Jude, If you
will turn there please, it's the last book just before the
book of Revelation, the book of Jude. And I know, and my time
is up, but I know we all have weaknesses. I know we ask ourselves,
how can I be a child of God and let those kind of thoughts go
through my mind? How can I be a true Christian
and get involved in the things that I get involved in? Or don't
get involved in the things I know I should get involved in. How
can I be a true Christian? Well, brethren, listen. Faith
is not based upon what we have done or what we will do or what
we will yet do. Faith is based upon Jesus Christ
and what He has done for us. And in our weakest moments, Christ
is made strong. Our eye of faith must be on Him. Throughout this course that God
has put us on, we must keep looking to Jesus, the author and the
finisher of our faith. And He, the Lord Jesus, tells
us He will never leave us nor forsake us. He tells us not to
be afraid. Fear not, for I am with thee,
even unto the end of the world. And Jude, writing under divine
inspiration, says this. Look at verses 24 and 25. Now unto Him, now unto
Jesus Christ, that is able to keep you from falling. I fall
a thousand times a day, but I don't fall out of my Savior's arms. Underneath are the everlasting
arms of God. And we're safe in His arms, and
nothing can separate us from His love. Unto Him who is able
to save to the uttermost those that come unto God by Him, seeing
He ever liveth to make intercession for us. Unto Him that is able
to keep you from falling. Now listen to this. and to present
you faultless before the presence of His glory with exceeding joy. To the only wise God our Savior
be glory and majesty, dominion and power, both now and ever. Amen. He is able. Jesus Christ
is able. He is on His sovereign throne
of power. And we're kept by the power of
God through faith unto salvation, ready to be revealed at the last
time. Folks, if Christ is your Lord,
if He is your Savior, you have nothing to fear. Trust Him. Trust the Lord Jesus Christ.
He promises us that if our faith is in Him, we will spend eternity
with Him. When that man beheaded the apostle
Paul, Saul of Tarsus. Just at that moment, when the
head left his shoulders, he was in the presence of Jesus Christ. Absent from the body, is present
with the Lord. Paul said, who shall deliver
me from the body of this death? I thank God through Jesus Christ,
my Lord and Savior. Just as soon as his head was
severed, He was in the presence of the Lord Jesus. And listen,
this is wonderful. He never ever again sinned against
his God. As long as we're in this body
of flesh, that's what we do. We're sinners. But when we leave
this life, and it doesn't matter what instrument God has ordained,
whether It's this virus that's going around, whether it's an
airplane crash, a heart attack, or whatever. God chooses the
instruments of death. He chooses the time of our appointed
departure, and that time is coming. But if our faith is in Jesus
Christ, we will be ushered right into the presence of the King
of Kings, and we'll give Him all the glory for paying the
ransom in full. for all of our sins. To God be
the glory. Great things he hath done. Amen.