That's your water, if you need
it. And we use that as a backup. I've already turned this one
on. Turn it on? I've already turned this one
right here on. Oh, OK. Yeah. Just put it on
with that. Yeah. I'm glad to be here. Very, very
glad. Happy to see you. Is that on? OK. Glad to be of help to Brother
Gabe. Not only to preach for him, but
help on the house. There's crunch time now. I'd rather be sitting there hearing
him preach, honestly. I really would, but I'm glad to be of help to him.
That pew's mighty comfortable in it. not just because you got
them covered, but this place is a hard place to stand. It
really is. And my father did this for 60
some years. And I asked him and his later,
when he was still preaching the later days, I said, does it get
any easier? And I was hoping he'd give me
some, some, uh, encouragement. He said, no, it doesn't. So with God's grace is sufficient. Um, Paul even said, who is sufficient
with these things? The Apostle Paul, my, my. And
the highest compliment that you could pay someone, a preacher,
is that you'd love to sit and listen to him. And you have such
a faithful pastor and a good preacher. Not just a faithful
man, but a good preacher. And I could very easily sit under
him as my pastor. In fact, I had hoped that that
would happen, but now I'm glad it didn't. I really am. I mean
that with all my heart. I'm glad he's right here, but
maybe I'll retire and move here. I don't see that happening either,
but retiring. I go back to Acts chapter 22
that Brother Gabe read. Most of you know this story. Apostle Paul, this was his story,
how the Lord saved him, how the Lord revealed himself to him. You know, that's how we talk
to people when we say, you talk about salvation, when the Lord revealed himself
to me, don't we? That's how we say it, when the
Lord revealed himself to me. And religious people don't understand
what you're talking about, do they? Mindy, we were out to eat
with some people and And I just caught the end of it. I left
and came back and she was talking about when the Lord revealed
himself to Paul. And they don't understand what
that's talking about. This is life eternal. That they
might know the only true God and Jesus Christ whom thou has
sent. And we don't know, no man knoweth
the Son, but the Father, neither knoweth any man the Father, but
the Son, he to whom the Son will reveal Him. God must, Christ
must reveal Himself to us. That's what Paul said, didn't
he? When it pleased God. When will a man be saved? When
it pleases God to reveal His Son in us. Paul went, everywhere
Paul went, he told his story. Nearly every time he stood up,
he told his story about how Christ came and revealed himself to
him. Our Lord told us and he said, go home and tell what great
things the Lord has done for you. That's the best way we can
witness to people and just tell them how the Lord revealed himself
to you. That's what Paul did. Everywhere
he went, he told his story. Over in 1 Timothy, you know that
wonderful verse, 1 Timothy 1.15, this is a faithful saying, worthy
of all acceptation, that Christ Jesus came into the world to
save sinners. That's why Christ came, to save
sinners. Not try to save, but to save
sinners. Who? His people. His people whom
he makes to know that they're sinners. And Paul said, I'm the
chief. And then it went on to say the
next verse, he said, for this cause, I'm a pattern. He said, I'm a pattern of who
God saves. Cause Paul said, I'm the chief
of centers. He said, I was, I persecuted the church. He said, I was injurious. I was a blasphemer. Everything
he did in the name of God was blasphemy. But he did it in the
name of God, didn't he? He said, I'm a pattern. Who God
saves, the chief of sinners, the worst, and how God saves. How God saves. God saves all
of his people the same way that he saved Paul. How Christ came
to him, revealed himself to him, put him in the dust at his feet
and told him what he was going to do with him. Sovereign Lord
came and apprehended him. That's his story. That's my story. The circumstances are a little
different, but it's the same Lord. And I heard the same thing. The same thing that Ananias preached
to Paul here is what every one of God's people hear. Same thing. And you know, Paul was a gracious
witness. He was a loving witness. Because, and he could have compassion
on his Jewish brethren who were in religion, but lost, because
that was him. He spoke the truth and he did
it in love. In verse one it says, men, brethren, fathers, He called
them brethren. He did the same thing in Romans
9, didn't he? And Romans 10, my brethren. I could wish myself
a curse for my kinsmen, my brethren. My, my. I want to have that attitude,
don't you? Toward whomever I come across. Brother Scott Richardson, you've
probably told this, but Brother Scott Richardson one time was
at a restaurant or something with a brother and he was walking
out and said something to an old fella he knew in town and
he said, how you doing brother? And left and they left and his
believer, the brother said to him, Brother Scott, he's not
our brother. Corrected it. He said, well now,
he's either my brother in Adam or my brother in Christ. So he
said, I got him one way or another, didn't I? But this is what Paul
did, didn't he? Yeah, brethren. Brethren. And as I said, he spoke the truth
in love. He was a Christ-like man. I want
to be like that. I want to be a witness like that.
I really do. They had just beaten him. bad. And he's standing on the stairs.
The Roman soldiers had to come and get him away from this crowd.
They would almost beat him to death. And he's black and blue
and bloodied all over. And he's standing on the steps
talking to the very ones. He said, hold on, I want to say
something. He said, brethren, I've been where you are. That's great. I've been where
you are. Look at it, read on. He said,
here my defense I make now of you. Now he's not defending himself.
We're not called to go out and defend ourselves. But we're set
for the defense of the gospel. They heard him speak in the Hebrew
tongue to them, and they kept more silence. He was a gifted
man. The Lord gave him more languages.
He was able to speak more languages than anyone. Languages. But so he first spoke to the
crowd in Greek, and then he spoke here in Hebrew. And verse three,
he said, I'm a man, a Jew, I'm a Jew born in Tarsus, a city
in Cilicia, brought up in this city, Jerusalem was where he
was at, at the feet of Gamaliel. And I 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 was raised in Tarsus,
in a city in Cilicia, but I was brought up, I went to school
in Jerusalem, Somebody saw something in young Saul, some gifts, some
talents, you know, to speak. Uh, and he was a devout young
man, a zealous young man of the word of God. And, and, uh, they
said, you need to go school on Gamaliel. That's the finest seminary
in the land. You go to, you go to Jerusalem
and there's the greatest teacher in the land named Gamaliel. You
sit under him and that's how you'll learn to be a preacher.
Not so, but he did. Okay. And, uh, you know, we have
several brethren, my father, one of them who went to seminaries,
who went, had religious training and, uh, several of them, you
know, but that's not where they learned the gospel. And that's
not where they learned to preach. That's not where God sends his
preachers. He does like he did to Moses, you know, send him
on the backside of a desert or like Paul here. But, uh, uh,
and what men learn in these seminaries, they have to unlearn. My dad
will tell you that, that, and Paul did. He said, everything
I used to know. Rubbish. Don't forget it. Forget it all. You had to learn
all over again, didn't you? And he said, I was zealous toward
God as you all are this day. He said that in Romans 10, didn't
he? He said, I bear them record. They have a zeal for God. They
have an enthusiasm for God, but they don't know God. And isn't
that the people you work with and your family members and the
people that are so, they're in religious, they're so zealous,
aren't they? Well, have compassion on them. have mercy on them. And Paul did, he said, because
that's the way I was. I was zealous about God, but
didn't know God. Didn't know God. Verse 4, he
said, and I persecuted this way unto death. I hated this way. He heard about this way, that
is, about Jesus Christ, the way. He heard what they said about
him, what Christ said, I am the way, the truth and the life. And no man cometh under the father,
but by me. That's what Christ said. He heard
that. And he heard these fishermen preachers that were going all
over. This thing wasn't done in a corner. And Saul was well
aware of what they were saying. How that this man named Jesus
of Nazareth, they said he's God. And Saul didn't believe that.
He said, no, he's just a man. He's a good man, maybe, but he's
just a man. I don't believe he's God. Jews
didn't either. And they said that he is the
son of God, and only by him will someone be accepted by God, by
his bloodshed, by his, he's the lamb, by his righteousness imputed. That it's not by works of righteousness,
which we have done. This is what these fellas were
preaching. that all our righteousness are filthy rag of just preaching
what the scripture says, which Saul knew the letter of, he didn't
know the spirit of it, did he? He could quote them, but he didn't
know them. And he heard them preaching these things, and that
there's nothing that we can do that would make us acceptable
to God Almighty. He heard that, and he didn't
like that, did he? He said, I'll have you know I've given my life
to this. I've sacrificed for this. And
he heard these men preaching that, and he hated this one.
When they told, when he heard that they said that nothing you'll
ever do or ever have done will be acceptable to God, he won't
accept it. Only by what Jesus Christ does
for you will you be accepted by God. You're only made righteous
by Jesus Christ, and he hated that. He said, I'll have you
know I'm concerning the righteousness which is of the law, I'm blameless. So he hated this way. He heard
them talking about God choosing the people. And not necessarily,
not because they were Israelites. He heard them say it's not because
they're Israelites, they're not the sons of God. But the children
of promise, the elect, remnant. He hated that just like the rest
of the Jews. And he persecuted this way. Persecuted. just like they did. Over in Acts
28, go over there real quickly, Acts 28 verse 22. He was in Rome and they brought
him to Rome and that's where he ended up and finally was killed.
But look at Acts 28, 22. He came there and they said to
him, We desire to hear of thee what
thou thinkest concerning this sect. They called it a cult and
that's what they call this here. You, what we're doing right here,
not in mainstream religion. You're outside the camp, small
group, this sect, this cult. They said, we know everywhere
it's spoken against. Nobody believes like you. They
said, we're all together, all of us in orthodox religion. We're
all together and we all believe the same thing about God and
about the scripture, but you're saying something entirely different.
You're setting forth a strange God, strange doctrine. We want
to hear what you have to say about it. And so that was Paul. That was
Saul of Tarsus. All right, go back to our text.
And he said, I was that way. I was the same way. gospel. He hated salvation in God's way,
God's will, God's work, Christ's work, Christ's substitutionary
work. He hated that. Everybody loves
their way, don't they? They love salvation their way,
but they hate it in God's way. They love their own religion,
but they hate the truth until God gives you a love for the
truth. Like with Saul. Saul hated it. All this talk
of Christ being the only way. All right, look at verse 6, it
says, he came to pass as I made my journey. He was headed to
Damascus to apprehend some of these Christians that he hated
and bring them back and punish them. And he was going to do
what he intended to do. He was on his way to do this,
a way that seemed right to him. Everybody has a way that they
think is right. But the end, the scripture says,
is destruction. Destruction. All we like sheep went astray.
Turned every man to his own way. Until God sets us in His way. In Christ's way. As old Saul
said, suddenly, verse 6, I was heading on my way to Damascus
to do what I thought I was going to do, but suddenly there shone
from heaven a great light round about me. A great light shone
round about me, surrounded me, a great light. engulfed me, surrounded
me, a great light. Who's the light? What did Christ
say? He said, I am the light, son of righteousness. It says
noon, significantly, about noon, high noon, Brandon. Isn't that
significant? That's when the sun is at its
peak, isn't it? At its brightest and hottest
point. Well, this is when Christ came
to reveal himself to Saul of Tarsus. High noon, showdown. And it says, the light shone
round about me, Saul said. He didn't say, I saw the light.
Hank Williams said that, didn't he? I saw the light. He didn't
say the light. A lot of people say that. A lot
of people say they saw the light. People see visions, don't they? You hear things all the time
about people that die on the operating table and they see
a light at the end of the tunnel, a little light at the end of
the tunnel. I read not long ago about some
young boy who who died, they say, and they couldn't revive
him. And finally they did. Well, when he finally woke up,
he told everybody that he saw Jesus and he was sitting on Jesus's
lap and all of this. And they made a, and his father
was a so-called preacher and he got famous because of that. And he made money off of his
boy's story, as you can imagine. And everybody was listening to
that. And everybody was enamored with that boy seeing Jesus. He
didn't see Jesus. Saul said, a great light shone
round about me, didn't it? Huh? Surrounded me. And Paul hit the dust. When he saw Christ, he fell on
his face at his feet. You see all these pictures of
Jesus, don't you? This Caucasian, or this fella
that looks like, somebody said, Wild Bill Hickok. But you look
at the description of the Lord Jesus Christ in Revelation 1.
Can you paint the sun in all its strength? Huh? That's what
it says. His countenance was like the
sun and all of it. You can't look at the sun. You can't look
at the sun. It'll blind you. Well, this is
exactly what happened to Solomon, to see Christ as he is. We can't
right now see Christ as he is. We're going to have to have a
glorified body to see him as he is. But we see something,
Paul said, the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face
of the Lord Jesus Christ. That's when salvation comes to
us, to see this glorious one. Says he surrounded him, surrounded
him. He didn't see the light. The
light engulfed him. The light surrounded him. He was apprehended by the light,
in other words. Christ came and just hovered over him, and he's
not getting away. And the Lord's gonna tell him
who he is. You know, our Lord called the
gospel a net, didn't he? A net. When you fish with a net,
that net encloses the fish, doesn't it? It apprehends the fish, doesn't
it? Modern-day preaching is like
bass fishing, where these so-called preachers have a tackle box full
of lures. And if one thing won't work,
they'll try another. Whatever, you know, that won't
work. They're not biting that. They don't like that. I'll try
something they like. Isn't that modern preaching? We don't like
that. Well, we'll try a quartet. We'll try a big band. We'll try
programs for the kids. We'll try, we got all these lures.
We're trying to lure people and people swallow it, hook, line,
and sinker. No, the gospel is not bait fishing. It's a net. Christ doesn't try to save people.
He apprehends them. Paul said that, didn't he? He
said, when I was apprehended of him, He came and laid hold
of me. Ask Jacob. Ask Jacob. Jacob was running. And it says,
suddenly a man wrestled with him. The Lord Jesus Christ is
who that was. And came to Jacob and grabbed
hold of him and put him in the dirt. And that's what he did
to Saul of Tarsus. Same Lord does the same thing
for all of his people. Wrestles him down to the ground.
Paul hit the dirt. All this stuff and religion,
you know, stand up for Jesus. Nobody stood up for Jesus when
they met him. They fell at his feet. Daniel
fell at his feet as a dead man. John fell at his feet, didn't
he? Saul fell at his feet. And you meet the true Christ. Fear of the Lord is the beginning
of wisdom. Great light shone round about me. And look at this,
Paul said, Saul, said in verse 8, no, verse 7, I fell under
the ground and heard a voice saying to me, Saul, Saul, why
persecutest thou me? And I answered and said, who
are you? Who are you, Lord? Men don't
know who Christ is until he tells them, until he reveals himself
to them. They think they know who Jesus
is. One time the Lord asked His disciples, and He knew, He wasn't
asking for information, that they might confess Him. He said,
whom do men say that I am? I, the Son of Man, am. This man,
this Jesus, who do they say that I am? He knew what they were
saying. He wanted to hear them say it. And some said, well,
some say you're a prophet, so you might be Samuel resurrected,
or whoever, Elijah. Some say you're John the Baptist
risen again. That's not good enough. If you'd
say that about me, your brother Gabe, that'd be a real compliment,
wouldn't it? You're the next Elijah. Well, I'm not worthy
of that. That's too low, talking about
the Son of God, isn't it? He's not just a man. It's the
first thing you realize when you meet the true Christ description.
He's not just a man. Men try things. He's not trying
anything. Men try to tell you things. He's
not going to try to tell you something. He's going to tell
you. Men try to lure you. He's not trying to lure you.
He grabs ahold of you. Reveals himself to you. This
is the Christ description. Oh my. I am, look at this, what
he said. And this is no play on words.
Our Lord said in verse 8, I am. I am. Jesus and that's right. I am Jesus of Nazareth. These so-called Jehovah's Witnesses,
and the more accurate term for them is the Russellites. They're
followers of Charles Russell. That's where that religion came
from. They're not Jehovah's Witnesses. I am. You are. He is. We witness of the Jehovah. Jehovah
Sidkenu, the Lord our righteousness. Who's that? Jesus Christ. And
they don't believe he's Jehovah, and they go from door to door
to try to disprove that he is God. Well, they say, and they
say this, here's what they say. He never said that he was God.
And that's what they claim. That he never said that he was
God. Brother Roy, how many times we hear him say, I am. How many
times does he say that? I am. John 8, 24. If you believe not that I am,
you'll die in your sins. And that's what they argue. Who
can forgive sin but God? That's right. They came to take
him in the garden. Whom seek ye? He said, Jesus.
He said, I am. He does reveal to his people
that he's God. He does tell every one of his
people that he's God, doesn't he? Every one of them know he's
God. Thomas fell at his feet, didn't he? What did he say? My
Lord and my God. And our Lord didn't correct him.
That would have been blasphemy. That would have been idolatry
if he wasn't God, wouldn't it? I am Jesus of Nazareth. You thought, he's saying to Saul,
and to every one of us who were in religion, everyone in here
who was in religion and thought you knew God and thought you
knew who Jesus was, found out. found out that he's not just
Jesus of Nazareth, he's the Lord of glory. They said, you're just
a man, you make yourself to be God. Got it all wrong. Man's
theology is all backwards, isn't it? He was God, made himself
a man. There's a difference. And he
reveals that to us. All right, look at this. Verse
9, and he says, Paul tells his story. Those that were with me
saw indeed the light and were afraid, but they heard not the
voice of him that spake to me. Many people see visions and signs.
The Lord sends strong delusions, doesn't he, that they might believe
a lie. How does the Lord save people? Right now, how did he
save Saul? He said, my sheep hear my voice. We're born again by the word
of God, the incorruptible seed, begotten by the word of truth,
by the gospel, let's preach that. The gospel is the power of God.
My sheep hear my voice. Maybe a man preaching it, but
they're gonna hear from me. They're gonna hear the truth
about me, the gospel of Christ. And he said, they saw a light,
but they didn't hear the voice. because he spoke to me. He's
speaking to me. He wasn't speaking to them. You
see, he wasn't trying to get everybody to believe on him.
That's why the scripture says he'll not stand on the streets
and cause his voice to be heard in the street. He didn't try
to get people to believe on him. Wouldn't everybody believe me?
No, no. Won't everybody believe me, accept me? He didn't do that.
He went about saving his elect. He went everywhere he found them.
He had one waiting on him. He had one at the well. A woman
at the well, didn't he? Had a couple in a boat. Had one
fell up a tree. Somebody said, oh, Zacchaeus
was up a tree on purpose. Put him in a tree, one tree,
and he had him in that tree for that very day. My sheep gonna
hear my voice. I came to seek and to save the
law. And he finds them exactly where he put them. You coming
here to hear the gospel was no accident. It was on purpose.
God brought you here to meet the Lord Jesus Christ. And so
he said, many saw the light and didn't hear the voice because
he spoke to me. My brother and I grew up under the truth. I
have two brothers. One was killed in Vietnam. Sister
died of cancer many years ago. But my other brother's still
alive, Daniel. He's older than me. And we grew
up under the truth. We sat and heard my father preach
the truth for many, many years, just like Jacob and Esau. I believe
it. He doesn't. Who makes you to differ? We heard
the same gospel. Hmm? Who made us to differ? The
Lord spoke to me. Not that I was a better hearer.
No, no, no. The Lord spoke to me. It's his
prerogative. It's his choice. I'm still hopeful
for my brother. Still hopeful. As long as the
gospel is still being preached, there's hope. Well, so look at
verse 10. So Saul said, what shall I do,
Lord? Now before, he had it all planned
out what he was going to do. He was talking about what he
was going to do with Jesus. Chris, he said, I'm going to
put this Jesus fell out of business. I'm going to put him and all
his followers out of business. And now he's laying on the ground
at the feet of the Lord Jesus Christ. And now the Lord is saying
to him, what are you going to do to me? Now, what are you going
to do with me? Like religion says, what will
you do with Jesus? Oh, Can you imagine the horror
of all the people that are going to stand before the Lord Jesus
Christ someday that they didn't know, that Jesus they didn't
know, and only to hear Him say, He asked them in the outer darkness. And such were some of us, huh?
If you were in religion, this was you, wasn't it? Saul of Tarsus. And now Saul is asking, what
are you going to do with me? What are you going to do with
me? And the Lord said, look at verse 10. Arise, go into Damascus
and there it shall be told thee of all things which are appointed
for thee to do. It's already been appointed and
it'll be told you. He didn't ask, Saul wasn't asked
one question. Nobody asked him to do anything.
Ananias came and preached to him. He didn't ask him one question.
He told him. He declared the truth. Christ told him what he'd
appointed already, predestined. He told him everything's been
predestined about you, and this is what you're gonna do. If Saul
had heard that before, he'd hated it, didn't he? Just like you.
Had a fella, I worked on the railroad with a fella, and he
was a preacher, so-called, and everybody's brother and mother
is one. But he told me one day, you know,
we talked several times, and he hated this gospel. And he
said to me, he said, I'll believe anything but that predestination.
He just spewed venom. I believe anything but that predestination. He hated the sound of the word.
And he did. He believed anything. He believed
everything, Earl. Well, that's the way Saul probably
was. That's the way everybody is when they first hear about
it. Huh? But when you finally, when the Lord tells you all things
have been predestinated, all things have been ordered concerning
you. If you're in that will of God,
everything's been ordered concerning you, ordained, and you love it,
don't you? You're glad that all things are
predetermined by the Lord. He said, oh, I'm going to, you're
going to go and it's going to be told you what has been appointed
for you to do. And verse 11, it says, Paul said,
I couldn't see for the glory of that light. Couldn't see. Blinded by the light, by Christ,
by His glory. You know, most people can't see
the glory of Christ for their own vainglory. They're blind
to the glory of Christ. But when Christ finally reveals
Himself to you, you'll be blinded to all other glories but Him.
It's like looking in the sun. If you ever look into the sun
directly, what do you see? If you look into the sun, then
what do you see? Sunspots. It blinds you to everything. If you ever see the glory of
the Lord Jesus Christ, you won't see any glory in anybody or anything. See only his glory. And he said,
I was led by the hand with them that were with me. I came to
Damascus. Now Saul is one of God's elect. How do you know? Well, the Lord told the Thessalonians
through Paul, he said, knowing brethren, your election of God,
because our gospel came to you. He said in 2 Thessalonians 2
verse 13, And we're bound to give thanks to God for you, brethren,
beloved of the Lord, because God hath from the beginning chosen
you to salvation through sanctification of spirit and belief of the truth,
whereunto he called you by our gospel. The preaching of the
gospel. The preaching of the gospel. I heard it by the preaching
of the gospel, what the world calls foolishness. Didn't you,
Brother Creel? You heard it by the preaching of the gospel.
This is how you heard and saw He's got to hear a preacher.
He was a preacher, but he was preaching lies. He wasn't God's
preacher. My dad will tell you, he was
a pastor for years, up until he was about 25 years old, until
the Lord revealed Christ to him. And so he threw away all his
religion. He threw away all of his religious training. He threw
away everything he knew. He threw away all his sermon
notes. He didn't know God, didn't know Christ. Telling lies on
God. Threw it all away. Gonna start
all over again, like Solitarius. Start all over again. Like a
baby being taught, being led by the hand. Somebody might teach
him something. And God sent him this Ananias.
Who's Ananias? We don't know much about him.
It's not important. The preacher's not important.
It's what he preaches is what's important. But he had a good
report. Devout man, devoted, you've got
one such man, devoted, of good report. That's what Paul told
Timothy, he said, a bishop, a man desire the office of a bishop,
he needs to be of good report, devoted, given to study. Well, Ananias was, a preacher.
Listen to what he, listen to what happened. Listen to what
he preached to Saul. Look at it, verse 13, he came
to me, and stood and said unto me, Brother Saul, receive thy
sight. And the same hour I looked up upon him." I looked up. Before this, Saul of Tarsus thought
he was somebody. He thought he was somebody. A
religious leader. A Pharisee. A Pharisee. Hebrew
of Hebrew. He heard about these ignorant,
unlearned, fisherman preacher fellas with no learning. He looked
down on them, didn't he? Now he's looking up on them. Now he's looking up to these
fellas. He doesn't even know who he is, but he's looking up
to them. He thinks now I'm less than the least of all to say.
I'm not fit to be called a disciple. He's looking up to this unknown
fellow. That's what you'll do when you
hear the gospel from the man God sent. And it said in verse
14, here's what Ananias preached to him. Verse 14, here it is. He said, the God of our fathers
hath chosen thee. Election. First thing out of
his mouth. God elected a people and you're
one of them. Do you start preaching
by talking about God elected a people? Yes. Yes, you do. That's
what you do. Let me tell you this story. Why do you do that? Because it's
God's glory. God's glory. God's glory is when
Moses says, show me your glory. What'd he say? I will be merciful
to whom I will be merciful. It's a mercy that is merciful
to anyone. And it's sovereign mercy, sovereign
election, sovereign grace. He gives it to whom he will.
Nobody deserves it. Nobody is worthy of it. And he gives it to whom he will.
It's glory that he gives it to anybody. The fact that he gives
it to many. is amazing and amazing grace,
amazing mercy. He said, I'll give it to whom
I will. I choose whom I will. That's His glory. That's what
makes Him God. The only one who has free will,
only one in this universe that has free will, that's God. Only
one who does as He will, with whom He will, because He will,
it's God. Nobody knows God that believes
in free will. No. We're going to see that here.
And Ananias preached God's sovereign electing grace. God has chosen
you. You didn't choose Him. He chose
you. Every one of God's people know that. Chosen. Look at what He chose him to
do, verse 14. He's chosen you that you should know His will.
That you should know His will. That it is His will. that he
works all things according to his will. As I said, you can't
be a believer and believe man has free will. You can't believe
that. You can't believe God does as he will and it's up to man's
will. Can you? You can't do that. No,
sir. Old Nebuchadnezzar found out,
didn't he? Over in Daniel. He found out,
didn't he? He said, I did this and I did that and God made him
like a beast. And he said, oh, he doeth according
to his will in the armies of heaven and among the inhabitants
of the earth and none can stay his hand or say unto him what
doest thou. Ephesians 1 verse 11 he says he's made known unto
us his will. Old brother Donnie Bell, you
know him. Has he been here to preach since
you've been here? I don't think. But most of you
know brother Donnie. And he said this is the verse
that the Lord just smote him between the eyes with. He was
a free will, Pentecostal, pew jumping preacher. So-called preacher. Johnny Bell, you know, some of
you know his story. Pew hopping. Tongue talking. Pentecostal fella. And he said he was reading it.
He heard Henry Mahan preach and other men and the Lord was dealing
with it. And he said he was reading this in 2 Timothy 1, it says,
God who saved us, God who saved us, not we accepted him, but
he saved us and called us with a holy calling, not according
to our works, but according to his own purpose and grace, which
was given us in Christ Jesus before the world began. God said, salvation is of the
Lord. We don't have anything to do
with it. If the Lord hadn't come to Saul
of Tarsus and revealed himself to him, he would have perished.
If the Lord hadn't stopped Saul of Tarsus in his religious road,
he would have perished. If the Lord hadn't revealed himself
to Saul, he would have died in his religious ignorance, wouldn't
he? And this is what we glory in,
is that the Lord chose us. Oh, my. And Paul preached that
from then on. He preached Ephesians. Oh, according
to this, He had chosen us in Him before the foundation of
the world. Election. Not a doctrine. It's God's glory. Oh, my. And it says He's chosen
you to know His will and to see that just one. Paul used to think
he was just. Paul used to think he was righteous.
Paul used to think that he was somebody that God was going to
be well pleased with him and would accept him on the basis
of his righteousness. And now he knows, he sees that
it's just one whom God accepts. That the Lord is well pleased
for Jesus Christ's righteousness. He now knows that. Every one
of God's people know that. without exception. They all know
that. There's just one that God is pleased with and we're accepted
in the blood. Just him. Just one. And you hear
his voice. You hear his voice. Salvation is not an experience.
In other words, don't trust some vision or experience or some
kind of feeling. Don't do that. Our preacher used
to, pastor used to always say, if you had some kind of experience,
forget it. Your baptism, he said, erase it. If you got it written
down, erase it. Don't remember it. Paul said,
forget those things. Forget it. But nevertheless,
the whole thing of salvation is an experience. The whole thing of salvation is an experience. Hear his voice. You don't hear
an audible voice. But Christ did say, you're going
to hear from me. The real person. You see, Paul didn't come to
a knowledge of the doctrines of Christ. Is that what he did? He just
came to a gradual realization that salvation is by grace. A person met him. A sovereign
Lord met him. You see, I grew up under the
truth. Gabe did too. Hannah did. Mindy was about nine
years old when she started hearing. We heard the truth. We believed
the truth in our heads, didn't we, Gabe, from an early, from
a child. We knew the doctrine, argued
it, argued it. That's not salvation. It's not
salvation, knowing the doctrine. Paul didn't come to an understanding
of the knowledge of doctrine's grace. He met Christ. He heard from Christ. And that's
what's got to happen. The Lord's got to reveal himself
to us. It's suddenly, it's not a gradual
understanding. It's a confrontation with the
living Lord. And my, my, you're never the
same like old Jacob. And he said in verse 15, here's
what I end with this. He said in verse 15 and 16, you
shall be his witness. unto all men, His witness. When you ask somebody who's really
met Christ, somebody who knows Christ, who's heard His voice,
who's seen His glory, you ask them about salvation and they'll
point you straight to Christ. What comes out of their heart
is about Christ, not themselves, not their decision, not their
baptism, but it's about Christ and Him crucified. That's what'll
come out of their mouth. Yes, sir, they're His witness.
It's not I this, I that, my church, my preacher, no, no, no, no.
It's Him, unto Him that loved us and washed us from our sins
in His own blood. Unto Him be the glory and the
honor and praise and strength and blessing. Unto Him, you'll
be His witness. You're out to glorify Him. That's
how you know. If you've seen His glory, you
give Him all the glory. And you'll tell men what you've
seen and heard. What does John say? Can't help
but speak the things we've seen and heard. What's that, John?
Him. We beheld His glory as of the
only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth. And
then he said in verse 16, Why tarryest thou in an ice? This
is what every preacher will say. All these things, but God has
an elect people whom He chooses to know His will, to see the
Lord Jesus cry, hear His voice, hear the gospel, to be His witness,
of him and he said, now why tarryest thou? Arise and be baptized. Our Lord said that to his disciples. Go and preach the gospel. He
that believeth and is baptized shall be saved. Baptism doesn't
save, but if you can be baptized, you can't be saved without it. Why? Because our Lord said so.
And it's a public confession. He said, whoever confesses me
before me and I'll confess for the angel. Can you imagine how
humiliating or humbling this was to Saul of Tarsus? Saul of Tarsus. Somebody said
he would have been the next high priest. Sanhedrin, this great
man, getting down in a pool of water and letting some fella
dunk him under the water. Well, I thought you saved Saul.
No. He renounces himself. You know,
this is one way you'll know somebody that's been in religion and met
the true Christ. They'll renounce their religion.
And they'll get in the baptistry and they'll say, all that before
that I thought I knew before, I didn't. It's humiliating, which is a
good thing. Humble yourselves under the mighty
hand of God that he may exalt you in due time. You see, there's
no seniority in the kingdom. This is what people may think.
You know, I don't want people to think I just saved. One of the brethren used to say,
every time I hear the gospel, I feel like I've been saved.
Every time I see somebody baptized, when Dickie was baptized down
there in the creek, I wanted to get in there with him. I did,
Dickie. I wanted to go out there with
him. Doug, me too. Huh? Didn't you? And Saul of
Tarsus got down like Onaim and the leper, Assyrian, a great
man. A leper? You have to come down. John said he must increase. I must decrease. Confess Him
is to renounce yourself. To confess Christ is to renounce
your religion, renounce your decision, renounce your will,
renounce your work, renounce your rights, renounce everything
about you, and exalt Him. Confess Him. That's what's happened
to every single person God reveals Himself to. May the Lord bless that for His
glory and our good. Amen.