All right, let's open to the
book of Acts again, chapter 26, Acts chapter 26. We read the actual account of
Paul's salvation, conversion. And now here in Acts chapter
26, Paul is standing before the Roman king. Remember the Lord
said, that he would do that. He said, I've sent you to preach
before kings. He's standing before Caesar Augustus
Agrippa, and the governor of Caesarea, a man named Festus. And as he did everywhere he stood
and before whomever he stood, he tells the story of how the
Lord Jesus Christ appeared to him how the Lord had chosen him,
how the Lord spoke to him, and how the Lord revealed himself
to him. He had the same message everywhere
he went. It doesn't matter who he was
standing before, the common people or kings, he had one message. He told them who Christ was and
what he had done for him. And that's all I have to tell.
That's the only message this puny Paul has to tell. And God must do for every one
of us what he did for Paul. All right? Let's read verses
9 through 11 here in Acts 26. Paul is speaking before the king,
and he said, I barely thought with myself. I used to think
that I ought to do many things contrary to the name of Jesus
of Nazareth, which thing I also did in Jerusalem. And many of
the saints did I shut up in prison, having received authority from
the chief priests. And when they were put to death,
I gave my voice against them, my witness. And I punished them
often in every synagogue and compelled them, forced them to
blaspheme being exceedingly mad against them. I persecuted them
even under strange cities. What Paul is saying there is,
I thought I knew God. I was religious. I thought I
was serving God. But I didn't know the true and
living God, because I didn't know Christ. And I hated even
the sound of this Jesus. and all who believed that he
was the Christ, the Son of God, I hated them too, and I persecuted
them." Verse 12. Now, whereupon, as I went to
Damascus with authority and commission from the chief priest, he was
on his road to Damascus. He was on his religious journey. He was serving the Lord. He didn't even know the Lord.
In a minute, he asked him, who are you? But he's serving the
Lord. He's on his religious journey,
going to do great works for the Lord. He was religious, but he was
lost. You see that? He was religious,
but lost. Serving a God, but it was the
wrong one. He was against Christ. Read on.
At midday, O King, I saw in the way a light from heaven above
the brightness of the sun shining round about me, and them which
journeyed with me. And when we were all fallen to
the earth, I heard a voice speaking unto me, and saying in the Hebrew
tongue, Saul, Saul, why persecutest thou me? It is hard for thee
to kick against the There was a light that shone around about
Paul, the scripture said, and a voice. A voice spoke to Paul. Now, Paul wasn't seeking the
Lord, was it? Saul, the old man. The old man, Saul, was not seeking
the Lord. He wasn't interested. He hated
Jesus Christ. Is this your story? This is this
Saul's story. So I wasn't seeking the Lord.
He hated it. Didn't want anything to do with
the Lord, Jesus Christ. And didn't want anything to do
with those who did. He wasn't seeking the Lord. He wasn't calling
on the Lord. But now the Lord had chosen him.
Who chose who? Did Paul choose Jesus? Huh? Did he accept Jesus? The Lord had chosen Paul. That's
what he said, didn't he, over there. He's a chosen vessel. That's what he said to Ananias,
wasn't it? You go preach to Saul. He's a chosen vessel. I have
chosen him. He didn't choose me. I chose
him. God, Christ, had chosen him.
And so he called him, because who he did foreknow, he did predestinate. And whom he did predestinate,
he called. He called Paul. Saul, called
him by his old name. Saul, Saul, just like Simon,
Simon. Sinner, Jacob. Look at Galatians with me. Look
at Galatians chapter 1 very quickly. Galatians 1. Paul later on is
writing to the church at Galatia, and he says this. He recounts
again. He's recounting what happened to him. Here in Galatians, again,
he tells his story. And listen to it. It's quite
different than what people say happened to them. Galatians 1,
look at it again. Verse 15 and 16. Or verse 14. He said, I was in the Jews' religion
and profited by it. I made a lot of money. And I
was rich and famous. Everybody liked me. I was exceedingly
zealous of the traditions. Oh, I kept to the traditions,
I was zealous, I never missed a service, and I was a good Christian,
buddy. Didn't know God. Read on. But he said, but now when it
pleased God. When is a man or a woman or a
young person saved? When they finally accept Jesus?
Paul said, when it pleased God. He wasn't seeking the Lord. It's
the same way with every one, every single one God saved. Not
seeking the Lord. Not interested. Is that right?
Is that your story? He wasn't interested. Were you? I wasn't. Saul wasn't either. He said,
but when it pleased God. Please God, read on, "...who
separated me from my mother's womb, and called me by his grace
to reveal his Son in me." See, salvation is of the Lord. Christ
chose Paul, Christ separated him, Christ called him by his
own voice, and Christ revealed himself in him, not to him, in him. Go back to the text now,
Acts 26. Paul did not accept some Jesus
at an altar after some silly preacher. Ananias didn't ask
Paul a question, did he? Did he? Ananias did not ask Paul
one question. Paul, would you like to? Now,
you know you're a sinner. He didn't take him down to Rome
drunk. No, sir. He just declared what God had
done and who Christ was. Paul saw and heard a sovereign
Lord on the throne. And this sovereign Lord, though
he didn't know who he was at first, he knew whoever it was
that knocked him off his high horse and put his face in the
dust, he's God. He's the Lord. And he was trembling. Notice it said there in chapter
9, he was trembling. But our Lord said in verse 14,
look at this. In Acts 26, verse 14. The Lord
said to him, it's hard for thee to kick against the pricks. It's hard for thee to kick against
the pricks. Now, someone can, if a man talks
us into a profession of faith. If someone in an emotional state,
you know, we accept Jesus or run down front and so forth and
make a profession and go through all of that, later on we can
just lay it down, forget it, and do something else. But now
when the Lord Jesus Christ has set his purpose to save someone. There's no bucking, no kicking,
no going back. When the Lord does something,
whatever the Lord does is forever. And when the Lord does it, it's
hard to kick against it. You remember the story of our
Lord telling the disciples to go into town and find a donkey? They called it a wild ass's coat. He said that on purpose. There's
a wild ass's coat, I mean a young stud horse that no man has ever
ridden on. You remember that story? Now
people, if you've ever been around horses, there ain't nothing wilder
or meaner or will kill you quicker than a young stallion. And our Lord said this on purpose.
You go into town and you'll find there an ass and her foal, a
wild ass's coat. You go get it. I'm going to ride
it. I'm going to get on that horse
and I'm going to ride into Jerusalem. No man's ever ridden on it. I'm
going to get on it. And he's not going to kick a
hoof. He's not going to buck me off. I'm going to get on him. You see the picture there? It's
hard for you to kick. So if a man is, you know, if
a man in an emotional, you know, some smooth-tongued fella talks
you into, later on you can just, you know, somebody else talk
you out of it. But now when the Lord is working on somebody, you don't kick. You don't kick,
you come. You submit. You bow. And He rides
you. And you submit to the yoke. And you wear it the rest of your
days. No bucking, no kicking. Willing in the day of His power. It's hard for you to kick against
the prism. Well, verse 15. Look at it. Verse
15 in Acts 26. And I said, Who art thou, Lord? Who aren't they? Because Paul
knew, Saul knew it was the Lord God talking. He knew it was God
speaking to him. But he didn't know who God is. Who are you? He knew it was the
Lord speaking, it's God speaking to me. And he didn't know who
God was. Who are you, Lord? Now, look
at what he said. Verse fifteen, Paul thought Jesus was dead. Well, they killed Jesus. Well, he's just a man. He's not
God. But all these people say he's
God. All these people say he's the Lord. All these people say
he's the Christ. He's not God. He's just a man like I am. I
hate him too. Who are you, Lord? He knew it
was God talking to him. Who are you? I'm Jesus. This man named Jesus is none
other than the Lord God Almighty. He's not just a man, and he's
not dead. Now, in Acts chapter 9, it said
Paul started trembling, I mean literally trembling. Why? Because he knew that this Jesus
whom he stood before, this Jesus that he rejected before, that he was in his hands now,
that he's the sovereign Lord God of the universe, that he
could snuff him out right then and there. You have persecuted
me. and killed my people. I'm Jesus. You thought I was dead? You thought
I was just a man? I'm God on the throne. And this silly religious generation,
Jesus this and Jesus, I don't see any trembling people. in the presence of the Lord.
I see all kind of people accepting Him. What will you do with Jesus?
Oh, we like Him. But when they hear of this sovereign
one that you're hearing right now, who does as He will with
them. You know Paul was thinking that.
You know he was thinking that. He was thinking This is the one
that I was against. This is the one I hated. This
is the one I thought was just a man, as I thought he was dead,
and I hated his people of Galilee. He can kill me right now. This is the Lord that killeth
or maketh alive, that wounds and heals, that raises up a cast
man. This is God, not just some Jesus. This is God, and he was shaken
all over. That's what God does to every
single son of Adam that he deals with. When they come in contact
with the Lord Jesus Christ, isn't that part of the bargain? Oh,
if you'll give me a new job, Jesus, I'll serve you. He started trembling. And the only thing Paul said
was, what are you going to do with me? What will you have me to do?
No bargains. Lord, if you'll just spare me
now, I'll serve you the rest of my life, and I'll quit my
meanness, and I'll do this. I'll be in every service from
here on out. You don't bargain with somebody whose life is in
their hands. You just say, what are you going
to do with me? You can kill me, you can let
me live. You don't bargain with a king.
You don't make agreements with kings. You wait and listen to
what they have to say. What will you have me to do? He was trembling. Now look at
verse 16. The Lord said to him, Rise. He fell at his feet as a dead
man, didn't he? And he said, Rise. Stand upon thy feet. I have appeared unto thee for
this purpose." I have a purpose. A purpose which I purposed before
the world began. A purpose which I will work out
according to my will and purpose. I have come to you. I have chosen
you. I am now speaking to you and
I am going to reveal to you. Who I am and my purpose. I will and you shall. Purpose. I have a purpose. Read on. And
he said, to make thee a minister and witness both of these things
which thou hast seen. What did he see? What did he see? He saw Christ. Matter of fact, but he was blinded
by this light. He couldn't see anything from
then on but Christ. That's the reason he said later
on, I'm determined not to know anything among you save Jesus
Christ. He knew a lot of things before
he didn't know the law. He was a Pharisee. But he said
after that, after he saw Christ, In all his glory, he said, Christ
is all. And he's all I'm going to tell
from this day forward. Preach him. He said, our Lord
said to him, I'm going to make you a minister. I have purpose
to make you a minister. Now Paul, before this, when Paul
was a young man, when Paul became, when he graduated from high school,
18, 19 years old, he decided to enter the ministry. Paul decided to enter the ministry.
He wanted to be, his mother wanted him to be a preacher, and his
dad, who was a Hebrew, he wanted him to be a good rabbi and a
Pharisee. So, and he didn't want to, he
wanted to be a race, a chariot driver. But no, his mom and dad
run out. So they said, Paul, are you going
to go to the School of Gamaliel? No, I don't want to. I want to
go to Rome University. No, you're not. You're going
to the School of Gamaliel. You're going to be a good preacher,
boy. So he did. He went to seminary. He entered the ministry. He decided
to serve God from that day. That sound familiar? That's exactly
what happened. Paul decided to enter the ministry.
All right? Years went by. He was running
around out planting churches, killing them. How many men have done this?
Saul's of Tarsus had their Ask every preacher that stands in
this pulpit who was preaching before the Lord revealed the
truth to him, he'll tell you. Just like Saul. I entered the
ministry. But now a man enters the ministry
when God makes him a minister. Christ said, I have purpose to
make you a minister. Now I'm going to put you in the
ministry, Paul. What is the ministry, Lord? Paul said this in several places,
Acts chapter 20. Turn back real quickly, would
you? Acts chapter 20. Acts chapter 20. Our Lord said, I have purposed
to put you into the ministry, to deliver you, to send you,
to put you in the ministry. Paul is going to be a minister
now. Look at verse 20 and 21. Paul is talking to the And he
says, I've kept back nothing profitable unto you, have showed
you and taught you publicly from house to house. testifying both
to Jews and also to Greeks, repentance toward God and faith toward our
Lord Jesus Christ. Verse 24, none of these things
move me, all the trouble that I'm in and I'm going to die because
of it. I don't count my life dear unto
myself. I'm going to finish my course
with joy and the ministry which I've received of the Lord to
testify the gospel. of the grace of God. Now he's
in the ministry. He's going to go and preach the
gospel of the grace of God. He's not going to dance the dance.
He's not going to form a quartet. He's not going to have clowns
for Jesus. He's not going to have a bus
ministry, or a youth ministry, or a singles ministry, or this
ministry, or that ministry, but a gospel preaching ministry.
Nothing more and nothing less. Paul said, I'm determined to
do one thing, preach the gospel. When you're in the ministry,
that's what you do. You're a minister of the gospel. And anybody that's in the ministry,
that's all they do. What kind of ministry do you
have? Do you have a single? I hear these questions all the
time. Do you have a singles ministry?
I have a daughter who needs a husband. Your daughter needs Christ. She doesn't need some ornery
husband. She had three. What does she need another one
of those for? She needs to know Christ. And know Christ is all, it's
all. It won't matter whether you're
married or unmarried. Trying to marry people to Christ. Singles ministry. Youth ministry.
What are you doing for your youth? We're preaching the gospel to
them, hoping that God will put the yoke on them in their youth.
That God will reveal himself to them. That they grow up to
be whatever. If they don't know Christ, it's
all in vain. They're dead while they live.
There's one ministry. One ministry. The ministry of
the gospel. The gospel is the power of God.
The gospel. It doesn't say anything else
is the power of God. God doesn't use anything other
than the preaching of the gospel. Romans 1.16 says the gospel is
the power of God unto salvation to everyone that believeth. Our
Lord told his preachers, go into all the world and preach the
gospel. He that believeth and is baptized
shall be saved. He that believeth not shall be
damned. Pretty black and white, isn't it? Preach the gospel.
That's it. Preach the gospel. What is the
gospel? It's not a what, it's a who.
It's not a system, it's not a plan, it's not a Roman's road, it's
a who. Paul heard the gospel. What did
he hear? He heard a who. He heard Christ. He heard a sovereign Lord who
is God. Jesus wasn't trying to be God
if Paul would let him. Was he? Jesus didn't say, Paul,
I want to be, I'm trying to be. If you let . . . He heard who Christ is, and why he did it, and why he
came, and what he did, and where he is now. The gospel is who Christ is,
the person and work of Christ. Verse 18, I've got to hurry.
Now, Paul said this, or our Lord said this to Paul, verse 16. Let's go back there.
He said, I have a purpose to make you a minister and a witness
of the things which thou hast seen. If a man has really seen
Christ, he'll preach Christ. That's it. Bottom line. And things in which I will appear
unto thee. Things which I will appear unto
you. Did you see that, Things you're
going to preach, things which I will yet appear unto you. I
will yet reveal more of myself to you. You see that? Not politics,
not social issues. Christ is the issue between God
and man. Verse 17, and I'm delivering
thee from the people. They tried to kill him everywhere
he went. Couldn't. He had to finish his course,
the purpose that God sent him to. Read on. From the Gentiles
unto whom I now send thee. Oh, he went into towns, various
towns, and, Roy, the whole town got in an uproar. They stirred
up the most religious women in town, and they hated what Paul
was preaching so bad, and they ascended on him, but they couldn't
kill him. They couldn't silence him. Time
wouldn't help you. He had to preach the gospel.
They put him in prison. They thought, we've silenced
him now. Oh, you have, have you? God's word's not bound. God put
him in prison to write the epistles. Well, he said, now here's the
verse I want to dwell on for a few more minutes, all right?
Verse 18. Now, this is what God did to
Saul. And this is what Ananias, through the preaching to Saul,
this is what happened to Saul. And Paul is sent out to preach,
and Paul says here, this is what's going to happen to you, to us.
These things right here. Happened to Saul, and it happens
to all whom the gospel is sent to. Verse 18, I'm going to send
you, and he can't preach unless he's sent. I'm going to send you, verse
18, to open their eyes. I'm going to send you to preach
the gospel, to open their eyes. Do you remember what happened
to Saul and Ananias? What's the first thing that Ananias
said? Saul, Saul, the Lord hath appeared unto thee, that thou
mayest receive thy sight. He received his sight. He was
blind, wasn't he? He was blind. And you know, every
one of us are born blind. We're born blind. Isn't it significant that a little
child, when he's first born, is actually blind? They've got
their eyes closed. They can't see a thing. Physicians
will tell you that even though they have them open, they can't
see. You know that? They can't see.
Little puppies, kittens, all of them, blind. Everything's
born blind. That's very significant of it. God's Word is so perfect. We're all blind by nature. We
can't see God. Everybody's looking after him.
Paul said they're feeling after him, trying to find God. Find
him here, find him there. Can't see ourselves. Can't see
into your heart. Can't see as God sees. can't
really see what's going on around us. Wednesday night we saw how the
people are dropping like flies around us. Five thousand people died in
New York and everybody got upset. People, there have been hundreds
and hundreds of thousands of people die since September 11th. Dropping like flies all around
us. Why? And men don't look up. Men aren't
even looking up. The obituaries are full. Every day the obituaries
are full. Men don't see. Don't see. Like
cattle. Cows, pigs, beefs. All they think of is eating and
sex. That's it. They don't see cows
being taken away to slaughter. They went old Billy Bob. Where'd he go? I don't know.
I don't care. I don't care. And you hear, oh, Joe died the
other day, oh, Bill died the other day, oh, Sarah, Sue died
the other day, oh, did you? Don't see it. They're blind.
Blind to death. God's Word is clear, isn't it
clear? He just clearly describes what,
who He is, what we are, and what's going on and happening all around
us, prophesying to the T everything that has happened and sent by God to open their
eyes. Do you know the first thing they
realized when they had their eyes open? Do you know what the
first thing they realized is? I was blind. Well, that blind man, that blind
man, the Lord healed. What was the first thing he said?
I once was blind. and open their eyes. They're
blind. Read on. Verse 18. And to turn them from
darkness to light. Our Lord said this in John chapter
3. Christ Jesus said this in John
chapter 3. He said, this is the condemnation, that Light is coming to this
world, but men love darkness rather than light, because their deeds are evil. When do people do most of their
sinning, most of their meanness, most of their evil? When do they
do it? Darkness. I want to be seen. People don't
come to hear this gospel. The gospel, what I'm saying right
now, don't come to hear people, why are they getting further
and further away from this? You know, this is light. This
is light. This is light. This is revealing. This reveals who God really is,
especially the Old Testament. Let's do away with that. Men love darkness. They don't
like that. That's what our Lord said. Don't
come to the light. It will show their evil deeds.
It will reveal their self-righteousness. Nicodemus came by night. That
Pharisee came by night. Ain't nobody seen him. But now our Lord said, Now he
that doeth truth cometh to the lights that his deeds might be.
Are you with me? Are you with me? Turned them
from darkness to light. I see it in the faces of people
all the time, darkness. I'm not interested in that. That's
darkness. Ignorance is bliss. No, it's
not. It's death. Look at the next thing in our
text, verse 18, "...turned in from the power of Satan unto
God." I'm my own man. Oh, are you? I'm a liberated
woman. I do my own thing. Oh, do you? Our Lord said they are taken
captive by Satan at his will. That's what Jesus Christ, who
cannot lie, said. They're all captives. Let me
ask you, let me ask us, what determines what we wear, how
we walk, how we talk, where we go, what we do, what we think,
what we act, how we look? What is it? Do we actually do
our own thing, or is something else influencing us? This world. Our Lord called him the God of
this world, who uses these things to manipulate his subjects and
his servants. I know what she likes. Here,
honey. I know what he likes. We're manipulated. We're captives by nature. Did you read that, Eve? The lust
of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life,
sin, world, religion, ignorance, superstition, darkness, fears,
we are absolute captives to this world and everything in it. Christ
said, I'm going to set them free. And I'm going to listen to the
world. Everything I say is contrary
to it. It's absolutely opposite. And I'm going to listen to the
world from then on. I'm going to set them free. They're not going
to tremble when they hear about terror. They're going to fear
me. They're not going to fear man. They're not going to fear death
worse than anything. They're going to fear missing
Christ whose life. Death will have no sting. Though
they walk through the valley of the shadow of it, they'll
fear no evil, for I'll be with them. I'll deliver them. I'm
their deliverer. I'm the captain of their salvation.
I've set them free. They're not going to listen to
what, it doesn't matter who it is, they're not going to listen
to what they have to say. They're listening to me. A stranger's voice they'll
not listen to. They've heard my voice, and now
from that day forward, who is he that condemneth? Who shall
lay anything to charge of God's elect? Whom shall I fear? What
shall I be afraid? God hath said." They're my subjects. They know
I'm in charge. From the power of Satan unto
my power. Verse 18, read on, it says, "...and
that they might receive forgiveness of sins." The goodness of God leads us
to repentance of sin, and the gospel of Christ grants forgiveness
Forgiveness of sin. Nobody's even talking about sins
anymore. There aren't many sinners. Let me remind you of something
that our Lord said. There was a tower that fell on
a bunch of people, just like the World Trade Center. Years
before, there was a tower that fell and killed a bunch of people.
And the people couldn't understand. Everybody's asking, why, why,
why, why, why? And our Lord said, do you think
they were sinners worse than anybody else? He said, I say
unto you, and he was saying this to his disciples, except you
all repent, you're all going to perish. God toppled that tower over on
those people. And he said to every one of them,
his disciples included, except you repent, you're going to die. Forgiveness of sins is our need,
not some sugar daddy named Jesus. The issue between us and a holy
God or just and a righteous God who will by no means clear the
guilty is our sins that are ever before us and separate us from
our God. What are we going to do about
it? Nothing we can do about it. Only Christ can put them away.
And there is complete forgiveness of sins, though, through Jesus
Christ and only through Jesus Christ. It's all to come to God
by hand. Complete, utter, eternal forgiveness
of sin. Tell them that. Sin's the issue,
and I've taken care of it. There's no condemnation to them
that are in Christ. They're still sinners, yes, but
they're not going to perish. A building may fall on them,
but they're not going to perish. They're going to live eternally.
Because I live. Read on. And to give them an
inheritance, an inheritance among them which are sanctified, I'm
going to give them an inheritance. They're going to be of that blessed
number. They're going to be gathered
with the saints. That's what sanctified means. They're going
to be gathered with the saints in glory some day, happy. Because they were better than
anybody else. They were more faithful than
that. No, they're sanctified, they're separated, they're given
this inheritance, verse 18, by faith that's in me, just by trusting
me. I'm going to give them that.
That faith is not of their selves. Paul didn't decide to believe.
The Lord said, You can't kick against a brick, can you? I've
chosen you. Now, you do believe me, don't
you, Paul? Yes, sir. Yes, I do. Yes, I do. And I close with these verses,
28, 7 through 29. Let's close. Let's read these
together and close them, all right? Now, Paul is standing
before King Negrito. He just told all this. The Lord
told him that he was going to send him to do all this, to the
preaching of the gospel. Just like Ananias That's what
happened to Saul. He had a nice preach to him.
All those things happened. So Paul was going out preaching.
He preached. We just heard it. It happened
to me. Blind? Now see. Turned from darkness
to light. From the kingdom of darkness
to the kingdom of his dear son. Grant repentance and faith. Forgiveness
of sins. A part with the saints in life. Look at this. Now, Paul is preaching
to Agrippa, and he says, verse 27, King Agrippa, you believe
the prophets? I know you believe. I know you believe. Then King
Euripus said unto him, this is something, he said unto Paul, almost thou persuadest me to
be a Christian. Paul knew he couldn't persuade
him. Nobody could persuade Paul. It took Christ himself, didn't
it? But Paul said this, I would to God. Paul says, I call on God, I would
to God, I appeal to God. I'm hoping to God that not only
you, but everybody that hears me this day. We're both almost, and we're
all together, like I am, except these bonds. I don't want you
in prison, but oh, I hope. And I'm calling on God to blind
you and then give you sight, shine the light on you. You know,
you remember the story back there, it said that they all, everybody
that was with Paul, everybody that was with Saul on that road
heard a voice. Everyone of them heard a voice.
They heard it. Everybody in here heard that voice. Everybody in
here heard the same thing. It says they saw no man. But Nancy, our Lord, spoke to
Saul, personally to Saul. He didn't speak to the other
guy, Saul. So Paul said, Oh, I would to God that he speak
to you, old gripper. I can't persuade you. I'll just
tell you what he's done for me. Oh, but if God works, you can't
get it. Thank God. Let's sing a closing hymn, and
I can't think of a better one than 236. 236. Sarla Tarsus would
have loved to sing this song. He is. He's singing it right
now. 236. Stand with me. 236. Amazing grace, how sweet the
sound That saved a wretch like me I once was lost, but now am
found Was blind, but now I see see. T'was grace that taught
my heart to fear, and grace my fear relieved. How precious did Sing the last verse.