It's good to see many of you
all that I know. I know a lot of faces. I've forgotten
some names. I'm going to sing a song to you
this morning that kind of tells a story about a fellow's conversion. matchless, free, eternal grace
that gave my soul a hiding place. Against the God who rules the
sky, I fought with hands uplifted high, despised the mention of
his race, Wrapped in thick Egyptian night
and fondled by the storm The arrows of Pissarras and Mount
Diablo I heard that mercy's angel for
me. the chosen race, and thus became
their knight of blaze. Six stones of seven-fold thunder
roar and shake this earth unfold. Though many vote for God's bright
face, for Jesus is my knight of blaze. I shall sing this song of praise
to Jesus OK, turn to Acts chapter nine
now. Acts chapter nine. As most of you know, this chapter. Tells the story of the apostle
Paul's conversion. His name before the Lord changed
it was Saul, Saul of Tarsus. And this story of his conversion is a very clear
example of just how religious someone
can be. and still be lost. How zealous, how active in their
religion they can be and still be lost. How strongly someone
can believe a lie and despise and hate the truth. This is a
clear example of that. Just how strongly someone can
believe a lie and hate and fight against the truth. A world of
people out there today are something like Saul of Tarsus. A world
of people who are religious. We've never been in a more religious
time. Everyone is religious. I gave
you a statistic once before that these surveyors say that one
out of every two American adults is a Christian. That's laughable,
but that's the statistic, supposedly. Very religious, but lost. Sincere, you'll find a lot of
very sincere people out there, won't you? but sincerely wrong. Zealous. A lot of people are
zealous for God. I bear them record. A lot of
people are zealous in their worship of a God, but it's not according
to knowledge. It's the wrong God. And then
there are a lot of people who study the Bible. Many people,
if not Most people have a copy of the Bible and many people
read it. But I say confidently that very few of the people who
read the Bible know anything about the God of the Bible. Very few people. There are a
lot of people out there who think they are going the right way.
They think they are going the right way. They think they're
going the way that they think is right, but it's the wrong
way. It's not the way that God saves. They hate the way God
saves. It's sad. You see, religion does not save. Jesus Christ saves. Now, I am
religious. To be religious means you're
very sincere, you're very devout, you're very sincere about what
you believe. I am religious. I make no apology. If you're not religious, you're
not in this thing. You're not sincere about Christ
if you're not religious. But just to be merely religious
or sincere about something won't save you. Won't save you. One is not saved by turning religious. By getting religious, by getting
interested in church, interested in the Bible, one is interested in those things
once the Lord begins to save you. But you're not saved by
becoming interested in going to church and by becoming interested
in the Bible and by praying to a God or turning over a new leaf. One is not saved In this way,
one is saved when they meet the Lord Jesus Christ. That's when
you're saved. When you meet the living Lord. We're going to see that in a
moment. When you hear His voice. When you hear His voice. And
I'll remind you that the Lord speaks not in dreams and visions
anymore. But He speaks through the preaching
of this Word. And you must hear his voice as
very as really as if he were speaking to you and you alone.
You must. You must hear this word come
to you as if God were calling your very name and speaking to
you. That's how I speak. You must come into contact with,
meet this living person. Salvation is not in religion.
It's not even in doctrine. It's in meeting a living Lord.
We're going to see that. Look at verse 1 here in Acts
chapter 9. Let's look at Saul's conversion. This is what happened to Saul
of Tarsus. And it says in verse 1, And Saul,
yet breathing out threatenings and slaughter against the disciples
of the went under the high priest and so on and saw who was Saul. Turn back to that passage I read
in Philippians 3. OK, turn back there to Philippians
chapter 3. If you're unfamiliar with who
he was, you know who the apostle Paul is. But who was this man
Saul? He was an entirely different
man before he became Paul. You see, Paul's a new creature.
Saul was an old man. There's another man entirely.
Another man. Look at Philippians 3. Saul of Tarsus was a religious
man. Very religious. A religious leader
in his day. He was a big shot in big-time
religion. I would like to liken him to
somebody, but I'm not going to. I'm not going to give any name.
But he was a big shot. In big-time religion, he was
a Pharisee. This was nearly as high up as
you could go in religion. This would be the equivalent
of being a cardinal in Catholicism, a cardinal. Next to the Pope,
he was the highest man. The high priest would be like
the Pope today. And this man Saul was a man with
impeccable credentials. Look at chapter 3, verse 5 of
Philippians. He said, I was circumcised the
eighth day, which every Jewish boy had done to him, the eighth
day, of the stock of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin. He
could trace his heritage back to the very tribe in Israel. He knew beyond a shadow of a
doubt that he was one of the twelve tribes of Israel. Boy,
I bet there's not many Jews today who could do that. He could.
of the tribe of Benjamin, and Hebrew of the Hebrews." I was
a Hebrew son of a Hebrew woman and a Hebrew man. He was Hebrew
through and through, a purebred, no mixture, no half-breed here,
a Jew through and through. As touching the law, I was a
Pharisee. I was a doctor of it, a doctor
of the law. Read on. Concerning zeal, or
that is, sincerity in my religion, I persecuted the church. I was so sincere, so zealous
about what I believed, my Jewish religion, that I went out and
had people put in jail who believed other than strictly
according to my religion. Oh, he was zealous, zealous.
And it says, he went on, touching the righteousness which is in
the law, or that is the morality that comes by or through the
law, the Ten Commandments, the word of God, blameless. Blameless. All the law he had
kept from his youth up. Blameless. A man of impeccable
credentials. A man at his best state. This was Saul. He was also schooled
in the most noted seminary of his day. There's no place that
I could liken this to because this was really the highest and
one of the only seminaries of his day, School of Gamaliel,
the highest known, most respected scholar of that day. Saul was
schooled there. He went to that school. He was
a graduate of it. He was a scholar. He was a theologian. He was an intellectual man, a
man that you could not have argued with or spoken to without being
very intimidated around. He was an ecclesiastical leader. He was on every ecclesiastical
board, the equivalent of every church board, every hierarchy,
every committee. He was a champion. of the Jewish
synagogue. He was a debater. He was a fighter. He was bold. He was confident. He was the people's champion.
He was thought to be a great man of God, but he was lost. He was lost. You couldn't get
any higher, any more religious than Saul of Tarsus. All right,
look back at the text now, Acts 9. Look at it. Verse 1, it says, And he breathed
out threatenings and slaughters against the disciples of the
Lord, and went unto the high priest, or went unto his only
superior, the high priest, and desired of him letters, or asked
this man permission, authority, to go to Damascus to the various
Jewish synagogues. All around, and if he found anybody,
men or women, any of this way, of this way, that whether men
or women, doesn't matter, he would bring them bound to Jerusalem. He wanted the authority to go
out, and if I find anybody who's not, who is not totally devoted
to and in allegiance to our Judeo Heritage. Judaism. And we'll bring them back and
we'll put them in jail. I'll get rid of all the enemies
of Judaism. I'll get rid of them. You know he would have walked
around with a smile on his face, John. He wasn't. He would have
walked around like you see him walk around today. Does that look like him? They
always seem to rub their hands together. They've got something
sinister, you know, that's what sinister people... He would have
had a smile on his face and he would have said that he loved
God. Wouldn't he? He would have talked to him about
the love of God. He preached it, I bet you. He preached the
love of God. He preached love. He talked about
loving God. He told some people he loved
them, but he hated this way. The way that some people believe.
What way is that? What way is it talking about?
This way. It says he found any of this way, he would bind them,
bring them to prison. Men or women, it doesn't matter.
What way is that? Incredibly, Christ the way. Christ, the only way. Christ
the Lord. Christ the Lord. Like all of
the Pharisees, He was in favor of this Savior for Israel. In other words, he would have
had a man come down on a white horse and become a Savior for
Israel. He was all in favor of that,
but not a sovereign reigning Lord. He was interested in a
Messiah who would come and sit on David's throne, you know,
and do all good things for Israel, restore the kingdom to Israel
and so forth, a humanitarian, a feeder, a teacher, a leader,
a guide, and so forth, but not a reigning, ruling sovereign
Lord. He was in favor of a Messiah
who was to come, but not a present reigning, ruling Lord. He was
not in favor of one who was now on his throne. He was in favor
of one coming, sitting on a pretended throne, but not one who was right
now seated on the throne of the majesty on high, reigning and
ruling. One who elects people, who chooses
people, who predestinates people, who does what he will with whom
he will, a sovereign. And I remind you, sovereigns
of old, kings of old. could merely dislike somebody
and have their head cut off. That's what it means to be sovereign.
We've lost sight of the term today. Very few people know what
even the term sovereign means. Back then, they referred to the
king as the sovereign, and that means that he could do whatever
he wanted to. If he didn't like you, you're
a goner. If he liked you, he could make
you exceedingly rich. He could appoint you to the highest
office in the land whether you had any credentials or not. It's
up to his will. That's a sovereign. Saul didn't
want a sovereign like that. A Messiah, yes, but not a sovereign.
He didn't want one who does what he will and none could stay his
hand. And the way. It says that he
persecuted anybody of this way. He didn't like the way God saves. The way, God says. Now, that
is the way of sovereign mercy as opposed to our religious works. In other words, God doesn't save
anybody according to their works. He gives mercy. Mercy. To whom
he will, too. He doesn't give it to everybody.
He didn't like the way of sovereign grace. The way of sovereign grace
as opposed to morality. That morality doesn't have anything
to do with your acceptance with God. Nothing. You see, that excluded
all of Paul's, the righteousness of the law. He was blameless.
He would have had to stand before this one and say, to hear him
say, that doesn't amount to anything. I'm not acknowledging anything
you've done up to this point. Nothing. He didn't want that.
Not that way. He didn't like the way of God
choosing whom he would. of God electing a people. God
elected. He wanted to have his own will
and his own choice. Right? He didn't like that way
of election. He was like that man I used to
work with. He'd believe anything but that.
He said that. Anything but that. He didn't
like the way of Christ's person and work alone for salvation. The person and work of Christ
alone as opposed to man's faith, man's decision, man's health,
man keeping himself moral, keeping himself clean, and so forth.
He didn't like the way of Christ and Christ alone being all of
salvation. He didn't like that. He didn't
like this thing of, this way of God getting all the glory.
He wanted a little bit of it. Like that Robert Shuler said,
I quoted it to you the other night. He said, innately, it's
in every man to want to have some glory. And he said, there's
nothing wrong with that. Yeah, there is, too. It'll damn
your soul. God said, nobody's going to share my glory. Nobody. He's going to get all the glory.
And Saul wanted some of it. Just like every religious person
today who does not want to give all the glory to God, they want
a little share of it. A little share of it. See, everybody today in religion
is zealous about their religion. They're zealous about their religion,
and you know that nearly everybody is zealous against this way. They're very zealous about their
religion, and they're equally zealous against this way. This way. All the world's religions
and denominations All of them, Methodists, all the denominations,
Methodists, Baptists, Episcopalians, Catholics, Presbyterians, so
on, Pentecostals, all these denominations can get together and join hands,
even Christianity, so to speak, is joining hands with Islam and
Buddhism and some, joining hands, all the world's religions and
And denominations are joining hands today in a great show of
unity and what they call ecumenicalism, that is, one church, they want
this show of unity. They're all joining hands together,
talking about love, but they have a clarion cry together of
hating this way. Some of you know how it is at
work. Everyone, whether they're Methodists, Baptists, Episcopalians,
it doesn't matter what denomination they are, they all join together
and have a good time together in hating you. Right? Why? You believe this
way, the way they call heresy, Paul said. He said, after the
way they call heresy, later on, Paul said, That's what I believe
and that's what I preach. And everybody, nearly everybody
in religion hates this way. And if it were lawful, they'd
put you in jail. They'd have me in there a long
time before they'd put you in it. And have this building shut
up, boarded up. This was Saul. He hated this
way. He hated it. And he went about
imprisoning those who believed it. Look at verse 3. And as he
journeyed, it says, as he journeyed to Damascus, Saul was on his
way up the religious ladder. He was making a journey. He was
ambitious. He was making proselytes. Paul
was kind of like a door-to-door soul winner, except he was a
soul slayer. He went door-to-door, not saving
winning souls for Jesus, but finding everybody that believed
in him. and take him to jail. But he was zealous. He was zealous,
knocking on doors, riding his high horse. Here he came through
as he journeyed, riding his high horse so proud and so sure of
himself and his religion. Pride goes before a fall, doesn't
it? The Lord said that. Pride goes before a fall. You
know, isn't that one of, isn't pride one of the, one of the clearest One of the
characteristics of those in religion today in that one of the most. What's the word. That one of
the. Obvious obvious characteristics
of those in religion is proud. Arrogant especially preachers
proud arrogant they strut up in the pulpit like well here
I am. Don't think that in that one
of the it goes for following care and count on it those that
are proud of all the wrong thing. And he came there to Damascus.
Somebody might say he was in the wrong place some of his buddies
there when he just was in the wrong place at the wrong time
now he. He was, in God's time, he was
just in the right place, where he needed to be. God brought
him here. And it says, suddenly, as he
journeyed, he came near Damascus, right in the town. Suddenly,
it says, there shined round about him, all around him, a light
from heaven. Suddenly there shined a bright
light all around him. Verse 4 says, and he fell to
the earth. He fell to the earth and heard
a voice. Heard a voice. Now, get this
picture here. Here this proud, had all his
robes on, you know, and maybe a fish hat. He might have been
wearing, you don't know, or at least a skull cap to cover up
his baldness. And all of his crosses, no, not
crosses, but whatever symbols they may have wore, fish, they
might have wore fish. you know, boxes of Scripture all over him,
all of his ecclesiastical robes. Here he comes riding in on a
white horse. I'm sure all his servants were walking while they
were waiting on him. This proud, self-righteous, religious
Pharisee riding into town, riding along. Oh, but he was in darkness
and superstition and ignorance, tradition, preconceived notions.
He knew God. Why, he was serving God. so ignorant. And suddenly, the scripture says,
unexpectedly, a bright and shining light surrounded him. All around
him, this big bright, I don't know what, some bright shining
light. I know what it was. It wasn't
sunshine. It was the Son of God himself. The presence of Christ, who is
that light which no man can approach unto, the light of the world.
The brightness of his coming. Who shall destroy the world with
the brightness of his coming? With the brightness of his coming
surrounded Saul of Tarsus at this time. Now, here is the difference
between getting saved and being saved. Saul wasn't looking for
the Lord. Saul didn't go away from there
that day saying, I saw the light. The light surrounded him. There's
a difference. He was blind. He couldn't see
anything until the Lord gave him eyes. He wasn't looking for
the Lord, but the Lord was looking for him. And I'll remind you,
everybody he looks for, he finds. It was not as if he was groping
around, where are you now? I'll try to find you. Every one
of his lost sheep, he finds them. Saul didn't see the light. As
I said, the sun of righteousness, S-O-N, sun, dawned on him. It didn't suddenly dawn on him,
hey, this Jesus, maybe. The sun arose with healing in
his wings. The sun, S-O-N, of righteousness,
shined, surrounded him, said, I've got you surrounded now,
don't I? No. He didn't get saved. The Lord God of glory was saving
him. That's the difference. That's
all the difference in what the world is calling salvation, and
this way, the way God saves. They're going out to get it,
and therefore getting a little credit for it. But when the Lord
comes to get us, He gets all the credit for it. I couldn't
put it any more simply. Right? is a big difference in
getting saved and being saved. Everybody says, I saw the light.
They're bragging on what they saw. If Saul would have gone away
from here going, the light saw me. The light shone on me. And it surrounded him. Salvation
doesn't begin with a man seeking God. Hear me out now. Salvation does
not begin with a man or a woman seeking God. It begins with God
Almighty seeking them. Yeah. He's the author of salvation,
isn't it? And the finisher. Salvation begins
by Christ, who's called the Good Shepherd, the Chief Shepherd,
the Great Shepherd, seeking his lost sheep. And everyone whom
he elected to be his sheep in that covenant before the world
began, everyone that Christ, God the Father, and God the Spirit
determined to call sheep out of this mass of humanity, he
says, in time, now I'm going to go find them. They're my sheep. They're lost, but they're my
sheep. his sheep. Everybody is not his
sheep. The scriptures plainly says there
are sheep and then there are goats, right? Huh? There are
sheep, then there are goats. Well, how do I know I'm a sheeper? Listen on. Christ said, I know
my sheep and am known of mine. I lay down my life for the sheep
and other sheep I have which are not of this fold, or that
is, not of that immediate group of followers that he was talking
about. Them also, other sheep I have
which are not of this fold, Gentile sheep all over the world. Them
also, he said, I what? Has anybody finished the rest
of it? Them also I must," yes, say it,
must bring. Why? His glory's at stake. His
power's at stake. His title of shepherd's at stake.
If he doesn't bring them all back, the Father's going to hold
him accountable. Where are the sheep, son? Like Saul, King Saul
of old, who couldn't find his daddy's asses. He couldn't find
them. And his daddy was going to hold
him responsible for them. And if the son didn't come back
with all of the sheep of God, God was going to hold him accountable.
Where are they? They're my sheep. I gave them
to you to keep. Have you kept them all? Where
are they? I couldn't. This one wasn't strong enough
in faith, and he didn't believe, wouldn't accept me. He wouldn't
let me in his heart. I couldn't keep this one. The son said, I must bring them.
There my father gave them to me. I must bring them. How am
I going to bring them? He said they'll hear my voice.
I'm going to go calling them. Sheep! Sheep! Hey sheep! Have you heard his voice? Saul
of Tarsus was one of these sheep. He was one of these sheep, and
in God's predestined time, In the day ordained for his salvation,
you know, there's a day when you hear his voice. There is
a day when every one of his sheep hear his voice. And Saul of Tarsus,
this was the day, the day of his salvation. History is over
and over again. He said, don't, today may be
the day if you hear his voice. He said, I did. It was a day
in time when Saul of Tarsus heard his voice. The Lord of Glory
said, today's the day. He said about Saul, he said,
it's time that I went and rounded up Saul. It's time. Saul of Tarsus has lived all
these years, 30 some odd years for himself in rebellion and
hatred against me, but he's one of mine. I've loved him freely. He's one of my father's sheep.
The father gave him to him. I'm going to find him. I'm going
to have him. Today's the day. I'm going to call him out. I'm
going to call him out. Here's a scripture over in Job
that says this. When the Lord said to Job, he
said, Who is this that's darkened in counsel by words without knowledge?
Just like Saul, you know, oh, he was so religious and knew
God and preached and this and that and the other. And he said,
Who is this that's darkened in counsel by words without knowledge? Who doesn't even know God who's
preaching about him? Who is this? Who is this, Saul? And he said
this in that verse. He said, He said, Job, where
were you when I made the oceans? Where were you when I made the
oceans? You know the mighty oceans? That none of us could stand the
fury of the ocean, the great waves slapping against the shore,
and a little boat is tossed to and fro and will go down just
at any time in the ocean. The Lord of glory said to that
ocean, he said, hitherto, you know how the ocean comes up to
the shore and no further? Huh? According to God's Sovereignty? Why doesn't the ocean just overflow
the land? Huh? Why does it just all the
time, day in and day out, just come right here and stop and
back? And then sometimes big waves come in, crashing in, showing
us, hey, I could get you if I wanted. Huh? But it stops, and then it
recedes. Here comes a big one. Better run! No, it's going to
stop. It stops. And the Lord of Glory
said to the ocean, Hitherto shall you come, and no further. Here shall thy proud ways be
stained. And he said the same thing to
the Saul of Tarsus that day. You've been running around spouting
your mouth, thinking that you're somebody when you're nothing,
but you're one of mine and I'm going to have you. Hitherto have
you rebelled against me, hated me, hated this way. Have you
come in all your ecclesiastical attainments, hitherto have you
come, no further. Today your proud ways are going
to come crashing down." And God said, it's time for this
man to come down off on his high horse. It's time this man who
was glorying in himself and in his religion to glory in me,
to see that I'm the Lord, and there is none else. And it's much the same for some of
you. Huh? Wasn't it much the same for some
of you who were religious but lost? I bet you 99% of you in
here before you heard the gospel were religious. Huh? Sure, you
went to church somewhere, you grew up going to church with
your parents somewhere, religious, just like the Apostle Paul, steeped
in tradition. superstitions, ceremonies, organized
religion, talking about Jesus. Any of you talk about Jesus?
Huh? Before you heard the gospel?
Well, you didn't know anything about the Lord, did you? Talk
about Jesus, when one day, and in the day fixed and appointed
by God Almighty, your bounds were set. And God Almighty suddenly,
God Almighty placed you in a place where the gospel was being preached.
The gospel, yes, this way. The way, God said. And the same
God who commanded the light to shine out of darkness shined
in your dark heart to give you the light of the knowledge of
the glory of God's person. And you saw it all in the face
and the person and work of the Lord Jesus Christ. Right? How about it? Any of you? Some
of you, you came face to face with a sovereign, reigning, ruling
Lord and King. I think of one lady in here,
and I'll call her name, who was just so religious, right here
in this congregation. She told me, teaching Sunday
school. You know, everybody gets religion,
they make them a Sunday school teacher. I mean, just as soon
as they do. Three days later, they're a Sunday
school teacher. And one of our ladies was doing
that, and she heard a man proclaim this sovereign Lord for the first
time, and at first, she didn't like it, right? She was religious. She knew something about Jesus,
but she didn't know anything about this Lord of glory, who
does what he will, with whom he will, how he will, when he
will. She was religious. And like Saul,
she had to be brought down. She had to be brought down. You
know, Saul Saul didn't know much at this time, did he? He didn't know much, but I'll
tell you what he knew. He knew whoever it was that knocked
him off that horse was Lord from here on out. Right? He didn't know much, but he knew
there was a Lord now. There is a Lord, and I mean in
the truest sense of the word, Lord. And here's what he said
in verse 5. Here's what Saul said. Who art
thou, Lord? Who art thou? And the Lord said,
I am Jesus, whom thou persecute. It's hard for thee to kick against
the priest. Who art thou, Lord? And it says
in verse six, And he trembling and astonished. He was trembling
at the word of the Lord and was astonished. Gee, this is Jesus? This is Jesus? It's going to be a lot of people
trembling too late, aren't they, before the Jesus that sits on
the throne, the one whom they think has been in their hands
all along, the one whom they think all along was so frustrated
and so helpless, and that was knocking on their door and loved
them so much, and they wouldn't let him in, and he was just so
upset and crying. He's weeping up in heaven. over
them, and they're going to see, though, the Lord Jesus sitting
on a throne, and they're going to tremble. You know, salvation
is to tremble now. Salvation is to hear the word
of the Lord, His majesty, and tremble now. You know, the Scripture
says the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom. The
fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom. When God saves someone,
He doesn't He doesn't come to them with
a message of the love of Jesus. When God begins to save somebody,
he doesn't come to them with a message of the love of Jesus.
He comes to them with a message of, first and foremost, of the
Lordship of Jesus Christ. When God comes to a man who by
nature hates God, and is in rebellion against God, and who hasn't even
acknowledged God up to this point. God doesn't tell him how much
he loves him. He tells him how angry he is. He tells him he's
God, and that man's a worm. He tells him, I'm a holy God
and you're a sinner. He tells him I'm a just God and
will by no means clear the guilty, and you're guilty. He says he's
angry with the wicked every day. He's an offended God. How are
you going to have peace? That's how God comes to everybody
he saves. And he shows that man or woman
or young person their sin and their rebellion against this
holy God. Yes. Every time. No exceptions. God doesn't come with the love
of Jesus first. You'll not find it anywhere in
the Old Testament. You'll not find one of the prophets coming
anywhere and say, God loves you. You'll not find that. You'll
find them every time, John, coming and saying, God is going to judge
this place. Right? And you in it. Because
the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom. Fear of the Lord. And that brings, you see, that
knowledge brings a man, a woman, a young person down in the dust
of repentance. Then they say, when the Holy
Spirit comes, he shall convict the world of what? Sin. Not tell them all about the love
of Jesus. That comes later, but not first. Convince them of sin against
the Holy God, bringing repentance. And that makes them all cry out. They all cry out the same thing,
and you don't have to tell them to repeat it after you. You don't
have to bring them down and say, now, has the Lord worked on you? Well, I'm not sure if He has
or not. You want to just, well, repeat after me. Here's what
you're supposed to say. Say that to me. No. Everyone will say the same thing.
I guarantee you, everyone will say the same thing, but nobody
will have to tell them what to say. It'll come springing out
of their heart. What'll they say? Every time
when they see this Lord of Glory. What'll they say? Lord, have
mercy on me. The same. Lord, save me, or I
perish." The same thing out of every man, every man. The Lord
had mercy. And Saul said this, look at verse
6, "...he trembling and astonished, but he was shaking in his boot."
Now, you know, he came out of those boots. He came out of them, came off
that saddle and out of his boots, but his hat flew off too. He was in the dust, down and
dirty. And he was trembling. And he said, Lord. You know, at first he said, Who
art thou, Lord? And when the Lord told him who
he was, he said, Lord. He didn't say, Well, praise Jesus. Did he jump up and say, Well,
hallelujah, praise the Lord? That praised Jesus. I've decided, he said, he didn't
jump up and say, I've decided to follow you from this day forward.
Did he? You say you're poking fun, you're
being crude. I want to be a little more crude. I will yet be more
vile, like David said, in making fun of this blasphemous religion
today. They ain't met the Lord. He didn't
say, I've decided to accept Jesus as my personal Savior, praise
Jesus. Now, the Lord introduced himself
to him. The Lord said this. The Lord
said this. He said, I'm Jesus. That he might
know who it was, actually, that sat on that throne. It was this
same Jesus that was walking the earth. Jesus of Nazareth, the
one whom the prophets spoke of. That was his earthly name. Jesus
was his earthly name. Some call it his name of humiliation,
don't they, Ed? That means that when he came
down, he left his throne as the Lord, or God, and came down to
earth and became humble, humbled himself, humiliated in a body
of sin, a man, a worm. He said, I'm a worm, no man.
He left the throne of God and came down and became a man. He
took a name of a man, Jesus. It's a blessed name. It means Savior. But that's his
second name. And Saul didn't call him Jesus.
That was his earthly name, his name of humiliation. Saul addressed
him as every beggar should address, as every sinner should address
him. That's the Lord. Now, I've said this so many times. Our story bears witness to it.
I don't call our President of the United States, Billy. If I had an audience with a President
of the United States, I'd call him Mr. President. I wouldn't
call the Queen of England, Lizzie. If she was Queen in the sense
of the old Queens, like Mary Queen or whoever those Queens
were, but Bloody Mary. She had my head cut off for addressing
her in a disrespectful manner. I don't even call my dad, and
he's no king, he's no president. I don't call him Henry, and I don't call my Lord Jesus. That's his middle name. I call
him by his surname. His first name, what is it? The
Lord Jesus! Down in Mexico, this impressed
me the first time I went down. I'm yelling, yelling, yelling.
I'm sorry. He's, Lord! I'm going to shout it when I
get to heaven, but all my, Lord! Down in Mexico, when I first
went down there, when I heard those little, simple, peasant,
humble Mexicans pray. You know how they start their
prayer out? It's always impressed me. They always start it out
by saying, you know, they have their hats off. You know, I'm
Mexican. Señor. Señor. You know what that means? Sir. Sir. Huh? You fell as it started
in our unit he served in the army did you want to be a captain
his name was captain. What if General Douglas MacArthur
was coming through with you. Would you. What would happen. You'd be down in the dirt but
you'd be in the stockade wouldn't you be court-martialed in a moment. Am I splitting hairs. I'm not
splitting hairs here, I'm just trying to glorify the Lord. Our
generation has brought him down to the place of a man, a mere
man, long enough. Time somebody called him by his
first, his surname, Lord. Salute him. I'm not splitting
hairs. I realize there may be some sincere
people calling him Jesus, but they're sincerely wrong. You'll
not find any of the apostles calling him that. that the Holy
Spirit narrates some scriptures and refers to him as that. But
look it up. Every time one of the disciples
was in the presence of the Lord, he called him what? Lord. Thomas,
one time, when he saw his glory, he said, My Lord. And he went
further. He said, My God. Not my friend,
Jesus. And here's what Saul said. Look
at verse 6. And Saul, trembling, said, Paul said, I've decided
to accept you, I've decided to let you into my heart, I've decided
to dedicate my life and follow you. Is that what he said? I've
decided, I've decided this, I've decided this is what I'm going
to do, this is how I'm going to serve. I'm going to serve the Lord from
this day forward. If you ever meet the Lord of glory, you'll
quit bargaining. You'll quit bargaining. Lord,
if you'll do this, I'll do that. You're not in any bargaining
position. You have no chips to bargain
with. You're bankrupt. You're a beggar. If you ever
meet the Lord of glory, you'll quit bargaining, saying you're
going to do anything. You'll say, what are you going
to do? You know what he said? Lord,
what are you going to do? Not my will, but thy will be
done. What are you going to do? You'll start seeking to find
out his will and not exercise your own supposed free will. And quit him. Let's read verse
7 and 8. And this is what the Lord said
to him, verse 6, Arise and go into the city, and it shall be
told thee what thou must do. Must do. No prerogative here,
no choice. This is what you're going to
do. I will, and you shall. I will, and you shall. And it
says, verse 7, And the men which journeyed with Saul stood speechless. And hearing a voice, but seeing
no man. Now, I guarantee you, if maybe
this morning, somebody in here this morning is speechless to
the things I've been preaching, that cannot answer the things
I've been saying from the Scripture. Can't do it. If somebody came
in off the streets, no matter who, how learned they were, where's
the wise? disputer of this world. Bring him in here." And before
a message like this, they couldn't answer this. They couldn't answer
this. They'd have to be speechless. But they'd go out of here not
seeing the Lord of glory. They'd hear a voice and they'd
be speechless, but they wouldn't see his glory. Have you? Have you? You take two people,
come in, this is the sovereignty of the Holy Spirit in them. Two
people can come in of the same family, come in and hear the
same message. One be sitting there fast asleep,
while the other one is absolutely trembling and in awe and amazement
and their heart thrilled. And this one, you see, has seen
the Lord in his glory. heard it, and commotions and
all, and goes out and saw no man. My, my. Hadn't the Lord blessed you if
you've seen his glory? Hadn't he? Hadn't he blessed
you? You know, many are called, but
few are chosen. Many are called. John Davis,
the whole world is full of his glory. Isn't that what it says?
The whole earth is full of his glory, and many are called by
him. The lion goes out throughout
all the earth, Paul said. Haven't they not heard? Yea,
barely. There's no voice, there's no
language where their speech is not heard. God's glory, his creative,
his power, his thundering, his rolling, even little children
hear. Somebody's behind all this. The
whole earth sees that kind of glory. Many are called in that
way, but few. Very few are chosen to see his
essential glory, the glory of the Lord Jesus Christ, his sovereign
mercy and grace, sovereign love and glory. That's his glory,
that's God's chief glory, and he'll not share it with any other.
And if you're one of his sheep, you're going to see it, and you're
going to glorify him for it. Many are called, few are chosen,
and the many religious today and many religious, but few true
worshippers of the living God. Few true disciples of the Lord
Jesus Christ. I mean those that absolutely
trust Jesus Christ and him alone. There are very few. I mean those
who trust Jesus Christ and him alone. for their salvation, from
first to last. They realize that if they get
to heaven, they're going to get there because of Jesus Christ
and him alone. Are you such a one? Bless God
if you are. You're one of the few chosen,
like Saul of Tarsus. They said they saw none, and
look at this. It says, Saul arose from the
earth, verse 8, when his eyes were opened, he saw no man. He
saw no man. He was blinded, blinded by the
light. And they led him by the hand.
He was three days without sight. You know, he saw something, though. He saw sunspots. Have you ever had a flash picture
taken of you, you know, right in a smile? When your eyes come
out pink in the picture here, and for a little while, all you
can see is sunspots. It may be a play on words, but
from this day forward, everything Saul of Tarsus saw, he saw Christ
in it. If you ever see the glory of
the Lord Jesus Christ, from that day forward, you'll see sunspots. You'll see he's all. He is all. He will always be before your
eyes. You will always be looking under
him. Right? He will be all and he will be
in all. Whatever you see will somehow remind you of him, redounded
under his glory. Water of life, light of the world,
the word of his name, the way to God. You will see Christ in
everything. He is all and he is in all. Those
who are sidetracked You know, St. Glenn, they hear a voice,
saw something, light and all that, but then they go on to
other things. They haven't heard Christ revealed to them yet. That's all it is. He saw Christ,
and buddy, he said from that day forward, I'm determined. You see, he had been studying
and learning about everything there was to learn before, and
he said, that's a bunch of a cow maneuver. That's all a bunch
of, I wish I could say it in modern language, That's a pile
of cow manure, dung. He writes. It's in the original Greek. He
said, I count that all but a bunch of dung. There's the pearl of
great price. Everything I was, everything
I did, everything I am, everything I am now, everything I will do,
it's nothing. Boy, everything he did is sure
something. Everything he is is something.
He's all. He's going to have me in all.
All right. Stand with me and I'll dismiss.