I want you to turn, first of
all, to 1 Timothy. 1 Timothy, chapter 1. Over in Malachi, chapter 3, verse
6, God says, I am the Lord. I change not. Therefore, you sons of Jacob
are not consumed. I am the Lord, I change not,
therefore you sons of Jacob are not consumed." God says, I saved
Jacob. If anybody knows anything about
Jacob in the scriptures, you know that his very name means
a no-good, a cheat, a scoundrel, a sinner. Jacob represents sinners,
real sinners. And God says, I'm the same yesterday,
today, and forever, and I save sinners. That's the only one
that I say. I say, Senator, and I say them
all the same way. Same way, always, did you know
that? Did you know that God saves everyone exactly the same way? Yes, he does. And it's slightly
different circumstances involved, different people, different things,
places and times, you know, faces change, names change. But he
saves all people the same way, and we read it in Ephesians 2.8,
by grace are you saved. By grace, not works, not religion,
not our doings. By grace, it's a gift. God just
has to up and say, I'm going to save that old boy, and then
do everything it takes to save him. Grace means unmerited, unsought,
unbought, unthought. That's what it was, the old writer
that said that. He said it was John Gil. He said this thing of salvation,
and he said, I never sought it, never bought it, and never even
thought it. God did all those things. God did. Grace means unearned gift. You don't do a thing to get this
gift, God does it all. Grace to a hell-deserving sinner. Now the Apostle Paul says the
same thing here in 1 Timothy chapter 1. Read these verses
here, verse 11 through 16. He says that the glorious gospel,
according to the glorious gospel of the blessed God, which was
committed to my trust. Now, boy, there's a whole sermon.
God entrusts his preachers with the gospel. There's nothing else
that will save a soul but this glorious gospel, and there's
just one. And God entrusts it to his preachers, and he says,
you better tell it. And what would a man have to
say anyway, other than the gospel? Paul says, I'm preaching the
gospel in verse twelve, I thank Christ Jesus, our Lord, who enabled
me. And he counted me faithful, or
that he is among the faithful. Don't misunderstand that at all. Paul wasn't faithful when the
Lord found him. We're going to see that in a
minute. Paul wasn't a faithful man. He was an unbeliever. He
was a rebel. He was a God-hater. It's not
that God found him faithful and then put him in the ministry,
no. God found him among the faithful in Christ Jesus and put him into
the ministry. Here he explains or describes
himself, verse 13, I was before a blasphemer, a persecutor, injurious,
but I obtained mercy. This is how Paul would say, I
obtained mercy. I didn't seek it. Salvation, it wasn't sought by
me, it wasn't bought by me, it wasn't even thought of by me.
Because I was a blasphemer and a persecutor and a jurist, but
I obtained mercy at the hands of the Lord because I did it
ignorantly in unbelief. And the grace, here it is, verse
fourteen, the grace of our Lord was exceeding abundant with faith
and love which is where? In me? No, in Christ Jesus. His
grace, His love, His faithfulness, not mine. This is a faithful
saying, Paul said. Now, this is worth listening
to, because this is how God saves. This is who God saves. It's a
faithful and true saying, and it's worthy of all acceptation.
Christ Jesus came. Lord, Master, King, Savior, Redeemer
came into the world to save sinners. Not righteous, not religious,
not good Christian folks, sinners. Paul said, whom I am the chief,
in verse sixteen. Now here's what I want you to
know. It's for this cause, that is,
the cause that Christ came to save sinners, and I'm the worst
of the bunch. Because I was the worst of the
bunch, for this cause I obtained mercy, that in me first, Jesus
Christ might show forth all longsuffering, the most longsuffering, for a
pattern to them which hereafter believe on him to life everlasting."
In other words, Paul is saying, the way the Lord saved me is
how he's going to save you. It's how he did save you. And
if he's going to save you, this is how he's going to save you.
All right, now let's go over and look at Paul's story. Acts
chapter twenty-two. This is the story that the Apostle
Paul recounted. before a bunch of Jews of how
the Lord saved him, how God saved him, the way God saved him. And
if God saves you, it'll be much the same way, just different
circumstances, different people involved. And he gives great
detail here. Great detail is given because
this is basically the way all people are saved. Now look, he's
preaching to a bunch of Jews here. He's in bondage here and
chains and all, and everywhere he went, he told this story.
He couldn't help it. He had to. After he told it a umpteen times,
he said in another place, somebody said, well, tell us again. Tell
us this story. He said he thought he'd got tired of hearing it
by now or telling it. He said, no, I think myself happy.
Old Agrippa, I'm going to tell you one more time. Just told
it ten minutes down the road, but I'm going to tell it again.
I'm happy about this. This is an old, old, old story,
and I'd like to tell it. So he was preaching to these
people, and verse three he begins, he said, I am verily a man which
am a Jew, born in Tarsus, a city in Cilicia, yet I was brought
up in this city, Jerusalem, at the feet of Gamaliel. and taught
according to the perfect manner of the law of the fathers, and
I was zealous toward God, just like y'all are." He didn't say
y'all, but I'm going to put it in our dialect. Just like y'all. I was a Jew. I was a good Christian. I'm putting it in our terms here.
I was a good Christian. See, I was a moral man. I was
a righteous self right but I was a righteous man a Jew and I was
raised up down to the first Baptist Church of Gamaliel. Mama and
Daddy. You remember his testimony over
in Philippian? He said I was a Hebrew of Hebrews,
Pharisee of Pharisees. Touching the law I was blameless.
I was a moral upright Sunday school teacher. I was a good
Christian man. That's what we can say, just
like Paul, a Jew, zealous toward God, just like y'all are, just
like you are, zealous, enthusiastic about my religion, believe in
it. But he said over in Romans 10,
ignorant. I was zealous toward God. I witnessed
for God. But I was ignorant. It was the
wrong God. It was the wrong God. I didn't have the right God.
I was zealous, enthusiastic, witnessing for some god, but
it wasn't even God. It was a false god. Zealous,
as are most people in America today, are very enthusiastic
about their religion. Turn on the TV set. Man, it's more enthusiastic than
a Redskins ballgame, isn't it? People waving their hands, they're
doing the wave in churches now. Enthusiastic, zealous toward
God. If you don't think they're serious about what they believe,
ask them. They'll fight you about it. Paul says, I was a Jew. You
know, everybody's something. Terry just said to me a moment
ago, he said. That's the reason maybe we ought to change the
name of this place, because we're automatically we're we're labeled
Baptist. And what we believe here no more
resembles what the average Baptist church in America believes today
than than light from dark. It once stood for something.
We believe what the old, old Baptist several hundred years
ago, believe that Spurgeon started out as a Baptist. Well, Spurgeon
was a Baptist. Started out as a Baptist. He
dropped the name from Metropolitan. But everybody's something, aren't
they? Well, I'm a Baptist. Well, I'm
a Methodist. Why don't you come down to our
church? Where are you going to go? I'm a Methodist. What difference does that make?
Well, I'm a Catholic. I'm an Episcopalian. Well, I'm
a Pentecostal. I got it all, foursquare. Well,
I'm a Presbyterian. Everybody's something, aren't
they? Paul said, I was something. I was a Jew. I hated Gentiles. I was a Jew. I was brought up
to feed a camel. You know, everybody's brought
up believing what they believe because of somebody else, because
of what they teach them. You were brought up believing
what Daddy taught you, weren't you? Believing what Mommy taught
you. You are brought up in a church
somewhere, if you did come up in religion. You believe in what
they taught you. Everybody believes what they
believe, basically because somebody taught them that. It was ingrained
in them from a child, right? Trained up, zealous, religious. But Paul says ignorant. Ignorant. He said, and I persecuted this
way unto death. This way. What way? The way. God saved. The only way. The way of God's
sovereign electing effectual grace. That way. That way. Predestinating electing
effectual grace. Everybody hates it that way,
that way. Grace as opposed to works. Nobody
is mad at this works religion today, but everybody's mad at
grace, sovereign grace, right? You can get Methodists and Baptists
and Episcopalians and Presbyterians and Pentecostals and everybody
together, and they'll gang up on a grace believer, a man who
just dares to believe the truth of God's word, right? People you work with, everybody
you know gets along. He's a good Christian fellow.
But the man who believes grace, that ashes their teeth in him.
Everybody hates this way. You know it, son, don't you?
This way. One of the members of where I
came from, the church up there, said, we ought to name this church,
we ought to rename this church the Old Church. The Old Church. Because every
time you tell somebody where you go to church, they say, oh, oh, that place. Everybody knows,
don't they? And they hate it. Paul's the
same way. The way of sovereign mercy, as
opposed to works religion. That a man doesn't get saved,
a man is saved by God. A man doesn't work for it, a
man receives it. Everybody hates that, because
people like to work for what they get. They like to earn it,
take a little credit for it. The way of sovereign grace as
opposed to morality. Morality. The way of God's electing
grace. Oh, don't mention that word. Or as my pastor said in that
message, he said, I'm going to preach it. I'm going to preach
it to sinners, because sinners are the only ones that like it.
Sinners realize that unless God elects them, they're not going
to be saved. They're no good. They're hell deserving. They
don't preach to religious folks. They hate that way. Electing
grace. Christ's person and work as opposed
to my decision. God's decision as opposed to
my decision. People hate that, don't they?
Salvation by God's decision. Men want to make their decision.
Have everybody pat them on the back for it. And in the end,
have God pat him on the back for it, even. This way, the way
of blood and righteousness alone, as opposed to my ceremonies and
my religions and my doing this and that and the other, my Sunday
school attendance, my this, my decision, my baptisms, all of
this, the way of Christ's blood and his righteousness, his person,
his work, as opposed to all that. Men hate that way, don't they?
They hate that way. the way of God's glory. You know
why God saves people? And men hate this, too. God doesn't
save anybody. God doesn't do what he does for
people because they deserve it. Over and over in Isaiah, God
said, I'm not doing this for your sakes, O house of Israel.
You're a bunch of rebels. I ought to send you lock, stock
and barrel to hell. Isn't it? Barnard used to say, God ought
to send us all to hell with our shoes on. If you know yourself,
you know it's so. I know myself. That's the way
I'm talking about me. There's none that doeth good, no, no.
None righteous. And God said all the way through
the book of Isaiah, if anybody cares to read it, he said, I'm
not doing this for your sakes, O house of Israel. I'm doing
it for my holy name's sake. I'm doing this so I'll get all
the glory here. I'm doing this to show people
everywhere I'm a merciful God. I'm a gracious God. I ought to
send you to hell, but I'm merciful. And I'm going to get all the
glory. You better believe it, Terry, he's going to get the
glory. Ephesians chapter 1, he says it three times, it's all
to the praise of the glory of what? His grace. Not what I've done, not what
I have become, not what I will do for Jesus, but what he has
done for me. He says it three times, to the
praise of the glory of his grace. His grace. And this is what Paul
is doing in recounting his story. He's praising God for his glorious
grace to him and saving him. And if you're ever saved by this
same grace, you'll give God all the glory for it. You'll sing
grace. You'll preach grace. You'll witness
grace. You'll believe grace. Grace alone. A hundred percent grace. Sovereign
grace. See, everybody is zealous about
their religion. and they're equally zealous in
hating this way. You say, I worship and I believe
sovereign grace. Yeah, I'm going to have that.
People say, I'm going to have that. Like that man I worked
with, I've told you so many times. He said, I'll believe anything
but that. And they do. Don't do anything. Any wild,
ridiculous fellow that comes along That looks good and sounds
good and says he's a preacher. People believe him. Let a man dare stand up and dare
to just tell the truth on God and the truth on men. I won't
have that. I don't believe that way. Well,
I worship God, I'll have you know, but I don't worship that
God of yours. You know, that's the point you
have to come to, Joe. Come to with a man. You say, there's
something wrong here. We believe this, we believe that.
I tell you the problem. We worship two different gods,
is what it is. It's probably a matter of semantics
or words or dialect or even doctrine. We just worship different gods.
Your god tries and fails. The world's god tries to and
can't, wants to and can't. Our god does as he will, according
to his perfect will. And the armies of heaven, among
the heavens of earth, none can say his hand. They said to David,
a man after God's own heart, where's your god, David? We got
our God here, and we do with him, we manipulate him. David
said, My God's in the heavens, and he does what he pleases.
He doesn't do what man pleases. He doesn't do what I let him
do. He does what he wants to do, every time. Every time. But people say, I worship God,
but it's not your God. Granted. I believe grace, but
not the way you see it. I believe election. Everybody
talks about election, but what they say God voted for you, the
devil voted against you, you cast aside and vote. Well, that
makes man God, doesn't it? Huh? God had a vote, the devil
had a vote, but who has the most powerful vote? I do. So who ought to get all the glory?
I do. God won't have that. You see, Satan wasn't around
when God made this election. I wasn't around. E. W. Johnson
used to say Satan didn't even have voting rights. He was in
prison. He was in chains from the beginning. And I wasn't even in the picture.
This election was held, three people were in on this election.
God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit. And
they all voted for me. And it doesn't matter who is
he that condemned it. Satan voting against me. Yeah,
but his vote doesn't count. God's already chose me. Right? Well, I believe electing him
is not that way. Go on to hell, then, as Martin would say, or
as Scott would say, every man his own poison. Well, this is
what Paul says here. I was religious, I was zealous,
but I hated that way. Paul heard about this sovereign
grace and this Jesus. Didn't it? And look at verse
6. It says, It came to pass that I made my journey. I made my
journey. I was on my way. I'm sure, for heaven's sake,
it was already there. Everybody's taking a journey. I was on my
way. On my way to meet Jesus. Paul
wasn't on his way to meet Jesus. He's on his way to kill everybody
that believed on Jesus. Somebody once said that Paul
was under conviction because of what happened to Stephen.
He was going down to make it right at Damascus. He was going
down to kill some people. They believed on this crap. They
believed the same thing. Everybody's taking a journey,
aren't they? Everybody's going to heaven. You can take the vilest,
most wretched man who ever lived. Brother Donnie Bell told me he
preached a sermon one time at a funeral of a fellow that was
a hail raisin. just about the wildest old buck
you've ever seen in your life. I think he shot himself. He got in a fight and got shot
or something. A Donnie. Oh, funerals. I don't like to go to them, much
less preach them, unless it's a believer. A Donnie preached
that sermon. He said they had that man saved.
They had him saved. He's like his life never happened,
you know. You know, some preacher came down to the hospital while
he was laying there, if he had time. He jerked a little decision
out of him, he got right with God, you know. Everybody's going
to heaven, everybody. Everybody's taking a journey
of some sort, moving up the ladder, ladder of success, aren't they?
Living a good life, the journey of life. Scripture says most
people on a broad road, all right, taking a journey, it's straight
to hell. He says, broad is the road that
leads to destruction, the way that leads to hell, and many
there be that go therein. Narrow, straight, is the gate
that leads to God. Narrow is the way, and few there
be that find the way. But most everybody's on their
way, on their way, to meet Mom in heaven. And a sweet bye-bye
to the circle won't be unbroken. No, it won't be unbroken. You'll
all be in hell together. Right? All of you believe this
heresy. Like Paul. All of you that hate
this way. Anybody that hates this way.
What way? What I'm preaching this morning. Well, something happened to old
Paul. See, he's zealous. He's a good old boy. He's a good
Christian. Going to church. Raised in church. Zealous toward
God. Persecuting everybody that didn't
believe his way. Especially those sovereign graciers, you know.
Good old boy on his journey, on his road, on his way to heaven.
Something happened to that old boy. Boy, did it happen. It happened in a big way. Something
happened to him. And if God Almighty, if God Almighty
intends to save you, I don't know. I can't tell everybody.
I can't tell everybody with a clear conscience God wants to save
them. That's a flat-out lie, isn't it? I can't say that. Why would God want to save anybody
for that matter? Why did he save me? Because he's
pleased to do so. Besides, if God wants something,
he gets it. But if God intends to save you
or save me, he'll cross your path eventually. And he'll stop you on that broad
road to hell, and he'll say like he did to old Saul of Tarsus
here, that's as far as you come, buddy. That's as far as you go. Here the two have you come, and
no further. That's it. And he'll stop you
on that broad road, and he'll reveal something to you. Rather,
he'll reveal somebody to you. Now look at what Paul saw here.
Verse 6, And it came to pass as I made my journey. As come
nigh unto Damascus about noon, suddenly there shone from heaven,"
every word is significant here, "...there shone from heaven a
great light round about me." I saw the light, I saw, no, that's
not the way it's done. Is that what Paul went away singing?
Praise the Lord, I saw the light. Now, he may well have gone away
singing, The light saw me. The light saw me. Paul didn't
see the light. He wasn't looking for it. He
hadn't sought it, hadn't thought it, hadn't bought it. But God
did. God saw him. A light from heaven
shone on him. See, Paul was all fixed up. Paul
was religious. He was sure for heaven as if
he had already been there. He's a Jew. Jews were insured
a place in heaven because of their birth. And Paul was a Pharisee,
a member of the Sanhedrin. He's a Sunday school teacher.
He's a preacher. Well, he had to be saved. No, he didn't. If he was going to be saved,
God had to do it. Yeah, he had to be saved. Paul didn't get
it. It happened to him. It happened
to him. The light shone from heaven round
about me. You know that man is born blind? Born blind. Man is blind to God
Almighty. Blind. Can't see God. Can't see how he is. Can't see
how he does things. He's blind. He's dead. We read
it back in Ephesians 2 verse 1, didn't we? He's dead. Burned
to say graveyard dead. We all know what graveyard day
it is now. Evidently religious folks don't.
You have to be quick and who were dead, but I say you can
go up to any old man and have him make his decision. Once you
receive God, won't you accept Jesus? Pray through. You will
do this. If you don't do this, you'll
have life. You'll be saved. He's dead, Henry. What if Christ had gone up to
Lazarus' tomb and said, Lazarus, would you like to make your decision?
Lazarus, if you will, take the first step. Lazarus, are you
willing? Lazarus, come on down here to the mourner's bench.
Make your decision for Jesus. He's dead. He's dead. Isn't that what the
people knew it? Everybody knew it. He's dead. He's stinking. He gives every
evidence of being dead. Yeah, he is dead. Well, how's
he going to have life? Christ said, I am come that they
might have life. I'm come to give life. Only when
life, a man can receive nothing except it be given from above,
especially life. We're dead. We're in the grave
of sin. God has to come down and raise
us from the grave, speak to us. And we're blind, and God Almighty
has to shed some light on things, doesn't He? Huh? God Almighty
has to shed light. You see, the same exact way that
God Almighty created the heavens and the earth. How'd He do that?
He spoke it. And God said it. How many times
does it say that in the first few chapters of Genesis? See, what God says goes. Anybody
repeat that Latin phrase? Dictum, factum, said, done. Good as done. God said, let there
be light. And the only way anybody is going
to be saved, a blind, dead sinner, is for God to say it. Let there
be light. Right? You can read this book. until your eyes cross on your
knees. One fellow said to this virgin
one time, he said, I've been reading this book this morning. I've been reading for four hours
on my knees, and I can't understand anything about it. The virgin
said, well, get up off your knees and get in a nice comfortable
chair where you're comfortable. You're in too much pain to understand
that. But you can read this book from
cover to cover, and people do. They read the Bible every year,
don't Read it through and hear. That won't do you a bit of good
unless God turns the light on, like flipping a switch on. Right? The only way a man is going to
see what he is, who God is, who Christ is, the way God sees,
is for God to turn the light on. That's what he did to you,
didn't he? So he did to me. Turn the light on. Even if you be reading right
now you go through and read the scripture to be reading the same
verses he read for twenty or thirty years and finally you
say, I see. And that's what God does when
he saves somebody. He turns the light on. He turns
the light on. And Christ is that light that
he saves. Right? Look what happened to
him. Look what happened to him. A
great light shone from heaven round about me, verse 7, and
I fell to the ground." This is the way God Almighty
saves everybody. They don't come running up front,
shouting, waving their hand, praising Jesus. God doesn't save people like
that. They fall on their faces. They fall on their faces. Can you see this one? Can you
picture this story here? Can you see this proud Pharisee
dressed in all his all his Sunday school pins and his robe, you
know, his ecclesiastical robe and his fish hat riding down
on his big white horse going to persecute Christians, you
know. Believer, can't you see this picture here? And all of
a sudden the light turns on from heaven and he hits the dust.
On his face, his fish hat falls off. His pretty little robe gets
muddy and dirty. And he's on his face before an
all-thrash-holy, all-powerful, sovereign God! He thought he was Lord for a
while, but when God said, You're going to see who's boss here,
you're going to see who I am, he thought he knew who God was.
And then he said, Who are you, Lord? Look at it. He thought
he knew. He thought he had all the answers.
Who are thou, Lord? Who are you? God always brings a man down
before he brings him up. Always. You find me one religious
person, one so-called Christian who has not been broken, who
has not seen his sinfulness, his sin, who he is, and despised
and hated himself or herself, I'll show you a person who is
not saved. The Lord says, look it up, every
single time somebody's saved in this book, you'll find them
on their face. Look it up. Every mouth must
be stopped, the Scripture says. Pride must be abased. The God of heaven hath determined,
he hath purposed it, Isaiah says, to stain the pride of all glory
and bring into contempt all the honorables of the earth, that
no flesh will glory in his presence. Nobody's going to say, I will,
I did, I did this and that, I made my decision. Nobody. I was this,
I was that, therefore God did this. No way, buster. God's going
to get all the glory. Every mouth will be stopped.
All pride will be abased. Every hard heart will be broken.
Every good man will have to become, first, bad. Right? Every person has to be stripped
before they're clothed with Christ's righteousness. He's not going
to add a new piece to an old garment, is he? He's not going
to put his robe over top of your stinking, or beside it. My righteousness
is a stripper come naked before God. I am nothing. I have nothing. I know nothing. I can't see anything. That's what Paul went away. Didn't
he? Couldn't see nothing but a light, but a lot. And he said, verse
eight, who are, who are you? Paul was once interested in this
and that, you know, this issue, that issue. Now he's only interested
in one thing. Who's this Lord? Who is this
Sovereign Lord? That's what he was taken up with,
wasn't it? Who is this Lord? You know, everybody deals with
somebody in their little decision they make. all so-called. Instances conversions
instances of salvation there by dealing with somebody. They
deal with a soul where you know they come they come to see and
land Christ said to establish one prophet proselyte. And I'm
making twofold more the child of hell he was before they got
to him Jehovah Witnesses so-called Russell I. Come to people's doors
you know. Everybody deals with somebody,
soul winner, preacher, evangelical crusade, televangelist, everybody
deals with somebody, deal with a soul winner, deal with a preacher,
deal with whoever. Paul did. He dealt with Gamaliel. He dealt with the Sanhedrin.
They made him a member of it, made him a Sunday school teacher,
you know. They told him he was saved. Would you dare tell anybody that,
Henry? Would you dare? Could you? Who
can say that but God? You're saved. You're saved. Huh? Paul dealt with everybody.
Now he was dealing with the Lord himself, wasn't he? He was dealing
with the Lord himself, and he said, Who are you? Who is this? I've heard of this, and who are
you? Paul said to the unknown God
whom you ignorantly worship, that's who I want to declare.
Men don't know him, do they? Well, Paul was confronted with
him, and Paul says, who are you? Who is this? Paul was interested
in one thing now, who this mighty one was in whose hands he was. He who had the keys of hell and
death at his side, all power and all authority. He knew it
right there. If you've seen a word of authority
from God's word, you know it too. You cannot deny it. If you've
heard it right now this morning for the first time, look what
he says. The Lord says to him, verse 8,
I am Jesus of Nazareth, whom thou persecutest. The God-man. The God-man. When God Almighty
sufficiently breaks a man. When he sufficiently breaks a
man and shows him himself, shows that man or that woman what they
are, a sinner in the hands of an angry God, when God Almighty
is pleased to deal with them, to speak to them, not until then,
not before then, but only when God Almighty is pleased. My pastor
once preached another message one time entitled, When is a
Man Saved? When is a man saved? When is
a man saved? When he makes his decision? Is that when a man
is saved? No, when God makes his decision. When God makes his decision.
When God is pleased to deal with a man, what he does after he
shows him himself and breaks him and puts him on his face
in the dirt as a hell-deserving sinner, Then the next thing,
every time, same way, every time, God then reveals Christ to him. Every time. Every time. He'll reveal Christ to him. And
it ain't Savior first. It's Lord. Lord and Savior. He doesn't reveal Jesus as Savior
first and then later on you make him Lord. Is that what happened
here? Is that what happened here? Paul said, Who are you? Jesus
Savior, Lord, Lord. And then that's when Christ revealed
himself as Savior. Broken, humbled in the dust. Then he said, Savior, Savior. Look at verse 10. And Paul said,
What shall I do, Lord? What shall I do? He didn't say, well, I've decided
to do this. I've decided to accept Jesus.
I've decided to do this or that and that other. You know, when
you meet Christ, when you meet the sovereign Lord, you quit
negotiating. You quit arguing. Everybody likes
to argue about everything, don't they, in the scripture. As a
good sermon preacher, as a good message there, but I've got,
I hate to hear that. Ooh, I just cringe. But I've
got something I want to ask you. When you meet the sovereign Lord,
when you, when you meet the gospel in the middle of the road, you
become, you're in a rock and a hard place, aren't you, Joe?
You can't go over, you can't get around it. You got to face
it squarely, don't you? And you better believe it, submit
to it, or that rock will roll over you. Roll over you and consume you.
When you meet Christ, you quit negotiating, don't you think?
You don't start, you quit saying, I will, I will. You say, what
will you have me do, Lord? What will you have me do? Right? You quit talking about your will,
your way, your religion, your decision. You quit talking this
way. You quit saying, what are you
going to do with Jesus? And you start saying, what's
he going to do with me? What will thou have me to do, Lord?
What shall I do, Lord? Paul said, what shall I do? What
will thou have me to do? Verse eleven. And says he went
away from there and said, when I could not see for the glory
of that light, couldn't see anything but that light. He lost sight of himself, Joe,
and everybody and everything around him. Once he had seen
Christ, he forgot about his works, he forgot about his religion,
he dropped his decision, he dropped his past baptism, his righteousness,
his robes, his religious attainments. He couldn't see anything but
Christ from there on. Didn't want to. Couldn't see
anybody but him. Him. And he said, What shall
I do? Ready to do anything. Now you listen to me carefully.
I preach with a little bit of authority here. I try to, anyway.
Paul told young Timothy, preach, let any man speak as the oracles
of God. Preach with authority. Let no
man despise you. You listen up, everybody in here. This thing of true salvation,
Christianity, is a commitment. It's selling out. Christ said
this more plainly, listen to me, Christ said this more plainly
than anybody. He said, if any man forsake not
all he's got and follow me, he cannot be my disciple. Not going
to be. Sell out. Commitment. Commitment. My pastor gave this
illustration, it's the most striking one I've ever heard, and I'm
going to give it to you. Except Paul was sitting down in a jail
cell. He was being persecuted. He'd been beaten, shipwrecked,
torn, just abused for the gospel's sake. He was sitting down in
prison in chains. He was writing a letter, writing
a letter to Timothy. Do you remember this? You heard it, didn't you,
Terry? Writing a letter to old Timothy, talking to Timothy,
trying to exhort that young man not to quit. Timothy, don't be
ashamed of the gospel. Be strong. Don't be ashamed of
me either. You fight the good fight of faith. You stand up and be thou partaker
of the afflictions of the gospel, like I am, because there remaineth
a great comfort and consolation in this thing." And he was writing
this letter to young Timothy, and a fellow came by to see him
named Demas. Demas came by to see him and
said, Paul, how are you doing? Fine, sitting here writing a
letter to Timothy, writing a letter to Timothy, telling him about
the gospel, not to forsake it, to stay with it and be committed
to it, and don't let the world lure you away from it, and don't
be ashamed of it, and be a partaker of the afflictions and all that.
And Demas said, oh, by the way, Paul, I hate to tell you this,
me and the wife are leaving. We're leaving. I hate to say
this, but, Paul, I found a better job. I found a better-paying
job over down in So-and-So City. It's several hours from here.
Got better benefits, you know. Got better retirement and money. You know, things have been tight
for us ever since we've been here. And it's a good school
there for the kids to go to. There's a lake I can boat on,
I mean, Saturday. that I can boat on down there
in recreation, and we just feel like we have to. By the way,
Paul, is there a church to go to down there? Is there a church
where it believes the gospel down there? Paul said, no, no, Demas, there's
no church down there. They're hard to find. Well, Demas
said, well, we feel like we have to do this, something we have
to do, me and the wife. And Paul said, I understand.
I understand. I understand your heart, is what
he was saying, where it said, I understand. You do what you
have to do, Demas. Do what you have to do. Do what
you love to do. Go on. See you later, Demas. And he continued writing that
letter to Timothy. He said, Demas stopped by. He has forsaken me. He loved
this world. He loved this world. I tell you what, if God Almighty
ever really saves you, you will not be too interested
in much of anything else. That's just the way it is. That's just the way it is. That's
where the rubber meets the road. It's where salvation and hypocrisy
start and stop. If God ever really saves you
and shows you Christ, you'll not be too interested in taking
up with anything else. Is that too hard? I'm telling you something for
your soul's sake. If you love this present world,
God will give it to you. If you love the world to come,
the things of God, he'll give that to you, too. You know, God
gives men what they want. He gives them what they want.
Well, verse 10, it says, and I'll hurry. He says, What shall
I do? And the Lord said unto me, Arise,
go to Damascus. Damascus? You rise, go to Rocky
Mount. Rocky Mount. Donnie Bell yesterday said, Crossville. Who ever heard of Crossville?
Rocky Mount. He said, where is that? I'll
tell you where that is. There's a gospel preacher there. There ain't one in Roanoke as
far as I know. That's a big city. Let me go
there. As far as I know, there's no gospel there. Let me go to
Detroit. As far as I know, there's no
gospel there. Los Angeles. Go to these big cities, you know.
Isn't that what Locke said? Let me go to the hills or the
plains. Those are goodly cities. No, that's going to be burned
up, Locke. Ain't no gospel there. You don't have to go to a rough,
craggy mountain place. Come up in the mountains. Rock
your mountain. Rock your mountain. In verse
twelve. Verse twelve. And one Ananias. God said, Go to Damascus, and
there it shall be told thee all things. which are appointed for
thee. And verse twelve, and one Ananias. Now Ananias was a nobody, from
nowhere, uneducated, poor little fellow. Nobody knew him. Everybody knew Paul, but nobody
knew Ananias. Nobody. A little preacher. Well,
he was a mighty man in the eyes of the Apostle Paul when he left
his place, wasn't If God ever saves you, he'll send you a preacher.
A preacher. And look what he said to him.
Of all things. Verse thirteen. He came unto
me and stood, and I stood before me and said, Brother Saul, receive
thy sight. In the same hour I looked upon
him and he said, The God of our fathers has chosen thee. God
has elected you. Election? You're not supposed
to. You're not supposed to You don't
come up to a man first preaching election, you sneak that in on
him. No. Like I said a while ago,
a sinner, you preach election to sinners because they're the
only ones that'll have it, the ones that like it. They realize
if God's going to save me, he's going to have to elect me. He's
going to have to elect me. God hath chosen thee. Boy, he
loved that, didn't he? Huh? Did he go away? He said,
I don't believe that. Oh, he went away rejoicing. Oh, I believe
that. Thank God he elected a people.
Are you thankful? Thank God he elects a people.
Because if he didn't elect a people, nobody would be saved. And he
said unto me that thou shouldest know, look at those two words,
his will. His will. Not your will. your
free will, his will, right? His will. He doeth according
to his will, his sovereign will, his covenant's will, his eternal
will. Paul went away from there, not
talking about his will anymore, but God's will. And he said that
thou shouldest see that just one, just one. The Lord Jesus Christ, he that
seeth the Son hath life. He that hath the Son, he that
seeth the Son and believeth on him, God will raise him up at
that last day. And hear his word. Hear the voice
of his mouth. Hear it from him. You've got
to hear it from him, not the preacher. Like I said, I can't
tell you you're saved. You've got to hear it from him.
Hear it from him. And verse fifteen and sixteen,
and I'll quit. And he says, Paul, you're going
to be, Saul, you're going to be his witness. His witness. Not a witness of your religion.
A witness of him. You quit talking about man, what
you've done, your religion, what you believe, your decision, won't
you? And you start talking about him. A witness of him. Him, verse sixteen, and now he
says, look at everybody, why tarryst thou? O in an eye of
a faithful preacher said to Paul, why tarryst thou? Arise, be baptized,
confess Christ. What are you waiting on? That's our In our language, modern-day
language, he said, what are you waiting on? Huh? What are you waiting on? Be baptized, confessing. And
I say this in all honesty and seriousness and sobriety. If you're waiting around on something,
you've never seen him. You're waiting on a feeling you
haven't seen him. If you're waiting on a voice
from heaven, you're going to be waiting a long time. You've
never heard his voice in the preaching of the gospel. He said,
what are you waiting on? Arise. Why tarryest thou? Arise. If you believe God, believe me. If you were not so, I wouldn't
have told you. Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ,
and thou shalt be saved. Arise, my soul, arise. Shake
off thy guilty fear. The bleeding sacrifice in thy
behalf appears. What are you waiting on? Be baptized. Confess Christ.
Before it's everlastingly too late. Where there's tomorrow,
boast not thyself of tomorrow. You don't know what a brave day
brings forth. Today is a day of salvation. Right now. All right, Brother Joe, what's
that number I gave you, buddy? 389? 389. 389. I'm resolved. If you ever see Christ, you'll
make a resolution, all right? You don't make your resolution
first. You'll make your decision first.
God does that. God makes the choice, God makes
the decision, he works, he moves, he shines a light on you, he
chooses you, he does the work on you, and then there's a decision. Then there's a resolution. Then
there's a commitment. Then there's a resolve. I am
resolved no longer to linger. Charmed. And like I said, you've
never seen Christ if you're charmed by this world more than him. I'm resolved no longer to linger
charmed by the world's delight. Things that are higher. I got
a little. I got something a little higher that's set my sights on. Something a little better. Something
a little more lasting. Water that meets the thirst.
So I'm going to hasten. I'm in a hurry. Hasten. Know what Peter said in 2 Peter
3? Hasten his coming to him. So gladdened for Jesus Christ,
greatest, highest. I'll come to thee. A couple of
verses of this, closing.