Open your Bibles, if you would, to Acts chapter 26. We're continuing to study in this wonderful, wonderful book. We'll start a new chapter today. Acts chapter 26.

Now Paul has been, he's been before several kings, he's been before several leaders, and isn't it amazing that God in his providence has had these people bought before Paul, and he's able to proclaim the gospel to them. And remember, they're not alone. They all usually had an entourage, which is just a group of people that follow them around and do their affairs while they're on the road or even while they're at home. And secretaries and different people with different positions of authority within the court of the king. And here we see King Agrippa and his wife Bernice ask that Paul speak to them.

Now Agrippa's a Jew, and so he'd be interested in these things. He'd be interested in the things of the kingdom. He's not saved, though. Does not know Christ. He's religious, but he's lost.

Acts chapter 26. Let's stand up and read verses 1 to 5 together. Acts chapter 26 verses 1 to 5.

Then Agrippa said unto Paul, Thou art permitted to speak for thyself. Then Paul stretched forth the hand and answered for himself. I think myself happy, King Agrippa, because I shall answer for myself this day before the touching of all things whereof I am accused of the Jews. especially because I know thee in expert in all customs and questions which are among the Jews. Wherefore, I beseech thee to hear me patiently. My manner of life from my youth, which was at the first among my own nation at Jerusalem, know all the Jews, which knew me from the beginning, if they would testify that after the most strictest sect of our religion, I lived, a Pharisee.

Oh my. So here's Paul, he's before another king. My, another high ranking person. And the Lord has bought these people before Paul to hear the gospel. Now we don't know, there may be a lost sheep among their court. We have no idea. But they've been bought to hear the gospel of God's grace. spoken by Paul.

Now, all through our studies in the book of Acts, we've stressed this glorious God-honoring truth that everything that lives and breathes and moves, including all inanimate matter, are God's instruments. God's instruments. And he uses the instruments as it pleases him. He has vessels of honor and vessels of dishonor. All according to his choice, right? And his will and his purpose. And all this is done to glorify the God-man, to glorify the Lord Jesus Christ. to glorify him, and the Lord Jesus Christ, who is he gonna exalt? He's gonna exalt God the Father. And Holy Spirit teaches us the things of Christ, doesn't it? And so we exalt Christ, and we exalt the Father, and we exalt the Holy Spirit for the wonderful work of salvation that's being planned, executed, and applied by the Holy Trinity. It's absolutely amazing.

And Adam was an instrument of God. Adam was an instrument of God. He was used to declare to his family that the blood of a sacrificial lamb pointed to the coming Messiah. This is the proper way you offer a sacrifice, by the shedding of blood. And it pointed to the coming Messiah. And the only way he taught, he taught the Canaan, he taught, didn't he teach both Canaan and Abel the same thing, didn't he? He taught them that the only way to approach God was through the blood. And one, by the grace of God, offered the proper sacrifice, and one offered the fruit of his labors. There's only two different kinds of people in this world, you know that, beloved? Saved and lost. You've got saved, and then you've got lost who comprise religious people without Christ. They have a Christless Christianity. It's all about what they have to do. And then you have all the false religions. Right? So you have saved and lost. There's really only two people, and there's really only two religions in this world, as Henry Mahan used to say. Grace and works. That's it. All the false religions and all the religions out there that say you gotta be doing something is all being boiled down to works. And then the gospel says it's already done. It's already done. And we say hallelujah, don't we? My, it's wonderful.

So the only way a sinner can approach God, and we're all born sinners, is through the Lord Jesus Christ and his precious blood. And just as the gospels preached, some believe and some don't. Who made them to differ? Only God, right? Only God who made us to differ. Only God.

Think of this. The famine during the time of Joseph was an instrument used of God. Used of God to get his people into Egypt. To get them into Egypt during the days of Joseph. But it was God himself who sent Joseph and the famine to accomplish his predetermined will, right? The snow, the Arctic blasts that are coming down from the Arctic, you watch the weatherman and they give you all the, it's incredible, the jet stream and then all the Arctic blasts coming down, are all coming down according to the will and purpose of God. There's not a snowflake out there that falls to the ground outside the will of God. That's amazing, isn't it? And you take a look next time, beloved, at a patch of snow where no one stepped on it. And you know what the scripture says? Look how beautiful it is and how white it is. And scripture says that we're made whiter than snow. Whiter than snow under the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ. Oh, my. Every time I see snow, it reminds me of that. I've been made white as snow by the grace and mercy of God. All my sins are forgiven.

And you know, our Lord Jesus Christ was crucified by wicked hands. But the death of our dear Savior, God's Son, was all predetermined by God according to his will and purpose. You know, I remember saying this, and I'm ashamed I used to say it, but I used to say, well, you know, when the Jews rejected Christ, God went to Plan B and took it to the Gentiles. You remember saying stuff like that, Chris? You remember learning stuff like that? What a lie. But we believe what people were telling us. God didn't go to Plan B.

Brother Brian, we were always Gentiles a part of God's plan that's amazing that's absolutely incredible to think that that before the foundation of the world God planned and purposed our salvation in Christ it's absolutely amazing And so Christ was taken because we had to be redeemed, right? Christ was taken 2,000 years ago by wicked hands according to the will and purpose of God and crucified and shed his blood to redeem our eternal souls according to the will and purpose of God for the salvation of his people. And the apostles of our Lord Jesus Christ were chosen by him, right? He walked up to Matthew and said, follow me. He didn't walk up to the guy next to Matthew. They were specifically chosen by the Lord. He said, follow me. They were called by him. They were anointed by him. And then they were sent to preach the gospel according to his will and purpose. That's true of every one of God's preachers, and that's true of every one of God's people. We are a called-out people, according to the predetermined will of God. And it's amazing that God didn't leave us where we were. It's just incredible. And think of this. He providentially arranged all the events surrounding the preaching of his gospel, even right here, being here today. And listening online, it's all by the providence of God. Think of how many people live around us and they have no care. And here we are, we love the gospel. It's amazing. That's the grace of God at work, beloved.

We've been redeemed. And think of this too, the fact of our redemption by the blood of Christ was all planned and purposed by God in eternity. and put into action by God the Father sending his Son into this world to redeem our souls 2,000 years ago. And then now in our lifetime, the Holy Spirit comes and he applies that in our regeneration, that blood atonement, and we're born again according to the will and purpose of God. That's glorious. That's wonderful, isn't it, sister? That's absolutely wonderful. Oh my.

And has our Lord changed? Sister, our Lord hasn't changed, has he? He's the same yesterday, today, and forever. He's not changed at all. Not at all. He's always done from the beginning of time what he wants, and he uses all things that live and breathe and move, including, again, all inanimate matter as instruments in his sovereign hands. That's incredible. Why? Why are we saved and so many others aren't? Well, we're saved because it pleased God to do so, and we're saved to glorify God, to give Him all the glory. Say, Lord, You're all my righteousness. I'll magnify Your name and worship You. Isn't it wonderful? It's exciting. And this is all according to the will and purpose of God.

The Son of God came to this sin-cursed world to build his church, his chosen, his beloved. And he's building his church still today, isn't he? Here we are, 2026, listening to the gospel and rejoicing. You know, God's got other sheep out there, right? How do we know that? Well, the world's still going. When that last sheep is saved, it's over, isn't it? And he gives us a beautiful world to live in. And think, this is cursed right now. Think of what the new heaven and earth are gonna be. Think about what Sister Betty's experiencing right now. My, joy unspeakable. I was thinking about how we see in part, but then face to face. So her faith was in part here, but now it's face-to-face, it's real. And if you have loved ones that have went home to glory, died in Christ, think of that. Now they're seeing face-to-face. It's amazing. We can't fathom it all because we live in a world that is constrained by time. They're no longer in time. They're with Christ outside of time and space. Absolutely amazing. And just like that. Just like that, beloved.

Now last week, we looked at how God bought another man, King Agrippa, and his wife, Bernice, to hear the gospel of salvation through Christ alone. And we just read in these first five verses of Acts 26, that the day has come that Paul would speak to Agrippa and his wife. In verse one, Agrippa tells Paul that he's allowed to speak. Now, Agrippa's a king. No, Paul didn't speak until he was told he could speak. Agrippa's a king and Paul's respecting him. And he's told, okay, you can speak now for your defense of his innocence. Now, not only would the king be there, but again, his whole entourage would be there too. And plus the court of Festus would also be there. His entourage would be there as well. So it's not just a few people he's preaching to, it's a whole bunch. It's a whole bunch. We often forget that, don't we? When we read this and we think, oh, he's just standing before the king. No, he's standing before the king and all his people, his entourage. travel with him. And again, they're all gathered together according to the predetermined will of God.

Remember Ananias had told Paul, he said this in Acts 22 14 and 15, he had told Paul, the God of our fathers hath chosen thee that thou shouldest know his will and see that just one and shouldest hear the voice of his mouth for thou shall be a witness unto all men of whom of what thou hast seen and heard, here's his witness." Think of that. All that we've seen Paul going to the different places, he's witnessing of Christ. See, when we tell people the great things God has done for us, when we talk about our King, we're witnessing for him, even to each other. Why do our hearts burn within us, Exodus, when we get talking about the Lord and we get excited about what he's done? Because we're witnessing to each other about the great things God has done for us. It's wonderful.

My. The Lord Jesus Christ has arranged this meeting. Just like all the things Paul's gone through, they've all been arranged for God's glory. And for Paul's good. That includes when he's preaching and when he's getting beat. Remember, he was the one that said that all things work for the good, for those who love Christ Jesus, for those who are called according to his purpose. And he's counting about all the different things he went through. My. See, we don't usually say that when we're going through the things, but when we look back, we go, oh my, look what the Lord's done. Look what he protected me from. It's absolutely amazing.

They were about to hear Paul's testimony of what he has experienced, the miracle of the new birth, the divine revelation of the Lord Jesus Christ, the Savior of his people, the Redeemer of his people. So we see that Paul did not speak until he was given permission to do so. And take note that when he did speak, he didn't flatter these prominent officials. He didn't puff them all up. He didn't even speak much about himself except what God has done. He's telling his experience. He's not telling what he's done. He's talking about what the Lord's done. There's a difference, isn't there? There's a huge difference. He gave honor where honor was due. He didn't flatter these prominent folks with lip service, hoping to gain favor with them. He knew that Agrippa knew he was a Jew. And he knew that Agrippa was acquainted with the Jewish laws as we read, an expert at the customs of the Jews. And Paul politely asked the king to be patient with him when he spoke. We see that in verse 3.

Note that verse 2, there's something really neat here in verse 2 that can be just totally overlooked. totally overlooked, at a casual reading. He said, I thank myself happy, King Agrippa, because I shall answer for myself this day. Now, just reading that, we see, oh, he's happy. I almost named this message what the Greek meaning of this word is. It's more than happy. That word in verse two means supremely blessed. That's what we are, eh, sister? We're supremely blessed in Christ. My oh my, supremely blessed. So he says, I think myself supremely blessed, King Agrippa, because I shall answer for myself this day. My! Why was Paul supremely blessed? Well, even though he's walking through the valley of the shadow of death, the Lord said, I'll not leave you. I'm with you. I'm by your side.

Paul was supremely blessed, that every heart that was in the room was under the sovereign control of the Lord Jesus Christ, and that the outcome of that meeting had already been determined for the glory of God. You ever think of that? It's already been determined for the glory of God, for the glory of God's dear son, the risen, exalted God-man, the Lord Jesus Christ.

Paul was happy, supremely blessed, that it was the purpose of his sovereign Lord that he would go to Rome. He'd go to Rome. And absolutely nothing, nothing could stop God from doing what he had purposed. He says, I won't lose one of you. Who's gonna stop him? from not losing any of us. No one. Isn't that wonderful?

My. Paul was happy, supremely blessed, knowing that all things are of God, and that he, God himself, was working all things after the counsel of his own will as he's standing here before King Agrippa and Bernice. He knew this, he wrote about it. He was happy and supremely blessed knowing that all things were working together for his good and for the glory of the Lord Jesus Christ.

My, Paul was happy, supremely blessed that he was given the honor of preaching the gospel. It's a great honor to preach the gospel and to proclaim the gospel, it really is. And he knew that. the glorious gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ, the salvation by Christ in him alone, and through him alone, through his blood and righteousness, without any works of man. We just look and live, and the reason we look is because we've been given God-given faith. But we do look, don't we? Oh yeah, we look to Christ. He's our Savior, our Redeemer. And our hope is, sinner friend, if you're listening to these messages and you do not know Christ, that God give you faith. that you'll be born again of the Holy Spirit of God. And he'd give you faith to look to Christ. Oh, it's wonderful. All sins forgiven.

And think of this, Paul was happy, supremely blessed that all his past and all his future sins were forgiven. Because he's going to tell us a little bit about what he did in the past. And it's all under the blood. It's all under the blood.

My. Paul was supremely blessed that he was, again, given the honor of preaching the glorious gospel of Christ. And his sincere desire was to see sinners saved. Oh my. That God might be pleased to make his gospel effectual. For the glory of Christ his Savior. And for the good of those Paul had the honor of preaching to.

I love the fact that we all pray for the messages as they go out, that they would be effectual. Because only God can make them effectual, can he? And it's wondrous. First of all, that we'd be fed here and we'd rejoice in the truth of these wonderful, wonderful truths. And then the gospel goes forth, oh Lord, please save sinners. Like, save me. Oh my.

And we could just keep going and listing so many things of why and how Paul knew that he was supremely blessed in Christ. And actually just the scripture verse that we're going through in Ephesians study, that all spiritual blessings are in Christ and they're given to us by God the Father. All spiritual blessings. We are supremely blessed, aren't we?

My. And Paul, he's going to give his testimony here. He's declared the truth, given the facts that took place before and during his conversion to Christ. And notice he said, I was a Pharisee, and they know I was a Pharisee. They know. My, now let's read verses four to seven of Acts chapter 26.

My manner of life from my youth, which was at the first among mine own nation at Jerusalem, knew all the Jews. They knew who he was. They knew he was a Pharisee, which knew me from the beginning, from when he was little. if they would testify that after the most strictest sect of the religion, I lived a Pharisee. And now I stand and am judged for the hope of the promise made of God unto our fathers, which is the Messiah, which is the Lord Jesus Christ. unto which promises our twelve tribes, instantly serving God day and night, hope to come. For which sake, King Agrippa, I am accused of the Jews."

He's hoping in the resurrection, which the Pharisees believed, and he's hoping, and he knows that the resurrection is in Christ and Him alone, the promised Messiah. That's what he's bringing forth here. And then he says, I'm being accused? of something that Abraham believed and our fathers believed?

My, see the elect of God, the church of God is comprised of all the elect of all the ages. Old Testament and new. And we are one in Christ. He's the hope of every single born again, blood washed believer.

Think of this, how did Abraham believe? He's born again. By the same spirit we were born again with, the Holy Spirit of God. My, can't believe unless you're born again, right? It's a necessity, you must. That must is necessity in the Greek. You must, it's a necessity to be born again to see the kingdom of God. My!

So we see in these verses again that Paul told King Agrippa the truth about his life as a Jewish Pharisee. And he clearly states that all his Jewish accusers were aware of his life before the Lord saved him. And you know they're aware of his life after the Lord saved him too. Now they want to kill him. He was their champion. And now he's preaching that Christ fellow? Yep, he's preaching the Messiah. Oh my.

And Paul spoke of this hope. What a hope we have. Who's our hope? Christ. Christ is our hope. You take Christ away, we don't have a real hope, do we? No. And who was the hope of the 12 tribes? The Messiah. Who is the hope of Isaac? The Messiah. Who is the hope of Abraham? The Messiah. Who is it that spoke to Abraham, or to Moses, the burning bush? The Messiah, Christ. Oh my, what a hope. My, oh, my.

So he speaks of this hope that was before the 12 tribes of Israel. And the accusation that the Jews brought against Paul was the hope of the resurrection of the dead, which is what Paul mentions in this next verse. Look at Acts chapter 26, verse 8. Why should it be thought a thing incredible with you that God should raise the dead?

See, The Pharisees believed, and some of the Jews, the Sadducees didn't believe this, but a lot of the Jews believed in the resurrection. And so he's asking a group, remember, who's an expert in custom law, Jewish custom and Jewish law. He's saying, look at this, this is a great question. Why should it be thought a thing incredible with you that God should raise the dead? Well, there shouldn't be. Oh my.

And again, here Paul's referring to the resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ. And he's about to declare to all in this room, all who were gathered by the will and providence of God, to hear the glorious truth of the resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ. My.

And Paul, he's a wise master builder, right? He pointed to King Agrippa, He pointed King Agrippa to what? The power of God. Who's the one who raises the dead? Well, only God, and King Agrippa would know that. So Paul's actually pointing him to the power of God. It's wonderful. And look at, that's what he's doing in this question. Look at, why should it be thought a thing incredible with you? Why should you think this is incredible, that God should raise the dead? It's in our law and customs. It's in our belief system.

Oh my. And all the Jews, including King Agrippa, would never speak out against the power of God. No. No. And yet they did not believe that Jesus Christ was God Almighty. And remember, we were in that state. Like I sent you that little meme, Chris, and that was great. We were there. That was us. I sent Chris a meme yesterday. It said, the weatherman says there's a huge storm coming and people panic like crazy. And believers say Jesus Christ is coming and people just ignore us. Something wrong there, isn't there? But that's where we were. That's where we were. Tell people there's judgment to come. Tell them there's a snowstorm coming. You better prepare. And they run, and they clean out all the bread in the grocery stores. You tell them you better prepare. There's a judgment coming. And they mock you. And I was there. Chris, we were there. Charlie, we were there. My. Isn't God's grace amazing? Isn't it absolutely amazing?

So all the Jews, again, including Agrippa, would never speak out against the power of God. Yet, they didn't believe on the Lord Jesus Christ. Now let's read the next verses 9 to 11. Here we see Paul's gonna confess his ignorance before he was saved. Look at this. Now think of this. As we're reading this, think of this. This is the same man who wrote in Colossians that all our sins are forgiven. Past, present, and future. This is the same man that said, if God before us, who can be against us? Same man who said, by the grace of God, I am what I am. Same man who said, not by works of righteousness, which we have done, but according to his mercy. God saved us. Let's keep that in our minds.

Same man, look what he's going to tell us about his pastor. He said, I verily thought with myself, that I ought to do many things contrary to the name of Jesus of Nazareth. Many things contrary. Well, remember, he told us, and I think it's in Galatians, that at one time he taught himself without blame before the law. He doesn't see himself that way anymore, does he? Now, Charlie, he sees himself as the chief of sinners, saved by the grace of God. My! And he says this, which thing I also did in Jerusalem, and many of the saints did I shut up in prison. My, look at this. Having received authority from the chief priests, and when they were put to death, I gave my voice against them. That's called being an accessory to murder. Pretty serious thing, isn't it? And look what he said. Many of the saints did I shut up in prison, having received authority from the chief priest. Oh, he had the authority to go in there and just grab them, haul them out of their homes, throw them into prison. And when they were put to death, I gave my voice against them. He said, that's good.

Same man, though, who wrote that all our sins and trespasses are forgiven by the blood of Christ. My, look at this, and he says, and I punished them often, every sin of God, and compelled them to blasphemy. He compelled them to blasphemy, to deny their faith, to blasphemy God. Now, would they lose their salvation? No way, Chris. No, they're the Lord's. He's compelling them. He's torturing them. It's a blasphemy. And being exceedingly, look at this, mad against them. He was enraged against Christians. He hated them. I persecuted them even under strange cities. He didn't just take them from the land of Israel. Remember, where's he going? He's going to Damascus, right? That's in Syria. He's going into other strange cities. He's going outside of Israel to grab these Christians and haul them back and have them put to death. That's the kind of fellow Paul was.

You know, before we saved, we'd have done the same thing. We would have. If we really know ourselves, we would have. It's like Henry Mahan said one time. He met a fella that said, you know, Henry said, you know, he said to this fella, he said, if we were all at the, all before Pilate there, we would all yell, crucify him, crucify him. This fella said, I'd never do that. And he goes, you're lying to yourself then. You don't know the depths of your depravity.

Think of this. Think of this. The disciples, men who are in Christ's presence, men who are kept by Christ, when the Lord said, one of them will betray us, what did they do? Did they say, oh, not me, Lord? No, they didn't, did they, sister? Yeah. Amen. Lord, is it I? They knew their hearts, beloved.

See, every believer is a trophy of God's grace. The mercy of God. The mercy of God. We see Paul in these verses here was telling these ungodly men and women that he was just as guilty as they were. He's not speaking down to them, is he? No. He wasn't putting himself above them, that's for sure. He's saying, I had the same hatred in my unregenerate state as you do now with these words. And how did he prove it? By his actions. The old saying, words speak more than actions. Or, no, actions speaks more than words. That's true, isn't it? We can say all kinds of things, but our actions will also dictate how we really feel.

And Paul plainly stated that when he imprisoned God's saints, he compelled them to blaspheme God. When he persecuted them from city to city, he gave his authority to have many of them put to death. And you know what? It was as if he was doing it to the Lord Jesus Christ himself. Because our Lord, remember, we're his body. He's the head and we're the body. He said, Saul, Saul, why persecutest thou me? So if someone's persecuting God's people, they're persecuting Christ.

I was talking to a fellow, dear brother of ours, and he's going through some stuff, and I said, remember this. Vengeance is mine, saith the Lord. I will repay. He does. He does. So Paul's teaching here, by God the Holy Spirit, that it was the resurrected Christ of God by his sovereign power and amazing grace that made the difference in his life.

In our witness to others, it's very important that we don't give our listeners the impression that we're looking down on them. Lord, give us grace to never do that. Because we were there. And every born-again, blood-washed child of God knows that we're just as guilty as those who still suffer the wrath of God in eternal torment. And like Paul, we know the difference between a life with hope and a life without hope. We've experienced both, haven't we? We know what it's like to feel hopeless. Now though, we know what it's like to be supremely blessed, don't we? And have a hope that never faded. Oh my. One day we'll see our hope face to face, won't we? When we pass from this world. Our hope is in the resurrected Christ of God who's seated on his throne in heaven. He's our blessed surety, beloved. Listen to the scriptures here. speaking about the Lord Jesus Christ, that he is able to save to the uttermost those who come unto God by him, seeing he ever liveth to make intercession for us.

Look at, I've ran into people say, well, Wayne, you don't know how black massing is. Well, I know about Paul and I know about myself. And Paul, we just saw, he is killing people, consenting to their deaths. And God used him. And I know that in my heart, right, before I was saved, in my heart, that was in me too.

Now we war against the flesh, don't we? We're still sinners, and we can think awful thoughts, can't we? But I just plead the blood when that comes along. I just say, oh, Lord, sorry I was thinking that way. Please cover me in thy precious blood. I know I'm already covered, but cover that in your blood, Lord. Take it out of my head. I don't want to think that way. And we all get that way. Spurgeon said he'd be reading his Bible, and the most blasphemous thought come through his mind. My. Martin Luther he'd be he'd be working away on something and and he devil start whispering in his ears and he He'd grab an inkblot or throw it against the wall saying get thee behind me Satan. I'm covered in the blood of Christ.

Oh My he's the one who wrote mighty fortresses are gone. Oh My Our hope is in Christ Listen to this about the Lord Jesus Christ. He is able to keep us from falling and to present us faultless before the presence of his glory with exceeding joy. My beloved, all the promises of God and all the glorious hope of eternal life and glory hangs in this glorious truth, the glorious doctrine of the resurrected, glorified, exalted God-man, Jesus Christ, our Lord and Savior.

I was listening to Henry yesterday and he said, if the Lord hadn't risen from the dead, none of us would rise. So true, isn't it? But praise God, he's raised for our justification. My, so Paul here confessed his guilt and his helpless, hopeless loss condition before the Lord saved him. And he told us here is how he was delivered from the power of darkness. from Satan's prison house of sin and unbelief. And we're gonna see that coming up right here.

Once again, Paul, he's gonna be a faithful witness of God's conversion, converting him, saving his soul by stating the truth, by giving nothing but the facts. of what the Lord Jesus Christ had done for him.

Look at this. Acts chapter 26, verse 12 to 15. Whereupon as I went to Damascus with authority and commission from the chief priests. So what's he doing? He's going to get more Christians, round them up. He's got authority. He's a man with authority. To go in to say we were all gathered at our house, to come in the house, break down the door, and haul us all away. My, who gave them that authority? The Jewish leaders? The Sanhedrin? The very Jews who are accusing Paul of heresy? And I love what Paul said, well, the way they call heresy, that's how I worship God. Oh my.

Look what he says here, verse 13. At midday, O King, I saw on the way a light from heaven above, the brightness of the sun shining round about. This light's brighter than the sun shining round about me and them which journeyed with me. And when we were all fallen to the earth, Oh, see how, see how, you know, men shake their fists at God. And as soon as he just reveals a little bit of himself, look what's happening. They're on the ground. Trembling in fear. I remember one person saying this, and I, Henry said this in a message, it blew me away. He said, you know, he says the Great White Judgment Throne, when sinners are standing there before God, they're like a candle before a blast furnace at a steel factory. Here's a candle standing there in front of a blast furnace, and that blast furnace gets open, and that comes out, what's it do? It consumes the candle. My, oh, my. God won't be mocked, will he? Judgment's coming. My, oh, my.

And remember, God's the same yesterday, today, and forever. People say, oh, he was a God of wrath in the Old Testament. No, he's a God of love. He was a God of love in the Old Testament, too, to his people. But he was also a God of wrath, wasn't he? He hadn't changed, beloved. Now religions tried to change them, but they molded the God of their imagination. And God has no power. That's not the God of the Bible. No. Look at this.

And when we were all fallen to the earth, I heard a voice speaking to me and saying in the Hebrew tongue, Saul, Saul, why persecutest thou me? Notice who heard the voice. One of the Lord's sheep. Mm, that's glorious. See, the Lord reveals himself to his people, doesn't he? Saul, Saul, why persecutest thou me? Is it hard for thee to kick against the pricks? And I said, who art thou, Lord? And he said, I am Jesus, whom thou persecutest. Do you notice he called him Lord? Paul's born again. Who are you, Lord? I'm Jesus, whom thou persecutest. Oh my.

Now, take note of what Paul did not do in these verses, okay? He did not bring attention to himself. He did not speak of any good works that he had performed. To the contrary, Paul plainly stated that he's on his way to Damascus with authority to kill Christians and to haul them off into prison and then have them killed. And left in his way, he would have continued to persecute Christians. He was left dead in his trespasses and sins. But Paul's a chosen vessel of the Lord. The Jew's champion's about to be turned into one of the Lord's champions. And when I say that, he's champion Christ, isn't he? He's not going to boast in anything he's done. He's going to boast in our champion, the Lord Jesus Christ. Oh, my.

Paul was confessing that he was not seeking Christ. Was he seeking Christ on the way to Damascus? Nope. Note who sought him out. He wasn't seeking the Lord, was he? But the Lord sought him out, didn't he? Isn't God so good? Isn't God so good, beloved? He seeks his sheep out, and he saves us. We're born again by the Holy Spirit of God. Oh, he's saying, I'm not seeking Christ, but I'm persecuting Christ. I'm persecuting Christians. With veminate hatred. Remember, he said he was mad. My. I'll have to look up that Greek word and see what that means. He was mad. Veminate. In his hatred towards believers. Towards, really, the living God. Towards Christ.

And this confession was, think of this, an indictment against how he used to be, and also against those who are listening. He's declaring to all in that room that they had the same vemin and hatred in their hearts. Against Jesus Christ, God's dear son, the resurrected, glorified, exalted God-man, And look what he says. Paul, in his exceedingly mad drive, showed his hatred for Jesus Christ by trying to destroy Christianity. And then he tells King Agrippa, at midday, O King, I saw on the way a light from heaven above the brightness of the sun shining round about me and then which journeyed with them. Midday would have been the time of day when the sun was shining the brightest. So at the very time when the sun in all its strength is shining the brightest, Christ shines even brighter than the sun. There'll be no more night in glory, beloved. Oh my.

And when our Lord Jesus Christ returns, when he returns to take all his chosen blood-bought children to glory, he will destroy the wicked in his glorious brightness. 2 Thessalonians 2.8 says this. And when that wicked be revealed, whom the Lord shall consume with the spirit of his mouth and shall destroy with the brightness of his coming.

And then, over in 2 Peter 3.10, we see he returns, when he returns, when Christ returns, the brightness of Christ's glory will set the heaven and earth on fire. 2 Peter 3.10, But the day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night, in which the heavens shall pass away with a great noise, and the elements shall melt with fervent heat. The earth also and the works that are therein shall be burned up.

My, oh my. Does this sound like a God who is trying to save people? Was he trying to save Paul? No, he saved him, didn't he? In his veminence and hatred towards God, he saved him. What a merciful redeemer.

And it says Paul wasn't the only one that saw the light. Those who were journeying with him saw the light also, but Paul was the only one who knew that the bright light he saw was the exalted Christ of God. How did Paul know? Well, by divine revelation. He heard the life-giving voice of Jesus Christ as we read Read that Paul said this, I heard a voice speaking unto me and saying in the Hebrew tongue, Saul, Saul, why persecutest thou me? He said, hard for thee to kick against the pricks. And I said, who art thou, Lord? And he said, I am Jesus, whom thou persecutest.

Mine. Others heard a noise, but only Paul heard the voice. It's amazing. And look what he says. Look what the Lord tells him. I am Jesus, whom thou persecutest. Paul is born again by the Holy Spirit of God, just like we are. Just as every born-again, blood-washed believer, we believe on the Lord Jesus Christ. We're given God-given faith to believe on Christ. And we've experienced the miracle of the new birth, haven't we? Just like Paul did.

And that miracle of the new birth can only be performed by God himself. Only by God himself. Mine. And all believers experience that miracle of the new birth. How? By the preaching of the gospel. By the preaching of the gospel, God's sovereign grace. And you know what? Salvation is freely bestowed on hell-deserving sinners, such as we.

And like Paul, we were all stopped amid our vehement hatred for the Lord Jesus Christ. We were unable to get ourselves out of our hopeless, helpless state. Was Paul able to get himself out of that state by himself? Nope. Matter of fact, if God hadn't intervened, he'd have done it till the end of his life. We had no desire to come to Christ for salvation because we love darkness more than light. And we would have continued in that darkness unless the Lord intervened in our life, which he did.

And if he hadn't intervened in our life, we would have arrived to eternal torment. But praise God, the Lord Jesus Christ intervenes in the lives of those he redeemed 2,000 years ago. And he's still doing it today, isn't he? He's still saving sinners. And under the preaching of the gospel, God himself commanded the light to shine in our hearts so that we could, by the gift of his faith to us, see the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ. 2 Corinthians 4, 6. We didn't hear the audible voice of the Lord Jesus Christ, but he called us, didn't he? He called us. That life-giving voice speaking to our hearts. Jesus, my Savior.

Listen to what he wrote in John chapter 10, verses 27 to 30. These are beautiful words. My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me, and I give unto them eternal life, and they shall never perish, neither shall any man pluck them out of my hand. My Father which gave them me is greater than all, and no man is able to pluck them out of my hand. I and my Father are one.

My, oh my. Salvation is a personal experience between the sinner and Jesus Christ, who is the only one who can speak to the heart. Others around us might be around us when we see the glory of God in the face of Christ and not hear anything in the preaching of the gospel. They might never experience what we've experienced, but by the gift of God's grace, our testimony is this, Jesus Christ is my creator, I believe he is the eternal Son of God, the second person of the Trinity, equal with God the Father, God the Son, or God the Holy Spirit in essence, purpose, and power.

I believe Jesus Christ came to this earth to do the Father's will. He clothed himself with a human body and perfectly obeyed the will of his Father who sent him. And by his perfect obedience, Christ, my Savior, honored the law of God perfectly in my place, establishing a perfect righteousness for me.

Oh, my beloved, as a man, Jesus Christ was able to lay down his life, we believers say, for me. In his precious blood, his precious blood, my oh my, His precious blood ransomed my eternal soul, paid the price in full for all my sins. In doing so, He made me acceptable before God, enabling my heavenly Father to be just and justifier of His people.

My, and what do we say? Glory to God for His amazing grace. His amazing mercy shown to us in and through the Lord Jesus Christ. Amen and amen.