Turn back to Acts chapter 22,
title of the message, Paul's testimony of the grace
of God to him. The Apostle Paul never got over
God's grace to him, never got over. Let me read you what he
said to Timothy. In 1 Timothy 1, verse 12, Paul
said, And I thank Christ Jesus our Lord, who hath enabled me,
for that he counted me faithful, putting me into the ministry,
who was before a blasphemer, and a persecutor, and injurious. But I obtained mercy, because
I did it ignorantly in unbelief. and the grace of our Lord was
exceeding abundant with faith and love which is in Christ Jesus.
This is a faithful, this is a true saying, Timothy, and it's worthy
of all acceptation that Christ Jesus came into the world to
save sinners of whom I am chief." That's the kind of man I want
to hear preach. That's the man I want to hear preach. When God
saves a sinner, He never gets over it. That man will be, he will not
be, he will not be the same ever again. He'll never be the same
again. That man, that woman whom God
saves is a new creation. Now that's different, isn't it?
That's not being the same again. He is a new creation. He has
life. He has the life of God in his
soul. He is made, and this is so, he
is made a partaker of the divine nature. He'll not be the same
again. In 2 Corinthians 5, if any man
be in Christ, he is a new creature, he's a new creation. Old things
are passed away. Behold, all things are become
new. So here we have Paul standing
before this mob. This is an angry mob. He's preaching.
I'm glad I'm getting to preach to you this morning. Paul preached
to a crowd this day that just finished beating him. You look
over in chapter 21. We looked at this a couple of
weeks ago. Over here in chapter 21, look
in verse 30. And all the city was moved, and
the people ran together, and they took Paul and drew him out
of the temple, and forthwith the doors were shut. And as they
went about to kill him, this mob he's preaching to, this congregation
he's preaching to, went about to kill him. Tidings came unto
the chief captain of the band, that all Jerusalem was in an
uproar, who immediately took soldiers and centurions and ran
down unto them. And when they saw the chief captain
and the soldiers, they left beating of Paul. They was beating Paul.
Then the chief captain came near and took him and commanded him
to be bound with two chains and demanded who he was and what
he had done. So here stands Paul. the apostle,
the man who had tasted of the grace of God. Here he stands
preaching to this large group of people in chains, freshly
beaten, freshly beaten, and he's standing here in chains. And
he had asked this interior, or the captain here, In verse 39,
Paul said, I am a man which am a Jew of Tarsus, a city of Cilicia,
a citizen of no mean city, and I beseech thee, suffer me to
speak to the people. Oh, let me speak to my brethren.
That's what he wanted, his brethren according to the flesh. Paul
said, let me speak to them. His heart, even though they could
not stand him, he loved them. Only grace make you do that. And when he had given him license,
Paul stood on the stairs, freshly beaten, standing there chained,
and he beckoned with his hand unto the people. And then when
there was great silence, he spoke to them in the Hebrew tongue,
and it got their attention. It got their attention. And he
tells them, he tells them what the Lord had done for him. hoping,
hoping to gain their favor, to gain their attention, hoping
the Lord would do something for them, hoping the Lord would save
them. Paul identifies with his audience
here in this first part of this chapter. He identifies with his
audience. I want a man, I thought about
this last night, I want a man preaching to me that can identify
with me. That's been where I've been, or where I am. And Paul
does that. He identifies with his audience.
He still calls them brethren. After all they did to him, he
still says brethren, fathers. He still speaks to them respectfully. He claimed kinship with them.
You know, grace does not cause us to look down on people, does
it? Grace will not cause you to look down on anyone. Well,
I believe, why don't you? Well, if I believe at all, it's
because of the grace of God. Grace causes true humility. It causes true humility. And
as it grows, that humility will grow. And grace will cause loneliness
of mind. It really will cause you to think
better of others than you think of yourself. But Paul's standing
here and he's identifying with this group of people that's angry
with him. And he says in verse 3, I'm a
Jew. I'm a Jew. I'm a true Jew. My
mother was a Jew. My father was a Jew. You can
go over in Philippians 3 and read his testimony there. He
said, I'm a Jew. I'm just like you as far as heritage
wise, as far as bloodline, as far as kinship. I'm in the flesh. I'm a Jew. And I was taught at
the feet of Gamaliel, the greatest teacher of their day. He said,
I sat at his feet. I was a disciple of his. I learned from him. And I was
very, very zealous toward God. Just like you are this day, Paul
said, I'm I know where you're at. I was there. I sat where
you sat. But his zeal, as he told them
over in Romans 10, was not according to knowledge. Zeal is not according
to knowledge. If it's not really born of grace,
it's dangerous. It's dangerous. And Paul was
very zealous in keeping the law. There were some people there
that knew Paul back then. They knew what kind of man he
was. They knew what a Pharisee he was. They knew how strict
he was. They knew that his was a very learned and educated man.
They knew that. And they knew he was very zealous
in keeping the law. Paul believed that he was truly
a good man. He believed that he was truly
a righteous man. until God revealed the gospel
to him, until the Lord met him on the road to Damascus. But
he believed that. He said, I know, I know where
you're at. He could preach to them because
he knew where they were at. And he said, and I persecuted
this way unto death, this way of salvation, this way that gives
God all the glory, this way which is Christ. I persecuted it unto
the death. I'm doing just what you're doing
to me. He said, I did that. I did it. He saw the gospel as being contrary
to the law of God, as being contrary to salvation. He didn't see it
as being salvation until God saved him. He said, I know where
you're at. I hated Jesus Christ as much
as you hate him. I despised him as much as you
despised him. I despised the message as much
as you despised the message. Paul is relating to this He's
relating to the people he's preaching to. I despise salvation by grace
alone, Christ alone. I hated it as much as any man
on this earth hated it. I hated it. The gospel that I now preach,
I once sought to destroy. And I tell you this, if not by
the grace of God, we will destroy it if we can. We'll do everything
we can to destroy it and ourselves, except for the grace of God. Paul knew he was just like them.
He never lost his sense of who he was and what God saved him
from. He never lost it. And he said,
even the high priest, there in verse 5, He said, even the high
priest knows what I'm talking about. Go ask him. He's the one
who gave me letters to Damascus. He had a letter from the high
priest on his way to Damascus to take men and women and put
them into prison. He said he knows what kind of
person I was. He knows what I'm talking about here. Even the
elders know it. What I'm telling you is true.
I have witnesses to it. I'm not making this up. No, Lord. He said, I was on my way to Damascus. I wrote in Corinthians there
last night. I was on my way to hell. That's where Paul was going. Paul was on his road to hell
is where he was on his road to. But he said, I was on the road
to Damascus. I was going to persecute the
church. I was going to put men and women
in prison. I was going to destroy their
homes. I was going to destroy their lives. I was going to destroy
this gospel. I was going to stamp out the
name of Jesus Christ. Then suddenly, he said in verse
6, suddenly something happened. Suddenly God showed up. Suddenly
Christ stopped me on my road to hell. That's what happens. That's what happens. The Lord
suddenly stops us. Hell-bent and trying to get there.
And he says, stop. Suddenly, while on my journey,
he says, while on my journey, suddenly there shone from heaven
a great light round about me. Just covered me. Shone round
about me. Christ stopped him. Paul was
not looking for salvation, was he? He was looking to destroy
it. Paul was looking to destroy salvation. He wasn't looking for grace.
He was out to destroy grace. He hated, before God saved him,
he hated the message of grace. Until God saved him. Then he
fell in love with it. And he preached it until the
day he died. Went to prison for it. Standing there in chains
for it. Suddenly, the Lord stopped me.
Paul was not inquiring about salvation. He was not trying
to obtain it. He thought he had it. He was
trying to destroy that way. Paul, is this not a picture of
all of us at first? Mad. Mad. Going our own way. Haters of
that way. Desiring our own way. And then
God stopped us. and revealed the gospel to us,
revealed His grace to us in the Lord Jesus Christ. When it is time to be born again,
when that time comes, suddenly, suddenly, the Lord stops us. Suddenly, the Lord commands life. Suddenly. I believe that great light that
shone round about Paul was Christ himself. That light was Christ. Christ said, I am the light. He said it shone round about
me at noonday, at the brightest part of the day. He said this
light was above the noonday sun. It was so bright. And it shone
round about me. Well, that light that shone round
about him is Christ. And this is what happened. When
this happened, when the Lord met him on the road to Damascus
and showed round about him, Paul says there in verse 7, and I
fell to the ground. God brought him down, didn't
he? God brought him down off his high horse. We all ride a
high horse, believe it or not. I don't care what station in
life we are in, we all ride a high horse. And God brought him down. He said, I fell to the ground.
And God must bring us down from our high thoughts of ourselves.
No one, no one thought more highly of the Apostle. No one thought
more highly of Paul than Paul. I tell you this, no one, until
the grace of God comes to us, until the grace of God brings
us down, no one thinks more highly of us than us. People couldn't think more highly
of me than I thought of myself. People who are easily offended
are people who think highly of themselves. That's why we get
offended so easily. We think too highly of ourselves. But the Lord gives him a revelation
here. He falls to the ground. And he
heard a voice saying unto me, I heard a voice say to me, Saul,
Saul, Why persecutest thou me?" To persecute one of God's children
is to persecute Christ. This is the body of Christ. If
you just come over here and smash my finger, I'm going to feel
it all over. John's going to feel it. You attack the body
of Christ, Christ's going to feel it. It's His body. It's
his body. Paul, your hatred is of me. This is my body you're shooting
at, but your hatred is me. You hate me. I tell you this,
to slander one of God's children is to slander God. It's to slander
him. And the Lord gives him a revelation
of who his sin is against. He said, persecutest thou me.
Why are you persecuting me? And Paul says here in verse 8,
Who art thou, Lord? He said, I'm Jesus of Nazareth,
whom thou persecutest. I'm Jesus of Nazareth. The one
who is despised and rejected of men. The one who is hated.
The one you're fighting against. The name you're trying to stamp
out. That's who I am. I am the one you despise and
persecute. I am the one who died and is
alive forevermore. I am Alpha and Omega. Paul was
confronted by Jesus Christ Himself. And a man will not be saved until
he is confronted with Christ. Not just whether he believes
the doctrine or not, but whether you believe him or not. It truly
is whether you believe Him or not. Paul was confronted with
Christ that way. That way that he was trying to
stamp out just met Him. It just met Him. Until we see
our sins against Him, we haven't seen Him yet. We haven't seen
sin yet. Until we see who it's against.
Salvation is the revelation of a person. But not everyone sees Him. Not
everyone sees Him. You'll notice here, it says,
the others heard not the voice. Paul said they didn't hear the
voice. Only those whom God calls hears the voice. Now, I'm not
talking about an audible voice. You know that. But they hear
His voice in the message. My sheep hear my voice and they
follow me. The others heard not the voice,
but he said, I did. I did. The Lord may speak to
one's heart here, and the person sitting beside of you won't hear
anything. Oh, I tell you, you'll hear from
Him. And notice what a change grace
makes when it comes. When it comes in power. When
the gospel comes in power. When the Lord speaks to your
heart in power. Notice what a change happens here. Paul's on his road
to Damascus filled with hatred. to stamp out this name. And then
he says in verse 10, I said, what shall I do, Lord? What a
change. What a change. What shall I do? Go from being a rebel to an obedient
servant. And the Lord said, Arise and
go to Damascus. And it shall be told thee of
all things which are appointed for thee to do. What shall I
do? Now that scripture rings true,
thy people shall be willing in the day of thy power, but not
until then. But that day, when that day comes,
they shall be willing. If you'll notice also, Christ
did not ask Paul if he would accept him. He did not ask Paul. He didn't talk with Paul. He
didn't converse with Paul and try to convince Paul. He said,
Paul, this is what you are going to do. So he told Paul where he was going
to go and what he was going to reveal to him and what is appointed
for him to do. You see, he's the Lord. We are
the servants. He calls his servants. And it
was Paul's time to be born of God. And he called him and he
said, this is what you're going to do, Paul. He didn't say, Paul,
what do you want to do? He said, Paul, this is what you're
going to do. I heard someone say a long time ago, the servant
doesn't pick his place of service. And Paul, he said, you're going
to the Gentiles. Here is this devout Jew, this
devout Pharisee. I'm going to send you to the
heathens. God works His own way. So Paul went as he was told,
but he had a problem. He couldn't see. He couldn't
see. He was blind by that light. That
light blinded his natural eyes. God had to give him eyes different
than these eyes to see Christ. These eyes, these fleshly eyes,
will never look upon him. Like the rest of this body, it's
going to be laid in the grave. There's going to be new eyes given to
see the Lord Jesus Christ. God shut his physical eyes, but
he opened his spiritual eyes, and Paul became totally dependent
on Christ. And Paul was brought to God's
preacher. When God saves a sinner, I heard
this from a message, Henry, on the internet the other day. I
was listening to it. He said there's four things present. The Spirit of God, the Word of
God, the preacher, and the sinner. All those will be present when
God saves a man. When He saves a sinner. And so
now the preacher enters. And a nice. It says, a devout
man. God's preachers are honest men. God does not call dishonest men
and put them in the pulpit, the priest of His church. They are
honest men. He was a devout man. He had a
good reputation throughout. You know, that's what Paul says
about putting a man in the ministry. He's got to have a good reputation
within and without. Good reputation. And then he
gives him the message here. Let me go to verse 12. And one
Ananias, a devout man according to the law, having a good report
of all the Jews which dwelt there, he came to me, stood and said
unto me, Brother Saul, receive thy sight. In the same hour I
looked upon him. And Ananias preached to him.
I'm sure not all that Ananias had to say is written here. But
Ananias preached to him. Even the Apostle Paul was saved
under the preaching of the gospel. He heard Stephen preach, and
now he hears Ananias preach. God did not go around his preacher.
If God is going to save a man, he is going to send him a preacher.
And he is going to have the message. And it is going to be a message
of grace. And it is going to be concerning Christ. Christ
is going to be the message. And here is what he says. Let
me find my place. His message is this. God, the
God of our fathers has chosen thee. God chose you, Paul. Election. God chose you, Paul. Just as
he chose everyone whom he saved. He preaches sovereign mercy to
Paul. He preaches the message of sovereign
grace. He said the God of our fathers has chosen thee. And
here's the purpose of his election. that thou shouldest know His
will, that you would come to know Him, that you would be made
conformed to the image of His Son, that you would know His
will, His revealed will, His redemptive will, that He would know all that you
would know. And every child of God knows
this, how God can be a just God and a Savior, and it's not by
keeping laws and commandments. It's through Jesus Christ Himself.
That's how God can be a just God and a Savior. Oh, that you should know His
will. That he should see that just
one. Not see one whom they call a
blasphemer, a winebibber, But you'd see that just one. That
one who was condemned under the wrath of God, who was
unjustly condemned by men. Judgment was taken away from
him. But you should see that just one. Did you see him? I
mean you see him in the gospel. I'm not talking about some vision.
I'm talking about do you see that just one? The one in whom
we are justified. The one in whom we are accepted.
Do you see it? I'll tell you this, if you're
born of God, you do. Salvation is knowing and seeing
Jesus Christ Himself. Paul believed election. Paul
believed particular redemption. He thought it was only for the
Jew. He believed it. Paul believed that. But he didn't know Christ. He
didn't believe God. And he rejected God's Son. Despised
Him. Until God did something in him.
God did something for him. And on the road to Damascus,
God did something in him. and also this, and that you shall
hear His voice, not just hear about Him and then receive some
facts, not just hear about Him and believe some facts, but you
should hear Him, hear His voice. God must speak life to the soul. You know, I know you who believe,
when you heard the gospel, you heard, didn't you? You say, I
hear. You heard more than just a man
standing behind a pulpit preaching. You heard God. And you know you
heard Him. Oh, you should hear His voice.
And you're going to be His witness unto all men of what thou hast
seen and heard. You know, God does not save us
and then just send us down the road and we try to live right.
No, we're His witnesses. We are here in this life as believers,
witnesses to the grace of God until we go home. Every believer is to be a witness
of the Lord Jesus Christ. You're to be a witness of the
things which you've seen and heard out of the Gospel and out
of the Word of God. And then Paul, in verse 16, confessed
Christ publicly. in believers' baptism. Ananias
said, Why tarriest thou, Paul? I don't know whether Paul's sitting
there. Evidently, Ananias had said something to him about baptism.
Paul's sitting there. He said, Paul, what are you tarrying? What are you waiting on? Why
tarriest thou? Arise and be baptized. Confess
Christ. I know this. Baptism has no saving
power in it. Yet, and I thought about this
last night before I wrote this down, I do not believe that a
person who will not follow the Lord's command to be baptized
is saved. I believe a person who rejects
and refuses to bow to that command is a rebel. It's a rebel. I'll tell you this though, I'll
tell you this, when a man sees Christ, when the Lord truly pricks
his heart and saves him, he'll follow the Lord. He'll follow
his Lord. He will be glad to identify with
his Lord. I want to say to everybody, this
is my Lord and I follow Him. So he said to him, arise and
be baptized. And then Paul preaches sovereign
grace to that crowd. I'll close here with these next
few verses. He says over here in verse 17, Paul says here,
he says, And it came to pass that when I was come again to
Jerusalem, even while I prayed in the temple, I was in a trance. You know, the Lord told Paul
to leave that place. He said, I was in a trance and
saw him say to me, Make haste and get thee quickly out of Jerusalem,
for they will not receive thy testimony concerning me. But
Paul thought. This is Flash. Flash is still in us. Paul thought. He thought, Lord. He said, Lord,
they know who I am. Oh, just let me speak to them.
They're going to be impressed. Listen. They know that I imprisoned
and beat in every synagogue them that believed on thee. And when
the blood of thy martyr Stephen was shed, I also was standing
by, consenting to his death, and kept the raiment of them
that slew him. Lord, they're going to listen to me. They know
my manner of life. They know what kind of person
I was. They know that I was a Pharisee and I stood there at Stephen
and consented to his death. He said, they'll listen to me.
No, they won't. No, Paul. It will take the same
grace of God to save them it took to save you. No, they won't. God will have to break them like
He breaks everyone else, He says. And here's what made Him mad.
Here is what made them mad. He said here in verse 21, And
He said unto me, The Lord said unto me, Depart, I will send
thee far hence unto the Gentiles. Paul, I'm going to send you to
the Gentiles to preach the Gospel. I'm going to save some Gentiles.
And they gave him audience unto his word and then lifted up their
voice and said, away with such a fellow from the earth for it
is not fit that he should live. And Paul said that God sent him
to the Gentiles to preach the Gospel of the sovereign grace
of God. That mob said this man's not
worth living. We need to kill him. That's what
they thought of us. Oh, that God would speak in such
power to sinners. I tell you this, it's grace alone
and it's Christ alone all the way. It never changes and never
will. All right, Mike.