In the 26th chapter of Acts we
read of the direct encounter of Saul thereafter Paul with
the Lord Jesus Christ. The direct encounter of a man
a sinner with Almighty God in the person of the Son of God.
It's this encounter which took this hardened sinner who persecuted
the church and by so doing persecuted Christ. It's this encounter which
took this sinner and delivered him from his sins. And if you
or I are ever to be delivered from the captivity of our sins
If we're ever to come to know the truth and believe unto salvation,
it will come through an encounter with God. We must hear the voice
of the Son of God. The hour is coming and now is
when the dead shall hear the voice of the Son of God. and
those that hear shall live. Paul, taken by the Jews and led
before King Agrippa, was called to give a defence against that
of which the Jews accused him. They accused him, like they accused
Christ, of blasphemy. But Paul saw the Jew having been
brought up a Jew to believe the scriptures and believe the promises
and believe the promises of God to that Jewish nation that he
would send a Messiah, send a Deliverer. grant them an inheritance, had
for years looked for that to come about and when it came about,
when God sent Messiah into this world, when God sent his son
the Lord Jesus Christ into this world, and Christ came, and Christ
preached the gospel of deliverance, and Christ declared who he was,
and Christ was rejected by the Jews to whom he came, and Christ
was slain. Paul with the Jews, Saul, also
rejected. And when Christ's apostles were
sent forth to preach the gospel, Christ having died, having been
risen from the grave, having delivered his people from their
sins, when those apostles like Stephen went forth and preached,
Paul, Saul, had them put to death. He watched as Stephen was stoned. he persecuted the church, he
went about doing all he could to put these people to death,
yet here they were testifying of the very one whom Paul through
the scriptures was looking for. Paul, as a Jew, looked for the
promises of God to be fulfilled. He looked for salvation. He looked
for a Redeemer. And when the Redeemer came, he
could not see Him. And this nation of Israel, when
the answer came, when God fulfilled the promises He made to them,
they could not see. And you, O sinner, in the darkness
of your sin, when God has preached the gospel unto you and declared,
here is salvation and here is an inheritance to come, you in
the blindness of your sin cannot see. And you go about like Saul,
doing everything you can to persecute this people, their savior and
to tread underfoot this message. I verily thought with myself,
Saul said, that I ought to do many things contrary to the name
of Jesus of Nazareth. which thing I also did in Jerusalem. And many of the saints did I
shut up in prison, having received authority from the chief priests.
And when they were put to death, I gave my voice against them.
Now you may not have literally done what Paul has done, but
every time you shut your ear to the gospel, and every time
you shut your ears to the witnesses of the gospel, and those that
speak of Jesus Christ and every time you shut your heart to their
message you give your voice against them and in your heart you put
them and their Saviour to death. Paul goes on, and I punished
them often, every synagogue, and compelled them to blaspheme,
and being exceedingly mad against them, I persecuted them even
unto strange cities. Is that your heart's attitude?
Towards Christianity? Towards the followers of Christ? And towards the Son of God? You
with your knowledge, with your wisdom, with your science, or
even with your religion, do you go about putting the saviour
to death? Putting his people to death?
Trampling underfoot his message? Well you may, but you fight not
men and women. Your war isn't against those
fools that you call Christians, who you dismiss as fools. Your
war isn't against flesh and blood, but your war is against Almighty
God. And your heart and your attitude
is set against God as Paul's was, when he was Saul. As he travelled to Damascus,
were the authority and the commission of the chief priests, intent
on causing havoc in the churches. And when he travelled, God's
plan was otherwise. God's intent was set in the opposite
direction from Paul's. Paul says to King Agrippa, At
midday, O King, I saw in the way a light from heaven, above
the brightness of the sun, shining round about me, and then which
journeyed with me. And when we were all fallen to
the earth, I heard a voice speaking unto me, and saying in the Hebrew
tongue, Saul, Saul, why persecutest thou me? It is hard for thee
to kick against the pricks. And I said, Who art thou, Lord? And he said, I am Jesus, whom
thou persecutest. But rise and stand upon thy feet,
for I have appeared unto thee for this purpose. to make thee
a minister and a witness both of these things which thou hast
seen and of those things in the which I will appear unto thee.
Delivering thee from the people and from the Gentiles under whom
now I send thee, to open their eyes and to turn them from darkness
to light and from the power of Satan unto God, that they may
receive forgiveness of sins, and inheritance among them which
are sanctified by faith that is in me. Whereupon, O King Agrippa,
I was not disobedient unto the heavenly vision. So, like you and I, by nature
was a sinner. captive to the power of Satan
and led along with all his might and strength by the power of
sin within. But the power of sin, the power
of man and the power of Satan is nothing when set against the
power of God in the gospel. And when this mighty man encountered
the Lord Jesus Christ on his way to Damascus, the transformation
was total. Saul, Saul, why persecutest thou
me? And I said, who art thou, Lord? And he said, I am Jesus whom
thou persecutest. I am Jesus whom thou persecutest. Have you encountered this Jesus
who met Saul this day? Has he said unto you in his gospel
when your heart was set against him, has he said unto you in
particular I am Jesus. Because the day that you hear
the voice of the Son of God speaking to your soul and declaring, I
am Jesus, whom thou persecuted, is the day when your strength
will crumble. when your resolve will be shattered,
when your enmity will fade away and you will discover that this
message of the gospel and this declaration of Jesus Christ is
no mere fable, no mere religion, no mere record in a holy book,
but is truth, is reality, is the only truth and the only reality
which truly matters. And then you will discover that
faith is not something that the weak set their own hope in, that
the weak rest in and trust in. with some sort of blind hope
in something that they've never encountered. But faith is that
sight which God gives to the blind when they meet his son. I am Jesus. Have you heard his voice? Have
you heard him saying unto you, I am Jesus? Have you felt the
power of his gospel? To take you who were once dead
and make you to live. To take you who were in darkness
and captive to the power of Satan and to deliver you, to lead you
to the light. to make you to live, to open
your eyes, to turn you unto God, and to bring you unto an eternal
inheritance. I am Jesus whom thou persecutest. I am. Who is this who encountered
Paul, Saul, on the way to Damascus? Who did he meet? This wasn't
some vision in a dream. This wasn't something of Paul's
imagination. This wasn't a man. This was the
Son of God. I saw in the way a light from
heaven above the brightness of the sun shining round about me
and then which journeyed with me. This is the Son of God, Almighty
God, who dwells in light inaccessible. the Son of God, the Son of Righteousness,
the One who is perfect and pure, who is light, which shines in
the darkness and a brighter light than the midday sun. If you should see this light
it will blind you. should you stand and stare at
the sun in nature you will be blinded but here is a light brighter
than that sun with greater warmth than that sun in whose gaze you
cannot stand this light would, this warmth, this heat would
burn you up if God did not keep you from its judgment This is
the one, I am Jesus, the one who will stand and shine before
all men, women and children on that great day of the Lord when
he comes in judgment. and this light will expose all
the darkness of the hearts of mankind and bring forth every
deed, every thought, every wicked way and motive and expose everything
and bring it to judgment. And everyone will have to stand
in the light and stand in the light of this judgment and have
an answer for what they've done. And no man, no woman, no child
by nature will have an answer. Because we will stand before
that light guilty. and if we have not an answer
for our sins then we will be sent forth into outer darkness
forevermore, you and I included. Better to hear this voice utter
I am Jesus this side of the grave than to
hear his voice and to stand in that light when it is too late. Oh what a mercy for Saul that
despite what he was and despite what he did, despite his persecution
of the church, despite his hatred of God as God really is, despite
all that he did God did not leave him until the last day, but Christ
met with him and spake to this one who persecuted the Lord and
the Saviour. And better for you if this Saviour
comes in his gospel in power and says unto you, I am Jesus,
whom thou persecutest. This Son of God is the very one
who God the Father sent into this world, made a man, the man,
the person, the Son of God who took upon Himself humanity, who
took into union with His Godhead, union with His divinity, human
flesh and human soul, who lived as other men yet without sin.
This One that came and was born and lived amongst the Jews, their
Saviour, their Redeemer, their Messiah, but they rejected Him
and scorned Him and despised Him and put Him to death. But all in fulfilment of the
eternal counsel of God. bringing about the purposes,
the decree and the plan of God to offer up His Son as a sacrifice
for the sins of His people. Though they thought they were
in charge, they did God's bidding. Though they thought they had
free will, They simply wrought out the will of God. Though they
thought they had put this troubler in Israel to death, they simply
brought about the salvation of all God's people. For that one
they nailed to a tree, died and rose again, conquering death,
conquering hell, conquering the grave. They could not keep the
Son of God in the grave. This is the one who Paul met
on this day. The saviour, the son of God,
a divine person who was also a man. Divine. I am Jesus. I am. When God met with Moses
and Moses asked his name, he said, I am. Say that I am sent
to you. I am that I am. I am God. I am without beginning and without
end. I am the everlasting. And this
Saviour the Lord Jesus as God is Alpha and Omega without beginning
and without end. I am. I am God, and I am God
who is also a man. I am Jesus. In John's Gospel,
John sets forth the divinity of Christ. He shows forth that
this man, the Son of Man, Jesus, is also the Son of God. And he
records in his Gospel the utterance of Christ, where he shows his
divinity. Those seven I am's of the Saviour. I am the bread of life, John
6.35. I am the light of the world,
John 8.12. I am the door of the sheep, John
10.7. I am the good shepherd, John
10.11. I am the resurrection and the
life John 11 25 I am the way the truth and the life John 14
6 and I am the true vine John 15
1 he's God He's God. It's because Christ
is God that he's the bread of life. It's because he's God that
he's the light of the world. It's because he's God that he's
that door that the sheep, the lost sheep of Israel enter through
into the sheepfold. It's because he's God that he's
their good shepherd, that leads them forth by the right way.
It's because he's God that he is the resurrection and the life.
That when the Jews slew him, when the Romans nailed him to
that cross, when he died, he then rose again. It's because
he's God that he is the way, the truth and the life. There's no truth, there's no
life, there's no true way outside of God. It's because he's God
that he's the true vine. That vine of which his people
are the branches from which they bring forth fruit. I am Jesus
and it's because he's God and he spake as God that the Jews
so hated him and accused him and said he says I am the son
of God. Because he is. the Son of God. I am. I am Jesus. And if you hear His voice, you
will hear the voice of God in the person of His Son. And you
can't fight against God and win. He speaks with almighty power,
he speaks with divine authority. He speaks as the one who is everlasting,
as the one who has life eternal, as the one who is full of righteousness. He speaks as the one who is truth. Not only does he speak truth
but he is truth. and he speaks as one who sits
on a throne in glory from whence he reigns. He's the ruler of
this world. Don't be fooled by what you see
with the eyes or what men tell you. Don't be fooled by what
the media declares regarding this world and its rulers. There's
one ruler, one power who is over all. There's a power who can
speak and this world is no more. There's a power who can speak
and thousands are plunged into death through disease. There's
a power who can speak and the winds are stirred up and countries
are flattened by tsunamis and destroyed by earthquakes and
washed away by floods. There's a power who speaks and
volcanoes erupt and burn whole towns and villages. There's a
power who rules and man cannot stand in his way. And this is
the one who met this man, this small man, like he might meet
you one day. And he met him in the
way. and said, I am Jesus. He spake from his throne in glory,
from whence he was sent. That throne, from whence, that
place from whence he once left to come into this world, to perform
his work of salvation, to offer his life up, as that priest who
took the sacrifice and slew it and shed the blood and sprinkled
the blood upon the mercy seat, he came from heaven's glory,
he offered up himself, he died and he rose again and then he
ascended having completed his work of salvation, having justified
all his people, having delivered them from their sins and from
that place of victory He speaks unto this poor sinner Saul, who
went about fighting God and his people, seeking to cause havoc. And he stood in Saul's way and
said, I am Jesus, whom thou persecutest. He could stand in the way of
a mighty man like Saul and stop him in his tracks and he can
stand in your way and stop you in your tracks. Whom thou persecuted. Saul went about everywhere persecuted. the people of God, persecuting
through them the Son of God, persecuting the message and the
preaching of the Gospel, trying to trample it underfoot, trying
to silence it. And how many today try to silence
the Gospel, try to silence the witnesses of the Gospel, try
to disparage and ridicule the message of the Gospel. How your
heart seeks to shut your ears to the Gospel, to avoid having
to hear the Gospel, to avoid having to consider the Gospel,
to avoid having to consider the Son of God and where you stand
before the Son of God. How we would love by nature to
shut our ears to all that is said and all that is meant by
that Gospel and to be left to our own sin and our own devices.
How we want the freedom to get on with our indulgence of sin
and have nobody stand in our way. How we persecute Jesus Christ. I am Jesus whom thou persecutest. I am Jesus whom thou persecutest. You, you and I, our hearts every
day by nature, our sinful, dark, wicked hearts rage against Christ
and his gospel. We hate his authority, we hate
his rule, we hate his truth. But here's a man who hated, here's
a man who persecuted, who was met by Jesus in the way. And oh, the transformation. One encounter, one conversation,
and soul was changed forever. Oh, what was wrought by these
words from on high. What this heavenly vision wrought
and brought to pass. Who art thou Lord and he said
I am Jesus whom thou persecutest but rise and stand upon thy feet
for I have appeared unto thee for this purpose to make thee
a minister and a witness both of these things which thou hast
seen and of those things in the which I will appear unto thee
delivering thee from the people and from the Gentiles under whom
now I send thee to open their eyes and to turn them from darkness
to light and from the power of Satan unto God that they may
receive forgiveness of sins and inheritance among them which
are sanctified by faith that is in me. Oh what a change and
what ascending! Christ called Saul and he said
unto him that day I'm going to send you forth and you're going
to preach this gospel and the effects of your preaching of
this gospel will be tremendous. The change that I am bringing
to pass in you this day, Saul, will be brought to pass in many
others who hear the Gospel that you're going to preach. I'm going to deliver you from
darkness and bring you to light. I'm delivering you from the power
of Satan that you might receive the forgiveness of your sins
and the inheritance that come and I'm going to send you forth
with such a deliverance to preach that message of salvation to
others like yourself that they might be delivered to And though
you raged and persecuted me and my people, those who rage and
would persecute as you do, who will rage against you when you
seek to preach to them, will try to put you to death like
you try to put me and others to death, though they will rage
against you, I will deliver you from them. and I will make your
message effectual for I have called thee and I am sending
thee delivering thee from the people and from the gentiles
under whom now I send thee to open their eyes as your eyes
are opened and to turn them from darkness to light as your turn
from darkness to light and from the power of Satan unto God as
your turn from the power of Satan unto God that they like you might
receive the forgiveness of sins and inheritance among them which
are sanctified by faith that is in me. Oh what an encounter and what
a result When we meet with God, when we meet with the power of
God in the gospel, and the power of God who is Christ, there is
a change forevermore. We cannot resist and stand in
his way. Paul was sent with a message
which would deliver from the power of Satan, from the power
of sin, from the prince of the power of the air, from the power
of darkness, from the power of death, and from the power of
the grave. He was delivered. And this message
which he preached would, by the power of God, deliver many. Have you heard this message?
have you heard what Paul preached? have you heard the voice of the
Son of God in the message? have you been delivered? oh there's a power in the gospel
and there needs to be a power in the gospel because there are
powers which are set against it and powers which are set against
us by nature to keep us from this salvation, to keep us from
hearing this message, to keep us from hearing this Saviour,
to keep us from this encounter. Everything in this world is set
with a mighty power to keep the lost sheep of Israel from ever
hearing this powerful Gospel. But that which is set against
the Gospel is weaker than the one who said unto Paul, I am
Jesus. Consider this power, for it was
sent to open the eyes to turn from darkness to light and from
the power of Satan. Consider this power of evil which
is set against us. the power of satan the power
of sin the prince of the power of the air the power of darkness
the power of death the power of the grave who could stand in the wake of
these things? the power of satan by nature
we have an adversary satan the very name of which is the adversary
the one who is our opponent or the opponent of Jesus Christ
and the opponent of all who would follow Christ he's the adversary
and he's a powerful adversary and he holds people captive at
will and they cannot stand against him how deceptive he is How we see him introduced as
the serpent in the beginning of the scriptures and how deceptive
he is. This father of lies, how subtle,
how devious, how sly. He comes unto Eve and through
her unto Adam and says, have God said. And he's been whispering that
subtle deceptive word ever since. And he whispers it into the ears
and the hearts of every man, woman and child, you included.
And whenever the truth is declared, and whenever the scriptures are
read, and wherever the gospel is preached, he comes alongside
and whispers, have God said. Is it true? Does God really mean
it? Do you really believe it? And he twists it and he alters
it and he changes it and he brings his whispering lies in and leaves
us not knowing whether we're coming or going. We cannot see
clearly in the face of his deceptions. He's the father of lies. especially
in religion. Oh his master plan, oh how clever
he is to take the gospel, to take the very message in which
is salvation and twist it and alter it oh so subtly oh so slightly
and declare it and preach it throughout the world so that
people think they're hearing the truth when they're hearing.
the voice of Satan, who says of the truth, have God said? Is Christ really God? Is he really man? Was he really without sin? Did he really walk the earth?
Did he really die? Did he truly rise again? Is he
really sovereign? hath God said. Is salvation really of God and
holy of God? Have you not got a will? Is it
not down to you? Are your works really as filthy
rags? Won't God be pleased with something
you've done? Are your works really of no worth? Have God said? Doth not God love all men and
women? Does he not want everyone to
be saved? When God declares plainly in
his gospel that Christ died for his people, the sheep, the elect. The serpent comes alongside and
says, have God said. When God says plainly in his
gospel that your will is corrupt and no man has sought God, no
man has done good, no man has wrought righteousness, none seeketh
after God. Satan says, have God said. And he flatters your pride and
boosts your deceptive heart and says well surely you sought God
and surely God will be pleased with your decision and with your
will have God said. He sets before man a tree in
which the fruit will bring forth a knowledge of good and evil
and says, this is pleasant to eat. And he says, have God said
that thou shalt surely die if thou wilt eat of it? No, eat
of this tree and be as God, be as I am. No good and evil. Get to heaven by your own strength,
have God said. Oh how whispering he is. Oh how subtle he is. Oh how he
leads many to their destruction. But God says salvation is of
the Lord. God says all is of grace. God says your works will damn
you. God says your will is set against
me. God says I will save. and I will save to the uttermost.
God says if you're to be saved, you must meet Jesus in the way. When you are set on persecuting
him and his people, God says this is how I deliver my people.
I meet them when they hate me, when they despise me, when they're
raging against me in their hearts, when their will and their works
are set firmly against me. That's the people I meet. That's the people I save. That's the people for whom Christ
suffered and shed his blood. Salvation is of the Lord. yet there is a power, a power
of Satan who is set against it set against it with his lies
secondly there's a power of evil, of sin that power which lies
within us when man fell in the garden when Eve ate of that fruit
and gave her husband to eat and they ate of the tree of the knowledge
of good and evil it didn't make them gods, it slew them, sin
entered in and it brought chaos and tragedy. Cataclysmic was
its fruit. Terrible was its consequences. And the power of sin within has
then been passed by natural generation onto all men, women and children
ever since. We are captive to sin. We're born sinning, we're born
lying. Because the father of lies has
begat us. and his sin has entered into
us. And we can't help ourselves. We can't help disobeying God. We can't help reacting with anger
to others. We can't prevent ourselves from
raging against God and man. It's natural, we do it, it just
pours out of us. We try to curb it, we try to
be civilised, we try to be good citizens, but it just bubbles
forth. It's in us. We are not civilized
by nature. We are raging sinners murderers
by nature and it only requires the right circumstances for that
to be made visible. The power of sin. Thirdly there
is the prince of the power of the air who is set against us
in Ephesians 2.2 we read of him Satan the devil is the prince
of the power of the air this environment we live in is all
set to pull us down and God has allowed Satan to roam in this
world and to go about as a roaring lion seeking whom he may devour
he's allowed him but he's allowed him because God in the person
of Christ is greater and more powerful, and through his gospel
will deliver his people, and show forth his glory, that God's
power is greater than Satan's. But Satan is the power, the prince
of the power of the air. Oh what he does with the air,
that which we breathe, that which we speak, from the very beginning
he's been the father of lies oh how many voices there are
in this world speaking and uttering against the truth against God
and his gospel and oh how many words Satan has spoken through
the air against the truth and oh how he rules the air these
days with the advancements of science that not only are there
voices which speak but there are voices which travel by radio
wave and television wave and through the air. Who rules these
voices? Do you hear the gospel preached
in truth through the radio and the television? Whose voice comes
forth? Who's dominant? What message
pours forth around this world over the air? Satan's. How we can speak through these
devices to millions at once and lead them astray. We are delivered from the power
of darkness. Fourthly, Colossians 1.13 speaks,
the power of darkness. Satan roams in darkness. at midday O King Saul says I
saw in the way a light from heaven there is light but light is in
God and in his son the Lord Jesus Christ everything outside of
Christ everything outside of God is darkness and that's where
Satan dwells and that's where we dwell by nature we're in darkness We're full of sin, full of hatred,
full of violence. We're in darkness and you can't
see in the dark. Even if you've got your sight
you can't see. Things may be there. The Lord
Jesus may be there. The gospel may be there. The
witnesses of the gospel may be there. But when it's dark you
can't see. John's Gospel says that the light
shone in the darkness and the darkness comprehended it not. Because those in the darkness
were blind and all they saw was the darkness. He had to open their eyes and
open their hearts that the light might shine in. We're captive
to the darkness and no amount of learning, no amount of study
will open your eyes. God must do it. You must meet
Jesus in the way. Fifthly, there's the power of
death that stands in our way and stands in the way of the
Gospel. Hebrews 2.14, the power of death. Sin entered man and death by
sin. We're all captive to death, it's
inevitable. We are dead spiritually by nature
and one day our physical bodies will die. We cannot escape death. How can we escape it? It comes
upon us. Tick-tock, tick-tock, tick-tock
until your last breath goes. And then with the passing of
time, death approaches and then it sets its arm upon you and
you plunge through to the other side. You cannot escape because
your sin has earned it. is the inevitable consequence
of your sin and your rebellion death and it's a power and we
cannot stand against it. And lastly, sixthly there's the
power of the grave in relation. When you die you fall into the
grave. As Psalm 49, 15 refers. And you can't rise from the grave. When Lazarus died and was in
the grave he had no strength to rise. One had to come his
way, Jesus, who spake unto him and through his speech Lazarus
rose. But you can't rise by nature. Oh, there are powers set against
us. the power of Satan. And you need
a greater power if you're ever to be delivered. And that power
lies in this one we saw met on the way. I am Jesus. Christ and his gospel is the
power of God under salvation. If he meets us, then no matter
what powers are set against us, No matter what strength Satan
uses, no matter what subtlety and lies he spins and deceives
us with, nothing he does can stand in the way of the gospel.
Because this Jesus, when he died, when he rose again, he triumphed
over principalities and powers. He took all these six powers,
the power of Satan, power of sin, the prince of the power
of the air, the power of darkness, the power of death, the power
of the grave. He took them all and destroyed them all at the
cross. He destroyed them all. He destroyed
death. He destroyed the grave. He wrought
salvation. He brought about a complete justification. He triumphed. the cross. The seven I am's crushed the
six powers of Satan. Oh Satan bruised his heel but
he crushed the serpent's head. Oh what a place the cross is,
what a place where darkness met light and where the world went
dark for three hours when the light of the sun was taken away,
when the powers of darkness came upon the Son of God, the light
of God, and darkness met the light. And what a battle it was
because the world went dark when Christ suffered as he bore the
sins of his people as he was made sin. The world went dark
But it didn't remain. It didn't remain. Christ triumphed. He crushed Satan's head. He crushed
him. He delivered his people from
their sins. He paid the price for all the
sin. All their sins. Satan, sin, the
power of the air, darkness, death. The grave met their end. They were swallowed up in victory. and Christ rose victorious, and
ascended, and sat down, and from glory preaches a full and finished
salvation of grace, and says unto sinners like Saul, like
you, like I, I am Jesus, whom thou persecutest. I am Jesus. I have saved my people from their
sins. I have taken your sin and borne
it away. I have made you to be the righteousness
of God. I've shed my blood. I've washed
you. My blood is your hope. I've delivered
my people. I am Jesus. He cries out, O death,
where is thy sting? O grave, where is thy victory? The sting of death is sin and
the strength of sin is the law but thanks be to God which giveth
us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ. Have you seen his
victory? Do you know his salvation? Have
you heard him in the way saying unto you in particular, I am
Jesus? I am Jesus.