Now this is the continuation
of Paul's defining of the gospel. You'll remember last week we
looked at 1 Corinthians chapter 15, verse 1 through 4, where
Paul actually gave us the content of the gospel, but his thoughts
are not over. And let's pick up reading in verse 5. And that he was seen. of Cephas, or Peter, then of
the twelve. Now this is after he was raised
from the dead. Verse 4 says he was buried and that he rose again
the third day according to the Scriptures, and that he was seen
of Peter, then of the twelve. After that, he was seen of above
500 brethren at once, of whom the greater part remain unto
this present, but some are falling asleep. And after that, he was
seen of James. And this is not one of the 12,
this is, I believe, the Lord's brother, James. And then of all the apostles,
and last of all, he was seen of me also. as of one born out
of due time." Now, I've entitled this message, Christ Seen. Christ Seen. Now, the gospel is what it is. What somebody believes about
it doesn't have any bearing as to what the gospel actually is.
It's an objective message in the word of God. It's how the
Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures. The gospel
is what it is. But you know what? While it is
what it is, it doesn't do me any good unless I experience
the gospel. unless I experience the Lord
Jesus Christ. Now in verses five through eight,
that passage of scripture I just read, we read of six different
appearings of Christ to some people after his resurrection. And you might say this is when
they experienced him in his resurrection. They saw him. Now the word seen in our text
is literally, he appeared to them. Hebrews chapter 9 verse
28, the same word that's translated seen is translated appear. Listen
to this, Hebrews 9, 28, unto them that look for him shall
he appear. That's the same word. Unto them
that look for him shall he appear the second time without seeing
unto salvation. Now he appeared to these people. He showed himself to these people. He made himself known to these
people. They wouldn't have seen him unless
he appeared to them and made himself known to him. You know,
we can only know him as he makes himself known. The only way I
can know the Lord is if he makes himself known to me. Now, if
he makes himself known to me, I'll know it. But if he doesn't
make himself known to me, I'm not going to know it. I'm totally
dependent upon him making himself known. Now, the gospel is the
gospel, but it's not going to do me any good unless I see the
Lord, unless he appears to me. Now these are not the only appearances
of Christ after his resurrection. We read where he appeared to
Mary Magdalene. You remember that? That's the
first person he appeared to, Mary Magdalene, the one out of
whom he cast seven devils. And he appeared to two others
on the road to Emmaus in Luke chapter 24. I love to read that
passage of scripture where they say, did not our hearts burn
within us as he opened to us the scripture. And I believe
I know something about that heartburn when the Lord opens the scripture
to me and I'm made to see and I rejoice in it. He appeared
to the two on the road to Emmaus. Now, we also read where he appeared
to Thomas. Remember doubting Thomas? And
Thomas said, I will not believe except I see, you know, the prince
in his hands and feet and put my finger in his side and unless
I see that I won't believe it. He appeared to him, didn't he?
And he made himself known. And then remember when the disciples
were out on the fishing boat. Peter said, I go fishing. And
I believe what Peter meant by that is I'm going back to being
a fisherman. I've just had it with this disciple business.
There's no point in continuing. I'm going back to being a fisherman.
And he appeared to the disciples from the boat where they saw
it on the shore. Turn with me to Acts chapter
one. You know, the Lord was on the earth 40 days after his resurrection,
appearing to people. Acts chapter one. Verse one, this former treatise,
have I made, O Theophilus, of all that Jesus began both to
do and teach into the day in which he was taken up, after
that he through the Holy Ghost had given commandments unto the
apostles whom he had chosen, to whom also he showed himself
alive after his passion, after his death and resurrection, by
many infallible proofs, being seen of them forty days, and
speaking of them, of the things pertaining to the kingdom of
God. Now, he made many appearances
to his disciples, but for some reason, God, the Holy Spirit
has Paul inspired to mention six different appearances after
his resurrection. And I believe that in these six
different appearances, we find out what a believer's experience
of Christ is. Now, I hope I'm able to make
good on this. Christ is who he is whether I
experience him or not. And who he is doesn't have anything
to do with my experience or my thoughts. He is who he is. The
gospel is the gospel whether I believe it or not. It doesn't
change the actual content of the gospel. But it's not gospel
to me. It's not good news to me unless
I experience the gospel. And so I believe we see something
of what a believer experiences of the Lord in these six appearings
that are mentioned to his people. Now, many use this scripture
in 1 Corinthians 15 as a proof that we need to the truth of
the gospel. Now, here's the verification
of the gospel. This is what proves it's true.
Christ was raised from the dead and everybody saw it. It must
be true. I mean, after all, he was seeing
the 500 brethren at once. So that proves the truthfulness
of the gospel. Now, did you know that nobody
has ever believed because of historical evidence? Nobody's ever believed just because
of, you know, you can prove it to be true. Well, 500 people
saw it. You must believe. That's not
going to make anybody believe. You see, faith is not something where
you weigh the physical evidence and you weigh what you hear and
you decide, well, it must be true because of what I heard.
No, faith is a revelation. Faith is the gift of God. It's
not something you just come up with. The only way you believe
is if He gives you faith and if He appears to you. And when
He appears to you, Now the first appearance mentioned
by Paul in 1 Corinthians 15, verse 5, is the appearance to
Peter. And he was seen of Cephas. He
was seen of Cephas. That's Peter. That's rock. That's
Peter. He was seen of Peter. We read in Luke 24, verse 34,
the Lord is risen indeed and hath appeared to Simon. He appeared
to Peter in a special way. Now, we're not given the details
of that appearance, but I know what surrounds this appearance.
Now, you remember what had taken place. Turn back to Mark 14.
Mark 14, verse 26. And when they had sung a hymn,
they went out into the Mount of Olives. And Jesus saith unto
them, Mark 14, 27, And Jesus saith unto them, All you shall
be offended because of me this night. For it is written, I will
smite the shepherd, and the sheep will be scattered. But after
that I am risen. I will go before you into Galilee."
Now, right before he died, he tells them, I'm going to be raised
from the dead. He tells them in no uncertain
terms. But Peter said unto him, although all shall be offended,
yet will not I. Now, James might, John might,
Thomas might. Those fellows, I can see. I've
always been suspected in many ways. I can see why they would
be offended, but I'll never be offended. And he meant it when
he said it. He really believed it. I mean,
he thought his love to Christ was such that he would not deny
Him. Though everybody else will. Not
me. And Jesus, verse 30, saith unto
him, Verily I say unto thee, that this day, even in this night
before the cock crowed twice, You'll deny me three times. And he spake the more vehemently.
If I should die with thee, I'll not deny thee in any wise. Likewise
said the rest of that bunch. Now, Peter said, I'm not going
to deny you. Now you know what happened. Look
in the same chapter in verse 66. And as Peter was beneath in the
palace, there cometh one of the maids of the high priest." I
mean, just a maid. And when she saw Peter warming
himself, she looked upon him and said, and thou also was with
Jesus of Nazareth? But he denied, saying, I know
not, neither understand I what thou sayest. And he went out
into the porch, and the cock crowed. Now, you remember, he
remembered the Lord telling him that the cock would crow. And
you'd think he would have been on his guard at this time and
done anything he could to stop it. That's just what he said. Now let's go on reading. And
a maid saw him again, not a soldier, not a man with a spear that could
have done it, a little maid, a little maid whom he should,
you know, you usually think of Peter as being a really courageous
person, but here he's just scared to death. And a maid saw him
again and began to say to them that stood by, this is one of
them. And he denied it again. And a little after, they that
stood by said again to Peter, surely thou art one of them,
for thou art a Galilean, and thy speech agreeth thereto. It's
obvious you're one of them. And what did he do? He began
to curse, using all kinds of abusive language, and to swear,
saying, I know not this man of whom you speak. I don't even
know who he is. And the second time the cot grew,
And Peter called to mind the word that Jesus said unto him,
before the cock crowed twice, thou shalt deny me thrice. And
when he thought thereon, he wept. Now, how must Peter have felt? Try to put yourself in his place.
He denied the Lord Jesus Christ. And I have no doubt that he remembered
the words of the Lord Jesus. Whoso denieth me before men,
Him also will I deny before my Father which is in heaven." He
remembered those words. And what do you think he thought
that said about him? He believed it was over with
him. I have no doubt that Peter believed
himself to be a reprobate. There's no hope for me. Look
what I've been guilty of. Peter had been controlled by
the fear of man. He denied the Lord and he thought,
I'm cut off. I've sinned beyond grace. I've
sinned beyond mercy. There's no hope for me. Lord's
going to die. I denied him before men. And
He's going to deny me on judgment day before His Father, which
is in heaven. Now, Peter was a mess. Now look at Mark chapter
16, verse 7. This is the angel speaking to
the women who they appeared to after the resurrection of Christ.
He said, but go your way. Tell His disciples. And look
at these next two words. And Peter. Now, why did he say,
and Peter? I know exactly why he said, and
Peter. I guarantee you, if he wouldn't have said, and Peter,
Peter wouldn't have thought he was one of the disciples he told
him to go tell about. He would have thought, I'm not
one of them. He doesn't need me. But God in his mercy, Christ
Jesus, the gracious one, says, you go tell his disciples, but
you especially tell Peter. Tell Peter. that He goeth before you into
Galilee, and there shall you see Him, as I said unto you."
Now, we're not given the details of this special appearing He
made to Peter. We're also not given the details
of the special appearing He made to the 500 brethren at once.
We just know it because it's mentioned here in 1 Corinthians
15, but it's not mentioned anywhere else in the Scriptures. But the
Lord made this a special appearance to Peter, and here's the point.
The Lord appears to us in grace when we see that we are nothing
but sin. Now that's when He appears. He
appears in grace, He appears in mercy when we see that we
are nothing but sin. I guarantee you that's what Peter
saw about himself. There's nothing to me. There's nothing to me. He's not going to appear to me.
But who did he appear to? Who did he especially pick out? You go tell my disciples, but
you especially tell Peter that I go before him. You see, it
is easy to rejoice in the gospel. How that Christ died for our
sins according to the scriptures. It's easy to rejoice in this.
When we read in 1 Timothy 1.15, this is a faithful saying and
worthy of all acceptation. Everybody ought to rejoice in
this. That Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners,
of whom I am the chief. It's easy to rejoice in that
when you're a sinner. You know, it's easy to trust
Jesus Christ as your only righteousness before God when you have no righteousness. Now, when you think you have
some, you can't trust him as your righteousness before God.
But here's how he appears to us. He appears to us in mercy
when we're made to see that there's really nothing to us. We're nothing
but sin in and of ourself. Now, I can hear the gospel now. Back to our text in 1 Corinthians
15. First, we see he appears to us
when we see we're nothing but sin. And that's when he appears in
mercy and grace. Now, here's the second appearing
we read about in verse five. He was seen in Cephas, then of
the twelve. He appeared to the twelve. Now we read of another appearance
a few days later, but this is his first appearance of the twelve.
So let's read about that. Would you turn with me to Mark,
chapter 16. Mark 16. It's recorded in all
the Gospels, but I want to look at Mark 16. It gives us some
details that the others don't give. Mark 16, verse 9. Now, when Jesus was risen early
the first day of the week, He appeared first to Mary Magdalene,
out of whom He had cast seven devils. And she went and told
them that had been with Him as they mourned and wept. And they, when they had heard
that He was alive and had been seen of her, rejoiced." This
is exactly what He said. He said He was going to raise
from the dead three days later. He told us that on many occasions,
He's good to His Word. He didn't say that, did He? After what the Lord said to them,
and on at least three different occasions, he said, I'm going
to be crucified, I'm going to be buried, and three days later,
I'm going to be risen from the dead. Now, you would think that
they would have been waiting outside of the sepulchre, which
three days, you know, he's good. But they didn't believe. As a
matter of fact, in Luke's account, it says that what Mary said seemed
to them as idle tales. They did not believe. Now, let's go on reading. Verse 12. And after they had appeared in
another form unto two of them that walked and went into the
country, and then he went and told it to the residue, neither
believed they then. Afterwards, he appeared unto
the eleven as they said it meet. and upbraided them. Now, here's this appearance.
They said, he's going to come. Mary Magdalene told them they
didn't believe her. But afterwards, he appeared unto the eleven as
they said it meet. And he upbraided them with their
unbelief and hardness of heart because they believed not them
which had seen him after he was risen. Now, here's his second
appearance and what does he do? Well, they don't believe. Does
that mean they weren't believers? No, it doesn't mean they weren't
believers. They were believers, but you know, believers have
something called the flesh. And this thing called the flesh,
it can be guilty of unbelief. And there's no excuse for their
unbelief. The Lord told them in no uncertain
terms, three days later, I'm going to be risen from the dead.
I'm going to walk out of that tomb. They had every reason to
believe, but they didn't. But here's the point I want to
make. The only answer to my unbelief, there's nothing I can do about
it. I can't make myself believe. I can't work it up. I can't. The only answer to my unbelief
is when He appears to me. And when He appears to me, I
believe. They believe now. There He is
right in front of them, talking to them. Now He has raised them
because of their unbelief, because of their hardness of heart, because
they didn't believe what He said. And they were guilty of that,
but the only Remedy for unbelief is for him to come in power and
make himself known. And when he makes himself known,
you believe. And not before then. Unbelief is evil to the core,
and we're powerless to deliver ourselves from it. But when he
makes himself known, we cannot not believe. Now try it. Are you a believer? Try to not
believe. You can't do it, can you? Because
you're a believer. And he makes himself known. Now
the third appearance he mentions in our text, in 1 Corinthians
chapter 15, is found in verse 6. After that, he was seen of above
500 brethren at once. of whom the greater part remain
under this present, but some are fallen asleep. Now he talks
about his appearance to 500 brethren at once. And I think it's interesting
that that's never mentioned in the Gospels or in the book of
Acts. It's not mentioned in the epistles
anywhere except for here. You'd think that would be mentioned.
He was seen by 500 brethren at once, but he wasn't. He wasn't.
He was just seen by 500 different men and women at once. Now, what this reminds us of
is that while historical evidence does not create faith, faith
is the gift of God. You're not going to believe just
because somebody's talked you into it and made it to where,
well, I mean, the evidence is in. 500 brethren saw him. And
that would stand in court of law, wouldn't it? I mean, if
500 brethren saw him, 500 eyewitnesses, that'd stand in court of law.
Now, while it's true that we're not going to believe just because
we see these physical evidences and so on, It is equally true that it's true. Five hundred brethren at once
saw Him. It's a fact. Now the resurrection
of Christ, that is the proof of the success of the Gospel.
That's the proof that He did what He said He was going to
do when God raised Him from the dead. Now what does resurrection
mean? When Christ was raised from the dead, Everybody He died
for was raised with Him. He was delivered for our offenses,
Romans 4 says, and He was raised again for our justification.
Now here's the glory of Christ's resurrection. When He was raised
from the dead, all of the elect were justified. I was justified
when He was raised from the dead. In God's sight, I was justified. And if I'm justified in God's
sight, I'm justified. But you weren't even born then.
I know, but I was in the Lord Jesus Christ. When he was raised
from the dead, I was raised from the dead. Every one of God's
elect, all of God's people were raised when he was raised and
they were justified. Now that's a fact. That's a fact. Facts are facts. I'm justified
by what he did. That's a fact. I'm thankful for
the facts of the gospel. Yes, I don't believe simply because
500 other people saw it. That's not why I believe. But
I'm thankful for this encouragement. 500 brethren saw it. It's a fact. And everything he did was a fact.
When he kept the law for me, it was a fact. There's my righteousness.
When he died for me, there's a fact. My sin was paid for.
When he was raised from the dead, there's a fact. I'm justified
before God. I don't believe simply because
there were 500 brethren that saw him after the resurrection,
but I believe the 500 saw him because they did. This is a fact. Our gospel is not a fable. It's
not a fiction. It's a fact. Hence our assurance. And then it says in 1 Corinthians
15, verse 7, After that, he was seen of James. He was seen of James. Now this
is, I feel sure that this is not James the Apostle who was
killed in Acts chapter 12. This is an appearance to James
the Lord's brother. He's the one who wrote the book
of James. Do you know who James was? He was the first New Testament He was the pastor of the church
at Jerusalem, and the Lord made a special appearance to him. Look, he wrote the book of James. Now, what's the point of this?
Why does he bring out to us that he appeared to James? Well, the
Lord appears to me. In studying, in seeking to get
a word from God, He appears to me. I'm telling the truth. I know
He does. And you know what He does through
that? He appears to you. He appears through the preaching
of the gospel. Titus 1.3 says He had manifested
His word through which was committed to my trust." Our Lord said concerning
His disciples, He said, He that heareth you, heareth Me. And he that despiseth you, despiseth
Me. The Lord appears in what we're
doing right now. How many times has the Lord appeared
to you to where you saw Him in the preaching of the Word? And you knew He was real more
than if you saw Him physically. You really believe this. That's
what the Lord does. He appears in the preaching of
the Word. And that's why I think He tells
us about this appearance to James. James was the first pastor at
the church at Jerusalem. And the Lord appeared to him.
And I tell you what, the Lord appeared to a whole lot of people
through James, and He appeared to those people just as real
as He did James. Now, if the Lord appeared to
me, it's for this purpose, that He might appear to you through
the preaching of the Gospel. That's just the way the Lord
works. God has manifested his word through preaching. How should
they hear without a preacher? How should they preach except
they be seen? That's just what the scripture teaches. The Lord
appeared through James. Now, back to our text. In 1 Corinthians
chapter 15. He was seen of James and then
of all the apostles, he talks about another appearance to the
apostles. Now, this is when he gave them
special instructions regarding being his witness. Turn with
me to Matthew chapter 28. I guess this was right before
he, this was about 40 days, I think, after his resurrection, when
he was preparing to ascend back to his father. We read in Matthew
chapter 28, verse 18, And Jesus came and spake unto
them, saying, All power is given unto me in
heaven and in earth. All power belongs to him. Now
he says, you go therefore, because all power is given to me. Go
ye therefore and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of
the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Ghost, teaching them
to observe all things whatsoever I've commanded you. Lo, I'm with
you always, even unto the end of the world. Turn over to Acts
chapter 1. Acts chapter 1. We're going to pick up reading in verse
4. And being assembled together
with them, He commanded them that they should not depart from
Jerusalem, but wait for the promise of the Father, which, saith he,
you have heard of me. For John truly baptized with
water, but you shall be baptized with the Holy Ghost not many
days hence. When they therefore were come together, they asked
of him, saying, Lord, wilt thou at this time restore again the
kingdom to Israel?" You know, even after his resurrection,
they were still looking for a political kingdom. And he answers them,
and he said unto them, It is not for you to know the times
and the seasons, which the Father hath put in his own power, but
You shall receive power after that the Holy Ghost has come
upon you and you shall be witnesses unto me both in Jerusalem and
all Judea and Samaria and unto the uttermost parts of the earth.
You're going to be my witnesses. Now what's a witness? It kills me the way churches
give classes to teach people how to witness. Now, that sounds
dishonest right at the very beginning, doesn't it? I mean, do you have
to train a witness? That means you're training them to lie,
doesn't it? You're training them to try to stretch the truth.
No, you are a witness if you've seen something. You know, we
get the word martyr from this. You've seen something and it's
something that's so precious to you, you're willing to die.
Now, our Lord appears to His disciples to let them know something
about them being commissioned to be a witness. Now, what this
lets me know is my purpose for being here, your purpose for
being here, is what? To be His witness. Any other reasons? No. No. Why has the Lord left you here?
He could have brought you up into glory. His purpose in leaving
you here was to be His witness to all men of what you've seen
and what you've heard. You see, you haven't, for lack
of a better word, you haven't experienced Christ if you don't
want other people to experience Christ. You haven't heard the
gospel if you don't want other people to hear the gospel. You
want to be His witness. So He appeared to these people
and He commissioned them to be His witness. Now, the last one
is found in verse 8. Let's look at that together in
1 Corinthians chapter 15. First, He appeared to Cephas.
He appears to us in our sinfulness and shows us His grace. Then
He appeared to the twelve in their unbelief and gave them
faith. And then He appeared to five
hundred brethren at once, shows the factualness of the gospel,
of whom the greater part remain unto the present, but some are
fallen asleep. And after that He was seen of James, He appears
through the preaching of the word. He appears through what
we're doing right now. Then again, of all the apostles
to make them witnesses. And Paul says in verse eight,
and last of all, he was seen of me also. Last because I am
the last, Paul says. He says, I'm the least of the
apostles. And it's not even fit for me
to be even called an apostle. Paul said about himself, because
I've persecuted the church of God. And I think this is very
interesting. I have read, I don't know if
it's settled, but I've read that 1 Corinthians is the first epistle
Paul ever wrote. You know what he calls himself
in this first epistle? He says, I'm the least of the apostles.
And then you go on through the middle of his ministry, when
he wrote the book of Ephesians, you know what he wrote? I am
less than the least of all the saints. And then right before
he died, when he was speaking to Timothy, you know what he
wrote? I'm the chief of sinners. And that was Paul's view of himself.
He says, last to me, he appeared. as one born out of due time. Now this, when he appeared to
Paul, he's talking about his appearance to him on the road
to Damascus. Now do you remember what Paul was doing? He was going
to arrest people who believed on the Lord Jesus Christ. He
hated Jesus Christ. He didn't want to have anything
to do with him. He hated everybody who loved him. And he wanted
to put out of business anybody who called upon his name. If
you called upon the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, he was going
to have you arrested and have you bound and thrown into prison.
Acts, he wasn't on his way to a prayer meeting. He wasn't on
his way to being encouraged. He was going to kill the... He
hated Jesus Christ. There he is on the road to Damascus
and the Lord appears to him. Let's read about it in Acts chapter
22. His own account. Acts chapter 22. Now, before I read this passage
of Scripture, let me remind you of this. Paul said in 1 Timothy
1.16 that he was a pattern. To them which should hereafter
believe on him that everlasting life. Now, if I'm set, if you're
set, we're going to follow the pattern of the Apostle Paul.
We're going to experience the same thing he experienced. We're
going to hear the same thing. We're going to hear the same
gospel. And we say it the same way. He said he's a pattern. I mean,
literally a mold. I mean, you're going to fit this
mold. Somebody says you can't put everybody
in the same mold. Well, I understand that in a
way. I understand that in a way. But in another way, yeah, everybody's
in the same mold. If I'm saved, I'm saved the same
way you were saved by the grace of God. I believe the same gospel
you believe. It was through the hearing of
the gospel that I first heard, I'm saved the same way. And that
seems we're all alike, aren't we? I mean, there's just no difference.
We have the same experience. Now look here at Acts chapter
22. Paul is giving his own testimony. He says in verse 1, Men and brethren
and fathers, hear ye my defense which I now make unto you. And
after they had heard that he spake in the Hebrew tongue to
them, they kept them more silent than he saith. I am barely a
man which am a Jew, born in Tarsus, a city in Cilicio, yet brought
up in this city at the feet of Gamaliel, he tells them where
he went to seminary. I was taught according to the perfect manner
of the law of the fathers, and I was zealous toward God as you
are all this day. And I persecuted this way, this
way of Christ, I persecuted this way unto the death. binding and
delivering into prisons both men and women, as also the high
priest doth bear me witness in all the estate of the elders,
from whom also I received letters unto the brethren, and went to
Damascus to bring them which were there, bound unto Jerusalem,
for to be punished." That's why I was going to Damascus. And
it came to pass that as I made my journey and was come nigh
unto Damascus about noon, suddenly there shone from heaven A gray
light round about me. And another account in Acts 26
says it was a light above the brightness of the sun. Now who
is that? That's the Lord himself. He appeared
to Paul. And what did Paul do? I fell
to the ground. And this I know, if I ever see
who Jesus Christ is, there's one way I'm going. Down to the
ground. Everybody who sees Him will.
It happens to everybody. You know, you can't see the Lord
and be proud. It is not going to happen. You
see Him, you're going to hit the dirt in the dust of repentance,
confessing who you are. He said, I fell to the ground
and I heard a voice saying unto me, Saul, Saul, Why persecutest
thou me? And I answered, Who art thou,
Lord? And he said unto me, I am Jesus of Nazareth, whom thou
persecutest. And they that were with me saw
indeed the light, and they were afraid, but they heard not the
voice of him that spake to me. I heard something they didn't
hear. And I said, What shall I do, Lord? And that's what everybody
who hears from him did. What shall I? You're the Lord.
What shall I do? And the Lord said unto me, Arise
and go into Damascus, and there it shall be told thee of all
things which are appointed for thee to do. And when I could
not see for the glory of that light being led by the hand of
them that were with me, I came into Damascus and won Ananias. A devout man, according to the
law, having a good report of all the Jews which dwelt there,
came unto me and stood and said unto me, Brother Saul, Receive
thy sight. Isn't that sweet? He comes to
this persecutor and says, Brother Saul. Why'd he do that? The Lord told him to. He said,
Ananias, you go inquire at a certain street. There Saul is. He's a
chosen vessel unto me. And Ananias said, Lord, I know
what type of man this is. Why? He said, no. He's mine. He's a chosen vessel unto me.
Now let's go on reading. And Ananias, a devout man according
to the law, having a good report of all the Jews which dwell up
there, came unto me and stood and said unto me, Brother Saul,
receive thy sight. And the same hour I looked upon
him, and here he hears the gospel, and he said, The God of our fathers
hath chosen thee. First thing he heard was divine
election. And you know, I think when people,
I don't think it, I know it. When people hear the gospel, here's
what the first confronted with, that God is God. Divine election. The God of our fathers hath chosen
thee. I know that I didn't hear the
gospel until I was confronted with this. God has elected a
people and there wasn't anything I could do to make myself one
of them. When I was confronted with that,
that God had elected a people, there's nothing I could do to
save myself. Salvation was totally out of my hand. It was out of
my control. I didn't have any control. You know what I did?
God be merciful to me. The only hope I have is His. God of our fathers hath chosen
thee, that thou shouldst know his will. Now, Paul knew the
Ten Commandments backwards and forwards. He's not talking about
his will of command, he's talking about his will of redemption. This is the will of him that
sent me, that of all which he hath given me I should lose nothing. You'll know his will of redemption
that everybody that Christ died for must be saved. You should
know His will and see that just one who is, there's just one,
just one, the Lord Jesus Christ. And I see how, and this is the
saving sight. This is when He appears to me
in saving mercy. I see how God can be just and
yet justify somebody like me. I'm unjust in and of myself. But God can be just, and through
the work of the Lord Jesus Christ, through what Christ did on the
cross, he justifies somebody like me. He indeed is that just
one. And you should hear the voice
of his mouth, he said in verse 14. You know what that means?
That means when you hear the gospel, you hear it's God's word.
It's not man's word. It's not Todd and I were playing
on things. It's not a certain church's view, no, it's the very
gospel, it's the Word of God. You hear the voice of His mouth,
for thou shalt be His witness to all men of what you've seen
and heard. And now, what are you waiting
on? Arise and be baptized, wash away thy sins, calling upon the
name of the Lord. Now remember, pause the pattern.
And when the Lord appears to you in salvation, He's going
to appear to you the same way He did Paul. You're going to
find out that the God of our fathers has chosen you. And you're going to know His
will. I'm not talking about His will,
but you're going to see that it's the will of God that everybody that
Christ died for be saved. You're going to see how God can
be just and justifier. You're going to be His witness
to all men of what you've seen and heard. Now the gospel is
what it is. And it becomes gospel to us.
It becomes good news to us when we experience it. When the Lord appears to us. I know He lives because He has
appeared to me. Let's pray.