Todd's Road Grace Church would
like to invite you to listen to a sermon by our pastor, Todd
Neiberg. We are located at 4137 Todd's
Road, two miles outside of Manowar Boulevard. Sunday services are
at 1030 a.m. and 6 p.m. Bible study is at
945 a.m. Wednesday services are at 7 p.m. Nursery is provided for all services.
For more information, visit our website at toddsroadgracechurch.com.
Now here's our pastor, Todd Nybert. I'm reading from Acts chapter
22, verse one, when Paul says to the people who have just tried
to murder him, that's important. We read in verse 31 of chapter
21, and as they went about to kill him, Now, these are the
people that Paul is speaking to, and he says, men, brethren,
and fathers. I think of how respectful he
is to these people, even though they had done that. You know,
disrespect is always ugly, and Paul treated these people with
respect, even though they had tried to kill him. Somebody says,
makes sense of that to me. I can't, but he did. He said,
Men, brethren, and fathers, hear ye my defense, which I now make
unto you. Now in this 22nd chapter of Acts,
we have Paul's defense before those people who wanted him dead. Now, it's going to take two messages
to bring this message. I'll be preaching once again
on this next week, because this defense can be divided up into
two sections, and we'll consider each section. Paul's defense. Now, I want to read you a passage
of Scripture in 1 Timothy 1, verse 16. Paul said, "'Howbeit
for this cause I obtained mercy.' This is why God saved me, that
in me first, Jesus Christ might show forth all longsuffering
for a pattern to them which should hereafter believe on him to life
everlasting. Now, Paul says, I'm the pattern.
If God saves you, he will save you the way he saved me. My experience of grace is a pattern. If you have experienced God's
grace, you will experience God's grace the same way I have. God has made me the pattern. Now that's scripture. So keep
that in mind as we consider Paul's defense. He says, hear ye my
defense. Now, this word defense is where
the word apologetics comes from. Perhaps you've heard of the term
apologetics, and men have changed the meaning of it. Today we have
men trying to defend the gospel against its critics and its opponents,
and they call that apologetics. That is not what Paul meant. May I suggest to you that the
truth does not need men to defend it. Just speak the truth and
it will defend itself. Now, when Paul is giving his
defense, he is simply telling these people his experience,
what God had taught him, and why he did what he did. He preached the gospel. to them. He wasn't trying to
answer his critics or prove them wrong. That is just derogatory
to the truth, to debate as to what's right and what's wrong.
God's truth is true. Let God be true and every man
a liar. And Paul was very keenly aware
of that as he brought this message to these people who had tried
to kill him. Now, verse two says, and when
they heard that he spake in the Hebrew tongue to them, they kept
the more silent. Now, they wanted to hear what
he said at this time. And so he begins. I am verily
a man which am a Jew. I'm a Jew just like you are,
born in Tarsus, a city in Cilicia, yet brought up in this city,
Jerusalem, at the feet of Gamaliel. Now, he was the leading teacher
of the law, and everyone knew exactly what he was talking about.
I guess you could say Paul was giving them his credentials in
human religion, and they would have all respected Gamaliel.
He said, I was brought up at the feet of Gamaliel and taught
according to the perfect manner of the law of the fathers and
was zealous toward God as you all are this day. You're zealous,
I was just as zealous as you with regard to what you presently
believe. Now remember, he's giving his
experience of grace. He's giving his defense. Now
he says in verse four, And I persecuted this way, this way of Christ,
this way of the gospel. You know, Christ said, I am the
way. We read in the New Testament of the way of the Lord, the way
of God, the way of righteousness, the way of peace, the way of
truth, the right way. the way of salvation, the narrow
way, the more excellent way, the way they call heresy. Now
this is the way of the gospel. Christ said, I am the way. And
Paul said, I persecuted this way unto the death, binding and
delivering into prisons both men and women. I felt it my moral
obligation to God to persecute all the people that were of this
way because I believed them to be opposed to God. opposed to
the Scriptures, and I felt it my moral obligation to persecute
this way." You know, the Scripture says in Acts 9 he was breathing
out threatenings and slaughter against the church. He wanted
to stamp out the name of Jesus Christ, and he thought he was
serving God in doing so. And then he says in verse five,
is also the high priest that bear me witness and all the estate
of the elders from whom also I received letters unto the brethren
and went to Damascus to bring them that were there bound unto
Jerusalem for to be punished. Now the high priest can get bear
witness to what I'm saying. I'm telling you the truth. This
was my experience. I was just like you. Verse six, and it came to pass. God purposed it and it came to
pass. That can be said of everything. God purposed it and it came to
pass. As I made my journey and was come nigh unto Damascus. Remember, he was going there
to arrest people who professed to be believers and have them
thrown into prison. Somebody once said Paul wasn't on his
way to a prayer meeting. He was on his way to kill some Christians.
That's exactly what he wanted to do. But we read about noon,
suddenly there shone from heaven a great light round about me. Now, in the account in Acts chapter
9, we read where the light was above the brightness of the sun. Now, I don't know how bright
that is. I know how bright the sun is, but this was brighter.
And what that lets us know is in the experience of grace for
every believer, it begins with light. Salvation, in our experience,
always begins with light. Now, if you're in a dark room
with no light, you can't see what's in there. It's in there,
but you can't see it. But when someone turns the lights
on, you see exactly what is there. And in this thing of salvation,
God gives light. We're naturally blind. We cannot
see. God gives us light concerning
His true character. And when He gives us light concerning
His true character, we're given light about our true character,
how sinful we are, how far off the mark we are, how unlike God
we are. But wherever He gives the light
of His character and the light of our sinfulness, oh, He also
gives the light of the gospel, how God can be just and justify
the ungodly. What glorious light there is
in the gospel. John put it this way in 1 John
1, verse 5, he said, This is the message that we've
heard of him in declaring to you that God is light, and in
him is no darkness at all. Now, when he had seen this light,
verse 7 says, and I fell unto the ground. Artists have depicted
him falling off a horse, and perhaps he did, but it doesn't
say that. But he did fall to the ground. Now here's the point. If I'm given light, it will knock
me down from my high views of myself, and my cockiness, and
my arrogance, and my pride, and it'll bring me into the dust
to see that I'm nothing but a sinner before God. Paul didn't know
that until he saw the light. And when he saw the light, he
went to the ground. If you and I ever see the light,
it will humble us. It'll bring us down, and that's
a good thing. It's only when you're brought
down that you can hear the gospel. But Paul said, I fell to the
ground, and I heard a voice. He heard the voice of the Lord
Jesus. He didn't know it at that time,
saying unto me, Saul, Saul, why persecutest thou me? Now, this is the word of the
Lord Jesus Christ to Saul. And when he said, Saul, Saul,
I have no doubt that it is the word of love. You see, Saul was
a chosen vessel unto the Lord. And he loved this man. And he
said, why are you persecuting me? Now, the Lord was at the
right hand of the father. Paul couldn't get to him. But
when Paul was persecuting his people, he was persecuting the
Lord Jesus himself because the Lord Jesus is one with his people. What's done unto them is done
unto him. Saul, Saul, why persecutest thou
me? And I answered, who art thou,
Lord? Now, Paul asks a question that
very few ever ask. Who are you, Lord? You see, Men have their preconceived notions
as to who he is, and they hold on to them all the way to hell. What a sad thing, but what a
blessing when someone finds out he does not know God. Who are you, Lord? I have no idea who you are. And he answered, I am Jesus of
Nazareth, whom thou persecutest. Jesus of Nazareth, the one you
hate, I'm the one you are persecuting. The one, I'm the one, you're
trying to stamp my name out. I am the one you are trying to
persecute. Now look what verse nine says.
And they that were with me, he had a group with him, saw indeed
the light and were afraid, but they heard not the voice of Him
that spake to me. Now they had some light, but
they didn't hear the voice. Now here are two things I must
have, light and I've got to hear His voice. I'm not talking about
hearing His voice audibly. If somebody says, the Lord said
this to me, or the Lord said that to me, I think you're lying.
He never spoke to you. Not audibly, but He does speak
in His Word, and when you hear His voice, you know it's the
very Word of God. Now, you can have light about
things, just seeing that they're true and logical and so on, but
that's not spiritual revelation. It's spiritual revelation when
you find out this is God's Word, this is not man's Word. Verse
10, And I said, What shall I do, Lord? Now this is the same thing
that the Philippian jailer asked when he said, Sirs, what must
I do to be saved? He didn't say, what must I do
to save myself? He knew he couldn't save himself,
but what must I do to be saved? That's what Paul is asking at
this time. He finds out something about
the character of the Lord Jesus Christ. What shall I do? What
shall I do? Good question. And the Lord said
unto me, arise, and go into Damascus, and there it shall be told thee
of all things which are, don't miss this, appointed for thee
to do." Everything that's going to take place, takes place because
of God's appointment, because of God's purpose, because of
God's decree. There's no such thing as chance.
God reigns. Verse 11, 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. He was not blinded
until he saw the light. And when he saw the light, he
indeed was blind. He could not see. Verse 12, and one Ananias. And this is the preacher God
sent to Paul, a man by the name of Ananias. His name means he
who is graciously given. Now, who was Ananias? You know,
we don't have any information about this man. We don't know
who he was. We don't read of anything before
this, and we don't read anything after this. But this is the man
that God sent to Paul to preach the gospel to him. And I love
the way the Lord does this. He sends him a nobody. Paul thought he was somebody.
And the Lord sends him and nobody to preach the gospel to humble
Paul even more. Now, if you and I ever hear from
the Lord, he's going to send us a preacher. Even Paul heard
from a preacher. Now, I know the Lord taught him
the gospel directly after that, but when he initially heard,
he heard from Ananias. And look what Ananias said, and
what 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 Now here we have the power of
God's grace. Ananias knew who Paul was. He
knew that Paul was a murderer. He knew Paul hated Jesus Christ
and all those who called upon him. And in obedience to God's
command, Ananias came to him and said, Brother Saul, what
great grace. Brother Saul. What great grace that made Saul
a brother. By his own confession, he was
the chief of sinners, and God saved him. Brother Saul, receive
thy sight. And the same hour, I looked up
on him, and you can bet Paul was listening very carefully
to what Ananias had to say. And he said, the God of our fathers
hath chosen thee, hath elected thee, that thou should know his
will and see that just one. and hear the voice of his mouth,
for thou shalt be his witness unto all men of what you've seen
and what you've heard." Now, let's consider what it was that
Paul heard. Remember, Paul is giving his
experience of grace. He's giving his defense to these
people who wanted him dead. And he says, when Ananias came
to me, he came with these words, the God of our fathers hath chosen
thee. Now, the first thing Paul heard
was of divine election. The God of our fathers hath chosen
thee. Now it's been said that election
should not be preached to unbelievers. It'll confuse them. My answer
to that is they're already confused. Or it shouldn't be preached to
young believers because it will discourage them. No, it won't. That is not so. I guess somebody
forgot to tell Ananias that the first thing he came with to Paul
was, the God of our fathers hath elected thee. Now, what does
the Bible mean by election? Ephesians 1 verse 4 says, According
as He hath chosen us, He hath elected us. Same word. According
as He hath elected us in Him before the foundation of the
world, that we should be holy and without blame before Him.
Election is God choosing His people in Christ before the foundation
of the world. Those are the people who are
called His people. Christ came to save His people
from their sins, and saved they must be. God elected a people
before time began to be saved, and they will be saved. Now, you can't preach the cross
and not preach election. You cannot preach grace and not
preach election. You cannot preach Christ and
not preach election. You cannot preach the true character
of God and not preach election. Election is God being God, and
this is actually where true evangelism begins. Somebody says, well,
you shouldn't tell unbelievers about God electing a people.
That's the first thing they need to hear. that God really is God,
that He chose who would be saved. Deal with it. It's what the Scripture
teaches. And this is the best thing for
man to hear, that salvation's altogether out of his hands.
That's what election says. You can't save yourself. It's
up to God to save you. The God of our fathers hath chosen
thee, that thou shouldst know His will. Now, that's not just
talking about knowing His will for your life, knowing where
He would have you live, what your job would be, who you would
marry, and all those kind of things. I've heard preachers
say, God's got a wonderful plan for your life. And the implication
is, what a shame if you frustrate His plans. That's foolishness. That's all that is. You're up
to your neck in the will of God anyway. Whatever's going on is
God's ultimate sovereign will. That's who He is. And this is
not talking about knowing God's will of command. Paul already
knew that. He knew the commandments. He said, touching the righteousness
which was in the law, I'm blameless. He was a fundamentalist. He was
a religious man. And he already knew that. What
this is talking about is God's will of redemption. Now listen to this scripture. The Lord said in John 6, 38,
I came down from heaven not to do my own will, but the will
of him that sent me. God sent Christ. He was before he came. He's the
eternal son, and God sent him. This is the will of him that
sent me, that of all which he hath given me. That's the elect. of all which he hath given me. He said earlier, all that the
Father giveth me shall come to me, and him that cometh to me
I'll in no wise cast out. This is the will of him that
sent me, that of all which he hath given me I should lose nothing. But raise it up again at the
last day. It's God's will for Jesus Christ
to save all of His elect. And that is precisely what He
did. And next He said, not only are
you going to know His will, you are going to see that just one. Now that's speaking of the Lord
Jesus Christ. He is the Just One, the Righteous
One. And notice it doesn't say you'll
see the Forgiving One or the Gracious One. Although He is
Forgiving and Gracious, you'll see that Just One. Now understand this about God's
salvation. It's absolutely just. God's just character is not compromised
in any way. God has made the way through
Christ to be both just and justify the ungodly. You know what that
means? That means when Jesus Christ
died, He made it to where I stand before the law without guilt,
having never sinned, perfect before God. You'll see that just
one, and you'll hear the voice of His mouth. Now, what that
means in our experience is we hear that this is His Word, not
man's Word. It's not some silly denominational
distinctive. It's the very Word of God. Now, that is what Paul heard
when Ananias came to him. He said, The God of our fathers
hath chosen thee. that thou shouldst know his will,
see that just one, how God can be just and justify somebody
like you, and hear the voice of his mouth, oh, the voice that
wakes up the dead, that speaks the hours coming, and now is
when the dead shall hear the voice of the Son of God, and
they that hear shall live. And then he says, for thou shalt
be his witness to all men of what you've seen and what you've
heard. Now, very few people who claim
to be witnesses are witnesses, because they're just telling
what somebody else has told them, and it's not what they've seen
for themselves. Every believer is a true witness
in this sense. We have seen who He is. We've seen who we are. We have seen by His grace how
He saves by His grace. We've seen. And we've heard His
voice. Thou shalt be His witness unto
all men of what you've seen and what you've heard." And that's
what any true witness is doing. He's not trying to promote himself.
He's not trying to talk about himself. He's the witness of
the Lord Jesus Christ. He's saying who He is. The one
God chose you that you might know His will, see that just
one and hear the voice of His mouth. That's what every believer
bears witness to. And then he asked this question,
Ananias says to Paul, now why tarryest thou? What are you waiting
on? Are you waiting to get better? Are you waiting to learn more? Are you waiting until you stop
sinning? What are you waiting on? Why
tarriest thou? Arise, and be baptized, and wash
away thy sins, calling upon the name of the Lord." Now, baptism
doesn't wash away sins, but what baptism teaches is what washes
away sin. When Christ died and was buried. My sin was washed away. When
he was raised, I was raised with him, justified." And that's what
Paul did at that time. He confessed Christ and was baptized. We will continue this message
next week. This is Todd Nyberg praying that
God will be pleased to make himself known to you, for Christ's sake,
amen. To receive a copy of the sermon
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