In Damascus, in verse 23, and
after that many days were fulfilled, the Jews took counsel to kill
him. I want you to think of how severe
that is. They hated what he was saying to the extent that they
wanted him dead. But their laying await was known
to Saul, and they watched the gates, day and night to kill
him. Then the disciples took him by
night and led him down by the wall in a basket. That's how they got him out of
town. And when Saul was come to Jerusalem, I don't believe he'd ever been
there before since the Lord had saved him. He'd been there in
the past before he knew Christ, but he had never been there since
the Lord had saved him. And as a matter of fact, he had
not met any of the disciples. He hadn't met Peter. He hadn't
met John. He hadn't met James. Remember
the Lord taught him the gospel, not with the apostles. And he
goes back to Jerusalem and he has said to join himself to the
disciples. He wanted to be identified with
them, but they were all afraid of him. and believed not that
he was a disciple. They didn't trust him. All they
knew of was what is spoken in verses one and two, chapter nine. And Saul, yet breathing out threatenings
and slaughter against the disciples of the Lord, went unto the high
priest and desired of him letters to Damascus, to the synagogues,
that if he found any of this way, whether they were men or
women, he might bring them bound unto Jerusalem. That's all they
knew of Saul of Tarsus. And when he comes into their
presence, they think he's doing this so he can arrest us and
put us in prison. And they didn't believe he was
a true disciple of Christ. They thought this was all phony. I can imagine you'd be nervous
too if you knew what power this man had. Verse 20, but Barnabas. Now Barnabas was an eyewitness
to what had taken place in Damascus when he had preached boldly in
the name of the Lord Jesus Christ. He was an eyewitness to this.
He heard him preach. So Barnabas took him and brought
him to the apostles. I can see him bringing him to
James and John and Peter and Thomas. And they're sitting there
and he declares unto them three things that would prove the reality
of this man's conversion. He declared unto them how that
he had seen the Lord in the way. Now, when the Lord appeared for
40 days after the resurrection, you know what we don't have a
record of? Where he appeared to any unbeliever. He never did. An unbeliever couldn't
see who he was anyway. And if they did, it'd kill them.
One time he appeared to 500 brethren at once. You can read about all
this in 1 Corinthians chapter 15, but he never appeared in
his resurrection glory to an unbeliever. But the Lord appeared
to him in the way. And not only did he appear to
him and where Paul had seen him, He spoke to him. The Lord spoke to him. And you know what proved that
the Lord appeared to him in the way and that the Lord himself
had spoken to him? You want to prove that? He preached
boldly. Verse 27, he preached boldly
at Damascus in the name of Jesus. That's the proof that the Lord
had appeared to him and made himself known to him. That's
the proof that the Lord really spoke to him. He went into Damascus
and preached boldly in the name of the Lord. Now, the only way
someone can see the resurrected Christ is if the Lord appears to him.
He's got to reveal himself. Now, if you are saved, the Lord
has made himself known to you. You've seen the resurrected Christ. You haven't seen him physically,
I realize that, but you've seen him. You know all the scripture,
like when Job said, I've heard of thee with the hearing of the
ear, but now mine eye seeth thee, wherefore I hate myself and repent
in dust and ashes. He's not talking about a physical
manifestation. but he saw who he was. That's
why he hated himself. And that's why he repented in
dust and ashes. When you see the Lord, you see
him in his resurrected glory for who he really is. Christ had made himself known.
Now turn to Galatians one for a moment. Verse 11. I love this passage
of scripture. But I certify you, brethren,
I assure you, brethren, that the gospel which was preached
of me is not after man. And I'm assuring you the same
thing. The gospel that's preached of me is not after man. This
is not something man made up. This is not derived from the
flesh. Let's go on reading. For I neither
received it of man, neither was I taught it, but by the revelation
of Jesus Christ. You see, this gospel, we believe,
is the revelation of Jesus Christ. And Paul wasn't taught, I mean,
I was taught by a man. Paul wasn't. He learned the gospel
directly from Christ. Now, if you have learned the
gospel, truly learned it in your heart and you believe, it's because
God's taught you, but he taught you through a man. But he didn't
teach Paul through a man. He taught Paul directly. I neither received it of man,
neither was I taught it, but by the revelation of Jesus Christ.
For you've heard of my conversation in times past in the Jews' religion,
how beyond measure I persecuted the church of God and wasted
it, destroyed it. And I profited in the Jews' religion
above many mine equals of my own nation. I was becoming somebody. I was making progress, being
more exceedingly zealous of the traditions of my fathers. Oh,
I was so religious. when it pleased God, who separated
me from my mother's womb and called me by His grace to reveal
His Son in me, that I might preach Him among the heathen. Immediately, I conferred not
with flesh and blood, I didn't go to Peter or John or James
and say, here's what I was taught. I want to see if you think it's
right. No, he didn't confer with flesh and blood. You see, when
the Lord teaches you, you're taught. You know, when I hear
people say, the Lord's trying to teach me something. No, he's
not. He doesn't try to do anything. If he teaches you, you're taught. And this is where Paul was at
this time. And he says, neither when I went
up to Jerusalem to them which were apostles before me. He tells
us, I didn't go to try to find out from the apostles if this
is right, but I went into Arabia and he was there for three years
and returned again unto Damascus. Now this thing of seeing Christ,
the Lord appeared to him and he saw him in his resurrected
glory. It's not a physical sight, although
that would be glorious, wouldn't it? How glorious would it be
to have a physical sight of the Lord in all his glory? Well,
I know this. If you do, that sight would perfectly conform
you to his image. That's how glorious this sight
is. When we see him, the scripture
says, we'll be like him because we'll see him as he is. Now, everything we believe is
predicated on seeing him. Now, let me repeat that. Everything
we believe is predicated on seeing him. What did Isaiah say? In the year that King Uzziah
died, I saw also the Lord. High and lifted up, sitting on
a throne. When he saw the Lord, that's
when he cried out, woe is me. I'm undone. That's all he could
see about himself. I'm undone. I'm a man of unclean
lips. Everything that comes out of
my mouth is unclean because I say it. I dwell in the midst of a
people of unclean lips. For mine eyes have seen the King,
the Lord of hosts. Daniel. You won't find a more
exemplary man than Daniel. I mean, you read the book of
Daniel, none of his faults are pointed out. Nothing but courage
and bravery and faithfulness and love to Jehovah. And you know what his testimony
is? When I saw him, my comeliness turned to corruption. I can tell if a man has seen
him by what he says about him. If a man speaks of a Christ who
is less than absolutely sovereign, now by that I mean he controls
everybody and everything, and he's the first cause of everything,
and you're in his He's not in your hands. He's the sovereign,
not you. And your salvation is completely
dependent upon his will. If I hear a man preach as a Christ
that's not that Christ, it's because he's never seen Christ. If I hear a man speak of himself
in any other term than that of the chief of sinners. I know why. Because he's never
seen the Lord. If I hear of a man speaking of
the work of Christ, his death on the cross as anything less
than perfectly successful, saving everybody he intended to save,
saving them completely, If I hear a man preaching a Christ that's
anything less than utterly and completely successful, I know
that man hadn't seen Christ. You see, I love, took me a long
time to learn this, but I love what Brother Mahan used to say.
You don't come to Christ through doctrine. You come to your doctrine
through Christ. It's not like you, well, I learned
this doctrine, that doctrine, It's not that way at all. When
he reveals himself to you, the doctrine becomes obvious. It's
almost a mute point. Yeah, if that's who he is, it's
gotta be that way. He saw the Lord. And what happened next? Look
back in our text in Acts chapter nine. Verse 27, but Barnabas took him
and brought him to the apostles. and declared unto them how he
had seen the Lord in the way, and that he, the Lord, had spoken
to him. Now, the Lord doesn't show you
who he is without speaking to you. The Lord spoke to him. I love what Ananias said. When Paul's giving his version
of this account, He said, 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 and hear, hear
the voice of his mouth. He spoke. He heard that same voice that
said, light be. And light was. He heard that
same voice that said, Lazarus, come forth. And he that was dead
came forth. He heard that same voice that
cried, it is finished. And the veil of the temple was
rent from the top to the bottom, the way into God's presence opened
up. Now, hearing his voice is being
effectually taught by him, and this is the qualification of
a witness. You have to see him, and you
have to hear his voice. And if I haven't seen him, and
if I haven't heard his voice, I don't have anything to bear
witness to. The hour is coming, and now is
when the dead shall hear the voice of the Son of God. they
that hear shall live. Now, what is the evidence that
he had seen the Lord? What is the evidence that he'd
heard his voice? Well, he preached boldly, verse
27. He preached boldly Damascus in the name of Jesus. Now, someone has really seen
him. and heard his voice, they will
preach boldly in his name. And if you have seen and heard
his voice, you won't want to hear anything but bold preaching
in his name. You don't have any interest in
hearing anything else. Now, the boldness being spoken
of here is not a natural boldness. You know, there are some people
who conflict doesn't bother them a bit. They're bold. They'll
speak their mind before anybody, and they don't care. And there's
some people who are timid, and they wilt before conflict, and
they just don't like it. There's some people who have
a kind of a natural boldness and courage, and they just don't
care what people think. And there are other people who
are just frightened and afraid to say anything. Now, the boldness
I'm talking about is not the natural boldness. It's really
not. You can have that natural boldness
and you don't know anything about bold preaching of the gospel. Here's the boldness that's being
spoken of. I love this scripture. In Acts chapter four, verse 13,
after Peter had preached and John had preached, it says in
Acts 4.13, when they saw the boldness of Peter and John and
perceived. that they were unlearned and
ignorant men. Where'd this boldness come from?
They took knowledge of them that they had been with Jesus. That's where that boldness comes
from. It's the same boldness that we
read of when we read, let us therefore come boldly throne
of grace. That's the only boldness. If
it's a throne of works, I can't come boldly. I'm scared to death
to come. I know what'll happen, but it's a throne of grace. Having therefore boldness to
enter into the holiest because of the blood of Jesus. That's
the only boldness there is, his blood. And if you don't understand
that, whatever boldness you have is not real. Or it's real, but
it doesn't have anything to do with spiritual boldness that's
being spoken of here. John said, having boldness on
the day of judgment, because as he is, so are we in this world. Whatever he is, perfect, holy,
accepted, beloved of God, beautiful God, as He is, listen, as He
is, so are we right now, present tense, in this world. And that's why we speak boldly
in His name. Paul said in 2 Corinthians 3,
12, saying then that we have such hope. What hope? Well, somebody's already said
it at some point. I don't remember with his back hair or here in
prayer, somebody said they were thanking the Lord that everything
that he requires of them, he looks to his son born. Now that's
our hope. That's our hope, simply stated. Seeing that we have such
hope. We use great plainness, or the
word is actually boldness, same word. We use great boldness of
speech. We don't apologize for anything
like this. Ephesians 3.12 says, in whom we have boldness. Now
boldness is in Christ, isn't it? In whom we have boldness
and access with confidence by the faith of God. Well, this
testimony of Barnabas concerning Paul, they believed, verse 28,
he was with them, coming in and going out at Jerusalem. He was with them, they believed
what he, they believed he was real. Now look in verse 29, and he spake boldly in the name
of the Lord Jesus and disputed against the Grecians, the Greeks,
the Hellenists, not the Jews. This time he's talking about
the Gentiles, but you know what? They had the same response. They went
back to slaying. They wanted to kill him. We're
getting rid of this guy. Now, this is not the Jews trained
up in religion. I don't know what the position
of these men were. They were Gentiles, but I know
this, they hated everything Paul says. Because the natural man
hates bold preaching. Now the gospel, we believe, is
a thing of boldness, not apology. We boldly declare what God says
in his word. That's where the authority is.
I mean, I'm not trying to get you to believe the way I believe.
This is what God says in his word. The Bible is the word of
God. It's the inspired word of God.
Bow to what God says and be saved. Reject what God says and be damned. Now, I'm not saying that harshly,
but I'm saying that that's the truth. This is the word of God.
It's not up for debate. It's not up for arguing. This
is God's word, and that is the only way his word is to be presented
with boldness. Now, I'm not talking about cockiness.
I'm not talking about arrogance. I'm not talking about trying
to ram down somebody's throat. But I'm saying this is God's
word. This is the truth. We declare a God who really is God, absolutely
sovereign. I love that. I love to tell people. that you're in his hands. And
even the thoughts going in through your mind right now, he's in
control of. You don't like this, he's in control of that. Could
be a judgment against you, but he's in control of everything.
He's the first cause of everything. He really is God. Don't apologize
for that. Love that. God really is God. Men, according to the scripture,
really are dead in sins. They can't save themselves. The
Bible declares that God elected a fixed number of people of those
who were dead in sins and saved they must be because he chose
them to salvation. I make no apology for that. I
love election because I love the God of election. I don't
apologize for this. I'm not ashamed of it. I'm proud
of it. I'm proud of God. I really am. I'm proud of how
he is. I love the way he is. I love the fact that Jesus Christ
accomplished the salvation of the elect. No apologies for that.
Are you implying he didn't die for everybody? I'm not implying
it, I'm saying it. And that's the only way it can be said.
Christ accomplished the salvation of his elect. And God irresistibly
and invincibly gives them life, gives them grace to believe.
And they persevere, and here's the thing about their perseverance,
they persevere in looking to Christ only as all they have.
That's what perseverance is. You persevere in looking to Christ
only as all you have. And look at the strength of this
word, verse 29. He spake boldly in the name of
the Lord Jesus and disputed against the Grecians. That's a strong
word. Was he getting in a fight with
him? You know, he was a young believer. Maybe he was, I don't
know. I've gotten in fights with people. I wish I hadn't have
done it. There's no point in it. And as a young believer,
you know, you feel yourself getting mad, and maybe that's what was
going on. But I know this. Whenever he
preached and they contradicted, he just got stronger. He disputed
with them in the way. Now, I'm not suggesting you to
go out and get in a fight with somebody. Don't do that. But
stand boldly for the gospel. of Jesus Christ. And so what
did they do? Same thing the folks in Damascus
did. They went about slaying. They wanted to kill him. We're
not gonna have this. We don't believe this. Verse 30, when
the brethren knew, they brought him down to Caesarea and sent
him forth to Tarsus. They did the same thing the brethren
at Damascus did. Let's get him out of town before
he gets killed. They wanted to get him out of town and they
sent him to another place. Now look at verse 31, and this
is what we're gonna close with. And I could have entitled the
message from the four points out of this verse. Then had the
churches rest throughout all Judea and Galilee and Samaria. Number one, the churches had
rest. Number two, they were edified. They were built up. Number three,
they walked in the fear of the Lord. And number four, and in
the comfort of the Holy Ghost. And they were multiplied. Now,
I could have entitled this message peace, edification, fear, and
comfort. And that would have been an accurate
description of what happened at this time. Now, does this mean that now that
Paul was no longer persecuting the church, then they had rest,
and then they were built up, and then they walked in the fear
of the Lord? And then they walked in the comfort
of the Holy Ghost. No, they were doing that before
Paul was ever around. You see, this describes the experience
of a believer. Maybe it was a little bit easier now that they didn't
have Paul breathing down their neck, throwing everybody into
jail. And now he's on their side rather than against them. I guess
that could be easier, but of course it could be easier. But
it's also true that it seems like the church is always the
most benefited when it's the persecuted the most. And when
everything's going well, that's when things go bad. That's when
the church becomes in a bad position. But the church at this time had
rest, edification, walked in the fear of the Lord
and the comfort of the Holy Ghost. Now that word rest is the word
that is usually translated peace. I'm not real sure why the translators
translated this rest. I'm sure they had a good reason
to do it. And I know this, it is only from peace that you have
rest. If you don't have peace, you don't have rest. But the
word is the word that's generally translated peace. The only well-grounded peace
there is, is found in Romans chapter five. Let's look in verse 25 of chapter
four, speaking of the death of the
Lord Jesus Christ, who was delivered for our offenses and was raised
again for our justification. Now, do you hear what's being
said? He was raised again because of our justification. You see,
the moment he died, all the sins of all the elect were put away
and they were justified. Somebody says, I was justified
when I believed. Well, I justified when he was raised from the dead.
Not only that, I was justified before the foundation of the
world because everything we have was given us in Christ Jesus
before the world began. But the point of justification
is accomplished by what Christ achieved. He was delivered for
our offenses and raised again for our justification. Therefore,
being justified. That means made perfect before
the law of God. That's what justification is.
It means you don't have any guilt. It means you don't have any sin.
It means you have a perfect law righteousness. It means the Ten
Commandments can look you over through and through and say,
I find no fault in him. That's what justification is.
I love that scripture we considered a couple of weeks ago out of
2 Corinthians 5.10. where it said we must all stand
before the judgment seat of Christ and receive everyone the things
done in his body, whether whatever he's done, whether it be good
or bad. Listen, I'm going to receive
the things done in my body and it's all gonna be good because
the righteousness of Jesus Christ is my righteousness and it's
all gonna be good. That's justification. Now the
only thing that gives me peace, real peace, is knowing that everything
God requires of me, he looks to his son for. And that I stand
before him without sin. Justified. That's the peace that only Christ
gives. the peace of justification. Now look what he says next. Back
to our text in Acts chapter nine. Then had all the churches rest
or peace throughout all Judea and Galilee and Samaria and were
edified. That word means built up. They
were built up. This has something to do with
growing in grace. Now let me say this about being edified.
And this is very important. You know, we've heard of our
president speaking of fake news. Anybody ever hear that term?
Fake news. Well, any edification that is
not built upon this piece we just spoke of is fake edification. It's fake growth. It's not real. True growth comes from seeing
that Christ is my righteousness before God. That's when someone
grows in grace and the knowledge of our Lord and Savior, Jesus
Christ. They were edified. And look at
this third mark in verse 31. Then have the churches rest throughout
all Judea, peace, And they were edified, they were built up,
and walking in the fear of the Lord. Now this describes the
walk of the believer. Walking. I mean, this is continual
progress, the walk of faith. Walking in the fear of the Lord. The fear of the Lord is not the
fear of unbelief. It's not the fear of mistrust.
It's not the fear of the future, what bad thing might happen.
It's not that fear of thinking if I don't walk this way, the
Lord will smash me. If I don't give enough, he'll
take it out in the coffin or I'll wreck my car. If I misbehave
in some way, that's not the fear of the Lord. An unbeliever has that kind of
fear. That's not the fear that comes as a result of being born
of God. The fear of the Lord is walking
in this fear at all times. I'm afraid to look anywhere but
Christ. The fear of the Lord says, oh, that I may win Christ
and be found in him. That's the only way I want to
be found. And if that's not my walk, I don't have any respect
for the Lord. I have a high opinion of myself.
I have a high opinion of my own ability on my own works. That's
not walking in the fear of the Lord. The walking in the fear
of the Lord is afraid to look anywhere but Christ alone. I am, I am. I simply want to
be found in him. And then he speaks of walking
in the comfort of the Holy Ghost, the comfort of the Holy Ghost,
not a natural comfort. Well, I'm really comfortable.
I've got plenty of money in the bank, got a nice house, all my bills
are paid, no conflict in my life. Boy, I feel comfort. That's not
the comfort we're speaking of. You can have all that and be
under the wrath of God. That may feel comfortable, but
it won't stay feeling comfortable. Comfort of the Holy Spirit. What
exactly is that? What's involved in the comfort
of the Holy Spirit? Well, it's called in Romans 15,
14, the comfort of the scriptures. Do you know it gives me such
comfort to have the Bible? What if you were dependent without
a Bible, what if you were dependent on listening to what I said to
see whether or not it's true, and all you had was me? Wouldn't
be any comfort in that. If you got comfort from it, it's
because you're real stupid. I mean, that would be real dumb
to get comfort out of something like that. Somebody, but thank
God for the scriptures. It comforts me that we have a
written revelation where we can see the truth of God. And any comfort that I have that
is not founded on what the Bible says is a false comfort. If I can't go to the scriptures
and tell you why I have this peace, why I have this joy, it's
ill-grounded. It's not real. It's a false comfort. I never will forget being at
a funeral and After the funeral, I didn't preach the funeral.
I was there. And after the funeral, the lady's mother died. And she
came up to me and she said, I know my mom's in heaven because I
heard birds singing just now. It's November. Birds don't sing
in November. And that was a sign to me that
my mother's in heaven. I thought, boy, I don't want
to be harsh, but that's not any reason to find any comfort because
birds are singing. The only reason anybody would
be in heaven is because Christ died for their sins and Christ
represents them. Now this comfort is also Philippians
2.1, if there be any consolation or comfort in Christ, in Christ
is where all our consolation is. Every bit of it. I'm not comforted by anything
but being in Christ. Sometimes, well, it seems like
more people are coming. I want more people to come. That
doesn't give me a bit of comfort. The only thing that comforts
me is being found in Christ. That's all the comfort there
is. Turn with me to this scripture, Hebrews chapter six. I'm gonna
ask you to turn to two more scriptures. Hebrews chapter six. Verse 17. wherein God, willing
more abundantly to show unto the heirs of the promise the
immutability of his counsel, confirmed it by an oath that
by two immutable things in which it was impossible for God to
lie. we might have strong consolation,
comfort, same word, who have fled for refuge to lay hold upon
the hope set before us, which hope we have as an anchor of
the soul. Now, I love the way the Holy
Spirit uses this hope, describing it as an anchor of the soul. What good is an anchor that you
can see? Look at that good anchor I got.
What a fine anchor. Here it is in the boat. What
good is that doing you? Not a bit of good. It's only
that anchor that you can't see that holds the boat in place. which hope we have as an anchor
of the soul, both sure and steadfast, which entereth into that within
the veil. Who's entered into that within
the veil? That's the Lord Jesus Christ. He is the anchor that's
gone into the very presence of Christ himself, where the forerunner
is for us entered, even Jesus, made an high priest forever after
the order of Melchizedek. One final scripture, Isaiah 40. Comfort ye. Comfort ye, my people,
saith your God. God the Holy Spirit. He's the
one who wrote this book. Yes, it's God the Father. Yes,
it's God the Son. These are the words of God the Holy Spirit.
He says, comfort ye. Comfort ye, my people. And that's the job of the preacher,
really. You know, I want people to leave
comforted with the gospel, knowing that they're accepted in Christ,
being able to put their head on their pillow and know all
is well because salvation is in Christ. Speak ye comfortably
to Jerusalem and cry unto her that her warfare is accomplished. You know what that means? You've already won. It means
the outcome is not in doubt. Your warfare is accomplished. It's already finished. What does
she say next? That her iniquity is pardoned. Not it will be pardoned if It's pardoned. It's taken away. It's gone. There is none. For she hath received of the
Lord's hand double for all her sins. Now this is the state of
the church. Peace. What peace? Edification. Lord said, I'll build my church.
If he's doing the building, there's progress being made, isn't there?
Edification. Walking in the fear of the Lord,
afraid to look anywhere but Christ with the comfort of the gospel. Let's pray. Lord, how we thank you for your
gospel. Lord, indeed it is gospel. It
is good news to us. Lord, how we thank you that you
appeared to us. Spoke to us. And Lord, we pray
that we might be enabled like Paul to bear bold witness of
thy son. Lord, we pray that we might know
this peace. We pray that we might be built
upon the foundation of Christ Jesus. We pray that we might
walk in thy fear and in the joy and the comfort of the Holy Ghost. Bless this message for Christ's
sake. In his name we pray, amen.