Acts chapter 22. Today I'm taking
the title from verse 1 of Acts 22. Men and brethren, fathers,
this large crowd has assembled. They're on the steps of the castle
where Paul was taken to. Men and brethren, fathers, hear
my defense, which I make now unto you. So the title of the message,
Standing in Defense of the Gospel. Standing in Defense of the Gospel. Now, not that God needs our help. He doesn't. We don't need to
defend God. but we are given the privilege
as believers to take a bold stand for the gospel of the Lord Jesus
Christ without any compromise. And we do so having this word
of reconciliation committed unto us to wit, namely that God was
in Christ Reconciling the world of his elect unto himself and
because of everything that God has done for us We take a stand
a firm stand an uncompromising stand for the gospel of the Lord
Jesus Christ Later on from a Roman prison cell the Apostle Paul
writes in Philippians 1 17 knowing that I'm set for the defense
of the gospel We are set If need be to defend, not God now, He
doesn't need our help, but we do stand firm for the gospel
of the Lord Jesus Christ and say that there is salvation in
no other than the Lord Jesus Christ. The gospel of the Lord
Jesus Christ is worthy of our defense, worthy of our contending
for, worthy to battle over, and taking a stand for the gospel
and not backing down. Now remember from our message
last week, remember what was going on here in Jerusalem. Paul
had traveled there. to be at Jerusalem at Pentecost
to preach the gospel, but they got Paul in a situation where
he was given those four men who had had that vow upon them, and
they headed toward the temple to make a blood offering unto
the Lord, and God stopped him. God intervened and prevented
him from doing what he was about to do. Because in that instant,
Paul wasn't taking a stand and defense for the gospel. He went
about to compromise the gospel until God stopped him. God stopped
him and gave him this message, and then he stands in defense
of the gospel. When this religious crowd recognized
Paul as the preacher of the gospel, when he was in the temple, one
who had strongly preached against salvation by the deeds of the
law, they were determined to kill him. Notice in chapter 21,
verse 28, when they saw him there in the temple, verse 28, men
of Israel, they cried out, this is a man that teaches all men
everywhere against THE PEOPLE, AGAINST THE LAW, AND AGAINST
THIS PLACE. PAUL HAD IN HIS MINISTRY STRONGLY
PREACHED SALVATION BY THE GRACE OF GOD. YOU REMEMBER IN ACT CHAPTER
13 WHERE IT SAID WE BELIEVE THROUGH THIS MAN, THIS MAN IS GIVEN TO
YOU THE FORGIVENESS OF SIN, AND BY HIM ALL THAT BELIEVE ARE JUSTIFIED
FROM ALL THINGS WHICH YOU COULD NOT BE JUSTIFIED BY THE DEEDS
OF THE LAW. Also as well, I thought about
this after I brought that message last week. The Apostle Paul,
when he wrote the book of Romans, he wrote the book of Romans when
he was in Corinth. Remember, he stayed in Corinth
18 months, and he wrote the book of Romans there in Corinth, and
he strongly not only preached salvation by the grace of God,
but God gave him that inspired word there in all the book of
Romans, which plainly declares that salvation is by His grace,
that sinners are justified by the grace of God, not by the
deeds of the law, were justified freely by His grace through the
redemption that is in the Lord Jesus Christ. When these men
knew that this man was the preacher of the gospel, this angry mob
took him and grabbed him and drew him out of the temple. And
as it says there in verse 31 of Acts 21, they went about to
kill him. And they would have, they would
have. They beat him and would have
beat him to death if God would not have intervened and sent
the Roman army to rescue him. Now, the Lord arranges all this
that's going on here. And he brings all this to a point
where Paul is on a stage, and he has this audience before him,
and he speaks to them in their Hebrew tongue, and they remain
silent to hear this message of the apostle. And that's when
he makes his defense. and declares how we met the Lord
Jesus Christ. Now, we've seen his conversion
story before in Acts chapter 9, and we're going to see it
again in Acts chapter 26. HOW THE LORD MET HIM, HOW THE
LORD PUT HIM IN THE DUST, HOW THE LORD SAVED HIM BY HIS GRACE,
AND HOW THE LORD MADE HIM A NEW CREATURE IN CHRIST. AND PAUL
CALLS HIMSELF, AS WE READ EARLIER FROM I TIMOTHY 1, HE CALLS HIMSELF
A PATTERN FOR SALVATION TO THEM WHICH SHOULD BELIEVE ON THE LORD
JESUS CHRIST HEREAFTER. YOU REMEMBER WE READ, HOW BE
IT HE SAYS FOR THIS CAUSE I OBTAIN MERCY, that in me first Jesus
Christ might show forth all longsuffering for a pattern to them which should
hereafter believe on him to everlasting life. When Paul finally ends
up in a Roman prison, right before he's sitting on death row, waiting
to be executed for the gospel, he writes these words to young
Timothy. He said, don't be ashamed of
me, nor of the gospel, for it's God who saved us and called us
with a holy calling, not according to our works, but according to
God's own purpose and grace, which is given in Christ before
the foundation of the world. Now, what I want to do in this
message is to show you how that Paul is a pattern of how God
saves sinners. Remember, this is a faithful
saying and worthy of all acceptation that the Lord Jesus Christ came
to save sinners. Now, we're not to seek an experience. WE'RE NOT TO SEEK THIS EXPERIENCE
THAT PAUL HAD, BUT EVERYONE WHOM GOD SAVES BY HIS GRACE, THEY
CERTAINLY EXPERIENCE SALVATION IN THEIR HEART BY THE POWER AND
WILL, PURPOSE, AND GRACE OF GOD. DO YOU UNDERSTAND WHAT I'M TRYING
TO SAY? AND EXPERIENCE, YOU CAN HAVE A RELIGIOUS EXPERIENCE.
A LOT OF PEOPLE HAVE A RELIGIOUS EXPERIENCE, BUT THAT'S NOT SALVATION.
BUT SALVATION BY THE GRACE OF GOD IS CERTAINLY SOMETHING THAT
WE EXPERIENCE AS GOD WORKS IN OUR HEART IN CONVICTION AND REGENERATION
IN FAITH THAT HE GIVES US IN CHRIST JESUS. NOW HERE'S THE
FIRST POINT. In verse 3, verse 4, and verse
5, we see, here's what we learn. We see a man can be very religious,
very religiously educated, be zealous of the law of Moses,
and yet not know the true and living God, yet not have salvation. And that's what we see in the
Apostle Paul. He says in verse 3, I'm a man, I'm a Jew, I was
born in Tarsus in the city of Cilicia. I was brought up in
this city at the feet of Gamaliel. He said, I went to school in
Jerusalem. I went to the best school that
you had in Jerusalem. Gamaliel was my professor. They
all were familiar with this man's teaching. And taught according
to the perfect manner of the law of our fathers. And I was
zealous toward God as you are all this day. And I persecuted
this way unto death. Speaking of the gospel, the way,
the way of life in Christ. Binding and delivering into prison
both men and women. Also the high priest, he knows
too. SAUL OF TARSUS WAS A PHARISEE.
HE WAS GOOD FRIENDS WITH THE HIGH PRIEST. AND THE HIGH PRIEST,
YOU REMEMBER, HE ASKED FOR SPECIAL WRITTEN PERMISSION TO LEAVE JERUSALEM
AND JUDEA AND GO NORTH INTO DAMASCUS, SYRIA, TO PERSECUTE BELIEVERS
AND ALL THE ESTATE OF THE ELDERS AND THEM WHOM I RECEIVED LETTERS
UNDER THE BRETHREN AND WENT TO DAMASCUS TO BRING THEM WHICH
WERE THERE BOUND BACK TO JERUSALEM TO PUNISH THEM. I mean, this
man was a monster. This man, Saul of Tarsus, I remember
something was written of him back here in Acts chapter 9. He says, Saul, yet breathing
out threatening and slaughter against the disciples, went into
the high priest. This man was a Pharisee of Pharisees. If you turn over here to Acts
chapter 26. Acts chapter 26. Look at verse 4. Again here he's accounting his
experience before King Agrippa. Acts 26 verse 4 says, My manner
of life from my youth, which was at first among my own nation
at Jerusalem, known all the Jews, know all the Jews, which knew
me from the beginning, if they would testify that after the
most straightest, strictest sect of the religion, I lived a Pharisee. He was a strict, straight-shooting
Pharisee. Matter of fact, if you turn over
here to Philippians chapter 3, in Philippians chapter 3, WHERE
HE SAYS AGAIN WHAT HE WAS IN RELIGION BEFORE HE KNEW THE GOSPEL,
BEFORE HE MET THE LORD. HE WAS A VERY RELIGIOUS, VERY
ZEALOUS MAN. HE SAYS IN PHILIPPIANS CHAPTER
3 VERSE 3, WELL LET'S BEGIN AT VERSE 4, THOUGH I MIGHT ALSO
HAVE CONFIDENCE IN THE FLESH IF ANY MAN THINK OTHER MAN THINKETH
THAT HE OF WHEREOF HE MIGHT TRUST IN THE FLESH. I, THE LORD, CIRCUMCISED
THE YEIGHTH DAY OF A STALK OF ISRAEL, A TRIBE OF BENJAMIN,
A HEBREW OF HEBREWS, AS TOUCHING THE LAW OF PHARISEE, CONCERNING
ZEAL, PERSECUTING THE CHURCH, TOUCHING THE RIGHTEOUSNESS WHICH
IS IN THE LAW." HE SAID, I WAS BLAMELESS. I MEAN THIS MAN HAD
RELIGION FROM THE BOTTOM OF HIS FEET TO THE TOP OF HIS HEAD.
TURN TO ONE OTHER SCRIPTURE. Turn over to Galatians chapter
1. The point I'm trying to make
is this, you can be very religious, raised in religion like I was
and so many others, and be very zealous of the traditions of
whatever you're taught in that religion. and yet not know the
true and living God. If you look at Galatians chapter
one, verse three, for you've heard, verse 13 rather, for you've
heard of my conversation in time past in the Jews' religion, how
about beyond measure I persecuted the church of God and wasted
it. And I profited in the Jews' religion above many of my equals
in my own nation, being more exceeding zealous of the traditions
of my fathers. So you couldn't beat this man
on zeal and how zealous he was persecuting believers. Saul of
Tarsus was most religious. You can't deny that, can you?
The record's clear on it, but he didn't know God, the true
and living God. He didn't know salvation was
all of God's grace. He didn't know God in saving
mercy. He never met the true living God. He was most religious,
but lost. Now, I can certainly identify
with this man, and many of you can as well. Like Saul of Tarsus,
I was raised in religion, false religion. I cut my teeth on free
will works religion. And I didn't know salvation was
of the Lord. Most people who the Lord is pleased
to save, He saves them out of false free will, works religion. That's where He finds them. He
finds them in false religion and then saves them by His grace. Now, if you go back to Galatians
chapter 1, when Paul talks about everything that he was by nature. And then in Galatians 1, verse
15, but when it pleased God. You see that? Something happened.
And that's what happened in our story here. But 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, he didn't go talk to Gamaliel. HE
SAID, I DIDN'T CONFER WITH FLESH AND BLOOD. WHAT HAPPENED? HE
MET THE SAVIOR. I TURN BACK TO PHILIPPIANS CHAPTER
3 AGAIN. LET ME READ ON IN PHILIPPIANS
CHAPTER 3. HE SAID, CONCERNING ZEAL, VERSE
6, PERSECUTING THE CHURCH, TOUCHING
THE RIGHTEOUSNESS WHICH IS IN THE LAW BLAMELESS. But after
he met the Lord, look what he writes now. From a Roman prison
cell he writes, doubtless I count all things, but what things were
gained to me, verse seven, I count loss for Christ. Yea, doubtless
I count all things but loss for the excellency of the knowledge
of Christ Jesus my Lord, for whom I suffered the loss of all
things and do count them but dumb that I may win Christ and
be found in him. not having my own righteousness,
which is of the law, but that which is through the faith of
Christ, the righteousness which is of God by faith. Now that
scripture right there, verse nine, is the very scripture the
Lord used to teach me the gospel. Because chapter three there,
I was so much identifying with what Saul of Tarsus was, as a
youth growing up in false religion, and how the Lord called me out
with the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ, and taught me that salvation
in Him, and that taught me everything else, all other religious things,
is nothing but, as he says, dumb. rubbish garbage that I might
win Christ and be found in him. Now back to Acts 22 verse 6 down
through verse 10 we see What happens? Now, the first point
is this. A man or a woman, a person can
be religious, very religious, and not know that salvation's
in Christ. This man didn't know that. And
I didn't know that. No man by nature knows that.
God must teach him. The second thing that happened
is this. He met the Lord. He met the Lord in an amazing,
astonishing way. Verse six, it came to pass, you
see that? It came to pass because God brought
it to pass. That as I made my journey and
was come near to Damascus about noon, suddenly there shone from
heaven a gray light, a light so bright it outshined the sun,
noonday sun, and I fell to the ground. And I heard a voice saying,
Saul, Saul, God knew his name. God knew all about him, didn't
he? God knew what he was doing. God knew his heart. Why are you
persecuting me? And I answered, who are you,
Lord? And he said unto him, I am. I
am that I am. I'm the Savior from Nazareth.
I'm the Lord Jesus Christ whom you persecute. And they that
were with me indeed saw something, they saw a light. They were also
afraid, but they did not hear the voice of him that spake.
There is sovereign mercy. There's others around him that
saw something and maybe even heard something, but they didn't
hear God speak to the heart as Saul did. And I said, what shall
I do? He was given a repented heart.
And the Lord said unto me, Arise, and go into Damascus, and there
it shall be told thee all things appointed for thee to do. And
we know that after he was baptized, confessing Christ in believers'
baptism, he went right out preaching the gospel of the Lord Jesus
Christ. And when he could not see for
the glory of that light being led by the hand of them that
were with me, I came to Damascus, and God sent him a gospel preacher.
Now, here's the second thing as a
pattern of salvation. God crosses our path somehow,
someway with the gospel of the grace of God. Notice it came
to pass. It came to pass by the wise,
good, and sovereign providence of God. He worketh all things
at the counsel of His own will. You remember from reading Ephesians
chapter 2 when it talks about everything we are by nature,
dead in sin, children of wrath, even as others, and then it says,
but God who is rich in mercy, for his great love wherewith
he loved us, even when we were dead in sin, hath quickened us
together with the Lord Jesus Christ." Our salvation starts
with God. But God, he planned it, purposed
it, executed it, and applies it in his own good time. But
God, Paul was not headed to Damascus seeking salvation, was he? He
was headed there to find anyone who did believe the gospel and
to put them in prison and to persecute them unto death. Now,
here again we see the pattern, how God saves, reveals, and calls
out his elect by the sovereign grace of God. Sodom and Tarsus
was confronted by the Lord Jesus Christ in his path of rebellion
and experience salvation that's of the Lord wrought in his heart
by the will and purpose of God. Sooner or later, God will cross
the path of every sinner he has chosen in the covenant of grace
and make them willing in a day of his power to bow to the sovereign
claims of Christ. Brother Mahan used to put it
this way, God will meet you at your point of rebellion. and
that will solve Tarsus' point of rebellion. God will meet every
sinner whom he unhorses and puts in the dust at their point of
rebellion and make them to bow in repentance and cry unto the
Lord for mercy. God's people shall be willing
in the day of his power. Like in our story, the Lord will
cause the light of the gospel to shine in our hearts to cause
us to see the glory of God's love and mercy that's revealed
in the Lord Jesus Christ. God who commands the light to
shine out of darkness has shined in our hearts to give us the
light of the knowledge of the glory of God that shines in the
face of the Lord Jesus Christ. The Lord knows his sheep by name
and leads them out of bondage into liberty that we have in
the Lord Jesus Christ and gives them life in Christ and grants
them faith. The foundation of God standeth
sure, having this seal, the Lord knoweth them that are his. Saul of Tarsus had no idea who
he'd meet that day on his road to Damascus, his road of rebellion,
but he met the sovereign Christ. And the sovereign Christ did
what? Conquered him. That's exactly what God does
to every sinner whom he saves, he conquers them. makes them
bow in submission and confess that Jesus Christ is everything
in salvation. He knows them by name. The call of God is a personal
call. You remember he called Zacchaeus? Make haste, come down
out of that tree. You remember he personally called
Matthew? Matthew, follow me. He stood in front of the grave
of a dead man who'd been dead four days, and he said, Lazarus,
come out of that grave. What's gonna happen? He that
was dead came forth. You see, the Lord knows his sheep,
where they are, who they are, and calls them, crosses their
path with the gospel, and calls them out of darkness into God's
marvelous light. Now, we don't have the same dramatic
experience as the light shining from heaven, but the light of
the gospel does shine in our heart by the power of Almighty
God. When Saul of Tarsus was confronted
with the sovereign claim of the Lord Jesus Christ, he said, Lord,
what would you have me to do? I mean, he just bowed, didn't
he? And submitted to the will of
the Lord. Paul didn't have a change of
religion. He had a change of heart. God gave him a new heart. He didn't have a change of methods.
He had a change of masters. This is what happens when God
saves a sinner. He makes him love what he once
hated. He makes him believe the things he once despised. He makes
him bound to the sovereign claims of the Lord Jesus Christ, and
makes him to cry out, Lord, would you have mercy upon me, the sinner? I need your mercy. I need your
grace. That's what happened to Saul
of Tarsus, and that's what happens to every sinner whom God saves
and puts in the dust. Well, the next thing we see in
our story is this. God sent Saul, Saul of Tarsus,
later known as Paul the Apostle, a faithful servant of the Lord
named Ananias, in verse 12, 13, 14, and 15. And one Ananias,
a devout man, According to the law having a
good report of all the Jews which dwelt there came unto me and
stood Said unto me brother Saul received thy sight the same hour. I looked upon him Here's his
message and he said the God of our fathers had chosen thee That
thou shouldest know his will see the just one, and that you
would hear his voice, and that you would be a witness to all
men now confessing in believers' baptism. Ananias, we don't know
much about Ananias. We know that he was a disciple
of the Lord Jesus Christ, but he plainly was sent of God to
this man with the message God would have him hear. Paul learned
the letter of the law at the feet of Gamaliel, but he was
ignorant of the gospel. He had heard the gospel preached
from Stephen. You remember that great sermon
that Stephen preached? Paul was standing, Saul of Tarsus
was standing there listening to that sermon. But he didn't
hear affectionately, did he? But now God sends him a gospel
preacher to a sinner now that's ready to receive the message
from the Lord by the means that God has ordained. Faith comes
by hearing, and hearing by the word of the Lord. Even, now think
about this. Why didn't the Lord send a very
important apostle named Peter or John or James to Saul of Tarsus. He picks a nobody, an Ananias,
WE DON'T KNOW ANYTHING ABOUT THIS MAN OTHER THAN WHAT THE
SCRIPTURE SAID HE WAS A DEVOUT DISCIPLE. HE SAID THE MAN THAT'S
A VOICE OF GOD, OF ONE CRYING IN THE WILDERNESS, BEHOLD THE
LAMB OF GOD. HE DIDN'T SEND PETER. HE DIDN'T
SEND JOHN. HE DIDN'T SEND JAMES. THE LORD
WILL USE WHOM HE WILL TO TEACH HIS PEOPLE. IT PLEASED GOD THROUGH
PREACHING TO CALL OUT HIS PEOPLE. NOW, I WANT TO FOCUS FOR A MOMENT
ON VERSE 14. What's his message? And he said,
that is, Ananias said, God, the God of our fathers, the God of
Abraham, the God of Isaac, the God of Jacob, he chose you. The first thing he said to this
man, he preaches to him the Bible doctrine of election. God hath
chosen thee. Remember when the Lord said to
those disciples before he went to the cross, his apostles, he
said, you didn't choose me. I chose you and ordained you. Salvation is by God's choice,
not ours. We are bound to give thanks to
God for you, brethren, beloved of the Lord, because God hath
from the beginning chosen you to salvation through sanctification
of the Spirit and belief in the truth, whereunto he called you
by our gospel. The God of our fathers hath chosen
thee. You know, the first sermon that
Paul preached there in Acts chapter 13 after his conversion. You
know what he said in Acts chapter 13 verse 17? Let me just read
it for you. Paul stood up, beckoning with
his hands, said, Men and brethren, you that fear God, the God of
this people Israel, the God who chose our fathers. The first
thing he preaches is election. And the first thing Ananias preaches
to him is the Bible doctrine of election. I will never forget
the time I was in a bookstore, in a religious bookstore, and
picked up a book, paid 50 cents for it, 50 cents for it, called
The Bible Doctrine of Election. I didn't know much about the
Bible, doctrine of election, but I picked that little booklet
up and read it and it opened it up for me. The Lord used that
written little book by a preacher by the name of C.D. Cole. And
I read that and I said, that's it. That's it. God chose the
people and the salvation. It's all by his grace. Notice
the second thing he says, that you should know his will. What
is the will of God? This is the will of God that
you should believe on the Lord Jesus Christ. That's the will
of God. He's talking about His will of
redemption. All that the Father giveth to
me shall come to me, and those that come to me I will in no
wise cast them out. For I came down from heaven not
to do my own will, but the will of Him that sent me. And this
is the will of Him that sent me, that everyone which sees
the Son and believes on Him, God everlasting life. So he preached
election. He preached the sovereign redemptive
will of the Lord Jesus Christ. It's not of him that willeth
or of him that runneth, but God that shows mercy. And then thirdly,
he preaches this, that you should see the just one, the just one. Now, who is the just one? We know that's the Lord Jesus
Christ. Salvation comes by knowing the
just one, the Lord Jesus Christ, who is the just God and Savior. He's hid these things from the
wise and prudent and revealed them unto us. When God teaches
us the gospel, He shows us who He is, God Almighty, and who
we are, sinners, and that salvation's all in the Lord Jesus Christ. Fourthly, He says that thou shouldest
hear His voice. You remember what the Lord said
of his sheep in John chapter 10? He said, my sheep hear my
voice. I know them and they follow me.
His sheep hear the voice of the master of his word as it's written. You have the very testimony of
God in your hand, in your lap. This is God's will and testimony
concerning salvation in the Lord Jesus Christ. And that's how
God speaks to us in this day. through his word, by his servant
preaching the word of the Lord Jesus Christ. And look at verse
15, the fifth thing he said, thou shalt be a witness unto
all men of what you've seen and heard. You know, that's what
a witness is. A witness tells what he knows,
what we've seen and heard. And that's exactly what preaching
the gospel is. It's one sinner telling another
sinner THAT BREAD AND SALVATION IS IN THE LORD JESUS CHRIST.
THAT WHICH WE'VE SEEN AND HEARD DECLARE WE UNTO YOU," JOHN WRITES.
YOU REMEMBER THE MAN THAT THE LORD JESUS CHRIST, THAT WILD
MAN IN THE TOMBS, THAT WILD GATORINE WHO WAS NAKED AND JUST UNCONTROLLABLE? THEY TRIED TO CHAIN HIM UP AND
HE JUST BROKE THE CHAINS AND HE WAS RUNNING CRAZY WILD UNTIL
HE MET THE LORD JESUS CHRIST. And when he met the Lord Jesus
Christ, he was sitting at his feet in his right mind and clothed. And he said, Lord, I want to
follow you all the days of my life. Remember what the Lord
said to him? Go home to your friends, your
family, and tell how great things God has done for you. That's
what Saul of Tarsus is doing here. Thou shalt be a witness
unto all men of what you've seen, I've seen the Lord. What you've
heard, I've heard the salvation of the Lord. That's what we teach,
what he's taught us. Preaching is just repeating what
God has already said. Now look at verse 16. Now, why
tarryest thou? Arise and be baptized and wash
away thy sins, calling on the name of the Lord." Now, who is
baptism for? Believers. Saul of Tarsus wasn't baptized
first and later learned the gospel. He met the Lord, was taught the
gospel by the Lord, heard the gospel preached from a servant
of the Lord, was given faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. Salvation
is received by faith. in Christ. Salvation is received.
We receive Christ who finished salvation for us. So baptism
is for believers, those who are made new creatures in Christ.
And baptism is certainly a confession of how the Lord Jesus Christ
put away sin by the sacrifice of himself. For baptism is a
picture of a death, a burial, and a resurrection. And that's
what we confess in believer's baptism. that salvation, our
hope of salvation, is in Christ. That's what Saul of Tarsus confessed. Now listen to me. Does water
wash away sin? Absolutely not. And those who
would try to take that scripture and make it, you know, the old
saying goes, if you torture a scripture long enough, you can make it
say anything you want. But if you read this scripture
in the light of rest of the scripture of what baptism is, It's a picture
of Christ crucified and risen again, and that's what we confess
publicly. As we go through the book of
Acts, and we've seen this time and time again, every time believers
heard the word and believed the gospel, they were baptized, confessing
Christ as all their salvation. Now listen to me carefully. While
baptism is not essential to salvation, THE LORD SAID TODAY, YOU'RE GOING
TO BE WITH ME IN PARADISE. WAS HE BAPTIZED? NO SIR. WAS ABRAHAM BAPTIZED? NO SIR. WAS DAVID BAPTIZED? NO SIR. THEY
ALL LOOKED TO THE LORD JESUS CHRIST. WHILE BAPTISM IS NOT
ESSENTIAL TO SALVATION, SALVATION IS BY THE GRACE OF GOD ALONE.
BAPTISM IS ESSENTIAL TO OBEDIENCE AND SUBMISSION TO THE LORD'S
Go unto all the world and preach the gospel to every creature.
He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved. I would not minimize
the importance of believer's baptism, but believer's baptism
does not wash away our sin. The blood of Jesus Christ, God's
Son, cleanses us from all our sin. Now, when Paul heard the
message of salvation, when they heard Paul's message of salvation,
BY THE GRACE OF GOD. LET ME GIVE YOU THIS. VERSE 21 OF ACTS 22, THE LORD SAID TO HIM, GET OUT
OF JERUSALEM, I'LL SEND THEE FAR UNTO THE GENTILES, AND THAT'S
EXACTLY WHAT HE DID. WE'VE SEEN ALL OF HIS JOURNEYS,
THE THREE JOURNEYS HE MADE. NOW WATCH THIS. WHAT'S GOING
TO BE THEIR RESPONSE TO THIS MESSAGE? They just heard everything
this man had said. God shut him up long enough.
I don't know how long Paul preached. He probably preached a pretty
good while. They gave audience unto his word and then lifted
up their voice and said, well, thank God for the gospel. Thank
God for the good news. The Lord Jesus Christ came to
save sinners. They said, away with such a fellow
from the earth. It's not fit that he should live. THEY WANTED TO KILL HIM. NOW
DOES IT REMIND YOU OF SOMETHING ELSE? THEY NOT ONLY WANTED TO
KILL HIM WHEN HE TOLD THEM THE TRUTH OF GOD'S SOVEREIGN GRACE
IN CHRIST. WHEN THE LORD JESUS CHRIST WENT
TO HIS HOMETOWN SYNAGOGUE IN NAZARETH AND STOOD UP TO READ
THE WORD OF THE LORD AND HE QUOTED FROM ISAIAH THAT THE SPIRIT OF
THE LORD WAS UPON HIM TO PREACH THE GOSPEL, TO SET THE CAPTIVES
FREE, AND ALL THOSE THINGS HE SAID THIS DAY IS THE SCRIPTURE
FULFILLED IN YOUR EARS, AND THEN HE ELABORATED ON WHAT HE SAID
ABOUT ELIJAH AND THE WIDOW IN HIS DAY, AND THEN NAAMAN THE
LEPER, GOD TOOK CARE OF THAT GENTILE WIDOW AND THAT LEPER
THAT WAS HEALED, NAAMAN, SHOWING THAT GOD IS SOVEREIGN IN HIS
MERCY. HE SAVED SINNERS, GENTILES. REMEMBER WHAT HAPPENED WHEN THEY
HEARD THAT MESSAGE OF SOVEREIGN GRACE? SAME THING THAT HAPPENED
RIGHT HERE. THEY TOOK THE LORD JESUS CHRIST
IN NAZARETH AND WOULD LEAD HIM AND DID LEAD HIM TO THE BROW
OF THE HILL AND WOULD HAVE CAST HIM OFF HEADLONG TO KILL HIM. BUT HE SIMPLY PASSED RIGHT THROUGH
THEIR MIDST. That's what happens when God,
when the gospel of God's sovereign grace is preached, and when a
sinner hears that God is sovereign, his first response is, that's
not fair. That's not right. I thought everybody
had a chance. It takes the grace of God to
quicken us and to teach us and to show us that we don't deserve
anything but condemnation. And if God is pleased to save
some, Thank God for his mercy. For he said, I will have mercy
on whom I will have mercy. I will have compassion on whom
I will have compassion. Sinners don't like to hear, lost
sinners don't like to hear the truth of salvation by the grace
of God alone in the Lord Jesus Christ. But to those who know
themselves to be guilty, vile, and wretched, to those sinners
in need of mercy, it's the best news I've ever heard. The Lord
Jesus Christ came to save sinners. He didn't come to call the righteous.
He came to call sinners unto repentance. The Lord Jesus Christ
came to seek and to save that which is lost. The Lord Jesus
Christ died for the ungodly. And I quote again the scripture,
I quoted earlier, this is a faithful saying, and this is worthy of
all acceptation, that the Lord Jesus Christ came to save sinners. You remember what the man in
the temple cried unto the Lord? Lord have mercy upon me, thee
sinner. You remember what the Lord said? That man went down to his house
justified. May God be pleased to reveal
the gospel to us right now, anew and afresh and again and again,
to show us that salvation's of the Lord, and salvation is in
the Lord Jesus Christ, and it's by his grace and his grace alone.