Tonight I'm going to bring a
message that will be of great help to
believers who need encouragement and assurance. And I think that includes every
believer. We need some assurance, confidence,
the strength for our hope. And I'll be speaking tonight
from 1 John, chapter 5. That's where the message will
be taken from this evening, and I'm entitling it, The Sufficiency
of Christ. If that ever is made clear to
us, that our sufficiency is of Christ. Quit looking for it anywhere
else, in anyone else. in any other
thing except Christ. And I'll be able to help you
tonight if you're here on the sufficiency of Christ. He is
sufficient. Now, I'm going to speak from
Acts 22 in a moment, but I want you to turn first to 1 Timothy. I want to show you from 1 Timothy
1 the importance of this of this testimony of Paul, Paul's testimony, Paul's testimony and the importance
of it. Writing later, he said this in
1 Timothy 1, this is a faithful saying, it's
true, it's faithful, it's certain, not to be doubted nor debated,
this is a faithful saying, and worthy of all acceptation, worthy
of acceptation by all. It's God's Word, and it's worthy
of acceptance by all men, not some, everybody. You know, we
ought to preach expecting men to believe us and women to believe
us, because it's God's Word. Why shouldn't they believe? So Paul said this is a true saying,
it's certain, and ought to be accepted by all, that Christ
Jesus, our Lord Jesus Christ, the God-man, wonderful counselor, the mighty
God, the everlasting Father, actually, literally came into
this world. He was in the world. He made
the world. The world didn't know him, but he was here. The word
was made flesh. We beheld his glory, the glory
as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth.
He came into the world. And the purpose for which he
came into the world was to save sinners. A natural man tries to find some
merit in the creature, some worthiness in the creature. But God came
to earth and lived on this earth and died on a cross, was buried
and rose again to save not meritorious people, but sinners. Not those who are worthy, but
those who are unworthy. Why does your master keep the
sinners? Because he came to save them.
Because those who are well do not need a physician, but those
who are sick. He came into this world to save
sinners, of whom I'm the chief. This is no false modesty, no
false humility. This is not Paul reciting his
catechism. This is Paul speaking from the
heart. He really, honestly felt he was the chief of sinners. How be it? For this cause have I obtained
mercy, for God's glory, for the praise of the Lord Jesus Christ,
for the accomplishment of God's purpose. For this cause have
I obtained mercy, that in me, first, Jesus Christ might show
all patience, kindness, longsuffering, for a pattern, for a pattern, a picture, a type, to you, to me, to them which
should hereafter, in days to come, believe on Him, to life
everlasting. That's why we ought to look at
Acts 22. with a great deal of interest,
this man's a pattern. This man's a pattern. His experience
is a pattern to them who should hereafter
believe on Christ to life everlasting. Now, there are some things in
his experience that will not be duplicated. have not and will
not in the first 11 verses of Acts 22, Christ himself spoke to Paul audibly. Christ himself appeared to Paul
personally. He said, I saw the Lord. I saw
the Lord as one born out of a due time. He said, the gospel which
I believe and which I profess was not taught me by men. You
can't say that. I can't say that. The gospel
was taught me by men. I have not seen the Lord with
these eyes. Paul did. We're not going to
duplicate that. You see here in Acts 22. Verse
7, I fell to the ground, I heard a voice speaking to me, Saul,
why persecutest thou me? And I said, who are you? He said,
I'm Jesus Christ. Don't ever believe any human
being other than an apostle who says the Lord spoke to me. Not so. He speaks through his
words. to see an apostle, an apostle
had to have seen the Lord and had to have received this gospel
from the Lord. Just a moment, turn to Galatians
chapter 1, just for a moment, and Paul gives us that experience. In Galatians 1, verse 11, But
I certify you, brethren, that the gospel which was preached
of me is not after man. I didn't receive it of man, I
wasn't taught it, but by the revelation of Jesus Christ. You
see, when Paul saw the Lord and God revealed himself to him,
he went off into Arabia somewhere. He didn't confer with the other
apostles, he was taught the gospel by Christ. But this experience
here that he relates Verse 10 of Acts 22, and he said, What
shall I do? I said, What shall I do? And
he said, You go to 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 to Damascus. Now then, here's
where we pick up the experience as a pattern. And this will be the experience
of everyone who comes to faith. You, me, everyone else. He said,
and one Ananias, a devout man, according to the law, having
a good report of the Jews which dwelt there, came to me. God
sent Paul a messenger, a preacher. a devout man, a faithful preacher,
a preacher of good report among believers, everybody who dwelt
at Jerusalem, a man who knew the gospel. God sent Paul a faithful
messenger. Now, that's true of everybody
whom God saved. A person may be in the world
rotten and corrupt, openly evil, abusive, like the demoniac. or the thief on the cross, but
there's going to be a messenger, there's going to be a preacher.
A person may be in the pew, he may be a nice religious person
following the traditions of his father, believing doctrine, walking
in morality as Cornelius, as Lydia, but God's going to send
you a preacher. A person may be in the pulpit,
This man Saul of Tarsus was a religious teacher. And so a person may
be in the pulpit, a preacher, a teacher, an elder, a leader
of religious men, but God's going to send him a preacher. And that's
what he's showing us here. One man called Ananias came to
me, came to me. You see, over in 1 Corinthians
chapter 1, in 1 Corinthians chapter 1, and
I'm not limiting the power of God, the Lord can do all things. But the pattern, the method of
grace is preaching. You can read, and all men ought
to read. But it says here in 1 Corinthians
1, verse 20, where is the wise? Where is the scribe? Where is
the disputer of this world? Has not God made foolish the
wisdom of this world? For after that, in the wisdom
of God, the world by wisdom knew not God, but it pleased God by
the foolishness of preaching to save them that believe. Ananias came preaching. Philip came to the eunuch preaching
Christ. Paul came to Lydia preaching. And I dare say that 99% of the
people sitting in this building this morning, who know God, came
to know him through the preaching of the gospel. Preaching. How are they going to call on
Him in whom they've not believed? And how are they going to believe
in Him of whom they've not heard? And how are they going to hear
without a preacher? And how are they going to preach
except they be sent? Turn to Isaiah 52. Isaiah 52,
and this is one of the tragedies of our generation, is preaching
has been relegated to the scrapheap. Today we are majoring on singing,
socializing, entertaining, gathering people together for
various reasons. But Isaiah 52 verse 6 says this,
Therefore my people shall know my name. Therefore they shall
know in that day that I am he that doth speak, behold it is
I. How beautiful upon the mountains
are the feet of him that bringeth good tidings, that publisheth
peace, that bringeth good tidings of good, that publisheth salvation,
that saith unto Zion, Thy God reigneth. Oh, how blessed we are when God
sends us a preacher, preaching the gospel, preaching
the word of God. Go ye into all the world, Christ
said, preach the gospel. He that believeth and is baptized
shall be saved. He that believeth not shall be
damned. All authority is given unto me in heaven and earth.
preach the gospel. The Spirit of God, through the
preaching of the word, saved sinners. That's so. Now, here's the second thing.
With that preacher came the miracle of sight. And this Ananias stood and said
to me, Receive thy sight. This is a picture of regeneration,
the new birth. Two things are necessary for
sight. Listen to me. Two things are
absolutely necessary in order to see. What are they? Well,
the first is a healthy eye. What's the other? If there is no light, I don't
care how healthy your eye is, you're not going to see. A person cannot see unless there
is light. And two things are necessary
in order to see Christ. Salvation, the gospel. One is
a healthy eye. an eye, the seeing eyes of the
Lord, the hearing ears of the Lord. Christ said they have eyes, but
they don't see. Blessed are your eyes, you see.
Two things are necessary to see. One is a healthy eye, light. The other is light. That's the reason this is uttered
as foolishness, to talk about a person being saved before he
hears the gospel. That's foolishness. Talking about
people seeing before the light turned on. It can't be done. You say, I see. You see whom? You don't see anybody unless
he's revealed, unless he's preached. I see substitution. You don't
see substitution unless it's preached to you. Well, I say
Christ died for sinners. You say Christ died for sinners?
Well, somebody told you that, read it to you. You've got to
have eyes to see and you've got to have light or you don't see
anything. God who commanded the light to
shine out of darkness. Scripture said in the beginning
God created the heaven and the earth, and the world was without
form and void, and darkness was upon the face of the deep. And
God said, Let there be light. And this whole hemisphere was
bathed in God's light. And one day you, dead, dark,
and blind, And God gave you eyes, but then he said that there would
be light. The fellow said, Christ, gospel,
blood, redemption, and you saw. Two things are necessary to hear,
a healthy ear and what else? For the next 10 seconds, you're
not going to hear anything. You've got ears. Christ, salvation, faith, deliverance. I see, sure you see, I said it. So Ananias came, and he said,
O blind man, seek, seek. And God came with his blessed
gospel, the light of the glorious gospel of the blessed God in
the face of Christ Jesus, and said to you, Receive thy sight. And you opened
your eyes. And you saw. You saw the Christ
that was preached to you. You saw the Christ that was revealed
to you. You saw the Christ that was manifested
to you in the Word. And you heard good news because
a man was preaching the good news. That's exactly right. Let me
read you a couple of scriptures over here in 1 John. First John,
chapter 4, verse 7. Beloved, let us love one another,
but love is of God, and everyone that loves is born of God. He's not born of God because
he loves, he loves because he's born of God. Chapter 5, verse 1, Whosoever
believeth that Jesus is the Christ is born of God. He's not born
of God because he believes Jesus is the Christ. He believes Jesus
is the Christ because he's born of God. He is born of God. And
everyone that sees Christ doesn't have eyes because he sees. He
sees because he's got eyes. See what I'm saying? I don't have life because I saw
Christ. I saw Christ because God gave
me life and revealed Christ to me. It's essential. It's essential. I'll tell you this, way back
here in chapter 7 of Acts, chapter 7 of Acts, verse 51, This man Saul of Tarsus, this man Saul of Tarsus, he had heard, he had heard Stephen. He had heard Stephen. Is that
where it is in Acts chapter 7? But anyway, he had heard Stephen. When they stoned Stephen, they
laid their coats at the feet of a young man called Saul. He heard Stephen, but he hadn't
heard God. And here in Acts 22, life, life. All right, let's look at the
next statement. And there came unto Acts chapter
22, verse 12, Ananias came to me, and he said, Brother Saul
received our sight, and the same hour I looked up upon him, and
he said, The God of our fathers hath chosen thee. I want to ask you a question.
Won't you think about this? Seriously. A lot of controversy
in this day about election. about who chose whom, and when,
and why. But let me ask you a question. Which would give you the greater
joy, greater happiness? For you to choose Christ or to
hear him say, I chose you? Now come on. Which would give
you the greater joy? But you'd run up and down this
country saying, I choose Jesus, I choose Jesus, I choose Jesus. Say it ten million times if you
want to, I choose Jesus. But I'd rather hear one time
what Saul heard right here. The God of our fathers chose
you. That makes a lot of difference.
That makes a lot of difference. And I tell you, God's sovereign
grace and election give me the greatest joy of anything in all
this world. He chose me. Which would give
you greater peace? That's what we're going to talk
about tonight, assurance and peace. Which would give you the
greater peace? For you to base your hope, to
base your hope and confidence Your hope will be eternalized
on your choice of him or his choice of you. There's no
comparison. He chose Abraham, and I'm confident
Abraham's in glory. He chose Jacob. He said, Jacob
have I loved. I'm confident he's in glory.
But a lot of people at judgment said, Lord, We preached in your
name. Cast out devils in your name.
Done many wonderful works in your name. I never knew you.
I never knew you. I didn't choose you. Oh, I tell
you that which gives me the greatest joy, the greatest peace, the
greatest confidence is to hear him say, I chose you. You didn't choose me. I chose
you. Turn back to the book of John. Let's find this in the book of
John. John 13, verse 18. John 13, verse 18. I speak not of you all. I know
whom I've chosen. I know whom I've chosen. John
15, verse 15. Henceforth I call you not servants,
the servant knoweth not what his Lord doeth, I call you friends. For all things that I have heard
of my Father I have made known unto you. You have not chosen
me, I have chosen you, ordained you." You should go and bring forth
proof. Ephesians 1, go to Ephesians 1, listen to our Lord here. Ephesians,
chapter 1. Blessed be the God and Father
of our Lord Jesus Christ, who hath blessed us with all spiritual
blessings and heavenly places in Christ, according as he hath
chosen us in him before the foundation of the world. But we're bound to give thanks
always to God for you, brethren, because, beloved of the Lord,
you, beloved of the Lord, because God hath from the beginning chosen
you. First Peter 2, verse 9, listen
to this. You are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood. James, chapter 2, verse 5. Hearken, my beloved brethren,
hath not God chosen the poor of this world, rich in faith,
heirs of the kingdom which he hath promised to them that love
him? The God of our fathers hath chosen
thee. When I stand before his throne,
dressed in beauty not my own, when I see thee as thou art,
and love thee with an unsinning heart, then, Lord, shall I fully
know, not till then, how much I owe. Chosen, not for good in me, wakened up
from wrath to flee, hidden in the Savior's side by the Spirit
sanctified. Then, Lord, shall I fully know.
Not till then am I a child. Sinner, see. The God of our fathers has chosen And that choice will never be
reversed. As to the next thing you said
to him, that you should know his will. His will. His will. Most preaching today talks about
our will. Saul knew God's will of commandment
He had the Old Testament law and commandments. I shall have
no other God before me. Paul knew that. I shall not make
unto thee any graven image. He knew that. I shall not take
the name of the Lord thy God in vain. I shall not kill. I shall not commit adultery.
I shall not steal. I shall not lie. I shall not
covet. He knew the will of commandment.
But what he didn't know was the wheel of redemption. This is
what Moses was interested in. Turn to Exodus chapter 33. Exodus
chapter 32. In Exodus chapter 32, Moses Exodus 33, it is. Moses says, Lord, in verse 18,
he said, Lord, I beseech thee, show me your glory. And God said, I'll make all my
goodness pass before thee. I will proclaim the name of the
Lord before thee. I will be gracious to whom I
will be gracious. I will show mercy on whom I will
show mercy. That's God's glory. That's his
greater glory. And that's what he's talking
about here. God has chosen thee that you should know his will,
his will of redemption, his will of mercy, his will of grace.
I want you to turn to Hebrews 10. Let me read to you about
that will. Hebrews chapter 10. In verse 7, "...then said I,
Lo, I come," this is our Lord Jesus speaking, Hebrews 10, in
the volume of the book it's written of me, "...to do thy will, O
God. Above, when he said, Sacrifice
and offering, and burnt offerings, and offering for sin, thy would
is not, neither hath pleasure therein which are offered by
the law. Then said he, Lo, I come to do thy will, O God." Anna
and I have said, Saul, God has chosen thee that you should know
his will. This is what Christ is talking
about. I come to do thy will. He taketh away the first, the
first commandments and Levitical law and sacrifices and priesthood,
that he may establish a second, Christ's priesthood, Christ's
sacrifice, Christ's righteousness, by the which will, the will of
God, we are sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus
Christ once for all. That's the will we're talking
about here. That you should know His will.
Christ said, All that my Father giveth me shall come to me, and
him that cometh to me I will in no wise cast out. I came down
from heaven not to do my will, but the will of Him that sent
me. This is the will of Him that sent me, that of all which He
has given me, entrusted in my hands to be redeemed, to be made righteous,
to be made holy, to be sanctified, I'll lose nothing but raise it
up at the last day. And everyone whom God saved,
they're going to hear a preacher. And they're going to be given
divine light to see Christ. And they're going to be those
whom he chose. And they're going to be taught, they're going to
know His will of redemption. It's all in Christ, met in Christ,
fulfilled in Christ, complete in Christ. They're going to know
His will. And let me hasten on and give
you this. Back in Acts 22, and you're going
to see the Just One. Look how that's written, capital
J-U-S-T, capital O-N-E, the Just One, a person. The scriptures often speak of
the just one. He said, I'm a just God and a
Savior. Peter said in Acts 3, you need
to turn over here and see this, in Acts 3, you need to see this
now. Of whom do we speak? That you
should know or see the just one. Acts 3, verse 14. You denied the Holy One and the
just, you denied the just one. and desired a murder to be granted
to you. Whom shall I release unto you, Barabbas or Jesus? You desired the murderer and
denied the just one. Turn to Acts 7, 52. Acts 7. Which of the prophets are not
your fathers persecuted? And they have slain them which
showed before of the coming of the just one, of whom you have
been now the betrayers and the murderers." Who is he? It's all received by sight. God chose you that you should
know his will of redemption. his will to redeem a people and
you should see with eyes of faith and in the word the just one
of whom the prophets wrote the just one just before God this
is my beloved son in whom I'm well pleased the just one just
before the law in him there was no sin the just one just before
me and I find no fault in him as our representative, enabling
God to be just and justifier, and making us just before God. You see? And this is the last one, listen. And you should hear the voice
of his mouth. Our Lord kept saying in John
10, My sheep hear my voice, and I give them eternal life.
My sheep hear my voice. In John 5, verse 25, he said,
Verily, verily, I say unto you, the time is coming, and now is,
when the dead shall hear the voice of the Son of God. But how does a sinner hear the
voice of Christ? This is the way. We hear the
voice of a man preaching the gospel in men's language, in
men's words. But to only hear that man's voice
and words is of no value. When God is pleased to enlighten
a sinner, the words preached by the man become his words. He speaks through the man. Cornelius heard Peter, for when
Peter spoke to him, the Lord spoke through Peter. He heard
the Lord's words. It's his gospel we hear. It's his love of which we preach. It is His grace that the Spirit
of God bestows. It is His mercy, not ours, His
mercy. We are made to rejoice in His
righteousness, in His intercession. And turn to John 4. Listen to
this. You know, the Samaritan woman met our Lord there at the well. And she said, when the Messiah
cometh, he'll tell us all things. He said, I'm he. And she listened
to him, taught her. She went running down to the
village and told all the people there. And they came running
out. And they sat down and he taught them. And then they said,
in verse 39, John 4, many of the Samaritans of that city believed
on him for the saying of the woman, which testified he told
me all that ever I did. So when the Samaritans would
come unto him, they besought him that he would tarry with
them, and he abode there to-day, and taught them. And many more
believed because of his own word, and they said to the woman, Now
we believe, not because of your saying. We've heard him ourselves. and know that this is indeed
the Christ, the Savior of the world. See, if you only hear
the voice of a man, if a man talks you into a position or
a profession, some other man can talk you out of it. If the Lord God reveals Christ
to you and nobody can talk you out of it, If he reveals his
word, or he'll use a preacher, he'll use a messenger, but you'll hear him. And you'll
believe, not because of what that man said, because you've
heard it yourself. I know whom I have believed,
don't you? And I'm persuaded that he's able
to keep that which I committed to him against that day.