The Apostle's Personal Testimony

I'm speaking tonight on the subject,
The Apostle's Personal Testimony. The Apostle Paul's personal testimony. Now, my text will be found in
the book of Acts, but I'm going to begin the message in 1 Timothy.
1 Timothy chapter 1. 1 Timothy 1, verse 15. And this is Paul writing to his
son in the ministry, Timothy. And he says in verse 15 of I
Timothy 1, this, Timothy, is a fateful saying, not to be doubted,
not to be debated, not to be questioned. This is a true fateful
saying. And it's worthy of all acceptation. It is the word of God, it's not
the word of men. It's suitable, meets the need
of everyone, and it glorifies God, and therefore it's worthy
of acceptation by all people. This is a true saying. And it's
worth hearing, it's worth receiving, it's worth believing. that Christ
Jesus, the Christ, God, Jesus, man, God in human flesh, that
He came into this world. His Son, whom He hath appointed
heir of all things, His Son, by whom He made the world, His
Son, who is the brightness of His glory, His Son, who is the
exact image of His person, His Son, who upholdeth all things
by the word of His power, His Son came into this world. Why did He come? He came into
this world to save sinners. He didn't come to try to save
them. To put forth a gallant effort, He came to save them. When the angel told Joseph, of
the child who would be born, he said, now call his name Jesus.
Call his name Jesus. Joshua. For he shall save his
people from their sin. He shall. He'll not leave one
thing left to be done. Not one thing. He'll finish the
work. He shall not fail. He came into
the world to save sinners. Now watch this next line. Of
whom I'm the chief. Now, we hear folks say things
like that, oh, I'm such a great sinner, I'm the chief of sinners,
I'm too great a sinner for God to save me. But I'll tell you
this, when Paul said this, this is a true saying, and it's worthy
of acceptation by all, that the Son of God came into this world
to save sinners of whom I'm chief. Paul wasn't saying that out of
false modesty. He wasn't saying that from some
sort of super piety. He had a real sense of his guilt
and sin. And he felt it. He really believed
this. I'm the chief of sinners. I'm
the greatest sinner that God ever let live and the greatest
sinner that God ever saved. He really felt it. And I really
believe, in a sense, that all true believers feel this. that
they are the world's greatest sinner. And this accounts for their doubts
and fears. This accounts for their uncertainties
about their own redemption because they know themselves. They don't
doubt your salvation, they doubt theirs. They don't fear for your
redemption, they fear for theirs. Why? Because they feel their
sins. They really do. This is a true
saying. He came into this world to save
sinners, lost sinners, ruined sinners, fallen sinners, helpless
sinners, of whom I'm chief. I'm the chief of all of them. And then the next verse, how
be it? That word means nevertheless. Nevertheless, for this cause,
nevertheless, for this reason, One of the reasons why I obtained
mercy, here it is, for this cause I obtained mercy, and he uses
that phrase twice back here in verse 13. He said, verse 12,
he said, I thank Christ Jesus our Lord who hath enabled me,
for that he counted me faithful, putting me in the ministry, who
was before a blasphemer, a blasphemer, a persecutor, injurious, When
Paul talks about his past life, he doesn't talk about it in a
bragging sense. Like, I hear folks talk about
what they used to be and what they used to do, and there's
just a little bit of pride in it, a little bit of bragging
in what a terrible rascal. But when Paul talks about what
he was before God redeemed him, he's ashamed of it. He said,
I was a blasphemer. I blasphemed God. I was a persecutor. I wounded and afflicted His people. I was injurious, but I obtained
mercy. I obtained mercy. Didn't earn
it, didn't merit it. I obtained it, the free gift
of God. I obtained mercy. And down here
in verse 16, howbeit, nevertheless, Though I am the chief of sinners,
for this reason I obtain mercy, that in me first Jesus Christ
might show forth His longsuffering, His love, His patience, for an
example, for a pattern to them who should hereafter, that's
you and me, believe on Him, to life everlasting. I obtain mercy. I obtain mercy for this reason
that in me, the greatest sinner, in me, the chief of sinners,
our great Lord might put on display, put on display and show forth
His perfect patience and His longsuffering to such
a wretch, to such a wretch. To a sinner
like me, to the chief of sinners that he might put on display
as an example, as a pattern, he has long suffered. To me and
to those who should hereafter believe on him to life everlasting. One time, William Jay, one of
the great preachers in England, who was a good friend of William
Cooper and John Newton. And this illustration means so
much more to me because I stood in William Cooper's home, sat
down in his chair, and also stood out in the yard of Mr. Newton's home, and I could just
visualize William Jay came by one day, came into the house. There were Mr. John Newton, who
wrote Amazing Grace, the song. John Newton, who was a vile,
wretched blasphemer, and God saved him. He was a slave trader
in Africa. He was a slave of a slave. himself. But God saved him. And William
J. came by to see him one day and
he said, Mr. Newton, Mr. Newton. He said,
God Almighty, I've heard good news. He has saved, he has saved
Mr. Edwards down in Bath County.
Isn't that wonderful? And Mr. Newton said, I'm so glad. I'm so glad to hear that God
visited Mr. Edwards in grace and mercy. Oh,
continued William Jay, he said, oh, Mr. Newton, he said, I'll
never despair of another sinner. I'll never doubt that God can
save another sinner since he saved this man. Brother Newton was quick to reply,
Brother Jay, I've never despaired of any sinner
since the Lord saved me. I've never doubted his power
to redeem any sinner since he saved me." That's feeling the
guilt. And he meant that. He meant that. So Paul said, I'm a pattern,
I'm a picture, I'm an example of the mercy of God. I'm an example
of the longsuffering of God, of the patience of God, of the
mercy of God, of the grace of God. Look! I'm an example. I'm going to tell you. how God
showed mercy to me. And here in Acts 22, it's just
written out so plainly in Acts chapter 22. Here we have his
own personal testimony, how God crossed his path, dealt with
him in grace, dealt with him in grace, that he might confront
us, cross our path and deal with us. in grace. He says in Acts 22, men and brethren,
verse 1, here are my defense, which I make now to you. And
when they heard that he spake in the Hebrew tongue to them,
they kept them more silent. They kept them more silent. And
he said, now watch it, I am verily a man which am a Jew. I was born
in Tarsus, a Saul of Tarsus, a city in Cilicia, I was brought
up in this city at the feet of Gamaliel. Remember Gamaliel? When the disciples were in prison,
and Gamaliel stood up in front of that crowd of the Sanhedrin,
and he said, Be careful what you do to these men. You remember
Gamaliel? He spoke in defense of Peter and James and John.
Gamaliel was one of the greatest, recognized greatest teachers
of that day. Listen, he talks about him here.
I sat at the feet of Gamaliel and taught, I was taught according
to the perfect manner of the law. Turn with me to Acts 5. Let me
show you. Here's what it says about Gamaliel.
That's in Acts 5, verse 34. Paul's teacher was one of the
greatest of his day. in Acts chapter 5 verse 34, then
stood up, then stood there up one in the council, a Pharisee
named Gamaliel, a doctor of the law, had in reputation
among all the people. And he commanded, commanded to
put the apostles forth a little space. You see, before Paul came
to know Christ, If we could just understand this,
Paul was not some conniving, diabolical, evil-minded man. Paul, a solitarist, before he
came to know Christ, was a very sincere, devout, moral, religious
man. He said, I'm a Jew. I'm a Pharisee. I'm a member of the Sanhedrin.
I was educated by the best teacher of the law of my day. I was taught
in the law and zealous," look, he says, "...I was zealous toward
God, faithful, as you all are this day." Now look at verse
4, "...and I persecuted this way." Sometime take your concordance
and go through the book of Acts and study those two words, this
way, that way, the way. You go through the book of Acts
and study those words, the way. This way, that way. You see,
this is the way that they referred to those who believed the grace
of God. They called it that way. And he says, being a Jew, being
a legalist, being a Pharisee, being a moral teacher of the
law, works for salvation, establishing my own righteousness, That way,
the way of grace, the way of Christ, the way of the cross,
the way of the blood, the way of substitution, the way of righteousness
and blood, I hated it. I hated that way. Later on, he
was defending himself, and he said this, well, I'll tell you
this, he said, talking about those religious fellows, he said,
after the way that they call heresy, That's the way I worship
God." What these religious people call it, heresy. He said, that's
the way I worship God. And it's true today. You can take all the various
denial, and they're just two ways. They're just, well, they're
just two religions. Let's put it that way. Two religions. There's a religion of works and
the religion of grace. There's a religion of our own
efforts and the religion of His blood. There's a religion of
our own morality and righteousness, and there's the religion of Christ's
righteousness and Christ's atonement. And it started with Cain and
Abel. And it doesn't matter what denomination
a man may be of, he's either saved by grace or works. He's
either depending on Christ or himself. And Paul saw what was
over here. And he said, I persecuted that
way to the death, binding and delivering into prison both men
and women, as also the high priest that bare me witness, and all
the estate of the elders, from whom also I received letters
unto the brethren. And I went to Damascus to bring
them which were there. of that way of Christ, that way
of Jesus of Nazareth, that way of blood, to bring them bound
into Jerusalem to be punished, that way, He would stamp it off the face
of the earth if He could. And there are men and women who
feel the same way today about what you believe. They stamp
it out as something evil, evil. All right, listen to verse 6.
And it came to pass as I made my journey. Now, God's going
to humble this man. This man is going to be an apostle.
This man is going to see the Lord. This man is going to receive
his gospel from the Lord. This man is going to be a preacher
of the grace of God. But God's got to bring this man
down. This proud, arrogant, self-righteous
Pharisee has got to be brought down. And he said, it came to
pass as I made my journey and was come now into Damascus about
noon. Suddenly there shone from heaven
a great light, brighter than the sun, evidently because it
was noon. He calls it a great light. Round
about me, and I fell to the ground. I fell to the ground. That describes
what must happen. The Scripture says so often,
what, three times? Proverbs 3, James 4, I Peter
5, God resisteth the proud. God resisteth the proud. God
gives grace to the humble. The sacrifices of God are a broken
heart, a broken and a contrite spirit, O Lord, thou wilt not
despise. I fell to the ground, and I heard
a voice saying unto me, Saul, Saul, why persecutest thou me? And I answered and I said, Well,
who art thou, Lord? Who art thou, Lord? And he said
unto me, I am Jesus of Nazareth, whom thou persecutest. And they
that were with me saw indeed the light, and they were afraid,
but they heard not the voice of him that spake to me. Saul
heard the voice because God spake to him. And how often this is
true when we preach One hears, one doesn't hear. One believes,
one doesn't believe. I heard the voice. They saw the
light, the brightness of the light, but they didn't hear Him.
They didn't hear His voice. I heard His voice. I heard Him. I heard Him. And I said, now
listen. I said, what would you have me
do? Saul is ready to listen now.
He's ready to listen. Someone said how rare this is,
to find someone ready to listen. Most people are ready to talk,
but not ready to listen. And Saul of Tarsus, with all
of his credentials and all of his accomplishments and all of
his fame and power, he's ready to listen. What would you have me do? I'm
ready to listen. Somebody said, how rare that
is. And secondly, they said, how essential that is. How essential
that is. The eunuch is reading the scripture,
and Philip comes along the chariot and says, do you understand what
you're reading? He said, how can I? Except some man show me. It's essential. How can I? I've had people speak to me at
the door of the church when they go out and say, I've read that
scripture that you preached on this morning, but I didn't see
that. And I'm glad that you dealt with it because it's just opened
it up to me. That's what I'm for, what God
called me to do. When I go to see my doctor, I
don't do the talking. I let him talk. When I go to
his office, I let him tell me what I need. I don't tell him
what I need. I'm ready to listen. And here's Saul of Tarsus, you
say, Boy, this is some fella. I know he's some fella. He's
a close friend. He's a buddy of the high priest.
He's a Sanhedrin. He's high as you can get. But
God brought him down as low as you can get. He's a sinner. And he's, how rare it is to find
one ready to, I'm ready to hear. And how sensual it is, he that
hath ears to hear, let him hear how sensual it is. And thirdly,
The same fellow said, what a blessing it is. For he that heareth my word and
believeth on him that sent me, that's life. I fell to the ground and I said, what shall I do? What shall I
do? I'm ready to listen. I'm holding
my ears. I want a blessing. Well, he says
to him, the Lord said to him, arise and go to Damascus. That's
where he was headed, but he was headed down there to destroy.
He was headed down there as a proud, self-righteous fellow. God sends
him to the very place where he was going to cause trouble, the
very place, the very place. There's a thing here that's important.
I don't know whether I've got time to deal with it, but there's
a thing that's important. There's a point of rebellion.
It's like when Naaman came to Elisha, and Elisha told him what
to do, and he got angry and turned to leave. Naaman's point of rebellion
was right here. And Naaman had to go into the
river. He absolutely, he would never have been cured. He couldn't
have gone to another prophet, he couldn't have gone to another
place, he couldn't have gone to another river. Because this is
where God confronted him, and this is where God's going to
break him. The Pharisees, when they came to John the Baptist
and heard him and the people were baptized, they resisted
baptism. Because it was baptism of repentance. Now, you don't have to be baptized
to be saved, but they do, because they said they never would. And
when we tell God what we'll do, that's exactly what—when we tell
God what we won't do, that's exactly what we're going to do
or perish. He's got to break us, you see. It can't—it's got
to be, not my will, but thy will be done. God will meet a man
or a woman exactly where they rebel, just exactly where they
rebel. That's where you'll break us.
Now you go to Damascus. You go to Damascus, right down
there where you were going to stir up things and cause trouble
and difficulty, that's where you go. Oh boy. And it'll be told you. You're
not going to tell anybody anything. It'll be told you of all things
which are appointed for you to do. You're going to be their
listener. You'll never be clothed till
you're, we'll never, we'll never be clothed till we're stripped.
We'll never be exalted till we're humble. We'll never be lifted
up till we're brought down. We'll never be exalted till we're
slain of the Lord. And that doesn't mean some preacher
lays his hand here and you fall out while they catch you back
there. The slain of the Lord is when they're slain. And this
man, he said, I died. I died. I was alive once without
the law, and when the law came, Old Saul died dead. Humbled. Humbled. Humbled. And verse 11 said, "...when I
could not see for the glory of that light being led by the hand
of them that were with me." Don't you know that was a humbling
experience? Here this man who was out there
in front leading them on a white charger is now blind, stumbling,
being led by the hand of his own soldiers. And I came to Damascus. Here comes the proud one. Here
he comes, led into town, blind. And you know, I imagine the people
of God still avoided him. When God came to Ananias and
said, there's a solitarist that sits down in Damascus, there's
a street called Straight, and you go down and talk to him,
Ananias said, Lord, I don't want anything to do with that man.
I've heard of him. I know how he persecuted the church and
hates the gospel. Now, the Lord said, Ananias,
you go down there, behold, he's praying. He's praying. He's in trouble. He's praying.
That's right. And so, verse 12, in 1 Ananias,
notice here, I note here that God didn't send Peter. See, Saul of Tarsus may have
still thought, God will send his chief ambassador to me. Pick
the best you've got. No, he didn't. Didn't send Peter.
Didn't send James. Didn't send John. Didn't send
Jude. Didn't send any of the apostles.
He sent a simple believer that you don't hear anything else
about the rest of the time, do you, John? Ananias. And one Ananias, a devout man
according to the law, having a good report of all the Jews
that dwelt there, came unto me and he said to me, Brother Saul,
Brother Saul. He can call him brother because
the Lord has his hand on him. Brother Saul received thy sight,
and the same hour I looked upon him." You know, I tell you this,
and hear me now, even the glorious Apostle Paul must hear one of
God's preachers. He must. Someone said, if God, listen
to this, if God is pleased to deal with us in judgment, He'll just leave us alone. He'll
just leave us alone. People every once in a while
will call the house, and they'll say, Brother Mahan there, and
Doris says, yes, just a moment, and I'll go pick up the phone.
They'll say, Brother Mahan, I hear you on television. Do you believe
in predestination? I guess if somebody's asked me
that on the phone one time, it's dozens of times. I have one pat
reply. Always, this is what I say. I
don't know. What does it mean? Define it for me. Because what
they believe about predestination is not what I believe. And they'll
invariably, this is their pat reply. Well, predestination is
God predestinates some to heaven and some to hell. I quickly say,
no, sir, I don't believe that. No, sir. That's not predestination. It isn't? No, it's not. God predestinates His people
to be like Christ. That will take us to heaven,
of course, but we are predestinated to be like Christ. That's what
this thing's all about. God chose us to be like Christ. God's gonna have a kingdom, and
everybody in it's gonna have on a wedding garment, and all
of them are gonna be like Christ. God has a kingdom. One day, everybody
in that kingdom will be holy like Christ, gracious like Christ,
lovely like Christ, sinless like Christ, and powerful like Christ,
and knowledgeable like Christ. God's predestinated everything
He's done and every step we take to make us like Christ. That's
predestination. God elected people and predestinated
that those people be like Christ. It's not used but four times
in the Bible, and every blessed time that's what it says. Predestinated
to be conformed to the image of God's Son. Is that clear? God doesn't have to order the
steps of a man to send him to hell, he just leaves him alone. We got teachers in this congregation.
What do you teachers do to make children dumb? You leave them
alone. They're born dumb. And they'll stay dumb unless
you teach them something. Leave them alone. Don't teach
them. Don't educate them. Don't correct
them. Don't discipline. Leave them
alone, and they'll perish in their stupidity. If you want
them to be smart, you got to train them. You got to guide
them. You got to inspire them. You
got to influence them. You got to talk to them. You
got to push them. See what I'm saying? And all
on earth God Almighty has to do to you and me is just leave
us alone. Leave them alone, He said. Leave
Ephraim alone. Don't bother him. Leave him alone. He's gone to his idols. So if God's pleased to deal in
judgment with us, all He has to do is leave us alone. But
if God is pleased to deal with us in mercy, He'll send us a
preacher. Right. He predestinated Lydia
to be like Christ, and He sent her Paul. He predestinated the
eunuch to be like Christ, and He sent him Philip. He predestinated
the jailer to be like Christ, and he sent him Paul. He predestinated
Cornelius to be like Christ, and he sent him Peter. And he
predestinated Timothy to be like Christ, and he sent him his apostle.
That's right. Whosoever shall call on the name
of the Lord shall be saved. But how they gonna call on Him
in whom they've not believed? How they gonna believe in Him
of whom they've not heard? And how shall they hear? without
a preacher. And how shall they preach except
they be sinned? And here sits this man down here.
He one of God's elect? Yes, sir. God loves upon him? Yes, sir. Is he going to be like
Christ? Yes, sir. Then don't send him
a preacher. He doesn't need a preacher. Yes, he does. He doesn't know
God. He doesn't know Christ. That's
right. His eyes got to be open. He got
to see. Call on the Lord. And Ananias
came down there and listen to verse 14 here. This is Paul talking,
and he said to me, the God of our fathers hath chosen thee.
Ananias wants Saul to understand this from the very beginning.
Salvations of the Lord. That's going to be established
right now, from the very start. God chose you. You didn't choose
God. God loved you. You didn't love
God. Salvation begins with God and ends with God. He's the author
of our faith and the finisher of our faith. And Paul wrote
about that later. He said, it pleased God who separated
me from my mother's womb to reveal His Son in me. God chose you. You belong to God because you've
always belonged to God. I hear people say, well, I saved
long time before I found out who saved me. I don't know about
that now. Yeah, I saved way back yonder,
and I learned the doctrines of grace later. I don't know about
that. I just don't know about that. I believe when God saves
a man, he knows who saved him. Yeah, I really do. Don't you,
John? Don't you believe if a man is
saved, he knows who saved him? He gives the glory to God? He
bows to God, he worships God, he believes God. That blind man
said, well, I'll tell you this, I don't know who he is, but I
know I was blind. He made me see! He made me see! I didn't get sight by volunteering
for it. He made, he performed a miracle. That old leper came to the Lord
Jesus, said, Lord, if you will, you can make me whole. The Lord
said, I will be thy whole. He went away whole. He knew who
made Him whole. He knew it was the power of God
that made Him whole. The God of our fathers had chosen
you. God chose you. Look at the next
line, that you should know His will. That you should know His
will. Now listen to me a moment. If
you'd met Saul of Tarsus a few days earlier and asked him if
he knew the will of God, Why, he would have been shocked by
your question. Of course he knew the will of
God. He was a teacher of the Scriptures. He'd been studying
the Scriptures all his life. Didn't he say, I sat at the feet
of Gamaliel, the best teacher of the Scriptures in all the
world? Yeah, he knew the will of command,
but he didn't know the will of redemption, did he, Cesar? The
will of redemption. This is the will I'm talking
about. Turn to Hebrews 10. Have you got a moment, just a
moment, turn to Hebrews 10. Listen to this. This is the will
I'm talking about. Our Lord Jesus Christ said, Hebrews
10 verse 8, verse 7, Then said I, this is
Christ speaking, Lo, I come 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, thou wouldest
not neither had any pleasure therein which are offered by
the law. Those Old Testament sacrifices and atonements, they
never pleased God. They never satisfied God. They
never gave God pleasure. They never put away sin. But
then said he, lo, how come? to do thy will, O God, and he
taketh away the first, the Levitical law, the Mosaic law, the sacrifices,
that he may establish the second, by the which will we are sanctified
through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all.
That's the will of God, the will of redemption, the will of God
in Christ. Our Lord spoke of this in John
6. He said, All that my Father giveth me shall come to me. And
him that cometh to me, I'll in no wise cast out. I've come down
from heaven not to do my will, but the will of him that sent
me. And this is the will of him that sent me, that of every one
which he hath given me I'll lose nothing, but raise it up at the
last day." That's what Ananias is saying. Saul, brother Saul,
God had chosen you that you might know His will of redemption. Christ the righteousness of Christ
the blood of Christ the grace of Christ the life of Christ
the salvation of Christ the atonement of Christ God's will is in Christ
That's where his redemption Notice this what he says the next line
he says in Acts 22 go back there a moment Give me a couple of
more moments stay with me if you can The God of our fathers
hath chosen thee, that thou shouldest know his will, and see that just
one." Now this word is used frequently concerning the Lord Jesus Christ,
that just one. That capital J-U-S-T, capital
O-N-E, that just one. He said in Isaiah, just let me
quote these, Isaiah 45, 21, I'm a just God, and a Savior. And Peter said
in Acts chapter 3 verse 14, listen, You denied the Holy One and the
Just One. In Acts 7.52 he said, 7.52 he
said, Which of the prophets have not your fathers persecuted?
They have slain them which showed before of the coming of the Just
One. God chose you that you should
know His will of redemption and see with spiritual eyes the just
one. He died the just for the unjust
to bring us to God. He was just before God. My beloved
Son in whom I'm well pleased, He was just before the law. He
was just before men. We find no fault in Him. And
as our just one, our representative, He enables God to be just and
justified. The whole message is here in
this testimony of this man. God chose us that we should know
His will, His will of redemption. God willed to save a people. He willed to redeem a people.
He gave them to Christ. That's it. He worketh all things
after the counsel of His own will. Blessed be the God and
Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who hath blessed us with all
spiritual blessing in heavenly places, according as He chose
us in Christ before the foundation of the world, that we should
be holy and without blame before Him in love, having predestinated
us to the adoption of children according to the good pleasure
of His own will." I know that will. Chose you? revealed his will
of redemption, and let you see how he can be just and justify,
because he sent the just one, the just one to die for the unjust
one, that God may be just and redeem us. In Christ, mercy and
peace met together. Righteousness and truth, righteousness
and mercy met together, kissed each other. Now watch the next
line, and you should hear the voice of his mouth. You should
hear it from him. You should hear it from him.
Our Lord kept saying in John 10, my sheep hear my voice. My sheep hear my voice. He that
heareth my voice, my voice. But preacher, how can I hear
his voice? How can I be listening to the
words of a man, reading the words of a man? This book was written
by men, holy men of God. How can I hear the voice of a
man and read the words of a man and hear the voice of Christ?
But it can be done. It can be done. And that's what
has to be done. Turn to John 4, just a moment.
We looked at this in Sunday school this morning. John 4. These men
in Samaria, that woman told them that Jesus was the Christ. And here in John 4, 42, they
said to the woman, now we believe. Not because of your saying. We've
heard Him ourselves. We've heard Him ourselves. I've
heard Him in here. I've heard Him myself. I don't believe this because
some preacher believed it and told it to me. That's the way
I first heard it. I had confidence in the man,
and the man was reading the Word, and I believed the man. But after
I heard the man, I got alone and opened the Word, and I said,
Now, Lord, let me know if he's telling the truth. That's exactly
what I did. When I heard this man preaching
the grace of God, the gospel of God's glory and grace, I heard
the man. It sounded right. It sounded
true. It sounded like what I was looking
for. It gave God the glory, put me in the dust, gave Christ the
credit. But I went to the study and got the Bible. And I said,
Lord, if he's telling the truth, I want you to sow it to me. I
want you to speak to me. Tell me if that man's telling
the truth. I want to see what you say. Now, of course, he said.
And I saw it. I heard him. I heard him. And they did the same thing,
the Bereans. Isn't that right? The Bereans went home and searched
the Scriptures to see if what Paul was saying was true. That's
what the Bible says. They went home and searched the
Scriptures to see if what Paul the Apostle said was true. In
other words, they wanted God to show it to them. And that,
under God, is what I want you to do. You should hear the voice of
His mouth. His mouth. When He says, I am
the good shepherd, is He? Our Lord turned to the disciples
one day and said, will you go away? And Peter said, to whom
shall we go? Thou hast the words of eternal life, and we believe
and assure that thou art the Christ, the Son of the living
God. You've got the words of eternal
life. And we profit by our teachers. We love our teachers, our preachers.
We listen to them. grow in grace as they God sends
his word by them, but nothing is established because they say
so. We search the scriptures to see
if they are telling the truth. And they are. It's here. All right, may God bless that
to your prophet. Let's sing a hymn, Brother Mike,
if you will.

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The Apostle's Personal Testimony

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