I have read to you from this
twenty-second chapter Paul's account of his conversion. Now,
we're prone to look on Paul's conversion as the exception rather
than the rule. We're prone to look on Paul's
conversion as an unusual experience that rarely occurs. But though
his conversion was unique, I won't deny that. It was unusual. It was miraculous. Two of the
requirements for apostleship was one, to have seen the Lord. Paul said he saw the Lord as
one born out of due time. Secondly, was to get the gospel
as a direct revelation from God Himself. And that's the way Paul
received his gospel. He saw the Lord and he was a
witness of his resurrection, and he received the gospel from
Christ's lips, from the lips of Christ himself. But Paul calls
his conversion a pattern. I want you to turn to one verse
of Scripture in 1 Timothy chapter 1. What I'm saying is this, that
though the conversion of Saul of Tarsus was unique, miraculous,
quite mysterious, Yet his conversion, according to his own testimony,
is a pattern, an example, for all who would believe in days
to come. In 1 Timothy, chapter 1, verse
15, he gives us that great fateful saying. This is a fateful saying,
and worthy of all acceptation, that Christ Jesus came into the
world to save sinners of whom I am chief. How be it? Now watch this. For this cause
I obtained mercy, that in me first Jesus Christ might show
forth all longsuffering for a pattern to them which should hereafter
believe on him to life everlasting." My conversion, he says, is a
pattern. It's a pattern to all them. which
should hereafter believe on Christ to life everlasting. His conversion
is a pattern. Now go back to Acts 22, and we'll
read the account of his conversion, and I'll try to show you how
his conversion is a pattern. Here's his own testimony. Here's
his own account of his meeting with God, his meeting with Christ. First of all, in verse 4, he
says, I persecuted this way unto the death. Paul hated the way
of the cross. He hated the way of substitution.
He hated the way of the Lamb of God, Jesus Christ, as a sacrifice
for sin. He hated that way, and he persecuted
that way. And my friends, all men by nature
hate the way of the cross. All men by nature hate substitution. They love darkness, they hate
light. They love evil, they hate holiness. They love sin, They hate good. We want our way, not God's way,
our way. And if heaven is to be gained,
we want to gain it through our own merit and through our own
righteousness and through our own works, not through the merits
of another, not through the righteousness of another, not through the mercy
of another. We do not want mercy. We want
That's what we say. We do not want mercy. We want
God to judge us on the basis of our deeds and our righteousness. And that's the way Paul felt.
So he persecuted the way of righteousness, the way of Christ, the way of
substitution. Look at verse 6. And it came
to pass that as I made my journey, I made my journey. What did Isaiah
say? All we like sheep have gone astray,
we've turned everyone to what? To his own way. Paul said, I
made my journey. This was my journey. This was
my way. This was my decision. These were
my blueprints. This was my direction. And in
conversion, Isaiah declared, let the wicked forsake his way
and let him return unto the Lord. For God said, your thoughts are
not my thoughts, and your ways are not my ways. All we like
sheep have gone astray. We've turned everyone to his
own way. And that's our chief problem.
Not only do we by nature hate the cross and hate substitution,
but we want to go our way. We do not want to go God's way. And then notice, if you will,
verse 7, and I fell to the ground. and I fell to the ground." God
brought the proud rebel down. Every sinner whom God saves must
be brought down. The only way up to God is down
to the flesh. We must be slain before we can
live. We must be humbled before we
can be exalted. We must be stripped before we
can be clothed in the righteousness of Christ. The first thing that
God had to do for Adam after he fell was to take away his
own covering, his own fig leaf apron of self-righteousness,
and clothed him with a God-given garment. Read the paradoxes in
the Bible. If you want to be filled, you've
got to be what? Empty. If you want to be rich
spiritually, you've got to be what? Poor. If you want to be,
if you want to live spiritually, you've got to die. Christ said,
lose your life and find it. Save your life and lose it. You want to be wise, you've got
to become a fool. If you want to be found, you've
got to be lost. So Paul said, I persecuted, I
hated the way of the cross. And I walked my own way, I made
my own journey. I went the way that Paul wanted
to go, but God brought me down. I fell to the ground. Then verse 10, And I said, What
shall I do, Lord? Up until this time, Paul had
been his own Lord, his own master. Now he is crying, Lord, what
shall I do? When God saves a sinner, That
sinner not only dies, and not only is stripped, and not only
is broken, and not only is humbled at the feet of Christ, but that
sinner is going to recognize the Lordship of Jesus Christ. Now, my friends, the Bible knows
nothing of a doormat called Jesus. The Bible knows nothing of a
doormat called Jesus that you can walk on and despise and ignore,
and when you get ready to die, he'll take you to heaven. The
Bible knows something about Jesus Christ, who is Lord, Lord of
the dead and Lord of the living. He died, the Scripture says,
that he might be Lord. And if thou shalt confess with
thy mouth Jesus to be Lord, and believe in thine heart God hath
raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved. The thief on
the cross called him Lord. He said to his disciples, You
call me Lord, and you say, Well, for so I am. And here is the
proud Pharisee, Saul of Tarsus, brought to the dust, humbled
at the feet of Christ, looking up, crying, Lord, Lord, what
will you have me do? And then in the next place, verse
11, here is how his conversion is a pattern. First of all, all
men by nature despise the way of substitution. All men by nature
despise the way of righteousness through the merits of another,
and they're going their way. There's a way that seemeth right
unto men, and the way leads to destruction. Paul said, I journeyed
my way, but I was brought down and I fell to the ground. God
must humble the proud heart. We cannot glory in ourselves,
we're going to have to glory in Christ. And then we're brought
to see His Lordship, and recognize His Lordship, and recognize our
inability, and cry, Lord, what shall I do? Not tell God what
I'm going to do, not make a bargain with God. I used to hear the
boys oversee before we'd go into an invasion. I'd hear them say,
well, if God brings me through this, when I get home I'm going
to church every Sunday. We call it foxhole religion.
Fear produced all these promises and all these vows. Now, if God
will bring me through this, I'm going to do so and so. Paul is
not bargaining with God. He says, Lord, what will you
have me do? You dictate the terms. And then
he said, watch it, verse 11, And when I could not see for
the glory of that when I could not see for the glory of that
light." Have you ever seen the glory of Christ? The glory of
the Son of God. The Scripture says, when Christ
prayed in the Garden of Gethsemane, He said, Father, glorify Thou
me with the glory which I had with Thee before the world was.
The glory of Christ. The glory of Christ. Turn to
2 Corinthians chapter 4. The glory of Christ is not preached. Jesus' superstar is this generation's
Jesus. Poor little Jesus, sweet little
Jesus boy, the babe in the manger, the glory of Christ is not preached. The glory of Christ has not been
seen. The glory of Christ has not been
witnessed. Paul said, I saw his glory, and
I couldn't see for the glory of that light. I met Christ,
and I was completely overshadowed with his glory. 2 Corinthians 4, 6, that's what
That's what he's talking about here in 2 Corinthians 4, 6. God,
who commanded the light to shine out of darkness, has shined in
our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory
of God in the face of Jesus Christ. How long has it been since you've
heard a message that reveals the glory of Christ? the indisputable, immutable,
majestic glory of the Son of God. Psalms 50, God said, Thou
thoughtest I was altogether such as one as Thyself. We like to
talk about Christ as a man, and Christ as a servant, Christ as
a healer and Christ as a preacher. We talk very little of the glory
of Jesus Christ, and everybody whom God sees in some measure
is brought to see and to recognize the glory of the Son of God. And I could not see for the glory
of it all. Conversion today, a preacher
gets up and preaches a little sermon, doesn't say anything
much, reads a verse of Scripture and gives a few points and tells
an illustration, and then the choir starts singing softly,
and people stand. They're put under all kind of
pressure to make a decision. Don't you want to go to heaven?
Yes, I want to go to heaven. Don't want to go to hell, do
you? No, I don't want to go to hell. Well, believe on Jesus Christ,
and thou shalt be saved. Come down the aisle. People walk
down the aisle. They're gathering multitudes
down the front. Now repeat after me. I wonder,
have you ever seen anybody drown? I've seen two or three people
drown when I was in the service. Some fellows drowned. And, you
know, and I saw one that was rescued. One boy fell off a ship,
and we were the fifth ship in line, and we threw him a life
preserver. And, you know, you didn't have
to tell him what to say. That old boy was down in that
water, and he was hollering, Help me! Somebody throw me a
preserver! Somebody help me! Nobody had
to stand up and say, Now, you're lost. You're drowning, aren't
you? I think I am. Would you like to be saved? Well,
not now. My brother's going to drown someday,
and we ought to drown together, you know. All that silly foolishness. And, well, repeat after me. Somebody
throw me a life preserver. A life preserver, please. And
that's so they gather down here. Repeat after me. Lord, be merciful
to me, a sinner, and save me. Now you're saved. Shake hands.
You're a member of the church. You want to be baptized? Yeah,
I want to be baptized. And they go home, and they meet the cold
morning light. And there's nothing there. Empty. They haven't seen the glory of
Christ. Paul said here, I hated the way
of life. I hated the way of Christ. I
persecuted that way. I fought that way. I walked my
way. I was the master of my faith
and the captain of my soul. I went my way. And God brought
me down, God stripped me, God broke me, God humbled me, God
unhorsed me, God put me in the dust. And I was so broken and
so stripped, and I cried, Lord, help me, what must I do? And I couldn't see for the glory
that was around me, the glory of Christ. I saw my emptiness
and God's glory. I saw my sickness and God's health. I saw my hell and God's heaven. I saw my guilt and I saw His
grace. I saw all of my filth and I saw
His holiness. And I was overcome, I was overwhelmed. But the people making professions
of religion today, they're not overcome, they're not overwhelmed
with anything. There's no fear of God before
their eyes. They've never been introduced
to a holy God. They've met a little old silly,
sick, sentimental Jesus. That's right, and I'm not being
blasphemous, I'm just making fun of present-day religion.
Somebody ought to make fun of it. Verse 12 and 13, let's see
what happened. So here he is. Here's this man's
soul, broken, blind, bewildered, confused, surrounded by glory
he knows nothing about. What's it all about? I don't
know. He still doesn't know anything.
He just knows that he's empty, and he just knows he's met the
only one who can fill him. And so it says in verse 12, And
one in a house, a devout man, according to the law, verse 13,
came to me. He came to me. A man who is saved
is going to hear the gospel from the lips of somebody. Now, God
broke Saul. This proud Pharisee going his
way, doing his thing, rebelling against God, was humbled. And
he was brought down. He was brought to see his emptiness.
He was brought to see the error of his way. He saw the glory
of God, oh, the glory of Christ. But he had to be taught. He had to be instructed. And
a man who is saved is going to have to hear the gospel. He's
not going to be saved without the gospel. For the Scripture
says the gospel is the power of God unto salvation. The Scripture
says the preaching of the cross is to them that perish foolishness,
but unto us who are being saved is the power of God. And God
hath chosen by the foolishness of preaching to save them that
believe. And turn to James chapter 1. Now, salvation is called a new
birth. It's called being begotten of
God. But now look at verse 18 of James
1, and it says, "...of his own will begat he us." We know that. Salvation is of the Lord. "...of
his own will begat he us." We were conceived, we were begotten
by God's Spirit. Now watch this. "...of his own
will begat he us." With what? With the Word of Truth. With
the Word of Truth. That's how a sinner is begotten,
with the Word of Truth. That's how he's begotten. Look
at 1 Peter 1. This is so important. I know
I've read it so many times, but it needs to be read again. Verse
23 of 1 Peter 1. Watch this. Being born again. That's what salvation is. It's
a new birth. Christ said you must be born
again. All right, we're born again, not of corruptible seed.
And the word seed there has reference to the natural birth. It's the
same seed. It's the same word. Seed here
is seed that begets a child in the natural birth. And we're
not begotten of corruptible seed, but of incorruptible seed by
the Word of God. That's how a sinner is begotten,
by the Word of God. And here Saul of Tarsus has been
stripped and broken and convicted and his inability revealed and
the glory of God revealed, but he had to have somebody come
and preach to him. Turn to Romans 10. Let me show
you that again. In the 10th chapter of Romans
and verse 13. Listen to this. Romans 10, 13. Whosoever shall call upon the
name of the Lord shall be saved. How, then, shall they call on
him in whom they have not believed? And how shall they believe in
him of whom they have not heard? You can't trust an unrevealed
Christ. Who is he, Lord, that I might
believe on him?" said the man who had been healed. Who is he?
I want to believe, but who is he? And how shall they hear without
a preacher? And how are they going to preach
except God sends them? So God here, God stripped Saul. He was persecuting the way of
life. He hated it. He despised it. And it's It offends man's dignity,
and offends man's wisdom, and offends man's natural love. He
hates it. He hates it. He's going his way.
Well, that's all right. You preach what you want to,
but that's what I think. Well, you go on the way you think.
Well, that's what I believe. Well, there's a way that seems
right unto men, and the end thereof is death and destruction. Paul
said, I went my way, but God stopped me. Thank God He got
in my way. Thank God He arrested me. Thank
God He didn't leave me alone. Thank God he didn't leave me
to myself. That's the worst thing God can do for you. Do you know
what? Leave you to yourself. Leave you to your own natural
thoughts. Leave you to your own natural wisdom. Leave you to
suffer with, I think. God stopped him, and he fell
to the ground, and he saw the glory of Christ, and he said,
Lord, what shall I do? And he said, you go down to Damascus,
and I'll send my preacher to you, and he'll tell you what
to do. All right, let's see what his preacher said. So his preacher
came to him, verse 14. He came to him and he said, Saul,
here are five things he said to him. The God of our fathers
hath chosen thee. Now my friends, God could have
justly left Saul in his darkness, couldn't he? Why certainly. God could have left Saul in his
rebellion. He left the angels in their darkness. You read over in the book of
Jude, it says, "...the angels that kept not their first estate. God hath reserved them unto judgment
in chains of darkness." The Scripture plainly says in Hebrews, "...Christ
took not on him the nature of angels, he took on him the seed
of Abraham." God left the old world to be destroyed by the
Flood, but Noah found grace in the eyes of the Lord. Some people
preach that thing as if Noah deserved to be delivered. But
the Bible doesn't say Noah deserved to be delivered. It plainly says
Noah found grace in the eyes of the Lord. But Noah, the whole
world perished but Noah. I wish we could grasp the significance
of this. A whole city, two cities, Sodom
and Gomorrah, burned under the fire of God's wrath, but lot,
but lot was delivered by the hand of God. One thief on a cross
died cursing God. Now those thieves, now watch
this, those thieves both suffered the same treatment They both
were hanging on a cross, one on one side of Christ, one on
the other. They heard the same thing. They saw the same thing. Yet one of them died cursing
God, died in his sins, and the other died suing for mercy. Israel was led out of Egypt by
the mighty hand of God, while Pharaoh and the Egyptians were
buried in the sea. And Ananias says to Saul, God
didn't leave you alone. God has chosen you. Turn to Ephesians
chapter 2. Christ said to his disciples,
you didn't choose me. You follow all, every call of
the disciples. Was Matthew out looking for the
Savior? The Lord Jesus came by and called
his name, said, Matthew, follow me. James and John, were they
out looking for eternal life? They were fishing. And they'd
brought their boats up on the shore and they were cleaning
the nets and probably cursing along with it. And Christ came
by and said, follow me and I'll make you fishers of men. Salvations
of the Lord. And he initiates salvation. Watch
this in Ephesians 2. You, and you, and you, and you. Hath he quickened who were dead? in trespasses and sin. In times
past you walked. What were you? Well, you walked
according to the course of this world, according to the principles
by the air, a spirit that now worketh in the children of disobedient.
That same spirit among whom we all had our conversation in times
past in the lust of our flesh, fulfilling the desires of the
flesh and of the mind. We were by nature, by birth,
by nature, by practice, by choice, children of wrath. That's what
we were. Even as others. Don't look down
on them too strongly. You're just like they are. Dug
out of the same pit, came out of the same mire, lived in the
same cesspool, wallowed in the same dunghill. Even as others. And here are two words that made
the difference. But I saw the light. That's not what it says.
But I changed my mind. That's not what it says. But
Al was a little smarter than the rest of them, no sir. It
says, but God, who is rich in mercy for his great love, wherewith
he loved us even when we were dead, God quickened us together
with Christ. God did it. He initiated it,
he planned it, he purposed it, and he executed it, and he applied
it, and he kept it, and he'll complete it. There you were,
just like all the others, but God did it, and that's what Ananias
said to Saul of Tarsus here. He came to him and said, Saul,
God hath chosen you. God hath chosen you. All right,
look at the next line now, quickly. Secondly, here's the message
that he preached. Somebody said, don't preach election
to lost people. Ananias did. He let that bird
know right away where his mercy came from. That first thing he
said to him. He wanted Paul to understand.
You get this through your head. You didn't choose God, He chose
you. You didn't deserve this. God Almighty chose you. Let that
get through your head real quick now. That's the first thing he
said to him. Here was an illiterate Pharisee
who had seen what he was and been stripped by God and broken,
and here God's preacher comes to him, and the first thing he
said to him, that God chose you, oh, you ought to be thankful
that you're an object of His love. He didn't leave you alone. What's the next thing he said?
He chose you that you should know His will. You should know His will. Turn
to Daniel 4, Daniel chapter 4. Now watch this. This is awfully
important right here, that you should know his will. In Daniel 4, verse 34, At the
end of the days I, Nebuchadnezzar, lifted up mine eyes to heaven,
and my understanding returned unto me, and I blessed the Most
High. and I praised and honored him
that liveth forever, whose dominion is an everlasting dominion, and
his kingdom is from generation to generation, and all the inhabitants
of the earth are reputed as nothing, and he doeth according to his
will in the army of heaven, and among the inhabitants of the
And none can stay his hand or say to him, What doest thou? Old Nebuchadnezzar got his reasoning
back, got his faculties back, got his mind back, and the first
thing he said, he said, God does his will. God doeth according
to his will in heaven and earth. Now, what is his will? He's going
to do his will. That's what it says. Ephesians
1, 11 says, "...he worketh all things after the counsel of his
own will." And salvation is for us to come
to a knowledge of his will. All right, what is his will?
Do you know his will? Turn to John 6. John the sixth
chapter. Now, did you And Ananias said,
Saul, God chose you that you should know His will. His will. In John 6 verse 38,
now listen to it, here's Christ speaking, the Lord Jesus. I couldn't
turn to a better place to find His will. John 6 verse 38, I
came down from heaven not to do my own will. but the will
of him that sent me, and this is his will." Now, this is important here. I don't claim to be real smart.
Never have claimed. But I do know something about
the gospel. I do know that. God's taught
me the gospel and how sinners are saved. And I think He's given
me ability to preach. I'm not in this thing for for
money and for prestige and for popularity or anything else.
I want people to know the Word of God and Christ, who is the
Word of God. But as I looked at this scripture,
Anna and I said, Saul, God had chosen you that you should know
his will. Now I said, let's see, do I know
the will of God? Let's see what it is. And Christ
said, this is my Father's will which he sent me. Here it is.
That of all which he hath given me, I should lose nothing, but
raise it up again at the last day." That's His will. That's
it. Do you know it? Has He revealed
it to you? Here's what He's saying. In the
everlasting covenant of grace, the Father gave the Son of people,
countless beyond the stars, out of every tribe, kindred, nation,
and tongue unto heaven. He gave His Son of people. And
they were redeemed at the cross by the blood of Christ. And they're
going to be called by the Holy Spirit. And that's the Father's
will, that all that He had given the Son, He'll lose not a one
of them, but raise them up at the last day. That's the Father's
will. Eternal lives through grace.
Noah found grace. Grace. All right, let's look
at the next verse. This is my Father's will. Look
at verse 40. And this is the will of Him that sent me, that
everyone that seeth the Son and believes on Him may have everlasting
life. That's the Father's will. It's
twofold. Watch it now. It's twofold. This is my Father's
will. That's what Christ said. Number
one, His will is that all that He gave me I lose nothing but
raise it up. Second, his will is that every
man who with anointed eyes eyes of faith, not natural eyes. A
lot of people saw Him that never believed on Him and never had
life, but who see the Son, who see Him as the divine surety,
who see Him as the spotless righteousness, who see Him as the sacrifice
for sin, who see Him as the success for substitute, who see Him as
the only mediator and high priest between God and men, all who
see Him with eyes of faith and believe. going to have everlasting
life. That's my Father's will. Not
everybody walks down an aisle and shakes a preacher's hand.
Not everybody turns over a new leaf and swears to do better.
Not everybody that goes neath the baptismal waters and joins
the church. Not everybody that preaches or
sings or teaches Sunday school. My Father's will is that he that
seeth the Son sees him. gets a glimpse of His glory,
sees Him with eyes of faith, sees Him with a submissive heart,
sees Him in all His glory and beauty, sees Him. And to see
Him is to love Him. To see Him is to be drawn to
Him like a magnet. To see Him fulfilling every need
and every requirement. Everything else fades into insignificance
when you see Him. The reason these preachers are
having so much trouble getting their people to give is they've
never seen the Lord. Their money means more than Christ.
The reason these preachers are having a hard time getting people
to come to church is they've never seen the Lord. Their television
sets mean more than Christ. The reason these preachers are
having a hard time getting people to read their Bibles is they've
never seen the Lord. Their carnal literature means
more than God's Word. The reason these preachers have
never got people to be devoted to the cause of Christ is they've
never seen the Lord. Their families mean more to them
than Christ. But if you ever come to see Him,
to behold His glory and His beauty, He becomes the lover of your
life. He becomes the husband. He becomes
the companion. He becomes the head. He becomes
the president. He becomes the dictator. He becomes
the monarch. He becomes your breath and hope
and love and life, ambition and everything else. And these things
have a way of just becoming nothing but vanity. Anybody that's seen Grand Canyon,
they don't care a thing about seeing this ditch down here in
Avondale. Huh? Fellas stand and look down in
Grand Canyon, and you try again to go out and see this thing
down here that they got that water running through. You know,
it used to be the biggest ditch in Ashland. Anybody that's ever
seen the Mississippi River, the mighty Mississippi, you can't
get him to drive to Louisiana to see Tug Fork or that little
river up there. He's not interested. And when
a man ever sees Christ, he that seeth the Son somehow, these
other things just don't mount the hill of beans. Once you've
seen Him, there's nothing else to see. That's what Simeon said,
let me die, Lord, I've seen thy salvation. And you just want
to see more of him. You want to see more of him,
more of him. Now look at verse, go back to Acts, I've got to
quit. Acts 22, but I'm going to slip right through these next
three things. that God hath chosen thee, that
thou shouldst know his will, and that thou shouldst see that
just one." Now, this is a carryover of what I've just been saying,
see the just one, but there's a reason why he's called the
just one. Why is Christ called the just
one? Why is it important to see him
as the just one? Now, watch this. God is not only
love. This generation's preaching a
a half God. God is not only love, God is
truth, God is holiness. God is not only mercy, God is
righteous. God is not only grace, God Almighty
is just. And the Scripture says, He will
in no wise clear the guilty. God will punish sin. God cannot
show mercy at the expense of His justice and righteousness. God cannot forgive sin without
sin being paid for, being punished. And that's the reason Christ
is called the Just One. He is the Just One in that by
His obedience and by His sacrifice He honored the law, and He satisfied
the justice of God on our behalf. And He's called the Just One
because He enables the Father to be just and justifier of those
that believe in Him. Turn to Romans 3, verse 26. Romans 3, 26. It talks here about
God setting forth Christ to be a propitiation through faith
in His blood, to declare, verse 26, at this time His righteousness,
that God might be just, that He might be truth and righteous,
and yet be justifier of him that believes, be the forgiver, the
partner of the sinner. Christ is the just one. Do you
see Christ in that office? Do you see how that God, God
can't look down at you and say, well I forgive your sins, it's
okay now. No sir, that sin's got to be
paid for. So God looks at you and he sees you through the cross,
he sees you through the sacrifice, he sees you through the death
of Christ, and because his justice has been fully satisfied, He
can look at you and say, of course you're forgiven because your
debt's been paid. Now the fourth thing, Acts 22,
Anna and I said, Saul, God Almighty has chosen you that you should
know his will and see the just one and hear the voice of his
mouth. One old preacher in Texas said
one time, if my voice is the only voice you hear, No good will be accomplished,
my voice." Now, we don't hear voices in the air, and we don't
see visions in the night. God speaks through His Word.
But we look on the Bible not as just another book, but as
being the very Word of God. And we say, Speak, Lord, thy
servant heareth. And Saul of Tarsus, he'd been
reading the Bible all these years. That's right, he was a Pharisee,
he was a Bible scholar, but he had never heard God speak through
his word. And now that he had ears to hear,
he heard not just words, but he heard the word of God. He
heard not just voices, but he heard the voice of God. God spoke
to him through the word, because he now had ears that could hear. It may be Tuesday night I'll
be on the radio with this message, but you're not going to hear
that radio message unless you're on the right channel. Now, it'll
be out there. It'll be out there, but you're
not going to hear it unless you're on the right channel, 93 point
something. And the same thing, too, the
voice of God speaks through His Word. Somebody said, well, how
was this in the Bible so long and I never saw it? You weren't
on the right channel. How is this in the—God speaking
this way all these years, and I never heard it. You were in
tune with your tradition. You were in tune with your prejudice. You were in tune with the world's
message. When you tune your ears to God,
you'll hear God's message. That's—I'm telling you the truth.
You've got to be tuned to the right channel. Right channel. God gives ears. He—you should
hear His voice, last of all. Verse 15, "'For thou shalt be
his witness.'" Now, brethren, this is important here, and I
don't want to close without saying this. Thou shalt be, underscore
this little three-letter word, his witness, H-I-S, his witness. This is our message, it's Christ.
It's not the Baptist church. I'm a Baptist. I believe in baptism
by mercy, and I think I could show you that from the Word of
God. I believe in a The pastor is the overseer of the church,
the ruler, that's what scripture says, but the people have a voice
in what the church does and where the church spends its money,
and it's a congregational government. But I'm not preaching a Baptist
church. I'm not interested in you becoming a Baptist. I'm interested
in you knowing Christ. We preach not ourselves, but
Christ the Lord. I'm what you call a sovereign
grace preacher. I believe salvation is by grace.
But I'm not interested in you just coming to know some doctrine.
I'm interested in you coming to know we're His witnesses. His witnesses. You people that
talk to folks down where you work, don't get in an argument
about which denomination is the right denomination. You're wasting
your time. They're all wrong. Don't get in an argument with
these people about eschatology, whether you're premillenarian
or an armillenarian or a postmillenarian or whatever that is. You're wasting
your breath. And there's two. You're getting
sidetracked on minor issues. Don't preach a negative message.
When that person wants to talk to you about the Word of God,
bring them to this point. We're His witnesses. His witnesses. Christ's witnesses. Do you know
the Lord Jesus? Have you met him? Everything's revealed in
him. We're his witnesses. Look at
this. And thou shalt be his witnesses unto all men. All men. Don't bypass anybody. No nation
has a corner on God. No race, no denomination, no
sex has a corner on God. God will have all sorts of men
to be saved. God might save the president.
I don't know. He might save that old boy in
prison. I don't know. But God might save any man. all
men. Go into all the world and preach
the gospel to every creature. Don't cull anybody. These shall
be his witnesses, his witnesses to all men. What are you going
to tell them? Look at the last line. What you've
seen and what you've heard, that's all you can tell. And I'll tell you this, you can't
tell what you don't know any more than you can come back from
where you hadn't been. You're not much of a witness if you
haven't seen His glory and heard His voice.