we good on that end all right folks welcome to pure words
Baptist Church we're gonna go ahead and get started this evening if you would go
ahead and grab your hymnal turn to our first hymn this evening 421 it is
officially November so we can break into the Christmas songs right 421 the
first Noel 421 421 the first Noel we'll sing there starting on the first verse
the first Noel the angel did say was to certain poor shepherds in fields where
they lay in fields where they lay keeping their sheep on a cold winters
died that was so deep no no no no
Oh born is the King Israel and by the light of that same store three wise men
came from country for to see for a king was there in 10 and to follow the store
where ever it went no no no no no no born is the king of Israel this our
true night to the North West for Beth let him it took its rest and there it
did both stop and stay right over the place where Jesus lay no no no no no
born is the king of Israel then it and turn in those wise men free for
their knee and offered them in his presence their gold and murder and
can sense Noel Noel Noel born is the king of Israel amen good singing this
evening brothers to hell would you like to open us in a word of prayer this
evening
amen all right for our next him this evening if you would turn to 429 him
number 429 hark the herald angels sing
429 hark the herald angels sing on the first the herald angels sing glory to
the newborn King peace on earth and mercy mild God and sinners reconciled
joyful oh he nations rise join the triumph of the skies with angelic hosts
proclaim Christ is born in Bethlehem hark the herald angels sing glory to the
newborn King Christ by obvious heaven adored Christ the everlasting Lord late
in time behold him come offspring of a virgin's womb failed it
gosh the goddess see held incarnate deity pleased as man with men to dwell
Jesus our Emmanuel hark the herald angels sing glory to the newborn King
hail the heaven-born prince of peace hail the song of righteousness light
and life to all he brings risen when he bling in his wings
my he lays his glory by more not man no more may die born to raise the sons of
her glory to the newborn King um desire of nations come fixin us my humble home
rise the woman's conquering seed bruise in us the serpent's head I have
blackness now we face step by me Janice place second Adam from above
and stay heart the herald angels sing glory to the newborn King amen good
singing if you didn't already get a bulletin we have some over in this back
cabinet on the inside we have our service and so winning times as well as
our church that's keep up the great work on soul winning and we have a couple
prayer requests continue to pray for brother Edwards health and to pray for
the artist family for Harry's father's health I know it's been declining so
continue praying for him and their family as well also any other prayer
requests please submit those in George Baptist Tom on the right we have our
list of expecting ladies and then we have some events and so a lot of cool
stuff we also have some of our guest preachers putting in there this Sunday
November 14th for the Chris Segura from pay for it is coming back out here and
he's gonna be preaching for you guys he really likes coming out here and seeing
everybody so encourage you to be here for that Tuesday is there gonna be a
special service instead of doing our Thursday service Thanksgiving week we're
gonna just move it to Tuesday so that'll be the same time 7 p.m. on it
just be moved to Tuesday and I'll be down here preaching for you guys we're
gonna have a dessert fellowship so we can hang out and have some good time
then also Sunday the 28th for the squares coming at back so you just can't
get enough you guys okay and he's also coming in January looks down the below
Friday December 3rd so I'll be coming down the second preaching like normal on
Thursday with my family and then we're gonna do our Christmas caroling December
3rd and so that'll be a lot of fun I really encourage you to participate
we're gonna try and meet here at the church at 5 30 we'll meet here at 5 30
we'll go out to caroling for about one hour and then we'll come back to the
church and we'll have pizza fellowship so it'll be a good night to just kind of
hang out and caroling and then I'm gonna stick around and preach Sunday both
services as well so should be a really good weekend and I'm excited to be down
here again and see everybody I know there's a lot of Sunday morning only so
you know I need to see them too apparently alright but I appreciate the
faithful people coming on Wednesday night or Thursday night as it were also
we have brother Duncan coming down December 19th the 23rd we're gonna have
a cookie bake-off so you can bring I need to get the categories decided but
this is what I'm anticipating it's gonna be like three three categories it's
gonna be best tasting which is the most important best decorated so like it
looks pretty okay is these don't always collide okay best tasting and best
looking and then like most unique okay and so you can bring your cookies and
you could win all three I mean there's nothing stopping you from winning all
three theoretically I just highly doubt the best looking and most unique is
gonna be the best tasting okay but if you can pull it off I mean you know the
sky's the limit for you all right we'll have a cookie bake-off and that'll be a
lot of fun Thursday December 23rd and so lots of events coming up I highly
encourage you to participate in all those that's pretty much all I had for
announcements for this time we'll go and go to our third song away in a manger
love this Christmas music especially that last one there are so many there
was so much good doctrine in it talking about Mary it said the offspring of a
virgin's womb and the woman's conquering seed so notice that he was born of a
woman some people don't even believe that 433 away in a manger 433 away in a
manger we'll sing they're starting on the first Oh way in a manger no crib
for us lay down sweet head the stars in the sky look down little Lord Jesus
asleep hey the cattle are low wing baby
he makes I love the Lord Jesus look down from the sky and stay by my cradle
till morning is nigh be near me Lord Jesus I asked I pray bless all the dear
children and I take us to heaven to live
amen at this time while the offering plates being passed around if you would
turn to Acts chapter number 22 Acts chapter number 22 brother Brandon will
be reading that for us
Acts chapter number 22 in the Bible reads men brethren and fathers hear ye
my defense which I make now unto you and when they heard that he spake in the
Hebrew tongue to them they kept them more silence and he said I am barely a
man which am a Jew born in Tarsus a city of Calistia yet brought up in this city
at the feet of Gamaliel and taught according to the perfect manner of the
law of the fathers and was jealous toward God as ye all are this day and I
persecuted this way unto the death binding and delivering into prison doth
men and women all as also the high priest doth bear me witness and all the
estate of the elders from whom all I received letters unto the brethren and
went to Damascus to bring them which were there bound unto Jerusalem for to
be punished and it came to pass that as I made my journey and was come nigh unto
Damascus about noon suddenly they were shown from heaven a great night a great
light round about me and I fell unto the ground and heard a voice saying unto me
Saul Saul why persecute persecute as thou me and I answered who art thou Lord and
he said unto me I am Jesus of Nazareth whom thou persecuted and they that were
with me saw indeed the light that were afraid but they heard not the voice of
him that spake to me and I said what shall I do Lord and the Lord said unto
me arise and go into Damascus and there it shall be told thee of all the things
which are appointed for thee to do when I could not see the thief with the glory
of that light being led by the hand of them that were with me I came into
Damascus one Ananias a devout man according to the law having a good
report of all the Jews well which dwelt there and came unto me and stood and
said unto me brother Saul receive thy sight in the same hour I looked upon and
he said the God of our father has chosen thee that thou shouldest know his will
and see and he see that just one and shouldest hear the voice of his mouth
for thou shalt be his witness unto all men of what thou hast seen and heard and
now thy and now thy Tyrias thou and rise and be baptized and wash away thy sins
calling on the name of the Lord they came to pass that when I was once come
again to Jerusalem even while I prayed in the temple I was in a trance and saw
on him saying unto me make haste and get the quickly out of Jerusalem for they
will not receive that testimony concerning me and I said Lord they know
that I am imprisoned and beaten every synagogue them that believe on thee and
when the blood of thy martyr Stephen was shed I also was standing by and
consenting unto his death and kept the raiment of them that slew him and he
said unto me depart for I was in the far hands unto the Gentiles and they gave
him audience unto this word and then lifted up their voices and said away
with such a fellow from the from the earth for it is not fit that he should
live and as they cried out and cast off their clothes and threw dust into their
hair a chief captain commanded him to be brought into the castle and bade that he
should be examined by scourging that he might know wherefore they cried so
against him as they bound him with thongs Paul said unto the centurion that
stood by it is it lawful for you to scourge a man that is a Roman and
uncondemned when the centurion heard that he went and told the chief captain
saying take heed what thou doest for this man is a Roman then the chief
captain came and said unto him tell me art thou a Roman and he said yeah and
the chief captain answered with a great some obtained by this freedom and Paul
said but I was reborn then straightway they depart from him which should have
examined him and the chief captain also was afraid after he knew that he was
Roman and because he had bound him on the morrow because he would have known
the certainty thereof he was accused of the Jews he loosed him from his bands
and commanded the chief priests and all their counsel to appear and Paul brought
and brought Paul down and set him before them
and so we've been going through the book of Acts and we're here in chapter 22 and
we had just left off with the Apostle Paul being arrested so in previous
chapter it kind of finished off with him being kind of arrested in the sense and
and really he was being arrested for his own good because the Jews were trying to
kill him he'd come down to Jerusalem he had been in the temple and there was a
big stir all the Jews kind of grabbed him and they were like beating him
they're trying to kill him essentially and the Roman soldiers go and grab Paul
and they're trying to figure out what's going on in the commotion and they end
up giving Paul an opportunity to speak it says back up one verse from end of
chapter 21 look at verse 40 it says and when he'd given him license Paul stood
on the stairs and beckoned with the hand of the people and when there was made a
great silence he spake unto them in the Hebrew tongue saying so basically Paul
has been rescued by the soldiers he's standing up kind of high you know on the
steps here and he's given an opportunity to speak to all these people that were
trying to kill him and he starts out here in verse 1 men brethren and
fathers hear ye my defense which I make now unto you and when they heard that he
spake in the Hebrew tongue to them they kept the more silence and he say it so
then it gives us a little break here the narrator is kind of giving us some
indication of what's happening in his speech here and notice a couple things
number one when he addresses this group he calls them three different things men
brethren fathers now I believe that's because the word fathers here is
indicative of talking about rulers word father can mean ruler in many places in
the Bible let me prove this to you for a second keep your finger here and go to
all the way to Isaiah chapter 22 for a second good Isaiah 22 for a second and
let me show you that the word father can mean this now I could be wrong on my
interpretation I can see it from another side I just personally believe that when
it's saying father here it means ruler there's other times in the Bible where
name in the Syrian his servants call him father there's other places in the Bible
where rulers are kind of given that title look what it says in Isaiah 22 and
look at verse number 20 and it's going to pass in that day that I will call my
servant like him the son of Hilkiah and I will clothe them with thy robe and
strengthen him with thy girdle and I will commit thy government into his
hand and he shall be a father to the inhabitants of Jerusalem and to the
house of Judah and the key of the house of David while I lay upon his shoulder
so he shall open and none shall shut and he shall shut and none shall open so it
says right here that he has a like him and he's going to put him in position
where he's in the he's the authority for the inhabitants of Jerusalem and notice
says the government's gonna be in his hand what's that picture someone that's
the governor right or the ruler or the leader and notice that it describes him
in verse 21 he shall be a father to the inhabitants of Jerusalem what is a
father when we think of it just in our most common vernacular we think about
our dad right or a father the one that you know gave us life we think of one
who provides for us protects us takes care of us leads us guides us those type
of elements that should theoretically be what the ruler of a nation would do a
ruler of a nation is most to kind of provide in the sense protect guide lead
you know it's just it's really warped in our minds because we have Joe Biden as
our president okay so it doesn't really seem like the father you want okay it's
kind of an absent-minded father right he doesn't even know where he's at he's the
one you should put in the nursing home right you're like come on let's put you
back where you belong and not abuse the elderly anymore but in this context it's
very clear that it's synonymous with a governor the word father here okay and
it even says in 22 and the key of the house of David will I lay upon his
shoulder so he shall open and none shall shut and he shall shut and none
shall open now these are prophecies about the Lord Jesus Christ okay and
specifically about Christ coming and if you go back to a little bit further in
Isaiah go to Isaiah chapter 9 we're gonna see the exact same language and
wording mentioned about a prophecy of Jesus Christ and this is a real famous
one and you know gives me inspiration seeing all these Christmas songs might
look at Isaiah 9 6 for a second right look at Isaiah verse 9 or chapter 9
verse 6 front as a child is born unto us a son is given and the government shall
be upon a shoulder remember that phrase that's the exact same phrase right and
it says in his name shall be called wonderful counselor the mighty God the
everlasting father the Prince of Peace of the increase of his government and
peace there shall be no end upon the throne of David and upon his kingdom to
order it and to establish it with judgment judgment and with justice from
henceforth even forever the zeal of the Lord of hosts will perform this so we
have a really clear prophecy of the Lord Jesus Christ here in Isaiah chapter 9 it
fits with a lot of the same wording we saw in chapter 22 now what is the
context of the context of the fact that when Christ comes at some point he's
going to literally rule and reign over the children of Israel now his first
coming he didn't do that the first coming he was a lowly servant he simply
came to seek and save that which is lost he came as a sacrifice he came to be a
ransom for all okay ransom for many as the Bible teaches but there is coming a
day when Christ will literally rule and reign and when Christ is ruling and
reigning it says the government's gonna be upon his shoulder meaning he's the
main ruler the main governor okay and his name shall be called what wonderful
counselor and what are all these descriptions of a person that's in
charge he's wonderful because of the council he's gonna give right is he's
wonderful because of the works he's gonna do he's a counselor because of
the wisdom he's gonna give the mighty God now the word God if we try to just
use a synonym okay because the word God obviously we think of the Lord we think
of God in heaven and then that's true but what is just kind of what does that
even mean it simply just means ruler and you could look at this from a lot of
places in Scripture even the Bible describes the devil as the god of this
world what does that mean basically he's the ruler he's the one in charge
he's the one kind of overseeing these things and you would say I thought God
was in charge well God's in charge of everything but underneath God he has
other lower level rulers lower level leaders and sometimes they can even be
technically referred to as a God in a sense okay that's why the scripture even
Jesus kind of trips up the Pharisees at one point saying year gods because he
basically is saying you guys are rulers in a sense and you know the Bible says
that you're not supposed to revile the gods in the Old Testament I believe
that's talking about the rulers of the leaders and they could be used the
father and God is not necessarily as common a term as a ruler governor leader
King but is in the same context in the same you know the Bible says that God is
the God of gods well what does that mean because there's only one God so what is
it saying he's the ruler of all the rulers okay essentially in the world so
even though the devil might be the god of this world God still above him and
there's coming a day when Jesus is not just going to be the ruler in heaven
he's gonna be the ruler on earth too and he's gonna kick the devil down into hell
okay and that's gonna be the millennial reign of Christ okay so when we're
looking these are scriptures when it's saying the mighty God is saying he's the
god of this earth too okay when Jesus was on this earth and pilots asking him
questions he says the this this kingdom God confused for a second I want to
think exactly how I worded it this kingdom is he's like I'm not of this
world or whatever my kingdom is not of this world is how he words that says
this kingdom is not my king is not of this world because he's the ruler of
heaven and he's basically talking about how the devil is the one that's you know
ruling this earth in this world at this time and so Jesus Christ even is
acknowledging the fact that he's you know this is not his kingdom he's not
here he's not rule if it was his kingdom people would be you know judged
according to the law you know the laws of God the reason why they're not being
judged according the laws of God is because this world is being led by the
devil the devil is leading people around by the nose and so when we see Isaiah 9
6 it's talking about what God is going to be like Jesus Christ on earth in the
future that's why it also says the everlasting father now why what does
that mean he's gonna be a ruler and once he starts ruling never gonna end okay
that's also mentioned in verse 7 of the increase of his government and peace
there shall be no end meaning what it's forever that he's gonna be ruling and
leading and raining and it says the Prince of Peace Prince is often
associated with the word ruler I always think it's the son of a king but really
about in the Bible it means just a ruler and just any kind of sense you wouldn't
have to be the son of a king to be a prince but often rulers were the sons of
kings and then became the actual king eventually that's why in my mind you
think of a prince is the son of a king but it's not always the case it's just
mostly so let's go back when he says men brethren and fathers I believe he's
probably just saying rulers okay and that would make sense that he would
address all three when you say men and then brethren it's like then why are you
saying fathers to me is he's addressing like he's addressing the older men
basically is contemporaries the brethren all the other younger guys and then just
the rulers in general that's just kind of how he's addressing people and then
secondly that I want to point out these first two verses he's speaking in Hebrew
and why why does that why is that interesting to me it's interesting
because if it's bringing up the fact that he's speaking in Hebrew now that
means he's normally not speaking in Hebrew because it wouldn't make any
sense to be like oh by the way I'm also talking in English this evening you know
like let me communicate in English you know it's just implied that you'll be
speaking in English so whatever language he's often speaking in in acts it
wouldn't be this language it can't be Hebrew otherwise it wouldn't point out
the fact that now of a sudden he's speaking in Hebrew so he must have been
communicating in another language let me tell you what it was Greek because the
New Testament was delivered in Greek because the modern world at a time was
speaking was a Greek speaking world and you know when Paul's writing epistles
and they're going over all these Gentile areas they're talking to Theophilus and
you know Timothy it's actually Timotheus and Andronikos and just you
know Junia and all these different people Apollo Apollo's and you know
where do you think he's from Apollo's you know obviously a Greek world and a
Greek area and so the world speaks Greek okay that's why even when Jesus Christ
is crucified it's in three languages right and it's not just in Hebrew but
when Paul starts speaking in Hebrew they actually care more yeah which also
does another thing the Jews are really racist I mean you want to talk about the
racist people in the Bible it's the Jews they're almost always the most racist
people that have ever lived and you know I think it's probably the same today I
we're gonna try and find the most racist people on the planet is probably Jews
and you know they always want to say that white people are racist why don't
they point the finger at the Jews then they want to say that you know the white
Christians are racist it's really the Jews that are the racist people my
friend okay because they look at goyim as being you know scum and subhuman and
just like this weaker you know person or something like that it's a wicked
ideology but it's always existed I'm gonna move on because otherwise I'm
gonna be here all night look at verse 3 I am verily a man which am a Jew born in
Tarsus a city in Cilicia yet brought up in this city at the feet of the male eel
and taught according to the perfect manner of the law of the fathers and was
zealous toward God as he all are this day verse 4 and I persecuted this way
into the death binding and delivering into prisons both men and women as also
the high priest does bear me witness and all the estate of the elders from whom
also I received letters unto the brethren and went to Damascus to bring
them which were there bound unto Jerusalem for to be punished so Paul's
given us a brief bio saying I was born in Cilicia yet I was raised in Jerusalem
that's the city's in at the moment so he's saying I was brought up here in
this city under the feet of Gamaliel and it's just a euphemism to say basically
that he was his servant he was doing everything for Gamaliel learned
everything from them did everything for him and Gamaliel taught him says
perfect manner law meaning complete everything that was ever taught in the
law he they were doing to the T very strict in their observance of the law
theoretically speaking okay and he's talking to a bunch of people they're
very zealous because one of the reasons why they got so mad at Paul is they
perceive that he brought a Gentile into the into the holy place into the temple
and that would be a huge no-no theoretically that's like a horrible
grievance or whatever that would be like you bringing a tranny into
pure-worth Baptist Church okay they're so horrified they're like what in the
world whereas you know some liberal Christians might not have a problem with
that but you know the new IFB is not gonna let you just bring trannies into
the church service we would freak out okay we'd all be upset and be mad at
that type of situation so they're mad at Paul thinking like what's going on and
he's trying to explain like I'm just as new IFB as you guys you know I'm just as
new as you guys all right I'm just as zealous as you guys are here right today
you know I I was just as zealous as you at one point okay and then he goes on a
little bit more and think about this he was so zealous he said in this passage
that he was delivering people into prison but even beyond that he said that
he was persecuting them unto death I mean in verse 4 I persecuted this way
unto the death so you know Paul you know he in other epistles he talks about how
he's like the least of all the brethren he's the least of all the Saints because
you know he persecuted even unto death meaning he's willing to kill or you know
false religion and these type of things and he was he did some you know grievous
things putting people in prison and doing this kind of stuff some serious
crimes in a sense here verse 6 and it came to pass that as I made my journey
and was come nigh unto Damascus about noon suddenly they're shown from heaven
a great light round about me and I fell into the ground and heard a voice saying
unto me Saul Saul why persecute is thou me and I answered who art thou Lord and
he said unto me I am Jesus of Nazareth Nazareth whom thou persecutest now
what's interesting is the Apostle Paul is probably the most vitriolic person at
one point in his life against Christianity he's literally consenting
under the death of Stephen as the Bible describes it here he says he was
persecuting this way unto the death he's delivering people into prison he's so
zealous about it he's leaving his hometown he's taking journey he's going
off to Damascus just to imprison Christians there too I mean it's not
enough to just destroy the church here in Jerusalem he's got to go everywhere
out of his way to destroy Christianity yet he has an encounter with Jesus
Christ and there's this light there's this voice and it says Saul you know
it's calling him is by his first name why are you persecuting me now here's
the thing where is Jesus during all this time of Paul's persecution it's actually
in heaven isn't he yeah he's already ascended up in heaven I mean the book of
Acts starts out with Jesus going up into heaven so Paul never ran into Jesus he
never touched Jesus he never did anything to Jesus physically speaking
okay we go to Matthew 25 for monkey finger go to Matthew 25 but then Jesus
even further says I am Jesus of Nazareth whom thou persecutest so according to
Jesus he's saying I am being persecuted and you say well how does it how does
that even make any sense when Jesus is in heaven what is cool about this verse
is that what happens to Christians Jesus takes personally look at Matthew 25 and
look at verse 37 then shall the righteous answer him saying Lord when
saw we thee and hungered and fed thee are thirsty and gave thee drink when
saw we be a stranger and took the enter naked and clothe thee or when saw we be
sick or in prison and came unto thee and the King shall answer and say unto them
verily I say unto you and as much as you've done it unto one of the least of
these my brethren you've done it under me so notice Jesus says that the things
that you do the other Christians he takes that personally whether it be good
or bad it doesn't matter and you know I think a lot of times we we undervalue
the impact that we have by underestimating someone's worth we
look at a fellow Christian you know maybe go to a small church I mean this
church is a pretty small church and you look at the people in here and you just
think like who cares or whatever but would it really matter the size of the
church if when you showed up Jesus was sitting there I mean you wouldn't really
care you wouldn't care was just you and him right I mean you'd be so excited but
see here's the thing that's how Jesus views it Jesus is saying hey if just one
of the Christians in your vicinity you know you need to treat them like you're
treating me you need to talk to them and appreciate them and love on them and do
good on them and notice the people that are being brought up in Matthew 25 are
these people really in a great place I mean it doesn't really sound like these
people are having the best time of their life or really in a good situation I
mean they're sick they're in prison they were a stranger they're hungry they're
needing food I mean this is not like you're going to some fancy party or
something to hang out with Jesus here you're running into people that are in
bad situations destitute they're in need they're afflicted they're I mean when
you're in prison that's not a good situation but he's saying hey no matter
where you find a Christian when you do good under the Christian you're doing it
unto Jesus but you know what when you're hurting Christians Jesus takes
that personally that means it's important how you treat other people
especially especially children of God especially the sons of God you don't
want to treat a child of God with any contempt or any evil because Jesus takes
that personally and he may just blind you okay go back what does he do to the
Apostle Paul and we know him as the Apostle Paul now but he was just Saul
back then Saul of Tarsus verse 9 and they that were with me saw indeed the
light and were afraid but they heard not the voice of him that spake to me now
just one note and this is for all the atheists out there whatever they'll be
like oh there's contradictions in the Bible because in Acts chapter number 9
when we actually read about the encounter the first time it says they
heard a voice and then here in Acts chapter number 22 it says that they did
not hear the voice and they're like oh see the Bible can't be true but but this
is what the Bible is saying they heard someone speaking but they just didn't
hear what he was saying that's what the two distinguishment
distinguishments are it you know you hear you know it's like yeah that's what
they're hearing so it's like they heard the voice but they didn't really hear
the voice at the same time so sometimes you can use the same words and mean
completely different things and only to lawyers and losers do they not
understand you know a leftist if they're not realized that is a valid point but
those that believe the Bible realize what's happening here they heard but
they just were confused they didn't really quite understand it Jesus wasn't
speaking to them he's speaking to Saul okay and and so they didn't get the
privilege of understanding God's Word and in this is this is what I would like
it you know I like this contradiction for this reason because this is what
the Bible is like an unsaved person they can open the Bible and they can read it
I mean it's not like when they open the Bible it's just like blank page it's
just like this it's like I don't get it y'all like are like reading stuff or
whatever there's still words on the page okay when we both look at this we both
see the exact same letters and numbering system here and all that stuff okay but
when you're unsaved it's like trying to read the Bible like this you just can't
understand any of it okay and even though you could sit here and read it
you could you could just sit here an unsaved person you can just sit here and
just quote John 3 16 all day long just for God so loved the world that he gave
his only begotten son that whosoever believeth in him should not perish but
everlasting life what does that say you have to be saved go to church you're
just like what no no let me let me for God so loved the world that he gave his
only begotten son you finish it that whosoever believeth in him should not
perish but everlasting life you're like so what did that say you have to do to
be saved go to church what you're like no it's not that they don't hear the
Bible but at the same time they don't hear the Bible what does it say it's not
like the words aren't hitting it's just not connecting they don't understand it
it makes no sense to them so it's like yeah they heard a voice but they didn't
understand it they didn't get the understanding and the wisdom it made no
sense to them God's not really speaking to them they didn't hear the voice of
God and you know that's where Jesus comes in he talks about the voice of the
Shepherd and he's saying they you know my sheep hear my voice and I know them
and they follow me and they're not gonna follow the voice of a stranger whereas
strangers the unsaved they don't know the voice of the Shepherd they don't
understand the voice yeah they could hear someone talking but to them it's
just that's what they hear when they hear the Bible and and so we have the
spiritual blindness that is incurring in this world today where people that don't
they're not say they just can't understand the Bible that's why I also
say this it is just completely foolish to argue about doctrine with people that
are not safe you know and I I didn't understand this at points in my life and
and I would try to argue with them about other doctrines in the Bible that are
not salvation and it is fruitless it is not worth it you know if someone's
unsaved the only thing you really want to show them is salvation because you
got to turn the lights on first you got to get the blindfolds off so they can
actually start showing them things okay so I'm not going to prove to them why I
do the things that I do all the doctrines of my church I'm going to show
them how to get saved and then after they get saved then I'm going to contend
with them and argue them to me it's like salvation then King James only then
every other doctrine otherwise you're just swimming up shore and you're
swimming upstream you know you're just you're it really you're just trying to
measure something with two different rulers at that point and you're just
never going to have true agreement in order to have a successful argument you
have to first agree upon the terms of the of the argument okay without clear
boundaries without a clear argument you really can't go anywhere it's a
fruitless endeavor so we we have a lot of lessons that we could learn from this
but for Paul this is an incredible experience I mean he literally sees
Jesus he hears the voice he's being confronted with the person that he
totally rejects and totally denied at one point in his life but what I like
about the Apostle Paul is even though he's the most vitriolic person against
Jesus Christ and I don't know how long this took I mean this could have been
like 10 seconds or something you know that we've gone through what is his
response verse 10 and I said what shall I do Lord isn't that a pretty quick
response I mean think about it this guy is killing people for to believe in
Jesus Christ he's healing them in a prison all of a sudden Jesus shows up
and he's just like yes Lord just like what do I do Lord and I'll say this in
the presence of Jesus that's what it's like you know all these people that are
like I I would never believe in you I would never do this look Jesus shows up
and they're just immediately like whatever you want you know there's gonna
be a day when every knee shall bow and every tongue shall confess that Jesus
Christ is Lord of the glory of God the Father okay that's what the Bible
clearly says whether they like that or not they're gonna do it okay and that
gives you even more glory when you can get your enemy to say your name you know
whenever you're wrestling someone you like say uncle you know it's like say my
name say I'm the best say I won you know it's just getting them to just admit
defeat and ultimate so that's what it's gonna be like we're gonna have we're
gonna be there we're gonna be all like Jesus is Lord they're like Jesus already
you know I don't know maybe they'll yell too but it's just gonna be a great day
great triumph where Jesus is overcoming his enemies and and I like I do like
Paul's attitude though he's just like all right you know I was wrong but
there's nothing let me say it this way the only serious area you have is
staying wrong being wrong well we've all been there and done that and we're gonna
continue to do that what's really bad is staying wrong you know and the
Apostle Paul is arguably one of the worst people as far as being wrong at
some point in his life but because he has such an a quick reaction to getting
right he ends up becoming one of the greatest people meaning that your past
being wrong isn't gonna hold you back what holds you back is getting it right
well hold you back is deciding to change and accept the truth whenever you're
confronted with it says and what shall I do Lord and the Lord said to me arise
and 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 the
light being led by the hand of them that were with me I came into Damascus so he
ends up getting blinded by this experience and they literally have to
lead him by the hand now that would be kind of humiliating I mean that would be
pretty humbling to get to a point where you just you were like this leader
you're in control of everybody and now you're blinded and you don't even know
where to go I mean in that blindness has got to be one of the worst things to
happen to someone I mean if you could just literally not see anymore I'll be a
scary feeling and that would be kind of a terrifying thing you have to have
people literally just drag you around and tell you where to go and so they
literally had to grab his hand and just drag Paul just pull them all the way to
Damascus that's got to be a scary road you have to walk down when you don't
know where you're going and you're just trusting you're just blindly trusting
another person I mean they could be literally just walking him right off of
a cliff and he would never know and that's what it's like when you're blind
and what is this a picture it's a picture of an unsaved person unsaved
people are blind and all they're doing is letting other blind people grab them
by the hand and just lead them wherever and then you never know what you never
know when your next step is going to be your last because you're literally
blind and every unsaved person is just like this blind person is just walking
around and they don't know what's going on they don't know what to do verse
number 12 it says this 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 and said
unto me brother Saul received thy sight and the same hour I looked up upon him
and he said the God of all of our fathers have chosen thee that thou
shouldst know his will and see that just one and shouldst hear the voice of his
mouth thou shalt be his witness unto all men of what thou hast seen and heard and
why and now why terriest thou arise and be baptized and wash away thy sins
calling on the name of the Lord so Ananias shows up and he has a really
important message to give to the Apostle Paul he's now going to be someone
special to go and carry forth this great message and when the Apostle Paul is
recounting this story he's doing a couple things one he's explaining how he
got saved but intertwined with his salvation is also just the whole purpose
of his life you know he's also talking about how now he's going to be sent out
and how he's supposed to hear the Word of God and he's about he's supposed to
be a witness notice this unto all men okay so including his you know and while
he's talking he's including a lot of other elements as far as what happened
in the story he's not explaining like what must I do to be saved okay that
questions asked in chapter 16 which we already read and the answer is clear
believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shalt be saved you know when the
questions what must I do to be saved believe only okay when it comes to being
a witness to the entire world and serving God with your life it's more
than just getting saved it's also things like getting baptized right it's also
like serving the Lord and you know going to action and a lot of other things that
are involved so that's why when he's explaining this he's clumping in things
like baptism and these other stuff but specifically when it comes to washing
away thy sins that would be a picture of salvation and that would be only
attributed to calling on the name of the Lord there and and I would I would like
it and notice that baptized and do something wash away thy sins now notice
it says comma there why because it's gonna tell you how you wash away your
sins calling on the name of the Lord it doesn't say and be baptized washing away
your sins it says and be baptized and wash away thy sins how do you do that
calling on the name of the Lord if you if you study this grammatically it's not
saying baptisms washing away your sins in any way because baptism doesn't wash
away anything but the filth of the flesh the bath okay at the best and usually I
don't put any soap in there anyway so you're probably just as dirty when you
came in and out I mean I don't know if Houston waters that great anyways but at
the end of the day like that's not the point of baptism is to get saved from
your sins you know you could get baptized every day of your life and
still go to hell because baptism doesn't save and you could never be baptized but
if you called upon the name of the Lord still go to heaven because salvation is
truly a gift just by faith but if you believe your baptism saves you you're
not safe the Bible clearly articulates that I'm not going to prove all that
this is a different sermon what I want to really focus on is this when he does
this he ends up getting his sight back because he'd said in verse 13 receive
thy sight and the same hour I looked up upon so Paul went here blind but then
this experience gives him physical sight and oftentimes God will use a very
physical truth a carnal truth to help us understand spiritual truths that are
happening because salvation is like receiving sight okay just as extreme as
it would be to go from being physically blind to then having your sight back
physically is what salvation is like from being spiritually blinded and going
into having spiritual sight that's the transformation that truly happens when
you accept Christ as your Savior go to 2nd Corinthians chapter 4 second
Corinthians chapter 4 and I want to kind of dwell on this point for a moment this
evening salvation is like an receiving sight that's why Jesus did a lot of
miracles healing people of blindness to illustrate what salvation is like you
have faith in the Lord and it's like going from one moment blind to the next
moment being able to see clearly and what's important about this doctrine is
a couple things number one we notice the instantaneous nature of salvation we
also notice a hundred percent transformation you went from a complete
blindness to a complete sight but then a third point that I really want to
illustrate is the fact that people that are not saved are blind sounds simple we
have to realize this we have to realize that an unsaved person is completely
totally and utterly blind they don't have any sight at all second
Corinthians chapter 4 look at verse number 3 but if our gospel be hid it is
head to them that are lost and in the God of this world we already referenced
that that's the devil have blinded the minds of them which believe not lest the
light of the glorious gospel of Christ who is the image of God should shine
unto them now the Bible tells us everyone that's not saying is blinded
by the devil the devil has blinded this world and the only thing that can give
them sight is the light of the glorious gospel of Christ which would shine them
now this is the experience that Paul went through he had this glorious light
shine unto him now obviously we realize he it's a little bit reverse order in
the sense that he became blind but it's just revealing what he was already like
spiritually he was already spiritually blinded and it's the light that's gonna
give him that opportunity to get saved what's interesting in this retelling and
we've already gone through this a little bit but the fact that Jesus didn't
actually get apostle Paul saved Ananias got him saved later but again why how
did Ananias get him saved through the light of the gospel okay and this is the
remedy this is the package this is what it takes this is the elements necessary
for salvation we have to have unsaved person we have a saved person and then
we have to have the gospel this is the elements that have to be all together in
order to get someone saved because if you have an unsaved person and you have
the gospel you can't get them saved because they're too blind they're
they're blind they don't know how to turn the light on you know Saul is
unsaved and he has the gospel there is Jesus he has the light but it didn't it
didn't really do anything okay we needed Ananias you could also have an unsaved
person and a saved person but if you don't have the gospel you can't you
can't get anybody say you have to have all three elements in order to get
someone safe now you say well when we go out soul winning you know Jesus isn't
just like popping out of nowhere and just like you know you know why
persecutors thou me you know and then we're there to get them saved afterwards
you know how that light shines really bright it's like this and you know how
they hear about it it comes out of your mouth when you open your mouth it's like
this bright and shining light that the Apostle Paul saw on the road to Damascus
that is what gets them saved now again if you open your mouth and you say what
you you think and your words or whatever that's not it it's when you're opening
your mouth with the gospel that you're shining this bright light and it getting
people say look at verse 5 for we preach not ourselves but Christ Jesus the Lord
and ourselves your servants for Jesus sake for God who commanded the light to
shine in the darkness has shined in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge
of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ but we have this treasure and
earthen vessels that the excellency of the power may be of God and not in us
and this is really important verses to understand God has taken this bright and
shining light which is the Word of God and it's right here and he puts it
inside of you and then he allows us to shine this when we open our mouth and we
make known the mystery of the gospel that is the shining of the light and we
preach not ourselves if you preach yourself there's no light coming out you
still can't get anybody safe you have to open your mouth now he delineates this
and he says something very interesting he says that we have this treasure in
earthen vessels okay that the excellency of the power of power may be of God and
not of us and you'd say well this doesn't make sense to me because I if it
takes me to get them say okay if it takes a soul one or you say is it then
not like me it's me that's getting them say you know it's like I have this
special power or that's something about me the reality is the answer still no
and again we do help and assist in getting them saved and when we play our
part but it's the gospel that gets them safe and it's not me that's special it's
the gospel that's special because any person could open their mouth and make
known the mystery of the gospel and shine that glorious light and so we have
it all that treasures hid inside earthen vessels but then what shows the fruit of
it and what shows the magnificence of it is when we're preaching this that so
then we realize wow it wasn't me that got them saved it wasn't something about
me that's special it's this that special because you know when we look at the
people that go out soul winning just being real frank there's not anything
special about us carnally okay we're not just like you know this NFL linebacker
squad or something like that we're not like these these you know Navy SEALs or
something physically there's nothing you know it's just a bunch of like pregnant
ladies with babies and like you know some ragtag people some illegals and you
know a bunch of people from different backgrounds different heights different
you know demographics typically it's not a lot of millionaires or anything like
that I mean when we get people say it's not the excellency of us we know it's
not it's obvious that it's not it's not about me it's the fact that when we open
our mouth we're saying this and this is that treasure this is that light that's
getting the people saved and that is what is so important that we realize
that all these people are blind and the only way they can get that light is if
we open our mouth and we give them that treasure let me go some more verses on
this is I want to keep dwelling on this point such a good point revelation
chapter number two for a moment good revelation chapter number two I like
this word treasure isn't treasure a cool word I mean there's all kinds of movies
and books Treasure Island you know based on treasure people are always on
on a hunt for hidden treasure isn't that thing you have a treasure map where
you're trying to find hidden treasure but there really is treasure there's
really treasure on this earth and it's hidden and you can find it and you know
what you can also do you can share it with other people it's the gospel inside
of you that's the real treasure that's the real riches you know people think
riches of silver and gold the real riches of this earth is the gospel of
Jesus Christ it's the Word of God that's the real treasure and you could have a
really dirt poor church that's very rich look what the Bible says in Revelation
chapter 2 verse number 8 and unto the angel the church and Smyrna write these
things say at the first and the last which was dead and is alive I know thy
works and tribulation and poverty and like this but thou art rich he's looking
at a church that's poor that's been through a lot of difficulty a lot of
trouble a lot of pain you know and a lot of these churches we don't even realize
but they're probably even small I mean some of these churches were house
churches and you know back then in Greece I don't think their house church
is like a 3,000 square foot Texas you know ranch style house or something you
know there are probably a lot smaller houses than we have the day and they're
having church in their house it's probably not running thousands okay it's
probably not running hundreds folks it's probably a small little group that looks
like this and he's saying hey I know you guys are poor you know what you guys are
rich you know why you're rich because you have the gospel inside of you you
have the greatest treasure known to man the gospel of Jesus Christ and when we
go out we're not preaching ourselves we're preaching the greatest truth that
could ever be known and we need to have you know we need to be emboldened and
realize what we have within us because this is what gives people say go to
Ephesians chapter 4 go to Ephesians chapter 4 and you say well I think that
you know Christ came to give us life and and life more abundant so you know I
expect for our church to be having you know fancy everything and you know be at
the Lakewood campus and you know have those wait a minute didn't you describe
a church is literally poor and did you just say like you guys are kind of like
you're not doing things right here
you guys are screwed up why are you guys so poor already say hey I know you're
poor be rich because it's a stupid carnal sensual earthly devilish
philosophy that thinks you have to have a big building and lots of money and
although these carnal things that to be doing the work of God you know it tells
me if I'm in the right spirit or I'm doing the right things for God this not
what I see I walk by faith not by sight and you know what we have a great
treasure inside of us this evening and we need to walk by faith today and not
by sight because if you walk by sight you'll end up following some devil off
of a cliff
you'll follow some unsaved person to destruction
Ephesians chapter number four I want to look at verse number 17 here for a
second
the Bible reads this I say therefore and testify in the Lord the henceforth walk
not as of the Gentiles walk in the vanity of their mind having the
understanding darkened being alienated from the life of God through the
ignorance that is in them because of the blindness of their heart who being
past feeling have given themselves over until the civiousness to work all
uncleanness with greediness you have not so learn Christ what they bring up he's
saying look you're supposed to live differently than an unsaved person and
you say why because they're alienated from the life of God that is that's
unlike this person has a close relationship with God
you know it's kind of sad because you walk especially in Houston ok knock on
a lot of doors and what if people say when you knock on them are you sure
you're going to heaven
yeah I have a relationship with Jesus Christ yeah I have a really good
relationship with God or whatever you know what you find out they're not saved
and the answer is they're alienated from the life they actually have no
relationship whatsoever
God doesn't even know them Matthew chapter number seven there's a group of
people they're like we know all about you Jesus we did this in your name
I mean you don't think those people exist there in Houston
I mean there's a people we knock on the door and I did this in your name I did
this in your name he's like I never knew you that's kind of weird
it's like a stalker I'm not joking
it's like a literal stalker it's like we went on this date and you're like we
didn't go on that day
well I you know I was sitting a different table but I was watching you
the whole time and then whenever you left I grabbed the receipt off the table
here's the receipt from that dinner that we went on I wasn't with you you know
well I watch you you know from from afar I look in your bedroom window and I
noticed you at night and I you know gather some of your trash the other
night and I took it home with me
you know I got found one of your old shirts I wear it all the time
it's like the part for me I never knew you weirdo you freak
that's what the unsaved people are like they're blinded you know and I think
sometimes we get confused or we we think that their their sincerity somehow
matters
is the sincerity of a stalker really matter no you're still stockers still
kind of creepy like no I don't really I don't want to know you you know you're
freaking me out here and it's actually in some cases worse than a person just
doesn't know you
right I mean would you rather run into someone that's just like I've never met
you I don't know or the person that I know everything about you and you're
just like why really
okay like I know where you eat I know where you dress I know what you watch
last night
you're like what are you talking about you know that would be creepy wouldn't
it and it's like it's like frustrating to God to have these people that
supposedly want to know him and be his friend but they're not doing it in the
right way
are they they're a stalker who's just doing it in this bizarre way they've
made up in their own mind yet it's not how God wants them to behave they have
no understanding of God either
again it's not that they can't open this Bible and read verses and whatever and
make out carnal truths but the spiritual understanding of the Bible they're
completely eradicated from they just can't understand it whatsoever
we should not have any expectation for them to understand anything in the Bible
look at chapter 5 for a second just look at verse 8 for you were sometimes
darkness but now are you light in the Lord walk as children of light so he's
saying look they're dark
this is why it's so important to be separate say at the Lord you know come
out from among them and be separate say the Lord to touch not the unclean thing
because the unsaved they have nothing to do with God they're not pleasing to God
you know without faith it's impossible to please him we should have zero
expectation for their spiritual life because they have none just like why in
the world would you get in the car with someone and they're going to drive and
they say I just want to let you know before I start driving I'm completely
blind
oh no problem let's go I mean you have to be an imbecile to do that right but
then Christians will literally let people that are unsaved drive them
around drive them around spiritually is a drive them around with their emotions
what does that look like I don't know they'll get him Ben Shapiro's car and
let him drive around a little bit in the political sphere don't they
Alex Jones Tucker Carlson Joe Biden I don't know what he's doing that
hopefully I mean they'll but they'll get in the car spiritually of unsaved
people and they'll let them drive them around and tell them what the this is
foolishness this is nonsense you have to realize these people are blinded they
need the light and just as my philosophy where I will not ride in a car with
someone who's physically blind or a flat earther okay is that person might
drive me off a cliff you know drive me off the edge of the earth okay if you
don't even know the shape of earth I don't want you driving okay it should be
a rule and a law go to Romans chapter number 10 go to Romans chapter number 10
what's the point that I'm emphasizing here is the blindness we see this
picture in Acts chapter 22 let's not leave it hanging let's dwell on it for a
moment and let's realize this this blindness picture and say I need to be
careful around unsaved people I need to be aware of their doctrine I be aware of
the leaven of the unsaved and their actions and not follow them off of a
cliff and not allow them to lead me when I'm the one that actually can see I
should be leading them I should be showing them where they need to be going
Romans 10 verse 1 brethren my heart's desire and prayer to God for Israel is
this is Paul they might be saved I bear them record they have a zeal of God
but not according to knowledge for they being ignorant of God's righteousness
and going about to establish their own righteousness have not submitted
themselves in the righteousness of God this is like again the stalker instead
of you know being right with God the way he wants they're doing it they just made
up their own way made up their own situation made up their own facts or
whatever and notice that they're not having any kind of relationship with God
according to knowledge they have no knowledge of God they don't know him
really they're ignorant of God's righteousness meaning they just
completely have no idea and this is a group of people think about it this way
this is the most religious people that are unsaved like of all the unsaved
people who would be the absolute closest to the knowledge of God that's unsaved
it would be these Jews who are zealous they're literally the scribes they're
literally writing this stuff they could probably quote verse after verse after
verse of the Bible and the Bible thing they just have no knowledge they're
completely ignorant still and it's a fascinating spiritual truth that you can
talk to people they're so familiar with the Bible they could quote so many
verses about but when they're unsaved they have like no understanding they
just don't understand the scriptures I mean nothing to them it's just because
they're completely blinded go to John chapter 5 go to John chapter 5
now the Bible's deep okay and what the Bible does do is it gives you a lot of
carnal truths and so a lot of times unsaved people do is they can recognize
the carnal truths of the Bible and don't let that confuse you you know the book
of Proverbs is just filled with so much wisdom and just general advice that's
just so practical that anybody could just pick that up and read it and be
like oh and apply that to them in a carnal truth and it makes sense of it
you know the borrower's servant to the lender hey that that's really easy that's
real clear on the surface and so a lot of unsaved people are like hey you know
if I lend money I'm gonna rule over these people and that's just a carnal
truth even the Jews get this okay yes they understand this point okay they are
the lender in almost every scenario so whenever you know someone that's bad
this is what I think whenever I'm like thinking about a bad preacher I'm
concerned that a preacher is not saved this is what I start doing I start
saying are the things that they're preaching carnal truths or spiritual
truths and what I notice is there's a pattern the people that are wicked and
evil and infiltrators they can only ever preach carnal truths so it appears like
they're preaching the Bible when in fact or not because they don't have any
actual spiritual understanding of the Word of God and they never make any of
the spiritual applications they're never pointing out Christ on the page
and all these other things they're just pointing out carnal obvious truths and
they're trying to make it practical or whatever and look I'm all for making the
Bible practical and talking about your carnal needs Jesus cared about them give
us this day or daily bread amen but at the same time is a spiritual book and we
want to emphasize the spiritual truths of the Bible look at John chapter 5
verse 35 he was a burning and shining a shining light this is John the Baptist
and you are willing for a season to rejoice in his light but I have greater
witness than that of John for the works which the Father has given me to finish
the same works that I do bear witness of me and the Father has sent me and the
Father himself which has sent me had borne witness of me you have neither
heard his voice at any time nor seen his shape notice they say you've never heard
his voice at any time wait a minute didn't they have the Bible because
there's a difference between understanding the Word of God and just
hearing either that ears to hear let them hear so it's not that the Jews
didn't hear the parables that Jesus spake they didn't hear them in a
spiritual way meaning they didn't understand it just like he's saying
they've never heard his voice they don't understand the voice of God they they
obviously they haven't seen them either says in verse 38 why and you have not
his word abiding in you for whom he has sent him ye believe not search the
scriptures for in them you think you have eternal life and they are they
which testify of me and you will not come to me they might have life notice
he's saying you don't have the words of God in you but every person that's saved
they do have God's words abiding in them Jesus Christ is in them and they have
that treasure they have that light they have that life inside of them and we're
supposed to go out and make known that light so that other people can have that
light that's the whole point of us being here is we're supposed to share that
light and get people saved it's the most important work that's what Paul's
testifying I mean of all the things Paul did he's saying like look I got saved
because of this light and that's my goal go out and to give this light and to get
people saved and the unsaved they're just blind leaders of the blind is not
what Jesus called the Pharisees go to Matthew 23 for a second I want to show
you another part here Matthew 23 blind leaders of the blind Jesus didn't mince
words look at Matthew 23 look at verse 16 well and you he blind guides verse
17 he fools and blind verse 19 he fools and blind verse 24 he blind guides verse
26 thou blind Pharisee how do you think Jesus felt about them pick it up on a
theme and you know what a lot of people say Jesus is mean he's not gracious you
know he's not kind or whatever he is what he's nasty you know he's just he's
just calling people stupid I mean look Jesus is walking to a crowd of people
and saying you're a stupid idiot blind whited sepulcher child of the devil you
know the Bible also says God is love you know why that's loving because you if
you are a blind stupid whatever you need to hear about it you need to fix it and
he was warning about these people he's rebuking these people and he really
at this point they're all reprobate he's doing it for other people's benefit to
say like stop following these blind morons stop following these children of
the devil stop listening to their hypocrisy and they're just iniquity in
this false doctrine and you know what we need men of God today they're gonna
stand up and call out the Pharisees of today they're gonna call people out name
the names say that they're stupid make fun of them call them the children of
the devil that they are and warn people to not go off the cliff with them that's
what a real man of God is going to be like and you know what the Apostle Paul
did the same thing go back to our passage and we'll finish here quickly
this is a great chapter Acts 22 we have a lot of good symbolism and a lot of
good analogies and principles that we can learn here we have spiritual
symbolism of salvation is going from complete blindness to complete light
praise the Lord for the gospel and you know some people they want to try and
get the unsaved world to have their philosophy of life without the gospel
you say what do you mean they're like don't wear a mask don't get vaccinated
vote Republican you know be with Trump or it's like a lot of those aren't even
necessarily spiritual number one but number two what I've noticed is if you
really want to red pill people if you really want people to wake up if you
really want people to stop being you know the sheeple or whatever the thing
that does it is the gospel that's what really gets people like you know fix
things to understand the truth it's the real truth that's out there but what it
says in verse number 17 now and it came to pass that when I was coming into
Jerusalem even while I prayed in the temple I was in a trance and saw him
saying unto me make haste and get thee quickly out of Jerusalem they will not
receive thy testimony concerning me and I said Lord they know that I am prison
and beat in every synagogue them that believed on thee and when the blood of
thy martyr Stephen was shed I also was standing by and consenting unto his
death and kept the raiment of them that slew him verse 21 and he said unto me
depart for I will send thee far hence unto the Gentiles now I want to pause
for a second in verse 10 what happened the Apostle Paul is confronted with
Jesus and what's his attitude but shall I do Lord and then he just does it here
the Lord says like get out of Jerusalem and he's like Lord these people know
that I was the like the chief persecutor against you they're gonna listen to me
he thinks that he's smarter than God he thinks that he can convince these
reprobates about Jesus and you know what I almost think that Paul struggles with
the reprobate doctrine not necessarily for facts because he's got Romans 1 tied
down you know what he has a hard time with the Jews he has a hard time with
the false religion of the Jews and accepting the fact that they don't want
to believe in Jesus and he thinks that he can convince them but is he really
obeying Jesus here in verse 18 make haste and get thee quickly out of
Jerusalem did he do that or is he tearing going to the temple doing these
things you know he should have gotten out of it he should have left but he's
just not obeying the Lord in fact on his journey down here we had read in
previous chapters where the Holy Ghost is saying like don't go go back to verse
21 chapter 21 look at verse 4 chapter 21 verse 4 and finding disciples we
tarry there seven days who said to Paul through the spirit that he should not go
out to Jerusalem so as Paul obey obedient to Christ here no and look Paul
is probably the greatest Christian to ever live I mean let's just say it if
not top ten I mean for sure I mean this guy's one of the great but just because
he's one of the greatest Christians ever doesn't mean everything he did was right
and if everything Paul didn't do was right that means everything that I do is
not right that means everything that you do isn't right and ultimately we can't
follow a man and every just blind faith and man we have to have only our trust
in the Word of God okay now as a man of God is following the scriptures follow
you know we should default to trusting in the leadership that God has given us
but going home and daily search in the scriptures whether those things be so
and ensuring that hey if my leader said this and I checked in the Bible says it
I'm gonna do it only if there was a controversy and so Paul it's like let's
follow Paul let's follow Paul and then Paul's like I'm going to Jerusalem ooh
no it's like hey let's go to Ephesus yeah Smyrna yeah let's go to you know
Athens yeah we're with Paul yeah whoo Paul's like Jerusalem no you shouldn't
go okay what the spirit is saying don't go okay that would be a good indication
of why not you know he's in a lot of trouble all of a sudden and he's gonna
spend a lot of years in prison and if you're the greatest soul winner on the
planet time in prison is probably not very effective you know it's not as
effective as it could have been now God still works through all of this and in
Paul ends up getting to where God needs God got him where he needed to go but I
believe that he still disobeyed and there's consequences to that
disobedience and he should have obeyed the Lord here but he just he just had a
heart for the Jews now again it's not that he just wants to disobey the Lord
like he's obviously a very obedient Christian it's just he truly just
designed he just wants to get did you say and I find this is that some people
have an attitude of this they're more loving than Jesus they're more gracious
than Jesus okay and so this will sometimes eke out once you know you
knock on a door and someone's like not interested in closing the door and
they're just like no no let me let me give you a verse hey let me you know
it's just like just let him close the door you know or they're like I'm an
atheist I hate God oh well let me let me show you all this stuff in the Bible
it's like no like okay bye you know sometimes you got to realize like you
know or someone you're talking to this is like heretic after heretic after
every I mean the Bible says that the first and second ammunition reject a man
isn't heretic after the first and second ammunition reject but some people are
more loving than God because they're gonna give the heretic three
admonitions isn't that saying you're more loving than God but let me tell you
something you're not more loving it's impossible your attempts at being more
loving actually ends up being a failure because you could have stopped talking
that person and then talked to a new person who got that person saved meaning
you love other people more you actually love the gospel more and you're more
obedient to Christ by doing that just like Paul oh I'm not supposed to go to
Jerusalem but I love the Jews and saying no no no there's more Gentiles that need
to be saved and just loving the Lord and doing that which is right so there's
gonna be a counterbalance you know by wasting time on the Jews you get less
Gentile safe and by wasting time at the wrong doors you end up losing out on the
good do you want to have that bounce and we just always want to trust that
whatever the Lord told us is just always right when there's someone that
you just need to move on from move on from you know why does the Bible say
beware of dogs beware of evil workers beware of the
concision you know it's like in the epistles Paul finally got it right he's
kind of like beware of the concision you know the Jews are enemies you know which
killed the Lord Jesus you know he finally like figures it out but it took
him a while to kind of build up and figure this out and I'm guessing this
Jerusalem trip really sealed the deal fine he's finally like okay yeah they're
not gonna get saved and that's kind of the conclusion we'll finally get there
but you know he had to really come to terms with this doctrine let's read the
rest of this real quick and I want to get to one last point verse 22 and they
gave him audience under this word and then lift up their voices and said away
with such a fellow from the earth or does not fit that he should live so they
listen to this Hebrew monologue and then as soon as he uses the word Gentiles
it's over and notice their attitude it's not fit that he should they don't want
this guy to live he can't have a different viewpoint let me tell you that
a distinguished man in reprobates reprobates don't want Christians to
exist it's not that they like well I just don't want you to put your sermons
online that's not that that's not the real stopping point they don't want you
to exist as a person and you know when they're gonna stop when either you're
dead or they're dead you know and that's what a lot of these Jews are gonna be
like with Paul they're gonna even in later chapters take owes and promises
and swears and curses upon themselves just until they can kill Paul they're
like I'm not gonna eat and drink until I kill Paul and look there's real people
out there that are just they look at a Christian and they're just like it's not
fit that he should live and the more godly you are the more people are gonna
rack up in your life that just have this animosity towards you that they're just
like you know they don't want you to do anything bank eat breathe drink and you
just hate you it's funny because I was talking pastor Anderson and you know
before I was going to be sent out he was like kind of just it's kind of like
prepping me a little bit and you know he likes to be very realistic so it's you
know it's kind of like scary stuff he's just like people are gonna hate you
blah-blah-blah and I'm just like oh no nobody cares about me and he's like well
just give them time because they'll learn to hate you and I'm like what does
that mean and it's just like the longer you serve God and the more you do right
in your life the more people learn to hate you and it's like they didn't hear
Paul at first but then the more they get to know him the more that he opens his
mouth the more that he makes it clear what he believes it's just their hatred
level just like the longer you serve Christ the more enemies that you just
rack up and I mean David just his whole life is just like a racking enemies and
racking enemies racking enemies and you read in the Psalms and he just talks
about how he has so many so many more enemies than hairs on his head that's
crazy to think about he's crying himself to sleep at night because of all the
enemies out there they want to hurt him and to kill him and harm him you know
and it sounds scary but that's just the reality even Christ got to that point at
the end of his ministry everybody's an enemy it started out good and then it
went they learned to hate him you know what I mean let's keep reading verse 23
and as they cried out and cast off their clothes and threw dust into the air
people are freaks verse 24 the chief captain commanded him to be brought into
the castle and bade that he should be examined by scourging that he might know
wherefore they cry so against him this is like the cops you know it I always
like in the Romans into the police and then the these people are like
protesters or something you know it's like the police don't really like you
either but they're pretty neutral they just really here but notice they're
gonna try and figure out the truth by scourging him what kind of kind of stuff
is this and it's like the police are gonna like handcuff you and interrogate
you when you've done nothing wrong you know they're just gonna torture you and
do stuff to you because they don't really care they're just they just want
to get on with their life or whatever like let's beat them a little bit until
he tells us we'll just beat a confession out of them or whatever and look cops
will do this not every cops bad cop okay but some cops will just try to like get
someone to confess the crimes that they didn't even do just so they can like
bolster their confession rate or like you know how it really gets artistic or
something like this it's it's weird what people will do this in this culture they
would beat you until you confess and look people will confess the crimes
that they they have nothing to do with when they're being beaten because they
just it just saying words to make it stop it stops not working please don't
isn't working so it's like what do you want me to say and it's kind of like
1984 when the guy's just torturing him and he's like 2 plus 2 is how much and
he's like or it's like bear you know it's like electric you know 2 plus 2 is
what 5 are you sure 2 plus 2 5 he's like okay all right you know they just
believe in lies because they just want to be tortured that's why this is
dumbest way to ever get someone to admit if they've done a crime or not let's
torch you to see if you did the crime or not it's like you're gonna get a
confession rate every time because eventually you're gonna hit your breaking
point where you'll just say anything to make the pain stop okay verse 25 and as
they bound him with thongs Paul said on the centurion that stood by is it lawful
for you discourage a man as Roman and uncondemned when the centurion heard
that he went and told the chief captain saying take heed what thou doest for
this man is Roman and the chief captain came and said on him tell me art thou
Roman he said yay the chief captain answered with a great sum obtained I
this freedom and Paul said but I was freeborn then straightway they departed
from him which should have examined him and the chief captain also was afraid
after he knew that he was a Roman and because it bound him on the morrow
because he would have known the certainty whereof he was accused of the
Jews he loosed him from his bands and command the chief priests and all their
counsel to appear and brought Paul down and set him before them now I want to
focus one quick more point I know I've preached a while but he says this
interesting phrase in verse 28 and Paul said but I was freeborn okay now the
chief captain says something different he says with a great sum obtained I this
freedom you're talking about being a Roman citizen being a Roman citizen at
this time has privileges to our modern vernacular be like being an American
citizen being an American citizen you have more privileges than from another
country you have easier rights as far as traveling passports and you have more
humane rights to whereas some countries in this world you know you're not
innocent until proven guilty you're guilty until proven innocent you know
and in different circumstances exist so in this situation to be like an American
citizen going to a foreign country running into law enforcement and they're
gonna treat you you know guilty until proven is and you're like actually I'm
an American citizen and they're like oh we don't want to like treat used to be
you wouldn't treat American citizens bad because America would be mad at you
nowadays I don't want to get in all that but theoretically you would have
certain rights and privileges and not supposed to treat you poorly that's why
they're afraid of how they treated Paul because if it turns out that this Roman
citizen is being mistreated they could be held liable and punished for their
mistreatment of Roman soldier the Roman citizen I'm sorry now Paul says I was
freeborn meaning that he didn't pay money to be a Roman citizen he was born
a Roman citizen now there's actually verses to kind of confirm this let's
look at chapter 21 again in verse 39 but Paul said I am a man which Emma Jew of
Tarsus a city in Cilicia a citizen of no mean city now this doesn't mean like oh
he's a he's a he talks partially to people mean in the Bible almost every
single time means average or just normal so he's saying it's not a normal city or
an average city meaning it's of a great importance why is it of great importance
you know if you look at it from a historical perspective Cilicia is a
place that's under Roman control and if you're born in Cilicia you're a Roman
citizen just because you're born in that area just like if you're born in America
you're an American citizen okay go backwards and go to chapter 16 for a
moment and look at verse 37 chapter 16 verse 37 but Paul said unto them they
have beaten us openly uncondemned being Romans so in another place of the Bible
Paul admitted to being a Roman there too makes me believe he really is a Roman so
you know citizen he's saying he's from this place where you would be a Roman
citizen he mentions it multiple times go if you would backwards to chapter number
nine that potentially helped him and that citizen being a citizen of Rome in
that situation because they're not going to just want to treat a Romans soul
citizen however they want acts chapter number nine look at verse 15 but the
Lord said unto him go thy way for he has a chosen vessel unto me to bear my name
before the Gentiles and Kings and the children of Israel this is the point
that I want to make on this freeborn what is this what is this picture
pictures the fact that every person is going to have a varying degree of
giftings talents and opportunities granted to them by birth you know and
those giftings that God has given to you are not to be looked at as just an
accident or whatever but to be something that God has blessed you with
as an opportunity to use for him and I think a lot of people they undervalue
the giftings that God has blessed them with the fact that Paul is a Roman
citizen is something he can use in his advantage and going on missionary
journeys and when running into these police encounters to get out of these
situations or to not be I mean he wasn't a Roman citizen he would have been
beaten just now also tells me that the Apostle Paul has no problem defending
himself and utilizing to his discretion everything necessary to avoid being
beaten you know Paul wasn't going around like please beat me I just want to
suffer for Christ or whatever no he's like if I can avoid this I'm gonna avoid
it you know he wasn't a glutton for punishment or anything like that he
wasn't asking to be hurt in any way it's a it was a necessary consequence of
preaching the gospel at times but when he can avoid it why not avoid it right
there's no point in just getting beaten to get beaten so this is what I believe
we can learn from this this really important aspect is this used
opportunities that God has given you now what would that look like how about
someone that was born speaking a foreign language different than English today
that's a gift that God gave you that you should use to your benefit there's a lot
of people that are born into a Spanish speaking home they didn't really do any
I mean they just lived and they ended up learning how to speak Spanish if you
live in Houston you should be using their gift just like Paul's a Roman
citizen he's using that his benefit he didn't pay for it he just got it just
given to him by birth and it's like God just you used Paul obviously why is he a
chosen vessel okay well he just happens to be a Roman citizen by magical birth
situation even though he was immediately transported to Jerusalem and then taught
the law by Gamaliel so God decides to pick a guy that's a Roman citizen that's
knows the law better than anybody and was one of the most zealous people ever
and then gets him saved and then says hey all these gifts and blessings and
things I've given you in your life use now use to your discretion to serve the
Lord look when God just gives you all this stuff use it what would be other
things that God gives you education doesn't Paul doesn't Paul benefit from
the fact that he had studied the Word of God for so long yeah he didn't
necessarily understand it but I'm sure it's a little bit easier for him to pick
up all the things in the Bible than someone that's never even read at one
time how about money some people they maybe they were unsaved for a long
period of their life and they obtained a lot of money through their life maybe
God was storing that up for you then use that to actually serve God with you know
and I believe that a lot of these things that I've been blessed with you know
there's things that God's given me you know that I have that I need to use to
my discretion you know best discretion for the gospel and not be selfish with
the giftings that God gave me or not look at them with the value that they
truly have but taking advantage of the stuff that God gave me through my life
through my life situations the gifts that I can utilize and getting people
saved and and realize that when you have a lot of responsibility given to you you
need to take advantage of it let me tell you something you're saved you've
been given a lot of responsibilities you live in a city where there's literally
eight million people and it's one of the most receptive cities in the world to
preach the gospel here's my question what are you doing with it how are you
using the giftings and the blessings that God has given you I mean you have
an opportunity to do something incredible for the Lord and you know you
could look at this you'd say like oh man there's just so much work and
there's so few people but if you looked at respective of like getting rewards
wouldn't that be what you want I mean you just it's all there for the taking I
mean you're not sitting here in Jerusalem think about this at one point
that all the Apostles are in Jerusalem so think about it you're surrounded with
everybody else that's amazing at giving the gospel and no one that wants to get
saved not a lot of opportunity for rewards I mean do you really want to be
in an area where it's like everyone here is better than me at giving the gospel
and it's more spiritual and more serving God and there's no one to give the
gospel to or be someone where there's no one wanting to give the gospel and it's
just billions of people millions of people just everywhere around you that
you could give the gospel to which one actually seems like a better situation
oh yeah and who ends up getting all these great rewards and
acknowledgments and mentions in the Bible Paul because he goes out into the
Gentiles he's going out and actually doing the work and getting people saved
and reaching people and you know what we need to look at this world as a huge
giant opportunity we have so much opportunity and we've been we're
freeborn and says we're saved we are citizens of God's kingdom and we need to
use that to our advantage and not just take it for granted oh I'm saved I'm
going to heaven nuts to everybody else no use that to your ability hey you're
an American citizen probably I don't know I always it always surprises me
some of you are American citizens I know it okay and if you're an American
citizen you literally it's like you're a Roman citizen in the Bible I mean you
have the most rights of any person on this planet virtually speaking obviously
they're being taken away and I get on I'm just saying like comparatively you
have so much privilege so much opportunity and what a waste to say
like I was given everything I I was an American citizen at a time where there's
seven billion people on the planet I knew the gospel I had money and a car
with air conditioning and I got zero people say it would be like what I mean
it'd be like you have a bazooka and a sniper rifle and you're in a tower and
you have a tank and you have like nuke codes and just there's just enemies
everywhere and you're just sitting up there just like I'm not shooting anybody
you know you know just just like throw a grenade or something you know I just
like do anything throw a rock off the cliff I mean you'll get something just
open your mouth and make known the mystery of the gospel don't take for
granted the things that God has blessed us with and you know we look at the
Apostle Paul in this chapter we notice it being a little disobedient let's
check ourselves and see you know how are we doing are we being obedient to the
things that God is doing for are we saying you know here my Lord send me
what shall I do Lord are we like oh you know I want to go do this or I want to
do my own thing I want to go back to Jerusalem it's not about us it's about
the work of Lord let's close in prayer they give me father so much for this
great chapter of wisdom and knowledge and thank you for giving us the gospel
the light that shines and I pray that we wouldn't underestimate the gifts and the
things that you bless us with but rather we would see them all as opportunities
to use for the furtherance of the gospel and that we would see the grave
importance of preaching the gospel and the ministry you've given us and the
treasure that we have in our hearts and I pray that we would not be selfish with
that treasure but rather we'd share it with as many people as we can in Jesus
name we pray amen or a final song for this evening
or 32 432 all right 432 angels from the realms of glory 432 432 angels from the
realms of glory we'll sing they're starting on the first angels from the
realms of glory wing your flight or all the earth you say
3e hey shun story now proclaim Messiah's birth comment worship come and
worship worship Christ the newborn King shepherds in the field abiding watching
or your blocks by God with man is now residing yonder shines the infant light
come and worship come and worship worship Christ the newborn King sages
leave your contemplation brighter visions be my far seek the great desire
of nations he have seen in his natal star come and worship come and worship
worship Christ the newborn King Saints before thee all sir bending watching
long in Oh suddenly the Lord descending in his temple shall appear come and
worship come and worship worship Christ the newborn King amen with that you are
dismissed drive safe have a good night