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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