Brothers and sisters, let's stand together for the reading of God's Word. Continuing together. In the book of Acts, chapter 26, looking at verses 12 through 18. Continuing to enjoy and learn from Paul's gospel testimony to King Agrippa. This is the second part. I'll be reading from verse 1 to verse 20. You can see in your sermon notes the verses of Focus 12 through 18. And please listen very carefully because this is God's holy and infallible word. Then Agrippa said to Paul, you are permitted to speak for yourself. So Paul stretched out his hand and answered for himself. I think myself happy, King Agrippa, because today I shall answer for myself before you. concerning all the things of which I am accused by the Jews, especially because you are expert in all customs and questions which have to do with the Jews. Therefore, I beg you to hear me patiently. My manner of life from my youth, which was spent from the beginning among my own nation at Jerusalem, all the Jews know. They knew me from the first, if they were willing to testify, that according to the strictest sect of our religion, I lived, a Pharisee. And now I stand and am judged for the hope of the promise made by God to our fathers. To this promise, our 12 tribes earnestly serving God night and day hope to attain. For this hope's sake, King Agrippa, I am accused by the Jews. Why should it be thought incredible by you that God raises the dead? Indeed, I myself thought I must do many things contrary to the name of Jesus of Nazareth. This I also did in Jerusalem, and many of the saints I shut up in prison, having received authority from the chief priests. And when they were put to death, I cast my vote against them. And I punished them often in every synagogue and compelled them to blaspheme. And being exceedingly enraged against them, I persecuted them even to foreign cities While thus occupied as I journeyed to Damascus with authority and commission from the chief priests, at midday, O King, along the road, I saw a light from heaven brighter than the sun shining around me and those who journeyed with me. And when we all had fallen to the ground, I heard a voice speaking to me and saying in the Hebrew language, Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting me? It is hard for you to kick against the goads. So I said, who are you, Lord? And he said, I am Jesus, whom you are persecuting. But rise and stand on your feet, for I have appeared to you for this purpose, to make you a minister and a witness, both of the things which you have seen and of the things which I will yet reveal to you. I will deliver you from the Jewish people, as well as from the Gentiles, to whom I now send you, to open their eyes in order to turn them from darkness to light and from the power of Satan to God, that they may receive forgiveness of sins and inheritance among those who are sanctified by faith in me. Therefore, King Agrippa, I was not disobedient to the heavenly vision, but declared first to those in Damascus and in Jerusalem and throughout all the regions of Judea and then to the Gentiles that they should repent, turn to God and do works befitting repentance. And thus ends the reading of God's word. Amen. Amen. Please be seated. The same Paul wrote to the church at Corinth some years prior to this event at Caesarea. He said, Paul, an apostle of Jesus Christ by the will of God and Timothy, our brother, to the Church of God, which is at Corinth, with all the saints who are in all Achaia. Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies and God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our tribulation, that we may be able to comfort those who are in any trouble, with the comfort with which we ourselves are comforted by God. For as the sufferings of Christ abound in us, so our consolation also abounds through Christ. So, brothers and sisters, today in this text, I want to emphasize to each of us that our Father in Heaven, He is unto us in Christ Jesus, the Father of mercies. He begets mercies to us in His love and kindness. I want you to see the plural, first of all, and I want you to note that it is tender. It's tender mercy toward us in Christ. Do you count God's mercies to you? Do you count them? Do you list them? Do you have a treasure box? Maybe you could open it and sort through it and have little symbols there of all of his mercies to you. Do you count God's mercies, tracing each one back to his vast and gentle, loving heart? toward you. See, today I think we see Paul recounting our Father's great mercies, really the greatest mercies. These mercies should be on the top of every Christian's list. Paul's recounting these mercies to him in his salvation as he speaks his gospel testimony before King Agrippa, defending himself against charges. But above it all shines his presentation of the gospel testimony in his life. He does this before Agrippa and Festus and this assembled court in Herod's palace in Caesarea there sometime probably between AD 59 and 62, which is what the history books tell us when Festus had this position. So I hope that today, as we hear this, may we also reconsider together, recount together, remember together God's wondrous mercies toward us in Christ. The greatest jewels of mercy are salvation in Christ. And that this would lead us to real increasing joy and gratitude by the Holy Spirit so that we'd be made more able to be like Paul, speaking of God's mercies with this kind of sincerity and power and pointing others to him in ways that are really anointed and powerful. So what are we going to look at today? First, we're going to consider that Paul was Christ's enemy when this happened. And we're going to see the expression that came upon him of God's divine glory at midday. We're going to think through and ponder the idea that they all fell to the ground. And then Paul hears Jesus speaking to him, to Paul in Hebrew. And Jesus speaks conviction to him first in the midst of this glory. in the midst of this humbling. And there's an understanding that Paul goes through initially and an inquiry to know God better. And then Jesus answers, Jesus answers this inquiry. He identifies himself and in this comes further conviction. And of course you can see all of this sets a pattern for each of us in our relationship with God. And then Jesus commands Paul and explains to him his purpose and his plans that he has for him. And as always along the way, some points to ponder, some questions for you to consider your life and your walk with the Lord. So first of all, let's consider that this happened while Paul was Christ's enemy. He says, while thus occupied, So what had Paul just said to Agrippa? I'll read it again, so it's really fresh to us to consider what a villain Paul was when this happened. He was, of course, Saul, when he was the villain Saul, when he was converted. He said, Indeed, I myself thought I must do many things contrary to the name of Jesus of Nazareth. This I also did in Jerusalem, and many of the saints I shut up in prison, having received authority from the chief priests. And when they were put to death, I cast my boat against them, And I punished them often in every synagogue and compelled them to blaspheme and being exceedingly enraged against them. I persecuted them even to foreign cities. Paul was, you know, we read we are to love the Lord our God with all of our heart, soul, mind and strength and love our neighbors as ourselves. Paul was filled up with the opposite passion. He was utterly zealous to destroy Christ's people. He was utterly committed to being an enemy of God. Of course, he wouldn't have phrased it that way. He actually thought he was doing God's will, and he was enraged, exceedingly enraged against them. Luke describes this in Acts chapter 9 when we get the first description of the conversion. Then Saul, still breathing threats and murder. This is who God saved. still breathing threats and murder against the disciples of the Lord, went to the high priest and asked letters from him to the synagogues of Damascus, so that if he found any who were of the way, whether men or women, he might bring them bound to Jerusalem. He was committed. He took the initiative to harm God's people. He asked for these letters. He wanted to go beyond the bounds of where he had already been. He couldn't find enough Christians to persecute. He wanted more. He wanted to do more good for his God. He was the sworn enemy of God. In Acts chapter 22, when he shares his testimony to the Jewish mob there in Jerusalem, remember the temple, When Lysias had grabbed him and pulled him up the stairs and there he is and he gives him a chance to speak to the people, he says, I persecuted this way to the death, binding and delivering into prisons, both men and women, as also the high priest bears me witness and all the council of the elders from whom I also received letters to the brethren and went to Damascus to bring in chains, even those who were there to Jerusalem to be punished. You know, we're called to make disciples of all nations. through the whole world baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit. Saul had a similar vision for the destruction of this heresy. He was going to go to the ends of the earth. He was going to imprison them all in the name of the God that he was serving in confusion. Paul was God's enemy. He also talks about this when he wrote to the church at Galatia there probably in the late 40s. probably the first letter that he wrote, he said, for you have heard of my former conduct in Judaism, how I persecuted the church of God beyond measure and tried to destroy it. And I advanced in Judaism beyond many of my contemporaries in my own nation, being more exceedingly zealous for the traditions of my fathers. See, God saved a full-time, full-on, completely committed enemy of Jesus Christ. Now, you know, none of the other disciples, none of the other apostles really have that as their history. This is why we hear Paul later on say that he was a chief of sinners. He was devoted to the destruction of Christ's church. He knows this, he describes this in Romans 5 when he wrote to the Romans he said, for if when we were enemies we were reconciled to God through the death of his son, much more having been reconciled we shall be saved by his life. Now here he uses the word we, he knows we're all enemies, but of course he knew the depth of his enmity, his hostility, his hatred for the one who saved him on this day outside Damascus that he's describing. Now, it's likely that Paul wrote to the church at Ephesus during this time frame in Caesarea. We don't know exactly when, and we don't know for sure. Maybe he did write later on when he was in Rome. Seems more likely it was Caesarea. And he speaks of this universal state of enmity against God. Now, children, this is especially important for you to understand. I want you to hear me say this. You are God's enemy, apart from Christ. OK, you look very nice this morning. The bows look beautiful in my granddaughter's hair. The bows are beautiful in your back, in the mathematics girls. I mean, you guys look beautiful, right? I hope I have your attention. You are an enemy of God. Okay, so we all have to start here. This is where we need to start. Not just that we're sinful and we deserve God's wrath. No, we are His enemies. We are in an army devoted to Him and His destruction. If we in our flesh, which mimics the devil's heart, could have our way, we would stand on an earth shaking our fist in a dead God's face over His grave saying, you lose, we win. That's who we are. So we gotta start there to understand the grace of God. Here's what he said, and you he made alive, he's talking to the church at Ephesus, you, these are the saints there, okay, these aren't unbelievers, these are the saints, you he made alive who were dead in trespasses and sins. Okay, so that's a description of them. In which you once, so it's not neutral, in which you once walked according to the course of this world. according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit who now works in the sons of disobedience, among whom also we all once conducted ourselves in the lusts of our flesh, fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind and were by nature. So this is from birth, from conception, children of wrath, just as the others. So. This is who we are apart from Christ. At the moment that God made you, the moment that you were first conceived, this is true of you. You have the inclination within you to kill God, to destroy his church. This is you. This is every one of us in our flesh. So it's good to define the severity and the depth of our evil, is it not? Apart from God. So here's some considerations. Salvation for Paul and all Christians is nothing but a gracious gift of God. It can never be anything but a gracious gift of God. Not in any way. Think of Paul. Not in any way based upon gifts. skills, merits, lineage, personal history, in church every Sunday, nice homeschool family, don't drink, don't chew, don't go with girls who do. It is by no means in any way because of who you are or what you have done that God has saved you. Especially for you children who've been born into Christian families and the significant blessings that that represents to you. Did you do anything to determine into which family you were brought? Did you do anything to determine who your parents are? God did that. God has brought you children into a covenant home where you've been taught the word of God and you've been learning about your sin and you've been learning about the grace of God in Christ. And you've been granted all of these great mercies to trust in Christ, to confess your sins and be forgiven and to be sanctified and walk with him. A pure mercy is what this is, brothers and sisters. It's not a mercy that's mixed in with your merits. It's not some synergistic work between your Goodness, I mean, and it's not even like, you know, when you have a really nasty dog, right, and it's just mangy, and it's all nasty, and it stinks, and it's just laying there, and it's kind of whimpering, there's some part of you who looks at that and thinks, aw. No, it's not like that. There's nothing in us that makes God look at any of us and go, aw. The only thing that God does when he looks at us apart from Christ is have wrath and anger. That is it. Do you understand that? There's nothing in us. We are by nature what? Objects of wrath. So we need to ponder this. I don't know about you, but don't you sometimes think that you actually really think that maybe it's a little bit different? Maybe God really did look down the halls of time and see that you would believe in him and that he had some special love for you because he saw that you would believe in him. Don't you think sometimes, well, my family is just like, look at all this mess in this world. And my family's not like that. Come on, guys, don't you see that kind of pride in your own heart? It's pure mercy, brothers and sisters. It is pure mercy. That's what Lewis said, right? He wants his Christianity like his whiskey. Straight. That's how we want our mercy, isn't it? Straight. Unmixed. Nothing but mercy. It's pure mercy. And who is the father? He is the father of mercies. Note the plural. It's not just at the beginning. It's not just at the end. It's everything in between. It's right now. It's every moment of every day. And these are abundantly overflowing. We're told he's rich in mercy. Brothers and sisters, when he opens his treasure box of mercy, there's no end to it. When he swims out into the ocean of his mercies, they're vast and endless. He has no end to the mercies that he can bestow upon us. All of them in Christ. Paul knows about this. He also wrote this to the church at Ephesus after he described to them their sinfulness, objects of wrath by nature. He says, but God. So see that we don't look at ourselves. Now we glance at ourselves, but we don't gaze at ourselves this morning. We've had a glance. I hope, but now the gaze is fixed on Jesus. You see how that works. If you stay focused on yourself, you're not going to go anywhere. Okay. But God, so brothers and sisters, we lift our gaze to the Lord now, who is rich in mercy because of his great love with which he loved us. Because of anything in you? Because of the love in him. Even when we were dead in trespasses, made us alive together with Christ. Have you been saved? By grace, you have been saved. And he raised us up together and made us sit together in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus that in the ages to come, he might show the exceeding riches of his grace and his kindness toward us in Christ Jesus. For by grace, you've been saved through faith and that not, not of yourselves. It is the gift of God, not of words, lest anyone should boast. And Paul serves as such a wonderful example to us. Next, as a gift, as a mercy from God, our final salvation also does not depend upon our own works, but upon God's continual faithfulness. It is from faith to faith, first to last. Many people come into the faith and they become legalistic and they begin to believe that their own salvation and sanctification is dependent upon themselves and that their final place somehow depends upon their own faithfulness to God. 2 Timothy 2.13 says, if we are faithless, he remains faithful. He cannot deny himself. Have you ever been faithless? Have you ever had no faith in a situation that you face? And there may even be times when you've been faithless towards God in your life. Not unto apostasy, but not believing His promise to you in that moment, not believing He is with you, turning your back on Him in that moment, in your disappointment, in your pain, in your anger. If we are faithless, He remains faithful. He cannot deny Himself. Do you hear that, Mercy? While you were His enemy, He saved you, all of grace. If you act like His enemy again after He saves you, He's faithful. He's faithful. Romans 8, 38 and 39 tells it the best. For I am persuaded that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor height, nor depth, nor any other created thing shall be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord. That includes your own sin. You know, some of you might be right now. Well, yeah, Pastor Clark, I know the doctrine of the perseverance of the saints. No, this is a mercy to you. Have you rejoiced in this mercy? Not just your salvation, but your final destination because of what he's done for you. It's mercy to you. Count these mercies. Now, in addition, our sanctification in Christ is also a gracious gift. From beginning, it's Him. At the end, it's Him. And everything in between. Now, sanctification is cooperation. We do cooperate with God's grace. We have decisions to make. We have duties to perform. He gives us a commandment to love Him and to love others. We have a duty in our lives. But as we cooperate with God's grace growing up in Christ, you know what will happen at the end of each day when you look back? What are you going to think at the end of each day? You're going to think, wow, look what I did. You're going to look back and know every crucified fleshly desire from that day was a mercy of God to you. You're going to remember your flesh is an enemy of God. You're going to remember that the life of Christ within you is the only reason there was anything good that took place that day. You're going to praise him. You're going to give him the honor and the glory. Galatians 5, 24, this is where we see our cooperation with sanctification. Those who are Christ's have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires. You have a responsibility, children, adults. God says, crucify your flesh. The mortification of the flesh, the identification and the mortification of your own sinful desires, thoughts, and actions. To put those things to death. You have a responsibility to do that. But what does Paul say in Ephesians 2? Your notes are wrong there. In Ephesians chapter 2. We are our own workmanship. God works with us to create us as his workmanship. No, this work for masterpiece poem. For we are his masterpiece created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them. Did you prepare the good works in advance that you walk into? Or has God prepared them? So all of this is continually saying to us. God is the father of mercies. And our lives every day are filled up with mercies beyond mercies, beyond mercies that we can count. So what is our response to this? Okay? It's really, it's very, very simple. We should be exceedingly glad and rejoicing and giving thanks and praising God Rejoicing, exceedingly, abundantly glad, giving thanks, praising God. Without ceasing. Every moment of every single day and in this loving one another, serving one another, encouraging one another. Forever. Can you imagine what a life would look like if we could walk in that together? Paul talks about this again in Ephesians. He says, be filled with the Spirit. So, this sermon could get a lot longer if we talked about the necessity of the Holy Spirit in our lives. But I hope that a part of the application of this sermon in your life will be a sincere and persistent crying out to God for His Holy Spirit to come upon you. The light we're going to see here in a moment is an example to us of what we need from God every moment. Great song we sing, Shine Jesus Shine. The countenance that will, at the end of the worship today where we receive God's benediction, what is it? But asking for the light of his presence, the countenance of his favor, of his face upon us. So Paul says to the church at Ephesus, so what is our response to these things, brothers and sisters? Be filled with the spirit. Be filled with the Spirit, speaking to one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody in your heart to the Lord. You know, we worship God here today. I'm singing to you sometimes. Did you know that? On purpose in my heart and in my mind, I'm singing to you because the words, because the scriptures tell me to sing to you with grace in my heart. And sometimes the words are written as words singing to one another. And you look at the psalms. Often, that's what we see in the Psalms, is they're singing to one another. So that's why I open my eyes and look at you, not to make you uncomfortable. Because isn't it weird to kind of look at people while you're singing? But no, we are encouraging one another when we sing to one another with grace in our hearts, to one another. But sometimes when we're singing, of course, it's to the Lord. It's directly to his throne. And at that point in time, we're much more likely to have our hands and our faces lifted up and our eyes closed. And we're picturing what Revelation 4 and Revelation 5 and much of Revelation show to us as the worship of God in heaven, what Hebrews 12 tells us. And I'm telling you, when I'm worshiping God like that, I hope you are because we are not just here. We are on Mount Zion. And it is indeed true that we lift up our hearts to the Lord. He lifts us up to him and we worship him. We praise him and our praises are indeed in faith, united because of Christ, brought forth in the heavenlies, mixing in with the singing of the angels and the saints who've gone before us. So be filled with the Spirit, speaking to one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody in your heart to the Lord, giving thanks always for all things to God the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, submitting to one another. in the fear of God. So there's an impact in our relationships with one another and our relationship with God when we are gripped by the mercies of God. But it doesn't make any sense apart from the mercy of God, does it? I mean, have you ever tried to do this in those moments when you're not grateful for salvation? It doesn't work. So open up the treasure box of God's word. Remember from whence you have come, you enemy of God. You by nature, object of wrath. And look at what he's done for you. Look at how he saved you. Look at how he died for you. Gaze upon Jesus Christ and consider his suffering for you. And rejoice and be glad and sing with happy hearts and encourage one another until you're taken home. Now in this particular section here, Paul says, as I journey to Damascus with authority and commission from the chief priests. And so the point here is our sinful flesh teams up with sinful world systems to justify our sin. So in your sin, even now, you're going to look for systems around you. You're going to go out to the podcasts and whatever you're looking for. to find justification for your sin. Your sin doesn't just hate God, it looks for others to join with to hate God with you. You went to letters, you went for letters to the chief priest. And this is what you're gonna do as well. So watch out for that, okay? Even after we come to faith in Christ, these old ties will continue to draw us, to pull us, and to entice us, okay? But instead, what should we do instead? Be connected to God's word, God's people, and God's service. Be connected to God's word, God's people, and God's service. And author of Hebrews puts it this way, Hebrews 10. Therefore, brethren, having boldness to enter the holiest by the blood of Jesus, that's where we are now, by a new and living way which he consecrated for us through the veil that is his flesh, and having a high priest over the house of God, let us draw near with a true heart and full assurance of faith Having our hearts sprinkled from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water, Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering for he who promised is faithful. And let us consider one another in order to stir up love and good works, not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together as is the manner of some, but exhorting one another and so much the more as you see the day approaching. This is what we do instead. Don't look for letters from podcasters to go and do more evil or wherever you might look. What we do is we come together as the local assembly of God's people in his word, and we worship him, and we look after each other, and we stir each other up to good works, and we go forth and serve him in our lives. Now, divine glory at midday comes upon Paul. At midday, O King, along the road I saw a light from heaven brighter than the sun shining around me and those who journeyed with me. So what is Paul doing? He's going forth in the prideful boldness of malice and the deception of self-righteousness. Certainly anyone who would have looked at Paul at that moment would have said, oh, that guy is not going to get saved. You might as well give up praying for him. He's one of those people in the Jeremiah category. Just stop praying for him. He's done. He's going to be destroyed by God. You ever have that in your heart? Oh, God, it's not going to save that person. Well, I mean, if you've ever felt like giving up on praying for somebody, think of Paul. I wonder who was praying for Paul. I wonder who was praying for Paul to be saved from his sins. His zeal is flaming up at this very moment. He's excited. Ha! More Christians to get. These devious and despicable heretics who are trying to destroy the faith. trusting fully in his own power, in his own goodness, really is the foremost enemy of Christ active in the world at that time, probably. In that moment, what happens? Well, you would think that Jesus would just step on him and grind him into the earth outside of Damascus, and that would be the end of the life of Saul. And of course, the church would have rejoiced. Praise be to God, like when Herod was struck down by worms, right? The church rejoiced. God can do either one he wants, but what he did with Saul teaches us of his mercy, to whom he will have mercy. The divine glory of Jesus Christ mercifully blazes upon him, and this is what we need every day. The divine glory of Jesus Christ graciously, mercifully blazes upon him. So Paul is inflamed, but the greater flame comes upon him. Even at midday, we're told this light of the sun, the sun, the hottest, the brightest thing near to us, nothing brighter than the sun. Jesus outshines every light. Jesus is the light of lights, we're told. That's what we recite in the Creed, right? Light of light. He is the light of the world. What about John's vision in Revelation one similar that I turned to see the voice that spoke with me and having turned, I saw seven golden lampstands and in the midst of the seven lampstands, one like the son of man clothed with a garment down to the feet and girded about the chest with a golden band. His head and hair were white like wool, as white as snow, and his eyes like a flame of fire. His feet were like fine brass, as if refined in a furnace, and his voice as the sound of many waters. He had in his right hand seven stars. Out of his mouth went a sharp two-edged sword, and his countenance was like the sun, shining in its strength. And when I saw him, I fell at his feet as dead. So do you think you've ever encountered the glory of Christ? Have you ever had an experience that was akin to, I fell at his feet as dead? You see, I believe that every true Christian at some point in their life will have a story to tell like this. where there will be a spiritual experience, where they are brought near by God's grace to the experience of His holiness, His purity, His majesty, and His power, and they will taste of the infinitesimally small reality of their own being, and the wrath that they deserve. And it will be experiential, it will not just be intellectual. So I ask you, have you encountered the glory of Christ? If not, that would be a really nice, wonderful, easy application from this sermon. God, please give me this experience in my soul. Children, listen up. You're never too young to have this experience. You're never too young to bump in, to have God come to you like this and show you and touch you with His glory. Old people, no matter how many times it's happened in your life, this is life. Let me ask you, how many times per week would you like to have an experience of God's glory? How many times per day? You see what I'm getting at? What if we walked in the light of His glory? You know, there are people like this throughout history that we read about. We see what God has done in them and through them. Why not us? Why not you? Why not me? Why not us? Why not Cornerstone? Why not now? We have to cry out to God and wait for him. Or are you just, are you content to just not have this experience and just live the normal Christian life and just, you know, be faithful every day and just trudge through and just figure that's what it's supposed to be like? Or do you have the holy discontentment, the holy, righteous, faith-based discontentment that God calls us to? I don't mean sin and murmuring, but I mean a longing for more of Him, a longing to be done with your sin and your mediocrity. Is this in your heart? Do you have this longing? John fell at his feet, is dead. And Paul and all of his companions fell down to the ground. So this is what happens to the body. when an enemy of God encounters Jesus Christ in his majesty, power, and glory. Isaiah said, what woe is me, I am undone. He fell down as dead, right? You probably thought of that scripture as you were looking at this in Isaiah chapter six. You see, every part, not just our bodies, it's not as if they were prideful in their minds and their hearts and their thoughts when they fell down to the ground, they were undone. And this is what happens when Jesus brings his presence into you. And it's more than just intellectual. It's by his Holy Spirit. When his word is anointed unto your hearts, our souls, our minds, our hearts, our wills, our mouths, our bodies are fully undone by his presence. We are unmade. None can stand before his infinite glory. Even his saints fall before him in awe. And there's such a glorious picture of this for us in the Old Testament sacrificial system, when the offering would be cut up, taken apart, unmade. That's what's happening to you and me right now. This is our time of consecration. It's called that on purpose. It's based upon the concepts that are presented to us in the Old Covenant sacrificial system. The animal brought is not only a representation of Jesus, it's also a representation of the worshiper. What happens to you today when the knife of the Word of God comes to you? It unmakes you if you will listen. If you will heed and hear God's Word, you will be unmade again today. And in the fire of His presence, you will be burned up. And what happens to that smoke as it rises up? It's brought back together. It is made back into what God intends for us to be. And that happens to us over and over again. And we know that our prayers are that pleasing aroma in heaven. This is all great to talk about, but again, may God do this in our lives. Let's look at Revelation 4 and Revelation 5. And you know, we kneel, we kneel, don't we, during worship, right? Now, I'm not saying we need to have a time where we fall down on the ground in worship, but I'll bet you it's happened in history before. It certainly happened in heaven. It certainly happened to Damascus. It certainly happened to John. And I'll bet you if God's presence came into the room like there, we would all be on the ground. And I'm not saying we plan this in the liturgy, but what I'm getting at is this thing that God does when he hits us, it unmakes us, it undoes us, it throws us to the ground. You see, when you study at home and you're teaching your children, You got math, you got science, you got literature. When you open the Bible and you teach your children from the Bible, you can't have the same attitude that you have when you open the math book and the science book. There's got to be a difference in that moment when the Word of God is opened up. We're dealing with God, the one who made us. and worship Him who lives forever and ever, and cast their crowns before the throne. That's what I'm getting at, like when you fall asleep at night and you realize there's been crowns from that day, you cast those crowns before His feet because you know you didn't. You didn't give yourself that crown, He gave it to you. Then Jesus arrives. Now when He had taken the scroll, Revelation 5, the four living creatures and the 24 elders fell down before the Lamb, each having a harp and golden bowls full of incense, which are the prayers. of the saints, the same Jesus the lamb appears to Paul. Have you encountered him? So consider this, brothers and sisters. Let us cry out to God together in sincerity, in faith, trusting that he has brought us to this to bear fruit by praying in the name of Jesus. He's made us to bear fruit, to get what we ask him for when we ask in faith. And we are told that our Father in heaven delights to give us his Holy Spirit. So that his divine presence would shine down upon this world, upon his people everywhere, and upon us here at Cornerstone, that we may gaze upon him and be made like him. You know, it's a small thing for God to save the world. It's a small thing. It's a small thing. It doesn't challenge his power, It doesn't challenge His wisdom. Let us pray to Him for the outpouring of His Holy Spirit. Let us cry out to Him to rend the heavens and come down. And you know, this is where we're sanctified. 1 John 3 puts it this way. Behold what manner of love the Father has bestowed upon us, that we should be called children of God Behold this, behold this, it's an exclamation point phrase. Therefore the world does not know us because it did not know him. Beloved, now we are children of God and it has not yet been revealed what we shall be, but we know that when he is revealed we shall be like him for we shall see him as he is. Here's the connection. And everyone who has this hope in him purifies himself just as he is pure. So what makes us like him? Seeing him as he is. That's what Paul is gonna experience. He says, who are you, Lord? Seeing him as he is. You know, when you read God's word, if the Spirit's not there, you're not seeing Jesus as he is. When you read God's Word and it's just in your mind and intellectual activity, you're not seeing Jesus as He is. You're not being transformed. You're not being made like Jesus. Today, in the preaching of God's Word, if it's not anointed with the Holy Spirit and your eternal soul is not coming in contact with the work of God, which brings Jesus to you more, so you know Him more, you see Him more clearly, you experience Him more today, then you're not being sanctified. But if that is happening, If you're seeing him, and you're gazing upon him, and you're worshiping him, and you're thinking upon him, and considering his glory, and he's drawing near to you by his spirit, you're being transformed. And it can be intimidating. I mean, the people of Israel, they didn't want to see Moses when he came down from the mountaintop. They didn't want to see him. Just put a veil over that, please. That's what he says. The world does not know us. When this is happening in your life, people are not A lot of people are not going to want to be around you. It's okay. Jesus is enough. You know, when we're saved, God has to speak to us individually. And I've gotten into that last week and this week as well. We see that. I heard a voice speaking to me and saying in the Hebrew language, So Paul is not only struck by the glory of God, but then he is pierced by the voice of God to him personally. So it's like Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting? Matt, Matt, right? Matt, have you heard a voice speaking from the Bible? You can put your own name in there, each one of you, put your name in there. Ask yourself, have you heard the voice of God speaking to you from his word? Because conversion is always a personal experience. It cannot be based upon the faith of others. It cannot be based upon your parents' faith. It cannot be based upon what clothes you wear or what grades you're in or what your grades are. You see this? It has to be based upon a personal encounter with God. So really, have you ever heard God's voice speaking to you and to you in his words? How about in creation? Have you ever looked out at creation and been crushed by the presence of God, seeing the stars, seeing a comet, seeing a little bird, seeing a little baby? How about in Providence when you see and you just marvel at this, the twists and turns of your life? How about as others bring you his word? Have you ever had the knowledge with certainty that God is speaking to you? Through His Word, I'm not talking about charismania, I'm talking about from His Word that you have known that He is convicting you of your sin, teaching you about Himself, bringing you to salvation. Now, when he heard this voice, this voice that he heard in this initial setting speaks conviction to Paul. And this is always the way it works at the beginning of salvation. And it's true throughout our lives. Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting me? It's hard for you to kick against the goats. In the midst of God's divine glory, we will always see our own sin. And the sins of others become of no consideration to us at that moment. He's not thinking about the heretics he has to go take down anymore. We see that our own sins are not primarily against others, but against God himself, against Christ who died for us. So when God speaks to you in the midst of his divine glory, this is what he does to you. Your sins become foremost in your mind, and it's a realization that even how you've harmed others that grieves you, what grieves you the deepest is that you stood at the cross and spit in his face. You would have crucified him. You would have driven the spear through him. And so this is what happens. Because this is also why you persecuted me. Well, I'm not. It's just these people. No, no, no. You come to realize that your sin is against him and in the midst of his glory, he grieves you so deeply. And that's what these goads are. These goads, the commentaries, are convictions that God has placed in Paul's life up until this moment. The goad is used for livestock to poke them when they're not going in the right way. Ow! Ouch! Have you ever been poked by somebody to go in the right direction? You don't like it, do you? Well, Paul's not only not answering, but he's like the cow kicking against the goad, trying to kick that poker. And guess what? If you kick the poker, it hurts. You get another poke. And it's even worse. And that's why Jesus says it's hard for you to kick against the goads. God's been convicting Paul of his sin, probably through the little children that would cry when he dragged their parents off and things of this nature. In multiple episodes, we know goads, not goad, goads. Do we know for sure that's exactly what it is? We don't, but that's probably what it is. It's a pricked conscience. So do you kick against God's goads in your life? When God brings people in your life who love you and they speak God's Word to you and it pokes you, it prods you, how do you respond? How do you respond? You know what, you should have poked me a little bit less hard. You know, you could have presented that better. Right? Or do you receive the Word of God from the people in your life who love you even though they can never present it perfectly? So, do you kick against God's goads in your life? Paul, he doesn't kick this time. He just says, who are you, Lord? Right? And that's, you know, you may think, well that's a question for the beginning of the Christian life. No, no, no. That's the question for every single day. Who are you, Lord? Show me more of who you are. Teach me more of who you are. Knowing God. is the ultimate purpose for our existence. Who are you, Lord? So with the conviction of his sin, this glory around him, the experience of God's majesty surrounding him and the awareness of his own sin, his response is to know this glorious one who has undone him. If there's somebody like this, if there's somebody who can do this, if there's someone who can touch me like this, I need to know who they are. I need to know who they are. So do you find yourself asking to know God more and more as a result of being in his presence, in his word, seeing his greatness as you're convicted of your sin? You see, when God's at work and He's convicting you of your sin and He's the one who's doing it, you don't get into worldly sorrow or you self-loathe and you focus on yourself and you say, oh, woe is me, I'm such a nasty mess. No, no, no, you turn your eyes to Him when He's doing it and you say, who are you, Lord? See the difference? When God is, like today, you have each been reminded that you are by nature objects of wrath. But your response, I hope, is who are you, Lord? Not, I am such a nasty sinner. Okay, we get out of that spot. We gaze down that deep, dark hole of our own sin, but not, we don't, gaze is the wrong word. We glance down that, but we gaze up. Isn't that prayer that we read sometimes? That stars are seen best from the bottom of the well? Right? Like if you're down at the bottom of a well, you can look up And you can see the stars so much better. And that's a metaphor for our sin. When we're stuck in the bottom of our own sin, like Paul, and we look up, who are you, Lord? And that star blazes so more brightly, much more brightly from that perspective. You see? So we've got to be caught up in that pit. in some regard all the time, but only because it just helps us see him so much more like a star gazes so much, shines so much more brightly in a dark sky, or a diamond placed on that black cloth is so much more beautiful. Who are you, Lord? You know, brothers and sisters, do you see how quickly Jesus answers? He says, I am Jesus whom you are persecuting. I am Jesus. You know, the Father in heaven, you don't have to come up with some juggling act, tap dancing, you know, doing some special dance. You don't have to do all that. You just say, who are you, Lord? Show me who you are, Lord, and he will come. and he will show himself, draw near to me and I will draw near to you. So as Paul draws closer to Jesus, he sees more of his own sin, he cries out to him, who are you? So do you do that? Do you cry out to God and get that answer from Jesus? This idea, as we draw closer to Jesus, he says, whom you are persecuting, Have you heard that analogy about you got a bright light and it's shining from maybe 50 yards away and you look down and you see that your clothes look pretty good? Like, okay, great. And then you're walking closer to this gathering of people and you're supposed to be dressed up. And as you get closer to this bright light, it's like, oh, wait a minute. And you've got, right? And then you get even closer and you're like, oh, wow, this thing is a mess. So this is what's happening here is we get closer to God and we know Him better, we experience Him more, our own sin becomes even more apparent to us. And we hate it even more, we confess it even more deeply, because we experience its presence and its power, and it's acting in us more deeply as we know Him more. I also hope you will see here that mistreating Christ's people hurts Christ Himself. That's a point to be made here. I am Jesus whom you are persecuting. I'm not persecuting you, these are heretics I'm persecuting. So if you harm Christ's people, if you harm Christ's church, you harm Jesus. So Jesus commands and explains his purpose and his plans with Paul. It's so beautiful, it's so simple. And he does this with all of us, but rise and stand on your feet for I have appeared to you for this purpose to make you a minister and a witness, both of the things which you have seen and of the things which I will reveal yet to you. I will deliver you from the Jewish people as well as from the Gentiles to whom I now send you to open their eyes in order to turn them from darkness to light and from the power of Satan to God, that they may receive forgiveness of sins and inheritance among those who are sanctified by faith in me. So first of all, he says, rise and stand on your feet. The same glory that took Paul and the others onto their faces, the same glory that put John on his face, now works in a way to grant them, grant Paul the ability to stand on his feet. We heard it read today from Hebrews chapter four that we may draw near to the throne of grace with boldness. Now that we are in Christ, we don't stay in that place. And you recall, even the elders in heaven, they fall down. They weren't constantly on their faces. God imbues us with the dignity of Jesus Christ. God grants to us, his people, the dignity of Jesus Christ. So that even now, as we draw near to heaven, we can stand in God's presence because of Jesus. We can draw near to him and say, Abba Father. So this transformation takes place and it is associated with faith receiving the righteousness of Jesus Christ. Faith receiving the white robes of righteousness. Faith receiving the righteousness of Jesus, the position of Jesus, the place of Jesus in heaven. What does it say in Ephesians? We are lifted up, seated in the heavenlies with him. So we can shine because he has shown upon us. God always shines his countenance upon us as people and in union with Christ, he grants us the dignity of Jesus himself and we rise up. And this rising up also is unto the work that he calls us to do. Our sin is to be repented of and left behind, but it is never to be an excuse for not doing God's will. Certainly, if anyone ever had an excuse, it would be Paul. No way. They'll never listen. I'm not the guy. You got a mistake. I'll go home. I won't kill these people anymore. And maybe I'll worship you by your grace until I die. And no one will ever think of me or hear of me again. No. He's up on his feet, and he's got a mission, and so do you. God brings you and puts you on your feet before him. When he shows you that you have been saved, and you have been brought into his presence, and you are welcome in his heavenly courts, you know also that he delivers a mission to you. Christ's purpose in Paul's life is very simple, to make him a minister, a minister of God. a servant of God, to make him a witness of God's gospel, the things that he has seen and that he will see to deliver him from the Jews and from the Gentiles. God delivers us from his, all of his and our enemies. To send Paul to the Jews first, but primarily to the Gentiles, God sends you as well to be a minister of His, to be a servant of His, to be a Gospel messenger, to be an ambassador on His behalf, to tell others what you have seen and experienced in your life of His grace, to testify to what He has done for you. And then the Gospel is defined very clearly for us in this summary. When Paul preaches the gospel, when you preach the gospel, you are praying and hoping and asking that God would open their eyes to turn from the darkness of sin to the light of God's glory and to go from being under the snares and the enslavement of Satan's kingdom and sin and the powers of darkness and the lies of this world and the deep, deep, dark and powerful deceptions of sin and the devil. into God's power, unto life and light and wisdom and discernment and an understanding of reality and a deliverance from sin and a life of the power of God in you and through you. And in this we know starts with the necessity of the forgiveness of sins and when we are brought into forgiveness and delivered from all the darkness, we come into a kingdom. The word kingdom isn't used here, but there's an inheritance. That's what Paul's referencing to be brought from the inheritance of hell, the kingdom of darkness into the inheritance of heaven, the kingdom of the sun. And then Christianity defined the experience of the life in Christ defined, we are the saints. And that means we are those who are sanctified by faith in Jesus Christ. So Paul testifies to what he's been through, to how he was saved. And he then says, and this is the gospel that I am called to go forth and preach. It's the heavenly vision that he was given and he was not disobedient to it. We'll look at that next week. And may God grant each one of us to be obedient to him, to hear his voice to us in his word, to experience the light of his presence, to be changed, to worship him, and to be brought into a life of faithfulness more and more to him. Almighty and gracious Heavenly Father, we thank you, Lord, and we praise you for your word to us. And we do each one together now, Lord, ask you for the outpouring of your Holy Spirit. Do unto us in us and through us akin to what you did there in the life of Paul. Grant us to be those who can testify in boldness and humility. Grant us the joy of experiencing this, of preaching the good news and seeing others come to Jesus, seeing our lives transformed, our families transformed, and your churches, this church, filled up with those who love you and worship you in spirit and in truth. In Jesus' name, amen.