Latest / INSIGHT FOR LIVING: Biblical Wisdom For Everyday Living / The Violent Capture of a Rebel Will │ Msg 222 - Pastor Chuck Swindoll Insight for Living

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The Violent Capture of a Rebel Will │ Msg 222 - Pastor Chuck Swindoll Insight for Living · INSIGHT FOR LIVING: Biblical Wisdom For Everyday Living

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  Speaker 1: I would like to read for you the first nine
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  Speaker 1: verses of the ninth chapter.
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  Speaker 2: Of the Book of Acts.
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  Speaker 1: If you will turn, please, Still continuing our study in
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  Speaker 1: the life and times of Paul the Apostle, we are
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  Speaker 1: getting another look at him on the other side of
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  Speaker 1: the cross, as he spent his many years before Christ
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  Speaker 1: working against the things of God, interestingly doing it in
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  Speaker 1: the name of God. His testimony as recorded by Luke
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  Speaker 1: is in Acts nine, verses one to nine. As we
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  Speaker 1: read of his remarkable conversion. Now Saul, still breathing threats
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  Speaker 1: and murder against the disciples of the Lord, went to
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  Speaker 1: the high priest and asked for letters from him to
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  Speaker 1: the synagogues at Damascus, so that if he found any
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  Speaker 1: belonging to the Way, both men and women, he might
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  Speaker 1: bring them bound to Jerusalem. And it came about that
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  Speaker 1: as he journeyed, he was approaching Damascus, and suddenly alight
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  Speaker 1: from heaven flashed around him, and he fell to the
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  Speaker 1: ground and heard a voice saying to him, Saul, Saul,
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  Speaker 1: why are you persecuting me?
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  Speaker 2: And he said, who are doubt? Lord?
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  Speaker 1: And he said, I am Jesus whom you are persecuting.
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  Speaker 1: But rise and enter the city, and it shall be
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  Speaker 1: told you what you must do. And the men who
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  Speaker 1: traveled with him stood speechless, hearing the voice but seeing
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  Speaker 1: no one. And Saul got up from the ground, and
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  Speaker 1: though his eyes were open, he could see nothing. And
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  Speaker 1: leading him by the hand, they brought him into Damascus.
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  Speaker 1: And he was three days without sight, and neither ate
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  Speaker 1: nor drank.
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  Speaker 2: For the next few moments.
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  Speaker 1: I would like you to bow your heads and reflect
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  Speaker 1: with your eyes closed on your own Damascus road experience.
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  Speaker 1: Probably was not nearly this dramatic and another part of
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  Speaker 1: the world from Saul. At the time he was brought
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  Speaker 1: into God's family. The setting was different for each one
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  Speaker 1: of us. We were different ages, different situations, but the
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  Speaker 1: Lord introduced himself to us for the first time. If
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  Speaker 1: there's never been a time in your life when that
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  Speaker 1: has occurred, this message today is dedicated to you. I
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  Speaker 1: hope you will listen, as you have rarely listened to
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  Speaker 1: a sermon. You're the one the Lord has in mind
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  Speaker 1: for this message today. Now, Father, I pray that you
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  Speaker 1: will remind us of your amazing grace through the balance
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  Speaker 1: of this meeting today. Remind us that when you brought
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  Speaker 1: us into your family, we were no more worthy than
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  Speaker 1: this Saul of Tarsus, though the circumstances were different, though
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  Speaker 1: our lives going in another path, we were as unworthy
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  Speaker 1: as he, and you found us. We did not find you.
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  Speaker 1: You sought us, we were not seeking you. It's probable
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  Speaker 1: that most of us had come to an end of
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  Speaker 1: ourselves in the pursuit and weed. We realize now more
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  Speaker 1: than ever in our lives that in the end you win.
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  Speaker 1: Thank you for the reminder of that from the life
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  Speaker 1: of a man like this and how greatly you used
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  Speaker 1: him in the years that followed. I pray that we
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  Speaker 1: will find encouragement today as we're able to put things
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  Speaker 1: in right order, as you are back in control.
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  Speaker 2: In our minds.
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  Speaker 1: You are the one directing the affairs of life. You're
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  Speaker 1: the one calling the shots. Forgive us, our father, for
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  Speaker 1: a wasted effort in attempting to go our own way
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  Speaker 1: and attempting to become the star of the show. Remind
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  Speaker 1: us from this man's life that in the end you
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  Speaker 1: not only when you get your way. We search for
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  Speaker 1: ways to express our gratitude to you, father for your
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  Speaker 1: patience with us in our stubbornness and self willed journeys.
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  Speaker 1: And so we found songs to sing that express our
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  Speaker 1: adoration today our praise. We have spent quiet moments reflecting
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  Speaker 1: on your hand, on our lives for which we are grateful,
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  Speaker 1: and now we give not because you have a need,
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  Speaker 1: but because we have a need to learn to be
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  Speaker 1: generous and joyful in the releasing of what you have
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  Speaker 1: entrusted to us. Please, Father, be honored not only in
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  Speaker 1: the gift, but in the motive behind it. We give
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  Speaker 1: not in any way to earn your favor, but in grace,
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  Speaker 1: expressing to you our gratitude for what you have done
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  Speaker 1: for us, which we do not deserve, cannot earn, and
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  Speaker 1: will never be able to repay. It is in the
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  Speaker 1: name of the Lord Jesus Christ we have met and
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  Speaker 1: sung our songs, and now give our gifts. And for
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  Speaker 1: His praise alone we express these things, and all God's
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  Speaker 1: people said Amen. The conversion of notorious people has always
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  Speaker 1: grabbed the attention of the public, and the more notorious
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  Speaker 1: it seems, the greater the attention.
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  Speaker 2: Take Martin, for example.
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  Speaker 1: Martin was studying theology and was at the same time
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  Speaker 1: torn in his spirit. Knowing that it was simply an
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  Speaker 1: academic examination of such he found himself opposed to much
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  Speaker 1: of the teaching of the church, and even though he
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  Speaker 1: was to be one of the spokesmen for the church
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  Speaker 1: as a monk, and even though he was a respected
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  Speaker 1: doctor of theology, he could not find peace within himself.
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  Speaker 1: He used to turn over and over in his hard
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  Speaker 1: bed in the little cell if you will, where he lived, saying, oh,
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  Speaker 1: my sin, my sin, my sin, my sin. And the
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  Speaker 1: Lord graciously led Martin Luther to a passage of scripture
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  Speaker 1: in Romans chapter three, and he was gloriously born again.
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  Speaker 1: And the result, of course, is written in the record
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  Speaker 1: of history, where he, along with a few colleagues in
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  Speaker 1: different countries, led the Protestant Reformation. Remarkable story of a
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  Speaker 1: man who, while teaching theology, realized he didn't know the
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  Speaker 1: God of whom he was speaking. And then John comes
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  Speaker 1: to mind. John was raised as a little way from
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  Speaker 1: the streets of London. His mother had attempted to reach him,
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  Speaker 1: but he became incorrigible. He lied about his age and
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  Speaker 1: was allowed to enter the Royal Navy, and it was
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  Speaker 1: there that his record even got worse. One occasion, was
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  Speaker 1: thrown into the hold of the ship, and he found
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  Speaker 1: cases of booze in the ship, and he broke them
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  Speaker 1: open and gave him to all the people on.
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  Speaker 2: The crew, and they all got drunk.
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  Speaker 1: He thought that was terrific. The captain ran out of
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  Speaker 1: hope for him and threw him in the ocean. Realized
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  Speaker 1: later he was going to drown, so he harpooned him.
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  Speaker 1: He brought him back onto the ship, and he lived
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  Speaker 1: the rest of his life with an enormous scar in
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  Speaker 1: his side, and it was back in the hole of
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  Speaker 1: the ship while recovering. He reached the end of his rope.
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  Speaker 1: And John Newton gave his heart to Christ his mid
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  Speaker 1: twenties and left in his legacy the words amazing grace,
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  Speaker 1: how sweet the sound has saved a wretch like me.
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  Speaker 2: And then there was Jim.
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  Speaker 1: Jim was a man who was working both sides against
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  Speaker 1: the middle. It was back in the nineteen forties when
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  Speaker 1: he was a part of the underground criminal world in
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  Speaker 1: Los Angeles, working alongside Mickey Cohen. At the same time,
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  Speaker 1: he was hired by the Los Angeles Police Department to
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  Speaker 1: search out the criminal element that was certainly abroad in
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  Speaker 1: that part of the country. And pulling both sides together,
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  Speaker 1: he found himself miserable and empty, and he attended of
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  Speaker 1: all things of Billy Graham tent crusade in nineteen forty
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  Speaker 1: nine in Los Angeles, California, And in the words of
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  Speaker 1: the Los Angeles Times, the following morning, he walked the
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  Speaker 1: sawdust trail as Jim Voss gave his life to Christ.
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  Speaker 1: This notorious man now gloriously born again. How about Chuck?
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  Speaker 1: Chuck was a hatchet man for Richard Nixon. If any
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  Speaker 1: dirty work needed to be done but the president, Chuck
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  Speaker 1: could take care of it. Someone said in an unguarded moment,
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  Speaker 1: Chuck's the kind of guy that would run over his
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  Speaker 1: grandmother if necessary to get the job done. Miserable and empty.
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  Speaker 1: Even after a landslide win that Nixon enjoyed for his
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  Speaker 1: second term in office, Chuck began to search for peace
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  Speaker 1: in his heart, and the Lord gloriously led him to
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  Speaker 1: himself through a series of events to linkedy to go into.
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  Speaker 1: But Chuck Coulson turned the corner as a result of
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  Speaker 1: Christ coming into his life and meeting him and meeting
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  Speaker 1: him in his deepest needs. It happens all the time.
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  Speaker 1: Once dogmatic and determined atheists and agnostics, bright medical doctors
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  Speaker 1: and brilliant scientists and attorneys alike, popular coaches and gifted athletes,
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  Speaker 1: famous musicians and talented artists, even television personalities, and I
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  Speaker 1: thought of the extremes and film stars from the late
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  Speaker 1: part of the twentieth century. A woman like Jane Russell
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  Speaker 1: cost no small stir among fans and critics alike.
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  Speaker 2: It's amazing notorious.
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  Speaker 1: Individuals converted to Christ, and the response is either amazement
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  Speaker 1: or skepticism. Could it be that a Jim Voss really
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  Speaker 1: came to Christ? Watch his life? Could it be that
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  Speaker 1: a John Newton, who lived like he had lived, really
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  Speaker 1: came to Christ? Could it be that a doctoral theology
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  Speaker 1: a monk in a monastery was really born again? Could
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  Speaker 1: it be that a Chuck Colson could really have come
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  Speaker 1: to Christ from a background like that? You know our
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  Speaker 1: problem with conversion, We get it mixed up with maturity.
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  Speaker 1: We want the convert to be well on his way
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  Speaker 1: or well on her way in Christ in order for
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  Speaker 1: us to really believe it's genuine. I think Alan Redpath
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  Speaker 1: put it best. The conversion of a soul is the
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  Speaker 1: miracle of a moment. The manufacturer of a saint is
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  Speaker 1: the task of a lifetime.
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  Speaker 2: Don't forget that.
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  Speaker 1: No last sinner who comes to Christ is immediately a
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  Speaker 1: saint that is.
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  Speaker 2: Not in lifestyle. They're on their way.
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  Speaker 1: It's a manufacturing work that God must begin at the
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  Speaker 1: moment of our being born again. If we're going to
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  Speaker 1: talk about remarkable conversions, however, there is none more notorious.
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  Speaker 2: Than Saul of Tarsus.
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  Speaker 1: No conversion in the history of Christianity was ever more
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  Speaker 1: remarkable than the one that happened on the Road to Damascus,
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  Speaker 1: because no opponent of Christ was ever more notorious than
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  Speaker 1: Saul of Tarsus.
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  Speaker 2: As I said in a previous.
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  Speaker 1: Message, we are uncomfortable with such information because this is
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  Speaker 1: the man who, apart from Christ, has fed our souls
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  Speaker 1: like none other. We don't like to think of him,
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  Speaker 1: and has lost a state. We much prefer him as
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  Speaker 1: the Apostle of Grace. We long to know more of
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  Speaker 1: his writings and his teachings. But it's a little bit
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  Speaker 1: embarrassing for us to think of how far away from
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  Speaker 1: God he really was when he was lost.
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  Speaker 2: But the remarkable thing is he did what he did
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  Speaker 2: in the name.
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  Speaker 1: Of religion, which proves the point that there is no
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  Speaker 1: greater terrorist work than the work of the terrorists done
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  Speaker 1: in the name of his God. I'd like to begin
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  Speaker 1: with several verses that tell us of Saul's condition before
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  Speaker 1: the Lord got him and won that battle on the
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  Speaker 1: road to Damascus. Acts Chapter eight is a place I'd
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  Speaker 1: like to start, and then we'll look at Acts nine,
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  Speaker 1: and then Acts twenty two in the next twenty six,
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  Speaker 1: then Galatians one and one, Timothy one, and it'll be
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  Speaker 1: about four o'clock when I finished this safari through the scriptures,
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  Speaker 1: and we'll have a pretty good idea, just kidding. Look
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  Speaker 1: at eight one, Saul was in hearty agreement with putting
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  Speaker 1: him to death, meaning Stephen. Verse three, Saul began ravaging.
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  Speaker 1: Let it say what it says, ravaging the church, entering
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  Speaker 1: house after house. Watch this dragging, dragging off men and women.
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  Speaker 2: He would put them in prison.
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  Speaker 1: Can you imagine dragging men and women alike from their houses,
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  Speaker 1: putting them in prison, knowing that one day they would
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  Speaker 1: stand trial.
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  Speaker 2: For their actions.
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  Speaker 1: Chapter nine, Verse one, Saul was still breathing threats and
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  Speaker 1: murder against the disciples of the Lord, still breathing threats
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  Speaker 1: and murder.
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  Speaker 2: Let the words say what they say.
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  Speaker 1: Look at twenty two, verse three, we turned from Luke's
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  Speaker 1: account to Paul's or Saul's own testimony twenty two, verses three,
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  Speaker 1: four and five. Saul testifies, I am a Jew born
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  Speaker 1: in Tarsus of Cilicia, brought up in this city meaning Jerusalem,
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  Speaker 1: educated under Gamaliel, strictly according to the law of our fathers,
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  Speaker 1: zealous for God. Don't miss that, just as you all
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  Speaker 1: are today. And I persecuted this way to the death.
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  Speaker 1: Look at the words binding and putting both men and
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  Speaker 1: women into prisons plural as also the high priest and
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  Speaker 1: all the counsel of the elders can testify from them.
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  Speaker 1: I also received letters to the brethren and started off
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  Speaker 1: for Damascus in order to bring even those who were
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  Speaker 1: there to Jerusalem as prisoners to be punished twenty six,
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  Speaker 1: verse nine. So then I thought to myself that I
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  Speaker 1: had to do many things hostile to the name of
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  Speaker 1: Jesus of Nazareth.
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  Speaker 2: What a statement.
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  Speaker 1: And this is just what I did in Jerusalem. Not
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  Speaker 1: only did I lock up many of the saints in prison,
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  Speaker 1: having received authority from the Chief Priest, but also when
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  Speaker 1: they were being put to death, I cast my vote
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  Speaker 1: against them, and as I punished them often in all
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  Speaker 1: the synagogues, I tried to force them to blaspheme imagine that,
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  Speaker 1: and being furiously enraged at them, I kept pursuing them,
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  Speaker 1: even to foreign cities. Galatians one, verse thirteen. Again Saul's
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  Speaker 1: own testimony Galatians one thirteen. For you have heard of
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  Speaker 1: my former manner of life in Judaism, how I used
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  Speaker 1: to persecute the Church of God beyond measure and try
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  Speaker 1: to destroy it. I was advancing in Judaism beyond many
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  Speaker 1: of my contemporaries among my countrymen, being more extremely zealous
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  Speaker 1: for my ancestral traditions. And one more one Timothy, Chapter one,
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  Speaker 1: verse thirteen, just the early part of the verse. Even
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  Speaker 1: though I was formerly a blasphemer and a persecutor and
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  Speaker 1: a violent.
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  Speaker 2: Aggressor.
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  Speaker 1: Wow, nobody was more a aggressive in his determination to
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  Speaker 1: stamp out Christianity than Saul of Tarsus put it down
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  Speaker 1: and never forget it.
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  Speaker 2: That's why he called himself the chief of sinners.
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  Speaker 1: Saint Augustine used the words when he refers to the
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  Speaker 1: conversion of Saul, the violent capture of a rebel will.
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  Speaker 1: He uses the word picture of changing a wolf into
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  Speaker 1: a lamb, a wolf into a lamb, how understated the
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  Speaker 1: apostle is where right here in the middle of verse
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  Speaker 1: thirteen of one Timothy one, I was shown mercy, I
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  Speaker 1: would say so, I was shown mercy. The Saul we
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  Speaker 1: meet at the beginning of Acts chapter nine is aggressively
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  Speaker 1: on the move. He's more aggressive than Alexander the Great
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  Speaker 1: in his sweep across Persia. He's more aggressive than William
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  Speaker 1: to consee Sherman in his infamous scorched Earth march across Georgia.
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  Speaker 1: He is more aggressive than Adolf Hitler in his aggressive
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  Speaker 1: determination to liquidate the Jews. Nobody is more aggressive in
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  Speaker 1: his pursuit of stamping out the cause than Saul of Tarsus.
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  Speaker 1: Saul is borderline out of control. It has built to
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  Speaker 1: such a point in his life that he cannot stop.
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  Speaker 1: I think part of it was his plan to be
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  Speaker 1: seen as one deserving of joining the Sanhedrin, which was
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  Speaker 1: the supreme court of the Jews. I think part of
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  Speaker 1: it was simply his emotional makeup that there is that
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  Speaker 1: enough is never enough, and he took it to the
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  Speaker 1: farthest extreme. But he learns in chapter nine that in
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  Speaker 1: the end God.
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  Speaker 2: Wins.
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  Speaker 1: Say that with me in the end, God wins. Some
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  Speaker 1: of you who just use those words have.
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  Speaker 2: Not quite come to the end, and so you think
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  Speaker 2: that those.
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  Speaker 1: Are good words for the religious types, or those are
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  Speaker 1: good words for the sort of the weak willed individuals,
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  Speaker 1: or those who can't make decisions on their own. I
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  Speaker 1: will tell you that God has never met his match.
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  Speaker 1: He will stop it nothing in bringing you to himself,
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  Speaker 1: even if, back to Acts chapter nine, you find yourself
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  Speaker 1: breathing threats and murder against other people. In the end,
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  Speaker 1: God wins. At Robertson, the great Baptist scholar from Louisville
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  Speaker 1: years ago, wrote, threatening and slaughter had come to be
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  Speaker 1: the very breath that Saul breathed, like a war horse
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  Speaker 1: who sniffed the smell of battle. The taste of blood
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  Speaker 1: in the death of Stephen was pleasing to young Saul,
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  Speaker 1: and now he reveled in the slaughter of the saints.
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  Speaker 1: Both men and women. Believe me, if you were a Christian,
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  Speaker 1: you did not want to hear Saul's knock at your door.
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  Speaker 1: When the hounds of Heaven caught the scent of this sinner,
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  Speaker 1: it was only a matter of time before irresistible Grace
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  Speaker 1: captured and violently captured this rebel will we're going to
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  Speaker 1: read of it.
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  Speaker 2: Saul, still breathing threats and murder against the disciples of
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  Speaker 2: the Lord, went to the high Priest and asked for letters.
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  Speaker 2: Look at this. If I'm going to go to the
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  Speaker 2: farthest extreme.
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  Speaker 1: To get these people and to get them to either
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  Speaker 1: recant or die, I need the endorsement of the high priest.
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  Speaker 2: And he gets it.
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  Speaker 1: He asks for letters from the synagogue, from the high
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  Speaker 1: Priest to take him with authority to the synagogues as
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  Speaker 1: far as Damascus. Remember what we learned last time. When
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  Speaker 1: you read the name of a place that you don't
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  Speaker 1: know where it is, always check the map. Now in
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  Speaker 1: the back of your Bible is a map that's only
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  Speaker 1: been used once in the last number of years.
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  Speaker 2: It was the last time we were together. Find the map.
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  Speaker 1: Locate Jerusalem on that map of the Journeys of Paul,
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  Speaker 1: or if you prefer, in the days of the Apostle,
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  Speaker 1: locate Jerusalem and look due east, and you will see Damascus.
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  Speaker 1: It's about one hundred and thirty to one hundred and
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  Speaker 1: forty miles from Jerusalem. If you go by foot, it
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  Speaker 1: would take you about a week. If you go on horseback,
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  Speaker 1: you could make thirty to forty miles a day. Why Damascus, Well, remember,
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  Speaker 1: Saul is going to go the farthest extreme. This oldest
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  Speaker 1: city in the world, as it's often called, was one
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  Speaker 1: of those places that would qualify as a far distance
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  Speaker 1: to travel as a fugitive believer. Josephus tells us in
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  Speaker 1: a book entitled The Jewish Wars that in sixty six
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  Speaker 1: a d. About ten thousand Jews were massacred there, which
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  Speaker 1: tells us that there was a large contingent of Jews
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  Speaker 1: there in Damascus, and one account says there were as
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  Speaker 1: many as eighteen thousand that were killed. And Saul knew
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  Speaker 1: for sure that this would be a place where a
• 23:36
  Speaker 1: number of them had gone to hide, and it would
• 23:39
  Speaker 1: be a great place to find Christians and to bring
• 23:42
  Speaker 1: them back and to put them on trial. And it
• 23:49
  Speaker 1: came about that as he journeyed, he was approaching Damascus,
• 23:55
  Speaker 1: and suddenly, I love that it's like any other dawn
• 24:00
  Speaker 1: of any other day or midday. It's the same kind
• 24:03
  Speaker 1: of noon sun as you would find on any other day.
• 24:06
  Speaker 1: No announcement had come ahead of time, no previous cloud
• 24:10
  Speaker 1: in the sky writing that said watch out tomorrow, Paul,
• 24:14
  Speaker 1: God's gonna get you. There's none of that. There's no preliminary,
• 24:18
  Speaker 1: advanced warning, Saul. It's going about his plan, and who
• 24:21
  Speaker 1: knows what he'd been thinking about almost all the way
• 24:24
  Speaker 1: to Damascus.
• 24:26
  Speaker 2: His plan was aggressive.
• 24:28
  Speaker 1: He had probably talked to the men who traveled with him,
• 24:30
  Speaker 1: and they discussed how they would bring these people back
• 24:33
  Speaker 1: to Jerusalem. No doubt, took along with him whatever was
• 24:37
  Speaker 1: necessary in the form of numbers of people, as well
• 24:40
  Speaker 1: as whatever weapons they needed. They were going to bring
• 24:43
  Speaker 1: these people under arrest back to Jerusalem. And suddenly it
• 24:49
  Speaker 1: still happens today, by the way. Sometime it's a tragic
• 24:53
  Speaker 1: auto accident that takes the life of your mate, and
• 24:57
  Speaker 1: suddenly God gets your attention.
• 25:00
  Speaker 2: Sometime it's the loss of a child.
• 25:03
  Speaker 1: Occasionally it's a calamity that wipes out half the family
• 25:08
  Speaker 1: or maybe half the neighborhood.
• 25:10
  Speaker 2: Some time it's the report from the physician that says,
• 25:13
  Speaker 2: the X rays bother me. It looks like cancer.
• 25:17
  Speaker 1: In fact, that seems to be the best results that
• 25:22
  Speaker 1: we get from the biopsy. You got it, and all
• 25:28
  Speaker 1: of a sudden your head spends because suddenly your world
• 25:32
  Speaker 1: has changed and you realize you're not in control. Saul,
• 25:37
  Speaker 1: for thirty plus years, has been in control of his life.
• 25:40
  Speaker 1: He has a record that is second to few, and
• 25:43
  Speaker 1: on his way to make a name for himself and
• 25:45
  Speaker 1: to continue in his prideful plan, he has stopped in
• 25:50
  Speaker 1: his tracks at midday by a blinding light from heaven,
• 25:55
  Speaker 1: probably the Shakaina glory of God, which druck him like
• 26:00
  Speaker 1: a laser. Blinded him. In fact, not only here, but
• 26:06
  Speaker 1: in Acts twenty two as well as in Acts twenty six.
• 26:10
  Speaker 1: The story is told, will not turn there again. But
• 26:13
  Speaker 1: let me give you the series of events as best
• 26:15
  Speaker 1: I can harmonize them. First, there was a light from
• 26:19
  Speaker 1: heaven brighter than the sun, flashed all around the travelers. Second,
• 26:26
  Speaker 1: all of them fell to the ground. You will do
• 26:29
  Speaker 1: that on occasion when a calamity strikes. You get the
• 26:33
  Speaker 1: news on the telephone and you can't get out of bed.
• 26:35
  Speaker 1: You are so stunned with what the officer tells you
• 26:39
  Speaker 1: happened in the car and the head on collision. You
• 26:43
  Speaker 1: are so shocked you can hardly walk out of the
• 26:45
  Speaker 1: doctor's office, and you fall on your knees. As I've
• 26:48
  Speaker 1: heard one individual tell the story when he got to
• 26:51
  Speaker 1: the men's room. He vomited, and he turned around and
• 26:54
  Speaker 1: dropped to his knees and cried like a baby, having
• 26:58
  Speaker 1: heard the news of his condition. It is a jolting, sudden,
• 27:04
  Speaker 1: abrupt event that captures the heart of some individuals, and
• 27:08
  Speaker 1: they can't go on. Saul is for the first time dependent.
• 27:14
  Speaker 1: Not only is he on the ground, he is blinded.
• 27:17
  Speaker 1: And not only is he blinded, he hears a voice,
• 27:21
  Speaker 1: a voice that only he could understand. You read the
• 27:25
  Speaker 1: account here and the two other passages and acts. You
• 27:29
  Speaker 1: will read that the traveling companions heard the voice, but
• 27:32
  Speaker 1: they didn't understand it. He understood it. Please observe what
• 27:37
  Speaker 1: the voice said. Verse four, Saul, Saul, why are you
• 27:42
  Speaker 1: persecuting me? Remember we've learned that when the Lord uses
• 27:47
  Speaker 1: a name twice, it's for emphasis purposes. Abraham, Abraham, don't
• 27:52
  Speaker 1: take the life of your son. An emphatic calling of
• 27:55
  Speaker 1: Abraham to hold back the knife from Isaac.
• 27:59
  Speaker 2: Saul saw why are you persecuting me?
• 28:06
  Speaker 1: He heard a voice, and he understood the question, why
• 28:10
  Speaker 1: are you persecuting me?
• 28:12
  Speaker 2: What an interesting way to put it. He thought he
• 28:15
  Speaker 2: was persecuting.
• 28:18
  Speaker 1: The followers of the way, but in fact he was
• 28:21
  Speaker 1: attacking the source of their faith. Warren Wersby does a
• 28:26
  Speaker 1: good job with the imaginary answer Saul would give. If
• 28:31
  Speaker 1: you had stopped him on the road and asked why
• 28:33
  Speaker 1: he was doing what he was doing, Listen, his answer
• 28:36
  Speaker 1: would be, Jesus of Nazareth is dead. Do you expect
• 28:40
  Speaker 1: me to believe that a crucified nobody is the promised Messiah?
• 28:44
  Speaker 1: According to our law, anybody who is hung on a
• 28:47
  Speaker 1: tree is cursed. Would God take a cursed false prophet
• 28:52
  Speaker 1: and make him the Messiah? No? His followers are preaching
• 28:56
  Speaker 1: that Jesus is both alive and doing miracles through them,
• 29:00
  Speaker 1: But their power comes from Satan, not God. This is
• 29:04
  Speaker 1: a dangerous sect, and I intend to eliminate it before
• 29:07
  Speaker 1: it destroys our historic Jewish faith. Not a bad thought,
• 29:12
  Speaker 1: not a bad imagination. There here is Saul on his way, determined,
• 29:18
  Speaker 1: and he stopped and asked the question, why are you
• 29:20
  Speaker 1: persecuting me? By the way, Interesting, isn't it? The Lord
• 29:27
  Speaker 1: knew his name?
• 29:30
  Speaker 2: Are you kidding? The Lord knew.
• 29:32
  Speaker 1: Every hair on his head, every thought he had ever had,
• 29:34
  Speaker 1: every word he had ever spoken, every motive that no
• 29:37
  Speaker 1: one else could know. The Lord knew everything about him.
• 29:41
  Speaker 1: We live in a day in which man is so
• 29:43
  Speaker 1: deified and God is so humanized.
• 29:45
  Speaker 2: We get them twisted, we get them mixed up.
• 29:49
  Speaker 1: It's sort of the idea that God is sitting on
• 29:51
  Speaker 1: the edge of heaven going, Oh, wonder what they're going
• 29:54
  Speaker 1: to do next. God has never learned. God is never surprised.
• 30:01
  Speaker 1: God is never out of control. You are in the
• 30:05
  Speaker 1: cross hairs of His sight every moment of your existence,
• 30:10
  Speaker 1: from conception to the grave.
• 30:15
  Speaker 2: Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting me?
• 30:23
  Speaker 1: Saul, who has never been under such a light and
• 30:25
  Speaker 1: never heard such a voice, answers, who are you?
• 30:32
  Speaker 2: Lord? Some say it this moment he's born again.
• 30:38
  Speaker 1: But the word lord is curios. It was even used
• 30:41
  Speaker 1: for Caesar. It's a word of respect, as one would
• 30:46
  Speaker 1: express respect for an authority higher or superior to him.
• 30:52
  Speaker 2: Sir would be just as good. Who are you, sir?
• 30:56
  Speaker 1: Who are you one with such authority that you can
• 31:00
  Speaker 1: send this kind of light and blind me?
• 31:04
  Speaker 2: Who are you?
• 31:06
  Speaker 1: The answer must have stunned him. He said, I am Jesus,
• 31:14
  Speaker 1: whom you were persecuting. By the way, from this point on,
• 31:17
  Speaker 1: Saul never believed that Jesus was dead.
• 31:20
  Speaker 2: That's a That.
• 31:21
  Speaker 1: Was a pretty pretty good moment for him to change
• 31:26
  Speaker 1: his opinion. By the way, repentance is in the process
• 31:29
  Speaker 1: of happening. Remember we taught you last time. Repentance is
• 31:32
  Speaker 1: changing one's mind, going in one direction and then turning
• 31:35
  Speaker 1: around in the mind and going the other meta around
• 31:40
  Speaker 1: from noose to turn the mind around. Saul has been
• 31:43
  Speaker 1: thinking he's dead. Now he's hearing from the one who
• 31:46
  Speaker 1: is alive.
• 31:47
  Speaker 2: He not only is alive, he knows his name, and
• 31:50
  Speaker 2: not only knows his name, he knows what he's been doing,
• 31:52
  Speaker 2: persecuting him, and.
• 31:54
  Speaker 1: He knows you just as well. You cannot hide. I
• 32:03
  Speaker 1: remember when I was a little kid and i'd be
• 32:05
  Speaker 1: scared tonight. I'd grab the covers and pull him up
• 32:07
  Speaker 1: over my head, afraid of the booger Man.
• 32:10
  Speaker 2: I call him the booger Man.
• 32:11
  Speaker 1: I know it's not the right word, but that's what
• 32:13
  Speaker 1: I called him, the booger Man, and covers up over
• 32:16
  Speaker 1: my head so the Boogerman wouldn't get me. Those covers
• 32:19
  Speaker 1: aren't gonna keep the booger Man away. If booger Man
• 32:22
  Speaker 1: is in the house, he's gonna come at you, covers
• 32:24
  Speaker 1: and all. And the Psalm one thirty nine says the
• 32:27
  Speaker 1: darkness and light are both alike to you. There's no
• 32:29
  Speaker 1: such things as hiding, such thing as hiding from the
• 32:32
  Speaker 1: living God.
• 32:33
  Speaker 2: Get a life.
• 32:36
  Speaker 1: Once again. You got God in your terms. God never
• 32:40
  Speaker 1: closes his eyes. He doesn't have eyes, he doesn't need eyes.
• 32:51
  Speaker 1: He is the consummate, almighty, everlasting being who knows and
• 32:58
  Speaker 1: sees and understands.
• 33:00
  Speaker 2: All of us. So, so why are you persecuting me?
• 33:14
  Speaker 2: Who are you? Sir? I am Jesus whom you are persecuting.
• 33:20
  Speaker 2: I am alive from the dead. I will never again
• 33:25
  Speaker 2: go to a cross.
• 33:29
  Speaker 1: At this moment there is the beginning of the manufacture
• 33:31
  Speaker 1: of a saint.
• 33:33
  Speaker 2: Now let me pause and clarify.
• 33:36
  Speaker 1: It's very difficult to find any section of scripture where
• 33:40
  Speaker 1: you can show the process in a one, two, three,
• 33:43
  Speaker 1: four five fashion of the moment a person comes to Christ.
• 33:49
  Speaker 2: That's unusual. Now listen to me.
• 33:51
  Speaker 1: We are so conditioned by denominational background. We're conditioned by
• 33:56
  Speaker 1: religious past, by teaching we've received through tradition that you
• 34:01
  Speaker 1: go through this step and that step, and then you
• 34:03
  Speaker 1: do this, and then when you say this, you're in.
• 34:08
  Speaker 1: Will you please show me in the scriptures even with Nicodemus.
• 34:14
  Speaker 1: Even with Nicodemus, who is an interesting study. By the way,
• 34:17
  Speaker 1: I'll come to him in a moment. He was told
• 34:20
  Speaker 1: you must be born from above, But we're not told
• 34:23
  Speaker 1: when he was born from above. We just find him
• 34:26
  Speaker 1: helping in the embalming of the resort of the dead
• 34:29
  Speaker 1: Christ following the cross. But he had been born again.
• 34:33
  Speaker 1: More than likely we're not told at the moment, Saul believes.
• 34:39
  Speaker 1: So be really careful about the exacting requirements you place
• 34:43
  Speaker 1: on someone else to say the right words at the
• 34:46
  Speaker 1: right time and in the right order, or they won't
• 34:48
  Speaker 1: be saved.
• 34:51
  Speaker 2: Be careful about that. You can be saved while driving your.
• 34:55
  Speaker 1: Car on your way home, reasoning with what you have
• 34:58
  Speaker 1: heard from a message from God. You can be saved
• 35:01
  Speaker 1: in the midst of a Bible study.
• 35:03
  Speaker 2: You can be.
• 35:03
  Speaker 1: Saved while praying, or for that matter, swimming. You can
• 35:08
  Speaker 1: be saved in the evening, or in the daylight, or
• 35:10
  Speaker 1: on your bed, whether sick or well. The process is
• 35:16
  Speaker 1: multiple and varied. The apostle is wrestling with this whole thing.
• 35:22
  Speaker 1: Can you imagine for these years he has been working
• 35:25
  Speaker 1: against the very one who now calls him into account.
• 35:29
  Speaker 1: And according to the other accounts turned to Acts twenty seven.
• 35:34
  Speaker 1: The Saul of Tarsus is, what would you have me
• 35:37
  Speaker 1: to do? And the Lord describes to him what he
• 35:41
  Speaker 1: was to do, and he was to go to Damascus
• 35:44
  Speaker 1: and wait for the next set of instructions. It's the
• 35:48
  Speaker 1: first time Saul is operated dependent on the Lord that
• 35:52
  Speaker 1: he has once hated. Must have been a remarkable thing.
• 35:59
  Speaker 1: It just occurs to me. I think I can put
• 36:01
  Speaker 1: it like this. It's is spontaneous here. If you have
• 36:04
  Speaker 1: been a following, a follower of a cult, you've been
• 36:08
  Speaker 1: raised in the cult, your parents believed in it, and
• 36:11
  Speaker 1: you have been steeped in this cult, and you've known
• 36:13
  Speaker 1: nothing but the cult throughout your life. And through a
• 36:16
  Speaker 1: series of events remember that statement, Through a series of events,
• 36:20
  Speaker 1: you come face to face with the claims of Jesus Christ,
• 36:23
  Speaker 1: and you realize in the process that much of what
• 36:26
  Speaker 1: you had been told is not true. And now you've
• 36:29
  Speaker 1: decided it's time to give your heart to Christ. And
• 36:32
  Speaker 1: the Lord has set his hounds of heaven against you
• 36:35
  Speaker 1: and caught you, and.
• 36:39
  Speaker 2: For his you're born again.
• 36:40
  Speaker 1: You suddenly realize all the things you now have to unlearn.
• 36:45
  Speaker 1: Ever been there, you have to unlearn, which is a
• 36:48
  Speaker 1: tough process. It's easier to be totally ignorant and learn
• 36:52
  Speaker 1: afresh than to be filled with information that's false and
• 36:55
  Speaker 1: have to replace it with information that's true.
• 36:59
  Speaker 2: That's Saul. He has been a leader among the persecutors.
• 37:04
  Speaker 1: I think the sand Heedron were thrilled to have Saul
• 37:06
  Speaker 1: out there doing what he was doing.
• 37:08
  Speaker 2: What a grand representation or representative for the Judaism. But
• 37:15
  Speaker 2: now he is.
• 37:17
  Speaker 1: Suddenly in the midst of this mind swirling revelation that
• 37:22
  Speaker 1: the living Lord, whom he hated and denied, is now
• 37:28
  Speaker 1: his master.
• 37:32
  Speaker 2: Now there's a line.
• 37:33
  Speaker 1: In Acts twenty six that intriggers me, and it has
• 37:36
  Speaker 1: for years. Look at Acts twenty six, verse fourteen. He
• 37:44
  Speaker 1: had when we had fallen to the ground, I heard
• 37:48
  Speaker 1: a voice saying to me in the Hebrew dialect, Saul, Saul,
• 37:54
  Speaker 1: why are you persecuting me?
• 37:55
  Speaker 2: Now? Look closely. It is hard for you to kick
• 38:01
  Speaker 2: against the goads. What in the world does that mean?
• 38:08
  Speaker 2: Just look at it. It's hard for you, Saul, to
• 38:12
  Speaker 2: kick against the goads. I'm fascinated by that.
• 38:20
  Speaker 1: I've spent hours studying that, and I've come to some
• 38:23
  Speaker 1: conclusions that I think will be helpful. First of all,
• 38:28
  Speaker 1: I found that it was apparently a very common proverb
• 38:33
  Speaker 1: country saying, and was found in both Greek and Latin literature.
• 38:40
  Speaker 1: Who was a country saying familiar to all who plowed
• 38:44
  Speaker 1: the row with the help of oxen or had oxen
• 38:47
  Speaker 1: pulling their carts, They used a gode?
• 38:51
  Speaker 2: What's a god?
• 38:54
  Speaker 1: Well, have you ever seen landscapers when they are supporting
• 38:59
  Speaker 1: a week trunk tree drive down a stake that's pointed,
• 39:04
  Speaker 1: and then they will tie the trunk of the tree
• 39:07
  Speaker 1: to the stake so it won't so the tree won't
• 39:09
  Speaker 1: bend with the wind and grow in a slanted position.
• 39:16
  Speaker 1: The stake that's driven is like a gold It's pointed
• 39:20
  Speaker 1: and it's large. It's about about five to six feet long.
• 39:26
  Speaker 1: And farmers who were plowing their fields would be working
• 39:31
  Speaker 1: with stubborn oxen, and to get them to move on,
• 39:36
  Speaker 1: they would goat them.
• 39:38
  Speaker 2: They would use.
• 39:40
  Speaker 1: The pointed end of the stick and they jab them
• 39:43
  Speaker 1: in the rump and on the leg, and oxen, getting goaded,
• 39:49
  Speaker 1: would chick back at times and at times would drive
• 39:53
  Speaker 1: their leg into the point of the gold. The oxen,
• 39:57
  Speaker 1: resisting the goading, found themselves in greater pain. That's the
• 40:01
  Speaker 1: whole word picture, or behind the word picture of it
• 40:06
  Speaker 1: is hard for you, Saul, to kick against the goads.
• 40:11
  Speaker 1: Who's doing the goading? I want to suggest it's the
• 40:14
  Speaker 1: Lord himself, and I want to show you at least
• 40:17
  Speaker 1: three goads that were in Saul's life that helped lead
• 40:23
  Speaker 1: to his conversion. We all have gods, by the way,
• 40:27
  Speaker 1: and they're all different for each one of us. You see,
• 40:31
  Speaker 1: the conversion of Saul may seem like a sudden moment,
• 40:34
  Speaker 1: but I think the Lord had been working on him
• 40:37
  Speaker 1: in various ways, as he had been goading him, and
• 40:40
  Speaker 1: Saul had been kicking against them all right.
• 40:45
  Speaker 2: Here's the first. I believe Saul was haunted with the
• 40:53
  Speaker 2: person of Jesus. Now stay with me.
• 40:59
  Speaker 1: I would say just to you that Saul and Jesus,
• 41:03
  Speaker 1: being close in age, were in Jerusalem at the same
• 41:07
  Speaker 1: time on several occasions. In fact, I believe that Saul
• 41:15
  Speaker 1: was among some of the Pharisees who heard him teach
• 41:18
  Speaker 1: on occasion member Saul is circa a d one in birth,
• 41:26
  Speaker 1: Jesus a little bit older, and they, being similar age,
• 41:33
  Speaker 1: would be contemporaries in a city that Saul knew well
• 41:37
  Speaker 1: and Jesus frequently visited.
• 41:41
  Speaker 2: A man named Donald.
• 41:42
  Speaker 1: Coggan in his Paul Portrait of a revolutionary rights Is
• 41:48
  Speaker 1: it not possible, indeed highly likely, that the young teacher
• 41:51
  Speaker 1: from Galilee and the younger Pharisee from Tarsus would have
• 41:58
  Speaker 1: looked into one another's eyes, and that Saul would have
• 42:02
  Speaker 1: heard Jesus teach. I bet you some of you have
• 42:08
  Speaker 1: never thought of that. It's kind of fun to tell
• 42:11
  Speaker 1: you something that you never thought of. Now, maybe most
• 42:14
  Speaker 1: of you have already heard this, so that'd be a
• 42:16
  Speaker 1: little disheartening.
• 42:18
  Speaker 2: But if you if act like you haven't heard of
• 42:21
  Speaker 2: this before.
• 42:21
  Speaker 1: Okay, can you see? Can you see Saul? The word
• 42:27
  Speaker 1: paul means small. He may have been small of stature,
• 42:31
  Speaker 1: standing on tiptoe in the gathering, looking at Jesus.
• 42:36
  Speaker 2: And frowning.
• 42:38
  Speaker 1: And working through his own theology, wondering how this false
• 42:43
  Speaker 1: prophet could get such a following and could do so
• 42:46
  Speaker 1: had to be a Satan, remember that was the pharisees answer.
• 42:50
  Speaker 1: I think this left enough doubt in Saul's mind as
• 42:55
  Speaker 1: to goad him. It goaded him.
• 42:59
  Speaker 2: You say what you want to.
• 43:00
  Speaker 1: You can't fully escape the teachings and the exemplary model
• 43:05
  Speaker 1: of Jesus.
• 43:07
  Speaker 2: He follows you.
• 43:09
  Speaker 1: That's why I always say to people who resist the
• 43:12
  Speaker 1: teaching of the Gospel, just study the life of Christ,
• 43:16
  Speaker 1: read his words, and you will find he is captivating.
• 43:22
  Speaker 1: Even if they had not met, Saul had heard much
• 43:25
  Speaker 1: about the Galilean from his followers, and he couldn't deny
• 43:29
  Speaker 1: that what happened was, in fact, on occasion miraculous. Here's
• 43:33
  Speaker 1: where I wanted to mention Nicodemus. One of Saul's fellow
• 43:37
  Speaker 1: pharisees was Nicodemus, who came to Jesus by night John three.
• 43:42
  Speaker 1: And remember, Nicodemus is the one who helped him balm
• 43:44
  Speaker 1: the body the wrappings around Jesus before he was laid
• 43:47
  Speaker 1: in the tomb. Between the visit by night and the
• 43:53
  Speaker 1: death of Christ, Nicodemus had come to the Savior. Why
• 43:56
  Speaker 1: else would he have exposed himself as one of the
• 43:58
  Speaker 1: followers and work along side Joseph to embalm the body
• 44:02
  Speaker 1: as he did if he didn't want to make that public,
• 44:04
  Speaker 1: and probably he had left the Sanhedron by then. Saul
• 44:09
  Speaker 1: knew him.
• 44:10
  Speaker 2: He was troubled by that. He was goaded by Nicodemu's
• 44:14
  Speaker 2: change of life. Here's a second.
• 44:18
  Speaker 1: I think Saul couldn't completely wipe Stephen from his mind.
• 44:23
  Speaker 1: Maybe he still had the robe that had Stephen's blood
• 44:26
  Speaker 1: on it when Stephen was stoned, and Saul was standing
• 44:30
  Speaker 1: near enough to hold the robes of those who were
• 44:32
  Speaker 1: stoning him. And maybe it was the sight of Stephen's face,
• 44:37
  Speaker 1: as Luke describes him as the one who had the
• 44:39
  Speaker 1: face of an angel, and he couldn't get away from
• 44:42
  Speaker 1: the words of Stephen. Don't hold this charge again, don't
• 44:46
  Speaker 1: hold this against them, Almost like Jesus, they don't know
• 44:49
  Speaker 1: what they're doing. One man, right, Stephen, not Gameliel, was
• 44:55
  Speaker 1: the real master of Saint Paul. You wonder if in
• 45:00
  Speaker 1: unguarded moments, and maybe along the long journey from Jerusalem
• 45:04
  Speaker 1: to Damascus, Saul didn't relive the account and the occasion
• 45:09
  Speaker 1: where Stephen.
• 45:11
  Speaker 2: Was murdered goaded by those thoughts. Here's a third.
• 45:19
  Speaker 1: He couldn't escape the courage of the Christians he was persecuting.
• 45:26
  Speaker 1: We on occasion hear about those who recanted, But I
• 45:28
  Speaker 1: will tell you there were the vast majority of them
• 45:30
  Speaker 1: that would not give up their faith, and they would
• 45:34
  Speaker 1: die rather than recant, Saul couldn't deny that. Driven to
• 45:41
  Speaker 1: fanatical extremes, he passionately pursued these Christians, and still they
• 45:48
  Speaker 1: held fast fanatical extremes.
• 45:51
  Speaker 2: Let me give you a quote. Just found it. Carl
• 45:54
  Speaker 2: Jung j U n G, noted writer in the.
• 45:59
  Speaker 1: Field of psychology rites fanaticism is only found in individuals
• 46:07
  Speaker 1: who are compensating secret doubts. Fanaticism is only found in
• 46:17
  Speaker 1: individuals who are compensating secret doubts. That's why when you
• 46:23
  Speaker 1: see some fanatically committed to religious causes often fall in
• 46:29
  Speaker 1: the years that follow. They're the ones trying to silence
• 46:33
  Speaker 1: the secret doubts. And I think this is Saul. These
• 46:38
  Speaker 1: goads pricked and prodded the pharisaic oxen Saul to such
• 46:43
  Speaker 1: an extreme he couldn't stop until he was blinded by
• 46:46
  Speaker 1: that laser like light from heaven. And he heard the
• 46:51
  Speaker 1: words I am Jesus whom you are persecuting, And the
• 46:55
  Speaker 1: hounds of heaven caught him.
• 46:57
  Speaker 2: That a great thing. I love it.
• 47:02
  Speaker 1: You can run, but you cannot hide, You.
• 47:06
  Speaker 2: Can hide, but you cannot escape. It's only a matter
• 47:13
  Speaker 2: of time. C. S.
• 47:17
  Speaker 1: Lewis put it beautifully in his chapter called a book
• 47:21
  Speaker 1: called Surprise by Joy, which is the story of his conversion.
• 47:25
  Speaker 1: His word pictures are exquisite. He likens the Lord to
• 47:29
  Speaker 1: the great angler playing his fish, to a cat chasing
• 47:34
  Speaker 1: a mouse, to a pack of hounds closing in on
• 47:38
  Speaker 1: a fox, and finally to the divine chess player, maneuvering
• 47:44
  Speaker 1: him into the disadvantageous positions until in the end he concedes, checkmate.
• 47:54
  Speaker 2: You love it, checkmate.
• 47:59
  Speaker 1: And in the end, what God wins. In the end,
• 48:09
  Speaker 1: God wins.
• 48:12
  Speaker 2: Francis Thompson called his peace the hounds of Heaven, and
• 48:17
  Speaker 2: he spoke of his pursuing him through labyrinthine ways. It's
• 48:22
  Speaker 2: a fabulous piece of literature.
• 48:24
  Speaker 1: And through all of these ways, and through the alleys
• 48:26
  Speaker 1: of Jerusalem, and through the silent thoughts and secret doubts
• 48:30
  Speaker 1: of Saul's life, the father in love pursued the.
• 48:36
  Speaker 2: Rebel, and he won. He won.
• 48:43
  Speaker 1: Amazing grace, How sweet the sound that saved a wretch
• 48:48
  Speaker 1: like me. I once was lost, but now I'm found.
• 48:53
  Speaker 1: Think of Paul here. I was blind, but now I see.
• 49:02
  Speaker 1: I'd like us to close this message in a little
• 49:05
  Speaker 1: different way. I'd like you to just bow your head
• 49:07
  Speaker 1: right here I am convinced that the Lord never wastes
• 49:19
  Speaker 1: messages on any gathering. I was earlier planning to go
• 49:27
  Speaker 1: farther in my thoughts, and I was led in these
• 49:31
  Speaker 1: last number of hours to stop at verse nine of
• 49:33
  Speaker 1: Acts nine, because I thought, it's the conversion of Saul
• 49:38
  Speaker 1: that's the focus here. The manufacturing of the saint takes
• 49:42
  Speaker 1: place in the rest of his life, but the conversion
• 49:45
  Speaker 1: of a soul is now. And it's to this point
• 49:49
  Speaker 1: that a number of you have come. Your life is
• 49:54
  Speaker 1: different than Saul's. You're not a notorious Christian killer. I
• 49:57
  Speaker 1: know that your life may be as moral and clean
• 50:01
  Speaker 1: as the finest person on your block. You may have
• 50:07
  Speaker 1: never once cheated on your taxes. You may have never
• 50:10
  Speaker 1: once deliberately lied to your partner. You may have never
• 50:14
  Speaker 1: once committed what one would call a scandalous act, to
• 50:21
  Speaker 1: say nothing of a hurting another deliberately. But you're as
• 50:25
  Speaker 1: lost as Saul because you have sinned in so many
• 50:32
  Speaker 1: other ways, and you have fallen short of the glory
• 50:36
  Speaker 1: or the standard of God.
• 50:39
  Speaker 2: This is your moment.
• 50:42
  Speaker 1: Before something suddenly happens that turns the corner of your
• 50:46
  Speaker 1: life and brings it to your knees. What a great
• 50:49
  Speaker 1: moment this would be for you right now to bow
• 50:55
  Speaker 1: your heart before him and receive him as your own
• 51:04
  Speaker 1: right now. He died that you might live, and now
• 51:13
  Speaker 1: he lives, that you might know what it is to die.
• 51:18
  Speaker 1: The life that he lived qualified him for the death
• 51:21
  Speaker 1: that he died, and the death that he died qualifies
• 51:24
  Speaker 1: us for the life that he lived. This is an
• 51:31
  Speaker 1: awesome moment, and I respect the work of the Spirit
• 51:34
  Speaker 1: of God who's moving among us. Some of you will
• 51:41
  Speaker 1: be moved before you go to bed tonight. You'll be
• 51:44
  Speaker 1: goaded by whatever cause. Some of you won't make it
• 51:50
  Speaker 1: out of this building until you've given your heart to Christ.
• 51:53
  Speaker 1: This is the work of the Spirit. He moves in
• 51:57
  Speaker 1: like the wind and weighs we cannot see are analyze.
• 52:03
  Speaker 1: My plead to you today is don't fight him. In
• 52:07
  Speaker 1: the end, he wins. Father, thank you for the doubts
• 52:18
  Speaker 1: that plague us, for the stephens that haunt us. Thank
• 52:25
  Speaker 1: you for the evidence of truth.
• 52:31
  Speaker 2: That dogs our steps.
• 52:35
  Speaker 1: Thank you for the sudden jolts that life brings. It
• 52:40
  Speaker 1: reminds us we are not in charge, and we are
• 52:42
  Speaker 1: not able in ourselves. We are not adequate to handle
• 52:46
  Speaker 1: its pressures, all of this design to bring us to
• 52:51
  Speaker 1: an end of ourselves and to bring us face to
• 52:55
  Speaker 1: face with Christ. Whatever it takes, our Father, I pray
• 53:05
  Speaker 1: that you will not stop short, whether blinding light or
• 53:11
  Speaker 1: prison cell or of physical malady or a loss of whatever, or.
• 53:18
  Speaker 2: A breakdown of heart and mind.
• 53:21
  Speaker 1: Whatever it takes, Lord, I pray that you will bring
• 53:24
  Speaker 1: us to the place of full surrender and submission, so
• 53:30
  Speaker 1: that we might know the kind of peace that only
• 53:33
  Speaker 1: you can give as a result of faith.
• 53:39
  Speaker 2: In the one who died and was raised for us.
• 53:45
  Speaker 1: Use these simple words, given from a little different angle,
• 53:48
  Speaker 1: on the life of a man we've all respected, so
• 53:52
  Speaker 1: that they might enter into hearts otherwise closed, and the
• 53:59
  Speaker 1: will be broken.
• 54:02
  Speaker 2: And the life converted.
• 54:09
  Speaker 1: Give us new hope for those we have earlier marked
• 54:11
  Speaker 1: off our list. Help us to remove the word impossible
• 54:17
  Speaker 1: from anyone's name as we focus on this chief of sinners,
• 54:25
  Speaker 1: who bowed his life before you finally and then left
• 54:29
  Speaker 1: a legacy that has changed.
• 54:31
  Speaker 2: Lives for centuries.
• 54:37
  Speaker 1: We entrust to you, Lord, the truth of what has
• 54:39
  Speaker 1: been delivered, that you may follow it to its end
• 54:44
  Speaker 1: in whatever heart may hear them, And we trust you
• 54:50
  Speaker 1: in the strong name of Jesus Christ, and everybody said.
• 54:56
  Speaker 2: Amen, exceeding message.
• 55:01
  Speaker 3: The Violent Capture of a Rebel Will was copyrighted in
• 55:04
  Speaker 3: two thousand and one, two thousand and three, and twenty
• 55:06
  Speaker 3: twenty four, and the sound recording was copyrighted in twenty
• 55:10
  Speaker 3: twenty four by Charles R.
• 55:11
  Speaker 2: Swindall Incorporated.
• 55:13
  Speaker 3: All rights are reserved worldwide. Duplication of copyrighted material for
• 55:17
  Speaker 3: commercial use is strictly prohibited