Paul the apostle

I'll ask you to read, please, in the Acts, Chapter 9. I want to read about someone that knew what it was to occupy until I come, more than anyone that I have ever heard about. Chapter 9 of the Acts, verse 1. He might bring them bound unto Jerusalem. And as he journeyed, he came near Damascus, and suddenly there shined round about him a light from heaven.

And he fell to the earth and heard a voice saying unto him, Saul, Saul, why persecutest thou me? And he said, Who art thou, Lord? And the Lord said, I am Jesus, whom thou persecutest. It is hard for thee to kick against the pricks, the goads. And he, trembling and astonished, said, Lord, what wilt thou have me to do? And the Lord said unto him, Arise and go into the city, and shall be told thee what thou must do.

And the men which journeyed with him stood speechless, hearing a voice that saying, No man. And Saul arose from the earth, and when his eyes were opened, he saw no man, but they led him by the hand and brought him into Damascus. And he was three days without sight, neither did eat nor drink.

And there was a certain disciple of Damascus named Ananias. And to him said the Lord in a vision, Ananias. And he said, Behold, I am here.

And the Lord said unto him, Arise and go into the street, which is called Straight, and inquire in the house of Judas, for one called Saul of Tarsus. For behold, he prayeth. Verse 15, The Lord said unto him, Go thy way, for he is a chosen vessel unto me, to bear my name before the Gentiles and kings and the children of Israel.

Verse 18, Immediately they were filled for Mazarius, as it had been scales, and he received sight forthwith, and arose and was baptized. And when he had received meat, he was strengthened. Then was Saul certain days with the disciples, which were Damascus.

And straightway he preached Christ in the synagogues, that he is the Son of God. Now look down to verse 25. The disciples took him by night, led him down by the wall in a basket.

And when Saul was come to Jerusalem, he assayed to join himself to the disciples, but they were all afraid of him. No wonder he had been persecuting them. They believed not that he was a disciple, but Barnabas took him and brought him to the apostles and declared unto them how he had seen the Lord in the way and that he had spoken with them, and how he had preached boldly at Damascus in the name of Jesus.

And he was with them, coming in and going out at Jerusalem. Now look over again to chapter 20. Chapter 20 of the Acts.

Paul is before the elders in Ephesus. Verse 19, he says, Serving the Lord with all humility of mind and with many tears and temptations which befell me by lying in wait of the Jews, how I kept back nothing that was profitable unto you, but have showed you and have taught you publicly and from house to house, testifying both to the Jews and also to the Greeks, repentance toward God and faith toward our Lord Jesus Christ. Now behold, I go bound in the Spirit unto Jerusalem, not knowing the things that shall befall me there, save that the Holy Ghost witnesseth in every city, saying that bonds and afflictions abide me, but none of these things move me, neither count I my life dear unto myself, so that I might finish my course with joy in the ministry which I have received of the Lord Jesus to testify the gospel of the grace of God.

Now a final reading in 2 Timothy 4, verses that my brother Dryberg has referred to. 2 Timothy 4 and verse 6. Paul's at the end now of Christian experience. He says, For I am now ready to be offered and the time of my departure is at hand.

I have fought a good fight. I have finished my course. I have kept the faith.

Henceforth there is laid up for me a crown of righteousness, which the Lord the righteous judge shall give me at that day, and not to me only, but unto all them also that love his appearing. Now we know God will add his blessing to what we have listened to and the further reading of his word. I want to speak a little word this morning on the journeys of this great man, the apostle to the Gentiles.

We were reminded of occupying until he come. And from the moment of his conversion, chapter 9 of this gospel, in the early part of it, of this book, chapter 9, the early part, tells us of that experience on the Damascus turnpike. When he heard a voice, he saw a light.

Later he referred to it as a great light. And again he referred to it as a light above the brightness of the sun. That's the moment of his conversion.

You say, can you prove it? Well, we read, he said, who art thou, Lord? And then a short time later, he's saying, Lord, what will thou have me to do? And between those two expressions of Lord, he was saved. And his whole life was transformed from a persecutor of the Gentiles. By the way, I never read that Paul was a murderer.

He persecuted the people of God. That's what he was occupied with when God reached him. But I don't read of him actually murdering anyone.

He could have been an accomplice, but God transformed him. And it has been estimated that in his short lifetime of 30 some years, that he traveled over 12,300 miles by foot and nearly 7,000 miles by sea. And he literally burned out for God.

Now that's what my brother has been reminding us of. I heard a man years ago say some people talk about wearing out. He was a Scotsman, by the way, Alex.

Some people talk about wearing out. Some people talk about rusting out. But he said there's something better than that.

That's to last out. That's to continue right to the end. And I'm sure all of us would like to be able to say, like the apostle, at the end of life I have fought the good fight.

Now in chapter 9 where we read, this is the commencement of his Christian experience. From this moment on, his whole bent of life was to please God. I want to notice a few things that characterize them.

If you would read chapter 1 of the Galatian Epistle, he tells us that that moment that he's referring to here, he says it was a revelation from God. That's what salvation is. A revelation.

We don't understand it. We reach, as it were, the end of our resources, and we realize there's no hope. And the next moment, Christ is revealed to the soul.

Now let me ask you again this morning, have you had that experience? Not merely saying, I believe. We're living in a day when there's an easy believism that's being preached. But salvation is a divine revelation of Christ to the soul.

Paul says, it was revealed to me from heaven. The first thing I note in this chapter after his conversion was, verse 11 says, when Ananias went into the city, he would find this man Saul praying. He prayed.

I personally believe that prayer is the most important part of our activity. We get occupied with service. We've been told very aptly this morning that before service, there must be worship.

Unless in my heart there is devotion to Christ, my service will be absolutely futile and void. And so, Paul was a man that prayed. One of the first recorded prayers in the scripture is the prayer of Jacob, going home after his 20 years of servitude to his uncle Laban, you remember how he deceived him.

He wanted one of his daughters, the younger one. But Laban so arranged that he got the older one before the younger one. And he had to serve seven more years to get the one he wanted.

But the word of God teaches that Jacob is coming home a broken man. He's about to face his brother that he obtained the birthright from. And it says, he prayed.

A time of crisis. That characterizes me, and I'm sure it characterizes you. A time of crisis in your life.

It draws us to God. But God wants us to keep close communion with him, to pray. I think prayer is the most important part of our Christian activity.

This book of the Acts will prove, and I could point out the various assembly gatherings. By the way, there's no scripture telling us that there should be conferences for young believers. Not found in this book.

The spirit of God teaches that ministry is for the people of God. Not divisions. And so, when we pray, God hears those prayers.

The man that was preaching when I was saved many years ago in Ireland, little Scotchman, David Craig, greatest preacher I ever heard. I've seen him get down on his knees when he was preaching. And stand up on a chair, so into his message.

He used to tell about his early days in the mines. Brother Alex knows what the mines are. Hundreds of feet below the ground in those channels of coal.

And he was working one day alone with a man called Barney. Barney, a hard-living, drinking, fighting Irishman. And Mr. Craig was afraid of him.

He was about 14 years of age. And the lunch break came and they were sitting knee to knee in that shaft where they were mining coal. And he thought, I should give thanks for my lunch.

But then he thought, Barney will only laugh. But he said, I closed my eyes and I took off my cap and I give thanks to God for his son. And I give thanks to God for a mother that pointed me to Christ.

And I give thanks for my lunch. His peace, as he called it. And then he prayed for Barney that God would save him.

And when he opened his eyes, that big man was sitting with tears coursing down his cheeks. And he says, David, are there any gospel meetings in the area? And that man went to hear the gospel and God saved him because a boy prayed. Dear young believer, when you sit in the school at the lunch time, do you bow your head and give thanks for your lunch? God is a God that honors prayer.

I could tell you for hours of people that I have known have prayed for loved ones, some that they had no hope that they would ever be saved. And one day God answered those prayers. So dear believer, you keep on praying.

That characterized the great apostle. We read in verse 15, he was a chosen vessel to bear the name of Christ before Gentiles and kings and the children of Israel. But he was separated by God before his conversion.

I have referred to Galatians chapter 1. In chapter 13, he was separated by the Holy Spirit. You remember Saul and Barnabas, they let them go. Work that they'd been engaged in.

They didn't suddenly get a vision of some field of service and ask for a letter of commendation to go there. They were occupied in the work. And the elders let them go.

They commended them. And so he was commended by the Spirit of God. Verse 18 in this chapter tells me about his obedience.

That's what God wants in your life and in my life. He was told to go into the city and he would be told what God wanted him to do. And if you went over to chapter 26, you would learn that Ananias told him that he should be baptized.

And he obeyed. Verse 18, immediately the scales were removed from his eyes. He arose and he was baptized.

Maybe I'm speaking to someone and you've been saved for a long time and you're not baptized. Well, there's only two commandments that God gives. One is believer's baptism and the other one is to be gathered in remembrance of himself.

The late Oliver Smith that I labored with in early days, after God saved him, he wanted to be baptized. But his wife, little short woman, and he was a bit afraid of her. Because she said, if you get baptized, when you come home, all your belongings will be out of the house.

And so for a long time, he didn't get baptized. One day he said to Mr. Charles Keller, a preacher from California, he said, I want you to pray for my wife, that God will save her. Mr. Keller said, you want God to do great things for you, but you won't go through three feet of water for him.

And Mr. Smith said, I'm going to get baptized. It doesn't matter what happens. And he was baptized.

And when he came home, nothing had changed. And two weeks later, God saved his wife. So God honors obedience.

Again, quickly, very quickly, as my brother says, verse 19, he was in fellowship with the disciples. He spent certain days with them. In verse 19, the end of verse 26 says, he joined himself to the disciples.

I hope you are happy with the fellowship of the people of God. We're living in a day when people are looking over the walls and they're seeing activity in other areas, and they have sort of an attraction, and they think maybe that's the answer. But you know, there's nothing like the fellowship of the people of God.

I remember the war days, World War II, when I was in the U.S. Navy, being aboard ship at times when there were no Christians. And I want to tell you, it's a lonesome life. You've heard the illustration of a coal that's in the fire.

It keeps red, and it glows, and it's warm. But lift it away from that fire, and it soon goes out. That's what happens when you're not around other believers.

I remember going home one Easter weekend, and I hadn't seen a Christian for weeks. And my ship came into the pier, and I got to the southern end of Manhattan and took a subway up to the station, Grand Central Station, to get a train up to Connecticut, where I was living. And as I walked into that station, packed with people, thousands of people, some leaving, some kissing their wives and their sweethearts goodbye, others welcoming them home.

And I thought I heard someone singing. And I looked up, and on the balcony, there was a black man walking up and down with his hands in his pocket. And I could hear that beautiful baritone voice as he sang, Up from the grave he rose, With a mighty triumph o'er his foes.

I thought, I'm getting near some Christians. I want to tell you, if you never had that experience of being alone, it's not a very good experience. Paul enjoyed the fellowship of the people of God.

He was a faithful preacher. We read in verse 20, he preached Christ in the synagogues. Verse 28, he continued with them.

He didn't go occasionally. He was with them. He was committed.

And we're living in a day when there's not the commitment that there used to be or that there should be. Paul was with them. But quickly, in verse 24 of chapter 20, where we read, he talked about all that he had endured, bonds, afflictions, serving the Lord, bearing, you read what he writes to the Corinthians, about all that he endured, a night and day in the deep, afflictions from his own countrymen, beaten, left by the roadside, thought for dead.

But he says, none of these things moved me. He said his desire was that day that we read of in chapter 4 of Timothy. I have fought the good fight we've heard as a soldier.

I have finished the course as the runner in the race. I have kept the faith as a good steward of Jesus Christ. And what a wonderful day it will be when we arrive safely home in heaven.

We'll look back over life. We'll think of what took place. But you know, we'll say then, the toils of the road will seem nothing when I get to the end of the way.

The Lord help us to occupy until he comes.