The Word Made Plain

Guest (Male): Welcome to the Word Made Plain with Senior Pastor Tony Clark of Calvary Chapel Newport News in Virginia. Currently, Pastor Tony is teaching a study in the book of Acts. Please open your Bible to Acts chapter 22, verses 1 through 11.

Tony Clark: In other words, he could relate to both the Jews—those who spoke Greek, the intellectual ones—and those who spoke Hebrew, the very religious ones. He continues to give his pedigree by saying that he was taught by Gamaliel, who was considered the greatest and well-respected rabbi in Jewish history. Who can say anything bad about a student of Israel's greatest scholar?

And here is another great truth: Oftentimes the Lord will use whatever background you came from and use it to minister to the people He brings your way. So be ready. Remember, 1 Peter 3:15 says, "Always be ready to give every man a defense." Be ready that when these things begin to happen, God will use your background, the good or bad. He will use it to draw people to Him.

For me, I look at my racial, my military, my educational background and how it made me a perfect fit to come to this particular area to start a church. Paul was perfect to speak to these Jews at this particular time with his own background. Then he tells them that he was taught according to the strictness of our fathers' law, which is a reference to the conservative religious leaders called the Pharisees. He said this to lay to rest the rumor that Paul was telling Jews everywhere not to keep the law nor circumcise their children according to chapter 21 and verse 28.

He also was relatable to them by telling them that he was just like them, being "zealous towards God as you all are today," the end of verse three tells us. I believe that Paul teaches us how to handle unbelievers in our day as he did in his day. Notice that he didn't attack them and call them names. He sought to affirm them in their zeal. This is not using flattery nor insincerity; this is seeking to speak the truth in love, like Ephesians 4:15 teaches us to do.

Paul truly understood their zeal to try to kill him because he had the same zeal against Christians before he came to Christ. Now he is about to tell them how Jesus changed him. Jesus truly changed him. I just have to ask the question: Has Jesus truly changed you? This is something you have to search your own heart about. Like we see in Paul's life, God radically changed his life. Or are you the same old person you have been and you are just doing what the song says—you added a little Jesus in your life?

When you have an encounter with Jesus Christ, He radically changes your life. I have said it many times; I have said it around the country where I have gone to speak: You cannot have an encounter with the Creator of the universe and remain the same. Here is this man. God radically changed him, and he is about to tell them how this took place. You have to look at your own life. Has God radically changed you? This is part of your testimony that we're going to get to in a minute—your own personal testimony of how God radically changed your life.

Look what it says there in verses four and five as Paul lets them know how the Lord changed him. He says, "I persecuted this Way to 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."

In these verses, Paul describes to this Jewish audience that his zeal against the Way—which was an early name for Christianity—was even more intense than theirs. He actually carried out his zeal all the way to death, in which he used to kill Christians, which is a reference to how he had Stephen stoned to death in Acts 7 and verses 54 to 60. He also was binding and delivering Christian men and women to prison, dragging them off in chains to bring them back to Jerusalem to punish them.

Then he tells them in verse five that even the high priest would testify to what he's saying. Then he said all the council of the elders, which is a reference to the Sanhedrin, the 71-member Jewish Supreme Court. I mean, what a testimony by Paul. Then he tells them how he had official letters to go to the city of Damascus to hunt for followers of Jesus. This was widely known, and these are some indisputable facts making Paul's testimony very believable and powerful.

In essence, Paul was saying that he was so zealous for the law of Moses that he was chosen by the Jewish officials to be the one to eradicate Christianity from the earth. What a powerful and compelling testimony that could not be refuted. Look what it says in verses 6 through 9: "And now it happened as I journeyed and came near Damascus at about noon, suddenly a great light from heaven shone around me. And I fell to the ground and heard a voice saying to me, 'Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting Me?'

"So I answered, 'Who are You, Lord?' And He said to me, 'I am Jesus of Nazareth, whom you are persecuting.' And those who were with me indeed saw the light and were afraid, but they did not hear the voice of Him who spoke to me." Now, in these verses, Paul goes into the heart of his testimony. Notice how he tells them as he was on his way to Damascus—which was a 150-mile trip from Jerusalem—to arrest Christians that he had those official letters to do.

Paul tells them the time frame that his encounter with Jesus took place, which was at noon. "A great light from heaven shone around him," the end of verse six says. As this light from heaven knocked him to the ground, he heard a voice in verse seven call him by his Hebrew name: Saul. Paul was his Roman name, and Saul was his Hebrew name. Many of the Jews at this particular time had both a Hebrew name and a Roman name.

So some folks try to find contradiction: "Well, this verse says this person did this, then why does this verse over here say that person? It's a different person." So many times, one was using a Roman name and one was using a Hebrew name. And so here is the Lord using and calling Paul by his Hebrew name, saying, "Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting Me?" Now, I find that just fascinating that whenever anyone persecutes us as Christians, they are actually persecuting Jesus Himself. He takes it personally.

There is a verse in the New Testament that used to puzzle me years ago, but now I understand it in light of what we're talking about here. For you note-takers: Colossians 1:24. Notice what it says: "I now rejoice in my sufferings for you, and fill up in my flesh what is lacking in the afflictions of Christ, for the sake of His body, which is the church." That verse baffled me so long. How in the world can we fill up what is lacking in the affliction of Christ? Easy, because we are now here on this earth, His church.

We are the body of Christ, and whenever we are persecuted or being persecuted, the Lord Jesus Christ is being persecuted as well. This is how we're filling up the afflictions of Christ. This is how Christ is still being afflicted: through us, the church. And so whenever someone is persecuting us, they're persecuting Jesus Christ, and He takes it personally. We may have never seen it this way, but it is true. This is why Romans 12 verse 19 says, "Vengeance is Mine, I will repay, says the Lord."

God knows how to stop the Sauls persecuting us in their tracks and knock them off their high horse and to get their attention. Oh, God knows perfectly how to do that. Paul tells them in verse eight how he responded to the voice that spoke to him. He said, "Who are You, Lord?" And the Lord responded and identified Himself. Notice He just didn't say, "I'm Jesus" or "I'm Jesus Christ." Notice He says, "I am Jesus of Nazareth, whom you are persecuting."

Now, here is Paul—you have to see the picture—here is Paul on his face on the ground. "I am Jesus of Nazareth, whom you are persecuting." Oh, this had to be a total shock and mind-blowing experience for Paul because he felt that Jesus of Nazareth was a false messiah, a charlatan, and a blasphemer. Now he sees how wrong he was and how Jesus is the Lord of glory.

This had to be shocking to the Jewish crowd listening to Paul because many of them had despised and rejected Jesus, and they felt the same way that Paul did—that Jesus of Nazareth was a false messiah, a charlatan, and a blasphemer. Remember that they said in Luke 23 and verse 18, as well as John 19 verse 15, when Jesus was presented before them with Pilate, they said, "Away with him, away with this man, crucify him."

And he said, "You want me to crucify your king?" "Crucify him." And here is Paul telling them that it was this Jesus of Nazareth that appeared to him at noon as he was on his way to Damascus. Because this crowd felt the same way, I know they were shocked when they heard Paul say these things. Now, let me bring something else to your attention. There are critics who try to say that there is a contradiction in Paul's testimony in Acts 9 and verse 7 when this event took place.

He says that the men with him heard a voice but saw no one. But here, Paul says in verse nine that they did not hear the voice of Him who spoke to him. Is there a contradiction? Of course not. In Acts 9 and verse 7, the men with Paul heard a noise, a sound, but Paul explains here that they did not understand the voice. The Greek word for voice is *phone*. They did not understand the phonics, the words spoken by Paul.

This gives us a powerful lesson here that we all need to be mindful of. This shows us that everything is not for everybody. There are things that God speaks to us—watch this—that are just for us. It is just for us to hear and not for everyone around us. In other words, all because God spoke to you to stop doing a certain thing or to start doing a certain thing doesn't necessarily mean that everyone around you must stop doing it as well.

God hasn't told them to stop. Let God speak to them the phonics, the *phone*, the words He told you, in time, in a way that only that person can receive it. This is a powerful lesson many people need to hear out there. Because so often God will speak to you—God is trying to take you deeper, God is trying to take you to a level in your walk that you have never been before—but the Lord says there are some things you need to clean up in the house of your life first.

There are some things that you have allowed in or you're doing right now that you need to clean up. And God speaks to you, and you're like, "Okay, yeah." And then you expect everybody around you to follow that same thing. No, there was something that was just for you only. It was just for you only. And there are some things that are just for you that God wants to clean up in your life. Let God, in His time, speak the same *phone*, the same words to them that He did to you in time, in a way that only they can hear.

So often, we put guilt trips and we do all this sort of stuff to everyone around us because God spoke to us to do that certain thing. God didn't speak to them. I say this all the time: Your spouse is not your other child. Because God has spoken to you and told you a certain thing, you can't make that spouse do that. Let God speak the *phone*, let God speak the words to them that He spoke to you in their time, in a way that only they can hear.

Because God spoke to Paul in a way, called him by his Hebrew name—truly that got his attention—and spoke to him some words that was just for him. It wasn't for those around; they couldn't understand the *phone*, they couldn't understand the words. So often, we need to be mindful: Allow God to speak to people the way that He spoke to you. Allow Him to speak to people in the time and in a way that that person can hear. Somebody needed to hear that out there. You can put that in the comments, say, "That was for me." You can put that down there, that was for you. Because that is so easy for us to fall into that particular trap.

Look what it says in verses 10 and 11. "And so I said, 'What shall I do, Lord?' And the Lord said to me, 'Arise and go into Damascus, and there you will be told all things which are appointed for you to do.' And since I could not see for the glory of the light, being led by the hand of those who were with me, I came into Damascus." At this point, all that Paul could do was to humbly ask in verse 10, "What shall I do, Lord?" This is always a true sign of a person's salvation: When God saves them, they want to know, "What shall I do, Lord?"

Zacchaeus in Luke chapter 19 and verses 8 and 9, he had the same reaction when he had his encounter with Jesus. He says, "Look, Lord, I give half my goods to the poor, and if I have taken anything from anyone by false accusation, I restore fourfold." Jesus said in verse nine, "Today salvation has come to this house." When salvation has come to our house, you feel compelled to do something for the Lord who saved and rescued you from your previous life.

All of the people in John the Baptist's life—in John 3 and verses 10 through 14 when John preached a message of repentance—all of them there, each one of them (there was about three or four different people who spoke up), when they heard that message, they said, "What shall we do?" The next one, "What shall we do?"—tax collectors. "What shall we do?"—soldiers. When you have had an encounter with God, you see what He has done for you, how He has rescued you from sin, how He took your place on Calvary's cross, that is the first thing out of your mouth: "What shall I do?"

You say like Paul did in Romans 12 verse 1: It's our reasonable service. It's the least that we can do when He has done so much for us. The question is: Have you asked that question yourself? What shall I do? When you realize that should have been you on Calvary's cross, when you realize that and you're like, "You did that for me? What is the least I can do for You?" And that is always the response.

Show me a person who calls themselves a Christian or a Christian in words only and they do nothing for the Lord, I will show you a person that has not had an encounter with the Lord. You have not. Because whenever anyone has had an encounter—anyone had an encounter with the Lord—they immediately, number one, see their own sinfulness and, number two, they ask, "What shall I do? What can I do? This is the least I can do. Can I sweep the floor? Can I clean the restrooms? Can I hand out a bulletin? Can I park a car? What can I do?"

That's the sign of a person who has had an encounter with the Lord. And the Lord tells Paul to arise because obviously he was still on the ground and continue his journey to Damascus. However, not as an adversary, but now as the Lord's servant. And once he got there, he would be told all things which are appointed for him to do, the end of verse 10 says.

This is amazing to me. This is the way of the Lord: He gives us His instructions one step at a time. He gives us one step to see if we will obey it, then He gives us step two. Why? Why would He do that? Because if He gave us all of the steps, we would look them over and say, "Well, I'm not doing that, especially steps four and five. You can scratch that. I'm not doing it." And therefore, God gives it to us one step at a time.

Why would He do that? Because 2 Corinthians 5:7 said, "For we walk by faith and not by sight." The Lord did the same thing in Philip's life in Acts chapter 8 and verses 26 to 40. He told him to arise and go to the desert—step one. When he obeyed, then the Lord said, "Go overtake that chariot"—step two. And then when Philip came up and caught up to the chariot, there is an Ethiopian eunuch that was in there reading the scroll of Isaiah.

Philip said, "Do you understand what you're reading?" He said, "No, unless somebody teach me." He said, "Well, I can teach you." He said, "Well, come on up and take a ride with me." And he explained from the—obviously he was reading what we would call Isaiah chapter 53, the suffering Messiah—and he used that scripture to lead that person, that Ethiopian eunuch, to Jesus Christ. He gave him one step at a time. Number one: Go to the desert. "Okay, what am I going to do when I get there?" "I'll tell you when you get there." Step two: "Okay, you're in the desert. You see that chariot? Go overtake that chariot."

One step at a time. The Lord, notice, told Paul: "Go into Damascus, and you will be told all things which are appointed for you to do." And then once he gets there, the Lord is going to give him the rest of the instruction that we are going to see. Now, Paul continues to tell the crowd that the glorious light was so bright that those with him had to lead him by the hand into Damascus because it blinded him. And we will continue to learn about Paul's compelling testimony, God's will, next time.

Now, let me conclude with this. In this message, we saw Paul tell his story. In it, we saw how God used Paul's background, his upbringing, and where he grew up to be a perfect witness to those Jewish people. And so take time out to go over your testimony. You got time. You got time to go over your testimony and look to give it to the many non-Christians around you.

Now we can use it on social media and all kind of stuff. Just give your testimony. Your testimony consists of this: This is my life before Christ. Christ came in it. This is my life now. It is as simple as 1, 2, 3. It's as easy as Sunday morning. It's easy. All—this was my life before Christ. Christ came into it. Now there should be a difference now. That this was your life, Christ came into it, now this is my life. That's your testimony. That is your testimony.

No one can deny your testimony, nor can they debate you on what the Lord has done for you. So come up with your testimony and go out—if you got to go out, you can have a mask on at this time. But go and practice on those around you. Or you can just give it on social media. You can easily, just as easy as this: "Hey, this was my life before Christ." Next paragraph: "Christ came into it. This is my life now."

You got all kind—you got hundreds, a thousand people that would read it. They will read it. Keep it short and concise. And you will have hundreds of people—and there may be people in the comments that say, "Well, you know, well, how did you do that? What happened?" Maybe some old high school classmates or someone say, "I knew something was different about you. What's going on?" And they may—and then you can give some more detail right on social media.

"I can't go out, Pastor Tony, I am afraid to go out." Well, okay, then do it on social media. Put your testimony there: my life before Christ, Christ came in, my life after. May God use you to bring many people into His kingdom because your testimony is unique for you. And it's unique for your situation, and it's unique for the people that God will bring into your life.

Let's pray. Father, we do thank You, Lord, that You have changed someone like the Apostle Paul. And Lord, we just pray that Your Holy Spirit would move and change lives today. Oh Lord, I pray. There are some who have just been Christians in word only, but they have not surrendered—truly surrendered their life to Jesus Christ. And Lord, I just pray that You will move upon their hearts today.

Lord, I pray that You would empower us as Your people to give our testimony on social media for the thousands to see. Lord, may there be some who will question and say, "Hey, how can Christ change my life?" And Lord, I pray that many will be brought into Your kingdom.

And Lord, if there is any watching right now who have not surrendered their life to Jesus Christ, I pray that they would pray this simple prayer. Say, "Lord Jesus, forgive me. I believe You died on the cross and was buried and rose again just for me. Come into my heart. I make You my Lord and Savior. Help me to live for You from this moment forward. In Jesus' name, Amen."

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