The Word Made Plain

Tony Clark: 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: 1-11.

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. Oh, 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's 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 that when these things began 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. And 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 father's law, which is a reference to the conservative religious leaders called the Pharisees.

He said this to later 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 toward God as you all are today. The end of verse 3 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. And 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.

And now he's about to tell them how Jesus changed him. Jesus truly changed him. And 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've been and you're just doing what the song says? You added a little Jesus in your life.

When when you have an encounter with Jesus Christ, he radically changes your life. I've said it many times. I've said it around the country where I've gone to speak, you cannot have an encounter with the creator of the universe and remain the same. Here's this man, God radically changed him. And he's about to tell them how this took place. And 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, how God radically changed your life. Look what he says there in verses 4 and 5, 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."

Now, 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, which he used to kill Christians, which is a reference to how he had Stephen stoned to death in Acts 7 and verses 54-60. 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.

And then he tells them in verse 5 that even the high priest would testify what I'm 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 about 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. And as since 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 6-9.

"And now it happened as I journeyed and came near Damascus at about noon, suddenly a great light from heaven shown 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 obviously 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 shown around him, the end of verse 6 says. And as this light from heaven knocked him to the ground, he heard a voice in verse 7 called him by his Hebrew name, Saul. Paul was his Roman name and and Saul was his Hebrew name. Many of the Jews at this particular time, they 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, well, this verse over here says that person, it's a different person. And so many times, one was using a Roman name and one was using a Hebrew name. And so here's the Lord using and calling Paul by his Hebrew name, saying, "Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting me?"

Now, I find that just fascinating to me that whenever anyone persecutes us as Christians, they're 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, that means your Jamies and your Myras and the great note takers out there.

Colossians 1:24. Notice what it says, it says, "And now," and 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, it says, 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 persecuting, 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 is through us, the church. And so whenever someone is persecuting us, they're persecuting Jesus Christ, and he takes it personally.

We may never have seen it this way, but it is true. This is why Romans 12:19 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 8, 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's Paul on his face on the ground. Here's, "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. Oh, 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 23:18, as well as John 19:15, you remember when Jesus was presented before them with pilot, they said, "Away with him, away with this man. Crucify him!" He said, "You want me to crucify your king?" They said, "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. Now, there are critics who try to say that there is a contradiction in Paul's testimony in Acts 9:7, when this event took place. He says that the men with him heard a voice, but seeing no one.

But here Paul says in verse 9 that they did not hear the voice of him who spoke to him. Is there a contradiction? Of course not. In Acts 9:7, the men with Paul heard a noise, a sound, but Paul explains here that they didn't understand the voice. The Greek word for voice is phōné. They didn't understand the phonics, the word spoken by Paul.

Oh, 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's 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 phōné, the words he told you in time, in a way that only that person can receive it. Oh, 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've never been before.

But the Lord said, "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 you you're doing right now that you need to clean up." And God speaks to you and you like, "Okay, yeah." And then you you expect everybody around you to 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's just for you that God wants to clean up in your life. Let God in his time speak the same phōné, the same words to them that he did to you in time. And so often we put guilt trips and we do all this sort of stuff to all everybody around us because God spoke to us to do that certain thing. God didn't speak to them.

I I I I say this all the time. Your spouse is not your other child. And because God has spoken to you and told you a certain thing, you can't make that spouse do that. Let God speak the phōné, 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.

Surely, that got his attention. And called him by his Hebrew name and spoke to him some words that was just for him. It wasn't for those around. They couldn't understand the phōné. They couldn't understand the words. And 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 a time and in a way that that that person can hear.

Somebody needs to hear that out there. Somebody needs to hear that. You can put that in the comments, say, "That was for me." You can put that down there, and 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." Now, 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?"

Zaccheus in Luke chapter 19:8-9, he had the same reaction when he said, 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." And Jesus said in verse 9, "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, you know, in in John 3 and verses 10-14, when John preached the 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, "What shall we do?"

When you have had an encounter with God, you've seen 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 you you say like Paul did in in Romans 12:1. 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 that should have been you on Calvary's cross. When you realize that, and you're like, "You did that for me? Well, what's 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 show you I and they do nothing for the Lord. I will show you a person that did have not had an encounter with the Lord. You have not because whenever you have an encounter, anyone has an encounter with the Lord, they immediately, number one, see their own sinfulness. And number two, they they ask, "What shall I do? What can I do? This the least I can do."

Oh, you can can I sweep the floor? Can I clean the restrooms? Can can I hand out a bulletin? Can I park a car? What is 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. Oh why would he do that? Because 2 Corinthians 5:7 says, "For we walk by faith and not by sight." The Lord did the same thing in Philip's life in in Acts chapter 8 and verses 26-40. He told him to rise and go to the desert. Step one. When you 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's an Ethiopian eunuch that was in there reading the scroll of Isaiah. And then Philip said, "Hey, 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 here 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 to Damascus. And you will be told what you have to, what's 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're 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 one, two, three. It is as easy as Sunday morning. It's easy. 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, 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 gotta go out, you have a mask on at this time.

But go and practice on those around you. Oh, you can just give it on social media. You can just easy does. Hey, this was my life before Christ. Next paragraph, Christ came into it. This is my life now. You got all you got hundreds, thousands of people that will read it. They'll read that. Keep it short and concise. And and and you will have hundreds of people.

And there may be people in the comments that say, "Well, you know, well, how how did you do that? What happened?" Maybe some old high school classmates or saying, "Yeah, I knew something was different about you. What's what's going on?" And they may and then you can give some more detail, right, on social media. You don't have to, you know, I can't go out. Pastor Dom, I'm 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. And 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 are 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. And Lord, I pray that you would empower us as your people to give our testimony on social media for the thousands to see.

And 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 will 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.

Tony Clark: If The Word Made Plain has been a source of inspiration and encouragement to you, why not consider becoming a Word Made Plain giving partner to keep this listener-supported program on the air. As a giving partner, you join forces with Calvary Chapel Newport News's Kingdom Vision of spreading the Gospel of Jesus Christ. You can make your tax-deductible gift online at calvarynn.org or send your gift of any amount to 1553 Warwick Boulevard, Newport News, Virginia 23608. And receive a gift from Calvary Chapel Newport News as our thank you. In addition to your financial support, we ask that you pray for The Word Made Plain broadcast that it touches hearts and generates change in the lives of people around the world. We pray you've been blessed by God's Word today and hope you'll tune in next time to hear The Word Made Plain.