1 00:00:04,720 --> 00:00:08,360 This is ERC Sundays, the messages at Emmaus Rd. 2 00:00:08,360 --> 00:00:12,280 Church in DeWitt, Iowa. ERC is a Church of people 3 00:00:12,280 --> 00:00:15,320 striving to grow in Jesus and make him known to others through 4 00:00:15,320 --> 00:00:19,520 our faith, words and actions. Find out more about our church 5 00:00:19,600 --> 00:00:23,360 at emmausrdonline.org. Here's this week's message. 6 00:00:24,080 --> 00:00:27,720 Last week, to give you a brief recap, Pastor Matt was up here 7 00:00:27,960 --> 00:00:31,640 and he ate chicken Nuggets. That was that was fun. 8 00:00:32,840 --> 00:00:35,880 By the way, if you have no idea what I'm talking about, I would 9 00:00:35,880 --> 00:00:39,080 encourage you go back and either watch that on Facebook or listen 10 00:00:39,080 --> 00:00:42,240 to it because there was a greater, really well done 11 00:00:42,240 --> 00:00:45,480 illustrated point of Pastor Matt just standing up here eating 12 00:00:45,480 --> 00:00:48,160 some chicken Nuggets. By the way, I do have to ask 13 00:00:48,160 --> 00:00:51,200 squirrel moment. Like, you got those like the day 14 00:00:51,200 --> 00:00:53,160 before, right? Yeah. 15 00:00:53,320 --> 00:01:00,280 Did you like, heat them up first room temp, day old Chicken 16 00:01:00,280 --> 00:01:01,200 Mcnugget? I love that. 17 00:01:01,200 --> 00:01:04,400 OK, you know what that is? The pastor who sacrificed this 18 00:01:04,400 --> 00:01:09,280 for his people. Well beyond, beyond the chicken 19 00:01:09,280 --> 00:01:11,960 Nuggets, man. A couple of things that Pastor 20 00:01:11,960 --> 00:01:16,600 Matt talked about was he talked about the power and the instant 21 00:01:16,600 --> 00:01:19,800 availability of God's grace through baptism. 22 00:01:20,080 --> 00:01:24,800 And there's an invitation there for that grace to be poured on 23 00:01:24,800 --> 00:01:26,760 you, for your sins to be removed and forgiven. 24 00:01:27,040 --> 00:01:29,560 And by the way, just because I don't have water in front of me 25 00:01:29,560 --> 00:01:32,160 right now, that is always an invitation for you. 26 00:01:32,560 --> 00:01:35,280 Always. And so beyond that, though, he 27 00:01:35,280 --> 00:01:38,120 talked about two very different conversion stories. 28 00:01:38,480 --> 00:01:42,200 And, and so I, I won't get into all of that again, but I say 29 00:01:42,200 --> 00:01:45,880 that to bring us up to the fact that today we have one more 30 00:01:45,880 --> 00:01:49,920 conversion story that the the Bible gives us that Luke talks 31 00:01:49,920 --> 00:01:53,320 about during this time frame. And it's a pretty remarkable 32 00:01:53,320 --> 00:01:57,360 conversion because it is the conversion of the very person 33 00:01:57,600 --> 00:02:02,080 who in the church's infancy tried his very best to destroy 34 00:02:02,080 --> 00:02:04,640 it. This is the conversion of Saul 35 00:02:04,880 --> 00:02:09,919 of Tarsus, who would go on to be Paul and write almost a majority 36 00:02:09,919 --> 00:02:14,080 of the New Testament. And so here's the thing, if 37 00:02:14,080 --> 00:02:17,360 you're familiar with the story that we're about to hear of 38 00:02:17,440 --> 00:02:20,520 Saul's conversion, we can, we can think about that. 39 00:02:20,520 --> 00:02:23,920 We can go, man, that's rather kind of like fantastic in 40 00:02:23,920 --> 00:02:27,080 nature. And it's it's impressive and 41 00:02:27,080 --> 00:02:29,960 it's unusual. And sometimes when we do that 42 00:02:29,960 --> 00:02:32,280 and we don't even have to think about Saul, we could think about 43 00:02:32,280 --> 00:02:34,760 other people. I have friends in my life who 44 00:02:34,760 --> 00:02:36,960 God changed their life in a moment. 45 00:02:37,320 --> 00:02:40,480 I mean complete 180 in a moment. And I hear those stories and 46 00:02:40,480 --> 00:02:44,080 sometimes if my head is not in the right space, I can almost 47 00:02:44,080 --> 00:02:49,360 feel less than I can feel like, oh man, God didn't do that super 48 00:02:49,360 --> 00:02:53,440 really cool thing with me. That's that's a bummer. 49 00:02:55,000 --> 00:02:59,240 However, however, friends, I will tell you if you have any 50 00:02:59,240 --> 00:03:02,680 sense of that as either now because you know the story, or 51 00:03:02,680 --> 00:03:05,760 as we're reading the story, if you have any sense of that, what 52 00:03:05,760 --> 00:03:09,800 I would tell you is that you don't understand the depth of 53 00:03:09,800 --> 00:03:13,240 original sin. What I mean is the fact that 54 00:03:13,680 --> 00:03:18,640 humanity from its very early stages was completely broken and 55 00:03:18,640 --> 00:03:22,320 flawed by sin. And so I can tell you very 56 00:03:22,320 --> 00:03:25,280 personally, and my family will tell you the same, that I am a 57 00:03:25,280 --> 00:03:30,080 deeply flawed and sometimes painfully selfish person. 58 00:03:30,560 --> 00:03:34,520 And so if I can recognize that, and if I can see that for what 59 00:03:34,520 --> 00:03:38,160 it is, well, then all of a sudden every conversion story, 60 00:03:38,160 --> 00:03:42,360 no matter how seemingly mundane it is, is a miracle. 61 00:03:43,120 --> 00:03:46,320 It is a miracle if you are sitting here and you believe in 62 00:03:46,320 --> 00:03:49,760 Jesus Christ today. It is a miracle if you can come 63 00:03:49,760 --> 00:03:54,880 before the cross and see a man beaten and broken and bloodied 64 00:03:54,880 --> 00:03:58,680 and dead and then ascended. It is a miracle if you can 65 00:03:58,680 --> 00:04:01,640 repent and God has moved in your heart that way. 66 00:04:01,640 --> 00:04:06,760 So I hope that no matter what your conversion story is or or 67 00:04:06,760 --> 00:04:09,520 if you were raised in the church and you've never not known Jesus 68 00:04:09,520 --> 00:04:14,080 as your Lord, no matter what, I hope you feel the fact that God 69 00:04:14,080 --> 00:04:17,440 has done a great miracle in your life because it's nothing less 70 00:04:17,440 --> 00:04:20,200 than that. Now, what I'll say too is that 71 00:04:21,200 --> 00:04:24,520 on conversion stories, we can end up spending, we can end up 72 00:04:24,520 --> 00:04:27,240 spending a lot of time talking about the individual and their 73 00:04:27,240 --> 00:04:29,920 reaction. I mean, after all, reaction 74 00:04:29,920 --> 00:04:33,440 videos are all the rage. So like, you know, we could do 75 00:04:33,440 --> 00:04:35,640 that. However, today I'd more so like 76 00:04:35,640 --> 00:04:41,000 to focus on the character of God inside conversion and who he is. 77 00:04:41,520 --> 00:04:46,880 Because The thing is, I, I am quite aware that often times we 78 00:04:46,880 --> 00:04:52,520 have the opportunity and we take the opportunity to make it all 79 00:04:52,520 --> 00:04:56,400 about us. Now, Jesus Christ, he made it 80 00:04:56,520 --> 00:04:59,040 about us when he died on the cross for us. 81 00:04:59,040 --> 00:05:02,440 But ultimately we need to keep our eyes on God. 82 00:05:02,520 --> 00:05:05,600 We need to see that he's doing all the important verbs and we 83 00:05:05,600 --> 00:05:10,080 need to know him as he actually is instead of maybe a made-up 84 00:05:10,080 --> 00:05:13,160 version of him that we've created for ourselves. 85 00:05:13,960 --> 00:05:17,080 So with that in mind, let me show you where we're going 86 00:05:17,080 --> 00:05:18,720 today, please. There we go. 87 00:05:20,080 --> 00:05:22,400 We're going to, we're going to see who this authentic God is, 88 00:05:23,240 --> 00:05:26,560 and we're going to see the God who disagrees with us. 89 00:05:26,560 --> 00:05:28,960 We're going to see the God who dwells with us. 90 00:05:28,960 --> 00:05:32,200 We're going to see the God who gives us radical forgiveness, 91 00:05:32,600 --> 00:05:36,680 and we are going to meet the God who chooses and uses us. 92 00:05:37,480 --> 00:05:39,560 Are you ready? Yes. 93 00:05:40,360 --> 00:05:42,120 It doesn't matter. I'm going to go anyway. 94 00:05:42,480 --> 00:05:46,080 It doesn't matter. All right, so we're going to 95 00:05:46,080 --> 00:05:49,760 read Acts Chapter 9 verses one through 20. 96 00:05:49,760 --> 00:05:53,520 So sit back, enjoy the story. It's really, it's really 97 00:05:53,520 --> 00:05:56,520 interesting reading in Jesus name. 98 00:05:58,080 --> 00:06:01,800 But Saul, still breathing threats and murder against the 99 00:06:01,800 --> 00:06:05,560 disciples of the Lord, went to the high priest and asked him 100 00:06:05,560 --> 00:06:10,360 for letters to the synagogues at Damascus, so that if he found 101 00:06:10,360 --> 00:06:15,360 any belonging to the way, men or women, he might bring them bound 102 00:06:15,480 --> 00:06:18,840 to Jerusalem. Now as he went on his way, he 103 00:06:18,840 --> 00:06:22,520 approached Damascus, and suddenly a light from heaven 104 00:06:22,520 --> 00:06:26,560 shone around him, and falling to the ground he heard a voice 105 00:06:26,560 --> 00:06:31,200 saying to him, Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting me? 106 00:06:31,920 --> 00:06:37,120 And he said, Who are you, Lord? And he said, I am Jesus, whom 107 00:06:37,120 --> 00:06:42,160 you are persecuting, but rise and enter the city, and you will 108 00:06:42,160 --> 00:06:46,160 be told what you are to do. The men who are traveling with 109 00:06:46,160 --> 00:06:49,920 him stood speechless, hearing the voice, but seeing no one. 110 00:06:50,880 --> 00:06:54,080 Saul rose from the ground, and although his eyes were open, he 111 00:06:54,080 --> 00:06:57,760 saw nothing. So they led him by the hand and 112 00:06:57,760 --> 00:07:01,400 brought him into Damascus. And for three days he was 113 00:07:01,400 --> 00:07:04,480 without sight, and neither ate nor drank. 114 00:07:05,880 --> 00:07:09,600 Now there was a disciple at Damascus named Ananias. 115 00:07:09,920 --> 00:07:12,360 The Lord said to him in a vision, Ananias. 116 00:07:12,680 --> 00:07:16,520 And he said, Here I am Lord. And the Lord said to him, Rise 117 00:07:16,520 --> 00:07:18,640 and go to the street called Straight. 118 00:07:19,120 --> 00:07:23,480 And at the House of Judas looked for a man of Tarsus named Saul. 119 00:07:23,720 --> 00:07:27,480 For behold, he is praying, and he is seen in a vision. 120 00:07:27,760 --> 00:07:31,160 A man named Ananias. Come and lay his hands on him, 121 00:07:31,360 --> 00:07:33,200 so that he might regain his sight. 122 00:07:34,240 --> 00:07:37,720 But Ananias answered, Lord, I have heard from many about this 123 00:07:37,720 --> 00:07:42,440 man, how much evil he has done to your Saints at Jerusalem, and 124 00:07:42,440 --> 00:07:46,160 here he has the authority from the chief priest to bind all who 125 00:07:46,160 --> 00:07:49,520 call on your name. But the Lord said to him, Go, 126 00:07:50,120 --> 00:07:55,040 for he is a chosen instrument of mine to carry my name before the 127 00:07:55,040 --> 00:07:59,120 Gentiles and kings and the children of Israel, For I will 128 00:07:59,120 --> 00:08:02,840 show him how much he must suffer for the sake of my name. 129 00:08:04,160 --> 00:08:07,760 So Ananias departed and entered the house, and laying his hands 130 00:08:07,760 --> 00:08:11,440 on him, he said, Brother Saul, the Lord Jesus, who appeared to 131 00:08:11,440 --> 00:08:15,480 you on the road by which you came, has sent me, so that you 132 00:08:15,480 --> 00:08:18,960 may regain your sight and be filled with the Holy Spirit. 133 00:08:19,640 --> 00:08:22,680 And immediately something like scales fell from his eyes, and 134 00:08:22,680 --> 00:08:26,600 he regained his sight. Then he rose and was baptized 135 00:08:26,960 --> 00:08:30,000 and taking food. He was strengthened, and for 136 00:08:30,000 --> 00:08:33,080 some days he was with the disciples at Damascus. 137 00:08:33,640 --> 00:08:37,360 And immediately he proclaimed the name of Jesus in the 138 00:08:37,360 --> 00:08:43,320 synagogue, saying he is the Son of God here in the reading of 139 00:08:43,320 --> 00:08:50,200 God's Word. Friends, I'm not necessarily a 140 00:08:50,200 --> 00:08:53,240 big stat nerd, but I want to share something with you that I 141 00:08:53,240 --> 00:08:55,240 found incredibly interesting this week. 142 00:08:56,200 --> 00:08:59,880 In 2022, there were approximately 210 million 143 00:08:59,880 --> 00:09:04,360 Americans who self identified as Christian. 144 00:09:05,360 --> 00:09:07,720 Now the more interesting part comes here. 145 00:09:09,200 --> 00:09:15,000 Of 210 million Americans, approximately only 20% of those 146 00:09:15,000 --> 00:09:20,720 believe that the Bible itself is God's literal inspired word to 147 00:09:20,760 --> 00:09:23,640 absolutely be taken at face value. 148 00:09:24,480 --> 00:09:26,680 Now again, I've done the math for you. 149 00:09:27,280 --> 00:09:32,360 That means that there are approximately 168,000,000 150 00:09:33,200 --> 00:09:37,840 identifying Christians who look at God's word and say maybe not, 151 00:09:39,400 --> 00:09:45,120 maybe not. It's strange, isn't it? 152 00:09:46,000 --> 00:09:49,000 Now, if you, if you spend some time thinking about this, and 153 00:09:49,000 --> 00:09:53,760 I've probably spent too much time thinking about it there, if 154 00:09:53,760 --> 00:09:58,480 we have any cause or any sense of like we've ever asked why, 155 00:09:58,480 --> 00:10:01,280 why is Christianity in America, for example? 156 00:10:01,560 --> 00:10:06,360 So why, why is it so different among like people groups in the 157 00:10:06,360 --> 00:10:09,000 same country? Why, why is behavior so 158 00:10:09,000 --> 00:10:11,280 different? Why, why is theology so 159 00:10:11,280 --> 00:10:12,800 different? I'll tell you why. 160 00:10:13,160 --> 00:10:16,600 It's because 80% of self identifying Christians don't 161 00:10:16,600 --> 00:10:18,960 look at the Bible as absolute truth. 162 00:10:20,640 --> 00:10:27,520 That's scary to me. I think if we have any questions 163 00:10:27,520 --> 00:10:31,120 about inconsistency inside Christianity, we've just found 164 00:10:31,120 --> 00:10:37,400 our answer. Four out of five of us, four out 165 00:10:37,400 --> 00:10:42,000 of five of us say, yeah, I the Bible maybe. 166 00:10:43,160 --> 00:10:46,760 That's insane to me. That is insane to me if I'm 167 00:10:46,920 --> 00:10:51,400 going to call myself a Christian, that I, I can't fully 168 00:10:51,400 --> 00:10:54,640 express how hard that hit me that this week when I when I 169 00:10:54,640 --> 00:10:58,040 realized that. So here's the question though, 170 00:10:58,040 --> 00:11:00,160 that we should probably ask ourselves to move along. 171 00:11:01,040 --> 00:11:06,000 Why would 168,000,000 professing Christians do this? 172 00:11:06,880 --> 00:11:10,680 Why would 168 million people say, yeah, I call myself a 173 00:11:10,680 --> 00:11:12,800 Christian, but I don't know about the Bible. 174 00:11:12,800 --> 00:11:16,120 I don't, I don't necessarily believe what it says about the 175 00:11:16,120 --> 00:11:19,080 character of God. I'll tell you why if you haven't 176 00:11:19,080 --> 00:11:25,880 figured it out yet. Because when we have a God who's 177 00:11:25,880 --> 00:11:30,560 allowed to disagree with us, it makes us very, very 178 00:11:30,560 --> 00:11:34,160 uncomfortable. Very uncomfortable. 179 00:11:34,520 --> 00:11:37,120 Because here's the thing, if I'm, if I'm willing to go so far 180 00:11:37,120 --> 00:11:39,400 as to say, OK, I believe that there's a higher power. 181 00:11:39,400 --> 00:11:43,040 I believe that there's a God who created me and who has is 182 00:11:43,040 --> 00:11:44,920 responsible and created everything around me. 183 00:11:45,880 --> 00:11:49,800 Man, if I take Him at His Word, as He gives it to us in His 184 00:11:49,800 --> 00:11:53,520 Word, all of a sudden there are some responsibilities and there 185 00:11:53,520 --> 00:11:56,640 are some things that I have in my life that if I take a good 186 00:11:56,640 --> 00:11:59,600 glance at God probably disagrees with it. 187 00:12:01,000 --> 00:12:02,560 That makes me very uncomfortable. 188 00:12:03,560 --> 00:12:07,240 So therefore, I'll just make a God of my own creation. 189 00:12:07,480 --> 00:12:09,920 I'll make a God of my own choosing who always agrees with 190 00:12:09,920 --> 00:12:15,680 me. Friends, we'll get back to that 191 00:12:15,680 --> 00:12:18,400 in a second. But here's the thing, we, we are 192 00:12:18,400 --> 00:12:21,520 not in a unique age. This has been happening since 193 00:12:21,520 --> 00:12:24,960 almost the dawn of time. We're, we're not unique in 194 00:12:24,960 --> 00:12:27,240 creating our own God. Take Saul for example, in this 195 00:12:27,240 --> 00:12:29,760 story. Now, it's not overtly said in 196 00:12:29,760 --> 00:12:34,240 the text, but I can promise you that God, that Saul was serving 197 00:12:34,240 --> 00:12:37,600 a God of his own creation. And here's how here's how I know 198 00:12:37,600 --> 00:12:39,400 that. First and foremost, Saul didn't 199 00:12:39,400 --> 00:12:41,760 believe in a God that could become a man. 200 00:12:43,760 --> 00:12:48,480 Saul also didn't believe in a God who could and would die. 201 00:12:49,120 --> 00:12:50,560 Who? Who believes in a God that can 202 00:12:50,560 --> 00:12:52,880 die? That seems pointless, right? 203 00:12:53,400 --> 00:12:55,880 So he's created a God that can't, and then he didn't 204 00:12:55,880 --> 00:12:59,880 believe in a God who is loving and searching for all people, 205 00:13:00,480 --> 00:13:03,200 not just some people. No, he didn't believe in a God 206 00:13:03,200 --> 00:13:06,640 who's searching for all people. And he certainly didn't believe 207 00:13:06,640 --> 00:13:10,400 in a God that provides forgiveness through self 208 00:13:10,400 --> 00:13:15,120 fulfillment of the law. In other words, Saul essentially 209 00:13:15,120 --> 00:13:19,600 believed and created a God who is distant and kind of out 210 00:13:19,600 --> 00:13:23,080 there. Saul, certainly, he had a God in 211 00:13:23,080 --> 00:13:26,960 mind who kills but could never be killed. 212 00:13:28,040 --> 00:13:32,080 Saul certainly believed in a God who who justifies but but only 213 00:13:32,080 --> 00:13:35,160 justifies through making sure that I do all the right things. 214 00:13:35,160 --> 00:13:37,880 I try really hard and I get it right all of the time. 215 00:13:41,040 --> 00:13:44,840 That's a God of his creation. That is most certainly not the 216 00:13:44,840 --> 00:13:48,280 God that the Bible describes through and through. 217 00:13:48,440 --> 00:13:50,520 It's not who he's revealed himself to be. 218 00:13:51,000 --> 00:13:56,840 And so here's the thing, as Saul is serving his own God of his 219 00:13:56,840 --> 00:14:00,080 own creation, he's running around the countryside blowing 220 00:14:00,080 --> 00:14:03,680 up people's lives, dragging them out of their homes, putting them 221 00:14:03,680 --> 00:14:06,360 in prison, and some of them even having them killed. 222 00:14:07,520 --> 00:14:10,240 This is what worshipping a God of our creation does. 223 00:14:11,160 --> 00:14:14,960 It allows us to dehumanize other people while we become 224 00:14:14,960 --> 00:14:17,480 self-righteous. That's what it means to create 225 00:14:17,480 --> 00:14:19,760 your own God. That's always the end. 226 00:14:20,920 --> 00:14:24,360 Self justification and anger at people who aren't like us. 227 00:14:24,800 --> 00:14:28,320 And I'll tell you what, friends, it's just I'm going to bring it 228 00:14:28,320 --> 00:14:30,120 forward because we need to do that. 229 00:14:30,120 --> 00:14:32,600 We need to make this more applicable to us. 230 00:14:32,840 --> 00:14:40,440 And so I'm just going to ask you the question, what are we 231 00:14:40,600 --> 00:14:47,160 individually justifying in our own lives because we have a God 232 00:14:47,160 --> 00:14:50,480 of our own or our own creation who agrees with us? 233 00:14:57,600 --> 00:15:04,880 I don't have to think that hard. I know where I've falsely 234 00:15:04,880 --> 00:15:08,800 justified myself and said, well, the God of the God who I imagine 235 00:15:08,800 --> 00:15:10,440 he's, he's probably fine with that. 236 00:15:14,720 --> 00:15:19,040 Lord help us, we, we need you to come down and disagree with us. 237 00:15:20,520 --> 00:15:24,040 We need you to disagree with us because quite frankly, the God 238 00:15:24,040 --> 00:15:28,280 of my creation, the God of my mind, the God that I, that I 239 00:15:28,280 --> 00:15:32,960 choose who agrees with me, he can't save me and he can't save 240 00:15:32,960 --> 00:15:36,480 you either. Therefore, I will tell you my 241 00:15:36,480 --> 00:15:40,800 argument is that 80% of Christians have a God who can't 242 00:15:40,800 --> 00:15:42,800 save them. And it's certainly a God who 243 00:15:42,800 --> 00:15:45,600 doesn't challenge them. That's not helpful. 244 00:15:46,880 --> 00:15:50,280 It's not helpful. So I'm going to leave you with 245 00:15:50,280 --> 00:15:52,000 that. We need to kind of keep moving 246 00:15:52,000 --> 00:15:57,040 forward, but I hope maybe over the next days or weeks or 247 00:15:57,040 --> 00:16:00,640 months, whatever that looks like for you, I hope that question 248 00:16:00,640 --> 00:16:05,160 lingers in your mind. I hope you think when you think 249 00:16:05,160 --> 00:16:08,600 about God, is this, is this God of my creation or is that the 250 00:16:08,600 --> 00:16:12,720 real authentic God of the Bible who says this is who I am? 251 00:16:12,720 --> 00:16:16,720 Don't change me because I am unchangeable in all of the best 252 00:16:16,720 --> 00:16:21,360 ways. Let you hold that in the back of 253 00:16:21,360 --> 00:16:25,720 your head. As we move forward though, then 254 00:16:25,720 --> 00:16:27,400 we want to. We want to understand. 255 00:16:27,400 --> 00:16:29,200 Then who is this God? Because we can. 256 00:16:29,200 --> 00:16:31,440 I can probably stand here and harp on this all day. 257 00:16:31,440 --> 00:16:33,800 Give me a soapbox a little bit higher and I'll do it. 258 00:16:34,680 --> 00:16:35,960 But I would. I don't want to stay there. 259 00:16:35,960 --> 00:16:39,480 So I want us to actually meet through the text that we read, 260 00:16:39,720 --> 00:16:43,200 the God who is of the Bible, the real God, What is he like? 261 00:16:43,480 --> 00:16:46,640 Well, first and foremost, I'll tell you that this is the God 262 00:16:46,640 --> 00:16:50,200 who dwells with us. It's the God who dwells with and 263 00:16:50,200 --> 00:16:51,360 in us. How do I know that? 264 00:16:51,640 --> 00:16:54,760 Well, we know that if we pay attention to verses. 265 00:16:55,960 --> 00:16:59,120 Yeah, 10 or three through 5. And here's how we know this. 266 00:16:59,120 --> 00:17:01,640 Saul asks a really important question because the light hits 267 00:17:01,640 --> 00:17:03,880 him in the face and he's blinding his, you know, he's 268 00:17:03,880 --> 00:17:05,319 probably making a weird ugly face. 269 00:17:05,319 --> 00:17:11,000 And but as he does that, he asks the really important, he says, 270 00:17:11,000 --> 00:17:14,880 who are you, Lord? So he recognizes right away 271 00:17:14,880 --> 00:17:17,839 there is something powerful and otherworldly and divine 272 00:17:18,040 --> 00:17:21,400 happening to him right now. And so who are you, Lord? 273 00:17:22,359 --> 00:17:25,319 Well, Jesus gives a really straightforward answer. 274 00:17:26,359 --> 00:17:29,640 The Lord is Jesus. I am the Lord. 275 00:17:29,680 --> 00:17:32,360 I am the creator of all things. I am the sustainer of all 276 00:17:32,360 --> 00:17:36,080 things. I am the I am, right? 277 00:17:36,240 --> 00:17:39,920 If you don't know that reference in in world, we'll talk about 278 00:17:39,920 --> 00:17:41,760 Moses this fall a lot. But if you don't know that 279 00:17:41,760 --> 00:17:46,280 reference in the burning Bush that Moses comes upon, God says 280 00:17:46,280 --> 00:17:50,920 through the Bush I am, which means I am existence itself. 281 00:17:51,320 --> 00:17:55,120 Jesus says the same thing. He makes no delineation between 282 00:17:55,120 --> 00:17:58,560 him and the Father in terms of their names and their titles and 283 00:17:58,720 --> 00:18:02,000 who they are. He does the exact same thing and 284 00:18:02,000 --> 00:18:04,400 almost gets him killed. That's a fun story for another 285 00:18:04,400 --> 00:18:08,680 time. But yeah, the answer, the first 286 00:18:08,680 --> 00:18:12,160 part of the answer is Jesus is Lord, period, full stop. 287 00:18:12,400 --> 00:18:16,160 But then Jesus goes on to add to his answer and he says I am 288 00:18:16,200 --> 00:18:20,440 Jesus whom you are persecuting. Now this is really strange, I 289 00:18:20,440 --> 00:18:26,920 think, because in the Bible, in the record, there is no there's 290 00:18:26,920 --> 00:18:30,360 no history of Saul and Jesus ever interacting before this 291 00:18:30,360 --> 00:18:32,760 moment. So quite frankly, it begs the 292 00:18:32,760 --> 00:18:35,400 question, how can Jesus say that? 293 00:18:35,400 --> 00:18:37,920 You're persecuting me? Because I'm pretty sure Saul 294 00:18:37,920 --> 00:18:41,760 didn't throw Jesus in jail. Saul isn't the one specifically 295 00:18:41,760 --> 00:18:44,000 who put the nails in Jesus's hands and feet. 296 00:18:44,160 --> 00:18:50,680 So how can he say that? Here's how First Corinthians 297 00:18:50,680 --> 00:18:54,640 12/27 says now you are Christ's body and in individually parts 298 00:18:54,640 --> 00:18:58,240 of it, and then Christ is the head of the church, his body, 299 00:18:58,480 --> 00:19:02,000 and is himself its Savior. And then in Colossians 212 it 300 00:19:02,000 --> 00:19:06,920 says having been buried with him in baptism, that's us in which 301 00:19:06,920 --> 00:19:09,600 you were also raised with him through your faith in the 302 00:19:09,600 --> 00:19:12,000 working of God, who raised him from the dead. 303 00:19:12,000 --> 00:19:13,800 Friends, do you get what this means? 304 00:19:15,080 --> 00:19:19,440 There is no separation between God and His people. 305 00:19:21,720 --> 00:19:27,040 You can think about it this way. Well, I'm going to give you an 306 00:19:27,040 --> 00:19:29,240 example. OK, I'm going to give you an 307 00:19:29,240 --> 00:19:32,000 example. That's not good enough, but it's 308 00:19:32,000 --> 00:19:34,320 the best I've got, so you'll just have to work with me a 309 00:19:34,320 --> 00:19:36,200 little bit. Here's the example. 310 00:19:38,720 --> 00:19:44,040 When someone I love deeply, who I care about more than I care 311 00:19:44,040 --> 00:19:47,640 about myself, someone who I would actively and and quickly 312 00:19:47,640 --> 00:19:50,520 die for, even without thinking about it, when that person is 313 00:19:50,520 --> 00:19:58,830 hurt, I am hurt. I, I heard this, I heard this 314 00:19:58,830 --> 00:20:01,030 thing once, and it kind of goes like this. 315 00:20:01,310 --> 00:20:05,430 As a parent, if you deeply love your children this way, which I 316 00:20:05,430 --> 00:20:09,350 suspect the vast majority of us do, the phrase goes, you're only 317 00:20:09,350 --> 00:20:13,070 ever as happy as your most unhappy child. 318 00:20:14,120 --> 00:20:20,760 You feel that when you love somebody to the degree that your 319 00:20:20,760 --> 00:20:24,840 heart allows you to, to the to that extent man, you feel it, 320 00:20:25,680 --> 00:20:27,720 You rejoice with them, you hurt with them. 321 00:20:28,880 --> 00:20:31,320 How much more than does God do that? 322 00:20:31,880 --> 00:20:35,160 How much more is is God in our hearts? 323 00:20:35,160 --> 00:20:39,240 And when we are persecuted, he, he makes no delineation 324 00:20:39,240 --> 00:20:41,280 whatsoever. When we are persecuted for the 325 00:20:41,280 --> 00:20:45,000 gospel, so is he. That's how he can say that. 326 00:20:45,000 --> 00:20:46,920 That's how he can answer that question that way. 327 00:20:47,280 --> 00:20:52,600 And so because God is so squarely in our hearts and he 328 00:20:52,600 --> 00:20:57,120 dwells within us in his Holy Spirit, because he and his 329 00:20:57,120 --> 00:21:01,960 believers are one as him and the Father are one, that means that 330 00:21:01,960 --> 00:21:06,680 he is willing to do what it takes to provide radical, 331 00:21:06,680 --> 00:21:11,160 ridiculous forgiveness. Let me show you, Ananias 332 00:21:11,160 --> 00:21:12,680 answered. Lord, I've heard from many 333 00:21:12,680 --> 00:21:16,040 people about this man, how much evil he has done to the Saints. 334 00:21:16,560 --> 00:21:20,680 Oh yeah, Oh yeah. Like, I'm sorry, man, you could 335 00:21:20,680 --> 00:21:24,600 have the best PR person on the planet and you are not going to 336 00:21:24,600 --> 00:21:27,360 be able to flip what Saul has done into something positive. 337 00:21:28,000 --> 00:21:29,480 You can't. He is. 338 00:21:29,520 --> 00:21:33,720 He is an evil person at this point, ripping people out of 339 00:21:33,720 --> 00:21:36,760 their homes, separating families, having them thrown 340 00:21:36,760 --> 00:21:38,440 into prison, killing some of them. 341 00:21:38,640 --> 00:21:42,520 That is evil. And Ananias calls it out right. 342 00:21:45,400 --> 00:21:51,440 But then again, not long later, Ananias comes to SAW and prays 343 00:21:51,440 --> 00:21:56,520 over him and he says, brother, that is not a phrase that the 344 00:21:56,520 --> 00:22:00,280 Bible uses lightly. That is not a a word that 345 00:22:00,480 --> 00:22:04,280 anybody in Scripture uses without really meaning it. 346 00:22:05,280 --> 00:22:08,840 How can he do that? How can he do that? 347 00:22:09,480 --> 00:22:12,440 I'll tell you what, as an aside, the Christian community at this 348 00:22:12,440 --> 00:22:14,560 point in history is actually relatively small. 349 00:22:14,960 --> 00:22:18,680 We're probably dealing with around 5000 people, give or 350 00:22:18,680 --> 00:22:21,200 take. And so I have little to no doubt 351 00:22:21,360 --> 00:22:28,200 that Ananias, he knew people who had been persecuted or killed by 352 00:22:28,200 --> 00:22:29,960 this guy. He knew him. 353 00:22:31,840 --> 00:22:35,520 And quite frankly, as we talked about feeling what other people 354 00:22:35,520 --> 00:22:40,560 feel, who we care about, quite frankly, somebody did that to 355 00:22:40,560 --> 00:22:49,360 somebody who I care about, forgiveness might feel beyond 356 00:22:49,920 --> 00:22:53,120 difficult. And, and we would look at a guy 357 00:22:53,120 --> 00:22:56,440 who maybe did this to us or did something like this to somebody 358 00:22:56,440 --> 00:22:58,560 we love. And we and God would say, well, 359 00:22:58,560 --> 00:22:59,760 what do you want me to do with him? 360 00:22:59,840 --> 00:23:02,120 Because the God of my creation is going to ask me for my 361 00:23:02,120 --> 00:23:04,440 opinion. So what do you want me to do 362 00:23:04,440 --> 00:23:05,960 with him? I would say lock him up and 363 00:23:05,960 --> 00:23:08,240 throw away the key because that's what he did to other 364 00:23:08,240 --> 00:23:10,640 people. Or better yet, just eliminate 365 00:23:10,640 --> 00:23:12,440 him because that's what he did to other people. 366 00:23:12,720 --> 00:23:16,280 But that's interesting. Again, that's not the God of the 367 00:23:16,280 --> 00:23:19,240 Bible. That's not how he answers. 368 00:23:19,440 --> 00:23:23,400 That's the God that I've created because I'm angry and I'm hurt. 369 00:23:25,200 --> 00:23:28,400 That's not the God of the Bible, though, because what we find out 370 00:23:28,560 --> 00:23:33,960 is that the God of the Bible, in his radical forgiveness, takes 371 00:23:33,960 --> 00:23:38,960 this man, this murderer, this hateful person, and he uses him. 372 00:23:40,040 --> 00:23:43,720 How can you do it? How can you do it? 373 00:23:47,320 --> 00:23:52,120 This is how we can do it. With the Roman Flagram. 374 00:23:52,480 --> 00:24:00,720 Jesus is whipped over and over again with thorns that are 375 00:24:00,720 --> 00:24:05,880 pushed into his head. He bleeds down, probably 376 00:24:06,040 --> 00:24:12,360 blurring his vision, and with 7 inch iron nails he is bound to a 377 00:24:12,440 --> 00:24:17,080 wooden stake, feet flat against it and lift it up high. 378 00:24:18,120 --> 00:24:21,040 That's how he can forgive. That's how he does it. 379 00:24:22,080 --> 00:24:25,080 And and we look at these things and we say these are terrible 380 00:24:25,080 --> 00:24:27,800 instruments of torture. Lord. 381 00:24:31,160 --> 00:24:37,880 However, it is these evil instruments that exercises God's 382 00:24:37,880 --> 00:24:42,000 grace that removes our sin from us because that's what it takes. 383 00:24:42,440 --> 00:24:47,040 That's the level it takes to give forgiveness across the 384 00:24:47,040 --> 00:24:49,160 board. And you might be thinking to 385 00:24:49,160 --> 00:24:51,280 yourself, well, I'm not saw. I didn't murder anybody and 386 00:24:51,280 --> 00:24:53,640 didn't do anything that bad. Well, you haven't read the 387 00:24:53,640 --> 00:24:55,520 Sermon on the Mount because you have. 388 00:24:56,680 --> 00:25:01,440 I'll leave that to your own devices, friends. 389 00:25:01,440 --> 00:25:06,280 I, I look at so many faces in this church and so many people 390 00:25:06,280 --> 00:25:10,320 who I know and I care about, and we're all guilty. 391 00:25:12,000 --> 00:25:14,560 We are. We're all guilty of breaking 392 00:25:14,560 --> 00:25:18,920 God's law. Yet God uses these instruments 393 00:25:18,920 --> 00:25:23,320 of torture to do his best work. Isn't that amazing? 394 00:25:26,360 --> 00:25:32,720 So it would seem to be then, that God has the power to use 395 00:25:33,080 --> 00:25:37,440 the most vile, terrible things to give grace. 396 00:25:38,320 --> 00:25:40,640 That's the truth. He can do that. 397 00:25:40,920 --> 00:25:42,360 That's the kind of God who he is. 398 00:25:42,600 --> 00:25:46,400 And again, man, it's good that I'm not God. 399 00:25:47,000 --> 00:25:50,080 It's really good for so many reasons, not the least of which 400 00:25:50,320 --> 00:25:54,480 is so many times I can't see the good through the evil. 401 00:25:56,240 --> 00:25:59,480 I get so wrapped up in my own thoughts, my own circumstances, 402 00:25:59,480 --> 00:26:03,520 that I can't see it. But God always sees it because 403 00:26:03,720 --> 00:26:07,360 the God of the Bible is the God of grace and forgiveness beyond 404 00:26:07,360 --> 00:26:11,200 anything we can imagine. And that's really good for us 405 00:26:11,560 --> 00:26:14,480 because we need that. We need that level of grace and 406 00:26:14,480 --> 00:26:17,080 forgiveness. And so let me kind of wrap up 407 00:26:17,120 --> 00:26:22,920 with this idea is that the God who chooses us is the God who 408 00:26:22,920 --> 00:26:26,200 uses us. Well, he chose Saul. 409 00:26:27,960 --> 00:26:31,760 Now let me give you a couple fun facts about him choosing Saul 410 00:26:32,160 --> 00:26:35,880 after Saul has chosen to be an, an instrument of his to spread 411 00:26:35,880 --> 00:26:38,800 the gospel. Saul travelled. 412 00:26:38,800 --> 00:26:42,600 We know this, Stanford has this study that they put out and you 413 00:26:42,600 --> 00:26:44,320 can look it up or I can tell you about it. 414 00:26:44,600 --> 00:26:49,320 But we know that Saul travelled over 10,000 miles during his 415 00:26:49,320 --> 00:26:51,720 missionary journeys. Quite frankly, it is a 416 00:26:51,720 --> 00:26:54,800 remarkable thing. It is the first evangelistic 417 00:26:54,800 --> 00:26:58,360 movement in, in the history of the world that's like, it 418 00:26:59,160 --> 00:27:03,240 travelled over 10,000 miles over multiple decades to meet people 419 00:27:03,320 --> 00:27:06,320 who were just like him, people who had created their own God, 420 00:27:06,480 --> 00:27:10,800 people who are evil. And the crazy thing is they were 421 00:27:10,800 --> 00:27:13,800 people who just a short while before that he would have looked 422 00:27:13,800 --> 00:27:15,400 at and said, these people are gross. 423 00:27:15,880 --> 00:27:18,040 They're not like me. They don't have my same 424 00:27:18,040 --> 00:27:20,640 religious background. They're gross. 425 00:27:20,640 --> 00:27:22,120 I don't even want to be in their space. 426 00:27:22,760 --> 00:27:26,680 But God sends them to those people with grace and mercy, 427 00:27:27,840 --> 00:27:31,960 changes them in an instant. It's, it's, it's really 428 00:27:31,960 --> 00:27:35,720 remarkable. And so let me let me say this 429 00:27:35,720 --> 00:27:45,400 before we we kind of close and come to communion, there are 430 00:27:45,400 --> 00:27:54,400 things that you and I have done in our lives that we would never 431 00:27:54,400 --> 00:27:58,400 tell anybody. You just wouldn't. 432 00:27:59,200 --> 00:28:03,600 Because The thing is these deep buried sins that we are so 433 00:28:03,600 --> 00:28:08,280 ashamed of, We believe that if somebody knows about it, they're 434 00:28:08,280 --> 00:28:15,080 never going to talk to me again. That is the devil speaking to 435 00:28:15,080 --> 00:28:18,760 you, by the way. It's not the God of the Bible 436 00:28:19,000 --> 00:28:22,640 because the God of the Bible takes these flawed instruments 437 00:28:22,640 --> 00:28:26,960 and he uses them. So, friends, I don't know what 438 00:28:26,960 --> 00:28:31,320 that thing is that you've been keeping locked up deep inside of 439 00:28:31,320 --> 00:28:34,440 you, but you can let it go to God. 440 00:28:34,960 --> 00:28:38,320 You can let it go because no matter what your past has looked 441 00:28:38,320 --> 00:28:41,400 like, no matter who you've been, no matter what you've done, 442 00:28:41,560 --> 00:28:44,760 God's forgiveness is greater and bigger than all of those things. 443 00:28:44,760 --> 00:28:46,560 Amen. Amen. 444 00:28:46,800 --> 00:28:51,280 They are we. We say things like this a lot. 445 00:28:51,280 --> 00:28:53,360 And you want to know why we need to say them all the time? 446 00:28:53,640 --> 00:28:57,840 Because over and over again, we keep on reverting back to shame. 447 00:28:57,840 --> 00:29:01,880 We keep on reverting back to chains that bind us up and don't 448 00:29:01,880 --> 00:29:04,880 give us freedom. God died for your freedom. 449 00:29:05,880 --> 00:29:10,400 He died so that you might be free and live a life of meaning 450 00:29:10,400 --> 00:29:14,040 and purpose. So quite frankly, it's not just 451 00:29:14,040 --> 00:29:17,320 me. I don't care what you've done in 452 00:29:17,320 --> 00:29:21,440 your past, God can and will use you as you have allowed Him to 453 00:29:21,440 --> 00:29:25,600 do it. He'll do it because His grace is 454 00:29:25,600 --> 00:29:27,560 far bigger than any of your sins. 455 00:29:29,160 --> 00:29:39,490 Amen. As we think about that, we get 456 00:29:39,490 --> 00:29:44,130 to come to the communion table today, which let me help make a 457 00:29:44,130 --> 00:29:46,530 connection for you, if you haven't made it already. 458 00:29:49,520 --> 00:29:54,320 Jesus Christ, who's given his body and his blood for your 459 00:29:54,320 --> 00:29:58,560 sins, It's done. It's absolutely complete. 460 00:29:59,720 --> 00:30:02,600 There is not more that you have to prove to him. 461 00:30:03,200 --> 00:30:05,880 That's not something that you need to do. 462 00:30:06,520 --> 00:30:09,840 You know, we, we, we get full of these to do's and checklists and 463 00:30:10,080 --> 00:30:15,440 clearly Saul had his and then God wiped them all away. 464 00:30:16,160 --> 00:30:20,480 He wiped them all away and he said I've given you everything 465 00:30:20,480 --> 00:30:25,280 you need. Stop trying so hard to prove 466 00:30:25,280 --> 00:30:27,680 yourself. I've already given you my body 467 00:30:27,680 --> 00:30:29,960 and blood. And in communion, that is 468 00:30:29,960 --> 00:30:32,880 exactly what God does through Jesus Christ. 469 00:30:32,880 --> 00:30:35,000 He gives us his holy body and his blood. 470 00:30:35,560 --> 00:30:41,120 And so here at May's Road Church, we practice what you 471 00:30:41,120 --> 00:30:47,040 would call open communion, which means that if you look at the 472 00:30:47,040 --> 00:30:50,160 cross of Jesus Christ and you say, Lord, I need that, that's 473 00:30:50,160 --> 00:30:52,040 what I want. That's what I believe. 474 00:30:52,240 --> 00:30:55,280 That is my salvation. I am not putting my hope in my 475 00:30:55,280 --> 00:30:58,000 trust or anything else. I've put my hope in you. 476 00:30:58,480 --> 00:31:01,960 And Lord, even though I've flown it over and over again, I know 477 00:31:01,960 --> 00:31:06,920 you love me. If you believe in that God, if 478 00:31:06,920 --> 00:31:10,560 you believe in the God of the Bible, the table is for you. 479 00:31:12,400 --> 00:31:15,800 Come and eat and drink, because Jesus has given you his body and 480 00:31:15,800 --> 00:31:18,120 blood freely, that you might be forgiven. 481 00:31:18,120 --> 00:31:21,560 And walk out of here in joy, not in bondage. 482 00:31:24,800 --> 00:31:27,040 Thanks for listening to ERC Sundays. 483 00:31:27,360 --> 00:31:29,520 To support the work God is doing at Emmaus Rd. 484 00:31:29,520 --> 00:31:33,480 Church, visit emmausrdonline.org/giving.