Good evening. Our scripture reading tonight is Acts chapter nine, verses one through nine. Acts nine, one through nine. If you can, stand for the reading of God's word. And Saul, yet breathing out threatenings and slaughter against the disciples of the Lord, went unto the high priest, and desired of him letters to Damascus to the synagogues, that if he found any of this way, whether they were men or women, he might bring them bound into Jerusalem. As he journeyed, he came near Damascus, and suddenly there shined round about him a light from heaven. And he fell to 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. 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 it shall be told thee what thou must do. And the men which journeyed with him stood speechless, hearing a voice, but seeing 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, and neither did eat nor drink. Thank you, and you may be seated, pastor. All right, looking forward to that here in just a moment. We're going to take a time to pray here real quick. change things up a little bit. I tell you what, I've enjoyed two songs singing in the front row. I like that. So what a blessing that is. And good singing tonight. And so what are we doing now? I was all excited about singing and now, oh yeah, we're gonna pray. That's what it is, sorry. I don't have the order of service in front of me. It's really weird. Sitting over there. I'm gonna have to print me one so I know what's going on. But anyway, let's pray and I will close this up here in just a second I So... Our Father, we want to thank you tonight for the opportunity to be back in your house tonight. Thank you for the beautiful day that you've given us and the beautiful weather. And I just thank you for the good spirit. Lord we just look forward to the word tonight where the gem is the text that he has read tonight as we're about to jump into that we just ask you for your help tonight. We ask you that by your Holy Spirit you would illuminate your word tonight that you teach us tonight. Lord that we would leave this place changed more conformed to the image of the Lord Jesus. And we know in order for that to happen, Lord, we're just going to have to allow you to do it. You've already promised that your word wouldn't return void. You've promised to conform us to the image of Jesus Christ. And so we understand that our responsibility tonight is to allow you to do that. And so Father, as you do that, we just will be thankful for what you do in our heart and life and the change that you make in us that when we leave this place tonight, as has been said so often, but it's so true that we might leave this place and say it has been good to be in the house of the Lord. And we'll thank you tonight for what you do in Jesus name. Amen. Stand one more time and turn back to page 58. Page 58. In can it be that I should gain an interest save yours me today Amazing love, how can it be, that thou, my God, should die? God should die for me He left His Father's throne above To freeze the wind, burn in His grace Emptying Himself His mercy all endearing and free, O thou our God and King! ♪ That Thou, my God, should die for me ♪ ♪ Love divine in praise and spirit in faith ♪ ♪ As found in sin and in nature's night ♪ ♪ Night I did choose to wear gleaming gray ♪ ♪ I waved with an angel, flame with light ♪ ♪ My sails fell up, my heart was free ♪ Good and bad. and you may be seated most of the time and it's a blessing being up here but it's even more of a blessing tonight because I don't have to hear so much of me Amen. I'm sure thankful for the faithfulness of Brother Allen. I know it's not his number one desire and goal to be up here. I think he enjoys it, but I'm sure thankful that he's been faithful all these years. And I sure appreciate that. I tell you, I was, I was at a preacher's meeting. Well, I'll be going up to Fairhaven here tomorrow. And the church, Fairhaven Baptist Church, had a meeting, and it was a preacher's type of meeting. And it was also their anniversary, and so for their anniversary, the church, it was their 50th anniversary, they commissioned a lady to write a choral piece for their choir and orchestra of that song that we just sang. And I don't know if anybody's ever been up to North Indiana and that church, but in the school up at Fairhaven, but I would describe it, and it's not a negative thing, but I would describe it more high church. They might think we're kind of hokey. And they might even think we're not right with God. No, they wouldn't say that. So their choir and orchestra, you know, they've got, I don't know, 80 to 100 people in a choir and a full orchestra in my lands. They hit that last change. It all went acapella. And of course there's like 15 people from a lot further south than Indiana that went Pentecostal. And at the time, I mean I'm sorry I just sometimes you can't contain yourself, right? It's okay. It's alright. And Brother Dameron who just preached here what last week or the week before he was the pastor at the time and he just sat up there and he's like, Uh-oh, what is this? And then he got a big smile and he just liked it. But it's like, how can you not? How can you not get excited, right? About knowing what you used to be and knowing what God has done. And remember that day when it was just like that, like chains fell off. That's exactly what it was like. And my goodness, what a day that was. And so it's a wonderful thing to sing about that. I didn't realize how high the notes were on our songbook. Those are, I'm like, eh, it sounded like dying calf in a hailstorm, you know, that was, yeah. If a calf was trying to sing really high during a hailstorm, that's what I was sounding like over there. So, anyway, yep. All right, Acts chapter 9, Acts chapter 9. I don't know. You know, we're kind of living, we're kind of living in the day of a changeless, changeless Christianity. a changeless Christianity. One of the hallmarks of the Christian life, we talked about our old man, we talked about chains falling off just two seconds ago, right? And it's funny, when somebody has been set free, right, and chains have fallen off, things in their life change a little bit, don't they? I don't think they would. And we are living in a day of changeless Christianity. I mean, you see it all around us. I mean, people say, I don't want to question their but sometimes you look at them and you're like, did you get what I got? I'm telling you, you talk the same, you walk the same, you act the same, you're never in the house of God. I mean, I just showed Brother Jim something earlier this morning that we got in the mail here, and it's some, I don't know, some, I don't even know what to say what it is. It's something Christian, and it's all of this, it's a concert I guess I don't know what it is really Brother Allen I have no idea what it is but they looked like I'll show you the picture later. They just look like the world. As carnal as all get out. And I was like, what is going, and if we were to say anything or anybody was to say anything about how these people presented themselves, which when we present ourselves, we are also presenting the Lord Jesus Christ, that how they present themselves, if we were to say anything, they'd say, well, you're just a bunch of Pharisees and legalistic and judgmental. And I'm like, okay, whatever. But I just kind of thought when we got saved, things changed. It was Charles Elliott who told me one day, I was taking him back to the airport in Tulsa, and Charles Elliott said, I'm afraid even as independent Baptists, we have lost our identity. Our identity is Jesus Christ. And so after all, what is repentance even, but a change of mind, which results in a change of direction. It's inevitable. You can't have a change of mind, a true change of mind, without a change of direction. And some people come from Christ to Christ from a far off land and yes, there's some drastic changes in their life and absolutely there are. My brother and I, he had gotten saved. He was about, I forget how old he was, 24, 21, 22, somewhere like that. He got saved and a couple of years later he started picking me up and taking me to church with him. And one night we were going to church and we pulled in. It was winter time, it was cold, we pulled into this Dunkin' Donuts to get some coffee, because back when I could drink coffee at five o'clock at night and be fine. And went and got coffee, and all the way out this officer held the door for us, and we walked out, got into his Ford station wagon, and this thing, he got it for 50 bucks. It was pretty sweet. It still roasted tires, though. I mean, if you got about 80 pounds of pressure in the back tires, you could really light them up. And we got in the car, and we're headed, and just as we're pulling out, my brother goes, that's the cop that arrested me six times. had no clue who he was. The opposite, why? There was change. There was absolute change. And some people come from a drastic place, and they get saved, and the change they see is huge. But yet some people come and they get saved, and they were going to church their entire life before they got saved, and they got saved at church on this Sunday, and they're right back in their place the next Sunday, and you don't see anything drastic. But let me tell you, there's still change going on in the life. And so, in our text tonight in Acts chapter 9, we're going to see the life of Saul of Tarsus. I want to give you a little tidbit. I like these little things. Jesus never changed Saul's name to Paul. He had two names. You'll never see Jesus say, your name is now Paul. He had his Roman name and he had his Hebrew name. And here he is going out after the churches and Jesus calls him by his Hebrew name, Saul. And we see here in verses 1 and 2, Saul was determined to wipe out Christianity. If anybody, if you could see anybody who was, you know, totally anti-Christ, it was the Apostle Paul, well, Saul of Tarsus. Let me say that, let's not get ahead of this thing here. But he was determined to wipe out Christianity. Brother Jim just read this for us in Saul, yet breathing out, like it was just the most, like breathing, it just came out of him all the time. I mean, he was just breathing out threatenings. and slaughter against the disciples of the Lord and he was doing this and he said he went into the high priest and desired of him letters to Damascus to the synagogues that if he found any of this way whether they be men or women, he might bring them bound to Jerusalem. And so we see the life of Paul and the determination of Paul, and his determination at this stage of his life, and he thought he was right, he thought he was doing what was right, but at this stage of his life, his determination was to wipe out Christianity, wherever he could find it. But can I tell you, he was stopped, wasn't he? Look at verse 3, we know the text. 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? Wait, let me ask you this. Who was he breathing threatenings and slaughters out against? It says right here, right? The way, those of that way. Who were they? It's the church of the Lord Jesus Christ. What was he trying to do? He was trying to break up the church of the Lord Jesus Christ. But notice what Jesus said. He said, why persecutest thou me? Oh friend, be careful what you do to the churches of Jesus Christ. Because what you are doing is you're going against the Lord Jesus Christ Himself. Why? Because it's His body and He's the head of it, right? And if you, listen, if you do anything to your foot or to your hand or to your whatever, right? It goes right to the head and the head reacts to that and responds to that. But Paul thought that he was in complete control. He thought he had all of this authority and all of this power and we know what he did have. But listen, he was not in control whatsoever. We find here that as he's going away doing what he thinks he's going to do, we find that it was God who was in absolute and complete control. And it would be a good thing to remind us today, actually. It would be a good thing to remind us tonight that no matter how big you get, can I tell you, God is bigger and God is more powerful. And listen, you cannot outrun God. Notice what God said here in verse 5. Paul, it's hard for thee to kick against the pricks. What are those? Those are those goads that the shepherds would use. Those long poles with the little pointy things on them that you would lead your sheep with. I was with my grandfather. I was about 14 years old and he was about 113 and I thought he was. He's really, well he's still about 80, 70, mid-70s and we're in the barn lot and he's trying to get this cow, get this cow up in through into the stanchion, and he was still kind of moving slow. I mean, he was in his late 70s, and this cow come around, and she ran right over the top of him, and he fell flat down on his face to the ground, and the cow jumped over. I was surprised how fast he actually moved. It was pretty cool, and I'm sitting there, like, watching all of this, and so he gets up, and he finds this long pole, and she's looking out the gate, like, nah, you know, and he gets this long pole, and he comes running at her with this pole. He said, I hate to do this, And he came running and he crammed that pole. Oh, she went, and went through the gate and off. And he didn't even go get her. He put the gate back up and left her. He was so mad. And listen, the goads, listen, the goads of the spirit of God, that long pole of the spirit of God, Jesus said, Paul, you can't outrun these. What was the prick, the prick that Paul was running from? Anybody know what that was? Yeah, it was conviction. Who had he last heard preach but Stephen when he had him stoned and killed? You know what? Watch. He may have wiped out Stephen and killed him, but he walked away from that place, not with Stephen put away, but he walked away from that place with the Holy Spirit of God hounding on his soul. Listen, that wasn't just discipline. The amazing thing of that is that was the love and the care and the gentleness of God that wanted Paul. and wanted to redeem him in spite of what he did. Isn't that an incredible thought? Hey, listen, go ahead and outrun God. Go ahead and try to outrun Him tonight. I don't know what you're running from. Only God knows that. But if you're running from something tonight, listen, would you just stop? Just stop. How many of you found out in life you can't outrun Him? And when you turn and you say, Yes, Lord. You know what you find out? Wow, I wish I'd done this earlier. This is good. This is just a good life. I like it. Amen. Hey, friend, you may be here and you might be watching online and you might be running away from God and running from the conviction of God because you've never been born again in the spirit of God and you're not safe. Can I tell you, you may run away and you may run away the rest of your entire life, but can I tell you something? When you walk into eternity, you're gonna walk in front of him in eternity. You're not gonna get away from him. You will not. And can I tell you, everybody in here who's saved, listen, they can vouch for it. It was much better to surrender to your Creator here than it will be to have to answer to Him there. I don't know about you, I'm kind of enjoying life with the Lord Jesus. You can't outrun Him. It's appointed unto men once to die. And after this, the judgment. Paul was determined to wipe out Christianity, and God said, nah, it's not happening. You're not gonna do it. Look at verse 6, he turned into a new direction and he trembling and astonished said, Lord what wilt thou have me to do? What is this here but repentance? He was living with the information he had before, he was He believed the information that he had before of his Old Testament religion and his law and everything that he was living by. He believed that. He was living that when he came face to face with Jesus Christ. He went from what he was believing to now this new truth that he had standing right in front of him, which was the person of the Lord Jesus Christ. It is repentance. That's what he did. Lord, what will you have me to do? And what did he do? He believed Jesus. What does that mean? What would you have me to do? Well, obviously he believes them. You know what comes from belief? Obedience. No, obedience is the marker that you believe. It's the evidence of belief. It's obedience. Look at verse 8-9, And Saul arose from the earth, and when his eyes were opened, he saw no man, but they that led him by the hand, and brought him to Damascus. And he was there three days without sight, and neither did he eat nor drink. And he went right to where God told him. the place that you're going to destroy, I want you to go there. I want you to go there and I have something for you. The man who was headed for Damascus in disobedience and rejecting the conviction of God is now headed to Damascus in obedience. The man who was headed to Damascus in pride is now headed to Damascus in humility. The guy who was headed to Damascus to destroy it is now headed to Damascus to preach the gospel of Jesus Christ. We'll see this. The guy who is going to Damascus as a Pharisee is now headed to Damascus as a man of God called to preach the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ. That guy, Paul, Saul, whatever you want to call him, who was headed for Damascus against Christ is now headed to Damascus calling him Lord. Amen. What happened? Change. He changed. What changed him? God? Belief? The indwelling Spirit of God? He was absolutely And can I tell you tonight, when Jesus comes into a life, He is going to live His life through that believer, just like He lived it through the Apostle Paul, if you will let Him. Well, so Paul's saved now. He's in Damascus now. He's going out to preach now. And if a person is saved, what is happening in their life, like is happening to the Apostle Paul here, is a process of development. In Saul's life, in Saul's life there was a development. Now in his life it was seen rather quickly. He changed pretty fast. Somebody would say overnight. I want you to notice the changes in the Apostle Paul's life in our text here. First was a change of direction. A change of direction. It's just what we call obedience. Paul was baptized by Ananias in verse 8 through 18. You can go back and you can read all of that. God came to Ananias and said, Saul's going to come to you and I want you to baptize him. And Ananias is like, what? I'm not baptizing this guy. Right? Could you imagine if this guy's on the news every night that he's just out here killing Christians and wiped out this church and brought off these people and these news programs of these crying kids being drug off to courts and all this stuff. And all of a sudden God tells you, hey, that guy's going to be at your church tomorrow. I want you to baptize him. Are you sure? Yeah. Well, that's a change, isn't it? Yeah. I think you call that dark to light. It's about that fast, amen? So here is obedience. Paul was baptized by Ananias. Notice this, a change of direction in his obedience, a change of direction in his calling. Paul was a Pharisee on the Council of the Sanhedrin, but now as God has called him, he is called of God to preach the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ. Look at verse 19. And when he had received meat, he was strengthened, then saw certain days with the disciples which were at Damascus. and straightway he preached Christ in the synagogues that he is the Son of God. What else do we have to preach? I mean, what a simple message. It's Jesus, right? Salvation is a person. It is Jesus Christ. Eternal life is a person. It is Jesus Christ. And that is what we preach today. We preach Christ crucified. This was the change. Paul was preaching the law. Paul was preaching, he was preaching the Old Testament law and all of this is the doctrines of man, the Bible says, but when he got saved he got up and he preached the one he was rejecting. What did he believe? Well, because he met Him. Remember the day he met Jesus? Amen. How else could you preach that and not preach that, right? Can I tell you it would have been impossible for the Apostle Paul to continue as a Pharisee and preach Christ? Think about that. How would you continue as a Pharisee as well as preach Christ? They're diametrically opposed. It's not possible to get saved as a Mormon and stay a Mormon. Why? Because they're diametrical. One says Jesus is the brother of Satan from father God and mother God, and the other one says Jesus is the Christ, the son of the living God. How do you stay, how do you preach Mormonism and preach Christ? You can't. It's not possible to get saved as a Jehovah's Witness and remain a Jehovah's Witness. One says Jesus is Michael the archangel, and the other one says, and we say and the word of God says that Jesus is the son of God. How do you become a Christian and a Jehovah's Witness as well? You cannot. Listen, you cannot say that you're trusting Jesus alone, yet remain in a system that denies Him. It's not possible. You can come as a Mormon, or a Muslim, or a Jehovah's Witness, or a Catholic, or whatever, but you cannot leave as one. You're going to leave as a Christian preaching Christ. That's what you'll leave as. So when Paul got saved, what happened? His life changed. He's not a Pharisee anymore. Even in his own testimony, he talks about his life as a Pharisee and a Hebrew of Hebrews and the tribe of Benjamin and all of these things, almost as if it was past tense. He says, those things that I, you know, that I count lost for the knowledge of the excellency, for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ. I just misquoted that. He said all of these things that he used to know, all of these things that he used to be, all of the status that he used to have, all of the knowledge that he had in the law. He says, I don't care. I just want to know Jesus now. Why? He changed. It's a change of direction. Not only did he have a change of direction, obviously with this it's inevitable you're going to have a change of doctrine. Verse 22, But Saul increased the more and more in strength, and confounded the Jews which dwelt at Damascus. Look at proving that this is the very Christ. He says, he's telling the Jews, you're waiting for the Messiah. You believe a Messiah is coming. But I'm telling you, the one, this guy, Jesus, who the Romans crucified and came out of the grave three days later, this is him. And they said, no, I don't think it is. I don't think it is. And he said, it is. He had a change of doctrine. He went from a Pharisee rejecting Jesus to being a Christian contending with those in the synagogue that Jesus was really who he said he was. He changed his doctrine. He did. only was a change of doctrine, a change of direction, there's a change in his disposition as well. Now think about this, Paul was consenting to the death of Stephen. He was breathing out in our text, it says, breathing out threatenings and slaughter. You know, just could you imagine the vitriol in his language? Can you imagine the words he had for these Christians? He was dragging Christian men and women to prison. Notice verse 21, But all that heard him were amazed, and said, Is not this he that destroyed them which called on this name in Jerusalem, and came hither for that intent, that he might bring them bound unto the chief priests? Man, Paul had an anger issue. Can I tell you, some of the most angry people are under the conviction of the Spirit of God. If you have an anger issue, you have a spiritual problem. We've got a lot of angry people in here, I guess. I don't know. It's quiet. No, there's nothing wrong with righteous indignation. I'm not talking about that. I'm not talking about things that once in a while we get angry, but some people just have an angry spirit about them. I feel like I ought to move on here. Paul's disposition changed. 2 Corinthians 2, 4, for out of much affliction and anguish of heart I wrote unto you with many tears, not that you should be grieved, but that you might know the love which I have more abundantly unto you." What changed? The ones that Paul wanted to kill, he's weeping for in his prayers. He's crying out to God for what happened. His whole disposition changed. Acts 20 and verse 19, serving the Lord with all humility of mind and with many tears and temptations which befall me by the laying in weight of the Jews. The guy who was chasing down the church is now being chased down by Jews. And if you look at Romans chapter 9, 10, and 11, the parentheses there in the book of Romans, you find out the apostle Paul said, I would wish myself accursed from Christ if my kinsmen, my brethren, my kinsmen after the flesh would come to Christ. What a change in disposition. Not only that, change in declaration. Oh man, I'm moving quick, we got time. Change in declaration. When your doctrine changes, your declarations, the things you say, the things you profess, will change also. I was working at a company one time, and this guy in the offices, and he said something about, he was a Christian, he was a Christian, he was a Christian. But he kinda hated everything that had to do with Christianity. And he said something one day about abortion. He was pro-abortion, he goes, I like to say that just cause Christians kinda get riled when I say that. And I said, well, I'll tell you what, you claim to be a Christian, but there is absolutely no way you are filled with the Spirit of God and at the same time propose and stand behind the murder of a child. There's no way. Talk about stunned look. I guess nobody told him that. I don't know. It's kind of aggravating. I kind of got aggravated at the guy. That was righteous indignation, Mark. Paul's direction changed, his doctrine changed, his disposition changed, his declarations changed. Verse 20, he preached Christ. Verse 22, he's proving this way was the very Christ. Verse 27, he's preaching boldly in the name of Christ. Verse 29, he spake boldly. And Paul went, listen, Paul went from declaring the commandments of men to declaring that Jesus is the Christ. Listen, his doctrine, his words, his everything changed about him. 1 Corinthians 1.23, Paul says, but we preach Christ crucified unto the Jews a stumbling block and unto Greeks foolishness. Romans 1.15, so as much as is in me, I am ready to preach the gospel to you that are at Rome also. 1 Corinthians 9.16, for though I preach the gospel, I have nothing to glory of, for necessity, necessity, necessity is laid upon me, yea, woe is unto me if I preach not the gospel. Ephesians 3, 8, Unto me, who am less than the least of all saints, is this grace given, that I should preach among the Gentiles the unsearchable riches of Christ. Notice this, this Pharisee, a Pharisee determined to wipe out Christianity can now do nothing but declare, declare the Lord Jesus Christ, the one who he tried to get rid of. He changed. Watch, this is what happens when somebody comes to Christ. This is what happens. Their life changes. It does. But you see what happened to the Apostle Paul should happen in the life of every child of God. I'm not stepping out on a limb here, I know I'm not. I'm right here, okay? Everyone who comes to Jesus comes the same way. How do you come? Will you come in response to the drawing of the Spirit of God? No man, Jesus said, John 6, 44, no man can come unto me except the Father, which hath sent me, draw him, and I will raise him up at the last day. Listen, you will come to Jesus when he draws you. Yeah. You know why we're not Calvinists? Well, because we're biblical. But that sounded kind of smart Alec, didn't it? I'm sorry. Yeah. But listen, you know the difference what the Bible says? John 1, Jesus is that light that lighteth every man that cometh into the world. Jesus said, if I draw, if I be lifted up, I'll draw all men unto me. Jesus said that he is the propitiation, 1 John 2, he's the propitiation for our sins and not for ours only, but also for the sins of the whole world. Everybody, I like that. No, no, the difference is, yes, does Jesus draw? Yes. Can you only come when he is drawing? Yes. But the difference is the Bible teaches that he draws everybody. He draws everybody. And you're going to come, or you're not. The drawing of the Holy Spirit of God is through the Word of God. So then faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the Word of God. Everybody who comes to Jesus comes the same way. And everybody who comes to Jesus comes from the same place. You're going to come a sinner. in need of a Savior, amen? Romans 3.23, for all have sinned and come short of the glory of God. Isaiah 53 and verse six, all we like sheep have gone astray. Romans 5.8, that God commended His love toward us and that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. In Matthew 9.13, but go and learn what this meaneth, Jesus said, I will have mercy and not sacrifice, for I am not come to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance. Listen, we've all came the same. If you're in Christ tonight, you came the same way. You came from the same place. Where'd you come from? Egypt. You're like, I lived in Missouri. Spiritually, you came from Egypt. We all come from the same place. Sinners, sinners, and everyone who comes to Jesus. the same way and from the same place will not leave the same way that they were found. Have you ever had anything in life that was so profound that you left different? You ever have some tragedy come into life that it was so profound that you left that situation different? I remember when a friend of ours, a friend of my dad and mothers and my aunts and uncles, they were all about the same age and they're all friends. And brother Paul Calico, I remember when Paul passed away. And you leave there a little bit different. It was just so sudden. He was so full of life. I look back now, he was only 62. I thought he was old. And he was only 62. And he died in my wife's arms, literally, when he fell down and died. Wow, we left that, you leave that place different that night. Romans 8, 29 says, for whom he did foreknow, he also did predestinate not unto salvation. The Bible doesn't teach predestination to salvation. He says he did predestinate to be conformed to the image of his son. Do you know what God predestinated before the foundation of earth? That all of those who come to Jesus Christ, he said, I'll make you like him. Yeah. That he might be the firstborn among many brethren. One pastor said this, God was so pleased with his son that he wanted many more like him. I like that. I like that. And because it was determined by God to make us like Christ, the development in Paul's life will be duplicated in every child of God. Paul wasn't, hey, Paul wasn't special. He didn't have a special development like, well, he was an apostle, so he had a totally different process. No, friend, it's the same Holy Spirit of God. And it's the same, watch, it's the same destination. If Paul, watch, if Jesus, if it was determined that Paul should be conformed to the image of Jesus Christ, and we see the change in Paul's life, listen, how do I say this? But we should see the very same development in our own life, because the same Spirit of God is trying to make us like Jesus, just like He was endeavoring to make Paul like Jesus. You know the difference between us and Paul? Is our will. Some just don't want to. Some say, oh, this is enough. Now, if I get up here, that's just weird. I can't handle that. If I get here, people will say this. My family won't accept this. We have all sorts of reasons why we don't want to conform to the image of Christ. But we should. Catch what Paul says in 1 Timothy 1.6. He says, how be it for this cause I obtain mercy, that in me first Jesus Christ might show forth all longsuffering. for a pattern to them which should hereafter believe on Him to everlasting life." Who are those who are going to believe hereafter, believe on Him to everlasting life? Well, that includes us. Did you believe unto everlasting life? How many believe to everlasting life? You know you're saved? Yeah. You know what the Apostle Paul says? His life here, His life is a pattern to you. It's a pattern to me. Yeah. It's a pattern. that in me first Jesus Christ might show forth all longsuffering for a pattern to them which should hereafter believe on him to everlasting life." Everyone who comes to Jesus will not be left where they are. But here everyone who comes to Jesus will have a pattern of change in their life. There'll be a change of direction, of doctrine, of disposition, of declaration. We saw it in the apostles. We saw it with the disciples. You see it in laymen when they become deacons. We see it in deacons becoming preachers and martyrs in the New Testament here. And we see it in this old Pharisee who is repenting and trusting in Jesus Christ. But can I tell you, I'm gonna give you something that might be a little more hopeful. Listen, the change doesn't happen all at once. He'd kill us. Romans 7, 18-24, For I know that in me that is in my flesh. Listen to what Paul is saying late into his ministry. Dwelleth no good thing, for to will is present with me, but how to perform that which is good I find not. I don't even know how to do it. He's still struggling. For the good that I would do I do not, but the evil which I would do, that do I. Now if I do thou I would not, it is no more I that do it, but sin that dwelleth in me. I find then a law that when I would do good, evil is present with me, for I delight in the law of God after the inward man. But I see another law in my members, warring against the law of my mind and bringing me into captivity of the law of sin, which is in my members. O wretched man that I am, who shall deliver me from the body of this death? The Apostle Paul was a born-again child of God, watch, and he was still growing in faith, and he was still battling the flesh. It's a process. It's a process. Watch, as a child of God, even as we battle the flesh, the trajectory of our life may not look like this. It might look like this. Listen, change doesn't come all at once. But it will be duplicated in the life of every believer. Because it's the same spirit of God. Therefore, if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature. Behold, old things are passed away. Behold, all things are become new. We're living in a day of changeless Christianity. look like the world, act like the world, talk like the world, get mad like the world, love the things of the world. I heard somebody say one time, somebody said, and I had to think about it and it was really incredibly profound. They said, you can tell more about somebody by what they hate rather than by what they love. You know what God said of Job? He eschewed evil. He hated wickedness and evil. We're living in a day of changeless Christianity. I can live my life. Listen, there have been preachers out there all over the nation that have been teaching people and Paul warned of it. Those teachers having tickling ears. The hearers just love to hear what they have to say because there's no There's no call for change. There's no call for separation. There's no call for anything like that. Well, just come as you are. Just do what you want. Just be like you want. Just make sure you acknowledge Jesus in all of it and He'll bless it. You know, bless the Lord. Oh, now you probably have gamblers for Jesus and poker for Jesus. Come on. You know, I may have... Wait a minute. I might have come up with something good there, actually. Right? I mean, come on, I'm not, I do kind of watch what goes on in society a little bit and culture a little bit. Our churches are a mess. Why? Because there's no change. And watch, if there is no change in our life and no conformity to the Lord Jesus Christ, and I mean, come on, this is just Christianity 101. How can we expect the world to want anything of what we're trying to tell them they need? changeless Christianity. So if God is eternal, and we can, if he's eternal, I'm trying to, I'm sorry, I gotta think this through. If God is eternal, can we ever really come to the place where God has done changing us? It's the hallmark of the Christian life is change. Yeah, it is. Can I tell you, there's been nothing more encouraging to me as a young believer and at this stage of my life than to watch the older believers and the elderly saints still doing business with God at an altar. You know why? They were still expecting change. I'd watch Carl Boonstra in his 90s go to an altar. I'd watch Brother Ray Epps in his 90s make his way and hobble up to an altar. I'd watch Brother JC Maddox in his 80s walk up and I watched him go by me one time in church and here he comes and he's headed to an altar and I remember the Carl Ray and some of these older saints and every one of these men have gone on. They're in heaven today. But I watched them in their seventies and eighties and nineties. What are they still doing business with God? Why? Because they still know they needed to be changed in the image of Christ. The moment, listen, the moment we think we're arrived, we're in trouble. We're in trouble. What about you? Are you allowing God to work the change in your life that He's trying to do? I don't know what change God is trying to work in your life today, only you know that. You know that. But it is possible that tonight, and I'm just throwing it out there, I don't know who this would hit. It might not hit anybody, but it might hit the bullseye, I don't know. But it could be possible that there are those in here that you're kicking against the pricks of the change that God's trying to bring in your life. Because, let's be frank, maybe you're just not living like Jesus, and you're not conformed to his, you haven't grown in the conforming to the image of the Lord Jesus Christ. You're like Hebrews chapter five, and those immature Christians who are still, they're puking up pablum, they're just drinking milk still, when they should have been on the meat of the word and teaching others, and you're just immature, why? They've just refused to be conformed to the image of Christ. Yeah. Maybe that's you tonight. I don't know. Yeah. Can I tell you, if change isn't happening in our life and growth isn't happening in our life, it's not because God stopped. It's because we walk away. Sometimes we don't walk, well it's still a part of walking away, but sometimes it's just because we have become self-sufficient in our own religion and our own capabilities of what we're able to do. We've lived long enough to put little parameters around our life, and we feel real comfortable with those parameters, and we might look good and act good, and we know the Bible verses, and hey, we love the Word of God, and we love the Church, we love all these things. We love to be these things, but we've capped ourselves off, And we really, really, what we've done is we've said, I'm good right here. I don't want to go any further. But if God is eternal, and you and I are not Jesus, how can we ever come to that place of life, come to that place of thinking, well, I'm done. This is good. Now I'll just wait for glory. I'm good. Christianity. Are you still changing? Is God still working on you? I know He's working. Are you still listening? Are you allowing God to continue the process of changing your life to make you like Jesus? Are you still allowing Him to do that? Our Father thank You tonight for Your Word. I thank You that You saw fit to record this in Your Word tonight and to see in the life of the Apostle Paul and yea in the life of every believer. change. Change is a natural, normal part of the life of every believer. And Father it could be that there might be somebody in here, there may be somebody watching online, I don't know, who could look at their life and your Holy Spirit is has brought a heaviness upon them and a conviction upon them that they have left off change. And maybe it is that they don't even know where it is, but they just know there is a conviction there. And maybe tonight they just need to get alone and say, Lord, I don't know where it is or what it is, but I have a sense that I know that I've shut off some change somewhere. And Lord, would you bring it back and start it over again? And I'll follow. Maybe they just need to do that tonight. Maybe some in here tonight just need to get alone and just ask, Lord, speak, Lord, thy servant heareth. Are you trying to show me something? Is there anything in my life that needs to change? Would you show me? Maybe that's the heart of some people in here tonight. Lord, whatever it is, would you do your work in Jesus' name? Amen. Stand with me if you would tonight. The invitation is open. The piano will play tonight. And however the Lord has spoken to you, However the Lord has spoken to you, you respond to Him. Are you open to God changing you? Do you still have that heart and that desire that says, God, change me. Change me. I know I'm not there. I know I haven't arrived. Who in their right mind could sit in here tonight and say, I know nobody in here is saying this. Oh, I'm good. I've changed. I've arrived. I know you haven't. I know you don't say that. So you just get along with the Lord and tell him, Lord, whatever it is, whatever you want to change, you change me. You change me. You know what that takes? It takes humility. It takes a humble heart to come before God and say, I need to be changed. I know I do. You won't regret it. You will never, ever, ever regret God making that change in your life. I'm sorry.