Acts chapter 22. I don't recall how I printed it, how I had it printed in the bulletin. The entire section is Acts 21 verse 37 through Acts 22 verse 21. You might recall if you're with us last Lord's Day, we started this section last week. And we're not capable, I was not capable of getting through the entire section. And so we're finishing, Lord willing, this section this morning. And so we find ourselves in Acts 22, verses 1 through 21. through the first five verses or so, touched a bit on verse six. We'll do a little bit of review together, but we're going to read together Acts 22 verses one through 21. So when you arrive there, because this is the word of the living God, and you are the people of God on the Lord's day, if you are able, would you please stand to hear from the God who still speaks? Acts 22, beginning in verse one, Luke, as he was carried along by God's spirit, recorded the words of the Apostle Paul. Again, beginning in verse one. Brothers and fathers, hear the defense that I now make before you. And when they heard that he was addressing them in the Hebrew language, they became even more quiet. And he said, I am a Jew. born in Tarsus in Cilicia, but brought up in this city, educated at the feet of Gamaliel, according to the strict manner of the law of our fathers, being zealous for God as all of you are this day. I persecuted this way to the death, binding and delivering to prison both men and women as the high priest and the whole council of elders can bear me witness. From them, I received letters to the brothers, and I journeyed toward Damascus to take those also who were there and bring them in bonds to Jerusalem to be punished. As I was on my way and drew near to Damascus, about noon, a great light from heaven suddenly shone around me. And I fell to the ground and heard a voice saying to me, Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting me? And I answered, who are you, Lord? And he said to me, I am Jesus of Nazareth, whom you are persecuting. Now those who were with me saw the light, but did not understand the voice of the one who was speaking to me. And I said, what shall I do, Lord? And the Lord said to me, rise and go into Damascus, and there you will be told all that is appointed for you to do. And since I could not see, because of the brightness of that light, I was led by the hand. by those who were with me and came into Damascus. And one, Ananias, a devout man according to the law, well spoken of by all the Jews who live there, came to me and standing by me said to me, Brother Saul, receive your sight. At that very hour, I received my sight and saw him. And he said, the God of our fathers appointed you to know his will, to see the righteous one, and to hear a voice from his mouth. for you will be a witness for him to every one of what you have seen and heard. And now, why do you wait? Rise and be baptized and wash away your sins calling on his name. When I returned to Jerusalem and was praying in the temple, I fell into a trance and saw him saying to me, make haste, get out of Jerusalem quickly because they will not accept your testimony about me. And I said, Lord, they themselves know that in one synagogue after another, I imprisoned and beat those who believed in you. And when the blood of Stephen, your witness was being shed, I myself was standing by and approving and watching over the garments of those who killed him. And he said to me, go, for I will send you far away to the Gentiles. The grass withers and the flowers fade, but the word of our God will stand forever. You may be seated. History is filled with stories of God's grace in converting sinners to faith in Jesus Christ. One such story is shared poetically by Charles Wesley, the author of that soul-stirring hymn, And Can It Be? Consider with me the words of Charles. He wrote, Long my imprisoned spirit lay, Fast bound in sin and nature's night. Thine eye diffused a quickening ray. I woke The dungeon flamed with light. My chains fell off. My heart was free. I rose, went forth, and followed Thee." How magnificent. Don't you wish we could write words like that? What a tremendous hymn. Stories of conversion take many forms. Some more dramatic than others. However, I would submit to you that there is none more dramatic and unique than the conversion of the Apostle Paul at the time, back in Acts chapter 9, known as Saul. Not only was his conversion dramatic, but it also appears at length three times in the book of Acts. It appeared back in Acts chapter 9, It appears right here in our text, Acts 22, and it will appear again as the Apostle Paul speaks before King Agrippa II in Acts 26. Well, as we look through this text, our text this morning, Acts 22, 1 through 21, we find the answer to a central question that forms the basis of the Apostle Paul's defense. Remember, he is standing up on the steps. He's already been arrested, and he's giving his defense. throughout this chapter before this Jewish crowd comprised of common Jewish people and the Jewish leaders of the day. So as he gives this defense, we find the answer to this question throughout our text this morning. You can jot this down if you're taking notes. Here's the question. Why did Paul go from being a fierce persecutor of the church to being a persecuted leader of the church. What changed? Why did Paul go from being a great persecutor of the church to then becoming a persecuted leader of the church? Paul answers this question for us in his defense, in his speech recorded in verses one through 21 of Acts 22. Last Lord's Day, we mentioned this a moment ago, just to refresh our memory, last Lord's Day, we began walking through Acts 21, beginning in verse 37, which is really the beginning of this section, through Acts 22, verse 21, where the Apostle Paul offers this defense before the Jewish crowd. Paul, as you might remember, has been arrested. He was taken initially by a group of Jewish people who were spreading false rumors about him. He was bound, as it were, taken outside, taken outside of the temple. And because of the ruckus and the chaos, the Roman guards, of course, caught wind of this. And down they came, led by a tribune, and they seized the apostle Paul. And so now Paul is in the custody of the Roman guards. And just before he's taken into the barracks where he's going to be questioned, and the plan of course was, we're going to see this next Lord's Day, the plan was to flog him. This would have been common practice. That's how you interrogate somebody, by the way. You ask them questions accompanied by a degree of pain. so as to encourage them to speak about what happened. So before all that takes place in the barracks, Paul makes a request, and he requests of the tribune that the tribune allow him to speak publicly before the Jewish people, to actually speak before the crowd, to offer what Paul calls his defense, apologia. And the commander of the guards, once he discovered that Paul was a Jew, he permitted him to speak. And so Paul then builds his defense. Okay, now, if you're taking notes, we are gonna answer that broad question, but we're gonna do all of that in three stages, okay? And so you can jot down these three stages. They are the same three stages we saw last Lord's Day. I'm gonna refresh your memory. If you were with us, if you were not with us, mention them afresh this morning. So here is the outline for the sermon this morning. First, in Paul's defense, we find Paul's life before conversion. So as he starts to talk, he just describes what his life was like prior to being converted to Jesus Christ, the faith in Jesus Christ. Who is this man? He answers the question as it were, not merely as a Christian now, but as someone reflecting on his Jewish past. So he begins with his life before conversion. Second, we discover Paul's conversion itself. And this is where we're gonna pick up. If you weren't with us last Lord's Day, you can go back and listen to the sermon. We addressed that first point at length last week, which is one of the reasons why this turned into a two-part sermon series. So if you're interested in learning more about his life before conversion, go back to that sermon online. You can access that sermon and listen to it. This morning, we're gonna pick up with the second point, Paul's conversion itself. And then third, in addition to Paul's life before conversion and Paul's conversion itself, we're going to conclude our time this morning by looking together at Paul's life after conversion. Paul was dramatically changed and he would never be the same again. And so we find in this defense, this apologia of the faith, Paul's life before conversion, Paul's conversion, and Paul's life after conversion, we find a kind of model for understanding what it is the Spirit of God accomplishes through the gospel of Jesus Christ. All right, so that's the roadmap for us. Young worshipers, so our younger theologians in the room, there are a couple of details I want you to notice. The first detail is the same as last week. We're gonna bring this back up, okay? So pay close attention to this. What happened to Paul as he was on his way to Damascus? A number of things you can say here. What happened to Paul as he was on his way to Damascus? Remember, he was on his way to persecute Christians. Something changed. What happened? What changed? And then second, for our younger worshipers, what did Paul spend his time doing after conversion? After he came to faith in Jesus, what did he spend his time doing, okay? Those are the two questions for our younger worshipers this morning, all right? So first, let's begin broadly with Paul's conversion. It took place as he was on his way to Damascus with papers from the high priest in hand to capture Christians and bring them to Jerusalem to be punished. He was no friend of Christianity. He was an enemy of the faith. And while he drew near to the city, again, this is a bit of review, but this is where we left off, a bright light shone around him, he says in this defense. And he informs us, you've got your Bibles open, he informs us in verse six that this took place around noon. We made a brief mention of this last week. I wanna say it again. This detail is likely in the text to demonstrate that the brightness of the light from heaven overshadowed the brightness of the sun. In fact, this is jumping ahead just a bit, we'll do it. In Acts 26, as Paul gives his defense before King Agrippa II, he actually says this. He says that I saw a light brighter than the sun. Now, why is this significant? Well, it's significant because for us, experientially, there is really no light that we experience on a regular basis that is brighter than the sun. However, there is something that is integral to the sun's light, and it's this. The sun's light is created. It's a created glory, okay? And so the point of the text, I think, the point of the text is this. The person Paul was seeing, or perhaps better, the light he was seeing, was no created glory, but the uncreated glory of the Creator. This is massively important to understand why it revolutionized the Apostle Paul. In fact, the language you'll go on to use, I believe it's in verse 11, glance down at it. Yes, verse 11, since I could not see because of the brightness of that light. I don't know what English translation you're holding. The English standard version translates this word brightness. It's the same word for glory. I could not see because of the glory of the light. I think I would probably opted for glory here. because I think it's the thrust. The one appearing to Paul as he traveled to Damascus is the creator God, God the Son, who took on flesh. who lived in obedience to the Father, died in our place and for our sins, who was raised in glorious power, and who had now, by the Apostle Paul's time, ascended to heaven and was seated at the right hand of the Father. So this is the risen and ascended Lord Jesus appearing to the Apostle Paul as he's on his way to Damascus prior to him being the Apostle Paul. In fact, this is what causes him to become the Apostle Paul. So going back in the story here, Paul falls to the ground, right? He hears a voice. which is the voice of the Lord Jesus, and the voice says, Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting me? Now, it's extremely important, pay close attention to the details, because what does Paul ask? Who are you, Lord? Up until this point, the apostle Paul, Saul, did not know Jesus. Jesus will say in John 10, my sheep hear my voice. We could also say that when someone hears the efficacious, strong word, big word, right? The efficacious voice, what does that mean? It accomplishes its purpose. When someone hears authentically the voice of Jesus, they become one of his sheep. And that's what happens here to Saul. Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting me? Who are you, Lord? Jesus responds, I am Jesus of Nazareth, whom you are persecuting. Now, this will leave an indelible imprint on the Apostle Paul's life. In so many ways, one of the ways, I want to point this out, one of the ways this would change Paul was how he would view the church from this point forward. Up until this point, the church was opposed to God in his mind. This is why he was so zealous to persecute Christians, you see. He believed he was serving the Lord God in so doing. But after he saw the revelation of the risen and ascended Lord Jesus from heaven, it would revolutionize his view of the church. After all, it is significant that Jesus does not say to him, Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting my people? It's not what Jesus says. Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting the church? It's not what he says. Rather, he says, why are you persecuting me? In fact, when Saul goes on to ask the question, who are you, Lord? He accents the same truth. I am Jesus of Nazareth, the one whom you are persecuting. Jesus so identifies himself with his people that the activities that are done to the church are considered activities rendered to Christ. This is, of course, why I think I heard Kim Allen just say this, maybe. This is, of course, why the church throughout the New Testament is referred to as the body of Christ. Right, if I act against or for your body, I'm acting against or for you, right? Right, if I walked up and I shoved Benjamin, and he said, hey man, why'd you shove me? It would be odd for me to respond, I didn't shove you, I shoved your chest. It's just built into, intrinsically built into this concept of body, anatomy, who we are. And so Christ seizes on this image in the New Testament, and of course he calls the church his body. Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting me? That which you perform against or for the church is performed against or for me, the head of the church. And so to love Christ, friends, don't miss this. We can't say this enough. To love Christ is to love the church. To serve Christ is to serve the church. What would motivate Paul amid all the challenges and afflictions, some of which, by the way, came from within the church? He suffered not just from opposition on the outside of the church, he suffered from opposition within the church throughout the rest of his ministry. What motivated him to persevere in service to Christ and in service to the church, it was fundamentally his commitment to Christ, the head of the church. And so I'd be remiss if I didn't say this, if you are a believer in Jesus Christ this morning and you are not a member of a local church, that needs to change. that needs to change. We do not serve a decapitated head as believers. We serve Christ by serving the church. We exist in Christ by existing in the church. We grow in Christ by growing in the church. And by the way, when it becomes difficult to love the church, and it will it will become difficult to love the church. Remember that your love for the church does not begin and end in the church itself. It's not motivated. Your love for the church is not motivated fundamentally by the lovable-ness or the likability of the church. Sometimes, look, sometimes we aren't likable at all. At all. Shouldn't surprise us, of course, because everybody else in the room is a lot like me and a lot like you. Rescued sinners, still struggling with our own flesh, still struggling with our own arrogance, still seeking to put to death the deeds of the body by means of the Spirit of God, but not finally attaining yet, as the Apostle Paul said, until the resurrection of Jesus Christ. No, we continue to love the church, not because the church is so very attractive. We continue to love the church because the Savior of the church is so very attractive. He's worth it. He's worth all the suffering, all the pain, all the perseverance, all the endurance. This is what motivated the Apostle Paul. Apparently, the men who traveled with Paul at the time saw the light but did not see a figure. were told, and there are some details here and some differences between what the Apostle Paul says, rather what Luke records in Acts 9 and what the Apostle Paul says here, but it seems clear that they heard the voice of Jesus but didn't understand the voice of Jesus. I think that's how we reconcile these two accounts. So they saw the light, the others with Paul, but they didn't see a figure. They didn't see Jesus himself. Moreover, they heard the voice of Jesus, but they did not understand what Jesus said. And then Paul continues in verse 11. Since I could not see because of the brightness, we said a moment ago, that's the same word for glory. Because I could not, I could not see because of the glory of that light. I was led by the hand by those who were with me and came into Damascus. So Paul was blinded from this revelation of Jesus. And then he eventually receives a visit from a man named Ananias. Ananias comes to, at that point, Saul, eventually the apostle Paul, comes to him. And he says to him, according to Paul, brother Saul, receive your sight. And then that very hour, which is another way of saying immediately, immediately, Paul could see. Now notice what Ananias declared to Paul. We're moving a little more quickly now. Verses 14 and 15. Verses 14 and 15, notice what Ananias declared to Paul. The God of our fathers appointed you. That's a significant word, by the way. We'll make him back to that in a moment. The God of our fathers appointed you to know his will, to see the righteous one, and to hear a voice from his mouth. because, or for, you will be a witness for him to everyone of what you have seen and heard. Now, I mentioned that word appointed. There are a number of words that could be used in Greek for appointed, and here, it's a word that's only used three times in the New Testament. Prokaryzo is the word. It's used back in Acts chapter three, verse 20, where Peter, speaking to the Jews, actually refers to Jesus as the Christ appointed for you. Only three times is it used, once to refer to Christ himself. The other two times it refers to Paul here in Acts 22, and then in Acts 26, same story. And so this is a significant appointment. This is a divine appointment. This is a way of emphasizing God actually setting apart a particular person for a unique and particular task. Now, to what? had God appointed Paul in verse 14. I mentioned this in reading it. There are three infinitives that follow the verb appoint, okay? A little grammar here. If you don't like grammar, that's okay. We'll wade through this together. Three infinitives or ways of expressing what God has appointed Paul to do. So the God of our fathers has appointed you, that's the main verb, you're appointed to what end or for what purpose? And here they are, to know God's will. Paul uniquely had insight into God's will as an apostle. But there's a sense in which this is also fairly broad. Paul went from being a persecutor of the church to being one willingly persecuted in the church, as a member of a church, and as a member and leader of the church, because now he saw the will of God came to a climax in Jesus. So you're appointed, Saul, to know God's will. Second, you're appointed to see the righteous one. That's just another way of saying to see Jesus. To see the Christ, to see the Messiah, and to hear a voice from his mouth. And all of this because Paul would serve as a witness for Christ to everyone of what he had seen and heard. Verse 15. Now, Paul's conversion was typical in some respects. Okay, not many. Not many. We really do run far afield when we take soul's conversion, and we build a kind of normative template for all conversions to Christ. It's just not the way it works. I don't know about you, but I've not seen the righteous one, Jesus, in his heavenly glory. I have not. If you have, stay afterward. I'd like to talk to you just a little bit, okay? Just for a moment. Moreover, to be technical, I've not heard a voice from his mouth. I've heard his voice in scripture. I've heard his voice by means of various media, right? Mediated through the proclamation of the gospel, these kinds of things, John 10, my sheep hear my voice. That concept. But here the emphasis is on kind of this immediate hearing. Without mediation, the Apostle Paul says he's traveling the road to Damascus. He actually hears the voice of Jesus directly. That's not been my experience. So Paul's conversion was atypical in so many ways. We find in other portions of the New Testament, for example, of what's more normative. Let me give you an example of this. 1 Peter 1 verse 8. 1 Peter 1 verse 8. Though you have not seen him, you love him. What's the assumption? It's not normative for Christians to see the risen and ascended Lord Jesus yet. Though you have not seen him, you love him. Though you do not now see him, you believe in him and rejoice with joy that is inexpressible and filled with glory. It's actually similar to John 20, as Thomas is interacting with the Lord Jesus after his resurrection. And of course, Jesus, he asks for evidence. Jesus shows him the evidence in his side, his hands. And Thomas, of course, falls, as it were, before the Lord Jesus, my Lord and my God. And Jesus says, do you believe because you've seen? Blessed are those who have not seen and yet believe. That's us, friends. That's us. This is just a bit of a caution, a hermeneutical caution of making all things normative in scripture. It's not the case. Paul's conversion is atypical. It's not common. And yet, though we haven't seen him, we still love him. And we still wait with eagerness to see him as he is, according to 1 John chapter 3, and to be transformed into his likeness. Now, notice the language of Ananias in verse 16. Verse 16. This is all still Paul's conversion, all right? Paul's conversion. So he said to Paul, why do you wait? Rise and be baptized. Notice the language. Wash away your sins, calling on his name. The language scripture uses in describing baptism often closely connects baptism, now hear me carefully, the sign to the forgiveness of sins, the reality signified by the sign. So there's a close connection in the New Testament between the sign, baptism, and the reality to which it points, forgiveness of sins. This is important as we read through the New Testament. So for example, Romans chapter six, Paul does not merely say in Romans six that baptism signifies being buried with Christ. He could have said that. There are Greek words he could have used to communicate that in baptism it is signified that you were buried with Christ. No, no, what Paul says in Romans 6 is that we were buried with Christ by baptism. In other words, baptism then becomes kind of a means, as it were, to being buried with Christ and to being raised to walk in new life. The sign, baptism, is so closely connected to the reality signified, the forgiveness of sins and being united to Christ, that they're often spoken of interchangeably in the New Testament. Now, I don't want to go too far here. We could talk about this, if you like, at another time. This would be a fun Q&A time to kind of flesh out all of the specifics concerning baptism. None of this is to suggest that the act of dunking someone in the water, in the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, enacts forgiveness in itself. No, no. After all, what does our text say? Acts 22 verse 16. Did you notice that baptism is associated with washing away sins, but how? Calling on his name. That is, through faith someone receives the benefits of Christ. It's another way of saying that Through trusting in the person and work of Christ, one's sins are washed away. But that is not removed from the symbol or the sign, baptism. I say this because, well, there are a couple of reasons I say this. And man, I've got to really guard against chasing this rabbit. But we're gonna follow him for just a moment and do this, okay? We're gonna watch him, and then now this is when those who are riding the cameras say, stop running on the stage. I'm back, I'm back. So we're gonna watch this driver for just a moment. Recently, I wasn't at the annual meeting of the SBC, Southern Baptist Convention. We sent messengers, Pastor Tim led our messengers there. And one of the issues, and we talked about this a little bit when they got back, one of the issues that was raised is there were some who essentially made a motion that the Southern Baptist Convention adopt the Nicene Creed as a part of our statement of faith. True? Is this accurate? Close enough, right, Pastor Tim? That we adopt the Nicene Creed as a part of our statement of faith. Now, by the way, there are various reasons to or not to adopt the Nicene Creed, but I was really interested in this conversation that ensued after this and in response to this, because what I had heard from many in response to this motion that Baptist officially, because if I could just be honest, you do accept the Nicene Creed. Okay, let's just get that out there. But in response to this motion that we officially and publicly accept the Nicene Creed as a part of our statement of faith, some Baptists argued that it was inconsistent with our view of baptism. And I was hurt inside. And here's why I was hurt inside. It was, I think, a lack of awareness. Here's why I was hurt inside. Here's what the Nicene Creed reads. By the way, this is technical. The Nicene Creed as modified in 381 at Constantinople. Some of you, you're like, who cares? Two of you were very thankful just now. May your tribe increase. Here's what it reads, we confess one baptism, here's the line, for the remission of sins. We confess one baptism for the remission of sins. Now friends, this is perfectly consistent with the language of Scripture. For example, Acts 22 verse 16, right? Did you notice, again, what is spoken about baptism? Now, why do you wait? Rise and be baptized and wash away your sins. Moreover, in Acts chapter two, verse 38, Peter, as he's preaching at Pentecost, which is really where the language comes from, it's where the theologians at Constantinople in 381 actually found this phrase. Acts 2.38, Peter declared, repent and be baptized for the forgiveness of your sins, for the remission of your sins. Now, that needs to be unpacked. We have to talk about what that means, but it's biblical. And one thing I know about Baptists is we've never run away from what is biblical. And we ought not start now, okay? Now, hear me say this. Those brothers and sisters who were reticent about this, there are many reasons to be reticent about it. Those who think that the Nicene Creed is opposed to what we believe regarding baptism, I'm just gonna suggest probably are just mistaken. We need to explain the Nicene Creed in the same way we explain Acts 2 and Acts 22. But it's biblical language. We do confess one baptism. for the remission of sins, because the sign, baptism, is not to be severed from the reality signified, the remission of sins in Christ received through faith, which, by the way, is thoroughly Baptist to say. Okay, that really made me happy, not many of you. central, central to the message of Christianity is the promise of the forgiveness of sins. It's central. It's such good news because it promises people who are tainted, who are defiled, who when they're honest about themselves know they're broken. And they can't really remember a time, again, if they're honest, when they weren't broken. They want things they should not want. All of us want things we should not want. We seek things we should not seek. And then we search for fulfillment and what promises to fulfill but never actually does. And so fundamentally what we need is we need forgiveness. We need forgiveness of our sins, of our waywardness. Moreover, we need more than just forgiveness, actually. We don't just need to be restored to a blank slate. We actually need right standing before God. Another way to say this, according to scripture, is that we need the righteousness of God imputed to us, given to us. But the problem is we can't actually secure the righteousness of God. We can't merit it. We can't obey our way into a right relationship with God. So what does God do? He accomplishes that righteousness and that obedience for us in Christ. It's central to the message of Christianity. And so if you're here this morning and you've not come to realize that you can have a right standing before the Father through faith in Jesus Christ, I would encourage you to stick around afterward and talk to us. Let's have a conversation. Maybe you have questions about it. We'd love to field questions. We may not know all the answers. We'll sure do our best. We'd love to come alongside you and you even alongside us as we seek ways in which this message really does revolutionize us. And it grants us hope because it grants us forgiveness through the death and resurrection of Christ. There is life as well for us. But even more than forgiveness, even more than that, it grants us His righteousness, His obedience, and His right standing before the Father, received through faith. Well, you can talk with us, if you like, after the service. I mentioned in the welcome, we've got a room out there called Crossroads, that direction, okay? Walk out of one of these double doors, take a left, you'll see it on the right-hand side before you leave this building, and we would love to visit with you about Christ. Let's come full circle, and then we do still have Paul's life after conversion. And it's going to be short. because I don't want it to be sermon number three. Okay, Anthony, is that okay with you? So it's gonna be short, but let's come full circle to that question we asked at the beginning. Why did Paul go from being a fierce persecutor of the church to being a persecuted leader of the church? The answer really is quite simple, because Jesus appeared to Paul in his heavenly glory. Jesus appeared to Paul in his heavenly glory, and just like that, Paul moves from being a persecutor to being one who was willing to receive persecution for the name of Christ. All right, this leads us to this final theme. Briefly, Paul's life after conversion. Goodness. So the revelation of Jesus given to Paul did not merely result in a memorable experience that Paul talked about from time to time around Christmas with little impact on his life. Paul didn't walk away from this experience of seeing the risen and ascended Lord Jesus and say, huh, that's nice. As a result of seeing Jesus for who he really is, the risen and exalted Lord over heaven and earth, Paul was forever changed. We can say it this way, let's say it positively. Authentic conversion to Christ always results in genuine transformation of the converted. I'll say it again. Only because I saw some of you grab your pens when I started saying it, I felt bad. Authentic conversion to Christ always results in genuine transformation of the converted. So what did Paul's life consist of as a result of his conversion? Well, there's a helpful summary in verse 15 of our text, where Ananias says to Paul, you'll be a witness, remember that part? You will be a witness for Christ to everyone of what you have seen and heard. So Christ is showing you this, you're seeing something, you're hearing something, so that you would go and tell others what you saw and heard. Paul's life after conversion was consumed by sharing the message of Jesus with others. And so that was part of it. He would proclaim the message of Christ for the rest of his life. Paul could not help but share what he had seen and heard. There's this other facet as well, though, and this is from back in Acts 9, verses 15 and 16. You don't have to turn there. You can just jot that down if you like. A parallel passage to ours this morning. But in that passage, The Lord Jesus tells Ananias to go to Saul, because he's a chosen instrument, to carry the name of Jesus before the Gentiles and kings and the children of Israel. And then verse 16, Jesus tells Ananias, for I will show Saul how much he must suffer for the sake of my name. So how did this change Saul's life after conversion? Well, on the one hand, he would boldly proclaim the message of Christ. He would indefatigably share what he had seen and heard for the rest of his life. And secondly, as he did so, he would willingly embrace suffering for the name of Christ. because he was worth it. He saw Jesus for who he really is, Lord, over heaven and earth. And then in Acts 22, verses 17 to 21, Paul wraps up his defense by describing this trance or vision he experienced in Jerusalem. Look with me if you would. I've got to say something about this. Verses 17 and 18, when I had returned to Jerusalem and was praying in the temple, I fell into a trance and I saw him, that is Jesus, I saw him saying to me, make haste and get out of Jerusalem quickly because they will not accept your testimony about me. Paul thought, I was a persecutor of the church. Surely they'll accept my testimony. I was zealous for the law. And they know how aggressively I opposed the church in the name of God. But the Lord said to Paul in verse 21, the conclusion of our text, go for I will send you far away to the Gentiles. It was in obedience to Christ that Paul would proclaim what he had seen and heard in Christ Jesus, the risen and ascended Lord over heaven and earth, being willing to suffer all the while focused on non-Jewish people coming to know this Jesus. So Paul the Jew, though he would preach to Jewish people and he would preach before kings, as we're going to see in the book of Acts, the focus of his ministry was the good news of the gospel that God now was grafting in non-Jews as heirs alongside our Jewish brothers and sisters who trust in Jesus Christ. Well, this was Paul's defense, and I need to land a plane. On the other hand... Not on the other hand that I'm landing the plane. On the other hand of calling this Paul's defense. Sorry. It's rightly called a defense. It's a defense of the gospel. It's a defense of the truth of Christianity. It's a defense of Christ. However, we never really defend Christ. He's Lord over heaven and earth, friends. We're gonna close with this thought, Charles Spurgeon. In 1875, at the annual meeting of the British and Foreign Bible Society, he lectured on the Bible, imagine that. What he said about the Bible may also serve as a comfort to us this morning, that Christ needs no defense, okay? Spurgeon compared the Bible to a great lion under attack. And here are Spurgeon's words. I do not know whether you see that lion. It is very distinctly before my eyes, a number of persons advance to attack him. While a host of us would defend the grand old monarch with our own strength. Spurgeon continues, many suggestions are made and much advice is offered. This weapon is recommended and the other. Pardon me, Spurgeon says. If I offer a quiet suggestion, open the door and let the lion out. He will take care of himself. He no sooner goes forth in his strength than his assailants flee. Friends, in offering our defense of the gospel of Christ, Let's take heart. It is truly the case that all we really must do in the end is let the lion out. Let's pray together. Heavenly Father, thank you for the eternal privilege it is to hear from you in your word this morning. Thank you for the transformative power of the Holy Spirit who works in conjunction with your word, bearing witness to Christ, the great lion. Father, I pray that you would embolden us to confidently and unashamedly proclaim the truth of the gospel. Knowing that in the end, we really don't defend Christ. He is perfectly capable of defending himself. We pray these things with thankfulness, with gratitude, and with eager anticipation of Christ's return together in all God's people said.