"ARRESTED"
In England there’s a paper factory that makes the finest stationery that’s made. One day a man touring the factory asked what it was made from. He was shown a huge pile of old rags.
The rag content is what determined the quality of the paper. The man wouldn’t believe it. In 6 weeks he received a package of paper from the company with his initials embossed on it. On the 1st page were written the words.."Dirty Rags Transformed." The same is true of the Christian life.
Today we are going to look at a life whose rag content only made him a more effective apostle of the Lord Jesus Christ...
This man probably more than any other man was used mightily and powerfully of the Lord to change lives...
Let’s look at his life and conversion in the Book of Acts chapter 22:1-11
Today, as then, there is hope for every life to be used of God if we are just willing to be that vessel for Him...
We’re going to look at Paul’s life today, and the dramatic change that he encountered on the road to Damascus that day...
We’re going to look at the "Arrest" of a tremendous man of God...
First of all as we look at vs. 1-5 we see...
I. A HUMAN SOUL PURSUING IT’S OWN COURSE
Paul was on His way to Damascus with the full authority of the high Priest, elders and rulers of the Jews to bring the Christians, or those who had forsaken the Jewish traditions to Jerusalem for punishment...
It was Paul’s duty to make life as miserable as possible for the "Christians" of that day...
And he was one of the best and most zealous...
As we look into Acts 8:1,3,4 we see that Paul stood by while Stephen was stoned to death after preaching to the people...
Acts 8:1 And Saul was consenting unto his death. And at that time there was a great persecution against the church which was at Jerusalem; and they were all scattered abroad throughout the regions of Judaea and Samaria, except the apostles.
Acts 8:3 As for Saul, he made havock of the church, entering into every house, and haling men and women committed them to prison.
Acts 8:4 Therefore they that were scattered abroad went every where preaching the word.
vs. 20 of chapter 22 tells us that Paul stood by while the others stoned Stephen, and held the garments of those who were stoning....
No doubt he was smiling and very pleased that another of those crazy Christians had been killed as Stephen died there at his feet...
Paul was on the wrong course, and didn’t even know it...
Acts 9:1 And Saul, yet breathing out threatenings and slaughter against the disciples of the Lord, went unto the high priest,
Paul was a man on a mission, and yet the terrible thing about it was, he believed that he was doing the will of God....
vs. 3 of our text tells us that he was zealous toward God, and was trying to keep the perfect will of God...
Paul was a religious person trained in the Jewish ways of tradition and living, and he thought he was doing all he could to please God, but in reality was pitted against almighty God...
Matthew 12:30 He that is not with me is against me; and he that gathereth not with me scattereth abroad.
Acts 5:39 But if it be of God, ye cannot overthrow it; lest haply ye be found even to fight against God.
So we see that according to scripture, it is possible to be sincerely earnest about what we are doing, but be sincerely wrong in the way we are going...
Prov 14:12 There is a way which seemeth right unto a man, but the end thereof are the ways of death.
Paul was going down a road that he thought was the way of life, and the right thing in his mind...
Why did Paul want to kill the Christians? Because they were telling of the freedom that Christ brought, and that no longer should the people be bound to the Jewish law and traditions...
The religious people didn’t take Jesus lightly when he was here on the earth, and they didn’t take these radical Christians lightly, and they won’t take you lightly when you start living for Christ in a committed manner...
When the will of God, and approval of God means more to you than the approval of man....
When your intensity of service brings out their passiveness of commitment, the religious crowd always gets upset...
Paul was part of the religious crowd who got angry with people who were turning the world upside down with the Gospel of Jesus Christ...
You see, Paul was full of religion at this time, but he wasn’t full of Christ...
It is a tragedy to see people full of religion, but have no regard or time for Christ or His Holy Spirit...
Paul was headed to Damascus to persecute and wreak havoc on the Christians, but God had a better plan for his life...
So not only do we have a Human soul pursusing it’s own wrong course, we then see in vs. 6-9..
II. THE DIVINE ARREST
As Paul made his journey to Damascus, and was almost there after a 150 mile trip, the Bible says in vs. 6 that around noon time he saw, instead of blue lights behind him, a white light all around him...
It was time for Paul to be pulled over for breaking the law...
The time had come for Paul to be arrested by Jesus Christ of Nazareth...
Seldom is it that the Lord lays his hand upon a life quite like this, but if there is anyone who needed to see Jesus, it was Paul...
Paul had no doubt heard it all, and persecuted as many representatives of Christ as he could...
Paul had his mind made up, and only a real encounter with Christ would change the way he felt and thought...
If you have never been arrested by Christ for going your own way, and doing your own thing, you need to be arrested by the Savior today...
It most likely won’t happen in the manner that Paul was arrested, because usually his arrest of us is more gradual as we hear the word from time to time...
There have been times that God has broken a hardened heart in a matter of moments, opening the eyes of one who had blocked Christ out so long...
but most often, it takes some time before we realize that the path of sin is a path of destruction...
Occasionally God will come in majestic power to or a vision in the night, or some other remarkable event, but most often his hand is laid upon us by:
the persistent prayers of a praying mother or grandmother,
the quiet witness of a Christian who works with you somewhere,
or sickness and death when life and it’s end come into perfect focus,
or the words of a minister or teacher or friend...
Whatever it is that God is using to arrest your life, don’t reject his appeal...
Have you allowed Christ to arrest you yet?
Phil 3:12 Not as though I had already attained, either were already perfect: but I follow after, if that I may apprehend that for which also I am apprehended of Christ Jesus.
From this point on, there was a total change in Paul’s life as we see after the Divine Arrest...
III. THE SOUL’S SUBMISSION TO THE DIVINE WILL
We see in vs. 10 and 11 that the very first thing that Paul asked after seeing the foolishness of what He was doing, was to ask the Lord what He wanted him to do...
I believe that a true encounter with Christ will make us ask of the Lord, what we can do for Him...
Paul made a total about-face from being the Persecutor to being the persecuted, from being the hunter to being the hunted, as we can see in
Acts 14:19 And there came thither certain Jews from Antioch and Iconium, who persuaded the people, and, having stoned Paul, drew him out of the city, supposing he had been dead.
Acts 14:20 Howbeit, as the disciples stood round about him, he rose up, and came into the city: and the next day he departed with Barnabas to Derbe.
What was it that made such a change?
It was the arrest of the Lord upon Peter’s life...
I believe that when Jesus Christ comes into your life, there ought to be a change...
People ought to be able to see the change, and hear the change, and see the submission to the Will of God, and not the will of man...
We need more Christians to ask the question, Lord, what would you have me to do?
If we had more Christians on the front line for the Lord, there’d be less gossip in the back lines...
Christians that like Paul say, I don’t care what I have to sacrifice to serve the Lord, it’s worth it all to tell others of my savior...
Christians who will no longer wait until they are perfectly qualified, or inspired enough to take a position in the church...
There is a tremendous job to be done today, and while the early Apostles gave their lives for the sake of the Gospel, we can’t get off our couches or out of our beds just to go to church 3 or 4 hours a week, let alone witness for the Lord on the job..
The penalties which early Christians had to suffer were terrible beyond description. All the world knows of the Christians who were flung to the lions or burned at the stake; but these were kindly deaths. Nero wrapped the Christians in pitch and set them on fire, and used them as living torches to light his gardens. He sewed them in the skins of wild animals and set his hunting dogs upon them to tear them to death. They were tortured on the rack; they were scraped with pincers; molten lead was poured hissing upon them; red hot brass plates were affixed to the tenderest parts of their bodies; eyes were torn out; parts of their bodies were cut off and roasted before their eyes; their hands and feet were burned while cold water was poured over them to strengthen the agony. These things are not pleasant to think about, but these are the things a man had to be prepared for, if he took his stand with Christ.
God wants to use any vessel that is willing to be used...
Everyone has a gift that they can use to bring Glory to God here today... find your gift and begin using it...
So often we think it has to be fully developed before it can be used for the Lord...
God doesn’t call the qualified, but he qualifies the called...
No matter what you’ve done, where you’ve been, who you’ve been with today, God wants to use you...
When we talk about Paul, we’re talking about a man that before he was arrested by the Lord, was a murderer and a persecutor of the people of God...
1 Tim 1:15 This is a faithful saying, and worthy of all acceptation, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners; of whom I am chief.
Here was a man who claimed to be the chief of sinners, and God used him to become the greatest preacher in history...
Truly the rag content in this man made his worth even higher as an apostle...
But you don’t know all that I have done...
God could never use me...
God’s love for each one of you here today is an unconditional love...
Will the musicians please come?
John 8:3 And the scribes and Pharisees brought unto him a woman taken in adultery; and when they had set her in the midst,
John 8:4 They say unto him, Master, this woman was taken in adultery, in the very act.
John 8:5 Now Moses in the law commanded us, that such should be stoned: but what sayest thou?
John 8:6 This they said, tempting him, that they might have to accuse him. But Jesus stooped down, and with his finger wrote on the ground, as though he heard them not.
John 8:7 So when they continued asking him, he lifted up himself, and said unto them, He that is without sin among you, let him first cast a stone at her.
John 8:8 And again he stooped down, and wrote on the ground.
John 8:9 And they which heard it, being convicted by their own conscience, went out one by one, beginning at the eldest, even unto the last: and Jesus was left alone, and the woman standing in the midst.
John 8:10 When Jesus had lifted up himself, and saw none but the woman, he said unto her, Woman, where are those thine accusers? hath no man condemned thee?
John 8:11 She said, No man, Lord. And Jesus said unto her, Neither do I condemn thee: go, and sin no more.
Don’t ever let the religious crowd keep you away from the Savior...
So often we see people get saved and then we make them go through a probationary period for a few years to really prove what they have is real...
And we never forget what they were like before!
Some of the apostles of that day had a hard time letting Paul in on the action too!
Acts 9:13 Then Ananias answered, Lord, I have heard by many of this man, how much evil he hath done to thy saints at Jerusalem:
Acts 9:21 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?
Acts 9:26 And when Saul was come to Jerusalem, he assayed to join himself to the disciples: but they were all afraid of him, and believed not that he was a disciple.
Acts 9:29 And he spake boldly in the name of the Lord Jesus, and disputed against the Grecians: but they went about to slay him.
Too many churches have turned into clubs with acceptance contingent on social status and no real thought of the lost and dying...
We need to get back to why the church exists!
It’s to give sinners an opportunity to experience real love that the world cannot give, and then turn them loose to work and witness for the Lord..’
You may think your rag content is a little high today, but rest assured that Jesus Christ loves you, and gave his life for you just as much as the preacher in the pulpit...
