And Agrippa said unto Paul, Thou art permitted to speak for thyself. Then Paul stretched forth his hand, and made his defence:
I think myself happy, King Agrippa, that I am to make my defence before thee this day touching all the things whereof I am accused by the Jews:
especially because thou art expert in all customs and questions which are among the Jews: wherefore I beseech thee to hear me patiently.
My manner of life then from my youth up, which was from the beginning among mine own nation, and at Jerusalem, know all the Jews;
having knowledge of me from the first, if they be willing to testify, that after the straitest sect of our religion I lived a Pharisee.
And now I stand here to be judged for the hope of the promise made of God unto our fathers;
unto which promise our twelve tribes, earnestly serving God night and day, hope to attain. And concerning this hope I am accused by the Jews, O king!
Why is it judged incredible with you, if God doth raise the dead?
I verily thought with myself that I ought to do many things contrary to the name of Jesus of Nazareth.
And this I also did in Jerusalem: and I both shut up many of the saints in prisons, having received authority from the chief priests, and when they were put to death I gave my vote against them.
And punishing them oftentimes in all the synagogues, I strove to make them blaspheme; and being exceedingly mad against them, I persecuted them even unto foreign cities.
Whereupon as I journeyed to Damascus with the authority and commission of the chief priests,
at midday, O king, I saw on the way a light from heaven, above the brightness of the sun, shining round about me and them that journeyed with me.
And when we were all fallen to the earth, I heard a voice saying unto me in the Hebrew language, Saul, Saul, why persecutest thou Me? it is hard for thee to kick against the goad.
And I said, Who art Thou, Lord? And the Lord said, I am Jesus whom thou persecutest.
But arise, and stand upon thy feet: for to this end have I appeared unto thee, to appoint thee a minister and a witness both of the things wherein thou hast seen Me, and of the things wherein I will appear unto thee.
Delivering thee from the people, and from the Gentiles, unto whom I send thee,
to open their eyes, that they may turn from darkness to light and from the power of Satan unto God, that they may receive remission of sins and an inheritance among them that are sanctified by faith in Me.
Wherefore, O King Agrippa, I was not disobedient unto the heavenly vision:
but declared both to them of Damascus first, and at Jerusalem, and throughout all the country of Judaea, and also to the Gentiles, that they should repent and turn to God, doing works worthy of repentance.
Dear Lord, with grateful hearts we gather together unto Thy name, the name that is above every name. At that name every knee shall bow, and every tongue confess that Jesus is Lord.
Lord, our hearts are open to Thee. We pray that tonight Thou wilt grant us the spirit of wisdom and revelation in the full knowledge of God. How we praise and thank Thee that it is Thy good pleasure to reveal Thy Son in us.
So, Lord, tonight we look to Thee. We pray that Thy Holy Spirit would open Thy Word to us and, through Thy Word, speak to each one of us personally. Bring us out of all that is not of Thee, and bring us into what is of Thee.
Lord, we want to know Thee. To know Thee is eternal life. We commit this time into Thy hands, trusting Thee to do Thy work. In the name of our dear Lord Jesus Christ. Amen.
As we mentioned yesterday morning, at this time we gather together here not just to hear something. We are here together to do some digging.
We are here to dig again the wells of living water that our fathers had dug in their days. But unfortunately, the Philistines had come in and filled them with dirt. So now it is our turn. If we want to have living water, we have to dig.
We cannot just lie back and listen to what people may say. You will not find the living water that way. It is our responsibility and duty that we come to dig.
We come in the power of the Holy Spirit to dig away the dirt that our flesh has filled in, to remove everything that may hinder the springing forth of the living water.
We are here to dig the well of vision. God has given our forefathers the heavenly vision, but somehow our flesh has filled it with earth. So we are here, with the help of the Holy Spirit, under His conviction and His power, to remove all this dirt upon us, that the living water may spring forth again.
Our dear brother Dana helped us to dig the well of Moses’ pattern on the mount. Now remember: he is just helping you to dig. You have to dig with him. You are not here just to hear our brother; you are here to work together with our brother under the Holy Spirit, to dig the well of Moses’ pattern on the mount.
God has given that pattern; it is recorded. But, brothers and sisters, unless we dig, we will not see it. We will not be in the good of it.
Our dear brother John Inglis is helping us to dig the well of David’s desire for the house. In the same way, brothers and sisters, he is helping you to dig, but you have to dig together with him. Otherwise, you will not be able to reach David’s desire for the house. You will not be able to see the house and be built up in the house of God.
And it is my burden to dig together with you, dear brothers and sisters, on Paul’s heavenly vision.
Each one of us will have three sessions, if the Lord should tarry. I hope that we never finish our message.
Now, if it is the Lord’s will, tonight we would like to go to the Word of God and see the life of Paul before and after he saw the heavenly vision.
We want to see a contrast, a total change, in his life and ministry. And it is not just to see what happened to Paul about two thousand years ago. He is a mirror to each one of us.
That mirror is so clear that, if you look at it, you will see yourself. What God was able to do in that man, the same God is able to do in our lives. He is able to change us completely.
God willing, in the second session we will go into the heavenly vision. We want to know what is in that vision. What is the interpretation of the Holy Spirit concerning that vision, that we may be a part of it?
And finally, God willing, we would like to share together how that vision can be converted into our vocation. The apostle Paul said, “I was not disobedient unto the heavenly vision.” To him, it was more than a vision. To him, that vision had become his vocation.
We want to see and know how this comes about, so that it will happen to every one of us.
Tonight we would like to review the life of Paul together. We thank God because, in the Word of God, we are given ample information about the apostle Paul before and after his conversion.
If you read the book of Acts, you will find it. If you read Paul’s own epistles, you will find it, because he shared with us his life both before and afterwards. So this is what we would do tonight.
Now, the first mention of Paul—actually, at that time he was called Saul; that was his Jewish name—you will find in Acts 7:58. He was named after the first king in the nation of Israel.
There Stephen was brought before the Sanhedrin, the highest court in Judaism. He was falsely accused. In Acts 7, we find that while he was before that council, people looked at him, and his face looked like an angel.
In his defence, Stephen related to them the history of Israel: how God appeared to their forefather Abraham, how God called Abraham, how God used Moses to deliver them out of Egypt, and how Moses prophesied that one day God would raise up among their brethren One to whose words they must listen, or they would perish.
He related to them the history of the children of Israel, even when God was leading them through the wilderness and giving them the pattern on the mount, the tabernacle. Outwardly they bore the tabernacle of God through their journeys in the wilderness, but actually they bore the tents of idols. They were a stiff-necked people.
Their fathers killed the prophets whom God had sent to them, and they were the same. God did not dwell in places built with hands, because heaven and earth are not enough for Him to dwell in.
While Stephen was testifying, his face was like an angel, but the people could not bear it. They put their hands upon their ears. They did not want to hear, because they were pricked in their conscience. They knew it was true, but they were so stubborn and stiff-necked.
They pushed Stephen out of the city, and there they stoned him to death. While they were doing it, the witnesses who stoned Stephen laid their garments at the feet of a young man called Saul.
While they were stoning him, Stephen said, “I see the heavens opened, and the Son of Man standing there.” Before his death, he said, “Lord, receive my spirit. Forgive them. Forgive those who stone me to death.” The young man Saul was there, witnessing all these things.
Yet in Acts 8:1 it is recorded that Saul was consenting to the killing of Stephen. Persecution began in Jerusalem, and when the persecution came, the leader in that persecution was this young man.
In Acts 9:1, Saul was still breathing out threatenings and slaughter against those who were disciples of the Lord Jesus. He went into houses, dragged out men and women, and put them into prison. When they were condemned to death, he gave his vote.
Who was this young man? We would like to know him. Who was he?
Years later, after he had met the risen Lord on the road to Damascus, after he was obedient to the heavenly vision, and after he had faithfully served the Lord for many years, the last time he went to Jerusalem he was arrested.
The Jewish people in Jerusalem wanted to kill him, but the Roman chiliarch rescued him. The people pressed upon him, so they lifted Paul up and tried to bring him into the tower.
Before he entered the tower, he asked the Roman officer, Claudius Lysias, “May I speak to my people?” He spoke in Greek. Lysias was surprised and gave him permission. So there on the stairs to the tower, Paul faced the mob.
He spoke to them in the Hebrew language, and when they heard the Hebrew language, they became quiet. Now listen to what he said of himself:
Brethren and fathers, hear ye the defence which I now make unto you.
I am a Jew, born in Tarsus of Cilicia, but brought up in this city, at the feet of Gamaliel, instructed according to the strict manner of the law of our fathers, being zealous for God, even as ye all are this day:
and I persecuted this Way unto the death, binding and delivering into prisons both men and women.
As also the high priest doth bear me witness, and all the estate of the elders.
Now, this was that young man. He was a Jew, but he was born in Tarsus of Cilicia. We know that Tarsus of Cilicia was a Gentile city. In other words, even though he was a Jew, yet he was born outside Palestine, the promised land.
He was one who was dispersed among the other nations, but he was born in a Jewish family. He was a Jew by birth. Yet because he was born in a Gentile city, he received Greek culture, which was the culture of the world at that time.
Tarsus was also a Roman city. We do not know exactly how, but some say that perhaps his father was a wealthy merchant who had obtained Roman citizenship by contributing money to the Roman government. So when this young man was born, he was a Roman citizen.
So, dear brothers and sisters, you find that this young man was the product of the three cultures at that time. He was a Jew, receiving the Jewish religion, the purest and best of all religions.
Even many Gentiles during those days admired the purity of the Jewish religion. They attended the synagogues, and some became proselytes, full proselytes. The apostle Paul received all that the Jewish religion could offer him.
At the same time, the culture of the world was Greek, and he was brought up under that Greek culture. He spoke Greek. He knew the writings of the philosophers and poets.
Politically, it was a Roman world. The Romans ruled over the world at that time, and he was born a Roman. He had full privilege as a Roman citizen.
So you find this young man was a product of the best cultures in the world. Whether religious, philosophical, or political, he had the finest that the world could offer at that time.
In Philippians 3, Paul gave us his own testimony. He said, “I was circumcised the eighth day.”
Now, brothers and sisters, we may not find that very important, but to the Jews this was most important. In Genesis 17, when Abraham was ninety-nine years old, God appeared to him, made a covenant with him, and gave circumcision as the sign of the covenant.
Everyone born in a Jewish family—every boy—must be circumcised on the eighth day to show that he belonged to the commonwealth of Israel and could enjoy God’s covenant with Abraham. He would be considered as God’s chosen people.
Of course, when you read Genesis 17, after God gave Abraham this command, Abraham was circumcised when he was ninety-nine years old. He circumcised his son Ishmael, who was thirteen years old, born of Hagar, born according to the flesh.
But when the promised son arrived, Isaac, he was circumcised on the eighth day. So, brothers and sisters, you find that to Paul, before he met the Lord on the road to Damascus, this was his credential. This was his pedigree.
It was important to him. It was his treasure, because it proved that he was one of God’s covenanted, chosen people. He had a right to the covenant and promises of God.
He was of the race of Israel. That is important. Why? Because Isaac had two sons, Esau and Jacob. Esau was the firstborn, but he despised the right of the firstborn. He sold his birthright to his younger brother Jacob.
He lost the blessing of the firstborn. Even though Jacob deceived his father and robbed his brother of the blessing of the firstborn, God did not approve what he did. But God looked upon his heart. His heart desired spiritual blessing.
Because of what he did, Jacob had to wander away from his home. Yet it was to him that the birthright fell, and he was the one who inherited the covenant promises of God. So this young man said, “I am of the race of Israel. I am not of Esau; I am of Jacob.”
More than that, he said, “I am of the tribe of Benjamin.” Why was Benjamin so important? Of the twelve sons of Jacob, Benjamin was the only one who was born in the promised land. All the other eleven children were born outside the promised land.
When the nation was divided, the ten tribes departed, but Benjamin remained with Judah. And the first king of the nation of Israel was a Benjamite, another Saul. So this was important—very orthodox, very exact.
Not only that, in Philippians 3 he described himself as “a Hebrew of Hebrews.” What does that mean?
He was not only born of Hebrews; he was a Jew. Abraham was the first Hebrew, the one who crossed the river into the promised land. So the Jews were Hebrews, and Paul was born of Hebrew parents. But he said, “I am a Hebrew of Hebrews.”
We are told that it means that in that family they spoke the Hebrew language. During that time, Jewish people born outside the promised land were called Hellenistic Jews. They were under the influence of Greek culture, and even in their families they began to speak Greek instead of the pure Hebrew language.
But in this family they kept the old tradition faithfully. They still used the Hebrew language in the family. That is why he said, “I am a Hebrew of Hebrews.”
All these were his pedigree—something he boasted of and treasured very greatly, because they meant a great deal to him.
But that is not all. If you continue to read his history, and read of his upbringing and education, you find that in Hebrew families children were trained from their earliest years, first by their parents and then in the synagogue schools of the city.
This young man was sent to Jerusalem, perhaps when he had his bar mitzvah at twelve or thirteen years old, when he became a son of the law and a full-fledged member of the synagogue. He was sent to Jerusalem to be trained and educated at the feet of Gamaliel.
Gamaliel was the grandson of Hillel, and Hillel was one of the two greatest rabbis in those days. This young man received his education under Gamaliel.
He was educated according to the strictest sect of Judaism, according to the law of the fathers. He was trained to be a Pharisee.
Today, because we read the New Testament, we have a very poor estimate of the Pharisees. Our Lord Jesus said, “Woe unto you, Pharisees, hypocrites.” But at that time the Pharisees were highly honoured among the Jewish people.
We are told there were never more than about six thousand Pharisees. They were very strict. They were people trained in the exactness of the law according to the best traditions of their fathers.
They not only studied the law; they kept the law. They kept the law to the very letter—more than what the Lord had demanded—because they kept all the traditions of the fathers.
God gave them a living law, but through the years great teachers among the Jewish people would come and try to explain and interpret God’s law, to apply God’s law.
For instance, God said, “Keep the Sabbath. On that day you do no labour; you do no work.” So people asked, “What do You mean by work?” The teachers would say, “You can do this on the Sabbath, but if you do that, that is work.”
Even on the Sabbath, when you are hungry and pass through a field of wheat, you can pluck it and eat it, but you cannot rub it. If you rub it, it is work. On the Sabbath you can walk a certain distance, but you cannot walk any further.
Even today, I am told that Orthodox Jews on the Sabbath will not even touch the button of an elevator, because that is work.
So this young man was trained according to the strictest law of the fathers: a Pharisee. When he testified, he said, “I lived a Pharisee.” Many Pharisees did not live as Pharisees; they were hypocrites. But he was real. This young man meant business.
He lived a Pharisee. He was a Pharisee of Pharisees. That was his upbringing.
Look at his achievement. He said he was more advanced than his contemporaries. He was zealous for God, to the point that persecuting the church, the disciples of the Lord Jesus, was considered serving God.
He applied himself totally to this service, thinking that he was serving God: going into houses, hating men and women, putting them into prison, going to the synagogues, finding followers of Jesus, and compelling them to blaspheme.
He gave his vote when many were put to death. All the time, he thought he was serving God.
Look at his mission. He not only persecuted those in Jerusalem and in the cities of the promised land. It was not enough for him. He even obtained documents from the chief priests, authority to go to Gentile cities, to hunt down those of the Way, bring them to Jerusalem, sentence them, and punish them.
Dear brothers and sisters, this was that young man Saul.
Many young men seek after the things of this world—money, position, and other things—but not this young man. He was different. His heart was set on morality, ethics, religion, and piety.
He was a very extraordinary young man. So far as this world is concerned, probably you can hardly find anyone like him. In the eyes of the world, he was an example.
Look at this young man: how moral, how pious, how religious, how pure, how zealous for the traditions of the fathers. This was the young man.
One day he obtained documents from the chief priest to go to Gentile cities and search out those people of the Way of Jesus Christ. He had followers; he was their leader. And he started his journey toward Damascus.
He almost reached the city. His heart was set. You know, God’s cord of love is long. God will allow a person to go as far as possible.
God allowed Saul to go almost to the city, and then God put in the stop. Is that not wonderful? How often God does the same to us.
It was at noontime. Suddenly there was a light brighter than the noonday sun. It shone upon this young man and his followers, and that light had such power that it struck them to the ground.
As they had fallen to the ground, Saul heard the voice. The others heard the sound, but they did not hear the voice, because that voice was spoken directly to this young man.
The voice said, “Saul, Saul, why do you persecute Me? Do you know it is hard for you to kick against the goads?”
Brothers and sisters, he was a man who did such havoc to Christ. His desire was to wipe out the name of the Lord Jesus. Under the best traditions of the fathers, they considered Jesus an impostor. His name ought to be wiped out.
In his zeal, that was what he was going to do as his service to God: a young man full of the traditions of the fathers, a young man who lived and walked and worked according to the best traditions of that time, yet a young man in total darkness. And he did not know it.
“Saul, Saul, why do you persecute Me?” I believe it was not an angry voice. The Lord should have been angry with him. He had done such damage to the name of the Lord, such hatred without reason.
Yet I believe it was not an angry voice. It was a gentle, hurting, but loving voice: “Saul, Saul.”
This young man, in spite of his upbringing and education, knew of God, but did not know God. He had heard the name of God, but he had never seen Him. That was the problem.
He did not know Him. “Who art Thou, Lord?” But the Lord knew him, for the Lord knew his name.
Afterwards this young man testified, “Even when I was in my mother’s womb, God had chosen me.” Later he wrote, “Even before the foundation of the world, God has chosen me in Christ Jesus.” But he did not know it at the time.
God knew him all along. The Lord knew his sitting down and his rising up. God knew his every thought; God knew his every action. How patient was the Lord Jesus, allowing him to go as far as possible—thus far and no more.
He testified later on, “I did it ignorantly in unbelief. I was a blasphemer, a persecutor. But the grace of God, His love, reached out to me.” Is that not true of each one of us?
“Saul, Saul, why do you persecute Me? Do you know it is hard to kick against the goads?” “Lord, who art Thou?”
While he was prostrated on the ground, stricken by that light, he knew that he was no match for the Person who spoke to him.
Before that, in his life as a young man, he had never met his match. He was master of his own life. He was master over other people, a natural leader. But now he met his match.
He did not know Him, but he knew, “You are Lord. You are over me.”
I believe Saul understood right away what it meant to kick against the goads, though we may not understand. In the old days, when a farmer ploughed a field with a plough, he would use an ox, a horse, or a mule.
He would put the yoke upon the neck of the animal and tie it to the plough. One hand guided the plough; in the other hand he held a sharp instrument called a goad.
While he was ploughing, the animal had its own will. While the farmer wanted to follow a straight line, the animal, when it noticed something on its left or right, began to veer.
The animal forgot that it had a master. It thought it was its own master and could do whatever it wanted. So the farmer would use that sharp instrument and touch the leg of the animal.
He did not pierce the leg, of course not. He just gently touched it, reminding the animal, “Do not forget: you have a master.”
Unfortunately, the animal could be so stiff-necked that it kicked back and hurt itself. The farmer never meant to hurt it, but it hurt itself because it kicked back.
After repeated kicking back, it learned its lesson. It realized that it was not its own. It realized that it had a master, and that the master had a purpose in its life. So it became obedient and humbly followed the direction of the master.
It is hard to kick against goads.
This young man kicked back again and again. He had such a strong will. I believe that at the stoning of Stephen, though he was moral and upright according to the righteousness of the law, and blameless in his own eyes, he still had a conscience.
When he was watching the garments of those who stoned Stephen, he was looking at Stephen’s face. I wonder, brothers and sisters, whether before that time, in the synagogues of Gentile cities, he had argued with Stephen many times.
Certainly, he agreed to the killing of Stephen. Yet he must have looked at the face of Stephen and seen the face of an angel. A Pharisee believed in angels. How could this man, whom they called a blasphemer, have the face of an angel?
When Stephen said, “I see the heavens opened, and the Son of Man standing,” it was as if our Lord Jesus rose from His seat to welcome the first martyr of the church. Saul heard it.
He heard Stephen’s last words: “Do not lay this sin upon them.” His conscience must have been pricked, but he kicked against it. He tried to silence his conscience, but continued to breathe out threatenings and slaughter.
When he saw men and women put to death, when he watched these martyrs, he was pricked in his conscience. But tradition was so strong.
That is what tradition is. It can be so strong that even when your conscience is touched again and again, there is still resistance.
Only the Lord—the appearing of the Lord—can deliver us from the traditions of the fathers.
We are all bound by tradition, by what we have heard from generation to generation. We take that much truth, live according to it, and probably are willing to die for it. Yet we are blind, in total darkness, not knowing where we are.
“Saul, why do you persecute Me? It is hard to kick against the goads.” Is that enough? That should be enough. Humble yourself under the mighty hand of God. Repent.
What a voice. It broke Saul’s heart.
He said, “Lord, what do You want me to do?” This was a question he had never asked any man before. He was master of his own life. He knew what to do.
Yet when he met the Lord on the road to Damascus, he was melted by the long patience of God. He surrendered. He capitulated. He said, “Lord, You are the Master. From now on, You tell me what to do.”
The Lord said, “Rise up. Go into the city, and there it shall be told thee what I want thee to do.”
He rose up, but he could not see any more. His natural eyes were blinded by that light. But thank God, his inner eyes were opened.
He testified later on in Galatians 1 that God was pleased to reveal His Son in him. He saw Him. He heard the voice of the Righteous One. He even saw the Righteous One, and more than that, it pleased God to reveal His Son in him.
You know, brothers and sisters, unless the Father above reveals His Son to us, we will never know the Lord Jesus.
When Simon Peter confessed to the Lord, “Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God,” our Lord Jesus said, “Blessed art thou, Simon Bar-jona: for flesh and blood hath not revealed it unto thee, but My Father who is in heaven.”
Flesh and blood can only show you that Jesus is a great teacher or a great prophet, but that is all. It is the heavenly Father who reveals Him to you.
Dear brothers and sisters, is that not true of each one of us? We may be brought up in a Christian family. We may have heard the gospel. We may even mentally accept Jesus as the Saviour of the world.
Yet it may remain something outside of us. Not until one day it pleases God to open our inner eyes do we see Jesus Christ and Him crucified.
When that happens, you are changed. No longer Saul the Pharisee; from then on, he is Paul the apostle.
Paul means “little.” Before we knew the Lord, we were tall in the eyes of people. But when we meet the Lord, we become little.
So, dear brothers and sisters, we want to see in the life of this young man a reflection of ourselves.
We may not be as clever as this young man. We may not be as capable, with all these credentials. Nevertheless, there is no one who does not boast in his own flesh.
I was born Chinese. I was educated in Chinese culture. At the same time, I received a Christian education. From my youth, from my childhood, I was brought up in mission schools. I knew Bible stories.
My father was a pastor. He loved the Lord, and he paid a price when he believed in the Lord. He was almost cast out by my big family.
We had family devotion every evening. My father would bring all the children, seven of us, into the living room. He would read from the big Bible, and we would all kneel down while he led us in prayer.
I was baptized. I thought I was a Christian.
I believed in the Word of God. I read it. I prayed. I knew how to pray. I went to church.
The only time I dared not go to a cinema was Sunday. I had to keep Sunday, but I could play basketball. I dared not study on Sunday, though I was always afraid of an examination on Monday.
I was a Pharisee. I believed Jesus is the Saviour of the world, but I was too good to need Him to save me.
But thank God, He let me go as far as I could. He brought me to the verge of death as a young man. I cried out to Him, “I know of You, but I do not know You. I am too young to die. I want to live.” And He heard me.
From that day on, there was a natural desire within me. It was because of my upbringing and religious education. I told God, “If You restore me to life, I want to do something to repay You.”
I was fourteen at that time. I started with others to organize Christian meetings in our schools. I led prayer meetings.
I tried to tell people how God answered prayer, but I had little experience. So I waited until I could go into my father’s study, took out a book on prayer, translated it into Chinese, memorized it, and told the stories.
I asked everybody to kneel down to pray. My fellow students did not pray. People began to laugh, and I scolded them.
I preached, but I had no message. I went to my father’s study, where he had lots of good books. I took a book of sermons by a great preacher in this country, J. H. Jowett. I chose a topic, translated it, memorized it, and preached it.
After preaching, I felt good. But the only bad thing was that nobody praised me.
I wanted to repay Him. What a fool I was. Tradition. I did not know Him.
But thank God, it was when I was trying to serve Him in my own way, to repay Him as if I could, that the Holy Spirit began to convict me of my sins.
I was so burdened with my sins. When I was alone, I wept. I saw Him. I knew He was the Saviour, but He eluded me.
For a whole year I sought Him. Wherever there were revival meetings in my city, Shanghai, I went. Great preachers from around the world came. I heard Paul Rader and other great men. I was moved. I went to the altar. I wept. But nothing happened.
This continued for a whole year, until one day in 1930, I went to a conference because I wanted to be saved.
I was there a few days, but nothing happened. When they preached, I knew it all. Three young men, just graduated from Asbury College, were leading the meetings. Nothing new.
One morning I was in my own room before the meeting. I did not know whether I was praying or talking to myself. Somehow I was talking to God.
I said, “God, I want to be saved. Why is it that other people get saved so quickly, so easily, and it is so difficult for me? I heard people say one can become gospel-hardened. I must be gospel-hardened.”
“God, save me. If You do not save me now, goodbye. No more.”
That very afternoon, the Lord met me. He knew my heart. It was not because of what I heard, but He touched me with the Word in 1 John 1:9.
If we confess our sins, He is faithful and righteous to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.
On the basis of that Word, I knelt before Him and poured out my heart, confessing my sins. I said, “Lord, I have done my part. Now it is Yours.”
Thank God, He heard me. He saved me. I got up, and I knew I was saved.
Dear brothers and sisters, tradition did not save me. It is the living Lord Jesus who saved me.
Thank God, from that day onward, in spite of all my weakness, stubbornness, and failures, He still works upon me. I am grateful.
Step by step, He opened my eyes to see how much I was in the traditions of the fathers.
The letter killeth, but the spirit giveth life.
Oh, it is His appearing, His revelation, His speaking, and His vision that delivers me. There is much more that He has to do, because I was very, very stubborn and slow.
But thank God, I know one thing: if we live by the traditions of the fathers, we die. But if we live by the revelation of Jesus Christ, we live.
There is a great difference: life and death, heaven and earth.
So, brothers and sisters, from this young man let us learn the lesson. May the Lord really open our hearts to see that even the best of traditions do not work.
We need to be delivered from the letter to the Spirit. We need to have a first-hand encounter with the Lord Himself. We must know Him, not merely know about Him.
And this is the only way God has called us to go.
Dear Lord, it is Thy good pleasure to reveal Thy Son in us.
Lord, our cry to Thee is: not teaching, not doctrine, not system, not form, but You. We want You.
Do reveal Thyself to us. Deliver us from everything that is dead, blind, and dark. Lead us in the way of everlasting life.
We ask in the name of our Lord Jesus. Amen.