If you are of the truth, you hear His voice

"If you are of the truth, you hear His voice" - Acts 26:14 It was while on one of these expeditions (journeys) abroad that a great transformative experience took place in his life. He was on his way to Damascus, with official documents authorizing him to arrest Christians and take them to Jerusalem to be tried and punished. Paul was to be a young man; in zeal he surpassed all his contemporaries. He thought it was a sect (group), and they were bringing evil to the law of Moses and other sects of the Pharisees. With the strength of his youth, (thirty-something) he was fiery and passionate, no one greater than him in passion. (Acts 9:1-6).

I. Paul was after Jesus.

A. He was considered one of the most promising in Judaism.

1. Good intention.

2. He was on his way to Damascus.

3. With official documents to arrest Christians and take them to Jerusalem to be tried and punished.

4. "At noon" he was overwhelmed by a vision of glory.

5. A light from heaven shone upon him, "surpassing the brightness of the sun" at noonday.

6. "Having fallen to the ground," "he heard a voice," "making him this scrutinizer (examined, searched, carefully of something or someone) question”: Saul, Saul, why do you persecute me?

7. This voice also added the "revealing words": "It is hard for you to kick (kick, violent shaking that beasts make with some of their legs) against the stinger."

8. The term stinger is “goad” (a rod with a small iron tip at the upper extremity, with which oxen are stung and pricked), a very sharp instrument used to force stubborn animals to move forward.

9. Paul had been kicking (resisting, unwilling) "against" the goads of his own conscience, but, more importantly, "against" the voice of the conviction of the Holy Spirit.

10. He had never been able to forget the serenity and grace with which Stephen had died.

11. He had been fighting "against" God Himself.

12. (John 18:37) When Pilate asked Him if He was a king, Jesus answered, "You say so"; I am a king."

13. But His kingdom is about "truth," not swords and shields.

14. He had "come into the world" to "bear witness to the truth."

15. "The truth" here means the truth about God; of Christ Himself, of the Holy Spirit, of man, of sin, of salvation, and of all the other great doctrines of Christianity.

16. Everyone who is of the truth hears "His voice," and that is how His empire increases.

17. If you are of the truth, hear His voice.

18. He is king: "That is the truth, and I cannot deny it."

19. Although Christ had "taken" the form, the true nature, of a slave (Philippians 2:7) "He could still claim for Himself the power, honor, and authority of a king.

20. Not only was He king, but He had been born as a king to rule a kingdom that would have no end. (Luke 1:32-33).

21. I think that some do not have Him as King, but as non-existent, as He was something else in history.

22. This affirmation of His own kingship was part of the body of truths which He had received from the Father to bear witness to for the salvation of mortals: "For this I was born, and for this I came into the world, to bear witness to the truth."

23. How much is His worth?

24. Let us take care of our lives if we truly recognize the Christ Paul was persecuting.

25. (Revelation 1:15) The feet of the Lord were like burnished bronze (glittering, brilliant), shining (gleaming, refulgent) as in a furnace.

26. Since bronze is a consistent type of judgment, this supports the view that what is "chiefly in view" is "the judicial office."

27. "Her voice" sounded like the waves of the sea or like a waterfall falling from a mountain, majestic and overwhelming (exhausting).

28. This is symbolic of the tremendous power with which Christ tramples (Revelation 19:15).

29. Out of His mouth comes a sharp sword, to smite the nations with it, and He will rule them with a rod of iron, and He treads the winepress of the rage and wrath of God Almighty.

30. What will your life be like in the lukewarmness you live in?

31. (Revelation 3:20) The place and attitude of Christ at the end of the church age.

32. The Lord is not addressing the unconverted, but a Christian church.

33. Each man is master in the house of his own heart; it is his strength; he must open his doors.

34. First, the door is that of the Church, from which it is, in practice, excluded as Lord and Savior, since its members "are lukewarm" and feel conceited of their position "without needing anything" (17). "Being self-sufficient," "they do not realize the need to depend," "in everything," "for all things on the Lord Jesus Christ."

35. How incredible it is that Christ should be prevented from entering His own Church! And He tramples and consumes His enemies; What are you?

36. How kind "to be still requesting to enter in!

37. "If anyone hears My voice."

38. As if to say, "Is there not one in that community who desires intimate fellowship with Me?"

39. Christ, before a church so lukewarm that "He is about to vomit it out of His mouth", knocks on the door of each individual to see if there is anyone; "in the whole congregation, to be willing to 'hear and obey Him', since listening, in the Bible, is 'equivalent to obeying'. Amen