THE SAVIOR WHO SEEKS SINNERS

“Therefore, King Agrippa, I was not disobedient to the heavenly vision.”  (Acts 26:19 HCSB)

Many of my friends are dead—car crashes, suicide, heart attacks and cancer being prominent causes.  Several did not make it out of High School. 

I will never forget the last time I saw a perky little pixie named Patti zipping down the hallway.  She was bubbly, always smiling—so full of life.  I could take you back to the very spot where I remember seeing her last, can still picture her face and long brown hair.  That was a Friday afternoon.  Before the weekend was out, her small form would be cold—a toxic mix of alcohol and pills that her petite frame couldn’t take.  A beautiful flower was killed by an early frost.

Young or old—eventually death comes to us all.  The Bible says, “And just as it is appointed for people to die once—and after this, judgment” (Heb.9:27).  If today, you were to die, would you be ready to meet God?  You will only be prepared to meet Him in eternity if you have met Him already on earth. 

This was the testimony of the Apostle Paul.  He tells of a Savior who sought him while he was a sinner and saved him from a squandered life and a sorrowful destiny. 

There was A MEETING WITH JESUS.

“Therefore, King Agrippa, I was not disobedient to the heavenly vision.”  (Acts 26:19)

Paul testified to this earthly monarch of how he met the Eternal King.  This is the vision he referred to in the previous verses.

“‘I was traveling to Damascus under these circumstances with authority and a commission from the chief priests.  King Agrippa, while on the road at midday, I saw a light from heaven brighter than the sun, shining around me and those traveling with me. We all fell to the ground, and I heard a voice speaking to me in the Hebrew language, “Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting Me? It is hard for you to kick against the goads.”

‘Then I said, “Who are You, Lord?”

‘And the Lord replied: “I am Jesus, the One you are persecuting.  But get up and stand on your feet. For I have appeared to you for this purpose, to appoint you as a servant and a witness of what you have seen and of what I will reveal to you.  I will rescue you from the people and from the Gentiles. I now send you to them to open their eyes so they may turn from darkness to light and from the power of Satan to God, that by faith in Me they may receive forgiveness of sins and a share among those who are sanctified.”’” (Acts 26:12-18)

Paul met Christ and his life would never be the same. 

Have you met Jesus?  Oh, it may not have been in such a dramatic way, but have you personally given your life to Christ?  I remember very well when I walked out of sin’s darkness and into the Savior’s light.  He called to me—not with an audible voice, but by His Spirit.

Like Paul, I grew up religious.  I went to church nine months before I was born.  It seems like we were there all the time.  I always believed in God, and never doubted the Bible.  I understood I was a sinner and that Jesus died on the cross for me.  I never questioned His resurrection.  I knew there was a heaven and was terrified there was a hell.  But I was lost.  I had facts in my head, but no faith in my heart.  I joined the church, but wasn’t in the family of God.  At a baptismal service, I went into Enka Lake a dry sinner and came out a wet sinner.  Jesus said, “You must be born again.” (John 3:7b)   I was not.  I was the same old Dennis—and what I was on the inside was just waiting to emerge when I could escape the watchful eye of my parents.

With money and a car, I had freedom to explore new thrills.  This Prodigal Son took off for a walk on the wild side.  I descended into a life of drunkenness and drugs—pot and pills.  One night I should have died—there were three opportunities: alcohol poisoning, gunshot, car wreck.  All those potentials were present, but God spared my life—how gracious and merciful—or I would be in torment today.  I would be in Hell a hundred years from now, a thousand years, a million years and forever.  I should be. 

My life was on a downward spiral—but when I hit rock bottom, I had no where to look but up.  That’s where I met Jesus!  He turned my life around.  I wasn’t seeking Him, but the Savior was seeking me!  He came into the woods where I lay and found this lost lamb.  How grateful I am!

So was Paul.

The meeting with Jesus led to A MISSION FROM JESUS.

“‘Therefore, King Agrippa, I was not disobedient to the heavenly vision.  Instead, I preached to those in Damascus first, and to those in Jerusalem and in all the region of Judea, and to the Gentiles, that they should repent and turn to God, and do works worthy of repentance.  For this reason the Jews seized me in the temple complex and were trying to kill me.’” (Acts 26:19-21) 

Paul met Jesus and the Lord made him a new man and gave him a new mission.  It wasn’t long until he began sharing the Gospel—we find him doing it here—and he would until his head was cut off.  He marveled that the Savior would seek a sinner like him, and his life was devoted to serving this compassionate Christ.

Now, we aren’t saved by doing good works, but if we are saved it will move us to good works.  Paul pointed this out to Agrippa, “repent and turn to God, and do works worthy of repentance.” (.Acts 26:20b) 

After I received Christ, no one had to tell me that I needed to go to church, read my Bible, pray, tell others about Jesus and give an offering.  I wanted to!  After all that Jesus had done for me—how could I help but give Him my life? 

I am a man on a mission.  My life now has meaning.  I know what I am here for and where I am going!  The exciting part is “God doesn’t show favoritism” (Acts 10:34).  What he did for Paul, he did for me and what he did for me, He will do for you.  God loves you and wants to save you.  He wants you to enter into the greatest adventure there is in living for Him.  Your life will never be the same—and best of all you will go to heaven when you die!  How great is that! 

I’m not trying to tell you that if you follow Christ, you will have no more problems—they may just be starting.  Certainly, pain is part of the proposition.  The Lord Jesus said, “If anyone wants to come with Me, he must deny himself, take up his cross daily, and follow Me.’ (Luke 9:23) 

But, life is full of trouble anyway.  It doesn’t matter whether you are rich or poor, have celebrity or obscurity, if you are powerful or pitiful, you cannot immunize yourself from all pain.  Our culture idolizes the Hollywood icons and pop music stars, but how often do we hear of them checking into drug rehab, multiple marriages, domestic violence, and such?  Has what the world offered made them happy?  They all die—a death as certain as that experienced by a nameless, homeless beggar in the streets of Calcutta—and if they haven’t met Christ, they go to the same Hell.

Paul had been arrested, his life-threatened, virtually torn limb from limb, and as we see him in this passage, he is on trial.  Eventually, he will get the death sentence.  His steps were hounded by hardship.  But, he had Someone to stand by him and that Someone was the Sovereign Lord of Glory who would welcome him into Heaven with open arms.  One moment of breathing that celestial air caused all the weariness and wounds to be swept away by wonder and worship.   For the child of God, the best is always yet to be!

The meeting with Jesus led to a mission for Jesus and at the heart of that mission was A MESSAGE ABOUT JESUS.

“To this very day, I have obtained help that comes from God, and I stand and testify to both small and great, saying nothing else than what the prophets and Moses said would take place — that the Messiah must suffer, and that as the first to rise from the dead, He would proclaim light to our people and to the Gentiles.” (Acts 26:22-23) 

Paul preached Jesus.  He wanted every sinner (and that’s everyone) to know that there is a Savior who is seeking sinners.

That seemed like the most improbable course his life could take.  Consider how he once hated the Nazarene.  He counted Him a false prophet.  To Paul—then known as Saul—the Christian movement was a heretical malignancy that had to be eradicated.  But the new birth revolutionized the man.

One of the great proofs of the resurrection of Jesus is the transformation in this man’s life.  Now, Paul went from one who loathed Jesus to one who loved Jesus.  From a destroyer of the church, he became a defender of the church.  Jesus made the difference in a persecutor of the faith becoming a promoter of it!

I am looking right now at a church bulletin from Victory Baptist Church, dated August 15, 1976.  My name is listed in the order of service as bringing the morning message.  It was my first sermon.  Like Paul, that was an unlikely scenario!  Running into old high school classmates across the years, their mouths have dropped open when they heard I had become a preacher.  At first they thought that it was just a phase I was going through.  Surely, it would wear off.  It hasn’t!

Do you know what I preached at Victory on a sunshine-filled Sunday in a pew-packed sanctuary?  This very message I’m sharing today.  This was my text.  I preached Jesus!  When the invitation was given, a twelve year old girl stepped out and came to the altar—bowing there to give her life to Christ.

Years later, the message is as life-changing as it was then.  It’s why I preached this sermon last Sunday and why I share it with you readers today.  We aren’t commissioned to publicize a preacher or promote a church.   Our call is to honor Christ and let the world know, “There is salvation in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given to people, and we must be saved by it.” (Acts 4:12)   That name is Jesus! 

Have you met Him? 

I’d like to introduce you to my Best Friend today.  If you get to know Him, you will never be the same.  He is still the Savior seeking sinners.  I know, because like wretched old John Newton, who wrote “Amazing Grace,” my testimony is “I once was lost, but now am found.”