 So Acts chapter 9, so the beginning of Acts chapter 9 of course is the story of the conversion of Saul or as you would know him Paul who wrote a good portion, most of the New Testament. This is how he became a believer in Acts chapter 9. So we'll look at that this evening. So let's remember just the context of what is going on in Acts chapter 9. We took a little bit of a break from what was actually happening. We talked about some stories with Philip in Acts chapter 8. But don't forget about what has just happened in Acts chapter 7 with the execution or the martering of Stephen, one of the first deacons of the church. So obviously at the end of Acts chapter 7 we looked down at verse number 60 and we saw that Paul was there in the end of Acts chapter 7, not verse 60. But we saw that Paul was there and we look at Acts chapter 9 verse 1. We kind of looked at these two verses already, but it says in Saul, yet breathing out threatening and slaughter against the disciples of the Lord went under the high priest. So Paul Saul was there at the execution of Stephen, the Bible says that he was consenting unto his death. Keep in mind that Saul, he heard Stephen's sermon. So I preached the whole sermon on Stephen's sermon itself and remember Saul was there and he heard it. So he knew the claims of the Christians at this point. He wasn't ignorant of the claims of what the Christians were claiming. He just didn't believe it. He just didn't believe it. So we see in Acts chapter 9 what God is going to do to change that. Look at verse number 1 of Acts chapter 9. Breathing out threatening and slaughter against the disciples of the Lord went under the high priest and desired of him letters to Damascus to the synagogues that if he found any of this way, talking about Christians, whether they be men or women, he might bring them bound unto Jerusalem. So he went out of his way to get letters from the high priest to go to Damascus and get more Christians and try to round them up and stop this movement as it is. So he's quite the driver, as we've already talked about. He's quite the motivated individual. Look at verse number 3. The Bible says that as he journeyed he came near Damascus. Now he has the letters. He's going to get the Christians and suddenly they're shined round about him a light from heaven. And he fell to the earth and heard a voice saying unto him, Saul, Saul, why persecutes thou me? And he said, Who art thou, Lord? And the Lord said, I am Jesus, whom thou persecutes. It is hard for thee to kick against the pricks. So keep in mind, Paul, Saul knew who the Christians claimed that the Messiah was. I mean he heard, we know for sure he heard Stephen Sermon. He just didn't believe it. And now in verse number 5, Jesus himself tells Saul, hey, it's me. It's Jesus who you're persecuting. And Jesus says it's hard for thee to kick against the pricks. What he means there, whenever I read that I always think about like if you're going to pet a porcupine you better pet it the right way. You don't want to pet a porcupine against the grain, right? Or pet an animal against grain. Jesus is basically saying Paul you're swimming against the current is what he's saying to Saul. He's like you're swimming against the current. So he says you know Paul's biggest question or Saul, I gotta quit calling him Paul, he's not Paul yet. But Saul's biggest question at this point is who is the Messiah? Because he just doesn't believe that Jesus was the Messiah. He heard Stephen say that you're all murderers and that you murdered the Messiah. He just didn't believe it. And now Jesus tells him it was me. Okay look at verse number six. And he, this is how he responds, he trembling, I mean think about this scene for a second here. He's riding his horse or his ride of whatever it is and he's riding it and he's literally knocked off his donkey or his animal with this bright shining light with this voice from heaven that is Jesus himself saying you know you're persecuting me. Verse number six, he's trembling and astonished and said Lord what will thou have me do? Look he doesn't argue with Jesus at this point. I mean he's pretty much like okay I get it, you know he understands and the Lord said unto him arise and go into the city and it shall be told thee what thou must do. And the men who journeyed with him stood speechless hearing a voice but seeing no man and Saul arose from the earth and when his eyes were opened he saw no man but they led him by the hand and brought him into Damascus. So just imagine this scene for a second. He's this powerful Pharisee of the Pharisees the Bible says. He's going out of his way to go, I mean he's the kind of Pharisee he can just walk right into the high priest and just ask for these letters. He gets these letters. He's an extremely powerful man. He's an extremely powerful man in the Jewish kingdom. He goes and he gets these letters, he's a man of power, he can pretty much demand and do whatever he wants and here he's knocked off his horse, he's blinded, Jesus has like struck him down personally and now he's literally being led by the hand. He can see nothing by just these servants that were with him. Quite an extreme change of events for Saul here. And then look at verse number nine it says, and he was three days without sight neither did eat nor drink. So he goes, he needs taken to the city and they just set him somewhere and he just sets there and he doesn't eat or drink anything. Now the main thing there that is surprising is like any one of us in this room could go three days without eating. That's an easy thing for someone to do. It might not be pleasant but it's an easy thing for anyone to go through. But three days without drinking is a fairly serious thing, especially in a warmer climate like they are in here. So he goes and he's completely broken down is what I'm trying to get you to understand here. He's broken down. He's taken from this man of great power to a man that cannot even eat or drink or even feed himself because he is just blinded like literally without sight. He needs to be led around by the people that were his servants just a few minutes earlier. Look at verse ten. And now we see another kind of a parallel situation happening and there was a certain disciple at Damascus named Ananias and to him the Lord said in a vision Ananias and he said behold I'm here Lord and the Lord said in him a rise and go into the street which is called straight and inquire in the house of Judas for one called Saul of Tarsus. For behold he prayeth and that's seen in a vision a man named Ananias coming in and putting his hand on him that he might receive his sight. So God is saying here you're kind of seeing both sides of what God's doing for Saul and what God is doing for Ananias. So God is telling Ananias that you're going to go and meet with this man Saul of Tarsus and then at the same time he's telling Saul to be praying and he gives Saul a vision that this man is going to come see him. So God is making a divine appointment of these two men right here. Look at verse number 12 and hath no verse 13 sorry Ananias answered so he knows who Saul of Tarsus is okay and I mean this just goes again to show you how powerful how well known you know how effective Saul was at his job of persecuting the Christian and Ananias answered Lord I've heard by many of this man how much evil he had done to the saints at Jerusalem and I mean Ananias is like are you sure you've got the right guy because this is a really bad guy Ananias says to the Lord all right I mean I like to think that if Jesus like came and like spoke to me directly that I would just like say like whatever he wanted me to do and I wouldn't like question him but you know who knows I mean this was just shows you how extreme the ask was of Ananias and how well known you know Saul's evil against the church and against the believers was look at verse 14 and he hath authority so I mean this guy he's saying like don't you know what this guy's done and don't you know how powerful he is is what Ananias says to Jesus and here he hath authority from the chief priests to bind all that call on thy name so these people think about the fear in this church so Saul went and he got the letters from the chief priests and he was coming to Damascus all the while they knew he was coming think about that here here the Christian church imagine this church right here you know knowing that somebody's coming from San Diego or somebody's coming from you know Oregon or whatever and they're coming with letters from the federal government that every single person at hold fast Baptist church is to be thrown in prison I mean just imagine I mean tell me that wouldn't shake you know shake people's situation a little bit I mean it's a real thing they knew he was coming and Jesus telling him hey I want you to go meet with this guy alright but the Lord said unto him verse 15 go thy way for he is he is a chosen vessel unto me to bear my name before the Gentiles and kings and the children of Israel for I will show him how great things he must suffer for my names sake so God tells Ananias you know I always like to think like you know you should do that when you're reading the Bible I always like to kind of try to put myself in in the situation sometimes you read things so many times that you kind of forget I mean it's some people are better at this than others to try to put yourself in the shoes of the people that you're reading but you know just try to do that as much as you can because it kind of you know put some perspective on your life too you know put some perspective on you know maybe hard times that we think we're going through and we look at actually you know this story I mean this isn't just a story that we read in the Bible every single year when we read to the New Testament this actually happened to a group of people to a group of Christians but God tells Ananias he says no he's like I am choosing him to spread the gospel is basically what he says and then he says in verse 16 he says I will show him how great things he must suffer for my name's sake and this is what's really interesting because it's super important to understand that Jesus taught Saul Jesus taught Saul or as we know him Paul now the key to understanding the timeline of Acts chapter 9 is Galatians chapter 1 so go ahead and turn to Galatians chapter 1 and let's just make sure we understand like the timeline of Acts chapter 9 a key to understanding Acts chapter 9 maybe put in that just even if you make notes in your Bible you should make a note next to Acts chapter 9 that Galatians chapter 1 is a key to understanding the timeline here of what happened to Paul because Paul he gives us more detail in Galatians chapter 1 if you look at verse 13 of Galatians chapter 1 Paul kind of explains a little bit more detail about this timeline starting in verse 13 he says for you have heard of my conversation in time past in the Jews religion how that beyond measure I persecuted the church of God and wasted it so here he's admitting he's admitting exactly what Annanias just told Jesus he's like I was like there was nobody that beyond measure he's like there was nobody that was better than me at this and profited in the Jews religion above many my equals in my own nation and being more exceedingly zealous of the traditions of my father's but when it pleased God who separated me from my mother's womb and called me by his grace to reveal his son and me that I might preach him among the heathen immediately I conferred not with flesh and blood now go back to Acts chapter 9 you got to keep a place in in Galatians chapter 1 and Acts chapter 9 so it says that he was called here he called he was called by the grace of God all right now guess what you say whoa is this Calvinism what is this guess what if you're saved you were called by the grace of God here's the thing everybody's called everybody's called God wants and God wishes that all men would be saved but it just doesn't work that way because some people don't accept that grace okay so look if you're saved God called you and you answered the phone think about it that way you know the point is and the reason it's such a drastic story here is because God just went to great lengths with Saul to call him because he had a purpose for Saul which is the same purpose that he has for us by the way but he just really needed this man at this time to reveal his son and me that I might preach him among the heathen and then he says in verse 16 immediately I conferred not with flesh and blood you know what he's saying there he's saying as soon as the Lord knocked me off my horse as soon as you know I got knocked off my donkey or whatever I was riding he's like as soon as that happened you know I didn't go and like learn a bunch of doctrine from people he's like I didn't learn from people go to Acts chapter 9 look at verse 17 let's continue with Ann and I's keep a place in Galatians chapter 1 and Ann and I's went his way and entered into the house so Ann and I say okay I'll do it and putting his hands on him said brother Saul the Lord even Jesus that appeared unto thee in the way as thou came as hath sent me that thou mayst receive thy sight and be filled with the Holy Ghost so obviously Saul at this point has already seen the vision of Ann and I is that's going to come in verse 18 and immediately there fell from his eyes as it had been scales and he received sight forthwith and arose and was baptized and when he had received meat he was strengthened then was Saul certain days with the disciples which were at Damascus so Saul is saved so Saul is saved he's got a sight back he's with the disciples he's in Damascus he's been baptized and here we go and straight way it says right away he preached Christ in the synagogues that he is the son of God look at verse 21 it says but all that hurt him so right away did it say he was like preaching some crazy like deep doctrine it says no he was just declaring Christ right away he's just declaring that Jesus Christ is the Messiah because what was Saul missing that's what Saul was missing he was just missing who the Messiah was and straight way he preached Christ in the synagogues what what he preached that he is the son of God but all that hurt him were amazed they all knew who he was he was powerful he was famous he was well known they all knew he was coming and said is this not that he that destroyed them which called on his name in Jerusalem and came hither for that intent came to he was doing it in Jerusalem and he came here to do the same thing that he might bring them bound under the chief priests but then look at verse 22 and I got to go to Galatians chapter 1 as I read you verse 22 but Saul increased the more in strength and confounded the Jews which dwelt at Damascus proving that this is very Christ so now you see what happened here you see there's a timeline that we need to figure out here basically from verse 20 where he was just declaring that Jesus is the son of God now he is in the synagogues at this point and he is just like he's debating the Jews and he's in there and he's just proving from the word of God that Jesus is the son of God he's proving it through God's word how's he doing that he's going and he's just showing all the prophecies he's showing all the prophecies that were filled fulfilled by Jesus he's showing how you know if you know the Old Testament if you know the Bible there's no one else that you could think Jesus was that's what he's doing now he's going into the deep things of God but now look at Galatians chapter 1 in verse 17 you're like how in the world did he do that he says in Galatians chapter 1 16 he said I conferred not with men he's like I didn't talk to men and Jesus has already said in Acts chapter 9 he said that I'm gonna show Saul personally and he gives us the answer in Galatians 1 17 he says I didn't confer with men he says I didn't talk to any men he's like neither when I went I went I up to Jerusalem he's like well surely he must go to the apostles and learn what they have to teach him he's like neither when I up to Jerusalem to them which were apostles before me but I went into Arabia you're like what and returned again unto Damascus Saul was in Arabia for three years and he went back to Damascus go back to Acts chapter 9 and now it makes more sense so in between I believe that it's in between verse 22 and onward to verse 23 is where that that Arabian teaching by Jesus to Saul took place and at first at first when I you know I read through the Bible the first few times I was kind of thinking like all right between verse 22 and verse 23 he must have just left for three years but now as I read the Bible more I actually think it makes more sense that Paul that Saul was you know Arabia is in that same area of Damascus I believe that this was kind of he was going in and out to Damascus at this time and he was going and you know being taught by Jesus as he came to Damascus and preached in the synagogues I mean that's just my opinion about it I mean the Bible doesn't say one way or another but basically it's in this time frame that he was being taught by Jesus himself in Arabia which is right around you know in the Damascus area look at verse 23 and after that many days were fulfilled this is that three years the Jews took counsel to kill him after three years you know I mean he's he's just proving that Jesus I mean they can't they they can't prove from the Bible they can't prove from the Bible that it's Jesus isn't the Son of God they can't prove from the Bible that Jesus is not the Messiah you're running into the same thing yourself if you people are starting to criticize your Christian life and they don't like the way you're doing this or doing that and they don't like what you're separating from and separating on to you know people will come up to you and just be like hey let's sit down with the Bible and talk about it and you will not have any takers ever because like it's just very clear what the Bible tells us to do so if we use like the Word of God as your guide you know I mean there's no debating the Word of God all right look at verse 24 so they're tired of it they can't you know they can't they can't win the argument they can't prove that Jesus was not the Messiah but they're laying away known or weighing away it was so they took counsel to kill them they're like let's just kill them but they're laying away it was known of Saul and they watched the gates day and night to kill him then the disciples took him away by night and let him down by the wall in a basket so verse 26 then Saul goes to Jerusalem so he doesn't go to Jerusalem until three plus years after he is converted he doesn't he doesn't get saved and run to Jerusalem he gets saved he gets taught by Jesus he goes and he wears out his welcome by just preaching doctrine in Damascus and then he goes to Jerusalem that's the timeline okay go to Galatians chapter 1 again and I'll read for you Acts chapter 9 26 it says when Saul was come to Jerusalem he is saved to join himself to the disciples so when he went to Jerusalem he wanted to like get together with everybody and like you know be part of the church right but this is three years later or more they were all afraid of them they're still afraid of him at Jerusalem again proving the damage that this man did the effectiveness that this man effective is if you will that he had his job of persecuting the church and believe not that he was a disciple they didn't believe it they're like he was he was so bad that we just don't believe that he's truly saved look at verse 18 of Galatians 1 he backs this up again so in in Acts chapter 9 it says after many days were fulfilled in Galatians 118 it kind of answers this timeline it says then after three years I went up to Jerusalem to see Peter okay so now we kind of you have to have both things to piece together you know the timeline of events of Acts chapter 9 that's why Galatians chapter 1 is so important I mean so many parts of the Bible are like that that's why we have four Gospels that's why you'll have many of the same stories in many of the different Gospels you just get a different angle you get a little bit more information you get a little bit different information from different accounts I mean the Bible is is nice that way all right look at verse 18 of Galatians 1 after three years I went up to Jerusalem to see Peter and abode with him 15 days but again and again we see you know proof here that the other Apostles you know didn't really want to see him much where he says in verse 19 but the other Apostles saw I none save James the Lord's brothers like he's basically saying like they wouldn't hang out with me it's what he's saying they didn't want to have much to do with Paul go back to Acts chapter 9 in verse 27 so we see Paul gets Saul gets saved you know Ananias meets him you know and and then he he goes through this three-year process of Jesus teaching him and then him wearing out his welcome you know just debating with the Jews and proving it doesn't even say debating all right it just says proving to the Jews that Jesus was the son of God and verse 27 it says but Barnabas now he's in Jerusalem but Barnabas took him and brought him to the Apostles and declared unto them how he had seen the Lord in the way and that he had spoken into them and how he had preached boldly at Damascus in the name of Jesus so he's kind of Barnabas kind of like you know telling the Apostles no he really did get saved he's been causing trouble in Damascus for three years the Jews tried to kill them there it says and he was with them coming in and going out at Jerusalem so that's as far as we're going to take Acts chapter 9 this evening there's some other stories we're going to look at but I want to just kind of put across a concept to apply to you this evening so why why did God show such great mercy to Saul you think about it for a second he was so bad he was so bad he was so effective at being bad he was doing so much damage to the church us in our simple minds would just say God needs to just destroy that person God needs to just wreck that person I mean obviously now that we see the New Testament we see how effective Paul was as an evangelist it's easy for us to look back and and and see how how right God was but imagine being at that time how confused imagine being an Ananias shoes at that time you know they probably knew people that Paul had person that Saul had persecuted in Jerusalem I mean they probably the Christians in Damascus they probably took this personally to a large degree I mean just imagine you know friends that you have at other churches and imagine that somebody came and just horribly persecuted like those friends of yours like a family that you knew somewhere was horribly say they went somewhere and they were horribly persecuted for their faith to the point where they were like taken away and and locked in a dungeon somewhere I mean look you would take that extremely personally you we would all be very upset I mean why and just imagine the Christians thinking why does God have such mercy on this man so God went way out of his way here God went way out of his way like knock this guy off his ride made him blind went through three days and three nights of no food no water I mean just like really made an impact to to get this guy on the right team but why turn to 1st Timothy chapter one I want to show you this concept this evening and show how it applies to us directly it's super important that we understand this in our Christian lives you know one of the things about the Bible is that you need to understand like you know it's great to memorize chapters of the Bible it's great to memorize things in the Bible but you need to understand the concepts of who God is and how he operates by reading the Bible and if you read the Bible enough you will just and you hear enough Bible preaching about just the true word of God you will start to understand how God operates towards us I mean look I'm not talking about just the gospel I mean we've all got the gospel we're soul winners here we understand the gospel I'm talking about how God relates to us as our heavenly father okay turn to 1st Timothy chapter one look at verse number 12 this is Paul this is Paul talking to Timothy and he's talking about who he used to be and he's kind of giving some insight on why you know God went out of his way to make sure that you know he had a chance to understand like who the Messiah was look at verse 12 he says and I thank Christ Jesus our Lord who hath enabled me for that he counted me faithful putting me into the ministry he's saying I thank God that he showed me what he showed me so I would get saved look at verse 13 and now he says who he was he says who was before a blasphemer he was blaspheming Christ and a persecutor and injury injurious look he's saying like I wasn't just like speaking badly against people he's like I was doing physical harm to people he says look he's like but I obtained mercy so he says all these bad things I was a blasphemer I was a persecutor he's like I was actually hurting people physically but I obtained mercy why look what he says because I did it ignorantly in unbelief here's the thing you have to understand about Paul and this is a this this we need to apply directly to our Christian lives Paul Saul before he became before God changed his name Paul was sincere in his error he was sincere he thought that he was doing the right thing he thought that he was doing the work of the Lord sincerely he was sincere in his error and that is why God had mercy on him turn to Titus chapter 1 see look there's different types of false prophets out there you have to understand this there's different types of false prophets and Saul was a sincere false prophet he thought that he was on the right side of God he was sincere in his ignorance and that is why God was merciful to him but compare that with these types of people look at Titus chapter 1 Titus chapter 1 and many times many times that the Bible talks about specifically false prophets it's this type of false prophet right so I believe that I mean it's just again it's just my opinion but I believe the false prophet of Saul is probably in the minority of false prophets because when the Bible actually speaks specifically about false prophets it's more along the tone of Titus chapter 1 look at verse number 10 it says for there are many unruly and vain talkers and deceivers especially they have the circumcision whose mouse must be stopped whose subvert wholehouses teaching things they ought not why because they're ignorant no it says that there's all these unruly people it's like you know what that means unruly doesn't mean they're like crazy and wild it means they don't follow the rules it means they don't care look we see the exact same thing today there's there's many unruly and vain talkers and deceivers out there they don't care about the rules they don't care about the Bible they don't care about what the word God says especially they have the circumcision talking about the Jews at this time whose mouths must be stopped who subvert whole he's like they're fooling entire houses of people they're fooling entire families he's like they're deceiving you know just multitudes of people teaching things that they ought not why for money for filthy Luke's sake this false prophet look this is this is the Joel Osteins today this is the Benny Hins today these are the people that have turned religion into a business today this is the church growth movement today what do we got to do what do we got to do I mean look they're unruly why what do you mean they're unruly they don't follow any rules hey let's get a rock band let's get some smoke machines let's get some you know girls up on stage to dance or let's get Kanye West in the place to just be an abomination everywhere it's unruly there's no rules there's no rules it's anything to get people in the doors of the church for Phil it's it's a business and Joel Ostein can go out and he can say he can say oh but I wrote all these books it helps many people look he's he's unruly he's vain he's deceitful he's just he's just using God's word when it suits him to to like promote a self-help religion or something like that it's a self-help business using you know God's name is what he's doing he's claiming religion and he's just he's he's he's a he's a religious psychologist you know using religiosity to sell and to bring people in the door I mean look they're corrupting the word of God to make money is the is the main type of false prophet that the Bible talks about here but this was not solved is what I'm trying to get you to understand this was not so I was sincere he thought he was right and look I have met sincere false prophets I can think of one Lutheran pastor that I had met just one though one Lutheran pastor that I met ten years ago that I believe is a sincere false prophet he look he's a false prophet but he just doesn't know he just doesn't know you're very sincere believes it not in it for the money just just sincere wrong that was Saul and look I've got a hope I've got a you know pray that God would show these sincere false prophets the way just like he showed Saul but look this was not Saul so I'm trying to get you to understand he wasn't in it for filthy Luke or sake he was just sincerely ignorant he thought he was right he thought he was right look at Luke chapter 12 but look this is why and this is why this I need you to understand God's philosophy here so I want you to look at that we're gonna look at this parable of you know the servants in Luke chapter 12 and verse number 40 we're gonna start at verse number 42 but I want you to understand God's philosophy towards being ignorant and and knowing because we can apply the same thing to Christians okay so Saul obtained mercy because he was ignorant in what he was doing is the main point all right look at Luke 12 and verse number 42 where Luke 12 verse number 42 the Bible says the Lord said who then is that faithful and wise steward whom his Lord shall make ruler over his household to give them their portion of meat and due season so he's saying who's a faithful servant who's a faithful steward look at verse 43 he says blessed is that servant when he cometh shall find so doing just serving doing the right things of a truth I say unto you that he will make him ruler over all that he has he's comparing us and what we do in our Christian lives to a servant serving his master now look at verse 45 and it's interesting because most of the verses in this example that Jesus gives are about the servant that knows what he's supposed to do but does not do it look at verse 45 verse 45 through first verse 47 are all talking about this type of person but and if that servant saying his heart my Lord delayeth is coming so here's a servant that the Lord's not there okay he knows what to do the Lord's not there he says my Lord delayeth is coming and shall begin to beat the men servants and maidens and to eat and drink and to be drunken this is the guy that it's like he knows better but no one's looking he knows better but no one's looking and you know this is the thing that just kills me about Christians by the way you'll find Christians that are verse 45 like they not like did they not believe the Bible I'm just like you find Christians that are verse 45 they're like no one's looking hello you know this guy thinks no one's looking so I can just do whatever I want and look look what happens the Lord of that servant will come in a day when he look at not for him so look the Christian that says nobody's looking I can do whatever I want like the Lord is gonna look you're gonna get caught when you don't even when you don't expect it is what verse 46 is saying and then at an hour when he's not aware and will cut him in Sunder and he will point him his portion with the unbelievers you say what what what is that all about he's gonna point him his portion with the unbelievers you know what this is about you know this is about this is about a Christian who thinks that they can just go off and do whatever they want that no one's looking I mean there's like it must not have any faith that God's real I don't know or just not thinking about it maybe they're so in the world they're so filled with pride or whatever they just go off and they go into whatever sin that they want they think nobody's looking the Bible says that that they're gonna get they're gonna get caught the Lord's gonna come back and bust them at an hour that they have no idea it says then they're gonna be off with the unbelievers what do you see happening to backslidden Christians that just get into a bunch of sin do you see those people in church do you see those people out so we know they're living with the unbelievers they might as well be an unbeliever I mean look they're not an unbeliever but they might as well be one because the Bible says we're supposed to treat them as an unbeliever but I mean they just they go into all this sin they think that they're never gonna get caught they get caught and then they just they're living they're living a backslidden life in the world is basically what verse 46 is talking about look at verse 47 again again talking about that servant he knew what he was supposed to do this is super important that we understand this as Christians because the problem is like being in a church like this listening to preaching like this and then not doing it this is why I like people that just like they come to a church like this and then they just they don't want to do the things that the Bible says they just don't end up coming to a church like this for very long because who wants to listen to preaching and it tells you to do what you're supposed to do when you're not gonna do it it's just it's not a pleasant thing right people don't like that so usually they solve the problem themselves but the point is look verse 47 and that servant which knew his Lord's will and prepared not himself look here's the thing come into a church that preaches the whole Bible you are going to know what the word of God says and as I sit up here and I stand up here and I not only I preach the Bible to you but then I yell at you until you should actually be reading the Bible yourself I'm like hey preaching and then I'm like hey read the Bible to look you're gonna know what it says you're gonna I mean you're gonna as we read the Bible as we read the New Testament together as a church every January you're gonna figure out what the Bible says you're gonna know what the Lord's will is but here's the downside here and prepared not himself neither did according to his will this the person that here's the word of God that reads the word of God and does none of it shall be beaten with many stripes verse 45 through 47 is all about the person that knew what they were supposed to do did none of it and then the passages ended with they will be beaten severely is what the Bible says now look at verse 48 only the first sentence of verse 48 talks about the person that didn't know but he that knew not and did commit things worthy of stripes shall be beaten with few stripes is the person that gets saved one day and just never gets into the Christian life this is the person that just trust on Jesus get saved believes on the Lord Jesus Christ and just does nothing with their Christian life like they're gonna be beaten with few stripes like that's not fair who are you to say what's fair first of all but this is how it works and this is what we need to understand as Christians says for whomsoever now he explains why you say why is it that way and here's why he explains why at the end of verse 48 he says for whomsoever much is given of him shall be much required so what the Bible is saying is if you're in a Bible preaching church if you are if you are beating the Bible and if you have these I mean if you have a Bible so many people just never even had a Bible if you have a Bible you have that blessing you have the will of God in your hand and you don't do it it's like look much has been given to you is what the Bible is saying here it's like much has been given you so much is gonna be required of you and look at the next part and to whom men have committed much you know what that says it says that like to people that have the Bible to people that are in a Bible preaching church to people that have a pastor preaching to them that have brothers and sisters helping them to just have all this commitment given to them it's talking it says men have committed much it says of him they will ask the more look the Bible here is saying God is saying that if if you have these things and you have men that have committed to you and you have brothers and sisters around you that have committed to you you have a church you have the Bible you have all this is like man there's gonna be a lot there's gonna be a lot that's expected of you I mean I hate to rain on your parade tonight but that's you this is this is you who this is talking about I remember I mean here's the thing most of the verse is most of the whole passage is talking about the people that knew better and did nothing why is that is because that's most Christians that's why they know better and they do nothing that's 90% I mean this the Christian is just it's so many people they just they just know what they're supposed to do and they just don't do it they continue in pride they continue in bitterness they continue in sin and they're just gonna be beaten without mercy is what the Bible says look God simply expects more from those that know the truth I remember before we moved to California my wife and I used to go on the farm on the farm there was a there was a dirt road to get into the farm it was like half a mile long you had to drive into this dirt road we used to just take walks on that road in the evenings and we I mean I was in the midst of like we had decided to move and I was in the midst of just going through all the logistics of selling things and getting things ready to move and how we were gonna how we were gonna actually get to California and it was just like it was one of those moments it was just really like just like I felt like I was just uprooting my whole life and like that's what we were doing because we were uprooting our whole lives like everything was being uprooted we're just pulling we're pulling the whole tree out of the ground and I made I made some I made a comment to my wife walking down that road that that night and I just said I said you know the problem is though I don't know exactly how I worded it but I basically said the problem is you can't unknow what we know you know and I may even said it along the lines like I wish you could unknow what we know because it was just it was such a disruptive event it was so different disruptive to our families to my career to all the worldly things around us it was just throwing into complete chaos and I was just like I was like the problem is though is like I can't unknow what we know now once you know the things in the Bible once you know the gospel once you're saved and then you know that you're supposed to be going out and giving the gospel to other people that that is literally your commission in in this life on planet earth how can you unknow that you can't you know that's that's why we need to be the servants that know and are doing that know and are doing because look it's too late that's that's what I was saying to my wife it's too late I already know I can't I can't know it and and not do it or I know what's gonna happen to me is what I was saying in my life so you're right God puts pressure on those that have been given much God puts pressure on the he expects more from those that have been given much which is which is you which is us which is me okay and this is why I like look this is why for the Christian on the other side of this the Christian that would that would get into sin the Christian that would get into sin look this goes for Christians and uncrit I mean this would be just life philosophy so I mean kids listen up but here's the thing if you get into sin you just own it immediately if you make mistakes in your life own it immediately because the longer you stay in that the worst it is going to be for you and the worst it is going to be for those around you why because you are knowingly doing it you're not like Saul if you're a Christian that knows the Bible and you are just gonna willingly go into sin that's the opposite of Saul and what did Saul get Saul got mercy because he was ignorant in his mistake if a Christian who knows the Bible knows the truth knows God's commandments knows what God wants for his life gets into sin and just will not let go of that sin they I mean just the smallest thing could end up ruining their entire life and and look unfortunately you'll see it happen the minute you and look we're all gonna make mistakes we're all gonna stumble along the way in this Christian life the trick is this you just admit it immediately you just own it immediately I don't care if we're talking about something at work I don't care if we're talking about something with your friends your brothers your sisters your spouse your kids look even with your kids look as a parent you're gonna make mistakes you know you should do if you do something wrong with your kids you know you should do you should own it immediately what admit my admit fault in front like yes I have said that to my kids many times hey hey I came down on you for that that I was wrong I I saw it differently I'm sorry look as a parent you're not gonna make every decision perfect and kids shouldn't expect their parents to make every single decision perfect because I'm just a man and my wife is just a woman we're gonna make mistakes but guess what you own your mistakes as Christians you're gonna make mistakes but own them immediately and own them fully don't be this half sorry type own them fully it was my fault there's no excuse for it I made a mistake not always my fault but I just didn't I just didn't know and then you just follow up your apology with like 18 excuses no on it just own it it's like hey that was a mistake I shouldn't have done that that way I'll try to do better next time I don't know why that's so hard for people may have apologized a lot my life but that's very hard for some people to do is own your mistakes and then look then you'll then you'll get you know you'll get you'll get mercy you'll get mercy from the war don't be this person that just wraps on to your sin and is just like you know this is why pride so dangerous because pride is so dangerous it'll make you hang on to your sin it'll make you make excuses for your sin and here's the thing about excuses like everybody knows you did it it's like the kid with the cookie jar he's got crumbs all over his face and you know he's like I didn't do it he's got Oreo cookies all over his face I didn't eat the cookie like everybody knows you did it just admit it just own it just own it because look otherwise you know you're not gonna have mercy like Saul had mercy so look here's the other other side of that coin is that God expects more from us because we know because we know and that's what he said about that's what he said about Paul he said about Saul he's like I'm gonna expect I'm gonna I'm gonna tell him about the great things that he is gonna need to be need to suffer for me and and God God said that to Anna and I he's like he is going to suffer greatly for me so God puts pressure on the profitable God expects more from the profitable it's like you know one guy told me one time he's like you know I did something really well at work a few years ago and and my boss came up to me he said hey you know it you know what you get for winning a pie eating contest I just had some success and some project or something and I said what I was thinking like a bonus or you know some kind of you know raise or something he's like no he's like more pie you know you're saying to me he's like you know since since you did so well in this I'm gonna give you more work than everybody else that's that's God though I mean that was just my boss in that case but that is what God that's his philosophy we know more we've been given more he expects more from us so God expected a lot from Saul later on Paul but guess what he delivered he delivered with his whole life and go God will reward us God will reward us and Saul he quit kicking against the pricks he got moving with the current and look at what he accomplished with his Christian life right but he obtained mercy because he was ignorant in his sin so that's the lesson for us okay we're not ignorant we have the word of God we know what's right we know what we're supposed to be doing so let's save ourselves the the trouble and and let's let's go with the current in this kitchen this Christian life and let's not kick let's not pet the porcupine against the grain let's bow our heads and have a word of prayer