Defending the Gospel Part 1

Pastor Mike will be speaking on Defending the Gospel Part 1. He will be reading out of Acts 22 to 26.

How did I realize I needed Christ? For some of you, it could have been a tragedy in your life that God used to awaken your heart. For some people, we are so hard headed. The only way that they will ever look up is to be laying flat on their back. Hello.

This is pastor Mike Sanders. It’s time for Hope Worth Having radio program. Thank you for joining us. We’re in the book of Acts chapter 22, and we’re learning about how to defend the gospel. At the end of the book of Acts, what we see in the life of the apostle Paul is that he’s brought before kings and governors and different people, and he is defending his faith, and even though there are many who are against him, and that’s just the work of Christ, and so God was working in him and through him.

So I want you to join me as we study God’s Word together. Take your bible this morning and join me in Acts chapter 22. We’re going to begin a section in the book of Acts that leads all the way to chapter 26. Paul in acts chapter 22 through chapter 26, six times, he shares his testimony. He shares the good news of the gospel with unbelievers.

And that’s what you’re gonna witness as you go from chapter 22, 20 three, 20 four, 20 five, and 26. That’s what’s really going on. Now you remember those of you that have hung in there, you know that in chapter 21, at the end of the chapter, that the apostle has been arrested. He was in the temple in Jerusalem, and he was warned by his brothers and sisters in Christ through the power and the wisdom of the spirit of God, what he would endure. The warning was not to cause him to not go to Jerusalem, but it was just to prepare him as he went to Jerusalem.

So Paul is in Jerusalem, and he was told that he would be persecuted, and that he would face many trials in Jerusalem. And that’s exactly what he is experiencing here in chapter 22. So in your mind, I want you to understand that he is now getting ready to give a defense of the gospel. Let’s look at verse one of chapter 22. He says, brethren and fathers, hear my defense before you now.

And so this is the apostle giving a defense of the gospel. It is the second account that he has already given to us about his conversion of how he came to know the lord Jesus Christ. And the apostle teaches us and models for us how to share our testimony. We live in unique times, and there are many different adjectives that we could use to describe the times that we live in. But there is one thing for certain, that if ever there was a need for the lord Jesus Christ for people to come to Christ, it is even now.

Would Would you agree with that? I hope you would. And that’s gonna require you and me to be able to share our testimony, to be able to tell others about Jesus Christ. Remember that Peter taught us in first Peter chapter three verse 15 to sanctify Christ as lord in your hearts, always being ready to make a defense to everyone who asks you to give an account for the hope that is in you, but with gentleness and respect. I don’t wanna spend a lot of time on this verse, but I do want you to highlight a few things here, and that is first that we are called to sanctify our hearts to Christ.

That means that we’re to set apart our lives for his service, for his ministry, for his calling, for the purpose that God has for us. Now you thought that maybe God called you to make a lot of money, and you thought maybe God called you to live life to the max and enjoy all the selfish desires that you might be able to exhibit in your life, but that’s not true. Christ has called you to live for him. Christ in me and me in Christ. My life is about him, and it’s about reaching others.

Remember, Luke taught us that Jesus came to seek and to save those who are lost. You say, why does God have me here? Well, there’s many, many reasons that we could articulate, but let’s get to the bottom line, and that is that you are here to help win people to Jesus Christ. And he says sanctify your hearts, and he says be ready. Be ready to give a defense.

The King James says have a reason. Have a reason. It’s the same Greek word that the apostle uses in verse one when he says, hear my defense. Hear my reason. Hear my defense of what I believe and why I believe it.

You and I are to be ready to give a defense. And notice he says, for the hope that is in you. You know, we’re in these uncertain times. We’re in these unique times. We’re in these difficult times.

And there’s so much that is shifting and changing in our culture that I’m certain that some of you have become frightened, but yet God has called us to be a hopeful people. He has called us to be a people who are filled with hope, and this hope should be so overflowing in our life that people ask the question to us. Why do you have so much hope? Because you saw that to everyone who asks. To everyone who asks, which begs the question this morning, are you living your life in such a way that people see the joy of the lord and the hope of Christ in you that they are asking, what is it that you have that I don’t have?

Because if your life is you’re discouraged, you’re upset, you’re angry, you’re defeated, you’re just gloom and doom, then I’m telling you, you’re not living Christ in you. And you’re not letting Christ manifest his great joy in your life. The hope that is in you with gentleness. We give this defense, not that we’re angry, not that we’re obnoxious, not that we’re hateful, but we’re gentle with unbelievers. We show respect to unbelievers.

We may not agree with them, and we may not embrace their lifestyle, but we are gentle and respectful in how we engage them in conversation, and we speak the truth to them, and we speak it in the love of the lord Jesus Christ, and this is what God has called us to do, church. And it’s a lot for us to think about. And I wanna teach you this morning about sharing your testimony with your friends and your family, and I wanna use the apostle Paul this morning as an example for us. And so I don’t want you to get too excited, but I only have two points this morning. Okay?

But I wanna tell you under every point, there’s like four or five other sub points. So don’t get too excited. But I’m just telling you, that’s all you gotta really focus on. The first thing in sharing your testimony or defending the gospel in this culture that God has called you to be in is to tell God’s story. It is to tell God’s story.

We pick up in verse two, and we notice that the scripture says that when they heard that he had spoke to them in the Hebrew language, they kept all the more silent. You see, the apostle was a man who knew many languages. He was very articulate. He was not this guy who was uneducated or some guy who was just, you know, flinging it from the hip, but rather he was very intelligent. He was well educated.

And so the bible says, he said, verse three, I am indeed a Jew, born in Tarsus Of Sicilia, but brought up in this city at the feet of Gamaliel, taught according to the strictness of our father’s law, and was zealous towards god as you all are today. I persecuted this way to the death, binding and delivering into prisons both men and women, as also the high priest bears me witness and all the council of the elders from whom I also received letters to the brethren, and went to Damascus to bring in chains even those who were there to Jerusalem to be punished. He is telling God’s story. Now how is he doing that? How is the apostle doing that?

The first thing I want you to write down to help you with a template of your testimony. Write this down. What my life was like before I met Jesus Christ. What was my life like before I met Jesus Christ? By the way, this will all be in the app if you need help and you can’t keep up with pastor Mike because he talks too fast.

I understand. But what was Paul’s life like? He was a religious man. He tells us that in these verses. He was zealous for god, but he was zealous for god in the wrong way.

He was a persecutor of the church. He could not stand Christians. He was against them. He was well educated. We saw there in verse three that he was brought up in the city of Jerusalem at the feet of Gamaliel, and Gamaliel was a celebrated rabbi who was a person who had trained many young people and educated them.

He was like a mentor, and so the apostle was trying to say, look. This is who trained me. But notice he says, I persecuted the way. When he talks about the way, this is a reference to the faith, to those who love Jesus Christ, to those who are following the way. Remember Jesus said, I am the way, the truth, and the life, and no one comes unto the father but by me.

So Jesus introduced this concept of the way. The early believers referred to themselves in the way or following the way. And so the apostle is taking time here, and he is saying to us in verse four, I persecuted this way to the death. I persecuted them. He was very much connecting with his audience.

His audience was a Jewish audience. They were unbelievers. They believed that the apostle had abandoned Moses and the law, and therefore, he was a heretic. He was someone who had departed from Judaism, and he was a man who needed to be persecuted. He was a man who needed to be punished.

What does Paul do? He takes the advantage to begin to share his life before he met Jesus Christ. Let me give you some things that can help you as you’re trying to develop your testimony, and you’re trying to say how can I relate to my audience? Listen. If you’re gonna give your testimony to a teenager and to an adult, it’s gonna be a little bit different in this sense that you wanna be able to relate.

I know it’s hard for teenagers sometimes to believe that adults were once teenagers, but they were. They were. And so what are some things that’ll help you? Write these three things down. First of all, common circumstances.

I’m trying to think about my life before I knew Christ. Some things that I could relate to them. Maybe you were athletic. Maybe you were religious. Maybe you grew up in church, but you never knew Jesus Christ as your personal savior.

Maybe you were of a particular religion. Maybe you were Catholic. Maybe you were Episcopalian. Maybe you were Presbyterian. When you’re out there witnessing for Christ, there’s a lot of people who are religious, but they don’t know Jesus Christ.

Would you agree with that? Oh, yeah. They go to church and they show up every special day in the church, but they do not know the lord Jesus Christ as their savior. When I am trying to witness with someone, I want to find something that we have in common. A A common attitude as well is another thing you might wanna deal with.

Here’s what I’m talking about. Sometimes, I see people with maybe struggles in their life, anger in their heart, attitudes of resentment, attitudes of maybe feeling abandoned. And so you wanna try to identify with that. Maybe before you knew Christ, you had some of those same attitudes. Maybe your family circumstance led you to grow up with a lot of hurt and anger and disappointment in your heart, and you can relate and you can identify.

So you’ve got common circumstances, common attitudes. But how about this one? Common priorities. Think about what was your priorities before you knew Jesus. What was your priority before you came to Christ?

For me, my priority was to get up every day, and I was saved as a child. Praise God. But, yeah, I could look back at my life. My day, especially in the summer, was to get up. Now this is different.

It was back back in these days. We didn’t have video games. You ever heard of that? No video games. It’s a shocker.

I know. Hang on kids. Hang on teenagers. There was a time when there was no video games, and you say, what did you do with your time? We went outside.

We played football, baseball. My brother and I, we would play tennis. Anything we could find to do, if we found an old baseball, we would play baseball. We would call or we’d knock on every door of all the neighborhood kids, and we’re gonna meet over in the park and play football. And then we’d go home as soon as the sun went down or it was time for dinner, and that’s back in those days.

We’d ride our bikes. But what I’m trying to say to you is that what was a priority to me was just doing whatever Mike wanted was living his life and doing the things that were important to him. It was never to go to church. It was never to love God. It was never to read my bible.

These are the things that were important. For some of you before you came to Christ, your career was important to you. That’s all that mattered. For some of you, it was about trying to make as much money as you can. For some of you, it was just to do whatever I want.

I don’t want anybody to tell me what to do. All your life, your parents told you what to do, and you determined as soon as you got out of that house, nobody was gonna tell you what to do so you joined the army. Just teasing. But some of you did. So what we see in the apostle Paul is that he is relating to them in verses two through five.

He spoke their language. You see in verse two, he didn’t speak in terminologies that they couldn’t relate to. He was a very educated man, and he could have used fancy words, and he could have used different languages. Some of you, you talk over people. You talk down to people when you’re trying to witness.

Listen. You need to be where they’re at, and you need to remember the ground is level at the foot of the cross, and you just need to understand that you just speak a simple language. You don’t have to be profound. You don’t have to use big words. You don’t have to speak a language.

Now this is why I try to tell people so many of our young people, they have no clue about old English, thee and thou. They don’t even know what you’re talking about. Okay? And that’s why I’m okay. I give them a bible that’s translated from the scriptures, from the original manuscripts, and I give them a bible in today’s English.

Now, I know that upsets some of you, and it just sets you off. Okay? But you gotta pull it together. And you gotta understand that when a missionary goes to another country, they speak the language of the people. And even in America, you think about I was thinking about the other day that my grandson was in my office, my youngest grandson, and he was playing with my mouse.

And I was thinking about, you know what? You think about a mouse. A mouse can be a little creature running around. Right? Running from the cats.

But here’s what I want you to know. Look at that word mouse. Look. It changed. Now if I said a mouse to a young person, they’d think about a little clicker on a computer.

Do you understand? Some of you are falling apart. Don’t worry. I’m with you. I’ll help you.

But language changes. Some of you are mad because I go to Cracker Barrel. Look. I can’t boycott everybody. Okay?

I already told you this. If meat offered to idols bothers you, pull it together. Don’t do it. But it doesn’t bother me. Okay?

And even though the bacon may be offered to idols, I’m still enjoying every bit of it. Okay? I know that frustrates some of you. It’s okay. You’ll be okay.

Just show me in the bible where I’m wrong, and I’m glad to change. But until then, what I want you to remember in your testimony is that you wanna relate to people. You wanna talk about common circumstances, common attitudes. You wanna talk about common priorities, things that were important to you. That’s what my life was like.

Now what’s the second part of my testimony that we’re gonna see the apostle give is how I realized I needed Jesus Christ. You see, we pick up in verse six, and the apostle shares how Jesus interrupted his life. Would you notice that now it happened as I journeyed and came near Damascus at about noon, suddenly a great light from heaven shown around me, and I fell to the ground. And I heard a voice saying to me, Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting me? So I answered, who are you, lord?

And he said to me, I am Jesus of Nazareth whom you are persecuting. And those who were with me indeed saw the light and were afraid, but they did not hear the voice of him who spoke to me. So I said, what shall I do, lord? And the lord said to me, arise and go into Damascus, and there you will be told all the things which are appointed for you to do. How did I come to that point where I realized I needed Christ?

For some of you, it could have been a tragedy in your life that God used to awaken your heart, to turn you towards him. For some people, we are so hard headed. I put myself in there with you. So if I’m making you mad, I’m making Mike mad too. But we’re so hard headed.

How many of you know some hard headed people? Amen? Now quit ladies elbowing your husband. But we have some hard headed people, and and the Lord knows who they are. And the only way that they will ever look up is to be laying flat on their back.

You see what I’m saying? God knows how to get our attention. God knows how to bring us back in alignment with him. Even as believers, sometimes we get apathetic in our faith and we begin to slide backwards in our faith and God brings a shocker to our life to wake us up so that we will be passionate for Christ. I want you to understand that God not only uses tragedies, but he uses transitions.

Your life is gonna be filled with transitions. How about that one? You’re gonna transition. We think about so many times our young people transition from high school into maybe the workforce or to college or to military or some tech school or whatever God is calling them to do, but they’re transitioning from a life where all they did is went to school every day, and now they’re transitioning into something different. And then one day, you might get married and there’s a new transition from a single life to a married life, and then you have children, and there’s a transition of a couple with no children to now a couple with children.

And then there’s a transition that the kids, they wanna play sports, they wanna dance, they wanna do music, and you’re like a tax minivan. And now you’re driving this minivan and you’re dropping all the kids off to soccer practice and you’re dropping them off to drama class, whatever it is that they do, and you’re in that transition. And then guess what? The kids grow up and they leave. And then you look at each other as a husband and wife, and you say, who are you?

Oh, that’s my spouse. I’ve been living so much trying to get everything taken care of for the kids, and now the kids are gone. And I just realized I have a spouse. And so now you’re in that transition. And some of you are in the transition that your spouse is in heaven.

And now you’re living without your spouse. Some of you might be in a transition that your children are getting married. Or maybe you’re in the transition of grandchildren, and some of you are in the transition of great grandchildren. And I thought all grandchildren were great. And here we are, we go through life and we have new chapters in our life and we have new transitions in our life, and God uses transitions to get your attention.

And you may be going through a transition right now, And God’s trying to get your attention. And what I want you to do when you’re sharing your testimony is maybe share a little bit about how God used a transition, a change in your life that brought you to him. Another way that God gets our attention is not only through tragedies and not only through transitions, but through triumphs. You get a job promotion. You’re so overwhelmed with being blessed by God.

Or maybe God blesses you with children and you’re so overwhelmed being blessed by God. God uses triumphs in our lives, things that we accomplish. We recognize that we could never do it without Christ. And if it wasn’t His good work in us and through us that God just humbles our heart. We’re so filled with His grace that we just wanna give Him glory and honor, and it spurs within us a desire to recognize Him and to be more passionate for Him, and to live a life that is expressing gratefulness to Him.

God uses these times in our life to get our attention, and that’s what your testimony needs to be a part of. So the first part of my testimony is what my life was like before I knew Christ, how I realized that I needed Christ. There are significant steps, perhaps, things that God did to get our attention. But then, I want you to notice the next part of my testimony is how I committed my life to Christ. Isn’t what the apostle did?

He got down on his knee. He was a religious man. He thought he was doing the right thing. He was persecuting the church. He was going into people’s homes, dragging them out, dragging them to Jerusalem.

He was even a part of the death of some Christians, and God knocked him off his high horse, shown a light around him. Now not all of our experiences are as dramatic as what happened for Saul. It could be, but what I’m trying to say to you is that this powerful light shined on him, knocked him off his high horse. He landed on the ground, and the bible says in verse nine that those that were with him, they saw the light. They were afraid, but they didn’t hear the voice.

But Paul did, at that time, Saul, and he said, what shall I do, Lord? What shall I do? And here we see in this presentation is Saul is accepting Christ as the lord. For Christ has already told him back in verse seven and eight, here’s what you’re doing. You’re persecuting me.

When you persecute the church, Jesus takes it personal. When you attack the people of God, Jesus takes it personal. Be careful, brothers and sisters in Christ. When you condemn your brothers and sisters in Christ, be careful to judge your brothers and sisters in Christ. Be careful to come after your brothers and sisters in Christ because when you attack the church, the people of God, you are attacking Jesus Christ himself.

For the bible says that the church is the bride of Christ. The church is the body of Christ. So let’s be a little bit more cautious in what we say, and remember that Jesus takes it personal. And so the apostle wants to know what is he supposed to do. He is given instructions, and the apostle now is recognizing him as lord and calling him lord, his savior, his king, his God, his lord.

And he says, what shall I do, lord? And the lord said to me, in verse 10, arise and go to Damascus. And so that’s what the apostle did. He committed his life to Christ. You see, friends, part of your testimony is telling people how you committed your life to Christ.

Not only the circumstances that brought about you realizing that you needed Christ, but how did you commit yourself to Christ? Many many years ago, when I first came to the Open Door Church, one of our members had passed away. And I just it’s so vivid in my mind, and I’ve told you this before, but I just keep thinking about it sometimes about how we sat down with the family to plan the funeral service, and the children said to me, we don’t want you telling people how to be saved. And that caught me off guard because I’d never in my life ever had anybody tell me. They tell me just the opposite.

Just the opposite. Make sure you tell them how to be saved, pastor. Make sure you tell them to be ready because we never know when our number is called. We never know when it’s time to go. Right?

So we gotta make sure that we’re ready for Christ, but this particular child, adult child, did not want me to share the fact that people are sinners and needed to be saved, and Jesus Christ was the savior of the world, and that he could save them from their sins. So the spirit of God just gave me the wisdom is all I can say because I don’t know. It just popped in my head. And I said to her, can I share your dad’s faith? Well, that’s about dad.

Sure. Go ahead. Tell him how dad lived his life. Well, here, let me tell you something. I shared how he came to Christ, and I told him the way he got saved is the way you get saved.

Amen? Yes. Now it’s too late once the pastor’s up there. Okay? What are they gonna do now?

What are they gonna do now? But here’s what I wanna tell you, is how you committed your life to Christ. You may have expressed it with different words. You may have expressed it at different times or seasons of your life, but how you committed your life to Christ is how they are to commit their life to Jesus. Some of you are worried about sharing your testimony because you think, man, I don’t know enough bible verse, I don’t know enough theology, and I can’t answer all the questions that might be shared, but listen to me friends.

Don’t underestimate the power of a testimony because God can use your testimony to help somebody relate to you and to understand how God is trying to get their attention, and they need to give their life to Christ, and you’re being that example. And you’re showing them how you came to Christ, how you humbled your heart before God. It could have been in a service. It could have been in a tent revival. It could have been at your home.

It could have been at a, coffee shop. It could have been anywhere, any place, because God has no limitations where he’ll save somebody. Amen? Some of you today may not even know Jesus Christ as your savior, and you hear the gospel shared, and you wanna be saved, but you don’t respond. Well, Friends, you can respond in your home.

You can respond while you’re driving down a road. Just keep your eyes open. You can respond. We’re going to have times where we are called to defend what we believe. That’s why it’s important for us to know what we believe, why we believe it.

And you gotta know the word of God. You gotta be in the word of God. The apostle Paul stands as an example for us. He was a man who could defend the gospel and defend the life of Christ and the death of Christ and the resurrection of Christ, and he was not ashamed of the gospel for he recognized it as the power of God unto salvation. And I hope that’ll be true in your life and that you will take that opportunity to continue to saturate yourself in the word of God so you can be a fierce defender of the gospel of Jesus Christ.

I want to encourage you to make sure that you sign up for our newsletter. You can go to our website, hopeworthhaving.com. Sign up for the newsletter, and that’ll can either be mailed right to your mailbox or it can come into your email box, whichever you prefer. Take advantage of that, and I know you’ll be blessed. This is pastor Mike Sanders reminding you that in Christ, there is hope worth having.