[0:00] Christ, proving that this is very Christ. It may be said that the experience of Saul of Tartus was unusual and special.
[0:22] At the same time, the experience that he had must surely in its measure be the experience of everyone who is born again in the spirit.
[0:38] It does draw our attention to the power of God and how quickly a person may be translated from the opposition to that which is in favor.
[0:57] It may perhaps be suggested that none was ever more at enmity in the demonstration of it against Christ than all his followers.
[1:13] And yet, how quickly the Lord was able to turn that man's heart so that it was very soon that he preached Christ in the synagogue that he is the Son of God.
[1:30] And as he continued, he increased more in strength and consounded the Jews, which fell to the martyrs, proving that this is very Christ.
[1:44] So, experience, what we call experience, may certainly be said to be a nice fence in proving this is very Christ.
[2:04] It is not just proving from the scripture that this is very Christ, though, that it is very valuable and important.
[2:18] But it is proving in our day-to-day experiences that this is very Christ, as we feel our own personal needs of no less person than Christ himself.
[2:35] So, indeed, could speak with such certainty that this is very Christ because the Lord has spoken to him from heaven.
[2:52] We may not have it in such a demonstrative way, but is there any other way that we can begin to know Christ, but that he should speak to us through heaven?
[3:12] There are those, as we read in this chapter, that were with Saul when the words were spoken for him.
[3:37] And he fell unto the earth and heard a voice, saying unto him, Saul, Saul, why persecutest thou me?
[3:50] But in the seventh verse we read, and the men which journeyed with him stood speechless, hearing a voice about seeing no man. Now, that is a little differently rendered when Paul recounts his experience in so much close detail in other parts of the activity of apostles.
[4:19] They thought it sounded, though it was a sound. But the voice did not come to them. Sometimes we may hear a sound, but if the voice doesn't communicate words which we understand, then it is nothing more than a sound.
[4:42] If Paul, then, was to prove that this is very Christ, he proved his right at the outset.
[4:58] We do not begin to prove Jesus Christ after we've been in the way some time. God assess us proving Christ right from the beginning.
[5:08] God bless you.
[5:38] Have we yet found anybody that is capable of turning up from our email courses, from our fashion designs, from that which is recommended by men, and yet have that to prove a mysterious power, a mysterious power, an underlying influence, words penetrating into our soul.
[6:14] Sometimes in these words of the apostle to the apostle, I am Jesus and thou persecut us. Every Pharisee in the congregation is a persecutor of Jesus Christ.
[6:34] He is a persecutor of Jesus Christ. Apparently, if one has trust in his own work, is covered with self-righteousness, is thankful that he or she is not as other people are, and therefore they have no need of Christ.
[6:54] And Saul of the apostle has had no need of Christ. We all, without exception, must have known a time when we had no need of Christ.
[7:08] You may say, well, I have never objected to coming to chapel or church, the case may be.
[7:21] But that doesn't indicate that you have felt the need of Christ. There are many people that are found in the congregation.
[7:37] When God looks down upon them, he finds that comparatively few feel the need of Christ. Paul had attended the synagogue on any occasion, without ever feeling a need of Christ.
[7:55] But now, on this occasion, he was suddenly brought to feel a need of Christ. The ones he persecuted, the ones he divided, the ones he thought so little off, the ones he was willing to cast down and to join those who only consulted to cast him down from his excellency, was the ones that had overcome him.
[8:24] The ones that brought an remarkable change in his heart and had drawn him to this, to feel a need of Christ. people may speak of various pointers that will indicate a beginning, but whatever course God may take, whatever means he may use, if we stumble to this one point Yes, sir.
[9:01] as to whether those means and that cost has brought us to feel a need of Christ. Then, we are off, so to speak, on the right foot.
[9:19] Now, you will have to answer in your own conscience before God and maybe bless God if you look back to a beginning that was contained in a need of Christ.
[9:38] And then, then, following from that, is where there will be constantly or experienced to prove that this is very Christ.
[9:59] The one that has overcome in the beginning is incapable of overcoming you all the way through. the one that has stopped you in your mad career will be controlled you for the rest of your life.
[10:17] We are proving that this is very Christ because the one that stopped us, the one that showed us our great need, the one that showed us that we were heading for destruction, the one that showed us that we were hell-bent is very Christ.
[10:41] We prove that to God. No one else can convince us that we are hell-bent. We may indeed engage in what we might perhaps refer to as religious debate, discourses, questions upon doctrine, but that will not convince us of our need of Christ.
[11:15] But the apostle here his purpose and his life at this particular time was deserted to proving that this is very Christ.
[11:30] He expended himself in one of his epistles like this, I know whom I have believed and I must trade it that he is able to keep that which I committed unto him against that day.
[11:48] This is the language of one that has proved Christ and proved that this is very Christ. Proved that this is the one that God has sent.
[12:06] In Israel when the Lord, in the days when the Lord Jesus came at the time of his first advent, there was a certain amount of expectancy that the Christ would come.
[12:23] How few observe it. Are we amongst the few that are proving that this is very Christ?
[12:35] We can go from Paul to Mary. She pondered these things in her heart. And as she pondered she was proving that this was very Christ.
[12:51] We would speak carefully and we would not speak with any undecided expressions. But at the same time may we say this.
[13:05] Are we proving that this is very Christ? not only in our beginnings but in our continuance. First of all are we satisfied that Christ is God's anointed the one that should come?
[13:29] It is not something to be accepted simply as something that must be accepted and is accepted by every Christian. Without any testing we go to John the Baptist and there we find him in prison.
[13:52] A course that he never expected to follow. How different our view of the future is from God's view of the future.
[14:07] And it was so with John the Baptist and it made him wonder whether after all this was Christ. And so he sent his disciples and he said art thou he that should come or look we for another after all my strength and fire and assurance that I was the foregunner of the Son of God.
[14:35] Yet have I made a mistake? This is God's method. The whole John the Baptist is proving that this is very Christ.
[14:49] And it will be God's method with you and me in proving that this is very Christ. When as we have already mentioned this evening God does things that we look not for.
[15:08] Men's minds for the most part work alike in developing a plan in general terms that is.
[15:22] But God's thoughts are higher than ours. His ways are higher than ours. And we prove that this is very Christ in those ways and those thoughts are worked out in our experience.
[15:44] Our best resolutions must hold the cross. Our fairest protections must also come to us and we must be safe.
[16:00] We can't expect to be perfectly saved till we find ourselves under us. And when we find ourselves under his last, we shall face the question as to whether there is one that can be saved.
[16:19] not just speak in terms of Jesus Christ as a savior, that's not proving this is very Christ. But this is proving that this is very Christ when God shows us our last estate and we feel it.
[16:43] We often fear lost. Then we feel our great need of Christ. Who can make us fear lost?
[16:56] No less than very pride. And when we feel lost, lost, in our first first call and our early experience, yes, but what about more recent times?
[17:20] And we felt lost. Lost is the way. We know not which way to take. We think that we take it the wrong way.
[17:35] Christ. And all the while God is moving in a mysterious way, bringing us to do that, we see apostles did, proving that this is very Christ.
[17:50] And when we look to the cross, when we trust in Christ's cruises eyes, as we must do continually in life and experience, then we are proving that this is very Christ.
[18:11] Do we need salvation? Then we must prove that this is very Christ. And certainly be sure that this is God's anointed.
[18:28] Now, John the Baptist was answered in a way that was indisputable. But the Lord did not just speak the word.
[18:43] He did not say, go and tell John I'm he. And that should be sufficient. But he said, go and tell John.
[18:55] tell the lame are healed and the eyes of the blind are open and the poor have the gospel preached that said.
[19:10] And that will be sufficient to know that this is very Christ. That will be sufficient for John that he will know that he has not been deluded, that he has not been mistaken, about this trial, this unexpected experience of being sent upon John that he may prove that this is very Christ.
[19:41] Oh, Major, if we could just look at John the Baptist for a moment, we decided he being God's forerunner. And if it isn't kept down, we could detect the light onto ourselves instead of unto Christ.
[19:59] And so John was put in prison. We may wonder why in our soul's experience sometimes we are put in prison whilst we sit there.
[20:13] We're knowing our state and our condition and our darkness and our coldness and the general atmosphere is all cold around. we are proving that this is very Christ.
[20:26] The light is not to shine upon us. The light is to shine upon him. And in the preaching of the gospel, this is where the light is to shine. Proving that this is very Christ.
[20:41] God anointed light. God is not but then deriving our knowledge from what the Lord said to John the Baptist proving that this is very Christ is seen in his performance.
[21:06] in the first chapter of Jeremiah we have these words. I will face them my words to perform it.
[21:21] And Jeremiah had a strange vision before those words were spoken. And yet the vision had much meaning.
[21:32] it was to prove that this is very Christ. This is very man.
[21:45] Christ is. And this is very God. It is Christ in all the glorious and symbolism in human nature.
[22:00] It is Christ in all the glories of his divine nature. And we have to prove as we go along both sides of Christ.
[22:19] If I can put it like this, both natures of Christ. Now we need to make this point very clear that Christ is one person.
[22:31] and that person is the son of God. And he has all power in heaven and on earth to perform what we do.
[22:47] Saul of Tartus had many future opportunities proving his own experience of this is very Christ. He wasn't a savior.
[23:00] The one in whom he trusted was very man and very God. Now have we proved that Christ is very man touched with sympathy with him?
[23:17] He knows our people pray, he knows what fear and temptation lead for he has felt the same. can we therefore bear our testimony to Christ that he is thoroughly man because he can't understand to speak to us that a man may speak to a man with all the understanding of our poor nature but then proving that this is very Christ son of God and this point will appear that will have been sealed upon those hearts in the early stages straightway he preached Christ in the synagogue that he is the son of
[24:17] God the eternal son of God God now God in time past and God forever more but then how was he to prove that that this was the eternal God that Christ was the eternal God God God God is God God I can voucher for his people cares for I have prayed to him as such and he has heard my prayers prayers and by these means we prove that it is barely God and barely man yea the very the true the indistitable Christ now have we proved it in our prayers prayers which have been put out for one who must be no less than
[25:24] God one who is able to do great things and holy in his name one who is able to do exceedingly abundantly above all the actual things this is proving that Jesus Christ is the son of God with power we have made little progress in our profession if in the first place we have not felt the need of a Christ with power and in the second place to have the power of Christ exercised towards us he holds the weak believer up in a distressing house you speak of
[26:33] Christ is it very Christ you speak of is it Christ with power is it Christ that died upon Calvary but in so doing he put away the sins of his church and did he put away your sins and in so doing what they're just proving that this is very Christ Christ that came with one purpose in mind to save his people from their sins and none other would do let us not think that any other person but Christ can save us in our proving what their puzzle was proving that this is very Christ we may at times go through painful experiences we may have the painful experience of trusting in ourselves or the painful experience of trusting in a person putting up confidence in a guy see through man who spread it in his nostrils or went off he to be a candidate on and again the best of them is as a briar and as a thorn hedge bitter experiences when we seek to put our confidence and our strength gain rest of anything less than very
[28:30] Christ so we may come into those painful and dark situations and we may wonder why we're there or because we are trying and experimenting thinking that something less than very Christ will be adequate for us we may get along in our day to day matters for some time but suddenly we are brought face to face with this I must die and this is there you will want to prove that it is very Christ although it may not be a palatable thought to our nature yet there is nothing better than for us to be aware that this might be our last hour of the earth because under the power of the spirit of God it will energize our very soul into wanting to prove now that this is very
[29:48] Christ who is able to save people going down into the pit able to save my soul when the enemy when Satan himself is intent upon grabbing it now if the enemy comes there's like a flood and if he suggests to you that I will have you in the end your need nothing less than very Christ deliver you out of his hands something proving that this is very Christ will involve our proving that Christ is the truth everything that he has spoken everything that is written in the scriptures will be the word the very Christ we cannot rely on the words of any because however gracious however upright however honest people may desire to be there are certainly occasions when because of our intervities and our weakening infirmities we are not always able to convey the truth as it really is there are some points that we may forget and hence the truth as much as we desire to be presented in its soul that is distorted and this is certainly so with respect to the truth as it is in
[31:40] Jesus how many men have distorted the truth as it is in Jesus are simply because of their weakness sometimes and sometimes of course because they do not possess the grace of God and what they say is the outcome of their caramel wine but the Lord is the God of truth and every word that he speaks is true and in this way we prove that it is very Christ and we take one or two examples there are many precious words in the truth in the word of God which are true in thee and are made over to the people of
[32:41] God sometimes there are the words of precept there are the words of promise there are words of prayer that are put into our soul truly because this is very Christ and the words that he speaks then are worth and are right but in proving that this is very Christ speaking the word of truth is also true because it is a living word now has passages of scripture dropped into your soul and does it still there I say does it still there can you venture to say I'm assured of that maybe to be that Christ is God I come about and we need to come to this point and for his people care for
[33:48] I have prayed for such and he has heard my prayer now we've offered prayers presented our desires come before God in our troubles as it means the very Christ and we got all that in the instant and immediately tried to deal with our matters ourselves and maybe gone quite contrary even to what the scripture said so we may go on we may be asked the question you probably know this is very Christ could the creatures help or eat us seldom should we think of prayer and then if we think of prayer is an empty prayer do we think we ought to tell somebody we feel that we can pour our soul to God and then act as though we've never done so by these strange means the
[34:56] Lord is proving what he is that his word is true and that his word is life are very important words of the scripture that might well be brought home to us when we are severely tempted by the devil none can pluck you out of my father's hands that is the words of very Christ because they are words of authority none can pluck thee out of my hand I can merely cite the circumstances the same thing I cannot give the power I wish I could but do we know the power that is manifest that this is very Christ speaking in our souls Barnabas took him and brought him to be apostles and declared unto them how he had seen the
[36:03] Lord in the way and that he had spoken to him so there were two things that at this day even enabled the apostle to prove that this was very Christ he had seen it now it is quite true for us to say not with our modern eyes that we beheld the Lord but nonetheless there's a revelation and our faith was sometimes seen as though we saw it with our natural eyes believe that this is very Christ when we felt it most when we been with the Israelites in the 117 Psalms they fell there there was none to help and they cried unto the Lord in their trouble and he delivered them out of all their distresses and they were proving that this is very
[37:07] Christ one who could deliver them one who could help them one who could save them out of their distresses there aren't many days that pass but what we have distresses of some kind or another and these distresses arise faithfully feared not unexpectedly we wonder why that can't to prove that we worship the very Christ that we worship God in Christ that very Christ is in our hearts the hope of glory and because of this the life of God in the soul is maintained thus that which is goodness begins the hour of his strength will complete proving that this is very
[38:09] Christ by the power that he exercises and that power is a constraining world we find that the love of Christ constraining us the love of very Christ the true Christ Christ with substance the love of Christ constraining us do we prove have we proved that this is very Christ because of that love which constrained us in accordance with the word that he spoke if he loved me keep my commandments this is very Christ one way in which we prove it the death the Lord restraints have we proved that this is very Christ in that way that the young man did in the scripture where he said
[39:14] I will not go but afterwards he repented and went his own spirit with restraint in order that the power of God's constraining spirit might be upon him are we bent on a course and God restraints us a course which if we look at it is contained in this high mindedness that is a great word in the scripture be not high minded but fear has buried Christ spoken that to you and not only restrained you but brought you to a spirit of confession and repentance have you felt this blessed and important aspect of very
[40:21] Christ that all that he does all that he speaks everything which he engages has love in it or shall I say all these things are in love and this is where we prove that Christ is very servant there are many Christ that rise up we have warned about it in the scriptures this is the deciding factor that very Christ is the God of love very Christ as the God of love was manifested when sore pastors were stopped under Damascus road when the Lord spoke to him when the Lord opened his eyes have we an experience along these lines in anything then it's the love of very
[41:27] Christ that has done it and our eyes you know are still being opened sometimes people may criticize others because they do not see wrong in something that the others may see wrong in and in this connection I have thought of those words in Isaiah where we read and it shall be line upon line precept upon precept here a little and there a little we are gradually learning our eyes aren't gradually being opened to see the glories of very Christ how long we may seem to grope in darkness can you apply that word to yourself we grope through the wall like the blind when it's a mercy to have your eyes open a little so we can see where the wall is so to speak to see where
[42:55] Christ is are you grope into Christ wonderful word in this same act as the apostles is to be that we may see it after him you cannot see it are your hand of faith feeling after him oh see very Christ more clearly he's the one that can save me the one that can pardon my sins the one that can wash away my sins what the sins of years ago the sins of today the sins of years ago yes they need to wash away but how much more the sins of today and what about tomorrow sins if the sins of the past were all washed away and we were left with a future to preserve in freedom from sin we should not make heaven but oh my soul with joy and wonder see for sins to come there's pardon too and very
[44:22] Christ is now revealed as one that knows and declares the end from the beginning and you could see that the sins you will commit in your dying hour very Christ knows about and very Christ has died to put them away every month the sin you commit with your last breath as much as the sin that you committed with your first breath when you find the depth of sin in your numbers and discover that those sins are put away our faith believes it we are proving that this is very Christ because when he died upon Calvary was an acceptable sacrifice it was truly receptive to the father justice was satisfied there was nothing more to be done and this is very
[45:34] Christ the words of Christ with a loud voice he said it is finished truly that this is very Christ words on the cross wonderful indeed but when your poor soul is in sin trouble soul trouble it will be very Christ in your experience if these words are spoken into your soul with the same power as they were uttered on Calvary it is finished it is finished there is nothing more to be done your sins have been pardoned your soul has been cleansed your interest into heaven has been assured your reconciliation with God has been brought about proving that this is very
[46:35] Christ there is only very Christ that can bring us unto a sure foundation that can bring us to the place that Jeremiah speaks about when he said it is good that a man should hope and quietly wait for the salvation of the Lord and if we quietly wait quietly wait mark you not just wait but quietly wait for the salvation of the Lord it will be we are proving that this is very Christ does the power of very Christ work in your soul sometimes when you're not just waiting but you're quietly waiting and if you're nature should be just in this will you not be proving that it is very
[47:42] Christ doing something in you which you know you could not do yourself so the love of Christ and the power of Christ will produce in our soul a patient waiting for Christ and all the while we are proving it may be said that God is proving us we have it in the 66 Psalm the Lord has proved us and he has led us through fire and through water proving our weakness but at the same time proving that this is very Christ when the Hebrew children went through the fire the furnace they proved in an unexpected way that this is very
[48:50] Christ when through the deep water thy causes it go the rivers of woe shall not thee overflow the flame shall not hurt thee my own design thy trust to consume and thy gold to refine and it is very Christ that does not speak words of the fire but very Christ that is with his people in the furnace as he was with those three Hebrew children in their fiery time in their solemn experience what faith was given to them they believed that God would deliver them and if he didn't deliver them they would still trust in God revelation was given to the king did we not cast three men into the world and I see four and the fourth is like unto the son of
[49:57] God have you proved that this is very Christ in the files that you passed through from time to time that Christ has been with you he's not been an imaginary person he's not been an influence he's not been just something that has sweetly affected your affections but it has been a real presence and not only a real presence but an of thine presence no I'm with you all away even unto the end of the world and for he proved this right down to his hand all the church of God will spend their lifetime in gracious experience proving that this is that a Christ Calci said on Levi's care is enough that
[50:58] I am nigh I with all thy burdens bear I with all thy needs supply proving this is daily Christ Amen in 423 in 423 June 10th 73 and begins below at 423 523 523 523 191 pro 문제 studentли 422 famues every year ours to his name as leap bright and
[52:48] Sym Associate of the God bless you.
[53:21] God bless you.
[53:51] God bless you.
[54:21] God bless you. And now, may the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father's love, the fellowship of the eternal spirit, be with us all.
[54:36] Amen.