Transcription downloaded from https://sermons.heritagesermons.org/sermons/6327/acts-quality-average/. Disclaimer: this is an automatically generated machine transcription - there may be small errors or mistranscriptions. Please refer to the original audio if you are in any doubt. [0:00] Amen. Amen. [1:00] Amen. Amen. [2:00] Amen. Amen. [3:00] Amen. Amen. [3:32] Amen. Amen. In the book of the Acts, chapter 26, and a part of verse 22. [3:47] The book of the Acts, chapter 26, and a part of the 22nd verse. [3:59] Having, therefore, obtained the help of God, I continue unto this day. [4:14] Having, therefore, obtained the help of God, I continue unto this day. [4:26] We find in the context of how that Paul has been brought into the presence of outstanding characters. [4:39] Agrippa the King, and Bernisi, and Thestas, and the chief captains, and the principal men of the city. [4:52] They are all here collected in the place of hearing. Surely it would be a matter for a man who is but flesh and blood, so to have trembled in the realization of such an august company. [5:14] But will you not find anything of the sort in Paul? Rather, he said, I think myself happy. [5:27] In other words, I think myself privileged, so to speak, before this company which is here gathered before me. [5:40] I am privileged to have this occasion. So to stand and to declare the wonderful things that God has indeed done for me. [5:54] To speak to you, to speak to you, to speak to you, to speak to you, to the present, and to that position into which God has brought me. [6:07] And to speak to you, to speak to you, to speak to you, to speak to you, to speak to you, and to speak to you, and to speak to you, and to speak to you. That which shall yet be set before me, in the accomplishment of God's will concerning me. [6:18] Thus, when he came to the conclusion of his address, he so had to declare that having continued, that having therefore obtained help of God, he had continued until that day. [6:40] But we are very sure that this is not only the testimony that Paul has to give. We are assured that everyone who knows ought of the dealings of God with them, must likewise come to the same decision, must likewise have to testify unto the same truth. [7:08] That they have obtained help of God, and that is the only reason why they continue unto this day. So our first thought, as we consider these words, is this. [7:24] He is declaring unto them that that is the only reason as to why he was there at all. [7:36] If it had not been for the appearance of God unto him, if it had not been for the commission that was laid upon him by God, he would never have been found in that position which he now occupied. [7:55] Yes, it is only by reason of that which God had done for him, that he was there. [8:07] There. Look then unto thyself. Thou art here this morning. You are gathered around his word. [8:20] You desire to be instructed in the mysteries of true godliness. You desire to have that persuasion and that assurance within your own soul that God hath indeed wrought his works within you. [8:45] Why are you here? Why are you here? Is there no looking back by you into the past? Is there not the awareness that but for the grace of God you would have been found in a very different place and in a very different atmosphere to that in which you are now gathered? [9:07] Why are you here? You look back, and you see that there has been a wonderful interposition in your life. That that which you knew not has been made known unto you by the Spirit of the living God. [9:24] That there has been a working within your heart whereby there has been a will, a willingness, so to attend unto those things which the Lord hath so commanded thee. [9:40] Why are you here? Is it that then which you resulted from self? I know that there are many that may gather in the house of God out of habit. [9:54] They may hear the word of God and assimilate it in the natural understanding and think that that is all that is necessary. And yet may be strangers unto that wherein the Lord hath wrought within their own souls the truth of those things which are contained within his word. [10:17] But is it nothing that wherein you have obtained help of God that you are here in his presence this morning? [10:29] In the presence of one who is far and beyond King Agrippa and Barney, Siam Festus. The one concerning whom you would indeed testify are the great things that he has done for you. [10:50] Yes, if God had not indeed attended your way, if he had not directed you in your course, if he had not undertaken for you in all those matters that concerned you, would you have been here this morning? [11:13] Why am I here? Why am I here? Why am I here? Do I have then to look back and consider the wonder of the divine grace which has been demonstrated in the individual case? [11:32] Why am I here? Because I have been here and I have learned the truth of God and the divine love that is not simply that I come because somebody else comes? But that there is a drawing power of work within the heart. [11:44] There is the irresistible force of the divine love that so draws me toward himself. that wherein there is that hunger and thirst after righteousness, that you may indeed be filled with the riches of the kingdom of God. You come because you realize that apart from him, you are undone, you are lost, you are ruined. What is it that has kept thee? What is it that has maintained thee? What is it that has sustained thee in these things? Is not God the author of it? Has he not been the divine worker in your soul? Has he not so brought you to love and to fear his name? And you have proved this, that you cannot keep your own soul alive, that you need his constant visitation. You need that he should indeed draw near unto you, that he should refresh your soul and enliven you in the things of God because you are actually dependent upon him. You cannot produce it, you cannot bring it forth naturally. No, the things that you delight in is the work that God effected within your soul concerning his Son, Jesus Christ. [13:23] You have obtained help of God. And that, said Paul, as I stand before you, King Agrippa, and the Lord, as I saw witness unto the things that God hath done for me, is the only reason as to why I am here. If he had not done these things for me, I should have still have been at Jerusalem, pursuing that murderous course that I was set upon. But blessed be God, the light shone upon me. It revealed Jesus Christ. [14:02] Jesus Christ caused me to hear his voice. Yes, and he possessed my soul by his Holy Spirit. [14:14] It is not only the fact that it is the only reason as to why he was there, it is because it is according to the word of the Lord. Even after his call by grace, Paul would say to do certain things. He would have gone in certain directions, but the Lord the Spirit stepped in and prevented it because he was at the complete disposal of God, the Holy Ghost. Yes, not only then was he here because of what God had done for him, but it was that wherein the Lord was with him then. He knew it, he felt it. Yes, he was in the way of the Lord. [15:25] He was in the will of God. He was under the superintendence of that divine grace which directed all his steps. That is why he can declare having obtained help of God. I continue, until this day. Did not the Lord, he might have declared, said, and he did in a previous chapter to this one. Did not the Lord so speak to me and declare, Paul, as thou have testified of me at Jerusalem, so must thou bear testimony unto me at Rome? [16:13] Well, I am in the way. I am going to Rome. It does not matter what your thoughts, what your aims or designs may be concerning me. To Rome I shall eventually go, and there I shall witness according to the word of the Lord. [16:36] Yes, blessed be his name. If God hath indeed so directed his steps, they will be according to his word. [16:50] You will find that his will will be according to his word. And if you attempt to go to another place, if you attempt to do something different, then there will be that stepping in by the Holy Spirit, whereby the way will be according to his word. [17:12] Whereby the way will be blocked up, it will be prevented, and you will be utterly unable to fulfill your own natural design. [17:23] Thy way, yes, it is utterly under the direction of the Lord. Having obtained help of God, in the light of all the past deliverances that I have received of him, I continue unto this day. [17:50] His mind could have gone unto Damascus. His mind could have gone unto Philippi when he was in the prison with Silas. [18:00] His mind could have gone to Corinth. Yes, in all these things he had been given to know the wonderful deliverance of his God on his behalf. [18:13] Oh, many places would come to his recollection. Those seasons wherein he was prepared to give up everything for lost. [18:24] Those times when his own faith seemed to flutter and almost fail. Yet God had delivered him out of it all. [18:37] He had obtained the help of God. And you too can look over the past. And you look at those seasons wherein you seemed to be utterly at a loss to know what to do. [18:57] You can remember the temptations that came at that time. You can remember the many trails through which you had to pass. [19:07] You remember the buffettings of Satan. You remember how that you were brought as it were to a dead end. You didn't know where the scene was going to end. [19:20] You were almost ready to give everything up. But no. But no. The Lord came. And the Lord delivered you. [19:33] And he caused all that which was against you. So to act through your good. Wonderful is the Lord in his counsel and his instruction. [19:49] Truly, I doth one say in the word of God concerning him, Counsel is mine and sound the wisdom. I am understanding. [20:03] I have strength. And have you not proved it? Yes. Yes. Those times wherein it was nothing but darkness. [20:19] Those times wherein you were brought to an end of all hope. Those times when you were brought to a sense of your own utter destitution. [20:34] You were brought to an end of all hope. You were brought to an end of all hope. And yet the Lord delivered you. Having obtained help of God, I continue. And to this day. [20:48] Because in all these things God's approbation was made known concerning his servant. God's favor was toward him. [21:00] Do you ask the reason as to why you have to pass through such mysterious ways? That wherein your own natural reason is completely baffled? [21:13] That wherein your own strength is brought down into utter weakness? Oh, it is in that wherein God's favor is toward you. [21:23] And he would make thee to know wherein thy help did lie. He would bring thee to himself. That you might find in him the source of every blessing. [21:40] And to that end. He has led and guided you up to this present moment of time. And you look back and you stand amazed. [21:51] You wonder how on up you ever came through it all. All those times. Wherein you were ready as it were. To give everything up. [22:05] God's favor. And yet. God's favor. Was toward you. You obtained help. In the hour of need. [22:18] God looked with approbation upon his servant. In all those circumstances into which he entered. He gave him a song in the prison. [22:30] Yea, he gave him many blessings in those times of persecution and of trial. He drew near unto him in the night. [22:42] And he spoke unto him. And he said, be of good cheer, Paul. Yes, and we think of God's favor toward us. [22:54] We think of the uplifting. We think of the times that he raised us up. We think of the times when he strengthened us in the inner man. [23:08] We think of the times wherein he enabled us to believe. Notwithstanding everything that might seem to be against us. [23:18] Yes, it is God's favor toward his own. You have obtained help of the Lord. [23:31] But God had always been his defender in his witness. As he declares here, he had gone about witnessing both to small and great. [23:46] To the Jew and to the Gentile. And it had brought him into much persecution. It had brought him into soft streets of times. [23:57] And it brought him into many councils. Wherein he was judged. And all the judgment that was passed concerning him was that all they who did so testify against him were liars. [24:19] That the evidence that they produced, it was utterly enabled. It was utterly impossible to piece it together. And to cause it to run through. [24:32] Yes, in every case. There was one who was going to defend him against all the efforts of the enemy to bring him to naught. The enemy that so constantly conspired against him. [24:48] Because he was going to the very root of that. Wherein their own Thereseism did so consist. And there is no more bitter persecution that can ever come to a man. [25:04] Than when it comes from them who are of his own people. And when it comes from them in whom he has had familiar intercourse within days gone by. [25:18] And yet by reason of the Lord's dealings with him. They have become his avowed enemies. How Paul proved it. [25:31] Ah, Paul. Is it hardly worth going on? Can you stand it much longer? See how that every turn that you take it seems as though there is some enemy in the way. [25:47] Still he passes the years. Still he continues. Why? Having obtained help of God. [26:01] But even as you think of this. You realize it was inevitable that it should be so. [26:14] Because God never failed him. Not once had God failed him. Are you going to stand up you who know this precious Lord? [26:29] Are you going to stand up and say that God has failed you? What in the light of that word wherein he declared? I will not fail thee. I will not fail thee. [26:41] I will not forsake thee. I will not leave thee. Everything else may go. But I remain. I am thy God. I am thy keeper. [26:57] Yes, I am thy helper. And God never failed his servant and he never failed yet. The one of his own dear people. [27:09] Oh yes. It is as we pass through the agonizing trials that may beset us in life. It is as that which is relative to the work of God within us is put to the test and tried both by fire and by flood. [27:29] That we are brought to know the reality of it. That that which is of us, it is not in itself. And that that which is of God is unfairly, it continues. [27:46] Oh, what a blessed realization for you to be brought to. Not to seek in yourself any ability. [27:58] Not to seek in yourself that wherein you may want some strength in these things. But to know what it is of the poor and weak and worthless one. [28:12] To fall into the care and the keeping of that one who hath never failed thee. Yes, it affected him every way. [28:25] But I want to come to this for a moment. I want to take these words and I want as it were to look into the meaning of them. What does he declare? [28:37] He says having. Having. He's talking of the help of God. He says having it. [28:48] It has been a personal experience. It's been a personal matter. It's been that which has been unto me a direct contact betwixt my soul and God. [29:05] and in that wherein it has been so personal I have known him in all those matters and concerns which are relative to my life and in that wherein it has been so personal that I have had this so it is positive it is that which I cannot deny it is that which I cannot pass over and say oh well it was only a happening an event no says he I have not only that which is personal but I have that which is positive in my experience it is not a matter of imagination it is not a matter of my reasoning these things out it is that which I know he hath done it is positive I have it and not only is it personal and not only is it positive but it is possessed by me [30:14] I have it that help yes I have it it is possessed by me and having he says obtained ah what does this word mean surely it means the reception he had received it there is no question about it it is clear it is lucid it is plain unto him that he had received that help can you not join with him in that why are you here here again I ask this morning is it not because of that which you have received of him that wherein he has put into the possession of your heart that which is vital and real that which is living oh yes says Paul I have received [31:26] I have obtained and not only have I received it but it has been a blessed and a positive reality to me in the very reception of it how real it has been it is not simply something that I may as it were dress up in a certain amount of words and so seek to testify concerning it is something that comes out of the very depths of my being because it is such a reality unto me I have obtained and in that wherein I have known the reality in the very fact of the word obtained there has been yes recognition God has looked upon his servant what a wonderful thing if you can join in language like this so sure so certain no dilly dallying about matters the positive in all its enunciation having obtained help of God he says help yes he has had assistance he realized that he could not have taken a step of that way apart from the divine assistance oh yes the way of man which is in himself he is quite capable of fulfilling his own desires but oh when it comes to a character who is so taught and instructed by the law then he finds it to be a very different state of affairs it is that wherein he needs assistance every step of the way why because he is conscious of himself and he is conscious of the delusions and the deceptions that arise out of his own heart and he needs to be kept and he needs to be preserved and separated from these things and he says the Lord has assisted me and in that wherein he has given this help there has been power power no weakness in that wherein he has assisted me there has been the power of accomplishment the power of fulfillment the power to bring to pass that which he had so designed concerning me and not only assistance some power in that wherein [34:31] I have had this help but oh the wondrous grace which has been manifested for who am I might Paul truly have said oh when I remember the past when I remember how that I went so murderously about so to bring to death all that called upon his name who am I that I should have this wondrous help afforded unto me this grace which has been brought unto me at the revelation of Jesus Christ yes that is the help but he says of God God is my helper can you not say it does not your heart as it were witness unto the same truth can you not take these words and bind them to your own breast and say they are the very language of your own soul's experience [35:46] God has been my helper God has been my sufficiency there has been no lack in him in that wonderful God of knowledge that God God who so watched over me that God who so appointed the way for me to walk out that God who has never failed me all the days of my life oh the wonder of his sufficiency for every case and for every circumstance and for every experience and for every pathway yes and he is my keeper I have obtained hope of God and I am kept by him that's the secret yes and therefore he comes in with that word doesn't he he says therefore in other words he says there is a cause for it there has been a reason for it and there is the effect therefore the cause it is in God and God alone the reason by reason of his own determinate counsel concerning me in Christ Jesus that wherein in favor he looked upon me and the effect here I stand he says before you to testify unto these things [37:32] I have told you my past I have told you what an enemy I was of Jesus Christ I have told you too of how that he brought me to the knowledge of himself how that he opened my eyes and unstopped my ears how that he turned my feet into the way of truth yes therefore he is the cause of it all oh what a blessed thing it is when you can look back and you say no it was not I it was my God that did these things for me if I had had my way I should still have gone on poor might have said exactly as I had done so would you so would I but determined to save he watched o'er your path when Satan's blind slave you spotted with death ah but for free and sovereign grace [38:45] I still had lived estranged from God yes that is the cause that is the reason and herein is the effect I can tell you that glorious Lord Jesus Christ the one who has come to save the one whose gospel he has given me to declare so he brings us to the personal touch I he says continue unto this day I such a sinner as I was only a man of flesh and blood and now I am less than the least of all the saints yet all the wonder of this [39:52] God that is so looked upon me and ministered unto me that ability and that help and that sufficiency it is as though he would tell you God is his all he finds everything in him God is indeed continually with him to minister unto him it is as though he would say if he were to leave me for a moment I should fall such a sinner as I am but he says I continue I abide I remain I stand in other words by reason of the omnipotence of that God who is my helper I cannot be moved my heart is fixed my mind is resolved the [41:02] Lord is everything to me and therefore I continue for I abide in him and he abideth in me I remain simply because of that wherein his law sufficiency has always availed me yes and I stand by the grace of God unto this day it takes in the past it comes to the present and it not only doeth that but it enables him so to realize the effectiveness of the promise which had been made known unto him and that promise would be fulfilled and he would continue until it came to pass and he was found eventually thrown yes [42:12] I continue he says still to declare the gospel and the grace of God the word of his grace and not only so but the truth of it and thus he would as it were conclude and declare the Lord has led me has guided me he has governed me he has brought me to the place where I am therefore I continue unto this day I continue in the truth in Jesus I continue in the old paths of the gospel I continue in the strength of the Lord who shall more sweetly write than [43:13] Paul when he spake of weakness when he could speak of them who out of weakness were made strong when he could say I will go in the strength of the Lord and make mention of his righteousness and his only although rather that was David but remember how that Paul likewise said my grace he said is sufficient for thee for my strength is made perfect in your weakness do you like that verse do you like the fact of that promise remember it's only going to be fulfilled in you and concerning you as you are found in perfect weakness for if there's anything of your own in it then it is not that wherein he declares of the perfection of the strength which is given unto you may God in some measure graciously bless these few remarks that he may enable you to look back and to [44:33] Lord and to praise his holy name for all he has done for you the help that you have received and still to go on to witness to all those that are around that wherein you continue until this day amen so we now will go on to 770 and go straight through the wedding to the lady declared and we on the way are no far together our good guiding savior and helpless west father and pleased by his favor we are brought here 770 king because i was good [46:06] Thank you. [46:36] Thank you. [47:06] Thank you. [47:36] Thank you. [48:06] Thank you. Thank you. [49:06] Thank you. Thank you. [50:06] May the grace, the love, and the communion of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost be with us each, now and evermore. [50:36] Amen. Amen.