SUNDAY - JULY 5, 2026 "Paul's Witness" Acts 22:1-22

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God bless.

This morning, as we think about the 4th of July and the 250th birthday of the United States of America, there are names that come to mind as we we think about that.

One of those is Paul Revere.

Many of you know Paul Revere, but sometimes we misunderstand exactly what made him so significant in our history.

He wasn't famous because he won a battle.

He wasn't famous because he commanded an army.

He became famous because he faithfully carried a message.

On the evening of April 18th, 1775, Patriot leaders learned that British troops, they were, they were leaving Boston, and their mission was to march to Concord, where colonial militia had stored weapons and ammunition.

Just as importantly, they hoped to arrest two prominent patriot leaders, John Hancock and Samuel Adams.

Paul Revere was, he was given a simple but urgent assignment.

Warn the countryside that the British were coming.

Before he ever mounted a horse, they had decided to place a signal in the Old North Church in Boston, Massachusetts.

And in that steeple, if they hung one lantern, it meant that the British army, they were going to go by land to Concord.

If they hung two, they were going to go across the Charles River.

That night, as two lanterns gleamed from the Old North Church, British at the British signaling the British were coming by across the river, Paul Revere was ready.

He crossed the Charles River and mounted a borrowed horse and began to ride through the night.

Now, we've heard the stories, right, that he rode through the town saying, the British are coming, the British are coming.

That probably wasn't actually true because many of the people who lived in those, in that countryside, many of them would have been British subjects.

Instead of going through and screaming it loudly, it was more likely that he actually went through these small towns and quietly but urgently stopped at homes and taverns, alerting local militia officers that regular British troops were on the move.

As he rode from town to town, others joined the effort, William Dawes and Samuel Prescott being two of those, and the message spread even further.

Revere never reached Concord, though.

British patrols intercepted him near Lincoln, and he was captured and questioned before eventually being released, but it was too late.

The message had spread, church bells rang, militia companies assembled, and cut and communities throughout Massachusetts were prepared.

When the British reached Mexican, Lexicon and Concord the next morning, they encountered armed colonists who had been warned in time.

Paul Revere's mission was never to defeat the British Army.

His responsibility was simply to deliver the message faithfully and urgently.

You know, as Christians, we have much the same call.

Jesus has not called us to save anyone, that is his work alone.

We are called to be witnesses.

We are called to be witnesses of the greatest message ever known to man that Jesus came, he lived a perfect life, he died a horrible death on the cross, he arose three days later, and now he offers to us life everlasting.

Like Paul Revere, we're not responsible for controlling how people respond.

Our responsibility is to faithfully carry the message while there is still time.

We've talked about this truth in Acts chapter 1.

Acts 1 · chapter mention

Acts chapter 1, verse 8, Jesus said, But you will receive power after the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, in Judea and Samaria, and to the uttermost parts of the earth.

Acts 1:8

As we look in this passage today, we're gonna see that Paul bore witness to the, uh bore witness about the kingdom of God to the Jews by recounting his salvation experience.

I hope in response we will see that we also are witnesses to the kingdom of God by proclaiming how God has revealed himself to us through his word.

The challenge for us today is to be witnesses to the kingdom of God.

So we seek to answer the question: how did he bear witness?

How did Paul bear witnesses?

Hopefully, as we see how Paul bore witness about his salvation experience and about what God did in his life, hopefully we can look at that and we can take some of those truths and some of those principles and we can apply them not to not to just how Christ saved us, but we can apply them to how he has revealed himself to us through his word.

Because the God that we proclaim and the met the kingdom that we forward, we don't want it to be our kingdom or a kingdom that we like or a God that we've created.

We want it to be God Almighty and His kingdom.

So today we will read from Acts chapter 22.

Acts 22 · chapter mention

I invite you, if you are able, to stand with us this morning as we give honor to the reading of God's word.

Brothers and fathers, hear the defense that I now make before you.

And when they heard that he was addressing them in the Hebrew language, they became even more quiet.

And he said, I am a Jew, born in Tarsus and Cilicia, but brought up in this city, educated at the feet of Gamaleel, according to the strict manner of the law of our fathers, being zealous for God as all of you are this day.

I persecuted this way to the death, binding and delivering to prison men and women, as the high priest and the whole council of elders can bear me witness.

From them I received letters to the brothers, and I journeyed toward Damascus to take those also who were there, and bring them in bonds to Jerusalem to be punished.

As I was on my way and drew near to Damascus about noon, a great light from heaven suddenly shone around me, and I fell to the ground, and I heard a voice saying to me, Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting me?

And I answered, Who are you, Lord?

And he said to me, I am Jesus of Nazareth, whom you are persecuting.

Now those who were with me saw the light, but did not understand the voice of the one who was speaking to me, and I said, What shall I do, Lord?

And the Lord said to me, Rise and go into Damascus, and there you will be told all that is appointed for you to do.

And since I could not see because of the brightness of that light, I was led by the hand by those who were with me and came into Damascus.

And one, Ananias, a devout man according to the law, well spoken of by all the Jews who lived there, came to me and standing by me said to me, Brother Saul, receive your sight.

And at that very hour I received my sight and saw him, and he said, The God of our fathers appointed you to know his will, to see the righteous one, and to hear a voice from his mouth.

And for you, for you will be a witness for him to everyone of what you have seen and heard.

And now while why do you wait, rise and be baptized and wash away your sins, calling on his name?

When I had learned in Jer when I had returned to Jerusalem and was praying in the temple, I fell into a trance and saw him saying to me, Make haste and get out of Jerusalem quickly, because they will not accept your testimony about me.

And I said, Lord, they themselves know that in one synagogue after another I imprisoned and beat those who believed in you.

And when the blood of Stephen, your witness, was being shed, I myself was standing by and approving and watching over the garments of those who killed him.

And he said to me, Go, for I will send you far away to the Gentiles.

Let's pray together.

God, I thank you.

I thank you for how you saved me.

And I thank you for the opportunity that I have now to be a witness to the kingdom of God.

And I pray that today you will challenge us and move us all to be witnesses of the kingdom.

God, we love you.

We praise you.

Jesus, it's in your name that we pray.

Amen.

You may be seated.

So today, as we look at Paul's witness, we we've seen this before.

We've seen it already earlier in this book.

We will even see it again later in this book.

So I want to do something a little bit different as we look at at Paul's testimony and how he beared witness today.

One thing that I want us to do is maybe compare what Paul said and what he was doing to what he wrote to the church in Ephesians, in Ephesians chapter 2.

Ephesians 2 · chapter mention

So if you have your Bibles and want to mark that, just put your finger there or some way.

We're going to look flip between Acts 22 and Ephesians chapter 2, 1 through 10 today as we look at this passage.

Ephesians 2 · chapter mention

First thing we need to see is as Paul is bearing testimony and bearing witness about his salvation experience, about what God has done in his life.

We need to see some things that he is saying.

First of all, understand what Paul is, he is addressing this crowd.

He gets them to quiet down, and then he begins to speak to them in Hebrew.

As he does that, the crowd quiets even more.

They become more attentive to what he is saying to them.

And he begins to tell them some things about himself.

He tells them some things that they would have identified with Paul.

He tells them how he was a Jew and not just any Jew.

He was a Jew that was born in Tarsus, which was had had a very well-known Jewish community there.

He wasn't just from the diaspora and just come to Jerusalem.

He was born in a well-respected Jewish community.

And not only that, we can't just skip over what he says in verse 3.

It says, I was, I am a Jew born in Tarsus in Cilicia, but brought up in this city.

Here's what he means by that.

Paul's formative years of his life, he spent in Jerusalem.

It's kind of like when I was, when I was born, my family lived in Pontiac City.

I know I tell you all the time, I'm from Pontiac.

Amber gets on to me, she said, Grant, you got to tell them you're from Pontiac County.

Because Pontiac County and Pontique City are two different things.

When I was born, we lived in the city of Pontiac.

But when I say I'm from Pontock, I'm not claiming Pontock City.

I'm from Pontock County.

I spent my formative years in Troy, the center of the universe.

What Paul is saying here is he spent his formative years in Jerusalem.

Not only did he was he in Jerusalem and brought up in that great city, he was educated there.

And not only was he educated in Jerusalem, but he was educated by the leading rabbinic teacher of that time, Gamalael.

John Polehill says about his being brought up that he was Paul was no diaspora or maverick, but was nurtured from childhood in the holy city itself.

Paul was not just any Jew, he was a Jew that had credentials.

Not only that, he was zealous.

He tells us that he was sent out and he had a zeal for God, so he was going and persecuting people of the way.

He was zealous for God.

He was zealous for the law.

He was zealous for people being, and then the people in that crowd, they're feeling the same thing towards Paul.

They're feeling zealous for God.

And as misplaced as their zeal is, and misinformed as their zeal is, you have to give it to them.

They are zealous.

Paul was zealous for the way, but but in all of that, what we see with Paul and what we understand with Paul and what he is trying to teach them is while he had all the credentials and while he was zealous for God, he was still dead.

He writes it in Ephesians chapter 2, verses 1 through 3.

Ephesians 2:1–3

Here's what he says.

And you were dead in the trespasses and sins in which you once walked, following the course of this world, following the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that is now at work in the sons of disobedience, among whom we all once lived in the passions of our flesh, carrying out the desires of the body and the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, like the rest of mankind.

Paul may have had all the credentials in the world, he may have had all the zeal in the world, but he was dead.

Hear me today.

If we have not trusted in Christ, there's really two kinds of people in the world.

There are people who are dead, and there are people who have been made alive.

Paul was saying at this point before he came to Christ, he was dead, and he's looking at this crowd and telling them, listen, you are following the prince of the power of this air.

You are sons of disobedience, you are by nature children of wrath.

Like all of the Gentiles, you are dead in your sins.

But Paul goes on.

As he writes, continues to write in Ephesians and in verses four through through nine, he says, This, but God being rich in mercy because of the great love with which he loved us, even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ.

By grace you have been saved.

And raised us up with him and seated us with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, so that in the coming ages he might show the immeasurable riches of his grace and kindness toward us in Jesus Christ.

For by grace you have been saved through faith.

This is not your own doing, it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast.

See what Paul was saying is I was dead in my trespasses.

But God made me alive.

But God made him alive.

Several years ago, I heard a sermon by Alistair Begg, and in that sermon he began to talk about how can I know I will be accepted by God.

And as he was talking about that, he said, sometimes, you know, we we the answers that we give a lot of times begin with, well, I know that I'm accepted by God because I've asked Jesus into my heart.

I know that I'm accepted by God because I have the Holy Spirit.

And while those are fair answers, Dr.

Begg says, you know, when we begin from the first person from a place of I, me, and we don't begin in the third person, he, Him, His, we're missing something.

We are not saved because I have done.

We are saved because He has done.

God sent Jesus to live a perfect life, to die on the cross, to arise from the grave.

And now what he offers to us is life everlasting.

He offers that to us as a free gift.

We see that in it as he is writing in Ephesians.

For by grace you are saved through faith, that not of yourself.

It is a gift of God, not of works, so that no one can boast.

So as you turn back to Acts 22 and see how God made Paul alive together.

Here's what we see happening.

He was going to Damascus.

He was on the road to persecute more believers.

And this great light comes, and Paul sees this great light, and he hears this great voice, and he begins to say, Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting me?

And Saul says, Who are you, Lord?

He says, I am Jesus of Nazareth, whom you are persecuting.

And so Saul says, What do you want me to do?

Now look at verse 10 and see what he says.

And I said, What shall I do, Lord?

And the Lord said to me, Rise, go into Damascus.

Now hear this.

And there you will be told all that is appointed for you to do.

When he says, For God demonstrated his own love for us in this day, in this way, that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.

God made Paul alive because he had already appointed things that he wanted him to do.

He came to Paul, he saved Paul, he called Paul out.

And so Paul, he gets up and he says, he goes to Damascus as he says, and then as you come to verse 16, as he's talking to Ananias, he says, and now why do you wait?

Rise, be baptized, wash away your sins.

Hear this phrase: calling on the name of the Lord.

How does God make Paul alive together with him?

Well, he calls him and gives Paul the opportunity to call on the name of the Lord.

Reminds me of Romans 10, 13.

When Paul writes to that great church, all who call on the name of the Lord will be saved.

God makes us together.

Now we need to understand real quickly, though, that while God makes us all alive, he doesn't always do it in the same way.

I don't know about your experience of when God called you, but I know my experience was not like Paul's.

I didn't have a great Damascus moment.

I didn't have a moment in my life where I was running and fleeing from God and He sends a great light to me.

I didn't have that.

I had a moment where I was going to church and I remember coming home from church and sitting in the bedroom with my brother and saying, Clay, I need Jesus.

Some of your experience may be a little bit different.

It may be a journey, and on this journey, God called you and brought you to himself.

It doesn't have to look just like Paul's, but here's what we must understand: we were dead, and God makes us alive together when he calls us and we answer the call.

All who call on the name of the Lord will be saved.

Because we are saved by grace through faith.

Paul was dead, but he was then made alive.

And then we end this morning looking back at Ephesians chapter 2, verse 10.

Ephesians 2:10

Here's what he says.

We are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.

Here again verse ten from Acts 22.

And the Lord said to me, Arise and go into Damascus, and there you will be told all that is appointed for you to do.

And then if you go down to verse 14, Ananias comes to Paul, and Paul receives this sight.

And Ananias says this to Paul, the God of our fathers appointed you to know his will, to see the righteous one, and hear the voice from his mouth, for you will be a witness for him to every one of what you have seen and heard.

And now why do you wait?

Rise and be baptized and wash away your sins, calling on his name.

Then Paul falls into a trance.

And in that trance, he sees that, hey, these people, God tells him to go away.

They're not going to accept your testimony.

And then in verse 21, God tells him this go, for I will send you far away to the Gentiles.

See, so often we have a misunderstanding of what salvation means, what it means for us.

So often we hold our salvation as a fire insurance policy.

Hey, I can say this prayer, I can have this, I can go and live my life the way that I want to live, and then when I die, I get to go to heaven because I have this policy.

That's not what Ephesians says.

And as we look at Paul's life and the testimony, as he is telling us what he has seen and what he has heard, that is not what is said.

What is said is now that God has made us alive together, our lives go to bring him glory.

Our lives become his, he becomes the Lord of our life, and we are created for good works done in his name.

And again, you you may say to me, Grant, that's great.

But I haven't, I haven't, I haven't had that Damascus Road moment.

I haven't had someone like Ananias to come speak over me and tell me what I could go.

Grant, I've not had this great dream like Paul had that said, hey, you're gonna go be a missionary to Gentiles.

What do I do?

Start with what you know.

Here's what we know.

You shall receive power after the Holy Spirit has come upon you.

And you will be my witnesses.

Jerusalem, Judea, and Samaria, to the uttermost parts of the earth.

Here's what you've been called to do.

Here's the good works you were created to do.

To tell what you have seen and what you have heard and tell about the God who has revealed himself to us through his word.

That's Paul's testimony.

That should be our testimony that we were dead and God made us alive.

And our lives now are seeking to glorify Him.

Listen, I don't know where you are today.

Maybe you've never trusted in Christ and you are dead in your trespasses and sins.

Maybe today God is calling you and you say, Grant, what do I do?

You respond, you believe in Jesus.

And what that means is that you place, you repent and place your faith in God.

It is a one-time, it is, it is a it is a moment that occurs instantly.

We both place our faith in God and we repent of our sins at the same time and we call on the name of the Lord.

And this morning, if you are here and you are dead in your trespasses and sins, oh, I pray that today you will be made alive.

Or maybe this morning.

This morning you are living a life that is not honoring and glorifying to God.

Maybe this morning you find yourself at a place where you are not being a witness who is filled with the power of the Holy Spirit.

Maybe this morning, you need to repent.

In just a moment, we're gonna pray and we're gonna stand and sing a hymn of invitation.

We pray that during that invitation, however God is leading you, you will respond to his call.

If he is calling you to salvation, listen, we will be here.

We would love to receive you and pray for you.

There'll be counselors who will take you out and share with you the good news, the gospel message.

If you have, and this morning you just need to repent, we invite you to come.

We'll pray with you.

You can kneel at these steps.

Maybe this morning you are just looking for a church home.

So we would love to have you here at DeSoda Hills.

However, God is leading you, we invite you to come.

Let's pray together.

God, I thank you for today.

Thank you for how you love us and all that you have done for us.

God, I pray that in this place this morning, you will be lifted high and you will draw all men unto you.

God, I pray for those who are here this morning and dead in their trespasses and sins, children of wrath, enemies of God, I pray that as you call them this morning, they will call upon the name of the Lord.

God, I pray for those of us who maybe just haven't been as faithful as we need to be to bear witness about the kingdom of God to those around us.

God, I pray that this morning we will repent and turn to you.

God help us.

Move today as only you can.

In Jesus' name we pray.

Amen.

Thanks for listening to this week's sermon.

If you have any questions for our pastor, feel free to reach out at DeSoto Hills.com.