Acts chapter twenty six, please. Acts chapter twenty six. And verse one. Acts twenty six and one. Then Agrippa said unto Paul, thou art permitted to speak for thyself. Then Paul stretched forth the hand and answered for himself. I think myself happy, King Agrippa, because I shall answer for myself this day before thee, touching all the things whereof I am accused of the Jews, especially because I know thee to be expert in all customs and questions which are among the Jews, wherefore I beseech thee to hear me patiently. My manner of life from my youth, which was at the first among mine old nation at Jerusalem, know all the Jews, which knew me from the beginning, if they would testify, that after the most straightest sect of our religion, I lived a Pharisee. And now I stand and am judged for the hope for the promise made of God unto our fathers, unto which promise our twelve tribes instantly serving God day and night hope to come, For which hope's sake, King Agrippa, I am accused of the Jews. Why should it be thought a thing incredible with you that God should raise the dead? I verily thought with myself that I ought to do many things contrary to the name of Jesus of Nazareth, which things I also did in Jerusalem. Many of the saints did I shut up in prison. having received authority from the chief priests, and when they were put to death, I gave my voice against them. But I punished them oft in every synagogue, and compelled them to blaspheme, and being exceeding mad against them. I persecuted them even unto strange cities. whereupon, as I went to Damascus with authority and commission from the chief priests, at midday, O King, I saw in the way a light from heaven above the brightness of the sun, shining round about me, and them which journeyed with me. And when we were all fallen to the earth, I heard a voice speaking unto me, and saying in the Hebrew tongue, Saul, Saul, why persecutest thou me? It is hard for thee to kick against the bricks. And I said, Who art thou, Lord? And he said, I am Jesus whom thou persecutest. But rise and stand upon thy feet, for I have appeared unto thee for this purpose, to make me a minister and of witness both of these things which thou hast seen, and of those things in the which I will appear unto thee, delivering thee from the people and from the Gentiles unto whom now I send thee, to open their eyes, and to turn them from darkness to light, and from the power of Satan unto God, that they may receive forgiveness of sins and inheritance among them which are sanctified by faith that is in me. Whereupon, O King Agrippa, I was not disobedient unto the heavenly vision, but showed first unto them of Damascus and at Jerusalem and throughout all the coast of Judea, and then to the Gentiles that they should repent and turn to God and do works meet for repentance. For these causes the Jews caught me in the temple and went about to kill me. Having therefore obtained help of God, I continue unto this day, witnessing both the small and great saying none other things than those which the prophets and Moses did say should come, that Christ should suffer, and that he should be the first that should rise from the dead. and should show light unto the people and to the Gentiles. As he thus spake for himself, Festus said with a loud voice, Paul, thou art beside thyself. Much learning doth make me mad. But he said, I am not mad, most noble Festus, but speak forth the words of truth and soberness. for the king knoweth of these things, before whom also I speak freely. For I am persuaded that none of these things are hidden from him, for this thing was not done in a corner. King Agrippa, believest thou the prophets. I know that thou believest. Then Agrippa said unto Paul, Almost thou persuadest me to be a Christian. Paul said, I would to God, but not only thou, but also all that hear me this day, were both almost and altogether such as I am, except these bonds. When he had thus spoken, the king rose up, and the governor, and Bernice, and they that sat with them. When they were gone aside, they talked between themselves, saying, This man doeth nothing worthy of death or of bond. Then said Agrippa unto Festus, this man might have been set of liberty if he had not appealed unto Caesar. Tonight I am going to speak on an elephant for a little while. I'll tell you how I... come to speak on this elephant. One of our sisters, you know, we get our sermon sometimes, or in other words, hints as to what to say from various sources. So one of our sisters, Sadie Hendrickson, gave me a poem about an elephant before I went up north. She said it was in, I think, the third grade in school. Well, I thought I'd heard it, but if I had, it was paint in my mind. So I took it along. And I read it. And as I read it, I thought, well, that ought to fit in with Acts chapter twenty-six. And we'll try and show as we go along. Well, here is the poem. Maybe you have heard it. The blind men, there are six of them. And I speak of the blind men of Hindustan and the elephant. You know, God used the elephant over in Job, I think it's chapter thirty-nine and forty. There are two great animals. Well, one is a sea monster, Levitian, the other is behemoth, and he's a land monster. Undoubtedly, the elephant is in the mind of God in chapter thirty-nine of Job, and Levitian is some huge sea monster, and God is trying to teach Job how great God is. and how God has made these monsters. And these men, these monsters are too great for men. Men just cannot handle them. And God is trying to get across to Job his greatness. If his handiwork is so great, why God himself is that much more the greater. And so you see, God uses animals to teach lessons. Well, here is the poem. Maybe some of you have heard it. It was six men of Hindustan, to learning much inclined, who went to see the elephant, though all of them were blind, that each, by observation, might satisfy his mind. The first approached the elephant, and happening to fall against his broad and sturdy side at once began to ball. God bless me, but the elephant is very like a wall. The second feeling of the tusk cried, Oh, what have we here so very round and smooth and sharp? To me it is mighty clear. This wonder of an elephant is very like a spear. The third approached the animal, and happening to take the squirming trunk within his hands, thus boldly up and spake. I see, quote, he, the elephant is very like a snake. The fourth reached out an eager hand and felt about the knee, what most this wondrous beast is like. His very mighty plan, quote, he, it is clear enough, the elephant. is very like a tree. The fifth, who chanced to touch the ear, said, Eam the blindest man can tell what this resembles most, deny the fact who can. This marvel of an elephant is very like a fan. The sixth, no sooner had begun about the beast of growth, then seizing on the swinging tail that fell within his scope, I see, quote he, the elephant is very like a rope. And so these men have been to stand, disputed, loud and long, each in his own opinion, exceeding stiff and strong. Though each was partly in the right, all were in the wrong. As I read that, I thought, well, how true that is today with men and women relative to the things of God. And I was thinking of seven things concerning these blind men. First of all, these men were blind, and that's true of man by nature. We are blind. The second thing, these men were learned. They were intelligent men. and it goes to show the wisdom of this world, understandeth not the things of the Spirit of God. The third thing I thought about was these men were very materialistic. They were grasping after something they could handle. And also they were governed by their feelings. No faith, yes, feelings. And also they were very strongly and stubbornly sure they were right. and satisfied with their conclusions. So much like men and women today and groups. In other words, they take scriptures out of their context and try to prove their various points of argument. The answer to all this is simply this. Man needs his eyes to be open If these men had gotten their eyes open, they'd immediately have seen what this was. But they were blind, and they groped around this big animal, this big obstacle, and they got a hold of a part of it, and they concluded by what little they did grasp what the whole thing was. And if only they'd gotten their eyes open, they wouldn't have come to all these varied and different conclusions. And in this chapter that we have tonight, we have how Paul got his eyes open. For he too was like these men, he was groping around, but Paul got his eyes open, and we'll come to that a little later on. The other night while thinking about the subject, I was thinking of some of the great things that you find in the Book of Acts. I guess it must have been about one o'clock in the morning. I was trying to run over the Book of Acts in my mind, and think of some of the great things that you find in the Book of Acts. So I got up and got my concordance, and to my surprise there are twenty-seven great things mentioned in the Book of Acts. Now I'm just going to run over them. You can look them up. That's your lesson. You first of all find in the opening chapter or chapter two about that great and notable day of the Lord. Then you read about great power, great grace, great fear, great wonders, a great dirt, a great affliction, great lamentation, great joy, a great sheet let down from heaven, a great earthquake when the jailer was saved. the great goddess Diana, and a great cry. And there was a witness to both small and great, and also a great company, great numbers, a great multitude, a great silence when Paul stood before the council. And a great sum obtained by this liberty, says the Apostle Paul. And there was a great dissension, great quietness, great violence, and great pomp, And also they looked upon Paul for a great while when he picked up that viper in chapter twenty-eight, he will be coming to. And this viper had bitten the Apostle Paul, and they watched him while they realized that venomous beast would almost kill a man instantly. And they watched him for a great while, expecting him to drop dead, but he didn't. then they had great reasoning among themselves, and came to the conclusion, this man must be of God, or he would have been killed by the venomous beast. But what I want to emphasize is the great light. You read in the book of Acts chapter twenty-two, Paul speaks of a great light. Now, three times he refers to this experience of his conversion. And I was thinking this the other night, as I say, our jotting things down. They came into the mind at the desk about one or two o'clock in the morning. And in chapter nine and verse three, he speaks, there appeared a light from heaven. Then later on, he speaks in chapter twenty-two, a great light. Then in our chapter, he said it was a light about the brightness of the sun. In each case, the light got brighter. Then I began to think about three expressions of the Apostle. The Apostle Paul says, I am not mean to be called an apostle. Then he says, I am less than the least of all saints. Then he says, I am the chief of sinners. And I thought I wonder which one he said first. So I looked up these texts and also the chronology connected with them. And you know the first one he utters was the one I'm not neat to be called an apostle. That was the first time he said anything like that. And it was that AD fifty-nine. then the second time, I'm less than the least of all sinners. That was in the year sixty-four, five years later. The next year, in the year sixty-five, he says, I'm the chief of sinner. Now you'd have thought he'd have said that first, wouldn't he? The apostle Paul begins to come down. As the light got brighter, A light, a great light, a light above the brightness of the sun. And the brighter the light got, the smaller the apostle became in his own estimation, not mean to be an apostle, less than the least of all saints and the chief of sinners. That's what the light did to the apostle Paul. And that's what the light of God should do to you and do to me. The more we bathe in that light, the more we realize what we are, and that light will shrivel us up if we give it the opportunity to do so. Now, reference to these men who tried to explain a great subject by very little evidence, one got a hold of the ear, and he thought, well, it's a fan. The other got a hold of the peals, he said, it's a rope. The other got a hold of the knee, he said, it's a tree. The other got a hold of the trunk, he said, it's a snake. The other one bumped into the side of the elephant, he said, it's a wall. The other one got a hold of the tusk, he said, it's a spear. He's there trying to explain some great big subject by very little evidence. And I couldn't help to think to myself how many men and women today, why some of them, men of sincerity educated, and they're trying to trace natural things to natural laws and sources, trying to explain some of the great things of God with very little evidence, very little. Take the subject of evolution. Why, instead of linking evolution with the true source, God, they go and they try and get a little plasm or some little tiny cell in some slime, and they try to prove the big subject of the human race from such very little evidence. And they defeat their own cause right at the beginning. Only light can produce light. In that tiny cell there must have been life. And yet here we find, suppose, wise men, intelligent men, trying to prove such subjects as where man came from, with very, very little evidence. How easy to just come to the conclusion, as we have in Genesis, God created man, and it's all set. if you bring the eternal God into the subject. It's all settled. They judged the whole thing by one little thing that they were able to grasp. The one man, he grasped the tail. He judged the whole thing. It's just a rope. And it just reminds you of many women who they grasped one scripture. They take it out of its context, and they've got the answer to the whole Bible. by one scripture. There's a man here I referred to in this morning. He's here about three weeks ago, standing outside there. He said, you know, man, his body, is just dust and ashes. And he says, you know, God said in the beginning that the serpent was to go upon its valley and eat dust all the rest of his life. Now he says, you know, a serpent doesn't eat frogs or flies or anything like that. All a serpent eats dust. And he says, you know, all the devil does is feed upon our bodies because our bodies are dust. God says so, dust to dust and ashes to ashes. I said, Brother, you're all wet. And I got in my car and left. In other words, a man trying to prove so much with so very little, and in fact, no scriptural evidence at all. Using fragments of Scripture to try and explain away the whole body of revealed truth. All you've got to do is take the Word of God as a whole, as you've got your eyes open, and the Christ open unto them, and all the Scripture, the things concerning Himself, on all what damage is done today by men taking a whole of a little of the Word of God, a fragment, one verse, and trying to explain the whole system of religion. That's what they're trying to do today. For instance, some speak, and these men, if they had gotten their eyes open, they would have seen a huge living organism. the things they thought they had to hold on were dead. A rope has no life, and a sword has no life, a fan and so on. But it was a huge organism, if it only got their eyes open. Today's men speak about the church, or Christianity, if you will, and they speak of it, oh, well, it's just a man-made organization, it's a philosophy. It's just another religion. It's a moral and a social force to try and perfect or try to improve or help the world. It's just a crumbling establishment that has served its day. It's served its day. And it's outgrown human intelligence. And these are some of the things that men say today about a huge organism If only they got their eyes open, they'd find out that the church is a living organism, a living organism. If those men of Ida's turn had got their eyes open, why they wouldn't have talked about those little things that they thought this whole thing was, and it says they were convinced that they were right, They had been seen that there was a huge organism instead of a rope and a fan and so on. And, friend, the church is a living organism, not made by man, but brought into existence by the person of Jesus Christ and the crippling of the Holy Spirit. And it's not a case of taking a little here out of the Bible or a little there. It's taking the Bible as a whole. And if you do, you'll get the proper understanding of the whole matter. But here you find the Apostle Paul, and I want you to notice some of the eyes he mentions in this chapter. I think there are twenty-seven times he uses the word I. Well, I'm not going to mention them all. I underline them as I went through the chapter. You can look them up yourself. But there are some worthy of note. first of all in verse thirteen he says I saw in the way a light here you have the thought of conviction conviction light a ray of light a beam of light divine truth Christ in the word and it's this that brings conviction Paul says I saw in the way a light. A light you had never seen the light before. He said it was a great light. It was above the brightness of the sun. I never saw a light like this. Here was conviction. Light revealed. Light shows man what he is. Yes, I wondered if you have been smitten by conviction. Has the word of God a beam, a ray of God's precious word, shone into your heart and shown you what you are a poor, lost, guilty sinner? For that's where the Apostle Paul found out what he wants. And all the things we mentioned this morning, I thought it was a Pharisee. He saw There was all as nothing. The truth of God showed him this. Yes, he saw in the way a light. There you have conviction. God wants his truth to shine in through your heart tonight, the word of God. How light can relieve. God, the God of this age, Satan, has blinded the minds of them that believe not, lest the light of the glorious gospel of Christ should shine unto them a day, shall we say. Therefore there's been a day when Satan is trying his best to keep the light of truth, shying into human hearts it is today. He will have men and women, even young people, groping around like these blind men, groping around this elephant, coming to their own conclusions and supposed solution, and they're perfectly satisfied with what they now believe. They have discovered something, and they're just as blind as a band to the truth of God. It's when the truth of God shines in. Then they get the light, and the devil is trying to keep them from getting the light. Getting the light. We thought it was terrible a few years ago when one woman practically was responsible for getting the Bible put out of the schools. I don't know whether you heard this or read it in the paper in the past week. I think it's up in Massachusetts. There are three or four big cities. and they have voted the Board of Education to take Christ out of Christmas. There's to be absolutely no carol sung, no scriptures read, no mention of Jesus Christ and his birth of Bethlehem in this coming Christmas holiday, in any of their plays. They can play up Santa Claus. as a man, but no mentions to be made of Jesus Christ, his birth, or anything pertaining to him. No carols, son. The devil doesn't even want children to hear about Christ and his birth, even the singing of carols. No little glimmer or beam of light about the coming of the Savior, the Son of God. What is our nation coming to? Let me tell you, that may yet become the law of the land. It started already. Whoever thought that one woman could get practically the Bible out of the schools, and when a thing like this gets started, especially if the liberals get in power, You'll see how rapidly these things have come, trying to keep men and women from seeing even a glimmer of light, a beam of divine truth, lest they become complete. And the point is this, the more that God is stamped out of the mind of man, the more man is made to think of this life. and to bluff the spiritual, the supernatural, the after-death life, out of his mind, and come to the conclusion there is no God. Death ends up. I'm going to live for this world, and he'll do all he can to get what he can, and he'll have to push the other fellow to the wall. He's going to get his. It leads to all kinds of crookedness and deceit, man's living for this life. That's all he's got to live for. And he's going to get all he can while he's here. That's what happens when you take God out of the picture. And so he says, I saw in the way a light. And then, in verse fourteen, I heard a voice speaking unto me. If you have conviction and the light, you have counsel, in the voice. I heard a voice speaking unto me. Yes, the voice of one who sees, who knows, who can do all. The voice of love, the voice of authority, the voice of power, the voice of might. He says, I heard a voice speaking unto me. This is the voice of counsel. First of all, conviction by the light, and then God counsels you, as wisdom in the Old Testament. I counsel you to buy of me bread, of drink. God is counseling the sinner. He's counseling the ones in darkness, and who is now beginning to get a little light I counsel you to get more light. I counsel you to follow up that little gleam of light. It'll profit you. And he gives counsel. He heard a voice speaking unto him. And here's God in his word. God pleading with the sinner. Then he says, I was not disobedient in verse nineteen. I heard a voice, there's conviction. Or rather, I saw in the way of light, there's conviction. I heard a voice, there's counsel. I was not disobedient, there's conversion. I was not disobedient unto the heavenly vision. Oh, that's the point. God gives you a little light. He shows you your good life will not save you. He shows you your good works will not save you. He shows you that only Christ will save you. He gives you that life. He convicts you as the truth. He counsels you to obey it, to accept it. And when you do, when you say, I will accept it, I'll obey the gospel, then you'll be converted. He says, I was not disobedient unto the heavenly vision. Then he says in verse twenty-two, I continue unto this day. Having received help of God, I continue unto this day. Not a four wonderful eyes. I saw in the way a light conviction. I heard a voice speaking unto me this counsel. I was not disobedient, there is conversion. I continue unto this day, there is continuation. Having received help of God, I continue unto this day. That's the only way you're going to continue unto this day by the help of God. Not by your own help. only by the health of God. He is able to keep. He is able to save. He is able to present us faultless before the presence of His glory with exceeding joy. Not I am able. He is able. I would have fallen by the wayside long, long ago, had it not been that the Lord who saved me was able to keep me There's one word that has taken a larger place in my thanksgiving to God in the last two, three years that didn't have the place in all my previous years. For the reality of it and the truth of it never really gripped my heart. I thank God many times for saving me. I thank them for his patience, his perseverance, for his provision, and in grace prospering me a little in his work. But there's one word that I've never used before as I have the last year, and it's the word protection. Lord, I thank you for your protection. Only God knows where I'd have been had it not been for God's protection. God protecting me from dangers seen and unseen. Yes, by the grace of God, I continue unto this day, and only as God protects me. If you think you can protect yourself, if you want to handle this matter and your enemies and your own strength and wisdom and power, you're in for trouble. But if you say, Lord, you protect me, you protect me. I remember a verse God gave me years ago, forty-some years ago when I came south, and it was this, No weapon that has formed against thee shall prosper, and every tongue that shall rise against thee in judgment thou shalt condemn. and how I prove the truth of that. God's protecting grace. And then the next thing in connection with the Apostle, although this verse is not in this chapter, yet it's one of his eyes, very important one. He says, I know whom I have believed. That's Second Timothy, one where. I know whom I have believed. Here is confidence. If you've got conviction, if you've got counsel, if you've got conversion, if you've got continuation, then here is your confidence. I know whom I have believed and I'm persuaded that he is able to keep that which I have committed unto him against that day. But then there's another one. He says, I am not ashamed. of the gospel of Christ is the power of God unto salvation to everyone that believe it. Here is confession. I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ. Oh, there are a lot of things I'm ashamed of. But if one thing I'm not ashamed of, I am not ashamed of, I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ. It's the power of God unto salvation. to everyone that believes. And here's another one of Paul's important eyes. I am crucified with Christ. Nevertheless, I live, yet not I, but Christ liveth in me, and the life which I now live in the flesh, I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me. Paul's philosophy or Paul's The language was this, his desire. Nail me to the cross with my Lord. I am crucified with Christ. Nail me to that cross with my Lord. In other words, if those spikes can go through both our hands, wouldn't you? If those spikes are long enough to go through both our feet, wouldn't you? But then nail me to the cross with my Lord. For we are one. I have so identified myself with him because he identified and sent with me. I am crucified with Christ. Crucifixion. That is one of the hardest lessons Christians have to learn. to be crucified with Christ. Crucify your passions. Crucify your desires. Crucify your pride, your conceit, yourself. Oh, there are so many things about us that are on Christ's level. I need to be put to death. Crucify. I am crucified with Christ. That's crucifixion. But then Paul says this also, I am now ready to be offered. And the time of my departures at hand I have fought a good fight. I have finished the course, my course. I have kept the faith. Henceforth there is laid up a mere crown of righteousness, which the Lord the righteous judge shall give me in that day, and not to me only. But unto all them who love his appearing. What's this? This is consummation. Consummation. I am now ready. First of all, you have conviction. Then you have counsel. Then you have conversion. Then you have continuation. Then you have confidence. I know whom I have believed. Then you have confession. I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ. Then you have crucifixion. I am crucified with Christ. Finally consummation. Lord, I am ready to come forward. I have been here long enough. Lord, my course is finished. I don't want to make another step. I don't want to run another for long. If my work is done, if my course is finished, I want to come home. I'm ready to come home. I'm now ready to be offered. And the time of my departure is at hand. I am now ready. They that were ready went in with him to the marriage, and the door was shut. That's what you read in Matthew twenty five. They that were ready went in with him to the marriage and the door was shut. Can you say tonight you're ready? The coming of the Lord is near. Can you say, well, I'm ready for it. I am now ready. They that were ready went in the marriage and the door was shepherded. Paul says, Be ye also ready, for in such an hour as you think not the Son of Man come. And so you see this apostle, who was so blind for so long as to his real need of a shaker, finally the light broke through, And the darkness was past, and the true light now shines. Connects you with the Apostle. And we could have included in the ad, there is none so blind as those who will not see. And there are plenty of people like this today. You can show them the truth. You can show them the light of Scripture. You can make it plain, but they don't see it. thing is they will not see it. None so blind as those that will not see, not that they can't see it, they will not see it. They were learning, never able to come to a knowledge of the truth. And so here you find the Apostle Paul, this one who was so blind, and on the Damascus of road, his eyes were open, wide open, and his eyes were open for the rest of his life. He saw the way God wanted him to go. I wonder if this is true of you, that of me. It was the revelation of a risen Christ, a glorified Christ, that changed this blaspheming Saul of Tosheth into the blood, the loved Apostle Paul. The Bible asks a question, Can man by searching find out, God know? Those six blind men we referred to, they were groping around, they were groping around, they were searching, they didn't find out what it was, they had a hold of, their little clues, their little fragments, You can't find God by searching around. God is only known by revelation when the scales fall from your heart. Like the little child you're trying to teach his first lesson in mathematics, watch one and one. Can't see it, can't see it. You try your best to try and get across the little mind, what, one and one or two or two is. You may leave the child and go into the kitchen. All of a sudden the little boy or girls, the case may be, cried out, Mama, I see it. Two and two is one. Two and two is four. It dawned on. It was revealed. And that's exactly what salvation is. When the Lord Jesus said to the disciples, Who do men say that I am? Oh, Elias, Jeremiah, one of the prophets, but whom say ye that I am? Peter says, thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God. Blessed art thou, Simon Bar-Jonah, Flesh and blood hath not revealed us unto thee, but my Father, which is in heaven, and that's what salvation is. And this, these things I've mentioned, these eyes of the apostle are the marks of a work of God. God is the one who reveals Christ to the heart that's ready, and he that began a good work in you, will perform until the day of Jesus Christ. And it's not the guesses and surmises and the hopings and the gropings of the human mind. No, it's God who reveals Christ to our hearts that on the basis of divine truth be received. We're saved. Our eyes are opened. And as ye have received Christ Jesus, good Lord, so often you receive them by faith. Now it's a walk of faith. And the path of the just is of the shining light. It shined more and more brighter and brighter until the perfect day. As we look at the world today, We see the human race grouping, sheltering, trying to find something to, substantial, to satisfy them. They have no answers to their problem. But here it is. It's all in Christ. And for the Christian, the one who has Christ, the one who can read and study this blessed book, he's got the answer. And in comparison to the coming glory, we've only received a little glimmer, just a tiny beam of light. But thank God it's getting brighter and brighter as the days pass by and as the night deepens all around us. Ah, yes, we're passing through the night. but we're following that beam of light that's so true. Until that day when his glory shall burst upon us, there shall be no more night, and we'll see the one and all his glory that Paul got a glimpse of on the Damascus Road. Yes, I wonder if that's your future. If not, it can be, I trust it will be, And I trust it will be so now. Shall we pray? Our Father in heaven, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, we commend to thy presence. We ask thy blessing. Upon thy word we thank thee for it. What would we do without thy word? What would we do without the Holy Spirit himself to reveal it to us? Oh, God, so many are still blind and groping in darkness. Grant that if any such be in our audience, their eyes will be open. Open tonight. Open now.