PAUL'S COMMISSION

Acts 26:18

Morning Meditation 4/17/2013

"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."

Paul is giving his conversion experience. Jesus said to him in Acts 26:16-17, "But rise, and stand upon thy feet: for I have appeared unto thee for this purpose, to make thee a minister and a 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," So this was a commission. And our text describes the purpose. Let's look at it a phrase at a time.

FIRST, WE SEE THE REVELATION

Our text says, "To open their eyes." Paul was definitely an eye opener. But many did not like what they saw. It is like that today. When you tell people that God loves this world and He gave His only begotten Son . . . we are doing ok so far. But when you continue, "that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish," we suddenly run into opposition. Someone asks, "What does the word perish mean?" It means to go to hell forever. Oops! We had a good wind up but a sorry delivery!!! That lost man does not want you to imply that he is on his way to hell. What if I told him that I was just kidding that when he died he wouldn't go to hell. He would just be buried and that would be all of it. Well, if I told him that I would be lying. The rich man, if he could, would stick his head out of a burning hell and say, "Don't you listen to him!!! Its hot down here. I have been begging for one drop of water for thousands of years and I can't get a drop"!!!

Only God can open one's eyes. God does work through men whom he has called to do this. Paul was one of those men. A good explanation of this is in 1 Corinthians 2:1-5, "And I, brethren, when I came to you, came not with excellency of speech or of wisdom, declaring unto you the testimony of God. For I determined not to know any thing among you, save Jesus Christ, and him crucified. And I was with you in weakness, and in fear, and in much trembling. And my speech and my preaching was not with enticing words of man's wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power: That your faith should not stand in the wisdom of men, but in the power of God."

Have you ever had that revelation? Has there ever been a time you saw clearly that you were lost and Jesus came to save you? All Christians can answer positively to that question. There are some who have been enlightened, but they refused the gospel and made a choice. Right now they are only one heart beat out of hell. They know where they stand. They have had God convict them and they decided to live life without God. I hope if you are unsaved and read these lines that you will change your mind. God is not joking. He would not have allowed His Son to die for you, if He was not serious. God is a God of the second chance. However, if one dies without trusting Jesus, one rejection is enough to send a man out into eternity lost.

First we see the revelation in our text, then we see,

A CALL TO REPENTANCE

Our text says, "turn them from darkness to light." Darkness in the Bible is a type of sin. It is a type of the blindness of the sinner. The idea is that an unsaved man, spiritually speaking, is in pitch darkness and cannot find his way out into the light. So the Lord called and commissioned Paul to show those who live in darkness the way into the light.

The word "turn" translates "epistrepho" and means, "to cause to return, to bring back." Man, in the person of Adam, has gone away from God. Paul would so preach that it would cause people to return to God. This is what repentance is. It is a change of mind that results in going in the opposite direction. People who repent turn from the wrong they are doing and ask God for forgiveness. This suggests that man was right with God at one time, he went wrong, and salvation is a return to God. That is exactly right. Man in the person of Adam was right with God, Adam sinned and went away from God, Adam repented and returned to God through God's offering of a blood sacrifice. Genesis 3:21, "Unto Adam also and to his wife did the LORD God make coats of skins, and clothed them." The New Testament explains this in 2 Corinthians 5:21, "For he hath made him to be sin for us, who knew no sin; that we might be made the righteousness of God in him." The skins of the animal were a picture of the righteousness of Christ in which the sinner is clothed. Our sin caused the death of the innocent. That calls for repentance.

There is no salvation apart from repentance. Some in our day have departed from the faith in that they say that repentance is not required. Repentance is a necessary prerequisite to saving faith. The Church has believed this through the ages and the TRUE church continues to believe it. Apostates don't. Next we see that,

WE ARE RELEASED

We are released, "From the power of Satan unto God." Satan is the god of this world. 2 Corinthians 4:3-4, "But if our gospel be hid, it is hid to them that are lost: In whom the god of this world hath blinded the minds of them which believe not, lest the light of the glorious gospel of Christ, who is the image of God, should shine unto them." As the god of this world, he blinds and binds. After man's blindness has been lifted, then man must be delivered from the power of darkness. Colossians 1:13, "Who hath delivered us from the power of darkness, and hath translated us into the kingdom of his dear Son:" We have been and are released from the power of darkness. Satan loses. Amen!!! Satan is a loser so far as the Christian is concerned.

The word "redemption" is also a word that has freedom as its end. Colossians 1:14 says, "In whom we have redemption through his blood, even the forgiveness of sins:" To be redeemed is to be redeemed out of the slave market of sin. The price of redemption is the blood of Christ. 1 Peter 1:18-19, "Forasmuch as ye know that ye were not redeemed with corruptible things, as silver and gold, from your vain conversation received by tradition from your fathers; But with the precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb without blemish and without spot:"

Paul was not only commissioned to open their eyes, to turn them from darkness to light, and from the power of Satan unto God, but also that,

THEY MIGHT RECEIVE REMISSION OF SINS

Our text says, "Receive forgiveness of sins."

The word "receive" translates "lambano" and means, "to take with the hand, lay hold of, any person or thing in order to use it." To take with the hand means that we experience forgiveness. We use forgiveness. To use it means to be free from the penalty and guilt of sin.

The word "forgiveness" translates "aphesis" and means, "release from bondage or imprisonment; forgiveness or pardon, of sins (letting them go as if they had never been committed), remission of the penalty."

There is no greater message that a person can have than that he can be forgiven of his sins. God is the one to whom all mankind is accountable. God knows every sin ever committed both in though and deed. For a person to face a Judge has only one way He can forgive sins and allow a person to go free is fearsome. But if we are forgiven and set free from the penalty of sin, that is truth that will give us an overflowing joy.

God wants to forgive men and set them free. However, He cannot over look sin. It has to be dealt with. So He dealt with it in a way that is consistent with His holiness. This is brought out in Romans 3:24-26, "Being justified freely by his grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus: Whom God hath set forth to be a propitiation through faith in his blood, to declare his righteousness for the remission of sins that are past, through the forbearance of God; To declare, I say, at this time his righteousness: that he might be just, and the justifier of him which believeth in Jesus."

Then Paul is commissioned to tell man of,

THE RICHES HE WILL RECEIVE

The last part of our text says, "and inheritance among them which are sanctified by faith that is in me."

The inheritance is what one gets as a result of the death of another. Webster says, "something that is or may be inherited; property passing at the owner's death to the heir or those entitled to succeed; legacy."

Paul says the sealing of the Holy Spirit is the earnest (guarantee) of the inheritance in Ephesians 1:14, "Which is the earnest of our inheritance until the redemption of the purchased possession, unto the praise of his glory."

Paul says in Colossians 1:12 that the Father has made us meet (fit) to be partakers of the inheritance, "Giving thanks unto the Father, which hath made us meet to be partakers of the inheritance of the saints in light:"

The inheritance is called a reward in Colossians 3:24, "Knowing that of the Lord ye shall receive the reward of the inheritance: for ye serve the Lord Christ."

It is called an eternal inheritance in Hebrews 9:15, "And for this cause he is the mediator of the new testament, that by means of death, for the redemption of the transgressions that were under the first testament, they which are called might receive the promise of eternal inheritance."

1 Peter 1:3-5 says, "Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, which according to his abundant mercy hath begotten us again unto a lively hope by the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, To an inheritance incorruptible, and undefiled, and that fadeth not away, reserved in heaven for you, Who are kept by the power of God through faith unto salvation ready to be revealed in the last time."

The inheritance in this verse is attributed to the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead. So it is not because of the good deeds one does. It is not merited. It is earned by our Lord's incarnation, sinless life, substitutionary death, literal resurrection, and His intercession (Heb. 7:25). The inheritance that is given to us is incorruptible. It is undefiled. It will never fade away. It is reserved in heaven for you (us). The inheritance is reserved in heaven and we are kept by the power of God through faith. The inheritance will be revealed to us at the last time. Psalms 103:2, "Bless the LORD, O my soul, and forget not all his benefits:"

May the Lord bless these words to our hearts.

In Christ

Bro. White