Welcome to Expound-- a verse
by verse study of God's word. Our goal is to expand your
knowledge of the truth of God by explaining the word of God
in a way that is interactive, enjoyable, and congregational. Father, we settle
our hearts before you and this prayer
is not formality. It's an intentional way of
inviting you to speak to us-- every single one of us. We pray that your
Holy Spirit would have something special for
each of us that we would learn. Some of us have
known these things and heard this story on so
many different occasions as part of our growing up. I pray, Lord, that what
we encounter in your word would be like fresh
manna and that we would become closer to you and
better representatives of you because of the testimony that
fills these pages before us. Strengthen us and
give us hearts, Lord, that are interested in
the truths of your Word. For the word of God is sharper
than a two-edged sword, and I pray that we would love
it and learn it and give it out ourselves in Jesus' name. Amen. The main character
in our story tonight is, of course, Saul of Tarsus
who becomes Paul the Apostle. We have been introduced to him
already in the book of Acts back in chapter 7 verse 58. It was Saul who was keeping
the clothes of those who were stoning Stephen. He was in the synagogue--
the Hellenistic synagogue-- the synagogue of the
freed men in Jerusalem. He listened to the
compelling message given by Stephen giving
Jewish background, taking them through all
the different patriarchs, the story of redemptive history
all the way up to the coming of the righteous
one, the Messiah-- Jesus Christ. Those who heard him
were cut to the heart. But as they were cut
to the heart, what they did with their conviction
is close their heart. They attacked Stephen,
and they murdered him. Saul was there egging them
on consenting to his death. Now, he goes from bad to worse. But what's great
about chapter 9 is this is his conversion story. This is his salvation story. This becomes his testimony. Some people, like me, have
a pretty low-key testimony. I didn't see a vision. There was no bolt of lightning. I didn't hear an audible voice. I watched a message
on television by an evangelist
named Billy Graham. I knew that was the truth. I turned it off. I went into my bedroom. I prayed, I received Jesus,
and I knew I was saved. Some people, however,
have dramatic testimonies, and everybody's
story is different. I love to hear them all. I had a good friend-- still
one of my close friends. He was my best
friend at the time. His mother-- after
her son's conversion, his mother didn't really
want anything to do with it. She was running a household,
basically the one holding down the fort, bringing in the
paycheck every couple of weeks. Her husband was a drunk and
not contributing at all. She didn't have
time for religion. She didn't believe
any of that stuff. She wanted that
far away from her, But one night, the Lord Jesus
appeared to her in a dream, and it was so dramatic for her-- so vivid for her. She woke up the next morning,
grabbed her son, and said, I need to receive Christ. And from that moment
on, she followed Jesus. It was a dramatic testimony. Now, I think we'd all agree
that the conversion of Saul of Tarsus was not only one of
the great days of human history and one of the great
stories of human history, but one of the most
dramatic conversions ever. And it was dramatic
I believe because it was a noteworthy event. He was a noteworthy
person, and his salvation would mean so much for the
growth of the early church. That is why he becomes
the dominant figure in the second half of the second
portion of the book of Acts. Now, we've already
looked at him. We're going to look at
his conversion and then the story's going
to go back to Peter and highlight Peter
for a few chapters before giving way
to Saul of Tarsus-- now Paul the Apostle-- who becomes the
predominant figure in the rest of the book of Acts. It's interesting
that some years ago, a lawyer by the name
of Frank Morrison, who was an unbeliever, said
there are two events-- two biblical events-- that
we must deal with to overturn Christianity. That was his aim, he said,
to overturn Christianity. But he said, I have to
deal with two events. And it was these
two events that he decided to research
and contradict, confound, show why
they were false. And those two events were
number one, the Resurrection of Jesus Christ and
number two, the conversion of Saul of Tarsus. He said, if I can manage
to get at those two events, I can overturn Christianity. And as he did his
research, Frank Morrison found that the evidence
was overwhelmingly for Jesus Christ-- both in his Resurrection
and with the conversion of Saul of Tarsus. And Frank Morrison--
the atheistic, agnostic, whatever lawyer at that time--
gave his life to Christ, and he was overturned
by in part this event. Now, the conversion of Saul of
Tarsus highlighted in chapter 9 is an unlikely conversion. I like those kind. Everybody has people they
know who are like the most unlikely to ever
be saved, and you think oh, they could never-- I could never see that
happening to them. I hope you rethink that
thinking after being refreshed with the testimony
of Saul of Tarsus because Saul would say if
he can be saved anybody can. He was unlikely
because at the time he was the chief antagonist
against Christianity. But after this, he will
become the chief protagonist for Christianity. He was the chief opponent. He becomes the chief proponent. So it's very unlikely
given his state of mind as the chapter opens up. Now, in this chapter, Saul
of Tarsus who is in Jerusalem decides that since Christianity
is spreading so rapidly and moving northward to Damascus
that he would ask special orders from the Sanhedrin--
from the Jewish council-- to go up to Damascus
and find those believers so that
it doesn't spread into Syria and into
other parts of the world. He wanted to keep
it from spreading. Now, isn't that interesting? Because he's the
one who will become responsible for spreading it. He'll take it from
Jerusalem, Judea, Sumeria, and the uttermost
parts of the Earth. But he is hot on the
trail of believers, so he decides to travel 160
miles north of Jerusalem to the city of Damascus. Now, keep in mind
that he has a purpose. If you were to interview Saul of
Tarsus, and you'd say, Saul, so what's up with this? Why are you so intent on
hurting these Christians? He would tell you that he's
just being a good apologist. He is stopping a
false doctrine-- a heretical movement. He wants to keep Judaism
purified-- that's probably what he would say. I want to keep it purified. But in attempting to
keep it so purified, he's going to make it putrified. He's going to turn
anybody off from it. If this is what
your religion will do in getting at these people,
and hurting these people, incarcerating this
people, and making sure that they die because
of their faith. He's going to turn people off. It's similar to what I have
seen happen in the Middle East with Islam. Last time I was in
Iraq, many of the people who were raised in
Muslim homes said after ISIS came in their area-- they said, we have now seen
the true face of Islam. We didn't know that this was
part of what we believed in but since ISIS came in, we
started reading and studying the Koran and found
that that really is representative of the
intent of Islam and Mohammad from the beginning. And now, we want nothing
to do with our religion. And because of
ISIS, many of them have become more open
to Christ and have turned to Christ because of it. So here is Saul of Tarsus. He's just bent on
putting it out. It's sort of like this. Did you know that the
healthiest place on Earth-- guess where it is? Healthiest place on Earth-- the South Pole. You know why? Germs don't have a chance. Man, the germs can't
live in that stuff. It's just too cold
for them to be active. So since winds largely
originate at the South Pole and move northward, all
the contaminants are also-- the would-be contaminants
would be pushed away. It's too cold for germs
to thrive, to survive. There's no dust
at the South Pole. It is the healthiest,
cleanest place to live. However, not many people are
standing in line to move there. Real estate I hear is cheap. Now, why is that? Why aren't people wanting to
live in the healthiest place? There's always a list
of the healthiest cities to live in America. Well don't forget
the South Pole. The reason people
aren't moving there-- it's just too stinking
cold, that's why. So people can get like that. They want to become so pure,
so perfect, so authentic that they can become so
cold in their approach. So isolating in their
approach to people. And Saul of Tarsus was growing
hot under the collar and cold around the heart all
at the same time. We read about it in verse one. Then Saul, still breathing
threats and murder against the disciples of the
Lord, went to the high priest and asked letters from him
to the synagogues of Damascus so that if he found any
who were of the way-- that is what Christians
were called originally. Not the church, not
Christians, but the way. Whether men or women, he might
bring them bound to Jerusalem. The original language
that this is penned in says, "Saul breathing
in threats." Here, it just says, "breathing
threats and murders." But the original intention
of the participle I am told means to breathe in-- to inhale. What's interesting about
that is some translations translate it by saying
Saul breathing out threats. So I just want you
to picture this as that murders and threats
have become his very breath. He's breathing it in. He's breathing it out. He's like a war horse who sniffs
the wind and can smell war and gets all excited. He's ready for it. Saul is a fire-breathing
Pharisee hot on the trail. It's become his very
life breath to put out this movement of
early Christianity that is moving northward. So he goes, and he asks letters
to the synagogues of Damascus. Now, let me ask you a question. Do you think Saul of Tarsus
is sincere in his belief? Oh man, my yes. Very much so. Now, ask yourself a
follow-up question-- is sincerity all that's important? Why do I bring it up? Because how many times do people
say of other religions-- oh, but they're so sincere. Listen, I'm sure ISIS is very
sincere in their belief system. They put their
lives on the line, they give up
family, friendships. They live sometimes
in isolation-- all for the caliphate. They are willing to cut people's
heads off for their sincerity. Sincerity isn't enough. You can be sincere and at the
same time be sincerely wrong. And Saul of Tarsus at this
point was very sincere about his religious beliefs,
but he was dead wrong. He was sincerely wrong. Now, I didn't warn you, but
we're going through Acts 9. But there are four other
passages of scripture I'm going to make reference
to because they tie together, and I need you to see
how some of these things all integrate together. One of them is Paul's
letter to Timothy. And you can feel free
to turn to any of these, or you can just let
me read them to you. But this is the
Epistle of 1 Timothy and listen to Paul
what he writes. "And I thank Christ
Jesus, our Lord who has enabled me because
he counted me faithful putting me into the ministry. Although I was formerly a
blasphemer, a persecutor, and an insolent man"-- I'm reading out of 1
Timothy chapter 1 verse 12. "But I obtain mercy because I
did it ignorantly in unbelief. In other words, I
was sincerely wrong. "And the grace of our
Lord was exceedingly abundant with faith and love
which are in Christ Jesus." This is a faithful saying
and worthy of all acceptance that Christ Jesus
came into the world to save sinners of
whom I am chief. However, for this
reason, I obtain mercy that in me first Jesus Christ
might show all long-suffering as a pattern to those
who are going to believe on Him for everlasting life. Do you remember in our
studies of Philippians on our weekend series
Technicolor Joy? In Philippians 3,
he talks about-- Paul talks about his background,
and he says concerning Zeal, I persecuted the church. I was that zealous. I was that sincere. I was so into purifying
Judaism that I was willing to go on a
rampage north of Jerusalem and put out the church--
persecute the church. All of that has
reference to what we're reading here in chapter
9 of the book of Acts. So he asked letters to him
to the synagogues of Damascus so that if he found any who
were of the way, whether men or women, he might bring
them bound to Jerusalem. And as he journeyed, he came
near Damascus and suddenly a light shone around
him from heaven. Now, it must have been
a very bright light. Because when he tells this
same story to King Agrippa when he's on trial and
Caesarea in Acts 26. He says to to King
Agrippa, at midday O King, I saw a light
brighter than the sun. So he is traveling
in broad daylight under full sun and
a light brighter than the intensity of the sun
got his attention-- interrupted him. Then verse 4, "he
fell to the ground, and he heard a voice
saying to him, Saul-- Saul, why are you
persecuting me?" I have been on this road
or on a road similar to it that Paul took from
Jerusalem up toward Damascus. And whenever we take a
tour group to Israel, we travel one day to
the far north of Israel. We'll do that again in February. And we go on to a mountain
which is called Mount Bental. And on Mount Bental, it's
a military viewing point a lot of equipment
is up there to listen to what's going on around
them because you're at the Syrian border. And from that mountain
peak, you can look down, and you can see the road that
goes north toward Damascus. In fact, on a clear day,
you can see the outskirts of the city of Damascus. And many times I've looked down
on that lone stretch of road and wondered where it
was that Saul of Tarsus had this event happen to him. And I've just thought
about this in my mind because it was nearing Damascus
that all of this happened. Now, why Damascus? Why is he going 160 miles north? Well, there was a huge Jewish
population already in Damascus. There were about 40 synagogues
that were populating the city at the time. Flavius Josephus,
the Jewish historian who worked for the Romans,
said that on one occasion 10,000 Jews were
killed in Damascus, which shows there was a
sizable population that was in that city. And because Paul
knew that that was one of the epicenters
of Judaism and that this Jewish messianic
movement could spread, he decided to tackle
it in its inception. Now, what is his goal? Well, his goal as
rabbi Saul is to stop this insane movement
that believes that Jesus is the Messiah. In Saul's mind,
you've got a bunch of Jewish people believing
that a dead guy is the Messiah. That's how Saul
of Tarsus saw him. He did not believe
in the Resurrection. He will in a moment. But at this point, Jesus is a
dead guy, and the law-- his law says cursed is every
one who hangs on a tree. Why would anybody put
their faith in a dead guy? This is insane to him. He wants to stop it, but
he knows the fervor already of what has happened
in Jerusalem. He doesn't want it to
spread any further. Now, notice the
word in our text. "As he journeyed, he
came near Damascus and--" What's the next word? Suddenly-- don't miss that. There was no
forewarning for Saul. It wasn't like the day before
somebody said, watch out. God's going to get you tomorrow. He had no idea what
was about to happen. It came suddenly. He went to the
high priest, asked for official letters, nothing
happened, God was silent. He rounded up his posse, got
on horses or donkeys or walked and they decided to travel. And so as they set
out, nothing happened. God was silent. Mile after mile after
mile God was silent. And then suddenly, from out
of nowhere without any kind of process or forewarning-- suddenly a light shone
around him from heaven. Now again, I want to look
at a text of scripture. I'm going to turn
now to a text we have read on the weekend
in Philippians chapter 3. And let me read it to you. Saul, now Paul the Apostle,
in the third chapter of Philippians talks about
his background, his testimony, but then he says this-- "that I may know
him--" chapter 3 verse 10 of Philippians-- "and
the power of his Resurrection, and the fellowship
of his sufferings being conformed to his death. If by any means I may
attain to the Resurrection from the dead--"
Now, listen to this. "Not that I have already
attained or am already perfected, but I press on that
I may lay hold of that for which Christ Jesus also
laid hold of me." The word laid hold-- I mentioned it whenever-- a
few weeks ago in Philippians-- is the Greek word that means
to arrest or seize katalambano. So here's Saul going
to arrest Christians and on the way, Jesus
Christ arrests him. Seizes him, lays hold of
him, gets his attention, puts him down on the ground-- this bright light,
this voice from heaven. So here is Saul saying my
purpose is I'm pressing because I want to lay hold of-- I want to seize-- I want to grab a
hold of the reason that Jesus Christ originally
grabbed a hold of me. He remembers that day vividly
when he writes his letter to the Philippian church. And probably he has that
in mind by using this word katalambano-- to arrest or seize. Now, I've noticed something
about people's conversions. I mentioned every
story is different. Some people will tell me I've
gone to church all my life. I heard the gospel. I sort of made a
commitment, then I made a more of a commitment,
then I made a real commitment. And so for some people, it
is a process of Revelation but not always. Sometimes conversion
happens suddenly. instantly. It's like an epiphany happened. It's like I get it. I believe, and it's amazing
how life can turn so quickly. For some people,
it's a catastrophe. It's the death of
somebody they know. For other people,
it's a biopsy report. Suddenly, God has
their attention and suddenly they give
their life to Christ. Now, Saul of Tarsus has heard
the testimony of Stephen. That didn't convert him. Saul of Tarsus has heard
the words, the preaching, the of spreading of
the gospel in Jerusalem he was familiar with. It didn't do anything. But now, suddenly
this will do it. And what is it? He gets knocked down. Now, can I just urge
some of you who haven't given your life to Christ yet-- I think the Lord is a
gentleman, and He nudges you. He might nudge you
through hearing a message. He might judge you through
hearing a radio program or going to a Christian
event-- a concert or something at a stadium or
He might nudge you through a relative or friend
sharing their testimony with you. But if you won't
respond to God's nudge, well maybe you'll
respond to God's knock-- bam. And now you're down, you're
pinned to the ground, you've got no options, and
you do what Saul of Tarsus does in Acts chapter 9. He said, "who are you, Lord?" Verse 5-- "then the
Lord said, I am Jesus whom you are persecuting." It is hard for you to
kick against the goads." Now, when he asked the
question, who are you, Lord? He doesn't know who it is. He wants information. He doesn't know us, Jesus. He's not like recognizing
somebody's voice and so the word Lord here though
it's capitalized in the text, I believe it shouldn't
be capitalized. I believe it's the common usage
for the term lord-- small L-- a term of respect. Who are you, sir? Because he doesn't
know it's Jesus. Now, he gets a
response from the Lord, and it is not what he expected. The next sentence hits him
like a bolt of lightning. It's Jesus speaking-- "I am Jesus, whom
you are persecuting. It is hard for you to
kick against the goads." Now, stop right there. Saul of Tarsus
hears those words. He understands something. This is something
he is experiencing. There is a light
brighter than the sun. There is an audible voice
speaking to him who knows his name-- the double intonation-- Saul, Saul, why are
you persecuting me. Who are you, Lord? Who are you, sir? I am Jesus. It means two things. It means number one, the
guy that he thought was dead isn't dead-- he's alive. He's talking to me. So the significance of
this statement is huge. It means first of all that
Jesus Christ is alive. Now, my belief is that he
didn't just hear a voice, but that Jesus appeared to him. That's my belief. You say, well, why
do you believe that? Well, if you go ahead a
little bit down to verse 17, Ananias, who will go to him
in Damascus, went his way and entered the house. And laying his hands
on him, he said, "Brother Saul, the Lord Jesus
who appeared to you on the road as you came has sent me." So that's his testimony-- Jesus appeared to you. Not only that, but later on when
Paul writes 1 Corinthians 15 listen to what he says. Now, I am reading
from 1 Corinthians 15 beginning in verse 1. "Moreover brethren,
I declare to you the gospel which I preached to
you, which you also received and in which you stand,
by which you also are saved if you
hold fast the word which I preached to you--
unless you believed in vain. For I delivered to you
first of all that which I also received-- that Christ died for
our sins according to the Scriptures,
that He was buried and that He rose
again on the third day according to the Scriptures,
and that He was seen by Cephas, and then by the 12." --That is the other apostles. "After that, He was seen
by over 500 brothers--" bretheren-- brothers and
sisters-- "at once, of whom the greater part remain
to the present--" They're still alive "but
some have fallen asleep. After that, He was
seen by James, then by all the apostles. Then last of all,
He was seen by me as one who was born
out of due time." So I believe the
bright light that he saw was similar to
the vision that John had of Christ in the Book
of Revelation chapter 1 when John said I saw His
countenance that shone like the strength of the sun. So later on when Paul says
to King Agrippa, at midday, O King I saw a light
brighter than the sun-- I think he was speaking
of the luminescence that came off the person
in the vision that he saw of Jesus Christ. Either way, it tells
him number one, Jesus whom he thought
was dead is alive because he just talked to me. The second thing that
he comes to realize is that Jesus Christ
is one with his people. That Jesus Christ is
inextricably entwined with and related to his
people on Earth. Because He says,
who are you, Lord? He says, I am Jesus whom
you are persecuting. He didn't say you're
persecuting them. You're persecuting my church. You're persecuting me. In, other words, guess what? When you hurt my people,
I take that personally. It tells us this-- no blow that has struck on
Earth goes unfelt in heaven. He feels all of the
persecution that goes on against His people. He takes it personally. Now, it doesn't mean
He always intervenes. He's saving Saul of Tarsus
for his divine purpose. He doesn't always
stop people who are persecuting
around the world, but there is a principle here. Remember, Jesus said,
"inasmuch as you've done this to one of the
least of my brethren, you have done it to me." Jesus is one with His people. So let me just encourage you-- if you're having a spat
with another of God's children that you
be very careful. How far you take that argument,
that disagreement, that fight, because if you're fighting
against one of God's kids, you just might have a fight
on your hands a lot bigger than you bargained for. Keep that in mind-- Jesus takes this
stuff seriously. Saul, Saul why are
you persecuting me? I am Jesus whom you
are persecuting. Then he says this. It's hard for you to
kick against the goads. What is he referring to? Well, goads-- that's farm talk-- that's what farmers have. Farmers have oxen,
and they yoke them up, and they pull plows so that
they can get the fields plowed up and planted, et cetera. Now, sometimes the oxen are
not motivated to go and pull the plow. So farmers developed a
really ingenious gadget to motivate oxen. It was a long stick
that was pointed. It was pointed at one
end to a fine point, and it was dull
on the other end. The fine point was
the motivating point. So when the oxen just sat
there and didn't move, the farmer could
always get them to move by taking that stick-- that goad
and sticking them in the rear. And the oxen would get the
point and would pull the plow. Sometimes though,
they refused, and they would kick against that stick. And in the process, they would
stick their feet or their leg into that sharp point
and they'd be worse off. They'd be hurt further
because they're kicking against something that's
very sharp and could hurt them and could cause bloodshed. So using that analogy,
saying it's hard for you to resist what I'm
doing in your life. The goads-- he's being prodded. What is he referring
to specifically? I believe two things-- the life of Jesus Christ
and the death of Stephen. The life of Jesus Christ-- what do I mean by that? Well, there's thousands of
Christians in Jerusalem alone who are swearing by the fact
that Jesus is still alive. Their lives are changed. Saul of Tarsus is a contemporary
of Jesus of Nazareth. We don't know if Saul of
Tarsus was out of the country during the ministry of Jesus. He may have been. He may have just come
back into the country. Or it could be
that Saul of Tarsus actually heard some of the
messages Jesus preached or some of the events. Certainly, he would have heard
what Jesus said about Pharisees like himself-- whitewashed sepulchers-- that
didn't go down well with him. So the life of Christ
was one of the goads. The other goad was
the death of Stephen-- the life of Christ,
the death of Stephen. The bloodshed of
Stephen as he bled out outside the gates of
Jerusalem and Saul was consenting to his death. But Stephen-- after preaching
that magnificent sermon-- said, Lord, don't lay
this sin to their charge. And he said, look, I
see the heavens opened, and the Son of man standing at
the right hand of the Father. Saul of Tarsus had
seen many men die but never had he seen
somebody die like that-- with love in his heart, with
forgiveness in his heart, believing in Jesus. I think it was the
death of Stephen and the life of Jesus that were
these things that were just goading his conscience,
but he's fighting it putting on the good face. Man, he's just plowing ahead. Got to get rid of this
Christianity stuff. So when he gets knocked
down on the ground, Jesus said, I am Jesus
whom you're persecuting. It's kind of hard to
knock against those goads, isn't it, Saul? You've been fighting conviction
a long time, and it's hard. So he-- verse 6-- "so he trembling and
astonished, said, Lord, what do you
want me to do?" Now, the second usage
of the word Lord is also capitalized
and appropriately so. The first time, he didn't
know who was speaking. He said, Lord small L-- sir. But now, the voice has
identified himself as Jesus, so he goes Jesus is
alive and Jesus Christ is entwined with His people. He's definitely in
charge of this episode. So when he says, Lord in verse
6, what do you want me to do? Now, this is Saul
recognizing the supremacy, and we could even
say deity of Christ. This is in this verse I
believe the hinge point of his conversion. This is where he is saved. He's suddenly knocked
down, he's a quick thinker, he's a quick processor,
he's not going to-- duh, that was weird. I mean he's like, I get it. Lord-- now this resignation--
what do you want me to do? So follow the process-- there was a very
quick sudden process-- there was an interruption,
light, he hits the ground, the interruption is followed
by an interrogation-- Saul, Saul, why do
you persecute me? After that little
interrogation process, it leads to conviction. He says, Lord-- what do
you want me to do Lord? And then that results
in resignation-- what is that you
really want me to do? I'm resigning myself to You. Then the Lord said
to him, "Arise, get up and go into the
city that's Damascus, and you will be told
what you must do. And the men who
journeyed with him stood speechless hearing a
voice but seeing no one." I love how CS Lewis talks
about this episode-- this conversion. He says that God
was the divine chess player who was
maneuvering the chessboard and backing Saul of Tarsus into
a corner until finally, Jesus said checkmate. I just love that-- it's
just a clever description. Here's Jesus saying checkmate. You're after me? You're trying to
arrest my people. I just arrested you, dude. Now, there are two questions
that Saul of Tarsus asked. There are two questions I
believe every one of you must also ask. Who are you, Lord? That's the first question. What do you want me to do? That's the second question. Some of you have been around
church your whole life, you've been around
God your whole life, but you've never settled
the question who is Christ. You've heard things. You've listened to things,
but you've never wrestled with it and struggle with it. I spoke to a young
man in the foyer, and he had all sorts of
different issues and beliefs. I said, who is
Jesus Christ to you? Is he the Son of God? He goes, well, I've been
dealing with that a long time. I said well, now's the time when
you should get that answered and get that settled. Who is Jesus Christ? Answer that question. Once you've answered
that question, and you think He is the
Lord, and you resign to that identity, then
you should ask, Lord, what do you want me to do? There's nothing more exciting
than living your life, getting that question answered. What do you want me to do? Wake up the next morning. What do you want me to do? What do you want me to do? Where your life becomes
a living sacrifice. Those two are
essential questions to ask and to have answered. Then Saul arose-- verse
8-- from the ground. And when his eyes were
opened, he saw no one. But they led him by the hand
and brought him into Damascus, and he was three
days without sight-- so they let him in
because he can't see. He's without sight. He neither ate nor drank. Saul of Tarsus is
absolutely in shock. He has no appetite. He has no vision, so no outside
stimuli can go in his head. He's just confined
to his thoughts. And I say he's in shock
because every single thing he has come to believe about
truth has just been challenged. His view of the Old Testament
has been challenged. His concept of God
has been challenged. His idea of the Messiah
has been challenged. The afterlife has
been challenged. The Resurrection
has been challenged. Who Jesus Christ is
has been challenged. All of that is just like-- he's just like he needs some
three days to get through this and think this
through, so the Lord makes sure that he
can't see anything, and he just has to
think this through. Several years ago,
I was 13 years old. I was with my parents. [LAUGHTER] What did I say? Several years ago? Oh, so you said I should
say many years ago? Not several years ago? [LAUGHTER] OK, thousands of years ago. [LAUGHTER] When I was 13, in the
antediluvian period--- [LAUGHTER] My parents were in an
automobile accident. It was right after
the car was developed. No, I'm just kidding. And I was in the back seat. They were traveling. It was out by Reno, Nevada. They went around a
curb, and the man-- the car that
eventually struck them was powered by a man
who had been drinking, had fallen asleep at
the wheel, and his car had wandered into our
lane at a high speed. He was going near 100-- maybe 90. And it was a head-on
collision on a highway. It killed him instantly. It put my parents
in the hospital, and I had amazingly just
a bloody nose from it. But I recall walking outside
the accident scene after, and I was stunned. And all the rest
of the day stunned, and the next few days just
I could hear the noise still in my head. It was like a
ringing in my ears. I was just shocked by it. And I think of that
was Saul of Tarsus. He's just absolutely
blown away because of what happened to him. "Now, there was--" verse 10-- "a certain disciple at
Damascus named Ananias." Oh, by the way,
isn't it interesting that he was in this
state for three days? This was the most
revolutionary three-day period In Saul's life, but I think
back to another revolutionary three-day period. And that is when Jesus between
his death and Resurrection was buried in the ground-- a revolutionary
three-day period. That was the most important
three-day period in history. This is the second. There will be a Resurrection
so to speak of Saul of Tarsus. So he's three days-- he's not
eating, he's not drinking. But there was a certain disciple
at Damascus named Ananias and to him, the Lord said
in a vision, Ananias." I like how the Lord is so-- he says your name. "And he said here I am
Lord, so the Lord said to him, arise and go to the
street called Straight--" by the way, It's still
there in Damascus-- in Syria. "And inquire at the
house of Judas for one called Saul of Tarsus. For behold, he is
praying, and in a vision, he has seen a man named
Ananias--" that would be you. "Coming in and putting
his hand on him so that he might
receive his sight." Notice the description that
Jesus gives of Saul of Tarsus to Ananias-- for behold he is praying. Do you find that unusual? I find it surprising and
beautiful all the same. It's surprising because--
well, let's see. He said I'm a Hebrew
of the Hebrews concerning the law of Pharisee. He grew up praying. He prayed all his life. He prayed every day of his life. Since he was a little kid,
he was taught the Shema-- Deuteronomy 6--
[NON-ENGLISH SPEECH] "The Lord, our God,
the Lord is one." He said that from being a
toddler, then, later on, he learned other
formalized prayers. There is a set of prayers that
pious Jews like Saul prayed every day called the
[NON-ENGLISH SPEECH] The 18 prayers said
morning, noon, and night. He prayed those prayers. There were formalized prayers
on every day of the year. He was Jewish. Of course, he was praying. So why does Jesus say,
behold, he is praying? Because he's never
prayed like this before. I grew up in a church where
we had formalized prayer, but the day I gave my life to
Christ in San Jose, California, I prayed differently. I was really
communicating to God. It wasn't road, it
wasn't formalized-- it was reality. Now, he's really praying,
and I love that description. For behold, he is praying. Keep in mind he's going through
all that he has learned. He's changing his view
of who Jesus is-- all those the Old
Testament scriptures, the law he has been taught. Remember Saul of
Tarsus was brought up at the feet of
Gamaliel in Jerusalem. This guy was-- according
to his own testimony-- blameless when it came to
the Judaic worship system. So he's rethinking all this. Alan Redpath said
we can never say thy kingdom come until we first
learn to say my kingdom go. So this is Saul of Tarsus
saying my kingdom go. He's resigning. He's letting go during
these three days so that he can apprehend
and obey the will of God. Then Ananias answered-- this
is after he said get up and go talk to Saul at first. "Ananias answered, Lord,
I have heard many things about this man and how much
harm he has done to your saints in Jerusalem." This is Ananias
protesting the command. It would be like if the
Lord said, go to Syria and talk to Baghdadi. Find the head of ISIS
and go talk to him because I've just converted him. You'd probably go, uh, Lord? I've heard about this guy. He has done many things
against your saints, so he knew the reputation
of Saul of Tarsus. And here-- verse 14. "And here he has the authority
from the chief priest to bind all who
call on your name. But the Lord said
to him, go, for he is a chosen vessel
of mine to bear my name before the
Gentiles, kings, and the children of
Israel, for I will show him how many things he must--" I
want that word to sink in-- "suffer for my name's sake." How would you like to
hear that the first day of your Christian experience? "And Ananias went his
way and entered the house and laying his hands on him. He said, brother Saul--"
I wonder how he said that. I wonder if he said
that with confidence-- brother Saul or if he said
brother Saul with a little trepidation and fear-- not certain. "The Lord Jesus who appeared
to you on the road as you came has sent me that you
may receive your sight and be filled with
the Holy Spirit. Immediately there fell from his
eyes something like scales--" Remember, he was
blinded for three days. "And he received his
sight and at once he arose and was baptized. So when he had received
food, he was strengthened. Then Saul spent some days with
the disciples at Damascus." Ananias was responsible for
providing the first experience Saul of Tarsus would ever have
with Christian fellowship. Just think about that. Ananias is one of the
unsung heroes in the Bible. You never hear of
Ananias writing a book, preaching a sermon,
performing a miracle-- but he was the guy who first
approached Saul of Tarsus and called him brother. And I love this, and may I say
we need this in the church-- people who will come along
and embrace those bumpy new believers who get saved
out of weird, rank, sordid lifestyles who don't
quite act or look like you think they should-- to come around them, embrace
them, and say brother sister. Let me bring you into the body
of Christ, stand with you, provide fellowship
for you, disciple you. So I loved that man, and
I did that whether he was reluctant or not, I'm not sure. I know I would be. I would sort of feel
like the missionary who is face to face with
a cannibal, and he noticed the cannibal was
staring at him for some time. And he finally said,
what are you staring at? And the cannibal
smiled and said dinner. You know you'd feel a little
odd in that situation. Saul of Tarsus was notorious. Ananias certainly could
have felt reluctant, but he comes in and
faces brother Saul. That Jesus who appeared
to you has sent me, and he prayed for him. Now, I want to say something
as we are drawing to a close, and you know that time
runs away from me. I'm always ready to just keep
going, but we're not done yet. We still have some time. Wait a minute-- OK, just getting
the time in my head. OK, so let me ask a question. Jesus is speaking directly
from heaven, and Saul of Tarsus says, Lord, what do
you want me to do? OK, now stop right there. Why didn't Jesus
just say, OK, Saul, right now believe in your
heart that I am the Messiah and confess it with your mouth? You'll be saved then
go get baptized. Why didn't Jesus just
tell him what to do? Because he doesn't. He says get up and go into town. You'll be told what to do. OK. So he has to wait three
days till Ananias shows up. Jesus goes through the trouble
of speaking a vision to Ananias to get him to go speak to Saul. Why not pass go collect $200-- just forget the middleman. Cut out the middleman-- just
Jesus, you've got my attention. What do you want? Here's what I want,
here's what you do-- he doesn't do that. Why? Do you ever wonder that? I remember reading
that wondering that. Here's why I believe-- Jesus delights in using people. We're called the Body of Christ. He delights in letting
somebody else like Ananias be the human face for
the invitation of Christ in the body. We must never underestimate
the power of personal touch-- personal testimony of
one single person being used by God to reach another. It's the same answer
to the question why don't angels
get loudspeakers hung from the moon
addressing Earth, Earth-- here's a miracle. Angels dancing in heaven,
light shining-- wow, I believe. OK. Now, that I've got
your attention-- He didn't do that. He sends people to
preach the gospel. It's by the foolishness of the
gospel preached-- the message preached. So God is all about human
instrumentation to do His work. He confines Himself to the
foolish things of this world so that He gets all the glory. So never underestimate the
power of a single person-- surrender to God, spreading His
word, and that trickles down. Think of it this way-- Edward Kimball was
a shoe salesman also a Sunday school teacher. He shared with his
boys the gospel. One of them received the gospel. His name was Dwight Lyman Moody. DL Moody preached in
his church after he became a pastor and at one
of the services, a young man by the name of Frederick Meyer-- FB Meyer listened,
and he was turned on to do the Lord's work. FB Meyer in doing
the Lord's work led a person named
Wilbur Chapman to faith in Jesus Christ. Wilbur Chapman
worked for the YMCA and while he worked there hired
a young ex-pro ballplayer named Billy Sunday to work at the
YMCA and be an evangelist. Billy Sunday eventually
goes to Charlotte, North Carolina to speak to a
group of Christian businessmen. The Christian
businessmen get inspired, and they decide
let's have a crusade. And they hire evangelist
Mordecai Ham to come to town and give a crusade. At the crusade on
one of the nights-- I think it was the last night-- a tall blond-haired
lanky young man came forward to receive
Christ named Billy Graham. And thousands and
thousands and millions of people, including myself by
that trickled down obedience have been touched. The Lord loves that
story told through humans of redemptive history. So "Ananias obeyed and Saul
spent some days--" verse 19-- "with the disciples at
Damascus immediately--" What did he do immediately? He preached Christ
in the synagogues that He is the Son of God. And there's a couple
of things I just want you to notice
about Saul's conversion. Immediately, he was baptized
and immediately he was vocal. Do you see that? Immediately he's baptized-- he
doesn't like wait five years. I say, yeah, I received
Jesus five years ago and now I'm going to get-- he got baptized immediately. He wanted to make a break and
make a public demonstration of an inward change. Early church baptisms
happened after salvation. Second, he felt he had to be
vocal from the beginning he wanted to tell
people his faith-- he was a preacher. He felt like this was so
great what happened to me. I've got to tell somebody. It's sort of like when
you shake up a Coke. There's so much
pressure built up that you just release
your thumb a little bit-- it comes spewing out. Saul of Tarsus was
all shook up, and he had to get it out so immediately
he preached the Messiah-- literally the Christ
in the synagogues that He is the Son of God. And all who heard
were amazed and said, is this not he who
destroyed those who called in this
name in Jerusalem and has come here
for that purpose? So that he might bring them
down to the chief priest? But Saul increased all
the more in strength and confounded the Jews who
dwelt in Damascus proving that Jesus is the Christ. Imagine being in the synagogue
the day Saul of Tarsus walked in and preached
Christ to you. You as a Jewish
adherent to your faith are there for the
typical service and this man stands
up and preaches that Jesus is the Messiah
and you're listening going-- what? Say what? That's the guy that kills
people or arrests people that talk about that guy. What's he doing? It's quite a shock. So it's sort of an
interesting journey that he has taken so far. First, he was on
his back hearing the gospel under the
conviction of the Holy Spirit, then he's is on
his knees praying, now he's on his feet preaching,
and it happened all suddenly-- all immediately-- all
within a few days. Now, between verse 22 and verse
23, there is, I believe, a gap. So let's just read it. "Saul increased all
the more in strength, and he confounded the Jews
who dwelt in Damascus proving that this Jesus is the Christ. Now after many days were passed,
the Jews plotted to kill him." Now that phrase-- many days,
I believe was three years. I believe there is a three-year
gap between verse 22 and verse 23. And you say, well what happened
in those-- first of all, why do you think three
years and what happened during those three years? Well, next time we get
together, I'll be able to unfold and unlock that mystery for you. To be continued. We'll pick it up there. Father, we thank
You for Your word. Thank You for this man who has
impacted all of our lives-- Jesus, of course, changed our
life in the most dramatic way. But probably the second most
influential person in my life has been Saul of Tarsus. He has given to us a
pattern in real life of what it is to follow Jesus. In fact, He said, follow
me as I follow the Lord. Imitate me as I imitate Christ. He has-- by his words,
and by his testimony, by these stories-- shown us what it is to be
convicted by the spirit and committed to Christ. And so we thank You for him and
thank You for this wonderful historic monumental day
of his own conversion-- the day You katalambano-- seized him, You arrested
him, You laid hold of him. And each of us looks
back to the time when You laid a hold of
us, and we're still pursuing the reason for which
You grabbed hold of our lives-- may we know what that reason is. May we ask, Lord what
is it You want me to do? How can I fulfill Your plan? And I pray, Lord, that
we will experience the sheer joy of being
instruments and vessels like Ananias was for Saul and
like Saul, who became Paul, was for so many others. May we by our words
and our lifestyles like Kimball and Moody and Meyer
and Chapman and Sunday and Ham and Doctor Billy Graham
influence people. May we pass the baton of
faith to the next generation. In Jesus' name, Amen. For more resources from Calvary
Albuquerque and Skip Heitzig, visit calvaryabq.org.
