If you would, turn back with
me to Acts chapter 19. Acts chapter 9, I'm sorry. Caught
myself. This is a story of the Lord saving Saul. I pray that the Lord will give
me the words to teach and say and show that I'm sure the same
thing that Paul said after he was saved, that Christ did it
all. Christ did it all. It's all of Christ. Yes, we have the story of a man
here, but we haven't met the story of a sinner. In the first two verses here,
it says, and Saul, yet breathing out threatenings and slaughter
against the disciples of the Lord, he went unto the high priest.
Well, who was this Saul of Tarsus? Turn back with me to chapter
7. It's the first time he was mentioned. Stephen had went out and preached
the gospel from the Old Testament preached to these Pharisees,
these Jews, and told them of Christ throughout the Old Testament. That's what he spoke of was Christ. That it wasn't by the law that
they were saved, it was by Christ that they were saved. The Savior
had came, they had put him on a cross. But he said in, Stephen
said in verse 52, called showed before the coming of the just
one, speaking of Christ, Jesus, the Lord Jesus Christ. And he
said, in verse 57, let's see, 58, then they cast Stephen out. They cast him out of the city
and stoned him. And the witnesses laid down their
clothes at a young man's feet whose name was Saul. This is
the first mention of Saul of Tarsus. He was right there with
the other Pharisees and Jews. It says here in chapter 8, verse
1 says, and Saul was consenting unto his death. And at that time,
there was a great persecution against the church, which was
at Jerusalem. And they were all scattered abroad throughout the
regions of Judah and Samaria, except the apostles. Saul was
consenting unto Stephen's death. He didn't pick up a stone. He
didn't throw one. But he was consenting. He was
right there with them. He didn't stop it. It says in
verse 2, and devout men carried Stephen to his burial and made
granite lamentation over him. As for Saul, he made havoc of
the church, entering into every house and hailing men and women,
committing them to prison. This was all This was all according to the
Lord's providence, though. The Lord, at this point, the
majority of the Christians that had been saved back at Pentecost
and a little bit later, they were still just in Jerusalem. The persecution of the church,
they were scattered. They were scattered abroad. The Lord allowed them to be persecuted,
to scatter them, to send them around. And I love verse four. I remember teaching this in the
class and just stood out to me. Verse four says, therefore they
that were scattered abroad went everywhere preaching the word. They were chased out of these
areas. The Lord sent them to other areas
to preach the gospel, to preach the word, preach Christ and Him
crucified. And that's what led Saul to doing
what Saul's doing here. Didn't like, he didn't like the
God of the Bible. As do many today, don't like
the God of the Bible. He persecuted the church. But
Saul, he was a learned man. He was, he wasn't, which I don't
really want to say that they weren't learned men, but they
were fishermen. And love that, that the Lord saved fishermen,
saved learned men like this right here. Saul gave his credentials
in Philippians 3. Let's see. Philippians chapter 3, he said
that, he said though, let's see, for verse 3, he said,
for we are the circumcised which worship God in the spirit and
rejoice in Christ Jesus and have no confidence in the flesh. Though
I might also have confidence in the flesh, if any other man
thinketh that he hath word of he might trust in the flesh,
I more, will circumcise the eighth day for the stock of Israel,
of the tribe of Benjamin, and Hebrew, of the Hebrews, as touching
a law, a Pharisee." He knew something of the Bible. He knew of the
law. He didn't know Christ. In Acts,
this story is told. I meant to tell that to start
with. This story is told here in Acts chapter 9 by Luke, but
the Apostle Paul wrote about it in Acts 22, or spoke of it
in his version of it in 22, Acts 22 and 26. Before the people
that were trying to, again, persecute him, He told about being, he
said, I'm verily a man which am a Jew born in Tarsus, a city
in Cilicia, yet brought up in this city at the feet of Gamaliel,
and taught according to the perfect manner of the law of the fathers,
and was zealous towards God as we are today. Saul was a religious
man. He was a Pharisee. He was going
about to establish his own works and righteousness. But he had
been taught by Gamaliel. Gamaliel was one that earlier
in Acts, when a few of the apostles were being, I think they were
beaten, they were told not to preach the gospel, Gamaliel told
them, he said, if this thing be of God, you can't stop it. This thing was of God. These
apostles were preaching the Lord Jesus Christ. They were preaching
that he was the Son of God. Even Paul, he knew something
of this to write in Romans 10. He spoke of his brethren, which
he was one of them. He said, I bear them record,
they have a zeal of God. but not according to knowledge.
For they being ignorant of God's righteousness, and are going
about to establish their own righteousness, they have not
submitted themselves unto the righteousness of God." No man
will submit himself unto the righteousness of God unless God
gets a hold of him. That's what happened here. The
Lord got a hold of him, took him down, as we'll see. This, it was the appointed time
for the Lord to save Saul. He only let him go so far. And
then he stopped him on the road to Damascus. Verse 2, he said,
and he desired of him letters to Damascus, to the synagogue,
that if he found any of this way, whether they were men or
women, he might bring them bound unto Jerusalem. Any of this way,
Preaching Christ. Preaching Christ. If they were
talking about this Jesus of Nazareth that the Jews had put on the
cross, they'd only done what God had ordained for them to
do. Christ laid down his own life. Man didn't take it. But at this time, before they
were saved, it seemed like they had. And they didn't want this
man. that had claimed, in their eyes,
to be one with God. They didn't want him to be exalted.
After this, that's all Paul did, was exalt Christ. Exalt Christ. And I'm getting ahead of myself on
that. It said, as he adjourned, he came near Damascus, and suddenly
there shined round about him a light from heaven. This light, he tells in 22, yes,
in 22, chapter 22, Paul's version of this, he said he made his
journey, it's verse 6, he said, and I made my journey and was
come nigh unto Damascus about noon. So he was at noon, the
highest point of the sun in the sky. And suddenly there shone
from heaven a great light round about me. It's 26. Yeah, 26, chapter 26, verse 13,
he said, at midday, O King, I saw in the way a light from heaven
above the brightness of the sun, S-U-N. This was Christ. Christ in his glory. Christ is
that light. Christ is the light. Spoke of
in John chapter one, the light. We're told in John chapter 1
that in the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God,
and the Word was God. And we're told in verse 4, in
Him was life, and the life was the light of men. And the light
shineth in the darkness, and the darkness comprehended it
not. The Lord Jesus Christ came to
this earth. God manifest in the flesh, walked
among man, and they had no clue that God was with them. He was
Immanuel, God with us. And John, it tells about in verse
6 in John 1, it says, there was a man sent from God whose name
was John. The same came for a witness to
bear witness of the light of the Lord Jesus Christ that was
to come. And that all men through him might believe. It says, John
was not that light, but was sent to bear witness of that light. That was the true light, which
lighteth every man that cometh into the world. The Lord Jesus
Christ lights the souls of all that he saves. All that he saves,
he is their light. Apostle Peter, I think it was,
has said that we see through a glass dimly, but he is our
light. He makes us to differ. It's all
of the Lord Jesus Christ. He makes us to differ. But this light that shined was
brighter than the sun we see out here. We can't even look
into that. How do you see a light that's brighter than that? But
you don't. We find out Paul was blinded
by this light. But then in verse four, and he
fell to the earth and heard a voice saying unto him, Saul, Saul,
why persecutest thou me? The Lord spoke directly to him.
He told him one of the either 22 or 26, the other stories,
his stories. He said that the other men, they
did They didn't hear, they heard a voice, but they didn't hear
what was being said. They heard noise. As our pastor
talked about, when God speaks, thunders. To declaring that his
son, his son in whom he's well pleased. But here he called Saul,
he called him by name. There was other men here, he
called him by name, just like when he called the other disciples
and told them to follow him. He called them by name, Peter,
James, John, Simon, Andrew, Matthew, Levi. When he came to receive
the customs, all them others, he said, follow me. It's an effectual
call. It's a personal call. And he asked him the question,
why persecutest thou me? This is what Saul, Saul was going
about to establish his own righteousness. He was, he did not want anything
to do with this God, but God stopped him here. The Lord told Ananias in verse
15 down there. He said, go thy way, for he is
a chosen vessel unto me to bear my name before the Gentiles,
and kings, and the children of Israel. First thing he did to
Saul was teach him election, that he was chosen. And Paul,
he said he was chosen before the foundation of the world,
as all of God's people are. We're chosen in Christ before
the foundation of the world. And at his appointed time, he
saves all of his people. He goes and finds them at his
appointed time. Everywhere Christ walked on this
earth, he went searching for his lost sheep and found them
at his appointed time to reveal himself to them. The woman at
the well, he came to her at the appointed time. The blind beggar. all the ones that were lame,
blind. He came to them at His chosen
time, not man's, but His. And Saul answered, after he heard
this, he said, Who art thou, Lord? That's what we need to
search. Who art thou, Lord? First thing he did was call him
Lord. Reminded me of Thomas after the crucifixion. Thomas wasn't
with him the first time that Christ appeared to him, and he
said he wouldn't believe. When he saw Christ, he didn't
have to touch him like he said he was. All he had to do was
see Christ, and he called him my Lord and my God. That's what
all of Christ's people call him. is Lord, my Lord, my God. Ask Him to have mercy on us. Call for Him to have mercy upon
our souls. But He said, Who art thou? And
the Lord said, I am Jesus, whom thou persecutest. It is hard
for thee to kick against the pricks. It was chapter 22 in
His words, In Paul's own words, speaking
in this event, verse 8, he said, who art thou, Lord? And he answered
unto me, I am Jesus of Nazareth, whom thou persecutest. The Jews
knew who Jesus of Nazareth was. That was the one that they had
put on the cross. At this point, Saul is still He still has his being Pharisee,
having the law without righteousness. But the Lord has stopped him
here and shown him who he is. And he spoke to him and said
that he was Jesus of Nazareth and said, it's hard for thee
to kick against the bricks. Saul, not sure how many other
messages, if he was persecuting these men for preaching Christ,
he had bound to have heard it a few times. but we know from
the scripture that he heard Stephen preaching and he hated what he heard he
was consenting to allow those men to stone Stephen the man
of God did what God had purposed but still he was consenting in
it And after this, he trembling and astonished in
verse 6, he said, Lord, what wilt thou have me to do? And
the Lord said unto him, Arise and go into the city, and it
shall be told thee what thou must do. The Lord had already, he had
a purpose for Saul, changed his name to Paul. Paul was to be
an apostle. Back in the early part of Acts,
after Judas had betrayed our Lord, the disciples all got together
and decided they needed 12, and they voted a man in and made
a 12th apostle, or 12th disciple. That wasn't God's man. God had
another man, and he chose Saul of Tarsus to become Paul, the
letter writer. the writer of these epistles,
which he wrote the majority of. And he told Ananias, Ananias
spoke to him and told him, you know, that he said, in verse
16, he said, I will show him how great things he must suffer
for my name so. He's going to go out before the
Gentiles, kings, he's got to preach to some kings. and the
children of Israel. But he's going to suffer for
my name's sake. And I'm sure that just like the
other apostles that counted a blessing to be persecuted for the name
of the Lord, I'm sure Saul did the same, thinking back on what
he had done before the Lord saved him. But all men All men are sinners, and all
men need a Savior in the Lord Jesus Christ. We need to call
upon Him. We're told to call. And these
men, when they journeyed with Him, they stood speechless, hearing
a voice, but not seeing no man. And Saul arose from the earth,
and when his eyes were opened, he saw no man. But they led him
by the hand and brought him into Damascus. And he was three days
without sight and neither did eat nor drink. But he told Ananias what he was
doing in that time. The Lord had taken away his sight.
He had blinded him. He had cut his sight off to this
world that Saul was a big part of and wanted to be part of the
world. But he had blinded him from this
world. and he told Ananias in verse 11 he said to go arise
go into the street which is called straight and inquire in the house
of Judas for one called Saul of Tarsus for behold he prayeth for three days three nights Paul
was praying Paul was praying he's had a taste of the Lord
giving him a little bit of insight into the Lord Jesus Christ. He
has met the Lord Jesus Christ on this road, and he's praying
now to God. He's praying to have mercy upon
his soul. I'm sure he went from being in
the parable of the Pharisee and the publican, from the Pharisee
that stood and prayed thus with himself, to being the publican. Lord, have mercy on me, a sinner. I'm sure that's what he was praying. And the Lord told him, said,
Paul has seen a man named Ananias coming in and putting his hands
on him that he might receive his sight. And Ananias answered,
I have heard by many of this man how much evil he had done
to the saints at Jerusalem. And here he hath authority from
the chief priest to bind all that call on thy name. But the
Lord said unto him, go thy way, for he is a chosen vessel unto
me. Ananias had reason to fear Paul
in the sense of man. But we're not to fear man. We're
not to fear man that all he can do is kill the body. We need
to fear the Lord that can kill both the body and the soul. That's
who we need to fear. We need to fear the Lord. Fear
of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom. And I looked at some things here.
I didn't really go through all the verses. But I saw some things here that
Saul before Christ called him. He persecuted them that called
on Christ. He persecuted them. But after
Christ saved him, he was persecuted for preaching Christ. He was
persecuted for doing the same thing he had persecuted these
people for. He wrote most of the epistles. He was inspired
by God to write those. And I saw this, and it made me
think, in verse 2, It said that he desired the letters that if
he found any of this way, now he is of this way. He is
in this way. He is preaching Christ, standing
boldly, declaring the word of God, and being persecuted for
it. I mean, one of the stories in
there, they stoned him, left him for dead. few days he got
up, walked out of the city. He had the Lord on his side.
After Christ opened his eyes to the scriptures that he studied
his whole life, a couple came to mind that he wrote about in
his epistles or in Romans, taken from the Bible that he had studied,
the Old Testament that he had studied and knew, I'm sure he
could have quoted most of it. Being the Pharisee and living
by the law, I'm sure he knew most all of the law and the prophets. But now, in Romans 1, 17, he
said, the just shall live by faith. That's taken from Habakkuk
2, 4. The just shall live by faith,
by Christ's faith. Christ is the faithful. This
is something Paul knew about and wrote about after he was
saved. Inspired from God for it. Romans 9.15, which is taken
from Exodus 33.19. The Lord said, I will have mercy
upon whom I will have mercy. I will have compassion on whom
I will have compassion. It led Paul to write, it's not
of him that willeth or him that runneth. Saul of Tarsus was running. He was doing the running. He
was doing the willing. After this event, after the Lord
revealed himself to him, it was the Lord that was doing, it was
the Lord's will, the Lord willeth and the Lord runneth for him.
Nothing to do with him. The Lord Jesus Christ done it
all. Romans 10, 13 was taken from
Joel 2.32 For whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord
shall be saved. And Paul went on to ask, how
shall they hear without a preacher? He had, I'm sure this meant nothing
to Saul of Tarsus, but to Paul the apostle, he had had a preacher
come and declare the word to him The Lord had used that to
prick him and reveal himself to him. He had used that. That's
how the Lord saves his people. It's through what the world calls
the foolishness of preaching. It's unto salvation for those
that are called of the Lord. And the Lord had him write other
things In 1 Corinthians 2 verse 2, he
said, For I am determined not to know anything among you save
Jesus Christ and Him crucified. Oh, how I love that. Preach Christ and Him crucified.
That's all we need to hear. We don't need to hear about anything
other than the Lord Jesus Christ. Him crucified. It was His body. It was His blood. It was Him
laying down His body. and spilling his blood to be
our sacrifice before a holy God. He did what we cannot do. We
couldn't spend an eternity in hell and repay the debt that
we owe. We cannot do it. Galatians 2.16,
knowing that a man is not justified by the works of the law, but
by the faith of Jesus Christ. Again, it's all of the Lord Jesus
Christ. Nothing in man, nothing in our
works. We're safe by grace, through
faith, and that's not of ourselves. It's a gift of God. And, of course, I've got to read
this one. Turn with me to Ephesians chapter 1. I'm going to read
a few verses of this that the Lord led the apostle Paul to
write after he saved him. starting verse 3 of Ephesians
1, said, Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ,
who hath blessed us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly
places in Christ, according as he hath chosen us in him before
the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without
blame before him in love, having predestinated us under the adoption
of children, by Jesus Christ to himself according to the good
pleasure of his will, to the praise of the glory of his grace,
wherein he hath made us accepted in the beloved." Saul of Tarsus, it would have
been all about what he was doing. The Apostle Paul, it's all about
what Christ did for him. All about what Christ did for
him. Chose him before the foundation of the world. Predestinated him.
adopted him. And he did it all according to
his good pleasure, according to his will. And it was for his
praise and glory, his grace. And the Lord made us accepted
in the beloved. The Lord made us accepted. If
he saved a man, he's made us accepted. Nothing to do with
ourselves. He said in Philippians 121, He
said, for me to live is Christ and to die is gain. Back in our text. I have to get there myself. So verses 20 through 22. Well, verse 19, and when he had
received me, he was strengthened. Then we'll solve certain days
with the disciples, which were at Damascus and straightway. He preached Christ in the synagogues
that he is the son of God. The Lord saved him. He's proclaiming
the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and proclaiming that he is the
son of God. And the people that heard it in verse 21, they were
amazed. They're like, this is the one
that destroyed. the people that preach this night. Saul increased the more in strength,
and confounded the Jews which dwelt at Damascus, proving that
this is the very Christ. This was the Lord Jesus Christ.
He gave Saul the increase. He strengthened him, and he gave
him the words that confounded the Jews which dwelt at Damascus.
This was the Lord Jesus Christ. And the last thing I want to
read is Philippians chapter 2. I want to read what Paul wrote
of our Lord Jesus Christ. Who Jesus Christ is. I'm just going to start in verse
1 and read this in closing down to verse 11. If there be, therefore, any consolation
in Christ, if any comfort of love, if any fellowship of the
Spirit, if any bows and mercies, fulfill you my joy, that you
be like-minded, having the same love, being of one accord and
one mind. Let nothing be done through strife
or vainglory, but in lowliness of mind, let each esteem other
better than themselves. Look not every man on his own
things, but every man also on the things of others. Let this
mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus. Christ Jesus,
the Lord Jesus, God manifest in the flesh, humbled himself
to become flesh and walk amongst sinners. But he did it for his
people that he had chosen. says in verse 6, who being in
the form of God thought it not robbery to be equal with God,
but made himself of no reputation, took upon him the form of a servant,
and was made in the likeness of men. And being found in fashion
as a man, he humbled himself and became obedient unto death,
even the death of the cross. Wherefore God also hath highly
exalted him, and given him a name which is above every name. It's
a name we all must be saved by. That at the name of Jesus every
knee should bow of things in heaven, things in earth, and
things under the earth. And that every tongue should
confess that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of God the
Father. That's what we'll be doing throughout
eternity. is exalting our Lord for all that He had done. It's
all according to His will, His purpose, and His love. His love for His people. What
a great love it is. If y'all would stand with me.