May the Lord bless us as we continue
our meditation in the Acts of the Apostles. Tonight we'll speak
on chapter 22, from verse 6 to 11. The Acts of the Apostles,
chapter 22, and from verse 6 to 11. We read, really, the account
that Luke recalled in the earlier chapter, chapter 9, where he
tells us of this account. But here we have really Paul
himself telling us of the experience that he passed through and what
a telling experience it was and we realized that here he is in
Jerusalem he was determined to go to Jerusalem he's gone there
and now he's been taken captive and we know that he's been led
up to the castle and he's stopped there and he's been able to speak
on the way and the soldiers gave him permission to speak. And
so he spoke. And it's important to recognize
that as the apostle described his situation, before he came
to speak directly of the Savior, he really clearly set forth his
credentials so that he was able to speak in this way. It was
the work of God. And he reminds us how the Lord
had mercy on him, how he was in opposition to the people of
God, how he was opposition to the Saviour, how he hated the
things of Christianity and did all that he could to subdue them.
But he then goes on to tell us here how the Lord came to him
in a most wonderful way. And so he says, and it came to
pass. Now, bless God, in the lives
of all his children, an occasion occurs when it comes to pass,
when the Spirit of God comes upon them. Now, we read here,
of course, of an outstanding occasion. And we should be encouraged
by it, not discouraged. But nonetheless, we should know
that many times, of course, the Lord comes in a very quiet way
and touches our heart. But here it was, here was the
apostle. He was bent on getting to Damascus
and getting there and persecuting the church of God that existed
there. But he wasn't permitted to. And
what an amazing change. As we read on further in this
chapter, the Lord graciously turned him right round You see,
God does change people right round. And so we read, and it
came to pass, that as I made my journey and was come nigh
unto Damascus, he was almost there, but he wasn't able to
get there, about noon suddenly there shone from heaven a great
light round about me. Now in the earlier account in
the ninth chapter, we're not told when it was in the day,
but here we're told it was about noon. And it's significant to
realise that at noon, of course, the sun is at its zenith, it's
shining most powerfully, and yet the apostle tells us here
that this light shone from heaven, a great light round about me. So it was indeed an exceedingly
great light. And what an effect it had. The
light had shone right into his heart, and it had such an effect
that he fell onto the ground. He fell down. He fell down before
God. The light was so strong, so powerful,
he could not really stand against it, and so he fell down. Now, it's a good thing, isn't
it, in our lives today, when we, as it were, fall down before
God, God comes and touches our hearts and we recognize that
the Lord has come to us. He knows all about us. He knows
all our evil ways, all our evil thoughts, all our evil desires,
all our evil plans. The Lord can stop them in a moment.
He did so here with the Apostle. And so he fell to the ground
and he heard a voice. saying unto me, Saul, Saul, why
persecutest thou me?" It was a very direct statement, wasn't
it? He couldn't pass it on to anyone
else. The Lord was speaking to him.
I believe when God comes to us and speaks to us, it may be perhaps
in a loud voice, it may be a still small voice like it was to Elijah
or just to open our heart like it was with Lydia. Nonetheless,
there is no mistaking that it is something out of ourselves. We may not always realise it
at the time, because the Apostle said here, he fell to the ground
and he heard this voice saying, Saul, Saul, why persecutes thou
me? Why are you doing this, Saul?
Why are you walking this way? Why are you following this wrong
way. And we're told that there were
those, he was fighting against those pricks, those pricks of
conscience, and yet he was pushing them to one side. How often do
we find ourselves perhaps pushing pricks of conscience to one side,
trying to ignore them, because we know deep down in our heart
perhaps The things which we're doing, the things we're saying
and involved in, are not really in accordance with the Word of
God. Well, bless God, when that Word comes to us, like it came
to Paul, and he asked the question, Who art thou, Lord? And he said
unto him, I am Jesus of Nazareth, whom thou have persecuted. There
was no doubt about it, the Lord told him, precisely who he was
persecuting. Jesus, of course, was a name
that was used in those days, but here he claimed and pointed
very clearly, I am Jesus of Nazareth, whom thou persecutest. Well, this was the person that
the Apostle Paul had been persecuting. This was the one who got out
of his way to speak evil of Christ and to try and get rid of all
those who followed the Saviour. This is the man, the Apostle
here, who the Lord spoke to very clearly. I am Jesus of Nazareth,
whom thou persecutest. Perhaps sometimes God has spoken
to us and shown us that we, in essence, are persecuting the
Lord, persecuting the Church of God, walking contrary to them. And yet the word of God is so
clear. And they that were with me saw
indeed the light and were afraid, but they heard not the voice
of him that spoke to me. Now you may have noticed that
in the ninth chapter, of course, we're told that they heard a
voice. Well, it was seen that they heard
a voice, but not a voice that was clear so they could understand
the speech. They just perhaps heard a noise
as it were. And they didn't actually hear
the words that were spoken. The words were spoken here personally
to the Apostle Paul. And God personally speaks to
his people today. You may be in the midst of a
great crowd. Paul was in the midst of people
here. And the word came to Paul. And the Lord spoke to Paul. And
those things that he spoke to Paul, the others didn't hear
or understand. It was the personal word of God. What a blessing for us today
when God speaks, when we have the evidence that God has spoken
to us in a personal way. Perhaps just like this, saying
to my soul, I am thy salvation. Well, what comfort such words
would indeed be. And so here the Lord spoke in
this way. And what was the response? to this arrogant, hard-hearted
wretch who was so adamant to persecute the Church of God and
to do everything contrary to the way of the Savior. What was
the result? It was an amazing result. He
said, what should I do, Lord? What should I do? The previous
account we read, what would they have me to do? But here we have,
what shall I do? Now that's a good evidence of
God's great work in our hearts when we come and we submit ourselves
to God and we say to God, what should I do? We don't try and
make excuses why we shouldn't do something. We want to come
with a willing spirit, with a willing heart to our God and say very
clearly to our God, the Apostle was speaking to God. He was praying
to God. He was seeking God's will for
him. And he spoke in this beautiful
way. What shall I do, Lord? What a
change. Grace makes a change. It changes
our attitude. It changes our desires. Because
it's the powerful work of the Spirit of God. And so, what shall
I do, Lord? Was the Lord silent? The Lord
answered. The Lord said unto him, Arise,
and go into Damascus. He was going there anyway. Now
the Lord told him to go there, but he wasn't going to be able
to do what he intended to do. There had been this wonderful
change. So the Lord says, Go into Damascus,
and there it shall be told thee of all things which are appointed
for thee to do. The things which were appointed
for him to do. My friends, there are things
appointed, you know, for all of us to do. The Lord has a plan
for every one of us, a personal plan. My friends, it's good,
isn't it, if we are obedient to that plan. You know, in the
epistle to the Hebrews, and in the twelfth chapter, the twenty-fifth
verse, we read this, See that ye refuse not him that speaketh,
For if they escaped not who refused him that spake on earth, much
more shall not we escape if we turn away from him that speaketh
from heaven. That's a very clear word, isn't
it? And how important it should be for us today as it was in
Paul's day. See that you refuse not him that
speaketh. For if they escape not who refused
him that speaketh on earth, much more shall not we escape if we
turn away from him that speaketh from heaven. And there it shall
be told thee of all things which are appointed for thee to do.
And when I could not see for the glory of that light being
led by the hand of them that were with me, I came into Damascus. Well, the Apostle Paul then,
what a change. How willing he was to do the
Lord's commands to him. There were no excuses, no remonstrations,
but he went very simply. There was that great glory, the
great light shining upon him and being led by the hand of
them that were with me, I came into Damascus. Well, may we all
be found willing in the day of his power. Amen.