as it may please the Lord to
bless us together tonight we'll continue our meditation in the
Acts of the Apostles chapter 9 and we'll take the first 9
verses this evening but I thought that before we actually go directly
to those we might just read some verses in the 26th chapter of
the Acts because the account we have in the 9th chapter is
that which is recorded by Luke But in the 26th chapter, we have
the actual account recorded by Paul himself, when he came before
Agrippa. So I'll read a few verses in
chapter 26, commencing at verse 12. And this is what the Apostle
says, At midday, O King, I saw in the way a light from heaven
above the brightness of the sun, shining round about me, and then
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 persecutes thou me? It is hard for thee
to kick against the pricks. 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
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 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." Well that
was a very wonderful statement the Apostle was able to make
and it really amplifies in a large measure what Luke records here
in this ninth chapter. And we observe that here was
Saul, this alien to God, who was breathing out threatenings
and slaughter against the disciples of the Lord, went unto the high
priest and desiring of him letters of Damascus to the synagogues.
And if he found any of this way, whether they were men or women,
he might bring them bound unto Jerusalem. The last time and
the first time that we met Saul, was of course when we read the
account of Stephen's death and the people that stoned Stephen
they put their clothes on a young man's feet whose name was Saul
and so we see that Paul in that time was fully convinced that
this was something good and right and proper and no doubt he was
very pleased to see Stephen stoned to death and now as we move on
a little And we're not a long time into the time from Christ,
probably a year or so, we see him now endeavouring to do everything
he can to stop any progress of Christianity. And we have the
expression he was breathing out threatenings and slaughter against
those who were disciples of the Lord. And so in order to justify his
position, he went to the high priest and he obtained letters
that he might be able to do those things lawfully. And so he was
on this journey, and as he was getting close to Damascus, we
read, suddenly there shined round about him a light from heaven. And we know that light was really
the glory of the Lord. And it's good to read the Apostle's
statement. It was above the brightness of
the midday sun. We can't think of anything, can
we, as bright as the midday sun. But here the Apostle tells us
that that light was above the brightness of the sun. And how
wonderful that is. And it makes us think, does it
not, that when the end of all things come, When time would
be no more, there would be no need of the sun and moon because
Christ would be all the light in heaven itself. We therefore
have a little view of the greatness and the glory of that light which
was shown to the Apostle Paul on this Damascus road. And it
had, it was such a strong light and such an effect upon him and
his fellows that were with him. They all fell to the ground.
Yes, it was such a strong light. They went over to withstand it.
It fell to the ground. It fell to the earth. And the
Apostle Paul, he heard a voice. The others didn't really hear
the words of this voice. But the Apostle Paul heard this
voice very clearly, saying to him, Saul, Saul, why persecutest
thou me? Now, the Apostle really didn't
know who it was. He may have had some feeling
in his heart, we're not told. But what we are told is what
he said. And he asked the question, Who art thou, Lord? It's interesting
that he uses the expression, Lord. Who art thou, Lord? And then the Lord spoke to him. And he told him very clearly,
I am Jesus, whom thou persecutest. It is hard for thee to kick against
the pricks. You may think, well that was
very wonderful, and so it was. But in measure, we all pass that
way. Perhaps not to the same extent.
But nonetheless, there will be a time when light shines upon
us, into our heart, like it did with the Apostle. And we may
ask the question, as to what it is? What is that which is
occurring? And then may we hear a word like
this when the Lord speaks to us and says, I am Jesus. And to think that this is the
Jesus whom the Apostle persecuted, all the saints have persecuted,
and you and I have persecuted. We've turned our back upon the
Lord Jesus Christ. We've ignored the words that
He said. We've turned against our consciences. and we've given in to the power
of the devil. And so how true this is of us.
I am Jesus whom thou persecutes. It is hard for thee to kick against
the pricks, there were no doubt those pricks of his conscience,
as he went about doing these things, perhaps wondering, well,
am I doing that which is really right? He did it, no doubt he
thought that he was doing that which would bring praise to him,
his fellow men who were also against the Lord Jesus Christ
would have now encouraged him in this operation. And so we
see he had a lot to lose and although there were these pricks
against him, touching his heart, he didn't want to turn away from
them. Sometimes we may have pricks
in our heart against things that we're doing and we may not want
to And listen to those pricks, you might think, no, I'm going
to carry on, I've got my own ideas, and I'm not going to upset
people. Well, you see, here was the apostle
doing that which was against God himself. And then we have
the picture of this man. and he trembling and astonished
said, what a blessing it is when the power of God comes into our
hearts and makes us tremble before Almighty God. Tremble before
Almighty God. It's a good sign of the blessed
work of the Spirit in our hearts if we've trembled before God. We've been shook as it were because
of our situation and because of the fear we have of our condition. and we tremble. But here was
the Apostle trembling and astonished, said, Lord, what wilt thou have
me to do? That's a very different man,
isn't it? Than he was before, saying what
he was going to do, determined to do it, set his face hard to
do it, and now, under the influence of the Spirit of God, we see
he's a changed man. and he comes humbly and says,
Lord, what wilt thou have me to do? And then we read what
the Lord said to him and we just turn again to that 26th chapter
because it gives a very full account of what the Lord spoke
to him and it's very significant really in just these few verses
we see how the Apostle received a great and a wonderful commission
from Almighty God And the Lord said, rise and stand upon thy
feet. And then he addressed him, for
I have appeared unto thee for this purpose. That was a purpose.
And what a blessing there is in our lives if there's a purpose.
A purpose that God has toward us, wherein we shall serve him
and do that which is in accordance with his will. And so the Lord
speaks here very clearly to Paul and says, for I have appeared
unto thee for this purpose there was a definite reason 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 and we know that later on the apostle was caught up into
the third heaven and saw things which were unspeakable he was
not allowed to record what they were but he had a view of the
glory of heaven and the Savior himself when the Lord did in
fact appear to him both of those 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 you see God sent the Apostle Paul and God sends all
his servants who he has declared to preach and search for riches
of Christ, he sends them. Man does not send God's servants,
God sends his servants. And so we see here, unto whom
now I send thee. And now he gives the statement
as to what he was to do. to open their eyes, we know that's
the Spirit's work of course, but here was Paul used by the
Spirit to do this great work, what a wonderful position it
was, 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." You know,
the gospel is really fully stated there, isn't it? The conviction
of sin, the need for faith, the blessing of the inheritance,
the favour of forgiveness. It's all in one verse. The Lord
Jesus spoke to the Apostle Paul on that wonderful day on that
Damascus road. Those words were indelibly impressed
upon the Apostle's heart. He never forgot them and we never
forget the things that God speaks to our hearts. because we know
they are indeed from the Lord and so here we see and coming
back to this 9th chapter then where the Lord told him to arise
and go into the city and it shall be told thee what thou must do
there was no alternative this was the determinate counsel of
God what he must do there was no excuses that what God had
given him was to be done and the men which journeyed with
him stood speechless hearing a voice but seeing no man and
saw a rose from the earth and when his eyes were opened he
saw no man and they led him by the hand and brought him under
Damascus and he was three days without sight and neither did
eat nor drink he was under the blessed influence of the Holy
Spirit of God and this was the decreed time by God to come to
Saul and stop him in his mad career that career of evil, that
career of sin and it was done in a moment we are thankful to
know that we today come and worship the same great almighty God who
can still do great things as it were in a moment of time and
we pray we may see the great work of God amongst us here,
that we may know what it is to realise and recognise a time
of spiritual revival, a time of spiritual blessing, when the
Lord comes and the Lord speaks And that cannot be resisted. The Apostle could not resist
this work of the Spirit of God. And my friends, you and I cannot
resist the blessed work of the Spirit of God. And may we see
it, and may we pray for it, may we earnestly pray for it, may
we plead for it, may we wrestle for it, that there may be a wonderful
outpouring of the Holy Spirit of God. and a time of true blessing
and a time of true spiritual revival which will bring honour
and glory to our God. Amen.