The name of the message today
is Saul's Conversion. Again, turn with me if you would
to Acts chapter nine. Last week we finished chapter
eight. In that chapter we considered four points, the purpose of God,
the providence of God, the preacher of God, and the power of God
in the glorious deliverance of the Ethiopian eunuch from his
sins, from the power of darkness. Now remember too, We've all,
as God's people, we've been translated from the kingdom of darkness.
That's where we were. We were in the kingdom of darkness.
We saw that on Wednesday night in Ephesians chapter 2. We were
dead in trespasses and sins, graveyard dead, held under the
sway of sin and Satan. But now, but God, who's rich
in mercy, now we're saved. And the scripture says we've
been translated into the kingdom of his dear son now. Isn't that
wonderful? All by the power of God and God
alone. It's nothing we can do. Nothing
we can do at all. What do we have to do with our
first birth? Nothing, right? Why would we think we had something
to do with our second birth, then? You must be born again,
and it's by the power of God and God alone. Oh, my. Today we'll continue
where we left off, still considering those Galilean truths. But we
look at the deliverance of Saul of Taurus from the state of spiritual
death that he was in, that all of us are in, when we're born
into this world. We all fell in Adam. So we're
all born dead in trespasses and sins. That's a fact. If people
want to argue about it, they're arguing with God. They're not
arguing with the preacher and they're not arguing with you
if you say that. They're arguing with God's Word. Again, the problem
with folks, and this was how we were before the Lord saved
us, is they don't believe what the Word of God says. Now we
do, don't we? Now we bow our knee to it. We
believe it. We don't understand it all, but
we believe it by the grace and mercy of God. Oh my. God, the Holy Spirit,
moved Luke to record these words, this conversion of Saul, three
different times. Here in the book of Acts, chapter
nine, and twice in Paul's own words, which you can find if
you want to write this down, Acts 22, verses four to 16, and
Acts 26, verses nine to 19. So three times the Holy Spirit
had Luke record this event. Three times. And this is a miracle
of God's grace. Every conversion is a miracle
of the grace of God. Every one. Does God still do
miracles? Yeah, he saves sinners, doesn't
he? Yep, he's still saving. And when the last sheep is saved,
it's all over, isn't it? Folks always wonder, well, when's
the Lord's gonna come back? When the last sheep that the
Father gave him is saved, It's done. Oh my. And this recorded miracle of
God's sovereign grace and the conversion of Saul, it warrants,
it warrants serious attention. Because God's word tells us that
Paul's conversion, Paul's conversion is a pattern. says this, a pattern, a sketch,
or an imitation, to them which should hereafter believe on him
to life everlasting, 1 Timothy 1.16. So we would be, it would
do us well to consider this. To consider Paul's conversion.
Consider what's recorded. The glorious, miraculous deliverance
of Saul of Taurus. And that deliverance applies
to all of us who are born again by the Holy Spirit of God. We
were delivered from the same darkness. You say, well, Paul. Paul was a murderer. Yeah, so
were we in thought, maybe not in deed, but in thought we were. Oh my. See, when the Lord spiritualized
the law and said if you're mad at your brother, you just kill
them. If you look at a woman with lust, you've committed adultery.
Right? When he spiritualized the law,
we're all done. We're all done. There's none
good, no, not one. Oh, my. Therefore, as blood-washed saints,
born-again blood-washed saints of God, we should have a true,
genuine interest in this narrative before us. by God the Holy Spirit,
generating that in us, as this is the record, recorded event
of a miracle of God's grace and the deliverance of this hell-deserving
sinner. Did Paul deserve hell? Yeah. Do every one of us in this
room deserve hell? Yeah. What did we get, Brother
Tom? We got mercy, didn't we? Mercy
in Christ, but we're all hell-deserving sinners. See, the wage of the sin is death,
right? So our sins deserve death. The law and judgment of God demands
satisfaction, so what does Christ do? He dies in the riven place
of sinners, chosen sinners. Now, we don't know who they are.
I don't know who all the elect are, do you? So we preach the
gospel of them all and let the Holy Spirit do the work. The
gospel message goes out here, it goes into countries we could
never reach. And God uses it for however he uses it. To awake
the sleeping elect or to encourage God's people. My oh my. And we're here for
the furtherance of the gospel, just like Paul said, right? That's
why we're here. So why Again, why would we be interested
in this? Because we're filled with the
same Holy Spirit that Paul was filled with. The Holy Spirit of God. Now we
love Christ. Now we love his gospel. Now we
love his people. Now we love his word. When we
never did before. There was a time I didn't want
nothing to do with God. Absolutely nothing. And here
I am. If you had told me when I lived back in Canada, you told
me I was going to be a preacher, I'd have cussed you up one side
and down the other. And here I am, by the grace of
God, a sinner saved by grace. And here you are, if you're born
again, a sinner saved by grace, rejoicing in the gospel, rejoicing
in Christ. That's a miracle, beloved. Look
at verses one and two. And Saul, yet breathing out threatenings
and slaughter, Acts chapter nine, verses one and two. And Saul,
yet breathing out threatenings and slaughter against the disciples
of the Lord, went unto the high priest. Now remember when it
said in Acts chapter eight that Paul consented to the death of
Christ? Remember we looked in the Greek?
It means he delighted in that. He delighted in the fact that
Stephen was killed. That shows to us our depravity
by nature. Why do we hate Christ before
the Lord saves us? Because we have the same nature.
A dead nature that wants nothing to do with God. And why do we
desire to hear the gospel? Because we have a new nature
now. And that's why we have a struggle within us, don't we? That's why
we struggle every day. The civil war within the believer.
Every day struggling against sin. But we're more than conquerors
in Christ, aren't we? But we still struggle, don't
we? But the victory's in Christ. You see? Not in anything we do. Look at this. Now this does not
sound like a man who loves Christians, does it? And Saul, yet breathing
out threatenings and slurs, he wants to wipe them out. He wants
to take them off the face of the map of the world. He wants
them gone. He wants these Christian sects
wiped out. And he thinks he's doing God's
work, doesn't he? So did the Catholics during the Inquisition.
They're killing our brothers and sisters in Christ. And you
know what? When I was Catholic, I had no
idea about that. But after the Lord saved me out
of that, Then I started reading up about it. Rome's hands are bloody with
the blood of the saints, beloved. Oh my. And here's Saul. He's
a religious man. And he's breeding up threatens
and slaughter against the disciples of the Lord. That means anyone
who follows Christ. He went under the high priest
and desired of him letters to Damascus, to the synagogues,
that if he found any of this way, whether they were men or
women, he didn't care. He didn't care if it was a man
or a woman. He might bring them bound into Jerusalem. And that's
if they lived the trip back. If not, he'd probably just toss
them aside, let the crows eat them. I'll tell you, he hated
believers in Christ. And it was manifest, we see here,
it's manifest by his actions, right? He might not have outright
said, well, I hate them, but it sure is manifest by his actions. This is why I say, when I tell
people we hated God before we knew him, and they go, well,
I never said I hated God, but our actions manifested that we
did. That's the problem, is we are
sinners by birth, nature, and choice. And so our actions, the
things that we did, the way we spoke, manifested that we were
enemies with God by wicked works, as the scripture says, in our
minds. That's scriptural. I've told you, I talked to somebody
one time, used to come here, and they said, well, I was never
an enemy of God. And I said, well, then you're
not saved. Because every believer says,
I was an enemy of God. When we see that scripture, we
go, yeah, that was me. I was an enemy of God. I may
not have said it outright, but I sure was by my actions. Oh
my. See, people get mad at the preacher,
or mad at someone talking about Christ, when really they're mad
at God. But they can't get at God, can
they? So they come at us. Don't be surprised if you face
persecution for your faith. Don't be surprised. They can't
get to God, but they can sure get to you. But God protects
his people. Remember that, too. Let them
say whatever they want. It's God that justifies us, right? Oh, my. There's therefore now
no condemnation. Men can say whatever they want.
You know what? People say, well, boy, you're
such and such. I say, well, no, I'm a lot worse
than what you think. And they kind of look at you. Because
we know what we are, right? We know what we are. Oh, my. So Saul was like a mean, hungry
wolf who tasted blood. And he wanted more. He wanted
more. You know, wolf tastes blood,
they're gonna go kill more chickens if they kill a chicken, right?
They just want that. They want that taste. And Paul's
like that. My oh my. And he must make sure
his victim's dead. He wants them wiped out. Again,
he consented to Stephen's death in the Greek. He delighted in
it. He delighted in Stephen's death. But we see he's not satisfied
with that, is he? Here we are two chapters later,
Brother Tom, and he's not satisfied. He wants more. He's got that hunger to kill
more, to stamp out more. And he's doing it thinking he's
doing it for God. But we're going to find out that
when he's persecuting Christians, he's persecuting Christ. Oh my. So he goes to the high priest.
He wants to stand by Christianity even if it results in the death
of every follower of Jesus Christ. He just wants to get those letters
so he can do that goal. And his hatred for Christ is
manifested. And Christ is God in the flesh.
The sinless spotless lamb of God. And those high priests, they
willingly gave him the authority to do that. You know why? Because
they hated Christ. Remember what they said to the
apostles? You can go on out and live your lives, but you don't
preach Christ. Don't preach that resurrection.
Remember we saw that in Acts chapter 5, I believe? Well, these
are the same fellas sending them out. So Saul's in a state of spiritual
darkness. The high priest's in a state of spiritual darkness.
And they want to kill and murder those who are born again by the
Holy Spirit of God. And we see right here, I'll ask
you a question here. Was Paul seeking God? He wasn't,
was he, Brother Tom? No. He wasn't seeking God. You
know, people say, well, you know, people seek God. No, we don't.
Unless we're made willing in the day of God's power. Why did
we seek Christ? Because God made us willing by
his power. Naturally, we're like, I don't
want nothing to do with you, God. And this is a picture of
our state. Saul in darkness like this is
a picture of our natural state. And the God he was worshiping
wasn't the God of the Bible, right? It was a God of man's
traditions. He was a Pharisee. Remember,
the Pharisees weren't around in the Old Testament. They came
in between that 400 years. And they added all these traditions
of man. You look in the Old Testament,
you won't see Pharisees. No. No, they came around in that
400 year period. And now they've grown so big
that they were the rulers in Israel. My, oh, my. So he's thinking he's doing God's
work. He's not doing God's work at all. So Paul's not seeking
God, just like the scripture says. Now listen to this. There's
none that understand it. Brother Tom, we've talked about
that. You said God's got to reveal himself to us before we even
know him. Because there's none that understand
it. We don't know who God is in our natural state. We find out of when we're born
again, don't we? Oh my. And then it says this, there's
none that seeketh after God. Why did you seek God? Why are
you still seeking God? Why are you here under the preacher
of the gospel? Because God made you willing. Why do you desire
now to hear the gospel? Because God's given you love
for it. You used to hate it. Now we love it. Why do we get
together and just, like I said, you guys are my family. Why do
we feel that way? Because the love of God is shed
abroad in our hearts by his almighty power. That love is not natural
to us, is it? Just like the righteousness that
we're clothed in is called an alien righteousness. The old
timers, the old preachers used to say, we're clothed in an alien
righteousness. That's not some outer space guy.
That just means a righteousness that's not our own. We're clothed
in the righteousness of Christ. And God accepts us based upon
Christ's work. It's amazing grace. I'll tell
you, this grace to undeserving, hell-deserving sinners. We get
mercy, beloved. Mercy shown to us in Christ. In Saul's religious zeal, he
had no spiritual understanding. None. How do we know that? Well, because we didn't either,
did we? And mainly because this is what
the scripture says, 1 Corinthians 2, 14. But the natural man received
not the things of the Spirit of God. Before we were born again,
we couldn't receive the things of the Spirit of God. That's
why we wanted Christians to be as far away as possible from
us. Because we couldn't receive the
things they were saying. You call me a sinner? Put him up,
man. Right? I'm not as bad as that fella
in prison. No, we're worse. But see, the believer knows that,
don't they? We know that. And that's why we say God's grace
is amazing grace. And it covers all of our sins,
past, present, and future. I've said oftentimes, people
say to me all the time, well, how can you say all your future
sins? I ask all of us here. How many of our sins were future
when Christ died on the cross? All of them, right? Did he say
it's finished? Did he pay for all our sins?
Or just some of them? All of them, sister. All of them. So again, I preach a finished
work. Our souls are bought and paid
for at Calvary's cross, right? And then we're granted, we have
to be born again, because we're born dead in trespasses and sins. Then we're born again by the
Holy Spirit of God, given faith to believe, and we go, Christ
died for me. He's my savior. Yeah, your sins
were bought and paid for 2,000 years ago. Now that doesn't give
us a license to go out and go crazy, does it? No, those folks
are called antinomians, I believe that. And we're not antinomians. The
scripture says the love of Christ constrains us now. Now we desire to live for Christ.
Do we struggle all the time? Absolutely. Are we still sinners?
Absolutely. We're more aware of our sin now
than we ever were before, aren't we? Do you sin more than you
want to? Yep. We desire not to sin, don't we,
Brother Zane? We desire to be sinless, but we're sinners. We're
locked in time and space. God's outside of time and space.
But there's going to come a day when we're going to be taken
out of time and space. And you know what? We're going to go
to the land of no mores. You know that? You're going to
go to the land of no mores. No more crying. No more sorrow. No more sickness. No more nights. No more sin. And we're going
to be rejoicing. all the time, looking to our
Savior. And heaven will be heaven because Christ is there. That's
why it's going to be heaven. Because we're, you ever, you
ever, Vicki and I were talking about that this morning. We are
going to see our Redeemer, Brother Tom, face to face. We're, we're
going to look upon Him. We're going to see Him, Brother
Brian. And Joseph, I know my Redeemer liveth, and I'm going
to see Him. Imagine that, sister? We're going
to see Him face to face. Brother Wayne will be right there
too. You guys will be gazing at the Savior. Isn't that wonderful? Gazing at the Savior. Oh my,
look into Him. And crying with the saints, oh
glory to the Lamb. glory and honor and praise and
blessing because he's the center of our faith, right? Our faith
looks to one person, the Lord Jesus Christ. We look away from
ourselves, we look outside ourselves and up to Christ, don't we? We
used to look inward to self. Now we look outward to Christ.
Oh my, and here's Saul though. Saul's just, he's dead in trespasses
and sins. And he can't know the things
of God because they're spiritually discerned. And listen to this,
in James it says, of his own will be God, he asked with the
word of truth. You know, people talk a lot about will. Oh, my
will. I gave my life to Jesus because
I was willing. And then I heard this one. I
heard this one. Not long ago. God will never
violate anyone's free will. You ever hear that? We'd be millionaires
if we had a quarter for every time someone said that, wouldn't
we? You know what? If God don't violate our free
will, if God doesn't come into our lives, we will never be saved. If we're not made willing by
God, we'll never come to Christ. But what does the scripture say?
What did the master say? I love this, what the master
said. He says, I won't lose nothing. Every sheep of God that was given
to Christ in eternity shall come to him. Now, scripture says,
we come, he drags us. Do we come kicking and screaming?
No, we come willingly, don't we? I used to hear, oh, we come kicking
and screaming. No, no, we come willingly because we're made
willing in the day of God's power. It's amazing. I'll tell you what.
Our great God is incredible. Saul was just as dead spiritually
as Lazarus was physically. Remember Lazarus? He was physically
dead, wasn't he? Saul's just as dead spiritually.
Could Lazarus come forth on his own? And you notice the effectual
calling? When our Lord says, Lazarus,
he didn't say, come forth, because every grave would have busted
open. He's God. Remember, he's God in the flesh.
If he had said, come forth, every grave would have split open,
man. But he said, Lazarus, which pictures effectual calling. He
knows the name of his sheep. Paul was a chosen vessel. Did
Paul know that? He had no clue. He had no clue. This blessed truth is brought
forth that the true born-again believer are born again by the
power of the Holy Spirit under the preaching of the word in
1 Thessalonians, it says this, that you would walk worthy of
the Lord, or walk worthy of God, who hath called you unto his
kingdom and glory. Who called us? God called us. He made us willing, beloved.
This is 1 Thessalonians 2, 13 and 14. It says, For this cause
also we thank God without ceasing, because when you received the
word of God, which you heard of us, you received it not as
the word of man, but as, in truth, the word of God, which effectively
worketh also in you that believe. God made that word effectual,
and we believed. Isn't that wonderful? See, our
wills are bound by our nature, right? Luther wrote that wonderful
book called The Bondage of the Will. And our wills are bound
by our nature. Paul's got a dead nature. He's
got a dead nature. All he wants to do is whatever
his flesh wants to do. He's guided, the will is guided
by the nature. And so he wanted to kill Christians. But we're gonna see, he's gonna
get knocked off his horse, And then, his will's gonna get changed. We'll see next week, I believe
it's next week, that he ends up, as soon as the scales are
removed from his eyes, he's preaching the gospel. And the folks are marveling that
he who persecuted the church and wasted it now preaches the
gospel. He's a new creature in Christ.
He has a new nature, a new heart. That stony heart has been taken
out, that fleshy heart. He has a heart that now hungers
and thirsts after righteousness. He has a new nature which seeks
to glorify Christ and desires the things of Christ. That's
what happens to every born-again blood-washed believer. It's wonderful. And have you ever thought that
God illustrated his long suffering with Saul so that we might better
understand his long suffering with us? How long-suffering was
God with us? Lord saved me when I was around
33 years old. How long-suffering was He with
me for those first 33 years? How long-suffering was He with
you? He's merciful, isn't He? He's
so merciful, I'll tell you. And we don't know who the elect
are, but as long as there's life, In the physical bodies of our
loved ones, we should never stop praying for them, never stop
witnessing to them. Tell them about Christ, the only Savior
of sinners. And you know, Saul of Taurus had an appointed time
when he would be converted. It's the same with every believer,
right? There's an appointed time when we would hear the gospel
and it would be effectual. We'd be born again by the Holy
Spirit of God. We'd be given faith to believe. And it was
appointed by God. This time is appointed by God. Oh my. Let's read verses three
to five. And remember, it's all appointed
by God. He's on his way to Damascus. He's right where God wants him
to be. Verses three to five, and as
he journeyed, he came near Damascus, and suddenly there shined round
about him a light from heaven, and he fell to the earth and
heard a voice saying unto him, Saul, Saul, why persecutest thou
me? And he said, who art thou, Lord?
And the Lord said, I am Jesus, whom thou persecutest. Is it
hard for thee to kick against the bricks? So marvel here at our God's merciful decree
Saul will be saved at the exact time on the Damascus Road, the
exact day that God has appointed. Did he know he was going to have
a divine appointment? Absolutely not. Were you looking
for Christ? Was I looking for Christ when
he saved us? Absolutely not. But then we got an interest.
It's like those Praetorian guards. Who's this Jesus? Who is he? Ah, my oh my. And predestination, think of
this too. The day was appointed, predestination drew the map by
which Saul must travel to the appointed place of mercy and
providence led him there. Providence led him there along
the predestinated path to the place, the hour and the second
when Christ would be revealed to him. Isn't that amazing? Our God is sovereign. He's in
full control. And then our text says that, as Saul journeyed,
he came near Damascus, and suddenly there shone around about him
a light from heaven. That light was much brighter
than the noonday sun. You know how bright the sun is
in the desert? Brother Tom knows. In the desert,
the sun's bright, isn't it, Brother Tom? And it's a noonday sun. That's high noon. And this light
shone even stronger than the high noon sun in the desert. Brighter than the noonday sun.
Well, Jesus Christ, he's the light, isn't he? He's the light
of the world. He has a divine meeting here,
divine appointment. And Paul, over in Acts 22, 11,
given his personal testimony of his conversion, he said, and
when I could not see for the glory of that light, that's Christ
Jesus, our King, isn't it? Oh my. And then Paul hears the
audible voice of Jesus Christ when our Lord said, Saul, Saul,
notice this, why persecutest thou me? Saul's persecuting Christians,
isn't he? You see how incredible the union
is between Christ and his people? He's the head. We're the body,
right? I'll tell you what, you hit your
finger with a hammer and your head's going to tell you, that
hurts, right? You see the vital union between
Christ and his people? That when Paul was persecuting
individual Christians, Christ says, you're persecuting me. Think of this in our walk. We've
all been persecuted by different folks. And our persecution, Paul
says it's light afflictions compared to what Christ suffered. But
we've all been persecuted for what we believe by someone or
in some time. And our Lord, they're persecuting
him when they're persecuting us. Saul, Saul, why persecutest thou
me? All who experience the miracle
of the new birth and see Christ through the eye of God-given
faith, by the same gift of saving faith under the preaching of
the gospel, all those are Christ's people. They're his body. And we hear the voice of the
shepherd through the preaching of the word, don't we? Speaking to some unbelieving
Jews, our Lord said this, you believe not, because you're not
my sheep. You're not my sheep. I say unto
you, my sheep hear my voice. He looks at those Pharisees and
he says, this is God in the flesh. These are chilling words. He
says, you're not my sheep. But what does he say? My sheep
hear my voice, and they follow me. Are you following Christ? Have you heard his voice through
the preaching of the gospel? It's wonderful, isn't it? It's
wonderful. Salvation's only in Christ and
through Christ and him alone. No other way. Saul, Saul, why persecutes thou
me? Brethren, Saul of Taurus was regenerated by the power
of God the Holy Spirit. No one knows when that regeneration
took place, but every child of God must be born again. If you're
not born again, this is the question, if you're not born again, you
will not see the kingdom of heaven. When you're born again, you become
a new creature in Christ. You have a new heart now that
hungers and thirsts after righteousness. We were spiritually dead, now
we're spiritually alive. That's a work of God. It's an
operation of God, Paul writes in Colossians. Circumcision of
the heart, not the body. and marvel at the power of God
in the Holy Spirit. One second, Paul. One second,
Paul's a Christ-hating, Christ-rejecting, desiring to kill sinners. Sinners? Who are Christ's people? Safe
sinners? Desiring to kill those who profess
Christ, those who are just safe sinners. He wants to murder them,
and next thing you know, he's on his face, and he's saying,
Lord, who art thou? Oh my, he's born again. He's been risen from his spiritual
death to spiritual life in Christ. God's removed his heart of stone,
give him a heart of flesh. He hungers and thirsts for Christ,
our righteousness. And we're born again from above
by the power of God, the Holy Spirit. And now we're able to repent.
Do you mourn over your sin? Yeah, we repent. That's repentance. We mourn over
our sin, don't we? We go to the Lord in prayer.
Even though we know our sins are but washed, we still go to
Christ and confess our sin, don't we? Oh my. But we can also rejoice that
all our sins are forgiven. Regeneration, to be born again,
is an act of God. What we have nowadays when people
say bow your head and repeat this prayer, that's what's called
decisional regeneration. There's a good paper out there,
pamphlet called Decisional Regeneration from a group in Florida. And
what that is is that, and if you notice that they say come
down here, walk this aisle, pray this prayer, right? or follow
these steps, there's no Holy Spirit regeneration, there's
no repentance, right? That's why we call it decisional
regeneration. If we are to be born again, it
must be a work of God. It must be a work of God where
the dead sinner, spiritually dead, becomes alive in Christ. And it's a work, an act of God
alone. Therefore, it's monogistic in
nature. It comes from God. Synergistic salvation involves
the sinner making a decision, therefore usurping the authority
of God. We believe in monogistic salvation,
that it comes from God and God alone. And it's biblical because
the scripture says salvation is of the Lord. It's of the Lord. This regeneration is an act accomplished,
a sovereign act of the spirit, apart from an unconditioned upon
man's will. Our will has nothing to do with
regeneration. You see, they're putting the
cart before the horse, aren't they? Because they believe this. They believe you have faith,
and then you're born again. That's impossible. Can a dead
man believe? No. But if he's made alive, he
can, can't he? If he's born again by the Holy
Spirit of God, he can. So not only did our Lord reveal
himself to Solitaris, he let him know that what he
was doing to Christians was the same as if he was persecuting
Christ himself. Our Lord said, told Saul, is
it hard for thee to kick against the pricks? I didn't know this,
but that statement alludes to gourds or sharp pointed sticks
placed close to the rear feet of the oxen back in those days
for the purpose of plowing or pulling carts and wagons. And
if the ox kicked against those sticks, it hurt. It hurt. And it wasn't very long. They
weren't kicking anymore. They weren't kicking anymore.
They quit resisting to what they were harnessed to. What do we
do? We lay down our arms before God, our weapons of warfare, and we
take sides with God against ourselves, don't we? I'm the guilty one. I'm the sinner who needs to be
saved. And then, by faith, God-given faith, we look to Christ. And
we live. Isaiah says, look and live. Look
to Christ and live. There's no other hope for sinners.
Oh my. So he tells them, I'm Jesus whom
thou persecutest. So once again, what Paul experienced
applies to all who are saved by God's grace. He deals with
our hearts, don't he? He deals with our hearts. God the Holy Spirit convicts
us. We're given faith to believe
and we receive Christ, we run to him. He's the only one who
can take care of our sin debt. And he did it, didn't he? Praise
his mighty name, he did it. By the supreme sacrifice of himself
and by the shedding of his precious, precious blood. Now let's read Acts chapter 6,
or Acts 9 verse 6. And he saw Tars trembling and
astonished, said, Lord, what will thou have me to do? And
the Lord said unto him, Arise, and go to the city, and it shall
be told thee what thou must do. Have you noticed something? He's
calling them Lord now. Did a message a while back. They
call them Lord. He's now calling him Lord. See,
after we're born again, we call him Lord, don't we? We don't
make him Lord. He's already Lord. God made him Lord. We don't make
him. People say, just make God the
Lord of your life. Make Jesus the Lord of your life. He's already
Lord. He's already in charge, isn't he, brother? He's already
the one. We don't make him nothing. Oh, my. But when we're born again,
we call him Lord. We call him Lord. The Lord said
unto me, rise and go into the city, and it shall be told thee
what thou must do. You just go and wait. You go
and wait. So Saul of Taurus, he's a different
man now, isn't he? He wanted to go out and kill
Christians. He cursed the name of Jesus. Now he calls him Lord. Now he calls him Lord. And the
Lord identified himself, remember, I am Jesus, whom thou persecutest. He identified himself. Now Paul,
remember that thief in the cross? Remember the two thieves? When
you read that narrative, the two thieves are both railing
against Christ when they get on that cross. And all of a sudden,
something happens, doesn't it, brother? Something happens, this
thief over here. He says to the other thief, he
says, we're here justly. This man's done nothing amiss.
means he's done nothing wrong. How did he know that? He's born
again by the Holy Spirit of God. And then he just looks to the
Lord and he says this, Lord, remember me. Just remember me. And the Lord said, today, thou
shall be with me in paradise. The weakest point of our king
is humanity, and he saves a sinner. Just like that. Our God is God. Our God is wonderful. Our Savior is God. God incarnate
in the flesh. Oh my. My, oh my, oh my. Our King is so great and so glorious. Now let's read verses seven to
nine again. And the man which journeyed with
him stood speechless, hearing a voice, but seeing no man. No
man. And take note of this, too. Saul
was now trembling. Says he was trembling. That's
a reverential fear. That's not a slavish fear. Now
he knows who God is. Now he knows, I've been persecuting
the king. I've been persecuting the Messiah's
people. Oh my, look at verses 7 and 9
though. And the men which journeyed with
him stood speechless, hearing the voice, but 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 there three days without
sight, and neither did eat nor drink. So the men who saw were
probably officers of the court, officers of the high priest,
And Paul still had authority over them. So he'd say, lead
me into Damascus. Take me into Damascus. I can't
see nothing. Take me into the city. But note that they didn't
fall on their faces. Paul did, though. See, God's
people, we bow to Christ, don't we? What did Scott Richardson
used to say? We make our headquarters in the
dust. Right? Oh, my. But the soldiers, now
they stood speechless, but they weren't in any kind of reverent
fear. They didn't fall on their faces.
Saul rose from the earth, ready to do what his new master told
him to do. The Lord said, go, arise and go into the city. Paul
tells those guards with him, take me into the city. Who's
he listening to now? Oh my. Brother Tom, when the
general gives the order, the troops listen, don't they? He's a general, and he's the
captain of the Lord's host, we find out in Joshua chapter 6.
He's king of kings and Lord of lords, we find out in Revelation. And those who were with him,
no doubt, were under his authority. They led him by the hand into
Damascus, and for three days Saul waited for instructions.
during that time that he was physically blind. Now let's read
verses 10 to 14. And there was a certain disciple
at Damascus named Ananias. Or Anais, sorry. And to him said
the Lord in a vision, Anais, and he said, behold, I'm here,
Lord. And the Lord said unto him, arise and go into the street,
which is called straight, and inquire in the house of Judas
for one called Saul of Taurus. For behold, he prayeth. Now look
at that. Now he's praying to the king. He once hated them. He once persecuted God's people.
Now he's praying to Christ. Oh my. Now look at this too. And has seen in a vision a man
named Ananias coming in and putting his hand on him that he might
receive his sight. Then Ananias answered, Lord,
I have heard by many of this man. See, Paul's reputation preceded
him, didn't he? I've heard of this man. Look
at this. How much evil he done to thy
saints at Jerusalem. Word gotten around. Paul was
hauling Christians into prison. They were being murdered before
him like Stephen. Word got around. Look at this. How much evil he
hath done to the saints of Jerusalem. And here he hath authority from
the chief priest to bind all that call on thy name. Marvel here at the fact that
once again our Lord Jesus Christ ordains the time and the place
where he will call his blood-bought saints out of darkness. That's
what he's done for us. Oh my, Paul's been translated
out of the kingdom of darkness into the kingdom of his dear
son. The dear son, the Lord Jesus Christ. And Ananias was the ordained
preacher that our Lord used to open the blind eyes of Saul Taurus. And also the man the Lord used
to tell his new disciple what he must do. And notice that our Lord told
Ananias exactly where Paul was. He knows everything. He knows
everything. He even told Ananias that Paul
had seen a vision about a man named Ananias coming in and putting
his hand on his head, or putting his hand on him and that he might
receive his sight. God already revealed it to Paul. So that would no doubt be in
Paul's mind. All the circumstances surrounding
his conversion to Christ were all ordained by the Lord Jesus
Christ. All the circumstances around
our being born again and believing on Christ was all ordained by
God. Give him all the glory. Give
him all the honor and praises. Look at verses 13 and 14. And
I said, Lord, I've heard by many of this man how much evil he
had done to the saints of Jerusalem. And he has authority from the
chief priest to bind all that call on his name. Oh, all God's
saints, they'd heard about him. Again, Saul's reputation had
preceded him. The wickedness of this man had
spread throughout the area that Saul was persecuting God's people.
And he says, I've heard by many of this man, as if to say, Lord,
you sure? You sure? What's going to happen
to me if I go to this man? This man who hates you, this
man who hates believers. Now let's read verses 15 to 18.
Look at this. We see here that our Lord didn't
rebuke Ananias for even asking that question. See, that's how
we are by nature, right? Even after we're born again,
we still battle with this flesh, right? Look at verses 15 to 18. But
the Lord said unto him, go thy way, for he, being Paul, is a
chosen vessel. Now that's the same Greek word
as I mentioned in Sunday school. That's the same Greek word for
election in 1 Thessalonians. When Paul says to the Thessalonian
believers, knowing, brethren, beloved, your election of God.
Same word. He's a chosen vessel unto me
to bear my name before the Gentiles and kings and the children of
Israel. For I will show him how great things he must suffer for
my name's sake. And he did, didn't he? And Niasse went his way and
entered into the house and putting his hands on him, said, look
at this, brother Saul. Isn't that wonderful though?
Brother Saul. The Lord, even Jesus, that appeared unto thee
in thy way, as thou camest, hath sent me, that thou mightest receive
thy sight, and be filled with the Holy Ghost. And immediately
there fell from his eyes, as it had been scales, and he received
sight fullwith, and arose and was baptized. My, oh my. Although Saul of Taurus was a
wicked persecutor of the saints of God, The word being was. He was a wicked persecutor. He's not
anymore. He's a new creature in Christ.
He's a new creature in Christ. He's a changed man, changed by
the sovereign almighty power of God, the Holy Spirit. And
he's very soon gonna be a preacher of the gospel that he once hated. Isn't that amazing, sister? Now he's gonna preach Christ.
And the people are gonna marvel. The believers are gonna marvel.
That he who once destroyed the church and wasted it is now gonna
preach the king. And I love those words of Brother
Saul. We see it's scriptural to call ourselves brother and
sister. It's scriptural. See again the word chosen in
verse 15 in reference to Paul being a chosen vessel of God.
If you want to turn to 1 Thessalonians, we can turn there, 1 Thessalonians
chapter 1. In the same Greek word is translated
election in verse 4. Chosen vesa, elect, it means
in the Greek to select, to choose. Election is a wonderful truth
in the scripture. It doesn't make us proud, it
leaves us in awe that God would choose a sinner such as me and
such as you. Look at this, knowing, brethren,
beloved, your election of God, same Greek word for chosen in
our text. For our gospel, now look at this,
and this is what happens. For our gospel came not into
you in word only. If my words are the only words
you're hearing, it's not going to profit you anything. Right? But if God, the Holy Spirit,
takes those words and make them effectual. Look at this. For
our gospel came not unto you in word only, but also in power,
and in the Holy Ghost, and in much assurance, as you know what
manner of men we were among you for your sake. Now remember the
Thessalonians were a group of believers who were a bunch of
idol worshipers. And the scripture says in Thessalonians
they turned from serving idols to worship the one true God. So we see here before us the
doctrine of unconditional election. There's nothing in Paul that
would make God choose him, is there? Was there anything in
us that would make God choose us? Nope. It's all by his grace
and mercy. See, that's what makes election
amazing. That's what makes it incredible. In the church of
Thessalonica was a new group of believers. So let's not lose
sight of this biblical God-honoring truth that Paul's conversion
was a pattern, a sketch, an imitation to them which should hereafter
believe on him, believe on Christ to life everlasting. You must
be born again. And what is recorded concerning
the glorious, miraculous deliverance of solitary applies to every
sinner saved by the grace and mercy of God who's experienced
God's amazing grace. All those who are born again
by the power of God, the Holy Spirit, who believe on the Lord
Jesus Christ, a life after everlasting. And Jesus Christ is the only
savior of sinners. If you're trusting in yourself,
anything you do, you're gonna perish in your sins if you die. Salvation is only in Christ,
in Christ alone. Only in him. Jesus Christ is the only Savior
of sinners, and we who are redeemed of the Lord, we rejoice every
time we hear the gospel. I don't care who's preaching
it. I don't care. I don't listen to a sermon measuring
what a preacher's saying and what a preacher, well, this preacher
talks like this, I like him better. No, what's the message? It's
not the man, it's the message. It's the message. Brother Donny
Bell, you guys know, mentored me for years. And he told me
that, it's not the man, it's the message. He said, you got
the message. Always remember that, beloved.
Always remember that. It's the message about Christ
Jesus saving sinners by his sin atoning work, perfect work. And so we see here, Ananias said,
Brother Saul, the Lord, even Jesus, that appeared unto thee
in the way as thou camest, has sent me, that thou might receive
thy sight and be filled with the Holy Ghost. Remember, Saul
had heard these words from Christ. Saul, Saul, why persecutest thou
me? I am Jesus, whom thou persecutest. Whom thou persecutest. And Ananias
just told Saul it was the same Jesus he saw on the road that
sent him. to Paul. My oh my. That's Paul might receive
his sight and be filled with the Holy Ghost. We see immediately
there fell from Silas' eyes as if it had been scales and he
received sight, for with and arose and was baptized. When
we're born again and God saves our souls, it's like the scales
came off our eyes, isn't it? We were blinded to Christ. We
were blinded to the things of Christ. And now, by the grace
and mercy of God, we see Christ. And beloved, you know what? We're going to keep looking to
him while we're on this earth, and then, and then, and then, in heaven,
he'll be the main one everyone's looking to. Glory to his name, honor and
praises and blessings to the Lord Jesus Christ. Oh, he's wonderful,
isn't he? He's so wonderful. Brother Zane.