We're all familiar with this
in Acts chapter 9 verses 1 through 6. Is it hard for thee to kick
against the pricks or a vessel of mercy? A vessel of mercy. This is Paul's. Paul. Has an uninvited guest, so to
speak, and the Lord just whips him. Whips him in the shape. Like he does all his people,
but there were some things in conversation going on in verse
6 that I want to look at very specifically. Starting in verse
1 of Acts chapter 9, And Saul, yet breathing out threatenings
and slaughter against the disciples of the Lord, went unto the high
priest and desired of him letters to Damascus, to the synagogues,
that if he found any of this way, couldn't even say the proper
name this way, whether they were men or women. So he was breaking
up homes. He might bring them bound unto
Jerusalem. And as he journeyed, He came
near Damascus, and suddenly there shone 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 Saul said, who art thou,
Lord? And the Lord said, I am Jesus,
whom thou persecutest. It is hard for thee to kick against
the pricks. And Paul saw, I'm sorry, and
saw he trembling and astonished said, Lord, what will 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. That's where we'll stop. It'll
be told thee what must be done. In these six short verses, we
behold the Lord selecting out of humanity a poor, vile sinner
unto himself, a persecutor, a hater of God, just like every one of
us from the womb. But once the sovereign over all
gets a hold of anyone, they are at the Lord's bidding according
to his unalterable will. Once he gets a hold of us, there's
nothing we can do. There's several things I want
us to notice here. First of all, number one, if
God can and does save the chief of sinners, which is what he
refers to himself, Paul says, I'm the chief of sinners. So
the first thing I want us to look at here is if God can and
does save the chief of sinners, We should not despair of anyone. We should not despair of anyone. Now, there's some folks that
come in my mind that are particularly obnoxious to me. They are not very helpful. They
are pretty selfish. They're just, I could go on and
on. But I shouldn't despair for their
salvation. I ought to be praying for their
salvation. Our Lord's arm is not short.
He said it's not short that it cannot save. He can renew, reclaim
the vilest of the vile, the lowest of the low. I asked this before. Is there anything too hard for
the Lord? There is not. He passed by Saul
of Tarsus here in Acts chapter nine to use Paraphrase from Ezekiel
he passed by and saw saw polluted in his own blood ruined wreck
and Desolate and cried live that that's what he did. That's what
he's doing here our Lord the Sovereign Lord Saw who art thou
Lord? He says I'm Jesus whom you persecute
I'm Jesus who you per and I want to come walk by and I want to
say live and you're polluted in your own blood and I ask myself and I ask everybody
here, is there anybody here today that fits this narrative? Anybody
here that fits this narrative? I tell you and I tell myself
to look at no one else. Look no further than Jesus the
Christ, ruined by the fall, yet there is redemption in his blood. We should not lose, we should
not despair over anyone, no matter how young, how old, What religion
they're in? There is redemption in His blood,
and He delights to show mercy to sinners. The second thing
I want to see is this meeting between Saul and the Lord, verse
6. And Saul, trembling and astonished,
said, What will you have me to do? Let's look at that phrase specifically. This meeting, this phrase is
singular and it's personal. Just like when he saved us, perhaps
if he saves you in the future, this salvation, this conversation
will be singular and personal. What I mean is, Lord, what will
thou have me to do? Not the person sitting next to
me on the bench, Don't look for this application to somebody
else. Apply the text to yourself. Apply
the text to ourselves. Luke chapter 18, you don't have
to turn there, but the publican and the sinner, it says, the
publican wouldn't even so much as lift up his eyes to heaven,
but said, God be merciful to me, to me, the sinner, or as
we've known over the years, God be propitious to me. And the
Lord rebuked his disciples. What's this guy gonna do? What
is that to thee? Follow thou me Don't be concerned
be concerned pray for others But don't don't be concerned
this this apply this passage to you as the Lord applied it
to me as I studied this and So I say, whether this divine truth
encourages or censors you, whether it encourage you or it censors
you, bring it home to self. Bring it home to self. I must
have this balm of Gilead to be applied by the Holy Spirit unto
new life. As Psalms of Solomon says, I
need him as ointment poured forth. Psalms of Solomon chapter one,
verse three. Turn with me to Psalms 139. David
understood this principle. Psalms 139. And the last two verses of Psalms
139, verse 23 and 24. This is probably a redeemed man
speaking. Search me. Search me, O God,
and know my heart. Try me, and know my thoughts,
and see if there be any wicked way in me. And lead me, then
lead me in the way of everlasting. This saying, as I said, the conversation,
what wilt thou have me to do, is personal and singular. And that's where
it needs to start. That's where it needs to start.
Secondly, or thirdly, third point, secondly in this conversation,
what will thou have me to do? It's also fraught with obedience
and humility. He trembling fell to the earth,
astonished, What wilt thou have me to do?
As one in the presence of the true God of holy scriptures,
not the puny God of man's making. What shall I do? Not even what shall I know, not
even what shall I believe, not even what shall I talk about,
and not even what shall I hear. What shall I do? It's fraught
with obedience and humility. He's in the lower plane. God is on the throne. He's not.
It's like the Old Testament saying, I am here, send me. There's no
arguing or doctrinal discussion. God has the sinner and the sinner
says, Uncle. We can understand that. God has
a sinner and the sinner says, Uncle, I'm whipped, I'm undone,
I'm lost, I'm hell bound. If you know these things, if
you know this conversation, if you've had this conversation
in your heart, if he's pricked your heart and you've had this
conversation coming before the Lord trembling, the scripture
says in John 13, happy are ye if you do them. What will you
have me to do? James is so correct. Faith without
works is dead. And we know what that's talking
about. He's not talking about works unto salvation. He's talking
about works enabled by the Holy Spirit after salvation. We're
new creatures. This is what Bruce has been talking
about in Romans. We're walked by the Spirit, not
the lust of the flesh. We desire to honor and glorify
Him because we love Him. Happy are you if you know these
things. What things? The things of grace,
the things of mercy, the things of sin and pardon, sovereignty
and repentance. If you know these things, happy
are you if you do them. Talk is cheap. Believe with the
heart and the whole man will walk in newness of life. The last thing that I see in
this He trembling, this conversation, this save sinners conversation
with the Lord. What wilt thou have me to do?
This last statement is without partiality. What? What will you
have me to do? I'm not going to put any bounds
on it. You're God in heaven, I'm the sinner. What will you
have me to do? Tell me anything to do, and I'll
run after it. I'll do it. Our Lord said, rise
and go. He did. The redeemed sinner will
not tell his Lord and master what's the better way for him
in any regards. Now we get in our mind, I gotta
have this and I gotta do this because this is the way I live,
this is how I function. Well, if he just puts a roadblock,
you're not gonna do it. And then it's interesting to
see how we react to that. Do we submit? Or do we try to
pull out more money, solve it any way we can, our intellect
or whatever? wherever, whatever, however you bid me to go, I will
simply, and in undeserved mercy and grace, go. We sing this hymn. How firm a foundation. When, through fiery trials, thy
pathway shall lie, God's grace, all sufficient, shall be your
supply. The flame shall not hurt thee,
he only designs, Thy draw us to concern and thy go to refine. Yes, his way is a way of difficulty. We're not telling our children,
we're not telling some who don't know the gospel, it's easy, you
know, like all these bumper stickers, you trust in God and everything's
gonna go your way. No, it doesn't. You have a conflict
you never had before inside. No, no. This is what our brother Peter
found to be so didn't he found it to be a blessing in Luke chapter
5 he was fishing all night didn't catch anything and The Savior
says go out a little bit cast your net on this side and this
guy's a fisherman. He knows fish And Peter Not like
us we could complain and wind and this and all that murmur
He says nevertheless at your word Whatever you say, wherever
you say to go, we'll do it. We'll let down the net. I ask
myself and I ask you, can we not trust him at all times and
in every turn? Well, you know, this is not,
this is 2023. We got technology that they didn't
know about. We only know about technology because God allowed
us to have the brain power to figure it out, figure some things
out. Still hasn't removed sin, not once. That's our problem.
It's not how quick we get information. We're still sinners, still sinners
saved by grace. Surely he knows best and he does
right and he always has our unique interest at heart. He says so,
his beloved. We're his beloved. Trust in the
Lord. What's Proverbs 3, 5, and 6?
Trust in the Lord with all thy heart and lean not. Lean not. That means putting your weight
on to your own understanding. Acknowledge him. Acknowledge
him. We must ever learn to walk, not
with our own understanding and our own confidence, but submit
to his word Have it dwell in us richly, which we talked about
last week or the week before. Be afraid of self-confidence
and self-assuredness. But he that glorieth, let him
glory in the Lord. Don't trust in your strength,
don't trust in your wisdom, don't trust in your money, because
all that, it's fleeting. It's fleeting. But he that glorieth,
let him glory in the Lord. In closing, turn with me to Psalms
119. I've never seen this before. Psalms 119. First part of verse 23. Uh oh. Got that messed up. Maybe it's
123. Rats. It's not there either. Psalms 119. Nope. Nope, I can't find it. It's basically
Talking about this divine to this book. He said by word I
can trust I can trust in his word and it not fail That's what
Paul's he's going one direction and he gets gets crossed up And
he doesn't know where he's going. He doesn't know path he's on
But he's got a trust in the Lord. He's got a trust in something
other than himself. I What is it? 11 to 13? Take a look at that. Yeah, that would apply. I'm at 118. There's a problem
right there. Verse 16 Psalm 119 verse 16. I will delight
myself in thy statutes. I Will not forget thy word Thank You Matt close close enough
counts Yeah, and there is what he just
said. Thy word have I hid in my heart
that I might not sin against thee. Blessed art thou, O Lord.
Teach me thy statutes. With my lips have I declared
all the judgments of thy mouth. I will have rejoiced in the way
of thy testimonies as much as all riches. I will meditate in
thy precepts and have respect unto thy ways. He's not leaning to his own understanding. That's my point. He's not leaning
to his intellect or his money or his check account or this
or that. These different things. Because he's met the Lord and
the Lord's crossed his path. He doesn't know what to do. He
doesn't know where to go. But he does say, what will you
have me do? Whatever you say. I am responsible. I'm trembling, I'm astonished.
I realize you're sovereign, you're in control. I'm gonna call you
Lord because that's what your name is. Anything, tell me, tell
me. This applies to me. Salvation
is very personal. What will you have me to do?
What will you have me to do? There's not anything in this
divinely inspired book that will ever hurt or be disastrous to
any of his dear children. There's nothing in this book,
if you're his child, that is harmful. Now it, it may, would
go through, he takes us through the dross, he takes what he's
just purifying, he just, he's just purifying. To bring a vessel
for the finer that will glorify him more. And that's what Paul,
and you read the rest of the story, that's what happened to
Paul. But that initial contact, what will you have me to do?
Lord, what will you have me to do? I pray that he would cause
us to have the same attitude, as we've met the same Lord, submit
to the same gospel, and come unto him and have life. Nathan, would you close this?