So Acts chapter 9 and we'll read
from verse 1. 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, that is the Christian way,
the way of the Lord Jesus Christ, whether they were men or women,
he might bring them bound unto Jerusalem. 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. it is hard for thee to kick against
the pricks.' And he, trembling and astonished, 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. And the men which journeyed with
him stood speechless, hearing a voice, but seeing no man. and
saw the rose 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 he eat nor drink. Amen. May God bless this reading
to us. We took a trip with Philip into
the desert on a previous occasion. And we saw how the persecuted
preachers of the gospel that had been expelled out of Jerusalem
because of the death of Stephen and the persecution that followed
upon the death of Stephen, ministered as they went along. So they were
being chased as exiles, as refugees from their own homes. out of
Jerusalem. But that didn't stop them talking
about the Lord. That didn't stop them telling
those that they met about Jesus and preaching the gospel, especially
those who had been anointed and set aside as ministers in the
church. And as the gospel of the Lord
Jesus Christ spread, it seems that Saul's anger intensified. As the gospel started to spread
out like the ripples in a pool when a stone makes a splash,
started moving away from Jerusalem, it seems as if Saul thought to
himself, just a moment, I'm losing the opportunity to persecute
these people. As these people are fleeing to
other cities, I'm going to have to chase them. And so he went
to the high priests and he asked for letters to the leaders of
the churches or the synagogue, I'm sorry, the synagogue in Damascus
that he might pursue the believers to what he calls strange cities. He had shut up believers in Jerusalem,
he had put them in prison, he had witnessed against them at
their trial. We're told that he punished them
often and he caused them to blaspheme. That was the intensity of Saul's
violence and aggression towards the church. He forced those people,
perhaps by torturing them, to say things that they didn't want
to say, to do things that they didn't want to do, to speak against
the Lord Jesus Christ, perhaps even to speak against the Holy
Ghost. in order that he might in some
way feel that he was doing God's work in trying to stamp out this
message about Jesus. And so he planned to go to Damascus
and there to arrest and return any believers that he could find
back to Jerusalem and put them on trial and put them in prison. And great fear arose amongst
the believers there in Damascus as they knew that he was harrying
them, knew that he was chasing them down. And as he was on his
way to Damascus, it seems perhaps just a little way out of the
city, something strange occurred. And this reminds us that God
knows about all our troubles and our problems. We were just
listening this morning for a short time in the room at the back
as we were sharing together and the prayer was made especially
for the young people in this church, especially for the young
ones during the week, when they're at school, when they're at college,
when they're at their studies, when they're amongst their friends.
And sometimes we don't know what it is that's happening, and we
don't know what's going on around about us, and we feel anxious,
and we feel distressed. You know, the Lord knows about
all the circumstances that we find ourselves in, and the Lord
is in control of those circumstances. That would be a great comfort
for those believers in Damascus. They knew that Saul was coming
to get them. What would they do? And then
the Lord intervened and helped them. And I think it's lovely
the way that the Lord provides and prepares these blessings
for his people. We should always be ready to
thank the Lord when he helps us in such situations. On that
journey that Saul was making to Damascus, the Lord Jesus Christ
stopped him in his tracks. The Lord intervened. Do you know
that the Lord Jesus Christ himself came down to that road just outside
Damascus and stopped Saul from doing what he planned to do? We're told that Saul saw a light
shining in the sky. Another passage tells us that
it was noon. It was at that time in the day
when the sun was directly overhead, when it was shining at its brightest,
when it wasn't casting any shadows. And the light that he saw shining
around about him was brighter than the sun in the sky. And he heard a voice. He heard
a voice that spoke his name, not once, but twice. And he met a person whom he knew. to be bigger and greater and
more powerful and more holy than he was. He knew him to be the
Lord and he was thrown to the ground. Such was the violence
of that meeting, such was the awe and astonishment that he
was thrown into, that he was thrown onto the ground. And as
he lay there with his face in the dirt, perhaps expecting to be killed,
perhaps expecting to be ushered into hell and away from this
glorious person in whose presence he stood. This man realised that
he was a sinner before the Holy God. He thought he'd been doing
God's will, but now he saw that he was actually persecuting God
by persecuting the church of the Lord Jesus Christ. And here's
a point I want to note with you. Every act of aggression against
God's people is an act against Christ. It's a personal attack
on the Lord Jesus Christ. The Lord said to Saul, why are
you persecuting me? And Saul might have thought,
I'm not persecuting you, I'm persecuting these Christians.
Ah. But I am the head of these Christians,
and they are my body. You touch one of those, it's
like touching the apple of my eye. So tenderly do I feel for
them. So sensitive am I to their needs,
to their hurts, to their wants, that you touch one of those,
my little ones, and you are touching me. That's a lovely thought,
isn't it? that the Lord Jesus Christ is
so sensitive to our needs that a touch against us is a touch
against Him. He knows and He feels our trials
and He defends His own people. No one touches the Lord's little
ones. without there being serious and
dire consequences for the action that they take. And here's another
thing that's worth noting. That the Lord Jesus Christ revealed
himself to Saul. But those that were with Saul,
they didn't see the Lord. I don't think they actually heard
the Lord either. It says that they heard a voice
in verse seven, but I think that the voice that they heard was
actually Saul's own voice. They heard Saul speaking, but
they didn't know who he was speaking to. And when we think about that,
we realise that the Lord Jesus Christ doesn't reveal himself
to everyone. He only came to Saul that day. He only spoke to Saul. Those that traveled with Saul
on the road, they didn't know who Saul was speaking to. And that reminds us that God's
goodness, God's grace, God's love, God's personal dealings
with us, is exactly that, personal. He doesn't come to everyone. He comes to some people and he
speaks to only some people. God's grace isn't a right that
everybody can claim. It's a personal gift from the
Lord Jesus Christ and he gives it to some and he doesn't give
it to others. That's worth knowing and it's
worth remembering as we go through this life. And here's another thing worth
noting, that this account of Saul's conversion is one of scripture's
most clear examples, most dramatic examples of sovereign distinguishing
grace. Jesus came to save Saul. He came to call Saul. He came to commission Saul because
Jesus had a plan for Saul. Saul was going to become a preacher
of the gospel. He who had been a persecutor
would be a preacher. He who had punished God's people
would now be punished by God's people's enemies. This man who
had been the hammer of the church, he would become one of the meekest,
gentlest followers of the Lord Jesus Christ, who kept a tender
place for the well-being of every one of the Lord's little ones
in his heart at all times. Saul of Tarsus was a wicked man. He was a self-righteous persecutor. He would take men, he would take
women, he would take children, it didn't matter to him. And
he would hurt them and he would grieve them. He would punish,
he would even slay them because he thought he was doing God's
will. But this man was a chosen vessel
of salvation. And while he lay there in the
dirt that day, he didn't know but that the Lord Jesus Christ
was just about to slay him and cast his soul into hell. but
rather it was God's plan and purpose and the purpose of the
Lord Jesus Christ to save his soul and set him on another path
completely. That is sovereign grace. That
is distinguishing grace. The man who wanted to destroy
the gospel was overcome by that gospel. The one who wanted to
destroy the Lord Jesus Christ was overcome by the Lord Jesus
Christ. The one who wanted to destroy
the church became a champion of the church. Many preachers,
many churches today speak about free will and their preachers
tell their congregations that a sinner must decide for Jesus
and a person must want to follow the Lord Jesus, must give their
heart to Jesus in order to be saved. Saul wanted none of that.
Saul wanted none of that. And Saul didn't go to Jesus.
Jesus came to Saul. He came to Saul and he converted
him. And that's what God the Holy
Spirit still does today. We preach that God gives salvation
to whomsoever he wills. It is God's gift. It is God's
grace. He doesn't offer it to everyone,
but he effectually, powerfully, and actually gives it to some
who are the people of his choice, chosen from eternity before the
world began. Saul was a wicked, violent man,
but he was a chosen vessel of grace in the eternal purpose
of God. I wonder if you notice in this
account that Saul was blinded by this light that shone and
by the presence of the Lord Jesus Christ there with him. His encounter
with the risen Lord blinded him. And that blindness was a picture
The blindness of sight was a picture of the blindness of heart that
he had in his life up to that stage. Then the light of the
gospel shone in upon him, shone in upon him and saved him from
his sin, gave him that faith to believe and trust in the Lord
Jesus Christ. Saul's conversion is one of the
most amazing testimonies in the Scriptures. The church's greatest
persecutor became its finest preacher. And Paul, as he would
now be called, waited for the Lord's direction. He prayed and
the Holy Spirit ministered to his spirit. Jesus saved Saul
that Saul may serve Jesus, to serve his church, to preach the
gospel that he had previously hated to Jew and to Gentile,
to stand before kings and to preach it to the common man and
woman, from a persecutor to a preacher and a brand new beginning. May
the Lord bless these thoughts to our hearts. Let's take our
hymn books and sing again, 103. 103.