Paul, the apostle, he hadn't
become an apostle yet, the Lord would make him one, but he was
sitting in complete darkness for three days and three nights
in utter blindness. Now try to picture yourself in
that place. He had been struck blind by the
Lord. And he didn't know whether or not he was going to have mercy.
He was filled with anxiety, I have no doubt. Wondering what was
going to take place. Three days and three nights in
utter and complete darkness. Look in verse 1 of chapter 9. Here's what had happened. And
Saul, that's Paul, his name was changed from Saul to Paul. 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, the way of Christ, whether they were men or women, he might
bring them bound unto Jerusalem. And as he journeyed, he came
near to 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's hard
for thee to kick against the pricks. All you're doing is hurting
yourself. 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. which journeyed with him, stood
speechless, hearing a voice, but seeing no man. And Saul rose
from the earth, and when his eyes were opened, he saw no man. When his eyes were opened, he
was blinded. Interesting, isn't it? When his eyes were opened,
he was blinded. But they led him by the hand
and brought him into Damascus, And he was there three days without
sight, neither did eat or drink. Now, as he sits there for three
days not knowing what was going to take place with him, in that
time the Lord appeared to a man by the name of Ananias. Now understand
this, God was going to teach Paul the gospel without human
instrumentality. He didn't go to Peter. He didn't
go to John. He didn't go to James. The Lord
taught him the gospel directly. He tells us in 2 Corinthians
12 of being brought up into the third heavens. He was actually
brought into heaven, and God taught him the gospel. We read
where he spent three years in Arabia, where the Lord was teaching
him the gospel. He made this statement to the
Galatians. The gospel which was preached
to me was not after man. It was not derived from any human
source. It's not after man. I neither
received it of man nor was I taught it. No man taught me this but
by the revelation of Jesus Christ. Now this is the man that God
was going to use to expound the gospel more than anybody else. Yet, the Lord does send him a
preacher. His name was Ananias. Pick up
in verse 10. And there was a certain disciple
at Damascus named Ananias. I think it's interesting that
we don't hear about him before this or after this. He's a nobody. He's a nobody
by the name of Ananias. Now, I think that if I was going
to reveal the gospel to Paul, I would have sent Peter or John
or somebody like that, but not the Lord. He sends a nobody that
nobody ever heard of to Paul. Verse 11, and the Lord said unto
him, Arise, and go into the street which is called Straight, and
inquire into the house of Judas for one called Saul of Tarsus.
For behold, he prayeth. Now he'd gone through the act
of prayer many times before, but he'd never prayed. Not really. But he's praying now. 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've heard by many of this man how much evil he hath done to
thy saints in Jerusalem. And here he hath authority from
the chief priest to bind all that call on thy name. Lord,
I know about him, as if the Lord didn't know. The Lord said unto him, go thy
way. He is a chosen vessel unto me to bear my name before the
Gentiles and the kings and the children of Israel. For I will
show him how great things he must suffer for my sake. Now, the gospel is a declaration
of the name of God. And that's not just talking about
audibly articulating his Name, His name is His attributes. It's
who He is. His name is His holiness, His
justice, His sovereignty, His grace, His love, His immutability,
His eternality. That's the declaration of His
name. Verse 17, Ananias went his way And entering
into the house there, Saul is sitting in blindness, wondering
what's going to take place. And putting his hands on him,
he said, brother Saul. Saul is now a part of the brotherhood. Brother Saul. In Romans 8, beginning in verse
28, we read, and we know that all things work together for
good to them that love God, to them who are the called according
to his purpose. For whom he did foreknow, them he also did predestinate
to be conformed to the image of his son, that he might be
the firstborn among many. Both he that sanctifyeth, Hebrews
2.11, both he that sanctifyeth and they who are sanctified are
all of one, for the which cause he's not ashamed to call them
brethren. The brotherhood. The brotherhood
of grace. Oh, I want to be in his family,
don't you? Brother, Saul. Just three days before, he'd
been seeking to murder Christians and kill them, breathing out
slaughterings against the church. The Lord's done something for
this man. And Ananias comes up and says, brother Saul, the Lord, even Jesus that appeared unto
thee in the way, we just read about it. He appeared as a great
light, knocked him off his horse. Who art thou, Lord? He didn't
know. I'm Jesus, whom you persecute. Now somebody
says, he wasn't persecuting Jesus. He was persecuting his disciples. You can't separate Christ and
his disciples. If you persecute them, you persecute him. This
is talking about the eternal union that is between Christ
and his elect. He found out who the Lord Jesus
was. I am Jesus whom thou persecutest. And Ananias reminds him of what
took place three days earlier. Brother Saul, the Lord, even
Jesus, that appeared unto thee in the way as thou camest, has
sent me that thou mightest receive thy sight. He'd been blind for
three days. He sent me to restore your sight to you and that you
might be filled with the Holy Ghost. What's that referring to? Filled
with the Holy Ghost. A lot of people talk about that.
Filled with the Holy Ghost. Well, he said, I've come to you
that you might receive your sight and be filled with the Holy Ghost. In the early church, the apostles
could lay their hands on men and they would be filled with
the Holy Ghost. This is not talking about regeneration.
This is not talking about being born again. You must be born
again. Yeah, you must. And that's the
work of the Holy Spirit. But he's talking about these
supernatural gifts where you could speak in tongues, speak
in other languages. You could heal the sick. You
could raise the dead. Oh, the miracles that these men
actually accomplished because they were filled with the Holy
Ghost. That's what happened on the day of Pentecost, remember?
The rushing mighty wind, and they all began to speak in other
languages. And 17 different languages are mentioned that they began
to speak, and everybody said, we're hearing the gospel in our
own tongue! This is a miracle! It was. It is. How come folks aren't doing that
today? Because it only came through the laying on of the apostles'
hands. Scripture points that out in Acts chapter 8. When someone
makes that claim of speaking in tongues, well, they're phony. It's not real. And my question
to somebody like that is, how come you're not going into hospitals
and healing people? If you've really got that gift,
why don't you go into a hospital and start healing people? Because
they don't have that gift. It's phony. Paul at this time
did. He received this filling of the
Holy Ghost and he did. He even, over in Acts chapter
19, he was used to raise somebody from the dead. He could heal
the sick. He could speak in other languages.
He could do all these things. This is what this filling is
speaking of. You see, God's gonna send him
all over the world to preach the gospel. And he's gonna be
going into places where he's gonna be using the gift of tongues
to preach in other languages and other peoples. And he was
filled with the Holy Spirit. Now look in verse 18. And immediately,
immediately, there wasn't any time of twilight. Immediately
there fell from his eyes as it had been scales. And he received
sight forthwith and arose and was baptized. Now, yes, he received
physical sight, but he also received spiritual sight. He saw who God
was. You see, before, he was totally
blind to who God was. And how you see that is that
he thought he could please God by his works. He demonstrated
from that thought, an utter ignorance of the true character of God,
that he thought there was something he could do to please Him. And
he was totally blind concerning himself. He didn't understand
how he was a sinful, evil man. He thought he was a good man.
He thought he was a righteous man. He could say so much good
about himself and all the things that he did. But when he received
sight, he saw totally differently. He
saw God for who he was. He saw himself for who he was.
He saw that Christ is salvation. And the scripture says immediately,
immediately, he arose and was baptized. Does baptism save you? No. No. There are people who actually
present that when you go under the water and come back up, you're
born again and you're saved. Baptism doesn't save you. That's
ridiculous. Christ saves you. Does that mean baptism is not
important? No. First thing he did was confess
Christ in believer's baptism. He arose and was baptized. Verse 19, and when he had received
meat, he was strengthened. You ain't gone three days without
eating. I bet this was the best meal I ever had. When he received meat, he was
strengthened. Then we saw certain days with
the disciples, which were at Damascus. Now, I would say they
were very nervous around him. Just three days earlier, he was
trying to kill people. And Ananias knew about it. Look
in verse 21, but all they that heard him were amazed and said,
is not this he that destroyed them which call on this name
in Jerusalem? And he came hither for that intent
that he might bring them bound unto the chief priests? Look
down in verse 26, and when Saul was come to Jerusalem, this is
sometime later when Saul was come to Jerusalem, he is saved
to join himself to the disciples. But they were all afraid of him.
They didn't believe he was a disciple. Well, we're staying away from
this guy. I mean, they didn't have any
confidence that the Lord had really done something for him.
They were scared of him. And I'm sure these people in Damascus
were nervous with regard to him. Verse 19, and when he received
strength, he was strengthened and then saw certain days with
the disciples that were Damascus. And straightway, immediately,
there wasn't any time between, straightway, immediately, he
preached Christ in the synagogues, that he is the Son of God. He told who Jesus Christ is. And my dear friends, that's what
gospel preaching is. It's telling who Jesus Christ
is. He is the Son of God. He's uncreated. He was never
created like me and you. He is the Creator. That is what
you proclaim when you proclaim Him as the Son of God. The Bible
is the inspired word of God. Every word is inspired by God. Somebody says, well, how do you
know? Well, I know the scriptures claim that. All scripture is
given by inspiration of God. That's what the scripture claims
about itself. All scripture is given by inspiration of God.
Somebody says, can you demonstrate that to me? No. Don't need to. I know it's the
Word of God. And as far as that goes, if God can create the universe,
God can inspire men to write a book exactly as He would have
it said, and it's perfect. It's not hard for God anymore
than it's hard for Him to create the universe. You believe He
created the universe, well, He can inspire men to write a book,
and that's exactly what He has done. The Holy Word of God. And this is our If we don't have
that, what do we got? We got an idiot like me. And
that's exactly what that is. We got an idiot like me trying
to convince you all stuff that I believe. Who knows if it is
true? We don't have just an idiot like
me. I am the idiot like me. I realize
that. But the point is, this is the
word of God we're looking at. What God actually says in his
word concerning God's true character, concerning who Jesus Christ is. How would you know that God is
one God in three different distinct persons apart from Scripture?
How would you know that there's such a thing as God the Father,
God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit? One God in three distinct
persons. That's revelation. That's the
Scripture. That's where I'm preaching the
Scripture right now. I'm preaching what God says in
His Word. Now, straightway He preached Christ in the synagogues
that He is the Son of God. In the beginning was the Word,
and the Word was with God, a distinct person, and the Word was God. God the Son. Now when he preached
Christ, that he is the Son of God, he's saying he's the creator. That's what he's saying to these
people. He's the one that created the universe. Not only is he
the creator, he's the one who's controlling everything right
now as God. He reigns. He rules. He's in control. Everything that
happens, and I can't take this too far, everything that happens
is His will being done. Doesn't matter what it is. It's
His will. You see, He's God. He's in control.
There's nothing outside of His absolute sovereign control. He's
the Lord. I love saying that. Jesus Christ
is Lord. He's your Lord. Somebody says,
He's not my Lord. Yeah, He is. You just don't know
it. He's Lord. He's Lord. He's Lord of all.
He's Lord of the dead. He's Lord of the living. He's Lord. You're
in His hands. Everything that's taking place
is His will being done because of who He is. He is The only Savior, God our
Savior. You know what that means? Now,
let me tell you this about Him. He's rich in mercy. He receives
all who come to Him. But your salvation is utterly
in His hands because of who He is. It's not up to you. It's
up to Him. You are in His hands. As to whether
or not you'll be saved, it's not your decision, it's His decision
because of who He is. You know, somebody says, I demand
that you save me. You ought to save me. You're
the Savior. You don't talk to him that way. I know a lot of false
religion does, but that's a false Christ. That's a non-existent
Christ. The Christ of the Bible is God. He rules. He reigns. He's in control. Salvation's
in his hand. The leper understood that. Lord,
if you will, you can make me clean. That's the only way to
come into his presence. If you were, you can't make me
clean, but I tell you this, everybody who comes like that, he receives.
If you don't come like that, you won't be received. I'm telling
you right now, but if you come like that, as a sinner needing
his mercy, he's rich in mercy to all that call upon him. He
delights in mercy, that's who he is. He is the Son of God. And I love the way he says he's
Christ. That's the Old Testament word
for Messiah, Christ. And I never get tired of this. He's the Christ. He's God's prophet. He is the Word of God. I love the way he never, ever
said, like every other prophet said, thus saith the Lord. He
never said that. I say unto you. That's the authority
I say unto you. He's a priest, but like no every
other priest came with animals blood that could never put away
sin. But he brings his own blood that
actually put away sin and satisfied God. He's God's Christ. He's God's king. He's the king
of kings. He's the one whose will is always
done. That's who he is. Jesus Christ
the son of God Paul preached him immediately and straightway
verse 20 Immediately he preached Christ in the synagogues that
he is the son of God and all that heard him were amazed and
and said, is not this he that destroyed them which call on
this name in Jerusalem, and came hither for that intent, for that
purpose, that he might bring them down unto the chief priests? We don't know what to do with
this. I know what he was doing. Look what he's doing now, immediately
preaching Jesus Christ, that he is the Son of God. In the book of Daniel, In the Old Testament, there was
a king by the name of Nebuchadnezzar. And he made a big old statue,
90 feet tall, gold. And he made a proclamation. This
is when Israel was in Babylon. He made a proclamation. Everybody,
when you hear the music that I play, you're going to bow the
knee to the God that I've made. I think that's kind of ironic,
isn't it? The god that I've made, he ain't much of a god if he's
a god you made. But at any rate, Nebuchadnezzar made this big
old 90-foot idol and said, when you hear the music, you bow to
the god that I've made. Well, there were three men by
the name of Meshach. What are their names? Meshach.
They had three names. I can't really pronounce them
right now. I'll get it later. But whatever. Here they are, and they wouldn't
bow. And some of the people told on
them. They wanted to get rid of them.
They said, these fellows wouldn't bow. They wouldn't bow. And Nebuchadnezzar's
mad. And they bring him in, these
three guys, into Nebuchadnezzar. Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego.
There you go. Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego. They bring these
three men before Nebuchadnezzar, and he said, is it true that
I've heard you won't bow to the God I've made? Now, I'm going
to give you a choice. I'm going to give you a choice.
The music's going to play again, and I'm going to give you a choice.
You can choose to bow when you hear the music plays, or you
can choose to not bow, and then I'm gonna throw you in a fiery
furnace, and you're gonna be put to death. It's up to you.
It's up to you. And I love their reply. You can
read about this in Daniel chapter three. Go home and read this
chapter. But they said, and then after that he said, and who is
that God that'll deliver you out of my hands? They said, Nebuchadnezzar, God
is able to deliver us out of your hands if he wants to. He's
able. You're just a puppet king, is
what they're saying. You're in his hands. He's not yours. He's
able. But if he doesn't, let this be known unto you, there's
no choice involved. We're not bound. False god. We're not bound. And he was filled
with fury, Nebuchadnezzar was. And he said, heat the furnace
up seven times greater. And the people that threw them
in, bound. Remember, they were bound up
and thrown in the furnace. And the people that threw them
in were killed by the heat of the furnace. And Nebuchadnezzar
is watching to see them burn. And all of a sudden, he's astonished.
He said, didn't we throw three men in? Yes, O king, three men. Weren't they bound? Yeah, they
were bound. Lo, I see four men loose walking,
and the fourth is likened to the Son of God." How did he know it was the Son
of God? I tell you what, if you ever see him, you'll know. It's
just that simple. We're dependent upon revelation.
If he doesn't reveal himself, we ain't gonna know. Oh, but
if he reveals himself, you'll know. Paul immediately preached that
Christ is the Son of God, verse 22. But Saul increased the mourn
strength and confounded the Jews which dwelt at Damascus, proving
that this is very Christ. He was supernaturally strengthened
by God himself, and he used the scriptures, proving that this
is very Christ. This Jesus I'm preaching to you,
this is God's messiah, this is God's prophet, this is God's
priest, this is God's king. He confounded the Jews. They
were upset because they couldn't answer him from the scripture.
They didn't believe, but they couldn't say, look, what he said
was wrong, here's why. No, all they did was get upset
with what he said. Verse 23. And after that many days were
fulfilled, The Jews took counsel to kill him. Now, the many days
refer to that time he spent in the desert in Arabia. He speaks of that in the Book
of Galatians. He talks about that three-year
period where God, Christ, Jesus Christ, the Son of God, dealt
with him personally and taught him the gospel. Look in Ephesians
chapter three. I want to show you this. Ephesians chapter three. Verse one, for this cause I,
Paul, the prisoner of Jesus Christ for you Gentiles, if you've heard
of the dispensation of the grace of God which is given me to you,
that by revelation he made known unto me the mystery. As I wrote afore in a few words,
whereby when you read, you may understand my knowledge in the
mystery of Christ. Turn back a few pages to 2 Corinthians
chapter 12. Verse 1, it is not expedient
for me doubtless to glory, I will come to visions and revelations
of the Lord. I knew a man in Christ. He's talking about himself. And all he wanted to identify
himself as was a man in Christ. I don't want to be seen anywhere
but there. And he's speaking in humility
as well. He's not bragging on what the Lord did for him. I
knew a man in Christ about 14 years ago. Whether in the body,
I cannot tell. Whether out of the body, I cannot
tell. God knows such a one caught up to the third heaven. There's heaven where the birds
fly. There's the heaven where the
planets and galaxies are. And there's the third heaven.
I don't know how to describe that, but that's the dwelling
place of God, the third heaven. And I knew such a man, whether
in the body or out of the body, I cannot tell. God knoweth. How
that he was caught up into paradise, and he heard unspeakable words.
which is not lawful for a man to utter. He's talking about
when he was taught the gospel directly. Look in Galatians chapter
one. Verse 11. I certify you, brethren,
I assure you, that the gospel which was preached of me is not
after man. It was not derived from any human
source. For I neither received it of
man, neither was I taught it by man. He didn't go to Peter
and John. No. Christ taught him directly. That is the authority of this
man. Christ taught him directly. And
during this time in Arabia, when it says after many days were
fulfilled, this is when Christ taught him the gospel. He taught
him who he is. He taught him the great truths of election.
God choosing who would be saved, predestination, God predestinating
them to be just like Christ. He taught Him of the great power
of His redeeming blood, how everybody He died for must be saved. He
taught Him of justification, how if God saves you, He makes
you righteous before Him. You're justified before Him.
He taught of regeneration and all the aspects of the Gospel.
Paul was taught that he's going to deliver to the churches, and
he's speaking to me and you this morning with regard to what?
taught him directly. Now back to Acts chapter 9, verse 23. And after that many
days were fulfilled, that time of teaching, and Paul had gone
out preaching, the Jews took counsel to kill him. They said,
we've had it with this guy. We're not going to listen to
this anymore. We're tired of this. He needs to be stopped.
He needs to be shut up. He needs to be put to death so
we won't have to deal with him anymore. And you know, the rest
of Paul's life, he had the Jews trying to kill him the rest of
his life. Verse 24, but their laying awake
was known of Saul And they watched the gates day and night to kill
him. They were looking for an opportunity to kill him. And
the disciples took him by night and led him down by the wall
in a basket to get him out of there. Because they knew if he
stayed there, they would end up killing him. And as a matter
of fact, he tells us about this in 2 Corinthians chapter 11.
He says, as soon as I started preaching the gospel, There was
a murder attempt at me. People wanted to get rid of me.
And I had to be let down the wall in a basket in secrecy so
nobody would kill me. And I went on after that. Now,
here's the point. Paul is letting us know that
if our preaching does not stir up the wrath of man, we're not
preaching what he did. Now, the very fact that I had to escape
from my life says I was preaching the gospel. Now, I want some
sensitivity here. I want to treat everybody that
I come into contact with, with respect, with love, with dignity. I don't want to come across as
a holier-than-thou judge. If I do, I'm wrong. It's hypocrisy. If I do come across like that,
I don't want to come across like that. I want to be somebody who
really loves men and wants them to bow the knee to Christ. I
want everybody I preach to to be saved. I want you to have
the same attitude. We want people to Rejoice in the complete freeness
of God's salvation. Don't you want people to rejoice
in Christ? Don't you want people to experience what it is to rest
in Christ? And to know that you're accepted
for Christ's sake without reference to your works? What a joyous
thing that is. To know that all God requires
of me, He looks to His Son for. And He doesn't look for a thing
out of me. He looks to Christ for everything. Don't you want
people to experience that? What a joy there is. in the Gospel. And I want to preach in a way that folks know
I want you to believe. I'm not mad at you, I want you
to believe. I'm not going to get mad at you because you don't
believe what I... No, I want you to believe. Now I pray that the Lord will
enable us to preach Christ, the Son of God, in such a way that
those who believe will bow and worship Him and love and adore
Him. And those who don't believe will
want to kill us and put us to death because there's such disagreement
with what we say concerning the living God. And that's what Paul's
saying. If there's no offense in the
message, we're not preaching the message. If people are happy
with it, oh, that's good. I don't know how many times I've
had people say, that's good. And I thought, well, they didn't
hear anything. If that's what they, you know, I wish they would. But I mean, the gospel is offensive
to the natural man. Just write that down. And if
there's no offense, it's not the gospel. It's not the gospel. Salvation is utterly in Christ
and has nothing to do with your works, that your works count
for nothing, that they're all evil, that the only hope you
have is that God will do something for you, that Christ will do
something for you. You're in his hands. Well, I
find that offensive. Yeah, people always have. That's
not surprising. People always have. But if you
ever see that you're a sinner, if you ever see that you really
are a sinner, you're a really bad person. I mean, you're evil. You're totally depraved. Have
you ever seen that about yourself? And I'm not just saying you're
that way. I know I am. If you ever see, if I ever see
that, we're going to sue for mercy. Lord, have mercy on me. Reveal yourself to me. Come to
me. I can't get to you. I can't get
to you. Come to me. Come down and do
something for me. And do you know the Lord has
never turned away anybody that ever asked that? He said, him
that cometh to me, I will in no wise cast out. Don't ever get the idea that
the gospel of God's electing, redeeming love keeps people from
being saved who otherwise would have been. No, it brings people
in who would have been damned if not for the Gospel. May we be enabled to preach like
Paul did. And really, that's just God the
Holy Spirit enabling to. But one quotation I think is
interesting. Most of you, I don't know if
you're supposed to say Augustine or Augustine. I've heard people
pronounce it both ways, but you've heard of him. He was a fourth
century preacher and a preacher of the gospel. But he said, he
said, if I could have two things, my two wishes that could be granted
to me, there's two things I'd love. He said, first, I would
love to have seen Rome in all of its glory. And there's one
thing I'd like to experience more than that. I'd love to have
heard Paul preach. Me too. But we have it in His
Word. Let's pray. Lord, we're so thankful for the
excellency and the glory of Your Word. We're so thankful for the
excellency and the glory of Your Son. Thankful for the excellency
and glory of your salvation. Lord, give us grace to lay hold
upon thy dear Son. Don't pass us by, Lord, we deserve
it. But we ask in Christ's name that
you won't pass us by, but that you'd have mercy on us and that
you'd reveal yourself to us. and that You'd give each person
in this room, by Your grace, faith in Thy Son, teach us what
it means to look away to self from self and look only to Him.
In His blessed name we pray, Amen.