Acts 9:3

And Saul, yet breathing out threatenings and slaughter against the disciples of the Lord, went unto the high priest, and he desired of him letters to Damascus... 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 he, trembling and astonished, said, Lord, what will you have me to do?... And he was three days without sight. Neither did he eat or drink.

When Jesus meets a man on the road, his own plan comes to a sudden stop—and a chosen vessel is born.

As He Journeyed

Saul was breathing out threats and murders against the disciples of the Lord, seeking to destroy the church. He was passionate and zealous, more zealous for the traditions of his fathers than all his contemporaries. He believed the followers of Jesus of Nazareth were following heresy and speaking blasphemously, and he wanted to do away with the work. So he obtained letters from the chief priests to go to the synagogues in Damascus, find any who followed in this way, and bring them back bound to Jerusalem.

But as he journeyed—as he was on his way with his own plan—the Lord met him. There are probably many of you this morning whom the Lord met as you journeyed. You were doing your own thing. You, like Saul, had your own plan, and perhaps even like Saul you thought God was in your plan, that it was God-directed.

The God Who Is Merciful and Long-Suffering

I am so very thankful that God is long-suffering and patient. In Exodus, the children of Israel were brought out of Egypt by the mighty hand of God and came to Mount Sinai. God established a covenant with them, and while Moses was on the mountain forty days receiving the law, the people quickly departed and worshipped a golden calf. When God told Moses, "We're going to destroy them and start over with you," I believe it was a test. Moses stood in the gap and interceded, and we see the Lord's patience begin—patience that continued through all their wilderness wanderings.

Later, in Exodus 34, Moses asked to see God's glory. God placed him in the cleft of the rock and passed by, and Moses beheld the afterglow of His glory. But more important than what Moses saw is how the Lord declared Himself. A name in Scripture is often synonymous with the nature of the one bearing it, and here God defines His nature:

The Lord, the Lord God, merciful and gracious, longsuffering, and abundant in goodness and truth, keeping mercy for thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin, and that will by no means clear the guilty...

Even though God is a God of justice, righteousness, and holiness, notice that He did not begin, "I will judge the guilty." He began with mercy. Peter said the Lord is long-suffering toward us, and in Saul of Tarsus we see that patience displayed beautifully.

A Light from Heaven

As Saul came near Damascus, suddenly there shone a light from heaven. In John's Gospel we read that in Jesus was life, and that life was the light of men; the light shines in the darkness, and the darkness comprehended it not. Jesus said, "I am the light of the world." Men love darkness because their deeds are evil, yet God is light, and in Him there is no darkness at all.

When Saul saw this great light, he fell to the earth. In Paul's retelling in Acts 26, everyone with him also fell to the ground. When the Lord showed up, He came with power. Remember the Garden of Gethsemane: when they came to arrest Jesus and He said "I am," power went forth and they all fell backwards. At His word there is power, and even His mere presence is powerful. Here all those with Saul, including Saul himself, fell off their donkeys to the earth.

A Voice unto Him

Then Saul heard a voice saying, "Saul, Saul, why do you persecute me?" Underline that it says "a voice unto him." God spoke directly to Saul; He singled him out. Sometimes we think our lives are small and insignificant, that God isn't concerned about us. There are those who hold a deist view—that God wound up the clock and walked away. But the Bible reveals a God intimately involved in your life and mine.

We just went through Revelation, where seven times in the letters to the seven churches God says, "I know your works." The Lord knew who Saul was, knew the threats and murders he was breathing, knew where he was, and singled him out. Jeremiah 29:11 says, "For I know the thoughts that I have toward you, thoughts of peace and not of evil, to bring you a future and a hope."

The word "persecute" means to cause to flee, to drive away, to pursue in a hostile manner, to mistreat. Saul pursued Christians to mistreat them and bring them bound to Jerusalem. He presided over Stephen's death and was pleased by it.

Jesus Takes It Personally

Notice that Jesus takes this persecution personally. Saul thought he was just fighting the followers of Jesus of Nazareth, but Jesus says, "Why are you persecuting me?" Two things follow. First, if you are fighting against the church, you may have come to gather information, looking for holes to use as a weapon against a believer you know. You may be fighting that individual, but God sees it as fighting against Him—and you won't win.

Second, if you are ever persecuted for the name of Jesus Christ, He takes it personally, and He will avenge and repay. It is part of our flesh that wants to lash out and defend ourselves, but even imperfect David allowed God to be his defense. The Lord is our defense.

Who Are You, Lord?

Saul answered, "Who are you, Lord?" He had been fighting this movement, even though his own rabbi Gamaliel had warned that if it were of God, they would find themselves fighting against God. Yet Saul didn't even know who the Lord was. He had opinions about Jesus, perhaps even heard Him speak, but he didn't really know Him.

I find it interesting how little people actually know about Jesus. When I ask unbelievers, "What do you know about Christ and Christianity?" the answers are often far removed from what the Bible says. People have conceptions about Jesus that are really misconceptions. Try that in your evangelism—it gives you a great opportunity to clarify the gospel. Often those most passionately against Jesus know the least about Him.

Interestingly, though Saul didn't know who was speaking, he still called Him "Lord." No man could manufacture this event. Saul recognized that the presence, the power, and the voice came from one greater than himself—one who could only be Lord.

I Am Jesus

The answer Saul received was probably the last thing he ever expected: "I am Jesus." Everything Saul had thought and been taught came to a slamming halt. Before I was born, my father, an ironworker, fell from an eight-story building. He's told me, "The fall ain't so bad—it's the sudden stop." Saul now came to a sudden stop. He had been saying Jesus could not have risen, could not be the Son of God—and now the living Lord Jesus says, "Saul, why are you persecuting me? I am Jesus."

Jesus knew exactly where Saul was and how to get to him. Saul was no Goliath; extra-biblical accounts describe him as a short man with a balding head and a big nose. He brought men, perhaps for protection, to deal with the Christians—yet Jesus found him.

When I was young and started testing my dad's strength, poking at him, he would turn and say, "I know where you sleep." In Isaiah, God essentially tells Sennacherib, king of Assyria, the same thing. God knew exactly where Saul was. And the image of Saul riding to Damascus on a donkey is almost comical—if we filmed it, we'd put him on a stallion. Instead the Lord knocks him off his donkey and says, "Why are you persecuting me?"

Kicking Against the Goads

Jesus added, "It is hard for you to kick against the goads." These words aren't in the Acts 9 manuscripts but appear in Saul's later testimonies in Acts 22 and 26. A goad was a long pole, sometimes nine feet, with a sharp point at the end. A farmer plowing with an ox would hold it under his arm and nudge the ox in the right direction. The ox was a valuable, useful tool—but it needed to be directed.

Saul was useful to the Lord but was not going where the Lord wanted. So Jesus says, "I'm trying to goad you in the direction I want you to go, but you refuse." What were the goads? Surely one was Stephen's testimony as he was stoned, looking into heaven, saying, "I see Jesus standing at the right hand of God," and crying, "Lord, do not hold this to their account." By kicking against such goads, Saul only added pain—stubborn, hard-hearted, arrogant.

More Obedient Than an Ox

We might complain that God compares us to oxen—and maybe it's unfair, because when does an ox rebel against God? Have you noticed the animals obey Him? Balaam wouldn't obey, but Balaam's donkey did. Jonah wouldn't obey, but the great fish did. Jonah said, "I don't want to go to Nineveh," fled toward Tarshish, and a storm came—the wind and waves obeyed Jesus, but Jonah wouldn't. When they threw Jonah overboard, the sea calmed, and God appointed a fish that swallowed him whole.

In Isaiah 1:3 God says, "The ox knows his owner and the donkey his master's crib, but Israel does not know; my people do not consider." Twenty-seven hundred years ago, to be told you were as obedient as an ox or as un-stubborn as a donkey would have been a compliment. God told Israel an ox was more obedient than they and a donkey less stubborn. Could that be said of us? Is God goading us in a direction while we say, "I don't want to go"? Again I'll say—He'll win. He always does.

Lord, What Will You Have Me to Do?

Saul, trembling and astonished, said, "Lord, what will you have me to do?" That is the right reaction. When Moses met the burning bush, he was fearful and hid his face; God said, "Take the sandals from your feet, the place on which you stand is holy ground." Joshua fell before the commander of the Lord's army; Gideon fell and feared; Samson's parents bowed and worshipped. Every time someone comes into contact with God in Scripture, they bow trembling and astonished. Now Saul, who thought Jesus was dead, hears, "I am the one you're persecuting."

How wonderful it would have been had Saul bowed without the Damascus road—if he had heeded the goading earlier. Yet it took this event. Paul later quotes Isaiah: every knee shall bow and every tongue confess. You can bow today, or you will bow at His throne of judgment. Far better to bow today.

Now that Saul knows it's Jesus, he still calls Him Lord, recognizing in that instant that Jesus is Lord. This is submission. Sometimes it takes being knocked off your donkey; at other times wrestling until you limp like Jacob. But how much better simply to say, "You are God in heaven. What will you have me to do?" God seeks to bring everyone to recognize that He is over all things—not a domineering entity demanding bows, but because there is none greater. He is the Alpha and Omega, the great God Almighty.

Why People Fear the Question

Many people are afraid to ask God, "What will you have me to do?" Why? I think we project our sinful attributes onto God. If someone bowed before you, a sinner saved by grace, and said, "I'll do whatever you want," you'd think, "Now that I mention it, I have a whole book of things—do my laundry, clean the bathroom, weed my yard." We assume God is like that.

But God is not a man. Yes, He desires that we humbly come and say, "Lord, what would you have me to do?"—but I have found that God's plan for me is far better than any plan I had for myself. His thoughts toward us are peace, not evil, to give a future and a hope. Some fear He'll send them to a God-forsaken land of bugs and snakes. Maybe He will—but I believe He'd first give you a desire to go there. God desires that we walk in His will.

Arise and Go

God said, "Arise and go into the city, and it shall be told to you what you must do." Underline "must." Just as with Philip the evangelist in Acts 8, Jesus gives Saul one thing to do at a time. He knows our attention spans are small—if He dumped the whole thing on us, we'd be overloaded. At this point Saul's mind was already exploding: "You're who? Jesus?" He could handle only one thing: go into the city and wait.

God desires that we know and walk in His will. One of the most frequent questions in youth ministry was, "What's God's will for my life?" We seem to think He hides it. But God isn't like us—He doesn't say, "You should already know." He wants us to walk in His will. If I invited you to lunch and then walked away without telling you when or how to get there, you'd question my sincerity. God doesn't do that. He says, "It will be told to you what you must do."

Led by the Hand into Damascus

The men with Saul stood speechless, hearing a voice but seeing no man. We don't know if they understood the voice, which spoke in Hebrew, but they were blown away. Saul arose, and when his eyes were opened, he could not see. It reminds me of John 9, where the Pharisees ask Jesus, "Are we blind also?" Here a former Pharisee stands blinded, now humbly led by the hand into Damascus—the man who came with letters and authority, now dependent.

He was three days without sight, fasting, not eating or drinking, his appetite gone. All that Gamaliel had taught, all of Judaism, now had to be filtered through one fact: Jesus is alive. Jesus is Lord. Jesus is God.

A Chosen Vessel

The Lord then appears to a disciple named Ananias and tells him to go to the street called Straight, to the house of Judas, and inquire for Saul of Tarsus, "for behold, he prays." You can still walk Straight Street in Damascus today—one of the oldest continually inhabited cities in the world. These things really happened. A group of Syrian Christians made a film called Damascus about Saul's conversion, and Syria's Islamic president had a private showing for his cabinet—Islamic leaders watching a movie about a Jewish terrorist who became a follower of Jesus. Only God can do that.

Ananias objected: "Lord, I have heard of this man, how much evil he has done to your saints, and he has authority to bind all who call on your name." We pray like that, don't we? "Lord, wait, I don't think you understand." But nothing ever occurs to God. Through Isaiah He asks, "Who by counsel has instructed me?" God answered, "Go your way, for he is a chosen vessel unto me, to bear my name before the Gentiles and kings and the children of Israel."

Vessels of Honor

Every one of you is God's chosen vessel for His purposes. Paul later writes to Timothy of vessels of honor and vessels of dishonor. Are we vessels of honor, consecrated unto the Lord for His use alone? I have a 120-pound St. Bernard named Jackson with a water bowl and a food bowl consecrated to him. You could scrub, bleach, or irradiate that bowl—I will not eat out of it. It is holy unto dog. You are holy unto God.

Saul was a chosen vessel to bear Christ's name—and so are we, to whomever God sends us. Remember who Saul was: a Pharisee of the Pharisees, of the tribe of Benjamin, who hated Gentiles. And God says, "I've chosen you to bear my name before Gentiles, kings, and the children of Israel." We'd think Paul was uniquely qualified for Jews, yet first he was sent to Gentiles, and he would not be widely received by Jews. God said, "I will show him how great things he must suffer for my name's sake"—beaten with rods, whipped 195 times, shipwrecked, hungry, suffering many things.

Transformation

Ananias went, laid his hands on him, and said, "Brother Saul, the Lord Jesus, who appeared to you on the way, has sent me that you might receive your sight and be filled with the Holy Spirit." Immediately scales fell from his eyes, he received his sight, arose, and was baptized. When he had eaten he was strengthened, and straightway he preached Christ in the synagogue—that He is the Son of God.

That is transformation. The man who came to carry away the followers of Jesus now goes into the synagogue on the Sabbath. This becomes his pattern in every city: find the synagogue, put on his Pharisaical garb, and when invited to share, stand and declare, "Jesus Christ is the Son of God." He contended with the Jews, proving Jesus is the Christ. Those who heard were amazed: "Is not this he that destroyed them which called on this name in Jerusalem?" But Saul increased in strength, confounding the Jews and proving that Jesus is "very Christ"—fulfilling all the Old Testament prophecies of His first coming.

Riot or Revival

After many days, the Jews took counsel to kill him. He found out—he used to be one of them—and the disciples let him down the wall in a basket by night. When Saul came to Jerusalem and tried to join the disciples, they were afraid; they thought it was a trick. This is why I don't believe the early church had been praying Saul would be saved and become a preacher—I think they were praying he would die.

But Barnabas, the son of encouragement, took him to the apostles and declared how Saul had seen the Lord and preached boldly at Damascus. Saul then went in and out at Jerusalem, speaking boldly, disputing with the Grecians, who in turn sought to slay him. Everywhere Saul goes, he causes a revival or a riot.

From this point on we follow the missionary journeys of Saul, who became Paul the apostle. The Lord took one who was kicking against the goads and said, "You are my chosen vessel. I'm going to win." When Christ took over his life, Saul of Tarsus died, and Paul was born again, going forth to turn the world upside down. Oh, that God would give us a tenth of his boldness! God has uniquely gifted and called you as well for His purpose, and He desires that we lay hold of that for which He has laid hold of us.

Closing Prayer

Father, I thank you for your great and glorious gospel, your good news—that Jesus came to save sinners, even sinners like each of us, and like Saul of Tarsus. God, you have a plan for each of our lives, and I pray that we would yield to you and follow you in that plan, because it is far better than anything we could plan for ourselves. I pray for my brothers and sisters here, that you would pour out your Spirit upon them as you did on Saul the day the scales fell from his eyes, and that you would give us boldness to go into this world and preach the good news of your first and second coming. For we ask it in Jesus' name, and all God's people said, Amen.