Acts 9:3

And Saul, yet breathing out threatenings and slaughter against the disciples of the Lord, went unto the high priest. He desired of him letters to Damascus, to the synagogues, that if he found any of this way, whether they were men or women, he might bring them bound unto Jerusalem.

As he journeyed, he came near Damascus, and suddenly there shone round about him a light from heaven. He fell to the earth and heard a voice saying unto him, "Saul, Saul, why persecutest thou me?" He said, "Who are you, Lord?" The voice replied, "I am Jesus, whom you persecute. It is hard for you to kick against the goads." Trembling and astonished, Saul said, "Lord, what will you have me to do?" The Lord said unto him, "Arise and go into the city, and it shall be told to you what you must do."

The men which journeyed with him stood speechless, hearing a voice but seeing no man. Saul arose from the earth, and when his eyes were opened, he saw no man. They led him by the hand and brought him into Damascus. He was three days without sight and neither did he eat nor drink.

Let's pray.

Fathers, as we look now into your word, I pray that you would give us insight, Lord. Continue to teach and instruct us, transforming us by the renewing of our minds. We want to take just a moment to thank you for the mothers that you've given to each of us individually, as well as to our fellowship. We pray that on this Mother's Day, you would bless them and pour out in a great way.

We also ask that you would help us to know how we are to live, walk, and follow after you. As we consider the testimony of Saul of Tarsus here in Acts chapter 9, and as we continue through the book of Acts, we see the way that you used him and the work that you did through him. I pray that you would remind us that you desire to work in and through us as well.

For we ask it in Jesus' name, and all God's people said, Amen. You can be seated.

Saul was breathing out threats and murders against the disciples of the Lord.

Seeking to destroy the church, we considered last week that he was so passionate and zealous about this work, wanting to completely do away with it. He believed the followers of Jesus of Nazareth were following heresy and speaking blasphemously. He wanted to eliminate this movement because he was more zealous for the traditions of his fathers than all of his contemporaries. He desired letters from the chief priests so that he could go up to the synagogue in Damascus and find any who followed in this way, intending to bring them back bound to Jerusalem.

As he journeyed, we read in verse 3, there are probably many of you here this morning that the Lord met you also as you journeyed. You were doing your own thing. Like Saul, you had your own plan. Perhaps, even like Saul, you thought that God was in your plan, that it was a God-directed plan. I don't know about you, but I am so very thankful that God is long-suffering and patient.

In the book of Exodus, we read that the children of Israel were brought out of Egypt by the mighty hand of God, and they came to Mount Sinai. In Exodus chapter 19, God established a covenant with them. Moses went up on the mountaintop, Mount Sinai, and he was there for 40 days, receiving the law of God. As he was, these people who made a covenant with God quickly departed from Him. Before even having the tablets of stone upon which the law of God was written, they turned away.

God told Moses to go back down the mountain, and there he found the children of Israel worshipping around the golden calf. He took the tablets which the Lord had given to him with the law and cast them down, breaking them as a sign to the nation that they had already broken God's law. I believe it was a test when God spoke to Moses, saying that He would destroy the children of Israel and start over with Moses. Moses stood in the gap, interceding on behalf of the nation of Israel and calling out to the Lord that He would not destroy them.

We see the Lord's patience and long-suffering with His people beginning in Exodus, continuing through their entire wilderness wanderings, and then on into the time that they came into the promised land. In Exodus chapter 34,

After Moses had gotten to see the merciful and gracious God working as He forgave His people, Moses said, "I want to see You, Lord." God replied, "Well, you can't see My face and live." So, God made a provision for Moses. The Scriptures say that God placed him in the cleft of the rock, and as God passed by him, Moses was able to behold what the Scriptures call the afterglow, the glory of God passing by.

But maybe more importantly than the glory of God that Moses saw on that day is the way that the Lord declared Himself in Exodus 34, verse 6. It says there that as the Lord passed before Moses, He proclaimed, "The Lord, the Lord God." We have talked about before here at Calvary Chapel that oftentimes a name in the Scriptures is synonymous with the nature and character of the one bearing that name. Here in Exodus 34, verse 6, God essentially declares His name and defines His nature for us, at least just a little bit of His nature.

He says, "The Lord, the Lord God," and the very first thing He uses to define Himself is merciful and gracious, long-suffering and abundant in goodness and truth, keeping mercy for thousands, forgiving iniquity, transgression, and sin. He will by no means clear the guilty, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children and upon the children's children to the third and fourth generation. At the end of verse 7, we find that God will judge the wicked; He will judge the guilty.

But aren't you happy that He didn't start declaring His name by saying, "I will judge the guilty"? Even though God is a God of justice, a God of righteousness, a God of holiness, He began declaring His name there in Exodus 34, verse 6: God, the Lord God, merciful. Merciful and gracious and long-suffering. I am so very thankful that our God is merciful, gracious, long-suffering, and abundant in goodness and in truth.

The Apostle Paul, in 2 Peter 3, verse 9, said that the Lord is long-suffering towards us. He is long-suffering and patient towards us. With Saul of Tarsus, we see the patience of God displayed in a very beautiful way. As Saul journeyed, on his way with his own plan, believing that it was God's plan to go and destroy the church that was beginning there in the city of Damascus, the Lord met with him.

He met with him as he came near to Damascus. It appears that Saul was just outside the city when the Lord suddenly came to him. Suddenly, there was a light from heaven. In the Gospel of John, in chapter 1, verse 4, we read that in Jesus was life, and that life was the light of men. It goes on to say in verse 5 that the light shines in the darkness, and the darkness comprehended it not.

Jesus, in John chapter 8, verse 12, says, "I am the light of the world." He is the light of the world. As Jesus spoke with Nicodemus in John chapter 3, he told him that this is the condemnation: that light has come into the world, but men love darkness because their deeds are evil. They don't want to come to the light, lest their sin be exposed or reproved. So, men love darkness, and yet God is light, and in Him, there is no darkness at all, as we see in 1 John chapter 1.

There, as Saul of Tarsus was heading to Damascus with letters from the chief priests in Jerusalem, he saw this bright light. He saw the Lord on the road to Damascus. Suddenly, there was this great light shining round about him, and we read that he fell to the earth. In Paul's retelling of this event in Acts chapter 26, verse 14, it says that everybody who was with him fell to the ground. When the Lord showed up on that day, He came with power. Our God, our Lord, is powerful. He is awesome in power.

In the Gospel of John, when they came to arrest Jesus in the Garden of Gethsemane, you may remember that as they came, Jesus asked the group of Roman soldiers and priests that were there, "Who do you seek?" They said, "We seek Jesus of Nazareth." And He said, "I am." When He did, power went forth from Him, and they all fell backward. At His word, there is power. We see that in the apocalyptic passages of the Bible as well, those describing the last days when Jesus returns. He is going to speak, and when He does, a sword goes forth from His mouth.

And it destroys all of his enemies. His word is powerful, but his mere presence is powerful as well. We see that here, too. When Jesus showed up on the road to Damascus, all those people, including Saul, fell to the earth. They fell off their donkeys. When they fell down, we read in verse 4 that Saul heard a voice saying unto him, "Saul, Saul, why do you persecute me?" Underline in your Bibles that it says, "a voice unto him." You see, God spoke directly to Saul. He singled him out.

Sometimes we seem to think that our lives are small and insignificant, that God is not concerned about us and does not care about us. Yet, God is interested and concerned about individuals. There are those who believe in a deist view of God, thinking that He wound up the clock and let it go, having no desire to engage with His creation. However, the Bible reveals that our God is intimately involved with what is going on in our lives. He knows who we are.

We just went through the book of Revelation last night, and there are seven letters to seven churches in Revelation chapters 2 and 3. Seven times, God says, "I know your works" to those churches. The Lord knows what is happening in our lives. He knew who Saul was; He knew the threats and the murders that Saul was breathing. He knew where Saul was, and He singled him out, saying to him, "Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting me?" He knows us, and He is interested in us and concerned about us.

Jeremiah 29:11, many of you know the verse, says, "For I know the thoughts that I have towards you, thoughts of peace and not of evil, to bring you a future and a hope, or to bring you an expected end." God thinks about you and me. He was concerned about this man Saul, who was breathing out threats and murders, who was persecuting the church. The word "persecute" here means to cause to flee, to drive away, to press or pursue in a hostile manner, to mistreat. Saul of Tarsus was pursuing Christians with the desire to mistreat them.

With the desire to bring them back bound to Jerusalem, Saul presided over the death of Stephen. He was pleased by it as he saw Stephen being stoned outside the city walls of Jerusalem. Now, he continues to persecute the church.

But notice that Jesus takes this persecution personally. Saul thought he was just fighting with the apostles, the disciples, the followers of Jesus of Nazareth. However, Jesus says, "Why are you persecuting me?"

Two things on that:

Number one, if you are fighting against the church, I don't imagine that there is anyone here this morning actively fighting against it. However, there very well could be someone who has come here today to gather information. Perhaps you know someone in your life who is a believer in Christ, and you are just trying to find errors or holes in their faith. You may have come to church to find something you can use as a weapon against them. Listen, you may be fighting against that individual, but God sees it as you are fighting against Him. Let me clue you into something: you won't win.

Secondly, if you ever find yourself in the position of being persecuted for the name of Jesus Christ, know that Jesus takes it personally. He will avenge and repay. It is part of our flesh that we still carry within ourselves, even after we turn to Christ. This part of our flesh wants to lash out and defend ourselves. One of the things we see about David in the Scriptures, even though he was not a perfect man, is that he allowed God to defend him. We also need to recognize that our Lord is our defense.

So God said to him, "Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting me?" In verse 5, Saul responded, "Who are you, Lord?" He had been fighting against this movement of followers of Jesus of Nazareth, a movement that his own Rabbi Gamaliel had warned against, saying, "Listen, don't fight against this, because if you fight against it and it is of God, you will find yourself fighting against God." Saul was fighting against these followers of Jesus of Nazareth, but he didn't even know who the Lord was. He had no idea who this Jesus was, although there is a good possibility that he had heard Him speak and may have even been among those present.

That questioned Jesus in the Gospels, but he didn't really know much about Jesus. I find it interesting just how little people actually do know about Him. Have you ever seen that? I know that as I've talked with unbelievers from time to time, I'll ask them, "Tell me, what do you know about Christ and Christianity?" The answers that I receive are oftentimes so far removed from what the Bible actually says.

You see, people have an idea about Jesus, who He is, and what He said. They have certain conceptions about who He is, but oftentimes those ideas are misconceptions. They don't fully know. It will give you a great opportunity if you try that route in your evangelism. If you ask them, "What do you know about Christ and Christianity?" it will give you an opportunity to clarify for them just what the gospel is all about and just who Jesus is.

Sometimes those who are so passionately against Jesus know the least about Him. So, it's a great opportunity. Ask them, "What do you know about Christ and Christianity?" You will hear some very interesting answers.

Saul of Tarsus here says, "Lord, who are You?" It's interesting that Saul did not know who Jesus was or who this was that was speaking to him, and yet he still called Him Lord. Nobody could manufacture the event that was taking place in Saul's life at this moment. No man could manufacture it. He recognized that the presence and the power that accompanied this presence and the voice that spoke to him came from someone greater than him. It came from someone who could only be Lord.

And so he says, "Lord, who are You?" Isn't it cool how Jesus has a way of setting up these sorts of circumstances and situations in our lives that reveal His divine character? Now, the answer that Saul received and the first three words that he heard from this Lord who was speaking to him, I think these three words were the last thing that Saul of Tarsus ever expected to hear. "Who are You, Lord?" And the Lord said, "I am Jesus." I imagine that everything...

That Saul had thought up to that point, everything that he had taught or been taught, all of it came to a slamming halt in that moment. Before I was born, my father, who is an ironworker, fell from an eight-story building. In talking with him about that story, he has told me, "Listen, the fall ain't so bad. It's the sudden stop."

With Saul of Tarsus, he now comes to a sudden stop. He has been trying to get rid of the followers of Jesus of Nazareth, who were saying that Jesus had risen from the dead and that He was the Son of God. Saul is saying that's not possible; He is not raised from the dead. He is not the Son of God. Then the living Lord Jesus says, "Saul, why are you persecuting me?"

"Who are you, Lord?" Saul asks. "I'm Jesus." Big gulp. Deep breath. What do you do in that instant, in that moment? Jesus knew exactly where Saul of Tarsus was and how to get to him. No problem.

I have a feeling that the men who were with Saul of Tarsus as he was moving up to Damascus were partially there for his accompaniment and protection. Every description we find, not so much in the Bible but in extra-biblical accounts about Saul of Tarsus, indicates that he was not some big force to be reckoned with. He wasn't like some sort of Goliath figure. From everything we find in extra-biblical accounts, Saul of Tarsus was a short man with somewhat of a balding head and a big nose.

He had these men with him, perhaps for his protection. He was going to find the Christians, the followers of the Way, and deal with them. They were going to bring them back to Jerusalem bound. But Jesus found him.

I remember when I was in high school, and just about every guy here understands this and knows this. There reaches a certain point in your life where you start to test your dad, his strength, and start to poke at him.

And see, what's he going to do if I do this? I think I was about 10 years old when I was taller than my dad. He's not a very big guy. Perhaps it was the eight-story fall; I don't know. But I remember when I would poke at him and start to get him going, my dad would always turn to me and say, "I know where you sleep."

In the book of Isaiah, there is a story about the king of Assyria who was fighting against God, ultimately. God tells this king from Assyria, Sennacherib, in a prophecy, "I know where you sleep." God knew exactly where Saul was and how to get to him. Here, He knocks him off his donkey.

Even that idea of Saul riding to Damascus on a donkey is honestly a little bit comical to me. Here is this guy who's got letters from the chief priest, and he's going to Damascus to find any followers of the Way. If we were going to write this story and make it a film, we would put him on a stallion. Saul of Tarsus would be a big tall guy riding on a stallion, but instead, he's riding on a donkey.

He is going up to Damascus with letters from the chief priest, and he's going to find any followers of Jesus. Yet the Lord meets with him, knocks him off his donkey, and says, "Why are you persecuting me?" Saul responds, "Lord, who are you?" The answer comes, "I am Jesus." Everything that he had probably ever thought came to a slam halt right there. "I am Jesus whom you persecute."

Oh, goodness. Second gulp. You're persecuting me, Saul. You're fighting against me. Not only did Saul not truly know who Jesus was, but he also had no idea that in his persecution of the followers of Jesus, he was actually fighting against God. He was fighting against Jesus. Just as his rabbi Gamaliel had said, "You will be found to fight against God if this work is of God." He was pursuing Christians, trying to destroy them. And the Lord said, "Stop. You're fighting with me." He further said,

It is hard for you to kick against the goads. A real Bible student will tell you that these words, "It is hard for you to kick against the goad," are not found in any New Testament manuscript of the Book of Acts. However, they are found in the two testimonies that Saul gives in Acts 22 and Acts 26 about this event. He said that the Lord said to him, "It is hard for you to kick against the goad."

Now, it's important to consider: what is a goad? It was an instrument used by a farmer in those days. In some countries where they still use an ox to plow their fields, you may even see a farmer using an instrument like this. It was a long pole, sometimes as long as nine feet, and at the end of it, it had a sharp point. Sometimes they would even have a little metal pointed tip on the end of it.

As the farmer was plowing, with his plow and the ox in front of him pulling it, he would hold that goad under his arm. If the ox decided, "I don't want to do this today," or "I want to go over here," he would give him a little nudge in the rear to goad his ox in the right direction. An ox to a farmer was a very valuable and useful tool, and this valuable and useful tool needed to be directed.

Saul of Tarsus was useful to the Lord, but he was not doing nor going where the Lord wanted him to go. The Lord says, "Listen, I'm trying to goad you in the direction I want you to go, but you refuse to go in that direction." This raises the question: what might be the goads that God was using against Saul of Tarsus?

Perhaps one of those things was the testimony of Stephen as he was being stoned to death outside the city walls of Jerusalem. Saul of Tarsus was standing there, consenting to it or being pleased with it, and he watched this man look up into heaven and say, "I see Jesus standing at the right hand of the throne of God." Then, as Stephen was dying, he uttered, "Lord, please don't hold this to their account."

Perhaps some of these experiences were the goads that God was using to get Saul of Tarsus to move in the direction that He wanted him to go. Yet, not only was Saul not moving in that direction, but God also said, "Isn't it hard for you to kick against those goads? You're adding more pain to the process by kicking and saying, 'I don't want to.'"

Stubborn, hard-hearted, and arrogant. We may complain that God compares us to oxen in the scripture, and indeed, it may just be an unfair comparison. After all, when do you ever see an ox rebel against God? Perhaps God almost owes an apology to the ox.

Have you ever noticed that in the scriptures, the animals obey God? I think of Balaam's donkey. Balaam wouldn't obey; he was hard-hearted and wanted to go in the direction he desired. Balaam's donkey said, "I don't want to go in that direction. That's dangerous." Balaam's donkey obeyed.

Jonah the prophet didn't obey God, but the big fish did. Think about that story for a moment. How many of you have read through Jonah before? It's a short read. Jonah the prophet says, "I don't want to go to Nineveh." God comes and says, "Go to Nineveh, tell them in 40 days, they're toast." In modern-day terms, he says, "I don't want to go there." So, he goes in the other direction, getting on a boat to go to Tarshish, heading west.

While he's on that boat, a great storm arises. The wind and the waves obey Jesus, but Jonah wouldn't. A great storm comes, and all the people on that merchant vessel are fearful for their lives. They finally figure out that it is Jonah who is causing this problem. They come to Jonah and say, "Hey, you're the cause of this." He replies, "I know." They ask, "What should we do?" He says, "Throw me overboard. Everything will be okay." They question, "Well, why is God doing this to us?" He responds, "Because I'm not obeying Him."

So, they throw Jonah overboard, and everything becomes still. Everything is just fine. And God in heaven says, "I need a big fish." Latitude, 30 degrees north, longitude. The big fish responds, "Hey, that's me. Swallow that guy. Okay, don't chew." The animals obey.

In Isaiah chapter 1,

If you turn there, God says to His people, the children of Israel, in Isaiah 1, verse 3: "The ox knows his owner and the donkey his master's crib, but Israel does not know. My people do not consider." You see, 2,700 years ago, in Isaiah's day, to say to the children of Israel, "You are as dumb as an ox" or "You are as stubborn as a donkey" would have been a compliment. It would have been.

Notice what God says to His people: "Hey, the ox knows his owner. The donkey knows his master's crib, but you don't know." God told Israel that an ox was more obedient than they were and a donkey less stubborn. Could that be said of us today? Is God goading us in a direction, and we're saying, "I don't want to go in that direction. I don't want to do that"? Are we kicking against Him? Again, I'll say, He'll win. He always does.

Saul, trembling and astonished, said, "Lord, what will You have me to do?" I think that’s the right reaction. In the book of Exodus, when Moses came in contact with the burning bush, what did he do? He was fearful and fell on his face. God said, "Take the sandals from your feet, for the place on which you stand is holy ground."

Joshua, when he met the commander of the army of the Lord in Joshua chapter 5, recognized who this man of importance was. He fell on his face before Him with great fear, and God said, "Take the sandals from your feet, for the place on which you stand is holy ground."

When Gideon met Jesus in Judges chapter 6, he also fell on his face and cried because he was a sinner. Samson's parents had the same reaction.

When they recognized who the angel was, whose name was Wonderful, they were fearful and bowed down to worship. Every time in the Scriptures where we see someone come in contact with Jesus, they come in contact with God. They bow down, trembling and astonished. Now here is Saul, trembling and astonished, and he hears the words he thought he'd never hear: "I am Jesus." He thought Jesus was dead. He didn't believe that Jesus had been raised from the dead, and now he hears the voice saying, "I am the one you're persecuting."

Oh, how wonderful it would have been had Saul done this without the Damascus Road experience! If he had heeded the goading of God through the testimony he saw and the Christians he was persecuting, he could have bowed before Him. Yet it took this event on the Damascus Road to bring him to that place where he would bow. The Scriptures are clear. Paul the Apostle quotes Isaiah the prophet when he says in Philippians chapter 2, "Every knee shall bow and every tongue confess."

Now, you can choose this day to bow to the Lord, or there will come a day when you stand before Him at His throne of judgment, and you will bow. It is much better to bow today. As Saul was on the road to Damascus, trembling and astonished in the Lord, he said to the Lord, "What will you have me to do?"

The interesting thing about this is that now that he knows it is Jesus, he still calls Him Lord because he recognizes in that very instant that Jesus is Lord. This is submission. When he comes to the place and says, "What will you have me to do?" sometimes it takes being knocked off your donkey. At other times, it takes wrestling with God until you limp for the rest of your life like Jacob.

But oh, how much better it is to come before Him and say, "You are God in heaven. What will you have me to do?" God is seeking to bring everybody to that place where they recognize that He is God. He is over all things. It's not that God is up there as some big domineering entity that just wants you to bow before Him. No, that's not what it is. It's because there is no one greater than He. He is above all creation. He created everything we see and even those things that we do not see. He is the Alpha.

And the Omega, the beginning and the end, the first and the last, the one who was and is to come. He's the great God Almighty. There is no God but Jehovah, and Jesus is His Son. Here, Saul of Tarsus was learning that truth. He says, "Lord, what will You have me to do?"

There are many people today who are afraid to ask God that question. Perhaps even you. What will You have me to do, Lord? Why are people afraid to ask God, "What do You want me to do?" I have one idea, and maybe there are many, but one idea that comes to mind is that we project upon God our sinful attributes.

If someone came to you, and you were not a Christian—just an average sinner, as we all are, saved by grace—and they bowed before you, saying, "I humbly submit to you. I will do whatever you want me to do. Your wish is my command," you would probably think, "Hmm. What do I want you to do?" Now that I think about it, I do have a few things, a number of things, in fact. I have a whole book of things right here that I would like you to do. We would likely tell them to do all the things that we don't like to do: "You will do my laundry. You will clean the bathroom. You will do my ironing. You will weed my yard. You will pick up the dog poop. You will do this. You will do that."

You see, we project upon God our sinful attributes. If someone were to come and bow before us, saying, "I will do whatever you want me to do," we would think, "Oh, wow, I've been waiting for this for so long."

Yes, God is not a man. He is not like you and me. He does desire that we would humbly come before Him and say, "Lord, what would You have me to do?" But I have found, and continue to find, that God's plan for me is far better than any plan I ever had for myself. His ways are so much greater than my ways. His thoughts towards you and me are peace, not evil, to give us a future and a hope.

Some people think that if they say, "God, what do You want me to do?" He will send them off to the middle of some God-forsaken land filled with big bugs, snakes, rats, and all kinds of terrible things. Well, maybe the Lord will send you there, but I believe first He'd give you a desire to go there. God desires...

That we'd follow Him, that we'd walk in His will. Saul of Tarsus says, "Lord, what will You have me to do?" And God said unto him, "Arise and go. Arise and go into the city, and it shall be told to you what you must do." Underline the word "must" there in verse six. It will be told to you what you must do.

Again, just like we saw in Acts chapter eight with Philip the Evangelist, we see that Jesus only gives Saul one thing to do at a time. Just as He told Philip to go down from where he was in the northern part of the nation of Israel and go down to the south along the road from Jerusalem to Gaza, He just gave him one thing to do at a time. Jesus often does that because He knows that my attention span is just a little small. I'm an American; I live in Southern California, and everything's right now, right now. I forget what somebody told me five minutes ago. I'm terrible with names, and I'm very sorry to all of you that if I have forgotten your name at any time, I apologize. Please forgive me. Seriously, we have a short attention span.

God is so gracious and good to not just dump the entire thing upon us. Why? Well, He knows that I couldn't handle it. If He told me more than one thing to do, I'd get overloaded. Here He says to Saul, "Arise and go into the city." I think at this point, Saul's mind was already exploding. He could probably only handle one thing. He's just going, "Wait, You're who? Jesus? Whoa, hmm, got a problem. Well, what do You want me to do?" "Go into the city. Wait there. Someone's going to tell you what you are to do. It shall be told to you."

God desires you and me to do His will. One of the most frequently asked questions that I received when I was doing youth ministry was, "What's God's will for my life?" A lot of people ask that question: "What does God want me to do?" Sometimes we seem to think that God hides it from us. Again, God is not like us. He doesn't go, "Well, you should already know what I want you to do. I shouldn't have to tell you." He wants us to know His will. He wants us to walk in His will.

I've used the illustration before, and I think it's a good one. If I came up to you today and I said, "Hey, I'd love for you to come over to my house for lunch," and then I just walked away, you would go, "Well, wait a minute, how do I..."

What time do you want me to get to your house? Well, if you really want to come, you'll figure it out. You might begin to question whether or not I'm sincere in my desire to have time with you. The Lord says, "I want to walk in fellowship with you, but you have to figure out how to do that."

Okay, that's going to be hard. Yet, the Lord doesn't leave us without guidance. He says, "Arise and go into the city, and it will be told to you what you must do."

Now, the men who journeyed with him, as described in verse 7, stood speechless, hearing a voice but seeing no man. We don't know if they comprehended the voice that spoke to Saul. The voice spoke in the Hebrew tongue, but they heard some voice and saw no person there. They were just blown away; they stood speechless.

In verse 8 of Acts chapter 9, it says, "Saul arose from the earth, and when his eyes were opened, he saw no man." They led him by the hand into Damascus. When he stood up, dusted himself off, wiped his eyes, and opened them, he realized he couldn't see.

This situation is interesting because it reminds me of the passage in John chapter 9, where the Pharisees, after witnessing Jesus give sight to a man who was born blind, engaged in discourse with him. At the end of that chapter, they asked, "Are we blind also?"

Here we see Saul, a former Pharisee, standing there blinded. He can't see and is now humbly led by the hand into Damascus. The man who came with authority and letters from the chief priest in Jerusalem to go to Damascus now has to be led by the hand. He was there for three days without sight, fasting, and neither eating nor drinking. He probably completely lost his appetite.

As everything starts to come to mind—everything Gamaliel had said and all he had been taught throughout his years in Judaism—it all now has to be filtered through this fact: Jesus is alive. Jesus is Lord. Jesus is God.

Everything, all of Judaism in his mind, being forced to that point—oh my goodness, it's truth, blinded, fasting.

Now there was a certain disciple, verse 10, at Damascus named Ananias. To him said the Lord in a vision, "Ananias." He said, "Behold, here I am." The Lord said unto him, "Arise and go," the same thing He had told Saul. "Arise and go to the street which is called Straight, and inquire in the house of Judas for one called Saul of Tarsus, for behold, he prays."

There is a transformation. What was Saul doing over those three days? He was fasting and praying, thinking about all the things that he had been taught. Now God appears to a man by the name of Ananias and says, "Listen, I want you to go to the street which is called Straight."

You can go to Damascus today in Syria. It's the capital of Syria and one of the oldest continually inhabited cities in the world. You can walk down the street called Straight. If you have Google Earth, you can look it up: Straight Street, Damascus. It's a real place. These things really took place. Saul was a very real man.

A group of Syrian Christians just made a movie called "Damascus." It's about the conversion of Saul. The president of Syria thought it was so interesting that he had a private showing for his entire cabinet and all the leaders of his nation. They watched a video about a Jewish terrorist who became a believer and follower of Jesus Christ. Only God can do that.

Straight Street is a real place. He says to Ananias, "Go and inquire at the house of Judas because Saul is there, Saul of Tarsus, and he's praying." Saul has seen in a vision a man by the name of Ananias coming and putting his hand on him that he might receive his sight.

I love the way that God sets things up and does things. He basically puts Ananias in a position where, "Listen, Ananias, you have to do this because I already told Saul you were coming." Ananias answered, verse 13, "Lord, I have heard by...".

Many of this man, how much evil he has done to the saints at Jerusalem, your saints at Jerusalem. Here, he has authority from the chief priest to bind all that call on your name. The Lord said, "Go your way, for he is a chosen vessel unto me to bear my name before the Gentiles and kings and children of Israel."

Ananias goes, as the Lord says to him, "Listen, I want you to go to Straight Street. You're going to find Saul; pray for him, he's going to receive his sight." Ananias responds, "Objection, your honor. Saul of Tarsus, he's a bad dude." That, again, is kind of a modern translation. He's a bad dude; he's come here to kill me, to take me away. He's looking for people like me, your servants.

Has it ever occurred to you that nothing ever occurs to God? There's never a time when God goes, "Oh, gosh, I didn't know that. Thank you so much for bringing that to my attention." He doesn't do that. Now, we pray like he does, don't we? A lot of times, we pray just like Ananias: "Lord, wait a minute. I don't think you quite understand. That's impossible. I can't do that. I just can't fit it in my calendar. Impossible." Nothing ever occurs to him.

In the book of Isaiah, God says through Isaiah the prophet, "Who, by counsel, has instructed me?" That's a great question and something we should recognize. Ananias says, "Hey, objection, your honor, this guy's a bad guy. He's come here to do bad things; I don't think I should go there." And God says, "Go your way." Why? "For he is a chosen vessel unto me."

He is a chosen vessel unto me. God says, "This is my chosen vessel to do my work." Do you realize that every single one of you there this morning are God's chosen vessels? We're chosen vessels for his purposes, for his use. Paul the Apostle, later in his letters to Timothy, talks about vessels of honor and vessels of dishonor. The question is, are we going to be a vessel of honor as unto the Lord, consecrated unto him, given only for his use, or are we a vessel of dishonor?

To be a man? We all understand this in a very real and practical way. I have a 120-pound St. Bernard. I married into the St. Bernard family. Now, I learned something very interesting when I got a St. Bernard. There are dry-mouthed St. Bernards, and there are not-so-dry-mouthed St. Bernards. Luckily, I have a dry-mouthed St. Bernard. His name is Jackson. If he's a dry-mouthed St. Bernard, I don't even want to see a not-so-dry-mouthed St. Bernard.

Jackson has a vessel consecrated unto him. In fact, there are two of them: a water bowl and a food bowl. There is no possible way. I mean, you could scrub it, you could bleach it, you could irradiate it; you could do whatever you want. I will not eat out of Jackson's bowl. It is consecrated unto him. It is holy unto dog.

You are holy unto God. We are to be vessels unto Him. Jesus says to Ananias, "Listen, Saul is praying; he is my chosen vessel." For what? To bear my name. He is my chosen vessel to bear my name. You and I also are chosen vessels of God to bear His name, to whoever God would send us. For Saul, God says, "I'm going to send you to Gentiles, kings, and the children of Israel."

Now, this is also interesting. You are a chosen vessel of Me to bear My name to the Gentiles. Remember who Saul of Tarsus was? He was a Pharisee of the Pharisees, a Hebrew of the Hebrews, of the tribe of Benjamin. Being a Pharisee, he didn't so much like Gentiles. Okay, that's a little soft; he hated Gentiles and wanted nothing to do with them. And God says, "I've chosen you to bear My name before Gentiles." Not only will you bear My name before Gentiles, you'll be an ambassador for Me before kings.

As we go through the remainder of the Book of Acts, we're going to see how God sets Saul, who will become Paul, in places where he...

Ministers preach the gospel to kings, dignitaries, and governors, but not only that, they also reach out to the children of Israel. We might think that Paul would be uniquely qualified to minister to Jews. Yet, the Lord says, "No, first and foremost, you're going to bear my name to Gentiles." Paul would not be widely received by Jews. In fact, in verse 16, it says, "For I will show him how great things he must suffer for my name's sake." Saul was going to suffer, primarily at the hands of the Jews.

As we go through the Book of Acts, we will see that he is beaten with rods, whipped 195 times, shipwrecked, and goes hungry. He suffers many things for the name of Christ as he bears the name of Jesus among Gentiles, kings, and the children of Israel. Ananias went his way, entered into the house, and putting his hands on him, said, "Brother Saul." I think that's so cool. "Brother Saul, the Lord, even Jesus, that appeared unto you in the way as you came, has sent me that you might receive your sight and be filled with the Holy Spirit."

Immediately, there fell from his eyes as it had been scales, and he received his sight. Forthwith, he arose and was baptized. After receiving a meal, he was strengthened. Then Saul spent certain days with the disciples who were at Damascus. Straightway, he preached Christ in the synagogue, declaring that he is the Son of God. That is transformation.

He sought to destroy and carry back bound to Jerusalem those who followed Jesus of Nazareth and were living in Damascus. Now, on the Sabbath day, Saul goes into the synagogue. This will be his pattern in every city he visits throughout the rest of the Book of Acts. He will first look for a synagogue. If he finds one, he will wait for the Sabbath. On that day, he will put on his Pharisaical garb and go to the synagogue. They will look at him and ask, "Oh, where are you from?" He will reply, "I am from Jerusalem. I am a learner of Gamaliel."

"Would you like to share with us today?" they will ask. "Yes, let me share." He stands up and proclaims, "Jesus Christ is the Son of God." Oy vey! And he will contend.

With the Jews, Saul showed them that Jesus is the Christ. Straightway, he preached Christ in the synagogue, declaring that He is the Son of God. All who heard him were amazed and said, "Is not this he that destroyed them which called on this name in Jerusalem? And he came here also with the intent that he might bring them bound to the chief priests?"

But Saul increased more in strength and confounded the Jews that were at Damascus, proving that this is very Christ, as stated in the King James Version. I love that. He proves that this is not just Christ, but very Christ. Jesus is very Christ. He fulfills all the Old Testament prophecies speaking about His first coming. Saul was uniquely gifted and called by God to preach Christ from the Old Testament. This man had probably memorized large chunks of the Old Testament, the Torah. He knew the prophecies and understood the scriptures. There he stood before Jews, Gentiles, and kings, declaring that Jesus of Nazareth is the Son of God, that He is the Christ.

After many days were fulfilled, the Jews took counsel to kill him. He had presided over the death of Stephen and had come to carry Christians back bound to Jerusalem from Damascus. Now, he was preaching Christ in Jerusalem, and after a few days, they thought, "Wait a minute, time out. This guy's got to die." Their lying in wait was known to Saul. He found out about it. How did Saul find out? Well, remember, he used to be one of them. He knew this was coming. Their lying in wait was made known to him, probably by a word of knowledge or prophecy. They watched the gates day and night to kill him.

The disciples took him by night and let him down by the wall in a basket. When Saul came to Jerusalem, he essayed to join himself to the disciples, but they were all afraid of him. He returned to Jerusalem, wanting to fellowship with the disciples there, but they said, "Whoa, wait a minute. This is a trick." Wise as serpents, gentle as doves. No, no, no, no, no. No Saul of Tarsus here. This is why I don't believe that the early church was praying for Saul to get saved and become a preacher of the gospel. I think they were praying that Saul would die. When he became a believer, they thought, "No, this is a trick, man." So the disciples were afraid of him.

Believed not that he was a disciple, but Barnabas. Remember Barnabas back there in Acts chapter 4? The son of consolation, the son of encouragement, the one who had sold a portion of land and given all the proceeds to the church. He took Saul, brought him to the apostles, and declared unto them how he had seen the Lord in the way, that he had spoken to him, and how he had preached boldly at Damascus in the name of Jesus.

When he was with them, he came in and went out in Jerusalem, speaking boldly in the name of the Lord Jesus and disputing among the Grecians. However, they went about to slay him. As we go through the book of Acts, we will see that wherever Saul goes, he is either widely received or rejected to the point where they want to kill him. He causes a revival or a riot, wherever he goes.

From this point on, we will basically see the life, ministry, and missionary journeys of Saul of Tarsus, who became Paul the Apostle. We see how the Lord takes one who is kicking against the goads, who is not going in the direction that God wanted him to go, and says, "No, you are my chosen vessel. I'm going to win." When he finally takes over the life of Saul of Tarsus, Saul dies, and Paul the Apostle is born again. He goes forth preaching the gospel, turning the world upside down.

Oh, that God would give us a tenth of the boldness of Saul of Tarsus! I guarantee you, Escondido would have a problem. Lord, give us the boldness of Paul the Apostle. As we continue through this book, we will see the way that the Lord used this man, uniquely gifted and called by God for this very purpose.

But God has uniquely gifted and called you as well for His purpose, and He desires that we would lay hold of that for which He has laid hold of us. Amen? Let's stand and pray. Father, I do thank you for Your...

Great and glorious Gospel, your good news! The fact that Jesus came to save sinners is incredible. You're able to save sinners like each and every one of us here, just as you did with Saul of Tarsus, Lord.

God, you have a plan for each of our lives. I pray that we would come and yield to you, following you in that plan, because your plan is much better than anything we could ever plan for ourselves.

I pray for my brothers and sisters here that you would pour out your Spirit upon them, just as you did for Saul on that day when the scales fell from his eyes. Lord, give us boldness to go out into this world and preach the good news, the Gospel of your first and second coming.

We ask this in Jesus' name, and all God's people agreed, saying, Amen.