Acts nine, beginning with verse one, now Saul, still breathing threats and murder against the disciples of the Lord, went to the high priest and asked for letters from him to the synagogues at Damascus so that if he found any belonging to the way, both men and women, he might bring them bound to Jerusalem. And it came about that as he journeyed. He was approaching Damascus and suddenly a light from heaven flashed around him, and he fell to the ground and heard a voice saying to him, Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting me? And he said, Who art thou, Lord? And he said, I am Jesus, whom you are persecuting, but rise and enter the city and it shall be told you what you must do. And the men who traveled with him stood speechless, hearing the voice, but seeing no one. And Saul got up from the ground, and though his eyes were opened, he could see nothing. And leading him by the hand, they brought him into Damascus, and he was three days without sight, and neither ate nor drank. May God be pleased to bless his word to our hearts. Amen. Let's pray. Father, we thank you for these. Narratives, especially in the book of Acts, which describe for us the conversion of the Apostle Paul. The Pharisee Saul, who became the Apostle. We thank you, Father, that there is abundant material in Scripture relating to the apostle and his conversion to Christ, so much so, father, that it does betray to us the fact that it is important for us to understand his conversion. And so as we delve into it, we pray that you'd be pleased to grant us your grace and blessing. Open our eyes. Shed light on your word by your Holy Spirit. Shed light in our hearts. We pray that we might not only apprehend what is on the printed page, Father, but we might apprehend the words of the Spirit penetrating our spirits and renewing us. Grant that this might be the case as we talk this morning for a short time, we pray in Jesus name. Amen. We're looking more particularly at the conversion of the Apostle Paul through the lens of Acts chapter 9, and we're trying to relate all of this to this idea of postmodernism. And I thought maybe I'd give you a couple more titles this morning. The first one is called Looking Into the Abyss. Great title, don't you think? Looking into the Abyss, Untimely Thoughts on Culture and Society. And the author is Gertrude Himmelfarb. Why are you laughing? This lady is a historian and this is quite a good book. The second book is also by Gertrude Himmelfarb and has been in the news in the past six or eight months. It's called the demoralization of society from Victorian virtues to modern values, the demoralization of society. And there have been a number of book reviews on this particular book in different periodicals. It struck me that another Periodical, actually, that some of you might be interested in is published by Christianity Today. It's called Books and Culture. I don't know if any of you are familiar with that. Books and Culture. It comes out quarterly and has a lot of good reviews on books that have to do with our culture and interfacing with our culture. And that's an excellent periodical to get a hold of. Okay, let's look at our handout. This morning, the pink sheet. The color does not coordinate with the topic, necessarily. Number one, postmodernism is manifest in literature, art, and entertainment. Former Secretary of Labor Robert Reich wrote a book of memoirs. It purports to be biographical. It is, in actuality, a distortion of the truth. What is truth? This is the question of postmodernism. Each cultural group in society has its own truth, or they think that they have their own truth. I've got an article from the Kansas City Star that talks about this book of Robert Reich, and this is what it says. Robert Reich, the former Secretary of Labor, has written a charming funny memoir about his time in office that has a major flaw. It is fictional. Now, why would you call that a flaw? On examination, it turns out that one scene after another in Loft in the Cabinet bears no resemblance to reality. Reich's habit of misrepresentation is so pervasive as to seem downright pathological. That is not really the problem for the Clinton administration, which he left last year, but it is a problem for Brandeis University, a highly regarded private institution in suburban Boston that hired him in January. This fellow has a prestigious chair at Brandeis University right at the moment. The list of Reich's departures from reality is long, he tells of a congressional hearing in which he was berated by frothing Republican committees by a frothing Republican committee chairman, journalist Jonathan Rauch, in a piece in the online publication State, reports that he checked transcripts and tapes and found that the Republican congressman was courteous and didn't utter the sentences Rauch attributes to him. Rauch recalls giving a speech to a cigar-smoking all-male audience of the National Association of Manufacturers, which jeered and cursed him. Rauch reports that a third of the attendees at this speech were women, that smoking was banned, that comments Rice attributed to questioners were never made, and that the audience was polite. So just the opposite happened at this conference that Robert Rice reports in his book. And it's just amazing, but this is, folks, a comment on our times. You don't have to tell the truth. The truth is whatever you make it. Whatever you say is the truth is the truth. This is what our times are about. And as Keith said yesterday, truth is relative. And each of these cultural subgroupings, I know some of you didn't like me doing that, but each of these cultural subgroupings in our society has its own, they think, set of truths, and they perpetuate those truths. And here's a fellow that's in a very university setting, a prominent university, who has published this book, and the university is defending him. That's one of the amazing things that's taking place in this situation. Here's an editorial column from U.S. News. Maybe some of you have read this. In his new book, Leaning With My Chin, Jay Leno tells a mildly embarrassing story. Have you read this article? He tells a mildly embarrassing story about himself on the old Dinah Shore television show. Some of you will remember that show. The only problem with the incident is that it didn't happen to Leno. It happened to another comedian, Jeff Altman. Leno told Joseph Adalian of the New York Post last week that he liked the story so much that he paid Altman $1,000 for the right to publish it as his own tale in his own book. So now what you do is you buy stories about other people so that you can publish them about yourself. Now, you know, we laugh a little bit about this, but do you realize what's going on in some circles that people are buying from others background information to put on resumes so that they can get jobs in particular institutions? That's what they're doing. I mean, where are we? You know, it's an amazing world in which we live. We have a friend. Our girls were always involved in cheerleading, and they have a girlfriend who went to a large university in our area of the country and spent most of her time in cheerleading practice, doing exercises, going to the weight room, doing all this sort of thing. And the question was asked, well, what about academics? Well, all that's taken care of. You just go down to the computer lab and punch up term papers on the subject that you're interested in. Put your name on it, print it out, and turn it in. Everybody does it. I mean, this is a state university in our area of the country. This is what's going on. Truth doesn't matter. And it's a sign of our times. You're not doing that, huh? This is great stuff, let me tell you. Now, who was it that I was visiting with about the educational system in our country and that we're being flooded in our country with people from Asia and other parts of the world because students in our society can't cut the mustard as far as many of the criteria for jobs that are needed in our society. I forget who it was I was talking to about that. One of you see this is all coming together, okay? And it's hurting our society in a in a profound way Number two post-modernism has little difficulty sandwiching together extremes opposites and Contradictions we see on the see this on the evening news Warren killing next to a commercial about the pleasure of a vacation in the Bahamas Yeah, isn't this isn't this a case? You have a scene about Middle East killings. Flash. You go to the Bahamas. Whoa. You know, can you really switch that quickly? Now, think about this. Kids growing up in our society see this on TV. And what do they do? They really think that internally they can switch just that easily. and go out and mug somebody and turn around and go to the movie. Ring any bells? Ring any bells? This young lady that got rid of her baby, went into the prom, asked for a tune to be played. No problem, right? No problem. Well, there is a deep problem here, and there's a deep problem in the heart of this young lady, and it emerges But the problem is that this is how our culture is today, and this is what people are seeing today, and it's having a profound effect on what's happening in the lives of especially young men and women. Truth and fiction are blurred. We talked about this, and this is true on the evening news. This is part of the problem with the news media today. The truth and fiction are blurred. For most, The news has become entertainment. Isn't this the case? And the anchor people on the news are paid big bucks because they are personalities in our society, and they gather a following, and it's important for the networks. And there are big bucks involved in this. You know, Tom Brokaw just signed a contract for over $7 million annually. You know, I had somebody ask me, says, is this guy really worth that? Doubtful, doubtful, you know, but but this is what's happening. And we get this blur between truth and fiction, that which is real and that which is fantasy. And we get it right there on the news. And it's very interesting, too, I think that you have the major networks, you've got CNN, Gives us one spin on the news. Now you get Fox Network that's emerging. Gives us another spin on the news. And it's the image and the spin which is important. Isn't that right? What do conservatives want? Conservatives want the conservative spin on the news. The liberals want the liberal spin on the news. The Christians want the Christian spin on the news. Is it the news that's important? Is it the facts being given which is important? Not really. See? Everybody has their own little spin they want to put on it. And this is a part of our times, too. Truth and fiction are blurred. We have news clips in films. We talked about that yesterday, where reality and fiction are stories within stories. And sometimes when you read a book or watch a television story and you get in in the middle, you have no idea what's going on, because a story is being told about a story. And that's part of what's happening. I love this one, Mountaintop Frisbee. You don't know what I'm talking about here? Okay. The TV commercial, Frisbee, from mountaintop to mountaintop. It's a car commercial. What is it? Jeep. Okay, all right. There's three of them playing frisbee on these three different mountaintops and boom there goes the frisbee I'll get it and they're driving the jeeps off the top of these mountains. Not really But it's it's a portrayal and again, it's fantasy, right? I mean it really is it's fiction and fantasy portrayed as reality in these commercials Post-modernism pushes to extremes. I've had a lot of comments about extreme sports And who was it? You guys are poking fun of me today. I'm going out jogging and yesterday afternoon and is this extreme sports? Yeah, well, for some people it is. Believe me, it's pushing the limits. Extreme art and extreme sports are examples. Artists, entertainers, athletes, and spectators seek an adrenaline rush. I just want to read you some of this article on extreme sports, because it's just so to me, it's just so amazing. Kristen Ulmer is a hardcore addict. You get that a hardcore addict and she knows it. Ever since her first childhood shush down the snow covered peak, She has been hopelessly hooked on adrenaline. In her teens, she abandoned the cozy confines of ski resorts for the 70-degree inclines and 50-foot drops of rugged wilderness trails. By her early 20s, she was the nation's foremost female radical skier, the darling of cinematographers, eager to capture her perilous cliff jumps and set them to rock soundtracks for the MTV crowd. Today, six knee operations later, she is paid by sponsors to ski down the world's tallest, remotest mountains from Tajikistan to New Zealand. This is what she does. Why? Well, there's money. There's more than that, isn't there? What is it? The rush, the thrill of it. You bet. Absolutely. The bungee jumper back here. We know this. My daughter, Denise, went to Vineland, New Jersey, to work in Boardwalk Chapel. There's an evangelistic work of the Orthodox Presbyterian Church for a summer. And on the boardwalk there, they had a giant swing. I suppose, I don't know, this thing had to be 200 feet up in the air. And they belt people into that swing, and it's on a pier, and they pump those people up 200 feet up in the air and let them go. And they fly out over the ocean. They get their rush doing that. Of course, it's 35 bucks a shot, too. Somebody's collecting a few nickels off of that. But people are lined up for that. I mean, they are really lined up for that sort of thing. This is really amazing. Here's a picture of a fellow jumping off a cliff, doing a parachute jump off a cliff. We do this sort of thing now. This is great stuff. You get your rush doing that. Here's a gal climbing up an ice face, just climbing up there, no ropes. And what does she say? I expect to lose three or four friends a year doing this. Why? The thrill of it, right? The thrill of it. This is this is a big deal. Are they doing this because they have no real purpose in part society? They're being told culture and society is boring and they're finding meaning in this. They're finding real life in this. This particular article quotes the philosopher William James. And it says a century ago in The Will to Believe, the philosopher William James wrote, it is only by risking our persons from one hour to another that we all really live. And this is where it is. That is part of it. No question about it. And we're back to the fact that for many people then, when they darken the door, especially of a sedate Reformed Presbyterian Church says, oh, boy, this is too quiet for me. I can't handle it. You know, and many people really have that sense about them because they're addicted to the drugs. You are OK. Okay, let me. Time is flying, but let me tell you how I think one of the ways this is impinging the church, and I really think it is. that folks so much addicted to these internal drugs, and one of them is adrenaline, that many evangelicals, and I really think this is the case, do not know the difference between the adrenaline rush and the high that comes from the drug and the Holy Spirit. And many are calling that adrenaline rush the Holy Spirit. This is a serious problem. And it is going on. I did a little test myself. I'll get to you in just a second. I did a little test myself at a basketball game. And this was a championship basketball game at Sterling College where the ladies team won the privilege of going to the national tournament. And as you are in the stands at the end of the game, and of course, they're cutting down the net, right? As you're in the stands at the end of the game, there is this sense of euphoria in the field house. As you step down onto the floor, it was heightened amazingly. You get off the bleachers, you get down on the floor. Then you step into the mass of people that are under the net, and it's just whoosh. Here you have this rush that comes along, and everybody is really high. And I thought to myself, this is amazing, because in a large degree, this is exactly what people are looking for when they come to worship on a Lord's Day morning, and they don't know the difference, and they want that rush. I mean, there's a movie that illustrates that one very, very well. It's called Leap of Faith, and it stars Steve Martin. Is that how you say his name? The fascinating thing about that movie is, he plays a guy that does revivals in rural, old town America. And you find out that he doesn't believe in himself. He has all the technology, the radio, he'll call the people out there to figure out what people's concerns are. He'll have these fake healings and things like that. But as a viewer, anybody who knows this, you find yourself getting caught up in the euphoria of the movie. And what you just said a minute ago about how people can't tell the difference between the manufactured Gremlin or something like that, which is the Holy Spirit, that movie really illustrates that well. And it's not a comedy, but it's very well done. And I don't exactly agree with the ending and all that, but on that particular point, that movie really does illustrate that very well. And there are people out there who are taking advantage of this sort of thing to purposely fool people to get money. That's going on. The idea of gangliness thrilled at this rush. A number of people who were using the abuse of the human body in order to get it. And I read a news article recently about a gang, a bunch of young people, I think they were in their late teens, early twenties, and they stood around and actually smashed a person's head and they all did it for the thrill. That's right. They didn't just hit him down and leave him. They actually stood there and smashed his skull. And they all were cheering in the process. This is right. And you see, this is all part of the mix. And part of the reason that we are becoming a more violent society, we're becoming a society that's drifting more and more into a relativistic kind of mode. There is no absolute truth. And this is what we're zeroing in on. this morning is this fact that there is no absolute truth, and it's in the extreme. It's in the extreme, and I think we need to realize that this is the case. And I find it fascinating that when we begin to look at the Apostle Paul, we find some extremes there also. 30 or 40 people from this conference this afternoon going cliff jumping in the park. All right. All right. Now, you see, this is important, though. This is important. Is there anything innately wrong with doing that? Is there something innately wrong with going whitewater rafting? You know, I don't I'm not interested, but, you know, we've got to keep some of this in balance. And the point is well taken, as some of us talked here yesterday and Keith among them making making the point that what we're after here is not being more American. Right. What we're after here is being more biblical. What we're after here is not being more modern as versus being postmodern. What we're after here is being more biblical. That's what we're after. What we're after is heading towards heaven and understanding the culture of heaven. That's the point, you see. That's what we have to understand. And for some people, Christianity and Americanism is wrapped up too much together. Even for some Reformed Presbyterians, I think this is the case, you see. And I think we have to be beware of that sort of thing. All right. It doesn't have to be what now? Correct. Correct. Correct. You know, people laugh at me and my family laughed at me because at West Point, I played rugby and loved it. You know, and when I had an opportunity a couple of years ago to watch a rugby game, I was running up and down the sidelines, you know, looking into the scrum and watching these guys. And I was having a blast. I really was. I was getting a kick out of that. And my family is laughing at me over that. You know, that was just something I happened to enjoy. And I don't think there's anything wrong with that. I really don't. We have to keep the priority right that who we serve is Jesus Christ. And we have to understand that that's the case. Now, let's get into Acts chapter nine. The Apostle Paul, Acts nine, one and two, and I'll read it in a moment. The Apostle Paul was an extremist for his cause. His aim was to exterminate Christianity. Paul's hostility, his enmity, caused him to favor the death of Christians. I think we need to get this in our heads, that the Apostle Paul was in the mode of Christianity, be gone, no. Christianity is the worst heretical sect I have ever seen, and I am going to destroy Christianity if at all possible. I will eradicate this way because it is reprehensible, and I don't want to see it." And he was adamant about this. I mean, this really is the case. I really think it is. Look at Acts chapter nine. Now, Paul, still breathing out threats and murder against the disciples of the Lord, went to the high priest and asked for letters from him to the synagogues at Damascus so that if he found any belonging to the way, both men and women, he might bring them bound to Jerusalem. Breathing out what? Threats and murder. And he may well have been in this crowd that threw a Christian down on the ground and threw rocks at him to crush that Christian's head. Wouldn't that be correct? Acts 26, 9 through 11. Let's look at the parallel here. Acts 26, 9 through 11. Acts 26, 9 through 11. So then I thought myself that I had to do many things hostile to the name of Jesus of Nazareth. And this is just what I did in Jerusalem. Not only did I lock up many saints in prison, having received authority from the chief priests, but also when they were being put to death, I cast my vote against them. And as I punished them often in the synagogues, I tried to force them to blaspheme and being furiously enraged at them, I kept pursuing them even to foreign cities. I'm reminded of the first weeks at West Point when cadets have to go through basic training drills and one of those basic training drills is bayonet training. And you put your bayonet on the end of the rifle And they run you out to the bayonet course. And as you're running out to the bayonet course, you chant as you're going out there, kill, kill, kill, kill, kill, kill, kill, kill. And when you have five or 600 guys doing that all together, you can imagine the adrenaline gets pumping. And you get on that bayonet course and you charge those dummies. Kill, kill. And that's what you're taught to do, because it's a life and death matter on the battlefield. What was Paul doing? Furiously enraged, the scriptures tell us. See, I think we have to get the picture here that this isn't just a mild mannered kind of situation we're talking about. This apostle, furiously enraged and hostile to the Christian faith, goes to Damascus. Correct? Yeah, that is their purpose. Their purpose is to get the thrill out of it. That's right. I think there isn't a higher purpose. And what happens in that mix is that they are being drugged down. And we're going to talk more about that because conscience is real, folks. It is active. God uses conscience. And I think we have to understand that that's the case. And we see that in the matter of the conversion of the Apostle Paul. There is purpose there. It's a lesser purpose, I think. Paul does have this overarching and this higher purpose with regard to Judaism. But the hostility is and the extremism is still present. Acts 9, 3 and 4. Let's go back to Acts 9. And it came about that as he journeyed, he was approaching Damascus and suddenly a light from heaven flashed around him and he fell to the ground and heard a voice saying to him, Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting me? Christ appeared in blinding radiance, light greater than a hundred suns. Here is this man and the purpose is to persecute Christians, to kill Christians, to exterminate Christianity. He's very virile in his opposition to this Christian faith, and he's on his way to Damascus. Is it any slight tap on the shoulder that's going to turn him around? Absolutely not. Struck to the ground by a brilliant light, greater than a hundred suns, I'd say. I don't know how bright it is, but you've looked into the sun. It's blinding, isn't it? And this is what happens. This blinding light comes. And Paul is knocked to the ground. Paul fell to the ground. The authorized version adds in verse six that Paul was trembling and astonished. Let's look at the parallel in Acts 22, 6 through 9. Acts 22, 6 through 9. Acts 22. six through nine. And it came about that as I was on my way approaching Damascus about noontime, a very bright light suddenly flashed from heaven all around me and I fell to the ground. It strikes me as I read that. How how is it that a light knocks a person to the ground? Have you ever been knocked to the ground by a light? Apparently, this is what has happened here. I see someone's assenting to this. OK. not to the ground by by this light. And it came about that as I was on my way approaching Damascus about noontime, a very bright light suddenly flashed from heaven. And I fell to the ground and heard a voice saying to me, Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting me? And I answered, who are you, Lord? And he said, I am Jesus, the Nazarene, whom you are persecuting. And those who were with me beheld the light. To be sure, and did not understand the voice of the one who was speaking to me. Here is this tremendous light that comes, and it appears that as Paul is felled to the ground, he is trembling and astonished, and who wouldn't be? He is blinded, and it appears that those who are with him do not understand the voice. They hear a sound, and Paul hears the voice. Those who are with him are in utter amazement as to what is taking place. Let's go back to Acts chapter nine and read on. Verses five and six, and he said, Who are thou, Lord? And he said, I am Jesus, whom you are persecuting, but rise and enter the city and it shall be told you what You must do. Christ speaks to Paul. The others are struck dumb. Go to Damascus, Paul. I will tell you what you must do. And I had this little question. How is it that Paul learned what he must do? And he said, yeah, he says that he sends Ananias to him. And it's through the ministry of another servant of the Lord that Paul, in the end, learns what he must do, which I find very, very helpful and very, very interesting. You know, we're not out here in La La Land in this narrative. Acts 9, 7 and 8. And the men who traveled with him stood speechless, hearing the voice, but seeing no one. And Paul got up from the ground. And though his eyes were opened, he could see nothing. And leading him by the hand, they brought him to Damascus. Now, it seems to me, again, that we need to note, as I say in the handout, the consternation, the alarm, the bewilderment, the perplexity that is present. Think about this now. Why is Paul persecuting Christians? Does he believe this Jesus? No. Does he know about the stories of Jesus? Yeah. Does he believe the stories about the resurrection of Christ? Absolutely not. That's a myth. That's a story. These Christians are duped and deceived. And I'm going to stamp them out. All of a sudden. This person. Who is not supposed to be alive. appears in a blinding light and speaks to Paul. What's going on in this man's head and heart? Whoa. Whoa. Where have I been? They say, where have I been? What have I been doing? Note the consternation, alarm, bewilderment, bewilderment, perplexity. Paul is blind. The light did not give Paul light, but plunged him into darkness. The light that came plunged Paul into darkness. Is this not the case? The light does not immediately bring light. Suddenly, All is darkness and not light. When we think we see without Christ, we are in darkness. Paul's companions lead him now to Damascus. He once was a triumphant, and we can understand this is the case, a triumphant, proud Pharisee who knew where he was going, what he was doing, and he was on God's side, and he was doing God a favor by killing Christians. And now, what is he? A blind man, having to be led by the hand into this city. What a change. Acts 9.9, And he was three days without sight, and neither ate nor drank. Christ knocked off his self-assumed pedestal, humbled, Christ knocked Paul off his self-assumed pedestal, humbled him through blinding, and began to show him his utter dependence upon others. Now Paul sits in darkness, unable to eat and drink. Was this a self-imposed fast? I imagine this man was so stunned by what took place. He could do nothing else but sit in the darkness and contemplate his state. Eat. Forget it. Drink. Lowest priority. So stunned by what has taken place, what is Paul now doing then? Acts 9, 10 and 12. Now, there was a certain disciple at Damascus named Ananias. And the Lord said to him in a vision, Ananias, and he said, Behold, I am here, Lord. And the Lord said to him, Arise and go to the street called straight and inquire at a house of Judas for a man from Tarsus named Saul, for behold, he is praying. And he has seen in a vision a man named Ananias come to him and lay his hands on him so that he might regain his sight. What is Paul doing? Praying. Praying. You've got to get in this guy's head a little bit. What's happening here? The whole rug of Paul's life was suddenly ripped out from under him. You pull the tablecloth off the table and leave all those dishes there, right? And the rug's ripped out from under Paul. He's still there, but he knows everything's gone. Everything that he stood for, everything that he understood has been ripped out from under him. I think that's what's happening. What was Paul doing during these three days? He was praying as he never prayed before. Was Paul in error in all his beliefs? Was he? Was he wrong about Christ? You bet he was. Was Jesus actually alive? What about Psalm 16? Did Paul know the Psalter? Whoa! Here is a guy in his mid to late twenties that had the equivalent of two PhDs. He had been trained under Gamaliel. He knew his stuff. He was the academicians, academician. He knew his stuff. I think that's one of the reasons, in the end, Paul was used so mightily by God. I really do. He knew the Psalms. He knew that Psalm 16 spoke of the Messiah and that. His flesh would not see decay, he knew that Psalm 32 spoke of right standing before God, how blessed is the man to whom God does not impute his sins. And what did Paul say? Oh, my God. This Jesus. Whom I have been persecuting, is he alive, has his flesh not seen decay? Am I in the depth of sin myself? Am I on the wrong side of this statement in Psalm 32? Psalm 45, the Messiah riding triumphantly. Have I opposed him? Have I done that? Psalm 110. Your servants will volunteer freely in the day of your power, Messiah, King and priest. And have I been the one who has opposed you? Have I been that man? Psalm 118, in a similar fashion, Paul knew these scriptures. Did these scriptures not only speak of the Messiah, but did they speak of Jesus as the Messiah? I think this is what's running through Paul's head at this point, as he sits in utter darkness. before God. Unable to eat or drink. Acts 9, 13 through 20. But Ananias answered, Lord, I have heard from many about this man, how much harm he did to thy saints at Jerusalem. And here he has authority from the chief priests to bind all who call upon thy name. But the Lord said to him, go, for he is a chosen instrument of mine. A little note on election there, for he is a chosen instrument of mine. Ananias responds to that understanding to bear my name before the Gentiles and kings and the sons of Israel, for I will show him how much he must suffer for my name's sake. And Ananias departed and entered the house. And after laying his hands on him, said, Brother Saul, the Lord Jesus, who appeared to you on the road by Damascus, on the road by which you were coming, has sent me so that you may regain your sight and be filled with the Holy Spirit. And immediately there fell from his eyes something like scales. And he regained his sight and he arose and was baptized and took food and was strengthened. Ananias comes. Here's the picture, I think. Paul is on the road to Damascus. He meets Christ. He is blind. This is a three day period. Ananias comes. What happens at this point? He sees. Now he sees. Is this not the case? Now the darkness is lifted. Compare, if you would, please. Acts 22. I know the time is flying here. And this is the day for recreation, special recreation, so. I'll try and do this quickly. Acts 22, 12 through 16, and a certain Ananias, a man who was devout by the standard of the law and well spoken of by the Jews who lived there, came to me and standing near me said, Brother Saul, receive your sight. And at that very time, he looked up. I looked up at him. And he said, The God of our fathers has appointed you to know his will, to see the righteous one and to hear the utterance from his mouth, for you will be a witness for him to all men of what you have seen and heard. And now, why do you delay? Arise and be baptized and wash away your sins, calling on the name of the Lord. What are you waiting for, Paul? Why are you delaying, Paul? Arise! and be baptized and wash away your sins." And that wonderful phrase, calling on the name of the Lord, that we hear Paul repeat in Romans. Everyone who calls upon the name of the Lord will be saved. I think this is where the conversion actually comes. At the end of that three-day period, when the light comes and Ananias says, don't delay any longer, wash away your sins, be baptized, call on the name of the Lord. And who is the Lord? Jesus. Jesus is Lord. If you will confess with your mouth, Jesus as Lord, you will be saved. If you believe in your heart, that God raised Jesus from the dead and confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord, you will be saved. Now, Paul, after struggling through those scriptures, knows that Jesus is Lord. He met him on the Damascus Road. He sees that he's alive. Everything's ripped out from under him. And now, after Ananias comes, don't delay, Paul, call on the name of this Lord. Have you called upon the name of the Lord? See, what is the basic Christian confession? Not Jesus, a savior. And that's not the basic Christian confession. There are some who are saying, just believe in Jesus as a savior and then go about your way. That's not the basic Christian confession. The basic Christian confession is Jesus is Lord. That's a confession. That's where we ought to live under his lordship. And he is lord of all. I'm going to keep going here for a minute. He is Lord of all, and it's very important that we see this. And part of the mix here is the fact that. The apostle goes through this tunnel of desperate darkness, and he really does. God puts him through that, and the reason God puts him through that is so that Paul understands his need and Paul therefore can legitimately call upon the name of the Lord. I think in a very real way, this is what's happening in our culture and in our society today, that God is bringing people to their knees. And he's doing that all around us, folks. I really think this is the case. And these people that are involved in extreme sports and are risking life and limb are coming to the end of themselves. And we're going to talk a little bit more about that. The so-called X generation of which some of you are a part, the so-called baby boomer generation of which some of you are are a part. Those people are coming to the end of their rope. And many of them know it, and God is putting them through a dark tunnel so that they see their need. And we have a tremendous opportunity then to explain the reason for the darkness. and the light that comes in Christ. And so I submit to you that this is the construction we ought to see in Paul's conversion. And we're going to work on that more as we look at the Apostle Paul and how that applies, I think, in our current cultural situation. Let's have a word of prayer. Father, we thank you for the grace That comes in Christ. I pray, Lord, that you'd be pleased. To bless and strengthen us with an understanding of your word. Father, there is no question I am certainly not the authority. You are. The only infallible interpreter of Scripture is Scripture itself. We pray that you'd use your word. By the power of your spirit. In our hearts. To give us an understanding. Of this conversion, we are looking at. It might even be father in scripture, a model. Which we can follow. Help us in our understanding here, we pray. In Jesus' name, amen.