9. This morning we will be looking at the first nine verses. Acts chapter 9 and verse 1. Thus says the word of the Lord, Then Saul, still breathing threats and murder against the disciples of the Lord, went to the high priest and asked letters from him to the synagogues of Damascus. so that if he found any who were of the way, whether men or women, he might bring them bound to Jerusalem. As he journeyed, he came near Damascus, and suddenly a light shone around him from heaven. And then he fell to the ground and heard a voice saying to him, Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting me? And he said, who are you, Lord? And then the Lord said, I am Jesus, whom you are persecuting. It is hard for you to kick against the goads. So he, trembling and astonished, said, Lord, what do you want me to do? And then the Lord said to him, arise and go into the city, and you will be told what you must do. And the men who journeyed with him stood speechless, hearing a voice but seeing no one. And then Saul arose from the ground, and when his eyes were opened, he saw no one. But they led him by the hand and brought him into Damascus. And he was three days without sight, and neither ate nor drank." Let us pray. Our Heavenly Father, we thank you for the Word of God. We ask you, Lord, this morning that even as Saul saw the glorious light of Jesus Christ, that through your word this morning, we would likewise see the glory and the brightness of it. Lord, help us to understand what you would have us to see from your word. We know that you have brought us here to this passage this morning to show us what a dramatic conversion experience of this man named Saul. But Lord, it is not only about a man named Saul, but it is about each one of us. It is about the person who is sitting here this morning who has never trusted in Jesus Christ. And I pray, oh God, that they would see Jesus this morning, that Christ would be exalted, that he would be glorified, and that every mouth at the end of this service would say, Lord, what would you have me to do? And I ask this in Jesus' name, amen. You may be seated. I hope this morning that you will show me grace as we say the words Saul and Paul, and I will intermix those, I am sure, so much grace will be needed this morning. I want to begin this message here entitled, The Salvation of the Chief of Sinners. And it is pointing us to this glorious narrative and this glorious experience that this man Saul had when Jesus Christ met him on the road to Damascus. In 1 Timothy 1, I wrote there for you in your notes, you can see that there, we read this personal testimony of the Apostle Paul, and I believe it is very helpful and instructive for us, and it will begin to guide us on our way as we head into chapter nine. the book of Acts. And so I will quote first Timothy here and read Paul's own testimony in which he says, I thank Christ Jesus our Lord who has enabled me because he counted me faithful, putting me into the ministry. Although I was formerly a blasphemer, a persecutor, and an insolent man, but I obtained mercy. because I did it ignorantly in unbelief. And the grace of our Lord was exceedingly abundant with faith and love which are in Christ Jesus. This is a faithful saying and worthy of all acceptance that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners of whom I am chief. However, for this reason, I obtained mercy that in me first, Jesus Christ might show all longsuffering as a pattern to those who are going to believe on him for everlasting life. Now to the King eternal, immortal, invisible, to God who alone is wise, be honor and glory forever and ever. Amen. I'd like for you to note four things about this passage and this testimony of the Apostle Paul, and I underline them for you there. Number one, I want you to notice how he describes himself as formerly a blasphemer, a persecutor, and an insolent man. I also want you to note how he describes God's grace towards him, exceedingly abundant. I want you to note how he saw himself as a worse sinner than everyone else. He describes himself as the chief of sinners. And then fourthly, note that he understood that his life before and after conversion was going to be used as a pattern regarding the mercy of God to those who were going to believe on Christ for salvation. I bring that up specifically because I want you to understand as we're reading this testimony of Saul, the conversion of Saul, and how God saved the chief of sinners, and how by his sovereign grace he redeemed him, that we need to understand that this is not just us coming before God's word to read a miraculous and wonderful story about a man named Saul. But what he tells us in his own testimony is this, that in me first, Jesus Christ might show all longsuffering as a pattern to those who are going to believe on him for everlasting life. That's you. that's me. So this has personal application for us as we consider the life of Saul and the conversion of Saul on the road to Damascus. So I do not want us to miss that very point. And so I read this passage in 1st Timothy because our passage in Acts is actually the historical account of this testimony. And this is why I find this section of the Book of Acts to be so fascinating and amazingly instructive for us here this morning. We are given here a case study the depravity of man and his utter inability and unwillingness to save himself and at the same time we are shown the sovereignty of God and the grace of God intermingled in the salvation of sinners. Though it is true that very few throughout history have had such a dramatic experience in their salvation. Many would like to have something like this. They would love to have a great light shine from heaven and say, I am Jesus. But it has never happened again that we know of. And so, I want you to understand though that the grace needed to subdue your rebel heart and to bring you to salvation was no less remarkable and no more exceedingly abundant than was the grace of God demonstrated in the salvation of this man named Saul. Your conversion is as much a miracle of God's grace as what we read here in the book of Acts chapter 9. And if you see that any differently, you don't have a right understanding of what it took to save you. And in fact, when you read the title, The Salvation of the Chief of Sinners, you were thinking of someone beside yourself. We are all the chief of sinners. At least that's how we should see ourselves. Because without the grace of God, every one of us deserve hell. every one of us. And so when we consider, I think Paul, he says this of himself because he had a right understanding of who he was before God without Christ. He was the chief of sinners. You see, the only difference is is that we are not so ready to acknowledge the exceeding sinfulness of our sins the same way that Saul or Paul was. But keep in mind Paul's personal testimony in Philippians chapter three in verse four. He says, though I also might have confidence in the flesh, if anyone else thinks he may have confidence in the flesh, I more so. circumcised the eighth day of the stock of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew of Hebrews, concerning the law of Pharisee, concerning zeal, persecuting the church, concerning the righteousness which is in the law, blameless. But what things were gained to me, these I have counted loss for Christ. Yet indeed I also count all things loss, for the excellence of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord, for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and count them as rubbish, that I may gain Christ, and be found in him, not having my own righteousness which is from the law, but that which is through faith in Christ. the righteousness which is from God by faith, that I may know him, that I may know him, and the power of his resurrection, and the fellowship of his sufferings, being conformed to his death, if by any means I may obtain to the resurrection from the dead. Who was this man Saul? Well, first I want to show you in verses one and two, that this man Saul was a religious man who was raging against Jesus Christ. We read this in verses 1 and 2, and then Saul, still breathing threats and murder against the disciples of the Lord, went to the high priest and asked letters from him to the synagogues of Damascus, so that if he found any who were of the way, whether men or women, he might bring them bound to Jerusalem. What we see here are the words, first of all, in verse 1, the words of an evil man. The Bible tells us that he was still breathing threats and murder against the disciples of the Lord. Don't pass over that little phrase, still breathing. don't want us to miss the importance of this phrase. This gives us the picture that this is not the first time that Saul was threatening the life of the disciples of Jesus Christ. We remember the death of Stephen, we just came off that just a few weeks ago, preaching about the death and the martyrdom of Stephen. And this also shows us that the fire of Saul's rage against the disciples was not dampened in any way. He was still breathing out threats and murders against the disciples of the Lord Jesus Christ. The blood of the martyr Stephen only wet his appetite to do more harm and to wreak more havoc among the church of the Lord Jesus Christ. You see, he is still breathing these threats and murders. You know, I feel it difficult for us to get a sense of this because so much of what we have and what we have learned throughout our Christian life is of the beloved brother Paul. And when we read the Bible, we read the words of Paul, we read the testimonies of Paul, we think about his chapter in 1 Corinthians 13 on love, we think about all of the beautiful things that Paul says to us, and I think sometimes, at least I do, I sometimes minimize in my thinking exactly who this man was before Christ. You see, we love his teaching, We're challenged by this beloved apostle's example to us, as he even tells us, be imitators of me as I am of Christ. But just for a moment, I want you to see the anger and rage and the hatred that this man had towards the church before he ever loved the church. If I told you this morning of some radical Muslim cleric in northern Nigeria who led a group in March to abduct 100 Christians in Adunu, some they imprisoned and some they murdered, and now this cleric is on social media threatening to murder more Christians, breathing out threats and murders, what would you think? of this man and of this picture that I have just painted for you, part of which is true, part of it is not. Do you get the picture of what this man was like? In much the same way, this was Saul's attitude. He was a zealously religious man, passionately going after the Christians and the disciples of the Lord Jesus Christ, threatening them with threats and murder. This word threat here means just to declare harm to another person, to threaten them strongly and formally. And the murders that he breathed out. He was already an accomplice to murder. He was there holding the coats, or the coats were set at the feet of this young man named Saul. And he was, even as Paul Carrington preached to us last week, guilty of murder, even though perhaps his hands did not partake in the physical act itself because of his anger and rage towards the Christians. In Matthew 15, Jesus said, are you also still without understanding? Do you not yet understand that whatever enters the mouth goes into the stomach and is eliminated, but those things which proceed out of the mouth come from the heart? They defile a man. For out of the heart proceeds evil thoughts and murders, adulteries, fornications, thefts, false witness, blasphemies. These are the things which defile a man. When we read about Saul the man, we are reading about a blasphemer according to his own testimony. We're reading about a murderer according to his own testimony. We're reading about an insolent man according to his own testimony. But now, not only did he have words of an angry man, but he had the schemes of a religious evil man. In the latter part of verse 1 and then into verse 2, the Bible says, he went to the high priest and asked letters from him to the synagogues of Damascus. Now, I want you to understand and think about how bad this man Saul was. He was not content with the death of Stephen. He was not content with all of the disciples fleeing because of the persecution out of the city limits of Jerusalem. He wasn't satisfied with that. This man, he was scheming at how to go after them in the places in which they fled. These disciples of our Lord had fled from Jerusalem because of the persecution and now Saul was so consumed with stamping out this new sect that he dedicated his time and his energies to destroying them even in foreign cities. Damascus was not a short walk. Saul was a bad man. He was much like us. before Christ. The purpose of this religious evil man is shown to us in the latter part of verse 2. Notice the purpose statement that we're giving here, this little phrase, so that. So that, it tells us the purpose. So that if he found any who were of the way, whether men or women, he might bring them bound to Jerusalem. This of the way, this is the description of those who were followers of Christ. We read in John 14, 6, Jesus himself testifying, I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me. This term is also used later in the book of Acts regarding Paul himself in Acts 19.23. He says, and about that time there arose a great commotion about the way. This was this descriptor of speaking about the disciples of Jesus Christ. Those who had seen Jesus Christ as being the way and they were in the way because they were following Jesus Christ. So his purpose here was that of a singular purpose. He was after those who followed Jesus Christ and it seems that he would stop at nothing until he had his way over those who were in the way. In fact, I've mentioned this before and I'll mention it again, both men and women, neither were safe and neither were removed from the crosshairs of this man, this religious man, Saul. The point needed for us to understand is that Saul had no compassion for the weaker sex. He had no compassion to the cries or the tears or the pleadings of a wife or of a mother who was in the way of Jesus Christ. He was an equal opportunity destroyer, if you will. He was after both men and women. It didn't matter to him if you were a man or a woman. His purpose was to destroy this way. And the pleads of women did nothing to move his heart. Boy, what a picture. Have you ever imagined Paul being like this? His desire was to bring them bound. Though He wanted to bring them bound, His purpose was not to leave them bound. His testimony, again in Acts 26, He says this of Himself, This I also did in Jerusalem, and in many of the saints I shut up in prison, having received authority from the chief priest. And when they were put to death, I cast my vote against them. And I punished them often in every synagogue, compelling them to blaspheme. And being exceedingly enraged against them, I persecuted them even to foreign cities. This was Saul. He was a man enraged against the way and the people of the way. In fact, he didn't want only to have them bound. He wanted them to be put to death. And if not put to death, he wanted them to blaspheme by denying the name of Jesus Christ. This was the man Saul. An evil man who thought he did the will of God. Boy, can man be confused. about the will of God. In John 16-2, Jesus tells his early disciples, they will put you out of the synagogues. Yes, the time is coming that whoever kills you will think that he offers God service. How great is that darkness of the depravity of man without the light of the gospel. to think that they worship God by killing others who will not follow their way. I want you to consider something this morning, you, specifically you who sit here week after week in the presence of the worship of God. You who have involved yourselves with the people of God and even into the midst of the service of God, but who do not truly know God. Consider Saul, the man who was zealous and passionate about religious activity, a man who believed that he was right with God because of what he did, because of his moral value and his adherence to the law of God, a man who trusted in his own righteousness, a man who dedicated his life to following the law of God and yet did not know God because he did not know Christ. He believed that he did God's service and yet persecuted God's people. He thought that he was fighting for God, but in fact found that he was fighting against God. I want you to know that you can be as sincere in your beliefs as anyone else and be sincerely wrong in your belief. Sincerity is not equal to truth. Sincerity is a condition of your mind, but it is not the conversion of your soul. I want to plead with you this morning. If this describes you, I'm pleading with you. Do not just continue to sit here week after week thinking that you're sitting here under the preaching of the Word of God, involved in the religious activity of God, and somehow this makes you right with God. It does not. If you do not humble yourself and you do not repent of your sins and trust in the saving work of Jesus Christ, you will be undone in the day of judgment. Do not trust in your religious activity to make you right with God. There is only one way to be right with God, and that is through faith in our Lord Jesus Christ. And if you deny the Son, you do not have the Father. You must have the Son. Now you may be thinking to yourself, I'm not raging against God. I'm not persecuting the church. I'm not killing people. I'm not threatening murders and all of these things. But I don't want you to fool yourself. If you have not submitted to the Lord Jesus Christ, the Bible says you're actually an enemy of God. Those are strong words. If you're sitting here this morning and you're not trusting in Christ alone, have you ever considered to think that you're an enemy of God? Ephesians 2, 3 says, Among whom also we all once conducted ourselves in the lust of our flesh, fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, just as others. James 4.4 says, Adulterers and adulteresses, do you know that friendship with the world is enmity with God? Whoever therefore wants to be a friend of the world makes himself an enemy of God. 1 John says, and this is the testimony, That God has given us eternal life and this life is in His Son. He who has the Son has life. He who does not have the Son of God does not have life. These things I have written to you who believe in the name of the Son of God that you may know that you have eternal life. and that you may continue to believe in the name of the Son of God." Think about this just for a moment. The big issue here with Saul was regarding the name of Jesus Christ. That's what they were all railing against. Throughout the book of Acts, the high priest there and all of these council members, it was by what name or by what authority do you do these things? Do not preach in his name, he said. But if you do not accept the name and believe in the name, there is no salvation except through his name. That is a side note just as a warning to anyone who may be sitting here this morning trusting in anything other than the name of Jesus Christ and what he has done. You know, you may wrap your life in as much religious activity as you like, but religious activity will no more save you than it would this man Saul. There was no one more religious than him. He was zealous to the nth degree. His credentials of his religious activity and his pedigree were bar none. No one had anything on him. And yet he was hopeless without Christ. It was not until he was humbled by the realization that trusting in his own righteousness was utter foolishness. All of his striving after the law to make himself right with God was vain. All his zeal for religion was only a man hoping in the futility of self-righteousness. but once cast upon that rock and living in the righteousness of another, then his zeal that he had in striving to commit his own self-righteousness was turned to the purpose of knowing the will of the Lord Jesus Christ as what we see in the rest of the book of Acts. This passage is a hinge point in this man's life and it is a miraculous event and it will be a miraculous event in your life too when you humble yourself and fall to the ground before Jesus Christ. and pronounce him as your Lord and Savior. It will be a turning point like you've never even dreamed of. And that's what we see here. We see in verses 3 through 6 a proud man humbled before Jesus Christ. It says in verse 3, and as he journeyed, he came near Damascus, and suddenly a light shone around him from heaven. And then he fell to the ground and heard a voice saying to him, Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting me? And he said, who are you, Lord? And then the Lord said, I am Jesus, whom you are persecuting. It is hard for you to kick against the goads. So he, trembling and astonished, said, Lord, what do you want me to do? This is without question the most clear sovereignty of God and salvation narrative in the Bible. Unmistakable, undeniable, Saul was not seeking after God. Saul was not praying, Saul was not hearing preaching, Saul was not humble, Saul was on his way to destroy Christians and then Jesus Christ met him on the way. He was meditating on murder and God saved him. Jesus Christ himself, a heavenly light. Think of that. The only seeking Saul did was to seek to persecute Jesus and his church. And what he found out was that not that he was seeking God, but God was seeking him. And I want you to know, every one of you who are saved, that is the way it is in your life. You may see it differently. You may think, well, I was going to church and I was reading my Bible. But let me tell you something, you would have done none of those things if God was not seeking you. And He found you. And He will receive all of the glory. The light of the world shone on this man. And it shone in his heart. In Acts 26, 13, Paul says it this way. At midday, O king, along the road, I saw a light from heaven, brighter than the sun shining around me. Those who were sitting in darkness have seen a great light. And Saul was a man of darkness until Jesus Christ met him on the road to Damascus and he turned from darkness to light. The light of the glory of Jesus Christ and His grace fell upon him and he was set on the right way. I'm telling you what, it was a turn so quick that it would make your head spin. He was going one way to destroy the people of God and then instantly he was the people of God. What a glorious picture this is, and it is the same with you. You may think, boy, it's taken me years and years and years, but I want you to know something. In the reality of it, you have gone from being a hater of God to instantly being a lover of God. You may not think that you were as bad as Saul, but let me tell you something. The Bible tells us in the book of James that if you've broken one commandment of God, you've broken them all. You are a lawbreaker. And I am a lawbreaker. And Jesus Christ came to save sinners of whom I am chief. Paul says this, he understood this. He was a proud man until Jesus Christ met him on the way. And then he was a humble man. I want you to notice something here in verse 4a. Back to the dirt from which he came. God created man from the dirt. And before he remakes man, he throws him in the dirt again. And that's just metaphoric for saying God humbled this man to the very dirt from which he came. He was right down into the ground. It's believed that Saul and these men were riding horses because of the great distance that they were going. I don't know if that's the case or not, but either way, Paul did not find himself on a horse. He did not find himself on the feet. He found himself on the ground. And I want you to realize that when you come before the glory of Jesus Christ, that's where you will be. You will be on your face before a glorious, holy, righteous, omnipotent God. He fell to the ground. This proud man, he needed to be humbled. And do not think for one second that God cannot humble who he wills. There is no one that can resist God's will. Saul was on his way, no doubt, meditating on how he would find and arrest the followers of Jesus Christ. And now the hunter has become the prey. Jesus humbled him to the ground. In Acts 26, 14, Paul says, and when we all had fallen to the ground, reminiscent of what we read in John 18, now when he said to them, I am he, they drew back and fell to the ground. When Jesus tells you who he is, the whole crowd went to the ground. It wasn't just Saul that went to the ground. All of them went to the ground. before the glory of this man, Jesus Christ. All men will bow the knee when he wills them to bow the knee. Hopefully this brings into some clarity for us in Philippians 9 through 11. Therefore God also has highly exalted him and given him a name which is above every name that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow of those in heaven and those on earth and those under the earth and that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of God the Father. God has no problem making every knee bow. You may ask then, why does he not do that now? And all I can say is, this is hidden in the providence of God. It's hidden in his sovereign will. He doesn't have to tell us why and when and how. His purposes and His ways are past finding out. God does whatever He wants, whatever He wants. Psalm 115 verse 3 says, But our God is in heaven, He does whatever He pleases. Why does He not bow every knee now and have every tongue confess? Because He is not pleased to do so yet. Psalm 135, 6, whatever the Lord pleases, he does in heaven and in earth, in the sea and all deep places. So the humbling of all people before him is only on hold until he pleases. He is God and he will do it according to his will. It is a point of note that God's design for Saul was one of great importance. He would be an apostle and a teacher of the church. He must be humbled before he could be exalted. You know, Matthew Henry has a helpful statement here. He says, as a step towards this intended advancement, he is designed not only to be a Christian, but to be a minister, an apostle, a great apostle, and therefore he must be cast down. Note, those whom Christ designs for the greatest honors are commonly first laid low. Those who are designed to excel in knowledge and grace are commonly laid low first in a sense of their own ignorance and sinfulness. Those whom God will employ are first struck with a sense of their unworthiness to be employed. What is the sense of yourself? What do you think of yourself? The Apostle, before he was the Apostle, thought very highly of himself. The Lord confronted Saul about some things that he was doing. The light of his glory shone around him. He's on the ground. Get the picture. Do you see it? A religious man on the ground before a great shining light brighter than the noonday sun. And in that position of humiliation, Jesus confronts him. And Saul heard a voice saying to him, Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting me? Can you imagine this scene? A proud man heading on his way to do his will, and now he is on the ground confronted by the one in whom he was persecuting. I've been thinking about this for some time. You know, there are different places in the Bible in which God confronts evil men by different means. Sometimes he uses an angel. to confront and to rebuke. Sometimes he uses the means of nature, maybe through a storm or a fire or some other way, an earthquake or some natural phenomenon. Sometimes by his prophets he rebukes the wicked and sometimes by an invading army, sometimes by a donkey he rebukes the prophet, the false prophet, sometimes He uses different means. But Saul was of such a sort and his heart was so hard like granite that the Lord Jesus himself confronts Saul. For Saul it took a divine revelation of Jesus Christ to humble him to the ground. To think that this man was so set in his ways to do evil that no humble means would turn him from the air of his way. He heard that fabulous sermon of Stephen. One of the greatest sermons in the scriptures. And his heart was set to kill him. You know, with some men, the sermon just makes them sour and it makes them madder. But when Jesus Christ reveals himself to you, you will be humbled. To think that this man, again, was so evil and hard that only the divine hammer of God's glory would break his heart of stone. And God was not slack, he would break it. Calvin says, for what other thing can befall man but that he must lie prostrate and be as it were brought to nothing? When he is overwhelmed with the present feeling of God's glory, and this was the first beginning of the bringing down of Paul, that he might become apt to hear the voice of Christ, which he had so despised so long as he sat haughtily upon his horse. Jesus calls him by name. He confronts him, he calls him by name as to arouse him as if he was asleep and dull in hearing, Saul, Saul. I don't know how he used it and how his voice was, but I can imagine it may have been a still small voice, Saul, Saul. and awakening to the fact that he, like his namesake, was now persecuting the son of David, like his namesake persecuted David, to awaken him. However, I also believe that this is a sign even of tenderness. Calling the name twice, Saul, Saul. If you ever had a rebellious child and your heart goes out to them because you love them, they're your child. You want to stop them from their rebellion. You want to stop them from what they're doing. They're headed in a way that they should not go. And in one sense, you're calling their name is a rebuke. And yet at the same time, calling of their name is something that is a form of tenderness to stop them from where they are. Saul, Saul. A call of disappointment of his actions, but a call of encouragement to God's purposes. He asked this question, why? You know, there are some comforts for the saints found in this question from the Lord. Let's read it again. Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting me? Well, we know and we've read that he was on his way to persecute those who were of the way. He was wanting to throw men and women in prison. He was wanting them to blaspheme. He was wanting them to be put to death. He was willing to cast his lot against them. But yet Jesus Christ, when confronting Saul, said, why are you persecuting me? Just a couple of little things as by way of encouragement here. The Lord knows when his saints are persecuted. There's no persecuted saint anywhere that Jesus Christ does not know. He is king of kings and he is omniscient. He's omnipotent. He is omnipresent. He's with them. He knows them. Why are you persecuting Saul? Also, the Lord feels the sufferings of his saints. Why are you persecuting me? For we do not have a high priest who does not sympathize with our weaknesses. And also the Lord owns the sufferings of his saints. Why are you persecuting me? What an amazing statement. When the church of the Lord Jesus Christ is persecuted, Jesus Christ deems it as he himself is being persecuted. And this is understandable because the fact is we are his body. We are his bride. Can you imagine the anger of the Christ when someone touches his bride? What would you do if someone came after your bride? Well, a million times more righteous and more holy and more powerful, Jesus would come after those who harm his bride. He loves his bride. He knows his bride. He feels the sufferings of his bride. And we see now in this humbling of Saul when he acknowledges his ignorance of the situation. When Jesus Christ confronts him, Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting me? And he said, who are you, Lord? Who are you, Lord? One of the hardest things for a proud man to ever admit is that he doesn't know something. Oftentimes, men of pride will lie when they don't know something, just look as if they know something. They will avoid the question or they will make up some high-sounding statement. But here we have Saul, this proud man, being humbled to the very ground, and he says, who are you? This man who had dedicated his life from a very young age to the Scriptures, he knew the Word of God. And yet he says to this glorious, bright, shining light, who are you? He was admitting that he didn't know something. Saul was the type of man who always knew the answer. He was the best in his class. He prided himself in it. But not now. The Lord had brought him to the ground and Saul asked this humble question, Who are you, Lord? Now the word Lord here does not necessarily acknowledge Jesus as being Lord of Lords and being God, but it is a term used for master. It is a term that is a sign of respect. It's the word that is used in the Bible regarding Sarah calling Abraham Lord. It's this respectful terminology. He's humbled, he's speaking, and he's saying, who are you, Lord? Obviously, I am not in control of this situation. I don't know that we can consider this the moment of conversion, but it is definitely the beginnings of it. Humility. Humility is always in the beginnings of conversion. It is never lacking from conversion. Saul here acknowledges that whoever this is, he does not know him. But the question begs the answer. Saul wanted to know who this was because this was a power that he was not equipped to handle. He had never experienced something like this before. Who are you, Lord? Jesus leaves him not in ignorance, though, but terrifies him with the answer. Where was Saul headed? He was heading to do harm to those who were of the way. He was headed to do harm of those who called upon the name of Jesus. And what does Jesus tell him in verse 5? These terrifying words, not to us, but to him. I am Jesus. Can you imagine? Can you imagine what was going through his mind at this moment? The very one upon whom Paul's rage was aimed. at least all those who followed him. I am Jesus. What must have gone through his mind at the hearing of this? That name, that name that was professed by the apostles in the healing of the lame man in Acts chapter 3. That name that had turned many away from his beloved religion in Acts chapter 4. That name that was professed to provide the only way of salvation in Acts 4.12, that name that gave the apostles such boldness before the council in Acts 4.13, that name that had commanded not to be used in Acts 4.18, that name that was bringing healing to so many sick and lame and demon-possessed in Acts 5.16, that name that was being continually preached in Jerusalem in Acts 5.28, that name which Stephen called upon and his death at the hands of Saul in Acts 7.59. And that name by which Saul was casting both men and women into prison, Acts 8.3. That name that now spoke to him, I am Jesus, whom you are persecuting. That name. That name which was above every name. That name by which he now was humbled to the ground. Saul is now pressed even lower in his humility. If Jesus would have said, I am Yahweh, but he didn't. He said, I am Jesus. I am Jesus. And this statement, the statement, if you will, for the ages, Jesus gives to him. In the latter part of verse five, Saul says, who are you, Lord? And the Lord said, I am Jesus, whom you are persecuting. And then this statement for the ages, it is hard for you to kick against the goads. What in the world is he talking about? Now many of you may have an understanding of this. You may be well informed about the goad and when you're plowing your fields or not. The goad is the point, a pointed implement that a farmer uses as a plowman. He uses it to poke the animal when it is going in the wrong direction or moving too slowly. It's a sharp on the end. It's almost like this sharp steel rod that would poke them. If you've ever been around a horse or a cow, you will know that oftentimes when the animal is prodded with the goad, that the animal's natural reflex is to kick at the goad at that which poked it. You don't want to be too close when you poke it, lest you be kicked. But I want you to understand something, this natural reflex of trying to kick the goad is utter foolishness. If being poked by the goad hurt, what would kicking a goad feel like? One, it's nearly impossible to hit. It's a sharp metal object pointed straight at you. If you did hit it, the pain in which that animal would feel and would be inflicted upon it would make the goad doubly painful. But such an action of stubborn rebellion, they kick at the goads. And Jesus asked this question to him. This statement, it is hard to kick against the goad. This tool which was intended to put them in the right way is seen as an offense to Saul. Throughout history, the enemies of God and those who have not submitted to His will have kicked at the goads of God. Saul was like this, but the question for us today is, are you like this? Are you kicking at God's goad? Remember that scripture is for our instruction and our example and our admonition. Be admonished. Are you kicking against the goads? Well, the simple answer is stop it. Your child ever do something really dumb? What do you say? Stop it. You don't give them the whole big reason. Stop it. Stop kicking against the goad. The goad is that which God is using to bring you into a line, to bring you to salvation, to bring you into obedience. But the question is there for us, are you kicking the goad? Submit yourself to the instruction of the Lord. Submit yourself to His teaching. He's teaching you this morning. Perhaps you're kicking it even now. Is the Holy Spirit speaking to you through His Word? And you reject it? You minimize it? You think this is for so-and-so, I wish they were here? No, it's for you. You're here. Stop kicking against the goad. Why keep doing the same dumb thing over and over? That's the definition of insanity. Doing the same thing over and over again, expecting a different result. Stop. Why kick against your parents who are trying to help you? Why kick against your wife who's trying to help you? Why kick against your husband who's trying to lead you? But more importantly, why kick against God who's trying to save you? Why reject the counsel of His will? Saul's submission to his Lord though is seen in verse 6 and it's glorious. So he trembling and astonished. You know Proverbs 1.7 says the fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge. But fools despise wisdom and instruction. I believe it is at this point that Saul was truly beginning to understand just what he had done. trembling and astonished. He was beginning to realize that the very one that he was persecuting was the Lord Jesus Christ himself. And it was the same Lord Jesus who stood before him now in that great shining light. He now understood the great evils of his persecutions because they were against Jesus, the one standing before him, who is the Savior and who is the Lord. What would the Lord do to him now? He knew that he deserved judgment and death and he trembled. And at the same time, he was astonished. How can this be? I've dedicated everything against this way. And he stood astonished. How can it be that I, Saul, a man so devout and zealous for God, could be fighting against God? How can the one I thought to be an imposter is actually the genuine Lord? How many things must have been going through his mind at this moment? More than I could imagine and more than I could tell. But suffice it to say that this proud man who once, without fear of persecuting the church, was now on the ground before Jesus, the Lord of the church, trembling and astonished at what he was experiencing. I believe that right here in the middle of this statement, in Saul's question, we have conversion. Saul's question, Lord, What do you want me to do? What a wonderful question. Have you ever asked that question? I hope that you have. If you haven't, you should. If he's your Lord, that question should be on your lips regularly. Lord, what would you have me to do? Isn't it interesting? Do you see this rapid turn from a hater to a lover, from a persecutor to being the persecuted very shortly, to being the man against the church, to becoming part of the church, to abusing the bride, to being the bride? Lord, what would you have me to do? This question is an acknowledgment of all that he had done that was wrong and ignorant and also an acknowledgment of his willingness to be taught and to do whatever Jesus tells him to do. Saul was ready and willing to change his master. He was ready to do the high priest bidding And now in a moment he is ready to do the great high priest's bidding. May I say to you now, though you may be on the way of doing some great evil. Though you may have a heart that is ready to serve the God of this age, the devil. Though you may have sin in your heart bubbling over, there sits one at the right hand of God, ready to turn you from the error of your way. Change your master! Be done with the master of the world and of this age. Bid that old devil, the slew foot, that destroyer, that accuser of the brethren, bid him farewell and fall on your face before the Lord Jesus Christ, the Lord of glory. And do it now and say, Lord, what do you want me to do? Be done with the old master and be for the new master, Jesus Christ. Lord, what do you want me to do? Do not delay. Why delay? His yoke is easy and his burden is light. He will tell you what you must do. One commentator said, but when as the Lord doth mortify our flesh, he subdues us and brings us under as he did Paul. Neither is our will one hair readier to obey than was Paul's until such a time as the pride of our heart be beaten down and he have made us not only flexible but also willing to obey and follow. Therefore, such is the beginning of our conversion, that the Lord seeks us of his own accord. And when we wander and go astray, though he be not called and sought after, that he change the stubborn affections of our hearts. To the end, he may have us to be apt to be told. In other words, he makes us willing. He made you willing. He will make you willing. And when you are willing, the words of your mouth would be, Lord, what would you have me to do? Now, on this last point, verses six through nine, I won't take much time just because of the time. And we'll pick up with it next week. But think of this. We went from this religious angry man to a proud man who was humbled. And now we have a humble man who's waiting on Lord Jesus. Lord, what do you want me to do? And Jesus said to him, arise and go into the city and you'll be told what you must do. How many of us would have said, Lord, could I have a little bit more? Like, what's the next step? What about after that? But not Saul. It says, and the men who journeyed with him stood speechless, hearing a voice, but seeing no one. And then Saul arose from the ground, and when his eyes were opened, he saw no one, but they led him by the hand and brought him into Damascus, and he was there three days without sight, and neither ate nor drank. The Lord did not leave him, and nor will he leave you without instruction. When you pray, Lord, what would you have me to do? And you actually mean, Lord, what would you have me to do? He will not leave you without instruction. Though he did not tell him all, he did tell him something. He told him what he needed to know at the moment. We don't need to know all that the Lord has for us. You only need to know what he has for you right now. That next step that he has for you. We're walking with the Lord. We're in the way. We're not in front of him. You see, he will show us a step at a time. And his next instruction will be forthcoming after, after the first obedience is fulfilled. Some of you are sitting here wondering this morning, what should I do next? Perhaps you should ask the question, what did he tell me to do last? and do it. We want to know what's next. And God says, think about what you haven't done. Are you obeying the very clear things that God has told you to do now? Obey the Word of God, obey the will of God as revealed in His Word. Perhaps you don't know, but guess what? Obey the Lord in what you do know. Don't expect more light if you've not obeyed the light that you've been given. You know, one little funny thing here, at least in my mind, and again, you've heard me say things like this before. I see things that are funny in the scriptures. Imagine that. I laugh. We have seeing men who could not see and a blind man who could. It amuses me at times. The very man who cannot now see was the only man who could see, and the men who can see are those who cannot see. In John 9, then he said, Lord, I believe, and he worshiped him. And Jesus said, for judgment I have come into this world that those who do not see may see, and that those who see may be made blind. And then some of the Pharisees who were with him heard these words and said to him, are we blind also? And Jesus said to them, if you were blind, you would not have sin. But now you say we see, therefore your sin remains. I cannot fully understand, and I often wonder about this passage here, Saul was not alone on the road. He was not alone in being humbled to the ground, but he was alone in being called by the Lord. God had more than enough ability to bring all of them into light. He had all the power at his disposal for all of them to hear. They heard something, but they couldn't make it out. And yet we're not told anything else about these men other than they led him to Damascus. This is one of the mysteries of providence, why God saves some and passes by others. And here's my answer. I don't know. Except this, it is hidden in the will of God because God does all that he wills. His will is never thwarted. His will is always perfect and it is always timely. His providence over the hearts and eyes and ears of men is all that it needs to be to bring them to conversion. I can't help but consider how good it was for his soul to be in such a helpless state. We don't like those states. We prefer the young, strong, healthy state. But you know what? Consider with me just for a moment and then we'll close. God had him in a blind, hungry, helpless state. Have you ever done anything for three days straight? If I'm doing something for three days, that's okay. Have you ever sat quietly without the ability to see and not eating or drinking for three days. My friends, that would seem as an eternity. You know, one of the things that they do to people in prison, especially when it's torturous prisons, they put them in solitary confinement in a dark place because after a very short period of time, you lose track of time and you don't know if it's been a day or a month. And it's torturous to the mind. But here God had Saul for three days in a blind, helpless state, but I want you to realize and recognize what good that was for his soul. What good it was to spend three days and three nights without sight. All screen time was gone, left only to his thoughts and prayers. we should consider more of how we might assault the throne of grace and less on how we might assault our own soul through all that enters through our eye gates. It's just a thought. By way of application, six things very quickly. I'll just read them and you can write them if you like. What kind of person Do you see yourself as apart from Christ? If you are apart from Christ, how do you consider yourself? Are you like Saul who thinks, I'm good, I'm going forward, I'm establishing myself? If you are a Christian, consider it as before you came to Christ, how did you consider yourself now that you are in Christ, what were you? Think about what Paul says of himself. I was the chief of sinners. Number two, do you believe that it took more grace to save Saul than it did to save you? Saul's experience, this is number three, Saul's experience was a pattern for us to see God's sovereignty over our salvation. I want you to consider it in that way because Paul himself says his conversion was a pattern for us to demonstrate the long-sufferingness of Christ. Number four, are you changed since trusting in Christ as your Lord? There's no doubt, no question, Saul was changed. That's a changed man. If you're not changed, I would have to say you've not trusted in Christ. Number five, are you willing to say, Lord, what would you have me to do? then do it. And lastly, what do you think the spiritual benefits would be if you spent a lengthy amount of time meditating and praying on the things of God? What benefit would that be for your soul? Let's pray. Our Heavenly Father, we We rejoice in Jesus Christ, our Lord and Savior. We glory in you who died for us, who redeemed us by the power of your grace. Father, I pray that these things, these truths, these glorious truths, Lord, would so impact our thinking and our believing, that it would change us. We've often said, Lord, that we would leave this place changed. And Lord, my desire is that I myself would leave changed, that I would not only say, Lord, what would you have me to do, but I would be willing to do it. God help us. Help us to see your glory. Help us to see the joy in obeying your will. We love you and we praise your holy name. Amen.