 Here we are, Acts chapter 9. We're going to be looking at the reluctant convert. We're going to look at Saul, Saul of Tarsus, and the conversion, the miraculous event of his conversion that is recorded for us here in the book of Acts in chapter 9. So let's begin reading Acts chapter 9 at verse 1. I'll read verses 1 through 9 and we'll get into our study. Acts chapter 9, beginning at verse 1, reading to verse 9, and we're looking at Saul, the reluctant convert. 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. 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? The Lord said, I'm Jesus whom you are persecuting. It is hard for you to kick against the goats. So he trembling and astonished said, Lord, what do you want me to do? 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 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. He was three days without sight and neither ate nor drank. The amazing conversion of Saul. As I was preparing this Bible study, I began to think of how many people in scripture who are only seen one time. And it really is an amazing thing when you think about it. There are people who encounter Jesus Christ. They are touched by him, but either they are unnamed or they're never mentioned again in scripture. As I was going through Matthew, I began to look at various people that you see one time and then not mentioned again. I, I saw the wise men that are recorded in Matthew chapter two very important figures in, in the history of the church, but you only see them in Matthew two or the leper that was cleansed in Matthew chapter eight, the centurion and his servant that are mentioned in Matthew eight. We see Peter's mother-in-law healed by the Lord Jesus Christ in Matthew chapter eight. We see the men of the gatherings in Matthew eight. We see them. We see the tremendous miracle is taking place where they were demonized and Jesus releases them from the power of the demons and all, but you never see them again. There's a paralytic that is brought by friends to Jesus Christ. It's recorded in Matthew chapter nine. One of the most amazing stories in scripture that these, these men brought a friend who was crippled. He was paralyzed and because they couldn't get into the house that Jesus was in, they went to the side, walked up the steps, went to the roof, opened up the roof, dropped this man down, not, not physically, but they lowered him down. And we see this amazing story. Jesus forgives them of his sins and there's a debate related to the forgiveness and sin of sins, but you never see this man again. He's never mentioned in scripture. Again, we see Jairus and his daughter in Matthew nine. We see two blind men that Jesus healed again in Matthew nine. We see Jesus healing a man with a withered hand in Matthew 12, a man who's demon possessed, blind and mute in Matthew 12. We see a boy who donated his lunch in Matthew chapter 14, enough to feed a multitude of people, but you only see him in that particular event and you don't see him again. You see a Syrophoenician woman and her daughter, a daughter severely demonized in Matthew 15 or a father who brought his demon possessed son to Jesus in Matthew 17. Little is said concerning the mother of James and John. We hear nothing more of a woman caught in the act of adultery recorded in John eight. Nothing of the woman at the well or the woman who washed Jesus's feet with her tears. You can't help but wonder what happened to these people. What happened to them? I was thinking about that. How many people in scripture you're introduced to, you see an amazing event that took place and then they disappear. You never hear of them again. So many came into contact with the Lord. They have their stories that are recorded in scripture and then they disappear. In our last study, we saw an Ethiopian official who was saved. Tremendous conversation between him and Philip. What hinders me from being baptized? You can be baptized if you believe with all your heart. I believe that Jesus Christ is the savior and he receives baptism and then you never see him again. So many come into contact with the Lord. So many get saved and yet so many faded into history throughout history. There have been so many stories of amazing conversions and some of them have been recorded for us. There was a man by the name of Mal Trotter and the story of Mal Trotter goes like this. He was an alcoholic who when his little girl died stole the shoes she was buried in and sold them so he could get drunk. One night he staggered into the Pacific Garden missions in Chicago and was saved. He had a burden for those on skid row. So he began a rescue mission in Grand Rapids, Michigan and went on to found more than 60 missions stretching from Boston to San Francisco. John Newton worked on slave ships. He captured slaves to sell to the plantations of the south. Eventually he became the captain of his own ship and after enduring a horrible storm was reading a Christian devotion that led to his conversion. Ultimately he became a leader in evangelical Christianity along with John and Charles Wesley, George Whitfield and William Wilberforce. It was Newton who wrote amazing grace how sweet the sound that saved a wretch like me. On his headstone he wrote his own epitaph. John Newton, clerk, once an infidel and libertine, a servant of slavers in Africa was by the rich mercy of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ preserved, restored, pardoned and appointed to preach the faith he long labored to destroy. Church histories filled with stories of sinners delivered and transformed by Jesus but none compare to the conversion of Saul, a man who hated the religion of Jesus Christ. Who was this man named Saul? Let me give you some background as we're about to look at him in his conversion. When you put together Saul's testimony in Scripture you discover that Saul was a Jewish man and he was born in a place called Tarsus in a region called Cilicia which is southern Turkey. Tarsus was known for its university and it was equal to the universities of Athens as well as Alexandria. As a Pharisee he studied in Jerusalem under the great Rabbi Gamaliel. It would seem that after he concluded his studies he went on back to Tarsus and began to live. You see during that day, during Jesus' day, if there was anyone who could trust in their own religion, their own religious background, their own religious zeal, it would have been Saul. When he writes concerning his testimony, you can read it in several places. We're gonna see it more than once here in the book of Acts. But when he writes concerning his testimony to the Philippians, he gave a small biographical sketch in Philippians 3 verses 4 through 6. He said this, he said, if anyone else thinks he may have confidence in the flesh, I more so, circumcise 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. So he described himself in a very detailed way. He speaks of being circumcised. With that speaking of his from birth, he was a child of the covenant. He says I'm of the stock of Israel, meaning he was not a Gentile convert. He was of the tribe of Benjamin, which is a tribe that remained faithful when all the tribes split. And the first king of Israel came out of Benjamin. He says I'm a Hebrew of the Hebrews, meaning that he spoke Hebrew and can and retain Jewish customs. He said, I'm a Pharisee. I belong to the strictest religious sect concerning zeal from my religion. He said, I'm a persecutor of the church and concerning righteousness found in the law. I have fanatically kept it. And so he spoke concerning his background in that way. And all of that would seem to be a great advantage to anyone who is religiously inclined. And yet he spoke and continued to say in Philippians three by, in verses seven through nine, he continued by saying, but what things were gained to me, these I've counted loss for Christ. Yet indeed, I also count all things lost 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. This is a man who had tremendous advantages. He was a scholar of scholars and intellectual of intellectuals, highly trained, highly religious, highly devoted, but none of those things, none of those advantages brought him closer to God. Someone said, ultimately, they were excess baggage on a sinking ship. He counted them loss because the true treasure he says was in knowing Jesus Christ and the peace that comes through grace. What we're looking at is the conversion of Saul of Tarsus. Now he was introduced to us first in Acts chapter seven, verse 58. There you see him guarding the clothing of those who stoned Stephen to death. In Acts eight, verse one, it says that Saul was consenting to his death. He was pleased with and in agreement with the death of Stephen. And at that time, a great persecution arose against the church, which was at Jerusalem. They were all scattered throughout the regions of Judea and Samaria, except the apostles. So persecution had broken out against the Christians and Saul was inflamed by it and Saul joined in it. It says in verse one of chapter nine, Saul still breathing threats and murder against the disciples of the Lord went to the high priest. And so he lived, as it were, in an atmosphere of threats and slaughter. This was the very air that he breathed. And his hatred didn't cool after Stephen's death. He only desired more devastation. It may have grown even worse after the Samaritans had been preached to. You see, he was consumed with hatred for Christians and not simply for the leaders of the church. He said he hated him all. He was an equal opportunity hater. That was Saul. In Galatians one 13, he said, you have heard of my previous way of life in Judaism, how intensely I persecuted the church of God and tried to destroy it. And it wasn't just the leaders that Saul hated. It was every person who called on the name of the Lord Jesus Christ. And what he does is he obtains letters of authority from the chief priests to destroy those who are members of the way. Now that is what Christians were originally referred to as. We were those of the way. This is because Jesus said, I am the way, the truth, and the life. No man comes to the Father but by me. And so later on we will be referred to as Christians. And I'll share with you at that point when we get there that the word Christian speaks literally of a little Christ. That's what its translation is. Little Christ. And the word Christian was not initially given as a badge of honor in any way. It was actually used in order to denigrate Christians. It was a word that was used to put people down. It wasn't something that was used to give them any kind of admiration or any kind of glory at all. But they were originally, we were originally members of what was called the way. And he was breathing threatening, threatenings against the members of the way. It says in verse two, he asked letters from him to the synagogue Damascus so that if he found anywhere of the way whether men or women, he might bring them bound to Jerusalem. And so it's his desire to take men or women believers and bring them back to the city of Jerusalem. And there they were going to be tried and punished. Later on in chapter 22 of Acts verses four and five, he said, I persecuted the followers of this way to their death, arresting both men and women, throwing them into prison. As also the high priest bears me witness. And all the counsel of the elders from whom I also receive letters to the brethren and went to Damascus to bring in chains, even those who were there to Jerusalem to be punished. That was what I intended to do in chapter 26 of Acts verses nine through 11. He said, Indeed, I myself thought I must do many things contrary to the name of Jesus of Nazareth. This I also did in Jerusalem and many of the saints I shut up in prison having received authority from the chief priests. And when they were put to death, I cast my vote against them. I punished them often in every synagogue and compelled them to blaspheme and being exceedingly enraged against them. I persecuted them even to foreign cities. I hated them so much that I pursued them wherever they may have been. This was salt. He hated Christians. But somebody asked the question, why would a devoutly religious man be so intent on wiping out Christians? Why did he hate Christianity so much? It would seem in its most basic form that he considered the gospel teaching to be heresy and those who embraced this message to be heretics. It says in Deuteronomy 1820, the prophet who presumes to speak a word in my name, which I have not commanded him to speak, or who speaks in the name of other gods, that prophet shall die. And so it would seem he was applying his understanding to the Old Testament as it pertained to blasphemy. And he believed that those who embraced Christ as Lord and Messiah were people who are heretics and therefore deserve to be put to death. And so he not only pursued them within the framework of Israel, but when he heard that there were someplace else, even as far as Syria, Damascus Syria, he would go there in order to take them, put them in chains, bring them back, and try them as heretics. Damascus is where he's speaking about here in verse 2, when he says that he asked letters from him to the synagogues of Damascus. Damascus is a very ancient city in Syria. It has a very long history. It's mentioned numerous times in Scripture and during this day it had a very large Jewish population and it was increasing because of Christian refugees who were fleeing the persecution. And Saul knew there were Christians seeking safety there, so he went to get them. It would have taken him to go from Jerusalem to go north and cut off to the east and to move into Syria. It would have taken him, as he walked, probably seven to eight days as he would have made that journey. And so this is what he's doing. He's going up in order to arrest, put in chains, and bring back these Christians to try them. Now in verse 3 it says, as he journeyed, he came near Damascus, suddenly a light shone around him from heaven. Now when you look at this, you're seeing God intervening and where Saul was on his way to arrest Christians, you're actually seeing God arrest Saul. And he's intervening and interrupting Saul in his plans. Now when you look at the Ethiopian unit that we just looked at last time we were together, it was interesting to note that he had an obvious interest, a curiosity, a spiritual hunger and God placed a man named Philip together with him so that Philip could could feed that spiritual hunger with the answer as to who the person in Isaiah 53 was and presented Christ to him when we saw that last time we were together. But this man obviously had a spiritual hunger. There he is. He had gone to the city Jerusalem. He is returning, he's reading the Bible out loud. He obviously has a very spiritual mind and he had evidence that he was curious and even hungry. But Saul doesn't evidence this at all. As a matter of fact it's obvious that he is very content in his own religion. He was a man who was zealously pleasing God. At least he was seeking to please him but his pursuit was in the wrong direction. You know he speaks concerning his Jewish brethren when he writes to the Romans. He says I bear them witness that they have a zeal but not according to knowledge. They have an ignorance that drives them. He could say that because he had the same thing. They have a zeal. They want to do the things that they think are right but they haven't been instructed properly. And so he has this zeal also but what happens is it's for the wrong thing. So God chooses to reveal himself to him. And this is interesting how he does it because I want you to notice how it speaks concerning verse 3. A light that's shown around him from heaven. An incredibly bright light. A brilliant light. A light that is brighter than the sunlight occurs. When he's speaking to Agrippa in Acts 2613 he said to him at midday I saw a light from heaven brighter than the sun shining around me and those who journeyed with me. What he was seeing was Jesus in this glorious brilliant light. How do we know that? Because in chapter 9 verse 17 it reads Ananias went his way and ended the house. Laying his hands on him he said Brother Saul the Lord Jesus who appeared to you on the road as you came has sent me that you may receive your sight and be filled with the Holy Spirit. So this this shekinah glory this brilliance was actually Jesus revealing himself to him. In Psalm 104 verses 1 and 2 it says bless the Lord oh my soul. Oh Lord my God you are very great. You are clothed with honor and majesty who cover yourself with light as with the garment. And what happens when this light shines around him? Well it says in verse 4 he fell to the ground and he heard a voice saying Saul. Saul why are you persecuting me? Over the years there have been some outlandish things said in the name of Jesus and you can see these outlandish things sometimes even to this day. All you need to do is turn on some programs on TV that are purported to be Christian and you hear the most amazingly odd things and I remember hearing of a conversation between John MacArthur and a man who claims to have visitations from Jesus and this is a true story when I'm telling you true conversation and the man said John MacArthur a well-known bible teacher some of you are familiar with said John he goes I want to tell you something every morning when I'm shaving Jesus comes into my the area I'm shaving and stands next to me and we have a conversation do you believe that and John says it doesn't matter what I believe what scares me is I think you do believe that you know I have to be careful here because this is one of my pet peeves when I read the scriptures I see that when even angels appear before people even angelic visitations the people have a tendency of falling down before these glorious creatures and their creatures and when you read in the book of Hebrews chapter 1 verse 14 it says that angels are actually ministering spirits who are sent to minister to the heirs of salvation and in the words an angel is not greater than than than a believer in Christ they're actually sent by God to serve believers in Jesus Christ and yet you'll see when there's an angelic visitation often the the one who has that visitation in scripture is is afraid may even bow down they they don't know what to do and yet you hear so many people and I've heard many and perhaps some of you haven't heard this maybe they've stopped doing this I don't think so you'll hear these interesting stories that are just outlandish lies where people are saying that that they encounter God or an angel and have conversations they have you know buddy conversations with Jesus are you kidding me I went when Moses received the law on Mount Sinai and there was there was all of this noise and light and and there was a fear the people at below the mountain they said we don't want to go up there you go up there lest we die I mean that's what happens when you really do encounter holiness when you if God breaks in somehow in your life you're not casual you don't keep chewing your gum and smacking your lips or you're talking to him I promise you I promise you you're on your face instantly it's God himself think of that and next time you hear somebody give a casual story how Jesus and they have this cool you know coffee and conversation every morning that isn't what the scripture teaches when Jesus made his appearance to Saul I want you to see it with me verse 4 he fell to the ground he was on the ground and there's this voice that hears and it says to him Saul Saul why are you persecuting me you see God initiates this conversation with Saul again Saul wasn't seeking him but he was seeking Saul in John 6 44 Jesus said no one can come to me unless the father who sent me draws him Jeremiah 31 3 says the Lord has appeared of old to me saying yes I have loved you with an everlasting love therefore with loving kindness I have drawn you so he fell to the ground he hears a voice Saul so why are you persecuting me now that must have confused him for a moment because he didn't think he was persecuting he thought he was helping he actually thought that the zeal that he had for the Lord had consumed him but the fact is in his persecution of Christians he was in opposition to Jesus himself and I want you to notice something in persecuting those who love Jesus he was in fact attacking Jesus and so when the question is asked why are you persecuting me verse 5 he said who are you Lord the Lord said I'm Jesus whom you're persecuting it is hard for you to kick against the goats I'm Jesus whom you are persecuting it's hard for you to kick against the goats he recognizes even in his question notice he said who are you Lord in this question he recognizes he's speaking to one who is greater than himself and that must have overwhelmed him and Jesus he clearly states I am the one that you're persecuting you see he could be saying I'm the one that Stephen spoke about that resulted in his death I'm the one that you have been forcing people to blaspheme I'm the one that you have hated and that you have resisted and I am now the one that you on your face before who am I I'm the one you've been persecuting and when he did this remember something that Paul later on would write he said every knee shall bow and every tongue shall confess that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of God the Father he learned that himself when Jesus confronted him and there he is before the Lord bowing and it says in verse six he trembling in the stomach said Lord what do you want me to do the Lord said to him arise and go into the city you'll be told what you must do what do you want me to do so here you go very basic Jesus gave him a very simple command get up go to Damascus and wait let me give you a biblical principle that I've given numerous times I'll repeat it it's so basic but it's really necessary for us to get it if you can get this God can use you if you get it he can he can use you and it's a real simple principle great works begin with small obedience to small things great works begins with obedience in small things obedience in small things all right we've got a couple illustrations here I'm real curious and I don't want I'm not putting you on the spot no we're not having a spot quiz but I would like to know how many of you have ever heard the name Edward Kimball raise your hand I'd like to know some of you have Edward Kimball Edward Kimball okay let me read to you about Edward Kimball Edward Kimball was a shoe salesman and one day he shared the gospel with a young man who became a great evangelist nobody remembers Kimball but perhaps you've heard of DL Moody DL Moody how did DL Moody get saved a Sunday school teacher named Edward Kimball was concerned about the members of his class whether they knew Christ and he went to where DL Moody was working sought him out asked him the condition of his soul let him to faith in Christ obedience in small things leads to greatness in the kingdom of God now Moody held a campaign in the British Isles and a young man came to Jesus by the name of F. B. Meyer Meyer became a pastor and author in England in one of his services a young man named Wilbur Chapman who got was a was a young man named Wilbur Chapman who got saved and led a young American to the Lord named Billy Sunday Billy Sunday went on to be an evangelist and he led an outreach to businessman including a young man named Mordecai Ham how many of you have ever heard of Mordecai Ham probably know his brother Billy eggs right they are always together but anyway I'm sorry I don't know why don't ask me Mordecai Ham very few of you have heard of him just a couple hands went up well at uh at one of Mordecai Ham's meetings was a young man from South Carolina who gave his life to Christ his name was Billy Graham we know of the fruit of the ministry very often don't we but we don't know how that happened God has a way of blessing our efforts small efforts and greatness will always begin with simple obedience I am telling you there are people who want to be used by the Lord but they don't realize that there are steps involved where God will give to you something you're faithful in that you move to something else you're faithful in that on and on and on until you're in a place where the Lord uses you in the way that you always wanted to be used but weren't prepared back in around 76 1976 I was going to right in that area I was going to Calvary Chapel of Downey Marie and I were and Jeff Johnson had his first pastor's class that he he had when Calvary Chapel Downey began Jeff used to meet in a little garage it looked like a garage and I drove by one time with a friend of mine who was a youth pastor at Downey First Baptist Church and this youth pastor John and I were good friends and we were driving by and we drove by this it was a garage and on the side with spray paint it said new life ministry with spray somebody sprayed it you know new life ministry and as we drove by my friend John turns to me and says we think that's a cult we think that's a cult it was Jeff Johnson and that's where he was doing his ministry at the beginning in this little garage and so over a couple of years Marie and I eventually started going to his church and Jeff actually dedicated my daughter Corinne to the Lord that's why I had so many problems with her it's because it's because of Jeff I've told him that many times well Jeff had his first pastor's class people who want to be in ministry he took applications from members of his church at that time I was going there on Sunday mornings so I went to his first I applied and was accepted and went to his first pastor's class that he had there Calvary Chapel of Downing and so it was a class that went for six weeks and Jeff gave us his phone number and said listen if you ever need to contact me once the class was over if you need to contact me give me a call so the class was over on a Monday and I called him on Tuesday because I wanted to go on staff I wanted to be a pastor I'd already been teaching three and a half years I was going to Biola you know I was a you know Bible student this and that I was ministering to people in cults and things I already was trying to minister and and I you know so I called him I still remember our conversation and I said to Jeff I said listen Jeff you said we could call you if we'd like to he goes yeah I said well I'm calling you you know and what I was hoping that he was going to do I was hoping that he was going to sense the anointing of the spirit in my voice over the phone I really did and I was thinking I used to think if you sat in the front row there that the pastor would see a holy glow on you and know you're anointed and put you in ministry I really did I mean that was that was me so I'm thinking I I'll call and and certainly I finish your class and you'll give me you know you want coffee with me we'll get to know each other and you've got a key to an office in your pocket that you're going to hand to me and I'm going to come on staff I really wanted to serve the Lord and so I call him up and I said Jeff and I I said as part of your class and and I'd like to know you know what your advice would be because I sense a call into ministry and I really am waiting for him to say you know Dave you know I sense it too come on down kind of like you know come on down but he didn't he said you know he goes my recommendation to you would be this do what you're doing and do it faithfully and as the Lord sees your faithfulness in the small things he opens doors for other things I hung up well bless you thank you Jeff I hung up I was so angry I thought you know you anti-Christ you can't even see I was I was so and and about a year and a half later it took a year and a half later is when I was when I was moved into ministry in another church in another Calvary and that I got ordained in that church after being appointed to a board and doing Bible studies and in 1979 I got ordained as a Calvary Chapel pastor but it was a year and a half or so after I had made that phone call and heard that advice which was be faithful in the small things be obedient in the small and God will give you something to do that appears to be even larger actually in the side of God there's nothing small and nothing great it's all blessed by him in one form or another and so if you're faithful in that which is least you'll be faithful in that which is much so remember that always great works begin with obedience to the small things and so he's saying to him what must I do and the answer is go into the city you'll be told what you must do and so it's a small thing just be obedient so verse seven the men who journeyed with them stood speechless here in a voice but seeing no one no they heard the voice but they could not understand because the words were not intended for them they were for Saul you see in Acts twenty two nine he said my companion saw the light but they didn't understand the voice of him who was speaking to me they could see what something was going on but they that was not something that was intended for their ears it was something for the ears of Saul you see God's words are not understood by those who have no interest in him I've said this before but in matters of salvation the same message that results in salvation for one person it's the same message that pushes somebody out of the door and say I never want to hear that again the same sun that melts wax hardens clay the same message that spoke to somebody's heart and they said my sins have been revealed my way is lost I need God forgive me a sinner that same message caused somebody else to get angry and to walk out of the door and to say I'll never go back to a place like that it's so harsh it's so unloving it's so judgmental it's it's just they're self-righteous they're all Pharisees same message and so sometimes the Lord is speaking in a way to one person that another person simply doesn't get he just doesn't get it he doesn't understand it in John chapter 12 verses 27 through 29 Jesus was speaking in this passage and he said now my soul is troubled and what shall I say fathers saved me from this hour but for this purpose I came to this hour Father glorify your name then a voice came from heaven saying I have both glorified it and will glorify it again therefore the people who stood by and heard it said it had thundered others said an angel has spoken to him the voice was to the Lord and those who could hear and I'm telling you he who has ears let him hear what the Spirit says there are times when the Bible is being divided when you're listening to the study and you know beyond a shadow of a doubt God speaking directly to you you know it you know it you know it it's like God's mighty hand is on your chest and holding you in that seat you're not going anywhere until I finish telling you this you ever have that I have I have yeah that pressure of the Spirit and you're I'm going to get out of here and Lord's you're not going anywhere you're staying right there the Lord has a a way of speaking a word to you that is a fit word in the proper season and Bible studies like this there are times when people if they don't wait for the end God may have had something he wanted to say at the end but they got up and walked out in the middle and they never heard that word they never heard that word because they weren't willing to listen to the conclusion they weren't willing to listen to the final word what he had to say that's why you sit and that's why you listen and that's why you say God speak to me I want to hear you today I I didn't waste my time coming here I know you have something for me what is it that you want me to know today and you listen with a heart to obey and some people say it thundered some say well it sounds like an angel speaking but others will say no he has glorified it his name will glorify it again no I heard what God is saying in this particular case in this case here they didn't understand what was being said but Saul heard it very clearly it says in verse 8 Saul arose from the ground and when his eyes were open he saw no one they led him by the hand and brought him into Damascus what happens is he went temporarily blind he had to actually be led by the hand into the city now think about that because that was a different way of entering the city than he planned he didn't plan on entering the city being led by the hand as a blind man he planned to enter into the city as a man breathing out threatenings breathing out slaughter a man greatly feared because of his authority and his intellect incidentally when you look at descriptions ancient descriptions of Saul he was he is never described as being a big strong powerful man good looking guy he has spoken of in other ways he has spoken of as being a small man a frail looking man an over large head with eyes that were bulging and infected and he wasn't a well he'll read it he even makes mention of how he was spoken of in second Corinthians he says they say that his words are weighty but his bodily presence is weak you know they speak concerning him that way when you read the book of second Corinthians you will see that he answers some 21 or 22 charges that were leveled against him and one of those were his description of who he is oh he preaches with strong words but he's a weakling himself so this was a man who had authority that he wielded may have had somewhat of a small man's kind of complex but I got power and he was coming in and he was going to come into Damascus and they were trembling because this this man was coming in who had authority to take him bound in chains break him and bring him back to Jerusalem try him as heretics and witness to their death they knew it he intended to come into the city with an attitude with an arrogant pugnacious mentality to take these heretics and show them the justice of God he expected to come in as the master he came in like a little boy being led by the hand and the humility from the very beginning of how the Lord began to deal with him is demonstrated in that way God crushed Saul but here's a spiritual lesson for you God crushed him and he arose from the ashes as the greatest man God ever used don't forget that when God breaks he recreates when he smashes you come out greater that's how it works do not get upset at God when he breaks you because those whom the Lord loves he chasens be zealous therefore and repent if you want to be used by God please hear me I hope you want to be used by God don't be afraid to be broken don't be afraid to be broken because the most valuable vessel in the hand of God will always be the broken one do you want to reach people you will never reach people if you have arrogance and pride they will hate you but if you come to them with humility and love they will listen Paul had these this incredible brilliant mind one of my secular professors said that he was the premier intellect of his day that the apostle Paul read his writings and you'll see what I mean you know I have to pour over his writings with commentators and prayer and God how what is he talking about now for him it's just a letter he's just writing a letter for me I'm saying what do you talk at what do you mean by that how could you you know Peter later on in his writing said his words are weighty and hard to understand and that's a fact but this man was broken this was a man who was crushed by God this was a man who was breathing out threatening and God said no you came to arrest my children you were actually persecuting me I'm not going to allow that and by the way your plans for yourself I've got greater ones and I'm crushing you and I will crush you but once I'm through crushing you out of those ashes will arise the greatest man that ever walked the face of the earth outside of Jesus Paul Paul the apostle from the one who was Saul the mighty one he became Paul the small one that's how it works in the kingdom of God do you desire great things desire them not God said through the prophet to Baruch desire them not you let God do what God wants to do and watch what he'll do with a vessel that's broken you watch what he'll do because again the most valuable vessel in the hand of God will always be the one that's been broken by God always always will be the one broken by God Peter thought that he loved Jesus more than others he even boasted that he did but when it came down to it Jesus said do you really love me and I'm telling you you're going to deny me this night three times no no Satan has desired you that he may sift you even as sweet as sifted but I prayed for you and after you are converted strengthen your brethren Lord I would die for you will you really you're going to deny me no I won't yes you will but it's not a surprise to me because see the process that I'm working with you is I'm going to take your ashes and I'm going to turn them into beauty you're going to see that listen one of the things and I'll close with this one of the things that I see today in the church is there's a desire for the crown but very few people are willing to bear a cross we want to rule but we don't want to be ruled we want to have people follow orders but we don't follow even the simplest ones that God gives to us we want to be great but we don't realize that greatness comes from being the servant of all we don't understand that and so what we want is we want fame and fortune fame and fortune all fades the only thing that lasts is what you've laid ahead of yourself in heaven it's the only thing that lasts everything you have on the face of the earth is used up wasted it's not that we can't have these things but sometimes these things have us and it keeps us from being used by God Saul really had a zeal but not according to knowledge so God said I'm going to use this man if you read and you will with me if you stick it out with me here in Acts you're going to see that this man who was breathing out threatenings and went anywhere wherever he heard these people believed in Jesus he became the one who said I'm going to go where they've never heard his name I'm going to take this gospel through the world from the one who chased them to where they were to the one who took this message to where Jesus said you have to be named and that came because he was on his way to Damascus as a big bad wolf and he ended up winning Jesus's sheep that's how it works