 With that said, I want to take you through chapter nine verses one through nine today here in the book of a book of Acts And so let's begin reading together here in Acts chapter nine and Let's see I'll just read verses one through nine and we'll get into our study acts chapter nine beginning at verse one reading to verse nine Luke writes 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 are of the way whether men or women He might bring them bound to Jerusalem as he journeyed. He came near Damascus 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 then the Lord said I am Jesus whom you are persecuting It is hard for you to kick against the goats So he trembling in astonishment said Lord, what do you want me to do? The Lord said to him arise 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 see no one and Saul rose from the ground in 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 And so we're looking today at the man who was actually fighting against the Lord We'll look at that in some detail as we go through this study But let me begin by reminding you of a few things in the New Testament Many people were touched by the Lord Jesus Christ, but they're only mentioned one time the encounter him Yet either they remain unnamed or they're never mentioned again They seem to simply disappear from the pages of scripture for example when you think of the apostles Some of those men are well known at least by name are well known to us Yeah, Peter James and John you have Andrew and Matthew and and those names ring a bell We know the names of those those men and we've seen their their lives in the pages of scripture So they're fairly well known to us to a lesser degree You'll you'll know men like Philip or Thomas, but how much can we really say about Bartholomew or Thaddeus? Simon the Zaladar James the son of Alpheus or even Matthias who was chosen to replace Judas very little of anything is even mentioned of those men if you just those men if you look in the gospel of Matthew Just as an example You can see that there are many whom Jesus ministered to Only once they're mentioned one time and you don't see them again You have the wise men in in chapter two in chapter eight We have the leper that Jesus cleansed we have the centurion and his his servant boy that Jesus had healed We have the healing of Peter's mother-in-law. We have the demonized men of the Gadarenes I think of the paralytic who is brought to Jesus by four unnamed friends of Jerusalem his unnamed daughter whom Jesus raised from the dead the two blind men who received their sight They're all mentioned in Matthew chapter 9. Nothing is said of them afterwards in chapter 12 We see Jesus deliver an unnamed a demon possessed man who was also blind and mute and in chapter 14 We're told of a young boy who donated his lunch it resulted in the feeding of the 5,000 Chapter 15 introduced us to an unnamed Syrophoenician woman who begged Jesus to deliver her demonized daughter and chapter 17 gives us the story of a father Who brought his demon possessed and suicidal son to Jesus Christ for deliverance, but you never see them again They're introduced to us, but you don't see anything else of them You can look in the gospel of Luke and you read of a sinful woman who who washed Jesus's feet with her tears And we're all familiar with the story of how she came to Christ and he was there at supper and is He was there at a man named Simon's house of Pharisee and we know the story of how she came to wept to wash his feet with her tears and Jesus called our attention to the woman who was very sinful, but also because she'd been forgiven very grateful In John chapter 4 we have that touching story of an outcast woman at a well in Smiria We have the woman who has caught in adultery that spoken to us or spoken about to us in John chapter 8 all of these people have significant Incidents experiences with God and and yet each one of these people remain really unnamed after that particular introduction that we have Many came into contact with Jesus. They had their stories recorded. He simply disappeared Last time we were together. We looked at an Ethiopian eunuch an official who was saved and then he disappears He's gone. He came to faith in Jesus He was baptized and and then disappears from scripture the last thing we read of him as he went on his way rejoicing. That's it So I thought of that as I was preparing this study and I began to think of things that were Contemporary not not necessarily of our of our age, but that have happened within the last hundred years or so We have Mel Trotter Many don't know who he was Mel Trotter was an alcoholic who when his little girl died stole the shoes She was to be buried in and sold them so that he might be able to buy alcohol and gets get drunk But one night he staggered into the Pacific Garden mission in Chicago and he he was saved He had a burden for those on skid row So he began a rescue mission in Grand Rapids, Michigan He went on to found more than 60 missions stretching from Boston to San Francisco We have John Newton Newton worked on slave ships capturing slaves the South to the plantations of the South Eventually he became a captain of his own ship and after enduring a horrible storm He 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 Wilber force and it was Newton who wrote amazing grace How sweet the sound that saved a wretch like me Newton wrote his own epitaph It read 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 had long labored to destroy Church history is filled with stories of sinners transformed by Jesus Christ As we've seen some stories are known only to God, but others become well known But none of these conversions Compare with the conversion of Saul of Tarsus a man who was at war with God So we can begin with a question. Who was this man named Saul? Let me give you a little background of him so you can kind of get it Saul was a Jewish man. He was born in Tarsus of Cilicia, which is modern Turkey Tarsus was known for its university which was equal to the universities of Athens as well as Alexandria very famous Universities in his day religiously He was an extremely dedicated and intellectual Pharisee and as a Pharisee he studied in Jerusalem under the great rabbi Gamma Leal As you go through your scriptures Saul later called Paul Gave a glimpse of his religious life and an example is found for example in the book of Philippians in Philippians 3 4 through 6 it says if anyone else thinks he may have confidence in the flesh I'm more so Circumcised the eighth day of the stock of Israel of the tribe of Benjamin Hebrew of the Hebrews concerning the law of Pharisee concerning zeal persecuting the church Concerning the righteousness which is in the law blameless So he describes himself there in Philippians in a very detailed way. He says I was circumcised in other words from birth He was a child of the covenant He was of the stock of Israel means that he meaning that he was not a gentile Convert he was of the tribe of Benjamin This is the tribe that remained faithful when the tribes had split from the the northern and southern tribes Israel's first king came out of Benjamin So it was a tribe that held a lot of prestige in the nation of Israel He was a Hebrew he says of the Hebrews meaning he spoke Hebrew and he retained Jewish customs He was a Pharisee a member of the strictest religious sect in Judaism. He said concerning zeal for my religion I was a persecutor of the church and concerning righteousness. I Fanatically kept the law to its letter Now anybody reading of that would think that brings great advantage to somebody who is so religiously inclined Yet he went on to say in the same book Philippians 3 7 through 9 He said what things were gained to me these I have counted loss for Christ Yes, 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 everything that was looked at as being an advantage I consider to be a loss to me ultimately he said They were all excess baggage on a sinking ship. I Count them all lost why I count them lost because the true treasure is knowing Jesus and the peace that comes through his grace Well in Acts chapter 8 at verse 1 Speaking of the the persecution to the death of Stephen It says that Saul was consenting which means pleased or in agreement with with his death And and then it goes on to say at that time a great persecution arose against the church Which was at Jerusalem and they were all scattered throughout the regions of Judea and Samaria except the Apostles and so when the persecution arose Saul was inflamed by it and he joined in and that's where we're picking up our study It says in verse 1 here in chapter 9 that he was still breathing threats and murder Against the disciples of the Lord So this man was inflamed Someone said he lived as it were in an atmosphere of threats and slaughter It was the very error that he breathed and his hatred didn't cool down After Stephen's death he desired more devastation And it may have been growing and growing even worse after Philip evangelized the Samaritans So he was consumed with hatred for all Christians not just the leaders, but any believers and he made it very clear He made it clear when he was writing to the Galatians in chapter 1 verse 13 He said to them you have heard of my previous way of life in Judaism How intensely I persecuted the church of God and I tried he says to destroy it Well this man is breathing out Threatenings went to the high priest and asked letters verse 2 from him to the synagogues of Damascus So that if he found any who were on the way were of the way whether men or women He might bring them bound to Jerusalem So he went and asked for authority to be able to arrest believers You see the the high priest had authority over Jewish matters And so he asked for these letters of authority and wanted to travel as far as Damascus hunting down Christians Now when you look at a map Damascus was the capital of Syria. It was 130 miles to the north northeast of Jerusalem It was on the heavily Traveled trade route that connects the the west with the east and and what he did verse 2 says as he obtained letters of authority So that he might destroy members notice how it says of the way I'll say this very briefly some of you already know this others perhaps don't The Christians were not referred to as Christians until they were in Antioch Prior to that they were referred to as being members of the way The way comes from John 14 6 when Jesus said I am the way the truth in the life So these people were referred to not as Christians They were members of what is called the way and this is something that you'll see later on in Acts 19 verse 9 or Chapter 22 verse 4 or chapter 24 verse 14 And so that's how the Christian faith was referred to as as members of the way And and his mission was to take men or women believers and to bring them to Jerusalem so they could be tried and they could be punished In Acts 22 4 and 5 he speaks of this and he says I Persecuted the followers of this way to their death Arresting both men and women and throwing them into prison as Also the high priest bears me witness and and all the counsel of the elders from whom I also received letters to the brethren and Went to Damascus to bring in chains even those who were there to Jerusalem to be punished in Chapter 26 verses 9 through 11 of Acts. I indeed he said indeed. I myself thought I must do many things Contrary to the name of Jesus of Nazareth This I also didn't Jerusalem and many of the saints I shot up in prison having received authority from the chief priests And and when they were put to death I cast my vote against them and I punished them often In every synagogue compelled them to blaspheme And being exceedingly enraged against them. I persecuted them even to foreign cities Now why would a devoutly religious man be so intent on wiping out members of the way? It would seem that he considered the gospel and their message to be heresy error blasphemous against God In the Old Testament book of Deuteronomy 18 verse 20 it says a 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 Blasphemy was a capital offense He believed that there were blaspheming therefore he received authority to put him in chains bring him back Try them as heretics and see them killed Why is he going to Damascus? Well, Damascus had a large Jewish population. It was increased by the Christians Who were seeking refuge there? Paul knew that there were Christians there and he went to get them He would have taken him about eight days walking to make the journey from Jerusalem And so as he's on his way verse three says as he journeyed he came near Damascus and Suddenly a light shone around him from heaven Now at this point God chooses to reveal himself to him This incident is interesting to consider contrasting it with the Ethiopian We saw that the Ethiopian official had an obvious hunger and curiosity had gone to Jerusalem to worship And he was returning to Ethiopia And he was empty When he was Brought to christ by Philip there on that road, but on the other hand Saul appears to have been satisfied with his religion He was zealously content in the teachings But he was missing out on truth Proverbs 14 12 says it like this. There's a way that seems right to a man, but its end is the way of death You can think what you're doing is the proper thing. You can think that your religion is a proper religion You can believe that your faith is a proper faith And you can be so strong about that that you actually argue with and and even persecute those who disagree with you That's what what Saul was like These were people who were well spoken of by the community But he saw them as heretics and they should and their belief their belief as well as themselves should be should be Forever exterminated and so he receives the authority to go to arrest them bring them back try them as heretics and oversee their death There was a way that seemed right to him, but the end there. I was the way of death So as he's doing this verse 3 tells us suddenly a light shown around him from heaven Now later paul says it was around noon When this happened the light was incredibly brilliant was brighter than the sunlight in acts 26 13 Speaking to one called agrippa. He said at midday. I saw a light from heaven brighter than the sun Shining around me and those who journeyed with me Now in the same chapter chapter 9 verse 17 It says Ananias went his way and entered the house and 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 and so what was taking place here was The one who we have seen was actually actually jesus And he has seen him in his glorious light some 104 verses 1 and 2 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 a garment And so he's seeing actually an appearance of the lord jesus christ there on his road to damascus and the appearance is only for paul Notice that the others with him didn't see him Verse 4 tells us it says he faltered the ground and heard a voice saying to him Saul Saul why are you persecuting me? Now notice how it says The way this is written he faltered the ground and heard a voice This is luke giving his report on what sol heard. He's simply repeating what he's been told But in acts 26 14 paul gives his personal account of this experience and there he makes it clear This was spoken in hebrew acts 26 14. He said i heard a voice speaking to me in the hebrew tongue I want you to notice how it is god who initiates salvation. Saul wasn't seeking him Saul Was hunting christians. He was not seeking god. He was seeking members of the way But god was hunting him He was not hunting after god seeking after god god was hunting down sol In john 644 no one can come to me unless a father who sent me draws him Jeremiah 31 3 the lord has appeared of old to me saying yes I have loved you with the everlasting love therefore with loving kindness. I have drawn you it wasn't sol seeking god It was god seeking sol This goes all the way back to the garden of eden Went after the fall after they had taken of the forbidden fruit They heard the voice of the lord and the lord cried out adam. Where are you? It was not adam seeking out god It was god seeking out adam That's how you got saved. I've heard people speak and say, you know, I was lost in this and that and And you know, and then I found god, you know, I was this I did that and then I found god god wasn't lost It wasn't like he was hiding somewhere in a room waiting for you to open the door and say there you are god No, he was seeking you Even as you were running from him. He was pursuing you the holy spirit has been referred to as the hound from heaven He's pursuing you. Some people get so upset. Why is this happening to me? Why do these things happen to me? Why are these things going the way they are how come it's because the lord is pursuing you And he's not going to allow you to find satisfaction Your heart is going to be restless until it finds peace into him And so he seeks you in order that he might convict you in order that you might see him and come to him So he can say I have drawn you with loving kindness and that's what's happening with sol He's out there chasing down christians. Well god is chasing him down This amazing man that god is going to save He fell to the ground. He heard a voice. Why are you persecuting me and in his mind? He's not persecuting god. He's helping god How much evil has been done in our attempt to help god And he's helping god in his mind in john 16 verse 2 Jesus said this They will put you out of the synagogue In fact, the time is coming when anyone who kills you will think that they're offering a service to god And that was sol Now his namesake it was named after the first king of israel king sol King sol persecuted david by his persecution of christians He's actually persecuting the son of david. He's persecuting jesus And jesus makes it clear When you persecute one of my followers I take it personally You are persecuting me You see by harming and rejecting my followers You have been rejecting me And so as he's speaking and saying these things he's really Being a he's amazed notice verse 5 where it says he said Who are you lord? Then the lord said I am jesus Whom you are persecuting It's hard for you to kick against the gods Now i want to develop that for just a moment Who are you lord? Now when he says lord the first time The word lord can be used like the word sir It's it's a A term of respect the title of respect. That's all it is and in this particular case at first That's all he's saying He's he's speaking to someone who's greater than himself if you will and he calls him lord out of respect Now he's not fully recognizing jesus as the lord yet And so the question is asked He says to him who are you lord identify yourself so i know who i'm speaking and then jesus says To him i am jesus whom you are persecuting. It's hard for you to kick against the gods. I'm jesus I'm the one you're persecuting I'm the one steven spoke about resulting in his death with your approval I'm the one that you've been forcing people to blaspheme I'm the one that you have hated and have resisted And but i am also the one who laid down my life for you that you might be saved I'm the one who's going to be your final judge and i'm the one that you now are on your face before Later on paul would say every knee shall bow every tongue shall confess that jesus christ is lord And that's what he's doing there. He's on his face before who am i i'm the one you've been persecuting I'm the one who died on that cross. I'm the one who was buried. I'm the one who was resurrected I'm the one who ascended. I'm the one who sends the holy spirit I'm the one who has filled the lives of these people. You're persecuting. Who am I? I am your lord He doesn't know what to do Then he says in verse five it's hard for you to kick against the gods When you read that People will know what that is if you if you work with animals and all like that A goat is a sharp iron or wooden stick that's on a wagon That keeps the beast from backing up Saul it is hard for you to resist the gospel Because in the end your resistance only produces wounds I've been in the ministry for a long time. I've been a christian for a long time now I Have never met anybody yet. Maybe somebody in this room will will be the first. I have never met anyone yet Who's ever walked up to me and said to me I wish I'd have waited longer I wish I would have taken my time and gotten saved. I I wish I'd have partied a little bit more I wish I'd have had more opportunities to drink I wish I'd have slept with more people I I wish that I'd have spent more time in prison I I've never met anybody like that who's ever told me that they regret Coming to christ when they did Other than when they say like this they say I wish I would have come to faith in christ sooner Why because I would have saved myself from so many wounds I would have saved myself from so many so much pain and I would have saved others from the wounds that I inflicted on them Wish to god that I came to faith in christ as your child. I was only 20 I was young but you know what in those 20 years I had a lot of opportunities to hurt a lot of people and to hurt myself too And I and I often think about that I used to in the past more often I'd say would to god that I had to come to faith in christ earlier I wouldn't have hurt my parents the way I did my family the way I did the girls I dated the way I did my friends the way I did the things that I've done the harm I've caused other people would to god I'd have come to to faith in him and you know what You're ending up wounded when you're waiting If the lord is calling you and you're fighting him you're wounding yourself You need to come to faith in christ. You need to surrender to him He can bring healing to your life and change your life the way he did with sol This is a man at war with god and he and god says to him Jesus says to him It is hard for you. You keep wounding yourself as you're back in a way You need to come to faith so that you can be healed and no longer be wounded And so he's speaking to him in this way and as he's speaking to him It just begins to amaze him what's going on. I want to show you something here You see the first time he uses the word lord he is simply showing respect but in verse 6 He's trembling and astonished and he says lord. What do you want me to do this time? He's calling him lord revealing he recognizes who this is that he's speaking to now notice he first asks Who are you then he asks? What do you want me to do? This is a proper order to follow When you come to know who he is then You ask him What am I to do? I want to know who you are And then I want to know what you want from me Sometimes people when they're Come to they come to a knowledge of who the lord is this they begin to move out to do things And sometimes those things are good I think when a brand new person someone comes to faith in christ And they're they're so overjoyed that it's an important thing for them to give away their faith They should you should talk about what the lord has done in your life But you do it in a way with an awareness that you don't know that much You just know you were once blind now you see you once lost and now you're found you once were spiritually dead now You're alive and that's pretty much what you can do when I first got saved like many of the kids in the Jesus movement when I first got saved. I I really didn't know how to To to present the gospel yet. I had just been saved So what I would do is I would just bring them To a place where somebody was more qualified could help them It's like the woman at the well when she spoke to the men said come here A man who's told me all things that I've ever done. Can this be messiah? It's just the invitation bring them and so they can hear I I'm not yet ready and capable Well, I think that's a good thing, but in this case, I know I share some things with you If you want to be used by the lord Be very quick To obey what he has to say. I want you to see this. It's very important How how this is uh pointed out to him Again in verse six he trembling and a star said lord What do you want me to do and the lord said to him arise go into the city and you will be told what you must do Arise go into the city. That's a simple command get up and go to Damascus and wait Paul's world changing ministry began this is a very important point with a simple act of obedience the world changing ministry of paul began with a simple act of obedience Go and wait and you'll be told Go and wait and you will be told Paul eventually is the one who writes and says i'll go anywhere. I'll do anything. I want the name of price to go Everywhere I want to take the name of Jesus to places that have never heard it And that's exactly what he does. I want to go to rom and that's what he does He wants people to know Jesus christ, but you need to wait So you can be told what to do and and that's a simple command. So his world changing ministry begins by obedience To the simple thing. You'll never do the difficult until you're faithful in the little If you want to be used by the lord, I hope that all of us do if you want to be used by the lord Then you just obey the simple My first bible studies had my mom and my dad. They had to be there. It was at their house And there were two or three neighbors That was my first bible study four or five people If you're faithful in that which is least you'll be faithful in that which is much and for years from that point on I've always taught as if i'm speaking to four or five people That's how it works You're not looking for multitudes. You're simply looking to somebody who will listen and the lord says you need to listen You need to learn you need to wait and then you'll be told And so this worldwide missionary the apostle paul the most famous man He wrote 13 of the new testament books the most famous man He's quoted in every christian church at least every christian church at least once during a sermon the apostle paul The one with the tremendous influence that he had began his ministry By simply being obedient great works always begin with obedience to small things One day there was a shoe salesman by the name of edward kimble And edward kimble shared the gospel with a young man Who went on to become the great evangelist yell moody? moody held a campaign in the british isles And a young man came to jesus by the name of f b meyer Who who went on to become a pastor and author in england? In one of his services a young man named wilbur chapman got saved Who later led a young american to the lord named billy sunday? Billy sunday went on to become an evangelist And he led an outreach to businessmen including a young man Who would become an evangelist by the name of mordecai ham? At one of mordecai ham's meetings was a young man from south carolina He gave his heart to christ and went on to become billy graham It starts with the small thing You don't know who you're influencing As americans i think we have a problem and that is that we think we're like salesmen with the gospel And so if i don't close the sale if they don't pray then nothing's happened If they don't receive christ then nothing's happened and that's just not true That's not true at all Because you never know Who you're influencing you may be speaking to the person here and somebody over here is listening This person over here that you're so intent on wanting to see come to faith Does it but this person over here that you don't even know is listening does I was at a pastor's conference teaching at a conference in colorado a few years ago now and And a man walks up to me and he says pastor david. He says you don't know me He says but i'm a pastor here in colorado. I said well great. It's nice to meet you. He says no, let me tell you something he says you taught at a at a mens retreat in virginia several years ago And At the at that retreat. I gave my heart to christ He says and I followed the lord. I've grown in the things of the lord and now i'm pastor I'm pastor and out here in colorado I just wanted you to know That my salvation came through an invitation that you gave and I said well, I hope you have a good church Because if it's a bad one, I don't want to take the blame for that I have another guy I meet with him his name is ryan He's one of the pastors I meet with several pastors every couple of months And ryan is one of the men who who meets with me He's a pastor calvary chapel pastor, but he approached me when I first met him and told me that he said I was at uh, he said I went to calvary chapel golden springs. He said you came as a As a guest speaker you gave an invitation. He said I gave my heart to christ I didn't see him come forward at the invitation And now he's pastor in a church at calvary chapel ministry. You never know who you're impacting You never really know I've been on airplanes where the stewardess has said is that david rosales? I recognize his voice I've been I've been it's not about me right. I'm trying to illustrate how you never know who you influence There are people that you're working with right now That you don't even know Are watching you Years ago story time years ago I used to work in a place in huntington park There were two girls that worked in another office I worked in in shipping and they worked in accounting And I had to go into that office every once in a while And I walked into the into the office and one of the women I was a young man At that time just really newly married And I walked in and when I walked into the office one of the ladies Spoke to me and I got to know them. Hi, how are you? And I walked in and on this one occasion one of the women said to me my parents are gone You live in narwalk. I live in downy. My parents are gone. You ought to come and pick me up and bring me to work And I smiled at her And suddenly went deaf and I walked out of the room And I called Maria mommy a bad girls after me, you know, so Her friend was named Teresa When our church began It was like 82 or 83 When our church began I was outside And here comes Teresa Whom I used to work with and she said I thought it was you I heard that you had started a church out here She said I just wanted to come and say hello to you and to tell you I remember you from when we worked together She said but I got saved I go to raw rhesus church now I said I'm sorry to hear that Glad you're here, but You never know that's the point. I'm trying to make You never know who's listening when you're talking. You never know Sometimes you'll be speaking to somebody about the lord and somebody else over here Is listening And later on they say whatever you did in his life Please do it in mine. That's how my sister. I told you this recently, but that's how my sister Madeline got saved I came home the day I got saved. She said what happened. I said I came to faith in christ I'm born again And that's when she put her head on her pillow that night and said whatever you did for him Please do for me You never know and it always starts with the small thing Don't think that oh if I just open the bible thousands will show up. Maybe they will maybe they won't more than likely they won't But if there's one or two or three that are willing to hear you share You don't know How your ministry will expand I have a friend of mine. His name is john and john's a pastor in a calvary ministry And john says that a young man left his church was his worship leader And went to another state and began a bible study And he said he would write me and he'd say I have A hundred people showing up and john whose church was around 900 would write and say keep it up See what the lord does the guy would write again. I've got 400 the guy began to write again. I've got 800 He said everything was good until he said I've got a thousand now. I'm feeling bad and what's god doing with them And the young man that was writing and telling him the lord is using me and I'm blessed I'm being blessed is skip heightsick who has like 16 000 members in his church in albuquerque God can use the most insignificant He can do that if you're open Saul did not know that he would become paul He just knew that he was breathing out threatenings against followers of jesus christ He was persecuting them to the death And then christ arrested him and christ took him into custody Who is he? I am jesus whom you're persecuting What am I to do? You need to go and you need to wait and it will be told you Now in verse 7 it says the men who journeyed with him stood speechless hearing a voice but seen no one they heard a voice They didn't understand the words because the words were only for Saul Again that happens very often when people are saved god will be speaking to one person the other person doesn't hear it at all God's words are not understood by those with no interest in him Again the message that results in salvation often pushes people out the door And so Saul arose verse 8 He arose from the ground his eyes were open. He saw no one They led him by the hand and brought him into Damascus, and he was three days without sight and neither ate nor drank So he was stricken with temporary blindness. He was led into the city And that's a different way of entering the city than he planned. He was being led by the hand like a little boy He wasn't coming in with all the ferocious authority that he had To take people and put them in jail. He was being led by the hand and psalm 25 9 It says he guides the humble in what is right. He teaches them his way God broke Saul And he arose from the ashes the greatest man God ever used He was humbled before the Lord Whom he so fervently opposed And he was three days without sight. He didn't eat and he didn't drink Now in this time of blindness and fasting Paul rethought how he felt about Jesus and later he in 1st Timothy 1 verses 13 through 15 said this He said even though I was once a blasphemer and a persecutor and a violent man. I was shown mercy Because I acted in ignorance and unbelief The grace of our Lord was poured out on me abundantly The grace of our Lord was poured out on me abundantly along with faith and love that are in Christ Jesus Here's a trustworthy saying that deserves full acceptance Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners of whom I am the worst He was broken. I'll closer the couple thoughts Do you want to be used by the Lord than whom the Lord uses? He first breaks Why so the excellence of the knowledge may be of Christ and not of himself God will break you then he heals you then he uses you Keep that in mind Because many will not allow the breaking God does not use the arrogant God shows his grace to the humble And when Paul this great man This man has been called the greatest. He was the greatest thinker the greatest intellectual He learned under the greatest teacher of his day Gamaliel This was The Pharisee of the Pharisees He wasn't just some guy He was the guy that everybody knew he was the up and coming superstar And his fervor was so intense that people feared him They said it's okay to love the Lord, but man this guy kills people in his name This guy's crazy and the others would say no, this man is zealous. This man is his fervent This man has great faith. This is the kind of man we need today And Saul says no, I was the chief of sinners Humility Is a place where God begins to use you Don't forget that please because we have a tendency today in the church Of honoring the proud And saying oh, that's a no what is greatness in the sight of God Jesus spoke of it. I am meek. I am humble I'm lowly Jesus was not weak Because sometimes we think of weaknesses meekness is weakness. No Meekness is strength. That's under control Some of the baddest dudes you'll ever meet The baddest baddest of the bad are the nicest guys you'll ever meet Because they know what they can do And they don't have to prove it to anybody They don't have to run around acting like they're seven feet tall 390 pounds They just know what they can do And people who get to know them know what they can do And they respect them Because they don't do what they could do Well, how about Jesus? Do you think he'd be UFC champion? I think so. I think so Moses was one bad dude. He looked to the left and looked to the right. He saw A taskmaster as he was abusing one of his brethren and looked to the left looked to the right and then promptly killed them buried him No problem. Why because he was learned it in all the wisdom and the knowledge of the egyptians What does that include martial arts? This was one of the baddest dudes in egypt That's why when that egyptian taskmaster, which was a big mean ferocious person It doesn't say moses thought i better size this guy up versus weakness He just says he looked to the right and then boom you're dead. I'll just bury you it's over God had to take him and put him in a wilderness for 40 years Because first 40 years he thought that they would know he's the deliverer and god said no not in your strength It's not by it's not by might know my powers by my spirit moses. You're gonna have to learn a lesson I'm gonna put you in the wilderness and i'm gonna have you with those stinky sheep for 40 years Because you're gonna have some more problems later on with some of my stinky sheep And i'm gonna teach you humility You want to be used by the lord Then see yourself for what you are a sinner saved by god's grace That's what you are You know better You're no better You're no better We all need his grace and that's why he would say I'm chief of sinners You will go and you will learn when you wait Then you're gonna be told what to do And I will show you how I will use you and this man will see this this man he told God said is going to suffer many things for my name's sake He is going to go through breaking for the rest of his life to the point when you read second timothy What is it? He says in the last chapter all have forsaken me and left me I only have a handful of people who have stayed faithful I will break him break him break him to the end so that he stays faithful faithful and humble That's how it works in the kingdom of god In the book of acts he made it very clear that he was willing to do anything for the lord in acts 21 13 He said this I am ready not only to be bound but also to die in jerusalem for the name of the lord jesus Not only will I live for him, but to die his gain Because I will be with him So the man at war with god Came to fully surrender to the love of god And that's what we're called to do ourselves