Tatham, Ernest: A Persecutor ~ Becomes A Powerful Preacher

Forty ninth chapter of the book of Genesis. That's a strange place to start with the story of Saul of Tarsus, but I think you'll know what I mean when we read verse twenty seven. You have your Bible? Don't you dare come to the meetings without your Bible. With it, bring your Bible. Genesis chapter forty nine, verse twenty seven. I was reading this a while ago, and it sort of jumped out of the page at me, and I thought of the subject of our study tonight, Saul of Tarsus. You see why in verse twenty seven, Benjamin shall raven as a wolf. In the morning he shall devour the prey, and at night he shall what? Divide the spoil. And I've written in my, the margin of my Bible, Saul of Tarsus. He came from the tribe of Benjamin, didn't he? Sure he did. The warrior tribe. And old Jacob said about Benjamin, away back in the first book of the Bible, the book of Genesis, Benjamin shall raven as a wolf. That word raven means ravage. Benjamin is like a wolf. In the morning he shall, what's the verb? In the morning he shall what? Devour. In the evening he shall what? Oh. In the morning he devours. In the evening he divides. And you know, folks, isn't that a capsule digest of this son of Benjamin? In the morning he devoured. Devoured whom? He devoured every follower of Jesus Christ, every believer he could get his hands on. He devoured them. In the evening, in the second movement of his life, he divided the spoil. All right, with that, let's go to Acts nine, The ninth chapter of the book of the Acts. I know that you're pretty familiar with the story, but just let me read a paragraph beginning with verse one. And Saul, verse ni- cha- verse one of chapter nine of Acts, and Saul yet breathing out threatenings and slaughter against the disciples of the Lord, went unto the high priest and desired of him letters to Damascus, to the synagogue, that if he found any of this way, whether there were men or women, he might bring them bound unto Jerusalem. And as he journeyed, he came near Damascus, and suddenly there shined round about him a light from heaven, and he fell to the earth and heard a voice saying unto him, Saul, Saul, why? Saul, Saul, why persecutest thou me? He said, who art thou, Lord? The Lord said unto him, I am Jesus, whom thou persecutest. It is hard for thee to kick against the pricks. And he, trembling and astonished, said, Lord, what wilt thou have me to do? The Lord said unto him, Arise and go into the city, and it shall be told thee what thou must do. The men which journeyed with him stood speechless, hearing a voice, but seeing no man. Saul arose from the earth, and when his eyes were opened, he saw no man. But they led him by the hand and brought him into Damascus, and he was three days without sight, and neither did he eat nor drink. There was a certain disciple in Damascus named Ananias, and to him said the Lord in a vision, Ananias? He said, Behold, I am here, Lord. The Lord said unto him, Arise and go into the street which is called Straight, and inquire in the house of Judas for one called Saul of Tarsus, for behold, he's praying. First time he ever prayed, right? He said prayers all his life, but he never really prayed until now. Behold, he is praying, verse twelve. and had seen in a vision a man named Ananias coming in and putting his hands on him that he might receive his sight. Then Ananias answered, Lord, I've heard by many of this man how much evil he has done to thy saints at Jerusalem, and here he has authority that the chief, from the chief priests to bind all that call on thy name. The Lord said unto him, go thy way, for he is a chosen vessel unto me to bear my name before the Gentiles and kings and the children of Israel, for I will show him how great things he must suffer for my name's sake. Now down in verse seventeen, uh, that's the next verse, isn't it? Yeah, seventeen. And Ananias went his way and entered into the house, putting his hands on him, said, Brother Saul, the Lord even Jesus that appeared unto thee in the way as thou camest, hath sent me that thou mightest receive thy sight and be filled with the Holy Ghost. Immediately there fell from his eyes as it had been scales, and he received sight forthwith and arose and was baptized. And when he had received meat or food, he was strengthened. Then was Saul certain days with the disciples which were in Damascus, and straightway he preached Christ in the synagogues, that he is the Son of God. Now, I believe when we come to this ninth chapter of the book of the Acts, we come to a new tactic in the great strategy of world evangelization. The strategy of world evan- evangel- evangelization is declared in verse eight of chapter one. Do you care to turn back to it for a moment? I know that most of you are very familiar with it. The eighth verse of the first chapter. Here is the mandate for Christian mission. But ye shall receive power. Who said so? The risen Christ said so. To whom did he say it? He said to those men and women who had accompanied with him after he rose from the dead. Ye shall receive power after that the Holy Spirit is come upon you. Notice the preposition upon you, not with you this time, not in you, but upon you. The Holy Spirit coming upon you, and ye shall be witnesses unto me, both in Jerusalem and in all Judea and in Samaria, and unto the uttermost parts of the earth. Here, I say, is the strategy for reaching the world with the gospel. All right? But in chapters eight and nine of Acts, we have introduced a new tactic. Do you know the difference between strategy and tactic? Strategy is the great overall plan. Tactics are more the details and the movements by which that master strategy can be achieved. In military operations, the strategy is to defeat the enemy. In the mi- in a minimum amount of time. Tactics have to do with the modus operandi, as it were, the method of reaching that goal. Now, in Acts one and eight, the Lord, as I say, gives the mandate for reaching a lost, perishing world with the gospel. They were to begin at Jerusalem, pan out through the province of Judea, spill over into Samaria, and then from there to the ends and the uttermost parts of the earth. In other words, the gospel strategy is of global dimension. Now, this great commission was given to the twelve and those who were associated with them. But you know, the strange sequel is that when you thumb over the book of the Acts, you find that up to chapter eight, the apostles had not budged from the home base. They were still stalled in Jerusalem, in spite of the furious opposition and persecution that descended upon the church. Look at the eighth chapter of the book of the Acts and verse one. And Saul was consenting unto Stephen's death, and at that time there was a great persecution against the church which is at Jerusalem. They were all scattered abroad throughout the regions of Judea and Samaria. Uh-oh. Except the apostles. And we say, how come? They should have been out of the capital city by this time, for we're now in chapter eight, not in chapter one, and they should have been evangelizing in the outreaches in order to reach the, ultimately, the great circumference of the commission. But they didn't. For some reason known to themselves, they still remained immovable in Jerusalem. Now, what happened? What happens is this, that God raised up two young men who were not apostles in any sense of the word. And these two young men became the instruments in the Spirit's hands for, number one, the conversion of Saul of Tarsus, and secondly, the evangelization of the province of Samaria. To whom do I refer? Two young men, yes. One was Stephen, the other was Philip. These weren't apostles at all. In our modern language, we would say they were laymen. They were of the seven who had been chosen as deacons to look after a temporary emergency that existed in the Jerusalem church. And the Spirit of God laid his hands on Stephen, and if there was any human instrument, I say if there was any human instrument in the conversion of Saul of Tarsus, it certainly was Stephen. Of course, in a sense, there was no human instrument, but I say if there was, it was Stephen. And the second was Philip, and Philip in the eighth chapter of, uh, Acts goes out of Jerusalem, and he goes up to Samaria, and a revival of immense dimensions breaks out up there in Samaria. Now, I think, my friends, that there's a sobering lesson that you and I should learn from that. When I read that, and I see that the strategy is unchanged, let's be clear on this, the strategy of world even evangel- evangelization was unchanged, but the tactics were changed. The apostles were left, bypassed, and God raised up two spirit-filled young men, and he put his hand on them. And as I read this, I say, Tatum, if you don't fulfill the ministry that God gives you, God may give you a secondary or a third role to play, and he'll get someone else to do his job. His work will not miscarry or fail. He'll get someone else to do it. This is very searching. Now, that's exactly what happened here. Stephen is described in the sixth chapter of Acts as being a young man who was full of the Holy Spirit. He was full of wisdom. He was full of faith and of grace and of power. His educational qualifications, his economic status is left unrecorded in the Word of God. But the Spirit of God says, I want to call your attention to the fact that here was a young man who was filled with the Spirit of God. His whole life was vibrant with the power and the glow of the Spirit of God. He was a young man of faith. He was a young man who was marked by grace and winsomeness, and he was fervent in spirit. Now, at this time, there was a young man also in the city of Jerusalem by the name of Saul. He had been born in the Roman province of Cilicia, away up to the north. He came from very devout parentage. His family, his father and mother were not Hellenists. They were pure Hebrew. You know the difference between a Hebrew and a Hellenist? The Hebrews were thoroughgoing Orthodox Jews, devout, rigid, yes, and bigoted. The Hellenists were Greek-speaking Jews who lived out in the provinces and who were much more flexible and much more, uh, cosmopolitan as against the Hebrews that lived in Palestine. These Hellenists spoke the Greek language. They read the scriptures, the Old Testament, in the Greek tongue. They read the Greek translation of the Old Testament known as the Septuagint today. They rubbed shoulders every day with Gentiles. Oh, they frequented the synagogue, sure. Now, Paul was not of that crowd. He and his family were thoroughgoing, deeply devoted Hebrews up there in Tarsus. His father must have been, although we know nothing of his father in scripture, he must have been a man of some means. He taught his son a trade when he was young. He taught young Saul tent making, and he sent him a little later down to Jerusalem for his postgraduate course in, uh, the rabbinical law, where he was to sit at the feet of Gamaliel. When that baby boy was born, they gave him the name of Saul. Why not? Saul was the first king of Israel, and Saul came from the tribe of Benjamin. Baby Saul, you come from the tribe of Benjamin too. You and I are of the tribe of Benjamin, said his father, so we'll call you Saul. They may have given her a double name, Saul Paul, I don't know. Later he was known as Paul. But at any rate, he was taught a trade when he was young. Not only was he schooled in all the lore of, uh, of the Hebrew religion, but he was taught a trade. He was taught the work. It's no dishonor to teach our children trades. It's no dishonor to teach them a skill. All young people are not college material. And incidentally, if I may introduce an aside remark, I think a lot of parents make great mistakes by forcing their kids to go to college when they're not college material. They waste a lot of money and all the rest of it, but that, by the way. A good trade, there's nothing dishonorable about that. Saul of Tarsus was taught tent making when he was young, and often, I suppose, he worked in the looms of Tarsus, using the rough black, uh, hair of the goats of the Cilician hills, by which they made, made goat cloth and tent sails and, uh, tents and sails and all the rest of it. When Saul of Tarsus was in his teens, and when he finished his elementary education, he was sent all the way down to the great religious capital of Jerusalem to take a postgraduate course i- at the school of the famous Doctor Gamaliel. And there, that young man found himself in the holy, sacred capital and the center of Judaism. He rose very rapidly. I believe he was on the dean's list. He made straight A's. He was skilled in all the lore and all the rich traditions of the Old Testament. Concerning the law, he says to the Philippi- Fili- uh, the Philippians later on, he said, I was a Pharisee, and touching the righteousness which is in the law, I was blameless. He was thoroughly conversant with the letter of the Old Testament. He loved Judaism. It was his delight, it was his passion. But you know, it was while he was in Jerusalem that he became painfully aware of a sinister movement that was gaining momentum among his own people. This was that crazy, novel religion of the Nazarene. This Jesus of Nazareth had turned the heads of many of his fellow Jews. To him, this new thing called the Way, for that's what they called Christianity in those days. This new religion called the Way, Christianity, to young Saul of Tarsus was nothing short of sheer madness. He couldn't understand how anyone in his right mind could believe that Jesus of Nazareth could possibly be the Messiah of Israel. Had his, had the leaders not taken him and tried him? Had they not hung him up on a cross? Had they not executed him publicly between a couple of robbers? His name was ignominious. His name was a disgrace, and I suppose he spat in contempt every time he heard it. But this movement was gaining, and he was meeting other Jews who had embraced the new faith and who actually believed the crazy conco- concoction that Jesus Christ was the Messiah. He'd actually risen from the dead. Ever heard of such lunacy as that? Well, this was what some, and Saul of Tarsus was aroused. He was aroused. Here was a threat to his beloved Judaism. Moses, Abraham, the fathers, the God-given religion of the prophets was, was being threatened by the rise and the growth of this. Even some of the priests had embraced this new faith. And then, in the synagogue that he attended, he ran head on to a fervent young man whose arguments were a real challenge to his own fertile brain. His name was Stephen. Now, in the sixth chapter of Acts, did you notice that there were a number of synagogues in Jerusalem? In Ch- at chapter six of Acts and verse nine we read these words, six and nine: Then there arose certain of the synagogue, which is called the synagogue of the Libertines, of the freedmen, and Cyrenians, and Alexandrians. Now, you know where these places are, don't you? And, uh, them of, uh, Cilicia. Oh, hmm. And of Asia, disputing with Stephen. Cilicia. I suggest that Paul attended that synagogue. You see, these Jews had lived out in the outer provinces of the Roman Empire, and then they had moved into Jerusalem, and they had settled in Jerusalem. They retired in Jerusalem, and as they did so, they would gravitate to their own particular provincial synagogue. All Jews, but they went to their own provincial synagogue where they would, uh, uh, of course, consort with their friends. And it would only be natural that Saul of Tarsus, during his, uh, years of, uh, studies in Jerusalem, would go to the synagogue of Cilicia, for that was the province from which he came. Tarsus was in the province of Cilicia, and it was there that he met this young firebrand, Stephen. And when Stephen spoke, he advanced the idea that Jesus was the Messiah, that Jesus had actually risen from the dead, that he was the Son of God. And these two young men were on collision course, and it says that they could not, uh, withstand, they could not refute the force and the wisdom of Stephen. He spoke in the convicting power of the Spirit of God, and there were those that, well, he was a controversialist. He was a young, I was going to say revolutionary in the best sense of that word, so much so that finally Stephen found himself not only under the frown of the majority of the synagogue people, but they actually, they actually had a warrant issued for his arrest, and he was arraigned before the High Council, which was the Supreme Court in Israel. The council was the Sanhedrin, and it exist- it- it embraced seventy men, seventy men whose reputations were above reproach, and the high priest was the chairman of the Sanhedrin, and he made the seventy first. And- and Stephen was arraigned before the council. Now, they couldn't get anything on this young man that was incriminating, and so it says that they set up false witnesses, chapter six and verse thirteen. They set up false witnesses. They suborned men, verse eleven. that old word we don't use, do we? Verse eleven. then they suborned men. What does that mean? Simply means they bribed them. Simply means they secretly induced these men. They said, hey, you fellas, come here for a minute. Come on over here. Let's talk. Now look, we want you fellas, when the trial comes up, you get up, you and you and you, you get up and you say, we heard this fellow in our synagogue blaspheming Moses and blaspheming God and saying that this Jesus of Nazareth is going to destroy our synagogue and destroy our temple. You come and you, you, you say, you witness that he said that. Now this, of course, was a complete fabrication. There wasn't an ounce of truth in it, but you would expect men from the ghetto to do this, but you wouldn't expect the highest court in all the land to do it. Someone as well said, when you get the corruption of the best, you get the worst corruption there is, and it's true. There's nothing so corrupt as religious corruption, and that's exactly what they did. And Stephen was arraigned before that high, the highest court, the supreme court in the land. And the seventh chapter of the book of the Acts is one of the most moving chapters in the entire book. Here's a young man who's on trial for his life, and he stands up before all those doctors and all those theologians and all those self-righteous, self-opinion- opinionated Pharisees. And Stephen stands up in the power of the Holy Spirit, and he reads. No, he doesn't. He recites the highlights of the history of Israel as recorded in the Pentateuch. He starts with the call of Abraham, and he goes right down the line, and he rehearses in detail the, the story of Abraham and Joseph and Moses and so on, and he demonstrates that on every count, on every count, the people of Israel, the people of Israel disbelieved and rejected the man whom God sent. They rejected Joseph, they rejected Moses, they rejected the prophets, they rejected the men of God all down the line. And he, and the accused became the accuser. And that day, as Stephen spoke to that high exalted court, my dear friends, it was not Stephen who was on trial, it was the nation that was on trial. And the Holy Spirit speaking through Stephen rained in the fire of conviction against the nation of Israel. And notice how he sums up his evidence in chapter seven. Oh, oh, get something, my friends, of the mighty, mighty force of his words. Verse fifty one. Ye stiff-necked and uncircumcised in heart and ears, ye do always resist the Holy Ghost as your fathers did, so did ye. Which of the prophets have your, have not your fathers persecuted? And they have slain them that showed before the coming of the Just One, of whom ye, ye have now been the betrayers of and murderers, who have received the law by the disposition of angels and have not kept it. And I say, wow. Wow, what a torrent of holy lava pours from the volcano of his heart. You stiff-necked, you uncircumcised in heart and ears, you've killed your Messiah. The result was, my friends, the fire flashed into the eyes of those men. They began to prophesy them out. They began to gnash their teeth. They rose up in one accord, and they rushed upon Stephen, and they laid hold on him. Someone said to me, they didn't have a trial. No, they didn't have a trial. They took the law into their own hands. In the ti- time of our Lord, they gave him a semblance of a trial with Stephen, they gave him none. They took the law into their own hands, and they tore Stephen apart almost. It says they dragged him out of the city. They dragged him out of the city. The city was too holy for his execution in their thoughts, so they dragged him out of the city, and there they stoned him to death. One of the most moving paragraphs, perhaps in all the Word, begins with verse fifty four of chapter seven. When they heard these things, they were cut to the heart and gnashed on him with their teeth, but he, but he, being full of the Holy Spirit, looked up steadfastly into heaven and saw the glory of God. Brethren, that's the only way you'll ever see the glory of God, to be filled with the Holy Spirit and look up toward heaven. And the Spirit of God says, there he is up there. There he is. He's not on a cross now. He's up there. The Church of Rome keeps the Lord Jesus either in the arms of Mary or else hanging on a cross. I want to say tonight, Jesus Christ is not in the arms of Mary. Thank God he was once, but he's no longer in the arms of Mary. He's no longer a Mad- Madonna, and he's no longer hanging on a cross. Jesus Christ is alive tonight. He's risen tonight, and Stephen, full of the Holy Spirit, says, there he is. He saw the glory of God and Jesus standing on the right hand of God, verse fifty six, and he said, behold, I see the heavens open, Son of Man standing on the right hand of the Lord Jesus, either in the arms of Mary or else hanging on a cross. I want to say tonight, Jesus Christ is not in the arms of Mary. Thank God he was once, but he's no longer in the arms of Mary. He's no longer a Mad- Madonna, and he's no longer hanging on a cross. Jesus Christ is alive tonight. He's risen tonight. And Stephen saw the Holy Spirit says, there he is. He saw the glory of God and Jesus standing on the right hand of God, verse fifty six. And he said, behold, I see the heavens open, Son of Man standing on the right hand of God. And they cried out with a loud voice, stopped their ears, ran upon him with one accord, cast him out of the city, and stoned him. And the witnesses laid down their clothes at the young man's feet. His name was Saul. Saul. I've heard of you before. Saul. Yeah, Saul said, I was there. I was there. I was too young to throw the stones, but I said, hey, I'll keep your clothes. Give it to him. Make the stones find their target. I'll look after your clothes. Saul of Tarsus kept the clothes of those bloodthirsty executioners. They stoned Stephen, verse fifty nine. They stoned Stephen, calling upon God and saying, Lord Jesus, receive my spirit. He kneeled down and cried with a loud voice. Lord, lay not this sin to their charge. When he had said this, and I'd been writing that out and said he died under a shower of stone. The Holy Spirit said he fell asleep. Wonderful. When he said this, he what? He fell asleep. Fell asleep. You know, Saul of Tarsus was standing there that day, and I believe that that young man saw for the first time a Christian die in a manner like that, calling upon his God for the forgiveness of his execution. Like his master, Lord, lay not this sin to their charge. Father, forgive them, they know not what they do. And then Lord Jesus, receive my spirit. And he fell asleep. Paul of Tarsus, I believe, friends, was haunted. I said haunted by those eyes and by that face for days to come. I believe that wherever Saul of Tarsus in his waking hours went, he saw Stephen. I think he heard Stephen. Lord, receive my spirit. Saul of Tarsus, my friends, the Spirit of God began to work in that young man's heart. But instead of, instead of yielding to the convicting thrusts of the Spirit of God, in his madness, he went after Christians like a wolf that in the morning devours the prey. He tells one of his, one of his judges later on, and I read it from the New American Standard Version, later on he wrote these words: So then I thought of myself that I had to do many things hostile to the name of Jesus of Nazareth, and this is just what I did in Jerusalem. Not only did I lock up many of the saints in prisons, having received authority from the chief priests, but also when they were being put to death, I cast my vote against them. And as I punished them often in all the synagogues, I tried to force them to blaspheme, and being furiously enraged at them, I kept pursuing them even unto foreign cities. I don't believe that man ever forgave himself for what he did to Christians. He rose so rapidly in the ranks of the Jewish authorities that he soon found himself at the head of the secret police, the dreaded Gestapo. When Christians heard the name of Saul, they trembled, they shrank. He was after them, men and women, it didn't matter what their sex was. You're of this way, you believe in this Jesus, now you come with me. He took them to prison, he forced them to blaspheme. He put them to death. He was infuriated. So zealous was he for his beloved Judaism, which he reckoned was under such a serious threat. Then one day he went to the chief priest, and he said, listen, I hear that there's some of these wretched Christians up there in Damascus. Do you know how far Damascus is from Jerusalem? Damascus, I don't know myself. I know Antioch is about three hundred and fifty miles. Damascus, I would say it's one hundred and fifty miles. That about right? About one hundred and fifty miles north of Jerusalem. That's a long way when you're not traveling by car. But anyhow, away up in Damascus, the Syrian capital, there were believers of the way up there. And so he had authority. He got the list of names, the suspect, and he got the authorization from the right per- person in Jerusalem. And so much were they behind him in his, uh, mission that they gave him a cavalcade, they gave him a, a retinue of, of men to go with him and to conduct him from Jerusalem up there in order that he might ferret out those Christians. Did the Christians in Damascus know he was coming? Sure they did. By the grapevine, the brethren's grapevine, you know how word gets around. Well, anyhow, they heard about him way up there in Damascus, that he was coming. I know that because Ananias argued with the Lord. The Christians in Damascus all knew, and those sheep in Damascus huddled in their folds, and they said, the, the head of the Gestapo is coming up here. He's after us. What are we going to do? Now, friends, there was no Christian church. There was no assembly in, in Damascus as we know it. There was none. The Christians were still in the synagogues. And for a long time, they stayed in the synagogues. People say to me sometimes today, I don't know how these Roman Catholics who have been born again can stay in the Roman Catholic Church. There are thousands of born-again Catholics today. There's a mighty movement of the Spirit of God going on, the like of which I've never seen in my little life. In the Roman Catholic Church, thousands have been born again, tens of thousands in recent years, even priests. People say, how can they stay in the Catholic Church? I don't know. I don't know. But my friends, I know that many of the Christians stayed in the synagogues for many years after the conversion in the book of the Acts. They didn't separate themselves the day after they were saved. They stayed there, and it was when the opposition became such that they separated and became separate, uh, Christian churches. That, by the way, they were still in the synagogue. Saul of Tarsus went up there. He undertook that long journey from Jerusalem up to, to, to Damascus. And you know the rest of the story. At high noon, on the outskirts of Damascus, as he came over a hill, I suppose, and there lay that city. Have you ever seen Damascus? It's really, you know, it's a shabby old city, the oldest city in the world, I suppose. Still are those old formidable walls there in the street called Straits still there, and all the rest of it. But at Damascus is really an oasis. That's all it is. The rivers Aban and Harper are still there, and Damascus is the great. That's what it is, capital of Syria. And Saul of Tarsus burst over a hill with his retinue of men, and they saw Damascus. They were within reach of the sheepfold. Woe be to those believers when I get my hand on you. And suddenly something happened at high noon. There flashed upon him a light above the brightness of the sun, and he was on his face. And the men that were with him were on their faces all over the place. Prostrate in the dust, he heard a voice saying, Saul, Saul, why persecutest thou me? Now, turn to your ninth of Acts and notice three very significant pronouns. I think they're interrogative pronouns, if I remember my grammar. The fourth verse, why? You get that? Verse five, who? Verse six, what? And the whole story turns on those three pronouns. Why? Who? What? The Lord Jesus, from the excellent glory, the voice behind the light, said, Saul, Saul, why persecutest thou me? And he looked up and he said, who are you? Who are you, Lord? Brethren, Saul of Tarsus knew that God was up there. He knew that Jehovah was up there, but when he said, who art thou, Lord, and the voice came back, I am Jesus, whom thou persecutest. Jesus. Jesus. Not Jesus. We killed him. He, my friend, had the voice said, I am God, he would have said, yes, I know you're God, you're up there. If the voice had said, I am the Lord, he'd have said, yes, I know, Lord, you're up there. But the voice didn't say, I am God. The voice didn't say, I am the Lord. The voice said, I am Jesus. I believe, brethren, that was a hammer blow at that man. Absolute hammer blow. Jesus? We killed Jesus. He's buried. He's dead. We got rid of him. Oh no, the Lord said, you haven't got rid of me. I'm up here. I'm up here in the glory. I am Jesus, who not persecutes. I believe, my friends, that that came with crushing effect upon that proud persecuting Pharisee. He learned four truths in a flash. Number one, he learned what? He learned that Jesus Christ was raised from the dead. He learned that Jesus was risen. Second, he learned the oneness of Christ and his own. Third, he learned the futility of resisting the truth. It's hard for thee to kick against the goad. And fourth, he learned the perfect knowledge of Christ. Saul, Saul. Four things he learned without going to any theological college. He learned, my friends, by that wonderful experience. Why persecutest thou me? Why? He might have said, I'm not persecuting you, Lord, I'm persecuting these miserable Christians down here. Oh no, the Lord says you're not. You're persecuting me because I'm one with those my people. Someone has said that he learned the truth of the body of Christ. He was persecuting the body on earth, and the head in heaven cried out. You can't kick my shins without hurting my head. If you kick my shins or enter my body, my head will cry out. That's exactly what happened. The glorified head in heaven, the body on earth, and the Lord said, those are my people. You're not persecuting them, you're persecuting me. And I need to remember that when I say mean things about my brethren. I need to remember that when I castigate and undermine and criticize and gossip about my fellow members of the body of Christ. And when I say the body of Christ, I mean the body of Christ, not just our little peewee assemblies. I mean the whole brotherhood, the whole spiritual brother. There are brethren in Christ. Why persecutest thou me? Why? Do I speak to any who does not know this wonderful Savior tonight? Why are you the enemy of Jesus Christ? Come on. Why are you his enemy? He's done you nothing but good. He died for you. Why are you embittered against him? Why? So we have the why of conviction. Why persecutest thou me? And then we have the who of conversion. Verse five: Who art thou, Lord? Who are you? I am Jesus of Nazareth, whom thou persecutest. No use asking me to believe in Jesus unless you tell me something about him. Who is he? He's the glorious Son of God, and he's the Son of man. He was a true man, but not a mere man, right? He is a truly man, and he's God and man in one glorious, indivisible person. He's the one, friend, to whom, if you commit your heart and life tonight by a simple trot, he'll change your life. He'll give you new direction. He'll give you new aspirations, new appetites, new desires. He'll give you salvation, eternal life, forgiveness of sins, and he'll give you his Holy Spirit. Who art thou, Lord? I am Jesus, whom thou persecuted. And then comes the what of consecration, and that's in verse six. He turns now and says, Lord, what will thou have me to do? No arguments, perfect submission, perfect surrender, and he won by surrendering. That's how you and I win. Make me a captive, Lord, and then I shall be free. That's the whole philosophy of the Christian gospel. What wilt thou have me to do? And the Lord said, he did not say, now here's a blueprint for your life. Here it is, one, two, three. He said, go into the city and it shall be told thee what thou shall do. Well, I want to know where I'll get my information from. The Lord says, go into the city, and there you'll get your directions, one step at a time, Saul. And when he opened his eyes, he couldn't see. And they had to take him by the hand and lead him into the city of Jerusalem, in the city of Damascus, by the hand. My dear friends, he expected to ride into that city with all kinds of pomp and circumstance, all kinds of fire and fury. He went in as a blind man, being led by the hand. What a come down. But oh, my friends, with a subdued heart, with a renewed will, with a new birth, and Christ became a reality to him. And for three days, he didn't eat or drink. He wasn't baptized, he wasn't filled by the Holy Spirit. Now, I don't understand it all. Don't come and ask me afterward just what happened and why this lapse of three days. Personally, I believe he was born of God on the, uh, the day he said, Lord Jesus, who are you? I believe he was born of God and indwelt by the Holy Spirit, but I don't think he was filled with the Holy Spirit until three days later, until Ananias came. And isn't it remarkable how that at the end of the three days or during the three days, the Lord came to Ananias. Who is Ananias? He wasn't even a preacher. He was a certain disciple. He had a good reputation. He belonged to these hated way people. He belonged to these hated Christians that met in the synagogues. And the Lord said to Ananias, Ananias, I want you to go to the house of Judas on Straight Street, and you'll find a man named Saul of Tarsus there. I want you to baptize him. I want you to lay your hands on him. I want you to give him, uh, thy, uh, my blessing, and I'll fill him with my Holy Spirit. And it's kind of cute, the way Ananias argues with the Lord. They must have been on very close terms. It's rather remarkable. He argues with him. You ever do that? He said, what, Lord, this, there's some mistake here somewhere. You don't mean Saul of Tarsus. Yes, I mean Saul of Tarsus. Well, Lord, I want to tell you something about that man. We all know his reputation. That's not the man you mean, because that man has come here to the city, and we're all scared to death. He's come with a sword. He's come to arrest us. He's come with a pocket full of warrants, and he's going to crush us. I'm not going to baptize a man like that. The Lord said to Ananias in his vision, he said, it's all right. Ananias, I've been there before you have. I've met him. I've changed his life, and behold, he's praying. Behold, he's praying. I said at the beginning that he'd said prayers all his life, but he never prayed. He never prayed until this time. And during those three days, I believe, my friends, that blind man sitting in a corner in the house of Judas on Straight Street, Damascus, I think he was, I think the Lord was dealing with that man. I think, my friends, perhaps he was, he was receiving some new revelations. I don't know, but he was praying. He was praying. He was in fellowship with his Lord. He was trying to assess things and so on. And on the third day, Ananias, directed by the Lord, and Saul having already received a vision that this man Ananias was going to come and do the very thing. God works. He corroborates a vision to Ananias, a vision to Saul. He corroborates the true and he too, and he coalesces in his dealings, and he brings these two men together, and Ananias comes in. I can imagine, my friends, as he was going down the street, straight street toward the house of Judas, saying, my word, I wonder what I'll find there. Saul of Tarsus of all men, surely it can't be true. I must have had a nightmare. I just can't understand how he could possibly... What will I call him when I see him? He says, I know what I'll call him. I'll just call him brother. I'll just call him brother. The Lord has told me that he's now in the brotherhood. He belongs to the believers. And going into the house, he said, Brother Saul, and he put his hands on him. My word, my friends, if he'd have tried to do that three days before, Saul of Tarsus would say, keep your dirty hands off me. You're a Christian. Don't you touch me. I won't have anything to do with you. Your hands are defiled. But Ananias, the simple Christian, comes and lays his hands on this blind Saul of Tarsus, and God fills him with the Holy Spirit of God. See what I said, the post-conversion and repeated experience, the filling of the Holy Spirit. He's filled with the Spirit of God, and he rises and he's baptized. His eyes are open, the scales fall, and he's a new man, and in the power of the Holy Spirit, he goes into the synagogue with all the boldness and the joy and the conviction of his newfound experience, and he proclaims Jesus as the Son of God. People say, how do you know he's the Son of God? He said, I met. I saw him in the glory. I heard his word. I've had an experience with him. My friend, do you know this Savior? Do you know him? Do you love him? Is your response tonight, Lord, what wilt thou have me to do? I don't know what you want me to do, Lord. Lord says, I'll tell you what I want you to do. Most of us want a blueprint for our lives, you know. We want to know it all in advance. The Lord says, I'll tell you step by step. I'll bring an Ananias o- over your path. I'll bring a sister in your way or a brother in your way, and I'll bring a convergence of circumstances, and I'll speak to you. You see, the guidance of Saul came through, well, a vision, sure, direct communication with his new Lord, and then through Ananias and through the brethren there. And friends, he found himself, instead of coming to devour the sheep, he came to divide the spoil. And he said, brethren, I want to tell you what's happened to me. Oh, to God be the glory, great things he has done. He's changed my life. And he went out from that experience, my friends, in love, with a love for the risen Christ that never waned or cooled off for five seconds to the end of his life, until at the end of that long, arduous life, he said, I have kept the faith. I am now ready to be offered. The time of my departure is at hand. And he said, Lord, here I come to thee. What a story. What a faith. Saul of Tarsus is gone. Ananias is dead, but Jesus is still alive, and my heart says, hallelujah. Amen? Amen.