And we'll open our Bibles to the ninth chapter
of the book of Acts. To the passage recounting
the conversion of Saul, which we have had suggested
to us this morning already in the dramatic reading.
Acts chapter 9. Now Saul, still breathing threats
and murder against the disciples of the Lord.
went to the high priest and asked for letters
from him to the synagogues at Damascus so that
if he found any belonging to the way, both men
and women, he might bring them bound to Jerusalem.
And it came about that as he journeyed, he was
approaching Damascus and suddenly a light from
heaven flashed around him. And he fell to the
ground and heard a voice saying to him, Saul,
Saul. Why are you persecuting me? And he said,
Who art thou, Lord? And he said, I am Jesus,
whom you are persecuting. But rise and enter
the city, and it shall be told you what you must
do. And the men who traveled with him stood speechless,
hearing the voice, but seeing no one. And Saul
got up from the ground, and though his eyes were
open, he could see nothing. And leading him by
the hand, they brought him into Damascus. And
he was there. Three days without sight, and neither
ate nor drank. Now there was a certain disciple
of Damascus named Ananias. And the Lord said
to him in a vision, Ananias. And he said, Behold,
here am I, Lord. And the Lord said to him, Arise
and go to the street called Straight, and inquire
at the house of Judas for a man from Tarsus named
Saul. For behold, he is praying. And he has seen
in a vision a man named Ananias come in and lay
his hands on him, so that he might regain his
sight. But Ananias answered, Lord, I have heard
from many about this man, how much harm he did
to thy saints at Jerusalem. And here he has authority
from the chief priests to bind all who call upon
thy name. But the Lord said to him, Go, for he
is a chosen instrument of mine. to bear my name
before the Gentiles and kings and the sons of
Israel, for I will show him how much he must
suffer for my name's sake. And Ananias departed
and entered the house, and after laying his hands
on him said, Brother Saul, the Lord Jesus, who
appeared to you on the road by which you were
coming, has sent me so that you may regain your
sight and be filled with the Holy Spirit. And
immediately there fell from his eyes something
like scales. And he regained his sight, and he
arose and was baptized. And he took food and
was strengthened. Now for several days he was
with the disciples who were at Damascus. And
immediately he began to proclaim Jesus in the
synagogue, saying, He is the Son of God. And
all those hearing him continued to be amazed
and were saying, Is this not he who in Jerusalem
destroyed those who called on this name? and
who had come here for the purpose of bringing
them down before the chief priests. But Saul
kept increasing in strength and confounding the
Jews who lived in Damascus by proving that this
Jesus is the Christ. And when many days had elapsed,
the Jews plotted together to do away with him.
But their plot became known to Saul, and they
were also watching the gates day and night so
that they might put him to death. But his disciples
took him by night and led him down through an
opening in the wall, lowering him in a large
basket. When he had come to Jerusalem, he was
trying to associate with the disciples. They
were all afraid of him, not believing that he
was a disciple. But Barnabas took hold of him
and brought him to the apostles and described
to them how he had seen the Lord on the road,
that he had talked to him, and how at Damascus...
He had spoken out boldly in the name of Jesus.
He was with them moving about freely in Jerusalem,
speaking out boldly in the name of the Lord.
He was talking and arguing with the Hellenistic
Jews, but they were attempting to put him to
death. When the brethren learned of it, they
brought him down to Caesarea and sent him away
to Tarsus. Powerful moving drama grips. The text
that we have read, religious zeal, the supernatural,
intrigued to murder, daring escapes, combined
with the conversion of an angry persecutor into
an ardent preacher to make this an exciting drama
in the book of Acts. What is in the making here?
The answer to that is an apostle of Jesus Christ.
one who would be commissioned by Christ himself
personally to represent him, to speak with authority,
to establish his church. The Apostle Paul is
the greatest of the apostles, I think. He is
the apostle of the church, and he himself calls
himself the apostle to the Gentiles. Why, we'll
see as we move on through the book. Across the
stage of events in our text come four main characters,
each of whom has a vital part to play in the
unfolding drama of what God is doing in the world.
The first person is Saul, Saul of Tarsus. He
is in the part of the enemy. He comes to Damascus
with an intention to destroy the church of God.
The second part is that of Jesus. Jesus the Lord,
who intervenes to convert the enemy. The third
part is played by Ananias. He is in the part
of the disciple of Jesus, who brings the induction
to Paul. for him to serve the Lord Jesus Christ.
And finally, there is the main character, Barnabas,
who plays the part of the friend, who brings
an introduction on behalf of Saul to encourage
him. Now let's study about those four main characters
and the parts they play in this drama. The first
is Saul, who is the enemy. He is pictured in
the text as a wild animal, an animal that has
gotten the taste of blood and is wildly going
after his prey. Or to put it a different way,
we see him as a soldier organizing a foray to
capture his enemies, the Christians in Damascus,
and to bring them back to Jerusalem in bonds
so that he might... deal with them. He is planning
to destroy the work of God. He, of course, was
not the first. He certainly was not the last
who attempted to destroy the work of God and
who himself had a change. The account of Saul's
conversion is recorded three times in the book
of Acts. In addition to this text, chapter 22
and again chapter 26. That tells us how important
this is to what Luke wants to communicate to
us about the early church. What is in Saul's
mind as he travels that road to Damascus? Certainly
he is seeking out Christians. desiring to put
them into bonds, perhaps even to kill them. He
sees this sect of Christianity, those who follow
Jesus the Nazarene, as an offshoot of Judaism
that needed to be dealt with sternly, put away,
destroyed. He intends to be the instrument of
God to do that. But I believe as we study the
New Testament, We find that there are some things
going on inside of Saul that are not mentioned
in the narrative of Acts 9. Saul is in a struggle
as he marches down the road toward Damascus.
I believe that there are three strains of thought
that are flowing through his mind. He seeks to
suppress them. He wants to drown these things
in his zeal. to destroy the church, but he can't.
The first strain of thought in his mind is his
memory of Stephen's death scene. I believe the
Apostle had a difficult time putting that out
of his mind, for he was the one who was in charge
of that execution, so it would seem from the
account earlier in Acts. And yet he heard this
one that they killed pray for his executors and
asked the Lord to forgive them for their deed.
I don't think Saul could get away from the prayer
of Stephen. It plagued him. In Romans chapter
7, and I'd like you to turn there, I think we
have another strain of thought going through
his mind. In this text in Romans 7, Saul later
called Paul recounts for us what was going on
in his heart in his days before he was converted.
I believe that what he says in verses 7 and 8
of Romans 7 gives us some insight into a spiritual
struggle that he was having. He's talking here
about the law and its relationship to the believers,
but he says this, What shall we say then? Is
the law sin? May it never be. On the contrary,
I would not have come to know sin except through
the law. For I would not have known about coveting
if the law had not said, You shall not covet.
But sin, taking opportunity through the commandment,
produced in me coveting of every kind. Apart
from the law, sin is dead, and I was once alive
apart from the law. But when the commandment
came, sin became alive, and I died. Paul is not
saying that the law was sin or it was used for
ill in his life. Indeed, he's saying just the
opposite. The apostle is saying that God did
not give the law to save or to sanctify anybody.
By keeping the law, by keeping the Ten Commandments,
no person can enter heaven, because none of us
can keep it perfectly. Indeed, we have all broken
all of the commandments, if not indeed at least
in thought. Paul is telling us here that the
law is actually God's spotlight, designed to
shine into our darkened hearts to expose and
reveal the sin. that is in us. But not only does
it expose the sin, it agitates it. It actually
becomes a beachhead in our lives, the law does,
allowing sin to enter in and cause us to sin
all the more. Paul said, I would not have understood
what coveting was if the law hadn't said, you
shouldn't do this, you shouldn't covet. They
said, once I understood that, I coveted all the
more. You may recall we studied this a couple
of years ago. The idea is just like the sign
that says, please do not walk in the grass. So
where do you walk? Why not? What's wrong with
this grass? We walk across it. Or the sign says,
wet paint, please do not touch. I wonder if it's
dry yet. Yep, it's still wet. When we have a
prohibition given to us, what does it do? It
strikes sparks in us out of curiosity or something.
We want to try that. That's what Paul is saying.
God said, Thou shalt not covet. What did it do
in him? It caused him to covet all the more.
My point is this. I think that as Paul was heading
down the road to Damascus, he was under conviction
of sin. According to the law and the righteousness
of the law, as he said in Philippians 3, he was
blameless. That is, outwardly, in all the rituals,
he did all of the right things. But the law could
not deliver him from his inward sin. It only
exposed it and agitated it. And so as he was
going down that road, outwardly he was righteous.
He was doing everything right as much as he understood
it. But inside, there was sin. And it was eating
away at him. He was under conviction of God.
He had studied the law, you see. He was a Pharisee
of the Pharisees. He knew it inside and out.
And now the Spirit of God began to use the commandments
that he studied to expose his own sin. That was
the second strain going through his mind. As
he headed toward Damascus. I believe that there
is a third strain. This too is found in the book
of Romans. And I'd like you to look at the 16th
chapter. And verse 7. He says, Notice that. He
lists other Jews in this text. So I don't think
he's saying my fellow Jews. He's using kinsmen
here in the sense of my blood relatives, family
members, my kinsmen and my fellow prisoners who
are outstanding among the apostles, who also
were in Christ before me. I think that Paul was
troubled by something else as he headed toward
Damascus, and that was that some of his own family
had come to trust. In Jesus of Nazareth as the
Christ. And he knew that if he followed the path
long enough, persecuting believers, it was going
to lead right back to his own family. I don't
think he could understand why these good Jews,
these ones who were his own loved ones, would,
as he would view it at this point, turn from
their faith. and follow after this Jesus, this
false teacher, this sect, become Christians.
That troubled him. He knew that they were good
Jews. They were not half -hearted. But now, now
they were Christians. He was plagued by that.
I believe that all of that was churning inside
Paul as he headed toward Damascus. He was hidden.
He was unobserved by those around. All who looked
at him said, what a marvelous example of a Jew.
They applauded him for his zeal. But inside,
inside, Saul knew differently. He was being eaten
away by his inner struggles. I may be talking
to someone right now who is similar to Saul.
Outwardly, people see you as Mr. Wonderful, Miss
Perfect. You've got it all together, those around
you think. You are zealous in your work for the
Lord as best you understand it at this point.
But down inside of you, you are struggling. There's
something eating at you. Secret way inside are
thoughts that you are afraid to face, just as
Saul was. I pray to God that before we leave
here today, whatever those thoughts are, that
you'll face them and begin to deal with them.
That's what happened to Saul. Saul was enthusiastic
in his persecution of the way. term is used five
of the times in the book of Acts for Christianity.
It was called by those early people the way.
He was fanatic in his devotion to put out the
flame that had started. You may help you to remember
that when someone reacts to you bitterly or angrily,
when you're seeking to witness to them, they
are often facing what Saul was facing. They are
facing some inner battles that they don't want
to face yet, perhaps even the conviction of sin.
Their harsh reaction to you, their defiant arguments,
their nasty words are only a cover -up for the
emptiness, the ache, and the pain. that they
feel down deep inside. So don't react to them
negatively. Don't point your finger at God and
say, Lord, why did you get me into this fine
mess? But rather say, Lord, thank you for allowing
me to share with this person who by his angry
reaction is telling me that down inside he's
struggling with you. Let's move ahead now and
look at the second main character, the main character,
that is Jesus the Lord. We observe here an intervention
on his part to convert Saul of Tarsus. Have you
ever looked at someone in a lot of trouble and
said, there but by the grace of God would be
me? I suppose all of us have said or thought
that at some point. and some of the missions
in Chicago as a student there. I saw young men
my age who were drunkards, had nothing in this
world, dressed in rags, living in the streets.
There were times when I said, but by the grace
of God, I might be one of those sad, lost people.
Well, as you look at this man marching toward
Damascus, I want you to remember something. There
but by the grace of God would be you. I don't
know what road you were marching on on the day
that Jesus Christ intervened in your life, but
I do know the destiny of that road. It was hell.
It was destruction. It was death. and the Lord
Jesus Christ, by His sovereign grace, intervened
in your life. No, it may not have been as it
was with Saul, with a light from heaven, but
He shined a light into your heart, bringing you
to the awareness of your sin and your need for
Him. You opened your heart and trusted Christ.
Never forget. That that, too, was the intervention
of Jesus Christ in a supernatural way in your
life and your journey in this world. Some of
you may still be on that journey. And Jesus Christ
is knocking on your heart's door today, seeking
to intervene. I hope that you'll let him in.
Notice the particulars of Saul's conversion,
which has been called, and I think accurately
so, the most significant conversion in the New
Testament. It was about noontime, according to
chapter 22. By the way, each of the three accounts
gives a few different details. They are not contradictory
at all. They easily fit together if one looks
at the text. We see in chapter 22 it was about
noontime, the time of day when the sun would
be at its peak in the sky at its brightest. By
the way, the journey from Jerusalem to Damascus
was and still is today about 150 miles. It would
take a person at that time some six to eight
days walking in order to cover that distance.
This seems to have been the final day of the
long journey. They are weary by this time. The
sun is up there beating down on their heads.
And as they are walking along about noontime,
there is a light. In chapter 22, it says it was
very bright. And in chapter 26 it says, brighter
than the sun. That had to be bright. It's shown
all around Paul and his companions. It was like
the strike of lightning, except it didn't go
away in a few milliseconds. I was watching the
storm come the other evening, sitting out on
the front steps, marveling. at the beauty of
the lightning as it was flashing from cloud to
cloud, stretching from horizon to horizon, absolutely
gorgeous in its display of God's power. But however
beautiful that lightning was, it was there and
it was gone that fast. But this light, dazzling
in its beauty, was like lightning that struck
right next to Paul and it stayed there. It was
brighter than the noonday sun in its brilliance.
The response on the part of all of them was to
fall flat on the ground, begin to hug the stones.
They were humbled before this light. And Saul,
and only Saul, saw the person of Jesus Christ
in that light. He did not recognize him, of course,
but he heard a voice from him. Jesus spoke in
Hebrew according to chapter 26, verse 14. All
of them, by the way, heard the sound of a voice,
but only Paul was able to decipher the articulated
words of the speaker. And the conversation as
it's reconstructed from the three texts was something
like this. Who are you, Lord? The word Lord can
be used in the sense of sir. a polite address
and there are those who take it that way here
i have a hard time thinking that saul would say
sir i think he recognized from his background
his familiarity with the scriptures that this
was a divine person who are you lord i am jesus
whom you are persecuting and jesus said In chapter
26, it's recorded, Is it hard for you to kick
against the pricks, the goads? Interesting thought
there. Jesus pictures Saul as an animal who's
kicking against the sharp instrument poking him.
As I grew up and we had animals that we would
sell occasionally, we would get sharp sticks
that served as goads. There is something about
a steer that he knows when he's on his way to
the market. You can give him to do about anything
when he's just going to run around the pen, but
when he knows he's going up that chute into the
truck and eventually go to the butcher, there
is some innate sense about that animal that he
becomes more like a mule than a steer. You have
to prod him and goad him to get him into the
chute and then up the chute and into the truck,
and you quickly close the gate. Well, it seems
here that Saul was like that animal, being goaded
by the conviction inside of him, kicking against
it, battling, struggling within, not wanting
to go that direction. But the Lord is dealing
with him. It's hard for you to kick. against
the pricks isn't it saul notice that his response
was what shall i do lord in an instant of time
he not only recognized who jesus christ is his
divinity his deity but he recognized that he
saul needed to obey him he jesus was saul's lord
Jesus' response, as it is recounted here in this
brief record in Acts 9, was, Rise and enter the
city, and it shall be told you what you must
do. So blinded, Saul was led to a house in Damascus.
It was owned by one Judas. He lived on Straight
Street. Straight Street was one of two parallel
streets in the city that went from wall to wall,
running east to west. Still today, there is a
straight street in the city of Damascus in Syria.
Saul suffered a severe traumatic shock to his
system there on the road. The light blinded his
eyes, may have left them permanently damaged,
if in fact the thorn in the flesh that he had
was an eye problem. But I believe the reason
that for three days he was without food or drink
was because of what happened inside him. Yes,
it was shocking to go through the experience
of being in the presence of God. But I believe
that all of this began to settle into Paul's
heart and he understood the staggering implications
involved for him. He was going to have to rewrite
his theology books. This one whose name he sought
to wipe out of existence was now his God and
his Lord. Everything was going to be different
now. You're talking about a man who was sold
out to what he believed. And he was now going
to be no less sold out to what he understood
regarding Jesus Christ. For three days, He took
no nourishment, but simply tried to absorb in
his blinded condition all that had happened to
him. Enter main character three, Ananias, playing
the part of one of the Lord's disciples. This
is the only record of him. He goes out of the
record of Acts at this point, never to reappear
in the pages of God's Word. This, of course,
is a completely different man than we studied
earlier. That man died under the judgment of
God. Here we have Ananias, the disciple. He brings
an induction to service to the Apostle Paul.
He first has a vision, though. He is unaware
of the events on the Damascus Road. Jesus tells
him to go to this particular house. To minister
to Saul, Ananias responded with apprehension
notice in verse 13, Lord, I have heard many things
about this man, how much harm he did to thy saints
at Jerusalem. By the way, that's the only time
in Acts the word saints is found. And here he
has authority from the chief priest to bind all
who call upon thy name. Lord, do you understand
who this fellow is? And Jesus responds graciously
to Ananias, and he says, Ananias, go. He is my
chosen instrument, a vessel. And he will bear
my name before the Gentiles. Notice the first
group mentioned. That is significant for Paul's
ministry. And kings, perhaps even later before
the emperor in Rome. And the sons of Israel,
the Jews, they are to be the objects of the ministry
of this man whom I have chosen, says God, and
I will show him how many victories he will have
for my name's sake. Know what he says? No. He
says, I'm going to show him how much he must
suffer. For my name's sake. When did we get the
idea that if one is a chosen instrument of God,
he's never going to suffer? That he's going to
be prosperous and healthy and victorious all
of his life. If that's what you believe, then
throw away your Bible. Because that is not what
the Bible teaches. The greatest of the apostles
of this age. suffered as much as any one of us,
and more than most. The commission was delivered
by Ananias. Ananias entered into the house and
noticed he said, Brother Saul, what sweet words
those must have been to this man. Brother. He
says, the Lord Jesus who appeared to you has
appeared to me. I've come that you might regain
your sight. and be filled with the Holy Spirit.
And immediately there fell from Saul's eyes something
like scales. Notice that Dr. Luke records this.
He's interested in it. The word for scales here
was the word used for the scales of an alligator
or crocodile or a snake, a fish. We don't know
exactly what it means. What happened to his eyes?
Was it a cataract that God put there and which
God now removes? Perhaps it's like an opaque
contact, as it would be described to us today,
which suddenly pops out of his eyes. And the
result is that he can suddenly see. And immediately
he arose and he was baptized in obedience to
the Lord, took food, and was strengthened. Saul
is drafted here by the Lord Jesus Christ into
service. It is interesting that later Saul says,
I serve the Lord willingly, but he said, if I
didn't, I would still have an obligation. Some
of you got letters at some point in your life
from one uncle named Sam. He said, greetings.
Isn't that a kind way to start? We're going to
describe to you that without your volunteering,
You were being drafted into service. Now, my
friend, that comes very close to what happened
to Saul. Saul was not going down the road looking
for an evangelist. He was not in a chariot reading
Isaiah 53, waiting for someone to come along
and explain the text to him. God simply intervenes
sovereignly into his life, turns him around,
and inducts him into service. Says, Saul, you
are drafted, period. Later, Saul says, before
I was born, God chose me for that. He calls himself
in Romans 1, a bondservant of Jesus Christ called
an apostle. 2 Timothy 1 .1, he says, an apostle
of Jesus Christ by the will of God. He said,
woe is unto me. if I do not preach the gospel.
He was constrained by his induction delivered
by Ananias from the Lord Jesus Christ to serve
him. And then we have in these following verses
the early years of his ministry. Notice that
immediately he began to proclaim Jesus. Where?
Notice that? He went right where his contacts
were. right to where everybody knew who he was.
You might think he would seek out some tavern
or some other part of town where there might
not be a Jew. No, he went straight to the synagogues
where there were the faithful Jews who knew who
he was and why he was coming to Damascus. And
what did he say? Jesus is the Son of God. By
the way, the only time you'll find that title
for Jesus in Acts. It is a favorite title of
Paul. as he's later called, he immediately began
to proclaim the deity of Jesus of Nazareth. And
what was the response? Well, those hearing him
continued to be amazed. They were beside themselves,
trying to understand how this man who tried to
destroy the name would now come and preach the
name. But Saul kept increasing in strength. The
idea seems to be in spiritual strength. and confounding
the Jews who lived in Damascus by proving that
this Jesus is the Christ. He had them in utter
confusion because he would take the Old Testament,
you see, and lay it out before them. Here are
the prophecies. And then he would take the account
of Jesus' life and put it right next to it and
say, look, this proves that Jesus is the Christ.
You know what? They couldn't answer him. They
didn't know what to say. They were absolutely
confounded, left speechless. The Apostle Paul,
remember, was one of the most brilliant men who
lived in that day. The brilliance that he once
used in his study of Judaism, he now uses to
prove the deity of the Son of God, Jesus Christ.
Now you notice that verse 23 begins by saying,
"...and when many days had elapsed." With that
brief pen stroke, Luke writes off three years
of time. In comparing Scripture with Scripture,
and I'm thinking of Galatians chapter 1, this
is the point at which Saul left Damascus and
went down to Arabia for a period of up to three
years. It seems that he was all by himself there,
and while he was there, he received directly
from the Lord revelation, which later he records
in his epistles for us. He met with Jesus Christ.
It was a lonely time in his life, humanly speaking.
He was by himself. He did not go back to Jerusalem
at this point. That is very important to remember,
and we'll see why in a little while. Then he
came back to Damascus directly from Arabia, and
we pick up the story. Many days elapsed, the
Jews plotted together to do away with him, and
their plot became known. You see, they began
to watch even the gates. The governor even seems
to have been involved in this. He tells us in
another place in 2 Corinthians. The governor
of the city even was involved, trying to kill
him, put him to death. And so his disciples took
advantage of someone whose home was on the wall.
Now the wall around Damascus was a broad thing.
There were homes built on this wall. And the
homes often would stick out over the edge so
that they could have let down a basket very easily.
This was a big basket, like you'd put hay or
straw in. And they let him down, he escaped,
and he got to Jerusalem. Now we have entering
main character number four, Barnabas. When he
got to Jerusalem, he repeatedly tried to associate
with the disciples and the apostles there. But
they were all afraid of him. The skepticism,
you see, persisted. They did not know that they
could trust this man. But Barnabas took hold
of him, verse 27, and brought him to the apostles.
and described to them how he had seen the Lord,
had talked to him, and had spoken out boldly
in Jesus' name. Here we have a friend, a man
who sees a brother struggling. What was Saul
struggling with? Acceptance. I would imagine
he was a little discouraged at this point. After
all, he had been commissioned by Jesus Christ
personally, had met with the Lord personally
in Arabia, and now he's back in Jerusalem and
these birds won't receive him. So he is a man
who is looking for his identity, trying to find
out why they're not accepting him. And here comes
Barnabas with his hand outstretched and he says,
let me introduce you. He takes them into the
presence of the apostles. And because of the
recommendation of Barnabas, they all accept him.
That's awfully important for you to do. Did you
know that there are people around you who are
looking to be accepted? Some are looking to be
accepted into God's family. They've been truly
converted. They may not know how to express it
yet. They may not look like it. They may not
even smell like it yet. But they're part of God's
family, and they're reaching out. You need to
reach out to them. If we may apply it to the
church, there are people looking to be incorporated
into this body. Reach out to those people. Reach
out to them. Even though you may not know them,
reach out to them. They need that at this critical
point in their lives. I thank God that when I
was a sophomore in high school and looking toward
some kind of ministry, that there was an evangelist
who came through our town who reached out to
me. He did something that was very simple, actually,
but it did something marvelous inside of me.
He had to make a trip back to the West Coast
from our home in Kansas. a little town, and he
invited me to go along with him, take a three
-week journey. I had not been beyond Colorado.
I didn't know what was beyond the mountains.
I'd never seen the ocean. He says, will you go
with me? And as we went, I had the opportunity
to share my testimony here and there, to preach
to one youth group. I can't tell you what his
reaching out to me did for me. Now, you may not
be able to do all of that for someone, but you
can reach out to them. Be a friend to encourage
them. Be that kind of person. And don't forget
children. Don't forget children when it comes
to that. There are lots of little people around
here who are looking up to you, just waiting
for a glance or a word or a smile. And how much
that attention can mean to one of those little
children. When I was just a little tyke, there
was a preacher in our church. I must have been
nine years old. He had a son who was in seminary.
I'm sad today to say that he is a pastor of the
largest liberal Baptist church in the state of
Kansas. But at that time, he was in seminary,
and I didn't know what a liberal was compared
to a rattlesnake. Today, I know they're very
close. But I didn't know it then. And this fellow,
just on a couple of brief occasions, said something
to me, and it left an imprint on my life that
God has used. Look for the little ones around
here. They're so important. They're so important.
Encourage them. Reach out to them. Well, that
happened to Saul, and notice that he began to
minister in Jerusalem, and once again a threat
developed, and he had to be secreted out of Jerusalem,
eventually went to Tarsus where he had grown
up. You know how long he was there before we
see him again? Ten years. You know, there are
some of us who get very disturbed because we
say, why isn't God doing something in my life?
Why am I going through this time of waiting?
Why do I seem to be in neutral now? Listen. Do
you realize that in one chapter of the book of
Acts, in between the verses, we cover 13 years
in the life of Saul? Almost a quarter of his
life in between the verses? Sometimes it is those
waiting periods. It's those times when we don't
think God is doing much. When we seem to be in
neutral, when in fact God is doing his greatest
work in us. So that he then might do some work
through us. Don't be impatient with God. Rest
in the Lord where you are. Serve Him where He's
placed you. And trust Him to work out the calendar
of your life perfectly. We must close. Let's
bow together. Lord, there are so many applications
that we see in our text today that need to be
made to our lives. I pray that the Spirit of
God would write those upon each one of us. Lord,
I want to pray especially for those, your children
here today, who, well, maybe some of them are
impatient. Time is passing by and they're wondering
what you're doing, why you're not acting. I pray
that you will reassure them that you're in control.
And may they settle into a position of faith,
believing you, trusting you during this quiet
time in their lives. I pray for those... Give
them a hand to see them on their way in their
journey with you. And Father, I also want to
pray for that one or two or more here today that
your spirit knows who, like Saul, is on a journey,
on a journey to hell and destruction. I pray
in Your grace, intervene in their lives today.
I pray that You will reveal to them their need
in the inner man and cause them to be able to
face that, to repent and turn to Jesus Christ,
Your Son, in faith, and to come out of their
night and their bondage and their sorrow to Him.
We pray this in Jesus' name. Amen.