Acts 9:1-23 - Part B

Saul of Tarsus hears those words. He understands something. This is something he is experiencing.

There's a light brighter than the sun. There's an audible voice speaking to him who knows his name, the double intonation. Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting me? Who are you, Lord? Who are you, sir? I'm Jesus.

Uh-oh. It means two things. It means, number one, the guy that he thought was dead isn't dead. He's alive.

He's talking to me. Today on Connect with Skip Heitig, Pastor Skip takes a look at Saul's shocking conversion experience. But first, here's a resource that honors the heroific sacrifice of today's martyrs for the Christian faith. We are witnessing an escalation in Christian persecution like we have rarely seen since the first century. Many people don't realize that today thousands of Christians are dying cruel deaths throughout much of the world. The New Book of Christian Martyrs commemorates these modern day heroes, highlighting key martyrs of past centuries and featuring stories of contemporary martyrs around the world. This compendium of heroes from the first century to the 21st century, from Europe to Africa and from Asia to the Americas, is sure to inspire you to courageously stand up for your Christian faith, just as they've done for countless Christians around the globe. The New Book of Christian Martyrs comes as our thanks for your gift of $50 or more to keep messages like this one today on the air for you and others, equipping you to know God's Word and follow His will with courage and conviction. So request your copy when you give today.

Call 800-922-1888 or give securely online at connectwithskip.com slash offer. Let's get started with Skip's teaching. We'll be in Acts 9 as we begin. Many times I've looked down on that lone stretch of road and wondered where it was where Saul of Tarsus had this event happen to him. And I've just thought about this in my mind because it was nearing Damascus that all of this happened. Now why Damascus?

Why is he going 160 miles north? Well, there was a huge Jewish population already in Damascus. There was about 40 synagogues that were populating the city at the time. Josephus, Flavius Josephus, the Jewish historian who worked for the Romans, said that on one occasion 10,000 Jews were killed in Damascus, which shows there was a sizable population that was in that city. And because Paul knew that that was one of the epicenters of Judaism and that this Jewish messianic movement could spread, he decided to tackle it in its inception.

Now what is his goal? Well, his goal as rabbi Saul is to stop this insane movement that believes that Jesus is the messiah. In Saul's mind, you got a bunch of Jewish people believing that a dead guy is the messiah. That's how Saul of Tarsus saw him. He did not believe in the resurrection. He will in a moment. But at this point, Jesus is a dead guy. And the law, his law, says cursed is everyone who hangs on a tree.

Why would anybody put their faith in a dead guy? This is insane to him. He wants to stop it. But he knows the fervor already of what has happened in Jerusalem.

He doesn't want it to spread any further. Now notice a word in our text. As he journeyed, he came near Damascus, and what's the next word? Suddenly.

Don't miss that. There was no forewarning for Saul. It wasn't like the day before somebody said, watch out, God's going to get you tomorrow. He had no idea what was about to happen. It came suddenly.

He went to the high priest, asked for official letters. Nothing happened. God was silent.

He rounded up his posse, got on horses or donkeys or walked, and he decided to travel. And so as they set out, nothing happened. God was silent.

Mile after mile after mile, God was silent. And then suddenly, from out of nowhere, without any kind of process or forewarning, suddenly a light shone around him from heaven. Now, again, I want to look at a text of scripture. I'm going to turn now to a text we have read on the weekend in Philippians chapter three.

And let me read it to you. Saul, now Paul the apostle, in the third chapter of Philippians, talks about his background. His testimony. But he says this, that I may know him, chapter three, verse 10 of Philippians, and the power of his resurrection and the fellowship of his sufferings, being conformed to his death, if by any means I may attain to the resurrection from the dead.

Now, listen to this. Not that I have already attained or am already perfected, but I have pressed on that I may lay hold of that for which Christ Jesus also laid hold of me. The word laid hold, I mentioned it whenever, a few weeks ago in Philippians, is the Greek word that means to arrest or seize.

Cada lombano. So here's Saul going to arrest or seize. Saul going to arrest Christians, and on the way, Jesus Christ arrests him. Seizes him. Lays hold of him. Gets his attention.

Puts him down on the ground. This bright light, this voice from heaven. So here is Saul saying, my purpose is I'm pressing because I want to lay hold of, I want to seize, I want to grab a hold of the reason that Jesus Christ originally grabbed a hold of me. He remembers that day vividly when he writes his letter to the Philippian church.

And probably he has that in mind by using this word, cada lombano, to arrest or seize. Now I've noticed something about people's conversions. I mentioned every story is different. Some people will tell me, I've gone to church all my life, I heard the gospel, I sort of made a commitment, then I made more of a commitment, then I made a real commitment. And so for some people, it is a process of revelation, but not always. Sometimes conversion happens suddenly, instantly. It's like an epiphany happens. It's like, I get it, I believe.

And it's amazing how life can turn so quickly. For some people, it's a catastrophe. It's the death of somebody they know.

For other people, it's a biopsy report. Suddenly, God has their attention. And suddenly, they give their life to Christ. Now, Saul of Tarsus has heard the testimony of Stephen. That didn't convert him.

Saul of Tarsus has heard the words, the preaching, the spreading of the gospel in Jerusalem he was familiar with. It didn't do anything. But now, suddenly, this will do it.

And what is it? He gets knocked down. Now, can I just urge some of you who haven't given your life to Christ yet, I think the Lord is a gentleman, and He nudges you. He might nudge you through hearing a message.

He might judge you through hearing a radio program or going to a Christian event, a concert, or something at a stadium. Or He might nudge you through a relative or a friend sharing their testimony with you. But if you won't respond to God's nudge, then you're not going to be there. But if you won't respond to God's nudge, well, maybe you'll respond to God's knock.

Bam. And now you're down. You're pinned to the ground.

You've got no options. And you do what Saul of Tarsus does in Acts 9. He said, Who are you, Lord? Verse 5. Then the Lord said, I am Jesus, whom you are persecuting.

It is hard for you to kick against the ghost. Now, when He asked the question, Who are you, Lord? He doesn't know who it is.

He wants information. He doesn't know it's Jesus. He's not, like, recognizing somebody's voice. And so the word Lord here, though it's capitalized in the text, I believe it shouldn't be capitalized. I believe it's the common usage for the term Lord, small l, a term of respect.

Who are you, sir? Because He doesn't know it's Jesus. Now He gets a response from the Lord, and it is not what He expected. The next sentence hits Him like a bolt of lightning. It's Jesus speaking. I am Jesus, whom you are persecuting. It is hard for you to kick against the ghost.

Now, stop right there. Saul of Tarsus hears those words. He understands something. This is something he is experiencing.

There's a light brighter than the sun. There's an audible voice speaking to him who knows his name, the double intonation. Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting me? Who are you, Lord? Who are you, sir? I am Jesus. I am Jesus. I am Jesus. I am persecuting me. Who are you, Lord? Who are you, sir?

I am Jesus. Uh-oh. It means two things. It means, number one, the guy that he thought was dead isn't dead. He's alive.

He's talking to me. So the significance of this statement is huge. It means, first of all, that Jesus Christ is alive. Now, my belief is that he didn't just hear a voice, but that Jesus appeared to him. That's my belief.

You say, well, why do you believe that? Well, if you go ahead a little bit, down in verse 17, Ananias, who will go to him in Damascus, 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. So that's his testimony. Jesus appeared to you. Not only that, but later on, when Paul writes 1 Corinthians, chapter 15, listen to what he says.

Now, I'm reading from 1 Corinthians 15, beginning in verse 1. Moreover, brethren, I declare to you the gospel which I preach to you, which you also received and in which you stand, by which you also are saved, if you hold fast the word which I preached to you, unless you believed in vain. For I delivered to you, first of all, that which I also received, that Christ died for our sins, according to the scriptures, that he was buried, and that he rose again on the third day, according to the scriptures, and that he was seen by Cephas, and then by the twelve, that is, the other apostles. After that, he was seen by over 500 brothers, brethren, brothers and sisters at once, of whom the greater part remained to the present.

They're still alive, but some have fallen asleep. After that, he was seen by James, then by all the apostles. Then, last of all, he was seen by me as one who was born out of due time. So I believe the bright light that he saw was similar to the vision that John had of Christ in the book of Revelation, chapter 1, when John said, I saw his countenance that shone like the strength of the sun.

So later on, when Paul says to King Agrippa, at midday, O King, I saw a light brighter than the sun, I think he was speaking of the luminescence that came off the person in the vision that he saw of Jesus Christ. Either way, it tells him, number one, Jesus, whom he thought was dead, is alive, because he just talked to me. The second thing that he comes to realize is that Jesus Christ is one with his people.

That Jesus Christ is inextricably entwined with and related to his people on earth. Because, he says, who are you, Lord? He says, I am Jesus, whom you are persecuting. He didn't say, you're persecuting them, you're persecuting my church, you're persecuting me.

In other words, guess what? When you hurt my people, I take that personally. It tells us this, no blow that is struck on earth goes unfelt in heaven. He feels all of the persecution that goes on against his people. He takes it personally. Now, it doesn't mean he always intervenes. He's saving Saul of Tarsus for his divine purpose. He doesn't always stop people who are persecuting around the world.

But there's a principle here. Remember, Jesus said, in as much as you've done this to one of the least of my brethren, you have done it to me. Jesus is one with his people. So let me just encourage you, if you're having a spat with another of God's children, that you be very careful how far you take that argument, that disagreement, that fight. Because if you're fighting against one of God's kids, you just might have a fight on your hands a lot bigger than you bargained for.

Keep that in mind. Jesus takes this stuff seriously. Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting me? I am Jesus, whom you are persecuting. Then he says this, it's hard for you to kick against the goads.

What is he referring to? Well, goads, that's farm talk. That's what farmers have. Farmers have oxen, and they yoke them up, and they pull plows so that they can get the fields plowed up and planted, etc.

Now, sometimes the oxen are not motivated to go and pull the plow. So farmers developed a really ingenious gadget to motivate oxen. It was a long stick that was pointed. It was pointed at one end to a fine point, and it was dull on the other end.

The fine point was the motivating point. So when the oxen just sat there and didn't move, the farmer could always get them to move by taking that stick, that goad, and sticking them in the rear. And the oxen would get the point and would pull the plow. Sometimes, though, they refused, and they would kick against that stick. And in the process, they would stick their feet or their leg into that sharp point, and they'd be worse off.

They'd be hurt further, because they're kicking and get something that's very sharp and could hurt them and could cause bloodshed. So using that analogy, he's saying, you know, it's hard for you to resist what I'm doing in your life. The goads, he's being prodded. What is he referring to specifically? I believe two things. The life of Jesus Christ and the death of Stephen. The life of Jesus Christ. What do I mean by that? Well, there's thousands of Christians in Jerusalem alone who are swearing by the fact that Jesus is still alive.

Their lives are changed. Saul of Tarsus is a contemporary of Jesus of Nazareth. We don't know if Saul of Tarsus was out of the country during the ministry of Jesus. He may have been. He may have just been.

He may have just come back into the country. Or it could be that Saul of Tarsus actually heard some of the messages Jesus preached or some of the events. Certainly he would have heard what Jesus said about Pharisees like himself, whitewashed sepulchers.

That didn't go down well with him. So the life of Christ was one of the goads. The other goad was the death of Stephen. The life of Christ, the death of Stephen. The bloodshed of Stephen as he bled out outside the gates of Jerusalem. And Saul was consenting to his death, but Stephen, after preaching that magnificent sermon, said, Lord, don't lay this sin to their charge. And he said, look, I see the heavens open and the Son of Man standing at the right hand of the Father. Saul of Tarsus had seen many men die, but never had he seen somebody die like that.

With love in his heart, with forgiveness in his heart, believing in Jesus. I think it was the death of Stephen and the life of Jesus that were these things that were just goading his conscience. But he's fighting it, putting on the good face, man.

He's just plowing ahead. Got to get rid of this Christianity stuff. So when he gets knocked down on the ground, Jesus said, I'm Jesus whom you're persecuting. It's kind of hard to knock against those goads, isn't it, Saul?

You've been fighting conviction a long time, and it's hard. So he, verse six, so he trembling and astonished said, Lord, what do you want me to do? Now, the second usage of the word Lord is also capitalized and appropriately so. The first time he didn't know who was speaking, he said, Lord, small L, sir, but now the word Lord is small L, sir, but now the voice has identified himself as Jesus. So he goes, Jesus is alive, and Jesus Christ is entwined with his people.

He's definitely in charge of this episode. So when he says, Lord, in verse six, what do you want me to do? Now this is Saul recognizing supremacy, and we could even say deity of Christ. This is, in this verse, I believe, the hinge point of his conversion. This is where he is saved. He's suddenly knocked down. He's a quick thinker. He's a quick processor. He's not going, that was weird.

I mean, he's like, I get it, Lord. Now this is his resignation. What do you want me to do?

So follow the process. There was a very quick, sudden process. There was an interruption.

Light, he hits the ground. The interruption is followed by an interrogation. Saul, Saul, why do you persecute me? After that little interrogation process, that leads to conviction. He says, Lord, what do you want me to do, Lord? And then that results in resignation. What is it you really want me to do?

I'm resigning myself to you. Then the Lord said to him, arise, get up, go into the city, that's Damascus, and you will be told what you must do. And the men who journeyed with him stood speechless, hearing a voice, but seeing no one. I love how C.S. Lewis talks about this episode, this conversion. He says that God was the divine chess player who was maneuvering the chessboard and backing Saul of Tarsus into a corner until finally Jesus said checkmate. I just love that.

It's just a clever description. Here's Jesus saying checkmate. You're after me. You're trying to arrest my people.

I just arrested you, dude. Now there are two questions that Saul of Tarsus asked. There are two questions I believe every one of you must also ask. Who are you, Lord? That's the first question.

What do you want me to do? That's the second question. Some of you have been around church your whole life, you've been around God your whole life, but you've never settled the question who is Christ? You've heard things, you've listened to things, but you've never wrestled with it and struggled with it. I spoke to a young man in the foyer and he had all sorts of different issues and beliefs. I said, who is Jesus Christ to you? Is he the son of God? He goes, well, I've been dealing with that a long time. I said, well, now's the time when you should get that answered and get that settled.

Who is Jesus Christ? Answer that question. Once you've answered that question and you think he is the Lord and you've resigned to that identity, then you should ask, Lord, what do you want me to do?

There's nothing more exciting than living your life, getting that question answered. What do you want me to do? Wake up the next morning. What do you want me to do? What do you want me to do? Where your life becomes a living sacrifice.

Those two are essential questions to ask and to have answered. Then Saul arose, verse eight, from the ground. And when his eyes were open, he saw no one, but they led him by the hand and brought him into Damascus. And he was three days without sight. So they let him in because he can't see. He's without sight. He neither ate nor drank.

Saul of Tarsus is absolutely in shock. He has no appetite. He has no vision. So no outside stimuli can go in his head.

He's just confined to his thoughts. And I say he's in shock because every single thing he has come to believe about truth has just been challenged. That's Skip with a message about Saul's conversion from his Expound Acts series. Find the full message as well as books, booklets, and full teaching series at connectwithskipp.com. Right now, listen as Skip shares how you can share life-changing teaching from God's unchanging Word with more people around the world. Remembering how God has been faithful in your past can fuel your faith in the present to keep following Him.

And our goal through these teachings is to help you know God even more and encourage you as you live for Him. And when you give a gift today, you'll help encourage others in the same way as you help connect even more people with the truths of God's Word. Here's how you can do that. Visit connectwithskipp.com slash donate to give a gift. That's connectwithskipp.com slash donate. Or call 800-922-1888.

800-922-1888. Thank you for your generosity. Come back tomorrow for the conclusion of Skip's message about Saul of Tarsus' amazing conversion. We must never underestimate the power of personal touch, personal testimony of one single person being used by God to reach another. It's the same answer to the question, why don't angels get loudspeakers hung from the moon addressing, earth, earth. Here's a miracle. Angels dancing in heaven, light shining, wow, I believe. Okay, now that I got your attention, he doesn't do that. He sends people to preach the gospel. It's by the foolishness of the gospel preached, the message preached. So God is all about human instrumentation to do His work. Connect with Skip Hyter is a presentation of Connection Communications, connecting you to God's never-changing truth in ever-changing times.