I'll return to Acts chapter nine, please. Acts chapter nine. And verse one, Acts nine and one. 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 they 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 persecute us thou me? said, Who art thou, Lord? The Lord said, I am Jesus, for whom thou persecute us. It is hard for thee to pick against the tricks. And he trembling in the Shhtani 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. And Saul arose from the earth, and when his eyes were opened he saw no man, but they led him by the hand the tamed lamb, and brought him into Damascus, and he was three days without sight and neither did eat nor drink. There was a certain disciple at Damascus named Ananias. And to him said the Lord in a vision, Ananias. And he said, Behold, I am here long. The Lord said unto him, Arise and go into the street which is called Strait. and inquire in the house of Judas, for one called Saul of Tarsus, for behold he prayed, and have seen in the vision a man named Ananias coming in, and putting his hand on him, that he might receive his sight. Then Ananias answered, Lord, I have heard many by many of this man. how much evil he hath done to thy saints at Jerusalem, that he had only heard half the story. And here he hath authority from the chief priests to bind all the call on thy name. For the Lord said unto him, Go thy way, for he is a chosen desolate to 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. Paul had caused many others to suffer. Now says, God, I'll show him how great things he must suffer for my name's sake. Then Ananias went his way and entered into the house and putting his hands on him said, Brother Saul, the Lord, even Jesus, that appeared unto thee in the way as thou cameest, has sent me that thou mightest receive thy sight, and be filled with the Holy Ghost. And immediately there fell from his eyes, as it had been scaled, and he received sight forthwith, and arose and was baptized. When he had received meat, he was strengthened. Then was Saul certain days with the disciples which were at Damascus, and straightway he preached Christ in the synagogues, that he is the Son of God. But all that heard him were amazed and said, Is not this he that destroyed them which called on this name in Jerusalem, and came hither for that intent? that he might bring them bound unto the chief priests, but Saul increased the more in strength and compounded the Jews with the elder Damascus, proving that this is the very Christ. We've got a very interesting chapter now in our studies in Acts of the Apostles. We'll be on it this morning and also tonight, Lord Lennon. I was wondering if there couldn't be an outline given, or more or less a summary of this chapter to break it up into sections. And I think we have one, all beginning with C, words beginning with C. First of all, you have the cruelty of the Apostle. And after all that he had seen and witnessed in the death, the martyrdom of Stephen, it seems as though he must have gritted his teeth. and decided I'm not going to let this wonderful testimony of this man change my mind. And he turned to become more bitter than ever, and he was determined that he was going to exterminate the early church. For you'll notice in those opening words, like a wild beast, breathing out threatening some slaughter against the disciples of the Lord. And he went on to the high priest, and desired of him letters of Damascus to the synagogues that if he found any of this way, whether they were men or women, he might bring them down unto Jerusalem. How cruel the Apostle Paul was. He knew he was doing wrong, but he didn't know all the wrong that he was doing, but he was not yet convinced that this man that he had heard so much about and had watched the martyr martyrdom of Stephen, he wasn't convinced yet that this Stephen was a true representative of the Christ that had been crucified. And he stilled his will. He hardened his heart just that much more. And he was apprehending not only men, but women, laying whole upon them, having them found, and brought to prison because they believed in their chiefs. What truly was in the heart of this man saw. Then you have his conviction, as we'll see. He became convicted. And then you have his remarkable conversion when the living Christ of Israel Christ revealed himself unto him on the Damascus Road. Then you have his consecration. Lord, what will thou have me to do? Then you have his church fellowship. He desired to come into fellowship with the church in Jerusalem. And then the caution that was exercised as to his reception. We'll get into that more tonight. And then the conspiracy against the apostles seeking to put him to death. So you have the chapter divided under those seven headings, all beginning with C, his cruelty, his conviction, his conversion, his consecration, his church fellowship, and the caution of his exercise. And finally, we find the conspiracy to kill this man, the Apostle Paul. His very name means little. He undoubtedly was a man small and stature, but he was very tall when it came to intelligence and to character. One of the great characters, I believe, of all history. You hear a lot about Moses and David, and certainly there were wonderful men, giants for God, but I don't take any of them, outshine Saul. who became Paul. He must have been a remarkable character, very energetic, commanding, and also very masterful. He was a native of Tarshish. His father was a Roman, a Roman Jew. He was a free-born slave of Rome. He could say later on when he was being persecuted, I'm a Roman. And when he said that, the Roman authority that was seeking to have him put to death, stop, because they know they dare not put the man to death who was a Roman unless he was judged according to Roman law. Not only so, he had a strict religious upbringing. Being a Pharisee, he had a strong Jewish training, circumcised the eight days. and schooled in the Old Testament scriptures according to Deuteronomy chapter six. Talk the word of God. Talk all the Old Testament scriptures. Not only so, he had a very vast knowledge of the Jewish nation. So the Apostle Paul was no ordinary individual. But what was his trade? After all, it seemed such a humble task. For such a brilliant man, he was a tent maker. He was trained in making tents. That seemed to be quite a humble job for such a man with such a mind. And also you find the apostle, he evidently had received a wonderful education. He sat at the feet of that great philosopher, Gamaliel, and there he learned all that it was possible for a young man and his kind to learn. But he also attended another college and had received another education that he don't get by books or sitting in a classroom. That is, he received an education in the school of experience. And that's the greatest college any man or any woman can attend. And you receive the best education in the school of experience. Many of us were so foolish. We thought we could learn other ones, but we had to discover in the end we had to learn from experience. A young man may get up, and because of a smart mind, he's able to commit a lot to memory, and he's able to give it out. But it lacks something. What does it lack? There's something that you don't get in a seminar. There's something you don't get in a college. And that is experience for youth and experience don't go together. When you've gained experience, you're beginning to say goodbye to youth because experience comes with age. And so Here's the Apostle Paul, and he was trained in all the learning of Judaism and at the feet of this great philosopher, Gamaliel, where he hadn't learned much yet by experience, bitter experience. And you see the Apostle Paul, he's manifesting some things that are going to give him a lot of good experience. You see his bitter persecution. of the early church and also of Christ. He learned from experience that that action didn't pay. He had a guilty conscience because of what he was doing. But he became a new creature in Christ Jesus. I know of mentioned in reading the passage, You had the lion tamed. Here is this man manifesting all the characteristics of a beast, breathing out breathings and slaughter, very hard panting for his prey, women and children, and men who believe in Jesus. His nostrils extended out of anger to the people of God. Yes, here is the apostle, but then he had an experience. An encounter with the Lord Jesus Christ. And he becomes a new preacher in Christ Jesus. A different man from Saul to Paul. He receives such an experience that he tells us twice lately. All about that wonderful experience we'll get to that when we get to chapter twenty-two and chapter twenty-three. Paul loved to tell of that experience on the Damascus Road. And he had further training also, not only that remarkable experience on the Damascus Road, but he went into Arabia for three years, as we read in Galatians chapter one. Also he went to Damascus again, and a trip to Jerusalem, the talk to the brethren, and to Syria, and the Cilicia. He had quite an extreme, quite a training before he was ready for God to use. And just like Moses, who had learned in all the wisdom of the Egyptians for forty years, had to go into the wilderness for forty years. In the school of God, then he was qualified to lead God, lead God's people for forty years through the wilderness. And also concerning the Apostle Paul, he became a great missionary. Three wonderful missionary journeys. And in those journeys, those travels, he had many trials. He had many triumphs during all those travels. That's why he was able to give us fourteen of the New Testament twenty-seven books. He was a great writer. This is evidence as you read his books, and even Peter refers to some of the writings of Paul that are hard to be understood undoubtedly referring to his treaties on Hebrews. And so the Apostle Paul became a great missionary, and a great writer, an author, as God the Holy Spirit laid hold upon this man, and he wrote these wonderful epistles, fourteen of them that we have in our life. The Apostle Paul was a stirring, heart-stirring and conscience-stirring teacher. That's quite evident because he preaches three great sermons, one in Antioch, and one also in Jerusalem and the other one before King Agrippa. Furthermore, concerning the Apostle, he was a strict Pharisee. We're not going to take time this morning to speak. on the strictness of his Phariseeical views. But this is what he himself says about himself. If you wanted to read in Acts twenty-three, I don't ask you to turn to it. I'll read it to you. But when Paul perceived that the one part were Sadducees and the other Pharisees, he tried out in the council men and brethren, I am a Pharisee, the son of a Pharisee. of the hope and resurrection of the dead I am called in Jerusalem. Then in Philemon chapter three, Philippians chapter three, verse five, circumcised the eighth day of the stock of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, and Hebrew of the Hebrew. As touching the law I was a Pharisee. Concerning zeal, I persecuted the church. Catching the righteousness which is of the law, the demands of the law, I was blamed. Here he's telling us about what he was before he became a Christian. Now listen. But what things were gained to me, those I counted lost for Christ. All these things we've been mentioning concerning the Apostle. What an outstanding man he was. Jesus, what about all those things? All that I've learned. in Judea, all that I experienced before I became a bishop, he says it was all but done. Listen, ye doubtless, and I count all things but loss for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus, my Lord, for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and who count them but done. that I am within Christ, and be found in him not having my own righteousness, that which he thought was righteousness before his salvation, which is of the law, but that which is through the faith of Christ, the righteousness which was God by faith. Just think of the Apostle Paul in that remarkable experience that he had on the Damascus Road that changed them from a lion... to a lamb, that changed him from a persecutor of the gospel to a preacher of the gospel. Yes, it was a remarkable experience, and all came about because of that voice that he heard on the Damascus River. The voice of a risen, glorified Christ, and that voice must be heard, either in time and great or in eternity in judgment. Every living soul has got to hear that voice. And you neither hear this voice in your lifetime and accept the message of this voice and be saved or you'll hear it in judgment that all that are in their grave shall come forth. And those who are unconverted... if the great white bone shall stand before him. And if their names are not written in the Lamb's book of life, that hand of us nailed in the cross shall wean those lost souls, everlasting punishment, who serve for the devil and the thing. Yes, all shall hear that voice. What is the message of that voice to the Apostle? while the apostle was on his journey to apprehend more Christians, more women and children, and to have them persecuted, some put to death and others in prison. All of a sudden there saw a great light from heaven above the brightness of the sun, and he heard this voice. And as John in Revelation says, it is the sound of many waters. How majestic that voice was. If you've been to Niagara Falls, you'll know what I'm talking about. I was there last summer when I went to Canada to see my folks. And I've seen it dozens of times in my life. The more you look at the falls, the more majestic it is. The oldest ones have a voice above the sound of anyone. A majestic voice. A voice that's clear, that is the state articulating every word in every language that all may hear and understand. Yes, the voice of a risen Christ, and what did that voice mean to the Apostle? He's alive. This is one thing that he fought. He fought the testimony of the early Christians of that man. of Charlie who had been crucified wasn't alive. What did this mean? If this man, being he is alive, and this was the message of the Christian in the early church, or even Savior, what did that mean? It means then, means then, he was not an imposter. If he's alive, he's not an imposter. For that's what the Jews believe, the many believe today. that Jesus Christ was an imposter, claimed to be something which he was not. He claimed to be the Son of God, the Messiah. And he wasn't. He was an imposter. And to this day, Orthodox Jews believe that, that Jesus Christ was an imposter. But in the Apostle Paul, he believed the truth, but when he heard that voice, coming from heaven, Jesus is alive and he was no imposter. He was no imposter. And that's what the Jewish nation is going to learn in the future. The man shall see the wounds in his hands and he descends from the heavens. And they say, what are these wounds in my hands? These are the wounds which I received in the house of my death. and the Jewish nation in a not far distant day will see those wounds that they as a nation inflicted. And they'll have to awaken up then to the fact that this one for centuries you've been saying is an imposter is really the Son of God, the Messiah of Israel. That coming day Israel will repent and receive him as their rejected king. And if he's alive, this means not only that he's not an imposter, but his claims to deity are true. He claimed to be the Son of God, and if he's alive, he is the Son of God. What a shock to the Apostle Paul! After all, his bitterness against the people of God in the name of Christ. It also means that this Christ was indeed the Lamb of God that came and gave himself. Gave himself as a sacrifice, a substitute for sin and sinner, the Lamb of God was taken away from all the sin of the world. These are things that came home to the Apostle. What an impact they made upon his alert, his keen, his educated mind. But only so, if this is the Son of God, I've been persecuting his people. And the Lord Jesus said, Saul, Saul, why persecutest thou me? Well, if I'm persecuting his people, I'm persecuting him for they are one. For the Lord said, Why, when one's hat shoes got to the apple of my eye, and Saul you're persecuting me, because you're persecuting my people, we're in one's body. And if you hit the finger, you hit the head, and you hit the heart, for the head and the heart feel the blow. Saul, you've been persecuting me. And this is what that voice meant to the apostles. the wonder of Christ and his people, the truth of the body. It also meant this, that the Lord Jesus knew him. He knew his name. He says, Saul, Saul! Why persecute his family? Just like if a voice came from the heavens one of these days and called your name, Mary, Mary, John, drop. Oh yeah. That will come home to you like a boat of lightning and a dindy apostle. He knows. He knows. Call me by my name. Saul, Saul, why persecute us thou me? Paul could say he's talking to me. He's talking to me. He's not talking to anyone else. He's speaking to me. He's calling my name. He knows all about me. And the Lord Jesus said, Saul, Saul, give us power to thee to take against the Christians. A lot depends on the tone in which something is said as to its meaning today. The Lord Jesus didn't say in a tone of anger. Tell, tell, why persecutor thou me? No. I believe those words came gently, lovingly, and appealingly. Saul, Saul, why persecutor thou me? It is hard for thee, difficult for thee to kick against the greatness. Let me say, friend, the Lord Jesus is reserving... his firm and furious voice for a coming day, when he'll speak to you in anger, when he'll speak to you in the hotness of his wrath. But the day in which he's speaking lovingly, tenderly, and appealing, he said, it's hard for you to kick against the goose, the trickle. And also Paul realized from that voice and what it said. He loves me. Saul, I love you. I want to save you. I've got a purpose for your life. And it's hard for you to turn that down. That sank in. Would the Lord harm any more in the old This voice is a harmless voice. And there's one thing I want you to learn. Paul, first of all, Saul. I've been good in you. I've been tricking you. I've been disturbing your conscience. And it's awfully hard for you, Saul, to say no. It's hard for you to reject. the appeal of my heart. But I want you to be reminded of this song. It will be a very harmful, dangerous thing for you to say no to wrong. It's hard for you to kick against the tricks of the road. The ox, and that's how they use the golds in the bygone days, and still do in some parts of the East, is the gold the animal is slowing up, and the pound uses the gold, and it has a point. And for the ox to back up when the farmer golds him only means the animal hurts itself by forcing the grown people into it. I want to say this, then, that you're kicking against the pit of the old scripture harming yourself. God is trying to vote you into accepting his son. And if you kick against these groanings, you're harming, you're hurting yourself. But not that. It is hard for thee to kick against the pit, so on. when Saul listened to Stephen's logical message that wonderful message when he covers Israel's history from Abraham on because Saul stood there in the clothes of those who stole Stephen were at his feet and Saul consented unto the death of Stephen when he listened to Stephen's review of the history of Israel it must have spoken to Saul because he knew this history of Israel. He was a scholar. He was schooled in the knowledge of the history of that nation. That must have been a goal that he couldn't reject. Then again, it was a hard dig where he realized the hard thing to reject how this logical appeal of Stephen was based on the Old Testament scripture that he himself claimed to believe and defend. Here is this man Stephen, and he's opening up the Old Testament, he's showing up before me this Jesus indeed with the fulfillment of the Old Testament. and he would check himself with his heart, No, I won't believe it. Ah, but the gold kept coming gold. When he saw Stephen's darkness, courage, as his shining face lit up when the spoon began to pebble. And his face was evident, peace of an angel. Saul saw. the darkness courage of this young man in the face of such persons. His face lit up the heavens glow. That too glow in the world. Not only so, but when he saw the unrestrained anger of Stephen's enemies. As the mob began throwing their stones, pelting the fates of Stephen, and saw that bruise and blood-stained fountain of flesh. And he heard Stephen say, Lord, lay not the sins of John. Oh, it must have thought, oh, I'm among those who's praying, because I have been setting unto you. Saul must have drawn back. I can't let myself be convinced. That this is right. I am a Pharisee of the Pharisee. But the gold kept coming home, Saul. When finally Stephen says, Lord, into thy hands I commend my spirit. Oh, the gold came home again. Here is this young Jew, witnessing for a man I refuse to own as the Messiah this is, exactly seeing and committing his soul to him. The Apostle Paul saw this and he heard all this and all the gold at home, the gold at home. But what about you? What have you heard? Have you not heard and felt the tricks of the Holy Spirit as you listen to the gospel? Some of you have a godly mother and a godly father or possibly a grandmother and a grandfather. Do you remember their prayers? Do you remember their concert? Do you remember their godly life? Here you are, here you are in your ship. that not a goat. Does God not remind you of a same Sunday school teacher who told you when you were a child about the Savior and the only way to be saved? So often as those things start coming into your mind, slam the door of your mind, I don't want to think of those things. Nevertheless, the Spirit of God comes back. He comes back. He comes back and he prods your conscience. Yes, and you've looked into a coffin. And that coffin that holds a loved one seems to hold your aching heart too to that loved one's tongue and left the silvery pathway to heaven that deafens you to come. And the Spirit of God is loaded. Are you ready? Are you going to serve Christ? Are you going to follow that love one another? Are you going to say, no, no, I'm not going to serve Christ? All I can say is, friend, don't say no too often. Well, God says, my spirit shall not always cries he laughs. The Apostle Paul, he heard this on the Damascus Road. He had said no long enough. Finally he capitulated. He saw the danger of his position. He says, Lord, what will thou have me to do? Ah, yes. He realized at last he was fighting against the goldings of the Spirit of God. He had seen enough, heard enough. He was now convinced. Here is a poor, lost, guilty sinner. He even says, I'm the chief sinner. This is a faithful saying, he writes later, is the faithful king worthy of all acceptation that Christ Jesus came to the world. the saved sinner of whom I am saved. And the chief of sinners becomes one of the chief of saints. What a shame. He could also say, I am less than the least of all saints. I am not worthy to be called an apostle. He would have told you one thing, the Lord withered him up, and he saw himself as the chief of sinners. cried out, Lord, what wilt thou have to do? He was ready now to come to terms. And friend, that's where God wants to bring you. Lord, I'm through fighting. I said no. Long enough. For the mercy of God, a man's living today, and I trust he said, three weeks ago, he sat in this chapel, he sat right over there. and told me later in the hospital how he wanted to come up and accept Christ. But he didn't. He said if someone had just put his hand on me, I'd have been up there. He told his wife after when we got home, she said, why didn't you tell? Because she was in the same boat as he was. He had a very severe heart attack two, three days after. And only by the grace of God is alive today. He did profess, and I trusted genuine. The day before yesterday, he had another attack. He shut up. And as he did, he blacked out that he found back that he didn't do anything for an hour or two. But the nurse was watching that design on that leader. and she saw and she rushed to his side just the day before yesterday she gave him a shot and he lived. We don't know whether he's going to live, we hope he will. As I was in to see him last night, then he realizes anytime he may go. A friend I'm going to say one of these days and he realizes it could have happened to him Had he gone out to the eternity when he had that severe heart attack? He would have been in the lost eternity. And he had been spoken to many times. He admitted that to me. And if he had gone out Friday morning, thank the Lord. He says he was ready. A change had taken place. And many a person who sat now in my lifetime, who my audience on Sunday morning have been dead Monday morning, leaving no hope of where they'd gone. They said, No! The last time, over in Switzerland, the young doctor had listened. He determined he was going to climb a certain mountain. There ought to be... mountain. And so he decided to make this attempt, and he left the little town of Shamadai at the foot of that mountain, and he was up, and he made it to the peak. And when it was heard, he made it to the peak, the little town was going to celebrate its return. The whole town was lit up down at the base of this mountain. And thanks were flying. We were ready now to welcome their hero. He came down halfway down the mount where there was this wayside hot, where he had something wreathed and tripped. He said to his guide, he said, I can go it alone from here, and I'm tired of this rope around me. Tired of feeling you pull at it and tug at it. I take him off. The guy warned him, you better not, oh, he said, I can make it a little. He said, I'm tired. He started down. He didn't go far before he hit the sheet of ice, and his feet didn't hold. And he began to slip. Only a matter of seconds on his cool body. Lie dead. The foot of that mountain. And there is a city in mourning that sheds you forth. Yes, friend, and you may get tired when you days of the diggings of the Holy Spirit, the pickings of the Spirit of God, the tugging of your heart by the word of God and the spirit of God in us say from now on, I'll make it alone. You may, but it will be alone with that. Yes, you make it alone. What will it mean for you to make it alone without Christ in your life? It means you have no one to pray to you as you shall. No one to look to in times of trial and trouble. No one to lead on or trust when God sees you. No one to accompany through the five, when death comes home, you'll traverse that dark valley alone. You may take it alone, but if you do much longer, you'll be in abandon, forsaken soul forever. That's the risk you run by putting this question of your soul's salvation on. It's hard for you to pick against the prince. It's not as easy for you to go to hell as you may think. You're going to have to put your finger in your ears and forget a lot that you've heard throughout your lifetime from loved ones and friends and the fact of all. You're going to have to close your eyes and pinch your fist to try and cut out from your mind. things you've heard and things you've seen and things you've felt when the undertaker took away a loved one. Many times God has been trying to scold you into accepting his son. And you've had to fight off all these attempts of a loving God to stop you from your mad rush to go to hell. not easy. Though you say I'm not going to get saved this morning, like the young physician, if you walk the roof of also the warning of the guy and he gave to Christ, you may be the guy. I trust you will. It is hard for thee, Paul, or Saul, to kick against the brass. Finally, Saul capitulated. He saw the folly of his pathway, folly of his actions and reactions, the voice of God. And he shut the trucks. Lord walked with a hat. You're asking that question this morning, Lord, what will you have me to do? Lord Jesus will say, I want you to come to me. I want you to prosper. I want you to see and believe that I have died for you upon the cross. And if you accept me as your Savior, I have saved you, I'll keep you. I'll take you to go. That's what I want you to do. Lord, what does thou want me to do? He's not telling you to go as a missionary. He's not telling you to give up all the money you've got on all your earthly possessions or leave all your loved ones. He's asking you as a poor sinner to accept him as your personal savior and be saved right now. That's what he's asking. And if you realize the seriousness of your position and your condition, you'll not say no anymore. He is settling with God this morning. Right now, we did it. It's hard to continue to kick again. But shall we pray? Our Father in the name. of the Lord Jesus Christ. We ask thy blessing on my word. Speak to God soon. May someone trust Christ this morning. We ask that you are worthy and bless us may.