The sermon, delivered by Peter Allison, delves into the transformational encounter between Saul and Jesus as described in Acts 9. Initially, Saul is portrayed as a man in deep enmity against God and His followers, actively persecuting Christians with the approval of religious authorities. Despite his zealous adherence to Jewish law, Saul is spiritually dead, unable to recognize the truth of Jesus' message. However, on the road to Damascus, Jesus sovereignly intervenes, knocking Saul to the ground with heavenly light and confronting him with his sins. This encounter marks a pivotal change in Saul, as he becomes receptive to divine instruction, symbolized by his subsequent blindness and fasting. The sermon emphasizes the concept of irresistible grace, asserting that Saul's conversion was not of his own doing but a result of Jesus’ sovereign call. The speaker highlights the importance of knowing Jesus personally, suggesting that true Christianity is not just a system of beliefs but a relationship with Christ, which naturally leads to obedience. The narrative concludes with Saul's transformation, illustrating that genuine knowledge of Jesus aligns with obeying His commandments.

Please turn to Acts 9. Hear God's Word. Beginning in verse 1. Then Saul, still breathing threats and murder against the disciples of the Lord, went to the high priest and asked letters from him to the synagogues of Damascus so that if he found any who were of the way, whether men or women, he might bring them bound to Jerusalem. As he journeyed he came near Damascus, and suddenly a light shone around him from heaven.

Then he fell to the ground and heard a voice saying to him, Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting me? And he said, Who are you, Lord? And then the Lord said, I am Jesus whom you are persecuting. It is hard for you to kick against the goats. So he, trembling and astonished, said, Lord, What do you want Me to do?' Then the Lord said to him, Arise and go into the city, and you will be told what you must do.

And the men who journeyed with him stood speechless, hearing a voice, but seeing no one. Then Saul arose from the ground, and when his eyes were opened, he saw no one. But they led him by the hand and brought him into Damascus. And he was three days without sight, and neither ate nor drank." May our soul keep His testimonies and love them exceedingly. Gracious Father, please open our eyes, Give to us understanding that we may discern those, understand those things that are spiritually discerned.

We ask that You would sanctify us by Your Word. We ask that this word that we have heard might be mixed with faith and lead to new obedience. And I ask that You would sanctify my sinful lips and set them apart to proclaim the glories of Your grace to us in Christ. Amen. We've already looked and been introduced to this man Saul a few weeks ago when he first appeared in the book in the beginning of chapter 8.

And now we come to the account of His conversion. I want to look this morning very simply at what was His condition before he met Jesus. And what happened when he met Him? What was his condition before he met Jesus? Before He met Jesus.

That's the condition that all of us are in before we meet Jesus. We see a man in this account who's at enmity against God. He is opposed to the way. He has obtained letters from the high priests so that letters of Mark that would allow Him, would give Him the legal authority to seize any who were of the way, whether men or women. It didn't matter to Him.

If someone was of the way, then He was determined to seize them and to bring them in chains to Jerusalem. See, Jesus says, I am the way, the truth and the life. And no man comes to the Father but by Me. Jesus is the way. And Saul here, before he meets Jesus, is at enmity against that way.

He's at enmity against the way. He's at enmity against God. He's also at enmity against His people. Paul is a leader in this persecution. In the beginning of chapter 8, it's said that there was a persecution that arose against the church that was at Jerusalem.

And it caused the scattering of the Christians to lands all around Israel. And Saul is leading this effort. He's leading this persecution. He's driving it. Remember, he was present at Stephen's execution.

But he wasn't just there watching. He wasn't an idle bystander. He was consenting to his death. And even more than that, he was assisting those who were carrying the execution out. He was, remember, holding their coats and in full agreement with all that was happening because he was at enmity against God's people, against Stephen.

Stephen who had just proclaimed God's Word in a marvelous and powerful sermon as he was filled with the Holy Spirit. As he looked into the heavens and was given a vision of Jesus standing at the throne of God. Saul becomes more and more enraged. He is one of those people who on seeing Stephen filled with the Holy Spirit, on hearing this powerful sermon, is filled with rage and is gnashing his teeth. And these were the people that ran at Stephen and killed him in a fit of rage.

And that's Saul. Saul was right there. He was a participant in it. He is at enmity against God and at enmity against His people. But he is approved by the apostate church.

The apostate church. He has gone to the high priest and received these letters that give him the authority to bring these Christians back in chains. To go into their houses and seize them, men or women, anybody that's of the way, anybody that names the name of Jesus. He has the full approval of the apostate church to put them in prison. He had extradition authority, we would say today, to bring them back to Jerusalem where they could be executed.

He's also dead in his sins. He heard Stephen's sermon, but He didn't hear it, did he? There was absolutely zero conviction. There was zero hesitation. Because he was dead.

And Dead people don't hear. Dead people don't turn to Christ. Dead people don't walk to Him. Dead people don't speak. They don't acknowledge.

And Saul was dead in his sins. His physical ears could hear the Gospel. His eyes, his physical eyes, could see one filled with the Holy Spirit looking into heaven, But he couldn't see and he couldn't hear. And he didn't know. And so there was no response.

Remember when Peter preached at Pentecost to those people who had killed Christ and Peter told them, you by wicked hands have taken Christ and executed Him, crucified Him. They heard. They had new life. And they cried out, what must we do? They were pricked in their conscience, but Saul is dead.

There's no response to that great sermon. And I'm sure he heard many other sermons. They only made Him more enraged against God's people. He is, Saul is also, and if you're keeping notes, this would be Fifthly, Saul is also resisting the Holy Spirit. He's at enmity against God.

He's at enmity against God's people. He's approved by the apostate church. He's dead in his sins, and he is resisting the Holy Spirit. He was kicking against the goads. You know, goads are those sticks that husbandry men use to move animals in the direction that they want them to go.

Elephant trainers, you know, they might have a goad to give a prod. Today they would probably use an electric shocker. It's a goad. And Saul was kicking against the goads. He was resisting The prompting of the Holy Spirit.

He's resisting the Spirit. Just like Jesus said to the Pharisees, they resisted. They're stubborn and they resisted the will of God. His will, Saul's will, is corrupted. He is opposed to all that is right and good.

He's a murderer. Saul breathing threats and murder against the disciples of Christ, of the Lord. That means his will being corrupted means that He wants to do that which is wrong. His desire is to do what is wrong and not what is right. His choices are wrong.

He makes wrong choices. He doesn't desire to obey the Lord and do what He commands, but rather He chooses to do the opposite of what God commands. And do what God forbids and not to do what God commands. That's a corrupt will. It's fallen.

He's abusing people. He's abusing people's rights under the law. It's not just to take people away, to barge into their houses and arrest them, and carry them away when they are Innocent. That's what He's doing. His emotions are also corrupted.

He hates God's people. He's breathing out threats against the disciples of the Lord. This is somebody whose emotions are corrupt. He doesn't love what is good. He loves what is evil.

He's enraged against what is good and what is wholesome. Saul saw himself without a need of a Savior. He saw himself as someone who is self-righteous. Saul believed that he was blameless. He told the Philippians in chapter 3, verse 5, that he was circumcised the eighth day in accordance with the law.

He was of the stock of Israel. That means he was not a Gentile, alien to the covenants, a stranger from God and the promises. But he was an Israelite. To him belonged the temple service to Israel. Jesus said salvation is of the Jews.

That's what He means when He says He's of the stock of Israel. He had the truth. They had the oracles of God entrusted to them. God gave the Ten Commandments to Moses. God gave Moses the Pentateuch.

He didn't give it to the Edomites or the Egyptians or the Ammonites. He gave it to the Israelites. And Saul said He was of that stock. He was of the tribe of Benjamin. He was a Hebrew of the Hebrews.

He wasn't a Hellenized Jew who had adopted Hellenistic or Greek ways of living. That he was a Hebrew who maintained the Hebrew ways of living. He went to Jerusalem to be trained under Gamaliel. Even though he lived, He was born in Tarsus, which would be up in what we call Turkey today. He was a miner.

Concerning zeal, he was persecuting the church because in his view, these were the blasphemers. Concerning the righteousness which is of the law, He said He was blameless. That's what He thought of Himself. Somebody who was blameless, who kept every commandment. He thought that in his persecution of the Christians, he was doing good.

He thought he was arresting blasphemers and heretics. And people that had turned away from Jehovah God. He told Timothy and 1 Timothy that I thank Christ Jesus, our Lord, who has enabled me because He counted me faithful putting into the ministry, although I was formerly a blasphemer, a persecutor, and an insolent man, but I obtained mercy because I did it ignorantly in unbelief. When he was doing this, he thought he was doing good. He thought he was doing God a service.

Jesus said they would persecute thinking they are doing God a service. Saul thought he was doing God a service. He thought he was the one who was upright and blameless. And that He was simply doing what God said in His law that blasphemers and those who worship other gods should be put to death. Jesus hung on a cross.

The Bible said that He who hangs on a cross is cursed. Cursed is he who hangs on a tree. And they're calling this man who hangs on a tree God? To him that was blasphemy. That people would consider the one whom God called cursed because he hung on a tree to call that one God and to worship Him.

That was blasphemy in his mind. He did it ignorantly. Ignorantly and in unbelief. I think that's an amazing statement that Paul who was this mighty in the Word, who from his youth had been trained in the law, who was a Pharisee of the Pharisees, should say under the power of the Holy Spirit that what He did, He did in ignorance. This is an interesting question.

How do we know if we are right? When two sides who both claim the name of Christ, who both claim to have the leading of the Holy Spirit, but who have completely opposite views on things, How are we to know which side is right and which side is deceived? I mean, we have a number of situations like that in our day. Take for example the issue of creation. How old is the earth?

Well, there are people who claim to be Christians, who claim to know the Bible and to love the Lord, who would say that it's millions of years old. And they reinterpret the passages that say otherwise. And they believe that they have the right interpretation of the Scriptures. And there are other people that read them and say, well, the Bible clearly says the earth was created about 6, 000 years ago. That's the Word of God.

And they claim to be led by the Spirit and to know the Lord and to love His Word and to hold up the Scriptures as the infallible Word of God. How can we know who is right and who is wrong? Well, certainly it does require the illumination of the Holy Spirit. But how can we begin to think about these kinds of situations? How do we know which side is right and which side is the deceived side?

Because obviously both sides can't be right. The earth can't be millions and millions of years old and 6, 000 years old in the same way at the same time. So one is that either both are wrong or at least one of them is wrong. But they both can't be right. Well, one thing that's important is the testimony of the church.

What does the church believe? If you believe something that nobody else believes, that's a cause for questioning what you believe. But what about somebody like Martin Luther who could stand all alone at the diet of worms? And they would say to him, Martin, look at all these doctors of the law that surround you in this room. These are all good, godly men and they're saying you're wrong.

What could give Martin Luther the basis to say that he was right And to stand on the truth of God's Word as the Holy Spirit had revealed it to him. And that is the testimony of history, of the historical church. See, you have the church today, the testimony of the church today, but we know that the churches can become more or less more apostate in time. And there are periods of darkness as well as periods of revival and light. And so there may be situations where we live in a day of darkness when maybe a large portion of the church is deceived like Martin Luther did in his day.

See, That's when we go back and we can have the testimony of the historical church. What has the church historically believed? And so Martin Luther could apply that to the doctrines of justification by faith and he could look back over 1500 years of church history and see when he did that that he was in the majority. And there was a debate. I think it was at Lucerne, where a whole bunch of Catholic priests who had come together.

It was a large number. It filled a cathedral, I believe. And there were some reformers that came in. I believe it was at Lucerne. I may be mistaken on that.

And the Catholics spent three days denouncing the Protestants because they're claiming that their view of the Bible was aberrant. And then Calvin stood up at the end of three days. He hadn't said anything, and he was one of the younger people there. The debate had been carried by other reformers. But then he stood up at the end of three days and began to quote extensively from memory from the church fathers to show that the historical church was on the side of the Protestant reformers.

And many Catholic priests were saved. See, we have the historical church. What is the church historically believed? And that is also a plurality of witnesses. And so, Saul here saw himself as the one who was in the right.

And it took the power of the Holy Spirit to change his view. To change his view. But the overriding problem with Saul's condition is this. He didn't know Jesus. Christianity is many things.

It's a system of truth. It's a world and life view. But most fundamentally, it is a relationship. A relationship with the Lord Jesus Christ, the Creator of heaven and earth. And that relationship and all that attaches to that relationship is often called a covenant in the Scriptures.

And to be a Christian is to be in Christ. It is to be known by Christ. And it is to know Christ. And Paul did not know Jesus. Paul told Timothy later on in 2 Timothy 2.19, Nevertheless, the solid foundation of God stands, having this seal, the Lord knows those who are His.

The Lord knows those who are His. And let everyone who names the name of Christ depart from iniquity. 1 John 5.20 and we know that the Son of God has come and given us an understanding that we may know Him who is true, and we are in Him who is true, in His Son Jesus Christ. This is the true God and eternal life. It is to be known by Christ.

It is to know Christ. Or John 16. 3. And these things they will do to you because they have not known the Father nor Me." That's what Jesus said in the upper room. They would do these things to you because they haven't known Me.

Or in 2 Thessalonians 1, in verse 6, where we see God comforting the Thessalonian church with the promise of His judgment on those who are troubling them. He says, It is a righteous thing with God to repay with tribulation those who trouble you, and to give you who are troubled rest with us when the Lord Jesus is revealed from heaven with His mighty angels in flaming fire, taking vengeance on those who do not know God And on those who do not obey the Gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ. But a Christian is someone who does know Christ. John 17, 3 in Jesus' high priestly prayer with the disciples in that upper room before He was crucified. He said, and this is eternal life, that they may know You, the only true God in Jesus Christ whom you have sent.

That is eternal life. To know Jesus Christ, the only true God. You see, Saul, despite being trained by Gamaliel, despite growing up in a Jewish family, a Hebrew Jewish family, despite knowing the law from his youth, despite being blameless with regard to the law, perfectly keeping the law, fasting when he was supposed to fast, tithing of everything he was supposed to tithe, reciting all the law that He had memorized, purifying Himself, bringing all the sacrifices that He was supposed to bring. He didn't know Jesus. And so when Jesus speaks to him, he said, who are you, Lord?

Who are you? But all this is about to change when Jesus introduces Himself to Saul and knocks him to the ground. Saul is on his way to Damascus. He's on an angry, vengeful march to Damascus to bring His wrath and His hatred and His vitriol on all those Christians who are of the way. But on that way, Saul meets the sovereign Jesus.

And notice this, Jesus picked the time, Jesus picked the place, And Jesus knocked him to the ground with light. Saul didn't seek Jesus. Saul didn't decide that he was going to meet Jesus and go see Him. Saul didn't pick a place. God did.

Jesus did. Jesus determined all that. Saul met a sovereign God. Sovereign over everything. Sovereign over every aspect of his life.

Jesus sought Saul. And Saul is overpowered. Saul is used to going around with the authority of the priest putting people in jail at will. Remember, when he met Jesus, he met somebody who knocked Him to the ground, literally knocked Him to the ground. Somebody who He could not resist.

Because there is no resisting God's saving grace. It is irresistible. And people can resist the revealed will of God. They can receive His grace in vain. In the 2 Corinthians we're warned not to receive the grace of the Lord in vain.

But the secret will of God cannot be resisted. That's what Nebuchadnezzar learned. That there is no one in heaven or earth who can say to Him, what are you doing? There is no one who can stop His hand. And that's what Saul encountered when he met Jesus.

An irresistible, almighty, all-powerful God. Luke 7 says, "...The Pharisees and lawyers rejected the will of God for themselves not having been baptized. But Paul can say in Romans 9 of the secret will of God, you will say to me then, why does He find fault? For who has resisted His will? No one.

Saul meets a sovereign God and is overpowered. But also notice that Saul hears Jesus' voice. Only Saul heard the voice. This is particular redemption. No one else heard God's Jesus speaking.

They were there. They didn't hear. They saw light. They saw a man fall to the ground. They saw a man changed from a vengeful, vitriol-filled, threat-breathing man, angry man, to someone who is humbled and astonished and made willing by the power of God's grace.

This is God's particular redemption. No one else heard the voice and no one else is saved that day but Saul. In his speech to the Jews after he was arrested, Paul said that those who were with him indeed, they saw the light and they were afraid, but they could not hear the voice of Him who spoke to me. Because God gave grace to Saul and Saul only to hear that voice. You see, in salvation, God enables us to hear His voice that we who have not been able to hear, that we who have closed our ears and closed our eyes and shut our heart down.

God overwhelmingly and powerfully enables us to hear. You saw how it hurt Stephen to preach, but he didn't hear Jesus' voice. And now he does. And Jesus confronts Saul with his sin. He opens with a question, Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting Me?

Why are you persecuting Me?" And Saul in persecuting Christians, Jesus says, you are persecuting me. That's a sobering thought. Every sin that we commit against one another, every unkindness and idle word, whatever sin it is, that we commit against one another is a sin against Jesus. We're doing it against Him when we do it to His people. So Jesus confronts Saul with his sin of persecuting the Christian saints by saying, Why are you persecuting me?

Jesus is seeking a relationship with Saul. And instead of enmity, as he previously had, Saul now being regenerated by the power of the Holy Spirit, now has a desire to know God. He didn't produce that in Himself. And He asks, Who are You, Lord? Who are You, Lord?

He wants to know now. Who is it that is talking to me? Who is it that I am persecuting? And Jesus says, I am Jesus. It is Jesus that introduces Himself to Saul.

I am Jesus whom you are persecuting. He doesn't say to Saul, depart from me, I don't know you. He knows Saul. And he graciously introduces himself and he reveals himself to Saul. I am Jesus.

And in our salvation, the Lord has done the same with us. He has graciously revealed Himself to us. He said, I am Jesus. I am Jesus. This is God's covenant name in the New Testament.

Yehovah was His covenant name in the Hebrew. Jesus, Jehoshua, means Jehovah saves. Jehovah saves. Jesus is answering, saying, Saul, this Jehovah that you claim to worship, I am He, and I am the one who saves. And we also see then Saul, who is willing now to obey.

His will has been changed. His emotions have been regenerated. And instead of now desiring to do what is wrong, instead of choosing to do what is wrong, Saul now wills and desires to do what is right. It was of Saul's own will that he asked this question. Lord, what do You want me to do?

That's the question that we all should be asking the Lord. Lord, what do You want me to do? Not what do I want to do, but what do you want to do? And where's the answer for that? We're not in a conversation with the physical Lord as Saul was.

We have God's Word to tell us what he wants us to do. And the Lord answers him and says, Arise and go into the city, and you will be told what you must do. Saul has been humbled. And when he gets up off the ground having been told what to do, he's told simply to go into the city, arise and go into the city, and you will be told what to do. And like so many others, like we saw last week with Philip, Philip obeyed a command, even though there was not very much explanation about that command.

And Saul obeys this command. Saul is now changed. From somebody who is breathing out threats, somebody who is strong and exalted and with the approval of those in power, to one now who is blind and cannot see. It has to be led as a child. He opened his eyes when he got up from the ground, but he saw no one.

And they led Him by the hand. Saul, this powerful ruler, is now being led by the hands of those who are accompanying Him. And he is three days without sight. And he neither eats nor drinks. This is a time of his sorrow for his sin.

He's humbled himself. He doesn't eat. He can't see. He's humbled before the Lord. And this is where we will conclude next week, Lord willing, we will look at what effect this powerful introduction to the Lord Jesus Christ, this meeting of Christ, where Christ introduced Himself to Saul.

We will look at the effect that this has on Saul. But this is a beautiful picture of salvation. It's not of us. Paul never received Christ. He never asked to receive Christ into his heart.

God, Jesus, introduced Himself in a sovereign and powerful way. Saul never sought Jesus. Jesus sought Him and overpowered Him and subdued Him to Himself. And we can be thankful, so thankful, that the Lord has subdued us to Himself. And we know whether He has done that or not by whether we obey Him or not.

If you love Me, Jesus said, you will keep My commandments. And all the passages that we looked at about those who know, did you notice how tied to that was those who obey? Those who know Jesus obey Jesus. Those who don't know Jesus, don't obey Him. If Jesus is your Savior, He is also your Lord and Master.

I pray that He is your Lord and Master, and that if He is not, you would seek Him and submit to Him and obey Him. Let us pray. Father in heaven, we thank You that You do seek us who are lost.