An Encounter with God ― A Sermon on Acts 9:4 (Remastered)

the words to which I should like to call your attention this evening are to be found in the book of The Acts of the Apostles in the ninth chapter and the fourth verse the fourth verse in the ninth chapter of the book of The Acts of the Apostles and he fell to the Earth and heard a voice saying unto him Saul Saul why persecutest thou me and he fell to the Earth and heard a voice saying unto him Saul Saul why persecutest thou me we come back once more to a consideration of this great and

epical event namely the conversion of Saul of tsus some of us who meet here regularly have been considering it together on the four previous Sunday evenings we come back to it them the fifth time and let me say again that our reason in doing this is that we may understand some of those first Elementary principles with regard to the Christian Life and especially as to how one ever becomes a Christian we are not particularly concerned with the dramatic character nor with the dramatic incidents in connection with the conversion of this great men they are not

vital they are not essential that isn't my opinion that is the teaching of the Apostle himself as it is clearly the teaching of the Bible it isn't the accompanyment that matter it isn't the occasional concomitants that count it's the thing itself and the thing itself is always the same there are certain elements that are common to every case of conversion there are certain things I would go further that are absolutely vital and essential to True conversion and to our becoming truly Christian and we have the authority of this great man himself for saying that what

happened to him and in him is a kind of pattern and example which can be held before others he says that himself you remember in writing to Timothy in that first epistle in the first chapter from verse 12 to verse 16 he says that that this he says happened to me that I might be a pattern a pattern of God's patience amongst other things in all them who are going to believe so I say we we come to this and we look at it together now the way I believe the best way of looking at

it is something like this here is a man whom we know and as the Apostle Paul this amazing man this astounding personality many of us refer to him as the great Apostle oh we needn't quarrel about that whether we should have our favorites or not amongst the apostles I don't know it doesn't matter certainly there was no greater men than this has the world ever seen a greater men than this here is this great man this Mighty Apostle this incomparable preacher and evangelist this outstanding servant of God that's how we think of him and yet

you see we are told here and we've looked at it in other passages of scripture that there was once a time when he wasn't like this he was a blasphemer and a persecutor and injurious here we are told In This Very chapter that he went off from Jerusalem in the direction of Damascus yet breathing out threatenings and Slaughter he so hated Christ he so hated Christianity he so hated Christians the very anticipation of damaging them and hurting them and massacring gave him a fish kind of delight breathing out threatenings and Slaughter there he was that

was his condition and as we have seen that was his condition in spite of the fact that he knew the facts concerning Jesus of Nazareth he had heard about him he knew all about him in a sense that was why he was able to say I verily thought with myself that I ought to do many things contrary to the name of Jesus of Nazareth it wasn't an ignorance of the whole story of Christianity he knew it and he knew other things he knew about Steven the Martyr Steven he was present in that occasion he'd heard

his address he'd seen the face shining he'd seen him dying he was aware of all these things and yet here he is a bitter violent opponent has no use for it indeed regards it as blasphemy and was fully persuaded in his own mind that he was pleasing God by trying to put an end to it and Exterminating such people off the face of the earth now there he was a non-Christian and then you see he became a Christian now we've spent most of our time so far in considering the causes of Paul's remaining as a

non-Christian for so long we won't go into this again I would hurriedly remind you that we saw certain General causes and then in particular he's emphasized his ignorance his real ignorance of the truth of the things which he thought he knew and then last Sunday night you remember that state of unbelief in what she was I obtained Mercy says Paul because I did it ignorantly in unbelief well there he is and still he's not a Christian for those various reasons but now we come to the Turning Point having looked at the things that held him

back we are now beginning to look at how he changed from that position to the other we saw that this condition which we describe as conversion is a very profound change a complete change everything becomes different well now how did it happen how does it happen well here I say as we begin to look into this great story as it's unfolded in this ninth chapter of This Book of the acts we shall see how it happened to this man let me say again let's not be held to much by the dramatic quality but let's get

at the principles behind for these are constant these are always the same you'll find them in every case in the New Testament you will find them as you read the lives of the Saints throughout the centuries it doesn't matter what century it happens in it doesn't matter where it happens it doesn't matter the type of person to whom it happens there are certain things that are always present and are therefore basic I regard them as as the Bare Essentials the irreducible [Music] minimum and now I say we begin to look at these things what is

it that happens to a man when he gets out of a state of unbelief and ignorance and becomes a Christian that's the great thing the vital thing isn't it again may I say that I'm calling attention to all this on the assumption that I'm speaking to those who either know what it is or who else are longing for it and Desiring for it and to wet your appetite if you're not longing for it already my friend let me remind you again of this man and his character wouldn't you like to be like this man wouldn't

you like to be a master of circumstances wouldn't you like to be able to say I have learned in whatsoever State I am therein to be content wouldn't you like to be able to look into the face of the L enemy and to say to me to live is Christ and to die is gain because it means going to be with Christ Which is far better that's what this man became that was his life that was his experience a master of life and all its attendant circumstances one of the greatest benefactors that the human race

has ever known there he is how did he become that how how did this change take place from that awful blasphemy and persecution to this astounding condition in which we find him in the pages of the New Testament well let me just note the steps this evening I'm simply making an analysis of what we are told here here are the things that I regard as being absolutely essential the first thing is and the most vital thing of all the intervention of God he desired of the authorities in Jerusalem letters to Damascus and to the synagogues

that if any be found in this way whether they were men or women he might bring them bound unto Jerusalem and off he goes with all his commission and all his authority from Jerusalem and listen to it look again at this extraordinary way in which the scripture puts these things the way it can put it all in just a word almost and as he journeyed he came near Damascus and suddenly there shine round about him a light from Heaven I say God intervenes now let us put this from the experimental standpoint this evening uh someone

may say to me yes you say God intervenes but how do I know that what does that mean to me in my experience well let me put it like this if you like one of the first things that happens to a man who thus is passing from unbelief to becoming a Christian is that he becomes aware of the fact that something is happening to him I say in the case of Paul of course it was with all this dramatic suddenness and intensity suddenly there shined this light round about him well now it isn't always like

that and that isn't essential it needn't be sudden it needn't be dramatic it can be slow it can be almost unperceived and yet as certainly as it's happening one is aware of the fact that something is happening and something is taking place now again you see we come back to the apostles own account of this he says I'm a pattern and an example all right it's like being in a dark building and suddenly the switch is put on and the light is there well now then but the light doesn't always come on like that oh

I say there are times you'll find it in the history of the Saints when there was nothing with this dramatic suddenness and intensity but they were just aware of the fact that something was happening to them something that they'd never known before something that they' never experienced before and yet do as they will and as they like they're just conscious that they're being dealt with that something is taking place let's put it like that quite explicitly it's the consciousness of the fact that something is being done to us and that we are I say being

dealt with it's very difficult to put this into adequate language but it is this sensor or sensation almost that we are being manipulated if you like that we are no longer free in a sense that we once thought we were free uh we are being surrounded something is taking place around and about us there is a consciousness of some new experience some new dimension almost has come in and we are now in this whole position and condition that something seems to have come into our life we don't know quite what it is but it's there

and I say the answer to it all is that it's God intervening oh I've often puted those words of Wordsworth because I sometimes think they come perhaps nearer to it than anything else that I can think of he wasn't talking about this he with his particular views was talking rather about nature you remember but he puts it like this I have felt a presence that disturbs me with the joys of elevated thought what's he mean well he has felt the presence and he's been Disturbed he's done nothing Something's Happened to him he's taken hold of

he's possessed he's taken up now that's [Music] it God through Christ was here dealing with the Apostle on the road to Damascus and he does it to all who become Christian and they just have this vague awareness at first that there is something taking place they have this Consciousness that they're being manipulated as it were and being surrounded by someone something entering into some new experience which they've never known hither to this is absolutely essential my friend because it's always God dealing with us the terms we saw on the first occasion when we looked at

this matter insist upon that if it is a new birth if it's a recre new creation as if it's regeneration well it is of necessity and you're aware of a kind of atmosphere of this uh surrounding by someone something and you're being dealt with something's taking place in you unto you but let me hurry on and make it still more plain when I put it like this the thing I really want to emphasize uppermost perhaps this evening the personal element and aspect of all this here it is and that's why I take my this fourth

verse as my text tonight he fell to the Earth and heard a voice saying unto him sa Soul that's it the personal element now let me try to analyze this the first way I'd like to put it would be this it's a becoming conscious of the fact that he is now an object and no longer the subject now this is popular terminology today isn't it this is one of the uh most popular ways and views of handling this matter this encounter well it's perfectly right becoming a Christian does mean a Divine encounter a man encountering

God and God encountering men meeting takes place there's a relationship I thou two persons are in contact that's it that's the essence of Christianity and it's an address you see for the first time in his life sa of tssus was conscious of being addressed before that he had done everything it was he who talked and so long but now he's being addressed he's being spoken to Saul Saul the word comes to him he as a person is involved and the position is no longer that he the subject a soul of tsus is looking at some

object religion no no he is the one who's being examined as it were he's the object no longer the subject or to put it still more directly let me put it like this when this happens one is no longer in the position that it's uh matter of my being interested in religion or Christianity and investigating it from a detached external position no I'm here now and I'm being addressed I'm I'm being spoken to I'm being surrounded I'm being dealt with something is taking place and happening to me it's an entire reversal of the old position

you see it all so clearly in the case of Saul of tus don't you just picture him try to read his mind as he left the city of Jerusalem with his commission and all his authority and can't you hear him as he talks to himself and as he talks to himself about what he's going to do and how he's going to put an end to this Christianity he's full of his own ideas and they were perfectly sound and right ideas he was doing a great work and a great work for God and he's full of

this and he's talking to it and he's so active and busy he doesn't think of anything else he's full of himself and his own activity and his own ideas then suddenly he's arrested he's apprehended that's his own word he's laid hold of and he's addressed this personal element becomes tremendously prominent and the whole position of Detachment disappears then let me take it a step further by putting it like this the next step is that instead of talking and expressing my opinions I am made to [Music] listen oh these things sound so simple don't they and

yet these are the things that happen whenever any person becomes a Christian the whole trouble with most people who are not Christian is that they never listen that's why they never here you see we all come into this world and start in this life imagining that we know all about Christianity and we are very young indeed when we all start expressing our opinions about Christianity we know all about it we've never read the New Testament of course but that's immaterial we've never read never read a book on church history that makes not the slightest difference

we know and especially in the 20th century we know all about it so what is Christianity well Christianity is something for me to demolish something for me to denounce and to expose and to make a joke about I know all about it and I'm doing the talking and I'm speaking about Christianity and I'm saying what I think and what I'm going to do then my friend you find yourself in the position that you're listening and it's the most glorious thing that can ever happen to you it's the best sign that you're on the way to

becoming a Christian if indeed you've not already become one the man who is breathing out the threatenings and the slaughter and expressing his opinions is silenced and he's listening and someone saying so and the eloquent speaker becomes an auditor oh my dear friends I'm not here to make a psychological analysis of conversion or of the case of Saul of tsus I'm here to speak to you directly I have no time for theoretical interest these matters are of life and death importance and value to every one of us so I ask a simple direct plain blunt

question have you yet got to the listening stage have you beg to listen to it it's speaking it speaks out to the word do you come to the word as the critic in order to find the flaws and the errors and the things you're talking about and in order to expose it all or are you suddenly driven backwards and it stands out and it comes up to meet you and it's looking at you and it's speaking to you and you're conscious of being addressed and you've become the auditor which is it there can be no

question there's no argument about this every man who's become a Christian has passed through this stage of Silence when you've been apprehended and arrested and pulled up and made to think for a moment and you're Dum and you just listen and you're aware of these things coming to you he be became silent he became for the first time the auditor or to put it in still another way let me put it to you like this The Voice came and said Saul Saul why persecutest thou me and for the first time I think in his life

these things became to Soul of tssus personal concern here again is something I'm sure that we all have known something of inexperience it's almost incredible but it is surely the Masterpiece of Satan that he can make us consider these things even these things in an impersonal manner we all assume the position of the judge on the bench when it becomes a question of Christianity oh I think I've quoted to you once before that perfect state statement of this position I'm trying to outline the words were uttered by Lord Melbourne who was Queen Victoria's first prime

minister he put it like this he said you know things are coming to A Pretty P if religion's going to start being personal what's religion well of course religion is something that's uh far away from the person religion well it's a sort of Institution it's a part of the British Heritage part of western civilization it's what is your religion well it's the great background to life it's something mainly cultural you can divide it up in various ways it's got a great philosophy it's got an element of pageantry so that if you've got a great Civic

occasion or a state occasion well of course religion comes in it adds a sort of Final Touch it's a kind of show that you put on as it were well not only that it's it's something very interesting to to reason about and to argue about it is after all a view of life and there are various views of life you can read about Christianity you can read about the other great religions of the world you can go back and read Greek philosophy now these are all very interesting because life is rather problematical and things are

not easy and we're all surrounded by difficulties and it's interesting therefore to consider any Theory or proposition or point of view which may have something to contribute to this tremendous problem which confronts us and this is one of them but of course uh it it doesn't say anything about me personally and uh when you're discussing these things you must never become personal that's the height of Bad Manners apart from anything else one one a thing is General it mustn't be made particular and when it's for everybody it's not in particular for me so we go

right away back we take our seats in the gallery or on the bench as I say and we look down upon an arena well yes of course there are certain phenomena in connect in connection with religion and some people talk about being converted and a great change in their lives and we investigate it it's particularly interesting to look on and to see exactly what happened as I said last Sunday night is this some sort of psychological complex is it some sort of disease is was this a manifestation of epilepsy in in the case of Paul

now how interesting it is to talk about all that and to discuss it oh yes but while I'm doing all that you see I remain the non-Christian I'm in the state of unbelief that was Saul of tssus before this thing happened to him but here he's addressed Saul Saul you men we're discussing you not somebody else and he's facing himself for the first time Christianity is first and foremost personal it isn't your views nor mine that matter it's you yourself Christianity is about you about your life about your destiny about your Immortal Soul it speaks

to us one by one you can't be saved in countries or in families that's the LIE of the devil there's no such thing as a Christian Nation it's individual it's personal and For the First Time The Apostle this man Saul of tus who became the Apostle Paul had to face these things from his own personal end and his own personal angle the relevance of these things to him now you see up until this point Saul had been the great advocate of Judaism and we all like being Advocates we take up a case you see but

when I take up a case I'm not involved it's the Cas it's outside me the barister takes up the case in court he's eloquent you think he feels it he loses his temper but he's really not interested personally at all he's gripped by the job for the time being he's moved by his own eloquence as he defends his client or as he cross-examines another but of course he's not in it personally is not engaged at all it's the enthusiasm for the case now that was all of tus you see but here he himself was put

at the very center it was all about him he he was being dealt with he I say has become the object and no longer the subject for the first time he himself as a person became directly related to these things oh my dear friend I don't apologize for asking some simple questions as we go along tonight have you really faced these things personally have you realized where you yourself come into it in all these matters have you realized that you really can't be a spectator where God is concerned that there's no such thing as a

Detachment that scholarship as I said last Sunday night makes no difference at this point at all we are all here in this world and we are passing through it and we're all personally involved soul soul where do you stand personally relative to these things that's inevit and then I go on to my last Point under this personal aspect which is this there takes place This Dawning Consciousness that what rarely matters is not what I think of him but what he thinks of me I verily thought with myself that I ought to do many things contrary

to the name of Jesus of Nazareth what's that mean it means this that his soul concerned there was with his opinions of Jesus of Nazareth and he wasn't slow to express them and he was very sure of them and that to him was the big thing and the important thing suddenly here the whole thing is reversed again and he sees that what rarely matters is what that blessed person is just seen there in the heavens thinks of him all these steps are clear obvious you see you become object rather than subject you listen instead of

speaking you're involved in it yourself it's not detached its direct and personal and above all I say you are aware of judgment coming upon you instead of you expressing your judgment soul soul my dear friend have you ever heard it coming to you like that have you heard yourself being addressed are you aware of the fact that God is dealing with you and is speaking to you no man can be a Christian without that it's impossible you can't accept Christianity as a philosophy of course you can do that but that doesn't make you a Christian

to merely give an intellectual Ascent to these things it's not enough it is really and truly an encounter with God it's a meeting not with this traumatic intensity perhaps you don't see Christ Paul saw him that made him Apostle because he saw literally the Risen Lord the face of the Lord on the road to Damascus you and I don't have that but we meet we know we have felt the presence we've known he's dealing with us and we've known that he's dealing with us individually and directly personal and then of course I go on to

the next step which is conviction of sin the interruption the awareness of the other the person and the personal involvement and that leads of course to the conviction of sin listen Saul Saul why persecutest thou me what does this mean well again let me break it up into its simplest components the first thing this means of course is that I come to a realization that God knows me this great God I've thought of and spoken about and have argued this kind of philosophic EX this great Creator the absolute the Eternal somewhere in the distant Heavens

who's fashioned the cosmos and who's interested in the whole world I awaken to the dread the almost terrible realization that he knows me individually soul soul have you had such a meeting with God have you had such an awareness of God's personal intimate knowledge of you indeed I go on to emphasize that Saul of tsus not only discovered here that God knew him personally he discovered that he knew all about his life and that's a thing of course about which the Bible speaks everywhere it's the last thing men comes to know we are so clever

at eluding one another and in fooling one another that we finally imagine that we do exactly the same with God and we imagine that God does not know all about us we imagine that we can go on doing things and that nothing matters nothing happens but sa of tsas here discovered that he knew all about him and no man becomes a Christian without realizing that God knows all about him all things are naked and open unto the eyes of him with whom we have to do nothing is hidden from his sight the sist juicy are

full of this sort of thing they try to get away from him they take their flight as it were to Heaven he's there they make their bed in hell and lo he's there they go to the East and to the West they try to get away from him but they can't get away from him God's everywhere and he knows all about us it's a vital part of this process God knows I say every every single detail of your life there's nothing about you that is not known to God and it's a man coming to the

realization of this who is a man who's always on the way to becoming a Christian suddenly the things that he himself has forgotten come back to him they've been brought back to him by God the things he's explained away are again put in front of him and he can't get rid of them it's God doing its conviction of sin and take it still further and it comes to this that God brings home to me my sin and its enormity that was one of the things that happened to sa of tsus on that road wasn't it

it made him see himself as he really was and it made him see the things that he'd been doing as they really were the breathing out of the threatenings and the slaughter the way he'd given his vote against these people his desire to exterminate them suddenly he sees these things as they are for the very first time he'd never seen it before the of it all the ignorance of it all the arrogance of it all the fness of it all oh he's eloquent in many places about this we've looked already at the sth of Romans

there it is isn't it the proud self-satisfied self-justifying Pharisee comes to see that in me that is to say in my flesh dwelleth no good thing you begin to see yourself and your life now you've been evading and dividing yourself the whole of your life hither to we've all done it we all try to do it and we all still go on doing it everything that face ourselves honestly but when this encounter takes place you must see yourself he holds a mirror up before you have you rely faced yourself and your life look back across

your record are you pleased or are you displeased can you really justify everything that's in it are you proud of it all things done things said things imagined things thought the spirit the desires all these things suddenly this man was face to face with them all and he saw them and he hated them and he was amazed at them the wrongness the ignorance the arrogance I say and especially when I go on and put it like this all that in its relationship to God the thing that he never got over was this that the words

uttered by the Lord were Saul Saul why persecutest thou me he thought he was persecuting Christians he's told he's persecuting Christ all that he's been doing is not only wrong but it's terrible when it's put into the relationship with him and that is the essence of the conviction of sin what makes sin sin is not so much that we do things that are wrong my friends what makes sin sin is that we do such things against God that's the thing that came home to David wasn't it though he was guilty of adultery and of murder

what he actually said was against thee thee only have I sin and done this evil in thy sight it's a terrible thing to commit adultery it's a terrible thing to murder a man that there's something infinitely more terrible that I've done all this against my maker and Creator the one who fashioned man at the beginning and made him in his own image and set him the perfect in the garden that's [Music] sin that it's directed against God that it's Rebellion against God that it's transgression of God's love law that is violating God's principle that is

asserting myself and my will against the holy will of God for the conscience warned me before I did it all but I defied it and I denied it and I thereby defied and denied God why persecutest thou me you can't be a Christian without being convicted of sin and conviction of sin means that you realize that you've wronged God that you've raised yourself up against him that you haven't glorified him and lived to his glory that he hasn't been dominating your life and that you haven't realized that he So Glorious and so wonderful that the

highest privilege that'll ever come to you will be just to serve him humbly and to look into his face and to do his will you've done the exact opposite isn't that true my friend isn't that all mankind by Nature God haters God denies us God def fires asserting self putting our will in the center and doing such things and suddenly we come to see it all conviction of sin and that in turn of course leads to the next thing which is this trembling now in your revised versions there in the pews you haven't got this

part of the sixth verse which I have in the authorized I read and he trembling and astonished said Lord what Willl thou have me to do we need go into the way in which that's absent from your versions let me put it to you like this there is not the slightest question but that this is perfectly true whether it ought to be in the text at that point or not is immaterial it undoubtedly was true to the experience of the Apostle he was trembling who is this man who TR trembling he's the great Pharisee the

great Authority the man who knows all about the law the man who's more religious than anybody else he's trembling and astonished what's the matter with him oh it's the inevitable result of everything that I've just been saying it's a man Awakening to the fact that his soul and his whole condition are in a desperately dangerous plight no man believes in a savior until he seen himself as lost and in need of Salvation and that is salvation we need to be saved from what well from the wrath of God those are the scriptural terms the terms

used by our blessed Lord himself it's a man coming to realize that by living the life he has lived and behaving as he has behaved that he's not only been sinning against God but that he's been placing his soul in jeopardy and this man seeing that face and having some conception of the glory of God sees that he's not only been wrong but that he's been a fool that he full hardiness that he's been picking himself against the absolute and the Eternal God who could blast him out of existence in a second and he trembles

in Terror and alarm at his own destiny at his own future have have you ever been concerned about yourself have you ever worried about yourself have you ever spent an evening with yourself as it where talking to yourself and saying this I know that in me there is that which is Immortal dust thou out to dust returnest was not spoken of the soul I can't conceive myself as none existent and here I am I'm moving through this world and day by day I get older and older and the whole thing is absolutely uncertain and contingent

at any moment I may go out of it and where do I go and what happens to me then have you ever spoken to yourself like that my friend it's the truth about you you are getting older every day and you've got to die you're going to die what then now I say that a man who becomes a Christian is a man who's faced that and has become desperately concerned about it he's a man who says to himself what if I die tonight well what then what happens to me and he's alarm he begins to

tremble fear and trembling is an essential part of it and it's unavoidable the moment we realize these things and if you've never yet trembled it's because you know nothing about God and you don't know the truth about yourself either for the moment we know something of God and see what we are and what we've been we must realize that we are under the wroth of God and in the most terribly dangerous condition a soul can ever be in that was what happened to this man he became concerned he became alarmed his whole Destiny flashed before

him and he was horrified at the possibility and that of course he inevitably leads to the last step which is this he recognized him and submitted to him Lord What wilt thou have me to do who is he he's the Jesus that he blasphemed that he' hated that he dismissed as an impostor he now knows that he's the Lord Of Glory and he surrenders to him the man who is denouncing him and going to exterminate him in his cause What wilt thou have me to do Lord you see a man has become desperate at this

point he realizes that he's so lost that he can do nothing about himself he can't save himself he can't undo what he's been doing and one glimpse of God puts an end to that a person who believes that by his own religion and righteousness he can make himself fit to stand in the presence of God is just proclaiming his utter ignorance of God if you know something about God and I with you why we put our hands upon our mouths with job and we' put an end to all this Reliance upon the filthy rags of

our own self-righteousness he says what will thou have me to do and all he wants you to do is to believe him and to believe on him and to trust yourself to him you have acknowledged and confessed your sin and the enormity of your sin against him you've seen it at last and you recognized who he is and you hand yourself to him and you say tell me anything you like I'll do it I'm at your service I'm a helpless slay at thy feet nothing in my hand I bring simply to thy cross I cling

tell me what to do and I'll do it I'm helpless I'm hopeless I'm penniless I'm a popper I'm foul I to the Fountain fly I've nothing what will thou have me to do Lord and he was told and he did it he was not disobedient unto the heavenly vision and he became the mighty Apostle Paul the preacher and the proclaimer of Jesus Christ the man who proved in Damascus that this is the very Christ and proclaimed him and told all to believe in him and showed them how he had come to save them from the

Wrath and from the LA of God that's the sequel but this is how it took place and this is why it took place sa sa why persecutest thou me you see this is the terrible part of this whole subject isn't it that sa of tsus was in that precise position all along but he didn't know it when he thought with himself that he ought to do many things contrary to the name of Jesus of Nazareth it was against that person he was saying it when he asked for authority to go down to Damascus to persecute

and Massacre the Christians it was against that person he was doing it but he didn't know it he thought he knew he didn't know the Lord was there the whole time exactly the same Paul was do sa was doing these things because he didn't know and he only came to know when he heard the words Saul Saul and you my friend if you're not a Christian are in that precise position you don't know these things and you're expressing your opinions what do you think about Christianity and why doesn't it stop war and do this and

that and the other and why does doesn't God do this and that you are speaking and you're eloquent and you're settling these matters you're doing it all and you've never stopped and you've never listen but you know there are the facts and I more and more come to think of Christian preaching as just this the business of the Christian preacher is just to be a mouse mouthpiece of Christ and of God and what he rarely is meant to do is just to utter your name sa Saul stop a moment think for a minute do you

realize what you're doing who are you well I'm Jesus the one you're dismissing in your clever talk the one who Vice in the conscience you silence when you go behind the door and commit that sin the sins that are committed in darkness and in the night I am the one that you're sinning against because you were made on my image at the beginning and I've come from Heaven to Earth and have even gone to the cross and the grave in order to deliver you out of all that that's the business of preaching just to tell

you that but I'd add this to it shall I put it in the form of a question have you had this personal address so far have you heard God speaking to you directly has God spoken your name to you have you had this Consciousness that God has rarely spoken to you individually and told you that he knows all about you have you had this consciousness of being dealt with and God addressing you has your name been spoken to you because my dear friend a day is coming when your name will be pronounced you go to

the 20th chapter of the Book of Revelations and there you'll read about it the great day of judgment is coming when God will be seated upon the throne and all the people of the earth and the heavens and the Sea and everywhere else they'll all appear before him and the books will be opened and as certainly as I stand in this Pulpit at this moment and tell you that on that road to Damascus that Saul of tsus heard his own name name being called out from Heaven you will hear your name being called out from

Heaven your name will be called You Can't Hide yourself in that crowd because God knows us one by one there's no limit to his knowledge he knows us individually he'll address Us by name our record is in the book everything we've done or said or thought it's all there he knows it all and your your name will be called out Saul sa do you hear it now well if you do do what sa of tsus did turn to him and say what wil thou have me to do and he will give you the same old

simple reply believe on me give yourself to me and be saved from the r to come amen we do hope that you've been helped by the preaching of Dr Martin lyd Jones all of the sermons contained within the mlj trust audio library are now available for free download you may share the sermons or broadcast them however because of international copyright please be advised that we are asking first that these sermons never be offered for sale by a third party and second that these sermons will not be edited in any way for Lay or to use

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