WHO ART THOU, LORD?
OR
WHAT WILT THOU HAVE ME TO DO?
B.R.: ACTS 5:34-39; ACTS 9:1-16;
TEXT: Act 9:5 And he said, Who art thou, Lord? And the Lord said, I am Jesus whom thou persecutest: it is hard for thee to kick against the pricks.
Introduction: The mind of Saul was in pain as he traveled the six long days and nights from Jerusalem to Damascus.
He had the letters in his hands to throw every man, boy woman, or girl into jail that laid claim to this one called Jesus.
But there was a growing uneasiness in his mind. Some of his anger and passion toward these followers of Jesus had turned into question marks.
He had been shaken when his own teacher Gamaliel was leaning toward the disciples, warning the Sanhedrin counsel not to be heavy handed in their actions toward the disciples.
Acts 5:38-39 reads: And now I say unto you, Refrain from these men, and let them alone: for if this counsel or this work be of men, it will come to nought:
Act 5:39 But if it be of God, ye cannot overthrow it; lest haply ye be found even to fight against God.
As Saul thought on these things, he could not help but think about the resoluteness of these people called Christians.
What was it about them?
How could belief in a dead carpenter son produce what they had?
How could they be willing to give their life for this cause that they believed in??
It was high noon when Saul and his men reached the outskirts of the city, Damascus.
He was in deep thought when it happened.
All his questions would soon be united into one question that he would ask the rest of his life.
Suddenly, a light shone round about him. He and the men in his task force were thrown to the ground.
All of a sudden, a voice spoke and said Act_9:4" Saul, Saul, why persecutest thou me?
There was authority, judgment, grace, and urgency in that voice. "Who are You, Lord?" Saul replied with trembling voice.
And then the answer came which he would never forget. "I am Jesus, whom you are persecuting. It is hard for thee to kick against the pricks."
Prick means to sting.
What did the Lord mean?
What was pricking and stinging Saul?
Was it not the very misgivings and questions which had grown in his mind.
This is the picture I have been trying to paint in your minds about the conversion of Saul, whose name was changed to Paul.
Saul was kicking against the promptings of the Spirit that were invading the thoughts of his mind.
He had unsettling thoughts, questions misgivings which he had kicked against.
All these thoughts blended into the one question….WHO ART THOU, LORD??
People have questions. All through life, I had questions. Still do.
Why is the world round?
Why did God call me to preach?
Why did my mother die when I was 14?
When is Jesus coming back??
Question after question. But the main question that I ask daily is “what do you want me to do, Lord?
This is the first and foremost question of any one that is called of God.
Everyone that claims to be a Christian wants to accomplish what God wants them to do in their lives.
Saul thought he was doing that.
Born and raised by Hebrew parents in a place called Tarsus, he had both Hebrew tradition and Greek culture flowing through his veins
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At an early age, his parents’ stature and resources, plus his own brilliance, had won him the privilege of studying under Gamaliel, the greatest Hebrew intellectual of that time.
Saul had distinguished himself as a resourceful scholar and natural leader. He became a member of the strictest sect of the Jewish religion called the Pharisees.
The Pharisees were committed to return the Jewish nation to obedience to the Law and the traditions.
Saul spoke fluent Greek, Hebrew, and Aramaic. He was exactly the kind of man Jesus needed to lead His movement. While Saul was tracking down Jesus followers, the Lord was tracking him, waiting for the right moment.
God was setting the stage.
And the Lord is setting the stage this morning.
While some are outright serving the Lord in Spirit and in Truth, there are some that outright DO NOT BELIEVE.
Those are the ones that God is tracking down.
Luk_19:10 For the Son of man is come to seek and to save that which was lost.
The Lord is like a bloodhound on their trail. They can’t shake Him.
Run through the water…He’s still there!
Hide in a house…right there!
Boozed up and drugged up…where do you think God is??? He’s still there!
Rom_5:20 …But where sin abounded, grace did much more abound:
His grace and mercy shining forth. Waiting…hoping…that they would turn to Him.
Say this Jesus and bible stuff isn’t real….but he’s right there. Hearing every word that comes out their mouth.
Saul said, “Who are you Lord?? He said I AM JESUS. Jesus knows who he is…the question is….do you know WHO HE IS??
Saul began to come to the conclusion that the followers of this Way were right…..Jesus is alive!
He may have died on that cross over 2000 years ago but death couldn’t hold Him down.
They even sealed his tomb!
But man can’t stop Jesus!
But on that third day! All heaven broke lose!
All the caverns of the deep opened up as to give birth to a resurrected Savior…with healing in his wings…even death itself couldn’t stop the one who conquered it.
Rev_1:18 I am he that liveth, and was dead; and, behold, I am alive for evermore, Amen; and have the keys of hell and of death.
Jesus holds the keys to death and hell. He has the final say-so.
Joh_1:3 All things were made by him; and without him was not any thing made that was made.
Saul was not easily intimidated.
The bible says in Acts 9:1 And Saul, yet breathing out threatenings and slaughter against the disciples of the Lord.
What stopped the threatenings and trying to kill folks??? JESUS!
Jesus is able to stop someone from doing bad and He’s able to start someone to do good.
But "trembling and astonished," he said, "Lord, what do You want me to do?"
He would never stop asking that question all of his life.
It became the secret of his guided life later on. It is our ultimate and obedient question in every situation.
The Lord could have effected Saul’s complete conversion at that moment.
But He had that planned in a way that would release Saul from an old life and the church from its fear of him.
When Saul arose from the ground, he was blind.
What a pitiful picture—the arrogant, Saul of Tarsus being led into the city which he had planned to purge of the followers of the very One who had appeared and spoken to him.
The Lord had a plan.
The scales over Saul’s eyes would permit him to focus on nothing or no one for three days except the Lord who had appeared to him.
Act_9:9 "And he was three days without sight, and neither ate nor drank."
1. Life really begins with a divine encounter with Jesus Christ. We are either being prepared for that or we are living in the assurance of it
If you don’t know Jesus in a personal relationship this morning, he wants you to have a divine encounter with Him.
No, there may not be a great light or an audible voice but there will be a divine meeting between you and your creator.
God is either preparing you for that or you are looking for an encounter with him.
If you are looking for Jesus, you have already found him.
Rom_10:8 The word is nigh thee, even in thy mouth, and in thy heart: that is, the word of faith, which we preach;
2. The Lord prepares us for that encounter with the "pricks" of questions which won’t go away and a deep dis-ease which only He can resolve.
You got questions, only He has the answers.
All your questions about why you’re here and what you are supposed to do are in the Word of God.
The answer has been in front of you your whole life. The Word of God is real.
3. He is gracious to love us to the end of our own resources so that we can listen to what He has to say to us.
God is a perfect gentlemen.
He will let us do what we want to do until we exhaust all of our resources and effort.
He will allow us to go through life trying to do it our way until we get tired and ask the question as Saul asked….who art thou Lord and what wilt thou have me to do.
5. He will use another person to confirm our encounter so that we can know both the joy of fellowship with Him and other believers.
Conversion never happens in a vacuum of independence. It leads to a declaration of interdependence
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He has a plan for every life which we discover only after we have met Him.
A guided life is a life in fellowship with Him.
We need each other as Christians to survive this Christian walk. We all need Fellowship.
The Greek word for fellowship comes from a root word meaning common or shared.
Fellowship means common participation in something either by giving what you have to the other person or receiving what he or she has.
Give and take is the essence of fellowship, and give and take must be the way of fellowship in the common life of the body of Christ.
You can’t always be giving without taking and you can’t always be taking without giving.
Christian fellowship is two-dimensional, and it has to be vertical before it can be horizontal.
We must know the reality of fellowship with the Father and with his Son Jesus Christ before we can know the reality of fellowship with each other in our common relationship to God.
How is your relationship with the Lord this morning?? Do you have questions?? Only the Lord God in heaven has the answers!
