HEAVEN CAME DOWN AND TOOK CONTROL
Acts 26: 9I verily thought with myself, that I ought to do many things contrary to the name of Jesus of Nazareth.
10Which thing I also did in Jerusalem: and many of the saints did I shut up in prison, having received authority from the chief priests; and when they were put to death, I gave my voice against them.
11And I punished them oft in every synagogue, and compelled them to blaspheme; and being exceedingly mad against them, I persecuted them even unto strange cities.
12Whereupon as I went to Damascus with authority and commission from the chief priests,
13At midday, O king, I saw in the way a light from heaven, above the brightness of the sun, shining round about me and them which journeyed with me.
14And when we were all fallen to the earth, I heard a voice speaking unto me, and saying in the Hebrew tongue, Saul, Saul, why persecutest thou me? it is hard for thee to kick against the pricks.
15And I said, Who art thou, Lord? And he said, I am Jesus whom thou persecutest.
16But rise, and stand upon thy feet: for I have appeared unto thee for this purpose, to make thee a minister and a witness both of these things which thou hast seen, and of those things in the which I will appear unto thee;
1. The Lord Jesus overruled his sinful ways
Acts 7; 52Which of the prophets have not your fathers persecuted? and they have slain them which shewed before of the coming of the Just One; of whom ye have been now the betrayers and murderers:
53Who have received the law by the disposition of angels, and have not kept it.
54When they heard these things, they were cut to the heart, and they gnashed on him with their teeth.
55But he, being full of the Holy Ghost, looked up stedfastly into heaven, and saw the glory of God, and Jesus standing on the right hand of God,
56And said, Behold, I see the heavens opened, and the Son of man standing on the right hand of God.
57Then they cried out with a loud voice, and stopped their ears, and ran upon him with one accord,
58And cast him out of the city, and stoned him: and the witnesses laid down their clothes at a young man's feet, whose name was Saul.
His stand with the children of the wicked
His stand with murderers
His stand with children of disobedience
His stand with contempt and hate
2. Christ overruled his sinful deeds
Deeds against the faithful
1st Tim.1: 13Who was before a blasphemer, and a persecutor, and injurious: but I obtained mercy, because I did it ignorantly in unbelief.
Deeds against the Lords people
Deeds against the church
3. The Lord changed his plans
To wipe out all believers
To exterminate the faithful
To house them all in prisons
To bind their testimony
4. Jesus overruled his sinful life
With grace that exceeded blasphemy ways
Grace that exceeded his hateful injuries ways
Grace that stopped his persecutions
Grace that exceeded all his sinful ways
5. The Lord Jesus overruled Satan as his master
Christ became Saul’s master
Christ became his director defeating Satan
Christ directed Saul’s life in the ways of Salvation
Christ directed Saul’s life towards a crown
He never looked back but pressed forward to the Crown of righteousness
