The Divine Arrest vv. 6-9
followers of God. One day as Saul was traveling to another city to punish some Christians, a great light shone from Heaven and the Lord Jesus spoke to him. Saul became a Christian that day. Rather than persecuting Christians, he gave his life to the Lord Jesus. His name was changed to Paul. Paul became the first great missionary. Constantly he prayed, “ Teach me thy way, O Lord.” Everything in his life had been completely changed when he met the Lord Jesus and received God’s Son as his Saviour. No longer was he proud of his training and his family and his talents. He said, “ For to me to live is Christ.” Many well-educated, talented people today feel that they have no need of a Saviour. They say that they do not need to go to church and to study God’s Word. Sometimes God must permit sorrow or loss of their wealth or trouble to come into their lives to cause them to see the Lord Jesus and to realize that they need Him. Often boys and girls do not think that they need the Lord Jesus. They refuse to go to His house and to love and serve Him. What a wonderful day it is when at last they meet the Son of God! They discover that He helps them in every part of their life. There is no problem too great for Him to solve; there is no joy too small for Him to share. With Paul they daily pray, “ Teach me thy way, O Lord.”
Divine grace reached forth to halt Saul in his mad career. No one is ever saved apart from a divine operation. While Saul of Tarsus was on his way to Damascus bent upon bringing havoc to the cause of Christ, this same Christ who is the light of the world shone round about this archenemy of the Christian faith, causing him to fall to the ground. The voice of Jesus spoke to him, saying, “ Saul, Saul, why persecutest thou me?” (v. 7). Saul was bent upon injuring Christians, but the Lord indicates that that is the same as doing injury to Him self. How near to Him this makes His followers! Saul recognized that God was dealing with him now and learned that it was the Lord Jesus Christ who had halted him in his wicked way. It is interesting to note in verse 9 that those who were with Saul “ saw indeed the light, and were afraid; but they heard not the voice of him that spake.” God was deal ing with a single soul at this time. Others were outside the intimacy of this conver sation. So every soul must have personal dealings with the Lord alone before his heart will be made right with God. What actually hapnened that day on the Damascus road? Some say Saul was smitten by a sunstroke. Others that he was stricken by lightning. Still others that he had a vision of some kind. None of these theories will explain the remark able life that followed his experiences. Saul of Tarsus met the Lord Jesus Christ that day and that meant rightabout-face for him for the rest of his life. He ex perienced not sunstroke but Son-stroke! There is no real conversion apart from such an experience. The Divine Direction vv. 10-16 Following conversion on the Damascus road, the Lord told Saul to submit him self to the instructions of “ one Ananias” (v. 12). It is evident that Saul’s con version took place on the Damascus road .for when Ananias met him in Damascus he addressed him as Brother Saul (v. 13), and in later times in referring to his conversion Paul speaks of his experi ence on the way to Damascus. Following a person’s conversion, God usually em ploys other Christians for the purpose of instruction and growth in grace. Helps For the Children Paul, a New Follower of Jesus Acts 22:3-21 Memory Selection: “ Teach me thy way, O Lord” (Psa. 27:11). In the city of Tarsus a boy named Saul was busy studying the Jewish law under one of the greatest of all teachers. When Saul became a man he began to persecute the Christians for their faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. He thought that these Christians were not true
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