Shalom, everyone. Let us turn to the book of Acts and the passage that I'm going to read today found in chapter 9 and verse 1 to 19. We are going to deal with the salvation or the Yeshua, the salvation of Shaul, of Tarsus. This individual that have persecuted the Jewish believers in Jerusalem and then in Judea and elsewhere. Here we find out in chapter 9 how Shaul, whose name is also called Paul, became a believer in Yeshua, the Messiah. Let me read those 19 verses, please. Follow me. And Shaul, yet breathing out threatenings and slaughter against the disciples of the Lord, He went unto the high priest and desired of him letters to Damascus, to the synagogue, that if he found any of this way, whether they were men or women, he might bring them bound unto Jerusalem.

And as he journeyed, he came near Damascus, and suddenly there shined round about him a light from heaven. And he fell to the earth and he heard a voice saying unto him, Shaul, Shaul, why persecutest thou me? And he said, Who art thou, Lord? And the Lord said, I am Yeshua, whom thou persecutest. It is hard for thee to kick against the pricks. And he, trembling and astonished, said, Lord, what wilt thou have me to do? And the Lord said unto him, Arise, and go unto the city, and it shall be told thee what thou must do. And the man which journeyed with him stood speechless, hearing a voice but seeing no man.

And Shaul arose from the earth, and when his eyes were opened, he saw no man. But they led him by the hand, they brought him unto Damascus. And he was three days without sight, and neither did eat nor drink. And there was a certain disciple in Damascus named Hananiah. And to him said the Lord in a vision, Hananiah. And he said, Behold, I am here, Lord. And the Lord said unto him, Arise, and go into the street which is called Straight. And inquire in the house of Judah for one called Shaul of Tarsus. For behold, he prayeth. And has seen in a vision a man named Hananiah coming in and putting his hand on him, that he might receive his sight.

Then Hananiah answered, Lord, I have heard by many of these men how much evil has he done to the saints in Jerusalem. And here he has authority from the chief priests to bind all that call on thy name. But the Lord said unto him, Go thy way, for he is a chosen vessel unto me to bear my name before the Gentiles and kings and the children of Israel. For I must show him how great things he must suffer for my name's sake. And Hananiah went his way. And he entered into the house. And putting his hands on him, said, Brother Shaul, the Lord, even Yeshua, that appeared unto thee in the way as thou camest, has sent me that thou might receive thy sight and be filled with the Holy Spirit.

And immediately there fell from his eyes as it had been scales. And he received sight forthwith and arose and was baptized. And when he had received food, he was strengthened. Then was Shaul certain days with the disciples which were at Damascus. Now, I'm going to stop here in this verse. Actually, the story about Saul, Paul, is continuing on up to verse 31. But I took a break here because of the fact that there is a lot of material here to cover. And I thought it would be much better to stop here in verse 19 of this chapter and to just discuss and minister on these verses. First of all, as we are moving into chapter 9, in our last sessions together we discussed, we talked about chapter 8 and how the persecution of the early believers in Jerusalem after the death of Stephen, the persecution that occurred in the city of Jerusalem.

And then later on, if you remember how in Samaria there was a great revival that God used Philip in Samaria. And moving from Samaria, he sent him to one individual Ethiopian eunuch to lead him to Yeshua the Messiah. And how it was wonderful when this Ethiopian eunuch was reading in the prophet Isaiah in chapter 53, he was led as a sheep to the slaughter. And like a lamb dumbed before his shearer, so he opened not his mouth. And in his humiliation his judgment was taken away. And who shall declare his generation? For his life is taken from the earth. When this Ethiopian eunuch was reading this passage in the prophet Isaiah, Philip was led by the Lord to lead him to the person of Yeshua the Messiah.

And we saw that he preached unto him Yeshua, Jesus, in Acts chapter 8 and verse 35. And so now we are moving from this man from Ethiopia, and now we are led into another man. And this man is this one that was very well known as the persecutor of the church of the assembly in Israel. Now again, I would like to remind you, when Shaul was persecuting believers, he persecuted Jewish believers. This is important to understand it. He didn't persecute non-Jewish believers in Yeshua, but he persecuted his own brethren with the conviction that he had that God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob have revealed to Israel the truth and believing in Jesus in Yeshua the Messiah was believing in a foreign God, believing in a false teaching, believing in a false Messiah.

And so we read in the first verse of Acts chapter 9, verse 1, we read that Shaul, yet breathing out, threatening and slaughter against the disciples of the Lord. Notice that verse 1. He was breathing out slaughter. Now if you would just for a moment turn back to chapter 7 of our book of Acts, and you notice that Shaul witnessed the persecution of Stephen, the killing of Stephen. If you remember, it says in chapter 7 and verse 58, "And those witnesses laid down their clothes at the young man's feet by the name of Shaul." In this Saul, Shaul was witnessing. He was there when Stephen was stoned. He was there when Stephen was accused.

He was witnessing these dear brothers and sisters. He was there observing it because he felt before the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob that Stephen was preaching false teaching. In fact, if you're going to go to chapter 8, and you notice what it says in verse 1 and verse 3, "And Shaul was consenting unto his death." This word consenting in the Greek is really found pleasure in the death of Stephen. It's actually meaning he was approving of the stoning of Stephen. Can you imagine? He stood there. He watched false accusation against Stephen, but he also was consenting to his death. And if you read in verse 3 of Acts chapter 8, it says that Shaul made havoc of the church, which was in Jerusalem.

He made havoc of the church entering every house, hauling men and women, committing them to prison. Can you imagine? He made havoc of the Jewish believers in Jerusalem and in Judea, in the area, in the land. He was really persecuting them. He was making havoc of them. And can you imagine what must it have been for the early Jewish believers, a great minority in Israel who loved their brethren, wanted to let their brethren know about the Messiah, but their brethren did not understand it, did not accept Yeshua the Messiah. But Shaul, according to chapter 9, it was not sufficient for him to persecute the believers in the land.

So you know what he did? He wanted to go beyond the borders of Israel to get a hold of those Hebrew believers in Yeshua the Messiah, which were outside of the land. You know what he did? According to verse 1 and verse 2, Shaul, hatred towards the believers in Yeshua, caused him to ask for, as it says, letters from the high priest in order to go to Damascus and there to continue the persecution of the Hebrew believers. And so we read, He was breathing out threatening. He was breathing out slaughter against the disciples of the Lord. He went to the high priest and verse 2 says, He desired him little to Damascus, to the synagogues, that if he found, and notice that, any of this way, whether they were men or women, he might bring them bound unto Jerusalem.

So the letters that he wanted from the high priest is a letter of authority to come to another city in Damascus. And there in Damascus, apparently at that time, there was a large Jewish community there. And there were those that had been exposed to Yeshua the Messiah, who had believed in him, but they still remained connected in the Senagogues. So for them, even though they believed that Yeshua was the Messiah, they were still going to the Senagogues. And so it seemed to be that there was a lesson here. First of all, a lesson for them to learn that, well, you cannot mix that which the Senagogues teaches when they reject the Messiah, and that which the Lord teaches concerning himself and the work of redemption, and they end up staying in a Senagog.

And so Shaul took letters from the high priest to go to Damascus in order to persecute those believers in that city. Now notice what it calls here in verse 2. It says that if he found any of this way, notice this expression, this way. It was not yet called, if you will, Christianity. But this way means the way that was taught to them by the Lord Yeshua the Messiah. This way. This way. It was known among the Hebrews, among the Jewish community, of a group of people who are following this way. This is a title for believers that have been given to the early believers, the Jewish believers in Yeshua the Messiah.

In fact, if you remember what Yeshua said in John chapter 14, when he was speaking to his disciples, he said, I am the way. I am the truth. I am the life. No one come to the Father but by me. Yeshua himself called himself as the one that is the way. That expression, the way or this way, is something that was always mentioned by our people Israel of all. For example, in Psalm chapter 1, we read of the way of the ungodly and the way of the godly. You remember in chapter 1, and I am reading just verse 6. For the Lord knows the way of the righteous, but the way of the ungodly shall perish.

This expression, the way, is an expression that was used in the first century to apply to those who believe in Yeshua the Messiah. In fact, in the book of Acts itself, how many times the expression the way is mentioned there? Many times. It's mentioned in Acts 19 and verse 9, verse 23. It's mentioned in Acts 22 and verse 4. This way, the way, it simply means that those who follow the way of our Lord Yeshua the Messiah. And notice the word "senagogues" is plural. There is no one synagogue. In the city of Damascus, there was more than one synagogue. The Jewish community was a large Jewish community. And so there were senagogues in one area, in another area.

Only in Damascus, beloved brothers and sisters. Today, in Damascus, in Syria, there are very few Jewish people today. But the point is, at that time, there were many, many Jewish people in this city of Damascus. Shaul takes a letter. He's going to Damascus in order to cause them affliction and to bring them bound to the city of Jerusalem. What motivated him to do that? He felt that it was love for his God. He felt that he was doing it because he loved the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. And in loving the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, But you know, brothers and sisters, unless a person is enlightened by the Holy Spirit of God, he or she cannot understand divine truth.

Even Shaul, with all the measure of learning that he had in the school of Gamliel, who was a Pharisee of the Pharisees, he himself needed to have light to understand that Yeshua is the Messiah. So I would like to suggest a few things about Shaul here before we're going to move to the next verses. The first thing that I would like to suggest about Shaul, Saul, Paul, that he was spiritually blind. As a Jewish man, like those of us who are Jewish coming from a Jewish background, we were spiritually blind. Yes, we had the Old Testament in our hands. Yes, we had the Tanakh, the Bible in our hands, but we were spiritually blinded to the Messiahship of Jesus.

We couldn't understand it. In fact, if you please, for a moment, turn with me to the book of Corinthians, 2 Corinthians chapter 3. I want to read you a verse that Paul, that Shaul wrote to the Corinthians after he had been enlightened by the Lord. He said in 2 Corinthians chapter 3 concerning his own nation, Israel, and not as Moses, which put the veil over his face, that the children of Israel could not steadfastly look to the end of that which is abolished. But notice that. Their minds were blinded, for until this day, there remains the same veil untaken away in the reading of the Old Testament, the Tanakh, which veil is done away in Mashiach, in Messiah.

You see, Shaul, Paul, knowing his own background as a Hebrew, Israeli, Jew, who was a religious man. And he himself, right later on, after he became a believer, he's writing about his own brethren, which he was part of before his salvation. He says, listen, until these days, their mind is blinded. Because when they read the Tanakh, the Old Testament, without seeing the Messiah there, until this day, they are still blinded. The veil is done away only in Yeshua, the Messiah. Paul was blinded. He couldn't see spiritual things before he became a believer in Yeshua, the Messiah. Notice in 1 Corinthians 2, what he said also in verse 14.

He said, The spiritual man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God, because they are foolishness unto him. Neither can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned. You see what he's saying? Dear brothers and sisters, that naturally, men by nature, Israel of all, before they have acknowledged Yeshua, the Messiah, and he's speaking of himself, that he himself was spiritually blind before he became a believer in Yeshua, the Messiah. And I would like to say that if anyone here is without Yeshua, the Messiah, that you are spiritually blind. Just the same like we were spiritually blind. We are not better. We were spiritually blinded because we did not see the truth of the Messiahship of Yeshua.

And we rejected him. We didn't want him like Shaul, like Paul. So that's the first thing that we want to say about Shaul. That is something that before we are going to go to the next verses. Secondly, I want to suggest today, dear brothers and sisters, about Shaul. Not only that he was spiritually blind, but secondly, Shaul depended upon his own righteousness to be right with God. He depended upon his own merits. Earlier, we read Isaiah chapter 64 and verse 6. And Isaiah wrote to our brethren, the nation of Israel. And this is the confession of the nation of Israel, which they said, We are all as unclean thing.

Isaiah 64, 6. And all our righteousnesses are filthy rags. And we are all to fade as a leaf. And our iniquities, like the wind, have taken us away. Isaiah prophesied to the nation of Israel, 750 years prior to the Messiahship of Yeshua, telling them, Listen, Israel, you will have to come to a point that you will acknowledge that all your righteousnesses are filthy rags. Because all the good deeds that we do and all the righteousnesses that we do come from the old nature. And it's not sufficient for a holy and a righteous God. And that's why the second problem that we want to mention about Paul, about Shaul, is that he depended upon his own righteousness.

And how sad it is today when men and women and people in many religious groups depend upon their own righteousness. I think I can attain righteousness from God by acting or doing something. This is exactly the problem of Adam and Eve in the garden when they have covered their nakedness with fig leaves. And even if they covered their nakedness with fig leaves, fig leaves do not avail. God had to cover them with the garment of skin of an animal that became a sacrifice for them. And so we learn here that he trusted in his own righteousness. And you know, he mentioned a lot about himself, Paul, later on when he wrote to the Philippians.

And he said to them, you know what, do you want to compete with me who had more righteous living in his life? He said to them, look, in Philippians 3 verse 4, he says, if you think about having confidence in the flesh, he says, I have so much more to be confident in my own flesh. He says, I was circumcised on the eighth day. I was of the stock of Israel. I'm of the tribe of Benjamin. I'm a Hebrew of the Hebrew. As touching the law, I was a Pharisee. Concerning zeal, I was persecuting the assembly. Touching the righteousness which is of the law, I was blameless.

That's what he says about himself. He had the kind of a godly life that he could say, righteousness, I was blameless. He had a righteous life, righteous living, and he had trusted in his righteous living in order to be declared just by God. And that's why he had so much confidence in himself. That's why when he saw other brethren of his, Hebrew brethren, believing in Yeshua the Messiah, he was ready to persecute them. He was ready to tell them that they were wrong. They are going astray. They are not following the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. So, the first one, he was spiritually blind.

The second thing, he was depending upon his own righteousness. And I trust, brothers and sisters, that we all understand it. We cannot trust our own merits, our own righteousness, because all our righteousnesses before God are totally filthy rags. And we need righteousness that we receive from somebody else without merit, without work, without anything that we have done. The third thing that I would like to say about Shaul is that Shaul thought that Yeshua died and done away. He thought, here we go, he said, listen, they talked about Yeshua the Messiah. I heard about him. I was a witness to the truth that really he died.

He's no longer in existence. And, you know, they're starting to tell us that he's alive. But I don't believe it. He did not believe that Yeshua rose from the dead and had been ascended to heaven. And he needed to learn that. A lot of people today, just the same like Shaul, like Paul, thinking that Jesus had died. He's dead. And now recognize that he's alive. That he's living at the right hand of God the Father. That he's moving about among his people in the power of the Holy Spirit of God. That he's coming again to judge this world in righteousness. He didn't realize that. He was blinded spiritually.

He was prideous self-righteous. And he thought that the story about this Jesus has ended when he died. He made a mistake because throughout the early parts of the book of Acts, the disciples again and again spoke about the resurrection of the Messiah. Even Peter said, this Yeshua, God raised from the dead, whereof we are his witnesses, Peter said. We have been witnesses of Yeshua that he was raised by God. He had been raised from the dead. Even if you remember at the end of chapter 7, in our study together earlier, Stephen, we read, looked steadfastly. And he saw the glory of God and Yeshua standing at the right hand of God.

Acts chapter 7 and verse 55. He had all three problems like many have today. Number one, blinded spiritually cannot see beyond the scripture, cannot understand the things of God. Secondly, they have trust in their own self-righteousness. And thirdly, they think that this Jesus that they have heard about has finished, has died. When he had gone to the cross, he died and he's away and there is no need to talk about him anymore. Well, in the next verses of Acts chapter 9, we see the Lord now reveal himself to Shaul. Look what we read here in verse 3. After the point that I've spoken here in verse 3, we see now he's seeing a vision that came from heaven.

We read in verse 3, and as he journeyed, he came near Damascus. And suddenly, there shined round about him light from heaven. Can you imagine the sight? He's going on a way to Damascus with some people along that he took with him as he's riding and going on a way to Damascus. All of a sudden, the shikana glory, we call it in Hebrew, the shechina. All of a sudden, there came upon him a light that came from heaven. This light is interesting because many times in the Bible, we see some unique situation. For example, if you remember, the Magis, the wise men in Matthew chapter 2 saw a star.

A star that is moving from the east to the west. A star that is moving from the west and going all the way to Bethlehem and shining right above that baby that was born by the name of Yeshua in Bethlehem. What is that star? Here we see a light shining round about him, a light that came from heaven. Well, many times these light that come from heaven, there's another word for that. It's called the shechina. In Hebrew, shechina, that's the glory of God, which is resting. It rested upon the tabernacle. It rested upon the temple when the temple was erected in the city of Jerusalem.

The shechina in the English is the shechina. It's come from the word lishkon, to rest, to settle, to reveal God's glory. And here he is on the way. And he sees a light that came from heaven. You know, when we're going to get to chapter 22 and later on to chapter 26, you can see that when Shaul tells us the story again of his confrontation with Yeshua the Messiah, he makes this expression far greater and greater and greater. Here in chapter 9, he says he saw a light that is shining from heaven. In chapter 22, he's also repeating the story. In verse 6, he's enlarging the expression. He says in verse 6, I saw from heaven a light round about me, a great light, he says now in chapter 22.

And in verse 6, not only a light, but a great light. And in chapter 26, if you read there in verse 13, he says this expression, he says, And suddenly I saw in the way a light from heaven above the brightness of the sun shining round about me. You see, in Acts 9, it was a light from heaven. In Acts chapter 22, he's speaking about a greater light. And in Acts chapter 26, he says a light that is brighter than the sun. What we learn of his appreciation of what he saw in that vision on the way to Damascus. The vision that he had experienced. He saw this light that came and suddenly shine round about him, a light that came from heaven.

And you see, now this is the Lord is going to deal with Shaul and leading him to himself. Because the next verses, dear brothers and sisters, in verses 4 and 5 and 6, we see the Lord calling Shaul from heaven. And that is beautiful. You know, there are two types of encounters. There is the experiential encounter. And there is what you call the encounter that we go through the word. There are two types of encounters. Some people encounter the person of the Lord Jesus, the Messiah, through an experience. Some have had maybe accidents in their life, so-called accidents. Others have all kinds of experiences in their life. That is what Shaul have had.

Others did not have any specific experience, but they have read the scripture, who was convicted by the Spirit of God and came to faith in Yeshua, the Messiah. Well, Shaul here has an encounter. And so in verses 4, 5 and 6, look at the three things that we find in these verses. First of all, in verse 4, he heard a call. Notice, it's verse 4. It says, "He fell to the earth, and he heard a voice saying unto him, Shaul, Shaul, why do you persecute me?" Notice, the Lord is calling him from heaven in the Hebrew tongue, in the Hebrew language. And he called him Shaul, Shaul. Not only the fact that he called him twice, it speaks of the fact that he is calling his attention, immediate attention to the call of the Lord.

You remember it was Jacob in the book of Genesis, where God called him Yaakov, Yaakov. You remember when it comes to Shmuel, Samuel. When God called him in 1 Samuel in chapter 3, He called him Samuel, Samuel, Shmuel, Shmuel. The need to call to his attention. To get his awareness of his call from God, from the Lord. And here, he is saying to him, Shaul, Shaul, why are you persecuting me? Now mind you, we don't see Shaul persecuting the Lord, because the Lord was in heaven. But you see what happened when Shaul was persecuting the brethren, the believers. Because we are the body, and the Lord Yeshua is the head in glory.

A persecution of the body is a persecution of the head. A persecution of the believers is a persecution of our blessed Lord Yeshua, the Messiah. And he said to him, Shaul, why do you persecute me? The Lord is saying. It shows us, brothers and sisters, of the care that the Lord have for his own people. You know, when you and I are experiencing discomfort, if you will, of persecution and misunderstanding, the head in glory in heaven, the Messiah himself, he can feel it. We're going through, with us, through the experiences that we do experience here on earth in this world. And so the sufferings of the believer, the persecution of the assembly, was the persecution of the Lord himself.

And so he's saying to him, Shaul, Shaul, why do you persecute me? In verse 4. And now immediately, we see here in verse 5, that Shaul is responding, and he's saying to him, Who art thou, Lord? Notice he's calling him Lord. In other words, you can see the very fact that he called him Lord here, even though he asked, Who are you? In some measure, he realized that someone unique is calling him, who can call him Lord. Recognizing the Messiah, recognizing that he is Lord, and then the Lord is saying to him in a simple word in verse 5, I am Yeshua, whom you persecute. I am Yeshua, I am Jesus, whom you persecute.

It is hard for thee to kick against the pricks. Apparently, Yeshua was appealing to Shaul, and saying to him, I am Jesus, you are persecuting me. By running after the believers, by getting letters from the high priests, going to Damascus, bringing them, desiring to bring them, and to hold them to Jerusalem, to prison. And ultimately, what he has done to them, killing some of them, proven that he hated Jesus through the believers. And Yeshua had to remind him, he says, listen, when you're persecuting them, he says, I am Yeshua, whom you are persecuting. And that is expression, it is hard for thee to kick against the pricks.

It's like an animal that needed to be controlled. And he was so much, as it says, he was breathing out, threatening against the believer, slaughters against the believer. He needed to be controlled. He was not being controlled, and he was without any reservation. He was persecuting the believers. He was consenting unto the death of Stephen. He made havoc of the believers to those who believed in Yeshua, the Messiah. And so, the Lord Jesus spoke with him from glory. And it must have been a tremendous experience that this light shone around him, and the voice of the Lord coming from heaven, calling him in the Hebrew tongue, Shaul.

Shaul, why are you persecuting me? And then he said to him, I am Jesus, whom you are persecuting. You remember, brothers and sisters, when we read in the Gospel of Matthew, when Yeshua himself, before he died, he was talking about the tribulation period. And he was talking about events that will occur during the tribulation. And he was talking about those that will treat the believers in a right way. He says, as much as you have done it to the least of my brethren, you have done it unto me. How the believers are being treated by the world, this is exactly how they have treated the Lord Jesus, the Messiah.

And here we see the way that he has treated the believers. And the Lord Jesus said to him, you are persecuting me. And I am Yeshua, whom you are persecuting. And so, after he said this to him, he, trembling in verse 6, he was astonished. And it must have been an amazing experience. And he says, Lord, notice this is the second time he is calling him Lord in this text. He said to him, Lord, what will you have me to do? You see, here we can see the salvation of Shaul. It is right here, in this experience, that we can see the change in his life.

No delay. He was, with letters in his hand, heading up towards Damascus to destroy the believers, to bring them to Jerusalem. And now he hasn't even arrived to Damascus. There was a change in his life. And now, from being a persecutor of the believers, a persecutor of Yeshua, Now he is asking him, calling him Lord, telling him, what do you want me to do, Lord? What do you want me to do? That's what happened to you and I, when we became believers. Once we didn't like him, we didn't want to hear about him, we rejected him. And when we became believers, something had happened. There was a change in our lives.

All of a sudden, we wanted to serve him. We wanted to do something for him. So, he is saying to him, what will you have me to do, Lord? And that is important. The lordship of Jesus is very important. We don't only need him as a savior, dear brothers and sisters, But we also have to recognize that he is Lord over our lives. He is the one that is in charge. He is the one that tells us how to live, what to do. That's the way that he would want to see this in the life of each and every one. And so, we can see that he is saying to him, what will you have me to do, Lord?

And the lord gave him an answer. And in verse 6, he is giving him that answer and he is saying to him, you know, arise. Go into the city and it will be told to you what you must do. You get up, go to the city. In that time, of course, he was going to the city of Damascus. You go to Damascus, go to the city, and you will see that things will be done there. Someone will come and tell you what you need to do. And so, these verses, 4, 5, and 6, we see the salvation, the conversion of Shaul. The acceptance of Yeshua, the Messiah. It was an experiential salvation.

He experienced something unique on the way to Damascus. And so, look at it. In verses 7, 8, and 9, Shaul was without sight for three days. We find him, he trembling, and he was astonished. Verse 6, and then in verse 7, the man which journeyed with him stood speechless. They heard the voice, but they didn't see any man. And Shaul arose from the earth, and when his eyes were opened, he saw no man. But they led him by the hand, and they brought him to Damascus. And there he was three days without sight, and neither did he eat or drink. Notice the difference that happened to him here. Just before he accepted Yeshua, he was so strong.

Trusted in himself, in his own righteousness. He had the letters from the rabbis, from the priests, to go and to take the believers from the Senegates, to bring them to Jerusalem. Right now, he was no longer able to do this on his own. He became helpless and dependent totally upon others. He became blind, as it says here in verse 8. He saw no man. He had to be led by others and to be brought unto Damascus. Completely dependent now upon others. Blinded, unable to see, unable to do anything anymore. But something happened to this man by the name of Shaul. He became a child of God.

He became a believer in Yeshua, the Messiah. This is wonderful, brothers and sisters, where there is a change in the life of a person coming to acknowledge the Messiahship of Yeshua. Now notice, let's move on into the next verses, verses 10 to 19. We see now Shaul and Hananiah, the disciple in Damascus. In verse 10, 11 and 12, Hananiah is called by the Lord. It says there was a certain disciple at Damascus by the name of Ananias. In Hebrew, it's Hananiah. And to him said the Lord in a vision, Hananiah. And he said, Behold, I am here, Lord. And the Lord said unto him, Arise and go unto the street, which is called Straight, and inquire in the house of Judah, the one by the name of Shaul of Tarsas, for behold, he prays.

And it says in verse 12, Now it's wonderful to see how the Lord is working. Look, he works on one hand on the way to Damascus in the heart of Shaul. And on the other hand, he's working in the heart. He's calling another man by the name of Hananiah. Two different locations, if you will. Two different individuals. Two different timings. You know, sometimes we ask ourselves the question about, How will somebody get to hear the gospel? Well, people are able to hear the gospel because the same Lord, who is working in the heart of a person to seek to preach the message to others, It is the same Lord who works in the heart of a person to prepare him to receive the message of the gospel.

And that's what happened here. Here is the disciple by the name of Hananiah. And by the way, the title disciple in Hebrew is Talmid. And that word Talmid is mentioned a few times in the book of Acts. But the actual titles that is given to the believers today, in the present day time in which we live in, according to the epistles, is not so much disciple, but the name that you and I are being called according to the epistles, the name is saints. Most likely in the epistles you hear the word saints. While in the book of Acts, you hear a lot of the word disciples, followers of Yeshua the Messiah.

But as you study the epistles, it changes more from disciple into saints. I'll show you this in a moment. And so it says in verse 10 that he was a disciple. He was living in Damascus. And he also had seen a vision from the Lord, from glory and calling him Hananiah. You notice he says again, Hananiah calling him Lord also. He says, here am I, Lord. And the Lord is speaking to Hananiah and he's telling him what he should do. He was telling him about a man by the name of Shaul, who is from Tarsus. And he's praying. He's now in the house of a man by the name of Judah.

You go to his house and you do what I'm going to tell you to this man. He's praying and he's waiting for a man to come to lay his hand on him that he might receive his sight. Well, Hananiah responded to the Lord. And you know what he told him? He must have heard so much about this man by the name of Shaul. Others already have gone ahead and told the brethren in Damascus, you know, Shaul is coming. He's going to come with letters. He's going to prosecute the believers, take them to Jerusalem. And Hananiah must have heard of the coming persecution to the city of Damascus.

And so he said to the Lord in verse 13, I've heard of this man and how much evil he have done. And notice he used the word saints. Notice that in verse 13, how much evil he have done unto the saints which were in Jerusalem. You know, the expression saint is also very important to understand. You read the epistles, almost every epistle is written to the saints which are at Rome. To the saints which are at Corinth. To the saints which are at Ephesus and Galatians and so on. Why? The believers are set apart for God. They are sanctified positionally and they belong to God and they are called saints.

They may not behave like saints, but they are saints positionally, even though practically they don't behave like saints. And you and I, brethren, you like it or not, we are saints. I know we don't behave much of the time like saints, but positionally, according to the Bible, we are set apart. We are saints. So Hananiah was really concerned. And he is saying to the Lord, you know, this man has done so much evil. I have heard about him. It says in verse 14, he even have an authority from the chief priests to bind all that call on your name. He was worried. He was concerned. Now can you imagine he has this discussion with the Lord and he is saying to him, Lord, listen.

I heard about this man. You want me to go to him? I know what he has done. I heard about this man. But the Lord had to quiet him down. And look what the Lord told him about Shaul. And I think it's very precious. He says, the Lord said unto him, verse 15 and 16, you go your way, Hananiah, for he is a chosen vessel unto me. You see, Shaul, dear brothers and sisters, was elected by God, by the Lord Jesus, by Yeshua the Messiah. He was elected, as the Bible tells us, that he is a chosen vessel unto Yeshua, he said unto me, to bear my name before the Gentiles, before kings, but also before the children of Israel.

You know, as you read the epistles of Shaul, of Paul, he never forgets the fact that he was chosen by God. He always looked back in his presentation as he's talking to his own brethren to whom he wrote letters. He always goes back, and he remembered the fact that he was elected by the Lord, even in spite of the fact that he had persecuted the believers. He always spoke to his own heart, but he remembered the fact that he was chosen and elected by the Lord, Yeshua the Messiah. Will you please turn with me to the epistle to Timothy for a moment. I want to read the verses in 1 Timothy chapter 1.

He was writing to this younger believer, who he sent to establish assemblies all around, and he sent him to minister to the believers. And he was writing to this young man by the name of Timothy, and he was saying to Timothy in 1 Timothy chapter 1 and verse 12, I thank the Messiah Yeshua our Lord, who has enabled me, for that he counted me faithful, putting me into the ministry. Who was before, look at this, you look at the past, who was before a blasphemer, and a persecutor, and an injurious. He's looking back, and he says, look, I was a blasphemer, and then he continues, he says, I was an injurious, but I have obtained mercy because I did it ignorantly and in unbelief.

And the grace of our Lord was exceeding, abundant with faith and love, which was and which is in Yeshua the Messiah. And then look at this, in verse 15, this is a faithful saying, he says, and is worthy of all acceptation, that the Messiah Yeshua came into the world to save sinners. And then he added, of whom I am chief. See, it haunted him all his life. I can just imagine, when he recognized that he had persecuted the believers, his own brethren in the flesh, who were believers in Yeshua the Messiah. And he always remembered that in spite of the fact that he persecuted his brethren, the church, the believers, he was chosen and elected by the Lord.

And amazing, you know, when the Lord had chosen somebody to serve him, it is his choosing. It is his election. He is the one that have chosen this man. And Paul, Shaul, call himself, I am the chief of sinners. And I was chosen to such a ministry. And so, Yeshua said to Hananiah, Hananiah, listen, you might not understand what's happening here. You have heard about what this man is going to do when he came with letters to Damascus, ready to persecute the brethren. But I want to tell you, Hananiah, that Shaul is a chosen vessel for me. I have chosen him to bear my name before the Gentiles.

Notice the three groups that he is going to bear the name. Number one is the Gentiles. Do you know, brothers and sisters, that the Apostle Paul, the Apostle Shaul, was the apostle to the uncircumcision. He was called to be, as a Hebrew, as a Jew, the apostle to the Gentile world. But not only to a Gentile world, also, and kings. He had an opportunity in the palaces to preach the message of the gospel before kings. But then, the Lord doesn't stop. He aid, and also, unto the children of Israel. Even though he was an apostle to the Gentiles, wherever he have gone, he always have gone to the Jew first.

Do you remember that? Romans 1, verse 16. He said himself, I am not ashamed of the gospel of the Messiah, for it is the power of God unto salvation to everyone that believe. And he added, to the Jew first. And also to the Greek. Also to the Gentiles. And so, you can see that, what a chosen vessel. And, you know, brothers and sisters, I want to just add one more thing. When Shaul was chosen by God, by the Lord, he became a mini type of how the nation of Israel, as a nation, will acknowledge finally, one day, Yeshua the Messiah. He himself said that his redemption, his salvation, served to be like a pattern for the future of those who are going to come.

And he meant the nation of Israel. This is exactly, and I didn't read this verse in 1 Timothy chapter 1. But if you remember, we read from verse 12, 13, 14, and 15. I didn't read verse 16, because in verse 16, you can see that he himself said that his redemption became a pattern of the future that will come, of those that will follow after him. It says, however, for this cause, I obtain mercy, that in me, first, Jesus, the Messiah, might show forth all longsuffering for a pattern unto them that should hereafter believe on him to everlasting life. In other words, Shaul's salvation became a pattern for the future salvation, and specifically, I would like to make this application to the future when Israel as a nation will finally dawn upon them that Yeshua is the Messiah.

As Zechariah said in chapter 12 and verse 10 of his prophecy, they shall look upon me whom they have pierced. And as Isaiah and others said in other passages concerning the people of Israel in the future, and you remember that how in the future Israel as a nation will see the Messiah coming in glory, Revelation chapter 1 and verse 7, they shall see his face. We read it in the book of Revelation. We can see that this is really applied for the future redemption of the nation of Israel, where they ultimately will recognize the Messiahship of Yeshua. And here we see that the Apostle Paul became like a patron to the redemption of the nation of Israel.

And so, he was chosen vessel. He was going to present the message to Gentile world, to the kings, and also to the nation of Israel, but also brothers and sisters. He was chosen for another reason. He was also chosen to suffer for the name of the Lord, like no one ever suffered like this man. Look at verse 16 of our chapter. For I will show him how great things he must suffer for my name's sake. You see, the Lord used the apostle Shaul, the apostle Paul, to be an example of those that experienced so much suffering. And if you read the history of this man, you see how much suffering he had to go through.

You and I think of some suffering that we find ourselves going through, some things that we experience and we feel pain and we feel sorrow and trial, but no one has experienced what Shaul has experienced, except, of course, our blessed Lord, Yeshua the Messiah. The suffering that the book of Corinthians describes of the sufferings of the apostle Paul that he suffered on every hand in his life for the name of Yeshua the Messiah. I'm going to read just a couple of verses in 2 Corinthians 11, verse 22 says this, listen. He says, Are they Hebrews? So am I. Are they Israelis? So am I. Are they of the seed of Abraham?

So am I. Are they ministers of the Messiah? I speak. I speak, he says, as a fool. I am more in labor, more in abundance, in stripes, above measure, in prison, more frequent, in death, often. Of the Jews, five times received I forty stripes, save one. Thrice I was bitten with rods. Once I was stoned. Thrice I suffered shipwreck. A night and a day I have been in a deep, in journeyings often, in perils of waters, in perils of robbers, in perils by my own countrymen, in perils by heathen, in perils in the city, in perils in the wilderness, in perils in the sea, in perils among false brethren.

In weariness and painfulness, in watchings often, in hunger and in thirst, in fasting often, in cold and in nakedness. And beside all these things, those that are without, that which cometh upon me, the daily care of all the assemblies, all the churches. You know, the experiences that these men have gone through, it is unbelievable. And the Lord Jesus said, I will show him how he must suffer for my name's sake. And as he suffered, he must have looked back at the suffering that he caused, many of the Hebrew believers in the first century. And he must look back at the stoning of Stephen without a reason.

He looked back, and he saw the kind of thing that he had imposed on early believers. And the Lord said to Hadaniah, Hadaniah, I'm telling you, I have chosen a vessel to me, to bear my name before the Gentiles, before kings, before the children of Israel. And I will show him, and I will show him what great things he must suffer for my name's sake. And sure, beloved brothers and sisters, as we study the book of Acts, you will see the sufferings that the apostle Shaul, the apostle Paul, had to go through. And so look what happened, just in conclusion here, in verses 17, 18, and 19, the obedience of Hananiah.

No delay. When Hananiah heard the voice of the Lord, he rose up, it says here, he went on his way, he entered into the house. He put his hands on him. And he called him brother. Notice, now he called him brother. Earlier, he couldn't call him brother, though he was his brother in the flesh. But now he was a brother in Messiah, in Mashiach. And he called him brother, and he said, Brother Shaul, he said, The Lord Jesus, that appeared unto thee, in the way as thou came, has sent me, that thou might receive thy sight, and be filled with the Holy Spirit. Hananiah now is telling Shaul, and he's calling him brother, and you notice he's clearly saying to him, I know you have seen the Lord Jesus.

Because he said to him, the Lord, even Yeshua, that appeared unto thee. Shaul literally saw the Lord. Now, you and I did not hear this earlier. We just saw the Shekinah glory. There was light that came from heaven. But apparently, clearly, Hananiah understood from the Lord that the Lord, Yeshua, have appeared unto Shaul. And by the way, that's what qualified him to be an apostle. And I think this is very important. You know, many people who claim to be apostles these days. And we need to be so careful to the voices that we hear and what people say. Because for a person to be qualified to be an apostle, one must see the Lord.

The risen Lord. Not only in his life, but the risen. After he died and was buried and he rose, he must see the resurrected Mashiach. And all the apostles of first century, you remember, they have seen the Lord. And Judas, by the way, needed to be replaced. You remember, Judas needed to be replaced in Acts chapter 1. And the Lord gave them. And they had a special instruction in Acts chapter 1. In verse 22, a person must be one from the beginning with the Lord who has seen the Lord. Acts 1. Well, here we see the qualification for Shaul, for Paul to become an apostle, a sent one from the Lord.

Because he has seen the resurrected, the glorified Messiah. And so, Hananiah said to him, Shaul, he says, the Lord Yeshua that appeared unto thee in a way as thou came, has sent me, that you might receive thy sight and be filled with the Holy Spirit of God. You see, now, not only did he receive the Holy Spirit of God when he became a believer, now he will be filled with the Holy Spirit of God to empower him to serve in the ministry of an apostle. He is going to, as Hananiah is saying, to be filled with the Holy Spirit. You remember what we say? Only a believer can be filled with the Holy Spirit of God for service, for ministry.

And then, immediately, and here, so beautiful, verses 18 and 19, just to close these thoughts today. Immediately, they fell from his eyes as it had been scales. In other words, he received his sight. He could see. But notice the next thing that he has done. Not only that he received his sight. He went, he arose, and he had been baptized. Lehi tavel. This is water baptism. You can see now that not only he had been, received the Holy Spirit of God, but also he wanted publicly to acknowledge his identification with the death, burial, and resurrection of the Messiah. He went, in obedience to God's word, to be baptized.

Go under the water, symbolize death. Come out of the water, symbolize resurrection. Identification with the risen Messiah, as we have it in Romans chapter 6. And so he got baptized. So, number one, he had received his sight. Number two, he was baptized. Now, notice then, thirdly, in closing, verse 19, he received food. He hadn't eaten for three days. He fasted. So now he's meeting his physical need. He's eating food. And he was strengthened. And then the next thing, we see that he had fellowship with the disciples in Damascus. It says here, then was Saul certain days with the disciples, which were at Damascus. Now, can you imagine?

He was on the way to Damascus to kill them, to take them to Jerusalem. He had the letters to bring them to Jerusalem to cause havoc to them. But now we find him sitting there with the disciples, having fellowship with them, speaking of Yeshua, the Messiah, rejoicing with the brothers and sisters, identifying with the death, burial, and resurrection of the Messiah. There is a change that occurred in the life of this man by the name of Shaul. Brothers and sisters, this is what is called the real conversion. Shaul never stopped for a moment to be a Hebrew. He never stopped for a moment to be an Israeli.

He never stopped for a moment to be Jewish. But there was a conversion in his life from opposition to Yeshua, the Messiah, to identification with Yeshua, the Messiah. Now he's full of the spirit of God, preparing him to be empowered by the spirit of God for the service of the ministry, which the Lord has done. He had given to him, and he had to learn how much he would suffer for the name of Yeshua, the Messiah. And all he surely did suffer for his Lord and for his master as he served him here in this world. And we thank God for the revelation that God had given to Shaul, to Paul, which you and I enjoy today as we study the Word of God.

May God bless his Word and encourage us as we continue to follow Yeshua. Can you say amen for that? Amen.