Scales Taken From the Eyes

Scales Taken From the Eyes

(No. 3205)

A SERMON PUBLISHED ON THURSDAY, JULY 7, 1910.

DELIVERED BY C. H. SPURGEON,

AT THE METROPOLITAN TABERNACLE, NEWINGTON.

"And immediately there fell from his eyes as it had been scales." Acts
11:18.

THIS means that the film upon Saul's eyes was comparable to the scales
of a fish, or else that it fell off as scales might fall. When the
blinding film was gone, light broke into the darkness of Saul. In
different men, sin manifests its chief power in different parts of
their nature. In the case of many, sin is most apparent in their eyes.
That is to say, ignorance, error and prejudice have injured their
mental sight. Some have the withered hand of conscious inability,
others have the deaf ear of mental obtuseness, but there are far more
who hear the joyful sound and display much energy, but they hear
without understanding and are zealous without knowledge, for they are
blind. This was Saul's condition. He was thoroughly honest–we might
say of his heart, when it was at its worst, that it was always true to
its convictions. He was no deceiver and no timeserver. He went in for
what he believed to be right with all his might–lukewarmness and
selfish policy were alien to his nature. He dashed with all his might
against the Doctrine of the Cross because he thought it to be an
imposition. His fault lay in his eyes and so, when the eyes were set
right, Saul was right. When he perceived that Jesus was, after all, the
Messiah, the man became just as earnest a follower of Christ as before
he had been a persecutor!

We will talk about scales falling from men's eyes. I want to address
those who would be right if they knew how. Those who are earnest, but
in the wrong direction, for they do not see the truth. If the Lord, in
His Infinite Mercy, will but touch those sightless eyeballs and remove
the film, so that they discern the right way, they will follow it at
once. May the Lord remove many scales while we are proceeding!

First, we will speak of scales which men fail to perceive because they
are inside. Secondly, we will show what makes these scales come to the
outside so that men do perceive them. Then, thirdly, what
instrumentality the Lord uses to take these outside scales away And,
fourthly, what did Saul see when the scales were gone

I. First, then, THERE ARE SCALES WHICH MEN DO NOT PERCEIVE. Saul had
scales upon his eyes when he was on the road to Damascus, but if you
had looked at his face, he would have appeared to have as bright an eye
as any man. Scales on his eyes? Why, he was a sharp-sighted
philosopher, a Pharisee and a teacher of others. He would not have
believed you for a minute if you had said to him, "Saul, you are
blind." Yet blind he was, for his eyes were shut up with inside
scales–the worst sort of scales that can possibly cloud the sight.

Saul had the scale of selfto darken his eyes. He had a great idea of
Saul of Tarsus. If he had written down his own character, he would have
begun it, "A Hebrew of the Hebrews; as touching the Law of God, a
Pharisee." And then he would have gone on to tell of countless good
works, fasts, prayers and have finished with, "concerning zeal,
persecuting the church." He was far too great in his own estimation to
become a disciple of Jesus Christ! How could the Rabbi who sat at the
feet of Gamaliel become a follower of the despised Galilean? Poor
peasants might follow the Man of Nazareth, but Doctor Saul of Tarsus–a
man so educated both in the knowledge of the Hebrew literature and of
the Greek philosophy–it was not likely that he would mingle with
fishermen and peasants in adoring the Nazarene! This is the reason why
a great many people cannot see the beauties of Christ and cannot come
to Him that they might have life, namely, because they are so great in
their own esteem! Ah, my lord, it might have been a good thing for you
if you had been a pauper! Ah, good Moralist, it might not be amiss for
you if you would sit by the side of those who have lost character among
men and discover that after all, there are not many shades of
difference between you and them! Great "I" must fall before the great
Savior will be seen! When a man becomes nothing in his own estimation,
then Jesus Christ becomes everything to him, but not till then. Self is
an effectual darkener of the windows of the soul. How can men see the
Gospel

while they see so much of themselves? With such a noble righteousness
of their own to deck themselves with, is it likely that they will buy
of Christ the fine white linen which is the righteousness of saints?

Another scale on Saul's inner eye was ignorance, and learned ignorance,
too, which is by far the worst kind of ignorance! Saul knew everything
but what he ought to have known. He was instructed in all other sorts
of learning, but he did not know Christ. He had never studied the
Lord's claim and Character–he had picked up the popular rumors and he
had thought them to be sterling truth. Ah, had he known, poor Soul,
that Jesus of Nazareth really was the Christ, he would never have
hauled men and women to prison! But the scale of ignorance was over his
eyes. And how many there are in this city of London, in what we call
this "enlightened" 19th Century, who know a great deal about a thousand
things, but nothing about the one thing necessary! They have never
troubled to study Christ and so, for lack of knowledge, they grope
about as the blind!

With ignorance generally goes another scale, namely, prejudice. The man
who knows nothing about truth is usually the man who despises it most.
He does not know and does not want to know. "Don't tell me," he says,
"don't tell me." He has nothing but a sneer for you when you have told
him the Truth of God to the best of your ability. The man has no
candor. He has made up his mind, he has! Besides, his father before him
was not of your religion and do you think he is going to be a turncoat
and leave the old family faith? "Don't tell me," he says, "I don't want
to know anything of your canting Methodism," or, "Presbyterianism," or
whatever it is that he likes to call it. He is so wise! He is wiser
than seven men that can render a reason! O Prejudice, Prejudice,
Prejudice, how many have you destroyed! Men who might have been wise
have remained fools because they thought they were wise. Many judge
what the Gospel ought to be, but do not actually enquire as to what it
is. They do not come to the Bible to obtain their views of religion,
but they open that Book to find texts to suit the opinions which they
bring to it. They are not open to the honest force of the Truth of God
and, therefore, are not saved by it! Oh, that this scale would fall
from every eye which it now closes!

Saul's soul was also darkened by the scale of unbelief Saul had seen
Stephen die. If he saw the martyr's heavenly face, he must have noticed
the wondrous peace which sat upon his countenance when he fell asleep
amid a shower of stones. But Saul did not believe. Though no sermon is
like the sight of a martyrdom, yet Saul was not convinced. Perhaps he
had heard about the Savior more than he cared to remember, but he did
not believe it. He counted the things rumored concerning Him to be idle
tales and cast them under his feet. O Brothers and Sisters, what
multitudes are being ruined by this cruel unbelief towards Christ! Some
of you, too, whom I have been addressing for years, are Believers in
the head, but unbelievers in the heart, not really putting your trust
in Jesus! Who can see if he refuses the Light of God? Who shall find
salvation if he will not trust the Savior for it? Unbelief is as sure
to destroy those who are guilty of it as faith is sure to save
Believers!

Then the scale of habit, too, had formed over Saul's inner eyes, for he
had been for a long time what he then was. "Can the Ethiopian change
his skin, or the leopard his spots?" If so, then he that is accustomed
to do evil may learn to do well. They say that use is second nature and
when the first nature is bad, the second nature is like the first, only
it goes further in wrong. Ah, dear Friends, some of you have been so
accustomed to refuse the Gospel, so accustomed to follow after the
pleasures and the vices of the world, that it does not seem possible
that you should follow after Christ! Habits of secret sin are
peculiarly blinding to the soul. May this scale be speedily made to
fall!

Another scale is worldliness, and Saul had that upon his inner eyes,
for he loved the praise of men. He had his reputation to maintain, for
he had profited beyond most of his brothers and was reckoned to be a
most hopeful and rising teacher of Israel. It was not likely that Saul
would believe in Jesus Christ, for then he would have to lose the
esteem of his countrymen. The fear of man and the love of man's
applause–how they prevent men from seeing the Truth about Jesus and
recognizing Him as the Son of God! "How can you believe, which receive
honor, one of another?" How can men bow themselves before Jesus Christ
when, all the while, they are bidding high for the homage of their
fellow sinners? The love of adulation, which is a form of worldliness,
blinds the eyes and so will any other love of things beneath the moon!
Let but the heart be set upon this blinding world and there will be
little sight for things Divine.

II. These scales were upon the inside of Saul's eyes when he was on the
way to Damascus, but now we have to notice them BROUGHT TO THE OUTSIDE.
Those outside scales revealed in type and figure what had always been
the matter with Saul–they were the material index of the spiritual
mischief under which he had long labored! Only now they were brought
outside so that he knew they were there, and others could perceive that
they were there. Now there was hope

that they would be removed from the eyes! Now that he was conscious of
them, the evil was half cured! What brought those scales to the outside
and made Saul know that he was blind?

Well, first, it was the exceeding Glory of Christ. He says, "About
noon, suddenly there shone from Heaven a great light round about me,"
and he adds, "I could not see for the Glory of that light." Let my Lord
Jesus Christ only manifest Himself to any of you and you will be well
enough aware of your blindness and you will say to yourselves, "What a
strangely blind being I must have been not to have loved such beauty as
this–not to have yielded myself to such Grace as this–not to have
trusted myself to so complete a Savior as this!" Oh, the Glory of
Christ! It has even laid the saints prostrate when they have seen it!
Those who dwell nearest to their Lord are frequently overcome with the
exceeding brightness of His Glory and have to confess with those
favored three–

"When in ecstasy sublime, Tabor's glorious steep we climb, At the
too-transporting light, Darkness rushes over our sight." So it is with
the sinner when he gets his first view of a glorious Christ–the inrush
of the Glory makes him mourn his native blindness–he perceives that he
has had no perception and knows that he has known nothing!

Another thing which made the scales pass to the outside of Saul's eyes
was that unanswerable question, "Why do you persecute Me?" That brought
home to him a sense of his sin. "Why?" That was a "why" for which Saul
of Tarsus could not find a, "because." When he discovered that the Man
of Nazareth was the glorious Christ of God, then, indeed, he was
"confounded." He could make no reply to the demand, "Why do you
persecute Me?" Oh, that the Lord would fix such a "why" in some of your
hearts! Why should you live in sin? Why are you choosing the wages of
unrighteousness? Why are you hardening your hearts against the Gospel?
Why are you ridiculing it? Why do you sneer at the servants of God? If
the Holy Spirit drives that "why" home to your heart, you will begin to
say, "What a blind fool I am to have acted as I have done, to go
kicking against the pricks, fighting against my best Friend and pouring
scorn on those whom I ought most of all to admire!" The whyfrom the
lips of Christ will show you your blindness!

The scales were on the outside of Saul's eyes, now, because his soul
had been cast into a terrible bewilderment. We read of him that when
his eyes were opened, he saw no man, but trembling and astonished, he
asked the Lord what he must do. Some of us know what that experience
means. We have been brought under the hand of God till we have been
utterly astonished–astonished at our Savior, astonished at our sin,
astonished that there should be a hope remaining for us, astonished
that we should have rejected that hope so long! With this amazement,
there was mixed trembling lest, after all, the mercy should be too
great for us and the next word from the Lord would be, "You have kicked
against the pricks so long that, henceforth, the gates of mercy are
shut against you." May the Lord fill some of you with trembling and
astonishment! And if He does, then you will perceive the blindness of
your soul–and cry for light!

I have no doubt the scales became all the more perceptible to poor Saul
when he came to those three days and nights of prayer, for when you get
a man on his knees and he begins crying for mercy, he is in the way of
being more fully taught his need of it! If relief does not come at
once, then the penitent cries more and more intensely–his heart all
the while is aching more and more and he perceives how blind he must
have been to bring himself into such a condition. It is a good thing,
sometimes, when the Lord keeps a man in prayer, pleading for the mercy
and pleading, and pleading, and pleading on and on, until he perceives
how great his need of that mercy is! When he has bitterly felt the
darkness of his soul, he will be exceedingly bold in bearing light to
his fellow men. May God bring many of you to agonizing prayer! And if
that prayer should last days and nights and you should neither eat nor
drink for anguish of spirit, I guarantee you that you will thoroughly
learn your blindness and the scales upon your eyes will be painfully
evident to you!

III. Now thirdly, and here I should like to stir up the people of God
to a little practical business–we have seen Saul with the scales
outside his eyes. He now knows that he is blind, though he did not know
it before when he was a proud Pharisee. He can see a great deal better,
now, than he could when he thought he could see. But still, there he
is, in dark-

ness–and we long for the scales to be removed! WHAT INSTRUMENTALITY
DID THE LORD USE TO TAKE THE

SCALES AWAY?

It was not an angel, nor was it an Apostle, but it was a plain mannamed
Ananias, who was the means of bringing sight to blind Saul! We do not
know much about this useful Brother. We know his name and that is
enough. But Ananias

was the only person whom the Lord used in taking off the scales from
this Apostle's eyes. Dear Brothers and Sisters, there are some of you,
if you are but alive to it, whom God will bless in like work! Perhaps
this very night, though you are unknown and obscure Christian people,
He may make you to be the means of taking the scales from the eyes of
somebody who will be eminently useful in future years. The Holy Spirit
blessed the great Apostle to the Gentiles by Ananias and He may lead
another of His mighties to Himself by some obscure disciple!

Ananias was a plain man, but he was a good man–you can see that
Ananias was a thorough man of God. He was one who knew his Lord and
recognized His voice when He said to him, in a vision, "Ananias." And
he was a man whom the Lord knew, for He called him by his name. "I have
called you by your name: you are Mine." The Lord will not send you on
His errands unless you are sound, sincere and living near to Him. But
if you are that, no matter how feeble you may be, I beseech you to be
looking, even tonight, for some blind soul to whom you may be as eyes!

Notice that this Ananias was a ready man, for when the Lord spoke to
him, he said, "Behold, I am here, Lord." I know many professors who
would have to answer, "Behold, I am somewhere else, Lord, but certainly
not here." They are not "all there" when they are in Christ's work! The
heart is away after something else. But, "Behold, I am here, Lord," is
a grand thing for a Believer to say when his Lord bids him seek the
wanderer. It is well to say, "Behold, I am here, Lord, ready for the
poor awakened one. If he needs a word of comfort, I am ready to say it
to him. If he needs a word of direction, here am I, as You shall help
me to speak it to him." My Brother, be you like Ananias was, a ready
man!

And he was an understanding man, for when the Lord said to him
concerning Saul, "Behold; he prays," he knew what that meant. He well
understood the first indication of Grace in the soul! Beloved, you must
have a personal experience of the things of God, or you cannot help
newborn souls! If you do not know what it is to pass from death to
life, and do not know the marks of regeneration, you are useless.

At the same time, he was a discerning man–an enquiring, discriminating
man, for he began to say, "Lord, I have heard by many of this man." He
wanted to know a little about Saul, so he enquired of the great Master
as to his character, and whether it was a genuine work of Grace in his
soul. It will not do to pat all people on the back and give them
comfort without examining into their state. Some of you must know by
this time that indiscriminate consolation does more hurt than good.
Certain classes need no consolation, but rather require reproof. They
need wounding before they can be healed! And it is a good thing to know
your man, and especially to wait upon the Lord and ask Him to tell you
about your man, so that you may know how to deal with him when you do
come to him. As Ananias did, use all diligence to know the case.

But when once he had made his enquiry, he was an obedient man. He was
told to go into a house where I do not suppose he had ever left his
card in his life, but he did not stop for an introduction–he went off
at once to the house of Judas, and enquired for one called Saul, of
Tarsus. He had Divine authority–the Lord had given him a
search-warrant, and so he entered the house–

"Thus the eternal mandate ran, Almighty Grace, arrest that man!"

Ananias must be the sheriffs officer to go and arrest Saul in the name
of the Lord! And so away he went.

And you will notice what a personal-dealing man he was, for he did not
stand at a distance, but, putting his hands on him, he said, "Brother
Saul" Ah, that is the way to talk to people who are seeking the
Lord–not to stand five miles off, and speak distantly, or preach
condescendingly, as from the supreme Heaven of a sanctified Believer,
down to the poor sinner mourning below! No, go and talk to him! Call
him, "Brother." Go and speak to him with a true, loving, brotherly
accent, as Ananias did, for he was a brotherly man.

Ananias was also a man whose subject was Christ. As soon as ever you do
speak to the sinner, let the first thing you have to say be, "The Lord,
even Jesus." Whatever you say next, begin with that, "Brother Saul, the
Lord, even Jesus." Have something to say about Jesus, but say it
personally and pointedly, not as though you were alluding to persons
living in Australia seven hundred years ago, but as referring to
Brother Saul, and intending the word for him!

Among Christian people there are mighty hunters before the Lord who
strive after souls, but I wish that a hundred times as many really
cared for the souls of their fellow men. Some church members never
speak to anybody about spiritual things. You come into your pews and
you like two seats if you can get them–like gentlemen in a first-class
carriage, you want a compartment to yourselves! And then, after
service, no matter who is impressed, many of you have not a word

to say. Should it be so, Brothers and Sisters? We should always be on
the lookout to seat strangers comfortably and afterwards to drive home,
by personal remark, any Truth of God which may have been advanced. "Ah,
says one, but I may speak to the wrong person." Suppose you did? Is it
such a mighty misfortune to miss your mark once? Ah, Brothers and
Sisters, if you were to address the wrong person 50 times and
ultimately meet the right one once in a year, it would well reward you!
If you were to receive rebuffs, and rebuffs, and rebuffs, and yet at
last you should find out the Brother Saul who is to have the scales
removed by you–and by none but you–you would be well rewarded! A
plain common-sense word from a common-sense Christian has often been
the very thing to set some able critic at liberty! Some man of profound
mind–a Thomas of abundant doubts and questions–has only just needed a
simple-hearted Christian to say the right words and he has entered into
peace and liberty. You must not think that learned persons, when the
Lord touches them in the heart, need to be talked to by Doctors of
Divinity. Not they! They become as simple-hearted as others and, like
dying kings and dying bishops, they ask to hear a shepherd pray because
they find more savor, more plainness, more earnestness, more faith and
more familiarity with God in the humble expressions of the lowly than
in the language of courtly preachers. Do not, therefore, Brother
Ananias, say, "I cannot go and talk to anybody. I have never been to
college." Do not, Sister in Christ, stay back because you are a woman,
for oftentimes the Lord makes the sweet and gentle voice of women to
sound out the music of Grace! God grant that many of us may be the
instruments of taking the scales from men's eyes!

IV. LASTLY, WHAT DID SAUL SEE WHEN THE SCALES WERE GONE?

The first person he saw was Brother Ananias. It was a fine sight for
Saul to see Brother Ananias' Christian countenance beaming with love
and joy! I fancy he was like one of our elders, a fine old Christian
man with love to souls written on his face. When Saul opened his eyes,
it must have done him good to see just such a face as that–a plain,
simple man full of holy zeal and intense anxiety for his good. Dear
Friend, if the Lord opens your eyes, you will see the brotherhood of
Christians. Perhaps you will enjoy that among the first delights of
your Christian experience and, for a little while, your faith, it may
be, will hang upon the testimony of an instructed Christian woman and
your confidence will need confirmation by the witness of a more
advanced Brother in the Lord. But, my fellow worker, the saved one will
never see Brother Ananias unless Ananias goes to him and becomes the
means of opening his eyes! And if you will go and do that, you will win
a friend who will love you as long as life lasts. There are some of you
between whom and myself there are ties which death cannot snap. I will
find you in Heaven if I can and I know you will desire to meet me. The
Lord gave you to me as my spiritual children and if it should come to
pass that earthly fathers should not see their children in Heaven, yet
the spiritual father will see his children there praising and blessing
the Lord! One of the next joys to knowing Christ, yourself, must surely
be that of leading others to know Him. Seek after this bliss!

The next thing that Saul would see would be a Savior in Christ, for
Ananias said to him, "The Lord, even Jesus, that appeared unto you in
the way as you came, has sent me, that you might receive your sight."
Now he would see what an opener of the eyes Jesus is, what a mighty
Savior for sinners! And, oh, this is a blessed sight–to see Christ as
a Savior, as my Savior, opening my eyes, so that I can say, "One thing
I know, whereas I was blind, now I see." This is a heavenly sight. May
you help many to gaze upon it!

Right speedily he saw the Spirit of God waiting to fill him–"that you
might receive your sight and be filled with the Holy Spirit." Ah, dear
Soul, when you have come to see Christ, then the blessed Spirit will
become dear to you and you will rejoice to think that He will dwell in
you to sanctify you, to enlighten you, to strengthen you, and to make
you a vessel of mercy unto others!

One more thing that Saul saw, when his eyes were opened, was what some
do not see, although their eyes are opened in other aspects. "He
received sight forthwith, and arose, and was baptized." He saw the duty
of Believers' Baptism and he attended to it directly. You who believe
in Jesus should confess Jesus. And you who have confessed Jesus should
gently stir the memories of those very retiring young converts who are
afraid to put on Christ in Baptism. You know right well that salvation
lies in the believing, but still, how amazingly the two things are put
together, "He that believes and is baptized shall be saved." The two
things are joined together by Christ, so let no man put them asunder!
Surely, dear Friends, wherever there is a genuine faith in Christ,
there ought to be a speedy obedience to the other matter! I once met a
man who had been a Christian 40 years and believed it to be his duty to
be baptized. But when I spoke to him about it, he said, "He that
believes shall not make haste." After 40 years delay, he talked about
not making haste! I quoted to him another passage–"I made haste, and
delayed not to keep Your commandment," and showed him what the meaning
of his misapplied passage was. Now, Soul, do not delay! As soon as
Saul's eyes were opened, straightway he took upon himself the outward
badge of the Christian faith and arose, and was baptized! Now I call
upon you who love the Lord Jesus Christ not to play the coward, but
come out and acknowledge your Lord and Master! You that are truly His
disciples, confess it! I like to see a soldier wearing his red coat–it
is the right thing for him to wear his uniform. It is the same with the
soldiers of Christ. What are you ashamed of? Be ashamed of being
ashamed, if you are ashamed of Christ! "Oh, but, I am afraid I might
not hold on my way!" Whose business is it to make you hold on your way?
Is it not His business who has bid you to take up your cross and follow
Him, and who has said, "Whoever shall confess Me before men, him will I
confess before My Father which is in Heaven; but whoever shall deny Me
before men, him will I also deny before My Father which is in Heaven"?

I pray the Lord to bless these feeble words of mine. O Souls, O Souls,
it does seem to me so dreadful that so many of you should come here
continually and yet be blind! I try to talk plainly about your souls'
needs and about Christ Jesus as able to meet those needs–how long must
I repeat the old story? Once again I beseech you, think upon my Lord
and Master and see what a Savior He is, and how suitable He is for you!
I would entreat you to delay no longer, but to close in with the
invitations of His mercy. I think, sometimes, that my Master deserves
that we should do more than invite you. We commandyou, in the name of
Jesus of Nazareth, to bow before His scepter, for He is the King!
Acknowledge His dominion and let Him be your Savior, for know this–His
Gospel comes with Divine Authority as well as with gentle
persuasion–and neither can men reject it except at the peril of their
souls! He whom I preach to you tonight will shortly come to be your
Judge. And if you will not trust Him on His Cross, you must tremble
before Him on His Throne! Oh, come to Him! Simple trust is the way to
come to Him. Believe in Him and He is yours and His salvation is yours!

EXPOSITION BY C. H. SPURGEON: ACTS 9:1-22; 22:1-16.

Acts 9:1, 2. And Saul, yet breathing out threats and slaughter against
the disciples of the Lord, went to the high priest and desired of him
letters to Damascus to the synagogues, that if he found any of this
Way, whether they were men or women, he might bring them bound to
Jerusalem. His very breath was hot with malice against the saints! He
could not live without venting his spite upon the disciples of Christ.
He showed this by the fact that he not only sought to arrest men, but
he was equally cruel towards women, who, from their weakness, one would
have thought might have been left alone–but he expressly desired it to
be written in the letters that, "whether they were men or women, he
might bring them bound to Jerusalem."

3. And as he journeyed, he came near Damascus: and suddenly there
shined round about him a light from Heaven. When speaking before
Agrippa, Paul said that it was "a light from Heaven above the
brightness of the sun." Was it not that very Shekinah which of old had
shone forth between the cherubim over the Mercy Seat?

4, 5. And he fell to the earth, and heard a Voice saying to him, Saul,
Saul, why do you persecute Me? And he said, Who are You, Lord? And the
Lord said, I am Jesus whom you persecute: it is hard for you to kick
against the pricks. There is something very characteristic about
Christ's answer to Saul's question. He did not say, "It is hard for
Me," although He was, Himself, persecuted in His members and felt
intense sympathy with them. He did not dwell upon that, but He said to
Saul, "It is hard for you." There was much pity in the rebuke. Saul was
like a bull that has been pricked by the sharp ox-goad and kicks
against it–and so is hurt all the more. Our Lord knew what sorrow it
would cause Saul in the years to come, for he would never cease to
lament that he had persecuted the disciples of Christ.

6. And he, trembling and astonished. Finding that Jesus, whom he
thought to be dead and buried, and those followers he was so violently
opposing, was yet alive–

6-8. Said, Lord, what will You have me to do? And the Lord said to him,
Arise, and go into the city, and it shall be told you what you must do.
And the men which journeyed with him stood speechless, hearing a voice,
but seeing no man. And Saul arose from the earth and when his eyes were
opened, he saw no men: but they led him by the hand, and brought him
into Damascus. So the proud persecutor, who was going to Damascus as a
conqueror to crush the saints of God was, himself, led into the city as
a captive, to be forever afterwards the slave of Jesus Christ!

9. And he was three days without sight, and neither did eat nor drink
What passed through that mind which was darkened to natural light, but
was being filled with spiritual light, we can well guess. I mean, those
of us who have experienced true conviction of sin. In those three days,
he lived his life of opposition to the Lord Jesus over again–what
heart-break he must have felt and what anguish of soul–and what holy
resolves he must have made during his three days' blindness and
fasting!

10, 11. And there was a certain disciple at Damascus named Ananias; and
to him said the Lord in a vision, Ananias.

And he said, Behold, I am here Lord. And the Lord said to him, Arise,
and go into the street which is called Straight, and enquire in the
house of Judas for one called, Saul of Tarsus: for, behold, he prays.
[See Sermon #16, Volume Paul's First

PRAYER.] He had been a praying man for most of his life, for he

was a devout Jew and, according to his light, he had lived up to his
knowledge. But now he was praying in the Christian sense of the term,
drawing near to God through the very Christ whom he had in his
ignorance and unbelief persecuted! How many prayers of unregenerate
men, who know not Christ, and are not constrained by His love, go for
nothing! When they first from the heart confess their sin and cry to
God for mercy, then they begin to really pray!

12-16. And has seen in a vision a man named Ananias coming in and
putting his hand on him, that he might receive his sight. Then Ananias
answered Lord, I have heard by many of this man, how much evil he has
done to Your saints at Jerusalem: and here he has authority from the
chief priests to bind all that call on Your name. But the Lord said
unto him, go your 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
will show him how great things he must suffer for My name's sake. [See
Sermon #944, Volume 16–an encouraging lesson FROM PAUL'S CONVERSION.]
Ananias said to the Lord, "I have

heard by many of this man, how much evil he has done to Your saints at
Jerusalem." And now the Lord says to Ananias, in response to that, "I
will show him how great things he must suffer for My name's sake." As
he had made others suffer for Christ's name's sake, he must, himself,
suffer in the same way. Yet in this he was greatly favored, for it is
one of the highest honors that the Lord Jesus Christ can put upon His
chosen ones that they should be called to suffer for His name's sake!

17-21. And Ananias went his way, and entered into the house and putting
his hands on him, said, Brother Saul, the Lord, even Jesus, that
appeared unto you in the way as you came, has sent me that you might
receive your 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 Saul certain days with the disciples
which were at Damascus. And straightway he preached Christ in the
synagogues, that He is the Son of God. But all that heard him were
amazed I should like to have heard one of those first sermons of the
Apostle and to have seen the astonishment of the people as they
listened to the converted persecutor–"All that heard him were
amazed"–

21, 22. And said; is not this he that destroyed them who called on this
name in Jerusalem, and came here for that intent, that he might bring
them bound unto the chief priests? But Saul increased the more in
strength and confounded the Jews which dwelt at Damascus, proving that
this is very Christ.

Chapter 22:1, 2. Men, brethren, and fathers, hear you my defense which
I make now unto you. (And when they heard that he spoke in the Hebrew
tongue to them, they kept the more silent) And he said– Men like to be
addressed in their own language. They give the more heed to the message
if it is spoken to them in words that they can understand.

3-9. I am verily a man which am a Jew, born in Tarsus, a city in
Cilicia, yet brought up in this city at the feet of Gamaliel, and
taught according to the perfect manner of the Law of the fathers, and
was zealous toward God, as you all are this day. And I persecuted this
Way unto the death, binding and delivering into prisons both men and
women. As also the high priest does bear me witness, and all the estate
of the elders: from whom also I received letters unto the brethren and
went to Damascus, to bring them which were there bound unto Jerusalem
to be punished. And it came to pass that, as I made my journey, and was
come near unto Damascus about noon, suddenly there shone from Heaven a
great light round about me. And I fell to the ground and heard a Voice
saying to me, Saul, Saul, Why do you persecute Me? And I answered, Who
are You, Lord? And He said to me, I am Jesus of Nazareth, whom you
persecute. And they that were with me saw indeed the light, and were
afraid; but they heard not the voice of Him that spoke to me. Paul's
companions could not help sensing that extraordinary light and though
they did not understand what it was, they were alarmed by it. They

also heard a supernatural sound, but they could not comprehend what the
voice of Jesus said to their leader as he lay prostrate upon the
ground.

10-12. And I said, What shall I do, Lord? And the Lord said to me,
Arise, and go into Damascus; and there it shall be told you of all
things which are appointed for you to do. And when I could not see for
the glory of that light, being led by the hand of them that were with
me, I came into Damascus. And one Ananias, a devout man according to
the Law, having a good report of all the Jews which dwelt there. These
particulars concerning the character of Ananias do not appear in the
former part of the narrative. Paul was endeavoring to conciliate his
hearers and, therefore, he mentioned that Ananias was a devout Jew,
having a good report of all his brethren who dwelt in Damascus.

13, 14. Came unto me, and stood, and said unto me, Brother Saul,
receive your sight. And the same hour I looked up upon him. And he
said, The God of our Fathers has chosen you, that you should know His
will, and see that Just One and should hear the voice of His mouth. If
Paul was to be an Apostle, it was necessary that he should see the Lord
Christ, for one of the qualifications of an Apostle was that he should
be able to bear witness, from his eyesight, and from his hearing, to
the existence of the Lord Jesus Christ. Therefore it was that Saul did,
at that time, "see that Just One," and did "hear the voice of His
mouth."

15, 16. For you shall be His witness unto all men of what you have seen
and heard. And now why do you tarry? Arise, and be baptized, and wash
away your sins, calling on the name of the Lord. These two things were
necessary– first, he was to be baptized on profession of his faith in
Jesus. And then he was to have in his soul a vivid consciousness that
his sins were all washed away. This was not baptismal regeneration, for
he was already regenerate! It was, however, the obedience to the Lord's
command, which brought with it a sweet reassurance of the forgiveness
of his sins.