Bible Studies
Receive Your Sight
Series: Additional StudiesIntroduction:
1. Saul’s conversion is the most dramatic of all those recorded in Scripture. 2. Luke introduces him into his Acts account at the stoning of Stephen. “The witnesses,” he says, “laid aside their robes at the feet of a young man named Saul” (7:58). 3. Saul must have heard the sound of the stones hitting Stephen’s body. It must have gone on for some time. He must have heard Stephen pray, “Lord Jesus, receive my spirit!” He must have seen Saul fall on his knees and pray, “Lord, do not hold this sin against them!” He saw it all! 4. Luke’s assessment: “Saul was in hearty agreement with putting him to death.” Untouched by Stephen’s willingness to forgive, Luke says, “Saul began ravaging the church, entering house after house, and dragging off men and women, he would put them in prison.” 5. Saul was a religious bounty hunter, a terrorist of the worst kind. 6. Luke’s language is graphic. “Still breathing threats and murder against the disciples he went to the high priest and asked for letters to bring those belonging to the Way, men and women, bound to Jerusalem” (Acts 9:1-2).Discussion:
I. Things were about to change. Saul was about to be blinded!A. Saul was on his way to Damascus, 150 miles from Jerusalem. The journey on foot took about a week.
B. Suddenly a light from heaven flashed around him and he fell to the ground.
1. He says it was about noon (Acts 22:6). How bright it must have been to eclipse the noon day sun!
2. A voice said to him, “Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting Me?”
3. The men who were traveling with him saw the light (26:13-14) and heard the voice, but saw no one. They all fell to the ground.
4. “Who are you?” Saul said.
5. “I am Jesus whom you are persecuting,” the voice said.
a. The Lord had sent Philip to the Ethopian.
b. He had sent an angel to Cornelius, but the angel said to send for Peter who would tell him what to do.
c. When Lydia, the Philippian jail and the other Europeans had heard the gospel Paul had been directed there in a vision he had seen at night.
d. But Jesus went directly to Saul.
6. Saul must have been shocked and astonished!
C. But the Lord continued and said, “Get up and stand on your feet; for this purpose I have appeared to you, to appoint you a minister and a witness not only of the things which you have seen and heard, but also to things in which I will appear to you; rescuing you from the Jewish people and from the Gentiles, to whom I am sending you, to open their eyes so that they may turn from darkness to light and from the dominion of Satan to God, that they may receive the forgiveness of sins and an inheritance among those who have been sanctified by faith in Me” (Acts 26:16-19). Note the emphasis on things seen.
1. The Lord has appeared to Saul for a purpose: to appoint him a minister and witness.
2. To the things he has seen and to things in which the Lord will yet appear to him.
3. His mission: to open the eyes of the Jewish people and the Gentiles.
D. Those who were with Saul heard the voice, but did not understand it.
E. Saul said, “What shall I do, Lord?” And the Lord said, “Get up and go on into Damascus, and there you will be told of all that has been appointed for you to do.”
F. Blinded by the light, he was led by the hand by those who were with him into Damascus.
1. Interestingly no one else was blinded, only Saul.
2. Saul was three days without sight, and neither ate nor drank.
G. Can you imagine what it was like to have been one of Saul’s traveling companions?
1. Were they allied with him in his mission or merely strangers traveling together?
2. What was the experience like for them? Seeing the light, hearing the voice, but not understanding… and then to hear Saul’s explanation of what the voice said and who it was who was speaking! Unbelievable yes, but they were there.
II. In his own words Saul reports what happened in Damascus.A. “A certain Ananias, a man who was devout by the standard of the Law, and well spoken of by all the Jews lived there, and came to me, and standing near said to me, ‘Brother Saul, receive your sight!’ And at that very time I looked up at him” (22:12-13).
B. Luke says, that Ananias said, “The Lord Jesus, who appeared to you on the road sent me so that you may regain your sight and be filled with the Holy Spirit. And immediately there feel from his eyes something like scales, and he regained his sight” (Acts 9:17-18).
C. Saul adds that Ananias said, “The God of our fathers has appointed you to know Hi will and to see the righteous One and to hear an utterance from His mouth. For you will be a witness for Him to all men of what you have seen and heard” (22:14-15).
D. Ananias then asked Saul, “Why do you delay? Get up and be baptized, and wash away your sins, calling on His name” (22:16).
E. From this point forward Saul proclaimed Jesus in the synagogues, to the Jews, and to the Gentiles. His message: “Jesus is the Son of God” (9:20).
III. Mistakes that Saul did not make.A. Saul did not blame someone else for his sin. Sometimes we blame our environment, heredity, the structures of our society. Saul did not do this.
1. He did not blame his parents for training him in Jewish religion.
2. He did not blame the social structure of Jerusalem.
3. Instead he said, “I was a blasphemer and a persecutor and a violent aggressor” (1 Tim. 1:13).
B. Some say guilt is a hangover from a primitive era. They deny the existence of right and wrong in an attempt to quell guilt and responsibility. Saul did not attempt this.
C. Saul did not use his ignorance as an escape. He said, “I was shown mercy because I acted ignorantly in unbelief” (1 Tim. 1:13).
D. Saul did not attempt to repay God for the evil he had done.
1. Instead he accepted the grace of God in faith and thanksgiving (1 Tim. 1:14).
2. As foremost sinner he knew he could never repay the debt he owed.
E. The wrongs that you have done will not go away. But by the mercy of God, they can be forgiven and your life can be changed. You will no longer have to say, “How bad I am!” “How could I have done such a thing?” Instead you can say, “How good God is!” “All that I have done and He has forgiven me!”
1. He has not given up on you.
2. He wants you to live.
3. He wants you to have hope.
4. There is release from guilt.
Conclusion:
1. The Lord wants you to see the light. 2. Will you receive your sight? 3. Would you come out of the darkness and into the light of life? 4. Why do you delay? Arise and be baptized and wash away your sins, calling on His name!
