Acts 7:57-58 (NKJV) 57 Then they cried out with a loud voice, stopped their ears, and ran at him with one accord; 58 and they cast him out of the city and stoned him. And the witnesses laid down their clothes at the feet of a young man named Saul.

What A Blind Man Saw… Acts 7:57-58

What A Blind Man Saw There have been many great conversions over the years The greatest stories seem to come from those with the greatest odds against them One engrossed in sin, unwilling to acknowledge God, would be a tough flip

What A Blind Man Saw That’s probably why Saul of Tarsus was one of the greatest conversions We are all aware of his terrible past Acts 8:1 – Stoning of Stephen Acts 8:3 – He was 100% against the Lord’s church

What A Blind Man Saw Acts 9:1-2 He was determined not to stop until he had totally devastated the church We know how the story continues in chapter 9 Saul was blinded on that road

What A Blind Man Saw He spent 3 days without sight Although Saul was blind for those 3 days, ironically there are some things that he saw for the very first time What is it exactly that Saul did see when blinded on the road to Damascus that day?

He Saw… 1. Jesus as the Son of God – Saul did not (along with many Jews) believe that Jesus was who He claimed to be – He thought he was doing right by God, stopping followers of a man who claimed to be God in the flesh – They were the ones doing wrong, not him

He Saw… 1. Jesus as the Son of God – When the light shone down, he came to see Jesus as Lord (v. 5) – There is a great need today for people to acknowledge Jesus as Lord – You cannot claim Him as Lord and yet not obey Him (Lk. 6:46)

He Saw… 1. Jesus as the Son of God – We must be willing to follow Him as Lord – We must also be willing to confess Him before others (Matt. 10:32-33) – Saul finally recognized this fact about Jesus, and did his best to live it out the rest of his life

He Saw… 2. Himself as a Sinner – Saul had been satisfied with his spiritual condition up to that point – Acts 26:9 – “Indeed, I myself thought I must do many things contrary to the name of Jesus of Nazareth” – But Saul came to see himself as a sinner

He Saw… 2. Himself as a Sinner – When told to be baptized and wash away his sins, he did this immediately, acknowledging he was a sinner (Acts 22:16) – Many in the world today do not see themselves as sinners – They view themselves as saved

He Saw… 2. Himself as a Sinner – The sad truth is that many are on the road to destruction (Matt. 7:13-14) – Many will argue their salvation on the Day of Judgment (Matt. 7:22) – Many are not willing to admit their sinful state and need for salvation (Rom. 3:23)

He Saw… 3. Jesus and the church are inseparable! – Saul admitted that he had persecuted the church (Gal. 1:13) – However, Jesus said in Acts 9:4, “Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting Me?” – By this, Christ was saying that He is the church

He Saw… 3. Jesus and the church are inseparable! – Both Ephesians 1:22-23 and Colossians 1:18 tell us that the body of Christ is the church – Saul came to see that to persecute the church is to persecute Christ – To not value the church is to not value Christ!

He Saw… 4. The need to make a change religiously – Saul had a very rich Jewish heritage – Philippians 3:3-6 – He had a better resume than anyone else could have had – Yet continue to read vs. 7-8…

He Saw… 4. The need to make a change religiously – It was counted but loss in order to win Christ – Do we know others, like Saul, who may have had a rich heritage when it comes to their faith? – Many in this world will never change because of a rich religious heritage

He Saw… 4. The need to make a change religiously – Perhaps Saul can serve as an example to those who have a difficult time separating themselves from that heritage – Many people simply do not want to admit that they could be wrong – Saul was focused on doing right, not matter what that meant for him or others

He Saw… 5. He had to do something for salvation – Acts 9:6, 18 – Acts 22:16 – Saul was actually required to do something to obtain the salvation offered by God’s grace to him – Many reject this teaching

He Saw… 5. He had to do something for salvation – Calvinism teaches that salvation is done TO us – We know that there is a response of faith and obedience in baptism necessary – Faith by itself is dead (Js. 2:17)

He Saw… 5. He had to do something for salvation – We must have a faith that acts, a belief that gets us up and springs us into action – Saul’s objective in all he did was to go to heaven – That should be our objective as well, so we should be willing to do what is needed