The Exchanged Life Message #4 “What Paul Saw” Ed Miller, July 12, 2024
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Listen to the audio above while following along in the transcript below which is available for download at www.biblestudyministriesinc.com
WELCOME AND PRAYER
It’s good to remember the Lord and all that flows from that wonderful sacrifice that He gave. That one brother in prayer quoted that verse from Psalm 51, “Create in me a clean heart, oh God.” In the Hebrew I’m told that there are several words for “create”, and one of them is “create out of nothing”, and that’s the word that’s used there, “Create out of nothing in me a clean heart, oh God.” So He does, and we’re so glad to be standing in Him and His righteousness, and to be able to receive His life.
As we come again to the word of God, there’s a principle of Bible study that I ever remind myself of and I delight to remind you, as well. It’s an indispensable principle, a principle for which there is no substitute, and that is total reliance upon God’s Holy Spirit. God has given us the Bible, and only God can show us the Lord in the Bible, as He did for those dear saints on the Road to Emmaus, and opened their minds to understand and opened the scriptures and showed Himself in all the scriptures. This is His delight, and He wants to do it. So, we need to trust Him to do that.
Let me give you a couple of verses, and then we’ll look in the word together. One is from Psalm 24:7, and it’s also repeated later on in the Psalm. The verse is, “Lift up your heads, oh ye gates, and be lifted up you everlasting doors, and the King of Glory shall come in.” That’s repeated again later on in the Psalm. Many commentators just refer to that as the ascension psalm and they picture when our Lord Jesus ascended to heaven, “Open the gates, the Lord strong and mighty is coming in, and the Lord of Hosts, the Lord of the armies of heaven and earth is coming in.” But the thing that gripped my heart is that little word, “Lift up your heads, oh ye gates, be lifted up oh ancient doors, and the King of Glory shall come in.” If He is the King of Glory, He doesn’t need your permission to lift up your head and open the gate; He can knock the door down, but He doesn’t. Listen to this verse, now, from Song of Solomon, “I was asleep,” chapter 5:2, “but my heart was awake. A voice! My Beloved was knocking.” When we think about a voice, we think about a word; that’s a word, a voice. That’s a word. Every time you have the word, your Beloved is knocking, “A voice! My Beloved is knocking. Open to me, my sister, my darling, my dove, my perfect one.” And so, the Lord invites us, again, as we come before the ministry of His Holy Spirit in the word, He invites us again to lift up our heads and open wide the gates, and the King of Glory shall come in. A voice! My Beloved is knocking. Such a gentleman is the Lord that He seeks an invitation for His entrance. So, let’s give Him that invitation and then we’ll look in the word.
Our heavenly Father, thank You so much for Your word. Lord, work in our hearts an openness; we want to open the gates and invite You. We hear Your voice; come in King of Glory, come in Bridegroom-lover of our soul. Show Yourself today, we pray, and we thank you in advance that You’re going to do it. In Jesus’ name. Amen.
REVIEW
Well, we’ve come to our final look at what we’re calling the final preparation. Our Lord Jesus appeared over and over again during that forty plus days between His resurrection and His ascension, and He appeared for many, many reasons, but at least to show that He was not dead, and at least to show that He was not gone, and to prepare them for that discovery that would be theirs on the fiftieth day at Pentecost when He sent His dear Holy Spirit, the Comforter, the other advocate, to come into the heart, to show them and prepare them for the discovery that He is neither dead nor gone, but He’s very much alive; He’s alive in me. They needed to be prepared for that; that was so other, so different, so unusual, and they had never considered that the One that was before them would come and live inside of them, and that they would have to relate now in a new way. They needed to be prepared for that. So, we’ve been looking together at that wonderful preparation illustrated by His post-resurrection appearances.
By His appearance to Mary He prepared them by teaching us not to cling to Him in the flesh, and now we’re going to have a new relationship in the spirit, and it’s all about relationship, and it’s all about Him calling your name, and you departing with the only testimony that you’ll ever have worth anything, “I’ve seen the Lord.” If God could allow us the grace to leave this place this weekend and go back, “What happened? What did you talk about? Describe the experience,” if you could honestly say, “I’ve seen the Lord.” There’s your testimony.
And then by His appearance to Thomas, He prepared us that it’s not by sight, “Blessed are those who believe without seeing,” that sight does not help faith. God had called Thomas to stand in the place where we stand, on the testimony of reliable witnesses which have become our Bible, where we can just believe. I don’t know what kind of week Thomas had in between the testimony of the first brothers, that he missed, and then finally seeing Him; I don’t think he was too happy. “Blessed, happy are those who can trust the Lord and believe on the basis of this word.” I need to see Him—Mary Magdalene; I need to see Him in this book—Thomas; He appeared to the brothers on the Emmaus Road to say that it’s not enough to open the book, that you need Me to open your heart and open the scriptures and open your mind and open your understanding, and it’s by revelation. He’s laying out a pattern. How can I relate to the One who is neither dead nor gone, but He’s alive and He’s alive in me? I need to see Him; I need to see Him in this book; I need to see Him in this book by the revelation of the Holy Spirit.
Then, in the Upper Room He breathed on them, and He announced a new creation; I need to see Him, I need to see Him in this book, I need to see Him in this book by the revelation/illumination of the Holy Spirit, and I need to see Him in such a way that He breathes on me and there’s a new creation. That brings us, then, to the final preparation. He also appeared last of all to the Apostle Paul—final preparation. On that road to Damascus we have the model conversion and the model convert, more space given to that one event than anything else in the New Testament apart from the death, burial and resurrection of our Lord Jesus. The Apostle Paul takes great pains to inform us what took place on that day when he saw the Lord.
Last night we looked at Paul’s explanation. Let me just read these verses, and then we’ll move on:
“I’ve been crucified with Christ; it is no longer I who lives, but Christ lives in me, and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God who loved me and gave Himself for me.” (Galatians 2:20)
In those words, “It is no longer I but Christ,” he was declaring what took place that day was not a change but an exchange. It’s not me anymore; it’s Him.
“Even so, consider yourselves to be dead to sin, but alive to God in Christ Jesus.” (Romans 6:1)
“You have died, and your life is hid with Christ in God.” (Colossians 3:3)
PAUL’S SPIRITUAL EYES WERE OPENED
Last night we looked at the explanation, and what I want to look at this morning, God assisting, is the actual event, and what are we explaining. Let’s do the story. Just for interest, show of hands, “How many here have never heard any message about the road to Damascus?” Okay, so I understand that. I’m not trying to give you anything new. Everything I’m about to share I know you’ve heard it, and you probably heard many, many, many, many messages on this wonderful event. We’re going to look at it again, not to be novel, not to give you anything new, but to state again the great realities that we all know, we all believe and we all need to be quickened unto.
“Last of all, as to one untimely born, He appeared to me, as well.” (1 Corinthians 15:8)
Last of all, he puts himself in the same list. It would be impossible to exaggerate what took place in the heart of this man when he met the Lord on the road to Damascus. We have a very clumsy way of dividing time by the clock. We divide it into minutes and by hours and days and weeks and months and years, as if every moment were of an equal size. Every moment is not of an equal size. Some hours are very long; it’s still sixty minutes but it’s long. If you get a brother or sister who is tossing on a bed of pain and affliction, an hour is a very long time. Somebody waiting for news, waiting to hear, waiting to have a contact from a loved one, that can be a long, long wait in a short, short time. Some hours are short. This weekend has been very short for me. Where is it? It’s gone. Some hours are very long. Then I look back over the big picture and say, “I’ve been saved fifty-two years. Where did it go? It’s gone.” So, we need to realize that what happens in a moment, that’s the real measure of time. I have no doubt this moment that Paul had on the Damascus Road, that moment was larger than his whole life. What took place in that moment was a tremendous thing. He was never the same again. He saw Jesus and in that moment, in that revelation, that was big, that was huge, that was grand, that was an amazing moment, and his life was understood and explained in terms of that single moment, and we need to look at that moment.
Let me start by reading the text…
“As he was travelling, it happened that he was approaching Damascus, and suddenly a light from heaven flashed around him, and he fell to the ground, and he heard a voice saying, ‘Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting Me?’ And he said, ‘Who are You, Lord?’ And He said, ‘I am Jesus whom you are persecuting, but get up and enter the city and it will be told you what you must do.’ The men who travelled with him stood speechless, hearing the voice but seeing no one. Saul got up from the ground and though his eyes were open he could see nothing. Leading him by the hand, they brought him to Damascus. He was three days without sight. He neither ate nor drank. Now, there was a disciple at Damascus named Ananias, and the Lord said to him in a vision, ‘Ananias,’ and he said, ‘Here I am, Lord,’ and the Lord said to him, ‘Get up and go to the street called Straight and inquire at the house of Judas for a man from Tarsus named Saul, for he is praying. And he has seen in a vision a man named Ananias come in and lay hands on him, so that he might again regain his sight.’ Ananias answered, ‘Lord, I’ve heard much about this man and how much harm he did to your saints at Jerusalem, and here he has authority from the chief priests to bind all who call on Your name.’ But the Lord said to him, ‘Go, for he is a chosen vessel, a chosen instrument of Mine to bear My name before the gentiles and kings and the sons of Israel. I must show him how much he must suffer for My name sake.’ And so, Ananias departed and entered the house, and after laying hands on him, he said, ‘Brother Saul, the Lord Jesus who appeared to you on the road by which you were coming has sent me, so that you may regain your sight and be filled with the Holy Spirit.’ Immediately there fell from his eyes something like scales. He regained his sight and he got up and was baptized and he took food and was strengthened.” (Acts 9:3-19)
That’s the reading. I think you are aware, brothers, that the record of this conversion is not only in chapter 9. One is here in chapter 9, written by the human author, Luke, telling the story, but then we have Paul’s own personal testimony recorded twice. In Acts 22, twenty five years have gone by and now he is, of course, being persecuted, but he’s giving his testimony in Hebrew on the steps of the temple to the Hebrew people. Two years later, Acts 26, he stands before King Agrippa, twenty-seven years after the fact, and he now stands up and recalls, and very close after this he himself was martyred and went into the presence of the Lord.
By pooling those three accounts together, Acts 9, Acts 22 and Acts 26, we have the full record of what happened on the Damascus Road. I just want to say in passing what I’m sure you already know, that there are additional facts given in his testimony that we didn’t read in the Acts 9 account. That doesn’t mean there are contradictions, and it certainly doesn’t mean what I read in one of my commentaries that through the years people tend to embellish things, so they say that this testimony got a little fatter, and it was enlarged and it was embellished. They say that there is that tendency to exaggerate in order to make the original event more dramatic. Probably that’s true of me and maybe that’s true of you, but that’s not true of the Apostle Paul. This is inspired; there’s nothing exaggerated here.
For example, in Acts 9 we didn’t know this took place at high noon. We learn that from his testimony. And we didn’t know that the light that shone around him, he described as brighter than the noonday sun. We learn that later. In Acts 9 we only read that he asked one question. We read in Acts 9, “Who are you, Lord?” But later we find out that he asked two questions. He also said, “What would you have me do, Lord?” I think that’s important. In Acts 9 it looks like only Saul fell down to the ground, but when you read the other records, everybody fell down to the ground. In Acts 9 it looks like they all heard a voice, but later we find out some heard a sound, but it didn’t register as a voice, so they didn’t understand what was said. It looks as if in chapter 9 there was a small conversation between Saul and the Lord, “Who are you?” and He gives an answer, and then He says, “Arise and go to Damascus and it will be told you what to do.” That’s it. If it wasn’t for Acts 26 we wouldn’t know that it was quite a long conversation; they had a back and forth. There was an amazing amount of information that was given. It’s only his testimony before Agrippa that tells us that he had a problem with his conscience, “It’s hard for you to kick against the goad.” Do you see what I’m saying? If it weren’t for Acts 22 we would have never known that Jesus called Himself “the Nazarene”. In the original record it just says, “Jesus, whom you are persecuting.” But then we find out it’s Jesus the Nazarene, and so on.
I’m going to try to pool it together as we tell the story, but we’re not out to just hear all of the correct facts; we love principles, and we want life, and we want to know the revelation of the Lord. Let me quote again,
“Last of all, as to one untimely born, He appeared to me, also, and I am the least of the apostles, not fit to be called an apostle because I persecuted the church of God.” (1 Corinthians 15:8)
Last of all? Not literally, but finally he did it last of all, and later He’ll appear to John, and so on, but He did it last to say, “This is the last preparation; Jesus is not dead, He is not gone; He’s alive and He’s alive in you, and He’s alive to breathe on you and to give you a new creation, not to change your life, but to give you an exchanged life. Look at my exchanged life.” I explained it yesterday; it’s not a change but an exchange.
WHAT DID PAUL SEE?
Now, let’s look at what happened, what did he see? It’s called a vision. He told Agrippa,
“I was not disobedient to the heavenly vision.” (Acts 26:19)
That could throw you off a little because, though it’s called a vision, it’s not a vision as we usually think about a vision. People who have visions in the Bible see something in their mind, in their brain, in their spirit. Zachariah had eight visions in one night. That was a long night for him, eight visions, one right after another, and he was lying in his bed. He didn’t actually see, but God showed him in his mind, like in a dream. This is not that way. The Holy Spirit is calling this a vision to call attention to your eyes/your vision. He tells the story in terms of your vision. What did he see? He claims that he saw Jesus literally, and not just some dream that God gave him and not just some vision in his spirit; it was literal and it was true and it was actual and it was physical. He had a revelation of the Lord, and that’s why he puts himself in the list. He said, “How did Mary see him? How did Thomas see him? Was that just in their mind? It was a vision but it was literal with their eyes that they saw Him. He is saying, “I saw Him as really as Peter saw him. I saw Him as really as the five hundred saw Him. I saw Him as really as the disciples on the Emmaus Road saw Him. I saw Him as really as He appeared in the Upper Room and invited them to take the fingers of their hand and put them in His glory wound. I saw Him.” He uses that later to prove his apostleship, “I was an eyewitness of the resurrection; I saw Him.” So, we need to understand that.
Notice with me, please, and I’m not making this up, that the Holy Spirit seems to tell the story in terms of vision, in terms of his eyes. When Saul rode into Damascus that day he had one set of eyes—these eyes (natural). That journey from Jerusalem to Damascus was between one hundred and thirty-six and one hundred and sixty miles depending on which route you took. In those days travel was slower than it is today, and a considerable portion of that, no matter which journey he took, had to take him through the desert. They say that was about a six or seven day trip. There is reason to believe the saints knew that he was coming, because Ananias made some comments that, “He’s been to the high priest and he’s got the papers and we know what he can do to us.”
In addition to that first set of eyes (natural) we know he had a conscience that was bothering him. The Lord fills us in on that…
“When we had all fallen to the ground I heard a voice saying to me in the Hebrew dialect, ‘Saul, Saul why are you persecuting Me? It is hard for you to kick against the goads.’” (Acts 26:14)
We know he had a conscience, that built-in preacher. A goad was a sharp piece of iron that was put on the end of stick and was used to prod. The ox driver would prod the ox and urge the animal either to stand still, go on or change direction. He was skilled and he knew how to use the goad, and he would poke that animal. If the animal kicked, resisted, held back, or was stubborn, who got hurt? Exactly right, the animal got hurt. That’s what God was saying, “I’ve been poking you, and I’ve been pricking you with this goad, and I’ve been working on you, and you’ve been kicking back, and who is hurt?”
We can guess how God was using that goad. I’m quite sure the stoning of Stephen was on his mind. That made a tremendous impression. Later on he calls attention to that; that was bothering him. And then when we read the testimony, one of his statements was, “I tried to get them to blaspheme.” Do you know what is implied in that? It didn’t work. “I tried to get them to blaspheme.” It must have been an amazing thing to watch these Christians and how they responded to this persecution. Not only Stephen was bothering him, but all these Christians as they were suffering were bothering him. His testimony— he was kicking against the goad; His inner conscience was sort of another set of eyes. So, he comes in with these eyes (natural) and he’s got that bad conscience. Then we read,
“Suddenly a light from heaven flashed around him, and Saul got up from the ground, and though his eyes were open, he could see nothing.” (Acts 9:3)
He comes to town with good eyesight, and then he’s got a little conscience in there, and that’s looking at him, too. Then he sees a light, and then he sees nothing. Do you see how this story is being told in terms of his eyes?
In Actshe gives the same testimony,
“Since I could not see, because of the brightness of the light, I was led by the hand with those who were with me and came into Damascus.” (Acts 22:11)
We know that blindness lasted three days…
“He was three days without sight.” (Acts 9:9)
He comes to town with this set of eyes (natural) and a conscience. All of a sudden, he loses this set of eyes (natural) and he’s blind. Then we read (this is God speaking to Ananias),
“And the Lord said to him, ‘Get up and go to the street called Straight, and inquire at the house of Judas for a man from Tarsus named Saul. He is praying,” (now watch), “and he has seen in a vision a man named Ananias come in and lay hands on him, so that he might gain his sight.” (Acts 9:11&12)
So, he comes to town with one set of eyes (natural), and then he’s got a conscience that’s been bothering him, and then he sees the light, and then he loses this set of eyes (natural), and then he gets a vision. What’s the vision? It’s not with these eyes (natural); it’s a different use of the word “vision”.
Now, in his mind, in his spirit (however God communicated), he gets the information that a man is going to come whose name is Ananias, and he’s going to lay hands on him and he’s going to be able to see. I’m not trying to confuse you; I’m saying that as I read how the Holy Spirit wrote this, I think He’s saying, “Pay attention to his eyes. Watch what’s going on because he has eyes, and then he has a conscience and then he sees a light, and then he doesn’t have eyes, and then he has a vision. And then, as the story goes on, Ananias comes in and says, ‘God has sent me to you,’ scales fall off his eyes, and then he sees.” Once again, the attention is called to the eyes. He comes in with one set (natural), he has a conscience, he sees the Lord, he loses that set and he gets a vision, and God opens his eyes (natural & spiritual), and scales fall off his eyes, and it’s told about the eyes because his testimony is going to be this, Last preparation, twenty-seven years later, they’re saying, “Explain yourself, explain your life, explain your ministry, explain your message,” and he can only say one thing, “A long time ago I saw Jesus.” That’s his testimony, “I saw Jesus.”
That’s what Mary said, “I’ve seen the Lord.” That’s Thomas, “My Lord and my God!” Emmaus Road, “Didn’t our hearts burn within us when He showed Himself!” It’s all about seeing Jesus, and that’s what Damascus is all about; it’s about seeing the Lord, and since he’s the model convert, he says, “You need to understand what I saw that day when I saw Jesus, and how these eyes were closed and these eyes were open, and then scales fell off these eyes, and then I got new eyes, and then I got a new life.” He wants us to understand that it’s all about seeing Jesus. May God help us understand this!
Paul’s eyes were opened to this evil world
So, what did this dear brother see when he saw Jesus? I’m going to mention three things. There are probably a lot more, but you need three points for a good sermon (I speak as a fool). Let me just mention several of the things, and then we’ll, hopefully, by God’s grace pull it altogether. When he saw Jesus, his eyes were also open to this present evil world. He saw this world…
“Immediately, there fell from his eyes something like scales, and he regained his sight, and he got up and was baptized.” (Acts 9:18)
When those scales fell from his eyes, he saw. Now, it’s very possible that the chorus we sing, “Turn your eyes upon Jesus, look full in His wonderful face, and the things of earth will grow strangely dim,” took place. I know it took place spiritually for him, but it might have taken place literally for him. Commentators call attention to the fact that Paul had bad eyesight. Have you ever read that? They get that from Galatians,
“When I first came to you, you were willing to give your eyes for me.” (Galatians 4:15)
Then as he closes the epistle with,
“See with what large letters I am writing this.” (Galatians 6:11)
That was the idea, that he had to write with large letters. Maybe he had bad eyes before Damascus. We don’t know when he got bad eyesight. I happen to think that perhaps it was after seeing Jesus. I love to picture him now seeing the world blurry, because that’s what it is; it’s that way. But I know it’s spiritual; he has, by seeing Jesus, a brand-new vision of the world.
Listen to his testimony,
“Whatever things were gain to me, those I counted as loss for the sake of Christ. More than that, I count all things to be loss in view of the surpassing value of knowing Christ, for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and count but rubbish, that I might gain Christ.” (Philippians 3:7&8)
He saw Jesus, and now he sees the world, but it’s all different. From that moment everything is different, and now he sees it for what it is. He sees through the veneer. He knows that what Solomon said is true, “Vanity, vanity, all is vanity and vexation of spirit.” When I say, “the world”, I’m not just talking about flowers and trees and birds and animals and the deep blue sea. I’m talking about the world as John records it,
“All that’s in the world, the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, the pride of life.” (1 John 2:16)
He saw all of that when he saw Jesus. I love the way John divides that because that is really a description of the world, and that’s all it can do. The world can only appeal to your flesh; that’s it, and it’s all show; it’s not real. It’s all vanity; it’s all glitter. You can have all these beautiful colors in a bubble but try to lay hold of it. It’s not there; it’s nothing and it’s not true. It appeals to man’s pride and his honor and his dignity, but it’s vanity and it’s vexation and it’s not real. It’s so artificial, and he saw that. It’s all imaginary, and man makes it up
Where did we get value on this stuff? Gold is a stone. It’s pretty but it’s stone. Gems are just stones, that’s all they are. We say that they’re worth something, and so when we come to town, they say, “Oh, we like these, we like glass.” “Okay, that’s your value; I’ll trade you and we’ll give you beads and glass, and you give us those yellow stones.” Man just makes it up, and then he’ll die for it, and he’ll fight for it, and he’ll covet, and he’ll try to hold onto it, but it’s not real. Hanging jewelry on a body (I have nothing against jewelry), but you might as well hang it on a limb of a tree. It doesn’t add anything. It’s all fake. If you get a bed frame made out of brass, are you going to sleep better? A golden bed, and then you get food served on a silver platter, is it going to taste any better? What is perfume? It’s the sweat and mucus of beasts and trees. Silk is the excrement of worms. It’s a bag of dirt, and they call it a treasure. He saw that when he saw Jesus. He saw everything as it is. It’s a lie; it’s a deceit.
One evidence of it is if you are a billionaire and you have a toothache, are you going to enjoy your money? A billion dollars isn’t going to help you if you’ve got a toothache. Then you go to the deathbed, is that going to help you then?
“Riches do not profit in the day of death.” (Proverbs 11:4)
They are nothing.. You have a man on his deathbed, he’d give his whole fortune in order to live. For him life is better than gold. It’s only to the Christian that loving kindness is better than life. It’s only to us who have seen the value. Only those who see Jesus see the world for what it is.
I meet a lot of Christians, and it makes me laugh sometimes, and also, I’ve been through a lot of this myself, how Christians struggle with surrender. They say, “Oh, I can’t give that up and I can’t give this thing up.” They don’t need to work on surrender; they need to see Jesus. If you see Jesus, you’ll see the world for what it really is. I have never yet met any person who struggled giving up rubbish; that’s easy. The King James Bible calls it “dung”. “Surrender all of that dung.” “Oh no, I don’t want to let it go; it’s so precious.” It’s because you don’t see it for what it is. Until you see Christ you can’t see the world.
Let me make another comment about1 John 2:16,
“All that’s in the world, the lust of flesh, the lust of the eyes, the pride of life.” (1 John 2:16)
We talk a lot about worldliness, and we don’t want to be worldly Christians; we want to be spiritual Christians. In that verse what’s the opposite of the world? He said, “All that’s in the world,” but there’s an opposite of the world. When we speak about not being worldly, we have our little list. It depends upon what part of the country you come from. They say, “I’m not going to be worldly, and I’m not going to smoke, and I’m not going to dance, and I’m not going to play contact sports, and I’m not going to gamble, and I’m not going to drink, or at least I’m not going to excessively drink, and I’m not going to get involved in materialism, and I’m going to choose the right friends and the right clothes, and this is how long my hem will be.” It depends on where you are from; that’s worldliness.
God includes more under worldliness than Christians do.
“The world is passing away and it’s lusts, but the will of God abides forever.” (1 John 2:17)
The opposite of worldliness is the will of God. What is worldliness? It’s anything that is not the will of God—the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, the pride of life and anything that is not the will of God. In that moment when he saw Jesus, he was delivered from worldliness in all its forms, and delivered unto the will of God. When Jesus said, “Be of good cheer, I have overcome the world,” He was actually saying, “Be of good cheer, for I have overcome everything that stands in the way of the will of God.” It’s no wonder to be of good cheer! And I’ve got better cheer for you, brothers. The One who has overcome the world—the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, the pride of life—who has overcome everything that stands in the way of the will of God in your life is neither dead nor gone, but He’s alive and He’s alive in you. It’s an awesome, awesome thing. He saw that when he saw Jesus.
Listen to this summary that Ananias gives. If you want a summary of the Christian life, here it is:
“And he said, ‘The God of our fathers has appointed you to know His will, to see the righteous One and to hear utterance from His mouth.” (Acts 22:14)
Isn’t that something? And he’s the model convert because He appeared to you, too. When He showed you Christ He said, “Do you want to know what the Christian life is? Know the will of God, see the Lord, hear His word.” That’s it. It’s a glorious truth. When I see Jesus, I’ll see the world for what it is.
Paul saw the church
Let me show you another thing. He not only saw the world by seeing Jesus, and I’m sure you’ve heard this; he saw the church. Have you heard that? He saw the body of Christ. There are a couple of indications of it. I love:
“Ananias departed and entered the house, and after laying his hands on him he said, ‘Brother Saul.’” (Acts 9:17)
Can you imagine what that meant to that man— “Brother Saul”? When you read the record, it’s amazing, as there’s a little play on words because Saul was coming to town to lay his hands on the Christians. Isn’t that interesting? What happened instead? Ananias, blessed by God, laid his hands on Saul. That’s quite a difference. If Saul had a chance he would have grabbed Ananias and grabbed his family and all his children off to the dungeon, but instead he hears the word, “brother”. Whew! That had to be humbling to hear that.
Some question when Paul got saved. Did he get saved on the Damascus Road when he saw the light? Did he get saved three days later when the scales fell off his eyes? Did he get saved when Ananias said, “Arise and be baptized and wash away your sins.”? When exactly did he get saved? I don’t know, but I don’t think Ananias would have said “brother” if he wasn’t brother at that point. At least that satisfies it for me. In this connection I love where he says,
“Greet Andronicus and Junius, my kinsman, who were in Christ before me.” (Romans 16:7)
In other words, he had family members who knew Jesus before he did. We read that he’s coming to town to lay hold of Christians; he’s coming after his family. He would have killed his family. If you had asked anyone at that time, “Who is the number one enemy of the Lord Jesus Christ?” without a question, all the way from Jerusalem to Damascus, they would have said, “Saul of Tarsus is the number one enemy.” But now, because he saw Jesus, he’s “brother”, “Brother Saul”. He’s in the family. Do you realize the change there, the glorious difference? He’s in the family now, and there’s even a stronger evidence that he saw the church.
“’Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting Me?’ And he said, ‘Who are You, Lord?’ He said, ‘I am Jesus whom you are persecuting.’” (Acts 9:4&5)
He could have argued, “I’m not persecuting You; I’m persecuting people; I’m persecuting men and women and children. Why do you say I’m persecuting You?” “It’s because we’re one, and you can’t touch them without touching Me.” In that moment he saw so much. He saw that he was part of a family. He saw that the church, the universal church was united to the head; they are one. He saw the Lord by seeing the Lord; He saw the church. So many today are trying to fight the world and struggle with the flesh. They’re looking at the body; there’s a lot of talk about the body life, and they’re looking at the body. If you see Jesus, you’ll see the body; you don’t have to worry about seeing the body. Make sure that you are seeing the Lord.
Paul saw the rejected Savior
There’s one other thing he saw, and we’ll wrap it up.
“I answered, ‘Who are you, Lord?’ and He said to me, “I’m Jesus the Nazarene whom you are persecuting.” (Acts 22:8)
He didn’t say, “I was Jesus the Nazarene.” That’s how I would have written it. “I used to be, when I lived on the earth in My incarnate body for thirty-three and a half years, I was Jesus the Nazarene,” but now He’s glorified and He has ascended and He’s at the Father’s right hand, and He still identifies Himself as Jesus the Nazarene. I’ll be honest with you, I was a little surprised that the word Nazareth made it to heaven. I didn’t expect that. I didn’t expect Him in His glorified state to identify Himself that way. It’s Nathaniel’s question, “Can anything good come out of Nazareth?” I think the point that He’s making is this, that Saul not only saw the Lord Jesus and has to identify with Him, but he’s identifying with a rejected Savior, Jesus the Nazarene. Immediately, he’s outside the camp. He’s identifying with Christ outside the camp. When Paul received the revelation of Jesus, he had the whole ball of wax right there.
I told you that there are three different accounts, and I went through the accounts to see how they were different, but I went through the accounts, also, to see what is the same in every account and what God emphasizes. In all three accounts we have this same thing, the Lordship of Jesus Christ. In all three accounts he stresses, “Lord, who are you? Lord, what would you have me to do?” None of this talk about, “I’ll accept Him as my Savior today and maybe someday down the road I’ll come to know Him as Lord.” There’s none of that. “As you’ve received Christ Jesus, the Lord, so walk in Him.” You see, when Paul was blinded by the revelation of the Lord Jesus, according to Acts 9, he went straight to prayer. This was real; this was radical in his life. When he heard the name Jesus of Nazareth, he identified with a rejected Savior, and when he was told to arise and be baptized for the remission of sins, he identified with guilty sinners. He is entering in. This is an amazing moment.
Isaiah 36:26 promised that God would take away the stoney heart, and Paul’s heart was stoney, insensitive and had no feeling, and now all of a sudden he has a heart of flesh; he’s sensitive, he’s tender. You open the epistles and what do you read about this maniac, this terrorist who was terrorizing Christians? We read about his tears, over and over again about his tears of suffering, his tears of concern for all the churches, his tears of love. Where did he get those tears? It’s Jesus, His life, and He’s weeping over Jerusalem through His channel— through Paul. It is not Paul anymore; it’s been an exchanged life.
I don’t know if it’s instructive or not; there are certain names that you associate with certain things, and I’m sure Saul had heard these two names—Ananias and Judas. I just have a feeling that he knew those two names, and that all of this would take place in a house named Judas and have a man named Ananias; he knew these men. Now, all of a sudden, in this place his life is redemptive. Now, Ananias begins to tell him about the outworking, his ministry, “You are going to be a witness here, and you’re going to go here….” All of the missionary journeys that took place are nothing more than an outworking of that moment; he saw Jesus and he saw the world for what it was. He saw Jesus and he saw the body of Christ, he saw the family, he saw all Christians united to the head, and he knew to touch one is to touch the Lord Himself. He saw Christians. He also saw the will of God. He saw his ministry. He saw his calling. He saw his destiny. He saw how his life would be redemptive. He identified with a rejected Savior. He saw His Lordship. All of that because one day he saw Jesus.
All he did was see Jesus, and now he has his whole ministry laid out before him, and his ministry is routed in his experience. He got blind and he couldn’t see, and God opened his eyes, and now he sees, and he says , “Now you are going to go out and that message is going to go to others.” The message comes out of his life, and his life comes out of his vision of Christ, that he had seen Christ. Notice in verse 16, he said, “Not only in what you have seen but in the things to which I will yet appear to you.” Damascus was only the first revelation. He was going to get more. He said, “As I have appeared to you, I will continue to appear to you over and over again.”
So, we come to the end and we’re back to this. Brothers, it’s thrilling for me to be able to address you because I know a little of your background, and you’ve heard it before. You’ve heard it so many times. You’ve read it and you grew up on it and you cut your teeth on it, and you know it’s all about seeing Jesus. After I see Him, then what? You see Him again. And then what? See Him again. He’ll keep appearing to you. “You want an explanation of my life, of my ministry of my message of my missionary journeys, of my persecution and why I’m standing here?” he says to Agrippa, “A long time ago, twenty seven years ago, I saw Jesus. That’s it, and seeing Him I saw the world, and seeing Him I saw the church, and seeing Him I saw the will of God, and seeing Him I saw my ministry.”
Brothers, let me sort of pound it home one more time and release the little bit of burden that’s still on my heart. I shudder when I think of how much time Christians spend not seeing Jesus. I said that you see Jesus and you see the world. Well, they spend it on, “Oh, the lust of the flesh! How to have victory over the lust of the flesh! I need to study that. I need to study how to deny myself. I need to study how to face temptation. We’ve got to have a lesson on spiritual warfare, and how to fight the devil, and how to stand, and how to know his wiles, and all of that.” Brothers, you need to see Jesus and you’ll see the world, and you’ll have deliverance from that. I shudder to think how many times, how much time Christians spend on the lust of the eyes, on the problem of surrender, “How can I lose my grip? How can I get rid of all this materialism, things that are temporal, things that are physical, things are shakable,” and programs on how to have your finances in order? I promise, see Jesus and all that is going to fall into place. I shudder to think how much time Christians spend on all of these other things—the pride of life, position, human glory and standing and prestige in the community and how to get the testimony out. I shudder to think how much time Christians spend on the will of God rather than the God whose will it is. All of this fell into place when he saw Jesus.
You don’t have to say, “Now, are the three lights lining up? Do I have the word of God, and does that line up with circumstances, and does that line up with peace in my heart? If that all comes together, then I know the will of God. Peace in my heart, now there’s the voice of the Holy Spirit, and the voice of the human spirit, and the voice of the evil spirit. How am I going to know which is HIs voice?” You don’t have to worry about any of that. See Jesus, and all of that falls into place. You don’t need to study the early church and see how they did it. You don’t need to get your eyes on the body and on the members and how we’re all supposed to get together. See Christ and you’ll see the unity of the body. See Christ and you’ll see the church. See Christ and you’ll see the will of God. See Christ and you’ll see your place in the history of redemption. It’s all about seeing Jesus, and when you are done seeing Him, then see Him again.
Paul said this, “That’s the last preparation, because the real issue is that He’s neither dead nor gone but He’s alive and He’s alive in you.” And if you want to really know Him, the One dwelling in your heart, Mary says, “You’ve got to see the Lord.” Thomas says, “You’ve got to see Him in this book.” The Emmaus disciples said, “You’ve got to see Him in this book by the Holy Spirit.” The Upper Room disciples say, “You’ve got to see Him in this book by the Holy Spirit in such a way that the Spirit of God breathes on you and you become a new creation.” And then Paul comes along and says, “You’ve got to understand the new creation; the new creation is not a changed life; it’s an exchanged life.” As you behold Him, He manifests Himself through you. All you need to know about this world, about the will of God, about the church, about your place, your ministry, your identification, and all you need to know about everything is a by-product from seeing the Lord.
Father, thank You so much for preparing your people by these appearances. Now, Lord, we thank You that You’ve prepared us, as well, and all these things are so true and You do indwell us, and You live inside of us. You have overcome the world and everything that stands in the way of the will of God in our life. Keep showing us the Lord Jesus, we pray. In Jesus’ name. Amen.
THE EXCHANGED LIFE
Poem by Ed Miller
Not to impress or earn a crown or merit anything
But out of love and thankfulness I sought to please my King.
For stooping love, and grace so free toward one, so lost and low
I set my heart to pay the debt of gratitude I owe.
How can I, pardoned, yield Him less than all I have and am?
What other song is suitable than “Worthy is the Lamb”?
And, so it was, I set my heart to serve with life and limb
And never take another breath that wasn’t unto Him!
The more I tried to serve the Lord and bless His worthy name,
The more I grieved Him by my sin—more guilty I became.
Repent! Confess! And rise again—old promises renew
Became the story of my life as I, more weary grew!
Why was the promised “easy yoke” so difficult to wear?
And why, the burden, if so light, a crushing weight to bear?
Why, if my spirit’s will was strong, His face alone to seek—
Why did I fail at every turn? Why was my flesh so weak?
If love and gratitude fall short, what motive can there be?
And who will praise, if it is not redeemed humanity?
My life was all I had to give and happily resign,
And even that, by blood, was His and wasn’t even mine.
By fits and starts my anxious heart, now void of peace and rest
Drudged on in fruitless agony, to satisfy my quest.
No righteousness had I to bring; no motive, foul or fair;
The dream I had to live for Him, expired in despair!
Undone! I fell before the Lord and called upon His name
Without a single offering—as, when at first, I came.
And now, as then, my inner eyes were opened wide to see
Apart from Christ, my Substitute, there was no hope for me!
I knew full well, for me He died, for me His blood was shed;
I also knew it was for me, He rose up from the dead.
I had no doubt, my Substitute died in my stead and place.
That’s why I sought to live for Him, to thank Him for such grace!
But, can it be? Oh, glorious day! Can such a thing be true?
The tidings of a Substitute—refreshing as the dew—
Broke on my heart, and turned at once my water into wine!
His purpose was to live for me—exchange His life for mine!
It is no longer I who lives, but Christ who lives in me—
No longer must I do for Him; I simply have to be!
As once, He lived and died on earth, and rose for sinful men,
He now indwells my thankful heart to do it once again!
Now, from my Risen Head, there flows to me, a life divine;
A fruitful branch I have become—abiding in the vine;
The joy I seek to bring to Him, the thanks I long to give
I offer in my privilege: allowing Him to live!
SUMMARY OF EXCHANGED LIFE
CHAPTER ONE
Principle #1: No clinging in the flesh:
“If we’re going to be prepared to have union with an indwelling Christ, someday, some way, somehow, we’ve got to come to the place where it’s only about seeing the Lord. It’s not about ministry, it’s not about service, it’s not about anything else. It’s not only about having sort of a creedal grip, a theological, ‘I know He’s dead, and I know the cross, and I know what He died for me,’ but it’s not trying to explain everything apart from His life, ‘I don’t need His life to explain what’s going on,’ and then trying to rationalize and figure everything out. We need His life for the power and strength to serve Him. It’s only about having a personal relationship with Jesus and seeing only Him.”
“From now on we recognize no one according to the flesh, and even though we’ve known Christ according to flesh, yet now we know Him in this way no longer.” (2 Corinthians 5:16)
Principle #2 : Ask Him.
“Even though it’s all by grace, He said, ‘Ask Me. If you want it, I’m willing to do it, if you will ask Me. I will let you ask Me to do all of that.’”
“This, also, I will let the house of Israel ask Me to do for them.” (Ezekiel 36:37)
CHAPTER TWO
Principle #3: Not by Sight but by Faith
“We need to see the Lord by faith in this book based on inspired, reliable witnesses.”
“Jesus said, ‘Because you’ve seen me, have you believed? Blessed are they who did not see and yet believe.’” (John 20:29)
Principle #4 – Bible Revelation of the Lord
“I need to see the Lord, I need to see the Lord by faith in this book, but now I need God to open my eyes (spiritual) to the revelation that’s in this book. I need Him to open my understanding and show me Christ in all of the scriptures.”
“And they said, ‘Were not our hearts burning within us while He was speaking to us on the road while He was explaining the scriptures to us!’” (Luke 24:32)
“No one can call Jesus Lord in reality except by the Holy Spirit.” (1 Corinthians 12:3)
Principle #5 – New Creation in Jesus
“Now, based on the testimony of Mary and Peter and James and five hundred people and the Emmaus disciples and the Upper Room crowd, we also say, ‘He’s not dead; He’s alive.’”
“And He opened their minds to understand the scriptures.” (Luke 24:25)
CHAPTER THREE
Principle #6 – The Exchanged Life – true conversion
“All true conversions must have the grace of God.”
“But by the grace of God, I am what I am and His grace toward me did not prove vain. I labored even more than all of them, yet not I, but the grace of God with me.” (1 Corinthians 15:5-8)
“All true conversions are revelations. We say a conversion is a decision for Jesus. I’m not ruling out decisions for Jesus, but that’s not conversion. You can make all the decisions in the world, but if there is no revelation of Christ, there’s no salvation.”
“But when God, who had set me apart even from my mother’s womb and called me through His grace, was pleased to reveal His Son in me.” (Galatians 1:15)
“It’s by the grace of God, and it’s by the revelation of Jesus Christ, it is a humbling of a person, it’s an awakening.”
Principle #7 – Paul is God’s illustration of the Christian life
“There is only one complete model/example of Christian living, and that’s the Apostle Paul.He’s God’s illustration; that’s not my idea; that’s not Paul’s idea; that’s God’s idea. God said, ‘I’m going to give you one illustration, and I’m going to take this brother through every Christian experience,’ and that’s why Paul said, ‘I spoke with tongues more than anybody; I’ve been through everything. I know all about all the gifts; I know about everything,’ because God took that one man through.”
“For this reason I found mercy, in order that in me, as the foremost, Jesus Christ might demonstrate His perfect patience as an example for all who would believe on Him for eternal life.” (1 Timothy 1:16&17)
Principle #8 – Difference between a changed life and an exchanged life
“For through the Law I died to the Law, that I might live to God. I’ve been crucified with Christ; and it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me, and delivered Himself up for me.” (Galatians 2:19&20)
“That’s not a change; that’s an exchange; you’re dead and your life is hid.”
Principle #9 – What is meant by “the flesh”
“I know that nothing good dwells in me, that is, in my flesh. The willing is present with me but the doing of the good is not.” (Romans 7:18)
“He’s not talking about some change in some mood or direction in my heart. I don’t have an inclination that needs to be changed. It’s me, not an inclination in me; it’s me that needs to be dealt with. There are many negative sides of the flesh. The flesh also has a very refined side, and that is still flesh. So, we’re all flesh, but it’s you and it’s me. Jesus told Nicodemus,”
“That which is flesh is flesh.” (John 3:6)
“It will always be flesh. It will never be anything but flesh. Jesus didn’t come to improve it.”
Principle #10 – The exchanged life is a mystery
“Christ in His mystical body is the same mystery as Christ in His incarnate body, and I’m all done, brothers, trying to explain it. I don’t think anybody else can, at least they haven’t to my satisfaction. I can’t explain it. I can declare it. So, let me declare it. God lives in you. One hundred percent of the Trinity lives in you. He does! I can’t explain it. And you’re dead, but you’re not dead; you’re alive. It’s Him, but it’s you, but it’s Him. It’s hypostatic union. I can’t explain it. I just know it’s true. He lives in me and you can’t will until you are drawn, but you’ve got to will and work out your own salvation. I can’t put it together. I just know it’s true. You can call it whatever you want to call it; God lives in you. It is not you; it is Him. You are alive, but you are dead. Take it by cold blooded faith.”
“Since it’s Him in you, it’s still you, and to all those who look, it looks like a change. You still think, but now according to the record,”
“You have the mind of Christ.” (1 Corinthians 2:16)
“The love of God is poured out into your life.” (Romans 5:5)
CHAPTER FOUR
Principle #11 – Our spiritual eyes need to be opened
“Last of all, as to one untimely born, He appeared to me, also, and I am the least of the apostles, not fit to be called an apostle because I persecuted the church of God.” (1 Corinthians 15:8)
“And the Lord said to him, ‘Get up and go to the street called Straight, and inquire at the house of Judas for a man from Tarsus named Saul. He is praying, and he has seen in a vision a man named Ananias come in and lay hands on him, so that he might gain his sight.” (Acts 9:11&12)
Principle #12 – Our eyes need to be opened to this evil world
“By seeing Jesus, we have a brand-new vision of this world.”
“Immediately, there fell from his eyes something like scales, and he regained his sight, and he got up and was baptized.” (Acts 9:18)
“Whatever things were gain to me, those I counted as loss for the sake of Christ. More than that, I count all things to be loss in view of the surpassing value of knowing Christ, for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and count but rubbish, that I might gain Christ.” (Philippians 3:7&8)
“When I say, ‘the world’, I’m not just talking about flowers and trees and birds and animals and the deep blue sea. I’m talking about the world as John records it,”
“All that’s in the world, the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, the pride of life.” (1 John 2:16)
“The world is passing away and it’s lusts, but the will of God abides forever.” (1 John 2:17)
“The opposite of worldliness is the will of God. What is worldliness? It’s anything that is not the will of God—the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, the pride of life and anything that is not the will of God.”
“If you want a summary of the Christian life, here it is,”
“And he said, ‘The God of our fathers has appointed you to know His will, to see the righteous One and to hear utterance from His mouth.” (Acts 22:14)
Principle #13 : Our eyes need to be opened to see the church
“’Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting Me?’ And he said, ‘Who are You, Lord?’ He said, ‘I am Jesus whom you are persecuting.’” (Acts 9:4&5)
“He could have argued, ‘I’m not persecuting You; I’m persecuting people; I’m persecuting men and women and children. Why do you say I’m persecuting You?’ ‘It’s because we’re one, and you can’t touch them without touching Me.’”
There’s a lot of talk about body life/the church. If you see Jesus, you’ll see the body; you don’t have to worry about seeing the body. Make sure that you are seeing the Lord.
Principle #14 – Our eyes need to be opened to see the rejected Savior
“I answered, ‘Who are you, Lord?’ and He said to me, “I’m Jesus the Nazarene whom you are persecuting.” (Acts 22:8)
“He didn’t say, ‘I was Jesus the Nazarene.’ Saul not only saw the Lord Jesus and has to identify with Him, but he’s identifying with a rejected Savior, Jesus the Nazarene. Immediately, he’s outside the camp. He’s identifying with Christ outside the camp. When Paul received the revelation of Jesus, he had the whole ball of wax right there.”
Principle #15 – We need to see Jesus as Lord, then we’ll see the will of God and our ministry
“And he said, “Who are You, Lord?” And He said, “I am Jesus whom you are persecuting, but get up and enter the city, and it will be told you what you must do.” (Acts 9:5&6)
Principle #16 – We need to see the exchanged life
“The Lord said to him, ‘Go; he’s a chosen instrument of Mine to bear My name before the gentiles and kings and sons of Israel. I’ll show him how much he must suffer for My name’s sake.’” (Acts 9:16)
Principle #17 – We need to see that the Lord will continue appearing
“Get up and stand on your feet; for this purpose I’ve appeared to you to appoint you a minister and a witness, not only to the things which you have seen, but also to the things in which I will appear to you, rescuing you from the Jewish people, from the gentiles to whom I’m sending you to open their eyes, so that they may turn from darkness to light, from the dominion of Satan to God, that they may receive forgiveness of sins and an inheritance among those who have been sanctified by faith in Me.” (Acts 26:16)
Principle #18 – It’s all about seeing Jesus
“You’ve seen Him; I know everybody has at least once, and you were never the same. That’s just the threshold. See Him again by revelation. Have you seen Him as the vine? Have you seen Him as the shepherd? Have you seen Him as the potter? Have you seen Him as the smelter? Have you seen Him as the comforter? Have you seen Him as the guide? Have you seen Him as the groom? Have you seen Him as whatever—the rock, the fortress, the door? Every time He reveals Himself, another Damascus takes place, and there is (I almost said change). There is a change. When you see Him you are transformed and He is allowed to live through you more and more, and more and more, and that is what He has called us to. May we leave this place with the testimony of Mary Magdalene, ‘I have seen the Lord!’”
