[Biblemat] S> What A Blind Man Saw
ZekeFlores1 at cs.com
ZekeFlores1 at cs.com
Mon Aug 18 11:56:00 CDT 2008
Here's a lesson taken from a variety of sources. It can also be
downloaded in formatted .RTF format or in audio .WAV format from our website along
with another new lesson titled "Temptation's Trouble."
Also on the website is a new "featured article" titled "Another One
Bites The Dust." It begins "It seems that almost every other week, we hear of
some young celebrity's trouble being splashed all over the newspapers and gossip
shows. Maybe it's Britney and her legal and child custody battles with K-Fed.
Maybe it's Paris and her bad driving. Maybe it's Lindsey and her drug/alcohol
trouble. Maybe it's Miley and her naughty pictures. More and more we see
young stars being overcome by the vices of fame and fortune. Is there any young
celebrity that is actually a role model for all the teens that look up to them?"
I hope the material is useful.
Zeke Flores
Kiber Street church of Christ
Angleton, TX
www.angletonchristians.com
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What A Blind Man Saw
Acts 9:1-19
Intro: The TEXT re-introduces us to Saul of Tarsus who later became the
apostle Paul.
A. Though a young man at this time, he was already a
"honcho" of sorts in the opposition to the early church.
1. Acts 7:58- 8:3
2. Persecution was his plan and zeal & brutality was
how he carried it out.
3. Having helped ravage the church in Jerusalem,
he was anxious to crush the Lord's people in
Damascus.
B. But a strange thing happened on the way to Damascus.
1. Struck blind by the glory of Jesus, Paul saw some
things over the next few days that led to some
major changes in his life.
2. Let's see what a blind man saw.
I. Saul Saw Jesus Is Lord - vs 5
A. Before this, Jesus was just another rabble-rouser to Saul.
1. He saw Jesus as a threat to his religion and
"The Way" had to be stamped out!
B. But Jesus is Lord (Master) and has the right to command
and the right to expect obedience.
1. Acts 2:36, Eph 1:20-22, John 12:48
2. How you perceive Jesus is critical as to where you'll
spend eternity! Is He your Lord?
a. Salvation depends on it - Rom 10:9-10
C. He also saw that to persecute Jesus' followers is to
persecute Jesus Himself.
1. So closely does Jesus identify with His sheep that
when they undergo difficulties, He empathizes.
a. 1 Cor 8:12
II. Saul Saw His Conscience Was Not A Reliable Guide
A. He learned he couldn't rely on the traditions of his religion.
1. Jesus said that men would kill His disciples thinking
they're offering service to God - John 16:2 -
and Saul was just the man for the job!
a. He said: Gal 1:13-14, Acts 23:1, 26:4-5
b. Yet he: Acts 26:9-11
2. Though Saul had been as faithful for his father's
traditions as a Jew could get, he was ill-prepared
for the Messiah. - Matt 15:8-9
a. In 1903 the Russian Czar noticed a sentry
posted for no apparent reason on the Kremlin
grounds. Upon inquiry, he discovered that in
1776 Catherine the Great found there the first
flower of spring. "Post a sentry here," she
commanded, "so that no one tramples that
flower under foot!" Some traditions die hard!
Leadership, Summer, 1989, p. 43.
B. Neither could he rely on his own good works.
1. No doubt he was a morally-minded man (except for
killing Xians!) but it's not our own righteousness
that will save us.
a. Isaiah 64:6, Titus 3:4-5
b. Though we're created for good works (Eph 2:10),
they're no good apart from faith (James 2:22).
III. Saul Saw He Was A Sinner - vv 9, 11
A. For three days in the darkness, Paul thought and prayed.
1. He was convicted by the guilt of his sins and didn't
deny it. In fact, the thought that he'd sinned so
against the Lord was always on his mind
a. 1 Cor 15:9, 1 Tim 1:13, 15
B. Yet Saul didn't simply wallow in his conviction, he
realized something had to be done. Thing is, one
must act on the right convictions!
1. "I am tired of hearing about men with the ‘courage
of their convictions.' Nero and Caligula and Attila
and Hitler had the courage of their convictions –
but not one had the courage to examine his convictions,
or to change them, which is the true test of character."
Sydney Harris in Bits & Pieces, October 1991.
C. We must all, every one of us, realize that the worst sin in
the world is MY sin, for we will suffer the consequences
for no one else's.
1. "The soul who sins shall die!" Ezek 18:4
2. It matters not what it is or whether you think your
sin is "not as bad" as someone else's.
IV. Saul Saw Obedience To Jesus Is The Only Way To
True Sight - vv 17-19
A. For Saul, the only way to receive back his sight was to
simply submit to the commands of Jesus.
1. Saul was enlightened in more ways than one that
day. Not only did he receive physical sight, he saw
things in a way he never had before.
2. He saw now that Jesus was the one whom the
prophets foretold
a. Acts 17:1-3, 18:5, 20:18-21
b. He didn't "see" this before that day in Damascus!
B. People today need to see what Saul saw while blind!
1. Satan blinds people to what they need to see.
a. 2 Cor 4:3-4
b. He doesn't want them to see:
(1) Jesus as Lord
(2) The immensity of their sin
(3) The inadequacy of their conscience
2. God's word illumines, enlightens, and gives sight
to the blind.
a. Psalm 119:97-104
b. Let God's word OPEN YOUR EYES!
Conc: Someone said, "There are none so blind as those who
will not see."There is nothing so sad as willful blindness.
A. Some people just don't want to know.
1. "being darkened in their understanding, excluded
from the life of God because of the ignorance that
is in them, because of the hardness of their heart"
Eph 4:18
B. Only YOU can make the decision whether or not you'll see.
1. In his book, An Anthropologist on Mars, neurologist
Oliver Sacks tells about Virgil, a man who had been
blind from early childhood. When he was 50, Virgil
underwent surgery and was given the gift of sight.
But as he and Dr. Sacks found out, having the physical
capacity for sight is not the same as seeing.
Virgil's first experiences with sight were confusing.
He was able to make out colors and movements, but
arranging them into a coherent picture was more
difficult. Over time he learned to identify various
objects, but his habits--his behaviors--were still
those of a blind man. Dr. Sacks asserts,
"One must die as a blind person to be born again
as a seeing person. It is the interim, the limbo . . .
that is so terrible." To truly see Jesus and his truth
means more than observing what he did or said,
it means a change of identity; changing from
blindness to sight, from death to life.
C. INV
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