3515. The Fruits of Grace

A Sermon Published On Thursday, June 8, 1916.

In that day five cities in the land of Egypt shall speak the language of Canaan, and swear to the Lord of hosts; one shall be called the city of destruction. In that day there shall be an altar to the Lord in the midst of the land of Egypt, and a pillar at its border to the Lord. And it will be for a sign and for a witness to the Lord of hosts in the land of Egypt: for they shall cry to the Lord because of the oppressors, and he shall send them a Saviour, and a great one, and he shall deliver them. And the Lord shall be known to Egypt, and the Egyptians shall know the Lord in that day, and shall do sacrifice and oblation; yes, they shall vow a vow to the Lord, and perform it. And the Lord shall strike Egypt: he shall strike and heal it: and they shall return even to the Lord, and he shall be entreated by them, and shall heal them. In that day there shall be a highway out of Egypt to Assyria, and the Assyrian shall come into Egypt, and the Egyptian into Assyria, and the Egyptians shall serve with the Assyrians. In that day Israel shall be the third with Egypt and with Assyria, even blessing in the midst of the land: whom the Lord of hosts shall bless, saying, “Blessed be Egypt my people, and Assyria the work of my hands, and Israel my inheritance.” {Isa 19:18-25}

1. This is a very remarkable prophecy. Attempts have been made to explain it, as if it were already fulfilled. I believe all such attempts to be utter failures. This promise stands on record to be fulfilled at some future day. In those bright days for which some of us are looking, when the knowledge of the Lord shall cover the earth, as the waters cover the sea, then this word to Egypt shall be verified; yes, and God shall be glorified both by Egypt and Assyria, as well as in the land of Israel. This ought to be an encouragement to carry on missionary operations with great vigour. Here is a distinct promise for Assyria and for Egypt. Do not let the missionary be afraid, even if for thousands of years to come there should be little apparent success to the preaching of the gospel. If the Lord should tarry another six thousand years, indeed, sixty thousand years—and he may—we are still to go on working, and still to go on labouring, looking for his coming, and expecting it, but not relaxing our efforts because he pleases to delay it, for the Lord has sworn that all flesh shall know his glory, and you may depend on it, there is no place on earth that shall be left to be Satan’s dominion. It shall be conquered for Christ, and in truth he shall “see the travail of his soul, and he shall be satisfied.” It is most encouraging to find Egypt mentioned. You find it in one of the Psalms, “Princes shall come out of Egypt, and they shall come out of Ethiopia.” Now this I believe to be the literal meaning of the passage. You must understand that the prophecy was given to the people of Israel, and it was given to them, as it were, to children who were using types and figures. It speaks in their language. Hence it speaks of altars, and pillars, and oblations, all of which are to be understood now in the spiritual sense. The Church of God has come to her manhood, in which she has finished with material altars and material oblations, since she has Christ to be her only altar, her only priest, and prayer and praise to be the spiritual oblation which she shall bring. I understand the prophecy to be, in brief, just this. In the latter day, Egypt will be converted, and Assyria too, and wonders of grace will be performed in that land, and the people of the land shall worship the Most High with delight.

2. Having said this, I am now going to use the text for another purpose. Here is a wonderful display of the grace of God in this promise to Egypt. I see the very heart of God revealed. I see a display of what God will do, not to Egypt only, but to others also, and though we have much to say, we will try to open up, in as few points as we can make them, the display of grace which God gives among the sons of men.

3. I. We begin like this:—THE GRACE OF GOD OFTEN COMES TO THE VERY WORST OF MEN.

4. It is promised to Egypt. Now Egypt was the nation which was the type of God’s enemies. It was over Egypt that he triumphed at the Red Sea, when Pharaoh said, “Who is the Lord?” and we regard Egypt as always being typical of the enemies of God—the special and chief enemies. Yet the grace of God is to come to Egypt. And so it will come often to the worst enemies that God has. Saul of Tarsus, foaming at the mouth with rage against the Christ of God, was met and conquered by eternal love, and his heart was renewed, and he was made an apostle. And often since then, electing love has chosen those who were most furious against Christ, and the power of the Holy Spirit has come over them, and turned the lions into lambs, and made them lie down at the feet of the Saviour. Let us have hope for the worst of men, and let the worst of men have hope for themselves under the gospel of Jesus Christ. The Egyptians were a particularly debased people concerning their idolatry. If you go into the British Museum you will still see the cats, the crocodiles, the scarlet ibis, which they were accustomed to worship. Besides that, it was one of the sarcasms of the Roman poets that the Egyptians worshipped gods which they grew in their own gardens. They had the sacred beetle, the sacred mouse, and I do not know what else. And yet, degraded as they were by idolatry, the grace of God was to come to them. And men may have gone far into superstition; they may have debased even their own intellect by what they have tried to believe, and forced themselves down into the very depths of superstition, and yet, for all that, the grace of God can come to them and lift them up. And the Egyptians were degraded politically too, for we read in one passage of the prophets that Egypt shall be the basest of all nations; and yet, though the basest of nations in that respect, the grace of God shall come to them. Oh! how wonderful is the sovereignty of God! The devil cannot dye a soul so scarlet in sin that the blood of Christ cannot make it white as snow. Satan cannot drive a chosen sheep of Christ so far on the mountains of vanity, or into the deserts of sin, that the great Shepherd of the sheep cannot find that sheep, and bring it back again. There is hope for the most sunken. There is hope for those who grovel, and who sink in the mire. The infinite compassion of God can reach them, and the eternal power of God can lift them up.

5. But there is one exceptional note in the text, that one of the cities in that land of Egypt (if I read the text properly) that was to be saved was called the City of Destruction. It had come to be known by that name, and yet, think of that, God looked on it with mercy. Now there are in villages, and there are in towns, and certainly there are in London, men who have become so notorious for every kind of vice and sin that they are only known as the devil’s own servants; and if anyone in the place were to speak of them, it would be with no question about the horrible condition of their minds and the state of their character. And yet in how many cases has the Lord been pleased to make such beings, new men in Christ Jesus! I have some in my mind’s eye now, who have been to me a source of unutterable joy, whose characters were known, and certainly not admired. They were the dread of all with whom they lived. I remember one whose fist had many a time laid low his adversary, and whose oaths, and cursings, and songs at midnight often made the village tremble when he was filled with drink. But what a humble child he became when at last the gospel brought him down! How changed and how quiet was his manner when Jesus Christ had renewed his soul—something like John Bunyan with his drink and his Sabbath-breakings—but what a saint he became when bowed at his Saviour’s feet, he found his sins forgiven! We must not say, “Our children are hopeful, and God will save them, but we cannot expect him to look on the fallen and degraded.” Ah! it is Pharisaism that would make us speak like this. The gospel has found some of its brightest jewels in the lowest haunts of vice. Bear it, bear it into the caves of darkness, where the blackness seems to be palpable, and to hang like the glooms of death—bear aloft the everlasting torch, which the divine Lord himself has kindled, and you shall discover by its light some precious blood-redeemed ones, who shall be to the praise of the glory of his grace. “‘One shall be called the City of Destruction,’ but thus says the Lord, ‘I have delivered it, I will save it, for my name’s sake.’”

6. Now this ought to be very encouraging to every hearer present, for where there is mercy proclaimed to the chief of sinners, there is encouragement to every form of sinner to come humbly to the heavenly Father, and plead the precious blood of Jesus, and obtain life and peace. May God grant we may be led there for his name’s sake!

7. II. But now the second observation is that grace is displayed in our text from the fact that:—GOD’S GRACE SENDS A SAVIOUR.

8. Notice, too, that he adds this word, “A GREAT ONE, and he shall deliver them.” Beloved friends, all of you know what I have to say, but yet, though you know it, I know no story ever makes your spirit more glad than the old, old story of the Saviour. He who has come to save us is Jesus, the Son of God; to save us from every stain of sin; to save us from our propensity to sin, from the power of our habits, and from the snares of Satan. He has come to save us from the eternal death, to save us from the wrath to come. God has sent us a Saviour. We could not have saved ourselves, but one has come who can. The text says that Saviour is a great one. Oh! I needed a great Saviour. A little Saviour would not have served my purpose, for great sin needed a great atonement, and my hard heart needed great grace to soften it down. Now he who came to save us was God himself—Jesus—nothing less than God—not counting it robbery to be equal with God. He is great in his nature, for as God he is infinite—omnipotent. He is great also in what he has done. Look to him on the cross; it is the Son of God pouring out his life for sinners that they may live through his death. There most be great merit in such a sacrifice. I never dare believe in any limited merit in Christ. He who gave himself there on the cross, being very God of very God, though certainly man—there can be no limit set to the value of the atonement which he made. Oh! beloved, it is a great Saviour whom God gives. And now that he has risen from the dead, he stands before God to plead for us, and it is no little plea—no plea which might be rejected or put off. With authority he pleads before his Father’s throne, points to his own wounds, and the Father’s heart always yields to the Son’s intercession. You have a great Saviour, for he is a great pleader. And, besides that, all power is in his hands; the keys of death and hell are at his belt, and the government shall be upon his shoulders, and his name shall be called Wonderful, Counsellor, the Mighty God. Oh! what a Saviour we have! Dare we doubt him? When we cast ourselves on him, is there not an end to all our fears, for Jesus is mighty to save.

9. And what a word that is in the text—”a Saviour and a great one, and he shall deliver them!” God did not send Christ on a whim. Jesus did not come here to save those who might perhaps be saved—to make men salvable, but he will save all he came to save. Those on whom he fixed his eye of everlasting love, for whom the precious drops were shed—these he will, by the power of his arm, pluck from the jaws of the lion, because, with the blood of his heart he had redeemed them. “He shall deliver them.” Oh! you who trust in Jesus, lay this word home. May the Spirit of God lay it home to you. He shall deliver them from all temptation, from all trial, from all affliction, from death itself. “He shall deliver them.”

10. Now put the two points together. We have mentioned that the grace of God comes to the greatest of sinners, and it brings to them a Saviour, and a great one, and I have laid open to you something of the heart of God in the greatness of his compassion.

11. III. But we must pass on. Where the grace of God comes, it seems from the text that:—IT CHANGES MEN’S LANGUAGE.

12. Turn to the eighteenth verse. “In that day five cities in the land of Egypt shall speak the language of Canaan”—the spiritual meaning of which is that the grace of God shall make men speak that holy and pure language which is the sign of a child of God. Oh dear hearer, if the grace of God ever meets with you, your friends will know it—every one—by your conversation. That man could not speak without an oath; there will be no oath now. When he did speak, it was in a proud, boastful, blustering way about himself. Ah! you will hardly know him to be the same man; for he will speak so humbly and so gently, and when he comes to speak about himself he will have the tears in his eyes to think of what he used to be, and what the grace of God has done for him now. Then his language would be lascivious and unclean at times, but now he desires not even to hear of such things, much less to mention them; for it is a shame for a Christian to speak of the things which are done by many in secret. The grace of God soon rinses out a man’s mouth. His wife knows it; his children know it; his workfolk know it; and though some of them will think him a fool to speak in the way which he now does though he does not imitate the language of Christians, and is not pious platitudes, yet there is something about his very brogue and talk that might make men say, “You also were with Jesus of Nazareth, for your speech betrays you.” Oh! would it not be a mercy if God would change the speech of some in London! Even our boys in the streets sometimes talk in a way that is enough to make your blood run cold. Foul words are very common in our streets and elsewhere. Oh sovereign grace, come and visit these, and they shall no longer speak the language of Babylon and the language of Belial, but they shall speak the language of Canaan, for God shall give them a pure language. When you hear men who once could curse begin to pray, when those who were given to blasphemies begin to praise, and when, instead of hearing the noise of strife in the working man’s house, you hear the song of praise, then the saying is fulfilled that is written, “In that day five cities shall speak the language of Canaan, and swear to the Lord of hosts.”

13. IV. But I must pass on. Where the grace of God comes:—IT PUTS MEN INTO HOLY SERVICE.

14. “There shall be an altar to the Lord in the midst of the land of Egypt, and a pillar at its border to the Lord.” When a man is in sin he worships himself, or he serves his pleasure and Satan; but when the grace of God comes, the man begins at once to serve God, and becomes God’s servant. I am sure I know houses now that have an altar to God in them—the family altar—where you would not have thought such a thing could ever have been. I know some, too, who will this very day give from their substance to God, who two or three years ago would have scorned the act. They would have said it was a waste of money altogether to give anything to the cause of the Most High. There are some teaching at the Sunday Schools, and spending the day of rest in, perhaps, the hardest toil of the week, and doing it very cheerfully too, who once would have laughed to scorn any proposal that they should have done any such thing. But the Lord, when he gets men’s hearts, and washes away their sins, takes them into his service, and makes those who were most ready to serve Satan become most willing to serve him. Is this not true—I appeal to many present here—is it not your delight now to do all you can for the Lord Jesus Christ? Perhaps, however, while you say “Yes,” you also add, “But I do not do half as much as I should, nor as I ought.” You feel precisely as I also felt—and I must make the same confession as yourself. But, brothers and sisters, do not let it end in confession. Let us wake up and do more; for the love that saved us, the love that bought us at such a price, ought not to be rewarded so poorly as it has been. And let us pray for the grace of God, that we may always have an altar in our own hearts, and be ourselves the sacrifice—that our whole life may be a life of consecration to the living God. Oh! that our common dress might be as priestly vestments, and our ordinary meals as sacraments, and ourselves as priests to the living God; our whole life a psalm, and our whole being a hallelujah to the Most High! Where the grace of God comes with power, it makes the worst of men become the best, and the lowest of the low become true servants of the living God. “Can it be?” one says; “Can I ever be a servant of God?” Ah! yes; listen to the song of heaven! “We have washed our robes”—then they needed washing—”and made them white in the blood of the Lamb. Glory be to him who has made us kings and priests to our God.”

15. V. The next display of divine grace in the text is to be seen in this, that where the grace of God comes:—IT TEACHES MEN TO PRAY.

16. We read in the twentieth verse, “They shall cry to the Lord because of the oppressors.” This is a kind of prayer that only God can teach us. You can easily learn to say a form of prayer, or to read one from a book, but a prayer that can honestly be called a cry is the fruit of grace. The cry is the natural expression of distress. There is no hypocrisy in a cry. When one is very sick and ready to die, and cries out in anguish, it is the genuine expression of an oppressed spirit. And God always teaches his children to pray such prayers as those. And oh! how sweetly will saved souls pray! Next to the songs of angels, I think the prayers of new converts are among the sweetest things that ever reach our ears. When we have been professors for a long time, we are very apt to get into a kind of stilted mode of talking to God in prayer, and men who have more gifts than graces will spend the time in words, words, words. But oh! how has my heart leaped when I have heard a cry, such as “God, be merciful to me, a sinner!” when some soul, ready to burst with fear of the wrath to come, has cried out, “Jesus, Lord, have mercy on me!” or when some heart that has just found Jesus has praised and magnified the very great mercy that has put away its sin. Christ can teach the blasphemer to pray; he can take the profane into his school, and teach them all to cry, and what all the clergy and ministry in the land could not do, namely, teach a man to pray one sincere prayer, God the Holy Spirit can do to the very offscouring and the scum of the universe, when once he comes to deal with them in the way of grace. Wonders of grace belong to God. He who teaches us to pray will teach us to praise him in heaven. The soul that lisps out its desires sincerely to God shall one day sing with cherubim and seraphim before the eternal throne.

17. VI. But I must hurry on. Where grace comes:—IT INSTRUCTS MEN.

18. We learn this from the next verse, “And the Lord shall be known in Egypt, and the Egyptians shall know the Lord in that day.” It is a very serious evil with many hearers that they are altogether ignorant of the things of God; but it is delightful to observe how sweetly the Holy Spirit can teach. I have spoken recently with some whom God has called by his grace during the past few weeks, and I have been surprised that, although they had never been Bible-readers, nor received any religious instruction in their youth, when the grace of God showed them their sin, he did it thoroughly, and when he showed them the Saviour, he did it in a wonderful way, so that when they came to read the Bible it was not difficult for them to understand it, nor to lay hold on it with delight, and some have become well-instructed in the things of the kingdom in a very short time indeed. There is no teacher like the Holy Spirit! “All your children shall be taught by the Lord,” and when he teaches they are taught indeed. What value is it for a man to know all earthly knowledge if he does not know his God? But where grace comes, the man is no longer a stranger to the Lord; he knows the Father, the Son, the Spirit. He must know the Father, for he has become a child. He must know the Son, for he is his only confidence. He must know the Spirit, for it is the Spirit who dwells in him, and has renewed him. Oh! that God would be pleased tonight to take some new scholars into his school! Do not say, “I am poor and illiterate.” What does that matter? With the Lord to teach you, you will make an apt scholar. We can only teach your ears; he can teach your hearts. We can only write the copy in a book, but he can write it on the fleshy tablets of your souls. Never despair of being instructed in the things of heaven. The Lord can graciously instruct you, and if he leads you tonight to receive the Saviour—the great one—he will begin the divine teaching which will end in your being complete in Christ, and your entering into his glory.

19. VII. I want you to notice a little more. Where the grace of God comes into a man’s heart:—IT MAKES EVEN TROUBLE A BLESSING FOR HIM

20. Read the twenty-second verse. “The Lord shall strike Egypt”—there is the trouble—”he shall strike”—there is the trouble again—”and heal it”—there is the mercy—”and they shall return even to the Lord, and he shall be entreated by them, and shall heal them.” An ungodly man when he is in trouble, has nothing whatever to sustain him, and no good comes out of the trouble. But get the heart renewed, and let the man receive the Saviour, and perhaps the greatest mercies he has are those which are blessings in disguise. I read a story the other day—an incident which happened to a City Missionary. He was preaching one night out in Lincoln’s Inn Fields, and there was a man—an extremely aged man, who had lost his wife, and lived in an attic alone. He had scarcely a rag on him and was nearly starved, and he was going out to commit suicide, but, moved by curiosity, he listened to the preaching of the gospel, and it saved his soul. It turned out that he had once been worth £100,000, and had been a distinguished merchant, but had lost everything in a foolish speculation, and had come down from the heights of riches to the lowest poverty, and at an extreme age he found Christ. The missionary found him friends who kept him with about enough to keep body and soul together—a humble crust in a very lowly, solitary room—but he used to say that now he had found the Lord; but he might never have found him if he had not lost all his wealth, and he looked at it as the greatest blessing that had ever occurred to him, that he was brought to such beggary, that he was able and willing to stand in the street to listen to a sermon; for he said that in his riches he had despised the gospel, and had been altogether an atheist and an unbeliever, but now, when brought to the lowest, Christ had found him, and he had more happiness with his cross than he had with his wealth. Oh! get the grace of God in your heart, and then broken limbs will be a blessing. That long depression of trade that brought you so low will appear a very different thing now. Your lot is very lowly now perhaps, and your toils severe, but God’s grace will gild all these dark things in such a way that you shall even learn to glory in tribulation also, and bless the Lord that he did not leave you to be a stranger to him, but made you his child and, therefore, made you feel his rod—for what son is there whom his father does not chasten? Beloved, what a blessing it is to have the grace of God, since it turns adverse circumstances into true prosperity, and makes our losses to be our lasting gains!

21. VIII. One other reflection, and that is this concerning the grace of God:—IT CHANGES THE RELATIONSHIPS OF MEN TO EACH OTHER.

22. Read the twenty-third verse. “In that day there shall be a highway out of Egypt to Assyria, and the Assyrian shall come into Egypt, and the Egyptian into Assyria, and the Egyptians shall serve with the Assyrians.” Now the Egyptians and the Assyrians were enemies; they were always fighting. There was a bloody feud and war between them century after century; but when the grace of God shall visit them both, there shall be no more fighting; the Egyptian shall go and visit the Assyrian, and the Assyrian shall visit the Egyptian. Have you never found that to be so? Two brothers were at enmity, and would not speak to each other. One of them was saved by grace, and he thought, “Oh! if my brother John might be converted!” He wanted to fall into his brother’s arms and make it all up, and be friends again. Meanwhile, brother John had heard the gospel somewhere else, and his soul had been saved, and he goes to find the other brother, and they are reconciled, and the families that had been at a distance are knit together in love. Oh! the gospel soon breaks down barriers. I will not give a penny for your religion if you are at enmity with anyone—if you can say of any one of your kith and kin, “I will never speak to them again.” Now in that day when you appear before God, how can you expect mercy? Well, now, genuine grace makes us forgive as we have been forgiven, and it establishes intercommunications between those who had long been enemies. Should there happen to be in this place at this time any who have long been at variance, I believe that there is no way of establishing a lasting love between you like your both loving Jesus Christ. If you cannot meet anywhere else, you are sure to meet if you come to the cross. A common Saviour will bind you together. Bought with the same blood, and filled with the same divine life, you will become members of the same mystical body; you cannot help loving each other. Oh! that God would put an end in the world to all wars between nations, as well as all strifes between individuals. It will not come about by trade, nor even by politics, nor by anything of man’s devising; but if the gospel spreads, if God converts Egypt and converts Assyria, then Egypt will not desire war with Assyria, nor Assyria with Egypt, but they shall be one in Christ Jesus the Lord. Wonders of grace! wonders of grace, that those who hated should love, and enemies should become friends.

23. IX. We will close with these last words. Where the grace of God comes:—IT MAKES MEN TO BE BLESSED, AND TO BE A BLESSING.

24. You will find that affirmed in the last two verses. “They shall be a blessing in the midst of the land, and it shall be said, ‘Blessed be Egypt, my people.’” The man who was cursed before, and was a curse, becomes blessed, and is a blessing. I will not enlarge on it, but I will say this to you, the members of the church. It has delighted me to find the many earnest hearts there are here who are trying to do good, some in one way, and some in another. I would in every case, if my encouragement were worth your having, give it to you very heartily. But, beloved, if I do not know about it, and if no one knows about it but yourself and God, go on, go on. It is God’s work to save souls, and you are workers together with him. Oh! this city needs you—needs ten thousand earnest spirits. The lodging-houses need you; the alleys and the courts need you; the poor need you; the rich need you. If you have anything to say about the remedy which wisdom has prepared for the remedy of sin’s disease, the millions need it. They will not come to hear the gospel preached, take it to their houses, carry it to their doors. If they reject a Saviour, let it not be for lack of your hunting after them. Push it in their way. Sow beside all waters. In season and out of season teach the Word. You do not know where God may bless you. But never be discouraged because of the badness of the neighbourhood, or the lowness of the character of the people. If Egypt shall be saved, have faith for this Egypt. If Assyria shall be saved, have confidence in God for those who are often worse than heathens, and you shall have your reward in that day when he of the pierced hand shall distribute crowns to those who faithfully serve him. Rewards, not of debt, but of grace, shall be given to the most obscure and unknown of you, who for his sake have sought to teach little children, or to reclaim the adult who had fallen into sin. Take courage—your work of faith and labour of love are not in vain in the Lord, and will do wonders yet to the praise of his grace.

25. And as for you who are not saved, I have been saying great things of encouragement to you. I do not know who may take hold of them, but if there were one here who should consider himself to be without hope, it is to that man I spoke; and if there is a man here who says, “You do not mean me; you do not know my character,” I will suppose it to be the worst character that was ever heard of—I meant you. He is “able to save to the uttermost those who come to God by him.” “All kinds of sin and blasphemy shall be forgiven to men.” Seek the Lord! Confess your sins to him. Weep out your confession with your head on your Father’s bosom, and say, “Forgive me, forgive me for your Son’s sake,” and it shall be done for you. May God grant it may be done, even now, for his name’s sake! Amen.

Exposition By C. H. Spurgeon {Ac 9:1-22}

1, 2. And Saul, yet breathing out threatenings, and slaughter against the disciples of the Lord, went to the high priest, and desired from 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 threatening. Slaughter seemed to be a requirement for his existence, he was breathing out threatenings and slaughter—could not breathe without them—could not speak without them. So full was he of fury against the people of God, that Jerusalem was not enough for him; he wanted wider hunting-grounds; he must go to Damascus.

3. And as he journeyed, he came near Damascus:

There was his prey before him, and the wolf was ready to leap on it.

3-5. And suddenly there shone all around him a light from heaven. 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.”

So it happens when God intends to save a man. He will make every kick that he gives against the gospel to be like that of an ox that kicks against the goad and wounds itself.

6. And he trembling and astonished said, “Lord, what will you have me to do?”

What a sudden change! Before, he knew what he was going to do. He was going to do his own will and wreak his own vengeance, but now it is, “Lord, what will you have me to do? My will is in a moment subdued. What is it that you ask of me?”

6-9. And the Lord said to him, “Arise, and go into the city, and it shall be told to you what you must do.” And the men who 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 man: but they led him by the hand, and brought him into Damascus. And he was three days without sight, and neither ate nor drank.

And what a battle went on in his soul then, perhaps even he could scarcely describe afterwards. Brethren, some of you can surely guess, for you, perhaps, have felt the same. Some souls are born to God with terrible pangs; and this man was one. And oh! what strong believers those often are who have great difficulty in obtaining peace. “And he was three days without sight, and neither ate nor drank.”

10. And there was a certain disciple at Damascus named Ananias;

One of those to whom Paul had intended to pay his cruel respects.

10. And the Lord said to him in a vision, “Ananias.” And he said, “Behold I am here, Lord.”

A grand way to be able to answer the Lord at all times. May we never be, dear friends, where we shall be ashamed to say, “Behold, I am here, Lord.” Some Christians go into very strange company, and they would not like their Master to know. They would be ashamed to say, “Behold, I am here, Lord.”

11. 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:

The Lord knows the whereabouts of his people. He knows your whereabouts tonight, young man. I only trust that, though you are an opponent of the gospel, he has brought you here on purpose so that you may become one of his best advocates, through his renewing grace.

11. For, behold, he prays.

There was the secret sign and mark of a changed character, “Behold, he prays.” What a wonder! He prays—he who breathed out slaughter. He prays—he who came to destroy. “Behold, he prays.”

12-16. And has seen in a vision a man named Ananias coming in, and putting his hand on him, so that he might receive his sight.” Then Ananias answered, “Lord, I have heard from many about 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 who call on your name.” But the Lord said to him, “Go your way: for he is a chosen vessel for me, to bear my name before the Gentiles, and kings, and the children of Israel: for I will show him what great things he must suffer for my name’s sake.”

And it seemed a gracious retribution of him, did it not? I say not a penal infliction. I do not know how to put it better than “a gracious retribution”—that he who made saints to suffer should now have the high privilege to take the front rank in suffering himself. Often, I do not doubt, when he was bearing and enduring with such matchless fortitude, he thought of those saints whom he had harried and worried in the days of his carnal state; and how he must have prized them, and with what wonder must he have said, “To me, who am less than the least of all the saints, is this grace given, that I should preach among the Gentiles the unsearchable riches of Christ.”

17. And Ananias went his way, and entered into the house; and putting his hands on him said, “Brother Saul,

Oh! what new words, “brother Saul!” A few days before no man dared to have used such language of familiarity to this mighty disciple of Gamaliel, armed with authority from the chief priests. Now how sweetly it must have sounded on his ear, “brother Saul!” Oh! there is nothing that makes us such brothers as the gospel.

   This is the dear uniting bond

   That will not let us part.

17, 18. The Lord, even Jesus, who appeared to you in the way as you came, has sent me, so 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 immediately, and arose, and was baptized.

What else should a believer be but be baptized? It is the very next step which he should take after he has found the Saviour.

19. And when he had received food, he was strengthened.

It seemed unimportant to put that in here, did it not? Yet it is not so. While grace heals the infirmities of the mind, food is still needed for the body; and sometimes it is good for your young convert, when he has been a long time in distress of mind, that you refresh him in body, as well as cheer him in heart.

19, 20. Then Saul was certain days with the disciples who were at Damascus. And immediately he preached Christ in the synagogues, that he is the Son of God.

And had they ever heard such a preacher before? How they gnashed their teeth on him—the unbelievers; and how the timid saints crept in and heard this man preach—this man who had had an amazing twist in his mind from which he never recovered—who had seen something—as yet he himself could hardly tell all that he had seen. Oh! it must have been fine hearing to listen to his preaching that Christ is the Son of God.

21, 22. But all who heard him were amazed, and said: “Is this not he who destroyed those who called on this name in Jerusalem, and came here for that intent, that he might bring them bound to the chief priests?” But Saul increased all the more in strength, and confounded the Jews who lived at Damascus, proving that this is the very Christ.

And this is the great thing to prove to the Jew. Oh! when shall it come to pass that poor forsaken Israel shall know that this is the very Christ? May God grant her restoration very speedily!