A LIGHT OUT OF HEAVEN
R Bruce Hill
Acts 9: 1-9
God spoke to man from the beginning and He continues to do so today. He wishes to speak to every man, woman, boy or girl about His glad tidings concerning His Son. Sometimes the word falls on difficult conditions and is not accepted; at other times it falls on good ground and produces fruit for God. Think back to Adam and Eve, or later the children of Israel in the days of the prophets, or when Jesus walked on this earth speaking words of grace and truth. Every word that the Lord Jesus spoke He received from His Father. Israel had some light as to being God’s chosen people, but when the truth came most rejected it; they had eyes that could not see and ears that could not hear, Mark 8: 18. They would sin, and even though often knew they were sinning, they did not repent. Then they would sin again. We like to think that we have improved in the present age, but unfortunately we delude ourselves. The human nature remains the same as in the beginning. The ‘fall’ occurred in the garden of Eden, the place where God supplied everything that man could want. The devil came along in the form of a serpent and said, ‘Would you not like more? Would you not like to be smarter?’; that is really what the devil was suggesting, ‘Would you not like to be smarter, not needing God?’. The woman was deceived and decided being smarter would be attractive. And so what God had said to not do, she and Adam did. God’s message was very simple and clear: ‘You can eat anything you want but just do not eat of that tree’. What did man do? When tempted he ate of that very tree! The devil queried, ‘Surely God does not mean what He says?’, but when God says something He means exactly what He says. As a result of this disobedience man was driven out of the garden. He lost access to the nicest place on earth where God had placed him and provided all that he needed. Hence man had to work by the sweat of his brow, and that continues today.
You might think this is an unattractive message, telling you that you are a sinner. Unfortunately, some feel that way; and by comparing themselves with other men end up thinking that they are good enough and thus acceptable to God. Once again, as at the beginning, man thinks that God has a flexible standard by which He measures man. If you look at the world we live in, you can see what man’s standards have produced. Read the news, look around, and see many sorrowful and gloomy faces. There are many problems, and no man is able to provide the answer to solve them. The problems just increase year upon year. Is there a sure solution? There is an answer that God provides. It comes from God, the Source of all. Everything that is good comes from God, including love. God loves you. You may wonder about the certainty of that, when thinking about all the pressures affecting us. Why do we have to go through these trials? It is because of sin. Sin is what brought all the suffering into the world, and sin continues to mark man’s systems.
The Scriptures say: “when the fulness of the time was come, God sent forth his Son” (Gal 4: 4), and “God so loved the world, that he gave his only-begotten Son, that whosoever believes on him may not perish, but have life eternal”, John 3: 16. Now that happened approximately two thousand years ago when a unique baby Boy called Jesus had been born. He grew up, in obedience and subjection to His parents, and then in service doing good, healing people and pleasing God; but He was rejected by those that He came to save, totally rejected. He suffered and was crucified, the most humiliating and terrible death that they could imagine at the time.
What does the name of Jesus mean to you? Who was He? Was He just an ordinary man? Physically He was similar to other men right from boyhood, growing into an ordinary looking Man, but He was also God’s Son. Sometimes we sing that hymn -
God gave His Son for sinners;
(Hymn 282).
He did! Who is the sinner? That is me and that is you! We are all sinners, every single one of us, and as such we have no hope. In Paul’s letter to the Ephesians; he says that they had had “no hope, and without God in the world”, Eph 2: 12. Without Christ, nothing is available to settle the sin question and give joy to man. The scripture refers to “the temporary pleasure of sin”, Heb 11: 25. You can forget about the problems for a period of time and think that you are happy, but it is only a little while and the sorrows return. This is because of sin; your sins separate you from God who desires to have a part in your life. Jesus laid down His life; Jesus shed His blood on the cross at a place outside Jerusalem. His sufferings were impossible to fathom; they were not only those at the hands of man, but He bore the judgment of God on sin so that the glad tidings might be preached to the whole of creation. We cannot understand why He completed all of this, but divine love cannot be compared to man’s love. The perfect Man had to die in this way in order to bring salvation to mankind and allow the love of God to shine forth. He loves me and He loves you. The cross is the unequalled way in which glorious divine love was made known.
I was driving down to New York about three weeks ago, and when passing through a small town I looked up at a tall church steeple. There was a sign there on the top and what attracted me was the message, ‘JESUS’ - in capital letters. It said, ’You cannot approach God without Him’. I had never seen anything expressed quite like that way before, but it is the truth. You cannot approach God without Jesus; there is one Mediator of God and man, “the man Christ Jesus”, 1 Tim 2: 5.
We have been given to live three score years and ten, which is seventy, or four score years which is eighty, Ps 90: 10. Moses wrote that many years ago. Some men today think they want to live much longer; that is not a new desire. I remember learning in school about explorers who went across the ocean to North America looking for the fountain of youth. There was a report that it was located in the southeast of the continent: that fountain has never been discovered! The only fountain of youth comes from heaven; that is where Jesus came from. But man still has this desire today, some even have their bodies frozen instantly after death hoping that science can permit awakening the body in years to come so that they can live forever. The goal of mankind has not changed; it continues to be independence from God. But you cannot be independent of God because God created and controls everything. He holds our breath in the palm of His hand, Dan 5: 23. The scripture talks about the nations raging together, Ps 2: 1. They rage together even today. You look at the problems between nations and between men today: nobody knows the solutions. A couple of weeks ago, the United States government added some three hundred billion dollars of extra debt in one day, when they already owe more than they can pay. Most countries are in similar positions; it does not matter where you go, the world is building on sand with no suitable foundations. Man’s accomplishments are going to come to an end and will collapse very quickly. Revelation says it happens in an hour, Rev 18: 17. The whole world financial system will just collapse. A few years ago, this nearly happened, but God’s time had not yet come. God allows these tests to give man a glimpse of what is to come, and to show man that he needs something that only God can supply. But if man does not accept God’s glad tidings he is left without hope.
Today God is offering His answer free; His answer is the blood of Jesus to save you from your sins, eternally! All our worldly possessions become worn out or obsolete. But what God gives never changes, it never deteriorates, it is not just for time it is for eternity; how long is that? How long is eternity: can you even visualise that? The answer is that we cannot. Our minds are finite and eternity is infinite. The work done by Jesus on the cross offers eternal salvation, eternal freedom from sin.
John writes with much longing for the manifestation of Jesus: “we shall be like him”, 1 John 3: 2. That means complete righteousness; not just most of our sins gone, but every last one. If there was one left, we would not be like Him. Jesus died, rose from the grave and lives for ever in heaven. There is no sin in the presence of God, none, and He is a holy and a righteous God. God remains unseen: at this time on this day I can talk to you about Jesus, but I cannot show Him to you. This is the day of faith. Where do you get your faith? You may say you do not think you have any. But you may have faith because God would give it to you. Jesus said, “If ye have faith as a grain of mustard seed”, Matt 17: 20. While our faith may not feel like much, Jesus said that only a little will give you strength. We all must know for ourselves: Christ died for me, and He shed His blood for me, and He has washed away my sins. May we all be able to make that confession,
Now, I should speak about the scripture that we read before we close. There is a man here, a man called Saul. He was a very, very zealous Jew. He grew up at the feet of one of the best teachers that could be found in Israel, and then he heard about a man called Jesus. He did not know Him but he heard of Him. He heard that certain people believed that He had died and risen from the grave. He said, ‘I am going to get rid of those people’. Anything to do with the name of Jesus he was going to wipe it out. So he persecuted believers in Jerusalem where he was and then in his zeal he decided that he would go to Damascus, as there were more disciples there. He secured special papers allowing him to do this in this foreign land. Where we read, he is almost all the way to Damascus, and what does it say? - “And suddenly”. What happened? A light out of heaven, a brighter light than he had ever seen. What led me to this scripture was that in our occasion for the Lord’s supper this morning, I had a sense of experiencing the light shining out of heaven, and then I thought about Saul. He fell to the ground. He talks about this event twice later in this book, and every time he recounts the story the light gets brighter.
That is how the work that Jesus has done becomes, the longer you live after coming to Him the more important He becomes to you. Jesus never diminishes; He only grows greater. The more you know of Him, the more attractive He is. The more you serve Him, the greater the love is. With this light, Saul falls to the ground and then he hears His voice. Have you ever heard your name called from heaven? ‘Bruce, Bruce’, “why dost thou persecute me?”. Paul had thought he was serving his God, and now he was being told he was persecuting the Person who was speaking to him. He was persecuting a great Lord; Somebody who is speaking personally to him. “Who art thou, Lord?” What an answer! “I am Jesus, whom thou persecutest”. This message changed Paul’s life. Instead of being a persecutor of Jesus he became a lover of Jesus and he was converted. Instead of sending people into bondage or death, he was setting people free.
That is what the glad tidings does; it sets you free. The Jews turned to Jesus and said they were free, John 8: 33! That statement was not true because they were subjected to the Romans at that time. We are all in bondage, in bondage to Satan; because he influences our thinking unless we have someone to help us. In the flesh we cannot overpower him. We cannot fight Satan; he is smarter and stronger than we are. But Jesus in His love and understanding has looked after that problem. Once you know Jesus, once you know Him as your Saviour, the Son of God who died and rose again, the One who shed His blood, you can receive the Holy Spirit. Then there is power available to you that was never available before. God not only gave His Son, but also offers His Holy Spirit; it is an “unspeakable free gift”, 2 Cor 9: 15. There was a man once who thought he could buy it. The answer came, “Thy money go with thee to destruction”, Acts 8: 20. We cannot buy salvation, regardless of our material goods. Can we try to pay God, the Source of all? It is only available one way, through the acceptance of Jesus, accepting the work done on that cross, and acknowledging it was done for you, repenting of your sins. By believing in Jesus, His blood washes away every sin, even those that you do not know about. What a wondrous message; what a wondrous Saviour; how attractive He is!
Saul now realises that this Man who spoke to him, a Man called Jesus, is living, but Saul is blind from seeing that light. Then the Lord Jesus visits a disciple in Damascus named Ananias in a vision and speaks to him to tell him about Saul, where he is staying and what he is doing. Saul needed Ananias to open his eyes. Ananias said, ‘I am afraid of him! He has got authority to put me in prison, perhaps to put me to death’. And the Lord says, “go” to him, so he went. Has anybody ever come to see you like this, someone who cares for your soul? Ananias says, “Saul, brother”. He tells him that it is the Lord that has spoken to him, Jesus, Jesus had spoken to him. Ananias knew it; the Lord had told him so, He had told him He had spoken to Saul and given him a message; and now Ananias wants to set Saul free; he wants him to receive his sight, to receive the Holy Spirit, who will be needed for all that he would have to face as an elect vessel. Saul was given everything, as promised, and Saul became a new person, a man who not only knew that Jesus lives, but that He is the Son of God!
Are you a new person, a converted man or woman, a new boy or girl? Do you know this Saviour, do you know this Person, Jesus? Do you know the greatness of His work? Do you know the greatness of His love? I hope so; I pray so! Have you received the Holy Spirit? If you are not sure, do not be afraid; do not be embarrassed; I was not sure for quite a while after coming to know Jesus as my Saviour. You know, even if you do not rely upon Him, He is still indwelling, but you have to use Him to experience the knowledge and fruit of His power. How frail we are in some of these things. But we are then brought into a relationship with God. Who is God? How great are the heavens and the earth.
The Bible opens with the four words, “In the beginning God”. At school they will tell you about theories of evolution, that everything happened naturally, everything just evolved. It is not true: “In the beginning God”. God created everything, God continues to look over everything; and in addition to all that, He loves me and He loves you. How great He is. What glory is associated with Him, and that is the God who sent His only Son to save sinners, poor, lost mankind. The work is done, and the Saviour is still available. God’s glad tidings have been proclaimed for around two thousand years. And they are proclaimed today! They may not be proclaimed next week; they may not be proclaimed tomorrow. The believer hopes not, in a certain sense, because he waits to go to be with Jesus forever. In another sense the believer hopes that God delays it a little bit more so that more people can be saved. But God is waiting for one person, as the hymn says,
Some guest will be the last,
(Hymn 70).
We do not know who it is; only God knows, maybe it is you! Do you wonder if the Lord is not yet coming and is waiting for you? He wants you personally; He wants you because He loves you.
I may have gone away from my scripture in what I have said, but I pray that this word has given you some longing for a living link with Jesus, that you may know Him and that He may mean more to you than any other person. Jesus: what an attractive name, what an attractive Person. May we all know Him as “my Saviour”!
May it be so for His Name’s sake.
Maidstone
24th September 2017