Will you please turn to the book of Acts, Chapter 9—Acts, Chapter 9—verses 15 and 16.
But the Lord said unto him, Go thy way: for he is a chosen vessel unto Me, to bear My name before the Gentiles and kings, and the children of Israel:
For I will show him how many things he must suffer for My name’s sake.
And then, again, the same book, Acts, Chapter 26. Begin with verse 15 through verse 23.
And I said, Who art Thou, Lord? And the Lord said, I am Jesus whom thou persecutest.
But arise, and stand upon thy feet: for to this end have I appeared unto thee, to appoint thee a minister and a witness both of the things wherein thou hast seen Me, and of the things wherein I will appear unto thee;
Delivering thee from the people, and from the Gentiles, unto whom I send thee,
To open their eyes, that they may turn from darkness to light and from the power of Satan unto God, that they may receive remission of sins and an inheritance among them that are sanctified by faith in Me.
Wherefore, O king Agrippa, I was not disobedient unto the heavenly vision:
But declared both to them of Damascus first, and at Jerusalem, and throughout all the country of Judaea, and also to the Gentiles, that they should repent and turn to God, doing works worthy of repentance.
For this cause the Jews seized me in the temple, and assayed to kill me.
Having therefore obtained the help that is from God, I stand unto this day testifying both to small and great, saying nothing but what the prophets and Moses did say should come;
How that the Christ must suffer, and how that He first by the resurrection of the dead should proclaim light both to the people and to the Gentiles.
Dear Lord, once again we come before Thy presence. We thank Thee for Thy precious Word. We acknowledge that unless Thy Spirit will quicken Thy Word to our hearts, we will not be able to enter into the reality of Thy Word.
So, Lord, our hearts do bow before Thee. We look to Thy Spirit to open our hearts to Thy Word. Set Thy Word free, and set us free, that we may truly be those who are Thy chosen vessels, servants, and witnesses to Thy great name. We ask in Thy precious name. Amen.
For the past two Sundays, we have been sharing together on the heavenly vision that the apostle Paul—Saul—saw both on the road to Damascus and continued to see in the city of Damascus.
Now, this heavenly vision that was given to the apostle Paul is actually given to every one of us, because this testimony is repeated three times in the book of Acts. That is to say, God wants to draw our attention to it. We need to see that heavenly vision.
That heavenly vision transformed the life and ministry of this man, and the same vision is able to transform every one of us.
The vision that Saul, the Pharisee Saul, saw on the road to Damascus was the vision of Jesus as the Lord. To him, as a Pharisee, he considered Jesus an impostor. He tried his very best to wipe out the name of Jesus.
He disdained, despised, and stamped on the name of Jesus. But, to his surprise, on the road to Damascus he met the same Jesus, and he discovered for the first time that Jesus is not just that humble carpenter, that Nazarene, the One who was despised, rejected, and crucified.
He discovered that the same Jesus is the Son of God. He is the Lord of all. He is the Master of everyone. And when he discovered that, he surrendered himself to the lordship of our Lord Jesus.
Before that, he was his own master. He even tried to master other people. But on that road to Damascus, he was captivated by our Lord Jesus and accepted our Lord Jesus as his Lord. That is the greatest heavenly vision one can ever see in this world.
Now, brothers and sisters, we need to see this. Thank God, we have seen our Lord Jesus as our Saviour, as One who died for us, shed His blood for us, gave His life to us, redeemed us, and brought us back to the Father’s house. We are grateful.
But, dear brothers and sisters, do we really see Jesus as the Lord? Have we really received Him as the Lord of our life—not just in name, but in reality? Do we allow Him to be the Lord of our whole being, the Lord of our time, the Lord of everything related to our lives?
Now, this is something we need to consider very seriously before Him. We need to have our inner eyes opened to see that truly this Jesus, whom we believe, is our Lord. He is the Master of our being. We are all like the ox, yoked to His will. He is our Master, who has every right to command us and to guide us to accomplish His will in our lives.
We need to ask ourselves: Is He truly the Lord of our lives? Is He truly Lord in everything related to our daily life? We do not want to call Him, “Lord, Lord,” and yet say, “Lord, You cannot do this. You cannot do that.”
An absolute surrender to Jesus as Lord is the heavenly vision that God wants every one of us to see.
And not only that: on the road to Damascus, this man Saul also saw that there is the body of Christ—not only that personal body of Christ that was crucified on the cross and resurrected.
But after Christ rose and ascended to heaven, on the day of Pentecost the Holy Spirit came down upon those who believed in the Lord Jesus. The one hundred and twenty believers who gathered together in that upper room in Jerusalem, in one Spirit, were baptized into one body.
In other words, today on earth our Lord Jesus, who is in heaven—the Head is in heaven—but His body is still on this earth. It is a corporate body, a mystical body. All those who belong to the Lord are members of the same body, under the same headship of Christ.
And whoever touches any member of the body touches Christ, the Head. So our Lord Jesus said, “Saul, Saul, why persecutest thou Me?” He did not say, “Why do you persecute My followers?” He said, “Why do you persecute Me?”
Because it is Me in Stephen; it is Me in all the brothers and sisters whom that Pharisee seized and condemned to death. Every one of them is a member of the body of Christ, precious to the Head. And there on the road to Damascus, Saul saw the body of Christ.
In other words, the heavenly vision on the road to Damascus is a universal man. Here is a man: the Head is in heaven, the body is spread all over the earth and through all these centuries. A universal man.
And to that universal man, not only did he give himself, but he became a part of it. That is the heavenly vision Saul saw on the road to Damascus.
And then we find this vision actually did not stop there. When Saul asked the Lord, “Lord, what shall I do now? What do You want me to do?” the Lord did not tell him right away. Instead, the Lord said, “You go to the city of Damascus, and you wait there until I show you what I want you to do.”
So here you find this man. He went into Damascus. He was blinded by the glorious light, and for three days and three nights he was fasting and praying. And while he was praying, he saw in a vision. So, brothers and sisters, you find the vision continued.
He saw in a vision a man whom he had never known before, by the name of Ananias, coming to him, putting his hands upon him, and opening his eyes.
At the same time, there was a man called Ananias in the city of Damascus. He was a believer, and in a vision he saw the Lord calling him. The Lord said, “Ananias,” and Ananias said, “Lord, here am I,” because he knew the Lord. He had a good, intimate relationship with the Lord.
And the Lord said, “You go to the street called Straight, and find in the house a man called Saul of Tarsus. You go and open his eyes.”
And Ananias said, “Lord, I heard from many that this man came to Damascus to seize Your followers.” And the Lord said, “You go. He is a chosen vessel of Mine. He is to be My servant and My witness, to witness what he has seen and what I am going to show him. And also, he will suffer much for My name’s sake.”
And Ananias, believing in the Lord—you know, the Lord did not explain to him what had happened to Saul—but Ananias knew the Lord, and he was obedient to the vision that he saw. So he went.
He found Saul there, put his hands on him, and said, “Saul, brother, the Lord who met you—Jesus—on the way, He commanded me to come to open your eyes and that you might be filled with the Holy Spirit.”
And, dear brothers and sisters, you find as Ananias laid his hands on Saul—now, we mentioned last time that these two men, naturally speaking, could not see each other. Naturally speaking, Saul the Pharisee came to seize the followers of Jesus, and Ananias was a follower of the Lord Jesus. So they could not receive each other.
And yet, by the grace of God, you find God brought these two enemies together to be brothers in the Lord, in the body of Christ. So Ananias laid his hands on Saul. Thank God it was not Saul laying hands on Ananias, but it was Ananias laying hands on Saul.
And the laying on of hands means identification. We are one. I identify with you, and you identify with me. You are received into the body of Christ; and, being received into the body of Christ, you receive the promised Holy Spirit.
When Saul heard the word “brother,” you know how he would feel. “Me, an enemy—you call me brother?” And he was brother indeed. Thank God for that.
So here you find that heavenly vision on the road to Damascus—that universal man—shows us all the principles governing Christ and His church. But all these principles have to be practiced on earth.
Saul met that little man, and through that little man all that God had shown him was being put into practice. So, brothers and sisters, the heavenly vision is not something just for us to see, but it is something for us to live.
Now, that is what we have covered during the past two Sundays. This morning we will continue on. Why? Because heavenly vision, being from heaven, can only be given to us by God Himself.
It is the mercy of God. God reveals to us His own mind, His own heart, and His own purpose. That is the mercy of God, the grace of God.
But after it pleases Him to reveal His Son in us, after it pleases Him to reveal the church to us, we have a great responsibility.
In other words, heavenly vision is given by God, but whether that heavenly vision will become a reality in our life has much to do with our reaction. How do we respond? How do we react to the heavenly vision that God has so graciously shown us?
You can be obedient to the heavenly vision, or you can be disobedient to the heavenly vision, and that will make all the difference. If you are obedient to the heavenly vision, that vision will become your vocation.
If you are disobedient to the heavenly vision, that vision will become a mirage. It will soon disappear. There is no reality in it. You will remain the same, and maybe even worse. There will be no transformation, no conforming to the image of Christ.
So, brothers and sisters, we are faced with a very serious problem. If, by the grace of God, He should show us that heavenly vision, what will be our reaction?
The apostle Paul puts it in a very emphatic way. He does not just say, “I am obedient to the heavenly vision.” He said, “I was not disobedient unto the heavenly vision.”
Now, why is it that he uses two negatives? It is for emphasis. He wants to show us that he is not only not disobedient to the heavenly vision, but that he is absolutely, wholly, fully obedient to the heavenly vision.
That is the way he tried to impress upon us: “I was not disobedient unto the heavenly vision.”
You know, brothers and sisters, whenever there is a heavenly vision, there is a calling. Vision never comes to us without a calling.
You remember when the God of glory appeared to Abraham? Abraham saw the glory of the Lord. He was in Ur of the Chaldees, an idolatrous city. He was in a family that made idols.
And yet, one day, the God of glory appeared to him. And when the God of glory appeared to him, there was a calling. He was called to leave his native city, his kindred, and to go to the place where God would show him.
In other words, that vision of the glory of the Lord would not allow him to stay put. There would be action. There would be response. And the calling is coming out of all that is natural and entering into that which is supernatural.
Brothers and sisters, here we see the heavenly vision. Remember, we are called out and called in. There will be action. You cannot just be indifferent and stay where you are. It is impossible.
Because if you do, that calling will disappear and that vision will fade away. When God calls, when He gives a vision, He wants us to be in that vision and to have that vision in us.
It is not something separate. The vision that God shows you is the vision that God wants you to be. And because of that, you find there must be a calling involved.
So, when we are given the vision from heaven, you know what will happen. We are people of the earth. We are earthly. We are natural. We are fleshly. We are self-centred. We are selfish. That is what we are.
Everything in us, about us, and around us belongs to the earth. All our evaluations, all our relationships, are earthly. That is what we know. That is what we are. That is what we are surrounded with. That is how we live. That is our thinking. That is our life.
But there is a vision from heaven. And when that heavenly vision comes to you, to an earthly man, you know what will happen.
You cannot remain earthly anymore. You cannot remain natural anymore. You cannot remain self-centred anymore. You cannot remain to belong to this world anymore. You are called out of this earth and everything that is earthly into heaven and everything that is heavenly. That is what heavenly vision is.
And that is where the conflict is. You know what makes vision our vocation? The cross.
Without the cross, vision will be just visionary. But with the cross, vision becomes vocation. In other words, it becomes your very life—what you live for.
Why the cross? What crossing? Heaven and earth cross each other. You cannot have both.
That heavenly vision will cut across everything that is earthly, everything that is fleshly, everything that is natural, everything that is worldly, everything that is satanic. It will cut across everything that is earthly.
Heaven invades the earth and displaces the earth. That is what it is. It is not a small thing.
And, brothers and sisters, this cross is not only because you live in this world. The world has its own ideas, its own evaluations, and its own thoughts.
So when that heavenly Man, our Lord Jesus, came to this earth, the world evaluated Him and said He was to be cast out. “We cannot have Him, because there is nothing in Him that is the same as we are. Everything is contrary; everything is different.”
This Man, when He was on earth, lived differently, talked differently, felt differently, and reacted differently. Everything was different, and the world could not allow it. Brothers and sisters, the world demands that we conform.
So when our Lord Jesus was on earth, that heavenly Man living that heavenly life upon this earth, the result was the cross. They crucified Him. “We cannot have Him anymore. We have to get rid of Him.” And that is what they did.
So, brothers and sisters, if we really are obedient to the heavenly vision, we will be persecuted. We will have tribulation upon this earth. Do not think that believing in the Lord Jesus is a smooth ride into heaven, or being carried off to heaven. Not at all.
There is a battle there, because the earth, the world, is under the rule of Satan, and he opposes the kingdom of God.
So, brothers and sisters, you remember when Paul and Barnabas first began their evangelistic work in Galatia. When they came back to those cities, they exhorted the brothers and sisters that we must pass through much tribulation in order to enter into the kingdom of God.
We tend to forget that. Brothers and sisters, our Christian life is too easy. We are so friendly with the world that the world can afford to be friendly with us, because we are not much different from them.
If you are different, if you really live in that heavenly vision, you will find the world will oppose you and persecute you, because these two cannot coexist.
But that is the small part, the small part of the cross that you have to bear. The greater part of the cross is that inward cross.
The cross has to be implanted into your very being. It will cross your own ideas. It will cross your own opinions. It will cross your own likes and dislikes. It will cross your emotions. It will cross your mind, your thinking. It will even cross your volition, your will—what you want and what you do not want.
Brothers and sisters, you will find the cross will work and deal with you. The sins that are in your life will not be allowed to continue; they have to go. The world in your life cannot continue; it has to go.
Your self-life has to go. You cannot have your own way. Brothers and sisters, the cross has to be planted deep. That is the way for the Christ-life to increase in you.
Only the cross will make vision vocation. And that is where our problem is. We do not want to give up the world. We do not want to give up ourselves.
Vision is never cheap. It is very costly.
And that is the reason why, when our Lord was on earth, He said, “Before you do anything, sit down and count the cost. Are you willing to pay the cost?”
If you are not willing to pay the cost, do not begin. It is useless.
So, dear brothers and sisters, we are faced with something that means life and death to our spiritual life. It is not something that you can just ignore and then go on. If you do, you lose the vision.
The apostle Paul—when God gave him that vision, how did he respond? Brothers and sisters, he was called to be a chosen vessel of God. So all of us, we are all called to be chosen vessels of God.
But to be chosen vessels, to be vessels unto honour and not vessels unto dishonour in that great house, you need to purify yourselves from that which is of dishonour. You have to be purified from that which is wooden and earthen, so that you may be vessels of gold and of silver.
And the apostle Paul, when you look into his life and when you look into his ministry, you find he was not disobedient to the heavenly vision.
Since the time he received Jesus as his Lord, how he gave himself wholly to the Lord. From that time onward, he never lived for a moment for himself. He lived for the Lord.
He never tried to do his own will anymore. He did the will of our Lord Jesus, even unto death. To him, “Jesus is Lord” was real. That was his life.
And since the day he met the Lord on the road to Damascus, his whole passion was towards the Lord. You read Philippians Chapter 3. He said, “I look upon everything in the past as loss, as refuse, as something to get rid of.”
Why? Because of the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus. In other words, his whole life was given to the Lord and allowed the Lord to be his whole life.
His whole passion was to win Christ, to gain Him, to know the power of His resurrection, to know the fellowship of His sufferings, to be conformed to His death, that he might attain unto the resurrection from among the dead.
To him there was nothing—no one, not even himself—in view. It was Christ the Lord. Brothers and sisters, his devotion to the Lord Jesus was perfect.
And not only that, but you find after he saw the body of Christ, how he lived as a member of that body. You know, he turned out to be a great member, a big member, of the body of Christ; and yet he was a member.
He never considered himself complete by himself. He always needed his brothers and sisters. In his letters, he asked brothers and sisters to pray for him. He needed their prayers to be completed.
In his work, he never tried to be on his own. He always had some younger ones with him.
He respected those who were the Lord’s. You know, there is a difference of opinion here. Some people say Paul, when he went to Jerusalem for the last time, was wrong. They say he should not have gone to Jerusalem, because everywhere the Spirit of God was saying that tribulation was waiting for him in Jerusalem.
So some people say Paul was very obstinate, and he went there, and there he was captured. He should not have gone. But, brothers and sisters, I personally feel very differently.
Even though the Spirit was saying everywhere that he would be in tribulation, the Spirit never directly said, “Do not go to Jerusalem.” Instead, in his spirit he was urged by the Spirit of God to go to Jerusalem before Pentecost.
He did not care about his own life. He only cared to do the will of God.
And when he was in Jerusalem, he went to see the elders of the church in Jerusalem. At that time, Jerusalem was composed of all these Jewish believers. They were zealous for the law, and they heard about what Paul was doing.
There was misunderstanding about him. They thought that he was not only asking the Gentiles not to be circumcised and not to keep the law, but that he was even persuading the Jews not to do that. But he did not do that.
You remember Paul himself. Even when he was preaching the gospel among the Gentiles, he still kept the law. You remember, he took a vow and shaved his head—the Nazirite vow. So he himself was still law-abiding, because he was a Jew. But the Gentiles should not be under the yoke of the law.
But there was misunderstanding. So when he arrived in Jerusalem, James suggested, “Since there are so many zealous for the law, and they heard something about you—that you are not keeping the law as a Jew—how should we solve the problem?”
“Well, there is a way. We have some people here who have a Nazirite vow. Why do you not take them to the temple, give them money for the ceremony, and so they have their heads shaved?” So Paul went there.
And because he went there, you know, the Jews saw that he was in the temple and thought that he was in the temple with some Gentiles. That is how all the problem began.
So people said Paul was wrong. He who was so strong in saying that the Gentiles are not under the law and should not be circumcised—yet he himself listened to James, went to the temple, and paid the price for the shaving of his head. So, because he did wrong, therefore he got into trouble.
Now, brothers and sisters, do you really believe that?
This shows how he submitted himself to the authority in the church in Jerusalem. If his conscience was not involved, he would submit to the uttermost. That shows that he knew the body of Christ. This shows that he lived as a member of the body of Christ.
He was not so big that he would neglect the elders in Jerusalem. He was so strong in defending the truth of the gospel, and yet he was willing to submit to the suggestion of all the brothers in Jerusalem.
So you can see how he lived literally as a member of the body of Christ. Even though because of that he suffered, what was that to him?
He lived in that heavenly vision, and that heavenly vision lived in him. He was a part of that heavenly vision, the fulfilment of that heavenly vision that God is working towards. That is the life of the apostle Paul.
And when you look into his ministry, what can you say? His whole ministry was that heavenly vision: Christ and the church.
The mystery of God is Christ. The mystery of Christ is the church. And who among the apostles had a greater understanding of these mysteries?
Read Ephesians. Read Colossians. There you see what a vision he had of our Lord Jesus and what a vision he had of the church as the body of Christ.
He not only gave these messages; he lived them. He is a witness. Now, by witness means that he personally went through it and experienced it. That made him a witness.
And that is the reason why his testimony was so forceful, so effective: because he lived it. He lived what he taught. He was a chosen vessel of God.
And because of this, how he suffered for the name of our Lord Jesus. If you read 2 Corinthians Chapter 11, seldom, if ever, have servants of God suffered so much as this man Paul.
Not only all these physical, outward sufferings—how he was beaten by the Jews, beaten by the Gentiles, how he suffered shipwreck, how he went through the perils of the sea, the perils of the land, the perils of false brothers.
And with all these outward things, inwardly, how he was burdened with the churches. “Who is weak, and I am not weak? Who is caused to stumble, and I burn not?” Brothers and sisters, he gave himself to the church.
He not only suffered for the Lord from the Jews and from the Gentiles; he suffered much from these Jewish believers. How they followed him everywhere, trying to increase his suffering, even when he was imprisoned in Rome.
They went to Rome and tried to increase his sufferings. And yet he said, “What is that? If Christ is preached, I am satisfied.”
Dear brothers and sisters, you can see this heavenly vision is not something just a theory to him, not even merely a teaching to him. This heavenly vision was his life, his very being. That is what he was.
And thank God, how that heavenly vision was fulfilled in a very large part in that man’s life.
Now, brothers and sisters, that heavenly vision is still not completed. Time is still here. God is still working. Our Lord said, “My Father worketh even until now, and I work.”
And what is He working at? For the completion of that heavenly vision. The day is coming when the body will be completed, the bride will be adorned, and Christ the King will come back and rule.
Thank God, it is coming. But, brothers and sisters, you have a part in it. I have a part in it. Are we faithful? Are we obedient to the heavenly vision?
Why is it that the heavenly vision delays for so long, that it is not completed? Do we have a responsibility to it?
May we consider these things very seriously. Brothers and sisters, to be a Christian is a serious business. We cannot afford to be indifferent, complacent, lazy, or frivolous.
Oh, may the Lord have mercy upon us, that this heavenly vision may be our vocation. And God bless us.
Let us pray.
Dear Lord, we bow before Thee, acknowledging how we have delayed Thy purpose, Thy coming.
Lord, make us serious, diligent, absolute, that Thou wilt be able to use every one of us as Thou didst use Thy servant Paul, a chosen vessel of God.
We look to Thee for grace, knowing that in ourselves it is impossible, but nothing is impossible with Thee. Thou art the God of the impossible. Oh, do it in each one of us, we pray.
In the name of our beloved Lord Jesus Christ. Amen.