Who art Thou, Lord? What... to do?

I've been hearing about events concerning our Lord Jesus in relation to the future. The reign, the power, the glory, the majesty that will be His. What a blessing, what a joy it can be to our hearts today, not only to anticipate what will be His in the coming day, but also to respond to Him in a personal way, in a life.

I'd like to read two questions in Acts chapter 9 in relation to Saul, this moment when the Lord appeared to him, the day of his conversion on the Damascus road. We'll read from verse 1. Saul, yet breathing out threatenings and slaughter against the disciples of the Lord, went unto the high priest and desired of him letters to Damascus, to the synagogues, that if he found any of this way, whether they be men or women, he might bring them bound unto Jerusalem. And as he journeyed, he came near Damascus, and suddenly there shined round about him a light from heaven, and he fell to the earth and heard a voice saying unto him, Saul, Saul, why persecutest thou me? He said, Who art thou, Lord? And the Lord said, I am Jesus, whom thou persecutest.

It is hard for thee to kick against the bricks. And he trembling and astonished said, Lord, what wilt thou have me to do? And the Lord said unto him, Arise, and go into the city, and it shall be told thee what thou must do. Now what takes place in this chapter, Paul repeats in his account in chapter 22.

In chapter 26, and while there are some manuscripts that leave out the first part of verse 6, we find that it's definitely emphasized in those chapters where Paul recounts the manner in which he came to know the Lord Jesus. And I'm not interested so much in looking at the events of this particular day, so important it was, not only in his own life, but in relation to the revelation of truth that you and I received so wonderfully through what the Spirit of God used him to write. What do you think about these two questions that Paul asked that tremendously important day? I would say these two questions molded and controlled his entire life from that point on.

Here's a man that was dominated, and he was moved to the depths of his soul by one great question, first of all. Who art thou, Lord? And following that question very closely came the other question. Lord, what wilt thou have me to do? Now if I were to try to summarize the essence of a Christian's life and what will bring joy, true usefulness, fruitfulness into life, genuine usefulness so far as God is concerned, I would take it these two questions are most important.

That you and I, dear child of God, shall live with our definite longing desire. Who art thou, Lord? To know him, I'd have a longing desire to know the person of the Lord Jesus. To be enraptured with the glory of the one that has reached and saved us.

With the marvel of the depths to which he sank that he might redeem us. It's a lifelong process, child of God, to know him. And we only begin to know him in this life because we'll have eternity to learn more and more about this blessed person.

You know, you and I haven't learned everything there is to know about Christ. Paul could say later on in his experience of Philippians chapter 3 that he had not apprehended. He said, I've not grasped entirely all that there is to know and all that God has for me.

He says, I press on. I press toward the mark. His heart was enraptured.

His heart was engaged in one great ambitious desire. That I may know him and the power of his resurrection and the fellowship of his suffering. You might ask yourself, as I oftentimes ask myself, how much do I really in truth know the Lord Jesus? More than knowing something about him.

It's more than knowing facts, more than knowing doctrine, more than knowing what we have written on the page of the word of God. It's a knowledge that comes from personal, intimate communion and fellowship with the Lord Jesus. If there's anything the devil wants to rob you and me of, it's that experience of getting alone with the Lord.

Walking with him, hearing his voice, and learning of him. I would say the desire of our hearts to know him and to know more of him and to know something of who he is will control our response to the other question, Lord, what will thou have me to do? Because the more that I'm engaged with him and with a longing desire to know him and an appreciation for him, the more I will desire with all of my heart and soul to be guided explicitly and constantly by what his will is for my life. I would just say very simply that God never intends a child of God to live a life of do's and don'ts.

I mean, there are do's and don'ts. But I mean, it's to be more than that. It's more than a matter of legalism or a matter of simple response to the fact that here's a rule book.

You do this and you don't do that and you do the other thing and that's the essence of Christianity. That's not true. A brother once very recently said to me about a particular conference, he said, that conference is pretty much taken up oftentimes with a do's and a don'ts.

I thought about saying, you know, maybe we ought to have a little more ministry about the don'ts in our day because a lot of people think there are a lot of do's that are contrary to the word of God. But when I look at the word of God, I see a number of men, some examples that we could trace through the Scripture of those who follow this pattern in relation to God's dealings with them. Paul is one example right here.

A man who initially came with that longing desire, this one who appeared to him from heaven, this light that shined in all the glory, and every time he told about it, the light seemed to get brighter. The experience got more precious. The reality of it dawned more deeply on his soul when, in God's mercy, he had reached and saved him.

He said there's a great light in chapter 22. In chapter 26, it was a light that shone brighter than the sun. It was so bright.

You know, the experience of coming to know the Lord Jesus initially ought to really develop and grow in its depth and in its expansiveness, and the tremendous reality of it, that we have been brought into a condition by the grace of God in the impartation of the Spirit of God, that we have the capacity to know Him and to enjoy fellowship with Him. We have Moses, you know, before God ever used him. He appeared to him at the burning bush.

Moses drew near, received a revelation from God, and Jehovah made himself known to that man, first of all, that he began to tell him what he wants him to do. Who art thou, Lord? What wilt thou have me to do? Ezekiel follows the same pattern, doesn't he? Because you remember that in Ezekiel chapter 1, he had a sight of the Lord in all of his glory, the majesty of the Lord Himself on that throne chariot. And then he comes to chapter 2 and he tells him what he wants him to do.

You know, dear child of God, knowing the Lord personally needs to have priority in your life and mine. Service is wonderful and obedience to the Word of God is essential, but knowing Him, walking in fellowship with Him, moving in happy harmony with the One who has redeemed us by His precious blood, nothing more important in a Christian's life than to go in for knowing Him. Some commentators, when they look at this passage, they say this expression, Lord, indicates simply a matter of sir, a matter of respect.

Well, I think that in every other reference when this word is used in the book of Acts, it always is a reference to the Lord Himself. They were gazing upon the Lord. In Acts chapter 1, he says, Lord, wilt thou at this time restore the kingdom to Israel? And you find again and again the Lord Himself is addressed in this way.

So it brings to my mind, dear brother or sister, that there must be the recognition of the place that we've been hearing about that He will one day occupy. A place on the throne eternal. A place that is rightfully due to Him.

The great purpose of God is that that man is going to be seated in absolute preeminence. And in this present time of His rejection, it's the King exalted in the hearts of His people. Appreciated from the depths of our souls and understood in all the greatness of who He is.

And so we have this question presented to us, who art thou, Lord? You know that in John 17, the Lord in His high priestly prayer says that this is life eternal. They may know Thee, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom Thou hast sent. Life eternal pertains to that reception of the life of God that gives you and me the capacity now to relate to Him and to be able to enter into a relationship and understand Him.

We could never know Him before. The Word of God speaks about the nations that know not God. They have little concern for the will of God.

God has saved you and me that we might know Him. When I look at the idea of knowing God and knowing the Lord Jesus personally, just let me mention four things that I believe that you and I need to appreciate and know about this One who has redeemed our souls. When I come to know Him, I learn, first of all, that He is the only God.

That's what the Word of God says. He is the only God. He's absolutely unique.

There's no one in our entire experience that ought to rival the place that He has. He's the only one. He's the one that demands and deserves the utmost expression of our worship, of our fidelity.

We find that the world is full of idols. In fact, virtually every object in your life and mine can become an idol. Sometimes without us even knowing it.

Now the world is full of those things that men occupy their time with and devote themselves to and consider to be very important so far as they are concerned. There's only one God. He's our Lord Jesus.

He's the one who expects and deserves the constant recognition of our hearts. If there's no one that rivals the place of the Lord Jesus in your heart and mine, we'll be constantly having our hearts and minds turned to Him. Deep appreciation of Him and reverence for who He is.

He's the only God. He's not only the only God, but I think we need to remind continually that He's a sufficient God. There's no experience of life and no problem that faces you and me.

Nothing that is too great for Him. If He was able to save our souls, He's able to do exceedingly abundantly of all that we ask or think. No limitation, child of God.

We look upon the world with men that are limited and you and I are limited as well. We find the incapacity of ourselves and our own weakness. We look at one.

God wants to know Him as one who is capable, sufficient, and is able in every respect of the word to answer to every need that you and I have. And you and I need Him today. You remember the time when the Lord said or I believe it's the Lord said to Abraham.

It's in Genesis chapter 18. Is anything too hard for the Lord? You remember that Abraham and I and Sarah faced an impossible situation. Was it too hard for the Lord? There may be experiences that you have in your life as I have in mine and we find ourselves at what's end and not knowing what to do.

Just remember the one that you and I have come to know we need to know in a very definite way is a practical way. He's the sufficient God. He's able to do what you and I have need of in every possible sense of the word and as a result He expects us to be dependent upon Him.

To know what it is to lean upon Him. To rely upon Him, to depend upon Him, to confide in Him and to be sure that there's nothing that He is not able to meet the needs of His people. He's the only God.

He's a sufficient God. Not only that, He is also the Holy God. Perhaps we need to be reminded of that constantly because we're living in a world that is unholy.

A world that perhaps would rob us of an appreciation of what holiness really is. And of course being the Holy One, He is the one that is separate from all others. He's the one in whom there is no evil, no wrong, nothing of unrighteousness, of corruption, no darkness in Him.

John would remind us that in Him is no darkness at all. He stands separate from all that would be contrary to His nature. The result is that if we are going to have fellowship with Him and know Him, we must recognize the need to be conformed to Him.

He says, be ye holy for I am holy. And so knowing a Holy God would create in my heart and your heart a desire as well to correspond to Him that I might be holy. And we are positionally that, but it should be worked out practically in our lives.

Last of all, I'll just mention in relation to knowing this lovely person. He's a personal God. But I say, child of God, He wants you to draw near to Him.

He wants us to know the seeking of our heart, to seek to find Him, to make time for Him, to approach Him, to be able to speak to Him, but most of all to hear His voice and to walk in harmony with Himself. How personal He is. Not a theory, not an idea, not something way off in the distance.

He wants to draw near. He wants you and me to know what it is like those on the road to Emmaus as they walk down that journey going toward home. The Lord Himself drew near and He went with them.

And I would say there's nothing more precious than a child of God's life and to know the reality of the presence of the Lord in their midst. To know what it is to walk with Him, to know what it is to hear His voice and to be able to enjoy communion and fellowship with our blessed Lord. While you and I need that fellowship, let me just say He desires it.

He wants the response of our heart that would be desiring to know His presence and to withdraw from the busyness of our life and to set aside other things perhaps just to make time, sit down and to hear His voice. I wonder when the last time you and I ever knew that deep longing and desire that just welled up in your soul. A wonder.

A genuine awe. To think that here is one who is from eternity, infinite in His power, unlimited in His person, indescribable in His greatness. And yet He wants you and me to know Him.

And child of God, you and I can know Him. It all depends on whether we really desire to do so or not. I believe that throughout eternity we're going to spend an unending time.

I should have said all throughout the entirety of eternity we're going to be learning more of Him. We'll never exhaust the knowledge of Himself. He'll be continually unfolding to our hearts different wonders of His person, different things that will reveal to us more and more of His greatness.

Sometimes I look at the years that have been saved, thank God for them. I wonder how little I know of Him. The bride could say in the Song of Solomon in chapter 2, I sat down under a shadow with great delight.

This fruit was sweet to my taste. There was one who was so in love with her bridegroom that she longed with all of her heart to be where he was. And there was nothing that was more important to her than to know that intimate communion and fellowship with Him.

I would just like to impart to every one of our hearts the fact that that's what He desires for us today. Not a cold, formal, legalistic observance of rules or regulations or just simply adherence to an outward pattern that maybe and surely is perfectly right. But you know the problem when it came to Laodicea was that the Lord was outside.

And perhaps they were carrying on in a pattern that outwardly seemed to be perfectly correct. The sad fact was that it was just a cold, empty, apathetic continuation of activity. The Lord wants our hearts and He wants our love and our devotion.

And this question that Paul began his Christian experience with, I take it, continued to be the question that he had every day of his life until he laid that life down as a martyr for Christ. Who art Thou? Who art Thou? Who art Thou, Lord? Let me just turn to the next question that Paul asked, Lord, what will Thou have me to do? If the first question has to do with this purpose for us, the first question has to do with this person, the second question would have to do with this purpose. A pathway.

We find that here we have the expression of our will. If the first one has to do with our heart, the second would have to do with our will. We find that in Colossians chapter 1 and verse 9, Paul's prayer is that the believers there might be filled with the knowledge of his will.

It should be our desire to be controlled, directed, and motivated by simply one important question. Lord, what will Thou have me to do? I would say that for the beginning of a Christian's life, young believers here, if you don't know all the Bible, you can simply wait upon God and ask the Lord, Lord, what do you want me to do? What's Thy purpose for my life? What should I be doing? The first purpose of the Lord in terms of His will is that He will have all men to be saved and come to the knowledge of the truth. God's desire is your salvation.

He wants you to know Christ. And then we find that in the will of God, in the will of the Lord Jesus, the process is that as Paul could experience himself, a very small step perhaps, but he had to arise and be baptized. So if you want to know the will of God, you would respond to Him in obedience and recognize the need that I should be baptized, identification with Him.

Then not only is that will involved, as I ask that question, what would the Lord want me to do? We notice that the next aspect of that will is to be in fellowship and in assembly. Psalm 50 says, gather my saints together unto me, those that have made a covenant with me by sacrifice. So God's will, if you want to be in the will of God, is not only to be baptized, but also to be in a local assembly fellowship.

Then the will of the Lord in relation to a believer would involve his worship, John chapter 4, the Father seeketh worshipers, and learning the truth of making growth and progress in the spiritual realm and understanding of the word of God. Those are all aspects of the will of God. And in our service and obedience to Him, as well as separation from all that is contrary to Him, the Lord says through His word in 2 Corinthians chapter 6, come out from among them and be second.

So as you and I make our progress spiritually speaking, we're going to be guided by one simple question. What does the Lord want me to do? And I think that you and I can apply that question in every aspect of life. That is the practical acknowledgment of His Lordship.

That is recognizing the place that He should have in our life. It's not so simply saying in words, but it's practically responding with the will of the heart. Lord, what will thou have me to do in every step of my life? Might be a good question to ask ourselves every day when we get up in the morning.

It might be a good question when it comes to what we are engaged in during the day. Just what does the Lord want me to do? I would say it's a question that has very many practical implications. It's a question a believer should ask themselves when they're thinking about leaving an assembly.

Does the Lord really want you to do that? It's a question a sister should ask when she is considering cutting her hair and ruling that which the Lord says, an expression of subjection to the word of God. It's a question really that brethren should ask themselves, sisters as well, when they sit down in front of the computer and begin to surf the internet. What does the Lord want me to look at? How much time would He want me to spend and how much should I be involved in this? It would be a question perhaps when sisters decide they're going to paint their toenails.

Very practical. Or decorate their bodies in an artificial way and maybe brethren as well. What will the Lord have you to do? Is that really the Lord's will? It would be a question that one should ask themselves perhaps when it comes to the prayer meeting night and they just don't simply feel like going perhaps.

What does the Lord want you to do? It would certainly be a question that one could ask in many other aspects of a person's life. Whether I should go buy those tickets to the professional ball game and go to watch the Milwaukee Brewers or wherever it might be. You say, brethren, do that? Or perhaps in other reading materials that we might be involved in.

You know, brethren, we don't have to have a book that says don't do this or do that or do the other thing. Just simply, honestly, before the Lord in the recognition of who He is ask the Lord a simple question. Lord, what should I do? What is Thy will for my life? How can I please the Lord and how can I honor His name? How can I do just something that will bring joy to His heart and magnify Him and enhance my spiritual pathway? It should be a question that we all ask in every aspect of our life.

I've become convinced that in my own life this is the most important thing. To know Him first of all. And to be able to say, Lord, what is Thy will for me at this point in my life? I may be speaking to someone today and you've been saved for a while.

And maybe like me in my life and many others in their life you've had many things that you'd have to look back on and say that certainly was not in the will of the Lord. I can say that. I know it's true.

I do know there are many things that you and I might engage in or allow ourselves to become involved in and if we would have simply stopped for a few seconds or a few moments and asked ourselves, if I do that, can I truly say that that's the Lord's will for me? How am I going to know? That's what we have this book for. That's how He reveals to us His will. And there are some brothers and sisters they want to have a chapter and verse for everything.

You know, if you want a chapter and verse you'd have to throw out a lot of things. There's things that you couldn't defend perhaps and just give a definite chapter and verse. But you certainly have principles.

You have a pattern. You have an indication as you understand more and more the Word of God that you might grasp what is the will of God for your life and mine. If there's anything I believe should come out of a conference like this is a greater and deeper desire first of all to know Him and to know His will and to seek to do it.

May God help us, dear brothers and sisters, to hold and to practice these two questions that the Apostle Paul never forgot granted the fact that he repeated them two different occasions. Who art thou, Lord? And Lord, what wilt thou have me to do?