Metropolitan Tabernacle Pulpit · Sermon No. 3205
“And immediately there fell from his eyes as it had been scales.” Acts 11:18.
THIS means that the film upon Saul’s eyes was comparable to the scales of a fish, or else that it fell off as scales might fall. When the blinding film was gone, light broke into the darkness of Saul. In different men, sin manifests its chief power in different parts of their nature. In the case of many, sin is most apparent in their eyes. That is to say, ignorance, error and prejudice have injured their mental sight. Some have the withered hand of conscious inability, others have the deaf ear of mental obtuseness, but there are far more who hear the joyful sound and display much energy, but they hear without understanding and are zealous without knowledge, for they are blind. This was Saul’s condition. He was thoroughly honest—we might say of his heart, when it was at its worst, that it was always true to its convictions. He was no deceiver and no timeserver. He went in for what he believed to be right with all his might—lukewarmness and selfish policy were alien to his nature. He dashed with all his might against the Doctrine of the Cross because he thought it to be an imposition. His fault lay in his eyes and so, when the eyes were set right, Saul was right. When he perceived that Jesus was, after all, the Messiah, the man became just as earnest a follower of Christ as before he had been a persecutor!
We will talk about scales falling from men’s eyes. I want to address those who would be right if they knew how. Those who are earnest, but in the wrong direction, for they do not see the truth. If the Lord, in His Infinite Mercy, will but touch those sightless eyeballs and remove the film, so that they discern the right way, they will follow it at once. May the Lord remove many scales while we are proceeding!
First, we will speak of scales which men fail to perceive because they are inside. Secondly, we will show what makes these scales come to the outside so that men do perceive them. Then, thirdly, what instrumentality the Lord uses to take these outside scales away And, fourthly, what did Saul see when the scales were gone
I. First, then, THERE ARE SCALES WHICH MEN DO NOT PERCEIVE. Saul had scales upon his eyes when he was on the road to Damascus, but if you had looked at his face, he would have appeared to have as bright an eye as any man. Scales on his eyes? Why, he was a sharp-sighted philosopher, a Pharisee and a teacher of others. He would not have believed you for a minute if you had said to him, “Saul, you are blind.” Yet blind he was, for his eyes were shut up with inside scales—the worst sort of scales that can possibly cloud the sight.
Saul had the scale of selfto darken his eyes. He had a great idea of Saul of Tarsus. If he had written down his own character, he would have begun it, “A Hebrew of the Hebrews; as touching the Law of God, a Pharisee.” And then he would have gone on to tell of countless good works, fasts, prayers and have finished with, “concerning zeal, persecuting the church.” He was far too great in his own estimation to become a disciple of Jesus Christ! How could the Rabbi who sat at the feet of Gamaliel become a follower of the despised Galilean? Poor peasants might follow the Man of Nazareth, but Doctor Saul of Tarsus—a man so educated both in the knowledge of the Hebrew literature and of the Greek philosophy—it was not likely that he would mingle with fishermen and peasants in adoring the Nazarene! This is the reason why a great many people cannot see the beauties of Christ and cannot come to Him that they might have life, namely, because they are so great in their own esteem! Ah, my lord, it might have been a good thing for you if you had been a pauper! Ah, good Moralist, it might not be amiss for you if you would sit by the side of those who have lost character among men and discover that after all, there are not many shades of difference between you and them! Great “I” must fall before the great Savior will be seen! When a man becomes nothing in his own estimation, then Jesus Christ becomes everything to him, but not till then. Self is an effectual darkener of the windows of the soul. How can men see the Gospel
while they see so much of themselves? With such a noble righteousness of their own to deck themselves with, is it likely that they will buy of Christ the fine white linen which is the righteousness of saints?
Another scale on Saul’s inner eye was ignorance, and learned ignorance, too, which is by far the worst kind of ignorance! Saul knew everything but what he ought to have known. He was instructed in all other sorts of learning, but he did not know Christ. He had never studied the Lord’s claim and Character—he had picked up the popular rumors and he had thought them to be sterling truth. Ah, had he known, poor Soul, that Jesus of Nazareth really was the Christ, he would never have hauled men and women to prison! But the scale of ignorance was over his eyes. And how many there are in this city of London, in what we call this “enlightened” 19th Century, who know a great deal about a thousand things, but nothing about the one thing necessary! They have never troubled to study Christ and so, for lack of knowledge, they grope about as the blind!