Go ahead and have a seat. And thanks to the worship team for leading us today, and I hope you have your Bibles with you. Go ahead and open to Acts chapter 9. Acts chapter 9. We’re going to be in verses 1-19. And what a privilege it is to worship Jesus together. I love singing with the family of God here at Gospel City Church. And this is the part where the pastor just prays. He doesn’t mess anything up because it’s all about Christ, right?
And so we have this hope that if we open God’s Word and allow God’s Word to speak that it will do something to our hearts by the power of the Spirit. So as you open to Acts chapter 9, you’ll remember that the first eight chapters in the book of Acts we see God doing a miraculous thing. The church is being born. Christ is building His church. The gates of hell will not prevail against it and He is doing it through this ragtag group of apostles, people who were denying the faith several days before they met Christ after His resurrection. And now they’re getting busy with the message of Jesus because the Spirit of God is upon them, the Spirit of God is with them.
And in the first eight chapters we see God focused on Jerusalem and the Jews, and it’s rapidly spreading. And when we got to Acts chapter 8, remember Jesus said, You’ll be my witnesses in Jerusalem and in Judea and Samaria and to the ends of the earth. Well by Acts chapter 8 we already see that the gospel and the message of Christ has made it not only to Jerusalem but to Judea and to Samaria. And today in Acts chapter 9 we’re going to see this pivotal moment, ok, take place.
In Acts chapter 9 we see a glorious moment of the Lord making Christianity’s fiercest opponent into one of his greatest instruments of all time. I mean there’s a massive team change going on today. Bigger than Lebron James telling the city of Cleveland, “I’m taking my talents to South Beach.” Bigger than Brian Kelly saying, “I’m going on down to LSU to coach these Tigers.” What’s with the accent, right? Traitor.
But today we see one of the greatest testimony of Christ’s power in bringing people from the kingdom of darkness into the kingdom of light, from a sinner to a saint, from a persecutor to a worshiper. From a murderer to a magnifier of the name of Jesus Christ. Do you remember the moment when Jesus intersected your life? Do you remember the moment that you came to see and believe and confess Jesus Christ as Lord?
Perhaps a better question this morning is this: Do you have a testimony? Do you have a testimony for Jesus Christ? My prayer all week, and I’ve been overwhelmed as I’ve been studying and thanking the Lord for His grace in saving, my prayer has been this week that today you’d be reminded of the joy of your salvation, that you’d be overwhelmed at the grace of God to save you, to reveal Himself to you.
And also I’ve been praying that if you don’t have a testimony that today might be that day. That if you’re willing to say, You know what? I don’t have a story of Christ saving. If today you’d be honest enough to say, I’ve been in church. I’ve heard the message of Christ but I’ve yet to surrender everything to follow Jesus, I pray that you would not walk out of this room today without a testimony.
Whatever seat you find yourself in, the big idea in this pivotal text in Acts chapter 9 is this: No one is beyond the grasp of Christ’s saving grace. So confess Him as Lord, repent of your sin and proclaim what He has done. No one is beyond the grasp of Christ’s saving grace.
Some may say, I’ve done way too many wrong things in order to be saved. I’ve done way too much bad in my life that God would forgive me. No one is beyond the grasp of Christ’s saving grace, so repent of your sin and confess Him as Lord and proclaim what He’s done.
Let’s get our eyes on a copy of God’s Word. Acts chapter 9 starting in verse 1. And let’s just read it together. Allow HIs Word to speak to us today. Now hear the words of the Lord.
But Saul, still breathing threats and murder against the disciples of the Lord, went to the high priest and asked him for letters to the synagogues at Damascus, so that if he found any belonging to the Way, men or women, he might bring them bound to Jerusalem.
Now as he went on his way, he approached Damascus, and suddenly a light from heaven shone around him. And falling to the ground, he heard a voice saying to him, “Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting me?” And he said, “Who are you, Lord?” And he said, “I am Jesus, whom you are persecuting. But rise and enter the city, and you will be told what you are to do.”
The men who were traveling with him stood speechless, hearing the voice but seeing no one. Saul rose from the ground, and although his eyes were opened, he saw nothing. So they led him by the hand and brought him into Damascus. And for three days he was without sight, and neither ate nor drank. Now there was a disciple at Damascus named Ananias. The Lord said to him in a vision, “Ananias.” And he said, “Here I am, Lord.”
And the Lord said to him, “Rise and go to the street called Straight, and at the house of Judas look for a man of Tarsus named Saul, for behold, he is praying, and he has seen in a vision a man named Ananias come in and lay his hands on him so that he might regain his sight.” But 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, for he is a chosen instrument of mine to carry my name before the Gentiles and kings and the children of Israel. For I will show him how much he must suffer for the sake of my name.”
So Ananias departed and entered the house. And laying his hands on him he said, “Brother Saul, the Lord Jesus who appeared to you on the road by which you came has sent me so that you may regain your sight and be filled with the Holy Spirit.” And immediately something like scales fell from his eyes, and he regained his sight. Then he rose and was baptized; and taking food, he was strengthened. (Acts 9:1-19)
This is God’s Word for us today. And before we dive deep into it, let’s just make a few comments in verses 1-3, ok? So last week we looked at this man, Saul of Tarsus. He was a tentmaking entrepreneurial Greek-speaking Jew who grew up under Roman citizenship. Not only that, he was quickly advancing in the ranks of Judaism.
So he was a Pharisee. That’s the highest school of thought in the Pharisaical system. He studied under Gamaliel, which was just massively prestigious. He was zealous for the coming of the Messiah and was fiercely determined to stop anything that would stand in the way, including murdering and dragging off to prison anyone preaching what he believed to be a false doctrine. That’s where it picks up in chapter 9 verse 1.
It says that Saul was breathing threats and murder agaisnt the disciples of the Lord. So his reason for breathing and his reason for living in this season, in this moment of his life, is to stop the faith, to stop the message of Jesus. If Michael Jordan gets out of bed to win championships, Saul was getting out of bed to stop Christianity. And I think it’s amazing.
He gets approval for stopping it. He gets approval for this mission. That just speaks to the hypocritical Pharisaical system of the time. Oh we keep the law at all costs, and yet the law says you shall not murder. And here he goes and gets letters from the high priests to go and drag off to prison and murder anyone talking about the faith.
Verse 2 and 3 it says, He went to the high priest, asked for letters to the synagogues at Damascus, so that if he found any belonging to the Way, men or women, he might bring them bound to Jerusalem.
Now Saul, he had already done some serious damage in Jerusalem. The church had scattered outside to Judea, to Samaria, and now it’s beyond those places. That’s a testimony in itself that Christ was going to get done what Christ said He would get done. It’s already beyond the places, the concentric circles, that Jesus said it needed to go. And so it’s heading toward the ends of the earth. That’s a great testimony of Christ.
But Damascus, it’s a six days journey northeast of Jerusalem, and it was a big city. It had a population of 100,000 people. Not only that, but it was this beautiful city with large green forested areas on the border of the Arabian desert. Sounds like a great place to settle if you’re a Christian refugee fleeing for your life. And thousands of Jews were settling in Damascus, tens of thousands of Jews.
We learn later in history the first Jewish revolt, 20,000 Jews were massacred in this city of Damascus. So lot’s of Jews found their way there. Lots of Christians were finding their way to settle at Damascus, and Saul knew it. And so off he goes with zeal in his heart and with the Bible in his head and with papers from the chief priest in his bag. And he goes off to be the hero of Judaism to save Israel’s heritage.
You notice in verse 2 that he says anyone belonging to the Way. He used the term “the Way” to describe the church. They weren’t called the church at this point. They weren’t called Christians yet. I don’t know if they were using the term “the Way,” but Saul, he was certainly using “the Way” in a demeaning sort of way. He believed that he had the way, not that they had the way.
I think it’s a great term for people. Jesus said, “I am the Way, the truth and the life.” If you’re a follower of Jesus today, can you just say, “This is the way”? Go ahead. This is the way. Say it with some passion to your neighbor now. Ok, tell them. This is the way. All right, that’s pretty good. It’s participation in church this morning. I think it’s a great name, so let’s use it in our main points for the text. Point number one this morning is this: Followers of the way confess and obey Jesus Christ as Lord. Followers of the way confess and obey Jesus Christ as the Lord.
Pick it up in verse 3. It says, Now as he went on his way, he approached Damascus, and suddenly a light from heaven shone around him (Acts 9:3). Doesn’t tell us what time of day it was. If you go to Acts chapter 22, Saul recounts this moment and this testimony. And we learn that it was at the noontime hour. So you’d better believe at the noontime hour on the road to Damascus in the middle of the desert the sun was shining really brightly. There was already a lot of light.
And so whatever this blast of light was, it was exceeding the brightness of the sun. It was a heavenly explosion, a sudden flash of light that dwarfed the brightness of the sun. Such a shocking, massive blast of light that it brings Saul, the zealous, scary persecutor to his knees. The big bad bully of Christianity is brought to his knees by the blazing glory of Christ in this moment.
Even more shocking than the light itself would have been what accompanied it. Verse 4. And falling to the ground, he heard a voice saying to him, “Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting me?” And he said, “Who are you Lord?” And he said, “I am Jesus whom you are persecuting.” (Acts 9:4-5)
Accompanying this light from heaven was a voice, and it seemed to know Saul. More than that, it seemed to have a bone to pick with our friend Saul. We’ll talk about the question that Christ asked him in just a moment. But I want you to first zero in on how Saul responded.
He says, “Who are you?” and he calls him “Lord.” Saul doesn’t exactly know who is confronting him in this very moment, but he knows enough to call him Lord. Saul grew up in Israel’s heritage. He would have believed that God was Yahweh. I belive that in this miraculous moment Saul, not maybe in faith but in fear, in sheer terror, was on his knees declaring this has got to be Yahweh. This has got to be God.
“Who are you Lord?” he says. And in fear and in terror, he asks who it is and his worst nightmare is about to come true. In this moment he’s going to find out that Jesus is actually the Messiah. In this moment he is going to find out that Christianity is in fact the way, that the gospel is truth that saves and that all along he’d been fighting the God of the universe. All along Saul had been fighting God, tring to earn favor with God. and yet he realizes in his attempts he was actually fighting God, fighting God’s way. That’s a massive change of plans.
Off Saul goes to drag off followers of the Way, and he meets Jesus in that moment. Saul later writes in Philippians 2:10-11, he says this, “At the name of Jesus every knee should bow in heaven and on earth and under the earth and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.” We sang it this morning. Here’s Saul on the road to Damascus. A light shines, a voice booms, and Saul, on his knees, (every knee will bow) and his tongue begins to confess, “Who are you Lord?” And he’s answered with these words: “I am Jesus.”
In an instant everything’s changed. Saul’s plans change. Saul’s mission changed. Saul’s understanding of the Messiah changed. Saul’s heart was changed. Saul’s way of getting to God was over because the Way had come to him on the road to Damascus. Saul man, he should have been incinerated in this very moment by the blazing glory of Christ and yet he is met with the mercy of Jesus.
Jesus could have answered him with a thousand other names, right? He could have said, “I’m the Alpha and Omega. I’m the Lion of Judah. I’m the Creator. I’m the God of angel armies.” And yet He chooses to use His birth name. He says, “I am Jesus,” which literally means “Yahweh saves.” The Lord of the Old Testament, the Lord of Jewish history, saves and the Lord who is Jesus and the Lord who is Christ.
Right away we begin to see evidence of this instantaneous inward transformation of Saul. In Acts chapter 22:10 as Saul is recounting this moment we see that he asks another question. He asks this in Acts 22:10. He says, “What shall I do?” and he calls him Lord.
Saul now knows that this is Jesus, and he confesses Him as Lord. Not only that, but he’s now at the mercy of Christ. He asked, “What should I do?” in verse 6 and Jesus says, “But rise and enter the city and you will be told what you are to do.” His life is no longer his own. He does what any true believer should do when you come to realize that Jesus is Lord. You begin to trust and obey. You begin to ask and you recieve.
And Saul asked, “What shall I do?” And Jesus is like, Just get up and go into the city and then I’ll show you what you are to do next. Because when he realized that Jesus is Lord, his life was no longer his own. His mission, his plan, was off. And so he gets up, turns away from what he was going to do, and in obedience begins to follow Christ into the dark unknown.
Look at verses 7-9 just to stay with the text. It says, The men who were traveling with them stood speechless hearing the voice but seeing no one. That’s remarkable. That’s the truth that the evidence of Jesus as Lord can be among us. It may be among us here today. Perhaps Christ is revealing Himself to you today. You’re hearing this message of salvation. Someone might respond and repent and believe and follow Christ and some others may walk out of this place completely unchanged. Saul was changed in an instant. His friends, his followers, left not knowing what happened.
Verse 8. Saul rose from the ground in obedience and although his eyes were opened he saw nothing. So he led them by the hand and brought him into Damascus. And for three days he was without sight and neither ate nor drank. (Acts 9:7-9)
Have you confessed Jesus Christ as Lord of your life? Have you confessed Jesus Christ as Lord of your life? News flash: There’s no other way to confess Him, no other way to receive Him. That is who He is. Salvation is a recognition and a confrontation of who Jesus is, not who you want Him to be.
And my fear for many Christians is that we try to come to God on our terms rather than receive Him, confess Him on His terms. Many of us have been in this place for a long time, heard these messages for a long time, and we love, we desire the benefits of salvation. I want to know that I’m heaven bound. I want to know that I’m in a good standing with God. I want to know that my sins have been forgiven. Yeah, sure, Jesus died on the cross for my sins, but we are protecting an entire area of our life in worldliness and sinfulness, things that we don’t want to give up.
That’s not what we see in Saul. His path was this way and it stopped and he repented and he turned and he’s going headlong in a different direction. Jesus changed his status. Jesus changed his nature from a sinner to a saint, from a murderer to a magnifier of Jesus Christ. Everything changes because your life is no longer your own.
If you haven’t confessed Jesus Christ as Lord of your life, you may not be saved. You are not saved. The truth is, every knee will bow and every tongue will confess. And to confess Jesus as Lord is to lose your life so that you may gain Christ. More than that, everyone here would say, “I want to glorify God with my life.” You’re here maybe and you love some of the things that you hear at this church- the mission statement to glorify God and to make disciples. The quality discipleship pathway is that you would be a disciple that glorifies God and who gathers and who grows and who goes.
But the first and foremost way to glorify the God of the universe is to confess His Son as Lord, to lose your life, to die to yourself, to pick up your cross and follow Him. Your life is no longer your own; you’re a slave to Christ.
Paul later writes in Corinthians 10:31, Whatever you do, whether you eat or you drink, you do it all to the glory of God. Why does Saul talk about eating and drinking in that verse? Because when Jesus becomes Lord of your life, the most mundane things start to become about the glory of God. If I’m going to eat, I’m going to do it to the glory of God. If I’m going to drink, I’m going to do it to the glory of God. What I eat, what I drink, what I listen to- all of these things begin to be affected when your life is no longer your own but you’ve been confronted with the glory of Christ and the holiness of God.
Every decision that we make upon our waking hours should be wrapped up in How do I bring glory to my Savior who gave His life for me? That’s what we see in Saul. Confronted, confessing, “What shall I do Lord?” Have you confessed Him as Lord and followed Him?
Let’s see what happens, number two, is this. The followers of the Way must deal with Christ’s question, “Why are you sinning against me?” Followers of the Way must deal with Christ’s question, “Why are you sinning against me?”
Did you find it interesting in verses 4 and 6 the question that Jesus asks our friend Saul? He says, “Saul, Saul,” As if to get his attention. Kind of a stern warning, kind of a moment getting him. And he says, “Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting me?”
He doesn’t say, “Why are you killing Christians? Why don’t you believe in me?” He says, “Why are you persecuting me?”
And then he says, “I am Jesus, the One you have been persecuting.” Well Saul, he doesn’t touch Jesus. From what I could tell, from what I’ve seen, I don’t know that Saul ever saw Jesus, that he was ever in the presence of Jesus. He didn’t know Jesus. He is in Jerusalem. Now I’m sure he’s heard the message of Jesus. He’s well familiar with this message that Jesus died on a cross and rose from the grave, and how he has a bunch of followers.
But Saul, he wasn’t touching Jesus. He was persecuting Christians. He was persecuting followers of Jesus. He was dragging men and women who professed Jesus off to prison. He didn’t sin against Jesus. And yet it’s here that Saul was confronted with not only the depths of his sin. But the offensiveness of his actions toward the God of the universe, Christ’s question as He confronts Saul reveals the union that Jesus has made between He and all those who confess Him as Lord. This is amazing.
Christ is so identified with believers. If you’ve confessed Jesus Christ as Lord, He is so identified with you that every slight, every slander, every strike against one of us is a strike, slander or strike against Christ Himself. Every blow to me is a blow to my Savior in heaven. Every sin against you as a believer is a direct sin against Jesus. That should be a massive encouragement to you today.
Because all of us, we’ve been sinned against as followers of Christ. All of us are tempted to sin towards others. Some of you in this room you have been treated as a child of God in horrendous ways, horrible ways, ways that you should not be treated if you are a child, a son or daughter, of the King. Maybe you’ve been physically abused. Maybe you’ve been mentally abused, sexually abused, emotionally abused.
And the truth is you have questions, you have concerns. You’re like, Where is God? Why would God allow these things to happen? Why would I go through these things? Is God good?
And the truth is Jesus isn’t just standing by. Jesus is carrying your sorrows. Jesus is acquainted with your griefs. Every sin that is done to you is done to Jesus, and He is with you in the pain. He is with you in the hurting. He is merciful and compassionate and kind.
It should be encouraging to us if we’re in those situations. It should be a stern warning to us not to hide our sin. If you’re here today professing Jesus Christ, coming in the doors of church and yet you have a life that is a blatant sin against another, against a believer, against someone that you should treat as a child or daughter of the King, you will be asked, “Why are you sinning against me? Why are you persecuting me? Why are you cheating on me? Why are you lying to me?” You fill in the blank.
Every one of us will stand before the glory of Christ. And maybe He’s asking you that today. Bring your sin into the light. I promise you you don’t want to get to the gates of heaven and Christ says, “Why are you sinning against me?” At that point it will be too late. Today is the opportunity to confess Him as Lord and repent of your sin.
You’ll remember that Jesus said in the Sermon on the Mount, “Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness sake.” How could Jesus say that? It’s because since we know He’s high and lifted up and ruling and reigning, we can take heart that He will be, we will be with Him in His victory just as He is with us in our suffering.
Now imagine Saul coming to recognize that in his attempt to honor his God and usher in the Messiah, he was not only persecuting God’s family, but he was persecuting the Messiah Himself. This is the devastating reality of our sinfulness. Every person will at one point or another have to deal with the question, the Holy Christ asking you, “Why are you sinning against me?”
And in the grace of God, Jesus appeared to Saul on the road to Damascus, confronted him with his sin and Saul confessed him as Lord, obediently went to the city and we find out in verse 11 that he’s praying. Did you notice that in verse 11? So three days without sight, neither ate nor drank. There was a disciple in Damascus named Annanias. And the Lord said to him in a vision, “Annanias.”
He said, “Here I am Lord.” (26:00)
And Jesus tells him in verse 11, The Lord said to him, “Rise and go to the street called Straight, and at the house of Judas look for a man of Tarsus named Saul. For behold, he is praying.” (Acts 9:11) For three days he couldn’t physically see. He doesn’t physically eat. He doesn’t physically drink. He just simply prayed. Saul the persecutor, after his divine supernatural interruption, begins to commune with the Lord almighty.
And can you imagine those prayers over those three days? Everything he’s lived for and achieved was a lie. His life’s work was worthless. He’s worked his whole life to earn a place with God only to find out that he massively only could fall short of the glory of God.
Have you been in the depths of despair over your sinfulness? I think that’s exactly where Saul was in this moment. Saul found the only place he could possibly go, communion with the Lord, open handed, desperate. At the mercy of Christ alone, he began to pray prayers of tearful confession and repentance, massive regret and remorse for the sins committed against the innocent.
Perhaps he could see the faces of his victims in this moment. Perhaps he saw Stephen’s face and recounted Stephen’s testimony, recounted the moments when he approved, just stood by approving of innocent Stephen who had just poured out the gospel. And he approved of his death as his men, his friends, stoned innocent Stephen, threw stones to kill him. Maybe in this moment he recounted that Stephen said, Look, the son of man standing at the right hand of God the Father almighty. He’s there! Jesus is King! Jesus is Lord! Confess Him as Lord!
And yet Saul stood by stiff-necked, unrepentant, stuck in his pride, stuck in his ways, approving of the death of Stephen. Perhaps in this moment Saul recounted the prayers of Stephen. Stephen didn’t pray, remember, Release me. Get me out of this, Lord. Save my life. He said, “Save sinners.”
In his dying moments, rocks being hurled at his body and his head, Stephen, like Jesus, Father, forgive them. They don’t know what they do. Forgive them. They’re far from you. Redeem them. Draw them to yourself.
And Saul on the road to Damascus is a recipient of the prayers of Stephen. I read Augustine. He says that the church owes Paul to the prayers of Stephen. Do you have people in your life that you’re just longing to see them saved? Don’t give up. Pray bold prayers that Christ would intersect their life, that Christ would reveal Himself to them as Lord, that they would confess Him as Lord and turn from their wicked ways. Pray those prayers even unto death.
That’s what we see in Stephen. And we see Saul receiving the mercy of God. Every follower of Jesus must deal with what Saul must have been dealing with in those three days of prayer. Saul’s sinfulness put him in no worse position than your sins put you. In the light of Christ’s blazing glory we all deserve death, but the miraculous confronting of Saul shows us that God is a God merciful and just, abounding in steadfast love. And if God can confront and transform Saul from a persecuting hypocritical murderer into a remorseful, broken, redeemed instrument for His glory, what makes you think that He can’t do that for you?
Even being here today is a divine interruption. I pray that it’s a supernatural revelation for you as you hear these divine words that Christ, that God breathed out onto paper that we might hear them. I pray that it’s a spiritual encounter of the Holy Spirit prompting your heart to confess Jesus as Lord and repent of your sin, to deal with your sin.
Stop running from the Lord this morning. Bring everything into the light. Stop minimizing your sin. I think often when we’ve heard this message of Christ it can be like, yeah, I believe it. And yet we minimize the sins of today because of the sins of our past. Oh, I’m not as bad as I used to be. I’m not doing the things that I used to be.
It’s all offensive to God. Bring it all into the light. Cast down your idols that you might worship Christ alone, that you might follow Christ alone. Die to the passions of your flesh, to the passion of this world. God is faithful and just to forgive you and to cleanse you from all unrighteousness. But you’ve got to confess it. Stop hiding it. He already knows it already. He sees it all.
And so how foolish is it that we try to tuck it into the deep dark secret places of our hearts when we know we will stand before Him and he’ll ask exactly what he did Saul when everything was brought into the light in this moment. “Why are you sinning against me?” Oh that we would deal with our sin. Oh that we would bring our sin to the feet of the cross, the foot of the cross.
Number three this morning is this: Followers of the Way display outwardly what Christ has done inwardly. Followers of the Way display outwardly what Christ has done inwardly. Let’s just read 9-16 just to kind of keep up with the text. In 9 it says, For three days he was without sight, neither ate nor drank. Now there was a disciple at Damascus named Annanias.
So there was this guy Annanias. He’s settled in Damascus. He’s a believer. He’s probably taking care of those who are settling there. He’s discipling those, a man of God. And it says, The Lord said to him in a vision, “Annanias,” and he said, “Here I am, Lord.” That’s a great response if God is calling. If you wake up in the middle of the night and you don’t know why, don’t turn to Netflix. Don’t turn to a book. Get on your knees and say, “Here I am, Lord.” That’s a great example.
And then it says in 11, And the Lord said to him, “Rise and go to the street called Straight, and at the house of Judas look for a man of Tarsus named Saul. For behold, he is praying and he has seen a vision of a man named Annanias. Come in and lay hands on him so that he may regain his sight.”
I don’t know if the street called Straight, if that street is still accessible. I don’t know that it holds much spiritual meaning, but I just think God is a genius and that’s awesome. And Saul, here’s Saul on the crooked path toward destruction, and he comes to a place where he can no longer trust in himself and he trusts in the Lord God almighty and leans not on his own understanding. In all of his ways he starts to acknowledge Christ, and God is going to make his paths straight on a street called Straight. I mean, that’ll preach all day long, right? You with me this morning, church? Amen in the house of the Lord.
In verse 13, Annanias answered, “Lord, I have heard from many about this man. So he’s heard of his reputation. How much evil he has done to your saints at Jerusalem. And here, he has authority from the chief priest to bind all who call on your name.
Annnanias is like, You sure you want me to go to this guy? I’ve heard he’s doing some serious damage to people like me. I’m a follower of Jesus. I’ve been walking with you, Lord. Are you sure you want me to go to big bad Saul of Tarsus? He’s going to drag me off to prison.
And then God, He gives him three reasons to go to Saul. Here they are. Three reasons God tells Annanias to go to Saul. Number one, go to Saul because Saul is miine. Verse 15, But the Lord said to him, “Go, for he is a chosen instrument of mine.”
That’s what God does in salvation. He transfers you from the kingdom of darkness to the kingdom of His beloved Son. Saul, who was an enemy of God, is now a chosen instrument of God. He has a new identity in Christ. And then He says the second thing. Go to Saul because I’m sending Saul to others. He says, Go. he’s a chosen instrument of mine to carry my name before the Gentiles and kings and the children of Israel.
This would have been a massive deal. Like Annanias was probably like, I don’t know how God is going to get this message to the ends of the earth. You know, the whole Gentile thing, I have a lot of questions about that. And then lightbulbs going on as Jesus is talking to him, and he’s like, Oh, this man who was an enemy is now owned; he’s now a slave of Christ. And this is who God is going to use to get the message to the Gentiles. That’s amazing.
And then the third thing. Go to Saul because he will share in my sufferings. Verse 16. For I will show him how much he must suffer for the sake of my name. I feel like Annanias was like, Deal. He’s caused a lot of suffering. He’s going to suffer. I’ll go to him. I think it’s important to note this. Saul wasn’t to suffer much because of the suffering that he had caused. All of Saul’s sin and shame was paid for and covered at the cross. Isn’t that amazing?
God had already held Jesus responsible for Saul’s sin. God had already punished all of His perfect Son. He poured out his wrath toward Saul’s sin on Jesus so that Saul might come to him as a sinner and God would no longer look at him as a persecuting murderer, but He would look at him and He would see His beloved Son, the spotless Lamb who came to take away the sins fo the world.
That’s the gospel. Christ died on a cross in Saul’s place as a substitute for Saul’s sin. And He rose from the dead and He is seated on high. And Saul confesses Him as Lord and repents of his sin and deals with the sin in the light of His holiness. And now his life is no longer his own. His mission is no longer his mission. He just simply says, Christ, show me what to do and I will obey. I will follow. Everything from this point on was about the name of Jesus bringing glory to God almighty.
Verse 17. So Annanias departed in obedience and entered the house. And laying his hands on him he said, “Brother Saul.” Stop there. I love that. Annanias doesn’t like sneak in the house and I’m not sure if this is a good idea. Jesus is playing a trick on me. He just goes in the house with boldness, trusts the Lord, walks up to Saul the persecutor, puts his hand on him and he says, “Brother Saul,” because in Christ the persecutor and the persecuted become brothers. In Christ, the murderer and the victim can become family. It’s a remarkable moment showing the outward results of what only Christ can do inside the sinner’s heart.
2 Corinthians 5:17. You know it. Saul later wrote it. Therefore if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away, and behold, the new has come. We see that in the life of Saul.
Verse 17 goes on. He says, “Brother Saul, the Lord Jesus who appeared to you on the road by which you came has sent me so that you may regain your sight and be filled with the Holy Spirit.” And immediately something like scales fell from his eyes and he regained his sight. Then he rose and was baptized. And taking food, he was strengthened.
Worse than losing your physical sight for a few days is going through this life spiritually blind. I think that’s where a majority of people are. A majority of the world thinks that they obtain salvation and yet they are blind spiritually. Jesus said the gate is wide and the way is easy that leads to destruction, and those who enter are many. Many people think that they are doing the right thing. Many people can recite the truths and the principles of the gospel and yet they’ve not confessed Jesus Christ as Lord and dealt with their sin and have walked in obedience to Him.
Many will one day stand before the Lord and they’ll say, God, I’ve done so many great things. Lord, I’ve kept the Word. I’ve kept the law. I went to church every week. I raised my hands. I sang the songs. I opened my Bible. And he’ll say, “Depart from me, for I never knew you.”
Why? Because they’ve not confessed Jesus as Lord. They’ve not given up everything to follow Christ in obedience. Saul is proof you can grow up thinking you’re in right standing with God and be living for yourself totally. Salvation belongs to the Lord. And maybe He’s revealing Himself to you this morning. Do you sense the Lord moving, prompting, revealing sins?
Saul’s sight was restored. He gets up, doesn’t know what to do next. So a discipler, Annanias, says, Hey, come with me. First thing you should do is outwardly express what Christ has done inwardly in your life. That’s what baptism is.
Baptism is a believer after they’ve been saved, not before, after they’ve been saved, they say, You know what? Christ has redeemed me. I’m no longer the same inside. And so on the right side of their salvation they step into the waters of baptism so that they can proclaim with other brothers and sisters, Look at what Christ has done in me. I’m a new creation.
And they go under the water. It’s a picture of dying to myself and being raised to walk in newness of life. That’s amazing. That is wonderful. Baptism is an outward expression of what Christ has done inside of you.
Some of you need to get baptized. Some of you have recently confessed Jesus as Lord and you’ve been dealing with your sin. You don’t know what next step to take. Let’s get you baptized. Some of you haven’t been baptized on the right side of your salvation. Let’s get you baptized so that you can profess to other believers who have been saved what Christ has done for you.
And after he publicly professed that Jesus is Lord, what He had done for him, he enjoys his first meal in Christian fellowship and he begins to be strengthened. He begins to be loved by other brothers. Isn’t it incredible the story, the testimony? You should be marveling at the grace and goodness of Jesus today.
Saul is just one of thousands of testimonies now that can truly say no one is beyond the grasp of Christ’s saving grace. So confess Him as Lord, repent of your sins and proclaim what He has done.
The band is going to come out and I just want to encourage you this morning to not leave this place if the Spirit is impressing on your heart, if Christ is revealing Himself to you in these moments as you hear these truths, if you could get honest about your life and you could truly say, You know what? I’m not living like Saul’s 180 turn. I’m saying the right things, but I’m doing another thing. If you’d be willing to get honest about that, it’s God’s desire that you would confess Him as Lord of your life today, that you would die to the ways of this world, you would die to yourself and follow Christ.
If Christ is impressing on you and revealing to you sin in your heart, sin that you’ve yet to deal with, sin that you’ve been hiding, don’t walk out of this place today with it. Bring it to the feet of Christ. Bring it to a pastor, an elder, after the service. We’d love to pray with you. We’d love to help you. We’d love to disciple you. That’s exactly what Saul had to do with Annanias. That’s why God puts other believers in our lives so we don’t have to walk this out alone.
And if you’ve been saved, would you rejoice today at what Christ has done in your life? Don’t lose the joy of your salvation. I know that life is hard. I know that the story, we’re just so prone to forget. That’s why over and over all through Scripture we’re just reminded that this is not of our own doing. It’s a gift of God! And so glory be to Christ.
Go ahead and bow your heads. And I just want you to sit in that truth that Jesus alone can save today. And if you have a testimony, thank Jesus for your testimony. If you need a testimony, do business with God. Confess Him as Lord in that seat. Believe in your heart that Jesus is Lord and Christ raised Him from the dead and you’ll be saved.
And then come and find somebody. Tell them you need help dealing with your sin. You need help bringing it all into the light before a holy, righteous God. and let’s get you on the path to life.
Every eye closed, every head bowed. I imagine as Saul prayed those prayers, the song that the team is about to sing would’ve been running through his mind. The truths of the gospel, the fact that his future is changed. Once a sinner; now heaven bound. If you’re a believer here today, Jesus is your Lord and Savior, would you just sit and marvel and thank Him and worship Him because of His great saving grace?
And in a few moments when you get the song, go ahead and stand and let’s proclaim it together as we leave this place today. Let’s worship. (44:36)
