God's Redeeming Power - Pastor Tom Loghry
In Acts 9:1-31, God brings an unlikely character into His plan to spread the gospel to the world.
Transcript:
As Saul neared Damascus on his journey, suddenly a light from heaven flashed around him. He fell to the ground and heard a voice say to him, Saul, Saul, why do you persecute me? Who are you, Lord? Saul asked. I am Jesus, whom you are persecuting, he replied. Now, get up and go into the city, and you will be told what you must do.
Who is the last person you would expect to become a Christian? Think about it. And don't only think about well-known people, think about the people in your life. Who is the last person you would expect to become a Christian? Who is the last person you would expect to have a change of heart?
You've got that person in your mind. Now you're thinking about them and you're thinking, yeah, that's not happening. Deep down, maybe you think it's impossible. And if you and I had a conversation about the person, maybe you wouldn't admit that, but you'd think it all the same. And if I could read your mind this morning, I'd ask you why do you think that?
Why do you think it's impossible? You'd probably say this or that about the person as to why it wouldn't happen. And that's our way. We focus on the problems. We focus on the person. We don't focus on the solution. You might say this or that about the person and to you, I would say, but what about God? Is everything you are bringing up really too much for God to overcome?
Now, that could take us down some interesting avenues. Maybe you have a small understanding of God, or maybe you believe in God's power in theory, but not in practice. You understand the truth, but lack the faith. Maybe you're confused because while you believe God is all powerful, he does seem to allow many people to persist in their hardness and rebellion.
Their hearts remain cold. We can admit some mystery here. I must certainly admit it. I can't, I can't explain, I can't explain all these things, but in the face of mystery, there are some certain facts that stand firm, as Jesus says in Matthew 11:27, no one knows the father unless the son chooses to reveal him to that person.
We would never turn to God without his grace working on us before we took the slightest step toward him. And when God calls a man, woman, or child to himself, there is no power on earth that can stop God from claiming us as his own. This is what we see clearly in Acts chapter nine, all natural explanation of Christian conversion ends here.
You could say for someone like myself given my upbringing in the church, it's no surprise I'm a Christian. That's only because you can't see the cliff I've walked. In truth, it's a miracle I'm here. The conversion of Saul of Tarsus is as clear miracle as any, so turning to Acts nine. Starting in verse one, Luke tells us.
Meanwhile, Saul was still breathing out murderous threats against the Lord's disciples. He went to the high priest and asked him for letters to the synagogues in Damascus so that if he found any there who belonged to the way, whether men or women, he might take them as prisoners to Jerusalem. At this point, we recall what Luke has already told us about Saul.
We know Saul was at the scene of Stephen's murder after Stephen, made the Sanhedrin fit with rage. They dragged Steven out and stoned him, and Saul volunteered to watch their their coats, make sure no one takes them while they're busy stoning the guy. We also heard in Acts eight of how Paul went from being an approving bystander to actually taking charge and persecuting the believers, going from house to house, arresting men and women, and Paul, Saul, when he later becomes known as Paul says, of his own life that he was a violent man, a persecutor of the church. And what we see here in the beginning of chapter nine is that Paul, Saul was no actor. In fact, he was operating with the full approval of the religious leaders. He went to the high priest and said, I want letters giving me authority to go elsewhere and arrest Christians as I find them.
And it says, it's interesting though, he doesn't use the word Christians, and I'll use the word Christians as I'm preaching, you know, as I'm preaching through these prior passages because it's just great shorthand. You all know who a, what a Christian is. But at this point they weren't known as Christians.
They were just known as those who belonged to the way, followers of the way, it's kind of a nice way of, of, of putting it i, I think. It recalls what was prophesied and what Jesus fulfilled in Isaiah 43 says, A voice of one calling in the wilderness. Prepare the way for the Lord. Make straight in the desert, a highway for our God.
Of course, John the Baptist announced the coming of Jesus, and Jesus is is that way. Jesus says of himself in John 14:6, I am the way, the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.
So Saul has gone to the high priest to get these letters so that he might arrest those who belong to the way, whether, again, whether they're men or women, Saul's brutal and wants to arrest them and drag them back to Jerusalem for trial.
Now again, this is, this is something that was not unanticipated. Jesus foretold in John 16:2. He said, they will put you out of the synagogue; in fact, the time is coming when anyone who kills you will think they're offering a service to God.
Even I have to imagine, you know, it's, it's terrible to have to face persecution, but that's the cruelest twist about this, is that those that are persecuting the Christians think they're doing something in service to God. That's certainly Saul's thinking. He thinks I'm a stalwart defender of the Jewish faith by pursuing these Christians.
And in fact, we see this today, even now across the world. We see, especially in the case of Islamic extremism and what Christians suffer at the hands of those who believe that they're doing a service to God by by killing them. This is, this has followed the history of the church way back. And so Paul gets those letters and he begins making his way to Damascus.
But things do not go as Saul planned, as was read in verse three through six. Says, as he neared Damascus on his journey, suddenly a light from heaven flashed around him. He fell to the ground and heard a voice say to him, Saul, Saul, why do you persecute me? Who are you, Lord? Saul asked. I am Jesus, whom you are persecuting, he replied. Now get up and go into the city, and you'll be told what you must do. Now, there's something interesting about the way in which Saul is confronted. His name is used twice. Saul, Saul. And here we have a pattern that follows that which we find in the Old Testament, in Exodus 3:4, when the Lord spoke to Moses out of the burning bush. He confronts him by saying, Moses, Moses. When the Lord calls the boy Samuel, who would be his prophet, he says, Samuel, Samuel. And so here, Paul, Saul, who would be Paul the Apostle following kind of that type of being a prophet of God. He is confronted by having, hearing his name twice, Saul, Saul. Maybe it strikes a ring of familiar familiarity in his ear since he knows his scriptures well. He knows how God encounters people.
And this voice asks him, why are you persecuting me? Now Paul's like, who are you? What? What is this? He's been confronted on the road. There's been this great flash of light. He's fallen to the ground. He's having difficulty comprehending the situation here, and the reply he receives in verse five is this, I am Jesus whom you are persecuting.
Now let's just contemplate the significance of what Jesus is saying here. Saul never put a hand on the physical body of Jesus. We have no record of that. He's just been persecuting these, those people that belong to the way. What Jesus is revealing here to Saul, as he would later expound upon once he was an apostle, is that we who believe in Jesus Christ are members of the body of Christ, and so when someone's persecuting us, they are in fact persecuting Jesus.
That is the nature of our union with Christ, it is very, very real.
Now this must have been quite a surprise to Saul. You can imagine this is the last person that he expected to confront him. Obviously, he wouldn't have been persecuting the Christians if he had believed that Jesus was actually raised from the dead, and yet here Jesus is confronting him. And Jesus gives him a command.
He says, now get up and go into the city, and you'll be told what you must do. And that's what Saul does. This man who is ready to persecute believers at every turn, he has no argument here. He goes.
So continuing on in verse seven, it says, the men traveling with Saul stood there speechless; they heard the sound, but not see anyone. Saul got up from the ground, but when he opened his eyes, he could see nothing. So they led him by the hand into Damascus. For three days he was blind and did not eat or drink anything.
In Damascus, there was a disciple named Ananias. The Lord called him in a vision, Ananias! Yes, Lord, he answered.
Now it's interesting, again, to just reflect on the nature of this encounter that Saul had with Jesus. It was an experience of a great light appearing, and what's interesting is it says that Saul's companions also saw this light, and while they could hear the sound, they couldn't understand the voice. In Acts 22 Paul will go on to say that only he was able to understand the voice, but all of them, they fall down when they, when they hear this, when they, when they encounter this light, when they hear this sound. But the only one among them that was left blind from the, the encounter was Saul. When he got up from the ground, he couldn't see anymore.
And this was truly the fact. But we can also see a great metaphor here. God's revealing to Saul the darkness in which he has been walking and how he must receive his vision from Christ. If he's going to see again, he must receive new light from Christ. And so it says that for three days he did not eat or drink, and it seems that perhaps this was a form of a fast. It's all his reckoning with everything that he's done. His spirit is entering into a posture of repentance. Meanwhile, the Lord has called upon another person, a disciple named Ananias, and he comes to him in a vision. Now we don't know If Ananais was awake and he got this vision, it may seem to be the case because if he was asleep and he got it, maybe the scriptures would describe it as a dream. But in any case, the Lord comes to Ananias in a, in a vision.
And so continuing on in verse 11, we see what the Lord has to say to him. It says the Lord told him, he told Ananias. Go to the house of Judas on Straight Street and ask for a man from Tarsus named Saul, for he's praying. In a vision he has seen a man named Ananias come and place his hands on him to restore his sight. Lord, Ananias answered, I've heard many reports about this man and all the harm he has done to your holy people in Jerusalem, and he has come here with authority from the chief priest to arrest all who call on your name. But the Lord said to Ananias, go! This man is my chosen instrument to proclaim my name to the Gentiles and their kings and to the people of Israel.
I'll show him how much he must suffer for my name. So the Lord tells Ananias to go to a house belonging to a fellow named Judas. Not the same Judas that betrayed Jesus, he was dead at this point. This is a different Judas. It was a popular name at that time. And he lived on straight street in Damascus. The Lord tells him you had to go there to restore the sight of this man named Saul.
And this man, Saul, has in fact had a vision of you coming to do this, Ananias. Now as Ananias is hearing, he is like, wait, I'm, I'm familiar with this guy. This is the guy we were talking about last Sunday, that kind of thing. This is the guy we were all saying, I hope he does not come here. We've heard about everything that he's doing and oh no, he has come here.
He means to arrest us. He means to kill us. Surely he's thinking, you don't mean I have to go to that guy, right God?
But here the Lord says to him quite firmly, go. Go to him because he's my chosen instrument to proclaim the name of Christ to the Gentiles and to the people of Israel. And here and seeing Ananias receive this command of the Lord to go to this man Saul, who's been such an enemy to the Christians, we see here the teaching of Christ come to life.
That teaching he gives in Matthew 5: 44 where he says, but I tell you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you. Ananias is being told to go and pray for this man, to lay his hands upon him so that he may restore his sight. This man might get back his sight, even though he's taken away so much from so many other people.
We see here the gospel coming to life, that mercy come to life as Ananias is prepared to go in obedience to do as the Lord has commanded. But we do see here that Saul is going to have to suffer, and we can see here a little bit of a trade off from his past. He has caused me to suffer, he's a man that's gonna suffer a whole lot in his life, but we also understand that this is what every disciple of Jesus can anticipate.
Jesus says in John 15: 20, remember what I told you, A servant is not greater than his master. If they persecuted me, they'll persecute you. Also, if they obeyed my teaching, they'll obey yours also.
So in the greatest of Ironies, this man who once persecuted the Christians is going to receive this call from the Lord and he's going to suffer greatly for the name of Christ. And so Ananias obeys the Lord's command. In verse 17, he continues saying, Ananias went to the house and entered it, placing his hands on Saul.
He said, brother Saul, the Lord Jesus who appeared to you on the road as you were coming here has sent me so that you may see again and be filled with the Holy Spirit. Immediately, something like scales fell from Saul's eyes and he could see again. He got up and was baptized, and after taking some food, he regained his strength.
Saul spent several days with the disciples in Damascus. I love Luke's kind of simple account here of what Ananias said when he came to Saul. You can imagine, what do you say to this guy who's done so much harm to your fellow believers? Notice he calls him, right outta the gate, brother Saul, we see Ananias's faith up front.
He had no doubt about the transformation that God was about to bring about in Saul's heart. He calls him Brother Saul, and he simply says, I've been sent here to make you you see again. And again, there's such a deeper meaning to that than just simply the him restoring his sight. It's quite important that Paul might see again and be filled with the Holy Spirit. So if you're keeping a record here, as we're going through Acts, the Spirit and the Church, the work of the Spirit is essential. The gift of the Spirit is this great endowment from God so that we might do what he has called us to do, and Saul's gonna need the Holy Spirit to walk the path that God has called him to do.
Later on, we, in Paul's life, we see him say, you know, thinking about this idea of regaining sight. Speaking about all of our experience in 2 Corinthians 4:6, he says, for the, for God, who said, let light shine, shine out of darkness, made his light shine in our hearts to give us the light of the knowledge of God's glory displayed in the face of Christ.
When he writes that, he's not speaking from secondhand, oh, I've heard this is what, what it's like. He's drawing from this experience that he's had. He knows that I've been there. I've been in the darkness. I've wandered around thinking I was doing the right thing only to realize how wrong I was, and it's only because God shone his light in my heart, giving us the knowledge of God's glory displayed in the face of Christ that I am who I am today. Luke says that something like scales from Saul's eyes fell, and so there must have been some sort of actual physical affliction here associated with this loss of sight. It's interesting to think about what came together providentially by God, so that that occurred.
Supernaturally, in any case, whatever was obstructing Paul's sight falls away at this point, as Ananias lays hands upon him and he gets up and he's takes food and he's baptized.
And when he is baptized, he understands exactly what he's doing. In Acts 22, Paul gives an account of other things that Ananias said to him when he came to him. In Acts 22:16, Ananias tells him, get up, be baptized and wash your sins away, calling on his name. Saul understood that by being baptized in Jesus Christ, he was getting a new start.
He was receiving a new life. And later on in his letters, we, we see how he contemplates this new reality, which is ours in Christ, which again, he's surely drawing from his own experience in this Romans six, verses three through four, he says, or don't you know that all of us who were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death?
We were therefore buried with him through baptism and into death in order that just as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the father, we too may live a new life.
This was the purpose for which Saul was baptized. He was baptized in Jesus Christ so that he too may live a new life. And as he says in 2 Corinthians 5:17, he says, therefore, if anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come. The old is gone. The new is here. Such good news because as Paul sees the truth here of how terrible he's been, of how he has wronged the people of God so deeply, you could imagine as that dawns upon him how he could be crushed under guilt, saying, I have no place here.
I don't belong here. I, I'm, I'm useless. How could God possibly use me? But he understands the full scope of the truth. He understands that, yes, while I have been guilty, while I have been doing these terrible things, while I have in fact been persecuting Christ himself, I might as well have been there nailing the, nailing him to the cross.
Saul recognizes that while that's true, it's also true that Christ died for a sinner like me. He died so that I might live a new life, be forgiven my sins so that I might leave the old behind and welcome in the new life, which is available in Christ. And so he walks joyfully into that new life in Christ and he begins walking by the spirit.
We see him deployed right into action in verse 20. Says at once he began to preach in the synagogues that Jesus is the son of God. All those who heard him were astonished and asked, isn't he the man who raised havoc in Jerusalem among those who call on this name? And hasn't he come here to take them as prisoners to the chief priests?
Saul grew more and more powerful and baffled the Jews living in Damascus by proving that Jesus is the Messiah. The astonishment of the people is completely understandable. We have a complete 180 here. Saul had come to destroy the believers, and now he is the greatest apologist, the greatest defender of the faith.
He's going right into the synagogues proving that which he was formally trying to eviscerate, he's proving that Jesus is in fact the Messiah. He did fulfill the prophecies which were given that he is the savior of the world.
Now, once again, this was nothing of Paul's doing. In Galatians one, verses 15 through 18, he reflects on his path in life and how he came to be where he is. He writes, but when God who set me apart from my mother's womb and called me by his grace, was pleased to reveal his son in me so that I might preach him among the Gentiles, my immediate response was not to consult any human being.
I did not go to Jerusalem to see those who were apostles before I was, but I went to into Arabia. Later, I returned to Damascus. Then after three years, I went up to Jerusalem to get acquainted with Cephas and stayed with him 15 days. The thing that's interesting about what he says here is that God set him apart from his mother's womb and called him by God's grace.
All along, God was intending to take this man who is persecuting the church and to claim him as his own to reveal the glory of his power in taking such a man and making him his apostle.
And we also see some other interesting things here. It says that he went into Arabia and it's been speculated that in this time that he must have had some discourse with, with the Lord, and being able to comprehend the totality of the gospel message because later on when he shows up in Jerusalem and he explains his understanding of the gospel the apostle's are like, yeah, you got it. You know this inside and out. Now it says he went into Arabia. And that gets our imagination stirring like, oh, he went into Arabia. Well, something we should understand is when we're talking about Arabia, we're not talking about the lower part of the southern part of the Arabian Peninsula.
As we know where Saudi Arabia is. More likely when we're talking about Arabia, we're talking about this area. You'll see it here in the lower corner. It says Arabia Petraea. And if you were to look it up on a map today, you might be able to find the location, Petra, which is the location depicted in this picture here.
It was the region of the Kingdom of Nabatea And so he didn't have to go too, too far, but he went outside the boundaries of Israel, Syria. He went outside the boundaries of, in fact, the Roman Empire. He kind of got away for some time. And then it's interesting because Luke doesn't comment on this, on this period.
He just kind of gives us an abridged account here.
It says that, Luke goes on to tell us about how he goes to, how he's in Damascus and he ends up in Jerusalem, and that's what we pick up on here in verse 23. We see this great ironic twist where Saul the hunter becomes the hunted. It says, after many days had gone by, there was a conspiracy among the Jews to kill him, but Saul learned of their plan.
Day and night, they kept close watch on the city gates in order to kill him, but his followers took him by night and lowered him in a basket through an opening in the wall. When he came to Jerusalem, he tried to join the disciples, but they were all afraid of him, not believing he really was a disciple.
So Paul got on the bad side of some people. And Luke tells us that there was a conspiracy among the Jews to kill him. It's interesting to bring that together with what Saul says of his time in Damascus in second Corinthians 11:32 through 33, because he says there, in Damascus, the governor under King Aretas had the city of the Damascenes guarded in order to rest me, but I was lowered in a basket from a window in the wall and slipped through his hands.
So the thing that's kind of interesting to bring those together is Luke says that it was the Jews conspiring to kill Saul. Paul says later that King Aretas, who was the king of Nabatea, gave the governor of Damascus an order to get him. We can probably understand that there must have been some political manipulation here to get the powers of state to also kind of join in in trying to get him. To not allow him to leave the city of Damascus.
But he escapes in the most kind of peculiar of ways, he escapes over the wall in a basket. And this wouldn't have been any small basket obviously. It could have turned into a blooper video. You know, it is like, oh, you know, it was a big basket, very strong basket. And it was sufficient to get him out of the city of Damascus.
And he goes to Jerusalem and he tries to join the disciples there. But they're very familiar with Saul. You know, he had shown up in Damascus and people had heard about his reputation. But they had seen his transformation immediately. They never really got to know Saul, the persecutor. Well, the disciples in Jerusalem know this man.
He's the guy that's taken their brothers and sisters, husbands, wives, sons, daughters, imprisoned them, killed them, and now he's back and he's claiming that he's a believer. And it's difficult to blame them for being a tad skeptical. They know how twisted this guy and maybe he would go to such lengths as to pretend to believe, to be a believer in order to really find them out and really get them.
Now we don't know where things would've ended up, whether they would've ever trusted him, if not for the fact that there is a disciple, there is a believer who intercedes for him. Verse 27, it says, but Barnabas took him and brought him to the apostles. He told them how Saul on his journey had seen the Lord and that the Lord had spoken to him, how in Damascus he had preached fearlessly in the name of Jesus.
So Saul stayed with them and moved about freely in Jerusalem, speaking boldly in the name of the Lord. So Barnabas, who we've heard about before, it's a nickname, means son of encouragement, Barnabas intervenes on Saul's behalf saying, no, this is real. He actually has been transformed. He actually has been baptized in Jesus Christ, and it's enough to persuade the apostles, and so he stays with them.
He's speaking boldly, and as he's speaking boldly, as he's preaching, more trouble is created. Verse 29 says, he talks and debated with the Hellenistic Jews, but they tried to kill him. When the believers learned of this, they took him down to Caesarea and sent him off to Tarsus. Then the church throughout Judea, Galilee, and Samaria enjoyed a time of peace and was strengthened. Living in the fear of the Lord and encouraged by the Holy Spirit, it increased in numbers.
So it says that he talked and debated with the Hellenistic Jews here and we wonder, you know, we, when we talked about Stephen, it was noted that there was a synagogue of freedmen and the synagogue was made up of Jews from areas around the Mediterranean. You kind of wonder whether he may have been debating with the very same people who conspired to kill Stephen.
And so no surprise, when the debate's not going their way, rather than saying like, okay, we lose, or like, I'm just done talking with that guy. It's is like, we're gonna kill him. We don't like that. He's making us look foolish. And since they actually tried, it wasn't just an idea. They tried to kill him. You know, we don't know exactly what, what they tried to do, but they tried to kill him.
They were not successful. And when the believers learned of this, they decide, okay. Best to kind of get you out of dodge, which is interesting. It's, again, there's a note. Christians have to be willing to be ready to suffer, but we also don't need to be foolish. It's okay to make tactical, tactical moves and relocate at times.
And it says that they moved him back to Tarsus, which was his hometown. You can see a little map here. It went down to, went up to Caesarea. And it ended up back up Tarsus. That's kind of like the southern part of Turkey, and Luke records that after this time, you know, we've just gone through a great period of tumult starting off when Stephen was killed, and then Saul persecuting the believers.
The believers are scattered all through the area, but now it says that Judea, Galilee, and Samaria enjoyed a time of peace and was strengthened. There was some relief from everything that they were suffering, and it says that they increased in numbers during this time. And kind of the keys of their, their growth here are, are given.
It says they were living in the fear of the Lord and encouraged by the Holy Spirit. And when it says they're living in the fear of the Lord, that doesn't mean they're like, like, like scared, like that. It means that they feared God more than man. They were committing to being obedient to Jesus Christ no matter what, and encouraged by the Holy Spirit. They were going about just doing the things that church is supposed to be doing, worshiping God, building up the body, showing love to others, preaching the gospel. That's, that's what it looks like, the church, for the church to thrive as we live in fear of the Lord, not in, not in fear of man, what other people might think, living, I'm gonna follow Jesus and what he tells us to do. And walking by the power of the Holy Spirit, that's when the church truly flourishes.
So now, among this increasing number of believers is included the most unlikely convert of all. Saul. Saul, who tended the coats of those stoning Stephen, Saul, who hunted down men and women, imprisoned them, killed them for following Jesus, Saul, whose very breath was threats.
None of the believers turned Saul to Jesus. It was Jesus himself, Jesus, who confronted him on the road to Damascus and turned his life upside down. And yes, from there, Ananias was sent Saul's way and Saul was eventually surrounded by all the believers. No man saved Saul except the God man. The man, the son of God, the Son of man, Jesus Christ.
And it was only by the spirit that this former persecutor of Christ was requisitioned to preach Christ to the nations. We see here the power of God is the same power that saved me and you. Same power that can redeem any person from Satan's grasp. And so my appeal to you is this. Believe in the power of God.
Don't write anyone off. Not because there is something redeemable in them. There is not. The world says, oh, there's some kernel of good in everybody. There is not. We all like sheep have gone astray. There's no one who is righteous. No, not one. But Jesus is the shepherd who leaves the 99 to go after the one.
The one who seems as good as gone. Believe in the power of God, pray, believing that God can do what seems impossible and when God leads, follow the example of Ananias and step into the miraculous work that God is about to perform. Let us pray.
Father, we, we thank you for this awesome testimony of your grace.
It gives us both encouragement and hope, father. It encourages us, father, because we see that even as you have shown such great grace to a man like Saul who did so many wicked things, you have shown us that same grace. You have taken us out of the darkness and into the light and given us a new life, and we thank you for that Father.
We, we find great hope in this passage, father, because in it we are reminded of your power that no one is beyond the grasp of your grace. And so Father, we lift up those that came to mind today. Every person that came to mind, to all of you who contemplate those people, that just seem impossible. Father, we lift these people before you.
And we ask that by the power of the Holy Spirit, you would reach them with your grace, that you would turn their hearts to Christ and that insofar as you would use us, father, that when we hear you say go, we would be obedient and go, father, because we trust not in our strength or in the strength of any human being, but in your power to change the hearts of those who seem the furthest away from you. We ask this in the name of Jesus Christ, our Lord.
Hey there, Pastor Tom here. I hope you enjoyed this sermon I offered to Rockland Community Church. Rockland Community Church is located at 212 Rockland Road in North Scituate, Rhode Island, just around the bend from the Scituate Public High School. We invite you to join us in person or virtually this Sunday as we celebrate the resurrection of Jesus Christ. It's our joy to welcome you into our community.
Intro/Outro Song
Title: River Meditation
Artist: Jason Shaw
Source:http://freemusicarchive.org/music/Jason_Shaw/Audionautix_Acoustic/RIVER_MEDITATION___________2-58
License:(CC BY 3.0 US)