So Acts Chapter 9, verse one. 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. 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 will be told what you must do.
The man travelling with Saul stood there speechless.
They heard the sound but did 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 to him in a
vision. Ananias.
Yes, Lord, he answered. The Lord told him Go to the
House of Judas on Straight St. and asked for a man from Tarsus
named Saul, for he is praying and 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 the Israel.
I will show him how much he must suffer for my name.
Then 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. So we are back in the book of
Acts this morning and a quick reminder to us all.
It's been a few weeks, but the the book of Acts, this is, if
you like, the theological history of the early church in
the years following Jesus death on the cross, his resurrection
of the dead, his ascension into heaven.
The book of Acts is a history. That's one of the ways to think
of it. Luke, he writes, he's a reliable
historian. He has spent time talking to
eyewitnesses, recording what they said.
In fact, the the further you get into the book of Acts, Luke
himself becomes an eyewitness. Luke is one of the Apostle
Paul's travelling companions. By the time he arrives in the
teens, it begins to say we did this, we did that.
So this is a reliable history of the early church, but it's also
a theological history. It's not just about people.
It's about what the living God was doing through his church in
those early years following Jesus life, death and
resurrection. It's a record of the risen Jesus
powerfully at work in this world through the Holy Spirit.
So the book of Acts, it reminds us who we are if we're followers
of Jesus and what our purpose is in this world.
It reminds us we are witnesses for Jesus in this real world, in
the power of the Holy Spirit. And that is to define who we are
and what we do as a local church and as individual followers of
Jesus. And this morning, as Kit's
already said, we come to a big moment in the book of Acts, Acts
Chapter 9, the conversion of Saul when the risen Jesus breaks
into the life of a man called Saul, also called Paul on the
road outside the city of Damascus and he transformed
Saul's life forever. This is sort of easily the most
famous conversion story in church history.
And even the phrase sort of a Damascus Rd. experience is 1.
You'll even hear from people who maybe don't know anything about
the Bible. Damascus Rd. experience or you
had a Damascus moment basically means a sudden change and about
turn a transformation from what you used to think to what you
now think. So the conversion of Saul, it is
a big deal in the book of Acts. Luke thinks it's so important.
Actually, he records it for us three times.
So here in Chapter 9, and then later in Paul's own words in
chapters 22 and 26 and later in life as an apostle, Saul, who
became known as Paul, talked about his conversion multiple
times in his letters to churches.
Just one example from One Timothy chapter 1, Paul writes
here, is a trustworthy saying that deserves full acceptance.
Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners, of whom I am
the worst. But for that very reason I was
shown mercy, so that in me the worst of sinners, Christ Jesus
might display his immense patience as an example for those
who believe in him and receive eternal life.
Why does Paul keep going back to this story of his conversion in
the letters he writes to churches?
I believe he wants to encourage his readers.
Paul wants to see that if Jesus can save him, Jesus can save
anyone. Paul wants his readers to see
even the hardest heart can be softened by God.
Even the most unlikely person can encounter the risen Jesus
and experience forgiveness and new life with him.
If Jesus can save someone like Saul, the worst of sinners,
Jesus can save anyone. And another reason why the
conversion of Saul so significant is we learn in verse
15 that Saul or Paul is Jesus chosen instrument to proclaim
his name to the ends of the earth.
So you write from the beginning of the book of Acts, the risen
Jesus gives his disciples an astonishing mission, what sounds
like an impossible mission. A chapter one verse 8.
Jesus says you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes
on you and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem and in
all Judea and Samaria and to the ends of the earth.
That is Jesus will for his people, the risen Jesus causing
his followers to offer God salvation to all people
everywhere. And it doesn't take long to
think, well, that sounds impossible.
How do we do it? Well, he says we do it in the
power of the Holy Spirit. And actually he's going to do it
through this man's soul who's going to be his messenger to the
Gentiles, the non Jewish people. Up to this point in the book of
Acts, the vast majority of Christians followers of Jesus
have been Jewish. They've been living in
Jerusalem, that's chapters one to seven.
Or they've been living in Judea and Samaria, that's chapter 8.
But here we meet the person called by the risen Jesus to
take his gospel to the ends of the earth.
Look down at verse 15 and Jesus words to Ananias.
This man is my chosen instrument to proclaim my name to the
Gentiles and their kings and to the people of Israel.
I will show him how much he must suffer from my name.
So Jesus wants the good news of of his saving work to go to all
people everywhere, to Jews and Gentiles, to the ends of the
earth. And astonishingly, the person he
chooses to do that job is this man Saul, later called Paul.
And that's what we're going to see over and over again in the
book of Acts. So let's look at this passage
together and think, what does it mean in the book of Acts and
what does it mean for us today? So things are very easily.
There's like 3 main characters in this passage.
You've got Saul, the enemy of the early church.
You've got Jesus, the one who breaks into Saul's life here.
And you've got Ananias, an ordinary disciple used in
extraordinary ways by Jesus. So let's look at each one of
these characters in turn, first of all.
Then there's Saul, the enemy of the early church.
That's verses 1 and 2. And actually, if you take a step
back from Acts Chapter 9, in Acts chapters 8 to 10, there's
actually three conversions that Luke records for us.
We've got the Ethiopian eunuch in chapter 8.
We looked at that just before Christmas.
We've got Saul here in Chapter 9, and we've got Cornelius, a
Roman centurion in chapter 10. We're going to look at that in a
couple of weeks time. And of those 3 individuals,
interestingly, Saul's the only Jewish person, but he's also the
one furthest away from Jesus at the beginning when we meet him.
See, unlike the Ethiopian eunuch in chapter 8, he's not searching
the scriptures and wondering what they mean.
Unlike Cornelius, the Roman centurion in chapter 10, he's
not described as devout and God fearing, giving generously to
those in need, praying to God regularly.
Now this is how Saul is described when we meet him.
Meanwhile, Saul was still breathing out murderous threats
against the Lord's disciples. Such a vivid description, like
you're sitting near Saul and you could feel his breath, smell his
breath is a lovely, lovely thought.
It's just murder. He hates Jesus, the message
about him, and he hates people who follow Jesus.
And he is making his life mission to put an end to these
followers of Jesus. Back in Chapter 7, we looked up
before Christmas. Saul supported the killing of
the church leader, Stephen by stoning at the beginning of
chapter 8, we're told he began to destroy the church in
Jerusalem, began dragging off men and women into prison.
That's chapter 8. And it's because of Saul that
the early believers were scattered from Jerusalem and
sent out into the surrounding areas.
Saul is determined to destroy the church.
He's made it his life mission and picks up the story in
Chapter 9, telling us that Saul is looking for any followers of
Jesus who might have fled from Jerusalem and ended up in a
different city. The city he chooses to visit is
a place called Damascus. It's about 135 miles from
Jerusalem, about a week's journey on foot.
And he had a large Jewish population and several Jewish
synagogues. And Saul's suspicion is that in
those synagogues there are Jewish people who secretly
follow Jesus, and maybe they're beginning to tell their fellow
Jewish believers about Jesus. And Saul is determined to stop
them. Verse 2.
His intention is to arrest anyone in those synagogues who
belongs to the way we're going to see in a second.
That's a way that Christians identified themselves in the 1st
century. Saul's determined to destroy the
church, to snuff out the message of the crucified Jesus before it
could spread any further. As we learn about Saul here,
what do you learn about the early church as you learn this?
And it's a truth that is winding Saul up.
The early church is continuing to grow in spite of souls
persecution. Look back at Acts 8 verse 4.
Just flick back one page. Saul, he, he drives out so many
followers of Jesus from the city of Jerusalem.
But verse 4, those who had been scattered preached the Word
wherever they went. See, the early church wasn't
silent about Jesus. They proclaimed Jesus wherever
they went. Actually, thanks to Saul's
persecution, the good news of Jesus is now stretched far
beyond Jerusalem, across Judea and Samaria.
It even reached as far as the city of Damascus, 135 miles away
from Jerusalem. See, Saul's discovering
something, much to his anger and frustration.
The good news of Jesus cannot be stopped or silenced by
persecution. And actually we learn in this
chapter, the early believers, they're not only growing,
they're also beginning to describe themselves in various
ways to identify that they belong to Jesus.
We get several descriptions of the early church in Acts 9, Acts
verse one, they're described as the Lord's disciples.
People who follow Jesus learn from Jesus in their lives.
Verse 2 they're described as those belonging to the way these
believers saw themselves as traveling together in faith in
Jesus towards the new creation towards the time when they will
meet the living God. There were those belonging to
the way. Verse 13 Ananias talks about
Jesus holy people or Saints. He says these these ordinary
men, women, children, actually they are holy in God's sight.
They belong to Jesus. They are precious to him and
verse 14 he talks about all who call on Jesus name that defines
these believers. They are those who pray to
Jesus, call out to Jesus, cry out to Jesus both individually
and separately. The early church is growing
because the risen Jesus is committed to helping it grow.
He loves his church and Saul hates it.
The soul travels this 135 plus mile journey from Jerusalem to
Damascus and he's about to arrive in the city to start
looking for Christians in the local synagogues when something
completely unexpected happens to him.
Verse 3 As Saul near 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. See, make no mistake, this is a
sovereign act of God's mercy. This is the risen Jesus breaking
into Saul's life when Saul had no intention of ever coming to
know Jesus again. Just compare Saul with the other
conversions in chapter 8 and chapter 10.
The Ethiopian eunuch. He is looking for answers.
He is looking for the living God.
Cornelius. In chapter 10, we're going to
see he's looking for answers. He's looking for the living God,
but not Saul. Saul thinks he knows exactly who
the living God is, and it's definitely not Jesus.
That crucified liar, that criminal on a cross.
Saul rejected Jesus. He hated Jesus followers.
And yet here is the risen Jesus taking hold of Saul and utterly
turning his life around out of sheer grace.
Not because Saul was looking for Jesus.
Because Jesus was looking for Saul.
It's an astonishing moment. Oh, you need to be clear that
actually this isn't everyone's experience of coming to faith.
Sometimes Jesus work in calling people to faith in him is gentle
and gradual. There's a verse in Revelation
chapter 3 that's often slightly misquoted, but it says this.
Behold, I stand at the door and knock.
If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in
and eat with that person and they with me.
Sometimes that is how Jesus works in someone's life,
Standing at the door, knocking, waiting for us to open.
Maybe if you're a Christian here, that is your experience.
It was a long process, gentle, gradual.
But here we need to see that Jesus isn't standing at the door
and knocking. Jesus is kicking the door down
of Saul's life. Jesus taking hold of Saul, he
breaks into Saul's life and utterly transforms it because he
has loving purposes for Saul's life.
See, what are we to make of this?
I think in many ways we need to be honest that this is a unique
conversion experience, the story of Saul on the road to Damascus.
There's several things that uniquely happened to Saul that
we shouldn't expect will happen to other people who come to
faith. So a light shone from heaven.
Saul fell to the ground. He heard his name called by
Jesus, presumably in Aramaic. Those details aren't shared by
other followers of Jesus. We shouldn't expect to share
those. And a big part of the uniqueness
of this call is this is the risen Jesus calling Saul as an
apostle. This is actually the physically
risen Jesus appearing to Saul. The apostle Paul, as he called
him to have, later refers to this in one Corinthians 15.
He says this is the last appearance of the risen Jesus
because he's the least of all the apostles, says Saul.
It's a unique moment. But in other ways, Saul's
conversion is a picture of any and every Christian's conversion
because at its heart, on the road to Damascus, Saul has a
personal encounter with the risen Jesus, which is in a
matter of days leads Saul to repent of his old way of life,
to put his faith in Jesus, and to commit the rest of his life
to serving Jesus as Lord. I must say that's what happens
in the life of every single Christian believer.
At the beginning of their story, we have a personal encounter
with Jesus. He's not just an idea anymore,
not just someone you read about in a book.
He is personally alive and presenting himself to us, but
he, he, he calls us to repent, to turn away from a life of
ignoring him and rejecting him. He calls us to put our faith in
him and to commit to following him for the rest of our lives.
Now, for some people, I mean most people, that process is
gentle and gradually happens over a long time.
But for some people, even in this room, it happens very
quickly, bewilderingly quickly. For some people, it's a
profoundly emotional experience that floors them.
Other people, it's it's quite calm.
Oh, oh, actually, yeah. I, I believe this.
Sometimes transformation in someone's life is, is utter and
immediate. For other people, it is a long,
lifelong process of change. Everyone's story of coming to
faith in Jesus is unique and different.
That is why baptismal services are such a joy.
It's the same Jesus saving people, but he does it in unique
and distinctive ways in the lives of individual believers.
But for all of us, becoming a follower of Jesus is a
supernatural work of God's grace, where we see Jesus
clearly for the first time and we put our faith in him and him
alone. That is the picture of
conversion we get in Acts 9, and it's a picture, actually, that
applies to every believer at its heart.
So what does Saul learn about Jesus on the road to Damascus?
He actually learns a huge amount.
There's there's an argument actually that that this
experience is what kind of drives Saul in all his letters
to explore more and more of who Jesus is, what it means to
belong to him. First thing, Jesus, that Saul
realizes that Jesus is Lord. And that's a realization that
comes so quickly when Jesus appears to him, verse 5, he
hears this voice from heaven calling his name and he
responds, who are you Lord? And the answer receives, I am
Jesus, whom you are persecuting. So before this moment, Saul had
lots of strong opinions about who Jesus was.
Jesus, Well, he was a false teacher, He was a false prophet.
He was the false Messiah. He was someone under God's curse
because he had died hanging on a tree.
And the Old Testament says if you die hanging on a tree,
you're under God's curse. That's why Saul is so offended
by the Christian saying, no, he's he's risen, he's Lord, he's
the son of God. Saul was that cannot be true.
But now when Jesus meets with Saul and called Saul by name,
Saul realizes suddenly this Jesus, he is Lord.
Up to this moment, Saul thought he was doing God's work in this
world by trying to wipe out the church.
And I, Saul realizes he's been on the wrong side the whole
time. He's been utterly wrong about
Jesus. He's been opposing God's
purposes in the world. Saul discovers that Jesus is
Lord, and that changed everything for Saul.
And I want to argue that something similar has to happen
in each one of our lives. For many people, we can have
lots of different opinions about Jesus.
They might be more positive than Saul's ones usually.
Maybe Jesus is a great teacher. He's a good man.
He's a social revolutionary. He's a spiritual giant.
He's someone we should really listen to if we want to live a
good life. See, there comes a point in each
one of our lives we're like Saul here.
We need to reckon with Jesus as far more than any of those
things. We have to see Jesus and the way
he talks about himself in the things he does ultimately and
supremely when he dies and rises again, that Jesus is Lord and we
need to commit our lives to him. We need to ask Him to help us
follow Him. We cannot sit on the fence any
longer. We can't ignore Him any longer.
We need to come to a decision about him.
Is Jesus Lord? If so, that changes everything.
If not, we could just carry on where you were.
But this changes everything for Saul.
Jesus is Lord and we need to follow him.
That is the message Saul, later Paul brought with him across the
Roman world. There's another message Saul
later Paul brought to the Roman world that he glimpsed sight of
even in his very first encounter with Jesus, and it's this.
Jesus loves his people deeply and he identifies with his
people completely. And look again at Jesus first
words to soul, soul ask the question, who are you, Lord?
And he says I am Jesus whom you are persecuting.
And you might sort of put yourself in Saul's head and and
maybe he's straight me going, but but hang on Jesus, I haven't
been persecuting you at all. I mean, yeah, I've been
persecuting your followers, but, but that's different.
I've not been persecuting you. You mean you're, you're off the
scene. I'm just having to go at your
people. Jesus.
What Saul discovers in this moment shaped his understanding
of Jesus and of the church for the rest of his life.
He hears from Jesus here that Jesus loves his people deeply.
Jesus says if you persecute my people, you're persecuting me.
If you have a go at my people, you're having a go at me.
If you insult my people, you're insulting me.
I am with my people. I am as close to them as it is
possible to be. Saul learns here a picture of
Jesus that he goes back to again and again, his letters that the
church is the body of Christ. We are connected to him in a
supernatural way. He is the head, we are the body.
We are united to Jesus through faith and by the Holy Spirit.
He is present with us through his Spirit.
He's as close to us today and is as is possible for him to be.
And that means whenever his people suffer, whenever his
people struggle, Jesus is right there with them.
Jesus suffers alongside US. He identifies with us.
He is present with us. When Jesus followers suffer,
Jesus suffers soul. Discover something here that
he's going to take a lifetime to unpack.
Jesus is closer to us than we realize and we are closer to him
than we realize. We are the body of Christ.
And the third thing Saul discovers about Jesus is what
would just fuel his evangelism and his commitment to taking the
gospel around the world. We've already really seen it
this morning. Jesus can save anyone.
Jesus can save anyone if Jesus can save someone like Saul,
someone who hated Jesus, who hated Jesus followers, a violent
persecutor determined to destroy the church.
Then Saul became convinced Jesus can save anyone.
No one is beyond saving in this world.
No one is too far gone to respond to Jesus invitation to
new life. The gospel message needs to be
offered to everyone and anyone. None of us can make the
decision. I think this friend or family
members probably open. This friend and family member.
No, they would never be interested.
Actually, no, it needs to be offered to everyone because Saul
reminds US Jesus and save anyone.
So back to our passage. This encounter with the risen
Jesus has a huge and immediate impact on Saul.
We're told Saul is blinded. Verse 8, Saul got up from the
ground. When he opened his eyes, he
could see nothing. This blindness is probably a
sign of God's judgement on Saul. Saul is brought low by this
encounter with Jesus. He thought he'd arrive in
Damascus with great power and ceremony to terrify any
followers of Jesus. Instead, he is led by the hand
by his companions, a blind, stumbling man.
Saul is blinded and soul is humbled.
Verse 9, For three days he didn't eat or drink anything.
He's just utterly overcome by what's happened.
Fasting in the Bible is a sign of repentance and humility
before God, we're told in verses 11 and 12.
Saul spends this time praying. He's trying to get his head and
heart around what has just happened, who Jesus really is,
why he'd gotten Jesus so terribly wrong.
He is humbled by meeting the risen Jesus.
And you can imagine Saul in those moments, just thinking,
well, that's him. There is no way back for someone
like me. You think I remember what I did,
all those followers of Jesus, I threw you into prison.
How could Jesus ever forgive me for that?
Think of Steven, I said it was there when he was stoned to
death, bloody stones hurled at him, his family left without
him. How could Jesus ever forgive me?
I've arrogantly said to everyone, Jesus a liar.
He's a false teacher. And I, I know he's Lord.
Saul is sitting there in these three days, fasting, praying.
Is there any way back for someone like me?
And in those three days, Jesus is preparing someone to meet
Saul. He's the third person in this
passage, a man called Ananias, who accepts Saul, welcomes Saul
into the church. And so I'm reading this passage
the last couple of weeks, I've kind of fallen in love with
Ananias. I think he's just amazing.
He's an unsung hero in the early church.
He is called by Jesus to welcome Saul into the early church and
to heal him from his blindness, baptize him into the faith.
And Ananias, he's such an ordinary disciple, but he does
extraordinary things by obeying the call of Jesus.
I think Ananias shows us even the most ordinary nervous
believer can be used by Jesus to accomplish his saving purposes
in this world. To introduce to Ananias in verse
10 in the simplest of language, in Damascus there was a disciple
named Ananias. That's it.
There's no indication whether Ananias was a leader of the
Christians in in Damascus. He might have been, but he's
simply described as a disciple, a follower of Jesus, a learner
of Jesus. And Jesus appears to him and
tells him go to Saul and heal him from his blindness.
And understandably, Ananias isn't very keen to go at first.
This is part of why I love Ananias.
He's very honest with Jesus as we can be.
Verse 13 Lord Ananias answered, I've heard many reports about
this man, all the harm he has done to your holy people in
Jerusalem. And he's come here with
authority from the chief priest to arrest all who call on your
name. Ananias He's, he's nervous of
Saul. He's, he's frightened.
He's he's skeptical that Saul could ever change and in that
sense, Ananias he's just so ordinary and relatable.
Jesus, I think you're getting it wrong politely, respectfully.
Is it another St. you want me to go to another person you want me
to speak to It can't be this guy saw straight street.
Is it not like maybe I know bumpy street.
Is it not like bendy St. Go somewhere else.
It can't be Saul can it and yet Jesus is very clear with Ananias
verse 15. The Lord said to Ananias, go,
this man is my chosen instrument to proclaim my name to the
Gentiles and their kings and the people of Israel.
I will show him how much he must suffer from my name.
So Ananias obeys. He doesn't understand the whole
reasons he's he's skeptical, but he obeys.
I read a great definition of courage this week.
Courage is the ability to do something that frightens you.
That's Ananias here. He does something that frightens
him, but he does it because the risen Jesus is with him.
So Ananias turns up. He goes to my blinded, humbled
soul, and Luke picks up the story in verse 17.
Then Ananias went to the house and entered it, placing his
hands on Saul. This blind man, maybe no one has
touched since he arrived in that house.
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 you may see again and be filled with the
Holy Spirit. And immediately something like
scales fell from Saul's eyes, and he could see again.
He got up, was baptized, and after taking some food he
regained his strength. The big reason why I love
Ananias is the way he addresses Saul, the persecutor, the
violent man, the man who hates Christians like Ananias, and he
calls him brother, Brother Saul. I want to take Ananias so much
courage and faith in Jesus call to welcome a man like Saul in
spite of his fears and reservations.
I'm convinced though that greeting brother Saul that would
have stuck with Saul later Paul for the whole of his life.
He maybe was sitting with Luke as Luke records us and going
make sure you remember you write down what Ananiah said to me
brother Saul. It's a sign of God's acceptance
and welcome into the early church from Ananiah Saul.
We are brothers, we are family. I know all about you.
I know about your past, the harm you've done to the church.
But Jesus told me to come to you and to welcome you into his
church in his name, and that is what I am going to do.
Ananias, from all we know from Scripture, was given one job.
Again, Ananias, unlike Saul, he didn't go on to take the gospel
to the ends of the earth. He didn't become an apostle.
He didn't go on to write most of the New Testament.
Ananias had one job, to speak to one person and to welcome them
in Jesus name, to pray for them to bring Jesus healing to their
lives. And he did it nervously with
questions, but he did it. Ananias is such a picture to us
of Jesus using even the most ordinary believer to accomplish
his purposes in this world. We each have a part to play.
Ananias is this unsung hero. So as we prepare to leave this
passage, what does all this have to say to us today?
We've already said that souls conversion is the most famous
conversion in church history. There is so much about it that
is unique. The bright light, the audible
voice, the calling of an apostle.
But at his heart, soul meets Jesus on the road to Damascus.
He recognizes that Jesus is Lord.
He turns away from an old life of ignoring and rejecting Jesus,
and he puts his faith in him, and he commits himself to
following Jesus wherever Jesus will lead him.
Again, if you're a believer here today, as I am, maybe your story
is a lot less dramatic than souls.
It probably is, but it's no less life transforming.
It's the same Jesus, the same Lord who calls you out of
darkness into His light. It's the same Jesus, the same
Lord who calls you to trust in Him for the rest of your life.
It's the same Jesus, the same Lord who has work for you to do
that only you can do for him in this world, becoming a follower
of Jesus. It's a supernatural work of God
when we see Jesus clearly and we follow Him as Lord.
I want to ask, have you done that today?
Are you living with him as Lord today?
Because Jesus can save anyone. So what do you think, Sir?
Paul keeps talking about his conversion.
Is he kind of self obsessed? Is he just one of these guys
likes to talk about himself? But no, again and again Paul
talks about his story because he says if Jesus can save me, he
can save anyone. How do we respond by keeping
praying for our friends, our family members, our loved ones.
And if you are not a believer here this morning, maybe praying
actually, Lord, OK, you said you could soften Saul's heart.
Can you soften mine? I I'd like to trust in you, but
it just isn't happening. Could you soften my heart that
has a great prayer to pray and for loved ones?
Or do you know I'm struggling ever to believe that my brother,
my my parents, my cousin, my my friend could ever trust in you?
Keep me praying for them. Keep me speaking your truth to
them as I have the opportunity and actually as well stepping
back, keep me rejoicing that you save me in the 1st place.
It's a miracle of grace that any of us can call ourselves
Christians. And it's a beautiful truth that
Jesus loves his people deeply. He identifies with us, He is
with us, He suffers alongside us.
That's what Saul realized on the road to Damascus.
Those Christians he was persecuting, Jesus was suffering
alongside them. And if you're a follower of
Jesus here this morning and you are struggling and you're
suffering and you don't know why I don't have the answers for
you, but I can tell you that the risen Jesus is with you.
He's closer to you than you realize.
You are closer to him than you realize.
And he stands with you and he does not walk away from you
because we are his body. We are as close to him as it's
possible to be. And that a precious truth that
strengthened Saul, Paul and his life and can strengthen any of
us in our lives. And of course, Ananias, even the
most ordinary believer, can be used by Jesus.
We kind of often just rule ourselves out.
We look at more impressive Christians going, well, yeah,
that's the person that Jesus usually doesn't use, me.
I remember Ananias, this ordinary man we know next to
nothing about, who welcomed Saul in the name of Jesus, accepted
him into the church through faith in Jesus, and that one man
was used by Jesus to bring the gospel to the ends of the earth.
Ananias didn't know that. We don't even know if Ananias
lived for a long time to see something of what Saul, later
Paul, went on to do. Ananias just follow Jesus and
listen to his call and obeyed his call when it was made.
Let's be encouraged by an ordinary believer like Ananias
that Jesus can use us this year. Acts Chapter 9, the conversion
of Saul. It's a turning point in the book
of Acts. This is Jesus chosen instrument,
Saul to proclaim his name to the Gentiles.
And Saul says this is a message for every single one of us.
Here is a trustworthy saying that deserves full acceptance.
Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners, of whom I am
the worst. But for that very reason, I was
shown mercy so that in me the worst of sinners, Christ Jesus,
might display his immense patience as an example for those
who would believe in Him and receive eternal life.
Let's pray together as we finish.
Let's pray, Lord Jesus, you are able to save anyone who puts
their faith in you. Rob us of any pride or misguided
belief that that you're lucky to have us, that we somehow deserve
salvation. Instead, open our eyes to the
miracle of grace that any one of us can trust in you, Lord Jesus,
and call your Father our Father. Lord Jesus, thank you that you
revealed to Saul on that road. Just how intimately close you
are to every one of your people, especially when we are
suffering. Lord Jesus, strengthen us to
know that you are closer to us than we realize, and we are
closer to you than we realize. And Lord Jesus, would you use us
for your saving purposes even this year?
We don't know what the year ahead holds, what changes are
coming, what opportunities, what challenges, But Lord Jesus,
would we, like Ananias, just be those who seek to listen to your
voice through your word, by your Spirit, and to obey it and to
live for you as your people in this world, trusting that you
will then use us in the ways that you choose to bring glory
to your name. And we ask this in your name,
Lord Jesus, thanking you for your astonishing grace.
Amen.