Okay, Book of Acts, chapter 9, starting at verse 1.
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 anyone belonging to the way, men or women,
he might bring them down 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 grounds, 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.
And 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 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 in 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 the 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.
For some days he was with the disciples at Damascus, and immediately he proclaimed Jesus in the synagogues,
saying, He is the Son of God.
And all who heard him were amazed, and said,
Is this not the man who made havoc in Jerusalem of those who called upon this name?
And has he not come here for the purpose, to bring them bound before the chief priests?
But Saul increased all the more in strength, and confounded the Jews who lived in Damascus,
by proving that Jesus was the Christ.
When many days had passed, the Jews plotted to kill him.
But their plot became known to Saul.
They were watching the gates day and night in order to kill him.
But his disciples took him by night and led him down through an opening in the wall,
lowering him in a basket.
And when he had come to Jerusalem, he attempted to join the disciples, and they were all afraid of him,
for they did not believe that he was a disciple.
But Barnabas took him and brought him to the apostles, and declared to them how on the road he had seen the Lord,
who spoke to him, and how at Damascus he had preached boldly in the name of Jesus.
So he went in and out among them at Jerusalem, preaching boldly in the name of the Lord.
And he spoke and disputed against the Hellenists, but they were seeking to kill him.
And when the brothers learned this, they brought him down to Caesarea and sent him off to Tarsus.
So the church throughout all Judea and Galilee and Samaria had peace and were being built up.
And walking in the fear of the Lord and in the comfort of the Holy Spirit, it multiplied.
This is God's word to us today.
May we be blessed.
Good morning, everyone.
Will you pray with me as we come to God's word?
Let's pray.
Father, I pray that wherever we're at, that you would meet us,
even as powerfully as you met Saul that day.
Lord, I know my words can't do that, but I also know your word can.
And so I pray that you would give us listening ears to your word.
In Jesus' name I pray.
Amen.
Well, I wonder what picture you have of a person who is just desperately lost.
They're just so far away from salvation, from believing in Jesus.
What kind of person does your imagination ponder up?
Is it someone who's just addicted to some substance or gambling or something and their life is spiralling down and down?
Is it that sort of testimony, that kind of person you think of?
When I saw the image of a missionary we keep in contact with, where you're just in Myanmar,
of this hall full of people blindfolded 24-7 basically, not talking to each other,
just trying to get rid of all desire.
They've never even heard of Jesus.
They just look like statues just sitting there.
Is that the kind of picture of someone, whoa, they are desperately lost?
Maybe you picture someone who's just obsessed with their money or their achievements or their beauty.
They're just trying to prove themselves day in and day out.
Maybe that's the kind of person you picture is desperately lost.
Could someone being desperately lost look more like what you and I are doing right now?
Is that possible?
That what you and I, myself included, even preaching or sitting and attending church,
is it possible that is close to a picture of someone really, really lost?
Well, in our time in Acts, this term, we have seen Jesus' unstoppable word of salvation go out.
And it's happened through such unlikely means.
It's the death of Stephen and persecution that has spread his people out into Judea and Samaria.
And it's brought in the most unlikely people.
People who have been hostile to God for centuries, the Samaritans, but they're now reconciled.
They're brought in.
People who think, like the eunuch, they will never, ever, ever be allowed to come into God's place.
But they get that embrace of Jesus.
So the most unlikely people.
But if we've got all this good news, and if we've, in all this good news,
we might have forgotten what's actually going on in the landscape.
There is a huge threat.
And Luke reminds us of that in verse 1.
And Saul is still breathing out threats and murder against the disciples of the Lord.
He was there giving approval to Stephen's death.
So when it says murder, Luke's not exaggerating.
Saul is a picture of someone who is incredibly lost.
Today we're going to see just how unstoppable Jesus' grace is.
I think I want to take us through.
I think we see three things in this passage.
We see that his grace is so unstoppable that it can take someone who thinks they're on the right path
and just doesn't want to hear a word about it
and turn them into someone who willingly suffers for Jesus.
We're going to see that even with that profound change in Saul,
that the church had a real hard time accepting him.
The grace that they loved to have for themselves,
it was really hard to accept someone else.
And I think we also see the transformation in Saul's life.
When people saw him and heard him,
they just couldn't deny it.
He's just such a testimony to the grace of God found in Jesus
that they just couldn't deny it.
They didn't know what to do with it.
So that's where we're headed this morning.
Saul is the picture of the most lost person you can imagine.
Let's imagine Saul on the road that day.
Your law, O Lord, is a lamp for my feet.
That's how the Old Testament describes the law.
It's a lamp for my path.
I am walking the right way on the road to Damascus.
We find out when he talks about his conversion later on,
it is the middle of the day.
He's in the noonday sun.
He thinks he's walking on the right path to God.
I know God approves of me.
I am surpassing my peers in knowledge of the Scriptures.
I'm surpassing my peers in obedience to the requirements of the law.
And now I'm surpassing my peers in holy zeal.
I am leading the way for the honour of your name, God.
For the honour of Moses.
For the honour of the temple.
For the honour of your son, Israel.
I'm just burning with passion.
How dare they claim that Moses pointed to this man.
Have they not read Moses?
Cursed is everyone who's hung on a tree.
How dare they say that?
How dare they claim that a temple now points to a human being?
And I hear that they're even allowing Samaritans and eunuchs to come in,
as unclean as they are.
They're profaning the high priest.
They're profaning the sacrifices.
How we can be made right with God.
How dare they claim that the Holy Spirit has come.
The Spirit would never, ever lead people to worship a human being.
Zeal for you consumes me.
I'm like Phineas who sees this blasphemy for what it is.
I want to throw a spear through it.
He is so sure he's on the right path.
God bless my trip.
Now this isn't in scripture, okay?
Bless my trip.
As the noonday sun lights my path,
as you stoned that blasphemous Stephen,
bless me.
Help me capture every man and woman
to get rid of this,
this heresy,
those who follow the way.
And in the noonday sun,
it's an even greater light.
Knocks him to the ground.
He thought he was righteous
until he saw this light.
He saw the righteous one.
He heard a voice saying,
Saul,
why are you persecuting me?
Who are you, Lord?
I am Jesus,
whom you
are persecuting.
Now he was sure
he was on the righteous path.
He could see where he was going.
Now he's blind.
But he was sure
he was leading the way
and now he's got to be led by the hand.
He once fasted
to observe the law.
He is so struck
by this experience.
For three days,
he's just,
he's just dismantled
to the core.
He doesn't think of eating
and drinking.
He's just so overwhelmed
by who he has seen.
And he's sitting in darkness.
Just,
he's broken down.
His world is broken down.
His idea of God
is broken down.
His idea of himself
being right with God
and who he is.
He's just broken down
and he's sitting in darkness.
And I just,
the last thing
that's just burned
into his image
is seeing Jesus.
And he's got three days.
Think about that.
I think he experiences
a kind of death
for those three days.
I want to pause here.
If you think
becoming a Christian
is committing
to a lifestyle,
if you think
that's what the call
of Christianity is,
come and live
this lifestyle,
I hope that idea dies.
See the conversion
of Saul.
it is not putting
on a lifestyle.
It's actually
being confronted
by a Jesus
that actually
breaks you down
to the core
of your being.
It's being confronted
with a God
who is there.
He's bigger
than your ideas
of him.
There's some things
about him
that you won't
like
because
he's there.
He's bigger
than your own
thoughts
and your own
desires
of what you
want God
to be.
And Saul
encountered that
God.
We all must
encounter him.
That's conversion.
Encountering
a Jesus
who is there
and he breaks
you first.
I just wonder
what was going
through Saul's
mind
for those
three days.
Jesus really
is alive.
He's alive.
He's in heaven.
He can enter
this world
whenever he pleases
as if it's
his world.
His glory
outshines
the sun.
It has blinded
me.
He chose
to remove
my sight.
He's given
me a vision
that a man
that I came
to arrest
and maybe
beat,
maybe kill
is going
to come
and restore
my sight.
He can
choose when
to take
my sight
and when
to give
it.
And yet
he died.
I know
he died.
He was
cursed
on that
tree.
But he's
vindicated.
God has
vindicated
him.
If he's
vindicated,
that curse
mustn't have
been for
him.
His sin,
it must
have been
for others.
I thought
I was
righteous.
I thought
I was doing
what God
wanted,
but oh
my goodness,
I'm
actually raging
against the
Lord and
his anointed.
God
wanted to
be
corrected.
Now who
knows what
he was
thinking.
I'm kind
of just
piecing
things
together
from other
things he's
written later
on.
God
said,
but Jesus'
unstoppable
grace,
it first
strips
Paul down
of his
self-righteousness,
of his
goodness.
I like
John Bunyan's
hymn.
John Bunyan,
I don't know if
you know the
name, he wrote
Pilgrim's
Progress.
And he
wrote this
hymn,
nothing
either great
or small,
nothing sinner,
no.
Jesus did
it, did it
all long,
long ago.
doing,
that doing
to prove
yourself,
is a
deadly
thing.
Doing
ends in
death.
Cast your
deadly
doing down,
down at
Jesus'
feet.
Stand in
him, in
him alone,
gloriously.
That's where
Saul had to
get to.
He thought
all his
doing was
walking in
the light,
but being
confronted with
the Jesus
who was
there.
He had to
lay that
doing down
and admit
it's a
deadly
thing and
look to the
righteousness
that outshines
the noonday
sun.
God's
grace.
God's
grace is
really wonderful,
and it can
even save
someone like
Saul,
someone as
lost as
him,
but maybe
you're
listening to
this and
you just
say this.
It's too
hard for me
to accept
that I'm
too far gone. My conscience plagues me.
Doubt heals me.
I want to consider
what Saul had to do to receive his salvation.
What did he do to get
Jesus' attention?
Did he do anything to make Jesus take a step towards him?
Did Jesus turn up and say,
Hey, Saul, I just want to ask your permission to
stop you in your tracks and reveal
how glorious I am. Is that okay?
Saul did nothing.
Jesus' grace is unstoppable. It is so free.
There is nothing Saul did
that warranted Jesus coming to save him.
It is that free. It has zero to do with Saul.
I think that's a comforting thought if you're thinking grace is too much for me because it's not about me.
His grace is just so free.
It's even for Saul.
And that's what he says in 1 Timothy 1
verses 15 to 16.
The saying is trustworthy and deserving of full acceptance.
We need to fully accept what he's about to say.
This is scripture.
That Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners,
of whom I am the foremost.
That I receive mercy for this reason,
that in me, as the foremost,
Jesus Christ might display his perfect patience,
his long-suffering,
as an example to those who were to believe in him for eternal life.
If you're thinking,
yes, mercy is enough for Saul,
but not me,
you need to accept what God says.
Saul's conversion is saying,
look at his perfect patience.
It's even for you.
It's even for me.
So Saul's experience,
it is unique.
Like,
not even the other apostles
get the risen,
glorified Jesus
coming to them like this,
that we know of.
His experience is unique,
but
he's given to us
as an example
of the grace of Jesus,
of what it means to be changed by him.
So I think you can know
you've encountered this Jesus,
this same Jesus,
if
he's broken down
your ideas of who you want him to be.
If he's just confronted you,
that he's there.
You can know you've met this Jesus
if he's humbled you to the dust,
where you lose confidence in self and doing.
You can know you've met this Jesus
if
his grace is even enough
for someone like Saul,
even someone like me.
Because when you meet this Jesus,
as Saul did,
it can't help but change you.
It removes self
from the centre of our life
and Saul becomes
a willing
servant
who patiently suffers
for Jesus' sake
so that others might be saved.
Huge transformation,
which we're going to come to a bit later as well.
So unstoppable grace.
But this
unstoppable grace,
it's wonderful for yourself,
but it can be terribly hard
to accept for others
in the church.
Others who believe.
I'm sure many of you
have read
or heard about
Corrie Ten Boom.
She's just so encouraging.
I'm going to use her
as an illustration again.
I'm sure many preachers have.
She lived through
the Holocaust
and after giving
a talk
on God's forgiveness
in Germany
in 1947.
So this is
fresh,
1947.
So after she gives
this talk
in the crowd,
she says this,
that's when I saw him.
It came back
with a rush,
the huge room
with its harsh
overhead lights,
the pathetic
pile of dresses
and shoes
in the centre
of the floor,
the shame
of walking
naked
past this man.
I could see
my sister's
frail form
ahead of me,
ribs sharp
beneath the
parchment skin.
Betsy,
how thin you were.
Betsy and I
had been arrested
for concealing Jews
in our home
during the Nazi
occupation of Holland.
This man had been
a guard
at Ravensbrook
concentration camp
where we were sent.
and he comes up,
you mentioned
Ravensbrook
in your talk,
he was saying.
I was a guard
there.
He did not
remember me.
But since that time,
he went on,
I have become
a Christian.
I know that God
has forgiven me
for the cruel
things I did
there.
And the hand
came out,
will you
forgive me?
Would you
take that hand?
your sister
having died there.
Ananias,
going back
to the story here,
Ananias is a
follower of Jesus.
He is ready
to obey the Lord.
Here I am,
Lord.
He's ready.
And Jesus says,
go to Saul.
He's expecting you.
And he's got the guts
to say,
him,
like,
can I change
your mind,
please?
I'm not,
I've received
your forgiving
grace.
Him?
He's struggling
to accept this.
And I'm not sure,
I'm,
I don't know
whether the Lord's
reply comforted him
or made it worse.
I'm not sure.
Saul.
Because not only
is there no limits
on his forgiveness,
he says,
I've chosen Saul
to be my chosen
instrument to bring
salvation to many
in my name.
I'm just putting
myself in Ananias'
shoe here,
and maybe he's not
as a proud man
as I am.
Him.
He's your chosen
instrument.
So there's no
limits to your
forgiveness,
and you've chosen
him to be,
to play this
massive role
in your plan.
To obey the Lord
at this point,
Ananias had to
overcome his fear
of Saul.
Like,
he's got legal
authority to arrest
him.
He has to overcome
any commitment
to seeing justice
done.
So he's got to
overcome fear,
it's got to
overcome any
desire for
seeing justice
done to him.
And maybe
it's got to
even overcome
a sense of
inferiority,
that Saul
and not him
would play a
bigger part
in Jesus'
mission.
He's got to
let go of his
own name,
in a sense.
And those in
Jerusalem we hear,
they had a big,
they had a hard
time accepting
Saul as well.
And maybe it
was extra
personal for
them because
remember that
great lamentation
given for Stephen
when he died
and Saul was
the one approving
of his death.
Did Stephen
have a family
there in the
church?
They loved
Stephen so
much.
It was their
family members
who were
scattered.
out, they
couldn't spend
time together
anymore because
of this man's
persecution.
Could they
allow him
in?
Could they
forgive?
Let me go back
to Corey.
He says,
as I stood
there, I
whose sins
had every
day to be
forgiven and
could not.
Betsy had
died in that
place.
Could he
erase her
slow, terrible
death simply
for the asking,
asking of
forgiveness?
It could not
have been many
seconds that he
stood there,
hand held
out, but to
me it seemed
hours as I
wrestled with the
most difficult
thing I had
ever had to
do.
Jesus helped
me, I
prayed silently.
And so,
excuse me,
woodenly,
mechanically,
I thrust my
hand into the
one stretch out
to me and as
I did, an
incredible thing
took place.
The current
started in my
shoulder and
raced down my
arm, sprang
into our
joined hands.
And then
this healing
warmth and
love for him
flood my
whole being,
bringing tears
to my eyes.
I forgive
you, brother.
For a long
moment, we
grasped each
other's hands,
the former
guard and the
former prisoner.
I had never
known God's
love so
intensely as I
did then.
Ananias, he
doesn't go
begrudgingly.
He lays his
hand on him.
I think it's a
similar scene and
he says,
brother.
He embraces
Saul.
Brother.
He could have
just said,
oh, I don't
want to be here
but Jesus sent
me, I have to
do this.
There's
warmth here.
Brother.
When his
life is
threatened,
twice, they
don't let him
get what he
deserves.
They save
him.
Wow.
They embrace
Saul as
their own.
There might
be someone,
can you think
of someone you
just, you're
struggling to
forgive or you're
struggling to
embrace?
Maybe there's
someone at
church you
avoid.
You avoid eye
contact.
You avoid
talking to
them after the
service.
maybe it's a
group of
people from
your past.
I don't
think we
have the
resources.
I didn't
tell the
story of
Corrie and
she says
herself, I'm
not saying
that we
have the
resources to
forgive.
The point
is we
don't.
The point
is his
grace is
sufficient for
us to
forgive.
He's got
the power to
overcome that
fear and
that demand
for justice,
that protection
of our own
name.
We've got to
love his
grace even
more than
those things.
And there's
a powerful
witness, isn't
it?
Saul going
in and out
in Jerusalem.
Wow.
You can
testify to
the grace of
God as an
individual.
You can
testify even
more, I
think, when
this is a
place of
forgiveness,
grace.
Jesus'
unstoppable
grace turns
Saul into
a suffering
servant.
It even
overcomes the
most difficult,
perhaps the
most difficult
thing in the
world to
do,
forgiving
others and
giving grace
to others.
And Saul's
transformed life
and his
teaching is
undeniable.
people.
Imagine that
scene when he
goes into the
synagogue and
he stands up
there and his
reputation, they
all know him.
He's come with
license, with a
letter to take
people to
prison in
Jerusalem.
Later he says
he had beaten
many of the
believers, men
and women.
Imagine their
shock when he
stands up.
I don't know if
there was a
pulpit or not,
a historian has
to tell me
later.
He is the
son of God.
Sorry.
And then he's
filled with the
spirit so much
and he increases
with strength that
he confounds the
Jews who lived in
Damascus by
proving, I
assume by proving
from the Old
Testament
scriptures, that
Jesus was the
Christ.
They can't
argue with
him, with
his words, and
even more than
that, they
can't argue
with him.
How do I
account for this
change?
He embodies
the gospel.
He's not just
saying it, he
embodies it.
Jesus says to
Ananias that he
must suffer.
He must suffer
for the sake of
my name.
I don't think
that must
there is for
the sake of
punishment.
I think it's a
willing must,
that grace has
gripped him so
much that he
willingly chooses
this way of
suffering.
He chose to
enter that
synagogue and
proclaim Jesus
boldly.
He has threats
against his
life and he
goes to
Jerusalem.
This guy
knows firsthand.
He led the
way of
persecuting.
He knows
the kind of
hatred and
he does it
again.
He's
willingly
choosing this
path.
I'm going to
use his own
words in
chapter 20 when
he's calling
the Ephesian
elders,
follow my
example.
That's the
context here and
he's saying,
I'm going to
Jerusalem,
this is at a
later point,
constrained by
the Spirit,
not knowing what
will happen to
me there except
that the Holy
Spirit testifies to
me in every
city that
imprisonment and
afflictions await
me.
But I do not
account my life of
any value nor as
precious to myself.
If only I may
finish my course
in the ministry
that I receive
from the Lord
Jesus to testify
to the gospel of
the grace of
God.
Like in that
situation a
prophet comes and
uses a belt to
bind him and
says, this is
what's going to
happen to the
man who owns
this belt.
And still he
goes.
He's going
willingly.
I'm ready to
die in
Jerusalem.
This must
suffer for my
name.
I don't think
it's punishment.
I think it's a
willingness.
He's seen the
risen Lord.
He's seen that
true glory,
true righteousness
is willingly
choosing to
suffer so that
others live.
That's
greatness.
This grace has
changed him.
And those who
saw him and
listened to him,
they couldn't
deny it.
What do they do
with him?
His words are
just so
reasonable.
His life
is even
harder to
explain.
How do we
explain a
man who
was so
self-righteous
and violent
and violent,
who loved
his own
name,
now denying
himself,
becoming tender
and putting,
risking his own
name so that
others might
live.
We can't
deny him.
We've got to
kill him.
testimony of
the grace of
Jesus is just
so in
their face.
Well, we
read in
verse 31,
So the
church
throughout
all Judea
and Galilee
and Samaria
had peace
and was
being built
up.
And walking
in the fear
of the Lord
and in the
comfort of
the Holy
Spirit,
it multiplied.
This
Jesus
is
unstoppable.
His
grace is
unstoppable.
He uses
persecution
to spread
his word
so that
others have
life,
Samaritans,
eunuchs.
And we
hear now
he removes
the threat
and gives
a time of
peace.
And in
that peace
he builds
up the
church.
You can't
stop him.
Persecute,
spread.
Give peace,
build up.
How are you
going to
stop this,
Jesus?
A group
of people
following
this way
who believe
that
suffering for
him for
others'
sake is
greatness.
How do you
stop that?
They
kill Jesus
and he
rises three
days later.
They
kill Stephen
and I
love the
detail here
that Saul
is now
speaking and
disputing with
the Hellenists,
the ones who
got Stephen
in trouble in
the first
place.
You kill
Stephen,
Saul takes
his place.
this Jesus
is the
same
today,
yesterday,
today and
forever.
He is
gathering
every lost
sheep,
even the
most desperate
runs like
Saul.
So I
hope,
I hope
you can
admit
you're a
lost sheep.
You're
desperately
lost.
Because
Jesus came
for people
like you.
I'd like
to do
something a
bit different
to finish,
to try and
help what
we've heard
today just
sink in and
have the
Lord's
Supper as
our
application.
We're
remembering
our
suffering
servants.
the
suffering
servant
who was
pierced
for our
transgressions
and crushed
for our
iniquities.
As we
eat and
drink this,
let's
remember what
we've seen
in our
passage today.
Lay your
deadly doing
down,
stand in
him and
him alone,
gloriously
complete.
God's
love.
He is our
suffering
servant and
he's calling
us to
the honour
of suffering
with him so
that others
might share
in the peace
and fellowship
that we have
with God
and one
another.
And may
we, as
we eat and
drink this,
may we give
the grace that
we so richly
feast on to
one another
as well.
So let's
eat and
drink.
come
amen for
our
life,
God said,
pray,
to
many
UFOPR Arch