The Road Called Straight
Notes
Transcript
Introduction
Introduction
Context:
Record of Saul’s conversion on the road to Damascus
Breathing out threats and murder against Christians
Knocked to the ground by the burning bright light at noon-day
Out of the light he heard a voice calling out to him: “Saul Saul, why are you persecuting me?”
He responded: “Who are you Lord?”… He didn’t know/recognize the voice, but knew whoever it was who appeared in such majestic glory, could be none other than his Lord.
The voice answered: “I am Jesus, whom you are persecuting”
Saul, the violent man who stood in opposition to Jesus and his disciples then said IMMEDIATELY: “What must I do?”
He was ready to do whatever it was Jesus commanded him to do
He was stricken blind
Stayed in Damascus 3 days, no eating or drinking
Main Point: As God labored behind the scenes to establish Saul as an apostle to the Gentiles, so God labors through the proclamation of His word to establish us as faithful disciples of Jesus Christ… To see the hand of God at work towards the accomplishing of His divine will.
the soverei of god
the reluctance of ananias
the submission of Paul
Exegesis
Exegesis
10 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.”
The Lord gave a vision
Ananias would be described later by Paul in Acts 22:12 “12 “A man who was devout by the standard of the Law, and well spoken of by all the Jews who lived there”
A disciple, a citizen of Damascus, and the Lord spoke to him.
“Here I am, Lord”
It’s the response of many a great men in the text of scripture! Moses, Abraham, Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel, Amos; that when the call of God comes upon them they IMMEDIATELY answer: “Here I am, Lord!”
Our church needs this response today.
Lord at Your call and at Your decree I surrender my life!
Where You are, there I shall be!
When Your scriptures are read, there I stand!
When You desire my heart and love and service, here I am, Lord!
These words can only be uttered, by one in constant communion with God; otherwise we could do nothing but tremble in fear when hearing His voice.
Might I also add, these words are not to be uttered on our timescale; ‘Oh I’ll be attentive unto God… but let me do this thing first.’ No, we are attentive and stand ready for service at the feet of God each second we live upon the earth. Is it not He who gave us life? And He who deserves submission to His will?
11 And the Lord said to him, “Get up and go to the street called Straight, and inquire at the house of Judas for a man from Tarsus named Saul, for he is praying,
12 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.”
Last week I told you how Damascus was one of the oldest cities in the world… even to this day, remains that very street: “The street called Straight”
There is even an area that remains sacred to the people there that marks the supposed SPOT of where Paul spent 3 days in prayer… and the place to which Ananias was called to meet him
Now you would think that the next verse would read: “And Ananias rose, and went to the street called straight, and entered into the home of Judas, and there he met…” but no! There’s a little interlude.
13 But Ananias answered, “Lord, I have heard from many about this man, how much harm he did to Your saints at Jerusalem;
14 and here he has authority from the chief priests to bind all who call on Your name.”
‘Jesus, are you SURE you know what you are doing?’
We all know what he did… what he has came to do
The anguish he caused many a family of believers in Jerusalem
And that he’s coming here with papers from the high priest to do the same to us!
You want me to go to him?
Does this not remind you of Noah?
That when God calls upon man to carry out His will, man says: “I have a better idea!”
Moses was like that! “Not me, you don’t want ME to go before Pharoah do you? I’m not a good speaker!”
Jeremiah says: “You have the wrong guy, I am too young to preach your word!”
It is the same for us today.
We presume in our prayer life to have a better outcome than God intended
We presume that God’s scripture is essential and VITAL to Christian living, but don’t open it
We say: “Lord… hnh, not me, right? Choose somebody else to … fill in the blank”
15 But the Lord said to him, “Go, for he is a chosen instrument of Mine, to bear My name before the Gentiles and kings and the sons of Israel;
16 for I will show him how much he must suffer for My name’s sake.”
Saul was drafted into the ministry of God. Acts 26:16-18, Acts 9:15, Acts 22:14-15. What does it mean that Saul was the chosen instrument of God? Well Saul was chosen, which the original language tells us was a ‘deliberate selection’ of him as an instrument. Now Saul is a person okay, he’s not some piano or guitar! In fact, the word for instrument isn’t in reference to anything musical at all; but as a vessel or container. God, chose deliberately, Saul, to bear as a vessel, His name unto the nations. He was chosen for that reason, to bear the name of Jesus, as God’s instrument of choice, to the nations.
Romans 9:25 “As He says also in Hosea, “I will call those who were not My people, ‘My people,’ And her who was not beloved, ‘beloved.’ ””
Isaiah 56:7 “Even those I will bring to My holy mountain And make them joyful in My house of prayer. Their burnt offerings and their sacrifices will be acceptable on My altar; For My house will be called a house of prayer for all the peoples.””
Sanctification: setting apart for the purposes of God. “The one who once was the church’s most vehement persecutor would now be the one who would willingly accept persecution for the sake of the name (cf. 5:41). This is the core point of the Pauline conversion narrative.” NAC
17 So Ananias departed and entered the house, and after laying his hands on him said, “Brother Saul, the Lord Jesus, who appeared to you on the road by which you were coming, has sent me so that you may regain your sight and be filled with the Holy Spirit.”
18 And immediately there fell from his eyes something like scales, and he regained his sight, and he got up and was baptized;
19 and he took food and was strengthened.
Now for several days he was with the disciples who were at Damascus,
Jesus described the Pharisees as blind men. It was a description of their unbelief, despite the fact that they saw their Messiah standing right in their presence; they were blind.
Saul was blind to Jesus also, all his life. He was a Pharisee too. And now blindness has overcome him for 1, 2, 3 full days. He fasted, he prayed, as the days went by. No doubt he recalled the image of Christ in his mind and felt the conviction of what his sins had earned, the wrath of God. He longed to hear God once more in Damascus, for Jesus told him to go there and it’ll be told what you must do.
Every Christian today must go through what Saul did; I’m not talking about blindness… I’m talking about REFLECTION, I’m talking about recognizing and feeling the weight of your sin!
Sin is not some 5lb dumbbell you carry around with you. It not a 225lb bench press or a 400lb squat.
The weight of one transgression upon the shoulders of a sinner, is greater than the mass of the entire earth, stars, and galaxies combined! It’s only when a sinner is utterly broken by their rebellion against a thrice holy God that they may see the true marks of a Christian! What agony Saul was in, what pain he felt, what isolation he suffered from Jews and Christians! What terrible sin he committed! How deep the cut of Truth left upon his soul; how needing and desperate he was to be in the favor of God. A man, formerly breathing threats and murder, is now breathing prayers unto Christ for 3 full days.
Ananias, then, approached the blind Saul; placed his hands on him; and according to chapter 22 said, “Saul receive you sight!” And at that very moment, he looked up, and instantaneously regained his sight.
A miracle that Saul could not deny for it happened literally in his very eyes. Verse 18 says something like scales fell from his eyes; not scales themselves, but something like it fell from his eyes. And he saw.
Ananias was recorded in chapter 22 saying, “”Now why do you delay? Get up and be baptized, and wash away your sins, calling on His name.” ‘Why do you delay; why do you wait; have all your past sins washed away, and call on His name.’
How humbly would the proud Pharisee bow to receive the endowing hands of Ananias, the very hands he previously wished to chain.
Conclusion
Conclusion
Behind the words on this page, and behind the vision itself, is the sovereignty of God.
The word sovereign, simply means that God is over all, in control of all, and bears authority over all things. What else are we to glean from it; but the mighty working of God to bring about the conversion and ministry of Paul!
Galatians 1:15–16 “15 But when God, who had set me apart even from my mother’s womb and called me through His grace, was pleased 16 to reveal His Son in me so that I might preach Him among the Gentiles…”
How true is it that even today, God will bring about His sovereign will in the construct of humanity!
God is in control of all things, the very heavens are sustained by the palm of His hand, and as He created the earth and all that’s in it, He can take it away.
But within the balance lies the decision of our hearts to comply or to reject the grace and Lordship of our very Creator.
Saul was chosen, undeniably! God used Ananias as a vessel to bring about the conversion of Saul. Saul was chosen!…
Yet Saul, as he beheld Christ face to face, upon his OWN volition, would not persecute Jesus any longer. The grace he recieved pierced his heart to repent; and Saul was baptized, receiving the Spirit, and would bear the name of Christ wherever he went.
In recalling his response in chapter 26 he says:
Acts 26:19 “19 “So, King Agrippa, I did not prove disobedient to the heavenly vision,”
As Paul was chosen to bear the word of God unto the world, so you have been chosen too. Every Christian, every follower of Christ must bear witness to His name, to the glory and majesty of God.