Amazing Grace
Notes
Transcript
Amazing Grace
Amazing Grace
Intro
The Song we just listened to is called Rescue Story Written and Sung by Zack Williams.
Zack was born into a Christian Home with parents that tried to teach him the gospel and live it out in their lives.
His parents were part of the worship ministry at the church they attended.
He went to college on a Basketball scholarship and got injured.
During his down time unable to play the game he love he learned how to play the guitar.
He eventually was part of a Southern Rock Band and they toured all over Europe.
But he felt empty.
He Felt like even with all he had going on in his life that he was missing something.
So, like many people do, he turned to drugs and alcohol to help fill the void.
He wanted to portray the rock star life.
He was a self-described Functioning Addict.
However, his marriage was falling apart. And the emptiness continued.
He was on the second tour of Europe really seeking out what to do next.
He was praying and asking God for help.
On the tour bus he heard the Big Daddy Weave song “Redeemed”
He Realized that what he needed was not fame, fortune, or a temporary fix.
He needed a real life change that only comes through submission to Jesus Christ.
So now he sings and puts out songs that glorify and exalt the name of Jesus.
Songs like Chain breaker, Fear is a Liar, Less like me, and Rescue Story.
Regardless of how you come to know Jesus it is all because of his grace, his mercy, and his glory.
Some people are born into a loving Christian home and follow Christ their entire life.
Some people come to faith in Christ is a quiet and methodical way.
Some people cry out and He hears them and rescues them.
Some people have a radical encounter with Jesus and their life is forever changed.
The story we are we are going to encounter today on our journey through Acts is the conversion of Saul.
He had a radical encounter with Jesus.
Let’s take a look at that encounter.
But before we do. Let’s Pray
The last time we read about Saul was in Acts 8:1-3 after the murder of Stephen.
This is what it said.
1 And Saul approved of his execution. And there arose on that day a great persecution against the church in Jerusalem, and they were all scattered throughout the regions of Judea and Samaria, except the apostles.
2 Devout men buried Stephen and made great lamentation over him.
3 But Saul was ravaging the church, and entering house after house, he dragged off men and women and committed them to prison.
We don’t hear anything from Saul for a little bit and instead the text focuses on Philip preaching the gospel first to Samaritans and then to the Ethiopian Eunuch.
But Saul’s Story continues in Chapter 9.
1 But Saul, still breathing threats and murder against the disciples of the Lord, went to the high priest
2 and asked him for letters to the synagogues at Damascus, so that if he found any belonging to the Way, men or women, he might bring them bound to Jerusalem.
3 Now as he went on his way, he approached Damascus, and suddenly a light from heaven shone around him.
4 And falling to the ground, he heard a voice saying to him, “Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting me?”
5 And he said, “Who are you, Lord?” And he said, “I am Jesus, whom you are persecuting.
6 But rise and enter the city, and you will be told what you are to do.”
7 The men who were traveling with him stood speechless, hearing the voice but seeing no one.
8 Saul rose from the ground, and although his eyes were opened, he saw nothing. So they led him by the hand and brought him into Damascus.
9 And for three days he was without sight, and neither ate nor drank.
Grace in Salvation
Notice how this text begins.
But Saul-
This is a transition time in Luke’s writing.
Saul at this point is being completely contrasted with the Faithfulness demonstrated by Philip and the other followers of Jesus.
He stands opposed to the Gospel of Jesus.
He stand opposed to what God is doing.
In fact, he is blind to the truth of who Jesus is.
Not only does he stand opposed, but he does so violently and disastrously.
He is “breathing treats and murder (v.1)”
This is the imagery of an angry bull breathing out before he attacks.
His drive and desire stands against the Lord and His mission.
Saul’s sole purpose is to stamp out the followers of Jesus and destroy the church.
He is no respecter of persons either. Man or woman if they belong to Jesus. He wants them gone.
So much so that he is willing to travel to Damascus to root out the Way.
This usage of the Way to describe followers of Christ is how they referred to themselves.
This is significant b/c they didn’t refer to themselves as Christians but rather as followers of The Way.
Probably referring back to Jesus’ statement in
6 Jesus said to him, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.
So the followers of the Way had made their way out of Jerusalem and into other cities and towns.
Damascus was a large center of trade with a sizable Jewish Population.
That’s one of the reasons that Saul needed permission from the High Priest to go into the synagogues and arrest the Jesus Followers.
This wasn’t a short Journey it was roughly 135 miles from Jerusalem.
But his anger and hatred burned deep and he wanted to make sure that the gospel was rooted out and stopped.
He was willing to pursue the followers of Jesus to the end of the earth in order to hold onto his belief and conviction.
He wanted to bring them back to Jerusalem and place them in front of the same council that condemned their Lord to death.
He wanted justice b/c he truly believed that the name of the Lord was being blasphemed.
So he went on his rampage toward Damascus.
But along the way he encountered the Lord.
This account of Saul’s encounter with Jesus is repeated 3 times in the book of Acts.
It’s found here in 9:1-9, 22:3-21, and 26:2-23.
It’s an important story and testimony about who Saul was before he met Christ and how the mission of Christ was to move forward.
In the subsequent retellings of the encounter we do get some extra details.
We find that this encounter happened at midday and that the Light that Jesus appeared in was brighter than the Sun.
The word used to talk about the light is used elsewhere in Greek books to talk about lightning.
My dad is a truck driver. I remember one time he told me that he was driving at night in a thunderstorm.
As he was driving, lightning struck several feet ahead of him on the Road.
He said that is was so bright and blinding that he had to pull over for a couple of minutes to regain proper use of his eyes.
This is what Saul encountered but much more serious.
Saul fell to the ground and heard a voice calling out to him.
“Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting me?”
This double mention of his name is a throughout the Scriptures to show an intimate calling of one toward another.
It happens some 15 times in the scriptures.
A couple of examples.
In Genesis, God calls out “Abraham, Abraham” right before he sacrifices Isaac.
In Exodus, God called out Moses name twice to instruct him to take off his sandals b/c the ground he stood on is holy ground.
On the Cross, Jesus cries out “My God, My God why have you forsake me?
So in this encounter with Saul Jesus is clearly marking out some intimate knowing of and calling of Saul.
I want you to notice what Jesus Says.
He confronts Saul by saying “Why are you persecuting me?
How is that possible that Jesus is the one being persecuted?
He is so interconnected with his church that any transgression or attack on his people is a direct attack on him.
He is with his followers and he feels their pain.
He feels their hurt.
He sympathizes with his people because he is with his people.
That’s one of the things that sets Jesus apart from all the other false Gods.
He actually cares about his people. He feels with his people and he is a part of his people.
But Saul just didn’t get it.
He needed Clarification.
So he asks. Who are you, Lord?
The response no doubt sent chills up and down Saul’s spine.
He didn’t believe that Jesus was who he said he was.
Yet here, he experienced an face to face encounter with the Risen Savior.
The one he had denied. The one who he thought to be blasphemous.
He had murdered, imprisoned, and raged against people for claiming Christ as King.
Now, Saul’s world was turned upside down b/c of his encounter with Jesus.
The one he had so adamantly opposed approached him on his was to root out the church.
Saul was blinded. He was in shock. He was stunned into a state of fasting and reflection.
Can you just imagine for one minute what might be going through Saul’s mind at this time?
Everything in his whole world was turned around the day he met Jesus.
Everything that he had been taught.
Everything he had been convinced was the truth.
They very core of his being was shaken.
His worldview collapsed.
He thought that he was on a mission from God to purify his religion, but rather he was on a warpath against the God he claimed to love.
He was broken and helpless.
Sometimes Jesus will break us in his revealing of himself to us.
We will encounter the lowest of lows and Jesus will say Here I am.
I see you. I hear you. I want you.
In your brokenness, in your helplessness, in your selfishness Jesus wants you.
Your life will be changed when you meet Jesus.
When you trust in him as the Lord and Savior of your life you will be changed.
And sometimes that change will be painful.
That change will be earth shattering.
But that change will be for the better. That change will be to make us look more like Jesus.
That change will invite us into a relationship with the one that would give up his life for us.
His love will transform us from his rebellious and sinful enemies to children of God.
This is the grace that we don’t deserve, but it is the grace that he gives.
This grace is what caused Saul to pen these words
8 but God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.
For three days he sat in darkness and contemplation.
Replaying his encounter with the Lord.
Replaying and thinking about the life he’s lived.
The lives he destroyed.
The pain and anguish he’s caused.
And the grace he has recieved.
12 I thank him who has given me strength, Christ Jesus our Lord, because he judged me faithful, appointing me to his service,
13 though formerly I was a blasphemer, persecutor, and insolent opponent. But I received mercy because I had acted ignorantly in unbelief,
14 and the grace of our Lord overflowed for me with the faith and love that are in Christ Jesus.
15 The saying is trustworthy and deserving of full acceptance, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners, of whom I am the foremost.
16 But I received mercy for this reason, that in me, as the foremost, Jesus Christ might display his perfect patience as an example to those who were to believe in him for eternal life.
17 To the King of the ages, immortal, invisible, the only God, be honor and glory forever and ever. Amen.
We’re then introduced to a new character in this Rescue Story.
A faithful man named Ananias
10 Now there was a disciple at Damascus named Ananias. The Lord said to him in a vision, “Ananias.” And he said, “Here I am, Lord.”
11 And the Lord said to him, “Rise and go to the street called Straight, and at the house of Judas look for a man of Tarsus named Saul, for behold, he is praying,
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.”
13 But Ananias answered, “Lord, I have heard from many about this man, how much evil he has done to your saints at Jerusalem.
14 And here he has authority from the chief priests to bind all who call on your name.”
15 But the Lord said to him, “Go, for he is a chosen instrument of mine to carry my name before the Gentiles and kings and the children of Israel.
16 For I will show him how much he must suffer for the sake of my name.”
17 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.”
18 And immediately something like scales fell from his eyes, and he regained his sight. Then he rose and was baptized;
19 and taking food, he was strengthened. For some days he was with the disciples at Damascus.
Grace in Brotherhood
Ananias is a man that steps on the scene quickly and leaves quietly.
He is only mentioned twice in the whole of the NT.
In this account and when Saul repeats his conversion in Acts 22.
We see here that Ananias was serving the Lord and he came to him in a vision.
His response is “Here I am, Lord.”
He is ready to serve.
He is ready to follow Jesus.
But Jesus tells him to do something that goes against his very survival instinct.
Ananias had heard of Saul the persecutor.
He knew that Saul was on his way to Damascus to find, arrest, and potentially murder followers of Jesus.
So he was realistically weary of this calling to go to Saul.
Saul had a reputation that preceded him.
He was well known by Jesus followers as one bent to destroy them.
Jesus mentions that Saul is praying and it is Ananias’ job to lay hands on him so that his sight can be restored.
Jesus sees and understands Ananias hesitancy, but he still instructs him to “Go.”
Don’t be hesitant to “Go” When God says to Go.
He knows what he is doing.
Even when it sounds ridiculous, difficult, or even deadly God knows what he is doing.
One preacher put it this way:
“Everybody loves to hear Jesus when He says, ‘Come to Me, all you who are burdened and heavy laden and I will give you rest. But once we get there, He says, ‘Now go. . .,’ and that is where the Christian life becomes difficult.”
Jesus calls us to himself so that we can Go tell others.
That is the grace of brotherhood.
That we are called to help others see the good news of the gospel.
Jesus reassures Ananias that Saul is an instrument that he has chosen to take the gospel further.
Other than the resurrection of Christ, Saul’s conversion is one of the most important events in the history of Christianity.
Not because Saul was special. Not because Saul was well versed in the Bible.
Not because of Saul’s good works or his writing of the letters to the early churches.
It is important b/c Jesus Chose to use Saul to spread the message of the gospel to the end of the earth.
He was an instrument that God was going to use to promote and transform the world.
Saul was going to stand before Gentiles, Kings, and kinsmen and preach the perfect truth of the Savior JC.
But he was also going to have to suffer for the message of the gospel.
He was going to have to suffer for the furtherance of the name of Jesus.
He would suffer some horrible circumstances, but the gospel was still gonna move forward.
He writes in 2 Cor 11
23 Are they servants of Christ? I am a better one—I am talking like a madman—with far greater labors, far more imprisonments, with countless beatings, and often near death.
24 Five times I received at the hands of the Jews the forty lashes less one.
25 Three times I was beaten with rods. Once I was stoned. Three times I was shipwrecked; a night and a day I was adrift at sea;
26 on frequent journeys, in danger from rivers, danger from robbers, danger from my own people, danger from Gentiles, danger in the city, danger in the wilderness, danger at sea, danger from false brothers;
27 in toil and hardship, through many a sleepless night, in hunger and thirst, often without food, in cold and exposure.
28 And, apart from other things, there is the daily pressure on me of my anxiety for all the churches.
The persecutor of the gospel becomes a sufferer for the gospel.
Ananias does as he is instructed and goes to Saul.
He prays with him and for him.
He prays affectionately seeing Saul no longer as an adversary, but as a Brother.
He is kind to the one who has persecuted his brothers and sisters.
He is loving to the one who sought to destroy.
He is excited for the new life that Saul receives.
Why?
B/c it’s all about Jesus. It’s all about his grace and mercy toward sinners.
That the most wretched of sinners can be made free is an amazing thing.
That the most evil of men can be transformed is the amazing grace.
The scales have fallen from his eyes and he sees the truth.
Saul no longer lives in spiritual darkness, his eyes have been opened to the majesty and glory of Jesus.
He is now on a trajectory that will bring untold millions of people to the foot of cross.
This should excite us.
Jesus can use anyone to make an impact.
You don’t have to be perfect.
You don’t have to be cleaned up.
You don’t have to do it on your own.
Jesus offers grace to transform you.
Jesus offers grace to sustain you.
Jesus offers grace to inform you.
Jesus offers grace b/c you cannot gain it on your own.
You don’t have to clean up to come to Jesus.
Saul was on the way to destroy Jesus’ Followers and Jesus rescued him.
But I do want you know that Following Jesus does cost us something.
It costs us our allegiance.
It costs us our desires.
It costs us our lives for his.
Jesus says
24 Then Jesus told his disciples, “If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me.
25 For whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake will find it.
26 For what will it profit a man if he gains the whole world and forfeits his soul? Or what shall a man give in return for his soul?
Even though it costs us something to follow Christ, it is always worth the cost.
Following Christ is one of the greatest Joys in all of life.
So I am pleading with you if you haven’t given your life to Jesus do so right now.
He is calling you to himself.
Answer him,
If you are a follower of Christ I ask you to think about those who don’t know him.
Those who are “too far gone”
Think about those that are deep in sin and rebellion
Pray for them.
Minister to them.
Share the good news of Christ with them so that they can feel the freedom that comes with following Christ.
Be bold. Be loving. Be gracious.
Tell them the greatest news they could ever hear.
Tell them about Jesus.