Confronted by the Gospel of Jesus
Sermon • Submitted
0 ratings
· 6 viewsNotes
Transcript
Context: Before this in Acts we see Stephen is stoned to death after he confronts those who are responsible for Jesus death and at the center of that stoning is a particular Jewish rabbi, Saul of Tarsus.
1. Confronted by the Savior
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 ground, 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.
Q: What do we observe is happening here?
Saw a great light and fell to the ground
A voice, who we see is Jesus himself says “Saul, Saul why are you persecuting me?”
Persecuting followers of Christ is equal to persecuting Christ himself.
Saul asks who it is and what is Jesus response?
“I am Jesus, whom you are persecuting. But rise and enter the city, and you will be told what you are to do.”
Q: What do you think about this first communication from Jesus?
This guy was just planning to imprison more believers and the blood of Stephen was on his hands and thats all the Jesus had to say?
No condemnation? No further questioning? I would have sat down and had a long discussion with this guy.
Jesus doesnt even tell Saul more about himself. Just get up and go to the city.
Remember this because we will come back to why Jesus may have taken that approach in a bit.
What else?
We know there were people with him who heard the voice but saw nothing.
We know that Paul not only see’s the great light but later also mentions that he saw Jesus.
Am I not free? Am I not an apostle? Have I not seen Jesus our Lord? Are not you my workmanship in the Lord?
Then Saul stands up and what happens? His eyes are open but he cannot see anything.
Interesting how this happened. This physical blindness is very important to the story. Saul cannot start to write off his experience, it wasn't a hallucination because of heat or anything else.
Previously he was spiritually blind but now he is physically blind as well and need someone else to guide him. He was a teacher of the law, he showed people the way but now needs to be guided everywhere.
He was like this for 3 straight days.
There may be times in our lives where God breaks us down.
Lets keep going.
2. Called for a Mission
2. Called for a Mission
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.” 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 his 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 at 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 kings and the children of Israel. For I will show him how much he must suffer for the sake of my name.”
Q: What do you notice here?
Across town God speaks to a fellow believer. First how is the interaction started with Ananias?
As we see many times with others in the Bible, God calls them by name first and foremost. And their response “Here I am Lord”
This means that Ananias was ready and waiting on the Lord to call upon him, he was not distracted with other things in life.
Side question: If God called upon all of our names, every single one of us in this room at a random time in the week, would we hear his voice and be ready to obey or would we be too busy listening to other voices?
Get back to the event. God gives him specific instructions, go here meet with this person and then you will see Saul of Tarsus, and you are to lay hands on him so he can regain his sight.
Q: What was Ananias response?
Saul is persecuting the saints in the church and he can arrest us.
Gods response, Go because he is a CHOSEN instrument of mine.
Notice here that it is clear that God chose Saul first, Saul did not chose to follow Jesus when he heard about him.
And an additional statement that God made, that God will show Saul how much he has to suffer for Him.
So overview, God can and does chose people first and he sometimes chooses people so that they may suffer.
Q: Have you ever thought that parts of God’s plan for your life includes suffering?
Q: What do you think about that idea?
I believe that it is biblically accurate to say that there is no such thing as living a Christian life without suffering. You must suffer if you are a Christian, it is built into the life of a follower of Christ.
3. United with Believers
3. United with Believers
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.”
Q: Observations?
Ananias did exactly what God told him to do, maybe he was afraid but he believed. Not only that he believed so much so that how did Ananias greet Saul?
Brother, as if he already belong to your group. Ananias already counts Saul as a Christian because of what God told him.
What happened to Saul? Right away he regained his sight just a God told Ananias would happen and he gets baptised and has the Holy Spirit.
At this point Saul is no longer physically blind anymore and he is no longer spiritually blind either.
Saul’s response? He immediately proclaimed Jesus as the Son of God. He had a radical transformation.
Back in November of 2015 some of you may remember there there were several terrorist acts commited, one of which was news and video surfaced of 21 Coptic Christians wearing orange jumpsuits and kneeling on a beach and behind them were a group of men belonging to the terrorist organization ISIS.
All of those christian men were beheaded that day because of their faith in Christ.
Those people who did this are enemies of God, and so was Saul.
For while we were still weak, at the right time Christ died for the ungodly. For one will scarcely die for a righteous person—though perhaps for a good person one would dare even to die— but God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.
For if while we were enemies we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son, much more, now that we are reconciled, shall we be saved by his life.
So what do we have in commons with those terrorists? We at some point were enemies with God.
What do we have in common with Saul?
God has reach out to us and saved us and called us to something greater, he has removed our blindness and allowed us to see and be free.
What do we do with the freedom?
Like Ananias, we go to those who are still currently God enemies and we preach the Gospel.
We have to be able to reach out to people who seem the farthest away from God because there is no one that is beyond His reach.
Remember at the beginning of the story, Jesus only told Saul who he was and where Saul should go. Jesus did not tell him any theology, did not reveal that he is the second person of the trinity, the messiah etc.
Why? Because Saul already has been hearing that from the Christians. Jesus spoke to Saul whats true through the believers, we are an extension of Christ himself.
So what are we to do, we are to use our freedom to preach the gospel. Yes God is sovereign and he chooses who to save but he uses us as ambassadors to spread his gospel and further his kingdom.