Jesus Christ in His Church..

Welcome to Cornerstone Reformed Baptist Church. Thank you for using and sharing our resources. What you're about to hear is God's Word from one of our teaching elders. We trust that God's Word will inspire, instruct, and bless you. For further teachings or information on our ministry, please visit us on our website at cornerstonerbc.

com. That's cornerstonerbc.com. So this is the book of Acts chapter 9. I'm going to be reading from the English Standard Version of the Bible.

And this is the precious, all-sufficient, ever-enduring, never-changing, inerrant, holy, perfect, life-giving, soul-saving Word of the Lord. Acts chapter 9. But Saul, still breathing threat 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 any belonging to the way, men or women, he may bring them bound 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 raise and enter to 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 open, 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. 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 hand on him. so that he may 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 called 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. 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 synagogue, saying, He is the Son of God. And all who heard him were amazed and said, Is not this the man who made havoc in Jerusalem of those who called upon this name? And has he not come here for this 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 none too so.

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 was being built up. And walking in the fear of the Lord and in the comfort of the Holy Spirit, it multiplied.

Now, as Peter went here and there among them all, he came down also to the saints who lived at Lydda. There he found a man named Aeneas, bereaved for eight years, who was paralyzed. And Peter said to him, Aeneas, Jesus Christ heals you. Rise and make your bed. And immediately he rose.

And all the residents of Lydda and Sharon saw him, and they turned to the Lord. Now there was in Joppa a disciple named Tabitha, which translated means Dorcas. She was full of good works and acts of charity. In those days she became ill and died, and when they had washed her, they laid her in an upper room. Since Leta was near Joppa, the disciples, hearing that Peter was there, sent two men to him, urging him, Please come to us without delay.

So Peter rose and went with them, and when he arrived, they took him to the upper room. All the widows stood beside him, weeping, and showing tunics and other garments that Dorcas made while she was with them. But Peter put them all outside and knelt down and prayed, and turning to the body, he said, Tabitha, arise. And she opened her eyes, and when she saw Peter, she sat up. And he gave her his hand and raised her up.

Then calling the saints and widows, he presented her alive. And it became known throughout all Joppa, and many believed in the Lord. And he stayed in Joppa for many days with one Simon, a tanner. Amen, brothers and sisters, this is Acts 9. This is the word of the Lord Jesus Christ.

And brothers and sisters, now we have arrived at a very important transitional point in this book of Acts. Remember from the very beginning what we have said and the commission that the Lord Jesus Christ gave to the disciples there in chapter 1, that they were supposed to be witnesses of the Lord in Jerusalem, in all Judea and Samaria, and to the outermost part of the earth, or to the end of the world. That was the commission given by the Lord to his disciples. And as we have seen in these last couple of chapters that our brother explained to us in the last couple of weeks, Now the gospel through the martyrdom of Stephen and through the ministry of Philip has now reached the parts of Samaria. So that promise of the extending of the witnessing of the Lord Jesus Christ is being fulfilled as we progress with the reading through scripture.

the glorious gospel of salvation that is being spread throughout the world just as the Lord commanded and just as the Lord had promised. And from this chapter 9 we will see that now the next step will start to be to fulfill that which is the end of the earth or to the uttermost part of the earth which the Lord had also promised there in Acts chapter 1. Now, brothers and sisters, one cannot help but to be marveled with the providential work of God bringing about His decree, His promise, His word, everything that He has said through very unexpected ways by the men of men. Imagine all of these promises that were given to the disciples during chapter one. They would have never thought that the way that this was going to be accomplished was through persecution, through death, through martyrdom.

The establishment of the kingdom of God, is it going to be through these means? Nothing that is in the mind of men is actually what ends up happening in the decree of God. And brothers and sisters, these are the providential works of God, bringing about His promises. His decree, the things that He has said in His Word into the history of men. And this is indeed a glorious thought.

It is indeed a glorious thing to put in our heart and to marvel that our God is so powerful in might that He brings to and He accomplishes everything that He has said. It does not matter what the circumstances seem to be. It does not matter how dark the situation seems to be for the church or for ourselves. God always accomplishes what He has promised in His Word. And this is providence.

Providence, the workings of God in human existence, bringing about His sovereign decree, His sovereign word, His sovereign intention. The providential work of God is simply that, brothers and sisters. What God does in our world, in our existence, to accomplish what He has decreed in eternity past, the bringing about of reality, it is no other than the providential workings of God. bringing about what He determined, He decreed in eternity past. You see, brothers and sisters, in essence, studying biblical history, the history that we have of the Church in the pages of Scripture, and also studying extra-biblical history, the history of the Church that is outside of Scripture, that is narrated by humans, it is just simply, simply, from the Christian perspective, marveling at the providential work of God.

It's just simply seeing God working His decree throughout history. And that is the peace that we have, that He's sovereign, that nobody is above Him. And this is what we have here in this chapter, in this transitional point of this book of Acts. Of course, This is this story that we have here in the Bible is not like the fallible, many times corrupted human history that is recorded by fallible and sinful people, but rather what we have in the pages of this book of Acts. And now, especially here in Chapter nine is the biblical history of the church.

as inerrant, narrated by the one who does not lie, the Holy Spirit." Here in this progress and in the development of the story that we have of the church, brothers and sisters, we have the providential workings of God bringing about His decree for His church. He had said that the good news would be preached to all the creation. He had said that these feeble, weak, despised disciples were going to be witnesses of the Lord to the end of the world, to the uttermost part of the earth. And guess what?

Independently of their feebleness, independently of how weak they are, independently of the limitations of the disciples, and for that reason, of every single Christian throughout the ages, The Lord Jesus Christ, through His Spirit, will bring about the eternal decree of God. And that is that the gospel will be preached to the outermost part of the earth. And just as we sang in that hymn, that from every tribe, from every nation, from every tongue, He will make a kingdom of priests to God in the sun. So brothers and sisters, here in the narrative of chapter 9, we have that very important transitional point of fulfillment. Here we have the beginning of the inclusion of the Gentiles.

As I said before, up until chapter 8, as our brother has explained to us so far, we can see that the gospel is spread through Jerusalem and Judea and Samaria. But now from this chapter 9, this is what you need to remember in your minds, that now here we have this beginning of this transitional point in where there's going to be the inclusion of the Gentiles. Here we have the practical beginning of the engrafting of the Gentiles into the people of God, as Paul will say in Romans chapter 11. Here we have the practical beginning of what the Lord has said to the Jews. If you remember in Matthew chapter 21, where he said that the kingdom of the Jews was going to be taken away and given to another people that will produce its fruits.

And Luke, the one that is recording this infallible biblical history of the church by the power of the Spirit, will introduce this transitional point, which is the inclusion of the Gentiles and the arriving of the message of the gospel to the Gentiles here in chapter 9. Okay? Chapter 9 and everything that comes onward or after this will be the story of the engrafting of the Gentiles and how the gospel spreads to them. Now in this chapter 9, brothers and sisters, actually this will go until the end of the book, of course. But here in this chapter 9, which is the one that we have in front of us today, we have actually two points that Luke is going to make in explaining to us that transition into the Gentiles.

The first point, which is going to be the predominant point, and the one that we're going to spend most of the time, it is the conversion of Saul, which is the apostle Paul. Saul is the Hebrew name, and Paul is the Greek name, and we're going to speak of him as Paul with his Greek name. It is easier for us to do it, and this is the same person, Saul or Paul the Apostle. That is the first thing. He's going to show us the conversion of Paul as this crucial point in which the gospel is now going to go to the Gentiles.

And also in the second part of the chapter, starting in verse 32, my beloved of Christ, The author of Acts, Luke, is going to point us to the extension of the ministry of Peter, the Apostle Peter, beyond Jerusalem. Also here, he's also showing us how even through Peter now, this gospel was reaching beyond Jerusalem. So in a shorter way, we will address that second point. But those are basically Beloved of Christ, those are the two things that the Apostle, or better, Luke, is addressing here in chapter 9 of the book of Acts. Now, no doubt, beloved of Christ, that the main character from this section onwards is going to be the Apostle Paul, or in other words, Saul, as he is described here in chapter 9.

He's going to be the main character. Perhaps Peter is going to have some some relevance in the next few chapters, but after that, and from this point onwards, the Apostle Paul, the one that we know, he is going to be the main character in the book of Acts. Now, Paul, as I said, here is referred to as Saul, and that is the Hebrew name, but Paul is the Greek name, and I will be using that from now on, even if the text says Saul, I will refer to that as Paul, because that's how my mind works now when I think about the Apostle Paul, so it will be easier for us to understand. Now, brothers and sisters, there is perhaps no other person as influential as the Apostle Paul, of course, after the Lord Jesus Christ, not only in the Bible, but I would say also in human history. Think about this, beloved of Christ.

The role of Paul the Apostle is not only vital for Christianity, he's done transforming things in human history. Think about from the biblical perspective. Paul is the one who has written and influenced most of the New Testament. Most of the New Testament that reveals the person of Jesus Christ has been written by the hand or influenced by the Apostle Paul. The theology that is developed in Paul's writings is basically, brothers and sisters, the structure of Christian doctrine and Christian theology as a whole.

All his letters and the things that he's written is the structure of all of our doctrine and theology. But not only the things that he's written or the things that he gave us through his writings, also the life and the practice of the church is primarily defined by the theology and the teachings of Paul. Paul is an example in and of himself of devotion to Christ. Paul, the Apostle Paul, is an example of evangelism. Paul, the Apostle Paul, is an example of persecution and suffering.

He's the one that had the freedom of conscience to say to other believers, imitate me as I imitate Christ. Think about that. Think of that level of influence and that level of importance, and more importantly, the level of the Spirit of God and conformity to Jesus Christ in the Apostle, that he had the freedom of conscience to say, imitate me as I imitate Christ. Beloved of Christ, this is a very heavy statement. How many of us are able to say to people around us, to our wife, to our children, to brothers and sisters, how many of us are we able to say, imitate me as I imitated Christ?

Paul is definitely a predominant character in the history of the gospel, and the Lord will accomplish the fulfillment of the divine promise of reaching the uttermost part of the earth with the gospel through the person, through the work, through the writings, through the theology, and through the practice of the apostle Paul. Now, beloved of Christ, this apostle, as I said, that we have here in this chapter 9, was an example of person, even as an unbeliever, even before his conversion, even before the experience that he went through here in chapter 9, he was an example of a covenant member. I don't know if you've read and if you consider these things and these thoughts in your mind, but when the apostle describes himself before he came to Christ, he considered himself to be a Hebrew of Hebrews. Just think about what he says of himself in the flesh before the Lord Jesus Christ there in chapter three of the book of Philippians. There in chapter 3 from verse 1 through verse 6, I'm going to read it to you, beloved of Christ.

This is what the apostle says about himself. Just see who he was even before Christ, before his conversion. He says there in chapter 3 in the book of Philippians to the brothers and sisters who were receiving this letter. Finally, my brothers, rejoice in the Lord. To write the same things to you is not trouble to me, and it is safe for you.

Look out for the dogs. Look out for the evildoers. Look out for those who mutilate the flesh. Now pay attention in verse three. He says, For we are the circumcision who worship by the Spirit of God and glory in Christ Jesus and put not confidence in the flesh.

And then he starts, though I myself have reason for confidence in the flesh also. He's going to speak not about the spiritual things, who he is in Christ, what he will say there later in the chapter, but rather he's going to speak about himself and the confidence that he could have if he was going to glory in his flesh. He's going to speak about that, and he continues, he says, If anyone else thinks he has reason for confidence in the flesh, I have more. Circumcised on the eighth day of the people of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew of Hebrews, as to the law, a Pharisee, as to zeal, a persecutor of the church, as to righteousness under the law, blameless. that is the description that he of course he's not lying this is the description of the confidence that he could have in the flesh now of course he's using this to point people to not to have confidence in the flesh he's saying if i was going to glory in my flesh and if i was going to have confidence in the flesh look who i was And he's going to direct, of course, the church to have faith in Christ.

But beloved of Christ, Paul was not only a covenant member who knew about God, he was also a lover of God and the people of Israel. And you can see that later on, even after his conversion, the love that he had for the people of Israel. He was a lover of the law who sat at the feet of Gamaliel, a very reputable rabbi or teacher of the law. He was a strict Pharisee. He had much love for doctrine and the Scripture.

More than likely, as we mentioned in the past, he would have memorized extensive portions of the Holy Scriptures. But what most shocks me about the apostle when he's describing himself in the flesh is what he says there in the end of verse 6 in Philippians chapter 3, beloved of Christ. Here he says, I don't know, you have the passage in front of you, I just read it, but he says there that as to righteousness under the law, He was blameless. That is, that as to righteousness under the law, He was righteous. Now we know that real righteousness is only by faith, but when it came to works in the flesh or righteousness under the law, He was a man that honestly in his heart followed the commandments of God.

Now we know that the heart, apart from Christ and the workings of Christ, is desperately wicked, right? We know that, but he was in his mind, he was honestly following the Lord. He was honest in his understanding of the law. He was honest in his works of the law. The things that he did, he did them honestly in the name of the God of Israel.

The things that he did, he did them honestly for the sake of the preservation of what he considered, of course, in the flesh, but what he considered to be the truth of scripture. So brothers and sisters, this is going to be very important because the soul that we have, or the apostle Paul better, that we have here persecuting the church and hating the church, he was an honest Pharisee to his beliefs and his understanding of the scripture. He was not doing what he was doing with the mind of the atheist, right? With the mentality of the atheist, who is an open and clear hatred of God and everything that is of God. But rather, he was protecting his view in his understanding.

Of course, he was wrong, but he was protecting the God of Israel, the holiness of Judaism, the holiness of his religion. And that is true not only of him, but also it's true of many Pharisees. You know, how the Puritans that we speak about and we love and sometimes we read in the 16th and the 7th century, they are called Puritans because they were separated from the corruption of the church and they were pure. They had this puritanical way of life. Well, the Pharisees, and of course also Paul, would have been the Pharisees of Judaism of the first century.

They were the separated ones of Judaism. They were the ones that were concerned in preserving the teachings and the word of the Lord. This is very important, beloved of Christ, because this is the zealous, I don't know what the word in English is, but this is what ignited Paul from within to do the things that he's doing against the church. It was his wrong in the flesh perception, but yet honest in a human mind perception of what he thought it was holy and it corresponded to true Judaism. So that is how this chapter opens, and it's very important for us to understand, because when we see here, we have this seal that is described in verse one, that Paul was still breeding threats and murdered against the disciples of the Lord.

Imagine those words that Luke speaks or uses here, that he was still breeding threats and murdered against the disciples of the Lord, fury. anger, wrath. And yes, he was a murderer at heart by hating the disciples and despising them by brothers and sisters. In his mind, his fallen eyes and wicked mind, he was still thinking honestly that he was serving Judaism and that he was serving the ways of the Lord. Israel and he was not aware of the spreading of the movement and he was better very aware of the spring of this movement but he considered this to be heretical you see for them for him and for the For the others, the Pharisees, this was the spreading of a movement that was heretical in nature.

For that reason, he's very diligent and goes even in this case, as we have in the narrative here of chapter 9, he goes to the high priest for letters to the synagogues of Damascus. That, by the way, Damascus was far away north of Jerusalem. So that is what we're told in verse 2. Here we have a person, beloved of Christ, that is moved by his understanding and he's zeal for his religion. He is honest in all of these things.

And he goes to the high priest to ask for these letters. Now, this zeal, this hatred against the Christians was growing just as the church herself was growing. The thing is that, think about this, the church was spreading rapidly because of the sufferings and the scattering of the people, but not necessarily the seal of the opposition of the church. What I mean by this is that, yes, in Jerusalem there were many people that were hating the church and the spreading of the church, but the church was definitely going and spreading regionally or geographically. quicker than the seal of people opposing Christianity and opposing the way and opposing the church.

So Paul, with this missionary trait that he had in and of himself, this characteristic of being the person that goes and does the thing, he takes on himself the duty of stopping, or better, putting a challenge and an obstacle, stopping the spreading of the church. He was, in a sense, a missionary of hate against the church. And then, little that he knew that he would become actually a missionary after his conversion for the church. So when we see here, brothers and sisters, this poll that is filled with all of this anger coming to the high priest and requesting these letters, this approval, So to go to Damascus, what he's trying to do is he's trying to stop the spreading of the church geographically. He knows that now this movement, which he considers to be heretical, is now spreading.

And he's zealous. He's zealous for the holiness of Judaism and what he considers to be right. So he's going to go and ask for these letters of, we know that these are letters of authority, of approval, of communication, so that he will be able to go to Damascus. And he will be able, if he finds, as the Bible says there in the chapter that we read, if he finds men or women of the way to bring them down to Jerusalem, captive to Jerusalem. He wanted to stop the spreading of the church.

geographically speaking. So he was very concerned with this growing movement, geographically speaking, this heresy for him. But of course, beloved of Christ, the providential workings of God bringing his eternal decree to happen were completely unknown to Paul. The ways of God are completely different to the ways of men. And as we know, the Lord will not only save Paul, but he will also transform him from being a hater of the church to make him his instrument.

What a great instrument the apostle Paul will become. But now, beloved of Christ, just before we move into this section of the conversion of the Apostle Paul, there's something very interesting that has captured just very recently my attention. Because I don't know if you have paid attention to this or if you've seen in the writings of the Apostle Paul, how much this persecution to the church, how much his zeal, and how much the fact that he was a hater of the church, actually stained the conscience, and stayed in the conscience and in the heart of the apostle. There is a passage there in 1 Timothy, and if you have of course your Bible, you do, go to 1 Timothy chapter 1, and then you will see there in 1 Timothy chapter 1, in verse 12 through 15, Brother Bernie did a sermon on this like a year ago when we were going through First Timothy. And the Apostle is going to give us some interesting information there about his testimony and how he remembers these days of being a persecutor of the church.

So there in First Timothy chapter 1 from verses 12 through verse 15, the Apostle is going to say this. I thank Him, I hope that you are there with your Bibles, brothers and sisters. If not, I'm just going to read it. It says, I thank Him who has given me strength, Christ Jesus our Lord, because He judged me faithful, appointed me to this service. Though formerly I was a blasphemer, I persecuted an insolent opponent, but I received mercy because I had acted ignorantly in unbelief.

and the grace of our Lord overflowed for me with the faith and love that are in Christ Jesus. The same is trustworthy and deserving of full acceptance that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners, of whom I am the foremost. And now, this is not going to be the only time that the apostle is going to remember his days as a persecutor of the church. Now, of course, the apostle had all the understanding of what forgiveness is, and that once you have, by grace through faith, you have been united to Christ, that all of your sins are forgiven, and that that is left in the past. the apostle even as an apostle as a mature man he seems to remember the days of persecution how he persecuted the church so brothers and sisters he was indeed a hater of the way and he was honestly doing it in a zeal according to his perception of judaism and he was honestly doing from a heart that was wicked but he was doing it in his mind for the god of israel and for for the for the well-being and the preservation of Judaism to the point that he did so horrible things that are not described but we are told that he was wanting to persecute and find men and women such horrible things he would have done persecuting the people, we know that he was there at the death of Stephen, that this stained the mind and stayed in the mind of the apostle even after his conversion.

Now, the only thing that this showed me, and as I was meditating upon this beloved of Christ, is that now the affections of the apostle were marked by his service to Christ, and the service to the church. So now his love, his gratitude, his spirit, his soul was given entirely to Christ, but also to the church. So when he saw the church and ministering the church and teaching the church and the disciples, he would have remembered in his mind all the disciples that he persecuted. He would have remembered the death of Stephen. He would have remembered the things that he participated on.

He would have remembered the hatred that he had in his heart against these disciples that now he loves so much that he's given his life for. Brothers and sisters, this can only, this change, this transformation can only be done through the power of the Holy Spirit and, of course, a manifestation of God. Amen. It doesn't matter how wise this man was, he needed the Holy Spirit working in him. And that is indeed how the conversion of the apostle is going to take place.

He's going to have a manifestation of the Lord Jesus Christ. A manifestation of the Lord Jesus Christ. So we're told in verse 3 that as he was on his way and he was approaching Damascus, where he was going to go and try to find, you know, men and women that were following Jesus Christ so that he will bring them captive to Jerusalem. that he is going to have a manifestation he's going to have a vision of this light that is coming from heaven shining around him and he's going to have now an encounter with the Lord Jesus Christ and this encounter with the Lord Jesus Christ is very simple but yet very profound he is going to be asked soul soul from this marvelous light that is shining Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting me?" And he said, the apostle, who are you, Lord?

Not Lord as Lord, the Lord Jesus Christ, but rather, who are you, sir? Who are you, Lord, the one that is speaking to me? And the Lord Jesus Christ said, I am Jesus, whom you are persecuting. What a short, but yet simple, powerful, to the heart statement. The light of God, brothers and sisters, was manifested to this man.

He was confronted with his conscience. The answer of the Lord Jesus Christ was confronting deep to the heart of Paul. Basically what he's saying, those whom you are persecuting and to kill and to destroy, those people are mine. When you persecute them, you're persecuting me. Those whom you hate, those whom are filling your emotions and your affections with hatred and all of these things that are going through you, those are the ones that I actually love.

In other words, the Lord Jesus Christ said to Paul, you thought that you loved the God of Israel? You actually hated him. You thought, Paul, that you were serving God with your persecutions? You, Paul, were actually serving Satan, who wants to destroy the church. Paul, you thought that you were righteous by persecuting the church?

Actually, Paul, you are the foremost of sinners. And this is what stood and remained in the conscience of the apostle. Pay attention how this narrative, and I love this, as I was just reading this, and how this narrative started there in verse 3. The conversion of the apostle is going to start there in verse 3 and is going to finish in verse 6, in which he's going to see this light. But I love how it ends, or how it starts and how it ends.

In verse 3, we're told that as he went on his way, as he was traveling, as he was on his way, journeying, as he was going to Damascus, he was on his way. But then, after he has seen this glorious light that comes from above, the voice of the Savior, Jesus Christ, that is confronting him and saying, those whom you're persecuting, these are my people, you are persecuting me. When you persecute them, you persecute me. So then the command that the apostle is going to receive there in verse 6 is, rise and enter the city and you will be told what you are supposed to do. That is, you are persecuting me.

And now I tell you, go into the city and you will be told what to do. Before this glorious manifestation of the light coming from on high, the manifestation of Jesus Christ, Paul was on his way. But after Jesus Christ was presented to him and through the power of the Spirit, a light came not only physically unto him, but also he spoke into his conscience by telling him, you are persecuting me. Now, Paul was not anymore going to Damascus on his own, but actually he was following the command of the Savior. Go and enter into the city, and you will be told what to do.

There is a way, brothers and sisters, that seems right to men, but the end of that way is death. We can be completely blind to that. We can completely think that this is the proper way. But for Paul, in this case, he was completely sure that this was right, that this was the thing that he was supposed to do, that this was good and righteous, yet he was walking towards death. He was hellbound.

Had the Lord Jesus Christ not shown mercy upon him at that particular moment, then he would have been one of those people of Matthew 7 that says, Lord, Lord, didn't we do all of these things? Didn't we prophesy? Didn't we do all of these mighty works in your name? And then the Lord will say to them, I never knew you. Depart from me, you workers of inequity.

Why? Because those who are the ones that are going to enter into the kingdom of heaven are the ones that do the will of the Father. Paul was doing his will. Now, this is just terrifying to me because how blind can a person be? How deceitful can the heart be to think not only that you are doing something that is good, but something that is of God, something that belongs to the holiness of Judaism and the religion?

This is how wicked the heart is. Now brothers and sisters, the result of this glorious vision of this light that is shining is that Paul now is going to be blind. He's going to be physically blind. His eyes, the eyes in the flesh, he could not see, but his spirit now had been visited by the Spirit. He could not see with the Spirit.

Not only that, but he could hear the voice of the Lord. Also, we are told in verse 7 that the men who were traveling with him stood speechless hearing the voice, but they were not able to see. Now, brothers and sisters, what we are not told about the life of those men we don't know if they believed or not later on, we can certainly here see the sovereign decree of God, that he shows mercy on whoever he wills, and he restrains mercy from whoever he wills, which is basically the argument that the same Apostle Paul we later make in Romans chapter 9. We can see here the sovereignty of God at this play. But we know from the text that with the help of these men who heard the voice but could not see that these men are going to actually help Paul and they bring him to Damascus in order to fulfill that commandment that the Lord had given him and Paul is going to remain three days and brothers and sisters we are told there in the text that Paul is going to remain for those three days and he's not going to eat food and he's not going to drink any drink but we are told in the passage that during that time that he was unable to see and that he decided to remain without a drink and without food we are told that he prays and that he has a vision.

This vision of these men and Ananias that is coming to him and then these men coming that he's going to recover his sight. But no, brothers and sisters, I want you just to simply think about those three days. And this is always something that has caused lots of thoughts and meditations in my mind. First of all, this would have been the first time in the life of Paul that he understood what Moses said in Deuteronomy, that man does not live by bread alone, but by every single word that comes from the mouth. of the Lord.

Now the words that he had memorized, all the scripture that he had studied, all the things that he knew now for the first time were true to him. It doesn't matter how much he knew, all that he knew of the Old Testament, all that he had memorized, all that he had meditated upon before that particular moment, all of that was empty without Christ. But now, after this appearing of the light, the shining glory of Christ before him, after the intervention of the Spirit, after the grace that was given to him, once he had heard the voice from heaven, once he had seen with the Spirit, now all that knowledge, All that he had studied, all that he had gone through and meditated upon, everything made sense. I remember that a brother in Mexico just only described this as a click in the heart and in the mind of the Apostle Paul. That everything that he had studied and memorized and gone through, all of that was empty without Christ.

All of his knowledge now suddenly just fall into place, into the spiritual place, What an incredible three days for that apostle, for the apostle Paul, thinking about all the words and all the promises of Moses, the prophet. I imagine him on his knees and crying with the eyes that could not see. filled with this desire to know more about this person. Imagine all of the conviction that he would have had that he was persecuting the Messiah, that he was persecuting the Savior of Israel. All of these things that he knew, he memorized, suddenly not only convicted him more of the sin that he was into, but also I imagine that this just filled him with zeal for the Lord.

even more after the fulfillment of the vision of the arrival of Ananias, because that is the vision that he had during those three days. He was praying, and he was not eating, he was fasting, and he had this vision of this man that is going to come to me and I'm going to recover my vision or my sight as we have just read. Then we have this Ananias, beloved of Christ, this saint that is living at Damascus, who also had received this vision from the Lord, in which he's told to go and lay hands on Paul. And of course, he's filled with fear, and he questions the commandment of the Lord. And he says, Lord, I have heard from many about this man.

Many people have reported to me how much evil he has done to your saints at Jerusalem, and even more now. Now, Lord, this Paul, this Saul, better, he has come out to Damascus with authority, with these letters from the chief priests from Jerusalem, and he's going to take everyone who calling your name. He was filled with fear, this Ananias, this disciple of the Lord. But all of the fears that Ananias had were calmed with a peace, with a simple statement, the answer of the Lord. to this request.

Think about this, beloved of Christ. The Lord is going to say to Ananias, basically, Paul is chosen. This Paul that you know as a persecutor of the church, this Paul that you know as a hater of the church, this Paul that you are afraid of, this Paul that has participated in the death of many of my disciples, This Paul is chosen. He's a chosen instrument of the gospel. And he's going to bring the gospel to Gentiles and to kings and to the children of Israel.

And also, he's chosen not only to be an instrument of the gospel, but also he's chosen to suffer for my sake. Later, the apostle speaking in Philippians, he is going to speak that is not being granted only for us to believe, but also to suffer for the sake of the Lord Jesus Christ. This Christ, Ananias, or this Paul better, Ananias, this man that you're afraid of, this man is a chosen instrument of me, the Lord Jesus Christ. And he is going to be a witness to me, to the Gentiles and to the kings and the children of Israel. And he's also chosen to suffer for my sake.

Later, the apostle, as I said, will confirm all of these things in his teachings, not only there in Philippians, but also in Galatians. In chapter one, he says, for you have heard of my former life in Judaism, how I persecuted the church of God violently and tried to destroy the church. And I was advancing in Judaism beyond many of my own age among my people, so extremely zealous was I for the traditions of my fathers. But when He who had set me apart before I was born. He who had chosen me.

I was a chosen instrument, Paul says, when I was set apart before I was born. And he called me by his grace. Then he explains all the works and all the ministry and the things that he had done. Now, brothers and sisters, Ananias receives the confirmation of the Lord, and this was sufficient for him to be appeased, to be confident that he had to do that, so Ananias obeys. And he comes to Paul, the Apostle Paul, and when he comes to him, he confirms that this Jesus Christ who had appeared to him was the Lord Jesus Christ.

He says, the Lord Jesus who appeared to you on the road by which you came, He is the one that sent me. Ananias confirms to this man who had been praying in darkness without light physically speaking and meditating upon all of these things and thinking about the Messiah and Christ and the things that he had done and the conviction of sin. Confirmation comes from the mouth of Ananias, and he says, he sent me. He sent me, and that was the confirmation also of the vision that Apostle Paul had had. So in the Lord's authority through Ananias, Paul is going to recover not only his sight, but also Paul is going to be baptized.

And also Paul is going to have some food, and he's going to be strengthened in his body. Now, brothers and sisters, Now Paul is not only saved, he is not only transformed, he is not only baptized, he is not only a member of a better covenant, a new covenant, but also now Paul is ready to go onto the world and to preach the Savior. to preach the savior and that's what he does for some days there in in the end of verse 19 we are told that for some days he was with disciples at damascus but now brothers and sisters beloved of christ before i even continue with this i want you to think about ananias Because I spoke in the beginning of this Bible study about the importance of the life of the Apostle Paul and the many writings and the many things that he has done for the church and how the Lord has used him for everything in the church, not only in the church but also in human history, the importance of the Apostle Paul. But nobody speaks about Ananias. Ananias, the instrument through which Light came also to the Apostle, the instrument that simply obeyed the command of the Lord.

Yes, he questioned the command of the Lord, but then when the Lord said that he is my chosen instrument, he came to bring light, now physical light, to the Apostle. He obeyed, and it is through the obedience of Ananias, through the means of the Lord, that the ministry of the Apostle Paul will start. This is the glorious thing about history, biblical history, and of course extra-biblical history also, it is the providential workings of God that bring about His eternal decree. God does not need anyone or anything to bring about what He decides yet in His wisdom and perfection. From eternity past, He has chosen means to bring about His decree, and those means are people and the church.

That is the obedience of Ananias, through whom the apostle of apostles is going to be filled with the Holy Spirit, who is going to recover his strength, who is going to recover his sight, and from that very moment he is going to become a warrior of the gospel of Jesus Christ. And then after staying over certain days with the disciples at Damascus, we're told in verse 20 that immediately He proclaimed Jesus in the synagogues. Now, brothers and sisters, think about that. He was famous through the land about his hatred, for his hatred to this way and Christianity and the followers of Christ. He was known because of that.

And now this man with boldness and with clarity of words, he's going to come with a message that was completely opposite to what he was saying before and to what he was doing before. And for that reason, many people are going to question, are going to question the things that he's doing. Are not you the person that was trying to kill these people and bring these people captive or bound to Jerusalem? But brothers, imagine not only the level of confusion the level of confusion in those synagogues, but also the temptation in the flesh for Paul to be ashamed, to be filled with shame that he was given his life previously to go against this way, to go against this cause, to calling this something heretical, something that was not of God. And now he finds himself being zealous, proclaiming this Jesus Christ as the Son of God.

No doubt he would have been empowered later on to say, for I am not ashamed of the gospel of Jesus Christ, for it is the power of God unto salvation for everyone who believes, for the Jew first and also to the Greek. So it was the boldness, the certainty, the confidence, the mighty work of the Spirit of Christ in him that empowered him to go on to continue to preach the gospel, even when there was going to be opposition. And here's when it starts a pattern, brothers and sisters, for the ministry of this Paul. Because now, every time that he goes into a synagogue, he preaches with boldness and with zeal, with the power of the Spirit in him. This Jesus Christ is the Son of God, and there's going to be opposition and questioning and confusion.

But he's going to be strengthening the Lord, and then he's going to be persecuted. This is why we are told that the apostle increased all the more in his strength, and he confounded the Jews, that he explained to the Jews from a scripture. There is a beautiful passage now in Acts 17, in which it says that the apostle was explaining or reasoning from scriptures and saying and showing to the Jews and showing to the people that it was necessary, that it was necessary that Jesus Christ would die and be resurrected as the Christ. all the knowledge that he had, all that he had learned, had found now meaning and substance and power, not only in the person of Jesus Christ, but now through the power of the Holy Spirit. This is the beginning of the ministry of the Apostle Paul, which is equivalent to the arrival or the engrafting butter of the Gentiles into the covenant people of God, the uttermost parts of the earth.

These are the providential workings of God, beloved of Christ, bringing about His eternal decree through His workings, His providential workings, and it was in His desire that from eternity past There will be a man chosen before the foundation of the world, one man that will live a life not only of a sinner, but a hater of the Savior. Later when he will, of course, he will know of the way, he will become a hater of the church, a hater of the disciples of Christ, and glory in His glorious and high ways that cannot be understood by our mind. He brings about the salvation of these men that will bring salvation of many and the extension of the gospel. Now we're told in verse 23, beloved of Christ, that when many days had passed, and these many days are indeed many, many days, perhaps three years, as we are told in Galatians chapter one, three years would have passed in which the apostle was now ministering there at Damascus. Three years would have passed in which the Jews would have seen all the things that he was preaching and all the things that he was teaching.

And now we're even told there in verse 25, but his disciples, it was not only that he was teaching and he was preaching, but now he had made disciples. Why? Because many days had passed. So now, because many days had passed and because he had been teaching now for a long time, almost three years, Now the Jews will come and plot it to kill him. They will come together.

Satanic opposition will come against the apostle. And they were watching, it says there in verse 24, the gates day and night in order to kill him. This is at Damascus where he was, but his disciples took him and then they helped him to escape. This is actually very important because after escaping from Damascus, beloved Christ, he is going to go, you have there in verse 26, that he goes and visits Jerusalem. Now, imagine, imagine the level of persecution and the things that this apostle had done against the church.

that even after three years of preaching and teaching and all of the things that he had been doing there in Arabia and in Damascus, all of these things for over three years. Now, when he comes to Jerusalem, the disciples and the apostles of the church of Jerusalem, they were afraid of him, for they did not believe that he was a disciple. All of these apostles, all of these disciples who had seen the miraculous power and the mighty workings of the Spirit of God in resurrecting the dead, in healing the sick, in saving multitudes, thousands of people being saved. Such was the persecution of the apostle. Such was the wickedness of the apostle Paul.

Such was the hatred and all of the things that he had against the church. that after three years of ministry, and of course they would have heard of the things that he was doing at Damascus in Arabia, that when he came to the disciples, they were still afraid of him. They were still filled with uncertainty that they would not know if this man was really a disciple. No, it is not so much, I think, that they doubted the power of the Spirit, but it is this man, this wicked man, such was the persecution of this man against us that it is incredible. It's very difficult to believe that he is a disciple.

That's why we are told this Barnabas, this son of encouragement who was introduced to us in Acts chapter 4, the one who sold this land and gave the money to the apostles, that this man that now is ministering with the apostle Paul, he's going to be the one in charge and telling them, the disciples and the apostles, that this Paul, this soul of Tarsus, that this man was saved. He had a visitation of God. He was actually saved and he heard the voice of the Lord. And not only that, he was not only converted, but he has preached boldly at Damascus all the message of the Lord. Jesus Christ.

It was very difficult for the disciples and for the apostles to understand and to believe this thing, but the Apostle Paul is going to spend a short period of time there in Jerusalem, and we are told that during the time that he was in Jerusalem, independently of the apostles and the disciples not believing entirely that he was a disciple, we are told that he started to preach in and out in Jerusalem every time that he was preaching boldly in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and his ministry for that very short period of time there in Jerusalem was preaching to these Hellenist Jews, speaking to these men, and these men, as I said before, there's going to be this pattern in which the apostle preaches, then it comes opposition, there's going to come persecution, and after that the apostle will have to escape or go to a different place. So just as the apostle had been lowered down in a basket at Damascus, now the disciples, his disciples, the brothers better, learned that that these people were trying to kill him, so they sent him to Tarsus for him to be safe. Now, we know that the apostle was completely willing to give his life. For him to live was the Lord Jesus Christ, and to die was gain. He was simply given his life entirely for the proclamation of the gospel.

But brothers and sisters, as I said, the mighty work and transformation of the Spirit of Christ in a person, and in this case in the Apostle Paul, it is manifested with the love now that this man has to Christ. and this practically evidence in the service that a person has for the church, to the point that Paul would say, for me to live is Christ and to die is gain. But he doesn't know after that portion in Philippians, he says, you know, I want to stay because I know if I stay, it is for benefit for the church and for the work of the Lord. That is that my life is valuable, not in and of myself and who I am and the things that I know, but for the service. of the church but I also know that going to my Lord Jesus Christ it is there's nothing better than to be in the presence of the Lord but he knows that his life depends on the service what is hanging on the service and in the love of the Lord Jesus Christ and the service that he has to the church brothers and sisters that we may grow even as I'm just saying these things and thinking about my heart as I'm speaking and saying these things that we may grow in love for Christ and this being evidence in service genuine service and love for the church giving our lives entirely, our lives that we can say just as the apostle that for us to live is Christ and to die is gain and the life that we live, we live in the flesh, we live it by the faith of the Son of God who loved us and gave himself for us and this is for the labor and for the good of the church and the congregation.

That is how the church of the Lord Jesus Christ grows and is built up. Because then we have in that verse 31 all this summary, all of this summary of these providential workings of God in the church is summarized by Luke in the effect and the result that this cost is produced in the church. We're told in verse 31 that the church or the churches 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, they multiplied. Keep that in your mind, beloved of Christ. The growth of the church, the building up of the church, it is not by having a better building, it is not by having more eloquent and more articulated preachers, or by having better chairs, or by having a better website, or by having things and programs and systems, and by having all of these man-made things, but actually, the establishment of the church throughout this world It is when the church is walking in the fear of the Lord and in the comfort of the Holy Spirit.

That's how the church multiplies. It is walking in the fear of the Lord and in the comfort of the Holy Spirit, being aware of the seriousness of this matter of the gospel and holiness and who God is for us and for the lost and what the Bible speaks about our relationship to God and the relationship of God to the world. judgment and condemnation and what the gospel is, and all of that, the fear, the reverential fear of the Lord, but at the same time with the comfort of the Holy Spirit and the peace that can be given to a person only through the gospel of Jesus Christ. This is how the church is multiplied, and brothers and sisters, if we are able in now, in 2020, to be able to preach the word and to listen to the to the preaching of the word as Gentiles. It is because 2,000 years ago, less than that, but 2,000 years ago, the providential workings of God saved an enemy of the Church, the Apostle Paul, so that he will be a chosen instrument to the gentiles to the kings and to the children of israel so he will go and preach entering to the synagogue and bring the message of the son of god jesus christ the gospel of christ and then when the the jews will reject him then he will say i will go to the gentiles he or they will listen as it says in acts chapter 28 and then next page what you have in the end of the book of acts is the book of romans given to All the people that by grace through faith, Gentiles and Jews will listen and come.

This is the arrival, the engrafting of those who were not a people, but now they have become God's people. Those who were alienated and far away from the promises of God, but now have been in Christ, been recipients of the promise of God. Those of us Gentiles that were far away from God, but now through the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ, we have been brought near. And all of these, beloved of Christ, he has accomplished it through his providential workings, through his church, through his people. Beloved of Christ, how many people are there chosen, elected by the Lord that are yet to listen to the gospel and receive the gospel.

And it has pleased the Lord from eternity past that the way by which the gospel will be proclaimed and salvation will come to happen is by the hearing with faith, because faith comes by hearing and hearing by the word of God, that the gospel would be proclaimed and the church would be established and that we will grow in the unity of the knowledge of the Savior. Gentiles and Jews, there is no wall of division, of separation anymore. There is no, there is no separation, ethnic separation anymore. But in Jesus Christ, we have been made one man as the same apostle Paul that later will explain in Ephesians chapter two. The main intention, beloved of Christ, in this chapter 9 of Luke is to show that we are in a transitional point in the story of the development of this church.

This church that started in Jerusalem, in Judea, and now through Philippians, in Zemaria, now it is moving towards Gentile land or gentile regions that is reaching now beyond and is growing and for that reason here Luke is going to speak now about workings of the apostle Peter. It's not that he's just changing point that he's speaking about Paul and then he speaks about Peter but beloved of Christ he's making an important point that is going to come to the climax in chapter 10 in which we see that the gospel is also for the gentiles They had been told that they were supposed to make disciples of all the nations, but through the Spirit they are going to come to the understanding that salvation is for all because it's by grace through faith. It's not by the keeping of the mosaic law anymore, but it is by grace through faith. And this will come to a fulfillment, a realization in chapter 10 with a visit to Cornelius. But Peter, or better Luke, is making a point here by showing us the ministry of the Apostle Peter.

So very quickly, he is going to show us two important things with these two stories, with these two miracles. We have the healing of Aeneas, and also we have the resurrection of Tabitha. In those two miracles that are now performed by the Apostle Peter there, they're starting in verse 32. Beloved of Christ, Luke is going to be showing us two things. First of all, that now the Apostle Peter has gone beyond in his ministry, beyond Jerusalem.

That's why we're told, now as Peter went here and there among them, the churches, now as Peter went here and there among them all, and then we're told that he goes to a city that is called Lydda. That is, that Luke wants us to see in this portion of his scripture, he wants to show us that Peter is going beyond Jerusalem. And when he's going beyond Jerusalem, he's performing again miracles in the name of Jesus Christ. So he arrives to this city Lida, it would have been perhaps 40 kilometers away from Jerusalem, that is relatively far, and then he's going to find this person that perhaps is a disciple, because he's going to visit there the saints in that church, and they are going to bring this man Aeneas, who has been paralyzed for eight years, and now he's going to heal this man. He says, Jesus Christ heals you.

The result of the miracle that now Peter is performing beyond Jerusalem is that many people will believe. We are told in verse 35, And all the residents of Lyra and Sharon saw him, and they turned to the Lord. Now many people beyond Israel and Judea, now they are coming to the Lord, and this is through the miraculous power that is operating in the apostles. And then some people in Joppa, which is a town or a city that was very close to this leader, would have heard that Peter was also there, and there was a person there, Tabitha, who is also Dorcas. She was better.

She was a disciple, and she was active in good works and in charity, and she fell ill, and she died. So these people, they know the mighty workings of the Spirit of God in the apostles. So they sent a couple of men to the city, Lida, to call the apostle Peter. Then we know that the apostle Peter comes in a very similar way, what he did with Aeneas. He's just going to come and he's going to perform a miracle to Tabitha.

And Tabitha who was dead, he would just say, Tabitha, arise. Tabitha was resurrected in a very similar Christ-like, similar to what the Lord Jesus Christ did in the Gospels. Now, the power that was operated in the apostle was resurrected this girl, and the result of it is that, beloved of Christ, that He will call the saints and the widows, and He will present this Tabitha resurrected from the dead by the power of Christ and the apostle will present her to all of them and then many believed in the Lord. That's why Luke will close this chapter with this very important information that Peter stayed in Joppa for many days with one Simon, a tanner. A Tanner would have worked with dead animals, so he would have been considered by the Jews, by the strict Jews, to be an unclean person because he was in contact with dead animals.

But now we can see here that Luke is trying to introduce now this concept of the disciples, the apostles, going beyond the concepts of the mosaic law, even geographically and also practically. Why? Because now the greatest revelation comes. that the gospel is also for the gentiles beloved of christ all of this through the providential workings of god you see apart from the eternal desire apart from the eternal grace of god in actually deciding that there was going to be a savior also for the gentiles At this very point, whoever you are, wherever you are right now, you would be completely blinded in your sins. And none of the efforts in the flesh would have been sufficient for you to come to the knowledge of Jesus Christ.

Paul, the apostle who was blameless under the righteousness of the law, who was a Hebrew of Hebrews, who was from the tribe of Benjamin, who was circumcised in Pharisee. He was blameless and righteous according to the righteousness of the law. Not even this man with this knowledge, this understanding that he had of the law was able to obtain the righteousness that is not under the law, but the righteousness that is by faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. we have all fallen short of the glory of God, Jews and Greeks and Gentiles, because all have fallen short of the glory of God, then it is because and through grace that we are to be saved and come and be united to the Lord Jesus Christ, brothers. and sisters just because we have been born in the gentile time of the church that we would not be stopped to be amazed of the grace that was extended to the gentiles because for a long period of time for a long thousands of years the salvation was available only through the Mosaic Covenant and the environment of the Mosaic Covenant.

So salvation was, and the words of God, the oracles of God were given to the people of Israel. So it was faith in the God of Israel as the Savior. But now Once Jesus Christ came upon the cross and He turned the curtain in two, and once the presence of God was not confined to the boundaries of the Mosaic covenant, but rather were established upon the covenant on the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ, now we can sing with certainty that salvation is for all, and that from every tribe, every nation, and every tongue. We can be united to Christ, our sins can be forgiven, and then we can be at peace with God and we can have certainty that the day that our eyes are closed and that we breathe our last, that we have this certainty by the Spirit that the next moment we will be taken up to glory with the Savior and that we will not reserve the eternal punishment that we deserve. Until that moment arrives, until the moment that we see the Lord Jesus Christ in glory, we have been called to give our lives just as Jesus Christ gave his life for us.

We are called to consider everything as lost, just as the Apostle Paul did, to count everything as ravished as done for the knowledge, the supremacy, the excellency of the knowledge of the Lord Jesus Christ, that just as the Apostle Paul and the Apostle Peter and the saints throughout the ages have been found to be faithful entering into the rest of the Lord by the grace of the Savior, we will also be found faithful entering into the rest of the Savior by living our lives entirely for the glory of the Lord and giving everything that we have, finding peace and rest for the proclamation of the gospel, the salvation of the lost, the edification of the church, the love to the saints, and the strengthening in the faith, the faith that once for all was delivered to the saints for the glory of the Father in fruits of righteousness of the Lord Jesus Christ. May he give us grace. Amen.