Good? All right, good morning. Here we go. Open up to Acts chapter 9. This will be the second series, the second sermon in Acts 9. I'm going to read the whole account because it's kind of two parts of one unit. It's a very well-known account. So let's read beginning in Acts 9, chapter 9, verse 1. But Saul, still breeding threats and murder against the disciples of the Lord, went to the high priest and asked him for letters to the synagogues at Damascus, so that if he found any belonging to the way, men or women, he might 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 rise and enter the city, and you will be told what 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. Now there was a disciple at Damascus named Ananias. The Lord said to him in a vision, Ananias. 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 priest 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. 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. Look, reading this and actually just kind of just mulling around, you really can't fathom. I don't think you can imagine anyone, any human, that was a stronger opponent to Jesus Christ and His followers than Saul of Tarsus. You can get this in Acts 26. Paul's kind of recounting this. You don't have to turn there. Paul's recounting this episode here. He says, I not only locked up many of the saints in prison, after receiving authority from the chief priest. But when they were put to death, I cast my vote against them. I punished them often in all the synagogues. I tried to make them blaspheme, and in raging fury against them, I persecuted them even to foreign cities. The NIV translates that last verse this way. I was so obsessed with persecuting them that I even hunted them down. into foreign cities. Look, Paul did not have that not-in-my-city approach to silence in Christians. A lot of times we may have that tolerant view, like you can believe what you want, you can say what you want, just not here. But Paul hunted them down. Paul pursued them in the foreign cities, territories where he had no authority. That's why he was getting letters of authority. Paul was bent on completely erasing the name of Jesus Christ. He was on his way to Damascus, we read in verse 1. He was engaged in the very act of hunting down Christians, it says there. He was still breathing threats and murder against the disciples of the Lord. That's present tense. He was in the very act of hunting down any man or woman who belonged to the way. Look, it's really hard to comprehend his anger towards Christians. It really is. You know, we get angry with people. But it usually subsides. We get angry with people groups, but it usually goes away. And our anger usually recedes when they're out of our hair. But no, not with Paul. Paul's angry with them personally. He's angry with them collectively. He's angry with them when they're not around. So violent that he's hunting them down. He's heading to Damascus. thinking he is the agent of God's wrath, but he's completely unaware that he is under God's wrath. You know, in Acts 8, we saw Philip as he ran to meet the eunuch on the road, and here we have the Lord Himself meet Saul on the road. And just, if I say, Paul, I mean Saul, you know, it's just plugged away. I think I've been trying to get this right all week long. But the change in Saul of Tarsus is nothing short of miraculous. He goes from being an adversary to the gospel to one who advances the gospel. And I hope you notice as we read the first nine verses there how quickly he submits to the Lordship of Christ. There's never a moment in his life where the Lord Jesus is Savior of Paul's life, but not Lord. There's never a moment like that. When the Lord saves Saul, there's no struggle. Jesus is Lord of his life, and he is Lord of yours. You know, you've heard those people who foolishly say things like, when I get to heaven and I see Jesus, I got a thing or two I'm going to say to him. I bet you don't. And with that attitude, you most likely aren't heading there. But still yet, the change in Saul is drastic. It's drastic. He's heading to Damascus with an unforgiving heart. He arrives in Damascus forgiven. He's heading to Damascus praying on the church. He arrives in Damascus praying for the church. He's praying on, P-R-E-Y, and he ends up praying for, P-R-A-Y. That's the title of the sermon, From Praying to Praying. But one through nine, we see Saul's plans and we see the Lord's plans. And Saul's life is completely upended. He's blind in Damascus. fasting and praying, and then the focus actually shifts in verse 10, which will be the subject today, and it really follows the flow of Acts 8. You know, in Acts 8 we see the life of the eunuch, the Ethiopian eunuch, and then we read God preparing a man by the name of Philip there, and God coordinating an encounter. That's what we read in chapter 8. Following that same flow we have here, we read the life of Saul, we see God preparing a man, and we see God coordinating an encounter. We're going to see this again in Acts 10. We're going to read about the man named Cornelius there, the life of Cornelius. We're going to see God preparing a man, Peter, and God coordinating an encounter. It just seems to be the pattern over the next three chapters. But we're told in verse 10, now we're seeing the man that God's preparing for this encounter, verse 10, there was a disciple at Damascus named Ananias. In the early stages of Acts, what we've noticed is the Lord is working primarily through the apostles. That seems to be the early chapters of Acts. But yet in the last three chapters, we began to see the Lord working through church leaders. Or we may say deacons, you know, those Acts 6, Stephen and Philip. But here, the Lord is going to begin working through a layman. Ananias. So the point there may be that the Lord uses every single believer, from the apostles to the layman. No one on the team is on the bench. We're all in the game. You think this generation would love that, right? We love participation trophies, and everybody gets to play. Well, that's until it comes to Christ or matters of faith and then we're completely content to sit on the bench and watch others. But Ananias, what little we do know about Ananias, we can pick up in Acts 22 verse 12. It says there that Ananias was a devout man according to the law, well spoken of by all the Jews who lived there. So there is an outside chance that Ananias was a leader in Damascus. His name could have very easily been at the top of the list of individuals that Saul was hunting down. But the story continues. We're told about this man. He's a certain disciple. Not much we're told about here. Kind of an obscure character. A certain disciple at Damascus named Ananias. And the Lord said to him in a vision, Ananias. And he said, here I am, Lord. The Lord speaks to him in a vision we read here in verse 10. The Lord said to him, Ananias, verse 11, and the Lord said to him, Rise and go, right? Flashdown in verse 17. Verse 17. So Ananias is going to depart and enter the house of Judas. He's going to lay hands on Saul. Brother Saul, the Lord Jesus, who appeared to you on the road by which you came, has sent me. So who sent Ananias? The Lord Jesus. So up here when we read in verse 12 where it says that the Lord, you know, who spoke to him, brother Saul, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, the Lord said to him, rise and go. So clearly the Lord that's referring to here is Jesus. So you can kind of copy and paste or find and replace just if you want to know who this Lord is referring to, it's referring to Jesus. So the Lord appears to Ananias in a dream and he says, Ananias, and you read this, here I am. You know, maybe some excitement, maybe some relief is in this. Because Ananias knew full well of Saul of Tarsus and his reputation. And he knew Saul's intent and purpose. Look in verse 13. Lord, I've heard from many about this man. So he knew about Saul. How much evil he's done to your saints at Jerusalem, he knew the history of Saul. And here, in Damascus, he has authority from the chief priest to bind all who call on your name, and I call on your name. So he knew that Saul was on the way there to torment them. So without question, Ananias is fearful, and rightfully so. Maybe he's even hiding. And the Lord comes to him. The relief, the excitement, you can feel it. You know, here I am, Lord. I may be hiding from Saul, but I'm not hiding from you. Here I am, Lord. So now that the Lord has his attention, he commands him in verse 11. The Lord said to him, rise and go. Rise and go, that's an imperative, which means it's a command. He's told to rise and go. And being that I had Acts chapter 8, Philip and Ethiopia in eunuch, do you remember what the command to Philip was in Acts 8 verse 26? He tells him there to rise and go, and he arose and went. What's the command here to Ananias? Rise and go. If you were to look to chapter 10, verse 20, there where Peter is going to be, he's given instruction on going to Cornelius. You want to guess what the instruction is there? Rise and go. So the repetition of that phrase just kind of caught my eye. So what's one thing we could glean from that? Well, one thing we could glean is God is completely sovereign and yet He purposes to use men. Men and women. He purposes this. He's completely sovereign, yet he grabs Philip and says, rise and go. Completely sovereign, he grabs Ananias and says, rise and go. He grabs Peter and says, rise and go. He uses men. And so we're told, rise and go. And it's probably just generic. You know, go, you'll find your way, I'm sure. Kind of like the horoscopes, just real generic. Fortune cookies, real generic. Modern day prophets, quote unquote. They're intentional vagueness, laughable. Look, nothing you'll read in those horoscopes or fortune cookies from these quote-unquote prophets is going to come close to matching the precision that we see when the Lord speaks here. Look in verse 11. "...Rise and go to the street called Straight at the house of Judas, and look for a man of Tarsus named Saul. Behold, he is praying." Go to that street, that house, ask for a man named Saul, the one from Tarsus, and you'll see him praying." Pretty specific. Kind of mirrors chapter 8. Chapter 8, I got to go back there. Philip and the eunuch, he told him, he told Philip, rise and go toward the south on the road that goes down from Jerusalem to Gaza. And as he goes, he says, go to that chariot, that one right there. Very specific. Guess what? You can go to chapter 10. We'll still preach chapter 10 in a few weeks. I'm not going to get it all right here. Chapter 10. This is when the Lord is speaking to Cornelius in chapter 10 verse 5. He tells him, send men to Joppa and bring one Simon who is called Peter. He's lodging with Simon a tanner whose house is by the sea. Go to Joppa, find a man named Peter. He's staying with Simon, whose occupation is a tanner. Their house is by the sea. The precision shows you, look, when God speaks, when the Lord speaks, it's specific, it's authoritative, and it's certain. Not this lesser prophecy that these frauds are claiming today. And he tells them, Street called Straight, the house of Judas. And look, that's not Iscariot. That's not referring to Judas Iscariot. Simply had the same name, lucky him. In the same way, this Ananias we're reading about here, his wife is not Sapphira. This is not the same man who dropped dead in chapter 5. These two men just happen to have the same name as some infamous men in Scripture. That's it. Now I'm going to go on a limb and venture that this Judas here is not a Christian. I base that on the fact that if Judas was a Christian, Judas would have been one of the first to wrestle with the thoughts and fears that Ananias is wrestling with. If they would have brought Saul of Tarsus to Judas's house, and he'd have been a Christian, he'd have been like, no, no, no, not here, not here. But more than likely, he was just a Jewish sympathizer, maybe one who disliked Christians as much as Saul of Tarsus. And it's possible that the house of Judas was Saul's original destination, where he was going to go when he first got to Damascus. The Lord appears to Ananias, told him the street, the house, the man, and what he would be doing. He would be praying. And in this vision, It says, in this vision, God is going to tell Ananias what is in the vision to Saul. Look in verse 12. This is interesting. For behold, he's praying, and he, Saul, has seen in a vision. So he's telling Ananias what's in the vision to Saul. He has seen in the vision a man named Ananias come to him and lay his hands on him so that he might regain his sight. A man will come to him and he will regain his sight, but not just any man. The man is named Ananias. You're the man that Saul has seen in a vision. And so the vision that the Lord has given to Saul, like any other means in which God speaks, it's fixed, it's certain, it will come to pass, although the man Ananias is hesitant He's reluctant. But, you see in verse 13, but, Ananias really interrupts. It's a little pushback, a little resistance. But Lord, I've heard from this man, I've heard from many about this man, how much evil he's done to your saints at Jerusalem. So the relief and the excitement when the Lord come to him as he was probably hiding and praying, and now the very man Ananias wanted rescued from, Now he's going to have to go and rescue and strengthen him. So he tells them this, look, I want you to go to that street, that house, look for Saul of Tarsus. And you can almost see this timeout, Lord. I've heard from many about this man. Look, I wouldn't form my opinion about Saul from just one comment. But Lord, many people have said this. Many people have the same opinion. How much evil he's done to your saints at Jerusalem and here in Damascus. He has authority from the chief priest to bind all who call on your name. So somehow word was out that Saul of Tarsus was on the way and the Christians of Damascus were gripped with fear. And just one more note while we're kind of building this narrative in our head, verse 14 says he has authority from the chief priest. That's plural. You know we read up in verse 1 up there, it said that Saul went to the high priest, singular, But here's the chief priest's authority from the chief priest, plural. Acts 22, when Paul's recounting the story, he tells it this way. Acts 22 verse 4, I persecuted this way to the death, binding and delivering to prison both men and women, as the high priest and the whole council of elders can bear me witness from them. I received letters. Paul received these letters of authority from the high priest and the whole council of elders. Look, Saul of Tarsus is not on a covert mission operating at the whim of the high priest. The whole council has authorized Saul. And now the Lord has told Ananias to go to that street, to that house, to that man. He will be praying, and here's what he's seeing in a vision. And Ananias is like, I don't know if you know much about this guy. That's the kind of the funny part, you know. And Ananias is like, I've heard about him. Are you sure? You don't know that much about Saul. And the Lord's like, I just told you where he's at, the street, the house, what he's doing, and what he's seen in a vision. I think I know about Saul. It's a little comical, but if we're honest, we see the same reservations that lie in Ananias lie in our heart as well. But as Ananias is trying to validate his reservation, the Lord interrupts with this second, but here. But the Lord said to him, go, go, second time he's told him that. A lot of times when you start saying, well, the Lord said, Saul said, Ananias said, but hear the flow of how this is going. The Lord comes to Ananias. Ananias, here I am, Lord. 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's praying. He's seen in a vision a man named Ananias come in and lay his hands on him so that he might regain his sight. Lord, I've heard from many about this man, how much evil he's done to your saints. And he has authority from the chief priest to bind all those who call on your name. Go, for he is a chosen instrument of mine." Mid-sentence. Go. Cut him off mid-sentence. He's a chosen instrument of mine. He's a chosen vessel. This is going to be the same word we pick up on in 2 Corinthians 4 when he has that, we have this treasure in jars of clay. That's that same word, vessel, instrument. Paul is going to be a jar, a vessel, an instrument that the Lord is going to use to carry His name before the Gentiles, before kings. Paul will stand before kings. and to the children of Israel. 4, verse 16, for I will show him how much he must suffer for the sake of my name. There's three words in this verse that will never leave the lips of Joel Osteen. Must suffer much. You know, Paul informs Timothy. It's not just Paul. Paul informs young Timothy that he should expect the same. He says, all who desire to live a godly life in Christ Jesus will be persecuted. That's 2 Timothy 3. So the prosperity gospel avoids passages like this. They avoid the teaching, but we avoid the suffering. Now I'm not saying we need to go out and invite suffering, that's kind of a little counterintuitive, you know, but we can't avoid it. Usually we avoid suffering because we don't go. We sit on our hands, we sit on our pews, we sit on the bench. We avoid any responsibility and any criticism. It's easy to sit on the bench, to sit on the sidelines in the stands and poke fun at someone as they're dropping a pass, dropping a ball, striking out at a key moment. Go. Well, it's uncomfortable for me. It's pretty uncomfortable. Look, trust me, it's uncomfortable for Ananias to go. It required, it really required a lot of faith. Was Ananias fixing to go to Saul of Tarsus and kind of poke the bear? The man that was coming to them to torment them is blind and kind of shackled, so to speak. Inhabilitated, and now you're going to restore his sight? Kind of strengthening the Goliath, so to speak? Does he begrudgingly go? Is this how we're going to see Ananias operate? Grumbling as he goes, much like Jonah? Trying to go the other way, and the Lord kind of just yanking him back, and you're going this way, and he goes there, and he's got this bitter attitude. Is that what we're going to see from Ananias, where he's, hey, Saul, how's it feel to be frightened? Looks like you've got what you deserve, Saul. But now, I want you to notice how loving and tender Ananias goes to Saul. Ananias departs. He enters the house. And laying his hands on Saul, he says, Brother Saul. I really can't imagine how that phrase comforted Saul. It's hard to imagine for three days you haven't been able to eat, but you hadn't ate, you hadn't drank, you've been praying, you're blind, and you know Ananias is coming to you to lay hands on you so that you may receive your sight. Sure, he's coming to lay hands on me because the Lord has revealed this to him, but he's going to hate me, and rightfully so. Look at the torment I've done to all those who call on the name of the Lord in Jerusalem. I've got letters, I've got authority to come do the same here in Damascus. But the forgiveness of God is incredible, and the forgiveness of Ananias can't be overlooked. Ananias departs, enters the house, laying hands on him. 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." Saul went to Damascus to lay hands on Ananias. And it's Ananias laying hands on him. Saul meant it for harm. Ananias meant it for good. Saul is wanting to cut him off from the Lord, and Ananias is welcoming him into fellowship with the Lord. So this loving, tender, brother Saul. What forgiveness! This is just remarkable. Verse 18, 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. And he was with the disciples at Damascus. So Saul is going to regain his sight. He's going to be baptized, we see. He's going to be strengthened. That usually means encouraged in the Lord. He's taking food. It's not that he's just going to be strengthened from the food. He's going to be strengthened in the Lord. And then he fellowships with the very people he came to torment. That's what it says. For some days he was with the disciples at Damascus. This is really an incredible passage. So let's look at some takeaways from this. So the apostle, Saul of Tarsus, left Jerusalem heading to Damascus with authority from the high priest. That's what it says in verse 14. We'll see today in 2 Corinthians 10 that Paul has authority from the Lord. So here's what's kind of a little play on words here. Interesting dynamic. Paul saw, Saul leaves Jerusalem heading to Damascus with authority from the high priest. Now Saul is going to leave Damascus heading to Jerusalem with authority from the high priest. It's almost like it was served in the return, right? I always find it interesting, I guess, to find a common phrase that people use, maybe in the workplace, at home, at the ball field, or whatever, and try to find a way of cramming the gospel in it, maybe as a conversation starter, and often it ends up being a conversation killer, but it's an easy way to do it. I guess, for instance, one would be, you'll hear this, people say, well, it's not what you know, it's who you know. I know, and I know the Lord. And that usually, it'll go away. One other common little phrase that's kind of tossed around today is the transfer portal. You know, if you watch college football, people are hating the transfer portal. It's the worst thing to happen in college football. But Paul, this is Paul's language in Colossians 1. Colossians 1 verse 13. The Lord has delivered us from the domain of darkness and transferred us into the kingdom of his beloved Son, in whom we have redemption and the forgiveness of sin. So Saul of Tarsus was transferred. All believers are transferred from the domain of darkness into the kingdom of his Son. Saul entered the transfer portal, so to speak, right? And if you're saved, you too have been transferred. Maybe when someone pitches that to you, I hate the transfer portal, but I love the transfer portal. The transfer portal is why I'm called His, why I'm His. Look, let's just kind of thumb through some more, comb through some more things in this passage. As we're going through Acts, we've seen multitudes coming to faith, coming to faith. Acts 2, there's 3,000. Acts 4, there's 5,000. Acts 8, we see many if not most of the Samaritans. Then we read at the end of Acts 8, we read of one eunuch. Acts 9, one man named Saul. Acts 10, one man named Cornelius and his household there. In the case of Philip and the eunuch, God prepared Philip. He providentially prepared the eunuch's heart to receive the Word. In the case of Saul, God gives a vision to Saul. God gives a vision to Ananias. We're going to read it in Acts 10. God is going to speak to Cornelius, give him a vision. He's going to give a vision to Peter as well. God works both sides of these. That doesn't stop in Acts 8, Acts 9, Acts 10. God is in complete control of all things all the time. From the salvation of the multitudes to the salvation of an individual. God is in complete control in working both ends. God's sovereign. It's easy to see this. God is omniscient. He knows all things. He's on that street, in that house. Here's where He's from, Saul from Tarsus, and here's what He's doing, and here's what He knows exactly where Peter's at. He knows exactly where the eunuch's at and what the eunuch's reading when Philip gets to him. But he still employs men to accomplish his purpose. Philip, go. Ananias, go. Peter, go. But it is interesting to see the different responses to this. He tells Philip, to rise and go. Philip arose and went. He tells Philip to go and Philip runs, right? We see that in Philip. We read Isaiah, Isaiah 6, you know the Lord there says, Whom shall I send? And you see Isaiah saying, Here I am, Lord, send me, send me. We look at other faithful men like Moses. The Lord's going to send him and Moses is like, Lord, Lord, I'm not eloquent. I'm slow of speech, I'm slow of tongue. Lord, send somebody else." That's Moses, faithful Moses. Ananias, a faithful man. What's he say? Lord, this is a bad guy. Are you sure? So, their immediate responses to this command to go, it just shows different personalities. But all of them eventually went. Kind of reminds you of the parable of Matthew 21. The Lord tells there a man has two sons and he tells them to go to the field and one says, sure. He never goes. The other says, I'm not going. He eventually goes and the Lord asks, which one of them done the will of the Father? The one that went. So the point is, maybe you've been like the son who is reluctant, hesitant, Ananias, Moses, one of those. You're delaying, you're hesitant, you're reluctant to do what the Lord has plainly revealed to us to do, through His Word, that is. Trust the Lord, obey the Lord, and go. And last but not least, the forgiveness here is incredible. From the forgiveness of Saul and the crimes he committed against the Lord personally and his people to the forgiveness of Ananias toward Saul, who was coming to do him great harm, I actually stumbled upon an article by C.S. Lewis. And it kind of brought something to mind about how we often conflate forgiveness with excuses. And I don't mean this to pat myself on the back, because it's actually a knock. I'm usually pretty good at making excuses for other people. You know, well, they didn't probably mean it that way. They probably didn't understand. They didn't know that this was happening, that was happening. And I'm able to kind of explain away and excuse certain behaviors, and I'm able to get past it that way because I made excuses for them. That's really sidestepping forgiveness. Because the question is, what if, as in the case of Saul here, I put myself in Saul's shoes, I knew exactly what I was doing. And I meant it for harm. I meant to bring you bound. Not just you, you and your wife. Any who call on the name of the Lord. I meant it for harm. My intent was to torment you. And you've done nothing to warrant this behavior from me. And there's no excuses that can be made. Will you forgive me? Can you get past that? It's one thing to forgive others or excuse others when we can think, well, they didn't know, they didn't have this information, they didn't have this. But can you forgive them when they intentionally and knowingly mean you great harm? Well, you have the same tenderness as Ananias when he goes to Saul and says, Brother, Saul, and welcomes him right on into the church because he's with the disciples here at Damascus. Look, this story of Ananias teaches us a lot. It teaches us the fear of Ananias, the faith of Ananias, and the forgiveness of Ananias. There's so much in this passage. I pray that that what the Lord would have us learn from it, how we could apply it as we go forward. We all have those reluctant moments in our life, but we need to get past that and go and do the Lord's work. He knows what He's doing. He knows where He's sending us, and He's completely sovereign over all those events. I just pray that we did have a little more faith, maybe the faith that Ananias displays here. And I do pray that we can have the same forgiving heart that Ananias displays for us here. If you would please stand.