Transcript
Speaker: Welcome to Growing in Grace with Pastor Victor Morrison. This is a ministry of First Baptist Church located at 1700 Milam Street, Columbus, Texas. We are praying that God will bless you as you listen to this message.
Speaker: If you would like additional information on worship times and ministries at FBC Columbus, you can find out more at our website, fbccolumbustx.org. And now, take your copy of God's timeless Word as Pastor Victor gives today's message.
Speaker: Welcome to Growing in Grace. Today I want to talk about the resurrection of Jesus Christ. This is Victor Morrison at First Baptist Church in Columbus, Texas. Hank Williams wrote a song claiming that he had seen the light.
Speaker: This legendary songwriter wrote these words, I wondered so aimless, life filled with sin. i wouldn't let my dear Savior Then Jesus came like a stranger in the night, praise the Lord, I saw the light.
Speaker: Something very similar, it wasn't in music form, but the apostle Paul had a ah similar testimony to that song. He tells us in the pages of scripture that he too saw the light.
Speaker: As a matter of fact, each time in the book of Acts that he shared his personal testimony, which wound up being three times, by the way, he always included seeing a light that was even brighter than the sun.
Speaker: ah wonder how bright that would be. you know Even though scientists tell us and that a quasar can be like 500 trillion times brighter than the sun,
Speaker: My personal conviction is that Paul saw the risen Christ, the maker of quasars and suns and all of these bright things we observe in our universe.
Speaker: He went from being a foe of Christ to becoming a follower of Christ. If the Lord can overcome the darkness of death,
Speaker: then there's nothing too difficult for him. Is there someone in your life right now that you've been praying for? And maybe you feel that they're just too hard to reach. Well, don't forget what we're about to study today from Acts 9, verses 1 through 22.
Speaker: versus one through twenty two Let's see what happened when Saul had a personal encounter with the risen Lord on the road to Damascus.
Speaker: His life will change right before our eyes. So let me read those verses. But Saul... still breathing threats and murder against the disciples of the Lord, went to the highest priest, 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.
Speaker: 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?
Speaker: And he said, who are you, Lord? And he said, i am Jesus, whom you are persecuting. But rise and enter the city, and you will be told what you are to do.
Speaker: 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.
Speaker: 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.
Speaker: 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.
Speaker: And at the house of Judas, look for a man of Tarsus named Saul. For behold, he's 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.
Speaker: But Ananias answered, Lord, I've heard from many about this man, how much evil he has done to your saints at Jerusalem.
Speaker: 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's a chosen instrument of mine to carry my name before the Gentiles and kings and the children of Israel.
Speaker: 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,
Speaker: 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.
Speaker: And immediately, something like scales fell from his eyes and he regained his sight. And then he rose and was baptized.
Speaker: In 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?
Speaker: 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. Oh, what an inspirational passage of scripture we have before us with Acts chapter one, all the way down through ah verse one to 22. Just so excited to look at this passage in Acts nine, one to 22 and see what the Lord will say to us today.
Speaker: The first thing that's pretty obvious when you read verses one and two, is how mean this guy was. Wow, what was your life like before you met Jesus Christ? If you know Him today, what was it like?
Speaker: Well, Paul admits what his life was like when he was known as Saul of Tarsus. He was maybe the meanest man in town. I'm telling you, he shares his testimony in Acts chapter 9, in Acts chapter 22, and in Acts chapter 26, three times.
Speaker: But you know what he does? He admits in all three passages that his heart was full of hate. His heart was full of anger. Wouldn't it be nice if there was a way to extract that venom out of this mean man's heart?
Speaker: You know, it says he was breathing threats and murder. I'd say he was ruthless. He went and asked for letters so that he could bind people up. So I would say he was aggressive.
Speaker: And he was brutal because it doesn't say just men. it says men or women bound. So I'm thinking, wow. This guy was serious about it. No wonder Ananias, when the Lord says, I want you to go over there and pray for this guy. Ananias says, I've heard how much evil he's done.
Speaker: See, he was an evil man. But wow, wouldn't it be great if for all those evil people that you know in your life, if there was a way to get that hate, that evil out of the human heart,
Speaker: You know, I'll recall reading where mankind has now learned to milk the poison out of a rattlesnake. Now, i don't recommend that you go off and try to milk the the poison out of a rattlesnake, lest you know what you're doing. But here's the thing.
Speaker: We can't remove sin and all of its damage that it does from the heart of man. Somebody else is gonna have to do that. But before we finish talking about this passage, you're gonna know who can do it.
Speaker: So we established the fact that there was venom in his heart, but he there was venom in his heart because he had not yet met the risen Lord. But it's coming, he's coming,
Speaker: Let's look at the second thing we observe in our text, verses three through four. This city that he was moving toward on the road was called Damascus. It was 150 miles from Jerusalem.
Speaker: I mean, if he traveled 30 miles a day, then he's been on the road five to six days already. He's almost there. So what I'm thinking is this guy's moving really fast in the direction of going to Damascus because he wants to arrest Christians. So his velocity toward these Christians is pretty pretty swift.
Speaker: You know, he encountered Christ, according to chapter 22, verse 6, at midday, about, 12 noon. You know what they did back then? Usually around that time of day, travelers would stop to rest.
Speaker: Not this man. This man was a man on a mission. He was speeding toward Damascus. His intention? Well, it's pretty obvious when you read the passage carefully and thoughtfully.
Speaker: He was trying to stop Christianity. But you know what he he did not realize? He was running quickly, in the direction of the Lord Jesus Christ. See, he thought that Christ was dead, but the significance of this passage is, no, Christ christ is not a past event.
Speaker: He is a present reality. Here we are two years after the bodily resurrection of Jesus Christ, and he is appearing to this man who is running.
Speaker: He doesn't realize it, but he's running toward Christ. He thinks he's running away from Christ, but he's running toward him. You know, the Bible is full of runners. Many people tried to run away from God. How about we start with Adam and Eve?
Speaker: They tried to run, hide from God. There was a man named Jonah. He got swallowed by a whale. He was trying to run away from God. But you know what? The field of apologetics in Christianity is full of former runners like Josh McDowell, Lee Strobel, Frank Morrison.
Speaker: Each of these men said, you know what? I'm going to prove that the resurrection didn't happen. But now they spent their whole life establishing the fact that no matter how many facts and how much proof they looked at and all the evidence, they cannot deny that Jesus really did rise from the dead.
Speaker: That's why Casting Crowns has a song that they call, Can Anybody Hear Her? And in there, they're talking about how someone is running away from God 100 miles an hour in the wrong direction.
Speaker: That's where he was running 100 miles an hour in the wrong direction. But as it turns out, where are you going to go to get away from the risen Lord? He can intercept you any place he wants, on any road that he wants.
Speaker: You know, some like Saul have to be knocked down in order to hear the voice of the Lord. The voice of the Lord is what I would like for us to consider thirdly, the voice of the risen Lord.
Speaker: Saul goes on record in all three recordings that are found in the book of Acts where he shares about this particular encounter. And he says two times,
Speaker: The Lord called his name, Saul, Saul. You see, it's very personal, isn't it? Christ asked him, why? Why are you doing this?
Speaker: You know, do you have an answer? If you've been rejecting the Lord and God were to really speak to you, I mean, just one night he wakes you up and he were to say, why are you running away from, why are you persecuting me?
Speaker: Wow, what would you say? You know, God still speaks today by his Holy Spirit through his word. Some people may scoff and they may say, you know what? I can't see Jesus.
Speaker: So how can he speak? But notice something about our text. Verse seven. Others could hear his voice, yet they were unable to see him. You see, here's the the point that I wanted to make.
Speaker: Not seeing God is not equal to God not being there. See, he's speaking. and get there saying, I hear him, but I don't see him.
Speaker: The God that you cannot see has been reaching out to you more than you might realize, friend, because he loves you. He cares about you. He wants you to be in his family, but not going in that direction.
Speaker: You're gonna have to do what's called repent of sin, where you turn into a 180, and you're gonna have to go in the other direction and run toward him. And that's exactly what happens in verse five, verification of the risen Lord.
Speaker: You know, I believe the most important question in the entire universe is asked in verse five. The apostle Paul, not an apostle at this time, mind you, he saw running away from God or or he thought he was.
Speaker: But here's what the Lord said or what Saul says to the Lord. Who are you, Lord? Who are you, Lord? I would say that's the most important question in the whole universe.
Speaker: Who is Jesus Christ? Is he the son of God, like the scripture says? There's an unmistakable answer given to that question when Jesus simply says, I am Jesus.
Speaker: Moses heard God say at the burning bush in Exodus 3.14, he said, what is your name? And God said, my name is I am that I am.
Speaker: Jesus said something similar to a group of Pharisees in John 8, 58 and 59. He said, before Abraham was, I am. And boy, did they get upset with him because they knew what he was saying.
Speaker: They knew what he was saying was, I'm the eternal son of God. And they didn't like it. He says, I whom you are persecuting.
Speaker: It's like there was an unmistakable alliance between Jesus and all of these Christians that Paul was mistreating, that he was binding in chains and taking to prisons and perhaps he's them even giving the death sentence.
Speaker: And so what Jesus is basically saying to Saul is when you hurt them, you're hurting me. That's why scripture compares the the local church to the body of Christ. You're actually hurting Christ himself. But it also, is in another place, compares the church to the bride of Christ.
Speaker: Do you know that you're hurting someone he loves whenever you're speaking out against Christians? But you see, there was an unmistakable agitation. The Lord was saying to him, it's hard to kick against the goads.
Speaker: You know, the goads there, it's a sharpened stick in case you don't know what that is. A sharpened stick used to prod cattle. And when you prod them with that sharpened stick, they'll kick.
Speaker: I've seen it myself in Alberta. But why do they kick? Because it hurts. You know, God's been trying to tell you, he's been trying to tell many people around the world, but sometimes when we want to be unfaithful and God wants us to learn to be faithful,
Speaker: then the way of the unfaithful is hard. That's what's written in Proverbs 13, verse 15. The way of the unfaithful is hard.
Speaker: You see, the way of running away from God, it's a miserable way to live. Verification of of the resurrection of Christ, it's available. But you see what? Our struggle is not really against evidence, facts, truth, proofs.
Speaker: You know what really it's about? The will. I can take you to Acts chapter 1, verses 1 through 8, and we could look at seven proofs that are described in Acts chapter 1 as being many infallible proofs.
Speaker: So there's a lot of proof for the resurrection of Christ, but something else has to humble itself. the will of man, the ego of man. We have to humble ourselves from our pride to realize, you know what?
Speaker: What God's been trying to say me ah say to me all along, it's really true. Saul didn't know it was true. He thought he was doing the right thing and maybe you do as well.
Speaker: but There's a vision that the risen Lord had for Saul's life. He didn't even realize it. Verse six and verses eight through 18. Why should Saul follow Christ anyway?
Speaker: Why should we follow Christ anyway? I'll give you one reason, because he has a plan for each life. If you're still searching for purpose in life, then why don't you try praying verse six?
Speaker: Some translations describe it this way. that he was trembling and astonished and the apostle Paul or Saul says, Lord, what do you want me to do?
Speaker: That would be a great prayer. You should say to God, Lord, if you're really out there, what do you want me to do? Two observations that I would give about understanding God's plan, verse six would tell us that understanding God's plan is usually progressive.
Speaker: It's progressive, it's incremental. Rarely will God tell us everything that we need to know for the rest of our lives. If he did that, then we might never check back with him.
Speaker: But he wants us to go to him. He wants us to spend time with him every day and simply say, okay, God, I want to spend time with you. And so slowly he reveals what his plan and his will is for our lives. But the other thing I noticed, it's obvious, right? From verse 10 down through verse 19, understanding God's plan is usually interactive.
Speaker: Remember whenever Saul is knocked off that horse and he falls to the ground and the risen Christ meets him, what does he say? Go into the city and it will be told you what you must do.
Speaker: You see, God could have told him right then what he wanted him to do, right? But isn't it interesting that it he had to call Ananias, right? so that Ananias would be a part of God's plan and a part of Saul understanding more of God's plan. So it's incremental.
Speaker: God's plan is relational, but also I think understanding God's plan based on verses 15 and 16 is personal. Notice the Lord's words to Ananias regarding Saul. he is a chosen instrument of mine. I will show him how much he must suffer.
Speaker: Do you get the idea that God's got a personal plan? I think that God's plan for Saul included blessings as well as some burdens, opportunities as well as obstacles, successes as well as, well he calls it, suffering.
Speaker: The suffering of Saul was gonna be caused by man, not God, but God already saw that it was gonna happen. And so now it's time for Saul to understand all of these things that were spoken while he was blinded. He couldn't see.
Speaker: And so now after Ananias lays his hands on him, what does it say happened? And he immediately, verse 18, something like scales fell from his eyes.
Speaker: Well, you know, that's what happens whenever we're what's called a natural man and we become a spiritual man. The natural man, he doesn't even know God exists. He doesn't even believe that what the Holy Spirit would say to him.
Speaker: But once we open our lives up to Christ and we enthrone Christ on our hearts and we allow him to guide us, we become then what 1 Corinthians 3 would describe as a spiritual man who is spiritually assessing things. And also there's a carnal man Sometimes people slip backwards and they go backwards and they're not going forwards.
Speaker: And so they become carnal again where they're asking the Lord to sit there. But that's when the cloudiness comes back. But Ephesians 118 says, having the eyes of your hearts enlightened that you may know what is the hope.
Speaker: You know, only God can open up those those ah spiritual eyes that we have in our hearts so that we would understand God's plan. Yes, it's incremental, little bit at a time. It's relational.
Speaker: You can count on it. He's going to call other people into your life so that you can help know his will. But you can also know, thirdly, it's personal. But then fourthly, It's spiritual.
Speaker: And that's why you need God to help you. You know, the Apostle Paul prayed for people in a church called Colossae, and they were new Christians. And here's what he said in Colossians 1.9. I've been praying for you folks there that you may be filled with the knowledge of his will in all spiritual wisdom and understanding.
Speaker: You see, only God can help you make sense of your life to know why he placed you on the face of the earth. You see, I believe that Saul learned it that day. And so you know what he did?
Speaker: He surrendered his life. The last observation is verses 18 through 22 or so even beyond that, but where he becomes actually a vessel, a vessel of the risen Lord.
Speaker: You know, God said he's a chosen instrument. That word there is a vessel. How did Saul move from being bad to being bold?
Speaker: One way, the transforming power of God's amazing grace. yeah He can take somebody that's just bad to the bone, so bad to the core, and he can totally change them from the heart all the way out.
Speaker: You know that word instrument in verse 15 is the word skelos. It means a ah vessel, a container. Same word is used in 2 Corinthians 4, 6, where it's like a pottery.
Speaker: But he says, we are like jars of clay. And there's nothing real fancy about the outside container, but where the real treasure is, Paul said in 2 Corinthians 4, 6, and 7, it's on the inside.
Speaker: It's on the inside. That's why God has to shape us. It's like God is a potter and he forms us as his servants. See, he's alive.
Speaker: He's not dead. No, he's alive. And so I thought about how God shapes us for what he's created us to do and to be. and so here's what he uses. Verses 17 and 18, what did God use? The S of shape would be the spirit.
Speaker: God will use his spirit to make you into the vessel you should be. But along with his spirit and the work that he will do, you're gonna need the H in shape.
Speaker: The S, the spirit of God, the spirit God. a heart for obedience. Would it have looked any differently if the apostle Paul, I still call him apostle. He's not an apostle just yet. But in verse 18, it says, then he rose and was baptized.
Speaker: You know what? He started obeying from the very beginning. Are you a obeying from your heart what God has already told you that he wants you to do? Well, that's the S, Spirit of God, the H, heart for obedience.
Speaker: How about the A of the word shape? Assemble. You're not gonna figure it out by yourself. You're gonna have to assemble with other disciples. Verse 19 says, for some days he was with the disciples at Damascus.
Speaker: You see, we need other Christian believers, brothers and sisters in Christ, who will keep us on the right track, who will hold us accountable, who will inspire us.
Speaker: We'll be like iron rubbing against iron and sharpening us. And together, we're gonna be awesome servants for God. The S, the Spirit of God will make you that servant he wants you to be. The H, you're gonna have to yield your heart and be obedient to what he wants. The a you're gonna have to say, okay, I will assemble with other disciples. The P, the proclamation of the gospel.
Speaker: Do you know that he's a brand new Christian? Verse 20 says, and immediately he proclaimed Jesus. Have you told anybody in the whole wide world what God has done in your life?
Speaker: Why don't you try sharing that message with someone? I mean, it's the greatest message of all times. And sometimes we as God's servants, we keep it so under wraps and so quiet, but we shouldn't.
Speaker: We should follow Paul's example. Here he is. He's out there as a brand new Christian. He hasn't learned a lot of things yet. And yet he's just going out there and telling them the little that he knows.
Speaker: But then how about the last letter in the word shape? God uses the spirit of God. He uses ah our heart for obedience. The A, assemble with disciples. The P, proclamation of the gospel. And the E,
Speaker: equipped through the scriptures. He was proving that Jesus was the Christ. I wonder what he was using to prove that Jesus was the Christ. The New Testament hadn't been written at that time.
Speaker: You know what he was using? He was using Old Testament prophecies. He was just taking what he knew of God's word and helping them to know. I wonder if one of those Old prophecies from the Old Testament was Isaiah nine two which spoke of a great light that would come someday and enter into our dark world.
Speaker: That great light, that's Jesus Christ. He's risen from the dead, friend. He's alive. He changed Saul's life and he can change yours.
Speaker: Why don't we pray together? Oh Lord, I thank you so much for the wonderful news today. of Easter, that our Lord is risen. He's been raised from the dead by the Father, and oh, what a difference he can make in our lives. Lord, if there's anybody listening that has not yet had their life transformed, please take this passage about Saul, Saul of Tarsus, and how you changed him from the inside out, and inspire my friends.
Speaker: Let them know that you can also transform their lives. and help them to grow to be the instrument that you have created them to be.
Speaker: Help them know that you do have a plan and you're working on that plan right now. So may they surrender their lives to the Lordship of Jesus Christ. It's in Jesus' wonderful and matchless name we pray, amen.
Speaker: Thank you so much for listening to today. I pray that God has blessed you. Have a great week.
Speaker: This is a ministry of First Baptist Church located at 1700 Milam Street, Columbus, Texas.
