Now we open our Bibles again today to the ninth
chapter of the book of Acts. Last week we looked
at a verse by verse exposition of this text,
verses 1 through 30. Today we're going to come
back at it and look at some of the practical
applications that seem to arise within these
verses. It's the stuff from which movies are
made, human drama. directed by the intervention
of the supernatural. Saul's conversion is the
most significant in the book of Acts, and it
might be argued the most significant in the past
2 ,000 years. For this man was destined to be
the revealer of God's mystery, the Church. His
contribution to Christianity is so important.
that some unbelieving skeptics say that without
him there wouldn't be a Christian religion at
all. Indeed, I've heard one Jewish friend state
that he could appreciate Jesus, but he had no
use for Paul. He also suggested that Paul was
an anti -Semite and that he created the Christian
religion in his lifetime. Now one who would make
statements like that does not understand either
Jesus or Paul. He certainly does not understand
the heart of the apostle when he said that he
would be willing to go to hell if that were possible
for the sake of his kinsmen, the Jews. That is
not an anti -Semitic statement. The Lord Jesus
Christ founded the Church. sent the Holy Spirit
on the day of Pentecost to create it. What we
have in these chapters of Acts is the early history
of this new body, the church. Now it's going
to begin to revolve more and more around this
person Saul, later called Paul. At the first
it was primarily Jewish. Now it's going to become
more Gentile in makeup. The church was led by
Peter up to this point, but very soon now he's
going to be phased out and Paul will become the
key figure, at least as Luke records this history.
Up to this point Jerusalem has been the center.
Very soon now Antioch and Syria is going to become
the center of Christianity. Now Saul was controversial
in his day as much as he is today. This arose
partly because of the zeal which he possessed,
the commitment that he had to what he believed,
first of course as a Pharisee of the Jews, but
then as an apostle of the church. And it is the
transition, it is the conversion from the one
to the other that we are looking at in the first
part of Acts chapter 9. Across the scene of this
drama come four main characters. First, there
is Saul, the enemy, and he comes with an intention
to destroy the Church of Jesus Christ. And then
enter Jesus, the Lord, who comes with an intervention
to convert the Apostle Paul on the road to Damascus.
And then onto the stage comes Ananias, the disciple.
who arrives at the house in Damascus where Paul
was with an induction for him to serve the Lord
Jesus Christ. And then finally there is Barnabas.
Barnabas the friend who arrives with an introduction
to encourage Paul in his early days. Now from
this story which we looked at in some detail
last week, I'd like for us to draw several practical
applications. to apply to our lives. The first
one is this. We should always remember our union
with Jesus. We should always remember our union
with the Lord Jesus Christ. We see this observed
in verses 1 and 5. Look at that with me. It says
in verse 1, Now Saul still breathing threats
and murder. against the disciples of the Lord.
Notice that. Against the disciples of the Lord.
But in verse five, when Jesus addresses him,
he says, I am Jesus whom you are persecuting.
Do you see that? Saul was reaching out his hand
against the disciples of the Lord. But to do
that is to strike out against the Lord Jesus
Christ himself. To touch the Church of Jesus
Christ is to touch Christ Himself. This oneness
of life, this unity that we see illustrated here,
was established by two actions. The first action
was when God joined Himself to our humanity.
That is the incarnation of the Son of God. It's
the story of Christmas, but it's ever so much
more than the story of a baby born in Bethlehem.
It is the record of God Himself intervening in
human history, entering its flow, becoming a
human being Himself. One statement of this truth
is found in Hebrews 2 verse 14 where it says,
What is the writer saying? It is that the Son
of God at the incarnation became one with humankind.
He took upon Himself our humanity, our flesh
and blood, our human nature, but without sin.
He joined Himself to our humanity. That's the
first action. In order that He might join us
to Himself. That's the second action by which
this union is established. You see, when we trust
the Lord Jesus Christ as Savior, we are united
at that instant with Him. We are made one with
Him. I suppose there's not a more clear statement
in the New Testament than Romans chapter 6. Would
you turn there and look at these verses? And
remember as you do that every time you see the
word baptize or baptism in the Bible, It is not
in water. There's not H2O running over your Bible.
Now what I mean by that is that it does not always
refer to water baptism. The word baptize means
to dip, to immerse, to place into, or symbolically
to identify with. And it is that meaning that
is here in Romans chapter 6. to place into or
to identify one thing with another. It says in
verse 3, Do you not know that all of us who have
been baptized into Christ Jesus have been baptized
into his death? Therefore we have been buried
with him through baptism into death. In order
that as Christ was raised from the dead through
the glory of the Father, So we too might walk
in newness of life for if we have become united
with him In the likeness of his death Certainly,
we shall also in the likeness of his resurrection
Notice in verse 5 he defines what he means earlier
by baptism. He's talking here about being united
with Jesus Christ The point is this At that time
when you trusted the Lord Jesus Christ whenever
it was, five years ago, fifty years ago, yesterday,
at that moment you were united with Jesus Christ
to the point that you are one in spirit with
Him. That is what we see illustrated back in
our text in Acts 9. That oneness is so complete.
that for Saul to persecute Christians meant that
he persecuted Jesus Christ. This means that where
we go, what we do, the experiences we pass through,
the heartaches or joys that we face, that every
part of life is lived in union with Christ. He
knows all that we are and all that we do. And
listen, He is a participant in it. This doctrine
is very practical. It leads the New Testament
to apply it in three specific ways. Number one,
this doctrine is a great purifier of life. That
is the context of Romans 6. But it's said again
in 1 Corinthians 6 where the Apostle says simply,
immorality, a command. We are to run from that
which is immoral. We have nothing to do with
it. Now why would he say that? Well, just previously
in the verse he said, he who has joined himself
to the Lord is one spirit with him. His point
is that we ought to have nothing to do with that
which is unclean or immoral, because we are one
in spirit with Jesus Christ. The members of our
bodies are members of His body, and what we do
with them is important. Flee immorality. It's
a great purifier of life. Secondly, it's a great
comfort to the heart. This idea that I am one
with Jesus Christ is a great comfort to me as
I consider it because it means that He knows
and He understands and He cares what I'm passing
through. Maybe it's the experience of unemployment
or perhaps it's the sickness and potential death
of a child. I was visiting in a home this last
week and while I was there another couple came
in who happened to be staying with the couple
I was visiting and this couple who entered a
little later brought their son with them and
by looking at him I knew immediately he was very
ill. As we talked further came to light that
this young boy who's but six years of age has
since he was 15 months old been treated for leukemia.
I'm very sick little boy. If you're a parent
in a situation like that, the question might
possibly come to you, does the Lord really understand
this? Does He know the uncertainty that I'm facing?
Does the Lord really care about the grief I feel
watching my child slip downhill? fighting for
his life against this disease. I talked with
a lady in our church who is in a rest home, weaker
than she's ever been in life because of heart
condition, desiring more than anything else in
the world to go home to be with the Lord, in
pain because of the shortness of breath. She
said to me, sometimes I wonder if the Lord really
does care, if He really does know. I can't condemn
her for saying that because most of us at some
point have had that question in our minds. You
know what this doctrine says to me? Yes, Jesus
cares. Yes, Jesus knows. Yes, He understands
what I am passing through because I am one with
Him. Whatever happens to me happens to Jesus.
Then there is a third wonderful application of
this truth. It is that it is a great assurance
for the future. Because I am one with Jesus Christ,
it means that I am assured of a future resurrection.
It is a little bit of a chilling experience,
isn't it, to watch film on television of a body
being dug up? As many of us saw this last week
when the body in Brazil was recovered from the
grave after six years, thinking it might be Mengele's.
To see that human body come up in bits and pieces
of bone is a reminder to all of us of the grave.
In our culture we try to preserve the body as
long as we can, but inevitably deterioration
sets in. Eventually the body returns to dust.
But as a believer in Jesus Christ, I have a wonderful
assurance. It is that when I die I go to be with
the Lord, that my spirit is there with him. But
it also includes this body. It is going to be
raised gloriously from the grave. Though it may
return entirely to elements of the earth, there
is nothing that will be able to keep it in the
grave on that day when the shout of the Lord
Jesus Christ is heard, Come up, my beloved. And
when the church is called up, the first ones,
To come forth will be those who have died in
Christ and who are in the graves. Their bodies
will be raised. Their spirits come from the Lord
to be united with their bodies again and forever,
and we will be with the Lord. It's great assurance
for the future. It also means that I have an
inheritance coming. You see, Jesus Christ is
the heir of all things by the grace of God. I'm
one with him, therefore I am a joint heir. Romans
8. And all things in all of God's creation will
be yours and mine to share with Him, including
His reign. We are going to sit on the throne
with Jesus Christ and reign over His coming kingdom.
Why is that true? Because of this doctrine. We
should always remember our union with Jesus.
A union does not mean equality. He is still the
creator and we are the creatures, and there is
an unbridgeable gap between the two. We will
never be gods, but we are united with God. He
is still the Lord, we are the servants. Because
we are His servants, our concern in life should
be... accomplishing His design and purpose for
us in being here. You are in union with Jesus
Christ if you are saved. You are an extension
of His very life in the world. The thing you
need to be concerned about is finding out why
you are here and get on with your work. You will
not always be here. Now there is another application
that I see in our text that is important for
us to talk about, and that is that we should
willingly expect to gain enemies. as we proclaim
Christ. I want you to remember that in our text
we studied last week, Paul had several threats
against his life. He escaped them all, but there
were those who wanted to kill him because of
his proclamation of Jesus as the Christ. That
will happen to you, too. Now, I would give you
this word of warning. Be sure that it is the
gospel which offends another person and not you.
It's possible for any of us to be rude or crude
in talking to another person and in doing that
become offensive. That's not what I'm talking
about. You can be as loving and kind as sweet
and as filled with the Holy Spirit as possible,
and yet in proclaiming the gospel of Jesus Christ
there will be those who will take offense because
the gospel itself is offensive to many. The message
of Christ is not universally appreciated or even
tolerated for that matter. So don't count on
being the most popular person on your campus.
Don't count on being the most popular person
in your office or in your neighborhood, because
you likely won't be. Don't make it your goal
to be a member of the best -like church in town,
because a church that faithfully proclaims Jesus
Christ will not be the one to receive the applause
by the world in general. In Luke 6 26, Jesus
gives us these straight words. He says, Woe to
you! Woe to you! When all men speak well of you,
for in the same way their fathers used to treat
the false prophets. Do you know what Jesus is
saying? He's saying that if everybody likes you,
pats you on the back, and says you're doing a
great job, if you don't offend anybody, if everybody
speaks well of you, then count on it, you are
a false prophet. Because that's a mark of a false
prophet. He has no enemies. You see, we're not
only known by our friends, folks, we're known
by our enemies too. Now in saying that, I want
to balance it. We should not be paranoid. We
should not go out looking for enemies or try
to make them because they will make themselves.
My point is that we just need to be realistic
about this, that the gospel offends many people.
Why? Because in the first place it puts man in
his place. The gospel message of Jesus Christ
says man is lost, bound for hell, and there is
nothing he can do to save himself. There is not
a spark of goodness or divinity in him that can
be fanned and therefore he will pull himself
up by his bootstraps. That is not true. The gospel
puts man in his place. It destroys his sinful
ego. And sinners don't like that. It offends.
But it also puts God in his place. It exalts
him. It says that God alone is the author of
salvation. That when a man, woman, boy, or child
is saved, it is by the grace of God, not by his
self -efforts. And again, there are people who
find that very offensive because they feel they
can do something to at least contribute toward
their salvation. And thirdly, the Gospel offends
because it narrowly defines the way of salvation.
It says that apart from Jesus Christ, there is
no way to God. In other words, however sincere
a person may be in what he believes, if he has
not trusted Jesus Christ, he is lost and condemned
to hell. Now that is offensive, my friend, in
our world today. It offends the intellect. It
offends the sensibilities of unconverted people,
but it's the truth of the gospel. You see, God
does not save people on the basis of their sincerity.
He saves on the basis of faith in what He has
said about His Son, Jesus Christ. The gospel
is offensive. If the world took offense at Jesus
and it did, how much more is it likely to take
offense at us, who are his followers? He is the
stone of stumbling and a rock of offense, 1 Peter
2 .8. Paul talked about the stumbling block of
the cross, which says that man is helpless and
can be saved only by the work of the cross alone
through simple faith. The story is told about
John Wesley who was riding along one day on his
circuit preaching the gospel, and he suddenly
realized that for three days he had had no persecution.
Not a brick had been thrown, not an egg had been
thrown, no words had been said to him. And if
you've ever read Wesley's journal, you know that
was unusual. For three days he had not experienced
persecution. Alarmed by that, He stopped his
horse and exclaimed, Can it be that I've sinned?
Am I backslidden? And so he slipped down off
his horse and went on to his knees and began
praying to God to show him if there had been
some fault in his life. A rough fellow on the
other side of the hedge row heard Wesley praying
and recognized him as the preacher. He said,
It's that Methodist preacher. I'm going to fix
him. So he picked up a brick that was nearby
and tossed it over the hedge. It missed its mark
and fell helplessly, harmlessly beside Wesley.
But Wesley opened his eyes when he heard it hit,
and he jumped to his feet and exclaimed, Thank
God, it's all right. I still have his presence.
You see, we're not just known by our friends.
We're known by our enemies. Some people declare
themselves our adversaries. That should not be
our concern. But it is important that we faithfully
proclaim Christ and lift him up so that he can
draw people to himself. A third application comes
from our story in Acts 9. It is that we should
freely receive into our fellowship those whom
God has received. Do you remember when Ananias
came into the house? The first word out of his
mouth was brother. In other words, he was communicating
to Saul, I receive you as one of the family.
Brother Saul. It says a couple of verses later
in verse 19, for several days he was with the
disciples who were in Damascus. In other words,
they opened their arms to him. They said, you're
one of us now. Over three years later, Saul went
back to Jerusalem. There was a different story.
In verse 26, it says, he was trying to associate
with the disciples in Jerusalem, and they were
all afraid of him, not believing his testimony.
So they refused him. They shut the doors. But
Barnabas reached out to encourage Saul and brought
him into the apostles, told about him, and so
they accepted him. In verse 28, it says, he was
with them. moving about freely in Jerusalem.
And so you see they embraced him. They took him
in. This is the same Apostle Paul who would write
a little while later to the Romans, accept one
another just as Christ also accepted us to the
glory of God. Romans 15 .7. Accept one another.
I tell you amazing issues. can prevent acceptance.
Skin color divides some believers. Political
leanings, social standing, economic status, personal
habits and convictions. What version of scripture
do you choose to use? I know of a church in Detroit
a number of years ago now, maybe ten years ago.
that refused people who wore wire -rimmed glasses.
They were not accepted into the membership. I
think it was the same church that went another
step further in taking an obscure text in the
Old Testament out of context. They said that
no one could come to their church who wore a
mixture of wool and linen clothing. If your cloth
and your suit or dress was made out of that mixture,
you were not welcome there. It is absolutely
amazing to consider what separates some Christians.
It is sometimes thought, too, that a person before
he can be accepted in a church must clean up
his life, be qualified to join. Sometimes we
give the impression, don't we, that a church
is a society of the perfect. But, friend, the
New Testament pattern was different than that.
The New Testament pattern was immediate acceptance.
on the basis of a valid profession of faith.
Now, we would go a step further than that and
say that acceptance is based upon not only profession
of faith, but acceptance of doctrinal fundamentals,
the basic doctrines of the faith. Those are essential
if one is going to be embraced as a brother,
of course. But beyond that, we ought not to be
putting up walls. between ourselves and others.
Even though we may disagree on some secondary,
non -essential matters, we ought not to separate
fellowship over them. Let's let God do the scrub
down of his newborn children, not try to do it
ourselves. And what better place is there for
that scrubbing to take place than in the fellowship
of a local church? But so often there is a judgmental
spirit among believers in the church, almost
a piousity, if I can create a new word, which
scrutinizes and looks down its long narrow nose
at another, condemns him for some non -essential
really unimportant thing. That's fair sacral.
I do want to say that there is a legitimate doctrine
of separation in the Scriptures. It comes out
of God's holiness. For example, we are to separate
ourselves, to have no fellowship with apostates
and false teachers. That is those who deny the
faith, those who teach false doctrine, who deny,
for example, the deity of Jesus Christ. We are
not to embrace them. We're to separate from them.
We're to separate from professing Christians
who live habitually sinful lifestyles. We're
to have nothing to do with them, 1 Corinthians
5. We're to separate from unbelievers when it
comes to equal partnerships, such as marriage,
potential marriage, or business. or a joint undertaking
of some sort. Come out from among them and be
separate, says the Lord, 2 Corinthians 7, 14.
So there is a legitimate doctrine of separation
in the New Testament, but we must be careful
not to allow that to develop an exclusivist spirit
amongst us over matters that are eternally unimportant.
that is unimportant in the light of eternity.
We do draw a line regarding the fundamental doctrines
of the Bible. We cannot fellowship with any who
deny those doctrines, but, on the other hand,
we must guard against a suspicious, distrusting
spirit of one who professes to love our Lord
Jesus Christ. And we must seek rather to engender
a warm, loving acceptance of that person, though
he may not be at the point we'd like to see him
be in his maturity and his understanding of the
faith. If there's any place on earth that ought
to provide a place for people to feel free to
be themselves and to be transparent, it's the
local church. If there's any place there ought
to be a welcome without reservation or hesitation,
it should be the local church. If there's any
place that there should be an encouraging word,
it's the local church. We must be careful not
to establish a standard of perfection for others
that we ourselves can't possibly attain. So let's
reach out and receive others. That is especially
important in a church and in our church. I talked
to someone recently who said that he and another
person visited a church of 7 ,000 in the San
Francisco area. And they said down in the church
they fully expected to be unnoticed because of
the mass of people. They have two or three services,
so they're not all 7 ,000 in one service, perhaps
up to 2 ,000. But he said no sooner were they
seated... And there were people who actually
got up out of their seats in other parts of the
auditorium and went over to them to welcome them
asking if in fact they were visitors because
they'd never seen them before. That's great.
There ought to be that kind of warmth. We have
to work at that. We need to reach out to those
that we don't recognize or know. I welcomed someone
recently and very sincerely so who's been attending
here two years. Yeah, it was embarrassing, but
when the color drained from my face, I was all
right. And it does drain. It'll drain from your
face too if you catch somebody like that. It
pleases me when I hear people say, and I do frequently
hear people say, I felt really warmly accepted
visiting your church last week. Let's continue
to engender that and develop it so that we maintain
a warmth of accepting others. and not allow secondary
unimportant things come between us and others.
Now let's get ahead here now to number four.
The fourth application from our text is this.
We should never consider anyone beyond the grace
of God. I suppose if you had to select the characters
that might have been thought impossible to be
saved 2 ,000 years ago, Saul would have been
near the top of the list. Here was the fellow
who was the leading persecutor of the church.
But God reached down one day and saved his wicked
heart. Who would have believed it on the day
before he went to Damascus? Some didn't even
believe it afterward. We should never consider
anyone beyond the grace of God. Nothing, no one
is too hard for God. His love and grace reach
out to the most defiled or the most self -righteous,
to the eager or to the hardened, to the happy
and satisfied or to the hurt and the suffering.
God's love and grace reach out alike to all.
The name Thelma Barfield will be familiar to
some of you. She was the first woman executed
in the United States in a couple of decades,
as I recall. She was put to death a few months
ago as a convicted murderer. But a book now has
been published on her life, which she had a part
in writing, and it tells about her dynamic conversion
in prison. Now she came to know and witness for
the Lord Jesus Christ up until the very time
that she was put to death. You see, God's grace
can reach to anyone. We should never consider
anyone beyond His grace. I'd like to tell you
about Lola, a hardened woman of the street. She
was put in jail in Covington, Kentucky for attempted
murder. There was a Christian jailer there who
happened to attend our church. In the process
of time, he had an opportunity to witness. to
this hardened woman, Wola. You would never have
thought by looking at her, and she was in her
sixties I suppose at that time, you would never
have thought in looking at her that she was a
candidate for salvation. Her demeanor, her language,
her looks, none of them said that she was prepared
to receive Jesus Christ. But that Christian jailer
continued to witness to her, and it was not long
before she was saved. She professed faith in
Jesus Christ, and I want to tell you, she was
radically changed. The look on her face was different.
Her language was cleaned up eventually. I remember
her baptism. Radically changed by the grace of
God. When they brought her down to be baptized,
they brought her handcuffed. She was still in
jail when she was baptized. And eventually, she
received a reduced sentence and was freed because
of the change that took place in her. But it's
not just on that end of the scale. I wish I could
share the details. I can't, but a pastor friend
of ours had the opportunity to intervene in a
family situation of one of our national leaders.
And as a result of that, the father and son were
reconciled. And the son came back to talk some
more about joining his church, this pastor's
church. And in the course of a few weeks, This
son of one of our national leaders professed
faith in Jesus Christ. He and his wife both are
being baptized this month in that local church.
My friend, the grace of God reaches beyond the
point which we think impossible. Yes, it is true
that one can harden his heart against God to
the point of being beyond hope. But the point
is this, that we do not know who or when. Therefore,
we can keep praying and proclaiming Jesus Christ,
being confident that God's grace is still able
to reach. God is pursuing every person. God is
not willing that any should perish, but that
all should come to repentance. So whether it's
a White House aide by the name of Charles Coulson,
or it's a hardened murder on death row, We should
never consider anyone beyond the grace of God.
That includes you, you listening to me. However
deeply you feel that you've fallen, however heavy
the shame you carry, or however miserable you
feel, or how broken your life and its dreams,
or for that matter, however self -righteous you
think yourself to be. You are not beyond the
grace of God. He is able to reach down into that
pit where you are today, and He is. All He is
asking you to do is to reach up and take His
hand by faith and say, Lord, I receive what You
have to give. God's grace is able to reach to
you, but I have a word of warning that goes with
that. And it is that you must be careful not
to presume upon the grace of God. Do not fall
for the devil's lie that you should wait for
a more convenient time or that you should first
get yourself cleaned up and made presentable
to Jesus Christ because his invitation is to
come just as you are, just the way you are right
now. He loves you so dearly he wants to reach
down and pick you up out of that pit. establish
you upon himself a solid rock. Will you let him
do it? John Newton was born 260 years ago this
year. In his early days, he traveled with his
father aboard a ship in the Mediterranean area
that led him into a profligate, immoral lifestyle.
He was a wicked, debauched person by his own
confession. As an early teenager, 13 years of
age, he began to be involved in the trading of
African slaves throughout that part of the world,
the British Empire. But at 23, the grace of God
intervened in Newton's life, and he was miraculously
saved. and cleansed from all the sin of his past
and made a new person. And it led him to write
the words which we love to sing, amazing grace.
How sweet the sound. It saved a wretch, a wretch
like me. I once was lost, but now I'm found.
Was blind. But now I see. My friend, that can
be your testimony today, too, if you'll open
your heart to Jesus Christ as he knocks. Heavenly
Father, I pray that on those heart doors where
the Lord Jesus is knocking that there might be
the response of faith saying, Lord Jesus, come
in and save me. Lord, down in those dark, horrible
pits of sin. where some are wallowing and struggling.
May they look up today and see your hand of love
and grace extended. And they themselves then
reach up with their hand of faith and receive
you, that they might be lifted out of that horrible
prison where they are. Lord Jesus, call to yourself
this morning. That boy or girl, that young man
or woman, that grandfather, that mother. and
save them. And Lord, may those of us who have
done that be living obediently to the commands
of your word, even those that we've looked at
this morning. Amen.