Seeking for the help of the Lord,
I direct your prayerful attention to Acts chapter 9 and reading
for our text, verse 15. Verse 15, But the Lord said unto
him, Go thy way, for he is a chosen vessel unto me, to bear my name
before the Gentiles, and kings, and the children of Israel. And what is on my spirit is these
words, a chosen vessel, and this verse concerns Saul of Tarsus,
the Apostle Paul, and our text is what the Lord said to Ananias
when he objected to going and seeing him because he had heard
of all the evil that he'd done in persecuting the people of
God. And what is upon my spirit, and
I hope if the Lord will perhaps do a series on the Thursday evenings
concerning the theme of a vessel. There are many, many references
in scripture where we have reference to a vessel as an illustration,
or it is as a person, and there's many truths, many scripture truths
that are to be based on that illustration. If you think of
a vessel, there are several definitions of it. especially as relating
to the text here, a hollow container, one especially used to hold liquid,
a bowl, pot, or cast. We think of our Lord's first
miracle, the marriage in Cana of Galilee, and there were the
water pots containing the water that were then turned into wine. And a vessel is used to hold
things. Quite often the vessel is not
of much value but that which it holds is of a great value. Another meaning of vessel is
a ship. We often refer to a ship as a
vessel and of course they are primarily used to carry not just
small amounts of things but many things from one place to another. So we have the illustration of
a vessel, something that is designed to carry, to hold things. And especially then with the
context of our text here. But the Lord said unto him that
is unto Ananias go thy way for he that is Saul of Tarsus is
a chosen vessel unto me to bear my name before the Gentiles and
kings and the children of Israel. So he, Saul, or the Apostle Paul,
as he was to be known, is the vessel, and what he is bearing
is the name of the Lord Jesus Christ before the Gentiles. So we have the illustration often
used in varying situations, but I felt for this first time, especially
where it is so clearly designated to a person, although there are
other times that it is as well, yet here it is our Lord saying,
He, He is a chosen vessel unto me. The Apostle Paul himself
in his ministry, he takes up with this very same illustration
And in his letters, some five times, he refers to vessels in
various doctrines and teachings. We have a very vivid account
here of the calling of the Apostle Paul or Saul. And so I want to
look at three points. Firstly, the vessel, Saul or
Paul as he was to be known. I refer to him as Paul, though
in this passage it is Saul. And then secondly, a chosen vessel. And then thirdly, a vessel for
a particular use. But firstly, the vessel Paul. The Holy Spirit in the inspired
Word of God has been very careful to actually describe the people
of God that are called and that are to be vessels, be those that
hold the treasures of God, they are to be those in whom is the
grace of God the secret of the Lord which is with them that
fear him and those that are full for his praise and honor and
glory. He's not just a stereotype or
a just a one picture of the people of God throughout the word of
God. There are many many contrasts
and the Apostle Paul especially refers to himself as being a
reason why he was called and why he was chosen and it was
in himself and it's good for us to really consider what the
Apostle Paul has to say about himself as this vessel He always remembered this Damascus
road, this what the Lord did for him. He says that he was
not made to be called an apostle because that he persecuted the
church of God, but that it should be in him first that mercy should
be shown, that none should despair of the grace and blessings of
God. When he writes to thee, Corinthians,
he says, there are not many noble, not many mighty called, but the
Lord hath chosen those things which are not, and the base things,
that it should be that God should have all the honour and glory.
But in himself, it was one that really deserved eternal death
and destruction. There's a contrast in the early
church here, where we had Ananias and Sapphira and they lied to
the Holy Ghost, they lied to the Apostles. Many were being
blessed, many as a result of that blessing, they held loosely
their lands, their riches, they sold their lands and they laid
the money at the Apostles' feet and it was distributed to the
poor. And Ananias and Sapphira, they
wanted to appear to be the same, to be an imitator of those that
were moved by the Spirit and blessed by God. It is a solemn
thing that there will always be those in whom there is not
the real grace of God, but they want to appear to be for men
so that they do appear to be like the people of God, but they
don't want to let go of everything of this world. And so Ananias
and Sapphira, they sold their land, but made out to the apostles
that they'd sold it for less than what they had, and told
them that they were giving all of that money to the church,
in which case they were only giving them part, they were keeping
back part. And the apostles were very clear
But if they had clearly said, we have sold the land for so
much and we're giving half to the church and to the poor, then
that would have been completely accepted, would be open, would
be honest. But they didn't. They made out,
and they lied, and they made out that they were giving it
all. And both of them, one after the other, as they came in separately
before the apostles, became evident that they had agreed together
to do this. It was a scheme plan, it wasn't
just a spur of the moment thing. And they were struck down dead.
Now the church knew this, and great fear came upon the church. But now we have the church persecuted,
and persecuted by Saul, Saul of Tarsus. And in this portion
that we've read, He was breathing out threatenings and slaughter
against the disciples of the Lord. The young men who had stoned
Stephen, the first martyr, had laid their clothes at Saul's
feet, and he was there consenting to his death when he died. And
the great trouble that was in the church at this time because
of it, Ananias was well acquainted with it and we have that contrast
in the last verse that we read in verse 31. Then had the churches
rest throughout all Judea and Galilee and Samaria and were
edified and walking in the fear of the Lord and in the comfort
of the Holy Ghost were multiplied. Take out Saul and his persecutions
and his trouble And what a difference there was upon the church. One
sinner destroyeth much good, and great trial upon the churches
through Saul. And yet God chose, instead of
striking him dead like Ananias and Sapphira, to show mercy upon
him, to call him by grace, to change his heart, to reveal his
son in him, and to stop him in that mad career and to use him
as a blessing to the people of God. The vessel Paul, he often
refers to what he was. He says to those that he writes
to that his manner of life was well known. When he is teaching
and teaching concerning the, how it was that salvation is by grace alone,
and that is not by any works of our own, then he says of himself
that he was a Pharisee of the Pharisees, that he was circumcised
the eighth day, that he lived according to the strictness of
the Jews, and all of the things that he had as belonged to him
by birth, But he says, I count all these things but dung and
dross that I might win Christ and be found in him. John tells
us in the gospel according to John, in verse and chapter one,
that it is not a flesh, it is not by birth, it is not by the
will of man, but it is of God's grace and God's choice that he
chooses a people. And so in the Apostle Paul, Paul
is highlighting who he actually is. And in his letters, he even
refers, you might say, to his own detriment. He says of what
the churches were saying. His letters are weighty and powerful,
but his bodily presence is contemptible. And he doesn't come across personally
as one that would command much authority or be attracted to. And this is Paul. This is the
vessel Paul. And many times through the Word
of God, we have pictures that are given of those that are God's
children, what they once were, and then what they were by grace. that they were real men and women,
that they lived real lives, that they had characteristics that
were so different, very often one from another. We think of
those when our Lord was ministering, those that he called of his own
disciples, those that were fishermen, those that were tax collectors,
those then that he cured, the mad Gadarene, the man that was
at the pool 38 years, or the woman with the issue of blood
12 years, and all the different situations and characters of
the people of God. What is so vital is that we personally,
we personally are known by the Lord, called by the Lord. And whatever we are, we are by
the grace of God. By nature, we, like all, have
gone astray, gone every one our own way. And the Apostle Paul,
it is very clear what a difference grace made. won't be as marked
as distinct in every one of God's children. Lydia, in the Philippine
church, whose heart the Lord opened. The Philippine jailer
in the same church, used to lash the Apostle Paul
and Silas and to make their feet fast in the stalks. And yet the Lord caused him to
hear them singing praises at midnight, and then brought the
earthquake, brought him at death's door, about to take his own life. And then Paul preached to him
and his household the things of God. And each one is set forth
as an individual, one that the Lord knows their frame, where
they were born, what their manner of life was, their characters,
every one of them. And scriptures speak of vessels,
some of small quantities, some of great quantity. And those
vessels, as it were, hung upon the Lord Jesus Christ, a nail
in a sure place, And then that nail cut off and the vessels
full. And the picture is the Lord bearing
the sins of his people, great and small, great sinners, little
sinners if you like, although all sins are worthy of death.
He bore in his body the sins of his people and was cut off
for them, suffered for them, died for them. and the sins that
were put on him were atoned for, dealt with, they fell with him
as it were. And the picture there is these
different vessels and we have Paul here, a vessel that is Paul. How would we be described and
how do we describe ourselves because the Apostle Paul did
in his letters, in what he spoke, when he'd speak of God's work
in him, he spoke of himself, who he was, his manner of life,
and that which was unique to him. And what would we say concerning
ourselves? with our Lord Jesus Christ. There
were those that came to him and they asked him, what sayest thou
of thyself? We may say this with ourselves. What sayest thou of thyself? That the vessel, the vessel Paul,
He says that he is the chief of sinners, that no man might
despair, that mercy, that grace was shown to him as a pattern,
that none might think they were too sinful, too terrible a life,
a person that would have no hope of being saved whatsoever. I hope as we view other people, that we don't rule anyone else. As if to say, well, we look on
the outside appearance, and how they're dressed, and how they
act, and what their evident manner of life is, they couldn't possibly
be converted. They couldn't possibly be saved. I fear that many in the church
are like that. We judge on the outward appearance. We have evangelism, as it were,
a limited, only to work with those that already look as if
they're half-saved anyway. But with the Apostle Paul, this
vessel Paul, What a picture he was when the Lord began with
him. How could he ever use one like
that? And yes, by his work he could
and he did. I want to then think secondly of
what is said in our text that he is a chosen vessel unto me. Go thy way for he is a chosen
vessel unto me. Now what I want to make very
clear first of, this is not God looking at man and making his
choice upon what he sees that person is themselves. The choice is a sovereign choice
from eternity, and it is in two parts. One, it is that they are
chosen by His grace unto salvation. Everyone that is used of God,
as the Apostle Paul was, for the service of the Lord must
first be a redeemed sinner. They first must be called by
grace, partakers of God's grace. must be called. Those that are
with him are called and chosen and faithful. The people of God
are chosen in Christ before the foundation of the world. And
this is one of the things that the apostle speaks of and speaks
of is in the sovereignty of God. And in Romans 9, where he speaks
of that sovereignty of God, He says, hath not the potter power
over the clay of the same lump to make one vessel unto honour
and another vessel unto dishonour? What if God, willing to show
his wrath and to make his power known, endured with much longsuffering
the vessels of wrath fitted to destruction that he might make
known the riches of his glory on the vessels of mercy which
he had aforeprepared unto glory, even ask whom he hath called,
not of the Jews only, but also of the Gentiles. And that calling
then is a calling of sovereign mercy. And just like the potter
would just sovereignly over that lump of clay, either make it
into one shape or another shape, as we used to do at school. And
if we messed up the first lot, we'd just scrunch it down again
and we'd start to make another vessel. And we'd make that vessel
out of it. And that sovereignty is the law
to make that vessel. So when we're thinking of choosing,
it's not like recently, I went round the garden centre and wanted
some pots and there was rows and rows of these pots, rows
and rows of vessels. Some of them were great big vessels. You'd pay several hundred pounds
for them. And then some were just little
vessels, little pots you'd pay just a few pounds for. And there
was such a variety. And of course, we naturally,
if we were going to use it for something, We've got that in
mind. What are we going to use this
vessel for? What are we going to use this
pot for? And we make our selection according
to the use that we've got it for. And the pot is already there,
it's already formed, it's already like that. That is not how God
chooses. God makes the vessel and he forms
it and makes it how he will choose and what he will use. And the
first thing is that they be a vessel, one that has the secret of the
Lord, which is with them that fear him. God's children are
chosen in him, in Christ, before the foundation of the world.
Our text says, not just he is a chosen vessel to bear my name
before the Gentiles, But it says, he is a chosen vessel unto me,
unto Christ. Now, when I was at school, we
used to play sport. And the first thing that we'd
do when we played football, we'd appoint a couple of leaders,
captains. And they would stand, and they'd
look at the rest of the students. And they'd choose out which one. One captain would choose one
student, then another captain would choose another until there
was none left, or one left, which was usually me. But when each
one chose, that captain chose that person unto them, not to
the other side, unto them. And when our Lord says this,
that he is a chosen vessel unto me, the Lord has chosen him unto
Christ. He is to me Christ, not someone
else's. This is why the Apostle Paul
says, you are not your own. You are bought with a price,
wherefore glorify God in your body and in your spirit, which
are his. Because the choosing is unto
something. And it's not to ourselves, but
unto the Lord, and it's based upon the cost and the price paid. To use the illustration again,
even in the nursery, choosing out pots, I couldn't just choose
one out and just walk out. They say you've got to pay for
that before you can take it. And we're used to that principle.
But for the people of God, we, as with all of the fallen sons
of Adam, are lost and ruined in that fall. We are under the
sentence of death. We are consigned to eternal death
unless there is that provision made. And in eternity, the Lord
made it with his people. He saw what would happen. He
knew what would happen in the fall. It was appointed, not that
God is the author of sin. that if the Lord Jesus Christ
was the lamb slain from the foundation of the world, and that if he
was delivered by the determined counsel and full knowledge of
God, then the very fall itself was ordained for the Lord's honour
and glory. Man's guilt, man's sin, man's
responsibility, man's accountability, but God's glory to turn that
sin into good. Ye meant it for evil, says Joseph,
but God meant it for good. And we can apply that to the
fall, we can apply that to the sufferings and death of our Lord
Jesus Christ as well. So we have the apostle Paul and
every one of God's children have been chosen by the Lord through
nothing in themselves, no good in them, no nothing seen that
would be future good in them at all. There's no reason, no
cause, but in God himself. And Paul here, Ananias is told,
he is a chosen vessel unto me. First of all, as one that would
be converted and brought to believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and
then secondly, to be a vessel for a particular use, which we'll
look at in a moment. But may we be clear that it is
the Lord that chooses His people, chooses them by His grace and
chooses them to that which is designed for them. We think of
Abraham, he brought him out of Ur of the Chaldees. We think
of Moses and how that he brought him to be born and to be in Pharaoh's
house and then in the backside of the desert and to lead his
people to the promised land. Those that the Lord has raised
up for a purpose, for a specific use. And he's brought them first
to know himself, and then he's brought them to know how that
they are to be used. That made me value this precious truth that
those that Christ has chosen, they will be in time. called they will have maybe not
as dramatic as what the apostles but there will be a change as
our lord says in john 3 he must be born again that which is flesh
that which is born of the flesh is flesh and that which is born
of the spirit is spirit he must be born again And the Apostle
Paul was born again. Spiritual life, I give unto them
eternal life. They shall never perish, neither
shall any man pluck them out of mine hand. Behold to the precious
truth of particular redemption, a redemption of a particular
people, a chosen people. that he bore their sins in his
body on the cross, and that it was a particular love, a love
that was an everlasting love. In Jeremiah 31 verse 3, I've
loved thee with an everlasting love, and therefore with loving
kindness have I drawn thee. May the Lord grant us to have
that evidence of being chosen by God, chosen to calling. Again, the apostle takes it up
when he writes to the Romans in Romans 8, and he has the beautiful
link chain there from verse 29. For whom he did foreknow, he
also did predestinate, to be conformed to the image of his
Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brethren. Moreover,
whom he did predestinate, them he also called, and whom he called,
them he also justified, and whom he justified, them he also glorified. And we have the foreknowledge
or choice of God, then the appointing as to what they should be in
this world, like their master, like the Lord, and then to be
called and justified or free from guilt and condemnation,
and then after that to be glorified. And the apostle then traces that
chain of which he has been a part. He has been chosen. He has been
called. And here Ananias is told by the
Lord. He is a chosen vessel unto me. You know, in one sense it's a
very special, very unique thing for someone to be told this from
the Lord. We only really know one's being
chosen by their calling here The Lord tells Ananias that he
was chosen, but Ananias was to see the call as well, see the
change that is recorded here. We have to remember that, that
we're not told as ministers or as individuals that, well, that
one's chosen and that one's chosen, and as they come into this world,
before they're even changed and called, that they are a child
of God. We may have a hope, we may pray
over them, we should pray over them, but until their cause,
we do not know that secret will of God or purpose of God. A chosen vessel, chosen to glory,
chosen as a child of God, and chosen for a specific purpose
here below. I want to look at this point
last. A vessel for a particular use. It was said of all of the people
of God, this people have I formed for myself, they shall show forth
my praise. And our Lord says of the people
of God, ye are the salt of the earth. Ye are the light of the
earth, the light that is set upon a hill, not covered. Salt
those grains so small, sprinkled, yet give a savour wherever it
goes. And that's what the Lord uses
his people for. His people are his witnesses. They show forth his grace. Imagine
if we had in this building, and we have, we have got electricity
in this building, but if we turned out all the lights and we turned
off the amplifier and we turned off the camera and we turned
off the computers, you'd have no evidence of that electricity
being here. The things that use it, the things
that give forth light because of the power that's going to
them, They show that power. Just the power in the bare cables
on its own doesn't. And God uses his people to show
forth his glory. The name of our Lord, his name
shall be called Jesus, for he shall save his people from their
sins. If there was no people and they
had no sins, then the Saviour would have no glory. And it is
in his people, in those chosen vessels, that his glory is shown
forth. We might look at the apostle
here and we say, but our lives are not like this. The Lord hasn't
appointed us and made us a vessel to be, as it is said here, to
bear my name before the Gentiles and kings and the children of
Israel. And we know how greatly he was
used. But all God's people have a use. And all of us should think, for
what use? For what cause? Are we just those that cumber
the ground? No, the apostle Paul, Before
even he was told of what Ananias was to say, right on that Damascus
road, it was to say to him, in verse six, he trembling and astonished
said, Lord, what wilt thou have me to do? And maybe our thought as well,
What will the Lord have us also to do? The way that we are to
walk, a vessel that is to have a use and a purpose. What would we think if we just
saw a whole row of vessels? And you say, what are they for?
So no purpose at all. Sometimes we might have some
vessels like that, And they're really ornate and beautiful and
designed and lovely. And the whole design of it is
to look at the vessel itself and to glorify the vessel and
the end of it is the vessel. But that's never the case with
God and his people. Again, the apostle says, when
he writes to the Corinthians, we have this treasure in earthen
vessels. that the excellency of the power
may be of God and not of us. The vessel is not to have the
honour or the glory. It is the weak things in the
earth and things that are not, that God might have all the honour
and the glory. And it is a blessed thing to
be able to say with John Baptist What are one chosen for to be
a vessel to be on a point to the Lamb of God? Behold the Lamb
of God that taketh away the sin of the world. And yet he says,
he must increase and I must decrease. It is what I'm in possession
of, what I'm able to bear concerning his name, what I'm able to speak
and to show forth and to carry, to carry to our place of learning
to our place of work, to our homes, to the house of God, to
the gatherings of the people of God, is a blessed thing, that
the Lord should put in our vessel something of the sweet treasure
and loveliness of Christ. Sometimes it so struck me when
the apostle speaks of going to preach in a certain place, and
he says, I know that I shall come in the power of the Holy
Spirit." But that's the thing, if I could feel that in going
to preach and say, I know, I know that I am coming in the power
of the Spirit, I know the Word will be blessed, I know that
God will be glorified. We do know through the Lord's
commission that He will bless His Word, He will own His Word,
and we come on His authority. but a vessel for a particular
use. The Apostle's use here is traced
out right through his letters and through the Acts here, fulfilling
that at which the Lord said to Ananias, to bear my name, that
name that he was persecuting men and women, to hailing them
to prison, because they called upon that name, And it is said
now he has joined with them and he is calling also on that name. And the work that he has to do
is to bear that name before the Gentiles. That was his work. The Lord appointed him, gave
him to do. And with all the people of God,
it may be very, very different work. especially good for us
in the ministry, how easy it is to look upon others and to
think, I wish I had his lot or his spot or his work to do. And very often what lies at that
is the root of pride and the desire that we might be something,
something more than a vessel. But if we are used to bring that
which is precious, beyond all measure, the pearl of great price,
our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, or this name which is above every
name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, a name
that Paul had hated before, a name that he despised, but yet a name
now that was precious to him, and that he desired others to
know that name. May we never, never think lightly
of the name of Jesus. How often in this world he is
despised, his name is taken in vain, but may it always be unto
you which believe he is precious and it is a name which is above
every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow. for a particular use. And may
the Lord grant that we might be able to discern and to know
what the Lord's will is for us, that we might be a vessel that
is called unto him, and that it is for a particular use. The Lord prays in John 17, Father,
I will, that they whom thou hast given me be with me where I am,
that they may behold my glory. there is one use, a people to
behold the glory of the Lord. They'll see his glory here by
grace and they'll see it above and face to face. So the word
that is before us this evening, a vessel, a chosen vessel, a
real person that is described as a vessel and chosen by God,
and for a particular use. But the Lord said unto him, Go
thy way, for he is a chosen vessel unto me, to bear my name before
the Gentiles, and kings, and the children of Israel. May the Lord add his blessing.
Amen.