Let's take our Bibles and turn
with me to the book of Acts, chapter 22. Acts 22. I'm going to be going back and
forth. This is the account of when the
Lord was pleased to call Saul of Tarsus unto himself. And in Acts 22, the apostle Paul
relating what had happened says verses 14, 16, and he said the God of our fathers
has chosen thee that thou shouldest know his will and see that just
one and shouldest hear the voice of his mouth thou shalt be his
witness unto all men of what thou hast seen and heard. And
now, why tarriest thou? Arise and be baptized and wash
away thy sins, calling on the name of the Lord. Now, when the
Lord was pleased, turn to Acts 9. When the Lord was pleased
to call Saul of Tarsus, This is what the scripture reveals
happened, verses 1 to 6. And Saul, yet breathing out threatenings
and slaughter against the disciples of the Lord, went unto the high
priest and desired of him letters to Damascus, to the synagogues,
that if he found any of this way, whether they were men or
women, he might bring them bound unto Jerusalem, And as he journeyed,
he came near Damascus. And suddenly there shined round
about him a light from heaven. And he fell to the earth and
heard a voice saying unto him, Saul, Saul, why persecutest thou
me? And he said, who art thou, Lord? And the Lord said, I'm Jesus,
whom thou persecutest. It's hard for thee to kick against
the pricks. And he trembling and astonished
said, Lord, What will thou have me to do? And the Lord said unto
him, Arise, and go into the city, and it shall be told thee what
thou must do. Now, the Lord told him, You go
to the city, and it's going to be told you what you must do. And the way that the Lord told
him. Now, the Lord spoke to him on
the road to Damascus. He heard the voice of the Lord.
But the Lord said, you go into the city and it will be told
you what you must do. Now, when the Lord was pleased
to speak to Saul this time, He was going to speak to him through
a man named Ananias, a preacher. Acts 9, 10-17. It says, there was a certain
disciple at Damascus named Ananias. And to him said the Lord in a
vision, Ananias. And he said unto him, behold,
I'm here, Lord. And the Lord said unto him, arise
and go into the street which is called Straight and inquire
in the house of Judas. For one called Saul of Tarsus,
for behold, he prayeth. And has seen in a vision a man
named Ananias coming in and putting his hand on him that he might
receive his sight. Then Ananias answered, Lord,
I've heard by many of this man how much evil he hath done to
thy saints at Jerusalem, and here he hath authority from the
chief priest to bind all that call on thy name. 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, for I will show him how great things he must suffer for
my name's sake. And Ananias went his way and
entered into the house, putting his hands on him, said, Brother
Saul, the Lord, even Jesus, that appeared unto thee in the way
as thou camest, has sent me that thou mightest receive thy sight
and be filled with the Holy Ghost. Now, from Ananias' answer, to
the Lord. When the Lord told him, I want
you to go to this house of Judas, and there's one there, his name
is Saul, Saul of Tarsus. I want you to go and you talk
to him. And he said, Lord, he's in a
vision, he's talking, the Lord spoke to him in a vision. And
he said, Lord, I've heard by many about this man, and how
much evil he's done to your saints in Jerusalem, He's got authority
from the chief priest to bind all that call on your name. Now,
you know, when I read that, I was reminded of the evidence of indwelling
sin in all of us. The fear of man bringeth a snare. It was the Lord who told him.
He said, I want you to go over here. And he said, well now Lord,
the way I heard it. Aren't we prone to doubt the
word of the Lord? We would think with the Lord's
command for him to go, that he would go without hesitation and
do it, but just let's consider ourselves. how weak we are. We read God's Word. We see something
in the Word of God. This is what it says. And what
do we do? Compromise. Give our thought
the way I see it. The way I think. But according to the goodness
and mercy and long-suffering of Almighty God, the Lord assured
Ananias, of his sovereign will, to call Saul of Tarsus unto himself. He was a chosen vessel unto me,
called out of the darkness of sin and unbelief. Well, Ananias
did just exactly what the Lord told him to do, just like Jonah
did. We always do. He's going to teach
us through our frailties, His long-suffering, how wonderful. The Lord said, My sheep, they
hear My voice. I know them. They follow Me.
We learn. We learn, don't we? But we do.
Well, with the confidence and the assurance of God's Word and
will, Ann and I did as the Lord commanded Him to do, and then
we're going to take up that conversation that he had with Saul back where
I first read back in Acts 22, so we'll just turn back there. Scripture says, now here again
Paul's relating this, he's talking about what happened to him on
the road to Damascus. We read the account of what happened
and now Paul's relating to it and he says concerning this one
that came to him, Ananias, he says in Acts 22 verse 12, it
says, in one Ananias, a devout man, according to the law, having
a good report of all the Jews which dwelt there. Now Paul set
forth something about Ananias and it was this, he said he's
a reverent man. He's reverent, pious, he lived
in accordance with The dictates of the law, not for salvation. He was a man that obviously the
Lord called out of darkness. He knew the Lord. He believed
the Lord. He heard the voice of the Lord.
He's a believer. But Paul said he was one that
had a good report among all the Jews which dwelt there. He was
a well-respected man. I told you what Brother Henry
said. I don't know if he told me this or I just heard him say
it. He said this. He said, a preacher of the gospel,
a believer, a believer, ought to be the most respected person
in the community. Respected. And just being a reverend,
I mean, what's wrong with being respectful?
Respectful to people. Again, I heard Brother Henry
say, be kind to unbelievers. This is the best they're going
to have. This is it. If God doesn't call them out
of darkness, this is it. This is the best they're ever
going to have. This man right here, Ananias, he was a pious
man. He was a reverent man. He wasn't arrogant, just, you
know, he was kind. And the scripture says, Paul
relating that, he said, He came to me, verse 13, and stood and
said unto me, Brother Saul, you know that must have made a real
impression. on Saul of Tarsus. Here was Saul and he was coming
to get all of these who were of the way. And in a moment,
the Lord in regenerating grace and power saved him and converted
him. Gave him a new heart. Changed
his thinking. He repented. He thought differently.
And here was one that had heard, this man's coming, he's got papers.
He's going to come and take those that he finds who are of the
way of Christ, who is the way. He's going to take them bound
back to Jerusalem. And he comes up to him and he
said, Brother Saul, receive thy sight. And the same hour, I looked
up upon him." Now the Lord was pleased to give Ananias the gift
of healing. And with the word that Ananias
spoke according to the word of the Lord, you go to him, you
say to him, with that word went the power of God and Paul said,
I heard him say, Brother Saul, receive thy sight. Saul said,
and I looked at him. It had been there three days
and I couldn't see. And I saw him. I looked at him. I heard
him say it. And what has happened here now,
everything else that Ananias is going to say is going to have
some weight to it. Paul said, I was blind. And I heard him
say, Brother Saul, receive thy sight. And he said, I looked
up and there he was. I saw him. Now whatever else he's got to
say, I won't hear. I want to hear this. And he said
in verse 14, the God of our fathers has chosen thee. Now he just
started with something. He's getting ready to say five
things to Saul that are relevant to every believer. Every believer. He's going to tell him something
that's going to have some weight. He said, you know, he said, the
God of our fathers, oh, what authority that Ananias
possessed because of the grace of God and the things that God
had told him. He said, I want to tell you what
the God of our fathers. Now, let me tell you what that
means. I'm talking about the God of
our fathers is the God who rules. The electing, particular, redeeming,
irresistibly calling God. The God of our fathers. Abraham,
Isaac, and Jacob. The God of our fathers. Just one. The God. Isaiah 45.22 says, Look unto
me. Look unto me. And be ye saved all the ends
of the earth, for I am God and there is none else. That's where I get, in Every
Man God Calls, where I get the authority to say every person
that is standing in a pulpit and is proclaiming a little g
God that wants to save or wants to do, I defy that person that
you're preaching. He is no God. If He needs me to help Him save
me, then that's not God. The God. The Lord said, I am
God and there's none else. So, whoever else they're preaching,
that's not God. They're speaking to the air.
The only true God It's God who's sovereign in creation. How much did I do in creation?
Well, you didn't do anything. How much do I do in the execution
of God's providence? What did I do in my salvation?
The answer to all those questions is nothing. Nothing, nothing,
nothing. The God of our fathers God of
our fathers has done what? Here's the first thing. Hath
chosen thee. The God of our fathers has chosen you. God chose you. God has chosen me. The Lord told
his disciples, he said, you've not chosen me. I thought that we choose God. No, He said, no, you haven't
chosen me. I chose you. We get the cart before the horse.
I've chosen you and ordained you that you should go forth
and bring forth fruit, that your fruit should remain. That's what
the Lord told His disciples. You didn't choose me. I chose
you that you should go forth and bring forth Fruit. Fruit. Not fruits. The fruit. That's just like the doctrine
of grace. Not doctrines. There's only one
doctrine. The doctrine of grace. The fruit
of the Spirit that's manifested in a believer is God's fruit. God's fruit. Love, joy, peace,
long-suffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, temperance.
Against such there is no law. What does that mean? That means
the law has no condemnation to those things. Why? Because it
is the fruit of the Spirit. That's why there's no condemnation
in it. So Ananias revealed to Saul that it was the Lord who
had chosen him to salvation. Now let me tell you, every person
in this congregation that believes on the Lord Jesus Christ and
has trusted Him, cast themselves upon Him for mercy, the Lord
chose you. The Lord has chosen you. chosen us in Christ before the
foundation of the world that we should be holy and without
blame before him in love. Secondly, Ananias declared that
it was the Lord's good pleasure that Saul, as all of God's sheep,
shouldest know His will. That's what He said. The God
of our fathers has chosen thee that thou shouldest know His
will. Now, obviously, there's a lot
of things concerning the will of the Lord that we don't know. And we may never have revealed
to us, especially in this life, but when it comes to the will
of God concerning the salvation of His sheep, This is what I
know concerning the will of the Lord. Salvation is of the Lord. I will have mercy on whom I'll
have mercy. I will have compassion on whom
I'll have compassion. I may not know anything else,
but I know this, that if the Lord was pleased to save me,
it was according to His will. I know that. It was the Lord's
will. that Saul of Tarsus was called
out of darkness. The God of our fathers has chosen
thee that thou shouldest know his will. God willed it concerning
salvation, God procured it by the blood of Christ, and God
applies it by regenerating grace and power of his Holy Spirit.
Man born in Adam is totally ignorant of God's will. He's totally ignorant. He's ignorant of God's good pleasure
to justify a sinner by the imputation of the righteousness of Christ.
He's ignorant of that. He's ignorant. How does God justify
a sinner? He justifies a sinner imputing
to him righteousness, the righteousness of God. He's ignorant. of God
pardoning their sins through the shed blood of the Lord Jesus
Christ. What do I mean by that? I mean
He bore all of our guilt in His own body and suffered under the
judgment of God. That's how God now pardons us. He paid the debt so God can forgive
us. The debt's been paid. Man is
ignorant of particular redemption. The Lord Jesus only died for
God's elect. He's ignorant of irresistible
grace. He thinks he can resist the grace of God. He can't resist
the grace of God. God comes and removes a heart
of stone and gives him a new heart and makes him willing in
the day of his power. They're a new man. They believe
him. They believe he gives them grace. He's blind. Man is blind to salvation by
the grace of God. The Lord in John 6.39 says, This
is the will of Him which has sent me, that of all which He
hath given me I should lose nothing, but should raise it up again
at the last day. I know that that's the will of the Lord.
I know that. The Lord has told us that. So Ananias said, The
Saul, the God of our fathers, hath chosen thee that thou shouldest
know his will. Here's the third thing. and that
thou shouldest see that just one. It's the will of the Lord
that you should see. It pleased God that Saul of Tarsus
should see the Lord Jesus Christ who is the mediator between God
and men. Now I know for a fact that Saul
of Tarsus saw with physical eyes the resurrected Lord on the road
to Damascus. How do I know that? Well, Ananias,
back in chapter 9, in verse 17, told Saul, I know you saw him. Ananias went his way, entered
into the house, putting his hands on him, said, Brother Saul, the
Lord, even Jesus, that appeared unto thee in the way, How did
Ananias know that? God had to have told him. That's
the only way he could have known. Saul of Tarsus saw it. Saul,
who would be Paul the apostle. What was the requisite of being
an apostle? To have seen the resurrected
Lord. That's according to Acts 1.22. You had to see the Lord,
the resurrected Lord of the Lord. Paul saw him. So actually seeing
the Lord Jesus Christ with natural eyes wasn't the only thing though. Saul of Tarsus saw him with the
new eyes of Spiritual understanding. He saw him to be the one who
faithfully accomplished the work of his father according to the
covenant of grace. And so does every other regenerate
today. You see him. We see him by faith. We see him. Let me say, I don't
understand that. As I've said before, I understand
it. But we see him. It was the Lord's will that thou
shouldest know his will and see that just one. We do see him. We see him by faith and soon
by sight. We'll see him just like Saul
saw him, by sight. Fourthly, Ananias declared as
a common grace given to all believers that the Lord was pleased for
Saul to hear the voice of his mouth. That's what he said. Verse
14, and shouldest hear the voice of his mouth. Now I can tell
you for a fact, Saul heard the actual voice of the Lord on the
road to Damascus. I know he heard the voice of
the Lord. It says in Acts 22, 6 and 7.
It came to pass that as I made my journey and was come nigh
to Damascus about noon, suddenly there shone from heaven a great
light round about me, and I fell unto the ground and heard a voice
saying unto me, Saul, Saul, why persecutest thou me?" He said,
I heard a voice. I heard a voice. And this is
what the voice said. Now the significance of that
last part of Paul's statement, I heard a voice saying unto me,
Saul, Saul, why persecutest thou me? Now the significance of that
is known when he relates, when Paul relates what the others
heard. Saul said, I heard a voice. And
I heard, I knew what he said. He asked me a question, Saul. In Acts 22, look at your Bible. Acts 22 verse 9 says, and they
that were with me indeed saw the light and were afraid, but
they heard not the voice of him that spake to me. Now I got a
question. Did those that were with Saul
of Tarsus on the road to Damascus, did they hear the voice of him
that spoke to me? Did they hear the voice of the
Lord? Did they hear what the Lord said to Saul of Tarsus?
Saul, Saul, why persecutest thou me? Did they hear it? The answer
is no. No. How do you know? They heard
not the voice of him that spoke to me. That ends it. They didn't hear the voice of
the Lord speaking to Saul of Tarsus. Now turn back with me
to Acts chapter 9. Acts chapter 9. Now this is what
actually happened on the road to Damascus. Here's the first-hand
account. This is the first-hand account
of the Spirit of God. Acts chapter 9 and verse 7. And
the men which journeyed with him stood speechless. Hearing a voice, but seeing no
man. Now let me ask you something. Is that a contradiction of scripture? No. It's just a misunderstanding
on our part of what's being said. That's what the problem is. Acts 22, 9 reveals, they heard
not the voice of him that spake to me, given fact. 9, 7 reveals, the men stood speechless
hearing a voice, but seeing no man. What did they hear? They didn't hear the voice that
was speaking to Saul. I can tell you that. They heard
Saul speak. They heard a voice. They heard
a voice. Whose voice? Saul's voice. But they saw no man. Here's what they heard. They
heard the voice of Saul saying, Who art thou? And then they heard Saul say,
What wilt thou have me to do? And as far as they were concerned,
who was he talking to? They saw no man. There wasn't
anybody there. Saul heard it. Saul heard the
voice of the Lord say to him, Saul, Saul, why persecutest thou
me? And they heard Saul respond.
But they didn't see anybody. They didn't hear the voice that
was speaking to him. The Lord said, My sheep hear
My voice. My sheep. Now how is that relevant
to us today? The unregenerate, just like those
men that were with Saul, they don't hear the voice of the Lord
at all in the scriptures. They don't hear it in the preaching
of the gospel because His voice always speaks to His own concerning
His presence and His mercy and compassion. They hear it. They hear it in their heart.
They hear it with ears that have been made to hear His voice.
The believer hears the voice of His surety to be kept by the
power of God. They hear that. They believe
it. They hear Him speak. And the
unbelievers that sit around, they hear the voice of believers
speaking. and singing praise unto the Lord,
but like those that were with Saul of Tarsus, they don't see
anybody. They hear believers speaking.
And it's like they're, who are you talking to? I don't hear
the one you're talking to. They don't see the Lord by faith.
They don't hear the voice of the Lord that just causes the
heart of a believer to burn. They don't hear that voice. They
hear believers. responding, but they don't hear. Ananias told him, he said, Saul,
it's the will of the Lord, God that chose you, that you should
know His will, and see that just one, and shouldest hear the voice
of His mouth. And then lastly, Ananias was
used of God to relate to Saul how the Lord was pleased to call
him, would send him into the world to preach the gospel. You're
going to be a witness. Just wait on it. For thou shalt
be, verse 15, his witness unto all men of what thou hast seen
and heard. Now this is a calling of a believer. God's preachers, yes, but every
believer, every believer is a witness. A witness. A witness to others. Not only relating with their
mouth, but in their actions. How they act, how they handle
themselves, their demeanor, their witnesses of what they've seen
and heard. You remember when the demoniac
of Kadara, after the Lord called that legion of demons out of
him, and he wanted to go with the Lord. What did the Lord tell
him? Mark 5, 19. Go home to thy friends and tell
them how great things the Lord hath done for thee. and hath
had compassion on thee. I want to go with you. No. I
want you to go home and be a witness. You tell your family. You tell
those that you know. You tell them what I've done
for you. That's a witness. That's a witness. Those that
the Lord calls and gives them new eyes and they speak what
they've heard and what they know, that's what they talk. That's
their speech. And then in verse 16, now here
I'll end. Then Ananias said to Saul, and
now, why tarryest thou? That's what I've named this.
Why do you tarry? Why do you tarry? Arise and be
baptized and wash away thy sins, calling on the name of the Lord. Why tarryest thou? Now listen, if the Lord has called
anybody out of the darkness of sin, unbelief, if the Lord has
revealed Himself, He's revealed that number one, you're a sinner. A sinner worthy of the judgment
and condemnation of God. You're a sinner. We're going
to stand before God. If the Lord's revealed to you,
you are a sinner. And if the Lord has said, you
know, come unto Me, I'll give you rest. If you believe that
the Lord has revealed something to you about yourself and who
He is, He's given you a heart to call on Him. If you call it's
because He gave you a heart, made you willing in the day of
your power. Let me ask you something. Why
tarryest thou? What are you waiting on? What
are you doing? What are you doing? Procrastination
isn't an option. We have no reason to delay in
obedience. No reason. Well, I'll come when
it's a more convenient time. The Lord hasn't spoken to you.
I can tell you that for a fact. He hasn't spoken to you. He said,
why tarryest thou? Arise and be baptized. Outwardly
submit to the God-ordained confession of our faith. Confessing. Baptism is a confession. It's
a confession that you've cast yourself upon the mercy of God.
That's what baptism is. And wash away your sins. Not
that the water cleanses a sinner from the pollution of his sins.
If that was the truth, then salvation would be by water instead of
grace. If all it was is water, if I can be saved by getting
in water, if I can just get you in the water, then that's it.
But water doesn't save anybody. Baptism is the God-ordained confession. This is the way we confess before
the Lord that the Lord has regenerated us and that confession is to
say this, I believe that the Lord by his grace and mercy and
power has washed away my sins by the shedding of Christ's blood.
That's what baptism confesses. It confesses that when he died
and was buried I believe that when he died, I believe justice
was satisfied. That's what I believe. For whoever
he was dying, justice was satisfied. And I believe that the debt of
all for whom he died was paid. I believe that. I believe when
he said it's finished, I believe it. I believe it. I believe the
judgment of God upon Him on our behalf. The justice of God Almighty
that killed Him. God killed Him. Why? Because
the wages of sin is death. And He died. The Scripture says
He died. And I believe by baptism. I believe it. This is my confession.
Baptism ain't saving me. Water doesn't save me. God saves
me. I'm saved by grace. through faith
in what He said. And this water is the God-ordained
way that we confess that. People start looking at the means
and say, well, if I get in the water, then I'll be saved. Water
don't save you. God saves by grace. And when He rose from the dead,
what am I saying? When He came out of that water,
what am I saying? I believe that when He came out of the grave,
God accepted. There's the proof that God had justified His people
in the person of the Lord Jesus Christ. God raised Him from the
dead. I believe that. God accepted
what He did. And in this baptism, I'm saying
that when He died, I believe He died for me. When he was buried,
he went to the grave that I might never go to the grave eternally.
When he came out, I believe he came out, accepted of God and
me in him. He said, now why tarryest thou?
Arise, be baptized, wash away thy sins, calling on the name
of the Lord, worshipping, appealing to the one who has revealed himself
to you to be that just one. The Lord revealed Himself to
you. What are you waiting on? What are you waiting on? Confess
Him. Call on Him. Follow after Him.
If you do, it's only by the grace of God. Believe me. Not that
you're doing something in order to be saved. It's because God's
done something for you. To His glory and our good. Amen. Okay, Gary.