Almighty, most gracious, and
most merciful God, we give thanks for the opportunity on another
Lord's Day morning of gathering to worship. And we pray that
all of us may worship in spirit and in truth. We may know the
wonderful effect of that spirit amongst us, touching our hearts. So, gracious God, come, we pray,
and bless us indeed. We ask it for Jesus' sake. Amen. The Lord graciously favour us
in singing our first hymn, 664. In the passing of Rosie, we sing
this first hymn, 664, to the tune of Synod 245. Hymn 264,
664. What solemn tidings reach our
ears, how awful and how grand. A sister landed safe from fears
on Canaan's happy land. No clouds shall now obstruct
her son, but all be life and peace. With her it is ever noon,
nor can her joy decrease. Hymn 664. ? From our trident's rich array
? ? Of hope for land and God ? ? God's grace on high ? O'er the land of the free and
the home of the brave? ? Only life and peace ? ? Bitter
and disdain ? O say does that star-spangled
banner yet wave O'er the land of the free and the home of the
brave? ? Come, tell Jesus, where is he
now? ? ? I see him, he's all around
me ? O come, O come, O come, O come,
O come, O come, O come, The Lord shall come, the Lord
shall stand, and all of Israel will cry, Amen. Amen. May I please God to bless the
reading of his holy words to the prophet of our souls this
morning. Let's read from the Acts of the Apostles and part
of chapter 9. The Acts of the Apostles and
part of chapter 9. And we will commence reading
from verse 1 down to verse 31. So the Acts of the Apostles,
chapter 9, from verse 1. 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 am Jesus,
whom thou persecutest. It is hard for thee to kick against
the pricks. And he trembling and astonished
said, Lord, what wilt 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. And the men which journeyed with
him stood speechless, hearing a voice, but seeing no man. And Saul arose from the earth,
and when his eyes were opened, he saw no man. But they led him
by the hand and brought him into Damascus. And he was three days
without sight, and neither did eat nor drink. And there was
a certain disciple at Damascus named Ananias. And to him said
the Lord in a vision, Ananias. And he said, behold, I am 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 hath seen in a vision a man named Ananias
coming in, and putting his hand on him, that he might receive
his sight. And Ananias answered, Lord, I
have 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 priests to bind all that call on thy name. But the
Lord said unto me, 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, and put his hands
on him, and said, Brother Saul, the Lord even Jesus, that appeared
unto thee in the way, as thou camest, hath sent me, that thou
mightest receive thy sight, and be filled with the Holy Ghost. And immediately there fell from
his eyes, as it had been scales, and he received sight forthwith,
and arose, and was baptized. And when he had received meat,
he was strengthened. Then was Saul's certain days
with the disciples which were at Damascus. And straightway
he preached Christ in the synagogues, that he is the Son of God. But all that heard him were amazed
and said, is not this he that destroyed them which called on
this name in Jerusalem, and came hither for that intent, that
he might bring them bound unto the chief priests. But Saul increased
them more in strength, and confounded the Jews, which dwelt at Damascus,
proving that this is very Christ. And after that many days were
fulfilled, The Jews took counsel to kill him, but their laying
await was known of Saul, and they watched the gates day and
night to kill him. Then the disciples took him by
night and let him down by the wall in a basket. And when Saul
was come to Jerusalem, he assayed to join himself to the disciples,
but They were all afraid of him and believed not that he was
a disciple. But Barnabas took him and brought
him to the apostles and declared unto them how he had seen the
Lord in the way and that he had spoken to him and how he had
preached boldly at Damascus in the name of Jesus. And he was
with them coming in and going out at Jerusalem. And he spoke
boldly in the name of the Lord Jesus, and disputed against the
Grecians. But they went about to slay him,
which, when the brethren knew, they brought him down to Caesarea,
and sent him forth to Tarsus. 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. We'll leave the reading there. May God bless it to us and help
us now to come to Him in prayer. Let us all pray. great and eternal Lord God, that
one who has created all things, the ruler of the universe. We
come and bow before Thee, the great and mighty God. And Lord,
as we come here together this morning to worship, we pray that
we may know and realise the wonderful evidence of the Holy Spirit of
God here in our midst, influencing and directing everything that
is said and done, so that there may be that wonderful application
to each of our never-dying souls, so that we may indeed be like
the Apostle Paul was found to be, one who worshipped the ever-living
and true God. And we're thankful, gracious
God, for all the many blessings and mercies we have. We're thankful
that on another Lord's Day morning, we are able to come together
to worship. And we're thankful that still
in our country today, we have freedom of worship. And we do
pray, gracious God, that this blessing may be continued to
us down to the end of time if thy holy will. And Lord, we pray
that these times may really be made a blessing to us, that we
may hear the voice of God speaking to our hearts and souls, so that
we do not come and just fritter away the time that we are privileged
to have in worship. Do gracious God come then and
touch our hearts this morning and we pray we may be called
a true worshipper, one who worships in spirit and in truth. We are thankful for the Word
of God, for the Bible which contains such wonderful truths And we're
thankful for the record of that conversion of the Apostle Paul
and the wonderful effect that the Holy Spirit had upon him
and how it completely changed his life. And we're thankful
to believe that we worship today the same God who still today
changes lives because we know that that great God knows all
about us as he knew about the Apostle Paul. He knew what he
was doing. He knew where he was journeying.
And Lord, we believe we have a God who knows what we're doing. who knows what we're thinking
and that God who we pray may come and bless our souls even
today. And Lord, we've gathered here
this morning in sadness because we know that our dear friend
Rosie has gone, we believe, to be with the Lord. We cannot mourn
for her, but Lord, we would mourn for ourselves, realising that
we have one less in our congregation. But we're thankful, Lord, for
thy goodness to her for so many years, and all that she was able
to do in her life, especially all the work that she was able
to do at the Trinitarian Bible Society for so many years. We pray, Lord, for her family,
for her children and her grandchildren, that thou would be gracious to
them. And although, Lord, such an occasion
always comes as a shock when it comes to pass, we pray, Lord,
that It may truly be a good effect upon them, and they may think
where their mother and grandmother is now. And so, Lord, we commend
the family to thee, and pray, gracious God, that we'll be gracious
to them. And Lord, as we've lost several
of our members over recent months, we pray, gracious God, that we'll
come and make up the gaps. Lord, there are many people living
around this chapel who care nothing for the things of God. But Lord,
we've read the occasion of Paul, that wonderful conversion, and
we know that we have a God who is still all-powerful. and we
pray that yet many may be converted in our area. Lord, surrounding
this chapel, in the surrounding area, that many may be moved
by thy Holy Spirit to come and gather with us here and receive
food for their souls. Lord, we know that these things
to our minds naturally appear impossible. We know also The
things which are impossible with men are possible with God. And so Lord, do work powerfully,
we pray. Lord, we are thankful for bringing
some of our friends back safely from their holiday, and we pray
they may have had a happy and pleasant time together. And we
pray, Lord, that Thou would be with those who are still away,
and grant Thy rich blessing upon them. Then we pray, Lord, for
our Dutch friends who gathered with us this morning. We pray
they may be blessed and that we'll take care of them while
they're here in England and take them back in due time in safety
to their home in Holland. So we're thankful, Lord, that
we can pray for and would pray one for another. And we pray,
Lord, for the whole Church of God throughout this world. Lord,
we know there are so many who do not enjoy freedom as we do. in countries where true Christianity
is not tolerated. And then we think of the war
in Ukraine and the great unrest there, and the great difficulty
for Christians in that country. Lord, we commend them to Thee. And pray to us, bless the true
Church of God today wherever it gathers, perhaps in ones or
twos, or perhaps in hundreds or maybe thousands, But Lord,
wherever they gather, we pray the Spirit of God may truly gather
with them, and it may be a day of wonderful blessing. And Lord,
we come and pray for our country, our nation. Lord, a country wonderfully
blessed, as we know also the nation of Holland was also wonderfully
blessed years ago. And Lord, now we see a great
departure from the truth. And Lord, we see the devil ranging
around as an angel of light. Oh Lord, confusing and turning
so many away from the truth of God. And Lord, allowing much
evil to penetrate into our nation. But we're thankful to believe
that we come to a God who is the King of Kings and Lord of
Lords, who sits on the throne, and we believe nothing occurs
without the divine permission of Almighty God. And so, gracious
God, we pray that thou wilt have mercy and grant there may be
yet better days may yet be a turning unto thee but Lord if not we
pray that we may be given that strength as Daniel was in his
day to stand in his lot oh Lord we pray that we may be able to
stand firm for the truth of God and not to depart from it and
not be swayed by the arguments of evil men and women. We pray
for our King, King Charles, Lord. Remember him in his reign as
King, Lord. Spare him for a few months and
we pray, Lord, thou will greatly influence his mind and heart
to truly serve the true God and not to turn aside to trivial
things in this world. And so, gracious God, we pray
now for thy blessing to come upon us as we've gathered here
for worship. O Lord, feed our souls with that
bread from heaven and that water of life so that we may be spiritually
blessed today. O Lord, accept our thanks for
every mercy and every favour and be with us now and bless
us. Forgive our every sin. We ask it all for Jesus' sake. Amen. Now, in giving the notices, we
join with the pastor in giving a warm welcome to all visiting
friends this morning and those that have come together for worship
and those that are joining us online. Now, if the Lord will,
our pastor's preaching for us this morning and again this evening
at six o'clock. On Tuesday morning, this week, the funeral
service of our late friend, Marian Huggins, will be held here at
the chapel at 11 o'clock. The interment is at Redstone
Cemetery in Redhill, followed by refreshments at the Rygate
Hill Hotel. And again on Tuesday evening,
we hold our prayer meeting here at 7.30 p.m. On Saturday, we
hold a market stall in Redhill Town Centre. Next Lord's Day,
our pastor again expected to preach for us at 11 and six o'clock.
And also next Lord's Day, the ordinance of the Lord's Supper
will be administered. Let us now continue in worship
in singing hymn 267 to the tune Theodora, 511. Hymn 267. Children
of the heavenly King, as ye journey, sweetly sing. Sing your Saviour's worthy praise,
glorious in his works and ways. Ye are travelling home to God
in the way the fathers trod. They are happy now, and ye, soon,
their happiness shall see. Hymn 267. ? Come and live with us ? ? Eternally
sweetly sing ? ? Savior, save the earth ? ? And give it praise
? In the ways that our fathers
taught, Let our hearts be filled with grateful joy. ? Shall sing ? ? Early morning
? ? Soon will be night ? ? Lights of heaven ? ? Radiate their light
? ? And the home of the brave ? ? And keep it above the praise
? ? There are days and such a praise ? ? When all saints exult in
praise ? ? Lift them up and bring them home
? ? Give them praise, all you have
done so far ? ? Christ, Jesus Christ, Lord God
the Son ? ? Gracious and just, Lord God the Son ? O say does that star-spangled
banner yet wave O'er the land of the free and the home of the
brave May it please Almighty God to
bless us together as we meditate in His Word this morning. Let
us turn to the Acts of the Apostles, chapter 9. and we'll read the
first sentence in verse 6. So the Acts of the Apostles,
chapter 9, and reading the first sentence in verse 6. And he, trembling and astonished,
said, Lord, what wilt thou have me to do? It is a wonderful blessing for
us to have a record in the Acts of the Apostles of the conversion
of the Apostle Paul or Saul as he was of course at that time
and to realise the wonderful work of God because in the life
of Paul and Saul he was completely changed round His attitude was
completely changed. And it's wonderful to realise
that this was brought about by the work of the Holy Spirit. And it would be good to know,
therefore, in our lives, if perhaps we have been changed, whether
in our life there has been a situation where we have been completely
changed from what we intended to do. Saul intended to persecute
the Church of God at Damascus. He got letters from the priests
in Jerusalem and therefore we can imagine he was striding along
on this journey perhaps very satisfied with himself, very
pleased with what he was hoping to purpose, and yet the time
appointed by Almighty God had come when he would be a changed
person. And God called him and spoke
to him, and we read together the wonderful occasion as they
were journeying suddenly there shined round about him a light
from heaven and this light was not a small light because we're
told when he tells this conversion experience how that light was
above the brightness of the midday sun And as we know, of course,
in the Middle East, the sun is brighter than it is here in our
country. And also, of course, in Holland,
it's much brighter. And even here, of course, we
cannot look upon the sun. And therefore, the brightness
of this light was such that obviously it had a great effect upon poor
Saul. And what did he do? We're told
he fell to the earth. He fell to the earth and he heard
the voice speaking then to him and it said, Saul, Saul, why
persecutest thou me? The truth is that every unbeliever
persecutes the Lord Jesus because they do not believe in the Lord
Jesus. They do not believe the truth
of God, and they want to follow their own way. And that was what
Saul was doing. But then he asked the question,
Who art thou, Lord? And the Lord said, I am Jesus,
whom thou persecutest. It is hard for thee to kick against
the pricks and we might ask ourselves, well, what does that actually
mean? Well, it would seem that the
Apostle Paul, prior to this, had many divine impulses from
the Holy Spirit nudging him and telling him that he wasn't doing
right things that he was doing wrong things But he wanted to,
and he did. He ignored those pricks or those
divine impulses because they would have crossed across his
line of things, what he wanted to do. He was very satisfied
with his work. He wanted to please himself.
He wanted to impress people how powerful he was, how important
he was, and he was walking in an opposite direction to that
which the truth of God directed him. But in his life and in all
God's people a time comes when God calls, when God brings them
into the wonderful blessing of spiritual life, when the light
from heaven shines into our heart like it did into Saul's heart
it was unmistakable and there was Saul then struck down and
he comes and having been told who it was that was speaking
to him we're told, and he trembling and astonished said, Lord, what
wilt thou have me to do? He'd never asked that question
before. He never wanted to ask that question. He never wanted to come to Jesus
and ask him what he should do. Well, it's a wonderful thing
in your life and my life when we have come or do come to a
situation where we come to God and we ask Him to direct us and
we ask Him what we should do. We may not know what to do. We
may feel that we are guilty before God. We may feel and perhaps
know that we've sinned against God, we've disobeyed God. And we may come when God shows
to us where we are, that we're walking against God. Against God. I wonder in your
life and my life if we can look back to a time when we did walk
against God. And what we were really saying
was, I will not have this man, the Lord Jesus, to reign over
me. I will not let him be my king. I want to please myself. I want to enjoy myself in this
world. I don't want to have to follow
a despised and crucified man. Well, that was the attitude of
Saul, Paul. He didn't want to follow the
clear teaching of the Lord Jesus Christ. But the Lord graciously
had watched over him. The Lord hadn't dealt with Paul
as he deserved. And it's wonderful to think the
Lord doesn't deal with us. as we deserve because if God
dealt with you and me as we deserve we would be cut off and we would
be cast into hell and therefore eternity so all of us here this
morning can be thankful that God has not dealt with us as
our sins deserve and it will be a wonderful blessing if we're
able to acknowledge that God has dealt with us or is dealing
with us as he dealt with Paul all those years ago. Paul was
travelling with other people. He wasn't by himself, he was
travelling with other people. But the voice from God came to
him. The others heard the voice but
they didn't hear the words. They didn't hear what was being
spoken. God gloriously and wonderfully
comes to every true believer and comes to them in a personal
way. personal way in our lives what
a blessing that is we don't deserve it we never really asked for it
and yet what a mercy with God's came and has perhaps given us
a desire to hear what God does speak to us just like here he
comes and he says What will thou have me to do? A right and complete
change in the Apostle's life. Well, I wonder whether you and
I have had a change in our life. A change from following ourselves,
from just pleasing ourselves, from having our own plans and
determined to follow those plans. and yet to think and to know
that God has a great plan for us if we are his people, his
children. And he brings that plan to pass. He brought it to pass in the
life of Paul. And he said to him, arise and
go into the city and it shall be told thee what thou must do. It's a great blessing to be brought
to that place and be willing to do God's will. Prior to this occasion, Paul
was doing his will. But when this occurred in his
life, he was a changed man. And he listened. to what God
spoke to him. He'd asked the question. He'd
asked the important question. What wilt thou have me to do? And God didn't ignore that question.
And it's a blessing today if you and I, in our lives, come
and ask the same question. Lord, what wilt thou have me
to do? He was to be told what to do. In his case, it was when he was
led into Damascus and when he'd been there for three days. Sometimes God tells us immediately,
sometimes we have to wait perhaps many days, perhaps many weeks,
perhaps sometimes years. But the important truth is to
come and be submissive to do God's will. And as Paul came
and said, what will thou have me to do? The Lord came and graciously
answered him. And we're told that he came in
a humble way, came trembling and he came astonished. He came
trembling and astonished. Well, it's a wonderful thing
if you and I come trembling to God. We can ask the question, have
you ever trembled? That means been afraid of God. Have you been afraid of what
God might do to you? Have you been afraid that God
might take your life? You see, we have many instances,
don't we, of God taking lives. We've had it here in our chapel
with last year, Frank taken so suddenly, and now this week,
Rosie taken so suddenly. No opportunity to repent. No opportunity to say, well,
I'm going to change my life. No, the Lord came and took their
lives virtually instantly. And they should be reminders to each one of us that
our life could be taken very suddenly. The Lord God said,
Be ye also ready For we know not what an hour
or a day may bring forth. And all of us need to be ready
to stand before the judgment seat of God. All of us need to
be ready to be taken from this life. And so Paul here was not
ready, but God came to him and caused him to Ask what you should
do. I wonder whether you've asked God
what you should do. Or whether perhaps you don't want
God to interfere with your life. Well let's be very clear that
if you and I are a child of God, God will interfere with our lives. And it will be for our good. And that's not only on this life,
it's for our eternal good. It's a great blessing then to
know that God is looking upon us And as he did with the Apostle
Paul, he stopped him. There he was, one moment, set
on going to Damascus to carry out what he wanted to do, and
the next moment he was on the ground with a light from heaven. shining
upon him, a sudden change. Well, in his case, it was a wonderful
change for good. And it would be a blessing for
you and me if God does indeed change us. A wonderful change,
a wonderful demonstration of the power of Almighty God. And we see then the submission
of Paul. Wonderful submission, wasn't
it? He comes almost like a little child. You know, you can imagine,
we know what children do. They come to their parents and
they want to know what to do. And here was Paul coming then
to his heavenly father and asking, what will thou have me to do? And the Lord said, arise and
go into the city and it shall be told thee what thou must do. So he'd come in this right way,
trembling and astonished. Astonished, we can think it means
surprised. He was. He trembled and he was
surprised that God had looked upon him, that God had had mercy
upon him. The God was speaking to him.
Now we live many years after the Apostle Paul lived, but what
we've got to realize is this, God doesn't change. I am the Lord, as we read in
Malachi, I am the Lord, I change not. He is the same yesterday
and today and forever. And God's power, has not diminished,
and God's ability to save souls has not got any less. He is the
same all-powerful, wonder-working God. But we must also realise
that what God says is true, and we are not to ignore God's Word. We are not to think that it is
irrelevant. We are not to think it has no
application for us. We have the whole of the Bible
from Genesis to Revelation, which speaks to our hearts and directs
us as to that which is right and that which is wrong. And
all of us here, no doubt, have read the Bible We may not have
read it all, but we read most of it, I expect. And there, in
the Word of God, are many words of instruction. The Apostle Paul
had been brought up at the feet of Gamaliel. He knew very well
the Old Testament truths. They had been spelt out to him. And yet, you see, he'd not followed
them. He didn't want to know although
there had been these pricks of conscience telling him he wasn't
doing the right thing and it's good and wonderful that God still
today he pricks us he prods us as to whether we're doing right
or whether we're doing wrong and you see God knows where we
go he knows what we do And more seriously, he knows what we think. You can't think any evil thing
without God knowing about it. Well, here was the Apostle Paul
in this situation, walking in an opposite direction, and God
came and caused him to fall onto the earth, told to arise, The
men that were with him journeyed, they stood speechless. Something
tremendous had just happened. They heard a voice, they didn't
see anybody, they didn't know what it was. So what was the
effect? Well it's a very wonderful account
we have and we see how God wonderfully dealt with Paul. He didn't leave him by himself,
he didn't say, get on with it Paul, you don't deserve any instruction,
get on with it. God very graciously instructed
him by naming and calling a man called Ananias. We read about
Ananias here, and because we're told that Saul was three days
without sight, he didn't eat, he didn't drink, and there was
this man in Ananias who lived in Damascus, and the Lord brought
a vision to him. A vision is something that he,
it was something in his mind which he saw, and what did he
see? God speaking to him and saying,
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 we have there an immediate
indication of the work of the Spirit in the life of Paul. And what was that sign? He prayed. He had no doubt prayed before
as a Pharisee. He prayed a formal prayer. And
we perhaps have prayed formal prayers. We've just gone through
a pattern. We just prayed a prayer. But
it hasn't come from our heart. But when the Holy Spirit comes
upon us, we really pray. We really pray. And often, the
first real prayer which comes from our heart is the prayer
which the Lord Jesus spoke about when he gave that parable of
the Pharisee and the Publican. The prayer of the Publican was
very short. Prayers don't need to be long.
They need to be concise. It wasn't any waffly prayer.
And it was very simple, and it was this, God, be merciful to
me a sinner. And I'm sure that every true
believer prays that prayer. And it would be a blessing if
you and I, in our life, can record a time when we did pray God be
merciful to me a sinner now we're not told precisely what Paul
prayed but we are told that he did pray it wasn't just words
to just no one it was true prayer to God and so here was this position
he was told Ananias was told Saul prays and has seen a vision
a man named Ananias coming in and putting his hand on him that
he might receive his sight. Now, Ananias knew about Saul.
He knew what a terrible person he was. And you can understand,
can't you? Him not being very happy with
having to carry out this which God told him to do. And again,
it's good for us to realize we have these examples in the Word
of God. Because sometimes we may be told
to do something which we don't really want to do. And there
may be many reasons we think why we shouldn't do them. It
wasn't unreasonable that Ananias was here saying, well, this is
a terrible man. I don't really want to do this.
He'd heard about him. But what did the Lord say? The
Lord spoke wonderful words. This is what he said. 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. Now just one or
two comments here first of all he didn't say that Saul was going
to be wonderfully used that he was going to be a great preacher
that many people were going to be converted under his ministry
he didn't say that at all what he said was that he must have
great things he must suffer for my name's sake you see we want
in our lives things to always be good and always be encouraging
and always may be uplifting in our lives but you see sometimes
it's the opposite it's still God's work it's still God's plan
for us And God often still brings about much blessing. But here
it was, to Ananias, he was told that Paul, he must suffer great
things, how great things he must suffer for my name's sake. Well, here we are, Ananias. This is what's gonna happen to
Paul. Well, what did Ananias do? Did he argue? Did he say, well,
I'm not going to do this. I don't think it's very wise.
I think it's going to be very difficult. No, we're told. And Ananias went his way and
entered into the house and putting his hands on him said, Brother Saul, the Lord, even
Jesus hath appeared unto thee in the way as thou camest sent
me that thou mightest receive thy sight and be filled with
the Holy Ghost.' Ananias was a true believer. Ananias believed
what God said. He didn't make any more arguments
and he went wholeheartedly found the Apostle Paul and addressed
him in a very beautiful way and addressed him as a brother in
Christ. Yes, he accepted totally what
the Lord had said to him and it's good for us in our lives
when that occurs. Yes, perhaps there may have been
someone who we think was evil and wrong and we don't want anything
to do with them, we don't want really to be involved and yet
you see when the Lord directs us there's no hesitation there's
an acceptance of the position and there's a willingness to
go and there's a willingness to address such a person as a
brother or a sister it's good isn't it to have an example like
this before us overcomes all our prejudice, overcame all Ananias'
prejudice and he came and he did the will of God and he came
and spoke the words that the Lord told him. And so we know
in this account the scales fell from the eyes of Saul, and he
could see once again. He'd been blind for three days,
and now his eyes were opened, and he could see, and there was
a wonderful effect upon him. It's good, isn't it, when you
and I see the effect of the work of God in the life of people. Yes, men and women sometimes,
boys and girls, And that change was complete in the life of the
apostle. God had come and spoken to him. He'd responded. God had been
gracious and sent Ananias to strengthen him and to encourage
him and to confirm him in the way. And then we read this. And straightway he preached Christ
in the synagogues that He is the Son of God. What a wonderful
change. What a wonderful blessing there
was. We see the power of God. When
the Lord works, that work is done. That work is an amazing
evidence that it is the work of God. And it's glorious for
us to see this. still in the day and age in which
we live. And God does still work. God
does still work very powerfully. Now I just want to just break
away and just draw another analogy. Here we have a very outstanding
case of conversion. And you may say, well I don't
think I come like this at all. I've never had a great light
shine into my heart. I've never had somebody come
alongside me and tell me the situation. And that's why we
are very thankful that God gives us a complete picture in His
Word. And the complete picture we have
in the case of a woman, this was a man, now we have a case
of a woman called Lydia. And Paul was commanded by God
to go and to preach in Macedonia. He got his own views where he
was going, but God told him he got to go to Macedonia. So again,
he didn't hit stop, he went into Macedonia. And we're told he
preached along by a river where women came for prayer. and there
was this woman called Lydia and she was there and we're told
very simply that God opened her heart to receive the words that
Paul was spoken a very opposite conversion to that of the Apostle
Paul but nonetheless a very true conversion. So no one here need
be discouraged if they think they can't remember any great
time like the Apostle Paul. I wonder whether you this morning
can remember perhaps a time when God came and just spoke to your
heart in a very quiet way And yet it was no disputing that
something was going on within you. You were suddenly a different
person, you suddenly were thinking differently, and you thought
differently, and you were concerned in a different way. What was it? Well, what a wonderful
blessing to know. It's the work of the Holy Spirit. Because it changed Lydia, it
changed Paul, or Saul, in very different ways. But they were
both conversions. And Lydia was changed. She looked after Paul and Silas
and did good, good deeds and things. Yes, she was a changed
person. She'd obviously been a merchant
and maybe perhaps she carried on being a merchant, but she
also looked after the Lord's people. It was a change, you
see, in her life. Like there was a change in Paul's
life. The important thing for you and
me this morning is to be able to find that there's
been a change in our life and that change has shown to us that
we are a sinner before God it's not a sinner about other
people it's as you and I stand before God and sometimes there's
been such a change that things that we were very happy to do
we suddenly realized weren't good and we had to stop because
we realized it was disobeying God was walking contrary to God
and what caused it what caused the change surely it was the
wonderful work a wonderful effect of the Holy Spirit upon us. As I've said, both of these cases
were true conversions. And my friends, you and I need
to have a true conversion. We need to have a change in our
life. A change from following ourselves
to following the Lord. A change to be made willing to
do His will. A change to change from doing
our will. A change from our programme. A change from our timescale.
yes made willing in the day of his power and that power comes
sometimes in a very powerful outward way like it did in the
life of Saul and sometimes in a very quiet way but nonetheless
powerful because what there was was a making spiritually alive
and that's the great and important and necessary blessing And so
this morning, if you and I can look into our hearts and observe
that God indeed has blessed us with a wonderful blessing of
life, because the change was so great, we're told, and all
that heard him were amazed and said, is not this he that destroyed
them, which called on this name in Jerusalem? It may be the same
in our lives. Perhaps our school friends, perhaps
our college friends, perhaps our workmates, perhaps our neighbours,
realise, oh, there's a change, this person's a different person. Is not this he that destroyed
them, which called on this name in Jerusalem? and came hither for that intent
that he might bring them bound unto the chief priests. Well,
that's gone out the window. Now he's preaching. He's preaching
the person that he was so against. Instead of being 100% against
him, he's now 100% for him. That's a wonderful thing, isn't
it? And what a blessing, if you and I can see in our lives a
complete change round, going as it were in the opposite direction. That's a clear sign of conversion,
if we turn round and go in an opposite direction. Well, the
apostle was given strength to proclaim the glorious gospel.
And we're told, and Saul increased more in strength and confounded
the Jews. They couldn't believe it. This
is a different person. Surely this is not the same Paul. And confounded the Jews, which
dwelt at Damascus, proving that this is very Christ. And what
did the Apostle, how did he do that? He proved it from the Scriptures. He proved that the Old Testament
prophecies had been fulfilled in the life and death of the
Lord Jesus Christ. That which previously he denied. Now he was a changed person. And now he argued for the truth
of those things. And it was because of that he
was proving that this person who he persecuted was indeed,
and is indeed, very Christ. What a blessing it is, my friends,
if you and I, in our lives today, have been changed from ignoring
Christ, perhaps hating Christ, to serving Christ, to loving
Christ. Yes, a wonderful change. Now, let us be clear. Every true
believer is one who experiences an amazing change in our life. Yes, an amazing change. A God-given
change. Nothing that you and I could
have done in ourselves. It is the wonderful and glorious
work of the Holy Spirit. And if we have that in our hearts,
we can rejoice, we can thank, and we can praise God for his
mercy toward us, for his love toward us, for his grace toward
us, It's free unmerited favour which has come into our lives
and we can look forward to that day when we shall pass out of
time and go to heaven. No more fear of going to hell
because we have the evidence of that new life within us. The evidence of God-given life
and to realise therefore it is well with our souls. Well here we have this beautiful
account really and we've got it here in this ninth chapter
you can read it you might go home and read it also it occurs
again in Acts 22 and Acts 26 where the Apostle himself gives
his own testimony his own testimony of how his conversion occurred
and it's good when you and I remember the work of God, his work in
our hearts, which is a testimony that we can recall and we can
acknowledge that this is the work of God for his honour and
for his glory and rejoice in the glorious work of God and
be thankful for his wonderful salvation. Amen. Closing hymn in worship this
morning, hymn 133, 1, 3, 3, to the tune Gunod, 699. Hymn 133,
reading the first and last verses. One there is above all others,
well deserves the name of friend. His love beyond a brother's,
costly, free, and knows no end. They who wants his kindness prove,
find it everlasting love. The last verse. Oh for grace,
how hearts to soften. Teach us Lord at length to love. We alas forget too often what
a friend we have above. But when home our souls are brought,
we will praise him, praise thee as we ought. In 133. ? And there is no mount on earth
? ? That has risen to be no friend ? ? We are the rockers ? ? Lost in
regret and terror ? ? Never was this our destiny ? When thou wouldst profess to
save us, When thou wouldst forsake this world, ? Joy to the world ? ? Let all
soul be lifted up ? ? Christus, thou place of liberty ? The Lord raise the crosses upon
them, take us not away, take us not and the old man was the last
man on the land. Now and with the grace of our
Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. and the love of God our Father,
and the fellowship and communion of the Eternal Spirit, rest and
abide with us each, now and for evermore. Amen.