Well thank you very much for
the opportunity to come and meet with you. It's a delight to be
here, it's a pleasure and I trust the Lord will bless us as we
gather around his words together. Turn with me please in your Bibles
to Acts chapter 9, the book of Acts chapter 9. It has interested me the frequency
with which this little chapter and the contents of it have been
mentioned over the past couple of sermons. I was anxious for
a moment or two at different points in those sermons that
those things which I had intended to say this morning may already
be said. But I trust you'll bear with
me and that we'll be able to share something of the wonder,
the glory, the majesty, of the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ. I've got a title for my sermon.
I don't usually give my sermons titles, but I know that some
of my American friends like titles for their sermons, so I've got one. This is called
Surprised by Grace. Surprised by Grace. Acts chapter nine, reading from
verse one. 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, 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. 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, and
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. 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 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. Amen. May God be pleased to bless
this reading from his word. This was the beginning of the
Apostle Paul's ministry and it's interesting to see the way in
which his ministry began. It began that he preached the
Lord Jesus Christ. He preached Christ that he was
the Son of God. That's how his ministry began.
In Acts chapter 28, we are told, you don't need to turn there,
we are told how his ministry ended. Preaching the kingdom
of God and teaching those things which concern the Lord Jesus
Christ with all confidence no man forbidding him. That was
a surprise and this morning I want to think with you for a little
while what it meant to some of those characters surrounding
this incident of the conversion of Saul of Tarsus. There were a number of groups
involved in this matter. Can you imagine, for example,
what consternation there must have been in Jerusalem when news
reached the city from Damascus that Saul of Tarsus had become
a Christian? Can you imagine what they must
have thought? Old Gamaliel, who had taught
Saul, he must have said, I didn't see that coming. And such a promising young student
too. First Joseph of Arimathea, then
Nicodemus, now Saul of Tarsus. Is there no one safe? They must
have wondered. They must have been amazed. This
man Gamaliel was an interesting character. He's a man who, it
appears, was well regarded amongst the Jewish religious leaders
in that place. His work was well received. We find that he is involved in
a number of key moments in the experience of the early church.
And it just shows how the Lord is pleased to use even those
bastions of false religion from time to time to achieve and accomplish
His purposes. The disciples were arrested.
They were brought and put into prison. And it was the purpose
of the Pharisees and the Jewish religious leaders to take them
out the next day and slay them. Gamaliel said, hold on a moment.
We need to be careful here. These men are perhaps just like
others who have gone before them. Remember Judas in that taxation
problem, how that he gathered a group of disaffected people
behind him and it looked for a little while as if it was going
to come to something. Or Judas and the 400 that he
gathered, and it appeared once again that there was going to
be trouble in the streets, but it came to nothing. This too
will come to nothing if it is empty and hollow. But let us
be careful that we don't fight against God. And if this be true,
we need to be careful about it. That was Gamaliel's advice to
the Pharisees. And as a result, there was a
decision that they would not slay the disciples. That could have brought to an
end, humanly speaking, the whole of the Christian church, if that
man had not stood up and made those comments that day. how
the Lord preserves his people, even using Gamaliel. And here
the old man, looking at his student Saul of Tarsus, shakes his head
and wonders what is happening around about him. He once gave
these apostles free reign, hoping that it came to nothing, and
now his own child in the Jewish faith, that one that he looked
upon with such praise and decided that he was going to be the one
to lead into the future, the Jewish Pharisaic religion had
succumbed to the very faith that he had defended in those early
days. The priests and the Pharisees,
they must have been completely flummoxed about what was happening
to Saul. If ever there had been a safe
pair of hands into which to deliver the letters of the elders for
the apprehension of those men and women and the imprisonment
of those Christians, those followers of the Lord Jesus Christ, it
was Saul's. He was the one. There was none
more fanatical than he. There was no one that could be
more trusted with respect to the fulfilling of this task than
he. He was dedicated to the destruction
of this church. He wanted to smash it to pieces. We sometimes think of Paul in
his later days describing himself as the chief of sinners. And
we suspect that's a little bit of exaggeration in there. He's
making the point. I don't think so. I think he
knew exactly what he was saying when he called himself the chief
of sinners. Because he knew that if it had
been within his power, he would have extinguished that candle. and he would have done it with
zeal and joy. That was the man that we were
dealing with here on the Damascus Road. He was heading to that
city in order to put into prison, in order to put into bonds, men
and women. Used to be in war, used to be
in times of conflict that the women could regard themselves
as safe. Not when it came to Saul of Tarsus. He knew that it wasn't the force
of arms that was giving these people their strength. It was
word of mouth. And these women could talk as
well as the men. And he knew that they had to
be gotten rid of too. And so here we find a man, Saul
of Tarsus, dedicated to this job, willing to spill the blood
of the saints. And he had all of the qualifications
for the job. He tells us that he was after
the most straightest sect. That is kind of awkward grammar
for us these days. The most straightest sect of
the Pharisees. That was Saul. He knew his business. This wasn't just a mad passion. He had rationalized this whole
thing. He knew exactly the whys and
the wherefores and what he was about. He calls himself a Pharisee,
a son of a Pharisee. It ran in the blood. He could
look back over the generations and say he was in the tradition
that his fathers and forefathers before him had maintained. He
was defending the pedigree of all of that religious heritage
and history that he wanted to maintain. He was the son of a
Pharisee, and he profited in the Jews' religion above many
of his equals in his own nation, being more exceedingly zealous
of the traditions of his fathers. I'm going to come back a little
bit in a moment and touch upon that, but just a little aside,
if I may, for this moment. He was the son of a Pharisee,
We sometimes become anxious for the well-being of our children.
Rightly so. If you are a believer in the
Lord Jesus Christ, then I believe you know something of the terrors
and the fear of hell. You ought to be anxious for your
children. You ought to be anxious for those
around about you. And I'm going to come back to
this in a little while, but see this man, Saul of Tarsus. He was surprised by grace. Gamaliel was surprised by grace. We are going to find that Ananias
was surprised by grace. Don't you give up. praying for
your children. Because it doesn't matter if
they are deep, deep, deep in sin. It doesn't matter if they
have got it logically in their head, all the arguments against
their mummy and their daddy's faith. It doesn't matter if they
have indulged themselves even to the very spilling of blood
of those who are the Lord's people. Let's pray it never comes to
that. But such individuals get surprised by grace. And we need
to trust the Lord for those around about us. That was an aside. Here's a little, here's a man,
Saul of Tarsus, and he is zealous. after the things of his faith. In Acts chapter 22 he summarizes
his whole approach to this by saying that he is zealous toward
God. You see that's an interesting
point because we live in a world, in a society that is zealous
towards God. It is. You cannot deny that and
whether you're looking at our own churches around about us,
myself in the United Kingdom, yourselves here in the States
or whether we're looking abroad and looking at the different
religions that there are. I suspect there has never been
a time in the history of the world, despite the mass secularism
that there is and consumerism that we are surrounded with,
that people have been more religious. There is so much religion around
these days. The religions of the world, we're
anxious about it every day. The trouble we have coming through
airport security is a testament to that fact. There is so much. earnest zeal as far as religion
is concerned in the minds of men and women today. But Saul's
religious zeal was misdirected. He was following after the old
traditional paths of man's own self-righteousness. as is every
man-made religion on the face of this world. And it doesn't
matter if it looks a lot like Christianity or nothing at all
like Christianity. Zeal after God will not get an
individual saved. except grace comes and arrests
them in their own Damascus Road experience. And that's what we
have to continue to uphold and maintain. He was zealous. He was of the tribe of Benjamin,
a Hebrew of the Hebrews, touching the law of Pharisee, concerning
zeal, persecuting the church. He was a man who was dedicated. Yet here it is. Saul is a convert. Saul is an object of sovereign
choice. He is a man who has tasted salvation. He is one of Christ's own. And a gaping hole has appeared
in the ranks of the Jews. A leader is fallen. A champion
has succumbed to the power of Jesus Christ. there are two sides to every
story and here in the passage that we read is another conversation
about the same incident. The Lord said unto Ananias, 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 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 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. What a surprising
change that was too. There's Ananias, probably living
in a cellar, probably trying to stay indoors and not go out,
not to be seen by his Jewish neighbours or his religious friends
and associates, to keep out of the way while this man Saul comes
and does his damage. Have we got too small a view
of God? Have we too small a view of the
power of grace? Too narrow an estimation as to
who will be saved? We were thinking a little earlier,
I think it was as we were praying, perhaps it was here in the readings
that were made from Ephesians. Thank you, Brother Carpenter,
for that. We were thinking about how few
we are. We are probably in excess of
200 here this morning. That's great. You're, I need
to work out the math here. You're 20 times more than I normally
preach to. I think this is likely to be
the largest congregation I have ever addressed. And that's the
same for many of these men around here at the front. It's a time
of little things. And Ananias thought that too.
Ananias said, Lord, we can't have anything to do with this
man, not this man. I've heard of many the things
that he has been doing. What an argument to use against
God. Listen, lots of people, Lord,
have told me about this guy. But you see, If lots of people
tell you something, it's probably wrong. There will always be plenty of
opposition to God's way and to God's will. That is the nature
of the case. There will always be plenty who
will try to talk you out of your views, out of your beliefs, out
of your faith. And if it were not for the grace
of God that keeps us in the palm of his hands, those forces ranged
against us to take away and disabuse us of our views are legion. And whether it's our own hearts
that tell us that we're not good enough, Whether it's those that
we sit beside in the congregation who look so much more in tune
with the Lord than we could ever be. Whether it's those neighbours
and friends or family members who tell us, you don't need to
be so fanatical about it all. Or whether it's Satan or the
world or all of the legion of angels and temptations that he
has to bring against us. We will find that there will
be many who will say to us, don't have anything to do with the
Lord or the Lord's work. You don't need to be so extreme. You don't need to be so fanatical.
But here was Ananias and he had a lesson to learn. If ever there
was a believer surprised by grace, it was Ananias. He was brought
to that point where he was shown by the Lord that he, the Lord,
was no respecter of persons. And that's what we have to hold
on to. The Lord is no respecter of persons. And whether that
Saul of Tarsus, he was ready to save to the uttermost. He was ready to come in power
and touch that man with his grace. Proverbs chapter 19 and verse
21. There's a verse which says, there are many devices in a man's
heart. Nevertheless, the counsel of
the Lord. that shall stand. And He uses
His means. In Isaiah chapter 1 and verse
7 we read, I will have mercy upon the house of Judah and will
save them by the Lord their God and will not save them by bow,
nor by sword, nor by battle, by horses, nor by horsemen. We will be saved. The House of
Judah, the Lord's chosen people, will be saved. And He will deliver
His people in whatsoever way seems good to Him. And it won't
be by the power of force. It will not be by the lobbying
of Congress. See the way I've changed my language
and didn't say Parliament? But there are so many people
who want to be engaged today in a militant Christianity in
order to save Christianity from being overwhelmed by the laws
that are being passed by wicked people. Let them get on with
it. That's the dead burying the dead. We are to preach the gospel of
saving grace. That's all we need to worry about.
We get on with that task and we ask the Lord to bless it. I will have mercy upon the house
of Judah, not by sword, not by battle, not by the might of men,
not by all of their cash dollars, not by their motivation and enlisting
of multitudes to march or to vote or to do this or that. but
by the preaching of the gospel. We will preach the gospel as
the Lord enables us so to do, and we will look to Him to give
the increase. In Exodus chapter 33 in verse
19, we read these words, and he said, I will make all my goodness,
the Lord is speaking to Moses, I will make all my goodness pass
before thee. I will proclaim the name of the
Lord before thee. That's the little phrase that
I want to touch upon. I will declare, proclaim the
name of the Lord before thee and will be gracious to whom
I will be gracious and will show mercy on whom I will show mercy. Saul knew that verse. Saul of
Tarsus knew that verse when he was heading to to Damascus. He knew that there was a declaration,
a proclamation by God showing his word to Moses. What he didn't realize was that
Christ himself was going to proclaim that name to him. And all those
years later, when the apostle Paul wrote those words, repeated
those words from Exodus in his own writings to the believers
in Rome, he knew, verse 18 of chapter nine, he will have mercy
on whom he will have mercy and whom he will he hardeneth. He heard the word of God. He heard the name of God proclaimed
to him. It was preached to him that day,
just as it has to be preached to every man in our ability as
we seek to honor the Lord and uplift him. Can we blame Ananias
for his doubting? It was his skin was on the line.
We often say that we are prepared to do things that when it comes
to it, we draw back. That's nature. That's nature. That's what we feel. The disciples
were just the same. Remember in Matthew chapter 19,
there was the episode in the Lord's ministry when that rich
young ruler came to him and said, what must I do to be saved? What must I do to inherit eternal
life? The Lord turned to him. back
to the law. He knew the self-righteousness
that was in that young man. 99 out of 100 preachers today
would get his signature on a piece of paper. That's not how it works. That man had to have that religious
pride dismantled block by block. He had to understand what the
law was really saying to him. He felt that he was a righteous
man, a maintainer, all these things he said, I've done from
my youth. Well, I think that young man
learned some lessons that day. I'm sure he did. He went away
sorrowful. But you know, as much as anything
else, I think that that was a little object lesson for the disciples
of the Lord Jesus Christ. Because what we read in the verses
after that incident, that little interview that the Lord had with
the rich young ruler is this. When his disciples heard it,
that is, the conversation between these two, they were exceedingly
amazed, saying, who then can be saved? If this man can't be
saved, who can be? If this one who is so dedicated,
so moral, so upright, so desirous after eternal life can't be saved,
who can be? Surprised by grace, Yes, the
Lord says, with men it is impossible, but with God all things are possible. And that was a lesson that the
disciples had to learn, because they had to, as they began their
own ministry, appreciate that the power of salvation was not
in men, not in their works, not in their efforts. It amazed them,
as it amazes the world today, because people by nature, they
want to do something for God. That's what Saul of Tarsus was
doing. He was zealously doing something for God. And he was
surprised by grace. Again, here's a man, Saul. Think of him. Observe him. One
day, breathing out threatenings and slaughter against the disciples
of the Lord. The next, meekly asking the Lord
what he would have him to do. One day, boasting to bring followers
of the way bound to Jerusalem. The next, being led, stumbling,
blind, by the hand, into Damascus and shown where he can sit. One
day, desiring to persecute the Lord Jesus Christ with all the
venom that he could muster. The next, bowed before him in
prayer, surprised by grace. What amazing grace we have in
the Lord. Here is this man who went desiring
the letters from the high priest that he should go and do this
job that needed to be done to bring them to pain, to death,
to suffering for the name of Christ. Galatians chapter one,
the apostle says that beyond measure, beyond measure, he persecuted
the church of Jesus Christ. He says he wasted it. Beyond
measure. Well, he was making a little
mistake. It wasn't beyond measure. It
wasn't beyond measure. The Lord Jesus Christ knew exactly
how much suffering his church was enduring. You know how I
know that? Because the Lord said to him on the Damascus Road,
Saul, why are you persecuting me? Every blow that he struck
against the men and women of the faith was not a blow struck
against them alone. but a blow struck against the
Lord Jesus Christ. And he knew exactly what Saul
had been doing and what he was capable of. There is a word of
encouragement and comfort for us because we very often feel
marginalized. We often feel as if we're small,
we're few. These conferences, are so encouraging
and so much of a blessing to so many. And we get encouraged
because we see that here's a few from here and a few from there
and a few, one or two from this place and that. And they come
together and they share. But these are the exceptions.
Monday morning you're back in the office. Monday morning you're
back in the factory. You're back in the home doing
your chores. You're back on the land working the farm. These
are the exceptions. The Lord is pleased to be with
His people and He knows exactly what we are going through because
the world is not persecuting us as it endeavors to destroy
the church and undermine the gospel. It is persecuting Him. That was what the Lord said to
Samuel, old Samuel. He said, they're not rejecting
you. Don't worry, it's me that they
are against. And he knows exactly every blow
and he will hold man accountable in that day of judgment for the
things that have been done to his people. When thou passest
through the waters, I will be with thee. Through the rivers,
they will not overflow thee. When thou walkest through fire,
Thou shalt not be burned, neither shall the flame kindle upon thee. I meant to tell you when I was
beginning the service what my text was. My text is in Galatians
chapter 1 and verse 15. when it pleased God, who separated
me from my mother's womb and called me by His grace. Surprising grace. The grace that
called Saul of Tarsus. On that Damascus road, Saul called
a man who was dedicated to the destruction of Christianity into
an experience of life in Christ. And God's timing is perfect. His pleasure is His will. and he does all his pleasure. Providence keeps the people of
God all the days of their life. Saul said, Paul as he became,
it pleased God who separated me from my mother's womb. There
is a suggestion that that mother's womb that he was referring to
there was the mother church, if you like. Some of the religious
folks around about us still talk about mother church, don't they?
It's the religion that they imbibed at their mother's knee and they
live it all their life. They live it and they die it.
It's a sad situation. Sometimes I have a friend back
in Northern Ireland, he calls that the worship of ancestors. Got a point? Mother Church, following
in the footsteps of our parents because they've been in that
and the parents before them, that's no reason to be the member
of a church. Here we see that the Lord's timing
was perfect, not calling Saul from the faith of the Jews, but
from his mother's womb. And how many of us can testify
that the Lord Jesus has preserved us through times when we knew
nothing of Him, and yet has brought us to this day today. Times when
we were profligate, times when we were careless, times when
we did things that were a hair's breadth from the hurt of our
bodies or the loss of our life, and yet because of His mercy,
because we were His children, He has preserved us. Maybe you
don't know Christ yet, Maybe you've never yet been surprised
by grace. Let me tell you something. See
the fact that you're here today, that is a blessing from God. He has given you a privilege
of hearing the gospel preached here in this little auditorium
over the next couple of days you will hear the gospel preached
and may it be that he surprises you by grace the lord's timing
is perfect and that grace which he has given us we are told that
we are to understand the glory of that grace and we says uh
paul to the ephesians chapter one verse six we are to praise
the glory of His grace wherein He hath made us accepted in the
Beloved. It's the highest characteristic
of God. Whether we talk about His love,
whether we talk about His holiness, whether we talk about His wrath,
Let's talk about His grace because there in that characteristic
of our great God is His mercy and His love and His holiness
all bound together in His desire to bring a people to Himself. The glory of His grace is seen
in so many ways. I'm aware of the time and I'm
just going to give you eight quick points here, one after
the other, as to how the manifestation of the grace of God can be seen.
It is seen in the electing of men to everlasting life. We call that, or Paul calls that
in Romans 11, the election of grace. It is seen and displayed
in the covenant that God made with Christ for the benefit of
men. It is seen in that covenant being
brought to fruition in the adoption of men and women into the family
of God. That is grace being manifested. It is seen in the redemption
by the Lord Jesus Christ of those whom he has ransomed by his blood. The writer to the Hebrews says
in chapter 2 that he by the grace of God should taste death for
every man. It is seen in our justification
before God. Her brother was talking about
justification last night. What an encouragement that was.
Grace is seen in our justification before God by the righteousness
of Christ. Paul writes to Titus. We are
justified by His grace. It is seen in our pardon for
sin. Their sin will I remember no
more. Hebrews 8, 12. It is seen in
the work of the Holy Spirit, in regeneration, in calling and
in sanctification. The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ
is demonstrated in the work of the Holy Spirit. And it is seen
finally in the eternal life that He gives to His people. Glory of God's grace is revealed
in the manifestation of salvation. He touches men and women. Paul's
great summary of this is in Ephesians 2. By grace are ye saved. Peter said it slightly more long-windedly. But we believe that through the
grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, we shall be saved. Finally, what
child of God does not look back on their own experience and say
that they have been surprised by grace. Can we not say that? Do we not understand something
of where we were in our own thinking, in our own hearts, in our own
life? and say that it is God's grace and God's grace alone that
has stopped us, arrested us, taken us from that place where
we were heading headlong to a lost eternity. I'm glad to do so. and bring us into an experience
of His love and His mercy. And He is able to do that for
anyone. He is able to do that for the
whosoever. And He is doing that even now
in our day. We, as a little band, as a little
flock, go through this world and we are confronted so very
often by trials and troubles. That little group that were in
Damascus, they must have been terrified knowing that Saul was
on his way with letters to take them in bonds. Let us look. Let us look positively. Let us
look enthusiastically. Let us look boldly for the Lord
to surprise us some more. to surprise us in these days
with His grace, to touch those around about us, to touch those
that we would never imagine, the souls of Tarsus of our day
with grace. Wouldn't it be amazing? I'm not
going to start enumerating names because that defeats the purpose,
but wouldn't it be amazing if those people who are so against
us, so adamant against Christianity, were the very ones that like
Saul of Tarsus were plucked as branch from the flames. That would be a surprise indeed. And you know what? Maybe right
now, maybe right now in a modern setting, there is somewhere,
someone, a great persecutor of yours, a great persecutor of
the church. And he's getting ready. to press
the trigger on some diabolical scheme that is going to harm
the Lord's people. And you know what? Maybe, just
maybe, the Lord will surprise him with grace. Wouldn't that
be wonderful? He had showed his people the
power of his works. Psalm 111, verse 6. Amen.