Let's turn tonight to Acts chapter
9. Acts chapter 9. 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. 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 bricks. 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 man which journeyed with
him stood speechless, hearing a voice, but seeing no man. And Saul rose 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 there 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. 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, 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 namesake. 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, 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 we saw 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
priest. But Saul increased them more
in strength and confounded the Jews which dwelt at Damascus,
proving that this is very Christ. The only comment that can be
made on this passage is that we see God's sovereign grace
apprehending Saul of Tarsus. And I use the word apprehending
because that's the word that Paul used later in writing to
the Philippians. He said, I follow after if I
may apprehend that for which I am apprehended of Christ Jesus. We see here the Lord Jesus Christ
apprehending one that he calls, in verse 15, a chosen vessel. This is true of everyone. This is true of you tonight.
This is true of me. This is true of everyone who
the Lord has chosen from the same lump of clay, the same lump
of clay, He has chosen to make a vessel unto honor. This is true of all of God's
children. He is a chosen vessel. From the
same lump of clay, every one that he calls is a chosen vessel. Tonight, I want us to think about
the Lord's three words to Ananias in verse 11. Behold, he prayeth. Behold, he prayeth. And I have
two things to say about these words. First, they were words
to allay the fear of Ananias. These three words, behold, he
prayeth. They were, first of all, words
to allay the fear of Ananias. Ananias was a disciple of the
Lord Jesus Christ and he knew what Saul's hatred of Christ
was capable of causing him to do to God's sheep. As wolves, as we think of a pack
of wolves or as one wolf among sheep. We realize what a wolf
is capable of doing. So Saul of Tarsus, he had a reputation
of destroying, doing his best to destroy God's sheep. He was like a wolf. He was like
a lion. He had earned this reputation.
It wasn't just given to him. He earned this reputation and
he earned it by the things which he had done to the saints in
Jerusalem. You notice in verse 13, Ananias
said, Lord, I've heard by many of this man how much evil he
hath done to thy saints at Jerusalem. He had a reputation and he had
earned the reputation. He was well known among the believers
at that time. He was well known. as one who
did everything he could to root out the name of Christ, to destroy
the believers, those of this way. This way, of course, is
Christ. He is the way, the truth, and
the life. No man cometh unto the Father
but by Him. Ananias, fear not. Behold, he
prayeth. He prayeth. He is now a new creature. He has a new nature. He has now made a partaker of
the divine nature, and that's true of every child of God. We not only believe in imputed
righteousness, and I say we don't only believe in this, By that
I mean the scriptures not only teach imputed righteousness,
but also imparted righteousness. That when a person has the righteousness
of Christ imputed unto him, he also is made a partaker of the
divine nature. That is, the righteousness of
Christ not only is imputed to him, but he is born from above.
has a new nature, becomes a new creature in Christ Jesus. He
not only loves him who regenerated him, but he loves those who are
also regenerated. Keep your place here, but let's
look over to 1 John chapter 3 and see how the apostle John declared
this. In 1 John chapter 5, And verse 1, whosoever believeth that Jesus
is the Christ is born of God, born of God, regenerated. And
everyone that loveth him that begat, who did the begatting,
which were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh,
nor of the will of man, but of God. Everyone, the scripture
says here, that is born of God, or everyone that loveth him that
beget loveth him also that is begotten of him. We not only
love him, but we love all those others who also have been born
of the Spirit of God, who have been begotten of God. If any
man does not love his brethren, we know that he has not passed
from death unto life. So that's the first thing that
we see in these words tonight. Behold, he prayeth. They were
words to allay the fear of Ananias. He was afraid of Saul. He was
afraid to go to him. And these words were to allay
that fear. No need to fear Ananias. Behold,
he prayeth. Now the second thing, they were
words to mark Saul's conversion. Behold, he prayeth. They were
words to mark Saul's conversion. This begs the question, had Saul
of Tarsus never prayed before? Had he never prayed before? Well, we know that he was a Pharisee. He tells us that. He was a Pharisee. And Pharisees would be included
in those the Lord Jesus described as loving to pray. Loving to
pray. In fact, the Lord Jesus Christ
said they loved to pray standing in the synagogues and in the
corners of the streets that they may be seen of men. He was a
Pharisee. And Pharisees loved to pray.
They love to pray anywhere they might be seen of men. They love
to pray. When our Lord told Ananias, behold,
he prayeth, this marks Saul's conversion. But we ask the question,
had Saul of Tarsus never prayed before? Why, sure he had. He was a Pharisee. He had prayed
before. The Lord Jesus gives us an example
of how Pharisees prayed. If you look in Luke chapter 18,
this is the way Pharisees prayed. And I want you to notice they
prayed to God. They prayed to God. And they
thanked God. Notice that here in Luke chapter
18, verse 10. Two men went up into the temple
to pray, the one a Pharisee, the other a publican. The Pharisee
stood and prayed thus with himself, God. He prayed to God. And notice he said, I thank thee. And not only did he pray to God,
but he thanked God. And notice what he thanked God
for. He thanked God that he was not like other men, extortioners,
unjust, adulterers, or even as this publican. They thanked God
that they were different from other men. And they gave credit
to themselves for making themselves to differ. One thing that is
obvious that when Saul of Tarsus became Paul, when Saul of Tarsus
was converted, it's amazing that God would save a Pharisee, first
of all, a Pharisee like Saul, and then inspire him to write
to believers in a church these words. For who maketh thee to
differ from another? And Pharisees loved to thank
God that they had made themselves to differ from others. But now
we see this Pharisee writing to believers, asking us, asking
you, asking me, asking God's people, who maketh thee to differ
from another? You're so thankful you're not
like this publican? Who made you to differ? Who made
you to differ? And what hast thou that thou
didst not receive? Everything we have we've received.
And listen, everything good we receive. Everything good, every
good and every perfect gift cometh down from the Father. Everything
good that we have, everything good that we receive, we receive
from Him. Then Paul asks that final question,
now if thou didst receive it, why dost thou glory as if thou
hadst not received it? Had Saul of Tarsus never prayed
before? Why, sure he had. He had prayed,
and he prayed probably much like this publican in our Lord's example. He prayed to God, he thanked
God that he was different from others. This begs a second question. What was now different? What
was now different? He prayed before, but now the
Lord tells Ananias, behold, he prayeth. What's different now? What's different? Well, I have
four things I want to point out to us that was now different
about Paul praying. First of all, he now prayed to
God as his reconciled father. Let that sink in. He now prayed
to God as his reconciled father. Before, when he prayed to God,
he was unaware He was praying to God, but he was unaware that
at the very moment that he was praying, that he was against
God, fighting against God in his mind. And he was going about
doing everything he could to establish his own righteousness. That's what a Pharisee does.
That's what lost men do. They join the church, they get
baptized, they learn scripture, they tithe, they witness, they
do all of these various things to earn and to make themselves
or establish their own righteousness with God. And all the time, fighting
against God. Fighting against God. He didn't
recognize it, he didn't realize it, But all the time he was praying
before, he was fighting against God in his mind, going about
to establish his own righteousness, for he had not submitted himself
to the righteousness of God. Every lost person may be under
that classification, has not submitted himself unto the righteousness
of God. What peace, what joy comes in
believing in Christ and knowing that He is our righteousness. We don't have to do anything
to win God's favor and there's nothing we can do to win His
favor. That Christ is our righteousness
and we are accepted in Him, in the Beloved. He now is praying to God as his
reconciled father. If you look in Romans chapter
5, in verse 10, He later writes these very words,
inspired of God the Holy Spirit. This same Saul who became Paul
by the amazing grace of God. Romans 5 and verse 10. For if,
when we were enemies, is every man born into this world
an enemy of God? Absolutely. Absolutely. We have a mind that is enmity
with God. But Paul says, for if, when we
were enemies, we were reconciled to God by our faithfulness, we
were reconciled to God by being baptized, we were reconciled
unto God by joining the church, For if, when we were enemies,
we were reconciled to God by the death of His Son, by the
death of the Lord Jesus Christ, we were reconciled unto God. Much more, being reconciled,
we shall be saved by His life. And not only so, but we also
join God through our Lord Jesus Christ by whom we have now received
the atonement. That's the only place in the
English translation where you have New Testament where you
have the word atonement and you have a little marginal reading
number there, don't you? And you look in your margin and
it is reconciliation. That would be a better translation. Not only so, but we also joy
in God through our Lord Jesus Christ by whom we have now received
the reconciliation. We received it. We didn't earn
it. We didn't deserve it. We received
it. And we received it through the
death of the Lord Jesus Christ. What's different about Saul now
praying? Well, he's praying to God as
his reconciled father. Look at another parable that
the Lord Jesus Christ gives us in Luke chapter 15. And in this parable we see just a
glimpse of what it means to be reconciled. Can you imagine one
day an enemy of God and then being reconciled? What a transformation, what a
change, right? From being an enemy of God, being
enmity with God, having a mind that is alienated from God, being
strangers from God, and then being reconciled, having peace
with God. Here in this parable that our
Lord gave, especially about the son, the prodigal son, we're
all familiar with this parable. Begins in verse 11, a certain
man had two sons. The younger of them said to his
father, Father, give me the portion of goods that falleth to me.
And he divided unto them his living. Not many days after,
the younger son gathered all together and took his journey
into a far country. And there wasted his substance
with righteous living. And when he had spent all, there
arose a mighty famine in that land, and he began to be in want. And he went and joined himself
to a certain citizen of that country, and he sent him into
his fields to feed swine. And he would fain have filled
his belly with the husk that the swine did eat, and no man
gave unto him. And when he came to himself,
he said, how many hard servants of my father's have bread enough
and to spare? And I perish with hunger. I will
arise and go to my father and will say unto him, father, I
have sinned against heaven and before thee. He knew that he
had no peace with his father because of going away from his
father and the way he had lived. He had forfeited. that relationship. And he wants to be reconciled
to his father. And he thinks the way to do it
is to confess that he's not worthy. And he begins when he comes to
his father. He already has his speech worked
out, doesn't he? We, Brother Streeter, read this
parable in the study just a few minutes ago. And I always love
this parable, don't you? Love to think about the fact
that this man, he had his speech all worked out, what he was going
to tell his dad. And he just thought that he had
to say these things because he knew he had sinned against his
father. He knew he wasn't worthy to be called one of his sons.
And so he thought, I'll just appeal to him and ask him to
make me like one of the servants. I don't even deserve that. But
if he'd just make me like one of the servants, that'd be okay. But lo and behold, he finds out
his father's not going to have anything like that. Not at all. I will arise and go to my father,
and will say unto him, Father, I have sinned against heaven
and before thee, and am no more worthy to be called thy son.
Make me as one of thy hired servants. And he arose and came to his
father. But when he was yet a great way
off, his father saw him, and had compassion, and ran, and
fell on his neck, and kissed him. Do you think he was expecting
that? Do you think, in the back of
his mind, he thought, well, my dad, I know him. He's kind. He's loving. He's good. And I
bet the first thing, I imagine the first thing when he sees
me coming, he's going to take off running. And he's going to
grab me and kiss me. I don't think he thought that
at all. You say he was guilty. He was
guilty. That guilt has to be taken away,
has to be removed. No matter what his father thought
about him, he didn't have that sense of peace with his father,
because he knew he was guilty and sinned against his father.
But what he finds is, when he comes down the road, there comes
his dad, running, falling on his neck and kissing him. And
the son said unto him, Father, I have sinned against heaven
and in thy sight, and am no more worthy to be called thy son.
Now the next part of his speech was, make me as one of the hired
servants. But no, the father stops him.
He starts talking. Now, you've said your piece,
now listen to me. Bring forth the best robe, put
it on him. Put a ring on his hand and shoes
on his feet. And bring hither the fatted calf
and kill it. And let us eat and be merry.
For this my son was dead and is alive again. He was lost and
is found and they began to be merry. Is there the slightest hesitation,
when you read this, the slightest suggestion of hesitancy on the
part of the father? There isn't any. Is there any
more that could be said? Could you take these verses and
could you improve upon them? Could you add to them and show
how that the son is more reconciled than what these verses tell us.
You couldn't do it. They tell us absolutely, freely,
unconditionally, he's now reconciled. The reconciliation is complete. It's complete. This is my son
who was dead and is now alive. And I bring this out because
when Paul had prayed to God before, there was enmity between him
and God. But now, behold, he prayeth. He's praying to his father. He's
praying to his reconciled father. His father has nothing against
him. Nothing. The second thing that
is different He now prayed to God with Jesus Christ as his
advocate and as his high priest. You know the English word advocate
is only used one time in our translation. It's found in 1
John chapter 2 and verse 1. And the scripture says, my little
children, These things write unto you that you sin not. And
if any man sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ,
the righteous. The Greek word which is translated
advocate, according to Vine's dictionary of New Testament words,
it means called to one side, called to one side. He says that
it was used in a court of justice to denote a legal assistant,
counsel of the defense, an advocate. The Lord Jesus Christ is now
Saul's advocate. As Saul calls upon the name of
the Lord, his prayer is different in that now he has an advocate
who stands by his side who takes the believer's hand and stands
alongside as he prays. He has an advocate. Not only did he now pray with
the Lord Jesus as an advocate alongside, but as his high priest,
the Lord Jesus Christ is at the Father's right hand, interceding
for all who come unto God by him. In the law, the law of Moses
that was given on Mount Sinai, the gospel was presented in those
types and symbols. And that high priest, he went
in once a year, remember, into that most holy place. And the
scripture says, not without blood, not without blood, but only once
a year. And he went in there as a representative
of the whole nation. The whole nation of Israel went
in to the most holy place in their representative, in their
high priest. And he had a plate of gold, a
plate of pure gold on his forehead. And on that plate of gold was
engraved holiness to the Lord. Now we are told this. that Aaron,
that first high priest, what did that plate of gold serve?
How did it serve? What was it for? Holiness unto
the Lord. Well, we are told, we're told
by God that Aaron may bear the iniquity of the holy things. That the high priest may bear
the iniquity of the holy things. This reminds us that there is
sin in everything that we do. Everything. In my preaching,
in our praying, in our listening, in our singing, there's sin mixed
in everything that we do. Why? Because we have sin. That's why. But that high priest
He was to bear the iniquity of the holy things. Saul, what's
different about him praying now? He's praying to a reconciled
father and he is praying with the Lord Jesus Christ as his
advocate and as his high priest to bear his iniquity in the holy
things. And third, Third thing that's
now different, he now prayed to God with God the Holy Spirit
to help him. He never had to have God the
Holy Spirit before to help him to pray. You know how he says
this in Romans chapter eight, verses 26 and 27. You see what's
different now? What's different about Saul praying? I'm sure there's many other things
that we could mention, but I wanted to bring these four things out
to us tonight. First of all, he's praying to
God. God's not mad. God's not angry with him. I know
the scripture says God is angry with the wicked every day. The
plowing of the wicked is sin. Why? Because he doesn't do it
in faith, believing in Christ. Now he's a believer in Christ. He prays to his Father who's
reconciled. He prays with an advocate and
a high priest. And he prays with God the Holy
Spirit in him, living in him. In verse 26 of Romans 8, he said,
Likewise, the Spirit also helpeth our infirmities. And you've heard this before,
but let me remind us, in prayer, the believer feels his infirmity
as much in prayer as in anything he does. In prayer. The spirit also helpeth
our infirmities, for we know not what we should pray for as
we ought. But the spirit itself maketh
intercession for us with groanings which cannot be uttered. And
he that searcheth the hearts knoweth what is the mind of the
spirit, because he maketh intercession for the saints according to the
will of God. Behold, he prayeth. He now has
God the Holy Spirit helping him to pray. And so do you. And number four, last thing,
he now prayed to God with a bag of promises. with a bag of promises
given him in Christ Jesus. I chose that word bag because
I remember what John Bunyan wrote about God's mercies. He said,
he's got bags of mercies that he's never even opened. I like
that. He's got bags of mercies he's
never opened. And that's what we need, is mercy. God be merciful to me. There's
forgiveness with the Lord, the scripture says, that he might
be feared, that he might be reverenced. Saul now, he has promises galore,
promises in the word of God. And remember Saul, he was familiar
with the word of God. He knew those promises as far
as they were written, but now they're his. They're His promises
that God has given unto Him, and they're all yea and amen
in Christ Jesus. Consider these things in closing. As a Pharisee, Saul may have
been one of those who loved to pray, to be seen of men. He may have been. As a child
of God, he now loves to pray. He loves to pray, but not to
be seen a man. He loves to pray to enjoy the
fellowship and the communion with his heavenly father. He
loves to go into his closet and shut the door and pray unto his
father in secret. And his father who sees in secret,
rewards. And number two, as a child of
God, he would now love to pray because God has ordained prayer
for the bestowing of blessings upon his people. A number of
his prayers are given, and you read through the epistles that
he wrote, and you find prayers in each and every one of them.
And the prayers that he prayed, the requests that he made, were
always for others. Have you noticed that? Always
praying for others. Let's close with one of his prayers. It's found in Ephesians chapter
three. Ephesians chapter three. Prayer for the Believers in the
Church at Ephesus begins in verse 14. For this cause I bow my knees unto
the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. He's praying to his Father,
reconciled Father, of whom the whole family in heaven and earth
is named. that He would grant you, according
to the riches of His glory, to be strengthened with might by
His Spirit in the inner man, that Christ may dwell in your
hearts by faith." You see, the Father, the Spirit, and Christ. That Christ may dwell in your
hearts by faith. Didn't Christ already dwell in
the hearts of believers? Sure he does, and did. But oh, to know that presence
of Christ, to experience that presence of Christ, that you
being rooted and grounded in love may be able to comprehend
with all saints what is the breadth and length and depth and height
and to know the love of Christ, which passeth knowledge, that
you might be filled with all the fullness of God. Now unto
him that is able to do exceeding abundantly above all that we
ask or think, according to the power that worketh in us, unto
him be glory in the church by Christ Jesus throughout all ages,
world without end. Amen. Behold, he prayeth. He prayeth. Prayer is such a
wonderful blessing, and like so many things, mysterious. Remember, years ago, a man preacher that I knew years ago
was driving along and a man was with him and he said, what can you tell me about prayer? He said they drove along for
several miles. Preacher didn't say anything.
And finally he said, prayer has something to do with the will
of God. We pray. We're told to pray.
And when we ask according to His will, He hears us and we
have that which we ask. You say, well, wasn't it going
to be given already? He said, ask. He said, ask, and it shall be
given unto you. Knock, and it shall be opened.
Seek, and ye shall find. Our responsibility is to ask. And what a privilege it is to
pray to God, our Father, and know that He's not mad at us.
He's not angry. We're reconciled to Him. And
we have the Lord Jesus Christ there at His right hand, making
intercession for us. And we have God the Holy Spirit
living in us, helping us to pray. And we've got a bag of promises
to plead. I pray the Lord would bless this
word, each of us here tonight.