“When God Gets Hold Of Us”
(Acts 9:1-22)
Series: Back to the Basics (Acts 1-9)
Rev. Todd A. Linn, PhD
Henderson’s First Baptist Church, Henderson
- Take your Bibles and join me this morning in the Book of Acts, Acts 9.
While you are finding Acts 9, I would call your attention to the schedule for our open house that we are having for you this week. Michele and I are opening our home every day this week starting tomorrow. And we’ve got great snacks and drinks at the house—and there’s a schedule in your bulletin of when you can drop by if you’d like. You do not have to stop by! This is just our way offering an opportunity to visit and and share.
I don’t feel it’s right for a pastor to be around once he’s stepped aside. A former pastor can “get in the way” just by his presence. And so next Sunday will be our last Sunday to worship with you. And I’ll preach my last message and then Michele and I will be heading out of town for a bit. So this is our invitation to you! Feel free to stop by at your convenience and we will be blessed by your presence in our home.
We are in our last message from this series on the first nine chapters of Acts, our series “Back to the Basics.” I’ll be bringing a different message next week. So Chapter 9, as we continue learning from the early church.
We’re going to be reading this morning about Saul of Tarsus, a man we met earlier in Acts, there at the end of Chapter 7 and the beginning of Chapter 8. Saul was present at the stoning of Stephen, the first Christian martyr; the first Christian to die for his faith. Then we read a couple weeks ago in Acts 8:3 that Saul “made havoc of the church, entering every house, and dragging off men and women, committing them to prison.” Well, what happens to Saul next? Let’s find out!
- Please stand in honor of the reading of God’s Word.
1 Then Saul, still breathing threats and murder against the disciples of the Lord, went to the high priest
2 and asked letters from him to the synagogues of Damascus, so that if he found any who were of the Way, whether men or women, he might bring them bound to Jerusalem.
3 As he journeyed he came near Damascus, and suddenly a light shone around him from heaven.
4 Then he fell to the ground, and heard a voice saying to him, “Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting Me?”
5 And he said, “Who are You, Lord?” Then the Lord said, “I am Jesus, whom you are persecuting. It is hard for you to kick against the goads.”
6 So he, trembling and astonished, said, “Lord, what do You want me to do?” Then the Lord said to him, “Arise and go into the city, and you will be told what you must do.”
7 And the men who journeyed with him stood speechless, hearing a voice but seeing no one.
8 Then Saul arose from the ground, and when his eyes were opened he saw no one. But they led him by the hand and brought him into Damascus.
9 And he was three days without sight, and neither ate nor drank.
10 Now there was a certain disciple at Damascus named Ananias; and to him the Lord said in a vision, “Ananias.” And he said, “Here I am, Lord.”
11 So the Lord said to him, “Arise and go to the street called Straight, and inquire at the house of Judas for one called Saul of Tarsus, for behold, he is praying.
12 And in a vision he has seen a man named Ananias coming in and putting his hand on him, so that he might receive his sight.”
13 Then Ananias answered, “Lord, I have heard from many about this man, how much harm he has done to Your saints in Jerusalem.
14 And here he has authority from the chief priests to bind all who call on Your name.”
15 But the Lord said to him, “Go, for he is a chosen vessel of Mine to bear My name before Gentiles, kings, and the children of Israel.
16 For I will show him how many things he must suffer for My name’s sake.”
17 And Ananias went his way and entered the house; and laying his hands on him he said, “Brother Saul, the Lord Jesus, who appeared to you on the road as you came, has sent me that you may receive your sight and be filled with the Holy Spirit.”
18 Immediately there fell from his eyes something like scales, and he received his sight at once; and he arose and was baptized.
19 So when he had received food, he was strengthened. Then Saul spent some days with the disciples at Damascus.
20 Immediately he preached the Christ in the synagogues, that He is the Son of God.
21 Then all who heard were amazed, and said, “Is this not he who destroyed those who called on this name in Jerusalem, and has come here for that purpose, so that he might bring them bound to the chief priests?”
22 But Saul increased all the more in strength, and confounded the Jews who dwelt in Damascus, proving that this Jesus is the Christ.
- Let’s pray. “Our Father, we ask that, just as You did for Saul of Tarsus, that we too would receive our sight and be filled with the Holy Spirit. Remove the things that keep us from seeing You clearly, that those things may fall like scales from our eyes. Grant us clarity of spiritual vision, as we fix our gaze upon Jesus Christ, in Whose name we pray, amen.”
It is no exaggeration to say that second to Jesus Christ, the Apostle Paul is perhaps the most important figure of Christian history. A man of great spiritual pedigree, named after the first King of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew of the Hebrews, a Pharisee who studied rigorously under a leading authority of the Sanhedrin, the famously erudite Rabbi, Gamaliel. Saul, a committed follower of orthodox Judaism and a fierce persecutor of Christians—becomes a Christian on the Road to Damascus.
It’s been said that if one wished to blow off Christianity as mere fable, he would have to reckon with two facts of history: 1) the resurrection of Jesus Christ, and 2) the conversion of Saul of Tarsus, or the Apostle Paul, a real person of historical record mentioned by sources both inside and outside the Bible.
Saul was serious about his faith. He knew the Jewish Scriptures well. He knew the Shema, for example, that begins with the words from Deuteronomy 6, “Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one!” And so for Saul, to hear that there was some Jewish carpenter by the name of Jesus of Nazareth, going around proclaiming to be Messiah and Son of God—well, this was understandably regarded as blasphemous. Saul had no understanding of the doctrine of the Trinity—how could he? Saul was doing what he believed was right—rooting out a heresy known as “The Way,” followers of Jesus Christ. See again his hatred for the disciples in verse 1:
1 Then Saul, still breathing threats and murder against the disciples of the Lord, went to the high priest
The sense is that he lived for this, he “breathed threats,” like an animal, breathing in and breathing out, filling his lungs with the satisfying air of persecution.
2 and asked letters from him to the synagogues of Damascus, so that if he found any who were of the Way, whether men or women, he might bring them bound to Jerusalem.
So he’s getting letters from the high priest in Jerusalem, the highest religious leader in Jerusalem, he’s obtaining something like “death warrants” to carry off to Damascus, a city about 150 miles away.
I like that phrase, “the Way.” That’s what this movement, Christianity, was known as during Saul’s day; the Way. Committed followers of Jesus Christ were called people of the Way; perhaps influenced by Christ’s statement in John 14:6, “I am—what? The way! I am the way, the truth, and the life…”
3 As he journeyed he came near Damascus, and suddenly a light shone around him from heaven (Can you picture that?!).
4 Then he fell to the ground, and heard a voice saying to him, “Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting Me?”
5 And he said, “Who are You, Lord?” Then the Lord said, “I am Jesus, whom you are persecuting. It is hard for you to kick against the goads.”
That last phrase occurs only in the King James and New King James. It appears later in Acts 22 and 26 where Paul tells this story about how he came to Christ. For that reason, some of the later Greek manuscripts include it in this passage. It’s a phrase that means to try to resist something. Farmers would move their animals along by prodding them with a stick, or a goad, and sometimes the animal would try to resist the prodding, kicking against it, but was unsuccessful. So it became a proverb for trying to resist something more powerful than you. That’s the idea here: “It is hard for you, Saul, to resist the power of the Lord.”
When Saul asks, “Who are you?” Jesus answers, “I am Jesus, whom you are persecuting.” But Saul wasn’t persecuting Jesus, was he? Saul was persecuting Christians. But see how the two are united together? To persecute the church is to persecute the Lord Himself, the head of the church. Saul realizes this now. Verse 6:
6 So he, trembling and astonished, said, “Lord, what do You want me to do?” Then the Lord said to him, “Arise and go into the city, and you will be told what you must do.”
7 And the men who journeyed with him stood speechless, hearing a voice but seeing no one.
8 Then Saul arose from the ground, and when his eyes were opened he saw no one (so while he could open his eyes, he still couldn’t see). But they led him by the hand and brought him into Damascus.
9 And he was three days without sight, and neither ate nor drank.
As the narrative progresses we see that Saul is a changed man. He goes from persecutor to preacher. He goes from the one seizing others to the one who has been seized.
It’s precisely how Paul recalls his conversion, writing to the Philippians he spoke of Christ as the one who “took hold of me (Philippians 3:12). He seized me! So I wrote this down in my notes:
**When God Gets Hold Of Us…
When God really gets hold of us, when He seizes us, captures our hearts and has us, at least three things will follow as a result. These three things are true of true believers, real-deal Christians. Not just people who “say” they’re Christians, but the genuine articles. First, when God gets hold of us:
- We Turn to Him (1-9)
In other words, there comes a time in our spiritual journey where God makes Himself known to us in such an undeniably real and powerful way—that our only response, our only recourse, is to say “Yes” to Jesus Christ.
That’s precisely what happened to Saul of Tarsus. God got hold of him and Saul was changed—changed so much that we usually refer to him not by his Hebrew name Saul, but His Greco-Roman name Paul, the Apostle Paul, who gave us two-thirds of the New Testament.
God arrests us that we may be saved. He stops us in our track, tracking us down like—as Spurgeon often said—like “the Hound of Heaven,” chasing after us, arresting us, and giving us grace to believe. He is relentless in His pursuit.—If only His followers would be as relentless in going after others when we share Christ! Relentless in our pursuit.
Like the woman who moved into a retirement home and set her gaze on one particular man there. She would go to breakfast and sit right across the table from him and just stare at him. Later she would go to lunch and sit across the table and stare at him. She would go to dinner and do the same thing. After a few days of this the man asked, “Lady, why do you keep staring at me?” She said, “You look just like my fourth husband.” Surprised, the man said, “I look like your fourth husband?!—How many husbands have you had?” She said, “Three.” She was relentless in her pursuit!
And God is no less relentless in His pursuit of us. He comes to us through the friendly gospel witness of a fellow worker, or student, or neighbor. And we hear the gospel and there were times when we pushed back and said, “No, that’s not for me.” But one day—in a way we cannot explain—God taking the initiative, comes after us with a special dose of electing grace and all we can do is say, “Yes!” You’ve gotten hold of me, God! We find ourselves in agreement with the old hymn:
I sought the Lord, and afterward I knew
He moved my soul to seek him, seeking me;
It was not I that found, O Savior true;
No, I was found, was found of Thee.
God god hold of us and we turned to Him. It’s the same thing CS Lewis writes about in his autobiography, Surprised by Joy. Near the end of the book where he describes his conversion, Lewis speaks of God’s “closing in on him,” as he puts it. And as God closes in, Lewis says he responds by choosing to open the door. But then he writes: “I say ‘I chose,’ yet it did not really seem possible to do the opposite.”
That’s how it is when you come to faith in Christ. You believe, but only because He came to you and opened your eyes that you may see. And then you saw clearly and chose Christ, you chose “yet it did not really seem possible to do the opposite.” That’s God’s amazing grace!
Now, if God can get hold of a hardened, stubborn, sinner named Saul, then God can get hold of you, can get hold of your lost friend at school. God can get hold of your lost uncle, your rebellious daughter and her live-in boyfriend, and your wayward son—because when God gets hold of a person through the life-giving power of the Holy Spirit, dead people are born again! Lost are found! Blind see!
There are no hopeless causes. There is no one so far away God can’t find him. After all, God got hold of many of you, right? Many of us were hard-hearted to spiritual things and then God reached down His hand and rescued us.
Do you know the old chorus:
When the Savior reached down for me
When he reached way down for me
I was lost and undone without God or his Son
When He reached down his hand for me
When God get’s hold of us, He reaches down and takes our empty hand and brings us up to salvation!
So don’t give up on others. Pray God gets hold of them! Ask God to “reach down His hand for them.” And keep witnessing. Keep inviting. Keep believing. Be like the father of the prodigal son, watching, waiting, believing that one day that soul will come home.
When God gets hold of us, we turn to Him. Secondly, when God gets hold of us:
- We Trust Him (10-19)
We believe Him. We walk and live by faith. We take Him at His word—even when it doesn’t make sense! Even when we cannot understand His plan. See that now in this otherwise unknown disciple named Ananias.
10 Now there was a certain disciple at Damascus named Ananias; and to him the Lord said in a vision, “Ananias.” And he said, “Here I am, Lord.”
By the way: great response, right?! God calls your name, you say, “Here I am. Use me.” Ready to go. Ready to trust Him. Ready to believe He’s doing the right thing. Ananias said it right away. Let’s see if he means it.
11 So the Lord said to him, “Arise and go to the street called Straight, and inquire at the house of Judas for one called Saul of Tarsus, for behold, he is praying.
Last week when we studied Philip and the Ethiopian eunuch we noted how God was working both sides of the equation, working providentially in advance in the heart of Philip and working at the same time in the heart of the eunuch, that He might bring the two together.
Same thing going on here: Jesus appears to Saul of Tarsus and now He is appearing to Ananias and He’s bringing the two together. God is always at work and nothing happens by accident. There is no happenstance, only providence.
So the Lord says in verse 11, “Go to Straight Street.” Everyone knew where Straight Street was. You can see it today in modern Syria. It’s the main Roman Road of Damascus that runs east to west though the old city. The Lord says, “Go there and you’ll find a guy in the house of Judas, and he’s there, his name is Saul of Tarsus and you’ll find him there praying.” The Lord continues, verse 12:
12 And in a vision he has seen a man named Ananias coming in and putting his hand on him, so that he might receive his sight.”
Now what does Ananias do? Does he trust the Lord? Does he get up right away and go? Or does he hesitate? Verse 13:
13 Then Ananias answered, “Lord, I have heard from many about this man, how much harm he has done to Your saints in Jerusalem.
14 And here (in Damascus) he has authority from the chief priests to bind all who call on Your name.”
We can appreciate Ananias’ dilemma! He wants to do the Lord’s will, but he’s like, “Uh, God, not for nothing, but I want to be sure You’ve thought this thing through. I mean, I know You know everything, but, Saul?!—He’s been persecuting Christians!
We often say to God, “Lord, I trust You. I believe in You. I want to live Your plan.” Then God unfolds His plan and we start questioning God, thinking He’s lost His mind.
Sometimes God calls us to do hard things. He calls us to commitment, not comfort. Sometimes—like God did with Ananias—God calls us to follow Him to difficult places. And talk to difficult people. Sometimes God is working in our lives to see whether we really trust Him. We seem to hear Him say, “Do you really trust Me or do you just say you trust Me.”
15 But the Lord said to him, “Go, for he is a chosen vessel of Mine to bear My name before Gentiles, kings, and the children of Israel.
The Lord is like, “Ananias, I’ve got a plan here. You can trust Me. I’m going to use this Saul of Tarsus in a mighty way, using him to spread the good news all over the world. And it won’t always be easy for him,” verse 16:
16 For I will show him how many things he must suffer for My name’s sake.”
So in fairness to Ananias, he does eventually trust the Lord. He does what the Lord asks him to do—even if it means going to a dangerous area, a difficult place, talking to a difficult person! He obeys. Verse 17:
17 And Ananias went his way and entered the house; and laying his hands on him he said, “Brother Saul, the Lord Jesus, who appeared to you on the road as you came, has sent me that you may receive your sight and be filled with the Holy Spirit.”
Are you picturing this in your mind? I mean, Ananias is a human being, probably still thinking, “I don’t know about this!” He enters the house, maybe tip-toeing near Saul. But he really does trust the Lord. He really does believe. So he lays his hands on Saul, he touches him, and then he addresses him. And how does he address him? He doesn’t say, “Okay, Mr. Persecutor!” No. He addresses him as, “Brother.” Brother Saul.
The gospel brings folks together who were once at odds. The gospel unites. The gospel gives us the ability to love people—all people—even people who have been our enemies. The gospel places people into a new family—a family of brothers and sisters in Christ.
Ananias has obeyed the Lord. He trusted Him. So what happens? Exactly what the Lord said would happen, verse 18:
18 Immediately there fell from his eyes (Paul’s eyes) something like scales, and he received his sight at once; and he arose and was baptized.
He’s a changed man! Something “like scales,” nobody knows what they were, but something that was keeping from seeing clearly, scales fell away so that he could see!
“He received his sight at once; and he arose and was baptized.” There it is again: First step of faith is to be baptized. First thing a new Christian does is to be baptized. As soon we “receive our sight” we unite together with Christ in the ordinance of baptism, picturing death, burial, and resurrection.
19 So when he had received food, he was strengthened. Then Saul spent some days with the disciples at Damascus.
When God gets hold of us—we turn to Him. And we trust Him. We believe. Even when—as Ananias discovered—even when we don’t have all the information, like Philip last week whom God sent on a southward journey into a deserted place, and like Ananias today whom God sent to a difficult place to talk to a difficult person.
The thing to remember here is the good character of God. He will never lead us into some place and then abandon us. He is always at work, as Paul would write later in one of our favorite verses, God is always “working all things together for good for those who love Him (Romans 8:28).” The “all things” God is working together are often difficult things, dangerous things, unknown things. But we can trust God to work through those things, working them together for our good if we love Him and trust Him.
Tis so sweet to trust in Jesus!
Just to take Him at His Word!
And, “Oh for grace to trust Him more!” Do you trust Him? What’s He asked you to do recently? Talk to that lost soul? Call that family member? Begin that project? Start that new ministry? Oh for grace to trust Him more.
When God gets hold of us, we turn to Him. And we trust Him. Thirdly, and finally, when God gets hold of us:
- We Tell of Him (20-22)
Saul is a changed man and from verse 20 to the last verse of the Bible—anywhere we read about Saul or Paul, we read about a changed man; a man who lived the rest of his days telling others about Jesus Christ.
20 Immediately he preached the Christ in the synagogues, that He is the Son of God.
From persecutor to preacher! He’s a changed man!
21 Then all who heard were amazed, and said, “Is this not he who destroyed those who called on this name in Jerusalem, and has come here for that purpose, so that he might bring them bound to the chief priests?”
His personal story of transformation was a powerful witness. Not because Paul was a powerful person. No. But because God had changed him and that change was evident. You story of transformation may not sound as spectacular as Saul’s. But God has changed you nonetheless! And people note that change by the way we live among them, talk among them, by the things we say, by the things we look at, by the way we spend our time—people know we are different.
So when we tell our story we tell of Him. Have you heard that song by Big Daddy Weave? There’s a line that goes: “Oh to tell you my story is to tell of Him.” When God gets hold of us, we turn to Him, we trust Him, we tell of Him. Verse 22:
22 But Saul increased all the more in strength, and confounded the Jews who dwelt in Damascus, proving that this Jesus is the Christ.
That’s a good place to finish, the last five words there of verse 22: “This Jesus is the Christ.” I say that along with Saul of Tarsus: “This Jesus is the Christ.” He is the Messiah, the Promised Coming One, the Savior, the One Who can save you if you will but turn to Him!
I wonder whether there is a Saul of Tarsus here this morning. You sense that God’s got hold of you. You feel, as CS Lewis said, you feel as though God is “closing in on you.” What will you do? Turn to Him. Turn to Him in faith. Believe in Him. Surrender this morning and say “Yes” to Jesus Christ. Just say to Him something like this: “Dear God, I admit I am weaker and more sinful than I ever before believed. But through You I am more loved and accepted than I ever dared hope. Thank You for dying on the cross, bearing my punishment, and offering forgiveness. And as You ‘close in on me’ this morning, I turn from my sin and I take hold of Jesus Christ.” This Jesus is the Christ.
Those of you who already believe that, you already believe this Jesus is the Christ—do you trust Him? What is He asking you to do? Are you doing it? Are you obeying?
The only words of Saul recorded in this passage are the two questions he asks: Who are You Lord? And “What do You want me to do?” What does the Lord want you to do this morning? Trust Him to give you grace to do it.
When God gets hold of us, we turn to Him. We trust Him. And we tell of Him.
Are you telling of Him? Still praying for your “One?” Don’t stop. Don’t give up. Keep at it. I’m doing the same with you. I had another coffee with my “One” this week. Shared the gospel again. I believe God is working in the heart of my One. He said he’s coming next Sunday to worship. Praise God. Keep telling others about Jesus.
When God gets hold of us, we turn to Him, trust Him, and tell of Him. Let’s pray:
“Father, we freely admit that apart from You we can do nothing to better our situation. Apart from Your grace we remain dead in trespasses and sins. We are lost and blind apart from Your taking the first move—and reaching way down to us. Grant us by way of the Holy Spirit, grant us life-giving power to love you and live for you. To turn to You. To trust You. To tell of You. We ask this in the name of this Jesus Who is the Christ, amen.”
Let’s stand to sing our hymn of Response. As we sing, you respond however you need to respond.
1 Amazing grace! how sweet the sound,
That saved a wretch; like me!
I once was lost, but now am found,
Was blind, but now I see.
2 ’Twas grace that taught my heart to fear,
And grace my fears relieved;
How precious did that grace appear
The hour I first believed!
5 When we’ve been there ten thousand years,
Bright shining as the sun,
We’ve no less days to sing God’s praise
Than when we first begun.
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