Acts 9:1 to 43

welcome back I'm Robert breaker we're continuing our verse-by-verse Bible study through the book of Acts and today we're gonna start chapter 9 I've been looking forward to this chapter for some time this is the chapter of Saul's conversion Saul of course is Paul before he was called Paul his given name as a child was Saul but for some reason the Bible changes his name and his name is now Paul so we know him as Paul but this Saul that we're gonna look at today well that's the same as the Apostle Paul now before we look at this and get into this chapter which by the way is all about his conversion all about how Paul got saved and let me tell you something got to remind you that the book of Acts is a book of transition okay because the way that Paul gets saved is not how people get saved today the book of Acts is a transitional book we've got to remember that so I want you to remember that because what happens here the way that Paul got saved in the book of Acts is not the same way that we get safe today a lot of people say well I like that I want to get saved like that huh and they pray I've heard people say well I prayed that God would give me a a saw conversion down the road to Damascus that God would deal with me that way well God doesn't deal with people like this anymore this was a special instance a special thing it was a it was a miraculous thing that took place in the life of Paul and this is how Paul was converted but again the book of Acts is a book where there's a lot of things changing and today we're not saved like Paul was so I want you to remember that so when we read this and how Paul was saved miraculously this was a special circumstance at special events a special thing in the book of Acts and I've told you before there is so much in the book of Acts that it's incredible it's just it's hard to keep up with all these things that happen in the book of Acts now let's back up really quickly before we get started let me remind you of what we've seen so far because what we've seen so far is quite interesting because I want you to see this guy named Paul because the majority of the book of Acts is about the Apostle Paul axé is a book that has 28 chapters so we can pretty much divide up the book of Acts if you will to 7 14 21 and then 28 and so 777s interesting how it's a divisible of 7 God always seems to use the number 7 the guy named Steven shows up in chapter 7 and that's the pivotal point that's the change but we also see God making sure he mentions the Apostles saw our Apostle Paul but whose name was Saul before he got safe and he's mentioned there at the stoning of Stephen then we looked at last time Philip and we saw God mentioned the name Saul in that chapter chapter 8 now we're going to see chapter 9 that's all about Saul's conversion and then but notice when Paul is mentioned he's mentioned in the chapter so if you look at this this means that two thirds of the book of of Acts mentions are talks about Paul so a lot of people today they're starting to say well the Apostle Paul is not that important and there are people on the internet that are just they're rabid they're there they're in there they're crazy and their doctrine and they don't believe in Paul because dumb Paul's doctrine doesn't agree with what they want their doctrine to be so they say don't look at Paul Paul shouldn't be in the Bible there's no reason to go to Paul many people today have even said Paul weaseled himself into the Bible and he he took over Christianity for his but it's really you should go back to this so a lot of Christians today they want to just go by the first seven chapters they don't want to go by the last however many 21 chapters two-thirds of the book of Acts is about the Apostle Paul that's a big deal now why is that because we're going to see it today because God was gonna go to the Gentiles and because the Jews rejected their Messiah and rejected Stephen then God says okay my plan eventually is to go to Gentiles so we're seeing that transition we're seeing the change in the book of Acts but you got to remember two-thirds of the book is about Paul you can't leave Paul out in many churches many denominations today want to be called Christian and they want to leave out the Apostle Paul you can't do that you just can't do that now this here let me use a different color marker this is gonna be what we're gonna call the early church so all this before before Paul I'm gonna call that the early church and it consisted as we looked at mostly of juice and then there were some people that were called proselytes there had been people that had been Gentiles but they converted to Judaism so what would we call them what we have to say they were Jews because they were Judi iced they had become a Jewish converts so the early church is full of people that are Jews and as we continue the book of Acts we'll see how it slowly begins to go to Gentiles but there are some very revealing things here in Acts chapter 9 in which God tells us about salt and we have recorded here so now remember when we started this thing I am I taught you who wrote the book of Acts the book of Acts was written by Luke Luke was with Paul the end of his ministry I believe was it in Timothy second Timothy when Paul says only Luke is with me so Luke stuck with the Apostle Paul till the end to the end of his life so Luke would have known Paul and would have known the doctrine more than anyone else and that's why he wrote the book of Acts because he said look I don't want you to just all hang around Matthew Mark Luke and John in the early book of Acts you have to understand there's a change that took place and it's changing from Peter and James and John to Paul and the majority of this book is about the ministry of paul now I've taken some flak for saying this over the years and I don't care because it's true but I will say it again we are under the ministry of Paul today Paul is our apostle so you can't just go by Matthew Mark Luke and John you can't just go by the early seventies of Acts there's a change there's a transition taking place and it all points to this right here in how God is going to start using him for a reason for a purpose and there are many things that God revealed to Paul like the seven mysteries so there's things that God gave Paul and so if you leave out Paul you're leaving out the most important thing the doctrine that God wants us to have and to adhere to and hold to today so we'll begin here in Acts chapter 9 and it says here and soul yet breathing out threatenings and slaughter against the disciples of the Lord went into the high priests of Saul threatens others two things are mentioned here he's threatening other people and he's slaughtering them so what did Paul do well before Paul was saved before he was saved he would torture people he would kill people so he tortured and he killed Christians let me show you that in the Bible go to first Corinthians chapter 15 again this is Paul's writings first Corinthians 15 and verse 9 here's Paul giving a confession of what he was like and what he did before he was saved and when did he get saved well we we see him getting saved here in chapter 9 of Acts and I'm going to show you this and again this is not the way we're safe today it's a special thing but in 1st Peter chapter 15 and verse 9 Paul is speaking and he says we'll back up to verse 8 and last of all he was seen of me also as of one born out of due time verse 9 for I am the least of the Apostles and him not me to be called an apostle because I persecuted what the Church of God so the Apostle Paul says I I persecuted the church so the church must have existed before Paul the church is the body of Christ so the Apostle Paul persecuted the church so the church must have existed before Paul so the book of Acts is the history of the church but remember in the early part of the church it was all about Jews going to Jews because the kingdom could have come had all of Israel and all the religious leaders had accepted the Messiah the because what was Jesus doing well the Bible says he was standing on the right hand of God the Father so he was standing in heaven ready to come back so the early part of the church is very different from the later part of the church and we see that transition so you got understand that the book of Acts is a book where there's a lot of changing going on and you can't nitpick say well I like that doctrine there and I like that you have to say no once all the doctrine is set in stone then that's the doctrine for the church today and all the doctrine gets set in stone with Paul and so it's about Paul now Romans chapter 16 and verse 7 the Apostle Paul says this as well Romans 16 7 salute Andronicus and Junia my kinsmen and my fellow prisoners who are of note among the Apostles who also were in Christ before me so the body of Christ when you get saved today Paul says you're in Christ you're in his body well there must have been a body before Paul and there must have been people that were saved into that body before Paul because Paul just says there were people in Christ before him so this this revelation of this mystery of the body of Christ was something that was given to Paul and God revealed to Paul hey I've been making myself a body of both Jew and Gentile alike and they're saved into this body so the revelation of what the church is the body of Christ that was what was given to Paul and we look back on that and we see that but in the early church no one was going around talking about the body of Christ they didn't know what that was yet all they knew is the kingdom is a coming if we all receive Jesus as the Messiah and that's what the emphasis of the early book of Acts is about is the kingdom and who Jesus is so I told you rightly and I will continue to preach it that the early book of Acts is all about the message of who Jesus is but as we continue the book of Acts we see the transition we see that with Paul the message becomes trusting in what Jesus did and God reveals to Paul hey look Paul it's what I did that saves you it's not just the fact that I'm the Messiah I want you to go to the whole world and tell the world to trust in what I've done for them trust in my shed blood so I just find that the Apostle Paul was so important and you can't read the book of Acts without seeing the importance of Paul now go to Acts chapter 22 in verse 4 Paul gives us a confession in acts 22 for of what he did acts 22 for Paul says and I persecuted this way unto the death binding and delivering into prisons both men and women so he tortured them he killed them and he put him in prison that's the Apostle Paul before he was saved he was a Nazi I guess Nolan that's a horrible thing but in a way you know what were the Nazis well they were the evil police state they would go around the Gestapo I guess is the word I wanted that would go around and torture people and you know in the middle of the night break into their house and take them to haul him off and torture them and things like this so he had become a religious zealot who thought he was doing God a favor by killing people and he said there in that verse that he did what unto the death that means Paul was a murderer Paul killed people now the amazing thing about the Apostle Paul is how much his life lines up with Moses now let me go ahead right up here real quick again I'm not very good when it comes to maps on amen I'm not the greatest map drawer in the world this would be the Nile River here over here we have what's called the Dead Sea and so the Dead Sea goes down like this or the Red Sea excuse me the Red Sea alright so over here would be more or less Jerusalem so this would be Jerusalem and I love to draw maps up here because it's really interesting to see these things now all down here is Arabia so over here is what we call today Arabia and I don't know if they'll show up hope that didn't go off the edge there but here's Arabia right around here is a place called Jabal all la wz look that up on Google Earth sometimes that's where people say that Moses went and that's where Moses was given the law the Ten Commandments was over in this area in Arabia what does the Bible say go to Galatians chapter 1 verse 13 because we find the Apostle Paul going into Arabia and what was Paul well before Paul got saved he was a murderer and if you remember in the book of I believe it's Exodus that it's talking about Moses you have Moses was a murderer do you remember the story how Moses was a Pharaoh's adopted son and he went out in the sand and they were you know working out there building something and he saw them and he found out he was a Jew and he saw the Egyptians attacking his people so he murdered an Egyptian so Moses was a murderer we also find that Paul was a murderer you know who else was a murderer David David was a murderer I mama gonna list down up here all the murderers in the Bible but isn't it interesting that some of the the main characters in the Bible the people that we look to and we think about and preachers preach about they're they're sinners they're murderers David murdered the husband of Bathsheba you're riah the hittite paul was a murder of Christians Moses was a murderer so the blood of Jesus Christ cleanses from all sins praise God for that and God can forgive every sin even murder now that's not an excuse please don't take that say well then I'm gonna go kill somebody no we should never kill anybody that's in the past and we can get saved from that but nowhere in the bible does it tell us a person to go murder somebody that's not there but here's the Apostle Paul Galatians chapter 1 verse 13 through 17 what he says for you have heard of my conversation in times past in the Jews religion how that beyond measure I persecuted the what the Church of God and wasted it he persecuted the early church which was all made up of Jews or Jewish proselytes where 14 and profited in the Jews religion above many my equals in mine own nation being more exceedingly zealous of the traditions of my father he sure was he was so jealous he was willing to kill people for what he believed that's pretty bad 15 but when it pleased God who separated me from my mother's womb and called me by His grace so God saw Paul before he was even born and God said I'm gonna use that guy in the future even though he's that lowdown sorry murderer I'm gonna use him and then he says here verse 16 to reveal his son in me that I might preach him among the heathen immediately I conferred not with flesh and blood neither when I Upton Rosalind to them which were apostles before me but I went into Arabia and returned again unto Damascus then after three years I went up to Jerusalem to see Peter and abode with him fifteen days so he's going to Arabia okay this here is Arabia go ahead and rewrite this here in case it went off the edge there so we see the Apostle Paul going into Arabia Paul was a Jew under the Old Testament law well who did God give the law to Moses so imagine that you're the Apostle Paul and you get saved and all you ever knew was the Old Testament law and you were a follower of Moses if you read through Matthew Mark Luke and John you see repeatedly the religious leaders when Jesus shows up but they said well we don't follow you we follow Moses why because Moses was the one that God gave the law to so after Paul gets saved and he was a murderer just like Moses was a murderer he goes down to the very place that Moses would have gone Arabia did he go and he sit on the same mountain that that Moses would have said on when he got the Ten Commandments I don't know but it's interesting that God gave the commandments for Israel to Moses and we find out as we read the book of acts that paul is the apostle to the Gentiles and God gives some Commandments to Paul most likely I mean you know you can't prove for sure that was the exact same location but it's the same country Arabia that God would have revealed some mysteries to Paul as you read the Bible and God would have spoken to him and Paul's epistles are our Commandments for us today who are Christians so I just I find that fascinating I find that so fascinating so let's go back now to Acts chapter 9 in Acts chapter 9 it's all yet breathing out threatenings and slaughter against the disciples the Lord went into the high priest and desired of him letters to Damascus to the synagogue's that if you found any of this way whether they were men or women he might bring them bound unto Jerusalem so he's going to Damascus now where is the Mascis Damascus is going to be up here somewhere so Damascus damn ASUS Damascus that's Damascus now where would that be well that's gonna be probably close to Samaria remember we've read in the early part of Acts that God said go to Judea Samaria in the end most parts of the earth so they started in Jerusalem then they went to Judea then they went to Samaria and the uttermost parts of the earth and Paul by the way is the one that ends up going to the uttermost parts of the earth in his day the one that takes all over the known world the gospel that God gives to him of salvation through faith in the blood atonement of Christ so we see Paul here wanting to go to Damascus and he's gonna go there in order to try to kidnap people put them in jail torture them and even kill them unless they recant for believing that Jesus is the Messiah verse 3 in a sea journey he came near Damascus and suddenly there shine round about him a light from heaven so there's a light from heaven Paul was a missionary if you think about it before he was saved he was on a mission but he was a false missionary he was from a false denomination there was a man years ago he was get these to confess confused there was Charles Wesley and John Wesley and I always confused John and Charles Wesley but years ago in the 1700s from the Anglican Church there was a man named Wesley who came to America as a minister he was supposed to be a pastor of a church and he was a religious man but he was lost and he got back on a boat to come back to England and that's when a Baptist minister witness to him and told him the gospel and he got saved then when he got safe he came back and he began to preach and started was it the first Great Awakening or the second great awakening I remember but it was a lot of revival in America so it is possible for a person to be a lost religious person and even a missionary and not even be saved and if you think about it that's what Paul was he was of that religion on a mission it wasn't a mission of God though it was a mission of evil to kill people so religious people need to look at themselves and say hey am I even saved because being religious is one thing but religion doesn't get you to heaven if it did then why did Jesus die he didn't have to he could have just kept saying to everybody stay under the law no there's no salvation without Jesus coming and shedding his blood so he comes that he sees this light from heaven and what happens verse 4 and he fell to the earth and heard a voice saying unto him Saul Saul why persecutest thou me now who is speaking if you have a red letter Bible a red letter Bible puts all the words of Jesus in red so these would be words in red and verse 4 and all the way down to verse 16 Jesus Christ is speaking so not only do you have the words of Jesus Christ in Matthew Mark Luke and John we have the words of Jesus Christ also in the book of Acts so remember that Jesus is still speaking all the way out here in Acts chapter 9 and he's speaking to Paul now what does he say why do you persecute me that's the question why persecutest thou me and I think that's a great question what is he saying when Jesus says why do you persecute me how can you persecute a jesus while we just saw in Chapter 7 Jesus is up in heaven standing on the right hand of a father and then he sits back down Paul couldn't go up into heaven and persecute Jesus what does he mean why persecutest thou me well it's the body of Christ when we're saved we become members of his body so anyone that persecutes a Christian that's saved in the part of the body Christ they're persecuting Jesus Christ what a thing can you imagine what a crime to persecute Jesus Christ so he says why persecutest thou me now verse 5 and he said who art thou Lord and notice it's a question so it's the way I read this is the way I as Paul goes who are you wait a minute is that you the Lord well that's a good question ask is that you Lord cuz what who knows it could have been the devil you know because the Bible says the devil appears as an angel of light and there was a light from heaven you know kind of like when the angel appeared to Joseph Smith yeah I don't think that was the Lord I think that was say demon because the devil is an angel of light because he gave him another gospel and Paul tells us in Galatians though we are an angel from heaven give you any other gospel let it be accursed so that's one of the reasons why I'm not a Mormon but anyway he says here who art thou Lord and the Lord which is jesus said I am Jesus whom thou persecute us it is hard for thee to kick against the pricks now I think that's so funny because the prick is a stick or a goad used to to to get a mule to go you know it's one of these things that you have and you do like this - the mule - it to go and you know a mule they're stubborn what do they do they kick they say hey stop it stop it you know you ever get behind a horse no I hope not you know if you ever known what it's like to be around horses never walk behind a horse too close because he doesn't like it he's gonna kick it and it hurts so Jesus is calling him a mule he's calling him an ass basically they said what are you doing ya ass why are you kicking against the print why are you going against my will Jesus Christ is asking Paul what are you doing you look like to me just a stubborn mule and instead of getting right and following what I told you you're going against it why are you doing that okay so look at verse 6 and he trembling and astonished said so obviously he realizes who he's talking to and he begins to tremble now how would he know who he's talking to because he would have probably seen Jesus on the cross he was there when Stephen was stoned consenting unto his death so if he was consenting into the death I wonder if he didn't see Jesus on the cross and here he is seeing Jesus and the vision and he's probably like oh I did it I killed the Messiah and I think he started to understand all that so astonished he's trembling in verse six Lord what once you have me to do and the Lord said to him arise and go into the city and it shall be told thee what thou must do now what city he's on his way to Damascus so he's halfway there so he's somewhere in this area he says what do you what do you want me to do Lord and he says go to the Mascis and I'll tell you what to do so imagine this this is the conversion of Saul because look at verse up okay let me find it here verse 17 he goes into the city and the guy named Ananias comes to him and he came his way and he entered into the house and putting his hands on him said brother Saul he calls him brother so he must have been saved during this whole thing and what saved him will seem Jesus in heaven and realizing oh that's him that's the Messiah so it was still the who gospel on that road to Damascus Oh old Paul realized who Jesus was he was the Lord otherwise he wouldn't be in heaven he wouldn't be talking to him in a vision he'd be dead in the grave just like anybody else that's ever died so he realized who Jesus was so it's still the WHO gospel it's not yet trusting in what Jesus did so remember in these early book of Acts people were saved by trusting in who Jesus was later it's me by trusting in what Jesus did you got to understand the book of Acts as a transitional book so verse 5 he says who art thou Lord Lord is that is that you I guess you could say this is lordship salvation he's accepting Jesus Christ as his Lord he's taking him as his Lord the lord of the Old Testament he's realizing who Jesus is he's the Messiah he's the promised seed of Israel he asked Jesus what he wants him to do and he tells him to go into the city now verse 7 and the men which journey with him stood speechless hearing a voice but seeing no man so they heard a voice now I don't know if they understood the voice it doesn't say they understood the voice all it says is they they heard a voice some picture this the Apostle Paul's probably on his knees looking up and these guys are around them going something but what's all this about so they didn't instantly believe so this was this was something only to Paul it wasn't for these other guys around him now verse 8 says verse 89 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 so when he opened his eyes so while he was there he was probably seeing God in heaven in a vision but probably in real real time he was seeing him because we're told that there was a great light from heaven and I guess that light was so bright that he had to close his eyes and then when he opened his eyes he was blind so he was blinded by the light of God and so for three days he was unable to see because the light was so bright that saw him now that affected him later on in life and affected his eyesight and I will we might get to those verses we might not have talked about that in the book of Galatians in the book of Corinthians so he couldn't see and these men they came along they led him by the hand verse 8 into Damascus the place he was going to go to anyway so he's gonna end up in the place where he was going but he's gonna change the reason he went there first he was going there to go kill Christians then he became a Christian now he's going there he's like now what so he's waiting there and he's blind and he's trying to figure this thing out now versa verse 10 now there was a certain disciple at Damascus named Ananias okay here's a guy named Ananias now it's not the same Ananias in chapter 5 Ananias and Sapphira it's another Ananias remember there's there's a lot of people that have the same names there's a there's a James and there's another James there's an Ananias there's an Ananias there's a there's a Philip that was an apostle then there's this Philip that was one of the seventh there's a lot of names that that people name their people and it can get confusing unless you know which one you're talking about well this is a nanana who is still alive obviously wasn't the one that was killed in Chapter five and he was a believer and he had gone to tomb at Damascus God spoke to him now in these days in these times God literally spoke to men on earth as we go farther in we don't see that today God doesn't shout down to heaven to Christians and say hey I want to tell you something as a matter of fact no he doesn't do that go with me to 2nd Peter let me show you that because that's a question I get a lot from people is brother breaker because God still talked to us today and you know shout down from heaven and and speak to us know that's something he doesn't do anymore because we have the complete revelation we have the Bible go to verse 19 2nd Peter 1:19 we have also a more sure word of prophecy where until you do well that you take heed as unto a light that shine it in a dark place until the day dawn and the day star arise in your hearts what is the more sure word of prophecy the scripture verse 20 knowing this first that no prophecy of the scripture is of any private interpretation where the prophecy came not in old time by the will of man but holy men of God spake as they were moved by the Holy Ghost so the Word of God the Bible is the final authority it is the more sure word of prophecy it is what God wants us to know more sure than what verse 18 and this voice which came from heaven we heard and we were with them in the holy mount so the context is a voice from heaven God speaking the Word of God is the more sure word of prophecy if you ever say well brother breaker I heard some something and I heard a voice and I thought man that must be God's speaking to me don't go by that voice you go by what the Bible says if that voice says one thing the Bible says another then you know that's not of God all over the internet all over YouTube people are saying well brother breaker this guy had a vision and then this guy said that God told him this and that and people loved to watch these videos of people saying and God spoke to me and God said this that the other thing and sometimes just for giggles when I'm bored I'll look up some of those YouTube videos and listen to those people and they say and then God told me this and the guy told me that and I go to my Bible and I say no God does not say that that's the exact opposite that that is 100% against what God said in the epistles of Paul so either you're a liar and God never spoke to you or something spoke to you and it wasn't God hey men all we have is the finished complete Word of God and it is the more sure word of prophecy so I don't ever go by what someone says that God said to them I can't I must only go by what God says to us through the word of God the King James Bible all 66 books but remember this is a transitional book and it's still going through the transition so God is still talking to people because the Bible is not complete yet during this time so God begins to talk to this guy named Ananias verse 10 in there and there was a certain disciple at Damascus name and and eyesand him said the Lord and a vision and and I said he said behold I am here Lord and Lord said in him arise and going to the street which is called straight and inquire in the house of Judas for one cup called Saul of Tarsus for behold he prayeth now if you go to Damascus today there's still that same Road it's called straight street and you can actually go to that Road and walk down the same path that the Apostle Paul would have walked I've got a hold of a Samuel Clemens or Mark Twain's Journal and where he went I think it's called innocents abroad where he traveled around the world and he traveled by mule and horseback and he went to Damascus then he went to Jerusalem and he went through Damascus and he went down the street called straight and he said it's not straight it curves a little bit here and there funny that he call it straight and it's not exactly straight but he said he went there and he saw it he said that's interesting to think that somewhere in one of these houses the Apostle Paul would have been and from what I understand those houses are still there today you could actually go there and walk down that same road that the Apostle Paul would have walked in in Damascus now I believe there's been a lot of war there's a civil war going on there in Syria so I don't know if if part of it has been destroyed or not but certainly in our lifetime that road was still there it might have been destroyed by now or will be in the future I think there's a prophecy if I remember I have to look it up how God said he will destroy Damascus but it is interesting that you're reading something from 2,000 years ago and it says yeah no way down to so-and-so Street and here we are almost 2,000 years later and that Street still was there that's kind of interesting it's kind of amazing Damascus was one of the oldest cities in the world from what I found as I did my studies so what happened well he Prayuth verse 11 verse 12 and it has seen in a vision a man named in and ice coming in and putting his hand on him that he might receive his sight so what did Eli's do verse 13 then Ananias answered lord I have heard by many of this man how much evil he have done to thy Saints at Jerusalem so what did he do when he did all of this the Apostle did this to the Saints this was all done to the Saints now if you're a Roman Catholic I'm sorry I'm very sorry for you you belong to a church that doesn't believe that Saints are live people the Roman Catholic Church says Saints are people have been dead for many years and then later the Pope declared them to be Saints that's not what the Bible teaches the Bible teaches when you get saved by Paul's gospel you become a saint and believers who are saved who are born again they are Saints so Saints are people who are alive not people who are dead so you got to get a hold of that I think that's very sad that the Catholic Church doesn't understand what a saint is and why are we saints not because what we do is because we've trusted in what Jesus did for us so he said man many of the Saints have suffered because of this guy Lord and you sure I mean in that how we pray sometime Lord are you sure you know what you're doing you ever prayed a prayer like that I have a couple times because things don't always go the way that I wanted to but you know things go the way the Lord wants he knows what he's doing I don't I don't understand sometimes so all I can do is just go by what what happens the way things are and just thank God for it so he's there praying and he said Lord I've I've heard how much evil he have done did I Saints at Jerusalem and verse 14 and here he hath authority from the chief priests to bind all that call on thy name how do they call on his name well you call on his name by faith so they're believing in his name remember it's the who gospel and who Gospels all believe in the name of Jesus believe in the name of Jesus so they're believing in his name now call can also mean praying in the sense that after you're saved you call upon the Lord by prayer by talking to him and you come to him in prayer but it's not the calling by the mouth only that saves you it's when you're calling from the heart first let's see that first it's the book of second Timothy 2:22 says they that call upon the Lord of a pure heart so calling is something that comes from the heart you believe with all of your heart it's not just with the mouth there's some people out there that today try to tell you well salvation is with the mouth and when you're just with your mouth say Oh God save me then you're just mystically saved because you with the mouth said O God save me what did Jesus say he said these people come with me with their mouths but their heart is far from it so I make it a point to always show that when the Bible talks about calling upon the Lord it's always a matter of the heart you don't just call with the mouth although it can't come out of the mouth you know I'm abundance of the heart the mouth speaketh sure if your heart is believing in Christ you certainly might say something with your mouth but it's got to be that the calling is from the heart so this is quite important but here we have these people these Jews calling upon the name of the Lord in the early context of the early church now that he continues here in verse 15 but the Lord said unto Him now here's what God says to Ananias about the Apostle Paul and there's three things that God says about Paul so here are the three things that God says Paul is to reach whoo three thanks here we are in verse 14 here he hath authority from the chief priests to bind all that call upon his name I just read verse 14 to 15 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 so Paul is called of God and we just read earlier in Galatians God called them before he was even born in his mother's womb to reach Gentiles to reach kings and to reach Israel so the Apostle Paul is supposed to preach to Israel to the Jews the lost juice he's supposed to find the the Kings the secular evil Kings witness to them and he's supposed to witness to the Gentiles that's why in Romans chapter 11 of verse 13 the Apostle Paul tells us this go to Roman's 11 13 who is Paul he is the chosen of God he's a chosen vessel Romans 11 13 says for I speak to you Gentiles and as much as I am an apostle of the Gentiles I magnify my office so the Apostle Paul is called of God and notice ways called God calls Paul a chosen vessel God shows the Apostle Paul how come you have it you know under the sound of my voice there might be people listening that are religious but lost and go to a church that doesn't believe in Paul and they said well brother breaker you know I I like listening you pretty sometimes but I just don't believe in Paul I just I don't see that we our church we just go to Matthew Mark Luke and John we don't go to Paul why aren't you going to the chosen one of God God chose him and gave two thirds of the book of Acts about him to point you to him to realize that God gave to him Romans to Philemon as our doctrine for today and you need to go to him and get that doctrine why because God revealed in a poll the gospel and Paul tells us he calls it three times my gospel what is Paul's gospel it's first Corinthians 15 one through four how that Christ died for our sins according through and according to scriptures were buried rose again the third day according scriptures Romans 2:16 Paul says if you don't trust that gospel you're going to be judged and he says all the world will be judged someday according to my gospel this gospel right here first Corinthians 15 1 through 4 so to leave Paul out is to leave out the gospel to leave out God's chosen one God chose Paul for a purpose and this verse right here God reveals unto in a nice he's going to go to Gentiles he's going to go to Kings and he's going to go to the children of Israel and I have chosen him God says for this but also look at verse 16 for I will show him how great things he must suffer for my sake so God chose Paul but he also chose shown him to suffer and Paul's life is a life of suffering I don't have time to get into that because eventually we will get into that as we continue to read through through the acts but look at what happened Paul made the early Christians suffer when God saved him he said now you're gonna suffer for them they suffered from you and what you did to them now you're gonna suffer for all the sake of all people it hopes that they get saved so what goes around comes around right now verse 17 well actually let's go to uh yeah let's let's stop right here for a second and let's go to Acts chapter 22 alright so what we've seen so far is what takes place here in Acts chapter 9 how Paul was saved he saw a light from heaven he saw a vision and he lost his sight he had to go to the Mascis and wait for someone and then when we get back to this I'm going to show you what happened when he came to him but Paul retells what happened on this road to Damascus in Acts chapter 22 verse 1 through 21 so let's read that quickly and this time he's standing before Jews and he's speaking to them and he says men brother and fathers here you my defense which I now which I make now to you and when they heard that he spake in the Hebrew tongue to them they kept the more silence and he said I am barely a man which a man am a Jew born in Tarsus the city in Silesia yet brought up in this city at the feet of Gamaliel and taught according the perfect man of the law of the father's and was Ella's toward God as you are all this day and I persecuted this way unto the death binding and delivery into president of men and women and also the high priest of bearing witness in all the estate of the elders from whom I also relieves receive letters of the brother and went to Damascus to bring them which were they are bound at Jerusalem for to be punished came to pass that I made my journey in and was come nigh to Damascus about noon suddenly there shone from heaven a great light round about me and I fell into the ground see we get a little bit more details it was around noontime didn't say it was around noontime in the other place and I fell into the ground well he must have fallen on his knees and I heard a voice saying to me Saul Saul why persecutest thou me and I answered who aren't that Lord and he said unto me I am Jesus of Nazareth whom thou persecuted well before he said he's jesus now we see he said he was Jesus of Nazareth of now through Nazareth and they that were with me saw indeed the light and were afraid but they heard not the voice of him that spake to me so in the other places said they heard as it were a voice but they heard not the voice it says here so it sounds like there's no contradictions in the Bible that they heard something they heard what sounded like a voice but they couldn't make out what was being said so what he says here they heard not the voice they weren't hearing the words they might have heard some sort of I don't know did you ever watch Charlie Brown Christmas special or something when you were a kid I'll never forget Charlie Brown and he's sitting there in the class and he's always talking to his teacher and you know when the teacher talks you can't understand what she's saying is and Charlie Brown goes yes ma'am my mom yes ma'am and that's that's how they just the two that in that cartoon you didn't know what the teacher was saying but you heard the voice but you didn't hear or understand what was uttered in that voice so he continues here and he says verse ten and I said what shall I do Lord and the Lord said unto me arise and go into Damascus there shall be told thee of all things which are appointed for thee to do and when I could not see for the glory of that light being led by the hand of them that were with me I came into Damascus and one Ananias a devout man according to the law having a good report of all the Jews would go out there came unto me and stood and said unto me brother Saul received thy sight and the same hour I looked up upon him and he said that God of our fathers has chosen thee so Paul is chosen of God if you reject Paul you are rejecting someone that Jesus sent to you so you might as well be rejecting Jesus Christ if you reject Paul and he says here hath chosen thee that thou should have know his will and see that just one and should hear the voice of his mouth who's the just one Jesus Christ - just where thou shalt be his witness unto all men of what thou has seen and heard and now why tarriest thou arise to be baptized calling on the name of the Lord it came to pass that when I was coming into Jerusalem even while I prayed in the temple I was in a trance and I saw him saying unto me make haste and get me quickly I'm Jerusalem for they will not receive thy testimony concerning me and I said Lord they know that I'm imprisoned and beaten every synagogue then that believed on thee so he's beating people that's the torture part and when the blood of thy martyr Stephen was shed I also was standing by and consenting unto his death and kept the raiment of them that slew him so Paul kept the raiment of Stephen and and Paul was consenting to the death of Stephen and he said unto me depart here's what Jesus is saying to Paul for I will send thee far hints unto the Gentiles and they gave him audience into this word and they lifted up their voices in the son of way was such a fellow from the earth was not fit that he should live he's talking to Jews here late in the book of Acts and he says Jesus chose me to go to all men and preach and Jesus told me that eventually I'd go to the Gentiles when you said that that you said get away we don't want you Jews have always looked down upon the Gentile people what do they call them or something like that so a lot of times the Jews they they don't want anything to do with other people they want to stick with themselves and part of that according to the law court is the law they they couldn't interracially marry and things like that so the jews didn't want anything to do with the gentiles but God chose Paul and revealed to Paul Paul I'm gonna save Gentiles too and the Jews needed to accept Jesus as their Savior but many Jews could not do that because they did not want to mix with the Gentiles so we looked at that in the book of Galatians how even Peter was carried about with their dissemination or how was how does it talk about that where where he would pretend to be a Jew when he was with Jews and then pretend to be a Gentile with his Gentiles that withdraw himself when they were Gentiles and even even Peter was rebuked by Paul because we're all one in Christ alright so back to Acts chapter 9 and verse 17 and Ananias went his way and entered it to 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 received thy sight and be filled with the Holy Ghost and immediately there fell from his eyes that has been scales and he received sight for with and arose and was baptized now look at what happens here he comes to him and he calls him brother Saul he calls him brother before he baptized him so he must have gotten saved on the road to Damascus so he was saved by faith so Paul was saved by faith by believing what did he believe he believed who Jesus was he believed he was the Lord now look what he says here that thou might be filled with the Holy Ghost verse 17 and be filled with the Holy Ghost it doesn't say given the Holy Ghost it says he's filled with the Holy Ghost so he must have had the Holy Ghost - he must have gotten a Holy Ghost when he believed and then what happened then he was baptized in verse 18 now how's that giant with acts 2:38 acts 2:38 is there baptized when they come up they have the Holy Spirit other passages in Acts they lay hands on people to give him the Holy Spirit but here he gets the Holy Spirit and then he's just spilled with it when he comes any of energy and puts his hand on so then he's baptized after all of this so he's baptized after he's safe baptize in water to get saved he's baptized after he was saved and we find that even more as we continue the book of Acts it starts out yeah I got a baptized to get the Holy Spirit but as you continue you're saved then they baptize you after and then you go to Paul and Paul's like well Christ sent me not to baptize but to preach the gospel remember acts 1:5 John indeed baptized with water but she'll be baptized with the Holy Ghost and the most important baptism is being baptized with the Holy Spirit now verse 19 and when he received me he was strengthened then was Saul certain days with disciples which were at Damascus so he stays there in Damascus now verse 20 and verse 21 at verse 22 tell us what the Apostle Paul preached this is the first time the Apostle Paul opens his mouth as a Christian and preaches which gospel does he preach the who or the what which one of these two messages does he stand up and say now Romans 3:25 if you'll just trust the blood of Jesus Christ while you all go to heaven first Corinthians 15 one thing for is that Christ died for our sins but is that what he preached no he's still a juice and notice what he says verse 20 and straightway he preached Christ in the synagogue's that he is the son of God so Paul when he starts preaching he preaches that Jesus is the Christ he's the son of God that's the message that Paul preaches it's double who message he's not preaching the what message in and then look at verse 22 but saw increased the more and strengthened confounder the Jews which dwelt that Damascus proving that this is the very Christ so what is he doing he's proving that Jesus is the Christ what does Christ means the anointed ones so he's telling all the Jews Jesus is the Messiah that's the exact message that he rejected and that's why he was going around killing people because they were teaching that Jesus was the Messiah so he accepted the very message that he was against because he saw Jesus in heaven and he saw that Jesus was indeed the Messiah so he's preaching who Jesus is haven't got over here yet to this message still hasn't gone to the transition of what our way to be saved is today and that's very important that we understand yes it was my faith but faith in who Jesus is when today our salvation is by faith in what Jesus did for us so verse 20 straightway he preached Christ in the synagogue's that he is the son of God but all that hurt him were amazed and said is not this he that destroyed them which called on his name on this name in Jerusalem and came hither for that intent that he might bring them bound in the chief priests but Saul increased the more in strength and confounded the Jews with drop that meant Damascus proving that this is the very Christ and after many days were fulfilled the Jews took counsel to kill him well they're pretty good at that weren't they I mean they killed Jesus and then they killed Stephen so they're like let's just go ahead and kill Paul I mean once you start killing people you might as well just kill them all so they went down that path of evil the dark side if you will and they figure well the answer to everything is just killing and that's not the answer you're not supposed to do that and then look at verse 24 but they're laying a weight was known of salt and they watch the gates day and night to kill him so they're standing outside saying soon as he leaves the Mascis when he comes outside the gate we're gonna kill this guy what happened verse 25 then the disciples took him by night and let him down by the wall in a basket and what Saul was come to Jerusalem he has saved saved means attempted he attempted to join himself two disciples but they were all afraid of him and believe not that he was a disciple yeah yes I can imagine so here you have he's coming from Jerusalem to Damascus now he's coming back to Jerusalem and he's having to do it in secret because now they're wanting to kill him and he's let down in a basket in the wall sounds like the old story back there of Rahab and the spies and how the spies came in to spy out the land and what she and Jericho I believe it was and she let them down by a basket by the wall and that way no one could see them coming in or out of the gate and so he goes back to Jerusalem and what happens lo and behold the other believers say I believe guy he's been torturing and killing people while my grandmother was killed by him and my uncle was put in jail or not my nephew got saved and now he was he was killed by this I mean who's gonna believe this it's pretty far-fetched that this guy that's going around killing Christians is now all of a sudden the Christian himself but then a guy named Barnabas comes along now Barnabas is pretty important and I'm out of room up here so let me just write Barnabas Barnabas we find in other places Barnabas is in Acts chapter 13 and eventually Barnabas goes with Paul on his missionary journeys but when he shows up in Jerusalem at the early church the first person to get a hold of him is Barnabas and verse 27 says but Barnabas took him and brought him to the Apostles and declared unto them how he had seen the Lord in the way and then he spoke it to them and how he had preached boldly at Damascus in the name of Jesus he's preaching who Jesus is the name it's all about the name verse 28 and he was going with them coming in and going at Jerusalem so slowly he was accepted by the early Christians because of one of the early leaders of the Christian Church Barnabas at least one of the elders at least somebody that was well known they trusted him because he trusted Paul or 28 he was going with them coming in and going out at Jerusalem now verse 29 he spoke boldly in the name of the Lord Jesus in disputed against aggressions Grecians but they went about to slay him now who are these some things say these were Jews that spoke Greek I don't think so I think again these were probably the Grecians would have been those that were Greeks that were then proselytes to the law and the Greeks seek after wisdom so as a Greek they would have brought in and they they would have liked to debate the law and so he spoke to them these Jewish proselytes who were Greek speaking Jews most likely because they were Gentiles that spoke Greek who had converted to Judaism now verse 30 which when the brother knew they brought him down to Caesarea and sent him forth to Tarsus all right now we read over in Acts chapter 22 that Paul was above Tarsus now I don't know where exactly Caesarea was I want to say it was around here remember last time a little bit of doubt of where say Surya was because there was sister Rhea file PI and then there was another site Surya but Tarsus is right here and Paul was of Tarsus this is now modern-day Turkey but the Bible says he is from Tarsus of Silesia Silesia so the Apostle Paul was born and raised in Tarsus so from Jerusalem he comes back up here to his homeland to his home city of where he was born and he had to get out of Dodge because they were trying to kill him in Damascus and now they're trying to kill him here in Jerusalem so he goes back to his home probably visiting his parents I don't know possibly but it says that that's where he was from of Tarsus and most likely where Philip is in Caesarea when he went to Caesarea first he probably went this way and they won I put directly straight that way I should have gone like that but oh well you get the idea so he went up there he probably would have met Philip here in this time because later in the book of Acts he goes in he visits Philip again verse 31 then had the churches rest throughout all Judea and Galilee and Samaria and we're edified and walking in the fear of the Lord in the comfort of the Holy Ghost they were multiplied so there was some rest now that Paul the most religious of all the zealots that wanted to go kill people had stopped but he left behind some people that wanted to kill people and as we continue we'll see that they still they they have this desire to kill him now verse 32 and it came to pass as Peter passed throughout all the quarters okay so now it's going to go back to Peter in verses 32 to 40 332 to 43 are all about Peter and what Peter does so the first part of chapter 9 is all about Paul then it goes back to Peter and it sets up something for Peter because chapter 10 and chapter 11 of the book of Acts are about Peter again so Peter shows back up again and then let's read this quickly because there's not a lot to go into here and we can go ahead and finish this whole chapter today Lord willing I've got about three minutes left so here we go was Peter and it came to pass as Peter passed throughout all quarters he came down to the Saints which dwelt that later ly DDA now where is that right over here is Jerusalem up here there's a little place called Joppa which we'll need to know here in a minute and this place called Lida is about right here ly DDA so it's not too terribly far away from Jerusalem and what does he do it came to pass as Peter passed throughout all quarters he came down to the Saints which dwelt that later Saints again say people that are alive he didn't go visit dead people and there he found a certain man named and Gnaeus Saint næss which had kept his bed eight years and was sick of the policy Peter said unto Him Aeneas Jesus Christ maketh the whole arise and make thy bed and he arose immediately and all the dwelt at lida and Sauron saw him and turned to the Lord so here's another miracle of Peter so Peter does another miracle like one he's done before that we've already read where he tells someone rise up and walk so he does it again he does another miracle now verse 36 now there was that job a certain disciple named Tabitha all right here's Joppa next to lightest of it close to the coast why would you be close to coast well because old Peter loved the water remember he's a fisherman I grew up fishermen I was fishing my whole life and I grew up next to the water it it's very hard on me to go somewhere where there's no coast I love the water so once you got salt water in your veins I guess you stick close to the the water so here's old Peter going close to the water and he says here now when there were was that job a certain disciple named Tabitha which my interpretation is called Dorcas this woman was full of good works in alms deeds which she did verse 36 37 and it did come to pass in those days that she was sick and died whom when they had washed they laid her in an upper chamber and for as much as light it was night of Joppa and the disciples has heard that Peter was there they sent unto him two men desiring him that he would not delay to come to them so these are very close together so they're asking him hey come to light and or was it come to Joppa come over here to Joppa and it says here verse 39 then Peter rose and went with them when he was come they brought him into the upper chamber and all the widows stood by him weeping and showing the coats and garments which Dorcas made while she was with them when Peter but Peter put them all forth and kneeled down and prayed and turning him to the body said Tabitha Tabitha Tabitha arise and when she opened her eyes and when she saw Peter she set up so he's raising people from the dead from Judea Samaria Samaria the uttermost parts of the earth jesus said and here we see from Jerusalem to Judea we saw earlier Peter went to Samaria with Philip so we're seeing the early church doing exactly what Jesus said they should do and he raises somebody from the dead he's going to these Jews and he gave her his hand and lifted her up and when he had called the Saints and widows presented her alive and it was known throughout all Joppa and many believed in the Lord that came to pass that he tarried many days in Joppa with one Simon a Tanner another guy named Simon remember this is Simon Peter so he's there in job by again close to the coast probably want to be next to the water so you still got signs you still got wonders you still got miracles these are the signs of the Apostles and again it's still to the Jews but this is the early salvation of Paul one more time that is not how we get safe today no one's walking down the road on their own business all sudden Oh what is this and they look up in heaven and there's God and Jesus Christ says I'm the Lord and you need to do what I say and they say okay Lord and they follow him and that's their testimony salvation that's not how we get safe today how do we get safe today about also faith cometh by hearing and hearing by the Word of God we must hear the gospel preached to us and Paul is the one that God gave the Gospel of first Corinthians 15:1 3 for there must be a time when we understand we're lost then we hear and understand the gospel then we believe from the heart that's when we're saved it's not the same way that Paul was with pretty miraculous pretty interesting how Paul was safe and this is all about Paul's conversion so as we continue we're going to look at Paul again but before we do chapter 10 in chapter 11 are going to be about Peter in chapter 10 in chapter 11 is the first time that we see these Gentiles and get saved and so Peter goes to these Gentiles and that's what's so amazing is that we start we're starting to see the change I remember last time we looked at the foreshadowing and how there was a foreshadowing well we're seeing the foreshadowing and how it's starting to go from Jews to Gentiles and how Paul will ultimately be the apostle to the Gentiles but God let Peter win some Gentiles to the Lord first so that is Acts chapter 9 that's the Apostle Paul's conversion I hope that's been a blessing to you a lot more I can say there but I think that pretty much explained it all we got through it all at one one time or one teaching so that was good so next time we'll start Acts chapter 10 in Acts chapter 10 and 11 go hand in hand so we'll look at those next time

Channel: Robert Breaker

Views: 12,135

Rating: 4.8871794 out of 5

Keywords: Acts, Bible Study, Acts of the Apostles, Verse by Verse Bible Study, King James Bible

Id: 1DOZv8KcFkw

Length: 62min 52sec (3772 seconds)

Published: Mon Oct 15 2018