SPEAKER_01 1:05

Come, let us go up to the mountain of the Lord, to the house of the God of Jacob. He will teach us his ways, and we shall walk in his paths.

SPEAKER_00 1:13

Welcome to Come On Up, the radio ministry of the Mountain Cross in Waynesville, North Carolina.

SPEAKER_02 1:20

That Judaism and the temple and the teaching, that was where God met with his people, and this was just something that was distracting people, getting them off. It was false teaching, and he didn't want anything to do with it. But he would go and do the things that he thought he would do. How often do we just go and do the things that we think we should do? And we think in our own minds we're doing the will of God when we don't even consult God about it. We don't get into the word, we just do it.

SPEAKER_00 1:47

Can we agree that we're all greedy? It's just part of sin. We want what we want when we want it, and exactly how we want it. It's the nature of us as humans. Today, Pastor Carl says it's easy to do something because we want to before consulting God. You must make sure that everything you do for the Lord lines up with what he's called you to do. It's easy to force yourself into a situation that isn't good for you. That's why you must submit yourself to the Lord and let things happen on his timing. And now, here's Pastor Carl.

SPEAKER_02 2:28

We are in Acts chapter 9. Recently, in our study of the book of Acts, we saw the first deacon that was appointed. His name was Stephen. As a deacon, he goes out and proclaims the gospel and he gets stoned to death. And he says, Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do. And he looks up to heaven and he sees Jesus standing on the right hand of God the Father, welcoming him to paradise. And it's just an amazing scene. But it kind of shook up the church. If you were part of the early church and you were selling everything and you were coming together and you were ministering to one another, and it was great, the Holy Spirit was moving, and then all of a sudden this persecution thing happens, and one of your best guys is killed right before you martyred, the first martyr of the faith. What does that do? That kind of shakes you up, doesn't it? So we're we're out of here, we're out of Jerusalem. And so the church scatters, and the gospel went out. But Saul wasn't satisfied with that. And this is where we pick up with this Saul of Tarsus, who we saw during that stoning of Stephen holding the cloaks of those who were stoning Stephen to death in approval and gladly, because this was begun to be a burden on him, that this church, this thing that was, it wasn't good, it was it was going against God's will, and he was standing up to destroy it. And so that's where we pick up in chapter 9, verse 1. Then Saul, breathing threats and murder against the disciples of the Lord, went to the high priest, and he asked letters from him to the synagogues of Damascus, so that if he found any who were of the way, whether men or women, that he might bring them bound to Jerusalem. So the fact that they were no longer a giant force in Jerusalem, although the main leaders of the church, the apostles, were staying in Jerusalem, and there was a small gathering of folks, but most of the folks spread out all over the place, that wasn't enough for him. He wanted to put it out everywhere that they went. And he was getting permission from the synagogue to go to Damascus, one of the areas where the church had left and was being re-established up there, to destroy them. A little history background with thanks going out to Pastor Chuck. This is from his notes. By the way, there are a lot of great Bible study commentaries, notes, concordances, dictionaries on blueletterbible.org or blb.org. You go there and there are a lot of great study tools. When you go to bibleblb.org, the blue letter Bible, you can look up what Chuck Smith said about these things. And here's some of what uh he was talking about, giving a little history of this area at this time. When Alexander the Great conquered the world for Rome, he left pockets of Greek culture. Now, even though the Roman Empire conquered the Greek Empire, the Grecian culture remained as a dominant influence in the area. So it was it was covered by Rome, but the thinking and the culture was very Greek. Now, Greeks, they loved the arts, they loved nature and philosophy and so forth. And these Hellenistic Jews that we heard about earlier when the widows, the Hellenistic widows were being neglected, and that's why they had to get the deacons appointed and so forth, these Hellenistic Jews had a heavy Grecian influence because they lived in these areas that were more Greek. So the Hellenistic Jews had heavy Grecian influence while the Hebrews were very strict and legalistic. The Pharisees were this way. Letter of the law, letter of the law. Thus, for a man to effectively reach the Jewish people, he had to have an understanding of the Grecian culture. But he also needed a keen understanding of the Hebrew culture. So God chose Paul as that instrument. Now, Paul was born in that city of Tarsus, which was one of the centers of the Grecian culture. And up to the age of 14, though he was a Hebrew of the Hebrews, his parents were very strong Pharisees. Paul's earliest acquaintances, friends, playmates, were all of the Hellenist culture. So he understood both. But his parents didn't want him to be corrupted by the Hellenist culture. So they sent him, instead of sending him to a university in Asia Minor, they chose rather to send him to the Hebrew university in Jerusalem, where he might sit at the feet of Gamaliel, one of the greatest teachers of that day, and a Pharisee. So that's kind of the background of Saul, who later becomes the Apostle Paul. And so at the age of 14 he came down to Jerusalem to be taught in the ways of Phariseism. And he became a very strong Pharisee, very well versed in the scriptures and very well versed in tradition. And now he's on his way up to Damascus, where some of the church had grown in that area to go and destroy them. Alright. I promise not every verse will be this long. Verse 3, and as he journeyed, he came to near Damascus, and suddenly a light shone around him from heaven, and he fell to the ground, and he heard a voice saying to him, Saul, Saul, why do you persecute me? And he said, Who are you, Lord? And the Lord said, I am Jesus, whom you are persecuting. It is hard for you to kick against the goads. The goad was like a poker that was used to get animals, big animals, to go. And when they fought against you, they would kick back. And when they kicked, they would hit the goad and it would make it even worse. Why are you kicking against the goads? I want you on my team and you're fighting against me. So he, Saul, trembling and astonished, said, Lord, uh, what do you want me to do? And the Lord said to him, Arise and go into the city, and you will be told what you must do. In an instant, Saul was set straight. You're fighting against me, you're persecuting me, my people, my church. I am the fulfillment of the Old Testament scriptures that you know very well, and yet you're missing it. Don't fight against me. I've got a job for you to do. And Saul very quickly realized that I need to change some of my ways, and he really didn't have much of a choice, did he? Verse 7. And the men who journeyed with him stood speechless, hearing a voice but seeing no one. And then Saul arose from the ground, and when his eyes were opened, he saw no one. Now, isn't that a perfect picture of how we are spiritually before we come to the Lord? We're blind spiritually. Our eyes are wide open, but we're blind. We're in darkness. And we don't even realize it. We don't even care. We're just doing our thing. May the Lord give us eyes to see spiritually. May He wake us up. May He shine into our darkness to recognize our need for Him. And that's what He was doing in Saul's life, both physically and spiritually. But they led him by the hand and brought him up to Damascus, and he was there three days without sight, and neither ate nor drank. Now there was a certain disciple at Damascus named Ananias. And the Lord said to him in a vision, Ananias, and he said, Here I am, Lord. And the Lord said to him, Arise and go to the street called Strait, and inquire at the house of Judas for one called Saul of Tarsus, for behold he is praying. And in a vision he has seen a man named Ananias coming in and putting his hand upon him so that he might receive sight. Then Ananias answered, Lord, I have heard from many about this man, how much harm he has done to your saints in Jerusalem. And here he is, he has authority from the chief priest to bind all who call upon your name. So this is an interesting turn of events here. So Saul was going to Damascus to persecute the church and to straighten some folks out. And instead he's getting straightened out. And there was a disciple named Ananias in Damascus. Let me back up a little bit. Damascus. This is an interesting city. It's the oldest capital in the world. And it's still the capital of Syria today. It's the longest continually inhabited city, very possibly. And so it's been there, it's established. It's seen good and it's seen bad, but it's been there. It's been strong. And it's prophesied to become a ruinous heap, deserted and uninhabitable. Take a look at Isaiah chapter 17 for that prophecy, which has not yet happened. But with all this talk of, you know, nuclear weapons now in the hands of Russia and other powers like Iran and all these groups that are coming together, but they're really enemies with each other. We live in some interesting times and we could very well see that prophecy come to pass very quickly. Now, Damascus, it's always interesting to look up what these names mean. Now I looked up Damascus and it means, get this, write this down. Silent is the sackcloth weaver. That's pretty deep, huh? I have no idea what that means, but that's part of your homework. Go home and read. Study what does silent is the sackcloth weaver all about? And that's what Damascus is all about. Alright, so you go home and read that. Now Ananias, his name means whom Jehovah has graciously given. Jehovah graciously gave Ananias a heart for the Lord. The Lord graciously gave Ananias a word about Saul. And the Lord graciously gave Ananias a heart to actually go to Saul and to do what God called him to do and to welcome him into the family of God. Ananias is a good name, isn't it? But just a couple chapters ago we had Ananias and Sapphira, which kind of messed up the unity in the body of Christ when they came and lied to the Holy Spirit about the land that they said that they sold that they didn't sell, and they were the first occupants of the cemetery out back. So Ananias had a bad name, and now he has a good name, and this is a different guy, of course. And this is just a disciple. This is not the leader of the Damascus Church. This is just like one of us. It's like the Lord came to Eddie and Eddie, I'm going to send you a guy who I've given a vision to, and you need to go and talk to him. He's like one of your worst enemies ever, but now he's going to be your best friend. The Lord speaks to each of us. The Lord commands each of us. The Lord can speak to us in specific ways. Are we listening? Are we in the word? Do we understand the voice of the Lord when he speaks? Well, Ananias did, and he had an interesting conversation with him. And the Lord told him to go to a house on the street called straight. We want to be on the straight path, don't we? We want to be on that street called straight, because the way is narrow and few find that path. Many go off the path. But we want to stay on the straight path and inquire at the house of Judas. Now, Judas, there's another Judas that we know earlier who betrayed our Lord. And he made a bad name for Judas, but the name Judas actually means he shall be praised. So this Judas is a good guy. And at the house of Judas on the street called straight, look for one called Saul of Tarsus. For behold, he is praying. I think that was a big deal, a big change in Saul's life. Saul was pious, Saul learned the law, Saul learned the traditions, and he had great opinions of how life should be and how the church should not be part of that. That Judaism and the temple and the teaching, that was where God met with his people, and this was just something that was distracting people and getting them off. It was false teaching, and he didn't want anything to do with it. But he would go and do the things that he thought he would do. How often do we just go and do the things that we think we should do? And we think in our own minds we're doing the will of God when we don't even consult God about it. We don't get into the word, we just do it because that's what Jesus did. I'm gonna go do it. But we missed the whole picture, don't we? Saul, he's been encountered with the living God, and now he's seeking the Lord. He's saying, Lord, I realize that everything that I've learned, I haven't learned how to find you, how to communicate with you, how to connect and hear from you. Lord, teach me, show me, change me what is going on. Give me insight, give me eyes to see and ears to hear what you have to say. It's a good example, isn't it? We ought to be praying more than our doing. As we pray and as God fills us and directs us, then we have the power to actually do things that are fruitful for the kingdom. And in verse 12, and in a vision, he saw a man called Ananias coming to him. So Ananias had this vision about the vision that Saul had, which we're not even told that Saul told anybody, and chances are he kept it to himself because it was just so wild and life-changing, and he doesn't even know what to make of it yet. So to prove that God is who he said he is, he's talking to Ananias, just a regular run-of-the-mill Christian fella, not necessarily in leadership or anything. He tells him to go talk to Saul and tell Saul what the Lord told Saul. So Saul would know that this guy was from the Lord because Saul didn't tell anybody. And you go and you put your hands on him and he'll receive his sight. And Anna's had a kind of a question about it. Well, Lord, what what I don't know about this. Are you sure? And that doesn't mean it's it's wrong to question the Lord. But when the Lord gives you an answer, do you accept it? The Lord said, Look, Saul is mine. You go and you talk to him. Verse 15. But the Lord said to him, Go, for he is a chosen vessel of mine to bear my name before the Gentiles. Yeah, he has a bad history, but I got a plan for him. Go ahead, Ananias, it's good. He'll make my name, he'll be, he'll bear my name, he'll proclaim my name before the Gentiles, before kings, and before the children of Israel. For I will show him how many things he must suffer for my name's sake. That's interesting. He was persecuting the church, and now the Lord was going to show Saul the things that he must suffer in order to declare the name of the Lord to everybody that he runs into. And that was good enough for Ananias. So he went, but before I go on to that part of the story, this is the same call that we all have, isn't it? I mean, we might not write half of the New Testament, but the Lord has called us all to go out and be a separate people. I mean, Peter put it this way in 1 Peter chapter 2, beginning in verse 9. You are a chosen generation. You've been called, you've been chosen, a royal priesthood, a holy nation. We are a group of believers that God has put together for his own special purpose. And that is to proclaim the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light. Our eyes that were opened but were blind have finally come to see. I was once blind, but now I see. Spiritually, may the Lord give us eyes to see and give him praises because he's taken us out of darkness that we didn't realize we were in, and exposed us to his marvelous light, and he's changed us from the inside out, who were once not a people, but are now the people of God. We just all went our own ways and did our own things, and we weren't part of any eternal group that had any merit to it. But now we are made the body of Christ, who had not obtained mercy, but now have obtained mercy, because there was nothing that we could do on our own to please God, but in his mercy and his grace, because of his cross, we were brought into this family and were made his. So that similar call that Paul had is the same call that every believer really has. You are different now. If you know the Lord Jesus Christ, you're a part of his family, you're chosen, and you've got an important job to do because your eyes have been opened. Now, verse 17, and Ananias went his way and entered the house, and laying on his hands on him, he said, Brother Saul, let me stop right there. So Ananias, he heard from the Lord, and obviously it was enough for him, and he went, he obeyed. And he wasn't like Jonah. He wasn't like Jonah that went to Nineveh and declared, Y'all are gonna die in 40 days, and then went up on the mountain to watch God kill him because he didn't like them. And when they repented and turned to the Lord, he got mad about it. No, Ananias realized God has really done a work in Saul. God said he's changed Saul, God said he's called Saul, and now he's calling me to lay hands on him. And so the first thing he says when he sees Saul is call him brother. Brother Saul. You're part of the family. I acknowledge it. Isn't God amazing? The last person that I thought would get saved has been saved. Praise God. And he laid his hands on him. He said, Brother, brother Saul, the Lord Jesus, who appeared to you on the road as you came, has sent me that you might receive your sight and be filled with the Holy Spirit. Saul God had a conversation with me, and he told me about the conversation he had with you, the conversation that you haven't told anybody. Saul, this God is real. Jesus is real. The guy that you were persecuting, you're now gonna serve. So are you ready to see? And are you ready to be empowered to go forth and to proclaim this gospel message? And verse 18 immediately there fell from his eyes something like scales, fish scales. I always think about that, and it's like, ooh, this is gross. And he received his sight at once, and he arose and was baptized. The things that keep us from seeing the Lord are gross, aren't they? The things of this world, our sin, our addictions, our desires. They blind us. And the Lord wants those to fall away. So all we see is Jesus. And he received his sight, and he arose and was baptized. Saul immediately believed, he immediately received, and he immediately went out and declared by being baptized what had happened. If you believe with your heart and confess with your mouth that Jesus Christ is Lord, then you will be saved. He believed it and he confessed it by going out and getting baptized. He was obedient right away. So when he had received food, he was strengthened, and Saul spent some days with the disciples at Damascus. Now, when we read one of Paul's letters to the Galatians, he explains that there was a little more involved with this because there was a little time that he spent away from the disciples before he came. And met with him. Let me let me share that with you. Galatians chapter 1, beginning of verse 15. But when it pleased God, Saul acknowledges the sovereignty of God in God's perfect timing. When it was God's pleasure to do this work, God, who separated me from my mother's womb, he acknowledges God is the author of life. And called me through his grace. He acknowledged it wasn't about anything that he'd done. Actually, the things that he was doing was working against the Lord instead of for the Lord. But through his grace, he was called. And he was called in order to reveal his son in me that I might preach him to the Gentiles. God had a purpose. And God called him. God changed him. And Saul responded obediently. But I did not immediately confer with flesh and blood. So he's saying, I was confronted on the road to Damascus, and Ananias came and prayed for me, and my eyes were opened. I received the Holy Spirit. I was baptized. But before I started to join the church and talk about the things of God and learn from them the things that they have been learned, that they have learned from the Lord, I went off. And I went to Arabia and returned again to Damascus after that. So there was a period of time where he left Damascus, Damascus and went out into the wilderness of Arabia to Petria, the lost city of Petra is out there too, which is an interesting study. You should take some time to look into that. But he spent some time in there to be alone with the Lord, to hear from the Lord, to learn from the Lord. And then he went and he spent some time with the church in Damascus. And when he went, what did he do? Verse 20. Immediately he preached the Christ in the synagogues, that he is the Son of God. He went out there and said, You know, the one that I've been persecuting? He straightened me out. He's actually the Messiah. He's the Christ that we've been waiting for.

SPEAKER_00 25:12

You're listening to Come On Up with Pastor Carl from the Mountain Cross. We hope you enjoyed the message, learned something new, and felt the Holy Spirit speak into your life. We believe the Word of God is powerful and active and can transform lives for eternity. That's why we teach directly from the Bible. And we will continue our study through the Book of Acts next time. If you enjoy the simple teaching through the Word here on Come On Up, would you let others know about it? Share us with your family and friends. Tell them to listen on the radio or on their favorite podcast app. Subscribe for more Bible teaching, share in your social media feeds, and leave a review to get the word out. We're always grateful for new listeners, especially those who want to grow in the Word. Come On Up comes to you from The Mountain Cross, a group of believers in Jesus who seek to grow in faith by simply teaching the Bible, verse by verse, chapter by chapter. We meet Sunday mornings at 10 at the Smoky Mountain Cinema in Waynesville. Learn more about us at themountaincross.com. If you're not local to Western North Carolina, we encourage you to check out a Bible-teaching church near you. It's essential to gather with other believers to navigate this topsy-turvy world together. Where Jesus is preached, there's hope for today and for the future. Thanks for listening. Come on up to the mountain with us again next time as we seek to learn more from the Lord through His Word. Come on Up is sponsored by the Mountain Cross, a Calvary Chapel fellowship.