47 Acts 9:7-18 SAULS BAPTISM Introduction: Saul of Tarsus was on the road to Damascus to arrest Christians when he got saved and became a Christian. In our text today he got baptized. I. A quick look back at Saul’s experience of salvation Before leaving Jerusalem to go to Damascus to arrest Christians, Saul had arrested Christians at Jerusalem. We have no way of knowing just how many he arrested. But we have reason to believe that a rather large number had been arrested by him and that at least some of them had been brought to trial and stoned to death. The majority of the Jerusalem church members fled for their lives and scattered throughout Judea and Samaria. Philip, one of the deacons, had gone down into Samaria. After arriving there he won a great many people to the Lord and started a church there. We have reason to believe that the same thing happened in many of the other cities of both Samaria and Judea. Somebody had done the same thing in the foreign country of Syria. They had apparently started a church there. It had been the news that there were Christians attending the synagogues at Damascus which had prompted Saul to get papers authorizing him to go to Damascus and to the synagogues and to arrest those Christians. Saul along with a group of men who would assist him had been on their way to Damascus to arrest the Christians when the light had appeared from heaven, Saul had fell to the ground and Saul. A voice from heaven had spoken to Saul and said, “Saul, Saul, why persecutest thou me?” Saul, in turn, had also asked a question. He had asked, had “Who art thou, Lord?” The answer was, “I am Jesus whom thou persecutest.” It was at this point that Saul accepted the truth that Jesus is the Christ whom the Old Testament prophets had predicted would come. He accepted the truth that Jesus is the Son of God. He accepted the truth that Jesus had risen from the grave as the disciples had said. He accepted the fact that Jesus is the Savior and that it is by one’s faith in Jesus Christ that one can go to heaven when he dies. It was at this point that Saul had trusted in Jesus Christ to be his Savior and to save him from his sins. Immediately after accepting Jesus Christ as the Savior and after trusting in Jesus to save him from his own sins Saul cried out and said, “Lord, what wilt thou have me to do?” The Lord had said, “Arise and go into the city (meaning the city of Damascus) and it will be told you what you are to do.” II. The confusion of the men who were with Saul V. 7, “And the men which journeyed with him stood speechless, hearing a voice, but seeing no man.” Lute takes the time to tell us about the men who had been traveling with Saul. These men did not fall to the ground as Saul had done. Rather they stood. They remained standing. They stood speechless. They did not participate in the conversation between Saul and Jesus. They heard Saul and understood the words that he said, but did not understand what he was talking about. They did not know that was going on. They were confused about who he was talking to and what he meant by what he said. In this verse they Luke says that they heard the voice of Jesus. The Greek language used in this verse means that they heard the voice of Jesus, but they did not understand the words which He said. This is in agreement with Acts 22:9 which in the Greek meaning of the words says that they did not hear with understanding. They not only did not understand what was going on, but they did not even know what words the Lord spoke to Saul. Those men were dumbfounded and just stood there speechless not knowing what to do or what to say. also saw the light from heaven, but they did not see Jesus, who was talking to Saul. III. Saul going into Damascus as he was told to do V. 8, “And Saul arose from the earth; and when his eyes were opened, he saw no man...” When Saul stood to his feet to go into Damascus, as Jesus told him to do, he could not see. He could not even see the men who were with him. Even after they became aware that he could not see and they laid hands on him to lead him, he still could not see. He was totally dependent on them to lead him. (V. 8), “...but they led him by the hand, and brought [him] into Damascus.” We will learn down in verse 11 that they led him to the house of a man by the name of Judas. He was, of course, not Judas Iscariot. That Judas was dead. He had committed suicide. But this was a man by the name of Judas. Judas is a Jewish name and indicates that this Judas was a Jew. I am not certain whether Saul told them what house they should lead him to or whether the men made that decision on their own. It is probable that Judas was in some way connected to one of the Jewish synagogues of Damascus. V. 9, “And he was three days without sight...” Luke tells us that for three days Saul could not see. Even if we did not know the rest of the story, we would understand from that statement that on that third day, or perhaps, after those three days were completely ended, Saul would regain his sight --- or, at least, part of it. (V. 9), “...and neither did eat nor drink.” Earlier we had noted that the men who were with Saul were in a state of confusion. We see is this statement that Saul, himself, must have been a state of confusion. He was in the process of making a complete turn-about in his life. He had not planned this change in his life. He was experiencing a very emotional and uncertain turn in his life. He was not uncertain about Jesus being the Christ. He had that settled in his mind for good, but there were a lot of unanswered questions in his mind about what the Lord had in store for him. In his confused emotional condition he had no appetite. He neither ate food nor drank any kind of liquid. I am certain that his host, Judas and his family, tried to get him to eat. They tried, at least, to get him to drink. But he wouldn’t. He wanted to first get some things settled in his mind about the Lord and the Lord’s will for his life. He was also uncertain about how to cope with his blindness. IV. The Lord sending Ananias to Saul V. 10-12, “And there was a certain disciple at Damascus, named Ananias; and to him said the Lord in a vision, Ananias. And he said, Behold, I [am here], Lord. And the Lord [said] unto him, Arise, and go into the street which is called Straight, and enquire in the house of Judas for [one] called Saul, of Tarsus: for, behold, he prayeth, And hath seen in a vision a man named Ananias coming in, and putting [his] hand on him, that he might receive his sight.” Ananias was a disciple of the Lord. He was a Christian. In all probability, he was the pastor of the church at Damascus. This had to be new church. It must have been started as a result of the early persecution which had come on the church by Saul or others. He most certainly knew about Saul of Tarsus and the havoc that Saul had wrought on the church at Jerusalem. Furthermore, he had somehow learned that the reason Saul had come to Damascus was to arrest Christians and carry them back to Jerusalem to stand trial before the Sanhedrin Council. I feel certain that Ananias was not in the habit of saying “No” to the Lord, but he had serious doubts about his safety and the safety of the other members of the church there at Damascus if he were to make contact with Saul of Tarsus. V. 13-14, “Then Ananias answered, Lord, I have heard by many of this man, how much evil he hath done to thy saints at Jerusalem: And here he hath authority from the chief priests to bind all that call on thy name.” V. 15, “But the Lord said unto him, Go thy way...” The Lord said to Ananias, “You just go and do what I have told you to do.” I can certainly understand how Ananias felt. I am not at all sure how I would react under the same circumstances that he was under. But there is one thing that I am certain about. I am certain that there is never any good reason nor is there any good excuse for being disobedient to the Lord. Whenever the Lord lets us know that His will is for our lives, there is no legitimate excuse for refusing to obey. We have all done it. We have all disobeyed and because of our weakness we may do it again. But there is never never never a good excuse for our failure to obey. V. Saul, a chosen vessel to the Gentiles (V. 15), “... for he is a chosen vessel unto me, to bear my name before the Gentiles, and kings, and the children of Israel.” The Lord sought to reassure Ananias by informing him about His plans for Saul of Tarsus. What Ananias was saying about Saul’s past was true. But the Lord was not at this point concerned about what Saul’s past had been. The Lord was looking at what Saul’s future was to be. He had plans for Saul. Saul was a chosen vessel to bear the gospel message to the Gentiles. It is significant that when the Lord was seeking out a man to go to the Gentiles and to preach the gospel message to them that He did not choose a man from Jerusalem nor from any place in Judah nor Galilee. The Lord did not choose to send a Jew who had been born among the Jews and brought up among Jews. The Jew who had been brought up among Jews was prejudiced against Gentiles. Rather He chose to send a Jew who had been born in a Gentile city which was far away from the Jewish homeland. He was a Jew who was not brought up among Jews with the Jewish prejudices toward Gentiles. He chose a Jew who had been brought up among Gentiles. As a child he had played with Gentile boys and girls. He knew their customs. He did not look down upon them just because they were Gentiles. God did choose a man who had been prejudiced against Christianity, but who was now totally convinced that Jesus is the Christ the Son of God, the Savior of sinners whether Jew of Gentile. V. 16, “For I will shew him how great things he must suffer for my name's sake.” The Lord had suffered for Saul. Now it was Saul’s turn to suffer for Jesus. His ministry would bring him into close friendship with many people. He would become close friends with some who were already Christians. Barnabas, for example would become a close friend to Saul. He would become his fellow preacher on the mission field. Mark, who wrote the gospel of Mark, would become a close friend with Saul, although for a little while Mark would lose his good standing with Saul. Luke, who wrote the Gospel of Luke, would also become a good personal friend and a fellow helper on the mission field. There would be many whom Saul would win to the Lord and who would come to love this man dearly. Some would be willing to lay down their lives for him if they could. But as a result of his work for Jesus there would be many people who would become the bitter enemies of Saul of Tarsus. They would hate him with a passion. They would do all within their power to kill him and stop him from preaching the gospel of Christ. VI. Saul’s sight restored V. 17-18, “And Ananias went his way, and entered into the house; and putting his hands on him said, Brother Saul, the Lord, [even] Jesus, that appeared unto thee in the way as thou camest, hath sent me, that thou mightest receive thy sight, and be filled with the Holy Ghost. And immediately there fell from his eyes as it had been scales: and he received sight forthwith...” We note that when Ananias laid his hands on Saul Saul’s eyesight was restored to him. Ananias laid his hands on him and something like scales or scabs fell off Saul’s eyes and his eyesight was restored. Yet apparently his sight was not fully restored to him. We have evidence in Scripture that his sight was only partially restored. For instance, most of the books of the Bible which Saul wrote, he did not write with his own hands. He dictated the words and someone else wrote them down. Also, the one book of the Bible which Paul did right was said to be written in large letters, Gal. 6:11. But Saul’s eyesight would be of such tremendous value to him in his ministry that the Lord sent Ananias to perform a miracle and to, at least, partially restore his eyesight to him. It was restored enough that Saul was able to do the things that God had called him to do. We note also that when Ananias laid his hands on Saul Saul was filled with the Holy Spirit. He had received the Holy Spirit when he trusted the Lord Jesus Christ as his Savior. But now he is filled with the Holy Spirit. The great success of Saul’s ministry is to be accounted for chiefly as a result of the Holy Spirit working within his heart and life. The mighty miracles which Saul would later do was a result of the special gifts of the Spirit which came upon him when Ananias laid his hands on him. VII. Saul baptized (V. 18b), “...and arose, and was baptized.” We also note that Saul got baptized. He did not get baptized in order to get saved, but rather, he got baptized because he was already saved. His baptism was not necessary for his salvation. But it was necessary for him to have a successful Christian witness to the unsaved. Saul could never have accomplished much in the Lord’s cause if he had not been baptized. The truth of the matter is that nobody can accomplish much in the cause of Christ unless he (or she) gets baptized. If one does not believe in Christ and Christianity enough to be identified with it by baptism and church membership, he cannot expect to influence other people to believe in Christ and be a Christian. Conclusion: What does the Lord want you to do? Does HE want you to be saved? If you are not already saved, then that is what He wants you to do. Does He want you to be baptized? If you are saved and you have not been baptized at the hands of a Scriptural New Testament church, then that is what the Lord wants you to do. He wants you to be baptized. Does He want you to place your membership here at Pleasant Hill? That is a question I am not able to answer for you. But I can say this: If the Lord wants you to place your membership here in Pleasant Hill He will somehow impress it upon your mind that this is what He wants you to do.