A Street Less Traveled

But can you imagine His great guilt? Don't go so fast that you don't think of what must have been going through His heart. They're sharing their meals with Him, and throughout the day they're sharing their joy in Christ. To think that He had come to imprison them, think of what He had already done.

He was already guilty of murders, accounted to His leadership. While the spotlight of our study is not so much on Saul, who would be the apostle Paul in future days, I think we can at least learn this truth. You cannot go back and rewrite the first chapters of your life, but you can start now to write a new one. Welcome to Wisdom for the Heart with Stephen Davey. Stephen is the pastor of the Shepherd's Church in Cary, North Carolina. Have you been in a situation where you came face to face with someone who hated you?

Or maybe was trying to harm you? That's what Ananias thought he was getting into when God sent him to visit Paul. Paul had come to town to arrest the Christians, but as we saw last time, God miraculously saved him.

We dive into our Vintage Wisdom Library today with this lesson called, A Street Less Traveled. Every one of us sometime in our schooling learned the story of Isaac Newton and his famous discovery. He heard the story of how he was sitting under that tree and that ripe fruit fell and hit him on the head and he discovered somewhere around there the law of gravity. Few of us learned that if it were not for another scientist, we would have perhaps never learned of Newton. For it was another man named Edmund Halley who challenged and mentored Newton into rethinking his original ideas. It would be Halley who would correct Newton's mathematical errors. It would be Halley who coaxed the rather timid and hesitant Newton to put his discoveries into writing. And it would be Halley who would edit and revise those writings. And it would be Halley who financed the first edition of Newton's works. Historians consider it one of the greatest selfless examples of the annals of science. Newton began almost immediately enjoying the prominence and popularity of a discoverer while Edmund Halley retreated for the most part into the shadows of obscurity if it were not for his correct calculation of the orbit of that comet that we have named after him, he would be an unknown scientist, for the most part.

One biographical statement about Edmund Halley said that he didn't care who got the credit, he only cared that the cause of science was advanced. Our study this morning in the book of Acts involves a man who to me resembles the character of an Edmund Halley only a thousand times more. It's the story of a man who also launched the career of another man and then retreated into the shadows of obscurity. His name was Ananias and the brief appearance of this man occurs in Acts chapter 9. This is a man who would be willing one day to take a walk down a street less traveled and to this day there isn't much traffic on that street.

He will be required to fulfill things that not many are willing to fulfill and I want us to discover them together. So if you have your Bibles if you would turn to this book and this chapter, Acts chapter 9 and if you remember if you were with us in our last discussion the Saul is dramatically converted on the road to Damascus. He is pursuing the believer. He is intent on capturing those wayward Jews and bringing them back to Jerusalem to stand trial for heresy and as chapter 9 opens you remember he is riding toward Damascus on what one theologian called a very high horse.

And God knocked him off as it were. And it was then Acts 22 tells us that he recognizes the identity after having the identity after it has been revealed to him that this Jesus of Nazareth was indeed the resurrected magnificent God of the heavens. And he said, Lord as a submitting statement to his deity what do you want me to do now?

Here is where the Lord responds in Acts chapter 9 verse 6 by saying rise and enter the city and it shall be told you what you must do. And the men who traveled with him stood speechless hearing the voice but seeing no one. And Saul got up from the ground and though his eyes were open he could see nothing. And leading him by the hand they brought him into Damascus and he was three days without sight and neither ate nor drank. So imagine Saul here as we tried to do in our last discussion the great defender of Judaism, the grand persecutor, the dreaded hunter of Christians riding into Damascus to capture those wayward Jews and bring them back to Jerusalem. But now this man has experienced the revelation of the resurrected Christ and he bends his knee to that revelation. The same revelation that you and I have in fact that he is the son of God and he was on that day converted. Now what? Now what's next? Well unbeknown to Saul who was sitting in a room in darkness not eating or drinking at that same time God is working in the heart and life of another man.

Let's pick our study up at that point. Look at verse 10. Now there was a certain disciple of Damascus named Ananias and the Lord said to him in a vision Ananias and he said behold here am I Lord. Now by the way you ought to know that later in the book of Acts Saul recounts this story and describes Ananias as a leading Christian among the believers in Damascus.

He was a man known for his integrity. He was no doubt a leader in the church and I've thought he could have had a prominent position but as you will see as our story develops he is willing to retreat into obscurity as it were. It is to this man, this leader that the Lord appears in a vision. Verse 11 and the Lord said to him arise and go to the street called straight and inquire at the house of Judas for a man from Tarshish named Saul for behold he is praying and he sees in a vision a man named Ananias come in and lay his hands on him so that he might regain his sight. Now don't overlook the fact that the Lord does not tell Ananias about Saul's conversion. He doesn't inform him that he's no longer the grand hunter of Christians and the great persecutor of the believer. He simply says and I'm sure that Ananias' blood chilled at that moment as he heard the name of that dreaded hunter, Saul of Tarsus. I want you to go and see him. For Ananias then to walk down this street named straight it would require a number of things, things that are required of us as it were in our Christian testimony.

I want to give you three of them. Number one it will require of Ananias first of all an act of personal trust. I am so glad that God recorded by his spirit this particular conversation because it reveals that Ananias is made out of the same stuff that you and I are made out of and it gives me hope and I hope it gives you hope too. Look at verse 13. But Ananias answered, Lord I have heard from many about this man how much harm he did to thy saints at Jerusalem.

I love this. Ananias is informing the Lord of who Saul is as if the Lord didn't know. Lord and furthermore verse 14 here he has authority from the chief priests to bind all who call upon thy name. Lord you must not have heard why he's a Damascus and now you're telling me that something's happened to his eyesight and so he can't see and that's bad. If he can't see he can't see Christians like me and he can't capture Christians. Why is not this an answer to prayer and an item of praise?

We ought to throw a celebration. Your power has come forth and it has in effect destroyed the enemy of the church. Explain to me Lord why this shouldn't be considered an answered prayer. And the Lord says okay I'll tell you why. Verse 15.

Go for he is a chosen instrument of mine to bear my name before the Gentiles and kings and the sons of Israel for I will show him how much he must suffer for my name's sake. What a great lesson for all of us. Ananias knew all about Saul's past. God knew everything about Saul's future. Ananias knew Saul as the great persecutor.

God knew him as the great preacher. There is a future for this man and how like Ananias we are in our little problems and our challenges. Lord may I remind you of some things I think you must have forgotten.

You must be overlooking some things to require that of me or to suggest that I do this or that. And we inform him this sovereign majestic all knowing God based upon our limited perspective. Well Ananias you know his past but I know his future and I want you to know he is a chosen instrument of mine. You know him as a murderer for me as an instrument chosen.

And by the way that's the same for you and me. Everyone here who claims the name of Jesus Christ as personal savior Peter tells us that you are a chosen generation a royal priesthood a particular people of his possession. You might go and share forth the praises of him who has called you out of darkness into a marvelous light. Colossians 3 also refers to the believer as a chosen instrument. It's exciting to know as you study this that like Saul you had a past BC before Christ.

But when you came to him you discovered that he had for you a future. Well Ananias if you're going to travel down that street that not many people travel it's going to take an act of personal trust that I know not only his future but I know what I have in store for your future. Second of all there's more here for Ananias to go to Saul was nothing less than an act of personal forgiveness. I don't want you to miss this go back to verse 11 and take a closer look. And the Lord said to him arise and go to the street called straight and inquire in the house of Judas for a man from Tarsus named Saul for behold he is praying.

That's by the way is a real good clue if Ananias is listening and I'm sure he was. Pharisees didn't do much praying in private they did their praying in public. They didn't hold secret small prayer meetings they prayed on street corners. This brilliant Pharisee had been caught into that world as well praying publicly so that men could hear and see their piety. Well Ananias here he is in this house just off the street praying this street by the way to this day is the main thoroughfare from the West Gate to the East Gate in the city of Damascus. Go over to Judas's house Ananias he lives just off straight street and you're going to find a blinded man your enemy genuinely praying for the very first time in his life.

And I want you to go and be the agent to restore his sight back to him. You see what God is asking Ananias to do is nothing less than being involved in personally forgiving this grand enemy of the church. That made me think you know why there aren't many travelers on streets called straight because you can't travel down that holding a grudge and bitterness and hatred. Men and women who travel down this street like Ananias have chosen at some point to submit to the work and will of God in their lives as it relates to people and they've left that behind and they're willing to be the agent of communicating grace to people like he was here. He'd been so angry and fearful at the first mention that he said in effect whatever you want to do great leave me out but now. Look at verse 16 I think that's why God maybe added this little phrase I think it's for Ananias it isn't for Saul he won't tell Saul until later but he lets Ananias know a little bit of his future. He says for I will show him how much he will suffer for my name's sake. Listen Ananias a gracious God implies nobody has said you haven't suffered for me but Saul will suffer incredibly. He will be crushed by stones more than once he will be left for dead he will suffer shipwreck he will suffer imprisonment beatings floggings loneliness he will suffer misunderstanding and criticism like no other representative of the church and he will finally be executed oh he will he will suffer like few others will Ananias I know what Saul has done to you and the one who made many suffer will suffer like no other.

The question is will you go and be the agent of grace and communicate to him nothing less than your personal involvement in my forgiveness of him. I don't know what happened probably a little more discussion or maybe at that moment immediate submission all I know is what the next verse says and Ananias departed and entered the house for 17 and after laying his hands on him he said brother Saul the Lord Jesus who appeared to you on the road by which you were coming is sent me so that you may regain your sight and be filled with the Holy Spirit. Now that phrase didn't happen in the previous conversation with the Lord which aroused my interest. The verb be filled is in the subjunctive mood in the original text it's not an imperative Saul be filled with the Spirit and thereby confused with perhaps the baptism of the Spirit that had already occurred at his conversion. Be controlled is not the imperative. No if we translate this with the flavor of the subjunctive mood it could read something like this Saul if you want this to happen the Spirit of God will at this moment control you and I'm hoping that you want him to control you at this moment.

Why? The Lord didn't tell Ananias anything about Saul needing to be controlled by the Spirit only that he would receive his sight. I get the feeling that Ananias is hoping that as soon as the zealous persecutor receives his sight that he will be controlled by the Holy Spirit.

Saul I hope that you want to be controlled by the Holy Spirit before I lay hands on you. And immediately verse 18 there fell from his eyes something like scales and he regained his sight and he didn't pounce. Instead he arose and was baptized. Imagine that the persecutor of the believer now identifying with the believer through the water of baptism and thereby identifying as well with the risen Lord in his death and his burial and his resurrection. What a moment that must have been in the city of Damascus.

Headline news for these believers to read with great joy. Now there's a third thing about Ananias's coming that's also observed not only in Ananias but in these other disciples. If you'll notice verse 19 there's an act of personal acceptance.

The last part of verse 19 for several days he was with the disciples who were at Damascus and what an incredible turn of events here. The one who had come to capture them is now captivated by them. The one who had come to find them is now fellowshipping with them. He had come to torture them and now he is treated by them to their hospitality. But can you imagine his great guilt? Don't go so fast that you don't think of what must have been going through his heart.

They're sharing their meals with him and throughout the day they're sharing their joy in Christ. To think that he had come to imprison them, think of what he had already done. He was already guilty of murders, accounted to his leadership. While the spotlight of our study is not so much on Saul who would be the Apostle Paul in future days, I think we can at least learn this truth.

You cannot go back and rewrite the first chapters of your life but you can start now to write a new ending. Well, some time ago a Swedish scientist awakened one morning to read his newspaper and it did include his obituary. He had become rather famous for having invented dynamite and the headlines read to that effect. It described the fortune that this man had amassed by being the inventor of this explosive. He was troubled by that.

They had gotten it wrong. His older brother had actually been the one that had died. But when he read his epitaph, he was moved with the fact that this was how he would be remembered.

And so this man, Alfred Nobel, took his fortune and initiated a prize given to those who promote peace. If you think about Paul, how's he going to end his life? Not known for murdering Christians, will he? He once saw now the Apostle Paul will be known as advancing the cause of Christianity like no one else.

Think about Ananias here. What kind of ending could he have written to his life if he at this moment had said, Lord, you're asking me to do too much. You're asking me to forgive one of my bitterest enemies.

I can't do it. And if he had walked away in disobedience, God would have used someone else. But think of the ending he would have written in his life. You can't go back and rewrite the first chapters of your life but you can start now to write a new ending.

Well, for those willing to take this traveling trip down Straight Street who today are called upon to live like this man, let me give you some tips. Number one, forgiving someone else is best enabled by remembering your own forgiveness. I have the privilege of learning about the past of people who join our fellowship. We require that they write out their personal testimony of coming to faith in Christ and a little bit of that journey and whatever in the past they want to put in and that's fine. And I have the privilege of reading these testimonies that my class submits and I'm always moved. I wish you could read all of them but I just thought as I studied this individual whose past is now changed into a different kind of future that has stamped across it forgiven.

Let me just read a couple of them. Here's a gentleman who writes, I was raised in a very kind and loving family however that believed organized religion was just for hypocrites. I never once attended church services with my family while growing up. I never knew what Easter was or why we celebrated Christmas and I never really cared. I was taught that if you worked hard, were honest and treated other people right, then you could be proud of yourself and leave behind a legacy of a good reputation and that was enough. Being raised with a strong work ethic helped me to excel in the classroom and on the athletic field but it also fostered a dangerous attitude of pride and self-sufficiency. I believed I could do just about anything I set my mind to and so I set my mind to have it all.

In December of 86 my wife and I moved to Cary. We immediately noticed how most of our new found friends attended church and yet didn't seem any different from us. During conversations at parties when the subject of church came up I would become quiet and doubly puzzled at the overwhelming sentiment that most folks asked questions about church and didn't enjoy church but attended because quote it was good for the kids or it's great for business. On the few occasions when I had the courage to ask a spiritual question I remember that the answers were never spiritual.

They didn't know anything either. It all seemed to reinforce my idea of church as being full of people wasting time doing something they really didn't believe in. In the spring of 88 I decided that I was going to do something about this spiritual thing and to decide what if anything I believed so I signed up for a class on world religions intent on becoming whatever made the most sense. As I began to attend the classes I also began to pray to God that if he was real I wanted to know him.

Almost overnight my relationship with my business partner started to go downhill fast. For the first time in my life I feared failure. Toward the end of the class however our next door neighbor told us about her recent spiritual transformation and shared a tape with my wife and me that helped make sense of it all. In short the tape spoke of Christianity as being the only world religion where your acceptance by God was based on something other than good works. It also made the point that the only true Christian is a born again Christian and that term born again Christian had such negative connotations with me.

I had always thought of these people as weak people who had failed at something and latched onto Jesus to avoid admitting they were losers. That for the first time in my life I opened up a Bible and I read John 3 in order to find out if the guy on the tape was lying. I was surprised to find out he wasn't lying. Throughout the whole time my wife was about as uninterested about spiritual things as I was. Needless to say I was shocked when I received a telephone call from her one evening while I was in Columbus, Ohio on a business trip informing me that she was born again. Upon hanging up the telephone I immediately got down on my knees and pleaded with God not to allow her to become a Jesus freak that handed out tracts.

Frankly I was scared. When I arrived home I became hostile toward her and God. I told her none of that Bible reading and none of that spooky praise and worship music that she wanted to listen to.

Then I left for another business trip. While I was away on this trip I found my heart confronted with the truth about my wife's conversion. She was right.

I was wrong. I was fighting with God through her because I was not willing to surrender to Christ. Upon my return from this trip I asked her to kneel with me on her living room floor and I cried out to God and I became a Christian.

He quotes, let not the wise man glory in his wisdom, let not the mighty man glory in his might, nor let the rich man glory in his riches, but let him who glorifies glory in this that he understands and knows me, says the Lord. Here's another one, a woman who writes, at the age of 13 I ran in what most people call the fast lane. By the time I was 15 there was nothing the world had to offer that I had not tried, alcohol, drugs, promiscuity, rebellion against God and man. I concluded I was going to be forced to live on this earth and I would make the best of it. By the age of 19 I could no longer stand to be around my family. A once tolerant family with varied religious views, they had now become Christians.

I couldn't stand the pity in their eyes and the condemnation I simply felt being around them. On the night of my 20th birthday my mother talked me into going to church with her. I wanted so badly to have a place in my family again so I went. My sister came in and sat next to me with a smile on her face and love in her eyes and squeezed my hand and for the next 45 minutes I watched and listened to a man who told me God loved me just the way I was, that he would forgive me and accept me and help me become what he desired me to be and what I desperately wanted to be- forgiven. Accepted Christ as my savior that night and the rest of my life would be changed forever. For one thing my family welcomed me home. My sister and her husband began discipling me and the Lord gave me peace in my life inside and out and for the first time since I could remember I had a desire to live.

Those are just two. People who've, as you can tell, have not really gotten over the fact that they have been forgiven. You want to know how to forgive somebody else? Remember that you have been forgiven yourself. Ananias, can you forgive Saul? Ananias would have been among the company of Jewish religious people who had shouted at this supposed imposter, crucify him!

Just years earlier. And since he forgave Ananias, could Ananias not forgive Saul? Second, forgiving someone else is best engendered by remembering the example of the savior. Wasn't it our Lord who hung on the cross and said, Father, forgive them? Wasn't this the one who moved the prophet Isaiah to say, Come, let us reason together, saith the Lord, though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow, but they be red like crimson, that is, stained permanently.

Oh no, they shall be as wall. Isn't this the one who promised through the apostle John, if you confess your sins, that is if you admit that you have indeed sinned and you are a sinner, he is faithful and just to forgive your sins and to cleanse you from all unrighteousness. So you go to the foot of the cross if you're having trouble forgiving, and you look up at the one who had every right to hold a grudge. You look into the face, as it were, of the one who had every reason to be bitter, and yet he wasn't. And he is our example. And I want you to look back at the testimony of Ananias quickly at verse 17 again. Look at those moving words.

You ought to circle them. Ananias departed and entered the house, and after laying his hands on him said, Brother Saul. Ananias called him brother. Brother Saul, once enemies, now brethren. And the church is going to be introduced in a few days to its chief ambassador.

Why? Because of one man who will soon disappear into the shadows of Saul's prominent ministry, who is willing at this moment to take this trip down this street called straight, a street that even to this day doesn't have much traffic. It's only for believers like Ananias who are willing to display by the grace of God working in their lives moments of extending grace and forgiveness to others. And in so doing, we all advance the church in a mighty way and ultimately bring honor and glory to the great forgiver of the church, our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.

If you were able to put yourself in the shoes of Ananias as you were listening today, you know that his obedience was difficult. I hope that his example of trusting obedience in God will be reflected in the way you live your life today. Steven Davey continues working his way through the early chapters of Acts in this series called The Harvest Begins. It comes from our vintage wisdom library and our archives from 1996. If you missed any of the lessons in this series, we posted them to our website wisdomonline.org. We also have a study guide that goes along with this series. The study guide is entitled The Harvest Begins, and we have it available during this series for a special rate. Call 866-48-Bible for information. And as always, join us next time for more wisdom for the hearts. .