Power of Christ Through Prayer
November 6, 2024
Pastor Gordon Cook
Acts 9:4-11,
This is the passage Ryan Parsons preached from on Sunday morning and I thought we could come back to it and just highlight a couple of matters. I often do that with my own sermons so I'm not picking on him at all. There was one thing that I thought could also be emphasized and I talked to our brother about it today.
When you hear or read the story of Saul of Tarsus, his conversion, also what follows, it is really one of the most amazing stories in the Bible. We sing Amazing Grace, and when you think of Saul, Amazing grace that saved a wretch like him. I wonder how many people prayed for this guy to be saved. You know there are those imprecatory prayers in the Old Testament, and I wonder, did anyone pray those kind of prayers calling for God's curse upon a man who was bent on destroying Christ's church.
And we were reminded on Sunday just how wicked this man was in terms of his pride. We shouldn't forget God hates pride. He was proud of his birthright, proud of his education, proud of his righteousness and his pride drove him, his zeal. It was a zeal without knowledge, but it drove his zeal and hatred to destroy the church. In the book of Galatians, Paul even tells his own story several times, here's what he says with regard to how he persecuted the church. Galatians 1:13, “For you have heard of my former life in Judaism how I persecuted the church of God violently, (I think it could be translated beyond measure) and tried to destroy it.” He was a terrorist kind of a guy. How much blood do you think he had on his hands? But the man was wonderfully changed, and our brother reminded us of that in terms of the clear evidences that he became a new creation in Christ, immediate obedience, fasting, preaching the gospel.
And then there's that other matter here. Notice how Luke captures it in verse 11, “Behold he is praying.” Someone could ask the question, “Well, isn't that what Pharisees did? Didn't Pharisees pray?” Well, they did, but in another sense they didn't. He never prayed to the true living God in terms of knowing him. He never prayed sincere, humble prayers, but proud, hypocritical prayers.
Remember how Jesus describes the Pharisee praying in Luke 18. He makes a contrast between the two men who went up to the temple, one was a tax collector, one was a Pharisee. And remember, he thanks God, “I'm not like other men, I'm not an extortioner, adulterer, I'm not even like that tax collector. I fast twice a week, I give tithes.” And Jesus also tells us about the Pharisee’s praying in Matthew 23, they love the street corner praying; they love to stand on the street corners; they love the attention; it was only about themselves. So you see the Pharisees, without the grace of God, were totally devoid of true humility and sincerity. No love for God. But here in Acts 9, Luke captures Saul on camera with a sense of amazement. This is the word that Luke uses in his own gospel, but he also uses it because he wrote the book of Acts. It's that word behold. Behold, it has an element of excitement to it, amazement. Behold. “Behold he's praying.”
What's so unusual about that? This is the first time Saul is praying. This is the first time for real authentic, sincere, humble praying. He's praying like a tax collector. Remember again the comparison Jesus made, he came into the temple, he beat his breast, “Be merciful to me, a sinner.” The man who was so proud, Saul of Tarsus, is so full of his own sense of righteousness, a work righteousness, is now a humble, broken sinner. And if you read through his epistles, his letters, it's very clear that Paul never forgot he was a sinner. Romans 7, “O wretched man that I am.” In 1 Timothy 1, he calls himself the chief or the foremost of sinners. And the same is true of us, we are Romans 7 sinners. We are the sinners that Jesus describes in the Beatitudes, the poor in spirit, those who mourn. We are the Job-like sinners, Job at the back end, remember what he says, “I despise myself, I repent in dust and ashes.” We are David like sinners, Psalm 51, “Wash me thoroughly, cleanse me from my sin.”
So every Christian is a saint by grace. We never want to deny that. But we're sinners and we must never forget that either. And Jesus wants us to regularly come to the throne of grace seeking forgiveness. That's really at the heart of that prayer that he gives us in Matthew 6. So let's not forget we are saved, but we are sinners.
And the conversion of Saul also does something else. It not only reminds us that we are always sinners needing grace, and this is what our brother did point out, this conversion of Saul gives us hope. There's no one who God cannot save, there's no one. It doesn't matter how long they've been in the far country. It doesn't matter how immersed they are in false religion or cults or whatever you want to say. It doesn't matter if they are popes, Roman Catholic priests, Muslim clerics, Hollywood actors, actresses, whether they are death row sinners like the thief on the cross, prodigal-like sinners; we can go to the throne of grace confident brethren, that God can save our loved ones. And so we should do that regularly, praying for the unsaved. If he saved Saul of Tarsus, he can save anyone. So let's pray in light of that.
Pastor Gordon Cook
Acts 9:4-11,
“And falling to the ground, he heard a voice saying to him, “Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting me?” And he said, “Who are you, Lord?” And he said, “I am Jesus, whom you are persecuting. But rise and enter the city, and you will be told what you are to do.” The men who were traveling with him stood speechless hearing the voice, but seeing no one. Saul rose from the ground, and although his eyes were opened, he saw nothing. So they led him by the hand and brought him into Damascus. And for three days he was without sight and neither ate nor drank. Now there was a disciple at Damascus named Ananias. The Lord said to him in a vision, “Ananias.” And he said, “Here I am, Lord.” And the Lord said to him, “Rise, and go to the street called Straight, and at the house of Judas, look for a man of Tarsus named Saul, for behold, he is praying.”
This is the passage Ryan Parsons preached from on Sunday morning and I thought we could come back to it and just highlight a couple of matters. I often do that with my own sermons so I'm not picking on him at all. There was one thing that I thought could also be emphasized and I talked to our brother about it today.
When you hear or read the story of Saul of Tarsus, his conversion, also what follows, it is really one of the most amazing stories in the Bible. We sing Amazing Grace, and when you think of Saul, Amazing grace that saved a wretch like him. I wonder how many people prayed for this guy to be saved. You know there are those imprecatory prayers in the Old Testament, and I wonder, did anyone pray those kind of prayers calling for God's curse upon a man who was bent on destroying Christ's church.
And we were reminded on Sunday just how wicked this man was in terms of his pride. We shouldn't forget God hates pride. He was proud of his birthright, proud of his education, proud of his righteousness and his pride drove him, his zeal. It was a zeal without knowledge, but it drove his zeal and hatred to destroy the church. In the book of Galatians, Paul even tells his own story several times, here's what he says with regard to how he persecuted the church. Galatians 1:13, “For you have heard of my former life in Judaism how I persecuted the church of God violently, (I think it could be translated beyond measure) and tried to destroy it.” He was a terrorist kind of a guy. How much blood do you think he had on his hands? But the man was wonderfully changed, and our brother reminded us of that in terms of the clear evidences that he became a new creation in Christ, immediate obedience, fasting, preaching the gospel.
And then there's that other matter here. Notice how Luke captures it in verse 11, “Behold he is praying.” Someone could ask the question, “Well, isn't that what Pharisees did? Didn't Pharisees pray?” Well, they did, but in another sense they didn't. He never prayed to the true living God in terms of knowing him. He never prayed sincere, humble prayers, but proud, hypocritical prayers.
Remember how Jesus describes the Pharisee praying in Luke 18. He makes a contrast between the two men who went up to the temple, one was a tax collector, one was a Pharisee. And remember, he thanks God, “I'm not like other men, I'm not an extortioner, adulterer, I'm not even like that tax collector. I fast twice a week, I give tithes.” And Jesus also tells us about the Pharisee’s praying in Matthew 23, they love the street corner praying; they love to stand on the street corners; they love the attention; it was only about themselves. So you see the Pharisees, without the grace of God, were totally devoid of true humility and sincerity. No love for God. But here in Acts 9, Luke captures Saul on camera with a sense of amazement. This is the word that Luke uses in his own gospel, but he also uses it because he wrote the book of Acts. It's that word behold. Behold, it has an element of excitement to it, amazement. Behold. “Behold he's praying.”
What's so unusual about that? This is the first time Saul is praying. This is the first time for real authentic, sincere, humble praying. He's praying like a tax collector. Remember again the comparison Jesus made, he came into the temple, he beat his breast, “Be merciful to me, a sinner.” The man who was so proud, Saul of Tarsus, is so full of his own sense of righteousness, a work righteousness, is now a humble, broken sinner. And if you read through his epistles, his letters, it's very clear that Paul never forgot he was a sinner. Romans 7, “O wretched man that I am.” In 1 Timothy 1, he calls himself the chief or the foremost of sinners. And the same is true of us, we are Romans 7 sinners. We are the sinners that Jesus describes in the Beatitudes, the poor in spirit, those who mourn. We are the Job-like sinners, Job at the back end, remember what he says, “I despise myself, I repent in dust and ashes.” We are David like sinners, Psalm 51, “Wash me thoroughly, cleanse me from my sin.”
So every Christian is a saint by grace. We never want to deny that. But we're sinners and we must never forget that either. And Jesus wants us to regularly come to the throne of grace seeking forgiveness. That's really at the heart of that prayer that he gives us in Matthew 6. So let's not forget we are saved, but we are sinners.
And the conversion of Saul also does something else. It not only reminds us that we are always sinners needing grace, and this is what our brother did point out, this conversion of Saul gives us hope. There's no one who God cannot save, there's no one. It doesn't matter how long they've been in the far country. It doesn't matter how immersed they are in false religion or cults or whatever you want to say. It doesn't matter if they are popes, Roman Catholic priests, Muslim clerics, Hollywood actors, actresses, whether they are death row sinners like the thief on the cross, prodigal-like sinners; we can go to the throne of grace confident brethren, that God can save our loved ones. And so we should do that regularly, praying for the unsaved. If he saved Saul of Tarsus, he can save anyone. So let's pray in light of that.
Posted in Pastor Devotional