Chosen for a Reason – Acts 22:12-15

Are you one of those people who think that it would be a wonderful thing to know the future?

I’m not so sure that it would be a great idea.

Although in some specific cases it might be helpful.

For example, we need to replace our church sign, but we need to get a building permit.

So we’ve prepared some drawings to present to the city.

Wouldn’t it be nice to know how they will respond to those drawings so that we could make them perfect the first time and not have to go back and forth straightening and fixing things?

And how do you suppose Paul felt about knowing that bonds and afflictions awaited him in Jerusalem?

I feel confident in saying: that information didn’t do any harm to Paul at all.

But for 95% of us, who don’t have the faith and strength of an Apostle, I’m not sure that we could handle that very well.

I don’t want to know the details of my future, and I’m not sure that I even want a general outline.

What if the Lord said, “You are going to die in a car wreck”?

Would that help you or hinder you?

Well then, what if instead of a detailed prophecy, the Lord gave us details about His purpose?

This is nearly the same thing, but not quite.

What if at the time of some of the major events in our lives, the Lord sent an Ananias who said,

“This is why I am doing what I am about to do.

You are going to meet such-&-such a person, & it’s for this reason that I will bring you together.

Your maple tree is going to die, & it’s so you will have room to plant an apple tree in that spot.

I am going to give you $15,000, and I want you to spend it on a new car.”

This sort of thing contains a bit of prophecy, but perhaps more importantly than that, it tells you what you are supposed to do.

Wouldn’t that kind of information be helpful?

Wouldn’t it be wonderful to know that when choices had to be made in your life, you were making them in absolute center of the will of God?

So when Agabus told Paul that afflictions awaited him in Jerusalem, wouldn’t it have been helpful to also hear:

“But those problems will enable you to give the gospel to two Roman governors and one King;

You will then be bitten by a deadly snake, but in the process you’ll evangelize the island of Melita,

and finally you’ll spend some time in Rome, where you will be visited by many and have time to pen some of the eternal Word of God.”

Wouldn’t that kind of information make difficult prophecy just a little easier to swallow?

As you know, Paul was in the midst of his “apologia” – the explanation of his new life in Christ.

And he was attempting to put it in the best possible light.

So he mentioned his relationship to Gamaliel, and his zeal for the law.

He mentioned his own initial hatred and persecution of the disciples of Jesus.

And then he mentioned Ananias’ near-perfect relationship to the law.

Then here in our scripture for this evening, he was still striving to be as non-offensive as possible.

He said that when Ananias first met him, he made a reference to “the God of our fathers.”

Once again this takes Ananias and Paul right back into the neighborhood of the crowd below him.

I’m sure that many of those people thought that Paul had begun to listen to the false gods of the heathen.

But it wasn’t one of the Philistine gods who had spoken to him, or one of the Greek or Roman gods.

It was the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob.

It was the God who spoke to Abraham and told him to leave Ur and later to sacrifice Isaac.

This was the God who wrestled with Jacob at Bethel.

This was the God who spoke to Moses at the burning bush, and revealed to him the eternal Law.

In other words, God – Jehovah – who had revealed himself to men before, and who might do so again at any time, had done exactly that in revealing himself to Paul.

And for what reason was it that God spoke to Paul?

First, it was God’s will that PAUL KNOW HIS WILL.

I suppose that it doesn’t really matter what the crowd thought as Paul was saying this.

Some might have thought that Paul was talking about God’s will for the rest of his life.

They might have been thinking about eschatological matters like details about the Millennium.

They could have been thinking about any number of things.

But it appears to me that Paul was thinking about something else.

And it certainly wasn’t God’s secret will.

There are things in God’s will that He has not chosen to reveal to man, and He never will reveal them.

For example, He will never e-mail me a list of people in Post Falls, whom he will eventually save.

That would be a wonderful revelation which would make our jobs very, very easy,

But the Lord has never done that in the past and there is no reason to think that he ever will.

And obviously, Ananias wasn’t referring to God’s future will for Paul – prophesy.

Paul could see no farther into the future than we can.

Ananias could have been referring to God’s will to redeem, save and convert Paul.

Isn’t this what happens at that point in time when the Lord saves us?

We come to the realization that God has chosen us and intends to bless us with eternal life.

At the time of salvation we realize that Christ died for us and has prepared a mansion for us in the Father’s house.

The God of all the Universe loves me, and it is His will for me to spend my life working for His glory.

That was probably in Paul’s mind when he said this,

But I think that Paul was also referring to the fact that it was God’s will to include Gentiles in salvation.

It was God’s will that Paul be a “witness unto all men.”

This was not something unknown or hidden deep in the basement of the Old Testament.

But it had been the understanding of the Jews that the salvation of the Gentiles would be through the confines and blessings of Israel.

“The only way those despicable heathen can be saved is if they humble themselves before us.

They have to bow before our rites and ceremonies, before our priests and our laws.”

Even in this, the Jews were going about to establish their own righteousness.

The will of God which was revealed to Paul, eliminated the middle-man.

The wicked Gentiles, just like the wicked Jews could go directly to the Saviour – no superfluous priests were necessary.

One reason that Paul was chosen by God was that he might know some the divine will.

And the same is true for you and me.

God has information, blessings and gifts set aside for each one of us, and He has chosen and called us unto Himself for the purpose of giving them to us.

Everyday there are little gift-wrapped packages scattered all about our lives with cards saying,”Here’s another little gift for you,” and signed “Your loving God.”

The second reason that Paul had been chosen by God, was so that he might SEE THE JUST ONE.

Again, notice how carefully Paul picked his words as he was speaking to those Jews.

He was talking about the Lord Jesus, but he bridled his tongue from uttering that most hated name.

He just called Christ the “Just One.”

And notice that our translators capitalized those words, telling us that it was their understanding that Paul was referring to deity.

Ananias said that the God of their fathers chose Paul in order to show him that “Just One.”

Paul used a very interesting choice of words in speaking about the Saviour.

“Dikaios” (dik’-ah-yos) is a relatively common Greek word, found eighty-eight times in the Bible.

More than half the time it is translated “righteous” and a third of the time it is just “just.”

It is basically an adjective.

Several times “dikaios” (dik’-ah-yos) is used to describe the saints of God,

“Then Joseph her husband, being a just man, and not willing to make her a publick example, was minded to put her away privily.”

“For Herod feared John, knowing that he was a just man and an holy, and observed him; and when he heard him, he did many things, and heard him gladly.

“And they said, Cornelius the centurion, a just man, and one that feareth God, and of good report among all the nation of the Jews…”

“The effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much.”

“Dikaios” (dik’-ah-yos) is generally used as an adjective.

But in this case, and in only two other places, it is used as an adjective within a very special title.

And of course it is used as a title of only one Person – the Lord Jesus.

When Peter was addressing the crowd after the healing at the Beautiful Gate, he chided the Jews:

“But ye denied the Holy One and the Just, and desired a murderer to be granted unto you.”

I suppose that Paul might have been there that day and heard Peter say those words,

but most likely the first time that he really heard that title, so that they stuck in his heart and mind, was as Stephen was preaching.

“Ye stiffnecked and uncircumcised in heart and ears, ye do always resist the Holy Ghost: as your fathers did, so do ye.Which of the prophets have not your fathers persecuted? and they have slain them which shewed before of the coming of the Just One; of whom ye have been now the betrayers and murderers: Who have received the law by the disposition of angels, and have not kept it. When they heard these things, they were cut to the heart, and they gnashed on him with their teeth.”

When Saul was saved, Ananias came and told him that it was God’s purpose that he should see the Just One.

But it’s debatable that this reference had anything to do with Paul’s Damascus road experience.

Did he actually see the Just One that day?

Several times Paul said such things as:

“Last of all he was seen of me also, as of one born out of due time.”

And “am I not an apostle? am I not free? have I not seen Jesus Christ our Lord? are not ye my work in the Lord?”

But in these scriptures he may be speaking about such a visit as Paul’s schooling at the feet of the Lord in Arabia.

“When it pleased God, who separated me from my mother’s womb, and called me by his grace,

To reveal his Son in me, that I might preach him among the heathen; immediately I conferred not with flesh and blood: Neither went I up to Jerusalem to them which were apostles before me; but I went into Arabia, and returned again unto Damascus.”

If we look at this just slightly differently, isn’t true for any and all the saved, that we get to see the Just One?

First we see Him by faith at the time of our salvation, and we see Him in our study of the Word of God.

But then eventually we all shall see our Saviour face to face in glory.

Even we have been chosen to these blessings.

The third thing mentioned as a purpose for Paul’s salvation was to HEAR THE VOICE OF HIS MOUTH.

Here is something which put Paul into very illustrious company.

Of course there were the disciples of Christ during His earthly ministry,

but this was different; Jesus had returned to glory by this time.

On the other hand, Adam saw the Just One and heard the voice of His mouth, but that may have stopped after he was expelled from Eden.

Enoch and then Noah heard the voice of the Son of God.

Abraham, Samuel, David, Isaiah and other illustrious prophets of God heard the Lord’s voice.

Obviously, this is not to be confused with hearing or feeling the conviction of the Holy Spirit.

And this isn’t receiving the message of God through the preaching of the Word.

Paul heard the actual voice of Jesus’ mouth.

Initially it was at the time of his conversion, but that was not the last time for this servant of God.

And once again, this is part of the Lord’s intention when he chose us.

But for us, it has not yet been the “voice of HIS MOUTH” that we have heard.

We’ve heard the voice of His will, and the voice of His written Word, and the conviction of the Holy Spirit,

but some day after we have reached the end of our allotted earthly years,

we shall speak together face-to-face, and we shall actually hear “the voice of His mouth.”

Won’t that be a wonderful day?

Lastly, Paul had been called to be a witness for Christ.

“The God of our fathers hath chosen thee, that thou shouldest know his will,

and see that Just One, and shouldest hear the voice of his mouth.

For thou shalt be his witness unto all men of what thou hast seen and heard.”

This is, generally speaking, the purpose for our earthly lives:

to share what has been revealed to us about our Saviour.

We have not been redeemed for our pleasure, peace and joy, although there is much of these.

We have been saved in order to bring glory to God.

Yes, this is accomplished by Christ in the miracle of our conversion, but it is also supposed to be our joyful daily delight:

“Look what the Lord hath done: He took a worm of the earth and saved him.

What a gracious and powerful, loving and marvelous God we have.”

In essence this is what Paul was trying to tell those people that day at the foot of Castle of Antonia.

“God has shown me His will that I should see the Saviour and hear the voice of His mouth.

And He has been gracious to me in these things that I might share them with you.”

That is the way we are supposed to spend the rest of our earthly Christian lives.