Wash away your sins, calling on His name.

Acts 21:37-22:16 from the daily reading in the One Year Bible

As Paul was about to be brought into the barracks, he said to the commander, “May I say something to you?” And he said, “Do you know Greek? ³⁸ Then you are not the Egyptian who some time ago stirred up a revolt and led the four thousand men of the Assassins out into the wilderness?” ³⁹ But Paul said, “I am a Jew of Tarsus in Cilicia, a citizen of no insignificant city; and I beg you, allow me to speak to the people.” ⁴⁰ When he had given him permission, Paul, standing on the stairs, motioned to the people with his hand; and when there ^[c]was a great hush, he spoke to them in the Hebrew dialect, saying,

22 “Brethren and fathers, hear my defense which I now offer to you.”

² And when they heard that he was addressing them in the Hebrew dialect, they became even more quiet; and he said,

³ “I am a Jew, born in Tarsus of Cilicia, but brought up in this city, educated under Gamaliel, strictly according to the law of our fathers, being zealous for God just as you all are today. ⁴ I persecuted this Way to the death, binding and putting both men and women into prisons, ⁵ as also the high priest and all the Council of the elders can testify. From them I also received letters to the brethren, and started off for Damascus in order to bring even those who were there to Jerusalem as prisoners to be punished.

⁶ “But it happened that as I was on my way, approaching Damascus about noontime, a very bright light suddenly flashed from heaven all around me, ⁷ and I fell to the ground and heard a voice saying to me, ‘Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting Me?’ ⁸ And I answered, ‘Who are You, Lord?’ And He said to me, ‘I am Jesus the Nazarene, whom you are persecuting.’ ⁹ And those who were with me saw the light, to be sure, but did not understand the voice of the One who was speaking to me. ¹⁰ And I said, ‘What shall I do, Lord?’ And the Lord said to me, ‘Get up and go on into Damascus, and there you will be told of all that has been appointed for you to do.’ ¹¹ But since I could not see because of the brightness of that light, I was led by the hand by those who were with me and came into Damascus.

¹² “A certain Ananias, a man who was devout by the standard of the Law, and well spoken of by all the Jews who lived there, ¹³ came to me, and standing near said to me, ‘Brother Saul, receive your sight!’ And at that very time I looked up at him. ¹⁴ And he said, ‘The God of our fathers has appointed you to know His will and to see the Righteous One and to hear an utterance from His mouth. ¹⁵ For you will be a witness for Him to all men of what you have seen and heard. ¹⁶ Now why do you delay? Get up and be baptized, and wash away your sins, calling on His name.’

In Matthew 12:30-32 Jesus says:  “He who is not with Me is against Me; and he who does not gather with Me scatters. Therefore I say to you, any sin and blasphemy shall be forgiven people, but blasphemy against the Spirit shall not be forgiven. Whoever speaks a word against the Son of Man, it shall be forgiven him; but whoever speaks against the Holy Spirit, it shall not be forgiven him, either in this age or in the age to come.” In Luke 23:34, when Jesus was on the cross, He said:  "Father, forgive them; for they do not know what they are doing."    Any sin, all sin can be forgiven through the cross of Christ. Jesus says whoever speaks against the Holy Spirit it will not be forgiven. The Holy Spirit is, the Spirit of truth. (John 16:13) John 16:5-11 says:  “I tell you the truth, it is to your advantage that I go away; for if I do not go away, the Helper will not come to you; but if I go, I will send Him to you. And He, when He comes, will convict the world concerning sin and righteousness and judgment; concerning sin, because they do not believe in Me;  and concerning righteousness, because I go to the Father and you no longer see Me; and concerning judgment, because the ruler of this world has been judged.”    It is one thing to deny Christ and to sin when you do not know what you are doing. But it is different when the truth has been revealed, when we have felt conviction concerning sin, righteousness and judgment, and still we choose sin rather than forgiveness.

In today’s text Paul testifies of who he was before truth was revealed to him. He says:  “I am a Jew, born in Tarsus of Cilicia, but brought up in this city, educated under Gamaliel, strictly according to the law of our fathers, being zealous for God just as you all are today. I persecuted this Way to the death, binding and putting both men and women into prisons, as also the high priest and all the Council of the elders can testify. From them I also received letters to the brethren, and started off for Damascus in order to bring even those who were there to Jerusalem as prisoners to be punished.”    Paul says he was zealous for God. Zeal for God is often at the root of many of the most heinous actions of man against man. In John 16:2-3 Jesus says:  “They will make you outcasts from the synagogue, but an hour is coming for everyone who kills you to think that he is offering service to God. These things they will do because they have not known the Father or Me.”   Throughout history and even today, we have indeed seen that followers of Christ have been killed by those who think or thought they were serving God, because they were zealous for what they believed. Paul was well educated, trained and taught by one of the most respected teachers of his day. Unfortunately man’s knowledge does not always reveal truth. Often man’s knowledge, what we learn from other people supports their agenda, their ideology. That’s what Paul was educated in, the ideology of man, not the truth of God.

Paul though was indeed confronted with truth. He says:   “But it happened that as I was on my way, approaching Damascus about noontime, a very bright light suddenly flashed from heaven all around me,  and I fell to the ground and heard a voice saying to me, ‘Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting Me?’  And I answered, ‘Who are You, Lord?’ And He said to me, ‘I am Jesus the Nazarene, whom you are persecuting.’ And those who were with me saw the light, to be sure, but did not understand the voice of the One who was speaking to me. And I said, ‘What shall I do, Lord?’ And the Lord said to me, ‘Get up and go on into Damascus, and there you will be told of all that has been appointed for you to do.’        Paul had a life changing physical encounter with Christ. Surely not everyone has such an encounter. Yet it was the Spirit of truth which revealed who Jesus was to Paul. It was the Spirit of truth who revealed to Paul that Jesus was/is Lord.  Paul’s testimony continues, he says:    “A certain Ananias, a man who was devout by the standard of the Law, and well spoken of by all the Jews who lived there, came to me, and standing near said to me, ‘Brother Saul, receive your sight!’ And at that very time I looked up at him. And he said, ‘The God of our fathers has appointed you to know His will and to see the Righteous One and to hear an utterance from His mouth. For you will be a witness for Him to all men of what you have seen and heard. Now why do you delay? Get up and be baptized, and wash away your sins, calling on His name.’”    The rest of Paul’s story is well documented. This man, who once persecuted and even killed followers of Christ, heard the truth. He himself became a follower and a powerful witness of the truth. Paul though, like everyone, had a choice. After the truth was revealed to him, he still had to decide whether he would choose sin or forgiveness. Jesus said:   "Father, forgive them; for they do not know what they are doing."   The cross of Christ was to pay for the sins of man, once for all.  The only sin which is not forgiven is the sin we choose over forgiveness. In John 3:17 Jesus says:  "For God did not send the Son into the world to judge the world, but that the world might be saved through Him.”   Neither Jesus nor the Spirit condemns sinners. Rather through the revelation of truth, through the conviction of sin, righteousness and judgment, each one, like Paul, is given a choice of how to respond to the truth, either to call on the name of Jesus or to continue choosing sin. Once we know what we are doing, we must choose.

Heavenly Father thank You that You so loved the world that You sent Jesus, Your Son to pay the price for the forgiveness of sin. Thank You Lord Jesus Christ that You paid the price, You asked the Father that we would be forgiven. Thank You Holy Spirit, the Spirit of truth for the revelation of truth, that Jesus is both Lord and Savior, that forgiveness is ours if we repent and believe, if we choose the forgiveness of the cross rather than sin. Thank You that, like Paul, my sins have been washed away.   Amen.