Are You Transformed? (Christ Comes to Saul) Acts 9:1-22

Introduction

[READING - Acts 9:1-2]

Acts 9:1–2 (NASB95)

1 Now Saul, still breathing threats and murder against the disciples of the Lord, went to the high priest, 2 and asked for letters from him to the synagogues at Damascus, so that if he found any belonging to the Way, both men and women, he might bring them bound to Jerusalem.

[PRAYER]

[CONTEXT] The last time we saw Saul, he was standing by, holding the coats, and giving his approval to those who murdered Stephen, the first Christian martyr.

As persecution of Christians broke out in Jerusalem, Saul was leading the attack.

When Christians fled Jerusalem to greater Judea, Samaria, and beyond, Saul was willing to chase them down.

In his unregenerate way of thinking, this is how he would prove his faithfulness; this is how he would prove his zealousness; this is how he would earn respect form his peers and find favor with God.

In his spiritual blindness, it hadn’t occured to him that he was actually opposing God by persecuting those who followed God’s Son.

But when the grace of God transformed Saul and the scales of spiritual blindness fell from his eyes, he saw clearly who Jesus is, and he saw the horror of what he had been doing.

Jesus once said, “He who is forgiven little, loves little,” (Luke 7:47).

Saul was forgiven much. Therefore, he loved His Lord Jesus much.

The story of Saul-Paul is an amazing story of love, mercy, forgiveness, and transforming grace.

[INTER] As we consider Saul’s story, consider your own story as well. Have you been transformed by Jesus?

[TS]…

Major Ideas

If you have been transformed by Jesus, you have been transformed by grace (Acts 9:1-9).

Acts 9:1–9 (NASB95)

1 Now Saul, still breathing threats and murder against the disciples of the Lord, went to the high priest, 2 and asked for letters from him to the synagogues at Damascus, so that if he found any belonging to the Way, both men and women, he might bring them bound to Jerusalem. 3 As he was traveling, it happened that he was approaching Damascus, and suddenly a light from heaven flashed around him; 4 and he fell to the ground and heard a voice saying to him, “Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting Me?” 5 And he said, “Who are You, Lord?” And He said, “I am Jesus whom you are persecuting, 6 but get up and enter the city, and it will be told you what you must do.” 7 The men who traveled with him stood speechless, hearing the voice but seeing no one. 8 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. 9 And he was three days without sight, and neither ate nor drank.

[EXP] Before his transformation, Saul was a Jew who studied the Jewish faith under the famous rabbi, Gamaliel. He was of the tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew of Hebrews, a Pharisee without equal in terms of zeal. He thought of himself as blameless according to the Law. He persecuted the Christian church, which at this time mainly consisted of Jewish people who believed that Jesus of Nazareth is the Christ.

When the ascended Jesus appeared to Saul on the road to Damascus, Saul was on the way to to arrest people belonging to the Way, i.e., people following the way of Jesus. As he traveled, he was still breathing out murderous threats against the disciples of the Lord Jesus.

So when Jesus appeared to Saul on the road to Damascus, Saul wasn’t knowingly on the road to Jesus, but Jesus was on the way to Him.

“Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting Me?”

The church is the body of Christ. To persecute the church is persecute Christ Himself.

Startled by the blinding flash of glorious light from heaven, Paul asked the most obvious question…

“Who are You, Lord?”

“I am Jesus whom you are persecuting, but get up and enter the city, and it will be told you what you must do.”

The men with Saul were speechless. They heard heard the voice but didn’t see Jesus. Later Saul will say that they didn’t even understand what they heard, but Saul understood. He had them lead them into Damascus to await further instructions from the Lord Jesus.

Saul spent the next three days blind and likely in prayer as he fasted without food or drink.

He didn’t come to Jesus.

He was running in the opposite direction.

But Jesus came to him on the road to Damascus, and Saul was transformed.

[ILLUS] When I was in my early teenage years, as friend invited me to church. I went a few times but didn’t really think it was for me. I didn’t know the songs, when I was supposed to stand up or sit down, and I felt like I was dressed weird.

I told my friend, “Thanks for inviting me, but church just isn’t for me.”

My friend said he understood but wanted me to try this one last thing at their church, something just for teenagers. If I didn’t want to go anymore after that, then he wouldn’t keep pressing me to go.

I agreed to give it one last shot.

My attitude that night was basically, “Ok. I’ll make it through this, then it’ll be done, and I won’t be back.”

I wasn’t looking for Jesus that night, but He was there that night looking for me!

Yes, I walked an aisle. Yes, I prayed a prayer. Yes, I trusted in Christ, gave Him my heart, placed my faith in Him or however you want to put it.

But I only did loved Him, because Jesus loved me first!

[APP] If you have been transformed by Jesus, you know that it is because Jesus came looking for you! You’ve been transformed by pure grace! You’ve been transformed by the sovereign grace of Jesus Christ!

Think about it: one moment you were saying ‘No’ to Jesus, and then the next you were saying ‘Yes.’

One moment you didn’t know what His death on the cross and His resurrection from the grave was about.

The next moment you knew that His death and resurrection meant forgiveness and life.

How did that happen? What made the change?

Grace.

In His graciousness, Jesus came looking for you!

Perhaps you didn’t come here looking for Jesus this morning, but that doesn’t mean that you won’t be saved this morning.

Saul certainly wasn’t looking for Jesus on the road to Damascus, but he was saved nonetheless.

So maybe you didn’t come looking for Him, but maybe He’s here this morning looking for you!

And if you are here and you’ve already been transformed by God’s grace in Jesus, you know it was only because Jesus came looking for you!

[TS]…

If you have been transformed by Jesus, you have been transformed to obey (Acts 9:10-19a).

Acts 9:10–19 (NASB95)

10 Now there was a disciple at Damascus named Ananias; and the Lord said to him in a vision, “Ananias.” And he said, “Here I am, Lord.” 11 And the Lord said to him, “Get up and go to the street called Straight, and inquire at the house of Judas for a man from Tarsus named Saul, for he is praying, 12 and he has seen in a vision a man named Ananias come in and lay his hands on him, so that he might regain his sight.” 13 But Ananias answered, “Lord, I have heard from many about this man, how much harm he did to Your saints at Jerusalem; 14 and here he has authority from the chief priests to bind all who call on Your name.” 15 But the Lord said to him, “Go, for he is a chosen instrument of Mine, to bear My name before the Gentiles and kings and the sons of Israel; 16 for I will show him how much he must suffer for My name’s sake.” 17 So Ananias departed and entered the house, and after laying his hands on him said, “Brother Saul, the Lord Jesus, who appeared to you on the road by which you were coming, has sent me so that you may regain your sight and be filled with the Holy Spirit.” 18 And immediately there fell from his eyes something like scales, and he regained his sight, and he got up and was baptized; 19 and he took food and was strengthened.

[EXP] Ananias was a devout Christian, a holy Christian, and respected Christian in Damascus. How Saul would’ve loved to arrest him and take him back to Jerusalem to stand trial for blasphemy! Ananias knew this, had heard about the reputation of this Saul back in Jerusalem. How surprising then to hear his name spoken by Jesus,

“Ananias.”

“Here I am, Lord.”

“Get up and go to the street called Straight, and inquire at the house of Judas for a man from Tarsus named Saul, for he is praying, and he has seen in a vision a man named Ananias come in and lay his hands on him, so that he might regain his sight.”

But Ananias was cautious not cowardly, willing to be courageously obedient if the Lord was sure.

“Lord, I have heard from many about this man, how much harm he did to Your saints at Jerusalem; and here he has authority from the chief priests to bind all who call on Your name.”

Surely Ananias was thinking, “And I am one who calls on Your name! I know you can deliver me, but would you walk me into the fiery furnace Yourself? Would toss me into the lions den with Your own hands?”

“Go, for he is a chosen instrument of Mine, to bear My name before the Gentiles and kings and the sons of Israel; 16 for I will show him how much he must suffer for My name’s sake.”

Ananias went because the Lord said go.

He laid hands of fellowship on Saul although Saul came to Damascus to lay hands of murder of people like Ananias.

Ananias independently confirmed that Saul had seen the risen Jesus.

He was there when Saul was filled with the Holy Spirit.

He watched as the physical scales of spiritual blindness fell from Saul’s eyes.

Ananias may have been the one to baptize Saul who will forever be known as the Apostle Paul.

Saul was his Jewish name. Paul was his Roman name. But the most important name was the name he was baptized in—the name of Jesus.

Very soon after he believes on Jesus as the Christ, the Son of the Living God, he publically declares his faith in Him through baptism.

Saul took food and was strengthened.

And Ananias was there for it all because he obeyed the Lord.

[ILLUS] In Luke 6:46 Jesus asks us an obvious question, “Why do you call Me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ and do not do what I say?”

Jesus said that everyone who calls him ‘Lord’ but doesn’t obey Him is like a man building without a foundation.

When the torrent bursts (and it will burst), the collapse is immediate.

But Jesus said that everyone who calls him ‘Lord’ and obeys Him is like a man building on a foundation of rock.

The torrent bursts, the flood comes, but this man cannot be shaken.

[APP] Yes, Ananias is cautious at first, but he is ultimately one who calls Jesus “Lord” and does what Jesus says.

Ananias cannot be shaken.

Saul is likewise one who cannot be shaken.

As soon as he sees the risen Jesus and hears the risen Jesus, he obeys the risen Jesus.

He goes into Damascus and waits as the Lord instructed.

Repeatedly throughout the NT we read about Saul-Paul obeying the Lord Jesus.

He obeyed the Lord Jesus as he proclaimed the Lord Jesus before the Gentiles.

He obeyed the Lord Jesus as he proclaimed the Lord Jesus before kings.

He obeyed the Lord Jesus as he proclaimed the Lord Jesus before the sons of Israel.

He obeyed the Lord Jesus even as he suffered greatly for the sake of the name of the Lord Jesus.

The torrent of trial and tribulation, suffering and persecution burst against Saul, but he could not be shaken because he was obeying his Lord.

If you are transformed, you obey your Lord Jesus.

You don’t call Him Lord just out of respect, although we surely we respect Him. We call Him Lord because is our Master.

And what our Master commands, we do.

[TS] We’ve been transformed by grace. We’ve been transformed to obey. And finally this morning…

If you have been transformed by Jesus, you have been transformed to proclaim (Acts 9:19b-22).

Acts 9:19–22 (NASB95)

19 Now for several days he was with the disciples who were at Damascus, 20 and immediately he began to proclaim Jesus in the synagogues, saying, “He is the Son of God.” 21 All those hearing him continued to be amazed, and were saying, “Is this not he who in Jerusalem destroyed those who called on this name, and who had come here for the purpose of bringing them bound before the chief priests?” 22 But Saul kept increasing in strength and confounding the Jews who lived at Damascus by proving that this Jesus is the Christ.

[EXP] When we think of Saul-Paul, we think of him as a disciple-maker, but before he could be a disciple-maker, he had to be a disciple-made. He spent time with the other disciples of Jesus in Damascus, and it wasn’t long before he began to proclaim Jesus as the Son of God in the Jewish synagogues.

Those synagogues no doubt welcomed him based on his reputation in Jerusalem. He was a defender of Judaism against this heretical sect who believed that Jesus of Nazareth was the Messiah, the Christ.

Perhaps they were interested in what he had to say because they had heard about his conversion, how the persecutor of the Way had become a follower of Jesus who claimed to be the Way, the Truth, and the Life.

What could’ve led to such a transformation?

“Is this not he who in Jerusalem destroyed those who called on this name, and who had come here for the purpose of bringing them bound before the chief priests?”

No matter there interest or disinterest. Paul kept being transformed, kept increasing in spiritual strength, confounding and baffling the Jews by proclaiming Jesus as the Christ.

I like the way the NLT puts v. 22, “Saul’s preaching became more and more powerful, and the Jews in Damascus couldn’t refute his proofs that Jesus was indeed the Messiah.”

Is our ability and willingness to prove Jesus as the Messiah getting stronger? Is it growing?

As we are transformed by His grace more and more, our ability and willingness to proclaim Him as the Son of God, the Christ should grow and get stronger.

[ILLUS] In Mark 5, Jesus meets a man possessed by a legion of demons. Once Jesus cast the demons out and set the man free, the man was in his right mind and begged to go with Jesus. But Jesus didn’t let him, saying to him…

“Go home to your people and report to them what great things the Lord has done for you, and how He had mercy on you,” (Mark 5:19).

“And he went away and began to proclaim in Decapolis what great things Jesus had done for him; and everyone was amazed,” (Mark 5:20).

[APP] No matter who we are, when we are transformed by the grace of God in Jesus Christ, we want to obey Him and we want to tell others about Him.

And the more we are transformed, the more we are ready and willing to obey and the more we are ready and willing to tell others.

[TS]…

Conclusion

[PRAYER]