The Sinner's Prayer

Introduction:

One of my favorite hymns of years gone by He Lives.

I serve a risen Saviour, He's in the world today I know that He is living, whatever men may say I see His hand of mercy, I hear His voice of cheer And just the time I need Him He's always near

He lives (He lives), He lives (He lives), Christ Jesus lives today He walks with me and talks with me Along life's narrow way He lives (He lives), He lives (He lives), Salvation to impart You ask me how I know He lives? He lives within my heart

This is the message the Apostles were sharing.

This is the message that caused them to be beat for their faith.

And it wasn’t just a message that Jesus rose from the grave but that “He Lives, He Lives, Christ Jesus lives today. He walks with me and talk with me along life’s narrow way.”

So many times Christianity is preached as transactional.

You need forgiveness and God will Grant you that if you will receive the message and believe in Christ.

I need someone to get me out of the mess I have created or others have created for me. God help me.

But the message we preach is personal.

God desires a relationship with you that is real and personal.

Revelation 3:20 ESV

20 Behold, I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and eat with him, and he with me.

Every Person that forms a relationship with Jesus, the Son of God goes through three stages:

Enlightenment

Encounter

Surrender

There are 3 times in the book of Acts that Paul shares his story of conversion and we will be looking at all three at the same time. Acts 9, 22, 26

Acts 9:1–2 ESV

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

You don’t have to be right to come to the Lord. It’s the Lord that is actively seek and saving the lost.

Enlightenment: The Word

Acts 9:3 ESV

3 Now as he went on his way, he approached Damascus, and suddenly a light from heaven shone around him.

Jesus is the Light of the World

John 1:4–5 ESV

4 In him was life, and the life was the light of men. 5 The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.

John 1:9 ESV

9 The true light, which gives light to everyone, was coming into the world.

The word of God illuminates your path.

Psalm 119:105 ESV

105 Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path.

The Light of the Lord Shines in your heart

2 Corinthians 4:6 ESV

6 For God, who said, “Let light shine out of darkness,” has shone in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.

Encounter: The Who

Acts 9:4–5 ESV

4 And falling to the ground, he 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.

Saul encountered the Risen Christ.

The resurrected Christ is the only Christ to follow.

John 20:25–29 ESV

25 So the other disciples told him, “We have seen the Lord.” But he said to them, “Unless I see in his hands the mark of the nails, and place my finger into the mark of the nails, and place my hand into his side, I will never believe.” 26 Eight days later, his disciples were inside again, and Thomas was with them. Although the doors were locked, Jesus came and stood among them and said, “Peace be with you.” 27 Then he said to Thomas, “Put your finger here, and see my hands; and put out your hand, and place it in my side. Do not disbelieve, but believe.” 28 Thomas answered him, “My Lord and my God!” 29 Jesus said to him, “Have you believed because you have seen me? Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed.”

You don’t have to see to believe, but you do have an encounter.

Saul saw the light and heard the Savior.

The Ethiopian Eunuch saw Jesus in the pages of Scripture.

Acts 8:37 KJV 1900

37 And Philip said, If thou believest with all thine heart, thou mayest. And he answered and said, I believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God.

Saul was persecuting Jesus through his Church.

Jesus is one with his Bride.

Ephesians 5:31–32 ESV

31 “Therefore a man shall leave his father and mother and hold fast to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh.” 32 This mystery is profound, and I am saying that it refers to Christ and the church.

Those who receive Jesus become one with Him.

John 17:20–26 ESV

20 “I do not ask for these only, but also for those who will believe in me through their word, 21 that they may all be one, just as you, Father, are in me, and I in you, that they also may be in us, so that the world may believe that you have sent me. 22 The glory that you have given me I have given to them, that they may be one even as we are one, 23 I in them and you in me, that they may become perfectly one, so that the world may know that you sent me and loved them even as you loved me. 24 Father, I desire that they also, whom you have given me, may be with me where I am, to see my glory that you have given me because you loved me before the foundation of the world. 25 O righteous Father, even though the world does not know you, I know you, and these know that you have sent me. 26 I made known to them your name, and I will continue to make it known, that the love with which you have loved me may be in them, and I in them.”

Saul’s pride and stubbornness was not only hurting other but himself.

Acts 26:14 ESV

14 And when we had all fallen to the ground, I heard a voice saying to me in the Hebrew language, ‘Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting me? It is hard for you to kick against the goads.’

Jesus doesn’t leave you fallen. He picks you up with a purpose.

2 Corinthians 5:17 ESV

17 Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come.

Surrender: The What

Acts 22:10 ESV

10 And I said, ‘What shall I do, Lord?’ And the Lord said to me, ‘Rise, and go into Damascus, and there you will be told all that is appointed for you to do.’

Follow the Risen Savior.

Acts 9:6 ESV

6 But rise and enter the city, and you will be told what you are to do.”

Witness in the power of the Spirit.

Acts 9:15–19 ESV

15 But the Lord said to him, “Go, for he is a chosen instrument of mine to carry my name before the Gentiles and kings and the children of Israel. 16 For I will show him how much he must suffer for the sake of my name.” 17 So Ananias departed and entered the house. And laying his hands on him he said, “Brother Saul, the Lord Jesus who appeared to you on the road by which you came has sent me so that you may regain your sight and be filled with the Holy Spirit.” 18 And immediately something like scales fell from his eyes, and he regained his sight. Then he rose and was baptized; 19 and taking food, he was strengthened. For some days he was with the disciples at Damascus.

Acts 1:8 ESV

8 But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth.”

Share the light within you.

Acts 9:20–22 ESV

20 And immediately he proclaimed Jesus in the synagogues, saying, “He is the Son of God.” 21 And all who heard him were amazed and said, “Is not this the man who made havoc in Jerusalem of those who called upon this name? And has he not come here for this purpose, to bring them bound before the chief priests?” 22 But Saul increased all the more in strength, and confounded the Jews who lived in Damascus by proving that Jesus was the Christ.

Summary

The remainder of Saul, now Paul’s, life was to share the good news of the resurrected Christ with the known world. His desire is that people would meet the Savior who had arrested him on the road to Damascus.

Philippians 3:8–11 ESV

8 Indeed, I count everything as loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For his sake I have suffered the loss of all things and count them as rubbish, in order that I may gain Christ 9 and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which comes through faith in Christ, the righteousness from God that depends on faith— 10 that I may know him and the power of his resurrection, and may share his sufferings, becoming like him in his death, 11 that by any means possible I may attain the resurrection from the dead.

When a person meets the resurrected Christ they are illuminated with His presence, they encounter His grace, and they surrender their will to His.

Many of us have met the Lord on our Damascus road.

Are you continuing in the enlightenment of the Word made flesh?

Are you still encountering the risen Savior?

Are you surrendered to His will?

Some of you are encountering Jesus for the first time this morning.

What a privilege that Jesus would come to you and enlighten your soul.

How amazing that you would encounter the risen Savior.

And now it’s time to surrender your will to His as the Lord of your life.

When Jesus was speaking to Saul the people around him knew that something was going on, but it was personal to Saul. So it is this morning. Jesus is still calling people today. I believe he is calling someone in this very room this morning. Don’t kick against the goads. You’re only hurting yourself.

R-Group Questions:

When has God given you an opportunity to tell your salvation story to someone?

Who do you know that needs to encounter the resurrected Christ?

Pray specifically that God would give you an opportunity to share how you personally met Jesus, the risen Christ.