Sauls conversion Pt. 1 Acts 9:1-9

Introduction

Have you ever met someone and thought to yourself there is no way that person could ever get saved, let alone do something great for God? That is really what we get when we read about Saul. How could God ever use someone whose main goal was to destroy Christians and turn them into one of the greatest Missionaries outside of Jesus.

At the end of chapter 7 and beginning of chapter 8 we are introduced to a man named Saul. Saul consented to the death of Stephen, a deacon of the early church, that was stoned for a crime that he didn’t commit.

Saul was persecuting the early church so much after the death of Stephen, that they were scattered abroad, but they continued to preach where ever they went. Some went to Judea, some to Samaria, but Saul was still out to get them.

Phillip went to Samaria and was preaching Jesus there and the disciples that went out of that church went on preaching in the villages of Samaria, while Phillip followed the Lord’s leading to Gaza where he led an Ethiopian to Christ and then continued to Caesarea where he settled down and had a family.

As we move to Chapter 9 we are going to shift our focus to Saul. Here we are going to see Saul’s determination to destroy Christians and Saul’s conversion to Christ.

Saul’s Determination to Destroy Christians 1-2

Here we find Saul here continuing to threaten the Christians vs. 1

The persecution would have caused the Christians to scatter and Saul would continue trying to find them and threaten them because of their belief in Jesus.

The first century church got pushback almost immediately after Jesus ascended but I’m sure they thought often and were reminded often of the words that Jesus said in John 15:18 “If the world hate you, ye know that it hated me before it hated you.”

The reason they were so persecuted is because the Gospel brought their sin to the forefront, they could no longer hide behind a religion, they had to take accountability for their actions.

The Gospel is still offensive today for the same reason, we as a society no longer want to have any accountability for our sin. It has become a trigger word for people, but if we ever want to understand the gospel we must understand our need for Saviour because of our sin nature.

When you are living right you can expect some trials to come into your life.

Paul reminded Timothy of this in 2 Timothy 3:12 “Yea, and all that will live godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer persecution.”

We should live right no matter what the world tries to do to us.

We see not only was Saul threatening the disciples of the Lord, he was also slaughtering them.

He was killing people for the sole reason that they believed in Jesus.

As American Christians, we think someone parking in our spot or sitting in our pew means that we have suffered persecution. While that is a silly illustration, here we see the early church were being put to death for things that we are free to do.

Saul had threatened the Christians in Jerusalem and now went to the high priest and asked for a letter to Damascus to the synagogue to find those that were in the way to bring them back to Jerusalem bound

The Way is what early believers were called. Saul wanted to destroy any of those in “the Way” to keep Christianity from continuing to spread.

He didn’t care if it was men or women he would take any Christian he found bound to Jerusalem.

Saul’s Conversion vs. 3-9

As Saul was getting close to Damascus all of a sudden a light shined from heaven on him.

As the light shone around him he fell to the ground.

As he fell to the ground he heard a voice saying to him Saul, Saul, why persecutest thou me?

In the Bible the repetition of names to the person being addressed always indicated a message of importance.

Abraham: Genesis 22:11 “And the angel of the Lord called unto him out of heaven, and said, Abraham, Abraham: and he said, Here am I.”

Moses: Exodus 3:4 “And when the Lord saw that he turned aside to see, God called unto him out of the midst of the bush, and said, Moses, Moses. And he said, Here am I.”

Samuel: 1 Samuel 3:10 “And the Lord came, and stood, and called as at other times, Samuel, Samuel. Then Samuel answered, Speak; for thy servant heareth.”

Jerusalem: Matthew 23:37 “O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, thou that killest the prophets, and stonest them which are sent unto thee, how often would I have gathered thy children together, even as a hen gathereth her chickens under her wings, and ye would not!”

Simon Peter: Luke 22:31 “And the Lord said, Simon, Simon, behold, Satan hath desired to have you, that he may sift you as wheat:”

Here we see that after Jesus calls out to Saul, Saul answers and asks who is calling out to him.

“I am Jesus, whom thou persecutest”

While Saul was not directly persecuting Christ, by persecuting Christs followers he was persecuting Christ

John 15:20 “Remember the word that I said unto you, The servant is not greater than his lord. If they have persecuted me, they will also persecute you; if they have kept my saying, they will keep yours also.”

Then Jesus makes another statement “it is hard for thee to kick against the pricks”

One commentary says this “The future apostle is addressed here as behaving as a stubborn animal, rebelling against the pain caused by the goads in his harness. The Lord already had been speaking to him, as he would recall in Stephens dying prayer (Acts 7:60 “And he kneeled down, and cried with a loud voice, Lord, lay not this sin to their charge. And when he had said this, he fell asleep.” )

Given Saul’s position and training he no doubt would’ve learned something about the teachings of Jesus, and especially the evidences of His ressurection, yet he still had rejected the testimony of Jesus.

Saul had so much evidence that Jesus was Messiah and he continued to reject him until he met him here on the road to Damascus.

After the Lord, introduces himself to Saul, their is immediate trembling and astonishment in the Saviour.

Jesus who is the Gospel changed Saul’s life and he can change your life as well.

Jesus changed my life, while I wasn’t surrounded by a bright light on my way to persecute some christians, I was on a path that was leading to eternal separation from God in a place called hell, but I met Jesus and I placed my faith and trust in Him and now I am on the path that leads to Eternal life with Jesus in Heaven.

Saul asks what the Lord would have him to do.

When we get saved we should ask the same question, and we should continue to make sure we are in the Lords will for our lives.

When is the last time you asked the Lord what he would have you to do?

We need to stay in constant communication with the father.

Jesus tells him to get up and go to Damascus and then he would be told what to do.

The men who were with Saul on his way to Damascus stood speechless

Paul needed an entourage of men to bring the prisoners back to Jerusalem with him

They would’ve seen the great light, but couldn’t see Jesus, they heard a voice as a sound but couldn’t understand the words.

Paul gives us more insight into this event in Acts 22:9 “And they that were with me saw indeed the light, and were afraid; but they heard not the voice of him that spake to me.”

Saul got up and also saw no man and then his men led him to Damascus

Saul was blind for three days and also didn’t eat or drink.

Conclusion

Saul was a man who on paper looks like someone the Lord could use, but on the road to Damascus he met the Lord and the trajectory of his life changed forever.

All of us have to have a road to Damascus moment in our life where we meet the Lord. While we might not be met with a blinding light, we must meet Jesus.

Have you placed your faith and trust in Jesus? If not come this morning and we can show you from the Bible how you can be saved.

If you are a believer, maybe you need to come this morning and ask Jesus what he would have for you to do. Give your life to Jesus, He can do more with it than we ever could.