A Life Transformed
Notes
Transcript
Review
Review
Turn to Acts 9:1-22.
Today we’re going to continue our Sunday morning series in the book of Acts. Two weeks ago, we saw that Philip the evangelist was participating in a great work of God in Samaria when He was called away to a new ministry. What was the purpose of God’s redirection? It was so that Philip could witness to one soul. An Ethiopian man was seeking God, so Philip was sent on a journey to find that man. Philip crossed racial and social divides and served as a guide to point that man to Jesus. The Ethiopian trusted Christ to save him from his sins and as a result, he experienced life-changing joy.
Message
Message
As Luke continues to write to Theophilus this history of early Christianity, in chapter nine he turns a corner in the narrative and brings our attention back to a man that he mentioned before.
That man is Saul of Tarsus. Last week we looked at this same man and saw that when he became a Christian he carefully lived as both a citizen of the kingdom of God and as a citizen of the Roman Empire. He used his citizenship to appeal for his lawful rights, to avoid persecution, and to appeal for justice. Today in chapter nine we are going to discover where his spiritual journey began.
In chapters seven and eight, we learned that Saul was a key player in Stephen’s death. Saul was a devout pharisee who presided over Stephen’s execution. But that was not enough. Acts 8:3 indicates that Saul became like a predator towards the followers of Christ. He hunted down every single one of them that he possibly could in Jerusalem. He destroyed many homes. However, we lose sight of him until here in Acts chapter nine where Saul experiences an unlikely meeting.
Next slide here:
An unlikely meeting - Acts 9:1-9.
Read Acts 9:1-9.
The word, “yet” in verse one, points back to the last time that Saul was referenced. It indicates that he had been busy hunting down these disciples ever since Acts 8:3. This man thrived on it! He thought his life’s purpose was to destroy these followers of Jesus.
One writer described Saul in this way:
Saul was an intellectual giant, farsighted enough to see that there could be no peaceful coexistence between militant Judaism and militant Christianity. …Saul saw the incompatibility of the two faiths. Either Judaism was right and Christianity was apostasy, or Christianity was right and Judaism was obsolete. - Exploring Acts, John Philips, page 173.
Saul understood all of this, and as a rising star among the Jewish religious leadership he set out to destroy these followers of Christ. He obtained the blessing of the high priest to eradicate any of “this way” as verse two says and he set out for Damascus. His plan was to enter the synagogues, find any of these Jewish Christ-followers that were worshipping there, and arrest them.
That was his plan, until he had an unlikely meeting. This meeting changed Saul’s life so much that he later retells the story in Acts 22, in Acts 26, and no doubt many other times also.
There, on the road to Damascus, around 12 o’clock, Saul met Jesus. A light, brighter than the midday sun, shined out of heaven. The brightness thereof was so great that Saul and all of his entourage fell to the ground. A voice echoed from heaven and spoke to Saul in the Hebrew language. “Saul, Saul, why persecutest thou me?”
Saul, knowing that this was not the voice of man, responded, “who art thou, Lord?” And the Lord said, “I am Jesus whom thou persecutest…”
Can you imagine hearing those words? The very Person whom Saul hated had sought him out. The very Person whose name Saul despised, that Person, that Jesus, had come down to meet with Saul. But oh the horror that Saul must have felt, when he realized that as he persecuted the followers of Jesus, he was in fact, persecuting Jesus Himself. In this moment, Saul realized that he had persecuted the very Son of God. Saul knew the Scriptures better than any of us in this room, so on this road he quickly arrived at two conclusions:
Jesus is Lord
Jesus deserves my allegiance and my service
Application: Every person must arrive at the same place that Saul did on this road.
You must acknowledge that Jesus is Lord
You must ask him, “what do you want me to do.”
If you don’t acknowledge that Jesus is Lord now, you will in eternity.
Philippians 2:10–11 (KJV 1900)
That at the name of Jesus every knee should bow…And that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.
Perhaps you have acknowledged that Jesus is Lord, in other words, you have trusted Him to be your savior from sin. If so, have you ever asked the Lord that question, “what wilt thou have me to do?”
I don’t know what God wants you to do with your life, but I know that He has a specific plan for you. Broadly, that plan is to bring glory to His name. Christian, it doesn’t matter what your age is, if you haven’t surrendered to the Lord, this morning you need to decide that your life is completely in His hands to be used for His glory. It’s never too late to make that choice.
The men in Saul’s company were speechless. They heard a voice speaking, but they could not understand it because it was not intended for them. Their role in God’s plan was simply to lead Saul by the hand to Damascus, and that’s exactly what they did.
This meeting on the road to Damascus was just the beginning of a life transformed. For three days, Saul meditated on that meeting. His entire theology was being reoriented to be centered on one person: Jesus Christ.
We’ve seen in our text an unlikely meeting, now secondly…
Next slide here:
An unlikely mission - Acts 9:10-18.
Read Acts 9:10-18.
According to verse eleven, what is Saul doing as he is waiting? He’s praying.
There is a whole sermon wrapped up in those three words, “behold, he prayeth.” Saul is a perfect example of what you ought to do when God has you waiting for something.
Application: Christian, when it feels like you are waiting on God, stay busy praying!!!
You can be certain that God is never late nor is He early; He moves precisely when He means to. As Saul waited for three days in the darkness of his blindness, he prayed! God was silent, but Saul prayed! God was silent, but He was working behind the scenes in a man named Ananias. He was preparing Ananias for an unlikely mission.
Now concerning Ananias, I love how God raises up ordinary people to do extraordinary things. You see it all throughout the Bible.
God can use a fearful Gideon to defeat the Midianite armies.
God can use a teenage David to defeat and behead a Philistine giant.
And God can use a little-recognized Ananias to help raise up the greatest Christian missionary that our world has ever known.
Application: It’s okay to be an ordinary person. That’s who God specializes in using for His glory. If you think that you are anything more than an ordinary person, God won’t use you.
For ye see your calling, brethren, how that not many wise men after the flesh, not many mighty, not many noble, are called: But God hath chosen the foolish things of the world to confound the wise; and God hath chosen the weak things of the world to confound the things which are mighty; And base things of the world, and things which are despised, hath God chosen, yea, and things which are not, to bring to nought things that are: That no flesh should glory in his presence.
Acts 22:12 tells us a little bit about Ananias.
And one Ananias, a devout man according to the law, having a good report of all the Jews which dwelt there,
We may tend to overlook Ananias, but he was a well-respected Jewish man in his day. He was devout. He had believed on Christ. He had also heard of Saul and because of what he heard, he would not have volunteered for this mission, but God had other plans.
The Lord came to him and said, “Ananias, you know that man called Saul of Tarsus?”
“Yes, Lord, I’ve heard of him.”
“Good. Go find him. He’s believed on me and I want you to go put your hand upon him so that he can be baptized with the Spirit.”
“What? Lord, are you certain of this? This is such an unlikely mission! He has hunted your saints in Jerusalem and now he has come here to hunt some more!”
“Yes, Ananias, I know, but I searched for him. The hunter has become the hunted, and now his life has been transformed.”
And so the Lord Jesus gave this unlikely mission to Ananias.
I love how Jesus describes his plan for Saul’s life. In Acts 9:15, Jesus says, “Go thy way: for he is a chosen vessel unto me, to bear my name before the Gentiles, and kings, and the children of Israel:”
Saul would be a missionary to kings. That’s an interesting thought, isn’t it? We’re going to see that fulfilled later in the book of Acts. It shows us that our government officials need to know the name of Jesus as well, not just to get votes, but to save their souls.
Ananias accepted the mission and set out for the house where Saul was.
Application: Christian, would you have accepted the mission? Would you have obeyed God’s call? Would you have taken the risk of finding the man who had done so much evil to the saints of God?
Trusting God and taking a step of faith is never a risk, but humanly, it might feel like it is. Christian, if you’re not willing to take steps of faith and venture outside of your comfort zone, your spiritual life will flatline. You will experience little to no growth in your walk with God.
“Pastor Tim, I’m just an ordinary person, God can’t do amazing things through me anyway.”
Wait a minute, so was Ananias, and look at what God did through him. God sent ordinary Ananias on an unlikely mission because Saul was a life transformed. Now he needed to be a life empowered by the Spirit of God. Ananias accepted the mission and he remains a noteworthy part of the apostle Paul’s legacy.
We’ve seen an unlikely meeting, an unlikely mission, now thirdly…
Next slide here:
An unlikely message - Acts 9:19-22.
Read Acts 9:19-22.
The man who had persecuted Jesus Christ immediately began preaching Jesus Christ. He began preaching the same message that Peter preached at Pentecost, that Philip preached in the Samaritan villages, and that we still preach 2000 years later. It is the message that Jesus Christ is the Son of God!
I consider Saul’s life and I reach one conclusion: only God can do that!
Saul had an extensive knowledge of the Bible, so he immediately began preaching in the synagogues of Damascus. “All that heard him were amazed.”
That word, “amazed”, means to be astounded. In other contexts it can mean “to be out of one’s mind, [or to be] insane.” It shows the degree to which these people were shocked at at the transformation that had happened in Saul’s life. He was a life transformed and there was no hiding it!
Application: And so I ask you this morning: has your life been transformed by Christ? You cannot be transformed apart from Christ. It is impossible. There is no other way of salvation. John 1:12 says that there is no other way that you can become a son or daughter of God. You must believe on His name. Our church family invites you to do that today. Like Saul, you must realize that your religion and your good works do not meet God’s holy standard and you must trust Christ alone. He can transform your life! That process begins at the moment of salvation and lasts a lifetime.
In our Wednesday night Bible studies we’ve been learning how the Holy Spirit continues to transform the believer after salvation. We’ve been learning how Christ lives His life through the believer. Child of God, are you submitted to that process? There is no such thing as a static Christian. God intends for you to be continually and gradually transformed to be like Christ. Surrender to that process in your life so that you can be like Saul: a life transformed.