“The Doctrine of Repentance” (Conclusion)

K. Adrian Scott

August 31, 2025

Contextual Introduction.

Saul, the persecutor while traveling on the road to Damascus hears something others who were with him also heard, but none of them could see where or from whom the voice was coming from. To add to this traumatic and mysterious voice,

v. 3 of Acts 9 says; “suddenly a light from heaven shone around him.”

It is of special note that although everyone in Saul’s posse heard the voice from heaven, none of them except Saul experienced the glory of God shining around them. Saul was singled out by God’s by sovereign election for this life-changing, eternity preparing experience with none other than Himself.

Saul was not ‘in the Light’ or the Light would not have had to appear! Saul is in spiritual darkness. Secondly, since the light shined all around Saul, there was no escape. God was all-around him! There was no place to run.

Make note of this – ‘God gives light to those who are in darkness.’ Third, this episode not only says something very important about Saul’s spiritual condition, despite what he thinks of himself and where he stands with God, since he was a very religious man. Please notice that God’s evaluation of our spiritual condition, or where we really stand with God, may be quite different than where we think we stand with God! The simple but profound truth is this – only God’s judgment of our spiritual condition is what matters now and the only opinion that will matter on the day of the great day of reckoning, the final judgment of the Lord Jesus. Now, I also want to point out to you that this dynamic episode also says something very profound about heaven, where the light came from. Heaven is illuminated with the light of God, first of all. Second, and this is a physical reality which has spiritual implications, and here it is - the light of heaven is far brighter than the light of the earth. There is a difference between the physical earth and the abode of God, all of the celestial beings, the angels of the Lord, that is, and the saints or children of God. Saul’s immediate blindness as his response to heaven’s light, testifies of the reality that the human eye cannot see or comprehend the glory of heaven on earth. “What no eye has seen, nor ear heard, nor the heart of man imagined, what God has prepared for those who love Him” (1 Corinthians 2.9).

v. 4; “and he fell to the ground and heard a voice saying to him, "Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting Me?" 

The Lord Jesus appeared to Saul as Light! And Saul falls to the ground in irresistible submission, and he is completely powerless to ignore the advances of deity, or the Lord, and this act of supreme power and a wondrous display of authority by the one calling Saul but who has not been revealed. By the Lord calling Saul twice, we know this is not a casual calling, but it is with a sense of urgency. Heave is calling!

V. 5; “And he said, "Who are You, Lord?" And He said, "I am Jesus whom you are persecuting,”

Here is a confession of ignorance by the well learned Pharisee, Saul. The ‘who are you’ question says the even Saul could (spiritually) see that this call was not an encounter with a ‘what’ but with a ‘who’, an intelligent being. And to call the person behind this voice “Lord” is an acknowledgment of inferiority because “Lord” means at the least a person with greater authority than Saul possessed, even though Saul had the consent of the council of priests and the Roman government. Hearing this voice call his name, and not being able to recognize it, Saul must have instantly known something he did not previously know, He does not know God. Saul knows a lot about his religion, but he does not know God, because he cannot even recognize God’s voice.

The ’who are you’ phrase by Saul also informs us that God (in Christ) is not known to us naturally or automatically at birth. In other words, we were not born knowing the reality of God, nor were we born desiring God or in God’s favor. There must be a revelation encounter, a saving experience in a person’s soul where they come to know God. Even if we were inclined to be religious, dutiful, attend church, be pious, humble or kind, it does not mean we know God. These certainly may be an awareness that God is at work in you, drawing us to Himself, however. But, we do not know God unless and until God makes Himself known to us.

So, we see another important point, the full revelation of God is in the Lord Jesus Christ.

Also note, there is an interest in the divine that must be instigated or initiated by God Himself. God must be at work in us, first! We come to God only after God comes to us! “We love Him because He first loved us” (1 John 4.19).

Saul’s experience on the Damascus Road reminds us the religion in itself is a dead end unless it leads us to a belief and an expression of faith in the living God.

Our God is known only when God makes Himself known!

This is Saul’s conversion from religion to faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. This is the moment Saul surrendered his will and his very life to the One who is capable of “destroying both body and soul” (Matthew 10.28). And by Saul addressing the Light a ‘Lord’ Saul is yielding his will to another! Saul has done what he must have thought he would never do – surrender! That is ultimately what ‘repentance’ is.

V. 5b; “And he said, ‘I am Jesus, whom you are persecuting.”

This is the full revelation of Jesus Christ to Saul! The Light was the manifestation of the Lord’s character, but here is the revelation of God in the person of Jesus Christ. This is not the result of a person reaching upward to God, but this is the unhinged work of God in Christ and is God initiated, and God completed! Saul’s contribution is post-conversion; to obey he commands of Christ or show evidence of what the Lord has just one for him. The work of conviction that leads to the conversion of the human soul through repentance is exclusively the work of God in Christ. Rabbi Abraham Joshua Heschel says, “the revelation of Jesus Christ creates a response.”

v. 6; “But get up and enter into the city, and it will be told to you what you must do.”

Notice that these instructions to Saul are not in order for him to be saved or converted, but are instructions to Saul since he has been converted!

v. 7; “Now the men who were traveling together with him stood speechless, because they heard the voice but saw no one.”

v. 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.”

This encounter mainly intended to be spiritual in nature, is a reminder that we are all hopelessly dependent upon Christ, both spiritually and physically!

vv. 10-12; “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." 

Vv. 13-21; “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. 

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?"

These verses explain the hesitancy of Ananias to go to Saul because of Saul’s reputation as a fierce persecutor of his fellow Christians. Ananias was not present when Saul was converted on the Damascus Road, so his hesitation was normal.

v. 20; “And immediately he began to proclaim Jesus in the synagogues, saying, "He is the Son of God."

The Light that shined around Saul was sudden and so was the change in his life. Saul’s philosophy of religion has changed, his thoughts about the Church changed where he no longer wants to kill the movement or its messengers, but instead Saul is now one of them! The very direction his life is now headed is completely different. He has left his former associates who are so filled with hate and religious prejudice. He has cancelled his plan to round up and arrest Christian men and women; plans to kill disciples of Christ and to wreak havoc upon those who are in the Christian Way. Saul has a new life!

Do you notice Saul’s commitment to his newfound faith is not less fervent that the fervor and energy he gave to his old convictions. He now has even more energy than he previously had because he now has a new perspective and is fully invested in the faith! Can you and I say that? The Lord Jesus Christ brings about a real, tangible change in our lives!

Question. Are we all spectators of the faith, or are we participants?

This is the authentic confession one must be willing to receive and believe and confess to be a Christian. This confession made Saul an immediate enemy of the same religious group he once belonged!

We must be willing to forsake our old ways, old beliefs and in some cases, even our families to follow Jesus. Hear what Jesus said, “And everyone who has left houses or brothers or sisters or father or mother or children or farms for My name's sake, will receive many times as much, and will inherit eternal life” (Luke 14. 26).

V. 21; “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?”

If your conversion is genuine, people – your family, friends, co-workers and even your enemies will all notice the change in your life!

The Proposition.

Repentance is a distinct and profound change of one’s spiritual direction.

The result of repentance is a different you!

There is a change of life’s direction.

There is a change of identity – In Saul’s case, there is a name change from Saul to Paul

There is a change in associations – Paul no longer associated himself with those who were still resistant to or were enemies of the Gospel. Saul, now named Paul immediately begun to fellowship with others who like him, had come to know the Lord from glory.

The Conclusion.

This is the radical transformation of the truly converted life.

Are you a Christian? Have you repented of your sins? Have you experienced a real change in your life? Are you a different person than you used to be?

Regarding Saul’s experience, notice that it had been all of God and none of Saul. The Lord could have left Saul traveling up and down the Damascus Road with no certain destination. The Lord could have left him blind to the truth and spiritually disconnected from the Lord of life. The Lord could have left Saul living a religiously zealous life but having no true relationship with God.

What if the Lord Jesus had not met Saul on the road to Damascus? What would have become of him? He would have been lost and facing an eternity separate from God the Father.

I will conclude where I began three weeks ago by saying, “There is no condition of the soul, or the heart of a man or a woman that the grace of God cannot fix!” Be you a persecutor like Saul of Tarsus, a thief like Zaccheus the tax collector, or a crusty old foul-mouthed fisherman like Peter, God can reach you and change your life.