Compelled by Christ
Acts: To the ends of the earth • Sermon • Submitted • Presented
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We’ve been observing in the Acts the relentless advance of the Gospel despite severe opposition.
And in Chapter 8-10 Luke traces this advance of the gospel of Jesus Christ as it breaks new borders and and boundaries.
In Acts 8, the excluded is included — the Ethiopian eunuch, barred from temple worship, is baptised as a son of God as a result of the of the cross of Christ.
In Acts 9, todays passage, the enemy becomes an ambassador — Saul, the persecutor, is conquered by grace and will soon preach the faith he once tried to destroy.
And in Acts 10, the outsider becomes an insider — Cornelius and His family, the first European Gentiles, are welcomed fully into God’s family.
Each story pushes the good news outward — from Jerusalem to Samaria, and now toward the ends of the earth.
And today as we focus on the enemy becoming an ambasador, we see just why the Gospel is so relentless.
It is because the gospel is not just a placid invite to be saved,
or a ‘great’ salvation offer that can be accepted or rejected based on
the individuals own whims and thinking.
No, the gospel compels God’s chosen people irresistibly to respond.
If one phrase sums up Saul’s story, it is this:
He was compelled by Christ — compelled to surrender when confronted by Jesus,
compelled to worship when converted by His grace,
and compelled to witness when commissioned for His mission.
And the same love of Christ that compelled Saul still compels us today.
1. Compelled to Surrender (Acts 9:1–9)
1. Compelled to Surrender (Acts 9:1–9)
Meanwhile, Saul was still breathing out murderous threats against the Lord’s disciples. He went to the high priest and asked him for letters to the synagogues in Damascus, so that if he found any there who belonged to the Way, whether men or women, he might take them as prisoners to Jerusalem.
“Breathing out merdourous threats” captures just how immersed Paul was in this way of life and thinking. His very breath, his atmospher, was hatred — persecution is the air in his lungs.
trying to destroy the chruch was not just something he did, it was who he is.
He is sincere, zealous, and in his view, moral and even godly!
The irony is that he is utterly wrong.
Saul believes he is defending God’s honour, yet he is fighting God Himself.
Religious or moral zeal
of any description
that is without Christ is against everything God is about.
You’ll know lots of people who call themselves good,
Who do lots for the community,
who make it their aim to care for people,
Who are devout about something or other.
A charity that cures diseases,
another religion
a school that they do everythign for.
But without Christ?
- We may be devout,
we may apparently live for a casue that is even moral or godly,
But if it denies Christ as the only true hope,
or is devoid of Jesus as the only way,
It is a denial of all that God desires for humanity.
I don’t need God, I just love people.
I don’t need Jesus, Allah will deliver me.
I don’t need church, I have my own community.
These may not be murderous threats
- but they are still an atmosphere and breath that deines Jesus as our only way and hope of salvation and knowing the one and only true God.
They all lead to hell not heaven.
And they are tootaly blind to this truth as Paul was.
IN and of themselevs - totoally lost.
And so, Paul’s, infact anyone’s only hope, is a heavenly interruption
- he will never seek or find Christ himself - he needs Christ to seek him!
As he neared Damascus on his journey, suddenly a light from heaven flashed around him. He fell to the ground and heard a voice say to him, ‘Saul, Saul, why do you persecute me?’
“Saul, Saul”
“Why do you persecute me?”
Christ identifies completely with His people.
To hurt His church is to hurt Him.
But Paul doesn’t know what’s happening just yet:
‘Who are you, Lord?’ Saul asked. ‘I am Jesus, whom you are persecuting,’ he replied. ‘Now get up and go into the city, and you will be told what you must do.’
Those words destroy Saul’s worldview in an instant.
Jesus — whom he called an impostor and blasphemer
— is alive and reigning with divine power!
The crucified one is the exalted Lord.
Pause
We can’t move past this account without seeing and celebrating a couple of very important Christian doctrines at this point.
Firstly - What we are witnessing is the doctrine of election in action.
Far from a doctrine that makes us uncomfortable - the reality of it’s truth is extraordinary.
God chooses to saves those who would never choose Christ.
Saul was not seeking Christ; Christ sought him.
As Paul records in Galatians 1:15-16
God… set me apart from my mother’s womb and called me by his grace, was pleased to reveal his Son in me so that I might preach him among the Gentiles
Salvation originates not in the human will but in the sovereign mercy of God.
If it were not so, no-one would be saved!
Secondly, We also see the doctrine of irresistible grace.
This is no negotiation.
The same voice that said in creation “Let there be light”, now shines into Saul’s darkness.
There’s no rejecting that sort of power as we’ll see with Pual.
It’s irresistible. irresistible grace
The proud Pharisee falls at the feet of the crucified Lord.
And the proud heart of Saul is utterly humbled:
The men travelling with Saul stood there speechless; they heard the sound but did not see anyone. Saul got up from the ground, but when he opened his eyes he could see nothing. So they led him by the hand into Damascus. For three days he was blind, and did not eat or drink anything.
God infact always shows us we’re blind before He opens our eyes —
Often we hear of dramitic coversions testimonies,
But even if we don’t have a dramtic story,
it si always true that God dismantles self-reliance,
shows us we are blind to him and lost in sin,
which brings us to humble repentance,
before giving us light through faith in Christ.
Every conversion is a dramatic realisation of blindness and a receiving of grace that is irresistible becasue God has elected you.
You might ask, but hang on, aren’t we told to repent and believe, to ‘call on the name of the Lord’ don’t we have some will in this?
Surely some hear and reject and that’s on them.
Yes, its not as if God forces us against our will to believe.
The point is that we will if we are elect choose Him, once he has revealed his grace in Christ to us.
Those who reject do not truely understand the grace of God, or they would.
Once he has shown us we are blind and depraaved, sinful and lost, and he then shows us ‘the light of CHrist’
God’s grace is irrestistabl;e to us!
I can’t explain it better than that - I’m not God - you can ask him about it.
But the big pooint we’re seeing is that without God’s eletcin and irrisitbale grace - no-one would be saved.
And perhaps the bigger point?
Is that it means the glory is never ours - but always God’s in salvation.
If you hear theology that elevates man as worthy of glory or praise - reject it.
God’s grace is elect, free, and irresistible - to Him be all glory.
So back to our narrative:
For three days Saul sits in darkness, until grace raises him.
In short, Christ’s love compels him to surrender.
And for us
When Christ chooses to save, no heart is too hard and no rebel too far - When we see him in His Gospel, he compels us to surrender.
Next
2. Compelled to Worship (Acts 9:10–19)
2. Compelled to Worship (Acts 9:10–19)
The scene shifts from the blinded persecutor to a humble disciple.
But first notice how God is sovereign over both sides of Saul’s conversion. On Saul, and on the witnessing church.
In Damascus there was a disciple named Ananias. The Lord called to him in a vision, ‘Ananias!’ ‘Yes, Lord,’ he answered. The Lord told him, ‘Go to the house of Judas on Straight Street and ask for a man from Tarsus named Saul, for he is praying. In a vision he has seen a man named Ananias come and place his hands on him to restore his sight.’
While Saul prays (now a humble dependant man) in darkness, God is already preparing the one who will bring him light.
God choreographs redemption at all levels.
But Ananias is understandably nervous:
‘Lord,’ Ananias answered, ‘I have heard many reports about this man and all the harm he has done to your holy people in Jerusalem. And he has come here with authority from the chief priests to arrest all who call on your name.’
Fear is pretty reasonable given Saul’s mission in life.
Yet God’s mercy often sends us toward the very people we’d rather avoid.
But the Lord said to Ananias, ‘Go! This man is my chosen instrument to proclaim my name to the Gentiles and their kings and to the people of Israel. I will show him how much he must suffer for my name.’
Notice again, God has Chosen Saul - he is elect to salvation and elect to worship and serve God as God demands.
The enemy will become an ambassador;
What Saul was trying to knock down, he will now build!
Such is the transformation of the sinner to servant.
And he is firstly called to proclaim Christ to the gentiles, and their kings and the people of Israel.
He is to worship God by unifying other enemies of God all under the banner of Christ.
Pause
But worship of God, will cost:
“I will show him how much he must suffer.”
The man who inflicted suffering will now share Christ’s sufferings.
Union with Christ includes participation in His cross.
But all that is to come in Acts,
for now,
Saul is elect, and is about to experience the irresistible grace of God.
He’s been compelled ot surrender,
now he is to be compelled to worship
Then Ananias went to the house and entered it. Placing his hands on Saul, he said, ‘Brother Saul, the Lord—Jesus, who appeared to you on the road as you were coming here—has sent me so that you may see again and be filled with the Holy Spirit.’ Immediately, something like scales fell from Saul’s eyes, and he could see again. He got up and was baptised,
“Brother Saul.”
The persecutor is now family.
The scales fall — physical sight mirrors spiritual illumination.
The Spirit fills him — he is given new life in Christ.
Baptism symbolises what grace has done
— cleansing and wiping away of sin,
union with Christ is his death and resurrection,
rising to new life with the righteousness of God, not his own.
Darkenss to light,
Saul is justificed by grace alone:
He contributes nothing;
Christ provides everything — forgiveness, righteousness, and new birth.
The next verse is so normal it’s easy to skip:
Acts 9:19 — “After taking some food, he regained his strength.”
But the point is 2 fold.
We are people, weak and physical, even if we do receive new life - for now we are still of this world.
But symbolically,
Grace restores what sin drained. Like the scales falling from his eyes,
The physical mirrors the spiritual — Paul is nourished, strengthened, renewed.
Christ compels Saul, and us to worship.
We leave all our own preconvieced conceptions, ideas, and strength,
and surrender them to Christ,
To turn away from self, and towards him - to live in new faith in Christ.
This is worship - to repent, believe and follow.
Finally, Saul is commissioned for mission.
3. Compelled to Witness (Acts 9:20–31)
3. Compelled to Witness (Acts 9:20–31)
At once he began to preach in the synagogues that Jesus is the Son of God. All those who heard him were astonished and asked, ‘Isn’t he the man who caused havoc in Jerusalem among those who call on this name?
No delay, — grace produces fruit immediately.
The very synagogues that expected arrests hear
Saul’s message of Christ’s identity: “Jesus is the Son of God.”
He now proclaims the deity he once denied.
Yet Saul grew more and more powerful and baffled the Jews living in Damascus by proving that Jesus is the Messiah.
His preaching then demonstrates from Scripture that Jesus is also the Messiah - the one who had to suffer and rise to save God’s people.
His intellect, once used against Christ, is now sanctified for Christ.
Grace does not erase natural gifts; it redeems them for service.
But even with the great mind of Paul witnessing as he is called to do by Christ,
It is still God’s work to open eyes to his irresistible grace.
Because left to ourselves we willingly choose self:
After many days had gone by, there was a conspiracy among the Jews to kill him, but Saul learned of their plan. Day and night they kept close watch on the city gates in order to kill him. But his followers took him by night and lowered him in a basket through an opening in the wall.
And so the adventures of Saul the missionary begin!
The persecutor now shares the sufferings he once inflicted.
The great Pharisee becomes a fugitive in a basket — humility is his new default mode.
And we know by now in acts,
threats, persecution and suffering is not a detour from the gospel but the path of discipleship as the gospel is spread.
So Saul makes his escape to Jerusalem, perhaps a risky move:
When he came to Jerusalem, he tried to join the disciples, but they were all afraid of him, not believing that he really was a disciple. But Barnabas took him and brought him to the apostles. He told them how Saul on his journey had seen the Lord and that the Lord had spoken to him, and how in Damascus he had preached fearlessly in the name of Jesus.
The church hesitates — understandable.
But Barnabas, true to his name “son of encouragement,” vouches for him.
So Saul stayed with them and moved about freely in Jerusalem, speaking boldly in the name of the Lord. He talked and debated with the Hellenistic Jews, but they tried to kill him.
Despite ongoing opposition, Saul is compelled by Christ to witness.
Such is the grace he has received that he cannot but speak of God’s grace to him!
He’ll write later in
For Christ’s love compels us, because we are convinced that one died for all, and therefore all died. And he died for all, that those who live should no longer live for themselves but for him who died for them and was raised again.
I hope what is coming through for us in this passage is not just the big picture of the gospel moving outwards,
but of our own walk with Christ as being one that is compelled by Him!
Compelled to surender,
Compelled to worship in repentance, faith and joy,
Compelled to witness - for Christ loves us.
And the evidence of the success of the gospel and the irresistible grace of God,
is not just written in the pages of Acts,
but is the very people sat around us this afternoon.
We are the natural conclusion to the theology that God is sovereign in election and grace - and over the ongoing gosopel proclatmation of the church from age to age.
And so all glory to God!
We are still enjoying the last 2 verses:
Then the church throughout Judea, Galilee and Samaria enjoyed a time of peace and was strengthened. Living in the fear of the Lord and encouraged by the Holy Spirit, it increased in numbers.
And how insightful those 2 marks of the church are for us today: fear of the Lord and comfort of the Holy Spirit.
Or to use 2 ‘r’s: Reverence of God, and reassurance of hope by His HS
SO as we think this year about,
praying for boldness to make jesus known,
here this passage remindes us the love of Christ compels us to witness.
And what an encouragment,
that If Jesus could turn a murderer into a missionary,
then no one is beyond His reach — not your friend, your child, your neighbour, or yourself.
To conclude:
We are
Compelled by Christ.
Compelled to surrender — when His glory confronts our pride.
Compelled to worship — when His grace opens our eyes.
Compelled to witness — when His love fills our hearts.
Pray
