Saul: Radically Changed by the Gospel

Introduction:

John Newton was born in London in 1725. His mother died two weeks before his seventh birthday and by age 11, he was out to sea with his father. He lived like a sailor, and more than likely acted in all ways like a sailor. During the course of a reckless youth, he was impressed into the British navy, and in an attempt to dessert the British nave, he was busted down to the rank of common seaman. While later serving aboard the Pegasus for a slave trader, he did not get along with the captain, and was left in West Africa where he became a slave himself. After his rescue, he went back into the salve trade and ran several voyages as a first mate on a slave ship. During this time he had dabbled in reading the Bible, but it wasn’t until about 1748 that he fully acknowledged his spiritual inadequacy. After his conversion and suffering a stroke, he focused on studying biblical languages, and eventually wrote the hymn “Amazing Grace.”

If anyone knew what it was to be a wretch and how God’s amazing grace worked it would be John Newton. From being a debaucherous sailor and slave trader to later becoming an Anglican priest, he knew quite well how God’s grace worked.

Introduction:

We always speak of the power the gospel has to change lives, and how accepting Jesus into your life leads to a transformed life, but the question we must all ask ourselves is, “do we truly have a grasp on exactly how powerful the gospel is in a person’s life?” This morning, we are going t look at a story of a conversion that changed the course of the church in a massive way. We may not all have a powerful conversion story, but we have a story just the same, and this morning, we are going to look at some lessons to be learned from the conversion of Saul of Tarsus (better known as Paul the Apostle.)

Acts 9:1–9 ESV

But Saul, still breathing threats and murder against the disciples of the Lord, went to the high priest 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. Now as he went on his way, he approached Damascus, and suddenly a light from heaven shone around him. And falling to the ground, he heard a voice saying to him, “Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting me?” And he said, “Who are you, Lord?” And he said, “I am Jesus, whom you are persecuting. But rise and enter the city, and you will be told what you are to do.” The men who were traveling with him stood speechless, hearing the voice but seeing no one. Saul rose from the ground, and although his eyes were opened, he saw nothing. So they led him by the hand and brought him into Damascus. And for three days he was without sight, and neither ate nor drank.

Who is Saul?:

Saul was born in Tarsus, which is in Cilicia and sits about 12 miles inland from the Mediterranean coast, and one of the largest trade centers in the area. He was born approximately sometime between 5 BC and 5 AD, which would place him being born around the same time frame as Jesus though he probably never crossed paths with Jesus. He was a Roman citizen by birth which would come into play as persecution arose more fiercely during his ministry and it would keep him from facing crucifixion. He father was a Pharisee (cf ), and he was probably descended from a line of Pharisees. He grew up learning his father’s trade of tent making which would come into play later in his ministry as he started churches on his missionary journeys in order to supplement his income. While he was young, he was sent to Jerusalem to sit under the teaching of Gamaliel (cf ) who we know was a very well-known and influential Pharisee of the time (cf ). Aside from what scripture tells us, we know very little about him until he shows up on the scene the very first time in when Stephen is going to be stoned and the people that were participating in the stoning “laid their garments at the feet of a young man named Saul,” and then again in where is says, “And Saul approved of his execution.” It is not until chapter nine when Saul now becomes a major player in the history of the church.

From enemy of the church to friend and asset:

When we first meet Saul he is one of the chief persecutors of the early Christians. In chapter 8, we read that in Jerusalem he went house to house dragging off men and women to prison for their faith. It is safe to say that he was bent on destroying the Christian movement. When we meet Saul again in chapter nine, we see that he is now moving on to other areas of Judea in order to continue his persecution of the church. It is safe to say he was not going to stop until the church was decimated and gone from the picture completely. Verse two says he asked the high priest “for letters to the synagogues at Damascus, so that if he found any belonging to the Way, men or women, he might bring them to Jerusalem.” Saul did not care who you were, or what you did, if you were a Christian, Saul wanted to kill you. This is the first time we see that Christians are given a name of sorts for their group and here they are called “The Way.” Scholars believe this may have been a sarcastic name given to them because they were preaching that Jesus was the only way to heaven, and is reminiscent of what Jesus said in , “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.” Christians are not called Christians until where it says, “And in Antioch the disciples were first called Christians,” and this was probably a sarcastic name given by those outside the church because the connotation means, “little Christs.” Which, when it comes down to it, should be what a Christian truly is: the image of Christ.

Then he met Jesus:

As Saul is on his way to Damascus, his life takes a complete u-turn. The sky opens up and lo and behold, he is face to face with the risen Christ. Saul is approaching Damascus and the sky splits open and he hears a voice that says, “Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting me?” We should note here the duplicate use of his name, this tells us this is used in an attention-getting fashion. It is a stern voice that is being used here. Kind of liken when a parent gets on to a child and uses their whole name. This is the same type of attention getting that Jesus used when he spoke to Martha in when he chastises Martha for complaining that her sister Mary was not helping tend to the housework and instead was sitting at the feet of Jesus learning, to Peter in when Jesus told Peter that Satan had asked to sift him like wheat and that he would deny Jesus, and in where Jesus said, “O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, the city that kills the prophets and stones those who are sent to it!” as he lamented of Jerusalem’s rejection of what God was trying to do for them.

Saul is no laying on the ground, and he asks, “Who are you Lord?” and look at what Jesus says, “I am Jesus, whom you are persecuting.” We learn from that statement that to persecute the church is to persecute Jesus. There are no exceptions to that rule.

Saul has now met the savior face to face, and the question comes, “Exactly when did Saul get saved?” The answer to that question is not really known, but in my honest opinion, it is somewhere between verses 4 and 5. In that moment, Saul knew that what he had been persecuting was the truth. I am sure Saul was familiar with the gospel, after all, he had just recently been in a trial that sentenced Stephen to death. Saul was a member of the Sanhedrin more than likely, and probably stayed up to date with this growing faction within the Jewish community.

Saul recognizes Jesus as Lord in verse 5 and when Jesus responds, He gives him one simple direction: “Enter the city, and you will be told what you are to do.”

Meanwhile back at the ranch (in Damascus):

As the story continues, we see that what appears to be at the same time Jesus is meting Saul face to face, there is a man named Ananias (not the same one from chapter 5) who is probably the leader of the church at Damascus (we aren’t told for sure), and he is told to go a house on Straight Street and he will find Saul praying. Look at his response to that call in verse 13:

Acts 9:13–14 ESV

But Ananias answered, “Lord, I have heard from many about this man, how much evil he has done to your saints at Jerusalem. And here he has authority from the chief priests to bind all who call on your name.”

Acts 9:13 ESV

But Ananias answered, “Lord, I have heard from many about this man, how much evil he has done to your saints at Jerusalem.

Acts 9.13

God’s response is simple, “Go, for he is a chosen instrument of mine to carry my name before the Gentiles and kings and the children of Israel. For I will show him ho much he must suffer for the sake of my name.”

Saul and Ananias meet:

Ananias does as he is instructed, and goes to this house and finds Saul praying. We see that he was there for three days blinded and praying without eating or drinking. People ask, “what was he praying for?” While scripture stays silent on that part, I am probably certain he was first and foremost trying to process what he had just experienced. Here is this man that was so devoted to the teachings of the law, and probably had most of it memorized, this was something he never expected. The God of all creation, Yahweh, had just visited him personally and asked why Saul was persecuting him. Second, I’d like to think that he was reconciling with God for those three days. His world was turned upside down, and I imagine there was plenty of confession to last for several days for him. After all, this was the man that was killing members of the body of Christ. I am sure he probably came face to face with all of that. So what do we learn from the conversion of Saul?

God can call any person to repentance regardless of their background.

Here is Saul, a Pharisee, the man who was vehemently opposed to the formation of the church and was willing to do anything to stop the growth and spread of the gospel. Looking at it, most people would have said, “that man will never accept Jesus as his Lord and Savior.” Yet after a face to face meeting with the resurrected Jesus, he recognized his personal need for true salvation apart from the law. If anyone was familiar with the prospect of God’s grace, it would be Saul. After he came face to face with God, he realized that he never once deserved God’s salvation.

God alone reaches out to people to call them to salvation.

We see through this story, that it is God alone that calls people to salvation. There is nothing we can do on our own power or goodness to obtain salvation. If anyone led a holy life according to the law, it would have been Saul. After all he was a “Pharisee of the pharisees” (). Yet he never once sought God. Scripture says in :

1 Corinthians 2:14 ESV

The natural person does not accept the things of the Spirit of God, for they are folly to him, and he is not able to understand them because they are spiritually discerned.

Man, on his own, cannot and will not seek God. God calls to them. Jesus said:

Luke 19:10 ESV

For the Son of Man came to seek and to save the lost.”

God came to us, not the other way around, and that flows over into the direction left to the church by Jesus in where we are told to GO and MAKE. We are not instructed to wait for others to come, we are told to go and look for people that are lost. Jesus went from town to town gathering up people. It would have been very easy to stay in Jerusalem and wait for the people to come, but Jesus went seeking the lost. He, in essence, continually left the “ninety-nine to find the one” (cf. ).

God can use anyone, regardless of their past, to be an instrument to share the gospel.

God used Saul in a powerful way. After it was all said and done, Saul is credited with writing thirteen books of the New Testament and starting countless churches in the areas that he travelled to. By using Saul as an example, God used him in a powerful way, and can do the same thing with you, now we may not write books, or even start churches, but sharing the gospel with someone can redirect their eternity, and further God’s mission here on earth, and may lead to others writing books or starting churches, and if God can use anyone regardless of their past, there is a lesson for professing Christians to learn from this as well.

The church must accept all professing Christians regardless of their past.

Ananias, was quite unsure of what God was asking him to do. In fact, you can hear the tone in his voice when God called him to go to Saul when he said, “Lord, I have heard from many about this man, how much evil he has done to your saints at Jerusalem. And here he has authority from the chief priests to bind all who call on your name.” He basically asked God, “Are you positive that is what you want me to do?” and God’s response was simply, “Go, for he is a chosen instrument of mine...”, so Ananias goes as he is instructed, and when he meets Saul, he calls him “Brother Saul.”

If God doesn’t hold anyone’s past over their heads, we, as a church, should never hold someone’s past over their head either. If a person professes faith in Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior, we must accept that as truth. Now, don’t mistake what I am saying here, that doesn’t excuse us from dealing with known sin in a person’s life that professes Jesus as their Lord and Savior, but we must be quick to encourage them to turn from that path and not condemn. It is not our place to condemn others for their behavior. We are called to bear one another’s burdens (cf. ).

Conclusion:

Richard was born in 1953 in Brooklyn, New York. He lead a very troubled life. He experienced seizures as a young child and often got in fights at school and was even taken out of a classroom at one time in a headlock by a male teacher. As he grew up, he struggled with thoughts of suicide and often came very close to throwing himself in front of a moving bus or a train. When Richard was fourteen, his mother passed away after a bout with cancer, and just him and his dad were left. No siblings, and not really any other family to speak of. When he turned eighteen, he joined the army in an effort to star a new life, but yet he still had a difficult time coping with life. Richard got out of the army after his three-year enlistment was up, and again, found himself with no one. In 1975, he met some guys at a party that introduced him to practicing occult and he began reading “The Satanic Verses” by Anton LaVay. In that same year, he crossed a line that he would never return from. Six people were killed and many others permanently injured because of Richard’s actions. In 1978, Richard was sentenced to 365 consecutive years in prison for the crimes he committed. Prison life was no walk in the park, yet ten years into his sentence, he met a man that shared with him the gospel. At first he rejected the gospel saying that God would never want to have anything to do with a guy like him and would never forgive what he had done to people. One night while reading a Bible that his friend gave him, he read that says, “This poor man cried, and the Lord heard him and saved him from all his troubles.” It was at that moment that he gave his life to Jesus Christ and has reconciled with God or the things he has done in his past. Today, David Richard Berkowitz (better known as “The Son of Sam”) runs the prison ministry where is is held, has asked to never have a parole hearing because he feels like he has gotten what he rightfully deserve, and spends his days reaching out to fellow prisoners and sharing the gospel with them.

Life change can happen to anyone at any moment, all we have to do is accept the call when it comes to us.