Sermon Tone Analysis

Title: God, the Great Attention Getter.

Text: Acts 9:1-9.

CIT: The conversion of Saul.

Thesis: Having a divine experience with God.

Purpose: Salvation/Didactic.

Introduction

At a train station, a policeman noticed a woman driver leaning over her steering wheel in evident discomfort.

“Is there anything I can do?” he asked.

Half crying and half laughing, the woman replied, “For ten years I have driven my husband to this station to catch the train.

This morning, I forgot him!”

That is about the way life goes at times, doesn’t it?

Win some, lose some.

It’s kind of like the soldier at the rifle tournament.

After the competition was over, he was really depressed over his performance.

He turned in his card to the sergeant, and said,

“I feel like shooting myself."

The sergeant looked at his card and said,

“Better take two or three bullets”

Sometimes life can be so bad that we just want to do ourselves in, so to speak.

But some people have such a hard time in life that they couldn’t even hang themselves if they tried.

The apostle Paul was no different.

He experienced good times and bad.

Up times and down times.

But Paul’s down times often led him to greater things in life.

Our text in Acts 9 gives us a look at Paul’s up and down life and how he came out a better, smarter man.

First, notice:

I.

The Determination of Saul (Acts 9:1-3a).

And Saul yet breathing out threats and slaughter against the disciples of the Lord, went unto the high priest, and desired of him letters to Damascus to the synagogues, that if he found any of this way, whether they were men or women, he might bring them bound unto Jerusalem.

And as he journeyed, he came near Damascus…

When you examine the life of Saul of Tarsus, the least a person can say about him is that he was determined.

What made him so determined?

First,

a. Saul Was Proud of His Intelligence.

Saul was from Tarsus.

It was one of the three great university cities in that day.

That was probably like saying, “I grew up in Omaha”or “I grew up in Lincoln.”

Paul was able to rub shoulders with the wisest men of his day and feel comfortable.

· He could go to Athens and debate the intellectuals.

· He could go to Corinth and speak the language of the Hedonists.

· He could go to Jerusalem and debate with the theologians.

· He could get on board a ship and discuss weather and navigation with the

captain.

Paul was a prideful man because of his intellect.

Like Moses, he had the best of worldly education.

Then,

b.

Saul Was Proud of His Religion.

Saul was far sighted and intelligent enough to see that there could be no peaceful coexistence between Judaism and Christianity.

Either Judaism was right, and Christianity was apostasy, or Christianity was right, and Judaism was obsolete.

Saul’s birth, beliefs, and background all drove him into a head-on confrontation with the Christians.

He concluded, logically enough from his own biased point of view, that Christ was a blasphemer and Christianity a cult.

Because Jesus of Nazareth was dead, nothing could be done about Him.

Christianity, however, was something else; the sooner it was dead and buried, the better for everyone.

Saul was determined to expunge Christianity from the face of the earth.

Once he had the approval of the Jewish leaders in Jerusalem, he started off on his 175-hundred-mile, six-day trip to Damascus.

On their last day, something happened.

Notice:

II.

The Divine Appointment of Saul (9:3b-8a).

… and suddenly there shined round about him a light from heaven: And he fell to the earth, and heard a voice saying to him, “Saul, Saul, why do you persecute me?”

And Paul said, “Who are You, Lord?”

And the Lord said, “I am Jesus whom you persecute: it is hard for you to kick against the pricks.

And Paul said, “What will You have me to do?”

And the Lord said unto him, “Arise, and go into the city, and it shall be told you what you must do.

And the men who journeyed with him stood speechless, hearing a voice, but seeing no man.

And Saul arose from the earth; and when his eyes were opened, he saw no man…

I have often tried to imagine just what happened the day as Saul met Jesus face to face.

God was going to turn a mission of hate into a message from heaven for Saul.

Saul saw a light and heard a voice from heaven; for a devout Jew, this would always mean a word from God.

The result of this encounter was a miracle.

First, he saw:

a.

A Great Light.

This was no ordinary light.

Remember it shone at midday.

Saul describes it as “a light from heaven, brighter than the sun.”

It was bright enough to knock Paul and the men with him to their knees.

God got Paul’s attention.

When your Divine Appointment time comes God will get your attention.

My appointment wasn’t a bright light, I wasn’t knocked to my knees, but God got my attention, and I knew God wanted to communicate to me my lostness.

b.

A Great Voice.

Saul crouched, waiting for the thunder.

It came not in a rumble in the sky, but in a powerful voice from heaven.

Saul shuddered with the majesty and magnitude of the sound.

“Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting Me?”

1.

There was authority,

2. There was judgment,

3.

There was grace,

4.

There was urgency in that voice.

“Who are You, Lord?” Saul replied with trembling voice.

And then the answer came which the Pharisee would never forget.

“I am Jesus.”

Then, there was:

c.

A Great Lord.

The conversion of Saul of Tarsus was no case for the deacon Philip, however faithful; Saul was made of different stuff than the Ethiopian.

Nor was it a case for the Apostle Peter, however zealous; Saul was no Cornelius.

The conversion of Saul was undertaken by the Lord Himself.