Pastor: If you would turn with me to Acts as we are making our way through this book of the Bible. We are in Acts chapter nine. We're going to be looking at verses 19 through 31 this morning, Acts chapter nine, beginning in verse 19, reading the verse 31 we read, let's go to the Lord again in prayer. Let's pray, Father, we thank you for giving us your word, Lord. We know that the heavens declare the glory of God, Lord. We can look in creation and we can see your creativity, your power, your eternal existence. But Lord, we need something more than creation. We need your revelation of your Word. Lord, we need the son and so Lord, as we come to your word, I pray that you will open up our eyes to see Jesus, the eternal Son of God, who became flesh, who died for sinners like us, who was risen and reigning, and one day we'll come again, as we confess to judge the living and the dead. Lord, unstuck our blind eyes, help us to hear, soften our heart and hearts, and that this morning we might receive by faith our Lord Jesus Christ. And it's in Jesus's name we pray, Amen.
Pastor: People of God, here God's word for us this morning, from Acts chapter nine, beginning in verse 19, for some days, he was with the disciples at Damascus, and immediately he proclaimed Jesus in the synagogue, saying he is the Son of God. And all who heard Him were amazed and said, Is this not the man who made havoc in Jerusalem and those who called upon his name? And he and as he not, and has he not come here for the same purpose, to bring them bound before the chief priests. But Saul increased all the more in strength and confounding the Jews who lived in Damascus by proving that Jesus was the Christ. When many days had passed, the Jews plotted to kill him, but their plot became known to Saul. They were watching the gates day and night in order to kill him, but his disciples took him by night and let him down through an opening in the wall, lowering him in a basket. And when he had come to Jerusalem, he attempted to join the disciples, and they were all afraid of him, for they did not believe that he was a disciple.
Pastor: But Barnabas took him and brought him to the apostles and declared to them how on the road he had seen the Lord who spoke to him, and how at Damascus he had preached boldly in the name of Jesus. So he went in and out among them at Jerusalem, preaching boldly in the name of the Lord, and he spoke and disputed against the Hellenists, but they were seeking to kill him. And when the brothers learned this, they brought him down to Caesarea and sent him off to Tarsus. So the Church throughout all Judea and Galilee and Samaria had peace and was being built up and walking in the fear of the Lord and in the comfort of the Holy Spirit, it multiplied. He who has ears, let him hear now the Word of God.
Pastor: Please be seated as we begin, if you would just take a moment and if you might think of a person in your life who you think would never become a Christian, maybe a co worker, family member. Maybe it's someone in your life who is always trying to persuade you that Christianity is wrong and that their religion or their worldview is the correct one.
Pastor: Maybe it's someone in your life who you know thinks that Christianity is just really outdated, not inclusive enough.
Pastor: Or maybe it's someone that you know whose life is just going pretty well for them, and they think that Jesus is a fine and good guy, a good example, a good person is important to be but you don't have to take things so serious your life and faith after all, Sundays are a great day when it's not raining to be out playing golf or out on the boat, or at least. Watching playing sports, right? I mean, you should be doing those things too, right? Or maybe it's you.
Pastor: Maybe you're only here because you've been brought here by your parents or friends. You just want someone to be happy about that you're here. Listen to them. But now that's this Christianity stuff really isn't for you. Now imagine then the next day, that person who is in your mind, you see them, and they are announcing at the top of their lungs and at every gathering that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, that the live is Christ, and to die is gain. That would be quite amazing, wouldn't it? And maybe that's someone you've been praying for, and maybe God will indeed work that and change that in their hearts. And I think that's how the believers in Damascus must have felt when they heard Saul of Tarsus stand up and preach for the first time about Jesus. If you remember, Saul has been described in our previous text that we looked at last week as a wild animal breathing out threats against the church. He is going into homes and taking people into prison and dragging them to Jerusalem. He had traveled 150 miles to Damascus that he might imprison Christians, and most likely, many of them would be put to death. He thought he was doing all of this for the glory and honor of God, and he had been given legal authority by the chief priests to do this. He was zealous. He was sincere, which is another reason why sincerity doesn't save you. He was sincerely wrong, wasn't he?
Pastor: Saul now shows up in the town square of Damascus, and you can imagine, if you're a Christian, what's going through your heart and your mind that you see this man that you've heard from Jerusalem, and he shows up now in your town of Damascus. My first thought is, how do I get out of here without drawing too much attention to myself that I can sneak out of here without Saul of Tarsus capturing me?
Pastor: Looks like he's about to make some kind of announcement. He's probably going to put a bounty on the heads of the church leaders, and it's probably going to be Ananias. He's one of our leaders. I know he's going to come after Ananias at least, or maybe he's going to offer Christians an opportunity to recant, and he'll be merciful if they would turn from Christ.
Pastor: Okay, here he goes. He's about to stand up and lift up his voice. I wonder what he's going to, what it's going to, what is he going to say? And he stands up. He says, Jesus is the Son of God. It's shocking, isn't it, the most unlikely convert proclaiming the most essential truth, because Jesus had interjected himself into Saul's life on the Damascus Road, and in a whole moment there, Saul's life, in many ways, had crumbled. Jesus is not the enemy. Jesus isn't even dead.
Pastor: Jesus is Lord. Jesus rules over all things. Jesus, He made me blind. He rules over my sight.
Pastor: He's light. He's given visions to Ananias and myself, He's sovereign. Everything in all of creation is crying out for the Lord, and everything in the scriptures are directing us to Jesus. You see, Saul has been born again, given a new heart and new eyes to see by faith the Lord Jesus Christ, and who has done this? Who has done this mighty work? Well, our text again reminds us that this is the power of the risen and reigning Jesus Christ and His amazing grace breaking in to the darkest of hearts, unseating pride and turning his enemies into his witnesses, in which they will be witnesses, you and I to the entire world. Jesus transforms Saul. The Hunter and to Paul the Herald, the persecutor, to the preacher, and it's all because of Jesus and His unstoppable grace. No one is going to dethrone Christ, and no one is going to stop him from building his church. So we can be encouraged this morning, and that gives us much hope this morning. We are weak, we are feeble, we are frail. And our faith is not about us, it's about Christ. And this Christ is still reigning and ruling. He is our God. He is our Lord. So let's take comfort, and let's have much joy, because Christ is on His throne. The last words I want to point out from Saul, if you look at verse five, what was the last thing we heard Saul say before his conversion? He asked a question. Look, there in the text, verse five, what does he say his last words before he's converted is, who are you Lord?
Pastor: And we actually don't hear anything else from him until we come to our text. We don't have any words from Saul that are recorded until verse 20. So just notice he asked the question, Who are you Lord? And then what is the next thing we heard, hear out of Saul's mouth, verse 20. I know. I know. Now he's the son of God. That's it. My question's been answered. I know who Jesus is. I know who the Lord is. He is the Son of God, you know. And this is very similar to Peter's confession. You remember that when Peter says You are the Christ, the Son of the living God, and then Jesus answers him, Blessed are you? Simon bar Jonah, for flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but my father, who is in heaven. And that's very similar to what's happened here in this text, in chapter nine, God himself has come to open up Saul's eyes.
Pastor: It's not because of his winsomeness. It's not because he finally figured it out that the secret knowledge and that he was smarter and he was more spiritual. No God opened up his eyes as First Corinthians, one reminds us of Paul would write for the for the world, for the word of the cross is folly to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved, that is the power of God. And if you are here this morning, and you have eyes to see that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, blessed are you? It's not by your wisdom, it's not by your power, it is but by the grace of God, who has poured it into your hearts to open up your eyes that you might, by faith, see the Lord Jesus Christ, God has worked this in Saul now just briefly, what does it mean when we say that Jesus is the Son of God? You know, I think often too, if you ask people, if you were to ask you, that's kind of our initial response, who's Jesus? Well, this the first thing often that comes out of your mouth is, well, he's the son of God. So just briefly, what does that mean? What when, when Paul is Saul here is proclaiming that. Does it mean that he's kind of like a Hercules, kind of like the son of Zeus and, you know, marries his mom, and kind of half god?
Pastor: What do we mean here when we talk about Jesus as the Son of God? Well, there's a few things.
Pastor: There's a few truths here that we want to keep in mind, to keep in balance. And first, it's a reminder that Jesus is God. The Father is not the God, not the son. The father is God, but the father is not the Son, and neither is the son the father.
Pastor: They are two distinct persons, but one God, along with the Holy Spirit, which makes the Trinity, one God, three persons, Father, Son, Holy Spirit, they have the same in essence, that in in divine nature, same in substance as we say, equal in power, in glory. Sometimes we call the son the eternal begotten Son of God.
Pastor: You've heard that word, and that's important to remember that Jesus, as the Son of God, is not born, but we sometimes that word begotten is to again emphasize the same essence, the same God. Gods. But it's important to know that there was never a time where Jesus, the Son of God, was not. He is always existed. He is the true, Eternal God, equal with the Father and the Spirit, as John, one reminds us, in the beginning was the Word. And the Word was with God, and the Word was God.
Pastor: He was in the beginning with God, all things were made through Him, and without Him was not anything made. That was made in Him was life, and the life was the light of men. So it's important to know Jesus is God eternal. God not made eternal.
Pastor: And we confess that in the Nicene Creed, second is Jesus is loved by the father with a love that is unique the father and son relationship. It helps us understand, in this mystery of the Trinity, how these two persons within the Godhead interact with each other, the relationship with one another, it's a unique love between the father and son. And son to the Father, I remember the Father.
Pastor: We hear his voice when Jesus is being baptized. It says, This is My beloved Son. I love my son also, too, there's an aspect of obedience to sonship that the sons are are likened and obey their father's will. And Israel would be adopted children, in a way. But it was all pointing us to Jesus, the true obedient son to the Father's will. And as Jesus would even say to the Pharisees and Sadducees, God isn't your father because you're not obeying Him, like Abraham did, your father is the devil because you're doing the devil's will. You're following his will.
Pastor: You're being obedient to the devil, not to your father, because if God was your father, you would be obeying Him. So there we go. He is the Son of God, and Saul is announcing this, that I worship God, and everyone, yes, we know you worship God, but he's saying, No, Jesus is God, and therefore I worship Jesus. Now, why is this the first thing Saul is preaching on there's a lot of things he could have said. I mean, shouldn't his message have been more like what we hear in churches in the United States these days? I mean, why isn't his message when he stands up in Damascus there is Shouldn't he be saying, God wants you to be happy. He wants you to feel good about what's going on in your life right now, and here are the five point blueprint of having a happy and fulfilled life, right?
Pastor: I mean, wouldn't that have been the better message? Isn't that what we so often hear from pulpits today? I It's again, a reminder Christianity, ultimately, is not about us.
Pastor: It's about Christ. It's about Jesus and that he must be glorified. If you don't have the Son, you do not have life as First John reminds us, and this is the testimony that God gave us eternal life. And this life is in His Son. Whoever has the Son has life. Whoever does not have the Son of God does not have life. It is as simple as that, if you believe in the Lord Jesus Christ, you are saved. If you put your faith in Christ, you are saved. But if you reject Christ, you do not have life, you are condemned. And people here are amazed to hear Saul say these words. Wasn't this the guy who hunted down people who called upon the name of Jesus, and now here he is, the one calling Jesus as Lord and God and Savior, the Christ, the Son of the living God. They're amazed this transformation in verse 22 it tells us that Saul is growing in strength. Does that mean, in his time in Damascus, he's figured out that I need to have a better diet plan, and I'm going to start doing 200 push ups every day and sit ups on top of that, and I'm going to get strong. Gonna work it is that what it means there, and he's growing in strength, of course not. He's growing in strength what it means there.
Pastor: He's growing in his understanding of the Scriptures.
Pastor: He's reasoning in the scriptures. He's looking over the Scriptures. He knew the scriptures. I want to point this out he knew. The Scripture. He probably had the entire Torah memorized. He probably had the Five Books of the first five books of the Bible memorized, and then some. He probably also had all of the Psalter memorized. You know, all those little points in Leviticus that our eyes just quickly pass over.
Pastor: We don't even read those, all those details about the priests and the temple. We don't even read those so he had every single detail memorized. He would be correcting you and me about what the Old Testament said. He knew it, he knew it.
Pastor: But what we come to find is actually he he knew it with his mind, but he didn't know it.
Pastor: What, what it was all about. He didn't have the key that unlocked its understanding of it. And what was it? What was it? You know it now, don't you?
Pastor: You know it. What? What the Old Testament was pointing us to, don't you? Jesus, and he's reading it now for the first time, again with new eyes. And he's seen Jesus throughout all of Scripture, throughout all of it. It's pointing the lamb. It's about Christ, the seed of the woman. That's Jesus, the Passover lamb. That's Christ, the temple that's pointing us to Jesus, the prophets, the priests, the kings. It's all about Christ. You see, he's growing and strength and his understanding. I also just want to point out too, he's not just resting, and that initial conversion experience that he had on the Damascus Road, as you know, I prayed it, I said it, Lord your God, and now I'm good.
Pastor: I'm set. No, he's in the Word, and he's growing. He's maturing as he's seeing Christ and his understanding of it, and so must we. He's sowing redemptive history together. And we're told that no one can refute him, because it is true. It does all point to Christ. It is all about Christ. And then we come to verse 23 we're told many days pass, and that is a brief summary statement. There's more to that. Saul will actually tell us in Galatians that he'll go to Arabia for three years before then returning back to Damascus, and then from Damascus, then to Jerusalem. And so there's a gap there too, where he's in the Word. He's studying and devoting himself to growing and maturing in the word, but the then, as he is strengthened in the scriptures and emboldened in his proclamation of preaching, something else happens as he shares Christ. More is more persecution. It increases, and this is often one of the reasons why we are not so bold. It's because we're afraid of what happens here to Saul proverbs 29 reminds us the fear of man is a snare. And Paul Saul here will remind us even later, as he writes to Timothy, all who desire to live a godly life in Christ, Jesus will be persecuted for seeking to live our lives for Christ. There will be persecution to come. It will happen. And here it's happening to him, and they are plotting to kill him. The same people who applauded Saul and his zeal and his fervor to kill Christians are now seeking to kill him, but we are told, he escapes. He has disciples. He's been sharing their word with them, and they lower him in a basket through an opening in a wall. But how is that not cowardly? Shouldn't have he just stayed and preached boldly. Do you remember what happened in Luke chapter four? It's been a while since we were in Luke chapter four, but Jesus of Nazareth, he is being rejected, and we're told there in Luke chapter four, and they rose up and drove them out of town and brought him to the brow of the hill on which the town was built so that they could throw him down the cliff, so they're going to kill Jesus. They're seeking all the way back in Luke chapter four. But then we're told, but passing through their midst, he went away, and Jesus kind of just walks away. Well, why? Why did that happen? Well, it wasn't yet Jesus's time, right? And it's the same here for Saul.
Pastor: He's been given a particular mission by God for him to go and minister and be a missionary to the nations. So how do we know when it's time to stay or time to go and shake off the dust from your feet and move on? We.
Pastor: Wisdom. I don't have a good answer. It takes wisdom. You know, sometimes we Answer a fool according to his folly, lest he be wise in his own eyes, and other times we Answer not a fool according to his folly, lest we be like him. So it takes wisdom.
Pastor: But our decision shouldn't be made by fear, but by looking to the Lord and trusting him. So we're told here that Saul now comes to Jerusalem and he tries to join the disciples and be part of the church there. And we're told that they're afraid of him, for they did not believe that he was a disciple. Now they are afraid of him. They don't think that he's really converted. They are thinking maybe he's just changed his strategy up a little bit, no longer breaking down doors and entering homes, but pretending to be friendly to better identify the church's leaders and community members and at the right at the right time, like a like a Trojan horse, he's going to spring his trap, and he's going to get us the Christians in Jerusalem, they're not ready to roll out the welcome mat for Saul of Tarsus. And just again, to remember that this is the same Saul of Tarsus who is showing up back in Jerusalem, where he is guilty of hunting down their fathers and mothers.
Pastor: Remember not sparing women or children. He is the reason that some of their families are now in prison or even dead, this man, and he showed back up, and he's saying, I'm changed. I just to just reflect how lonely initially Saul must have been.
Pastor: Who's his friend? The people who, at one time admired and respected him in his role, in his zeal and his fervor, they're now trying to kill him. And now he comes to the church, and they don't receive him. He must have maybe Ananias, right? Well, thankfully, God doesn't just give us men like Saul, who would be Paul and good teachers, but he also gives men and women like Barnabas. That's sometimes our calling too, and this is maybe your calling as well. And you remember Barnabas? We looked at Barnabas back in Acts chapter four. Barnabas sold a piece of land, a very expensive piece of land. Remember, he comes from the Levite family. They didn't have landed, but he had land, but he sold it, and he laid it at the apostles feet, and they received it, and he was called the Son of Encouragement. And he's back at it again in this Barnabas, and this time he is selling his reputation because he befriends Saul of Tarsus, and essentially lays him down at the apostles feet. And they receive him. And then he is received into the community. And then Saul starts doing it again, teaching and preaching, and they are benefiting from it, even though there are people trying to kill him there. And he is sent off to Tarsus. But just, just like a Barnabas too. We need to, as a church, be ready and willing to receive those who we think might be the farthest away, even those that we have hurt, who have hurt us, to receive them into the body because of Christ that we not be like the unforgiving servant.
Pastor: Give me what you well where we have been forgiven such a great debt, let us be like Barnabas and welcome one another in Christ. Now I'll end just as a reminder as we look at this account of Saul of Tarsus. This is not just an inspiring story, a feel good story that we walk away with, but again, a reminder of the resurrected Lord of His resurrection power and his unstoppable grace to great sinners, Saul proclaimed Jesus as the Son of God. Why? Because Jesus arrested him and captured him. Jesus had worked in Saul.
Pastor: Saul escapes, plots against his life. Why? Because Jesus had more work for him to do. He was brought into the fellowship. Of the very people he had once tried to destroy. Because Jesus builds His church not with good people, but with redeemed enemies. Jesus builds His church with prostitutes, tax collectors, Pharisees, the chief of sinners, those who need a savior and a redeemer. And what's the result? Verse 31 tells us the Church throughout all Judea and Galilee and Samaria had peace, and they're being built up and walking in the fear of the Lord, not of man, and in the comfort of the Holy Spirit, it is multiplying.
Pastor: Now, this is not only Saul's story. This is our story, isn't it? In many ways, though not as dramatic as Saul. That is probably the most dramatic conversion story you will ever hear. But our conversion is no less miraculous. By nature. You and I are enemies of God, blind to the glory of the Lord Jesus Christ, until he opens up our eyes by His grace and power and by God's hand, we are protected until he's done with us here on Earth, he's in charge of our breath, of our hair, of everything in Him we live and move and have our being by His Spirit, we are brought in to the family of God, not as strangers, but even together, as fellow saints, as fellow citizens, as brothers and sisters in Christ, brothers and sisters. This is why we do not lose heart. Jesus is alive. Now. Jesus is reigning. Now Jesus is conquering now the same Christ who took Saul, the furthest gone, the most unlikely of converts, the most opposed, and he has made him a servant, made him a proclaimer of Christ, and that Christ is still saving, that Christ is still at work now in your heart and the hearts of those around you, he is still building his church, and he will not be stopped. Who will stop Christ? No one, nothing in all of creation will separate you from his love, and no one will separate you from no one will separate him from those He is saving. He will not be stopped.
Pastor: So let us put our faith in Him, and when he is finished, he is coming again in glory to judge the living and the dead. I believe that Jesus, Christ is the Son of God. Let's pray father. We, thank you for giving us your word. We, thank you for Jesus our Savior.
Pastor: Father, help us to be encouraged that Jesus saves the farthest that Jesus did not come for those who have no need of a physician, but those who are sick. And Lord, we recognize we, you know, we are all sick, For all have, All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, Lord, I pray that by the power of your Spirit, you will do that work in us now to see our Lord Jesus Christ, to behold Him by faith, change us, renew us, make us like our Savior. And it's in his name we pray, amen..