Speaker 1: So Acts, chapter 9, verse 1,.
Speaker 1: But Saul, still grieving 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 down to Jerusalem.
Speaker 1: 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?
Speaker 1: And he said who are you, lord?
Speaker 1: 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.
Speaker 1: The men who were traveling with him stood speechless, hearing the voice but seeing no one.
Speaker 1: Saul rose from the ground and although his eyes were open, he saw nothing.
Speaker 1: 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.
Speaker 1: Now there was a disciple at Damascus named Ananias.
Speaker 1: The Lord said to him in a vision, ananias, and he said here I am, lord.
Speaker 1: And the Lord said to him Rise and go to the street called Straight and at the house of Judas, look for a man of Tarsus named Saul, for behold, he is praying and he has seen in a vision a man named Ananias.
Speaker 1: Come in and lay hands on him so that he might regain his sight.
Speaker 1: 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 priests to bind all those who call on your name.
Speaker 1: But the Lord said to him 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 how much he must suffer for the sake of my name.
Speaker 1: So Ananias departed and entered the house and, laying his hands on him, he said Brother Saul, the Lord, who appeared to you on the road by which you came, has sent me to you that you might regain your sight and be filled with the Holy Spirit.
Speaker 1: And immediately something like scales fell from his eyes and he regained his sight.
Speaker 1: Then he rose and was baptized and taking food, he was strengthened.
Speaker 1: 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.
Speaker 1: And all who heard him were amazed and said it is not this man who made havoc in Jerusalem of those who called upon this name, and has he not come here for this purpose, to bring them down before the chief priests?
Speaker 1: That Saul increased all the more in strength and confounded the Jews with all those who lived in Damascus by proving that Jesus was the Christ.
Speaker 2: Amen, the word of God for the people of God.
Speaker 2: Amen.
Speaker 2: You may be seated Well, christ is risen, amen.
Speaker 2: Amen.
Speaker 2: You may be seated Well, christ is risen, amen.
Speaker 2: Well, I want to begin with the question do we have any NASCAR fans in here, seriously, like one, two?
Speaker 2: Okay, that's helpful, dude, this is Kentucky.
Speaker 2: What in the world?
Speaker 2: Well, you can probably look at me and know that I'm probably not a NASCAR fan, but my stepdad, who is here with me today, is an avid fan and he's been for many years.
Speaker 2: For years now.
Speaker 2: He's watched the races on television and he's really enjoyed that.
Speaker 2: But last year he had the opportunity to participate in the Rusty Wallace NASCAR experience.
Speaker 2: I think we have a picture here.
Speaker 2: Look at that.
Speaker 2: It was at the Kentucky Speedway and he got to, actually without an instructor, mind you drive.
Speaker 2: I think it had a governor on it, a little bit right, but I mean he put it wide open.
Speaker 2: I know my dad and he got to drive around that track and I'll tell you this that you know as much as he enjoys watching NASCAR.
Speaker 2: There was nothing that paled in comparison to being in the car and being on the track, and I'm not here to preach about NASCAR, which I'm glad, since there's no fans, but I tell you that story to say this, being a fan of Christ, if you will.
Speaker 2: Sitting in the stands watching Christ from a distance can be fascinating, it can be enjoyable, but that will not save a person.
Speaker 2: It's not Christianity.
Speaker 2: And here's the beautiful news that I want to share with you today that Christ invites every one of you to join him in the car on the track, to experience firsthand his love and to come into his kingdom.
Speaker 2: What an offer.
Speaker 2: Amen.
Speaker 2: I don't know why you're here today.
Speaker 2: I mean, some of you you go to this church, but many of you.
Speaker 2: I see some new faces and I'm so glad you're here.
Speaker 2: You know, maybe a family member invited you, I don't know.
Speaker 2: Maybe a guy's, a cute girl invited you and you're like I'll go anywhere with you, right?
Speaker 2: Maybe you don't normally go to church on Easter, but are, you know, regularly during the year, but you just think on Easter, man, this is something I need to do.
Speaker 2: Maybe you're here just looking for hope this morning, and well, whatever the reason, I want you to know.
Speaker 2: We are thrilled that you are worshiping with us today, but my prayer for you, what we've been praying as a staff, is that every one of you today who don't know the Lord, that you would have a true encounter with the Lord Jesus Christ, that your life would be changed forevermore, amen.
Speaker 2: So we're currently, as a church, going through the book of Acts, and today is about a man named Saul, whom we know as Paul.
Speaker 2: He becomes the apostle Paul and in this text he has an encounter like a dramatic encounter with the risen Jesus.
Speaker 2: It's pretty wild and this transformation is so dramatic.
Speaker 2: Here's what happens he goes from being a notorious sinner to becoming the most influential man in all of Christianity apart from Christ.
Speaker 2: You know, this story to me is a reminder.
Speaker 2: I want you to hear this every one of you, none of you, are out of God's reach.
Speaker 2: I don't care what you've done, I don't care where you've been, I don't care how many times you've fallen down.
Speaker 2: If you have breath, it is not too late to receive God's grace.
Speaker 2: Now I want to talk about Paul's conversion today.
Speaker 2: I want to talk about what it means to truly be converted and become a Christian, and we're going to look at Paul's story and I just want to say right from the start that not everybody's conversion story is this dramatic and, thank God, right.
Speaker 2: But there's some basic elements that are here in the story that are part, I believe, of every real conversion, and here they are.
Speaker 2: I'll just outline them for you.
Speaker 2: Number one would be revelation, number two would be repentance, number three would be resurrection and number four would be results.
Speaker 2: So we're on the R train today.
Speaker 2: Hopefully that'll help you remember the points.
Speaker 2: But number one a conversion always involves a revelation.
Speaker 2: So just want to say this from the start, that the man in our text is called Saul and many Christians I think erroneously believe that Jesus changed his name to Paul.
Speaker 2: He did not.
Speaker 2: Okay, you go to Acts, chapter 13,.
Speaker 2: I believe it's verse 9.
Speaker 2: You can read this later and it says you know, luke says that Saul, who is also called Paul, he had two names.
Speaker 2: Paul was a Roman citizen, born in Tarsus, but he was also a devout Jew.
Speaker 2: So he had a Jewish name, which was Saul, and a Gentile name, which was Paul.
Speaker 2: As a matter of fact, even after his conversion, in the next couple of chapters he's still called Saul, but when he starts to minister to the Gentiles, his name he goes.
Speaker 2: It seems like he prefers to go by Paul.
Speaker 2: So there you go.
Speaker 2: Did you learn something, anybody, all right.
Speaker 2: So I said that just to say I'm going to call him Paul because that's how we know him right.
Speaker 2: So throughout this message he'll be called Paul.
Speaker 2: I want to just speak of his life before coming to Jesus On the screen.
Speaker 2: I'm going to put up Philippians 3, verses 5 and 6.
Speaker 2: Paul is writing and he's speaking of himself and he says I was circumcised on the eighth day.
Speaker 2: That was a covenantal sign of the Jews, of the people of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew of Hebrews as to the law, a Pharisee as to zeal, a persecutor of the church as to righteousness, under the law, blameless.
Speaker 2: So here's what we know about Paul.
Speaker 2: In his former life, before encountering Christ, he was a devout Jew.
Speaker 2: He had a pure bloodline, the tribe of Benjamin.
Speaker 2: He calls himself a Hebrews of Hebrews Like this is a big deal to the Jews that you know, purity, that lineage.
Speaker 2: And he was from the.
Speaker 2: He was a Pharisee, so he was part of this group.
Speaker 2: He would be well-versed in the law, the Old Testament commandments and the rabbinic traditions.
Speaker 2: I mean, he was very, very smart and well-trained and was even a teacher of the law.
Speaker 2: And Paul, the other thing we see here is that Paul thought himself under the law to be blameless, like he tried tediously to keep.
Speaker 2: There were, by the way, 613 commands in the Old Testament.
Speaker 2: Aren't you glad you're under the new covenant?
Speaker 2: Come on somebody.
Speaker 2: But he tried tediously to live up to those laws and traditions.
Speaker 2: But here's what else we learn about him from this passage he was also a persecutor of the church.
Speaker 2: Luke introduces us to Paul in the end of chapter 7 in Acts, into chapter 8.
Speaker 2: And what we read about Paul in those chapters is simply this that he condoned and approved of the execution of the first Christian martyr.
Speaker 2: Like that's how he gets started.
Speaker 2: Isn't that wild.
Speaker 2: Now this in the beginning of our text, this trend is continuing in Paul's life.
Speaker 2: Look at verses one and two.
Speaker 2: 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 synagogue at Damascus so that if he found any belonging to the way that's what Christians were called at that time men or women, he didn't care that he might bring them bound to Jerusalem.
Speaker 2: Now, this word breathing here in the Greek it actually means to inhale, and here is the picture.
Speaker 2: Many commentators point this out.
Speaker 2: Here is the picture of Paul at this point that Luke is painting.
Speaker 2: This is a picture of a ravenous or what would you say animal on a rampage, all right, on the hunt, and you know a lot of animals.
Speaker 2: You know how they kind of make when they're on the hunt like a snorting sound.
Speaker 2: You can't snort while you're breathing out.
Speaker 2: How many want to try that right now?
Speaker 2: All right, go ahead.
Speaker 2: All right, that was weird.
Speaker 2: All right, anyways, you have to breathe in and that's what here's the point.
Speaker 2: Here's the picture Luke is painting.
Speaker 2: Paul is more animalistic at this point than he is human.
Speaker 2: I mean, this is wild.
Speaker 2: And here's what he does in the text.
Speaker 2: He asked the high priest in the temple to be deputized.
Speaker 2: Essentially, damascus is 150 miles from Jerusalem.
Speaker 2: For Paul, that would have been about a three to four day trip each way, and he is so full of anger towards Christians at this point that they've already been run because of persecution out of Jerusalem.
Speaker 2: Many of them landed in Damascus, and he's heard this and he tells the high priest I want to go there and I want to bring them back and I want to bind them and we're going to throw them in prison.
Speaker 2: Do you see how corrupt and evil.
Speaker 2: Paul was at that point.
Speaker 2: Think of this.
Speaker 2: All right, paul did all of those things.
Speaker 2: He persecuted Christians, approved of their execution in the name of God.
Speaker 2: So in modern day, what do we call that kind of a person?
Speaker 2: A terrorist?
Speaker 2: This is no joke.
Speaker 2: Paul today would be considered a terrorist.
Speaker 2: Yet you know what God does.
Speaker 2: Jesus changes his life, and he would go on to write 13 of the 27 books of your New Testament.
Speaker 2: That's the grace of God, folks.
Speaker 2: So that's his life before.
Speaker 2: But then he encounters Jesus.
Speaker 2: The text says he comes upon this great light.
Speaker 2: Okay, and what he does here is this is the glorified Christ, this is Jesus, whom he's coming in contact with.
Speaker 2: Jesus has ascended to heaven and in some way he reveals himself to Paul on the road there to Damascus.
Speaker 2: And Paul is so overwhelmed by the glory of Jesus that he can't even stand up.
Speaker 2: Now here's what's interesting.
Speaker 2: Up to this point, paul refuted the idea that this so-called Messiah would have been raised from the dead.
Speaker 2: He did not believe that.
Speaker 2: But he comes across the risen Christ and he can no longer deny it, and I would just say it changes everything in the apostle Paul's life.
Speaker 2: Listen to me, if you're here and you're not a Christian and maybe you're a skeptic and maybe you're a little timid about coming to Christ.
Speaker 2: Here's what I want you to know.
Speaker 2: Christianity hinges on one thing.
Speaker 2: That one thing is not the way some church people act sometimes, thank God.
Speaker 2: Christianity does not hinge on unanswered prayers.
Speaker 2: It does not hinge on maybe confusing passages in the Bible.
Speaker 2: It hinges on one thing, and that is what we're here to celebrate today the resurrection of Jesus Christ.
Speaker 2: As a matter of fact, in 1 Corinthians 15, paul himself will go on to write that if Christ is not raised, then we Christians are, of all people, most to be pitied.
Speaker 2: We shouldn't be here today.
Speaker 2: We should be out on the golf course or the playground or wherever you go on a nice day.
Speaker 2: But then Paul says but in fact he is risen, amen.
Speaker 2: Paul knows now beyond a shadow of a doubt that Christ has been raised and that changes everything.
Speaker 2: Lee Strobel maybe you've heard of him.
Speaker 2: He is trained in as a legal affairs investigative journalist and years ago he was an avowed atheist man.
Speaker 2: He hated Christianity, he was so against it and during that time, by his own ambition, he was pursuing kind of sinful, hedonistic desires.
Speaker 2: He said these words one time, he said, I lived an immoral, drunken, profane, narcissistic, self-destructive kind of life.
Speaker 2: Does that sound like anybody before you came to Jesus?
Speaker 2: I wouldn't raise my hand again, I'm sorry.
Speaker 2: It was then that he set out to use his investigative skills to disprove the resurrection, because he knew if I can debunk the resurrection, then Christianity will be no more.
Speaker 2: So he goes on this mission and he begins to search high and low for just to find reasons not to believe in the resurrection.
Speaker 2: But you know what happened the more he researched, the more he was convinced that Jesus really is historically risen.
Speaker 2: And so here's what he said.
Speaker 2: He said he came to this point.
Speaker 2: He said I realized it would take more faith for me to remain an atheist than to become a Christian.
Speaker 2: So after two years of searching, here's the verdict that he shares.
Speaker 2: Quote Jesus claimed to be the son of God, and he backed it up by raising from the dead.
Speaker 2: It was this revelation that caused Lee to give his life to Christ and go on to become a pastor.
Speaker 2: He's written two great books.
Speaker 2: I would highly recommend the Case for Christ and the Case for Faith.
Speaker 2: See.
Speaker 2: The resurrection changes everything.
Speaker 2: So conversion has to start with the revelation of the resurrection of Christ.
Speaker 2: Number two it has to involve repentance.
Speaker 2: Conversion always involves repentance.
Speaker 2: So repentance is what it's?
Speaker 2: A change of mind.
Speaker 2: Right, shake your head at me, all right, you're awake?
Speaker 2: Hey, I was here at 645 this morning.
Speaker 2: I don't want to see any of you falling asleep, all right.
Speaker 2: So repentance is a change of mind that leads then, obviously, to a change of action.
Speaker 2: So for a Christian, for someone who's lost and becomes a Christian, what it means is you know, when you're lost, you kind of run your own life, you're the God of your own life, or so you think.
Speaker 2: So when you come to Christ and you repent, what you do is you get off the throne of your life, you profess Jesus Christ as Lord, not just Savior, and you follow him wholeheartedly.
Speaker 2: That's what repentance is, and there are two necessary points for you to understand if you're going to repent.
Speaker 2: One of them is bad news and one of them is good news.
Speaker 2: Which one do you want?
Speaker 2: First, bad news.
Speaker 2: All right, here it is Bad news.
Speaker 2: Before you can be converted, you've got to see your sin.
Speaker 2: You've got to come to terms with your sin.
Speaker 2: Jesus asked Paul in our text why are you persecuting me Now?
Speaker 2: This is curious, and here's why Jesus, at this point, has ascended to the Father.
Speaker 2: Yes, he's in a glorified state, and Paul is perplexed and he says what do you mean?
Speaker 2: How have I persecuted you?
Speaker 2: Well, here's how Jesus is so connected to his people, he is so linked with us that when people mess with us, they're messing with him.
Speaker 2: If you're a parent, you like you get this.
Speaker 2: How many know that?
Speaker 2: It's like you can mess with me.
Speaker 2: But I want you to know if you're messing with my children, you're messing with me still, and I'm going to be a lot more upset then, right?
Speaker 2: So the bad news is this that Paul has to wrestle with you know, remember.
Speaker 2: He sees himself as a moral person, blameless by the law, and Jesus is just turning his world upside down.
Speaker 2: And so here's what happens at that point.
Speaker 2: I mean, think of this the Messiah in the Christian's blood is on his hands.
Speaker 2: How good is he?
Speaker 2: Not so good.
Speaker 2: Look at verses 6 through 9.
Speaker 2: But rise and enter the city and you will be told what to do.
Speaker 2: Jesus is talking to Paul, and so he goes in the city and here's what it says.
Speaker 2: I think it's verse 9.
Speaker 2: It says for three days he was without what Sight and he neither ate nor drank.
Speaker 2: When Paul is confronted and he has to face his sin, he immediately, his life, becomes darkness.
Speaker 2: Now, this was true physical darkness.
Speaker 2: Now, generally speaking, when we have to confess our sin and own up to our own wickedness, we don't become physically blind, but there is, in a sense, an emotional darkness, like when you think you're a good person and you have to come to terms with you are you are more depraved than you could ever imagine.
Speaker 2: That can be a dark moment.
Speaker 2: And so this leads Paul to three days of fasting and going without food.
Speaker 2: And what's so interesting about that is, in the Old Testament, fasting was a sign of mourning and contrition.
Speaker 2: So Paul is undone at this point.
Speaker 2: That's the bad news, the bad news.
Speaker 2: And to come to Christ, here's what you have to know None of you, and neither am I, good enough to get to God, to receive eternal life.
Speaker 2: That's why Jesus came to us.
Speaker 2: Romans 3.23, familiar verse.
Speaker 2: We have all sinned and we all fall short of what, the glory of God?
Speaker 2: That's the bad news.
Speaker 2: How are you doing so?
Speaker 1: here's what I'm going to tell you.
Speaker 2: Here's the bad news.
Speaker 2: Look at me.
Speaker 2: I'm just going to say, as bluntly as I can You're more wicked and malevolent than you ever dared imagine.
Speaker 2: Okay, you glad you came to Easter service today.
Speaker 2: Well, I've got good news for you.
Speaker 2: I'm glad we started with the bad news, got it out of the way.
Speaker 2: Here's the good news.
Speaker 2: Not only do you have to see your sin to be saved, but then you get to see God's grace.
Speaker 2: Jesus doesn't smite Paul here and, by the way, he has every right to.
Speaker 2: Why in the world does the Lord?
Speaker 2: Let us live day by day after all the mistakes we've made, because he's a God of grace.
Speaker 2: He's a God of grace, god of grace, he's the God of grace.
Speaker 2: Instead, jesus tells Paul to continue to go down this road to Damascus, but for different reasons, a completely different plan.
Speaker 2: And so, in verses 10 to 18, luke tells the story of a Christian named Ananias who has this vision.
Speaker 2: And Jesus says to Ananias in the vision listen to this.
Speaker 2: He said I want you to go to Paul, find this man, paul.
Speaker 2: And he said I want you to lay hands on him so that he can get back his sight and receive the Holy Spirit.
Speaker 2: And Ananias is like Jesus.
Speaker 2: Jesus, hey, you been sleeping.
Speaker 2: Do you not know what this man listen?
Speaker 2: He's come here to bind us and you want me to run in the lion's den and I want you to see Jesus' response in verse 15.
Speaker 2: This is amazing, but the Lord said to him go, for he is a chosen instrument of mine to carry my name before the Gentiles and kings and the children of Israel.
Speaker 2: Not only does God save Paul, but he chooses him as an instrument, and that instrument again will go on to be the most influential man in all of Christian history outside of Christ, christian history outside of Christ.
Speaker 2: This is grace upon grace.
Speaker 2: Why am I up here today?
Speaker 2: It's not because of merit, it's not because I'm good, it's because Christ is good.
Speaker 2: Amen.
Speaker 2: 1 Timothy 1.15,.
Speaker 2: Paul came to terms with both his sin and God's grace.
Speaker 2: He says these words.
Speaker 2: The saying is trustworthy and deserving of full acceptance.
Speaker 2: That Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners, of whom I am the foremost.
Speaker 2: Isn't that amazing?
Speaker 2: Here's the point.
Speaker 2: Paul's saying if God can save me, he can save you, because you probably haven't killed Christians Anybody.
Speaker 2: Okay, so there's the bad news We've got to see our sin.
Speaker 2: Tim Keller gave this great summation of the gospel.
Speaker 2: He says we are more sinful and flawed in ourselves than we ever dared believe, yet at the very same time, we are more loved and accepted in Jesus.
Speaker 2: You know, this is really important, guys, look at me.
Speaker 2: Some of you have no problem seeing your sin, but you do have a problem seeing God's grace, because you know you're the only one that knows all the things you've done, all the skeletons in your closet, and you know that Jesus knows, along with you.
Speaker 2: And so you think, man, the Lord could never forgive me.
Speaker 2: Church, he came for the center Church, he came for the sinner, to shower the sinner with grace upon grace, so that you can't repent and turn from your sin until you see both your sin and the grace of God.
Speaker 2: And then the third element of conversion would be this resurrection.
Speaker 2: Resurrection Listen to me, becoming a Christian is not just about becoming a better person.
Speaker 2: Now, as a Christian, you should become a better person and like kinder, like some of you, need to hear this right.
Speaker 2: But listen, that's not the essence of Christianity.
Speaker 2: That's not the essence of Christianity.
Speaker 2: Jesus said in John 3, 3, that if you want to be saved, if you want the kingdom of God, you've got to be what Born again, regenerated, renewed, converted.
Speaker 2: There has to, something has to take place miraculous within your heart.
Speaker 2: It's not just oh, I'm going to, you know, I'm going to follow, emulate Jesus and take care of my neighbor.
Speaker 2: And this that's all great, but that's not salvation.
Speaker 2: You've got to be born again, and here's what that means.
Speaker 2: It means you have to move from death to life.
Speaker 2: You've got to move from death to life.
Speaker 2: Ananias obeys the Lord in the text, and he goes and finds Saul.
Speaker 2: And I want you to look at verse 18 and it says immediately something like scales fell from his eyes and Paul regained his sight.
Speaker 2: And then he rose up and was baptized.
Speaker 2: Now I just saw this this morning.
Speaker 2: This is hot off the press.
Speaker 2: You ready?
Speaker 2: This is awesome.
Speaker 2: How long was Jesus in the grave?
Speaker 2: Three days, okay, I knew that part.
Speaker 2: How long is Paul blind for here?
Speaker 2: Three days.
Speaker 2: And then what does Paul do after he receives his sight?
Speaker 2: What's the first?
Speaker 2: He rose.
Speaker 2: It's resurrection language.
Speaker 2: You know what's happened to Paul from the point of Damascus to this moment in his life, he has experienced a death darkness and he has been raised by the grace of Christ, through the risen Christ, to the newness of life.
Speaker 2: He has been resurrected and this is amazing.
Speaker 2: Let me just read you his own words Ephesians 2, 1 through 7.
Speaker 2: You ready, and you point at yourself.
Speaker 2: You were dead.
Speaker 2: You were what Dead?
Speaker 2: Right, you were dead in your trespasses and sins.
Speaker 2: You weren't just bad, you were dead Spiritually In what you once walked following the course of this world, following the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that is now at work in the sons of disobedience among whom we all once lived, in the passions of our flesh, carrying out the desires of disobedience, among whom we all once lived, in the passions of our flesh, carrying out the desires of the body and the mind.
Speaker 2: And watch this.
Speaker 2: We were, by nature, children of wrath, how you doing, like the rest of mankind, but God, but God being rich in mercy because of the great love with which he has loved us even when we were dead in our trespasses.
Speaker 2: He made us alive together in Christ.
Speaker 2: By grace, you've been saved and raised up with him and seated us in the heavenly places with Christ Jesus, so that in the coming ages he might show the immeasurable riches of his grace and kindness towards us in Jesus.
Speaker 2: If you do not know Christ right now.
Speaker 2: You are dead.
Speaker 2: You are dead Spiritually speaking.
Speaker 2: You are dead, you're not just sick, you're not just a little confused, you are dead.
Speaker 2: That's what the scripture says.
Speaker 2: And Paul, at this point in the story, on the Damascus road, darkness comes upon him and he has been dead, trying to serve God his own way.
Speaker 2: But he has been spiritually dead his entire life.
Speaker 2: But then he meets the resurrected Jesus, who calls him, who chooses him to be his vessel, and then, at this home, he sends Ananias to lay hands on him and the Lord Jesus raises him up.
Speaker 2: The scales fall from his eyes and he gets up.
Speaker 2: He is moved from death to life, from darkness to light, from the kingdom of this world into the kingdom of God, and that's what happens to every believer when they come to Christ.
Speaker 2: How do we know?
Speaker 2: How do we know we've been converted?
Speaker 2: See, there has to be a change on the inside.
Speaker 2: Y'all look so great today in your Easter clothes, right?
Speaker 2: But how many know that God isn't near as concerned this morning about this as he is about this?
Speaker 2: And so you can dress up, those of you who dressed up today.
Speaker 2: You're no different than you were yesterday.
Speaker 2: You're the same person.
Speaker 2: You're no more or less ethical or moral, or what have you.
Speaker 1: You just dressed up the outside.
Speaker 2: There's got to be a change on the inside.
Speaker 2: That's what conversion looks like.
Speaker 2: How do you know you're converted?
Speaker 2: Well, there are finally results, verifiable results.
Speaker 2: I want you to see what Paul does.
Speaker 2: First, verse 19.
Speaker 2: So he gets up and it says In taking food he was strengthened.
Speaker 2: And here it is.
Speaker 2: For some days he was with the disciples at Damascus.
Speaker 2: Number one Paul, as soon as he's saved, joins a community.
Speaker 2: This is the pattern he gets with some disciples and he does life with believers.
Speaker 2: He worships with them, he serves with them.
Speaker 2: He serves them and he does it his entire life.
Speaker 2: When he's in prison, he's writing them letters, and he does it his entire life.
Speaker 2: When he's in prison, he's writing them letters.
Speaker 2: One of the signs that you are truly converted is your love for the church.
Speaker 2: Does going to church save you?
Speaker 2: No, but it is a sign that you're saved.
Speaker 2: Listen to me.
Speaker 2: Can I just preach?
Speaker 2: Can I just be really honest with you?
Speaker 2: Say this very gently, maybe not Listen.
Speaker 2: People ask me all the time do I have to go to church to be saved?
Speaker 2: I just want to say why do you ask?
Speaker 2: Jesus said do it, do it.
Speaker 2: It doesn't save you, no.
Speaker 2: But Jesus said this is how they're going to know.
Speaker 2: You're my disciples by your love one for another.
Speaker 2: If you don't want to come together and gather with the people of God, if you don't love coming and worshiping, if you'd rather just sit at home on Sundays, this is the Lord's day man, it's hard for me to believe that somebody that just I understand, like if you can't get here, I know that people are gone from time to time, but if it's not a priority in your life, I'm sorry.
Speaker 2: I'm sorry, I'm not saying you're not a Christian, but I'm saying it's a red flag Because as soon as you come into salvation and conversion, you become knit together with a whole family of believers around the world and your heart just immediately wants to be with them.
Speaker 2: Okay, the second evidence result from salvation is behavior, Behavior.
Speaker 2: Romans 6.1,.
Speaker 2: Paul says he's talking about God's grace.
Speaker 2: He said what shall we do then?
Speaker 2: Just continue in sin, so grace may abound.
Speaker 2: You know somebody, I don't care if you've been baptized, professed Christ, been to the altar five million times, cried a little bit, did the glory hands.
Speaker 2: You know, whatever, if your life on the outside has not changed and your heart has not changed on the inside, you are not saved.
Speaker 2: Okay, you say, that sounds like salvation by works and it's like no, we are saved by faith alone, by grace alone, through faith alone in Christ alone, period.
Speaker 2: But Martin Luther himself said this, the reformer.
Speaker 2: He said we are saved by faith alone, but saving faith is never alone.
Speaker 2: In other words, when God changes your heart, there's always a change.
Speaker 2: So there's this behavioral change.
Speaker 2: There's also proclamation.
Speaker 2: We see here In verse 20, it says immediately, immediately, paul proclaimed Jesus in the synagogue saying he's the son of God.
Speaker 2: Now, this is hard sometimes for anybody, but imagine Paul.
Speaker 2: Paul has been going to the synagogues going.
Speaker 2: This is not the Messiah, let's kill all the Christians you know.
Speaker 2: And now I mean he's going and going.
Speaker 2: Guys, I was wrong, we shouldn't have killed those people.
Speaker 2: Probably, like he is the Messiah, like how many of you just be honest, just be honest, how many of you have had a really hard time, especially with your spouse admitting you're wrong?
Speaker 2: Like, come on, it's hard.
Speaker 2: And Paul so wants people, he so wants people to come to Jesus Christ and hear the good news.
Speaker 2: That's just changed his life, that he swallows his pride and he goes to these synagogues going.
Speaker 2: I've got great news, brothers and sisters Jesus is risen.
Speaker 2: He is the Messiah, he is the Son of God.
Speaker 2: Last night, so, this cross was filled with prayer requests, and last night we had a prayer time.
Speaker 2: We prayed for every need, didn't we, pastor Ben?
Speaker 2: Every need on the cross, and there were two sheets of paper that just blessed my heart.
Speaker 2: We had one 12-year-old and one 8-year-old both girls right on there.
Speaker 2: Please pray that I would be able to share Christ with my friends.
Speaker 2: No one told us that, by the way, including me.
Speaker 2: Listen, wow, wow.
Speaker 2: Do you know?
Speaker 2: We had a girl get saved, eight years old, just a few weeks ago, ron and Kay led a neighborhood outreach where they went door to door.
Speaker 2: Do you know that she went to a door by herself, just God's sake.
Speaker 2: Her mom was right behind her, but she went up and just wanted to invite people to church.
Speaker 2: It's amazing, guys, listen.
Speaker 2: Okay, let me say it like this when you, if you come up on some lifestyle change like, uh, let's say diet, I don't like to say diet, um, just way of life you know you, you've, man, you found this program, this exercise regimen, this eating regimen, and it changes your life, and you know, and, and, and listen, I, you're going to tell everybody, especially your unhealthy friends.
Speaker 2: You're going to rub it in a little bit and then you're going to say no, no, no, I care about you and I want you to know what I'm doing, cause I want you to be healthy, I want you to have quality of life, I want you to have longevity, and you're going to talk about it.
Speaker 2: Any product or service that you find that's life-changing, man.
Speaker 2: You won't be quiet about it.
Speaker 2: Do you guys ever get tired of hearing people talk about their diets and their?
Speaker 2: You know all that stuff.
Speaker 2: What about Jesus?
Speaker 2: As much as I'm an advocate of living a healthy life, that kind of transformation pales in comparison to being brought from death to life in the Lord Jesus Christ.
Speaker 2: And yet why are we not telling people?
Speaker 2: One of the signs that you are truly saved is that you are telling everybody you can about Jesus.
Speaker 2: Okay, and we don't do this perfectly, by the way none of these things.
Speaker 2: So in closing, connor, if you'd come to the keyboard, here's what I want you to see Paul's on the road to Damascus.
Speaker 2: Right, he's got one agenda, and doesn't God show up at the most unexpected times?
Speaker 2: So again, I'll just say I don't know why you're here this morning.
Speaker 2: If you just, maybe you're going to get an Easter dinner out of it.
Speaker 2: Somebody said, hey, we'll cook you dinner if you come to church, or whatever.
Speaker 2: That pretty girl, whatever that may be, all it is.
Speaker 2: I'm going to get a date out of this, right?
Speaker 2: That's what you might think.
Speaker 2: But I want you to know I believe this that God had another plan for you today.
Speaker 2: God had another plan for you today.
Speaker 2: So some of you you've never professed Christ.
Speaker 2: This might be your first time in church Again.
Speaker 2: Wow, I'm glad you're here.
Speaker 2: But I want you to know today that you can be converted, okay, and I don't think you're going to go blind, just to be sure.
Speaker 2: But I want you to know that this grace is for you.
Speaker 2: I heard a testimony from one of our new members the other day and I won't give his name because I don't have permission to share this, but he talked about for over 50 years, just lived a life of sin and he was overcome with anxiety and guilt.
Speaker 2: Have you ever been there?
Speaker 2: I have.
Speaker 2: You're just constantly thinking about what you've done and the bad things in your life and he was out raking his yard one day.
Speaker 2: And God shows up, constantly thinking about what you've done and the bad things in your life.
Speaker 2: He was out raking his yard one day and God shows up and all of a sudden he was flooded with God's grace and do you know?
Speaker 2: He ended up going to church.
Speaker 2: He ended up receiving Christ and being baptized and in a moment that guilt and shame was all washed away.
Speaker 2: That's you today.
Speaker 2: That's you.
Speaker 2: Come to Jesus today.
Speaker 2: We'd love to pray with you.
Speaker 2: Others of you you're at church quite a bit, okay, but you've watched Jesus from a distance, but you're not truly converted.
Speaker 2: Some of you have been going to church for 50 years and yet you may not have truly been converted.
Speaker 2: See, to be converted Jesus doesn't you don't just tap Jesus onto your life.
Speaker 2: He becomes your life.
Speaker 2: Others of you today, you are, you're under the understanding.
Speaker 2: This is really big in this area.
Speaker 2: You think that you're a good enough person that if you can just be good, god's going to let you in.
Speaker 2: What you don't know is that God's standard of good is perfection.
Speaker 2: And you're not perfect, sorry to break it to you, and neither am I.
Speaker 2: That's why Jesus came.
Speaker 2: So you come to Him today.
Speaker 2: We'll help you with this.
Speaker 2: You repent of your sin.
Speaker 2: Admit.
Speaker 2: We'll help you with this, you repent of your sin, admit it to him, repent of it, confess it to him, commit your life to live for him and follow him in baptism We've got in just a moment, one baptism, by the way.
Speaker 2: So, while you're here, if any of those apply to you, let today what greater day than Easter for this to happen?
Speaker 2: Let it be the day of salvation.
Speaker 2: I'll give you one final illustration, and I'm done.
Speaker 2: In the 18th century, a man by the name of John left his home, and at a very early age he went to become a sailor, and he became quite a wicked man.
Speaker 2: At one point he became the captain of a slave ship, and then he became, as he grew a little bit older, an investor in the slave trade.
Speaker 2: In 1748, though, his life changed during a return voyage to England.
Speaker 2: There was a horrible storm, and he had heard the gospel somewhere, and he cried out that the Lord would save him.
Speaker 2: He would go on to become one of the most influential leaders in the evangelical Christian movement in England.
Speaker 2: This man is none other than John Newton, who wrote the words to the most famous hymn.
Speaker 2: These words Amazing grace how sweet the sound that saved a wretch like me.
Speaker 2: I once was lost, but now I'm found.
Speaker 2: Was blind, but now I see.
Speaker 2: I pray today that God would give each of you Eyes to see and that you would respond in faith.