Sermon Cloud

I. What do we know about Saul?

• Saul was a Pharisee who trained under the well known Pharisee Gamaliel the Elder.

• We met Gamaliel in Acts 5 – he was the pharisee who warned the other Sanhedrin members that if this movement was of God they would only find themselves fighting against Him.

• Gamaliel was from a prominent family - His grandfather Hillel the elder founded the Hillel school where Saul studied under Gamaliel.

• This may not mean much to some, but understand this family was not made up of nobodies – these guys were Judaism in the flesh – and they were well known and respected by all Jews of the past and present.

• For Saul to be a graduate of this school was not a small thing – look it up on wikipedia!

• Saul possessed a zeal for Pharisaical traditions and an unwavering commitment to Judaism which gives us insight into what this school was all about!

• As a result Saul was an enemy of the cross and hated everything this movement stood for.

• For this fellow to change his mind would require a miracle.

• It just so happened that on his way to Damascus something truly miraculous occurred!

• Jesus decided to pay Saul a visit!

II. The Damascus Road Experience

• As he and his companions neared Damascus they encountered a bright shining light from heaven that caused Saul to fall to the ground.

• And then a voice – Saul, Saul why are you persecuting me?

• Who are you Lord? - I am Jesus whom you are persecuting.” Notice two things:

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  1. First Jesus shows that he takes the persecution of his people personally.

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     • To persecute Christians is to persecute Jesus himself and he holds persecutors responsible! This is something we can take great comfort in for when we suffer for Jesus' sake – it does not go unnoticed by him for he takes it personally!

     • Since he takes it personally this means we should not take it personally.

     • They are not attacking us – they are attacking Jesus – as Jesus said: If the world hates you, keep in mind that it hated me first. (Jn 15:8)

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  1. The Lord refers to himself by his given name “Jesus” - this is significant.

     • As several commentators have observed: Jesus addresses Paul from heaven, and Paul discerns that the words spoken by Stephen are true: “I see heaven open and the Son of man standing at the right hand of God” (7:56). Jesus is alive, raised from the dead and seated at the right hand of God in heaven. (Kistemaker; also Fernando)

     • He thought he had been fighting for God – but now the words of his teacher have come true: he was really fighting against God – Jesus was who he said he was!

     • This meant Stephen was an innocent man which meant Saul was guilty of his death.

• Yet despite his murderous heart against Jesus and his people, Jesus had plans for Saul.

• There have been many people who will tell you they once believed and then reached a point where they no longer believed in Christ.

• There have also been many who will tell you at one time did not believe but were later convinced and confessed faith in Christ.

• Either occurrence usually involves a process – the person is moving in that general direction for a period of time and then eventually they find themselves believers or unbelievers depending on the direction in which they are going.

• Not so with Saul – there is no evidence that he was even remotely close to considering the possibility that Christianity had merit.

• HE was not going through any personal evaluation – NO his conversion was the work of the one he met on the road.

• This is very important for us to grasp – to be in touch with the gospel we must understand that though not everyone has a bright shining light experience, conversion is always the result of God's work in a person.

• You may be asking - “What is conversion?” It is a change God makes in us. Our minds are polluted by sin which means our intellect, emotions and will have been poisoned.

• To put it in physical terms – its like a blindness.

• By striking Saul with physical blindness he was teaching Saul about his spiritual blindness.

• Saul you are totally lost and do not know who I am because you cannot see.

TRANSITION: Saul could not see anything. Those who were with him led him to Damascus by the hand. He needed guidance, not only physically because of his blindness but also spiritually because of spiritual blindness.

III. Jesus Puts Saul in Ananias' Way

• Across town Ananias a Jewish Christian received a vision from the Lord about Saul.

• “Ananias, 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.”

• That would be like a Christian soldier in Afghanistan receiving a vision from the Lord – Go around this mountain, down through this valley and into this cave – there you will find Osama bin Laden – he is praying and in a vision has seen an American soldier coming to pray for him to restore his sight.

• I am sure I can imagine the soldier's response: Lord I have heard about his man...Well, Ananias had a similar response – “But Lord! I have heard about this man...in case you haven't heard...he is a very bad man!”

• Notice that Ananias, like Philip is in touch with the Spirit. Though he does pause and ask: Umm Lord, are you sure? Because I don't think we want this guy in our church.”

• Yes, the Lord was very aware of this man's record – he knows about his atrocities.

• But the Lord assures him he has plans for Saul, so he obeys the Lord's instructions.

• Someone like Saul would have been written off by most Christians today as hopeless, too far gone, his heart is so hard he cannot be changed! But Ananias is also in touch with the gospel.

• When Ananias approached Saul he called him a name – I could think of a few names...

• Ananias calls him brother. One commentator says: For Paul, this one word more than anything else speaks volumes. Now he knows that with the greeting brother, Ananias has accepted him and is welcoming him into the church. (Kistemaker)

• Imagine you are Saul for a moment – you have just encountered the risen Christ – you have come to realize the depths of your sin, wrestling over your wicked actions.

• IN walks Ananias – a believing Jew who would have been arrested by Saul a few days earlier - refers to him as “brother” – this is grace! Ananias was in touch with the gospel and with people

• He knew Saul needed to be reassured that he was now part of the family of God.

• So this teaches us:

  • When a sinner with a reputation comes to faith and professes faith in Christ he or she must be accepted into the fellowship as a brother or sister in Christ and the past however colorful must be met with gospel grace.

Spurgeon: Deep as our miseries and boundless as our sins may be, the mines of his unfathomable love, his grace, and his power, exceed them still. [Go] throughout all nations to hunt up the most abject of all races; discover, at last, a tribe of men degenerated as low as the beasts; select out of these the vilest, one who has been a cannibal; bring before us one lost to all sense of morality, one who has put bitter for sweet and sweet for bitter, light for darkness and darkness for light; let that man be red with murder, let him be black with lust; let villainies infest his heart as innumerable and detestable as the frogs of Egypt's plague—yet Christ is able to meet that man's case. It is impossible for us to produce an exaggeration of the work of sin and the devil, which Christ shall not be able to overtop by the plenitude of his power.” Why did God choose Saul? To show that he could overtop his sins by the plenitude of his power!

IV. God's Grace Transformed the Enemy Saul into Apostle Paul

• Paul's own explanation in 1 Tim. 1:^13 Even though I was once a blasphemer and a persecutor and a violent man, I was shown mercy because I acted in ignorance and unbelief. ^{14} The grace of our Lord was poured out on me abundantly, along with the faith and love that are in Christ Jesus. ^15 Here is a trustworthy saying that deserves full acceptance: Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners—of whom I am the worst. ^{16} But for that very reason I was shown mercy so that in me, the worst of sinners, Christ Jesus might display his unlimited patience as an example for those who would believe on him and receive eternal life.

• Saul considered himself to be a good man – describing himself as “fautless”. But once he encountered the risen exalted Christ – he was completely exposed a wretched sinner – he could not hide his sin in the presence of the risen, exalted Jesus.

• In the presence of the Holy Son of God grace has new meaning and radically transforms us for in his presence we come to realize how deep and terrible are our sins, and how merciful and loving God is.

ILLUSTRATION: Saul's experience was a lot like Peter's. When Peter first met Jesus he had been fishing all night and had not been successful. Then Jesus told him to go out and let down his net for a catch – Peter obeyed but only to humor him. He was unprepared for what was about to happen. It seemed that every fish in the sea got caught in Peter's net. Then Peter realized he was not merely in the presence of a good “teacher” but of the Holy Son of God – his heart of sin became exposed in the presence of Christ and he dropped to his knees and said to Jesus: “Depart from me Lord for I am a sinful man.” But Jesus, already fully aware of Peter's sin shows him lots of grace and says: Don't be afraid – from now on you will catch men.” Despite Peter's sin – Jesus had a job for him – and despite Saul's blasphemies and vicious persecution of Jesus himself – he had a job for him as well.

TRANSITION: Many of you know the name Frank Zappa – he was born right here in Baltimore – was known for his songwriting in a number of musical genres, his guitar playing and film making in the 60s, 70s and 80s. If you know this much about him you probably also know he hated Christianity and he was very outspoken about his views of Christianity. Just to give you a taste of Zappa – he said this at a pro-choice rally in reference to the people with the Jesus fish on their cars: “Beware of the fish people, they are the true enemy.” He also said: “My best advice to anyone who wants to raise a happy, mentally healthy child is: Keep him or her as far away from a church as you can.”

CONCLUSION: We have learned:

1. Sometimes God puts people like Frank Zappa, like Bin Laden, like Saul of Tarsus in our way.

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  • We must not underestimate his ability to use such people for his purposes.

  • Such people could be his chosen instrument to radically change the world!

  • If we could look back through the corridors of time and trace our spiritual ancestry – maybe a grandfather led us to Christ, and behind him, a mother and behind her a pastor and behind him a school teacher and behind her an evangelist – I bet many of us could eventually reach the apostle Paul.

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  • This really drives home how significant his role was in the spread of Christianity.

  • It also drives home the significance of Ananias' role - many of us believe to day because long ago a man named Ananias went to pray for a young man named Saul.

2. To be in touch with the gospel requires we recognize that salvation is only accomplished by Christ's power – we are unable to contribute to it!

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  • Receiving Christ as savior and Lord was the farthest thing from Saul's mind!

  • But Jesus got a hold of him and used him to spread the good news of Jesus farther than any other apostle.

  • True he used Ananias to minister to Saul and lead him more fully into a relationship with Christ but it was God who saved him, forgave him and turned his life around.

3. No one is so bad, so sinful or so deep in wickedness that they are out of Jesus' reach.

If we REALLY understand the gospel – then when God puts such a person in our way we will not overlook them for we understand how deep, how wide and how high is the river of Christ's grace to undeserving sinners like Saul, like me, like you.