THE CONVERSION OF A PERSECUTOR
Acts 9:1-7
In one of the episodes of the Peanuts comic strip they have Lucy and Charlie Brown practicing football. Lucy of coarse would hold the ball, as Charlie Brown would be the place-kicker. Now everytime Lucy had ever held the ball for Charlie Brown, at the precise moment when Charlie Brown was at the point of kicking the ball, Lucy would pick up the ball and Charlie Brown would fall flat on his back. One particular comic strip opened with Lucy holding the ball, but Charlie Brown was reluctant to kick it. In that strip Lucy is seen begging him to kick the ball. But Charlie Brown reminded her that, "Every time he tried to kick the ball she would remove it and he would fall on his back." And for once you would’ve thought that Charlie Brown had finally got smart. So they went back and forth for the longest time and finally Lucy broke down in tears and admitted, "Charlie Brown I have been so mean to you over the years, picking up the football like I have. I have played so many cruel tricks on you, but I’ve seen the error of my ways! I’ve been wrong, in fact so wrong. Won’t you give a poor repentant girl another chance?" Now Charlie Brown was moved by her display of grief and responded, "Of course, I’ll give you another chance." He stepped back as she held the ball, and he approached the ball, his leg starting into it’ full motion, and at the last moment, Lucy picks up the ball and again Charlie Brown is flat on his back. I believe Lucy’s last words in that strip were as she walked away, "Recognizing your faults and actually changing your ways are two different things, Charlie Brown!"
Sermon Central Illustrations
By Jeeva Sam
Although we laugh at Charlie Brown for being fooled again by Lucy’ antics. We will not see this in Saul. In the last two chapters we saw Saul creating trouble for the church. Acts 8th chapter verse 1, tells us that it was Saul that consented to the death of Stephen the preaching deacon of the Church in Jerusalem and in verse 3 of that same chapter, it was Saul that made havoc of the church by entering into every house, flushing out those that believed, and committing them into prison. If there is anything good to say about what Saul had done at this point, it would be that the havoc that Saul raised caused many of the brethren to flee Jerusalem into Samaria to preach the word of God.
Last week we talked about The Evidence of a Spirit Led Life. There we saw how Philip was called from Samaria, to go where the angel of the Lord had directed him. When he left Samaria he knew that the Spirit was leading him, but as far as knowing what would happen and who the Spirit was leading him to, that was another thing. He was not clear on that until he was on that desert road between Jerusalem and Gaza. There he saw an Ethiopian man sitting on his chariot reading the book of Isaiah. It was at that moment in verse 29 that the Spirit gave him his marching orders. You see although the Ethiopian eunuch was reading the Scriptures of Isaiah, but he still had the problem of understanding what he was reading. Verse 31 declared after Philip asked him about his understanding, “How can I understand, except a man guide me?” That is when the Holy Spirit took control and skillfully directed Philip into winning another soul for the Lord.
In this weeks lesson we will see the conversion of Saul the Pharisee. Who through his actions would not be a likely candidate for the who’s who for the kingdom. Saul after all he was a Pharisee and was committed to the Mosaic law and the religious way of doing things. He was also committed to discrediting and destroying anyone that broke that law. At this point he was a terror to the followers of Christ. He persecuted the church and anyone else that believed in the Savior. He took pride in what he did and what he stood for. In fact, this ninth chapter starts off with him threatening and promising to destroy the followers of the Way. So as the chapter starts, we find him in the presence of the High Priest, desiring of them letters to Damascus that would allow him to go into the synagogues in search for men and women that might be followers of the Way. He promised that he would capture them and bring them back unto Jerusalem to be jailed.
But, something happened on that day that changed him from a murdering enemy of the Cross, to a champion of the faith. Unknowing to him this day would not be like any other saint hunt. This day, he would meet the One in whom he was really persecuting. This day, he will meet the One he heard Stephen talking about. This day he is going to meet The Life Changer of life changers in Jesus Christ Himself.
So come with me as we witness the conversion of this persecutor.
First of all verse 3 implies that...
1. HIS PLANS WERE INTERRUPTED BY THE LIGHT OF THE WORLD. (V.3)
“And as He journeyed, he came near Damascus, and suddenly there shone round about him a light from heaven;
Saul had just gotten letters from the High Priest to go down into the city of Damascus to round up more believers. I can imagine how arrogantly he stood before the High Priest as they probably commended him on his efforts to do away with those that preached and taught about Jesus. That day he was probably assuring to them that for once and for all he was going to bring those followers of Jesus down to their knees. So as we look at verse 3 we finds him on his way to Damascus to fulfill what he had promised. But something stopped him. This Pharisee of Pharisees was stopped by the One he set out to stop. While Saul was tracking down the followers of Christ, Jesus was actually tracking down Saul. He wanted Saul as badly as Saul wanted to stop His followers. He wanted Saul because, Saul could speak three different languages and Saul could be instrumental in spreading the gospel of good news to the Gentiles. He needed Saul’ determination to persuade others about Jesus who is the Christ. He longed for Saul’ intellect to be able to defend the gospel against those who didn’t beleive. But before He could use him, He had to change him. So the text said that suddenly there shone around about him a light from heaven;
One way that the Lord used to change the direction that we take is to shine His light on our lives. Saul like many of us, live our lives according to what we think is right. Saul thought that it was right to bring in those who were out of the will of the law and to bring them in for prosecution. He also felt that in order to be a good pharisee it was right to practice and live the laws of the pharisees. He also felt that it was right to bump heads with those that had different religious philosophies, and it was also right to stone those who broke the strictest of the law. So Saul was wandering around doing what he thought was right, but he was actually walking around in the darkness of the law. And in order for him to see the errors of his way. The Lord had to shine His light upon him that he might for once see the blessings that he had been fighting against. In the text Saul found himself lying on the ground. It was not because of a heat stroke or any other illness, it was because of the flash of light that not only startled him but blinded him as well, and for once his mind was not on his mission, but was on his helpless condition.
Secondly, verse 4 shows us that...
2. SAUL HAD TO BE HUMBLED IN ORDER TO HEAR THE VOICE OF THE LORD (V. 4)
“And he fell to the earth, and heard a voice saying unto him, Saul, Saul, why persecutes thou me?”
My brothers and sisters as long as Saul was high on his horse he could not and would not hear the voice of the Lord. After all he felt that Jesus was the son of a carpenter and not the Son of God. The more Jesus’ followers talked about Him and His miracles, the more determined Saul was to do away with them. The more they called Him the Messiah, the more Saul wanted to destroy the credibility of His legacy. So it had become high time for Jesus and Saul to have a showdown. And Saul needed to be humbled to the point that he could not call on or depend on anyone but Jesus to help him. So we see Saul being as full of himself as he could be, hurrying on his way down to Damascus to shut down another branch of the Way. Then suddenly out of nowhere verse 3 proclaims the light from heaven shown round about him. Saul like a arrogant fallen fighter is now in the proper position to be humbled. We too are like Saul at times. We have our own way to persecute the Church. And like Saul we to need to be knocked from our high horses and cast to the ground. Now it is not clear what position Saul was in while on the ground. He could have been on his back, or laying prostrated on his face, or he could have been on his knees, either way he was in a humbled position and that is the position that the Lord wants us in the first place.
Finally verse 6 shows us...
1. HIS HUMILITY GUIDING HIM TO HIS DELIVERANCE. (V.6)
“And he, trembling and astonished, said, Lord, what wilt thou have me to do? And the Lord said unto him, Arise, and go into the city, and it shall be told thee what thou must do.”
In our last point we learned that Saul had to be humbled to hear the voice of the Lord. We saw how he had to come down off his high horse to a humbling position, a position he probably never been in up to this point. Yes, he bowed down for corporate prayer at the hours of prayer, but this was for his own deliverance. He was now in a position of submission, but we cannot continue without listening to his words. In verse 5 Saul asks a question after being asked a question in verse 4. He said in verse 5 “Who art thou, Lord? Now we should not misread this because the meaning of the lord could also mean “sir”. Now the voice he heard replied “I am Jesus, whom thou persecutest;” and somewhere between verse 5 and 6 is were Saul found his deliverance, because in verse 6 he now knows who he is talking to, and he is calling him Lord or Adonai.
Now if you allow me to have a brief sidebar at this moment. I would like to pin-point to you something I think is very important. I know we are living in a very intellectual world that encourages us to read different versions of the bible and that’s ok. In fact I have all the versions on my computer. But I noticed a very important exclusion from the other versions and that was in verse 6 of the K.J.V. The K.J.V. reads “And he, trembling and astonished, said, Lord, what wilt thou have me to do?” Now I don’t know why the NIV, the ESV, and the NLT left this pertinent information out and I’m not picking a fight either. But its exclusion allows the readers to miss Saul admitting that Jesus Christ was Lord. Especially after Jesus told him who He was in verse 5. In verse 6, Saul finally recognizes that Jesus was Lord of all.
Well I said enough and it’s time for me to be apprehended. But before I take my seat, I need to know is Jesus your Lord?
I know we are quick to make Him our Savior, because that is the second act of salvation, repentance being the first. But the question of today is, is He your LORD? That makes you want to trust Him. If He is your Lord it makes
