Good morning. We are going to read the post-conversion account of Paul today.
• His conversion, which we saw last week, was both miraculous and traumatic.
• He was blinded for 3 days and did not eat or drink, until a stranger Ananias came to minister to him. He was restored physically, but more importantly, spiritually.
• We marvel at God’s unmerited favour and grace shown upon him, and the power of the Gospel in transforming his life, when fully understood.
• This is the testimony of life-change for all of us too, when we come to know Jesus as our Saviour and Lord, just not in such dramatic way.
Let’s us pray before we go into God’s Word.
Dear heavenly Father, we have come to acknowledge you as our sovereign God. We bow down in worship and we submit to You as our Lord.
In the midst of all that’s happening in our world today – the pandemic, the floods, the unrests, the stresses of life that can come from all fronts – we look up to you who alone reigns supreme. In humility and repentance, we seek you for mercy and forgiveness, for strength and wisdom, for hope and grace.
We live for you and for your Kingdom. Help us draw strength from your Word, the eternal truth. Therein lies all that we need in life.
Enlighten us again and strengthen our faith. In Jesus’ Name we pray, AMEN.
Let’s read Acts 9:19b-31.
… Saul spent several days with the disciples in Damascus. 20At once he began to preach in the synagogues that Jesus is the Son of God. 21All those who heard him were astonished and asked, "Isn't he the man who raised havoc in Jerusalem among those who call on this name? And hasn't he come here to take them as prisoners to the chief priests?" 22Yet Saul grew more and more powerful and baffled the Jews living in Damascus by proving that Jesus is the Christ.
23After many days had gone by, the Jews conspired to kill him, 24 but Saul learned of their plan. Day and night they kept close watch on the city gates in order to kill him. 25But his followers took him by night and lowered him in a basket through an opening in the wall.
26 When he came to Jerusalem, he tried to join the disciples, but they were all afraid of him, not believing that he really was a disciple. 27 But Barnabas took him and brought him to the apostles. He told them how Saul on his journey had seen the Lord and that the Lord had spoken to him, and how in Damascus he had preached fearlessly in the name of Jesus. 28 So Saul stayed with them and moved about freely in Jerusalem, speaking boldly in the name of the Lord. 29 He talked and debated with the Grecian Jews, but they tried to kill him. 30 When the brothers learned of this, they took him down to Caesarea and sent him off to Tarsus.
31Then the church throughout Judea, Galilee and Samaria enjoyed a time of peace. It was strengthened; and encouraged by the Holy Spirit, it grew in numbers, living in the fear of the Lord.
HIS TIME IN DAMASCUS
Paul met Christ on the road to Damascus and was taken to Damascus blinded.
• God sent a disciple Ananias to the specific location to look for Paul and minister to him. He would find Paul praying, the Lord told him (9:11). He was seeking God.
• God gave Paul a vision of Ananias coming and praying for his healing (9:12).
• We heard in the message last week, although Paul was physically blind, he was seeing more clearly than ever, spiritually.
• He saw the light of Christ, physically and spiritually. He was enlightened.
Paul began to bear witness for Christ; from being the persecutor of Christianity and Christ, to the defender of the faith and of Christ.
• 9:20 Paul began to preach in the synagogues, the most logical platform for him.
• And he preached that Jesus is the Son of God, a radically different message from pre-conversion.
• This is the one and only time that this title ‘Son of God’ appears in Acts. The use of this phrase itself is unacceptable to the Jews.
• Jesus Christ the Messiah is the Son of God! It is a clear reference to Jesus’ deity, which Jesus alluded to and the Pharisees had been accusing Jesus of.
• And now the Pharisee Paul is proclaiming the same. The people need to know that Jesus is God’s Son and one with the Father (John 10:30).
• Jesus cannot save sinners if He is only a great prophet, a good man or teacher.
Those who heard him were naturally astonished. They would have argued with him.
• 9:22 Yet Saul grew more and more powerful and baffled [bear-fur] the Jews living in Damascus by proving that Jesus is the Christ.
• Not only was he proclaiming Christ as the Son of God, he was PROVING to them from the Scriptures that Jesus is the Christ.
• Like what the Lord did with the 2 disciples on the road to Emmaus [a-mei-us] – opening the Scriptures and explaining to them what was said concerning Himself (cf. Luke 24:27).
Paul was qualified to teach. He was a Pharisee and the son of a Pharisee, a student of the Law trained under Gamaliel, being groomed to be a Rabbi…
• Phil 3:4-6 “If anyone else thinks he has reasons to put confidence in the flesh, I have more: 5circumcised on the eighth day, of the people of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew of Hebrews; in regard to the law, a Pharisee; 6as for zeal, persecuting the church; as for legalistic righteousness, faultless.”
• This learned student of the Law now preaches from the same Scriptures but with the revelation that comes from Jesus Christ.
From the Epistles that Paul wrote, we know he was an avid learner of the Scriptures.
• He laid down for us the fundamental doctrines of the Christian faith.
• The doctrines of Christ as God, His incarnation, His atonement, His resurrection, the gift of eternal life, can all be traced back to Paul.
HIS TIME IN ARABIA
In Galatians, Paul shared what happened right after his conversion.
• Gal 1:11-17 11I want you to know, brothers, that the gospel I preached is not something that man made up. 12I did not receive it from any man, nor was I taught it; rather, I received it by revelation from Jesus Christ.
13For you have heard of my previous way of life in Judaism, how intensely I persecuted the church of God and tried to destroy it. 14I was advancing in Judaism beyond many Jews of my own age and was extremely zealous for the traditions of my fathers. 15But when God, who set me apart from birth and called me by His grace, was pleased 16to reveal His Son in me so that I might preach Him among the Gentiles, I did not consult any man, 17nor did I go up to Jerusalem to see those who were apostles before I was, but I went immediately into Arabia and later returned to Damascus.
Paul did not consult any man nor did he go up to Jerusalem to meet the apostles. He left Damascus for Arabia, and then returned again.
• Paul did not explain what he did in Arabia, but the flow of thought regarding not having received the Gospel from man or taught by man but from Christ, seems to indicate he has some personal time reflecting on the truth of the Scriptures.
• After such a traumatic [truh ma tic] encounter with Christ, with the many years of learning the Law and believing in Judaism shattered in one day, we can only surmise that Paul would take time to ponder over all that he has learnt.
The Law points to Christ as the ultimate fulfilment and our justification from sin, but he has not been seeing it before he met Christ on the road.
• There’s a lot of things for him to learn, to unlearn and to relearn.
• I believe his re-examining the Scriptures led him to see Christ in a clearer light.
• Hence he said, “I did not receive it from any man, nor was I taught it; rather, I received it by revelation from Jesus Christ.” (Gal 1:12)
• Reading the letters of Paul — like Romans, Galatians, Ephesians, Colossians, or the others — tell us the depth of his theological understanding.
• They are not truths taught by men but revealed by the Lord to Paul, from the Scriptures. He was given insights into the things of God.
No wonder Paul was able to confound the Jews and grew more and more powerful (9:22).
• The more he testified in defence for Christ, the stronger he became. You cannot fight against the truth; you can only submit to it.
• “If you cannot win him, kill him.” That’s what his opponents decided to do.
• 9:23-25 23After many days had gone by, the Jews conspired to kill him, 24but Saul learned of their plan. Day and night they kept close watch on the city gates in order to kill him. 25But his followers took him by night and lowered him in a basket through an opening in the wall.
Paul reveals more in 2 Cor 11:32-33 32In Damascus the governor under King Aretas had the city of the Damascenes guarded in order to arrest me. 33But I was lowered in a basket from a window in the wall and slipped through his hands.
• Even the governor teamed up with the Jews in trying to seize Saul. He placed guards at the city gates to arrest him.
• God provided a way and he managed to escape at night, in a basket through an opening in the wall.
HIS TIME IN JERUSALEM
That was not the end of his ordeal. When he escaped to Jerusalem, the disciples there did not welcome him. They could not trust him.
• Only Barnabas, the “Son of Encouragement” and generous giver we read about in Acts 4, was willing to take the risk to accept him and listen to his story.
• Barnabas took him to the apostles. Initially only Peter and James met him.
• Gal 1:18-19 18Then after three years [in Damascus], I went up to Jerusalem to get acquainted with Peter and stayed with him fifteen days. 19I saw none of the other apostles-only James, the Lord's brother.
9:27-29 27But Barnabas took him and brought him to the apostles. He told them how Saul on his journey had seen the Lord and that the Lord had spoken to him, and how in Damascus he had preached fearlessly in the name of Jesus. 28So Saul stayed with them and moved about freely in Jerusalem, speaking boldly in the name of the Lord. 29He talked and debated with the Grecian Jews, but they tried to kill him.
• Luke highlighted to us that despite the oppositions and threats to his life, Paul continued to preach the Gospel without fear and with courage.
• Clearly the criteria for measuring success in evangelism is not about how people respond to you. It is the faithfulness in sharing the Gospel without compromise.
The situation was difficult. The Lord appeared to Paul and told him that the Jews would not accept his testimony, and that he would have to get out of town quickly.
• Paul shared this to us in Acts 22:17-21.
17 "When I returned to Jerusalem and was praying at the temple, I fell into a trance 18and saw the Lord speaking. `Quick!' he said to me. `Leave Jerusalem immediately, because they will not accept your testimony about me.'
19 "‘Lord,’ I replied, ‘these men know that I went from one synagogue to another to imprison and beat those who believe in you. 20And when the blood of your martyr Stephen was shed, I stood there giving my approval and guarding the clothes of those who were killing him.’ [They knew who I was; they might be persuaded; some could be his ex-colleagues. But the Lord knows better.]
21"Then the Lord said to me, ‘Go; I will send you far away to the Gentiles.'"
The Lord had him covered. 9:30 the brothers took him down to Caesarea and sent him off to Tarsus.
• He remained there until Barnabas looked for him (11:25) and brought him to Antioch.
The Lord has been watching over His servant (of course, He called him and chose him).
• He watches over him, even though Paul was forced to flee from Damascus and then again from Jerusalem.
• Many today mistakenly feel that since God loves them and saves them, He will protect them from all trials and hardship.
• The careful reading of the Bible shows us otherwise. Trials are part of life and ministry, and God uses them to accomplish His purposes.
• Paul as a believer was persecuted, right from the start. So were the rest of the apostles and the OT saints like David, Joseph and Daniel.
• God has His amazing workings beyond our understanding.
A little bird was flying south to avoid the winter. But she got a late start and was caught in a snowstorm. The storm was so bad that ice formed on her wings and she could no longer fly. She went down on a crash landing and could not get back up.
She thought, “This is the end of me. I will be frozen to death.”
But then, a cow came by and took a dump on her. At first, the little bird felt this has gone from bad to worse. An early burial.
Soon she realizes the cow dung was warming up her wings and thawing them. It wasn’t going to be her end after all.
Even in deep shit, something good can still take place.
Luke writes to tell us, not just about Paul’s conversion and that it was genuine, but that it was difficult. Many did not believe him, and would not want to believe him.
• And most of these initial attacks came from his fellow Jews.
• The persecutor would become the persecuted. The one hunting down believers would now be hunted down and on the run himself.
• Paul, who inflicted suffering on Christians, would now suffer as a Christian.
In fact, the Lord revealed this to Ananias right from the beginning –
Acts 9:15-16 15But the Lord said to Ananias, "Go! This man is my chosen instrument to carry my name before the Gentiles and their kings and before the people of Israel. 16I will show him how much he must suffer for my name."
• I wonder if Ananias related this part to Paul. “The Lord told me that He will show you how much you are going to suffer for His Name.”
• How do you like this for a job description? You go to a job interview and the person says, “Well, you are chosen for this…”
Paul has met Christ and was prepared to be God’s chosen instrument to carry His Name before the Gentiles, their kings and the people of Israel!
• He was willing and he was prepared to suffer for the sake of Christ and the Gospel.
• We thank God for Paul. We are blessed today by his ministry and by the many truths that he has penned down for us in the Epistles.
May what we see in Paul inspires us today:
Phil 3:8 “…I consider everything a loss compared to the surpassing greatness of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whose sake I have lost all things.”
• Be grateful. We thank God for our salvation in Christ; it’s not by our merit but by His exceptional grace that we’ve come to know Jesus today.
There’s nothing OF us or FROM us that we can boast about. Let’s honour Him by living out the truth of the Gospel.
• Be faithful. We can expect difficulties because of our faith. Our joy is not found in the absence of suffering, but in our relationship with Christ and in doing God’s will.
Paul: “… stand firm. Let nothing move you. Always give yourselves fully to the work of the Lord, because you know that your labour in the Lord is not in vain.” (1 Cor 15:58)
• Trust God. In Damascus, Paul has Ananias; in Jerusalem, he has Barnabas.
In Damascus, there’s a basket and a hole in the wall for his escape. In Jerusalem, the Lord tells him in a vision: “Leave immediately.”
“God is our refuge and strength, an ever-present help in trouble. 2Therefore we will not fear…” (Psalm 46:1-2a)
May we all see the glory of the light of the risen Christ in our lives today.
PRAY:
Dear Lord, we thank you for the life and ministry of Paul, through whom the Gentile world then and subsequently we today, can hear of the good news of Jesus Christ.
We thank you for his Epistles and the many truths that you have revealed through him. May we treasure Your written Word and continue to trust in what you say.
Open our spiritual eyes and ears, that we may see you and hear you clearly. Let us all serve you as faithful Christians wherever we are.
May the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God, and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with us all, now and forevermore, AMEN.
