Introduction
We are studying the Book of Acts.
It is an astonishing account of the growth of the Church.
After Jesus ascended into heaven, the Church was located in Jerusalem.
Thousands of people converted to Jesus in the weeks and months following Jesus’ ascension.
However, there was no vision for taking the gospel’s good news to Judea and Samaria and the end of the earth as Jesus had commanded in Acts 1:8.
So, God sent a persecution to the Church.
We read about the stoning of Stephen at the end of Acts 7, which began the persecution of the Church.
That is where we also read about Saul for the first time, as those who stoned Stephen laid their garments at the feet of a young man named Saul (Acts 7:58).
In today’s lesson, we will learn about the conversion of Saul, who later became known as Paul the apostle.
Saul’s conversion was highly significant to the growth of the Church.
One commentator writes of Saul’s conversion:
The most important event in human history apart from the life, death and resurrection of Jesus of Nazareth is the conversion to Christianity of Saul of Tarsus (William J. Larkin Jr., Acts, vol. 5, The IVP New Testament Commentary Series [Westmont, IL: IVP Academic, 1995], Ac 9:1–19).
Another commentator notes:
The Christian movement… in 35 A.D… would have appeared to a superficial observer to be a Jewish sect. Thirty years later it was plainly a world religion…. This establishment of Christianity as a world religion… can be ascribed to one man… Paul [J. Gresham Machen, The Origin of Saul’s Religion (New York: The Macmillan Company, 1921], 7–8).
That is why the town officials in Thessalonica said of Paul and Silas in Acts 17:6, “These men who have turned the world upside down have come here also.”
Today, we are going to learn about Saul’s conversion.
Scripture
Let’s read Acts 9:1-19a:
1 But Saul, still breathing threats and murder against the disciples of the Lord, went to the high priest 2 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 bound to Jerusalem. 3 Now as he went on his way, he approached Damascus, and suddenly a light from heaven shone around him. 4 And falling to the ground, he heard a voice saying to him, “Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting me?” 5 And he said, “Who are you, Lord?” And he said, “I am Jesus, whom you are persecuting. 6But rise and enter the city, and you will be told what you are to do.” 7The men who were traveling with him stood speechless, hearing the voice but seeing no one. 8 Saul rose from the ground, and although his eyes were opened, he saw nothing. So they led him by the hand and brought him into Damascus. 9 And for three days he was without sight, and neither ate nor drank.
10 Now there was a disciple at Damascus named Ananias. The Lord said to him in a vision, “Ananias.” And he said, “Here I am, Lord.” 11And 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, 12 and he has seen in a vision a man named Ananias come in and lay his hands on him so that he might regain his sight.” 13 But Ananias answered, “Lord, I have heard from many about this man, how much evil he has done to your saints at Jerusalem. 14 And here he has authority from the chief priests to bind all who call on your name.” 15But 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. 16For I will show him how much he must suffer for the sake of my name.” 17So Ananias departed and entered the house. And laying his hands on him he said, “Brother Saul, the Lord Jesus who appeared to you on the road by which you came has sent me so that you may regain your sight and be filled with the Holy Spirit.” 18 And immediately something like scales fell from his eyes, and he regained his sight. Then he rose and was baptized; 19and taking food, he was strengthened.
Lesson
Acts 9:1-19a shows us how God’s grace changes sinners.
Let’s use the following outline:
1. God’s Grace Can Reach Any Sinner (9:1-2)
2. God’s Grace Can Be Sudden (9:3)
3. God’s Grace Is Always Sovereign (9:4-19)
I. God’s Grace Can Reach Any Sinner (9:1-2)
First, God’s grace can reach any sinner.
We read in verses 1-2, “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 synagogues at Damascus, so that if he found any belonging to the Way, men or women, he might bring them bound to Jerusalem.”
What do we know about this man known as Saul?
Saul was born in Tarsus in the Roman province of Cilicia (Acts 21:39).
Tarsus was an important city famous for its university, which ranked with those of Athens and Alexandria as the most important in the Roman world.
Saul’s mother was Jewish.
His father was a Roman citizen because Saul had Roman citizenship from birth (Acts 22:28).
Like his father, Saul was a Pharisee (Acts 23:6) who studied in Jerusalem under the most respected rabbi of his day, Gamaliel (Acts 23:3).
Saul was the mastermind and leader of the persecution against the Christians in Jerusalem.
Saul was not merely a mildly irritated opponent of Christianity.
He was vehemently and violently opposed to Christianity.
Luke said that even after Stephen’s stoning and the scattering of Christians to Judea and Samaria, Saul was “still breathing threats and murder against the disciples of the Lord.”
It is as though persecution was the air that Saul breathed.
His opposition was not a minor or peripheral thing in his life.
It went to the very core of who he was as a Pharisee.
He was even willing to travel 150 miles from Jerusalem to Damascus to find Christians so that he might continue his persecution of them.
This is not the kind of person one expects to become a Christian.
But that does not factor in the grace of God.
As we shall see, God’s grace can reach any sinner.
Even a sinner like Saul.
Even a sinner like me.
And even a sinner like you.
II. God’s Grace Can Be Sudden (9:3)
Second, God’s grace can be sudden.
Saul obtained permission from the high priest to find any Christians in Damascus.
With letters in hand, he started traveling to Damascus, which was 150 miles away.
Then, in verse 3, we read, “Now as he went on his way, he approached Damascus, and suddenly a light from heaven shone around him.”
Some people say that he had been tormented for some time by a guilty conscience because he saw what happened when Stephen was stoned (Acts 7:58-8:1).
But Saul never says that in his testimony about his conversion.
He wrote in Galatians 1:13–14, “For you have heard of my former life in Judaism, how I persecuted the church of God violently and tried to destroy it. And I was advancing in Judaism beyond many of my own age among my people, so extremely zealous was I for the traditions of my fathers.”
Saul never says that he wrestled long and hard with a conviction of sin.
Saul never says that he became aware that his soul was in danger of spending eternity in hell.
Saul never says that he sensed the wrath of God upon him.
No, God’s grace came upon Saul suddenly and utterly unexpectedly.
At one moment, he was marching purposefully toward Damascus, determined to find all the Christians there to eliminate Christianity.
The next moment, he was suddenly confronted by a bright light from heaven.
Now, I want to make two points here.
First, God’s grace usually comes to sinners gradually.
That is, they have many encounters with the gospel before receiving it.
For example, a covenant child grows up in a home where Mom and Dad read the Scriptures daily to the child. They pray with and for the child. They teach the child about God, sin, Jesus, and eternity and encourage the child to respond to God’s grace.
I think that is the more common way for God’s grace to come to sinners.
Second, God’s grace sometimes comes to sinners suddenly.
That was certainly the case for Saul.
Saul’s case should encourage us.
Don’t be disappointed when your loved one shows no interest in the gospel.
Don’t be disheartened when a colleague even seems hostile to the gospel and the things of God.
Don’t stop praying because you don’t see some openness and spiritual interest.
Saul was not interested in the gospel.
He was vehemently and violently opposed to the gospel.
He not only believed that Christianity should be eradicated, he led the charge to get rid of Christianity.
Nevertheless, God’s grace came to him suddenly.
And God’s grace can suddenly come to your loved ones, neighbors, or family.
So, don’t give up praying for their salvation.
And certainly don’t give up sharing the gospel with them.
III. God’s Grace Is Always Sovereign (9:4-19)
And third, God’s grace is always sovereign.
We read in verse 4, “And falling to the ground, he heard a voice saying to him, ‘Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting me?’ ”
Many years ago, someone told me about a curriculum that depicted the conversion of Saul.
The picture showed Saul lying flat on his back, looking up at the brilliant light from heaven.
The caption below the picture said, “Saul chooses to trust Christ!” (italics mine).
Friends, that is not what happened to Saul.
God arrested Saul on the road to Damascus.
Jesus was not responding to anything Saul had done to win God’s grace.
God’s grace was completely sovereign. That means it was utterly free and unmerited and came to Saul with overwhelming power and authority.
Notice three ways in which we see the sovereignty of God’s grace.
First, God caused a light to shine from heaven with blinding brightness.
In Acts 26:13, Saul said, “At midday, O king, I saw on the way a light from heaven, brighter than the sun, that shone around me and those who journeyed with me.”
This light was so bright that it left Saul blind for three days; as we read in verses 8-9, “Saul rose from the ground, and although his eyes were opened, he saw nothing. 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.”
It was not until God sent Ananias to Saul that he regained sight when Ananias laid hands on Saul and prayed for him (vv. 17-18).
The sovereign God caused Saul to go blind, and the sovereign God caused Saul to receive his sight again.
Second, Jesus did not ask Saul to make a decision or invite Saul to respond to him.
No. Jesus commanded Saul and told him what to do in verses 5b-6, “I am Jesus, whom you are persecuting. But rise and enter the city, and you will be told what you are to do.”
Jesus did not encounter Saul on the road to Damascus and say, “Now, Saul, can we chat? Your persecution is hurting a lot of my people. Let’s be civil about finding a way forward.”
Not at all!
Jesus was in sovereign control in that situation.
He was about to recruit Saul into his service, and there was no question that he would succeed.
Third, God, in his sovereignty, often uses means to accomplish his purpose.
This is particularly clear in verses 15-16.
Luke told us that there was a disciple at Damascus named Ananias (v. 10).
The Lord told him to go to Saul so Ananias could pray for Saul to receive his sight.
But Ananias was terrified of Saul’s reputation as a persecutor of Christians and did not want to go to him.
In verses 15-16, we read, “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.’ ”
God had ordained that Saul would take the gospel to the Gentiles. He was to be God’s chosen instrument to tell the Gentiles the good news that salvation is found in no other name under heaven except Jesus (see Acts 4:12).
God’s grace in salvation is always sovereign.
He is the one who brings the gospel to men and women, boys and girls.
He is the one who arrests people in their tracks so that they can receive their spiritual sight and be saved.
He is the one who transforms people, even those who are utterly opposed to him.
C. S. Lewis was an atheist who wanted nothing to do with God.
Yet, God’s sovereign grace came to C. S. Lewis, as he writes in his autobiography, Surprised by Joy:
You must picture me alone in that room in Magdalen [one of the colleges at Cambridge University], night after night, feeling, whenever my mind lifted even for a second from my work, the steady, unrelented approach of Him whom I so earnestly desired not to meet. That which I greatly feared had at last come upon me. In the Trinity Term of 1929, I gave in and admitted that God was God and knelt and prayed: perhaps that night, the most dejected and reluctant convert in all England. I did not then see what is now the most shining and obvious thing, the Divine humility which will accept a convert on even such terms. The prodigal son at least walked home on his own feet. But who can duly adore that Love which will open the high gates to a prodigal who is brought in kicking, struggling, resentful, and darting his eyes in every direction for a chance of escape? The words “compelle intrare,” compel them to come in, have been so abused by wicked men that we shudder at them; but, properly understood, they plumb the depth of the Divine mercy. The hardness of God is kinder than the softness of men, and His compulsion is our liberation (C. S. Lewis, Surprised by Joy [San Diego: Harcourt Brace, 1956], p. 228).
There are countless stories like that of people who were opposed to Christ and Christianity and yet were arrested by the sovereign grace of God.
Conclusion
Friends, God’s grace changes sinners.
As I close, I want you to see that God had you in mind when his grace arrested Saul on the road to Damascus.
Years after his conversion, Saul wrote to Timothy in 1 Timothy 1:15b–16, “Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners, of whom I am the foremost. But I received mercy for this reason, that in me, as the foremost, Jesus Christ might display his perfect patience as an example to those who were to believe in him for eternal life.”
In other words, God had you and me in mind when he saved Saul.
That is a fantastic thought.
But that is what Saul says.
God saved Saul for your sake and mine.
God saved Saul so that you and I would see his “perfect patience” and take courage and hope for our salvation and the salvation of others.
Before his conversion, Saul was a vehement and violent opponent of Christ and Christianity.
Jesus said to him, “Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting me?”
Jesus wanted Saul to know that his life of unbelief and rebellion was a persecution of him.
Saul’s earlier life was one of rejection of the true and living God.
Saul’s earlier life was one of opposition and mockery of the Jesus who gave his life for Saul.
But Saul had been set apart by God since before his birth.
That is why Saul says his conversion was a brilliant display of Jesus’ perfect patience.
That is what Jesus offers you this morning.
It was for our sake that God saved Saul the way he did.
It was to show his perfect patience.
It was so that we might not lose heart.
It was so that we would never think that God could not save any one of us.
Dr. J. Vernon McGee was a much-loved Bible teacher.
He told a story about a young black man who wanted to join a church. So the elders examined him.
They asked, “How did you get saved?”
He answered, “God did His part, and I did my part.”
The elders were concerned about the young man’s doctrine, so they questioned him further, “What was God’s part, and what was your part?”
This was his explanation.
He said, “God’s part was the saving, and my part was the sinning. I done run from Him as fast as my sinful heart and rebellious legs could take me. He done took out after me till He run me down.”
That, of course, is exactly how God saves sinners.
God’s design in Saul’s conversion was to give us hope.
We can have hope because God extends his grace to the worst of sinners, no matter how sinful and rebellious the sinner may be. Amen.
