Introduction
Augustine of Hippo was born in Thagaste, a Roman province of North Africa, in 354 AD.
He was raised by a Christian mother, Monica, and a pagan father, Patricius.
Augustine’s early life marked by a deep search for meaning and truth, which led him to explore various philosophical and religious ideas.
As a young man, Augustine was drawn to the life of worldly pleasures and intellectual pursuits.
He was a brilliant student and became fascinated with rhetoric, philosophy, and literature.
In his late teens, he moved to Carthage to study rhetoric, where he began living a hedonistic lifestyle, indulging in lust and ambition.
During this time, he fathered a son, Adeodatus, with a woman to whom he never married.
Around the age of 30, Augustine moved to Milan to pursue a career as a professor of rhetoric.
In Milan, Augustine came under the influence of the renowned bishop of Milan, Ambrose. Ambrose’s sermons impressed Augustine, showing him a depth to Christianity he had not previously considered.
The pivotal moment in Augustine’s conversion occurred in a Milan garden in 386 AD.
Tormented by his inability to change his life, he wept under a fig tree, crying out to God for help.
At that moment, he heard a child’s voice singing, “Tolle, lege” (“Take up and read”).
Augustine interpreted this as a divine command and picked up a nearby copy of the Scriptures.
He opened to Romans 13:13–14, which reads as follows: “Let us walk properly as in the daytime, not in orgies and drunkenness, not in sexual immorality and sensuality, not in quarreling and jealousy. But put on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make no provision for the flesh, to gratify its desires.”
This passage struck Augustine deeply; in that moment, Jesus transformed his life. Augustine described this as the final breaking of his chains to sin.
Following his conversion, Augustine abandoned his former lifestyle and dedicated his life to God.
He resigned from his teaching position, renounced his ambitions, and devoted himself to Christian theology.
In 387 AD, he was baptized by Bishop Ambrose alongside his son, Adeodatus.
After his baptism, Augustine returned to North Africa, where he would eventually become a priest and, later, the bishop of Hippo.
He spent the rest of his life writing and preaching, defending the Christian faith, and developing theological doctrines that would shape Western Christianity, mainly through works like Confessions and The City of God.
Last time, we learned about the conversion of Saul, later known as Paul, on the road to Damascus.
Saul was on his way from Jerusalem to Damascus to find and imprison Christian believers. Saul was the chief persecutor of Christians in that day.
But Jesus arrested Saul on the road to Damascus.
Jesus extended grace to Saul, the worst of sinners.
Today, we will learn what happens when Jesus transforms sinners like Saul.
Scripture
Let’s read Acts 9:19b-31:
For some days he was with the disciples at Damascus. 20 And immediately he proclaimed Jesus in the synagogues, saying, “He is the Son of God.” 21 And all who heard him were amazed and said, “Is not this the 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 bound before the chief priests?” 22 But Saul increased all the more in strength, and confounded the Jews who lived in Damascus by proving that Jesus was the Christ.
23 When many days had passed, the Jews plotted to kill him, 24 but their plot became known to Saul. They were watching the gates day and night in order to kill him, 25 but his disciples took him by night and let him down through an opening in the wall, lowering him in a basket.
26 And when he had come to Jerusalem, he attempted to join the disciples. And they were all afraid of him, for they did not believe that he was a disciple. 27 But Barnabas took him and brought him to the apostles and declared to them how on the road he had seen the Lord, who spoke to him, and how at Damascus he had preached boldly in the name of Jesus. 28 So he went in and out among them at Jerusalem, preaching boldly in the name of the Lord. 29 And he spoke and disputed against the Hellenists. But they were seeking to kill him. 30 And when the brothers learned this, they brought him down to Caesarea and sent him off to Tarsus.
31 So the church throughout all Judea and Galilee and Samaria had peace and was being built up. And walking in the fear of the Lord and in the comfort of the Holy Spirit, it multiplied.
Lesson
Acts 9:19b-31 teaches us what happens when Jesus transforms sinners.
Let’s use the following outline:
1. Jesus Turns Enemies into Evangelists (9:19-22)
2. Jesus Enables Perseverance in Peril (9:23-25)
3. Jesus Causes Acceptance in Fellowship (9:26-31)
I. Jesus Turns Enemies into Evangelists (9:19-22)
First, Jesus turns enemies into evangelists.
As Saul and his party approached Damascus, he encountered a brilliant light and fell to the ground.
Jesus asked Saul why he was persecuting him.
Saul asked, “Who are you, Lord?”
Jesus replied, “I am Jesus, whom you are persecuting. But rise and enter the city, and you will be told what you are to do.”
Since Saul was now blind, he was led by the hand and taken into Damascus.
Saul stayed in a house on Straight Street in Damascus without sight for three days, and he neither ate nor drank.
Then, the Lord sent a Christian named Ananias to pray for Saul.
Initially, Ananias was hesitant to go to Saul. As far as he knew, Saul was persecuting Christians.
But the Lord told Ananias to go to Saul, which he did.
Ananias prayed for Saul.
Immediately, something like scales fell from his eyes, and he regained sight. Then he rose and was baptized; and taking food, he was strengthened (see Acts 9:3-19a).
Then we read these remarkable words in Acts 9:19b–22:
19b For some days he was with the disciples at Damascus. 20 And immediately he proclaimed Jesus in the synagogues, saying, “He is the Son of God.” 21 And all who heard him were amazed and said, “Is not this the 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 bound before the chief priests?” 22 But Saul increased all the more in strength, and confounded the Jews who lived in Damascus by proving that Jesus was the Christ.
What an incredible transformation!
Jesus turned an enemy into an evangelist.
One day, Saul was hunting for anyone who called himself a Christian so that he could persecute him and have him thrown into prison.
Three days later, Saul was proclaiming the good news of the gospel!
Enemies of Jesus are turned into evangelists for Jesus!
Friends, that is what Jesus does when he transforms sinners.
You may say, “Well, I was not like Saul. I never persecuted the church like he did. I was not an enemy like Saul.”
That may be true.
But there is a sense in which everyone who is not a Christian is an enemy of Jesus.
Before your conversion, you were an enemy of Jesus and his gospel.
Oh, you may not have been going around to cities to find Christians to have them thrown into prison. But you wanted to have nothing to do with Jesus and his people.
But the glorious good news is that Jesus turns enemies into evangelists.
Many of you know Derek Thomas. He has a delightful story of what happened to him shortly after Jesus transformed him. He writes:
I was converted in 1971 as a first-year mathematics student at the University of Wales, Aberystwyth. It was during the Christmas break. When I returned to the university for the spring semester a few weeks later, one of my professors, whose reputation as a Christian was widely known, pointed to me in the middle of the first class and said, “I hear you have become a Christian! Tell us about it.” With great nervousness and faltering words, I gave my first testimony to the grace of God in my life. After class he pulled me aside, rejoiced in God’s goodness to me, and said, “It’s important that we Christians nail our colors to the mast quickly.” He was right, and I will always be grateful to him (Derek W. H. Thomas, Acts, ed. Richard D. Phillips, Philip Graham Ryken, and Daniel M. Doriani, Reformed Expository Commentary [Phillipsburg, NJ: P&R Publishing, 2011], 259).
Friends, one of the first things you do after converting to Jesus is tell others about what happened to you.
You tell others about Jesus.
You tell them that Jesus is the Son of God.
You tell them that Jesus is the Christ.
You may not always be clearer and more eloquent than Saul, but you tell others about Jesus.
You become an evangelist.
That is what happens when Jesus transforms sinners.
II. Jesus Enables Perseverance in Peril (9:23-25)
Second, Jesus enables perseverance in peril.
Verse 23 begins with these words, “When many days had passed….”
Most scholars believe that three years elapsed between verse 22 and verse 23.
Saul told us what happened in those three years when he wrote his letter to the Galatians. He wrote in Galatians 1:17–18:
17 Nor did I go up to Jerusalem to those who were apostles before me, but I went away into Arabia, and returned again to Damascus. 18 Then after three years I went up to Jerusalem to visit Cephas and remained with him fifteen days.
What did Saul do during those three years in Arabia?
He was learning from the Lord in the kingdom of Nabatean Arabia. This territory is not the same as modern Arabia. Instead, it is located near Damascus, south of the Sinai peninsula.
Saul was one of the most accomplished scholars of his day. I have heard that he had the equivalent of two doctorates.
Saul knew what we call the Old Testament exceptionally well.
But, as a Pharisee, he did not understand that the Old Testament pointed to Jesus.
Now that he had met Jesus on the road to Damascus, albeit briefly, he was making all the connections to Jesus in the Old Testament. And he had the Lord as his teacher.
So, after three years, Saul returned to Damascus, preaching more powerfully than ever.
Verse 23 states, “When many days had passed, the Jews plotted to kill him.” The Jews did not believe that Jesus was the Son of God or the Christ.
However, in God’s providence, their plot became known to Saul” (v. 24a).
In his letter to the Corinthians, Saul later wrote in 2 Corinthians 11:32, “At Damascus, the governor under King Aretas was guarding the city of Damascus in order to seize me.”
The Jews were not the only ones who wanted to kill Saul.
During his three years in Nabatean Arabia, Saul preached the gospel there, too, and wore out his welcome with the Arabs.
In Damascus, united in their desire to kill Saul, “they were watching the gates day and night in order to kill him”(v. 24b).
In those days, many cities were surrounded by a wall. That was true of Damascus as well.
The only entrance and exit was through the gates.
But the Christians found another way for Saul to escape.
We read in verse 25, “But his disciples took him by night and let him down through an opening in the wall, lowering him in a basket.”
More than one commentator has noted that Saul, the persecutor, has now become Saul, the persecuted.
Saul must have thought about the cost of discipleship.
Becoming a Christian does not mean one’s troubles all go away.
Not at all. One’s troubles may increase.
They certainly did for Saul.
Later, writing to the Corinthians, Saul said of his persecutions in 2 Corinthians 11:23–27:
23 Are they servants of Christ? I am a better one—I am talking like a madman—with far greater labors, far more imprisonments, with countless beatings, and often near death. 24 Five times I received at the hands of the Jews the forty lashes less one. 25 Three times I was beaten with rods. Once I was stoned. Three times I was shipwrecked; a night and a day I was adrift at sea; 26 on frequent journeys, in danger from rivers, danger from robbers, danger from my own people, danger from Gentiles, danger in the city, danger in the wilderness, danger at sea, danger from false brothers; 27 in toil and hardship, through many a sleepless night, in hunger and thirst, often without food, in cold and exposure.
Yet, through all of that, Jesus enabled Saul to persevere throughout all the perils he encountered throughout his life.
John Bunyan was born in 1628 in Elstow, England.
He grew up in a humble family, and like many young men, he initially led a life of sin and waywardness.
Eventually, Bunyan was transformed by Jesus.
His newfound faith led him to become a passionate lay preacher among the Baptists, a dissenting Christian group outside the Church of England.
Bunyan’s boldness in preaching outside the established church quickly brought him into conflict with the authorities.
In 1660, after the Restoration of King Charles II, the monarchy reestablished the Church of England’s authority, and laws were passed prohibiting unauthorized religious gatherings.
Bunyan, refusing to conform, continued preaching the gospel despite the threat of persecution.
In November 1660, Bunyan was arrested while leading a meeting and was charged with preaching without a license.
He was imprisoned in the Bedford County Gaol for what was supposed to be three months.
However, his imprisonment was extended to twelve years when he refused to stop preaching.
Bunyan could have been freed if he had agreed to stop preaching, but he famously declared, “If I were out of prison today, I would preach the gospel again tomorrow, with the help of God.”
While in prison, John Bunyan wrote one of the best-selling books of all time, The Pilgrim’s Progress.
Whatever trial or difficulty you may go through, I want you to know that Jesus will enable you to persevere through any peril.
So, Jesus turns enemies into evangelists. Jesus enables perseverance in peril.
III. Jesus Causes Acceptance in Fellowship (9:26-31)
And third, Jesus causes acceptance in fellowship.
Saul then left Damascus and headed back to Jerusalem.
We read these words in Acts 9:26-27:
26 And when he had come to Jerusalem, he attempted to join the disciples. And they were all afraid of him, for they did not believe that he was a disciple. 27 But Barnabas took him and brought him to the apostles and declared to them how on the road he had seen the Lord, who spoke to him, and how at Damascus he had preached boldly in the name of Jesus.
When Saul arrived in Jerusalem, the Christians wanted to have nothing to do with Saul. They were still afraid of him.
However, Barnabas convinced the other believers that Jesus had transformed Saul.
Barnabas accepted Saul.
Now Barnabas wanted the Christian fellowship to accept Saul, too.
I have told this story before, but some have not heard it. And some of you probably need to remember it!
Stuart Briscoe was a British pastor who was the long-time pastor of Elmbrook Church in Milwaukee, Wisconsin.
The hippie movement was at its height in 1971 when Briscoe had just become the pastor of Elmbrook Church.
Stuart tried to encourage hippies to attend the church.
However, some of the leaders were not happy about this.
"I want to make one thing clear," one of the leaders said. "These young people you brought into our church must be kept separate. We have worked hard to protect our children from these people."
One Sunday morning, the sanctuary was packed with well-dressed worshipers.
Just as the worship service began, a hippie walked into the sanctuary.
He wore dirty clothes and torn jeans.
His hair was long.
He was barefoot.
He smelled like he had not had a shower for weeks.
There were no seats in the sanctuary as it was full of worshipers.
The hippie made his way slowly to the front.
Briscoe said the fur on one of the ladies’ coats bristled as the hippie walked past her.
The hippie sat down in the aisle at the front of the church.
Just at that moment, one of the longest-serving elders, a man everyone knew and loved, got up and walked down the long aisle to the front of the church.
Every eye in the sanctuary was on that elder, dressed in his best Sunday suit.
When the elder got to the hippie, he sat on the floor next to the hippie.
For the next hour, they worshipped together.
That action helped change the attitudes in that church.
Friends, when Jesus transforms sinners, he causes acceptance in the church fellowship.
The church must be the most welcoming institution on earth. We need to welcome anyone and everyone into our fellowship.
Why?
Because Jesus welcomed you and me!
Conclusion
When Jesus transforms sinners, wonderful things happen.
Jesus turns enemies into evangelists.
Jesus enables perseverance in peril.
Jesus causes acceptance in fellowship.
May that be true for you.
And may that be true for our church. Amen.
