(Acts) the Conversion of Saul — Brian Brodersen

The Gospel’s Advance from Jerusalem to the Ends of the Earth

Here we are, we're picking up in our study in the book of Acts and we come tonight to the ninth chapter and Let's ask the Lord's Blessing on the word and then we'll look at chapter 9 together. Lord, we do pray now that you'd speak to us as we look at this great chapter and This great event that is recorded in this chapter Lord speak to us about About how you work.

Speak to us Lord about the things that Lord you did and the things that you want to do in our lives. We want to learn the lessons from This story so open our hearts to receive from you now. We pray in Jesus name.

Amen now before Jesus ascended into heaven. Perhaps you remember this. He told his disciples to wait in Jerusalem until they received power from heaven to be his witnesses. Their witness Was then to begin in Jerusalem and spread out from Jerusalem.

Jesus said you'll be my witnesses in Jerusalem in Judea in Samaria and finally to the uttermost parts of the earth. So the first eight chapters of this book of Acts record for us the gospel going from Jerusalem to Judea and then into Samaria.

In the ninth chapter. The stage is being set for the gospel to Now go into all the world To go into the uttermost parts of the earth as Jesus said that it would. You see God He has chosen to do his work through people.

But before God can work through a person God Must work in that person. So chapter 9 Begins with a story of the conversion of a man Not just any man But a man Who from all outward appearances? Would have been the most unlikely Man of all and that is a man named Saul.

Saul’s Persecution of the Church

Now we were first introduced to Saul back in the latter part of the seventh chapter. Just to refresh your memory if you want to look back there at the seventh chapter the 58 verse. Here's our first introduction to Saul.

And our introduction to Saul comes when Stephen Was being martyred when he was being put to death for his testimony we read in verse 58 and they cast him out of the city Stephen and they stoned him and The witnesses laid down their clothes at the feet of a young man named Saul.

So here's our first introduction to Saul he is guarding the clothing of Those who are putting to death Stephen the first martyr in the church now. Chapter 8 verse 1 says now Saul was consenting to his death or you could literally translate this Saul had cast his vote for Stephen's death.

Many believe based upon This and other statements that Paul was one of the members of the Sanhedrin which was a 70 member council that ruled Israel and Whatever decisions were made they were made by vote and that was the group of people that Stephen had actually preached before and They became angry at him and voted to put him to death and so it seems that this man Saul was probably Part of that group and so he was consenting to to the death of Stephen and at that time a great persecution arose against the church Which was at Jerusalem and they were all scattered throughout the regions of Judea and Samaria except the Apostles and we read in development carried Stephen to his burial and made great lamentation over him as For Saul here he is again He made havoc of the church entering every house and dragging off men and women Committing them to prison and so this is where we first met him The one who's leading the persecution against the church.

Now we come to the ninth chapter. And we read then Saul still breathing threats and murder Against the disciples of the Lord went to the high priest. So this is something that continued it wasn't just You know something that occurred immediately after the death of Stephen.

But it was something that continued to go on for some period of time and this man Saul was the one who was leading the charge against the church and Of course the attack first broke out in Jerusalem and they were scattered and they went everywhere preaching the gospel but now we read that Saul wants to take it to a new level.

He wants to go into new areas and he wants to track down those Christians that have fled and he wants to bring them back For trial to Jerusalem. So he went to the high priest and he asked letters from him to the synagogues of Damascus.

Now Damascus is about a hundred and thirty miles northeast of Jerusalem and Probably a week's journey or so and There was a large Jewish community there and obviously word had gotten around that There were many in that Jewish community who were actually believing in the Messiah ship of Jesus.

So Saul is wanting to go to Damascus. So that if he found any who were of the way whether men or women he might bring them bound to Jerusalem and as he journeyed he came near Damascus and Suddenly a light shone around him from heaven.

Then he fell to the ground and heard a voice saying to him Saul Saul, why are you persecuting me? And he said Who are you Lord? Then the Lord said I am Jesus whom you are persecuting. It is hard for you to kick against the goats.

So as is always the case in the scriptures a very brief account of a very significant event a very major event in the history of the church. Here's this man Saul. He's He's just destroying the church.

The imagery in the language that's used to describe what he's doing. Is that of a wild beast? Just ripping to shreds a body of some sort and he's breathing out threats and murders and again there the imagery is that he's like a like a snarling bull and So here's this man who's just so filled with with hostility and he's filled with real hatred toward this group of people and now he's been commissioned by the high priest to go to Damascus and so he takes his journey and as He gets near the city Probably a good week's journey or so much to his surprise.

Something happens to him and There is this light that shines Around him now later on in his life and as we go further and further into the acts of the Apostles Paul himself will share his testimony a couple of times and he will shed a little bit more light on this particular event as he describes it to The others that he will share it with later.

But he talks about the fact that this light that Shined upon him was brighter than the noonday Sun. Now, can you imagine? the noonday Sun near Damascus is Would be a pretty intense brightness and yet he says that there was a light that was brighter than the noonday Sun and it shone around him and then He heard this voice speaking to him as he's fallen to the ground and much to his surprise.

It's Jesus. But he says Saul Saul, why are you persecuting me? Who are you Lord. I am Jesus whom you are persecuting now. This is an interesting Picture of conversion here because it's It's an unusual conversion in many ways it doesn't follow the typical pattern of A person, you know sort of seeking after God after you know.

Maybe a series of events that have occurred that have got them thinking in a new direction now. And you know, they're on some sort of a journey or a spiritual quest or something. It's not anything like that at all.

As a matter of fact, it's almost the opposite of that it's a man who's held bent on resisting God and working against God. But yet the Lord Confronts this man and saves him and one of the things that we learn from that is that You know conversion happens in all kinds of different ways a lot of times we we get sort of a narrow view of conversion and We think that unless somebody goes through, you know, this three-step process or something like that You know, maybe they're not really saved but yet We find that the Lord has a variety of ways of dealing with people.

Sometimes it's through some human interaction sometimes it's through a person actually, you know sitting and listening to a message and Responding to an invitation that's given. Sometimes like in the case with Saul it is something that occurs without any direct human Mediation.

We were so prone to think that unless somebody, you know witnesses to somebody or unless somebody leads someone in What we call a sinner's prayer that it's Hardly likely that anyone could be saved. But we need to learn not to limit the Lord and not to think that he's Restricted to working in only those kinds of ways that we might have become familiar with here the Lord works in a very extraordinary way with this man Saul as I as I look at this story again, it just personally reminds me of my own experience in the sense that I never really had any human agency involved in my conversion.

I Had the opportunity to do a radio interview a Couple days ago. I can't remember what day it was because I don't even remember or know what day today is but It was a few days ago today Saturday, right?

It's the Saturday night service. So I think it was Tuesday I had the opportunity to do a radio interview in London and this Lady asked me to To just you know sit down with her and she she does a program that kind of gives people's backgrounds and so forth so she was basically asking my testimony and as I began to Reiterate to her the things that occurred in my life that brought me to Christ something that I haven't done in a while.

It struck me once again How the Lord worked apart from any human agency and she asked me and actually her assumption was somebody Had told me about Jesus and sort of led me to the Lord and I told her I said well, you know As a matter of fact that did not happen in my life.

It was the kind of a situation where the Lord dealt with me Independent of any human means and it was more of a direct encounter with him that brought me to salvation and you know, it seems like However, a person comes to know the Lord they they tend to Sort of you know emphasize that in Their perspective on how other people come to the Lord.

I know people that came to the Lord through the the classic, you know invitation altar call sinners prayer sort of a thing and They are very convinced that that is the way to bring people to the Lord and it's effective and God uses them to do that.

But then there are others who have a different experience And so they will have a slightly different emphasis perhaps. But the point that I'm wanting to make to you is that we have to remember that God is not limited to one particular means of saving people and Here we see an extraordinary situation with Saul.

There was no human agency involved Jesus Christ He intervened in the life of a man who wasn't even really looking to be saved. But actually in the life of a man who was opposing the work of God and Here is where the mystery of salvation sort of really, you know hits us in the face.

There's a mystery to it and We all of us believe in the freedom of choice that God has given us and we we believe that we make a decision to Follow Christ and the Bible teaches that but the Bible also teaches Something about God choosing and here's an example of that that other side of the coin where the Lord is is choosing this man and I would imagine that Saul could have resisted even at this point but obviously he didn't and it would have been very difficult to do so, but it just gives us a fuller picture of the whole issue of salvation and the mysterious Aspect behind it a man who's not looking to be saved, but yet the Lord Intervenes and saves him and Jesus said something to him here that's Intriguing it gives us a little bit of a behind-the-scenes Picture here.

He said it is hard for you to kick against the goads. A Goad was something that a Farmer would use to prod the animal to get the animal to pull the plow. It was a sharp object and He would poke the oxen with the goad and this was meant to Get the oxen moving in a certain direction.

But sometimes an ox would just kick against the goad not Respond to it, but in doing so the the ox would bring injury upon itself. Jesus said to Saul it's hard for you to kick against the goads. The implication is God had been dealing with him behind the scenes.

God had been Convicting him. God had been seeking to prod him in a certain direction But he had been resisting now it's interesting because here's a guy who's Completely hostile to the faith and no one would have ever thought That he could have possibly Been at all close to conversion.

I would imagine I would imagine if you took a survey and actually we'll find out as we read a bit further no one would have ever expected that this guy was going to get saved and As we read a bit further when Jesus instructs a certain person to go and lay hands on him because he saved him the guy says oh no Lord I'm sorry.

I've I've heard about this guy. There's no way this guy's really saved see he was a totally unlikely candidate. Because outwardly he seems so far away From the possibility of salvation he was fighting against it with everything in him but the fact that he was fighting was indicative of the fact that God was prodding him God was dealing with him and that's something that we need to Understand ourselves, you know, sometimes we share the Lord with people and they get very angry.

They become hostile. They they're outraged and we think oh my goodness this person other these this person's Certainly gonna be lost forever. Look at that reaction and they are They're so far from God and there's so much against God.

There's no way they're ever going to be saved. I'm gonna back off and forget that person and Then we talk to a person and we share the Lord with them and they they kind of nod and they smile and they say Well, that's really nice.

And well, I'm happy for you I'm glad you found something like that and that's wonderful for you. You're thinking. All right, they're close. That's great. But you know actually it could be the total opposite.

You see the person who is the most Annoyed is a lot of times the one that's the closest and the fact that they're annoyed Indicates that because it's showing that there's conviction That they're being convicted There's this pressure coming upon them.

There's a sense of their guilt and they're they're wanting to just You know oppose and resist as much as they can and the other person who says oh, that's wonderful. That's great you know a lot of times that's a person who's really self-satisfied and they're happy that you found something that's Been a blessing in your life, but you know, they don't really need that because they're doing just fine so we can Misread things a lot of times and I'm sure that They were misreading this guy Because no one thought that he was Anywhere close to being saved, but the Lord had been dealing with him and As we look back at the history we could see certain things That God would have been using to deal with him.

You know, there is a possibility That Saul Had encountered Jesus during his public ministry. They were relatively close in age. Jesus was probably older, but Saul wasn't much younger. Saul was a rabbinic student in Jerusalem.

He was one of the leading pupils of Gamaliel. Jesus of course frequented Jerusalem. Jesus, of course taught in the temple. Jesus, of course was condemned by the Sanhedrin so if Saul was part of the Sanhedrin.

He would have been one of those who cast his vote against Jesus. I don't know that that would have been the case. It seems like had that been the case. He might have alluded to that. But it is within the realm of possibility that Saul had had some sort of an encounter with Jesus himself in the flesh.

That would just be speculation to say that he did we don't know for sure but We do know that he sat through the entire testimony of Stephen. And I would imagine that He was greatly provoked by the message of Stephen.

You see Saul was a Pharisee and remember there were two groups That were part of the ruling body there were the Sadducees and the Pharisees. The Sadducees were the liberals of the day and They and the Pharisees were not the best of friends.

They would have been in opposition to one another to a large extent on many issues. But there were certain times when they would come together for the common good and one particular case was against Jesus but if Stephen stood there and Proclaimed the Word of God to the Sanhedrin He would have found favor With the Pharisees to a large degree Much more so than than the Sadducees he would have his message would have been very Appealing to them with with the exception of a few things.

So as Saul sat there and listened to Stephen there would have been a sense of bearing witness to much of what he was saying but then of course when he went to you know the point of Telling them that they had condemned God's Messiah and so forth.

That's where they would have drawn the line, but you know for sure that Saul Would have been moved by the message and then he undoubtedly would have been moved by the boldness of Stephen in his execution how he stood unflinchingly and how There he simply proclaimed.

I see heaven open and the Son of Man standing on the right hand of God and all of this would have left a lasting impression Upon Saul and who knows what other testimony he might have heard as he was going about persecuting the church but the implication here is that the Spirit of God was dealing with him and The more the Lord dealt with him the more he resisted that he was kicking against the goads.

But he was injuring himself in the process. That's what Jesus is telling him. It's hard for you to kick against the goads a Lot of times this happens when the Spirit of God begins to convict a person.

Instead of responding we rebel against it. And like I was saying a moment ago that sometimes is the explanation for the great hostility. That a person manifests toward the faith. So don't write those people off completely.

Know that they might be closer than you think and realize that the people that we Deem least likely to be converted might be the very people that will indeed be converted. While on the other hand, the people that we think are, you know, easily going to respond to the message might be the ones that never do.

God’s Preparation of an Unlikely Apostle

Back in what is known now as the 18th century revival in England with John Wesley and Charles Wesley and George Whitfield and others. Whitfield was one of the great preachers in that revival and He had many antagonists.

There were many that opposed the work that they were doing and they were often attacked and they were persecuted and mocked and ill-treated and you know all kinds of things happened to them as they sought to spread the Word of God and And there was this particular band of men who followed Whitfield wherever he went and it was their sworn duty to harass him as much as they possibly could and So as he was preaching they would throw tomatoes at him.

They would throw actually they were Very barbaric they would rip apart animals and throw animal body parts at him while he was preaching and you know things of that nature. Just unbelievable stuff that they would do but one of the men in this group He had developed the ability to mimic George Whitfield.

So much so that if you closed your eyes, you would think you were listening to George Whitfield and he would go from place to place following Whitfield and in following him he would sometimes jump up on the platform and he would begin to mimic him and he did this on and on and on and on and you know very much and An irritant as you could imagine to any evangelistic campaign.

But this guy who was the ringleader of this group of rebels that was attacking Whitfield on one occasion He went into that mimicking mode and as he was mimicking Whitfield preaching part of one of his sermons he came under the conviction of the Holy Spirit and He got converted right on the spot.

The greatest antagonist of all the ringleader got converted and later on became the one of the greatest supporters of Whitfield's ministry. Now I'm sure in the early days That Whitfield would have never dreamed that this person would one day be an ally and one day be one of his chief supporters, but you never know what God is going to do and that's what happened here in This early history of the church with Saul and so It's hard for you to kick against the goad.

So he I love the response trembling and astonished trembling and Astonished he cannot believe it. He was so certain that he was right. You see his reasoning would have been Among everything above everything else his reasoning would have been that Jesus could not possibly have been the Messiah because he was crucified.

You remember the law declared that anyone who hanged upon a tree was cursed by God. So no matter what he had said or the miracles he performed or any of those claims about Jesus in Saul's mind he couldn't have possibly been the Messiah because he was clearly cursed by God.

And that was evidenced by the fact that he was hung upon a tree. But you see what this man Saul would later Discover and what he would declare himself when he wrote to the church in Galatia that he was made a curse for us.

Yes, indeed cursed as everyone who has written or Cursed as everyone who has hanged on a tree as it is written. But it's also written cursed as everyone who's it does not continue in all of the things that are written in the law to do them and So he came to understand later that because mankind was under a curse for our failure to keep the law Jesus Christ the Messiah He had to become a curse for us to redeem us from the curse of the law.

And that's why he was hung up on a tree. But you see at this moment all of this stuff is now beginning to break through to him and so he's trembling and he's astonished and he says Lord. What do you want me to do now?

The word translated Lord is the Greek word curious and That word is the same word That is used for God when the Old Testament was translated from Hebrew into Greek. Now in the Old Testament Hebrew text you have the Name of God in our English translation it is identified by Lord in all capital letters.

Whenever you come across the Lord in all capital letters in your Old Testament. That is the name of God and because There are no vowel indicators. We don't really know the exact pronunciation, but it's either Yahweh or Yehovah or something like that.

When they translated the Old Testament into the Greek language They took the name of God and they translated it by curious. When we come to the New Testament Jesus when he is Spoken of as Lord the Greek word curious is used as well.

And Paul certainly would later on use that word to identify Christ as God. Perhaps even at this moment. It is already dawned on him that that is indeed who he's dealing with and so he says Lord Who are you or?

Lord, what do you want me to do? First Lord, who are you? I think he already knew by the fact that he said Lord now He says Lord, what do you want me to do? Then the Lord said arise and go into the city and you will be told what you must do.

Submission to the Lordship of Christ

This was the secret of the success of this man. You know, we look at this man and I know for myself. I'm a great admirer of Paul and I look at him and I asked the question. How was it that this man? Could have done so much for the kingdom of God.

How is it that he? Outdid his contemporaries. How is it that he? Traveled farther and suffered more and yet spread the gospel further than anyone else. And of course a lot of that is answered just in the call of God upon his life.

But it's also answered in His response to the Lord by referring to him as just that Lord. What would you have me to do? You see one of the keys to his success was that he was a man who recognized throughout his entire life the lordship of Jesus Christ.

Every failure of ours can be traced back to a failure to Submit to the lordship of Jesus Christ. You see Paul said what do you want me to do Lord? He's acknowledging right there My life is no longer my own my life belongs to you.

I'm submitted to you. What do you have for me? And that is really a Key question that each and every one of us need to ask Lord What would you have me to do the emphasis being on the Lord? It's no longer my life.

It's no longer My decision about my future. It's no longer what I've planned. It's no longer what I think is best for me. It's now Lord You're the Lord. What would you have me to do? That's what this man did and that is one of the explanations for the great success that we see in his life as a servant of God and so it says arise and go into the city and You will be told there What you must do and the men who journeyed with him stood speechless hearing a voice, but seeing no one.

Then Saul arose from the ground and when his eyes were opened he saw no one but they led him by the hand and brought him into Damascus and he was three days without sight and Neither ate nor drank, you know, you think about that and I would imagine that during those three days Not eating a thing not drinking anything.

I don't think that He decided I'm going to go on a fast. I Think that this man was so Moved As it said he trembled and he was astonished. He was so Impacted in the very depths of his soul that he couldn't eat or drink.

He couldn't do anything he had to just sit for three whole days and Take in all that. He had just experienced and I would imagine that during that time There was a great sense of of grief Over his own stubbornness and his pride.

I Would imagine there was a great sense of shame over how he had been resisting God and how he had been actually attacking the people of God and in his arrogance standing up against The very God he claimed to be serving.

I Would imagine that all of those things were were weighing so heavily upon him along with the amazement at the mercy of God and I think what we see here in this abstinence from food or drink. Again, not anything planned, but it's just the the natural result of having come under the deep conviction of sin and under the Grace of God and the deliverance that comes through that grace.

I Think he was so impacted in his soul that he For a brief period of time had no interest in the things of the flesh. They just meant nothing to him. They were just completely irrelevant at that time.

I wonder if It might be That we don't take time To really ponder things. We don't take time to really think so much about the goodness of God. We don't think so much about our own sinfulness and how he's had such great mercy on us.

I Wonder if it's because we don't do that that we don't have that sense of astonishment. We don't have that real profound Gratitude for our salvation a lot of times. And I think it would help us at times to just sit and ponder the fact that we're saved.

To just sit and think about where we would be if it were not for the grace of God. To just think about how much God has done for us the mercy that he's shown us and I'm certain that that's what was going on in Saul's life at the time now, there was a certain disciple at Damascus.

Ananias and the Calling of a Chosen Vessel

This is a fellow that we were talking about earlier. His name was Ananias and To him the Lord said in a vision Ananias and he said here I am Lord. So the Lord said to him arise and go to the street called straight and inquire at the house of Judas for one called Saul of Tarsus for behold He is praying and in a vision He has seen a man named Ananias coming in and putting his hand on him so that he might receive his sight.

Then Ananias answered Lord, I have heard many things about this man. How much harm he has done to your Saints in Jerusalem and here he has authority from the chief priest to bind all those Who call on your name?

But the Lord said to him go Don't argue go As Though the Lord didn't know any of this stuff, you know, and I was just saying wait now Lord I think you got the wrong guy because have you heard about this guy?

Jesus assures him go for he is a chosen vessel of mine amazing a chosen vessel of mine to bear my name before Gentiles and Kings and The children of Israel. For I will show him how many things he must suffer for my name's sake.

He's a chosen vessel of mine. You know as you look at this man. And remember the context here is the gospel is now about to be sent out into the uttermost parts of the earth. It's about to go out into Uncharted territory the gospel is about to go out to the Gentiles.

But to get the gospel to the Gentiles God needs the right man and Jesus said he is a chosen vessel of mine. And it's interesting as we get to know this man Saul and as we look at his background as we look at his upbringing as we look at his Education as we look at his life's experience.

We see that he was very much the man for the job. He was known here as Saul of Tarsus. Tarsus was one of the leading cities in the Roman Empire a City that was very much known for its learning and its culture.

It was an educational center a cultural center. It was a place where he as a young boy would have basically Connected with the Hellenistic culture and Of course, that's where the Lord's going to send him.

He's going to send them out to the Jews that are dispersed among the the Greeks. But he's also going to send them to the Greeks. So he chooses a man who has That sort of background as part of his experience.

But of course not just the the Hellenistic background, but he's very much a Jews Jew and he's very much the rabbinic scholar. But he's all of these different things that are going to factor in to what God is Going to want to do in the future.

And you know, we see that over and over again in History we see it over and over again in the lives of people. How God will take our? our lives not just from the point of conversion on but even going further back and and as Paul would say later he spoke of himself as being separated to the gospel from his mother's womb.

He could see his whole life even prior to his conversion he could see all of his life as Preparatory for the calling that God had upon him. You know, maybe you look back on your life and there are things that are Unpleasant to think about or things that maybe you're ashamed of or things that you're embarrassed over.

Some of them might be bad things. Some of them might not be bad. They might just be humbling and you know a sense. So you don't want anybody to know where you really grew up because if they knew you're from that town They probably wouldn't associate with you because it's just a little hick town or something.

You know the kind of weird hang-ups we can get about things like that but all of those things Can be part of what God Uses to make us the people that he wants us to be to impact the people that he has us to impact in the future.

So don't despise those things. Don't underestimate those things and even the bad things that have happened to us. God can take those things and he can use those bad things that have happened to us so that we can minister to other people and I think many of us have had those kinds of experiences already.

I Know that many of the difficulties that I've gone through although they haven't been pleasant for me. I could see how The Lord uses those things so I can encourage somebody else I can relate to them.

I've been there and that's always Encouraging to someone when they find out that you've actually gone through a similar experience. So this man was his chosen vessel Specifically crafted through his experiences to be the person that God would use to get The gospel out to the Gentile world and so he says he's going to bear my name before Gentiles and Kings and the Children of Israel and then I will show him the great things that he must suffer for my namesake.

It seems that Saul Had a unique dispensation of suffering. Now it's interesting as we read through the book of Acts as we read through the various epistles and so forth the other apostles who served the Lord and Had you know their challenges and so forth they didn't seem to have the same Intensity in the area of suffering that this man did and it would seem that there was almost a certain dispensation given to him as Jesus said here to suffer for the gospel and perhaps that was in relation to the fact that he had persecuted the church and The Lord would now allow him to suffer as he had caused others to suffer.

Whatever the case He didn't complain about it. He Trusted God through it. He learned the the blessing of dependency Through the whole thing and so Ananias then he went his way and he entered the house and laying hands on him.

He said brother Saul the Lord Jesus who appeared to you on the road as you came has sent me that you may receive your sight and be filled with the Holy Spirit and immediately there fell from his eyes something like scales and he received his sight at once and he arose and was baptized and so Ananias is the one to Bring word to Saul now About the Lord's plan for him and so he's filled with the Spirit and he's baptized and When he had received food, he was strengthened and then Saul spent some days with the disciples at Damascus a Completely different Outcome than had been anticipated Heading to Damascus to arrest the Christians.