WWUTT 2611 Saul Goes Preaching the Good News (Acts 9:20-31)

Paul, an apostle of Jesus Christ, came to faith by the power of Christ, and by the power working in him, he continued to proclaim this faith to many so that others would come to faith and be saved when we understand the text.

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Here once again is Pastor Gabe.

Thank you, Becky. In our study of Acts, we come back to chapter 9. We read last week of the conversion of Saul of Tarsus into this man that God is going to make an apostle to the Gentiles. And he's going to start sharing the gospel in Damascus as we read here in Acts 9 verses 19 to 31, hear the word of the Lord.

Now for several days, Saul was with the disciples who were at Damascus. And immediately he began to proclaim Jesus in the synagogues saying, he is the son of God. And all those hearing him continued to be astounded and were saying, is this not the one who in Jerusalem destroyed those that called on his name and who had come here for the purpose of bringing them bound before the chief priests.

But Saul kept increasing in strength and confounding the Jews who lived at Damascus by proving that this one is the Christ. And when many days had elapsed, the Jews plotted together to put him to death.

But their plot became known to Saul. They were also watching the gates day and night so that they might put him to death. But his disciples took him by night and led him down through the wall, lowering him in a large basket.

And when he came to Jerusalem, he was trying to associate with the disciples, but they were all afraid of him, not believing that he was a disciple. But Barnabas took him and brought him to the apostles and recounted to them how he had seen the Lord on the road and that he had talked to him and how at Damascus he had spoken out boldly in the name of Jesus.

So he was with them moving about freely in Jerusalem, speaking out boldly in the name of the Lord. And he was talking and arguing with the Hellenistic Jews, but they were attempting to put him to death.

But when the brothers learned of it, they brought him down to Caesarea and sent him away to Tarsus. So the church throughout all Judea and Galilee and Samaria was having peace, being built up and going on in the fear of the Lord and in the encouragement of the Holy Spirit.

It continued to multiply. Now, what we have here in this section, Acts 9 verses 19 to 31, is actually a pretty good chunk of time. I've mentioned this before about Luke writing in the gospel of Luke and in the book of the Acts of the Apostles.

He doesn't always go in chronological order. And some of the events that he lists may have happened over a broader stretch of time, even though to us, it may look like he's rushing through something that happened in a short period of time.

But we know that these events that we read about here happened over a span of about three.

Years.

Now, how do we know that? Because in Galatians chapter one, Paul talks about his conversion there. And he says in Galatians 1 .16, I read this last week, or verse 15 is where I'm going to start. I had read this last week talking about how God was pleased to reveal his son to Paul and make him an apostle to the Gentiles, sharing the gospel with both Jews and Gentiles around the world, the known Roman empire.

So in Galatians 1 .15, it says,. When God, who had set me apart from my mother's womb and called me through his grace, was pleased to reveal his son in me, so that I might proclaim him as good news among the Gentiles, I did not immediately consult with flesh and blood, nor did I go up to Jerusalem to those who were apostles before me.

But I went away to Arabia and returned once more to Damascus. Then three years later, I went up to Jerusalem to become acquainted with Cephas and stayed with him 15 days. But I did not see any of the other apostles except James, the Lord's brother.

Now, in what I am writing to you, I assure you before God that I am not lying. Then I went to the regions of Syria and Cilicia, and I was still unknown by sight to the churches of Judea, which are in Christ.

But only they kept hearing, He who once persecuted us is now proclaiming the good news of the faith which he once tried to destroy. And they were glorifying God because of me. So it's exactly that account that we have there in Galatians 1 .15 -24, as Paul gives a first-person account of those things that had happened immediately after his conversion.

We see that summarized here by Luke in Acts 9 verses 19 -31. He does not give the time markers on it that Paul does in Galatians 1, but those two accounts match up here. So what we read in this section of Acts 9 takes place over a longer period of time.

When we jump down to Acts 9 .32, which we'll get to tomorrow, but it says, now it happened that as Peter was traveling through all those regions, he came down also to the saints who lived at Lydda. And there he found a man named Aeneas who had been bedridden eight years before he was paralyzed.

So those events that are happening there, starting at verse 32, probably work backwards. It's probably that Luke is jumping backwards in the chronology of things that he's laying out in Acts, especially in Acts 9.

Peter is still the main character in this section of the book of Acts. He was mentioned in chapter 8, even though that was mostly about Stephen, who was preaching to the Samaritans. Peter and John came up from Jerusalem, or came down from Jerusalem, rather, as the language in the text would have it.

They came down from Jerusalem to Samaria and shared the gospel and performed many miracles. So even though chapter 8 was mostly about Stephen, it still came back to Peter. Peter was still mentioned there.

We don't shift entirely to Paul until, where do we get to that? Chapter 13? Yeah, because chapter 12 is where Peter is in prison. So it doesn't start leaning more toward Paul until we get to chapter 13.

Peter is still the main apostle here in this section of Acts. So for now, we're reading about Saul's conversion, and then we get a brief overview of that three years, that first three years of his conversion.

But we don't get to some of the more specific things and his relationship with the other apostles until a little bit later on. So Luke is going to give us just a brief overview of those three years here in verses 19 to 31, and then we're going to flash back in the action to see what Peter was doing in the midst of all that time.

So let's come back to verse 19. Now, for several days, he was with the disciples who were at Damascus, and immediately he began to proclaim Jesus in the synagogue, saying he is the son of God. So following his conversion, and it's kind of tough to know for sure how all of this laid out, but let's speculate a little bit based on what Paul said in Galatians chapter.

One.

Immediately after his conversion, he's with the disciples, and he's sharing Christ in the synagogues. We know that he was on his way to Damascus to persecute Christians who were there. Jesus appears to him on the road, blinds him.

He goes to a house on the street called Straight. A guy named Ananias is sent to him and says, brother Saul, the Lord sent me, that is Jesus, who appeared to you on the road by which you were coming, so that you might regain your sight and be filled with the Holy Spirit.

This is three days after Jesus appeared to him on the road. And then when Ananias does this, immediately there fell from his eyes something like scales, and he regained his sight and rose up and was baptized.

So then he spends time with the disciples. Now he's a follower of Jesus Christ. So he's with the other disciples there at Damascus, and he goes into the synagogue. So where previously he would have gone into the synagogue to say that Jesus was not the Son of God, now he's going into the synagogue and he is proclaiming what?

He is the Son of God. He went to proclaim in the synagogues that Jesus is the Son of God. Verse 21, and all those hearing him continued to be astounded and were saying, is this not the one who in Jerusalem destroyed those that called on his name and who had come here for the purpose of bringing them bound before the chief priests?

But Paul kept increasing in strength and confounding the Jews who lived at Damascus by proving that this one is the Christ. Now, here's where it starts to get a little muddy. Verse 23, and when many days had elapsed, the Jews plotted together to put him to death.

So what is meant there by many days had elapsed? We don't know for sure. So is that Luke saying that this was now three years? Now three, you know, several years had gone by with this happening? We don't know for sure, but we do know from Galatians chapter one, let me read again, verse 17, or well, verse 16, I proclaimed him as good news among the Gentiles.

I did not immediately consult with flesh and blood, nor did I go up to Jerusalem to those who were apostles before me, but I went away to Arabia and returned once more to Damascus. Then three years later, I went up to Jerusalem to become acquainted with Cephas.

So where does Paul's trip to Arabia happen here? And was his trip into Arabia three years long? Was he in Arabia for three years? Or just that all the other events that are detailed there, all kind of like total three years before Paul goes to Jerusalem and goes to meet with Cephas.

That's where the stuff gets a little bit murky. So we don't know for sure. We just know that that three years transpire between Paul's becoming an apostle of Jesus Christ or becoming a convert on the road there.

Maybe he's not officially an apostle yet because he hasn't met with the other apostles, but upon becoming a disciple of Jesus Christ, he was with the other disciples who were at Damascus. He's there for a time.

He shares in the synagogues. Does he then go away into Arabia? And then he comes back again and continues to proclaim at Damascus, and then the Jews plot together to put him to death. The timeline is a little fuzzy here, but we know that all of this takes place over a span of three years by the time Paul gets to Jerusalem and meets with the other apostles.

So Saul is increasing in strength. This is demonstrating that God is with him and that the Holy Spirit is working through him to proclaim and to argue that Jesus is the Son of God, showing from the scriptures that they had there at the synagogues, Jesus is the fulfillment of the law and prophets.

And Paul testifies that this was revealed to him by God. It was not something that was taught to him. It was revealed to him by the Lord. Galatians 1, 12 again, for I neither received it from man, nor was I taught it, but I received it through a revelation of Jesus Christ.

For you have heard of my former conduct in Judaism, how I used to persecute the church of God beyond measure and tried to destroy it. And I was advancing in Judaism beyond many of my contemporaries among my countrymen, being far more zealous for the traditions of my fathers.

So Paul's understanding of who Christ was did not come because somebody taught it to him and he was converted and then went on to share the gospel. It was because it was revealed to him by God. You know, there are some skeptics of the Christian faith who will try to say that Paul was the inventor of Christianity.

If he was the one that came up with Christianity, then who was he persecuting before he himself became a Christian? So he did not come up with this faith. It was not taught to him by men, but it was revealed to him by God who was already working in many thousands and thousands of people had already come to faith in the Lord Jesus Christ by the time that Saul himself is made an apostle to share Christ with the nations.

So back to Acts 9, 23, the Jews had plotted together to put him to death, but their plot became known to Saul. They were also watching the gates day and night so that they might put him to death. Verse 25, but his disciples took him by night and let him down through the wall, lowering him in a large basket.

I don't know why this is the case for me, but this is one of the earliest Bible stories that I have a visual recollection of because I used to watch Bible cartoons when I was a kid. That's what my parents wanted me to watch.

If I was going to watch cartoons, I wanted to watch Inspector Gadget and Danger Mouse, and they were like, okay, but you have to watch these Bible cartoons. We'll compromise. So I watched like Superbook and Flying House.

Some of you all know what that is. You know exactly what I'm talking about. And in one of those cartoons, I don't know if it was one of those two or another one, but one of those cartoons shows Paul, Saul becoming Paul, sharing the gospel, and he getting put into a basket and being lowered down outside the walls of Damascus so that he might escape.

So visually, that's one of the earliest Bible stories that I have in my head. I can still remember that scene, though I don't know from what cartoon it came, but I can remember that scene of Paul being put in a basket, lowered down outside the walls so that he could escape and continue to proclaim the gospel elsewhere.

You know, running away sometimes is not a bad idea. Sometimes it is the strategic idea. We are not called in scripture to just stand there and let somebody beat us to death because we proclaim the name of Christ.

If you can run away from them so that you can continue to preach the name of Christ, well, even the apostles did that. Sometimes, if it be the will of God, we won't be able to get away, and we're going to have to endure the persecution as we go through it.

But if you can protect yourself from those who would try to harm you, it's okay to do.

That.

And that's not being ashamed of the gospel. It's so that I might go and proclaim it somewhere else, as the apostle Paul did. So they lower him through the wall in a large basket, and then he goes to Jerusalem.

Verse 26. Now, according to Galatians 1, verse 21, it says, I went into the regions of Syria and.

Salisbury.

Well, no, that was after Jerusalem. I'm sorry. So then three years later, I went up to Jerusalem. So that would seem to indicate to us here that three years has transpired, and now Paul is going to Jerusalem.

Somewhere between 25 and 26, verses 25 and 26, an amount of three years has passed. And he came to Jerusalem and was trying to associate with the disciples, but they were all afraid of him, not believing that he was a disciple.

So what happened? Verse 27. Barnabas took him and brought him to the apostles and recounted to them how he had seen the Lord on the road, and that he had talked to him. He had talked to the Lord. Paul had talked to the Lord.

And how at Damascus, he had spoken out boldly in the name of Jesus. This is, of course, not the first time that Barnabas has been mentioned in Acts. We meet him. We hear of him. We meet him for the first time in Acts chapter 4.

When we're reading about the love of Christ advancing among the disciples, everyone who comes to faith in Jesus Christ, it said in Acts 4 .34, there was not a needy person among.

Them.

For all who were owners of land or houses would sell them and bring the proceeds of the sales and lay them at the apostles' feet, and they would be distributed to each as any had need. Now, Joseph, a Levite of Cyprian birth, who was also called Barnabas by the apostles, which translated means son of encouragement, and who owned a field, sold it, and brought the money and laid it at the apostles' feet.

So this is a man who, by descent, is a Levite and comes from the island of Cyprus. And it is Barnabas, then, who introduces Paul to the other apostles that they may approve of him and see that what he is proclaiming is truly of the Lord.

This man is not making it up. We can verify that Christ has appeared to him, and what he is testifying to is the same gospel that we proclaim. This man who was persecuting others because of the gospel has now come to testify of that very gospel that we proclaim.

So Barnabas, who is also a cousin of John Mark, the same Mark who ends up writing the gospel of Mark, according to what we understand about the writers of the New Testament. Barnabas takes Paul, brings him to the apostles, and recounts to them how Paul had seen the Lord on the road to Damascus.

It was known that Paul was on his way there to round up Christians and persecute them. He encountered the Lord instead and talked to him, and how at Damascus he had spoken out boldly in the name of Jesus.

Now, it could also be that portion right there in verse 27 where it says that Paul had talked to him. That could be in reference to Paul's time in Arabia. And when Paul goes away to Arabia, he spends time with the Lord there, and then comes back to Damascus and speaks out boldly in the name of Jesus.

So Paul has that opportunity to spend time with Jesus, just as the other apostles had spent time with Jesus. So Paul gets that privilege also in a different way, certainly not in Jesus' earthly ministry.

But Jesus reveals himself to him, reveals the gospel to him, and it is this very gospel, the same one the other apostles are proclaiming, as they learned it from Jesus in his earthly ministry. So Paul is proclaiming now, having had this revelation of the risen Christ.

So verse 28, he was with them moving freely in Jerusalem, speaking out boldly in the name of the Lord, and he was talking and arguing with the Hellenistic Jews, but they were attempting to put him to death.

So now Paul has been persecuted in Damascus. He comes to Jerusalem. He's being persecuted there. But when the brothers learned of it, they brought him down to Caesarea and sent him away to Tarsus. Why just Paul, though?

Why not the rest of the apostles? Well, they had been trying to put the other apostles to death. But now Paul is a convert. Now Paul has gone from being a Pharisee to an apostle. And so now they're like, well, that's worse.

Paul is showing that he was one of us, and now he's believing exactly what those other apostles were proclaiming. So they're trying to put him to death, too. But they brought him down to Caesarea, sent him away to Tarsus, Saul of Tarsus, right?

They're trying to send him back to his hometown. And that hometown happened to be in Cilicia. So what do we have back to Paul's account in Galatians 1, 21? After being in Jerusalem, after meeting with Cephas in the end, he did not see any other of the apostles except James, the Lord's brother.

And then he went into the regions of Syria and Cilicia, exactly where Tarsus is. And I was still unknown by sight to the churches of Judea, which are in Christ. That's Galatians 1, 22. So he goes on, at least what Luke recalls for us here, he goes on to Tarsus, and that matches up with what Paul said in Galatians 1 of going away into Cilicia.

And then we have this summarizing statement in verse 31 as to what was happening with the church. So the church throughout all Judea and Galilee and Samaria was having peace, being built up, and going on in the fear of the Lord and in the encouragement of the Holy Spirit, it continued to multiply.

So what we have here in Acts 9, 31 summarizes now that the gospel has made it to all of Judea and Samaria. What did Jesus say in Acts 1, 8? You will be my witnesses in Jerusalem and in Judea and Samaria and to the ends of the.

Earth.

So here, Acts 9, 31 summarizes that we're at the point in the narrative where the gospel has come to all of Judea and Samaria, and the Christians are multiplying there greatly. Now, what happens next is Peter goes through those regions, so Judea and Samaria, doing miracles, and we'll read about that tomorrow.

So we're going to read about what Peter was doing in the midst of all of this. While all of that was going on, what was Peter doing? And that's what we have in the rest of Acts 9. So we finish here remembering once again, just as we did in the first part of Acts 9, that our coming to faith in Christ is not our work.

And it's not because we wake up one day and decide that we're going to be a Christian, but because, just like Paul was called to be a disciple of Jesus, so all of us have been called in Christ Jesus through the hearing of the gospel, the work of the Holy Spirit in our hearts, that we might come to faith and believe and so be saved.

That is how all of us are saved. All glory belongs to Christ. As said in 1 Corinthians 1 .31, it is because of him that you are in Christ Jesus. Heavenly Father, we thank you that you have called us by your grace, and may we continue to grow in this faith that you have given to us, that we might be sanctified, looking to Jesus, the author and the perfecter of our faith, that we may come into your kingdom and hear the Savior say, well done, good and faithful servant.

It's in Jesus' name we pray.

Amen.

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