WWUTT 2607 Saul Why Are You Persecuting Me? (Acts 9:6-9)

Saul was on his way to Damascus to round up Christians and persecute them. When Jesus appeared to him on the road, blinded his eyes just like his spiritual eyes had been blind. When we understand the text.

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Hey, once again is Pastor Gabe.

Thank you, Becky. In our study of the book of Acts, we come back to chapter nine, where we are reading about the conversion of Saul of Tarsus from a persecutor of the church into an apostle of Jesus Christ.

Let me begin reading in verse one, once again, and I'll go through verse nine, hear the word of the Lord. Now Saul, still breathing threats and murder against the disciples of the Lord, went to the high priest and asked for letters from him to the synagogues at Damascus so that if he found any belonging to the way, both men and women, he might bring them bound to Jerusalem.

And as he was traveling, it happened that when he was approaching Damascus, suddenly a light from heaven flashed around him and falling to the ground, he heard a voice saying to him, Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting me?

And he said, who are you Lord? And he said, I am Jesus whom you are persecuting, but rise up and enter the city and it will be told you what you must do. And the men who traveled with him stood speechless, hearing the voice, but seeing no one.

And Saul got up from the ground and though his eyes were open, he could see nothing. Leading him by the hand, they brought him into Damascus and he was three days without sight and neither ate nor drank.

Picking up where we left off yesterday, we have to finish up this interaction between Paul and, well, Paul, I told you yesterday I was gonna do that, but it is Saul, Saul who would also be called Paul.

Saul and his interaction with Jesus and that's in verses three through six. Then we have Paul being led into Damascus, verses seven to nine, where he will be blind and fasting for three days. But first, let me come back up to verses one and two, something that I didn't mention yesterday.

I mentioned that Saul was going up to Damascus to round up Christians there, but I didn't really talk about why, like why Damascus of all places. Jesus in his earthly ministry did not even get all the way up into Damascus.

So if you're kind of picturing this in your mind, the geography, geographic layout of the area, you've got Jerusalem in Judea, okay? That's in the southernmost portion of what we would term today the Holy Land, or we would call it Israel.

Just north of there would be Samaria. And then north of there is Galilee, where Jesus was from and spent a lot of time during his earthly ministry, especially according to Luke's account, puts Jesus in Galilee more than anywhere else.

Whenever Jews would travel from Jerusalem to Galilee, they would avoid Samaria.

Why?

Well, because there were Samaritans there and they didn't want to come in contact with Samaritans. So largely Jews would go around it. You would have them going up the Jordan River there on the eastern border of Samaria, which would take them up to the Sea of Galilee, or they might cross to the west to Lydda and Joppa and then go north to Caesarea and then up to Tyre if they go that far north, but that would get them around Samaria and into the western side of Galilee.

So where Paul goes here, in this case, he would have gone from Jerusalem and up the Jordan River past the eastern side of the Sea of Galilee and all the way up into Syria. That's what's north of Galilee, it's Syria.

And Damascus is there, and there was actually a large Jewish population in Damascus at that time. So kind of what was going on politically in that area and who was ruling Damascus, that would be a long explanation, but the short of it is there was a large Jewish settlement and many synagogues that were there in Damascus so that many of the Christians who were in Jerusalem who left there for safety when the persecution against Christians began, it was reasonable for those Jews who had now become Christians to want to go to the largest Jewish settlement as far away as they could get.

And so Damascus was the spot. Now there's synagogues all over the Roman Empire. Like when Paul goes to Corinth, the first place that he goes is the synagogue and teaches them about how Jesus is the Christ, the fulfillment of what is said in the law and the prophets.

So there's synagogues all over the place, but they're remaining within their land and within like a week's journey to Jerusalem. So they go all the way up to Damascus to join the Jewish population that is there and maybe even convert many of them to Christianity because of course they have the scriptures.

So they're going to tell them, they're gonna show them exactly what the apostles have been teaching about how Jesus Christ who was crucified and buried and rose again in Jerusalem is the Messiah who was promised by the prophets.

He is the fulfillment of all these things that we have been reading ever since the law of Moses. So they go all the way up to Damascus. Saul knows about this. So he is asking for letters that he could go all the way up as far North as he can get to round up Christians there and bring them back to Jerusalem to be persecuted, even to be put to death.

And it could also be in Saul's mind that he wants to go all the way to Damascus and then make his way back South and be rounding up Christians as he goes. So he's going the furthest out that he knows he can go where the Christians have gone to get them and bring them back to what's essentially their capital city, which is Jerusalem.

Now it's somewhere in Syria. It would have been just probably an hour or so until they got to Damascus that Jesus appears to Saul because he's blind when he's being led into Damascus. So they probably weren't that far away.

We have it said in the narrative here that as he was traveling, it happened that when he was approaching Damascus, so it could be that Damascus is in Saul's sight by the time Jesus appears to him and then tells him, why are you persecuting me?

Now I've been referring to Saul persecuting Christians, but like I said yesterday, the word Christian only appears twice in Acts and once by the apostle Peter, three times in the New Testament and that's it.

We have Christians being called the way. The faith is called the way in Acts 9 too. And it's actually called the way in the book of Acts more often than the word Christian is used in the entire New Testament.

Isn't that interesting? So we have here in Acts 19, there's a couple of times, Acts 22 and a couple of times in Acts 24. That's where the reference to the way is used. Saul is on his way to Damascus to get those who are followers of Jesus Christ.

He hates that there is this gospel message going about. That is being said, you must believe in Jesus and you will be saved from your sins. It's not by your keeping the law. You could not keep the law anyway.

If you failed at one point of the law, then you've broken all of it and you are under the judgment of God. You cannot be saved. You cannot attain righteousness by your works. It is only by faith in Jesus Christ.

Saul has such zeal for the law of God, just like we saw with those in the Sanhedrin who had put Stephen to death in Acts 7. They had accused him of blaspheming the law of Moses and the word of God. So Saul thinks that he's doing the right thing and upholding the words that were given to the apostles, but rather he does not recognize that all of these things were actually pointing to Christ.

And when Saul is persecuting the church, those who are followers of Jesus Christ, it is the same as if he is persecuting Jesus himself. That's in Jesus addressed to him in verse five. When, or sorry, verse four, Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting me?

Whatever is done to the body of Christ, it is the same as if it is done to Christ. Remember what is said in John 15 one, Jesus said, I am the true vine and my father is the vine grower. Every branch in me that does not bear fruit, he takes away.

And every branch that bears fruit, he cleans it so that it may bear more fruit. You are already clean because of the word which I have spoken to you. Abide in me and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit from itself unless it abides in the vine, so neither can you unless you abide in me.

I am the vine, you are the branches. He who abides in me and I in him, he who bears, it is he who bears much fruit. For apart from me, you can do nothing. If anyone does not abide in me, he is thrown away as a branch and dries up and they gather them and cast them into the fire and they are burned.

So to abide in Christ is to be in Christ and he in us. So when his church is persecuted, it is as if Jesus is being persecuted also. If Jesus was right there, Saul would have been persecuting him and would have been with the rest of the crowd putting Jesus to death on the cross as had already been done but death could not hold him down.

Christ was resurrected from the grave. The message of his sacrifice and resurrection is going throughout the world now and those who still have zeal for the law of God are incensed by this message of free grace.

The free grace of God that comes to all who simply believe in Jesus. Saul is rounding up Christians to put them to death. Jesus says, why are you persecuting me? Remember what said in Matthew 25, 40. Jesus had said that which you do to the least of these brothers of mine, you do also to me.

So what is done to his church is done to Christ but Saul is still thoroughly confused by this address and hearing the voice of Jesus speaking to him, he says, who are you Lord? Now I've had many asked me this regarding Saul's response here.

Why is he calling him Lord? Because he doesn't think of Jesus as Lord. So why is he addressing him in that way? Like he doesn't even know who he is. First of all, to say, who are you Lord? Or to know that this is God that is speaking from heaven.

It could be that Saul recognizes this has to be the voice of God or it could be the voice of an angel of sorts. And so Saul asks for some identification.

Who are you?

Explain yourself. But the word Lord in this sense could also just really be synonymous with sir. It's not the formal title that is given to God as Kyrios, right? That title that is synonymous with Yahweh as we would have it in the old Testament in the Hebrew scriptures, the Tetragrammaton.

It's just simply Saul asking him, sir, who are you? It is evident that Saul did not yet know that this was the Lord Jesus. So he's not addressing Jesus as Lord in any worshipful sense. He heard a voice as of a man.

Because remember, as I said yesterday, when we get to his testimony later on in Acts, he says that God spoke to him in the Hebrew language. That's in Acts chapter 26. So he heard himself addressed. He heard the voice of a man say to him, Saul, Saul.

But who were these words attributed to? Where was this coming from? He did not know. And in his amazement and in his confusion, he just asked, who is this that is addressing me? Lord, sir, who are you?

And Jesus responds, I am Jesus whom you are persecuting. And then tell Saul what to do next. But rise up and enter the city. And it will be told you what you must do. In verse seven, the men who traveled with him stood speechless hearing the voice, but seeing no one.

So this was testified to, it was witnessed by other people. It wasn't only Saul that knew of the voice of Jesus addressing him, but everybody else around him were like, who are you talking to? Now, they didn't see anybody, but they heard the voice speak and Saul probably had a dozen or more men with him.

Probably a significant number of followers with him because remember they're rounding up Christians so that these Christians won't fight back and try to run away from them. He had to have a pretty significant force who is following him to Damascus.

So there's multiple people here accompanying him who have heard this voice. They have witnessed it themselves, but they didn't see anything. And the result of Christ appearing to Saul and addressing him is not the same for everybody who is around him.

They're not blind. In fact, they take him by the hand and they lead him then into Damascus. That's verse eight, Saul got up from the ground and though his eyes were open, he could see nothing. And by the way, this is not just Saul's physical condition.

It is also his spiritual condition. His eyes are open. And again, this is a man who has great zeal for the word of God, for the law of God. He thinks that he's protecting the law of God by rounding up Christians and putting them to death.

He believes that they are blasphemers, that they are trying to overthrow God's word. And these are Jews that have converted to being followers of Jesus Christ. So the law, as it applies to Jews, we need to put them to death because they are continuing to blaspheme our God.

That's what Saul thinks is happening. Not realizing that he's actually the one who is blaspheming God. So he has a spiritual darkness. He is spiritually in darkness. His physical eyes are open, but his spiritual eyes are blind.

So now to the point that even physically he is blind until he comes into the city and Ananias will visit him. And upon laying hands on him and baptizing him, then what it is that has scaled over, Saul's eyes will fall off and he will be able to see again.

But this is the lesson that God is teaching him here in his conversion. Leading him by the hand, they brought him into Damascus. He was three days without sight and neither ate nor drank. Now it's often said about Saul that he was knocked off his horse.

You've probably heard this account when it comes to translating this passage. Saul is on his way to Damascus. He's riding a horse. Jesus appears to him. He's knocked off the horse. There's even a famous painting that demonstrates this with Saul falling down off the horse at the voice of Jesus that is coming from the heavens.

But there's nothing actually here in the text that tells us that Saul was on a horse. Maybe it happened. Maybe it did. It's not unreasonable to think so, but there's just nothing in the text that creates that narrative that Saul is actually on the back of a horse.

There's also some translations that will add when Jesus says, I am Jesus whom you are persecuting, some translations will add, it is hard for you to kick against the goads or it is hard for thee to kick against the pricks, I think is what it is in the King James Bible and in the New King James.

That's not actually in the earliest manuscript. That phrase is not there in Acts 9, 5. That's actually something that Paul will say later when he's sharing his testimony in Acts chapter 26, when Paul is sharing his testimony before Agrippa.

It's there where he says, when we had all fallen to the ground. So according to his account in Acts 26, everybody who was with him had fallen down. And when we had all fallen to the ground, I heard a voice saying to me in the Hebrew language, Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting me?

It is hard for you to kick against the goads. And I said, who are you Lord? And the Lord said, I am Jesus whom you are persecuting. And so some have taken that phrase, I'm Jesus whom you are persecuting, that we have in the Acts 9, 5, and they've added that it is hard for you to kick against the goads right there.

Nothing's been removed from the text by taking that out. It's just in the earliest manuscripts of Acts chapter 9, that phrase is not included. It's in Paul's testimony in Acts 26. So as I've shared with you before, somewhere along the line, a few hundred years after this had been written, an overzealous scribe had taken that phrase from Acts 26, 14 and had inserted it into Acts 9, 5, thinking that he was keeping the text consistent.

But in the earliest manuscripts, those words are not in Acts 9, 5. It doesn't mean Jesus didn't say them. It's just the way that Luke records it there, he doesn't include that phrase until later on in Acts chapter 26.

So there's some of the questions that tend to come up whenever we read this account in Acts chapter 9. But this spiritual blindness that Paul has, Saul has, as he comes into Damascus and he's waiting for Ananias to come to him.

It is when his hands, Ananias lays hands on him that the scales will fall from his eyes and he will see in a way that he had never seen before. He has not been able to see that Jesus is the savior. But once the scales fall from his eyes, this will be by the blessing of God, the spirit that has changed his heart so that he may look upon the savior and know Christ who is the fulfillment of the law and the prophets.

And by faith in him, Saul will be forgiven his sins. And Saul will be made an apostle of Jesus Christ to go out and do what he was persecuting Christians for doing and will do more in his ministry than any of the other apostles ever did.

And this is all by the grace of God. This is by God's grace that is given to him. Saul did not decide on his own, on his way into Damascus that he was just going to stop persecuting Christians.

And you know what?

I think I'm going to join this religion that we're all persecuting and putting these Christians to death. This was the work of God in the life of Saul. And so God will even restore Saul's sight in a way that he has never received sight before, that he may look on the savior and believe and live and we'll pick up there tomorrow.

Heavenly father, we thank you. As we have read here in Acts chapter nine, we are reminded that we ourselves, we did not come to faith in Jesus Christ because we were smarter than everybody else, because we chose this on our own, but you chose us.

And it turned our hearts from the sin that was leading us to hell and clothed us in the righteousness of Christ, leading us to the way of everlasting. Lord, as we continue about our day, help us to walk in the righteousness of Christ that we have been given, putting away sin and everything else and looking to Jesus with these spiritual eyes that we have been given, that we may see him and desire him with all of our heart, soul, mind, and strength.

It's in Jesus' name we pray, amen.

Pastor Gabe keeps a regular blog sharing personal thoughts, alerting readers to false teachers and offering commentary on the church and social issues. You can find a link to the blog through our website, wwutt .com.

Thank you for listening and join us again tomorrow as we continue our study in God's word when we understand the text.