The Inversion Of Saul - [Acts 9:1-9]

The other day, I was looking for a list of like Events that shook the world that turned the world upside down And I came upon this list.

I don't know if it's the best list I mean, I just have to be honest. First of all, it only focuses on the last

About 120 years and I thought you know what if I were gonna pick a list of events I Think probably all of them would be from the

Bible But I certainly wouldn't pick these events and I would not if you gave me these events.

I would not put them in this order. So With that as a caveat number 20 on the list

Is one that's near and dear to our hearts. I think the corona virus pandemic. I Kind of turned the world upside down.

In fact, I would argue that for most of us It was more significant than number one, but we'll we'll get there in a minute

I'm not gonna read all of them, but number 18 on the list 9 -11 pretty significant event in our during most of our lifetimes many of our lifetimes

Number 15 the fall of the Berlin Wall the end of communism many people set free from it there at least communism in Europe at least direct communism

I Keep qualifying it number 14 the assassination of John F.

Kennedy big event Number 9

Pearl Harbor attack remember Pearl Harbor, and then I thought it was funny because here they had

Pearl Harbor number 9 number 8 World War 2 But number 7 even more important than World War 2 was the invasion of Poland That's basically started a

World War 2. So like I said, probably maybe not the best list in the history of the world number 2

More important than World War 2 was World War 1 I guess you could argue that it set the stage for World War 2 but number 1

I really If I were again if I were listening from 1 to 20, this is probably never 20 the assassination of Archduke Ferdinand, of course, his family would probably disagree, but I Just thought this is just really an odd list.

So why am I using I don't know But I wanted to set your minds in in this kind of framework where things happen that sort of make you

They knock your breath out Take your breath away They turn your world as it were upside down.

They invert your world. I Mean if you ever said this really rocked my world

Usually we say that and it was like about a hamburger or something like it really rocked my world. Did it really not really come on Now 9 -eleven

That was something the pandemic that was something these are things that really changed our lives

But as we look at Acts chapter 9 today, we're going to see something that yes changed the life of Saul forever but I think it changed the entire direction of Christianity I Would argue other than the

Lord himself. No one has had more impact on the church and on Christianity writ large than the

Apostle Paul and Here as we see him in Acts chapter 9. He's still just Saul the mad guy and That's who we're looking at.

Let's read Acts chapter 9 verses 1 through 9 but Saul Still breathing threats and murder against the disciples of the

Lord Went to the high priest and asked 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 now as he went on his way, he approached

Damascus and suddenly a light from heaven shone 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 and enter the city and you will be told what you are to do

The men who were traveling with him stood speechless hearing the voice but seeing no one

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

Now the last few times we've been in Acts we've been following the ministry of Philip as he went through Samaria and preached the gospel as he kind of Outdueled Simon Magus as it were

Simon the magician and then as he went out into the wilderness Directed by the

Spirit and preached the gospel to the Ethiopian eunuch However in the in terms of the flow of the book flow of Acts Philip was just a little bit of a detour.

I mean most of the book Focuses either on Peter or on Paul and we're really being introduced to Saul slash

Paul in Acts chapter 7 at the end and then 8 and then all of a sudden we go to Philip.

Well now we're back to Paul It's a blessed detour, but we're back looking at Saul again

And when we last saw him he participated in the murder of Stephen One of the deacons of the

Jerusalem Church If you recall and I'm sure you do Stephen was put to death in a very barbaric way by stoning

It's a painful death painful means of execution and what was his crime? His crime was basically preaching the truth in front of the

Sanhedrin. He'd been brought in front of the Sanhedrin. He was Arrested on these bogus charges

And he gave him this long long speech in which he recounted the history of the unfaithfulness of Israel and at the end he got to talking about Stephen and the matter the more he

Spoke the matter they got and eventually they took him outside the city and stoned him to death

And to just read the end of Acts Chapter 7 the beginning of verse 8 to really set the stage

Acts 7 verse 59 and as they were stoning Stephen he called out

Lord Jesus receive my spirit and Falling to his knees. He cried out with a loud voice

Lord do not hold this sin against them. And when he had said this he fell asleep.

He died and Saul approved of his execution and there arose on that day a great persecution against the church in Jerusalem and they were all scattered throughout the regions of Judea and Samaria except the

Apostles Devout men buried Stephen and made a great lamentation over him but Saul was ravaging the church and entering house after house he dragged off men and women and Committed them to prison and so we pick up the story of Saul He's about to undergo one of the greatest

Transformations in history talk about you know, the top 20 I had there which weren't so Awesome in some ways

This one would be one of the great. I think it's probably the greatest conversion story and Certainly one of the great stories in all of Scripture Saul's world is going to be turned upside down his theology the course of his life

His very desires would be are about to be inverted changed completely

Of course when something is inverted I mean my favorite kind of one of my favorite cakes is a pineapple upside -down cake.

What makes it cool is When you bake it, you know You can't really see anything except for the yellow cake and then you flip it upside down and that's where all the good stuff is right

Maybe I should have called the sermon the pineapple upside -down cake that was Saul but you know You flip them upside down you get all the good stuff, but Saul's conversion

Is really ultimately like anybody else's it's just a little more dramatic

This morning we have or I have for you four C's as We see

Saul come to faith in Christ. And the first one Is really just kind of a summary of who he is

Which doesn't start with a C by the way, but Saul Is a champion of Judaism and I have three kind of sub points here and they're all

C's champion of Judaism Confident of his faith and certain of his mission.

So this first C has three sub points champion of Judaism of the religion or the religion of the

Jews Why was Saul as it says in 8 3 ravaging the church entering house after house?

Dragging people away men and women and you know, we wasn't certainly wasn't a sexist

He'd take anybody who was committed to Christianity and take them to prison He'd just seen

Stephen murdered and his conviction was what?

No one is going to do more than me to destroy the way The way being the name by which

Christianity was known then because Jesus said I am the way so a lot of the believers identified themselves as the way

No one was going to do more to put an end to this blasphemous sect and that's how the

Jews saw Christianity why because Here you had

Jesus saying that he was in fact God they they understood that He said he was going to raise himself from the dead and his disciples taught that this was blasphemous to them and his initial work really was

I Think it resembles kind of an Old Testament sort of I'm gonna go out and destroy the idols the false deities

That's kind of the idea that he had. He was like, you know, I don't know how many are familiar with the

Maccabeans But they were so zealous they just went in and Slaughtered the the the people who had defiled the temple they had no problem with that whatsoever and Saul saw himself as that kind of a

Avenger of things. I just say Avenger. Yes Avenger of things that were wrong of course, he started in Jerusalem and There was no doubt to his commitment even think about this in Philippians 3, how does he describe himself in?

his kind of autobiographical bit there in Philippians 3 he says as to zeal a

Persecutor of the church as a Jew this was kind of a badge of honor a

Medal something to be proud of he was a persecutor of the church From Saul's perspective and from the perspective of the

Jews back then Jesus was just another in a long line of false messiahs

So his followers were beat were to be treated like apostates

This movement needed to be stomped out It was an infection that needed to be cut out of the body of the

Jewish faith So he was a champion of Judy of Judaism.

He's also confident of his faith To verse 1 of chapter 9

But Saul still breathing threats and murder against the disciples of the Lord went to the high priest.

I Mean think and think about what he's just seen. He's just seen Stephen murdered stoned to death a gory ghastly murder

What does he do? He kind of cinches up his belt and says

I want more of that I'm gonna go to the high priest I'm gonna get some authority here

Why was he still in such a rage? It doesn't text doesn't tell us But he wanted to excel more than anyone

Essentially when he goes to the high priest he seeks and is given a kind of arrest warrant against anyone professing

Christ in these other towns Listen to Acts 26 verses 9 to 11

This is another account of the vision that he has He says I myself was convinced that I ought to do many things in opposing the name of Jesus of Nazareth And I did so in Jerusalem I not only locked up many of the

Saints in prison after receiving authority from the chief priests But when they were put to death

Notice he says they not Stephen, but when they were put to death I cast my vote

Against them and I punished them often in all the synagogues and tried to make them blaspheme and Enraging fury against them.

I persecuted them even to foreign cities Killing the

Jews in Jerusalem wasn't enough. He wanted to Expand his franchise as it were He was a champion of Judaism he was confident in his faith and Third see here.

He's certain of his mission certain of his mission verse 3 and asked him the high priest for letters to the synagogues letters of introduction letters are of Authorization the high priest says

Saul is our guy. He's our agent. He's the guy that we're sending out here So that if he found any belonging to the way men or women he might bring them bound to Jerusalem He's going to Damascus, which is a six -day walk

How many of you think you know, I'd like to go walking for six days and go do something I mean, I couldn't even get the kids to go six, you know, let's let's go.

Let's all walk to Storyland Nobody would want to do that Six days to go persecute

Christians He is devoted to this.

So that's our first see that he's a champion of Judaism He's an opponent of Christ we could say

And our second see is Saul is confronted. He is confronted First he's confronted by a light to look at verse 3, but now as he went on his way he approached

Damascus He's getting close to the city and suddenly a light from heaven shone around him

What's interesting about this this bright light comes out at midday at noon How do we know that because we have these other accounts acts 22 verse 6 as I was on my way and drew near to Damascus about noon a great light from heaven suddenly shone around me in Acts 26 verse 13 at midday again around noon.

Oh King Agrippa is who he's addressing. I Brighter than the

Sun we just had the eclipse how many of you went out and looked without glasses?

Probably not many of you I saw one or two hands, but you're not blind so I doubted

Brighter than the Sun that shone around me and those who journeyed with me

This was a powerful experience a lot of times people say they've had you know

These powerful experiences, but in this case would a light by itself have

Converted Saul would it have convinced him that Jesus was the Christ no What's interesting though is his companions apparently didn't even see the lights

Only Saul did now so he's confronted by a light, but he's also confronted by a voice look at verse 4 and falling to the ground

He heard a voice saying to him Saul Saul Why are you persecuting me the brightness of the light drove

Saul to his knees? but he hears this voice and whether he knows the voice or not there are some commentators who say he does and Some who say he does not

But there are a few things that are intriguing here one is this repetition of Saul Why does the voice say

Saul and then Saul again? Like to double get his attention. He was already used the light in Aramaic in this culture

It was often you would often repeat somebody's name when you wanted to be

Tender towards them when you were trying to be kind toward them So the voice seems to be more comforting rather than accusatory

We could say like a loving parent scolding an erring child Jesus confronts

Saul Well, why so gentle with one who has committed murder not just Steven, but multiple murders

Listen if you murder somebody that I know I'm not gonna walk him and say

Hey, how's it going today? Why why would

Jesus talk to him like that? I'm going to suggest to you that Part of the reason was because Jesus died for that sin.

There are many reasons that people get disqualified from ministry I Do sometimes wonder at people who want to disqualify others?

From ministry for things that they did before Christ and I come to this and I think well wait a minute

We know that Saul not only approved of the murder of Steven, but he participated in many murders he was running around chasing

Christians down and putting them in prison and then voting for their deaths and Jesus just comes to him and says

Saul Saul Why are you persecuting me for the murderer

Saul? for the zealous Saul for the Self -righteous,

I keep the law I do everything with great zeal Saul The moment of his salvation was upon him this voice

Was the very voice of the resurrected Jesus? this voice Saul may or may not know the voice, but the voice knows

Saul and It had always known Saul Listen to how

Paul Describes the voice Galatians 1 15 but when he who had set me apart before I was born and Who called me by his grace?

See Jesus had known Saul Before he was born and then now was the moment which he had called him to salvation

And as I thought about this I thought You know, what did

Saul do? to prepare himself for Salvation what did

Saul what what was going on? Did Saul repent so that he would be worthy of?

Salvation did he go to confession? Confess all of his sins so that the

Lord would forgive him RC Sproul Talking about salvation said in our natural state

We are completely unwilling and incapable of coming to Christ and when we think about Saul in his natural state

Not only was he completely unwilling to come to Christ. He was an enemy of the cross He hated everything to do with Jesus.

He hated the people of Jesus He wanted to stomp it out. He would not go to Christ, but Christ came to him the

Lord asked Saul Why he is persecuting Him and we know

Saul's been persecuting Christians not Jesus Jesus is in heaven

But the relationship between Jesus and believers is so tight so close

That he identifies with them I mean even if we just think about what he said in the gospel of John I lay down my life for whom for the sheep

He loves the sheep he loves believers and He was done with letting

Saul pursue his church with hostile intent and may I also say That he was done watching

Saul commit sin after sin after sin Enough Saul belonged to Jesus and Jesus was going to claim him

So we've seen Saul champion of Judaism Saul confronted Both by the light and by a voice and now

Saul corrected Saul corrected If we assume that Saul had no idea who was speaking to him

He certainly knew this was a powerful and heavenly being so when he says in verse 5 and He said who are you

Lord? I mean we read Lord and right away We assume it was Jesus, but it's kind of a odd thing right if he knows it's

Jesus, and then he asked anyway But either way if he didn't know he's about to find out and if he did know it's really an odd question

Jesus identifies himself the second half of the verse and He said the voice says

I am Jesus whom you are persecuting to Saul Jesus was a fraud

As I said he was a false Messiah one of many Who had been rightly put to death on the cross for claiming to be

God? He was seeking to arrest those who claimed that Jesus had risen from the dead

In his mind as we might hear from many scoffers and so -called atheists today

The resurrection was a myth that his followers had created Jesus was dead and everyone knew that no one comes back from the dead it was impossible

So here we have Saul who knows what's true who knows what's right who knows what's impossible, and here's the impossibility of Jesus being alive

Except Jesus is speaking to him If there was ever a moment in Saul's life.

You know how sometimes when you go into things, and it's like Things really slow down you kind of you know how that If I could if I could use this term for older folks

That video game experience where everything just kind of slows down, and you you know you just kind of see things in a whole different way

Or if you've been in combat sometimes it feels that way we're like a few seconds is like hours

And I think that's what it was like for Saul here All the things you know how fast your mind could go

I mean, I think there's a there's definitely some panic happening here These few seconds probably seemed like hours

Everything he so fervently believed that he'd spent his whole life performing and doing and pursuing with zeal

We're all turning out to be false Heaven God was on the side of the

Christians So persecuting them was actually an assault on the very

God he claimed to be serving the one he thought he was serving Jesus was not only raised from the grave, but ascended to glory and he was right there

Confronting Saul and then

Jesus gives Saul directions But rise he says and enter the city and you will be told what you are to do.

He doesn't give him a theological Instruction there. He doesn't download a bunch of information to him

I'm going to suggest that probably nothing further was needed That Jesus is alive

That he's able to appear in such a miraculous way and that everything he once trusted for righteousness had been

Proven to be as he would say later in Philippians rubbish or scuba on the

Greek That was all he needed to know And I think as we consider this story,

I want to just read this and what I hope Acts chapter 9 verses 1 through 9 does for us.

Would you turn for a moment to Acts or to Ephesians chapter 2? And I think even as we read through Paul's epistles

What I think we ought to do now as we read them is Read them through this prism through this lens

What actually happens to Saul on the road to Damascus and we can better understand?

What he says in all of his epistles, right? I mean think about Ephesians chapter 2. We're familiar with this but now think for a moment about How this applies to Paul as he's writing it

This is this is lived experience for him when it's not just something he's theoretically writing or he's you know let me just give you guys a

Theological treatise I'm going to explain to you what happens. No, this is autobiographical information listen and You were dead in this trespasses and sins and went you once walked

Would he say that he was dead? I think he would following in the course of this world following the prince of the power of the air the spirit that is now at work in the sons of Disobedience listen among whom we all once lived in the passions of our flesh

Carrying out the desires of the body in the mind just because Saul sins were holy sins

He thought they were holy at the time didn't matter Says we all did this then he says and were by nature children of wrath like the rest of mankind verse 4

But God being rich in mercy because of the great love with which he loved us

Even when we were dead in our trespasses Made us alive together with Christ by grace.

You have been saved and raised us up with him and Seated us with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus So that in the coming ages he might show the immeasurable riches of his grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus for by grace you have been saved through faith and this is not your own doing it is the gift of God Not as a result of works so that no one may boast for we are his workmanship

Created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them

Now think about the story of Saul Here's the man dead in his sins and trespasses, but God appears to him brings him to spiritual life and Tells him, you know, you're going to get more instructions later

Spoiler alert and a nice is going to give him some instructions. We can go back to acts and He's going to tell

Saul how much He's going to have to suffer for the cause of Christ Jesus already has

Saul's Paul's life mapped out It's already in in the works

Before the foundation of the world is all laid out this is

You know, we see it. We think it's a dramatic salvation, which it is But it's also a great great act of love the triune

God loving Saul Not letting him Continue to sin but transforming him

So we've seen Saul champion of Judaism Saul confronted Saul corrected and our foresee

Saul crushed Saul crushed What about the people he was with the men he was with the

I I wanted to think you know because he's like Almost like a bounty hunter with a posse going to look for Christians and haul him off to jail

What did they think we'll look at verse 7 the men who were traveling with him stood speechless

Listen hearing the voice but seeing no one How does that happen

They don't get knocked to their knees They don't even understand what Jesus said. How do I know that because it's in Acts 22 9 now those who were with me saw

The light but did not understand the voice of the one who was speaking to me. So they saw the light

They didn't see Jesus. They didn't hear his voice what they heard the voice, but they didn't understand it

Why didn't they understand? Why didn't they see Jesus? Because the

God of creation Determined exactly who would see what who would hear what?

This was for Paul Saul full stop not for these other men

Commentator Paul Hill says the miracle because that's what it is This is God doing something that we can't explain entering the time -space continuum to do something that defies logic

The miracle was not a punitive one. This was not to punish Saul Rather the picture is of Saul in his brokenness and helplessness

The fierce opposer of Christ reduced to a helpless pitiful soul

How the mighty Saul had fallen look at verse 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. He's blind

Why? He's going to have a sight restored. But why is he blind? One possibility.

I mean, we don't know The light certainly had something to do with it, but this was an overwhelming physical and spiritual experience

What happens when you lose your sight? I mean, I've never actually lost my sight

I've had times where I've had to have my eyes covered or something. What happens if you lose your sights?

They say that your other senses become more developed right that you hear things better, etc

But it also reduces the amount of information that you take in I'm going to suggest that perhaps

These three days he's going to experience blindness Or to give him time to contemplate everything that has happened

To really take it in and and I think there's indications of it here I mean if you think about have you ever been so distraught so rocked by what's happened that you just don't want to eat

Look at verse 9 and for three days he was without sight and neither ate nor drank Why would he be like that I'm going to suggest

Speculation Guilt he had a lot of guilt.

Let's go back to Acts chapter 7 and I'm going to start in verse 56 Maybe we can draw a few things out of this.

This is Stephen He says and he said again Stephen Testifying says behold.

I see the heavens open Listen and the son of man standing at the right hand of God What was the response?

to his testimony verse 57 but they cried out with a loud voice and stopped their ears put their fingers in their ears and Rushed together at him and they cast him out of the city and stoned him and The witnesses laid down their garments at the feet of a young man named

Saul and as they were stoning Stephen he called out Lord Jesus received my spirits and falling to his knees he cried out with a loud voice

Lord do not hold the sin against them and When he had said this he fell asleep, you know when

I first started thinking about Saul I was like, I wonder if there were little old ladies a Knitting circle in the church in Jerusalem who prayed for Saul.

I don't know about that But I know that Stephen prayed for him Lord do not hold this sin against them

Right before he died Stephen saw

Jesus in Heaven he was given that vision Saul had just seen that what

Stephen testified of and what he was killed for was true He'd seen the risen

Lord Stephen Had called out to Jesus to receive his spirit

When that had happened Saul was surely angered just as he had been

When he said that he saw Jesus at the right hand of the Father when we think of what

What Saul had witnessed What he would had consumed him

And then how Christ had come to him, how would we respond? I think like he did

Paul Hill says this about his conversion. It would be hard to overestimate the significance of Paul's conversion

Not only for the subsequent narrative of Acts But for the history of Christianity as a whole

And we might think wow, is there ever been such a trophy of grace as the

Apostle Paul? The greatest salvation story of all time, here's the reality

Every one of us who come to Christ go through a similar process We just don't get the lights the flashy voices.

We don't we don't get all that stuff But think about it. Are we confronted by our sin? There's a moment for every believer in which the

Holy Spirit convicts us of our sinfulness And when he the

Holy Spirit comes he will convict the world concerning sin and righteousness and judgments

We are also corrected about our beliefs about Christ just as Saul was whoever

We think Jesus was before we get saved We are convinced by the Holy Spirit that he's truly

God truly man and that he lived the life We are commanded to live and don't

We know that he died the death we deserve and are spared by his sacrifice on our behalf.

And we know that he's not dead, just like Saul figured out. That the grave could not hold him and that he lives and is risen.

Finally, we're also crushed by the weight of our guilt. The full weight of our sin pulls us down.

If we're not knocked to our knees, we at least have an overall sense that we are guilty.

I remember myself just thinking, I don't know how Jesus could possibly love me because I don't even love myself.

I hate myself because of what I do. How could

Jesus die for me? And the reality is, for those of us who've been saved, the experiences may vary, but these truths do not.

We come to know who Jesus is, what he did, what we've done, what we deserve.

And we rejoice in knowing that as God causes that faith in us, as we trust in him, that the weight of our guilt is removed.

Much like we'll see the scales from Saul's eyes removed. For any here who have not experienced the salvation that God freely offers,

I pray that today would be that day. Let's pray. Our Father in heaven,

Lord, we rejoice as we think about the gospel, about the truth that we would never have discovered on our own, just as Saul never would have discovered it on his own.

The reality that the second person of the Trinity would come to earth, live a perfect life, then take our sins upon himself, go to the cross, pay for our sins, and then be raised gloriously, that we might have his perfections credited to us, and our sins credited to him.

What a wonderful truth. Father, we thank you for this illustration, this example of salvation.

Lord, I pray that you would help us, even as we read the New Testament, to think how often

Saul is writing in sheer gratitude about his own experience, marveling at your grace in his life.

Thank you for that. Help us to increase in our thankfulness for Jesus Christ on the cross,