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Bentley Baptist Church Sermons
Saul's Conversion
Acts 9.1-31 | Alex Huggett | 16.2.2024
Part of a series on the book of Acts
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God sometimes chooses the most unlikely people, doesn't he Think of people in your life, or you know of who is like? What was God thinking, you know? In 1950s, new York, nicky Cruz was the leader of a notoriously violent Puerto Rican gang called the Mau Maus, and Cruz had no qualms about sticking a knife between someone's ribs. In fact, he claimed to have stabbed 16 people while he was with the gang. One day, a straight-laced preacher told Cruz that God loved him and in fact, the preacher told Cruz on two occasions that God loved him. How do you think Nicky Cruz responded? Threatened violence on both occasions, and you know he would have done it. Well, one night, the preacher, david Wilkerson, put on a youth rally and sent a bus to pick up the Mau Maus amongst other youth gangs, and during the meeting, wilkerson even asked the Mau Mau's Nicky Cruz's gang to take up the offering. Now, think about that. What a great opportunity for a bunch of young people with no conscience. But instead of running off, cruz himself actually convinced the gang to take the offering up the front, and while Wilkerson preached, he and a number of the other gang members were cut to the heart and gave their lives to God. Now Cruz's life, of course, was turned upside down. He went to Bible college. He became a director of Teen Challenge, which is a drug rehab ministry that Wilkerson started. Director of Teen Challenge, which is a drug rehab ministry that Wilkerson started. There's a place down in Esperance. That's part of that. He led other gang members to Christ and he eventually started his own ministry, nicky Cruz Ministry. And you know, today, in his 80s, nicky Cruz is still turning the life of young gang members around. You just can't pick who God's going to use sometimes.
Speaker 1:Well, we're back in the book of Acts. We've had a break over the last couple of months from that, and today we find God choosing an unlikely character to lead the ministry that was about to spread throughout the Roman world. So we're in chapter 9 of Acts, starting at verse 1. Now Saul was still breathing threats and murder against the disciples of the Lord. So we briefly met Saul a little earlier when he signed off on the execution of Stephen, who was a Jesus follower and preacher, the first Christian martyr, and it says Saul was there supervising, basically giving approval, which probably means he was the official person overseeing that. And then a great persecution broke out about the church. So now he went to the high priest and requested letters from him to the synagogues in Damascus. So currently he's in Jerusalem, and Damascus is, as today, a little bit north, so that if he found any men or women who belonged to the way, he might bring them as prisoners to Jerusalem.
Speaker 1:Now the Romans basically let the Jews deal with their own people on religious matters. At that stage of history, and since Christianity was still considered a branch of Judaism called the way, the Christians fell under the authority of the Jewish religious leadership, and so Saul was on a mission to wipe out what he considered to be a dangerous new cult. Those Jewish leaders thought Christianity was a threat not only to their own religion but actually to the nation. So as he traveled and was nearing Damascus, a light from heaven suddenly flashed around him and, falling to the ground, he heard a voice saying to him Saul, saul, why are you persecuting me? Who are you, lord? Saul said I am Jesus, the one you are persecuting. He replied. Now isn't that interesting, as Paul, or Saul, paul he'd become was hauling Christians off to prison. Jesus says why are you persecuting me? I'm the one you're persecuting, saul, not just these people.
Speaker 1:People often think of the church as a building, an organization or a religious service. Somewhere you go, I'm going to church. But when the Bible talks about the church, it never talks like that. It always talks about the people who follow Jesus, and sometimes it means the people in a particular place or city so where a church here gathered today is Bentley Baptist or the church in Perth and sometimes it means followers of Jesus everywhere, which we call the universal church. So when it's a body of believers meeting together, it's a local church, and when we're talking about the church everywhere, we're talking about the universal church.
Speaker 1:But whether local or universal, jesus is wildly passionate about his church. The church is his tribe, it's his family, and when you hurt the church, you hurt him, you hurt my wife, you hurt me. So what do we do with that? Well, there's a warning here, of course, warning people often don't take. But you mess with Jesus' church, you're messing with Jesus. One day he's going to judge those who persecuted him, that's if, like Saul and Nicky Cruz, they don't repent first and turn from their sins.
Speaker 1:But there's also a tremendous encouragement for those of us who believe in Jesus, because Jesus is passionate about his church. He's passionate about us. He identifies with us. We are his people, you are his people, we're part of him and he's part of us, and that is a wonderful thing. It's also really humbling, isn't it, that Jesus would identify with you and me and us and say that's my person, that's my gal, that's my guy, they're my people.
Speaker 1:Look, church is far from perfect, isn't it? We're a fragile, sinful bunch. We mess up all the time, both individually, but as organizations, as bodies of believers, and yet Jesus is devoted to us. He died for his church and he's doing a number on us folks to make us beautiful. So what does this mean? Well, it means be careful, even as Christians, when we complain about the church, and that doesn't mean you should never criticize it. We need to call out sin. We need to constantly be calling, we need to constantly be calling the church back to faithfulness, to Jesus, but it does mean we do so lovingly and with respect. A lot of people just whinge about the church or they get picky, but when you're talking about the church, as imperfect as it is, you're talking about Jesus. You're talking about Jesus, try. So be careful about the way you do that.
Speaker 1:Well, moving on, jesus tells Saul but get up and go into the city and you will be told what you must do. The men who were travelling with him stood speechless hearing the sound but seeing no one. Saul got up from the ground and though his eyes were open, he could see nothing. So they took him by the hand and led him into Damascus. He was unable to see for three days and did not eat or drink.
Speaker 1:Meanwhile, someone's about to get a very different kind of surprise. So there was a disciple, that's a follower of Jesus in Damascus, named Ananias, and the Lord said to him in a vision "'Ananias, here I am, lord'. He replied" Get up and go to the street called Straight. The Lord said to him Apparently, there's still the Straight Street, the street called Straight, in Damascus today. Go to the house of Judas and ask for a man from Tarsus named Saul, since he is praying there.
Speaker 1:In a vision, he has seen a man named Ananias coming in and placing his hands on him so that he may regain his sight. Lord Ananias answered I've heard from many people about this man, how much harm he has done to your saints in Jerusalem and he has authority here from the chief priests to arrest all who call on your name. But the Lord said to him Go, for this man is my chosen instrument to take my name to the Gentiles, kings and Israelites. I will show him how much he must suffer for my name. Wow, how often do Christians have visions from God like this? Not very often. So, of course, the first thing you're going to do is argue with God. It's like, but do you relate? I relate to Ananias. Like, but do you relate? I relate to Ananias.
Speaker 1:Saul's reputation is such that Ananias would rather argue with God than go do what he said on the first look anyway. But Ananias puts on his big disciple pants and fronts up to Saul and in his own small way he becomes a part of the church's story. So Ananias went and entered the house and he placed his hands on him and said Brother Saul, the Lord Jesus, who appeared to you on the road you were travelling, has sent me so that you may regain your sight and be filled with the Holy Spirit. I wonder what it was like for Ananias to front up to this man who he feared. I wonder if he hated, by reputation at least. But then he calls him brother. And I wonder what it was like for Saul, who'd just come to arrest people like this man, to haul them off to prison to hear him call him a brother. It must have been whoa. What's going on here? It's no wonder that Saul later writes bless those who persecute you. Now, as for Ananias, he was clearly afraid, but he did it scared.
Speaker 1:I'm a fairly timid person myself, believe it or not, and this makes me think of the times I've actually overcome some fear, seized opportunities that God has put in front of me. I think about the time God batted aside my plans and called me to be a missionary, you know, and leading up to that man, I spent hours in prayer and fasting. It was an exciting prospect, but it wasn't what I'd planned. It was actually different to what I thought God had been planning for me and it was frankly terrifying. But I said yes to God and, as a bonus, I met my wonderful wife as a result. But I also think of times probably far more, many more times that I've given in to fear and said no.
Speaker 1:When I was overseas with that mission, one of the leaders said Alex, I think you should join our advanced planning team Now. The planning team went in. I was on a ship and went in ahead of the ship, spoke to government officials to get all the permits necessary, spoke to churches to line up meetings and that sort of thing, and at that time in my life I just couldn't imagine myself doing that. As I said, I'm a timid person, I'm fine in my element, but you know, I just wonder what opportunities perhaps just in their own right, but also opportunities for growth I missed out on because I wouldn't go with the stretch, I wouldn't say yes and just do it scared. And what about you? Is God calling you to something? And you think me, I'm afraid or I'm not up for it? As they say, do it scared. You never know what the story will look like.
Speaker 1:At once, something like scales fell from Saul's eyes and he regained his sight. Then he got up and was baptized, and after taking some food he regained his sight. Then he got up and was baptized and after taking some food he regained his strength. Saul was with the disciples in Damascus for some time and immediately he began proclaiming Jesus in the synagogues he is the son of God Into the synagogues. That's boldness. All who heard him were astounded and said isn't this the man in Jerusalem who was causing havoc for those who called on his name and came here for the purpose of taking them as prisoners to the chief priests. But Saul grew stronger and kept confounding the Jews who lived in Damascus by proving that Jesus is the Messiah. Wow, what a turnaround.
Speaker 1:Saul goes from being a persecutor to a preacher. You know, in the Bible physical blindness is often a metaphor for spiritual blindness. It's a deep irony that when Jesus was going through Jericho on the way to Jerusalem, a blind man was the only one who recognized who Jesus really was. A blind man was the only one who recognized who Jesus really was. So Saul has actually been living with an affliction far worse than physical blindness. He was spiritually blind, but now he literally sees the light. The scales literally fall from his eyes, which is where we get the metaphor, even today. And he's a changed man.
Speaker 1:Previously he considered Jesus a blasphemer and a heretic. He considered claims that Jesus had risen from the dead to be dangerous and delusional. And now he understands that Jesus' death and resurrection means salvation. And he'll quickly come to understand this, not just for the Jews, his own people, but for the whole world that Jesus took our sin and brokenness yours and mine and nailed it to the cross when he died there. That when he rose from death he made the way for all who believe in him to have new life, eternal life.
Speaker 1:And then, if there was and I don't think there was, but if there would have been any doubt about Saul's sincerity, his baptism in the name of Jesus was a sure sign of how serious he was. Now we might not think much about that, but still today, in many cultures perhaps in your culture, you've experienced this People won't bother you if you disclaim to believe in Jesus. That's no problem. Go to India. People believe in all sorts of gods. Jesus is just another god. But you get baptised, which is a symbol of dying and rising again. You're cutting off the old, and that's when Christians become marked and they can lose family, property, work, even their own lives. Sometimes Baptism is the sign that someone is a true believer in Christ.
Speaker 1:But why Saul? Why did God choose this man? You wouldn't necessarily a pixel, but really he was the ideal candidate, and particularly for what God says he has in store for him. This man is my chosen instrument to take my name to Gentiles, kings and Israelites. I will show him how much he must suffer for my name. Kings and Israelites, I will show him how much he must suffer for my name.
Speaker 1:In one of his letters, paul will later write about how zealous he was for the Jewish religion before he became a Christian. Beyond his, he was top of the class. In fact, he studied under a man who is still today considered one of the greatest rabbis in Judaism of all time, and as a passionate student of the Bible, saul had known all the arguments against Jesus Once he met Jesus and had been filled with the Spirit. That fire and sharp mind doesn't just disappear, it's flipped for God. But Saul, interestingly, also hadn't grown up in Israel. Saul was a diaspora Jew. He'd grown up in a Greek city called Tarsus, and so he knew the wider culture. As a Jew, he was one of the ideal people to take God's message to the world, and so God takes his fire, his sharp mind and cultural background and uses it for his purposes.
Speaker 1:We okay here this is Eliana. Everyone we love her very much, but she's a bit of a handful. Thank you. There we go, there we go. So Saul would have made a formidable debater, and he tears into his opponents, and he's so effective that, after many days had passed, the Jews conspired to kill him.
Speaker 1:But Saul learned of their plot, so they were watching the gates day and night intending to kill him, but his disciples of their plot. So they were watching the gates day and night intending to kill him, but his disciples took him by night and lowered him in a large basket through an opening in the wall. I mean how the tables have turned. Eh, saul the persecutor is now the persecuted. I don't know why anyone hasn't made a movie of this. Can you imagine how this would be? It must have been heart thumping. You're being watched both sides of the wall, so sneaking through the city at night, hugging the shadows, entrusting yourself to people who you'd come to kill and imprison, and they're running as fast as you can as you leave the city. And when he arrived at Jerusalem, he tried to join the disciples, but they were all afraid of him, since they did not believe he was a disciple. Barnabas, however, took him and brought him to the apostles, that's, the Christian leaders, and explained to them how Saul had seen the Lord on the road and that the Lord had talked to him and how, in Damascus, he had spoken boldly in the name of Jesus.
Speaker 1:Now, previously we have met Barnabas. He had sold some property and donated the funds to the church's welfare program. And there Luke, who's the author of Acts, notes that his name, barnabas, means son of encouragement, and encouragement is very much a feature of Barnabas's style as we go on through Acts. Feature of Barnabas's style as we go on through Acts, being a landowner. He was wealthy and probably had some status. So he leverages what power he has to step in and advocate for Saul and he'll become a trusted companion of Saul when Saul goes on his ministry through the Roman Empire. And it's interesting, isn't it? Saul will be, and is already, a formidable minister of the gospel. He's a formidable leader, he has status, he has power, but he still needs people around him to advocate for him, to help him. So Saul was coming and going with them in Jerusalem, speaking boldly in the name of the Lord. He conversed and debated with the Hellenistic Jews so they were the Jews from other parts of the Roman Empire, but they tried to kill him. And when the brothers found out, they took him down to Caesarea and sent him off to Tarsus that's his hometown there in modern Turkey. And so the church throughout all Judea, galilee and Samaria had peace and was strengthened, living in the fear of the Lord and encouraged by the Holy Spirit, it increased in numbers.
Speaker 1:Just an aside the Hellenistic Jews would have been particularly passionate because they are maintaining their belief in a hostile culture. I mean, not that the Jews were persecuted, but everyone's just like. These Jews are weird, and if you're going to maintain a belief I think most of us know and be really devoted to it, particularly the Jews who had dietary laws. They couldn't join in to the other festivals, they couldn't go to everyone's parties, they couldn't eat all their food. If you're going to live that differently, you've really got to believe in order to maintain that lifestyle. So, whereas the Jews in Israel there were a lot of Romans and Greeks in Israel, but it was a bit, you know, this is our place whereas the Hellenistic Jews? They had to be. So that's why we keep reading about these Hellenistic Jews. They had to be so.
Speaker 1:That's why we keep reading about these Hellenistic Jews who just seem to be the pointy end of all the opposition to Christianity, but who could have imagined that God would bring relief to his people this way? The one who was giving them the most grief becomes their biggest champion. How often do we want God to smite our enemies? To use the old word, god turned this enemy into a friend, even an advocate. And so Saul, who changes his name to Paul, becomes one of the greatest proponents and defenders of Christianity in history. We have a lot of our Bible because of him.
Speaker 1:But along the way, god uses some very ordinary people to step out of their comfort zone, to overcome fear, to put their reputation and perhaps, in Barnabas's case, on the line. Fear to put their reputation and perhaps, in Barnabas' case, on the line. Become part of the history of the church and help turn the world upside down. Who is in your life? Perhaps that you're thinking, no, god could never use them. But maybe God's saying, hey, just pray for them. But what about you as well? What does God want to do through you that maybe you're a little afraid to do?
Speaker 1:Through me and through us as a church, let's pray, father. We thank you for Paul and what you did in his life, what you have done in so many lives since then. And, father, perhaps there are people in our minds who we're thinking of, who, oh God, could never touch them. Lord, give us a heart to pray for them, to believe for them, and, lord, if there are things in our lives that you are calling us to and we just can't quite see ourselves doing it because it might mean hardship. We've got responsibilities. Or I just can't do that that's not me, I don't fit that, or I'm just plain chicken. Lord, please help us to step up to those things. Lord, we want to be part of your story, your church's story, and we want to see your name lifted up and glorified in our world. In Jesus' name, amen.