April 20, 2025 • 43 mins
The dramatic conversion of Saul on the Damascus road stands as one of Christianity's most remarkable transformations—a zealous persecutor of Christians who became the faith's most influential apostle. This powerful story isn't just a historical account; it reveals the anatomy of true spiritual conversion that remains relevant for every person today.
Before encountering Christ, Saul (also known as Paul) was the perfect religious man by external standards—a Pharisee with impeccable Jewish credentials who believed he was serving God by hunting down followers of "the Way." His fury was so intense that Scripture describes him as "breathing threats and murder," painting him as more beast than man in his relentless pursuit. This man would travel 150 miles just to capture Christians and drag them bound to Jerusalem. By modern standards, he would be classified as nothing less than a religious terrorist.
Yet God's grace reaches even the most unlikely candidates. On that dusty road, the resurrected Jesus intercepted Saul with a blinding light and a probing question: "Why are you persecuting me?" This divine encounter illustrates four essential elements of genuine conversion: revelation of Christ's resurrection, repentance from sin, spiritual resurrection from death to life, and visible results that evidence an inward transformation.
The story challenges us to move beyond mere religious observation. "Being a fan of Christ, sitting in the stands watching from a distance can be fascinating, but that will not save a person." True Christianity isn't about moral improvement or religious performance—it's about moving from spiritual death to life through a personal encounter with the risen Jesus.
Whether you're encountering Christianity for the first time or have attended church for decades without experiencing genuine conversion, Paul's story offers hope that no one is beyond God's redemptive reach. The invitation stands open: come to Jesus and experience the same transforming grace that turned history's most notorious Christian-hunter into its most passionate apostle.
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Speaker 1 (00:01):
So Acts, chapter 9, verse 1,.
But Saul, still grievingthreats and murder against the
disciples of the Lord, went tothe high priest and asked him
for letters to the synagogues atDamascus so that if he found
any belonging to the way, men orwomen, he might bring them down
(00:22):
to Jerusalem.
Now, as he went on his way, heapproached Damascus and suddenly
a light from heaven shonearound him and, falling to the
ground, he heard a voice sayingto him Saul, saul, why are you
persecuting me?
And he said who are you, lord?
And he said I am Jesus, whomyou are persecuting, but rise
(00:44):
and enter the city and you willbe told what you are to do.
The men who were traveling withhim stood speechless, hearing
the voice but seeing no one.
Saul rose from the ground andalthough his eyes were open, he
saw nothing.
So they led him by the hand andbrought him into Damascus and
(01:04):
for three days he was withoutsight and neither ate nor drank.
Now there was a disciple atDamascus named Ananias.
The Lord said to him in avision, ananias, and he said
here I am, lord.
And the Lord said to him Riseand go to the street called
Straight and at the house ofJudas, look for a man of Tarsus
(01:27):
named Saul, for behold, he ispraying and he has seen in a
vision a man named Ananias.
Come in and lay hands on him sothat he might regain his sight.
But Ananias answered Lord, Ihave heard from many about this
man, how much evil he has doneto your saints at Jerusalem and
(01:50):
here he has authority from thepriests to bind all those who
call on your name.
But the Lord said to him Go,for he is a chosen instrument of
mine to carry my name beforethe Gentiles and kings and the
children of Israel, for I willshow him how much he must suffer
(02:11):
for the sake of my name.
So Ananias departed and enteredthe house and, laying his hands
on him, he said Brother Saul,the Lord, who appeared to you on
the road by which you came, hassent me to you that you might
regain your sight and be filledwith the Holy Spirit.
And immediately something likescales fell from his eyes and he
(02:34):
regained his sight.
Then he rose and was baptizedand taking food, he was
strengthened.
For some days he was with thedisciples at Damascus and
immediately he proclaimed Jesusin the synagogue, saying he is
the son of God.
And all who heard him wereamazed and said it is not this
(02:55):
man who made havoc in Jerusalemof those who called upon this
name, and has he not come herefor this purpose, to bring them
down before the chief priests?
That Saul increased all themore in strength and confounded
the Jews with all those wholived in Damascus by proving
that Jesus was the Christ.
Speaker 2 (03:17):
Amen, the word of God for the people of God.
Amen.
You may be seated Well, christis risen, amen.
Amen.
You may be seated Well, christis risen, amen.
Well, I want to begin with thequestion do we have any NASCAR
fans in here, seriously, likeone, two?
Okay, that's helpful, dude,this is Kentucky.
(03:39):
What in the world?
Well, you can probably look atme and know that I'm probably
not a NASCAR fan, but my stepdad, who is here with me today, is
an avid fan and he's been formany years.
For years now.
He's watched the races ontelevision and he's really
(04:00):
enjoyed that.
But last year he had theopportunity to participate in
the Rusty Wallace NASCARexperience.
I think we have a picture here.
Look at that.
It was at the Kentucky Speedwayand he got to, actually without
an instructor, mind you drive.
I think it had a governor on it, a little bit right, but I mean
(04:22):
he put it wide open.
I know my dad and he got todrive around that track and I'll
tell you this that you know asmuch as he enjoys watching
NASCAR.
There was nothing that paled incomparison to being in the car
and being on the track, and I'mnot here to preach about NASCAR,
(04:45):
which I'm glad, since there'sno fans, but I tell you that
story to say this, being a fanof Christ, if you will.
Sitting in the stands watchingChrist from a distance can be
fascinating, it can be enjoyable, but that will not save a
person.
It's not Christianity.
(05:09):
And here's the beautiful newsthat I want to share with you
today that Christ invites everyone of you to join him in the
car on the track, to experiencefirsthand his love and to come
into his kingdom.
What an offer.
Amen.
I don't know why you're heretoday.
I mean, some of you you go tothis church, but many of you.
(05:31):
I see some new faces and I'm soglad you're here.
You know, maybe a family memberinvited you, I don't know.
Maybe a guy's, a cute girlinvited you and you're like I'll
go anywhere with you, right?
Maybe you don't normally go tochurch on Easter, but are, you
know, regularly during the year,but you just think on Easter,
(05:52):
man, this is something I need todo.
Maybe you're here just lookingfor hope this morning, and well,
whatever the reason, I want youto know.
We are thrilled that you areworshiping with us today, but my
prayer for you, what we've beenpraying as a staff, is that
every one of you today who don'tknow the Lord, that you would
have a true encounter with theLord Jesus Christ, that your
(06:14):
life would be changedforevermore, amen.
So we're currently, as a church,going through the book of Acts,
and today is about a man namedSaul, whom we know as Paul.
He becomes the apostle Paul andin this text he has an
encounter like a dramaticencounter with the risen Jesus.
(06:37):
It's pretty wild and thistransformation is so dramatic.
Here's what happens he goesfrom being a notorious sinner to
becoming the most influentialman in all of Christianity apart
from Christ.
You know, this story to me is areminder.
(06:59):
I want you to hear this everyone of you, none of you, are out
of God's reach.
I don't care what you've done,I don't care where you've been,
I don't care how many timesyou've fallen down.
If you have breath, it is nottoo late to receive God's grace.
Now I want to talk about Paul'sconversion today.
(07:20):
I want to talk about what itmeans to truly be converted and
become a Christian, and we'regoing to look at Paul's story
and I just want to say rightfrom the start that not
everybody's conversion story isthis dramatic and, thank God,
right.
But there's some basic elementsthat are here in the story that
are part, I believe, of everyreal conversion, and here they
(07:44):
are.
I'll just outline them for you.
Number one would be revelation,number two would be repentance,
number three would beresurrection and number four
would be results.
So we're on the R train today.
Hopefully that'll help youremember the points.
But number one a conversionalways involves a revelation.
(08:04):
So just want to say this fromthe start, that the man in our
text is called Saul and manyChristians I think erroneously
believe that Jesus changed hisname to Paul.
He did not.
Okay, you go to Acts, chapter13,.
I believe it's verse 9.
You can read this later and itsays you know, luke says that
(08:28):
Saul, who is also called Paul,he had two names.
Paul was a Roman citizen, bornin Tarsus, but he was also a
devout Jew.
So he had a Jewish name, whichwas Saul, and a Gentile name,
which was Paul.
As a matter of fact, even afterhis conversion, in the next
couple of chapters he's stillcalled Saul, but when he starts
(08:49):
to minister to the Gentiles, hisname he goes.
It seems like he prefers to goby Paul.
So there you go.
Did you learn something,anybody, all right.
So I said that just to say I'mgoing to call him Paul because
that's how we know him right.
So throughout this messagehe'll be called Paul.
I want to just speak of his lifebefore coming to Jesus On the
(09:14):
screen.
I'm going to put up Philippians3, verses 5 and 6.
Paul is writing and he'sspeaking of himself and he says
I was circumcised on the eighthday.
That was a covenantal sign ofthe Jews, of the people of
Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew of Hebrews as to the
law, a Pharisee as to zeal, apersecutor of the church as to
(09:38):
righteousness, under the law,blameless.
So here's what we know aboutPaul.
In his former life, beforeencountering Christ, he was a
devout Jew.
He had a pure bloodline, thetribe of Benjamin.
He calls himself a Hebrews ofHebrews Like this is a big deal
to the Jews that you know,purity, that lineage.
(10:00):
And he was from the.
He was a Pharisee, so he waspart of this group.
He would be well-versed in thelaw, the Old Testament
commandments and the rabbinictraditions.
I mean, he was very, very smartand well-trained and was even a
teacher of the law.
And Paul, the other thing wesee here is that Paul thought
(10:23):
himself under the law to beblameless, like he tried
tediously to keep.
There were, by the way, 613commands in the Old Testament.
Aren't you glad you're underthe new covenant?
Come on somebody.
But he tried tediously to liveup to those laws and traditions.
But here's what else we learnabout him from this passage he
(10:45):
was also a persecutor of thechurch.
Luke introduces us to Paul inthe end of chapter 7 in Acts,
into chapter 8.
And what we read about Paul inthose chapters is simply this
that he condoned and approved ofthe execution of the first
(11:08):
Christian martyr.
Like that's how he gets started.
Isn't that wild.
Now this in the beginning ofour text, this trend is
continuing in Paul's life.
Look at verses one and two.
But Saul, still breathingthreats and murder against the
disciples of the Lord, went tothe high priest and asked him
(11:31):
for letters to the synagogue atDamascus so that if he found any
belonging to the way that'swhat Christians were called at
that time men or women, hedidn't care that he might bring
them bound to Jerusalem.
Now, this word breathing here inthe Greek it actually means to
inhale, and here is the picture.
(11:54):
Many commentators point thisout.
Here is the picture of Paul atthis point that Luke is painting
.
This is a picture of a ravenousor what would you say animal on
a rampage, all right, on thehunt, and you know a lot of
animals.
You know how they kind of makewhen they're on the hunt like a
(12:15):
snorting sound.
You can't snort while you'rebreathing out.
How many want to try that rightnow?
All right, go ahead.
All right, that was weird.
All right, anyways, you have tobreathe in and that's what
here's the point.
(12:35):
Here's the picture Luke ispainting.
Paul is more animalistic atthis point than he is human.
I mean, this is wild.
And here's what he does in thetext.
He asked the high priest in thetemple to be deputized.
Essentially, damascus is 150miles from Jerusalem.
(12:57):
For Paul, that would have beenabout a three to four day trip
each way, and he is so full ofanger towards Christians at this
point that they've already beenrun because of persecution out
of Jerusalem.
Many of them landed in Damascus, and he's heard this and he
tells the high priest I want togo there and I want to bring
them back and I want to bindthem and we're going to throw
(13:18):
them in prison.
Do you see how corrupt and evil.
Paul was at that point.
Think of this.
All right, paul did all ofthose things.
He persecuted Christians,approved of their execution in
(13:39):
the name of God.
So in modern day, what do wecall that kind of a person?
A terrorist?
This is no joke.
Paul today would be considereda terrorist.
Yet you know what God does.
Jesus changes his life, and hewould go on to write 13 of the
(14:01):
27 books of your New Testament.
That's the grace of God, folks.
So that's his life before.
But then he encounters Jesus.
The text says he comes uponthis great light.
Okay, and what he does here isthis is the glorified Christ,
(14:21):
this is Jesus, whom he's comingin contact with.
Jesus has ascended to heavenand in some way he reveals
himself to Paul on the roadthere to Damascus.
And Paul is so overwhelmed bythe glory of Jesus that he can't
even stand up.
Now here's what's interesting.
(14:44):
Up to this point, paul refutedthe idea that this so-called
Messiah would have been raisedfrom the dead.
He did not believe that.
But he comes across the risenChrist and he can no longer deny
it, and I would just say itchanges everything in the
(15:05):
apostle Paul's life.
Listen to me, if you're hereand you're not a Christian and
maybe you're a skeptic and maybeyou're a little timid about
coming to Christ.
Here's what I want you to know.
Christianity hinges on onething.
That one thing is not the waysome church people act sometimes
, thank God.
Christianity does not hinge onunanswered prayers.
(15:28):
It does not hinge on maybeconfusing passages in the Bible.
It hinges on one thing, andthat is what we're here to
celebrate today the resurrectionof Jesus Christ.
As a matter of fact, in 1Corinthians 15, paul himself
will go on to write that ifChrist is not raised, then we
(15:49):
Christians are, of all people,most to be pitied.
We shouldn't be here today.
We should be out on the golfcourse or the playground or
wherever you go on a nice day.
But then Paul says but in facthe is risen, amen.
Paul knows now beyond a shadowof a doubt that Christ has been
raised and that changeseverything.
(16:10):
Lee Strobel maybe you've heardof him.
He is trained in as a legalaffairs investigative journalist
and years ago he was an avowedatheist man.
He hated Christianity, he wasso against it and during that
time, by his own ambition, hewas pursuing kind of sinful,
(16:32):
hedonistic desires.
He said these words one time,he said, I lived an immoral,
drunken, profane, narcissistic,self-destructive kind of life.
Does that sound like anybodybefore you came to Jesus?
I wouldn't raise my hand again,I'm sorry.
(16:52):
It was then that he set out touse his investigative skills to
disprove the resurrection,because he knew if I can debunk
the resurrection, thenChristianity will be no more.
So he goes on this mission andhe begins to search high and low
for just to find reasons not tobelieve in the resurrection.
(17:16):
But you know what happened themore he researched, the more he
was convinced that Jesus reallyis historically risen.
And so here's what he said.
He said he came to this point.
He said I realized it wouldtake more faith for me to remain
an atheist than to become aChristian.
So after two years of searching, here's the verdict that he
(17:37):
shares.
Quote Jesus claimed to be theson of God, and he backed it up
by raising from the dead.
It was this revelation thatcaused Lee to give his life to
Christ and go on to become apastor.
He's written two great books.
I would highly recommend theCase for Christ and the Case for
(17:58):
Faith.
See.
The resurrection changeseverything.
So conversion has to start withthe revelation of the
resurrection of Christ.
Number two it has to involverepentance.
Conversion always involvesrepentance.
So repentance is what it's?
A change of mind.
Right, shake your head at me,all right, you're awake?
(18:22):
Hey, I was here at 645 thismorning.
I don't want to see any of youfalling asleep, all right.
So repentance is a change ofmind that leads then, obviously,
to a change of action.
So for a Christian, for someonewho's lost and becomes a
Christian, what it means is youknow, when you're lost, you kind
(18:42):
of run your own life, you'rethe God of your own life, or so
you think.
So when you come to Christ andyou repent, what you do is you
get off the throne of your life,you profess Jesus Christ as
Lord, not just Savior, and youfollow him wholeheartedly.
That's what repentance is, andthere are two necessary points
(19:06):
for you to understand if you'regoing to repent.
One of them is bad news and oneof them is good news.
Which one do you want?
First, bad news.
All right, here it is Bad news.
Before you can be converted,you've got to see your sin.
You've got to come to termswith your sin.
(19:27):
Jesus asked Paul in our text whyare you persecuting me Now?
This is curious, and here's whyJesus, at this point, has
ascended to the Father.
Yes, he's in a glorified state,and Paul is perplexed and he
says what do you mean?
How have I persecuted you?
(19:48):
Well, here's how Jesus is soconnected to his people, he is
so linked with us that whenpeople mess with us, they're
messing with him.
If you're a parent, you likeyou get this.
How many know that?
It's like you can mess with me.
But I want you to know ifyou're messing with my children,
(20:09):
you're messing with me still,and I'm going to be a lot more
upset then, right?
So the bad news is this thatPaul has to wrestle with you
know, remember.
He sees himself as a moralperson, blameless by the law,
and Jesus is just turning hisworld upside down.
(20:32):
And so here's what happens atthat point.
I mean, think of this theMessiah in the Christian's blood
is on his hands.
How good is he?
Not so good.
Look at verses 6 through 9.
But rise and enter the city andyou will be told what to do.
Jesus is talking to Paul, andso he goes in the city and
(20:55):
here's what it says.
I think it's verse 9.
It says for three days he waswithout what Sight and he
neither ate nor drank.
When Paul is confronted and hehas to face his sin, he
immediately, his life, becomesdarkness.
(21:17):
Now, this was true physicaldarkness.
Now, generally speaking, whenwe have to confess our sin and
own up to our own wickedness, wedon't become physically blind,
but there is, in a sense, anemotional darkness, like when
(21:38):
you think you're a good personand you have to come to terms
with you are you are moredepraved than you could ever
imagine.
That can be a dark moment.
And so this leads Paul to threedays of fasting and going
without food.
And what's so interesting aboutthat is, in the Old Testament,
(21:59):
fasting was a sign of mourningand contrition.
So Paul is undone at this point.
That's the bad news, the badnews.
And to come to Christ, here'swhat you have to know None of
you, and neither am I, goodenough to get to God, to receive
(22:25):
eternal life.
That's why Jesus came to us.
Romans 3.23, familiar verse.
We have all sinned and we allfall short of what, the glory of
God?
That's the bad news.
How are you doing so?
Speaker 1 (22:41):
here's what I'm going to tell you.
Speaker 2 (22:42):
Here's the bad news.
Look at me.
I'm just going to say, asbluntly as I can You're more
wicked and malevolent than youever dared imagine.
Okay, you glad you came toEaster service today.
Well, I've got good news foryou.
I'm glad we started with thebad news, got it out of the way.
Here's the good news.
Not only do you have to seeyour sin to be saved, but then
(23:04):
you get to see God's grace.
Jesus doesn't smite Paul hereand, by the way, he has every
right to.
Why in the world does the Lord?
Let us live day by day afterall the mistakes we've made,
because he's a God of grace.
He's a God of grace, god ofgrace, he's the God of grace.
(23:29):
Instead, jesus tells Paul tocontinue to go down this road to
Damascus, but for differentreasons, a completely different
plan.
And so, in verses 10 to 18,luke tells the story of a
Christian named Ananias who hasthis vision.
And Jesus says to Ananias inthe vision listen to this.
He said I want you to go toPaul, find this man, paul.
And he said I want you to layhands on him so that he can get
(23:51):
back his sight and receive theHoly Spirit.
And Ananias is like Jesus.
Jesus, hey, you been sleeping.
Do you not know what this manlisten?
He's come here to bind us andyou want me to run in the lion's
den and I want you to seeJesus' response in verse 15.
(24:12):
This is amazing, but the Lordsaid to him go, for he is a
chosen instrument of mine tocarry my name before the
Gentiles and kings and thechildren of Israel.
Not only does God save Paul,but he chooses him as an
(24:33):
instrument, and that instrumentagain will go on to be the most
influential man in all ofChristian history outside of
Christ, christian historyoutside of Christ.
This is grace upon grace.
Why am I up here today?
It's not because of merit, it'snot because I'm good, it's
(24:54):
because Christ is good.
Amen.
1 Timothy 1.15,.
Paul came to terms with both hissin and God's grace.
He says these words.
The saying is trustworthy anddeserving of full acceptance.
That Christ Jesus came into theworld to save sinners, of whom
I am the foremost.
Isn't that amazing?
(25:16):
Here's the point.
Paul's saying if God can saveme, he can save you, because you
probably haven't killedChristians Anybody.
Okay, so there's the bad newsWe've got to see our sin.
Tim Keller gave this greatsummation of the gospel.
(25:37):
He says we are more sinful andflawed in ourselves than we ever
dared believe, yet at the verysame time, we are more loved and
accepted in Jesus.
You know, this is reallyimportant, guys, look at me.
Some of you have no problemseeing your sin, but you do have
(25:58):
a problem seeing God's grace,because you know you're the only
one that knows all the thingsyou've done, all the skeletons
in your closet, and you knowthat Jesus knows, along with you
.
And so you think, man, the Lordcould never forgive me.
Church, he came for the centerChurch, he came for the sinner,
(26:29):
to shower the sinner with graceupon grace, so that you can't
repent and turn from your sinuntil you see both your sin and
the grace of God.
And then the third element ofconversion would be this
resurrection.
Resurrection Listen to me,becoming a Christian is not just
about becoming a better person.
(26:50):
Now, as a Christian, you shouldbecome a better person and like
kinder, like some of you, needto hear this right.
But listen, that's not theessence of Christianity.
That's not the essence ofChristianity.
Jesus said in John 3, 3, thatif you want to be saved, if you
want the kingdom of God, you'vegot to be what Born again,
(27:14):
regenerated, renewed, converted.
There has to, something has totake place miraculous within
your heart.
It's not just oh, I'm going to,you know, I'm going to follow,
emulate Jesus and take care ofmy neighbor.
And this that's all great, butthat's not salvation.
You've got to be born again,and here's what that means.
(27:35):
It means you have to move fromdeath to life.
You've got to move from deathto life.
Ananias obeys the Lord in thetext, and he goes and finds Saul
.
And I want you to look at verse18 and it says immediately
something like scales fell fromhis eyes and Paul regained his
(27:57):
sight.
And then he rose up and wasbaptized.
Now I just saw this thismorning.
This is hot off the press.
You ready?
This is awesome.
How long was Jesus in the grave?
Three days, okay, I knew thatpart.
How long is Paul blind for here?
Three days.
(28:20):
And then what does Paul doafter he receives his sight?
What's the first?
He rose.
It's resurrection language.
You know what's happened toPaul from the point of Damascus
to this moment in his life, hehas experienced a death darkness
and he has been raised by thegrace of Christ, through the
(28:43):
risen Christ, to the newness oflife.
He has been resurrected andthis is amazing.
Let me just read you his ownwords Ephesians 2, 1 through 7.
You ready, and you point atyourself.
You were dead.
You were what Dead?
(29:04):
Right, you were dead in yourtrespasses and sins.
You weren't just bad, you weredead Spiritually In what you
once walked following the courseof this world, following the
prince of the power of the air,the spirit that is now at work
in the sons of disobedienceamong whom we all once lived, in
the passions of our flesh,carrying out the desires of
(29:24):
disobedience, among whom we allonce lived, in the passions of
our flesh, carrying out thedesires of the body and the mind
.
And watch this.
We were, by nature, children ofwrath, how you doing, like the
rest of mankind, but God, butGod being rich in mercy because
of the great love with which hehas loved us even when we were
dead in our trespasses.
(29:45):
He made us alive together inChrist.
By grace, you've been saved andraised up with him and seated
us in the heavenly places withChrist Jesus, so that in the
coming ages he might show theimmeasurable riches of his grace
and kindness towards us inJesus.
If you do not know Christ rightnow.
You are dead.
(30:06):
You are dead Spirituallyspeaking.
You are dead, you're not justsick, you're not just a little
confused, you are dead.
That's what the scripture says.
And Paul, at this point in thestory, on the Damascus road,
darkness comes upon him and hehas been dead, trying to serve
(30:26):
God his own way.
But he has been spirituallydead his entire life.
But then he meets theresurrected Jesus, who calls him
, who chooses him to be hisvessel, and then, at this home,
he sends Ananias to lay hands onhim and the Lord Jesus raises
him up.
The scales fall from his eyesand he gets up.
(30:47):
He is moved from death to life,from darkness to light, from
the kingdom of this world intothe kingdom of God, and that's
what happens to every believerwhen they come to Christ.
How do we know?
How do we know we've beenconverted?
See, there has to be a changeon the inside.
Y'all look so great today inyour Easter clothes, right?
(31:10):
But how many know that Godisn't near as concerned this
morning about this as he isabout this?
And so you can dress up, thoseof you who dressed up today.
You're no different than youwere yesterday.
You're the same person.
You're no more or less ethicalor moral, or what have you.
Speaker 1 (31:33):
You just dressed up the outside.
Speaker 2 (31:37):
There's got to be a change on the inside.
That's what conversion lookslike.
How do you know you'reconverted?
Well, there are finally results, verifiable results.
I want you to see what Pauldoes.
First, verse 19.
So he gets up and it says Intaking food he was strengthened.
(31:58):
And here it is.
For some days he was with thedisciples at Damascus.
Number one Paul, as soon ashe's saved, joins a community.
This is the pattern he getswith some disciples and he does
life with believers.
He worships with them, heserves with them.
He serves them and he does ithis entire life.
(32:21):
When he's in prison, he'swriting them letters, and he
does it his entire life.
When he's in prison, he'swriting them letters.
One of the signs that you aretruly converted is your love for
the church.
Does going to church save you?
No, but it is a sign thatyou're saved.
Listen to me.
Can I just preach?
Can I just be really honestwith you?
Say this very gently, maybe notListen.
(32:46):
People ask me all the time do Ihave to go to church to be saved
?
I just want to say why do youask?
Jesus said do it, do it.
It doesn't save you, no.
But Jesus said this is howthey're going to know.
You're my disciples by yourlove one for another.
If you don't want to cometogether and gather with the
people of God, if you don't lovecoming and worshiping, if you'd
(33:08):
rather just sit at home onSundays, this is the Lord's day
man, it's hard for me to believethat somebody that just I
understand, like if you can'tget here, I know that people are
gone from time to time, but ifit's not a priority in your life
, I'm sorry.
I'm sorry, I'm not sayingyou're not a Christian, but I'm
saying it's a red flag Becauseas soon as you come into
(33:37):
salvation and conversion, youbecome knit together with a
whole family of believers aroundthe world and your heart just
immediately wants to be withthem.
Okay, the second evidenceresult from salvation is
behavior, Behavior.
Romans 6.1,.
Paul says he's talking aboutGod's grace.
(33:58):
He said what shall we do then?
Just continue in sin, so gracemay abound.
You know somebody, I don't careif you've been baptized,
professed Christ, been to thealtar five million times, cried
a little bit, did the gloryhands.
You know, whatever, if yourlife on the outside has not
(34:18):
changed and your heart has notchanged on the inside, you are
not saved.
Okay, you say, that sounds likesalvation by works and it's like
no, we are saved by faith alone, by grace alone, through faith
alone in Christ alone, period.
But Martin Luther himself saidthis, the reformer.
(34:41):
He said we are saved by faithalone, but saving faith is never
alone.
In other words, when Godchanges your heart, there's
always a change.
So there's this behavioralchange.
There's also proclamation.
We see here In verse 20, itsays immediately, immediately,
(35:02):
paul proclaimed Jesus in thesynagogue saying he's the son of
God.
Now, this is hard sometimes foranybody, but imagine Paul.
Paul has been going to thesynagogues going.
This is not the Messiah, let'skill all the Christians you know
.
And now I mean he's going andgoing.
Guys, I was wrong, we shouldn'thave killed those people.
Probably, like he is theMessiah, like how many of you
(35:25):
just be honest, just be honest,how many of you have had a
really hard time, especiallywith your spouse admitting
you're wrong?
Like, come on, it's hard.
And Paul so wants people, he sowants people to come to Jesus
Christ and hear the good news.
That's just changed his life,that he swallows his pride and
(35:49):
he goes to these synagoguesgoing.
I've got great news, brothersand sisters Jesus is risen.
He is the Messiah, he is theSon of God.
Last night, so, this cross wasfilled with prayer requests, and
last night we had a prayer time.
We prayed for every need,didn't we, pastor Ben?
Every need on the cross, andthere were two sheets of paper
(36:11):
that just blessed my heart.
We had one 12-year-old and one8-year-old both girls right on
there.
Please pray that I would beable to share Christ with my
friends.
No one told us that, by the way, including me.
(36:39):
Listen, wow, wow.
Do you know?
We had a girl get saved, eightyears old, just a few weeks ago,
ron and Kay led a neighborhoodoutreach where they went door to
door.
Do you know that she went to adoor by herself, just God's sake
.
Her mom was right behind her,but she went up and just wanted
to invite people to church.
It's amazing, guys, listen.
Okay, let me say it like thiswhen you, if you come up on some
(37:04):
lifestyle change like, uh,let's say diet, I don't like to
say diet, um, just way of lifeyou know you, you've, man, you
found this program, thisexercise regimen, this eating
regimen, and it changes yourlife, and you know, and, and,
(37:26):
and listen, I, you're going totell everybody, especially your
unhealthy friends.
You're going to rub it in alittle bit and then you're going
to say no, no, no, I care aboutyou and I want you to know what
I'm doing, cause I want you tobe healthy, I want you to have
quality of life, I want you tohave longevity, and you're going
to talk about it.
(37:46):
Any product or service that youfind that's life-changing, man.
You won't be quiet about it.
Do you guys ever get tired ofhearing people talk about their
diets and their?
You know all that stuff.
What about Jesus?
What about Jesus?
As much as I'm an advocate ofliving a healthy life, that kind
(38:13):
of transformation pales incomparison to being brought from
death to life in the Lord JesusChrist.
And yet why are we not tellingpeople?
One of the signs that you aretruly saved is that you are
telling everybody you can aboutJesus.
Okay, and we don't do thisperfectly, by the way none of
these things.
So in closing, connor, if you'dcome to the keyboard, here's
(38:41):
what I want you to see Paul's onthe road to Damascus.
Right, he's got one agenda, anddoesn't God show up at the most
unexpected times?
So again, I'll just say I don'tknow why you're here this
morning.
If you just, maybe you're goingto get an Easter dinner out of
it.
Somebody said, hey, we'll cookyou dinner if you come to church
, or whatever.
(39:02):
That pretty girl, whatever thatmay be, all it is.
I'm going to get a date out ofthis, right?
That's what you might think.
But I want you to know Ibelieve this that God had
another plan for you today.
God had another plan for youtoday.
So some of you you've neverprofessed Christ.
This might be your first timein church Again.
(39:24):
Wow, I'm glad you're here.
But I want you to know todaythat you can be converted, okay,
and I don't think you're goingto go blind, just to be sure.
But I want you to know thatthis grace is for you.
I heard a testimony from one ofour new members the other day
and I won't give his namebecause I don't have permission
(39:46):
to share this, but he talkedabout for over 50 years, just
lived a life of sin and he wasovercome with anxiety and guilt.
Have you ever been there?
I have.
You're just constantly thinkingabout what you've done and the
bad things in your life and hewas out raking his yard one day.
(40:06):
And God shows up, constantlythinking about what you've done
and the bad things in your life.
He was out raking his yard oneday and God shows up and all of
a sudden he was flooded withGod's grace and do you know?
He ended up going to church.
He ended up receiving Christand being baptized and in a
moment that guilt and shame wasall washed away.
That's you today.
That's you.
Come to Jesus today.
(40:29):
We'd love to pray with you.
Others of you you're at churchquite a bit, okay, but you've
watched Jesus from a distance,but you're not truly converted.
Some of you have been going tochurch for 50 years and yet you
may not have truly beenconverted.
(40:50):
See, to be converted Jesusdoesn't you don't just tap Jesus
onto your life.
He becomes your life.
He becomes your life.
Others of you today, you are,you're under the understanding.
This is really big in this area.
You think that you're a goodenough person that if you can
just be good, god's going to letyou in.
What you don't know is thatGod's standard of good is
(41:10):
perfection.
And you're not perfect, sorryto break it to you, and neither
am I.
That's why Jesus came.
So you come to Him today.
We'll help you with this.
You repent of your sin.
Admit.
We'll help you with this, yourepent of your sin, admit it to
him, repent of it, confess it tohim, commit your life to live
(41:30):
for him and follow him inbaptism We've got in just a
moment, one baptism, by the way.
So, while you're here, if anyof those apply to you, let today
what greater day than Easterfor this to happen?
Let it be the day of salvation.
I'll give you one finalillustration, and I'm done.
In the 18th century, a man bythe name of John left his home,
(41:55):
and at a very early age he wentto become a sailor, and he
became quite a wicked man.
At one point he became thecaptain of a slave ship, and
then he became, as he grew alittle bit older, an investor in
the slave trade.
In 1748, though, his lifechanged during a return voyage
(42:18):
to England.
There was a horrible storm, andhe had heard the gospel
somewhere, and he cried out thatthe Lord would save him.
He would go on to become one ofthe most influential leaders in
the evangelical Christianmovement in England.
This man is none other thanJohn Newton, who wrote the words
(42:40):
to the most famous hymn.
These words Amazing grace howsweet the sound that saved a
wretch like me.
I once was lost, but now I'mfound.
Was blind, but now I see.
I pray today that God wouldgive each of you Eyes to see and
(43:03):
that you would respond in faith.
So Acts, chapter 9, verse 1,.
But Saul, still grievingthreats and murder against the
disciples of the Lord, went tothe high priest and asked him
for letters to the synagogues atDamascus so that if he found
any belonging to the way, men orwomen, he might bring them down
(00:22):
to Jerusalem.
Now, as he went on his way, heapproached Damascus and suddenly
a light from heaven shonearound him and, falling to the
ground, he heard a voice sayingto him Saul, saul, why are you
persecuting me?
And he said who are you, lord?
And he said I am Jesus, whomyou are persecuting, but rise
(00:44):
and enter the city and you willbe told what you are to do.
The men who were traveling withhim stood speechless, hearing
the voice but seeing no one.
Saul rose from the ground andalthough his eyes were open, he
saw nothing.
So they led him by the hand andbrought him into Damascus and
(01:04):
for three days he was withoutsight and neither ate nor drank.
Now there was a disciple atDamascus named Ananias.
The Lord said to him in avision, ananias, and he said
here I am, lord.
And the Lord said to him Riseand go to the street called
Straight and at the house ofJudas, look for a man of Tarsus
(01:27):
named Saul, for behold, he ispraying and he has seen in a
vision a man named Ananias.
Come in and lay hands on him sothat he might regain his sight.
But Ananias answered Lord, Ihave heard from many about this
man, how much evil he has doneto your saints at Jerusalem and
(01:50):
here he has authority from thepriests to bind all those who
call on your name.
But the Lord said to him Go,for he is a chosen instrument of
mine to carry my name beforethe Gentiles and kings and the
children of Israel, for I willshow him how much he must suffer
(02:11):
for the sake of my name.
So Ananias departed and enteredthe house and, laying his hands
on him, he said Brother Saul,the Lord, who appeared to you on
the road by which you came, hassent me to you that you might
regain your sight and be filledwith the Holy Spirit.
And immediately something likescales fell from his eyes and he
(02:34):
regained his sight.
Then he rose and was baptizedand taking food, he was
strengthened.
For some days he was with thedisciples at Damascus and
immediately he proclaimed Jesusin the synagogue, saying he is
the son of God.
And all who heard him wereamazed and said it is not this
(02:55):
man who made havoc in Jerusalemof those who called upon this
name, and has he not come herefor this purpose, to bring them
down before the chief priests?
That Saul increased all themore in strength and confounded
the Jews with all those wholived in Damascus by proving
that Jesus was the Christ.
Speaker 2 (03:17):
Amen, the word of God for the people of God.
Amen.
You may be seated Well, christis risen, amen.
Amen.
You may be seated Well, christis risen, amen.
Well, I want to begin with thequestion do we have any NASCAR
fans in here, seriously, likeone, two?
Okay, that's helpful, dude,this is Kentucky.
(03:39):
What in the world?
Well, you can probably look atme and know that I'm probably
not a NASCAR fan, but my stepdad, who is here with me today, is
an avid fan and he's been formany years.
For years now.
He's watched the races ontelevision and he's really
(04:00):
enjoyed that.
But last year he had theopportunity to participate in
the Rusty Wallace NASCARexperience.
I think we have a picture here.
Look at that.
It was at the Kentucky Speedwayand he got to, actually without
an instructor, mind you drive.
I think it had a governor on it, a little bit right, but I mean
(04:22):
he put it wide open.
I know my dad and he got todrive around that track and I'll
tell you this that you know asmuch as he enjoys watching
NASCAR.
There was nothing that paled incomparison to being in the car
and being on the track, and I'mnot here to preach about NASCAR,
(04:45):
which I'm glad, since there'sno fans, but I tell you that
story to say this, being a fanof Christ, if you will.
Sitting in the stands watchingChrist from a distance can be
fascinating, it can be enjoyable, but that will not save a
person.
It's not Christianity.
(05:09):
And here's the beautiful newsthat I want to share with you
today that Christ invites everyone of you to join him in the
car on the track, to experiencefirsthand his love and to come
into his kingdom.
What an offer.
Amen.
I don't know why you're heretoday.
I mean, some of you you go tothis church, but many of you.
(05:31):
I see some new faces and I'm soglad you're here.
You know, maybe a family memberinvited you, I don't know.
Maybe a guy's, a cute girlinvited you and you're like I'll
go anywhere with you, right?
Maybe you don't normally go tochurch on Easter, but are, you
know, regularly during the year,but you just think on Easter,
(05:52):
man, this is something I need todo.
Maybe you're here just lookingfor hope this morning, and well,
whatever the reason, I want youto know.
We are thrilled that you areworshiping with us today, but my
prayer for you, what we've beenpraying as a staff, is that
every one of you today who don'tknow the Lord, that you would
have a true encounter with theLord Jesus Christ, that your
(06:14):
life would be changedforevermore, amen.
So we're currently, as a church,going through the book of Acts,
and today is about a man namedSaul, whom we know as Paul.
He becomes the apostle Paul andin this text he has an
encounter like a dramaticencounter with the risen Jesus.
(06:37):
It's pretty wild and thistransformation is so dramatic.
Here's what happens he goesfrom being a notorious sinner to
becoming the most influentialman in all of Christianity apart
from Christ.
You know, this story to me is areminder.
(06:59):
I want you to hear this everyone of you, none of you, are out
of God's reach.
I don't care what you've done,I don't care where you've been,
I don't care how many timesyou've fallen down.
If you have breath, it is nottoo late to receive God's grace.
Now I want to talk about Paul'sconversion today.
(07:20):
I want to talk about what itmeans to truly be converted and
become a Christian, and we'regoing to look at Paul's story
and I just want to say rightfrom the start that not
everybody's conversion story isthis dramatic and, thank God,
right.
But there's some basic elementsthat are here in the story that
are part, I believe, of everyreal conversion, and here they
(07:44):
are.
I'll just outline them for you.
Number one would be revelation,number two would be repentance,
number three would beresurrection and number four
would be results.
So we're on the R train today.
Hopefully that'll help youremember the points.
But number one a conversionalways involves a revelation.
(08:04):
So just want to say this fromthe start, that the man in our
text is called Saul and manyChristians I think erroneously
believe that Jesus changed hisname to Paul.
He did not.
Okay, you go to Acts, chapter13,.
I believe it's verse 9.
You can read this later and itsays you know, luke says that
(08:28):
Saul, who is also called Paul,he had two names.
Paul was a Roman citizen, bornin Tarsus, but he was also a
devout Jew.
So he had a Jewish name, whichwas Saul, and a Gentile name,
which was Paul.
As a matter of fact, even afterhis conversion, in the next
couple of chapters he's stillcalled Saul, but when he starts
(08:49):
to minister to the Gentiles, hisname he goes.
It seems like he prefers to goby Paul.
So there you go.
Did you learn something,anybody, all right.
So I said that just to say I'mgoing to call him Paul because
that's how we know him right.
So throughout this messagehe'll be called Paul.
I want to just speak of his lifebefore coming to Jesus On the
(09:14):
screen.
I'm going to put up Philippians3, verses 5 and 6.
Paul is writing and he'sspeaking of himself and he says
I was circumcised on the eighthday.
That was a covenantal sign ofthe Jews, of the people of
Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew of Hebrews as to the
law, a Pharisee as to zeal, apersecutor of the church as to
(09:38):
righteousness, under the law,blameless.
So here's what we know aboutPaul.
In his former life, beforeencountering Christ, he was a
devout Jew.
He had a pure bloodline, thetribe of Benjamin.
He calls himself a Hebrews ofHebrews Like this is a big deal
to the Jews that you know,purity, that lineage.
(10:00):
And he was from the.
He was a Pharisee, so he waspart of this group.
He would be well-versed in thelaw, the Old Testament
commandments and the rabbinictraditions.
I mean, he was very, very smartand well-trained and was even a
teacher of the law.
And Paul, the other thing wesee here is that Paul thought
(10:23):
himself under the law to beblameless, like he tried
tediously to keep.
There were, by the way, 613commands in the Old Testament.
Aren't you glad you're underthe new covenant?
Come on somebody.
But he tried tediously to liveup to those laws and traditions.
But here's what else we learnabout him from this passage he
(10:45):
was also a persecutor of thechurch.
Luke introduces us to Paul inthe end of chapter 7 in Acts,
into chapter 8.
And what we read about Paul inthose chapters is simply this
that he condoned and approved ofthe execution of the first
(11:08):
Christian martyr.
Like that's how he gets started.
Isn't that wild.
Now this in the beginning ofour text, this trend is
continuing in Paul's life.
Look at verses one and two.
But Saul, still breathingthreats and murder against the
disciples of the Lord, went tothe high priest and asked him
(11:31):
for letters to the synagogue atDamascus so that if he found any
belonging to the way that'swhat Christians were called at
that time men or women, hedidn't care that he might bring
them bound to Jerusalem.
Now, this word breathing here inthe Greek it actually means to
inhale, and here is the picture.
(11:54):
Many commentators point thisout.
Here is the picture of Paul atthis point that Luke is painting
.
This is a picture of a ravenousor what would you say animal on
a rampage, all right, on thehunt, and you know a lot of
animals.
You know how they kind of makewhen they're on the hunt like a
(12:15):
snorting sound.
You can't snort while you'rebreathing out.
How many want to try that rightnow?
All right, go ahead.
All right, that was weird.
All right, anyways, you have tobreathe in and that's what
here's the point.
(12:35):
Here's the picture Luke ispainting.
Paul is more animalistic atthis point than he is human.
I mean, this is wild.
And here's what he does in thetext.
He asked the high priest in thetemple to be deputized.
Essentially, damascus is 150miles from Jerusalem.
(12:57):
For Paul, that would have beenabout a three to four day trip
each way, and he is so full ofanger towards Christians at this
point that they've already beenrun because of persecution out
of Jerusalem.
Many of them landed in Damascus, and he's heard this and he
tells the high priest I want togo there and I want to bring
them back and I want to bindthem and we're going to throw
(13:18):
them in prison.
Do you see how corrupt and evil.
Paul was at that point.
Think of this.
All right, paul did all ofthose things.
He persecuted Christians,approved of their execution in
(13:39):
the name of God.
So in modern day, what do wecall that kind of a person?
A terrorist?
This is no joke.
Paul today would be considereda terrorist.
Yet you know what God does.
Jesus changes his life, and hewould go on to write 13 of the
(14:01):
27 books of your New Testament.
That's the grace of God, folks.
So that's his life before.
But then he encounters Jesus.
The text says he comes uponthis great light.
Okay, and what he does here isthis is the glorified Christ,
(14:21):
this is Jesus, whom he's comingin contact with.
Jesus has ascended to heavenand in some way he reveals
himself to Paul on the roadthere to Damascus.
And Paul is so overwhelmed bythe glory of Jesus that he can't
even stand up.
Now here's what's interesting.
(14:44):
Up to this point, paul refutedthe idea that this so-called
Messiah would have been raisedfrom the dead.
He did not believe that.
But he comes across the risenChrist and he can no longer deny
it, and I would just say itchanges everything in the
(15:05):
apostle Paul's life.
Listen to me, if you're hereand you're not a Christian and
maybe you're a skeptic and maybeyou're a little timid about
coming to Christ.
Here's what I want you to know.
Christianity hinges on onething.
That one thing is not the waysome church people act sometimes
, thank God.
Christianity does not hinge onunanswered prayers.
(15:28):
It does not hinge on maybeconfusing passages in the Bible.
It hinges on one thing, andthat is what we're here to
celebrate today the resurrectionof Jesus Christ.
As a matter of fact, in 1Corinthians 15, paul himself
will go on to write that ifChrist is not raised, then we
(15:49):
Christians are, of all people,most to be pitied.
We shouldn't be here today.
We should be out on the golfcourse or the playground or
wherever you go on a nice day.
But then Paul says but in facthe is risen, amen.
Paul knows now beyond a shadowof a doubt that Christ has been
raised and that changeseverything.
(16:10):
Lee Strobel maybe you've heardof him.
He is trained in as a legalaffairs investigative journalist
and years ago he was an avowedatheist man.
He hated Christianity, he wasso against it and during that
time, by his own ambition, hewas pursuing kind of sinful,
(16:32):
hedonistic desires.
He said these words one time,he said, I lived an immoral,
drunken, profane, narcissistic,self-destructive kind of life.
Does that sound like anybodybefore you came to Jesus?
I wouldn't raise my hand again,I'm sorry.
(16:52):
It was then that he set out touse his investigative skills to
disprove the resurrection,because he knew if I can debunk
the resurrection, thenChristianity will be no more.
So he goes on this mission andhe begins to search high and low
for just to find reasons not tobelieve in the resurrection.
(17:16):
But you know what happened themore he researched, the more he
was convinced that Jesus reallyis historically risen.
And so here's what he said.
He said he came to this point.
He said I realized it wouldtake more faith for me to remain
an atheist than to become aChristian.
So after two years of searching, here's the verdict that he
(17:37):
shares.
Quote Jesus claimed to be theson of God, and he backed it up
by raising from the dead.
It was this revelation thatcaused Lee to give his life to
Christ and go on to become apastor.
He's written two great books.
I would highly recommend theCase for Christ and the Case for
(17:58):
Faith.
See.
The resurrection changeseverything.
So conversion has to start withthe revelation of the
resurrection of Christ.
Number two it has to involverepentance.
Conversion always involvesrepentance.
So repentance is what it's?
A change of mind.
Right, shake your head at me,all right, you're awake?
(18:22):
Hey, I was here at 645 thismorning.
I don't want to see any of youfalling asleep, all right.
So repentance is a change ofmind that leads then, obviously,
to a change of action.
So for a Christian, for someonewho's lost and becomes a
Christian, what it means is youknow, when you're lost, you kind
(18:42):
of run your own life, you'rethe God of your own life, or so
you think.
So when you come to Christ andyou repent, what you do is you
get off the throne of your life,you profess Jesus Christ as
Lord, not just Savior, and youfollow him wholeheartedly.
That's what repentance is, andthere are two necessary points
(19:06):
for you to understand if you'regoing to repent.
One of them is bad news and oneof them is good news.
Which one do you want?
First, bad news.
All right, here it is Bad news.
Before you can be converted,you've got to see your sin.
You've got to come to termswith your sin.
(19:27):
Jesus asked Paul in our text whyare you persecuting me Now?
This is curious, and here's whyJesus, at this point, has
ascended to the Father.
Yes, he's in a glorified state,and Paul is perplexed and he
says what do you mean?
How have I persecuted you?
(19:48):
Well, here's how Jesus is soconnected to his people, he is
so linked with us that whenpeople mess with us, they're
messing with him.
If you're a parent, you likeyou get this.
How many know that?
It's like you can mess with me.
But I want you to know ifyou're messing with my children,
(20:09):
you're messing with me still,and I'm going to be a lot more
upset then, right?
So the bad news is this thatPaul has to wrestle with you
know, remember.
He sees himself as a moralperson, blameless by the law,
and Jesus is just turning hisworld upside down.
(20:32):
And so here's what happens atthat point.
I mean, think of this theMessiah in the Christian's blood
is on his hands.
How good is he?
Not so good.
Look at verses 6 through 9.
But rise and enter the city andyou will be told what to do.
Jesus is talking to Paul, andso he goes in the city and
(20:55):
here's what it says.
I think it's verse 9.
It says for three days he waswithout what Sight and he
neither ate nor drank.
When Paul is confronted and hehas to face his sin, he
immediately, his life, becomesdarkness.
(21:17):
Now, this was true physicaldarkness.
Now, generally speaking, whenwe have to confess our sin and
own up to our own wickedness, wedon't become physically blind,
but there is, in a sense, anemotional darkness, like when
(21:38):
you think you're a good personand you have to come to terms
with you are you are moredepraved than you could ever
imagine.
That can be a dark moment.
And so this leads Paul to threedays of fasting and going
without food.
And what's so interesting aboutthat is, in the Old Testament,
(21:59):
fasting was a sign of mourningand contrition.
So Paul is undone at this point.
That's the bad news, the badnews.
And to come to Christ, here'swhat you have to know None of
you, and neither am I, goodenough to get to God, to receive
(22:25):
eternal life.
That's why Jesus came to us.
Romans 3.23, familiar verse.
We have all sinned and we allfall short of what, the glory of
God?
That's the bad news.
How are you doing so?
Speaker 1 (22:41):
here's what I'm going to tell you.
Speaker 2 (22:42):
Here's the bad news.
Look at me.
I'm just going to say, asbluntly as I can You're more
wicked and malevolent than youever dared imagine.
Okay, you glad you came toEaster service today.
Well, I've got good news foryou.
I'm glad we started with thebad news, got it out of the way.
Here's the good news.
Not only do you have to seeyour sin to be saved, but then
(23:04):
you get to see God's grace.
Jesus doesn't smite Paul hereand, by the way, he has every
right to.
Why in the world does the Lord?
Let us live day by day afterall the mistakes we've made,
because he's a God of grace.
He's a God of grace, god ofgrace, he's the God of grace.
(23:29):
Instead, jesus tells Paul tocontinue to go down this road to
Damascus, but for differentreasons, a completely different
plan.
And so, in verses 10 to 18,luke tells the story of a
Christian named Ananias who hasthis vision.
And Jesus says to Ananias inthe vision listen to this.
He said I want you to go toPaul, find this man, paul.
And he said I want you to layhands on him so that he can get
(23:51):
back his sight and receive theHoly Spirit.
And Ananias is like Jesus.
Jesus, hey, you been sleeping.
Do you not know what this manlisten?
He's come here to bind us andyou want me to run in the lion's
den and I want you to seeJesus' response in verse 15.
(24:12):
This is amazing, but the Lordsaid to him go, for he is a
chosen instrument of mine tocarry my name before the
Gentiles and kings and thechildren of Israel.
Not only does God save Paul,but he chooses him as an
(24:33):
instrument, and that instrumentagain will go on to be the most
influential man in all ofChristian history outside of
Christ, christian historyoutside of Christ.
This is grace upon grace.
Why am I up here today?
It's not because of merit, it'snot because I'm good, it's
(24:54):
because Christ is good.
Amen.
1 Timothy 1.15,.
Paul came to terms with both hissin and God's grace.
He says these words.
The saying is trustworthy anddeserving of full acceptance.
That Christ Jesus came into theworld to save sinners, of whom
I am the foremost.
Isn't that amazing?
(25:16):
Here's the point.
Paul's saying if God can saveme, he can save you, because you
probably haven't killedChristians Anybody.
Okay, so there's the bad newsWe've got to see our sin.
Tim Keller gave this greatsummation of the gospel.
(25:37):
He says we are more sinful andflawed in ourselves than we ever
dared believe, yet at the verysame time, we are more loved and
accepted in Jesus.
You know, this is reallyimportant, guys, look at me.
Some of you have no problemseeing your sin, but you do have
(25:58):
a problem seeing God's grace,because you know you're the only
one that knows all the thingsyou've done, all the skeletons
in your closet, and you knowthat Jesus knows, along with you
.
And so you think, man, the Lordcould never forgive me.
Church, he came for the centerChurch, he came for the sinner,
(26:29):
to shower the sinner with graceupon grace, so that you can't
repent and turn from your sinuntil you see both your sin and
the grace of God.
And then the third element ofconversion would be this
resurrection.
Resurrection Listen to me,becoming a Christian is not just
about becoming a better person.
(26:50):
Now, as a Christian, you shouldbecome a better person and like
kinder, like some of you, needto hear this right.
But listen, that's not theessence of Christianity.
That's not the essence ofChristianity.
Jesus said in John 3, 3, thatif you want to be saved, if you
want the kingdom of God, you'vegot to be what Born again,
(27:14):
regenerated, renewed, converted.
There has to, something has totake place miraculous within
your heart.
It's not just oh, I'm going to,you know, I'm going to follow,
emulate Jesus and take care ofmy neighbor.
And this that's all great, butthat's not salvation.
You've got to be born again,and here's what that means.
(27:35):
It means you have to move fromdeath to life.
You've got to move from deathto life.
Ananias obeys the Lord in thetext, and he goes and finds Saul
.
And I want you to look at verse18 and it says immediately
something like scales fell fromhis eyes and Paul regained his
(27:57):
sight.
And then he rose up and wasbaptized.
Now I just saw this thismorning.
This is hot off the press.
You ready?
This is awesome.
How long was Jesus in the grave?
Three days, okay, I knew thatpart.
How long is Paul blind for here?
Three days.
(28:20):
And then what does Paul doafter he receives his sight?
What's the first?
He rose.
It's resurrection language.
You know what's happened toPaul from the point of Damascus
to this moment in his life, hehas experienced a death darkness
and he has been raised by thegrace of Christ, through the
(28:43):
risen Christ, to the newness oflife.
He has been resurrected andthis is amazing.
Let me just read you his ownwords Ephesians 2, 1 through 7.
You ready, and you point atyourself.
You were dead.
You were what Dead?
(29:04):
Right, you were dead in yourtrespasses and sins.
You weren't just bad, you weredead Spiritually In what you
once walked following the courseof this world, following the
prince of the power of the air,the spirit that is now at work
in the sons of disobedienceamong whom we all once lived, in
the passions of our flesh,carrying out the desires of
(29:24):
disobedience, among whom we allonce lived, in the passions of
our flesh, carrying out thedesires of the body and the mind
.
And watch this.
We were, by nature, children ofwrath, how you doing, like the
rest of mankind, but God, butGod being rich in mercy because
of the great love with which hehas loved us even when we were
dead in our trespasses.
(29:45):
He made us alive together inChrist.
By grace, you've been saved andraised up with him and seated
us in the heavenly places withChrist Jesus, so that in the
coming ages he might show theimmeasurable riches of his grace
and kindness towards us inJesus.
If you do not know Christ rightnow.
You are dead.
(30:06):
You are dead Spirituallyspeaking.
You are dead, you're not justsick, you're not just a little
confused, you are dead.
That's what the scripture says.
And Paul, at this point in thestory, on the Damascus road,
darkness comes upon him and hehas been dead, trying to serve
(30:26):
God his own way.
But he has been spirituallydead his entire life.
But then he meets theresurrected Jesus, who calls him
, who chooses him to be hisvessel, and then, at this home,
he sends Ananias to lay hands onhim and the Lord Jesus raises
him up.
The scales fall from his eyesand he gets up.
(30:47):
He is moved from death to life,from darkness to light, from
the kingdom of this world intothe kingdom of God, and that's
what happens to every believerwhen they come to Christ.
How do we know?
How do we know we've beenconverted?
See, there has to be a changeon the inside.
Y'all look so great today inyour Easter clothes, right?
(31:10):
But how many know that Godisn't near as concerned this
morning about this as he isabout this?
And so you can dress up, thoseof you who dressed up today.
You're no different than youwere yesterday.
You're the same person.
You're no more or less ethicalor moral, or what have you.
Speaker 1 (31:33):
You just dressed up the outside.
Speaker 2 (31:37):
There's got to be a change on the inside.
That's what conversion lookslike.
How do you know you'reconverted?
Well, there are finally results, verifiable results.
I want you to see what Pauldoes.
First, verse 19.
So he gets up and it says Intaking food he was strengthened.
(31:58):
And here it is.
For some days he was with thedisciples at Damascus.
Number one Paul, as soon ashe's saved, joins a community.
This is the pattern he getswith some disciples and he does
life with believers.
He worships with them, heserves with them.
He serves them and he does ithis entire life.
(32:21):
When he's in prison, he'swriting them letters, and he
does it his entire life.
When he's in prison, he'swriting them letters.
One of the signs that you aretruly converted is your love for
the church.
Does going to church save you?
No, but it is a sign thatyou're saved.
Listen to me.
Can I just preach?
Can I just be really honestwith you?
Say this very gently, maybe notListen.
(32:46):
People ask me all the time do Ihave to go to church to be saved
?
I just want to say why do youask?
Jesus said do it, do it.
It doesn't save you, no.
But Jesus said this is howthey're going to know.
You're my disciples by yourlove one for another.
If you don't want to cometogether and gather with the
people of God, if you don't lovecoming and worshiping, if you'd
(33:08):
rather just sit at home onSundays, this is the Lord's day
man, it's hard for me to believethat somebody that just I
understand, like if you can'tget here, I know that people are
gone from time to time, but ifit's not a priority in your life
, I'm sorry.
I'm sorry, I'm not sayingyou're not a Christian, but I'm
saying it's a red flag Becauseas soon as you come into
(33:37):
salvation and conversion, youbecome knit together with a
whole family of believers aroundthe world and your heart just
immediately wants to be withthem.
Okay, the second evidenceresult from salvation is
behavior, Behavior.
Romans 6.1,.
Paul says he's talking aboutGod's grace.
(33:58):
He said what shall we do then?
Just continue in sin, so gracemay abound.
You know somebody, I don't careif you've been baptized,
professed Christ, been to thealtar five million times, cried
a little bit, did the gloryhands.
You know, whatever, if yourlife on the outside has not
(34:18):
changed and your heart has notchanged on the inside, you are
not saved.
Okay, you say, that sounds likesalvation by works and it's like
no, we are saved by faith alone, by grace alone, through faith
alone in Christ alone, period.
But Martin Luther himself saidthis, the reformer.
(34:41):
He said we are saved by faithalone, but saving faith is never
alone.
In other words, when Godchanges your heart, there's
always a change.
So there's this behavioralchange.
There's also proclamation.
We see here In verse 20, itsays immediately, immediately,
(35:02):
paul proclaimed Jesus in thesynagogue saying he's the son of
God.
Now, this is hard sometimes foranybody, but imagine Paul.
Paul has been going to thesynagogues going.
This is not the Messiah, let'skill all the Christians you know
.
And now I mean he's going andgoing.
Guys, I was wrong, we shouldn'thave killed those people.
Probably, like he is theMessiah, like how many of you
(35:25):
just be honest, just be honest,how many of you have had a
really hard time, especiallywith your spouse admitting
you're wrong?
Like, come on, it's hard.
And Paul so wants people, he sowants people to come to Jesus
Christ and hear the good news.
That's just changed his life,that he swallows his pride and
(35:49):
he goes to these synagoguesgoing.
I've got great news, brothersand sisters Jesus is risen.
He is the Messiah, he is theSon of God.
Last night, so, this cross wasfilled with prayer requests, and
last night we had a prayer time.
We prayed for every need,didn't we, pastor Ben?
Every need on the cross, andthere were two sheets of paper
(36:11):
that just blessed my heart.
We had one 12-year-old and one8-year-old both girls right on
there.
Please pray that I would beable to share Christ with my
friends.
No one told us that, by the way, including me.
(36:39):
Listen, wow, wow.
Do you know?
We had a girl get saved, eightyears old, just a few weeks ago,
ron and Kay led a neighborhoodoutreach where they went door to
door.
Do you know that she went to adoor by herself, just God's sake
.
Her mom was right behind her,but she went up and just wanted
to invite people to church.
It's amazing, guys, listen.
Okay, let me say it like thiswhen you, if you come up on some
(37:04):
lifestyle change like, uh,let's say diet, I don't like to
say diet, um, just way of lifeyou know you, you've, man, you
found this program, thisexercise regimen, this eating
regimen, and it changes yourlife, and you know, and, and,
(37:26):
and listen, I, you're going totell everybody, especially your
unhealthy friends.
You're going to rub it in alittle bit and then you're going
to say no, no, no, I care aboutyou and I want you to know what
I'm doing, cause I want you tobe healthy, I want you to have
quality of life, I want you tohave longevity, and you're going
to talk about it.
(37:46):
Any product or service that youfind that's life-changing, man.
You won't be quiet about it.
Do you guys ever get tired ofhearing people talk about their
diets and their?
You know all that stuff.
What about Jesus?
What about Jesus?
As much as I'm an advocate ofliving a healthy life, that kind
(38:13):
of transformation pales incomparison to being brought from
death to life in the Lord JesusChrist.
And yet why are we not tellingpeople?
One of the signs that you aretruly saved is that you are
telling everybody you can aboutJesus.
Okay, and we don't do thisperfectly, by the way none of
these things.
So in closing, connor, if you'dcome to the keyboard, here's
(38:41):
what I want you to see Paul's onthe road to Damascus.
Right, he's got one agenda, anddoesn't God show up at the most
unexpected times?
So again, I'll just say I don'tknow why you're here this
morning.
If you just, maybe you're goingto get an Easter dinner out of
it.
Somebody said, hey, we'll cookyou dinner if you come to church
, or whatever.
(39:02):
That pretty girl, whatever thatmay be, all it is.
I'm going to get a date out ofthis, right?
That's what you might think.
But I want you to know Ibelieve this that God had
another plan for you today.
God had another plan for youtoday.
So some of you you've neverprofessed Christ.
This might be your first timein church Again.
(39:24):
Wow, I'm glad you're here.
But I want you to know todaythat you can be converted, okay,
and I don't think you're goingto go blind, just to be sure.
But I want you to know thatthis grace is for you.
I heard a testimony from one ofour new members the other day
and I won't give his namebecause I don't have permission
(39:46):
to share this, but he talkedabout for over 50 years, just
lived a life of sin and he wasovercome with anxiety and guilt.
Have you ever been there?
I have.
You're just constantly thinkingabout what you've done and the
bad things in your life and hewas out raking his yard one day.
(40:06):
And God shows up, constantlythinking about what you've done
and the bad things in your life.
He was out raking his yard oneday and God shows up and all of
a sudden he was flooded withGod's grace and do you know?
He ended up going to church.
He ended up receiving Christand being baptized and in a
moment that guilt and shame wasall washed away.
That's you today.
That's you.
Come to Jesus today.
(40:29):
We'd love to pray with you.
Others of you you're at churchquite a bit, okay, but you've
watched Jesus from a distance,but you're not truly converted.
Some of you have been going tochurch for 50 years and yet you
may not have truly beenconverted.
(40:50):
See, to be converted Jesusdoesn't you don't just tap Jesus
onto your life.
He becomes your life.
He becomes your life.
Others of you today, you are,you're under the understanding.
This is really big in this area.
You think that you're a goodenough person that if you can
just be good, god's going to letyou in.
What you don't know is thatGod's standard of good is
(41:10):
perfection.
And you're not perfect, sorryto break it to you, and neither
am I.
That's why Jesus came.
So you come to Him today.
We'll help you with this.
You repent of your sin.
Admit.
We'll help you with this, yourepent of your sin, admit it to
him, repent of it, confess it tohim, commit your life to live
(41:30):
for him and follow him inbaptism We've got in just a
moment, one baptism, by the way.
So, while you're here, if anyof those apply to you, let today
what greater day than Easterfor this to happen?
Let it be the day of salvation.
I'll give you one finalillustration, and I'm done.
In the 18th century, a man bythe name of John left his home,
(41:55):
and at a very early age he wentto become a sailor, and he
became quite a wicked man.
At one point he became thecaptain of a slave ship, and
then he became, as he grew alittle bit older, an investor in
the slave trade.
In 1748, though, his lifechanged during a return voyage
(42:18):
to England.
There was a horrible storm, andhe had heard the gospel
somewhere, and he cried out thatthe Lord would save him.
He would go on to become one ofthe most influential leaders in
the evangelical Christianmovement in England.
This man is none other thanJohn Newton, who wrote the words
(42:40):
to the most famous hymn.
These words Amazing grace howsweet the sound that saved a
wretch like me.
I once was lost, but now I'mfound.
Was blind, but now I see.
I pray today that God wouldgive each of you Eyes to see and
(43:03):
that you would respond in faith.
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