Acts 9:1-30 "The Most Famous Conversion in History"

Hi, my name is George Sinclair. I'm the lead pastor of Church of the Messiah. It is wonderful

that you would like to check out some of the sermons done by Church of the Messiah, either

by myself or some of the others. Listen, just a couple of things. First of all, would you pray

for us that we will open God's Word well to His glory and for the good of people like yourself?

The second thing is, if you aren't connected to a church and if you are a Christian, we really,

I would really like to encourage you to find a good local church where they believe the Bible,

they preach the gospel, and if you have some trouble finding that, send us an email. We will

do what we can to help connect you with a good local church wherever you are. And if you're a

non-Christian checking us out, we're really, really, really glad you're doing that. Don't

hesitate to send us questions. It helps me actually to know, as I'm preaching, how to deal with the

types of things that you're really struggling with. So God bless.

Just bow our heads in prayer, please. Father, we ask that you would, in your kindness and mercy,

Father, we just thank you for your kindness and your mercy. Father, there is no one kinder than you.

Lord Jesus, there is no one kinder than you. And Father, in your kindness towards us, may the Holy

Spirit help us to listen to your Word very deeply, and may Jesus and who He is and what He's done,

may He form us at a very deep level. And for those of us who are His, may His comfort,

may His presence comfort us and cheer us at this time. And we ask this in Jesus' name. Amen.

Please be seated.

Back just after I came to this church, which was a long time ago now, about a year or so after I came

to this church, it was announced that a fellow by the name of Billy Graham, I know that's like, I don't

know, do people still remember Billy Graham? Okay, a lot of you still do, maybe not all of you, but

a fellow by the name of Billy Graham, it was announced that he was going to come to Ottawa to do a series

of crusades. He was going to speak at the, whatever they call the big hockey stadium now, I keep getting

it mixed up, Scotiabank Place, I guess it is. And as part of that, the Billy Graham team wanted

different churches to sort of get behind this, to provide counsellors and greeters and other types of

help for that. I'd only been at the church about a year or so, I think, maybe a year and a half.

And I wanted our church to be a part of it. And the church at that time was not the type of church

that would have supported something like the Billy Graham mission. And in fact, you might want to talk

to somebody like Andrew afterwards, because the very first time we had an introductory video

introducing the Billy Graham campaign coming to Ottawa, and me saying I'd like us to be supported,

the hostility from the congregation was so severe that all of the team, Andrew was one of them,

they all resigned. Because so many people in the congregation were mad about this. And in fact,

there was an attempt to, you know, force me to go back and all of this type of stuff, lots of drama.

Anyway, the bottom line is, at the time, I had these two very interesting, just sort of average

Anglican type guys who were my wardens. And I said to them, like, what do you think I should do?

You know? And one of them, and if either of these guys are watching, you know, shout out to both of

you, I have fond memories. And one of them was in the Navy. And his attitude was just, I mean,

I don't know if he saluted or not. He just said, listen, you're the CO, I'm the XO. The CO says we go

here, we go here and I'll help you. Like that was as simple as that. And the other fellow,

who would never in his life listen to a Billy Graham evangelistic thing, he just said, George,

I'm completely and utterly puzzled by the whole congregation. This man has been one of the most

influential men in history, the history of the Western world, in the last half of the 20th century.

Like, I'm just curious to hear him. Like, I don't understand why anybody wouldn't be curious to hear

this guy who's been arguably one of the most influential men of the latter half of the 20th century.

That's all he said. So I pressed on. And in fact, actually, our church had a very robust

involvement in the Billy Graham mission. And I still have very fond memories of it.

Now, I mention this because regardless of where you are spiritually, whether you are a Christian,

or whether you're trying to figure out what the Christian faith is all about, or whether you're

watching me to get some ammo as to why you shouldn't be a Christian, whatever, wherever you are,

the thing that we're going to look at today is arguably one of the turning points in human history.

Like, not even, like, it's like a no-brainer that it's one of the turning points in human history.

And anybody who's at all interested in how the world came to be should be interested in something

which is very, very easily argued is one of the turning points in human history.

Now, obviously, and you don't even have to be a Christian to acknowledge that Jesus's life and birth and death,

and I believe resurrection, is one of the things which changed the course of human history.

And this thing here, which happens about a year later, year and a half later, is one of the reasons why,

well, it's not just Jewish people in this room speaking Hebrew.

Why there's a whole pile of, I mean, my ancient ancestors painted themselves blue,

danced naked, taunting the Romans.

How did people like that ever become Christians?

Well, it's because of this very remarkable conversion, which is a turning point in human history,

that even though the message of Jesus had not yet pierced the pagan world,

and he wouldn't be the guy who would do the initial thing,

this is the guy who ends up bringing the message of Jesus to Europe

and spreads it far and wide to people of many, many different languages and people groups.

And it's that missionary movement that's launched and really headed up by him,

which continues to this day.

And so it is arguably a turning point in human history,

so let's have a look at this historical account of it.

And if you have your Bibles, it's Acts 9, verse 1 and following.

Acts 9:1

And it's helpful if I open it up to the right thing myself.

And just as a reminder, you know, I got the privilege of speaking at a wedding.

Actually, two weekends in a row I've had the privilege of speaking at a wedding.

And one of the things I said there, because I was going to read in both cases,

actually it was John chapter 2.

John 2 · chapter mention

You know, we get a little bit confused when we look at a book with this really expensive type of paper,

and, you know, there used to be gold stuff on the edge.

Because now, of course, it's viewed as being the Bible.

But when it was originally written, I doubt if Luke thought I'm writing something for the Bible.

He just wanted to provide an eyewitness-based account of the first 30 years of the Jesus movement.

And that's what we have.

An eyewitness-based account of the first 30 or so years of the Jesus movement,

written while many of the eyewitnesses were still alive.

And so this is Luke's account of what happens to a man by the name of Saul.

And it goes like this.

But Saul, still breathing threats and murder against the disciples of the Lord,

went to the high priest and asked for letters to the synagogues at Damascus,

so that if he found any belonging to the way, men or women,

he might bring them bound to Jerusalem.

Now, just sort of pause here for a second.

Just a couple of things.

First of all, I want to warn you in advance.

I'm liable to slip up.

I don't know.

I think those from the congregation were at the wedding yesterday.

It was one of the rare weddings I did where I didn't mess up a name throughout the whole wedding.

People who have been to many weddings that I do,

they sort of wait for when's George going to get one of the names wrong.

And in fact, I have to confess, all the way through the rehearsal,

I kept wanting to call the bride Susie.

And I think I even called her Susie, which is her mom's name.

But anyway, I'm going to maybe mix up Saul and Paul throughout this,

but they're the same person.

Like many people who've come from another culture,

you have maybe your cultural name,

and then maybe because it's hard for Canadians to pronounce it,

you come up with a Canadian name to match it.

And that's the same type of thing that's going on here.

Many, many Jewish people at the time would have had their Hebrew name,

and they also would have had their pagan name.

So Saul is the Jewish name,

and Paul is the pagan name or the Roman name.

And I'm more familiar with calling him Paul,

but this, because right now it's all about this fellow who's Jewish,

they're going to use his name Saul.

So if I mix up and say Paul or Saul or whatever,

it's the same guy.

It's just me being a little bit confused with names.

And the second thing about this is actually it's a really cool thing.

If you look at the text again, verse 1, it says breathing threats.

In the original language,

there's an image that goes along with this type of breathing.

And what you're to imagine is you're a lion.

You're somewhere, and there's a wild lion.

And you know it's going to pounce.

And before it pounce, it starts huffing.

It breathes heavily, like a bull before it charges breathes heavily.

And that's this type of thing,

an image of a murderous wild beast

huffing and huffing before it attacks.

That's how Saul is described.

And so he has this murderous plan.

He has been one of the ringleaders

of the death of the first Christian martyr.

He's been responsible for the deaths of other Christians.

And now he wants to go and extend this campaign of murder to Damascus.

And now let's get back to the story.

And by the way, one of the things to understand here

when they're heading to Damascus,

and I think we have at least one person in the congregation here

who's lived in Damascus, or at least near about it,

and you can ask them about it.

But in those days, Damascus was an oasis destination in the middle of desert.

So it's in the Middle East, and he's traveling through desert.

And as he's coming to this oasis city of Damascus,

this is what happens.

Verse 3.

Now, as he went on his way, he approached Damascus,

and suddenly a light from heaven flashed around him.

And falling to the ground, he heard a voice saying to him,

Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting me?

And Saul said, Who are you, Lord?

And the Lord said, I am Jesus, whom you are persecuting.

But rise and enter the city, and you will be told what you are to do.

The men who were traveling with Saul stood speechless,

hearing the voice but seeing no one.

Saul rose from the ground, and although his eyes were opened,

he saw nothing.

So they led him by the hand and brought him into Damascus.

And just sort of pause there for a second.

So there's a couple of things about this story.

And the first thing is that there's parts of the story

which are public or observable,

and parts of the story which are private and not observable

in the whole event.

So if we were to go back in a time machine,

it would be a very big time machine if we could all go back.

If we were able to go back to a time machine

in some time probably about the year 34,

and this time machine also happened to know

that we should be on the road and close to Damascus at the right day.

We don't know the precise day.

There's certain things that we would see

that are just observable that you can't deny.

And the first thing that you would see

is that you would see this unbelievably bright light.

I don't know how many of you have ever been in the Middle East

or close to the equator,

but it gets really bright,

especially if it's the right time of the year in the Middle East.

There's hardly any clouds in the sky.

It's hot, and it's very, very sunny.

And even though it's very, very sunny,

there's a bright light so bright

that even on a very, very sunny day near noon,

it's brighter than that, and you would see that.

And the other thing you would see

is the men traveling with Paul or Saul

and Saul all falling to the ground.

And they fall to the ground.

Our charismatic friends would call this slain in the Spirit.

And just a little bit of a note,

for those of you more Reformed and evangelical

who sometimes wonder about our,

from your point of view,

kooky, charismatic friends

being slain in the spirits in the New Testament.

This is an example of it.

They get knocked down by God.

And while they all get knocked down by God,

the men get up after they've been knocked down by God.

But Paul continues to lie down.

And all of the people there, including yourself,

will hear some type of voice,

something being said.

But that's all you'll see.

The other thing that you'll see,

which is public and observable,

is that when Paul is finally helped up,

he cannot see.

He's blind.

And he's had to be led into this other city.

What you don't see is,

or understand,

is you don't get to see Jesus.

Jesus.

Only Paul sees Jesus.

He doesn't just see the light.

He sees Jesus.

The man who was crucified

a year, year and a half earlier,

just outside of Jerusalem,

and who was buried in a tomb.

And Paul, like all others from Jerusalem,

Saul would know that the grave was empty

and that they'd never found the body.

And he sees Jesus.

And he hears Jesus speaking to him.

But only Paul hears that.

Now, for many people over the years,

this is a very problematic event.

But it's only problematic if you're sort of...

I don't know how to word it

without making it sound like I'm putting people down.

And so just give me some mercy.

I don't mean to put you down.

But the problem is

that there's not enough thinking

about what's going on here.

And a simple way to explain it

is that the resurrected Jesus,

or an angel,

is not like a camel.

That's all you have to understand.

A camel and an angel,

or a camel and the resurrected Jesus,

they're not the same.

You don't see them the same way.

So, for instance,

we all can see camels,

big, hulking things.

And so if there had been a camel

in the middle of the road,

and Saul is saying,

look at the camel,

and everybody else is saying,

Saul, there's no camel.

Like, there's nothing.

Like, they'd all be worried

that maybe he's mentally ill

or something like that,

because a camel is a camel is a camel,

and you can see it.

But if you think about it for a second,

if there are, in fact,

beings like angels,

or if there is, in fact,

a resurrected Jesus,

by the very nature,

an angel is something,

is someone,

and the resurrected Jesus

is not someone

that we can just observe.

They are not simply observable

by our own power.

The angel,

or in this case,

the resurrected Jesus,

has to reveal himself.

They have to choose to be seen.

It's not a sermon about angels,

but I believe,

the New Testament teaches,

that even now as we gather,

we do not just gather as ourselves

hearing God's word,

and we do not gather just by ourselves

to sing God's praises,

but there are angels present with us,

and none of us can see them.

But if an angel chose to reveal itself,

it might be that it would just reveal itself

to victory or to Steve,

and the rest of us

wouldn't be able to see it,

because you can't see angels.

But I believe the New Testament teaches

that there are angels present.

When we sing God's praises,

I mean, part of it,

when that hymn says,

tune our hearts to sing your praise,

it's partially tune our hearts

to be like angels,

who love you and obey you,

to sing in harmony

with the praises of the angels.

I think that's a wonderful image,

and it's a New Testament image.

So it's not at all odd

that only Paul would see Jesus,

and only Paul would hear Jesus talk to him.

But some people might say,

George, okay, that doesn't make any sense.

You know, I sort of can get it

that if there is a being like an angel,

or if there is something like a resurrection,

I can sort of get it

in fact, if you think about it,

for those of you who read

science fiction novels or fantasy novels,

this idea of having some type of a way

to cloak your visibility to others

and choose who can see you,

it's a very common theme

in science fiction and fantasy novels.

It's not a stretch

if you're open to thinking about it.

But, George, isn't it far more likely

that what's really going on here

is that Paul has just had,

well, in fact, many people think

he's had like an epileptic fit

or something like that,

but that's, there's no,

nobody can seriously look

at the historical knowledge

we have of Saul

and think that he was mentally ill.

People who say that

are just plain games.

All they have to do

is walk around outside of our church

for five minutes

and see many mentally ill people

and know that that does not describe Saul,

just doesn't describe Saul.

So, but the other thing is,

many people say,

well, it's just a vision.

And one of the things

which is so cool

about Luke's history

is that Luke,

it's almost as if Luke

anticipates that objection

and even more importantly

that God anticipates the objection

and so does something

to mess with our thinking

or actually to help us

to think straight.

Look what happens next.

Begin reading it at verse nine.

So Saul is in Damascus,

he's been led into Damascus,

verse nine,

and for three days

he, Saul,

he, Saul,

was without sight

and neither ate nor drank.

Now there was a disciple

at Damascus named Ananias

and the Lord said to him

in a vision,

notice that,

in a vision,

Ananias.

And Ananias said,

here I am, Lord.

Now just sort of pause here.

In the original language,

this is a little bit like,

once again,

if you ask somebody like Ross

when he was in the military,

if he called up a lieutenant

and the lieutenant would come

and say,

here I am,

like,

reporting for duty,

sir.

And that's the same type

of idea here.

Like,

Ananias,

like,

I'm ready.

It's not just,

here I am.

Oh,

well,

it's not like,

oh yeah,

by the way,

I'm over here.

No,

no,

I'm ready.

You know,

what's your command?

And verse 11,

and the Lord said to him,

rise and go to the street

called Straight,

which I believe

is still in Damascus.

I think it's actually

one of the oldest

continuous streets

on the planet.

Although that's what

the commentary said,

I've never seen there.

But rise and go to the street

called Straight,

and at the house of Judas

look for a man

of Tarsus

named Saul.

For behold,

he is praying,

and he is seen

in a vision

a man named Ananias

come in

and lay his hands

on him

so that he might

regain his sight.

But Ananias answered,

Lord,

Lord,

I have heard

from many

about this man

and how much evil

he has done

to your saints

at Jerusalem.

And here he has

authority from

the chief priests

to bind all

who call on your name.

But the Lord

said to him,

go,

for he is a chosen

instrument of mine

to carry my name

before the Gentiles

and kings

and the children

of Israel.

For I will show him

how much he must suffer

for the sake

of my name.

Now just sort of

pause here

before we continue.

There's a couple

of things here

which are very interesting.

And the first thing,

remember I said

that it's almost

as if the triune God

anticipated our objections

and wove into the story

a way to undermine

our objections,

and Luke records it.

Because what we see here

is that Luke

understands the difference

between seeing a camel

and a vision

or seeing Jesus

and a vision.

He makes it clear

that he understands

that distinction,

that it's a valid distinction.

But what he wants

to make clear,

and it makes it even clearer

as you read through

the rest of the book of Acts

and as you read

other things,

other historical letters

from the time period,

that Paul didn't have

a vision.

He saw Jesus.

He saw the resurrected Jesus.

It wasn't a vision.

He saw him.

He saw him.

And Ananias puts right in,

by the way,

Luke says,

maybe to his,

you know,

to,

who is it that he

dedicates the book to?

I can't remember

the name right now.

Eh?

Theophilus.

Maybe he's actually

even saying to the Theophilus

after it's all written,

Theophilus was going to say,

that's so neat, Luke.

I appreciated

what you put in there

because I was going to say

that maybe it was

just a vision,

and dang it,

you wouldn't put in

that you understand

the difference

between visions

and seeing Jesus.

And that's,

and the other thing here

which is so,

just to point it out,

like one of the things

that stories do for us,

it seems like,

for instance,

in Sunday school

and other things,

you often tell kids stories,

and one of the things

that stories

from the New Testament do

is they form us

to understand ideas.

And they just do it

in the flow of the story.

So what's actually

being communicated here,

which is very important,

because a lot of people have,

like people outside

the Christian faith

worry about this,

and sometimes Christians

fall prey to it.

But the worry is

that God asks us

for blind obedience,

blind trust.

Sometimes he will,

but primarily what he wants

is thoughtful obedience.

Not blind,

but thoughtful obedience.

And that's seen in the story.

God appears,

God speaks,

it's an auditory,

not a visual vision,

it's an auditory vision,

and the Jesus,

the Lord,

speaks to Ananias,

tells him,

I want you to go

and you're going to meet

this guy Saul.

And then Saul,

and then Ananias

responds back.

Now he's not being mouthy,

it's not like,

you know,

you look at maybe

some parent

dealing with their

13-year-old,

and they try to communicate

something to their

13-year-old,

and their 13-year-old

gets really mouthy

back at the parent.

But Ananias just says,

in a sense,

okay,

just time out,

Lord,

you do realize

you're sending me

to talk to this guy

who kills Christians.

Like,

you do realize

that's what you're asking me.

And in the whole flow

of the story,

when Jesus speaks

to Ananias again,

Jesus doesn't give him

a smackdown

for being mouthy,

he doesn't tell him off.

He appreciates

that it's a reasonable question,

he's counting the cost

of the decision.

And Jesus says to Ananias,

no, no,

I want you to go ahead,

and I want you to understand

that I'm actually

about to call this guy

into a mission

that means he's going

to go to all sorts

of pagan people,

he'll talk to kings,

he'll also talk

to Jewish people,

and he's also going

to suffer for the gospel,

and I want you

to know that,

and I want him

to know that.

And so what you see here

is an example

of thoughtful obedience.

It's still obedience,

but it's thoughtful.

God delights

in honest questions,

and that's what happens.

So what happens?

Actually,

one of the things

which happens next

is very,

very beautiful,

and I don't know

if any of you

have thought about it before,

but it's very beautiful,

and in some ways

it's a foretaste

of heaven

for Christians.

What happens?

Look at what happens

in verse 17.

So Ananias departed

and entered the house,

and laying his hands

on Saul,

he said,

he said,

Brother Saul.

I'll explain

why that's so significant.

Brother Saul,

the Lord Jesus

who appeared to you

on the road

by which you came

has sent me

so that you may

regain your sight

and be filled

with the Holy Spirit,

and immediately

something like scales

fell from Saul's eyes

and he regained

his sight.

Then he rose

and he was baptized

as a Christian

and taking food

he was strengthened.

Now what's so wonderful

about this story?

Ananias didn't say,

you dirty rat.

I know some of those

people you killed.

And some of those

people you killed,

I know Mary

and she still has

those scars.

He didn't say

anything like that.

He puts his hands

and we all know

how important

a touch

of affection

and respect is.

We can usually

tell the difference

between a touch

which is hostile

or manipulative

and a touch

which is an honest touch.

We crave honest touches

like this

and he touches

Saul.

And what happens

next is that

Ananias recognizes

that he and Saul

are alike.

No human being

deserves heaven.

The whole message

of the gospel

is that apart

from Christ

I am separated

from God

and I deserve

God's judgment.

And the message

of the gospel

is that Jesus'

life and his death

upon the cross

a death he didn't deserve

that that

when he dies

on the cross

the judgment

that Saul deserved

fell on Jesus.

the judgment

that Ananias deserved

fell on Jesus.

The judgment

that George

deserved

deserves

fell on Jesus.

The judgment

that Steve

deserves

fell on Jesus.

And I am made

right with God

not by anything

I have done

or can ever do

it is purely

God's grace

offered

through the finished

work of Jesus

upon the cross

that I receive

by faith alone

that I am made

right with God

and I have no

basis or claim

other than that

other than that

and so

I am equal

to Saul

I am equal

to Ananias

I am equal

to Steve

I am equal

to any brother

or sister

in Christ

that is the only

basis I have

to be received

by Christ

and Ananias

recognizes that

and here's the

wonderful thing

to help bring home

for us

the hope of heaven.

I have said

this many times

and it goes back

to a text like this

when I die

not because I am

at all special

I am not at all special

not because I am

a presbyter

it has nothing

to do with

being a presbyter

purely and utterly

by the grace

of Christ

and his finished

work upon the cross

and that Jesus

came to me

and sought me

and provided

within me

the freedom

that I could

respond

and put my

faith and trust

in him

and when I

breathe my

final breath

and then I die

and my eyes

close on this

world

my eyes

will open

in the new

heaven

and the new

earth

and God

the Father

will look

at me

and he will

smile

and he will

say George

my child

I've been

so looking

forward to

you being

here

welcome

that is

God's

initial

final word

about you

in Christ

so when we

see Ananias

laying his

hands on

Saul

and saying

brother Saul

that is a

hint

a foretaste

of those

even greater

words that

will be said

by our

father in

heaven when

he says

George my

child

welcome

Steve my

child

welcome

Ken my

child

surely my

child

welcome

now the

story

takes

an astounding

turn

and a bit

of a dark

turn

there used

to be

an organization

called Campus

for Christ

and they did

spectacular work

but I think

one of the

things that

they did

was very

weak

is that

they said

God has

a wonderful

plan for

your life

and the

problem

with that

is that

we tend

to interpret

wonderful

life by

Canadian

standards

Paul

didn't

have a

wonderful

life

at least

by Canadian

standards

let's see

what happens

this odd

turn that

happens

it continues

on in

the second

part of

verse 19

for some

days

Saul

was

with the

disciples

at Damascus

and immediately

he proclaimed

Jesus

in the

synagogue

saying

he is

the son

of God

and all

who heard

him were

amazed

and said

is not

this the

man

who made

havoc

in Jerusalem

of those

who called

upon

this name

and has

he not

come here

for this

purpose

to bring

them bound

before the

chief

priests

but Saul

increased

all the

more in

strength

and confounded

the Jewish

people who

lived in

Damascus

by proving

that Jesus

was the

Christ

and when

many days

had passed

some of

the Jewish

people there

plotted to

kill Saul

but their

plot became

known to him

they were

watching the

gates day and

night in

order to

kill him

but his

disciples took

him by

night and

led him

down through

the opening

in the wall

lowering him

in a basket

you see this

profound irony

here that the

man who wanted

to go to

Jerusalem to

kill Christians

becomes a

Christian and

now in some

ways the

passions which

he has

inflamed are

now turned

against him

and people

want to kill

him and it

continues on

in that

vein

look what

happens

next

verse 26

and when

he had

come to

Jerusalem

he attempted

to join

the disciples

they were

all afraid

of him

for they

did not

believe that

he was a

disciple

but Barnabas

took Saul

and brought

him to the

apostles

and declared

to them

how on the

road Saul

had seen

the Lord

who spoke

to him

and how

at Damascus

he had

preached

boldly in

the name

of Jesus

so Saul

went in

and out

among them

at Jerusalem

preaching boldly

in the name

of the Lord

and Saul

spoke and

disputed against

the Hellenists

by the way

the Hellenists

were the same

group that

were responsible

for the death

of Stephen

isn't this

just so

remarkable

that Saul

when he comes

to Jerusalem

goes to the

same people

to share the

gospel

see one

of the

things

when we

pray for

persecuted

Christians

one of the

things that

Christians

should pray

and it

comes from

this

we pray

that the

God

the

persecutors

will stop

persecuting

but we also

have to pray

for their

conversion

because that's

the most

important thing

and then

it goes on

so he

verse 29

and he spoke

and disputed

against the

Hellenists

but they were

seeking to

kill him

and when the

brothers learned

this they

brought him

down to

Caesarea

and sent him

off to

Tarsus

now just

a couple

of things

to wrap

things up

see so

once again

why is it

that we

believe that

the historical

evidence is

that there's

good solid

historical evidence

that Jesus

really rose

from the dead

this adds

to it

Saul at

any point

in time

could have

Saul

in a sense

from an

earthly point

of view

left everything

once Jesus

appeared to

him alive

and he

becomes a

Christian

if you

ask

many

Jewish

well not

a lot

of Jewish

people

aren't that

informed

about their

tradition

but if you

go to the

synagogues

and talk

to the

rabbis

the name

of Gamaliel

is still

well known

amongst

Jewish

people

as being

one of

the greatest

teachers

of law

who ever

lived

and that

was

Saul's

mentor

but now

he loses

his mentor

he loses

his social

standing

people are

trying to

kill him

and he

will end up

being shipwrecked

and beaten

and stoned

and all

sorts of

types of

things

and in

every

all of

these

things

it could

have

all

ended

he could

have

regained

his status

by just

saying

ha ha ha

okay

whoa whoa

whoa whoa

whoa

got ya

no

Jesus

didn't

Jesus

still die

Jesus

still

dead

I didn't

see him

just joking

just messing

with you

ha ha ha

he just

had to

say that

and his

life

could go

back

but he

doesn't

say that

he says

the grave

is empty

Jesus

is alive

I've seen

him

I've seen

him

you want

to kill

me

kill me

if you

want

I've seen

him

we have

all sorts

of people

we have

death cults

all over

the place

where people

die for

causes

as I've

said

before

people

don't die

for a

fact

very rarely

Saul

will

eventually

die

for a

fact

it's

true

it

happened

but

some

might

say

why

on earth

would

anybody

want

to

become

a

Christian

if

all

that's

going

to

happen

is

that

God

doesn't

have

a

better

plan

for

your

life

and

in

fact

George

do you

realize

what

would

happen

if

I

became

a

Christian

in

Ottawa

today

and

it

got

out

that

I

was

a

Christian

like

I

don't

think

my

life

would

be

better

I

think

my

life

would

be

worse

like

for

a

lot

of

us

George

in

a

place

like

Ottawa

like

a

lot

of

people

they

see

Christians

as

the

problem

they

see

Christians

as

the

bad

guy

they

see

us

as

being

haters

not

lovers

like

why

would

anybody

become

a

Christian

well

part

of

the

answer

is

I

mean

part

of

it

you

should

only

become

a

Christian

bad

me

now

Saul

is

persecuting

Christians

but

Jesus

doesn't

say

why

are

you

persecuting

Christians

he

says

why

are

you

persecuting

me

and

in

verse

five

Saul

says

who

are

you

Lord

and

the

Lord

says

I

am

Jesus

whom

you

are

persecuting

what

this

text

is

telling

us

you

know

I've

already

shared

that

what

let

Ananias

what

Ananias

realized

when he

prayed

for

Saul

was

that

he

and

Saul

were

the

same

in

the

sense

that

they

like

me

are

completely

dependent

upon

the

judgment

that

I

deserve

fell

on

Jesus

so

that

the

life

that

he

deserved

could

be

given

to

me

but

then

when

we

give

our

lives

to

Christ

when

Christ

comes

to

us

and

presents

himself

in a

spiritual

sense

or his

presence

to us

and we

you know

that you

partly in

some ways

and you see

this with

Saul

partly what it

means to

become a

Christian

is you

say to

Jesus

I surrender

like you

turn to

him

and you

say I'm

going to

stop running

I'm going to

stop fighting

you

I'm going to

stop hating

you

I'm going to

stop raging

you

I'm going to

stop ignoring

you

I surrender

I'm yours

and that's

what the

Christian life

is about

in terms

of growing

I surrender

the beautiful

hymn

I surrender

all

that's how

you begin

conversion

and that's

how you

grow in

conversion

I surrender

all

but then

Jesus

becomes so

closely

identified

with you

that you

are so

in him

that if

I get

persecuted

because I

am a

Christian

those people

who are

persecuting

me are

not just

persecuting

me

they are

persecuting

Jesus

himself

that's

how closely

identified

he is

with me

I am

not alone

I am

always

with

Jesus

and I

am

in

Jesus

I

forget

that

and I

try to

sometimes

hide

that

or

reject

that

when I

want to

do

something

which I

know

is

wrong

but

that's

how

closely

he

has

identified

with

me

and

he

has

taken

me

into

himself

so

that

he

can

say

when

you

saw

have

been

persecuting

Christians

these

Christians

are so

closely

connected

to me

and are

actually

in me

that

you're

actually

persecuting

me

I'll

leave

you

with

a

story

some

of

you

are

familiar

with

the

person

Corrie

Tenboom

if

you

haven't

read

her

book

The

Hiding

Place

you

should

find

it

you

should

read

it

it's

a

very

beautiful

book

Corrie

Tenboom

with her

sister

and her

dad

were

Dutch

Christians

when

the

Nazis

invaded

Holland

and

out of

their

love

and

obedience

to

Christ

they

hid

Jews

and

after

they'd

been

hiding

Jews

from

the

Nazis

who

wanted

to

kill

them

a

neighbor

a

neighbor

ratted

them

out

and

the

Nazis

came

and

captured

the

Jews

and

in

anger

threw

not

only

the

Jewish

people

into

the

concentration

camps

but

Corrie

Tenboom

and her

sister

and her

dad

all

went

to

the

concentration

camps

and

while

in

the

concentration

camps

her

father

and

her

sister

died

but

Corrie

Tenboom

by

God's

grace

survived

and

in fact

actually

lived

quite a

long

life

and

there's

a

wonderful

story

later

on

when

somebody

said

this

God

that

you

worship

that

you

think

is

so

powerful

why

don't

you

think

it's

quite

likely

that

one

day

he

will

forget

about

you

and

you

will

in a

sense

fall

between

his

fingers

and

he'll

just

leave

you

because

you

know

you

just

slip

between

his

fingers

and

Corrie

Tenboom

looked

at the

person

and

said