Saul's Conversion: Aggressor to Apostle

But Saul, still breathing threats and murder against the

disciples of the Lord, went to the high priest and asked him

for letters to the synagogues at Damascus, so that if he found

any belonging to the way men or women, he might bring them bound

to Jerusalem. Now as he went on his way, he

approached Damascus, and suddenly a light from heaven

shone around him, and falling to the ground he heard a voice

saying to him, Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting me?

And he said, Who are you, Lord? And he said, I am Jesus, I am

who you are persecuting. But rise and enter the city, and

you will be told what you are to do.

The men who were traveling with him stood speechless, hearing

the voice, but seeing no one. Saul rose from the ground, and

although his eyes were opened, he saw nothing.

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

And for three days he was at he was without sight, and neither

ate nor drank. Now there was a disciple at

Damascus named Anias. And the Lord said to him in a

vision, Anias. And he said, Here I am Lord.

And the Lord said to him, Rise and go to the street, call

straight, and at the House of Judas look for a man of Tarsus

named Saul. For behold, he is praying, and

he has seen in a vision a man named Anais come in and lay his

hands on him, so that he may he might regain his sight.

But Anais answered, Lord, I have heard from many about this man,

how much evil he has done to your Saints at Jerusalem, and

here he has authority from the chief priests to buy all who

call on your name. But the Lord said to him, Go,

for he is the 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.

So when I was departed and entered the house, and laying

his hands on him, he said, 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 his eyes, and he regained his sight.

Then he rose and was baptized, and taking food he was

strengthened. For some days he was with

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, Is not

this the man who made havoc in Jerusalem of those who called

upon his 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

Jews who lived in Damascus by proving that Jesus was the

Christ. When many days had passed, the

Jews plotted to kill him, but their plot became known to Saul.

They were watching the gates day and night in order to kill him.

But his disciples took him by night and let him, let him down

through an opening in the wall, lowering him in a basket.

And when he had come to Jerusalem he attempted to join

the disciples, and they were all afraid of him, for they did not

believe that he was a disciple. But Benarbis took him, took him

and brought him to the apostles, and declared to them how on the

road he had seen the Lord who spoke to him, and how at

Damascus he had preached boldly in the name of Jesus.

So he went in and out among them at Jerusalem, preaching boldly

in the name of the Lord. 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.

So the church throughout all Judea and Galilee and Samaria

had peace, and was being built up and walking in the fear of

the Lord, and in the comfort of the Holy Spirit.

It multiplied. This is the word of the Lord.

Well, good morning. My name is John.

I'm one of the pastors here. So glad you could be with us

today to get us started. I want to, I want you to think

about a time when you were wrong.

Now, I know that that could be uncomfortable to even admit,

much less like, think about and dwell on, right?

But hang with me for just a second, all right?

Think about a a time where you were just not kind of wrong, but

dead wrong. Like really, really wrong.

You know what I mean? So wrong you couldn't have hoped

have been right, right? That that's the time we look at

you got that in your head. All right, you got it now.

Good. Now, could anyone have convinced

you that you were wrong at that moment?

What did it take to convince you?

Think about that for a second. Some of us, you know, maybe we

could have been convinced. Me.

Nah, Nah, you couldn't have convinced me.

I, I, I can be so convinced that I am right about something and

just be completely and utterly wrong, right?

We all can. You know, I've seen this happen

with me on the Scrabble board with spelling of a word right at

the dinner table when talking about the truthfulness of a

historical fact, even right, or simply cultural terms that I've

gotten wrong. Right.

Has anyone ever heard the term hunky Dory?

Yeah. Yeah.

OK. Hunky Dory.

Hang with that for a second. It means, you know, things are

good, right? OK.

Going great. Well, growing up, my mom would

use a different term. She would say hunky donkey,

hunky donkey. So all the way up into my

teenage years, I thought the phrase was hunky donkey.

Yeah. I was completely convinced

because my mom uses it. It was historically all I knew.

But one of my friends, you know, in a loving but yet ridiculing

way, he told me he's like, there's no such thing.

It's hunky Dory. There's no such thing as hunky

donkey. And I was like, no way, no way.

No, no, absolutely not. Let me go check my mom, right?

And so I go back to my mom, and to my shock, she says the phrase

is actually hunky Dory. Shattered.

The world I lived in was shattered.

I was dead wrong. I had to open.

I had to be proven wrong and accept the reality.

See, my overconfidence in what I knew had to be confronted, had

to be confronted. So in a more significant way,

does anyone remember the device called a BlackBerry?

We got any BlackBerry users over here?

Oh, OK. All right.

Unexpected. Yeah.

For those, you know, for those who don't know what the

BlackBerry is, it was the very first business oriented

smartphone. It was.

It's kind of funny to call a smartphone, but it was it was

like a keyboard meets a phone. You smack that thing right on

there, right. The keyboard was the real

selling point, though. It was the main thing it did.

What it did was it allowed people to basically check their

e-mail on the go. I know that sounds so normal,

but you didn't used to be able to do that.

OK. The keyboard was a big, it was a

big innovation. It was the point of the device.

It's it's what made the phone usable for business.

OK, The keyboard was a thing and BlackBerry, they dominated the

market because of it. OK, Everybody had one of them,

right? Well, when the iPhone showed up

and it didn't have a physical keyboard, but a touch keyboard,

the makers of BlackBerry thought that's crazy, That's crazy.

Nope, no keyboard. They were just so overconfident.

They're like, that's that's silly.

Nobody's going to want that. They said no one's going to want

to type on a screen. They said they, they could not

be convinced otherwise. They would never create a

BlackBerry like an iPhone. And they dominated the market.

Well, there are no Blackberries, but iPhones are everywhere,

right? Because of their overconfidence

in the and in their market domination, they just could not

rethink things. They couldn't rethink it, right?

But they were dead wrong, and it cost them pretty much

everything. Yeah.

So our text today is yet another example of someone being

completely wrong and needing to rethink.

But often times we struggle and cannot rethink something.

We're so stuck in being right. We're overconfident, right?

We can become so prideful about it that we don't even care

what's right, right. But I'm not, you know, I'm not

used to. I'm not going to use a touch

keyboard. That's dumb, right?

I know it's the right phrase. I know what my mom told me.

I was taught that. But we're blinded and we're

stuck and we don't even know it and we have to be confronted.

So today, as we finish up the season in Acts, I want us to see

that you might be stuck, but but there is a power to rethink that

creates a different kind of future.

There is a a power to rethink that creates a different kind of

future. So we're going to take this text

in three passes, if you will. It's kind of like painting a

painting. We're going to start in the

background. We're going to move to the the

mid ground and to move to the foreground.

See what actually this text is showing us.

We're going to look at a power, a rethinking and a different

future. So a power, a rethinking and a

different future. Let's jump into it.

First, a power. Let's look at the power that

Saul is wielding. Look back at verse one, it says,

but Saul, still breathing threats and murder against the

disciples of the Lord, went to the high priest and asked him

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, I mean, you know, cuffed to Jerusalem.

See, he went to the high priest to make sure he had the

authority to round up any belonging to the way.

And this is a early term for Christians, if you're not

familiar. So Paul had the power and

authority of the religious leaders of Israel to try and rid

themselves of the way. OK, Saul was determined.

See. Notice no one asks Saul to do

this. He asked them to do this.

OK, See, Saul is entrepreneurial and utterly convinced that what

he is, what he's doing, is right.

See, All his creative energy is invested in extinguishing the

way he hopes for a better Israel without the way.

That's that's what he intends. And he intends to see that he's

driven. He has an intentional internal

motivation, A zealousness that's in him, self motivated.

He has the credentials and he intends to use them and he's

going to see this thing through. And so far, if you've been

reading along in Acts, that's what we would expect.

The story's been building up to this point, but something

happens. Something surprisingly happens.

Let's look at the next display of power.

See Saul's walking and suddenly he is surrounded by light, and a

voice speaks to him. Verse 3, it says, Now as he went

on his way, he approached Damascus.

And suddenly a light from heaven shone around him.

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

Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting me?

And he said, Who are you, Lord? And he said, I am Jesus whom you

are persecuting. But rise and enter the city and

you will be told what you are to do.

Notice the swiftness of the of this power, a flash of light, a

pronouncement that I am Jesus from a voice, a command to go to

Damascus and wait further orders.

And that's it. That's what happened.

The risen Christ speaks and things changed.

That's what happened. But notice Jesus identifies with

the people Saul's persecuting. Notice that.

See, he says, I am Jesus whom you are persecuting.

The persecution of Christians the way is the same as

persecuting Jesus himself. See, Saul's getting a really

quick but profound theology lesson here that would mark him

for the rest of his life. See, Jesus is the head of the

body, and the body is his people.

Jesus is united to his people. To persecute them is to

persecute Him. See, friends and faith family,

if you are in Christ, you are united to Jesus in very deep and

profound way, so much so that to mess with you is to mess with

Him. But let's keep going.

Verse 7 says the men who were traveling with him stood

speechless, hearing the voice, but seeing no one.

And Saul rose from the ground and although his eyes were

opened, he saw nothing. See, Saul was blind after the

experience. The the play on words and the

irony here are really, really thick and I think intentional.

See, now Luke says although his eyes were open, he saw nothing.

Now Luke is mostly, he's mostly describing that he had his eyes

physically open, but he didn't see anything.

OK, but the irony of what was happening is there too.

A man blinded to the way and persecuted Jesus and his people.

And his people can now see the reality of Jesus, but now he

cannot see anything else. He's sober, but now blind.

You see how ironic that is? See what we see here is a power

that stops this driven, entrepreneurial, conviction

filled man in his tracks. And in an instant things are

over. He's confronted with the king.

See, I've always thought like that.

Saul's question was interesting. He says, who are you Lord?

Why did he say that? See, Saul understands power.

That's why he got the letters from the high priest in the 1st

place. He gets power he's confronted

with a a voice of power and he rightly asked who are you Lord

he he understood that he was in the presence of power.

OK, see another accounts actually saw and actually

further down in Acts Saul indicates that he actually saw

the risen Christ. He didn't just hear a voice, he

saw him. He saw Jesus in this account.

He writes later on in first Corinthians 15/8.

It says last of all this is Saul writing as as to 1 untimely

born. He appeared also to me.

It took a power demonstrated through Christ appearing in

blindness to stop him. Think about it took a lot.

This was a world shattering moment for Saul, an encounter

with the living God that reorients him to reality.

It wakes him up. It causes him to stop.

It sobers him to what's real. But that's not all that

happened, right? Look at the next demonstration

of power. The Lord appears in a vision to

Ananias and he tells him to go find him and lay hands on him so

that he might regain his sight. Right?

Ananias didn't want to go at 1st and we'll talk more about that

in a minute, but he goes and here's what the text says.

Verse 17 said So Ananias departed and entered the house

and laying his hands on him, he said, 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 his eyes and he regained his sight.

And then he rose and was baptized and taking food.

He was strengthened. Imagine this.

Imagine the scene Ananias shows up to the Random House.

You've never been there. It's a Random House because the

Lord told him to go. It's for some and it.

And on top of that, he's actually going to meet someone

who would normally cuff him and take him to prison.

But trusting the Lord, he simply declares that the Lord sent him.

He walks in there and he just does what he's told to do.

He even calls him brother at this point.

We'll talk more about that in a second.

But Ananias probably just put his hands gently on his, on his

shoulders, on his head, because he's, you know, he's sitting

down. He's blind, so you can't see

anything. So he's sitting down and

something like scales falls. And Saul blinks his eyes, if you

can imagine that. And he stands up and he seeks

baptism. This is the power.

This is the power beyond this world.

Flashes of light, blindness, visions, and healing.

What does it mean? What is?

What is? What is Luke saying here?

I think he's saying this salvation is an act of God's

grace. It's an act of God's grace.

Here's what I mean. Saul didn't want to be saved.

He didn't. Saul didn't think he needed to

be saved. Saul wasn't an atheist though,

he was a spare cycle Jew. See Saul was zealous for God and

did all the religious things, yet in his religiosity he was so

far from God he didn't even know it.

He didn't even know it. His prideful self righteousness

led him to imprisoning people who were loving and caring for

people just like Jesus did. That's who he's locking up.

Who is he? He's not locking up criminals,

but just simple Jesus followers. Saul was nationalistic.

Saul was religious. Saul was traditional, moral and

lawful. He was being true to himself

even, but yet he was completely wrong.

Completely wrong. He didn't want anything to do

with Jesus or the way he was actually trying to stamp it out.

It was quite the opposite. Now you may not be trying to

stamp out Christianity, but but friends, is that you?

Do you see something similar in yourself?

Even if it is, we see a power here in this text that overcomes

all of it. Why?

Because God grabbed him. God grabbed him.

He can grab you as well. See, things can change because

God's grace is powerful. It's powerful.

So this means no one is too far gone for God's grace.

No one is too power prideful for God's grace.

God has the power to stop and grab us.

He can say Nope, Nah, you're going this way now.

He grabbed Saul on the road, Damascus on Damascus Rd.

It wasn't based on anything that Saul had done.

Actually it was in spite of what he's doing.

Friends, you don't do good works to make things right between you

and God. Look at Saul, he was trying to

do good things and ended up being so far off.

You don't even necessarily have to be interested.

Saul wasn't interested, but yet he finds you fake family.

You may think you found God, but I promise you, I promise you he

found you. He found you.

Maybe you feel as if you're you're not that bad.

Neither did Saul, but he didn't measure up.

But I assure you he was the real deal.

If you look further into his bio as a Jewish religious up and

Comer, he was crushing it. He was crushing it.

Yet in the Kingdom of God, it doesn't matter because entrances

of the Kingdom is by grace. That's what he learned today.

Jesus grabbed him because salvation is an act of God's

unmerited grace. It's something you don't

deserve. See, Saul was never stopping.

He was never stopping. He wasn't.

He was determined. He took it took God's power to

change things. The first thing he does is

confront us in our wrongness. That's the first thing he does

here, and that's what he's going to do with each and every one of

us. The whole road to Damascus

experience was a confrontation of Saul in his sin and failure.

OK. When the gospel comes to us, it

first confronts us in our sinfulness.

It's stingingly hits our pride, right?

Saul had heard of Jesus. He had.

That's the whole point of him persecuting them, right?

See, Saul was there. He was there when Stephen spoke

and gave his little spill, and then he held the coats of those

who killed him. See, Saul had heard the gospel.

He knew what the way was, and he just could not rethink Jesus.

He couldn't do it in his pride. He was not willing to reconsider

that the God of Israel was doing something unexpected that he

was. Doing something new.

He just couldn't get there. His pride produced an

overconfidence that led to the conviction that he had to be

right, that Jesus couldn't be who he claimed to be.

This triggered a what's called a confirmation bias where like he

interprets everything that was happening to support his

existing beliefs. A man died right in front of him

with the same compassion as Jesus and he and he just

couldn't see it. The man said, do not hold this

against him, just like Jesus did, But Paul couldn't see it.

His desire, his desirability, biases, they they pushed him to

favor information that reinforces what he wanted to be

true, which then further validates his convictions and

keeps him from ever considering Jesus.

He could not be convinced. The cycle of overconfidence

could not be broken. It could not be broken.

The gospel, the good news of Jesus Christ, starts with some

very, very bad news for us. You have to have bad news before

there's good news, OK? You and I, although created in

God's image, want nothing to do with him.

We want to live apart from Him. Or if we pursue some sort of

religious life, it's usually just to use God to get what we

want. So either we don't want him or

we want to use Him to get to make the life that we always

wanted. It's like, it's like we throw up

prayers to hit God, like a pinata to get candy to fall out.

That's what we want. The bad news is that there is no

way out of this predicament on our own.

See, we are stuck in our own overconfidence.

We can't see and apart from God's grace, that is all of us,

every single person on planet earth who's ever lived.

But God's grace has the power to confront and breakthrough

because God aims at the heart. He aims at the heart.

The source of our confirmation and desirability biases is

pride. It's pride.

It's a heart issue. Our problem and Saul's problem

wasn't information or education. Let me say that one more time.

Saul's problem was not information.

It was not education. He's not dumb, right?

He didn't. It's not that he didn't have the

the knowledge, it's desires. It's what he wants.

The problem is the heart. Jesus loves Saul by confronting

him in his pride and breaking through his biases and it opens

the door to rethinking. So let's take a look at

rethinking. While it it cannot be overstated

that encountering the risen Christ on a Damascus Rd. would

just be amazing and I'm here for it.

I'm all about it. I, I can't tell how many times

as a, as a new believer, I would sit here and read this text and

it's like, man, Jesus, would you do that?

You know, it's amazing. And I long for the day, hear me,

hear me. I long for the day to see Jesus

face to face. I long for that day but Jesus

confronts Saul for a reason and does something amazing in his

life and that is what the point is.

OK so at the beginning of the text it said this if you

remember verse one. But Saul still breathing threats

and murder against the disciples of the Lord, he was fixed in his

position. We've made that case, right?

And thoughts about Jesus and his people.

But then everything happens, All the stuff, the confrontation

with Jesus and then the blindness.

But notice what verse 9 says. We kind of breezed over that a

minute ago. Verse 9, Look back there.

And for three days, let that sit in.

For three days he was without sight and neither ate nor drank.

So for three days, Saul sat in the dark.

He sat in the dark. Can you imagine how traumatic

the whole thing must have really been if you really think about

that? And walking down the road, flash

the light voice. I can't see it anymore.

He was confronted with his, you know, for three days, he had the

space to basically think and reflect about what happened.

See, Jesus was exactly who the disciples said he was.

He knew in that moment, but now he had the space to think about

it. For three days he was confronted

with his own pride. He had to undergo a death.

Even I wonder if if he recounted what Stephen said before he was

killed, Sitting there staring Into Darkness, with only his

thoughts to occupy him, nothing else.

He could do that, and some dude was supposed to come and heal

him. He has his vision, right?

But I wonder if he finally began to rethink everything.

See Adam Grant, an organizational psychologist.

He says this. He says confirmation bias is

twisting the facts to fit your beliefs.

You twist the facts to fit your beliefs, but critical thinking

is bending your beliefs to fit the facts.

OK, I wonder if that is what was happening in Saul's head.

He was rethinking to bend his beliefs to fit the facts that

had confronted him. OK, the very thing he would not

do and could not do before the Damascus Rd. is now what he's

doing. Grant also says this.

He just has put this very specifically.

He says seeking the truth is not about validating the story in

your head. Let me say that again.

Seeking the truth is not about validating the story in your

head. It's about rigorously vetting

and accepting the story that matches the reality in the

world. OK?

Saul was confronted with reality.

Jesus has risen. See the resurrection validates

all the claims of Jesus and solidifies the reality that he

is the God, man who is king. He is the Christ, the chosen 1

the Messiah. All those mean the same thing.

He had the power to blind Saul. He was.

He was who they said he was. He was confronted with that

reality and he had to square that of the way he thought.

But what did what did, what had to happen in Saul's heart was a

change from pride to humility. He had to be humble enough to

rethink it all. That's a prerequisite.

See the $1,000,000 question, though, is this.

Can we bring ourselves to humility?

Can we bring ourselves? Can can we work our way out of

our own pride? Can humans practice their way

into humility? That's the question.

And on the one hand, there is an ability to stay, to stay curious

and be open to being wrong. We can't invite dissenting

opinions and push ourselves to rethink assumptions.

But it's still all assuming that we can accept that we could be

wrong. See, there's an assumption made

by thinkers like Adam Graham, who I just quoted, that assumes

that we would want to rethink. And the reality is we don't.

Saul is prideful, but on the one hand, I just don't think we

could bring, he couldn't bring himself to rethink.

He couldn't do it. I don't think he could have

humbled himself. He needed something outside

himself. He needed God's grace.

And that's why there was a Damascus road to experience to

begin with. So no, we cannot humble

ourselves. Grant is right and seeing our

need for humility, but apart from grace, the humility we need

won't be there. Essentially, especially with the

things of God. You just can't make your, your

yourself humble. See, God's grace comes to it, to

him, that is to Saul. And then the rethinking comes.

If there's an order to it, God's grace, then rethinking.

He needs a power outside themselves.

Friends, you may be here and and you need to rethink Jesus.

You need to rethink Jesus just like Saul.

The only way that happens is by God's grace, the blinders have

to be removed, the scales have to fall off, saw is confronted

and, and, and that basically smacked the pride right out of

them for some of us. It's not a Damascus Rd.

experience, like it's not flash of light and all the things, but

it's sometimes it's quite ordinary, but it's still God's

grace working in your life. OK, See, I heard, I heard a

testimony recently of this one lady the other day.

And she lived in New York City when 911 happened.

OK, she actually worked across the street from the the towers

themselves, but she went into work later that day.

And basically in the aftermath of all that, she, she realized

how shallow her life was and even the goals for her life, she

realized how shallow they were. And she decided to check out a

church soon after that, she didn't know what else to do.

She just, she went into the service and she sat there and

she listened to the pastor. And now she had historically

struggled with the idea of the crucifixion, that Jesus would

actually die, that would die and God would actually want him to

die. But that day she finally gave

things another hearing. She rethought it and she

listened and the Lord showed her, showed her that day that

the crucifixion, it was for her that Jesus had stepped in her

place for her sin. He had substituted themselves.

And the Lord did something amazing.

He opened her heart through that sermon and grabbed her just like

Saul, just sitting in a service. That's how it happened for her.

While it doesn't have to be in a church service, that's how it

happens for anyone who has been saved from their sin through

repentance of faith in Jesus Christ.

This is what God does. What we get is an extraordinary

example of what God does for all who are who believe.

See, Saul didn't sign up to be a part of a community.

He didn't. Saul wasn't looking for a place

to belong. He already had his people.

OK, but God grabbed him. God grabbed him.

See, Saul was humble and re evaluated.

There was a willingness there after the blindness and all the

stuff that that there wasn't there before and God put it

there for three days of darkness.

He repented and put the pieces together.

And then verse 19 happens. So look back at verse 19.

For some days he was with the disciples at Damascus and

immediately he 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 his name?

And has he not come here for this purpose, to bring them

bound for the chief priest? But Saul increased all the more

in strength and confounded the Jews who lived in Damascus by

proving, proving that Jesus was the Christ.

Saul not only rethought, he realized that if Jesus is the

Son of God and he is the Christ, others must know what he was

unwilling to know. They must be confronted just as

he was, and that's what he did. See, maybe you're here and you

are in the process of rethinking some things.

Well, welcome. Christianity wasn't it's, it's

not about checking your brain at the door.

It's not following Jesus King involves our whole selves,

including our minds. God calls people everywhere to

rethink, or the Bible's word for it.

Repent and trust in Jesus If you're here and you're

rethinking things, let's talk more, please.

Let's grab a coffee, a doughnut, a lunch, whatever.

Let's just discuss and let's keep looking into these things.

Let's talk through it but it but faith family as we are are

faithful with our relationships. Hear me, faith, family, as we

are faithful in our relationships to confront others

and to rethink Jesus, realize it takes humility from God for it

to happen, OK? We need God to move.

So when we pray this week, ask Him to give others eyes to see

and ears to hear. It will not happen.

Apart from that, it won't see. All right, so we've seen the

power. We've seen the rethinking.

Now let's look at the different future God creates, OK?

When grace humbles us, it doesn't leave us where we are,

see? It sends us to a different

future. That's beautiful.

See, when Saul woke up that day, he, he imagined things going

quite differently. His day wasn't supposed to work

out this way. He had a different life plan.

He had a fair saical career budding, all thanks to the

rising of the way. And he was see, and you know, he

was seeking to squash that out and he had and that that was

his, that was his deal. That's what the plan was.

And in no way, shape or form did he think he would go from a a

hunter of Christians to being hunted by people like him.

But that's what happened. See the miracle of this story is

that God took an enemy and made him a brother.

Saul's reputation was widely known among all those who

followed the way that is Christians.

See, look back at what Ananias said.

We we breezed past it earlier. Verse 13, it said, but Ananias

answered, Lord, I have heard from many about this man, how

much evil he has done to your Saints at Jerusalem.

And here he has authority from the chief priest to bind all who

call your name. And then look further down at

look at what the people said when he sought to share the

Gospel for the first time publicly.

He said, verse 21. 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 priest? See, Saul made a name for

himself and people were completely thrown off by him

proclaiming Jesus. They were like, wait, what?

What is he saying? See, the Jewish leaders began to

to wise up to the fact that Saul was no longer locking up

Christians. He was one, right?

So they decided they had better get rid of this guy.

Like, whoa, this ain't this ain't going the way we we

planned. So they plotted.

They had a plan to kill him. It's funny how things quickly

changed for him, right? So they lowered him in a basket

that his disciples through the wall so he could escape.

And then he goes to Jerusalem, and you think, Oh, OK, Verse 26

He says, And when he had come to Jerusalem, he attempted to join

the disciples, and they were all afraid of him, for they did not

believe that he was a disciple. But Barnabas took him and

brought him to the apostles, and declared to them how on the road

he had seen the Lord who spoke to him, and how at Damascus he

had preached boldly in the name of Jesus.

Verse 28. So he went in and out among them

at Jerusalem, preaching boldly in the name of the Lord.

And he spoke and disputed against the Hellenist, but they

were seeking to kill him. And when the other others

learned this, they brought him down to Caesarea and send them

off to Tarsus. Saul had a reputation that is,

it seemed impossible that that It seemed impossible that him

being a Christ follower was even true.

They thought he must be a spy or something, trying a tactic to

get them to trust him. I would have thought that they

thought he was Kanye basically, but we won't get in that.

But this isn't. This isn't the future that he

had planned. He went from being in power with

the religious elites to being on the run from hunter to haunted.

But there are two things that we need to see here in this future

that that that God had for him. We and that we learn about the

power of the gospel in this narrative that that the the the

future creates. The first one is this the gospel

makes enemies brothers. Notice that Ananias call Saul

brother. OK, that's significant.

Also notice the believers in Damascus.

The believers in Damascus, they hide him and help him to escape.

You see that? Notice that Barnabas stands up

for Saul and gives witness to everyone that he's legit.

Notice how they accept Saul into the community.

Notice that how that happens is the fact that the gospel makes

us family. In Christ.

We are united to one another. We have a bond that transcends

in any sports, team, nationality or shared experience.

It's it's why I can go to the jungles of Peru and sit across

from a brother who doesn't even speak the same language as me.

We can't communicate, but I feel a closeness to him that is

spiritual. The gospel makes people brothers

and sisters. Take Port City for example.

There are people in this church who would probably not be

friends if it were not for Jesus.

No offense to anybody, but Jesus unites us.

We're different like, but we probably would have been

friends. But Jesus has made us so.

He's made us more than that. He's united us together as a

family. So although Saul goes from

hunter to haunted, he is graciously embraced by other

believers. Why?

Because they knew that entrance is by grace and not merits.

But there's something else that the gospel does to to people

that made this possible. There's a second thing.

So it makes enemies into brothers.

The second thing is the gospel makes oppressors.

Advocates, don't miss this one. This is actually the foreground.

This is actually what Luke is trying to hone in and get us to

see. OK, if Saul had not had an

inward transformation, check this.

If he had not had an inward transformation, he would have

turned all his entrepreneurial zeal and rage to a new target

called non Christians who'd have done the same thing, just a

different team. But that's not what happened.

He didn't just take one thing and replace another.

No, that's not what happened. God took an impressor and filled

him with grace, compassion, love, patience, and made him an

advocate. Saul advocated to the Jewish

community what he had had not, what he had not seen himself,

and compelled them to trust Christ.

He appealed to them as if he were them because he was them.

He has compassion on them because if not for the grace of

God, he would be them. Do you understand that?

He became their advocate. But he doesn't just advocate for

Jews, He advocates for Christians.

To Jews, see, only the gospel. Only the gospel can take

oppressors and include them in a different future.

Only the gospel can do that. Think about this profound thing.

What I'm saying is this is crazy apart from God's grace.

See, think about the people who are letting them, letting him

into their community. Think about that for a minute.

Can you imagine for a moment Saul was their biggest fear and

became their biggest advocate and champion of the gospel?

Does your philosophical like of your philosophy of life include

a category for your greatest enemies becoming a part of your

close knit community? Is that how you imagine your

life to be? Do you have categories for the

white supremacist becoming your best friend?

Do you? Could you?

Could you imagine a former Nazi joining you for Thanksgiving?

Could you? Could the people who murdered

your family become a welcomed confidant?

Do do you have a version of the future that that any of this is

possible? But that is the power of the

gospel and that is what has transpired in the life of of

Saul in the early church. It's astounding.

Don't miss that. That's what's happened.

The oppressor has become advocate.

If you just step back and pause for a minute, the wildness can

set in for you. You may not envision a future

where your oppressors become a part of of our faith family, but

God does. This is what he has in mind.

See, the gospel has the power to make oppressors friends and it

is the only thing, the only thing that will actually keep us

from becoming oppressors ourselves.

See, isn't it not fascinating that Saul does not become an

oppressor of non Christians? He doesn't.

The heart that drove him to be an oppressor had changed.

See, the gospel of Jesus Christ is the only thing that keeps us

from being oppressors ourselves. See, Saul does not turn into an

oppressor of non Christians because of the grace that was

extended to him. And remembering the grace of

Jesus showed up on him that day. He could.

How could he turn around and oppress others ever again?

He couldn't. In fact, he will ultimately die

at the hands of people just like him.

See, the oppressor was destined to become the oppressed he was.

See, Jesus promises this to him. Look back at verse 15.

But the Lord said to him, he's talking to Ananias, 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 side note.

If you think a future with Jesus, as always, wealth and

prosperity, look at Jesus promise to Saul.

He was going to suffer. And that was God's plan for his

life. That was his plan.

You might not be able to handle that right now, but realize Saul

considered it all a joy to suffer for the sake of Christ.

But why? Why would he just like, yeah,

I'm good with it because he knew he didn't deserve an ounce of

mercy or grace, but he was swimming in it.

He was swimming in it. See, he was no longer an

oppressor but contended for the hearts of others.

And I think it's because of this.

Like, I'm going to quote something else to you from me

that he wrote in Galatians 220. It says I have been crucified

with Christ. This is Saul.

It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me and the

life I now live in the flesh by faith in the Son of God who

loved me and gave himself for me.

See, Jesus loved him when he was at his lowest point.

He loved him even though he was the worst of sinners because he

he persecuted the church. He never forgot those three days

of darkness. In fact, they shaped the rest of

his entire life, shaped his entire life.

This was a radically different future than Saul had in mind.

But there's one last thing I want us to see and then we're

done. Now you may have been taught,

you may have been taught that he changed his name to Paul, OK,

But more than likely he probably already had the name Paul.

But he went by Saul, OK? You see, he was a Jew from

Tarsus, which was a Roman city. Saul was a Roman citizen by

birth. He walked in two worlds.

He walked in two worlds. Saul was his Hebrew name, you

know, catch that? It's his Hebrew name.

And Paul was his Greek name. And later on in Acts, it is

mentioned that he was also called Paul.

And then from there on, Luke just refers to him as Paul, and

so does the entire New Testament and himself.

So who could blame him though, after the reputation he had and

the fact that people wanted to kill him, right?

Time for a name change, right? But the remarkable thing is that

Saul, now going by Paul, was already a man of two worlds.

He had two names. See, Jesus had every intention

of using Paul to take the gospel to Gentiles.

See, Paul was perfect for this task.

Paul didn't didn't stop being himself.

Paul is still a driven entrepreneur.

Young guy he was. And when Christ saves us, we're

still us. Everything just gets reframed,

OK, just like Paul's life. See, Paul becomes a missionary

church planner in urban context throughout the Roman Empire, and

he goes on to write most of the New Testament.

But faith, family, we got a real something.

When God grabbed you, you didn't stop being you, OK?

You didn't. So there are things, there are

unique things that the Lord intends to reframe in your life

for His Kingdom. You didn't stop being you.

He still wants to use you just as you are.

And I don't know how He's going to do that, but all of your life

becomes an opportunity to make much of the one who has been has

made you and saved you from your sin.

See, Saul, who's now Paul, is going to go on to write one of

my favorite lines he ever wrote in First Corinthians.

He says, So whether you eat or drink, whatever you do, do all

for the glory of God. See, there is a great future

ahead for you in Christ. It will be different than what

you might think it was. And that's OK because in Christ

there's a new power to rethink everything.

And it creates a different future that God has in mind.

See, God's grace has the power to confront our pride and it and

it enables us to rethink and it creates A radically different

future for us. Faith, family, this power is to

rethink is yours in Christ, and it can and should shape a

different future for you and our city.

It should. What might God do?

Imagine a city where enemies become brothers, oppressors

become advocates. We of all people should operate

from a humble, confident posture when it comes to our neighbors,

their ideas and the challenges of life.

We are to be a people that can be wrong and are wrong so many

times. We must lean into the Spirit

empowered ability to rethink. Can't be afraid to do that.

Friends, this power is available to you through repentance of

faith in Jesus. Jesus died and rose again that

you might have a new life. The question is, is would you

reconsider him? Let's pray.

Father in Heaven, I thank you for being you.

Father, I thank you for being a creative and generous God.

I thank you for showing us your power and how you redeem Saul.

Father, we are all like Saul. Father, thank you that salvation

and being reconnected to a life with you is not based on our

works, but your grace. Thank you for showing us how you

grab people. You're the sovereign Lord of all

creation and and you willed the hearts of people.

Father, I ask for those here and in our relationships, would you

grab them? Would you give them the ability

to rethink and would you create a different future for them?

Father, a future filled with surprising and creative acts of

grace that you longed to do in our great city.

Father, we beg you and we asked with all this, it's for your

real fame. Amen.