Acts 9:1–9

1 Now Saul was still breathing threats and murder against the disciples of the Lord. He went to the high priest 2 and requested letters from him to the synagogues in Damascus, so that if he found any men or women who belonged to the Way he might bring them as prisoners to Jerusalem. 3 Ash he traveled and was nearing Damascus, a light from heaven suddenly flashed around him. 4 Falling to the ground, he heard a voice saying to him, “Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting me?” 5 “Who are you, Lord?” Saul said. “I am Jesus, the one you are persecuting,” he replied. 6 “But get up and go into the city, and you will be told what you must do.” 7 The men who were traveling with him stood speechless, hearing the sound but seeing no one. 8 Saul got up from the ground, and though his eyes were open, he could see nothing. So they took him by the hand and led him into Damascus. 9 He was unable to see for three days and did not eat or drink. 10 There was a disciple in Damascus named Ananias, and the Lord said to him in a vision, “Ananias.” “Here I am, Lord,” he replied. 11 “Get up and go to the street called Straight,” the Lord said to him, “to the house of Judas, and ask for a man from Tarsus named Saul, since he is praying there. 12 In a vision he has seen a man named Ananias coming in and placing his hands on him so that he may regain his sight.” 13 “Lord,” Ananias answered, “I have heard from many people about this man, how much harm he has done to your saints in Jerusalem. 14 And he has authority here from the chief priests to arrest all who call on your name.”15 But the Lord said to him, “Go, for this man is my chosen instrument to take my name to Gentiles, kings, and Israelites. 16 I will show him how much he must suffer for my name.”17 Ananias went and entered the house. He placed his hands on him and said, “Brother Saul, the Lord Jesus, who appeared to you on the road you were traveling, has sent me so that you may regain your sight and be filled with the Holy Spirit.”18 At once something like scales fell from his eyes, and he regained his sight. Then he got up and was baptized. 19 And after taking some food, he regained his strength.

The conversion of Saul became the pivot not only on which his life turned, but on which the history of the church turned.

It was fitting that his conversion be very unique, because he’s such a unique person. By birth, he was a Jew; by citizenship, a Roman; by education, a Greek; by conversion and grace, a Christian. It’s a great evidence of the fact that God can take the crummiest of the crummy, the worst of the worst and make them the best. God is in the business of doing that.

Saul makes his first appearance in Scripture in connection with Stephen. Saul may have been one of the Hellenists who unsuccessfully debated him. When Stephen was executed, Saul guarded the robes of those involved in the stoning. There is no question as to Saul’s role in the persecution that broke out after Stephen’s death, he was its mastermind and ringleader. Many of the Hellenist believers, who apparently bore the brunt of the persecution, fled Jerusalem. As the events of this chapter unfold, Saul is hot on the trail of those who fled to Damascus.

It is very likely that this thing which occurred in confrontation with Stephen, which also probably included some kind of an argument or disputation between Saul and Stephen, which Saul lost, because it says in 6 that nobody could withstand Stephen, that this all had planted within his mind this whole problem of Christianity, which at that point he saw as heresy. And he began from Stephen on to persecute Christians.

His home was in a town called Tarsus. Tarsus is located at the corner where Asia Minor meets Syria, north of Israel. It was a very distinguished city, famous for its university. And, along with Athens and Alexandria, Tarsus ranked with the three great universities.

Saul’s father was a Roman citizen, and his father was also a Jew and a Pharisee, and so Saul could match zealous credentials with any Jew.

Saul became, from Stephen on, the leader of the persecution movement, as recorded in Acts 26:9–11. “I myself was convinced that I ought to do many things in opposing the name of Jesus of Nazareth. And I did so in Jerusalem. I not only shut up many of the saints in prison, by authority from the chief priests, but when they were put to death I cast my vote against them,” which is an indication that he was in the Sanhedrin, the fact that he could vote.

Saul is really zealous about this, he’s convinced that Christianity is heresy, that it is the defamation of the character of God and the traditions of Judaism,

There were probably 150,000 minimum people in Damascus. At least 20,000 were Jews. We know that because it wasn’t too long after this that Damascus was sacked and about 20,000 Jews were massacred. So there had to be at least that many there. So there’s a Jewish community in this place called Damascus.

And so these Christians apparently were within the framework of the synagogue, and he wanted to get rights and privileges from the high priest to go up there and sort of just go through the synagogue there and root out all the Christians. And there must have been many synagogues, incidentally, for that many Jews.

The whole place was under Roman rule. And the Romans recognized the right of the high priest within the Jewish state. And so if he had letters from the high priest to do this as a religious function, in the framework of Judaism, he then could do it. He couldn’t do it apart from that under the Roman jurisdiction.

Now, Damascus was an ancient city. It was the capital city of Syria, and it was very old. In fact, if you go back into Genesis, you’ll find that Abraham had a servant who came from Damascus, which means that Damascus predated Abraham. So it’s an old, old city, and yet it still remained, and now with a great Jewish population.

Christianity is the way. There’s only one way to God, and it’s through Jesus Christ. And Christianity became known as “the way,” and indeed it is.

Now, he wanted to bring them back to Jerusalem. They were going through some kind of legal procedure, apparently, so that they could be established as ecclesiastical offenders before the Sanhedrin. So he wanted to go to Damascus, get them and bring them back, which means he probably had really a large entourage of people going along with him to bring these prisoners back. So this whole gang is going north.

And what’s a fantastic note is this. Just think about this. To go north to Damascus, 160 miles, he’s got to go right through Samaria. Now, if you were here last week, you know what’s going on in Samaria. And if he was irritated already, you can imagine how irritated he was by the time he got through Samaria, because who had just finished going through Samaria? Philip, who was immediately followed by Peter and John. The gospel was preached all over Samaria. People were turning to Jesus Christ by the thousands. A revival was going on in Samaria. That must have really irritated him.

Saul’s Supernatural Contact

God stops him in his tracks. God always initiates the contact in salvation. It may not always be like this. But God always initiates the contact, because the natural man cannot understand God. We saw that clearly last week.

“The natural man understands not the things of God.” He doesn’t pursue God, he pursues happiness, health, wealth and peace, and finds none of them that are lasting.

You know, some people God gently calls. And some people hear the still, small voice. But there are other people who are making so much noise that God’s got to make a big deal to get their attention.

The last person until now to have seen the resurrected, glorified Christ was Stephen. It is a testimony to the power of God’s grace that the man involved in Stephen’s death would be the next to see Jesus Christ.

Acts chapter 22 and 26, record this same event, and they fill in a lot of details.

verse 7 says, “The men who journeyed with him stood,” so apparently they got back up again, “speechless.” They didn’t say anything. They heard a voice, but they couldn’t see anybody. The light was absolutely blinding. They heard a voice. Now, later on, in 22:9, it says, “They didn’t hear the words the voice said

And so these people all hit the ground when this light struck. Everybody got up, apparently, except Saul. He stops him dead in his tracks and He reveals Himself.

You say, “Well, it doesn’t say in that verse he saw Jesus.” 1 Corinthians 15, in verse 8, the apostle Paul, having listed all the people who saw Jesus after His resurrection, said this. “And
last, I myself saw Him, as one born out of due time.” 1 Corinthians, 9:1 “Am I an apostle? Have I not seen Jesus Christ?” Sure he saw Him.

verse 17. “And Ananias went his way and entered into the house, said, ‘Brother Saul.’ “The Lord, even Jesus, that appeared unto thee in the way.” Do you see? Ananias acknowledges that Jesus was there and appeared and he saw Him.

Saul’s Conviction

If there’s going to be salvation, there’s got to be conviction of sin first. Because that’s what separates men from God, sin. So sin has to be exposed.

Saul, who had been so violent, was violently brought face to face with the enormity of his crimes, not against Christians but against Christ. Those who go to hell do so ultimately because of their rejection of the Savior. Even those who don’t persecute believers, but simply live apart from Jesus Christ, are as guilty of crimes against Him as was Saul.

Jesus said the Holy Spirit would convict men “concerning sin, because they do not believe in Me” (John 16:9). The crime of all crimes for which men will be eternally damned is to refuse to love and follow the Lord Jesus Christ.

Now, he was in the right position for conversion, flat down on his life, his face. And there he was able to hear the voice of the Lord Jesus.
Saul, why are you persecuting me?

Saul had been living with a horrible conflict, believing he was doing right in persecuting Christians, and, yet, because it was wrong, he knew there was tremendous guilt in his life. “It hasn’t been easy doing this, has it? I mean, you’ve been fighting God, Saul, and it doesn’t come easy.”

Jesus says, “Why are you doing it? What did I do to you?”

People say, he’s not persecuting Jesus, he’s persecuting the Christians. You persecute the Christian, you persecute Jesus. You see, we’re inseparably tied together. No blow hit on earth goes unfelt in heaven.

That’s why Jesus is our sympathetic high priest. He is “touched with the feelings of,” our infirmities.

This is Saul’s first exposure to the inseparability of the life of a Christian and Jesus Christ his Lord. Saul is hit with the real issue. Because the real issue in every man’s life is what he does with Jesus Christ. God doesn’t say to him, Saul, you’ve been a naughty fellow, He says, Saul, your problem is You’re persecuting Jesus.

True salvation must include conviction of this damning sin, the rejecting and persecution of Jesus, since it is this very sin and no other that finally separates man from God. When Jesus confronted Saul, the conviction must have been overwhelming. He knew about the truth; here he was crushed into the dust and made to believe it.

So the issue is, what a person does with Jesus.

Saul’s Conversion

I think he’s converted somewhere in the white spaces in verse 5. Because it doesn’t really say, but verse 6 is so obviously a different guy that it’s got to be in there. And he said, “ ‘Who art Thou, Lord?’

Saul at this point had been rebelling against God. He believed that this person was dead, but here He is alive. I believe that at this point Saul knew well the Christian message. He had debated it with Stephen. He knew it. He’d chased enough Christians to hear what they had to say. You can believe he knew the gospel front to back. When he heard Jesus, he said, “Okay, I accept, I can’t fight at this level.” It is at this point that you see the conversion of Saul.

God invaded his life, He said, “I am Jesus,” because that identified Him.

Saul’s Commitment

Often people come to Jesus Christ but they never really commit everything to Christ until later, if ever. This man was saved and consecrated his life at the same moment, and that’s the only way God ever expected it to be.

Lord, what do you want me to do?’ Just tell me. I’ll do anything.” 22:10 is a recount of this narrative. Lord, here’s my life. He acknowledged the lordship of Christ. I hear people say this, and it bothers me all the time, and I hear people say, “Well, I know that He’s my Savior, but I haven’t received Him as Lord.” That is not accurate. You don’t receive Him as Lord or not receive Him as Lord. He is Lord.

Is He Lord of your life? The question is, Are you obeying Him?

You’re Lord, and I’m going to obey You. The Christian life is a battle between the will of the Lord and the will of the Christian.

The importance of a decision, especially at the crises of life. A French nobleman says: “Every man goes down to Damascus once in his life.” But how few, like Saul of Tarsus, immediately obey the heavenly vision!

Paul knew there was only one thing that was needful in his life. That was obedience.
What do you want me to do?

That’s the only question a Christian needs to ever ask the Lord every day of his life.

He says, “Arise, and go into the city.” And Saul arose from the earth. When his eyes were opened, he saw no man.” He was blind. “But they led him by the hand and brought him,” Into Damascus.”
He did exactly what He told him to do. His commitment wasn’t just verbal.

He kept saying the rest of his life, “The love of Christ constrains me. I go there because Jesus drags me there. The Lord sent me here. The Lord’s pushing me over here. The Lord drew me here.” You see. His whole life was this. He sought nothing other than what God wanted him to do.

Oh, we promise so much, and do so little.

His entry into town wasn’t quite what he had anticipated. Instead of going in like the great conquering hero, he went in like a blind lamb, being led by the hand. God had crushed him into submission.

Saul’s Communion

His conversion had happened so fast and without any prior warning that he needed to catch up with what was going on. I’ve got to think this one through.

So startling and sudden had been his placing of faith in the Savior that Saul needed time to reflect on the transformation of every aspect of his life. During his three days without sight, when he neither ate nor drank, God led him through the process of reconstructing everything he was and did. Although salvation is an instantaneous transformation from death to life, darkness to light, it takes time to reach the depths of its meaning and richness. So Saul began that process.

He had been transformed in an unbelievable fashion, and he needed time for his brain to catch up with what had happened in his soul. verse 9, and what does it say? “And he was three days without sight, neither did eat or drink.” God just stuck him some place all alone and let him have three days to catch up with what had happened.

Salvation happens in an instant, but it takes a long time to grasp the depths of what it really is.

His blindness could have been the blindness of light. For three days all he ever saw could have been the Son, S-O-N, that he couldn’t get rid of the vision of Jesus. That’s all he ever saw.

Heavenly Father, will you please teach us the lessons of sovereignty, of grace, forgiveness, of the miracle of transformation that salvation is. Help us see all that is here in Saul’s conversion, consecration, the importance of communing with You, so that, we might learn what it is You would have us learn to apply in our lives.