The Irrefutably Resurrected Life

Michael Howard

Acts: The Mission of God • Sermon • Submitted 8 months ago • Presented 8 months ago

Acts 9:19–30

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INTRODUCTION

Within the first few hours of a butterfly’s transformation, there are distinct changes that take place.

The butterfly’s wings expand in their size.

The wings harden and grow stiff so that the butterfly can take flight.

It develops a long nose to feed on nectar with and its entire digestive system changes to adapt to its new diet

The colors on the wings will begin to change

The butterfly will then take off and spend a brief amount of time knocking around in its environment, teaching itself how to fly

This all takes place in the first few hours of metamorphosis

As Christians we do not undergo a metamorphosis.

We undergo a resurrection. A conversion.

We are not living creatures who undergo a face-lift.

We are dead creatures who are given a whole new life.

There is simply no doubt when it comes to whether or not a butterfly has undergone its change.

It is evident in the colors. In the flight. In the wingspan. In how it eats.

It is irrefutable.

In the same way, there is no doubt when a life has been resurrected.

It is evident in what it proclaims. In how it perseveres. In what it produces.

It is evident in what it preaches. It is evident when it is under pressure. In what it propagates.

It irrefutable.

As we look at the early days of Saul’s newborn life this morning, we will see just that. We will see an irrefutably resurrected life.

And it will give us the opportunity to examine ourselves.

THE RESURRECTED LIFE

We pick up the passage right where we left off a week ago.

Saul was on his way to Damascus to gather up more brothers and sisters and toss them into prison

But on his way there, he was blinded by a light from heaven and he goes from a persecutor of Christianity to being a brother in the Lord.

He goes from being filled with hatred to being filled with the Holy Spirit.

His life is resurrected.

He was dead and now he is alive.

The Spirit of God brought a dead man to life.

This morning, we will see him being bold in the synagogue in Damascus and then stirring up trouble in Jerusalem.

We will see his resurrected life on display.

However, as I read the passage, it is helpful to know that this is not a string of events that happens over a matter of days or even months.

Acts 9:19-30 covers a span of a few years.

We know that because of what Paul writes to the Galatians

Galatians 1:17–18 ESV

nor did I go up to Jerusalem to those who were apostles before me, but I went away into Arabia, and returned again to Damascus. Then after three years I went up to Jerusalem to visit Cephas and remained with him fifteen days.

So in this passage Luke is telling us of Saul’s initial visit to Damascus, his three years in Arabia, his return to Damascus, his escape from Damascus, as well as his first visit to Jerusalem as a believer.

Acts 9:19–30 ESV

and taking food, he was strengthened. For some days he was with the disciples at Damascus. And immediately he proclaimed Jesus in the synagogues, 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 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 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 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. 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.

PREACHING AND PROCLAIMING (v. 20-21; 27-28)

We start with Saul in Damascus. He arrives there with wildly different aims than when he started his journey.

He was supposed to come and round up Christians for prison, but by the time he arrives, he is a Christian.

And he wastes no time to get going in terms of ministry. He goes right to the synagogues, where he was supposed to be hunting for Christians, and he begins to preach.

He proclaims Jesus and says that He is the Son of God (v. 20).

You see Christians like Ananias and the brothers in Jerusalem surprised by Saul’s conversion in Acts 9, but we can’t forget that the Jews were rather surprised as well.

They knew that Saul was a hatchet man.

He had earned a reputation for being a hard-nosed persecutor of any person claiming the name of Christ

He was a renowned terrorist in the region of Judea

He was a bully and a brute. A merciless man who loathed the proclamation of Jesus’ message.

And yet, he strolls into the synagogues in Damascus and starts saying that Jesus is God’s Son.

The Jewish people are amazed by this and they wonder, “Is this not the guy who was causing a storm in the Christian movement in Jerusalem? Wasn’t he on his way here to capture more of them?”

This is not the only time we see Saul preaching in Acts 9. It happens again once he arrives in Jerusalem.

Part of the reason he is accepted by the church there is because Barnabas tells of how Saul proclaimed Jesus as the Son of God in Jerusalem (v. 27).

Now, he is going in and out of the company of the church there, preaching Christ boldly (v. 28)

Amazingly, this company he goes in and of out of is the community he used to terrorize.

How many of their friends and family did he carry off to jail?

How many of them knew Stephen and remember Saul holding the coats of the men who murdered him?

How many of them were personally persecuted by Saul?

And yet, they accept him, in part because he proves his conversion by preaching boldly.

1. The irrefutably resurrected life preaches and proclaims (v. 20-21; 27-28).

The Christ-centered preaching and proclaiming that we are seeing from Saul is a hallmark of his ministry as the Apostle Paul.

1 Corinthians 2:1–2 ESV

And I, when I came to you, brothers, did not come proclaiming to you the testimony of God with lofty speech or wisdom. For I decided to know nothing among you except Jesus Christ and him crucified.

The content of Paul’s ministry was not focused on his oratory skills or his own wisdom—it was focused on Christ and His saving work.

It wasn’t about Paul. It was about Jesus.

Once the Lord confronted Him and opened his eyes to the glory of Christ on the Damascus Road, he becomes focused on the proclamation of Jesus as the Son of God.

You see the immediate effect that it had upon him.

He goes to Damascus and Luke says that he “immediately” proclaimed Jesus in the synagogues.

This is a reactionary action.

It is almost reflexive.

“Christ has saved me. Christ has given me spiritual sight. The mystery of the New Covenant has been revealed. I have to tell everyone!”

He who had been a persecutor before now became a preacher.

Thomas Watson

Naturally, he goes to his own people first.

In fact, this becomes Paul’s habit. He goes to the synagogue in a town and evangelizes there first.

Romans 1:16 ESV

For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek.

And Paul had a great love for his own people, the Jews.

Romans 9:3 ESV

For I could wish that I myself were accursed and cut off from Christ for the sake of my brothers, my kinsmen according to the flesh.

EARLY DAYS IN DAMASCUS (v.

As amazed as the people are, those who wish to contend with him can’t do it. Verse 22 says that the Jews who lived in Damascus were confounded as Saul proved that Jesus was the Christ.

He was proving to them that Jesus is the long-awaited Messiah.

Luke doesn’t tell us how he goes about proving it, but I believe we can assume he is doing it with the Scriptures.

This is how Stephen proved it. This is how Philip proved it.

And this is how we see Paul prove it in his 13 New Testament letters.

He is a man who quotes the Scriptures to prove the identity of Christ.

Verse 23 says that when many days had passed, the Jews plotted to kill him.

People debate on the timeline of the few years after Saul’s conversion, but here is my best understanding of what is going on and what “many days” is referring to.

Saul is saved.

He goes to Ananias, gets his sight, gets baptized and physically recovers.

Then he goes right to the synagogue and unleashes the Gospel.

He spends three years in Arabia and Damascus

Damascus is a part of Arabia. It is at the very top

How much he travels back and forth is unclear

But during this time he is increasing in spiritual strength (v. 22)

Day by day, he is getting his reps in and he is growing into the minister and missionary God wants him to be.

But he gains a reputation as he does this ministry in Arabia and Damascus and now the Jews are plotting to kill him (v. 23).

According to Paul in 2 Corinthians, they even had the governor guarding the gate

But When Luke says, “Many days had passed,” he is talking about the period of three years that Paul refers to in Galatians 1.

Saul needs to get out of Arabia, but the gates of Damascus are being watched day and night.

Therefore, his disciples lower him down in a basket through an opening in the wall (v. 24).

It is all very Indiana Jones.

JERUSALEM (v. 26-30)

After this, he goes to Jerusalem and as we have seen, he rinses and repeats.

He is preaching boldly in Jerusalem (v. 28)

And he is disputing against the Hellenists

These would be Greek-speaking Jews

They are probably very similar to the Cyrenian, Alexandrian and Cilician Jews who were disputing with Stephen back in Acts 6.

But the bottom line is that the aim of Saul’s life is the proclamation of the Gospel.

It is clear that wherever he goes, the preaching of the Good News of Jesus the Messiah is his priority.

PREACHING AND PROCLAIMING IN ALL OF LIFE

Now, I know some of you might be thinking, “That’s great for Saul, but this guy was special. He is one of the most prominent people in redemption history.”

And that is true.

There is a sense in which we are reading this and Saul is special.

The role he would play...

The Scripture he would pen...

The mission trips he would go on...

The Apostle abnormally born, set apart to go to the Gentiles...

Yes—Saul is different.

But in another sense, he isn’t.

He is a human being who shares in the same baptism that we do...

He is a human being who shares in the same Spirit that we do...

He is a human being who shares in the same Lord that we do...

In another sense, Saul is a Christian with a resurrected life, just like you.

Part of the way it was obvious that this man was irrefutably resurrected in the first few years of his Christian life is that he proclaimed Christ everywhere he went.

It should be the same way with us.

The content of our walk and talk as believers should be Jesus Christ and him crucified.

Every life in this room is proclaiming something.

Likely a few things.

But what is the primary theme of your life.

William Cowper wrote, “Redeeming love has been my theme, and shall be till I die.”

And so it should be with every resurrected life.

The love that has redeemed you should be your theme.

It should be the content you live to convey.

It should be the message you live to magnify.

It should be the passage that you preach again and again—Jesus Christ and Him crucified.

This is what an irrefutably resurrected life does.

PERSEVERANCE UNDER PRESSURE (v. 23-25; 29-30)

Let’s continue on now and think through a bit of how Saul deals with the pressure comes again him in this passage.

Almost immediately, there is life and death persecution coming against Saul.

His first phase of ministry in the Arabian Kingdom and in Damascus, ends with people wanting to kill him.

When many days had passed, the Jews plotted to kill him… (v. 23)

And then, once he goes to Jerusalem, the Greek-influenced and Greek-speaking Jews, the Hellenists, were seeking to kill him because he disputed with them (v. 29-30).

Because of this, he doesn’t stay there long and he retreats to Tarsus for safety.

This sort of suffering becomes a trademark of Paul’s ministry and life as the Apostle to the Gentiles.

You remember how the Lord spoke to Ananias and said:

Acts 9:16 ESV

For I will show him how much he must suffer for the sake of my name.”

That suffering comes about right away in Saul’s life.

He experiences opposition and discomfort for the Gospel’s sake from the first phase of his ministry, all the way to the last, when tradition tells us that he had his head cut off in Rome.

As we have seen persecution in Acts, we have often referred to the words Paul wrote to Timothy:

2 Timothy 3:12 ESV

Indeed, all who desire to live a godly life in Christ Jesus will be persecuted,

The man who wrote those words understood them autobiographically. He had experienced them.

One of the greatest descriptions of how much Paul suffered for the name of Christ can be found in 2 Corinthians 11, as Paul defends himself against those calling him a false apostle.

One of the accusations against him was that he suffered too much to be a true apostle.

But in this passage, he points to his suffering to say, “The thing you say disqualifies me actually proves my apostleship.”

2 Corinthians 11:22–33 ESV

Are they Hebrews? So am I. Are they Israelites? So am I. Are they offspring of Abraham? So am I. Are they servants of Christ? I am a better one—I am talking like a madman—with far greater labors, far more imprisonments, with countless beatings, and often near death. Five times I received at the hands of the Jews the forty lashes less one. Three times I was beaten with rods. Once I was stoned. Three times I was shipwrecked; a night and a day I was adrift at sea; on frequent journeys, in danger from rivers, danger from robbers, danger from my own people, danger from Gentiles, danger in the city, danger in the wilderness, danger at sea, danger from false brothers; in toil and hardship, through many a sleepless night, in hunger and thirst, often without food, in cold and exposure. And, apart from other things, there is the daily pressure on me of my anxiety for all the churches. Who is weak, and I am not weak? Who is made to fall, and I am not indignant? If I must boast, I will boast of the things that show my weakness. The God and Father of the Lord Jesus, he who is blessed forever, knows that I am not lying. At Damascus, the governor under King Aretas was guarding the city of Damascus in order to seize me, but I was let down in a basket through a window in the wall and escaped his hands.

It is quite a resume of suffering.

It makes me blush to think about how little opposition it takes for me to back down or want to run away.

You read what Paul went through and you realize you might need a stronger stomach!

But more importantly, when you see the full breadth and weight of the suffering that he endured, it speaks to a radically changed man.

2. The irrefutably resurrected life perseveres under pressure (v. 20-21; 27-28).

To understand what has happened in Paul’s life that would make him so willing to suffer for Christ and persevere, we have to understand the nature of Christian conversion.

And to do that, we turn to our Lord’s parable of the soils.

Matthew 13:3–9 ESV

And he told them many things in parables, saying: “A sower went out to sow. And as he sowed, some seeds fell along the path, and the birds came and devoured them. Other seeds fell on rocky ground, where they did not have much soil, and immediately they sprang up, since they had no depth of soil, but when the sun rose they were scorched. And since they had no root, they withered away. Other seeds fell among thorns, and the thorns grew up and choked them. Other seeds fell on good soil and produced grain, some a hundredfold, some sixty, some thirty. He who has ears, let him hear.”

And later in the chapter, Jesus explains the parable.

He says that the hard path represents the hearts of those who hear the Gospel preached, don’t understand it and then Satan snatches away what has been sown in preaching. (Matthew 13:19)

The thorny ground represents the hearts of those who hear the Gospel, but they love the world too much to follow through on trusting Christ and abandoning all other trusts. (Matthew 13:22)

They love sin and the deceitfulness of the world’s riches chokes out the Word

But the rocky ground is particularly interesting to us when thinking about Saul’s conversion.

The rocky ground represents those who hear the Gospel preached, immediately receive it with joy, but then, they turn back because suffering comes about for their association with Christ’s name.

Matthew 13:20–21 ESV

As for what was sown on rocky ground, this is the one who hears the word and immediately receives it with joy, yet he has no root in himself, but endures for a while, and when tribulation or persecution arises on account of the word, immediately he falls away.

There is an intellectual acceptance of the facts of Gospel:

God is a holy Creator

Man fell away from God by sinning

God sent His Son Jesus to save people from sin

He died on the Cross and rose again

There is an agreement of the mind about all of those things

Beyond that, there is enough association with believing those things that persecution may even occur

But once the suffering and the persecution arrive on the scene, the rocky ground hearer says, “I didn’t sign up for this. I wanted Jesus to take my problems away, but believing in Jesus is adding to my problems because now I am suffering for this message.”

And the person does not persevere. They cease their association with Christ so that whatever discomfort they have have started to experience on His account would go away.

If you have been around church, you know this story. You have seen it.

You have seen pressure come into someone’s life and they wilt and say, “I’m out. I’m not doing this. I don’t have to.”

But Jesus tells us of this other ground—the good ground.

Matthew 13:23 ESV

As for what was sown on good soil, this is the one who hears the word and understands it. He indeed bears fruit and yields, in one case a hundredfold, in another sixty, and in another thirty.”

This is the only soil in the parable that represents converted believers.

And this soil represents hearts that persevere.

The heart that wilts under pressure says, “I don’t have to do this” and they walk away.

The converted heart under pressure says, “He is my Lord. I have to do this. Obedience is most important” and they walk with Jesus—wherever He may lead.

PLEASURE PRIORITY IS CHANGED

The reason there is this difference in the lives of the converted and unconverted or falsely converted, when it comes to suffering, is that unconverted people have their own pleasure as their priority.

When the root of pride in the dead, sinful heart, has not been removed by the regenerating Spirit of God and the saving grace of God, a person will always seek their pleasure.

They might do good works. They might do evil works.

But in all their works, their own pleasure will be the end of the desires that they act upon.

Even acts of self-preservation will be acts that prioritize their own pleasure in the end.

For example, they might hate their job, but they to it because the paycheck provides the pleasure of paying bills and having things.

But when a life is irrefutably resurrected, its priorities are changed and one’s pleasure is no longer the pacesetter for desires and decisions.

Suddenly, with root of pride removed and a new, transformed heart in place, God’s pleasure becomes most important.

God being pleased through our lives becomes the priority.

Listen to Paul speaking about the aim of his ministry in 2 Corinthians 5:9-11

2 Corinthians 5:9 ESV

So whether we are at home or away, we make it our aim to please him.

This is the aim of a resurrected life—a resurrected heart—to please the Lord.

And that aim that Paul speaks of in 2 Corinthians 5 can’t be disconnected from his resume of suffering in 2 Corinthians 11.

It is the aim from chapter 5 that leads to the array of suffering in chapter 11.

What is the priority of your life?

Is it your pleasure or the pleasure of Christ?

Our obedience is God's pleasure when it proves that God is our treasure.

John Piper

What is the aim of your life?

When it is to please God, it proves that you treasure Him above all else.

It proves your life is irrefutably resurrected.

PROPAGATING AND PRODUCING (v. 25)

Let’s head toward our conclusion by looking at our final teaching point.

It comes from half a sentence in verse 22 and one word that we see in verse 25.

Acts 9:22 ESV

But Saul increased all the more in strength, and confounded the Jews who lived in Damascus by proving that Jesus was the Christ.

But Saul increased all the more in strength...

Acts 9:25 ESV

but his disciples took him by night and let him down through an opening in the wall, lowering him in a basket.

The one word is disciples

So if this lowering down in the basket does indeed occur three years after his conversion, then that means that just three years after coming to Christ, Paul has a group of men following him, to the point that they are recognized by Luke as his disciples.

He has personally increased in spiritual strength and he is discipling men.

Conversion. Preaching and Growth. Discipling.

He does not waste time.

And really, his lack of time-wasting should be no surprise.

We just established that pleasing God through obedience is the total aim of Saul’s resurrected life now.

If that is the case, he will be obedient to the great overarching commission that the Lord has given to His entire church:

Matthew 28:18–20 ESV

And Jesus came and said to them, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.”

Saul is saved and he immediately gets to work.

3. The irrefutably resurrected life propagates and produces (v. 22, 25).

He doesn’t take ten years to get his feet under him. Not even five.

Within three years of his conversion, he has discipled men.

Now again, I recognize that he is a special guy with a special background and a special place in redemption history.

All of that is true.

But it doesn’t let us off the hook if we are not discipling others.

There is a time in every Christian’s life when they are a newborn spiritual baby.

When you are a baby, you need help doing basic things.

When you are a baby, you need help discerning what to eat and not eat.

When you are a baby, you are dependent on others.

But there must be a time in which the resurrected life grows out of babyhood and into adolescence and then adulthood.

We see that Saul did that in verse 22.

And there must be a time in which that growing resurrected life begins to help others grow.

We see that Saul did that in verse 25.

Discipleship means growing as followers of Jesus and helping others to do the same.

Bobby Jamieson

WHERE WE STRUGGLE

I think American Christians love what we see in verse 22.

We love a Bible Study. We love a good book. We love a stonking good message from the pulpit.

We will eat and eat and eat at the table of knowledge.

Where we struggle is verse 25.

Many of us have been raised in church cultures where consumption is valued over cultivation.

We know how to run programs, but we don’t know how to build people.

We know how to run events, but we don’t know how to train people.

We know how to utilize people, but we don’t know how to grow people.

So it isn’t that American evangelicals are all lazy.

I just think we have been shown how to use our hands in busyness in the church, but we haven’t been shown how to use our hearts to build up one another in Christ.

Therefore, few of us can point to people and say, “They are imitating me, as I imitate Christ.”

QUESTIONS FOR DISCIPLESHIP

For today, I don’t want you to leave feeling guilty...

“I’ve never disciple anyone, so I guess I am hellbound...”

“I want to disciple someone or be discipled, but I don’t know how and I don’t want to say anything and sound like a fool...”

Questions to consider:

Who are the godly examples that you follow in the local church?

These would be people who might disciple you.

Who can you teach that is around you?

Do you know them? Do you have a rapport where they would not mind you beginning to speak into their lives?

Are you going to Sunday School?

Sunday School is the gateway to discipleship at Seaford Baptist.

This is where you will meet those more mature and less mature than you in the faith.

This is where discipleship relationships begin.

THE SERIOUSNESS

And I want to urge you to answer these questions. To really think through them.

Because this is the point of it all.

Making disciples for the glory of Christ is the good work that He has laid out beforehand for us as His workmanship.

If we ignore and dismiss the Great Commission to disciple-making that Christ has placed on our lives, can we really say those lives are irrefutably resurrected?

CONCLUSION

In 1738, John Wesley was a frustrated, unconverted man, sitting in a meeting house on Aldersgate Street in London.

As someone preached through Romans, at about 8:45pm on May 24, 1738, John Wesley felt his heart strangely warmed and he was a Christian.

He went straight to his brother and said, “I believe.”

How did Wesley respond?

He started preaching in fields to coal miners and common folk.

How long after he got going, he received strong opposition. What did he do?

He started traveling all over Britain preaching the Gospel.

By the end of Wesley’s life, he had rode over 250,000 miles on horseback and preached over 40,000 sermons, with a host of disciples in his wake.

He trained up lay pastors who would carry on his work in ways he could not.

By the time of his death, John Wesley had 120,000 people attending churches started through his ministry.

Wesley was like Saul.

As a butterfly emerging from the cocoon, spreading its wings and displaying its colors, there is simply no doubting that God’s hand had altered him.

The transformation was obvious to anyone who knew the old man.

Preaching and proclaiming.

Persevering under pressure.

Propagating and producing.

This is the irrefutably resurrected life.

Is it yours by faith?

Has God given it to you by grace?

If not, I urge you to come before Him, confessing your sin and trusting in Christ for salvation from God’s wrath toward you.

Ask Him to take your old dead life and to raise it up.

And when He does, there will be no doubts to the people who know you best.

The entire purpose for your existence will have changed.

The entire aim of your life.

It will be irrefutable.

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