Sermon Tone Analysis

Don’t let your past define you!

Don’t let your past defined you …

“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.”

The scene was tense immediately after Ananias had removed his hands from Saul.

The text tells us that something like scales fell from his eyes, which represented to those present and symbolized for us now the spiritual blindness, which had controlled his vision up to this point.

But now Christ Jesus had brought him out of darkness into His marvelous light.

Saul was enlightened and empowered by the knowledge of the truth that had just pierced his soul.

Now Saul understood and was not ashamed of the gospel, for he saw it as the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek.

Now Saul knew that the righteousness of God is revealed from faith to faith, as it is written.

“The righteous shall live by faith.”

What a turnaround and what an about face; concerning his former stance as persecutor of the church.

This is what the Bible terms as repentance!

So pastor, what is repentance?

Many understand the term repentance to mean “a turning from sin.” Regretting sin and turning from it is related to repentance, but it is not the precise meaning of the word.

In the Bible, the word “repent” means “to change one’s mind.”

The Bible also tells us that true repentance will also result in a change of actions

In summarizing his ministry, Saul now Paul declares,

, “Therefore, O King Agrippa, I was not disobedient to the heavenly vision, but declared first to those in Damascus, then in Jerusalem and throughout all the region of Judea, and also to the Gentiles, that they should repent and turn to God, performing deeds in keeping with their repentance.”

The full biblical definition of repentance is a change of mind that results in a change of action.

What, then, is the connection between repentance and salvation?

The book of Acts especially focuses on repentance throughout the book, look at , “The times of ignorance God overlooked, but now he commands all people everywhere to repent, because he has fixed a day on which he will judge the world in righteousness by a man whom he has appointed; and of this he has given assurance to all by raising him from the dead.”

To repent, in relation to salvation, is to change your mind and your actions regarding sin and Jesus Christ.

In Peter’s sermon on the day of Pentecost (Acts chapter 2), he concludes with a call for the people to repent.

Repent from what?

Peter is calling the people who rejected Jesus to change their minds about their sin and to change their minds about Christ Himself, recognizing that He is indeed “Lord and Christ”.

Peter is calling the people to change their minds, to abhor their past rejection of Christ, and to embrace faith in Him as both Messiah and Savior.

“Let all the house of Israel therefore know for certain that God has made him both Lord and Christ, this Jesus whom you crucified.”

Repentance involves recognizing that you have thought wrongly in the past and determining to think rightly in the future.

The repentant person has “second thoughts” about the mindset they formally embraced.

There is a change of disposition and a change in their thinking about God, about sin, about holiness, and about doing God’s will.

True repentance is prompted by “godly sorrow,” and it “leads to salvation”

, “ For godly grief produces a repentance that leads to salvation without regret, whereas worldly grief produces death.

For see what earnestness this godly grief has produced in you, but also what eagerness to clear yourselves, what indignation, what fear, what longing, what zeal, what punishment!

At every point you have proved yourselves innocent in the matter.”

Repentance and faith can be understood as two sides of the same coin.

It is impossible to place your faith in Jesus Christ as the Savior without first changing your mind about your sin and about whom Jesus is and what He has done.

Whether it is repentance from willful rejection or repentance from ignorance or disinterest, it is a change of mind.

Biblical repentance, in relation to salvation, is changing your mind from rejection of Christ to faith in Christ.

Repentance is not a work we do to earn salvation.

No one can repent and come to God unless God draws that person to Himself , “No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws him.

And I will raise him up on the last day.”

Repentance is something God gives—it is only possible because of His grace.

No one can repent unless God grants repentance.

All of salvation, including repentance and faith, is a result of God drawing us, changing our hearts and opening our eyes.

God’s longsuffering leads us to repentance, as does His kindness.

While repentance is not a work that earns salvation, repentance unto salvation does result in works.

It is impossible to truly change your mind without that causing a change in action.

In the Bible, repentance results in a change in behavior.

Saul had seen his sin during his face-to-face encounter with Christ Jesus; he was convicted of his previous behavior and now he shows repentance as forgetting what lies behind him and straining forward to what lies ahead.

He is pressing forward to the goal of the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.

Saul understands that he was dead and now he is alive, he was blind but now he can see.

Let us pray…

The passage before us today, deals with the changed actions of Saul and the reactions to the fact that Saul has changed.

Newton’s third law of motion states that for every action there is an equal and opposite reaction.

We see that principle in full force when it become evident that something has happen to Saul the persecutor of the church.

Because Saul has now been saved from the wrath of God to come and has faith in Christ Jesus, this action invokes an equal and opposite reaction for others in Damascus.

When others still want still want to defined you by your past… it cause confusion and when others still want to defined you by your past it causes compulsion.

These are to two points that we want to deal with in the passage today.

Don’t let your past define you… it causes confusion!

, “For some days he was with the disciples at Damascus.

And immediately he proclaimed Jesus is the synagogues, saying, “He is the Son of God.”

After Saul took food and drink and was strengthened; he spent some time with the disciples at Damascus, probably sharing his testimony with then as well as his newly found faith.

Because of the fact that Saul had seen the risen Christ, heard the voice of the risen Christ and then been healed by the risen Christ through his servant Ananias; he immediately sprung into action.

The text tells us that he did not waste anything time, but he immediately went into the synagogue.

Now, lets us think for just a moment here, the synagogue was his original destination when he acquired the papers to arrest Christians, men and women and to bring them back in chains to Jerusalem.

But look at what the text now says concerning his purpose in the synagogue.

Instead of arresting those who were there to worship Christ, he is amazing those there because he now is proclaiming himself, that Jesus Christ is the Son of God.

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 priests?”

These people were amazed because they are defining Saul by his past lifestyle and his past behavior and because of that are confused.

What is confusion?

Confusion is having a lack of clearness or distinctness, it is being perplexed or bewildered.

It’s being disorientated.

This is where the people find themselves bewildered and unclear about Saul’s behavior; they have questions.

(1) Has Saul been saved or is he here to slay us? (2) Does he not have papers and was it not his purpose to come and bring us all back to Jerusalem?

(3) Why is he now proclaiming that Christ Jesus is the Son of God?

What does it mean that Jesus is the Son of God?"

Answer: Jesus is not God’s Son in the sense of a human father and a son.

God did not get married and have a son.

God did not mate with Mary and, together with her, produce a son.

Jesus is God’s Son in the sense that He is God made manifest in human form.

, “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.”

, “And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth.

(John bore witness about him, and cried out, “This was he of whom I said, ‘He who comes after me ranks before me, because he was before me.’”)

For from his fullness we have all received, grace upon grace.

For the law was given through Moses; grace and truth came through Jesus Christ.

No one has ever seen God; the only God, who is at the Father's side, he has made him known.”

Jesus is God's Son in that the Holy Spirit conceived him in Mary.

declares, “The angel answered, 'The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you.

So the holy one to be born will be called the Son of God.’”

During His trial before the Jewish leaders, the High Priest demanded of Jesus, “I charge you under oath by the living God: Tell us if you are the Christ, the Son of God” ().

“‘Yes, it is as you say,’ Jesus replied.

‘But I say to all of you: In the future you will see the Son of Man sitting at the right hand of the Mighty One and coming on the clouds of heaven’” ().

The Jewish leaders responded by accusing Jesus of blasphemy.