Spirit-Empowered Transformation
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Scene 1: Saul Reveals His Unbelief
Scene 1: Saul Reveals His Unbelief
Saul’s Spiritual darkness arrested Christians
Saul agreed with putting him to death. On that day a severe persecution broke out against the church in Jerusalem, and all except the apostles were scattered throughout the land of Judea and Samaria. Devout men buried Stephen and mourned deeply over him. Saul, however, was ravaging the church. He would enter house after house, drag off men and women, and put them in prison. So those who were scattered went on their way preaching the message of good news.
“Lord,” Ananias answered, “I have heard from many people about this man, how much harm he has done to Your saints in Jerusalem.
Meanwhile, Saul was still breathing threats and murder against the disciples of the Lord. He went to the high priest 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.
“Breathing out threats and murder” exposes Saul’s hostile attitude toward these people who belonged to the Way. The “Way” was a term used to describe Christians (John 14:6). It is clear that Saul is very much against people of love Jesus.
From the Jewish Council to Damascus
He went to the high priest because at that time the Roman government had given the Jewish Council authority over the Jews living in cities like Damascus and the high priest was the head of the Jewish Council.
For Saul, Christians living in Damascus was a clear and present danger to Judaism. Damasus is one of the oldest, if not the oldest, continually inhabited cities in the world. In Saul’s day it was part of the Decapolis (ten cities) Province (Mark 5:20). It was located 135 miles or so north-northeast of Jerusalem. I was a major commercial hub for Rome and had thousands of Jews living in the city at the time. At the and of chapters 8, when persecution drove Christians out of Jerusalem, Damascus was the first city outside of Jerusalem to have Christians living in it. With the proximity to Jerusalem, its vast commercial influence on the empire, and the large Jewish population, Saul set his heart to eradicate the “Way” before it could infest anymore synagogues and Jewish communities.
Why did Saul hate Christians?
Saul was born a Roman citizen in the city of tarsus (Acts 22:27-28). Educated by the infamous Rabbi teacher Gamaliel to the strict obedience to the Torah (Acts 22:27-28). He thought of himself as “Hebrew of Hebrews” of the tribe of Benjamin and a devote Pharisee (Philippians 3:4-5). He was zealous for Yahweh and the temple and the people of the “Way” threatened his view of God. The problem with Paul was that his view of God was obstructed by unbelief.
Saul’s heart was dark and hard toward God. We know that because he could not see Jesus as God’s Messiah, the Son of God. His heart was unbelieving of Jesus. Unbelief hardens and darkens your heart as it did Saul’s. As a result, Saul’s heart hates the light.
“This, then, is the judgment: The light has come into the world, and people loved darkness rather than the light because their deeds were evil. For everyone who practices wicked things hates the light and avoids it, so that his deeds may not be exposed.
His heart is hard with unbelief so that his mind is veiled to understanding the truth.
But if our gospel is veiled, it is veiled to those who are perishing. In their case, the god of this age has blinded the minds of the unbelievers so they cannot see the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God.
Saul saw the gospel as absolute foolishness and rejected the Spirit’s call to repent and believe.
But the unbeliever does not welcome what comes from God’s Spirit, because it is foolishness to him; he is not able to understand it since it is evaluated spiritually.
Spiritual blindness comes from sinful unbelief that rejects God’s way of salvation. That is the way of every human being in their fallen condition. When the bible says you are dead in your transgression and sins, it is saying you have no spiritual ability to see God, to believe God, or respond to God. Your heart is spiritually dark with unbelief unable to see the light of truth in Christ.
Have you ever paid attention to the lyrics of John Newton’s Amazing Grace?
“Amazing Grace how sweet the sound that saved a wretch like me. I once was lost but now I am found, was blind but now I see.”
What is John Newton revealing about himself before he was saved? He says he was a wretch, an old English word used to describe a very bad person in an unfortunate state. He says he was lost, in the dark, so blind he could not see. What couldn’t he see? God’s grace of salvation.
God’s offer of new life. God’s kingdom coming. Lost and blind describe his depraved nature. In his natural sinful condition, he was such a wretch, he could not see God, believe God, or respond to God. He needed God’s grace to intervene and do something.
Friend, that describes every one of us who does not know the saving work of Jesus Christ. We are all Saul’s at heart. We hate God and his ways. We are dead in our sins with darkness ruling our hearts producing dead works of the flesh. The work of Saul’s flesh was religious zeal apart from God that sought to arrest God’s people. That should cause some of you in the church to shutter.
Putting on religion apart from Jesus may reform your life but it can never transform your heart.
Paul’s religious zeal led him to work hard for the temple, the place where he believed heaven was supposed to meet earth for God to meet with his people, the Jews. He could not see that Jesus was the new temple, and it was by faith in Him that God would dwell with his people. He believed he was working hard for God, religious zeal, but in fact was working against God.
Does this describe some of you?
If you can answer that question honestly, the Spirit of God is shedding His light on your heart. Amazing grace is overcoming your darkness with the Light of Christ.
Scene 2: Jesus Reveals Himself
Scene 2: Jesus Reveals Himself
As he traveled and was nearing Damascus, a light from heaven suddenly flashed around him. Falling to the ground, he heard a voice saying to him, “Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting Me?” “Who are You, Lord?” he said. “I am Jesus, the One you are persecuting,” He replied. “But get up and go into the city, and you will be told what you must do.” The men who were traveling with him stood speechless, hearing the sound but seeing no one. Then 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. He was unable to see for three days and did not eat or drink.
We are going to take this scene in slow motion. Saul set out to arrest Christians in his blind unbelief. Jesus, instead arrests Saul for His kingdom by Jesus invading Saul’s darkened heart.
John says
That light shines in the darkness, yet the darkness did not overcome it.
How do we know this is the resurrected Jesus?
The glorious Light
As Saul was on his way to arrest Christians, Jesus splits heaven and appears to him on the road to Damascus. The light was so bright that it outshone the light of the noonday sun(Acts 22:6). The light is Christ’s heavenly glory.
For God who said, “Let light shine out of darkness,” has shone in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of God’s glory in the face of Jesus Christ.
Saul’s Response to the Light
The light is so intense that Saul falls to the ground, presumably prostrating himself. This is a normal response to God’s presence in the bible.
The appearance of the brilliant light all around was like that of a rainbow in a cloud on a rainy day. This was the appearance of the form of the Lord’s glory. When I saw it, I fell facedown and heard a voice speaking.
The same happens in the resurrected Jesus’s appearance in
When I saw Him, I fell at His feet like a dead man. He laid His right hand on me and said, “Don’t be afraid! I am the First and the Last,
Jesus Reveals Himself
“Who are You, Lord?” he said. “I am Jesus, the One you are persecuting,” He replied.
Jesus is engaging Saul’s heart. Jesus appears in his heavenly glory. His light shines into Saul’s darkened heart and forces Saul to humble himself. Jesus then engages Saul with a question. Jesus does not need and answer from Saul because he does not know something. Jesus uses a question to help Saul realize something (Just like when God asked Adam why he was hiding).
While on the ground, a voice asks him a question, “Saul, Saul, why are yo persecuting Me?”
The voice uses his Hebrew name “Saul” twice. The repetition emphasizes intimacy. The divine voice knew Saul, and knew him well. The irony is Saul did not know who the divine voice was. Saul has to ask, “Who are you, Lord?” “Lord” used here is more of a courtesy name for a powerful being. Saul has no idea who he is speaking. On the road to Damascus, Paul has an encounter with the Living God. And the living God reveals himself as Jesus when Saul asks him, “Who are you?” Jesus engages Saul’s heart with a question to get his heart to ask, “Who are you, Lord?” so that Jesus can answer him.
The Light Invade Saul’s Heart with Two Truths
First, Jesus is alive. That means that Jesus rose from the dead and must be the Messiah that he claimed to be. Second, Saul was persecuting the very God he thought he was serving. Jesus asks him, “Why are you persecuting me?” Then Jesus answers Saul’s question regarding who he was, “Jesus, the one you are persecuting.” Jesus identifies himself with his people. Jesus is unified to us and we are unified to him in such a way that when we are persecuted and shamed its as if he is persecuted and shamed.
Saul was on the outside. Jesus revealed that through Saul’s hatred of the church. To hate the church is to hate Christ. You can’t say you love Jesus and hate his church. The church is his bride, for better of for worse, and he will not divorce her. Saul’s hatred for Christians was really a hatred for the Son of God. How terrified Saul had to be as he laid helpless on the ground, overwhelmed by the presence of God.
In his sermon, “Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God,” Johnathan Edwards masterfully describes the state of every unbeliever who lives in sin, at enmity with God.
The bow of God's wrath is bent, and the arrow made ready on the string, and justice bends the arrow at your heart, and strains the bow, and it is nothing but the mere pleasure of God, and that of an angry God, without any promise or obligation at all, that keeps the arrow one moment from being made drunk with your blood. Jonathan Edwards
At this moment on the road to Damascus, Saul felt the glare of the head of God’s arrow of wrath starring at his face. The light opened up Paul’s heart to reveal he was blind, and Jesus made his eyes blind just like his heart.
Saul who sought to arrest Christ, was now arrested by Christ. Doesn’t this describe every person who comes to Christ? We are dead in our sin. Our spiritual eyes are blind to God’s truth, his salvation. We are so dead and so blind that we live in rebellion against him.
For the mind-set of the flesh is hostile to God because it does not submit itself to God’s law, for it is unable to do so. Those who are in the flesh cannot please God.
We are hostile to God, just like Saul. And we live our life in hostility to God until Jesus comes and arrests our hearts with His light just like he did Saul on the road to Damascus. This was not an after thought or a reaction to Saul’s persecution. Jesus had always planned to save Saul.
I advanced in Judaism beyond many contemporaries among my people, because I was extremely zealous for the traditions of my ancestors. But when God, who from my birth set me apart and called me by His grace, was pleased
Do you remember the grace Newton spoke of in Amazing Grace? This is amazing grace. God in his sovereign electing love, chose to save Saul before the foundation of the world (Ephesians 1:1-13; Romans 9), knowing Saul would rail against His church and kill his people. God, in His sovereign electing love, chose to save Saul and make him Paul, and created good works in advance for him to do to joyfully advance His kingdom (Ephesians 2:10). The same is said of every believer in Christ.
When I look at my life before Christ, Saul and I had a lot in common. I didn’t hate Christians, but I was as much as war with God as Saul was. When I was saved, I was not looking for Jesus in that night club in New Orleans. Nobody was sharing Jesus with me as they were raving and shooting drugs. I was walking on my spiritual road to Damascus when Jesus’ glorious light invaded my heart and said, “This one is mine.” He claimed me from the dominion of darkness and by his saving grace transformed me and transferred me into the kingdom of light.
300 Quotations for Preachers God Never Would Have Chosen Me Afterwards
I believe the doctrine of election, because I am quite sure that if God had not chosen me I should never have chosen him; and I am sure he chose me before I was born, or else he never would have chosen me afterwards.
Notice the men who were with him did not have the same encounter with Jesus as Saul did.
They saw the light or heard the sound. There is some confusion about this later in Acts 22. Either way, the reality is they did not encounter Jesus because Jesus chose not to reveal himself to them.
The Light of Christ has defeated Saul’s unbelief. Saul needs to be led into Damascus by those who were with him. He fasted and prayed for three days. Fasting is sometimes indicative of repentance. I’m not sure that is the case here. Fasting is also used in the Old Testament as a way of preparing for further revelation from God (Exodus 34:28; Deuteronomy 9:9; Daniel 9:1-3). Since Jesus told him to go to Damascus and wait for further instruction, I believe Saul is fasting in preparation for Jesus to reveal more of himself to him.
Scene 3: Jesus Commissions Saul
Scene 3: Jesus Commissions Saul
There was a disciple in Damascus named Ananias. And the Lord said to him in a vision, “Ananias!” “Here I am, Lord!” he said. “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. In a vision he has seen a man named Ananias coming in and placing his hands on him so he can regain his sight.”
Saul was obviously humbled and seeking God’s help and mercy. Jesus hears Saul’s prayers and answers them with a double vision. Jesus gives Saul a vision of a man coming to lay hands on him to give him his sight back, while Ananias is given specific instructions in a vision to find Saul and go and fulfill Saul’s vision. God does this later in Acts with Peter and Cornelius (Acts 10).
Ananias is legitimately fearful to meet Saul.
“Lord,” Ananias answered, “I have heard from many people about this man, how much harm he has done to Your saints in Jerusalem. And he has authority here from the chief priests to arrest all who call on Your name.”
Jesus revels to Ananias that Saul is no longer a threat to the kingdom, but is in fact been commissioned to joyfully advance God’s kingdom by making much of Jesus.
But the Lord said to him, “Go! For this man is My chosen instrument to take My name to Gentiles, kings, and the Israelites. I will show him how much he must suffer for My name!”
What doe we learn from Saul’s commissioning?
Jesus elected Saul to His kingdom for His kingdom
I say the word elected for a reason. Jesus describes Saul as his “chosen instrument.” You could translate it “a vessel of choice for me.” Luke uses the phrase “skeuos eklogēs moi.” the word elect means my chosen, the one I have chosen. For example the same word is used
When daylight came, He summoned His disciples, and He chose 12 of them—He also named them apostles:
In Acts 1, when the apostles were replacing Judas, Peter prayed
Then they prayed, “You, Lord, know the hearts of all; show which of these two You have chosen
The point is, God chose to save Saul in order to use Saul for his kingdom. Being God’s “chosen instrument” is Saul’s commissioning to ministry. Saul was saved to do great works. The same idea applies to you
For you are saved by grace through faith, and this is not from yourselves; it is God’s gift— not from works, so that no one can boast. For we are His creation, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared ahead of time so that we should walk in them.
This is where the doctrine of election helps us makes sense of the scriptures. If God chose you before the foundation of the world to be saved (Ephesians 1:3-4), then it makes sense that he prepared ahead of time good works for you to walk in them. You were saved by God’s electing grace to do good works, kingdom works, works that bring life to the church, community, and home.
Jesus elected Saul to joyfully advance his kingdom.
Saul was Jesus chosen instrument to bring the gospel to the Gentiles, kings, and Israelites fulfilling Jesus’ promise in
But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come on you, and you will be My witnesses in Jerusalem, in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.”
Jesus has given you and me the same commission, the Great Commission
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 everything I have commanded you. And remember, I am with you always, to the end of the age.”
Jesus elected Saul to testify the gospel with suffering.
This is not a punitive suffering. Jesus is not paying Saul back for all the harm he caused his people. Jesus took Saul’s sin on the cross just as he did everyone else. What Jesus reveals to Saul is that his mission to joyfully advance the kingdom of God by making much of Jesus will be met with rejection and require suffering. He will preach repentance and testify of the good news to the ends of the earth. But in doing so he will be beaten, imprisoned, hated and rejected, just like the other apostles and Stephen whom he approved his murder. The same kind of blind darkness that was in Saul’s heart is in the hearts of those Gentiles, kings, and Israelite he will evangelize.
Five times I received 39 lashes from Jews. Three times I was beaten with rods by the Romans. Once I was stoned by my enemies. Three times I was shipwrecked. I have spent a night and a day in the open sea. On frequent journeys, I faced dangers from rivers, dangers from robbers, dangers from my own people, dangers from the Gentiles, dangers in the city, dangers in the open country, dangers on the sea, and dangers among false brothers; labor and hardship, many sleepless nights, hunger and thirst, often without food, cold, and lacking clothing. Not to mention other things, there is the daily pressure on me: my care for all the churches.
Church, your commission will be as Saul’s, filled with suffering. Jesus warns us that the world hates us because we love Jesus. Paul warns us that we cannot enter heaven without trial and tribulation. The road to eternal paradise, the narrow way is hard and winding.
In John Bunyan’s, Pilgrim's Progress, Christian and Faithful find themselves in Vanity Fair. It bears the name of Vanity Fair, because the town where it is held is lighter than vanity—and also because all that is sold there is vanity. As is the saying of the wise, "Vanity of vanities! All is vanity!"
Vanity Fair is the place where all kinds of vanities can be sold:—such as houses, lands, trades, places, honors, preferments, titles, countries, kingdoms, lusts, pleasures; and delights of all sorts.
Christian and Faithful preach the gospel. They are immediately brought to a sham trial and suffer imprisonment and convicted to death. faithful suffers the most cruel death. That is what it mean to be e genuine believer. Jesus tells us we will suffer for his name sake. don’t be surprised by it. Its part of our commission. He promises, knowing we will suffer, that he will never leave us. Know that I am always with you.
Christian is able to sing of his friend faithful:
"Well, Faithful, you have faithfully professed,
Unto your Lord, with Whom you shall be blessed,
When faithless ones, with all their vain delights,
Are crying out under their Hellish plights,
Sing, Faithful, sing—and let your name survive;
For, though they killed you—you are yet alive!"
Scene 4: Jesus Empowers Saul
Scene 4: Jesus Empowers Saul
So Ananias left and entered the house. Then 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 can regain your sight and be filled with the Holy Spirit.” At once something like scales fell from his eyes, and he regained his sight. Then he got up and was baptized. And after taking some food, he regained his strength. Saul was with the disciples in Damascus for some days.
Ananias obeys God’s commands and lays hands on Saul, praying for him. We will not hear of Ananias again. He is one of those unspoken heroes of the faith. Kind of like the guy who lead D.L. Moody to Jesus, or the janitor who filled in for the preacher who got snowed in, and told Spurgeon the repent and be saved. He played his part and then faded away. That will be most of us in the church, and its OK.
Once Ananias was done praying, Saul was filled with the Holy Spirit. he was given new eyes to see, both in his heart and his head. The Spirit empowered him to fulfill his calling and commission.
The Transformation is Complete
With a new heart cam new eyes, and the transformation was complete. The old was gone and the new had come. Saul would later become Paul, one of the most productive Christians in the kingdom of God.