From Death to Life: How Jesus Changes Everything

Joel Hayworth

Acts: Providence and Proclamation • Sermon • Submitted 3 years ago

Acts 9:1–9

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Introduction

Every single person has something called a worldview. A worldview is simply our understanding of our world, the purpose of life, and how we fit into it. There are many different worldviews because people believe very different things regarding our world and our overall purpose. Some people have an atheistic worldview and they see life as a cosmic fluke. As a result of this worldview, everything the atheist sees is seen through a lens of cosmic abnormality. We aren’t supposed to be here. Life is due to chance. As a result, there truly isn’t a purpose to life and we should do whatever we believe in our heart and mind to be best. Many people operate with this type of worldview. There are other worldviews, as we know people who believe in “god” but don’t hold to a Christian worldview. They believe that there is some sort of supernatural force out there but they don’t know who or what it is. As Christians, we hold to a Christian worldview, and we see things in our world through the lens of Scripture. We let the Bible tell us what is right and wrong rather than our culture dictating right and wrong. Al Mohler talks often in his daily podcast about adhering to a Christian worldview and how we naturally see things differently than the rest of our unbelieving world simply because we look at God’s Word to tell us how to think, live, and respond.

Whenever your worldview tells you that your purpose in life is to work really hard with the hopes that your good works will make you special and receive good from the world, you’ll work really hard but you’re ultimately doing it for selfish purposes. Did you know that many people in our world operate with this idea? Social media is a hotspot for such interaction. We see people in our world act extremely nicely to others but they don’t act nicely in order to forge a friendship or to make someone else feel good… Their motive for acting nice is to do what? To sell them something. We are naturally selfish people and it’s so easy to see through that lens. What we have to be reminded of, church, is that Jesus changes the way that we think. He changes the way we live. He gives us a new purpose and a new lens to see the world through! Jesus changes everything about us and His Word promises this type of change as we see that we are born again - we are a new creation - as a child of God. This is good news!

This morning as we make our way to Acts 9, we will see the power of God’s grace in the life of Saul. We met Saul a couple chapters ago at the stoning of Stephen. We noted how he was persecuting the Church. Now we will see this same man fall to his knees and have his entire world flipped upside down. I pray that as we study this morning, you would examine your heart and evaluate if Jesus has flipped your world upside down. Are you serving Him or are you still seeking to serve yourself? Let’s read this morning

Acts 9:1–9 CSB

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 As 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.

Who Was Saul? (1-3)

We read in this text a relatively popular story: The Damascus Road experience as Saul encounters the resurrected Christ and is changed forevermore! This is a wonderful story with implications that continue to reverberate in the church to this day. But let’s consider the context and the magnitude of this story for a moment. Who is Saul at this moment in time? He’s not the passionate missionary that we see later on in the book of Acts. He’s not the expert public Christian speaker as we’ll see at Mars Hill in Athens. He’s not even a friend of Christians at this point in time… He’s an enemy of the cross and is persecuting the bride of Christ. Why is Saul doing this? Is Saul an evil person who intentionally wants to be a jerk? No. We read that he is zealous for the law. He believes that he is in the right and a faithful follower of Yahweh and, as a result, he desires to persecute these heretical followers of Jesus Christ.

Whenever we believe something that is incorrect there will naturally be consequences. Say that you’re preparing to bake some cookies and you think the recipe calls for you to bake them at 400 degrees but in reality, you’re supposed to bake them at 350. You believe that you’re right, but just because you think you’re right it doesn’t always mean that you are. There is a consequence for following the directions incorrectly. In this scenario you just have a bad batch of cookies, but we know the consequences for believing something that is wrong can be far more severe than just that. Let’s say that you believe that it is safe to turn left from the church parking lot onto Highway J. You look both directions and it appears as though it’s safe. You believe you’re good to go! And as you turn, a semi truck tops the hill going 50mph. You might believe that you’re safe one moment and the next moment you realize that you’re not so safe. Actions have consequences, and even if we believe that we’ve done the right thing, there are times where we are simply wrong.

Saul believed that persecuting Christians was the right thing to do. He defended his actions by saying that he was being a faithful servant of God. Saul called himself at this point in time a pharisee of pharisees

Philippians 3:5–6 CSB

5 circumcised the eighth day; of the nation of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew born of Hebrews; regarding the law, a Pharisee; 6 regarding zeal, persecuting the church; regarding the righteousness that is in the law, blameless.

This wasn’t a man who was lacking much! In fact, this was a guy who had guts and had strong belief that he was following the law perfectly. He was a pharisee of pharisees. He had studied under the greatest teacher of the law of his day, Gamaliel as we saw back in Acts 5:33-42. This man seemed to have it all figured out… Yet, he will eventually call himself the chief of sinners. He will say that he was lost. He would lost his legendary status with the Roman and Jewish authorities and eventually be thrown into the same prisons that he threw Christians into. Who is this man? He was a passionate Jew who believed he was in the right. Look in our text, we see that he was breathing threats and murder against followers of the Way. This was not a nice man - if you were a Christian, he wanted to see you thrown in jail or worse. Why was this the case? Because many Jews viewed Christians as not only a threat, but as people who had perverted the Scriptures and had invented a false religion. This was of paramount concern for Saul and others.

Do you know that there are people in our world today who are sincere and genuine followers of their respective religion who are equally as lost and confused as Saul was? It’s easy to confuse sincerity and belief with correctness. The reality of the situation is that Saul was wrong. He worked really hard, but he believed in the wrong thing. Likewise, there are people today who try really hard and are sincere Jews, Muslims, Atheists, Mormons, and others who genuinely might be good people! But those things don’t mean that you are following the correct worldview. We read in Scripture that there is one way and that way isn’t an ideology, religion, or work, it’s a person and His name is Jesus Christ as John 14:6 shares with us

John 14:6 CSB

6 Jesus told him, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.

Jesus makes it black and white. We read in the Bible that before Christ, we were all lost. Maybe our past wasn’t as checkered as Saul’s was as he persecuted the Church and threw Christians into prison, but we all have a past. What I want to be perfectly clear on this morning, friends, is that God knows your past and wants to change you from those former ways and beliefs. Consider God’s grace in this text with Saul. Saul was an enemy of the cross, he was killing Christians, yet we see that God has a plan for his life and God’s grace is sufficient to save even a man like him. I’ve said this before and I’ll say it again, if God can turn a terrorist into a missionary - He can change your life too.

Consider, has Jesus changed your life? Have you experienced His grace and provision in your life? Have you been raised to walk in newness of life?

Was God Done With Saul? (4-9)

Luke tells us that Saul is on his way to Damascus in verse 3. This man had a vendetta against Christians of all shapes and sizes and Jerusalem wasn’t his only work zone - he wasn’t going to rest until the blood of Christians was spilt across the region. Saul might’ve been the first leader of persecution against the Church, but he wouldn’t be the last. Did you know that it is estimated that more Christians have died for their faith in the last century than in all the previous centuries of the Church combined? Why is that the case? Because Christians have always been a persecuted people to some extent. Jesus told us as much in John 15 as He said

John 15:20 CSB

20 Remember the word I spoke to you: ‘A servant is not greater than his master.’ If they persecuted me, they will also persecute you. If they kept my word, they will also keep yours.

Saul persecuting the Church wasn’t something out of left field - Jesus said that His followers would be persecuted. We look around our world today and we see Christians being persecuted, kidnapped, tortured, and even killed and we wonder why it’s happening. This kind of stuff has been going on for years and years… It can seem hopeless and purposeless… We have to remember that our Lord reigns and He has a plan, even in difficult times. We keep our eyes on our Savior and we remain obedient to His Word and we let the chips fall wherever they may because we know that our God is still on His throne. We know that we are in Christ and that He is for us.

For Saul, he had no relationship with Jesus Christ. For all we know, he likely thought that Jesus was a false prophet as many other Jews did. Yet, we see that even though Saul hates Jesus and his followers, Jesus still loves him. We see in our text that while Saul had plans to persecute Christians in Damascus, God had other plans for him in that city. We see that God was not done with Saul - just as God is not done with us today!

Saul is blinded by a light and Jesus asks him a simple question, “Why are you persecuting me?”

We’ve talked about this in the past regarding the importance of belonging to the local church, but we see that idea very clearly emphasized in our text here. We see that Jesus tells Saul that he is persecuting Him. How can this be? We know that as Christians, the Holy Spirit lives inside of us. We also know that Christ promises to build His church. We see in Ephesians 5 that Paul shares that Christ died for His bride - the Church. Jesus loves his church and whenever the Church is being persecuted, God not only notices but He cares!

Some people look around at the suffering taking place in our world and they think that there is no way that God is all-powerful and all-good. They say this, “If God is all-good then there would be no evil. If God were all-powerful then there would be no opposition to Him. Yet, there is evil. Therefore, God is either not all-good, or He is not all-powerful.”

We read in Scripture that God is both all-good and all-powerful. He is just. He is holy. He is righteous. He is loving. He is patient and kind. He cares for His creation and sustains it. He knows what it’s like to suffer and be sleepy and can’t sleep. He knows what it’s like to be tired and have a long day ahead of you. He knows what it’s like to struggle. He knows what it’s like to be persecuted

Hebrews 4:15 CSB

15 For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but one who has been tempted in every way as we are, yet without sin.

We can take heart in our struggle that God is still with us and He knows how we feel because He’s walked in our shoes, so to speak. This revelation of sorts would have astonished Saul. We see that Saul is frozen in his tracks. He blinds Saul and Saul falls to his knees. Did you know that one day every knee will bow and every tongue confess that Jesus is Lord? We know that day is coming up! What must happen between now and then? God calls His followers to proclaim the good news far and wide - to the ends of the earth. To all people. People matter to God. Saul mattered to God. God revealed Himself to Saul in such a powerful way that Saul was forever changed as he went forward and did what Christ told him to do.

What was God’s plan for Saul’s life? Not to change his name - this is a tradition that should’ve never gained traction. What was his Jewish name? Saul. What was his Greco/Roman name? Paul. Who is Paul the apostle to? The Jews or Gentiles?

Romans 11:13 CSB

13 Now I am speaking to you Gentiles. Insofar as I am an apostle to the Gentiles, I magnify my ministry,

Did God change his name? No. After his conversion, Saul identifies himself as Paul because his audience is primarily Gentile in nature. God’s plan wasn’t to change his name. God’s plan wasn’t to just give him some encouragement. God’s plan for Saul was to use him as a faithful servant to share the Gospel throughout the Roman empire. In order for this to happen, Saul has to change. His worldview, as hard as he tried and worked, had to be demolished. He had to be humbled. And this is what God did. Did Saul obey the Lord’s command? Absolutely - but the Damascus Road encounter was a divine appointment in which God metaphorically knocked Saul down a peg or two in order to show him his true purpose in life.

Saul couldn’t even respond at this point. He hadn’t just persecuted people - he had persecuted the Lord Himself. Now he himself had seen the resurrected Christ and this marked a turning point in his life as it would for most of us! As John Polhill shares, “The certainty of the resurrection turned Paul from Jesus’ most zealous persecutor to his most ardent witness.” Saul understood that God had a plan for him. We know this truth from the New Testament writings. We know that God has a plan and that His plan is for our good as Romans 8:28 shares. We know that God’s plan is for His glory as Romans 11:36 shares. We know that He loves His bride, the church, and that we are called to be His hands and feet in this world as He promises to build His church. Saul began to understand that God had bigger plans for him than he could’ve ever even dreamed.

What Does God Desire Today?

To bring this home, let’s consider what does God want from His people today? I highly doubt that you or I will ever have a “Damascus Road” experience like Saul did. What does God want us to do? 4 things.

Exalt the Savior

Equip the Saint

Evangelize the Sinner

Encourage the Sheep

God wants us to be His witnesses. He wants our hearts. He wants our obedience. He wants our all! There’s a hymn that talks about that very thing, isn’t there? All to Jesus, I surrender. All to Him I freely give. I will ever love and trust Him. In His presence daily live. What does God want from us? He wants us to live as changed people. If Jesus has changed our hearts through His amazing grace, if we have been raised from death to life, He expects us to life on mission as His ambassadors from now until He calls us home. Will we be the great missionary and evangelist as Paul became? Likely no. Will we have the speaking abilities of say a Billy Graham? Likely no. Will we have the incredible spiritual knowledge and Scripture memory that an AW Tozer had? Likely no. What do we have? We have Jesus. We have His Spirit alive in us. We have a mouth, hands, feet, arms, and legs. We have a purpose and we have a calling to make the name of Jesus Christ known far and wide. How can we do this? By relying on our own strengths and plotting our own vision? Absolutely not. The only way that you can accomplish God’s plan for your life is to seek first His kingdom. The only way that you can accomplish His plan for your life is to lay your life down and pick up what He has in store.

Are you actively desiring to fulfill your eternal, God-given purpose today, or are you stuck in neutral? Are you ready to reach the masses with the good news or are you trying to do what most benefits yourself and maintains your level of comfort? May we look to Acts 9:1-9 and be convicted to see that God has a plan for each of us and that we must be obedient to share His grace with a lost and dying world because God can change anyone, anywhere, and at anytime. There is no one too far gone for the good news of Jesus!

Conclusion

At the end of the day, whenever you and I stand before our Creator and Maker, it won’t matter how many A’s we got in school or how many times we opened the door open for someone else. Good things are good to do, but they don’t save us. Sacrifices and good works have never saved a single person in the history of humanity as Hebrews 10:4 shares. The only thing that will matter on that day will be what you and I did with Jesus Christ. If we have the correct worldview or if we don’t. There are people in our community and beyond who do lots of good things, but they don’t have Jesus in their hearts. How can we minister to such people? 2 ways in closing.

We Must Share the Truth about Sin

The Bible shares that we have all sinned (Romans 3:23) and the wages of sin is death (Romans 6:23). As a result of this, what we deserve is to be separated from God. The best person that you know is a sinner. Even though some people do really good things for others, sin is so serious that the very best works cannot save us by ourselves. We need saving from our sin! People must have a correct understanding of the seriousness of sin and the holiness of God.

We Must Share the Truth about Salvation

The Bible shares with us that there is 1 way to be saved (Acts 4:12 and John 14:6). The good news of the Gospel is that Jesus saves sinners (Romans 5:8) and that if Jesus could save the worst of sinners (1 Timothy 1:15 as Paul calls himself), then He is more than capable of saving you and I regardless of our past sins and shortcomings. We must share the truth about salvation - that we must repent of our sins and place our faith and trust in Christ and in Christ alone. That we have hope in Jesus.

Saul didn’t have all the answers at this point in time, but his worldview had been destroyed and a new one would take its place. As we prepare to go from this place and into our mission sites for the week, let’s be faithful to live out a Christian worldview and pray that God would reveal Himself to those around us and use us to serve as Ananias’ as we will discuss next week.