“SAUL’S CONVERSION”
ACTS 9:1-9

I. Introduction
“Amazing grace! How sweet the sound.
That saved a wretch like me!
I once was lost but now am found;
Was blind but now I see.”

Thus begins the most widely known, played, and sung Christian hymn in the world. It was written in 1779 by John Newton. Who was Newton? As a young man he denounced his faith and went to sea on the slave ship Greyhound. One of Newton’s “talents” was writing obscene poems and songs and teaching them to the crew. These were often described as “exceeding the limits of verbal debauchery.” In fact, the captain of the Greyhound wrote that Newton was one of the most profane men he had ever met.

But in the eighteenth century world of slave trading, debauchery and profanity were not seen as hindrances to one’s advancement, and Newton soon became the captain of his own slave ship. But God had other plans for John Newton. The Lord began to break through his hard shell and in 1748 brought Newton to saving faith in Christ.

He left the slave trade and, as the years went by (working with William Wilberforce) he became a strong voice for the abolition of slavery. (They were quite successful. Slavery was abolished in England in 1833 – thirty years before Abraham Lincoln’s Emancipation Proclamation.) In 1764 New-ton was ordained to the gospel ministry and spent the rest of his life advancing the evangeli-cal movement with the likes of John and Charles Wesley and George Whitefield.

The words to “Amazing Grace” would be a worthy epitaph for anyone, but Newton wrote another one. It marks his grave in England. It reads…
“John Newton, clerk, once an infidel and libertine, a servant of slavers in Africa, was, by the rich mercy of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, preserved, restored, pardoned, and appointed to preach the Faith he had long labored to destroy.”

Some of you have heard the name Mel Trotter. Trotter was born in 1870 in rural Illinois. By the time he was in his early twenties, he was a full-fledged alcoholic. Again and again he promised his wife that he would quit drinking. But he didn’t. Instead he sold the family’s horse to get money for alcohol, and when that money was gone, he committed a series of burglaries to feed his drinking habits.

When his baby boy was two years old, Trotter returned home from a ten-day drunk and found his only son dead in his mother’s arms. He said, “I’ll never forget that day. I was a slave, and I knew it. It pretty nearly broke my heart. I said, ‘I’m a murderer.
I’m anything but a man. I can’t stand it, and I won’t stand it! I’ll end my life.” He swore on the baby’s coffin that he would never touch another drop. Two hours after the funeral, he was blind drunk. Unable to break his habit, unable to keep his promises, he made the deci-sion to kill himself.

On January 19, 1897, Trotter, having sold his shoes to buy a drink, staggered into Chicago determined to throw himself into the freezing waters of Lake Michigan. But he didn’t get that far. He came to the door of the Pacific Garden Mission. Harry Monroe, who had been a drunk himself, was leading the singing. As the doorman helped Trotter to a seat, Monroe stopped to pray for him. He said, “O God, save this poor man.”

Monroe told the audience of his own past and how Christ had delivered him from alcohol. Trotter listened to Monroe and believed him when he said that Jesus loved him and would change him. Trotter was saved that night in Chicago. Asked later how he knew he was saved, he replied, “I was there when it happened, January 19, 1897, 10 minutes past 9, Cen-tral Time, Pacific Garden Mission, Chicago, Illinois, USA.”

How changed was Mel Trotter? By 1900 he had founded and was directing a rescue mission in Grand Rapids, Michigan. He went on to found a chain of rescue missions through the United States. By 1905 he was ordained to the gospel ministry. In the 1920’s he became a well-known speaker at Bible conferences, and in 1937 he preached in England with Harry Ironside. Having preached Christ to many thousands, Mel Trotter passed into glory in 1940.

John Newton and Mel Trotter were evil and degenerate men. But God led them to saving faith His Son. This morning we’re going to look at a man who may have been more evil and degenerate than either Newton or Trotter. We’ll watch as God brings Saul of Tarsus to sav-ing faith in Jesus. As we do I would ask you to keep this question in mind: “Is anyone too evil or too degenerate to be beyond the reach of the Gospel of Jesus Christ?”
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II. Review and Scripture Reading
We’ll set the stage for today’s text by going back to the moment in Acts 7 where we first met Saul of Tarsus.

It was in Acts 7 where Stephen, on trial for preaching the gospel, had turned the tables on his accusers in the Sanhedrin and accused them of murdering Jesus. But Stephen had more to say to the Jewish religious leaders. He said that even though they claimed to know God, they did not. In fact, they constantly resisted the Holy Spirit. He said that even though they claimed to know the Law of Moses, they did not. In fact, they twisted and perverted it to such a degree that it was no longer recognizable.

Stephen told them the truth about themselves – they were self-serving, self-important, self-righteous, and godless hypocrites who had murdered the prophets and their own Messiah.
*Acts 7:54-8:3 (Please stand with me in honor of reading God’s Word.)
54 Now when they heard this, they were cut to the quick, and they began gnash-ing their teeth at him.
55 But being full of the Holy Spirit, he gazed intently into heaven and saw the glory of God, and Jesus standing at the right hand of God;
56 and he said, “Behold, I see the heavens opened up and the Son of Man stand-ing at the right hand of God.”
57 But they cried out with a loud voice, and covered their ears, and they rushed upon him with one impulse.
58 And when they had driven him out of the city, they began stoning him, and the witnesses laid aside their robes at the feet of a young man named Saul.
59 And they went on stoning Stephen as he called upon the Lord and said, “Lord Jesus, receive my spirit!”
60 And falling on his knees, he cried out with a loud voice, “Lord, do not hold this sin against them!” And having said this, he fell asleep. (moving on to Acts 8)
1 And Saul was in hearty agreement with putting him to death. And on that day a great persecution arose against the church in Jerusalem; and they were all scattered throughout the regions of Judea and Samaria, except the apostles.
2 And some devout men buried Stephen, and made loud lamentation over him.
3 But Saul began ravaging the church, entering house after house; and dragging off men and women, he would put them in prison.

Years later, Paul, defending himself before King Agrippa, had more to say about what he had done to Christians before he was saved.
*Acts 26:9-12
9 “So then, I thought to myself that I had to do many things hostile to the name of Jesus of Nazareth.
10 “And this is just what I did in Jerusalem; not only did I lock up many of the saints in prisons, having received authority from the chief priests, but also when they were being put to death I cast my vote against them.
11 “And as I punished them often in all the synagogues, I tried to force them to blaspheme; and being furiously enraged at them, I kept pursuing them even to foreign cities.”
12 “While thus engaged as I was journeying to Damascus with the authority and commission of the chief priests…” (and so we come to today’s text)
*Acts 9:1-9
1 Now Saul, still breathing threats and murder against the disciples of the Lord, went to the high priest,
2 and asked for letters from him to the synagogues at Damascus, so that if he found any belonging to the Way, both men and women, he might bring them bound to Jerusalem.
3 And it came about that as he journeyed, he was approaching Damascus, and suddenly a light from heaven flashed around him;
4 and he fell to the ground, and heard a voice saying to him, “Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting Me?”
5 And he said, “Who are You, Lord?” And He said, “I am Jesus whom you are persecuting,
6 but rise, and enter the city, and it shall be told you what you must do.”
7 And the men who traveled with him stood speechless, hearing the voice, but seeing no one.
8 And Saul got up from the ground, and though his eyes were open, he could see nothing; and leading him by the hand, they brought him into Damascus.
9 And he was three days without sight, and neither ate nor drank.
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III. Text
“Is anyone too evil or too degenerate to be beyond the reach of the Gospel of Jesus Christ?” John Newton wasn’t. Mel Trotter wasn’t. Saul of Tarsus wasn’t either! Who are you pray-ing for? Could it be someone who’s so far down the road to destruction that you can hardly even see them anymore? Is he or she following in the steps of the Newtons, Trotters, or Sauls of this world? If God can save them, can’t He save the one for whom you’re praying?

Be encouraged! Remember the words in the second verse of one of our favorite hymns – “To God be the Glory.” They say, “…the vilest offender who truly believes, that moment from Jesus a pardon receives.” So with that in mind, let’s go to the text.
*Acts 9:1-2
1 Now Saul, still breathing threats and murder against the disciples of the Lord, went to the high priest,
2 and asked for letters from him to the synagogues at Damascus, so that if he found any belonging to the Way, both men and women, he might bring them bound to Jerusalem.

Saul’s hatred of Christians – and by extension, his hatred of the Lord Jesus Himself – was not merely a passive disdain for those Jews who became the first Christians. It was an all-consuming passion. When you and I consider the hatred of Christians that Jesus told us to expect, we usually think about it as it applies to us, the hated. But we seldom think of it from the point of view of the hater. In Matthew 10:22 Jesus said, “…you will be hated by all on account of My name…” Later, He expanded on that saying…
Matthew 24:9 (referring specifically to Jewish Christians in the Great Tribulation)
9 “Then they will deliver you to tribulation, and will kill you, and you will be hated by all nations on account of My name.”

Every true Christian can, at least in some ways, relate to those statements made by our Lord.
Such hatred and fanaticism is out there today, isn’t it? ISIS beheading Christians, homicide bombers going to playgrounds for the purpose of killing Christian children, and countless other acts of unspeakable barbarism against believers are taking place all over the world. To be clear, there is nothing in what we know of Saul of Tarsus that would indicate he was any less evil than the Islamic terrorists we see in the world today.

We know that Saul wreaked havoc among the Christians in Jerusalem, but it seems that their imprisonment and their blood wasn’t enough for him. So when he heard there was a group of Christians in Damascus he went to the high priest to obtain the legal authority to go to Syria, find the Christians, arrest them, bring them to Jerusalem, try them, and either imprison or execute them. Saul viewed this as a high calling. (Saul’s “Allahu Akbar”)

In John 16:2 Jesus said, “…an hour is coming for everyone who kills you to think that he is offering service to God.” Wasn’t that what happened to Stephen? And wasn’t it Stephen’s murder that served as the catalyst for Saul’s fanaticism? Acts 8:1 says it was on the very day of Stephen’s death that the persecutions began, and two verses later we are told “Saul began ravaging the church.”

In the Book of Acts we will see Christianity referred to as “the Way” no less than five more times. The words “Christian” and “Christianity” were still unknown. It is thought that “The Way” comes from Jesus’ statement in John 14:6 where He calls Himself “…the way, and the truth, and the life.” So it is perfectly appropriate that Christianity should be called the way. In Acts 18:26 an accurate understanding of the gospel is called the way of God. In 2 Peter 2:2 the truth is also called the way of God. And in Hebrews 10:19-20 the body and blood of Jesus are called the way to God. (cross vs. fish symbol)

So in Acts 9:2 Saul had all the power and authority he needed to continue his attacks against Jesus of Nazareth and his followers.
*Acts 9:3-4
3 And it came about that as he journeyed, he was approaching Damascus, and suddenly a light from heaven flashed around him;
4 and he fell to the ground, and heard a voice saying to him, “Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting Me?”

Can you imagine the terror? It’s obvious that the light that flashed around Saul and those who were with him was blindingly bright. Acts 22:6 says it was midday so the light far sur-passed the light of the sun when it is at its brightest. Acts 22:13 describes it as “…brighter than the sun, shining all around me and those who were journeying with me.” This light actually blinded Saul; v. 9 tells us that it took three days for him to regain his sight.

But it was during these moments when Saul heard Jesus’ voice and clearly understood His words. Those who were with Saul also heard Jesus but had no idea what He said. That’s because the words were meant for Saul, and so was what he saw in that blinding light.
We’re told that all who were on the road with Saul saw the light, but Jesus only showed Himself to Saul. He may not have seen Jesus with his physical eyes, but he certainly saw Him with his spiritual eyes. Saul will testify to that fact four times in Acts and twice more in 1 Corinthians. Saul of Tarsus, Christ hater, was about to come to saving faith. Saul of Tar-sus, persecutor of Christians, was about to be converted.

How is this happening? Please bear with me on this. This is so important to our understand-ing of God’s role in salvation, His free and matchless grace, and how we are saved. Is it that Saul finally sees the error of his ways and chooses, of his own free will, to make a decision for Christ? Is it that Saul is tired of the life he is living and chooses, of his own free will, to seek after God, and accept Jesus into his heart? If you listen to a great deal of what passes for evangelism today you might think that’s how it works.

But it is not! Paul himself will make it clear that it is not. In Romans 3:11 he will write, “There is none who seeks after God.” This is the key point I want you to see. Saul is not in the process of seeking here in Acts 9. In fact, Saul is initiating nothing – God is! Saul of Tarsus is not about to “make a decision for Christ” by exercising his free will on the road to Damascus. Rather, God, in eternity past, has already exercised HIS free and made a decision for Saul of Tarsus.

Why am I emphasizing this point? I am doing so because it is fundamental to our under-standing of the salvation God has given us in His Son. Listen, God always initiates the contact in salvation. God always initiates the contact in salvation. Fallen sinners, in their natural unsaved condition, have no interest in salvation. Ephesians 2:1 (written by Paul) says that the unsaved are spiritually dead, and the dead do not initiate anything. They do not be-cause they cannot. Jesus makes this as clear as it can be in John’s gospel.
*John 6:37a, 44a, 65b
37a “All that the Father gives Me shall come to Me…” (Who determines that? How shall they come – of the sinner’s own free will?)
44a “No one can come to Me, unless the Father who sent Me draws him…” (does the sinner draw near to God exercising his own free will?)
65b “…no one can come to Me, unless it has been granted him from the Father.”

Listen, if you are a Christian it is because God has allowed you to be a Christian; you have received divine permission to be a Christian. He has chosen you for salvation, predestined you to salvation, initiated contact with you for salvation, and saved your soul. Five times in Jesus’ high priestly prayer (John 17) He speaks of us, His church, as “…those whom the Father has given to Me.” If you belong to Jesus it is because God has given you to Him.

When people come to saving faith they tend to think that they exercised their free will and made a decision for Christ. They believe that because it’s what they’re told. Thus they believe that they are the final arbiter of their salvation. But the Scriptures do not teach that. They teach that a sovereign God is the final arbiter. “No one can come to Jesus unless it has been granted him by the Father.” Nowhere is this fundamental truth more clearly stated than it is in Paul’s letter to Titus.
Titus 3:3-5a
3 For we also once were foolish ourselves, disobedient, deceived, enslaved to various lusts and pleasures, spending our life in malice and envy, hateful, hat-ing one another.
4 But when the kindness of God our Savior and His love for mankind appeared,
5 He saved us, not on the basis of deeds which we have done in righteousness, but according to His mercy…

With that in mind, here is what did not happen on the road to Damascus. Saul picked him-self up off the road and said, “Hey guys, I just accepted Jesus,” or, “I’ve made a decision for Christ.” That isn’t what happened to Saul. And although the moment of your salvation was probably considerably less dramatic than Saul’s, that isn’t what happened to you either. It’s only when you begin to see that your salvation is all of Him and none of you that you begin to see God’s grace for what it truly is. (back to Acts 9)

Look again at Acts 9:4 where Jesus asks, “Why are you persecuting Me?” At first that may seem like a strange question. Saul has been persecuting Christians. He hasn’t been perse-cuting Jesus. But deep in Jesus’ question is another rich truth that we do not want to miss. What is done to God’s children is done to God. There is an intimate link between each one of us and the Lord Himself. Remember that we are the body of Christ, and when the body is suffering, so too is the head. John MacArthur describes it this way:
“No blow struck (against us) on earth goes unfelt in heaven by our sympathetic High Priest. By persecuting Christians, Saul inflicted blows directly on their Lord.”

Jesus is the head of the body. When any part of the body is hurt, the head feels it. Before we move on I want to point out that this principle works in two directions. If someone hurts you, it hurts God. And if you hurt someone else, it also hurts God. How do I know that?

Do you remember what David said when he confessed his sins of adultery and murder? He had sinned against Bathsheba and she was shamed. He had sinned against Uriah and he was dead. But when David was convicted of his sins and confessed them to God, he said, “Against You and You only have I sinned, and done what is evil in Your sight (Psalm 51:4a).”

Whether you hurt someone or someone hurts you – if you are a Christian – God feels it. And so, in Acts 9:4, Jesus asks Saul, “Why are you persecuting Me?”
*Acts 9:5
5 And he said, “Who are You, Lord?” And He said, “I am Jesus whom you are persecuting…

It’s right here, in v. 5, that Saul sees Jesus for who He really is.
It’s right here, in v. 5, that he is convicted of the enormity of his sin against Him. Why else would Saul call Him “Lord”? It must have been at this moment when conviction of his sin overwhelmed Saul and he believed. There can be no genuine salvation without a genuine conviction of sin. I can relate to that. Like Mel Trotter, I remember the night God saved me. It was January 9, 1973, 2:00 a.m. Central Time, 225 Beloit St., Delavan, Wisconsin, USA. That’s when I believed and that’s when I knew that everything I had heard about Jesus Christ was true, and I was convicted of my sin.

But back to Saul – Remember that he was a Pharisee. The Pharisees hated Jesus and had Him crucified because He said He was God’s Messiah. Can you imagine what would have stormed through Saul’s mind the instant he realized that Jesus WAS the Messiah?

Years later, the Apostle Paul would describe who he was before he met Jesus on the road to Damascus. In his letter to the church at Philippi he listed his qualifications as a Pharisee and spoke of his zeal in persecuting the church. The he said…
*Philippians 3:7-10a
7 But whatever things were gain to me, those things I have counted as loss for the sake of Christ.
8 More than that, I count all things to be loss in view of the surpassing value of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and count them but rubbish in order that I may gain Christ,
9 and may be found in Him, not having a righteousness of my own derived from the Law, but that which is through faith in Christ, the righteousness which comes from God on the basis of faith,
10a that I may know Him, and the power of His resurrection… (back to Acts 9:6)

What a moment this was! Saul fell to the ground lost, and stood up saved! What would he do? He would begin his new life by obeying his Master. Jesus said to him…
*Acts 9:6-9
6 but rise, and enter the city, and it shall be told you what you must do.”
7 And the men who traveled with him stood speechless, hearing the voice, but seeing no one.
8 And Saul got up from the ground, and though his eyes were open, he could see nothing; and leading him by the hand, they brought him into Damascus.
9 And he was three days without sight, and neither ate nor drank.

Saul of Tarsus – a Pharisee, a Christ-hater, and a persecutor of Christians, who had planned on entering the city of Damascus with power, authority, and wielding a sword – had been changed. He would enter Damascus, led by the hand, humbled, broken, and blind. Over the next few months God would turn Saul into Paul, and use him to bring the gospel to the Gen-tile world, establish churches all over the Roman Empire, and write half of the New Testa-ment you hold in your hands this morning.

Next Sunday we’ll watch as God begins to turn a lost sinner into a powerful man of God.
Paul had been instantly justified by faith. And now his life-long process of sanctification – making him more like Christ – would begin.
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IV. Conclusion
I began this morning by speaking of two unlikely converts to Christ: John Newton and Mel Trotter. But has anyone ever been less likely to become a Christian than Saul of Tarsus?

Take this with you today, will you? God saves those whom He chooses to save. He saves them when and where He chooses to save them. He saves them without regard to the life they have lived up until the moment He saves them. And He saves them without regard to what you or I might think of them. The bottom line in all of this is that everyone whom He chooses to save will be saved. The timing is His. The place is His. The circumstances are His. And the glory is His! All of it!

So why do we preach the gospel to all people? There are at least two reasons. The first is that God told us to. That should be reason enough. But the second is this: We preach the gospel to all because we do not know whom God has chosen. We may think we do, but we do not. So we preach the gospel to all. The facts are these: Many of those sinners who hear the gospel will reject it. Many more of those who hear it won’t consciously and deliberately reject it. They just won’t respond to it at all. But every single one of those sinners whom God has chosen will respond to it, and they will be saved. Why? Because Jesus came to save sinners! Listen to Saul of Tarsus.
*1 Timothy 1:15-17
15 It is a trustworthy statement, deserving full acceptance, that Christ Jesus came into this world to save sinners, among whom I am foremost of all.
16 And yet for the reason I found mercy, in order that in me as the foremost (sin-ner), Jesus Christ might demonstrate His perfect patience, as an example for those who would believe in Him for eternal life.
17 Now to the King eternal, immortal, invisible, the only God, be honor and glory forever and ever. Amen.

~ Pray ~