Convinced – Acts 9:1-22

This is the day in which most of Christendom celebrates the resurrection of Christ.

I have no problem with celebrating Jesus’ resurrection,

But I do have problems with the superstitious fashion which this celebration so often takes.

Tradition should not be allowed to dictate to people what they believe or how they should celebrate what they believe.

Taking our cue from the Bible, I believe that it is sin to confine our thoughts on this subject to just one day.

The resurrection of Christ has been a part of the theme of every chapter and every sermon preached thus far in the Book of Acts.

It is the core of Christianity and the very reason that the disciples gave their lives for Jesus’ sake.

With Christ’s resurrection the disciples had hope, and without that resurrection they had absolutely nothing.

If those Apostles were in the world today,

I’m not sure whether they would laugh or cry, watching people walking into their fancy churches wearing their fancy hats.

Especially if they knew that those people hadn’t been to church in three months or a year.

Easter Bunnies and painted eggs are an abomination when laid along side Jesus’ resurrection.

And then there is the Biblical fact that the Lord Jesus didn’t arise from the grave on Sunday morning, Easter morning, or any other morning.

When the ladies came to Joseph’s tomb at the break of day, it was already empty.

When the Lord Jesus prophesied that he’d be three days and three nights in that tomb,

And when we know that He died at about 3:00 in the afternoon, and that He was buried by about 6:00 P.M.,

The mathematics of Biblical detail demands Christ to have arisen at approximately 6:00 P.M. on Saturday night.

I have no problem preaching a resurrection sermon on what people call “Easter Sunday,” but nearly everyone of those sermons, for the sake of truth, will restate what I have just told you.

I thought about forgoing our study of Acts this morning in order to concentrate upon the resurrection,

But as I have just said, the theme of every chapter and every sermon in the first eight chapters of Acts has been Jesus’ resurrection, and chapter 9 is no different.

So let’s take our text from the Book of Acts once again.

Let’s notice the proof of Christ’s resurrection by thinking about four things;

Christ’s COMMUNICATION of Himself; His CONTROL of the meeting;

His COMMAND of His subjects, and by the CHANGE and CONVERSION of Saul.

First, there was the Lord’s COMMUNICATION of HIMSELF to Saul.

We were introduced to this man, Saul, in chapter 7, but I believe that he can be found even in chapter 6.

When Stephen was stoned to death for being a Christian, his executioners laid their clothes at a young man’s feet whose name was Saul.

This Saul was known specifically as “Saul, of Tarsus.”

Tarsus was the principle city of the Roman province of Cilicia, on the underside of what is now Turkey.

In Acts 6 when the problems between the Jews and Stephen are first recorded, we read:

“And Stephen, full of faith and power, did great wonders and miracles among the people.

Then there arose certain of the synagogue, which is called the synagogue of the Libertines, and Cyrenians, and Alexandrians, and of them of Cilicia and of Asia, disputing with Stephen.”

The evidence seems to suggest that Saul was a leader of this synagogue of the Libertines.

He was the one who laid the charges of blasphemy against Stephen.

And that is why he was the supervisor of his execution.

Once this spiritual shark had the taste of Christian blood, it would require a miracle from God to stop him.

Notice verses 1 & 2 of Acts 9:

“And Saul, yet breathing out threatenings and slaughter against the disciples of the Lord,

Went unto the high priest, and desired of him letters to Damascus to the synagogues,

That if he found any of this way, whether they were men or women, he might bring them bound unto Jerusalem.”

The words “threatenings and slaughter” tell us that Saul was instrumental in executing other Christians.

Later he said:

“Which thing I also did in Jerusalem: and many of the saints did I shut up in prison, having received authority from the chief priests; and when they were put to death, I gave my voice against them.

And I punished them oft in every synagogue, and compelled them to blaspheme; and being exceedingly mad against them, I persecuted them even unto strange cities.”

“Ye have heard of my conversation in time past in the Jews’ religion, how that beyond measure I persecuted the church of God, and wasted it.”

While on his way to Damascus, Syria, apparently with authority from the High priest to arrest and extradite the Christians of that city, the Lord Jesus interupted him.

“And as he journeyed, he came near Damascus: and suddenly there shined round about him a light from heaven:

And he fell to the earth, and heard a voice saying unto him, Saul, Saul, why persecutest thou me?

And he said, Who art thou, Lord? And the Lord said, I am Jesus whom thou persecutest.”

Later Paul said that this voice spoke to him in Hebrew, rather than in Aramaic or Greek.

I wonder if this had something to do with the fact that the men with Him heard the voice but didn’t understand the speech.

There was probably more than this, but I just wonder.

Saul, as a Jewish scholar, was undoubtedly an expert in the original language of the Old Testament, so it wasn’t a problem for him.

And Christ Jesus got right to the point:

“Saul, Saul why persecutest thou me?”

“Me?” this voice said “me.”

How was Saul supposedly persecuting a dead man?

Before His death, when the Lord Jesus was describing the last judgment, He taught that –

To be a blessing to one of Christ’s saints was to be a blessing to Christ Jesus.

And to be a curse or a hindrance to one of His people, was to be a curse to Christ Himself.

“And the King shall answer and say unto them, Verily I say unto you, Inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least of these my brethren, ye have done it unto me.”

Saul was persecuting Christ by persecuting the people and the churches of Christ.

And remember that this was months after the earthly death of Christ.

How could Saul still be persecuting Christ, if Christ was not still living?

What proof is there here of the Lord Jesus’ resurrection?

I think that ths is pretty obvious and undeniable.

The Bible says that Jesus, the One Who was crucified, and Who died on that cross.

The One Who was buried in Joseph’s borrowed tomb.

The One Whose body was sought but never recovered,

THAT Jesus was now speaking to Saul of Tarsus, months after his death and burial,

And this is proof of His resurrection.

BUT here we are 2,000 years later, listening to the account of an historian who wasn’t even there at the time.

Honesty requires that we ask: “How do we KNOW that this was really Jesus?”

As believers we have no problem answering that question – because the Bible tells us.

The Bible was given “by the inspiration of God, and is therefore profitable for doctrine, for reproof,

For correction, for instruction in righteousness: that the man of God may be perfect,

Throughly furnished unto all good works” and good doctrine.

But what about the unbeliever who wonders about this testimony; he says,

But how do we know that Saul wasn’t imagining this encounter or that he wasn’t hallucinating?

How can we be sure that this wasn’t heat stroke in that early afternoon?

Well, we know that this was really Christ Jesus, because of the effect which we see in Saul.

We’ll have to come back to that in just a few moments.

First, we know that Jesus lives because of His CONTROL of the CIRCUMSTANCES.

Saul was on his way to Damascus, when not too far from the city, at just about noon, a light brighter than anything that he had ever seen before, covered him like a wet, hot blanket.

He, and the men with him, fell to the earth as if they were being smothered and couldn’t breathe.

It appears that initially they buried their faces in their hands and in the dirt.

Man has learned a lot about light over the last two millennia,

And today we can create light brighter than the sun.

We can make light so concentrated that it can cut through steel.

I understand that for certain applications, the best way to cut some metals is underwater with lasers.

We’ve learned to understand and harness light.

But in Saul’s day, man didn’t have that knowledge or technology.

And I’m not exactly sure that man has yet come close to what is described here and in chapter 26.

That light which was brighter than the mid-day sun was SUPERNATURAL.

I wonder if it was MERELY miraculous light, or if it was the actual glory of Christ which fell upon Saul.

Whichever it was, it appears to have come close to actually taking his life.

The men which journeyed with him stood speechless, hearing a voice, but seeing no man.

Chapter 26 says that they were struck by the light,

And that they too were laying on the ground with their hands trying to shield their eyes.

I’m not sure at what point Saul’s companions stood and when they fell, but they obviously did both.

Saul heard the voice, but there is some question about what the others heard.

It might have come to their ears like the voice of thunder.

It might have been that they couldn’t understand Hebrew and so there was no message for them.

I personally think that this was doubtful.

Hebrew was not uncommon to Bible students in that day, even if the common man didn’t know it.

I wonder if the voice simply spoke to Saul’s ears, or heart, and not to the others.

No matter what opinion we take and how we understand it, this voice was miraculous,

And since it claimed to be the voice of our Lord Jesus, it testifies to the resurrection of Christ.

Somehow, Saul’s traveling companions were able to look around seeking for the source of the voice.

They never saw anyone.

Was this some sort of Christian ventriloquist, trying to divert these Jews from their diabolical plans?

Nope.

There was no one to see because there was no earthly man involved.

What we are reading was Jesus Christ’s omnipotent control of a miraculous situation.

And then there was the blindness.

How was it that Saul was blinded, but apparently his friends were not?

I know that the Bible doesn’t actually say that, but it appears that they were able to lead Saul into town.

How was it that Saul was blinded, but his friends, who looked around for the voice, were not?

It appears to me that the blindness wasn’t directly caused by the miraculous light.

Saul’s blindness was as miraculous as the light and the voice themselves.

Saul’s blindness was as miraculous as the cure of that blindness three days later.

The Lord’s control of the details around His revelation to Saul, testify to me that Jesus’ resurrection is a fact.

And a third proof of that resurrection is in the Lord’s COMMAND of Ananias.

“And there was a certain disciple at Damascus, named Ananias; and to him said the Lord in a vision, Ananias. And he said, Behold, I am here, Lord..”

There appears to have been a flourishing church in Damascus.

Josephus, the historian, says that there were 10,000 Jews living in that city at that time.

We have no information about how many of them had received the Messiah,

But they could have numbered in the hundreds.

Saul was going there to arrest and extradite to Jerusalem as many as he could, charging them as heretics.

Exactly how that church was founded I couldn’t tell you,

But I just about guarantee that it was first a mission of the church in Jerusalem.

Maybe it was started as a mission out of the church in Samaria.

In fact, it may still have been a mission.

One of the members of that church was a man named Ananias.

He might have been one of the pastors or elders of that church.

But I think that it was more likely that he was the missionary who had been sent by the Lord to start this mission.

And as such, of course, he was a believer in Christ.

By that I don’t mean that he was merely trusting the sacrifice of the Lord Jesus on the cross for the cleansing of his soul before God the Father.

This servant of the Lord, believed all the vital doctrines of Bible Christianity, including the fact of Jesus’ resurrection.

And that his faith was speculative, he lived in the very reality of the resurrection.

So when Christ Jesus spoke to him through some sort of vision, he wasn’t the least bit surprised.

He may not have particularly liked what the Lord was telling him to do.

He apparently had doubts whether or not such a wicked and violent man as Saul should be saved, or even could be saved.

But he had no doubts that it was the Lord Jesus who was commanding him to find Saul, heal him and baptize him.

So finally he replied, “LORD, I have heard by many of this man, how much evil he hath done to thy saints at Jerusalem:”

What did Ananias mean by the word “Lord?”

Look at verse 17 – “And Ananias went his way, and entered into the house; and putting his hands on him said, Brother Saul, THE LORD, EVEN JESUS, that appeared unto thee in the way as thou camest, hath sent me, that thou mightest receive thy sight, and be filled with the Holy Ghost.”

When someone doubts or denies the resurrection of Jesus from the dead,

They are impeaching the honesty and integrity of this man Ananias.

At the very least they are casting aspersions on his sanity.

This man of God, this missionary, told Saul that the voice that he heard on the road outside of town was the voice of the resurrected Christ.

And he told him that the Lord Jesus had commissioned him to visit him and to heal him of his blindness.

“And immediately there fell from his eyes as it had been scales: and he received sight forthwith, and arose, and was baptized.”

If Ananias had been wrong about Christ, then God should not have honored his claims by healing Saul of his blindness.

Ananias is a testimony to the resurrection of the Lord Jesus.

But as far as I’m concerned the greatest proof of the resurrection is that CHANGE that we see in Saul.

Remember that the disciples and apostles may not have understood the Lord Jesus when He prophesied His crucifixion, burial and resurrection.

The disciples might have been surprised when they found the tomb empty.

They may have been shocked and even terrified when the resurrected Lord suddenly appeared in their locked hideaway.

But they were eventually thrilled when it all settled into their hearts.

The resurrection changed and empowered them.

But if, just after the execution of Stephen, you had asked Saul what he thought about Jesus’ resurrection,

He might have arrested you as an heretic for simply asking the question.

There may have been some similarities between the early disciples and Saul about the resurrection,

But their ATTITUDES were on different continents.

I won’t put words in his mouth, but Saul might have said that he’d sooner kill himself than to admit that Christ might have truly risen from the dead.

Ah, but the sermon of Stephen couldn’t be dismissed from his memory.

Neither could he forget the calm and faith-filled way in which that servant of God died.

Saul was a smart man, and as he saw what the gospel was doing to Israel and rest of the region, and he had to wonder.

All the pieces of the puzzle were neatly prepared and arranged for the Lord’s revelation.

And on the road to Damascus, the light, the voice and the conversation from Christ, instantly broke his spirit.

It was the grace and omnipotence of Christ that reduced this tool of Satanic terror into a blind and humble sinner before the throne of God.

Instantly, he said called the Heavenly speaker “Lord” just as Ananias would do.

When the voice identified Himself, saying “I am Jesus,”

Saul immediately responded, “LORD, what wilt thou have me to do?”

There is no explanation for the 180 degree turn in this wicked persecutor of Christ, other than the power and grace of God.

It seems to me that the evidence is overwhelming that he recognized, respected and believed that Jesus of Nazareth was alive and well, living in Glory and ruling over all the earth.

Saul was willing at that point to do anything that the Lord commanded, and in fact he did.

Not only does this chapter once again, prove the resurrection of Christ from the dead.

Not only does it prove that He lives.

It’s important to notice that it was the resurrection which played a key roll in Saul’s conversion.

He became a new man by God’s grace with a new heart and a new life

Came to the immediate realization that he was a sinner before this living Christ.

He realized that what the apostles had been saying about the Messiah first having to die as a sacrifice for the sins of this people was true.

He realized that although the sacrifice was made, it was accepted by the Father and that was why Christ was raised from the dead.

Christ was “declared to be the Son of God with power, according to the spirit of holiness, by the resurrection from the dead.”

Saul was born again by the grace of God, partially through the effects of seeing and understanding Jesus’ resurrection.

And this is what the resurrection of Christ should do for us.

I can’t tell you what the people at the Catholic churches in Post Falls were thinking as they went to their Sunrise services today.

I can’t read the minds of the folk at the Calvary Lutheran church or Calvary Chapel.

But oh, how I wish that the resurrection of Christ would bring those folk to their knees before the Lord.

Besides the establishment of salvation and the cleansing of sin through the acceptable sacrifice of Christ,

The living Son of God will very soon return to earth,

“in flaming fire taking vengeance on them that know not God, and that obey not the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ.”

This is what crushed Saul to the ground that early afternoon:

The man whom he had been persecuting was the Anointed of God, the Saviour, and the Judge of Heaven and earth.

Instantly he knew that he was doomed, if the Lord wasn’t merciful toward him.

With a repentant and believing heart, he humbly cast himself before God’s throne of grace.

Saul was born again; he became a new creature in Christ; he became a genuine Christian.

This is what the resurrection should do to the millions of self-righteous church-goers this morning.

And what about you?

Like Saul, do you still need to be born again?

After visiting the cross, come meet the Lord at the empty tomb.