Wouldn't you have a hard time trusting someone like Saul? Especially if it had been your loved ones he killed? Even when there is forgiveness for past wrongs, trust is not something that just magically reappears. It takes time and it takes effort on the part of the one who has broken the trust and the one who forgives.

Introduction

Matt Hensley(1) tells a remarkable story of his conversion to Christ. He usually does so while holding a strange ornament he keeps on the mantle of his fireplace. The ornament is the two shells of an oyster, closed so that they are holding a piece of printed paper.

Hensley, a professional diver, had long avoided those who tried to interest him in the things of God. He felt he didn't need any help in his life and besides, he was far too busy. Then, while diving off the coast one day something caught his eye. He spotted this particular oyster attached to a rock on the bottom. That was not unusual, but what the oyster held tightly between its top and bottom shell was. As he swam closer to take a look, he saw that the little creature held a piece of paper. Curious over such an odd occurrence, he reached out and took the paper, opened it carefully, and saw that it was a piece of literature presenting the claims of Christ. This strange happening impressed him so much that he concluded he could no longer hold out against God. On his return to shore he called a friend who came and taught him the gospel.

No, Mr. Hensley doesn't know how the paper got there or why he just happened to swim by at the right time to see it. A strange coincidence? Perhaps. I'm not sure you could convince him of that.

While men and women are usually brought to Christ in more conventional ways, there is that occasional story which, like this one, seems to defy rational explanation.
Another such story of conversion that involved uncommon occurrences is that of Saul of Tarsus. We've been through the story in several previous messages, so I won't tell it again here, but I would like to deal with some of the events that took place in the wake of Saul's conversion that are important to our understanding the New Testament.

When a person surrenders to the Lordship of Jesus Christ there is a change that comes that is unlike any other. That can certainly be seen in Saul's story. Less than a week before his baptism he was on a search-and-destroy mission, hunting down Christians and testifying against them in mock trials that in some cases caused their deaths. A week later he reappeared in public preaching the same Jesus he used to revile. His contemporaries, even the Christians of his day, found it hard to believe.

Later, when Saul of Tarsus was Paul the Apostle, he would write of the tremendous change in his life this way in 2 Corinthians 5:17:

"Therefore if any man is in Christ, he is a new creature; the old things passed away; behold, new things have come."

We've been looking into Saul's conversion. In this message, which is part of our ongoing Acts of the Apostles Series, I would like to go over the first several years of Saul's new life as a Christian. As with the previous two messages, I've called it A Killer Comes to Christ. This is Part 3. Our Biblical text this morning is Acts 9:19-30.

Saul was confronted by Jesus in a blinding flash of light on the road leading to Damascus as described in the early verses of Luke 9. He was without sight for three days and then one of the Christians of the city, a man named Ananias, was sent by God to restore his sight and tell him what he needed to do to be right with God. At the conclusion of Ananias' teaching, Saul was baptized. We'll pick up the story there, in verse 18.

18 And immediately there fell from his eyes something like scales, and he regained his sight, and he arose and was baptized; 19 and he took food and was strengthened. Now for several days he was with the disciples who were at Damascus, 20 and immediately he began to proclaim Jesus in the synagogues, saying, "He is the Son of God." 21 And all those hearing him continued to be amazed, and were saying, "Is this not he who in Jerusalem destroyed those who called on this name, and who had come here for the purpose of bringing them bound before the chief priests?"

Those early Christians had a hard time believing it could be true - that such a vicious persecutor could be changed. But it wouldn't be long before they would see that he was indeed a "new creature."

A powerful, convincing testimony to the credibility of the gospel is the way it changes lives - and not in just a few cases. Millions have been changed dramatically by becoming Christians. There is ample evidence of such change right here in this congregation. Some of you weren't very pretty before God came into your lives - and the same could be said of me. But now we're different.

Baptism marks only the beginning point of the new life - a life of change as a person seeks to be conformed to the image of Christ. Seldom is it long before that change begins to show itself. That was true in the case of Saul.

22 But Saul kept increasing in strength and confounding the Jews who lived at Damascus by proving that this Jesus is the Christ.

Luke's words "Increasing in strength" must refer to more than Saul's physical condition as there is nothing in this account that would indicate that his natural strength had diminished. This is a reference to Saul's spiritual growth and it is a good way to describe what should happen with every new Christian in time as he or she becomes more grounded in the teaching of the Bible. If one continues to be weak and spiritually lifeless, it is an indicator that something is seriously wrong.

Saul's increase in strength showed itself particularly in his use of the Scriptures. He confounded the Jews who lived at Damascus. He bested them in his explanations of the meaning of the Word of God.

Saul was probably able to do this so soon after his conversion because he was already familiar with the Old Testament writings. He was a rabbi - a teacher among the Jews. The primary difference now between before and now was that at last he had the key that unlocked the things he had formerly puzzled about. He now knew the person and purpose of the Scriptures - the central theme of the Bible - The Lord Jesus Christ.

Jesus referred to Himself in these same terms in several places in the Bible. In Luke 24:27, when He spoke to the two men on the road to Emmaus after His resurrection, we read:

"And beginning with Moses and with all the prophets, He explained to them the things concerning Himself in all the Scriptures."

Jesus said to His critics who refused to accept Him in John 5:39:

"You search the Scriptures, because you think that in them you have eternal life; and it is these that bear witness of Me; and you are unwilling to come to Me, that you may have life."

Jesus is in all the Scriptures. They bear witness of Him. Those who reject Jesus will never understand the Bible in its fullness.

As we come to verse 23 in our text we need to note something Luke did not record that Paul would mention later in his Galatian letter. First, let me read the verse.

23 And when many days had elapsed, the Jews plotted together to do away with him,

Aside from telling us that the former persecutor was himself now persecuted, Luke mentions a period of "many days" between Saul's initial preaching of Jesus in Damascus and the plot of the Jews to kill him. He doesn't mention what happened during those days. But Paul, writing later in the book of Galatians, tells what happened during that period that actually stretched into three years. It is interesting and important if you wish to understand the impact of Paul on Christianity. Listen to Paul's own words in Galatians 1:11-18:

11 For I would have you know, brethren, that the gospel which was preached by me is not according to man. 12 For I neither received it from man, nor was I taught it, but I received it through a revelation of Jesus Christ. 13 For you have heard of my former manner of life in Judaism, how I used to persecute the church of God beyond measure, and tried to destroy it; 14 and I was advancing in Judaism beyond many of my contemporaries among my countrymen, being more extremely zealous for my ancestral traditions. 15 But when He who had set me apart, even from my mother's womb, and called me through His grace, was pleased 16 to reveal His Son in me, that I might preach Him among the Gentiles, I did not immediately consult with flesh and blood, 17 nor did I go up to Jerusalem to those who were apostles before me; but I went away to Arabia, and returned once more to Damascus. 18 Then three years later I went up to Jerusalem to become acquainted with Cephas, and stayed with him fifteen days.

So after his conversion and initial preaching, Saul went into Arabia for a time, then returned again to Damascus. The natural question to ask is "What did he do in Arabia?" The answer is that we don't know for sure. Some say he may have gone down to Mt. Sinai to meditate on his newly found faith. Others speculate that he just went into the desert like Elijah. It seems most reasonable not to speculate at all, but to assume that during this time of up to three years he received the revelations from Jesus that he spoke of in Galatians 1:12:

12 For I neither received it from man, nor was I taught it, but I received it through a revelation of Jesus Christ.

This would qualify Paul to be an apostle, having spent the better part of three years with Jesus - just like the stated requirement for the other apostles in Acts 1:21-22.

Paul was not one of the original twelve apostles. He would later speak of himself in 1 Corinthians 15:6-8 as an apostle "untimely born."

"After that He appeared to more than five hundred brethren at one time, most of whom remain until now, but some have fallen asleep; then He appeared to James, then to all the apostles; and last of all, as it were to one untimely born, He appeared to me also."

This appearance of Jesus to Paul would probably include the appearance on the road to Damascus and the revelations in Arabia.

Why am I telling you this? It is important for you to know because Saul, who became Paul, wrote over half of the New Testament. His authority to do so must be understood.

When Saul returned again to Damascus after this time, he found a scene like some with which he was already familiar - only his own part was now reversed. As he used to try to kill the Christians, now the Jews were trying to kill him!

23 And when many days had elapsed, the Jews plotted together to do away with him, 24 but their plot became known to Saul. And they were also watching the gates day and night so that they might put him to death….

Paul tells us in 2 Corinthians 11:32 that even the governor of the city was in on the conspiracy to kill him.

You may at this point recall the prophetic words of God spoken to Ananias back in Acts 9:16 when he said, "I will show him how much he must suffer for My name's sake." This is the beginning of that suffering - the first link in a nearly constant chain of trouble that would end only when Paul's head was severed from his body in a Roman dungeon many years later. He was either intensely loved by those who accepted Christ or intensely hated by those who did not.

That same potential is there for anyone who really tries to make a mark for Christ today. Satan doesn't take kindly to those who upset his control of the masses. Do nothing for God and you'll receive little real persecution. Make inroads into Satan's territory though, run your mission behind enemy lines, so to speak, and you'll suffer for it.

In the face of this attempt on Paul's life, the brethren helped him escape.

25 but his disciples took him by night, and let him down through an opening in the wall, lowering him in a large basket.

It must have been a great encouragement for Saul to see these people who had formerly been the hard sought victims of his hatred, whisk him away to the wall of the city after dark and gently lower him in a basket to safety outside.

Don't underestimate the power you have to encourage another Christian by your support. Even if God isn't using you on the front lines at the moment, never forget that you may be the deciding factor in another Christian's efforts by the encouragement you offer. Had these brethren not stepped forward to rescue Saul, there is no telling what might have happened.

Actually, there is something more to notice here. Look closely at verse 25 again and note exactly who helped him escape. It says "his disciples." These were probably people who had become Christians because of his preaching in Damascus and perhaps even in Arabia. Already Saul had won followers to Christ and these followers cared enough for him to risk their own safety to save his life. From now on everywhere Paul went he made Christians. Even when, many years later, he waited in the wings of the emperor's palace in Rome, on trial for his life, he made Christians. He wrote from the midst of his captivity, chained to a Roman guard, to the brethren at Philippi these words: "All the Saints greet you, especially those of Caesar's household."

So, having barely escaped with his head still on his shoulders, Saul takes a breather in the safety of the wilderness, right? Not on your life. He headed straight for Jerusalem to preach there!

26a And when he had come to Jerusalem….

J.W. McGarvey wrote some lines in his commentary on Acts that depict what it might have been like for Saul as he left Damascus and neared Jerusalem for the first time in three years. Remember that he left there as a favorite son persecutor. Now he is returning as a hated, turncoat disciple of Jesus of Nazareth.

McGarvey writes, "Early in the night's journey he passed the spot where Jesus had appeared to him. We shall not attempt to depict his emotions when the walls of Jerusalem and the battlements of the temple came once more into view. As he approached the city he saw the place of crucifixion; and he may have passed near the spot where Stephen was stoned, and where he himself was consenting to his death. He was about to meet again, on the streets and in the synagogues, his old allies whom he had deserted, and some of the disciples whom he had persecuted. The tumult of emotions we will leave to the imagination of the reader…."(2)

26 And when he had come to Jerusalem, he was trying to associate with the disciples; and they were all afraid of him, not believing that he was a disciple.

Can you blame these people? Wouldn't you have a hard time trusting someone like Saul - especially if it had been your loved ones he killed? Even when there is forgiveness for past wrongs, trust is not something that just magically reappears. It takes time and it takes effort on the part of the one who has broken the trust and the one who forgives. That is true in any case where trust doesn't exist. Trust is earned. It is not granted freely.

But if trust must be earned, there has to be opportunity extended to earn it. These Christians were a bit slow on that score, just like we often see today in cases where memories of deep hurt exist.

So God used a man who has already appeared in the pages of Acts, a man named "Joseph," a Levite of Cyprian birth.(3) The Christians called him "Barnabas"

Barnabas' nature and character is a study all by itself. He was a man who knew what Jesus spoke of when he taught in the Sermon on the Mount, "Blessed are the Peacemakers." He knew also the true meaning of love that Paul would someday put into writing in 1 Corinthians 13: "Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things."(4)

It is sometimes said that when we have failed, the thing we need most is someone to believe in us. This man saw the disciples' rejection of Saul and would have none of it.

27 But Barnabas took hold of him and brought him to the apostles and described to them how he had seen the Lord on the road, and that He had talked to him, and how at Damascus he had spoken out boldly in the name of Jesus.

Barnabas saw that Saul's own reputation was getting him nowhere. In fact, it was landing him outside the fellowship of the brethren. So he put his own reputation on the line and took Saul under his wing. I like the way Luke puts it: "Barnabas took hold of him..."

Who knows what might have happened to Saul had the Jerusalem Christians been allowed to reject him. Had he fallen away, half of our New Testament wouldn't be there!

So, with the help of the Son of Encouragement, Saul was given a chance to redeem his violent reputation. He wasted no time getting to it. He spent 15 days with Peter as we are told in Galatians 1:18 and then went out into the city to preach.

28 And he was with them moving about freely in Jerusalem, speaking out boldly in the name of the Lord. 29 And he was talking and arguing with the Hellenistic Jews….

The Hellenistic Jews were Saul's old buddies. He, too, was a Hellenist (a Jew born outside Palestine). It is natural for a new convert to go first to his own people, that is, his old friends and associates. He can usually speak to them more effectively than anyone else can.

New Christians are in a unique position, one that I cannot be in and neither can other Christians who are older in the faith. For awhile at least, the new Christian has the ear of those he has known before coming to Christ. This opportunity should be used, when it presents itself, to tell what has happened and why. New Christians are key persons in God's plan.

The Hellenist Jews, Paul's old buddies, had their own synagogue in Jerusalem. It was called "The Synagogue of the Freedmen" according to Acts 6:8. It was the one Stephen had been preaching in when he was dragged before the council and stoned. Could it be that Saul entered this same edifice and was now preaching in the same place Stephen had stood years before? I believe that is entirely possible. Credibility is added to the thought when we see that they wanted to do the very same thing to Saul that they had done to Stephen.

29b …but they were attempting to put him to death.

Often when people don't want to believe they try to silence the one that speaks to them if he is in any way persistent. In Saul's day the best way to do that was with rocks, just as they had done with Stephen.

30 But when the brethren learned of it, they brought him down to Caesarea and sent him away to Tarsus.

Once again it was the brethren who stepped in to save Saul from death. It is possible that he resisted their urgings to escape and save his life. I say that because of what Paul would later write as he described this event in Acts 22:17-21:

"And it came about when I returned to Jerusalem and was praying in the temple, that I fell into a trance, and I saw Him saying to me, 'Make haste, and get out of Jerusalem quickly, because they will not accept your testimony about Me.' And I said, 'Lord, they themselves understand that in one synagogue after another I used to imprison and beat those who believed in Thee. And when the blood of Thy witness Stephen was being shed, I also was standing by approving, and watching out for the cloaks of those who were slaying him.' And He said to me, 'Go! For I will send you far away to the Gentiles.'"

So Saul goes to the Gentiles, the fulfillment of what was announced through Ananias. Look back at verse 15 of this chapter:

15 But the Lord said to him, "Go, for he is a chosen instrument of Mine, to bear My name before the Gentiles and kings and the sons of Israel….

Saul now drops out of sight as far as Acts is concerned, and doesn't resurface until chapter 13, several years later, where he is hard at work in the Antioch Church, the strongest church among the Gentile believers. From this place he and Barnabas would launch their first missionary journey.

Conclusion

Saul's conversion and his initial steps of faith provide ample illustration of way Christ changes lives like nothing else can. He who is in Christ is indeed a new creature. The old things have passed away. New things have come.

Is that true of your life? If you are a Christian it should be.

But maybe you're not a Christian. Maybe you still think it is just an illusion. E.Y. Mullins writes to those who say Christianity is a delusion in Josh McDowell's book, Evidence That Demands a Verdict, these words:

A redeemed drunkard, with vivid memory of past hopeless struggles and new sense of power through Christ was replying to the charge that "his religion was a delusion." He said, "Thank God for the delusion; it has put clothes on my children and shoes on their feet and bread in their mouths. It has made a man of me and it has put joy and peace in my home, which had been a hell. If this is a delusion, may God send it to the slaves of drink everywhere, for their slavery is an awful reality.

It's hard to argue with changed lives.

Footnotes: Please use your back button to return to your place.

1. Actual name unavailable. Story comes from Minister’s Research Service.
2. New Commentary on Acts, J.W. McGarvey, Gospel Light Publishing, Delight, Arkansas, p. 187.
3. Acts 4:36
4. 1 Corinthians 13:7

Dave Redick is Minister of the Hwy 20 Church of Christ in Sweet Home, Oregon and Editor of The Preacher's Study. He may be reached at pstudysupport@comcast.net.

Copyright © 1996-2008 by The Preacher's Study. Permission is granted to subscribers to use this document in total or in sermon preparation in the context of the local congregation only. Publishing it in a book, on the Internet, or anyplace beyond the local congregation is prohibited.

All Scripture quotations and references are from the New American Standard Version unless otherwise stated.

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