Sermon 7-1-18 Pastor Ray Lorthioir Trinity Lutheran Church W. Hempstead, NY Conversion This morning we ll look at the subject of conversion by examining the accounts of St. Paul s conversion. Here s what St. Paul had to say about himself in his public testimony made to a mob of Jews as he stood under arrest on the steps leading up to the Roman Antonia fortress overlooking the temple in Jerusalem. Acts 22:3, I am a Jew, born in Tarsus of Cilicia, but brought up in this city. Under Gamaliel I was thoroughly trained in the law of our fathers and was just as zealous for God as any of you are today. Gamaliel was one of the great teachers of Judaism and is still highly respected today. On trial before the Sanhedrin, Paul had this to say, Acts 23:6, My brothers, I am a Pharisee, the son of a Pharisee. So, Paul belonged to one of the strictest sects of Judaism, was thoroughly trained in Judaism by one of the greatest rabbis of all time and was very zealous for Yahweh. We all know that Paul was a notorious persecutor of Jewish believers in Jesus. He admitted this more than once in public testimony. Acts 26:9-11, 9 I too was convinced that I ought to do all that was possible to oppose the name of Jesus of Nazareth. 10 And that is just what I did in Jerusalem. On the authority of the chief priests I put many of the saints in prison, and when they were put to death, I cast my vote against them. 11 Many a time I went from one synagogue to another to have them punished, and I tried to force them to blaspheme. In my obsession against them, I even went to foreign cities to persecute them. It s hard to become violently opposed to something you know nothing about. It s hard to accuse people of blasphemy when they use the Name of Jesus if you have no idea of their claims about Jesus. Therefore, before his conversion, Paul knew a good deal about Jesus. But Paul only had the faith of demons when it came to Jesus the simple knowledge of who Jesus is, or as Paul would say, falsely claimed to be. Scripture tells us that demons shuddered in fear of Jesus. But not Paul. When he heard, Jesus, all he could see was an enemy of the living God, not the Holy One of God. Therefore, Paul didn t even have the fear of Jesus that the demons had. However, Jesus changed all that. We read in Acts 9:1-9, 9:1 Meanwhile, Saul was still breathing out murderous threats against the Lord's disciples. He went to the high priest 2 and asked him for letters to the synagogues in Damascus, so that if he found any there who belonged to the Way, whether men or women, he might take them as prisoners to Jerusalem. 3 As he neared Damascus on his journey, suddenly a light from heaven flashed around him. 4 He fell to the ground and heard a voice say to him, Saul, Saul, why do you persecute me? 5 Who are you, Lord? Saul asked. I am Jesus, whom you are persecuting, he replied. 6 Now get up and go into the city, and you will be told what you must do. 7 The men traveling with Saul stood there speechless; they heard the 1
sound but did not see anyone. 8 Saul got up from the ground, but when he opened his eyes he could see nothing. So they led him by the hand into Damascus. Paul augmented this basic narrative with his testimony before King Agrippa and Governor Festus in Acts 26:15-18, 15 I am Jesus, whom you are persecuting, the Lord replied. 16 Now get up and stand on your feet. I have appeared to you to appoint you as a servant and as a witness of what you have seen of me and what I will show you. 17 I will rescue you from your own people and from the Gentiles. I am sending you to them 18 to open their eyes and turn them from darkness to light, and from the power of Satan to God, so that they may receive forgiveness of sins and a place among those who are sanctified by faith in me. This is a rather complex statement and I m certain Paul had little clue what it meant at the moment Jesus spoke it. But Paul obviously remembered it later. And it is a very concise statement of his entire ministry to the gentiles. Notice that Jesus made it clear to Paul that He had appeared to him. This is very important. An appearance of the bodily-resurrected Jesus of Nazareth is what made Paul an official witness of the resurrection for all time. Jesus also appointed Paul to be an Apostle, a servant, one who would be His messenger. Now as a result of Jesus appearance to Paul it says in Acts 9:9 For three days he [Paul] was blind, and did not eat or drink anything. Three days refusing to eat and drink is a sign that someone has been deeply moved and is in anguish. Paul saw the bodily-resurrected Jesus in a glory so intense that it probably terrified him. And at that point Paul finally knew what the demon in the synagogue knew. Jesus is the Holy One of God with ultimate power to judge and punish. And that knowledge no doubt crushed and terrified him just like it did the demon. For, Paul had persecuted and put to death disciples of the Holy One. Why should he not be eternally condemned? The only reason would be God s grace. And so, we read in Acts 9:10-12, 10 In Damascus there was a disciple named Ananias. The Lord called to him in a vision, Ananias! Yes, Lord, he answered. 11 The Lord told him, Go to the house of Judas on Straight Street and ask for a man from Tarsus named Saul, for he is praying. 12 In a vision he has seen a man named Ananias come and place his hands on him to restore his sight. From these verses we hear that in the midst of his anguish Paul was praying during his total fast. In response to prayer, notice that the Lord did not appear again to Paul. Rather, the Lord made a divine connection between two human beings Ananias, already a disciple of Jesus, and Paul, a now thoroughly baffled persecutor of Jesus. It was a divine connection because both saw visions. At first, Ananias complained to the Lord because he knew that Paul was a very dangerous persecutor of the church. Acts 9:15-16, 15 But the Lord said to Ananias, Go! This man is my chosen instrument to carry my name before the Gentiles and their kings and before the people of Israel. 16 I will show him how much he must suffer for my name. In other words, don t be afraid Ananias, I have plans for this guy. You just go and do what I told you to do. Now we get to the juicy part. Acts 9:17-18, 17 Then Ananias went to the house and entered it. Placing his hands on Saul, he said, Brother Saul, the Lord Jesus, who appeared to you on the road as you were coming here has sent me so that you 2
may see again and be filled with the Holy Spirit. 18 Immediately, something like scales fell from Saul's eyes, and he could see again. Saul s physical blindness had been caused by the incredible blinding glory of the Lord. But Paul had long been spiritually blind before he became physically blind. He knew about Jesus. He knew what Jewish Christians were believing and teaching. Yet, he remained unmoved. Even when Jesus appeared to him, Paul still had no more than the faith of demons. But then, Ananias brought God s power of salvation Lord Holy Spirit to Paul just as Jesus had commanded him. Also, Ananias came with a message. He brought a word from the Lord and it was done according to that word. Paul, in his testimony before the mob in Jerusalem, added additional testimony about what Ananias said. It s found in Acts 22:14-16, 14 Then he [Ananias] said: The God of our fathers has chosen you to know his will and to see the Righteous One and to hear words from his mouth. 15 You will be his witness to all men of what you have seen and heard. 16 And now what are you waiting for? Get up, be baptized and wash your sins away, calling on his name. Notice that Ananias confirmed for Paul what Jesus had said. And with the command to be baptized Paul was given an opportunity to exercise his newly Holy Spirit engendered faith. For Ananias announced to Paul the great benefit found in baptism into Jesus Christ namely the washing away of sins. This gracious gift was the thing Paul needed most to be set free from the condemnation and punishment due him for the persecutions and murders of Jesus disciples. Therefore, would he remain lost in guilt and condemnation, believing that God would never forgive a sinner like him; or would he believe that Jesus had paid for and set him free from all his heinous sins? This incredible wrangle was the point at which Holy Spirit faith in Jesus promise kicked in for Paul. For we read in Acts 9:18-19, 18 He got up and was baptized, 19 and after taking some food, he regained his strength. God s grace overflowed Paul, even unto life. What, then, was the result of Jesus action in Paul s life? We read in Acts 9:19-22, Saul spent several days with the disciples in Damascus. 20 At once he began to preach in the synagogues that Jesus is the Son of God. 21 All those who heard him were astonished and asked, Isn't he the man who raised havoc in Jerusalem among those who call on this name? And hasn't he come here to take them as prisoners to the chief priests? 22 Yet Saul grew more and more powerful and baffled the Jews living in Damascus by proving that Jesus is the Christ. This is one of the most incredible events in the bible. A man who was absolutely convinced that Jesus of Nazareth is not the Messiah began to preach publicly that Jesus of Nazareth is in fact the Messiah and began to use Old Testament scripture after Old Testament scripture to prove it. How was this possible? As we have seen before, it s Holy Spirit s work. On Easter evening Jesus breathed His Holy Spirit upon the disciples. Then He opened their minds to understand what the Old Testament teaches about the suffering and victorious Messiah. They believed. On the Day of Pentecost 33A.D. the Apostles proclaimed Jesus as suffering and victorious Messiah solely from Moses and the prophets. Lord Holy Spirit caused 3,000 to believe in their message that day. The conversion of Paul was another example of Lord Holy Spirit s work. 3
So, let s list the elements that went into Paul s conversion. First, and foremost was the divine, gracious will of God not to let Paul perish in his sin, but to reveal to him Jesus of Nazareth, the suffering and victorious Messiah. Without God s grace Paul could not have undergone a conversion. The same is true for all people. We re not converted because we love God, but because He first loved us. The second element was Jesus appearance to Paul. God intended Paul to be a witness of the risen Messiah. Therefore, he was given a look at the physically risen Jesus that very few others have had to date. And this separates Paul from the vast majority of us. We cannot expect to have a similar experience. However, in conversion, the blindness we re all born with toward God and Messiah Jesus ends. The scales of unbelief fall off our spiritual eyes. Therefore, in the present time the converted only come to see Jesus by faith in the testimony of the Apostles and the others who actually saw Him. It s in this way that Jesus appears to us. The third element was Paul s grief and repentance over his obstinacy and rebellion toward the Lord Jesus, and his viciousness toward the Lord s people. You don t have to persecute and kill Christians to be rebellious and obstinate toward God and vicious toward other people. All you have to be is born human. We sinners do these things all the time. Repentance from our old nature is needed. The fourth element was someone bringing the Lord s word of promise to Paul. Ananias of Damascus a common ordinary Christian that we never hear of again in the New Testament was God s chosen person. No one needs a special vision from the Lord to do what Ananias did. However, Ananias was given a special vision to assure him that God really wanted to do this for Paul, the violent and vicious persecutor of Jewish Christians. The fifth element is Lord Holy Spirit Himself. Without Holy Spirit it is impossible to receive the suffering, crucified Messiah. Paul saw the victorious Messiah on the road. And while he knew that Jesus of Nazareth had been crucified, he needed Lord Holy Spirit to show him that Jesus, the suffering Messiah is the same Jesus, the victorious Messiah, he had seen on the road. The sixth element is the faith Lord Holy Spirit brings. As we saw last week faith has three tiers, but is one. In the first tier faith believes what it is told, for instance that God is our salvation. In the second tier, faith in submission confesses directly back to God what it has been told: God, You are our salvation. In the third tier, faith intimately grasps what it has been told. God, You are my salvation! Praise the Lord, for the gift of the one faith. The seventh element is baptism into Jesus Christ. We re baptized into His suffering and death so that sin may be destroyed in us. We re baptized into His resurrection so that we may live with Him in righteousness forever. Jesus is the baptizer. The eighth element is the forgiveness of sins. Without assurance that his sins had been forgiven, Paul never could have fulfilled his role as an Apostle. Ananias brought this beautiful word to Paul. We receive absolution here every Sunday. The ninth element is being filled with Lord Holy Spirit. Lord Holy Spirit resides in the believer baptized into Jesus Christ. We know this was the case with Paul because he was immediately able to see Jesus in the Old Testament and could 4
publicly glorify God for what He has done in Jesus the Messiah. He could tell someone else about Jesus Christ. When put together, these elements flesh out the experience of being converted to Jesus Christ. Just be aware that with the exception of the first element, the order of this list is not doctrinal, one element absolutely following the other. Also, with the exception of baptism, everything on this list is repeatable, and repeatable in multiple combinations. Conversion is not a one-time experience. It s a way of life. It is life. Because that s what Jesus is the way the truth and the life. In whatever order these elements come into a Christian s life, they are all active in a Christian s life. At various times various elements may be weak. As we have already noted, continued infilling with the Holy Spirit was and is necessary for those facing difficult or even deadly situations because courage leaks and knees knock. But all elements are present to one degree or another in a Christian s life. Let us pray that the Lord will grant us a generous portion of each element so that we may live an effective Christian life to the praise and glory of Jesus. Amen. All Bible quotes are from the NIV. 5