CWC - Easter 3 - Lesson - Kieth Bernard Kuschel
Acts 9:1-22
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 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. 9 For three days he was blind, and did not eat or drink anything.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.”13 “Lord,” Ananias answered, “I have heard many reports about this man and all the harm he has done to your holy people in Jerusalem. 14 And he has come here with authority from the chief priests to arrest all who call on your name.”15 But the Lord said to Ananias, “Go! This man is my chosen instrument to proclaim my name to the Gentiles and their kings and to the people of Israel. 16 I will show him how much he must suffer for my name.”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 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. He got up and was baptized, 19 and after taking some food, he regained his strength. 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 Messiah.
What do you want to be when you grow up?
Believer and a proclaimer
Strength from Jesus
I. To stop persecuting Jesus
A. Saul’s History
1. Acts 7 & 8
2. Acts 9
3. Jesus stopped it
B. Us
1. Persecuting by negative talks
2. Persecuting by ungodliness
II. To believe Jesus is the Savior
A. Saul’s History
1. Pharisee
2. Old Testament knowledgeable
3. Familiar with the events of Jesus life
B. Jesus’ appearance
1. What it said to Saul
2. What it did to Saul
C. Our History
1. Pharisees by nature
2. Life of Jesus is a fairy tale
3. We believe because of Jesus’ action
II. To proclaim that Jesus is God
A. Saul’s history
1. Wait for orders
2. Orders from Jesus
3. In synagogues
4. Debates
B. Our History
1. Orders are clear
2. Congregational
3. Wisdom to defend truth
IA1 What do we know about Saul? He is first mentioned in Acts 7:57 They covered their ears and, yelling at the top of their voices, they all rushed at Stephen, 58 dragged him out of the city and began to stone him. Meanwhile, the witnesses laid their coats at the feet of a young man named Saul. 8:1 And Saul approved of their killing him. On that day a great persecution broke out against the church in Jerusalem, and all except the apostles were scattered throughout Judea and Samaria. 2 Godly men buried Stephen and mourned deeply for him. 3 But Saul began to destroy the church. Going from house to house, he dragged off both men and women and put them in prison. Saul was doing this because these people believed that Jesus of Nazareth was the Savior.
2 He wasn’t satisfied with doing it in Jerusalem. 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. His reputation had spread as far north as Damascus. 13 “Lord,” Ananias answered, “I have heard many reports about this man and all the harm he has done to your holy people in Jerusalem. 14 And he has come here with authority from the chief priests to arrest all who call on your name.” . 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?”
3 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.” Saul was persecuting the members of the body of Christ, thus persecuting Christ. Jesus stopped Saul from persecuting Him.
B1 “I sure am glad that I never persecuted Jesus as Saul did.” Isn’t that how we tend to respond to this incident? Wait a minute. If hating is the same as murder, and lust is the same as adultery, and coveting is the same as stealing, then any hindrance to the preaching of the Gospel is the same as persecuting Jesus. So, when I talk negatively about my congregation and am openly critical of its ministry, I am convincing whoever hears me do that to not come to here to hear about Jesus. That is persecuting Jesus.
2 You are Christians. People have the right to expect that you live the way Jesus wants people to live. When you don’t live your godliness, people in the world are going to react by saying, “I wouldn’t consider having Jesus a part of my life, if that is the way Christians live.” You have just driven that person away from Jesus. That is persecuting Jesus. LORD JESUS, please give me the strength to stop persecuting You.
IIA1 Saul had been a Pharisee during his early years. That means he believed that he could make himself right with God by following God’s laws and by following the rabbinic laws. So when Jesus taught that all humans are sinners, and that nobody can make himself right with God by what he does, Saul evaluated Jesus as a false teacher. He insisted that anyone who took the attitude of Jesus was against God’s laws and therefore should be put to death.
2 Saul as a practicer of Judaism was familiar with the Old Testament. He knew that any human being who put himself on the same level as God was a blasphemer. The way Christians talked about Jesus made it seem as if they thought He was God. This was revolting to a strict adherent of Judaism.
3 When Jesus said to Saul, “I am Jesus whom you are persecuting,” Saul knew right away who was talking. He was familiar with the life and actions of Jesus. He had evaluated them and had decided that Jesus of Nazareth could not possibly be the Christ, the Messiah.
B1 When Jesus appeared to Saul, He was saying to Saul, “I am the promised Messiah in spite of what you think. I died on the cross to give forgiveness to the world. I lived and never sinned so that I could cover the world with holiness. I rose from the dead so that people can live forever. These people whom you are persecuting believe this and they are right.”
2 The next thing we hear Saul is doing is preaching that Jesus is the Son of God. He was proving that Jesus is the Christ. Jesus’ appearance had turned Saul into a believer.
C1 Human beings on our own are all like Saul. We insist that we are good people. We insist that we are better than a lot of other people. We insist that we do a pretty good job of doing what is right. We insist that God ought to be pleased with our best efforts. In effect all human beings are home grown Pharisees.
2 On our own we all think the record of Jesus’ life is just another fairy tale. The people around us reinforce that idea. Virgins don’t have babies. Humans can’t heal the sick, stop storms and raise the dead. Somebody’s life and death that happened 2,000 years ago is irrelevant to people living today.
3 And yet we are here today confessing that we believe that Jesus is really God and really human. We believe that His death washes away our sins. His holiness makes us right with God. His resurrection gives us eternal life. How did this happen? Jesus gave us the strength to believe that we are sinners who need Him and that He is who He claimed to be. LORD JESUS, please give me the strength to keep believing that You are my Savior.
IIIA1 After Jesus appeared to Saul and informed Him that He was who He claimed to be, He took charge of Saul’s life. Saul obeyed. 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 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. 9 For three days he was blind, and did not eat or drink anything. Quite a change from somebody who wanted to get rid of anything connected with Jesus to someone who patiently waited for orders from Jesus.
2 His wait was over when Ananias came. 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. “Go! This man is my chosen instrument to proclaim my name to the Gentiles and their kings and to the people of Israel. 16 I will show him how much he must suffer for my name.” Quite a change from somebody who opposed Jesus to somebody who was going to openly proclaim Jesus to the world.
3 Saul did what the LORD told him he was to be doing. 20 At once he began to preach in the synagogues that Jesus is the Son of God. Quite a change from somebody convinced that Jesus was a blasphemer to some who openly told others that Jesus was the Son of God.
4 Saul was challenged about his proclamation about Jesus. But the LORD gave him the strength and the wisdom to rise to the challenge. Saul grew more and more powerful and baffled the Jews living in Damascus by proving that Jesus is the Messiah. Saul was able from the Old Testament Scriptures to prove that Jesus was the One anointed by God to bring God’s truth to people, to sacrifice Himself to pay for the sins of the world, and to rule people’s lives through His Word.
B1 We have been given orders by the LORD Jesus. We don’t have to wait for a while before we learn what they are. God allows us to live in this world to share the forgiveness, holiness, and eternal life which Jesus won by His life, death and resurrection with others. We are to give Jesus and His blessings to our family members, to our friends, to our acquaintances, to our coworkers, to our classmates.
2 We exist as a congregation, a gathered group of followers of Jesus, to do the same. Everything we do here is connected with sharing Jesus and His blessings with each other and others. That’s why we worship together, have Bible study together, do fellowship activities together, operate educational agencies together, use our money together.
3 Sometimes as we share Jesus with the people in our lives, we are challenged as Saul was. We need to have the truth of God well enough ingrained in our souls so that we could do what Saul did: proclaim that Jesus is God and prove that He is the Messiah. There is only one way that is going to happen. We need to be involved in personal and group study of the Scripture so the LORD equips us with the strength and courage to stand up for the truth and the wisdom to be able to apply it. LORD JESUS, please give me the strength to keep proclaiming that You are God.