“Extreme Makeover”
(Acts 9:1-31)
Series: The Church on Fire!
Rev. Todd A. Linn, PhD
First Baptist Church Henderson, KY
(10-21-07) (AM)
- Take God’s word and open to Acts, chapter 9.
The book of Acts has just been an incredible study in how God began to grow the church shortly after Jesus’ death, burial, resurrection, and ascension to heaven. And we’ve seen that one of the ways God began to grow the church was by allowing persecution to come. We read a while back about a guy named Saul. And Saul was a bad dude. You remember back in the end of chapter 7, beginning of chapter 8, when they’re stoning Stephen the Bible says that Saul was standing there watching and the Bible says he was “consenting to his death.” He approved of it. I mean as they were throwing these huge stones upon Stephen that cut into his flesh, Saul looked on with a smile on his face, approving everything, thinking, “Yeah, I like that. I’d like to see that happen more.”
Now in chapter 9 we pick back up learning about this guy named Saul. To get started let’s read just the first couple verses and then I’ll pray.
- Stand for the reading of God’s word.
1 Then Saul, still breathing threats and murder against the disciples of the Lord, went to the high priest
2 and asked letters from him to the synagogues of Damascus, so that if he found any who were of the Way, whether men or women, he might bring them bound to Jerusalem.
Introduction:
If you like reality TV, then you know all about the TV program “Extreme Makeover.” It’s already run its course, but you can see the way it has influenced other TV programs like it. The program would take volunteers who went to Hollywood and then received an “extreme makeover” involving things like plastic surgery, a weight-loss or fitness regime, a new hairdo, and new wardrobe. Then the people would be reunited with friends and family who hadn’t seen them since they left for Hollywood. Of course, the change to the outside was dramatic and everyone celebrated by cheering and hugging, and so forth.
Well I thought about that TV program when I was studying chapter 9 this past week. This guy Saul we’re reading about today got an extreme makeover, not a change to the outside, like plastic surgery and weight-loss, but a radical change on the inside. God gets hold of the heart of this angry, hateful, persecutor of Christians, and gives him a new heart. He saves him. Saul got an extreme makeover.
That’s what the gospel does to us. It changes us from the inside-out. The Bible says in 2 Corinthians 5:17, “If anyone is in Christ he is a new creation. Old things have passed away. All things have become new.” That’s the power of the gospel. How many of you have been changed by the gospel? So as we study this chapter together this morning I want to share with you three things we need to know about the gospel.
I. The Gospel is for Everyone (1-9)
The gospel is for everyone. Who is the gospel for? Everyone. Here’s a guy named Saul. When we first meet him his standing there watching Stephen die by stoning. He approves. He likes that. The Bible also says in 8:3 that “he made havoc of the churches, entering every house and dragging off men and women, committing them to prison.” Then we just read in the beginning of this chapter in verses one and two:
1 Then Saul, still breathing threats and murder against the disciples of the Lord, went to the high priest
2 and asked letters from him to the synagogues of Damascus, so that if he found any who were of the Way, whether men or women, he might bring them bound to Jerusalem.
By the way, I like that phrase, “the Way.” That’s what this movement, Christianity, was known by during Saul’s day; the way. Committed followers of Jesus Christ were called people of the way. They must have been influenced by Christ’s statement in John 14:6, “I am—what? The way! I am the way, the truth, and the life, no one comes to the Father except by Me.”
Saul is like an animal going after the Christians! That’s the sense of verse one where it says he was “breathing threats and murder against the disciples of the Lord.” That’s how deep his hatred is, it’s like the air he’s breathing. He’s just living and breathing hatred. So he’s getting letters from the high priest, the biggest religious leader in Jerusalem, he’s getting like “death warrants” to carry off to Damascus, a city about 150 miles away. You and I get in the car and drive 150 miles we get there in a couple hours. Saul is going to go by foot, about a week’s journey because he wants to see any Christians in Damascus killed. He’ll spend a week getting there, however much time it takes to find and arrest them, and bring them back the week’s journey to Jerusalem so that they can be killed. That’s what Saul likes doing.
Now what’s the first point here? Who’s the gospel for? Everyone. Verse 3:
3 As he journeyed he came near Damascus, and suddenly a light shone around him from heaven.
4 Then he fell to the ground,
Talk about humiliation! Saul’s a big dude, not in terms of stature, but in terms of position. I mean he’s got it all. He studied under a guy named Gamaliel, which means he had money. He described himself as “a Hebrew of the Hebrews,” a Pharisee, which means he was very religious. He’s got this job where he’s interacting with the high priest which means he had power and position. He’s even got the name, “Saul,” named after a king. I mean he’s got it all. But God humbles him. He’s on his way to Damascus and the glory of God shines from heaven upon him as the Lord Jesus Christ says hello and Saul falls to the ground.
Now Jesus is going to talk to Saul. What do think He’s going to say? “Saul, what’s the matter with you, you madman?!” Or, “Saul, get ready to meet your maker!” Look at verse 4:
4 Then he fell to the ground, and heard a voice saying to him, “Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting Me?” (Hear the tenderness, there?)
5 And he said, “Who are You, Lord?” Then the Lord said, “I am Jesus, whom you are persecuting. It is hard for you to kick against the goads.”
That last phrase is only in the King James and New King James versions of the Bible. It occurs later in Acts 22 and 26 where Paul shares this story about how he came to Christ. For that reason, the translators of the King James and New King James versions included it here in chapter 9. It’s a phrase that means to try to resist something. Farmers would move their animals along by prodding them with a stick, or goad, and sometimes the animal would try to resist the prodding, kicking against it, but was unsuccessful. So it became a proverb for trying to resist something more powerful than you. That’s the idea here: “It is hard for you, Saul, to resist the power of the Lord.”
When Saul asks, “Who are you?” Jesus answers, “I am Jesus, whom you are persecuting.” But Saul wasn’t persecuting Jesus, was he? Saul was persecuting Christians. But see how the two are united together? To persecute the church is to persecute the Lord Himself, the head of the church. To persecute Christians is to attack God. Saul realizes this now. Verse 6:
6 So he, trembling and astonished, said, “Lord, what do You want me to do?” Then the Lord said to him, “Arise and go into the city, and you will be told what you must do.”
7 And the men who journeyed with him stood speechless, hearing a voice but seeing no one.
8 Then Saul arose from the ground, and when his eyes were opened he saw no one. But they led him by the hand and brought him into Damascus.
9 And he was three days without sight, and neither ate nor drank.
Saul has been totally humbled in a major way! Despite his wealth, power, position, religion, God was not impressed. People may have been impressed, but God wasn’t. This encounter with the Lord Jesus Christ leaves Paul humbled and blind.
Now, we’re going to see in a moment that Saul becomes a changed man. He goes from persecutor to preacher. He goes from the one seizing others to the one who has been seized by God, and God is going to use Saul in a powerful way, so much so that we will remember him not for his Hebrew name, Saul, but for his Greco-Roman name, Paul; Paul the guy who would give us two-thirds of the New Testament! What’s the first point this morning? The Gospel is for everyone. See if the Gospel is for Saul, the gospel is for everyone.
I mean, just by a show of hands, how many of you have a full-time job breathing threats and murder against Christians, aiding and abetting in their deaths? There’s not a soul listening to this message who is a worse sinner than Saul of Tarsus. He referred to himself later in 1 Timothy 1:15 as, “the chief of sinners.”
Alexander Maclaren said, “Christianity knows of no hopeless cases.” I like that statement! Christianity knows of no hopeless cases.
That son or daughter, as rebellious and non-spiritual as they may seem, are not hopeless cases! If God can save Saul, he can saved your husband, your wife, your ex-husband, your ex-wife. That kid at school who’s bullying you and full of anger just needs Jesus. There are no hopeless cases. The Gospel is for everyone. Number two:
II. The Gospel unites Everyone (10-19)
The Gospel brings people together, people you wouldn’t expect to be brought together.
10 Now there was a certain disciple at Damascus named Ananias; and to him the Lord said in a vision, “Ananias.” And he said, “Here I am, Lord.”
By the way, great response, right?! God calls your name, you say, “Here I am. Use me.” But do we mean it when we say it? Ananias said it right away. Let’s see if he means it.
11 So the Lord said to him, “Arise and go to the street called Straight, and inquire at the house of Judas for one called Saul of Tarsus, for behold, he is praying.
12 “And in a vision he has seen a man named Ananias coming in and putting his hand on him, so that he might receive his sight.”
13 Then Ananias answered, “Lord, I have heard from many about this man, how much harm he has done to Your saints in Jerusalem.
14 “And here he has authority from the chief priests to bind all who call on Your name.”
I mean, you’ve got to appreciate Ananias’ dilemma, here! He wants to do the Lord’s will, but he’s like, “Uh, God, I don’t know if you have thought this thing through. I mean, I know You know everything, but, well, this Saul dude, he’s been persecuting Christians. He has authority here in Damascus to arrest people!” How many of you think God was worried about the authority Saul had?! You and I talk to God, “Lord, I trust You. I believe in You. I want to live Your plan.” Then God unfolds His will and we’re like Ananias here trying to make sure God hasn’t gone crazy.
15 But the Lord said to him, “Go, for he is a chosen vessel of Mine
Note that, by the way. God chooses us. He comes to us first. We really don’t “find God,” God finds us. He initiates salvation through the drawing power of the Holy Spirit. That’s why Jesus says in John 6:44, “No one comes to Me unless the Father draws him.” From our vantage point, it may seem that we “found God,” but we discover later is that it was He who loved us first and came to us!
15 But the Lord said to him, “Go, for he is a chosen vessel of Mine to bear My name before Gentiles, kings, and the children of Israel.
16 “For I will show him how many things he must suffer for My name’s sake.”
17 And Ananias went his way and entered the house; and laying his hands on him he said, “Brother Saul, the Lord Jesus, who appeared to you on the road as you came, has sent me that you may receive your sight and be filled with the Holy Spirit.”
Time-out. Are you picturing this in your mind? I mean, Ananias is probably still thinking, “I don’t know about this, man!” He enters the house and tip-toes near him. “Should I hide behind something?” But look at the beauty of this picture. Verse 17 says he lay his hands on him. He touched him. Then he said, “Saul.” No he didn’t just say, “Saul.” What did he say? “Brother Saul.” That’s beautiful.
Now this is apparently the point at which Saul becomes a committed follower of Jesus Christ. God leads Ananias to Saul and Saul receives his sight and is filled with the Holy Spirit. Verse 18:
18 Immediately there fell from his eyes something like scales, and he received his sight at once; and he arose and was baptized.
19 So when he had received food, he was strengthened. Then Saul spent some days with the disciples at Damascus.
This is Saul’s spiritual makeover. Something fell from his eyes like scales. Some scholars say this may have been like a film over Saul’s eyes. Nobody knows. The writer, Luke, is a doctor and he doesn’t know. It was something “like scales.” Immediately it happens and immediately Saul gets up and is baptized. We keep seeing this in the book of Acts. As soon as people receive Christ as Lord and Savior the first step of obedience is baptism, a word that means to be immersed into water. It is a sign of obedience to Christ and an unashamed public profession of faith in Him.
What strikes me about this part of chapter 9 is the way God unites believers to one another. We are relational beings. God created us for relationship with Him and relationship with one another. God unites the most unlikely of people together in Christ. He takes an Ananias and a Saul and he brings them together. Ananias touches Saul and calls him, “Brother.” The Gospel is for everyone and the Gospel unites everyone.
One of the keys to effective evangelism it to know that, because we are relational beings, there are people yearning for relationships all around us. There are people everywhere in need of other people. The gospel can bring us together.
Last Saturday Michele and I were in a suburb of Cleveland, Ohio, a small liberal town called Chagrin Falls. You know the kind of town. Lots of high-priced clothing stores, a Ben & Jerry’s, a Starbucks. Trendy stuff and trendy people. We went into Starbucks there because, as you know, the more spiritual you are the more coffee you drink. So we get a coffee and sit down. There’s a guy sitting down near us there who had been cycling. He’s got all the gear on, really fit-looking you know. And I started to talk to him. We talked about cycling and running. Turns out he’s 71-years old. Never would have imagined that! He owns some real estate. Told me about his website. Then we talked about spiritual things. I asked him what he believed. We talked a little bit about church. He said he really couldn’t say that he believed he would go to heaven when he died. Long story short: I shared John 14:6 with him, urging him to trust in Christ alone. I gave him a card, and we prayed for him. We joined hands there at that Starbucks, folks coming in and going out and we had a connection right there. He got very emotional and teary-eyed and said people coming in there must be thinking we were crazy praying there like that. But God touched him. Later, he emailed me rejoicing in the providential visit we had right there in that coffee shop.
The Gospel unites. It brings people together. God created us for relationship, relationship with Him and relationship with others. Here’s the third thing about the Gospel. The Gospel is for everyone, the Gospel unites everyone, number three:
III. The Gospel changes Everyone (20-31)
20 Immediately he preached the Christ in the synagogues, that He is the Son of God.
21 Then all who heard were amazed, and said, “Is this not he who destroyed those who called on this name in Jerusalem, and has come here for that purpose, so that he might bring them bound to the chief priests?”
22 But Saul increased all the more in strength, and confounded the Jews who dwelt in Damascus, proving that this Jesus is the Christ.
Is Saul changed, or what?! He goes from persecuting Christ, to proclaiming Christ. And he remains a committed follower of Christ in spite of the fact that he will now be persecuted himself.
23 Now after many days were past, the Jews plotted to kill him.
24 But their plot became known to Saul. And they watched the gates day and night, to kill him.
25 Then the disciples took him by night and let him down through the wall in a large basket (must have been a big basket!)
26 And when Saul had come to Jerusalem, he tried to join the disciples; but they were all afraid of him, and did not believe that he was a disciple.
They’re like, “Wait a minute, we know this guy! Surely, he hasn’t changed, has he?!”
27 But Barnabas took him and brought him to the apostles. And he declared to them how he had seen the Lord on the road, and that He had spoken to him, and how he had preached boldly at Damascus in the name of Jesus.
I love this guy, Barnabas, don’t you? What an encourager! Here again we see the importance of relationships. Barnabas says, “It’s true. He’s a changed man. The gospel changes everyone, you know.”
28 So he was with them at Jerusalem, coming in and going out.
29 And he spoke boldly in the name of the Lord Jesus and disputed against the Hellenists, but they attempted to kill him.
30 When the brethren found out, they brought him down to Caesarea and sent him out to Tarsus.
31 Then the churches throughout all Judea, Galilee, and Samaria had peace and were edified. And walking in the fear of the Lord and in the comfort of the Holy Spirit, they were multiplied.
The peace mentioned there in verse 31 is largely owing to the change in Saul of Tarsus! He was previously making havoc of the churches, now the churches are at peace and are edified.
The Gospel changes everyone.
Conclusion / Invitation:
Christianity knows of no hopeless cases. You’re listening to this message you need to know that God loves you. God wants to do an “extreme makeover” on you; not a physical makeover that will eventually fade away, but a spiritual makeover that will last forever. 2 Corinthians 5:17, “If anyone is in Christ he or she is a new creation; old things have passed away—old things like your sin, shame, guilt, and dirt—old things have passed away, all things have become new—new, an extreme spiritual makeover from the inside-out!”
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