Sermon by Pastor Brent Kompelien
June 2, 2024
INTRO (SLIDE 1)
Good morning! I’m excited to open God’s Word with you today.
ILLUST — There is a famous story I heard many years ago that has deeply shaped my understanding of the gospel. I want to share it with you.
Some time ago, a young man committed a serious crime and was brought before the judge. He was convicted and sentenced to prison. During his time in prison he joined a Bible study and met the Lord. He gave his life to Christ while serving out his sentence.
Upon his release, he decided he should start going to church regularly. On his first Sunday, he walked into a nearby church and saw the very judge who convicted and sentenced him. Now, after the sermon the church celebrated communion. This was a very traditional protestant church, so the congregation would come up front and kneel at the altar to take the communion elements.
And as this former criminal made his way to the front and knelt down to receive communion, who happened to kneel next to him? The very judge who convicted and sentenced him.
After the service, some people in the church had noticed this incredible moment and come up to the judge and said, “Wow! How incredible that this former criminal would give his life to Christ and kneel side-by-side with you, judge, to share in communion together. What a picture of redemption! What a testimony to God’s grace! What a miracle!”
And you know what this judge said? With tears in his eyes, he replied, “No. The miracle is that I, someone whom everyone thinks is righteous, whom everyone thinks is deserving, whom everyone thinks is a good person, whom everything thinks should be here, that I too need the grace of God just as much as that man.”
Friends, we must remember something of utmost importance when it comes to the gospel of Jesus Christ: There is level ground at the foot of the cross. No merit, no self-righteousness, no boasting in your works could possibly save you. Neither will your sin, your failure, nor the darkness in your heart exclude you. All that is required for those who think they are good enough AND for those who know they aren’t good enough is to repent and receive Jesus as Savior and Lord.
You see, we’re in the middle of a series of conversion stories in the book of Acts.
Last week’s theme was that the gospel is good news for all who are desperately searching. We looked at the story of an Ethiopian man who had sold out to the world to find wealth and success, only to realize he was empty and needed Christ.
This week we are going to see this theme: the gospel is good news for all who are proud and self-righteous. We are going to encounter Saul of Tarsus, a Pharisee of Pharisees. He had sought to prove that he was worthy of God through earning and achieving a works-based piety, only to realize he also was empty and needed Christ.
Remember, we talked about this a couple weeks ago: Christianity isn’t something you take up, like some set of ideas that will make your life better. No, it is something that takes you up, that captures your heart and transforms your whole life. It is not merely a set of moral codes, rules for living, intellectual ideas, or a means to live your best life. At the heart of the gospel is a realization that you are having an encounter with the personal presence of the Living God who’s forgiving grace invades your life and finds you when you were lost and makes you alive when you were dead.
Open with me to Acts 9:1-31. If you need a copy of the Bible, raise your hand. We have a familiar character coming back on the scene now: the most violent and dangerous persecutor of the church, Saul, is about to encounter Jesus Christ, and his life will never be the same. Let’s read. READ Acts 9:1-31.
ORG SENT — I want to look at this passage in three parts: (SLIDE 2) First, we will consider Saul’s life before Christ (vv. 1-2). Second, we will examine Saul’s encounter with Christ (vv. 3-19). Third, we will describe Saul’s life after Christ (vv. 20-31).
MAIN 1 — Saul’s Life Before Christ (vv. 1-2). (SLIDE 3)
Go back and look at how verse 1 describes Saul: READ v. 1a.
The words that are used here are very striking. Luke used similar words the first time we encountered Saul in Acts 8:3 when Luke wrote that “Saul was ravaging the church.”
The words “ravaging” and “breathing out threats” are words in the original language that are often used to describe wild animals. (SLIDE 4) Luke is giving us the picture of a man who is gnashing is teeth, spitting and chomping, scratching and clawing, roving around like a wild animal. He is a man who has lost control and has become obsessed with destroying the church and persecuting Christians.
What drove Saul to become like this?
You have to know this about Saul: He was a rule-follower and a self-righteous man. He was zealous for the law and the traditions of his ancestors. If anyone could argue that they were a good person, Saul could.
Just listen to what he said in his own words in Philippians 3:4-6, (SLIDE 5) “If someone else thinks they have reasons to put confidence in the flesh, I have more: circumcised on the eighth day, of the people of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew of Hebrews; in regard to the law, a Pharisee; as for zeal, persecuting the church; as for righteousness based on the law, faultless.”
Like the judge in my story from earlier, Saul was one whom everyone thought was righteous, whom everyone thought was deserving, whom everyone thought was a good person, whom everything thought should be accepted by God.
But here’s what you need to see: (SLIDE 6) the gospel of Jesus Christ threatened everything he knew. The grace of God through Jesus threatened the works-based self-righteousness he had constructed to prove that he was enough. If sinners can be freely forgiven, if unworthy people can be accepted by God, if God’s favor can be poured out upon anyone who simply asks, and if failures and low-lifes are now welcomed into the family of God…Saul would have none of this! This was the opposite of everything Saul had worked so hard to achieve. And so, his heart was poisoned and he began to be filled with hatred toward these Christians.
Don’t miss this, because this still happens to people today: (SLIDE 7) When a proud and self-righteous person is confronted with God’s grace, often the response will be fear and self-protection and hard-heartedness, precisely because they are being confronted with the false hope of their own piety.
For Saul, it was the fear of his self-righteous world crumbling and falling apart that caused him to become the destroyer of the church and ultimately a persecutor of Jesus Christ himself!
But there is hope for those who trust in their works to be enough.
MAIN 2 — Saul’s Encounter With Christ (vv. 3-19). (SLIDE 8)
We pick up the story in verse 3 on the road to Damascus. Now, you need to know that Damascus was about 150 miles northeast of Jerusalem, and it would take about 1 week to travel there by horse.
Picture this moment: Saul and his companions are tired from their journey, seeing the city of Damascus off in the distance, eager to get on with the brutal task of going house-to-house to arrest Christians and drag them back to Jerusalem, when suddenly a light from heaven flashed around Saul, and he heard these words: “Saul, Saul, why do you persecute me?”
I want to point out two important things about this sentence:
(SLIDE 9) First, the repetition of Saul’s name is significant. Throughout the Bible, the repetition of a name signals an intensely personal confrontation. Here are examples:
When Abraham raised the knife to slay Isaac, God called to him in Genesis 22:11-12, “Abraham, Abraham!…do not lay a hand on the boy…now I know that you fear God, because you have not withheld from me your son, your only son.”
At the burning bush, God called to Moses in Exodus 3:4-5, “Moses, Moses!…do not come any closer…take off your sandals, for the place you are standing is holy ground.”
The boy Samuel heard the voice of the Lord saying in 1 Samuel 3:10-11, “Samuel, Samuel!…see, I am about to do something in Israel that will make the ears of everyone who hears about it tingle.”
And Jesus himself looked out upon the people of Jerusalem and said in Matthew 23:37, “Jerusalem, Jerusalem, you who kill the prophets and stone those sent to you, how often I have longed to gather your children together, as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, and you were not willing.”
KEY: The repetition of a name is intensely personal, confrontational, and yet compassionate and kind. It is an invitation into intimacy, a beckoning into nearness, and an indication that God is at work.
And now, Saul hearing the intensely personal call of God: “Saul, Saul, why do you persecute me?”
(SLIDE 10) Second, did you notice who Saul is persecuting? It is Jesus himself!
In other words, this is how Jesus describes our intimate union with him when we come to saving faith: persecuting Christians means persecuting Christ himself.
What is Saul’s response? (SLIDE 11) Verse 5: “Who are you, Lord?”
Its like he knows already, but can’t bring himself to acknowledge that he is face-to-face with the very person whom he hates. It’s like he can’t admit that he is seeing the man he denied could possibly have risen from the dead, who couldn’t possibly be the Messiah, and who could never be worshipped as Lord.
But he hears the most glorious and most devastating words to a man who has built his life around his own prideful self-righteous piety: “I am Jesus”
The next words are simple, yet profound: READ v. 6.
We know from the rest of these verses that Saul couldn’t see anymore, and for three days wouldn’t eat or drink. His life was turned upside down! His physical blindness was symbolic of his spiritual blindness because he had relied upon his own pride and had boasted in his works.
And in the city of Damascus, the Lord called to Ananias, who was afraid because he knew of Saul’s reputation, and God used Ananias to restore Saul’s sight and Saul was filled with the Holy Spirit, and now called to be God’s chosen instrument to the Gentiles, taking the gospel to the ends of the earth.
There is so much that could be said about this account. But there is a theme here that we see in other places in the New Testament that helps us understand what it means to be saved. You see, in Saul’s conversion we see what it means to be called unto salvation.
Remember, Christianity isn’t merely a worldview, or a set of rules, or a strategy for living your best life. No, being a Christian means experiencing a sense of being awakened. It means finding that you were lost and now you’re found, that you were dead and now you’re alive!
You see, Saul was confronted by Jesus. He was called by Jesus. He was saved by Jesus. His striving for righteousness, his earning, his pride, and his works only left him afraid and angry and violent. But then he was saved.
ILLUST — The late Tim Keller described what happened here to Saul, and it really is a summary of what it means to be saved in the gospel of Jesus Christ (SLIDE 12). Keller says that this is what it means to be called in salvation:
(SLIDE 13) You sense a power coming in from outside taking charge.
(SLIDE 14) You are confronted with a person, not merely a set of ideas or rules.
(SLIDE 15) You rise and follow him.
KEY: No matter whether you’re like the Ethiopian eunuch last week who had sold out to the world and pursued every sin with reckless abandon, or whether you think you are righteous and good and can boast in your worthiness, both the rebels and the Pharisees need to be saved from the sin of making themselves the god of their own lives.
And the way the Bible describes “being saved” is the realization that you are encountering the Living God himself, that his authority and power and his goodness and grace are taking charge of your life, and that you sense and know his intimacy and presence, and you respond by simply saying, “My life is yours, I will follow.”
This is what Saul did. He didn’t know what was going to happen next. He simply got up and obeyed by going into the city of Damascus, only to have his sight restored and to realize he had been saved so that he could proclaim this salvation to others.
MAIN 3 — Saul’s Life After Christ (vv. 20-31). (SLIDE 16)
As soon as he is able, Saul begins telling others about Jesus (SLIDE 17).
QUICK SIDE NOTE: His name didn’t change to Paul at this moment. Many people assume Jesus changed his name from Saul to Paul, but we don’t actually see that anywhere in the story here. Luke continues to use the name Saul until chapter 13 when he goes to Greek cities. Saul is his Hebrew name, Paul is his Greek name. As a Jew who was born a Roman citizen, he always had two names.
Let me simply summarize Saul’s approach here to witnessing about Christ: (SLIDE 18, list)
Christ-centered (v. 20) — he preached about Jesus!
Courageous (vv. 27-28) — he spoke fearlessly and boldly.
Costly (vv. 23, 29) — the Jews in Damascus and in Jerusalem tried to kill him.
Why would they try to kill him?
Remember the Philippians 3:4-6 passage I read a few minutes ago about Saul’s boasting in his accomplishments and his self-righteousness. Friends, he experienced a radical transformation when he met Jesus.
And when I imagine Saul preaching in Damascus and in Jerusalem in Acts 9, I think it is likely his sermons would have included something like this: These are the very next words that he wrote to the Philippians in 3:7-9, (SLIDE 19-20) “But whatever were gains to me I now consider loss for the sake of Christ. What is more, I consider everything a loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whose sake I have lost all things. I consider them garbage, that I may gain Christ and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which is through faith in Christ.”
This is Saul’s newfound salvation. He says: I consider my self-righteous law-keeping like yesterday’s garbage. Now I am known by Jesus, I have seen him, and I trust in him alone because he has saved me and he is enough. (SLIDE 21, blank)
It is this message that got him into trouble in Damascus and in Jerusalem. We see in verses 20-31 that he was almost killed in both cities because he preached a gospel of grace and free forgiveness and welcome into God’s family through what Christ has done.
You see, Saul finally learned the lesson that Jesus had been telling Pharisees like him all along, the very message of God’s grace to sinners that made the religious leaders like Saul want to kill Jesus and his followers.
Let me remind you, when Jesus called Matthew to be his disciple, later that night when Jesus is at a dinner party at Matthew’s house with all of Matthew’s friends who are tax collectors and sinners, the Pharisees show up to protest: A holy man can’t share table fellowship with these scum, they say.
And Jesus replied in Matthew 9:12-13, (SLIDE 22) “It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick. But go and learn what this means: ‘I desire mercy, not sacrifice.’ For I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners.”
In other words, if you think you are a moral success, if you think people should be impressed with you, if you’re attitude is that you stand on the moral high ground, if you think you’re good enough for God…the Bible says that you are actually one of the people who is farthest from Him. (SLIDE 23, blank)
Do you remember the story of the Prodigal Son from Luke 15? Jesus tells this parable because the Pharisees were muttering and upset that Jesus welcomed sinners. So Jesus told them a story that some people call the “parable of the lost son,” but I prefer to call it the “parable of the lost sons.”
This is a story of two brothers. The younger brother asks for an early inheritance and goes off to squander it all on wild living, and eventually he hits rock bottom, and when he comes back home to grovel at his father’s feet, his father runs to embrace him and declares, “Let’s have a feast and celebrate. For this son of mine was dead and is alive again; he was lost and is found.’”
But that’s not the end of the story. The older brother suddenly comes on the scene. And to everyone’s shock, he won’t join the party. He won’t even go in the house. He won’t even say his brother’s name. He simply says, “That son of yours is a sinner! He squandered everything! This isn’t right! This isn’t fair!”
And after the father pleads with him, the story ends abruptly and leaves us wondering what the older brother would do.
Friends, this parable was spoken by Jesus in response to the Pharisees’ muttering. I think the parable of the prodigal son is actually a challenge to the self-righteous; it is a mirror held up to expose their pious hard-heartedness.
This used to be Saul. He was just like the older brother in that parable. And yet what he came to realize, what many of us need to realize, is that the gospel is good news for all who are proud and self-righteous, precisely because we are confronted with Christ himself and the fear that our striving will never be good enough melts away because he says, “It is finished, I have done it. I am enough, rise and follow me.”
It was the message of the cross, and an encounter with the resurrected Jesus that turned Saul from the destroyer of the church to the greatest missionary of the church.
Saul was dead, now he’s alive. He was lost, now he’s found. Just like the judge in that story from the beginning of the message, it is a miracle of God’s grace is that even a Pharisee of Pharisees stands on the same level ground at the foot of the cross.
Let’s pray.