"A Response to Hate"

While my story will not be one that has the dramatic turn around that we will be reading in the experience of Saul to Paul, but I share it as a reminder.

God calls all people to salvation and to service for His Kingdom. Don’t you dare let anyone else tell you different!

We can look through all of scripture and see that spelled out clearly for us. It starts in Genesis with the calling of Abraham and then moves into a list that grows and grows.

Names like Joseph, Moses, Joshua, Samuel, David, Elisha, and on and on.

The continuing of calling then moves into the NT where God calls on Mary to bear Jesus and in turn Jesus calls on each and every one of His disciples.

I want to be very clear with this though, God's calling is not always going to look like the call of these saints that we have mentioned this morning.

He calls some to be teachers, businessmen, nurses, and whatever field you might think of and His purpose is to use your influence to continue the cause of Christ in this world.

In this chapter of Acts we will see a very dramatic calling of a man and the impact that it had on him as God invaded his life.

The most unique part of the Saul to Paul story is that it began with an intense mission against the church and ended with an unwavering response.

We begin this morning by looking at the intense mission and that was...

1. _A mission of hate_ (vv. 1–2)

Read: Acts 9:1-2

Acts 9:1–2 ESV

1 But Saul, still breathing threats and murder against the disciples of the Lord, went to the high priest 2 and asked him for letters to the synagogues at Damascus, so that if he found any belonging to the Way, men or women, he might bring them bound to Jerusalem.

Let's look at the life of Saul who will later become Paul but for a moment we will still refer to him as Saul.

He was born in Tarsus, which was a city that was under heavy roman influence. Rome was power and at the very peak of world domination.

Saul spoke several languages that we know of, Greek, Latin, Hebrew, Aramaic, and Syriac. He lived as the strictest of Pharisees.

He was filled with a great wealth of knowledge because of his birthplace being the center of the world in that day and age.

He had the training of a Grecian man, and a quite formal and extensive education of a Hebrew. He studied under one of the most widely known Pharisee's, Gamaliel.

We find out later in Acts that he was a member of the Sanhedrin as well (Acts 26:10).

The arrogance probably ran rampant through hi when you look at his background. Simply put, Saul was armed and dangerous with knowledge and power.

This Sanhedrin that he was a part of, is the same group of men that conspired against Stephen and saw him to his horrific death.

It was this incident that probably fed Saul into a reeling life of anger and destruction. He was hell bent in destroying and taking out all who were apart of "the way”.

Therefore, anyone who would proclaim Christ and have a run in with either Saul or any of his associates, would surely know the meaning of persecution or death.

It was just after Stephen's death that we now see Saul on the road to Damascus carrying out letters of authority to seek out Christians, target them, and bring them into Jerusalem.

He had no intent on the church seeing any breathing room. He was ready to pounce.

Illus: When I got the youth group to prank Eric before he pranked me. I covered every angle. We got his keys. We made him snacks. We sent in distractions. We struck the Mav.

The idea of Saul going after Christians was a bit unusual as he was a Pharisee, and the Sadducees were much more heartless in their approach to judgments than the Pharisee's ever were.

But Saul was bitter and angry and the Sadducee's saw that in him, so when he came to them to request permission to seek their approval in hunting down Christians, it showed passion.

It showed that he was willing to go to great lengths to stamp them out, and so permission was granted. It was like he was one of them.

His intense desire to go on this six day journey by foot to Damascus showed that he had a searing rage that countered logic.

Saul was on a mission and what we have learned was it was a mission of hate. This leads us into our final point this morning and that is the unwavering response which was ...

2. _A response from Heaven_ (vv. 3–9)

Read: Acts 9:3-9

Acts 9:3–9 ESV

3 Now as he went on his way, he approached Damascus, and suddenly a light from heaven shone around him. 4 And falling to the ground, he heard a voice saying to him, “Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting me?” 5 And he said, “Who are you, Lord?” And he said, “I am Jesus, whom you are persecuting. 6 But rise and enter the city, and you will be told what you are to do.” 7 The men who were traveling with him stood speechless, hearing the voice but seeing no one. 8 Saul rose from the ground, and although his eyes were opened, he saw nothing. So they led him by the hand and brought him into Damascus. 9 And for three days he was without sight, and neither ate nor drank.

Saul had nearly completed this journey to Damascus when this great light from Heaven flashes around him.

The intensity of this light must have been intense to say the least as we will see later that this would have happened around the middle of the day.

With the intensity of the light and the now a voice from heaven calling out to him must have caught Saul completely off guard.

The voice calling out and asking Saul why are you persecuting me? Being the devout Jew that Saul was, he knew that any voice from heaven must have been God.

His response seems to point to that as well, “Who are you, Lord?” While some would translate the word Lord as meaning "sir", Saul was a devout Jew.

He knew that God had operated through audible response before so this was more than likely a fearful and worshipful response.

He thought Jesus was dead so there is no way that he could have prepared himself for the response that was about to come, “I am Jesus, whom you are persecuting.”

Heaven was making a very clear response and it was that Jesus was very much alive and that not even the gates of hell could stop the name of Jesus.

Saul had to have come to a moment where he realized that he was not just persecuting the people of God but God himself.

Illus: When I think about every believer I have ever hurt or persecuted over the years my heart flat hurts. I did not just punch Kenny, I did not just embarrass my family, I did not just destroy people with hurt... I did this to God as well.

Before I could even get my head wrapped around those wrong doings in my life God called me to His grace.

Before Saul could respond to the voice of Jesus, marching orders were given to go into the city. Saul was not just facing the reality that Jesus was alive, but now was taking orders from Him.

What I love about the following verse is Luke put emphasis that there were those traveling with Saul and that helps authenticate the story for when it would be told later.

The blindness now set in, and he was not able to eat or drink now paints an accurate picture of a broken man unable to function in any normal way.

Chapter nine of Acts is one in which we will see a little bit of us in it. One of my commentary's said it like this...

Here is a chapter about light. The light of Jesus shining from heaven on Saul. The light of Ananias openly receiving his new “brother” and assisting him to faith.

The light of Peter traveling to visit saints, healing and raising them as he went. The light of Dorcas caring for those who could not care for themselves.

We should see ourselves in this chapter, perhaps more than once. Some of us may have had dramatic conversion experiences.

Others may feel neglected, unnoticed by fellow Christians as we try to serve God faithfully wherever he has placed us.

Please notice our title again, especially the appearance of the last word in the plural. Yes, Saul was now God’s chosen instrument, but so was Ananias, and Peter, and Dorcas.

Christians should not try to be somebody else nor to do what God has called someone else to do.

God calls and gifts us to be ourselves, even if those selves do not look much like the popular models of a particular era, place, or denomination.

So, what about you? Have you ever thought about your rescue from the pits and depths of Hell? Have you ever really pondered, truly pondered the response to your hate?

You do realize it was in you too, don’t you? Your hate may not look like Saul’s hate, but the word of God tells us that anyone outside of the grace and blood of Jesus is an enemy of God. (Colossians 1:15-23)

Oh yes, we are all enemies of God or were enemies of God before or without the blood of Christ Jesus! Don’t forget that. We must preach the work of the cross daily friends. Do you know why?

Allister Baeg said it so well like this. Without the preaching of the cross, without preaching the cross to ourselves, all day and every day, we will very, very quickly revert to “faith plus works” as the ground of our salvation.

So, let me propose to you this question, “If you were to die today and you were getting entry into heaven, what would you say?”

If you answer that in the first person, we’ve immediately gone wrong. “Because I . . . Because I believed . . . Because I have faith . . . Because I am this . . . Because I am continuing to grow.”

Friends, the only proper answer’s in the third person. “Because he! Because he!”

Think about the thief on the cross . . . I can’t wait to find that fellow one day to ask him, “How did that shake out for you? Because you were cussing Jesus out with your friend.

You’ve never been in a Bible study. You never got baptized . . . You didn’t know a thing about church membership, and yet . . . you made it. How did you make it?”

How confusing that must have been for the angels taking in the new guests at the gate, right?: “What are you doing here?”

“I don’t know.”

“What do you mean you don’t know?”

“I don’t know.”

“Excuse me, let me get my supervisor.” They go get their supervisor angel. “So, just a few questions for you. First of all, are you clear on the doctrine of justification by faith?”

The guy said, “I’ve never heard of it in my life.”

“And what about the doctrine of Scripture?”

This guy’s just staring — and eventually, in frustration, [the supervisor] says, “On what basis are you here?”

And he said, “The Man on the middle cross said I can come.” That is the only answer. That is the only answer.

And if I don’t preach the gospel to myself all day and every day, then I will find myself beginning to trust myself, trust my experience, which is part of my fallenness as a man.

If I take my eyes off the cross, I can, then, give only lip service to its efficacy, while at the same time living as if my salvation depends upon me.

And as soon as you go there, it will lead you either to abject despair or a horrible kind of arrogance.

It is only the cross of Christ that deals both with the dreadful depths of despair and the pretentious arrogance of the pride of man.

The pride of man says, “You know, I can figure this out” and “I’m doing wonderfully well.” No, because the sinless savior died my sinful soul is counted free.

For God the just is satisfied to look on him and pardon me. That’s why Luther says most of your Christian life is outside of you, in this sense that we know that we’re not saved by good works.

We’re not saved as a result of our professions, but we’re saved as a result of what Christ has achieved.

And if you are not saved, do you want to be today? Do you want the blood of Jesus to redeem you. Do you want to give your life to Him, or even back to Him today? Make your move. He already made His.

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