From here on out in Acts, Paul is no longer a free man. You have to feel bad for him, because in the last passage he does everything right seeking peace and unity, but the Jewish people still turn on him. The Temple was both a safe and dangerous place for Paul. It was safe in the fact that Paul was there to appease the concerns of the Jewish Christians by showing that he was still very Jewish in his culture. But it was dangerous because there were still many unbelieving Jews who did think that Paul was teaching Jews to abandon Moses and all that he taught. 

The people had seen Paul walking around with a guy named Trophimus who was a gentiles and when they saw Paul in the Temple with the other men who were taking the Nazarite vow with him, the Jewish people apparently thought that Trophimus was one of them which would have broken the Jewish laws. They accuse Paul of teaching all men everywhere against the law, the people, and the temple. So a riot ensues and they arrest Paul. 

Now, we could go a lot of different routes with this passage. We could talk about how sometimes we can do everything right and things can still go very wrong for us. We can talk about how quickly people believe lies when they support their prejudices. But, I want to focus on Paul’s response. He asks the commander if he can address the crowd and Paul then proceeds to tell them about Jesus. He tells them how Jesus came into Paul’s life. Another way to say this is that Paul tells the crowd how he was converted. 

When I say the word converted, I usually get a variety of responses. Some of you know you have not been converted to the Christian faith and you might be thinking, “Why do I need to listen to this? That’s not the way I think about religion and spirituality.” Well, if that’s you, you get to see how one of the most influential people ever to live described how he went from murdering Christians to giving his life to Jesus. The man who said he found the secret to being content in every situation. The man who mocked death saying, “Where is your sting now?” If you battle being content…if you wonder or even fear what happens after death, I think this should be interesting to you. 

Others of you are converted and you might think, “Why do I need to listen to this? I’m walking with Jesus.” Well, that’s me too and do you know what I think? I’m not walking with Jesus the way Paul is. It’s easy as Christians to forget the power of our conversion and hearing about Paul’s conversion should cause us to remember ours and give us renewed focus and strength in our Christian lives. 

Then, there is a third group here who think they are converted, but you aren’t. Maybe you grew up in church, but it is still more of a cultural habit than a heart felt faith. My hope is if that is you, that you will see Paul’s conversion and see that that has not happened to you and that you will take that next step in your walk with Jesus. 

Paul’s conversion can seem so miraculous that it becomes unrelatable for us, but to think that shows that we don’t understand the miraculous nature of our conversion. Actually, Paul’s conversion is normative in many ways for ours and that is what I want to look at this morning. Three truths about conversion. 

1. Conversion is not something that we make happen

Paul opposed anything Jesus related with every aspect of his being. Look at verses four and five. 4 eI persecuted fthis Way gto the death, binding and delivering to prison both men and women, 5 as hthe high priest and ithe whole council of elders can bear me witness. From them I received letters to jthe brothers, and I journeyed toward Damascus to take those also who were there and bring them in bonds to Jerusalem to be punished. 

Paul had heard about Christians over in Damascus which was bad news because Damascus had some very large and important synagogues. He wanted to figure out a way to prevent what he saw as this cancer from spreading any more. So, he went to the high priest and convinced him to give him letters authorizing him to go there to find and bring any who belonged to ‘the Way’ (that is what Christianity was called at this early time) both men and women back to Jerusalem to be held accountable. What you have here is basically an extradition order. 

Can you imagine a person less likely to give their lives to Jesus? You may feel like your neighbor is far off, but are they breathing murderous threats against any Christian they find? You may feel like your child or grandchild is straying, but are they arresting and murdering people for their faith in Jesus? I mean, maybe there are some far off terrorists who might approach this level of hatred of Christians, but I don’t personally know anyone more committed to the eradication of Christianity than Paul was. 

But, the truth is that all of us are this far gone because none of us will ever turn to Jesus on our own. I always feel the need to say that this isn’t a niche Reformed doctrine. This is orthodox Christianity for over two thousand years. Sin has ravaged us so terribly that we can’t even see Jesus as our hope. 

In the late fourth and early fifth century there was a theologian named Pelagius who taught that we do have enough good in us, enough morality, enough wisdom, and enough spirituality to be able to put our trust in Jesus without any divine aid. Augustine very publicly opposed Pelagius for this and he was declared a heretic at the council of Ephesus in 431. What’s interesting is that Pelagius was explicitly teaching what had been implicitly taught by most every heretic before him. The other heretics said Jesus is a good example to follow, but he can’t really save you. He can’t save you because he’s all God and not human. He can’t save you because he’s all human and not God. He can’t save you because his death showed you how much he loves us, but didn’t really accomplish anything for you. At the core of all these heresies was the implicit teaching that Jesus can’t save you and the onus is on you. 

Now, you have Pelagius explicitly saying that! You don’t need Jesus to save you, you need to go seek him and you DO have enough good in you to be able to go do that. Basically, you’re a little bruised up spiritually, but you’re not terminal so you just need to mend up your own bruises. That isn’t what the Bible teaches. Paul says in Romans 10 that all have gone astray and no one will seek him. Not one! In Chapter five he makes it clear that we are born into sin because we come from Adam. 12 Therefore, just as tsin came into the world through one man, and udeath through sin,and vso death spread to all men5 because wall sinned— - Romans 5:12

And not being able to see Jesus as our hope means we will unknowingly look to things of this world to feel better about our fallen state. We will look to our work to make us feel better. We will look to our social status to make us feel better. We will look to our morality to feel better. We will look to our degrees to feel better. We will even look to our spouse and our kids to feel better. But, at that moment, do you know what we are actually asking those things? Are you my savior, work? Are you my savior, money? Are you my savior, kids?

The answer is always no. And when we look to those things for what only Jesus can give, we heap a burden on them that they can never bear and we become frustrated when these things don’t give us what we want them to. Our natural state is just as dire as Paul’s. None of us are going to seek Jesus on our own. None of us in our natural state even know we need to seek Jesus. And because we don’t know it, we are just reinforcing the sickness that is killing us. So, what can we do? The answer is the second truth.

1. Conversion happens when God opens our eyes

Here we pick back up with Paul. He has his extradition papers and is heading to Damascus with a few other men when suddenly a light from heaven shone all around him. Paul fell to the ground and that is when he heard the voice saying, “Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting me?” Now, for what it’s worth Jesus did not change Paul’s name. His name is Saul when he’s with Jews and Paul when he’s with Gentiles. It’s just like me being Jim in the US and Giacomo in Italy. And Paul asked, “Who are you Lord?” To which the voice answers, “I am Jesus, whom you are persecuting.” 

And then Paul, who was on a mission to kill Jesus’ people, bowed his knee to Jesus as Lord. And it would be easy to say, “Well, sure Jim. It would be easy to believe if Jesus showed up to me, but until that happens, I’m good.” Or, it would be easy to ask God why he would show up to Paul in such a convincing way, but why doesn’t he do that for my friend or my child? 

These are good questions. But, showing up in a vision like this will not change an unrepentant heart. Do you remember the rich man and Lazarus? They both died and the poor man, Lazarus, went to Abraham’s side. Now, that is a longer conversation, but it’s a good place. The rich man went to Hades, a bad place. The rich man asked Abraham to send Lazarus back to life to warn his brothers about this terrible place. But, Abraham responded, 31‘If they do not hear qMoses and the Prophets, tneither will they be convinced if someone should rise from the dead.’” - Luke 16:31

Even seeing a dead man rise will not convince someone. We are too far gone. We all need something greater than even a dead person rising and greater even than seeing the risen Lord Jesus, because our problem isn’t just a lack of information. Our problem is that we are spiritually dead. Remember, there were people who saw the risen Lord Jesus and still didn’t believe. You don’t bring a dead person medical information that would have saved them. They have to be resuscitated. So, what must happen to believe? Paul addresses this in 2 Corinthians 4. 3 And even dif our gospel is veiled (that is, even if people can’t see), eit is veiled to fthose who are perishing. 4 In their case gthe god of this world (that is Satan) dhas blinded the minds of the unbelievers, to keep them from seeing hthe light ofithe gospel of the glory of Christ, jwho is the image of God…..6 For God, who said, m“Let light shine out of darkness,” nhas shone in our hearts to giveothe light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ. 2 Cor 4:3,4,6

Paul is quoting Genesis here. All the way back to creation where God said, “Let there be light!” and light shone in the universe. Paul is saying that God has to do the same thing in our hearts. He has to say, “let there be light” and our eyes are opened to see the light of the glory of Christ which has always shone so bright, but we can finally see for the first time. What has happened with all of us who believe in Jesus is no less of a miracle than what happened to Paul. And it is Paul himself making this point!

In Philippians 3:12, Paul says that Jesus took hold of him on that road to Damascus. Jesus arrested Paul before he could arrest any of Jesus’ people. Paul wasn’t even looking for it! And this is true of all of us as well. This is what we call God’s sovereign grace. He opens our eyes to see that Jesus is our only hope, our greatest desire. 

Tim Keller said that until the Holy Spirit intervenes, we have a worldview that looks inward, outward, and then upward in that order. We look inward to our desires, whatever they are. Then we look outward to form a community that will reinforce those desires. Then we look upward to create a God that will affirm both the desire and the community. But, not so rigidly that we have to actually stick with those desires or that community for more than five years. But, when the Holy Spirit intervenes, we look upward first for the first time. Then, God changes our desires and gives us a new community to reinforce his will for our life. 

And if that is true, it should make us more bold in our evangelism because we know it’s not up to us. And it should make us much more humble to those who don’t believe because not for the sovereign grace of God, we would be the same. We call it grace because we don’t deserve it and it’s sovereign because God gives it to us. 

And we need to see that God’s sovereignty didn’t show up for the first time on the road to Damascus, he had been working throughout Paul’s life to prepare him for his Christian life. We can think of Paul simply as the Apostle to the gentiles, but really he was more like the Apostle to help Jews and Gentiles get along in the same church. That’s most of what he writes about. Paul could only do this because he was who he was. Only a Hebrew of Hebrew can declare that the outward sign of circumcision is not the mark of a Christian. Only someone who attacked the church like he did can have the credibility he did. Only a Roman citizen could talk to the Commander in this way.

God’s sovereignty precedes the moment of our conversion. For those of us who came to Christ as an adult, the person you were before conversion is a part of God’s plan for you after conversion. I can see that in my own life. Many of you have heard me say how I have always had a deep fear of public speaking, but even through my sinful ambition to be Governor of the state, he was working to prepare me for what he was calling me to. If you came to Christ as an adult, think about who you were before your conversion and how God sovereignly prepared you before your conversion for who you would be after. Even those places of shame. Some of you, though, don’t remember a time when you didn’t trust God, but this is no less true for you. God has shown you that he has to come to you before you even have a memory of coming to him. That’s pretty cool!

Here, though, is where we get to the elephant in the room. Is it fair of God to give grace to some people and not to others? Well, when we ask that question, we are assuming that God owes someone something. Grace is grace BECAUSE it is undeserved. If you were the only human God decided to save, that wouldn’t make him unfair in the least. God is indebted to no one. God owes nothing in the created order anything and certainly not a human who has rebelled against him.

Here is how Paul answers this question in Romans 9: 14 What shall we say then? wIs there injustice on God’s part? By no means! 15 For he says to Moses, x“I will have mercy on whom I have mercy, and I will have compassion onwhom I have compassion.” 16 So then it depends not on human will or exertion,2 but onGod, who has mercy. - Romans 9:14-16. I know this is a hard question, but I want you to know that on the day we die or Jesus comes back, no one, believer or unbeliever will question whether God is fair. 

But, I still haven’t answered the question, why did Paul get to see Jesus and we do not? The answer is simple. Because Jesus was making him an Apostle. The last Apostle. And what was one of the main requirements to be an apostle? You had to see Jesus. Notice that the other men there, they all heard the voice, but only Paul saw Jesus. And when he saw Jesus, he gave Jesus his life. That’s the third truth. 

1. We must give Jesus our life
   

We are not passive robots. When the Holy Spirit opens our eyes, an act called regeneration, we are given truly free wills for the very first time and that is when we commit our lives to Jesus because we truly want him for the first time. I love how the British theologian, John Stott, puts it. “Divine grace does not trample on human personality. Rather the reverse, for it enables human beings to be truly human. It is sin which imprisons; it is grace which liberates. Tim Keller says that God has sovereignly ordained that you would freely choose him. 

So what does it look like to commit your life to Jesus? Well, we can take a few notes from Paul. First, in verse 10, Paul looks at Jesus and simply asks, “What should I do?” His heart was willing to do whatever Jesus wanted. I can’t go any further in answering the question ‘what does it look like to commit your life to Jesus?’ without first asking, is your heart in the same place? Are you asking Jesus ‘What should I do?” 

Second, Paul connects to the church. Jesus tells him to find Annanias in Damascus who connects Paul to the church. I have to imagine that in heaven, there is a big joke about how unappreciated Annanias was. He was supposed to receive the single most dangerous person in the world to Christians. He had no evidence that anything had changed about Paul other than God’s word. This is a brave saint. And this brother makes sure Paul is taken in, baptized, and discipled. 

Connect to the church. Really any church, but I would love for it to be this church. And when I say connected, I mean join the church as a member. We are in an interesting season here where the majority of the people who come on Sunday are not members of OGC. I think that’s a good problem to have, but we do want to be clear that we believe God has designed the church such that we aren’t just attending and watching, but we are truly belonging. I don’t want anyone here to feel undo pressure to that end, but we do believe that church membership is a blessing to you and you are a blessing to the church. 

Then, third, Paul was sent. The final verse here says, 21 And he said to me, ‘Go,for I will send you mfar away to the Gentiles.’” - Acts 22:21 God sent Paul to the Gentiles both for his physical protection and to reach them. To become the apostle to the Gentiles. And the same thing is true for us. Not that we are apostles or sent to a specific people, but that if we have been converted, we are sent and a sign of our conversion is that our hearts feel for the lost. We have a desire for people to know Jesus the way we do. When we get spiritual sight, we can now see spiritual blindness. 

This kind of Christian conversion only happens through the gospel. What is the gospel? Well, it’s summed up pretty well in Jesus’ words to Paul: Why are you persecuting me? Do you see the degree to which Jesus identifies with his people? You might read this and say, “Wait, Paul wasn’t persecuting Jesus, he was persecuting Jesus’ followers.” But, his people are actually an extension of him. To persecute Jesus’ people is to persecute him! When we realize that Jesus came here, to live the perfect life we can’t, to take the wrath we deserve on the cross, and then to give us his righteousness, we actually become so wrapped up in him that to persecute us is to persecute him. Show me another worldview where the deity identifies and cares about his people in this way. We have a savior who identifies with us in every possible way even down to the current pain we feel today. 

And because Paul believed in Jesus, you can have this beautiful scene where he goes to Annanias, having killed Annanias’ friends, and have Annanias say the words, “Brother Saul.” What he did no longer matters because Jesus died for that. And when that happens to us, when we see Jesus for who he is and we are converted, not only are we not going to look for our deepest satisfaction in things like work, sex, degrees, or kids. We will be freed up to enjoy those things the way God has designed for us because we aren’t asking them to save us. 

Has this happened to you? The bad news is that it doesn’t matter how good you are and it doesn’t matter how bad you are. The good news is that Jesus has set his love on you and that love doesn’t just make you better, it makes you whole.