Acts 9:1-9

But Saul, still breathing threats and murder against the disciples of the Lord, went to the high priest ²and 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. ³ Now as he went on his way, he approached Damascus, and suddenly a light from heaven flashed around him. ⁴And falling to the ground he heard a voice saying to him, "Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting me?" ⁵And he said, "Who are you, Lord?" And he said, "I am Jesus, whom you are persecuting. ⁶But 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. ⁸Saul 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. ⁹And for three days he was without sight, and neither ate nor drank.

I love the language used here of breathing threats and murder. Saul wasn’t just doing what he thought was right by persecuting Christians, he had an active hatred toward them. Saul thought he was doing God’s work and these Christians were enemies of God so in his mind he was justified for his despise of the members of the Way. By this point in the book of Acts we already see Saul emerge as a leader of persecution against Christians. In chapter 7 we see Saul overseeing the execution of Stephen and now he is taking his show on the road with permission from the high priests to bring back to Jerusalem anyone he found belonging to this movement now dubbed as “the Way.” So at this point Saul is the front man in the cause of squashing this movement made up of the followers of Jesus and he is carrying out his task with murderous passion.

There are few places in Scripture where God’s election is seen in action more clearly than in verses three through six:

Now as he went on his way, he approached Damascus, and suddenly a light from heaven flashed around him. And falling to the ground he heard a voice saying to him, "Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting me?" And he said, "Who are you, Lord?" And he said, "I am Jesus, whom you are persecuting. But rise and enter the city, and you will be told what you are to do.

I thank God for his grace in election. Saul, a persecutor of Christians and as Jesus points out, a persecutor of Jesus himself, experiences God’s grace in this moment. Saul was a religious person and was an enemy of God. Saul, in his own words was “circumcised on the eighth day, of the people of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew of Hebrews; as to the law, a Pharisee; as to zeal, a persecutor of the church; as to righteousness under the law, blameless.” Saul was the guy everyone looked at and said “Wow, he has it all together. I wish I could be as holy as he is.” But it was all meaningless because until this moment in Saul’s life, he was an enemy of God. It was not until Jesus came down and changed him that he became a friend of God. He did not accomplish this own his own. It was not done by his merit or effort. It was accomplished entirely by Jesus who goes on to say that Saul is “a chosen instrument of mine…” There was no Gospel presentation, no altar call, no sinners prayer, or no free will decision. Jesus chose Saul and Saul was changed.

While these verses in Acts are descriptive of the calling of Saul and are not prescriptive in that we are not all to be saved in the exact same manner, the mode of salvation is the same: God calls the sinner, dead in his trespasses and sins, to come to life in Jesus and the sinner is reborn to life in Christ. The account of Lazarus in John 11:38-44 is a perfect illustration of how Jesus saves us:

Then Jesus ,deeply moved again, came to the tomb. It was a cave, and a stone lay against it. Jesus said, "Take away the stone." Martha, the sister of the dead man, said to him, "Lord, by this time there will be an odor, for he has been dead four days." Jesus said to her, "Did I not tell you that if you believed you would see the glory of God?" So they took away the stone. And Jesus lifted up his eyes and said, "Father, I thank you that you have heard me. I knew that you always hear me, but I said this on account of the people standing around, that they may believe that you sent me." When he had said these things, he cried out with a loud voice, "Lazarus, come out." The man who had died came out, his hands and feet bound with linen strips, and his face wrapped with a cloth. Jesus said to them, "Unbind him, and let him go.


Lazarus was physically dead, just as apart from the saving work of Jesus we are spiritually dead (Eph 2:1). Jesus came to Lazarus and called him to life. Lazarus did not ponder the Lord’s call and make the decision to accept Jesus’ invitation because dead people don’t ponder anything or make any decisions. When Jesus calls us, the spiritually dead, to come to life, we respond. Just as a dead Lazarus was unable to make any decision regarding Jesus’ call, you and I who are spiritual dead are unable to make any spiritual decisions for ourselves. Salvation is, from beginning to end, the work of Jesus. It is “not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast” (Eph 2:8-9).

So what is Saul’s response to Jesus when he tells him to “rise and enter the city, and you will be told what you are to do”? The following verses tell us that Saul rose up and went into the city. Saul’s world had been changed. He was no longer God’s enemy but his chosen instrument who would carry the name of Jesus to the Gentiles, kings, and the children of Israel.

Listen to last Sunday's sermon from Church of the Cross on Acts 9:1-19: The Unexpected, Unconventional, Undeniable Conversion of Saul.