Call to Commitment

  

Acts 9, part 2

 

19. So when he had received food, he was strengthened. Then Saul spent some days with the disciples at Damascus. 

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. 

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. 

 The great beginning of the Christian life, for this new believer, Saul, was to spend the first three days sightless, in fasting and prayer. In a very real, spiritual sense, Saul was blinded from his former life as a Pharisee, from his former way of interpreting the Old Testament Scriptures and now, his eyes were miraculously opened to a new way of seeing things. The glowing reality of the glory of Christ takes away his natural hunger for food and separates him from all else to the gospel of God (Ro. 1:1).  

He initiated the new life by receiving Jesus as Lord, being baptized in water and baptized in the Holy Spirit. His religion was transformed into supernatural, resurrected life in Christ. He experienced a powerful entrance into the Kingdom of God. Even the natural food, of which he now partook, energized him to immediate action in promoting His purposes. He began a new fellowship with the people that he came to Damascus to persecute (v. 19). The communion with them, he surely discovered, was rich and alive, and from that atmosphere, he went directly to serve Christ in the Jewish synagogues.

 Three sightless days were enough to give him basic understanding of the person and work of the Son of God, so that he could present him to his Jewish fellows (v. 20). There is no way to explain and describe what has happened to this man and the only reaction to his transformation, from a Pharisee to becoming a Christian, is amazement. It is hard to believe that this could be the same person, who persecuted believers in Jerusalem and came to Damascus with the same purpose (v. 21).

 

Acts 9, Part 1 

 

Chapter   9:1-9

 Jesus reveals Himself to Saul through a light

       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. 

3.      As he journeyed he came near Damascus, and suddenly a light shone around him from heaven. 

4.      Then he fell to the ground, and heard a voice saying to him, "Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting Me?" 

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." 

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. 

Luke took us through several chapters, recounting the beginning and the development of the first church in Jerusalem. He told of the persecution, following the martyrdom of Stephen and how the disciples scattered into Judea and Samaria. Next, he relates, “Those who were scattered went everywhere preaching the word,” so that Judea and Samaria were evangelized. You will remember that this was the second step in the Great Commission that Jesus left with His disciples.

 We last learned of the personal evangelization of an Ethiopian eunuch by Philip. This is an important development in Luke’s story, because this man took the gospel into the continent of Africa. Now, we will study the conversion of Saul of Tarsus, who is to become the apostle to the Gentiles. His conversion is a major part in Luke’s carefully-planned account to Theophilus and through him, to the entire world of Christianity for all ages. He is about to reach beyond the evangelization of the Jews, the half-breed Samaritans, and a Gentile proselyte, to tell of the open and concentrated thrust of the gospel into the Gentile world. It begins with the transformation of the chief enemy of the gospel into an apostle, whose entire life, from this point on, will be dedicated to taking the gospel to the non-Jewish people. First, however, we will see in chapter 10, how Peter breaks through the barrier that kept them on the outside. 

Acts 8 

 

Acts 8:16-25 

The magician’s error 

16.  For as yet He had fallen upon none of them. They had only been baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus. 

17.  Then they laid hands on them, and they received the Holy Spirit. 

18.  And when Simon saw that through the laying on of the apostles' hands the Holy Spirit was given, he offered them money, 

19.  saying, "Give me this power also, that anyone on whom I lay hands may receive the Holy Spirit." 

20.  But Peter said to him, "Your money perish with you, because you thought that the gift of God could be purchased with money! 

21.  You have neither part nor portion in this matter, for your heart is not right in the sight of God. 

22.  Repent therefore of this your wickedness, and pray God if perhaps the thought of your heart may be forgiven you. 

23.  For I see that you are poisoned by bitterness and bound by iniquity." 

24.  Then Simon answered and said, "Pray to the Lord for me, that none of the things which you have spoken may come upon me." 

25.  So when they had testified and preached the word of the Lord, they returned to Jerusalem, preaching the gospel in many villages of the Samaritans. 

 The apostles knew that every believer must experience the Holy Spirit falling upon them, which is another term for the experience of the baptism in the Holy Spirit. It is used again in chapter 10:44: “The Holy Spirit fell upon all those who heard the word.” It is empowering from on high, which falls upon believers on the earth (v. 16).  

 Peter and John prayed for the believers and they received the baptism in the Holy Spirit (v. 17). Something substantial and visible happened to the Samaritans, because the magician took notice and was immensely impacted by what he saw, as he was by seeing the miracles and signs that God did through Philip. What he then requested showed a blasphemous misunderstanding of the ways of God. He made two serious mistakes: He offered to buy the ability to impart this blessed, heavenly experience (v. 18), and he wanted the power for himself for personal gain (v.19). 

 

Acts 8:1-3 

An introduction to Saul of Tarsus 

1.      Now Saul was consenting to his death. At that time a great persecution arose against the church which was at Jerusalem; and they were all scattered throughout the regions of Judea and Samaria, except the apostles. 

2.      And devout men carried Stephen to his burial, and made great lamentation over him. 

3.      As for Saul, he made havoc of the church, entering every house, and dragging off men and women, committing them to prison. 

 I mentioned in chapter 6, the presence of Jewish Hellenists in Jerusalem, who spoke Greek, along with Hebrew and their various native languages. For that reason, I want to explain briefly, how Greek became so prominent throughout the Middle East and even into Africa. Ancient Greece consisted of city-states that warred among themselves and not until modern times did it develop a central government. Philip II of Macedon was a great conqueror and did much to conquer other areas of Greece. He was murdered, when he was 46, so his ambitions were not totally realized. His son, Alexander the Great, conquered a great part of the known world, but died at 30 years of age. He also did not establish a central Greek government, as Rome did after they became a great empire.

 However Rome, a great military power, was not strong culturally, but borrowed from Greek culture and religion and spread it throughout their many colonies. Alexander´s four generals took over the territories that he conquered and warred against each other so, for this reason also, Greece never formed a strong central government. Greek citizens colonized throughout the Middle East and through these colonies, through Roman influence, and because of the wide conquests of Alexander the Great, Greek culture, religion and language flourished everywhere. Of course, Greece had great philosophers, such as Plato, Socrates and Aristotle, who continue to have great influence throughout the modern world.

 I mention these facts mainly, because they form a background for the man we learn about in chapter 8… Saul of Tarsus, a Hellenistic Jew. The author of the book of Acts, Luke, was a Greek and an educated medical physician, who, experts tell us, wrote quality Greek, He had a carefully designed plan, as he followed the development of Jesus’ Great Commission, beginning in Jerusalem.

  

Chapter 7:36-45 

Resistance to God in the wilderness and the Promised Land 

      36.  He brought them out, after he had shown 
     wonders and signs in the land of Egypt,            and in the Red Sea, and in the wilderness           forty years.

37. "This is that Moses who said to the children of Israel, 'THE LORD YOUR GOD WILL RAISE UP FOR YOU A PROPHET LIKE ME FROM YOUR BRETHREN. HIM YOU SHALL HEAR.'
38. "This is he who was in the congregation in the wilderness with the Angel who spoke to
him on Mount Sinai, and with our fathers, the one who received the living oracles to give
to us,
39. whom our fathers would not obey, but rejected. And in their hearts they turned back
to Egypt,
40. saying to Aaron, 'MAKE US GODS TO GO BEFORE US; AS FOR THIS MOSES
WHO BROUGHT US OUT OF THE LAND OF EGYPT, WE DO NOT KNOW WHAT
HAS BECOME OF HIM.'
41. And they made a calf in those days, offered sacrifices to the idol, and rejoiced in the
works of their own hands.
42. Then God turned and gave them up to worship the host of heaven, as it is written in
the book of the Prophets: 'DID YOU OFFER ME SLAUGHTERED ANIMALS AND SACRIFICES DURING FORTY YEARS IN THE WILDERNESS, O HOUSE OF ISRAEL?
43. YOU ALSO TOOK UP THE TABERNACLE OF MOLOCH, AND THE STAR OF
YOUR GOD REMPHAN, IMAGES WHICH YOU MADE TO WORSHIP; AND I WILL CARRY YOU AWAY BEYOND BABYLON.'
44. "Our fathers had the tabernacle of witness in the wilderness, as He appointed,
instructing Moses to make it according to the pattern that he had seen,
45. which our fathers, having received it in turn, also brought with Joshua into the land possessed by the Gentiles, whom God drove out before the face of our fathers until the days of David