Changing from "no" to "yes" on the most important questions known to man

 “Jesus the Son of God, Jesus the Christ”

(Acts 9:19-22, Preaching: Pastor Stephen Magee, January 29, 2012)

19 … For some days he was with the disciples at Damascus. 20 And immediately he proclaimed Jesus in the synagogues, saying, “He is the Son of God.”

Is Jesus of Nazareth the Son of God? Is He the Christ, the Jewish Messiah? These are the most important questions of history. Saul of Tarsus had left Jerusalem for Damascus with very clear answers to those questions. Jesus was not the Son of God. He was not the Christ. But he was met by the ascended Jesus as he was approaching the city of Damascus, and He was called by God to a new life. He also was blinded. Now, a representative of the Jesus Jews in that city, a devout man named Ananias, has laid his hands on Saul, as God's chosen instrument to grant Saul the ability to see again. Saul was now baptized and filled with the Holy Spirit. He had become a Jesus Jew, and for some days he was with the disciples at Damascus. Now He knew that Jesus was the Son of God, and that He was the Jewish Messiah, the Christ, and He was proclaiming those truths, together with the other Jesus Jews in the synagogue.

This was a dramatic change. The experience of Saul had its own particular facts that were just what happened to him. But the change from saying “No” to saying “Yes” on the questions of the identity of Jesus of Nazareth was something that happened to many, many first century Jews.

The violent debate between Pharisaic Jews and Jesus Jews in the first century happened in a different world. We may not really know what it was like growing up in homes and synagogues where people were taught that the way to be righteous before God had to do with how you wash your hands and how far you permitted yourself to walk on a Saturday. That was Saul's world. Many had their hopes for eternal well-being in their own keeping of ceremonial laws and traditions. It was a dramatic change for someone from that background to find his hope entirely in Jesus of Nazareth being the Son of God who died for our sins.

Before you knew Jesus, what was your hope for peace with God? Was the question even relevant to you? Did you hope in your own goodness, or in the family, the religious community or nation that you were a part of? Where was your hope?

I don't know how much I thought about eternity as a young person, but I did think a lot about success and achievement and personal worth. My hope for these things was in my own ability. It was a big change in my life when I was introduced on a heart level to the fact that Jesus of Nazareth was a real person and that He was the Son of God. All those years I had been confessing with the Nicene Creed that I believed “in one Lord Jesus Christ, the only-begotten Son of God, begotten of his Father before all worlds, God of God, Light of Light, very God of very God, begotten, not made, being of one substance with the Father...” But I did not see that as anywhere as real or as important as my grades in school, or my friends, or whether I ever would be any good at a sport, or if my brothers and sisters liked me, or if I could watch Gilligan's Island tonight. Gilligan was more real to me than Jesus, and I did not know what the Son of God meant. When I saw that Jesus was the person who came from heaven to save me, that he had risen from the dead, that He was my Lord, and that He could comfort my soul regardless of what happened in my life, my life itself changed. Jesus is the King, and I am in His family now.

21 And all who heard him were amazed and said, “Is not this the man who made havoc in Jerusalem of those who called upon this name? And has he not come here for this purpose, to bring them bound before the chief priests?”

This change of life is always a shock to those around us. It was a shock to the Jews in Damascus, probably on both sides of the Pharisee/Jesus divide. Those who were champions of Pharisaic Judaism thought that they understood Saul, and so did the Jesus Jews. This kind of surprise should be happening all around us, not only when people come to faith in Christ for the first time, but also when we come back to him after wandering away, and when we grow in faith and come to a better understanding of the call that Jesus has placed upon our lives.

There is a virtue in steadiness in a life that is dedicated to holiness, but there is no virtue to steadiness in worldliness and sin. Our expectation is that the Holy Spirit who called us to life in Christ is now calling us to a better understanding of how to live in Him.

Saul/Paul wrote a letter to the church in Rome where he urges upon the congregations in that city that they should abhor what is evil and hold fast to what is good. At a very practical level our growth in faith should produce change in our understanding of what is evil and what is good. Saul had been clinging to Pharisaic Judaism because he thought it was good. Now he was clinging to Jesus instead of ceremonial precision. The man who wrote to the Corinthian church saying that he could not remember exactly whom he baptized in Corinth was not the same man that had once placed so much emphasis on ceremonies. The worldly around us should regularly shocked by the work of the Holy Spirit changing lives in this church. We are being shown more vividly than ever what is of Christ and what is not, and we need to be clinging to the one and running away from the other. That will shock people, but it will please the Lord, and that is what we care about right now.

22 But Saul increased all the more in strength, and confounded the Jews who lived in Damascus by proving that Jesus was the Christ.

Saul did not allow himself to be unduly moved by the surprise of those around him who were shaken up by the change that God's Spirit had made in his life. He kept on being filled with the Spirit and he increased all the more in spiritual strength.

He confounded his old allies, the Pharisaic Jews, by proving that Jesus was the Christ. This word Christ means “Anointed One” or “Messiah.” I once had no particular urgency about the issue of a Messiah, because I had no sense that I needed a Savior. Eventually I met the Savior. I was changed by that, but later moments of suffering and trial convinced me that I needed a Savior much more than I had ever previously realized.

The more I see my sin, the more I know that I need a Savior. Now, I am intensely aware that not just any proposed Savior will do. I am very persuaded by the Scriptures that Jesus of Nazareth is not only the unique Son of God, but that He is the only Messiah. This is not some incidental religious fact for me. It is daily survival and growth in my sense of calling. If other people think that this is crazy, that is their issue, not mine. Jesus is the Son of God. Jesus is the Messiah. It is time for us to see that the only Name given among men by which we must be saved is a Name that we have every right and duty to by excited about.

Jesus turned away the anger of God that was against me because of my sin. He did that by dying for me. He has forgiven me of very much. He is powerful enough to restore me to His love over and over. In Him, and especially in His cross, steadfast love and faithfulness have met; righteousness and peace have kissed each other. That news demands my life and yours.

1. What new information are we given in these verses that helps us to better understand the change that has taken place in Paul's life?

2. Why is it significant for Jews to hear that Jesus is the Son of God?

3. What was the initial response of the Jews in Damascus to Paul's message?

4. How would you answer someone who asked you why you believe that Jesus is the Christ?

OT Passage: Psalm 85