Acts 9:20-43 - Part A

God's preparations are very unique. Sometimes he can take a person and give him a formal education. He did that with Saul of Tarsus, though the formal education was in Judaism. There was no formal Christian training as of yet, but rather the Lord took him alone in the desert.

And you might say that he had a BSD degree, backside of the desert degree. Today on Connect with Skip Heitzig, Pastor Skip examines the unique ways God prepares people for service to him. But first, we love to partner with friends like you to help share God's Word with more people around the world through Connect with Skip Heitzig. You can play a vital role in this work today with a gift to support this life-changing ministry and expand its reach into more major U.S. cities. Visit connectwithskip.com slash donate to give generously and share the life-changing gospel with others.

That's connectwithskip.com slash donate or call 800-922-1888, 800-922-1888. Thank you for changing lives. All right, let's get started. We're in Acts 9 as we begin today's teaching. Whenever another year begins or you're looking like this week and anticipating what's going to happen, everyone has questions like what's going to happen next year? What's on the horizon for our country, for our world? Is this the year Jesus is going to return? I'm glad that three, four, five, ten of you are excited about that idea.

Maybe you've just gotten weary because you've waited so long and he hasn't come, but he could come at any moment. But we wonder things like what's going to happen with our economy? It's getting better, is it going to continue to get better? What's going to happen in the Middle East? There's problem after problem after problem, new story breaking of what might happen.

What's the little guy in North Korea going to be up to in the next few months of the new year? You know, we just don't know. We wonder what a new year is going to bring. And as we wonder, there are certain things we never have to wonder about. And the thing we don't have to wonder about is God's presence. He promised to be with you always even to the end of the age. So no matter what happens, no matter what tomorrow holds, you know who holds tomorrow.

And so that's the confidence we have as we enter into this new year. Well, for Saul of Tarsus, everything he had ever known was becoming new. The Bible says, if any man is in Christ, he is a new creation.

Old things have passed away and everything becomes new. The chapter opens up with Saul of Tarsus breathing threats and slaughter against the disciples of the Lord. And he's on his 150-mile journey from Jerusalem up north to Damascus to imprison any Jewish believers in Jesus that he can possibly round up to incarcerate. He's gotten special permission from the Jewish Sanhedrin, the ruling council in Jerusalem, that has jurisdiction over Judaism worldwide. So they have given him permission to do this.

We know the story well, though we've read it last time we were together to get refreshed. But on his way up, he gets interrupted. He sees a bright light coming out of heaven.

He's on his back. He hears the voice of Jesus speaking to him, saying, Saul, it's hard for you to kick against the goads. Meaning, you are fighting the piercings of your heart being convicted. You know you're fighting a losing battle. You know your heart is convicted. You've come to see these followers of Jesus and you're fighting what you're seeing and what you're hearing, the life change you see in them.

It's hard for you to do that. But I'm sure that when Saul of Tarsus came to me and said, I'm sure that when Saul of Tarsus was on his back and he was seeing that light and hearing that voice, he immediately thought, man, this is going to be a bad day. But what seemed to him like a bad day was going to turn into a good year. Because if you think about it in terms of a new year, for Saul of Tarsus, it was indeed a brand new year of his life. And that is everything in the past, all of that animosity, all of that antagonism, all of that hatred, all of that vehemence and tumult in his heart was a thing of the past.

It was gone. And a new year, a new day, a new era had come for him. And so he goes into Damascus completely blind.

He is unable to see. And a guy Ananias of Damascus, a believer in Jesus, a Jewish believer who has heard things about Saul of Tarsus is dispatched to speak to Saul of Tarsus to sort of get him on his feet, orient him in the faith, share those first primary things for this man as a young new believer. And then he's off to a running start. However, now that Saul of Tarsus, aka Paul the Apostle, has met the Lord is a new creation.

He has to grow. So you're going to see, I hope I think I'm going to show you, Lord willing, that he had to first go away for a period of time. Now let's begin in verse 20. We kind of ended around verse 22, but let's go back to verse 20 where it says, immediately he, Saul, preached the Christ, meaning the Messiah, preached Jesus in the synagogues that he is the Son of God. Now that's a marvelous statement.

It's an amazing statement. This very man who swore Jesus was not the Son of God is the very one in the synagogues of Damascus preaching that Jesus is the Son of God. If you were in that synagogue service, you'd be scratching your eyebrows or your cheeks or your knees or whatever just trying to figure out, is this a fake? Is this guy trying to ingratiate himself to us?

Is this a trick? Because they heard of him. 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?

There's something marvelous about what we just read. Saul begins preaching as soon as he's saved. It's as though once the realization came to him that all this stuff about Jesus was true, was real, and it was now real for him, it wasn't enough to just be real for him.

If it's real for me, the chief of sinners, as Paul called himself, it must also be real for others and others need to hear it. And so he felt an urgency to immediately tell somebody about it. Now, I don't know what it was like for you, but I had that same feeling of urgency. I couldn't wait after I met the Lord in that little bedroom of my brother's apartment in San Jose. I couldn't wait as I traveled back down south to Southern Cal to go see my parents and friends. I couldn't wait to tell my parents about Jesus. I couldn't wait to tell my brothers about Jesus. Now, they weren't so excited as I was to hear about Jesus. I thought they would be. I thought they'd be much more excited than they were. But they looked at me like they, back in Damascus, looked at Saul of Tarsus. Is this the same Skip that we knew before? Is this the same guy? And especially my friends, they thought, what is up with Heitzig?

Man, what is he, what weird stuff has he gotten into? But you feel that urgency. If it's true for you, then it's because it's true for all.

And if it's true for all, then all need to hear the truth. And so that urgency compelled him. But as we noted last time, we have followed the journey of Saul of Tarsus just in this chapter. First, he's on his back repenting. Then he's on his knees praying. And now he's on his feet preaching. Remember, he was in Damascus and the Lord said, go find Saul of Tarsus, the Lord said to Ananias, for behold, he is praying. So on his back repenting, on his knees praying, now he's on his feet in the synagogue preaching.

They were skeptical. But it says in verse 22, but Saul increased all the more in strength and confounded the Jews who dwelt in Damascus, proving that this Jesus is the Christ. He was an astute learner. He knew the Old Testament text. And even though he's a new believer, he had the ability to be very persuasive, even as a young follower of Christ, able to take Jewish people and prove to them, demonstrate to them that Jesus was the Messiah.

Then notice the next phrase. Now, after many days were past, the Jews plotted to kill him. I believe, and I told you last time, and that was the cliffhanger that we ended with, that between verses 22 and 23, I believe is a gap of three years.

I think many days is sort of the understated statement of Luke, the author of the book of Acts. After many days, turns out to be about three years, where Saul of Tarsus goes away to a place called Nabataean Arabia. That's not Arabia like Saudi Arabia with Riyadh and Mecca, but Nabataean Arabia, which is east of Damascus, in that upper plateau of Jordan, all the way down to the Sinai Desert. That's Nabataean Arabia. He went away for three years, and then he returned back to Damascus, and after that, as we'll see, he then went to Jerusalem. How do I know this?

How do I figure this? Well, turn with me to Galatians chapter one, and you will hear and see Paul's own words. If you don't want to turn there, if it's too challenging, I have it already marked, so I'll just read it to you. Galatians chapter one. In verse 11, Paul said, But I make known to you, brethren, that the gospel which was preached to me is not according to man. For I neither received it from man, nor was I taught it, but it came through the revelation of Jesus Christ.

What's he referring to? His experience on the road to Damascus, when Jesus spoke to him. For you have heard of my former conduct in Judaism, how I persecuted the church of God beyond measure, and I tried to destroy it.

That's how chapter nine begins. And I advanced in Judaism beyond many of my contemporaries in my own nation, being more exceedingly zealous for the traditions of my fathers. But when it pleased God, who separated me from my mother's womb and called me through his grace to reveal his son in me, that I might preach him among the Gentiles, I did not immediately confer with flesh and blood. Nor did I go up to Jerusalem to those who were apostles before me, but I went to Arabia and returned again to Damascus. Now he sums that up by saying, Then after three years, I went up to Jerusalem to see Peter and remained with him fifteen days. For three years, Saul of Tarsus, after leaving Damascus, went to the wilderness, to Nabataean Arabia, to the desert.

Why the desert? Well, perhaps if he went down south, he may have even lodged in the shadow of Mount Sinai, which would be fitting for the man who said about his former life, If you want to look at righteousness which came through the law of Moses, I was blameless. He was a man of the law, and the law was given at Mount Sinai.

And perhaps there, at the foot of Mount Sinai even, camping out, he was considering what the law really meant, what it pointed to, going over familiar texts. He's had a revelation of Jesus Christ. He now has a relationship that's different with God. So he's going back through all of his learning, back through his former training. And for three years, I believe he's being prepared by God for what lies ahead.

God's preparations are very unique. Sometimes he can take a person and give them a formal education. He did that with Saul of Tarsus, though the formal education was in Judaism. There was no formal Christian training as of yet. But rather, the Lord took him alone in the desert. And you might say that he had a BSD degree, backside of the desert degree. Moses had the same degree. Sometimes God has to give you the third degree out in the desert.

That's really the degree you graduate with that makes you a value. After three years, he returned back again to Damascus until, as we'll see, he gets kicked out of town quite quickly, and then he makes his way to Jerusalem. But what he is experiencing, what he is beginning to experience in this new life of his, is something that Ananias predicted would mark his life, and that is suffering. You know, if you counsel the new believer in our prayer room after a service, and if you were to put your arm around that new believer and say, let me just tell you, welcome to the family of God. And by the way, your future life, now that you're a Christian, is going to be marked by suffering, persecution, opposition, oppression. God bless you.

That'd be a rough gig. But now think of Ananias back in Acts chapter 9. Go back a little bit. We started later than this, but go back to verse 15, where the Lord tells Ananias of Damascus to go see Saul. The Lord said to him, go for he, Saul, is a chosen vessel of mine to bear my name before Gentiles, kings, and the children of Israel. For I will show him how many things he must suffer for my sake. Now if you were Ananias and you knew about Saul of Tarsus' reputation to imprison or kill believers, you don't want to tell him that. You don't want to be the guy to give him that news. Hey, by the way, Saul, welcome to God's family.

You're in for a lot of suffering. But those were God's orders. And Ananias told him, and he experienced that immediately.

Why? Because immediately he started preaching the gospel in the synagogue. And then he goes away for three years, goes back to Damascus, now prepared after being alone with the Lord for three years in Nabataean Arabia. It says after many days were passed. Now he's back in Damascus, as he said in Galatians 1, the Jews plotted to kill him.

So he's experiencing the hardship. But their plot became known to Saul. And they watched the gates day and night to kill him.

Won't be the first time or won't be the last time. Then the disciples took him by night and let him down through the wall that is the perimeter wall of the city. The cities were walled cities in those days in a large basket. So evidently a private residence with a window overlooking the outside of the city from the wall in a large basket. They did have large baskets, and many scholars will point to the idea that large baskets able to accommodate a human being made out of straw or wicker were typically garbage baskets to let out the refuse outside the city wall.

You're dumping it. So just think of Saul of Tarsus. He has entered Damascus blind. He comes back after three years, and he's going to leave Damascus as a common criminal in a wastebasket.

They're letting him down through the wall in a basket. And when Saul had come, notice this, to Jerusalem, again like it said in Galatians 1, now he's going to Jerusalem. He tried to join the disciples.

Now hold on. If it says he tried to join the disciples, it must mean it was difficult to join the disciples. In fact it was because the Greek tense literally would be translated, he kept on trying to join the disciples. So he's not having great luck, and here's why we're told at the end.

He tried to join the disciples, but they were all afraid of him and did not believe that he was a disciple. So he's in Damascus. He's saved. He goes to Arabia, comes back. He gets in trouble. He goes to Jerusalem. He's so excited to go to Jerusalem and meet the apostles and hang out and share with them. Nobody in that church group believes that he's a converted man.

They think, oh no, we know about this guy. What he did here was Stephen consenting unto his death, wreaking havoc in this city, and then going from here to Damascus. He's not coming back here. He's not coming back here. He's not coming back here. He's not coming to our church. I feel sorry for Saul of Tarsus at this point.

Why? Because he's sort of like a man without a country. He's not welcome in the synagogues. He's not welcome in the temple courts. Anybody who sees him knows that he's the traitor who walked out on Judaism, and now even God's own people, the early church, won't accept him. He's a man without a country.

He has no place of familiarity, no family to embrace him. Several years ago, I had a very interesting experience when I was in New York City. A friend of mine has a church there, and I was speaking one evening for him, and I noticed in the back of the room, there was a man, gray-haired man, distinguished looking gentleman with a overcoat and a scarf, and he had his Bible, and he had a notepad and a pencil, and he was taking notes. His head was down most of the time. He had a little reader glass, and he's taking notes, taking notes, taking notes, and afterwards, I went up to my friend, the pastor, and I said, hey, I noticed a guy in your congregation in the back, this older gentleman, distinguished gentleman, taking notes, like, I've never seen anybody take notes that much whenever I have spoken anywhere. And Mike smiled, and he said, you know who that is? He goes, that's John DeLorean.

He's the guy that made the DeLorean car member back to the future, and you may remember, if you are this old, to remember that John DeLorean was busted for, like, 55 ounces of cocaine or some kind of a drug deal that went bad, and then later acquitted, then got into other legal problems. Well, he had been in jail, supposedly had a conversion experience that I had heard about, but everybody doubted, but he is in this church, and he's in this church, but he is in this church, and he's taking notes, and Mike said, he's here every week, and this guy is growing in his faith, but he said, you know, he's sort of like a man without a country, because most Christians don't want to believe that he's really converted because of his fame, and the world has largely rejected him. So Saul of Tarsus is sort of in that in-between stage. He doesn't fit in the synagogue, and at first, he keeps trying to join the church, but he is unable. So he's having difficulty in the earliest part of his Christian walk. It's not easy. He is discovering difficulty after difficulty.

Why do I bring this up? Because this is the man God is going to use more mightily than perhaps, well, than anybody else in church history, save Jesus Christ himself. He's going to write 13 of the 27 New Testament books. So he's going to be used mightily by God. Alan Redpath said, when God wants to do an impossible task, he takes an impossible man and crushes him. Witness with me here the crushing of Saul of Tarsus.

One blow after another blow after another blow. I hope that that doesn't discourage you, but I hope it encourages you. Because if you're going through difficulty, God's up to something. God never says, oops.

He never makes a mistake. If something happens in your life and you go, oh, this is one of those oops, this shouldn't happen. There's no oops in God's vocabulary. All things are working together for good to you who love the Lord.

And so sometimes you're feeling crushed. That's because God is going to do something awesome. You just got to wait for it, but you'll see it. That's Skip Hyten with a message from the series Expound Acts showing you how God prepares those he calls to ministry. Find the full message as well as books, booklets, and full teaching series at connectwithskip.com. Now we want to tell you about a resource all about the courageous martyrs who came before us. We are witnessing an escalation in Christian persecution like we have rarely seen since the first century. Many people don't realize that today thousands of Christians are dying cruel deaths throughout much of the world. The New Book of Christian Martyrs commemorates these modern day heroes, highlighting key martyrs of past centuries and featuring stories of contemporary martyrs around the world. This compendium of heroes is a compendium of heroes from the first century to the 21st century, from Europe to Africa, and from Asia to the Americas is sure to inspire you to courageously stand up for your Christian faith just as they've done for countless Christians around the globe. The New Book of Christian Martyrs comes as our thanks for your gift of $50 or more to keep messages like this one today on the air for you and others, equipping you to know God's word and follow His will with courage and conviction. So request your copy when you give today.

Call 800-922-1888 or give securely online at connectwithskip.com slash offer. Coming up tomorrow on Connect with Skip Heitig, Skip shares about how we all need encouragers like Barnabas in our lives. And let me just say we need people, every church needs people like Barnabas, who will put their arm around young rough around the edges believers, people with a different weird sordid background, the kind of people that many Christians just don't want to spend the time of day with because they're so messy and they'll get their hands dirty and they'll bring them in, they'll encourage them and vouch for them and stand with them and disciple them in the body of Christ. Connect with Skip Heitig is a presentation of Connection Communications, connecting you to God's never changing truth in ever changing times.