The Triumph of Grace

God's call can be a still, small voice, or sometimes it needs to be a little more intense.

Here's Dr. Michael Yousaf. Some of us, God has to use the two-by-four to get our attention. You see, God knew that Saul of Tarsus was not the kind of man who would respond to the gentle voice. God knew that Saul of Tarsus is such a stubborn man that only a surprising method of confrontation is going to get his attention.

Have you been there? Welcome to Leading the Way, featuring the passionate teaching of pastor, author, and international Bible teacher, Dr. Michael Yousaf. Saul of Tarsus, ultimately known as Paul the Apostle, was a man bent on destroying Christianity. He sought out Christians, beat, imprisoned, even killed them.

That is, until Jesus called him out on the road to Damascus. Today on Leading the Way, the incredible grace that God showed to Paul. It's the beginning of a look into his experiences and how his life can inspire and encourage you. Here now is Dr. Michael Yousaf to begin a message called The Triumph of Grace. How many of you like surprises?

How many of you don't like surprises? Back in the days when fathers used to wait in a waiting room or when the babies are being born, back in those days, they were in a hospital in Minnesota. There were three fathers in the waiting room waiting and the nurse came out and said to the first one and said, great news, you have twins. And he said, that's ironic, I pitch for the Minnesota twins. And then a few minutes later the nurse comes in and she looks to the second man and she said, you have great news, you have triplets. He said, that's unbelievable, I work for the 3M company. Upon which the third man began to sweat and about to faint, his face turned as white as sheet and there came around him and said, what's wrong?

Can we help you? He said, I work for the 7-Eleven and I'm out of here. The truth is, when you walk closely with God, when you develop intimacy with God, when you delight yourself in the Lord, you're going to discover that far from being surprised and seeing surprises as threatening or disconcerting or unsettling, you're going to rejoice in the surprises of the grace of God. Far from seeing surprises as something you want to avoid at any price, you will learn to revel in the surprises of the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ. If you look at Christian history, you're going to find there are so many surprises of the grace of God.

I mean truly surprises. But that's how God works. A playboy who was a college professor by the name of Aurelius, confronted by the grace of God becomes the great St. Augustine. A slave trader who knew nothing but degradation, who knew nothing but debauchery. A man by the name of John become the great preacher and the author of Amazing Grace, John Newton. A drunken barber by the name of Mel. This man was so devoid of anything that is decent because of his addiction to alcohol that when his little girl died, he stole the shoes in which he was to be buried in order that he might pawn them to get some money for a drink.

To become Mel Trotter, the founder of one of the largest chains of rescue missions that extend from Boston to San Francisco. That is the grace of God. But perhaps there is no greater surprise and there is no greater surprising story of the grace of God than the story of Saul of Tarsus. There's no greater transformation than that of Saul of Tarsus.

No transformation that had greater impact upon the world history than Saul of Tarsus. I want to share with you briefly four surprises that God's grace reveals to us in Acts chapter 9 verses 1 to 31. Surprising man, verses 1 to 3. Secondly, surprising method, verses 1 to 9. Thirdly, surprising mentor, verses 10 to 25. And finally, surprising mates, verses 26 to 31.

Surprising man. You see, Saul of Tarsus was a Jew. So were Jesus and his apostles. Saul of Tarsus was trained in the Pharisaic school, so was Jesus and his apostles. But this is where all commonalities end.

This is the end of what they have in common. Saul of Tarsus was a Roman citizen. Saul of Tarsus was educated in Greek.

Saul of Tarsus was not born in Israel like the rest of them, but he was born in the city of Tarsus, which is where the modern day Turkey and Syria meet. But far more important than any of this is that Saul of Tarsus was a persecutor of the church of Jesus Christ. No, he was a persecutor of Jesus himself. Like many others who have come after him, Saul of Tarsus thought that he could stamp out Christianity.

But he not only failed, everybody who followed him who had this idiotic thought failed. In fact, Luke uses a word here that's really very significant. He uses a word to describe Saul and what Saul is doing to the church. In fact, that word is so unique. It is used to describe how a wild boar devastates a vine.

That's how he uses that magnificent word. Luke said that Saul wanted to devastate the church. Saul wanted to destroy the church. Saul wanted to ravage the church of Jesus Christ. So he got permission from the high priest and from Jerusalem to go to Damascus to stamp out Christians in that city. Now Damascus is about 120 miles north of Jerusalem. I mean, this is probably the furthest that a church is meeting.

Imagine the incredible zeal. This is a long journey. This is not only a long journey, it's on a desert road.

It's a dangerous trip. But it shows you the incredible commitment that Saul of Tarsus had in his desire to destroy the believers. You know, had anyone suggested to Saul of Tarsus just before he left Jerusalem? Had anyone suggested to him and said, Saul, by the time you get to Damascus, you're going to become a Christian. He would have lobbed your head off. Don't forget, Paul was a vicious man. Don't think, oh, we talk about St. Paul and we forget that he was Saul of Tarsus, one in the same. Me, a Christian, you're crazy.

How can I be a Christian? I'm out to get those rascals. I'm going to arrest them.

I'm going to kill as many as I can. And that is why he was not only a surprising man, he was a surprised man. Not only that he was converted to Christ so thoroughly, but he became the greatest preacher in the New Testament. A surprising man, but second, there is a surprising method. Look at verses 4 all the way to 9.

I'm not going to ask you to raise your hand, but I know there are some of us. God has to use the 2x4 to get our attention. You see, God knew that Saul of Tarsus was not the kind of man who would respond to the gentle voice.

God knew that. God knew that Saul of Tarsus is such a stubborn man that only a surprising method of confrontation is going to get his attention. And only after he falls off his high horses that Jesus speaks to him.

Have you been there? You see, there are many times when we are so full of our own importance that even God is having a hard time getting your attention. There are times when we are so full of our pride and arrogance that even God has a hard time reaching us. There are times when we are so adamant about our point of view that even God has to knock us down off our high horses in order to get our attention for our own good. And Jesus said to Saul, he said, why are you persecuting me? Now beloved friend, I want to tell you something.

Don't forget this. If you are persecuted, if you are harassed simply because of your righteousness, simply because of your desire to walk with God, simply because your desire to live a godly life, let me tell you those who are harassing you, those who are persecuting you, they are not harassing you and persecuting you, they are persecuting Jesus Christ. In fact, when Saul was confronted by the risen Christ, all he could say was, who are you Lord? Who are you Lord?

Now please hear me right on this one. This is important. Because I believe with all my heart, you've heard me say this, I know it, I know it because I've experienced it, that the reason why many Christians live a defeated and mediocre life is because they never ask who are you Lord. If you understand, if you can comprehend and you can only do that with the Spirit of God, if you and I could comprehend the awesomeness of our privilege of being called the children of the King, we would never miss worship. We would never take worship for granted. We would never take worship lightly.

If you ever understand, if you could ever comprehend who God is and who called you to have a relationship with Him, you would not go around doing your thing and ignoring His Word. In fact, later on in the book of Acts 26 14, Paul said, God told him, He said, Jesus when He appeared to him, He said, it is hard for you to kick against the goads. It's hard for you to kick against the goads. How many of you know what a goad is? A goad is a sharp object and it is used in order to break in a new bull. It's not designed for human beings.

It's designed for bull-headed bulls. What did Jesus say? He's saying refusing to surrender to the voice of God is like being prodded and pricked with a sharp object. Jesus is not doing that. You're doing that by refusing to listen to His voice. What were these goads that Saul of Tarsus was kicking against? One was doubt.

See, Paul obviously knew deep down that Jesus was the Messiah, but he wouldn't admit it. He kept blocking that voice. He kept blocking that voice. He didn't want to hear it. He didn't want to hear it. He tried to silence that voice. The second goad was Stephen. In fact, you see that coming out in Paul's writings later on.

When Saul heard Stephen testifying to the resurrected Jesus Christ, deep down Saul knew that what Stephen is saying is the truth, but he refused to believe it and he chose to be stubborn and he chose to silence that voice and nonetheless he actually guarded the clothes of those who stoned Stephen to death. Beloved friend, let me tell you something. Something I hope you'll never forget.

Something I hope that will last beyond this day and beyond this week and beyond this month and beyond this year. When you are fighting against the conviction of the Holy Spirit, you are a hurting baby. You might be 200 pounds, but you're a baby. When you are fighting against God's conviction of sin in your life, deep down you are a hurting man. You are a hurting woman. Give it up.

Give it up today. The grace of God brought us a surprising man. The grace of God introduced us to a surprising method.

Thirdly, the grace of God produces a surprising mentor. The Lord tells Saul to get to the house of Judas in Damascus and then God goes to one of the leaders of the church of Damascus by the name of Ananias and he says, Ananias, I want you to go and meet Saul of Tarsus. I honestly try to put myself in Ananias' place.

I know probably I would have been more scared than he was. I mean, Ananias did not want to question the Lord, but the poor man, he said, Lord, do you know what you're talking about? I mean, Lord, with all due respect, you want me to do what? Lord, are we talking about the same Saul here? The Saul of Tarsus? Do you know what this man has done? Lord, do you know what this man is coming here to do?

Lord, if you want me to die, will you please kill me because you'll be more merciful? This man's reputation has already spread into Damascus and he was on his way and he was not going there for a tour. He was not there as a tourist. He was not going there for sightseeing.

He was not there on vacation. He was coming to drag and into prison and to kill the Christians. And this poor guy was scared to death.

I can imagine his knees were shaking. I said, Lord, I would do whatever you want, but no, not this one. And God says, no, Ananias.

No, you don't understand. Oh, you just don't understand, Ananias, you don't understand. You got Saul all wrong. Ananias, listen, you are talking about Saul three days ago. I'm talking about Saul of today. It's amazing what God can do in three days. It's amazing what God can do in three seconds.

That's the problem is we fail to believe that. Someone said Ananias is the forgotten hero of the Christian church and I agree with that. He was called to mentor a notorious murderer. I want to ask you something. Has God ever called you to do something that seemed to be so insurmountable? Has God ever asked you to do something that seemed to be impossible?

I want you to remember this. When He does ask you, it is because He has already gone ahead of you and He prepared the way. It is because He's already gone out ahead of you and took care of all the kings. He took care of all the bugs in the system. And in this case, God had already taken care of Saul of Tarsus. He's already knocked him down off his high horses and he already converted his heart.

Listen to what I'm going to tell you, please. Whatever your Saul of Tarsus for you that is frightening you, whatever your Saul of Tarsus for you that is causing you worry, whatever your Saul of Tarsus is that is causing you anxiety, I want you to know this that he or she or it has already been tamed by the great tamer of the universe. The truth of the matter is Saul actually has not been able to shut up talking about Jesus.

Look at verse 21-22, you can see it. He says, immediately he began to proclaim Jesus in the synagogues proclaiming that He is the Son of God. What a transformation. What a surprising act of grace.

The persecutor has now become persecuted. So much so that he had to be lowered from a little hall there. Christians already knew where the halls are in the walls of Damascus. So the little opening and they push him through and lower him down to get outside of the city and get out of Damascus alive. Then we are told that he went to Arabia.

Why? Because the exits in all of the city of Damascus were sealed. All the exits in the city of Jerusalem were sealed. People looking out for him didn't want to kill him and so he had to go to this Nebatean kingdom in what's modern day Jordan. Why did he go there? Why did God lead him? Why did the Holy Spirit take him after this incredible conversion, after this incredible encounter with the living resurrected Christ? Takes him to place for three years.

As a matter of fact, I'm going to tell you in a minute, it's more than three years to meditate, to pray, to hide. Because you see, we only not have a surprising man. We have a surprising method and we have a surprising mentor. But fourthly, there is a surprising mates. To say that Paul's fellowship with the apostles is a surprise is an understatement.

It really is. Verse 26 of Acts 9, Saul came to Jerusalem. He tried to associate with the disciples. They were scared of him.

I mean his reputation did not go down or forgotten in those three years. But thank God for the Bonabuses of this world. Bless God for the Bonabuses of this world who understand the grace of God. The Bonabuses who value the trophies of grace. The Bonabuses who understand that God saves from the Godimos to the Adamos. The Bonabuses who understand that God specializes in saving sinners.

The Bonabuses who understand that God delights in a repentant sinner. Bonabus takes Paul by the hand, vouches for him, and he becomes accepted to the apostles. And we know again from later on that he spent two weeks with Peter. But let me tell you this as I conclude. After three years in Arabia, Saul went to his hometown of Tarsus for approximately seven years.

Again, Galatians, the last of chapter one and the beginning of chapter two fills in the detail. So you say this is about roughly ten years. Ten years? Ten years? That's a long time. Some of you waiting for the Lord to answer your prayer, year two, three, four, five, six, seven. And some of you have given up, pray. Ten years since the time Paul encountered the risen Christ and Bonabus takes him by the hand and says to the apostles, this is God's man.

Ten years. A forgotten man for ten years becomes the most influential man in the entire New Testament period. What God was doing? He was training him.

He was training him. God was preparing him. Listen, when you're waiting for God to answer your prayers, the devil wants you to give up. God is not going to answer your prayer. You know how often Jesus would look at somebody and say, your faith, what is he talking about?

He's talking about that absolute persistence and not going to give up. Do you think Paul wondered about that encounter with the risen Christ during those ten years? Do you think at some point he said, Lord, what's going on here? Do you think he questioned what happened?

From what all of his writings we know he did. I want to tell you this, God's way and not our ways God's timing is not our timing. You may have prayed for somebody to be saved with a husband, wife, son, daughter, relative friend, and the person has not been saved yet.

The worst thing you could do is you give up praying for that person because you do not know what God is doing behind the scenes. He's orchestrating events. He's orchestrating circumstances.

He's orchestrating people. It is amazing to see how God grew and matured Paul in preparation for an amazing life of service. You're listening to Leading the Way with Dr. Michael Youssef, and the website is ltw.org. You know, Leading the Way is more than teaching by Dr. Youssef from the Church of the Apostles. As part of Vision 2025, that's an initiative to expand the reach of the Gospel over the next few years, Leading the Way has developed additional content encouraging people to begin and to grow deeper in their faith journey. And one that's grown to reach more than ever imagined is Candid Conversations with Jonathan Youssef. Yes, Jonathan is the youngest son of Dr. Michael Youssef, also called the ministry. Jonathan has served in multiple roles on multiple continents with a passion to reach the world for Christ and especially impact up-and-coming generations of families. In each episode of Candid Conversations with Jonathan Youssef, Jonathan tackles topics, sometimes with a guest, sometimes just opening God's Word that challenges you to view cultural issues through the lens of the Bible. No topic is out of bounds.

He's brought some pretty edgy topics to the table too, including suicide, education, sexuality, and more. To listen, start off at ltw.org, and then once you're there, you'll see some links. That way you can stream Candid Conversations with Jonathan Youssef online, or you can listen through your favorite podcast platforms.

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