Now, as you know, we're involved in concluding up a series entitled People Jesus Met. And today, we come to perhaps the most influential person that Jesus ever met here on earth in terms of the impact that this person went on to have for Jesus Christ. We're talking, of course, about the Apostle Paul, whom, when Jesus met him, was actually named Rabbi Saul. Oswald Chambers in his commentary on the book of Acts said, and I quote, the most important event in human history, apart from the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus, was the conversion to Christianity of the Apostle Paul.
So we want to go back 2,000 years, and we want to look at this meeting between the risen Christ and one of the most unlikely candidates to ever come to Christ in the history of the world. And then we want to bring all of that forward and talk about, okay, so what difference does that make for us today? Our passage is Acts chapter 9. And before we dig in, let me give you just a little bit of background. Saul was raised in a strict Jewish home in the town of Tarsus.
As a young man, he was sent to Jerusalem by his parents to train under the most eminent rabbi of the day, a fellow named Rabbi Gamaliel.
Soon, Saul became a rock star among the young rabbis. He said, Galatians chapter 1, verse 14, he said, I was advancing within Judaism faster than many others of my own age, being extremely more zealous than they for the traditions of my fathers.
Now, as part of this extreme zeal for Judaism that Rabbi Saul had, he also had a furious, a vehement, a fire-breathing hatred for Christians. In Acts chapter 7, when Stephen was stoned to death for his faith as the first Christian martyr in history, Paul was a faithful. Was there. In fact, Rabbi Saul became a one-man wrecking machine against the entire early church. Listen to what he said to King Agrippa looking back on those days, Acts 26:10.
He said, I locked up many of the believers in prison, and when they were put to death, I cast my vote against them. In Acts 22, he said, I persecuted the followers of Jesus to the death. arresting both men and women and throwing them into prison. And being furiously enraged at them, I even obtained letters from the high priest to go to Damascus and bring them back to Jerusalem as prisoners to be punished. And so the Apostle Paul was on his way to Damascus to arrest followers of Christ and bring them back to Jerusalem for punishment when we pick up the story here in Acts chapter 9.
So are you ready? Here we go. Verse 3. And as Saul neared Damascus, suddenly a light from heaven flashed around him, and he fell to the ground. And he heard a voice saying to him, Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting me?
Now in Acts chapter 26, again, looking back, Paul described this light as brighter than the sun, blazing all around me. You say, Lon, what exactly was this light? Was it some kind of heavenly lightning? Was it some kind of heavenly laser beam? I mean, what was it?
Well, friends, how in the world am I supposed to know what it was? I don't have the slightest idea what it was, but whatever it was, it blew the Apostle Paul right off his feet like a feather in a hurricane. Verse 5, then Saul said, who are you, Lord? And he replied, I am Jesus whom you are persecuting, but rise and go into the city, and you will be told what you must do next.
Now, according to the Bible, Paul was the next to last person living here on earth to ever see the risen Lord visibly, personally, and tangibly with his own human eyes. 1 Corinthians 15:5. Paul says, He, that is the risen Lord, appeared to Peter, then to the twelve. After that, he appeared to over 500 believers, most of whom are still alive. Then he appeared to James, and after that to the apostles, and last of all, he appeared to me.
You say, well, Law, wait a minute. I thought you said he was the next of the last person to see the living Christ here on earth.
Well, he was. The absolute last person to do this was the Apostle John in Revelation chapter 1.
However, don't forget when Paul was writing 1 Corinthians 15, the year was 54 AD, give or take a year. Revelation 1 didn't happen until 91 AD.
So when the Apostle Paul wrote in 1 Corinthians 15 that he was the last person to have ever seen the risen Christ with his naked eye, he was correct so far as things had happened in time and space up to that point.
Well, what happened when Paul saw the risen Lord? Let's go back to our account here in Acts chapter 9. Saul heard a voice saying to him, Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting me? Then Saul said, Who are you, Lord? Probably a wise idea to call whoever this person was that just knocked him off the horse, Lord.
And he replied, I am Jesus whom you are persecuting. But rise and go into the city, and you will be told what to do next.
Now, I love the fact that in this passage, the question that the risen Christ asks him is: Why, Paul, are you persecuting me? You say, Balan. Paul wasn't persecuting Jesus. He was persecuting the church. He was persecuting the followers of Jesus.
Well, you're right. And that's the great thing here. The great thing here is that Jesus tells us that as followers of Christ, He and we are so joined at the hip, He and we have a relationship that is so close and so intimate that Almighty God considers any action against us to be an action against Him personally. Wow. You know, my family and I used to always go up for the summer to Hume Lake.
It's out in California, Christian Camp. I would speak. The boys would go to camp. 6,000 feet up in the Sierras. And there was a lot of wildlife up there, but one of the things they had a lot of was bears.
The bears would come into the camp at night, and the bears would come into the camp in the daytime. There were bears everywhere. And one year we were there. My son, Justin, my middle son, was 17. And I saw him one morning.
I was going my way to get coffee early in the morning, and he was there. He said, Dad, Dad, he said, You are not going to believe what we did last night. He was all excited. I said, What did you do? He said, We chased bear cubs.
I said, What? He said, Yeah, there were like these three little bear cubs running around the camp. He said, And my friend John Daly and I, we chased these cubs around. He said, I almost had one of them. I had it by the back leg, and it was screaming, and then it got away.
And I looked at him. And I said, have you absolutely lost your mind? Are you crazy? Are you completely stupid? I asked Justin that question many a time growing up.
Back, it's a testimony to the grace of God, this man made it to adulthood. I swear to you. I said, if you lost your mind, do you know what happens when you chase bear cubs around? Do you know what happens when Mama Bear finds out? She takes it personal and she comes out swinging.
I said, what's wrong with you?
Well, what the Lord's telling us here, my friends, is that if we are a follower of Jesus Christ, we are one of His cubs, and He is our mama bear. Praise the Lord for that. That's why he didn't say, Why are you persecuting the church? That's why he didn't say, Why are you persecuting my followers? He said, Why are you persecuting me?
Because when you persecute, when you treat wrongly, when you hurt, when you threaten one of my followers, whether it's at school or at work or in your family or in the neighborhood, God says, I take it personally. And I come out swinging on behalf of my cubs. Hey, praise the Lord. How great is that to know? Yeah, amen?
That's great.
Now, verse 7. The men who were traveling with Saul stood speechless, hearing the sound, but seeing no one. And when Saul got up from the ground, he could see nothing, even though his eyes were open.
So they led him by the hand into Damascus, and for three days he was blind, nor did he eat or drink anything. You know, it's interesting, as Stephen was being stoned, he said, Acts chapter 7, verse 56, I see the heavens opened up. And I see the Son of Man, Jesus, standing at the right hand of God.
Now, suddenly, on the road to Damascus, Paul realizes that Stephen was telling the truth. Suddenly, on the road to Damascus, Paul realizes that Jesus really did rise from the dead. On the road to Damascus, Paul realizes that Jesus really is alive forevermore. Paul's mentor had said a little while before this, Acts 5, verse 38: Leave these followers of Jesus alone. For if their purpose is of human origin, it will fail.
But if it is from God, you will not be able to stop it. You will only find yourselves to be fighting against God. And now, On the road to Damascus, Paul realizes the truth of Gamaliel's words: that in persecuting the church and in persecuting followers of Christ, like he's been doing, Paul realizes that he has not been serving God, which is what he thought he was doing, he has actually been fighting against God. And so, with this radical realization ringing in his ears and mind, Paul is led into Damascus, literally unable to eat or drink or see for three days, waiting for the Lord Jesus Christ to tell him what he's supposed to do next.
Now, we're going to pick up next week and talk a little more about the Apostle Paul, but we're now going to come to the point in this passage where we stop. And we ask our most important question of the day.
So all of you folks at Bethesda and at Prince William and at Loudoun and on the Internet and here at Tyson's, we are prepared. All right, deep breath now. Here we go. One, two, three. Oh yeah.
You missed it, didn't you, last week? Yeah, I know, I did too. He say lawn.
So what? You say, first of all, I'm smart enough not to chase bear cubs. And second of all, what does any of this have to do with my life?
Well, let's talk about that for a moment, shall we? We all hear the phrase very often: the odds are against it. Everybody's heard that. Like, for example, the Caps losing a 3-1 lead and being eliminated in the first round of the playoffs last year.
Well, the odds were against it, but it happened. Hey, the Red Sox, how many Red Sox tedans we got here? One.
Okay.
Well, hey, in 2004, the Red Sox came back after losing the first three games of the ALCS and beat the Yankees four straight. Right, this had never been done. Talk about the odds being against it. It had never been done in the history of Major League Baseball. But you know what?
They did it, huh? A little more, a few more Red Sox fans here.
Okay, good. Or maybe Yankee haters.
Okay, now. How about the recreation of the State of Israel? You talk about something the odds were against and the return of the Jewish people to their homeland. Holy smokes. But hey, odds or no odds, it happened, didn't it?
You bet. And let me tell you of a story about a man named Jed, a poor mountaineer, barely kept his family fed, and then one day he was shooting at some food. When out of the ground came a bubble in crude oil, that is, black gold. Texas T, you got it. Hey, were the odds against that?
Yeah, they were, but it happened. Hey, friends, all of this is fine, but I suppose there has never been an event in world history. That the odds were more against than Rabbi Saul coming to believe in Jesus Christ, and yet. It happened. Look, folks, what a wonderful thing it is for the Lord to remind us today from the example of the Apostle Paul that no matter how badly the odds are against it, nobody, absolutely nobody, is ever beyond God's power to reach them and to bring them to faith in Jesus Christ.
And you know, many of us here, we have loved ones, we have relatives, we have friends whom we desperately want to see come to Christ. But frankly, on the human level, the odds are against it majorly. They are resistant, they are disinterested, they are even hostile. Hey, I'm here to tell you, take heart today from what happened on the Damascus road and don't you dare give up. And lose hope for these people.
There were no two people anywhere in the universe more unlikely to come to Christ than my mom and dad. I've told you before, my dad would get up, walk out of the room when the subject of Jesus came up. My mother thought Adolf Hitler was a Christian. And I said to her, Mom, are you serious? You can't be serious.
She said, Well, he's not Jewish and he's not Muslim, so therefore he must be a Christian. I said, Mom, that's the dumbest thing I ever heard in my whole life.
So this how you l how do you lead how do you Lead a person like that to Christ when they think Adolf Hitler is a Christian.
Well, I gotta tell you, my friends, as most of you know, both of my parents did come to Christ and they're in heaven today waiting for me to get there and meet them because when it comes to God, the odds don't matter. And you say, well, lawn. I know the Holy Spirit did this for your parents, and I know the Holy Spirit's the one who has to do it for my unlikely friends, but what did you do to help the process along with your parents? And more importantly, what can I do to help the process along with my unlikely friends?
Well, that's a great question. And in closing today, that's the question we're going to answer. And the answer is found right here in the account of the Apostle Paul coming to Christ. Listen, in recounting the events on the Damascus road to King Agrippa, Acts 26, Paul said, I heard a voice saying to me, Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting me?
Now, we've already read that. But then, in Acts 26, Paul goes on to tell us a most intriguing thing that the Lord said to him in Acts chapter 9, but it's not recorded there. It's recorded here. Paul says, Acts 26:14, that Jesus said to him, Are you finding it hard to kick Against the goads. You say, what in the world does that mean?
Well, I'm going to tell you: a goad was a long stick that had a point on the end, and it was used by animal herders to get their animals to go where they wanted them to go. Here's how it worked: very simply: if an animal was going in the wrong direction, the goat herder, the animal herder, would take this goad and stick the animal in the beehim. And push it in the direction he wanted it to go.
Now, in response, resenting the fact of being stuck in the behind, the animal would often rear up and try to kick backwards against the goad that was trying to redirect it. It's kind of like the bullfighting. You've seen this where the bull comes out, just a kicking and a jumping all over everywhere.
Well, this is the imagery that we're talking about here. And what the Lord Jesus is saying to Rabbi Saul is: Hey, Rabbi, I've been goading you for quite a long time now about giving your life to me. And you've been kicking at it, and you've been kicking at it, and you've been resisting it, and you've been fighting it. But hey, Saul. Aren't you tired of fighting me yet?
Hey Saul, what Aren't you ready to make a U-turn in your life for Christ, huh?
Now, as followers of Christ, this comment that Jesus made to Paul is so important because it tells us something very strategic about how unlikely people come to Christ. It tells us that for unlikely people, evangelism is a process, listen, where God uses certain goads, just like he did with Rabbi Saul, to produce a U-turn for Christ in their life. These goads had been provided to God by the early Christians that he used in Paul's life. And the point is that these same goads are the ones God wants you and me to provide him with to be used in the lives of our unlikely friends. This is what we can do to help.
And there are two of them. I'll tell you, and then we're done. Goad number one is the goad of an authentic Christian life. We already saw in Acts chapter 7 that Paul was there when Stephen was killed. Paul was an eyewitness.
He heard Stephen's speech in Acts chapter 7. He felt Stephen's passion for the Lord in that speech. And then he saw Stephen die rather than deny Jesus Christ. But even more than that, Paul saw this same authenticity of life in the lives of hundreds of other Christians that he arrested, that he imprisoned, that he tortured, that he even was part of putting to death. And these authentic Christian lives that Paul was seeing by the scores, by the hundreds, became a goad that God began to use in Paul's heart to whittle away at his conscience and whittle away at his resistance to the gospel.
You know, I told you how resistant my dad was to come into Christ, and yet, seven years after I came to Christ, my dad and I got down on our knees in a hospital room in Charlottesville, Virginia, and I put my arm around my father, and we prayed together on our knees, and he asked Jesus Christ into his life. And after that was done, I said to him, Now, Dad. Just out of curiosity here, I mean, you have never been open to this. I just wanna know what happened. What all of a sudden took place in your life?
I'll never forget what he said to me. He said, I got to the point. Where I couldn't explain the changes I was seeing in your life any other way than the way you were telling me, that is, Jesus Christ was alive in your life and changing your life. Friends, this was the first goad that these early Christians provided the Lord to use in the life of the Apostle Paul. Remember with the old saying: your walk talks and your talk talks, but your walk talks more than your talk talks.
Did you get that? All right, we're gonna stop for a minute and think about that. Because otherwise, I'm going to go on and you're still going to be back on the talking and the walking. All right, let's say it one more time: your walk talks. And your talk talks, but your walk talks more than your talk talks.
You got it? Understood? Right. And today, as followers of Christ, when it comes to reaching all people, but especially unlikely people, it's critical that we establish this first goad of an authentic Christian life for these unlikely people to see. It may mean Psalm 15, verse 4, keeping our word even when it hurts.
It may mean returning the extra money that the cashier gave you that you weren't entitled to. It may mean filling out amended tax returns, even though the chance of the IRS finding your mistake is very low. It may mean giving full disclosure about something, even if it results in your not getting your way. And it may mean obeying God's word in hundreds of different ways, even though your flesh doesn't want to, and it's easier not to. Friends, never underestimate the power of the goad of an authentic Christian life lived out in front of unlikely people.
Now, the second goad is the goad of prevailing prayer. The Bible tells us that as Paul headed for Damascus, his reputation had preceded him. In fact, in Damascus, we're going to see in Acts chapter 9, verse 13, there was a follower of Christ named Ananias whom the Lord sent to Paul in this blind state that he was in to give him a message. And when the Lord said to Ananias, I want you to go see this guy, Ananias said, Lord. We've heard reports about this man and all the harm that he has done to your followers in Jerusalem.
And we've heard that now he has come here with authority from the chief priest to arrest all who call on your name. Hey, they knew Paul was coming, folks. I mean, it's just like when you reach age 50, you know that colonoscopy is coming. You know that.
Well, those believers in Damascus knew the Apostle Paul was coming. I thought that was funny. You didn't think that was funny? Maybe we don't have enough people 50 here yet. I don't know, but I got news for you.
It's coming.
So, listen, let's get back to what we're talking about. The point is: don't you think that as Paul headed for Damascus, there were thousands of Christians praying for that man? Christians in Jerusalem, where he had already ravaged the church, Christians in Damascus, where he was heading to ravage the church, all of them asking God to intervene in some way and protect them, all of them asking God to do something to slow down this one-man-wrecking machine, and all of them asking God, as far-fetched as it might seem, to break through and bring this man to Christ. Friends, there was so much prayer going up for the Apostle Paul that it must have been ridiculous. And as these believers prayed for him, and as they focused the power of God on Paul, Paul's life through prayer, the more they did that, the more God used their prayers like a big old goad in Paul's life.
I remember when I first came to Christ, I hitchhiked up to Portsmouth, Virginia, my old hometown, and I had a meeting. I called a meeting of all my relatives. My mom and dad didn't live there. They were in Atlanta, but all my other relatives were there in the Virginia Beach area. I called a huge meeting, and I said, I got something to tell you.
Didn't tell them what it was. I said, You've got to come. It's very important. I was going to kind of go in there like Hulk Hogan, and I was going to WWF them all into faith in Christ. You know, well, I stayed with Core Lee Goodman, the dear African-American lady who had been our maid and had prayed me into the kingdom of God.
And I told her what I was planning, and she just shook her head and she said, I don't think that's a good idea. I said, No, no, no, Cora. I said, by the time I get through it explaining it, it's going to be as clear as the nose on my face. And I said, Trust me, trust me.
Well, I win. She was right. It was a complete train wreck. And I came home back to her house where I was staying with my little spiritual tail between my little spiritual legs. And she said to me, Sit down, honey.
She said, your heart's right. She said, but your method is just not right. She said, I prayed for you for 21 years before you got this. We got to pray for these people, she said. And then she said something I've never forgotten.
She said, You can do things in people's hearts with prayer, Lawn, that you can never do with words.
Well, folks, you know all those unlikely people that you want to come to Christ? Listen to Corey Lee Goodman's words. We can do more in their hearts to help them come to Christ through prayer than we'll ever do with words.
So here's the real question: how much do we really pray for these people? I got a letter, and I'll close with this. From a gentleman. About a very unlikely friend that he had to come to Christ. I'd like to read part of it to you.
And I quote. He said, I considered my mischievous coworker, John, as kind of an uncle-like friend. Who I used to argue and debate with about religion. Ever since he discovered I was a Christian, it seemed to become his mission in life to disprove my beliefs in Christ. On several occasions, I can remember him picking fights with me over various matters of Christianity.
I think he enjoyed seeing me get all distressed as a result of his torment. Then later, he'd come back by and tease me by saying, We're all right, right? Then he'd give me a smile and a pat on the back. I'd call this guy a pretty unlikely person, wouldn't you?
Alright, now. Even with all these arguments and debates, I still had a growing desire to show him the truth. And the Savior, I began to pray for his salvation. All right, what did this gentleman do? He lived out an authentic life in front of this fella, John, and he prayed for it.
All right, now watch what happened. On one day at Frontline, I heard that the church had bought over 10,000 movie tickets for the Passion of the Christ that would be shown in various theaters. The ultimate attraction about this idea was that a pastor was going to give a brief message and lead in a salvation prayer after the movie was over in each theater. I said to myself, This is perfect for John. Excitedly, I went to the booth and bought two tickets.
John went with me to the show on Monday night, February 23, 2004. Sadly, About a month later, John unexpectedly died of a massive heart attack. While chasing his dogs in the woods. At the funeral service, John's niece shared her firm belief that John was in heaven. She said that John had shared with his mom that after seeing the movie, he accepted Christ as his Savior that evening.
I confirmed this with his mom after After the service. That one night. All five years of work paid off through the grace of God. Without it, John would be in a very different place today. End of quote.
Hey, friends, listen. Do you have some unlikely people like the Apostle Paul that you know?
Some unlikely people like John that you know? Hey. People you're dying to see come to Christ?
Well, remember what we've learned today from Jesus' meeting with the Apostle Paul. Two things. Number one, we've learned that nobody is beyond God's reach. Not Paul, not this gentleman, John, and not your friend.
So don't you dare give up on them. And number two, we've learned that as followers of Christ, the way we can help the most in seeing them come to Christ is number one, by living an authentic Christian life in front of them every day. That's goad number one. And then secondly, by being prayer warriors for them every day. That's goad number two.
And doing it all in the power of the Holy Spirit. May God help us do that. Let's pray together. Lord Jesus, there's not one of us here who doesn't have an unlikely friend. An unlikely relative.
an unlikely coworker or neighbour, Who, if we had money to bet, we wouldn't put one thin dime on their ever coming to Christ. But Lord Jesus, I pray that you would remind us. That there is no one beyond your reach, and when you're involved, the odds don't matter. And so, Lord Jesus, based on what we've seen on the Damascus road with Paul, help us never give up on these people. But help us keep trying our very best in the power of your Spirit to live an authentic Christian life in front of them.
Help us be prayer warriors for them. And then, Lord, help us trust you that if you can turn the Apostle Paul's life around, if you can turn this fella's John's life around, Lord, you can turn the life of anyone around for you. Father, encourage our hearts today with these folks. Help us now with renewed vigor to go back to praying for them and seeking to reach them for Christ. And thank you.
We're working with a God for whom no heart is out of reach. And we pray these things in Jesus' name. And what did God's people say? Amen.
