How about taking a Bible? We're going to study together. Acts chapter nine, if you would open there please. Acts chapter nine, Matthew, Mark, Luke, John, Acts, fifth book in the New Testament. And we're continuing our study in the life of the great man, the Apostle Paul.
You know, here in America, changing us as people has become big business. As a matter of fact, Madison Avenue has got every kind of scheme imaginable to sell us stuff that will transform our lives. There's Rogan, there's Viagra, there is all kinds of home gyms, there's weight loss programs, galore, there are infomercials and psychobabble seminars. In fact, did you hear what's happening with the Chicago Cubs at spring training? Did you read about this in the paper?
Any Chicago Cubs fans here? Oh, God bless you people. All right.
Well, you know, the Chicago Cubs last year finished tied for the worst record in baseball. The last time they appeared in the World Series was nineteen forty-five. The last time they won the World Series was nineteen oh eight. This is the longest dry run in baseball history, and so the manager of the Cubs, Don Baylor, has decided to hire a motivational coach for the Cubs, a fellow named Mac Newton. And what Mr.
Newton does is every day after morning workouts, he gathers the whole team, they all sit on the ground in a little yoga position around him, and he preaches to them positive attitude, winning visualization, and transformational thinking. And he was quoted in the paper as saying, mister Newton, quote, by the end of camp, we are going to leave here believing that we can win the World Series, end of quote.
Now you know I hate to tell Mr. Newton this. But there ain't no amount of psychobabble in the world gonna help the Chicago Cubs. You now you make these people believe anything you want. They're not winning the World Series this year.
And we're not stupid. We look at all this stuff and we know it's hopelessly superficial. But that brings us to the million-dollar question, and that is, is there anything in our world that can genuinely transform people? Anything in our world that can genuinely change us from the inside out permanently and totally? And of course, we've got lots of people saying yes.
The prison system thinks it can be done through rehabilitation. The school system thinks it can be done through education. The government claims it can be done through welfare and social services. Therapists claim it can be done through self-esteem enhancement. Eastern mystics claim it can be done through meditation.
Preachers claim it can be done through religious training. And doctors claim it can be done through Prozac. But what kind of record do these people have?
Well, frankly, it's pretty lousy. And so our dilemma is, how do we change human behavior? How do we transform people?
Well, God has an answer to our dilemma. And it's found in 2 Corinthians 5, verse 17. Here's what God says: He says, If any person is in Christ, they become a new creature. Old things pass away and all things become new. God is in the business of changing people permanently, eternally, and totally.
And he tells us that the way he does it is by bringing us into vital personal connectedness with Jesus Christ.
Now, this is what we want to talk about today because we're looking at the life of a man who experienced this in Spain, a fellow named the Apostle Paul. And we want to look at what happened to him today and then extrapolate that forward to our lives in the 21st century and talk about what difference that makes for us.
So let's do that. A little bit of background before we start. Remember that Paul was raised in a strict Jewish home. We've learned that. We've learned that he was trained under the most eminent rabbi of the day, a fellow named Gamaliel, that he was advancing within Judaism faster than all of his contemporaries.
His goal was to become top dog rabbi. We also learn that he had a fire-breathing hatred for Christians. That he arrested them, tortured them, brutalized them, and killed them by the hundreds in Jerusalem. And then he went off to Damascus to be able to arrest the followers of Jesus there, drag them back to Jerusalem, and do the very same thing. But while he was on the road to Damascus, Jesus knocked him on the ground.
They met personally. Suddenly, Paul realized that the risen Lord Jesus was the Messiah of Israel. He surrendered his life to him. That's where we pick up the story. And what follows here in Acts 9 is a description of what may well be the most transformed life in all of human history.
So let's look together. Beginning at verse 18, you follow along as I read. Verse 18, remember now Paul couldn't see or eat or drink for three days after this experience. Ananias came to him, and immediately, verse 18, something like scales fell from Saul's eyes and he could see again. And he got up and was baptized, and after taking some food, he regained his strength.
And Paul spent several days with the disciples in Damascus, and at once, immediately, he began to preach in the synagogues that Jesus is the Son of God. And all of those who heard him were astonished and said, Isn't this the man who raised havoc in Jerusalem among those who call on the name of Jesus? And didn't he come here to take people who believed in Jesus back as prisoners to the high priest? And yet, Saul, Paul, grew more and more powerful. And baffled the Jews living in Damascus by proving that Jesus is the Christ, the Messiah.
And after many days had gone by, the Jews conspired to kill him. But Paul learned of their plan. Day and night, they kept close watch on the city gates in order to kill him. But his followers took him, Paul's followers by night, and lowered him in a basket over the wall of the city through an opening in the wall, and that's how he got away.
Now, as we look at this passage, we're going to see five different areas of life, five different ways in which the Apostle Paul's life was transformed when he met Jesus.
So let's do that. What were they? Number one, Paul, first of all, had transformed feelings about the disciples, about the followers of Jesus Christ. Verse 19 says Paul spent several days with the followers of Jesus Christ there in Damascus.
Now, friends, these were the people that in Jerusalem Paul hated. These were the people that he arrested, that he tortured, that he brutalized, and that he killed. And these were the very people that he's spending time with in Damascus, the very people he had come to the city for the purpose of arresting them and taking them back. And now, instead of persecuting them, here he is hanging out with them. He's gone from verse 1 that says he was breathing out murderous threats against the Lord's disciples, to verse 19, where all of a sudden he's breathing out brotherly affection towards the disciples.
How do we explain such a radical shift in Paul's relationship to the followers of Christ?
Well, there's only one way to explain it. This man's been transformed. Second of all, he had a transformed chain of command, a transformed boss. When Ananias came to him, he said on behalf of Jesus, he said, Paul, this is what Jesus has for you to do. Acts 22, Paul tells us about it.
You will be a witness for Jesus, Ananias said, to all men of what you have seen and heard.
So get up. Be baptized. and call on Jesus' name. Verse 18 here in chapter 9.
So Paul got up and was baptized, and then after taking some food, he regained his strength.
Now I love this. Paul has not eaten in three days. But would you notice that as soon as he could see, the first thing he did was not eat. The first thing he did is he went and got baptized. Don't you think he was hungry?
Don't you think he was starving? Shoot, when I don't eat for three hours, I'm starving. This man didn't eat for three days. And yet, was the first thing he did eat? Uh-uh.
The first thing he did is he went and got baptized. Why? Because Jesus didn't tell him to eat. Ananias didn't say anything about eating. He said, Go be baptized.
Jesus said, That's what my boss told me to do. That's what I'm doing first. The next verse, verse 20. And at once, immediately, Paul began to preach in the synagogues. Why?
Because this is what his new boss had told him to do. His new boss had said, Go be my witness to all men of what you've seen and heard. And Paul went right out and did it. How can we explain so radical a shift in Paul's chain of command?
Well, there's only one way to explain it. This man's been transformed. Third, Paul had a transformed message. Verse 20, at once Paul began to preach in the synagogues that Jesus is the Son of God. Paul, Rabbi Paul, preaching for Jesus.
I mean, how crazy is this? When I grew up as a Jewish young man, we used to we use the word meshugana. You were Mashugana. Meshugana means you were nuts. If somebody ever calls you meshugana in the workplace, it's not a compliment.
You're nuts. This is meshugana that Paul would go out and preach for Jesus. I mean, it's about as meshugana as Peta preaching for fur coats. It's about as meshugana as Greenpeace preaching for fluorocarbons. It's about as meshugana as Barbara Streisand preaching for the moral majority.
This is meshugana, what we're talking about here. And yet he did it. How do we explain such a radical machine a shift in the man's life?
Well, it's very simple. This man's been what? Transformed, yeah. Number four, he had a transformed loyalty. Up to this point, Paul had been loyal to only one person, that was himself.
He was only interested in what benefited Paul, what advanced Paul, what was good for Paul. And yet, here we find in this passage Paul willing to throw it all away. His career as super rabbi, throw it all away in order to be loyal to Jesus Christ. Here they are saying about him, what's wrong with this guy? Isn't he the guy they sent here to arrest these people?
What's he doing preaching like this? Trying to kill him. And yet he stayed loyal to Jesus, realizing it was going to cost him everything he'd worked for up to this point. How do we explain? This kind of radical shift in this man's loyalty, it's simple.
The man's been. Transformed, uh-huh. And last of all, he had a transformed fifth, a transformed purpose for living. Up to this point, didn't we just say earlier? What was Paul's purpose in life?
It was very simply to become top dog rabbi in Israel. He pursued that goal ferociously. He says in Galatians chapter 1, verse 14: I was advancing in Judaism above faster than all of my contemporaries. I stepped on them, I crushed them, I knifed them in the back, I did whatever I had to do, but I was at the top of the ladder heading for chief rabbi of Israel. And friends, do you think That Paul's persecution of these Christians in the early church, do you think that was an accident?
Do you think that was a coincidence? Why was he so vehement? Why was he so driven to persecute Christians in the early church?
Well, think about it. I'll tell you why. Because the high priest wanted Christians stomped out. Because the chief priests wanted Christians stomped out. Because the elder Pharisees who held the power positions and controlled who would be the next leader of the Jewish community, they wanted these people stomped out.
And Paul said, all right, I'm going to be the go-to guy. I'm going to go out here and I'm going to do it, and then I'm going to take that political clout that I earned and I'm going to use it to pole vault right to the top. This was no accident. This was a smart man. He knew what he was doing.
And yeah. All of that changed when he met Jesus Christ. There was a whole new purpose for living that came into his life. Look what he says, 2 Corinthians 5, verse 14. For Christ's love compels me, he says, that I should no longer live for myself.
Is that wonderful? That I should no longer live for me, that I should no longer make it my goal to be top rabbi or anything I want to do. But rather, I should live for him who loved me and gave himself for me. And he says to the leaders of the church at Ephesus in Acts chapter 20, verse 24, he says, My purpose is to finish the race and complete the job that the Lord Jesus has given me. I'm not interested in being top rabbi anymore.
I'm not interested in anything I want anymore. My whole purpose in living has changed, and now it's all about what Jesus wants me to do. How do you explain this kind of radical shift in Paul's whole purpose for living? It's easy. The man's been what?
Transform. I love what John MacArthur said. He said, I heard a man the other day say that Christianity is like putting a new suit of clothes on a man. I said to him, That's wrong. It's like putting a new man in a suit of clothes.
And John's exactly right. Paul became a completely different human being with a different loyalty and a different message and a different boss and a different purpose in life and a different relationship to the followers of Christ. And let me tell you how that change happened. It didn't happen as a result of rehabilitation, education, or meditation. It didn't happen as a result of religious training, welfare, psychobabble, or motivational counseling.
It happened because he met Jesus. That's the only reason it happened. And Jesus changed his life. If you're here and you've never trusted Jesus Christ as your real and personal Savior and you feel that you need to be transformed, I'm here to tell you you're right. You do need to be transformed.
We all do. Transform to the point where we can live above the demands and the desires of our human nature, where we can rise above that and fulfill the real reason, purpose, and design for which God made us. Yes, you need to be transformed. But you can waste your time looking for this transformation in rehabilitation, education, meditation, psychobabble, all this stuff. I did all of this.
It's superficial. It's not going to change you. I mean, if you want to, it's your life. If you want to spend all the time and waste it looking in these areas, go ahead. I'm telling you what changed my life, what changed Paul's life, and what will change your life.
is when you meet Jesus. Just that simple. You'll become a new creature too.
So why not cut to the chase and save yourself all that time and just come to the place where it's going to happen anyway? It's not going to happen in any of those other places. Come to a personal relationship with Jesus Christ. I hope you'll think about that.
Well, that's the end of our passage. But we have a really strategic question we need to ask. Everybody knows what it is. True? Oh, you're not inspiring me with great confidence here.
All right.
Okay, ready? Here we go. One, two, three.
Now that was lame. I gotta tell you, you can do better than that. I know you can.
So let's try it one more time. Come on now. Ready? One, two, three.
Yeah. Ain't that better? See? That was motivational psychobabble we just did.
Okay, now. And it didn't change your life at all.
Now, what. Mm-hmm. See? So, what difference does all this make for your life and my life?
Okay, you say, Lon, I'm a follower of Jesus Christ. I already know Christ. I mean, I'm glad for Paul. I think that's wonderful. What happened to him?
What difference does it make for me?
Well folks, let's be honest, shall we? I mean, let's really be honest with each other. We all know 2 Corinthians 5:17, if anybody's in Christ, they're a new creature. But honestly, when we hear somebody quote that verse, don't we all of us look at our own life and go, well, what's wrong with me? Because I've still got pockets of my life that aren't transformed.
I've still got areas of my behavior that look like they used to look. I've still got places in my life where it seems like that transforming stuff has never gotten to. Places I'm embarrassed about when I behave a certain way, I feel wrong about, I feel guilty about. When we come in and we sing songs about how Jesus changes our life, there's a part of us that feels a little twinge down there because we look around and say, well, gosh, maybe it's working for everybody else. Maybe there's something wrong with me.
Well, I'm here to tell you there's nothing wrong with you. That this whole thing that we call becoming a new creature is a process. Paul didn't become a new creature in 20 seconds, it's a process. And yet, there are some things you and I need to know about this process that will make it go faster and deeper and be fuller in our lives. And if we're not doing our part, it gets in the way of God doing His part.
Will God take you and me and make us into new creatures? Absolutely. But there's a part for us to play in this that you and I need to know about. If we don't do our part, it inhibits God in doing some of His part.
So we're going to talk about that today, and we're going to see Paul did all three of the things I'm going to tell you we need to do. And that's why we saw the change in his life move as fast as it did. You know, when I was a chemistry major, We learned about catalysts. If you're ever taking chemistry, you know about them. A catalyst is a chemical agent that you add to a reaction that causes the reaction to speed up and go faster, hundreds, even thousands of times faster than it would ordinarily.
And so what I'm telling you is there are some catalysts That will help the process of spiritual transformation go faster in your life, go deeper in your life. What are they? That's what we want to talk about, so you and I can do them and cause this to go quicker.
Well, I've got three to give you, and like I said, Paul did them all. Number one is spiritual disciplines. This is catalyst number one: spiritual disciplines. You say, Lon, what do you mean spiritual disciplines?
Well, we mean we're talking about, when we say spiritual disciplines, we're talking about prayer, seeking the face of God in solitude, fasting, meditating on the truths of Scripture alone with God, having a daily quiet time, pursuing personal intimacy with God, personal closeness with God, spending time alone with God, getting to know God. These are spiritual disciplines. And did the Apostle Paul do this? Of course he did. The first three days he was a follower of Christ.
What did he do? He fasted. He didn't eat or drink. And he prayed. Verse 11, God says to Ananias, Go find Paul.
He's staying in the house of a fellow named Judas, and he's praying. This man spent the first three days of his Christian experience practicing spiritual disciplines, fasting, prayer, and seeking the face of God. But it didn't stop there. He then spent the next three years in concentrated pursuit of spiritual disciplines. Galatians chapter 1, verse 15.
But when God, Paul writing, was pleased to reveal his Son to me, I did not consult with any man, but I went immediately into Arabia, the desert, and then later came back to Damascus. And it was only after three years that I went up to Jerusalem to meet Peter.
Now, where does this belong in Acts chapter 9? It belongs right between verse 22 and verse 23. In between those two verses, Paul spent three years in the desert of Arabia. And then he came back to Damascus, and that's when they tried to kill him, and they lowered him over the wall, and he went to Jerusalem.
So right between verse 22 and verse 23, you can write Galatians 1:15, because that's where it took place.
Now, what did Paul do for three years out in the Arabian desert?
Well, folks, there's not a whole lot to do in the Arabian desert. You know what he did out there. He sought the face of God. He communed with God. He pursued a relationship with God.
He learned what God had for him to do. He grew in his understanding of God. He spent concentrated time, three years, pursuing spiritual disciplines. And if we want to know why the Apostle Paul saw such radical transformation in his life as quickly as he did, Man, it's because he took spiritual discipline seriously.
Now in America today this is hard to do. Because we live life and fast forward. We go one hundred miles an hour, and solitude is just not an American value. In fact, the exact opposite is true. America is determined to fill your life and my life up with so much stuff that we never have a moment when we just stand around and have nothing to do.
And we have time to really sit down with us and God and commune with God. And folks, if you and I don't take the time deliberately in our schedule and set that time aside to practice spiritual disciplines, I can promise you it will never happen by coincidence. It will never happen by accident. Our culture is determined not to give you any solitude. But solitude is a biblical value.
All the great men and women of God spent time alone with God. Even Jesus would go off into a mountain alone to To pray. and commune with God. Because you and I cannot see the transformation process in our life happen at the rate we want it to. if we leave spiritual disciplines out.
They are critical to the process. They are a catalyst that speeds it up. And so I want to challenge you to look at your life, look at your schedule and say how much time am I really carving out for spiritual disciplines in my life? If it's not much, then that explains to you why that transformation process is going slower than you want it to go. Number two, the second catalyst that we see the Apostle Paul practicing is obedience to God.
Romans chapter 12, verse 1. I urge you, Paul writes, to offer your bodies as living sacrifices to God.
Now, living sacrifices are simply people who don't argue with God, they don't debate with God, they don't question the wisdom of God, they don't make God explain himself, they don't negotiate with God, they just obey. They just do what God tells them to do. And we saw earlier how the Apostle Paul did this very same thing. What did he do? The first thing when he could see, he went and got baptized in obedience to God.
Then he came back and began going in the synagogues, going public for Jesus, preaching for Jesus. Why? In obedience to God. And even when they tried to kill him, he wouldn't back off. Why?
Because he was acting in obedience to God. This was a man who took obedience to God seriously. And anybody who wants to follow Christ and see their lives changed has got to walk in the same footsteps. Obedience to God is not an optional part of the Christian experience. 1 Samuel 15, verse 22.
God says to obey is better than to sacrifice. I don't care what ritual you may be practicing, obedience is more important to me. Jeremiah chapter 7, verse 22, For when I brought your forefathers out of Egypt, God says to the Israelites, I gave them this singular command: Obey me. Boy, that's not very complicated, is it? Obey me, and I will be your God.
and you will be my people. Friends, obedience is a powerful force that frees God up to transform our life faster and deeper than He would ordinarily. And you say, Lon, how does that work? What is the dynamic? Why does obeying God allow God to change our life quicker?
Honestly, I don't know the dynamic, but I just know it works. That when we're obeying God, God changes our life faster. And when we refuse to obey God, it stymies God's ability to transform our lives. You know, it's interesting as I meet followers of Jesus Christ today, how many of us play the someday game. You know how that goes?
Well, someday, Lord, I'm going to do this, and someday, Lord, I'm going to do that, and someday I'm going to go over there, and someday I'm going to write that letter, and someday I'm going to forgive that person, and someday I'm going to patch up that relationship, and someday, and someday, and someday. You know what's interesting about Paul? He didn't play the someday game, he played the immediately game. Immediately, he went and got baptized. Immediately, he went into the synagogues and began to preach that Jesus was the Son of God.
He played a different game than a lot of us play, which is why he saw the different results that he saw when we play the immediately game, not the someday game, because someday never happens. When we play the immediately game and we go and obey God, God honors that. And it's a catalyst for God to change our life quicker. If you've been playing someday, man, it's time to trade that game in. and play the immediately game and you'll see God work faster in your life.
Third and finally, with this we're done. Third catalyst is saturating our mind with Scripture. Romans chapter 12, verse 2 continues. Do not be conformed to the pattern of this world, Paul writes, but be transformed. Whoa, there's our word.
Hey, look at that. There's our word. Be transformed. In our behavior. How do you do that?
Well, look what the verse says. How? By the renewing of your mind. How do we renew our mind? We renew our mind.
How do we reconfigure our software? It's really easy. We do it by saturating our mind with the Word of God. By saturating our mind with the Scripture. By memorizing the Scripture and soaking our mind in the Scripture.
And the Bible tells us that as we do that, our mind gets renewed. It gets actually transformed. transformed and as our mind changes our behavior follows you want to know how to transform your lifestyle you renew your mind wherever your mind goes your body follows You know, when I was a little kid, five or six years old, my grandfather died when I was six. But he was an Orthodox Jewish immigrant from Lithuania. And I don't remember much about him, but I do remember going to his house as a little boy, and the fact I remember these huge barrels of pickles that he had in his house.
He used to make Jewish kosher pickles by the barrel in his house, and then he would barter them for other goods and services within the Jewish community down there in Portsmouth, Virginia. The smell of those pickles filled that whole house. I'll never forget it as a little kid walking in there. The barrels are about as high as I was, but I'll never forget the smell of those pickles.
Now, You understand pickles don't grow naturally, right? There are no pickle trees, no pickle bushes, and no pickle vines. They don't grow. You got a pickle is a transformed something else. And you know what it is, right?
It's a cucumber.
Now, frankly, I don't really like cucumbers. But they take cucumbers, which I think are kinda ugly and nasty actually. And they soak them in this vinegar solution. And if you soak a cucumber long enough, you will get a pickle. There is no doubt about it.
There's not a cucumber in the world that won't change into a pickle if you soak it long enough. That's true.
Now, you say, what in the world does this have to do with anything?
Well, it does. Because every single one of us come into the world with our mind as a big old cucumber. And God wants to turn you into a pickle. That's exactly what I'm trying to say to you. And the way you turn into a pickle, you can't be born a pickle, you can't grow naturally a pickle.
It doesn't happen. The way you turn your mind into a pickle is you got to saturate it, not with vinegar. But with the Scripture. And there is not a mind in this universe that, if we saturate it with the Scripture, won't turn into a pickle. You saturate your mind with the Word of God.
It will pickle your brain. It will renew it will. It will renew your mind. It will reconfigure your software. And it will start to change your worldview.
And as your worldview changes, your life will change and your body will transform. That's what the Bible is trying to tell us. And yet what do we do? We come home from work, we get up late, we barely make it. We come home from work, we eat, that's really important.
Then we watch the evening news, then we read the Washington Post, and then we watch we gotta watch Survivor and see who gets kicked off the island. And then by the time we if we get to the Bible, if we get to the Scripture, we get to it about 11 o'clock at night when we're tired and we're exhausted and we can't focus and we can't concentrate, and then we wake up and start all over again. Folks, that is not the way to produce a pickle. It won't work that way. Not when the Word of God gets the last part of the day, or no part of the day.
The Washington Post is not going to pickle you, it's just going to make you a bigger cucumber. Trust me. It is. The evening news is not gonna pickle you. Survivor is not gonna pickle you.
Eating your dinner is not going to pickle you. There's only one thing in this world going to pickle your brain, transform your brain in your life, and that's the Word of God. And if you and I want to get pickled, which is God's goal for our life, we're going to have to move the Word of God up and soak in it more than we do. You soak in the Word of God, you will change. That is a guarantee.
It is absolute. You soak your mind in the Word of God, it will change.
So the question is. Hey, Drew, it's your schedule. But are you willing to pay the price to move the Word of God up in the priority list?
so that you can really soak that cucumber the way it's got to be soaked. What did we learn today? We've learned that the only force in this world that can really transform human beings is coming into personal relationship with Jesus Christ. We've learned that once we do, that transformation is a process. And we can speed that process up by doing three things.
Number one, by setting aside the time to practice spiritual disciplines and be with God. Number two, by obeying God immediately. Not someday, immediately. And number three. By making sure we soak that mind of ours in the pickling juice of the Word of God.
We do those three things, your life will change. You do those three things and your life will transform. You're not special, I'm not special. This has nothing to do with whipple dust. This has nothing to do with God loving Paul more than he loved you.
That has nothing to do with anything. Paul practiced these disciplines. God changed his life. And if you and I practice these disciplines, God will change your life. And you'll speed it up.
So, my question to you is: how are you doing on this? If your life's not changing as fast as you'd like? Shoot. I think this brings us hope. Make some course corrections in our schedule and our priorities, and we can speed this thing up hundreds of times if we want.
The ball's in your court. You do your part. And God will do his part. Let's pray. Lord Jesus, thanks for talking to us today about.
real life where we live. Because we read about the Apostle Paul in the Bible. We read about great men and women of God and how their lives changed, and we feel a little inadequate. We feel a little bit um a little bit uh secondary. as citizens, because our lives aren't changing that fast.
And we say, What's wrong with us? And Lord, thanks for reminding us today there's nothing wrong with us. But there may be something wrong with our priorities. There may be something wrong with our schedule. There may be something wrong with the way we discipline our time.
And Lord, thanks for giving us the hope that if we will do these disciplines by your grace and with the help of your Spirit. You will. Accelerate. the transformation process in our lives. And so, Lord, if we need course correction, if there are some of us here who need to change the way we spend our time in our lives.
I pray you would give us the courage to to ask you for help. and make those changes beginning today. Father, change our very life because we were here. And we learn from you. And we pray this in Jesus' name.
Amen.
