The Book of Acts 9:1-31 - Saul Conversion
Acts 9:1-31 · Roger Henderson · May 25, 2014
Acts (2014), No. 21
Holly Hills Bible Church
https://hollyhillsbiblechurch.org/teaching/messages/492642854352

Transcribed from the recording by SermonAudio, so expect the occasional misheard word.

So if you look in your handout, we're going to cover Saul's conversion, which is basically the first 31 verses in chapter 9. Like I said, this is a tremendous intervention by God in the life of Paul. Paul was a hit squad for the Pharisees. One part here says he actually got a personal letter So he could take these letters to the synagogues and say, I represent the high priest. And we want these Christians, which are called the way, we're going to see about that, the way.

I want them, I want the authority to bring them back and bind them up and drag them back to Jerusalem. He went 135 miles to Damascus, Syria. That's back in the day when you had one foot. I mean, he was, also it shows you how far the Jews, how far the, once the persecution of the church started, how far they dispersed. And in a way, it's just exactly what the Lord's plan. He wanted the church to be dispersed. And because of the persecution, people fled. Because somebody like Paul coming after you, he said to men and women, he was no respecter of persons. If you were a believer, he wanted your Hide.

Anyway, so if you look on chart two, this kind of fits in this section here and acts six, eight to nine. Thirty one is actually a section. It doesn't follow the chapter breaks. Remember chapter breaks are not inspired. In fact, some council decided to put chapter breaks in and label all the verses. This section is talking about different men in the church.

Stephen, the martyrdom of Stephen. Paul was right at the tail end of that. He was sitting there collecting the cloaks and he was in a hearty approval. Stoning Stephen. In the last couple of weeks, we looked at the ministry of Philip, and they went to Samaria, and Simon was converted. And then we saw Peter and John kind of come along and put Simon on the right track. And then last week we saw about the Ethiopian eunuch, how God unilaterally just took took Philip and transported him right there. Pretty amazing stuff. Today's even a more amazing thing. And then lastly, the last bullet on chart number two, the conversion of Paul. That's these first 31 verses here. We won't see Paul again.

You ever watch TV? It drives me crazy. Until I looked about, I said, that actually is scriptural. You know, they'll jump around There will be one theme with one set of persons or in movies. Then they will jump somewhere else. That's what you think. What does it have to do with the part they are opening this part? Well, this all fits together, but it jumps around. We go with Stephen for a while. Then Paul jumps in. Then we got Philip. Then we got Peter and John again. Now we have Saul.

So you're saying the Bible is not a good screenplay? Well, all I'm saying is, what's interesting is that the concept of not following one character. You know, I kind of like the idea of one character. You go all the way through. My mom kind of thinks that way. It's all mixed moves. It jumps around. It jumps around.

It's not overhead today, so we're going to have to do it from the handout. I apologize. So anyway, right now on chart number 2, we're going to cover the first 31 verses. So back to Saul, and Saul won't show up again until chapter 11. We're going to flip back to Peter next week. So if you look at chart 3, I kind of broke down the major parts of the conversion of Saul.

Basically, the first two verses, he continues to persecute the church. And then, starting in verse three, he meets Christ on Damascus Road. And then after that, third bullet, he's commissioned and filled with the Spirit and baptized. And then he preaches Christ at Damascus.

There's an interesting If you look at some parallel passages, you get some what seems like conflicting information. I don't really have an answer for this, but in Galatians it says he spent three years in Arabia, but you don't see that talked about in this passage. So we're going to look at that parallel passage. And he comes back to Damascus and then basically he is threatened with his life in Damascus. And then he escapes to Jerusalem, and then eventually he escapes to Jerusalem again. So he's there after Paul, once he converts. And guys, you're welcome to come closer. OK, so that that's on. That's kind of a quick summary of the first three verses. No overhead today. Overhead.

I knew from the handout. So can someone read from the handout versus one and two in Chapter nine there? And Saul, still breathing threats and murder against the disciples of the Lord, went to the high priest and asked for letters from him to the synagogues of Damascus, so that if he found any belonging to the way, both men and women, he might bring them down to Jerusalem. So then if you look on what is chapter, what is a chart number five, unfortunately you have black and white copies. You can actually have an overhead here. It shows the relationship between Jerusalem and Damascus. Damascus is up there at the very top. It's approximately 135 miles from Jerusalem to Damascus.

And there's a picture here, which would look really nice if you could see it. I'll get off my soapbox here. of the straight street is actually, you can actually go there. And this is a picture. You actually go there and look at it. Apparently I was in reading about it. It's not called straight street anymore. I don't know why, but this is called, there's a different name for it. So actually, if you look at how the Jews were spread, I mean, the believers were spread, you know, Samaria is kind of upper left on that, on that picture. And then at the very top is Damascus. OK, go down to chart six.

And so basically, you know, Saul is still just totally focused on he's still breathing threats and murders and murders. Really, the original word is the idea to slaughter by the sword. I mean, he's not pretty what he wanted to do to believers. Pretty much like the 9-11 people. Pretty bad, pretty bad stuff.

And he went to the high priest and it's probably Caiaphas. That's kind of a little research I did on that. And then he got this fourth bullet on chart six. He asked for a letter and actually Wiest has it. He got a personal favor. He went to the high priest and said, hey, I'm after these two, by the way. Give me letters to all the synagogues in Damascus and I'll go find these guys and I'll bring them back. It was a personal favor, apparently. And then what's interesting is this phrase, the way, and if you look and we could turn a couple of parallel places where it's used, actually quite a few.

Let's look at Acts 19. So I'm looking at the, he found belonging to the way, which is a name given to the believers at that time. So for someone to read Acts 19, 8 and 9, And entering into the synagogue, he spoke boldly for the space of three months, disputing and persuading the things concerning the King of God. But when many were hardened and believed not, but spoke evil of that way before the multitude, he departed from them and separated from the disciples of the student dealing school. Am I in the right area? of the way, and then if you turn over to chapter 24, there's some other occurrences there.

24.14, this is before Felix, and 7 verse 14, Acts 24.14. But this I confess unto thee, that after the way, which they call heresy, so worship I, the God of my fathers, believing all things which are written in the law and in the prophets.

Right. So, using the term the way again. Then down in 22 it says, but Felix having a more exact knowledge of the way. So, hopefully this isn't it. So, what do you think that name came from? I am the way, the truth, and the life. It seems, I mean, that's what people most people believe.

I mean, there's nothing that really says that, but it seems, you know, very possible. Of course, the Lord said that when he was on the earth. He said, I am the way, I am the way, I am the singular way, I am the singular truth, and the singular law of life. Yeah, but there's not, like, the New Testament yet.

I know, but of course, remember, you have the apostles. Yeah, so he said, the apostle said that Jesus said that to him. Many apostles decide they are going to call their movement the way. They don't call themselves Christians, they call themselves the way. So, I don't know, interesting.

There had to have been a consensus with the help of the Holy Spirit to get this thing off the ground. Well and I'm sure because he had said that to the apostles over and over again. I mean we only know of what he and what we have read. But you have to assume probably that this was talked about before and it was spread around as they were preaching. All right, so now let's get into the neat part here. Could someone read from verse, from chart seven? You can read it from there if you want. 9-3-9.

As he was traveling, it happened that he was approaching Damascus, and suddenly a light from heaven flashed around him. And he fell to the ground and heard a voice saying to him, Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting me? And he said, who are you, Lord? And he said, I am Jesus who you are persecuting, but get up and enter the city, and it will be told you what you must do.

The men who traveled with them stood speechless, hearing the voice but seeing no one. Saul got up from the ground, and though his eyes were open, he could see nothing. And leading him by the hand, they brought him into Damascus. And he was three days without sight, and neither ate nor drank.

So I'd also like to, before we go to the next chart, I'd like to also read. There's two other parallel passages to this that were Paul accounts in his defense before the council in one case. And I think before a grip on the other case, he, he refers to this event. So let's the one I think is most interesting is the one in Acts 22. So I can talk something else underneath. Acts 22, 3 through 11. Acts 22, 3 through 11.

I am verily a man which am a Jew, born in Tarsus, a city in Cilicia, yet brought up in this city at the feet of Gamaliel, and taught according to the perfect manner of the law of the fathers, and was zealous toward God, as ye all are this day. And I persecuted this way unto death, binding and delivering into prisons both men and women.

Also the high priest doth bear me witness, and all the estate of the elders, from whom I also received letters unto the brethren. and went to Damascus to bring them which were there, bound unto Jerusalem, for to be punished. And it came to pass that as I made my journey, and was come nigh unto Damascus about noon, suddenly there shone from heaven a great light round about me.

And I fell unto the ground, and heard a voice saying unto me, Saul, Saul, why persecutest thou me? And I answered, Who art thou, Lord? And he said unto me, I am Jesus of Nazareth, whom thou persecutest. And they that were with me saw indeed the light, and were afraid, but they heard not the voice of him that spake to me. And I said, What shall I do, Lord?

And the Lord said unto me, Arise, and go into Damascus, and there shall be told thee all things which are appointed for thee to do. And when I could not see for the glory of that light, being led by the hand of them that were with me, I came into Damascus." I don't know if it was there too. Thank you.

So we have two parallel accounts and actually they kind of, as with many times, they talk a little bit differently and they fill in a little bit of the details. So let's look at chart 8. So Saul was traveling. And I kind of merged some of these together.

As he was approaching or drawing near to Damascus, it was midday. So it's midday. I assume that's kind of an arid country. I assume the sun's out. It doesn't say that. But what it does say is that suddenly a light from heaven, brighter than the sun, that's combining the two passages together, flashed around him. So this light was pretty bright. If it's brighter than the sun, that's pretty bright.

And then he fell to the ground. He said, I heard a voice saying in the Hebrew, and I have to take the combination, in the Hebrew language, Saul, Saul. And I kind of stopped there. I'm going to cover the next part in the next verse. And so we read the next chart. So we cover the parallel accounts. So let's flip to chart 8, chart 9 now, excuse me.

So the voice, the Lord speaking, says, why are you persecuting me? And he said to me, who are you, Lord? And he said, I am Jesus. And we learn from the Acts 22 passages, Jesus is Jesus of Nazareth. I am Jesus whom you are persecuting. So one of the interesting things here, this is kind of a little side note, is that Jesus says you're persecuting me.

So that's really interesting. I think it alludes to something we see Paul talk about a lot in the New Testament. So the Lord takes the persecution of the body of believers and as personal, that you're persecuting me. He doesn't say you're persecuting my church. He says it more than one time. He says you're persecuting me, and then he says I am Jesus whom you are persecuting. So he takes that as a personal way.

I kind of looked at that as being a precursor of what we see in the New Testament about the fact that believers, when they come to know the Lord Jesus, come into an intimate union with him. We see several verses. We see some of the Gospels about that.

We see you and me and I am you, what the Lord said. I am your father, you and me, I am you. We see in Colossians, we see Christ in you. Christ is our life. And we see in Romans, there's just so much in Romans about you've been baptized, you've been immersed into Christ, you're in this union with Christ. in his death, burial, resurrection, ascension, and seeding. And then if you look at all the different passages about in Christ or in him, over 150 times it's talked about.

So it seems like that in that little statement saying, you're persecuting me, he's kind of alluding to the fact that believers have this unique relationship with him. And that's one of his messages. So I thought it was kind of a little aside there that kind of struck me.

OK. Now if we go on to chart 10. And Jesus is still speaking. He doesn't give Paul the options here. It's not like, Paul, let's talk about this. He doesn't give him any options. He just says, OK, but get up. Get up. Enter the city. It will be told to you what you must do. We're going to think about this together, Paul. He says, this is what's going to happen.

And it says, the men who were traveling with him stood speechless. Hearing the voice, but seeing no one. From the combined, or did not understand, apparently they did not understand it. They heard a voice, they didn't understand it. The Lord was speaking, Christ was speaking, but it says from the combined that they did not understand what was being said. They heard somebody saying something. So Saul got up from the ground.

I guess it's interesting too about how Like Jesus identifies himself as Jesus, not God, the Father. He identifies himself as the Son, and actually that's going to be very interesting because we're going to see, that's one of the messages that Paul is going to preach, that he is the Son of God. So he identifies himself as Jesus, he doesn't identify himself as God.

I'm the generic God. I'm God speaking here. Also from Nazareth. He's the God man. There's a lot you can do with this. This is one hour to go through. You could spend a long time on this test. But that's good. It's interesting that since he said Jesus of Nazareth, Paul is known as Saul of Tarsus. So this is getting them to know that this is who I am, this is where I was from physically. Right, that's good. And kind of identifying this as the God of man, if you think about that, but you can't know that until we have all the benefit of the rest of the New Testament to see that.

Okay. So he got up from the ground. Though his eyes were open, he could not see anything. So he had some kind of scales, it seems like. They led him by the hand. They brought him into Damascus. He was there three days without sight. He either ate or drank. Then go on to 11. Well, does someone like to read 11? That's a lot.

10. Now there was a disciple at Damascus named Ananias, and the Lord said to him in a vision, Ananias, and he said, Here I am, Lord.

And the Lord said to him, Get up and go to the street called straight and inquire at the house of Judas for a man from Tarsus named Saul, for he is praying. And he hath seen in a vision a man named Ananias come in and lay his hands on him, so that he might regain his sight. But Ananias answered, Lord, I have heard from many about this man, how much harm he did to your saints at Jerusalem. And here he has authority from the chief priests to bind all who call on your name. But the Lord said to him, Go, for he is the chosen instrument of mine to bear my name before the Gentiles, and kings, and the sons of Israel. For I will show him how much he must suffer for my name's sake.

So Ananias departed and entered the house, and after laying his hands on him, said, Brother Saul, the Lord Jesus, who appeared to you on the road by which you were coming, has sent me so that you may regain your sight and be filled with the Holy Spirit. And immediately there fell from his eyes something like scales, and he regained his sight, and he got up and was baptized. And he took food and was strengthened.

Great. Thank you, Barbara. OK. So on 12, I've kind of bulletized these verses. Okay, so there was a disciple, a disciple of the Lord, a believer, apparently. And it's interesting, there's two visions in this. Ananias has a vision, and Paul has a vision. If you look carefully. So it says, the Lord said to him, in a vision, Ananias, and he said, here am I, Lord. The Lord said to him, get up and go to the street called Straight. That's that picture, if you can see it. It's east-west thoroughfare, apparently.

It's interesting how it always sounds like, get up! Get up! Get up! You know? It's not like, just go there. It's like, get up and go there. That's sort of like your kids. Get up! Let's get going there. Let's get moving here. Because there's reluctance here.

Paul didn't have a great reputation, right? I mean, think of some art set, think of your, I don't know, Saddam Hussein, I don't know, somebody that you would be fearful of being in their presence. I don't know. Least likely to succeed. I don't know. Anyway. A Jew in front of Hitler. Yeah, right. Exactly. Or Hitler. I mean, let's say somebody, you know, said, well, Hitler's been converted. And he's coming, I don't know, this ought to be a big rabbit trail. Yeah, okay, we know what you mean. Scary.

Okay, so he says, inquire at the house of Judas for a man named Tarsus, from Tarsus, named Saul, for he is praying. And that says, and he saw, so he saw a vision about Ananias coming to see him. So I guess the Lord provided these visions. We see that happen in a lot of the Gospels, where the Lord communicated to people that way, without scriptures. A man named Ananias is coming in and laying his hands on him, so that he might regain his sight. So over to 13, Ananias answers. So here's Ananias. He's not too excited about doing this.

But it's interesting, in looking at this, Think about sometimes the Lord, in some situations, when a person is reluctant to do something, there are sometimes when there are many consequences. In this case, he seems to be you know, understanding. And he just kind of says, okay, I got that, but he's my instrument, and this is going to work out, and not to worry. You mean sometimes where people question... Well, how about... Like Zacharias? Or Zacharias questioning the angel about Will, and then they suffer consequences. Right.

And I thought about actually trying to do a parody, looking at that and trying to study that and see if I could see any differences, and I didn't actually do that. But it occurred to me that sometimes it seems like the Lord And maybe he knows, knowing the heart of a person, maybe that is totally it. He understands. So maybe this is just a genuine doubting.

He wouldn't do it, but he'd just say, are you sure? Are you sure, God, about this? Even like Thomas, it was, you know, I was like, oh, here, so you know. But Zacharias, he didn't speak for, and maybe that was his purpose from the beginning, and I don't know. But also Mary, remember, said, how can this be? Right. She questioned it. I don't know. So he says, Lord, I have heard from many about this man, how much harm he did to your saints at Jerusalem. And here he has authority from the chief priest to bind all who call on your name. But the Lord said to him, go.

I can go where he is a chosen instrument or actually vessel might be even a better word. He's a he's a vessel for a particular purpose. And actually we have to turn to it. But in Timothy second Timothy two point one, it says using the same word vessel. This person is a vessel for honor, sanctified, useful for the master, prepared for every good work. So it's. He is God's chosen vessel or instrument to do the following.

So it's interesting here. To bear my name, so here are three people groups he's going to address. The Gentiles, Kings, and the sons of Israel. So those are the three people groups. Paul, this is God's chosen vessel. bear my name to the Gentiles, the kings, and the sons of Israel.

And then he says, for I will show him how much he must suffer for my name's sake. And boy, if you want to see how much Paul suffered, go to 2 Corinthians 11 and look through that. He describes how many times he was beaten, how many times he was near death. You read that list and you say, how did he ever survive? And it's just incredible. And he did suffer. He did suffer. Okay, so we jump down to 14, chart 14.

So Ananias departed, he entered the house, after laying his hands on him, said, Brother Saur, the Lord appeared to you on the road by which you were coming, and has sent me so that you may regain your sight. So here's the thing. He took care of his physical needs, he regained his sight, he was filled with the Holy Spirit, and immediately there fell from his eyes something like scales. He regained his sight, got up, and was baptized, took food, and was strengthened. I cut it at 19A and B purposely because I want to point out something here. This is actually 19B-22.

Now for several days he was with the disciples who were at Damascus and immediately he began to proclaim Jesus in the synagogue saying he is the son of God. All those hearing him continued to be amazed, and were saying, Is this not he who in Jerusalem destroyed those who called on his name, and who had come here for the purpose of bringing them bound before the chief priests? But Saul kept increasing in strength and confounding the Jews who lived at Damascus by proving that this Jesus is the Christ.

So we're going to see two things here. His two-pronged message was, he is the Son of God, and Jesus is the Christ. And we're going to see, actually, that's what was said about Christ before his crucifixion. They ask him that very question. So the fact that being the Christ and the Son of God, that fits together, that's exactly what the promised Messiah was to be. And so that's exactly Paul's message that he's going to talk about. So now if you go down to 16, chart 16, it says, Now for several days he was with the disciples at Damascus, and immediately he began to proclaim Jesus in the synagogues. So what we're going to see here, we're going to see from a parallel passage, it seems like there ought to be an insertion at some point here, he ought to go off to Arabia for three years.

But you don't see, you really don't see any indication of that. And this word immediately is used actually in that parallel passage. He says in Galatians that he did not immediately consult with flesh and blood. Well, if you look right here it says for several days he was with the disciples of Damascus. He immediately began to proclaim Jesus in the synagogue.

Maybe it means he didn't ask them, hey, do you think this is right? And tell me more. He was just like, hey, this is what happened. No, he didn't do that. And that's one of the key things. In his revelation, he didn't give a consensus. He didn't say, well, this is a consensus opinion.

I bet the disciples were freaked out. They were probably like, what's he going to say next? I know. It was pretty, you know, Paul comes on the scene and it's, you know, his direct encounter with the Lord and his direct being taught for three years by the Lord. I mean, they accept that eventually, but it takes a while. So actually he was taught before And that's the hard part.

I looked at different people and it doesn't appear in the axe account, it doesn't sound like there's any room for him to go off to... Yeah, there's no space. There's no space. We're going to read Galatians here shortly. In Galatians he says, to Arabia for three years, and it's taught by the Lord. And you think, well, where does that fit in this account? So, I mean, it's just not obvious where it... Well, it just, it sounds like in this account, he was just proclaiming those two things, pretty much. Right, and that's it.

And it's gotta go on, and he's gonna... Eventually, he's going to be driven out of Damascus. He's going to drop him down in a basket. He's going to leave. That's kind of a cool thing. Anyway, I want to read about the parable passage in a second. Let's just finish this chart here.

So basically, he's proclaiming he is the son of God. So this is really the first time, with the exception, there is that kind of disputed verse in 8.37 in the previous where it seemed like they added, something was added in there. They talk about the Son of God there, but that's kind of disputed and it's not in the newer translation. So most people believe this is the first occasion where the fact that Christ is the Son of God is mentioned in Acts, in this verse right here.

It's also mentioned later on in Acts 13.33 in a quotation from the Old Testament, where he quotes from the Old Testament about being God's son. But now let's see it. So let's look at this passage.

Let's look at Matthew 26.63.

Can someone read Matthew 26.63?

This is about the Son of God, how he was the Son of God and the Christ, all together. But Jesus held him at peace, and the high priest answered and said unto him, I adhere thee by the living God, that thou tell us whether thou be the Christ, the Son of God. Right. So he was questioning, are you the Christ, the Son of God? So that fact was known by the Jews. And that's exactly what Paul's going to preach. Here he is. He's a Christ. He's the Son of God. So that's his exact message. Okay, so now let's go over to 17.

And all those hearing continued to be amazed and were saying, is this not he who in Jerusalem destroyed those who called on this name? And who had come here for the purpose of bringing them down before the chief priest. But Saul kept increasing his strength confounded Jews who lived at Damascus by proving that Jesus is a Christ.

So those two words confounding and proving, confounding is this idea of it's He is so, his argument is just incredible. Every opposition you might bring up, he answers. We translate it amazing or perplexing. His arguments were, and we know Paul is just, you know, you look at Romans, it's just incredible. Nobody was his, humanly speaking, nobody was his match as far as logic and those sort of things. And he proved, or he demonstrated, His proofs were that Jesus is the Christ and they couldn't dispute it.

Okay, so now, down to 18. This is a parallel passage that talks about this time period, or recounts the time period. So I'm going to read 13 through 18. For you have heard of my former manner of life in Judaism. how I used to persecute the Church of God beyond measure and try to destroy it, and I was advancing in Judaism beyond many of my contemporaries among my countrymen, being more extremely zealous for my ancestral traditions.

But when God, who had set me apart even from my mother's womb and called me through His grace, was pleased to reveal His Son in me, so that I might preach him among the Gentiles. I did not immediately consult with flesh and blood, nor did I go up to Jerusalem to those who were apostles before me, but I went away to Arabia and returned once more up to Damascus. Then three years later I went up to Jerusalem to become acquainted with Cephas and stayed with him fifteen days."

So, there's a difference between apostles and disciples, right? Well, in some cases, you know, and that's true, the disciples probably could be the more broader, that could be all believers. Apostles, that's only the twelve apostles. So the apostles may not have been there, but other disciples could have been there.

Well, what we're going to see, he's going to, we're going to see that, he's going to talk with the apostles. Now, let me see, actually I didn't actually check that. He talks with Peter, and we're going to see that Barnabas is going to introduce him to the apostles in the Acts passage shortly here.

So actually, let's go to the next page here. And this is a nice colored picture. I have it colored, but you have it black and white. I'm sorry. It's actually 16. This shows a picture of Damascus up in Syria and then it shows Arabia. It's a land to the south and east where Jews live. It's also known as... Nabataeum. Thank you. Nabataeum. There on slide 19. Yes. OK.

And then the one you cannot read, I know, is this timeline. This is a firm timeline. Actually, it's from somebody. Anyway, if you can see it, it kind of shows a timeline that falls birth. It shows his conversion. And it has basically three years. And it kind of shows the ax account. Well, maybe we'll come back. This is another time. But I was just trying to show that. You know, those three years occurred, but it doesn't really fit nicely into the Acts account. It's not a bottom line.

I think there's maybe an out here. Paul actually stated in the later on in scripture for a day, maybe it wasn't Paul, but somebody stated in scripture, a day with the Lord is a thousand years and a thousand years is a day. I can't totally eliminate the possibility that Jesus took him ahead in time, through the three years, and brought him back in time to give the present. I know that's a reach, that's a big reach.

I don't know. I'd rather take the Galatians account and the Acts account and say, okay, I can't resolve. I can't exactly make them stick together, but I'm going to take them both to be true. I didn't know for every day purposes that seem to contradict. I feel wise to take them both as being true. I can't intermission. I appreciate your thought. OK. Twenty one. Someone read. 23-25.

When many days had elapsed, the Jews plotted together to do away with them, but their plot became known to Saul. They were also watching the gates day and night so that they might put him to death. But his disciples took him by night and let him down through an opening in the wall, lowering him in a large basket. There's actually a parallel account to this, too, which I'll go over quickly. So one thought, many days. Could that be three years? That seems like a stretch. When many days, it laps. It's not easily resolvable, as we see.

The Jews plotted together to do away with him. But their plot became known to Saul. They were watching the gates, day and night, so that they might not... So, you know, most... This is the massive... You know, cities had gates, and they had walls, and that was just the way they did cities.

But the disciples took him by night and led him, led him down to an opening in the wall, lowering him in a large basket. There's a parallel account, and I'll just read a portion of it here. In 2 Corinthians 11... It's actually 32 and 33. And it says, I was let down in a basket through a window in a wall, so as taped his hand.

So some think that one of the disciples of Christ had an apartment that was on the wall and had a window. So if you went in his new apartment, you could climb out the wall and climb out the window and go down the wall. That's what some believe. Which is not unreasonable when you consider the spies in Jericho. Yeah, that's a good point. You know, we're there at the wall and they let down the cord. It's a very similar thing. That's good. So is it like their way?

They didn't actually want to go in and kill him. They just wanted to wait till he was coming or going in that ghetto. Well, I don't know. It's not like they were looking, let's see, they didn't want to go in. So they're watching the gate. Like they didn't go in and go knocking on doors.

Well, they said that they might put him to death, right? Yeah. So if they had gotten a hold of Paul. Right. But they were, yeah, maybe they didn't know where he was or they'd wait until. Well, they figured if you have a walled city and you watch the gate, some people come over the walls and they don't jump off the wall. If you wait the gate, you'll find people going. Actually, someone's going to come through. We're going to get through. So I mean, that's my thought. And that's good about the sound. I'm the one that's like in Jericho, too. OK. All right. So could someone now read? We're getting close to the end here, folks. Great readers. Twenty six through 30 on three.

When he came to Jerusalem, he was trying to associate with the disciples, but they were all afraid of him, not believing that he was a disciple. But Barnabas took hold of him and brought him to the apostles and described to them how he had seen the Lord on the road, and that he had talked to him, and how at Damascus he had spoken out boldly in the name of Jesus. But he was with them, moving about freely in Jerusalem, speaking out boldly in the name of the Lord. And he was talking and arguing with the Hellenistic Jews, but they were attempting to put him to death. But when the brethren learned of it, they brought him down to Caesarea, and sent him away to Tarsus.

Thank you. OK, so on 24, when Esau came to Jerusalem, he was trying to associate with the disciples. So he was apparently making overtures, and apparently not having any success. They were afraid of him. And it says, not believing. And actually, it's a present tense. They were continually not believing him, that he was a disciple.

And you can see that. It's interesting. So it looks like Barnabas. Now, you kind of wonder if maybe this is where maybe the Lord, maybe he talked to Barnabas. Because it says, but Barnabas took hold of him. Another direct action, right? It's like I grab Bonnie and say, Bonnie, let's go. And I grab her. So he took hold of him.

Remember who Barnabas was? He was called the son of encouragement. Remember what he did? What was the thing that he did that was notable back there? It's in chapter 4. And what somebody tried to copy. Not too well. Gave a beneficial denomination. Right. He gave a proper gift with the right motivations. And he was well thought of. So and his name is the son of encouragement. So he. So the Lord used Barbas as a conduit. Go ahead. Something I'm confused about. So.

So Paul proclaimed that, he was in Tarsus, and then he goes to the Apostles, and then isn't it after that that he goes three years? No, no, okay, he was in Damascus, remember, he went to Damascus, that's where he was. Okay, at Damascus, yeah, he's from Tarsus. That's where we have the Acts account that says he was preaching in Damascus and then he had to escape from Damascus. They were looking for him at the gates. Went down to Damascus.

Then 26 says when he came to Jerusalem. They don't talk about his journey from Damascus back down to Jerusalem. So then he goes to Jerusalem. Remember in Galatians it says I did not consult with Fulton. It says that he didn't get to Jerusalem until after the three years. It looks like he left Damascus, went out in the desert, Arabia, and then came back to Damascus, and then escaped. So it wasn't that he went from Damascus to Jerusalem, met with the apostles, and then went to Arabia. No, no, he did that before. When he got to Jerusalem, he'd already been with the Lord for three years.

That's kind of a combination of the Galatians passage and the Acts passage. So basically, Peter takes hold of him and he brings him to the apostles. And so it doesn't give any detail about, you know, that he was told to do that. And it's interesting.

Barnabas describes it, not Paul. Barnabas describes what Paul did. He describes how he had seen the Lord in the road, how the Lord had talked to him, how at the Mass he had spoken out boldly in the name of Jesus. So Barnabas apparently was acquainted either by the Lord telling him or by knowing it in some other way. He knew and he trusted Paul, that Paul was really a believer.

So he was the conduit for that to happen. If they could have thought it was one of Paul's tricks. I know. I mean, you just disappeared for probably wondering where in the world he was. Thank you. Is there somebody come from the day that came into Holly Hills that you would you'd welcome with an open arm and come right on in. I might. Maybe not.

That's how bad he was. This is pretty amazing. Then on 25, and he was with them, the apostles. Once Barnabas convinced him of that, he moved freely in Jerusalem, speaking out boldly in the name of the Lord. It is important to realize that these If you read carefully, he was talking and arguing with the Hellenistic Jews and they had to be unbelieving. I mean, I'm assuming, you know, and they were attempting to put him to death, but he learned of it.

And then here's where he actually has to leave Jerusalem. He was blocked and they brought him down to Caesarea and sent him away to Tarsus. So that kind of ends this little, section on Paul. We're not going to see Paul again until Acts 11. We're going to go back to Peter.

But there's one of these summaries in here. On 26 and 27, those two charts, there's these summary passages. And this is the one that says, so the church throughout all Judea, Galilee, and Samaria enjoyed peace, being built up, and going on in the fear of the Lord. And in the comfort of the Holy Spirit, it continued to increase. So what's interesting here is that it was in the church of now spread. It enjoyed peace.

It's interesting. The Lord looks at things differently than we look at it, right? I mean, Paul's being driven out of it. He's preaching. He's preaching the word. And he runs for his life multiple times. And as he probably, I'm sure other believers that were preaching were, But the Lord looks at that kind of differently. He says, OK, they enjoy peace. I don't know, that's interesting. Constantly being built up, going on in the fear of the Lord, comforted by the Holy Spirit, and they continue to increase.

And on the very last chart, these are the summary statements and acts. There's actually one in chapter two, which I don't have on there. We had one in Acts 6-7, and this is the one that concludes this little section, and there will be another little summary statement in 12-24. Okay, so that's a lot. We kind of zoomed through that. Any additional thoughts or comments?

So we're going to go back to Peter here. We're going to go back and look at Peter. And we're going to see with Peter, I mean, the fact that you would at least have a hard time entering a Gentile's house. He doesn't even want to. The Jews, I mean, they were so, the Gentiles were, they were dogs.

So the fact that the Lord has extended his salvation to the Gentiles is a hard pill to swallow. I know one of the objections that I've heard before to the gospel, but you know, co-worker and others, is that, you know, how can, how can God save people that have done so many atrocious things? You know, in the life of Saul, how he, you know, breathing out threatening slaughters.

Paul's case, God says, I will show him how many things he's going to suffer. Why? Why is he going to suffer just because of his own spiritual growth? Or perhaps is he going to suffer because more or less a retribution or consequence of his previous actions? When a person accepts Christ, we think, well then it's all a bed of roses from here. My life is great and wonderful.

And you can't draw the connection from scripture that his sufferings are as direct as all of his previous life. Not at all. But you have to say that Christ can save whoever he wants, however he wants, whenever he wants, but that doesn't mean your life is going to be all just, you know, a monkey horse race. No, no, well actually I think that's one of the travesties of a lot of popular Christianity, especially, you know, the popular media, is that somehow becoming a Christian is, like you said, all better.

Everything is going to be groovy the rest of your life. Actually, the Lord says, no, it's not going to be that way. He's going to use suffering in a very particular way. He's going to use it for your benefit. And to realize that, and to accept that, and not to fight Him over that. Well, also for Paul, if Paul wouldn't have had suffering, it wouldn't have been as meaningful. If he would have went and just been like, Hey, everything's great and you know, it would have been suspicious because he just would have went to another position of pride and benefits. She was absolutely serious about it. Yeah. Yeah, it shows because now I can say Paul was serious because he suffered. The disciples, the apostles were serious because they suffered. If they would have went on and gotten rich and had their life, I would have been like, oh, they're doing it for themselves.

We live godly and Christ Jesus must suffer for us. There is just multitude and multitude and multitude of verses that say in the Christian life you will have suffering. Not because God is paying out retribution against you for your sins. It's just because that is part of the way God is working in a believer's life. You will have that. And actually he tells you to rejoice when all kinds of trials and temptations come into your life. to do the opposite, to rejoice on that. Which is what Paul did. Exactly, he very much did that way.

But you have to be careful at the same time that you don't use the sufferings as a proof of Christ's likeness. You look and see Joseph Smith, he suffered a lot. The Buddha, he suffered a lot. Muhammad, he suffered a lot. All these things, religions that continue to this day where their founders were persecuted And yet we know that that's false.

Suffering is not an indication of spirituality, neither is spirituality an indication of something. God works in each individual, but you cannot create your own reality when God gives a very different answer. Right, and it also doesn't mean that you can't enjoy what God gives you. And then it's like, oh, I'm not suffering, you know, I'm wrong.

Well, I remember, and I had the privilege of, Hal Maloy and I, and actually Bob Eccle too, we taught the trials and sufferings class back when Hal was with us here back in 2004. So it was a class just on trials and sufferings. So it went through the passages in James like we did recently. And I remember there was one day, there was somebody in the class, and they said, I'm not suffering. Should I worry? I'm persecuted. Should I worry about that? And I was kind of amazed.

I said, OK. I said, well, I don't know. I'm not sure they gave him an answer, but they said, I haven't had any trials in his mind. But it was a young person, too. I think it was. It was a young person. Anyone who was older was going, you know, well, you know. Maybe that person didn't even recognize it as a suffering or a trial. It could just be like, hey, this is my life. But I think some people, it was more than I think. I got the elbow. Why did you say that? May have been that he was studying those parts of the Bible that he was first getting familiar with. At the same time, he was suffering. And he decided, yes, to like, oh, Canada. At all, because he took with the right attitude. You know, I agree. You know, suffering is. And Paul says it's a temporary light affliction. Look at Paul's verbiage. The temporary light afflictions. Boy, some of the trials, some of the trials. This is a temporary light affliction.

So anyway. OK, well. Fantastic. So we'll carry on next week with the back to Peter. So we're going to have all this flip flopping like that. So now I'm more appreciative. I want so hard on the TV. I was going to complain about that. People that will flip back from different people in a soap opera fashion. They'll go to so-and-so. Well, in the axial, we're going between Peter, John, and Philip here all the place.

I said, well, maybe it's not so bad after all. But this is inspired. The other things are not. OK. Dear Father, thank you so much, Lord. Thank you for this day, Father. Thank you for the lessons we have. Lord, thank you for just a wonderful call Paul, how it's just a miraculous thing and how your purposes were carried out in his life. And we praise you for that, Lord. And we thank you that we are privileged to study your work. In Christ's name, amen.