Acts 9:1-31

Teacher: Rusty Kennedy
​Series: Acts

Rusty's Notes

Acts 9
THE DAMASCUS ROAD

• This story is referred to 3 times by Luke (Chapters 9, 22 & 26)

1 Now Saul was still breathing threats and murder against the disciples of the Lord. He went to the high priest 2 and requested letters from him to the synagogues in Damascus, so that if he found any men or women who belonged to the Way, he might bring them as prisoners to Jerusalem.

• In spite of his great learning (Acts 26:24), Saul was spiritually blind (2 Cor. 3:12–18) and did not understand what the Old Testament really taught about the Messiah.
• Like many others of his countrymen, he stumbled over the Cross (1 Cor. 1:23) because he depended on his own righteousness and not on the righteousness of God (Rom. 9:30–10:13; Phil. 3:1–10).
• Damascus had a large Jewish population, and it has been estimated that there could well have been thirty to forty synagogues in the city.
• The fact that there were already believers there indicates how effective the church had been in getting out the message.[1]

3 As he traveled and was nearing Damascus,

• Paul and team had to be getting pumped up right before they arrived.
• It’s almost game day!

a light from heaven suddenly flashed around him. 4 Falling to the ground, he heard a voice saying to him, “Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting me?”

• Jesus closely associated His disciples with Himself.

5 “Who are you, Lord?” Saul said.

• Lord was said out of respect.
• Paul had no idea it was the voice of the one who had come to persecute.

“I am Jesus, the one you are persecuting,” he replied.

• I would’ve had to change my shorts at that moment.
• When did Paul’s conversion actually happen?

6 “But get up and go into the city, and you will be told what you must do.”

• The Hebrew of the Hebrews would become the apostle to the Gentiles;
• the persecutor would become a preacher;
• and the legalistic Pharisee would become the great proclaimer of the grace of God.
• Up to now, Saul had been like a wild animal, fighting against the Shepherd’s rods; but now he would become a vessel of honor, the Lord’s “tool,” to preach the Gospel in the regions beyond.
• What a transformation!
• Paul lost his religion and gained the righteousness of Christ.
• His salvation is certainly a great encouragement to any lost sinner, for if “the chief of sinners” could be saved, surely anybody can be saved![2]

7 The men who were traveling with him stood speechless, hearing the sound but seeing no one.

• Paul was the only one to hear Jesus.
• Paul’s team heard the sound of thunder.

8 Saul got up from the ground, and though his eyes were open, he could see nothing. So they took him by the hand and led him into Damascus. 9 He was unable to see for three days and did not eat or drink.
 
SAUL’S BAPTISM
10 There was a disciple in Damascus named Ananias, and the Lord said to him in a vision, “Ananias.”
“Here I am, Lord,” he replied.

• Had to have been a Jew who converted and was a leader of the Church in Damascus.

11 “Get up and go to the street called Straight,”

• Bab Sharqi Street (show map)
• One of the oldest church buildings in existence today
• Orthodox Armenian Church

the Lord said to him, “to the house of Judas, and ask for a man from Tarsus named Saul, since he is praying there. 12 In a vision he has seen a man named Ananias coming in and placing his hands on him so that he may regain his sight.”
13 “Lord,” Ananias answered, “I have heard from many people about this man, how much harm he has done to your saints in Jerusalem. 14 And he has authority here from the chief priests to arrest all who call on your name.”

• Ananias’ first thought is resistance.

15 But the Lord said to him, “Go, for this man is my chosen instrument to take my name to Gentiles, kings, and Israelites. 16 I will show him how much he must suffer for my name.”

• This verse is a summary of Paul’s ministry.
• The one who once was the church’s most vehement persecutor would now be the one who would willingly accept persecution for the sake of the name.
• This is the core point of the Pauline conversion narrative.
• It reappears at its conclusion as Paul is shown persecuted by the Jews both in Damascus (9:23) and in Jerusalem (9:29).
• Paul’s conversion more clearly illustrates his transformation from persecutor to persecuted.[3]
• Paul was chosen to stand before kings and proclaim the Gospel.
• This is the first reference of taking the Gospel to the Gentiles.

17 Ananias went and entered the house.

• Have you ever walked into a place you didn’t want to?
• Ananias knew all about Saul and his history.
• Saul was a celebrity.

He placed his hands on him and said, “Brother Saul,

• That touch and those words right there were brought comfort to Saul.

the Lord Jesus, who appeared to you on the road you were traveling, has sent me so that you may regain your sight and be filled with the Holy Spirit.”
18 At once something like scales fell from his eyes, and he regained his sight. Then he got up and was baptized. 19 And after taking some food, he regained his strength.

• What actually energized Paul?
• Ananias?
• Food?
• Filling of the Holy Spirit?

 
SAUL PROCLAIMING THE MESSIAH
Saul was with the disciples in Damascus for some time. 20 Immediately he began proclaiming Jesus in the synagogues: “He is the Son of God.”

• Paul used this term many times in his letters but this is the only time Luke refers to Jesus as “the Son of God.”

21 All who heard him were astounded and said, “Isn’t this the man in Jerusalem who was causing havoc for those who called on this name and came here for the purpose of taking them as prisoners to the chief priests?”
 

• Galatians 1:15-20 - 15 But when God, who from my mother’s womb set me apart and called me by his grace, was pleased 16 to reveal his Son in me, so that I could preach him among the Gentiles, I did not immediately consult with anyone. 17 I did not go up to Jerusalem to those who had become apostles before me; instead I went to Arabia and came back to Damascus.
• Then after three years I did go up to Jerusalem to get to know Cephas, and I stayed with him fifteen days. 19 But I didn’t see any of the other apostles except James, the Lord’s brother. 20 I declare in the sight of God: I am not lying in what I write to you. [4]

22 But Saul grew stronger and kept confounding the Jews who lived in Damascus by proving that Jesus is the Messiah.
23 After many days had passed, the Jews conspired to kill him, 24 but Saul learned of their plot. So they were watching the gates day and night intending to kill him, 25 but his disciples took him by night and lowered him in a large basket through an opening in the wall.

• How humiliating it must have been for Saul to be led into Damascus as a blind man and then smuggled out like a common criminal (see 2 Cor. 11:32–33).[5]

 
SAUL IN JERUSALEM
26 When he arrived in Jerusalem, he tried to join the disciples, but they were all afraid of him, since they did not believe he was a disciple.

• This was not the “apostles”
• They were afraid he was sneaking into their small groups to arrest them.

27 Barnabas (same one from Acts 4), however, took him and brought him to the apostles and explained to them how Saul had seen the Lord on the road and that the Lord had talked to him, and how in Damascus he had spoken boldly in the name of Jesus.

• Barnabas was Saul’s encourager throughout his ministry.

28 Saul was coming and going with them in Jerusalem, speaking boldly in the name of the Lord.

• Similar to Stephen.

29 He conversed and debated with the Hellenistic Jews, but they tried to kill him. 30 When the brothers found out, they took him down to Caesarea and sent him off to Tarsus.

• Paul’s original home town.

 
THE CHURCH’S GROWTH
31 So the church throughout all Judea, Galilee, and Samaria had peace and was strengthened. Living in the fear of the Lord and encouraged by the Holy Spirit, it increased in numbers.
Once Saul stopped persecuting the Church and causing it to scatter… it began to grow again.

[1] Wiersbe, W. W. (1996). The Bible exposition commentary (Vol. 1, p. 439). Wheaton, IL: Victor Books.
[2] Wiersbe, W. W. (1996). The Bible exposition commentary (Vol. 1, p. 439). Wheaton, IL: Victor Books.
[3] Polhill, J. B. (1992). Acts (Vol. 26, p. 237). Nashville: Broadman & Holman Publishers.
[4] Christian Standard Bible. (2017). (Ga 1:15–20). Nashville, TN: Holman Bible Publishers.
[5] Wiersbe, W. W. (1996). The Bible exposition commentary (Vol. 1, p. 441). Wheaton, IL: Victor Books.