Salvation Stories:

Acts 9:1-31:
Throughout Redemptive History, we see God uses many different avenues to bring people into a relationship with Him. We see He sometimes uses a dramatic story, such as an Augustine, sometimes it’s a conversation, sometimes a sermon, sometimes it’s someone quietly contemplating Scripture in their own home. Regardless, there are some common threads in each and every conversion account. In Acts 9 we have the conversion of Saul recorded. Through this dramatic and well known account, we have some universal truths about conversion that can easily be seen.

Conversion begins with God (1-2)
~ Saul was the most unlikely of candidates for the outpouring of God’s grace. When we find Paul in this story, he is on his way to Damascus with letters in hand that give him permission to bind anyone and everyone who has converted to the cult of Christianity, and lead them back to Jerusalem for prosecution. Saul is actively hostile to God.

Although most are not this anti-Christ in their pre-conversion state, it is a good reminder that we are ALL hostile to God (Titus 3). No one seeks God (Romans 3), and no one does good. This is why salvation must be God initiated b/c man is bound to his sinful nature and has no inherit goodness in him.

Conversion only comes through Christ (3-9)
~ Our world today is increasingly pluralistic. Sincerity is a buzz word. The truth is sincerity doesn’t matter, truth matters. I can sincerely dispute the law of gravity, but the second I step off the edge of the roof, I will fall to the ground. Sincerity only matters if you have truth.

Paul was the ultimate religious individual. This encounter isn’t necessary if there was another path to God. Judaism without Christ is a false religion – then and now.

This amazing story is a demonstration of God’s goodness, power, sovereignty, grace, and care for individual souls.

Conversion brings brokenness over sin (9b)
~ Saul is given a few days off by God. After his ‘blinded by the light’ encounter, he sits for 3 days – taking no food or even water. I would imagine he isn’t real chatty either. He’s broken over his sin. He’s recalling faces of those that he has persecuted, he’s thinking about his life and how it must now change.

This is a common experience in salvation. When one understands the God of the Bible, this sheds amazing light on your understanding of yourself.

Conversion produces a desire for prayer (v 11)
~ Saul is found praying. I would recommend JC Ryle’s “A Call to Prayer” on this point. It is excellent.

Conversion changes your friendships (19.b)
~ Saul goes and finds the disciples of Damascus. As Christians, we must seek out other Christian friends. We’re kidding ourselves if we think we can live the Christian life without having genuine fellowship. This is a particularly appropriate point with the students that I minister to.

Conversion changes your mission (20-31)
~ Saul’s goal in life shift radically from killing the church to building her up. He shifts from being angered by Christ to loving Him and proclaiming him in the synagogues – exactly what he went to Damascus to stop.

Saul’s story is radical. But we all are to be on mission for Christ, no matter what job you have. Every day is an opportunity to glorify God and to make him known to an unbelieving world.