48 Acts 9: 19-22 SAUL PREACHING AT DAMASCUS Introduction: In our previous text Saul of Tarsus was led into the city of Damascus blind. He was led to the house of a man named Judas, who was apparently an officer in one of the Jewish synagogues of Damascus. He remained blind for three days and would neither eat nor drink. The Lord then sent one of His disciples by the name of Ananias to Saul to restore miraculously restore his sight to him and baptize him. Ananias was then to inform Saul that the Lord had chosen him to preach the gospel to the Gentiles. Our text today takes up at that point and tells about Saul preaching the gospel at Damascus. I. Saul in the home of Judas You will remember that Saul had been led to the house of a Jewish man by the mane of Judas. It was not Judas Iscariot, of course. That Judas was dead. I was in the house of Judas that Saul had been three days without food and drink. It was there in the house of Judas that he now took nourishment. It was probably Judas or one of his household who brought him the food that he now ate. V. 19, “And when he had received meat, he was strengthened...” The word, meat, as used in Scripture does not necessarily mean the flesh of animals. It simply means food, whether flesh, grain or vegetables. The food that he ate could have been all of these. He had been three days without food. He had refused to eat or drink. Now that he has received his eyesight he was encouraged and he accepted food. It is to be presumed that he also drank water at this time. He was strengthened physically by the food. We can be sure that Saul was still in the house of Judas. After three days and three nights without food or drink he was too weak to go anywhere else. After eating his physical strength revived. Since Saul had now been in the home of Judas for three days, one cannot help but wonder just what effect Saul’s presence there had upon Judas. He surely must have known why Saul had come to Damascus from the time that Saul arrived at his home. He knew that Saul had come to Damascus for the purpose of arresting Christians that he might find attending the Jewish synagogues there. IL think that we can understand from this that Judas was not a Christian. He would not have wanted a man in his whom who was there to arrest Christians if he had been a Christian. He would have been afraid to hive him there. During those three days he surely must have heard from those who had led Saul to his home about Saul being blinded by a brilliant light from heaven and about having heard a voice from heaven speaking to Saul. Surely Saul, himself, told Judas about his experience and told him plainly that he had talked with someone in heaven and that the person in heaven had identified Himself as Jesus whom he had persecuted. Judas must have been present when Ananias came into his home and miraculously restored Saul’s eyesight to him and informed Saul that Jesus had chosen him to preach the gospel to the Gentiles. Judas had seen and heard all of this. We have no reason to believe that Judas was already a Christian. Nor are we told that he ever became a Christian. But we cannot help but wonder if after hearing about Saul’s experience with Jesus out of the road and after witnessing the miraculous healing of Saul’s eyes if Judas, himself, did not become a Christian under such a strong Christian influence. The Christians in Damascus whom Saul had come to arrest had not broken with the Jewish religion. They had not stopped attending the Jewish synagogues which were in Damascus. All of their lives they had been taught to believe that God would some day send His Christ. It was perfectly in line with their Jewish religion and their Jewish upbringing to continue to attend the Jewish synagogues even though they had come to believe that Jesus is the Christ. That is where Saul had expected to find Christians --- in the synagogues. It was there that he had expected to arrest them and to carry them back to Jerusalem as prisoners. II. Saul in the homes of the Christians (V. 19), “...Then was Saul certain days with the disciples which were at Damascus.” In the latter part of verse 19 we are told that Saul went into the homes of some of the Christians. This means that he left the home of Judas and went to the homes and the meeting place of the Christians. Apparently he home of Judas with Ananias, the Christian whom the Lord had sent to restore his eyesight and to inform him of his calling to witness to the Gentiles. It must have been Ananias who called the Christians together to meet with him and to hear his testimony of salvation. It is worthy of note that now Saul did not go there to arrest them as he had originally intended to do. He went there to fellowship with them and to strengthen them in their commitment to the Lord. It was probably after this meeting with the Christians that Saul was baptized although his baptism is not mentioned here by Luke. It had already been mentioned earlier and Luke did not feel it needful to mention it again here. Saul’s meeting with the Christians must have been a real joyous occasion. Their greatest enemy had been saved and was no longer an enemy. He was now one of them. He was their friend. He was their brother in Christ. They must have rejoiced to hear Saul tell about the conversation he had with Jesus while he was on the road to Damascus. They must have rejoiced to see him baptized. They must have strengthened in their own faith in the Lord and in their commitment to serve Him. It must have been quite a revival. They did not vote to have a revival meeting, but I am convinced that they had one. III. Saul preaching in the synagogues V. 20, “And straightway he preached Christ in the synagogues, that he is the Son of God.” The word, straightway, means “right away, without delay, very soon.” Saul did not waste any time getting into his new assignment. He went into the synagogues and began to tell the people that Jesus of Nazareth, the one who had been crucified at Jerusalem, had arisen from the grave and that He is the Christ, the Son of God. V. 21, “But all that heard [him] were amazed, and said; Is not this he that destroyed them which called on this name in Jerusalem, and came hither for that intent, that he might bring them bound unto the chief priests?” When Saul arose and spoke proclaiming Jesus to be the Christ and the Son of God, this astounded the people. They would not have been surprised in he had asked for the names of Christians so that he could arrest them, but they were caught off guard when he said that Jesus is the Son of God. It seems that just about everybody by this time had heard how Saul had persecuted the Christians in Jerusalem and that he had made this trip to Damascus to take the Christians there as prisoners. He would go to one synagogue one sabbath and to another the following sabbath. I do not know how many synagogues there were in Damascus, but Saul apparently made the round to them all. Luke does not tell us whether or not anyone believed Saul and became a Christian, but the implication is that a good number did. Luke also very strongly implied that there were some who argued against what Saul was saying. They voiced their disbelief of what he was saying, but they were not able to meet his arguments. V. 22, “But Saul increased the more in strength...” Back in verse 19 it was said that Saul increased in strength, but there it was talking about him increasing in physical strength after he took nourishment. But here Luke is talking about him increasing in spiritual strength. He increased in spiritual strength to the point that he was able to confound the Jews and those who would argue against what he was saying could not answer his arguments. (V. 22), “...and confounded the Jews which dwelt at Damascus, proving that this is very Christ.” He was able to speak to them out of conviction. It was well known that he had persecuted the Christians at Jerusalem. He most certainly would not be speaking now for Christ unless he was now fully persuaded now that Jesus is the Christ. He was speaking to them out of experience. He had an experience on the road to Damascus which had convinced him that he had been wrong. He had seen a light from heaven. The men who had been with him could verify this, because they, too, had seen the light. He had talked with Jesus. The men who were with him had heard the voice of Jesus and could verify that someone from heaven had spoken to him, even though they could not understand the words and could not verify that it was Jesus. But neither could they deny that it was Jesus. He had been stricken blind and had been miraculously healed. Judas, himself, could verify this and all who had seen him could verify this. But Saul had better proof than this that he was telling the truth. He was able to cite them to Old Testament prophecies that verified that Jesus is the Christ. Scripture is the best proof of all that he was right and that Jesus is the Christ. V. Hearing Saul’s testimony Don’t you wish you could have listened in on one of those sessions in the synagogues when Saul related his experience with the Lord on the Damascus road. I do. Don’t you wish we could have Saul with us here in this service this morning to preach to us and to tell us all about his experience on the road to Damascus and about his experiences in the synagogues at Damascus? I do. Don’t you look forward to the time when we can get together in heaven and we will have the privilege of listening to him tell us all about it? I do. I want to find out if Judas, in whose home he stayed, got saved as a result of his testimony about Jesus. If, so I want to meet him and talk to him. I want to find out how many in those synagogues got saved and meet them. I want to ask Saul what Old Testament Scriptures he used to prove to them that Jesus is the Christ. V. My concern here today I know that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, the Savior of men, just as Saul said He is. I know that Saul is a saved man and that I will one day see him in heaven. I know that Ananias was a saved man and that he, too, will be in heaven. I know that all of the people in those synagogues who believed Saul’s message about Jesus Christ got saved and that they, too, will be in heaven. I know that Jesus Christ is my Savior and that someday I will see all those people who got saved back then. I have reason to believe that many of you are saved and that some day I will see you in heaven. The problem is that I do not know about all of you. There just may be some of you here this morning who have never been saved. If so, there is another thing I know that is very important. I know that you have an opportunity this morning to get saved this morning. You can call upon Jesus and ask Him to cleanse you of every sin and save your soul. Conclusion: 1. Will you trust your destiny into the hands of Jesus? Will you do it now? 2. If there is anyone here who is already saved who will come forward to present yourself to this church? Will you do it now? 3. If there is anyone present who is saved and who has a desire to place his membership place his membership here in this church, will you come now? But what I am even more concerned about than how many of those people really believed in Jesus and were saved is just how many here have really believed in Jesus Christ and have been saved. How many are here in this service this morning are really concerned about their eternal destiny and would like to get things right with God? How many this morning are ready to put their faith in Jesus as their own personal Savior? How many are willing to come forward this morning to give public testimony of your trusting faith in Jesus as your Savior? How many who have already been saved are ready now to follow Jesus in baptism and to unite with the Lord’s church here at Pleasant Hill? How many who have already been saved and baptized are ready to come forward to place your membership here in this church to serve the Lord in this church? Conclusion: Who will come in this invitation and trust Jesus and get saved?