Before he became the Apostle Paul, Saul was a fire-breathing persecutor of the Christians. However, during a blinding experience with Jesus on the road to Damascus, his life was changed in what seemed like an instant. What happened in that light that caused the sudden, drastic conversion of this man, and what lessons does this story have for us today?

<p>Before he became the Apostle Paul, Saul was a fire-breathing persecutor of the Christians. However, during a blinding experience with Jesus on the road to Damascus, his life was changed in what seemed like an instant. What happened in that light that caused the sudden, drastic conversion of this man, and what lessons does this story have for us today?</p>

<p>Free sharing permitted under the Creative Commons <a rel="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/3.0/us/">BY-NC-ND 3.0 (US)</a> license.</p>

Collegedale Korean SDA Church

Alistair Huong

The Converting Light

Gracious Heavenly Father, we are thankful for the Bible, for the salvation that is freely given to us in Jesus Christ.

And this morning, as we come to better understand how we can take advantage of that gift, May your Holy Spirit be here.

May he be the presenter and may he custom make this message to meet the individual needs of each 1 of us here.

This morning I want to study with you the second most repeated story in the New Testament.

Now, what is the number 1 most repeated story?

Well it happens to also be the most important.

The story of the crucifixion is repeated in all 4 Gospels and of course it is alluded to many more times throughout the New Testament.

But what is the second most repeated story?

Some people might say the birth of Jesus, right?

If the title of the message is any clue to you, that's probably the best thing I can tell you.

The story is repeated 3 times in the book of Acts.

Acts chapter 9, Acts chapter 22, and Acts chapter 26.

And we are going to be looking at the Acts 26 account.

So turn your Bibles there with me now if you have your Bibles.

And the second most repeated story in the New Testament happens to be the conversion story of Paul.

The Apostle Paul who once was called Saul, and I'll just make this confession now.

This story, we're gonna be discussing Paul pre-conversion, when he was called Saul, as well as the Apostle Paul, which is post-conversion.

And you understand the difficulty of keeping those 2 straight.

So Paul, Saul, forgive me if I mix them up, you know, if you want a nitpick, you know, it's probably going to happen.

I'm going to call Paul or Saul, Paul, before he became Paul.

I'm probably going to call Paul Saul after he became Paul.

Forgive me if I confuse you, but they're the same guy.

Acts chapter 26, Paul is before King Agrippa.

He's been imprisoned and he is now giving a defense of himself.

Unto which promise are 12 tribes, instantly serving God day and night, hoped to come, for which, hope's sake, King Agrippa, I am accused of the Jews?

Why should it be thought a thing incredible with you that God should raise the dead?

I verily thought with myself that I ought to do many things contrary to the name of Jesus of Nazareth.

Verse 10 is where the story really begins.

Which thing I also did in Jerusalem, and many of the saints did I shut up in prison, having received authority from the chief priests.

And when they were put to death, I gave my voice against them, and I punished them oft in every synagogue, and compelled them to blaspheme.

And being exceedingly mad against them, I persecuted them even unto strange cities." You see the picture of Saul, the persecutor.

This was before he became a Christian, when he was still of the Pharisee of the Sanhedrin, he was not a nice guy.

Verse 12, whereupon, as I went to Damascus with authority and commission from the chief priests, at midday, O King, I saw in the way a light from heaven above the brightness of the sun shining round about me and them which journeyed with me.

Verse 14, And when we were all fallen to the earth, I heard a voice speaking unto me, and saying in the Hebrew tongue, Saul, Saul, why persecutest thou me?

It is a hard thing for thee to kick against the bricks.

And he said, I am Jesus, whom you persecutest.

But rise and stand upon thy feet, for I have appeared unto thee for this purpose, to make thee a minister and a witness, both of these things which thou hast seen and of those things in the which I will appear unto thee, delivering thee from the people and from the Gentiles unto whom now I send thee, to open their eyes and to turn them from darkness to light, and from the power of Satan unto God, that they may receive forgiveness of sins and inheritance among them which are sanctified by faith that is in me." So here we see the familiar story depicted by Paul, the road to Damascus experience.

There he was on the horse at noontime and bang!

A bright light comes, knocks him and all of his companions off of their horses, and in an instant, this conversation in the light did not take a long time.

In that instant, in that moment, that brief encounter, we see Saul becoming Paul.

In almost what seems like a split second, in a moment, Paul was converted.

He went from a fire-breathing persecutor to being an apostle of the man whose followers he had been putting to death in 1 short encounter in the light.

Let's look in Revelation, keep your finger in Acts 26.

The Apostle John now is writing, he says, and in the midst of the 7 candlesticks, 1 like unto the Son of Man, clothed with a garment, down to the foot and girt about with paps with a golden girdle.

He sees the Son of man in the midst of the 7 golden candlesticks.

He goes on to describe the physical characteristics of the Son of Man, and verse 16 he says, and he had in his right hand 7 stars, and out of his mouth went a sharp two-edged sword, and his countenance, which is also his face, was as the sun shineth in his strength.

So John sees the face of Jesus, and his description of the face of Jesus is that it is shining like the sun.

And the apostle Paul, or Saul, in the road to Damascus, he sees a light that is brighter than the sun.

And how does he know it's brighter than the sun?

Because he's out in the middle of the day, at noon time, at midday, and he sees a light that's brighter than the noonday sun.

And in that encounter, we know that he saw Jesus, and we know now, Revelation 1 tells us, that the light emanated from the face of Jesus.

You remember Moses, when he saw God face to face, he comes down and his face was aglow with the light of God.

Stephen, And we're going to come back to Stephen.

When he was giving his defense, they say his face shone as though it was an angel.

And here we see Saul has an encounter in the light that shone from the face of Jesus and instantly he becomes a different man.

Instantly he changes course 180 degrees and he goes from persecuting to being 1 of the persecuted.

What happened in that short moment in time that converted this fire-breathing persecutor, and what lesson does it have for me?

Because if somehow God can change someone as against him as the Apostle Paul in the span of such a short time, surely he can change me.

That's the question we're going to try to answer in the balance of our time together.

Number 1, in the light, Saul was convinced.

Let's think together a little bit about what Paul believed prior to his conversion.

What was his understanding and his level of belief in this man named Jesus Christ?

What did he know and what did he believe about Jesus?

Well, let me ask you, did Paul, Saul, did he believe that Jesus was a literal, physical, human being who lived in Israel?

It's Not until later on in history that infidels and skeptics begin to revise history in the attempt to say Jesus is a mythical figure.

He knew Christ, or Jesus rather, was a real physical human being.

Okay, now did he believe then that Jesus was an influential teacher?

Of course, because why else would he be persecuting these people who claim to be followers of Jesus?

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The Converting Light

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