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Outline 058 of 100 · Acts

Saul's Conversion on the Damascus Road

Acts 9:1-22 — The transforming grace of Christ that reaches even His fiercest opponent

Hands-free narration of this study — good for the car.

Synopsis

Saul, breathing threats and slaughter against the disciples, sets out for Damascus to arrest believers, but is stopped by a light from heaven and a voice: 'Saul, Saul, why persecutest thou me?' Christ so identifies with His suffering church that persecuting believers is persecuting Him directly. Struck blind, Saul is led by the hand into the city, fasting and praying for three days until Ananias, despite understandable fear, obeys God's command to go and lay hands on him. Scales fall from Saul's eyes, he is filled with the Holy Ghost, baptized, and immediately begins preaching in the synagogues that Jesus is the Son of God — the very doctrine he had persecuted. This dramatic reversal is perhaps Scripture's clearest testimony that no sinner, however hostile or entrenched, is beyond the reach of grace. Righteousness by faith transforms not gradually improved character but a completely reoriented life, turning history's most zealous persecutor into its most tireless missionary.

  1. I. The persecutor exposed

    • Breathing threats and slaughter
    • Seeking authority to arrest believers
    • Confident in his religious zeal

  2. II. The encounter with Christ

    • A light from heaven above the sun's brightness
    • "Why persecutest thou me?"
    • Christ identifying with His suffering church

  3. III. The instruments of grace used

    • Ananias's fear overcome by obedience
    • "Behold, he prayeth"
    • Scales falling from Saul's eyes

  4. IV. The transformed life

    • Filled with the Holy Ghost, baptized
    • Immediately preaching Christ in the synagogues
    • "Is not this he that destroyed them?"
The appeal

If grace could reach and transform Saul, the church's fiercest persecutor, it can reach you and anyone you know who seems furthest from Christ. Will you trust that no one, including yourself, is beyond His saving power?

Key points

  • Christ identifies personally with His persecuted people.
  • No sinner, however hostile to the gospel, is beyond the reach of grace.
  • Genuine conversion reorients the whole direction of a person's life.

Key passages

  • Acts 9:3-5
  • Acts 9:15-18
  • Acts 9:20
  • Galatians 1:15-16