Acts 9:1-43 - Saul's Conversion

1. Themes
   1. To persecute the church is to persecute Christ
   2. God exercises sovereignty over his instruments in order to greatly glorify Himself
   3. We find Saul en route to Damascus, to collect letters from the synagogues there, that he might persecute the Christians known by the Jews.
   4. Christ appears to Saul and strikes him blind, questioning Saul as to why he is persecuting Him. We should note here that Saul has been targeting Christians, yet Christ identifies this persecution as directed towards Himself, for we are His bride, and His hands and feet in the world.
   5. So it is only natural that Christ sends Saul to be cared for and restored by the church, namely Ananias in this instance.
   6. When Ananias is told by Christ to go to this man Saul, we see that Ananias knows of this man. Saul's reputation as a harsh and violent man, set against the church, is already well-known.
   7. Christ answers Ananias by identifying Saul as a chosen instrument, who will even go before kings. This is not to identify Saul alone as an instrument, but to say that Christians are His instruments, and to clarify that Saul is to be accepted as one in the church.
   8. Ananias clearly understood this, for upon meeting Saul he calls him "Brother", baptizes him, and feeds him.
   9. Such a grand and public enemy of the gospel being converted works as a great evidence of the gospel. We see this in Saul's preaching to the Jews in Damascus, which confounded them and gave them no excuse.
   10. Often I have heard people consider individuals to be excluded from the gospel that their sin is too great to be eligible, but in Saul we see instead that Christ can and does turn grand instruments of sinful destruction into grand instruments of His church.
   11. Let us not wrongfully limit God's sovereignty in salvation, but rather praise and expect great works of redemption from our Lord.