Arrested

“Arrested by Jesus”

By Mark E. Hardgrove, D.Min.

Text: Acts 9:1-9

1 Then Saul, still breathing threats and murder against the disciples of the Lord, went to the high priest 2 and asked letters from him to the synagogues of Damascus, so that if he found any who were of the Way, whether men or women, he might bring them bound to Jerusalem.

3 As he journeyed he came near Damascus, and suddenly a light shone around him from heaven. 4 Then he fell to the ground, and heard a voice saying to him, "Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting Me?"

5 And he said, "Who are You, Lord?"

Then the Lord said, "I am Jesus, whom you are persecuting. It is hard for you to kick against the goads."

6 So he, trembling and astonished, said, "Lord, what do You want me to do?"

Then the Lord said to him, "Arise and go into the city, and you will be told what you must do."

7 And the men who journeyed with him stood speechless, hearing a voice but seeing no one. 8 Then Saul arose from the ground, and when his eyes were opened he saw no one. But they led him by the hand and brought him into Damascus. 9 And he was three days without sight, and neither ate nor drank.

INTRODUCTION

Have you ever met someone who was so opposed to the Good News of Jesus Christ, that they would not even let you bring up the name of Jesus around them? I mean someone who almost gets violent when you try to tell them that Jesus loves them?

I’ve met people like that over the years. Men and women who would even go the other extreme of speaking evil of Jesus and using the Lord’s in vain just because they knew that I was a Christian. I wondered why they were like that. Why they were so blatantly and aggressively opposed to God’s love through Jesus.

Do you know what I’ve come to believe? I’ve come to believe that in most of these cases the reason they are so opposed to the Good News is because they know in their spirit that you’re right. They know deep down that they need Jesus. They feel the pull of the Holy Spirit upon their heart, but instead of surrendering to Jesus, they rise up in hostile opposition. As Shakespeare said, they protest too much. Their protest, their over-the-top rejection, reveals what they are trying to deny and trying to hide, that is, that they know that they need Jesus, but they don’t want you to know that they know.

I.) SAUL AT STEPHEN’S HOME GOING

In Acts chapter 7 we read of a man named Stephen. He was one of the first seven deacons appointed to the church in Jerusalem. He was a man full of faith, and wisdom, and full of the Holy Spirit. We know this because these were the qualifications required of the men chosen to be deacons.

Stephen is obviously a man of faith who on fire for Jesus. God used the witness and the words of Stephen in a powerful way. He would go into the synagogues and using the Scriptures he would tell the people there that Jesus is the Messiah. His words were powerfully persuasive and in addition to that, God confirmed the preaching of Stephen with signs and wonders.

The rulers of the synagogue rejected the message but they could not resist the wisdom and Spirit by which Stephen spoke, and they could not deny the miracles. So they bribed some men to lie on Stephen and to tell the Sanhedrin council that Stephen had spoken blasphemous words against Moses and the Law.

The council asked Stephen if the accusations were true and Stephen said, in effect, “I’m glad you asked.” At that point Stephen launches into a sermon that begins with Abraham and ends him saying:

51 "You stiff-necked and uncircumcised in heart and ears! You always resist the Holy Spirit; as your fathers did, so do you. 52 Which of the prophets did your fathers not persecute? And they killed those who foretold the coming of the Just One, of whom you now have become the betrayers and murderers, 53 who have received the law by the direction of angels and have not kept it." (Acts 7:51-53)

 

I’m not sure how Stephen thought the council was going to respond to that last point, but you get the feeling that they’re not going to come running down the aisle to the altar to repent. Instead, the Bible tells us that they were “cut to the heart,” in other words it got to them. They were overcome with guilt and condemnation, but instead of repenting, they violently rejected Stephen. They fell into in a blind rage with their fists and their jaws clenched and grinding their teeth as their fury built to a fevered pitch.

What did Stephen do? Verses 55 and 56 of chapter 7 tell us:

55 But he, being full of the Holy Spirit, gazed into heaven and saw the glory of God, and Jesus standing at the right hand of God, 56 and said, "Look! I see the heavens opened and the Son of Man standing at the right hand of God!"

Again, this was not what they wanted to hear, so they put their hands over their ears and ran straight at him. They forced him out of the city and began to pelt him with large stones. Then, apparently wanting more freedom of movement to get a better throw, they took off their outer garments, their coats if you will, and laid them at the feet of a young man named Saul. They apparently trusted him not to let anyone steal their clothes while they pummeled Stephen to death.

Yet, Stephen kept his focus on Jesus. That’s hard to do, to keep our focus on Jesus when people are talking about us, or attacking us, or stabbing us in the back. It’s difficult to keep our eyes on Jesus, but when we don’t, when we look away from Jesus, we become like Peter and we begin to sink. We begin to sink into anger and hatred, into feelings of vengeance, and desires to get even. Stephen shows us that regardless of what happens, we need to keep our eyes on Jesus. He may have gone down under a heap of stones, but Stephen was taken up by angels into the glorious presence of the Lord.

As they violent rejected him and were in the process of putting him to death, Stephen was praying, "Lord Jesus, receive my spirit." And just before the fatal blow stuck, he prayed with a loud voice, "Lord, do not charge them with this sin." That’s sounds like the words of Jesus from the cross, doesn’t it? Jesus prayed, “Father, forgive them for they know not what they do.” You are never more like Christ than when you can forgive them who are coming against you and to seek their good and not evil.

Then we are told that Stephen fell asleep. It doesn’t say Stephen died, or that they killed Stephen, it says “he fell asleep.” That’s the peace in the midst of the storm, the victory that God has given believers over death. The old song said:

Soon I shall hear the call from Heaven's portals,
Come home my child, it's the last mile you must trod;
I'll fall asleep and wake in God's new Heaven,
Sheltered safe within the arms of God.

That’s the promise to the child of God and that’s what happened here to Stephen. He fell asleep on the streets of Jerusalem and awoke in heaven.

Chapter 8 verse 1 begins with this sentence, “Now Saul was consenting to his death.” In other words, Saul (who will later be known as Paul) was holding their coats and consenting to the actions of the murderous mob.

II.) SAUL’S SAVAGE ATTACK ON THE SAINTS

As a result of the persecution of the believers they began to disburse to other regions throughout Judea and Samaria. The Apostles stayed in Jerusalem, but these believers began to return home to places like Antioch and Rome, places where they took the light of the gospel and others churches were birthed.

Jesus said, “I will build my church and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it.” The persecution did not silence the church, it only fanned the flames and church continued to grow.

Where was Saul in all this? Verse 3 tells us, “As for Saul, he made havoc of the church, entering every house, and dragging off men and women, committing them to prison.” Saul is the man who protests too much. Why did Saul make it his personal mission to persecute the church? I believe it was because the message of Stephen and the witness of the believers were pulling upon the cords of Saul’s soul. He knew the Scriptures forward and backward, and somewhere deep down he was trying to fight the truth by silencing those who were speaking it.

Mark Rutland, a powerful preacher of the Word, says that he has preached in many prisons and jails over the years. He has spoken to the most hardened criminals imaginable, but he said he’s never afraid to speak to them. In fact, he said that every time he’s preached in a jail or prison, at least one person received Jesus. He said the people who he’s most afraid of preaching to are the church kids. Kid’s who grew up in church and have heard it all and seen it all. He said they sit on the back row of the church and look at him like, “What have you got? “

Saul was one of those kids. He grew up in synagogue and he knew the Scriptures, so no bunch of fishermen preachers were going to tell him that this Jesus was Messiah. Saul was going to stop the mouths of these heretics and get things back to normal in Jerusalem, and Saul didn’t care who he had to hurt to do it.

The frustrating thing for Saul was that more he persecuted the church, the farther they dispersed and they just kept preaching the word everywhere they went (v. 4). It reminds me of a man trying to stomp out a wildfire. The every time he stomps on one flame the sparks fly and more flames are started.

That’s the nature of the church. I’m not afraid of the Supreme Court, or a liberal president or Congress. I’d prefer one that is favorable to the Christian faith, but this is God’s church and history has shown us that the church has flourished during persecution and it tends to languish during when it isn’t. The church in China, for example, is being persecuted and it is growing by 1,000 new salvations every day. Christianity is growing faster in China under persecution than it is growing in America where we have religious freedom and the right to preach on the street corners and hand out tracks in the market places.

Saul tried to stop the church, but the church kept growing. It was frustrating for Saul and ultimately it was futile, but like so many people blinded by rage and denial, Saul presses ahead. Chapter 9 verses 1 and 2 tell us:

9:1 Then Saul, still breathing threats and murder against the disciples of the Lord, went to the high priest 2 and asked letters from him to the synagogues of Damascus, so that if he found any who were of the Way, whether men or women, he might bring them bound to Jerusalem.

Here’s the thing, when the hounds of heaven are on your trail you cannot shake them. I have no doubt that the sermon that Stephen preached that day was still ringing in Saul’s heart. He tried to silence the believers but he could not silence the Holy Spirit who was speaking into his heart, soul and mind.

Friends, when the Holy Spirit leads you to share Christ with someone, you can be sure that God is moving people and situations so that wherever they go, they’re going to run into someone, or hear something, or see something that reminds them of their need for a Savior. Sometimes all you will do is love them with the love of Christ, and they may even seem to be rejecting that, but even as God was moving in Saul’s life before Saul was willing to surrender, God moves and speaks into people’s hearts and God has a way of revealing himself to them in such a way until they throw up their hands and say:

I surrender all, I surrender all,

All to Thee, my blessed Savior,

I surrender all.

III.) SAUL ARRESTED BY JESUS

Saul had been going throughout Judea arresting believers, but on this day, even as Saul was breathing out threats and murders against believers, Jesus was about to arrest him. Look at your text, beginning at verse 3

3 As he journeyed he came near Damascus, and suddenly a light shone around him from heaven. 4 Then he fell to the ground, and heard a voice saying to him, "Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting Me?"

Remember, Saul had never witness the life or ministry of Jesus. He had only heard stories from believers and Saul, like so many today, probably thought that they were just myths and fairytales. But then Jesus showed up.

Folks, it’s one thing to talk about Jesus in the abstract, to talk about Him as a figure of history, or as a philosophical concept, but it is something else all together when Jesus shows up. The high and mighty aren’t so high and mighty any more. The brash and the bold are suddenly humbled. The strong become painfully aware of how weak they really are. Those who think they are invincible are brought face to face with their mortality.

When Jesus shows up, reality and is turned on its head. The first become last and the last become first. The lost man says, “I am found in Him.” The weak man says, “I am strong in Him.” The poor man says, “I am rich in Him.” When Jesus shows up paradigms shift, the invisible becomes real, the visible becomes temporal, demons tremble while believers rejoice, when Jesus shows up the gospel is preached to the poor, the broken hearted are healed, the captives are set free, blinded eyes are opened, and the oppressed are liberated.

Saul was on his way to persecute the believers, but then Jesus showed up and Saul would never be the same. Jesus asked, “Why are you persecuting Me?” Saul thought he was persecuting a heresy, but he when Saul raised his hand against the believers, he was raising his hand against the church, which is the body of Christ.

Jesus takes it personally when the world comes against His church. He loves us. He died for us and He will defend us.

Notice how Saul responds. He asks, "Who are You, Lord?" Saul refers the one who is speaking as “Lord.” I suspect that Saul knew who was speaking.

The Lord identified Himself. He said, "I am Jesus, whom you are persecuting. It is hard for you to kick against the goads."

In other words, “I am Jesus and it’s hard to fight against what you already know to be true.” People who protest too much, who so vigorously attack the truth, are probably fighting their own intuition that the truth is the truth. In verse 6 Saul finally surrenders to the truth. He surrenders his preconceptions. He surrenders his paradigms. He surrenders his life and his destiny to Jesus. He said, "Lord, what do You want me to do?"

CONCLUSION

It wasn’t until Saul surrendered to Jesus that Saul began to enter into his destiny. Until that day, until that moment, when the truth came cascading in upon Saul’s spirit, Saul just was a man going through the motions. He was alive, but he wasn’t living. He had power, but he wasn’t happy. He was wrestling with his own beliefs and fighting against the very truth that could liberate him. But then came Jesus, and on that dusty road Saul’s life would forever be changed.

You may know people like Paul before their encounter with Christ. They seem angry and hostile to the truth, but it is very likely that it isn’t you they’re opposing; it’s the truth that nips at their heels like the hounds of heaven. It’s the denial of what they already know to be truth and that is, that they need Jesus.

If you’re here today and you need to surrender to Him, Jesus is here to make a something beautiful of your life. I’m going to pray, and as I do, if you do not know Jesus as your personal Savior, this is your day. If you pray and believe in your heart that Jesus is Lord, and if you ask Him to forgive you of your sins, you will be saved.