Let's take our Bibles once again and turn back to Acts and Chapter 9. Acts and Chapter 9 and the passage that we read from verse 19 to verse 31. Now, last Sunday evening, we looked at the account from the beginning of this chapter of that marvelous and miraculous conversion of Saul of Tarsus, who later becomes known in the Scriptures as Paul the Apostle. And as we said, at the time, a more unlikely convert to Jesus Christ you could never imagine. a self-confessed pharisee of the pharisees, a man who worked in opposition to the gospel with great zeal and great energy and who persecuted the church even to the point of traveling the 150 miles from Jerusalem to Damascus with the intent of gathering up those there in the synagogues who named the name of Jesus Christ that he might carry them back to Jerusalem bound to stand trial before the high priest. He sought to punish anybody who believed in Jesus Christ and even sought their lives on occasion. But the great Puritan theologian John Owen reminds us that the more difficult the disease is to cure, the more glory goes to the physician. Christ calls to himself the worst of sinners, so that he might receive the greater glory for their salvation. Saul may have been an unlikely convert, But the brutal fact of the matter is that it takes a miracle of the grace of God and of the love of God and of the mercy of God and of the power of God for anyone to be saved. For all of us, those of us here who know the Lord Jesus Christ, those of us who rest in the assurance of salvation in His name, it is only because that miracle, that wonder has been done in us, in you. But we must move on. And the verses that we're going to look at this evening tell the story of the early life or the early ministry of Saul. Saul later gives us, Paul rather, later gives us a little bit of context for the timing of the things that Luke writes here. Paul writing to the Galatians in Galatians chapter 1 says this, when God who set me apart from my mother's womb and called me by His grace was pleased to reveal His Son in me so that I might preach Him among the Gentiles, My immediate response was not to consult any human being. I did not go to Jerusalem to see those who were apostles before I. But I went to Arabia. Later, I returned to Damascus. Then after three years, I went to Jerusalem to get acquainted with Peter and stayed with him 15 days. I saw none of the other apostles, only James, the Lord's brother. And so those words of Paul we see in the context of what's going on here, the events that are described in these verses take place over those three years that Paul talks about in his letter to the Galatians. But coming back though to these verses in Acts 9, our passage tonight, the one thing which stood out to me as I read these verses, above all else, Because there's a lot going on in this text, isn't there? There's three years of Saul's history here, and there are a number of events that take place, which Luke very briefly gives us some summaries of. It's a very busy text in that sense. But in the midst of it, the one thing that stood out to me is that Saul, Paul, was called to a gospel ministry. And that's the title that I want to give tonight's message, A Gospel Ministry. Firstly, I want to say this, that the gospel is the truth about Jesus Christ. Look with me at verse 20. Immediately, straight away, as soon as he had the energy, We read in verse 19, he's been baptized in verse 18, he's received his sight, he's baptized, he eats and he's strengthened, he spends some time with the disciples, with the church at Damascus, and then he preaches Christ. I'm sure that not many in those days turned up in the synagogues in Damascus expecting to hear such a message from Saul. Now the very fact that Saul was heading that way kind of indicates to us that there were believers in the synagogues in Damascus. So there were those who were proclaiming the name of Jesus in that place. But I imagine not many of those Jews, as they sat there in the synagogues, were expecting when Saul of Tarsus stood up to hear the Gospel of Jesus Christ and Him preached as the Son of God. It would have been a bit of a shock to them, I suspect. Here he is though, Saul, that Pharisee of Pharisees, the zealous persecutor of the church, preaching Jesus Christ. talking about this man from Nazareth who traveled and taught his way around the land for three years, who was taken by evil hands and crucified, and who rose from the dead after three days. Saul is preaching Jesus as the Son of God. And that really is at the center of the Gospel, isn't it? The Gospel is the truth about Jesus Christ. It is good news. It is good news that God, in His eternal mercy, in His grace and love to us, has sent Jesus, has sent His Son, the one He promised. He is the Christ, the Messiah, the promised one of old, sent for the salvation of many. And here is Saul preaching that message, having just a few weeks, maybe a few months previously, been violently opposed to it. The Jews were perhaps those that were expecting their Messiah. They were looking for someone who would restore the earthly kingdom. who would drive away the Roman occupiers, who would be a second David to rule over them with power and authority to lead. And what they didn't expect was that this Messiah would suffer. What they didn't expect that this Messiah would die. They didn't expect that He would be the Son of God who would die for the sins of His people. And that the kingdom that He brought is not of this world, but is far greater, far more all-encompassing than the land and the nation of Israel. It says here in verse 20 that He preached Jesus, that He is the Son of God. What do we mean by that? Well, the Gospel describes Jesus as the Son of God, and it's a really key part of the Gospel that He is the Son of God. We need to understand that there's more to that relationship between Father and Son than there is between an earthly Father and Son, but certainly not less than that. You see, God the Son is not simply born in time. He is eternally begotten of the Father. That is from before all creation. The Son of God is begotten, not made. He is not a creation. He is not a creature like you and I. that He would have a beginning. He is of one substance with the Father. One with Him in glory. One with Him in power. One with Him in His act of creation as we read at the beginning of John's Gospel. There was nothing in the world that was made that was not made through Him. Father and Son united in purpose. United in being. And so preaching Christ as the Son of God with power and with strength, Saul amazes and confounds the Jews. Because he surely presented to them these prophecies of old that they knew very well, but they failed to understand. And they didn't see in Jesus that long-promised Messiah. But Saul presents it to them, and he confounds them. They have no argument to bring, like Stephen before him in chapter 6. They have no answer to bring for him. Because the gospel is an amazing and a confounding truth. That God Almighty, we were talking about that this morning, weren't we? God Almighty, the Ruler of Heaven and Earth, the Creator of all things, the Eternal One from before time, the One who changes not, has taken to Himself human flesh in His Son, the Lord Jesus Christ. And in Him, there is salvation. In Him, there is hope. In His death, in His blood, there is the forgiveness of sins. The gospel is truly amazing good news. And Jesus Christ, the Son of God, is the power unto salvation. Paul, later in his life, writes to the Corinthian church, 1 Corinthians chapter 1 verse 23, he says, We preach Christ crucified to the Jews as stumbling blocks and to the Greeks foolishness, but to those who are called both Jews and Greeks, Christ, the power of God and the wisdom of God. The Gospel is the truth about Jesus Christ. Secondly, the Gospel, and preaching the Gospel, and talking about the Gospel, and proclaiming the Gospel of Jesus Christ, often results in persecution. The Gospel often results in persecution. Verse 23, After many days were passed, the Jews plotted to kill him. They couldn't defeat him with their reason. They were confounded by him. So as they did with Stephen, so they sought to do with Saul. It happens again when he reaches Jerusalem. He had that trouble in Damascus. He had the same problem in Jerusalem. In Damascus, it was the Jews. In Jerusalem, it's the Hellenists. Verse 29, He spoke boldly in the name of the Lord Jesus and disputed against the Hellenists, but they attempted to kill Him. They wanted to silence Him. They wanted to kill Him because of His powerful ministry. They wanted to kill Him because of the Gospel. But the disciples, when it says the disciples in Damascus, it's not talking about the 12 disciples who were with Jesus, it's talking about the church there. They help him to escape, and we get this vivid picture, don't we, of Saul escaping, being lowered down from the city walls in a basket. Must have been quite an interesting and exciting night. They're watching all the gates. There's no escape through the gates. And so he is lowered down from the walls. Persecution is one of the repeated themes of the book of Acts. It comes back again and again, particularly with the name of Saul and Paul attached to it. It's ongoing. It's sometimes intense. The persecution suffered by the followers of Jesus, and particularly by those who taught and preached in Jesus' name. Why is this? Why does God allow His church and His gospel to be persecuted? Listen to this, Jesus said this to his disciples in Matthew chapter 10 verse 16, Behold, he said, I send you out as sheep in the midst of wolves. Therefore be wise as serpents and harmless as doves. But beware of men, for they will deliver you up to councils and scourge you in their synagogues. You will be brought before governors and kings for my sake as a testimony to them and to the Gentiles, as a testimony to them. But when they deliver you up, do not worry about how or what you should speak, for it will be given to you in that hour what you should speak, for it is not you who speak. but the Spirit of your Father who speaks in you." And so when the truth of Jesus is proclaimed, when it is proclaimed from the pulpit, when it is shared in the street, when it is spoken aloud and testified to by His people, by His children, then the devil will be sure to be at work as well. He will snatch away that word from the ears of those who hear it, and he'll do anything to do that. He'll distract. He'll confound. He'll confuse. He will kill and destroy. He comes out against the church. He comes out against the Lord people at different times and in different ways. Sometimes stirring up discontent and trouble from within the church, even within our own lives, in our own hearts, in our own families. Sometimes he brings trials and pressures from outsides. He'll do all he can, everything within his evil power, to silence the testimony of the church, to disrupt or corrupt the message of the gospel so it cannot be heard, to twist it so it cannot save. But as the Apostle John writes, as he encourages the church to stand against the spirit of the Antichrist, which denies that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh, 1 John 4, verse 4, he said, you are of God, little children, and have overcome them. Because He who is in you is greater than he who is in the world. He who is in you is greater than he who is in the world. And so as the Lord Jesus said in that reading from Matthew, it is as a testimony. We suffer persecution. It is as a testimony. We are laid before the world. Now what we know of persecution here in the West and here in the UK is really small, it's really slight, isn't it? We don't really know the kind of persecution, we don't taste the trials and the troubles of believers, of brothers and sisters in other parts of this world. But sometimes it is closer than you think. And yet in that persecution, In all that Satan tries to do and all that the world tries to do to silence the gospel and shut up believers, God is working His purposes out. Because throughout all of the persecution we see in the book of Acts, God still builds His church. And we'll see that as we come to our next couple of points. And so my third point this evening is that the gospel binds believers together. The gospel binds believers together. Look with me at verse 27. Barnabas took him and brought him to the apostles. Because when Paul returned to Jerusalem, after those three years away, The church there is still afraid of him. In one sense, you can understand that. He was the author of so much trouble and persecution for them. He was approving to the death of Stephen, and no doubt was involved in the death, persecution, arrests of others as well. And so they're very reluctant to receive Him as one of their own. They're reluctant to believe Him. They're afraid of Him. But, it is Barnabas, that One whom the Apostles named the Son of Encouragement. We first meet Him back in chapter 4, verse 36. It is Barnabas who steps into the breach. and brings him to the apostles who gladly hear of Saul's testimony of how the Lord stopped him on the road to Damascus and how he boldly preached Christ in that city. And he's received by them. The apostles receive him into their fellowship. And he spends time with them and no doubt he learned a great deal from them about Jesus. He learned from those who were with Jesus because he himself had met Jesus on the Damascus Road, the risen Jesus. And after he's received by them, what does he do? He goes on and he speaks boldly. He speaks boldly, verse 29, in the name of the Lord. For this Gospel, this Saviour, the Lord Jesus Christ, has the power to bind even enemies together. To bring those who are on opposing sides of conflicts, to bring even the enemies of Christ Himself into the fold, into the sheepfold, into His own Kingdom, His own Church. I'm sure that Saul, in his days of persecuting the church, would have loved to have gotten his hands on Peter, or James, or John, or any of the apostles, but here he is! Here he is, numbered with them, going in and out among them, as it says in verse 28. It is the Gospel that binds believers together. It is Jesus that binds believers together. And this morning, we looked together at the beginning of our church's statement of faith, a statement of the beliefs of this church, which is grounded in the Bible with the Gospel of Jesus Christ at its heart. We thought about God as almighty, eternal and unchanging. But it is Jesus Christ who binds us together. It is the Son of God that binds us together. Yes, those documents are important for us. They're important for us to know what we believe and what we teach and what we proclaim as a church. But it is Jesus. It is faith in Jesus Christ which saves. And faith in Jesus Christ which binds us together by the Holy Spirit. just so in those days. Saul brought in this great persecutor, this zealous persecutor of the church, brought in, numbered among the apostles, and preaching the name of Jesus Christ. Finally, this evening, I'm coming back to think about why and how it is that God works all these purposes out, even through the persecution of His Church for His glory. My final point is this, that the Gospel is the foundation of God's Kingdom. Look with me at the final verse of the portion of Scripture we read, verse 31. What does it say? It says here, the churches throughout all Judea, Galilee, and Samaria had peace and were edified. They were built up. And walking in the fear of the Lord and in the comfort of the Holy Spirit, they were multiplied. A passage then concludes with this summary statement about the state of the church. Saul, for a moment, disappears off the page. He comes back in chapter 11, but just for a moment he's gone. But this part of Acts marks an important point, an important moment in Luke's account of the church. As he's giving us the history of the church, this is an important moment. And he often uses these summary statements of the state of the church in Acts to let us know that. Everything at this point is now in place. All the pieces God has moved. He's been working both ends. He's been working at every point to bring things to this place for a decisive step forward in the church's mission which will take the gospel of Jesus Christ and the name of Jesus Christ to the Gentiles. It'll take that gospel to the world. Everything is now put in place. And despite the opposition raised against Saul, at this point it seems like active persecution, at least, has fallen away, at least for a time. It stops. And the church, now spread across that whole region, across Judea and Galilee and Samaria, enjoys a brief period of peace, of growth and of strengthening, a time to be established. And that same gospel of Jesus Christ preached by Saul preached by the apostles and the other disciples, is the foundation of that peace. It is the foundation of the Church and the Kingdom of God being established. The Church, we read here, is built up in the fear of the Lord and in the comfort of the Holy Spirit. And our prayer should be that the church today would know this same building up. We're enjoying a period of peace. A period in which the church might be edified. Now how are we using that peace? Are we using it to establish our faith? Are we using it to build up the church? Or are we resting in its without any thought for what might come next? Are we living in the fear of the Lord? Are we living in the comfort of the Holy Spirit? Or are we living in the fear of the world and the comfort of ourselves? But the Lord Jesus Christ is building His church. The Lord Jesus Christ is establishing His kingdom, and He is establishing it on the foundation of the gospel. His gospel, His glorious incarnation, His death and resurrection, His wonderful ministry, His words. He is establishing His kingdom on His gospel by the grace of God, and He is building His church today. He is building it in the lives and in the hearts of His people. He is building it today in the cities and in the towns and in the villages. He is building it in the streets. He is calling men and women, boys and girls to faith. Is He calling to you? To be part of this growing kingdom. To live in the fear of the Lord and in the comfort of the Holy Spirit. To live with our feet planted on the rock of Jesus Christ, upon the gospel of Jesus Christ. Are you living firm and planted on the rock of God's kingdom, on the rock of Jesus Christ? The Gospel is the truth about Jesus Christ, but it often results in the persecution of those who proclaim it. And yet, even in that, God binds His Church together through the Gospel, through the preaching and the teaching of His words, through the truth that He lays out in Scriptures, because the Gospel is the foundation of His Kingdom. So let us look to that foundation and let us grow in it according to His grace and providence. Let's pray. Heavenly Father, we thank You for Your grace to us in Jesus. We thank You that by His death and resurrection we can know life. We can know the forgiveness of our sins. and we can be drawn wonderfully, gloriously to You, and approach Your throne with confidence, not in ourselves, but in Him. Establish us, Lord. Establish us in Your kingdom. Establish Your throne in our lives, in our hearts. and guide us in the ways we should go. Help us, Lord, to proclaim the truth of the gospel, the name of Jesus Christ, as the only name given among sinners by which we must be saved. And continue with us for your glory. And in Jesus' name, amen.