How does someone go from persecuting Christians to becoming the most influential missionary in history? That’s exactly what we see in Acts 9 with the dramatic conversion of Saul—later known as the Apostle Paul. But this isn’t just an interesting Bible story. It answers a deeply personal question for every one of us:

How does spiritual conversion actually work?

Salvation isn’t about going to church, joining a small group, or reading your Bible. Those are good things—but they don’t make you a Christian. Spiritual conversion is the supernatural process where God rescues us from sin and brings us into a life-changing relationship with Jesus.

Let’s walk through Saul’s story and uncover the key elements of real conversion.

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1. Conviction: Realizing You’re on the Wrong Path

When we first meet Saul, he is “uttering threats with every breath and eager to kill the Lord’s followers” (Acts 9:1 NLT). He believed he was right. He was religious. Zealous. Sincere.

But he was wrong.

On the road to Damascus, Jesus interrupts his journey:

Acts 9:3-4 (NLT)
“As he was approaching Damascus on this mission, a light from heaven suddenly shone down around him. He fell to the ground and heard a voice saying to him, ‘Saul! Saul! Why are you persecuting me?’”

In that moment, Saul experiences conviction. Conviction is the realization that your old way—no matter how confident or religious—leads to death.

Conversion begins when you recognize: I’m not just mistaken. I’m separated from God.

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2. Intellectual Assent: Acknowledging the Truth About Jesus

When Saul asks, “Who are you, Lord?” Jesus responds:

Acts 9:5 (NLT)
“I am Jesus, the one you are persecuting.”

Saul now has new information. Everything he believed about Jesus is being challenged. Intellectual assent means acknowledging the truth:

• Jesus is who He says He is.

• He is Lord.

• He is alive.

• He is God in the flesh.

This isn’t blind faith. It’s recognizing the facts of the gospel—who Jesus is and what He did.

But intellectual agreement alone isn’t enough. It’s possible to understand the gospel and still resist it.

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3. Submission: Surrendering Control

After encountering Jesus, Saul is struck blind and must be led by the hand into Damascus (Acts 9:8). The proud persecutor is now powerless.

This is where many people hesitate. Conversion requires submission.

Jesus said:

Matthew 18:3 (NLT)
“I tell you the truth, unless you turn from your sins and become like little children, you will never get into the Kingdom of Heaven.”

You cannot be saved while insisting on staying king of your own life. There can only be one King on the throne—and it’s not you.

Saul had to humble himself. So do we.

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4. Illumination: When the Scales Fall Away

God sends Ananias to pray for Saul.

Acts 9:17-18 (NLT)
“Brother Saul, the Lord Jesus, who appeared to you on the road, has sent me so that you might regain your sight and be filled with the Holy Spirit.”
“Instantly something like scales fell from Saul’s eyes, and he regained his sight.”

This is illumination—the work of the Holy Spirit opening your eyes to spiritual truth.

Paul later explained it this way:

2 Corinthians 3:16 (NLT)
“But whenever someone turns to the Lord, the veil is taken away.”

Conversion isn’t just intellectual. It’s supernatural. The Spirit removes the veil and helps you truly see.

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5. Conversion: Repentance and Faith

When Saul’s eyes are opened, he responds. Later, recounting his story, he quotes Ananias:

Acts 22:16 (NLT)
“Get up and be baptized. Have your sins washed away by calling on the name of the Lord.”

Paul would later summarize salvation like this:

Romans 10:9 (ESV)
“If you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.”

Conversion boils down to two responses:

• Repentance – Turning from your old way and submitting to God’s way.

• Faith – Trusting Jesus alone for salvation.

When repentance and faith meet, salvation happens. And the benefits are incredible:

• Forgiveness of sins

• Justification (being made right with God)

• Adoption into God’s family

• The indwelling Holy Spirit

• New spiritual life

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Have You Been Converted?

Saul’s story isn’t just history—it’s an invitation.

Have you experienced:

• Conviction of sin?

• Acknowledgment that Jesus is Lord?

• Submission to His authority?

• Illumination by the Holy Spirit?

• Repentance and faith?

Spiritual conversion isn’t about religious activity. It’s about leaving the broad road that leads to destruction and stepping onto the narrow way that leads to life.

Jesus said:

John 14:6 (NLT)
“I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one can come to the Father except through me.”

The question isn’t whether you’ve learned about conversion.

The question is: Have you experienced it?

How Can You Know If You’re Really Saved?

• Part 19 in our Acts series!!
• Part 3 in our mini-series on “How Salvation Works”
  • Two weeks ago: Is Anyone Too Far Gone for God? (Acts 8:26-40)
    • Answer: No! God can reach you on the desert road to nowhere
  • Last week: How Does Spiritual Conversion Actually Work?
    • We’ll looked at the dramatic conversion story of Saul (Paul)
    • – and what we can generalize from his experience.
  • Today: How can you know if you’re really saved? (Acts 9:20-31)
    • Paul went about preaching the gospel immediately
    • The disciples in Jerusalem didn’t believe he was really saved!? After 3 years! 
    • (Pillar New Testament Commentary) Even believers who have seen the power of God at work in their own lives can doubt God’s ability to change others.
• The fancy term for this: “assurance of salvation”
  • Can you have it for yourself?
    • Some people “know that they know” they’re saved, no problems with this
    • So many other people doubt their salvation and live in fear of judgment
• Here’s the thing: you can think you’re saved and NOT be saved
  • False conversions are a thing. Jesus said:
    • Matthew 7:21-23 (NLT) 21 “Not everyone who calls out to me, ‘Lord! Lord!’ will enter the Kingdom of Heaven. Only those who actually do the will of my Father in heaven will enter. 22 On judgment day many will say to me, ‘Lord! Lord! We prophesied in your name and cast out demons in your name and performed many miracles in your name.’ 23 But I will reply, ‘I never knew you. Get away from me, you who break God’s laws.’
  • Ouch! One of the most frightening verses in the Bible!
    • So, how can you know? We’ll get to that answer, but let’s start with our text…

Acts 9:19-20 (NLT) Saul stayed with the believers in Damascus for a few days. 20 And immediately he began preaching about Jesus in the synagogues, saying, “He is indeed the Son of God!”

• Wow! What a transformation in Saul’s life
  • One moment he’s persecuting these messengers of Christianity
  • Next moment he IS a messenger!
• Have you met anyone like this? Total transformation

Acts 9:21 (NLT) 21 All who heard him were amazed. “Isn’t this the same man who caused such devastation among Jesus’ followers in Jerusalem?” they asked. “And didn’t he come here to arrest them and take them in chains to the leading priests?”

Acts 9:22 (NLT) 22 Saul’s preaching became more and more powerful, and the Jews in Damascus couldn’t refute his proofs that Jesus was indeed the Messiah.

• (Pillar New Testament Commentary) When Luke says that Saul grew more and more powerful, the term he uses (enedynamouto) suggests the empowerment of the Spirit.
• Proving from OT, on which he was an expert (scales fell)

Acts 9:23 After a while some of the Jews plotted together to kill him. 24 They were watching for him day and night at the city gate so they could murder him, but Saul was told about their plot. 25 So during the night, some of the other believers lowered him in a large basket through an opening in the city wall.

• (Pillar New Testament Commentary) This signifies the completion of a significant period in the narrative (cf. Lk. 9:51) and is consistent with the mention of a three-year gap between his conversion and his first journey to Jerusalem as a Christian:
  • Galatians 1:15-18 (NLT) 15 But even before I was born, God chose me and called me by his marvelous grace. Then it pleased him 16 to reveal his Son to me so that I would proclaim the Good News about Jesus to the Gentiles. 
  • When this happened, I did not rush out to consult with any human being. 17 Nor did I go up to Jerusalem to consult with those who were apostles before I was. Instead, I went away into Arabia, and later I returned to the city of Damascus. 18 Then three years later I went to Jerusalem to get to know Peter, and I stayed with him for fifteen days.

Acts 9:26 (NLT) 26 When Saul arrived in Jerusalem, he tried to meet with the believers, but they were all afraid of him. They did not believe he had truly become a believer!

• Now you know why this was our question of the day.
  • Saul had been a Christian for 3 years, yet the Jerusalem believers doubted it
• They (all of them?) thought he was a false convert! (still afraid of him)
  • Would YOU have? 
  • Have YOU ever struggled to truly believe in the life-changing power of Jesus? 
    • In someone else’s life
    • In your own life

So, back to our question:

1. How Can You Know If You’re Really Saved?

• Paul himself later raises this question to some “believers” in Corinth:
• 2 Corinthians 13:5 (NLT) 5 Examine yourselves to see if your faith is genuine. Test yourselves. Surely you know that Jesus Christ is among you; if not, you have failed the test of genuine faith.
  • This is Saul, now called Paul, writing to the Christian church in Corinth. It’s jacked up. There’s stuff going on there that’s not Christian at all. And there are two questions that must be answered to see if their faith would pass the test: 
    • First, will they believe Paul’s message?
      • They didn’t like what he was saying. They were even challenging his authority as an apostle. That was the test.
        • It was Saul’s test, too, last week: When Jesus called out Saul and challenged his understanding, he shockingly submitted to him. 
        • Now it was the Corinthians’ turn. Would they submit to the truth?
    • Second, will they repent and turn from their own way?
      • Remember last week: Christianity is a way, not just a set of beliefs.
      • True conversion happens when you leave the way of death to follow the way of Jesus.
        • These so-called believers were not following the way of Jesus
          • Paul was calling them out on it, and their response would tell him if their faith was genuine. 
          • 1 John 3:9-10 (ESV) 9 No one born of God makes a practice of sinning, for God’s seed abides in him; and he cannot keep on sinning, because he has been born of God. 10 By this it is evident who are the children of God, and who are the children of the devil: whoever does not practice righteousness is not of God, nor is the one who does not love his brother.

Let’s finish the question for Saul:

Acts 9:27 (NLT) 27 Then Barnabas brought him to the apostles and told them how Saul had seen the Lord on the way to Damascus and how the Lord had spoken to Saul. He also told them that Saul had preached boldly in the name of Jesus in Damascus.

• We met this guy earlier. The encourager. Living up to his name.
• Ananias vouched for Saul in Damascus because he saw Jesus in a vision.
• Barnabus vouched for Saul in Jerusalem because he saw a changed life.

Acts 9:28 (NLT) 28 So Saul stayed with the apostles and went all around Jerusalem with them, preaching boldly in the name of the Lord.

• They realized he was a true believer, and he
  • Stayed with them
  • Preaching with them
• Saul’s story had a clear answer: he was saved, no doubt about it. 

What about you?

Three simple questions to know if you’re truly saved (full circle):

• Have you trusted Jesus for salvation? (nothing else can save, but it’s more than mere confession)
• Do you live your life to honor God? (practice righteousness vs practice sinning)
• Do you care enough to share with others? (make disciples)
  • This might be the ultimate litmus test. 
  • In the book of Acts, all of the believers did more than receive the message; they shared it.

Acts 9:31 (NLT) 31 The church then had peace throughout Judea, Galilee, and Samaria, and it became stronger as the believers lived in the fear of the Lord. And with the encouragement of the Holy Spirit, it also grew in numbers.

Today we’re in part 4 of our mini-series on how salvation works

• Three weeks ago: Is Anyone Too Far Gone for God? (Acts 8:26-40)
• Answer: No! God can reach you on the desert road to nowhere
• Two weeks ago: How Does Spiritual Conversion Actually Work?
• We’ll looked at the dramatic conversion story of Saul (Paul)
• – and what we can generalize from his experience.
• About the HS opening eyes
• And how faith/repentance changes you in an instant
• From death to life
• From enemy of God to child of God
• Last week: How can you know if you’re really saved? (Acts 9:20-31)
• Paul went about preaching the gospel immediately
• The disciples in Jerusalem didn’t believe he was really saved!? After 3 years!
• We looked at how Christians can have “assurance” of their salvation
• Today to finish up we’ll dig deeper into a theological question:

Q. Did God Change How Salvation Works?

• Have you ever thought about this?
• In the NT
• grace, forgiveness, Jesus
• Jn 14:6 Jesus said to him, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.”
• Jesus is THE way. But what about in the OT?
• Did salvation work one way in OT before Jesus
• And another way in NT after Jesus?

Q. What was the Old Testament way of salvation?

• Many thought: saved by keeping the commandments
• In Jewish tradition, there are 613 commandments (known as the Mitzvot) in the Torah. These commandments are derived from the five books of Moses (Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy) and encompass a wide range of moral, religious, and civil laws. 248 positive commandments (things to do) and 365 negative commandments (things not to do)
• Scholars estimate that around 100 to 150 of the 613 commandments address issues of purity and impurity.
• Dietary Laws (Kashrut): These include commandments related to clean and unclean animals (Leviticus 11, Deuteronomy 14).
• Table fellowship refers to the practice of sharing meals, which in ancient Jewish culture held deep social, religious, and spiritual significance. In the context of the Old Testament and Jewish tradition, sharing a meal symbolized more than just eating together; it represented community, unity, and, in many cases, ritual purity. This practice also reinforced the separation between Jews and Gentiles due to differences in dietary laws and religious observance. Eating with Gentiles, who were considered ritually impure, could defile an observant Jew, requiring purification rites (Leviticus 20:24-26).
• Clean vs. unclean
• So is this how people were saved in OT? Keep yourself clean?

The answer is found in today’s text.

• The passage we’re reading today is groundbreaking.
• The early Christians are going to learn the answer to this question
• …by way of answering a broader question about salvation.
• Here’s the story:

Acts 10:1-6 (NLT) 1 In Caesarea there lived a Roman army officer named Cornelius, who was a captain of the Italian Regiment. 2 He was a devout, God-fearing man, as was everyone in his household. He gave generously to the poor and prayed regularly to God. 3 One afternoon about three o’clock, he had a vision in which he saw an angel of God coming toward him. “Cornelius!” the angel said.

4 Cornelius stared at him in terror. “What is it, sir?” he asked the angel.

And the angel replied, “Your prayers and gifts to the poor have been received by God as an offering! 5 Now send some men to Joppa, and summon a man named Simon Peter. 6 He is staying with Simon, a tanner who lives near the seashore.”

Acts 10:9-14 (NLT) 9 The next day as Cornelius’s messengers were nearing the town, Peter went up on the flat roof to pray. It was about noon, 10 and he was hungry. But while a meal was being prepared, he fell into a trance. 11 He saw the sky open, and something like a large sheet was let down by its four corners. 12 In the sheet were all sorts of animals, reptiles, and birds. 13 Then a voice said to him, “Get up, Peter; kill and eat them.”

14 “No, Lord,” Peter declared. “I have never eaten anything that our Jewish laws have declared impure and unclean.”

• Even after Jesus’ teaching on this, Peter still didn’t understand (see below). This would be the moment that he really got it… and its implications for the church.
• Mark 7:18-19 (NLT) 18 “Don’t you understand either?” he asked. “Can’t you see that the food you put into your body cannot defile you? 19 Food doesn’t go into your heart, but only passes through the stomach and then goes into the sewer.” (By saying this, he declared that every kind of food is acceptable in God’s eyes.)

Acts 10:15-16 (NLT) 15 But the voice spoke again: “Do not call something unclean if God has made it clean.” 16 The same vision was repeated three times. Then the sheet was suddenly pulled up to heaven.

• This is a watershed moment in salvation history
• Peter was learning the answer to our question today
• (Pillar New Testament Commentary) What was implicit in the teaching of Jesus is now made explicit. The clean and unclean provisions of the law were temporary, designed to keep Israel a holy and distinct people, until the time when Jews and Gentiles could receive the forgiveness of sins and sanctification on the same basis, through faith in Christ (Acts 20:32; 26:17-18; cf. 15:9, ‘having cleansed their hearts by faith’).

Peter was confused, then Cornelius’ men showed up..

• He went with them to the Gentile’s house, and said this:

Acts 10:28 (NLT) 28 Peter told them, “You know it is against our laws for a Jewish man to enter a Gentile home like this or to associate with you. But God has shown me that I should no longer think of anyone as impure or unclean.”

• It wasn’t just about food! It was about people.
• God was revealing himself to Cornelius, and Peter was to share the gospel
• Note similarity with Samaritan revival
• Philip shared the gospel
• But God waited for Peter and John to give HS
• This same pattern is happening
• God could have just shared the gospel in a vision
• But he wanted Peter to share it
• Not for Cornelius’ sake
• But for Peter’s sake!

Acts 10:34-36 (NLT) 34 Then Peter replied, “I see very clearly that God shows no favoritism. 35 In every nation he accepts those who fear him and do what is right. 36 This is the message of Good News for the people of Israel—that there is peace with God through Jesus Christ, who is Lord of all…. 43 He is the one all the prophets testified about, saying that everyone who believes in him will have their sins forgiven through his name.”

• Not just Lord of Jews. (mind blown)
• Salvation now goes out to Gentiles. This isn’t just a Jewish thing.
• Salvation is not about being clean or unclean according to Law
• It’s about trusting Jesus to clean you by his final work on the cross
• He is the ultimate sacrifice
• No longer a need for the old system

And here’s where it connects to our question of the day…

This answer doesn’t just apply to Jews and Gentiles moving forward

• It applies to everyone looking backward!
• Q. Did God Change How Salvation Works?
• Answer: no!! Everyone who has ever been saved… has been saved by faith
• Jews in NT were saved by faith in the one who came (Jesus).
• Gentiles in NT were saved by that same faith in the one who came (Jesus).
• People in OT were saved by faith, too
• In the one who was to come, even though they didn’t know his name
• Object of faith was still Messiah
• Galatians 3:11 (NLT) 11 So it is clear that no one can be made right with God by trying to keep the law. For the Scriptures say, “It is through faith that a righteous person has life.”
• Quoting OT! Now they look back and see the truth: it was always faith
• salvation by faith, apart from the Law was an Old Testament principle
• Romans 4:1-3 (NLT) 1 Abraham was, humanly speaking, the founder of our Jewish nation. What did he discover about being made right with God? 2 If his good deeds had made him acceptable to God, he would have had something to boast about. But that was not God’s way. 3 For the Scriptures tell us, “Abraham believed God, and God counted him as righteous because of his faith.”
• Believed in God’s promise (about his offspring)
• Even though it was humanly impossible (he was old and childless)
• God counted him as righteousness (even though he wasn’t)
• Because of his faith.
• Faith in God to come through on his promise
• His promise was all about Jesus!

Here’s the point:

• No one was ever saved by perfectly keeping the Law
• Not back then, not today
• The Law simply shows people how imperfect they are
• To set the stage for the One who could perfectly keep the Law
• = Jesus
• So all along this was God’s plan for salvation
• It was always about dependence upon God, trusting his pathway
• In the OT his pathway was a concept: Messiah
• In the NT his pathway had a name: Jesus
• Everyone who has ever been saved… has been saved by faith in Jesus.
• As Peter said to the Jewish leaders in Acts 4:

Acts 4:12 (NLT) 12 “There is salvation in no one else! God has given no other name under heaven by which we must be saved.”