After the founding of the church on the day of Pentecost, the church begins to provide a vibrant witness to Christ. Unfortunately, with that witness comes a great deal of persecution. Stephen becomes the first martyr due to the leadership of a Pharisee named Saul. Ironically, it’s just this guy who Jesus has picked to be the leader of his mission to the Gentiles, and even though a murderous persecutor of the church, Saul finds himself being overwhelmed by the grace of Jesus.

In Acts 9, Jesus stops Saul in his tracks on the Damascus road with a light so bright that he is immediately blinded bringing his spiritual reality to physical manifestation. Brought to a blubbering mess before Jesus (and who wouldn’t be after persecuting the guy that now has total power over you), Saul recognizes and embraces him as Lord. He humbling submits himself to Jesus, receives the Holy Spirit, and follows in faithful obedience through baptism.

Later, after taking the new name “Paul,” he writes about his salvation in 1 Timothy 1:12-17. He explains that as a blasphemer and persecutor of God and his people, he was the foremost of sinners. He highlights this to draw attention to the amazing, incomprehensible, and unending grace of Jesus. Essentially, Paul is saying, if I can be saved, anyone can!

In his grace, Jesus not only pursues us but he saves us while we are still sinners, no matter how great or small our sins. We all desperately need a Savior, and Jesus died in our place so we could live. So whether you are an axe murderer or a teller of white lies, we all can find our hope and life in Jesus Christ. We must simply repent and trust in Him.

The glorious thing about God’s grace though is that it doesn’t end there. He doesn’t just save Paul on the Damascus road and then leave him there to figure the rest out. Instead, Jesus continued to pour out his grace upon Paul. He gave him a mission, and he produced great results through Paul as a result. What we see in the story of Acts 9 is this:

We are saved by grace, we obey in grace, and we experience fruitful results because of grace.