Who Was Saul of Tarsus?

[00:00:00] All right, let's get our Bibles and turn to the book of Acts, chapter number nine. [00:00:12] Acts, chapter nine. We are actually not quite to Acts chapter nine yet in our study, but we are just going to do a little leap over the last part of Acts chapter eight in verse number 26, down through the end of the chapter in chapter eight. [00:00:32] We're just going to skip over that entirely. The reason for that is because in June of last year I had the opportunity to preach and I covered that in some detail. If anybody wants a copy of that, I can provide you with that just if you want to maintain the continuity of our study in Acts. So the story of Philip and the Ethiopian eunuch, we'll just kind of skip over and continue into Acts chapter nine. And verse number one is where we'll read. I'd like to read from verse one to verse number nine this morning. The Bible says and Saul, yet breathing out, threatenings and slaughter against the disciples of the Lord, went unto the high priest and desired of him letters to Damascus, to the synagogues, that if he found any of this way, whether they were men or women, he might bring them bound unto Jerusalem. [00:01:25] And as he journeyed, he came near Damascus, and suddenly there shined round about him a light from heaven. And he fell to the earth and heard a voice saying unto him, saul, Saul, why persecutest thou me? And he said, who art thou, Lord? And the Lord said, I am Jesus, whom thou persecutest, it is hard for thee to kick against the pricks. And he, trembling and astonished, said, Lord, what will thou have me to do? And the Lord said unto him, arise and go into the city, and it shall be told thee what thou must do. And the men which journeyed with him stood speechless, hearing a voice, but seeing no man. [00:02:08] And Saul arose from the earth. And when his eyes were opened, he saw no man but they led him by the hand and brought him into Damascus. And he was three days without sight, and neither did eat nor drink. Let's pray together. [00:02:24] Lord, first of all, thank you for your word, Lord, that strengthens our faith, indeed gives us our faith. For you said faith cometh by hearing and hearing by the word of God. And we see in this passage here such an important moment, not only in the life of Paul, the moment of his conversion, but Lord, an important moment in the history of the Church, in the history of the world. [00:02:49] How that you used a man that had such a history as we study his life a little bit this morning. Lord, first I just want to commit this time to you. I ask you, Lord, for your spirit to really give grace and help to us this morning as we study together, as we look at what your word says, as we ponder its implications for us, how it applies to us. Lord, I pray that you would work in our hearts, that you would prick hearts, that you would open the eyes of some that might be blind. Lord, I pray that Your blessing would be upon Your word. And help us, Lord, if there's anything distracting us, if there's anything, any satanic work, any issues, maybe in relationships or whatever the case might be, that you would put those things aside and you would subdue them, Lord, that we might look at Your word without any distraction. Lord, we just ask you to meet with us. We ask you to help us and to teach us. We need your help, Lord. Whatever lessons are in this passage of scripture and these other passages we'll look at make them clear to us. We pray because we ask in Jesus name. Amen. [00:04:00] All right. Saul of Tarsus. That's what the Bible says in verse number one. And Saul, now, the first mention of Saul is not there, but in chapter seven, in verse number 58 says, and cast him that is Stephen, out of the city and stoned him. And the witnesses laid down their clothes at a young man's feet whose name was Saul. Now, Saul was, of course, he would become later Paul, but he was one of the main instigators, as we'll read in just a minute, he was one of the main instigators of persecution of the Church. In fact, you might call, just like we call Stephen, the first martyr of the Church. We might say that Saul was one of the first main persecutors of the Church, and he really, really did a number on the Church. His zeal by itself caused so many problems that would not otherwise have been just because of his zeal against Christ. [00:04:58] But nevertheless, this moment in the book of Acts is such a pivotal moment. It's a watershed moment in the history of the Church of God, in world history. I read one commentator when I was reading about Saul and his conversion, that indeed his conversion changed the course of history. Of course, he's not to be compared with Christ, of course, but his conversion was pivotal in God's plan, his providential plan, because it really turned the tide. And really his ministry to the Gentiles led to what we have today to a large degree. And so this is a big deal. This is a big deal not just for Paul, but for us, for every one of us that's alive today and has believed in Christ. You realize when you read the New Testament, when you read the New Testament, two thirds of the time that you read the New Testament, you're reading something Paul wrote. You're reading something from this man. And so what I want to do today is I want to look at his history, at the history of Saul of Tarsus. [00:06:07] So in order to do that, besides what we've read today. We'll come back to this in just a minute. I want to read a couple more verses again in chapter nine, but I want to look at a few other verses in different parts of the Bible to kind of get a picture of what Saul of Tarsus was like, what Saul of Tarsus was like, and it might be a little bit surprising. So let's look at verse one again. The Bible says, and Saul yet breathing out, threatenings and slaughter against the disciples of the Lord. So this was a man who not only spoke against Christ, that's the threatenings, he was constantly over their shoulder, intimidating them to back down, to back off from following Christ, from making him known publicly. Saul was there. He was making threats. He was trying to put people in fear so that they could not follow the Lord. But he was also following through with action, slaughter. There's only one thing that refers to, and that's his role in putting God's children to death. And that's what indeed Saul of Tarsus is a man that had blood on his hands, innocent blood on his hands. [00:07:16] And so it says, he was breathing out, threatenings and slaughter against the disciples of the Lord. He went unto the high priest. Now, this is his initiative. [00:07:26] No one's telling him to do this. And as I said, much of the persecution that's happening with the Church is happening because of Saul's zeal. It wouldn't be happening otherwise. [00:07:35] He was of his own initiative, going to the high priest, and it says and desired of him letters to Damascus. Now, Damascus is not in Israel. Damascus is not in Israel. Now, in our time, Damascus is in Syria. But at this time, Damascus was also not in Israel. It was a gentile land, a gentile city. But there were Jews scattered throughout all of the Roman Empire at this time. And everywhere there was a certain number of families of Jews, there would be a synagogue. And so Paul, Saul rather is not content to stamp out the Christians in Jerusalem. [00:08:16] He's not content to get them out of his sight. He also wants to rid them of the earth entirely. Okay, this is Saul of Tarsus, all of his own initiative. No one telling him to do it. He did it of his own accord. I'm trying to give us a picture of this man that if he found any of this way remember I mentioned how that this is one of the ways. There's several ways in the Scripture, the Bible refers to Christians in the Book of Acts. One of them is disciples, one of them is saints. One of them is you see other words later we'll see the term Christian come up. But this is one of them. The way the way what's interesting about this term, the way is it's not so much a reference to what they believe, but to what they do to what they do. You see that when we talk about somebody's way, it's not talking about necessarily what they believe, but what their faith has caused them to do, the path that they walk. And so it was distinctive. And for us, it should be no different. It should be no different. Everyone that names the name of Christ ought to have a life that is distinctive to that profession, that is consistent with that profession. [00:09:35] And you know what? Even in our culture, even in the belt buckle of the Bible Belt, when there is a child of God who believes in Christ and lives out their faith according to the Scripture, even here they stand out. Even here they stand out. And so he was looking for people that had this way. We, of course, know that Jesus is the way, but the Bible says whether they were men or men, whether they were men or women, that he might bring them bound unto Jerusalem. All right, so this is Saul of Tarsus. What he's trying to do look at chapter 22, if you would. [00:10:14] We're going to just go forward through the New Testament and look at several passages here to kind of get a picture of Saul before we bring it back to chapter nine, Acts 22. Look at verse three. [00:10:26] Now, of course, this is after Saul has been saved. Now he's giving a testimony. There are three times in the Book of Acts where Saul of Tarsus talks about his meeting with Christ on the road to Damascus. This is the second one. And in chapter 22, verse number three, the Bible says this I am verily a man which am a Jew, born in Tarsus, a city of Cilicia, yet brought up in this city, Jerusalem at the feet of Gamaliel. Now, we heard about Gamaliel before. Gamaliel was apparently a well known philosopher among the pharisees of Paul's day. He's also found in secular history not just the Bible, and taught according to the perfect manner of the law of the fathers and was zealous toward God as ye all are this day. [00:11:20] And I persecuted this way unto the death, binding and delivering into prisons both men and women, as also the high priest doth bear me witness. Now let me pause, let me pause there a second. Now here's what you have here when Paul in this chapter and in chapter 23 or chapter 26 rather, is talking about what he was like before he got saved, what you have is you have a sanctified view of the past. What do I mean by that? [00:11:51] When you meet someone and they do not know Christ, they're not saved yet, they're not a child of God, yet they think a certain way about themselves. They think a certain way about how moral they are, how good of a person they are. [00:12:04] And then later maybe that person comes to know Christ and gets saved and they trust in Christ. And then they look back on that time and they see it totally different than they did before. Before they saw themselves as a good person, basically a good person who really loves God and has affinity for the Lord. But then after the Lord has opened their eyes and they have finally come to Christ, they look back and they see it. They don't see the same person. [00:12:32] This is what you have with Paul. Paul is giving us the interpretation of who he was. He's telling us just exactly who he was. [00:12:40] He was zealous toward God. He says that in Romans as well. [00:12:45] He had zeal, but he was also ignorant. Notice it says in verse number three that he was taught according to the perfect manner of the law of the fathers. So the tradition that Paul held that Paul believed, that was passed down from the Jews, and that's still to this day, Orthodox Jews are steeped in tradition. Steeped in tradition. And a lot of it goes right back to the first century. [00:13:12] So he was a man who held to the tradition. He was a man who had zeal for preserving the tradition. And when he saw these Jews, his own people, who appeared to be remember what they accused Stephen of, right? They accused Stephen of wanting to do away with the temple and the worship of God. And that's how they falsely accused. So this is what he thinks Christians are about. They're trying to tear down the traditions of their fathers. [00:13:40] He was a Jew. Notice he was born in Tarsus, a city of Cilicia Roman province. But he was brought up at the feet of Gamaliel. So he had heard the best of the best. He knew the philosophy, he knew the teachings. Okay, let's keep reading verse four. And I persecuted this way. There's that term again. Unto the death, binding and delivering into prisons both men and women. Also, as also the high priest doth bear me witness and all the estate of the elders from whom also I received letters unto the brethren and went to Damascus to bring them which were there bound unto Jerusalem for to be punished. You see this. So he again, we see the same thing. He is seeking out Christians to destroy them. Look at chapter 23, verse number one. [00:14:30] Here's an interesting thing about Paul, or Saul, rather. And Paul earnestly beholding the council said, men and brethren, I have lived in all good conscience before God unto this day. Here Paul sitting before the council. He's being examined, and he says, listen, my whole life has a clear conscience. How can that be? [00:14:52] How could a man who murdered, who had the blood of God's people on his hands, say that he had a clear conscience? Is that possible? Yep, it is. Paul was a person. Saul was a person who had that even in his persecution of Christians, he had a clear conscience, because the conscience is not based on the truth. A conscience has at its foundation what we believe, what we think to be the truth. And sometimes our conscience is wrong. Sometimes what we think we know is true is not true. But Paul did it with purity, even in his persecution of Christians was done with a clear conscience. Keep reading. Look at verse number six. [00:15:35] But when Paul perceived the one part were sadducees and the other Pharisees, he cried out in the council, men and brethren, I am a Pharisee, the son of a Pharisee of the hope and resurrection of the dead. I am called in question. You know what the Pharisees were. You all know this. But just to reiterate, the Pharisees were a religious sect within Israel, and they were the religious sect that would be most closely associated with Christ. Now, not that Christ himself was a member of that party, but their beliefs were like Christ. [00:16:11] In other words, they were unlike the Sadducees and the priests and things who didn't believe the Scriptures. The pharisees did. He says it. I am a Pharisee, the son of a Pharisee of the hope and resurrection of the dead. I am called in question. [00:16:26] Here's what I want you to see about Saul. Saul believed, right? [00:16:31] Saul had doctrinal soundness. In other words, what he read in the scriptures that he had, he believed was true. He was not in doctrinal error. He was not part of a cult. He was, if you can say, a Bible believing Jew. All the doctrinal P's and Q's he had. [00:16:50] All right? So this is not a man who's like part of some whacked out cult or something like that. He's not a man who is, despite knowing the truth, he is fighting against it. That's not the way he was. Paul is a man who was doing what he did out of a pure conscience. All right, let's look at chapter 26, verse four. [00:17:15] The Bible says this paul once again giving his testimony, but this time before Agrippa. He says this my manner of life from my youth, which was at the first among my own nation at Jerusalem, know all the Jews which knew me from the beginning if they would testify that after the most straightest sect of our religion, I lived a here we have him. This is the way I was from my youth. Remember, his dad was a Pharisee. He was brought up in Jerusalem under Gamaliel. He was taught. So here's what I want you to understand. What was Paul's default? [00:17:57] Paul's default was not sin and wickedness and drunkenness and all those things. Paul's default was this religion. He came up in it. This was normal to him, okay? [00:18:09] He says, and the Jews knew it. [00:18:13] The Jews knew it. [00:18:17] Now, this is an important point, because what people know of us, or knew of us before we came to Christ is going to play a really big part of us once we come to know Christ. [00:18:32] Because they're the ones that have seen us as we are before we ever were. Enlightened if you want to say it like that. So here he says verse five, which knew me from the beginning if they would testify. Of course they weren't willing to do that because here's the thing. [00:18:51] Our past and I know listen, I know there's a lot of people even in this congregation who received Christ when you were younger and you don't have the blood of Christians on your hands. And some of you have never tasted a drop of alcohol, you've never smoked a cigarette. You don't know what it's like to be high. [00:19:11] You've not experienced any of that. And you know what? That's a good thing. [00:19:15] On the other hand, there are some of you that have you know what, and that's good too, in that the testimony that you have. And here's why once we get to where Saul's converted, you're going to see why all of his past is so important. So just hold that thought, we're coming back to it. So in verse number five, the Bible says in the middle of the verse he says that after the most straightest sect of our religion, I lived a Pharisee. You see that? [00:19:44] So not only did he know the Bible, he was doctrinally, sound, he believed the Bible. But of all the religious people in his day, paul or Saul was in the strictest group, the one that was so meticulous in the things they did. They did not want to violate the law of God at all. And they were the strictest group of them all. And I'm telling you, strict is an understatement. [00:20:09] When you read about their rules and regulations. Look at verse nine. [00:20:14] I verily thought with myself that I ought to do many things contrary to the name of Jesus of Nazareth. You see this? He was one who invented ways to track down Christians, which thing I also did in Jerusalem. And many of the saints did. I shut up in prison. So he put saints in jail, having received authority from the chief priest. And when they were put to death, I gave my voice against them. So Stephen wasn't the only one that died. And when the others died, paul was the one bearing witness to what they believed and that they were worthy of death. As I said, Paul had blood on his hands. Verse eleven. And I punished them oft in every synagogue and compelled them to blaspheme. [00:20:59] Even though they believed in Christ, he urged them to not believe in Christ. He urged them to speak against Jesus, to say he hadn't really risen from the dead, they had not really seen him risen from the dead. [00:21:16] And being exceedingly mad against them, I persecuted them even unto strange cities. So he went to places outside of their jurisdiction to chase them down. This word mad means he was irrational, just blinded by zeal to eradicate the Christians. [00:21:35] Now let's go to Galatians, chapter one. I'm sorry, before you go there first, Corinthians 15. We'll stop there very quickly. [00:21:44] I'm going somewhere with this, so just hang with me. One Corinthians 15, verse number 19. The Bible says this paul says to them, for I am the least of the apostles that am not meat to be called an apostle because I persecuted the Church of God. [00:22:08] Let me explain something to you. Persecution of a believer. [00:22:14] Most people, when they interact most people that do not know Christ, most of your family and friends that aren't believers when they interact with you and when they interact with Christians, they don't believe what you believe and they don't know God like you know God, but they're content to let you just be what you are. Right? [00:22:33] And I thank the Lord for that. [00:22:37] But when you have someone that actually seeks out to persecute and harm a Christian because they are a Christian, that's another level. That's what Paul's saying here. It's another level. That's why he said he was least because he persecuted the Church of God. There could be some of you in here that have actually taken part in that before you knew God mocked believers, tried to get them to sin, things like that. [00:23:01] I dare say, and I hope certainly not among us there's anyone that has done that, even as a Christian, a professed Christian that has tried and enticed someone else to sin. [00:23:12] Because that does happen too. [00:23:15] He says I persecute the church of God. Now let's go to Galatians, chapter one. [00:23:21] Galatians one, verse 13. [00:23:29] To the Galatians he says verse 13. For ye have heard of my conversation in time passed in the Jews religion. [00:23:37] How that beyond measure. I persecuted the Church of God and wasted it. Now notice this and profited in the Jews religion above many mine equals in my own nation being more exceedingly zealous of the tradition of my fathers. Now we're repeating ourselves a little bit, but notice he profited. In other words, he was moving up in the ranks. I don't know if this involved money, but this Saul of Tarsus, his zeal was so strong, he was so smart, so well trained, he was moving up in the ranks of Phariseeism. [00:24:11] He had a lot to lose. [00:24:14] And then look at verse 23 in the same chapter after he got saved, he says, but they had heard only that he which persecuted us in times past now preacheth the faith which once he destroyed. Look at Philippians. Chapter three. [00:24:33] Philippians, chapter three, verse number verse number four. [00:24:49] Paul says this though I might also have confidence in the flesh. [00:24:55] If any other man thinketh that he hath whereof he might trust in the flesh, I more he says, Circumcise the 8th day. You know what that means? That means he was brought up he was in his very birth. He was brought up in the law of God, part of the covenant people of God, of the stock of Israel. Stock is a trunk of a tree. That's what a stock is. You know what that means? That means in his bloodline, there was no Gentile blood at all. He came directly from the trunk. He was a Jew. He was a Hebrew. His parents were Hebrews. His generation had a lineal descent directly from Jacob, with no intermingling at all. He was the real deal of the tribe of Benjamin, an honorable, notable tribe. He says in Hebrew, of the Hebrews, that is, he was the model Jew. [00:25:47] As touching the law of Pharisee, the strictest version concerning zeal. He was willing, it says, persecuting the church. His zeal wasn't just average, it was above average, far above average. Touching the righteousness which is in the law, blameless. Now, notice what he says in verse six. [00:26:04] If you examine Saul of Tarsus, by the law of God, you know what you saw. You didn't see any fault. The man was clean. This is an important point for us to get. [00:26:14] Saul was not immoral. [00:26:18] Saul was outwardly righteous. [00:26:20] Saul was zealous. Saul was not a drunkard. He was not an idolater. He was not in the world like we would think. That's not what he was. Rather the opposite. [00:26:32] If you examine him by the law, you could not find fault. [00:26:38] Now, look at verse number nine. He says there, he says, and be found in him not having mine own righteousness, which is of the law, but that which is through the righteous, the faith of Christ, the righteousness which is of God. By faith in that verse he's implying here, he's saying, I didn't have my own righteous. I had my own righteousness. I did not have God's righteousness. [00:27:03] Now, I look back at verse number four. He says, if any other man thinketh that he hath whereof he might trust in the flesh, I more. [00:27:13] Now, you know, there are people in Greenville, South Carolina, that think that because they're Americans, that somehow they're right with God. [00:27:24] There are people that in our country that think because that they were born and raised in a Christian nation, that they're right with God. [00:27:35] There are people in our country, people near to us, that think because their mom and dad were Christians, that they're right with God, but they're not. [00:27:45] They're trusting in the flesh. What of these things in verse five? Did Saul actually do none of them? He didn't choose to be circumcised. [00:27:54] He did not choose his lineage. He didn't choose his tribe. He didn't choose his bloodline or any of that. He didn't choose that he was going to be taught by Gamaliel. He didn't choose that his father would be a pharisee. He didn't choose that he would be brought up in the strictest sect. But he boasted in that as if he had done something. He looked at his flesh, he looked at his family. He looked at his lineage, he looked at mom and dad, he looked at his nation and he said, certainly I'm right with God. You know what, even in Matthew, chapter three, you remember when John the Baptist was talking to the Jews and they said, we have Abraham to our Father. You see, they were boasting in the fact that Abraham was their father. If I can kind of translate it our day. [00:28:40] They consoled themselves that they were brought up in a Christian family, that mom and dad were Christians, that they were God fearing people, that they didn't have any gross moral sin in their family. Their mom and dad were married when they were found to be with child and they weren't illegitimate and their family were hardworking and they were upstanding members of the community. And all of these things trusting in oneself, thinking that oneself is fit or more fit, he says in verse number four I more if anybody in Greenville, South Carolina can boast of this boast of something they were born into that makes them somehow right with God, paul said, I more he was part of God's covenant. People, let's keep on going. [00:29:30] Last passage. I want to read in one Timothy, first Timothy, chapter one, verse twelve. It first Timothy one, verse twelve, says this and I thank Christ Jesus our Lord, who hath enabled me for that. He counted me faithful, putting me into the ministry, who was before a blasphemer spoke against Jesus, and a persecutor and injurious. [00:30:24] But I obtained mercy because I did it ignorantly, in, unbelief. You see, that I mentioned how that Saul of Tarsus persecuted the church and rejected Christ, but he did so with a pure conscience. See, he's ignorant. It's not that he knew Jesus had risen. It's not that he knew Jesus was the Lord. It's not that he knew Jesus was real and true in the way. He didn't know it because he didn't believe it. So when he rejected Christ, he did so with a pure mind. [00:30:56] And for that reason verse 13 says he obtained mercy. You see, there's a difference being made between someone that rejects Christ knowingly and someone who rejects Christ with a clear conscience. There is a difference. [00:31:14] There's a difference. [00:31:16] The knowledge listen to me, please. The knowledge that you and I have been confronted with up to this point in our life, god is going to hold us accountable for it. [00:31:28] It is a completely different question. When someone rejects Christ and they don't know the details about Jesus versus someone who rejects Christ and they know he's the way, they know he's the truth and they know he's the life, we talk to people even when we do our evangelism, we talk to people and they say, oh yeah, I believe Jesus is the way. And I believe that the only way to heaven is through Christ. And I know he died on cross for our sins, but they're yet. Unconverted. They're lost. But they're lost holding the truth. That is dangerous. [00:32:02] If we know the truth and we hold the truth, but we do not act upon what it says. [00:32:11] We do not put it to application. And I'm not talking about the way we live so much. I'm talking about we do not come to God with our sin and get right with God. We can hold the truth. And that truth will. [00:32:25] It's like you're holding a red hot iron. You can hold the truth all you want, but if you hold it and don't do anything with it, it will burn your hands. [00:32:33] The truth itself, which is for good, will harm you because you didn't do anything with it. [00:32:40] Listen, please. [00:32:42] So many people so many people come at the truth of God, the Gospel, the truths about Jesus, how he saved sinners, and they don't take it seriously. [00:32:56] They don't give it serious consideration. [00:33:00] It's a game. It's a joke. [00:33:03] And that is a very serious place to be in. It is not a joke. You and I will be held accountable for the truth that we have. [00:33:16] But see, Saul, he was ignorant. [00:33:24] Verse number 14. He says this and the grace of our Lord was exceeding abundant with faith and love which is in Christ Jesus. [00:33:32] This is a faithful saying and worthy of all. Acceptation that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners. [00:33:40] We think of sinners as people who are out there running around with another man's wife drunkard or maybe a drug addict or someone who's just profane and has a foul mouth or whatever, however we might define it. That's what we think of Christ. Jesus came to the world to save sinners. We think of the harlots and the extortioners and the idolaters and all those that we think that's. But that's not what Paul's thinking when he says this verse in verse 15. He's not thinking of those people. He's thinking of himself. He says, of whom I am, Chief. [00:34:20] He says you could take all these sinners of the world and all these people that are just throwing themselves after sin and chasing it and he says, I am worse. [00:34:29] But he wasn't immoral. He was not an idolater. He was not a drunkard. He was not an extortioner. He was a man that kept religion. He was strict according to the law. [00:34:40] We think of the Pharisees often as this group that's very hypocritical, right? This group that says one thing and does another. And Jesus said that. That's what matthew 23. That the woes right about the Pharisees because they were fake. Paul wasn't. [00:34:55] That's not the way he was. [00:34:57] Paul was pure. [00:35:00] But he says, of whom I am chief. [00:35:04] Now look at verse 16 and this is where I want to stop. [00:35:08] How be it for this cause? Why? Because he is chief. [00:35:14] Because he is the chief of sinners. For this cause I obtained mercy. [00:35:22] Now let's review very quickly. [00:35:28] Who was Saul of Tarsus? [00:35:31] He was the son of a pharisee. [00:35:34] He was a pharisee himself. [00:35:37] He was a man who had pure doctrinal beliefs, a man who believed the scripture. [00:35:43] He was a man who was part of the most strict sect of his religion. He was a man who was circumcised the 8th day according to the law. He was of pure Hebrew blood. He was a model of a Jew in blood, in lineage, in the law, in the traditions, in his zeal. [00:36:05] But he was a man who trusted in his flesh, he trusted in his upbringing. He thought that made him right with God. He thought his attempts to keep the law of God made him. He thought by doing good works according to the law, he would be made right with God. [00:36:20] He held firmly to the traditions of his father. He was zealous of his faith to the point that he far surpassed those around him. [00:36:32] He was so zealous that it led him to persecute the church of God. He blasphemed the name of Christ. He caused Christians to be put to death. He caused Christians to be put in prison. He forced believers to speak against Christ, and he did all of that with a clear conscience. He was sincere, but he trusted his own righteousness from the law. This was a man who was not immoral, as I said. He was not some wicked man who was doing all kind of wicked things out in the world, rather the opposite. [00:37:09] But then he says, for this cause I obtain mercy that in me first Jesus Christ might show forth all long suffering for a pattern to them which should hereafter believe on him to life everlasting. [00:37:26] Now, God saved Saul of Tarsus because he was the chief of sinners. [00:37:37] Even though he didn't have all the big sins, he had the little sins. [00:37:42] Did you know that even trusting in your own good works and righteousness, thinking that you're good enough to get to God is a sin? [00:37:52] Paul, Saul of Tarsus trusted in that his own righteousness, and by doing so ignored the righteousness of God. [00:38:01] So if God saved Saul of Tarsus, he says he saved him as a pattern. [00:38:06] He was the chief of sinners. God was patient with a man who was super religious and arrogant, who was full of pride about how righteous he was, who thought he was a notch above everybody else. God saved that man. God was patient with that man. But God was also patient with a man who persecuted God's people, who hated them, who had bloodlust and had blood on his hands and sought to exterminate them everywhere he could find them. God was patient and long suffering. You know what that shows us? [00:38:43] That shows us that God is patient and long suffering beyond our imagination, and that he pardons even the very worst of sinners. [00:38:55] See, Paul had two layers. He not only had the layer of his own self righteousness. Yeah, he didn't have all that immorality, but he had all this layer of self righteousness. And then he used his religion as a pretext to harm God's people. That was the excuse. So it was religion which is supposed to be of God and Godly on top of wickedness, multiple layers of wickedness. [00:39:18] Let's go back to Acts chapter nine to close and verse four, or verse three rather. And as he journeyed, he came near Damascus and suddenly there shined round about him a light from heaven. [00:39:39] And he fell to the earth and heard a voice saying, saul, Saul, why persecutest thou me? And he said, who art thou, Lord? And the Lord said, I am Jesus, whom thou persecutest. It is hard for thee to kick against the pricks. You know what that means? [00:39:56] That means Jesus was trying to get Paul's attention. [00:40:00] The prick, the goad. When you walk behind cattle, you take a go. These aren't sheep, these are cattle now. These are cows and bulls. You stab them in the backside with the goad to get them to go where you want them to go. [00:40:14] Jesus is doing this and Paul is resisting at every hand. He saw what Stephen's testimony was no doubt. He saw Stephen shed his blood and the way in which he died. God is getting his attention and stabbing him. [00:40:28] He's trying to get his attention and he's resisting at every turn. [00:40:32] He was stubborn, but at this moment when Jesus says, I am Jesus, whom thou persecutest all at once, all at one time, he realized that he had been rejecting the anointed of the God of Israel. He realized that he had been blaspheming God's very son. [00:40:59] He realized he had set himself against God. He realized that he had injured those who were perfectly innocent. [00:41:07] He realized that he had the blood of the martyrs on his hands, all in this one little word from Jesus. He realized that he had been grossly stubborn and resistant to God's work in his life. He realized that his own righteousness was worthless. It was filthy rags, all that he had done. You think about his religion and the strictness he had kept his whole life and all their laws and rules and all of his bloodline and lineage, all of his things that he trusted in, and all at once he is found to be the persecutor of Christ. And none of that mattered. He was shown to be a dirty, wicked, ungodly sinner. And here's the thing. That is exactly where all people have to come. And that's the thing people loathe the most, is coming to the place when they stand before God, dirty and naked, without anything to brag about, without any righteousness to boast about. People loathe that place. They don't want to be that person. [00:42:06] But in this one word that Jesus speaks from heaven to Saul, at that one place, everything that he trusted in every piece of righteousness was gone. He was found to be the very enemy of God, the God that he said he followed. [00:42:22] He was guilty of the most vile, and heinous acts of acts of sin in the sight of God. He said himself the chief of sinners. [00:42:33] All at once, the delusion that he was a good person melted away, and he stood before Jesus wicked and ungodly. [00:42:47] Just one word from Christ. [00:42:52] Have you ever seen yourself like this? [00:42:56] Stripped of everything of which you might boast or brag, stripped of every claim of your own righteousness? Have you ever been there? [00:43:12] Because you certainly have a lot less to boast about than Paul did. He said, I more right. I more. [00:43:21] Have you ever been to that place where you've seen yourself destitute, condemned, dirty? [00:43:31] This is why a person can't trust in those things. They have to trust in Jesus. [00:43:39] So to close, what do we learn from the conversion of Saul? [00:43:45] I wrote down four things. I've given you one already, but I wrote down four from Saul's conversion. Here's what we see even the most righteous devotee to religion, even the person that's the strictest that follows the rules, the best, even the person that tries to be the most holy, the most moral, the most righteous cannot be made right with God by that. It's not possible. If it was possible, Paul would have done it. He said before the law he was blameless, and he stood before Jesus dirty, defiled, guilty. [00:44:28] It is not possible. [00:44:31] You've got to come to Christ as a sinner, as you are, as you truly are, without these fancies and imaginations of what you consider yourself to be. [00:44:44] Number two, saul's conversion teaches us that just because a person is sincere does not mean they're right. [00:44:55] Saul was perfectly sincere. Clear conscience, dead wrong. [00:45:00] Clear conscience on his road to hell. [00:45:04] Number three, saul's conversion teaches us that God is patient and long suffering beyond our wildest imagination, and he pardons even the worst. If he pardons Saul, if he forgave Saul for spilling the blood of his children, he'll forgive the drug addict, he'll forgive the fornicator. [00:45:26] He'll forgive the pseudo righteous religionist. [00:45:34] And lastly, what Saul's conversion teaches us is no sinner, no matter his background, no matter his sins, no matter how much he hates Christ, no matter how self righteous he might be, no sinner is beyond the reach of Jesus'saving hand. [00:45:55] That means we should never stop praying for those people. [00:46:04] So I just want to ask you, where do you stand with God? Have you been to that place where Saul was standing before Jesus, totally, with no excuse, without any claim to righteousness, without any hope in yourself, throwing yourself on the one who bled and died for you? Did you know that Jesus bled and died for you? You know why he did that? Because you had no righteousness to offer. [00:46:36] And he offers by taking your sin upon himself and bearing that punishment, he offers you eternal life in its place. You just come to him naked and he clothes you. [00:46:49] That's it. [00:46:51] Have you done that? Not done that. Have you come to him? Is the better way to put it. [00:46:57] Let's pray.