If you were to interview Saul of Tarsus and you'd say, Saul, so what's up with this?
Why are you so intent on hurting these Christians? He would tell you that he's just being a good apologist. He is stopping a false doctrine, a heretical movement. He wants to keep Judaism purified. That's probably what he would say.
I want to keep it purified. Today on Connect with Skip Heitzig, Pastor Skip takes a look at Saul of Tarsus and what motivated him to persecute the church. But first, here's a resource all about those who, like Stephen, gave it all for the sake of the Gospel. Today's modern martyrs actions mirror the courage of a long line of brave Christians. And as believers, it's important that we know the heroic sacrifice of those who gave it all for the Christian faith so that we too can boldly stand for Christ.
But most of these modern stories are unknown. We want to help encourage and strengthen you with the stories of those who paid the ultimate price to share their faith so you can hold fast to the truth by sending you a copy of the New Book of Christian Martyrs. In this update to Fox's Book of Martyrs, Johnny Moore and Jerry Patengale highlight key martyrs of past centuries and feature stories of contemporary martyrs around the world. You'll be encouraged and inspired as you discover that men and women are still standing firm for the truth. The New Book of Christian Martyrs is our thanks for your gift of $50 or more to keep messages like this one today on the air for you and others, equipping you to know God's word and follow His will.
Call 800-922-1888 or give securely online at connectwithskip.com slash offer. All right, now let's turn to Acts Chapter 9 for today's teaching from Skip. The main character in our story tonight is of course Saul of Tarsus who becomes Paul the Apostle.
We have been introduced to him already in the book of Acts back in chapter 7 verse 58. It was Saul who was keeping the clothes of those who were stoning Stephen. He was in the synagogue, the Hellenistic synagogue, the synagogue of the freed men in Jerusalem. He listened to the compelling message given by Stephen, giving Jewish background, taking them through all the different patriarchs, the story of redemptive history, all the way up to the coming of the righteous one, the Messiah, Jesus Christ. Those who heard him were cut to the heart, but as they were cut to the heart, what they did with their conviction is closed their heart. They attacked Stephen and they murdered him.
Saul was there egging them on, consenting to his death. Now he goes from bad to worse, but what's great about chapter 9 is this is his conversion story. This is his salvation story. This becomes his testimony.
Some people like me have a pretty low-key testimony. I didn't see a vision. There was no bolt of lightning. I didn't hear an audible voice. I watched a message on television by an evangelist named Billy Graham.
I knew that was the truth. I turned it off. I went into my bedroom. I prayed. I received Jesus, and I knew I was saved. Some people, however, have dramatic testimonies, and I love everybody's story is different.
I love to hear them all. I had a good friend, still one of my close friends. He was my best friend at the time. His mother, after his conversion, after her son's conversion, his mother didn't really want anything to do with it. She was running a household, basically the one holding down the fort, bringing in the paycheck every couple of weeks.
Her husband was a drunk and not contributing at all. She didn't have time for religion. She didn't have time. She didn't believe any of that stuff.
She wanted that far away from her. But one night, the Lord Jesus appeared to her in a dream, and it was so dramatic for her, so vivid for her. She woke up the next morning, grabbed her son, and said, I need to receive Christ.
And from that moment on, she followed Jesus. It was a dramatic testimony. Now, I think we'd all agree that the conversion of Saul of Tarsus was not only one of the great days of human history and one of the great stories of human history, but one of the most dramatic conversions ever.
And it was dramatic, I believe, because it was a noteworthy event. He was a noteworthy person, and his salvation would mean so much for the growth of the early church. That is why he becomes the dominant figure in the second half or the second portion of the book of Acts.
Now, we've already looked at him. We're going to look at his conversion, and then the story is going to go back to Peter and highlight Peter for a few chapters before giving way to Saul of Tarsus, now Paul the Apostle, who becomes the predominant figure in the rest of the book of Acts. It's interesting that some years ago, a lawyer by the name of Frank Morrison, who was an unbeliever, said there are two events, two biblical events, that we must deal with to overturn Christianity. That was his aim, he said, to overturn Christianity.
But he said, I have to deal with two events. And it was these two events that he decided to research and contradict, confound, show why they were false. And those two events were, number one, the resurrection of Jesus Christ, and number two, the conversion of Saul of Tarsus. He said, if I can manage to get at those two events, I can overturn Christianity. And as he did his research, Frank Morrison found that the evidence was overwhelmingly for Jesus Christ, both in his resurrection and with the conversion of Saul of Tarsus. And Frank Morrison, the atheistic, agnostic, whatever lawyer at the time, gave his life to Christ. And he was overturned by, in part, this event. Now the conversion of Saul of Tarsus, highlighted in chapter 9, is an unlikely conversion.
I like those kind. You know, everybody has people they know who are like the most unlikely to ever be saved. And you think, oh, they could never, I could never see that happening to them. I hope you rethink that thinking after being refreshed with the testimony of Saul of Tarsus. Because Saul would say, if he can be saved, anybody can. He was unlikely because at the time, he was the chief antagonist against Christianity. But after this, he will become the chief protagonist for Christianity. He was the chief opponent. He becomes the chief proponent.
So it's very unlikely, given his state of mind, as the chapter opens up. Now in this chapter, Saul of Tarsus, who is in Jerusalem, decides that since Christianity is spreading so rapidly and moving northward to Damascus, that he would ask special orders from the Sanhedrin, from the Jewish council, to go up to Damascus and find those believers so that it doesn't spread into Syria and into other parts of the world. He wanted to keep it from spreading.
Now, isn't that interesting? Because he's the one who will become responsible for spreading it. He'll take it from Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria, and the uttermost parts of the earth. But he is hot on the trail of believers.
So he decides to travel 160 miles north of Jerusalem to the city of Damascus. Now, keep in mind that he has a purpose. If you were to interview Saul of Tarsus and you'd say, Saul, so what's up with this?
Why are you so intent on hurting these Christians? He would tell you that he's just being a good person. He would tell you that he's just being a good apologist. He is stopping a false doctrine, a heretical movement. He wants to keep Judaism purified.
That's probably what he would say. I want to keep it purified. But in attempting to keep it so purified, he's going to make it putrefied.
He's going to turn anybody off from it. If this is what your religion will do in getting to Jerusalem and hurting these people, incarcerating these people, making sure that they die because of their faith, he's going to turn people off. It's similar to what I have seen happen in the Middle East with Islam. Last time I was in Iraq, many of the people who were raised in Rome said, after ISIS came in their area, they said, we have now seen the true face of Islam. We didn't know that this was part of what we believed in, but since ISIS came in, we started reading and studying the Quran and found that that really is representative of the intent of Islam and Muhammad from the beginning. And now we want nothing to do with our religion. And because of ISIS, many of them have become more open to Christ and have turned to Christ because of it. So here is Saul of Tarsus. He's just bent on putting it out.
It's sort of like this. Did you know that the healthiest place on earth, guess where it is? Healthiest place on healthiest place on earth, the South Pole.
You know why? Germs don't have a chance. Man, germs can't live in that stuff. It's just too cold for them to be active. So since winds largely originate at the South Pole and move northward, all the contaminants are also that would be contaminants would be pushed away. It's too cold for germs to thrive to survive.
There's no dust at the South Pole. It is the healthiest, cleanest place to live. However, not many people are standing in line to move there. Real estate, I hear is cheap.
Now, why is that? Why aren't people wanting to live in the healthiest place? You know, there's always a list of the healthiest cities to live in in America.
Well, don't forget the South Pole. The reason people are moving there, it's just too stinking cold, that's why. So people can get like that. They want to become so pure, so perfect, so authentic that they can become so cold in their approach, so isolating in their approach to people. And Saul of Tarsus was growing hot under the collar and cold around the heart all at the same time. We read about it in verse one.
Then Saul, still breathing threats and murder against the disciples of the Lord, went to the high priest and asked letters from him to the synagogues of Damascus, so that if he found any who were of the way, that is what Christians were called originally, not the church, not Christians, but the way, whether men or women, he might bring them bound to Jerusalem. The original language that this is penned in says, Saul, breathing in threats. Here it just says, breathing threats and murders, but the original intention of the participle, I am told, means to breathe in, to inhale.
What's interesting about that is some translations translated by saying, Saul, breathing out threats. So I just want you to picture this as that murders and threats have become his very breath. He's breathing it in, he's breathing it out. He's like a war horse who sniffs the wind and can smell war and gets all excited. He's ready for it. He's ready for it. Saul is a fire-breathing Pharisee, hot on the trail. It's become his very life breath to put out this movement of early Christianity that is moving northward.
So he goes and he asks letters to the synagogues of Damascus. Now let me ask you a question. Do you think Saul of Tarsus is sincere in his belief?
Oh man, my yes, very much so. Now ask yourself a follow-up question. Is sincerity all that's important?
Why do I bring it up? Because how many times do people say of other religions, oh, but they're so sincere? Listen, I'm sure ISIS is very sincere in their belief system.
They put their lives on the line, they give up family, friendships, they live sometimes in isolation, all for the caliphate. They are willing to cut people's heads off for their sincerity. Sincerity isn't enough. You can be sincere and at the same time be sincerely wrong. And Saul of Tarsus at this point was very sincere about his religious beliefs, but he was dead wrong.
He was sincerely wrong. Now I didn't warn you, but we're going through Acts 9, but there are four other passages of scripture I'm going to make reference to, okay, because they tie together and I need you to see how some of these things all integrate together. One of them is Paul's letter to Timothy, and you can feel free to turn to any of these or you can just let me read them to you, but this is the epistle of 1 Timothy and listen to Paul, what he writes. And I thank Christ Jesus, our Lord, who has enabled me because he counted me faithful, putting me into the ministry. Although I was formerly a blasphemer, a persecutor, and an insolent man, I'm reading out of 1 Timothy chapter 1 verse 12, but I obtained mercy because I did it ignorantly in unbelief.
In other words, I was sincerely wrong. And the grace of our Lord was exceedingly abundant with faith and love, which are in Christ Jesus. This is a faithful saying and worthy of all acceptance that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners of whom I am chief.
However, for this reason, I obtained mercy that in me first, Jesus Christ might show all longsuffering as a pattern to those who are going to believe on him for what it is that I believe on him for everlasting life. Do you remember in our studies of Philippians on our weekend series Technicolor Joy, in Philippians 3, he talks about, Paul talks about his background and he says concerning zeal, I persecuted the church. I was that zealous.
I was that sincere. I was so into purifying Judaism that I was willing to go on a rampage north of Jerusalem and put out the church, persecute the church. All of that has reference to what we're reading here in chapter 9 of the book of Acts. So he asked letters to 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. And as he journeyed, he came near Damascus and suddenly a light shone around him from heaven. Now it must have been a very bright light because when he tells this same story to King Agrippa when he's on trial in Caesarea in Acts 26, he says to the king, to King Agrippa, to King Agrippa, at midday, O king, I saw a light brighter than the sun. So he's traveling in broad daylight under full sun and a light brighter than the intensity of the sun got his attention, interrupted him.
Then verse 4, he fell to the ground and he heard a voice saying to him, Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting me? I have been on this road or on a road similar to it that Paul took from Jerusalem up toward Damascus. And whenever we take a group, a tour group to Israel, we travel one day to the far north of Israel.
We'll do that again in February. And we go into a mountain, which is called Mount Bental. And on Mount Bental, there is, it's a military viewing point. A lot of equipment is up there to listen to what's going on around them because you're at the Syrian border. And from that mountain peak, you can look down and you can see the road that goes north toward Damascus. In fact, on a clear day, you can see the outskirts of the city of Damascus.
And many times I've looked down on that lone stretch of road and wondered where it was where Saul of Tarsus had this event happen to him. And I've just thought about this in my mind because it was nearing Damascus that all of this happened. Now, why Damascus?
Why is he going 160 miles north? Well, there was a huge Jewish population already in Damascus. There was about 40 synagogues that were populating the city at the time. Josephus, Flavius Josephus, the Jewish historian who worked for the Romans, said that on one occasion 10,000 Jews were killed in Damascus, which shows there was a sizable population that was in that city. And because Paul knew that that was one of the epicenters of Judaism and that this Jewish messianic movement could spread, he decided to tackle it in its inception.
Now, what is his goal? Well, his goal as Rabbi Saul is to stop this insane movement that believes that Jesus is the Messiah. In Saul's mind, you've got a bunch of Jewish people believing that a dead guy is the Messiah. That's how Saul of Tarsus saw him. He did not believe in the resurrection. He will in a moment. But at this point, Jesus is a dead guy. And the law, his law says, cursed is everyone who hangs on a tree.
Why would anybody put their faith in a dead guy? This is insane to him. He wants to stop it. But he knows the fervor already of what has happened in Jerusalem.
He doesn't want it to he doesn't want it to spread any further. Now notice a word in our text. As he journeyed, he came near Damascus, and what's the next word? Suddenly.
Don't miss that. There was no forewarning for Saul. It wasn't like the day before somebody said, watch out, God's gonna get you tomorrow. He had no idea what was about to happen. It came suddenly.
He went to the high priest, asked for official letters. Nothing happened. God was silent.
He rounded up his posse, got on horses or donkeys, or walked, and he decided to travel. And so as they set out, nothing happened. God was silent.
Mile after mile after mile, God was silent. And then suddenly, from out of nowhere, without any kind of process or forewarning, suddenly a light shone around him from heaven. Now again, I want to look at a text of scripture. I'm going to turn now to a text we have read on the weekend in Philippians chapter 3, and let me read it to you. Saul, now Paul the Apostle, in the third chapter of Philippians, talks about his background, his testimony, but he says this, that I may know him, chapter 3 verse 10 of Philippians, and the power of his resurrection and the fellowship of his sufferings, being conformed to his death, if by any means I may attain to the resurrection from the dead.
Now listen to this. Not that I have already attained or am already perfected, but I press on that I may lay hold of that for which Christ Jesus also laid hold of me. The word laid hold, I mentioned it whenever, a few weeks ago, in Philippians, is the Greek word it means to arrest or seize, karalambano. So here's Saul going to arrest Christians, and on the way Jesus Christ arrests him, seizes him, lays hold of him, gets his attention, puts him down on the ground, this bright light, this voice from heaven. So here is Saul saying, my purpose is I'm pressing because I want to lay hold of, I want to seize, I want to seize, I want to grab a hold of the reason that Jesus Christ originally grabbed a hold of me.
He remembers that day vividly when he writes his letter to the Philippian church, and probably he has that in mind by using this word karalambano to arrest or seize. That's Skip Hyten with a look at the great persecutor Saul and why he hated the church so much. This message is from the series Expound Acts. Find the full message as well as books, booklets, and full teaching series at connectwithskip.com. Now here's Skip to share how you can connect you and many others with the truth of God's word with a gift to keep these messages going out around the world through Connect with Skip Heitzig. You know this ministry is really all about connecting you and others around the world with God's word, and we do that so that you'll be equipped, equipped to live abundantly in Christ Jesus. Now I want to personally invite you to join in that life-changing work today.
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Come back next week for more from Skip's series, Expound Acts. Make a connection. Make a connection at the foot of the crossing. Cast all burdens on his word. Make a connection. Connection. Connect with Skip Heitzig is a presentation of Connection Communications, connecting you to God's never-changing truth in ever-changing times.
