Paul

To know for sure that you're saved is a growing process with most Christians as they exercise three things. First of all, a greater trust in the promises of God.

That's your bedrock of assurance. The second thing is by the inward evidences of grace or the marks or fruits of grace in your life. And then the third is a direct testimony of the Holy Spirit that he speaks directly to your soul through the word, I am thy salvation or bring some other promise to play into your life. In such a way that you can't deny that he is assuring you that you belong to Christ and Christ belongs to you. You take those three things, the promises of God, evidences of grace, testimony of the Holy Spirit, and then put over them all God's faithful track record over the years. And God's people can have full infallible assurance of faith. Assurance of faith by Joel Beeke.

Visit Ligonier.org slash teaching series to learn more. Coming up next on Renewing Your Mind. Now Saul in his amazement is dumbfounded. He doesn't know who's speaking to him. He doesn't recognize the voice. He knows it's in Hebrew, and he knows whoever it is is the Lord.

Who is it? Lord! He cries. And the voice says, I am Jesus whom you are persecuting. Saul of Tarsus may have been the least likely convert to Christianity. He hated Christians and persecuted them zealously. But as we're going to learn today, all of that was about to change.

Let's join Dr. R.C. Sproul now as he tells us how Saul the persecutor became Paul the apostle. In biblical days, the social structure of Israel was made up of several different groups. There were the Pharisees and the Sadducees, and there were the God-fearing Gentiles and so on. But one of the most prominent groups of people that we encounter in the New Testament, not because of their size but because of their significance, was a group called the zealots. At least one of the twelve disciples, and possibly two, were called from this group of people, the zealots. The zealots were called zealots because of their great zeal for political liberation.

These were the men who were committed to an armed revolt against the Roman occupation. But there was another group of people in Israel who could also be called zealots, though their zealotism was not necessarily linked to political goals or ambitions, and those were the Pharisees. These men were zealots for the law of God.

Now we don't hear anything about the Pharisees in the Old Testament because they didn't exist in the Old Testament. It was during the intertestamental period that the Pharisees, as a distinct party, as a group within the nation, were formed. And they were formed by a group of conservative Jewish people who were extremely concerned about the radical secularization of the nation that was taking place.

They were trying to swim against the tide of secularism and to call the people back to their roots and to the ancient law forms of Israel. And so they called themselves the separated ones, or the set apart ones, or the Pharisees. And they were personally, singularly, zealously devoted to living out obedience to the law of God perfectly in their lives. Now even within the Pharisees, there was a subgroup of Pharisees who were the most zealous of the lot. There was a little group of Pharisees that developed who summarized all of the laws that they could find in the Old Testament and had a list of 1,001 of those laws. And it was their belief that if any one of their group, any one of their number, could keep all 1,001 laws of the Jewish faith perfectly for 24 hours, that God would send the Messiah. Now during the time of Jesus, there was one of these zealots whose life was totally devoted to the zealot cause of Phariseeism. He was reared in a home that was committed to the law of God. He was given a singularly great education where he studied at the feet of the greatest rabbi of the century, Gamaliel, at the most important theological school in Jerusalem. And this young man by the time he was 21 years old had the equivalent of what we would consider to be two PhDs and was considered the most learned young Pharisee of his day.

But with his learning and his brilliance, there was a match of zeal. He hated anything that even smacked of a departure from the rigorous orthodoxy of the Pharisaic code. And he began to hear reports in and around Jerusalem about a new sect that was developing, a sect that he considered heretical, a sect that he judged to be a clear and present danger to the purity of the Jewish religion.

It's a sect of people who were Jews who were following after this man called Christ and who had the audacity to claim that this man was the Messiah. And this young zealot was enraged by this, and he developed a consuming hatred for Christians and for the Christian church. His name was Saul, Saul of Tarsus, a man whose Greek name was Paulus, who was known to us by the name Paul. And later in his life, when Paul was reflecting of his own experience, he acknowledged in his writings that he was a sinner.

And this is an acknowledgment that comes from somebody who was a Pharisee of Pharisees, who was part of the Pharisaical elite who sought to live the law perfectly every day of their lives. And this man finally acknowledged that he was a sinner, but not only that he was a sinner, but his own self-designation was that he was the chief of sinners, the captain of sinners, the arch sinner, the number one sinner of the world. Now, when we look at the life of Paul from the vantage point of the 20th century and think of the tremendous exploits that this man performed in the cause of Christ, when we think of his apostolic ministry, we are not prone to think of Paul as the chief of sinners. And when we read that statement in which he incriminates himself to that degree, we have a tendency to dismiss it and say, oh, this is just a characteristic example of Paul's humility. No, Paul was not being humble when he called himself the chief of sinners.

He never forgot the gravity of his sin. Paul's humility was expressed by violent, passionate, zealous, religious hatred for Christ and for his bride, the church. And when Paul emerged, Paul was commissioned by the Sanhedrin, by the ruling body of the Jews, to go and find those people who were involved with this corrupt sect of heretics known as Christians. And Paul would seek them out and bring them in for prosecution, at times dragging people from their homes and taking them to jail, and he took a fiendish delight in his task.

In fact, he was so zealous in this enterprise that he volunteered to carry out this purge of Christians beyond the confines of Jerusalem, up the Damascus road into Syria, to hunt them down, track them down, to root them out, to get rid of this cult that he considered it to be. Let's look at the narrative that we find in the New Testament in the book of Acts, beginning in the ninth chapter. Chapter 9 of Acts, verse 1, reads as follows. Now let me just say before I read it that just a couple of chapters before this, we have a brief cameo appearance of this man Saul, where he happens to be in the crowd that hears the sermon of Stephen, in which Stephen, with great courage and boldness, proclaimed the deity of Christ, his crucifixion and his resurrection, and railed against the Jewish authorities, calling them stiff-necked people who had killed the Son of God. And we read that when Stephen gave that speech that the religious leaders who listened to it, teeth began to gnash as they spewed out hatred and reached for stones to destroy Stephen. And some of them were so zealous in this that they had a kangaroo court, and disregarding the Roman prohibition against executing anybody without Roman law in their midst, these people went ahead anyway and began to pelt Stephen with deadly stones.

And as these missiles were being hurled, one man who was particularly eager to get in the fray handed his coat to this bystander, and it was Saul who stood there consenting, watching Stephen be murdered in front of him. And the thing that we have to understand, beloved, when we later hear Paul saying that he was the chief of sinners, is that Paul enjoyed that experience. And now we read in chapter 9, verse 1, then Saul, still breathing threats and murder against the disciples of the Lord, listen to that description, breathing threats. But he was so utterly hostile to Christianity that he didn't just give an occasional critique against the church.

He couldn't take a breath without that breath expressing venom, hatred, threat against the people of God. And 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. But here Luke tells us in the book of Acts that Christians, before they were called Christians at Antioch, called themselves the people of the way.

An interesting designation, isn't it, comes from the Greek, hei hodos, which means the road or the way, and it certainly harkened back to the teachings of Jesus Himself when He said that broad is the way and wide is the gate that leads to destruction, and many are those who go in there at, but narrow is the way and straight is the gate that leads to life, and few there are who find it. And later on, speaking to the disciples in the upper room, He said to them, I am the way, the truth, and the life. And so the early Christian community, as they followed after Jesus, said, He is the way, and they called themselves the people of the way. The first time they were called Christians was at Antioch, and there it was a term of derision, and we notice that here in chapter 9 that Paul is asking letters so that if he could find anyone in Damascus who were of the way, and notice this parenthetic statement, whether men or women, he might bring them bound to Jerusalem.

He didn't care whether they were kids, if they were women, if they were elderly, if they were involved in any way with this corrupt, heretical, Jewish sect of people who called themselves the way. He was going to put them in chains, and He was going to drag them back to Jerusalem for trial, for imprisonment, and hopefully for execution. Now as he journeyed, he came near to Damascus, and suddenly a light shone around him from heaven, and then he fell to the ground, and he heard a voice saying to him.

When we look at the other accounts in Acts and elsewhere of this episode, we get the added detail that the voice that he hears on this Damascus highway speaks to him in Hebrew. And he heard the voice saying to him, Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting me? And he said, who are you, Lord? And then the Lord said, I am Jesus whom you are persecuting.

It is hard for you to kick against the goads. What an incredible encounter. As it is recorded for us here, Luke tells us that just before Paul arrives in Damascus, having a growing sense of gleeful anticipation of continuing this harassment of the Christian community, suddenly the noonday sky is filled with a light that is brighter than the sun, that is blinding in its dimensions, and it knocks people to the earth, and Paul terror-stricken now suddenly hears this voice coming from heaven speaking to him by name. And not only speaking to him by name, but repeating his name, saying his name twice, which Paul is an expert in Jewish culture and customs, understood to be an address of profound personal intimacy, a tender form of address, a gracious form of address, a loving form of address, Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting me?

Let me just comment on that briefly. We know as the text indicates who the speaker is. We know that Saul is hearing audibly the voice of Christ. You would expect Christ to have said on that occasion, Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting my church? Because Saul had never laid eyes on Jesus during Jesus' earthly ministry. But it's important for us to realize in this statement of Christ that Jesus considered an attack upon his church as an attack upon him. To persecute his church was to persecute his own body.

To rail against his bride was to rail against him. Because Saul, in his amazement, is dumbfounded, he doesn't know who's speaking to him. He doesn't recognize the voice. He knows it's in Hebrew, and he knows whoever it is is the Lord. Who is it, Lord?

He cries. And the voice says, I am Jesus, whom you are persecuting. Is it not hard for you to kick against the goad?

What a reference that Jesus uses to Paul, who is so proud of his brilliance, of his erudition, of his education, of his mastery of the deep things of theology. Jesus has just now called him a stupid ox. Because the goads, or the ox goad, was a heavy board, a thick board that was placed behind oxen that were yoked to draw a cart. And in that block of wood, there were sharp spikes that stuck out so that when the stubborn oxen wouldn't move, and they would try to get them to move along in their resistance and in their hatred for their task and the onerous burden that they had, the ox would kick their feet back against the cart. And when they kicked their feet against the cart, their feet would come in contact with these jagged spikes that stuck out this goad. And here's how dumb the ox were, that when they would strike their feet upon these spikes, they would become furious, and they would kick it harder. And the more they kicked the ox goads, the bloodier their feet became, and the angrier the oxen became, and the harder they would kick.

It's like somebody that beats their head against the wall and keeps on doing it harder and harder. Jesus said, what's the matter with you? Why do you keep kicking against the ox goad? Why do you fight me? So Paul, trembling and astonished, said, Lord, what do you want me to do?

I'm not going to kick anymore. I'm not going to Damascus to carry on any more persecutions. You tell me where you want me to go.

You tell me what you want me to do. And Christ gave him instructions on where to go and to wait until further instructions would come. And Paul's mission would be spelled out where Paul would be called to be the apostle to the Gentiles, the chief missionary for the people of the way, for the same people that he had hated so bitterly and who had tried to exterminate from the face of the earth. He became the missionary, the champion of the early church, going across the known world, planting churches wherever he could, suffering all kinds of affliction for one cause, and that was to build up the body of Christ. To build the church, the church that he had hated, the church that he sought to destroy, and he considered himself the chief of sinners because he had been, in his religious zeal, engaged in passionate treason against Christ. He knew that the only way he could live from that day on was by grace, by mercy. And after one face-to-face encounter with the living Christ, the chief of sinners became the chief apostle.

With God, all things are possible. Because Jesus Christ intervened, the church's fiercest opponent became its greatest advocate. You're listening to Renewing Your Mind on this Thursday. I'm Lee Webb. Thank you for being with us. We hope you enjoyed today's lesson from Dr. R.C. Sproul from his series Face to Face with Jesus. Featuring 12 video messages, this series offers vital lessons from our Savior's encounters with people like John the Baptist and Pontius Pilate. We'd be happy to send you this series for your donation of any amount to Ligonier Ministries.

Log on to renewingyourmind.org to request it, or call us at 800-435-4343. And in advance, let me thank you for your gift. Be anxious for nothing. Those are the words of the Apostle Paul found in his letter to the Philippians. And over the last few months, we've needed to be reminded of his exhortation.

But many times we find it easier said than done. This month's edition of Table Talk magazine deals with anxiety. And if, like me, you're a Table Talk subscriber, I trust you're finding the articles helpful. If you're not a subscriber, we'd be happy to start a free three-month trial subscription for you. Or maybe you'd like to introduce it to a family member or friend as a gift. We'd be happy to do that for you as well.

Just contact us at 800-435-4343. We hope you'll join us again tomorrow when we'll see what happened when our Lord paid a special visit to the man described as his beloved apostle. Suddenly he is startled hearing a voice calling to him from behind him. The loud voice that sounds like a trumpet says, I am Alpha and Omega, the first and the last. What you see, write in a book and send it to the seven churches which are in Asia, to Ephesus, to Smyrna, to Pergamos, to Thyatira, to Sardis, to Philadelphia, and to Laodicea. I mean, John understood instantly whose voice it was because the voice identified himself as being Alpha and Omega. What did that appearance of Christ mean for John and for today's church? That's what we'll examine tomorrow here on Renewing Your Mind. Please join us. .