OceanSide church of Christ
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THE CONVERSION OF SAUL OF
Victor M.
Eskew
INTRODUCTION
A.
Prior to His ascension to
the right hand of God, Jesus commissioned His disciples to go into all the world
and preach the gospel to every creature (Mark 16:15).
B.
The book of Acts involves
the response of the disciples to that command.
1.
In Acts 2, the gospel was
proclaimed and obeyed for the first time.
2.
Following that notable day,
we have example after example of men and women submitting themselves to the call
of the gospel.
C.
We need to pay very close
attention to each one of these conversion accounts.
1.
These individuals were saved
by their actions.
2.
We, too, can be saved if we
do as they did.
D.
This morning we want to
examine one of the most radical conversions found in the book of
Acts.
1.
It was the conversion of
Saul of Tarsus.
2.
Three chapters in Acts, 9,
22, and 26, speak of this conversion.
In these passages of scripture, we see Saul in five different
positions.
I. THE
PERSECUTOR
A.
Saul was a Pharisee (Acts
26:5).
1.
As such, he was very zealous
of the traditions of the Jewish fathers (Gal. 1:14).
2.
His zeal for Judaism caused
him to be very angry against the Christians of the first century (Acts
26:11).
And I punished
them oft in every synagogue, and compelled them to blaspheme; and being
exceedingly mad against them, I persecuted them even unto strange
cities.
B.
One of the cities to which
Saul went was
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
C.
Saul, at this time, was a
fierce opponent of Jesus Christ and of the church.
1.
He was a sinner. In fact, he would later refer to himself
while in this state as the chief of sinners (I Tim. 1:15).
2.
What is interesting is that
Paul was both religious and sincere.
a.
He believed he was right. He
believed he was doing God’s will.
b.
In Acts 23:1, he noted that he had always lived with a good conscience
before God.
c.
NOTE: It is possible to be
religious, sincere, and have no sting of conscience, and still be
wrong.
3.
Saul was the kind of man who needed the salvation offered by Christ. He did not realize this, but He
did.
II. THE
PERSUADED
A.
As a Jew, Saul did not
believe that Jesus was the Christ.
1.
He refused to believe that
Jesus was raised from the dead.
2.
He probably believed the lie
that the disciples had stolen the body of Jesus (Matt.
28:11-15).
B.
These beliefs were disposed
of at noon as Paul neared the city of
At midday, O
king, I saw in the way a light from heaven, above the brightness of the sun,
shining round about me and them which journeyed with me. And when we were all fallen to the
earth, I heard a voice speaking unto me, and saying in the Hebrew tongue, Saul,
Saul, why persecutest thou me? It
is hard for thee to kick against the pricks. And I said, Who art thou Lord? And he said, I am Jesus whom thou
persecutest.
1.
Three things helped to
persuade Paul that day:
a.
The suddenness of the event.
b.
The shining light from heaven.
c.
The spoken words of Jesus Christ.
2.
Acts 9:6 reveals that Saul was trembling and was
astonished.
a.
The Jesus he thought was dead was alive.
b.
The Christ that he warred against was now confronting him
directly.
C.
The purpose of this
appearance of Jesus to Saul of Tarsus was twofold:
1.
To cause him to believe in
Jesus as the Son of God.
2.
To qualify Saul to become an
apostle of Jesus Christ.
a.
One of the qualifications needed to become an apostle was to have seen
the resurrected Christ (Acts 1:22).
b.
Having seen Jesus on the road to
D.
One point that must be
emphasized is that Saul’s belief while on the road to
1.
Those who believe in
salvation by faith only teach that Saul was saved while on the road. They appeal to two things to support
their belief.
a.
Passages that link faith and salvation (John 5:24).
Verily, verily I
say unto you, He that heareth my word, and believeth on him that sent me, hath
everlasting life, and shalt not come into condemnation; but is passed from death
to life.
ANSWER: The problem with this view is that it
sees saving faith as a single act of belief instead of a process of numerous
acts that begin with belief.
1)
Faith only, as a single act, does not save (James
2:24).
Ye see then how
that by works a man is justified, and not by faith only.
2)
A faith that repents of sin, confesses the name of Christ, and submits to
the command to be baptized will save (Acts 16:30-34).
b.
A second argument for Saul’s salvation while on the road to
1)
The Argument: Ananias
referred to Saul as a brother because he was now a brother in
Christ.
2)
Answer: Could Ananias have
addressed Saul as a Jewish brother instead of addressing him as a Christian
brother? Absolutely. Listen to Paul’s description of Anaias
in Acts 22:12.
And one Ananias,
a devout man according to the law, having a good report of all the Jews that
dwelt therein.
2.
Saul was not saved on the
road to
And he trembling
and astonished said, Lord, what wilt 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.
a.
Saul believed, but there was
more for him to do. One thing that
he would be told to do is to arise, and be baptized in order to wash away his
sins (Acts 22:16).
b.
Isn’t it interesting that
Jesus did not say: “There is
nothing more for you to do. You’ve
believed, therefore, you are saved.”
Jesus said: “Arise, and go
into the city, and it shall be told thee what thou must
do.”
CONCLUSION
A.
What started as a normal day
in Saul’s life, turned to trembling, blindness, and
astonishment.
B. This, however, is not the conclusion of the story. In our next lesson, we will look at the remainder of Saul’s conversion account.