Saul – Good Heart
Wrong Head
Lesson 46
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Saul the Evangelist
After spending a week
or two with the disciples, Saul was
able to quickly align key elements
from his formal education with new
spiritual eyesight and presto! Saul
began to see that Jesus was the
fulfillment of everything promised in
the Old Testament. The young man was
so excited he could not contain
himself. Remember, all along he had a
good heart, but his head was filled
with wrong ideas. Now that Saul
realized his blindness, his head
could be directed toward truth. True
to form, Saul was immediately ready
to tell the whole world about Jesus!
This is the amazing thing about
people who are ideologues by nature.
They are wholehearted and
enthusiastic in everything they do.
The Bible says of Saul:
“At once he began
to preach in the synagogues that
Jesus is the Son of God. All those
who heard him were astonished and
asked, ‘Isn’t he the man
who raised havoc in Jerusalem among
those who call on this name? And
hasn’t he come here to take them
as prisoners to the chief
priests?’ Yet Saul grew more and
more powerful and baffled the Jews
living in Damascus by proving that
Jesus is the Christ. After many
days had gone by[about three years],
the Jews conspired to kill him, but
Saul learned of their plan. Day and
night they kept close watch on the
city gates in order to kill him. But
his followers took him by night and
lowered him in a basket through an
opening in the wall.” (Acts
9:20-25, insertion mine)
When the persecutor
becomes the persecuted, it is
apparent that an amazing change has
taken place. Saul did not return to
Jerusalem immediately after his
conversion. The Holy Spirit called
him to spend time in the solitude of
the desert. Saul had much to unlearn,
but he also had much to learn. He
shared this experience with the
Galatians because he wanted them to
know that his understanding of the
gospel came directly through the
ministry of the Holy Spirit. He
wrote, “For you have heard of my
previous way of life in Judaism, how
intensely I persecuted the church of
God and tried to destroy it. I was
advancing in Judaism beyond many Jews
of my own age and was extremely
zealous for the traditions of my
fathers. But when God, who set me
apart from birth and called me by his
grace, was pleased to reveal his Son
in me so that I might preach him
among the Gentiles, I did not consult
any man, nor did I go up to Jerusalem
to see those who were apostles before
I was, but I went immediately into
[the desert] Arabia and later
returned to Damascus. Then after
three years, I went up to Jerusalem
to get acquainted with Peter and
stayed with him fifteen days.”
(Galatians 1:13-18, insertion mine)
Three years after
leaving for Damascus, Saul returned
to Jerusalem. Since there had not
been any news about him and his
whereabouts for such a long time, the
disciples were not sure what he was
up to. “When he came to
Jerusalem, he tried to join the
disciples, but they were all afraid
of him, not believing that he really
was a disciple. But Barnabas took him
and brought him to the apostles. He
told them how Saul on his journey had
seen the Lord and that the Lord had
spoken to him, and how in Damascus he
had preached fearlessly in the name
of Jesus. So Saul stayed with them
and moved about freely in Jerusalem,
speaking boldly in the name of the
Lord. He talked and debated with the
Grecian Jews, but they tried to kill
him. When the brothers learned of
this, they took him down to Caesarea
and sent him off to Tarsus. Then the
church throughout Judea, Galilee and
Samaria enjoyed a time of peace. It
was strengthened; and encouraged by
the Holy Spirit, it grew in numbers,
living in the fear of the Lord.”
(Acts 9:26-31)
Summary
The limits of space do
not allow me to present the marvelous
life of Saul beyond this point.
Therefore, I will close with a review
of some of the end time parallels
that can be found in Saul’s
life:
1.
During the Great Tribulation, the
religious leaders of the world will
parallel the behavior of the
Pharisees and the Sadducees.
Conservatives, like the Pharisees of
old, will insist that the only way to
appease God so that His judgments
might stop is by religious obedience.
The problem is that their idea of how
to appease God will be faulty. There
is an obedience that stems from
legalism (the carnal heart) and there
is an obedience that springs from
faith (the spiritual heart). The
question is not whether God requires
obedience; the question is whether
our obedience springs from faith and
love! Liberals, like the Sadducees of
old, will use their political
connections and influence civil
powers to produce legislation that
attempts to control and thwart the
144,000. As in Paul’s day, when
Pharisees and Sadducees united
against the apostles and the early
Christians, so in the end times,
conservatives and liberals will unite
against the testimony of God’s
144,000 and end time Christians.
2.
After Jesus went to Heaven, He
gave His Disciples two great powers.
First, He gave them words and wisdom
to speak for God. Jesus promised, “But
when they arrest you, do not worry
about what to say or how to say it.
At that time you will be given what
to say, for it will not be you
speaking, but the Spirit of your
Father speaking through you.”
(Matthew 10:19,20) Second, He gave
the disciples Holy Spirit power and
enabled them to perform hundreds of
genuine miracles. Jesus promised, “But
you will receive power when the Holy
Spirit comes upon you; and you will
be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in
all Judea and Samaria, and to the
ends of the Earth.” (Acts
1:8) God granted them miracle working
powers so that people would listen to
the testimony of the disciples,
believe, be “born again.”
And then spread the message abroad.
These two gifts rested upon Paul and
Barnabas as well. “So Paul
and Barnabas spent considerable time
they’re [Iconium], speaking
boldly for the Lord, who confirmed
the message of his grace by enabling
them to do miraculous signs and
wonders.” (Acts 14:3, insertion
mine) This same process will
happen again. God will give the
144,000 servants words and wisdom to
speak for Him. They will clearly
present the terms and conditions of
salvation from the Scriptures and the
power of the Holy Spirit will rest
upon them, enabling them to perform
genuine miracles on demand. These
two gifts are described in revelation
11 as the Two Witnesses.
3.
The love of religion is blinding, so
it is impossible for one man to prove
the superiority of his religion over
that of another. A devout Christian
cannot prove to a devout Jew
that his or her religion is superior
to Judaism. History confirms this.
Jesus could not prove the Jews
that He was the Messiah! Jesus could
not prove to His disciples that He
was the Messiah, either! One day,
Jesus asked Peter if he believed that
He was the Son of God and Peter
responded “Yes.” Jesus then
said, “Blessed are you,
Simon, son of Jonah, for this was not
revealed to you by man, but by my
Father in Heaven.” (Matthew
16:17) Given the onerous power of
religion, let me ask – what were
the chances of young Saul abandoning
Judaism and accepting Christianity
after listening to Stephen’s
testimony? Zero. In fact, Saul was so
convinced of the accuracy of his
religious position that miracles and
reasoning from Scripture could not
make a dent in his thinking. The same
was true of the Pharisees and
Sadducees during the days of Jesus
They saw Jesus perform miracles with
their own eyes and the evidence of
His work was everywhere. Yet, the
only thing they could say was “…By
Beelzebub, the prince of demons, he
is driving out demons.”
(Luke 11:15) During the Great
Tribulation, God will tear down the
walls of religion with a marvelous
display of power and open the
eyes of everyone on Earth to truth
for a short time. God will confront
humankind with powerful
manifestations of truth and power. He
will force everyone to make a
decision for truth or against truth.
The honest in heart, like Saul, will
see the light – discover their
blindness and rejoice! People who
love religion and power, like the
Pharisees and Sadducees, will align
themselves with darkness to survive,
but will forfeit eternal life. The
experience of Saul on the road to
Damascus has an end time parallel.
Many people on Earth have honest
hearts, but wrong heads. At the
appointed time, God will allow
everyone to see the light. All who
receive the truth, like Saul, will be
found among that grater number of
saints when they go marching in.
4.
The Bible does not tell us how or
when Saul’s name was changed to
Paul. Luke simply identifies Saul was
as the one who is also called Paul. “Then
Saul, who was also called Paul,
filled with the Holy Spirit, looked
straight at Elymas and said,
‘You are a child of the devil
and an enemy of everything that is
right! You are full of all kinds of
deceit and trickery. Will you never
stop perverting the right ways of the
Lord?’” (Acts 13:9,10)
I can almost hear the apostle Paul
saying these words – given the
fact that he, too, perverted the
right ways of the Lord! Although
it does not really matter how Saul
became known as Paul, I have a
possible explanation for you to
consider. When the Lord informed Saul
that he would become an apostle to
the Gentiles, (1 Timothy 2:7) I
conclude that Saul converted his
Jewish name to a Gentile equivalent,
so they would accept him more
readily. (The Jews were intensely
hated throughout the Roman Empire and
very few Gentiles would listen to a
despised Jew. See Acts 16:20) Even
more, a new identity reflects a new
life. (Saul abandoned the Pharisees
and I am sure the feeling was
mutual.) The apostle Paul had one
objective. He wanted everyone to know
Christ and the joy of His salvation.
He wrote the following:
“Though I am free and belong to
no man, I make myself a slave to
everyone, to win as many as possible.
To the Jews I become like a Jew, to
win the Jews. To those under the law
I became like one under the law
(though I myself am not under the
law), so as to win those under the
law. To those [Gentiles] not
having the law I became like one not
having the law (though I am not free
from God’s law but am under
Christ’s law), so as to win
those not having the law. To the weak
I became weak, to win the weak. I
have become all things to all men so
that by all possible means I might
save some. I do all this for the sake
of the gospel, that I may share in
its blessing.’” (1
Corinthians 9:12-23), insertion mine)
History says that Paul
was executed in Rome around A.D.65
for refusing to worship Caesar. He
fought a good fight and was faithful
to the end. (2 timothy 4:7) After
studying Paul’s writings and his
life of service for the Lord Jesus
Christ, I am forever indebted to this
zealous man for showing me many
wonderful things about Jesus. Jesus
halted Saul on the road to Damascus
because he was totally dedicated to
the service of God (albeit,
misdirected). What is so wonderful
about God is That He sees the heart!
He knew that once Saul met Jesus, his
life would be forever changed. Paul
wrote 14 of the 27 books found in the
New Testament! Where would Christians
be without his contribution to the
Bible? Paul’s life is a perfect
example of a complete paradigm shift.
What he used to love, he came to hate
and what he used to hate, he came to
love.
“But whatever
was to my profit I now consider loss
for the sake of Christ. What is more,
I consider everything a loss compared
to the surpassing greatness of
knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for
whose sake I have lost all things. I
consider them [my losses]
rubbish, that I may gain Christ and
be found in him, not having a
righteousness of my own that comes
from the law, but that which is
through faith in Christ – the
righteousness that comes from God and
is by faith.” (Philippians
3:7-9, insertion mine) May God help
each of us to emulate the integrity,
love, humility and dedication
demonstrated in the life of a dear
saint who became known as Paul.
Quiz:
1. You do feel that
you have may have had a paradigm
shift after reading this lesson? Give
on example!
2. Does any current
religion’s on Earth speak the
truth about salvation and the ways to
the kingdom of God?
3. Have you ever seen
a miracle in your life, which
increased your faith in God?
4. Are there any
people in your life today in your
opinion, that’s living in
rebellion against God and His laws of
life?
5. In this
lesson, what is The Pharisee Test and
do you think every human being has
some pharisaical ways?
6. What two groups
today remind you of the Pharisees of
old and the Sadducees?
7. What is your main
objective in life up to this point in
this Bible study?
Notes:
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