Paul’s Salvation and Yours

Introduction

Well, you may be able to detect in my voice that I’m a little bit under the weather, and so let me explain. I did in Bible class, and I want to explain again to those of you who weren’t in Bible class. I’m being extra standoffish this morning, and that’s for your benefit. You get two benefits from that. One is just the natural social benefit. You don’t have to interact with me. And so that’s just good for you. But the main benefit is hopefully I’ll keep my germs to myself. I don’t know if I’m contagious, but just to be on the safe side, uh I tried to stay away from you, and I’ll do that for the remainder of the day today. I feel good enough to be able to preach, teach Bible class if long as my voice holds up.

Uh but again, just be better safe than sorry. I’m gonna try to stay away from you. Uh I don’t know how far germs can travel. So Sean and Deedra here may be uh in the spray pattern, so I’ll try to back up a little bit uh for from that. You know, examples are funny things. Really, by its very definition, an example is supposed to be beneficial. An example is something somebody shows you the way to do something so that you can learn and benefit so that now you know how to do that. But sometimes an example can be counterproductive, in the sense that somebody is so good at something and excels so exceptionally at something that you’re not really helped by their example. You’re so intimidated by their example that you’re thinking, I can never do that.

Let me illustrate that from my life. How many of you here know or at least know who Bob Waldron is? Bob is an author, uh, many of you may know him as an author of some of our workbooks. He authored the history and geography, he and his wife Sandra, history and geography of the Bible story, and also had several workbooks that cover really from Genesis to Revelation, the history uh of the Bible. Uh Bob was a good friend. Bob passed away this past year. Deedron and I were uh able to be able to go to Dade City to his funeral uh just in the last several months. But Bob was a good friend. Bob performed our wedding uh several years ago. It in between my freshman and sophomore year at college, I was blessed to be able to work in a kind of a summer internship uh with Brother Waldron in North Alabama.

And at that time, he and Sandra were working on these workbooks that many of you know and own, and he was working on those things. And I’ll never forget one of the first times that we met together in that setting. Like I said, he was working on these things, and here remember, I’m in between my freshman and sophomore year in college. I was having at this point to still sing the apostle song to be able to say all the apostles. And I’m sitting across the desk, and Brother Waldron, for whatever reason, just decides that he’s going to go through the whole divided kingdom from memory. His Bible is closed, all of his notes are put away, and he just starts with Jeroboam and Rehoboam and goes down and lists all the kings of the divided kingdom.

In the such and such reign of this king, this king takes over, and he reigns for so many years. And he just from memory just spouts all of those things off like it was nothing. And I can remember thinking, what else can I do besides preaching? Because I can’t do that. I was so intimidated by his, you know, photographic memory of those kind of things. And I just thought, I’ll never be able to do that. And by the way, that was self-fulfilling prophecy. I still can’t do that. But sometimes an example can be, like I said, counterproductive, so intimidating that you think, I can never be that, and so why even try? From a biblical standpoint, there are certain examples that are that way. I think of the Apostle Paul.

The Apostle Paul is kind of one of those examples, isn’t he? We look up to the Apostle Paul and we kind of want to be like him, but then we realize I can’t be like Paul. Look what he did. The sacrifices that he made, the great work that he did, the great preaching and teaching. I’ll never be that kind of Christian. I’ll never live up to that. And if we’re not careful, we can let his wonderful, godly example almost intimidate us out of Christianity. And Paul would never want that to be the case. But I’m here to tell you that just like me looking up to Brother Waldron, you’re never going to be the Apostle Paul. You’re never going to be able to accomplish what Paul did in the work of ministry.

You’re never going to sacrifice what he sacrificed. You’re never going to make the impact in the kingdom of God that he made. But I’m also here to tell you, and I feel pretty safe in saying that the Apostle Paul, if he was here, would echo these words, but that’s okay. You don’t have to. But when it comes to his example in what he did in order to be saved, you can do what he did. You might not make the travels that he made.

But you can do what he did when it comes to obeying the gospel. And so I want to put Paul, I want to do what Paul did, put himself up as an example to you this morning. Not as an apostle, not even as a preacher of the gospel, really, not even as living a Christian life. But the example of what Paul did to become a Christian is very achievable. We can follow the example of Paul. And so what I’d like for us to do is in a very basic lesson of really re-examining salvation and our conversion, is to look at Paul’s salvation and look at three lessons that we can learn from Paul’s conversion, from Paul’s salvation, that we can certainly apply to our lives as well.

The first thing, and let’s just really start by reacquainting ourselves with that story. You may be very familiar with the story of Saul or Paul’s conversion. It may not be that familiar to you. And so either way, let’s tell that story. It’s found in three chapters in the book of Acts. In Acts chapter 9, Luke, who we believe to be the inspired author of the book of Acts will tell the historical account of Saul of Tarsus. We will later know him better by his Hebrew name, Paul, of Saul of Tarsus’ conversion. Later in Acts chapter 22, before a Jewish mob, Paul will wave his hand, and in the Hebrew language, he will tell his own story of how he obeyed the gospel. A few chapters later, in chapter 26, before a Roman official, he will again recount the events of that day.

And so in three chapters, Acts 9, Acts chapter 22, and Acts chapter 26, we’re told what Saul or Paul did to be saved from his sin. When we’re first introduced to Saul or Paul, he’s not the Paul that we remember. We remember Paul as being the best, but we’re introduced to him as being the worst. The worst persecutor, the worst enemy of the cross that mankind has seen. He has farmed out that persecution to foreign cities. He’s on his way to Damascus to bring back men and women to throw them into prison. He would later say, not just throw them into prison, but to put them to death if they will not blaspheme the name of Christ. But something happened that would change his life forever.

A bright light appeared. A booming voice said, Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting me? Who are you, Lord? Saul replied. I am Jesus of Nazareth, whom you were persecuting. Imagine how this God fearing, he thought God obeying man must have felt when a voice from heaven was the very Jesus that he thought was the enemy of God and the ways of God. So he falls to his knees, blinded by the light. He’s helped into the city. Jesus on that road tells him to go into the city, and there it will be told what you must do. He waits for three days. He would tell us that he prayed.

But knowing Paul the way we know him, you imagine how strong of a prayer or prayers those were.

It took some convincing from heaven, but finally Ananias, the preacher, comes to him and opens his eyes and says, What are you waiting for? Arise and be baptized and wash away your sins. And as Saul would say, he was not disobedient. And he did that. And then he goes from being the absolute worst to inarguably the absolute best. He goes from being enemy to a friend of Christ and the cross and the cause of Christianity. And while you and I don’t need to look at the example of what Paul did in his Christian life and say, I need to replicate that.

1. God Is Merciful and Generous to the Lost

And so let’s look at three things that can be replicated in our lives, I believe, that we see in the conversion of Saul. The first is that we learn from the conversion of Paul is that God is merciful. He is merciful and generous to the lost, and he’s seeking lost souls to save.

That becomes very apparent in the story of the conversion of Paul, that God was looking for him. Acts 9, begin with me in verse 4. Then he, that Saul of Tarsus, we again know him better by his Hebrew name, Paul, he fell to the ground and heard a voice saying to him, Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting me? And he said, Who are you, Lord? And the Lord said, I am Jesus, whom you are persecuting. It’s hard for you to kick against the golds. So he trembling and astonished said, Lord, what do you want me to do? And the Lord said to him, Arise, go into the city, and you will be told what you must do. Jesus sought out Paul and stopped him in his tracks.

Because God was wanting this lost soul to be saved. Because God was wanting this zealous, energetic enthusiasm to be used not to oppose the cross, but to promote it. Look what Paul would say later. Look in the book of first, or in the book of Philippians. In Philippians chapter 3, a famous text where Paul talks about his reaching forward to the things that God has appointed him to. But notice what he says in Philippians 3 and in verse 12. Philippians 3, verse 12, he says, not in his present state, 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 has also laid hold of me. He says, Jesus grabbed me. Jesus laid hold of me.

We would say Jesus recruited me. Jesus sought out Saul to save him and to appoint him as an apostle. And Paul understood that that was by the grace of God. Look what he would say to Timothy in 1 Timothy chapter 1. Paul understood that it was the grace of God that selected him and saved him. 1 Timothy chapter 1. Look beginning in verse 12. 1 Timothy chapter 1, verse 12, 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, but I obtained mercy because I did it ignorantly in unbelief. And the grace of our Lord, 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. Paul understood that it was the grace of God that confronted him that day.

But notice what he says in that next verse, verse 16 However, for this reason I obtained mercy, that in me first Jesus Christ might show all long suffering as a pattern to those who are going to believe on him for everlasting life. He says, one of the reasons God showed mercy or extended grace to me is so that I could be a pattern. Now, what’s another word for pattern? Example. So that I could be an example to others. Now, I don’t think he’s saying that I could be an example so that you could be an apostle like I’m an apostle, so that you could be stoned and shipwrecked and beaten and go through what I went through, so that you could preach the gospel to the whole world and establish churches everywhere.

2. God’s Word Our Only Source for Salvation

No. So that you could see that God, if God could save the worst, and isn’t that what Paul would call himself the absolute worst sinner there ever was, then God can save you. And so God’s merciful and generous to the lost and seeking, seeking lost souls to save. Now I don’t believe God was going to confront us as openly and as blatantly as he did Saul on that road to Damascus. But I do believe that what Jesus said on the Sermon on the Mount, seek and ye shall find, still apply. That God is still desiring lost souls to be saved. And that God will not miraculously, but providentially, make it so that lost souls who are seeking the truth will find the truth. Another lesson that I think we can learn from Saul’s salvation, another example that we can apply to ours, is that God’s word’s our only source for salvation.

One thing I find interesting about that story is that here is Saul on the road to Damascus. Jesus himself confronts him and is speaking to him. Saul experiences two miracles at least a miracle of being blinded and a miracle later of being healed of that blindness. And again, I can imagine from what we know about Paul, an intense prayer. But Jesus doesn’t save him on that road to Damascus.

Notice again in Acts chapter 9. And this is a pattern that is repeated, speaking of examples or patterns that’s repeated throughout the book of Acts, the Lord said, Acts 9, verse 6, arise and go into the city, and you will be told what you must do. Just like the Ethiopian eunuch, the spirit was involved. The angels were involved, just like Cornelius, the angels were involved, the spirit was involved. But in every case of conversion in the book of Acts, the Word is communicated to the lost soul. And obedience to that word is what saves them. Remember what he said in 1 Timothy 1, verse 16. God saved me as a pattern. If God had saved Paul through some other different means, some extraordinary means, different than he did those on the day of Pentecost, different than he did Cornelius, different than he did the Ethiopian eunuch, different than he does today.

Paul couldn’t say, I’m a pattern. Paul could say, I’m the outlier. Paul got Jesus saved me through some extraordinary means, but he could say, No. God saved me, the worst, the same way he’s saving you through his word and the power of that word. We’re to be saved just like Paul. And notice, go back to first, no, 2 Timothy this time. That’s why Paul would emphasize the importance of the Word. Notice in 2 Timothy, what does he tell Timothy to do? 2 Timothy 2, verse 2, and the things which you’ve heard from me among many witnesses, commit these to faithful men who will be able to teach others also. Paul said, Timothy, it’s all about the word. If you’re going to be a preacher of the gospel, you’re going to lead people to Christ, you’re going to save people from their sins.

It’s all about the word. Teach them the word. Notice what he says, chapter 3, verse 15 about Timothy individually, and that from a childhood you have known the holy scriptures, which are able to make you wise for salvation through faith, which is in Christ Jesus. It was the word of God. Go into the city, and it will be told what you must do. Now we’ve made this observation before in the past, but it bears repeating in this setting. One other thing we learn from the pattern of Paul is we’re saved by the word, and we’re saved by our obedience to that word. And God has called us to be disciples, not theologian. Let me explain what I mean by that. A disciple is a follower. A disciple is somebody who does what they’re told.

A theologian is somebody who just thinks for a living. Who just reasons and thinks and argues and debates. And don’t misunderstand me. There’s places for that.

Why did God do it that way? And why baptism of all things? And does that, does baptism negate the grace of God? Does a command and a condition eliminate faith? Does it eliminate the grace part of it? I think it’s all right for us to reason those things out and think about those things. And I believe that God’s given us the logic and the information in the scriptures that we can put that logic and the information of the scriptures together and come to a good understanding. But I also believe this we don’t have to. That all we have to do is to do what God told us to do. And that’s what Paul did. He obeyed the word. He did what he was told. Did Paul completely understand when he obeyed the gospel?

3. We Must Obey God’s Word Regardless of Others

Every intricate detail about the grace of God and how it attached to salvation and faith. And does meeting a condition negate the fact that it’s grace? No. He understood, keenly was made aware of the fact that he was the worst sinner there was. And then if he died on that road to Damascus, that he would spend an eternity in devil’s hell. And Jesus was extending through the word spoken to Ananias, Jesus was an extending him grace. And he said, if you do this, your sins will be washed away. And Paul said, Let me do that. That should be our response. The next lesson that we can learn from Paul’s salvation that applies to us is that we must do what Paul did on that day. And that is we must obey God’s word, regardless of what others might choose to do or not do.

You know, we’re stuck, we just started a little bit of a free advertisement here. We just started a class in the book of Acts here in the auditorium. Sunday mornings and Wednesday nights, we’ll be going through the book of Acts. We’ll be studying basically one chapter a class. And so if you weren’t here for the first class, you can get caught up by reading chapter one and for Wednesday night reading chapter two. One thing we’re going to see in the book of Acts, and I think it’s intentional on Luke’s part, certainly on the Holy Spirit’s part that inspired him, is that we’re going to see almost every good story in the book of Acts is followed up by a bad story. And every bad story in the book of Acts is followed up by a good story.

It seemed like it just goes back and forth that way. And I think that’s intentional to show us that that’s the gospel. The gospel is going to have a positive reaction and a negative reaction. Look at how the book of Acts ends. Acts chapter 28. Spoiler alert here. If we just started the book of Acts, and I’m going to read the last chapter. But notice this. Acts chapter 28. And look at verse 24. Talks about some of the last preaching that Paul would do. And it says this, Acts 28, verse 24, and some were persuaded. Some were persuaded by the things which were spoken, and some disbelieved. I think that’s one of the lessons of that dual response in the book of Acts. That’s the way it’s going to be.

Some are going to be persuaded, some are going to reject it. And as we see throughout the book of Acts, some are going to violently reject it. That’s the way the gospel is. Some are going to obey it, some are going to disbelieve. The gospel always has mixed result. But when Paul was confronted with the truth of the gospel on that day on the road to Damascus, on that day, three days later, when Ananias came to him and told him, as Jesus said he would, what he needed to do, it seems to me that Paul’s only concern was about making things right with God. Paul’s life was going to change drastically. You know, there’s a lot we don’t, you think we know a lot about Paul, and we do, but there’s a lot we don’t know about Paul.

We don’t know a lot about his family. We don’t know a lot about his friends before he became a Christian. We know a lot about Barnabas and Timothy and Luke, his Christian friends, but what about those before? Did you think when Paul was confronted on the road to Damascus and he found out that he was not just persecuting people who were anti-God, that he was actually persecuting Jesus. And that Jesus was who he claimed to be, the Son of God. And three days later, when Ananias told him what he needed to do to have his sins washed away.

And said, but what about my family? That’s not what my family believes. My family’s Jewish, and they don’t believe Jesus is the Son of God. They certainly don’t believe in this Christian baptism. And if I do that, it’s going to be just rejecting everything that my family has always believed. And what about my Jewish friends, Gamaliel, the rabbi that I studied under, and all my other Jewish. It seems to me that Paul was only concerned about pleasing the Lord. And that demanded that he obey the gospel. Regardless of what others might have felt about that. And regardless of what that action might have quietly said about those others.

He’s had more opportunities than I have. And my obeying the gospel is going to be a slap in the face and kind of a quiet condemnation of them. And so I can’t do that.

Turn with me in the book of Romans. Over to Romans chapter 9.

Paul would say this about those who did not obey the gospel, who did not take the path that he took. Romans chapter 9, verse 1. I tell the truth in Christ. I am not lying. My conscience also bearing me witness in the Holy Spirit that I have great sorrow and continual grief in my heart. For I could wish that I myself were a curse from Christ for my brethren, my countrymen according to the flesh, who are Israelites, to whom pertain the adoption, the glory, the covenants, the giving of the law, the service of God, the promises of whom are the fathers and from whom according to the flesh Christ came, who’s overall, the eternal blessed God. Amen. Paul says, now I’m going to redneck this up.

But Paul says, I’m just torn up about the fact that my Jewish brethren haven’t obeyed the gospel. It keeps me up at night, Paul said.

And if God would make a deal with me, I would trade places with them. I would go to hell if that meant they could go to heaven. I think Paul knew all along that was not a deal God would make with him. But he stated that to show that’s how much I care about these people. And how tore up I am that they’re going to be lost. But Paul never says, because of that, I’m not going to obey the gospel. Look what he says starting chapter 10. Brethren, my heart’s desire and prayer to God for Israel is that they may be saved. Paul doesn’t say, since Israel, since my family, my friends, my teacher, since they’re not going to be saved, then I’m not going to be saved.

No, that wasn’t the proper response. His response was, I’m going to do what God has demanded of me. And I wish you would too. And so when Paul says God chose me as a pattern, I want to follow that pattern as well.

Determine what I ought to do when confronted with the truth of the gospel. Now, what about Gamaliel? What about Paul’s family and friends? His countrymen, his brethren according to the flesh, that he says that never obeyed the gospel. Is it possible that on the day of judgment, God would extend mercy and grace to some of those and save those who rejected the gospel. As Brother Robert Turner used to say, that’s whittling on God’s end of the stick. Can God do that? God can do what he wants. He’s God. But I’m going to follow the pattern of Paul, who, when confronted with the truth of the gospel, did the only thing that he could do. And say, I’m going to be obedient to the heavenly voice. I’m going to do what God has told me to do in order to be saved.

Conclusion

The only thing I can do. And I’m going to shed a tear for my friends and family and loved ones who’ve chosen to do otherwise. But that won’t deter me from doing what I know. What God’s Word has taught me to do in order to be saved. We know what Paul did. The question is, what will you do? Here’s the good news. God’s not asking you to be stoned, to be beaten. God’s not even asking you to get in a ship, on a camel, in your car or an airplane, and go on three huge missionary journeys. God’s not asking you to be an apostle. But God is asking you to do what Paul did. When Paul said, I was a pattern, I was the worst. But God sought me out.

And he showed me mercy. And when I was confronted with the truth of the gospel, I did what I was told to do. Regardless of what others did or didn’t do.

Can we help you right now as together we stand and as we sing?