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the Jewish law. He knew all that it said in the Old Testament about God, but he didn’t know God, for if he had, he would have known that Jesus was God’s Son, and he would have loved Him. Instead of loving Jesus, Saul hated with a bitter hatred all who preached about Jesus. He was glad to hold the coats of those who stoned Stephen. He went all about the country seeking followers of Jesus, that he might bring them back to Jerusalem to be persecuted. One day he started on a journey to the city of Damascus, because he had heard that tljiere were some Christians there and he meant to find them. This was his plan. But God had another plan for Saul. God was going to give him another opportunity to believe. A miracle took place. While Saul and his friends were walking along the road, a blinding light fell upon them, and a voice called out, “Saul, Saul, why persecutest thou me?” God blinded Saul’s eyes that Saul might know how blind his heart was—so blind that he had not been able to see that Jesus was the Son of God. And now in his blindness Saul called out, “Who art thou, Lord?” When the voice from heaven answered, “I am Jesus whom thou persecutest,” Saul saw the mistake that he had made, and immediately he believed. What a different man he was after he believed! G olden T ex t Illustration Do you remember how, when you came to the pasture gate, you used to have to get out of the buggy and go ahead to open the gate? They are making a new sort of contrivance these days. All you have to do is to drive .right at the gate, and it opens of its own accord. In some way, the weight of the horse, as he steps on the platform, releases a lever, and the gate swings open. Often we are unable to see just how God’s commands are going to be obeyed. If He says, “Go ahead,” or, “Let down the net,” it is safe to obey. When He tells you to start out on the Christian life, it is safe for you to do it.— S elected . Objects:' A large needle, a piece of silk thread about a yard long, a pencil, and a large magnet. (Tie the thread to each end of the needle and suspend from each end of the pencil. This method keeps the needle from turning, unless the pencil is turned. For several hours before the lesson, have the head of the needle in contact with one prong of the magnet, and the point of the needle either touching or pointing toward the other prong. Mark the prong of the magnet which has been contacting the head of the needle.) Lesson: Needles ordinarily respond to the drawing power of a magnet; but this needle is disobedient. See, it is nervous and tries to get away from The magnet. (Pe careful to chase the point of the needle with the prong of the magnet which has previously contacted the head. Use care not to get too close to the point, or the magnet will attract rather than repel.) As I look at this disobedient needle, I am reminded of the Apostle Paul. There was a time when he ran away from God. Doubtless he felt the drawing power of God at the time of the death of Stephen, but he kept going away from God. Do you know why this needle runs from the mag net? The reason is that the needle is headed the wrong way. That is what was O b ject Lesson A N a u g h t y N eedle
that, in the Bible record, Christianity is never called a “religion.” It is the "way" doubtless called thus because of its great Person who once said: "I am the way" (John 14:6). There is no Christianity apart from Him, a fact that is being for gotten in these modern days. 2. “Who art thou, Lord?” (v. 5). When the blazing light from heaven suddenly struck him to the earth blinded, Saul the devout and intelligent Pharisee must have concluded instantly that he was in the presence of a theophany similar to those described in the Old Testament. This is rendered fairly certain by the term of ad dress, “Lord,” a word applied to Jehovah in the Septuagint version used by Greek speaking Jews. Paul knew that he was in the presence of God. But how intensely significant his question is: “Who art thou . . For the first time evidently the zealous persecutor begins to doubt the righteousness Qf his course. Can it be, he thinks, that I have blundered, that this Jesus is' what He claimed to be? The answer which came back, “I am Jesus, reversed all of Saul’s thinking forever. Henceforth, to Saul, Jesus and Jehovah are one. 3. “And the men . . . hearing a voice (v. 7). Later in the Book of Acts, Paul, relating to the Jews the story of his con version, seems to put the matter differ ently : “They that were with me saw indeed the light, . . . but they heard not the voice” 22:9). The two statements seem to in volve a flat contradiction. The explanation involves a fine point of Greek exegesis. The first passage means that the men heard th e sound, but the second indicates that they did not understand what the voice said. See John 12:28,29. 4. "Who was before a blasphemer” (1 Tim. 1:13). This statement furnishes in direct proof of Paul’s belief in the deity of Jesus. Certainly Saul the devout Jewish Pharisee never consciously blasphemed the name of Israel’s God. Such an act he would havfe regarded with horror. But he.had denied the divine claims of Jesus, and as he looks back upon this denial, he rightly calls it blasphemy, a sin for which he ob tained mercy because he “did it ignorantly in unbelief.” Saul Becom es Jesu s' F riend A cts 9:1-21; 22:3-21 Memory Verse': “Teach me thy way, O Lord” (Psa. 86:11). Approach: Today we are going to think once again about that day when the angry people refused to listen to Stephen as he
and sincerity of purpose actually may be a hindrance to one’s conversion. Only grace could reach such a blind zealot as Saul of Tarsus, and grace did reach and save him. We should not overlook some unique facts concerning Saul’s conversion (cf. 1 Tim. 1 :15, 16; 1 Cor. 15:8). Saul was not a development of his times. He was one “born out of due time.” He was converted through a vision of the risen and glori fied Lord, the One who had been .cruci fied (cf. Acts 9:17, 27; 26:16; 1 Cor. 15:8; 9:1). II. S a u l ’ s P ow er (Acts 9:17-19). Having met the Lord on the Damascus road, Saul’s natural power was broken. Temporarily, he was blind and helpless. Then Ananias, to whom the Lord had spoken, was sent to Saul, and the one who was later to be the apostle to the Gentiles received a new kind of power. The heart of the truth expressed by Ananias is found in the words: “Be filled with the Holy Ghost” (v. 17). Saul was to be commis sioned to preach the gospel which once he had attempted to destroy; and in order to effectively preach that message there was required an enduement above all human power. Saul was baptized with the Holy Spirit when he was converted, as every believer is (cf. 1 Cor. 12:12,13; Eph. 1:12- 14), but he needed also to be filled with the Spirit if he was to do that for which God had chosen him. The later history of Saul, who became Paul, is replete with references revealing that at once he put away all trust in what he had received by the learning of the schools and relied wholly upon the inner power of the Holy Spirit of God. Just as he rejected all hope in everything in which he formerly had trusted, so he put away all hope in the human achievements upon which he formerly had relied for power (cf. 1 Cor. 1:17-25; Gal. 6:14). We should not leave this passage without reference to the calmness and the confident faith of Ananias. At once Ananias recog nized this converted blasphemer and per secutor as a “brother.” III. S a u l ’ s T e st im o n y (1 T im . 1:12-14). Writing to Timothy, Paul expressed his thanksgiving to God for the grace which counted him to be faithful, “appointing me to his service” (v. 12, R. V.)., He never forgot the pit from which he had been digged. But in spite of all the past, he “obtained mercy, because,” he declared, “I did it ignorantly in unbelief.” While this statement is true, we must remember that ignorance of the law excuses no one, and just as certainly ignorance of the truth ex cuses no one. In Old Testament times, all sins of ignorance had to be reckoned with, and a fitting sacrifice was required to be presented for them (cf. Lev. 17). And sins of ignorance committed during the present dispensation likewise cannot be ignored. Finally, Paul acknowledged that what ever there had been of good in his life, or of profit in his service, was due entirely to the “grace of our Lord” which, abound ing exceedingly in his life, gave him that “faith and love which is in Christ Jesus” and enabled him to do whatever he had done as a servant and faithful minister of Christ (cf. 1 Cor. 15:10).
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stood and preached to them about Jesus, the Promised One who had come from God that they might believe and have life. You remember how they rushed upon Stephen and stoned him to death. And as they rushed for ward to kill him, they laid their coats
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at the feet of a young man named Saul. It is about this young man that we are going to talk today. Lesson Story: Saul breathed out hatred against the disciples of Jesus. Saul was not a bad man; he meant to be a very good man. He was a Jew and very religious. He had gone to a Jewish school in Jerusa lem when he was a boy. He knew all of
P oints a n d Problem s
1. “This way" (Acts 9:2). By this term the early church was accustomed to speak of Christianity. It is interesting to recall
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