sat at the feet of the masters of cul ture. Saul was, above everything else, a strict Pharisee believing rigidly in the Commandments of God. He says that as touching the law he was blame less. This does not mean that he was sinless, or that he never broke the law, but it does mean that when he did that which was contrary to the law, he ful filled what the law commanded by way of atonement in bringing his offering and sacrifice thus obeying God’s will in the matter. Some of the Doctors were the strict est of religionists, though not believing in Christ. (You and I can be religious and not Christian.) To Saul Christ’s "Dally Strength" "A s thy day thy strength shall be!" This should be enough for thee; He who knows thy frame will spare Burdens more than thou canst bear. When thy days are veiled in night, •Christ shall give the heavenly light; Seem they wearisome and long, Yet in Him thou shalt be strong. Cold and wintry though they prove, Thine the sunshine of His love; Or with fervid heat oppressed, In His shadow thou shalt rest. When thy days on earth are past, Christ shall call thee home at last, His redeeming love to praise, Who hath strengthened all thy days. disciples were fanatics and the world would be better off without them. There are many religions that are probably as active in their faith as are most Christians. The Mohammedans kneel and pray before Mecca three times daily; the Buddhists submit to bodily torture. There is a long list of religions — the people are sincere but their sincerity will not save them. Man must be right with God or he will hear the words, “depart from me, I never knew you.” I heard of a man who purchased a (continued on next pogo) 11
ceived in the house of my friends.” Paul was converted as these Jews will be one day. 2) But Paul’s conversion was also Christian. He was regenerated by the Holy Spirit and became a member of the Church, the Body of Christ, bap tized by the Spirit into that body at his conversion. The Tribulation saints will not be members of Christ’s Body. So we note that Paul’s conversion covered the complete repentive pro gram for both Jew and Gentile. How marvelous that is! Paul’s conversion stands supreme be cause of his condition — the hardest type to reach for Christ. He was in reality a sincere man but dead wrong. We have so many of them today, may be you are one of them. You see, earn estness is no guarantee of truth — neither is passiveness a guarantee of error. But sincerity and error combined form a great force for destruction. Then when we have the combination of sin cerity and truth working together, it is a force that is incomparable. Saul of Tarsus was a sincere man who was dead wrong. Let us look at something else that makes this conversion so remarkable. No journey ever taken by man, save the journey up Calvary’s Hill on the part of the Son of God, ever meant so much to the human race and its re demption as did Paul’s journey to Da mascus. The conversion of Saul of Tar sus is the next great event after the resurrection of Jesus and the coming of the Holy Spirit at Pentecost. With the conversion of Saul of Tarsus the Gospel went beyond the Hebrew Na tion and began its worldwide outreach as it journeyed through the years to the Nations, spreading the Gospel to our forebears, whether Anglo-Saxon, Franks, Scots or Norsemen, and finally reaching into our own lives. We must look at Saul’s condition be fore his conversion. He was sincere but wrong in his belief. He was reared in a very strict Jewish home in Tarsus. In the matter of his education he had
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