The title of tonight’s message is: “The Creation of a Monster.”
I want us to think about Saul of Tarsus as the ravening wolf of persecution.
I’m not sure that many of us realize the magnitude and severity of Saul’s attack upon the Lord’s church.
When the Bible says that he was “breathing out” threatenings and slaughter, it means that this persecution was as important to him as breathing his next breath.
It means that this persecution was a part of his very soul.
In Acts 26:10 Paul said, “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.”
He was determined to do whatever it took to exterminate this sect of the Nazarenes.
At first he was only making “havock of the church, entering into every house, and haling men and women committed them to prison.”
Beyond measure he was persecuting the church of God, and wasting it – Gal. 1:13.
He didn’t care if that Christian was a man, woman or child, Saul looked on them as little more than vermin of various ages which needed to be exterminated for the good of society.
My reluctance comes since the Bible never says, “Saul was a persecutor of the Lord’s church because…”
If it did that, then my task would be very easy.
But because we don’t have a definitive statement about the subject,
And I am forced to read the heart of another human being, who died about two millennia ago.
And I am forced to analyze inconclusive evidence in order to reach a reasonable conclusion.
We are never going to understand the magnitude of Saul’s conversion, until we understand the depths of the cesspool from which he was saved.
In this case, we need to know the sinner before we can really know the saint.
Was it hyperbole, was it verbal extravagance, that Paul called himself the chiefest of sinners?
I really don’t think so.
And then secondly, we’re looking at this persecutor because I think that no man is very far from being a persecutor himself, and that includes the children of God.
The same was true of Martin Luther.
The Arminians have persecuted the Calvinists, but so have the Calvinists persecuted the Arminians.
Despite the cruelty & barbarism of Saracens, the Crusaders were only a single notch above them.
This makes this study tonight worthy of our time, because when we become persecutors, we join the ranks of the chiefest of sinners.
Keeping in mind the fallibility of my analysis, I hope that you’ll agree with my conclusions.
I’d like to consider several things which contributed to creation of the monster called Saul of Tarsus.
In no specific order, let me start with his. . .
Not only was he instructed by the most renowned Hebrew scholar of his day – Gamaliel. . .
Not only did he know the Old Testament scriptures forwards and backwards through his Pharisaical spectacles. . .
But coming from outside of Judah, he also had a reasonably good liberal arts education.
He could quote from memory some of the Greek poets.
And he knew Roman law as well as the law of Moses.
But neither genius or education are worth the paper on which they are honored unless they are tempered and improved by the grace of God.
Far from being anti-education, I am all for it.
It grieves me when the people of God can’t figure out what the word “hyperbole” means, or that they get mad at me for using it, especially when I define it in the context.
This world needs Christian PhD’s in mathematics, engineering, computer science and even in Theology.
The world needs to know that Christians can really think; they aren’t fools; they aren’t buffoons.
PhD’s are useless unless their owners have come to Christ as little children.
As it was in Saul’s case, the education that he received made him antagonistic toward Christ.
Every Old Testament prophesy that he studied was twisted away from Jesus of Nazareth.
The scriptures that he learned were used to boost his own self-righteousness.
Whatever went contrary to what he was taught was considered to be heresy and worthy of eradication.
And so, too, might your education become a poison to your soul.
There is nothing wrong with being convinced that what you have learned is correct and God-honoring.
But if your education teaches you to go beyond debate into persecution for truth’s sake, then your education has been corrupt.
Not only should God’s people be taught the truth, they should be taught how to properly share the truth.
There is only one real reason why we aren’t head-hunters or serial killers – the grace of God.
And having received grace, we should look with pity on others, not as snobs or executioners.
But in Saul’s case it helped to make him a murderer.
Would you get defensive, offensive, belligerent, angry, sad?
What if you were called an “Arminian,” because you believe in being evangelical?
Or how would you respond to the accusation of being a fool or an idiot for believing in sovereign grace?
Isn’t it true that when we become convinced of something – really convinced of it – that it then becomes a part of us – a part of our soul?
Now, along comes someone who challenges our very core beliefs.
Let’s say that he tries to prove from the Bible that salvation is by works through tons of religious effort;
Or he proves that the body of Christ is still moldering in a Judean tomb just south of Jerusalem.
I would hope that, if necessary, you’d first double check to make sure that what you believe is true.
“All scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness.
That the man of God may be perfect, throughly furnished unto all good works.”
“The weapons of our warfare are not carnal, but mighty through God to pulling down of strong holds.”
But what about the man who doesn’t have the truth on his side; how is he going to defend his opinions?
I think that this is what we see in Saul of Tarsus.
He felt trapped by his opinions, old opinions, respected opinions, but wrong opinions.
And when he heard the preaching of the Apostles and when he heard the declarations of Stephen, he had no legitimate response.
But his pride and his opinions had to be guarded and maintained, so he sought authority from the High Priest to attack with the weapons of political power.
When he lost the debates with Stephen in Acts 6,
Since he couldn’t stop him with scripture or logic, he turned to physical violence.
Someone once said that youth is wonderful thing, but unfortunately it’s wasted upon the young.
There are characteristics of youth that some of us more mature folk would dearly like to regain:
Young people often think that they understand love, but it’s often just a worldly imitation.
Unfortunately he was thoroughly mistaken.
I’m not going to say that old men can’t be fools, because we know that to be an illusion,
But there are more fools among the young than there are among the aged,
And, generally speaking there are more young zealots than old zealots.
I wonder how much of the zeal driving Saul towards murder and mayhem could be attributed to his youth?
I’m sure that he was being encouraged by some of the older fools in Israel.
But the Sanhedrin didn’t seem to have the energy or drive to get the diabolical work accomplished.
And there were also a few cool heads among them, who at the very least were cautioning restraint and patience.
The wicked among them needed a strong arm to carry out the wickedness of their hearts.
Saul, the Pharisee, should have been very wary when the Sadducees were encouraging him.
Theophilus was as much a Sadducee of the Sadducees, as Saul was a Pharisee of the Pharisees.
But they were united in their hatred of the Christ.
His relative inexperience in life meant that he still had tunnel vision, intolerance, and bigotry.
How sad it is to see the waste of youth and youthful zeal.
You immediately realize that someone has broken into your house.
Quietly you slip out of bed and grab your baseball bat, your golf club or your 357 magnum.
You decided long ago that you’re going to protect your property and your loved ones.
And why? Because you have a vested interest in these things.
No thief or interloper is going to steal that which you have worked so hard to gain.
No one is going to harm your wife or children or parents.
That may have been how Saul felt about the doctrines of the early church.
He had bet his soul upon the things which Gamaliel and his parents had taught him.
We’re not talking about the company retirement program, but about the very kingdom of God.
These heretics were not only teaching things contrary to what he believed, but they were attempting to steal away the inheritance of his loved ones.
He was willing to defend what he believed with every ounce of his energy and resources.
One of the most powerful wiles of the Devil within various religious denominations has been the company retirement plan.
The Southern Baptist Convention and nearly every other major denomination,
Have retirement plans for their administrators, pastors and missionaries.
They chose to stay in the denomination for fear of losing their retirement.
And besides that, there was the possibility that this campaign of Saul, could actually make his career.
He was on a first name basis with the High Priest.
He was a rising star, and there was a good likelihood that some day he would be one of the most powerful men in Israel.
This persecution was his ticket to Heaven, and it just drove him harder and harder.
“Moreover, brethren, I declare unto you the gospel which I preached unto you, which also ye have received, and wherein ye stand; for I delivered unto you first of all that which I also received, how that Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures; and that he was buried, and that he rose again the third day according to the scriptures.”
The good news is that you and I are hell-bound sinners, but that the Saviour has come.
That means that one of the first corollaries to the first principles is that we sinners must repent and trust Christ.
What do you suppose was the biggest problem in the gospel as far as Saul was concerned?
Judging from what Paul said of himself and his fellow-countrymen later,
For the sake of argument, let’s pretend that Saul’s theology was correct.
Let’s say that the Son of God ascended to the throne of David drove the Romans from the land.
If that Messiah then turned to the jubilant masses of Judah and said,
What do you suppose Judah’s reaction would have been?
Would Isreal, would Saul have repented & bowed before the Son of God under those conditions?
If the Messiah demanded repentance and faith in him for salvation and for his continued blessings,
Than it was when the Lord Jesus and the apostles preached repentance.
The natural man loves to be in control, and hates to bow to any other authority.
Saul didn’t even realize it until he had his spiritual eyes opened through salvation,
His problem was with the wickedness in his own heart.
“Saul, Saul, why persecutest thou me? I am Jesus whom thou persecutest: it is hard for thee to kick against the pricks.”
The Lord Jesus used the metaphor of a farmer or teamster urging his oxen forward by poking them with a sharp stick called an ox goad.
If he continued on in his lazy way then he’d be poked again.
But if he kicked at the prick and fought against the goad, he’d be stabbed more forcefully.
And what is that ox goad? It is the conviction of the Holy Spirit.
I think that when the dust settles and if the Lord fills in all of the blanks,
We’ll discover that one reason that Saul was so filled with wrath against the saints of God was due to the fact that he was in so much pain.
Beginning with Stephen, with every arrest and every execution, Saul felt a stab in his heart.
He erroneously thought that the next execution would erase that pain, but it only intensified.
With every new victim the conviction of the Holy Spirit got more intense, but he became more resolved.
“I will not admit; I will not submit to this spiritual persuasion. These pains in my heart can’t be from God.”
Part of Saul’s ongoing persecution was related to the conviction that he was experiencing.
But there is a correlation between the two.
I have seen professing Christians become vicious towards others, towards me, and towards God’s church.
The more they rebelled against God, the more unhappy they became with themselves.
They thought that if they escaped the sound of my voice that they’d escape the sound of God’s voice.
They chose to sin more often and more blatantly, the more that they felt the Lord’s conviction.
Sure they hurt others around them, but no one was hurt more than themselves.
I wish that I could say that these stories ended as happily as that of Saul’s, but for the most part they didn’t.
There is probably nothing more dangerous than fighting against the pricks of God.
Look at the Lord’s grace; see the Lord’s omnipotence in saving this man who didn’t want to be saved.
And second, watch out Brother, there are none of us who are not far from the same sins.
Don’t let your education and instruction become a curse to you or others.
Make sure that your zeal, whether youthful or mature isn’t being misused.
Remember that the only thing that really matters is the smile of the Lord, not sin and not your retirement plans.
And when the Lord convicts you of something, make sure that you respond in the right way, right away.