A Survey of the Old Testament Law--"God Has Come to Test You, That You May Fear Him"

As I was reading this passage again this past week a couple of things came to mind. Let me read the passage for you and we’ll talk about them. Exodus 20:18-21—18 Now all the people witnessed the thunderings, the lightning flashes, the sound of the trumpet, and the mountain smoking; and when the people saw it, they trembled and stood afar off. 19 Then they said to Moses, "You speak with us, and we will hear; but let not God speak with us, lest we die." 20 And Moses said to the people, "Do not fear; for God has come to test you, and that His fear may be before you, so that you may not sin." 21 So the people stood afar off, but Moses drew near the thick darkness where God was. The people have heard God speaking with Moses. They heard the thunders and saw the lightnings. And they were afraid. Many people today are not afraid of God for one simple reason—we can't see God. These people saw God—although He was veiled by the smoke that sat upon the mountain. They heard Him speak. They may not have heard His voice, but they heard the noise created by His voice. And they were afraid. In the Scriptures, when many of the people God spoke to heard Him speak, they were afraid. It’s only natural. When Saul of Tarsus was traveling to Damascus, He saw the risen Christ, and he hit the deck and buried his face in the sand. When Moses heard God speak from the burning bush he would not look upon that bush. When Jesus appeared to a fisherman named Simon bar-Jonah and caused him to bring in such a huge catch of fish that it nearly broke his nets, he fell on his face and cried out “Depart from me for I am a sinful man O Lord!”
But the one thing these three episodes have in common is these men bowed their faces because they knew they were not worthy of being in the presence of God and they feared with a godly fear. Many of the people at the bottom of Mount Sinai, however, were afraid to approach God because they knew they were sinners but they didn’t want to be reminded of that fact. Now, if you recall, God had told Moses back in Exodus 19:24—"Do not let the priests and the people break through to come up to the LORD, lest He break out against them." This reminded me of something. Turn back towards the front of your Bible, to Genesis 2:16-17—"16 Of every tree of the garden you may freely eat; 17 but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of it you shall surely die." Same kind of scenario—don’t eat of that tree or you will die; don’t come up the mountain or you will die. Now listen to Genesis 3:8-10—8 And they heard the sound of the LORD God walking in the garden in the cool of the day, and Adam and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the LORD God among the trees of the garden. 9 Then the LORD God called to Adam and said to him, "Where are you?" 10 So he said, "I heard Your voice in the garden, and I was afraid because I was naked; and I hid myself." Again, same scenario—the realization of one’s sinfulness makes them want to hide from God. Adam was made in the image of God. Before this incident he had enjoyed being in the unhindered company of God. But, once he has sinned, and realizes he has sinned, he hears the voice of the LORD, and now he does not want to talk with God because he knows that he has sinned.


And because Adam sinned, that sin is inherited by every single human being who will ever live. And now, man now needs a mediator between himself and God. Man can no longer simply speak with God. But, between the time of Adam and the time of Moses, God chose certain men that He would speak through, starting with Abraham, then it was Isaac and then Jacob and so on until Moses and then the high priest and we’ll get to him sometime down the road.


Now, turn to the book of Acts, chapter 2. Peter is preaching on the day of Pentecost. He is preaching to several thousand devout Jews who (are under the impression that they) are righteous because they are (under the impression that they are) keeping the Law. But Peter convinces them otherwise; he spells out, from the OT Scriptures that Jesus is the Christ of God, the only chance they have for salvation, and now they realize they have killed Him. And listen to what happens in Acts 2:36-37—"36 Therefore let all the house of Israel know assuredly that God has made this Jesus, whom you crucified, both Lord and Christ." 37 Now when they heard this, they were cut to the heart, and said to Peter and the rest of the apostles, "Men and brethren, what shall we do?" We have murdered the Messiah—now what are we going to do? The response these men gave, when confronted with the fact that they were sinful men and had slain the one Mediator between God and man, was very similar to the response the people gave when they were at the bottom of Mount Sinai, and they heard God speaking. These men have seen that they were in the same condition as these people in Exodus, who thought that God was going to destroy them. Now they're thinking “Is God going to destroy us?”


BUT—God is speaking with these people, not to destroy them, but to save them. Flip back to Exodus 20 and listen to what Moses tells the people. Exodus 20:20—"Do not fear; for God has come to test you, and that His fear may be before you, so that you may not sin." We should have the fear of God before us—it’s better than having the fear of God on us. And this fear of God is not simply a “healthy reverence”—when the writers of the Holy Scripture tell us we should fear God, they mean we should fear God. Listen to what Jesus says in Matthew 10:28—“Do not fear those who can kill the body but cannot kill the soul. But rather fear Him who is able to destroy both body and soul in Hell.” The word Jesus uses there is the Greek word phobeo. We get the word phobia from it. What is a phobia? It is a fear. We should FEAR God. Deuteronomy 6:1-2—“1 Now this is the commandment, and these are the statutes and judgments which the LORD your God has commanded to teach you, that you may observe them in the land which you are crossing over to possess, 2 that you may fear the LORD your God, to keep all His statutes and His commandments which I command you, you and your son and your grandson, all the days of your life, and that your days may be prolonged.”


BUT—We are not to fear God with a fear that simply makes us slaves to a list of commandments that we try to obey so we don’t get a whuppin’. We are to fear Him with a fear that leads us away from those things which He says are sinful, and are therefore eternally damaging to our soul, so that we may enjoy His rest when these bodies go into the ground. Adam Clarke said it like this—

“Fear not - Do not fear with such a fear as brings consternation into the soul, and produces nothing but terror…but fear with that fear which reverence and affection inspire, that ye sin not - that, through the love and reverence ye feel to your Maker and Sovereign, ye may abstain from every appearance of evil, lest you should forfeit that love which is to you better than life. He who fears in the first sense can neither love nor obey; he who does not fear in the latter sense is sure to fall under the first temptation that may occur.”

If we fear God just because we are afraid of going to Hell, then we will be slaves to our own fear and we will be miserable because we will be so afraid of God that we will not know how to love God. But we don’t love God because we fear God—we fear God because we love God. One cannot fear God if one does not love God. The world that does not know God does not fear God. Romans 3:18—There is no fear of God before their eyes.


Now, someone who knows Scripture may say “Well yes, but doesn’t it say that ‘perfect love casts out fear’?” Yes it does. But what exactly does that mean? The passage in question is 1st John 4:17-19—17 Love has been perfected among us in this: that we may have boldness in the day of judgment; because as He is, so are we in this world. 18 There is no fear in love; but perfect love casts out fear, because fear involves torment. But he who fears has not been made perfect in love. 19 We love Him because He first loved us. Now, the key to this passage is verse 17, Love has been perfected among us in this: that we may have boldness in the day of judgment. What John is talking about here is fear of the final judgment of God. If we love Him, we will not fear standing before Him on Judgment Day. That is the fear that perfect love casts out. And how do we know if we love God? 1st John 2:3-5—3 Now by this we know that we know Him, if we keep His commandments. 4 He who says, "I know Him," and does not keep His commandments, is a liar, and the truth is not in him. 5 But whoever keeps His word, truly the love of God is perfected in him. And it is that perfected love of God that casts out the fear of God’s final Judgement.


And guess what? That brings us back to Moses. Exodus 20:20—"Do not fear; for God has come to test you, and that His fear may be before you, so that you may not sin." God gives the commandments to Moses; Moses gives the commandments to the people. Why? So that they may keep God’s commandments, in order to perfect the love of God in themselves, so they will not have to fear God’s judgment. We don’t keep the commandments in order to love Him. We keep His commandments because we love Him. Just like obeying your parents isn't what makes you love them; rather obeying your parents is something you do because you love them.


So, let’s move on. From here, we see the commandments applied to everyday situations. God has told the people “You shall do this” and “You shall not do that.” But now, He’s going to get into some more specific areas of the application of these commandments. Exodus 20:22-26—22 Then the LORD said to Moses, “Thus you shall say to the children of Israel: 'You have seen that I have talked with you from heaven. 23 You shall not make anything to be with Me—gods of silver or gods of gold you shall not make for yourselves. 24 An altar of earth you shall make for Me, and you shall sacrifice on it your burnt offerings and your peace offerings, your sheep and your oxen. In every place where I record My name I will come to you, and I will bless you. 25 And if you make Me an altar of stone, you shall not build it of hewn stone; for if you use your tool on it, you have profaned it. 26 Nor shall you go up by steps to My altar, that your nakedness may not be exposed on it.'” Verses 22 and 23—real simple. God is simply repeating what He commanded in the first two commandments.


So what about the verses about building altars? Well, let’s start with Exodus 20:24—“An altar of earth you shall make for Me, and you shall sacrifice on it your burnt offerings and your peace offerings, your sheep and your oxen.” Again, real simple. Any altar that was to be made for the purpose of making sacrifice to God was to be made of earth. Just take some dirt, pile it up and that’s your altar. Because what do we human beings have a tendency to do once we get a design in our head for something? We think we have to "improve" on it. Lowe’s, or Home Depot, one of the two, had a commercial where these folks vow that "I will not turn this simple project into putting a new addition onto the house." We do that. We say “That’s a good idea—but I can make it better.” And in this case, we would be trying to improve on the ideas of God. Which is why He goes on to say, in Exodus 20:25—“And if you make Me an altar of stone, you shall not build it of hewn stone; for if you use your tool on it, you have profaned it.” God knew, when He gave this command, that man has the tendency to want to outdo his neighbor, even in matters of religion. We see that every year around the month of December. Don’t we? Richard’s Christmas display uses 200,000 lights, so Bo has to make his Christmas display out of 210,000 lights. Then Tim has to use 220,000 lights. And then Pastor Phil has to make a display out of 300,000 lights. And what happens—whether it’s Christmas lights or building and altar of cut stone—is it becomes a competition to see whose design is better. Another thing to think about—where had they been living for the last 400 or so years? Egypt. What were they doing in Egypt? Building monuments to Pharaoh. Cutting stones to build temples and altars. To a man.


Now, not only does the cutting of stones build up pride in men, it also has a tendency to make sin look pretty. These altars were a way of reminding the people of their sins, and if they started decorating them in any way then what would happen is they would not be reminded of how ugly their sins were. And sorry, but I'm gonna preach here for a moment. If there’s one thing I can't stand to see, it’s going into a store and seeing “decorative” crosses. You know what I'm talking about? Somebody will fashion a cross to hang on the wall, and the woodwork or the metalwork is real intricate and it’ll have little fake gemstones in it, and they look real pretty. I can't think of anything that is more offensive to God and Christ than that. Using a cross as a decoration. Making it look pretty. Making a cross look pretty takes away from the cross. The cross was not pretty—it was ugly. It was where Christ died. It was where God punished all of our sins in the body of the Son that He dearly loved—pouring out upon that dear Son all of God’s holy, burning wrath because of our sins—and we use it as a decoration and make it look pretty? Somebody may say “But that’s where God showed His love.” And it’s also where He showed His wrath, and His hatred for sin. But we make it all nice and pretty so we don’t have to feel too bad about it. OK, I'm done preachin’.


Exodus 20:25—“And if you make Me an altar of stone, you shall not build it of hewn stone; for if you use your tool on it, you have profaned it.” Jonathan Edwards—

“God's altar was to be very plain and very low, so that they might have no occasion to go up to it by steps. The heathen greatly adorned their altars with the curious works of their own hands, and worshipped in high places, and built their altars very high, thinking hereby to put great honors on their gods, and make their services very acceptable to them. But God lets his people know that their seeming adorning, by their own art and handy work, will be but polluting, and their recommending themselves by their high altars will be dishonoring themselves.”

Now, last part. Exodus 20:26—“Nor shall you go up by steps to My altar, that your nakedness may not be exposed on it.” Again, back to Genesis 3:9-10—9 Then the LORD God called to Adam and said to him, "Where are you?" 10 So he said, "I heard Your voice in the garden, and I was afraid because I was naked; and I hid myself." If we remember Noah, after the ark came to rest, he was in his tent and he was drunk and naked and what did Ham do? Genesis 9:22-23—22 And Ham, the father of Canaan, saw the nakedness of his father, and told his two brothers outside. 23 But Shem and Japheth took a garment, laid it on both their shoulders, and went backward and covered the nakedness of their father. Their faces were turned away, and they did not see their father's nakedness. Habakkuk 2:15—“Woe to him who gives drink to his neighbor, pressing him to your bottle, even to make him drunk, that you may look on his nakedness!” Nakedness is always condemned in the scripture. You’ve got some people who will ask “Where does the Bible say that pornography is wrong, or that strippers are sinning?” Well, now you know a few places. We even have instructions for modesty in the NT. 1st Timothy 2:8-10—8 I desire that…9 women adorn themselves in modest apparel, with propriety and moderation, not with braided hair or gold or pearls or costly clothing, 10 but, which is proper for women professing godliness.


The reason for the injunction against a raised altar is simple—at the time, most people just wore simple, flowing robes, and if you had to go up even a few steps, it didn’t take much for your—uh, you know—to become exposed. So God prevents this by commanding that any altar be built on the ground so that one would not become exposed. We will see down the road that God gave instructions for the design of undergarments for the priests to make sure that didn’t happen. Next week we will be talking about slaves in ancient Israel and the commands concerning them, and why they were actually quite fair.


Jesus Christ is Lord. Amen.

50 Answers to 50 Mormon Answers to 50 Anti-Mormon Questions (Answers 29-30)

Tower To Truth Question:

29. Since the Word of Wisdom teaches us to abstain from alcohol, why did Paul encourage Timothy to drink wine for the stomach? (1 _Tim. 5:23).

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FAIR Answer:

In Timothy's day, water was often not safe to drink. (Historically, it is interesting that the temperance movement opposing alcohol only took off in the United States once relatively clean water supplies were available to most people—prior to that, alcohol mixed with water was a necessary way of keeping water drinkable.)

The Word of Wisdom was given to modern saints as protection against "the designs of conspiring men in the last days." Certainly we don't have to look far to see such conspiracy against the health of customers at work today in tobacco companies or street drug dealers.

This shows why modern revelation is so important—what was dangerous for us in the modern age (cigarette manufacturers, illicit drugs, alcohol marketing, etc.) may need different advice from God than that given 2000 years ago where dying from dysentery transmitted by contaminated water was a far bigger risk than dying of cirrhosis or stomach cancer.

A related question which Christian critics ought to ask themselves might be, "Since we know now that alcohol—including wine—can cause gastritis, ulcers, or stomach bleeding why did Paul (a prophet!) tell Timothy to use it?"

This is a lot like earlier questions about Joseph Smith or Brigham Young expressing a false, though popular, opinion about scientific matters. Paul isn't any less an apostle because he expressed a false idea about the benefits of alcohol on stomach problems.

To learn more: Wine for the stomach and the Word of Wisdom

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Tower To Truth Quesion:

30. If obeying the Word of Wisdom—which tells us to abstain from coffee, tea, alcohol and tobacco—is important for our exaltation, why did Jesus say that there is nothing that can enter a man to make him defiled (Mark 7:15)?

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FAIR Answer:

The Word of Wisdom says nothing about such substances "defiling us." Members believe it is important to obey the Word of Wisdom because God has commanded us not to do something, and we have promised not to do it. We should keep our promises to God.

The Jews promised not to eat pork, and so it was a sin for them to eat pork—not because pork contaminates or "defiles" them, but because disobedience (that which comes OUT of us, as Jesus said) shows we do not love and trust God.

The underlying principle here is obedience to God, not the Word of Wisdom, per se.

To learn more: Word of Wisdom

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My Responses:

Once again, we see FAIR questioning Paul's qualifications to be an apostle by saying he didn't know what he was writing about. A related question which Christian critics ought to ask themselves might be, "Since we know now that alcohol—including wine—can cause gastritis, ulcers, or stomach bleeding why did Paul (a prophet!) tell Timothy to use it?" Notice the smugness and condescension they use in pointing out that--gasp! a prophet!!--told Timothy to do something that would harm him!! Then, once they have adequately dumbed-down the apostle, they can boost Joseph Smith and Brigham Young to his level, since there was nothing too special about Paul. Hence their assertion, This is a lot like earlier questions about Joseph Smith or Brigham Young expressing a false, though popular, opinion about scientific matters. Paul isn't any less an apostle because he expressed a false idea about the benefits of alcohol on stomach problems.

But, again, FAIR shows that they don't really like to actually read the passage of Scripture in question. They would just as soon just kinda skim over it and give it a cursory glance rather than actually learn what it says. Notice, then what Paul tells Timothy: No longer drink only water, but use a little wine for your stomach’s sake and your frequent infirmities.The word "little" is the Greek όλιγος (oligos). We get words like oligohydramnios (ask your OB/GYN). It refers to a very small amount. And can be related to a measure thus: "of number: multitude, quantity, or size; of time: short; of degree or intensity: light, slight." Paul tells Timothy to drink "a little wine." He's not telling Timothy to chug a fifth of Mogen David™ at every meal. Whether the connotation is a small amount of wine, or if it is weak wine, or if it is for a short time, one thing is for certain: Paul is telling him to "go easy on it."

But, let's go ahead and address the question of thy stomach's sake. The word translated "stomach" is the Greek στόμαχος (stomachos). A nearly exact transliteration into English gives us "stomach." And if we consider that many times the Bible refers to the inward parts using many different references: the heart, the bowels, the kidneys. If you have a Bible that has marginal notes, you may often find that when the OT refers to the heart, the marginal note may say something like "lit., kidneys." So to say that this was Paul giving a prescription strictly this for Timothy's stomach may not be the best rendering. Whatever the ailment was, it was, nonetheless, affecting his "inward parts."

Keeping that in mind, consider that at the time wine was used as a type of analgesic. If you recall, as Jesus hung on the cross, they gave him to drink wine mingled with myrrh: but he received it not (Mark 15:23). If you have a headache, you take an aspirin. If you are having surgery, they give you Versed and some other drugs to knock you out. So, to wrap this puppy up, Paul was telling Timothy, "If you're sick, don't drink the nasty water that Ephesus is noted for. Drink a little bit of wine, and see if that helps take the edge off the pain."

Now, as far as their claim that The Word of Wisdom was given to modern saints as protection against "the designs of conspiring men in the last days." Certainly we don't have to look far to see such conspiracy against the health of customers at work today in tobacco companies or street drug dealers. I would assume they are also lumping beer and liquor companies in with the tobacco companies and drug dealers. If so, they have thrown Joseph Smith under the bus. After all, a cursory study of Mormon history will show you that Joseph Smith not only authorized and distributed liquor licenses, but also set up a bar in his house and drank wine and beer himself.

So, moving on to "Answer 30." This nonsense about The Jews promised not to eat pork, and so it was a sin for them to eat pork... Uh, wrong! It was not a matter of the Jews "promising" to not eat pork. It was a matter of God commanding them to not eat pork. Leviticus 11:7--"And the swine, though he divide the hoof, and be clovenfooted, yet he cheweth not the cud; he is unclean to you."

But here's the thing: The Word of Wisdom says, in the last four verses,

And all saints who remember to keep and do these sayings, walking in obedience to the commandments, shall receive health in their navel and marrow to their bones; and shall find wisdom and great treasures of knowledge, even hidden treasures; and shall run and not be weary, and shall walk and not faint. And I, the Lord, give unto them a promise, that the destroying angel shall pass by them, as the children of Israel, and not slay them. Amen.

OK, I'm no rocket surgeon, but it seems as though there is more than a little bit of a threat in there.If the "destroying angel...shall not slay" those who keep the WoW--what does that say about those who do not keep it? What's all this about "It's more about obedience to God, not the Word of Wisdom?" Didn't the WoW come from God? And if it did, and one disobeys it, are they not disobeying God? And doesn't that, in fact, mean that whatever goes into the person defiles them?

And what does that say about their view of Scripture, especially Acts 10, where God tells Peter "What God hath cleansed, that call not thou common" (Acts 10:10). Again, it all comes down to who you are going to trust more: God, or Joseph Smith.

A sketch of Paul the apostle

We often think of those we call “heroes of the faith”—men like Abraham and Moses and King David, Esther and Sarah, and Rachel. It’s easy for us to make these people out to be these larger-than-life figures that we could never understand, we could never be like these people, or, “How can I learn from what happened to King David way back then?” Very easily. One thing we need to remember is that these were real men and women. These are not fictional, made-up figures of someone’s imagination. These were men and women who were made of flesh and blood just like you and me. They had their faults, they made mistakes, they doubted God, and they sinned against God. Yet if you read the “Roll call of faith” in Hebrews 11, it mentions these folks who are called “faithful.” By faith…Abraham obeyed…Sarah conceived…Isaac blessed Jacob…Moses forsook Egypt…the harlot Rahab…Gideon...Samson...Jephthah...David. All these people are held up in the Scriptures as being “faithful.” Being used by God. In fact, Abraham, Sarah, Isaac, Jacob, Rahab, David are all in the ancestral line of Christ.

Why? Because God uses imperfect people. No kidding! Imperfect people—kinda like saying “There’s some cold snow coming down.” Just like there’s no other kind of snow besides cold, there are no other kinds of people other than imperfect. How can we relate to the people mentioned in the Bible? Because they were just like us. Imperfect, doubting, sinful. Yet God used them. And today we are going to talk about one man that God used greatly to spread the gospel very quickly after the death and resurrection of Christ. If you’ve been here a while you’ve heard me mention a fellow by the name of “the apostle Paul.”

In Acts chapter 7, starting in about verse 54, there is a young man named Stephen, who is speaking to a group of devout Jews who rejected this Christ. In fact in the previous chapter it says Then there arose some from…the Synagogue…disputing with Stephen. And they were not able to resist the wisdom and the Spirit by which he spoke. Stephen goes through the history of Israel, how they were always rebelling against God and killing His prophets, and that finally God sent His own Son and they rejected Him and killed Him as well.

Then it says, Acts 7:54—When they heard these things they were cut to the heart, and they gnashed at him with their teeth. But he, being full of the Holy Spirit, gazed into heaven and saw the glory of God, and Jesus standing at the right hand of God, and said, “Look! I see the heavens opened and the Son of Man standing at the right hand of God!” Then they cried out with a loud voice, stopped their ears, and ran at him with one accord; and they cast him out of the city and stoned him. And the witnesses laid down their clothes at the feet of a young man named Saul. Now, whenever they stoned someone, they didn’t just pick up rocks out of their driveway and pelt the person with little stones. The person was literally crushed under boulders. So these men, who did not want to hear that they had killed the Messiah—the Anointed of God they had been looking to for thousands of years—they don’t like the message, so they did what anybody else does when they odn't like the message--they killed the messenger. And so they take off their robes and they hand them to a young man named Saul.

Saul was a Pharisee. He studied under one of the most famous rabbis in Jewish history, a man named Gamaliel. This would be like learning football from Vince Lombardi. Gamaliel was the most widely respected rabbi in all of Israel at the time. And this young man named Saul was his prize pupil. This Saul was such a devoted student that he would gladly go out searching for Christians and take them to Jerusalem to be killed. For blasphemy. If you recall, when the Jews were calling for Pilate to crucify Christ they said that “According to our laws, He is a blasphemer and He must die!” And Pilate said, “Psshaw on your laws, this is my territory!” And we see in Acts 7:59 and going through the first part of 8:1—And they stoned Stephen as he was calling on God and saying, “Lord Jesus, receive my spirit.” Then he knelt down and cried out with a loud voice, “Lord, do not charge them with this sin.” And when he had said this, he fell asleep. Now Saul was consenting to his death. This Saul basically said, “Yep, he’s a blasphemer. He must die.”

That was his job. To make sure that anyone who confessed Jesus Christ as Lord should die. He went from city to city seeking those who worshipped Christ. And he was very efficient at his job. Now, if this was a movie, and Saul is the bad guy, we would expect him to die a very explosive death at the end, would we not? But that’s not always how God works. Saul is allowed to continue executing his duties--and executing Christians--for another couple of years.

In fact we find this in the next verses—At that time a great persecution arose against the church which was at Jerusalem; and they were all scattered throughout the regions of Judea and Samaria, except the apostles. And devout men carried Stephen to his burial, and made great lamentation over him. As for Saul, he made havoc of the church, entering every house, and dragging off men and women, committing them to prison. So for Saul, everything’s going good. He’s learning from the finest school for rabbis, he’s probably next-in-line to take it over, he’s got fame and admiration from his peers, he’s probably making good money, and he thinks he’s serving God by carrying Christians to their death.

I want to point out something in this passage. Look at verses 3-4—As for Saul, he made havoc of the church, entering every house, and dragging off men and women, committing them to prison. Therefore those who were scattered went everywhere preaching the word. Therefore—they didn’t stop preaching Christ—they went out and preached it. They didn’t stay home in their houses, and in fact they were more bold in their witness by taking it to the people. This Saul had the power to go into people’s houses, drag them out and throw them in prison for preaching Christ. Don’t think that won’t happen in this country one day. It’s already happening in Britain and in Canada.

Then we read about Phillip and the Ethiopian, and Simon Magus (a sorcerer that tried to buy the Holy Spirit from Peter and John), so we fast forward to the beginning of chapter 9. Then Saul, still breathing threats and murder against the disciples of the Lord, went to the high priest and asked letters from him to the synagogues of Damascus, so that if he found any who were of the Way, whether men or women, he might bring them bound to Jerusalem. Apparently Damascus was out of his jurisdiction, so he had to get what would today amount to an extradition order.

But ya know, is there ever a time when God doesn’t know what’s going on? This Saul had been going around, killing Christians. Did God know this was happening? I think He had an idea this might be happening. So here is Saul, on his way to collect a bounty in another region of the Middle East, and all of a sudden, Jesus says, “OK, now that I've got you alone, we need to talk.” And in verses 3-9--I just gotta read this from the King James--And as he journeyed, he came near Damascus: and suddenly there shined round about him a light from heaven: And he fell to the earth, and heard a voice saying unto him, Saul, Saul, why persecutest thou me? And he said, Who art thou, Lord? And the Lord said, I am Jesus whom thou persecutest: it is hard for thee to kick against the goads. And he trembling and astonished said, Lord, what wilt thou have me to do? And the Lord said unto him, Arise, and go into the city, and it shall be told thee what thou must do. And the men which journeyed with him stood speechless, hearing a voice, but seeing no man. And Saul arose from the earth; and when his eyes were opened, he saw no man: but they led him by the hand, and brought him into Damascus. And he was three days without sight, and neither did eat nor drink. If you ever hear the phrase “Damascus Road experience”—that’s where it comes from. When a person is rebellious and hard-hearted against God, God gets a hold of the person and tells them “You're mine” and they become a whole new person, they say they had a "Damascus Road experience", this is where it comes from. This is how Saul met the risen Christ.

Now, I'm supposed to be talking about Paul, so who is this “Saul?” Well, in chapter 13 we read that Saul, who also is called Paul… This is where we find that this Saul has changed his name to Paul. Saul was his Hebrew birth name. However, because he was born in a Roman colony, he was officially a Roman citizen, so in order to go out and take the gospel to Gentiles he referred to himself by his Roman name, Paul. In Romans 3:29, Paul writes, Or is He the God of the Jews only? Is He not also the God of the Gentiles? Yes, of the Gentiles also. If Paul was going to convince Gentiles that God is not just "the Jewish God," he would be more able to relate to Gentiles if he went by a Gentile name. And, according to some people, if he cussed and told dirty jokes.

“Now wait a minute! You mean to tell me that one day this guy is arresting Christians and taking them to slaughter, and a couple days later he’s preaching Christ?” Yes. Flip back to Acts 9:13. Paul is sent, by God, to the house of man named Ananias. God tells Ananias, "Arise and go to the street called Straight, and inquire at the house of Judas for one called Saul of Tarsus, for behold, he is praying." Ananias answered, “Lord, I have heard from many about this man, how much harm he has done to Your saints in Jerusalem. And here he has authority from the chief priests to bind all who call on Your name.” Ananias says, basically, “Wait, wait, wait! Who of Where?” But the Lord said to him, "Go, for he is a chosen vessel of Mine to bear My name before Gentiles, kings, and the children of Israel." We don’t understand that. But many times God calls us to embrace someone who has caused us pain and grief. Ananias went out, found Saul, took him into his house and fed him. Verses 19-20—So when he had received food, he was strengthened. Then Saul spent some days with the disciples at Damascus. Immediately he preached the Christ in the synagogues, that He is the Son of God. So yes, one day he’s killing Christians, and a few days later he is preaching Christ.

Can you imagine what the disciples of Christ were thinking? "Yeah, Saul got saved! Congratulations, welcome to the family!" Not quite. This was not Purpose-Driven™ church. They needed a little more proof than someone saying a little prayer. Verse 21—Then all who heard were amazed, and said, “Is this not he who destroyed those who called on this name in Jerusalem, and has come here for that purpose, so that he might bring them bound to the chief priests?” They were cautious. Certainly, if this were true (and it was), it was cause for wonder and amazement. But in a situation like this, caution is a very natural sentiment. "He’s just here to spy us out and to arrest us." But look down in verse 26, And when Saul had come to Jerusalem, he tried to join the disciples; but they were all afraid of him, and did not believe that he was a disciple. But Barnabas took him and brought him to the apostles. And he declared to them how he had seen the Lord on the road, and that He had spoken to him, and how he had preached boldly at Damascus in the name of Jesus.

Now, some folks might wonder, “Well, why would God choose a man like Saul? I mean, this guy was a murderer; he opposed the gospel so harshly. Why wouldn’t He use one of the apostle who followed Christ and who were so faithful to Him?” Who better to preach Christ and show Christ from the Scriptures—and, which Scriptures did they have at that time? Did they have the New Testament? No. All they had was the Old Testament. And who, at this time, was the most knowledgable and most well-trained Old Testament scholar in Jerusalem? For someone to show Christ from the Scriptures, they had to have a pretty good knowledge of the Law and the Prophets—the Old Testament. That someone was Saul of Tarsus.

So, after he meets the risen Christ on the road to Damascus, he goes out and preaches Christ. This is about the year 34 AD—about maybe a year or two after the death and resurrection of Christ. He spends the next 20-25 years going around Greece and Syria and Turkey and Israel preaching Christ and planting churches. If you read the rest of the book of Acts, it gives you rather detailed account of Paul’s life after he met Christ. And I say “detailed”--as detailed as you can get in a relatively short volume. Luke, who wrote Acts and the book of Luke—which were probably one book when he wrote—he manages to cram a whole bunch of information into such a short space. We don’t have ALL the details of Paul’s life in the Scriptures, but we can build a pretty decent biography from Acts and from Paul’s letters.

Now, the books of the Bible that Paul wrote—from Romans to Philemon—they are actually letters that he wrote.

• Romans to Thessalonians were letters to different churches to deal with some kind of false teaching, or to comfort, strengthen a church in a certain city.
• Timothy, Titus, Philemon—these were written to individuals.
• Timothy and Titus were for teaching about what is expected of a church elder.
• Philemon was written to show that we are not just simply people that go to church together—we are indeed brothers and sisters in Christ.

Now, it would be real easy for Paul to be conceited, to think he was better than anybody else because God used him so greatly. But listen to how he described himself in his letters.

Romans 1:1—Paul, a slave of Jesus Christ.
1st Corinthians 1:1—Paul, an apostle of Jesus Christ through the will of God.
1st Corinthians 15:9--the least of the apostles
Galatians 1:1—Paul, an apostle (not from men nor through man, but through Jesus Christ and God the Father who raised Him from the dead).
Philippians 1:1—Paul, a slave of Jesus Christ.1st Timothy 1:15--chief of sinners.
Philemon 1:1—Paul, a prisoner of Christ Jesus.

He could have bragged, he could have boasted, he could have gloried in himself because he was so special that God picked him. But Paul realized that God did not call him because he had done something to impress God that made God say, “Ooh, wow! I have to use him! He is so wonderful!” He knew that it was not because of anything he did that made God sit up and notice. But rather it was God who called him for no other reason than the good pleasure of His will.

Romans 7:18, 24—For I know that in me nothing good dwells…O wretched man that I am! Who will deliver me from this body of death?
Galatians 1:15-16—…it pleased God, who separated me from my mother’s womb and called me through His grace, to reveal His Son in me, that I might preach Him among the Gentiles…Galatians 6:14—But God forbid that I should boast except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom the world has been crucified to me, and I to the world.
Philippians 3:4-7—If anyone else thinks he may have confidence in the flesh, I more so: circumcised the eighth day, of the stock of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew of the Hebrews; concerning the law, a Pharisee; concerning zeal, persecuting the church; concerning the righteousness which is in the law, blameless. But what things were gain to me, these I have counted loss for Christ. In fact he goes on to say that those things he counted gain—the respect of his peers, the admiration, the applause, the accolades—for Christ, he suffered the loss of all things, and do count them but dung, that I may win Christ.

So that’s who this Paul fellow was. He was an expert in all things that had to do with the Old Testament. He was a man who went about killing Christians and delivering them to their deaths. One day while he was doing his job, the Lord Jesus Christ appeared to him, saved him, and used him to proclaim the name of Christ throughout the land. The books we have here are letters he wrote to correct false teaching, to demonstrate true teaching, to comfort us, to give us hope in Christ, to show us how to serve God, show us why He deserves our worship and show us how to find eternal life in Christ.