From Saul to Paul: Do You Really Know God?

Introduction

"Do you really know God?" It is a slightly strange question at first glance, and it is the one the preacher asks during this Discover the Gospel evening at the Assemblée de Dieu de Montpellier Richter. It is a question we can ask ourselves, he says, whether we have walked with God for a long time or do not know him at all.

He begins with his own journey. As a young man, he thought he knew God. He had been taught a religion and certain practices, and through all of it he believed he knew who God was and what he wanted. A little later, he understood clearly that he was mistaken. You can walk for a long time without realizing you are heading in the wrong direction.

To illustrate this, he tells the story of a man raised in the Word of God, fervent, and yet lost: Saul of Tarsus. He chooses to call him Saul for as long as possible, because the whole message rests on this passage from Saul to Paul.

Outline of the message

1. Do you really know God?

• The question applies to everyone: to the one who has walked with God for years as much as to the one who does not know him.
• The preacher shares his testimony: he grew up in religious practices and thought he knew God, until the day he realized he was mistaken.
• You can walk in the wrong direction without realizing it, even when you are sincere.

2. Saul, a zeal for God that had not been purified

• In Acts 22:3, Paul introduces himself: "I am indeed a Jew, born in Tarsus of Cilicia, but brought up in this city at the feet of Gamaliel, instructed according to the strict tradition of the law of our fathers, being zealous for God, even as you all are today."
• Saul received a strict, very rigid education. He follows the letter, the teaching of the Pharisees.
• His path was crooked. His zeal was real, but it was not the right kind of zeal: it had not been purified.
• He had learned the Law, rites, and the customs of the fathers. He lacked what mattered most: the understanding of that Law, the grasp of what God wants.

3. When zeal becomes persecution

• In Acts 26:9-12, Paul recounts: "I most certainly thought that I ought to do many things contrary to the name of Jesus of Nazareth." He shut saints up in prison, cast his vote when they were put to death, tried to make them blaspheme, and pursued them even to foreign cities.
• For the preacher, Saul was blinded, almost conditioned to think this way. Anything that did not match what he had learned had to be fought.
• When we face what is different from us, there are other paths than fighting: arguing, debating, or even letting the matter die out on its own.
• That is the advice given by a leader among the Pharisees: if this work is of men, it will come to nothing; if it is of God, you will not be able to overthrow it (Acts 5:38-39). In the way he acted, Saul does not seem to have understood these words.

4. What the Law and the prophets already said

• In the Word, and already in the Old Testament, God shows several times that his goal is not for the wicked to die, but for them to change their ways and live (Ezekiel 33:11).
• God also says: "I have set before you life and death, the blessing and the curse. Therefore choose life, that you may live, you and your descendants" (Deuteronomy 30:19). What God wants for people is life, not death.
• Isaiah 55:7: "Let the wicked forsake his way, and the unrighteous man his thoughts. Let him return to Yahweh, and he will have mercy on him, to our God, for he will freely pardon."
• All of this was written in the Law and the prophets. Saul should have known it, and yet his practice was very different. Either his understanding was not right, or the teaching he received was not: he had the Word, but he did not live it.

5. On the road to Damascus, grace reaches Saul

• God is good, and because he is good, he knows we can act out of ignorance. Saul's zeal needed to be purified, and God was going to step into his life.
• Acts 9:3-8: a light from the sky shone around him. He fell to the ground and heard a voice: "Saul, Saul, why do you persecute me?" "Who are you, Lord?" "I am Jesus, whom you are persecuting."
• Trembling and overwhelmed, Saul asks the Lord what he wants him to do. He gets up, his eyes open but seeing nothing, and they lead him by the hand into Damascus.
• His companions are bewildered: one passage says they hear the voice but see no one, another says they see the light but do not hear the voice (Acts 22:9). Saul, for his part, knows who is speaking to him.
• This man had persecuted the saints. He was there when Stephen, the first martyr, was killed, and he approved. Yet the Lord had pity on him, came to touch his heart, and was even going to use him.

6. From Saul to Paul: God transforms the heart

• Saul receives the revelation of Jesus Christ: the one he was persecuting was not a mere man, he was God himself in Jesus Christ, who died on the cross for Saul's sins too.
• At that moment, Saul is forgiven. This is where the turning point begins, the passage from Saul to Paul.
• Paul will say so himself in 1 Timothy 1:13: "although I used to be a blasphemer, a persecutor, and insolent. However, I obtained mercy, because I did it ignorantly in unbelief."
• When God touches someone, he is not content with making them change a few practices. His action is not superficial: what matters to him is what happens on the inside and is then reflected on the outside.
• The violent man and blasphemer becomes a servant of God. He proclaims the Gospel, he spreads the love of God, he speaks of peace, joy, and kindness.

7. Tonight, Jesus is knocking at the door

• God sees the state of everyone's heart, and he also sees the state of yours tonight. Do you do certain things while saying "I am doing it for God"? But have you ever let God come and work in your heart?
• "What God wants tonight is your heart." It is not about practices or customs: God goes to what is essential.
• "Are you ready tonight to go from Saul to Paul?" Replace the name Saul with your own: God wants to make you a new man, a new woman.
• Do not cling to customs, rites, and practices, even when they come from the elders or from your parents. Respect your family, but the Word of God is clear: what God wants to do goes beyond everything you may have been taught.
• Jesus stands at the door and knocks; whoever opens it, he comes in to him and eats with him (Revelation 3:20). The preacher invites everyone to pray: "Lord, come, enter my heart and do your work," and to ask the Lord to place in them the fruit of his Holy Spirit.

Key takeaways

• You can be sincere, educated, and zealous for God, and still walk in the wrong direction, like Saul.
• Knowing the Law, the rites, and the customs is not enough: you need to understand what God wants, life and not death.
• God never tires of forgiving. Saul, the persecutor, obtained mercy, because God is the God of grace and love.
• When God touches a heart, it is not to change a few practices but to transform an entire life.
• Jesus knocks at the door of your heart: it is up to you to open it to him.

Personal application

1. If you were asked tonight "Do you really know God?", what would you honestly answer?
2. Are there things you do "for God" out of habit, tradition, or upbringing, without having let God touch your heart?
3. How do you react to what does not match what you have learned: by fighting it, or by seeking to understand?
4. What part of your life needs to go "from Saul to Paul"?
5. Are you ready to open the door and say to the Lord: "Come, enter my heart and do your work"?

Verses cited

• Acts 22:3
• Acts 26:9-12
• Acts 5:38-39
• Ezekiel 33:11
• Deuteronomy 30:19
• Isaiah 55:7
• Acts 9:3-8
• Acts 22:9
• 1 Timothy 1:13
• Revelation 3:20

Frequently asked questions

Why did Saul persecute Christians when he knew the Law?

Saul had been taught at the feet of Gamaliel and he was zealous for God. But that zeal had not been purified: he had learned the Law, rites, and customs, without grasping what is essential. Anything that did not match what he had been taught had to be fought. Yet the Law and the prophets said that God does not want the wicked to die, but to change their ways and live.

What happened on the road to Damascus?

A light from the sky shone around Saul and Jesus spoke to him: "Saul, Saul, why do you persecute me?" (Acts 9). Saul understood that the one he was persecuting was not a mere man, but God himself in Jesus Christ, who died on the cross for his sins too. He obtained mercy, and this is where the passage from Saul to Paul begins.

What does "going from Saul to Paul" mean today?

It means letting God transform your heart, not just change a few practices. For the preacher, God does not come first to correct rites or customs: he goes to what is essential, your heart. As in Revelation 3:20, Jesus knocks at the door. It is up to you to open it to him and ask him to carry out his work in you.