Was Paul cosmically raped into obedience as some Arminians claim?; Or was Paul Cosmically Rescued through divine enablement as God proclaims. What about God's dealing with the rest of us?
Why I Need Paul's Introduction to Ephesus
Ephesians 1:1-2 a
Pastor Kerry Kinchen, Bridgeway Bible Church
We are starting in Ephesians this morning, so please turn to Ephesians 1:1-2. While you are finding Ephesians 1, I want to remind you that after Christ had been crucified and had risen from the dead, He continued building His church by His sovereign hand, through the spreading of His word, and by the power of His Holy Spirit. He did it through the work of men that he elected to be His servants. The New Covenant ingathering of those who would become His people through Messiah, began with a great harvest of Jews at Peter's first New Covenant evangelistic sermon that was preached on Pentecost. That time was the point that multitudes of Israelites who were once lost, became saved in the eternal spiritual sense of the word. Those Israelites became the first harvest of God's New Covenant people. Along with the revival, persecution increased toward God's people. God's people were made evident because they were the ones who followed God's promised Messiah. The persecution started with the stoning to death of Stephen the Christian. He was murdered by apostate Israelite leaders. The apostate Jew, Saul of Tarsus, who was later called Paul (after being saved by Jesus) was there as part of Stephen's cold blooded mob-execution. Years later, after Paul had been cosmically rescued by the very Messiah that he had rejected, the same rescuing Messiah, in loving grace, drafted Paul into service for His kingdom. Paul realized and asserted that in God's sovereign predestination, he was set apart by God from His mother's womb to become one of God's people decades later, Galatians 1:15-16. What this means is that Paul was elected, which as a principle, is according to the fact that all of God's people who are predestined to be saved are elected to that end--salvation. According to the details of His own gifting from God, and His own election, Paul went on to become God's apostle to the non-Jewish ethnics, called Gentiles. A Gentile is anyone who is not an Israelite. Most of us here are probably Gentiles. Subsequently, Paul who had once been an exclusivist Pharisee who catered to Israelites according to the flesh, (who was once a hunter, persecutor, and murderer of God's people), was now God's man as Yahweh's special messenger to the nations. Paul had been rescued and transformed, and so part of his transformation was that he had metamorphosed into an enemy of those very same apostate Israelites that he used to be a part of during the days that he was religious, but lost. Ironically, as an enemy of those who had rebelled against Yahweh, Paul was hunted, persecuted, and eventually executed. Part of the persecution led to Paul being beaten and imprisoned. While Paul was first imprisoned in Rome under the emperor Nero, sometime between A.D. 60-63, he wrote several letters to various city identified churches and regions. He wrote Ephesians, Philippians, and Colossians. He also wrote a letter to Philemon, who was a friend of his. All of these letters are in our Bibles as God's revealed word.
This morning we are starting our study of the prison-letter that later manuscripts reveal to us was written by Paul to the church in Ephesus. Ephesians is generally agreed by scholars to have been meant to be a type of letter that was to be passed around throughout all the churches in Asia. It was not meant to be kept and read among the church around the Ephesus region alone. Apparently, God had even greater things in mind for the great epistle of Ephesians, because, as we know, it has been passed around all over the world to practically every tongue, tribe, and nation; preserved in our great library of God's revelation called the Holy Bible. Ephesians is a beautiful letter of great depth. It is a treasure trove of doctrinal riches that will ground you in both the fundamentals, and the heights of theological truth. It is fitting that Ephesians has been called "the queen of letters" by commentators. I read of one theologian calling Ephesian the crown and climax of Pauline theology. The great Reformed Theologian, Vincent Cheung begins his volume on Ephesians by stating,
"Paul's Letter to the Ephesians amounts to a short course in theology."--V Cheung
We will all do well to get it in our minds that we are never so learned that we can get to the point that we think we don't need to continue to have short courses in theology each and every waking moment of each and every day. The same principle goes for restudying this same Ephesian letter over, and over, again. Every time I dig into Ephesians, I discover new nuggets of treasure to build me up in my faith. They are riches that give me deeper insights into God's created order and purpose for my life. Bridgeway, as a church, I want you to know that we are going to study this beautiful letter together in all of her royal splendor. It is my heart's desire that we learn from Gods' word as penned through our brother, Paul the apostle. Let us learn what God wants us to know from this short course in theology.
Please prepare your minds for the sacred preaching of God's word this morning, as we set out to glean nuggets of treasure to build ourselves up in our faith, in this sermon titled
"Why I Need Paul's Introduction to Ephesus" [prayer]
As we open the door and enter into Ephesians we find this greeting and blessing in Paul's introduction,
"Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus by the determination of God, to the set apart ones who are at Ephesus, the faithful in Christ Jesus: 2 Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ." Ephesians 1:1-2
As with most short introductions that we find in letters, it is easy for us to quickly skim past the opening remarks. It is easy to do because we are thinking that we want to get to the real meat and potatoes of the rest of the letter. Contrary to what our natural inclinations are urging us to do, this skipping process is not a good practice. When it comes to the serious study of scripture, we must fight this kind of temptation. We must fight this temptation when it comes to Paul's very important opening here. We need Paul's introduction to Ephesus for many reasons, one of which is that in and of itself, it stands as a springboard for a mini-course in theology before launching into the bigger short course in theology of the rest of the letter. Further, we need Paul's introduction in Ephesians because we, as God's people, need to be confident in the revelation that we have that is preserved for us in all the scriptures. Confidence in God's revelation, is confidence in God's sovereignty. I mean have you ever wondered how reliable the Scriptures are? Think about all the Scriptures which have been preserved for us from the first Christians. Have you wondered if they are reliable as God's word? I have. I needed to know, and so I applied myself to study the origination and preservation of the Biblical manuscripts. When I was in seminary, I found that the evidence for the reliability, veracity, and faithfulness, of the scriptural canon; its authorship, and substance is overwhelming. We all need to know if the Scriptures are overwhelmingly reliable don't we? After all, we have a world of skeptics around us who mock us for believing in a Bible that they scoff as merely a compilation over time of a bunch of made up stuff that nobody today is really sure of. They go on and on in their rants. They say we don't really know who wrote the Bible. They say that the Bible is merely the invention of a bunch of creative men. The important fact of the matter is that if the scriptures are not reliable, then God is not reliable as the sovereign creator in preserving His revealed will to us in written form. A few weeks ago, I was not too surprised to see this headline on a major internet news service, It starts out with,
"'Da Vinci Code' Actor:
Then the rest of the headline states,
'I've often thought the Bible should have a disclaimer in the front saying this is fiction'..." Drudge Report headline, May 17, 2006
When I clicked on this headline URL, I read the rest of the story. Apparently, the play actor, atheist, and homosexual, Ian McKellan, who acted in an anti-Bible fantasy film, originally made his attacking comment that same morning on the Today Show. People make these types of comments all the time, but the truth remains, as a first principle, that the scriptures have been proven over and over again through more scrutiny than any other subject under heaven to have been faithfully preserved through the volumes of manuscript copies (both full, and in fragments) that go back to the original Christians who preserved them from the original authors. Careful scrutiny and comparison of the manuscript copy histories, guides us to recognize the veracity of the original words as penned by those first Christians to lay down the ink on the papyrus scrolls. Aside from the abundant multitudes of copies of manuscripts, the scriptures have also been preserved through numerous quotes and passage references in volumes upon volumes of writings from the first Christians. Further, the authors of our Bible wrote in such a way as to indicate that what they wrote is not fiction, but is fact. There is no serious scholar that would refute this. What is refuted, though, is the Christian assertion that we are reading words, as Peter says, in 2 Peter 1:16-21, that are God breathed, and are God's revelations recorded by His people--called "inspired by God," according to Paul in 2 Timothy 3:16. Such refutations start with scrutinizing the very people who God used as human tools in His hands to write scripture. Paul the apostle (the writer of Ephesians) is one such person. But, when we Christians realize who Paul was, and who he became, then we recognize that he is the embodiment of an amazing testimony of God's miracle. Further, the amazing details of his life move us to recognize that his credentials are impeccable. What I mean is that Paul was a uniquely elected instrument who was miraculously transformed into God's messenger for God's people, and the very details of all the facts demonstrate that when it comes to Paul's proclaimed revelations, we can be sure that God made sure He spoke His will to us through Paul. This is but one reason why we need Paul's introduction to Ephesus. Let's look at the introduction now, and notice Paul identifying himself, saying,
"Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus by the determination of God, ..."
Notice that Paul is not just identifying himself by name, which if he did, would typically be considered a natural thing to do. That's what I do when I write a letter--I sign my name to it. Its the natural thing to do. But Paul goes further than the natural thing to do. He goes on to the miracle connection, and he introduces the fact that he is an apostle of the Messiah, which is the supernatural thing to do. I want us to get the miracle sense here by examining every point of this brief introduction. For instance, the word "apostle" literally means one "who is sent forth." The word "Christ" literally means Messiah. The Messiah is the anointed one of Jehovah that was promised to come according to the ancient pledge that God made to David, who was the ancient king of the Jews. So when Paul says that he is an apostle, he is saying that he is one who is sent forth by the Messiah who is the crucified Lord, who is now risen from the dead. To get the cultural-contextual impact, let's read this same exact verse with more explanation. Let's look at the same verse this way where we need to recognize that Paul is saying,
"Paul, a commissioned sent out one of the resurrected and living Messiah Jesus by the determination of Jehovah ..."
These are amazing credentials. They are the credentials that demonstrate a miracle that was sovereignly arranged by God for His own glory. To get an even fuller impact concerning this miracle, we must be mindful of Paul's past. This is important, because in thinking about Paul's past, the miracle aspect of Paul's capture into the New Covenant by God's sovereign hand, and the starkness of Paul's born again experience is magnified. What I am saying is that before God miraculously made Paul into an apostle, Paul was, in a sense, another man altogether. The theological mini-course of Paul's introduction to Ephesus moves us to think about this vital truth. In fact, we are forced to consider a very profound reality, and that is that Paul was once an anti-Christ. Paul was just as blind, just as sinful, and just as lost as the atheistic homosexual play actor, Ian McKellan. Paul was just as lost as all of us were once lost. Before salvation, Paul's name was Saul of Tarsus. Pre-miracle Saul was an anti-Christ, but he was also a devout man of Jewish religiosity. Actually, Saul was known to be an outstanding Jewish leader of religion. Nevertheless, Saul was not saved. Saul was like many devout people that we see today. He may be like someone you may know, or may have known. Such people are religious, but in their religion, they are rejecting salvation that comes through Christ alone, by grace alone, through faith alone. They are religious, but they are religiously lost. In Philippians 3:5, Paul describes himself, according to Israelite pride as being an eighth day circumcised male. When Paul, as Saul, was religious but lost, this eighth day circumcision that he had, was a big deal. Primarily, what this means is that Saul was born a true Israelite and was strictly circumcised according to the requirement of the Mosaic Law. Saul was not a Gentile who converted to Judaism. Saul was a true Israelite. Saul was born under the Abrahamic covenant. Saul could claim, and did claim, that he was one of God's special people according to promise and method. Nevertheless, Saul was not yet saved. Saul's bloodline heritage went back to Abraham. It came down through Isaac; down through Jacob, and on through Benjamin. Saul was an Israelite, and he was also a Benjamite. The tribes of both Judah and Benjamin formed the religious center of Israel for hundreds of years prior to Messiah's coming. The first King of Israel, king Saul, came from the Benjamites. More than likely king Saul was who Saul of Tarsus was named after. Benjamites were highly respected among Israelites. Saul of Tarsus, the religious man, was respected. The typical Israelite would think that Saul was in God's favor as a true follower of Jehovah. Nevertheless, Saul was not saved. Saul was also called a Hebrew out of Hebrews in Philippians 3:5. This meant that he was a purebred Hebrew with no intermarriage with Gentiles existing anywhere in his ancestry. There was a problem though--he wasn't saved. As to religious fervor, Saul was also a Pharisee. The Pharisees were one of the strongest, strictest, and most zealous Law keeping sects of the Jewish people. Paul said concerning himself as an unsaved man, that
"... according to the strictest sect of our religion I lived as a Pharisee," Acts 26:5
The Pharisees were rigid legalists who were steeped in religion. They were keepers of the temple, and the law. Jesus said that the Pharisees had seated themselves in the chair of Moses in Matthew 23:2. Paul wrote in Galatians, that he was found blameless concerning the type of outward-righteousness which is derived from keeping the law codes of the Old Covenant. Paul attested to the kind of devout man that he was, saying,
"... I advanced in Judaism beyond many of my contemporaries in my own nation, being more exceedingly zealous for the traditions of my fathers," Galatians 1:14
If the Pharisees were sitting in the chair of Moses, then Saul was, in a sense, standing on it. Nevertheless, Saul was not saved. In studying Judaism, Saul was educated under Gamaliel, the preeminent teacher of God's Old Covenant Law in those days, Acts 22:3. Saul was an exceptional student. He was brilliant, but Saul's brilliance was eclipsed by a horrible unseen darkness in his heart. The darkness was manifested in one particular way, in that Saul was a rejector of His Messiah, and he was a professional murderer of Christians. Saul was there at the stoning to death of Stephen after Stephen preached the message of Messiah. Saul continued to support the anti-Christ frenzy of apostate Jews by going out to round up more Christians for slaughter. Paul says of his dark zeal in those hate filled days of sin against God,
"4 I persecuted this Way to the death, binding and putting both men and women into prisons." Acts 22:4
Ironically, in the midst of all of this demonic, anti-Christ activity, Saul thought he was doing Jehovah a favor. How many people do you know who think they are doing God a favor, but the reality is that they are light years from salvation? They are very religious but, yet again, they are very lost. They need a miracle, but they lack the miracle. They need their eyes opened to the revelation of God's word by the power of the person of the Holy Spirit. They need to be sure that God made sure He spoke His will to us through the scriptures. They need to receive the Messiah (Christ Jesus) on God's terms, and not on their own terms. Saul needed the same miracle intervention. Praise be to God, the miracle occurred, as Paul says of Himself in this introduction to Ephesus that we all need,
"Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus by the determination of God, ..." Ephesians 1:1
Before Saul became another man in the miracle of regeneration, the old Saul had to, in a sense, die. What Paul said of himself in Galatians 2:20 had to occur according to God's determination, and it did, and so saved Saul, going by the name of Paul, proclaims in Galatians 2:20 concerning his national identity as an Israelite, a Hebrew out of Hebrews, a Benjamite, an outstanding Pharisee,
"20 I have been crucified with Messiah; and it is no longer I [Paul] who live, but Messiah lives in me; and the life which I [Paul] now live in the flesh I [Paul] live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself up for me." Galatians 2:20
In God's determination, God intervened, and by His sovereign hand, he saved Saul who was once the Israelite, the Hebrew out of Hebrews, the Benjamite, the outstanding religious Pharisee. God saved Saul, the sinner, because though Saul was all those things, Saul was a sinner who was lost in his sins. You see, zealous Saul was on a hunting trip to get more Christians. On his way, on the desert road to Damascus, the miracle was manifested. God appeared to Saul as the resurrected Messiah--as the Lord Jesus. This is where we first see God's determination concerning Paul's election and calling being made manifest. In Acts 9 we witness the death, so to speak, of Saul that preceded His transformation, which was his salvation;
"1 Meanwhile, Saul was still breathing out murderous threats against the Lord's students. He went to the high priest and asked him for letters to the synagogues in Damascus, so that if he found any there who belonged to the Way, [the Way, is "the church," as we find it referenced in Acts 8:1] whether men or women, he might take them as prisoners to Jerusalem. As he neared Damascus on his journey, suddenly a light from heaven flashed around him. 4 He fell to the ground and heard a voice say to him, 'Saul, Saul, why do you persecute me?'" Acts 9:1-4
God in His sovereign determination forces Himself on Saul against Saul's will. Jehovah, as Messiah, blocks the so-called "freedom" of Saul. Some people will blurt out that God does not force His will--His determination upon anyone. They say that God holds something called, "man's free will" up as sacred, and so they think that God must respect this sacred thing and not move it. They say this as if the whole theory is a verse in the Bible somewhere, but it is not. They say that a loving God would not force His free will upon anyone; to do so is paramount to cosmic rape. They make this statement too, as if it is also a verse in the Bible somewhere, but it is not. No, what we read is,
"Paul, a sent forth one of Messiah Jesus by the determination of God, ..." Ephesians 1:1
Folks, we must not miss the eternal principles being preached by Paul's life changing experiences with God. The very conversion experience of Saul of Tarsus is one of the greatest lessons to you of God's determination, election, and effectual call to be found anywhere in Scripture. In Acts 26, we read that Messiah also said to Saul in that moment,
"Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting Me? It is hard for you to kick against the goads." Acts 26:14
Goads are pointed sticks used to direct beasts of burden, like oxen, and cattle. When you want a cow to go somewhere, you just poke it in the butt with a goad, and it moves. Messiah, as God in His sovereignty, goaded Saul against Saul's so-called integrity. God in His sovereignty, goaded Saul against his so called free agency, and God in His sovereignty, goaded Saul against his so called rights to be left to his own free choices. Saul kicked back when he was standing tall and stiff necked as a rejector of the Messiah. But now Saul is blinded by the Light of God's glory, laying on the dirt in the middle of a desert road. So, the risen Lord of lords and King of kings tells Saul how it is to try and resist His sovereign determination. He tells Saul what Saul quickly understands,
"It is hard for you to kick against the goads."
Jesus wants Saul to think about this. It is this type of thinking process that God orchestrates for convicting us, for bringing about repentance in us, and for changing us by His holy Spirit through His word. Further, Jesus knows that Saul is not really one of His people at this time, (though, Saul thinks that He is a true follower of Jehovah). Jesus also knows that Saul is going to ask, in His lostness, about the One whom he doesn't know. Saul asks,
"'Who are you, Lord?"
[Jesus answers,]
'I am Jesus, whom you are persecuting,' He replied. 'Now get up and go into the city, and you will be told what you must do.'" Acts 26:15-16
Even though Saul was advanced in Judaism beyond many of his contemporaries, he didn't know Who he was persecuting. He thought he was persecuting Christians. As an apostate Jew, he didn't know that the whole group's identification as being Christian was equated in an even much deeper way with the Messiah that they were named after. But notice that Saul is already getting some important revelation, even at this point. Saul, at least knows to call Jesus "Lord" in his question. Up to this point, Saul never thought he was persecuting the Lord. Saul thought he was persecuting Christ's followers, but Christ asks,
"... why are you persecuting me?"
Christ is revealing a mysterious identification that He has with His church. Actually, this is the mystery identification that all Christians throughout all generations have had. You have this mystery identification too. Its part of the miracle of our individual salvation experiences. Saul was in the very first moments of experiencing it himself, and later on he would be the one who preached details of the revelation of this mystery to the church. The major revelation of the mystery, is the identification of the church with the body of Christ, where both Jews and Gentiles are made members of the body of Christ through regeneration in the New Covenant. Let me repeat that: The mystery is the body of Christ; OK?--the mystery is the body of Christ. The body of Christ is whom Paul is persecuting. Saul was saved that day on the road to Damascus, and on the very same day, he received details of the message and apostleship that he would be faithful to nurture the rest of his living days as a born again Christian. Paul mentions the mystery message of his apostleship here in Ephesians. He mentions it in just a few more verses, saying,
"In all wisdom and insight 9 He made known to us the mystery of His determination, according to His kind intention which He purposed in Messiah 10 with a view to an administration suitable to the fullness of the times, [in other words, the right time] that is, the summing up of all things in Messiah, things in heaven and things on the earth. In Him 11 also we have obtained an inheritance, having been predestined according to His purpose who works all things after the counsel of His determination," Ephesians 1:9-11
Paul explains the mystery of the crucified and resurrected Messiah of a new and better covenant. He does it in a couple more chapters, where he speaks of the essence of the mystery, by which, and for which, he was made a minister by God's determination,
"... by revelation there was made known to me the mystery, as I wrote before in brief. 4 By referring to this, when you read you can understand my insight into the mystery of Messiah, 5 which in other generations was not made known to the sons of men, [which was Paul too, before he was cosmically rescued from his ignorance on the Damascus road] as it has now been revealed to His set apart apostles and prophets in the Spirit; 6 to be specific, that the Gentiles are fellow heirs and fellow members of the body," Ephesians 3:3-6
Notice both the Spirit, and the body connection of the church. This is very important because this is the substance of the mystery. Paul goes on, and I want you to notice, as we read, that Paul's revelation of the mystery is going to be referenced again. Paul is going to mention when God drafted him into service, saying that the mystery is that Gentiles are fellow heirs and fellow members of the body of Messiah, saying
"... and fellow partakers of the promise in Messiah Jesus through the gospel, 7 of which I was made a minister, ..." Ephesians 3:6-7
Notice that Paul affirms that He was manufactured a minister. Folks, this is huge. Paul, as a lost religious leader, did not decide to serve the Lord one day, and in so doing "make" himself a minister. Remember, this fact is proclaimed by him in the first eleven words of our mini-course in theology;
"Paul, a sent forth one of Messiah Jesus by the determination of God,"
It's all God's miracle, and Paul gives all the glory for being elected by God to be,
1) saved,
and
2) a tool in God's hand for God's purpose.
Paul goes on in Ephesians 3, continuing his point, saying that he was made a minister of the gospel,
"... according to the gift of God's grace which was given to me according to the working of His power. 8 To me, the very least of all set apart ones, this grace was given, to preach to the Gentiles the unfathomable riches of Messiah," Ephesians 3:7-8
How beautiful to recognize that the grace of apostleship was given to Paul as a gift. Such a fact demonstrates to us that Paul did not think he was somehow worthy to serve the Lord as an apostle and preacher, but rather Paul was effectually called and inducted into commission to do so. But, what is really very significant about this, is that Paul sees it as a gift rather than something that was put on him as a curse to complain about. Finally, Paul repeats, once again, what his primary task is,
"9 and to bring to light what is the administration of the mystery which for ages has been hidden in God who created all things;" Ephesians 3:9
In the parallel letter of Colossians, Paul speaks of the same mystery that he was initiated into in both revelation, existence, and apostleship on that day He personally met His Messiah. Paul explains the mystery body-connection of Messiah with the New Covenant, saying that Messiah,
"18... is also head of the body, the church; and He is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead," Colossians 1:18
Paul goes on and makes an amazing statement
"24... I rejoice in my sufferings for your sake, and in my flesh I do my share on behalf of His body, which is the church,"
Paul continues with more amazing revelation,
"25 Of this church I was made a minister according to the stewardship from God bestowed on me 26 that is, the mystery which has been hidden from the past ages and generations, but has now been manifested to His set apart ones, 27 to whom God willed to make known what is the riches of the glory of this mystery among the Gentiles, which is Christ in you, the hope of glory." Colossians 1:25-27
Folks, this is one of the clearest proclamations of what the revealed mystery actually is. This is exactly what happened to Saul the day his life was changed by the Lord. This is what has happened to anyone who is saved. This is what has happened to you if you are indeed saved. Let's not let the details just slip on by. I think we realize that these are not light, superficial things that Paul is revealing to us. These are the kinds of things that are difficult for the natural mind to comprehend. But Paul has been manufactured by God to be an apostle. His salvation and apostleship is by the predetermination of God, and God is using Paul to tell you and me some important things about the mystery revealed that we need to know concerning our own salvation. The mystery is "Christ in you." The mystery is God's promised Messiah in you, both spiritually and according to covenant in the New Covenant of your salvation. Christ in you is your only hope of glory, my only hope of glory, and any Israelites only hope of glory.
Now listen, what this does not mean is that you are somehow mysteriously supposed to be Christ Himself, or a little Christ, or piece of Christ, or something like that. It doesn't mean that a micro-Jesus is sitting in your heart somewhere. What this does mean is that you have Christ's righteousness and blessing appropriated to you in salvation. So, what Paul revealed, and what he reveals all throughout Ephesians, are all the pertinent details that have to do with the body of Christ which is the church that you and I, just like Saul, were called into, and exist in right now. This is why Paul says,
"... you were called in one body." Colossians 3:15
Paul says that God
"might reconcile them both [Jew and Gentile] in one body to God through the cross, by it having put to death the enmity." Ephesians 2:16
He says,
"There is one body and one Spirit, just as also you were called in one hope of your calling;" Ephesians 4:4
These are the things we need to keep in mind when we think of Jesus telling Saul that Jesus is the one that Saul had been persecuting on the road to Damascus. Do you understand how important this is? When Jesus said that Paul was persecuting Him, (rather than that Paul was persecuting "the church," as Luke says Paul was doing in Acts 8:3, and that he was persecuting the "Lord's students," in Acts 9:1; and that he was persecuting the "Way," in Acts 9:2; and that he was persecuting those who called on Christ, in Acts 9:14; who are also referred to as those "who believed in Christ," in Acts 22:19, and are called "set apart ones" in Acts 9:13 and 26:10,) then we recognize that when people persecute Christians, they are persecuting the church, and when people persecute the church, they are persecuting "Christ in you the hope of glory."
Now all of these amazing facts are important because they help us to understand that we can be sure that God Made sure He spoke His will to us through Paul. You see, religious but lost Saul was not a man who considered anyone among Gentiles to be of God's elect people. But, in the miracle of his salvation, all of that changed, and so the message that God gave to Paul demonstrates the reality of the change. Paul's great commission to be a primary apostle, and the revelation of the mystery message that he preached, is important for recognizing that such a famous Pharisee, who had everything going for him, and was intent upon his blind ambition, was miraculously changed by a miracle. In Acts 26:15 and 16, we hear Saul's great commission where Christ said;
"... 'I am Jesus whom you are persecuting. 16 'But get up and stand on your feet; for this purpose I have appeared to you, to appoint you a servant and a witness not only to,
[A.] "... the things which you have seen," [pay attention to that]
[and then B.] "... but also to the things I will show you later;" Acts 26:15-16
Right here is the authoritarian induction of Paul into service as an apostle of Jesus Christ. This is what Paul proclaims in his introduction of Ephesians. The first thing that Saul had seen at that moment; was the blinding light of the Messiah he was persecuting. The other things (plural) he had seen that he would serve the Lord as a witness concerning, were his own zealousness in persecuting the way, the church, the Christians, which is the body of Christ. In a demonstration of how we can be sure that God made sure He spoke His will to us through Paul, Paul ministered and proclaimed these life altering truths the rest of his life as an apostle. Continuing in Acts 9:7, we read that after everyone stood back up,
"7 The men traveling with Saul stood there speechless; they heard the sound but did not see anyone. 8 Saul got up from the ground, but when he opened his eyes he could see nothing. So they led him by the hand into Damascus. 9 For three days he was blind, and did not eat or drink anything." Acts 9:7
Religious Saul was intimidated and awestruck by the risen Messiah who was manifested in His shining glory. After this experience, Saul did what the typical religious Pharisee would do in a situation like this--he fasted. At about the same time that all of this was going on, God manifested His sovereign hand in orchestrating more miraculous events, as we read,
"10 In Damascus there was a student named Ananias. The Lord called to him in a vision, 'Ananias!' 'Yes, Lord,' he answered. 11 The Lord told him, 'Go to the house of Judas on Straight Street and ask for a man from Tarsus named Saul, for he is praying. 12 In a vision he has seen a man named Ananias come and place his hands on him to restore his sight.'" Acts 9:10-12
Now verse 13,
"13 'Lord,' Ananias answered, 'I have heard many reports about this man [Saul] and all the harm he has done to your set apart ones in Jerusalem. 14 And he has come here with authority from the chief priests to arrest all who call on your name.' 15 But the Lord said to Ananias, 'Go!'" Acts 9:13-15
Isn't it interesting how God commissions His servants. God isn't sitting down and having a focus group meeting about the state of the world, and what is expedient, and so forth. God is not listening to Ananias mouthing off about the reports he has heard about Saul. No, God simply commands an order, "Go!" Immediately after saying "Go" the Lord demonstrates the important principle of election again. Take notice as Jesus says in verse 15,
"... This man ..."
Jesus is talking about Saul who was previously an anti-Christ Christian hating murderer who was bound by his sin nature to freely will to reject his Messiah, and he did reject his Messiah. This is who the Lord is talking about, and so we read,
"This man is the instrument I elected to carry my name before the Gentiles and their kings and before the people of Israel. 16 I will show him how much he must suffer for my name." Acts 9:15-16
When Messiah says "I elected" and that Saul "must" suffer, He is demonstrating His predestinating sovereignty in action. Folks, the conversion and apostleship of apostate Saul was predestined, which means it was planned to happen, it had to happen, and it was actuated at the right time, so it did happen. Paul recognized this in a stark way, so he wrote about how this, though previously unknown to him, was now made understandable. He said concerning God setting him apart for conversion and service earlier on, even while born in sin and being raised up as an apostate Israelite,
"But when God, who had set me apart even from my mother's womb and called me through His unmerited favor, was pleased to reveal His Son in me so that I might preach Him among the Gentiles, I did not immediately consult with flesh and blood," Galatians 1:15-16
Notice that Paul said that there was an appointed time that God was pleased to reveal His Son in Paul. It is Christ in Paul, Paul's hope of glory. On the road to Damascus is where God's sovereign predetermination for Paul came to light. Who would have imagined it? Certainly not Saul the hardened Christian killer. Certainly not the Christians that he hunted down. Certainly not Ananias. Finally, we read,
"17 Then Ananias went to the house and entered it. Placing his hands on Saul, he said, 'Brother Saul, the Lord Jesus--who appeared to you on the road as you were coming here--has sent me so that you may see again and be filled with the Holy Spirit.' 18 Immediately, something like scales fell from Saul's eyes, and he could see again. He got up and was immersed, [ie. bathed, washed]" Acts 9:17-18
Saul was bathed because he was dirty from falling to the ground on a hot desert road journey, and then fasting. The reason for this is because Pharisees did not take a bath while fasting. They took a bath after fasting. The Greek word for bathed, washed, immersed, that is used here by Luke the physician in writing Acts, is the Greek word baptizo. Baptizo is typically translated as baptize. Often it is translated as bathe and wash. The Pharisees would wash themselves as a cleansing practice, and according to the Greek Septuagint, we see baptizo mentioned as a washing practice in 2 Kings 5:14, Ecclesiastes 34:25, and Numbers 19:9, 13, and 20. In Luke we see baptizo mentioned in terms of washing,
"38... the Pharisee ... was surprised that [Jesus] had not first ceremonially washed [baptizo] before the meal," Luke 11:38.
The same type of cleansing practice is mentioned in Mark;
"3 (For the Pharisees and all the Jews do not eat unless they carefully wash their hands, thus observing the traditions of the elders; 4 and when they come from the market place, they do not eat unless they cleanse [baptizo] themselves; and there are many other things which they have received in order to observe, such as the washing of cups and pitchers and copper pots.)" Mark 7:3-4
Saul washed himself--baptizo--after fasting which was the common practice of Pharisees. Next we read,
"19 and after taking some food, [Paul was breaking the fast] he regained his strength." Acts 9:19
All of these facts that we have looked at out of the Acts history chronicle are faith building facts of where sinful Saul, the religious Pharisee, died, being crucified with his Messiah. They are faith building facts of where the new man, who was set apart from his mothers' womb as Saul, became the man, who being resurrected in Christ is proclaimed in the introduction of Ephesians,
"Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus by the determination of God, ..."
After Acts 13:9, we no longer see Paul called by the name he used as an Old Covenant apostate Israelite, who was named after the fallen king of Old who rebelled against God and had his throne torn from him by God's mighty hand. We see him called by his introductory name that we find in our Ephesians letter, "Paul"--Paul, which in the latin means "small," and we see Paul continuing to diminish himself by calling himself the "least of the apostles" in 1 Corinthians 15:9.
Bridgeway, the whole letter of Ephesians is amazing. Just as amazing, is the letter's brief introduction from Paul the apostle. This morning, we have learned so much by digging deeper into what many people skim over in a micro second. We have only tasted the first eleven words, and yet we have feasted on a great dinner of doctrinal edification. I want to encourage you this morning to be considering the supernatural miracle of God's blessings upon you. Be thinking of how God preserved the scriptures for us so that we would know His revelations and be equipped. Be thinking of how God used Paul to write a letter to the saints in the Ephesus region, and by His sovereign hand, God uses this same letter to edify us. Be mindful of the miracle of Paul's salvation experience. Paul experienced the mystery revelation on the road to Damascus, and then he was appointed into service immediately by our authoritarian Lord. I encourage you to recognize that Paul was "set apart" by God's sovereign hand from his mother's womb for all of this. Finally, let's give all praise to our wonderful God for the fact that he has set each of us Christians apart from our mother's womb, to be saved, inducted into service, and used by Him as special instruments in His hands in our own generation. You need to know that God loves you just as much as He loves Paul and He has a grand purpose for you that He has appointed you to in this life. As we continue studying Ephesians, God will guide us more and more into the truths we need in being equipped for service. To God be all praise, honor, and glory, both now and forever, Amen.
