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1:30And the Lord said to him, Get up and go to the street called Straight and inquire at the house of Judas for a man from Tarsus named Saul, for he is praying. And he has seen in a vision a man named Ananias coming in and lay hands on him so that he might regain his sight. But Ananias answered, Lord, I have heard from many about this man, how much harm he did to your saints at Jerusalem. And here he has authority from the chief priests to bind all who call on your name. But the Lord said to him, Go, for he is a chosen instrument of mine, to bear my name before the Gentiles and kings and the sons of Israel. For I will show him how much he must suffer for my name's sake. So Ananias departed and entered the house, and after laying his hands on him, he said, Brother Saul, the Lord Jesus, who appeared to you on the road by which you were coming, has sent me so that you may regain your sight and be filled with the Holy Spirit. And immediately there fell from his eyes something like scales, and he regained his sight. And he got up and was baptized, and he took food and was strengthened. Now for several days he was with the disciples who were at Damascus, and immediately he began to proclaim Jesus in the synagogues, saying, He is the Son of God. Of God. Let's pray. Heavenly Father, we bow our hearts before you, thanking you that you reach out in your grace to people who, even in the fury of their anger and hostility toward you, you reach out in your grace and touch with your life. Father, we see your mercy and we are thankful that this is who you are. For Father, we can identify.

3:35We understand. Many of us here today have gathered and we understand, Father, what it's like to be hostile to you in our hearts, pursuing our own ways. And yet, you, in your loving kindness, reaching out and meeting us, meeting us sometimes, even in the point of our greatest apostasy. Father, you're there. And so, Father, we thank you for this grace that has been manifested in Jesus Christ that seeks us out. And, Father, it's because of that we have gathered here today and we celebrate. We can celebrate in clean conscience and pure hearts before you because the finished work of Christ, you took away sin and has bestowed your righteousness in us and upon us. And it's because of that, Father, we gave you. Gathered to worship you this morning. Thank you, Father. And I pray this morning that you would be exalted here, for I am sure that there are some among us who, even at this moment, are in the height of their apostasy or anger or hostility against you. And I pray for them. Pray for all those who are hostile to you in heart, that today would be the day of salvation, that you reach, touch, bless, renew, open, and put your spirit upon and in them.

5:02Father, I pray that you would continue to sanctify us here today by the same Spirit of grace for your glory in Christ's name. Amen. Once again, good morning. Please turn in your Bibles to Galatians chapter 1. Galatians chapter 1. I'll go ahead and read verses 1 through 5. Galatians 1, verse 1. Paul, an apostle, not sent from men or through the agency of man, but through Jesus Christ and God the Father, who raised him from the dead. And to all the brethren who are with me, and all the brethren who are with me, to the churches of Galatia, grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ, who gave himself for our sins so that he might rescue us from this present evil age according to the will of our God. God and Father, to whom be the glory forevermore. Amen.

6:06Well, last week we looked at the first word, Paul. Today I intend to cover twice as much material as we did last week. Paul, an apostle. An apostle. We'll look at those two words and relate that to several other passages of scripture. But what I want to do is continue introducing to you this wonderful book of Galatians. And so I want to spend time getting to know Paul and how Paul came to be a missionary of God's grace. And so, Paul, an apostle, a delegate, a messenger, an envoy for Christ, an apostle, a representative of Christ.

7:05An apostle is a missionary of Christ. An apostle is a man with a message from Jesus Christ. How did this come to be? How did this Hebrew of Hebrews who persecuted the church become a missionary or an apostle? Of Jesus Christ. And really, how does anyone become a minister of God's grace for that matter? How does anyone get there? Well, we began looking at last week, we began looking at God's sovereign grace in missions. It's clear that the whole mission endeavor is under Christ's authority. Matthew 28, 18 and 20, because of his authority, the disciples are going to go, and we should too go. And the nations are going to obey, because all authority has been given to Christ. Even as this gospel enterprise goes to the ends of the earth, we can expect obedience because all authority belongs to him.

8:22And Acts, the book of Acts, is a record of God's grace reaching out from Jerusalem to the very ends of the earth. And it's going to continue that way until the time the Father has fixed by his own authority. So the mission itself is under God's authority. It's under Christ's authority. But not only is the mission itself, but also the missionaries themselves are under Christ's authority. We looked at that very much, or we looked at that last week. It's clear that.

9:01God determined when and where Paul would live, just like he does it in anybody he raises up to serve him. It is God who is sovereignly in control of when we would live and where we would live. It was God who determined that Paul would be from Tarsus, a Roman citizen. God also determined the home in which Paul was raised, his upbringing, the parents, the parents' history, and how the parents came to be located where they ended up being at the time of Paul. All this was under God's sovereign control for his purpose.

9:44And Paul was very much aware that God had determined when he had lived, where he had lived, and the very home in which he was brought up in. Same is true today for all of us. God is in control of these things. You're not just an accident in time and space. And it was no mistake that God placed you in the family that he placed you in. But going beyond that, that's what we looked at last week. This week, it's clear that not only did God determine when and where Paul would live, not only did God determine the home in which Paul was raised, but it was also God who made Paul a monument to his grace. You see, before Making Paul a missionary of his grace, God had to make him a monument to his grace.

10:40And this transformation is what God does with all his true ministers. Are you a monument to his grace? Those who know you best, those who are closest to you, what is the testimony of your life? When all is said and done, what is the legacy? What is the monument of your life? Are you a monument to his grace? Well, before you can be useful as a tool for his grace, you must become a monument to his grace. And so, what I want to do this morning is I want to show you or walk through and see how God made Paul into a monument of his grace so that we can be responsive to God's transforming grace in our own lives.

11:35And three things had to happen. In order for Paul to become a monument to God's grace, three things had to happen. First, he had to be a man in need of God's grace. He had to be a man in need of God's grace. And that Paul certainly was. Even if he didn't. Understand it at first. There will be a point in time when he will understand it, but he was certainly a man in need of God's grace.

12:12And we'll look to Paul's own testimony of himself. We don't have to surmise this on our own. We can consider some of Paul's own words about himself. Paul understood, came to understand his need for God's grace. Listen to some of the things he said about himself. I persecuted this way to the death, binding and putting both men and women into prisons. I persecuted this way to the death, to the death. He's not using hyperbole here. I think sometimes we greatly underestimate Paul's persecution of Christians. And if you will take seriously and consider some of the things that he said about himself, I think you'll get a deeper picture of the extent to which he persecuted and the fury that was raging in his heart against God and against Christians.

13:26Listen to what he said in Acts 26:9. So then I thought to myself, I had to do many things hostile to the name of Jesus of Nazareth. To the name, I had to do many things hostile to the name of Jesus. Whatever hostility it was pointed at, the name of Jesus. In Acts 26, 10, he goes on to say, and this is exactly what I did. This is just what I did. Not only did I lock up many of the saints in prison, having received authority from the chief priests, but also when they were being put to death, I cast my vote against them.

14:19And I punished them often in all the synagogues. I tried to force them to blaspheme, and being furiously enraged at them, I kept pursuing them even to foreign cities. Listen to that. I had to do many things hostile to the name, and this is exactly what I did. And this is how this manifestation of my hostility to Christ's name made itself or manifested itself. I locked up many of the saints. And when they were being put to death, I cast my vote against them. Them, plural, not just. Stephen, them.

15:03And I punished them often in all the synagogues. I tried to force them to blaspheme. I wanted to get them to say something that we could trap them in. And listen to this, and being furiously enraged at them. This is not somebody who's just passively, I think I better go take care of this situation. There is an internal rage against Christians, against the name of Christ. And he says, I kept pursuing them. I kept pursuing them with the intent to harm them. That's the idea. Even for foreign cities. Question: What drove Paul to this hostility?

16:02I mean, what did Jesus and his followers ever do to Paul to deserve such treatment? When and where? Where did this rage come from? What drove this Hebrew of Hebrews, this prima donna? What drove him to such a rabid state? What was it? I mean, see, rage like this. Is typically the result of you feel like something is really threatened, something precious to you is really threatened, or a pride is deeply wounded, something is greatly threatening, and Paul is moved, it has moved him to a rage. What was being threatened? Well, everything that Paul understood to be valuable in life.

17:02And we get an instance of this into Acts chapter 6 and 7 when Paul encounters Stephen. Stephen, in fact, you can go ahead and turn to chapter 6. We'll spend some time in chapter 6 and chapter 7 of Acts just to give you a backdrop to what happened there with Stephen. And so, as we think about Paul's need for grace, it first comes from his own testimony. We need to do nothing more than just listen to what Paul has said about himself. His persecution of Christians was intense.

17:45The second line of evidence that we can understand Paul's need for God's grace deals with his reaction to Stephen's sermon. Stephen's sermon. Where do we first meet? Stephen, it's in chapter 6, verse 1. Now at this time, while the disciples were increasing in number, a complaint arose on the part of the Hellenistic Jews against the native Hebrews because their widows were being overlooked in the daily serving of food. The Hellenistic Jews, the Greek-speaking Jews, they had a complaint saying, okay, look at the Hebrew Jews, the native speakers of the area, are getting preferential treatment. The widows are getting preferential treatment and being overlooked in a very practical matter. They're not getting the food. And there's not going to be any favoritism in the church. And so they're going to deal with this. And they deal with this by instituting some deacons. Look at verse 2. So the twelve summoned the congregation of the disciples and said, It is not desirable for us to neglect the word of God in order to serve tables. Therefore, brethren, select from among you seven men of good reputation, full of the spirit and wisdom, whom we may put in charge of this task. Now think about what's happening in Jerusalem. The church is growing, it's growing to such a degree, to such a substantial entity. That it was getting more and more organized and less and less dependent upon Jewish society. The church was taking care of its own. That's a significant development, really, in the church, in its history. It's evident that it was becoming a society within the greater society, and some saw this as a threat.

19:55And it was through the Spirit and wisdom upon such men as Stephen that God continued to spread his word. Look at verse 7, chapter 6. The word of God kept on spreading, and the number of disciples continued to increase greatly in Jerusalem, and a great many of the priests were becoming obedient to the faith. And Stephen, full of grace and power, was performing great wonders and signs among the people. Look at this. So the word of God is increasing. It's interesting. It's in these servants, in the practical daily needs of everyday life, that God is greatly expanding his church. The behind-the-scenes servants.

20:51So much so, a great many of the priests were becoming obedient to the faith. Now, this would get the attention of a Hebrew of Hebrews. Would it not? Something had to be done. And it's during this time that I believe Paul, this Hebrew of Hebrews, first met his theological match. I think this is what Luke wants us to pick up on. Look in verse 9 of Acts 6. But some men from what is called the synagogue of the freedmen, including both Cyrenians and Alexandrians, and some from Cilicia and Asia, rose up and argued with Stephen.

21:48But they were unable to cope with the wisdom and the spirit with which he was speaking. So think about this synagogue of the freedmen. What is this? Well, according to historians, early historians, the freedmen was a group of Jewish prisoners that the Romans took under Pompeii back in 63 AD. And in subsequent years, they were released. Kind of like you know how Paul's parents ended up in Tarsus. They were captured, that's what Jerome thought. They were captured and then later released.

22:30Well, you have something similar with this synagogue of the freedmen. Pompey captured them in 63 BC, and then later they were released, and they formed a colony on the Tiber River. Later, their descendants were expelled from Rome, and many of them ended up in different places. And they presumably came, some of them came back to Jerusalem and formed a synagogue called the Synagogue of the Freedmen. So they were a synagogue of Jewish men who were freeborn Romans, much like Paul.

23:10But it's evident also, if you dug in a little deeper, that there were other synagogues. It probably wasn't just the only one here. There were probably several of these synagogues of the freedmen, at least a few. But notice in verse 9, something very important Luke calls to our attention. Some were from Cilicia. Now, if you remember from last week, where was Paul born? Tarsus of Cilicia. Hebrew of Hebrew. Very prominent family. Paul may very well have been, and I would say very likely, that Paul was part of this synagogue.

23:58One historian says, It's like this, and I agree with him. Luke most likely wants us to understand that Paul had been in that synagogue of the freedmen when Stephen preached, that he had instigated the accusers, and that he brought news of these radical views to the temple authorities. Paul, it's hard to believe that Paul, this resident of Cilicia, Hebrew of Hebrews, would not have been part of this synagogue and very much part of what was happening with Stephen. It may very well be that Paul may have been trying to force Stephen to blaspheme.

24:50The next verse, if you'll notice, in verse 11 of chapter 6, then they secretly induced men to say, We have heard him speak blasphemous words against. So it's who is the they? The they is the men from the synagogue of the freedmen, which included those from Cilicia. But whatever the case, it's clear that Paul had met his match. The words, they were unable to. To cope. This synagogue of the freedmen and all their wisdom, all their learning, they were unable to cope with the wisdom and the spirit of Stephen. They were unable to cope. Literally, they had no ability to withstand him. They could not stand their ground against him in any area. In matters of truth, in matters of logic, in matters of spirit and zeal. None of that. They couldn't stand their ground. The synagogue. Here's Stephen taking on the synagogue.

26:10So I don't think that Paul was simply brought into the picture at the tail end of Stephen's sermon. No, he was very familiar with the contents of Stephen's sermon. Why do you think Luke wrote it down in such detail? Paul was there. Paul was very familiar with Stephen. He was very familiar with Stephen's wisdom, his spirit, and his understanding of the truth. Now keep in mind, Stephen is just a deacon. He isn't one of the formal apostles. He isn't one of the formal teachers. He's not one of the formal prayers.

26:58He's not one of the elders. And yet, here is this servant who is waiting tables and overseeing the waiting of tables. Here he is, and no one in the highest echelons of Jewish prestige and society could refute his logic, or counter his understanding of Scripture, or repudiate his gracious spirit. None of them. Paul witnessed this. Not even Saul, the Hebrew of Hebrews, could cope with the wisdom and spirit of Stephen. Get this picture of Stephen before the Sanhedrin. It's like David before 70 Goliaths.

27:49Stephen. And Paul witnessed it all. Never underestimate the power of a person who possesses a gracious spirit, whose conscience is bound to the word of God, and whose voice isn't ashamed to declare it. Never underestimate the power of such individuals and the mighty weapon that they are in the hand of God. Oh, that God would give his church deacons like this again. Oh, that God would raise up the servants of this church. ones who aren't seen to be as mighty in spirit and word as Stephen, that even the Hebrew of Hebrews can't even withstand his spirit and his logic and his philosophy and the truth that's coming out of his mouth. That is the church of the New Testament.

28:48Incredible. Paul witnessed it and he's unable to cope. Well, so then this ushers in Paul or Stephen, and I think at the instigation of Paul, certainly among others, to get Stephen before the Sanhedrin. And he speaks. Look at his sermon. This chapter 7 is really about Stephen's sermon. Verse 2, look at what Stephen says in his graciousness. Verse 2 of chapter 7, hear me, brethren and fathers. The God of glory appeared to our father Abraham when he was in Mesopotamia, before he lived in Haran. And he goes through the history.

29:45Very well versed in Scripture. Verse 9. Then he says, But look what happened. The patriarchs became jealous of Joseph, sold him in to Egypt, yet God was with him. Patriarchs are jealous. Look at verse 27. Then God raises up Moses and he goes in to deliver. And when Moses started to deliver the man who was being beat up and killed by another Egyptian, Moses steps up, delivers him. Verse 27, but the one who was injuring his neighbor pushed him away, saying, Who made you a ruler and judge over us?

30:36Look at verse 35. Again, this Moses, whom they disowned, saying, Who made you a ruler and a judge, is the one whom God sent to be both ruler and deliverer with the help of the angel who appeared to him in the thorn bush. So not only did the patriarchs sell Joseph into slavery, knowing that God was with him, and not only did they repudiate Moses, whom God was clearly with. Look at verse 37 of Stephen's sermon. This is the Moses who said to the sons of Israel, God will raise up for you a prophet like me from your brethren. He's going through their history and showing at all these junctures how they resisted God.

31:30And then he gets to verse 51. And he says, This: You men who are stiff-necked and uncircumcised in heart and ears are always resisting the Holy Spirit. You are doing just as your father did. Your fathers did. Which one of the prophets did your fathers not persecute? They killed those who had previously announced the coming of the righteous one, whose betrayers and murderers you have now become. You who have received the law as ordained by angels and yet did not keep it.

32:15Now, think about this. Paul heard. Paul watched Stephen boldly confront the Sanhedrin. He watched Stephen clearly articulate biblical truth. He watched Stephen shut down their arguments. He watched Stephen graciously call them to repentance, forcefully, poignantly, articulately, clearly and graciously. And he watched him stand his ground as he did. So, what do you do? If you cannot refute. Logically, if you cannot refute biblically and you can't deal with the wisdom of his spirit, what do you do? Well, you must rage against him to destroy him. That's your only alternative. You've got to shut him up. And look at what, verse 54. Now, when they heard this, they were cut to the quick, and they began gnashing their teeth at him. He left him nowhere. He pushed him in the court and said, Look, you're off. You have a hard heart. That's why you are persecuting truth.

33:51So, this verse, and so what happens then? What does Paul do? Does Paul listen? Does Paul say, Ah, you've got it. Biblically, you're right. Logically, you're right. You've got a gracious spirit. You're right. No, what does he do? When they had driven him out, speaking of Stephen, they began stoning him. And the witnesses laid their robes at the feet of a young man named Saul. Saul. That's his Hebrew name. His Greek name is Paul. Paul hardened his heart.

34:32This indicates that Paul had a much greater role in Stephen's stoning than first meets the eye. Paul was not just this young, impressionable student in some kind of passive onlooker role. The fact that he is standing there, coupled with this testimony that we've already heard, that he would try to get them to blaspheme, he would cast his vote against them when they were being put to death, indicates that Paul was one of the masterminds, or certainly one of the many, and may have been the mastermind behind this event. So you have to understand something about the death penalty. The Jews did not have the liberty to execute at will. That's why they had to get Pilate to approve Jesus being crucified, or not just approve, send him.

35:33So if you want to kill somebody, how do you do it? If Rome isn't going to let you, so what do you do? You resort to mob rule to make it happen. If you can get a person to blaspheme and so enrage the crowd and have a whole crowd pick up stones and start throwing them, then it gets to be you can execute somebody with. Without Roman approval or without Roman punishment. Oh, yeah, the people just went crazy. And, you know, we're bringing the whole thing down. We're calming this whole thing down now.

36:15But Paul's proximity suggests he was party to convincing others that Stephen had blasphemed and responsible for his murder by stoning. That's Paul's motive and mode of operation. Get them to blaspheme, we can get them stoned in the process. So Paul isn't stoning them. Paul is very much responsible. And he said he did this to them, not just Stephen. And so Paul's need of God's grace is seen in his own testimony, but is also his reaction to Stephen's sermon.

37:04You know what he did? Remember, he was a student of Gamaliel. And do you remember Gamaliel's advice? He said, when they were about to kill Peter and some of the apostles, this is what Gamaliel said. He said to them, You know what? He said, I say to you, stay away from the Men, speaking of Peter and the apostles, and let them alone. For if this plan or action is of men, it will be overthrown. But if it is of God, you will not be able to overthrow them, or else you may even be found fighting against God. This was Gamaliel's advice. This was Paul's teacher, mentor.

37:57And yet, it's clear that in his rage, Paul dismisses his teacher's advice and launches an aggressive persecution campaign against the church. The very thing that Gamaliel said, you need to wait and see in this, or you may find yourself warring against God. And this is evident that what Paul does is he then starts aggressively persecuting Christians. Acts 8:3 says this, but Paul, Saul, began ravaging the church, entering house after house and dragging off men and women. He would put them in prison. Look at what he said, Paul's own personal testimony to the Galatians in chapter 1, verse 13.

38:50It says, For you have heard of my former manner of life in Judaism, how I used to persecute the church of God beyond measure. Measure and tried to destroy it. There's not just a passive indifference here, there is an anger, a fury, and a rage, and he is persecuting the church beyond measure. That's Paul's own testimony of himself. His involvement in persecuting the church is much more significant than what might first meet the eye. I agree with what Brad Clausen says. He says, This: both men and women suffered. The persecution was fierce in nature, and more were killed than just Stephen.

39:49Paul used both formal means, the disciplinarian proceedings of the synagogues and the Sanhedrin, and the informal means, mob violence. There is every reason to believe that Paul was the individual responsible for the new era of persecution represented by the stoning of Stephen. Well, here's Paul. In order for Paul to become a monument to God's grace, it's clear he had to be in need of God's grace. What was Paul doing? He was closing his ears to the truth.

40:35What about you? Paul was closing his ears to the truth. He was malicious against truth speakers. He was unfair in trial. He was brutal in his treatment of them. And he was aggressive in hunting them down. It's clear Paul was a man who stood in need of grace. You'll never be a minister of God's grace until you become a monument to his grace. And you'll never become a monument to his grace until you understand your need for his grace. You could never talk about his grace or certainly make disciples to that grace unless you've been transformed by that grace.

41:24It's interesting how God let Paul go as far into sin as he did. And sometimes God lets us go as far into sin as we have or went just so that we could realize our need for him. That's as far into sin that you need to go, to really understand your need of him. So, in order for Paul to become a monument to God's Grace. He first had to be in need of God's grace. Second, he had to meet the God of grace. He had to meet the God of grace.

42:13Skip this verse, but in 1 Corinthians 15, 3 through 8, Paul speaks about how Christ appeared to him. He appeared to Cephas, the 12, and then to more than 500, and then to James, and then to all the apostles. And at last of all, 1 Corinthians 15, 8, Paul says, He appeared to me as one untimely born. He appeared to me also. Well, where did Paul meet the God of grace? It was on the road to Damascus. We read about it earlier. He meets God on the road to Damascus. It's interesting to note that Paul's persecution in Acts 9, or his persecution really in Acts 7, launches a dispersion that takes place. And then the next chapters are about how the gospel moves. Philip ends up in Samaria in chapter 8 because of the persecution. And the gospel is ministered there in Samaria. Then the next thing you know, Philip's down in Gaza, and he meets in Ethiopia. And then in chapter 10, you have Peter up in Joppa meeting a man named Cornelius.

43:39But it's in chapter 9 that Paul meets the God of grace. I read it earlier, so I won't read all of it again, but Acts chapter 9, verse 1. Now Saul, still breathing threats and murder against the disciples of the Lord, went to the high priest and asked for letters from him to the synagogues at Damascus, so that if he found any belonging to the way, both men and women, he might bring them bound to Jerusalem. So there goes the persecutor of God's grace, still in hot pursuit. And it's clear. And Jesus meets him and says, Paul, Saul, why are you persecuting me? And I think it's at this point that Paul fully comes to realize who he's persecuting and his need of grace.

44:40But Paul not only is the persecutor of Christ, he then, in chapter 19, becomes a recipient of God's grace. Listen to what verse 17 says. So Ananias departed and entered the house, and after laying his hands on him, said, Brother Saul, the Lord, Lord Jesus, who appeared to you on the road by which you were coming, has sent me so that you may regain your sight and be filled with the Holy Spirit. And immediately there fell from his eyes something like scales, and he regained his sight, and he got up and was baptized. And he took food and was strengthened. Now, for several days, he was with the disciples who were at Damascus. So the persecutor then becomes a recipient and then becomes a preacher of God's grace. Look at verse 20. And immediately he began to proclaim Jesus in the synagogue, saying, He is the Son of God.

45:45Question. Do you know that God has created you? He's given you life, and not in order for you to squander it or to live for yourself, have you understood your need of God's grace? If so, has that need driven you to meet the God of grace? You feel your need of God's grace. Sense it. It is to compel you to meet Him. But in order for Paul to become a monument to God's grace, it's clear that he had to be in need of God's grace. He also had to meet the God of grace. He had to be transformed by God's grace. And this is exactly what happened. And I'll let this transformation of Paul be explained to us by Paul himself. We'll put the microphone in Paul's mouth. There are many critics today of what happens. We call it the new perspectives of Paul. You may have heard it. People like N.T. Wright and James Dunn. They say, you know, what happened on the road to Damascus really wasn't Paul's conversion. Paul had an epiphany and realized that we needed to be more inclusive in the church.

47:18But I'll let Paul speak for himself and let you see the transformation. This was nothing short of a complete change, a conversion of intense proportions. Listen to what Paul has to say. Paul's transformation. His view of Christ was transformed. Listen to what he says. I thought myself that I had to do many things hostile to the name of Jesus of Nazareth. Listen to what he says. For he goes from hostility to admiration. He says this, Philippians.

48:00But whatever things were gained to me, those things I have counted as loss for the sake of Christ. More than that, I count all things to be loss in view of the surpassing value of knowing Christ Jesus, my Lord. For whom I have suffered the loss of all things and count them but rubbish, so that I may gain Christ and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own derived from the law, but that which is through faith in Christ, the righteousness which comes from God on the basis of faith.

48:46Not only was his view of Christ transformed from hostility to admiration, his view of himself was transformed from pride to humility. So, what he says in Galatians 1:14, and I was advancing in Judaism beyond many of my contemporaries among my countrymen, being more extremely zealous for my ancestral traditions. But then he is transformed to a man of humility. 1 Timothy 1:15, it is a trustworthy statement deserving full acceptance that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners, among whom I am foremost of all.

49:311 Corinthians 5, 9, For I am the least of the apostles and not fit to be called an apostle because I persecuted the church of God. But not only was Paul's view of himself transformed, but also his view of the church was transformed. Listen to what he says. He goes from being a persecutor. For you yourselves have heard of my former manner of life in Judaism, how I used to persecute the church of God beyond measure and tried to destroy it. But he goes from a persecutor to a nurturer. 1 Thessalonians 2, 7, but we proved to be gentle among you as a nursing mother tenderly cares for her own children, having so fond an affection for you. We were well pleased to impart to you not only the gospel of God, but also our own lives, because you had become very dear to us. That's a transformation of heart.

50:35Paul's transformation was epic. It was one of the single most impactful events in all of human history. One historian or commentator said this about it. Lightfoot says it like this, speaking of this impact that Christ's appearance. To Paul had. Speaking of this appearance, it flashed a new light on vast stores of experience laid up unconsciously in the past. It quickened into energy, influences long forgotten and seemingly dead. The atoms of his nature assumed a fresh combination.

51:27The enlightening fused the apostle's character and molded it into a new shape. And the knife of the torturer was forged into the sword of the Spirit. That's what happened to Paul on the road to Damascus. So we are now coming to the end of this message at another vantage point to appreciate God's sovereign grace and missions. It was God who determined when and where Paul lived. It was God who determined the home in which Paul was raised. But it was also God who, in his timing, made Paul a monument to his grace. You see, before making him a missionary, God would make him a monument to his grace.

52:25You see, your when and your where is in God's hand. Your when and where is no accident. Your upbringing is no accident. And God, if you will come to Christ, if you will meet Him, what happens in the transforming work is not only your past, not only your upbringing, not only even the madness of your sin gets forged, transformed, and you become an instrument for noble and good and holy and graceful purposes. That's what happened to Paul.

53:16Are you a monument to his grace? Well, in order for Paul to become a monument to his grace, he had to be in need of God's grace. He had to meet the God of grace, and he had to be transformed by God's grace. Same is true with you. In order for you to become a monument to God's grace, you must see yourself in need of God's grace. You must come and meet the God of grace. And you could do so this morning in the person of Jesus Christ. That is where we meet him.

53:51You meet him at the cross, and then you let him transform you into the person he wants you to be. And serve the rest of your life for him. An old life for a new life. That's what's being held out. Let's pray. Heavenly Father, we thank you that you give us, you call us. And sometimes it's even in the midst of our anger and hostility and rage against you that you call us out of our darkness, that you meet us, as it were, on a road of hostility and a direction bent, careless, and reckless against you and to our own harm. And yet, so many times that's where you meet us. So, Father, we thank you for this grace. We thank you for what we've seen and read about this morning. Father, we want to be monuments to this grace. And I pray for everyone here that we would let this, like Paul, be our singular ambition in life to know you.

55:07Thank you in Jesus' name. Amen.