grenepages issue_18

ought up in this city at the feet of Gamaliel,
taught according to the strictness of our fathers'
law, and was zealous toward God as you all are
today. I persecuted this Way to the death, binding
and delivering into prisons both men and
women, as also the high priest bears me witness,
and all the council of the elders, from whom I also
received letters to the brethren, and went to
Damascus to bring in chains even those who
were there to Jerusalem to be punished…” Acts
22:3-5 NKJV
The man Saul was very learned and there was
almost no one like him in all of Israel at his time.
Doesn't this sound like some of the Clergy we
see in churches today? They have been serving
God before you were born and we have lived
our lives to watch them put all the Laws of Moses
to practise and you wonder if you can ever
be like them. The amazing thing about Saul is
that he was never born again. Yes! He was not
born again. Hear his words in his epistle to the
Romans: Brethren, my heart's desire and prayer
to God for Israel* is that they may be saved. For I
bear them witness that they have a zeal for God,
but not according to knowledge (Romans 10:1-2
NKJV). He went on t0 attest that he once belonged
to that category - the unsaved.
He was not born again because he kicked
against the gospel of Christ. He did not believe
that faith in Christ alone saves. He did not believe
that obeying the Laws of Moses will never
get a man to heaven. He did not believe
that Jesus Christ is the saviour who has come
to take away the sins of the whole world - not
just of the Jews alone but also of the Gentiles.
He did not believe in grace which is separate
from fulfilment of "dos” and “don'ts". Hear him
- And I thank Christ Jesus our Lord who has enabled
me, because He counted me faithful, putting
me into the ministry, although I was formerly a
blasphemer, a persecutor, and an insolent man;
but I obtained mercy because I did it ignorantly in
unbelief. And the grace of our Lord was exceedingly
abundant, with faith and love which are in
Christ Jesus. This is a faithful saying and worthy
of all acceptance, that Christ Jesus came into the
world to save sinners, of whom I am chief (1 Timothy
1:12-15 NKJV).
Saul rejected the Gospel, which Peter and Stephen
preached and just did not agree with the
'word of life' (Acts 2:14-40; 3:12-26; 5:19-20; 7:2-
53)
This is a serious matter and it is the reason
many people think they are Christians: since
they go to Church, bear Christian names, wear/
do not wear, eat/do not eat certain things. All
of these do not translate into righteousness, at
best they are filthy rags before God.
But we are all like an unclean thing, And all our
righteousnesses are like filthy rags; We all fade as
genepages issue 18 page 20