The Transformation of a Great Persecutor to A Gracious Preacher.
Text: Galatians 1:17-24.
The life of Paul the apostle has turned around, and people saw that transformation in his life, and they could recognize the transformation and they glorified God in his life. We know who Paul the apostle was before his conversion, he was a persecutor of believers and he was injurious, but now that he met Christ and the Lord transformed his life, he was preaching the gospel he was persecuting before his conversion. The Salvation of the Lord has come to him and now he’s a new creature, the old lifestyle is gone, and the people that saw him knew the old life he lived, and now they saw his new life and they glorified God in him because he was manifested zeal and earnestness to work for the devil and now he brought that skill and zeal to taught the gospel, and he went to the people he has caused to blaspheme God, he made his way right with them and he reversed all the evil he has done. Paul the apostle so lived that kind of life, and he so practice his faith that the people that saw his righteous life glorified God in him. All these happened to Paul the apostle for our learning, and for an example for us in this dispensation so that our lives too will so be changed and transformed and the people who knew us before in our home, in our offices, in our schooling our place of work will now know that new generation has come, they will see us and glorify God in us, and those people that were preaching to us before will see the manifestation of that transformation in our lives and they will glorify God in us.
Point 1: The Testimony of a Truly Converted Soul.
Galatians 1:17-19.
If you’re truly and genuinely converted to the Lord, there will be the testimony of a truly converted soul prominent in your life, you will not just be a bench warmer, but there will be a testimony that you’re truly converted. The apostles of old had that testimony of a truly converted soul, they have given their lives to Christ and there’s conviction, they have that testimony all the time. When somebody gets converted, there’s a testimony of a truly converted soul that he’s genuinely converted to the Lord. Paul the apostle was given a testimony of what happened when he knew the Lord.
- The early period of his conversion and conviction.
Galatians 1:17; Acts 9:2.-25; 2 Corinthians 11:32-33; John 11:8-9.
If you’re truly and rarely saved, you will remember the day you were converted and as you recall, is it still like that today? Do you still have the same joy, the same love, the same commitment, and the same drive that you have at that time? The early conversion life of Paul the apostle was not anything different from his present conversion and conviction day. He became Born again and was waxing stronger and stronger daily.
Paul the apostle was preaching to the people that Christ is the Son of God in the synagogue, and as he was preaching the gospel and then persecution arose, the people in Damascus knew that this persecution comes as a result of his new life, and in spite of persecution, he kept on preaching about Christ and all that heard him were amazed. Can you refer to such an early period in your Christian life, a change, a transformation, so dramatic that everybody knew about that conversion? Did that change happen and can you testify of that great change in the early part of your Christian life and are you growing in that conversion experience like Paul did? Did you have that conversation that drove you to your knees?
- The evident purpose of connection and consultation.
Galatians 2:2; 1:18-19; 1 Corinthians 9:26; Philippians 2:16.
After you’re born again, you don’t stay isolated on an island, but you’re connected to the people of God who love the bible, who know the bible, and who follow the bible, there’s evidence of consultation and connection with such people. Paul the apostle connected with Peter and James after he got converted to consult if there was anything he has preached that is not in line with what other apostles are preaching, he connected with them so that he will not labor in vain, and he will go everywhere by revelation, not by personal choice, not by personal thought, and not by the decision of the people, his life was not a kind of rotating around to do what people wanted and what they do not want, but he preached repentance towards God and he went on by revelation and he communicated to them.
If you’re not exposing your ministry to the right channels, to evaluate and analyze it to see whether you’re on the right track and so that you will not run in vain, you might not be rewarded when you get to the other side. But you will sit back and think about how you serve, how you live, how you interact with people around you, and how you behave in your family so that on the final day, the things that should have been corrected and you didn’t correct it will not lead you to an empty regrettable future. Preach the word that barrister people to life, don’t preach the discouraging message and don’t preach a kind of message that is killing the enthusiasm of other people. Hold onto the word of God until the end. Hold forth the word of God that brings life to other people.
iii. The established pillars in the church of Christ.
Galatians 1:18-19; 2:8-9; Ephesians 2:20; Revelation 3:11-12.
There was a time that persecution arose against Paul the Apostle and other apostles, but all the same, they continued. it is that continuity in the Lord, in prayer, in the word of God that made them stronger and eventually, they became pillars and they could be consulted because they are strong, stable, and solid pillars. Paul the apostle consulted the pillars so that he will know if he measure his message and the manner of his life with the ministry of the pillars in the church of the living God, he will know whether he was straight or bent or not doing right, that’s what we need to do, you could measure who you are doing, your motive, your message, you could measure who you are to them, don’t say you don’t care, that’s what Paul the apostle did, he perceived the grace of God that was given unto him mightily.
Point 2: Truthfulness of A Trustable, Cleansed Saint.
Because you’re converted, now you’re truthful, you will not lie. As a converted and cleansed Christian, the things you say before God, you lie not. What you put on social media before God, you lie not. The things that you write before God you lie not What you tell other people, you lie not. Salvation takes away lying from our hearts. We don’t trade a lie anymore, the One who lives in us is the way and life, and no one comes to God without Him. And so, Paul the apostle in his testimony gave the truthfulness of a trustable, cleansed saint. He declared the same truth the other apostles preach and he didn’t adulterate it, he didn’t do anything to deceive anyone, and he don’t moderate the gospel. Whatever you make somebody do by lying will not equip and save them, it will never move them on in the things of God. If you want to get people safe, if you want to get people standing straight, it’s the truth that makes them save and move them forward in life and make them progress. You don’t have to color what you say and compromise.
- Saying the truth in Christ with a clear conscience.
Galatians 1:20-21; Romans 9:1; Ephesians 4:15,29; 1 Timothy 2:7.
Paul the apostle was conscious of God everywhere he was. There are people who leave their God in church, and when they go out of the church building, they live as if God cannot hear, God cannot see and keep a record of what they are doing. But Paul the apostle, anywhere he was, in the sanctuary, under persecution with foes he knew God is always there, and whatever he does before God, whatever he says, whatever he writes, he lied not, that takes genuine Salvation. If somebody is going to tell a lie, he has to be outside Christ, you cannot be in Christ, abiding in Christ, baptized in Christ, and enveloped in Christ and trade in a lie or in deception because if you’re in Christ, Christ is the truth personified, that is how we live as children of God, that you know you’re in Christ and the Holy Ghost is bearing witness to your conscience that your conscience is not deadened habitual deception. You will not come outside Christ because you want to gain something by lying. You will say the truth in Christ because your conscience always bearing you witness in the Holy Ghost.
- Standing for truth like Christ without cowardly compromise.
Matthew 22:16; John 8:45-47; Luke 14:6,17,26; 18:37.
The whole world lies in wickedness, there’s deception all over the world and people expect you to cooperate, to defend their lies and cover up their lying and they want you to tell the same lie they have told other people, some people are trading in lies and that is how they build a shelter around them so that people will not be able to penetrate if they continue in that condition of deception and lying, they will never enter into the Kingdom of God because no liar gets to heaven.
If you’re righteous, you will be the same you are, if you’re committed to heaven, there will be no need for cowardly compromise because you’re standing for the truth in Christ. Christ never had anything in His nature, in His heart that He wanted to bend the truth in a little because of Pharisees and people knew that about Christ. Can people say that about you that everything coming out of you is true? Any word, any body language, any utterance, is it coming out in truth? Those Pharisees couldn’t do anything against Christ that the heavenly Father has not ordained, everything written concerning Christ must be fulfilled, and Pharisees couldn’t change that, and because of that, He didn’t regard anyone and He wasn’t care.
III. Sharing the truth of Christ without corrupt conversation.
Ephesians 4:21-25; Acts 5:3-4,9; Romans 1:25,32; 2 Thessalonians 2:9-11.
If you want people prepared for heaven, this is the only thing to share. If you have been taught by Christ, taught for salvation and other Christian experiences, if you have been taught by Christ as to the marriage of the believer, as the truth in Christ, if you have been taught by Christ for righteousness, and that He can come at any time people are not expected, if you have been taught by Christ, you want to live plain, clear, saved and sanctified and righteous, you will put away lying far away from you. Christ can come at any time suddenly as when you’re not expecting, if you have been taught that truth, you want to live righteous and plain. As the east is far from the west, put away lying.
Point 3: The Transformation of a Teaching Christ-Centred Servant.
Galatians 1:22-24
We are saved to serve, are you serving the Lord in love with all your heart? Are you bringing all your skill without any reservations and rivals? If you’re converted, one purpose and one thing in which you persevere for the conversion of souls is, you will understand you’re saved to serve. If you do not do something that promotes the gospel in one day is lost, and if you don’t bring out the purpose of salvation in one-day is lost. By the endeavor of Paul, the apostle, he knew he was saved to serve and he saw it everywhere that he was saved to serve, and that was the motor that drove him and made him understand that he was saved to serve. Here is the transformation we find in his life. He told those people that the church is saved and converted by Christ, and in the life of Paul the apostle, there was no any secret thing. When you’re converted, people will hear about that, you might not know that people are watching and the people who are instrumentalists of salvation will glorify God in you. People will know you are for
real; may that happen in your life.
- A clear indispensable conversion. (Recorded, noted in heaven, and very clear)
Galatians 1:22-24; Acts 9:20-22; 1 Corinthians 6:9-11; Romans 6:20-22.
This is an indisputable conversion, noted in heaven. We are to preach Jesus the Son of God, as you look at the life of Paul the apostle when a change came upon his life, what he used to say before he says they no more because now a mighty change, an indispensable and indisputable conversion came, that is a change that came when you’re converted. 1 Corinthians 6:9 says, know ye not that the unrighteous shall not inherit the kingdom of God? Be not deceived: neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor effeminate, nor abusers of themselves with mankind,
You were adulterers, fornicators, and idolaters in the past and you were not a candidate for the Kingdom of God, when you were like that, you could not inherit the Kingdom of God but a change happens when you come to Christ and you’re justified in the Name of the Lord Jesus Christ by the Spirit of God, no more servant to the flesh, no more servant to self-will, no more servant to the world and no more servant to Satan.
- The cleansed incorruptible conscience.
Psalms 51:6-10; Ezekiel 36:25-27; 1 Timothy 1:5,19; 1 Peter 3:15-16.
Because you’re cleansed, and your conscience is no more corruptible, you desire truth and not deception, not lying, not changing of the real thing and not hypocrisy. The lies to the people, hypocrisy, telling a lie is not wisdom, deception is not the wisdom that will take you to heaven, deception is the things that make you three steps backward after you go one step forward, it affects your salvation and your sanctification, whatever reason you give to that deception, it will affect your Christian experiences. The ultimate destination of the commandment of God is charity out of a pure heart, of a good conscience, and of faith unfeigned.
III. A clean-hearted indestructible consecration.
Galatians 1:23-24; Acts 17:3-4; 1 Corinthians 9:16,22; Job 17:9; 1 Corinthians 15:1-2; 2 Timothy 4:1-5.
The consecration you have and the consecration Paul the apostle had from the very beginning continue and continued until the very end because of the word of Christ that says, He that endureth till the end shall be saved. Christ is our confidence, if we hold fast to our faith from the beginning to the end, we shall have our rewards, we are not unto them that draw back unto perdition, those who draw back from their salvation, from their consecration draw back unto perdition. Paul the apostle suffered the misinterpretation and the misunderstanding of the false brethren, yet he preached, his consecration was indestructible, that is what God expects of us, that we will not grow dim, and that our light will keep on shining until the very end.
