42 Acts 8:1-4 SAUL THE PERSECUTOR AND JESUS THE SAVIOR Introduction: In our previous text the Sanhedrin Council took Stephen outside the city of Jerusalem and stoned him to death. In order that their robes would not interfere with throwing the stones they took them off and laid them at the feet of Saul of Tarsus so that he would care for them. In our text today Saul of Tarsus is on the rampage persecuting Christians. I. Saul the persecutor V. 1, “And Saul was consenting unto his death...” By keeping the robes of those who stoned Stephen, Saul showed that he was consenting to their deed. If he had not been in agreement with what they were doing he would not have kept their robes. He would have had no part in the stoning of Stephen. But by having a part in their deed he was just as guilty of the death of Stephen as those who threw the stones. As a result of the stoning of Stephen a great persecution arose against the church at Jerusalem. Persecution did not start with the stoning of Stephen. Peter and John had been arrested and threatened by the Sanhedrin Council prior to the stoning of Stephen. All twelve of the apostles had been arrested and threatened. There intentions at first were to kill all of the apostles, but Gamaliel talked them out of doing that. V. 2, “And at that time there was a great persecution against the church which was at Jerusalem...” The persecution flamed to new heights because of the stoning of Stephen. Like animals which get a taste of blood, they wanted more. Saul of Tarsus was involved in the new surge of persecution. He may have been the instigator of most of it as we will see in verse four. (V. 2), “... and they were all scattered abroad throughout the regions of Judaea and Samaria...” The Jerusalem church was scattered throughout Judea, Samaria, and according to later verses into Syria. They traveled to Damascus, the capitol city of Syria, and to Antioch, a city in north Syria. About ten thousand Christians made a mass exodus from Jerusalem. They fled for their lives. According to Luke there was one notable exception. (V. 2), “...except the apostles.” The fact that the apostles did not leave Jerusalem may be credited to their bravery and also to their great faith in the Lord. There surely must have been a few other brave souls who did not leave Jerusalem. At least this is indicated in verse three. Those who remained gave the body of Stephen a decent burial. V. 3, “And devout men carried Stephen [to his burial], and made great lamentation over him.” There were enough Jerusalem Christians left to make a great lamentation over the death of Stephen. I think that it is safe to say that they risked their lives in order to give Stephen a public burial. V. 4, “As for Saul, he made havock of the church, entering into every house, and haling men and women committed [them] to prison.” He was not a holy terror. Rather, he was an unholy terror. Like the Christians who had been going from house to house witnessing for Jesus, Saul was going from house to house persecuting Christians. The Sanhedrin must have furnished him papers authorizing him to make such arrests and must have furnished him some of the temple guards to make the arrests. Luke does not say how many were arrested or what happened to them after they were arrested, but it is highly unlikely that any were ever released. V. 5, “Therefore they that were scattered abroad went every where preaching the word.” Those who fled and were scattered also showed their bravery by preaching the word of God wherever they went. That is, they preached the Old Testament scriptures. They would use the Old Testament scriptures to substantiate their testimony that Jesus is the Christ, that He did arise from the grave, that He had ascended back to heaven and that He is the Savior of men. That is the message which had started the persecution in the first place and it was dangerous to preach it. But they were so excited about Jesus that they told it everywhere they went in spite of the danger. Saul’s efforts to silence the Christians by his persecution of them were fruitless. By scattering the Christians he just made it impossible to arrest all of them and just as impossible to silence them. As long as the Christians were in Jerusalem there was only one church preaching the gospel. But after the Christians were scattered churches sprung up throughout Judea, Samaria and at least two churches in Syria. II. Jesus, the Savior Speaking about Christians witnessing for Jesus, let me now stop talking to you about Stephen being stoned. Let me also stop talking to you about Saul persecuting the Christians. Let me stop talking to you about those brave Christians who risked their lives to witness concerning Jesus. Rather, let me now talk to you about Jesus. Jesus is the virgin born Son of God. He was conceived in the womb of the virgin Mary by the Holy Spirit of God. He was born in human flesh. Yet as Spirit God He existed before the world was ever created. In fact, He is the One who created the world. He spoke and the heavens and earth came into existence. God the Father is the One who sent Jesus into the world to dwell in human flesh. He sent Him here to die upon the cross of Calvary to provide redemption for all who would repent of their sins and trust in Jesus for salvation of their souls. Let me say to you that you cannot earn salvation by doing good works. But you can recognize that you are a lost sinner and you can call upon Jesus Christ and ask Him to save your soul. God has promised that if you would call on Jesus and ask Him to save you and trust Him to save you that Jesus will save you. “For whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved,” Romans 10:13.