Acts 9:26 And when Saul had come to Jerusalem, he tried to join the Disciples; but they were all afraid of him, and did not believe that he was a disciple.
God had Called Saul to be the greatest Apostle of all time. However, due to his past, many believers, including the original Apostles, didn’t believe that he was even saved. It had been more than three years since his conversion and he never came to see them during all that time. They didn’t know he had spent three years with the Holy Spirit in Arabia. They presumed they knew the story about Saul but in actuality, they didn’t.
I can’t begin to tell you how common this is. When a person is saved and delivered out of drug addiction, prostitution, or some other horrific sinful life, oftentimes the Church will not accept them. They just can’t get over the fact that this person has been transformed. They are not the old person they used to be. Rather, they are a totally new person, born again, and transformed!
Like Saul, they may look the same on the outside, but on the inside, they are totally different. This is why the Holy Spirit gives us the Gift of Discernment of Spirits. In my opinion, this is the most important Gift of the Spirit we can possess.
As the old saying goes, “You cannot tell a book by its cover.” Nor can you judge a person’s spiritual condition by their past. Saul knew this better than anyone in the New Testament and he wrote a lot on this subject. To the Church in Ephesus, he wrote: Put off, concerning your former conduct, the old man which grows corrupt according to the deceitful lusts, and be renewed in the Spirit of your mind, and that you put on the new man which was created according to God, in true Righteousness and Holiness. (Ephesians 4:22-24)
To the Romans, he wrote: Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the Will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect. (Romans 12:2)
His letter to the Corinthians was harsh and to the point! No, you yourselves do wrong and cheat, and you do these things to your brethren! Do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the Kingdom of God? Do not be deceived. Neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor homosexuals, or sodomites, nor thieves, nor covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor extortioners will inherit the Kingdom of God. (1 Corinthians 6:8-10)
Every Book in the New Testament is instructions on how to live our lives pleasing to God. That is to turn from our old, sinful ways and allow the Holy Spirit to totally change us. We must love the Lord Jesus Christ more than we love sin. If we don’t, we are not even saved.
Every truly saved person is born again; changed; transformed; a new person IN Christ Jesus. Salvation ALWAYS results in a change. No change; no salvation. It is that simple. Do not be sucked into the modern teaching that it doesn’t matter what you do or how you live. It DOES matter. It matters a lot.
God has not changed. He has always demanded Repentance and Holiness. He still does.
Repentance and Holiness will……..….turn the tide……….in this world!
Born again, there’s really been a change in me. Doreen
www.bettsministries.org
