The Conversion of Saul of Tarsus

Using Paul's dramatic conversion on the road to Damascus as his text, Spurgeon addresses those who mock, ridicule, or obstruct believers in their faith, pointing out that Christ takes every injury done to his followers as a personal offense against himself — just as he said to Saul, "Why do you persecute me?" rather than "Why do you persecute my followers?" He then works through the futility of opposing Christ, arguing that persecutors accomplish nothing: they cannot stop the advance of the church, they gain nothing and harm themselves in the process, and if God has determined to save them, no amount of resistance will ultimately succeed. Spurgeon closes with both a warning and an invitation — warning that those who continue to reject Christ are only heaping injury on themselves — but holding out the remarkable hope that even the worst persecutors, like Paul and John Bunyan, have been transformed into the greatest servants of God, and urging any whose hearts are already stirring to come to Christ without delay.A sermon delivered by Charles Spurgeon on June 27, 1858.