The Sovereignty of God on the Damascus Road: Introduction

God is sovereign over all of His creation including all aspects of salvation. There was a time I would have argued against that statement. I would not have agreed God chooses whom He will save and chooses whom He will not save. After spending months of study in the book of Romans and particularly in chapter 9, I came to the inevitable conclusion that God saves those whom He has elected for that purpose.


I want to begin a study from the ninth chapter of Acts, working verse by verse through the Apostle Paul's meeting with Jesus Christ on the Damascus Road and subsequent conversion. I am drawn to this passage because there are some parallels between what happened to him on his way to Damascus and my own conversion (I am not insinuating in any way that I am like the Apostle Paul).

The argument I want to put forth is:
God is sovereign over every detail and aspect of our salvation;

and to a lesser degree attempt to answer why God saves us in the manner He chooses. In other words, why doesn't God save everybody like He did Paul on the Damascus Road? The passage I want to work through is Acts 9:1-31, and breaking it into four parts:

     I.    Saul is Converted - Acts 9:1-9
     II.   Saul is Baptized - Acts 9:10-19
     III.  Saul is Persecuted - Acts 9:20-25
     IV.  Saul is Befriended - Acts 9:26-31

If you would like to take part in this study and accompanying discussion take some time to read the passage and spend some time focusing on verses 1 and 2 as that is where the study will begin. The first two verses will lead us into a look first at who Saul was before he became known to us as the Apostle Paul. Each of the four parts of the passage will be covered by multiple posts as we work verse by verse (sometimes clause by clause) through the passage.
To get your wheels turning let me ask this question. Does God specifically choose whom He will save?