Did Paul deserve to be called by God?
No, Paul did not deserve to be called by God. He was a zealous religious leader who profited in Judaism, yet God separated him from his mother's womb and called him by His grace. If anyone did not deserve it, Saul of Tarsus did not, but God called him by grace to preach to the Gentiles.
Les teaches that Saul of Tarsus had profited in the Jews' religion, being more exceedingly zealous of the traditions of his fathers. He was a religious bigwig who likely gained tremendous wealth and possibly had a family, but he had to put all that behind and lost it all, counting his former gains as nothing compared to the higher commission. Les emphasizes that he did not deserve God's call—if anybody didn't deserve it, Saul didn't. Yet when it pleased God, who separated him from his mother's womb and called him by His grace, He called him for a purpose: to reveal His Son in him and to preach Christ among the heathen, meaning the Gentiles. Les notes this was almost a total reverse of the Old Testament.
But when it pleased God, who separated me from my mother’s womb, and called me by his grace,