“Encounter Jesus”
1 Timothy 1:12-17
David P. Nolte
The song by The Newsboys rightly said,
“My God’s not dead
He’s surely alive!
He’s living on the inside
Roaring like a lion.”
But, back in 1884, philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche, declared that “God Is Dead.” That morbid concept spilt over into the 1950' s and ‘60's but it gradually died out. I remember seeing bumper stickers that said, “Your god is dead? Sorry about that. Mine is alive and well!” and, “My God is alive; I just talked to Him this morning!”
Admittedly, declaring the existence and vitality of God is a proposition founded on faith. But so is denial of God! Both are “I believe ...” statements. I know that there are unbelievers who go beyond that and categorically declare, “I know absolutely that there is no God.” Pardon me for being blunt, but that is an ignorant and arrogant statement unless they can demonstrate knowledge of every single fact and truth that exists – bar none. If only one fact escapes them, that one fact could very possibly be the existence of God. That’s why the Psalm says, “Only fools say in their hearts, ‘There is no God.’” Psalm 53:1 (NLT).
In my book, God has proven Himself to be very real and very alive. That is the operational conviction for this sermon. I have seen too many answered prayers and too many radically changed lives and too many miracles to doubt that God is and that He is alive.
Since God is alive, we ought to want to encounter Him in faith. So, let’s turn to the text to see what can happen when we have a personal encounter with the Living God. Saul was heading to Damascus to persecute Christians when he met Jesus.
“As he was traveling, it happened that he was approaching Damascus, and suddenly a light from heaven flashed around him; and he fell to the ground and heard a voice saying to him, ‘Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting Me?’ And he said, ‘Who are You, Lord?’ And He said, ‘I am Jesus whom you are persecuting, but get up and enter the city, and it will be told you what you must do.’” Acts 9:3-6 (NASB)
Now, some 30 years later he writes, “I thank Christ Jesus our Lord, who has strengthened me, because He considered me faithful, putting me into service, even though I was formerly a blasphemer and a persecutor and a violent aggressor. Yet I was shown mercy because I acted ignorantly in unbelief; and the grace of our Lord was more than abundant, with the faith and love which are found in Christ Jesus. It is a trustworthy statement, deserving full acceptance, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners, among whom I am foremost of all. Yet for this reason I found mercy, so that in me as the foremost, Jesus Christ might demonstrate His perfect patience as an example for those who would believe in Him for eternal life. Now to the King eternal, immortal, invisible, the only God, be honor and glory forever and ever. Amen.” 1 Timothy 1:12-17 (NASB).
When Saul (whom we know as Paul) met the risen and living Jesus things changed; from the moment of that encounter he was never the same. The same holds true with all who encounter Jesus by faith.
I. SAUL MET MERCY AND GRACE:
A. He testified, “I was shown mercy because I acted ignorantly in unbelief; and the grace of our Lord was more than abundant, with the faith and love which are found in Christ Jesus.”
1. A quick reminder:
a. Mercy means not getting the punishment we deserve.
b. Grace means getting the forgiveness we do not deserve.
2. The two go hand in hand and we are therefore saved from wrath and saved to eternal life.
B. Paul thought he was honoring God when he violently opposed and oppressed followers of Jesus.
1. But he came to realize his unbelief was ignorance and that he needed mercy and grace. He had come to know the truth.
2. Sincere wrongdoing is still wrongdoing – sincerity does not create truth nor does it transform evil to good. Wrongdoers need mercy and grace.
C. Saul said that the grace of the Lord was more than abundant. God’s grace is always sufficient and is always operational, not merely a kind feeling toward us.
1. Grace saves us because we are saved by grace through faith and never by works we have done.
2. Grace enables us to handle difficult trials because instead of removing Paul’s thorn in the flesh, some bodily ailment, God said “My grace is sufficient.”
3. Grace provides for us so we can share with others because, “God is able to make all grace abound to you, so that always having all sufficiency in everything, you may have an abundance for every good deed;” 2 Corinthians 9:8 (NASB).
4. Grace motivates us to minister to others because we read, “we want you to know about the grace that God has given the Macedonian churches. Out of the most severe trial, their overflowing joy and their extreme poverty welled up in rich generosity. For I testify that they gave as much as they were able, and even beyond their ability. Entirely on their own,” 2 Corinthians 8:1-3 (NIV).
D. We all need the mercy and grace of God apart from which we cannot be forgiven and saved.
E. The greatest thing we will ever learn is our need for grace and mercy as did a doctor from Edinburgh, Sir James Simpson, who discovered that chloroform could be used as an anaesthetic to render people insensible to the pain of surgery. Some people even claim that his was one of the most significant discoveries of modern medicine.
Some years later, while lecturing at the University of Edinburgh, Dr. Simpson was asked by one of his students, “What do you consider to be the most valuable discovery of your lifetime?” To the surprise of his students, who had expected him to refer to chloroform, Dr. Simpson replied, “My most valuable discovery was when I discovered myself a sinner and that Jesus Christ was my Savior.”
HE, LIKE SAUL, MET MERCY AND GRACE. NEXT WE NOTE:
II. SAUL WAS STRENGTHENED AND SENT:
A. “I thank Christ Jesus our Lord, who has strengthened me, because He considered me faithful, putting me into service.”
1. The living Jesus had a plan and purpose for Saul. He commissioned a disciple named Ananias, 30 years before, to go and baptize Saul. “Go, for he is a chosen instrument of Mine, to bear My name before the Gentiles and kings and the sons of Israel; for I will show him how much he must suffer for My name’s sake.” Acts 9:15-16 (NASB).
2. At his conversion, he immediately began proclaiming Jesus much to the surprise of all who had known his enmity to Jesus. “But Saul kept increasing in strength and confounding the Jews who lived at Damascus by proving that this Jesus is the Christ.” Acts 9:22 (NASB).
B. God always strengthens those He sends.
1. He enabled the hesitant Moses to deliver the Israelites from Egyptian bondage.
2. He enabled the timid Gideon to defeat the mighty Midianites with 300 men.
3. He enabled the outnumbered prophet Elijah to confound and conquer 450 false prophets of Baal.
4. He enabled the boy David to slay the veteran warrior, gi ant Goliath.
5. He enabled the apostles, who deserted Jesus at His arrest, to look the Pharisees in the eye and declare, “Whether it is right in the sight of God to give heed to you rather than to God, you be the judge; for we cannot stop speaking about what we have seen and heard.” Acts 4:19-20 (NASB).
C. So, when He taps you for service, even something you have never done before, don’t hide behind, “I can’t.” or “I don’t know how.” or “I’m not strong enough.”
1. God does not call the equipped – He equips the called.
2. He said to Zerubbabel to whom he had given responsibility for restoring the temple, “‘Not by might nor by power, but by My Spirit,’ says the Lord of hosts.” Zechariah 4:6 (NASB).
3. And Micah said, “But as for me, I am filled with power— with the Spirit of the Lord. I am filled with justice and strength to boldly declare Israel’s sin and rebellion.” Micah 3:8 (NLT).
(1) Paul said, “I can do all things through Him who strengthens me.” Philippians 4:13 (NASB).
D. The will of God will never take you:
1. Where the grace of God will not keep you.
2. Where the presence of God will ever leave you.
3. Where the blessing of God will in ay way disappoint you.
4. Where the strength of God will let you down or fail you.
E. He equips us to serve Him, often in small ways. It is not aptitude but attitude that counts. I heard about a couple who were out distributing food boxes in a low-income housing complex. They came to an apartment where they heard arguing through the door, but they decided to knock anyway. A man opened the door and asked what they wanted. One of the visitors said, “We don’t want anything. We just wondered if you know anyone who could use some groceries?”
“Why are you doing that?” the man asked. “Just to let people know that God loves them.” “What?” the man asked. “We’re just handing out boxes of food to let people know that God loves them.”
The man stared and said, “I can’t believe this. I just lost my job yesterday, and now here you are at our door.” The visitors offered to pray with them, and the couple accepted their offer. As they were leaving, and the door was being closed, they heard the husband say to his wife, “See, honey? I told you God cares. We thought He wasn’t paying attention to us, but He sent those people here to make sure we knew.”
Michael Luke said, “Too many people make excuses as to why they can’t serve. Can you bake a cake? Can you cook some food item? Can you cut someone’s grass? Can you call people and give them an encouraging word? Can you do housework? Can you do handy work? Can you donate anything of value? Can you stop along your way and give a smile? Can you take an interest in someone else’s life?”
The thing is that you have to be willing to serve. You have to care about the needs of others. Peter wrote As each one has received a special gift, employ it in serving one another as good stewards of the manifold grace of God.” 1 Peter 4:10 (NASB).
SAUL WAS STRENGTHENED AND SENT AND:
III. SAUL BECAME GOD’S EXAMPLE FOR ALL WHO BELIEVE:
A. “Yet for this reason I found mercy, so that in me as the foremost, Jesus Christ might demonstrate His perfect patience as an example for those who would believe in Him for eternal life.”
B. Someone said, “The apostle knew very well that his experience was not a solitary one; God lavished divine mercy and grace upon him in order to demonstrate what he longed to do for others. Perhaps one reason Paul wrote of his own experience at the beginning of this letter was to remind Timothy that the same grace and power God used to transform Paul was also available to him. No problem—no matter how difficult or agonizing—is beyond God’s reach. Paul was a living example of this truth.”
C. The old song by Stuart Hamblen says it well, “
“The chimes of time ring out the news another day is through;
Someone slipped and fell was that someone you?
You may have longed for added strength
your courage to renew;
Do not be disheartened for I bring hope to you.
It is no secret what God can do;
what He’s done for others He’ll do for you.
With arms wide open He’ll pardon you;
it is no secret what God can do.”
D. No one can truly say,
1. “I’m too sinful to be forgiven.”
2. “I’m too good to need to be forgiven.”
3. “I have to do lot of good works to be forgiven.”
E. Look at Saul – a showcase of mercy and grace for all who believe. Here’s another example of needing and receiving grace: it comes from the incident in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania, on October 2, 2006, when a man entered an Amish schoolhouse and murdered 5 girls while wounding 5 others before killing himself. As terrible as this was, the greater story was the response of the Amish people in expressing their love and forgiveness to the shooter’s family.
Moving comments came from Marie Roberts, the shooter’s widow, in a note to the Amish. “Our family wants each of you to know that we are overwhelmed by the forgiveness, grace and mercy that you’ve extended to us. Your love for our family has helped to provide the healing we so desperately need. Your compassion has reached beyond our family, beyond our community and is changing our world.” Like Saul, she received mercy and grace and is an example of one forgiven.
Paul never lost sight of the fact that he had been determined to destroy God’s church. Yet he was not on a guilt trip, but a grace trip as he remembered the merciful God who transformed him from a persecutor of Christ’s body to an advocate for Jesus.
It was the living Jesus who transformed this antagonist into an Apostle. The same Jesus who changed Paul will change you. He will not turn you away; for He said, “All that the Father gives Me will come to Me, and the one who comes to Me I will certainly not cast out.” John 6:37 (NASB).
I was sharing Jesus with a family in Klamath Falls and the wife was hung up on getting her life in order before coming to Jesus. The Lord led me to say, “You don’t get holy to come to Jesus; you come to Jesus to become holy.” She understood then and complied with the gospel.
Put away the idea that you must be good to come to Him. John Newton said: “My memory is nearly gone, but I remember two things. That I am a great sinner and that Christ is a great Savior!” You are called come to Him guilty, sinful, lost, confused and weak – come just as you are, but come to encounter Jesus.
