“Now when they heard these things they were enraged, and they ground their teeth at him. But he, full of the Holy Spirit, gazed into heaven and saw the glory of God, and Jesus standing at the right hand of God. And he said, ‘Behold, I see the heavens opened, and the Son of Man standing at the right hand of God.’ But they cried out with a loud voice and stopped their ears and rushed together at him. Then they cast him out of the city and stoned him. And the witnesses laid down their garments at the feet of a young man named Saul. And as they were stoning Stephen, he called out, ‘Lord Jesus, receive my spirit.’ And falling to his knees he cried out with a loud voice, ‘Lord, do not hold this sin against them.’ And when he had said this, he fell asleep.
“And Saul approved of his execution.
“And there arose on that day a great persecution against the church in Jerusalem, and they were all scattered throughout the regions of Judea and Samaria, except the apostles.” [1]
Christians can be ferocious, merciless, even vicious, despite the cautionary words penned by Paul. We who follow the Master are well advised to recall that Paul has written, “Do not pronounce judgment before the time, before the Lord comes, who will bring to light the things now hidden in darkness and will disclose the purposes of the heart. Then each one will receive his commendation from God” [1 CORINTHIANS 4:5]. We act as if we know the end of a surprising number of individuals, especially when those individuals are not favoured. And we are willing to pronounce our opinion quite freely. It has been said, and said quite well, “We will be surprised by who is in Heaven, when are at last ushered into those celestial precincts. We will be even more surprised by who isn’t present in Heaven.” We imbibe this censorious attitude from the world, and it tags along when we come into the Kingdom of Heaven.
Few sins appear more heinous to us than taking the life of a fellow human. Murdering an individual, taking the life of another human being without justification, is about as bad as it can get. We may possibly be willing to make a few exceptions, but they are exceptions and never enjoy divine approval. Yet, the impact on the life of one who has taken the life of another person can be life-altering. People who have taken the life of another person in war or while defending themselves or their family are never able to escape the sense of revulsion that they were responsible for the death of another. Though they may have been justified in their action, taking the life of another will ensure that they will either be haunted by what has been done, or they will manage to sear their conscience so they can partition what was done so that it no longer disturbs them.
It is vital to state at the outset that there is good news for those who may be haunted by such violence—God is able not only to forgive, but to give peace to those tormented by such violence. In fact, only in the Lord can one hope to find peace for the troubled soul. We know because we have a powerful example in the life of Paul.
ASSAULT AGAINST THE FAITHFUL — “Now when [the Jewish mob] heard these things [i.e. the defence Stephen presented] they were enraged, and they ground their teeth at him. But he, full of the Holy Spirit, gazed into heaven and saw the glory of God, and Jesus standing at the right hand of God. And he said, ‘Behold, I see the heavens opened, and the Son of Man standing at the right hand of God.’ But they cried out with a loud voice and stopped their ears and rushed together at him. Then they cast him out of the city and stoned him. And the witnesses laid down their garments at the feet of a young man named Saul. And as they were stoning Stephen, he called out, ‘Lord Jesus, receive my spirit.’ And falling to his knees he cried out with a loud voice, ‘Lord, do not hold this sin against them.’ And when he had said this, he fell asleep” [ACTS 7:54-60].
It is distressingly easy for saints living in the western world to be unaware of the cost of walking with Christ in many parts of our world. Christians in many parts of Africa, fellow believers throughout the Middle East and even in many parts of Asia, brothers and sisters in parts of South America, are often called to pay an awful price for their faith in the Risen Saviour.
We read the words Paul wrote to the saints in Rome, focusing on the positive aspects of his words while eliding over some of the more problematic statements. For instance, we thrill at the powerful affirmation of ROMANS 8:31b-32: “If God is for us, who can be against us? He who did not spare his own Son but gave him up for us all, how will he not also with him graciously give us all things?”
Indeed, that promise should be celebrated and we should rejoice in what we read. However, we must not neglect what follows. “Who shall bring any charge against God’s elect? It is God who justifies. Who is to condemn? Christ Jesus is the one who died—more than that, who was raised—who is at the right hand of God, who indeed is interceding for us. Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or danger, or sword? As it is written,
‘For your sake we are being killed all the day long;
we are regarded as sheep to be slaughtered.’
No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. For I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord” [ROMANS 8:33-39].
We will be persecuted because we are Christians. In fact, if we are not stirring up opposition, we should question how effective we are in our Christian walk. I don’t mean that we should go looking for trouble, but we must know that trouble will result if we seek a quiet life that exalts Christ the Lord! Surely, that is the intent of Jesus’ warning. “If the world hates you, know that it has hated me before it hated you. If you were of the world, the world would love you as its own; but because you are not of the world, but I chose you out of the world, therefore the world hates you. Remember the word that I said to you: ‘A servant is not greater than his master.’ If they persecuted me, they will also persecute you. If they kept my word, they will also keep yours. But all these things they will do to you on account of my name, because they do not know him who sent me” [JOHN 15:18-21].
We sometimes forget that during the Apostolic era our spiritual forebears came to faith in a time of targeted persecution. On his first missionary journey, Paul and Barnabas sought to encourage the new believers with a message that is rare in this day. In the Word we read, “When [the missionaries] had preached the gospel to that city and had made many disciples, they returned to Lystra and to Iconium and to Antioch, strengthening the souls of the disciples, encouraging them to continue in the faith, and saying that through many tribulations we must enter the kingdom of God” [ACTS 14:21-22].
Entering the Kingdom is accompanied by “many tribulations!” Think of that! How do you suppose that message would go over today? How would Canadians respond to such a message in these days early in the twenty-first century? “Come join us and be assaulted by unbelievers!” “Come, be a Christian and suffer!” “Come, be persecuted with us!” George Verwer wrote a challenging book bearing the title, “Come! Live! Die! The Real Revolution.” [2] The brief book was a call to a radical Christian life. Though his words created a longing in the hearts of most Christians, it is greatly to be feared that few of the readers were emboldened to take the step of living boldly for Christ.
Nevertheless, one cannot read the account of what was experienced by those early saints as recorded in the Letter to Hebrew Christians without pausing to reflect on the cost of faith in the Risen Christ in that day. Writing at a time close to the struggles of those early believers, the unknown author of one letter wrote, “Recall the former days when, after you were enlightened, you endured a hard struggle with sufferings, sometimes being publicly exposed to reproach and affliction, and sometimes being partners with those so treated. For you had compassion on those in prison, and you joyfully accepted the plundering of your property, since you knew that you yourselves had a better possession and an abiding one. Therefore do not throw away your confidence, which has a great reward. For you have need of endurance, so that when you have done the will of God you may receive what is promised” [HEBREWS 10:32-36].
Should we Christians in North America be inconvenienced or censured, we immediately withdraw to some dark corner hoping we won’t be noticed. When people jeer at us, we aver that we will quit serving God. Suddenly, we become silent because someone said something dismissive about the Faith. But really, we who live in Canada know little of the cost of serving the Lord. Paul and Barnabas, and later his companion Silas, knew something about persecution. The first missionaries were not concerned with checking out the comforts of a Motel 6 or a Holiday Inn Express—they checked out the local gaol, because that is where they likely would be spending their nights.
Paul could honestly write of his ministry, “Five times I received at the hands of the Jews the forty lashes less one. Three times I was beaten with rods. Once I was stoned. Three times I was shipwrecked; a night and a day I was adrift at sea; on frequent journeys, in danger from rivers, danger from robbers, danger from my own people, danger from Gentiles, danger in the city, danger in the wilderness, danger at sea, danger from false brothers; in toil and hardship, through many a sleepless night, in hunger and thirst, often without food, in cold and exposure. And, apart from other things, there is the daily pressure on me of my anxiety for all the churches. Who is weak, and I am not weak? Who is made to fall, and I am not indignant” [2 CORINTHIANS 11:24-29]? This summation speaks of the cost Paul paid to walk close to the Saviour.
Many devotional writings were circulated from earliest days of the Faith. One ancient cache of literature was uncovered at a site identified as Nag Hamadi. Among the literature uncovered there was a compilation of sayings that became known as the “Gospel of Thomas.” Understand that this is not Scripture, nor is it even necessarily accurate. There are some sayings ascribed to Jesus which if they were not uttered by Him may possibly have maintained something akin to what He did say. One such saying cautions the reader, “Jesus says, ‘The person who is near me is near the fire.’” [3]
Whether Jesus actually said this or not, the concept fits with what we know Jesus did say. You will remember that Jesus called us, saying, “If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me” [LUKE 9:23].
In His High Priestly prayer, the Master testified to His Father and our Father, “I have given [My disciples] your word, and the world has hated them because they are not of the world, just as I am not of the world” [JOHN 17:14].
The Christian life is a challenging life—if it is real. There is no promise of a casual stroll through this life if you are walking with the Son of God. We who follow the Christ are warned, “Do not be surprised, brothers, that the world hates you” [1 JOHN 3:13].
Early in our Christian walk, Lynda and I met Shirley. Shirley lived immediately behind us, and Lynda had led Shirley to faith. This young woman, with her toddler in tow began to ride with us to services on Sunday mornings and Sunday evenings. What was hard for her, and what we didn’t know at first, was that her mother would be seated at Shirley’s kitchen table together with Shirley’s husband when the young woman would come home from the services. Her mother and her husband would ridicule her and berate her as being “stupid” for believing in that skygod stuff.
Ridicule takes a toll, precisely because it hurts. This is especially true when the ridicule comes from those whom we love. Eventually, Shirley had had enough. She left her husband and moved into an apartment on her own. Leon didn’t know where she had gone; he only knew that she was gone, and he was panic-stricken at the thought that he might never see her or his daughter again.
I still recall the evening he come over to my house to ask if I could help. Standing on our driveway, Leon wept like a baby and pleaded with me to do something to get Shirley to come home. I told him how his thoughtless ridicule had taken a toll on Shirley’s heart. She was wounded with a wound that could only heal through the grace of God. Even then, though he was heartbroken and miserable, Leon said, “I know I shouldn’t have done that. I know that Shirley and my baby will go to Heaven should they die. And I know that if I die tonight I’ll split hell wide open. But I’m having too damn much fun to give up my life right now.” At that, I told him to get used to being alone because his selfish attitude made it certain that a decent woman would have nothing to do with him. Contrite, broken, and unwilling to change.
It was only a few days later that Leon again came over and asked how to become a Christian. I had the joy of leading that broken man to faith in the Risen Son of God. He came to the worship service the following Sunday and confessed his faith at that service. Shirley was present, and he asked her to take him back. It was a process, but eventually Shirley did agree to go home and they were reunited. My point in relating this account is to remind you that we can be wounded deeply by ridicule and laughter, but ridicule is nothing compared to the assault many of our brothers and sisters experience.
The Christian life is not an easy life—not if it is real. Opposition will arise from multiple corners, and the most dismaying opposition comes from those whom we least expect to attack us. Yet, The Master has cautioned any who would follow Him, “Behold, I am sending you out as sheep in the midst of wolves, so be wise as serpents and innocent as doves. Beware of men, for they will deliver you over to courts and flog you in their synagogues, and you will be dragged before governors and kings for my sake, to bear witness before them and the Gentiles. When they deliver you over, do not be anxious how you are to speak or what you are to say, for what you are to say will be given to you in that hour. For it is not you who speak, but the Spirit of your Father speaking through you. Brother will deliver brother over to death, and the father his child, and children will rise against parents and have them put to death, and you will be hated by all for my name’s sake. But the one who endures to the end will be saved” [MATTHEW 10:16-22a].
Oh, yes, opposition, even violent opposition will come to you because you are a follower of the Risen Saviour, but don’t despair! God Himself will work in your life to confound those who seek to harm you. And He will be glorified in you! When Jesus promised, “It is not you who speak, but the Spirit of your Father speaking through you,” it was a promise that is repeated in the Gospels. Doctor Luke records Jesus as saying, “When they bring you before the synagogues and the rulers and the authorities, do not be anxious about how you should defend yourself or what you should say, for the Holy Spirit will teach you in that very hour what you ought to say” [LUKE 12:11-12]. Child of God, when you are attacked is when you are strongest, because that is the time that the Spirit of God is speaking through you. He will use you to the praise of Christ’s glory.
SHARED GUILT — “Saul approved of [Stephen’s] execution” [ACTS 8:1a]. It is an axiom of law that if one participates in a crime, though not necessarily committing the crime, that one shares responsibility for the crime. As an example, if someone drives a getaway car during the robbery of a bank, the driver of that getaway car shares in the guilt of the robbery. Again, if during the course of a robbery, someone is shot and killed, then all who participated in the robbery, including the driver of the getaway car, share in guilt for the murder. The driver facilitated the tragic consequences resulting in death.
What does this have to do with the text? There is no indication that Saul of Tarsus ever flung a stone at Stephen, the first Christian martyr. However, those who raged against Stephen and battered the body of that godly man with the stones they flung, entrusted oversight of their garments to a young man named Saul [see ACTS 7:58]. Moreover, we are informed that Saul approved of his execution. Saul of Tarsus was actively engaged in promoting the death of Stephen—he encouraged the mob by his presence and by his stature as a member of the Jewish Council. As we learn of this man’s memories voiced later in life, it would seem apparent that Saul not only approved of killing Stephen, but he may well have engineered the execution of this innocent man.
It would be reasonable to conclude that Saul incited the mob, that he motivated them to extreme hatred and violence. The handprint of a prominent member of the Jewish elite was all over the death of Stephen. It seems quite reasonable to understand that the Jewish Council was fully aware of what was happening, even giving tacit approval of the vicious assault against the faithful. Most of the Council members hated Jesus and sought His death. They were prepared to kill off His followers to halt the spread of this new movement. The early Christians were in danger from the Jews.
Paul’s testimony in later days would appear to bear out this understanding. Having been seized in Jerusalem and falsely accused of desecrating the Temple, Paul was compelled to testify in his own defence. Rescued by Roman soldiers when a swarm of angry religionists revealed their intent to take his life, Paul requested permission to address the mob. In the testimony he presented, Paul testified, “I am a Jew, born in Tarsus in Cilicia, but brought up in this city, educated at the feet of Gamaliel according to the strict manner of the law of our fathers, being zealous for God as all of you are this day. I persecuted this Way to the death, binding and delivering to prison both men and women, as the high priest and the whole council of elders can bear me witness. From them I received letters to the brothers, and I journeyed toward Damascus to take those also who were there and bring them in bonds to Jerusalem to be punished” [ACTS 22:3-5].
Saul, the Jewish Council member who had been born in Tarsus, persecuted the followers of the Way with the full knowledge of and hearty encouragement from the Council. The high priest engineered Saul’s brutal and merciless efforts to exterminate this pestiferous sect that was drawing large numbers of Jews away from their support of the exalted members of the religious hierarchy. Paul’s apologia to the Council makes this plain when he says, “From [the high priest with the full knowledge of the entire council] I received letters to the brothers, and I journeyed toward Damascus to take those also who were there and bring them in bonds to Jerusalem to be punished.”
Saul, the enraged Talmudic scholar, was determined to do all that was possible to stop the spread of this novel religion. He would not depend upon argument or persuasion; he would punish anyone holding to this threat to Judaism. And if beatings or imprisonment were insufficient to halt the spread of this pestiferous and pernicious religion, he would kill those who were uncompromising.
Reading what is written in the Letter to Hebrew Christians, we gain some insight into the efforts of the Jewish leaders to stop the spread of the Faith of Christ the Lord. The Way was a threat to the beloved rituals that defined Judaism, and the new religion must be halted. Those who held to faith in a Risen Saviour must be extirpated, removed from the earth. The writer at one point looks back to Jewish forebears, reminding readers that “[Some] suffered mocking and flogging, and even chains and imprisonment. They were stoned, they were sawn in two, they were killed with the sword. They went about in skins of sheep and goats, destitute, afflicted, mistreated—of whom the world was not worthy—wandering about in deserts and mountains, and in dens and caves of the earth” [HEBREWS 11:36-38].
But more particularly, he writes of even more recent actions perpetuated against those who dared follow the Risen Christ—horrific acts intended to show hatred for Christ and seeking to coerce His followers into compliance with the expectations of the religious leaders. He writes, “Recall the former days when, after you were enlightened, you endured a hard struggle with sufferings, sometimes being publicly exposed to reproach and affliction, and sometimes being partners with those so treated. For you had compassion on those in prison, and you joyfully accepted the plundering of your property, since you knew that you yourselves had a better possession and an abiding one” [HEBREWS 10:32-34]. The sufferings are not an itemized list; rather, these are provided as examples. Public reproach and affliction—ridicule because they dared believe in Jesus as the Christ. Imprisonment, plundering of their property, dispossessed of house and home, driven away from those they loved. This was what Saul of Tarsus was doing!
I cannot condone the efforts of individuals who profess a desire for fairness even as they seek to stifle the voice of Christians. The actions of such people deny what their voices are saying. Such individuals reveal their origin; they exhibit the dire character of the great dragon which John witnessed and described in the Apocalypse. “I saw another beast rising out of the earth. It had two horns like a lamb and it spoke like a dragon” [REVELATION 13:11]. This frightening beast presented itself as harmless and gentle, though it sought to ruin and destroy not only the earth, but those living on the earth.
Just so, the wicked assail the faithful, mewling “If only you Christians would be reasonable!” even as they attack God’s saints. The world does not want the people of God to be reasonable—the world wants the Lord’s holy people to be silent! And those who fail to intervene in order to give relief to the people of God share in the guilt of those who actively persecute God’s holy people. Listen to me! The nation that shuts its ears to the cries of God’s persecuted people, the nation that fails to speak out against the murder of Christians shares in the guilt that accrues from the violence of wicked individuals who beat and stone and slaughter the people of God.
When Iranians are silent as Christians are imprisoned and even killed, know that all Iranians must share in the collective guilt before the Living God. When Muslims claim to be a peaceful religion and are yet silent as Christian school girls are beheaded, the entire religion is condemned as complicit in the murder of these children. When Chinese citizens fail to speak out against the imprisonment and murder of Christian pastors and their families, then all alike living in China must accept the guilt of those leaders who commit these horrid crimes against the Faith. And when we in North America who profess to follow the Prince of Peace avert our eyes and refuse to condemn those who attack the Faith, we become complicit in the assault against the Faith.
Our silence in the face of evil against our brothers and sisters condemns us as sharing in the guilt. Is that not the message delivered by the stepbrother of our Lord when he wrote, “Come now, you rich, weep and howl for the miseries that are coming upon you. Your riches have rotted and your garments are moth-eaten. Your gold and silver have corroded, and their corrosion will be evidence against you and will eat your flesh like fire. You have laid up treasure in the last days. Behold, the wages of the laborers who mowed your fields, which you kept back by fraud, are crying out against you, and the cries of the harvesters have reached the ears of the Lord of hosts. You have lived on the earth in luxury and in self-indulgence. You have fattened your hearts in a day of slaughter. You have condemned and murdered the righteous person. He does not resist you” [JAMES 5:1-6].
We must never allow ourselves to avert our eyes, we must never permit ourselves to stop our ears, we must never tacitly accept the wicked assailing the faithful, pretending that we did not know what was happening. Years ago, I read the words of the Wise Man.
“Rescue those who are being taken away to death;
hold back those who are stumbling to the slaughter.
If you say, ‘Behold, we did not know this,’
does not he who weighs the heart perceive it?
Does not he who keeps watch over your soul know it,
and will he not repay man according to his work?”
[PROVERBS 24:11-12]
That warning arrested me in that long ago day, and the stern words strike me with terror even now. I am responsible to warn those who are moving toward death. I cannot say that I am innocent if I refuse to speak on their behalf. God holds me—indeed, He holds all who call upon His Name, to warn the lost, pleading with them to look to God.
I know that we preachers will usually apply the stunning warning conveyed by these verses as though they present the responsibility now resting upon the saints to declare the message of life to the lost—and that is a proper application of what is written! However, it does not require any particular verbal Terpsichore to understand that when the innocent are being treated as enemies, we are obligated to inform ourselves of the evil that is perpetuated and to speak up on their behalf. We are responsible to plead with the Living God on behalf of our brothers and sisters, and when we have opportunity, we are responsible to speak up to protest the assault against the faithful.
I understand that few of us will be able to travel to distant lands to plead for our brothers and sisters, nor would it be wise to do so in most instances. I am well aware that few of us are able to take up arms to defend those who are being killed by the wicked. However, we can make ourselves aware of the pain of those who share our faith in the Risen Saviour. Being aware of the injustice perpetuated against them, we can hold them in prayer before the throne of the Great God who hears the cries of those who are treated unjustly and with violence. We can speak up, refusing to be silent about the evil that is even today being perpetuated against the godly. We can petition those who govern us, demanding that they no longer remain silent when the righteous are incarcerated because of their Faith; we can insist that those who lead our own nation demand an accounting for the lives of brother Christians and sisters who share this holy Faith.
FORGIVENESS FOR THE FOREMOST OF SINNERS — “The saying is trustworthy and deserving of full acceptance, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners, of whom I am the foremost. But I received mercy for this reason, that in me, as the foremost, Jesus Christ might display his perfect patience as an example to those who were to believe in him for eternal life. To the King of the ages, immortal, invisible, the only God, be honor and glory forever and ever. Amen” [1 TIMOTHY 1:15-17].
“Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners, of whom I am the foremost.” This was the Apostle’s assessment of his condition. Paul saw himself as the worst sort of sinner. And he undoubtedly believed this to be true. I suspect that many of us could echo these words which the Apostle penned. I don’t know what would be required for someone to be classed as the foremost of sinners. When we have sinned against the infinite God, then our sin—however minor we may imagine that sin to have been—takes on the infinite nature of a transgression against God who is infinite. In short, the closer we draw near to the Living God, the more we are conscious of our own brokenness. The godly woman or godly man who walks with God thinks of themselves as great sinners.
In the movie “The Princess Bride,” Miracle Max is asked to treat Wesley after he dies. When at last Wesley is brought into the hovel where Miracle Max lives, the miracle worker announces, “Your friend is only mostly dead.” He then clarifies his pronouncement by explaining, “There is a big difference between mostly dead and all dead.” The statement is profound in a strange way. We who were among the lost were not “mostly dead,” we were dead in our trespasses and sins [see EPHESIANS 2:1].
I know for a fact that I deserved God’s condemnation; but where I should have been condemned, I received mercy. That is not my testimony alone, it is the testimony of each blood-bought child of God, it is the testimony of each individual who has been born from above and into the Kingdom of God. When I came to God for salvation, I realised that I was a great sinner. I did not need a God who could make me better! I needed the God who could make me new. I realised that only a great God, only an infinite God, would suffice to deliver me from the brokenness that then characterised my life.
With the Apostle, I am compelled to testify, “I know that nothing good dwells in me, that is, in my flesh. For I have the desire to do what is right, but not the ability to carry it out” [ROMANS 7:18]. I find that I must agree with the Psalmist when he writes,
“Behold, I was brought forth in iniquity,
and in sin did my mother conceive me.”
[PSALM 51:5]
It wasn’t that I was conceived in a sinful fashion; rather, this signifies that from the moment I was conceived, I was sinful. Even in my mother’s womb, I was under sentence of death. Death serves as the evidence that I am sinful. If I was perfect, I would never die. However, the fact that I move inexorably toward my date with death gives somber testimony that I am sinful! I cannot escape my humanity, and it is my relationship to this race that testifies to my sinful condition. With the Apostle, I find myself crying out, “Wretched man that I am! Who will deliver me from this body of death” [ROMANS 7:24]?
The plaintive cry that escapes from my lips echoes throughout the earth as each individual who becomes conscious of his or her brokenness picks up the cry, and the pitiful plea is met by silence from the world about us. You see, even the world cries out in frustration at the bondage in which it struggles. We know that just as Paul has said, “The whole creation has been groaning together in the pains of childbirth until now” [ROMANS 8:22].
We were wicked sinners deserving divine judgement, but God intervened to save us. This is the testimony that Paul compelled the Corinthian Christians to acknowledge as true. You will recall that Paul challenged them, and thus he challenges us, “Do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived: neither the sexually immoral, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor men who practice homosexuality, nor thieves, nor the greedy, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor swindlers will inherit the kingdom of God” [1 CORINTHIANS 6:9-10]. The dark evidence that lurks in our past condemns each of us. Though we may quibble that our particular sin is not listed, the fact that we are told that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God assuredly condemns each of us.
If the Apostle had stopped after writing this sordid list of sins, any of which exclude us from God’s kingdom, we would forever be lost. We would be without hope and without God in the world. Assuredly, I would have been excluded. However, the Apostle was not finished writing. He continued, “And such were some of you. But you were washed, you were sanctified, you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God” [1 CORINTHIANS 6:11]. That is it precisely! I was washed! I was sanctified! I was justified! In the Name of Christ the Lord, I was forever changed. And that was your experience as well, if you are a follower of the Risen Saviour.
Nothing has changed in the intervening years. During these past five decades as I have walked with the Saviour, He has revealed Himself to be a great Deliverer, even though I discovered that my sins were far greater, more damning than I could have imagined. Yet, this great God washed me, sanctified me, justified me. Christ the Saviour redeemed me, saved me, and brought me into His family. By His grace, I am part of that eternal family of redeemed individuals destined to spend eternity in the presence of the True and Living God. I have nothing of which I can boast save the mercies of God and the grace of my Lord Jesus Christ.
I don’t know the secrets of your heart, but I know the One who both knows the secrets of your heart and Who is able to reveal those secrets to you. I know that He is able to set you free from the fears that haunt your soul and to free you from the guilt of your broken past. I know that He is able to cleanse you from all unrighteousness and that He is able to make you pure even as He presents you before His eternal throne. I know the One who hung the stars in place and the One Who has given you your being. Because He is your Creator, He is able to make you what you should be and what you long to be. I want to introduce you to Christ the Lord.
Perhaps you are thinking that you are too wicked to be forgiven or to be accepted into the Family of God. I’m here to tell you that the greatest sinner can be forgiven and received as righteous by the Living God. This is the message that you need to hear. The Son of God died because of your sin, and He was raised from the dead. Now, He calls, saying, “If you agree with God that Jesus is your Master, truly believing that that God raised Him from the dead, you will be set free.” We are taught in Scripture that believing in this way ensures that we will be accepted as righteous by God and that as we openly agree with God’s assessment of our need for Jesus as our Saviour we will be freed from all condemnation [see ROMANS 10:9-10].
To ensure that we understand the divine offer of this wonderful gift, the Apostle cites an ancient Hebrew Prophet when he says, “Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved” [ROMANS 10:13]. This is the offer of life given to any who will receive it. We pray that you receive this gift today. Amen.
[1] Unless otherwise indicated, all Scripture quotations are from The Holy Bible: English Standard Version. Wheaton: Standard Bible Society, 2016. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
[2] George Verwer, Come! Live! Die! The Real Revolution (Tyndale House Publishers, Carol Stream, IL 1972)
[3] Evangelium Thomae Copticum (Deutsche Bibelgesellschaft, Stuttgart 1996) 539
