Illus: They say this is the only disease that has a positive side to it. There are some “good” things that come from Alzheimer’s, such as:
• You never have to watch reruns on television
• You are always meeting new people
• You can hide your own Easter eggs
Illus: Three sisters ages 92, 94 and 96 live in a house together. One night the 96 year old draws a bath. She puts her foot in and pauses. She yells to the other sisters, "Was I gettin' in or out of the bath?"
The 94 year old yells back, "I don't know. I'll come up and see." She starts up the stairs and pauses. "Was I going up the stairs or down?"
The 92 year old is sitting at the kitchen table having tea listening to her sisters. She shakes her head and says, "I sure hope I never get that forgetful."
She knocks on wood for good measure. She then yells, "I'll come up and help both of you as soon as I see who's at the door."
It is not only the older generation that forgets. For example:
• We all know families that many have sacrificed to help, but how soon these families forget the sacrifice we made to help them.
• Every church can remember how they reached out and helped a family in need, and how soon the family forgot what was done for them.
Illus: It has been said that you can do a hundred nice things for some people, and if you do one thing they do not like, the only thing they can remember is the one thing you did that they did not like.
The Lord did a great thing when He saved the Apostle Paul on that Damascus road, and Paul never forgot what the Lord had done for him. We see . . .
I. HE REMEMBERED THE PAST
Look at verses 13 through 15, we read, “Who was before a blasphemer, and a persecutor, and injurious: but I obtained mercy, because I did it ignorantly in unbelief. And the grace of our Lord was exceeding abundant with faith and love which is in Christ Jesus. This is a faithful saying, and worthy of all acceptation, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners; of whom I am chief.”
When the Lord saved Paul on that trip to Damascus, Paul never forgot what the Lord had done for him.
In these verses he listed all the things the Lord had saved him from.
But if you had known him when he was romping around the country persecuting the saints of God, you never would have dreamed that he would have become one of, if not the greatest servants of the Lord to walk on this earth.
Illus: In a lot of high school year books, they have a section for the Seniors that deals with:
• The best personality
• The best dressed
• The best looking
• Most likely to succeed
If you had known Paul before he became a Christian, you never would have thought that one day he would become the successful Christian we see in the Bible.
Many times when people acquire success they forget where they came from.
Illus: One of the things many people liked about Elvis Pressley was that he never FORGOT WHERE HE CAME FROM! In the entertainment world he is probably one of the most successful entertainers to ever live. But Elvis always seemed to remember where he came from.
Paul never forgot where he came from:
Look at verse 13, we read, “Who was before a blasphemer, and a persecutor, and injurious: but I obtained mercy, because I did it ignorantly in unbelief.”
A. HE REMEMBERED THE BAD THINGS HE DID
(1) HE WAS A BLASPHEMER
(2) HE WAS A PERSECUTOR
(3) HE INFLICTED PAIN ON THE BELIEVERS
Paul remembered the terrible things he did. Paul was not proud of these things, he was simply stating the facts
Illus: Sometimes when people talk about their sins, a smile comes on their face and they seem to be proud of their sins.
They remind me of children sitting around bragging about their evil deeds. When one tells how evil they have been, the other says, "That is notthing…let me tell you what I did!” They are bragging about their evil deeds like it is something to brag about.
I can assure you that when Paul was talking about his sins, HE WAS NOT PROUD OF BEING CHIEF OF SINNERS, he was simply stating the facts!
Paul does not cut himself any slack, in this letter he tells that HE WAS CHIEF OF SINNERS.
WHY WAS HE TELLING THIS TO TIMOTHY?
Because Timothy was a young pastor and he was having some very difficult times in the ministry.
In effect, Paul was saying, “Listen Timothy, if God can take the chief of sinners and use me the way he has, he can certainly use you.”
Paul remembered:
• The life of sin that God saved Him from
• The life of hopelessness that God saved Him from
B. HE REMEMBERED THE DECEPTIVE LIFE HE LIVED
His only defense for what he had done, is given in verse 13. “…I did it ignorantly in unbelief.”
He was saying he did all those terrible things, but he did them ignorantly, he did not realize what he was doing!
We all have done some terrible things due to ignorance. When you do not know…YOU DO NOT KNOW!
We find ignorance today in many places.
Illus: We see a lot of ignorance in Washington, DC. For example:
There are a lot of folks who can't understand how we came to have an oil shortage here in America.
Well, there's a very simple answer. Nobody bothered to check the oil. We just didn't know we were getting low.
The reason for that is purely geographical. All our oil is in Alaska, Texas, California, New Mexico, and Oklahoma.
All our dipsticks are in Washington, DC
A lot of bad things have been done due to ignorance, and Paul is saying, HE WOULD HAVE NEVER DONE WHAT HE HAD DONE HAD HE NOT BEEN IGNORANT ABOUT THE LORD JESUS!
When you do not know…you do not know!!!
Illus: Life is filled with things that we simply DO NOT KNOW, such as:
• If a word is misspelled in the dictionary, how would we ever know?
• Why do we say something is out of whack? What is a whack?
• Why does "slow down" and "slow up" mean the same thing?
• Why does "fat chance" and "slim chance" mean the same thing?
• Why do we sing "Take me out to the ball game" when we are already there?
• Why are they called "stands" when they are made for sitting?
• Why are a "wise man" and a "wise guy" opposites?
• Why do we put suits in garment bags and garments in a suitcase?
• Why do we wash bath towels? Aren't we clean when we use them?
• Why doesn't glue stick to the inside of the bottle?
There are a lot of things in life that we are ignorant about…WE JUST DO NOT KNOW!
Paul told Timothy that he was a persecutor, a blasphemer and he brought a lot of pain and agony to the people of God, BUT HE WAS IGNORANT AND DID NOT KNOW WHAT HE WAS DOING!
The Bible describes the lost people in this manner.
Look at 2 Cor. 4:4, it says, “In whom the god of this world hath blinded the minds of them which believe not, lest the light of the glorious gospel of Christ, who is the image of God, should shine unto them.”
The Bible says they are BLIND SPIRITUALLY!
Illus: When Anna Nicole Smith was living, she went everywhere flaunting the beauty that God gave her. She became very wealthy! But then the news came on television that she had died. She lived a deceived life, but I can assure you that only a split-second after she died, she realized how ignorantly she had lived her life.
SHE DID THE THINGS SHE DID BECAUSE SHE WAS IGNORANT OF THE THINGS OF GOD! I am sure today, knowing what she now knows, if she could return to this life she would not live the way she lived when she was here.
Illus: Those who are walking in sin are like a man standing on the edge of a cliff, and they have no idea of the danger that they face. THEY ARE IGNORANT OF THE FACTS!
They are walking in ignorance because they can not see what they are doing to themselves and to the Lord Jesus who died to save them.
Paul said he did what he did in ignorance, he isn’t making excuses; he is simply stating the fact.
We see HE NEVER FORGOT THE PAST and -
II. HE NEVER FORGOT THE PRESENT
Paul wrote this to the Corinthian church., Look at 1 Cor. 6:9-11, we read, “Know ye not that the unrighteous shall not inherit the kingdom of God? Be not deceived: neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor effeminate, nor abusers of themselves with mankind, Nor thieves, nor covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor extortioners, shall inherit the kingdom of God. And such were some of you: but ye are washed, but ye are sanctified, but ye are justified in the name of the Lord Jesus, and by the Spirit of our God.”
Paul was not proud of what HE HAD DONE, but he is thrilled at WHAT HE HAD BECOME!
For example, Paul, in 1 Cor. 6: 9-10, lists a group of people he said would not go to Heaven.
This group consisted of fornicators, idolaters, adulterers, homosexuals, thieves, covetous, drunkards, revilers, and extortioners.
Paul does not beat around the bush. He said those who think they can be a Christian and can live this life-style are deceived. He says in verse 9, “Be not deceived.”
But after these have come to the Lord for salvation, he says, “And such were some of you.”
Christians no longer live this way, because now we are WASHED, SANCTIFIED, JUSTIFIED!
Justified means when the Lord saves us by His precious blood, He set us aside (sanctification) and then we appear before God AS IF WE HAVE NEVER SINNED. (Justification)
Paul was once a:
• A BLASPHEMER
• A PERSECUTOR
• A TERRORIST THAT INFLICTED PAIN ON THE BELIEVERS
But he told the Corinthian church that we are NO LONGER THESE THINGS.
Look again at what he said to Timothy, in 1 Timothy 1:16-17, “Howbeit for this cause I obtained mercy, that in me first Jesus Christ might show forth all longsuffering, for a pattern to them which should hereafter believe on him to life everlasting. Now unto the King eternal, immortal, invisible, the only wise God, be honour and glory for ever and ever. Amen.”
Paul recognized that he was no longer a lost man because of two things:
• God had mercy on Him
• God saved Him by His marvelous grace
Some here tonight can say:
• I was once a liar, but I am no longer a liar by the grace of God
• I was once a drunkard, but I am no longer a drunkard by the grace of God
• I was once a thief, but I am no longer a thief by the grace of God
Paul was not PROUD OF WHAT HE HAD BEEN, but after the Lord saved him, HE WAS PROUD OF WHAT HE HAD BECOME!
Conclusion:
A lot Christians have “Spiritual Alzheimer’s disease”:
• They have forgotten what the Lord saved them from
• They have forgotten WHO THEY ARE NOW!
The two things that made the Apostle Paul one of the greatest Christians that ever walked on this earth are:
I. HE NEVER FORGOT THE PAST
II. HE NEVER FORGOT THE PRESENT
