Unlimited Patience, Indescribable Grace
12 I thank Christ Jesus our Lord, who has strengthened me, because He considered me faithful, putting me into service;
13 even though I was formerly a blasphemer and a persecutor and a violent aggressor. And yet I was shown mercy, because I acted ignorantly in unbelief;
14 and the grace of our Lord was more than abundant, with the faith and love which are found in Christ Jesus.
15 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.
16 And yet for this reason I found mercy, in order 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.
17 Now to the King eternal, immortal, invisible, the only God, be honor and glory forever and ever. Amen.
18 This command I entrust to you, Timothy, my son, in accordance with the prophecies previously made concerning you, that by them you may fight the good fight,
19 keeping faith and a good conscience, which some have rejected and suffered shipwreck in regard to their faith.
20 Among these are Hymenaeus and Alexander, whom I have delivered over to Satan, so that they may be taught not to blaspheme.
When you think of Jesus Christ saving you personally are you impressed?
This section of this letter to Timothy shows what Paul thinks about Jesus’ decision to save him. It fits in right between two warnings about those who teach false things about Jesus. And it recenters our thinking on God’s love for sinners. Do you see that? God doesn’t want us to miss the point of the gospel by getting lost in some other details. To make this clear we are told some personal things about Paul’s conversion. Let me ask this question: When does the Bible tell us that Paul called by Jesus to be saved?
By that I’m asking: what condition was Saul of Tarsus in spiritually when he met up with Jesus and was called to follow him? What kind of guy was he? Let’s explore that today, because here the Bible tells us that Paul’s conversion is a display of the unlimited patience of Christ and an example for those who would believe in Jesus and receive eternal life. Here’s a good comparison…
Does any of us here expect Saddam Hussein or Osama Ben Laden to become a Christian and do mission work in Saudi Arabia for Jesus? Why not? Well, nobody in the church thought Saul of Tarsus had a prayer either. He was by all intents and purposes the worst enemy the church knew. Listen to his own description of himself in Acts 26:9f
9 "So then, I thought to myself that I had to do many things hostile to the name of Jesus of Nazareth.
10 "And this is just what I did in Jerusalem; not only did I lock up many of the saints in prisons, having received authority from the chief priests, but also when they were being put to death I cast my vote against them.
11 "And as I punished them often in all the synagogues, I tried to force them to blaspheme; and being furiously enraged at them, I kept pursuing them even to foreign cities.
12 "While thus engaged as I was journeying to Damascus with the authority and commission of the chief priests… Folks this is 150 miles away when travel was slow and hard. Saul is obsessed with ridding the world of Christians!
Earlier we read about when Stephen was stoned and find that Saul was right there holding the coats of those that stoned him, probably cheering them on, because right after that in Acts 8:1f it says, And Saul was in hearty agreement with putting him to death. And on that day a great persecution arose against the church in Jerusalem; and they were all scattered throughout the regions of Judea and Samaria, except the apostles.
2 And some devout men buried Stephen, and made loud lamentation over him.
3 But Saul began ravaging the church, entering house after house; and dragging off men and women, he would put them in prison.
Again listen to is attitude in Acts 9:1 Now Saul, still breathing threats and murder against the disciples of the Lord, went to the high priest,
2 and asked for letters from him to the synagogues at Damascus, so that if he found any belonging to the Way, both men and women, he might bring them bound to Jerusalem.
Do you see anything in this man that deserves God’s grace? Has Saul of Tarsus done anything to indicate that there is any hope for his conversion? No! Listen to Ananias’ assessment of Saul when Jesus told Ananias to go to him and heal him from blindness.
You’ve got to love this: Acts 9:10f Now there was a certain disciple at Damascus, named Ananias; and the Lord said to him in a vision, "Ananias." And he said, "Behold, here am I, Lord."
11 And the Lord said to him, "Arise and go to the street called Straight, and inquire at the house of Judas for a man from Tarsus named Saul, for behold, he is praying,
12 and he has seen in a vision a man named Ananias come in and lay his hands on him, so that he might regain his sight."
Now, pay attention here. Saul is in town. The word is out that if you are a Christian, you’d better lay low. And now the Lord speaks to one of the Christian leaders there in Damascus about this terrorist who’s in town. This is Jesus speaking to Ananias and giving him an assignment. I assume that didn’t happen every day in Ananias’ life. Jesus message comes as a shock, “Ananias, go to the house of Judas and find Saul.” Listen to his response to this job from Jesus…
13 But Ananias answered, "Lord, I have heard from many about this man, how much harm he did to Thy saints at Jerusalem;
14 and here he has authority from the chief priests to bind all who call upon Thy name."
Ananias is questioning the wisdom of the Lord here. Saul? Lord do you know what that guy has been doing lately? Lord, surely you don’t mean that! Not Saul of Tarsus!
And what is Jesus answer to Ananias’ resistance? Look at verse 15. 15 But the Lord said to him, "Go, for he is a chosen instrument of Mine, to bear My name before the Gentiles and kings and the sons of Israel;
16 for I will show him how much he must suffer for My name’s sake."
I get the strong impression from this that Jesus has great confidence in his selection of Saul of Tarsus. It’s almost like Jesus knows what this guy will be doing with the rest of his life.
That’s one of the beauties of God’s grace, it isn’t based on our behavior being up to snuff, but on God’s foreknowledge and love of sinners. Think about how Paul became a Christian. Jesus interrupted his trip to Damascus with a bolt of light that blinded Saul as he was planning to capture and punish Christians. This man wasn’t on his way to church for worship; he was on his way to put the church out of business!
Listen to Paul’s description of our glorious God who saves sinners… Romans 5:6-10
6 For while we were still helpless, at the right time Christ died for the ungodly.
7 For one will hardly die for a righteous man; though perhaps for the good man someone would dare even to die.
8 But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.
9 Much more then, having now been justified by His blood, we shall be saved from the wrath of God through Him.
10 For if while we were enemies, we were reconciled to God through the death of His Son, much more, having been reconciled, we shall be saved by His life.
This truth of the gospel of God’s grace was something Saul of Tarsus never got over. He lived the rest of his life constantly amazed at God’s incredible love and Jesus’ unlimited patience. His message never failed to center on this. He defended this gospel truth to his own grave. Grace from heaven for the hell bound sinner, like me, says Paul, has shaped my life. It has made me want to give every ounce of energy I have to Jesus and his cause.
In his own words…
1 Cor 15:9 For I am the least of the apostles, who am not fit to be called an apostle, because I persecuted the church of God.
10 But by the grace of God I am what I am, and His grace toward me did not prove vain; but I labored even more than all of them, yet not I, but the grace of God with me.
Titus 3:3f For we also once were foolish ourselves, disobedient, deceived, enslaved to various lusts and pleasures, spending our life in malice and envy, hateful, hating one another.
4 But when the kindness of God our Savior and His love for mankind appeared,
5 He saved us, not on the basis of deeds which we have done in righteousness, but according to His mercy, by the washing of regeneration and renewing by the Holy Spirit,
6 whom He poured out upon us richly through Jesus Christ our Savior,
7 that being justified by His grace we might be made heirs according to the hope of eternal life.
Listen to Paul’s words to the Ephesian elders in Acts 20:24 (NIV), “However, I consider my life worth nothing to me, if only I may finish the race and complete the task the Lord Jesus has given me--the task of testifying to the gospel of God’s grace.”
And in his letter to this church Paul states the gospel in these words:
Ephesians 2:1-10
1 And you were dead in your trespasses and sins,
2 in which you formerly walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, of the spirit that is now working in the sons of disobedience.
3 Among them we too all formerly lived in the lusts of our flesh, indulging the desires of the flesh and of the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, even as the rest.
4 But God, being rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us,
5 even when we were dead in our transgressions, made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved),
6 and raised us up with Him, and seated us with Him in the heavenly places, in Christ Jesus,
7 in order that in the ages to come He might show the surpassing riches of His grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus.
8 For by grace you have been saved through faith; and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God;
9 not as a result of works, that no one should boast.
10 For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.
Is this message uncomfortable? Is there something missing in this? I’ll tell you what is missing. It’s the response to the gospel. I haven’t yet told you about faith, repentance, confession and baptism. I haven’t yet told you what to do to receive this grace and how to live in it. But let me pause just here and say this: if we preach the response before establishing the reason for it, we have done what those false teachers in 1 Timothy are doing. We have centered ourselves on us and missed the truth of the gospel. Please hear me out. If I convince someone to say Jesus is the Son of God and get them into the baptistery motivated by something other than the grace of God, I have drained all the power out of the message. Paul would straighten me out.
Now I know that there are many people who believe in Jesus Christ who deny that we need to respond in baptism in order to be saved, and I’m confident that Paul would straighten them out as well. He would probably quote Acts 22:16. But the truth of the gospel is not centered around our obedience. It’s centered around God’s love for sinners before they even know him. We need to get that clear and straight before we rush into telling someone how to obey the gospel. Let’s be sure to present the gospel that is to be obeyed first.
Tonight we are going to talk about the history of baptism. And this morning it would be amiss if I didn’t invite anyone who has been touched by the call of God’s love to respond to the gospel in faith and the obedience of baptism in the name of Jesus for the forgiveness of sins. Or if there is anyone here today who needs prayer and wishes to have the support of this church’s prayers or to confess sin for the promised cleansing that will bring, please come.
