Paul as an Example of Mercy

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. Howbeit for this cause I obtain mercy, that in me first, Jesus Christ might show forth all long suffering 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 honor and glory forever and ever. Amen. Let’s pray. Lord, as we come to Your Word again this evening, thank You for the opportunity. Lord, help us not to take it lightly, that we have a chance to meet as the people of God, Lord, with the presence and promise of the spirit of God, the spirit of Christ among us, and the promise that the Holy Spirit will teach us and Lord, we ask you to do that. We ask you to open our eyes and help us to understand your word. I pray that, Lord, You would edify and strengthen Your people as we study it, and especially that the name and goodness and mercy of Christ would be exalted, Lord, and that we might see these truths plainly. Lord, bless these kids that have sung, Lord, the kids of our church, young and old, who are right now being formed, whether they know it or not, being formed in their understanding of spiritual things and whose value systems and worldviews are all being formed. Lord, give the parents wisdom as they try to guide them. Lord, give the parents grace and mercy that they might provide godly examples for the kids. And I pray that You’d give each and every child without exception a heart that’s tender and soft, one that receptive to the gospel. Lord, I pray that You would protect them from satanic effort to destroy them and to tear down the seedlings of faith that are being planted in their hearts and, Lord, protect them. And I pray that You would bring forth a faith in each one of these kids, a personal faith that would bear fruit to the glory of the Lord Jesus Christ.

So bless our time tonight, pray in Jesus’ name. Amen. So you’ll notice in verse starting verse number 12, he talks Paul talks about how that that Christ has enabled him. For that he counted me faithful putting me into ministry. The enabling of the lord and then he goes on to say in verse number 13, actually verse 13 down through verse say 16, Paul recounts a good bit about his or he he summarizes if you will a lot about his his past before he was a believer. Now, Paul is is stunned really. Paul, Paul throughout his life, apparently, Paul stood in in a somewhat amazement in the contrast between his life as an unbeliever to all the things that God had privileged him to partake in and the responsibility he had been given as an apostle, and as someone who had been led into and directed and called into the ministry in verse number 12, given the fact that he was such a wicked man before he was a believer.

Now, think about, I just want to do a just a brief summary of what the scripture says about Paul before he was before he met the lord on the road to Damascus in Acts chapter nine.

Paul’s life before he was a believer was marked by particularly wicked sin, particularly wicked sin, and that’s what he he describes here. But but lest we lest we rush to to assume as to what kind of sin that is, you gotta remember that Paul’s sin was not overt moral wickedness like we might, you know, you hear the stories about the, you know, the drunkard in the gutter that got saved or the drug addict that got saved while he was in jail or you know, or you know, you you hear, you hear things like that and those are the major, you know, often the stories that go along with it with with people getting saved and that’s good and that’s fine but but that’s not Paul’s story at all.

It it’s not Paul’s story at all and it’s a little bit of a shock because the man who in scripture described himself as the chief of sinners in verse number 15 wasn’t involved in any of that. In fact, Paul was morally speaking, Paul was a moral, very moral person. He was far far more strict than you and I are strict as far as outward observance of the law. In fact, in Philippians chapter three, he says that he was before the law as concerning the law, he was blameless.

That means, if you examined Paul’s life as Saul of Tarsus prior to his conversion from the perspective of the outside looking in, right? If you if you observed his life, you wouldn’t find anywhere that you could say he’s not he’s not following the law of god. Now, he was not he was not impeccable according to the law of god. He’s just referring to the to to the the observation of him from the outside And it wasn’t just on the outside, Paul was also sincere.

It wasn’t he it wasn’t Paul wasn’t a hypocrite. Paul was sincere in what he did as wicked as it was. Paul was sincere in it. So, when we look at the man in scripture who describes himself as the chief of sinners, it is not the it is not the sinner that we might we might automatically assume. His wickedness, his form of wickedness was not what we might call common kind of moral wickedness that we’re familiar with. His wickedness was of a completely different character.

Paul did not throw himself at lust or at money or liquor, or drugs, or power, or any of the other common vices that are associated with the lust of the flesh.

But his wickedness, Paul’s wickedness before he knew Christ was directly aimed at the Lord Jesus Christ himself. Now he didn’t know that, but his wickedness was directly aimed at the Lord Jesus Christ himself. In Acts chapter nine verse four, the Bible says, when when he met the lord Jesus on the road to Damascus, if you pay close attention to what Jesus said to him on that road, he said this, Saul, Saul, why persecutest thou me? Now, Jesus is in heaven.

Jesus is seated at that point at the right hand of the father and yet, he Paul and yet the lord says to Saul, why are you persecuting me? And of course, that’s a reference to the body of Christ, which are believers, and he was he was persecuting them. And and he said, and he he when he when he fell down, he said to the Lord, Lord, who art thou Lord? And he said, I am Jesus whom thou persecutest.

So, the lord doesn’t say, you per... You’re persecuting my people. No, he says, you’re persecuting me and that was kind of a good summary of what Paul was doing. Paul, Paul’s assault against the people of god was an attack on the lord Jesus Christ himself and that is wicked. What Paul did was vile and ungodly but let’s look at just a few passages. I’ll read some and then we’ll look at some as well. Acts chapter eight verse three, if you want to note down the references for later, Acts eight verse three says this, as for Saul, he made havoc of the church.

Entering into every house and hailing men and women. Hailing means to drag. Hailing men and women committed them to prison. You see this, you also see it later. Paul Saul of Tarsus as the persecutor before he knew the lord Jesus, he had he had no, he made no differentiation between a woman disciple of Christ and a man disciple of Christ. He would just as well commit one to prison as the other. Acts chapter nine verse one says this, and Saul, yet breathing out threatenings and slaughter against the disciples of the Lord went unto to unto the high priest. How wicked do you have to be to look at a man who believes in Christ and say and say, listen, I’m coming for you and you’re gonna die.

That’s exactly what he said. Threatenings and slaughter. That’s the words. These are his words now and I mean, just think about the man. Think about the level of hatred Paul had for Christians that was he was intent on getting the proper permission and doing it the right way to slaughter Christians and he told them ahead of time what he was going to do. He spoke wicked words. He spoke untrue words against Jesus and against those that followed him.

Now, Acts chapter nine verse five says this, and he said, this is on the road to Damascus, where who art thou lord? And the lord said unto said, I am Jesus whom thou persecutest. It is hard for thee to kick against the pricks. How many of you have ever walked behind a yoke of animals plowing something? Raise your hand high if you’ve ever done that. A single person and I’m not one of them.

As I understand it, I am happy to be corrected, but as I understand it, when you walk behind a plow that animals are pulling, you often carry a pointy stick, And that helps the the pride, the prick, and that helps keep them where they need to be whenever they, you know, get out of line. You can jab them with the stick and and the idea here with what he’s saying to Paul, now now now follow, follow what the lord’s saying to Paul. He says, it is hard for thee to kick against the pricks.

The idea with that is, as Paul was doing these wicked, as Paul was doing this wickedness, he was also resistant to the lord Jesus. So, as Paul’s doing this thing, the lord’s trying to get his attention. The lord is is is has been working in his life and and trying to guide him and trying to and just just great mercy as we’ll see. He’s been trying to get Paul to see what he’s where he’s off and see how wicked he is and Paul is not seeing it. In fact, he’s resisting it. Now, I think one, this is this is my take on it. I think many of you would agree.

I think one of the ways that that happened was in Acts chapter seven when he was present when Stephen, the the famous deacon of the church in Jerusalem, was gave his life for the name of Christ, was stoned to death. And the Bible says in Acts chapter seven verse fifty eight nine that that that they laid those that that the witness against Stephen laid their clothing at a young man’s feet whose name was Saul and that was Saul. You know what he saw in Acts chapter seven? You know, he saw as Stephen was stoned and and if you had the wrong idea, here’s what stoning is, okay? Stoning is not picking up a rock like a size of a baseball.

Stone, stoning is picking up a rock as large as you can pick up and raise above your head and throwing it down upon the head of the victim. It is violent. It is brutal. And this is what Saul not only held the clothing for those who did this, who gave his voice for this to be done in approval but while it was being done, this man, the Bible says that his countenance was like an angel of god, right? When he stood before the council, Stephen?

And as he was, as he was dying, Stephen said, lord, lay not this sin to their charge. He asked for mercy for his persecutors. One of whom was this young man, Saul, holding the clothing, holding the, if you will, the the coats. Of those who would actually lift the stones to kill Stephen and that you you gotta know that witnessing that had an effect upon upon Saul of Tarsus. You had to know that.

Now, I don’t know anywhere in the Bible. Maybe you do but I don’t know if anywhere in the Bible where Paul specifically says, I saw that and it affected me. I don’t know that but I could certainly imagine that scene kind of echoing in his mind. And seeing other worldly faith, other worldly loyalty, other worldly love, other worldly, something that that didn’t exist in Judaism, right? That Paul, as faithful as he was to to the Jewish faith, to the Jewish religion. He he knew nothing of what he saw, Stephen exhibit in Acts chapter seven. He knew nothing of that because that is only given by the power of the spirit of god in somebody.

And yet he saw it. And so this this is why I think when he was kicking against the pricks, he was resistant against, I mean, very fact that he was in that place witnessing that event is as terrible as that was, as grave as that was, that itself would have been a major... I mean, even in history, you know, there are people who witnessed the burn burning of Christians at the stake and would later become believers and gave testimony that it profoundly affected them.

And so I think that was probably the Lord was working in Saul of Tarsus who became Paul. Acts 22 verse four says this, Paul speaking of himself during a testimony before the the the civil authorities, he says this, and I persecuted this way, the way of the of the Christian, unto death, unto the death, binding and delivering into prisons both men and women. You see, Saul was responsible for ending the life of Christians as well as putting them in prison. Acts 26 verse nine.

If you’ll... Let’s let’s take a minute and look at that. Acts 26 verse number nine. Acts 26 verse nine. This is before Agrippa, the Bible says, this is Paul speaking now. He says, I verily thought with myself that I ought to do many things contrary to the name of Jesus of Nazareth. Which thing I also did in Jerusalem and many of the saints did I shut up in prison, having received authority from the chief priests.

And when they were put to death, I gave my voice against them. He says, and I punished them off in every synagogue, and compelled them to blaspheme, and being exceedingly mad against them. That doesn’t mean angry, that means crazy.

I persecuted them even under strange cities. What did these three verses mean? It means Paul witnessed against Christians to put them to death, Paul provoked Christians not only did he breathe out threatening and slaughter and he threatened to kill them. He said, I’m I’m going to get these letters and you are dead. And then when it came that time, when when he finally got them in in hand and he had them arrested with authority that he received, he he he put it to him and he said, listen, all you have to do is deny that Jesus rose from the dead.

All you have to do is call him an impostor, a fake. That all this stuff you’ve been doing is is is not real. He compelled them to blaspheme, to speak against Christ. Boy, that’s that’s something that’s been done throughout history.

To save themselves from punishment. And he even traveled to foreign places like the road to Damascus, which was a foreign city, so that he could find the Jews there and and arrest them and bring them back to to Jerusalem to be punished.

Galatians one thirteen says this, For ye have heard of my conversation in time past in the Jews religion, how that beyond measure I persecuted the church of God and wasted it. Paul was a persecutor of the saints and he was a zealous and energetic persecutor. It was his driving force in his life. First Corinthians fifteen:nine, he says this, For I am the least of the apostles, that I am not meet to be called an apostle, because I persecuted the church of God. Just like in our text here in verse 15, he says, Of whom I am chief, the chief of sinners. He says, I am the least of the apostles.

So I want you to see this, that Paul felt deeply that he was unworthy, he was more unworthy than others to be honored with any kind of service to Jesus because of his past life in this sin and that’s why he called himself the chief of sinners. Now, that is a complete reversal as to the way we view the service of god. We often gotta go and we often have to serve god. Is it not, I mean, let’s just be honest. Is it not true that we often serve god kicking and screaming?

If the preacher beats on us enough, we’ll finally say, well, fine, then I’ll go change the tire, whatever, you know. Which by the way, we got that taken care of. I appreciate your help. You know, you know, in other words, we gotta get beaten and beaten and beaten, reminded and then admonishing and rebuked and reproved and finally, we say, okay, fine, God. Here, you can have my 10¢.

But Paul thought it completely different. He said, I am not worthy to serve God at all. God is... I am compelled by the Lord to do this thing that I am not worthy to do. Man, it shows us that serving god is not something that should have to, we should have to be compelled to do. It shouldn’t be something that lord has to twist our arm. We ought to say, lord, I owe you everything. I don’t deserve to be able to serve you. It’s a it’s an a privilege to serve the lord Jesus Christ and it is. Amen. It is a privilege.

It is a privilege Now, I want you to see as well verse number 13. It says, Who was before a blasphemer and a persecutor and injurious... Now I want you to...

Paul gives us a little glimpse into his inward motivations during all of this period when he’s trying to hunt down and kill the disciples of Christ. Here’s his motivations, But I obtained mercy, verse 13, because I did it ignorantly in unbelief. So let me let me pose a question to you. As Saul of Tarsus, who later became Paul, as Saul of Tarsus was hunting down, arresting, persecuting, compelling to blaspheme, threatening, and killing Christians.

Was he doing it knowing full well that Jesus was indeed the son of god risen from the dead? No. He was not. You see Paul, Saul of Tarsus here was ignorant and unbelieving. He did not believe that Jesus has risen from the dead. He did not believe that Jesus was who he claimed to be. He did not believe in Christ at all. He believed it was all a fraud, all a fake, maybe he believed the line that had been that we read about earlier or in the in the at the end of the book of Matthew. Maybe he believed the line that his body had been stolen. Maybe maybe that was it. We don’t know what the reason was. But here’s, he he did not believe that Jesus was who he said he was, and that’s a key point we’ll see in a minute.

What I want you to see is that Saul of Tarsus, the persecutor, was a sincere person. It is absolutely possible to be totally sincere about what you believe and be wrong.

It is totally possible to be sincere and totally convinced that you are right and still be wrong. I say that, I don’t say that with... I don’t mean to say it with any kind of air of arrogance or anything. It’s not like, well, you’re wrong and I’m right. I I don’t mean that at all. What I’m saying is, I mean I remember when I I remember when I was you know a teenager.

Even at a period of time I was coming to Choice Hills Baptist Church as a teenager. I remember being convinced that I was saved. Like I was convinced of this fact, I was sincere about it. We had to write, I remember one time, and I don’t mean this negative at all, I mean it in a positive way. Some of you remember Bob Landis, is that a name familiar with anybody? Anyway, he used to be the youth director here.

And and one day we had, I guess at that time we had a wannas, we won’t mention that, you know, it’s kinda changed now a little bit, but anyway, but we had a wannas, and I was in the youth group and they had us write down our testimony of salvation. And so I wrote down my testimony of salvation, of when I prayed the prayer when I was about eight, you know, that kind of thing.

And I wrote it down, there wasn’t any thought in my mind that any of that wasn’t real, that any of that wasn’t effectual, that any of that wasn’t when I got saved. Listen, we can be sincerely intent and pure hearted in our persuasion and not be right.

So just because we’re sure doesn’t mean it’s true. The Word of God is what determines if it’s true. That’s something that ought strike a little bit of fear in our heart, you know? I know for certain I’m going to heaven. Well that’s all fine and good, but you have to know more than for certain you’re going to heaven, you gotta know according to the Scripture that you’re going to heaven.

Right? You see our assurance must not come from our own inward kind of convincing or sincerity. Our assurance must come from the outside, that is from God’s Word. Does God’s Word testify that you are right with God? That you are you have eternal life? Does God’s word testify to that fact? That’s an objective measure, not just how sincere you are about about your own heart.

But another thing about Paul’s history that we read here and throughout Acts that we read a minute ago is that Paul’s example demonstrates that a person can be totally free of all the common, I just use this term common moral vice, right? The drinking and the fornication and the drugs and you know, all the foul stuff that this world longs after and does, know, you see partying, carousing, all that kind of stuff. All of that is wicked.

I I’m not just, you know, I’m not just being mean. It’s all, it’s all sinful, right? Paul had none of this and his his example shows us that a person can actually be free of all of that, not be involved in any of that stuff that we warn people about. And yet still be violently opposed to Jesus Christ. Is it possible for a man to be to be absolutely dedicated to his faith and yet violently opposed to Jesus? Yes, it is.

And let me say this, although this isn’t true of Paul and his particular situation because Judaism was not faith in Christ, but by application, it is absolutely possible to be dedicated to a Christian religion and yet be violently opposed to Jesus Christ. You say, how is that... It’s a Christian religion, how that possibly be? I’m telling you, it is. Some of the greatest persecutors throughout history have been a part of Christian religions.

Some of the greatest persecutors of Christian people, disciples of Christ have been adherents, faithful adherents to Christian religion. Now, So we see Paul was sincere. Now I want you to see something in verse number 13. Once again it says, Who was before a blasphemer and a persecutor and injurious, notice this, but I obtained mercy because I did it ignorantly in unbelief. You see this? The reason that God gave Paul mercy despite all of the wickedness that he was involved in, Despite the fact that he hated the disciples of Jesus Christ. I mean, he had a blood lust.

I mean, he wanted them absolutely eradicated. Despite that vehement hatred that Paul had, Saul had against the disciples of Christ, against Jesus himself, and despite all the wicked things he said and blasphemy that he spoke against Jesus Christ, despite all of that, God gave him mercy.

He did not judge him, He gave him mercy. And the reason is given in verse 13, the reason God showed mercy on Paul is because of his ignorance and his unbelief. You see that? That’s an important truth. That’s an important truth.

This man Saul did what he did ignorantly, not with knowledge. Now hold your place here if you would and go to Romans chapter one. Romans chapter one. If you know anything about Romans one, it’s directed at at at at humanity and it talks about how that men reject god. You know, it starts out in verse number 18, for the wrath of god is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men who hold the truth in unrighteousness. You see that? They hold the truth in unrighteousness. They have the truth. It goes on to say in verse number 19, because that which may be known of god is manifest unto them for god has showed it unto them. Verse 21, because that when they knew god, they glorified him not as god. You see that? These people are not ignorant.

You see that? They’re not ignorant. They know who God is. They know what God expects. They know what God thinks about their life and their love of sin. They know it. Then you get down to verse number 30, as they degrade and they get more and more sinful and god turns them over to their wish to throw themselves at sin. Verse 31, it says this, without understanding covenant breakers, without natural affection, implacable, unmerciful, who, notice this, knowing the judgment of God, that they which commit such things are worthy of death, not only do the same, but have pleasure in them that do them. So, let me ask you a question again from verse from chapter Romans chapter one.

The people being described in chapter one, do they know better? Do they, are they ignorant or are they they doing the things we read in chapter one with knowledge? With knowledge.

I want to tell you something. That’s what Paul was not doing. He was doing what he’s doing as wicked as it was, ignorantly. Now, just because he’s ignorant doesn’t mean it’s okay, right? It’s not okay. But it is different in the sense of the motivation because one is with knowledge and one is ignorantly. Look at if you would at Luke chapter 12. Luke chapter 12.

Luke 12 verse 47. I’m just trying to show you a principle here, a principle that was at work in Paul’s life. Verse 47, is one of the parables of Christ says this, And that servant which, what does it say, knew his Lord’s will and prepared not himself, neither did according to His will shall be beaten with many stripes. But he that knew not and did commit things worthy of stripes shall be beaten with few stripes.

For unto whomsoever much is given, of Him shall be much required. And to whom men have committed much, of Him will they ask the more. So I want to tell you something. Knowledge that God gives us is something that the Lord holds us to account for. Now, going back to Paul, going back to Paul, Paul says, God showed him mercy because he did what he did ignorantly and in unbelief. He did not have the knowledge.

He did not believe that Jesus had risen from the dead. He did not believe that Jesus was the Christ, the son of the living god. He did not believe that Christians were true believers. He didn’t believe in any of that and it was for that reason because he was ignorant that god showed him mercy. So, that tells us something. It tells us that the ingredient of knowledge in man’s response to God largely determines the mercy that God offers that man.

The knowledge that a man has and how he responds to that knowledge largely determines the mercy that God offers to that man. And let me tell you something about our salvation. Not just our salvation. We’ll see that this extends even into our our life as a believer as well but in in the matter of salvation, hear me out.

If god does not extend mercy to any individual that person has no chance at all of being saved. For each and every one of us who comes to the Lord Jesus Christ and receives forgiveness of sin, it only happens because God extends mercy to us at that moment, individually, in time.

Because if He didn’t, if He did not extend mercy, then there would be... Remember, salvation is not a transaction. It’s not... God is not a vending machine, I’ve said before, where you put in the money and you pull the lever or you press the buttons and out comes eternal life. That’s not how it works. God is actively involved. Christ has borne our penalty upon the cross. Yes, He died in the place of sinners. That’s what verse 15 says.

He came into the world to save sinners. He did that. But in time, in real life, in in each one of our individual lives, the lord interacts with us and the lord holds us to the amount of knowledge that we have. And if we have received not, if we have received knowledge that we have knowingly turned away. Maybe because we’ve heard it our whole lives. Maybe because what are, maybe because we just love sin but we had the knowledge and it was in front of us and we knew it and we turn that away. God is going to hold us to account for that and you know what? It that might mean, that might mean that he withholds the mercy that someone who is ignorant would receive.

And boy, it is a it is a terrible thing for god to hold mercy from us because we need it. We need it. So, we listen, we ought not play with what we know to be the truth. We ought not play, like I said this morning, We’re talking about being guilty before god like Romans chapter three verse verse 19 says, we are not playing with the knowledge that I’m guilty before god. That’s that’s knowledge not everybody has.

The knowledge of the gospel, the knowledge of the scripture, the knowledge that that you really do stand in need of Christ. All of those things are knowledge that that we ought not take that lightly and overlook that but do do we do that though. We we we know these things and yet we turn the Lord away.

We tell him not now. We tell him, I’ll do it later. I don’t wanna I don’t wanna I don’t I don’t wanna don’t wanna deal with that right now.

Man, I think about somebody in my family who did that. When they were being given the gospel, this is a real person, and they were given the gospel, this person was given the gospel plainly, clearly, and that person with their own words said, I ain’t ready for that.

I’ll tell you something, mercy was taken from that person. Look if you would at Romans nine, Little foretaste of our School of Scripture class, which by the way, I forgot to mention, we’re gonna be starting that back up on November 6. We’re gonna be starting our study in Romans chapter nine through 16. If you want to be a part of that, then let me know and we’ll be glad to have you. Romans chapter nine, look if you would at verse number 15.

For he saith to Moses, I will have mercy on whom I will have mercy, And I will have compassion on whom I will have compassion. That’s a quotation from Exodus 33 verse 19. And then he goes on to say in verse number 18, therefore, he therefore hath he mercy on whom he will have mercy and whom he will he hardeneth. In other words, nobody has the power to force God to show mercy.

Nobody has the power to force God to to to be kind and extend that offer, right? No one can say, god, you have to do this. No, god does it at his own will but what we read in first Timothy is there are things that affect whether god shows mercy. It’s not like, well, you know, and and sometimes people read these verses and you guys that are familiar with all this, all these doctrinal questions, they read these verses and it it’s like, well, you know, the elect god shows mercy to the elect and all the people god hasn’t chosen, he shows no mercy as if, you know, that’s all is all it is. No. What if God wants to show mercy to a whole lot of people, but the knowledge that he has given them, they have rejected.

That door of mercy goes down. At his will, and nobody in the world can stop him or say, what are you doing? Why didn’t you show mercy? Nobody can do that. That’s frightening. And you know what? We ought to have a healthy fear of God in this way, even as a believer, but especially as an unbeliever. God does not have to show us mercy. And the reason you’re saved is because God showed you mercy. And many of you know that before you knew the Lord Jesus Christ, you had a whole lot of knowledge.

And at any time, he could have said, you’ve done nothing with the knowledge I’ve given you. Mercy’s over. And he would have been right. But he didn’t. But He didn’t. And you’re here today as a child of God because God extended mercy though you had knowledge. Right? It’s the truth.

Now back in first Timothy, we see that God showed, in verse 13, God showed mercy to Paul because he did what he did ignorantly, without knowledge, he did not know who Jesus was.

You know, we might be inclined to think of a man who is, now think with me, we might be inclined to, if we met a man who was going to church, alright, say a man had lived a life of sin and he had not been interested in God, maybe he was brought up in the church but got away and then maybe he started coming to church and he’s not, you know, he’s listening on occasion and he’s hearing the truth and you see this person who’s kind of teetering, right?

Am I gonna trust in Christ, am I not? Do I want to continue in my sin or not? And he’s kind of halt between two opinions, undecided on these questions. And you might look at that man, you might think, now that man is close to the kingdom of God, right? Thou art not far from the kingdom of God. And I wanna tell you something, he’s in a dangerous place.

You know why? Because of his exposure to knowledge and his constant rejection of it. He’s in a more dangerous place than the place Paul was in. He said, what? Paul, he’s not persecuting Christians and Paul was. He’s not breathing out threatenings, but Paul was. But from and that’s true. As far as as a a measure of degree of sin, you know, Paul was doing was pretty wicked, right?

But as it is from the from the perspective of the god who shows mercy at his will, who no one can force Him to show mercy, the one with knowledge is far more accountable than the one without.

And so for many people, we’re playing Russian roulette with God’s mercy toward us. We think it’s always gonna be there, but it’s not. And without mercy, there is no salvation.

That’s why the Bible says, today is the day of salvation. Right? Today. God’s mercy is extended now and you can’t, you and I, there is no way that we can guarantee that tomorrow God’s mercy will be extended to someone who’s who has knowledge today. If you have knowledge today, mercy is today. Salvation is today. Eternal life is offered today, no guarantee of tomorrow. You must not, dare not play Russian roulette with God’s mercy.

Now you’ll notice in verse number 16... Well before we do that, let’s go to James four, I wanna show you one principle. James four. James chapter four. Let’s look at that real quick and then we’ll go to the second reason that God showed mercy to Paul. James four verse number 17.

Simple principle, but it’s the same principle now applied to a believer. Verse 17 of James four says this, Therefore to him that knoweth to do good and doeth it not, to him it is sin. Now this is written to a believer now. To him that knoweth to do good. See that word knoweth? That’s that knowledge I’m talking about. But in this case, the context is little bit different, we’re talking about a believer. So let me ask you a question.

Are you doing, I’m just reading the verse, 17. Are you as a believer doing everything you know to do? In other words, what are you doing as a believer with the knowledge that you have?

That’s the question. Because the Lord looks upon that differently than not doing something because you don’t know that you’re supposed to do it. Is that not what a Christian life is is like? Trust in Christ, we begin to grow, and over time the Lord shows us, hey, there’s a bunch of stuff in your life that needs to be different. Right? There’s a bunch of stuff you were doing, you gotta stop doing, and there’s a bunch of stuff you weren’t doing, you need to start doing, right? If you summarize the Christian life, that’s basically what it is. The Lord is changing us from day to day, but you know what that is? He’s given us knowledge bit by bit, bit by bit, bit by bit, and then he’s expecting us to respond and do the good that we know to do.

Because if we don’t do what we know to do, to us it is sin. And I know that’s simple, But I think all of us to some degree or another, and this is not an excuse, not for me and not for you, but all of us to some degree or another, our no is way out in front of our do. Is that not true? What we know is way out in front.

We ought to be praying, God help me to do what I already know to do. Now back in first Timothy to finish up and close, first Timothy one verse number 16, look what it says, Howbeit for this cause, here’s the second cause, I obtain mercy. So there’s two two causes, two reasons God gave Paul mercy. Number one is because he did what he did ignorantly, not with knowledge.

But number two, that in me verse 16, that in me first, Jesus Christ might show forth all long suffering for a pattern to them which should hereafter believe on him to life everlasting. The second reason that god had mercy on Paul is that god wanted to use Paul as an example. God wanted to use Paul as an example of a hard case. God wanted to use Paul as an example of a lost cause and even Christians in Paul’s day, those disciples that he was he was chasing after and hunting down, they also didn’t, they thought Paul was a hard case. We know that because Acts nine verse 26, it says this, and when Saul was come to Jerusalem, he is saved to join himself to the disciples, but they were all afraid of him and believed not that he was a disciple.

They said, no way. There ain’t no way this guy’s a believer now. Why? Well, they viewed him as a hard case. Maybe an impossible case. That’s what you do. You... When you don’t believe somebody actually got saved, the reason you don’t is because you think it wasn’t possible for them to get saved. So, Paul was a hard case. Who else was this energetic and zealous persecuting Christians? Who else personally attacked the lord Jesus Christ? Who else loved to threaten and and and and kill Christians and try to get them to blaspheme the name of Jesus? Who else had this kind of energy? Who else who else had this kind of of zeal to do these kinds of things?

You see, there was no case harder than that of the case of Saul of Tarsus. I wonder if the early Christians actually had enough faith to pray for Saul to be saved. I know one person did. You know who that is? Not by name, Stephen. Lord, lay not this sin to their charge. Paul’s in that group, is he not? Somebody prayed for Saul. He’s a hard case, he was an impossible case.

That’s why God showed mercy on him, to prove that the hardest case that could ever be was not too hard of a case for God. And somebody, some Christian prayed for that person, prayed for the impossible. Listen, do you know of a hard case? I mean, gotta know or have known of a hard case. I’m telling you, there is no case too hard for Christ.

And you ought to pray, we ought to pray with faith, Lord do what is impossible. Because we remember what the scripture says, for with God all things are possible.

He was a hard case because he was hardened in his religion. How many of you know hard cases where someone is dedicated to their religion? Doesn’t... There’s no way they’re gonna they’re gonna believe in Christ. They’re dead. Paul was that.

Paul Saul of Tarsus was a man who was absolutely convinced he was right. How many of you know of a hard case? Who is convinced that they’re right? Yeah, he was that too.

He was certain that he was doing god’s service. Yeah, there are cases are like that. He put people to death for their faith. We don’t know anybody like that. Nobody’s that hard of a case that we know of. He hated the disciples of Christ. Have you ever known somebody that absolutely hates Christians? Christianity, Christ, the Bible, religion, you ever known? That’s a hard case.

But that’s Paul kind of eclipses that, does he not? So to the Lord, by putting Paul forth as an example, He says, listen, if God saved me, He can save anybody.

If Christ showed me great long suffering, there are no hard cases beyond the reach of God’s mercy. He can show them mercy just like He showed... In other words, if God’s mercy on long suffering reached all the way to Saul of Tarsus, then everybody between the Lord and Saul of Tarsus is fair game. He can reach them, right? If, you know, the Bible says, is the Lord’s hand shortened? You know, have this picture of God’s hand reaching out. Is the Lord’s hand shortened that He cannot save, His ear heavy that He cannot hear, right? Isaiah 55, I think it is.

Is that right? So you think of this idea of God reaching. Well, God reached is to the one who was the furthest out, Saul of Tarsus, and said, I can reach that guy. And so anybody between here and there, I got him. I can reach him. Are you praying the Lord would reach that person? Are you praying in faith?

How are you doing with your knowledge? Are you doing what you know already? Let’s pray together.