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Paul’s Got You Beat
Paul’s Got You Beat
We hear, “God doesn’t want me in Heaven. I have done too many horrible things to be forgiven.”
This is never accurate. God is awesomely forgiving. “Who is a God like You, who pardons iniquity, And passes over the rebellious act of the remnant of His possession? … He delights in unchanging love” (Micah 7:18).
He loves every person individually and died to show it (John 3:16). His love includes good people and evil people (Matt. 5:45). It includes you and me. But, people can feel unworthy when burdened by the weight and number of their sins. So, I am thankful to be able to introduce them to an individual who has sinned worse than they have, and who nevertheless found salvation.
Law is not made for a righteous person, but for those who are lawless and rebellious… I thank Christ Jesus our Lord, who has strengthened me, because He considered me faithful, putting me into service, even though I was formerly a blasphemer and a persecutor and a violent aggressor. Yet I was shown mercy because I acted ignorantly in unbelief; and the grace of our Lord was more than abundant, with the faith and love which are found in Christ Jesus. It is a trustworthy statement, deserving full acceptance, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners, among whom I am foremost of all. Yet for this reason I found mercy, so that in me as the foremost, Jesus Christ might demonstrate His perfect patience as an example for those who would believe in Him for eternal life (1 Tim. 1:9-16).
Paul says law is for the lawless—the Bible is addressed to a world of sinful people. “All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God” (Rom. 3:23). There’s no sense grading yourself to figure out whether you’ve stepped over a threshold of horribleness. You have; you’re in the same boat as everyone else who has ever lived. But you are an object of God’s love, who wants you to be saved (2 Pet. 3:9).
But look at the words Paul uses to describe himself: “Blasphemer,” one who speaks evil of the Divine. “Violent aggressor,” one who perpetrates outrageous acts. “Persecutor,” one who zealously hunts them down to arrest, injure, and kill. In Acts 7, Paul presided over the execution of Stephen. In Acts 8:3, he was “ravaging the church,” a word used to describe wild hogs tilling up a field. In Acts 9:1 he was “breathing threats and murder against the disciples.” He directed his fury at men and women, and traveled far and wide to track them down. You think that you feel shame and remorse for your sins? Imagine what Paul must have felt every time hemet the family of someone who suffered at his hands (1 Cor. 15:9)!
Paul was qualified to compare himself to others. He knew violent Roman soldiers. He spent time in the halls of decadent kings. He witnessed debauchery on the city streets and liquor-soaked idolatry in the marketplaces. He argued with the most depraved philosophers. Yet, he concluded that he was still “foremost” of all sinners. Yet, Paul was saved. He was saved specifically so that he might serve as an example, that “in me as the foremost, Jesus Christ might demonstrate His perfect patience.” The grace of Jesus was “more than abundant.” If God saved Paul, God can save you. If Christ forgave Paul, Christ wants to forgive you.
Paul demonstrated his confidence in that same “trustworthy statement” by traveling to dens of immorality—the Las Vegas and New Orleans of his day—to preach the gospel to the lost. And many involved in the worst sins turned to Christ (1 Cor. 6:9-11).
So, don’t say “God doesn’t want to forgive me.” Instead, “Seek the Lord while He may be found, Call upon Him while He is near. Let the wicked forsake his way, And the unrighteous man his thoughts, And let him return to the Lord, And He will have compassion on him; And to our God, For He will abundantly pardon” (Isa. 55:6-8). --John Guzzetta
