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Revolutionay Grace

Nothing exceeds the importance of a person’s relationship with Christ. E. Stanley Jones (1884–1973) illustrated this truth by telling of an African who changed his name to “After” once he became a Christian. The new believer explained that everything important in his life happened after he met Jesus Christ. Salvation ushers in the most important happenings of our lives. Living Abundantly, Brian Harbour, 1992, p. 25

“‘Putting on Christ’ is not one among many jobs a Christian has to do; and it is not a sort of special exercise for the top class. It is the whole of Christianity. —C.S. Lewis

“ 1 Then Saul, still breathing threats and murder against the disciples of the Lord, went to the high priest 2 and asked letters from him to the synagogues of Damascus, so that if he found any who were of the Way, whether men or women, he might bring them bound to Jerusalem 3 As he journeyed he came near Damascus, and suddenly a light shone around him from heaven. 4 Then he fell to the ground, and heard a voice saying to him, “Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting Me?” 5 And he said, “Who are You, Lord?” Then the Lord said, “I am Jesus, whom you are persecuting.[a] It is hard for you to kick against the goads.”  6 So he, trembling and astonished, said, “Lord, what do You want me to do?” Then the Lord said to him, “Arise and go into the city, and you will be told what you must do.”

7 And the men who journeyed with him stood speechless, hearing a voice but seeing no one. 8 Then Saul arose from the ground, and when his eyes were opened he saw no one. But they led him by the hand and brought him into Damascus. 9 And he was three days without sight, and neither ate nor drank.”
Acts 9:1-9

Without question, one of the greatest Christians who ever lived was a man by the name of Paul.  Paul suffered for the cause of Christ.  He abandoned a life of luxury and prestige to preach the message of grace.  He walked away from friends, family and fortune to follow Jesus and tell others about the Lord.  Paul was a faithful believer, a powerful preacher, and a man used more than any other in his generation, or in any generation since.  But, Paul knew better than anyone that without Jesus Christ he was none of those things.

 Listen to his own testimony in 1 Cor. 15:10, “10But by the grace of God I am what I am, and his grace to me was not without effect. No, I worked harder than all of them—yet not I, but the grace of God that was with me..” 

Paul knew that his life, and everything that had come from his life, was the result of God’s grace working in him and through him.

 Our text records the day when Paul was apprehended by grace.  Grace had been after him for quite some time, but on the day described in these verses, Paul was captured once and for all by the marvelous, matchless, glorious grace of God.  He was saved, secured and sent out to serve a new Master. 

1.  A Life Claimed By Grace

     A. In Spite Of His Deeds

What was Paul like before he came to know Jesus?  He was a staunch Jew who did everything in his power to destroy Christianity, Acts 7:58; 1 Tim. 1:13. But, in spite of this, God loved him and saved him!

“ 1 Then Saul, still breathing threats and murder against the disciples of the Lord, went to the high priest 2 and asked letters from him to the synagogues of Damascus, so that if he found any who were of the Way, whether men or women, he might bring them bound to Jerusalem.”  9:1,2

This is the essence of grace.  It affords us “God’s Riches at Christ’s Expense.”  In spite of all we are and all we have done, God still extends grace to lost people.

Tom Allen, a pastor and former Army Ranger, tells this story:

I finally saw Saving Private Ryan about two weeks ago. I was extremely proud until the last minute of the movie.

As the movie began, I was proud watching the Rangers take Omaha Beach. Then the story begins when they receive a mission to go deep into enemy territory to save Private Ryan. They hit skirmish after skirmish, and some of them are killed along the way. They finally get to where Private Ryan is holed up, and they say, "Come with us. We've come to save you."

He says, "I'm not going. I have to stay here because there's a big battle coming up, and if I leave my men they're all going to die."

What do the Rangers say? "We'll stay here and fight with you." They all stay and fight, and it's gory and hard, and almost everyone dies except Private Ryan. At the end, one of the main characters—Tom Hanks—is sitting on the ground. He's been shot and he's dying. The battle has been won.

Private Ryan leans over to him, and Tom Hanks whispers something to him. Everyone in the theater is crying because Tom Hanks was shot; I was crying because of what he said—it was so terrible. Private Ryan bent down and Tom Hanks said, "Earn this." The reason that made me angry is no Ranger would ever say, "Earn this." Why? Because the Ranger motto for the past two hundred years has not been "Earn this." The Ranger motto for the past two hundred years has been Sua sponte, "I chose this." I volunteered for this.

So, when Private Ryan bent down, if Tom Hanks was really a Ranger he would have said, "Sua sponte, I chose this. This is free. You don't pay anything for this. I give up my life for you. That's my job."

And so when you look at the cross and see Jesus hanging there, what you do not hear is "Earn this." You never hear Jesus say, "Earn this." He doesn't say, "I've given everything for you. Now you need to gut it out for me." What he says is "Sua sponte." I volunteered for this. You don't have to pay anything for it.  Citation: Tom Allen, pastor of Grace Church Seattle, Preaching Today #200

     B. In Spite Of His Desires

Paul had no thoughts of being a Christ follower.  In fact, he was doing everything in his power to destroy the Gospel.  Despite what he wanted, God came to him anyway! 

5 And he said, “Who are You, Lord?” Then the Lord said, “I am Jesus, whom you are persecuting.[a] It is hard for you to kick against the goads.” Acts 9:5
In fact, Paul had been part of God’s plan.  Look at what the Lord tells Ananias in verse 15: “15But the Lord said to Ananias, "Go! This man is my chosen instrument to carry my name before the Gentiles and their kings and before the people of Israel.” 

C.  v. 5  In Spite Of His Defiance – The word goad in verse 5 means “to sting” and it refers to a goad, which is a stick with an iron point used to prod stubborn animals along.  Paul was doing his own thing, and God was goading his heart.  God was making life uncomfortable for Paul and he was fighting what God was doing in his heart and life.  But, God ignored the defiance of Paul and continued to goad him until he was ready to surrender to the will of God.

D.  v. 1  In Spite Of His Devotion – Paul was a man who was absolutely committed to his way of life.  He possessed all the right credentials and he lived life on his terms, Phil. 3:4-6.  But, God was able to turn Paul’s heart and bring him to faith in Jesus.

2. A Life Changed By Grace

     A.  The Direction of His Life Was Changed

Saul of Tarsus was a man totally devoted to practicing, defending and expanding Judaism.  Paul, on the other hand, was a man who looked on all the achievements of his past life as nothing and who wanted nothing more than to be totally sold out to and for Jesus Christ.

“7 But what things were gain to me, these I have counted loss for Christ. 8 Yet indeed I also count all things loss for the excellence of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord, for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and count them as rubbish, that I may gain Christ 9 and be found in Him, not having my own righteousness, which is from the law, but that which is through faith in Christ, the righteousness which is from God by faith; 10 that I may know Him and the power of His resurrection, and the fellowship of His sufferings, being conformed to His death, 11 if, by any means, I may attain to the resurrection from the dead.” Phil. 3:7-11.

     B. The Devotion of His Life Was Changed 

At one point, the Law of God had been the central focus of Paul’s life.  But, when he met Jesus, the Lord became the centerpiece of Paul’s life.  He became devoted to following and serving Jesus. Acts 9:20-31.  Jesus became the theme of Paul’s life.
“21 For to me, to live is Christ, and to die is gain.”
Phil. 1:21.

One of the most amazing aspects of grace is how it radically changes the lives it touches.  Testimony after testimony has been given about how lives have been changed by the power of grace.  Things that held the heart lose their grip when a sinner meets Jesus.  Sin, the world and the desires of the flesh lose their power when a heart finds itself in the grip of grace.  On the other side of that, things that held no interest for the sinner come alive when grace changes that life.

That is the essence of the salvation grace provides.  It changes everything!  It makes the redeemed individual a “new creature,”

“ Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come!” 2 Cor. 5:17. 

It allows them to die out to the old life of sin and to come alive to a new life in Jesus, Col. 3:1-17. 

Craig Barnes writes, “When I was a child, my minister father brought home a 12-year-old boy named Roger, whose parents had died from a drug overdose. There was no one to care for Roger, so my folks decided they'd just raise him as if he were one of their own sons.

At first it was quite difficult for Roger to adjust to his new home--an environment free of heroine-addicted adults! Every day, several times a day, I heard my parents saying to Roger:

"No, no. That's not how we behave in this family."
"No, no. You don't have to scream or fight or hurt other people to get what you want."
"No, no, Roger, we expect you to show respect in this family."

And in time Roger began to change.

Now, did Roger have to make all those changes in order to become a part of the family? No. He was made a part of the family simply by the grace of my father. But did he then have to do a lot of hard work because he was in the family? You bet he did. It was tough for him to change, and he had to work at it. But he was motivated by gratitude for the incredible love he had received.

Do you have a lot of hard work to do now that the Spirit has adopted you into God's family? Certainly. But not in order to become a son or a daughter of the heavenly Father. No, you make those changes because you are a son or daughter. And every time you start to revert back to the old addictions to sin, the Holy Spirit will say to you, "No, no. That's not how we act in this family."

Citation: Craig Barnes, author and pastor of National Presbyterian Church; Washington, D.C.; from sermon "The Blessed Trinity" (5-30-99)

     C. The Destination Of His Life Was Changed

Paul was sure that his devotion to the Jewish religious system would result in him going to Heaven when he died.  However, Paul would never have believed it if you had told him that he was actually headed to Hell.  But, when he met Jesus on the road to Damascus, everything changed.  Not just Paul’s life, but his eternal destination was also changed forever.

3.  A Life Completed By Grace

     A.  Grace Supplied All That He Lacked

Paul possessed many things in his life.  He has power, prestige, position, prosperity, popularity and promise.  But, he lacked the most important things of all.  When he found himself in the grip of grace, he found out that grace could give him everything he lacked.

     1.  He Had Religion, but He Lacked Redemption

Shortly after sunrise on January 2, 2000, a noose was placed around the neck of seventeen-year-old Morteza Moqaddam. He killed a fellow Iranian in Tehran on December 13 after a quarrel about smoking in public. Now, the portable gallows was standing just thirty feet from where the crime had taken place and a large crowd was assembled for the execution. With hands cuffed and tears streaming down his ashen face, the teenager waited for the final signal to end his short life. To his utter surprise, the victim’s father, Ali Mohebbi, exercised his privilege under Iran’s Islamic legal system and granted the boy forgiveness. Just seconds before being hanged, he was extended grace rather than justice. The killer’s mother collapsed under the strain and cried out, “I will never forget as long as I live how he gave me my son’s life back.” After receiving clemency, Moqaddam was ushered away from the gallows in an ambulance that was waiting to take his body to the morgue. State-run television ran footage of the teenager repeatedly thanking the father whose son he killed. Like this young man from Iran, we are all guilty of sin and worthy of spiritual execution. But God has “commended His love toward us in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us” (Romans 5:8).

     2. He Had Service, But He Lacked Salvation

Paul was doing his best to serve God.  He thought that he was doing all the right things.  He was a hard worker and he was active, but he was still without salvation. 
 “If anyone else thinks he has reasons to put confidence in the flesh, I have more: 5circumcised on the eighth day, of the people of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew of Hebrews; in regard to the law, a Pharisee; 6as for zeal, persecuting the church; as for legalistic righteousness, faultless.” Phil. 3:4-6

     3. He Had Honor, But He Lacked Hope

Saul was the rising star of Judaism.  He was the apple of every Jew’s eye.  But, deep within his heart, he knew something was missing, verse 5.  His response was to try harder; to attack the church and to try and eliminate the name of Jesus.  He had no real hope in his life.  But, when he met Jesus that day, everything changed. 

In an English church some years ago, the pastor was overcome by the sight at his altar. An ex-convict was kneeling beside a judge who sat on the bench of England’s highest court. In a strange twist of providence, this judge had been the one who handed down a seven-year prison sentence to the man now kneeling at his side. In a conversation after the service, the judge asked the pastor if he had noticed who was praying next to him. The pastor acknowledged this remarkable sight. The judge then stated, “What a miracle of grace!” The pastor agreed and made reference to the criminal’s conversion. “But I was not referring to him, I was thinking of myself,” noted the judge. He went on to explain, “That man knew how much he needed Christ to save him from his sins. But look at me. I was taught from childhood to live as a gentleman, to keep my word, to say my prayers, to go to church. I went through Oxford, took my degrees, was called to the bar, and eventually became a judge. Pastor, nothing but the grace of God could have caused me to admit that I was a sinner on a level with that convict. It took much more grace to forgive me for my pride and self-righteousness, to get me to admit that I was no better in the eyes of God than the convict whom I sent to prison.” Grace is necessary for all sinners to find forgiveness, regardless of how they, or the world, picture their deeds.

     B.  Grace Supplied All That He Longed For

Everything Paul was striving for a religious sinner was given to him in abundance when he became a partaker of God’s great grace.

1.  Grace Provided Faith:   “12He who has the Son has life; he who does not have the Son of God does not have life.”1 John 5:12.)
2.  Grace Provided Fellowship:  “7But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus, his Son, purifies us from all[a] sin.” 1 John 1:7;

“ 1How great is the love the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called children of God! And that is what we are! The reason the world does not know us is that it did not know him. 2Dear friends, now we are children of God, and what we will be has not yet been made known. But we know that when he appears,[a]we shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is. 3Everyone who has this hope in him purifies himself, just as he is pure” 1 John 3:1-3

3.  Grace Proved Fulfillment:  “ 7But whatever was to my profit I now consider loss for the sake of Christ. 8What is more, I consider everything a loss compared to the surpassing greatness of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whose sake I have lost all things. I consider them rubbish, that I may gain Christ 9and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which is through faith in Christ—the righteousness that comes from God and is by faith.” Phil. 3:7-9

Thank God for grace!  Thank God for saving grace; for keeping grace; for sustaining grace.  Thank God that I know what grace is all about.  I do not understand grace.  I do not know how God can take a person who is rejecting Him, love them and save them by His grace, but I have experienced it for myself. 
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 If you have never experienced grace and you sense the Lord is calling you to come to Him, then I invite you to answer that call today.  Come to Jesus and experience His grace.  If you have experienced grace, and you can remember the day when God confronted you on your own Damascus road, I invite you to spend a few moments before  Him to say “Thank you, Lord.”  If you know someone who needs to experience God’s majestic grace, I invite you to bring them to the Lord today.  Whatever the needs of your hearts may be, you can find the help you need.   If He is calling, just say, “Lord, what will You have me to do?”



2005/11/13