God is a Great Savior
Notes
Transcript
When we think of servants of God, of people that preach the Word of God, or even of faithful followers of Jesus certain images pop into our mind.
We think about an older man behind a pulpit explaining the message of salvation and calling the people to believe in Jesus Christ.
…we think about a grandmother leading her grandchildren in prayer.
…or we think about a young person who is not ashamed to share with their classmates that on Sundays they go to church because it is an important part of their faith in Jesus Christ.
However, we forget that all believers in Jesus Christ have a before and after.
Before refers to their lives before they experienced the miracle of salvation.
After refers to their lives after they believed in Jesus Christ.
Every believer in Jesus Christ has a before and after.
This is Christopher Yuan who was being arrested by federal agents for selling drugs and having in his possession 9 tons of marijuana. He was eventually sentenced to 10 years in prison…but the Lord saved him and he is now a believer in Jesus Christ.
This is John Netwon, a british slavetrader that would purchase African slaves and then return to England to sell them. …but the Lord saved him while he was returning to England. He thought he would die but prayed to the Lord that his life would be spared. He abandoned the evils of slave trading and committed his life to the service of Jesus Christ.
This last example shows a scene, painted by Caravaggio. It depicts another evil man, his name Saul of Tarsus.
The Bible describes his evil deeds in the book of Acts:
1 Meanwhile, Saul was still breathing out murderous threats against the Lord’s disciples. He went to the high priest
2 and asked him for letters to the synagogues in Damascus, so that if he found any there who belonged to the Way, whether men or women, he might take them as prisoners to Jerusalem.
He was “breathing our murderous threats”
He asked for letters giving him the authority to arrest men or women - simply because they belonged to the Way.
“The Way” was a term used to refer to those early christian believers who followed the way of Jesus.
He wanted to annihilate Christianity.
Saul had no mercy upon the early Christian believers.
As we consider these three examples we see:
A drug dealer who likely was responsible for destroying many lives through a lifelong addiction to drugs.
A slave trader who treated Africans as if they were property. He tore apart families and sold them as if they were goods that could be bought and sold at will.
A merciless man who would seek out christians so he could through them in jail simply because they believed in Jesus Christ.
We see that these men committed very serious sins against a holy God.
We would never think of them as an example of what it means to be a Christian.
We would never think of a drug dealer/slave trader/or persecuter of christians as a follower of Jesus.
Nevertheless, God is glorified in that he took these awful men, these heinous sinners, and granted them faith in Jesus Christ such that they confessed their sin and trusted in Jesus for salvation.
God broke through the darkness in their lives, he broke through their unbelief and evil deeds - and granted them faith.
God, by the power of his Holy Sprit, through the message of the gospel of Jesus Christ, poured out his mercy upon these great sinners, and granted them a new life…
…such that they became children of God
…they were forgiven of their sins
…they were granted eternal life
…they became members of the family of God.
…and as members of the family of God, they were each given a mission from the Lord. When God saved Saul, he said to Ananias:
15 But the Lord said to Ananias, “Go! This man is my chosen instrument to proclaim my name to the Gentiles and their kings and to the people of Israel.
16 I will show him how much he must suffer for my name.”
The one that used to persecute christians will preach the good news.
God will use him to preach about Jesus before kings and rulers.
…but notice how he was also called to suffer.
He would also face persecution.
One would think this is a good enough reason to say - forget christianity…I will not follow Jesus if it means that I will have to suffer.
However, many years later, despite all that he had to endured for following Jesus, towards the end of his life, this same man would say:
7 I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith.
8 Now there is in store for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous Judge, will award to me on that day—and not only to me, but also to all who have longed for his appearing.