Chiefest of Sinners

Say

Lord, I need revival!

Revive me!

Change me!

Strengthen me!

Refill me!

Make me mighty, in you!

I want to go deeper!

Let revival, start in me!

Text

1 Timothy 1:15–16 NKJV

15 This is a faithful saying and worthy of all acceptance, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners, of whom I am chief. 16 However, for this reason I obtained mercy, that in me first Jesus Christ might show all longsuffering, as a pattern to those who are going to believe on Him for everlasting life.

Acts 7:54–58 NKJV

54 When they heard these things they were cut to the heart, and they gnashed at him with their teeth. 55 But he, being full of the Holy Spirit, gazed into heaven and saw the glory of God, and Jesus standing at the right hand of God, 56 and said, “Look! I see the heavens opened and the Son of Man standing at the right hand of God!” 57 Then they cried out with a loud voice, stopped their ears, and ran at him with one accord; 58 and they cast him out of the city and stoned him. And the witnesses laid down their clothes at the feet of a young man named Saul.

Intro

The Most Evil Man in the World

He has been dubbed as the most evil man in the world.

His name is Joshua Milton Blahyi, but his victims and soldiers in Africa knew him by a different, quite derogatory name. By his own admission, he slaughtered at least 20,000 civilians in Liberia during the civil war. His violence topped all other violence. And he was cannibalistic.

In his memoir, he describes one of his worst acts. He killed a child by “opening the little girl’s back and plucking out her heart.” ...Her blood was still on his hands when he heard a voice. Blahyi turned around and saw a man standing there, brighter than the sun, who said, “Repent and live, or refuse and die.” (Damon Tabor, “The Greater the Sinner,” newyorker.com)

He could not escape the passion or the pull of those words. He left the fighting and began sleeping on a church pew as he wrestled with those words. The pastor gathered his congregation and prayed for God to strip Joshua Milton Blahyi of his demonic powers, and God did.

One pastor reported, “Not since the conversion of Saul of Tarsus on the road to Damascus have I ever heard a conversion story so compelling.”

Since that day he has combed the villages for his victims to apologize for his cruelty and beg their forgiveness.

And today, at 48, he is a Christian preacher, witnessing to people in his country.

Saul of Tarsus was his generation’s Joshua Milton Blahyi. He terrorized christians, but Jesus got his attention, and Saul repented, was born again, and lived his life to glorify Jesus. Little wonder he called himself the chief of sinners.

But since God forgave Saul, the chief of sinners, and Joshua Milton Blahyi, the most evil man in the world, He can forgive us!

And I’m telling you: HE’LL FORGIVE YOU!

Contemplating the Topic

On a September day in Chicago, a stern-faced, plainly dressed man was seen standing on a street corner in the busy Loop.

As people were hurrying about, he solemnly lifted his right arm, pointed to the nearest person, and loudly said a single word: “Guilty!”

He did this without any change of expression, resumed his stiff stance for a short period and repeated the process again. Over and over he raised his right arm, pointed to a person, and declared, “Guilty!”

The reactions of the pedestrians were almost eerie. It was as if they did not know how to respond. One man, describing how many others likely felt, turned to another person and exclaimed: “But how did he know?”

Paul declared that he was the chiefest of sinners. That recognition allowed him to also realize that the only way to remove the guilt and shame of sin was to be open and honest before God.

Body

God Worked Wonders and Miracles Through Stephen

Stephen’s Background

Although Stephen is not mentioned often in the New Testament, the book of Acts gives us insight to just how important he was to the kingdom of God.

Acts 6:8 tells us that he was filled with faith and power. The word faith here is better interpreted as grace. His life was marked by being filled with the grace and power of God.

The verse goes on to tell us Stephen did great signs and wonders among the people. It takes faith and power for the works of God to be manifested in our lives.

There are some who “...have a form of godliness but deny the power thereof...”

Too many people want the blessings of God to flow through them but are not willing to fill their lives with the grace and power necessary for that to happen.

Our liberty to say yes to God comes only from our discipline to say no to sin.

Religious Leaders Argued With Him

So here is our man Stephen, doing incredible things for God...

… and whenever anyone does great things for god, there will be opposition.

Stephen made it a practice to preach wherever he could. In doing so, five synagogues arose against him according to Acts 6:9. This word arose means that they “stood up against him.” These Grecian Jews felt threatened by the message Stephen preached. They were holding to their Jewish beliefs and the preaching of christ stirred up the people.

The enemy never likes truth to be preached.

He will do whatever is necessary to incite people to rise up against the church.

These Grecian Jews were becoming a tool of the enemy in their opposition to Stephen. They saw his preaching of Christ as the Messiah as a threat to what they had always believed.

The world today views the church in the same way. Its message of Jesus as a deliverer is a threat to their way of living. Sin makes us comfortable! And the part of the job of preaching the Word is to afflict the comfortable and comfort the afflicted.

Sin has not only made them comfortable, it has also emboldened them against the church. The very thing they need the most - deliverance - is being rejected because of what they want the most - sin.

But Stephen remained steadfast in his faith. Those who opposed him could not sway him from his message.

Acts 6:9-10 tells us that they disputed with him, but they could not take down his wisdom and the spirit with which he was speaking.

When we allow the Lord to fill our mouths and guide our spirits, nothing the enemy can say will move us!

They Stirred Up False Witnesses Against Stephen

And when they realized they could not silence or persuade him to stop preaching, they did not give up. They simply turned to other means in an effort to put a stop to his ministry.

If the enemy cannot silence us in one way, he will look for another way.

Sin refuses to listen to truth and will continue to fight against it.

The leaders of these five synagogues realized they would not prevail, so they appealed to the people. And the people turned against Stephen.

Acts 6:12 tells us that they “stirred up the people.” This suggests a violent shaking like a volcano.

Sin is never content to just create a small disturbance. It wants to shake and destroy everything around it. The more people that could be stirred up against Stephen, the better chance there was to silence him.

When the people, the elders, and the scribes were united against Stephen, they rushed at him in anger and fury. They violently surrounded him and took him captive. They led him to the Sanhedrin where false witnesses lied about what Stephen had said. They accused him of committing blasphemy against the Law and the Temple of God.

Sin hates the Word and the presence of God and will do all that it can to deceive people.

Through all of this, Stephen never wavered. In fact, the Bible says that in the midst of these wild accusations, when the people looked at Stephen, instead of seeing a man who was fearful and distraught, they saw the face of a messenger, or the face of an angel.

Sin may lash out its fury against us, but God will sustain us!

Sometimes Great Revival Brings Great Persecution

Often we don’t see what is going on behind the scenes in the realm of the Spirit.

Stephen was seeing great revival as a result of his ministry. People were being converted and lives were being changed. And Satan fights against truth, especially in instances when people turn from sin.

During the greatest seasons of revival, the enemy will fight us the most. When things are routine and mundane, he has no real need to rise up against us.

But when the church is on fire and people are being born again, the enemy takes note. It is then that he will stir up the people to rise against the church.

This pattern is shown to us in the Book of Acts, so we should not be surprised when we see it actually happen in our midst.

Stephen Preached to the People

He Told of God’s Plan from the Patriarchs to the Prophets to the Kings

So the chief priest looked Stephen in the eye and asked if the accusations were true. Instead of being silent before the Sanhedrin, Stephen became bold and preached a message of conviction to them. He didn’t cower in fear, even though he knew they had the power to put him to death.

Stephen’s message began with appealing to the truth they already knew and had accepted. He talked about the promises God made to Abraham, which they would have understood. He talked about Isaac and Jacob and how God had dealt with them. Next, he reminded them how God had raised up Moses to be a deliverer for the Jewish people.

He spent a good amount of time weaving together the story of Moses and the plan of God to redeem Israel as an example of what God desires to do for all sinners. Stephen tried to help them see that Jesus was the Messiah their forefathers had been looking for.

He Accused Them of Being Stubborn and Hard-Hearted

Once Stephen had their attention, he had no intention of letting them off easy.

In Acts 7:51-53, he declared:

Acts 7:51–53 NKJV

51 “You stiff-necked and uncircumcised in heart and ears! You always resist the Holy Spirit; as your fathers did, so do you. 52 Which of the prophets did your fathers not persecute? And they killed those who foretold the coming of the Just One, of whom you now have become the betrayers and murderers, 53 who have received the law by the direction of angels and have not kept it.”

At some point, sin has to be confronted head on.

Sin is a head, heart, and spirit issue. We should all be thankful for the ministers in our lives who will stand and boldly declare what sin will do to us.

Our hearts should always be moved by the convicting truth of God’s Word.

Stop for a moment and ask yourself, “How do I respond when I hear preaching that convicts me of something I am doing?”

God’s Plan Has Always Been to Save Sinners

From the very first time humanity sinned in the Garden of Eden, God has desired to save us and bring us back to a right relationship.

It was never in the heart of God to cast away the one who had sinned. The hand of God has continually been reaching for those who have fallen into sin to extend mercy.

John 3:16 NKJV

16 For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life.

The Crowd Became Angry and Wanted to Kill Stephen

Stephen Had a Vision of Jesus

One would think Stephen would have feared for his life, that his heart would be racing, and that he would be looking for a way of escape. But that was not the case at all.

Instead of frantically looking for someone to come to his aid, he, being full of the Holy Ghost, simply lifted his eyes toward Heaven in an effort to shut out what was happening in his world.

He never forgot that there was a Heaven to gain, regardless of what he was having to endure on Earth.

Acts 7:55 NKJV

55 But he, being full of the Holy Spirit, gazed into heaven and saw the glory of God, and Jesus standing at the right hand of God,

What a testimony!

While the world around him persecuted and sought to destroy him, Stephen saw His God high and lifted up.

The People Stoned Stephen

The rage of the people could not be settled by mere words. They looked for a way to expend their anger and satisfy one of the basest desires of the flesh - to destroy what caused conviction.

Acts 7:57 lets us know that they stopped their ears. They did not necessarily put their fingers in their ears; they simply decided they did not want to hear another word Stephen had to say.

But stopping their ears would not stop the voice of Stephen. The only way to do that was to silence him once and for all time. They allowed the sin that had intoxicated them with anger to drive them to murder.

Grabbing the arms of Stephen, they led him out of town and stoned him.

Saul (Paul) Held Their Coats as They Stoned Stephen

And here is where the story presents an interesting twist and makes an incredible change in direction.

It is here we are introduced to someone who has not yet been identified to us. A young man in the crowd finds himself tasked with keeping the coats of those who are picking up stones to hurl at Stephen.

Honestly, he should not have been that important to the story. His name really had no real reason to be inserted. After all, Stephen’s name is the only name that has been revealed to us out of all those involved in this story.

But the Bible does give us his name: Saul of Tarsus. A man who would go on to persecute Christians, imprisoning some and sending others to their death.

This young man was an eyewitness to the cruel death of Stephen. He saw the looks of bloodlust in the eyes of the crowd, and he saw the look of peace in the eyes of Stephen. He would never forget either one.

The Chiefest of Sinners

Sin is Sin

In the eyes of God, sin is sin. We can’t rank one sinner over another, even if we wanted to. While we can be judgmental by nature, the truth is, God is the only one who can judge a sinner.

The apostle Paul made an important declaration in 1 Timothy 1:15...

1 Timothy 1:15 NKJV

15 This is a faithful saying and worthy of all acceptance, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners, of whom I am chief.

Though only God can determine who may be the worst sinner, Paul felt he was. And what he said gives us hope, because Paul declared that even the worst sinner can be delivered by God’s power.

Have you ever unfairly thought someone might be beyond saving because of what that person had done?

We Have All Sinned and Come Short of the Glory of God

Romans 3:23 gives us powerful truth today:

Romans 3:23 NKJV

23 for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God,

There has never been a human being that has been exempt from the power of sin. Every one of us has fallen short of the glory of God because of sin in our lives.

We Have All Sinned and Need God’s Grace and Mercy

And because we have all sinned, we are all in need of the grace and mercy of God.

Ephesians 2:8 NKJV

8 For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God,

Without His grace extended to us through His mercy, we have no hope of being delivered from sin.

Conclusion

Internalizing the Message

We are blessed with the opportunity to regularly hear the Word of God and allow conviction to work in our hearts. Grace and mercy can change the most hardened sinner.

Our past is not strong enough to stop the power of the grace and mercy of God. Regardless of how far in sin we were, God’s love can reach farther to bring us out.

The plan of God might be to use us in greater ways than we ever dreamed possible. But like Paul, we have to recognize that in our world, we are the chiefest of sinners. We have to be willing to be open and honest in the presence of God.

There may be things we hate to admit and no doubt there are things we will never forget.

But if we will allow God to extend His grace and mercy to us, those things can become the start of us having a genuine love for God, the truth, and the lost.