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 s violent aggressor. And yet I was shown mercy, because I acted ignorantly in unbelief.
1 Timothy1:12-13
1 Timothy1:12-13
Look closely at those three descriptions of Paul's former life.
First, he says, "I was a blasphemer." The word means "insulter." "I insulted God's people. I was angry at Christians. I accused them of crimes against God. I was a blasphemer."
Second, "I was a persecutor." He took every means open to him under Jewish law to hurt, to humiliate, even annihilate, Christians.
And then that terrible admission, 'I was a violent aggressor." The Greek word suggest a kind of "arrogant sadism." It describe a person who is out to inflict pain and injury for the sheer joy of inflicting it. "I loved to make them squirm. I love to watch them cry. I loved to see them removed from earth!"
We don't usually think of Paul in these terms, but that's the way he describes himself before Christ. And lest you cluck your tongue at Paul or wag your finger and say, "Shame, shame," realize that the same nature is inside of you. It may not work its way out in these kinds if action, but it comes out in other ways. Most of us can remember acts of cruely we've committed. What is true of the apostle is true of us. God showed Him mercy, and He does the same for us (What a relief!)
Can you imagine what Paul's conscience must have been like when the Lord found him on the way to Damascus? Can you imagine the guilt? Can you imagine what he felt when his life passed in review while he was blind, before he saw God's plan for his life? Can you imagine how he felt? The enormity of the pain of his past? And to hear God say, "I want to use you Saul, in My service"?
John Newton knew the same kind of anguish, which he revealed when he composed his own epitaph for his tombstone:
John Newton Clerk,
Once an Infidel and Libertine,
a Servant of Slave in Africa,
Was by Mercy of our Lord and
Saviour Jesus Christ, Preserve,
Restored, Pardoned, and appointed
to Preach the faith he had so long
laboured to destroy.
The wonderful thing about the writing of the apostle Paul is that he frequently returns to the sins of his past. He reminds me of what Great-heart says to Christian's children in Part II of Pilgrim's Progress: "You must know that Forgetful Green is the most dangerous place in all these parts."
Try hard not to forget what life was like before Christ and you will be a frequent visitor st the gate of mercy.
First, he says, "I was a blasphemer." The word means "insulter." "I insulted God's people. I was angry at Christians. I accused them of crimes against God. I was a blasphemer."
Second, "I was a persecutor." He took every means open to him under Jewish law to hurt, to humiliate, even annihilate, Christians.
And then that terrible admission, 'I was a violent aggressor." The Greek word suggest a kind of "arrogant sadism." It describe a person who is out to inflict pain and injury for the sheer joy of inflicting it. "I loved to make them squirm. I love to watch them cry. I loved to see them removed from earth!"
We don't usually think of Paul in these terms, but that's the way he describes himself before Christ. And lest you cluck your tongue at Paul or wag your finger and say, "Shame, shame," realize that the same nature is inside of you. It may not work its way out in these kinds if action, but it comes out in other ways. Most of us can remember acts of cruely we've committed. What is true of the apostle is true of us. God showed Him mercy, and He does the same for us (What a relief!)
Can you imagine what Paul's conscience must have been like when the Lord found him on the way to Damascus? Can you imagine the guilt? Can you imagine what he felt when his life passed in review while he was blind, before he saw God's plan for his life? Can you imagine how he felt? The enormity of the pain of his past? And to hear God say, "I want to use you Saul, in My service"?
John Newton knew the same kind of anguish, which he revealed when he composed his own epitaph for his tombstone:
John Newton Clerk,
Once an Infidel and Libertine,
a Servant of Slave in Africa,
Was by Mercy of our Lord and
Saviour Jesus Christ, Preserve,
Restored, Pardoned, and appointed
to Preach the faith he had so long
laboured to destroy.
The wonderful thing about the writing of the apostle Paul is that he frequently returns to the sins of his past. He reminds me of what Great-heart says to Christian's children in Part II of Pilgrim's Progress: "You must know that Forgetful Green is the most dangerous place in all these parts."
Try hard not to forget what life was like before Christ and you will be a frequent visitor st the gate of mercy.
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