Some Problems No.8 Feeling Forgiven

And the eighth verse, And last of all, the Lord Jesus was seen of me also, as of one born out of due time. For I am the least of the apostles, that am not meet to be called an apostle, because I persecuted the church of God. But by the grace of God, I am what I am, and His grace which was bestowed upon me was not in vain, but I laboured more abundantly than they all.

Yet not I, but the grace of God, which was with me. Now, 1 Timothy in chapter 1. 1 Timothy in chapter 1, and the eleventh verse. According to the glorious gospel of the blessed God, which was committed to my trust, and I thank Christ Jesus our Lord, who hath enabled me, for that he counted me faithful, putting me into the ministry, who was before a blasphemer and a persecutor and injurious, that I obtained mercy, because I did it ignorantly in unbelief.

The grace of our Lord was exceeding abundant with faith and love, which is in Christ Jesus. This is a faithful saying and worthy of all acceptation, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners, of whom I am chief. Howbeit for this cause I obtained mercy, that in me, first Jesus Christ, might show forth all lung-suffering, for a pattern to them which should hereafter believe, on Him to life everlasting, now unto the King eternal, immortal, invisible, the only wise God, be honour and glory for ever and ever.

Amen. Now I turn your attention to this rather beautiful passage in 1 Corinthians 15, where we read the apostle Paul telling a little bit about his personal experience of the grace of God. I am now reading in the NIV version of the Scriptures.

1 Corinthians 15 verse 9 For I am the least of the apostles, and do not even deserve to be called an apostle, because I persecuted the church of God. But 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, whether then it was I or they, this is what we preach, and this is what you believed.

I am what I am, by the grace of God. This is the final address that I want to bring to you on the related subjects of guilt and forgiveness. And judging by the feedback that I've had from the meditations thus far, it seemed as though these addresses were very vital, as though some have had nerves touched as a result of our delving into God's Word and looking at the Christian teaching, the biblical teaching of guilt, followed by that very needy second study from the Bible, the biblical teaching of forgiveness.

You will remember that I've made one or two fundamental assertions that I have tried to underline from Scripture as being reasonable throughout the whole of these meditations. I have suggested to you that the end object of gospel proclamation is not to leave a congregation feeling guilty, rather to the glory of God, the goal of the gospel is to bring men and women into an experience, a prolonged experience, coextensive with one's own life on this earth of forgiveness. So many of our hymn writers were concerned to project this truth in the hymns that we sing.

So we rejoice in such words as full salvation, full salvation, or the last lines of that hymn where the verse starts, Praise my soul, the King of heaven, and you come through to the concept of ransomed, healed, restored, forgiven. Who like me his praise should sing? You see, even in those two hymns that I've quoted, the very idea of moving on from guilt to forgiveness and enjoying the blessings of God in this area, I can think of nothing from my own pastoral experience that is more necessary for Christian people today than to realize that they are saved not to be guilty, they are saved to bask in the glories of forgiveness for the honor and the praise of God throughout all ages. Now, you remember, I cited two case histories to undergird the propositions that I brought to your attention.

We looked into the example of David in the Old Testament, a man who was riddled with guilt. And then I took you, just in case you thought that perhaps my theology was lopsided into the New Testament, and I cited a similar case history from that of the fisherman Peter. And as we examined the situation of both these biblical personalities, we again saw how God remarkably, tenderly, dealt with guilt-sodden, guilt-ridden men and brought them into an experience of forgiveness to the extent that David could make immortal his own experience in one of the Psalms when he says, Blessed is the man whose sins are forgiven.

Blessed is the man whose transgressions are covered. And then from looking at those two case histories, I took you into the theological section of the New Testament, and particularly the Book of Romans. And there, gloriously, we find in the eighth chapter and the first verse, a scripture which should be emblazoned upon the hearts, upon the memories of every believer.

There is therefore now no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus. In one sense, if you understand that verse, then the gist of what I have been sharing you have already grasped. Indeed, if you can fully appreciate what Paul means when he says there is therefore now no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus, you have grasped the full implications of the gospel of the Savior.

Now, let me just deal, before coming to the final aspect of my subject this morning, with one slight objection that has been raised. There have been those who consider that possibly in emphasizing this biblical teaching on forgiveness, I have overlooked to point out that when a Christian has been forgiven, if he or she then continues to sin, they are in a serious state before God. Indeed, some perhaps may have come to the conclusion that I am arguing that it doesn't really matter having been forgiven once if you continue repeatedly to commit sin.

After all, I did say to you that the death of Jesus Christ atoned for my past sins, my present sins, and my future sins. Therefore, am I not guilty of sponging on grace and making the doctrine of forgiveness one whereby people can easily excuse themselves from indulging in perpetual sinning. Well, if that's the way that you have reacted to my preaching, at least I'm in good company because that's precisely what they said about the Apostle Paul in the book of Romans.

Shall we continue in sin that grace may abound? You remember the argument in Romans 6. And Paul says, if you really believe that I'm saying that, you have not understood at all the very essence of the gospel. The gospel of Christ lifts the recipient from one category to another. He's no longer under law, he's under grace.

If he had legal responsibilities, much more severe are the responsibilities under grace. If you're a Christian person, you're away from the law. The law is no longer your tyrant, it's no longer your schoolmaster, it's no longer your judge.

But you are brought into an atmosphere where you're in the very family circle of God. And new categories result because of that. On the human level, when my father was alive, I would have been happier to have been responsible to the law of the land than within the context of our family environment to have done him harm, to have caused him pain.

When we are Christian people, God is our Father. We're in an atmosphere of love. We recognize who God is, what he has done for us, how he sent Jesus to the cross to die for us.

And as a result of that, we feel so indebted to our great God and Father that the concept of being perpetual sinners is anathema to us. It's objectionable to us. I'll take the full way of illustration.

Shall we say a 15-year-old girl who maybe goes to one of the high schools here, one of the schools here in Worthing and maybe with some of her friends goes off to London for a Saturday. And the temptations of London are such that thoughts come into the mind to go to places of disrepute. And so she is tempted by her colleagues, and they badger her, they bully her.

Are you afraid that if you go there, your father will hurt you? No, she says. I'm not afraid that my father will hurt me. I'm afraid that if I go there and he finds out, I will hurt my father.

That's the difference, you see. When you're a Christian, you're not afraid of the law. But because of your love for God, you don't want to hurt him.

There is therefore now no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus. And when they realize the extent of God's love, they have a desire, they have a hunger, they have a thirst for holiness and for consistency. Well, I spend just a moment dealing with that objection to show you just how very wonderful it is for the Christian person, having escaped from the condemnation of the law, to then be sons and daughters of the living God, and to realize that the responsibilities of love are far greater than the responsibilities of law.

But let me move on. I must now, in concluding these addresses, bring you to this 15th chapter of 1 Corinthians. Because here you have the example, perhaps the classic example in the whole of Scripture, of a man who is able to deal with the problem of what I would call residual guilt, and to enter into the experience of forgiveness.

The beloved apostle who tells us in the 9th verse of 1 Corinthians 15, I am the least of the apostles that am not meet to be called an apostle. I'm not worthy to be such, because I persecuted the church of God. But by the grace of God, I am what I am.

And His grace which was bestowed upon me was not in vain. If ever there was a man who's going to find it hard to be fully forgiven, it is the apostle Paul. Listen to him again as he's once more refreshingly, and rather unusually, in an autobiographical mood, as he writes to the Ephesians.

And in the 3rd chapter, he refers to his ordination as a minister. The 7th verse, wherefore I was made a minister according to the gift of the grace of God, given unto me by the effectual working of His power, unto me who am less than the least of all saints, is this grace given. Not worthy to be an apostle? Less than the least of all saints? Listen to him again in 1 Timothy.

And now I'm reading from the NIV. In the 8th verse, or rather, coming through to the 12th verse, he goes on to say, I thank Jesus Christ our Lord, who has given me strength that He considered me faithful, appointing me to His service, even though I was once a blasphemer and a persecutor and a violent man. I was shown mercy because I acted in ignorance and unbelief.

The grace of our Lord was poured out on me abundantly, along with the faith and love that are in Christ Jesus. And he comes on to the 16th verse. But for this very reason, I was shown mercy, so that in me, the worst of sinners, Christ Jesus might display His unlimited patience as an example for those who would believe on Him and receive eternal life.

What is Paul saying? He is agreeing to my conclusion that if ever a man is going to have difficulty in feeling forgiven, it is Paul. There's not a person in this sanctuary this morning who did such terrible things as Paul did in his pre-conversion days. And if a man, I repeat, is going to have problems with residual guilt, it is the man who came from Tarsus.

I'm not worthy to be called an apostle because I persecuted the Church of God. Listen to him in Acts chapter 26. Turn to it if you like.

For there you find this man Paul standing before King Agrippa. The apostle is towards the end of his life, now lived as a servant of Jesus. And once more he is reflecting back upon past experiences, and particularly the months before he became a Christian.

And he tells that pagan king how he persecuted the Church of Christ. Acts 26 verse 10. I also did.

Verse 9. I verily thought with myself that I ought to do many things contrary to the name of Jesus of Nazareth, which thing I also did in Jerusalem. And many of the saints did I shut up in prison, having received authority from the chief priests. And so on.

Verse 11. I punished them oft in every synagogue, and compelled them to blaspheme, and being exceedingly mad against them, I persecuted them even unto strange cities. In those days, Paul hated the Christian community.

His was the maiden vote that was used at the Sanhedrin when they determined war against the believers of Jesus. His was the voice that was raised against Stephen. He it was on guard over the clothes of the men who executed Stephen by stoning him to death.

Paul had responsibility in Jerusalem for the ransacking of the Church. Not just ordinary men did he have put in prison. Many of the saints.

Holy men. Not just one or two. Many of them he placed in prison.

Shut them up in prison. Solitary confinement. Many of the Christians in Jerusalem suffered as a result of Paul.

I punished them, he says, in every synagogue. And then, can you believe it? He commits what is one of the worst possible crimes for any person on earth. He compelled those who had faith in Jesus to blaspheme his name as a result of torture and torment.

Those poor, maltreated followers of the Nazarene in Jerusalem blasphemed the Holy Christ. And on the human level, the one responsible was Paul. The man who came from Tarsus.

The man whose hands are stained with blood. I persecuted many of the saints. If someone's going to have problems with residual guilt, it's this man.

Saints, did I say? With those remembered faces. Dear men and women whom I sought and slew. Ah, when we mingle in the heavenly places.

How will I weep with Stephen? And for you? You see the point? When the Apostle says, I'm not worthy to be credited as a disciple of Jesus Christ. He has at the back of his mind his infamous, terrible persecution of the early followers of the Savior. If a man is going to be haunted by past regrets, it's going to be Saul.

It's going to be Paul. But listen as he goes on. By the grace of God, I am what I am.

He recognizes that within the love of God, within the mysterious, unmerited favor of God, he has been taken out of his past environment, foul though it be, and he has been given a new nature. He's been lifted out of the muck and the mire of past years of wastelessness. And he has been given a new beginning through the favor of God.

By the grace of God, I am what I am. Paul has been changed. Like you and I have been changed.

Once he was a persecutor. Once he was a tyrant. Once he was a bigot.

But now, all that has been done away with. He's become a new creature in Christ. And he writes to these Corinthians of all that God has done.

I didn't deserve this. I shouldn't really be an apostle. On the human level, I've got nothing that merits God's gracious dealings with me.

But I can say this. By the grace of God, I am what I am. If emblazoned on the chest of the Christian, should be there is therefore now no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus, emblazoned upon the back, should be I am what I am by the grace of God.

You remember the story of John Newton, that slave trader to whom often I refer in my addresses. This permissive man, this drunken reprobate. One day, God took Newton from East Africa from the infamy of slave trading.

He changed him remarkably. And he put him in one of the most influential pulpits in the center of London. And then Newton would preach experimentally of the grace of God.

And he could say, I am what I am by the favor of God. I'm not what I should be. I realize I have a long way to go.

I'm not what I will be for the day will come when John Newton shall see Jesus Christ. And I'm seeing him. I shall be like him.

But thank God said Newton. I'm not what I was. Not still a slave trader.

Not still a drunkard. Not still a promiscuous man. I am what I am.

By God's grace. And what Paul has become is made all the more wonderful. When you consider what he was.

And this is the whole point of him writing to me in his letter to Timothy. That he in one sense is the best example of the grace of God. Because no one had sunk deeper in sin.

More than the apostle. I'm an example of what Christ can do for any man. And so here.

He tells us how the guilt has been dealt with. As he's responded to what the Lord has done. And he will only look to the past.

When he wants some example to illustrate the enormous nature of the grace of God. In being able to lift a person from one set of circumstances to another. And apart from that.

He'll forget those things which are behind. And he'll press on towards a mark for the prize of the high calling of God. Which is in Christ Jesus.

By the grace of God. I am what I am. I and says the apostle.

His grace which was bestowed upon me. Was not in vain. We live today in a world where we have problems.

Which are known as the problems of ecology. It's the problem of pollution. The wasting of natural resources.

That we have plundered from mother earth this century. More than any other gone by. There's an oil leak.

You remember off the coast of Mexico. As a result of mishandling of getting oil from under the sea some months ago. And millions of tons of oil was released into the ocean.

Killing millions of species of fish and what have you. Wherever you go around the world. We've got this great problem of the 20th century.

The problem of waste. The problem of pollution. And yet it seems to me my dear Christian friend.

That an even greater problem for many people. Is a problem of wasted grace. Of wasted grace.

The apostle Paul says that the grace of God. Which was bestowed upon me. Was not of none effect.

It was not wasted. It was not in vain. What does he mean? Have you ever asked yourself that? I'll tell you what he means.

He means having been forgiven. Having had his sins removed. Because of Jesus' death at Calvary.

He's not going to be plagued with the past. He's not going to have this residual guilt. He's going to move on into the area of forgiveness.

He's going to move on into the area of service and evangelism. He's going to become one of the greatest advocates of Christianity of all time. The grace which was bestowed upon me was not wasted.

How could it have been wasted? The devil is called the accuser of the brethren. Revelation chapter 12. I forget the verse.

The accuser of the brethren. And what does the devil do? When you've been saved he can't rob you of your salvation. That's been given to you by God.

And the gifts and callings of God are without repentance. But he can rob you of your peace of mind. And so he accuses you.

He draws alongside. And he brings out from the past those things which very often you like to forget. And here's Paul.

And there were occasions in past years which were horrific. Things that he had indulged in. Paul, do you really think that God is going to use you in Greece? In Macedonia? In Italy? In the whole of Asia Minor? You Paul, you Saul of Tarsus, you were standing there.

You witnessed the death of Stephen. You encouraged them. You put your vote through in the Sanhedrin when its policy was determined of open war against the Christian community.

The accuser of the brethren. And the target of the devil is to make the grace which God has bestowed upon the believer grace in vain. Because he is constantly in a state of bemoaning his past.

Unable as the apostle had to do to forget those things which are behind. Apart from the occasional glance. Just to buttress your testimony.

As to the greatness of God's mercy. And his ability to meet the needs of many and individual. Have you got a spiritual problem of ecology in your life? Does the accuser of the brethren come along? And say you are not worthy to be a Christian.

You have done this. And you have done that. And all the ghosts and all the skeletons of the past.

Come back into the present. And they make your service for the Lord Jesus ineffective. Unable to enter into his peace fully.

Unable to know the full benefits of the salvation that he offers. Then take the devil to task. Shout back at him those words which I quoted from Romans 8.1. There is no condemnation to those who are in Christ.

I am not going to allow the grace of God which has been bestowed upon me to be grace that is wasted. There are things that I have done that I regret. But God through the precious blood of Jesus Christ has absolved me of that guilt.

And now I am forgiven. And so the apostle continues. By the grace of God.

I am what I am and his grace was bestowed upon me was not in vain. But I labored more abundantly than they all. Yet not I but the grace of God which was with me.

Do you know what he is here saying? He is here saying that his past unpleasant experiences instead of robbing him of effective evangelism stirred him on. You see when a person has been forgiven a lot they love a lot. That is what Jesus said.

The person who has really sunk in sin. The person who has really had a horrific background. It is someone who as a result can enter into the graciousness of God in a way that perhaps a lesser mortal might not have.

And Paul in the sovereignty of God can use his terrible past. And it becomes a stimulus. So that he can effectively employ every energy he has in the proclamation of the gospel.

Get the rest of the apostles. I am not worthy to be amongst the apostolic college. I should not rub shoulders with these men.

But because of the grace of God which is operative in me. It would be factually true to say that if you put together all that they have done. I have been able to do more.

What robs some of you older people of feeling content. Shall I tell you? Some of you regret the fact that you did not come to Jesus earlier on in your life. Your problem might have been shared by the apostle.

But he knew how to deal with it. Because in the earlier verses of 1 Corinthians 15. He speaks about the resurrection.

And the resurrection appearances of Jesus. And he says in the 8th verse. Last of all he was seen of me.

All those wasted years. Last of all. Seen by me.

Those people in their 60's who find Christ as Saviour. 60 odd years wasted. And very often it is that thought that stops them from being effective right now.

My dear brother. My dear sister. Let me put your mind to rest.

It is not how long those labourers were in the vineyard that they were paid for. Jesus said that the man who went in at the 11th hour. Got the same wages as the person who went in at the early hours of the day.

God does not compute in the way that we compute. He does not apportion rewards in the way that we apportion rewards. The fact of the matter is that you are in the kingdom.

Whether you came at 10 or whether you came at 60. It does not matter. You are in.

And what God can do with you. As a 60 year old or a 70 year old is magnificent. He can restore the years that the locusts have eaten.

Do not be guilt ridden. Because of those years that went by. In the sovereignty of God.

He can still use you excellently for His glory. And what about those. Who have got vain regrets because of some incident in their past.

Do I need to labour the point? The apostle could have been lost. In a guilt complex that paralyzed him throughout the whole of his life. Here was Stephen's blood on his hands.

Let alone countless others. Stephen could have become a ghost that plagued the apostle. Throughout the whole years that he was a Christian.

But no. Paul realizes that the blood of Jesus. And the forgiveness of Jesus.

Can make him enter into peace. And be in a state of contentment. Because all that he was guilty of.

Has now been forgiven. And he can use his present. Stimulated by the past.

To live for the honor. And for the glory of God. Ah you say.

But my problem is this. I believe in the grace of God. And I've known it effectively working in my life.

Up to this particular moment. But I'm so scared. The day along I'm going to be spent of spiritual strength.

I'm not going to have the resources to cope. Something hideous is going to come in my life. Some obstacle.

And I'm not going to get over it. I won't have sufficient grace to do that. Do you know it was a woman who was crippled with increasing rheumatoid arthritis.

Who one day wrote these words. He giveth more grace. When the burdens grow greater.

He sendeth more strength when the labors increase. To added affliction he addeth his mercy. To multiplied trials his multiplied peace.

When we have exhausted our store of endurance. When our strength has failed ere the day is half done. When we reach the end of our hoarded resources.

Our father's good full giving is only begun. His love has no limit. His grace has no measure.

His power has no boundary known unto men. For out of his infinite riches in Jesus. He giveth and giveth again and again.

By the grace of God says Paul. I am what I am. He lifted me from my past circumstances.

He gave me his grace. And I didn't waste it. I went on to serve him.

And I found strength to cope with every problem. And more grace to restore the supplies. Of spiritual strength when I expended my life.

In labor for him. My friend. The objective of the gospel.

Is not to leave you feeling guilty. But to leave you knowing forgiveness. To the glory of God.

May you experience the same as the apostle Paul. And press on. Each day.

Finding the love of God. And the grace of God. The stimulus in your life.

To live the hours. For his honor. And for his glory.

Amen. Oh let that grace inspire. My soul with strength divine.

May all my powers to thee aspire. And all my days be thine. How be it for this cause I obtained mercy.

That in me first Jesus Christ might show forth. All longsuffering for an example. Immortal to them which should hereafter believe.

On him to life everlasting. Now unto the king eternal. Immortal invisible the only wise God.

Be honor and glory forever and ever. And we too father praise you. For what you've saved us from.

For what you've saved us for. And though we've not finally reached our destination. And though we're not yet spiritually without fault.

We thank you. By the grace of God we can say. I am what I am.

And we bless you. For guilt and for forgiveness. In the name of Jesus.

Amen.