And let's start reading in verse
12, 1 Timothy 1, 12. And I thank Christ Jesus, our
Lord, who hath enabled me, for that he counted me faithful,
putting me, putting me into the ministry. That's how you get
in the ministry. God puts you in it. And if you
can find anything else, if you feel like you're called to preach,
you find anything else to do, you can do and get by with it,
do it. Do it. For who was before a blasphemer
and a persecutor and injurious? But I obtained mercy because
I did it ignorantly in unbelief. And 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 obtain
mercy, that in me Jesus Christ might show forth all longsuffering,
and here's the title of my message, for a pattern to them which should
hereafter believe on him to life everlasting. Paul, a pattern. He says that God showed me mercy
and longsuffering for a pattern to them which should afterwards
believe. Now everybody here knows what a pattern is. Women know
what one is if you're going to make clothes. It's a form that
you follow. And if you men ever do any woodworking
or anything like that, you have a pattern. You follow that pattern.
And you cut it out according to a pattern. Well, Paul says
that God made Paul to be a pattern, a form for us to follow in how
he saves sinners. And there's three things I want
us to look at first. The first is that Paul felt himself
to be the chief of sinners. Ain't that what he says? Christ
came to save sinners, of whom I am chief. I am chief. And you
know this word chief, and you look down there in verse 16,
that in me first, that word first is the same word as chief. Chiefly
or chief. So he was first the chief of
sinners, then he was first, chiefly, a pattern. Now when Paul says
this, this is not a false humility. This is not a feigned humility
he's talking about here. I know that people call themselves
sinners and say they feel themselves sinful and all that. And they
do it a lot of times with a false humility, phony humility. They don't really believe it
at all, don't feel it at all. And when Paul says that he was
the chief of sinners, the first, the cheapest, they're true in
two ways. First of all, when he says he
was the chief of sinners, he was the chief of sinners in the
sight of God himself. He was the chief of sinners in
the sight of God, because the Holy Ghost was the one who penned
these words here. You see, he fought against God,
he fought against Christ. He said he was a blasphemer,
he was a persecutor, he was envious, I mean injurious, and that he
persecuted the church of God itself. There were times he would
have went in a place like you and I are meeting in now, and
he would have went in there and took several people out, as many
as he could get his hand over, with a bunch with him, and carried
them to jail and put them in prison. Because they believed
on the Lord Jesus Christ. So you see, he was the chief
of sinners in the sight of God. And when the Lord put him down
on the Damascus Road, he said, Who art thou? He said, I'm Jesus
of Nazareth. Why persecutest thou me? He said, you're persecuting me.
You're against me. And not only was he a chief of
sinners in the sight of God, he was the chief of sinners in
his own sight. In his own sight. I mean, God
made him to know something about his sinfulness. He said at one
time after the risings of the law, he was blameless. He was
a Pharisee of Pharisees. But here he was in the sight
of God, and in his own sight, he felt that he was the first
and the chief of all sinners on the face of the earth. You
know, when you take a bright light and you go in a dark room,
you see everything that's in it. And what God did to him was
God turned on the light. Turned on the light in his mind,
turned on the light in his heart, turned on the light in his understanding,
turned on the light in his affections, turned on his light in this man
Saul of Tarsus. And beloved, what happened when
he did that? He saw. that everything that
he thought his trust was and his hope was and his interest
was, was nothing but righteousness and was as a filthy rag that
he saw himself as abominable in the sight of God. And I'll
tell you something, when he turns that light on us, when he turns
that light in us, if you ever, there's times that you feel more
sinful than at other times, but when God turns that light in
on you, And He makes you know that desperate wickedness of
your own heart, makes you know the sinfulness of yourself. And there are times that you
smell yourself, and you low yourself, you can't stand yourself, and
you wonder in amazement that God could ever possibly do anything
for you or have anything to do with you. I mean, we're like
when Isaiah saw the Lord high and lifted up. You go to Isaiah chapter 5, and
five times he says, whoa, to everybody else. Whoa, to everybody
else. And chapter 6, he says, when
I saw the Lord high and lifted up, and His glory filled that
temple. Then he says, whoa, it's me?
I'm the man that's untiring. Those other folks, I thought
they was in trouble. Look at me now. I'm the one in
trouble. I'm the one unclean. And I found
out that everybody just like me that had a false hope is just
in the same boat that I'm in. And oh beloved, he was the chief
of sinners. And I tell you, but look what
it says here. The second thing is, is that I obtained mercy.
He says there in verse 13, who was before a blasphemer, a persecutor,
an injurious, I obtained mercy. I obtained mercy. He didn't obtain what he deserved
or he would have went to hell. He didn't obtain what justice
would have demanded or God would have punished him severely. Or
God could have left him to himself, and he would have lived a Pharisee
and died a Pharisee with a false hope and a false righteousness.
But he said, I obtained mercy. How come, Paul? Because I was
ignorant. Ignorant of God. Ignorant of
myself. Ignorant of Christ. Ignorant
of the Scriptures. Ignorant of what God required
of a sinner. And then look at another reason
why he obtained mercy in verse 16. How being, for this cause
I obtained mercy, that in me first, me chiefly, me as the
chief, Jesus Christ might show forth all longsuffering for a
pattern to them, and that's me and you, which should hereafter
believe on him to life everlasting. Huh? That in me first, I should
be a pattern. And I'll tell you, beloved, the
conversion of the chief of sinners, and that's what he was, in God's
sight and in his own sight. The conversion here of the salvation
of the chief of sinners proves, proves beyond a shadow of doubt,
that God will show mercy. That God will show mercy. Tom
Hardy and a couple other fellows that I know, they oftentimes
say we're mercy beggars. Mercy beggars. And sometimes
people beg for food. I've been down to Mexico, people
beg for food. Been in Nashville, and people
beg for food. Would you give me some money
so I can get something to eat? And there's people that'll beg
for food. There's people that'll beg for
money. There's a people that'll beg, would you please pay this
debt for me because I don't know how I'm going to do it. They'll
beg for a lot of things. But when God makes you a sinner,
a chief of sinners, you know what you start begging for then?
Mercy. You get up in the morning, Lord,
I need mercy. Middle of the day when you're
working, oh Lord, show me mercy. Lord, when you get down to the
end of the day, show me mercy. When you're in a great trial
in spite of afflictions, oh Lord, I need mercy. Mercy. Mercy. And, oh beloved, here,
this proves that God will show mercy. And when he says he was
a pattern, he was a pattern in three ways. Some want a form
for us to follow, for everyone to follow. He was a pattern before
his conversion. He was a pattern of the mercy
of God at his conversion. And here's a pattern of the mercy
of God after His conversion. And let's look at it before His
conversion. He says here that in me, first,
Jesus Christ, my sure Lord, for all longsuffering. Here's a pattern
of God's longsuffering before His conversion. Now look with
me over in 2 Peter chapter 3. 2 Peter chapter 3. God's longsuffering. And of all
of God's attributes, this is one of my One of the ones that
I love and love it dearly and cherish Him, His long-suffering. Oh, how long-suffering God is
with me, I feel like. How long-suffering I feel like
He is with me. How patient He is with me. How
He seems, and I know this is not so, but this is the way I
feel. This just seems to be my experience. It seems like that
He puts up with me, though I know He doesn't. But that's the way
I feel sometimes because of my sinfulness, because of my inability,
for my lack of spiritual warmth, coldness of heart. I feel like
how in the world can God put up with me? And I know He don't
put up with me, that He loved me with an everlasting love.
I mean, I'm just talking after the manner of me, as Paul would
say. But look here at 2 Peter 3, verse 9, talking about God,
His pattern in His long circuit. Verse 9, the Lord is not slack
concerning his promise, as some men count slackness. Boy, he
promised, but boy, when's he gonna keep his promise? Well,
God's not that way. But he is longsuffering to usward. Long-suffering to us were not
willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance. And there was a time that God
was long-suffering with the Apostle Paul, long-suffering with Saul
of Tarsus, not willing that he should perish. And He dared in
long-suffering for that man and endured his his sinfulness, his
wickedness, and his enmity until that man was 30 years old before
he put him down on the Damascus road. And he had already put
several men and women in prison. And now look what it says down
in verse 15 here, the same chapter. An account, an account that the
longsuffering of our Lord is salvation. And that's why, you know, I'm
trusting in God's long-suffering toward my daughter, toward my
son, toward my grandchildren. He said if he was long-suffering
to Paul, this great enemy of God, this enemy of Christ, surely,
surely, maybe he'd be long-suffering towards them. And O beloved,
the long-suffering of God, even the Scripture says, is waiting
in the days of Noah. When Noah started building that
ark, it was the longsuffering of God. God could even put that
ark together like that. But God's longsuffering waited
120 years, while Noah preached righteousness, telling those
folks, the storm is coming, judgment's falling, and you better get in
the ark. God's longsuffering waited in
the days of Noah. And let me show you another one,
in Exodus 34. talking about God's long-suffering.
And how am I? You look at yourself. You look
at yourself. Oh, you think how long-suffering
God is. In Exodus 34 and verse 5, look
what it says here. And the Lord descended in the
cloud. stood with him there, stood with
Moses there on the mount. And there he proclaimed the name
of the Lord to Moses. And the Lord passed by him and
proclaimed It's God speaking now. How did He pass by? He came
down in the cloud. He came down in His glory. He
came down in His power. And He speaks, and only as spoke,
through our Lord Jesus Christ. And He passed by before and proclaimed,
The Lord Jehovah, the Lord God, merciful, gracious, long-suffering,
and abundant. in goodness and truth. Keeping mercy. Keeping mercy. Keeping it. Who's he keeping it for? For
thousands. For giving iniquity and transgression
and sin. Keeping his parts. And, oh, beloved,
he was a pattern in God's longsuffering. You know, God was longsuffering
and waited on Abraham. You know how long old Abraham
was before God ever saved him, called him out of the Calvary.
He was seventy-five years old. Seventy-five years old. God could
have called him when he was twenty-five, could have called him when he
was thirty, could have called him when he was forty, could have called
him when he was fifty, could have called him when he was seventy,
but never called him. till he was seventy-five, left
him in his idolatry. But when it was God's time, long
suffering waited on him. And then Moses, Moses committed
murder. He slew an Egyptian and buried
him in the sand. And because he was afraid of
Pharaoh, Moses ran off and hid on the backside of the desert
and adorned himself to a priest and kneaded him. And God's longsuffering
was toward him for forty years while he wandered around on the
backside of that desert. Forty years. And what about Pharaoh? How many times did Moses go into
the presence of Pharaoh, and the first time that Moses went
into his presence, the first word out of his mouth was, Who
is the Lord? That I should obey him. And he
went in there nine different times, and nine different times
that man said, I repent. Nine times Pharaoh said, I'm
sorry. Nine times he said, I repent. And God was long-suffering towards
him to prove one thing, that I've got all power in heaven
and earth. And how about that thief on the cross? God was long-suffering
for this man. He was on that cross for murder,
insurrection. And he said he's on there justly.
And God was long-suffering with that man all of his life, and
he got down to the last, last few hours of his life, fixing
to go out into eternity. Took men on them crosses. And
I, Lord Jesus, looked at him and said, today you're going
to be with me in paradise. Oh, how long-suffering was he
with him? How long-suffering will he be with you? But he was this long-suffering
especially. Boy, you turn to Romans chapter
9. I want you to see this here real quick. You know, but he
was long-suffering especially on Saul of Tarsus. Oh my, do
you know what kind of life this man lived? You know, we've went
through it so many times. His life before conversion. Oh,
he despised Christ, he despised, he thought he was a blasphemer.
Oh, he despised him, he abhorred him. But here in Romans 9, 22,
look what it says. What if God is willing to show
his wrath? If God is willing to show his
wrath, and he was willing to make his power known, his authority
known, his might known, Endured with much longsuffering, the
vessels of wrath fitted to destruction, and this is the reason why he
makes his longsuffering and wrath known. And this is why he's longsuffering,
that he might make known the riches of his glory on the vessels
of mercy which he had aforeprepared unto glory." He's longsuffering
toward them that he might show mercy to us. He's longsuffering
towards them, vessels of wrath fitted for destruction, to show
mercy to the vessels of mercy. That's why he's so longsuffering
towards them. And that's why he's longsuffering towards us. vessels of mercy. And Paul provoked
God to anger, but God was long-suffering, so long-suffering towards him.
So here's a pattern before his conversion of the long-suffering
of God. And let me tell you how there's
a pattern at his conversion, in his conversion. First and
foremost, here's a pattern of the sovereignty of God. Huh? He was a pattern of the sovereignty
of God. You know what Paul said about
his own conversion? He says, when God separated me
from my mother, when it pleased God, when it pleased Him, God
separated me from my mother's womb. And then, when I was thirty
years old, he called me by his grace. And oh, he says, the Lord said,
I will show mercy to whom I will show mercy. I will have compassion
for whom I will have compassion. So it's not of him that willeth,
Paul had a will, and he had a zeal, but it wasn't according to knowledge.
Paul had a will to persecute Christ. Paul had a will to have
a righteousness of his own. Paul had a will. And he willed
to save himself. And he ran. Oh, he ran against
God. He ran against Christ. And yet,
God showed him mercy. And I tell you, beloved, the
Lord Jesus Christ was sent to men. To men. Fallen men. Not to fallen angels. You know
how many angels are fallen? How many spirits are out here
in the power of the air? Fallen angels? But Christ wasn't
sent to fallen angels. He was sent to fallen men. Sinful
men. And our beloved is choosing Abraham
over everybody else in the area of the counties. See, sovereignty.
He chose the Jews over all the other nations of the earth. And
then he turned and rejected the Jews. He said he concluded them
in unbelief. Then he turned to the Gentiles,
dogs like you and me. He said, Jacob hath a love, Esau
hath a hate. So he says, I'm going to have
mercy on whom I'll have mercy. Do anything you want to, but
it's my mercy is mine to give. My compassion is mine to give. My grace is mine to give. And
I will do it to whom I will do it. And that's why I despise,
and God, I know that there was a time that we were, this is
why God teaches, I despise this business of men men binding the
sovereignty of God. I heard a preacher say, one time
he says that you're at, God's at the mercy of your sovereign
will and can't do nothing unless you let Him. That they got it
completely upside down, that man's got the will over God's
will? That man's got the power over
God's power? And if we can get an opportunity
to preach to this generation, one thing we must tell them is
that God may show you mercy, but I know one thing He's going
to do. He's going to be just towards you. He may show mercy. He may give you grace, but He
will treat you with justice. He don't have to show you mercy.
He don't have to show you compassion. He did not have to do this to
Saul of Tarsus. How many Pharisees he looked
at him and said, oh, you generation of vipers, you generation of
serpents, how are you going to escape the damnation of hell? How are you going to do it? He
said, oh, you said, because you see, you're going to stay blind
all your days of your life. You're going to be born blind,
you're going to live blind, you're going to die blind, because I,
you're not trees that my heavenly Father hasn't planted. And he
said, I'll have mercy, and oh, this generation's got to find
out that they're in God's hands and God's not in their hands.
This generation's got to find out that they're in God's mercy,
that God's not at their mercy. And oh, God give me an opportunity
to preach to 10,000 after the very thing I'm telling. And oh,
these lying, low-down, sorry preachers out here deceiving
people. that he was a pattern of the
sovereignty of God in his salvation. And here he passed by men and
all these other Pharisees, and he chose the chief of sinners.
Chose the chief of sinners. Chose him. He so persecuted the
church. Look with me over in Acts chapter
22. Let me show you what I'm talking about. Now, he stood
before the Pharisees and the priests, even. But, oh, beloved,
he so persecuted the Church, had such a hatred for Christ,
And yet God caused him to be the greatest preacher of all
times, that God said, He told Ida and I, He said, there's a
man over at the street called Straight, and he dwells in a
house over there, and he says, and Ida and I said, you go over
there and tell that man. He said, Lord, I've heard about
this man. He said, he's an evil man. He persecutes all your people
wherever he goes. And God says, you go and you
tell him, because behold, he prayeth. God changed his whole
life. And he went over there, and you
know what he told him? He says, the God of our fathers
told me to tell you that He has chosen you, chosen you, to be special, and that He shows
you that you might see that just one, the Lord Jesus Christ, that
you might hear His voice, and that you might do His will. Look here at Acts 22, talking
about how mean He was. Look what happens here. He says
in verse 3, I am barely a man which am a Jew, born in Tarsus,
a city in Cilicia, yet brought up in this city, in Jerusalem,
at the feet of the male, and taught according to the perfect
manner of the law of the fathers, and was zealous toward God today,
God as all you are this day." And listen to this, "...and I
persecuted, I persecuted this way." Now listen to this, under
death. He persecuted people to death. He had people killed. He has
such enmity, such hatred, murder in his heart. Murder in his heart. He's down here persecuting them
to death. Binding and delivering into prisons
both men and women. And also the high priest, bear
me witness to this. And all the estate of the elders
from whom I also received letters under the bread and went to Damascus
to bring them which were there bound unto Jerusalem to be punished. to be punished. And oh my, to
be a chosen vessel, look in Acts 9, just a moment. To be a chosen
vessel after that? And I mean, this is not like
these fellas get jailhouse religion. You know, everybody gets a little
dose of jailhouse religion when they get in jail, and everybody
gets Marital religion, when they're having troubles in their marriages,
and people get religion when they have financial troubles,
they get religion when they get sick, you know, and the doctor
says you're going to die in six months. Everybody gets religion.
That's not what Paul got. He didn't get religion. He didn't
get scared into accepting Jesus. No, no. God's sovereignty came
and bore I mean, just bear down on him. God's power, bore down
on him. And look what it says here in
chapter 9, verse 1 and 2. And Saul, yet breathing out,
breathing out threatenings and slaughter. Oh, my goodness. I'm going to kill him. I'm going
to kill him. I'm going to slaughter him. I'm going to slaughter him. And watch this, against the disciples,
of the Lord, of Jesus Christ, and went unto the priest, and
desired of him letters to the synagogues, that if he found
any of this way, this way, what way, those who went the way of
Christ, whether they were men or women, he might bring them
bound unto Jerusalem. Oh my! And God said, you're a
chosen vessel unto me. Look at anybody's conversion.
You look at your conversion, anybody's conversion in the Bible.
You look at yours or anybody else's, and you've got to go
right back to the foundation. You know what it is? Election. You've got to go back to chosen. He's a chosen vessel. It pleased
God who separated me from my mother's womb. And we were chosen,
chosen in Christ before the foundation of the world. If you won't face
your salvation, mine or anybody else, you've got to go back to
God's electing grace. Ain't that right? Not only was
there a pattern in the sovereignty of God, but He was a pattern
in effectual calling. In the day of His power, His
people, His people, and His people alone are made women. Psalm 65,
I'm going to bring up that just before these days. It says, Blessed
is the man whom thou choosest, oh, to be chosen of God. Now,
wait a minute. Ain't Paul, ain't he already
killed some of your people? Ain't he already put a lot of
them in prison? Didn't he stand and hold the clothes of them
that stoned Stephen to death? Wasn't he there slaughtering
your people? Oh, he was. But he's a blessed
man. I've chosen him. What are you
going to do about it? Well, if that's all it does,
it ain't going to matter much. Whom thou choosest, and causes, causes, to approach unto thee,
and to stand, to stand before you in your courts." Oh, and
Olivia, she had been worshiping God for no telling how long.
She was down by the riverside with a bunch of other Jews, going
through with the motions. And Paul went down there and
he went to preaching. God opened her heart. Oh, he
called her that name. Zacchaeus. Went up a tree for
one reason. Just one reason. So he'd be tall
enough and high enough, when Christ passed by with a whole
bunch, he might see them. He said, I want to see this man.
See what he looks like. I've heard a lot about him. I
want to see him. That little old bitty fellow got up high
in that tree. Christ was passing by. The Lord
stopped right under the branch he was under. Stopped right under
that tree. Stopped dead in his tracks. Zacchaeus
said, well, what will you do to stop it? Zacchaeus? Zacchaeus? What? How in the world
does he know me? I know my sheep. Saul, Saul,
why persecutest thou me? Abraham, Abraham! Andrew, you go call people."
I mean, boy, he called them by name. Zacchaeus, yes. Come down. What for, Lord? I'm going to go to your house
today. Me? For today, salvation must come
to your house. Oh, my, that sounds a whole lot
different than the way people give altar calls, ain't it? I
seen a thing this week. talking about, you know, they
had 18 people. So the fellow was giving his
altar call, and I read this. I started, I should have printed
it out and brought it to you. But I seen this, and this just
happened last week. The fellow was preaching, and
he said he asked folks to, everybody that wanted to accept Jesus or
had to accept Jesus, to raise their hand. He said there was
18 people raised their hands, accepted Jesus. 18 people accepted
Jesus. Lydia! I'm a preacher. My name's Paul.
Jesus sent me here to see if you'd accept Him or not. If you'd
open your heart and let Him in. Oh, Zacchaeus, listen, I sure
would like to, I sure would like to do something for you if you'd
just let me. If you'd open your heart, I'd go home with you today.
No, no. Lydia? Oh, Paul, something's
happened to me. I see this Christ that you're
preaching. I see salvation in you. All these years I've been spending
in religion, and now, Lord Jesus, I see you. That kiss came out
of that tree, and when our Lord Jesus went into his house, just
assuring you and I standing here, he embraced Christ, and Christ
embraced him. When he went into his house,
I'm just as sure as God's on his throne that he kissed our
Lord Jesus Christ on the cheek. Offer him to wash his feet, or
have his wife wash his feet. Because that's what you did when
somebody come into your home. And he brought salvation with
him. Wherever he goes, he brings salvation with him. He don't
ask, he don't beg, he don't plead, he just brings it. Ain't you grateful of that? Oh,
my. And Paul was the greatest example
of effectual calling because he had such enmity towards Christ. And I'll tell you something.
And that light above the brightness of the sun came down on him.
You remember Clay Curtis preaching here several years ago, and he
says the blessed blindness, the blessing of blindness, where
God blinded Saul on the Damascus Road, and he had to be led away
by the hand, and for three days he was blind as a bat, couldn't
see nothing. He said that's a wonderful way to be blind. God blinded
him to everything but one thing. And that's his view of Christ.
His view of Christ. I'll tell you another way he's
an example. Not only in God's sovereignty, not only in effectual
calling, but he's a pattern of a sinner justified by another.
He's justified by somebody else, dear. How in the world can this
man be saved? How can he be a justified sinner?
How can God regard him as righteous, as if he had never sinned and
never killed anybody or hated anybody or ever hated God? He
said, I was ignorant. And God taught me. God taught
me. God showed me. God revealed to
me. And, oh, beloved, he was an imminent example for two reasons
about being justified by another. Two reasons. First of all, he
was inwardly vile. Paul was inwardly a vile man. Now, oh, my, what he was like
on the inside, God only knows. Just like you and I. And here's
another thing, but he was outwardly, outwardly a decent, moral, righteous. Everybody said if anybody goes
to heaven, that's all the tarses he's going. I mean, he's dead
serious about this business, but oh, he was outwardly decent. He thought himself to be righteous.
If you'd ever met him, you'd have said, oh my goodness, I've
never seen anybody more dedicated to God. My word. But you know what he said? He
said, I'm a Jew of Jews. A Pharisee among Pharisees. He
said, my daddy's a Jew? My dad and mom was a Jew? A Zionist? Oh my goodness, I'm Zionist.
But he said, I found out that all my righteousness, I don't
want my righteousness anymore. Everything that I had, I counted
for done. that I might win Christ, be found
in Christ, justified by the faith of Christ. And I'll tell you something,
here's the thing about being justified by the faith of Christ. That
means that Christ's faith, what He did, who He is, what He accomplished,
His acceptance before God, that's the faith that justifies us. And He's the reason why we trust
Him. Because our faith in and of itself,
it wasn't Christ that died. Our faith don't justify us, Christ
justifies us. Our faith believes that He's
the one that died. Huh? And that's why it says, if righteousness
come by the law, then Christ is dead and dying. And oh, here's
a pattern of those who are justified by another. Let me tell you this
quickly. Not only is there a pattern before His conversion, the long-suffering
of God. But here's a pattern of Annie's
conversion, God's sovereignty, affection, calling, justified
by another. Here's a pattern after his conversion.
Here is this chief of sinners becoming the chief of saints
and the apostles, becoming the greatest preacher of all time. Wrote 14 books in the New Testament. Both people attribute 13. I personally
think that Hebrews was written by him. But here's this man,
the chief of sinners, beside of God and in His own sight,
became the chief of all the saints, became the chief of all the apostles. You see, the gospel changes men
so dramatically, and conversion is so dramatic, that it makes
men holy. It makes men something that they
never was before. It did Paul. Here he was on his
way to kill people who believed in Christ. When he got his sight,
you know what he did? He was in Damascus, and three
days after God put him on the Damascus Road and Ananias came
to him, he walked out of that house, went into the synagogue,
and straightway, straightway on the fourth day, the straightway
preached that Jesus is the Christ. Now, that was pretty much of
a change, ain't it? That's a pretty dramatic change. He's on his
way. One day he's killing people for
faith. He's out there preaching the very same person. He said,
listen, this fellow who persecuted Jesus, he comes now preaching
the faith that he once destroyed. If any man be in Christ, he's
a new creature. God sent his affection on things
above. And oh, he said he looked, his
conversation, his manner of life was now in heaven. And I'll tell
you what, the gospel, the salvation that God gives to men, it makes
them faithful. That's the first thing it does,
makes them faithful to God, makes them faithful to Christ, makes
them faithful to the scriptures. It makes them self-denyers. They
deny themselves. I mean, they ain't got nothing
good to say about themselves. Anybody here who's ever been
saved by the grace of God got something good to say about yourself
in the sight of God? Huh? Anybody want to stand up and
tell how Jesus opened your heart and let you in? Huh? Anybody want to stand up and
talk about the reason God saved you is because you was a certain
way, you'd done a certain thing that you'd go digging on? No,
of course not. You ain't fit to say anything
good about yourself. You deny yourself. And it makes
them laborers. They labor in the gospel. They
labor in the church. They labor to make the gospel
known. And I'll tell you another thing it makes them. It makes
them not to trust themselves. They just trust themselves. I
mean, they don't trust themselves. You know, you meet certain people
and say, I wouldn't trust them as far as I could spend. Well,
I'll tell you one person you trust less than you do anybody
else, and that's yourself. Yeah, well, here comes this business
of salvation. You distrust yourself. You renounce
yourself. Paul said, I labored more than
them all, yet not I. Yet not I. Not I. I wasn't me. He's denying himself. He's not trusting himself. He
says, I labored more abundantly than them all, yet not I. But
the grace of God. That God gave me. The grace of
God in me. And may God teach us two things. May we see two
things out of everything I said today. That God not only saved Paul
to be a pattern, but he saved us to be patterns. Saved us to
be examples. Saved us with that postmarked
father. It's like that woman at the well. Our Lord Jesus,
you know, and He told her, revealed Himself to her. What she'd do,
the first thing she'd done, she went to get water, but she set
her water pot down, left, throwed it away. And she went running
right into town. And you know what she said? Come
see a man! Or the fellow sat down on the well. Come see a
man! What's about him? He told me
everything that ever I did. See, she already knew. She is
a pastor. And what about that Gadarene maniac? He said, Lord,
I want to follow you wherever you go. He said, oh, no, no,
no. You go tell your friends the great things, the great things
that I've done for you, that God has done for you. And here's
the second thing. Not only God made us, saved us
to be a pattern, but if the chief of sinners is saved, if the chief
of sinners is saved, And if the chief of sinners find mercy,
there's no excuse for you or me to seek Him for mercy. No excuse. Mary Magdalene. You say, oh my,
there's no way she's got seven devils in her. That's the meanest
woman I've ever seen. She found mercy. Manasseh. Manasseh was a king of Israel
that took his own children and offered them in fire to a god
named Moab. Took the children of his flesh
and blood. And he went and worshiped them
false gods and they built a big fire and he'd offer his children
on that fire. And you know what God did to
him? God saved him. Showed him mercy. had God's people slain, but he
obtained mercy. You say, oh, I want that mercy,
preacher. Well, I can't give it to you, but I certainly know
who can.