My mum once went on a street evangelism in Abuja where she met a young man and preached the Gospel to him. On hearing the Gospel, this guy simply told my mum that it is ‘impossible’ for God to forgive him! According to him, he has committed so many sins, so much that he is fully persuaded that God cannot be so gracious to forgive him at all!
My mum did her best in teaching him the Gospel of Grace, took his number and sent it to me, telling me to reach out to this brother who thinks he has ‘out-sinned’ the Grace of God for his life. When it was night, I called this brother who was already expecting my call. He was still nursing great doubts on God’s forgiveness towards him, although he is beginning to thirst for the gospel truth based on my mum’s earlier conversation with him.
So the ‘Gospel of Grace conference’ started on the phone with this brother….as I took time to start telling him why Jesus had to come to die in the first place. From his responses, it was glaring that this brother was in dire need for forgiveness. But the devil had hoodwinked him to believe the wrong thing about God. This guy’s response gradually showed some kind of relief as he was eager for me to tell him more about what Jesus accomplished for him.
Based on the way the dialogue on this ‘fairly-long’ conversation went, I believe this guy caught the light of the Gospel on how there is no measure of sin he could have committed that can exhaust the unlimited Grace of God towards his salvation!
Why did I share this story? There are many people who are in the very shoes of this brother! Due to wrong doctrine about God being projected over the years, the devil has darkened the minds of many to feel they are irreversibly condemned before God for their sins!
Now listen carefully: There are 3 categories of sin that stands on the front-row when it comes to the kind of sins that make people feel they can never be forgiven by God anymore!
– BLASPHEMER
– PERSECUTOR
– INJURIOUS
From scriptural perspectives, once you are a ‘blasphemer of God’ you are threading on a dangerous line. (Mark 3:29) When you are a ‘persecutor of believers’, you are ‘kicking against the pricks’! (Acts 9:5) When you are ‘injurious’ to people, their relationships and well-being, you are sinning against humanity which can provoke a divine intervention! (Gen 18:20-21) Ranging from murder and violence, to religious terrorism and profanity; virtually all level of ‘great’ sins will find their placement in any of above mentioned category of sins: BLASPHEMER, PERSECUTOR OR INJURIOUS!
But there is someone in the Bible who was guilty of these 3 categories of sin! His name is Brother Saul…who later was popular by the name, Paul. In writing to Timothy, Paul confessed that he…
‘…was before a BLASPHEMER, and a PERSECUTOR, and INJURIOUS…’ (1Tim 1:13)
Paul was not just a blasphemer, he was a blasphemer that ‘…compelled believers to blaspheme’ (Acts 26:11)! That is blasphemy per excellence. Paul was not just a persecutor, he was an ‘international’ persecutor who ‘…kept persecuting them even as far as to foreign cities…’ (Acts 26:11 BLB) Adolph Hitler would need to learn from him. Paul was not just injurious, the Bible described him as a man who was ‘…BREATHING out threatenings and slaughter…’ (Acts 9:1)
I strongly doubt if the brother I spoke to has committed up to ‘half’ of the sins that Paul committed! Yet Paul still had the mind to say:
‘…Who was before a blasphemer, and a persecutor, and injurious: BUT I OBTAINED MERCY…’ (1Tim 1:13)
If Paul can obtain mercy, then you too can obtain mercy! If Paul can be saved, then that brother can be saved!
***To the sister reading this post right now, thinking you are far away from God’s forgiveness,…hear God’s heartbeat towards you: IF PAUL CAN OBTAIN MERCY, THEN YOU TOO CAN OBTAIN MERCY!
Yes you can! In fact, would you want to know why Jesus saved Paul? Read Paul’s words carefully in the verse below:
“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” (1 Tim. 1:16 NIV).
Jesus saved Paul …who was THE WORST OF SINNERS…so that you that think you have sinned beyond forgiveness can see how Jesus is DISPLAYING HIS UNLIMITED PATIENCE AS AN EXAMPLE for you!!!
Yes you can receive forgiveness! Yes you can be saved! In his book titled: “He Loves Me”, Wayne Jacobsen wrote these powerful lines to drive this gospel home:
“…I’ve sat with people convinced they were far too evil for God to want them. I’ve often referred to this passage, asking them if they had done worse than Paul had done and haven’t ever had someone tell me they had. God saved Paul, so the most broken, devastated and sinful person would feel free to come running under his wing. All they have to do is come.” (Pg. 114, He Loves Me)
Hallelujah. Jesus used Paul to DISPLAY HIMSELF as a GOD OF UNLIMITED PATIENCE to those who would BELIEVE on Him! All you need to do is to come. And you shall receive, ETERNAL LIFE.
Amen.
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