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In this particular series, maybe on some other occasions here at Park of the Palms, we can complete the Beatitudes. But you know what the next one is. Blessed are the merciful, for they shall obtain mercy. That Beatitude is loaded with meaning. Now, as we continue thinking about the much mores of the Bible, we're going to look at a passage tonight that doesn't say, in essence, much more, but it certainly shows us the much more of the grace of God. And that's why we sang together tonight that great song, Wonderful, the Matchless Grace of Jesus.
For quite a few years, I had the great privilege of traveling with a gospel soundtrack in Ecuador, wherever the roads would allow us to go. It was a strongly evangelistic endeavor in the very crowded marketplaces in the daytime, in the big public squares at night, using motion pictures and slides and music and so on to give out the message of the grace of God. Most of the time we were received very graciously. Sometimes we faced great opposition. We were driven out of a number of towns, and, uh, I'm thankful to the Lord that some of those towns that drove us out now have good gospel witnesses today.
Well, one day we were in the marketplace. I had a very capable and faithful Ecuadorian travel companion, especially gifted out in the open air, rather reticent behind the pulpit, but just as free and at liberty out in the open air. And we were working in that marketplace, and we were distributing tracts, we were selling gospel portions and New Testaments and Bibles and so on, and people would come up to us asking for tracts. Most of the time they received them, but every now and then somebody tricked us, would take the tract and throw it back at us. And a couple of people came up to ask for a tract, one man in particular, and my traveling companion, Ecuadorian, knew better how to judge those people than I did, and he said to me, don't give him that tract, he isn't really sincere.
But, you know, I could not bring myself to the point of refusing a tract to somebody who asked for it, and I thought even if he throws it back, I at least have made the effort. So I gave it to him. My traveling companion was right. That man ripped up the tract, and he threw it in my face. And my traveling companion was very disturbed that one of his countrymen would do that. I said, Heriberto, don't get too diser- disturbed. I'll tell you what, there goes a potential Apostle Paul. That's what the Apostle Paul acted like until he was converted.
And then the persecutor became a preacher, and the murderer became a missionary. That's what the grace of God can do. And I trust that tonight you and I will have a new appreciation in connection with the grace of God, and say again with deep feeling and meaning, thanks be unto God for his unspeakable diff- gift. And I trust that in this service we will have our thanksgiving deepened concerning the grace of God and revived if somewhere along the line we have lost the wonder of that fact. In another message, I gave a definition of the grace of God, the sheer, incredible, undeserved kindness of God.
There are other definitions we can use. Someone has called it shorthand for all of God's unmerited blessings. Another one calls it the unmerited gifts and blessings which flow, which flow from the love of God. So tonight, let's look at First Timothy chapter one beginning at verse twelve. First Timothy chapter one verse twelve. I think as I read the passage, you will quickly understand why I chose that tonight. Paul says, and I thank Christ Jesus our Lord, who has enabled me because he counted me faithful, putting me into the ministry, although I was formerly a blasphemer, a persecutor, and an insolent man, but I obtained mercy because I did it ignorantly in unbelief.
And the grace of our Lord was exceedingly abundant with faith and love which are in Christ Jesus. 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. However, for this reason I obtain mercy, that in me first Jesus Christ might show all long suffering as a pattern to those who are going to believe on him for everlasting life. Now to the king, eternal, immortal, invisible, to God who alone is wise, be honor and glory forever and ever.
Amen. As we look at this passage, I'd like to divide it into four segments. First of all, let's pause for a moment and think about the wonderful grace of Jesus. Then let's see from this passage what the guarantee of grace is. Third, the grip of grace. And finally, the goal of grace. First, then, wonderful grace of Jesus. Paul delighted in testifying about the super abundant grace of Jesus Christ. I wonder how often Paul told the story of his conversion.
The story of his conversion is repeated six times in the scriptures. He told about the awful sinner that he was, blasphemer, persecutor, violent man, and it overwhelmed Paul to realize that the persecutor became a preacher and the murderer became a missionary. And there was illustrated in Paul's life that statement which we find in scripture, he loved much because he was forgiven much, and the blackness of his sin was covered by the brightness of Jesus' person and sacrifice.
And all of this made him fervent, dedicated, and desiring that others also would be saved and brought to the Lord Jesus. But we pause right now to emphasize for our own thinking that we too have been forgiven a great debt. We too have been infected with the same disease of sin. And tonight, if we are not dedicated, then we need a new understanding of our sin and of God's grace. I may have told you this before, but when I was first on the mission field, we had the visit of a man from Peru who was an agent of the United Bible Societies.
His name was John Ritchie. He really had not been born to the language, but he had learned it so well that you would think, as you heard him speak, that he had been born to the language, and he could preach. And I still have very beautiful images and memories of John Ritchie as he came to Quito and preached in some of our churches. I remember especially one day how he emphasized to the people that it's an awful thing to have light ideas of sin, flippant ideas of sin, and I can still see him stand before the audience and say in graphic Spanish, for some of you, what is sin?
Es pura espuma. It's just like some foam, and you think you can just blow it off the palm of your hand, and it's gone. But sin is much worse than that. And it took the amazing grace of God to take care of that sin problem. I hope that tonight you and I have a new vision of what our sin was and is, and how great the sacrifice of the Lord Jesus is. I've mentioned a roommate that I had in college before. We roomed together four years. When we left for the mission field, he and his wife said to us, we want to have a part in your support. So we have been a team all these years.
This dear roommate had one, had a father who was one of the godliest men that I've ever met. And the thing that characterized him so much is that he would sit there and in the most eloquent tones tell about how much he appreciated salvation, how bad his sin was, how unworthy he was as a sinner. And even though he had told it many times, he would sit there before us with the tears just flowing down his cheeks as he talked about God's grace to him and the wonder of the fact that he had a place in heaven reserved by God himself. Well, it's a wonderful thing to live in that frame of mind as a Christian and never lose sight of the wonder of salvation and the joy of fellowship with Christ and his great work in erasing our terrible sin by his wonderful grace.
Now, second, in this passage, we note what the guarantee of grace is. Notice what it says here. 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. However, for this reason I obtain mercy, that in me first Jesus Christ might show all long suffering as a pattern to those who are going to believe on him for everlasting life. The truth of the gospel, backed by Paul's experience, dramatically procaim- proclaimed this fact. Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners.
You know, this is one of life's great facts, and the Bible calls it a trustworthy saying that demands full acceptance. I like what one preacher said about a faithful saying. A faithful saying should be often repeated. O ye who know the wondrous story, tell it. Make the world hear it. Make society ring with it. As the song says so nicely, sing it oar and oar again. Christ receiveth sinful men. Make the message clear and plain. Christ receiveth sinful men. And when sinners are converted, this passage says that they become a pattern of what God can do in the lives of other people.
Paul says, when the Lord came into my life and converted me, then I became a pattern. I became a guarantee of others that could come to him and become followers of the Lord Jesus Christ. In fact, what we can say is this, if Paul could be converted, then anybody can be converted. And that leads us to the wonderful statement that by the grace of God, men and women, let's remember there is no hopeless case. There is no case too hard for God. It may be that there's some of us here tonight who have been praying for quite a while concerning some person or a number of people for their salvation, and we've gotten a bit discouraged.
We've sort of come to the conclusion that they are a hopeless case. I want to tell you, there is no hopeless case. And the passage that we read tonight states so emphatically, Paul was converted. He became a pattern and a guarantee of others that could be converted. And if Paul could be converted, then anybody can come to the Lord Jesus Christ. There is no hopeless case. One of the joys of missionary service has been to see the gospel of the grace of God operate in all classes and conditions of people. Indians, blacks, Hispanics, whites.
We've seen God work in all of them. One of my best friends in Ecuador for a while, who would come to visit me at times, was a man by the name of Manuel Coro. And when he would sit across the desk from me in my office, and I looked at Manuel Coro, I could hardly believe what had happened in his case. At one time, Manuel Coro was a fiery communist agitator. He was filled with hate for the big ranch owners, who for so long had mistreated the poorer people, and he just longed for the day when he could get revenge on them and turn the tables and get even with them.
Then one day he met Jesus, and that changed everything. And Manuel Coro, instead of having hate in his heart, had the love of Christ, and believe it or not, that fiery communist agitator, becoming a pastor, became the president of the Association of Kichwa Churches in the big province where he lived. I looked at Manuel. I couldn't believe the change that had occurred. And Manuel Cordero was, for me, another guarantee and demonstration. If God could do it in his life, he could do it in anybody's life.
That's both an encouragement and a challenge for world evangelism. Resistant peoples, degenerate peoples, gospel enemies, all of those can be saved. And you know, in the midst of so many problems and defeats and heartaches these days, I think we need to share with each other the wonderful encouragements that God is giving in that connection. I receive the regular mailings of Campus Crusade for Christ. Their letters have changed in the last few years, and the letters that come now telling of what God is doing in the Muslim population ought to be a cause for great rejoicing to us during these days.
Listen to this. Near Luxor, Egypt, six million people gathered for a religious celebration. Over sixty percent were Muslim. When the Jesus film teams arrived, they were initially denied entrance, but they persuaded a religious leader to view the Jesus film and reconsider. He was deeply touched and granted them permission, but they could only show the film, nothing more, no sharing of their faith. They showed the Jesus film in a meeting hall that held five thousand, in a theater that held twelve hundred, and in an open area in a cattle market that was packed with tens of thousands sitting on the ground.
During the day, they showed the Jesus film on twenty five television sets in eating halls. So many thousands came after the meetings, after the showings, to seek more information about being Christian, that the staff broke their pledge and shared Christ openly. Yet, despite their evangelizing, the film's impact was so great that they were invited to return again next year to show the Jesus film and to share their faith. We just pray that the gospel lodged in the heart of many people will bear fruit during the days ahead. And in one town, another city not far away, they had the privilege of distributing a total of thirty thousand Bibles were given to those who risked coming to the workers to declare their newfound faith in Christ.
That's something that hasn't happened too much in past years. Now we're seeing it happen, and I believe that just as God moved among the descendants of the Incas in the Andes, and many were swept into the kingdom of God, I believe that one of these days, in response to earnest prayer, the doors of the Muslim work wor- world are going to open wide, and we're going to see a powerful work for Christ as we keep faithful in our intercession. Often those who are intensely wrong as sinners become intensely right as Christians. Have you noticed that? Let me tell you a little story in that connection.
I had a great friend by the name of Cesar Calderon. He was, he had been a listener to our programs. He was converted, but he had one great problem. His wife was absolutely opposed to the step he had taken. If he brought a Bible home, she tore it up. When he turned on the radio to hear the programs, she turned it off. It was a terrible time. He sat in my office more than once and just wept his burden and his sorrow over this. One day, in the hope that he might get a little bit of the radio program, he turned the set on again, and it just happened in the providence of God that a beautiful Spanish song came on the air at that time.
It was written by a wonderful preacher in Guatemala who spent about ten years with us, gifted as a songwriter, and this song says, Manos cariñosas, manos de Jesús, manos que llevaron la pesada cruz, the bleeding hands of Jesus that carried the heavy cross. She looked at her husband, he looked at her, she said, we disagree on everything else, but I like that song. You know, the poor lady was hooked after that. She couldn't help herself, and she kept on listening to hear that song again.
And the wife, Blanca, came to trust Jesus as Savior. And I want to tell you, as fierce as she was in her opposition to the gospel, so fervent she became in her witness to Christ and living the Christian life. Paul was right when he said, my conversion is a guarantee of what God can do. It's the guarantee of grace. If he can convert me, he can convert you, and he can convert others. There's a third thing that we need to consider, and I like to call that the compulsion or the grip of grace. If Christ Jesus came to save sinners, if he has saved us and made us his co-workers, then that grace compels us to join the Good Shepherd in seeking the lost sheep.
And I'd like to put it this way, God saves men because he loves them, but he also saves them because he desires that through them others shall be brought into the living knowledge of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. Here's a great statement that we all need to remember. If divine grace has kindled the fire in you, it is that your fellow man can burn with the same flame. May I repeat that? If divine grace has kindled a fire in you, then it is God's will that that fire burn in another man with the same flame.
That's the kind of spirit we ought to have in connection with the grace of God. Down in South America, connection with the Bible societies, they have some very fine Bible courses that they call the Pensoti Institute. There's a reason why they gave those institutes that rather strange name. I'll tell you the reason. Mr. and Mrs. Pensoti were Bible corp- coporters quite a few years ago, when doing that in South America was unbelievably tough. They came to Peru selling Bibles.
The authorities said they couldn't sell Bibles. The Pensotes kept on selling Bibles. There came a point when they threw Mr. Pensote into jail, they kept his wife on the outside, and they played one against the other. They told his wife how bad the conditions were in jail for him. They told Mr. Pansoti how much his wife felt lonely and burdened and sorrowful at the outside. And they said, if you stop selling Bibles, we'll let you out of jail. And Pansoti said, there's nothing wrong in sell- selling Bibles. We must obey God rather than men.
And there they were, one inside, one outside. But they won out. It became an international incident. The authorities were embarrassed with what had happened. Finally, they had to let Pensodi out. There was nothing else that they can do, that they could do. What do you do with a man like that? In fact, it reminds me of Mr. Vila in Spain when he was thrown into jail, and there in jail he was such a witness for Christ that the prisoners were coming to Christ. And finally they had to let Vila out. They didn't know what to do with a man like that. Well, if divine grace has kindled a fire in you, it is that your fellow man can burn with the same flame.
Let's not forget that. And here the whole Bible comes into play. God showers us with his grace and blessing with the purpose of having others receive that blessing too. That's the great burden across the entire Bible, isn't it? When God made the covenant with Abraham, what did he say? I will bless you, not period. I will bless you and make you a blessing, and in you all the families of the earth will be blessed. Psalm sixty seven says, God shall bless us, and all the ends of the earth shall fear him. In other words, God blessed people take his message to the ends of the earth, that others too might taste of that salvation.
And the whole Bible speaks of that, doesn't it? Jesus says, you're the light of the world, you're the salt of the earth. You shall receive power after that the Holy Ghost has come upon you. You shall be witnesses unto me in Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria, and to the ends of the earth. That's why it's important that we all participate in the glorious mission of world evangelism. That's the grip of grace. Now, there's also a goal of grace. We read it together, didn't we? Now to the King, eternal, immortal, invisible, to the only wise God our Savior, be honor and glory forever and ever.
Amen. That's the goal of grace. To the King be honor and glory forever and ever. You know, we've heard that so often that it's hard to express it in a different way so that it will impact us tonight. But let's make a try at that. To be saved is glorious. To see others saved is wonderful. To serve as a coworker is a great privilege, but even greater is the fact that we can do this for the glory of God. We can honor him by what we do and the way we live.
So we are involved in world evangelism, not only because we are told to do so. You know, in a sense, for a Christian, that ought to be enough. If we want to be obedient Christians, he's told us to do it, and that ought to be enough. But not only that, also because it's a joy to share the gospel. It's marvelous to see people saved. We should invest our resources in the Lord's work, but the great reason is that it honors and glorifies our God and Savior. That is the goal of grace. And the hymn writer has captured the idea when the hymn writer writer wrote, Immortal, invisible, God only wise, in light inaccessible, hid from our eyes, most blessed, most glorious, the ancient of days, almighty, victorious, thy great name we praise.
So tonight we've been thinking about the wonderful grace of Jesus, the guarantee of that grace. You can let out the gospel with the confidence that God will do the same work in others that he's done in you. The grip of grace, so touched and so moved by that gospel, that we in turn carry that gospel to others. And the goal of grace, that through it all, God will be honored and glorified. These days, we're talking a lot about El Nino. Well, there's something that's connected that with El Nino that I want to use as a close to this message tonight.
El Nino has a lot to do with what is called the Humboldt Current that flows along the west coast of South America, sometimes close to the coast, sometimes far from the coast, and where it flows makes a great deal of difference about the climate in that particular country through which it passes or along which it passes. And the Humboldt Current is basically a cold current, and it teems with fish and sea life and so on. And then, for some strange reason, at certain times, that current, after a while, becomes warm in a great pool of ocean water that very adversely affects the normal climate of the regions.
Many years ago, there was a great scientist and explorer by the name of Humboldt. He was the one that first noticed the phenomenon of that cold current up the west coast of South America. He became famous for his exploits, and toward the end of his life, they wanted to paint a portrait of him to honor this scientist and explorer. And so the fo- for the portrait, they urged him to put on his chest, on his uniform, all the medals that he had received and earned so that they could give him the proper recognition. And Humboldt said, no, I don't want the portrait done with the medals on my uniform.
I want to make a request of you. I'll allow the portrait to be done if in the background, as you paint, you will paint the picture of Mount Chimborazo. That's the most beautiful mountain that I have seen in all of my trial, my travels. And I agree with Humboldt. Mount Chimborazo in Ecuador, over twenty thousand feet high, with its triple peaks, a huge mountain, and when the clouds part from that mountain, you just gasp at the size of it as it appears into view. And Humboldt said, when you paint my portrait, I want it with Mount Chimborazo in the background.
That's the best thing I saw in all my travels. You know, we should feel that way in connection with the grace of God and the God whom we serve. As we serve, we're not interested in having attention called to the medals and the honors that we might have gained. We say you can paint my portrait if you do it with the fact of God's glory in the background, so that he gets the honor and he gets the glory. And that's why Paul says, to the only wise God be glory and honor forever and ever. Let's make that our goal in connection with the grace of God. Let's pray together.
Loving Heavenly Father, we thank you for marvelous grace, infinite grace, the much more of God's blessings and of God's favors and of God's supply. We think again of that marvelous statement, God is mable ab- able to make all grace abound toward you, that you always, having all sufficiency in all things, may abound to every good work. Wonderful, the matchless grace of Jesus. Thank you for the guarantee of grace. Your gospel is still powerful to save men.
Thank you for gripping us with that truth and leading us out to tell others about that grace. Thank you for the privilege of being able to serve in such a way that you, Lord, receive the glory. That's our desire, that's our goal. By your power, help us to live that way. We ask it in Jesus' wonderful name. Amen.