Surprising Grace: The Coverage

Can you imagine going to the doctors and finding out that you aren’t covered?
And that they can’t remove the cancer?
Can you imagine standing before God and finding out that you aren’t covered?

That your sins are still there.
That your guilt is still there. 
That the guilt you feel from that big ol’ sin, that bogs you down, day after day will be with you forever. 
That you won’t be getting eternal life, but…

Today we are continuing our sermon series called Surprising Grace. Our goal is to look at the case study of the Apostle Paul and see why he was so sure that he was covered and to gain confidence that we are also covered. I want you to leave here today confident that you’re covered in God’s grace. But in order to do that, we’re going to need to hear God’s Word. Let’s say a prayer: O Lord, strengthen us by the truth; your Word is truth. Open our eyes to see what you want us to see. Open our ears to hear what you want us to hear. Open our hearts to believe what you would have us believe. Amen. 

I. A Case Study: Paul 

To learn about just who it is that God’s grace covers, we’re going to head to 1 Timothy 1. 1 Timothy is a letter written by one of Jesus’ disciples. His name was Paul. The Apostle Paul. Maybe you’ve heard of him? In fact, he’s probably one of the top 5 -- outside of Jesus -- famous people me in the Bible. Moses, David, Mary, Peter and Paul. 

Paul is kind of a man’s man of Christianity. He always puts me to shame when I read about how he preached God’s message to an angry group of men that told him to stop or they would kill him. Paul went on a missionary journey by foot, traveled hundreds of miles, started about 10 churches, and then returned home to grab a Pop Tart, take a shower, and head on another missionary journey. 

Paul went on 4 missionary journeys. 
He started over 20 churches. 
He wrote 13 books of the Bible. 

It’s why we shouldn’t be surprised to find out that Paul is covered: I thank Christ Jesus our Lord, who has given me strength, that he considered me trustworthy, appointing me to his service. (v.12)

Paul’s a part of God’s service. 
No one is a part of God’s service that isn’t covered in his salvation plan. 
Paul is covered in God’s salvation plan. 

And that’s probably not all that encouraging. 

Paul is a answer to Bible trivia.
Paul has had churches named after him.
Paul has had hundreds of thousands of sermons preached about him.
Of course, he’s getting covered!

That’d be like an insurance company saying, “Don’t worry. We’ll cover you. Look over there? Do you see that insanely in shape 22-year-old? The one with the bulging biceps, no history of heart problems, and the lesson than 2% body fat? He’s covered. No worries.” 

But I do worry. Cause I’m not in that kind of shape. 
And I’m not in the kind of spiritual shape that Paul was in. You?

But that’s not entirely accurate. There’s more to Paul’s story than the famous Apostle portion of his story. Check out verse 13. “I was once a blasphemer and a persecutor and a violent man….” 

Do you know the first time Paul shows up in the Bible? He actually has a different name. It’s like a superhero. He’s not originally known as the Batman, but billionaire Bruce Wayne. And Paul is not originally known as the incredible Apostle Paul, but lowly, mild-mannered Saul. 

In fact, Saul was kind of an apprentice. But he didn’t work for the Daily Planet or work as a lab technician in a government factory. 

He worked for the Pharisees. 
The very people that hated Jesus. 
The very people who spearheaded the movement to kill Jesus. 

In fact, when we first see Saul it’s in Acts 7. Saul is on the job helping the Pharisees stop the message of Jesus as the Savior of the world. 
How are they doing it? 

They aren’t blogging against it. 
They aren’t writing articles against it.
They aren’t even spray painting the disciple’s headquarters. 

They were throwing stones at one of Jesus’ followers. 
One by one. 
Until he was dead. 

57 At Stephen’s confession that Jesus was the Savior, the Pharisees covered their ears and yelling at the top of their voices,they all rushed at him, dragged him out of the city and began to stone him. Meanwhile, the witnesses laid their coats at the feet of a young man named – Saul.

“Nice shot sir. Hit that no good Jesus-lover in the throat.”
“Well, don’t guys. I love how he’s moaning for mercy.”
“Oh look out…you got a bit of blood on your coat. No worries. I’ll wash it out. You just keep killing.”

That’s the same guy from 1 Timothy?

I haven’t even finished yet. Because if you read on, the scriptures say that Saul was really moved by this gang murder. So much so that he spearheaded the movement to put an end to Christianity. In chapter 8, it says, he persecuted the church in Jerusalem and began to destroy the church…Going from house to house, he dragged off both men and women and put them in prison…And in chapter 9 -- He was breathing out murderous threats against the Lord’s disciples.

Yes. This same guy. This same guy writes this in 1 Timothy 1:13 “Though I was once a blasphemer and a persecutor and a violent man, I was shown mercy…because I acted in ignorance and unbelief."

Which is such a strange reason for mercy. Because usually ignorance and unbelief do not lead to mercy. 
Sorry officer I didn’t know that I was going 30 mph over the speed limit. 
Sorry, officer. I saw the stop sign; I just didn’t believe that I needed to stop. No worries, right? 

That’s not how it works. Ignorance and unbelief do not result in good things!
Ignorance and unbelief do NOT earn God’s mercy. 
Sin deserves death. 
Saul deserved death. 

But he didn’t get death. Because of God’s mercy. 

In fact, it had to be about God’s mercy. Just like we talked about last week. No one can earn God’s grace – God’s grace is a free gift to be given. Jesus came to Saul – literally when he was on the road to go throw more Christian men and women and children into jail, literally when he was about to take a sledge hammer to whatever house churches he could find – literally when he was going to post signs everywhere stated that “Any man or woman found practicing Christianity would be put to death,” 

Jesus appeared. 
Jesus rebuked. 
Jesus had mercy. 

And it covered Saul! Not because his sins weren’t too bad. (we just heard – they were really bad!) God’s mercy covered Saul because God’s mercy was more than enough. (v.14) The grace of our Lord was poured out on me abundantly, along with the faith and love that are in Christ Jesus. 
 
It’s kind of like filling up a tea pot. Any of you have a teapot? I have a teapot that I use for coffee. But if you’re like me, I put it under the sink and let it start filling up --- then I go do something. I comb my hair. I brush my teeth. I pet the dogs. I read an article in Time magazine. I get distracted by a Facebook post. I put on my shoes. I get ready to leave and then I hear it! 

The teapot!

I run back to the sink and find the teapot overflowing. And since the teapot is sitting over the drain, the teapot looks like it is soaking in a hot tub of water. There’s an abundant, overflowing amount.

That’s God’s grace. It overflowed to Saul. It overflowed so much that his past was completely washed away from God’s sight. It even washed away his old identity. He was no longer – Saul the blasphemer, but Paul the believer. He was no longer Saul the persecutor, but Paul the Apostle. He was no longer Saul the violent, but Paul – whom Christ suffered violently for. 

Paul was completely covered by God’s grace. 

II. A Case Study of You 

And that’s awesome. Because it means something really, awesome for you. 

And I don’t know how you take notes. But when you take notes and it’s an important point, you might do something to draw your attention to it. You might put an ink star. You might underline it. You might highlight it. You might highlight, underline and star it. You might put a bookmark in the Bible. You might make an audio recording of it. You might do something – anything to let you know about the note!

In the next verse, Paul has such an important note for you that he even takes the liberty of drawing attention to it for you. He says, in verse 15, “Here is a trustworthy saying that deserves full acceptance…” That means: “LISTEN! PAY ATTENTION! IF YOU HAVEN’T BEEN PAYING ATTENTION TO ANY OTHER PART OF THIS SERMON, YOU NEED TO PAY ATTENTION NOW!” 

Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners of whom I am the worst!

This is so interesting, because usually the Bible puts us on equal footing. It says – “All have sinned and fall short and all are justified freely by Jesus.” (Romans 3:23) All are on the same playing field. That’s still true. 

But humanly speaking we do put levels on sins.
“I didn’t really commit adultery – I didn’t have complete intercourse.” 
“I’m not as bad as that guy because I wasn’t a knock out drunk.”

Paul knows the human heart. God knows the human heart. God has Paul write on that level of human wisdom. He says, “16 For that very reason, I was shown mercy so that in me, the worst of sinners, Christ Jesus might display his immense patience as an example for those who would believe in him and receive eternal life.”

He says, “Do you really think you’re so bad that Jesus couldn’t save you? Do you really think you’ve done too much bad that Jesus’ forgiveness couldn’t cover you? Well. Let me ask you this: 

Have you ever killed anyone for telling an elderly widow about Jesus?
Have you ever gone to church in order to tackle the pastor, handcuff him, and throw him into jail?
Have you ever taken a sledge hammer to the foundation of a church? 
Have you ever sent email after email after email to a Christian friend – telling them they were the most vile person on earth and if they didn’t stop, you’d kill them!?!

Paul did. 
God still had enough grace to cover him. 

Paul was that bad. 
But Jesus’ salvation was that good. 

If God did that for Paul, won’t he do that for you? 

In fact – that’s why Jesus came into the world: To save sinners! If you’re a sinner, Jesus came to die for you. He came to provide complete coverage for every last one of your sins. He came to completely cover you in his blood and conceal you in his pure and sweet forgiveness. 

This is true for you. 
No matter the sin. 

Struggle with lust? Jesus came for you.  
Struggle with hatred? Jesus came for you. 
Struggle with greed? Jesus came for you. 
Done something to get you in jail? Jesus came for you. 
Done something to ruin your marriage? Jesus came for you. 
Done something to ruin your relationship with your children? Jesus came for you. 

If you’ve done something or anything sinful, Jesus came into this world to save you. 

And? He did. 

He lived perfectly.
He died innocently.
He rose triumphantly. 

Jesus came into this world to save sinners – Jesus came into this world to save you!

Which means…You are fully covered. 

III. What Now? 

1) Revel in your New Identity

That’s what Paul did. He didn’t stay in the realm of “Woe is me! I’ve done so much wrong. I’m the worst of sinners.” He didn’t see himself like that because God didn’t see himself like that. In fact, the only reason he ever talked about it was to help others understand how incredible God’s grace was and is. 

It’s like Halloween. At Halloween, you may have put on a mask. You may have been someone else. For the rest of the night – depending on how good you are at playing the part – you became a Dr. Who, Doc McStuffins or a Pokemon! 

In fact, I came across one little kid who was doing an awesome job with his costume. He was pretending to be a ninja. He was such a good ninja. He was always tip toeing. He tried to sneak up on me a few times. He talked in a whisper.  And when his mom came calling him to get him into the car, he was so into his character that he forgot about who he really was. He hid!

Understand this: Paul is not advocating that you play a character. He advocates that you revel in who you really are. 

Forgiven.
Covered.
Child of God!

2) Honor the King!

Because there’s no reason to feel sorry anymore! We are forgiven. We are given grace. We are a part of his kingdom!

Praise God! 

That’s exactly how Paul closes that section…which is so interesting, because it’s not even the end of his letter. He’s still at the beginning. But he can’t mention God’s incredible grace without breaking into praise. He says, “Now to the King eternal, immortal, invisible, the only God, be honor and glory forever and ever. Amen!”

Make that your refrain.

Instead of posting on Facebook about how bad you’ve got it; post about the awesome you’ve got it in God. 
Instead of getting to work to complain about the unfortunate consequences of sin; get to work tell others about the awesome consequences of God’s grace. 
Instead of avoiding God in fear; come, worship Him – because his grace had completely covered you!

CONCLUSION: 

Today is Last Judgment Sunday. A day that we remember what’s coming up. A day when the Bible reminds us that one Day, Our King, Our Immortal, Incredible, Divine, earth shaking, mountain quaking, flood pouring, lightning storing God comes to earth and judges us.

Each of us. 
Me. 
You.

And without coverage – that’s a terrifying thing. 

But you have been covered. 
You are covered.
By faith in Jesus, you will be covered. 

Your words to him will not be – Please don’t! But filled with praise “To the King eternal, immortal, invisible, the only God, be honor and glory forever and ever!” (v.17)

Amen.