When We Have Hurt Others – Part 1 of 2

Let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith.

Bad decisions bring with them bad consequences, often in the lives of those close to us. How do we unravel the messes we make when not acting with God's guidance or messes we made before coming to Christ? Today, lessons from the Apostle Paul on handling messes like these. From the Moody Church in Chicago, this is Running to Win with Dr. Erwin Lutzer, whose clear teaching helps us make it across the finish line. Pastor Lutzer, today you'll take us into 1 Timothy chapter 1 to tell us what happens when we have hurt others. Well, today's message has to do with the Apostle Paul. As you know, he persecuted Christians.

He even consented to their death. But I want to emphasize that I've written a book entitled Making the Best of a Bad Decision, and this is the second to last day that we are making this resource available to you. I'm looking at chapter 7.

It's entitled When You've Hurt Others, Regrets You Can't Wish Away. Now, in that chapter, I discuss when you should confess your sin to someone else, if you have wronged them, when you shouldn't, how to go about it. This is a practical book that shows God's grace in the midst of brokenness. For a gift of any amount, it can be yours. Here's what you do.

Go to rtwoffer.com or call us at 1-888-218-9337. And never forget, God is with us right where we are, right where you are, and He is there to show forgiveness, grace, and restoration. Well this is the seventh in a series of messages entitled Making the Best of a Bad Decision. We all have our share of bad decisions under our belt. We've all done things that we regret, and today I'm going to give it a different emphasis, namely, what about those decisions that we have made that have hurt others? Almost always when I preach, I'm talking about how to handle the hurts that others have inflicted upon us. Now I'm talking about those who do the hurting, and usually there are so fewer of those. You just can't find them anywhere.

But they exist. For every hurt, there's a herter. Perhaps you've abused a child. Perhaps you have been untrue to your marriage vows. Perhaps you've hurt others through deceit and deception because of greed and because of pride, and today we've all hurt others, I'm sure. What do we do about the decisions that we have made that have hurt others?

That's the agenda. I'm going to use the Apostle Paul as an example. I struggle with this somewhat because the example of the Apostle Paul reminds us of what he was like before he was a Christian. And so we're going to turn to two passages of scripture, the ninth chapter of the book of Acts, first of all, and then we're going to go into Timothy and find out how Paul handled his past, which hurt an awful lot of others.

But if you have your Bible, please turn to the ninth chapter of the book of Acts because it is a dramatic story that we need to read. At this time, the Apostle Paul's name was Saul. Later on, it was changed. And the Bible tells us that when Stephen was being stoned, Saul was there consenting to his death, and they took Stephen's clothes and they laid them at the feet of Saul. Why did they do that? It showed that they were saying is, look, we've done exactly what you wanted us to do.

Aren't you proud of us? Here are his clothes as they stoned Stephen. Chapter nine of the book of Acts opens with these words, but Saul, still breathing threats and murder against the disciples of the Lord, went to the high priest and asked him for letters to the synagogues at Damascus so that he found any belonging to the way. The way refers to Christians. Men or women, he might bring them bound to Jerusalem. Now, as he went on his way, he approached Damascus and suddenly a light from heaven flashed around him and falling to the ground, he heard a voice saying to him, Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting me? And he said, who are you, Lord? And he said, I am Jesus whom you are persecuting, but rise and enter the city and you will be told what you are to do. The men who were traveling with him stood speechless, hearing the voice, but seeing no one. Saul arose from the ground and although his eyes were opened, he saw nothing. So they led him by the hand and brought him into Damascus.

And for three days he was without sight and neither ate nor drank. Well, in the intervening verses, he meets a man by the name of Ananias who had to be convinced that Paul was converted. He thought that it was a trick. The whole church thought that it was the trick. Yeah, really.

Spare me. That's what it was in these people's minds. But notice it says in the middle of verse 19, for some days he was with the disciples at Damascus and immediately he proclaimed Jesus in the synagogue saying he is the son of God and all who heard him were amazed and said, is not this the man who made havoc in Jerusalem of those who called upon this name? And he has not come here and has he not come here for this purpose to bring them bound before the chief priests? But Saul increased all the more in strength and confounded the Jews who lived in Damascus by proving that Jesus was the Christ. What a conversion story.

Notice this how sudden it was. He's going along and he's struck to the ground by light and he actually sees Jesus. We learn in another passage he sees Jesus so clearly that later on he'll say, I saw Christ in the flesh. And he was suddenly converted to Christianity and to Jesus whom he was persecuting. Now you and I do not have a dramatic conversion story like that I'm sure. But when we passed from death onto life we also crossed a line and we also crossed from darkness into light at a very specific point in time. Conversion happens in a moment.

Remember that birth happens in a moment or two. There may be a period of gestation and then there's growth afterwards but when Jesus said you must be born again it is an experience and so I have to ask you have you actually had the experience of being converted? Maybe you don't remember the exact time but if you're converted there was a time when you were converted.

It was a sudden experience. It was also a very transforming experience come to think of it. It transformed his mind. He thought that Jesus was a false messiah. He couldn't believe that Jesus who died on the cross could be the messiah because that was a curse and he couldn't imagine that messiah would be cursed but messiah was to be blessed and so he couldn't accept Jesus. Now suddenly he becomes absolutely convinced that Jesus fits the picture.

He fits the puzzle and now he begins to convince people that Jesus is the Christ, the messiah. Changed his mind, changed his heart. He couldn't stand these Christians. He hated them. Now he loves them. He couldn't stand Jesus. Now he loves Jesus. God changes his affections. That's by the way proof that you've been converted. You see you and I can't wake up in the morning on our own and saying today I'm going to love Jesus. We can wake up and say today I'm going to study Jesus. Today I might even admire Jesus but we can't create the love out of nothing.

It's not like tap water that you can turn on and off. When we love Jesus, when we love him whom we have not seen, it is a love that is implanted in our hearts by God. That's why we love him. Changed his affections. It changed the direction of his life. Now he's proclaiming Christ. It was a sudden conversion. It was a transforming conversion. It was a lasting conversion. Paul spends the rest of his life doing this. Have you ever noticed when somebody gets converted? Maybe a young person in a home and the parents aren't saved. They say well he'll get over it. It's a flash in the pan.

Well for some it might be. For Paul it lasted until he came to the end of his life and he was able to say now I am ready to be offered. The time of my departure is at hand. I have fought a good fight. I've kept the faith.

I finished the course. Henceforth there is laid up for me a crown of righteousness which the Lord the righteous judge shall give me at that day. What a transformation of life. Now the question I want to ask today is how did Paul put these bad decisions, the persecution of Christians? How did he deal with his past? That's a good question because if you're here today as an adult you have a past.

Some people's past may be a lot better than others but we're all here. Well for that we turn to 1 Timothy where the Apostle Paul gives us some hint regarding how he regarded his past. 1 Timothy chapter 1 verse 12. He's writing to the young man Timothy. He writes two letters to him.

This is the first of the two letters. Chapter 1 verse 12. I thank him who has given me strength Christ Jesus our Lord because he judged me faithful appointing me to his service though I formerly was a blasphemer, a persecutor, an insolent opponent but I received mercy because I had acted ignorantly in unbelief and the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ overflowed for me with the faith and love that are in Christ Jesus. This is a trustworthy saying and worthy of full acceptance that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners of whom I am the foremost. I love the King James at this point of whom I am chief but I received mercy for this reason that in me as the chief of sinners as the foremost Christ might display his perfect patience as an example to those who were to believe in him for eternal life.

No wonder he ends by saying to the king of ages immortal invisible the only God the honor and glory forever amen. How does Paul make the best of his past bad decisions? First of all he admits what he did. He says I was a blasphemer because I spoke against Jesus and you can blaspheme Jesus by denying his lordship by denying his messiahship that is blasphemy. Paul says I was a blasphemer. He says I was a persecutor. I wanted to bind people and bring them to Jerusalem.

I delighted in the death of Stephen. I was the one who had murderous threats in my heart. I persecuted the church. I tried to get Christians to deny the faith and then he says I was an insolent insolent opponent. It's not a word we use too often but you know what it means in Greek it means I was guilty of brutal violence hubris really means sadistic cruelty. The kind of person who delights in making other people squirm who delights in the power who delights in the revenge and he loves to see others suffer.

Paul says that's the kind of person I was. Step number one when we try to make the best of decisions that have hurt others could we at least admit that we've made these decisions? You know it's been my experience working with people who hurt others. You go to the person and you say you know you've hurt so-and-so and you have to you have to drag it out of them like tweezers taking a sliver out of the finger because they don't want to admit to anything.

You can't get them to. If you've been guilty of hurting a child admit your guilt. Stop what you're doing but admit your guilt.

You've been a father who has provoked your children to anger and has sent them into the far country because of yourself righteous indignation. Admit your guilt admit who you are in the presence of God admit your deceit who so covereth his sins shall not prosper but whoever confesses and forsakes them finds mercy. Find mercy through honest admission and confession. Paul also in the process admits who he was that he was the chief of sinners. So Paul admits whom he was but notice how he also now speaks about God's grace. He says though I formerly I was a blasphemer but I received mercy because I had acted ignorantly in unbelief. Now in order to understand that you have to go back to the Old Testament. In the Old Testament there were two kinds of sins there was the sin that was the sin of the high hand.

The person who says I'm shaking my fist in the face of God. The sin of a Nietzsche who said even if you prove God's existence I will then believe him even less. In other words goodbye God there's that kind of a sin and then there's the sin of ignorance where you're genuinely misled and there's a difference.

Now that doesn't get you off the hook it doesn't mean that it isn't sin it's just that it is more understandable it is a lesser sin if you want to put it that way. So Paul says I did it ignorantly in unbelief and I received mercy. He says I received mercy and mercy means we don't get what we deserve. God says Saul you deserve punishment you deserve hell we all do but God says I'm going to prevent you from getting what you deserve that's mercy. When we pray for America we have to pray for mercy we can't pray for justice but for mercy because if we got what we deserve we probably wouldn't be around here right now to enjoy what we're doing. So he says and I received grace if mercy is is not getting what we deserve grace is getting blessings that we don't deserve.

It is it is God's bountiful way of blessing us. Now I want you to look at the text because the Apostle Paul loved a preposition in Greek who pair from which we get hyper. Today we have active children all children are active but then you have hyper active children and some of you know what that's all about and even grandparents have to learn what that's all about hyper active.

We have sensitive people and then we have people who are hyper sensitive you know that word hyper let's call it super super. Paul actually on three or four occasions in the New Testament made up a word by putting a prefix before another word and there's no other example in all of Greek literature where that was done because Paul just ran out of a way to say it and so he used the word super here. Let's look at the text and the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ overflowed for me with the faith and love that are in Jesus.

The word overflow is to super flow. In first Thessalonians chapter 1 verse 3 the Apostle Paul speaks of the super increase of your faith. I thank God that you have super faith. Makes up a new word there too same idea and then in Ephesians 1 19 he's praying and he says I want you to know the super abounding power of God. I want you to know not just God's power but his super power and in Romans chapter 8 verse 37 he says this that we are super conquerors through Jesus Christ because of him who loved us.

We're not just conquerors Paul says I know that we translated it we are more than conquerors that's the way the translation gets a hold of this idea but Paul is saying hey I want you to be a super conqueror. For the Apostle Paul everything that God did was super and he says I especially like super grace for a super sinner. Super sinners need super grace. I'm getting one amen over here.

I'm getting one taker let's put it that way. This is Pastor Luther I don't know about you but my heart rejoices when I hear about super grace for super sinners. What that means is that the gospel of Jesus Christ can go around the world no matter how deeply people have fallen into sin there is always hope and that's why I wrote the book entitled Making the Best of a Bad Decision. Now I want to emphasize that this is the second to last day that we are making this resource available to you. It might well be that you think you don't need this book but I know that you probably are aware that there are those in your life in your family among your friends who will be tremendously blessed by it because we all need to grapple with those bad decisions. Well for a gift of any amount we're making it available here is what you do go to rtwoffer.com or call us at 1-888-218-9337. Now because this is the second to last day that we're making this available to you I'm going to be giving you that contact info again and thanks in advance for helping us get the gospel to millions of people.

Here's what you can do go to rtwoffer.com or call us at 1-888-218-9337. Ask for the book Making the Best of a Bad Decision How to Put Your Regrets Behind You Embrace Grace and Move Toward a Better Future. It's time once again for you to ask Pastor Lutzer a question about the Bible or the Christian life. It's hard for us to not see the afterlife as a continuation of this present life and some fear that conflicts between people in the here and now might extend into long-term conflicts in the life to come. One of our listeners put it this way when he contacted us, if you're having a struggle with another Christian on earth will we just shake hands in heaven and be done with it?

I can assure you that's not the way it's going to be. You see that's what the judgment seat of Jesus Christ is all about. The judgment seat of Jesus Christ is for Christians it is to adjudicate all of the loose ends all of the issues that have taken place here on earth where there was no resolution. You can't tell me that a man who leaves his wife and family lives with another woman a Christian man doesn't send child support goes his own way selfishly let us suppose that he is a Christian though certainly he's not acting like one he dies he goes to heaven his wife is there whom he wronged his children who have been put on a false path a wrong path because of his own disobedience and now suddenly she and he are going to shake hands and walk into heaven no Jesus is going to put light on this and justice will be brought to that situation that's why the Apostle Paul says judge nothing before the time because the Lord is going to come who is going to set right all the issues and judge the motives of men's hearts. 1 Corinthians chapter 5 verse 10 for we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ to receive what is due us for the deeds done in the body whether good or bad the judgment seat of Jesus Christ is very very serious it is there where the truth is going to come out and only after the resolution of all of these issues will they walk into heaven so to speak hand in hand and face eternity the way you live here on earth is very very important my friend always remember that your life matters. Thank you Dr. Lutzer for that clarity on what we can expect in heaven if you'd like to hear your question answered go to our website at rtwoffer.com and click on ask pastor Lutzer or call us at 1-888-218-9337 that's 1-888-218-9337. You can write to us at running to win 1635 North LaSalle Boulevard Chicago Illinois 60614. Running to win is all about helping you find God's roadmap for your race of life. The apostle Paul watched with glee as Stephen was stoned to death then came his conversion on the Damascus road what to do with the pain you caused others before you found Christ that's our focus on our next broadcast for pastor Erwin Lutzer this is Dave McAllister running to win is sponsored by the Moody Church.