Saul of tarsus who later became Paul the apostle of our Lord Jesus Christ is a clear example of what the Lord means, when he said in Titus 2:11 "For the grace of God that bringeth salvation hath appeared to all men," yes grace found Paul, a man walking zealously against the early disciples of Jesus, he was killing and imprisoning them, he was the man who overseas the murdering of apostle Stephen, he was so zealously destructive to the gospel and the believers of the early church that he obtained a later from the priest to go to Damascus and arrest them and bring the back to Jerusalem to face punishment Acts 9:1-2 And Saul, yet breathing out threatenings and slaughter against the disciples of the Lord, went unto the high priest, and desired of him letters to Damascus to the synagogues, that if he found any of this way, whether they were men or women, he might bring them bound unto Jerusalem.
But grace and mercy found Paul on his way to Damascus, the resurrected Jesus appeared to him and confront him with this question Acts 9:3 And as he journeyed, he came near Damascus: and suddenly there shined round about him a light from heaven: 9:4 And he fell to the earth, and heard a voice saying unto him, Saul, Saul, why persecutest thou me? 9:5 And he said, Who art thou, Lord? And the Lord said, I am Jesus whom thou persecutest: it is hard for thee to kick against the pricks. 9:6 And he trembling and astonished said, Lord, what wilt thou have me to do? And the Lord said unto him, Arise, and go into the city, and it shall be told thee what thou must do.
From this point the Lord encounter Paul genuinely, he found grace and mercy for his soul, a man journeying against the church became a preacher of the gospel.
Paul became a mighty instrument for his kigdom expansion, the gospel get to the gentiles only through the walk of Paul with God after his encounter, Paul wrote about 9 epistles that made up the new testament.
He also suffered a great peril for the sake of this gospel, he was beating, stoned, shipwrecked, chained and imprisoned yet he was preaching the gospel,
THE INSTRUCTIONS FOR OUR LEARNING
Are you like Saul now, are you walking outside the grace of God that brought salvation, have you rejected Christ and the power of his cross, have you gone astray in sin and immorality, are you trapped in wickedness, have you gone so deep in working zealously for the kingdom of darkness, are you very far from the Lord Jesus, are you even on the act of persecuting Christ now?
I have a good news for you it is the news of God's free and abounding grace, it is the news of his undying mercies, that same that Paul encountered and his life was transformed forever, yes that exact grace is calling on you to come close and receive it, just like Saul he fell down when he saw the light, he listened to the voice of the Lord, he became blind to his mission of ignorance and after three days his sight was restored to him, he opened his eyes to the reality of Christ love for him, dearly beloved will you waste this grace, I hope you will not, just bow your head in prayer and ask God to come into your heart now.
