Not only did God hold back the bad from Paul, but He also gave him undeserved blessings. Paul didn't get what he deserved, but instead received what he didn't deserve. He deserved bad, and instead he got good. Remember the goal of verse 5, of holding people to the truth? The goal was so they could experience love, and real faith. That's what Paul received.

When we receive mercy, that's a lot of bad being held back. Hell is a lot of bad. And God's grace is a lot of good. God's grace was exceeding abundant, it super-abounded (indicative aorist) to Paul. God's not stingy. He wants to do great things through us. He wants to fill us up with faith and love. He's not stingy when it comes to helping people, like I am too many times. In our flesh, we don't want to go the extra mile. But with His help, we can super-abound in love and faith. He wants to pour love and faith into us in great abundance. Don't look at God as stingy. If we're not experiencing these things in great degree, it's because we are somehow narrowing the pipeline.

As bad as Paul was, there was enough grace to do the job. All of us had sunk so low in sin, but His grace was greater in good, so that it overcame our wickedness. Isn't it wonderful that God reaches down far enough, overcoming evil with good, and gives us good things in great abundance? God sets us on high, in His presence, by granting us faith and love.

Where are all these good things found? We find them in the anointed One, whose name means Jehovah saves. When we have Christ, we have everything we could ever need. He is God's anointed! Are you lacking love, having a hard time believing? What is going to change you? We must turn to Jesus, God's anointed. Love and faith can be found in great abundance in Him. God's grace is exceeding abundant.

Verses 13 and 14 are contrasts. Paul went from hating and destroying people to experiencing the love of Christ. He was transformed from a life of doubt and unbelief to a life of faith. We are still in the context of being enabled to preach the gospel. We have everything we need to reach others when we tap into the One who is the Savior of the world!

Again Paul is a great example of humility. He realized that everything he had came from the Lord. Paul had a lot of faith in God. And he was a living example of Christ's love. But instead of taking the credit for it, he lets us know it's all the result of God's super-abounding grace, which is found in the person of Jesus Christ!

This is the same attitude we need to have. If we are humble, which is nothing more than seeing ourselves accurately, then God will lift us up. Anything good that comes from me is only by His grace.

Don't swerve away from the truth. All this can be ours if we make the right choice. In this chapter we see both sides: our responsibility and God's grace. It's up to us. We have to choose. But if we make the right choice, all this can be ours!!!!!

15)
The good word is that Christ Jesus, the anointed One, came into the world to save sinners, of whom Paul was made an example (v 16).

What Paul is going to say next we must receive with all our heart. There are lots of things people say that seem good, but we don't know 100% if it's totally true. You may show me your idea for a successful business, and I may think it's a great idea. I may be 95% sure, and I may even invest my time and money into it. But a little part of me is saying, "maybe something is being overlooked. It seems like it will work, but I don't know for absolute sure." We don't want to stake our life, let alone our soul, on a business proposition. But this, my friend, is something we can count on absolutely, all the way into eternity.

Faithfulness is a quality that can be hard to find. "If you want it done right, do it yourself." If you have employees, you know how hard it is to really count on someone to do the best possible job for you. But there is One who is faithful, and who speaks faithful words that we can count on. And this is a faithful saying, or word (logos). And this faithful word is worthy of ALL acceptation. We don't have to worry in the back of our mind if something is wrong or out of balance. Everyone ought to take it to heart. We need to accept it fully, completely, with no reservations or defense mechanisms.

And what is the good word, my friend? That Christ Jesus, the anointed One, came into this world to save sinners. Yippee! That was His purpose for coming here. He knew that we needed serious deliverance, and He came down here to save us.

This verse really captures the context of this chapter. And it captures the context of life. Everyone is looking for some rhyme and reason to the universe, some higher meaning as to what the whole thing is all about. Why are we here? What's the point? What is it all about? I mean to tell you that this is the answer. This verse is what it's all about. God became a man, and came down to little planet earth, and visited us so we can be delivered from our enemy: sin and death.

He didn't come to give a little guidance to a basically good bunch of folks. He came to a rebellious people. He came to the unrighteous, to the ugly in spirit, to call them to repentance. We are a sinful people in need of deliverance.

Is it saying here that Paul was the worst sinner to ever walk the planet? I don't believe so. There is no definite article in front of chief, as to say he was the chief sinner. We could translate it he was a chief sinner.

We ought to apply this to ourselves, and be glad that God can save a wretch like us. Paul is in the midst of sharing the difference Jesus Christ made in his life. And he takes the humble road to do it. We are wrong if we think that we weren't so bad. We all deserved Hell. Each and every one of us has earned our way there. We're all chief sinners. I can say this for myself, because I was a chief sinner. That's just the facts, Jack.

Paul was used of God because he was gripped with his depravity- and with God's grace. Both of those elements jump out of this passage. We're messed up, but He came to fix it. It doesn't matter what we were before, because He came to give us grace in great abundance. But if we fail to see our depravity, then we won't cry out much for His help. If we don't cry out much, then we won't receive near as much help. It all works together and it stems from humility. Seeing clearly who we are, and acting on it, is how we receive abundant grace. People usually get what they want when they want it bad enough. This principle sometimes fails in this world, but all those who hunger and thirst after righteousness will be filled. I lack what I do spiritually because I fail to hunger for it more than I do.

Here was a man who stood firmly against Christianity. So much so, that he was famous for it. And yet Jesus saved him. It just goes to show that Jesus really did come to save sinners. The grace of our Lord really is exceeding abundant. And that He saved me; well, that proves it. I was so lost and self centered that it was ridiculous.

Paul doesn't just talk about the need to stand against false teachers and bad doctrine. We can be sure that we are called to do that; but he also points out what our goal needs to be. The goal is to see them experience the love of God. Paul then uses himself as the example, as if to say, "God can save anybody, because He saved me." In other words, we need to stand fast against false teachers, yet desiring their salvation, realizing that they are no worse then us. We need to remember we are only on the winning side by the super-abundant grace of God.

The following is a song we sing in church. I like the words a lot, because I think it captures the essence of the passage.
Faithful the word, and worthy of all acceptance,
That Christ Jesus came into the world,
Sinners to save, a chief one am I;
Christ Jesus came into the world, sinners to save.

This passage flows so well. It's like we are all exposed. It's like someone has taken the covers off us and we are revealed as sinners. Every single one of us. That's what the passage is saying. While we stand in opposition to false teachers, to those in error of God's way, we still have to start with ourselves, realizing we're all wicked. Otherwise we don't know what we are talking about. Paul doesn't just talk about how bad others are; he is in the midst of talking about how bad he was. He wants others to experience the same mercy he did.

A way that we can check and make sure our attitude is right when we challenge others is to ask ourselves if we are trying to give them a gift. Are we challenging them because we love them (not because we're irritated), and we realize God gave us something we didn't deserve, and we want to share it with them. If we aren't trying to help them, then something is wrong. One-upmanship and tit for tat conversations are of the flesh, and not of God.

If we look across the room, or at another church, or at people in another country, and see them as worse sinners than ourselves, then we are totally missing it. We should see ourselves as a chief sinner, in a world full of sinners. We ought to be willing to share with humiliating accuracy our sin. This will help both ourselves and those who hear us. And we should feel the freedom in the Body to confess our sins one to another, knowing that we are all sinners. If we look down on someone who is confessing sin, it is the other person who will walk away justified and not ourselves (parable of the Pharisee and the publican). Blessed is the man whose sins are forgiven. That's what it's all about. That's the whole point of everything. None of us was able to save ourselves. None of us had it together. It took a big miracle for each and every one of us. The whole reason God came to earth as a man was because we are all sinners, and He wanted to deliver us from our sins. If you think the whole sin issue is overblown, you are missing the whole point. Accept this saying with every fiber of your being. Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners! It's worthy of ALL acceptation.

Paul's attitude is the opposite of the Pharisee and the publican in the temple. He's not looking down his nose on anyone. It's great we can have this balance. We can hold people to the truth for the right reason: because we care about them, realizing that it's only by the grace of God that we can help them. This is an awesome attitude. Paul is driven for their best, remembering that he needs help just as bad as anyone else. He is glad to have God's help, and he wants to share it with others. It's like finding a man who is giving out a million dollars to everyone who asks. You would want it for yourself, and you would want to tell others so they could have it too.