We are born enemies of God. In our original sinful nature, we are unable to do anything good and pleasing to Him. Both of these are Biblical truths. But that isn’t who we are called to be. By the grace of God and through the regenerative power of the blood of Christ, we can be so much more. In fact, in the scripture we read yesterday, it says those who have been made “alive together with Christ” were “created in Christ Jesus for good works.” This truth is at the center of Philippians 4:13 where Paul says, “I can do all things THROUGH CHRIST [emphasis added] who strengthens me.”
Paul didn’t come up with this idea on his own. He was conveying to the churches at Corinth and Philippi the same thing Jesus taught in Matthew 15. In verses 4 and 5, Jesus says, “Remain in me, as I also remain in you. No branch can bear fruit by itself; it must remain in the vine. Neither can you bear fruit unless you remain in me. I am the vine; you are the branches. If you remain in me and I in you, you will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing.” These truths are now relayed to us through the supernatural preservation of God’s word. And they haven’t lost their power.
Do you feel that you are so bad that God will never be able to use you? You’re wrong. This is a lie Satan uses to keep us defeated in his doomed efforts to dethrone God.
Don’t believe me? Let me introduce you to some people.
All these men were undoubtedly terrible people. Men that in the eyes of God and man deserved death. But why do we know about them today? Because God used them in mighty ways.
Sinner 1 was Abraham. Father of the Jews, God’s chosen people. Even after Abraham mocked Him, God kept the promise He had made with Abraham. Not only was he the father of nations that still exist today, but he also counts among his descendants Jesus Christ, the Savior of the world.
Sinner 2 was King David. The giant killer. Twice called a man after God’s own heart. Probably used more than any other person in history to show that God can do great things through those the world views as weak. Another man in the earthly lineage of Jesus, David wrote many of the Psalms. The 23rd Psalm may be the most widely read passage of comfort in all of Scripture.
Sinner 3 was the Apostle Paul. Self-proclaimed chief among sinners. Yet by the power and inspiration of the Holy Spirit, he wrote more of the New Testament than any other man. It could easily be said that no one other than Christ has had a more positive impact on the church and believers. The churches he helped establish led millions to salvation. The way he followed Christ after his conversion is a model for us all.
Sinner 4 was John Newton. After his conversion, Newton became a staunch opponent of the slave trade and one of the loudest voices in the abolition movement in England. The primary reason we remember him today is that he wrote “Amazing Grace,” widely considered the most popular hymn of all time. Millions have heard about the amazing saving grace of God proclaimed in the stanzas of this song that may have never sat under the preaching of God’s word or picked up a Bible.
You may never write an “Amazing Grace.” You may never start a church that leads millions of lives to Christ. But don’t believe Satan’s lie that you are powerless to serve God because of your past sin. The Bible says it isn’t so. If we have been born again, we “are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.”
To His glory, God uses people who were His enemies, dead in their sins, and those who remain broken and imperfect even after salvation to do great things. He has to. That’s the only kind of people there are!