The Conversion of an evil vile Person

Acts 9:1-9

When we read or hear the story of the conversion of an evil vile person whom God confronts with the wickedness of their life, and they respond to Him by bowing before Him in total agreement with what He has stated, that should bring joy and hope to your heart.  Such is the story of the conversion of Saul, such is the story of Charles Colson, and so was my story.   But surely, you must ask, were you as evil as a Saul whose only goal was to kill and put in prison those who believed differently from him?  Or like Charles Colson, a despicable person whose only goal was power and he cared nothing for truth or honesty.  The simple truth is yes, and on my examination before the Lord in a hotel room in Victoria, Texas, I was found guilty of being filled with self, wanting to live independently of a holy God, and do whatever brought me pleasure. 

God has to grow weary of us, in that we have come up with our on spin on what sin is, but only when we are confronted as King David was by Nathan, then a wise man will bow his knee to a holy God; do you recall that account?  How David took the wife of one of his soldiers, who was away fighting for him, and slept with her and she became pregnant and David brought him back to town but Uriah being a man of integrity would not go to his wife.  Plan (A) had fallen short of its goal.  David came up with plan (B) to hide his sin and had Uriah killed in battle and then married his wife.  God sent Nathan to David and told him a simple story of how this rich man took the only lamb of a poor man who loved that lamb as his daughter.  On hearing the story this is the account of David’s actions: “Then David's anger was greatly kindled against the man, and he said to Nathan, “As the LORD lives, the man who has done this deserves to die, and he shall restore the lamb fourfold, because he did this thing, and because he had no pity.”  Nathan said to David, “You are the man! Thus says the LORD, the God of Israel,        (2 Samuel 12:1-5 ESV)

When Jesus confronted Saul, Saul heard a loud voice saying, “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.”

(Acts 9:4-6 ESV)  When Jesus wanted to free Saul from his blindness, He sent a man named Ananias who was a disciple of Jesus Christ, and Ananias did not want to go because he understood that Saul had come to put him and others in prison.  But the Lord said to him, “Go, for he is a chosen instrument of mine to carry my name before the Gentiles and kings and the children of Israel. For I will show him how much he must suffer for the sake of my name.” (Acts 9:15-16 ESV)

And God always will send someone to confront us about the sin of unbelief it may be He is using this paper to confront you?  Charles Colson was described in this way by Time magazine; “Tough, wily, nasty and tenaciously loyal to Richard Nixon.”  But God had a plan and a man named Tom Phillips whom was the President of Raytheon; when they met at the Phillips’s’ home, Colson ask this question, “Tom, you’ve changed and I’d like to know what happened.”   Tom told Charles that his life had a hole that success and family could not fill and he had began a search for God, first in Scripture and then attending a Billy Graham Crusade in Madison Square Garden.  This is Tom’s account, “I went – curious, I guess – hoping maybe I’d find some answers.  What Billy Graham said that night became the light Tom needed and he ask Jesus Christ to come into his life and run the show.  Colson ask this question; “Is that what you mean by accepting Christ – you just ask?”  Tom replied, “That’s it, as simple as that,”  “Of course, you have to want Jesus in your life, really want Him.”  Then Tom read to Charles from a book called Mere Christianity by C.S. Lewis and I want to share just this small part of what was read that night, for God used it to undress the White House “hatchet man.”  “Unless you know God as that – and, therefore, know yourself as nothing in comparison – you do not know God at all.  As long as you are proud you cannot know God.   A proud man is always looking down on things and people: and, of course, as long as you are looking down, you cannot see something that is above you.  Charles, shares with the readers of “Born Again” the following: Suddenly I felt naked and unclean, my bravado defenses gone.  I was exposed, unprotected, for Lewis words were describing me.”

 Some time passed, but it was not long before Charles Colson understood that Jesus Christ was the answer, that morning he sat alone staring at the sea he loved, he voiced these words to the seeker of his soul; “Lord Jesus, I believe You.  I accept You.  Please come into my life.  I commit it to You.”  This writer for years was also a proud man who always looked down on things and people, but I also was confronted by five men God had sent to awaken the void in my life for God, and God used a hotel Bible to expose my need for Him, you may want to read Romans 10:9-10?

From the Back Porch,

Bob Rice