Scars

Introduction

I have a preacher friend who told me a story that is really a nightmare for all preachers. That he was relaxing at home one Saturday afternoon and the phone rang, and it was a preacher in Kentucky asking him what time did he plan on arriving? And he said, What do you mean? And he said, Well, we’re expecting you today. The gospel meeting starts tomorrow. And he said, What gospel meeting? And he says, the gospel meeting we have scheduled with you that’s supposed to start tomorrow. And you’re supposed to arrive sometime today.

Got in the car, and drove through the nine to get there Sunday morning for this gospel meeting. There had been some kind of miscommunication. I don’t know who was at fault, but we think of a story like that, and we think that’s kind of a shame that here’s a preacher that’s not prepared for a meeting.

And we’d be kind of upset by that, wouldn’t we?

But I want to tell you that this morning that our part in this gospel meeting is just as important as the part of our brother in preaching the gospel. And what a shame if Sunday morning gets here, the Sunday morning of our gospel meeting, and we’ve done nothing to prepare. And so I want to encourage you, if you haven’t already, and I know you have, but in case you haven’t, to start preparing for this meeting. If you haven’t already started praying, start today. Pray for this effort. Pray for Phil and his preparation, the delivery of these lessons. Pray for this congregation. Pray for this community. Pray about everything related to this meeting. Secondly, order your schedule to make this meeting a priority. And then thirdly, if you haven’t already, start preparing to invite others to come and hear the gospel.

Here comes the shameless plug again. There’s these slips of paper in the entryway on the tables in the entryway. If you haven’t already, give me just three names. That’s all I ask, names and addresses of people that you plan to invite to this meeting. And then what I’ll do is I’ll send a letter to invite them as well. Again, I want to repeat, this isn’t going to put them on some kind of annoying mailing list, that they’re going to get stuff for the rest of their life. They’ll get one mailing as a result of you filling out this form. I’ll just send a letter that simply says who I am and who the church here is and what a gospel meeting is and what they can expect during a gospel meeting.

I’m going to tell them that we’re not going to have nightly collections. They’re not going to be begged and asked for money the the nights of this gospel meeting. I’m going to tell them we’re not going to do anything to embarrass them or call them out in any kind of way. But this simply the gospel we’ll be presented. Some songs will be sung, some prayers will be led. And hopefully, with our joint effort, mostly your effort, that these people will answer this invitation and come and hear the gospel presented. So I want to encourage you to do that. Pray, prepare, and if you will, fill out this form for me, just some names and addresses, just three of people that you’re going to invite to the gospel meeting.

And I think God will bless us in our efforts together. Well, here’s the awkward transition from that to the lesson. Do you have any scars? Sure you do. We all have scars. It might not be the most pleasant of exercises this morning, but we could go around the room and take turns showing and talking about our scars, couldn’t we? You’ve got scars of various sizes, of various age, and they’re there for various reasons. You might could show us a scar and say, This is a surgery I had. And it was a serious surgery. I almost died from that. You might show us a scar and say, This is the scar, this is an injury I received through some heroic effort that I did to save somebody.

We might question that story, but we’d listen attentively. And we could probably all say, here’s a scar I got because of some foolish decision I made. And I hurt myself when I shouldn’t have been doing that very thing. We’ve all got scars. And those scars tell a story, don’t they?

1. The Physical Scars of the Apostle Paul

The story of our life. And most often the story of the difficulties and the pain of our lives. I said we all have scars, and all those scars tell a story. Some of us have more scars than others, don’t we? It means we maybe experience some more than others. We’ve experienced maybe some more pain and some more difficulty than others, and we have the scars to prove it. What if we had a contest? Who has the most scars? If he were with us this morning. I think the apostle Paul would win that contest. Think about how many scars he had. Do you have your New Testament with you? If you do, turn with me to the book of 2 Corinthians, chapter 11. And as we read this list of just some, not all, but just some of the things that the apostle endured in his life in preaching the gospel.

Think about the scars that he must have bore. Second Corinthians 11. Look, we’re starting our reading at verse 22, where he says, Are they Hebrews? So am I. Are they Israelites? So am I. Are they of the seed of Abraham? So am I. Are they ministers of Christ? I speak as a fool. I am more. In labors, more abundant. In stripes, above measure. In prisons, more frequently. In deaths, often. From the Jews, five times I received forty stripes minus one. Three times I was beaten with rods. Once I was stoned. Three times I was shipwrecked. The night and a day I have been in the deep. In journeys often, in perils of water, in perils of robbers, and perils of my own countrymen, in perils of the Gentiles, in perils in the city, and perils in the wilderness, in perils in the sea, in perils among false brethren, in weariness and toil and sleeplessness often, and hunger and thirst, in fastings often, and cold and nakedness, and besides the other things, what comes upon me daily?

My deep concern for all the churches. When you read that list of what Paul had endured, think about the scars. In fact, Paul would say to the Galatian brethren in chapter 6 and verse 17 that I bear in my body the marks of Jesus Christ. And those marks must have been abundant. He lists there, and we could do a partial math and figure out the beatings that he received, but he really says that they were really beyond measure. That is that they were incalculable. He couldn’t count how many stripes he had really received, how many beatings by rods, how many stones had pierced his flesh. And so you think about Paul. And think about all those scars he had. And every one of those scars represented some pain and some anguish in his life.

2. The Emotional Scars Paul Carried

But then, in addition to the physical scars that he had upon his body, I think about the apostle and the emotional scars that he carried. Look with me, start in Acts chapter 7. I’m going to read several passages of scripture, all in the book of Acts, that kind of trace the stories. I said, scars tell our stories, don’t they? The stories of our hurt and our anguish. Paul could tell the story based upon the physical scars, but Paul also tells a story throughout the book of Acts based upon his emotional scars. Acts chapter 7, where we’re introduced to this man known as Saul of Tarsus. And look where we’re introduced to him. Acts chapter 7. Look at this verse 58. And they cast him, that is Stephen.

They cast him out of the city and stoned him, and the witnesses laid down their clothes at the feet of a young man named Saul. Saul will later, Paul, we know him, will later reference this event. You imagine the scars that left upon Paul. That is, he later became a Christian and preached the gospel himself and received similar beatings himself. How many times this scene must have flashed before him that his brother, Stephen, was being beaten to death by stones. And there I stood by and watched and helped. In chapter 8 of the book of Acts, look in verse 3. As for Saul, this same one, he made havoc of the church, entering every house and dragging off men and women, committing them to prison. What you know about the Apostle Paul, the good heart that he had, do you think he had nightmares about that?

Of dragging off men to prison and hearing their wives and their children wailing and screaming, of dragging off women as their children tried to cling to them and drug them to prison. Do you think Paul ever woke up in a cold sweat remembering those horrible scenes? Look over one chapter, chapter 9, verses 1 and 2. Then Saul, still breathing threats and murder against the disciples of the Lord, went to the high priest and asked letters from him to the synagogue of Damascus, so that he found any who were of the way, whether men or women, he may bring them bound to Jerusalem. If we think Paul had physical scars, which he certainly did, don’t we know he had some emotional scars for what he witnessed? For what he participated in.

Look over in chapter 22. Now, this Saul, Paul has obeyed the gospel. He is preaching the very gospel that he tried to destroy. And look what he says, reflecting back upon these times in his life. Acts 22, verse 18. He says that he was on his way to Damascus, and I saw him saying to me, Make haste and get out of Jerusalem quickly, for they will not receive your testimony concerning me. So I said, Lord, they know, these Christians, they know that in every synagogue I imprisoned and beat those who believe on you. And when the blood of your martyr Stephen was shed, I also was standing by consenting to his death and guarding the clothes of those who were killing him. Saul, reflecting back upon his time before he became a Christian, reflects upon that scene of the stoning of Stephen and said, I remember when I drugged these people to prison, and when I beat them.

Look at chapter 26. Maybe the worst one of all, Acts chapter 26. Before Agrippa, he says, Acts 26, verse 9, indeed, I myself thought I must do many things contrary to the name of Jesus of Nazareth. This I also did in Jerusalem, and many of the saints I shut up in prison, having received authority from the chief priest, and when they were put to death, I cast my vote against them. Let’s pause there. We’ll pick up in that text. So, what are Paul’s memories? I remember being there when Stephen was stoned. I remember dragging off men and women whose only crime was standing up for Christ. Dragging them to prison. I remember beating them. And I remember saying, put them to death. We said we’d be impossible to calculate the number of physical scars on Paul’s body based upon the number of beatings that he received.

It’d probably be just as incalculable to figure out how many emotional scars he carried. How many Christians did he imprison? How many Christians did he beat? How many were killed because of his zealous efforts to stamp out Christianity? And as bad as all that is, I don’t think we’ve heard the worst of it. Are you still in Acts chapter 26? He says he drug them off to prison. He voted against them in the terms of death. And look what he says in verse 11. Acts 26, verse 11, and I punished them often in every synagogue and compelled them to blaspheme. And being exceedingly enraged against them, I persecuted them even to foreign cities. A lot of times when we think about what the heinous things that Paul did as Saul the persecutor, we think about the beatings, the imprisonments, putting them to death.

But I can imagine that Paul thought the worst thing that he ever did was not killing a Christian. Just for being a Christian. Not beating them, put them in the prison. But what about the ones whose faith wasn’t strong enough to die? What about the ones who weren’t resilient enough to accept the beatings and the stonings? He says, I compelled them to blaspheme. You imagine knowing what you know as a Christian to think I’m responsible for people renouncing their faith. That because of my threats and my anger against them, they ended up in their weakest moment, blaspheming the name of Christ. And maybe we’ll be eternally lost because of that. Paul talked about this enough in the book of Acts and in his epistles to lead us to the conclusion that this left some scars.

That he never got over this.

That popped up twice already. I don’t know what they’re trying to do to us here. Okay, hang on, just one minute.

3. Scars Can Heal, but Sin Leaves a Scar

All right, are we back? Good. All right, so we talked about the Apostle Paul, the physical scars on his body, these treacherous emotional scars that he must have carried. But now, I want us to make an application to our lives. And to scars in our lives. First of all, let’s think about scars themselves. There are certain things about scars. No matter how bad scars are, they can heal. I mean, by their very definition, a scar is some kind of wound that has healed, is it not? And so the good thing about a scar is is that it can heal. A scar is actually evidence of some healing taking place. But they still leave their mark. The scar is forever there to remind us of that painful experience.

That’s why it’s a scar again. And the spiritual application this morning is, of course, to sin. Sin all too often leaves a scar.

4. Do Everything You Can to Avoid Sin and Its Scar

It’d be far more painful if we went around the room and shared the emotional scars of sin of the betrayals of the weak moments in our life of those grand opportunities where we had the chance to be able to stand up and pronounce our faith and maybe lead others to Christ, but we shrank back and we sin. And we’re haunted like the Apostle Paul by those scars. But here’s some lessons about scars. First of all, do everything you can, everything that is humanly possible, everything that’s within you to resist temptation to avoid sin and its ugly scar. If we were sharing the stories of our physical scars, we might say, I might say right here, be careful. If you ever work at a grocery store, be careful with a box cutter.

But because it can open your hand up. Don’t do that. And I might caution you that hurts. Don’t do that. Don’t make the mistakes that I made. Everybody who is burdened with the scars of sin, every right, conscientious child of God who’s burdened with the scars of sin would come to you and say, Don’t do what I did. And I think maybe one of the shames in our embarrassment and maybe inappropriate protocol is that we don’t do enough sharing about our scars. I’m not talking about our physical scars. I’m talking about maybe our emotional and the scars of sin. That we’re appropriately ashamed of our sin. But we let that embarrassment and shame keep us from helping others to avoid.

You’ve seen the ones of the people who have suffered the ravages of cancer because of maybe decisions in their life, particularly smoking. And they do those commercials and talk about the physical difficulties. Those are hard to watch, aren’t they? And they must have been hard for those people to make, but I appreciate them because they’re saying, don’t make the mistakes I made, or you’ll end up with these scars. Sin leaves a scar, and because of that, we should do whatever we can to avoid the scars of sin. I’ve talked to people who are tormented by these scars.

She had an abortion. And she’s haunted by the memory of that unborn child. I’ve talked to Christians who’ve wrecked their marriage and their life through some illicit affair. I’ve talked to people who have, because of their actions, cost the life of someone else through drugs or alcohol or drunk driving. I’ve talked to people in prison. All of these people experiencing horrible scars. And if they could, would go back and make different decisions. And their scars, and the scars that you have and that I have are forever standing as a testimony to us saying, don’t do that. Avoid sin. We’ve already heard the admonition of the Apostle Paul to flee idolatry. He would add to that, flee fornication. The idea here is run away, avoid that sin, because that sin, if it finds its place in your life, is going to scar you until we begin to understand the absolute horror of sin and how it will affect, negatively affect, nay, even ruin our lives.

5. No Matter How Scarred, God Can Forgive You

We’re never really going to seek that way of escape that Paul taught us about. And so try to avoid the scars and the damage that it’s going to leave behind. But another lesson that we should contemplate is that no matter how scarred we may be, no matter how many scars you may have, no matter how deep those wounds may be, God can forgive you. And he’s promised to give you a new body free from all those scars. Look what the prophet Isaiah said, Isaiah chapter 1. We sing a song based upon this prophecy of Isaiah. Isaiah chapter 1 and verse 18, it says, Come now, and let us reason together, says the Lord. Though your sins are like scarlet, they shall be as white as snow.

Though they are red like crimson, they shall be like wool. No matter how many scars, no matter how big, how many the sins are, God says, I can wash you and make you new. Now, at this point, we need to recognize the difference between what we might call legal guilt and emotional guilt. Emotional guilt is those scars that we carry with us, those scars that Paul carried with him, that certainly gave him the nightmares, that caused him constantly to be saying, I was the chiefest of sinners. I don’t deserve what I have because of what I did. But that emotional scars and those emotional guilt are different than what we might call legal guilt. Turn with me to 1 John chapter 3. I think John deals with this, or the Holy Spirit through John dealt with this concept.

When God through Isaiah said, I’ll make you as white as snow. Though your sins be as crimson and as scarlet, I’ll make that as white as snow. But then you might say, Well, wait a minute, I still have the guilt. I still have the scars. You might conceive those scars, but praise be to God, he doesn’t.

I understand there’s two different ways of interpreting that. You can interpret that a negative and a positive. The negative is if you condemn yourself, you don’t know anything compared to what God knows. He can really condemn you even more. But in the context, it seems to me that John doesn’t mean that in the negative sense, that with your self-condemnation, there’s even more that God knows. In the context, it seems that John is saying to those of us who have been washed by the blood, that even if your heart condemns you, God is greater than your heart. God’s capacity to forgive and forget is greater than yours. That even though you may carry those scars of the sins that you’ve committed, and you’ll never forget, God is greater than your heart.

And he can forgive. And he can wash you so that you be whiter than snow. In fact, this same prophet Isaiah said of Jesus and His effect upon the scars and the sin in our life. That by His stripes, we are healed. Think of the irony of that. That by His stripes, we are healed. The scars upon the body of Christ are what make it possible for my scars to be removed. And whether they’re physical or even the far worst emotional scars, God has promised to give us a new body, free from scars, free from pain, free from sin, and the results of sin.

Conclusion

Do you have any scars? Do you have any emotional scars this morning? Because of sin that’s in your life, then why not come to Him and by His stripes be healed? Why not come to Him and by His blood be made whiter than snow? If you’ve never obeyed the gospel, it doesn’t matter how far away you are, how many sins you’ve committed and how great they may be. God is greater than your heart and He can forgive. If you’ve done that, but sin has crept back into your life, maybe because of those scars, recognize that God is greater than your heart. And He can forgive. And that He wants to forgive and wash you as white as snow this morning. If we can help you as you respond to the gospel call this morning, why not do so right now?

As together we stand and as we sing.