CONQUERED BY GRACE

CONQUERED BY GRACE

Introduction

Eileen Donan Castle

History is a funny thing. Take historic battles, for instance. When we went to school in Scotland, the Battle of Bannockburn was a great victory. It took place in 1314, and the Scots are still talking about it! It was the time when Robert the Bruce, King of Scots, defeated the invading English. Ask any Englishman about that battle and he’ll probably know little or nothing about it. But for the Scots it’s Independence Day, June 24, 1314.

There is one little event that took place after that battle. King Robert the Bruce knighted one of his soldiers on the battlefield. He made James Douglas captain of his troops. To the Scots he was the Good Sir James, or Good Douglas. To the English he was Black Douglas. His name breathed terror into their hearts. Good Douglas was a true and faithful servant of King Robert. Douglas died in the service of his king. Before Robert the Bruce died, he had had Douglas promise he would take his heart and bury it in the Holy Land. Douglas only got as far as Spain, dying in a battle against the Muslims. It is said that he hurled the cask containing Bruce’s heart at the oncoming enemy while yelling, "Braveheart!" Douglas knew the heart of his lord and king.

In the following I want to, as it were, open up the cask and reveal the heart of your Lord and King. We, who are Christians, carry the heart of our King around with us as we head toward the Promised Land.

We are mainly focusing on a couple of verses in Galatians 1. The Apostle Paul has been going to great lengths to show the Galatians that it was the Lord Himself who made him an Apostle. He wants them to see that He received the Gospel personally from Jesus Christ. He has been proving his case by presenting Christ to them all over again. He has been showing them how Christ has changed his whole life!

But they were hearing only, “He who formerly persecuted us now preaches the faith which he once tried to destroy.” And they glorified God in me. Galatians 1:23-24.

The Gospel Paul preached to the Galatians is from God not man. Therefore, you need to be conquered by grace before Christians will glorify God in you.

What does it mean to be conquered by grace?

1.      You have been rescued.

2.      You have been repaired.

3.      You have been reactivated.

Rescued

To be conquered by grace is to have been rescued. Jesus Christ rescued Paul when He met him on the road to Damascus. Paul beheld the resurrected and glorified Son of God when Jesus revealed Himself to him. Paul was literally blinded as he was brought out of darkness into God’s kingdom of light.

What is it like when your sleeping and someone turns on the light? Well, the Lord Jesus woke Paul up when He shone His glorious light directly into his eyes. Jesus Christ is the light that shines in a dark place. John in his Gospel says, “The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not comprehend it” John 1:5. Unless someone turns on the light in the room where you’re sleeping you won’t see it. That’s what happened to Paul. The Lord decided to wake up Paul.

Paul used to persecute Christians for a living. He was a soldier in Satan’s Army, wasn’t he? But the Lord said as it were, “Oh no you don’t Satan. This one is one of Mine, He is a chosen vessel of Mine.” That’s the way it is for all Christians before the Lord rescues you. You are a foot-soldier in the army of the enemy. And Satan is a brutal commander. You are just canon-fodder to him.

There is a scene in the Braveheart movie. I love that movie! It’s maybe the only time you’ll ever seen the Scots win anything! In the movie Edward Longshanks is sitting on his horse while the battle is raging. His foot-soldiers have engaged the army of Scots. Edward gives the command for his archers to finish things off. “But sire,” says one of his captains, “Won’t our men be killed too?” Longshanks just draws him an icy look and says, “We have reserves.” Down rained the arrows killing Scot and English alike.

The devil doesn’t care about his minions. He just wants to expand his borders. He wants his kingdom of darkness to keep on growing. And he will stop at nothing to accomplish this. But he met his match when he came up against King Jesus, didn’t he? Jesus says He will build His church and not even the gates of Hades will prevail against it.

There was Paul before he met Christ zealously persecuting Christ’s Church. He was a captain in the army of the adversary. Like an overflowing sewer-pipe, he used to spew forth threats against the Lord’s anointed! He used to rattle his sabre at Christ and His royal army. But the Lord confronted Paul in Person. He captured this captain in Satan’s Army. He knocked him to the ground, and He disarmed him, didn’t He?

Up until that point Paul had been kicking against the goads. A goad is a stick used for prodding cattle. It’s a cattle-prod. Have you ever been goaded into something? Well, Paul had been reacting against the goads. Paul was kicking against the goads by being an enemy of the Lord and the Lord’s gospel.

Here it is! Bow the knee to King Jesus, swear allegiance to Him, and He will reward you with an estate in heaven. Or in the words of the Psalmist, “Kiss the Son, lest He be angry, and you perish in the way, when His wrath is kindled but a little. Blessed are all those who put their trust in Him” Psalm 2:11-12. “Never!” says Paul as he continued to breath deadly threats against the Lord and His army. But that was all before he saw the Lord in His Gospel. That was before he was conquered by His Grace the King. That was before he met the one who sits on the white horse. The One who is called , “Faithful and True.” The One on whose robe and thigh are written the words, “KING OF KINGS and LORD OF LORDS” Revelation 19:16. “I am Jesus, whom you are persecuting,” said the King of Kings and Lord of Lords to the Apostle Paul as Paul went about his business of trying to destroy the Lord’s Church.

When Christ came from heaven in the fullness of time and went to Calvary’s cross, He came to tie up the strongman and plunder his house. He, the Seed of the Woman, came to crush the Serpent’s head (Genesis 3:15). To the victor belong the spoils. Christ has conquered the enemy, and He has rescued His own people whom the enemy had taken captive. Satan, the strongman, is powerless against the risen conquering Son. That means that We are more than conquerors through Him who loved us (Romans 8:37).

Paul saw Christ as He really is, in all His glory and splendour. He could easily have written the words of the hymn by George Matheson,

Make me a captive Lord,

and then I shall be free;

force me to render up my sword,

and I shall conqueror be.

Paul dedicated his life to the very furtherance of Christ’s gospel. Have you dedicated your life to the advancement of Christ’s Kingdom of light? If you haven’t yet, perhaps it’s because you are still kicking against the goads. Perhaps you’re still rattling your sabre toward the Lord. Perhaps you’re still a recruit in Satan’s Army. You need to look to Jesus as He is presented in the Gospel.

Render up your sword to the Sovereign Ruler of the universe. Christ has bound up Satan the strongman. He did it to rescue those members of His army whom Satan took captive. The one’s whom Satan has blinded and had brainwashed. Turn your eyes and behold Him who is “clothed with a robe dipped in blood, and whose name is the Word of God” Revelation 19:13. The same One who said, “Do not think I came to bring peace on earth. I did not come to bring peace but a sword” Matthew 10:34.

Fix your eyes on the Jesus of the Gospel. The One who burst forth triumphantly from the tomb. Be done with the effeminate impostor put forth by some. Be done with the limp-wristed Jesus who sits around waiting for you to decide to follow Him. That isn’t the Jesus of the Gospel. The Jesus of the Gospel intrudes in your life. He expects your loyalty. He rescues His people completely, to the uttermost! He doesn’t leave you in no man’s land. For He says, “If you are not with Me, you are against Me!” Jesus can’t speak to you any plainer than that. You are either rescued, or you are not rescued.

Paul used to persecute Christ and His Church. But then the risen conquering Son rescued him. Did Paul come kicking and screaming? No! Christ rescues only those who are His. Those who were chosen in Him from the foundation of the world. He gives new life to those whom He rescues, and He fixes them up.

If you have been rescued from Satan’s domain of darkness, not only have you been rescued, but you also have been repaired.

Repaired

How do you know you have been repaired? Well, you no longer do those things you used to do. You no longer rattle your sabre against God by going against His revealed will. O you still sin against God. But things are different now, aren’t they? You hate your sins. You hate them because they are blows against the Empire.

In one of the Gulf wars we started hearing the term “collateral damage”. This meant that innocent people were unavoidably killed by bombs and what have you meant for others. When someone on your own side shoots you, they call it “friendly-fire”! The Apostle Paul copped a great deal of flak from his own side when he began to preach the Gospel. And a lot of it was coming from Galatia. Some Christians found it hard to believe this one who used to murder Christians was now trying to save sinners!

When Paul was converted, the Lord told Ananias in a vision that Paul was coming to visit. That’s like you or me being told that a mass-murderer is coming over to your house for tea! How would you react? “Isn’t he the one who killed all those people in cold blood?” Ananias said to the Lord about Paul, “Lord, I have heard from many about this man, how much harm he has done Your saints in Jerusalem” Acts 9:13. The Lord replied that Paul was His chosen vessel! “I recruited him”, says the Lord.

CH Spurgeon somewhere tells the story of a private in Napoleon’s army being made a captain of his guard. Napoleon’s horse had bolted with him on it as he was inspecting some of his troops. The army private grabbed hold of the horse’s bridle.

“Much obliged to you captain,” said Napoleon.

The man took Emperor Napoleon at his word, “Captain of which regiment?” he asked.

“Of my guards”, came the reply. The soldier gave away his gun and headed to position himself among the officers of Napoleon’s army.

One of the officers said, “What does this fellow want here?”

“This fellow”, replied the man proudly, “is a captain of the guard!”

“You? my poor friend! You are mad to say so!”

“He said it!” the soldier replied, pointing to the emperor who was still in sight.

“I ask your pardon,” said the officer, “I was not aware of it.”

There’s so much friendly-fire flying around in Christian circles. Some even take pot-shots at our own side. If anyone tells you that you are not a Christian, then you just point them to Jesus Christ and say, “He said it!” But make sure you point them to the One who rides on the white horse. The One who is coming to judge the nations. The One with KING OF KINGS and LORD OF LORDS written on His robe and thigh. If you point me to some wimpy effeminate Jesus, you’ll have me too wondering if you really are a Christian! You need to point people to the Jesus as presented in the unadulterated Gospel. The One who has the power to destroy you both body and soul in hell, yet grants pardons to even the chief of sinners such as Paul. “He who formerly persecuted us now preaches the faith which he once tried to destroy.” There’s the proof that Paul is not an impostor, “He now preaches the faith.”

Jesus says, “Beware of false prophets, who come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly they are ravenous wolves. You will know them by their fruits” Matthew 7:15. Paul is warning the Galatians against these false prophets. These men who have been telling them that the Gospel is not sufficient for salvation. The Galatians were turning against Paul. They were taking pot-shots at Paul, “friendly-fire!”

Paul has been re-establishing his Apostolic authority. How has he being putting forth his case to the church? Does he say, “Look at all the miracles I’ve done”? Does he say, “I’ve raised someone from the dead”? It is true that miracles did testify to the Apostles’ authority. But is that how Paul chooses to show that He is an Apostle of Christ, and that the Gospel he preached came from Christ? No! He points them to Christ and says, “He said it!” “Let God be true but every man a liar” Romans 3:4.

What kind of fruit are you showing? Do you gossip about other Christians? Don’t take pot shots. If you see the Christ of the Gospel in another Christian, then point people there. Then maybe they’ll see Christ too. Then you’ll be showing you’ve been rescued by Christ. Then you’ll be showing that you’re on His side and not the enemy’s. Then you’ll be showing that your life has been repaired.

It is said when the young Scottish preacher Robert Murray M’Cheyne entered the pulpit, people began to weep just looking at him! Like Peter and John in Acts chapter 4, people realized M’Cheyne had been with Jesus! The preacher Harry Allan Ironside who died in 1951 says, “If we would prevail with men in public, we must prevail with God in secret.” Are you able to point people to Jesus? If you can, it’s a good sign that you have been repaired by the Lord. It’s a sign that there’s good fruit on your tree, if you can point to a Christian and say, “There’s Christ! Look everyone! Can’t you see Christ in this man or this person?”

What happens when people look at you? It’s been said before, but if they were throwing people in prison for being Christians, would they find enough evidence to convict you? Don’t point people to other Christian’s faults. We all have them! Point people to the Christ of the Gospel. If you do this, you’ll be demonstrating that the Lord has rescued you. You’ll be demonstrating that He has repaired you. You’ll be demonstrating that you have been reactivated

Reactivated

Those who have been reactivated or regenerated seek to bring glory to God. The chief end of man, the chief purpose, is to glorify God and enjoy Him forever. During the time of the Reformation five things came to the fore. Now, these five things had been neglected by the Church for centuries. They call these five things the five “solas”. Sola is Latin for alone.

The Five Solas are:

1.      Grace alone.

2.      Faith alone.

3.      Christ alone.

4.      Scripture alone.

5.      To the glory of God alone.

The Reformation was all about the rediscovery of the way of salvation, i.e., the Gospel! The Gospel had been hidden under tons of dust and rubble. The Lord reactivated one man by the name of Martin Luther. He rescued him from behind enemy lines. He brought him out of a dark age and into his kingdom of light. He repaired him by revealing Himself to him in the Gospel. Luther wrote,

The prince of darkness grim,

we tremble not for him;

his rage we can endure,

we know his doom is sure,

the Word of God shall fell him.

Luther is reported to have hurled an inkwell across the room at the devil! He must have done that before he wrote those words, “the Word of God shall fell him”.

Luther rediscovered that we are saved by grace alone through faith alone in Christ alone. He rediscovered the forgotten doctrine of justification by faith. He discovered that without the grace of God he would have remained dead in his sins. The whole of Europe was set on fire with the good news of Jesus Christ. It rang from church bells across the land. Like a light shining once again in a dark place, sleepy eyes beheld the face of Jesus in the Gospel once more.

The Lord had mounted His white charger once more. He held His sword in His hand, the sword of the Spirit, as He rode across Europe rallying His troops. The risen conquering Son made captains of privates as He inspected His troops. Luther, Calvin, Zwingli, Beza, Farel, Knox, Latimer, Cranmer the list goes on. The Lord reactivated each one of these men and commissioned them to accomplish great things.

There are Christians nowadays who have never even heard of any of these Reformers. Yet we should be praising God for the work that Christ did in and through them. There are Christians nowadays who have never even heard of the Reformation! It was during the Reformation that Scripture alone became the rule of salvation. Up till that point the Church claimed equal authority to Scripture. In other words the Church reserved the right to interpret Scripture. No! Said the Reformers. Let Scripture interpret Scripture. But a lot of this has been lost nowadays. One Christian writer, Willem VanGemeren, speaking about this says,

The present status of interpretation is not greatly different from the period before the Reformation.

If this is true, then the Dark Ages have returned! It means that the Gospel has been slowly but surely hidden under dust and rubble once more by the Church. Paul had to contend with people adding to the Gospel back then. People were quick to distort it beyond recognition. We have the social Gospel which says, “It’s food the poor need, not Bibles!” And so they send people to hell on a full stomach!

Then there’s the “Let go and let God” crowd. Where we’ve all to put our brains into neutral. We’ve all to imagine a god who says one thing in His Word but does another in practice. We’ve to imagine a God who is not a doer of His own Word. The God who tells us to be in control of our minds at all times. A God who transforms us by the renewing of our minds. “I would be out of my mind if I let go of my mind!”

We must use the sword of the Spirit as we battle against the philosophies of the world as they creep into the Church. Consider what Paul says to the Corinthians,

The weapons of our warfare are not carnal but mighty in God for pulling down strongholds, casting down arguments and every high thing that exalts itself against the knowledge of God, bringing every thought into captivity to the obedience of Christ, 2 Corinthians 10:4-5.

Bring every one of your thoughts into captivity. Does this sound like “Let go and let God”? But that’s where a lot of people are at in some churches nowadays. If God has reactivated you, then you’ll have seen the Christ of the Gospel. You’ll have seen that it’s the Gospel people need more than anything else! You’ll have a burning desire inside you to show people Christ, the real Christ! You’ll be seeking to do it all for the glory of God alone. If this is the case, then other Christians will glorify God on your account. This is how it was for Paul, i.e., other Christians glorified God because of him. They could see their Lord in Paul, in his actions. They knew the Lord, and they could recognize their Lord in this man Paul. Therefore, they glorified God in Paul.

Conclusion

Let’s tie things together: I want to remind you once again of God’s grace in His Gospel. We’ve seen how Paul used to be a zealous warrior in Satan’s Army. He was a complete and total and utter enemy of the Lord! He fought against the Lord with a passion. We see that the Lord captured him, (which in reality was that the Lord rescued him). Paul went on to preach the Gospel every bit as zealous as he used to try to stomp it out. Christians heard about the marvellous work Christ had done, and they glorified God in Paul.

Has the Lord captured you? Has He captured your heart? Are Christians glorifying God in you for your service to Him? Have you seen the beauty of God’s grace in His Gospel? Have you been conquered by grace? I’ve been trying to get you to see Christ the King. The One who sits upon His white horse with a drawn sword.

I don’t want to leave you with a picture of King Jesus galloping around and cutting off the heads of His enemies. Christ has already defeated His enemies at the cross. The Seed of the Woman has already dealt the Serpent the fatal blow to the head. Satan, and his whole army, has been defeated. I mentioned above about Napoleon making one of his privates a captain as reward for stopping his horse from bolting. Well, look what Jesus has done: He has made, not one of His own army a captain, but one of His chief enemies!

Christ took this man Paul who persecuted Him zealously and made him a prince! How did Christ do it? He conquered Paul by grace. All true Christians have been conquered by grace. When Christ crushed the head of Satan at Calvary, we became Christ’s, to do with as He pleases.

So there we all are. You, me, Paul the Apostle lined up, hands tied behind our backs. See if you can picture it in your mind. The whole world is there awaiting the judgment of King Jesus. We are standing there still breathing threats against the Lord as He arrives on His white horse. We are forced to kneel before His presence. Christ is dismounting from His horse. Picture it. We can see the words written on His robe and thigh clearly, LORD OF LORDS AND KING OF KINGS. He is removing His sword from its scabbard. We hope His sword is sharp, that our deaths will be quick and painless!

There we all are. On our knees before the Lord of Lords and King of Kings. We are all praying to our gods, such as your mum, your dad, and your children. You’re thinking of everyone, everything, but Almighty God! You’re looking for comfort in each one of your idols, your religion, your favourite sport. Sex, the booze, your new car, all of them. O how you’re going to miss them. But not one of them can help you now!

It’s just you and a holy God with a sword in His hand. But instead of treating you as you deserve, instead of lopping of your head, He places His sword on your shoulder as you kneel there, He makes you a knight, right there on the battlefield. He says “Arise! And go and sin no more!” That’s the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ. He conquers by grace alone. It’s all to the glory of God alone. You need to be conquered by grace before you can bring glory to God.

Make me a captive Lord,

and then I shall be free;

force me to render up my sword,

and I shall conqueror be!

George Matheson.