Jerry Bridges blessed me when I ran across the following quote from him: “Your worst days are never so bad that you are beyond the reach of God’s grace. And your best days are never so good that you are beyond the need of God’s grace.” Bridges statement reflects Bible teaching. Saul of Tarsus, before his conversion to Christ, was a bad dude by any measure. By his own admission, he “persecuted the church of God beyond measure and tried to destroy it” (Galatians 1:13). Years after “seeing the light” and becoming a Christian, Saul, AKA the apostle Paul, described himself as formerly a “blasphemer, a persecutor, and an insolent man” – but quickly added that he “obtained mercy” and that “the grace of our Lord was exceedingly abundant” toward him. He went on to emphatically assert, “This is a faithful saying and worthy of all acceptance, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners, of whom I am chief” (1 Timothy 1:12-16). Read that passage and you in effect hear Paul saying, “When I was as bad as a man can be, God’s grace reached me.” On the other end of the spectrum is the Roman centurion Cornelius. Acts 10:2 describes him as “a devout man and who feared God with all his household, who gave alms generously to the people, and prayed to God always.” Cornelius was a good man who had a lot of good days and did a lot of good things. But he was not so good that he was beyond the need of God’s grace. His fascinating story is recorded in Acts 10 and partially rehearsed by the apostle Peter in Acts 11. The account relates that Peter preached Christ to him and baptized him into Christ (10:34-48). Acts 11:14 relates how an angel had told Cornelius that Peter “will tell you words by which you and your household will be saved.” Cornelius, a good man, needed God’s grace.
Matthew 26:75 finds the apostle Peter having likely the worst day of his life. On the heels of denying he knew Jesus three times, “Peter remembered the word of Jesus who had said to him, ‘Before the rooster crows, you will deny Me three times.’ So he went out and wept bitterly.” Jesus will soon be crucified and be buried in a borrowed tomb, but Peter is already buried – in a grave of soul-smothering, heart-breaking, conscience-tearing guilt. He has failed Jesus in a serious, shameful, pathetic way. He would not have saved Jesus from death had his courage not failed, but he would have saved himself from a suffocating blanket soaked in guilt in shame. But there is good news about Peter’s failure (and can be about ours) – it was not final! In John 21 we read of a post-resurrection appearance by Jesus to Peter and several other disciples. The chapter testifies undeniably to Jesus’ resurrection but also provides an account of Peter’s resurrection from a grave of debilitating guilt! As the chapter opens Peter is no longer fishing for men as Jesus had called him to do three years earlier but is again fishing for fish. The Lord showed up for breakfast and repeatedly presses Peter with a penetrating question – “Simon, son of Jonah, do you love Me?” Peter responds that he does. The chapter ends with Jesus calling Peter once again to “Follow Me” (vs 19b, 21b). The entire incident reminds us that guilt need not permanently bury or debilitate us. The cross declares that God is eager to raise us up from our self-dug graves of sin and shame and restore us to His service. My friend, you are never beyond either the reach or the need of God’s grace. Peter escaped his grave of guilt through God’s grace. The good news is, you can, too!
Dan Gulley, Smithville TN