“God’s Love for Big-Time Sinners”
(1 Timothy 1:12-17)
Series: Reality Check: Keeping it Real at FBC
Rev. Todd A. Linn, PhD
First Baptist Church Henderson, KY
(8-24-08) (AM)
- Take God’s Word and open to 1 Timothy, chapter 1.
Last week we began a study of 1 Timothy entitled, “Reality Check.” We’re “checking under the hood” of First Baptist Church and making sure everything’s running as it should, making sure we’re being biblical and “keeping it real” about everything that takes place here.
1 Timothy was written around the year AD 64, sometime after events of the book of Acts. Paul was released from prison in Rome and takes Timothy with him to spread the Gospel on yet another mission trip. Paul leaves Timothy in Ephesus to take care of problems there at the church while he goes on to Macedonia from which he writes this letter.
A quick review: in the opening verses, Paul tells Timothy to deal with these teachers there at the church who were teaching the Bible incorrectly. They were interpreting the Old Testament in these fanciful ways, allegorizing the text, making up stories as they went along, just really doing a disservice to the Word and Paul tells Timothy to see that they stop doing that.
So we studied last time that the law’s primary purpose is to point us to Christ. We read these commands—Do this and don’t do that—and we find ourselves continually failing at obeying the law as we should. And so the law brings us to the One who can keep it as it should be kept, the Lord Jesus Christ. So the law and the Gospel go together. We cannot rightly understand the one without the other. John Stott puts it this way, he says, “The Gospel cannot justify us until the law condemns us.” So the law points us to Christ. It drives us to Christ first that we might be saved. Then, as we grow in Christ, the law teaches us how to live a holy life in Christ Jesus.
So Paul has been teaching this very thing through the first 11 verses of chapter one. And it is as though his reflecting upon the law and Gospel leads him to consider his own personal testimony and how God’s grace worked in his own life. So what we read in our text this morning, verse 12-17, is a thoughtful and prayerful reflection upon how God graciously saved him from his sin. It’s like he’s been talking about the law pointing us to Christ and then he says, “That’s exactly what happened to me. I was one of these guys the law condemns in verse 9—lawless, insubordinate, ungodly, unholy, and so forth—but God’s love penetrated my heart through the good news of the Gospel.” Let’s read about it in verses 12-17.
- Stand in honor of the reading of God’s Word.
12 And I thank Christ Jesus our Lord who has enabled me, because He counted me faithful, putting me into the ministry,
13 although I was formerly a blasphemer, a persecutor, and an insolent man; but I obtained mercy because I did it ignorantly in unbelief.
14 And the grace of our Lord was exceedingly abundant, with faith and love which are in Christ Jesus.
15 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.
16 However, for this reason I obtained mercy, that in me first Jesus Christ might show all longsuffering, as a pattern to those who are going to believe on Him for everlasting life.
- Let’s let this last verse be our prayer this morning:
17 Now to the King eternal, immortal, invisible, to God who alone is wise, be honor and glory forever and ever. Amen.
Introduction:
One of the most wonderful benefits of the Gospel is that there is no one so great a sinner that he can’t be forgiven, no one so lost that he can’t be found, no one so blind that he can’t see. God’s love extends to the greatest of sinners. Of course the Bible teaches in Romans 3:23 that “all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.” All are condemned; all are sinners. Yet we tend to single out some people as “big-time sinners.” We look at David in the Old Testament and we say, “Now there was a big-time sinner. He committed adultery and ordered the death of a man to cover it up. He lied, he cheated, he connived, and so forth. He was a big-time sinner.”
Well if David was the big-time sinner of the Old Testament, then the Apostle Paul may be the big-time sinner of the New Testament. He refers to himself in verse 15 as the “chief” of sinners. He says, “I am first in rank when it comes to those who have sinned.”
And then there are those of us who have read our Bibles and are convinced that we are the biggest sinners of all. Some of you will remember a short evening series I did called, “Preaching to the Choir.” We studied different hymn texts and one of the hymns we studied was John Newton’s, “Amazing Grace.” Newton was for years the crude, sea captain of a slave ship. Returning to England from slave-trading business in Africa 1748, Newton came to know Jesus Christ in a saving way. He later used the power of his personal testimony, the story of how he came to be forgiven, in latter years as he preached the Word. For years, people would gather to hear “The Old Converted Sea Captain” as he had come to be known.
Newton regarded himself as a “big-time sinner.” One his tombstone at Olney, England are engraved the words that Newton himself had written for the stone before he died:
John Newton, Clerk; Once an infidel and libertine; A servant of slaves in Africa; Was by the rich mercy of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ; Preserved, restored, pardoned; And appointed to preach the faith he Had long laboured to destroy.
This text this morning, verses 12-17, is about God’s love for big-time sinners. There’s a sense in which every one of us ought to feel we are great sinners in need of God’s grace and forgiveness. Perhaps some of us feel we are not that great a sinner. We consider ourselves pretty righteous. But if we had a moment to talk to your spouse we would find out the truth. If we talked to your parents, we’d learn the kinds of things you do. If we were able to look into the place in your heart that no one sees, we would find the personal battles, the struggles, the guilt, and the shame. So the good news of our text this morning is that if we regard ourselves as somehow outside of the realm of God’s forgiveness, the Gospel will give us freedom. God’s love for big-time sinners…let’s talk about it. Here’s a simple outline that teaches us about God’s love. First:
I. God’s Love extends to our Past [12-14]
12 And I thank Christ Jesus our Lord who has enabled me, because He counted me faithful, putting me into the ministry,
The word “ministry” is better translated “service.” Paul is not talking about being called to be a pastor. He is talking about the same calling every Christian receives, the calling to follow Christ and serve Him. Every Christian has been called to serve Christ. So Paul is thanking Christ Jesus that he’s saved. He’s just glad to be saved given the fact that he was a big-time sinner.
I’ve got a minister friend from seminary who, when you’d ask how he was doing, he’d nearly always say, “I’m just grateful to be here.” That’s a bit like Paul. Verse 12 is his saying, “I’m just thankful to be here. I’m just glad to be saved, especially given my past. Verse 13:
13 although I was formerly a blasphemer, a persecutor, and an insolent man; but I obtained mercy because I did it ignorantly in unbelief.
There are three words there Paul uses to describe his past. He says I was formerly a “blasphemer, a persecutor, and an insolent man.” The book of Acts records Paul’s life before Christ. He certainly was those things. He was a blasphemer, speaking against Jesus Christ. He was a persecutor, persecuting Christians from one town to the next. Acts 8:3 says that Paul, “made havoc of the church, entering every house, and dragging off men and women, committing them to prison.” And he was “an insolent man.” The word insolent conveys the idea of violence. Acts 9:1 says Paul “breathed threats and murder against the disciples of the Lord.”
Just a quick vote: how many of you think Paul was a “big-time sinner?” Paul agrees. Today he might have said, “Look, if you get on the internet this afternoon and Google the phrase ‘big-time sinner,’ the first 50 hits will contain my name. That was my past.”
Now Paul adds in verse 13, “but I obtained mercy because I did it ignorantly in unbelief.” Paul is saying that his persecution of the church was something he thought he was doing as a favor to God. Jesus said this very thing would happen in the upper room discourse in John 16. He tells the disciples in John 16:2-3, “They will put you out of the synagogues; yes, the time is coming that whoever kills you will think that he offers God service. And these things they will do to you because they have not known the Father nor Me.”
As Paul had earlier described Jews like himself, he had “a zeal for God,” but it was “a zeal without knowledge (Romans 10:2).” So he obtained mercy from God not because he deserved it, but because his sins were committed as an unbeliever. He had not yet received the gift of God’s grace that opened his eyes and led him to receive Jesus Christ as his Lord and Savior. All sins of the unbeliever are forgiven if we will but come to Christ.
So Paul is thankful that God’s love extends to his past and it is a love that was graciously showered upon him in the riches of Christ. Verse 14:
14 And the grace of our Lord was exceedingly abundant, with faith and love which are in Christ Jesus.
The image here is that of a pouring-out, or showering upon. Paul says, “Even though I was a big-time sinner, God’s grace was poured out upon me. God showered His grace upon me. He flooded my heart with grace, flooding my heart with faith, and flooding my heart with love. It is all owing to God’s grace.
Remember the simple acronym for grace. GRACE, G-R-A-C-E, is God’s Riches at Christ’s Expense. That’s the gospel in a nutshell: God’s riches at Christ’s expense. There’s a good teaching to review this afternoon at lunch. Ask, “What does ‘Grace’ stand for?” Answer: God’s riches at Christ’s expense.” What are God’s riches? Salvation and forgiveness from sin. What is Christ’s expense? Death on the cross. If I believe the Gospel then I give to Christ was is mine: sin, and He gives to me what is His: righteousness. Jesus died for my sins. He took the penalty I deserved that I might be forgiven. Jesus takes care of my spiritual death, so that my physical death doesn’t lead my soul to hell—which I deserve—but to heaven, which I don’t deserve. That’s why it’s grace: God’s riches at Christ’s expense.
So this takes us to the second main truth about God’s love. God’s love extends to our past and, secondly:
II. God’s Love is expressed in a Person [15-16]
God’s love is expressed in a Person and the Person is the Lord Jesus Christ. The doctrine of the incarnation is the teaching that God came to us in the flesh, in the Person of Jesus Christ. Jesus Christ is God and His coming is an expression of the love of God for sinners. And why did Christ come? Verse 15 says, “Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners.” So let me give you a couple of sub-points here about this salvation in Christ. First:
(A) Salvation in Christ destroys our Pride (15)
15 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.
There it is again. Paul, in great humility, refers to himself as the “chief” of sinners. He attaches the statement to what was apparently a popular phrase, a popular saying, in Paul’s day. “This is a faithful saying and worthy of all acceptance,” or, a saying, “deserving of full acceptance.” And what is that saying? “Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners.” Apparently, this was a saying that Christians said to one another, a popular statement of doctrine that was shared between churches. Paul says, “It is a good statement, but let me amend it just a bit: ‘Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners, of whom I am chief.’”
The humility is seen particularly in the fact that Paul does not say, “Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners, of whom I was chief,” but, “of whom I am chief.” Though his sins of old have been forgiven, Paul is grateful that his sins as a Christian are forgiven, too. As we grow in Christ we become increasingly aware of our sinfulness and all the more grateful for our Savior. As long as we are in the world we continue to battle sin. And sometimes it creeps into our lives in subtle ways. I was sharing with someone recently, for example, that I’m learning that you don’t have to be particularly obese to struggle with gluttony or to have an unhealthy fixation upon food. Not all sins are what we would call the “Red-letter big-time sins,” you know. Sin evinces itself in a variety of ways.
Tuesday afternoon Michele and I were driving back from Florence, Kentucky. We had attended a Pastor’s luncheon and tour of the Creation Museum. By the way I highly recommend this museum to you. I picked up a bunch of resources for our church library and you’ll be hearing more about it. But we were preparing for a four-hour drive home and I stopped at Starbucks. I love coffee, you know. I was just going to get a cup for me and a cup for Michele, but there was this thing in there I was looking at. It was a sort of disposable thermos that would hold at least a pot of coffee. They were running a special on it: $12 for the thing full of coffee—any brew—and then cups, cream, whatever else you needed. The guy there was saying, “Oh, yeah, that’s a great deal. If you’ve got a trip to take—really good for groups and office people driving together.” So I said, “Alright, let’s get it.” The guy gets it all together and then he says, “Now, how many cups?” I said, “Two.” Well, he sort of froze and his jaw dropped a bit and he said, “Just the two of you?!” And this question was like, “You mean just the two of you are going to drink all of this coffee, $12 worth of coffee, what are you, addicts or something?” He said, “Just the two of you?” And you know, you just want to say, “Just pour the coffee buddy. I give you the money, you give me the goods.” But it was a bit convicting. I mean, how silly is it to buy so much coffee? My eyes were bigger than my capacity to drink all that coffee and we threw the majority of it away. Now I don’t want to treat this topic lightly, but in the humor of it we can see how sin can come in various forms. I’m thinking more carefully now when I stop to get coffee. How much do I really need? And do I really need it at all? What does my getting so much say to others about my Christian witness?
Paul says, “I am the chief of sinners.” See, we might think, “Well, look at all of the good Paul did! He started all these churches throughout Europe and he wrote nearly two-thirds of the New Testament,” but Paul knew he had no reason to boast. He wrote in Galatians 6:14, “God forbid that I should boast except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ.” I am the chief of sinners and I will never forget the grace of God.
In fact, it’s kind of interesting to trace the humility of Paul in his letters. In 1 Corinthians he says, “I am the least of the apostles (15:9).” Later in Ephesians he says, “I am less than the least of all the saints (3:8). And then he says here in 1 Timothy, “I am the chief of sinners (15).” There seems to be this progression of humility. The older he gets, the more humble he becomes.
Salvation in Christ destroys our pride.” Here’s the other sub-point:
(B) Salvation in Christ displays His Patience (16)
16 However, for this reason I obtained mercy, that in me first Jesus Christ might show all longsuffering (or, patience), as a pattern to those who are going to believe on Him for everlasting life.
The word “pattern” there is a word that means, “architectural sketch.” God uses Paul as something of a sketch for others to see the work of Christ’s patience. It’s as though God, as the Great Architect, is sitting down before a drawing board and He says (sketching), “Can I show you how patient and loving I am? Take a look at this guy, this big-time sinner named Saul of Tarsus. See how he’s persecuting the church? But watch this: see how I am using him to see that the Gospel goes beyond Jerusalem? Watch this…he’s on his way to Damascus…now watch me save him! I am drawing his life here as a pattern, as an example of the way my love is available for the biggest of sinners.”
So God’s love extends to our past and is expressed in a Person. Finally:
III. God’s Love engenders our Praise [17]
17 Now to the King eternal, immortal, invisible, to God who alone is wise (or, “the only God”), be honor and glory forever and ever. Amen.
Paul bursts forth in praise for what it is God has done!
We mentioned John Newton earlier, author of, “Amazing Grace.” Newton never forgot that he was a big-time sinner. You hear it in that hymn, “Amazing grace how sweet the sound that saved a wretch like me. I once was lost, but now am found, was blind, but now I see.”
So shortly before his death Newton was preaching and said, “My memory is nearly gone, but I remember two things: that I am a great sinner and that Christ is a great Savior!”
If we have been saved we can say the same thing: “When I think of God’s love, here’s what I know, ‘I am a great sinner and Christ is a great Savior.’”
- Stand for prayer.
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