be for you and God wants it to be for you and you can receive the Lord Jesus Christ just as these dear ones have and don't sit there tonight and think no this is not for me, this is just for them, they're in a special category. No, their experience can be yours if you'll turn from your sin and receive Christ, he'll save you and because he loves you too. and he wants to save you from your sin. So make sure you speak to us. If you've heard the testimonies today, you're not sure that if you were to die today you'd go to heaven, please speak to myself, speak to Pastor Dan after the service and we'd be glad to show you from the Bible how you can get your salvation settled and know for sure that you're on your way to heaven, that your sins are forgiven. Well, since we've had a lot of testimonies today, I'd like to just preach to you for a few minutes on another testimony. But this testimony is in the Bible and you're going to find it in 1st Timothy chapter 1. So, lots of good testimonies today and real encouragement. But tonight we're going to look at the Apostle Paul's testimony of salvation. Very powerful testimony recorded here in the book of 1st Timothy chapter 1. And we're going to read from verse 12. fact why don't we read from verse 11 down to verse 17. The Bible reads, according to the glorious gospel of the blessed God which was committed to my trust and I thank Christ Jesus our Lord who hath enabled me for that he counted me faithful putting me into the ministry who was before a blasphemer and a persecutor and injurious but I obtained mercy because I did it ignorantly in unbelief. The grace of our Lord was exceeding abundant with faith and love which is in Christ Jesus. This is a faithful saying and worthy of all acceptation that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners of whom I am chief. Howbeit for this cause I obtained mercy that in me first Jesus Christ might show forth a pattern to them, show forth, pardon me, all longsuffering for a pattern to them which should hereafter believe on him to life everlasting. Now under the King eternal, immortal, invisible, the only wise God, be honour and glory forever and ever. Amen. Let's pray. Lord, we thank you for this opportunity to be in your house tonight. We thank you for the testimonies today of lives transformed by the power of the Gospel. We thank you Lord, each a story unique but Lord, a common theme, the grace of God, the blood of Christ, cleansing, repentance, faith, we thank you for that, we just pray now you bless our moments in your word, though we may be tired at the end of a busy day, help us to just open our hearts to receive something from your word tonight, we pray in Jesus' name, Amen. Don't underestimate the power of a personal testimony. It's an important part of our Christian lives to be willing to share our testimony of salvation because Psalm 107 verse 2 says, and don't underestimate how God can use your testimony. Think of the Samaritan woman in John chapter 4 and you see Christ as the master soul winner and how he found this woman who had come to draw water from the well but the Lord Jesus put his finger on a deeper thirst in her life that there was a thirst and a hunger and she was trying to satisfy that thirst in men relationships with men and she had had five husbands and was now living with a man who was not her husband and the Lord Jesus told her of living water, that she could have living water that would quench the thirst of her heart and this woman came to believe on Christ, came to receive him as Savior and then she went back and told the city and many of them came out and when they heard of her testimony in John 4 39 says, and many of the Samaritans of that city believed on him for the saying of the woman which testified he told me all that ever I did. God used this woman's testimony in a powerful way to bring others to saving faith in the Lord Jesus. And so it's a wonderful thing when Christians can share their testimony and God can use that. But here before us we have the example of Paul's testimony and it really does help if you, by the way, if you're trying to write your testimony, look at Paul's life and Paul's testimony. It's a great template. He talks about his past before he knew Christ and it is right and appropriate to do that. While we don't need to go into graphic detail or defiling levels of detail, We should follow Paul's example here who was very specific that he was a blasphemer, he was a persecutor and he was injurious. He said this was my life before salvation and that is a good way to share it. Here's my life before, here's how God touched my life, here's how I came to know salvation and here's my life afterwards, the before and the afterwards, the past and the present and the future in the Christian's life. Well, tonight let's look at Paul's testimony and we see how God took a man, Saul of Tarsus, and turned him into Paul, the Apostle. And that's the miracle of salvation, isn't it? Only God can take a man like Saul and turn him into a Paul. Only God can take a sinful life and transform it by his power. So let's look at Paul's testimony tonight. Number one, look at Paul's present, verse 12. Paul commences with a word of thanksgiving for the present and how God was working in his life. we note it's connected to the glorious gospel mentioned in verse 11 Paul had been entrusted with the gospel and now Paul under the inspiration and the leading of the Spirit speaks about his own testimony of salvation and of course the context here was there were false teachers teaching a false gospel teaching false doctrine and Paul's own testimony would shine as a light and as an example of genuine salvation and and I thank Christ Jesus our Lord who hath enabled me for that he counted me faithful putting me into the ministry.' You see, thankfulness was a key feature of the Apostle Paul's life. Thankfulness runs like a golden thread through Paul's epistles and Paul had much to be thankful for when he stopped to think about what God had done what the grace of God had accomplished in his life and should that not be the spirit of our lives, we have so much to be thankful for, to be saved from sin, to be cleansed from sin, to be on our way to heaven, to know that we've been delivered from hell and delivered from the penalty of sin, that is cause for Thanksgiving, isn't it? how thankful we should be. And Paul is going to conclude this section, we'll see in a moment, with that wonderful doxology of praise as his heart overflows with thanksgiving to God for his salvation. And so Paul gives thanks for three blessings that he'd received from God. And let me give those to you. Number one, he was empowered. He was empowered. I thank Christ Jesus our Lord who hath enabled me. empowered. The word means to strengthen or as one author says to put strength within me and we see Paul here giving God credit for the fact that he was the source of Paul's strength and power for the ministry and you need to know that the only way you can live the Christian life is by God's enabling. The only way you can serve God is by God's enabling and here Paul is now speaking as a saved man He's walked with God for some time and he's looking back and saying God enabled me, God enabled me and empowered me to serve him. How we need God's strength, don't we? How we need God's power in order to serve him. Colossians 1 11 says, strengthen with all might according to his glorious power under all patience and long-suffering with joyfulness. 2 Corinthians 3 5 says, not that we are sufficient of ourselves to think anything of ourselves but our sufficiency is of God. You know what really matters tonight is not your ability but your availability. What really matters is not your ability but your willingness to be used and your availability to be used. God doesn't need great people with great talents. In reality we are all small and insignificant people but God can take available vessels and God can use us. So Paul was thankful that he'd been empowered by God. Number two, he was thankful because he had been esteemed by God. He'd been enabled by God, empowered, he'd been esteemed by God because the Bible says here that God had counted him faithful. This is a wonderful testimony that God looked at Paul's life and said there's a faithful man. God counted him faithful, the word counted there means to think, so this was God's estimation of his servant Paul, God looked at Paul and said, here's a faithful man and I'm going to use him, I'm going to put him into the ministry. Did you know that's the kind of people God is looking for to use? The kind of men and women that God uses are men and women who are faithful. God looked at Paul and said, here's a faithful man and I'll take him and I'll use him. Sometimes people get the wrong idea that Paul got saved and immediately became a great preacher and that's just how I'm going to do it. You know, I'm just going to grab my Bible and go out there and do something for God and I'm not trying to dampen anybody's zeal tonight but people need to understand that Paul proved himself for approximately nine years after his conversion, before God set him apart for the missionary journeys in Acts chapter 13. So before Paul was sent out on his great missionary journeys, he had proven himself in approximately nine years of faithfulness and God looked at Paul's life and said, here's a faithful man and I'll take that faithful man and I will use him. Read Acts chapter 13, you'll find Paul was there ministering, he was serving God, he was fasting, he was working with other men in the Antioch church there and the Spirit of God said, separate me, Paul and Barnabas, for the work whereunto I have called them. May I encourage you tonight, if you would be used of God, maybe you even feel you have a calling of God on your life, you need to be a faithful man and be faithful where God has placed you and as you're faithful where God has placed you, you will be in a position for God to say, now it's time to take you and to use you. Oh we need faithful men, we need men and women who can stand and can and learn to work with God and wait upon God. My dad said he's noticed that these men who can't wait on the Lord and they just have to go out there and do something for God and they rush out in the flesh usually don't last in the ministry. need to work with the Lord and his timing and Paul was a man who had proven himself as a faithful man for about nine years before God launched him out on the church planting expedition there. And so Paul was thankful God had empowered him, God esteemed him faithful and then three, God had entrusted Paul with the ministry, putting me into the ministry. God placed Paul into ministry. The word ministry is from the same word translated deacon and sometimes it refers to the office of deacon or here it refers to service in general and interestingly the word deacon is a compound word, it's made up of two words, through and dust and so the picture is of one who stirs up the dust or moves quickly in his duties in order to serve. all of God's people need to be in the ministry in the sense of serving the Lord. but God does set aside men to give themselves full-time to the ministry, we certainly believe that. Paul was separated under the Gospel but whether you have a call upon your life to be a full-time minister of the Gospel or not, we should all be involved in the service of Christ. Every one of us can do something for God and again, it's not your ability so much as your availability. Are you available for God to take for God to use. So that was Paul's present, that's where he starts with thanksgiving to God for where he was now in his Christian life. But notice now number two, Paul's past in verse 13 to 14 and Paul now casts his mind back over his past and his experience of God's saving power. Notice the past tense here, who was before a blasphemer. Aren't you thankful that if you're saved you're not the same person now that you were before you were saved? I was before, Paul says, but I'm not anymore. And if you've been saved, you should have a very clear before and a very clear after. Now, I'm not saying that you're going to become a mature Christian overnight, but I'm telling you, when Christ enters your life and you get saved, you can say, by the grace of God, that's how my life was before I was saved, but that's what I was, that's not what I am now. By the grace of God, I'm saved, I'm transformed. So if you're saved tonight, you can rejoice in that past tense. you aren't what you used to be before you were saved. But look at how Paul discusses this, look at the description of his lost condition here. Paul describes his condition before salvation and he uses three words to summarize his pre-salvation life. He says he was a blasphemer, a persecutor and an injurer, injurious. was a blasphemer. Now Paul was very zealous for the God of Israel but he misunderstood that Christ was the Messiah and in his zeal to try and serve God he ended up blaspheming the very God he was trying to worship. That must be a terrible realisation for some to come to terms with that. There are people out there today who have a zeal for God or their concept of God and even willing to go and blow people up for religion and they think they're serving God but actually it's blasphemy against the true God. was a blasphemer, he was a persecutor. The word persecutor here means one who pursues as a hunter. Paul had persecuted the Church of God. I mean you look at Paul's life, you would say there's no way he's going to get saved, there's no way God would show mercy to him, no, God showed mercy to Paul. was a persecutor. Paul described his persecution of the church in other scriptures. In Acts 22 verse 4 Paul said, and I persecuted this way unto the death, binding and delivering into prisons both men and women. In Galatians 1 13 Paul said, for ye have heard of my conversation in time past in the Jews religion, how that beyond measure I persecuted the church of God and wasted it. See Paul's description of his lost condition, he was a blasphemer, he was a persecutor, he was an injurer, injurious. The word injurious refers to one who treats others with contempt and violence. Someone who is violent in word and action and certainly Paul was in that category. He approved the stoning of Stephen, that violent stoning of Stephen in Acts 8 verse 1. He was consenting unto his death. He imprisoned some of the believers, Acts chapter 8 verse 3. He breathed out threatenings and slaughters against the people of God. He compelled them to blaspheme. He persecuted them under strange cities. That was Paul's past is the description of his lost condition. Look though at the deliverance from his lost condition in verse 13 again. Who was before a blasphemer and a persecutor and injurious and there's that blessed little conjunction but. But I obtained mercy. Aren't you thankful for that little word? But. I think of Ephesians there too and how it describes our pre-salvation life. that we are under the dominion there of the prince of the power of the air the spirit that doth work within the children of disobedience and it goes on describes it there and it says but God who is rich in mercy for his great love wherewith he loved us hath quickened us together with Christ by grace ye are saved aren't you thankful if you've been saved tonight you can see that same intervention of God in your life this was my life before I was saved and we've heard that very clearly In the testimonies both this morning and tonight, lives filled with sin, lives filled with the sorrow that comes with sin. But God, you see the intervention of God and his transforming power and God's mercy shown to sinners. What a blessing. But I obtained mercy. Aren't you thankful for mercy? God's compassion, God's pity. Aren't you thankful that God looked at your life and pitied you and had compassion upon you, that his love was moved towards you and instead of giving you the judgment that you deserved, he reached out in grace and in love and drew you to himself. What a salvation. And so Paul experienced the mercy of God. He also experienced the grace of God. Look, he goes on to describe the grace of God. Verse 13, he talks about obtaining mercy because I did it ignorantly in unbelief. Verse 14, and the grace of our Lord was exceedingly abundant with faith and love, which is in Christ Jesus. Paul was a recipient of the mercy of God and he was a recipient of the grace of God. at the abundance of this grace. What is grace? Well grace is unmerited favour, it's giving us what we don't deserve. God does not give us his grace to us because he owes it to us in some way, it's not merited, we don't deserve it, that's the whole truth of grace, it's something that's given freely, it's actually something that flows out of God's character, he's a God who desires to show grace. But notice here it says that this grace was exceeding abundant. You know, when you got saved, God didn't give you just enough grace to meet your sinful condition. He gave you overflowing grace. That's what the word exceeding abundant means. It has the idea of overflowing. It's like a river overflowing its banks. That's the picture when you got saved. In fact, Romans chapter 5 says, but where sin abounded, grace did much more abound. Aren't you thankful? We sing it, don't we? grace, marvelous grace, grace that exceeds our sin and our guilt. And God could have just given enough grace, just enough to meet our sin condition, but that is not the picture of salvation. God's grace and God's salvation is so lavish and so abundant, God said, I'm going to overwhelm your sin I'm going to overflow you with my grace as we sing sometimes in that beautiful old hymn of the Welsh revival, grace and love like mighty rivers poured incessant from above and heaven's peace and perfect justice kissed a guilty world in love. That's the grace of God that flowed out at Calvary. Exceeding abundant grace. if you're saved tonight, you've experienced that overflowing grace of God. Grace to undeserving sinners. We don't deserve it. If we deserved it, it wouldn't be grace. If you could earn it, it wouldn't be grace. The Bible makes it very clear in Romans chapter 11 that if it is of grace, then it is no more of works. If it's of works, it's no more of grace. You can't have a mixture of grace and works, it's either all of grace or it's all of works. The Bible's clear, it's all of grace, no works. And with this grace came two things, faith and love. Verse 14, and the grace of our Lord was exceedingly abundant with faith and love, and you notice all of these wonderful things, these beautiful things, are in Christ Jesus. And so when God's grace worked in the Apostle Paul's life, bringing him to salvation, grace brought faith and grace brought love. Both work closely with the work of grace in the heart. Grace enabled Paul to put his faith in Christ and to love Him. God's grace there, working in his life, bringing him to faith and we can say in the words of 1 John 4 19 that we love Him because He first loved us. Who's the source of this grace? Christ. grace of our Lord was exceeding abundant with faith and love which is in Christ Jesus. All of God's grace there is available in Christ and he is full of grace and truth, isn't he? 1 John 1.14. So there we have Paul's past, he was a persecutor, a blasphemer, persecutor, injurious but he obtained mercy. grace of God, abundant grace of God flowed down into his life, saving him, changing him, making him new. Look at number three now, Paul's pattern. Verse 15 and 16, this is a faithful saying, and worthy of all acceptation that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners of whom I am chief. Notice the word pattern, God was going to use Paul as a pattern and as a picture of his saving grace. And Paul was able to discern that, the pattern in his life. he saw two divine purposes of God behind his salvation. Firstly Christ's salvation, verse 15, and then Christ's long-suffering, verse 16. But let's look at Christ's salvation there, verse 15. This is a faithful saying and worthy of all acceptation that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners of whom I am chief. A faithful saying. This is the first of five faithful sayings found in the pastoral epistles, 1st Timothy, 2nd Timothy, Titus. And the word faithful there means dependable, it means trustworthy, it means worthy of absolute confidence. This is a faithful saying. It's something you can depend on. It's something you can trust completely. It's something you can have absolute confidence in and what is that truth that we can trust with all of our hearts? It's this truth that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners of whom I am chief. That's not a truth that we should be in doubt of. The Word of God tells you this is a faithful saying. Now, anything that's found in the Word of God, we can depend upon. But when God's Word even goes to that level and says, you can really trust this, we should absolutely trust in the truth of this statement here, that Jesus Christ came into the world to save sinners, and he says it's a faithful saying and worthy of all acceptation. This truth is to be received without reservation or doubt. There is no sound, there is no, sound reason, moral or logical, to doubt or to reject this absolute and glorious truth... that Christ came into the world to save sinners. That's a dependable truth, isn't it? That Christ came into the world, that actually happened. It's trustworthy, you can depend on that truth. And what was the grand purpose of His coming? To save sinners. That's Christ's mission right there, isn't it? Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners. That's why he came. Yes, he was a good example. Yes, he was an inspiration, but that was not the central purpose of his coming. So often people get distracted from the central purpose of his coming. Why did Christ come? He came to save sinners like you and me. Paul says, Christ came into the world to save sinners, of whom I am chief. You know, there's real humility there isn't there, in Paul's life? He doesn't even say, I was the chief of sinners, he said, I am the chief of sinners. Even though he was saved, said, I'm just a sinner, I'm just a sinner saved by grace, by the grace of God I am what I am. Listen, if Paul could be that humble, you and I should just need to stay humble too. Oh I've been saved for 50 years, well you're just a sinner saved by grace, don't get too puffed up. I've learned so much from the Bible, praise the Lord for that, but you're just a sinner saved by grace. I'm just a sinner saved by grace. And Paul said I'm the chief of sinners, that word chief comes from the Greek word protos, it means the first, meaning first in rank. Paul honestly viewed himself as the, he said I'm first in rank, I'm the worst sinner. And this is how Paul was a pattern, an example. He's saying, Christ came to save sinners and I'm the chief of sinners and the implication is clear, if Christ could save me, the chief of sinners, he can save you. You should be encouraged by Paul's example tonight. You say, I don't know if Christ could save me. If Christ could save someone like Paul, he can save you. If Christ could save a man like Paul, Saul, who was hell-bent on the destruction of the church, a man who was persecuting the church, a man who breathed out threatenings and slaughters and blasphemies against the followers of Christ, I guarantee you he can save you. So Christ's salvation, verse 15. Look at Christ's long-suffering, verse 16. You see how Paul was able to discern that God saved him for a purpose? For this cause, I obtained mercy. Please don't forget that. when the Lord saved you, he saved you with a purpose. God had a special purpose for the Apostle Paul's life but God has a special purpose for your life too. Praise God I'm saved and on my way to heaven, that's wonderful but don't miss what God has for you and God's purpose for you to glorify him, to live for him, to find his will for your life, to be a vessel in his hands that he can use. The word pattern here comes from the Greek word hupotuposon and it's made up of two words, hupo meaning under and tupos, the word tupos is where we get our word type from, a type, a pattern. So Paul was an outline, a sketch, a prototype of several truths. Number one, the mercy of God to a great sinner. mercy of God to a great sinner. He was an example of that, he was a pattern of that, to show others. Howbeit for this cause I obtained mercy. This is the second time that Paul makes reference to obtaining mercy in these verses and as I said before, if God could save Saul, the most undeserving of sinners, he can save anyone. was also a pattern in the long-suffering of God, that God was going to, through Paul's life and God's dealings with him, God would show forth there, means to display, God displayed in Paul's life his attribute of long-suffering. God was patient with Paul. God was patient with him while he was Saul. And not just long-suffering but all long-suffering, every aspect to God's long-suffering was displayed there in his dealings with the Apostle Paul. Aren't you thankful tonight for a God who is long-suffering? A God who is patient with sinners. Think about it, if God gave you what you deserved, straight away, many years ago, would have you ever gotten saved? Think about how patient God was with you. year after year as you sinned against Him, as you ignored Him, as you blasphemed Him and sinned in ignorance maybe like the Apostle Paul, many sins committed in ignorance but still serious before God. Aren't you thankful for a God who is long-suffering and patient? Sometimes I say, how on earth can God let some of these atheists still live and walk around? How can God let some of these blasphemers still live and walk around? It says something of the long-suffering of God, doesn't it? 2nd Peter 3.9 says, Again, I can't subscribe to limited atonement. the system of Calvinism based on that one verse. God's Word says very clearly that God is long-suffering and that he's not willing that any should perish but that all should come to repentance. That is the desire in the heart of God, his heart's desire is that all men would come to repentance. Now of course not all will, we don't believe in universal salvation but that's not because God pre-ordained some for heaven and some for hell. If someone goes to hell it's because of their own voluntary rejection of the gospel. So he was a pattern in several ways. One, the mercy of God to a great sinner. He obtained mercy. He was a pattern or an example of the long-suffering of God. God displayed his attribute of long-suffering in his dealings with Paul. he was also then an example to the future faith of others. Verse 16, again look at it there, So God was going to use Paul to be a special example to people who would be saved after Paul. inspiration to people, people could look at Paul's life and see God's long-suffering on display, God's mercy on display and come to faith and say yes, I can receive that same salvation. So those who would believe on Him to life everlasting, just look at those words, don't miss that, the object of saving in faith, those who would believe on Him, on who, who's that? I've lost you, haven't I? You're tired. On Him, that's on Christ. Do you see there that saving faith must have Christ as its object? Some people say, well I think I'm going to heaven. Why? Because I have faith. Hang on, your faith should not be in your faith. Faith in faith, that's a skyhook. Well my faith is growing and I feel I have this faith. Hang on, if your faith is in your faith, that's not saving faith, your faith must be in Jesus Christ. He is the object of saving faith. Faith, as Spurgeon said, is the gaze of the soul, sorry it was Tozer, the gaze of the soul upon a saving God. look and live. Faith is looking to Christ and trusting in what He has accomplished through His death, His burial and His resurrection. And when your faith lands, if I could say it that way, on that solid foundation, that's saving faith. When you believe with all of your heart, having repented of your sin, believe with all of your heart that Jesus is the Christ and that He died on the cross for your sins, that He was buried and rose again. When you come to that point of faith, believing in Him, Trusting in Him, calling upon Him, that's when you get saved. Believe on Him, what's the result? To life everlasting. That's the result of saving faith, the object of saving faith is Christ. On Him, you must believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, the result is life everlasting. That's a pretty long time, isn't it? There's a lot at stake here. You say you keep hearing all this about the need to be saved and need to become a Christian. And why do you go on and on about that? Because you're going to spend eternity somewhere. You're going to spend eternity either in heaven or in hell. And I don't fully understand eternity, but I know this. Eternity is a long time. You need to trust Christ. You need to repent of your sin and you need to believe on the Lord Jesus Christ. And when you do that, you will be saved. So we see Paul's pattern. Let's conclude now with Paul's praise, verse 17. See how Paul's pen bursts forth with praise? What's the context? He's just been talking about how God delivered him. God set him free. He's just been talking about the fact he was a persecutor, he was a blasphemer, he was injurious but he had obtained God's mercy, God's overwhelming and overflowing grace had poured down into his life and now he bursts forth in this doxology here of praise, now under the King eternal, immortal, invisible, the only wise God be honour and glory forever and ever. Amen. Isn't that the response of the heart that is paused to consider so great salvation? should be the response of our hearts as we pause and think about so great salvation. Do you ever pause and just let it sink in what it means to be saved? it means to be cleansed? Do you ever pause to consider the magnitude of what it means to be a child of God, to be on your way to heaven, to be set free from sin and from Satan? I hope that sometimes we pause, especially on days like this, and just gaze in wonder at what God has done through salvation. And when we do that we should say this to the King Eternal, immortal, invisible, the only wise God, be honour and glory forever and ever. I mean, that's the response of a thankful heart, isn't it? Look at God's, the description here of God's person. He's referred to here as the King Eternal. He has no beginning, He has no end. He was King in eternity past. He is King now and He will be King for all eternity future. There was never a time in the past when He was less than King and there will never be a time in the future when He is less than King. He is the Eternal King! From everlasting to everlasting thou art God. Psalm 90 verse 2. He's the king of kings. There's none like unto him. He is above all. He's immortal, meaning not subject to death, decay or corruption. It means imperishable. He changes not. He's the same yesterday, today and forever. Aren't you thankful for a God who is eternal? Aren't you thankful for a God who is unchanging? He's invisible. this is God in his pure essence, God is a spirit, John 4 24, and they that worship him must worship him in spirit and in truth. God chose to take on human flesh in the person of Christ to reveal himself to the world, praise God for that, but God in his pure essence is invisible, he is a spirit. These are These are God-exalting words, aren't they? The King Eternal, immortal, invisible, the only wise God. The word only reminds us that He is God alone and that through Him alone we are saved. We are reminded that He is the only wise God, that He is the possessor of all knowledge and understanding. God has never learned as He already knows all things. Colossians 2.3 tells us that in Christ are hid all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge. So here in Paul's praise we see the description of God's person. By the way, true worship really is when you focus on who God is. I get tired today of the abuse of the word worship, where worship means some guy with spiked hair playing electric guitar, some other guy with spiked hair belting a drum and it sounds like a rock concert and we're worshipping Jesus and you find with a lot of those songs it's nothing really, not much about God at all, it's all about me and my feelings and it's all focused on me. No, no, here you see true spirit-filled worship is when we get our hearts and minds towards God his attributes and I'm not saying there isn't a place for a song of testimony certainly there is a place for a song of testimony to testify in song about what God has done for us but I'm just saying this is true worship isn't it when we get our minds and our hearts focused on who God is the description of God's person look at them the exaltation of God's person Paul ascribes two things to this all-powerful God he says this God be honour and glory forever and ever. Amen. Honour, reverence and respect. Is not God worthy to be honoured in our lives, our thoughts, our words, our actions? Glory He's worthy to receive all the glory. And that's a great place to end a day like today, to Him be all glory, to Him be all praise, to Him be all the honor and the glory. And if any of us have the joy of being just a vessel to help someone come to Christ, that's wonderful, but ultimately it's all of God, it's God's work, He gets all the glory. In fact, I was praying a lot in the lead up to this service, Lord Jesus, would you just be honored and glorified tomorrow in this service? Would you be exalted because you are worthy of all praise As Christ there receives the reward of his sufferings, what joy it must bring to the Lord Jesus who endured the cross to see sinners born again, to see the reward of his sufferings carried out in lives, purchased by his blood, to see lives receptive to his grace, it must bring great joy to our Lord Jesus. this wonderful great almighty God we serve is worthy of all our honour, he's worthy of all glory, he's worthy of all our praise, not just now but forever and ever. As the ages of eternity roll on he will still be worthy of all honour, worthy of all glory, as the Word of God rolls back, as it were, the curtains of heaven at times. In the book of Revelation, for example, when you get a glimpse into the worship of heaven, the focus is upon God, the focus is upon the Lamb, worthy is the Lamb. And I believe that this will be a large part of our existence in the eternal realm. We will continue going on and on in our honour and glorification and praise of Him who sits on the throne. He's worthy of honour and glory forever. and ever. And our response to that should be, Amen. Let's bow for prayer. From Saul to Paul, God's transforming power. Let me ask you this morning, or this evening I should say, are you saved? You've heard testimonies today of people who have been saved By God's power and by God's grace, you've heard messages from God's Word about this. While every head is bowed and every eye closed, would there be anyone here tonight who would say, Pastor, if I'm honest, if I was to die tonight, I'm not sure where I'd go. I don't know 100% for sure that my sins have been forgiven. I'm not sure that I've received that gift of eternal life you've spoken about. As I've heard the testimonies, I can't see a clear before and after in my life. I can't see a clear conversion, a clear point of repentance and turning to Christ for salvation but I'd like to settle that tonight. If that would be you tonight, would you just slip your hand up? Every head is bowed, every eye is closed. I'm not going to call you out by name. I'm not asking you to join our church but all I'd like to do is pray for you if you'd raise your hand and then after the service we could show you from the Bible how you can settle that matter. If you were to die tonight, and I hope you won't, but if you were to die tonight where would you spend eternity? Where are you going to spend eternity, heaven or hell? Anyone at all tonight, just raise their hand and say, Pastor, please pray for me. If I'm honest, I don't know for sure that I'm saved, but I'd like to receive Christ as my Saviour this night. I'd like that salvation experience I've heard about today to be my experience too. I'd like to invite the Lord Jesus into my life and make Him my Saviour. Take Him as my Lord and Saviour. Anyone at all, would you just raise your hand? If you've raised your hand, I'll pray for you and then after service, I'll take the Bible and show you how you can know for sure that your sins are forgiven and that you're on your way to heaven, anyone at all? Lord, we thank you for this day, we pray that you'd seal the message in hearts and draw precious souls to yourself, in Jesus' name, Amen.