Well, good morning. If you can turn to 1 Timothy chapter 1, we will continue on through this letter. Really, last sermon, verses 8 through 11, we saw how Paul was very firm. The law, the law of Moses and seeking to obey God by keeping this law, it was vain, futile, to try to enter his household as one of his children, as one of his servants, through obedience to the law. This is not the way to peace, because we have not obeyed his law, and because of our sinfulness, we cannot and we will not perfectly obey his law. And we have seen how the law is not the main means for the Christian, saved instead by grace through faith in Jesus, to even grow in faithfulness. It's not going to be fear of that law and seeking to uphold the letter of it out of a fear of being condemned by it. That's not how Christians are going to grow and become faithful servants in God's house. Well, in verses 12 through 17, Paul breaks off into a personal thanksgiving and praise for this good news, this gospel that he's been entrusted with, the means by which people enter into God's family and also the means by which we grow strong and faithful as his children and servants. We see that Paul is not only looking at a set of Guidelines to life. He's going to be emphasizing a person who brings life, who is our life, who the good news is about, the master of the house, our king, the Lord Jesus Christ. So from verses 12 through 17, we're going to look at this passage today. And before I read it, I want to read the whole thing. I want to put in your minds A few things to be looking for as we read this. First, to see this focus on the person of Jesus Christ. Christ Jesus, Jesus Christ, Jesus the Messiah, the Anointed One, the Chosen One. He is referred to directly four times in these several verses and alluded to in many other times as well. So Paul is focused on the second person of the Trinity, God the Son, Jesus Christ. But second, notice that we're going to see Paul's relationship to Jesus. There's a lot of focus on Jesus, but there's also a lot of focus on Paul himself. This is how he really frames this passage. Paul can say that he has personally dealt with Jesus and that He is not only the only one to do this, as we go through this passage, the scope widens. All sinners, any sinner can have this personal relationship with Jesus Christ as well. And third, Notice who Jesus is as the giver of such good things, the source and the giver of these good qualities, the one who possesses and gives strength, service, mercy, grace, patience. We're going to see these beautiful words listed throughout this passage. In contrast to those ugly words, if you remember last week, that we read in verses 8 through 9 and 10, words that describe us as sinners. But here we're going to see it's not Paul who's described this way. It's not a keeper of the law as any servant would claim to be, as these false teachers in Ephesus claim to be. But it is centered on Jesus Christ himself. He uniquely is the source and the giver of such good things that our soul needs. And so out of this, We need to be impressed by Jesus Christ. Not to be so much impressed by Paul as a servant, but to look to Jesus. Not to look to ourselves, but to look to Him. This is what Paul wants us to focus on. So let's read verses 12 through 17. I thank Him who has given me strength. Christ Jesus our Lord, because he judged me faithful, appointing me to his service, though formerly I was a blasphemer, persecutor, and insolent opponent. But I received mercy, because I had acted ignorantly in unbelief, and the grace of our Lord overflowed for me with the faith and love that are in Christ Jesus. The saying is trustworthy and deserving of full acceptance, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners, of whom I am the foremost. But I received mercy for this reason, that in me, as the foremost, Jesus Christ might display his perfect patience as an example to those who are to believe in him for eternal life. To the king of the ages, immortal, invisible, the only God, Be honor and glory forever and ever. Amen. Amen. So this is the gospel, not presented so much in a teaching manner like he does in the book of Romans, for example, Romans chapter 3. But remember who he's writing to primarily. He's writing to his brother in the faith, fellow co-worker, Timothy. Timothy knows the gospel, but here Paul is just almost gushing out with his personal testimony about Jesus and the gospel. And in this way, we see the gospel shining through. Paul gives thanks to Jesus, first here, for appointing him into his service and showing him such mercy, even with his sinful past. So Paul begins with an eye to his service on the Lord. You notice that as we look in verse 12, you might wonder, well, why is he talking about that in the context of this gospel declaration? Well, remember in verse 11, he talked about how he had been entrusted with the gospel of the glory of the blessed God. So the verse just previous to this, there is that stewardship focus, which we keep running into as we go through 1 Timothy. And Paul has been made a steward, a servant, entrusted with this message under this new covenant. It's in contrast with the false teachers that he's been writing about. You can read all about that in the first chapter here up to this point. And so Paul is embracing this servanthood, this stewardship he has. And it's thanksgiving that he responds to Jesus with. We can literally translate it something like, I have gratitude to the one who has given me strength. It's an interesting way Paul writes this. He's actively possessing thankfulness to this strength giver who he then reveals as Christ Jesus, our Lord. He remembers what Jesus has done for him up to this point of his writing, and that thankfulness is still within him and pouring out toward Jesus. He is thankful for what? Well, that Jesus judged him faithful, evidenced by Jesus appointing him to service, to serve him. This is what a servant wants to hear. Well done, good, and what? faithful servant. He says in 1 Corinthians 4, it is necessary for a steward to be found faithful, to be trustworthy, to be reliable, to be given something and you've taken care of it. And your master, the one to whom you owe an answer for, can say, you have done well with this. This was Paul's greatest delight. And this appointment of service that Paul was given, it matched Paul's reliability, his faithfulness, his trustworthiness. You think of where Jesus talks like this. In Matthew 25, that great image of the sheep going to the left, or the goats, rather, to the left and the sheep to the right. There's this great judgment, and in that number of parables in Matthew 25, he also uses the image of a king having an audience with his servants. And the servants come to him and he says to a number of them, well done, good and faithful servant. You have been faithful over a little, I will put you now over much. There's a truth there. What they were faithful with, they had now greater responsibility in his millennial kingdom, in the coming kingdom. This will be true for believers. There is a future to that for believers, but there's also something present about this. To be faithful over what Jesus gives to you. This you will grow by, and you will be privileged to be faithful with more if you're faithful with what he gives you. Luke 16, another parable that our Lord gives, actually one of the most challenging parables, the parable of the dishonest steward. The one who is going to get canned by his master, so he makes all these deals in this shrewd, crafty way, and his master says, ah, you've been a very shrewd servant. And we're kind of wondering, what is Jesus trying to teach us out of that? How to be shysty in the world? Well, we won't get into all that parable, but Luke 16.10, there is a principle underneath it that's very clear. One who is faithful in a very little, our Lord says, is also faithful in much. What you're given to be faithful in, if you're faithful in that, that's a big deal to Jesus. Even if it's a little thing in the eyes of other people. Even in your own eyes. Not to Jesus. He says, if you are dishonest in a very little, you are also dishonest in much. If then you have been faithful in the unrighteous wealth, that's the context of the parable, who will entrust to you the true riches? If you're not faithful with what you're given to begin with, you will not be given more to be faithful with. There is a principle there for our spiritual lives. Now, you might be thinking, though, already, wait, I thought this was about the gospel. This sounds like law, or it sounds like what I'm supposed to be doing. Why is Paul bringing this up? While Paul's point isn't to focus only on himself here, look carefully how he's framing this. Where does his strength to be faithful come from? Christ Jesus our Lord, the one who has given me strength, he says there in verse 12. Paul's strength to be faithful, it was a borrowed power. It is a strength available to anybody who trusts in Jesus, as Paul did. Paul was weak in himself. He confesses that in many places. But Jesus was mighty to give him the power, the strength he needed to be faithful. And there's this contrast here Paul's introducing. the faithful servant that he was today through Christ, through the gospel, decades later after he first believed, versus the man that he used to be, where maybe some thought he was pretty strong, he was pretty religious, he was pretty spiritually minded, but he knows he wasn't. There is a contrast he's introducing here, but his faithfulness was rooted in Christ's strength. He says this in 1 Corinthians 7.25 as he's writing to the Corinthians about issues related to marriage and relationships. Chapter 7 is a big chapter on that. When he has to give new revelation, new teaching on these complicated matters, He prefaces it by saying that he is one who, by the Lord's mercy, is trustworthy. That's what he refers to himself as. Trustworthy is that same word we find here, faithful. But it's by whose mercy that he's been a faithful counselor now? The Lord's mercy. He's quick to add that. 1 Corinthians 15.9. This passage is very interesting and almost would make you think Paul would blush at this. He writes, for I am the least of the apostles, unworthy to be called an apostle, because I persecuted the Church of God. But by the grace of God, I am what I am. And his grace toward me was not in vain. It wasn't empty. He wasn't a quote, unquote, carnal Christian, where you would look at this person claiming to be a Christian. There was no evidence that they truly were a Christian. Such a person can't rightly be called a Christian. Grace is in vain. It's empty. But he's saying, no, not in my life. On the contrary, he writes, I worked harder than any of them. Quite a statement. Peter, John, he's comparing himself to the other apostles. And if he put a period there, or he ended it there, he wouldn't have wrote a period in Greek, but if he stopped there, We would think, wow, what a proud person. What is he doing here? But he goes on. I worked harder than any of them, though it was not I, but the grace of God that is with me. He was able to write such things with a good conscience. He knew, he had a good conscience to say, I've given my life to the Lord, I'm serving him. I mean, look through the Book of Acts if you were with us as Pastor Bud preached through that. This guy's getting beaten in every town. He would have showed up at a service and he would have had scars all over his back. His back would have looked like Swiss cheese. His face would have had scars. And he was doing this out of love. He was really serving the Lord and helping others come to know the Lord. But he's not crediting himself to that. He wasn't an extrovert. He didn't credit all his good training or other influences in his life. He didn't say, I have a strong will or something like this. He credits the grace of Jesus Christ. God's enabling power in his life. And that's why he's able to say, yes, you can see my service, I can even speak of myself in a certain way, but he's very quick to say it's God's mercy, it's his grace, and it's a borrowed strength. That's what I think he's wanting to encourage the Christians with. There's nothing he could take ultimate credit for, but something available to all of us as we would look to Jesus. And this is what he says in Romans 5 verse 6 as well. Romans 5 verse 6, he says, for while we were still weak. The King James has it, while we were yet without strength. So here is one who is not having strength. He needs to go to the one who gives strength. At the right time, Christ died for the ungodly. And Paul counted himself among the ungodly, but was given grace and strength, mercy. And this is what he goes on to highlight. This is why he's setting up this section with that focus on himself in this way, because in verse 13, he speaks about who he was before this grace visited him. Before he could be appointed to Jesus' service, he served in Damascus. He served among the Arabs. and then he went to Tarsus, and then he came back to Antioch, and then him and Barnabas go to Cyprus, and then Galatia, and throughout Europe, and back, and before any of that, faithfulness rewarded with more opportunities to be faithful. Before all that, verse 13, what was he? Though formerly, he says, I was a blasphemer. I was a persecutor. I was an insolent opponent. A blasphemer. This was the height of a bad person in Israel. If you blasphemed God, you should die under the law. This was speaking to God about God in a perverse, twisted way. It literally means slander. If you blaspheme somebody else, you are slandering them. That word gets used in human-to-human relationships as well. Satan is called a blasphemer for this reason. He'll lie about who God is. He says God is this way, but God really isn't. And that's one of the highest crimes that you can commit in the universe, is to misrepresent God like that. And Paul was guilty of this. People were saying the Messiah has come. God has come in the flesh and he loves us. And Paul took that person and grabbed him by the throat and said, stop talking. He was a persecutor. A persecutor of who? Of the Christians, of those who claimed Jesus as Messiah. He was an insolent opponent, meaning he was violent and hostile to what he was set against. That insolence. I don't really use that word frequently now. If you were to be called insolent, maybe it meant you were being disrespectful, you were lacking submission, but this word is more related as well to somebody who's violent. They hate you so much they're going to hurt you. Well, in Acts 26, 9 through 11, Paul's giving his testimony before some of the Jewish and Roman authorities, and he really sums up this attitude and these bad activities in his testimony, one of the several testimonies he gives of himself. He writes there in Acts 26.9, I myself was convinced that I ought to do many things in opposing the name of Jesus of Nazareth, and I did so in Jerusalem. I not only locked up many of the saints in prison after receiving authority from the chief priests, but when they were put to death, I cast my vote against them." What was the one record we have where Paul consented to his death? Who died? Who was martyred? Stephen, yes, in Acts chapter 8. He writes, and I punished them often in all the synagogues. and tried to make them blaspheme." There's that same word. He's tried to make the Christians blaspheme. He grabbed them and said, say that Jesus of Nazareth is not the Messiah. He's not the Christ. Recant your faith. He did that by force, by violence. He says, and in raging fury against them, I persecuted them even to foreign cities, even to Damascus, until who showed up in his life? That's right, God the Son, the Lord Jesus himself appeared to Paul on the road to Damascus. But before that, Paul's painting himself almost as we'd imagine an ISIS terrorist. Somebody who would use obscene violence to try to change the mind of people over religious opinions. This was a bad guy. We would look at him and say, he is not a nice man. He's a fanatic. He's an extremist. He himself says that about himself. But what changed? How did Paul go from choking and hurting and cheering on the death of those he would later call brother and sister to now giving his life, being choked, being threatened, suffering in their place so that others would join that brotherhood in Christ? What happened? It wasn't a law that he upheld. It wasn't things that he mustered up. He writes halfway through verse 13 there, but I received mercy. This is what happened to him. He received mercy. He didn't do anything except receive mercy. And he says, I received mercy because I had acted ignorantly in unbelief. Now you might first hear that, And you might think, is Paul making an excuse for his sins? He would say, I really didn't know what I was doing. And so God was merciful to him, saying, OK, well, you really didn't know. I'll be merciful to you because you were ignorant. Your unbelief was rooted. in ignorance, or rather your ignorance came from this unbelief, but nonetheless, you really didn't know, so I'm gonna show you mercy. At first reading, you might get that, but if you're a Christian, you've been walking with God, reading the Bible, there's just not something that sits right with you, right? Something doesn't click with that. I think, though, from the text itself, rather than just a hunch, look at verse 16. We're gonna get into this more, but he says there of himself, that he received mercy, that Jesus might display his perfect patience as an example to those who are to believe in him for eternal life. So Paul's saying, I'm the example of somebody who receives mercy. While it couldn't be that Paul's saying he received mercy because he just really didn't know the bad things he was doing. He wouldn't be a very good example to everyone who would eventually believe in Jesus if this was the kind of mercy shown. You kind of were graded on a curve and said, okay, I guess I'll show you mercy. It's not how mercy works. And that wouldn't make the good example. We would make a beeline to the thief on the cross and say, okay, no, there's the example I need for being shown mercy. But Paul's here saying, well, that's still a good example from the scriptures. Paul's saying, is the example of the sinner saved by grace. Well, he really was ignorant in unbelief. This was the condition, the state he was in, that led to him receiving mercy. This is why he needed mercy. He was ignorant And if you call somebody ignorant today, you're usually not meaning they just lack knowledge. You're usually saying a little bit more than that. You know, my children, I seem to always use children as examples, I'm sorry kids, but nobody's gonna feel bad about you for this. My children are ignorant of how to drive. I know there's at least one teenager here learning that right now. Moving away from ignorance of driving to knowing how to drive a vehicle. And you wouldn't fault a child for not knowing how to drive a vehicle. They just don't know. You don't even want them to know. They're not ready for that. But usually, that's not what we're saying when you call somebody ignorant. There's almost a sense of, you should know this, but you're not knowing it. You should know this, but you're choosing not to know this. And I believe that's how Paul's using this as well. There was no excuse for his ignorance. There was a sense, as he said earlier, where he says, I was convinced that I ought to do many things in opposing the name of Jesus of Nazareth. He was sincere in thinking these Christians are nuts. They are not worshiping the true God. They're not keeping the prophecies and the scriptures from our forefathers of Israel. But nonetheless, this unbelief, this lack of trust in Jesus was no excuse for Paul. But he needed mercy. Those who are given mercy should instead be given judgment. Mercy is mercy because judgment hasn't been given. So yes, he was ignorant, but there was no excuse for this. As Jesus hung on the cross, what did he pray to his persecutors, or for his persecutors, rather? What did he pray to the Father? He said, Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do. There is a reality of ignorance there. Peter later says this as well, but he also charges them, you killed the author of life. You need to repent of that. You can be sincerely wrong and yet you are still wrong. In Proverbs, the book of Proverbs, there is the fool, there is the scoffer, and then there is the simple person. And the simple person does not get a pass for staying simple. You children, many of you, in one way or another, you are simple. But if you go play out on the road thinking you can play on the road like you can play in a soccer field, you will sadly find out one day there's consequences for still being simple. You shouldn't play on the road. You need to learn that. You need to learn that quick. And so this is no excuse. And we have to understand Paul's words here. But he was saying, indeed, whatever knowledge he thought he had, he was ignorant. Whatever trust he had in the true God, he wasn't truly trusting him. Now that Jesus came, this has made all the difference. And his rejection of Jesus was rejection of God, and he was under judgment for that. But instead, he was given mercy. The mercy of Jesus became greater than his ignorance and unbelief. Look at verse 14. The grace of our Lord overflowed for me with the faith and love that are in Christ Jesus. This is a very beautiful, vivid picture of grace. Grace that covers his sin. That's super abundant. It overflows. It's larger than any of the guilt and ignorance and unbelief that Paul had. And Paul was covered, he was washed in this tidal wave of grace from Jesus that forgives his sin, that cleanses his heart, that brings about the new covenant blessing of the Holy Spirit inside you, that immerses him in God's love. But it was accompanied by two things, he says in verse 14. It was accompanied with the faith and love that are in Christ Jesus. Where this saving grace is given by God, there is response. There is faith in Jesus, trust in him for what he has done to give that grace. And in that is also love. There is love now toward Jesus, where Paul would have winced at hearing the name of Jesus of Nazareth. Now he heard the name, and there was something delightful about that name. Where we, as sinners, may have used Jesus' name as a cuss word, as a word that we would explain surprise, express a shock out of, that should not come out of our mouths anymore as believers. That name should be precious on our lips. There should be love seen underneath that. And Paul's whole disposition, his whole relationship now to Jesus, went from enemy to friend, and he was covered with that grace that he didn't deserve through Christ. Faith and love were now set. This is what Paul has been encouraging Timothy, charge these teachers to promote teaching. that will lead to love. Verse 5, the aim of our charge is love from a pure heart, a good conscience, and a sincere faith. The faith that produces love. This is what Paul first experienced and has continued to experience. Now experiences, well, really just all love now. He sees with his eyes. It begins at salvation. It begins at that initial moment where grace first enters your life. You trust in Jesus, you now love Jesus, but it grows. And that's his whole point in having Timothy charge these false teachers. This must be a reality if we are to sing, amazing grace, how sweet the sound that saved a wretch like me. If we're to sing that, if we're to experience that amazing grace, there should be real faith and real love in our hearts for Jesus. This is not the common grace that's given to all people. As Pastor Bud mentioned, we can give thanks to God for a warm house or a cool house, being able to brush our teeth. Your neighbor's gonna smell your breath this morning and probably thank you for brushing your teeth. Thank God you brushed your teeth. That's a common grace. Our brethren in Egypt during Ramadan, he told me just last Friday at our Bible study, people's breath stinks. When you're not eating, you detoxify and you have really bad breath. And over there in Egypt in the hot Ramadan season, that was one thing he pointed out, in the hospital, so many people's breath stunk. Praise God for good-smelling breath. That's common grace, okay? But this isn't common grace. This is something bigger than that, deeper than that. This is that saving grace that turns opposers of the gospel to worshipers of Jesus through the gospel. And this is what Paul has experienced. He knew his sin. He knew the ugliness of his sin, the greatness of his sin. I mean, he forever puts down words throughout many of his letters for him to be remembered as this violent persecutor. He wasn't hiding his past. But he also saw the greater size and immensity of God's grace. And he embraced it. He had faith in Jesus for that grace. He loved Jesus because of that grace. He was strengthened by Jesus, as he says in verse 12. And now he was serving Jesus faithfully. Greater degrees of opportunities to serve him. And that's the chain it started with. It started with that first humbling. And it should be in our lives too. And this is what Paul now transitions to. He's been talking a lot about himself, but the things that he's experienced are available to any sinner. Look at verse 15. The saying is trustworthy and deserving of full acceptance, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners, of whom I am the foremost. This is the first instance he's going to use the phrase, this is a trustworthy or faithful and trustworthy saying. He says it in different ways. They're trustworthy and deserving of full acceptance kind of saying. He says it in slightly different ways. I might get other translations in my head. But it's actually throughout 1 Timothy, throughout the other pastoral epistles, but this is the first time he uses this. And he's saying, this saying that's out there, this phrase, it is worth knowing. Paul probably didn't pen this phrase, but he's saying, you got to remember this, Timothy, and you got to encourage others to remember it. You know, we have Christian sayings ourselves. I remember my first Easter among the brethren here at Lighthouse. Somebody would come up to me and say, he has risen. I didn't know what to say. I'd say, yeah, that's great. I know. What am I supposed to say? He has risen indeed. Y'all better learn that. Easter's coming, OK? People are going to come up to you and say that. And you're supposed to say, he has risen indeed. There's a saying that we have. God is good all the time. All the time, God is good. You know, we have these sayings. Some sayings are better than others. There's some sayings that should just be thrown out altogether. So you've got to test sayings. Not every saying is good. But here, what Paul's saying, I've got to find another word. What Paul has written, this saying, you have to remember it. Christ Jesus came into this world to save sinners. Know that phrase. Memorize it. Preach it to yourself. Tell others about it. Christ Jesus came into this world to save sinners. You want to memorize a verse? Memorize this verse. I mean, again, trustworthy and faithful are all these verses of the Bible, of course. It's kind of interesting when you get a very specific verse saying, hey, really pay attention to this one. So what does he mean by this? Well, it doesn't have to be spelled out terribly clearly beyond what he's written. I mean, he means what he says. This is why Jesus came into this world. Sinners need saving. Pastor Bud opened up the service with the scripture reading how Jesus in Luke 5 said he's not come to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance. You don't need to go to a doctor if you're healthy, but the sick person needs the physician. This is why Jesus came. We know John 3, 16, this is another verse you should memorize. For God so loved the world, he gave his only begotten son, whosoever believes in him should not perish, but have eternal life. But verse 17, for God did not send his son into the world in order to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him. Jesus did not come to condemn. There's a second coming. We can read about that in the Bible. This is time for judgment. It is the day of vengeance of our Lord. But his first coming was not characterized by that. And we're still living at this time in between his comings where that mercy, that grace is available. He came to save us from our sins. And Paul adds at the end of that saying, I think this is what he adds himself, he takes that saying, Christ Jesus came to this world to save sinners, but he adds, of whom I am the foremost, I am the chief, he says. And he's looking at himself as the biggest sinner of them all. Out of all the sinners that he met, he says, I think I'm the worst. He saw a lot of problems in the churches that he pastored, that he planted. But nonetheless, he says, I think I'm the biggest sinner of them all. Well, did he struggle with his past about that? This persecution that he put other Christians under? You know, there's a movie that came out a few years ago about Paul, and it really emphasized that. You know, he'd have nightmares, like PTSD, about him hurting Christians. Maybe that's so. But that scripture doesn't really emphasize that. It doesn't really narrow in Paul's struggle against sin, as if he's having these flashbacks from his persecuting past. What we do know is where he makes a quick beeline. He can say, I am the worst of the sinners I know. But he's also quick to say, but God's grace is bigger than that. He doesn't dwell on that. He doesn't get all hung up, morbidly sad, thinking, yeah, nobody's as bad as I am. No, he goes, verse 16, talking again about how he has received mercy, how mercy is what characterizes his life even more than his sin. He is the foremost, verse 16 says, yes, the worst of sinners, but now he's an example for other sinners. He is set as an example to all those who would believe in Jesus for eternal life. And what is he displaying through his example? Verse 16, Jesus Christ might display his perfect patience. Paul was one who received patience from the Lord. And what Paul's essentially saying is, if God was merciful to me, he can be merciful to you too. If God saved a sinner like me, the worst of the sinners, he can save you too. If he gave me strength and now I can actually love him and serve him, I'm not stuck in the sins of my past, he can deliver and strengthen and help you too. That's Paul's point here. God is patient, this perfect patience. There was Christians of that day being persecuted by Paul, and no doubt they were tempted to pray, or at least think, God, just send a lightning bolt and kill this guy. I mean, he is causing such problems for our community. Just get him away from us. Even Ananias, who is commanded by the Lord to go and baptize Paul. It's kind of comical. Ananias speaks to the Lord as if the Lord doesn't already know the kind of character Paul is. He says, Lord, this man has caused great harm to your people. He was hesitant. This guy? This guy? He should fry. He shouldn't be being baptized now. And we can wonder why God doesn't just come back already. Why Jesus won't return now and just put an end to all the madness, all the evil, all the craziness of our world. But He has patience. He has patience towards sinners. Think of what Peter says. 2 Peter 3, 9. This verse came to me as I was meditating on this. The Lord is not slow to fulfill His promise as some count slowness. but is patient toward you, you as in you all, not wishing that any should perish, but that all should reach repentance. This is the Lord's patience. The Lord had a purpose in letting Paul go thus far and then no farther. And while we're wrestling with that, sinners being sinners, sinners being sinful, we all can wrestle with that in our lives. Yet we don't see God's purpose. He's going to let that leash go out so far, but no farther than His perfect patience will allow, His perfect will and plan for our lives. And rather than wringing our hands over what people are doing to us, we need to trust God through that. He has a purpose in that. And he is patient, and we ought to be patient. We ought not to presume on his patience, though. One Puritan said, if I say to myself today I will, or rather, tomorrow I will be righteous, what we're also saying is that today we will be wicked. We don't want to say that. It's not meant to say, well, just have a deathbed confession and be baptized in the hospital, but sow your sinful oats while you can." That's not the message here, of course. Peter adds, after he says that in 2 Peter 3, the Lord will come as a thief, as a thief in the night. There is coming a time where he will show up, and you don't want to be unexpectedly appearing before him. Your life may be taken from you before you would think. And then you must stand before him sooner than you'd expect. Don't be caught off guard by that. Paul's point is to say, rather, that now, even now, there's no one beyond God's grace. He is the example of one that Jesus showed patience and now is in his service. There's nobody who is beyond that salvation. And so the call is to turn to him today. If you haven't yet turned to him, today is the day of salvation. He's had patience with you, and think of his kindness in that. Think of how good he has been to you. Will you not give your heart to him now? He is worthy for that. This is Paul's encouragement as well from the gospel. There's no checklist you need to do before you believe in Jesus for eternal life. There's no set of laws you need to make sure that you've been keeping before you turn to Jesus and believe in him for eternal life. You believe. You believe now. You see that grace, which is bigger than your sin, and you say, Lord, I believe. And you give yourself to him. And this is what Paul did. But on that Damascus road, that's not all he did. He said, what will you have me do, Lord? Already in his mind, he was saying, Lord, I want to live for you. You laid down your life for me. I understand that now. Now I want to give my life to you. The law was laid down to show us our guilt, but Jesus laid his body down to remove our guilt. And He is superior, and we are called now to live according to Him, to a person, to this wonderful Savior, Jesus Christ. And so to know, if I can confess I'm a sinner, Jesus came into the world for me, for people like me. This is how we experience grace. We turn to Him, we trust in Him, we love Him. And this will fuel faithful service. And it fuels high praise of God as well. Because look at verse 17, the next and final verse of our passage today. He can't contain himself. What does he just go into? He just goes into a praise. To the King of the ages, immortal, invisible. I always want to start singing that hymn we opened up with. The only God, be honor and glory forever and ever. Amen. In the middle of the letter he just starts singing and praising God because he understood the greatness of this mercy that he was shown. The love of God through Jesus Christ to such a sinner as himself. He didn't need to have 45 minutes of music drumming him up into an emotional state for him to then praise God. He needed to think deeply about his sin, but then about Jesus' salvation, the grace that is greater than his sin. And this was enough to get him praising God. Now it's interesting how he praises God. He calls him a king. He calls him immortal and invisible, the only God. These are high terms for God. He is not just king of the hour, like our leaders are, whether it's four years or nine years or, you know, it's a blink in God's time. This is God, king of the ages. He is never perishing, never ending, immortal. Invisible. We don't see him with the naked eye. You can't touch him. You can't experience him like you can another man. He is transcendent and above and removed all creation in these unique ways. He is the only God. There's no one like him. And yet, Jesus came to save sinners. Paul experienced personally this love from such a great, high, and holy God. This is the contrast Paul has here. He's able to be near to this God and then praise Him for being so great, so big. Paul got that. And so he wants to give God honour and glory forever and ever. This is what God is due for this great salvation he has accomplished for us. These words were what God used to save the 18th century pastor Jonathan Edwards. Jonathan Edwards, he was riding on his horse, or maybe he was walking. I should have looked at the story before. He was in the woods of Massachusetts. He was taking a stroll, thinking, thought of this verse, 1 Timothy 1, 17, these qualities of God. And he writes, never any words of scripture seemed to me as these words did. I thought with myself how excellent a being that was, how happy I should be if I might enjoy that God and be wrapped up in God in heaven and be as it were swallowed up in him. And he gave his life to Christ there. He had a lot of intellectual knowledge. But he didn't really get the love of God in Christ Jesus until that moment. This great God has come near to us through Christ. And his heart was warmed. And he went on to serve the Lord. He was resolved in many ways to be faithful to the Lord. But it started with that, a realization of grace. and a response of faith and love in Christ. And so in contrast to what these false teachers in Ephesus were doing, you need to be circumcised, you need to keep the law. How much of it? I don't know. You need to keep going, keep going. You're on that hamster wheel of works, never quite sure if God is pleased with you. Does he really love me? Paul's saying, no, no, no. We've got to stop that teaching in this church and all churches. And instead, we got to get to that personal relationship with Jesus Christ. Grace and mercy through the gospel. This is where strengthening comes from. This is where faithful service in the church comes from. And this is what we need as well. The stewardship from God that is by faith. Love that comes from a pure heart, a good conscience, a sincere faith, it's rooted in that personal relationship with Christ. It's rooted in having thanks to Him, as Paul starts off with in verse 12. He doesn't just say, I thanked Him. It's a little bit sad in verse 12. You can't fully get that in the English translation. You can get it, though. I am thanking Him. I thank Him. There's an activity. of thanksgiving going on. If you meditate on that verse in the English, you'll get it. It wasn't a one and done kind of thank you. This was a lifestyle of thanksgiving to God for Jesus Christ. When he woke up, when he went through the day, when he went to bed, the gospel was on his mind. And we need that. We need to root what we do and who we are in this good news of Jesus Christ. There are other teachings in the scriptures. The gospel doesn't answer every single thing in the same way But we have to start with the gospel. We need to plant our feet on the gospel. And really, what we'll see, what we'll learn, is so many other things in the scriptures, they do end up tying back to the person and work of Jesus Christ. We never get very far from the gospel. And it is that light. It is the fullest revelation of God, how he has shown who he is. It is by that light that we now look at every other piece of theology, truth, ethic in life, our behavior, how we should respond to things in life. It all is better understood when we have the gospel and our personal relationship to Christ front and center. I want to close with a hymn. It's one of my favorite hymns. It's called, Hast Thou Seen Him, Heard Him, Known Him? And I think the hymn writer here, he or she, I regret not knowing who even wrote this, I just love the hymn. This hymn writer, I'll say he, he captures What we need to no longer be drawn to sin and idols, but instead to go on in strength and in service and in love toward God and one another. What can strip the seeming beauty from the idols of the earth? Not a sense of right or duty, but the sight of peerless worth. So mere duty, a sense of I just should do this, that's not God's ultimate answer to help you say no to other things that want your worship, want your heart, want your devotion. It is the sight of peerless worth, meaning someone who is worthy without any peers. He alone is uniquely worthy for your love and attention and devotion. We need to see him. "'Tis that look that melted Peter, "'tis that face that Stephen saw, "'tis that heart that wept with Mary, "'can alone from idols draw.'" You should know those stories if you're a Christian. I mean, the look that melted Peter, there were probably a few, but I'm reminded of when Peter recognized he didn't stand for Jesus, He betrayed him three times and as that rooster crowed, he looked over and there was Jesus looking at him. You're not as strong as you thought you were, Peter. What did Peter go and do? He wept. He wept bitterly. An exceedingly bitter weeping. You know that kind of crying when you just can't cry anymore? It's almost like you're heaving. It was that kind of tears that Peter had. He was confronted with his sin. He wasn't as strong. He needed strength. He was humbled greatly. It melted him. But ultimately, Peter went on to serve the Lord. He needed that humbling, and so do we. We need to look to Jesus and be melted by Him in that way. It is that face that Stephen saw. When Stephen, as we mentioned earlier, was martyred and he looked up to heaven and he saw Jesus standing there, wasn't seated at the right hand, he was standing at the right hand, standing with Stephen as Stephen was about to be pelted with rocks, brutally killed for the faith. What did Stephen need to see? That Jesus was standing with him. You look to Jesus when you're afraid. You look to Jesus when you're being mocked and reviled and persecuted. You need to look to Jesus and see his face. And it is that heart that wept with Mary when Mary was grieving over the death of Lazarus, her brother. The shortest verse in the Bible, and Jesus wept. Really, just Jesus wept. Whoever put out the verses, the versification of the Bible, it wasn't from the Holy Spirit, it wasn't original to the writings. But whoever did that, no doubt, was amazed. God in the flesh, weeping with his creation, crying over the death, the suffering, the sadness, the sorrow. that we as people in this world have to go through. Do you know Jesus weeps with you? When you weep, He weeps. In that sense, He has that heart. You look to Him in your grief, in your times of sorrow. This look, this face, this heart can alone draw us away from idols. We need to look to Jesus. And so Paul is encouraging us, as the hymn writer there did, You need to know Jesus Christ. You need to know him personally through faith and love and what he's done for you. And for us who have known him, we've trusted in him, we've been baptized in his name, we've seen changes in our life over the years, we need to go on knowing him. We need to know Him more in those times of grief and fear and sorrow over sin. We need to look to Him, not distract yourself, not go on to social media or YouTube again to just be miserable in how much of a failure of a Christian you are, how weak you are as a Christian. We need to go to Jesus and say, the strength that Paul was given, I can know this strength, but I need to know Jesus more. If I mentioned Peter's name, and Stephen's name, and Mary's name, and you are struggling to know those stories of Jesus in the Gospels, you need to open up the Gospels. You should know those stories as a Christian. You need to know Jesus and talk with him as you read, and then see how he's going to strengthen you, not out of duty, but out of love. Let's pray for one another that he would give us such grace. Lord Jesus, we thank you that you have done these amazing things for us to show us such abundant grace. Paul felt it in his soul as he wrote to Timothy, and we ought to feel that as well as your people. We ask that you would keep us near the cross, that our eyes would never be far from gazing on your glory revealed there. the love that you have shown for us, but as well in the power that you demonstrated, that you didn't stay dead on the cross, but you rose again. You are now at the right hand of the Father. You are praying for us. You sympathize with our weaknesses. We can find great comfort and strength from you, Lord Jesus. Help us be a thankful people. When people wrong us or when circumstances seem overwhelming to us, may your grace be bigger than all of that, than anyone else. And we pray we would have that thankfulness in our hearts. We would strive for that thankfulness. We would muster up our mental energy through prayer and meditation so that thanksgiving would be coming from our mind, from our lips, up to you, Lord Jesus. And Lord, for any here who have not yet been born again through this grace, I pray that they really would see how good you are, how patient you have been, and how just as you saved Paul, you can save them as well. We pray they would fly to you, Lord Jesus. Help us apply these things and to know your strengthening as we seek to serve you as you've appointed us to serve. We pray this in your name, Lord Jesus. Amen.