Speculations that lead to arguments and disputes. So we'll be reading from verse 12 to verse 17. This is God's Word. 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 faith and love that are in Christ Jesus. The saying is trustworthy. and deserving of full acceptance, that Christ Jesus came into this world to save sinners, of whom I am the foremost. But I receive mercy for this reason, that in me, as the foremost, Jesus Christ might display his perfect patience as example to those who are to believe in Him for eternal life. To the King of Ages, immortal, invisible, the only God, be honored and glory forever and ever. Amen. There is a sermon outline in the bulletin. Published first in 1779, I think many of you are very familiar with the hymn of John Newton called Amazing Grace. It's been a hymn beloved by many Christians for generations. I suspect a number of us are familiar with that opening line. As Newton is writing, from his experience, his conversion, as you know about it, he was involved in the slave trade. He was in the ocean and the ship was floundering and he prayed that if God would save him, he would serve God. And so the hymn begins, Amazing Grace, how sweet the sound that saved a wretch like me. Very stirring thoughts, especially as you understand the background that he brings as he penned those words. However, you look at some modern day hymnals and you look up Amazing Grace, you'll find that there's a new and improved version of it. It no longer reads that way, it reads instead, Amazing Grace, how sweet the sound that saved and strengthened me. There's no reference to being a wretch. And so while Newton understood that as a human being, he was a wretch, and really is incorporated in his song that we all sing it, that he understands we're all in a state of wretchedness. He understood we're all in desperate need of a savior. He realized how desperately He needs his savior. How far he's gotten away from the right path. Those 20th century adapters updated to the song, clearly don't believe that anymore. The implication that the person now sitting in the pew, it really isn't so bad. Not that they would call themselves a wretch. They're really pretty nice people. Perhaps we need some sprucing up, maybe lost our way a little bit, maybe was raised in a dysfunctional family and have that handicap against us, so we need some improvement. But do we really need a radical change? A complete transformation due to our wretchedness? But that's the point that Newton saw. And that's the point that Apostle Paul saw, as he writes here in 1 Timothy. that Jesus Christ came to save sinners, came to save those who were wretched, those who needed help, who were deep-seated sinners, who were in a desperate condition. God just doesn't put finishing touches on us, just doesn't polish us up a little bit to make us a little bit more attractive. It's not like we're a car that's gotten some mud splashed on us and we just need to take it to the car wash every once in a while and it's like new. We're like a car that you look at, that's rusted through, that has no engine, that has no wheels, no tires, no drivetrain. It's completely fallen apart. It needs a radical change. And that's what we need. And Jesus refers to that as the new birth, being born again. That heart of stone is removed and it's replaced with a heart of flesh. We're new on the inside. Newton understood this, and the Apostle Paul deeply understood this. And so he writes about it. And the first point we can see is the mission of Jesus Christ. Verse 15, that Jesus Christ came into the world to save sinners. Why did Jesus come to this world? Why was He born? In Bethlehem 2,000 years ago, it was to save sinners. It was to help those who could not help themselves. who are wretches in the sight of God. And as you read through Paul's writings, you can never get past this one key fact. Jesus Christ came for sinners. Salvation is for sinners. It's for those who need help. Those who could not save themselves. And the more he grasps, the more we grasp this truth, the more we will see how unworthy we are, how unlovely we are before God, just as he did. And the more we will be aware of God's grace, how glorious God's grace is, how overflowing God's grace, how magnificent God's grace is for each one of us whom he says. And Paul, as he writes the pastoral epistles to Timothy and Titus, five times says a faithful saying. Seem to be sayings that were current in his day that summarized Christian teaching and they all dealt with really the gospel in some aspect, some important point of the truth. They're faithful, they're true, they're an accurate wording of, and a very pithy wording of what is true in the gospel. And this would contrast with the previous verses that talk about the speculations of the false teachers that only lead to controversies. This is the truth. And it's the truth that Jesus Christ came into the world to save sinners. Into the world? implies it's really a message for all. It's a message for Jews and Gentiles alike. Since Jews and Gentiles are both sinners, He came into the world for them. His purpose was to save them. The law brings about condemnation. It causes us to realize that we're sinners, that we fall under God's just condemnation because of our sins. Jesus' coming is to produce salvation. His coming, the fact that He came, points to the fact that He was pre-existent, He was God from all eternity, but He came into this world. The incarnation, He took on a human body. And of course, the whole reason, the apex of that was that Christ could die on the cross, being a substitute for His people carrying our sins on Him. And then Paul goes on to say, of whom I'm the foremost. He acknowledges his sin. It's a personal acknowledgment that he cannot save himself. He tried to be a very righteous Jew. He was outstanding in that regard, but he sees for all his hard work, all his striving after God, that he's a sinner, and a leading sinner in that. And so there's that personal application that acknowledges, I'm a sinner, I repent of my sin, and I seek the righteousness that's in Jesus Christ by faith in Him. Like John Newton, he saw his wretchedness, his need for outside help, and his need for Jesus Christ. It truly is amazing grace. In verse 14, the apostle speaks of the grace of our Lord overflowed to me. That word overflowed is a very picturesque word. It's often used to describe a river that overflows its banks. It has so much water in it that it can't stay within its normal banks. And what happens? Well, it floods the whole area. And whenever it's in the way, it gets swept along. often destroying everything in its path. And here Paul is picturing grace as an overflowing river that God causes to come on upon his people. And with it the faith and the love that in Christ Jesus In the Middle East they would have been very familiar with the Nile and the way it overflows. And what happens when the Nile overflows each spring? Well, it would bring in new soil, new nutrients. And when it really overflowed the banks the most is when that got spread the furthest, when the crops would be the most abundant. The more it overflowed, the more the fruit. What's that way with God's grace? The more abundant God's grace is, the greater the fruit is, the greater the faith and love will be in His people. God's grace floods us with faith. Our hearts that were previously filled with unbelief and with love, our hearts were previously polluted by sin. The second point we need to see here is that the Apostle Paul is a living illustration of that truth. That he says, of whom I am the foremost. If Christ came to save sinners, he came and saved among them the leading sinner, Paul. And notice, As Paul says this, he doesn't say, I was the foremost. He says, I am. He's talking about his present condition as he's an apostle. He can still look at his situation, can look at his heart and see that there's still violence, there's still sin in it. A sin that causes a separation from God, but which is covered over by the salvations of Christ, that's covered over by God's grace that he receives. He realizes how far short he still is. Earlier mentioned is his previous lifestyle. would cause us to think that he was a really bad sinner. Verse 13, formerly I was a blasphemer, a persecutor and an insolent opponent. You know, humanly we would look at his life and say, there is no hope for him. He was about as opposed to the gospel as you could ever be. He was a blasphemer. He spoke evil about Jesus Christ. He said he was not the Messiah. Not only that, he talks in Acts 26 how he wanted to get others to blaspheme those Christians, to do what he could to get them to deny Jesus Christ, to get them to speak evil concerning Christ. But more than that, he was a persecutor. And you can read in Acts how he wreaked havoc on the church, how he arrested people, how he was even going off to a foreign city, to Damascus, to find out the Christians there, to hunt them down, to arrest them, to bring them back. He was a violent persecutor of the church. And then, he was an insolent opponent. or a violent man, it could be translated. The Greek, interestingly, we get the word hubris from it. And we might think of somebody showing hubris as showing a lot of boldness, but it really, in the Greek, means a mixture of arrogance and insolence. There's a proud and haughty spirit that doesn't care about others. All in all, as we read this description, he knows he was a fairly despicable man. He was completely opposed to Jesus Christ. He was opposed to Christianity. He would not tolerate it in the least. He was someone you would never think could be saved. And perhaps you know someone You've met someone like that. Maybe it's someone very close to you, a family member. Stephen Hawking is saying, you know, if you hear that you're on my deathbed, I've become a Christian, don't believe it, it's a lie. If I pray any sort of prayer, it's because I'm crazy, I've gone out of my mind. I mean, you'd wonder, what hope is there for somebody like that? And perhaps there's been a family member, a co-worker that you've witnessed to, and they've become hostile. They have no interest in Jesus Christ, think he's a fraud. And you hear all sorts of things. Are you Christians? You believe in fairy tales? Or, you know, I'm my own man. I don't follow organized religion. That's for the simple-minded. have no mind of their own? If God can save Saul of Tarsus, take this destroyer of the church and make him into an apostle, he can radically change whoever we think is beyond help, beyond hope. We might look at the drug dealer in Terre Haute, the porn star out in Hollywood, a family member who seems so hardened to the gospel. The message of Paul's life is that no matter how great your sin, God can transform you. into one of his children. God's grace is greater than any of our sins. And then the third point we need to see is the reasons for the radical change. Why does God change somebody radically in this way? Make them new. You can see three reasons in these verses. First is to be an example. Verse 16, I receive mercy for this reason. Why did he receive mercy? Why did he receive grace? That in me, as the foremost, Jesus Christ might display his perfect patience as an example. He's to be an example. How about grace can reach to anyone? He calls himself foremost and that Greek word means chief or even first. In English we get it proto, so like a prototype, the first of a type. That's that word. You never think Paul is trying to say, well, I've gone around and measured my sins against every other's sins, and I've compared myself to Judas Iscariot, and I weighed all and wrote down all Judas Iscariot's sins, and I wrote down all mine, and mine were bigger than his. No, that's not what he's meaning. He's saying, as I look at my sin, as I look at the depth of it, As I still see that remaining sin within me, I realize how great a sinner I am. And how marvelous, how overflowing is God's grace toward me. That God can save anyone. That Jesus Christ shows perfect patience. He's able to transform anyone, in any situation, into a child of God. From that child who grows up in a Christian home that never goes through a time of rebellion, who's outwardly very good, but needs to be changed on the inside, made new by Christ, to that abortion doctor He's done hundreds and thousands of abortions in his lifetime. All are converted in the same way, by repenting and believing in Jesus Christ. And in every case, Jesus Christ has displayed patience, long-suffering, perfect patience to that person. to that child who becomes a Christian at age 7? What did their lives deserve before that? Well, it would have been judgment. It would have meant destruction to that person at 17 that becomes a Christian and that person at 77 years old that becomes a Christian to each one. could legitimately be judged for their sin, but each one is an indication of God's grace, of God's patience, of the long-suffering of Jesus Christ, of them receiving life, eternal life, in due time. And so, Paul is an example. You might think someone is beyond hope. Paul is an example that no one is beyond hope. And each one of us are monuments to God's grace working in our lives if we're a believer. Second part of the response to God's overflowing grace is service. Paul speaks of how God has appointed me in verse 12 for His service. Now that word service is that word from which we get deacon. Sometimes used of the office in the church. But usually, as it's used in the New Testament, it really means service or ministry. Some sort of serving of others. And it's used in all sorts of ways. It's used of waiting on tables. It's used in ministering the Word. It's used in meeting physical needs. It's used in taking a letter of communication from one city to another. All various tasks of service. Now Paul has been given a specific task of service. He used to be an apostle. And yet the point is that every one of us who is saved is saved for service. were radically changed into a child of God so that we could serve our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Some will have it in one area, some are in different. Paul talks often about the spiritual gifts that each one has, the different spiritual gifts that were not all the same, that were like a body with each one supplying different parts. But the point is, we all have a place in the body. We all have a spiritual gift. We all have some place of service in the Kingdom of God. And the Apostle says, God judged him faithful or trustworthy, and then strengthened him for the task, gave him the inner strength that he needed. His travels, For the times he was punished, times when he was whipped, times when he was stoned, the shipwrecks, all the hardships he endures, God strengthened him so that he was able to continue his labors. And the promise is the same to each one of us today. God will enable you. God will strengthen you for service in his kingdom. And the two questions you should have is, where does God want me to serve? What gifts, what abilities, what opportunities has He given me to serve? And am I being faithful? Am I being trustworthy in it? Am I serving in the grace that God supplies? The third part of the response to God's overflowing grace is that of praise and thanksgiving. Notice how the verses we read, verse 12 at the beginning and verse 17 at the end, begin and end with praise. The problem with changing and modernizing the words to amazing grace is that we lose sight of who we are. But much more importantly, we lose sight of how amazing God's grace truly is. The apostle never did that. As you read his writings, as he talks about that grace, how often does he break into a spontaneous doxology, spontaneous word of praise for God, for His grace. How often does he mention giving thanks? It's constant and should be in our lives as well. And so in verse 12 it says, I thank Him who has given me strength, Jesus Christ our Lord. He is keenly aware that it's Jesus Christ who has taken him from that wretched state of being a persecutor and made him into an apostle. Something he did not deserve in any way. He's thankful that God saw that he was trustworthy, that God saw that he could place heavy responsibilities on him. And that concludes with giving praise to the king of the ages. You know, that one who is a sovereign ruler over all things, over all ages. He was king in past ages, he's king in the present ages, he will be king in the future ages. He's immortal. Or eternal, we could say. He's not subject to death, he's not subject to the ravages of disease or aging. He's invisible. is beyond our ability to see. We can glimpse His glory in this life a little bit, but we do not see Him in His glory and His splendor, and He's the only God. There's only one God in this world. He has no rivals. The other gods are nothing, are nothingness. He exists. He created. He is the judge that we'll face one day. To this gracious and long-suffering God belong glory and honor forever and ever. And each person who is a Christian, like the Apostle, should honor and glorify God. Should honor God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit. It should be that your heart would be filled with joy and thankfulness. And if it's not, there's something wrong. Something may be fundamentally wrong with the understanding of who you are. Our understanding of God's amazing grace. How truly great it is. I've got three applications. First, is there someone that you've written off? You know, they're too hard to save. They're beyond God's power to save. You know, their heart is too hardened in sin and unbelief. And perhaps you've witnessed, and you've prayed for that person, and you're amazed at their coldness of heart. Well, Paul is an example that God can work in even the worst sinner. No one is beyond His overflowing grace. Second, is your life marked by service? If you have experienced the grace of God, you should seek to serve Him. How does God want you to serve Him? Are you doing it? And third, is your life marked by joy? By giving praise and thanksgiving to God? As you stand in awe of God's grace, how you should want to rejoice in what God has done. His mercy and His grace to you. Let's pray. Heavenly Father, we give thanks for the encouragement that we find in these words as we look at the Apostle and what he teaches about your grace. Just how overflowing it is. We give thanks for it. that it can reach the worst of sinners. And really all of us should see ourselves in that light, that there's a depth of sin in our hearts that you see, that we don't see. And yet your grace is greater than our hearts, than the sin in our hearts. Thank You that Your grace is overflowing toward Your people that no matter what the sin is, Your grace is greater than that sin so that no one is beyond hope. Thank You that You call us to serve in Your kingdom and pray for each one that we would know where it is, how to serve. Some may have more honored positions in the Church as the Apostle. Others may be more positions that are overlooked, positions of service and mercy, and yet crucial, each one. and you give to each one of the positions of service. Each one's valuable, each one's important, and we give thanks for that. And you enable us by your Spirit, you strengthen us to do that work of service with joy, with happiness, gladly and thanksgiving to you. And help us to be thankful, and to be thankful for all the things that you give to us. that we would be a people that are overflowing in praise. That we would see that glory and honor belong to you and to you alone. We pray these things in Christ's name. Amen. I'm pleased to 85, Selection B. You might notice that stanza 7 talks about how together we are met by truth and grace while righteousness and peace embrace. Bringing together of these things, truth and grace, righteousness and peace. How did they all come together? They came together in the cross where God could be both just and the justifier of those who believe in Jesus Christ. And so as we sing this we need to be thinking about the cross and how these things were brought together in the death of Christ. Let's stand and sing the four stanzas, Psalm 85B.