Thank you for selecting this message by Dr. James Hoffman. Dr. Hoffman preaches verse by verse through the entire book of the Bible. From all of us at Living Water of Lapine here in Central Oregon, we hope that it will encourage you and feed you spiritually. And if you would like to leave a message after the sermon, our contact information is found on the sermon page where you found this sermon. Now may God richly bless you as you listen. You know, America is a Christian nation. If the term simply means the majority of the population will claim the label when a pollster calls. But as a 2019 Pew Research Report shows, The decline of Christianity in the United States continues at a rapid pace. A bare 65% of Americans now say they're Christians, which is down a sizable 13% from 2007. In recent years, we have seen so many high-profile Christian leaders fall into immorality or merely walk away from their Christian faith. This is true of two of our nation's largest churches, megachurches. pastors John Harris and Bill Heibles. And to be fair, Heibles still claims his innocence. It was tremendously disheartening for me to learn about Ravi Zacharias' apparent double life, which came out after his death. And his board of directors of RZM recently has reluctantly given probable credibility to his claims. What causes dedicated Christians to turn away from their biblical faith. Is it possible that you could turn away from God's truth? Paul wrote the letter we are studying to Timothy, who he left in Ephesus because the church there faced the serious threat of false teachers. These false teachers were now, get this, elders in the church. who had turned away from Paul's teaching and were leading church members to believe a false gospel, to which I will from here on refer to as an apostasy. Wholesale apostasy in Ephesus drove Paul at the time he wrote the letter. Boy. You know, Satan sure strikes hard. And boy, does he ever work fast. It had only been four, maybe five years since Paul stood on the shores of Miletus, giving his famous farewell address to the Ephesian elders. At that time, he had warned them, saying, After I leave, savage wolves will come in among you and will not spare the flock. Even from your own number, men will arise and distort the truth in order to draw away disciples after them. And now, that was dreadfully true. Unbelievable. Before his farewell, Paul lived among them for two to three years, and the power of God was displayed in many incredible ways. Paul taught daily in the school of Tyrannus. The Ephesian church had drunk from the pure stream of Paul's apostolic teaching. Longer, than any other church Paul had started. He lingered at Ephesus more than he did any other church that he founded. And there could be no better water for a young believer to drink from God's word from a writer of God's word. Their experience must have been like drinking from an apostolic fire hose for three years. But not only that, Sometime after Paul left them, he wrote the most magnificent ecclesiastical letter in the entire New Testament personally to them. But now, within 48 months of Paul's farewell, apostasy had come. That is fast. Sadly, the Ephesians were not unique in their quick turning away. Only six verses into his letter to the Galatians, Paul exploded. Galatians 1, verses six and seven. I am astonished that you are so quickly deserting him who called you in the grace of Christ and are turning to a different gospel. Not that there is another one. but there are some who trouble you and want to distort the gospel of Christ." Perhaps it was his experience with the rapid demise of the Galatians that had fueled his passion in this subsequent letter to Timothy concerning the errant elders at Ephesus. In any event, both Galatia and Ephesians, Ephesus here, these people present to us the sobering reality that churches which are well-taught in God's word can become apostate at warp speed. Should our concern for how quick good ministries turn away for falsehood, be any less today? Absolutely not. It is what we see happening. Given the repeated record of church history and the leading up of our increased recent day events in the evangelical church, our vigilance must be even greater. It's a solemn fact that the evangelical church as a whole today, or any given church, can depart from the faith with such mind-boggling speed. 1974 was declared by Time Magazine to be the year of the evangelical. because it saw great evangelists, huge churches, overflowing schools and seminaries, and strong cultural influence the church was having. Two years later, a man claiming to be a born-again Christian ran for president and won. Our churches were full. Student-led Christian movements on college campuses and university campuses were thriving. Mission organizations were sending out scores of missionaries. Contemporary Christian music was born. And by the 1980s, evangelical Christianity seemed to be riding the crest of the wave. But what has happened since then? It's quite a different story today. Today, we are marginalized. Today, we are seen as a hate group. And it's only getting worse. Since the 1970s, we have been ignoring the solution that Paul gave to the church at Ephesus, which we see in today's passage. And we are so much like the church at Ephesus when Paul wrote this letter to Timothy. We must remember that Ephesus had been the lighthouse to all of Asia Minor. The church at Ephesus was up to this point an apostolic success story. It had been evangelical in the purest sense, with its primary emphasis on the gospel and mission. But the church at Ephesus had begun to decay from the inside. The book that we are studying here, 1 Timothy, is imperative for us to know if we want to serve Christ today. Sadly, very sadly, there is widespread neglect of 1 and 2 Timothy by evangelicals. These remedies that Paul puts forth here for what we see happening today. Paul is so direct in matters such as church discipline, qualification for leadership, and male and female roles. And you might want to recoil at first by what Paul will say, because it doesn't fit what our culture today tells us is right. So many evangelicals today have been intimidated by our culture, which shouts that these guiding principles are wrong. Listen, if we do not allow scripture to define the church, The forces of culture will. The truth is, apostasy can easily happen to any of us if we do not guard against it by applying these instructions. But so many well-taught and godly church leaders are abandoning Scripture's teaching. What could possibly lead biblical Christians to roll over, play dead, and allow culture to have such a big say in church affairs? Believe it or not, Paul has already told us in 1 Timothy. We saw the answer to that question last week in a verse that we covered. Namely, the elders in the first century church at Ephesus started aiming at the wrong outcome for their teaching. Their main goal became their own reputation. They wanted to be seen as great teachers, impressing people with worthless genealogies and their misunderstanding of the law. They had abandoned the proper aim for teaching. And Paul shows us what the proper aim is. First Timothy 1.5, it says, the aim of our charge is love that issues from a pure heart and a pure conscience. and a sincere faith. Whenever this aim loses its importance, any church is ripe for doctrinal departure. Whenever any emphasis in teaching God's word to try to impress takes over and overshadows the proper aim that 1 Timothy 1.5 spells out. Brace yourselves for some false teaching. But it isn't just egotistical teachers who are to be blamed. It's also the pleasure-seeking listeners who, rather than wanting to be stimulated to love that issues from a pure heart, a good conscience, and sincere faith, instead only want teaching that wows them and makes them feel good The desire to have one's ears tickled and massive departure from the faith go hand in hand as marks of the end times. 2 Timothy 4.3, for the time is coming when people will not endure sound teaching, but having itching ears, they will accumulate for themselves teachers to suit their own passions. 1 Timothy 4.1, Now the Spirit expressly says that in later times some will depart from the faith by devoting themselves to deceitful spirits and teachings, teachings of demons. Teachers who don't aim, who don't aim for love that issues from a pure heart and good conscience and sincere faith and listeners who don't want such exhortation can expect to see a lot of shipwrecks of faith. 1 Timothy 1.19. Holding faith in a good conscience, by rejecting this, some have made shipwreck of their faith. Satan strikes hard. and he strikes fast. If this isn't a call for some much-needed prayer, then I don't know what is. We have several teachers in our church, and they need your constant prayer. The temptation is real, folks, to try to be impressive. I'll admit, the first thought that pops into my mind many times when I study is, boy, that'll preach well. That's not necessarily a bad thing unless it overshadows the proper aim of biblical instruction. I need for you to pray for me. That my wanting to impress is never the main reason for me to say what I do. I need you to pray for me in that, please. All of our teachers here do. We all need that prayer. That we keep to the right aim. of what all biblical teaching needs to be. And I will pray for you that you don't evaluate us on the basis of how well we do at giving you exciting spiritual goosebumps. Well, so much time has already elapsed and I haven't even gotten to today's passage. But all that I've been saying sheds a great deal of light on the verses that we are about to cover. We now know why the false teachers departed from the truth, because they lost the proper aim of their teaching. So let's now look to Paul's response to them. these errant, false-teaching elders abandon the true gospel of grace, and they turn to the law of all things. And so, let's pick up where we left off last week with verse eight, 1 Timothy 1, and verse eight. Now, we know that the law is good if one uses it lawfully. Now, you know, you don't have to be around our church for very long before you pick up on the fact that we believe the truth that is expressed in verses like Ephesians 2, 8, and 9, which says, for by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing. It is the gift of God. not as a result of works so that no one may boast. Anyone who tries to make salvation a matter of being good enough that we can earn our own salvation has it all wrong. There's a great deal of error in thinking and teaching that a person can do enough virtuous things to make them acceptable to God. However, as I'm sure you noticed, Paul clearly says in 1 Timothy 1.8 that the law is good. How are we who believe that the law cannot save to regard the law? Well, Paul says, as good. Now wait, this sounds confusing. And then add what Paul says at the beginning of verse nine, the very next verse. Here's how it starts. Understanding this, that the law is not laid down for the just, but for the lawless and disobedient, for the ungodly and sinners. The law does not save us, And the law is only for the ungodly, the unsaved, not for believers. Now it's for this reason that many Christians, rather than seeing the law is good, don't regard it at all. They have nothing to do with the law. They completely reject it. But if it is good, this has to be the wrong response. Why is it good from a believer's point of view? And why should we regard it favorably? Man falls far short and is too sinful. This is the reason God gave man the law. not to show man that he can be righteous if he behaves well enough, but to show him just how far short he will always be of God's glory through his own efforts, and how much he desperately needs the grace of God. Law and grace go hand in hand. The law without grace is diagnosis without remedy. And grace without law can never be good news, because people would never know the bad news, that there is a condition that they need to be saved from. Paul's point is relentlessly clear. We should proclaim the law in this dark, diseased world as an entrance to the preaching of the gospel of grace. The gospel message is, here's the problem. Law, we can't measure up, we will always fail. And here is the only solution. Grace. After teaching at a Native American conference in Flagstaff, Arizona, Dr. Harry Ironside took one of the Christian Native Americans to Oakland, California with him. Among other things, the Native American was asked to speak at a young people's group And they were very confused, this particular group, about the ideas of law and grace. They were befuddled about the place that law has in a Christian's life. And so Dr. Ironside's guest spoke up and told the group this. I came here from Flagstaff on the train. And we stopped over for several hours in Barstow. There in the station's waiting room, I noticed signs on the wall which said, do not spit on the floor. That was the rule there. I looked down on the floor and observed that nobody had paid any attention to the law. But when we got here to Oakland, I was invited to stay in a lovely Christian home. As I sat in the living room, I looked around and noticed pretty pictures on the walls, but no signs which said, do not spit on the floor. I got down on my hands and knees and I felt the rug. And you know, nobody had spit on the floor. In Barstow, it was law, but in the home in which I'm staying, it is grace. Under the law, nobody kept it. They couldn't measure up to it and broke it continually. Under grace, a man is brought into the family of God and his nature no longer is to do the things that the law points out is wrong. As a believer, we do not need the law to govern us. Verses nine through 15, take a look at those verses with me here. Understanding this, the law is not laid down for the just, but for the lawless and disobedient, for the ungodly and sinners, for the unholy and profane, for those who strike their fathers and mothers, for murderers, the sexually immoral, men who practice homosexuality, enslavers, liars, perjurers, and whatever else is contrary to sound doctrine. in accordance with the gospel of glory of the blessed God with which I have been entrusted. 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 the world to save sinners, of whom I am the foremost. Now, two extremes are cited in this passage. those of whom Christ came to save. It's true of both of these extremes. One is the group of sinners described in verses nine through 10, and the other is Paul himself, who, in spite of all his righteous deeds, calls himself the worst, the foremost of sinners. Wow. Against this backdrop, Paul claims to be the worst of all sinners. Did he really mean it? I'll come back to this for now. But I'd like to take the next couple of minutes here to show a few important things from this passage we just read. And first of all, just as we saw in last week's passage, Paul is trying to encourage his overwhelmed protégé, Timothy. who he left at Ephesus to straighten out quite a mess. This mess was being caused by those errant elders there in the church who were teaching a false doctrine. And Paul seems to be saying to Timothy, any sinful person, even the worst of the worst, can be regenerated, Timothy. Timothy, evangelize these false teachers with the truth. They are not beyond reach. Whoever's in your life that you think would never come to Christ, oh, let this passage call you on the carpet. No one is unreachable. Next, I would have you look again with me at verse 12. Verse 12 says this. I thank him who has given me strength, Christ Jesus our Lord, because he judged me faithful, appointing me to his service. Notice that strength for Christian life and ministry comes from Christ. God's commandments are God's enablements. He never asks a believer to do something without first providing him with the ability to do it. When someone obeys God's call to serve, God always equips and enables that person. If there is a oughta in your Christian life right now, I oughta do this for the Lord, but you are being stopped because you don't see yourself as having enough ability. Let there be no doubt. God will always equip the person that he calls. There are many believers today who are not answering God calling them to action through an ata. But stop and consider. Your lack of ability may not be God's red light. Now let's go back to the question, if Paul was being sincere in calling himself the foremost of all sinners, did he really believe that? Or was he overstating it to make a point? Well, Paul backed it up by what he wrote in verse 13. Look at that. Though formerly I was a, one, blasphemer, two, persecutor, and three, insolent opponent, but I received mercy because I had acted ignorantly in unbelief. Paul represented a three-fold evaluation of himself here. First, he was a blasphemer, blasphemon. The term is derived from two Greek words, blapto, to injure, and phime, speech. To blaspheme is to exert strong hostility towards someone, as to injure their life with words. I can't help but think of what we see today in what is called the cancel culture. It seems to be what they're all about, injuring others with their words, trying to destroy Others, if they don't agree with political correctness today, well, let your disgust for what we're seeing today shade your understanding of who Paul was. Paul had his own cancel culture, destructive, against believers. Second, Paul was a persecutor. Dioctane. He didn't just use words, he also used physical power to destroy the church and anyone involved with it. The way Paul persecuted the church was brutal and bloody, Acts 26.11. Murderous threats were the very breath of his life, Acts 9.1. Persecution involves pursuit and harassment, physical and psychological. He made havoc of the church, entering into every house and hauling men and women to prison, Acts 8.3. Believers were terrified of him. The mere mention of his name struck fear within them. He confessed that beyond measure, he persecuted the church of God. Third, Paul was injurious. Hubristain. This word is difficult to translate into English with its full meaning. The word means to take inordinate delight in violence, one whose pleasure lies in outraging the feelings of others. Paul's mind delighted in being cruel to Christians. With unrestrained contempt, he broke forth into overly vicious and outrageous acts. I think he was sincere. Verse 14. And the grace of our Lord overflowed for me with the faith and love that are in Christ Jesus. Paul received grace. In fact, the grace was exceedingly abundant. Huperi pleiones. Grace has a characteristic of it being greater than sin, and I love the way that it's expressed here, overflowing. And I think of an illustration about an artist who had submitted his painting of Niagara Falls to an exhibition to be shown there, but it wasn't given a title for it. And so the gallery came up with the whimsical words to title this painting of Niagara Falls, and they titled it More to Follow. Niagara Falls, which has been spilling over billions of gallons per year for thousands of years and has more than met the needs of those below it, is a fit emblem of the floods of God's grace. More to follow. It's always true of God's grace. And that's what Paul received. What did Paul's ignorance have to do with his receiving such grace from God? Does the second part of verse 13 teach that ignorance gives us an excuse before God? Look at what he says in the end of verse 13 here. But I received mercy because I had acted ignorantly in unbelief. No, of course not. Be careful not to confuse grace with mercy. Paul says ignorance brought mercy, not grace. The whole idea of ignorance bringing mercy is related to a special Jewish law, Leviticus 5, 15 through 19, Numbers 15, 21 through 31. Let me tell you briefly what those say. If a person sins knowingly, with defiance, an Israelite, that is, does it, he needs to be cut off from the people. But if he sinned in ignorance, then he is permitted to bring the proper sacrifice to atone for his sins. And Jesus recognized this principle when he prayed on the cross. Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they do. Luke 23, 34. Well, just like in Paul's case, ignorance can bring mercy. In other words, it can postpone immediate damnation. And that's what he's saying here. Paul's case, mercy, delayed immediate punishment, giving him an opportunity to be saved. Verses 15 and 16. The saint 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 were to believe in him for eternal life." This trustworthy saying contains, in essence, the very nature of the Christian message. Jesus Christ came into the world to save all sinners, including the worst of the worst. Jesus displayed his unlimited patience to Paul as an example for anyone to believe in Christ and receive eternal life. What we must grasp here and grasp it with the full integrity and passion is that Paul was absolutely convinced of his words, that he was the chief of all sinners. You see, Jesus is eager to save anyone who turns to him with empty hands, nothing to bring. Why? because Jesus's atoning death on the cross is sufficient. He took all of our punishment, and salvation is a free gift. If God was patient and gracious enough to give it to Paul, He is patient and gracious enough to save anyone. We're to look back at Paul as a prototype or a pattern. And here's what we see. The ultimate sinner became the ultimate saint. God's greatest enemy became his finest servant. Now somewhere between these two extremes, you and I fall. You may not be the foremost sinner. You may not be the foremost saint. But sinner, he can save you so that he will significantly use you. He doesn't just save us to sit on the sidelines. At this point, Paul is ready to explode with a doxology. Here it is, verse 17. To the king of the ages, immortal, invisible, the only God, be honor and glory forever and ever, amen. I love how the very thought of his salvation brings up a desire to worship. Do we ever think about how he saved us long and deep enough for it to prompt us to worship? John Calvin remarks about this doxology we just read of Paul here. He says, his enthusiasm breaks out into this exclamation, since he could find no words to express his gratitude. These sudden outbursts of Paul come mainly when the vastness of the subject overpowers him and makes him break off what he is saying. For what could be more wonderful than Paul's conversion? At the same time, he admonishes us all by his example that we should never think of grace shown in God's calling without being lost in wondering admiration. This sublime praise of God's grace swallows up all the memory of his former life. How great a deep is the glory of God. You may not have ever done this specifically, but I'm gonna ask you to do it very pointedly today. In just a moment, we're gonna close our service with a song of worship. If you have never accepted God's free gift of salvation, I invite you to ask God to come into your life and radically change you like he did Paul. If you want someone to pray with you, I would be happy to do so. Meet me at the back door. Now, if you have this gift of salvation already, my invitation to you is to allow your salvation to prompt you to break out in worship. That you don't treat the grace of God so lightly. Treat it for what it is, not out of duty. I'm not asking for you to worship God in this closing song out of duty. I'm asking you to worship God out of delight. Paul knew that he didn't deserve salvation. Come and celebrate God's overflowing grace if you know this same truth. I'm gonna pray and then let's sing.