First Timothy for the life..

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com. That's cornerstonerbc.com. If you have your Bibles with you, I'm sure most of you do, if you can open them up to the epistle of 1st Timothy. 1st Timothy.

And our passage this morning is going to be from verses 12 through 18. And we'll read that in a few minutes. But as you're aware, our brother Nelson has started us a couple of weeks ago on a journey in this book, the book of 1st Timothy. And he's taken us through the first little section of this book. And I know we've said this before, and it's worth saying it again, that 1 Timothy is an incredibly practical book for the Church of Jesus Christ.

And actually, apart from the passage that we're going to look at this evening, which is more pertaining to the experience of the Apostle Paul and his experience with the grace of God and the gospel of Jesus Christ, 1 Timothy and 2 Timothy, as well as Titus, would probably be, in my opinion anyway, the clearest letters of what a church ought to be, how a church is ought to function, what the responsibility of every church member is, and also, as we've already been made aware over the last couple of weeks, what dangers lurk in the background that the church needs to be aware of, and always vigilant, always prayerful, It's a responsibility of every church member to keep their eyes and their ears open and always praying for the Church of Jesus Christ, in particular to those who teach and preach the Word of God because they're men who are susceptible to error. So this evening we're going to examine 1 Timothy chapter 1, verses 12 through 18. Now we know that there are many congregations of true believers all over the world. Together they constitute the Church of Christ. I haven't started reading yet, so sorry, I should have said that.

So I'm still going through, but we'll get there in a few moments. And this is His bride. So the Church in the Bible is called the Bride of Jesus Christ. And although Christ is perfect, sinless and without any fault, the same cannot be said quite yet about his bride in this age. Having said that, one must be very clear that the Church is just as justified today as she will ever be, but she is yet to be fully sanctified by her husband Jesus Christ.

So I say this with great reverence because I realize we're talking about the bride of the Lord Jesus Christ. But there is no church congregation in the whole world that you will find that is perfect and faultless, at least not yet. Forgiven, yes. Set free, Yes, united in Christ to enjoy the intimate loving fellowship and the eternal blessings of the triune God forever. Absolutely, yes.

But in this age, because of sin, the church is still not yet perfected. This is our experience in the 21st century, and it was the Christians experience in the first century when this letter was written. But beloved, Christ has made a promise. to his people. He's made a promise to his church, to his bride.

In Ephesians chapter 5, we're told that our Lord gave himself up for her, that is his church, that he might sanctify her, cleansing her by the washing with the word to one day present her to himself, perfect and holy, just as he is perfect and holy. Christ is very concerned with the purity of his bride. And although she may struggle in a sinful world and be faced with many tribulations, temptations, and assaults from many angles, both physical and spiritual, she will remain resolute with the biblical hope that her head, Jesus Christ, will make her pure and beautiful. That's a guarantee. Paul's letter Paul's letter in 1 Timothy is a letter to a young pastor of a struggling church in the first century in a place called Ephesus.

A church that Paul had planted years earlier, as we're told in Acts chapter 19, and obviously one that he had great admiration for. He shed bitter tears when he farewelled the elders from Miletus, knowing he'd never see them again. This epistle This epistle was written about 62 to 64 AD, and as our brother told us last week, it was written to Timothy, who was probably in his 30s, even though some modern-day commentators suggest that he was as young as his early 20s because of the language Paul uses in chapter 4 of this epistle. But that seems unlikely. If we consider Luke's first mention of Timothy, it's back in Acts chapter 16, around 49 to 50 AD.

There, Luke describes him as a disciple, and that description would be of someone that is of age 20, maybe, possibly, mid to high teens, but no less. Considering 1 Timothy is estimated to be written some 12 to 14 years later, somewhere in his 30s is most plausible for the age of Timothy. Why am I getting to this? Well, I want you to know that Timothy was no child. He was a mature Christian.

Apart from being brought up to understand the Scriptures by his mother, Eunice, and his grandmother, Lois, he spent much time at the Apostles, or with the Apostle, learning at his feet. He accompanied the Apostle Paul on many of his missionary journeys, growing in knowledge and wisdom in the Scriptures. And Paul loved him dearly, considered him to be his own son. And only when Timothy was ready, Paul, in his apostolic authority, laid upon him a very important responsibility. It was to shepherd the flock of Jesus Christ in the Gentile land, in a place called Ephesus.

Upon reading this text, it's evident that the heart of the aging apostle is being poured out as he instructs his son Timothy and the church he loves so dearly of the imminent dangers facing them in Ephesus. And the instruction he gives in this letter is as applicable today as it was 2,000 years ago. So let's open up our Bibles and read. 1 Timothy 1 12-17 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, a persecutor, 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 Jesus, which Christ Jesus. This 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 is 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.

To the King of ages, immortal, invisible, the only God, be honor and glory forever. Amen. Last week, Our brother taught on the importance of guarding the gospel against the false doctrine and against false teachers. Because the biggest threat it seems for the early church wasn't the violent Roman authorities. The Romans did persecute the church and their persecution was aggressive.

They executed many Christians, but under that oppression, the church only grew stronger, more resolute in her convictions, and I would be bold to say that she actually thrived under those conditions. Neither was the greatest threat to the church the Jewish authorities. They had no regard whatsoever for Jesus Christ. The book of acts informs us of the heavy persecution the Jewish authorities inflicted upon the early church in their craftiness they maligned and manipulated the thinking of many gentile people in regions all over the known world so that would turn violent on the church and her missionary endeavors in trying to proclaim the good news of the gospel of Jesus Christ. So this Jewish scheming caused great violence and harm.

They instigated even the stoning of the Apostle Paul in a place called Lystra, and Lystra is the hometown of Timothy. And they left him to die if it were not for the Lord who raised him to life. But yet the Christians still thrived even under the Jewish persecution because that hostility was obvious and clear. But it seems the biggest threat came from within the church, not from outside the church, but from within. It's the wolves in sheep's clothing that were the main concern for the early church and in particular the church in Ephesus.

False teachers, teaching with confidence the things they don't even understand, motivated not from a pure heart with sincere faith or a pure conscience, but rather, as our brother summarized for us last week, their drive, their inspiration can be summarized with one word, pride. These men were proud men. And this pride spurs from a heart that has no love for God and no love for others. In essence, everything they said and everything they did was rooted in one thing, love for themselves. This is the natural inclination of man's heart.

It's concerned with position, popularity, power, prestige, He has an insatiable, that is, an unquenchable thirst or desire for one's own vanity. But beloved, the persuasion of these false teachers in Ephesus was strong and their deception was real. Those who are not secure in sound doctrine and grounded in the bare biblical understanding were being led astray, just like sheep led to the slaughter. They dragged myths and fables into the teaching of the church. They distorted the law of God.

And but most devastating, the most devastating thing they did was they perverted the gospel of grace. So Paul gives Timothy instruction on how to identify and how to deal with this counterfeit doctrines and the phony teachers. these points our brother Nelson explained for us last week but in a word Paul's instruction to Timothy and the church is one that all churches everywhere in all ages should take heed to and it's simple and it's clear and it's summarized like this God the gospel guard the gospel. Beloved, if the church loses the true gospel of our Lord, she loses everything. And with the ministers of the gospel to the church being the elders, the elders, the shepherds, the overseers, the pastors, and the teachers, protecting the church against those frauds that pose as such is of supreme importance.

Now we move our focus. Paul takes our focus from the instruction to guard the gospel to his expression and experience of what the gospel is. Why is the gospel of Jesus Christ so valuable that he ought to be guarded at all costs? Well, the best way that Paul is able to express this truth to Timothy and the church in Ephesus is through first-hand knowledge of its properties and its power. And that's what we read this evening in our passage from verses 12 through verses 18.

And by God's grace, we'll unpack those in the moments that we have. In these short few verses, the apostle Paul gets deep and he gets personal, sharing the experience of his intense emotion from his inner sanctuary, or the inner sanctuary of his soul, in recounting the conversion experience and his appointment to be an apostle of Jesus Christ. upon meditation on this passage, you'll have no doubt that the Apostle was head over heels with excitement while writing these verses. I can only imagine the enthusiasm in the Apostle's voice if he was speaking out loud as he was writing. And I don't know if he was, but if he was, I'm sure those within the sound of his voice would see his excitement.

You see, Paul starts with thanksgiving in verse 12, and he ends with a break of praise. in verse 17. Why? Well, nestled in the middle between the thanksgiving and the praise is his personal testimony and his first-hand experience with the power of the gospel that saved this apostle's life. In these verses, we see Paul reveal some very intimate truths, leaving Timothy in no doubt whatsoever where his gratitude lies.

Paul, this great apostle and mentor of Timothy, presents himself humbly as a man totally and completely unworthy of the grace that God has extended towards him, but eternally grateful for it. You can see a clear contrast in the attitude between what our brother Nelson described for us last week and the week before explaining the pride and the selfish desires of false teachers who do what they do because they see themselves worthy of the glory and the praise of men compared to the account of the true apostle and the true teacher of the word of God in verses 12 through 17. This man recognizes there's nothing inherent in him that Christ would so desire to bless him with such an amazing privilege. And as one who understands the grace and the mercy of God, Paul demonstrates true humility as the minister of the gospel, considering himself totally undeserving of any praise whatsoever. In this epistle, The church in Ephesus are able to make that comparison and determine the authentic teachers like Paul from the counterfeits that they have before them, beginning with an essential attribute of a true minister of Christ, and that is gratitude towards their Lord.

Gratitude. towards their Lord. And this is how Paul opens up the passage. Verse 12, I thank him who has given me strength. Christ Jesus, our Lord, because he judged me faithful, appointing me to his service.

We can be safe to assume that the service that Paul speaks of is the appointment or his own appointment to be an apostle. And, just to be clear and to clear the air, when Paul says he was judged to be faithful, he's not inferring that he was made an apostle because he was faithful in his own abilities. Not at all. That would refute the main point over the next few verses that the apostle is trying to make, and it flies in the face of the apostle's theology that runs through the New Testament, such as what is found in 1 Corinthians chapter 4. Speaking about the Apostle's stewardship, Paul says, moreover, it's required of stewards, that's any servant, the servants of the Lord, stewards, that they be found faithful.

Faithfulness is an essential attribute for anyone serving the Lord or in the service of his bride. But is this faithfulness inherent? Is it a quality that is found inherent to the individual. Well, a few verses down in that first Corinthians chapter four, Paul speaking on the same subject says to those who serve in the church, what do you have that you did not receive? If then you received it, why do you boast as though you did not receive it?

What does Paul mean? Well, he's saying if you've been found or judged to be faithful in your service, that's only because you've received, hear this, because you received the ability from above to be faithful. It's grace. All good gifts are from above, James 1. Therefore Paul goes on to say there's no justification for any boasting at any level in the church of Jesus Christ.

This is important to acknowledge because admitting your own inability naturally results in gratitude towards God. And it also results in a reliance on His strength, not your own. Paul knows this all too well and gives thanks for that strength in verse 12. And these aren't just words, beloved. Paul, on occasions, experienced literally coming to the end of his own ability and his own strength, having to rely completely upon the might of the Lord.

Only a few years prior to writing this letter, he wrote to the church at Corinth about the afflictions he and possibly Timothy were made to bear. He writes this, for we were so utterly burdened, he says, beyond our strength that we despaired of life itself. Indeed, we felt that we had received the sentence of death, that that was to make us rely not on ourselves, hear this beloved, but on the God or on God who raises the dead. Even at Paul's lowest point in his life, God permitted that suffering so that he would come to rely on the power of God and not his own. That's grace.

That's grace for Paul in his suffering. And we know that wasn't the last time that this apostle experienced deep despair. It wasn't the last time this apostle experienced coming to the end of his own strength and having to rely on the strength of God. In fact, his last words recorded in scripture give some insight to this. At a time where all his companions seemed to have deserted Paul as he stood trial in Rome, he wrote these beautiful words of faith in the second epistle to Timothy.

And he wrote these words from his prison cell. He writes, but the Lord stood by me and strengthened me. His companions had deserted him. His companions were nowhere to be found. But Paul says, the Lord stood by me and he strengthened me.

so that through me the message might be fully proclaimed and all the gentiles might hear it so i was rescued from the lion's mouth the lord will rescue me from every evil deed and bring me safely into his heavenly kingdom what glorious words are they beloved and we rejoice in these Then he breaks, he doesn't end there because then he breaks out into praise like he does in our passage. He breaks out into praise saying these words to him be the glory forever and ever. Amen. Paul recognizes his strength is limited and Paul recognizes even the ability and the strength and the power for every day comes at the hand of God. That's wonderful.

as that reality is, the real amazement for Paul in the passage of our evening was that a merciful God is able to be so merciful and so gracious upon someone as wretched as himself. That's where Paul's amazement lies. After Christ saved him and gave him the ability to see himself in the light of God's law, Paul was able to know the depth of his rebellion against God in his former days. And he unrolls the rap sheet of his iniquities before God, and then he rejoices for the grace that covers him, as we read in verses 13 through verses 16. I think he does this to demonstrate again to the church in Ephesus, and indeed to all of us, how far reaching the mercy of God is whilst proving that the all-sufficient grace of Jesus Christ is able to save even the vilest of sinners.

It's as though the Apostle Paul is saying, if the gospel is able to reach right down to the bottom of a dark pit that was my life and rescue a nasty evil enemy of God like me into the light of salvation, then there's hope for anyone. Whatever the errors and the distortions of the false teachers were conveying in Ephesus, whatever confusion they imparted upon the people of God, Paul is saying, know this, His mercy and His grace is sufficient no matter how bad you are. What a change. What a change Paul had experienced. Before his conversion, before his encounter with the Lord on the road to Damascus, he was a proud man.

And his heart was boastful of his own human achievements. Sounds something like the false teachers in Ephesus that he warns against. But before he became a Christian, he was this. He gives insight to how he was in Philippians chapter three from verses four onwards. So let's open our Bibles to Philippians chapter three and we'll start our reading from verse four.

Philippians. Chapter 3, excuse me, from verse 4. If anyone else thinks he has reason for confidence in the flesh, I have more, says Paul, circumcised on the eighth day of the people of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew of Hebrews, as to the law, a Pharisee, as to zeal, a persecutor of the church. As to righteousness under the law? Blameless.

You can sense that the former apostle Paul, when he was still Saul, had a tremendous confidence in his own human achievements. No Jew would look down upon this man's accomplishments It's as though he's competing with his Jewish peers and saying, whatever you have done, I've done it a little bit better. The amazing thing is that the qualities of Paul's character and achievements described for us in this passage, which once were thought to be, or he thought to be his most commendable attributes and worthy of his boast. Now, now this apostle of Christ deems them all to be reprehensible and reprehensible attributes of his past. So much so that when Paul thinks of the fruits of his zealous labours in his former life, he labels himself, as we just read, the chief of all sinners.

Or as he is, he says, the foremost of all sinners. But he says he acted in ignorant unbelief. Whether one is ignorant or not, sin is sin. And the sin of unbelief in ignorance can be, and for Paul, has been, forgiven. Peter speaks of the sin of ignorance and unbelief in Acts chapter 3, of those, hear this, who crucified our Savior.

There Peter pleads with his countrymen to seek forgiveness because God's mercy and grace is able to extend even to those who committed the most heinous of sins, including the atrocity of crucifying the Lord, the author of life. There can be mercy even for the worst of us. That mercy reached out and extended to Paul formerly known as Saul on the road to Damascus. That bright light of the glory of Christ caused his physical eyes to be temporarily taken away, but he was gifted with a much more needed spiritual sight. Now able to recognize his sin and his depravity He's also able to recognize that lawbreakers will be judged under the righteous standards of God, and beloved, that righteous standard is nothing short of perfection.

Paul is now able to see where he stands on the bar of judgment before the Lord. So for Paul, and any true Christian, the newly found sight reveals the desperate need of a sinless savior. There's no comprehension of one's wickedness before, no true understanding of the depth and the consequences of breaking God's law, because as sinners live, they live in spiritual blindness, and they're ignorant to the heart of God, and they're unable to fathom the essence of His law, nor the God who wrote the law. Is this not your experience and mine, beloved? Is this not our experience before we came to know the Lord?

I was speaking to someone recently and this person informed me that they were a churchgoer for many years before they were saved. But despite this, this person was sure that they could put a finger on that definite time that they were saved. Even though they were churchgoers, thinking they were Christian, they could put their finger on a definite time in their past when they were saved. And listen to how this person describes it. And I'm paraphrasing now.

I remember when I was regenerated. Because there was a distinct time in my past when from that time on I was able to look back in my life and recognize for the first time the depravity of my sin before the Lord. I never was concerned. I didn't care about my sin. Sure I knew I was offending God, but I didn't care.

And my sin wasn't repulsive in my eyes. until the moment the Lord saved me." Beloved, recognizing the affrontness and the abhorrent nature of our sin before a good and holy God is essential. So the question we need to ask ourselves is this, are we aware of the corruption of our own sin? Have the spiritual eyes of our hearts been turned on by our Savior who brings sight to the blind?

Are we able to see our sin? Is our sin ugly in our eyes? Or are we indifferent to the law of God? Do we have no desire to obey it? Beloved, worldly sorrow may be evident in an unbeliever, but only a true believer experience the sorrow that leads to true repentance.

And that comes when we break God's good and holy law. Paul goes on to tell us that he was a blasphemer, a persecutor, and then he says an insolent opponent. a blasphemer, because he spoke badly about the Son of God. He profaned Jesus Christ in unbelief, thinking that he was righteous, notware that his speeches were profanity against the God of Israel that he so passionately sought to serve. He says he was a persecutor.

Well, Paul was the worst kind of persecutors to the church. In fact, we don't have much narrative about the life of the Apostle Paul pre-conversion, before he was converted, but we have three occasions that are mentioned in the book of Acts, before he came to know the saving grace of God, and beloved, every single one of them, he was persecuting the church. In Acts chapter 7, when the man filled with the Holy Spirit, Stephen, was stoned. He was standing, giving approval to his execution. Paul.

In the next chapter, we're told that Saul was ravaging the church and entering house after house. He dragged off men and women and committed them to prison. This man was ruthless. And finally in Acts chapter 9, the very day Paul meets the Lord on the road to Damascus, we're told in the beginning of the chapter that Saul, still breathing threats murder against the disciples of the Lord went to the high priest and asked him for letters to the synagogues at Damascus so that if he found any belonging to the way that is any belonging to Christ because Christ was called the way the truth and the life men or women no distinction Paul would be able to bring them back bound to Jerusalem Paul was not a nice man and you didn't want to be his enemy. Insolent opponent, he goes on to say.

This deduces a blend of rudeness and a lack of respect and sometimes it mixes with violence. Rudeness, lack of respect and violence. The passage in Acts that we just read tells us Paul was all these things. But in ignorance, what Paul thought to be a righteous anger, a righteous indignation against those who oppose God, turned out to be murderous threats and persecution, hear this, against the Son of God himself. Because when Jesus meets the raging Paul on his way to Syria, this is what he says.

Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting me? Not why are you persecuting my church or my people, why are you persecuting me? Jesus identifies as one with his people. Paul's actions were considered against Jesus himself. They were against the Son of God, though against God himself, and this is what makes Paul a blasphemer.

Despite all the evil Paul had committed, God's grace overflowed towards him, giving him the gift of faith and the apprehension of the love of Christ. The word that is being translated in the ESV in your Bibles overflowed is speaking of grace. It is only used once in the New Testament. Overfloat is a good translation, but the word signifies a great abundance or an excess amount of grace. The King James Bible speaks of an exceedingly abundant grace.

It's as though Paul is saying God's grace is so abundant that my sins are covered and there's so much more left over. It's very similar, if you remember, to the words of the Apostle John in the first chapter, where he writes, for from his fullness, that's Christ's fullness, we have all received grace upon grace, meaning grace after grace after grace. It covers us completely and keeps on coming. The well of His grace is limitless. It never runs dry.

It's just amazing. The great hymn captures the truth so well, I think. Amazing grace, how sweet the sound that saved a wretch like me. I once was lost but now am found, was blind, but now I see." The encounter with our Lord on the road to Damascus turned Paul's life upside down.

The insolent, violent persecutor of the church has the tables turned and now he becomes the one receiving all the vicious persecutions. All that worked for him in his former life, he would give up. Or everything he worked for in his former life, he would now give up in an instant for Jesus Christ. In fact, if we continue to read the passage that we started to continue in Philippians chapter 3, we'll see Paul's attitude of all his trophies in his former life and how he considers them now. So if you have your Bibles opened again, let's start our reading where we finished, and we'll continue where we finished, in verse 7.

Philippians 3 verse 7. Paul has just finished listing the list of accolades, the trophies, his achievements, and then he says these words, But whatever gain I had, I counted as loss. for the sake of Christ. Indeed, I count everything as loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Jesus my Lord. For his sake, I have suffered the loss of all things and count them as rubbish."

That's rubbish there. It connotes dung. It connotes something of zero value. in order that I may gain Christ and be found in Him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law." You hear that?

That's opposing directly what he said before. He saw himself as righteous according to the law. And now he's saying, not having a righteousness on my own that is according to the law, comes from the law, but that which comes through faith in Christ, the righteousness from God and depends on faith. You see, you see what's happening here. There's a complete turnaround.

The things he valued, he no longer values. The things he treasured, he no longer treasured. The trophies he held up, now are rubbish in this apostle's eyes. What's happened? How is it that Paul can say these incredible words?

Hear this, beloved. And herein lies the very essence of this passage. And I think the very essence of why he's writing this book or this epistle to Timothy in the first place. Well it comes, he's able to write these words and he's able to believe these things because he becomes a believer in the gospel of Jesus Christ. And he expresses this so beautifully in verses 15 and 16.

This saying or this saying is trustworthy and deserving of full acceptance, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners, of whom I am foremost. But I receive mercy for this reason, that in me as foremost, Jesus Christ might display his perfect patience as an example of those who were to believe in him for eternal life. Paul is able to say all that I did, all that I accomplished, all that I worked for, everything that I thought was grand and majestic and wonderful and beautiful, I disregard, I consider as rubbish only because Paul had an encounter with Jesus Christ. Paul had an encounter with the gospel that saves. He came to realize He came to realize that his accomplishments, the things that he's done, his achievements, the obedience to the law that he thought he was achieving, accounts for nil.

Nothing. Zilch. He came to realize that he cannot, he cannot meet the righteous standards in God's eyes that he ought to. Although he called himself blameless in the past, according to the law, he came to realize that he was not. He was a rebel.

He is a sinner and need of a savior. And the gospel says that if you have faith in this savior who has extended his grace towards Paul, then he is able to have eternal life. Paul begins this last passage for us by saying this saying is trustworthy and deserving of acceptance. In other words, it's truth. That's what he means.

It's objective truth for all. It must not be manipulated or changed, no matter what anyone says, because this is the gospel and it's foundational for the church of Jesus Christ. Jesus came into the world to save sinners, not because they deserve it, but because he is gracious and good That's why he came, to save sinners. It's as simple as that. That's the essence of the gospel.

It's simple and it's sweet. Paul opens this letter by addressing the serious concerns he has for the church in Ephesus with regards to false doctrine and false teachers who espouse the false doctrines. And as I said before, the most devastating thing in Paul's eyes in the eyes of any Christian is when the gospel is perverted. So Paul's charge to Timothy is to guard this gospel. Because if the church loses it, she loses everything.

Take away the truth that salvation comes by grace, through faith, in Christ alone. What do you have? You have no hope. The world has no other savior. There is no other hope apart from Jesus Christ.

Beloved, the gospel of Jesus Christ is everything. Whatever the false teachers were teaching the Christians in Ephesus, it wasn't the gospel. And we'll come to see that as we progress in this book. Because when you add or subtract anything to the good news, Paul says in Galatians, you have. no gospel at all.

Salvation comes by grace alone, through faith alone, in Christ alone. So Paul, from the onset, is clear and concise in the way he pronounces the gospel of Christ, so that Timothy and the church in Ephesus can refute and reject any teaching that doesn't align perfectly with what is written. Every Christian has a part to play, beloved. We are all responsible and we are all needed to guard the gospel. But Paul goes another step further to suggest that his own conversion is a display of God's perfect patience to save even the worst of sinners, that none or no one is beyond the stretch of the hand of God's grace and mercy.

Not many are able to say that they were blasphemers and fervently persecutors of the church with the force and the violence that Paul once displayed. And so Paul is saying that God's withholding his wrath from the wickedness from his own wickedness when he was still an offender and an enemy of the church is a display of God's perfect patience. You see the Bible tells us that God is angry with the wicked every day and we were all enemies of God and deserving of his judgment. See, for the elect, the elect in Christ, those who have been predestined in Jesus Christ before the foundation of the world, Paul tells us that God displays His perfect patience by withholding His wrath, by giving mercy, by sparing the lives of those who come to believe in Him. This patience was displayed in Paul's life and it's displayed in the life of every person who is found in Jesus Christ.

Because Jesus has promised that he will save every single one of his sheep. Every single person that has been appointed unto eternal life. Many of whom, and hear this, many of whom are still rebels even as we speak. and are opponents of the cross even now. But if they have been appointed unto eternal life, if they have been elected and predestined in Christ before the foundation of the world, we have a guarantee that Jesus will save them.

And this is a display of God's perfect patience by not pouring out His wrath and His judgment upon those who deserve it. And finally, after the apostle has been reminded of who he used to be and the salvation he's been gifted with through the mercy of God and the exceedingly abundant grace, he ends this section with the most natural thing to do in that situation, to praise and worship the sovereign God. He breaks out in worship. He can't contain himself. Beloved, we will never understand the love and the emotions that the Apostle Paul experiences unless we too recognize the depth of the sin that we've been forgiven of.

How bad do we really think we were? Can we say with the Apostle, I am the chief of sinners? Can we identify with the sinful woman in Luke chapter 7, who Jesus said of, she loves much. Why? Because she's been forgiven of much.

In your heart, answer this question. How great, how great is your debt to God? Think about that question, because there is a direct correlation. There's a direct link. between your answer to that question and your love for your Savior.

You see, the greater that you see your debt is, the greater love you love Him with. Isn't that what Jesus is saying in Luke chapter 7? If you think that you have been redeemed by Christ, And if you think that your debt was so great, and that debt was paid for on the cross, then you would love Jesus with a great love. See Paul, Paul considered his debt to be insurmountable. And as far as he's concerned, he was able to say that he was the greatest of all debtors.

Beloved, this is This is the attitude we should have. This is the heart of the Christian. We don't point to Paul and say he was the worst. But beloved, if we recognize the sin in our own hearts, if we recognize not only the sin that we were in before being redeemed, but even the sin that we commit as Christians, the sin that that we find the grace of God always overflowing and covering and the forgiveness that comes through that grace that extends to us even now, even now as we are in Christ Jesus, then we should be able to say with Paul that, hey, no, it's me. I'm the greatest.

I'm the greatest of all sinners. I am the chief and the foremost of sinners. So the Apostle Paul ends fairly similar to how he starts. He starts with thanksgiving to God, and then he ends with worship to the God of grace. And he says, to the king of ages, immortal, invisible, the only God, be honor and glory forever and ever.

Amen.