Jesus Saves Sinners 1 Timothy 12:1-17 Justin Deeter April 10, 2016

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1 Jesus Saves Sinners 1 Timothy 12:1-17 Justin Deeter April 10, 2016 Introduction Today we will see the glorious truth that Jesus saves sinners. As we discuss this truth there are three groups of people in this room. The first group of you just don t even know that Jesus saves sinners. Maybe you ve never been to church before and you think all Christians are morally superior and selfrighteous and you ve never heard the good news of Jesus. Today I pray your life will be rocked by this good news. A second group of you know this truth, you ve heard it your entire lives as you ve grown up in the church, so you know that Jesus saves sinners, but you don t believe it. There is a disconnect between your head and your heart, and I pray that today is the day you are convinced of the wretchedness of your sin and you fall on your face in truly saving faith. A third group of you know this truth and believe this truth. For you I pray this morning that you are blown away anew at this glorious truth and that you would bust out in worship because of it. Thank God for Personal Grace (12-14) As we opened up 1 Timothy last week, Paul gives his charge for Timothy, this young pastor, to remain at Ephesus so that he can handle the false teachers coming up within the congregation. These false teachers fundamentally misunderstood the Law and therefore the Gospel itself. Paul took a quick break from the flow of the letter to handle their misinterpretation of the Law, and now he turns to help us understand the Gospel, using himself as a personal example of the Gospel s power. Paul can t help but start with thanksgiving. I thank him who has given me strength. As Paul looks back on his life and who he used to be before Jesus, he overwhelmed in gratitude. Because Christ had judged him faithful and appointed him to Gospel ministry. Paul then opens up about his past life. He was a blasphemer, persecutor, and insolent 1

2 opponent. He goes on to say later in our passage today that he was the foremost of sinners, the chief of them all. No one was a greater sinner than Paul! Before Paul was the greatest missionary of the church, he was Saul the greatest enemy of the church. While Christianity was in its infancy, Saul the Pharisee sought out to destroy the Christian movement by killing the Christians. In his zeal for the Law, he sought to kill, hunting them down. Paul refers to his past life quite frequently. Here is what is recorded in Acts: But Saul was ravaging the church, and entering house after house, he dragged off men and women and committed them to prison. (Acts 8:3, ESV) 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. And I punished them often in all the synagogues and tried to make them blaspheme, and in raging fury against them I persecuted them even to foreign cities. (Acts 26:9 11, ESV) Paul not only enjoyed killing Christians, he enjoyed hunting them. He chased them to foreign cities in a raging furry. He was a man filled with blood lust, killing the people of Christ for sport. But all that would change when Jesus shows up in his life on that road to Damascus. But Saul, still breathing threats and 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, men or women, he might bring them bound to Jerusalem. Now as he went on his way, he approached Damascus, and suddenly a light from heaven shone around him. And falling to the ground he heard a voice saying to him, Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting me? And he said, Who are you, Lord? And he said, I am Jesus, whom you are persecuting. But rise and enter the city, and you will be told what you are to do. The men who were traveling with him stood speechless, hearing the voice but seeing no one. Saul rose from the ground, and although his eyes were opened, he saw nothing. So they led him by the hand and brought him into Damascus. And for three days he was without sight, and neither ate nor drank. (Acts 9:1 9, ESV) 2

3 On that Damascus road Saul encountered Jesus. Jesus asks him, Why are you persecuting me? Thus Paul s incredible conversion occurred when Jesus came, knocked him off his merry way, and confronts him in his sin. As one commentator put it, Paul, an untamable tiger, met the Lion of the tribe of Judah at the Damascus off-ramp! The hunter was the hunted. 1 This is the way God s grace confronts us. Jesus comes into our lives with a bang, often when we least expect it, and when we have a genuine encounter with him, we are not left the same. Some of you have had such an experience with the Lord, an experience that has not left you the same. Jesus came into your life, forgave you of your sins and set you on a new path, a new direction towards righteousness. The strength of Christ subdued you, broke your will, and brought you to your knees. Praise be to God! Our initial encounter with Jesus may not necessarily be as drastic as the Damascus road, but if you are a Christian at some point you have. At some point the hound of heaven catches you. Some of you have yet to have that encounter with Jesus and you remain lost in your sins. You might not even be looking for God, but God finds you. He shows up when we least expect it, and when he does, nothing is left the same. Paul says the grace of the Lord overflowed for him with the faith and love that are in Christ Jesus. An artist once painted a picture of Niagara Falls but failed to give it a title. So the gallery came up with a tongue-in-cheek title calling the painting, More to Follow. 2 The Niagara Falls continues to dump gallons and gallons of water, never ceasing to run dry. That s the way God s grace overflows. There is an unending supply always more to follow. Martin Luther comments on this when he writes, Just as the sun is not darkened by the whole world enjoying its light, and could, indeed, light up ten worlds; just as 100,000 lights might be lit from one light and not detract from it; just as a learned man is able to make a thousand others learned, and the more he gives, the more he has so is Christ, our Lord, an infinite source of all grace, so that if the whole world would draw enough grace and truth from it to make the world all angels, yet it would not lose a drop; the fountain always runs over, full of grace. 3 1 R. Kent Hughes and Bryan Chapell, 1-2 Timothy and Titus: To Guard the Deposit (Wheaton, IL: Crossway, 2012). 2 Ibid Ibid. Cites Martin Luther on 44. 3

4 Yet, God s grace was not only poured out in Paul s conversion, but also his calling. God called Paul to Gospel ministry, particularly apostolic ministry. God set Paul apart to be the worlds greatest missionary, taking the Gospel to the gentiles. God not only saved but, but set Paul apart for ministry. The greatest blasphemer of the church became its greatest defender of truth. The greatest persecutor of the church became its greatest missionary. The greatest opponent of the church became its greatest ally. The grace and mercy of God continued to overflow on Paul, his life, and his calling. As Paul reflects on his own testimony, we can t help but reflect on our own. If you are a Christian God has done this same work in you. Perhaps not as drastic or extreme as in Paul s case, but every Christian has had their life turned upside down by Jesus. We have all experienced the overwhelming flood of God s grace, that glorious fountain that continually runs over with spectacular new depths of God s love. As a recipient of Grace, we must respond with thanksgiving to that grace. This morning may we express our thanks for your God Offers You His Grace (15-16) Paul then makes a statement, which he judges to be trustworthy and full acceptance: Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners. What a miraculous statement, a sound summary of the Gospel! Jesus came to save sinners. One little phrase filled with so much meaning. First we see the startling truth that Jesus came into the world! What more miraculous truth could there be! The son of God became a man and dwelt among us. He entered into the world and became one of us. The infinite God became a finite man. God descends from the glory of heaven, humbles himself by enfleshment, walks alongside of us, and humbles himself by dying for us! Second, we see the startling purpose why Jesus came into the world. He came to save sinners! As if the news could get any better. Not only does Jesus become one of us, but he does so to save sinners. He does so for our behalf. He takes the broken and addicted, the immoral and depraved, the murders and the brutes, the greedy and the forked-tongued he takes you in your sin and by the power of his blood cleanses you from them. He saves you from the condemnation of God s wrath and gives you God s favor and blessing. That s why Jesus came, and what glorious news that is! That is what is so good about the good news of the Gospel; Jesus saves sinners! But Paul includes an important phrase at the end. He says, Jesus Christ came into this world to save sinners, of whom I am the foremost. Paul says 4

5 that Jesus came to save sinner and I m the chief of them all. I m the worst. I m the greatest. I m the biggest sinner there ever is! Notice something very important about the grammar of what Paul says here. He doesn t say I was the greatest sinner, but I am the foremost. Even though Paul is not the greatest missionary in the world, suffering regularly in obedience to Christ, he still sees himself presently as the greatest sinner. Sure he had a sinful past, but as Paul has grown in grace and in holiness, he doesn t see himself as less of a sinner, but as more of a sinner. This is a sign not only of spiritual maturity, but the working of grace. The more you grow in Christ, and the stronger your relationship with Christ becomes, and the more you taste of the grace God has provided, the more you realize just how undeserving you are. Those of you who are mature in Christ know what I m talking about. I remember being a young Christian as a teenager thinking to myself, Well I m a sinner, but I m not that bad of a sinner. I m not as much of a sinner as these other kids in my school. In college I remember thinking, Sure I m a sinner, but there are a lot of other college kids much greater sinners than I am. At least I m not doing what they are doing. Not only did that reflect that I had the heart of a Pharisee, but it also revealed how immature I really was in my faith. As I ve grown in Christ the last decade of my life, I ve come to find that my heart is more wicked, more depraved, more corrupt than I ever knew it to be. The more I ve experienced the radical grace of God in my life, the more I realize just how underserving of it I am. Most of you know that I love the Puritans, their writings are a breath of fresh air, so good for the soul. One of the things the Puritans understood was the pervasiveness of sin in their hearts. To many outside, they appear gloomy, depressed and plagued with low self-esteem. They made a regular practice of reflecting on how vile they are, how corrupted they are by sin, and how much in need of God s grace they were. This is quite a different practice that much of the Christian mumbo jumbo that clutters our local Christian book stores. We want books and sermons that makes us feel good about ourselves! I want to read a book about being a better me, about how great I am, about how lucky God is to have me, a special little snow flake! So many have cast aside the puritans as morbid, irrelevant, and harmful. One such puritan writer was John Bunyan, best known for his allegory called Pilgrim s Progress. In his book Grace Abounding in the Chief of Sinners he urges us to remember our life before Christ, to remember where what God has saved us from, to reflect on the greatness of our sin, so that we can be moved by the great love of Jesus for sinners like us. He writes, Oh, the remembrance of my great sins, of my great temptations, and of my great 5

6 fears of perishing for ever! They bring afresh into my mind the remembrance of my great help, my great support from heaven, and the great grace that God extended to such a wretch as I. 4 Bunyan tells us the more we remember the greatness of our sin, the more we remember the great help from heaven as God extends his love to such a wretch as I. John Newton is another man who stands in the puritan tradition. Newton was a former slave trader before his conversion to Christ, and would go on to write the most famous hymn in the English language, Amazing Grace. Newton wrote this, The more vile we are in our own eyes, the more precious he will be to us; and a deep repeated sense of the evil of our hearts is necessary to preclude all boasting, and to make us willing to give the whole glory of our salvation where it is due. 5 Newton says the secret to spiritual maturity is not becoming less aware of our sin, but more aware of it. The viler we are in our own eyes; the more precious Christ will be to us. As we see our sinful hearts as God sees them, then any grounds for boasting and pride will be eliminated, and God alone will receive the glory and praise for our salvation. How different than the false teachers here in Ephesus! They were reading the Law, discovering new myths and genealogies to boost their spiritual egos! Yet, the Gospel does nothing of the sort. The gospel doesn t make us self-righteous Pharisees, but humble, broken, crippled sinners who are redeemed only by the blood of Jesus Christ. Jesus saves sinners! And yet this seems to be the greatest stumbling block of Christianity for so many. Many refuse to acknowledge that they are sinners who need forgiveness. Indeed, that is the great offense of the Gospel. Earlier this week I was walking into a building, and a guy from the community I knew was standing outside with his friend. As I walk towards the building he says hello and says, Pastor, I just saw two sinners run in there, go get them. Looking at him slyly, I said, I d be happy too, but I have two sinners out here I must deal with first. Though he was joking, my friend reflects an attitude so many have. Sinners are other people, but not me. Sinners are the murders, the adulterers, the politicians, the homosexuals, the terrorists, the drug addicts, but they are not me. I m not of their number. And tragically many are so busy pointing the finger at others, they fail to grasp the depravity of their own heart. 4 John Bunyan, Grace Abounding to the Chief of Sinners (Oak Harbor, WA: Logos Research Systems, Inc., 1995), John Newton, Richard Cecil, The Works of the John Newton, vol. 1 (London: Hamilton, Adams & Co., 1824),

7 Jesus comes to save sinners, so in order to be save by Jesus, you have to confess that you are a sinner. But sadly, so many Americans see themselves as good people who do not need the forgiveness of God. They fail to see that their hearts are wretched, depraved, and in need of forgiveness, so they can t see the wonderful good news of this passage: Jesus came into the world to save sinners! Do you realize you are a sinner? Have you confessed your sins to Christ? As a Christian, are you becoming more aware of your sin, or have you become so filled up with pride that you think you ve graduated from God s forgiveness? May we respond this morning like Paul, critically aware of the sinfulness of our heart, so that we can be blown away that God would save a wretch like us. Paul tells us why God had mercy on him, the chief of sinners. He does so that Jesus Christ might display his perfect patience as an example to those who were to believe in him for eternal life. Paul tell us here as these verse have been such a comfort to so many people the good news that God can save anybody! It doesn t matter who you are or what you ve done, through Jesus all sinners have to opportunity to receive salvation from God. Paul says look at me! If God can save me the blasphemer, persecuting, opponent of the church, then God can save you! The grace of God is so great, so mighty, so lavish, so radical, so scandalous, that any sinner can be saved. You may very well be thinking this morning, God could never save me. You look at your life, you look at your sexual history, you look at your drug use, you look at your lying tongue, and you think there is no hope for me, I m too far gone! Yet, this passage is shining as a beacon of hope to you this morning. It is impossible to be to far gone. If you would but look to Christ, the savior who came for sinners, if you would but look to Paul s example, you will see that if God can save the chief of sinners, he can save you. Turn to Christ and live! Praise be to God! (17) The final verse today shows Paul busting forth in worship. As he thinks about these truths, as he thanks God for all that he has done in his life, he can t help but break out in worship. The truth of the Gospel always moves us to praise. God s grace in our life always moves us to thanksgiving and praise. As we reflect on the glorious good news of God, how can we not be emotionally moved by these truths? So Paul worships. May we worship with him. To the King of the ages, immortal, invisible, the only God, be honor and glory forever and ever. Amen. Paul bubbles forth in praise to God. 7

8 God is the King of the ages. He is the ruler of the heavens and the earth. His reign exceeds all the lifetime of earths greatest king. He is the ruler of the ages, and will always rule the world. God is immortal. He doesn t die, but has always been and will always be. He is the beginning and the end. The alpha and omega. God is invisible. He is Spirit and can t be seen with the naked eye. Transcendent in glory and majesty. He is the only God. There is one God. Every other deity is a humanly constructed idol, feeble, impotent, and material. Rather, God is the one true God, all other gods of every other religion is an imposter. To this God be honor and glory forever and ever. Amen. It is this majestic God, the king of the ages, the immortal, the invisible, the only God who sent his son Jesus into the world to save sinners. It is this God who so deeply loves rebellious humanity that he stretches down and absorbs the penalty of human sin in the person of Jesus Christ. As a result, to God alone belongs honor and glory forever and ever! The only response to God s saving grace is worship. May we ascribe him worth, may we give him honor and glory, and may he receive for all of eternity from his redeemed people! Final Thoughts So church, may we fall on our faces this morning; may we bubble over in praise; may we left up our voice in song, because God saves sinners! May we respond to God s grace not with pride, but with humble adoration unto God. May we respond by proclaiming to this lost and dying world the incredible good news of God s salvation. May we ascribe him with our live honor and glory forever and ever. Amen. 8