NOTE: There are a lot of people out there working in a lot of ways trying to be right with a lot of gods.
• Pilgrimages/Passages, Works/ Weariness, Sacrifices/Sorrows.
• In every country, on every day…
• Man, trying to work his way into favor with God.
Many years ago the Grand Rapids Press covered this story… "Conversation to Hindu Faith Is Tortuous." "A West German businessman has completed his conversion to the Hindu faith by piercing himself through the cheeks with a 1/4-inch thick, 4- foot-long steel rod, and pulling a chariot for 2 miles by ropes attached to his back and chest by steel hooks. Still others walk through 20- foot-long pits of fire, don shoes with soles made of nails, or hang in the air spread-eagle from hooks embedded in their backs."
Works & Weariness… so often the choice of man to reach out and to reach up to God. I can do it if I try really hard!
BUT They won’t get a person where he wants to go.
• They won’t get our friend there through the Hindu faith.
• It’s sort of like driving to a destination with the wrong map.
• You can go through all the motions and have all the right motives, but you won’t end up where you wanted to go!
Why? Because the God of all creation has made A way. He’s made THE WAY. Salvation is available through His Son, Jesus Christ.
• It’s earned thru our works… but extended as a gift by His Grace.
• No more toiling. No more sweating. No more hooks in back.
• But a man can be BORN AGAIN, become right with his Creator, by believing in, believing on, trusting fully in Jesus Christ.
Romans 10.9-11 that if you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in your heart that God has raised Him from the dead, you will be saved. 10 For with the heart one believes unto righteousness, and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation. 11 For the Scripture says, "Whoever believes on Him will not be put to shame."
NOW WHY ALL THE WORKS? Because man is trying to cover his SIN.
• Even as we read of Adam & Eve trying to cover their sins.
WE LIVE IN A SOCIETY that doesn’t like to talk about SIN today.
• We’re not aware of our sinful condition because we don’t want to know. We don’t want to bring it up.
• So in some circles of religion, sin isn’t even a topic to discuss.
• Let’s not talk about who we are. I’m OK. I’m doing fine.
• In fact, I’ve been taking AFFIRMATION CLASSES. I’m lovable, I’m kind, I’m nice, I like me just the way I am.
• Consider Ephesians 2:1-3 with me…
• Spiritually Lifeless, Wandering Aimlessly, Disobediently Lustful.
• That’s life without a relationship with Jesus Christ. That’s it!
• BUT GOD… v4. BUT GOD! The Gospel Message in 2 Words.
GOD BREAKS THROUGH TO HELP & BRING HOPE!
• I believe this is for many of this morning… God who is rich in Mercy is near and ready to help.
• Struggling financially? BUT GOD.
• Wrestling in your marriage? BUT GOD.
• Fighting against your flesh? BUT GOD.
• I can’t overcome this. I can’t get through that. BUT GOD.
Eph. 2.4-5 But God, who is rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us, 5 even when we were dead in trespasses, made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved),
God who is RICH IN MERCY. He overflows in MERCY.
• MERCY… NOT getting what we deserve. He gives us a chance.
• And a chance… and a chance… and a chance!
• He cuts us slack. He patiently endures. HE’S RICH IN MERCY!
• But He’s also rich in GRACE, giving us what we don’t deserve.
• The hymn writer put it this way:
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.
Twas grace that taught my heart to fear and grace my fears relieved.
How precious did that grace appear the hour I first believed.
Through many dangers, toils, and snares I have already come.
Tis grace hath brought me safe thus far and grace will lead me home!
When we’ve been there ten thousand years, bright shining as the sun.
We’ve no less days to sing God’s praise, than when we’d first begun.
WOW… when pondering the grace of God, The psalmist says:
Psalm 40.2-3 He also brought me up out of a horrible pit, Out of the miry clay, And set my feet upon a rock, And established my steps. 3 He has put a new song in my mouth--Praise to our God; Many will see it and fear, And will trust in the LORD.
AND NOW Paul writes to young Timothy about this same GRACE!
• He pauses for a moment & ponders all that has happened in his life since coming to Jesus.
• After charging Timothy to teach Sound Doctrine we covered last week, Paul pauses & reflects on his joy of being saved!
I. (1:12-17) COUNTED FAITHFUL
1. (12) I Thank Christ Jesus our Lord!
a. You can’t help but feel Paul’s emotion, his appreciation.
b. I look where I am now. I see where I was.
c. Thank you Jesus. Thank you Jesus. Thank you!!!!
d. Oh my life could be devastated, a disaster… but it’s not.
e. I could have hurt so many. I could have wasted away!
f. I’m alive. I’m born again. And my life is making a difference!
NOTICE: Here’s a key to pulling out of a depression, of pushing onward in tough times. PERSPECTIVE. Look what God has done!
• But things are tough today. I know they are… but He’s faithful
• But I’ve got real trials & tribulations. And Jesus is in control!
James 1.4 But let patience have its perfect work, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking nothing.
Notice in the middle of v12, WHO ENABLED ME!
• Next to ENABLE, U could write, “Strengthened or Made Strong”
• It’s all because of Jesus that I am what I am… nothing more.
APP: I think that God has called many people into service but they have not gone because they see their own inadequacies.
• A past that haunts them. A present full of struggles.
• A future of uncertainties. A life of frustrations & Doubts.
SO they would love to serve God and jump in, BUT the task before them outweighs their abilities! Join the club!
• Have you ever felt insecure in your calling, in your ministry?
• We all have. I do often. Looking at the task & then looking at my own abilities & weaknesses.
• I have to remember lest my insecurities stop me from ministry, that it’s GOD THAT ENABLES. He calls & enables & uses.
Moses struggled with this… Let’s turn to Exodus 3:9ff
Jeremiah wrestled with this… Let’s turn to Jeremiah 1:4ff
Timothy perhaps was fighting this off… 1:3, 4:12, 2 Tim 2.15
And so you too, at times, might deal with this… But God Enables!
• Paul says that it was Jesus who put him into the ministry!
APP: You know guys: As we understand this, and grasp it, and hold on to it… then we can step out, and step into and do those things that God wants us to do.
• NOW Look at Paul’s, Saul of Tarsus’s past!
2. (13) I was a horrible man!
a. BLASPHEMER – He blasphemed the Lord Jesus, He hated Him. He denied His deity and refused His love!
b. PERSECUTOR – He physically came against believers trying to destroy the church.
c. INSOLENT MAN – He was a proud bully.
d. This is Saul on the road to Damascus… turn to Acts 9:1ff
YET: This is the same man God chose to serve Him. I love it.
• Paul says, I was FORMERLY these things. They are in the PAST!
2 Cor. 5.17 Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new.
• Turn to 1 Corinthians 6.9-11
And so with his life, he can say, I did them ignorantly, in unbelief.
• I didn’t understand. I didn’t know. You get the hint of sorrow.
• Man I wish I knew then what I know now… but I press on!
SO OFTEN God uses the unlikely, the unusual, the unseemly.
• He’s confined Himself to using human tools to reach this world.
• He could’ve chosen angels… they do exactly what he asks.
• But He’s chosen to use humans to reach humans!
NOW: You MAY have fallen into that category where people thought you would never amount to anything.
• A drain on society, a pain in your family, and a strain in the neighborhood!
• Yet NOW, you have a ‘testimony’ of how God picked you up out of the miry clay and set your feet upon the ROCK Jesus.
IT’S SO interesting to see that many of the Calvary Chapel pastors experienced the tough world of sin and God so radically changed them that they not only walked after Jesus, He entrusted them to teach and pastor others!
The subtitle on the book HARVEST says:
“Gang members, drug addicts, mental patients, society’s rejects… Chuck Smith’s amazing story of Calvary Chapel and the unlikely leaders God called.”
• A Life Verse… I LOVE THIS PASSAGE – Turn to 1 Cor. 1.20ff
When I think of God’s unlikely heroes…
I’m REMINDED OF Josheb, Eleazar, & Shammah in 2 Samuel 23:8ff
• Josheb – Killed 800 men at time in battle.
• Eleazar – Battled the Philistines with his hand stuck to sword.
• Shammah – When everyone fled, he stood firm alone to fight.
Question: Who are they? King David and His mighty men… Let’s turn to 1 Samuel 22:1-3 (Don’t Write ANYONE OFF guys!)
• Saul too was an unlikely hero… Hardened, Angry, Vengeful, and a full blown ENEMY of the church…
• BUT God had a plan/purpose for this RADICAL RABBI…
• What happened to them? – Look at v14
3. (14) The GRACE OF OUR LORD.
a. His grace was (and still is today) exceedingly abundant!
b. God showered His love & grace on me… and I melted.
c. When I deserved to be judged & destroyed, God reached down and gave me another chance.
Romans 2.4 Or do you despise the riches of His goodness, forbearance, and longsuffering, not knowing that the goodness of God leads you to repentance?
4. (15-16) My life is a pattern of God.
a. This saying is faithful, it’s trustworthy… Listen & accept it.
b. Jesus came into the world to save sinners. This is the gospel.
c. That’s why Jesus came… to save sinners, to forgive.
d. And Paul adds a little… I’m the chief of sinners.
e. There’s no one that compares to the mistakes I’ve made!
It’s an interesting thing for the Christian: the more we walk with Jesus, the more we see how holy He is. AND…
• As we see His holiness, we begin to see our own weaknesses.
• And as our weaknesses are revealed, we begin to repent and appreciate the wonderful grace & forgiveness of God.
BUT the minute we become boastful & proud, then the enemy comes in and blindsides us with those very same weaknesses.
• And if we’re not careful, we’ll leave Jesus & simply walk away!
SO Paul obtained mercy… He says that the Lord showed him grace so that people would understand it.
• IF God could save Him, the God can save me.
• He can save my father-in law. He can save my wife.
• He can save my kids, my husband, my mother-in law, my cousins, my neighbors!
NOTE: Don’t count anyone down and out. All of you know people that you THINK can’t be saved. You can all see them…
• Pray for them. Hope in Jesus for them. Remember Saul!
• He’s ready to kill the church, destroy it with his own 2 hands.
EVER CONSIDERED what the church thought about this guy?
• You can imagine their prayer meetings.
• God destroy that guy! He’s insane. Kill Him. Fry Him!
• All the while, God is saying, I want to save him. I want to use him. That’s grace, friends.
• Hoping all things. Helping all people. Love abounding!
NOTE: So Paul tells this young man in the ministry, as a pastor.
• Use the same type of love & longsuffering the Lord used with me. Those guys that are a pain… pray for them.
• Those guys that are a strain… be longsuffering with them.
• Longsuffering literally is, “slow to boil”.
NOW when Paul write “exceedingly abundant”, he’s emphasizing the grace of God in the a Greek prefix “HUPER”.
• Lit. he’s saying, “God’s grace was overflowing & spilling over!”
2 Thess. 1.3 We are bound to thank God always for you, brethren, as it is fitting, because your faith grows exceedingly, and the love of every one of you all abounds toward each other,
Eph. 1.19 and what is the exceeding greatness of His power toward us who believe, according to the working of His mighty power
Rom. 8.37 Yet in all these things we are more than conquerors through Him who loved us.
• The Holy Spirit wants us to know… our faith, His power, His conquering arm, His grace… exceeds and pours out into our lives.
John 7.37-39 On the last day, that great day of the feast, Jesus stood and cried out, saying, "If anyone thirsts, let him come to Me and drink. 38 "He who believes in Me, as the Scripture has said, out of his heart will flow rivers of living water." 39 But this He spoke concerning the Spirit, whom those believing in Him would receive; for the Holy Spirit was not yet given, because Jesus was not yet glorified.
And all of this plunges Paul into spontaneous worship… v17
• Amen! Right on! Praise the Lord!
II. (1:18-20) A CHARGE TO FIGHT
1. (18) Wage the Good Warfare.
a. Timothy, there will be those that oppose you.
b. The Legalizers laying the law on you and challenging grace.
c. The Gnostics confusing and confounding the flock.
d. The backsliders & wolves living lives against Jesus.
e. You’ll be misunderstood, gossiped about, hurt, betrayed.
f. BUT Timothy, hold on to your calling!
NOTICE: The calling of Timothy into the ministry was confirmed to him through both PROPHECY and the LAYING ON OF HANDS.
NOW: What I have found generally is that when God works in a person’s life with someone bringing a word of Prophecy, He will bring about some sort of confirmation.
• In Acts 13, Paul’s ministry was confirmed.
Acts 13:2-3 As they ministered to the Lord and fasted, the Holy Spirit said, "Now separate to Me Barnabas and Saul for the work to which I have called them." 3 Then, having fasted and prayed, and laid hands on them, they sent them away.
• And here with Timothy, there was that ministry of Prophecy.
It’s important not to discount the gifting of prophecy.
• It’s not always a foretelling of the future, but even more we see it as a forth telling of God’s Word.
• The exercise of the gift doesn’t mean we change our voice, and begin to tremble, and point our fingers!
• Nowhere in the Bible do we get the impression that when the Holy Spirit is moving in believers that He shakes, rattles, & rolls them! It’s not something weird and out of control.
• That’s CHARISMANIA. But don’t toss out the CHARISMA, the gifting of God because you had a bad experience.
• We shouldn’t toss out the work of God because someone else did what was obviously a work of the flesh.
So Young Timothy: you know your calling, it was confirmed, it was ratified, so wage a GOOD WARFARE knowing Jesus is with you!
2. (19-20) Some have rejected.
a. Continue on with faith and a good conscience.
b. Good guidelines to a healthy walk with Jesus.
c. Believing Him and resting in Him!
NOW here are 2 men named for all eternity for their backsliding.
• Will we see them in heaven? I hope so. I hope they repented.
• But during Timothy’s time, they were to be watched!
• They suffered SHIPWRECK!
• Now Paul doesn’t tell us exactly how this happened, but in someway they rejected the faith and rejected the work of conviction by the Holy Spirit.
So Paul says they were delivered to Satan. Sounds pretty harsh.
• But the same thing happened in the church in Corinth.
• Believers who refused to repent of their sin were put out.
• They were no longer covered or protected by the church.
• Now the purpose was to restore and reconcile but repentance had to come first.
Gal. 5.9 A little leaven leavens the whole lump.
Let’s close with 1 Cor. 15:8-11
We can either side with Paul this morning or Hymaneous & Alexander. How will we respond to the love & grace of Jesus?
• Is there a need to turn back this morning? Turn to? Turn from?
