Text: 1 Tim 1:12-17, Title: The Greatest Truth Ever, Date/Place: WHBC, 2.4.18, AM
A. Opening illustration: If you could decide on a news story/event/truth that would be life altering and world changing, what would it be? One such story is about a nineteenth-century South African named Afrikaner, a chief of the Hottentot tribe. He was a hardened, vicious warrior. He and his men were the terror of South Africa. He was so dangerous that the governor of Cape Town offered a large reward for him—dead or alive. Into the scene stepped Robert Moffat, a young Scottish missionary. Believing that God had called him to preach the gospel to the Hottentots, he sought them out. The first person converted under Moffat’s ministry was Afrikaner. His was a remarkable testimony to God’s saving grace.
B. Come behold the wondrous mystery, In the dawning of the King
He the theme of heaven's praises Robed in frail humanity
In our longing in our darkness, Now the light of life has come
Look to Christ who condescended, Took on flesh to ransom us…
C. Background to passage: Picking back up in 1 Timothy. Paul’s left him in Ephesus to stop some people who are causing dissension in the church with trivialities and heresies, but also to encourage the church. The false teachers were arguing about genealogies and Jewish myths and enforcing the OT law on everyone. The church needed a leader, someone with authority that would call these people out, restore order, teach the truth, and prepare the church for upcoming kingdom work. Big T was the man for the hour, and Paul would return to get him later. This passage deals with Paul’s testimony and the gospel of grace that overcomes and sets the centerpiece for all of scripture and the kingdom. This is the first of five “faithful sayings” spoken to give clear doctrine and direction in the churches all over the Mediterranean world.
D. Main thought: We are going to look at Paul’s amazement over the greatest truth
A. Amazed at Christ’s Choice (v. 12-14)
1. Paul offers his testimony in triumphant humility. He noted all the things he’d been given (strength, mercy, grace, faith, love) as well as the reason for his amazement—his former life as a blasphemer, persecutor, and an opponent of Christ. His guilt clear, his judgment deserved, yet removed with no respect to anything he was or did; only because of Christ. “Grace may be defined as God’s loving forgiveness, by which He grants exemption from judgment, and the promise of temporal and eternal blessing to guilty and condemned sinners freely, without any worthiness on their part, and based on nothing they have done or failed to do.” -MacArthur. He uses a word that is a one-time only usage in the NT, “overflowed” is not sufficient to translate it; the prefix “hyper” is added to abundant, so a better translation would be super-abundant, beyond measure, super-exceeding grace. Only because of this, could he be entrusted with
2. Acts 9:15- he is a chosen instrument of mine to carry my name before the Gentiles and kings and the children of Israel, Col 1:25- of which I became a minister according to the stewardship from God that was given to me for you, to make the word of God fully known, 1 Cor 5:9- For I am the least of the apostles, unworthy to be called an apostle, because I persecuted the church of God. But by the grace of God, I am what I am, and his grace toward me was not in vain. Eph 3:8- To me, though I am the very least of all the saints, this grace was given, to preach to the Gentiles the unsearchable riches of Christ
3. Illustration: “God does not choose a person who is worthy, but by the act of choosing him he makes him worthy” -Augustine, I Stand Amazed in The Presence, Billy Sunday was a hard-drinking professional baseball player in the early days of the sport. Walking down the street one day in Chicago with several of his teammates, he came across a man preaching on a street corner. They stopped to mock the preacher, but something he said struck a responsive chord in Billy Sunday’s heart. He embraced Jesus Christ as his savior and went on to become a noted evangelist.
4. Have you lost the amazement of what God has done in your life? Have you forgotten how far you were from him? Maybe you never knew. Sin is a cosmic rebellion of inestimable proportions against an infinitely holy God. Just the fact that you woke up today is mercy. But that he would take a rebel like you, a treasonous wretch like me, an insolent, blasphemous, enemy of God, those of us who disdained the greatest treasure in the universe as rubbish; and make us friends, and sons and daughters, and co-heirs with Christ, and reconcile us to himself…WOW. We should rejoice every moment.
B. Amazed at Christ’s Purpose* (v. 15)
1. This is the greatest truth. It is the central message of the Bible from Genesis to Revelation. It is the most glorious event in the history of the world, and the history of the universe. It is the most God-honoring, Christ-centered reality in time and space. Christ came to save sinners. Let it sink in. Christ, the eternal, pre-existing, equal to the Father, covered his external glory in order to break into our world of sin and sorrow – Incarnation. He came to save, to deliver, to rescue, to redeem, to reconcile, to restore, to preserve, to keep safe, and heal. He came into the darkness, down to the pit, into the lion’s den and the flaming furnace, into the prison, and stops the punishment, issues mercy and grace upon those that would believe.
2. Spoken to Mary, declared by John the Baptist, to give his life a ransom for many, to seek and save the lost, to gather the lost sheep, and are justified by his grace as a gift, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, whom God put forward as a propitiation by his blood, to be received by faith. This was to show God's righteousness, because in his divine forbearance he had passed over former sins,
3. Illustration: my amazement at the commentators, less than half of which spoke about the content of this “trustworthy statement,” Billy Sunday was a hard-drinking professional baseball player in the early days of the sport. Walking down the street one day in Chicago with several of his teammates, he came across a man preaching on a street corner. They stopped to mock the preacher, but something he said struck a responsive chord in Billy Sunday’s heart. He embraced Jesus Christ as his savior and went on to become a noted evangelist. We have heard a joyful sound, Jesus Saves, Jesus Saves…Give the winds a mighty voice
4. What a glorious truth! We are all sinners. Christ came to deliver you from the consequences of your sin. Death and hell are no longer a fear for you. Note here: universal salvation is not taught here; plenty of places through the NT and OT that demonstrate specific faith and repentance. Be born again today. Trust in Christ today! Turn from your sin today. Then the question must be asked: what are you going to do with the greatest new of all time? Christ came to save the good, bad, and ugly, the righteous and religious, the poor and the rich, the downtrodden and those riding high, the arrogant and the humble, moral and immoral, both Jews and Gentiles, slaves and free, men and women (and everyone else), all need Christ, all will be among those who embrace Christ.
C. Amazed at Christ’s Reason (v. 16)
1. I had a conversation this week with our Tuesday morning bible study ladies this week, and I talked about our level of enjoyment of God is directly linked to our understanding of the depth and breadth of who he is. God is always putting himself on display in various ways that we may see more of his character, heart, and mission. Like a prism. Here Paul says that God poured out mercy on him to put on display the model of God’s unlimited patience with the vilest of sinners. This model was for the generations of believers in the future that would absorb the “wow factor” of Paul’s conversion. This means that the reason for Paul’s salvation is to glorify God, to promote the fame of his name, to all the world to see another facet of the prism of God to enjoy him better.
2. Argumentation
3. Illustration: The purpose of salvation, whether Paul’s or ours, is to display God’s grace, power, and patience and produce a true worshiper of God (John 4:21–24). It is for His glory primarily, our benefit is secondary – MacArthur, Christ’s “unlimited patience” is an attitude of moral restraint that holds out under provocation. - Lea
4. We live in a me/my/I generation. Truth be told, as humans, we are me/my/I beings. We focus on what I need, want, have planned to do today, what I am eating for lunch, what frustrates me, what my friends are doing right now, what I think about politics, or when am I going to get this or that. We should do our best to leave “I” out of it. In our mind, we must keep the understanding that all things happen to lift him up, or for us to lift him up. Ask yourself the question, how do I make God look great? Think of how you made yourself look great this morning. The same rule applies.
D. Amazed at Christ (v. 17) (DON’T WORRY ABOUT INCLUDING THIS ON THE PPT)
1. Paul just breaks out into spontaneous praise, doing exactly the thing that God saved him for, making God’s name great! Just reflect on each of these names. Short doxology, before getting back to the letter. Again, it’s almost as if Paul just gets beside himself thinking about what God has done: WONDER
A. Come behold the wondrous mystery, Christ the Lord upon the tree
In the stead of ruined sinners Hangs the Lamb in victory
See the price of our redemption, See the Father's plan unfold
Bringing many sons to glory, Grace unmeasured love untold
Additional Notes
? It is in accord with God’s gracious nature to show such grace, and that gracious nature was a positive cause of mercy. Dabbling with “myths and endless genealogies” (v. 4) could not transform a life as divine grace had changed Paul. The verb for “poured out … abundantly” is a hapax legomenon intensified by adding the prefix over (hyper) to a verb that of itself signified to abound or to increase. Paul was saying that God’s grace superabounded toward him. -Lea
? It provides for the complete pardon of sin, and the restoration of the soul to God. This is done in a way that is honorable to God - maintaining his law and his justice; and, at the same time, it is in a way that is honorable to man. He is treated afterward as a friend of God and an heir of life. He is raised up from his degradation and restored to the favor of his Maker... He came when he was under no necessity of coming; he came to save, not to destroy; to reveal mercy, not to denounce judgment; to save sinners - the poor, the lost, the wandering, not to condemn them; he came to restore them to the favor of God, to raise them up from their degradation, and to bring them to heaven -Barnes
? Have I forgotten my guilt was washed When I cannot lift my face Have I forgotten my sins are gone As far as east to west O help me not forget…? When I've heard it all before Have I forgotten how to believe My doubt is strong and yet This heart cannot forget The cross, the cross My soul remember this What love, what cost O help me not forget
HOW DOES PAUL MAKE CHRIST LOOK GREAT? Answer: by experiencing CHRIST as such a TREASURE that everything else in his LIFE is as NOTHING by comparison.
I count EVERYTHING: money as lost, food as lost, looks as lost, friends as lost, family as lost, job and success as lost, graduation as lost… IN COMPARISON with the TREASURE that CHRIST as become FOR ME.
HOW DO YOU MAKE CHRIST LOOK GREAT IN YOUR LIFE, AND THUS NOT WASTE IT?
Money is given to you so that you might use money in a way that shows money is not your treasure, Christ is.
Food is given to you so that you might eat it in such a way that it would be plain food is not your treasure, Christ is.
Friends, Family, are given to you so that you might live with them in such a way that it will be plain to the world they are not your treasure, Christ is.
Computers, Toys, Houses, Lands, Cars, are given to you so that you might use them in such a way that it would be plain to the world these are not your treasure, Christ is.
You talk about lifestyle implication…
WARTIME LIVING
The way we display the supreme worth of JESUS is by treasuring Him above all things and then making choices which make the joy we have in His supreme worth manifest.
GET IT.
GET IT.
AND IF HE IS NOT THAT FOR YOU TONIGHT, IF HE IS NOT THAT TREASURE FOR YOU, PRAY ALL NIGHT IF YOU HAVE TO THAT YOUR HEART WOULD BE SO CHANGED THAT YOU WOULD NOW TREASURE JESUS ABOVE EVERYTHING IN YOUR LIFE.
