1 Timothy 1:15-17

Intro

The season of thanksgiving. We often ask our kids and family around this time, “What are you thankful for?” The common easy response is things like food, housing, toys, etc. It is often family - the mimas and gigis, papas and grammys. And we should be thankful for those things. Every good thing we have is from God. However, it is also during this season where we have to fight to remember that it is not the materialistic things that we should be most grateful to God for.

Col. 3:2-4 “Set your mind on the things above, not on the things that are on earth. For you have died and your life is hidden with Christ in God. When Christ, who is our life, is revealed, then you also will be revealed with Him in glory.”

That is what we must, we must! Remember to be the source of our gratitude in which all other forms and reasons for gratitude come from.

If we forget what Christ has done, we will not be able to find reason for thanksgiving when we loose the physical things we enjoy, or the ones we love. So many people turn away from Christ when family dies, when they loose their health, when they face financial ruin because their gratitude was built and established on “What can God do for me to make my life easier.”

So, this Thanksgiving Sunday, let us remember what Christ has done.

Jesus came to save sinners

1 Tim. 1:15 “It is a trustworthy statement, deserving full acceptance, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners,...”

Trustworthy statement

Trustworthy = faithful

The God who cannot lie promised it

Gen 3:15.

Gen 12:1-3.

Lev. 16.

2 Sam 7.

Is. 11.

Jer. 31:31.

Ezek. 36:26-27.

The grass whithers and the flours fade but the word of the Lord endures forever.

Why it can be hard to trust Him

Divorce

Lies

Betrayel

Loss

I could preach a whole sermon on trusting God

Deserving of full acceptance

Deserving = worthy

This statement is worthy regardless of whether or not it saves you or anyone else.

Its worth is not conditional upon what value we attribute to it.

All humans have worth and value

Think of the unborn. It does not matter what others think they are worth.... They are valuable no matter what

Not of partial acceptance

You cannot be semi in agreement with the Gospel and be saved.

Christ Jesus

God

Phil. 2:6 “who, although He existed in the form of God, did not regard equality with God a thing to be grasped,”

Heb. 1:6 “And when He again brings the firstborn into the world, He says, “And let all the angels of God worship Him.””

Heb. 1:10-12 “And, “You, Lord, in the beginning laid the foundation of the earth, And the heavens are the works of Your hands; They will perish, but You remain; And they all will become old like a garment, And like a mantle You will roll them up; Like a garment they will also be changed. But You are the same, And Your years will not come to an end.””

Eternal

Man

Luke 1:31 ““And behold, you will conceive in your womb and bear a son, and you shall name Him Jesus.”

Phil 2:7-8 “but emptied Himself, taking the form of a bond-servant, and being made in the likeness of men. Being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross.”

Came into the world

Christmas

Jesus born of a virgin

Left His throne in Heaven where He dwelt in perfect satisfaction and joy with the Father

He did not NEED us to bring himself fulfilment

He did not come to earth to save us because he was lacking something

Heb. 2:10 “For it was fitting for Him, for whom are all things, and through whom are all things, in bringing many sons to glory, to perfect the author of their salvation through sufferings.”

Heb 4:15 “For we do not have a high priest who cannot sympathize with our weaknesses, but One who has been tempted in all things as we are, yet without sin.”

To save sinners

When John the baptiser saw Jesus, he proclaimed “Behold, the lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world.”

Jesus said that he came to heal the sick that those who are healthy do not need a doctor but only those who are sick. He came for the sick!

A savior implies the need for saving

All have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God

All are dead in sins and trespasses

All are bound to a captive will that is totally and naturally drawn to the flesh.

We need a savior!

The trustworthiness of his sacrifice

His death was enough to pay for the sins of His people. Nothing else needs to be added to it.

Heb 9:24-28 “For Christ did not enter a holy place made with hands, a mere copy of the true one, but into heaven itself, now to appear in the presence of God for us; nor was it that He would offer Himself often, as the high priest enters the holy place year by year with blood that is not his own. Otherwise, He would have needed to suffer often since the foundation of the world; but now once at the consummation of the ages He has been manifested to put away sin by the sacrifice of Himself. And inasmuch as it is appointed for men to die once and after this comes judgment, so Christ also, having been offered once to bear the sins of many, will appear a second time for salvation without reference to sin, to those who eagerly await Him.”

He does not need to do anymore.

“It is finished!”

We do not need to fear death

We have no risk of a pergutory

What does this salvation look like?

Eternal life

Heaven

To be conformed to the image of God’s Son

Holy, blameless, and without blemish

Paul’s example

“Among whom I am foremost of all”

ego eimi

Emphaticly stating that he is the absolute worst of all

1 Cor. 15:9 “For I am the least of the apostles, and not fit to be called an apostle, because I persecuted the church of God.”

The murder of Stephan

The religous persuit of God that was not in accordance with knowledge.

Paul was a murderer

Paul was self righteous

Have you ever said to youreself, “God could not save me and He would not save me… I have done __________.”

No one is worthy of the mercy of Christ.

There is so much encorouagement in knowing that it is not because of our worth or ability that we are saved.

“Yet for this reason...”

Inspite of his wickedness

Insite of his self righteousness

“…I was shown mercy.”

NASB says, “I found mercy.”

The Greek shows that the word used for found is in the past tense

Past vs future vs middle voice illustration

Paul did not find anything! Paul was not seeking for truth on the road to Damsacus. Paul was riding to arrest and kill more Christians.

God showed him mercy

Mercy = not getting what we deserve

A state trooper pulled me over in Galveston and then a couple months later the same guy pulled me over in Sour Lake

I deserved a ticket, I was given a warning, TWICE!

Paul, murderer, self-righteous, was visited by the risen Christ and commisioned to be one of the greatest of the apostles.

MERCY

The disciples choosen by Christ to follow Him

MERCY

David, adulterer and murder

MERCY

Abraham, lied about his wife twice and committed adultery

MERCY

No person in Hebrews 11 (the hall of faith) is there for any reason other than God had mercy on him or her.

Mercy is akin to pity

The story of the king who spared the debtor his large sum was a show of pity.

Mercy is not shown to the proud or the mighty, but to those in need!

Mercy is YOU have done everything to earn a punishment but YOU are not being punished.

Hell, for all eternity, the unquenchable wrath of God, is rightly and justly do every single person in this room, BUT God, because of the great love with which He loved us, WHILE WE WERE YET SINNERs, died for us… He had mercy.

Story about Rose from acros the street (the stray cat)

I pittied that helpless kitten.

The reason for the mercy, “So that in me as the foremost [sinner], Jesus Christ might demonstrate His perfect patience as an example for those who would believe in Him for eternal life.”

Christ’s perfect patience

2 Peter 3:9 “The Lord is not slow about His promise, as some count slowness, but is patient toward you, not wishing for any to perish but for all to come to repentance.”

Noah’s ark

Israel in the wilderness

What about you?

He knows when you scream at your wife or kids in rage

He sees the lust in your heart as you look where you should not

He hears the grumbling and complaining about this and that or whatever

He knows the things you steal

He knows the lies you have told and will tell

He knows every thought of disgust you and I have ever had toward Him and His word

HE KNOWS! Yet we are alive and hearing the greatest message of all time… that Christ died to save sinners. That is mercy

The prayer of the publican vs the tax collector

The King

King

He is not going to rule one day. He is not waiting to take the throne. God is the King of kings, now. No matter what your eschotology is, God is the King right now.

If he is not

No hope

No assurance

No security

If he is

He has control

He has the right and ability to extend mercy

He has the power to save as the King of all things

King = sovreign ruler

Prov. 21:1 “The king’s heart is like channels of water in the hand of the Lord; He turns it wherever He wishes.”

Not an atom, not a molecule is a free adgent. The King rules and reigns over all created things.

Col 1:15-17 “He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation. For by Him all things were created, both in the heavens and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities—all things have been created through Him and for Him. He is before all things, and in Him all things hold together.”

Eternal

There is no time with God

He does not dwell in the confines of time. He is not waiting for tomorrow or reminising on the past. He was and He IS and He IS to come.

Time is the great enemy of man

Not enough time to finish the job

Daylight savings

Not enough time with our loved ones

Not enough time to finish school work

Not enough time to live and do what we wanted to do with the people we wanted to do it with.

God is not bound by the thing that binds us all.

There is great power in that

Immortal

Not able to decay or become corrupted

A woman at out church ate two one week old sliders with ham and cheese

God never decays, he cannot fail, he cannot fall.

1 Tim 6:16 “who alone possesses immortality and dwells in unapproachable light, whom no man has seen or can see.”

We have eternal souls but no one is immortal like God.

Invisible

We cannot see God. There is proof of His existence in creation, but no eye has seen Him.

There is a great power and awe in these three things

Eternal, immortal, and invisble

The ONLY God

There is no other God accept Yahweh.

There is no other God that can save

There is no other God to put our hope in

Some say “Duh.” Yet put there hope in money, as if having a lot of cash or assets will do ANYTHING for you when the end comes.

Some trust in the government. No nation has ever existed forever (accept for God’s kingdom of course.) Rome, the world power of hundreds of years fell. Assyria, Babylon, Britain, you name it and the nation has risen and fallen. America will be, unless Christ returns before then, fall as well.

Some trust in relationships.

Husbands commit adultery

Wives leave the family

Children rebel and leave their parents

Friends stab you in the back

And for those that remain true to us, death claims them all at some point.

Go ahead, trust in knowledge or pleasure; trust in technology or athleticism; do what king Solomen did and realize it is vain.

Our only hope is the all powerful King of kings and Lord of lords, Jesus Christ

Glory and honor

The reason for our existence is to glorify Christ

The reason why Christ came to die was to glorify the Father

We are saved to bring His name praise and honor

Wait, you mean it’s not all about me?

YES! It is all about Him! For God to do anything less than bring Himself praise and glory it would be idolotry. God is the greatest good and nothing compares.

You who are saved by His mercy, glorify Him

How? Obey His word.

You who are not saved, who are rebels to His word, glorify him.

How? By repenting and turning your hope onto Christ and Christ alone.

Conclusion

Paul ends this section of Timoty by saying, “Forever and ever. Amen.”

This is for forever. Not just this life.

Is. 55:1-3 ““Ho! Every one who thirsts, come to the waters; And you who have no money come, buy and eat. Come, buy wine and milk Without money and without cost. “Why do you spend money for what is not bread, And your wages for what does not satisfy? Listen carefully to Me, and eat what is good, And delight yourself in abundance. “Incline your ear and come to Me. Listen, that you may live; And I will make an everlasting covenant with you, According to the faithful mercies shown to David.”

Look to Christ and live!

Believer, look to Christ and live! Trust Him, pursue Him, for He has had mercy on you! Strive with him and for Him to glorify Him with your every breath.