Jesus Christ Came To Save Sinners

Last week we looked at how Paul was encouraging Timothy to refute false teachers.

They were swerving from the true faith and were without understanding of the things they were supposed to be teaching.

They were teaching that you had to follow the law in order to be saved.

Paul shows how they were misusing the law, and by doing so neglecting the grace and mercy of God.

This brings us to the place we are at. Where Paul reminds Timothy to teach that we are saved by the unbelievable grace of God!!

And Paul will demonstrate that by examples in His own life.

1 Timothy 1:12-20

Our Gracious God

v.12-15

Who Has Given

v.12

The false teacher had been teaching that you your salvation was dependent on keeping the law of God.

We discussed last week why the law of God is good. We discussed how when we are saved we should have a desire to keep the law.

But we are not saved by how well we keep it.

What is the opposite of a giver? A taker

One who demands all things.

Going on vacation with some family or friends. You rent an air b & b. They don’t help pay. The meals, you buy all the food, do all the work, they don’t help. When it comes to cleaning up, they sit on the couch. They desire to be waited on during the time spent there. They are takers.

Some people have this view of God.

He demands obedience. He looks for perfection. With no contribution.

He expects offering, and praise.

Maybe he gives a little sun. Provides enough work for us to get by.

But for the most part, he is absent…he is a taker.

If we believe in constant obedience, with no grace, we believe God is a taker.

Many Christians can begin to fall into this mindset if we forget about the grace of God.

This is why Paul says, “I thank Him who has given me strength.”

Does God require things from His followers.

Yes, we’ll get to that in a minute.

God gives us strength, to do what He commands.

Augustine made the statement in his confessions,

“Grant what you command, and command what you desire.” -Augustine

This statement is saying that God has the right to command whatever He desires, to command according to His will.

Augustine was asking for strength, for grace to do and to live the way that God desires.

1 Corinthians 15:10

Paul stating it is God working in Him, that makes him what He is.

Our strength, our breath. It is all a gift from God.

This is becasue God is a giver.

He calls us to follow Him, then God gives us the strength to do so.

If it is by our own strength that we are saved, none of us would make it.

v.13

He saw himself as a blasphemer, a persecutor, an opponent to God. For Paul had been attacking the church of Jesus Christ.

The body of Christ.

He had been dragging Christians off to prison.

Having them beaten, and even had some killed.

Paul saw himself as the least of the apostles for doing such things.

Could you imagine, these people who you now call brothers and sisters, at one point you were killing.

But God is one who gives mercy.

The law is important, for it showed Paul that he needed mercy.

But Paul is saying, He wasn’t saved by it.

The extent of the grace of God, this is what saves people.

Extent of God’s Grace

v.14

The grace of God takes an enemy, an opponent. Someone who is a hater and blasphemer of God.

It miraculously changes them into a lover of God!

The grace of God takes not just the dead, but those who have been decayed, who are only dry bones left bleached white by the sun.

The grace of God takes the bones, and builds a body back around them making a full person.

Then the grace of God brings that person to life.

Jesus Christ did not come so that people who were basically good would learn how to be better.

He came to make the dead live!

He came that you might have life, and life more abundantly than you could ever imagine.

But it comes by realizing that we are the foremost of sinners, and need grace.

Reason for Salvation

v.16

The problem we have, is not seeing that we are saved for a purpose.

When we fail to see God’s purpose in our salvation, we become the takers.

We expect mercy from God.

We expect grace from God.

We expect new life from God.

But these gifts are cheapened by us, becasue we refuse to show gratitude by actions for the gifts we receive.

Paul states that he had recieved mercy, that the patience of God would be displayed.

Paul recieved mercy, so that people would see how God was patient with sinners.

How God saves sinner’s who do not deserve His mercy.

People would know of the patience of God, becasue Paul’s life would now display it!

For Paul had been radically saved.

The way that we become givers, and not just takers is by our lives becoming a living sacrifice to God.

The way we work with our hands, it is to bring glory to God.

The things we do with our friends, are about building relationships, and bringing glory to God.

The way we interact with other, is about bringing glory to God.

We need to live in a way where our lives proclaim “all of Christ, for all of life.”

Where our lives proclaim, Christ is King.

Matthew 5:16

Matthew 5:16 ESV

In the same way, let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father who is in heaven.

Our lives should stand as a beacon of hope for those who walk in darkness.

Not becasue we are so great, but because we point people to the one who is great.

We want people to glorify Him.

Charge to Timothy

v.18

Fight the good fight.

There are teachers who will try to downplay the grace of God. The mercy of God.

They will deteriorate serving God into a list of man made rules and regulations.

You must fight the wolves Timothy!

In this world, everybody always has causes it seems.

From protecting against global warming to making peace with the lizard people who live in hallow earth.

People will always find a cause to stand behind.

Paul is telling Timothy, FIGHT!

But make sure that the war you are fighting is the right fight.

Don’t fight for pointless things.

Fight against those trying to pervert the gospel.

Fight the idea that salvation comes by anything but the word of God.

Why Fight?

Warning

v.19-20

There are some, like Hymenaeus & Alexander.

They used to stand strong, but they left the faith.

Handing over to Satan seems overly harsh, doesn’t it?

1 Corinthians 5:5

1 Corinthians 5:5 ESV

you are to deliver this man to Satan for the destruction of the flesh, so that his spirit may be saved in the day of the Lord.

They were to hand this man over to Satan, for “the destruction of the flesh.”

Let him be tormented, so that he might come back to Jesus, who is able to save his soul.

The point is always restoration, however to get there means that if people are going wayward, they must go through trials to turn back to Jesus.

These are the types of men Timothy is to fight against.

For the purpose that others don’t fall into the same type of sin that they are in.

Doxology

v.17

All praise is to the king of Ages, for His amazing, wonderful grace.

The praise isn’t so that we can stand at a distance and see the manifest glory of God, it is so we can draw near to Him.

Mercy without glory, is compromise, glory without mercy is despair.

The two are brought together in the gospel.

Let us draw near to God, who has shown us His glory, and has given us mercy that we might draw near to Him.