From Sinner to Saint: The Unfathomable Grace of God

Intro:

In our next installment of Portraits of Grace we turn now to the probably, besides Jesus, the most famous person in the NT: The Apostle Paul—1 Timothy 1:12-17.

1. Paul's Past and God's Grace

1 Timothy 1:12-13

Paul was a murderer of Christians: Acts 7:58; 8:1.

He did so ignorantly, thinking he was offering service to God: Acts 26:9-10; John 16:2.

Regardless of Paul’s past, God’s grace triumphed in his life. I wonder about you? Are you letting your past hinder you from coming to the fountain of Grace? Paul is a shining example of how God’s grace invades our sinful lives and radically transforms us.

Acts 9, Paul was literally knocked off his high horse by Jesus.

1 Corinthians 6:9–11 “Or do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived; neither the sexually immoral, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor effeminate, nor homosexuals, nor thieves, nor the greedy, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor swindlers, will inherit the kingdom of God. And such were some of you; but you were washed, but you were sanctified, but you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and in the Spirit of our God.”

There is not a person in this room that does not fit somewhere in that list. God is about saving sinners by His Abundant grace (point 2).

2. Promise of Abundant Grace

1 Timothy 1:14-15

Paul, in his humility, claims the title of the chiefest of sinners, or the foremost sinner. If we could see our sin with the righteous eyes of God, we might want to fight Paul for that title.

The title isn’t the point! The point is that Jesus is about SAVING SINNERS!

Mark 10:45 ““For even the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give His life a ransom for many.””

Romans 5:6 “For while we were still weak, at the right time Christ died for the ungodly.”

Galatians 4:3–5 “So also we, while we were children, were enslaved under the elemental things of the world. But when the fullness of the time came, God sent forth His Son, born of a woman, born under the Law, so that He might redeem those who were under the Law, that we might receive the adoption as sons.”

3. Praise for Perfect Patience

1 Timothy 1:16-17

The mercy that God has shown to Paul, by saving him, and then entering him into His service is the example that we all need.

See the abundant grace of God in Paul’s life, and know that God offers this grace freely to all who believe!

Jesus, the Son of God, entered into the human race, and lived a sinless life, not just to be an example of a human, but to die in the place of sinners. To take God’s wrath for our sin upon Himself. To say IT. IS. FINISHED, to declare that God’s wrath was exhausted! He then was buried, and then on the third day, rose again to new life, declaring that His sacrifice for sin was accepted by God.