1 Timothy: Overflowing Grace

I. Introduction

A. Overview of Series – Our “theme passage”

1. – Paul wrote this epistle to 1.) teach Timothy how he ought to conduct himself as a young evangelist; and 2.) teach others within the household of God how they need to live in order to honor God in teaching and living the truth.

B. Overview of last lesson

1. We will be picking up in verse 12 of chapter 1. Up to this point in the epistle, Paul has been encouraging Timothy how to deal with false teachers, those who are misusing God’s law

2. He shows Timothy the proper use of the law that was revealed to him

a) To show men who they are w/o God’s mercy

b) To give practical moral guidance to those who are desperate for it

c) To lead those who receive God’s teaching to sincere love of others (v5-6)

II. BODY

A. Paul: Grateful for God’s Grace

1. As we come to verses 12-17, Paul is not, in my judgment, beginning a new section. He is continuing his thought from the previous passage. Paul, in verses 12-17 applies the principles of verses 3-11 to himself and his ministry, beginning with sharing with Timothy his gratitude for what Jesus did for him

2.

a) Paul talks about himself as one of those who had misused the law, putting himself on the same level as these false teachers, and then he takes it a step farther in trying to show that he was even worse than they were

(1) Overview of Paul’s sins

(a) He calls himself here a “blasphemer, a persecutor, and a violent aggressor” (b) In he says, "I punished them...meaning Christians...often and compelled them to blaspheme." He was not only a blasphemer himself but wanted everybody else to blaspheme God, to blaspheme Christ. (c) He was a RELENTLESS persecutor. He would break down Christian’s doors, going into their homes, dragging them away from their families to be imprisoned and put to death (d) - “ravaging the church” (e) – “breathing threats and murder against the disciples of the Lord”

b) But in spite of all of this, Jesus was willing to take Paul out of this situation and use him… That is amazing!

(1) He confronted him and showed him his error

(a) – Road to Damascus…

(2) He was willing to forgive him of his sins in ravaging the church

(a) The great evil that Paul had done… all of that sin against God’s people, as shows us, was just washed away when Paul was baptized into Christ. The sin was gone. Forgiven by God.

(3) And He put him, this man… into service

(a) Look at what Jesus made of him! A good reason to be thankful to Jesus! Jesus gave this man such abundant grace… and He was willing to use him to make such a great difference in the kingdom… Whenever Paul meditated on what the Lord did for him, it gave him strength to keep serving and keep thanking Christ!

3. What a display of God’s grace!

a) Paul talks about God’s grace as being more than abundant or overflowing. The picture I get here is that he is a cup, God poured his grace into Paul and it just kept overflowing and overflowing! It just keeps coming and changing Paul. Paul gives us this picture of God’s grace working in him in :

(1) "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. On the contrary, I worked harder than any of them, though it was not I, but the grace of God that is with me." ().

b) God mightily displayed His power to overcome sin through Paul.

B. Paul’s Trustworthy/Faithful Statement

1.

2. There are 5 places in Paul’s letters to Timothy and Titus that he uses this phrase calling a statement trustworthy or reliable. Twice, here and in 4:9, he expands on the phrase by saying it is also “worthy of full acceptance” …

a) Paul is saying, “this is a statement that can be believed and trusted. This is something you need to take to heart… Really pay attention…

3. Paul sums up the glorious Gospel message here in this one verse

a) Jesus came into the world

(1) Being in Heaven, He left the father’s glorious side. He came into the world (our sphere of existence)… He emptied Himself, became like one of us, putting on human flesh, so that He could die the worst of deaths for us…

b) To save sinners

(1) As Jesus said in the Gospel of Mark, He came to call, not the righteous, but sinners to repentance.

(a) The tax collectors and the prostitutes and the sinners

(2) – “For the Son of Man came to seek and to save what was lost.”

(a) If someone believes they are righteous, Jesus didn’t come to give them salvation. He came for those who would be willing to be convicted of their sin and moved to repentance. Those who would see how bankrupt they are… how dead in their sin they are… (b) Jesus died so sinners, the enemies of God, could be forgiven and set free from their sin!

c) Even the worst of them!

(1) Paul said that he is the worst of sinners. Without God’s grace, this is how Paul viewed himself. Without the grace of Jesus, he is a miserable wretch, the worst of sinners…

(a) Paul said back in verse 9 that the law is for the ungodly and the sinners, here he says he is the greatest of all of them. The law, right used, shows Paul this truth about himself. (b) Paul’s contemporaries would have looked at him as a righteous man who loved God, and they would have looked at those tax-collectors as the worst of sinners. But Paul is saying that without the grace of Christ, I am the worst (c) As Paul gave his witness of the Lord Jesus, he made sure that he focused on who he was before his ministry. This was part of the Gospel he preached. He was anti-Christ. He wanted to make an end of his followers

(i) (Agrippa)

(a) "I myself was convinced that I ought to do many things in opposing the name of Jesus of Nazareth. And I did so in Jerusalem. I not only locked up many of the saints in prison after receiving authority from the chief priests, but when they were put to death I cast my vote against them. And I punished them often in all the synagogues and tried to make them blaspheme, and in raging fury against them I persecuted them even to foreign cities.".

(2) This shows just how abundant God’s grace is!

(a) God shows favor and kindness to even the worst of sinners in spite of their deserving of death and hell (b) Whenever you think of the “worst people” you know morally, or even the most immoral people in history, Paul’s lesson for us here in his trustworthy statement is, God’s grace is abundant, and Jesus came to save even them! He is that generous with His grace.

C. Why Did God Show Paul Mercy?

1.

2. It wasn’t primarily about Paul!

a) It was so others could be served

(1) If Jesus was so patient in forgiving Paul, the worst of sinners, this proves that His grace is more than abundant to deal with any other person who is willing to be humbled by God’s law and see their sin

(2) Christ showed such patience with Paul and is willing to do the same with us

(a) No one can say, “I am beyond God’s power to forgive” or “I am without hope…” If the worst of sinners could br confronted and brought to change

b) I also think we need to keep in mind as God’s people that just as Paul was shown God’s mercy so others could be served by it, the same is the case for us!

(1) Can people see how God has worked in you and transformed you? Can they see how you are maturing?

III. Conclusion

A. Paul’s example of thankfulness, humility, and to be used by God is a good one for us

B. Invitation & Prayer

1. We need thankful hearts. We need to remember what God saved us from and the power He has shown in forgiving us. And we need to remember that this power is still available to us as His people. He is still working in us.