Sermon Tone Analysis

If the core verse in 1 Timothy 1:1-11 was 1 Timothy 1:5 (ESV) —5 The aim of our charge is love that issues from a pure heart and a good conscience and a sincere faith., then the core verse of 1 Timothy 1:12-20 is verse 15.

If the purpose for sending Timothy to Ephesus was to straighten out the church in order that they would have right doctrine and practice and for both Timothy and the church to live out the love of God, then here the purpose for the coming of Jesus Christ to this earth is similar. 1 Timothy 1:15 (ESV) —15 The saying is trustworthy and deserving of full acceptance, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners, of whom I am the foremost.

Jesus did not come to condone sin or to make sinners feel good about themselves.

He did not come to provide sinners a ticket to heaven.

That is a benefit, but not the purpose.

The Messiah, Jesus, came into this world to straighten out sinners, in other words, to save people from their sin.

Paul had earlier listed a group of sins.

His message is that those who are unholy need to change.

Jesus came to help with that change.

Those who strike their mothers or fathers need to stop.

Jesus came to save them from sinning.

His first step was to forgive sin.

The second step was to put the Holy Spirit into the life of believers to give a supernatural power for them to stop sinning and live a different life.

Christ Jesus came into this world to save sinners.

Saving sinners from sin is an act of love.

If you can talk a person who wants to shoot up a school from picking up a gun in the first place, you have done both the person and the school an act of love.

If you can stop a violent man from beating up his mother or father, you have done both the parents and the violent man a loving service.

The aim of love and the purpose of Christ intersect in our lives.

Jesus loves us and came into this world to become better people.

What do better people look like?

People who are living as God wants them to live, people who are living as they were created to live.

God never created us to be sexually immoral, enslave people, lie, cheat or steal.

That is the direct result of our inner sin nature.

In order to illustrate this, Paul uses himself for an example.

He is not spouting theory, he was a sinner who was saved from his sin by Jesus Christ.

Mercy

In order for a sinner to be saved from their sin, the sinner needs mercy.

Let’s highlight verse 13.

A blasphemer is one who mocks God or his son, Jesus.

Paul did not mock God, per se, but he did mock Jesus Christ.

He not only mocked Jesus, he persecuted those who followed Jesus.

He rounded them up, beat them, and put them in prison.

These brothers and sisters of our in the faith were severely mistreated by Paul.

He not only blasphemed and persecuted, he was an insolent opponent.

He insulted Jesus and his followers.

In other words, Paul was a horrible human being.

He thought he was following God, but came to find out that instead of following God, he was responsible for destroying what was good and holy and right.

We live in a world where people feel horrible about themselves.

They say and do things that they regret.

Many people believe that they have crossed a line that disqualifies them from anything but God’s judgment.

The things that are bad in their lives are interpreted as God’s judgment on them.

We hear people say, “I must be a pretty bad person because I (fill in the blank).

They might experience sickness, sorrow, or some kind of catastrophe that they tie into the bad things they have done.

We have a huge drug problem in Maine.

Some people on drugs or alcohol have neglected families, gotten into debt, committed crimes and done other things that are wrong.

What do they need?

More than anything else, they need to understand the mercy of God.

Christ Jesus came into this world to save sinners.

He started by paying the price for our sin on the cross.

He did that so that people would come to Jesus and understand that God will not hold their past against them, but will forgive them through the cross.

Paul said, “…But I received mercy because I had acted ignorantly in unbelief,”

Was Paul ignorant?

No, he knew he was hurting people.

He was following God as he knew him.

And that is where the ignorance came in.

Paul did not know God.

He did not know Jesus.

He did not realize that in trying to honor God, he was blaspheming God, persecuting God’s children, and insulting those whom God loved.

Sincere motives are not enough to free us from ignorance.

God is merciful.

What we did out of ignorance can be forgiven.

God is merciful.

If you are here today and you look inside yourself and you don’t like who you are or what you have become, understand that God is merciful.

He knows you better than you know yourself.

He is ready to forgive you if you will come to Jesus.

In order for a sinner to be saved from their sin, they need mercy.

And they will get mercy from God.

Grace

In order for a sinner to be saved from their sin, they need to embrace grace.

Where mercy looks backward at what you have done and says, “It’s forgiven,” grace looks forward and says, “I’m here to bless.”

In other words, its possible that we could receive mercy, but still think that we have to prove ourselves to God.

We don’t have to prove ourselves to God, but we do need to understand the Christ Jesus came to save sinners.

In other words, there is a work that God wants to do in our lives.

He wants to bless us by helping us change and then using us in service to Him.

We see this illustrated in Paul’s testimony.

When did Jesus appoint Paul to his service?

He did it at the moment of his conversion.

He didn’t have a waiting period.

He didn’t make sure Paul was on target.

He met him on the Damascus road, this blaspheming, persecuting, insulting human being, and instantly said to Paul, “Things are different now.

Something happened to you, when you gave your heart to Jesus.

Things are different now, you were changed it must be, when you gave your heart to me.

The things you loved before have passed away, things you love far more have come to stay.

Things are different now, something happened today, when you gave your heart to me.”

Christ Jesus came into this world to save sinners, and Paul was one of the worst.

Did Paul blaspheme God anymore?

No, Christ Jesus saved him from sin.

Did Paul persecute anyone anymore?

He certainly didn’t persecute Christians and he though he disagreed with many in his old Jewish community, he said that

Romans 10:1 (ESV) —1 Brothers, my heart’s desire and prayer to God for them is that they may be saved.

If Paul didn’t blaspheme God or persecute people, did he insult God or people again?

I believe that the jury is out on this.

Some of his language is pretty strong.

Paul was aware that though Jesus came to save from sin, that didn’t happen all at once.

It was a process.

He was overwhelmed by the grace of God that in one day would turn him from an enemy of God to a friend of God.

Christ Jesus comes into our lives not only to forgive our sin, but to free us from the sins that held us in the past.

We don’t deserve this kind of treatment.

But that is the kind of God we serve.

Paul said,