verse Timothy chapter one beginning
at verse 12. As we continue through this book,
Paul is going to be talking about himself here and that's something
normally he didn't like to do. You know, I think it's in one
of the Corinthian letters. He was being accused of things
that he was not guilty of by false preachers. And so he had
to defend himself among the Corinthians, which was something he did not
like to do. He said it was a burden to him.
And especially with the Corinthians, because he was the first one
to preach the gospel in Corinth. And they should have known that
these false preachers were telling lies. Have you ever been lied
on? You know how it feels. I have
been. I mean, you know, it just comes
with the territory, especially when people hate the gospel that
we preach. But Paul's gonna talk about himself
in a good way this time, because he's gonna talk about himself
as a great sinner obtaining mercy. And in this lesson, what I would
like for you and I to see, you and me to see, is that when we're
talking about great sinners obtaining mercy, we're talking about ourselves,
not just Paul. You can look in here and you
can say, well, Paul, boy, what did he do? You can list it out,
which we will. He did. He listed it out. He had a very, very dark, evil
past. Paul did. Saul of Tarsus, you
know the name. But you also know this, that
dark evil past was a religious past. That's right. A Pharisee of Pharisees. Oh, trying to keep the law. To
be right with God. That's what Paul was doing. And
you know, that's what most of the New Testament is written
to. It's written to religious people. You know, a lot of preachers
of the past, and probably some today, they go after the immoral
faction of our society as men see immorality. And the reason
I put it that way is because in God's eyes, false religion
is immoral. You know that, don't you? It
means it's not right. According to God's standard of
goodness, which is the perfection that can only be found in Christ,
it's immoral. But I'm talking about what men
and women naturally call immoral, and preachers would go after
that faction, and of course we should preach against that faction
of society, invite them to come and hear the gospel, the publicans
and the sinners, you remember the Pharisees? Your master eats
with publicans and sinners, people we wouldn't even associate with.
You remember what Christ told him? He said, the physician didn't
come to heal the righteous, the well, but sinners, to call sinners
to repentance. Well, Saul of Tarsus was a great
sinner. And look at what he says here.
And what I wanna say now, when we talk about great sinners,
we are talking about ourselves, if we know Christ. And it says,
great sinners obtaining mercy. Now, what's that mean? We didn't
achieve it. Mercy's not an achievement on
our part. It's a gift. And we possess it
as it's given. That is, we obtain it. That word's
important. Paul said, I obtained it. I didn't
earn it, didn't deserve it. Because mercy, listen, if something's
earned and deserved, you can't call it mercy. It's reward. It's merit. We're not saved by
merit, our merit. We're saved by mercy. And where
do we find mercy? In Christ, the mercy seat. Well, look at what he says here,
verse 12. He says, and I thank Christ Jesus,
our Lord, who hath enabled me for that he counted me faithful,
putting me into the ministry, who was before a blasphemer and
a persecutor. and injurious. That's who Paul
was. A blasphemer. You know a blasphemer
under the Old Covenant was to be punished by death. A blasphemer. You know what a
blasphemer is? It's somebody who curses God. And that's the way Saul of Tarsus
did when he looked at Jesus of Nazareth. He looked at Jesus
of Nazareth as being a blasphemer But he himself was the blasphemer.
It's kind of like saying, curse God. Remember what Job's wife
said? Curse God and die. Wow. And somebody says, well,
why didn't God just strike her dead? We'll show you in a minute
here. Why didn't God just strike Saul
of Tarsus dead when he was blaspheming and persecuting? And the old preacher said, when
Paul was struck down on the road to Damascus, understand, he wasn't
going to a prayer meeting. He was going to arrest Christians,
bring them before the council, and have them put to death. He
wanted Jesus' name wiped off the face of this world. To get
rid of this blasphemer and his followers. He wasn't seeking
the Lord on the road to Damascus. But boy, did he find him. And
then he sought him, and that's how it works in God's kingdom.
You're not gonna seek the Lord on your own. I'm gonna preach
on that at 11. If left to yourself, you would
never seek the Lord. And here's the thing about it,
it's the natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit.
I quote that verse on TV all the time. Because I want people
to know what the word of God says about us. Because most people
think that they make the difference. It's what I do, what I think,
what I choose makes the difference. But it's not. Who maketh thee
to differ? I know he's talking about spiritual
gifts there, but that can apply to salvation too. If left to
ourselves, we wouldn't seek the Lord, we wouldn't find him, we
wouldn't want him. And you can think about that
in the way of whenever the gospel is preached so as, let me put
it this way. Whenever the gospel is preached
so as to expose us for what we are, we don't want it. We rise up against it. And we
do so until the Lord changes our mind, our heart, our will
under the preaching of the gospel. You know, you can look in the
book of Acts. I've got it cited here in your
lesson. In Acts chapter eight, verses
one to three, in Acts chapter nine, one and two. Here was Paul. He said, I was injurious, making
havoc of the church. You know that one verse says
Saul wreaked havoc on the church, using force and violence to blot
out the gospel. But look at this next line in
verse 12. Or verse 13, rather. But I obtained
mercy. And it says, because I did it
ignorantly in unbelief. You know, a lot of people say,
well, the basis of Paul getting mercy was his ignorance and unbelief.
Well, if that's true, everybody's gonna have mercy. Because by
nature, we're all ignorant in unbelief. But that's not what
that means. Paul was, he's not showing the
ground of mercy there. What is the ground of mercy?
The blood of Jesus Christ. And that's the only ground. The
ground of forgiveness is the blood, the merits, the righteousness
of Christ, nothing else. And my ignorance, my natural
ignorance wasn't the cause of God giving me mercy. If that
was, then everybody would get it. There'd be nobody perish.
and go to hell. God said, I'll have mercy on
whom I will and I'll be gracious to whom I will. That's His sovereign
mercy. Now, in my own thoughts, I don't
enjoy the fact of anybody going to hell. Do you? I hope you don't. And you know why you don't? It's
because you obtained mercy. It was a free gift that God gave
you. And you gotta just sit back and
say, wow, why'd he give it to me? I was no better than Saul. No better than, who's the king
that was the worst one of the southern kingdom that was, oh,
I can't think of his name. Come on, some of you Bible scholars,
help me out. Manasseh, that's him, Mark. You
nailed it. Manasseh probably was the worst
of all of them. He reigned during the time when
they would offer their children up. They had a god called, I
think it was Molech, and it was made of some kind of metal, and
they'd heat it up and lay their children in the arms of that
idol to burn up, trying to appease Molech. But you know what happened
to Manasseh? God, he obtained mercy. Read
that. That's amazing, isn't it? You'd
say if anybody deserved hell, he wouldn't. Well, what about
me? What have I done to escape hell? Nothing. I obtained mercy. But this line, when he says,
and we're in 1 Timothy 1, verse 13, he says, because I did it
ignorant and unbelief. He's not showing the ground of
mercy there, he's showing the need of mercy. I needed it. It's up to God to give it. Again,
God said, I'll have mercy on whom I will. It's up to God to give it. He
can give it, he can withhold it, And I've had people all through
the years that I've preached the sovereignty of God, they'll
say, well, I want to ask God. I've had several people say this.
I want to ask God why he does it that way. And I say, well,
ask him. And right now, you don't have
to wait till you stand before him in judgment. Just go read
Romans 9. That's where he tells you why.
And the bottom line is, who do you think you are to argue with
God? You're the clay, he's the potter. Somebody said, well, I don't
want that God. Well, too bad, you've got him. And he's a consuming
fire to everyone who comes before him without Christ, without grace. Oh, I need to be washed in his
blood and clothed in his righteousness. But that's what Paul's saying,
I obtained mercy. I've got here in your lesson,
what an honest confession from one who was self-righteous and
who hated the gospel. But that was me. I obtained mercy. God had mercy on me. Unsought
mercy. Unmerited mercy, which is the
only kind. God here, like all who obtain
mercy, Paul did not earn or deserve it. He did not attain it, he
did not achieve it. He obtained mercy as a free gift
of God's grace in Christ. And Christ is every believer's
mercy seat. So understand that it's the nature
of God's mercy that it cannot be earned, it cannot be deserved,
else it's not mercy. It's not mercy at all. The same
holds true with God's love. God's love cannot be earned or
deserved. If you think you deserve God's
love, you're wrong. Herein, 1 John 4, 10, I could
quote a lot of verses on this, but here's one that's just plain
as you can be. Herein is love, not that we love
God, but that he loved us and gave his Son to be the propitiation,
the satisfaction for our sins. God's love, God's mercy, God's
grace. Amazing. That's why old Newton
wrote that song. Amazing grace, how sweet the
sound. That saved a wretch like me. I once was lost, but now I'm
found, was blind, but now I see. Who gave you eyes to see spiritually? You know who gave you eyes to
see physically, don't you? God did. But as far as spiritual
matters, we're all naturally blind until he gives us eyes
to see. We'll talk about that later too.
Well, look at verse 14. He says, and the grace of our
Lord was exceeding abundant with faith and love, which is in Christ
Jesus. Do you know everything that God
has for a sinner? by way of salvation, by way of
any blessing of salvation or benefit of it, is in and through
the glorious person and the finished work of the Lord Jesus Christ.
And so what I'm telling you this, without Christ, there's no mercy
from God. Without Christ, there's no love
from God. Without Christ, there's no grace.
And why is that? Because without righteousness,
there's no mercy, love, and grace. You know that Psalm 85 that talks
about mercy and truth have come together, righteousness and peace
have kissed each other? That's how God can be both just
and justifier of the ungodly, through the imputed righteousness
of Christ. And so when we talk about the
abundance of exceeding abundance with faith and love. We're talking
about gifts from God wherein, as Romans 5.20 says, where sin
abounded, grace did much more abound. You know what that verse
literally means? It means where as sin abounded,
like I'm drowning in a sea of sin, grace did much more abound. There's no sinner too bad for
God to save by his grace. And if you think, you know, and
I've had people come to me and say, ah, I'm just too bad. Well,
all that is, you know what that is? That's self-righteousness,
really, in disguise. Because what that means, you
think, well, if I hadn't done all those things, I'd deserve
it. No, you wouldn't. Turn to Philippians chapter three. Now, notice the difference here between Paul's confession. But
it's actually the same confession. Remember in 1 Timothy 1 verse
13, he says, I was a blasphemer, a persecutor, an injurious, How's
all those bad things? Well, look at his testimony here
in verse four of Philippians three. Though I might also have
confidence in the flesh, if any other man thinketh that he hath
whereof he might trust in the flesh, I more circumcise the
eighth day. These are things that Paul, when
he was lost in his self-righteous, thought recommended him unto
God and earned him a right relationship with God, the blessings of God,
salvation. I was circumcised the eighth
day of the stock of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, and Hebrew
of Hebrews, as touching the law of Pharisee, concerning zeal,
persecuting the church, touching the righteousness which is in
the law, blameless." So you see how he puts it there? But all
of that falls under the category of being a blasphemer, a persecutor,
and injurious. Why? because it was nothing more
than self-righteous, ugly religion. God hates it. He doesn't bless it. Well, what
changed, Paul? Well, look at verse seven of
Philippians three. But what things were gained to
me, those I counted lost for Christ. That's what changed things. He got a saving revelation of
Christ and it says he goes on he says
verse 88 doubtless I count all things but lost for the excellency
of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord for whom I've suffered
the loss of all things and listen to this do count them but dumb
that I may win Christ and be found in him not having my own
righteousness which is of the law that's dumb that that which
is through faith, the faith of Christ, which I believe is the
faithfulness of Christ, righteousness which is of God by faith, which
we receive it by God-given faith. It's imputed to us, and then
God gives us life from the dead, and we receive it. Go back to
1 Timothy 1 now. Well, the Lord put him in the
ministry and enabled him. It was all of God. Paul didn't
call himself to the ministry. He didn't get into the ministry
because his daddy was a preacher or anything like that. You see
a lot of that today, don't you? See some famous preacher and
he has a son. They all come by, you know. How
do you know that God didn't call him? Well, what are they preaching?
If they're not preaching the gospel, I can tell you right
now God didn't call him. He doesn't call men or women to preach a
lie. It's to preach the gospel. And
God counted him faithful. You know what that is. That's
the gift of faith. Paul was faithful, but only by
the grace of God. That's why you're faithful and
I'm faithful. Why are we still here? Why are
we persevering? It's because God preserves us by his grace. We'll look down at verse 15. He says, this is a faithful saying. and worthy of all acceptation. You know what that means? That
means he's about to say something that no believer should deny
or confuse or argue about. This is something we all should
agree on right here. Now, we don't agree on everything.
We agree on the gospel. There are things we differ on
in non-essential things, but right here, he says, and here
it is, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners,
but he goes on now, of whom I am chief, of whom I am the greatest.
Well, we do agree, Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners. But there is something about
understanding what a sinner is that has to do with Holy Spirit
conviction. Now Paul says, of which I am
chief, which means the greatest. I'm the greatest of all sinners. And if you look at his past and
you see what he did in his religion, he thought he was doing right
now when he went after the church and hated the gospel. He was
being a Pharisee of Pharisees. I mean, these guys were preaching
the law is fulfilled and abolished in Jesus Christ. Whoa, that's
my whole life, Paul said, that's my righteousness. And so he went
after Christ, he went after the church, the gospel. But he says,
of whom I am chief. And I've heard preachers say,
well, Paul was the greatest. Now I know that sometimes we
preachers can run a wheel off that's a that that's a- phrase
that I learned from a fellow from West Virginia. Talk about
somebody's gonna rise away run a wheel off. And we can get to
wax an elephant. Which means waxing eloquent and
put on the dog all you heard all those. But now here, listen to me. I believe this is the conviction
of sin that God brings every one of his children to. This
was no contrived humility. This was no, how do you say it? Well, it wasn't just putting
it on, you know. Paul was telling the truth here
about how he felt of himself without Christ. And I can honestly
say, and I believe you can too if you think about it now, you're
the chief of sinners, I'm the chief of sinners, without Christ,
where else can we be? I know this, that if he had left
me in that state, I would be on my merry way to hell. You might say, well, hell's gonna
be hotter for Saul if he did that way than me. No. No. I've often told you this. I've
said, if God were to judge me right now by my works, I'd be
damned forever. But he doesn't judge his people
by their works. He judges us in Christ as we're
washed in his blood and clothed in his righteousness. That's
what the gospel's all about. Christ Jesus came into the world
to save sinners. And that word sinners there is
the most common word for sin or sinners in the New Testament,
which means to fall short. Well, what do we fall short of?
We fall short of the perfection of righteousness that can only
be found in Christ. His glorious person and His finished
work. And so look at verse 16, he says,
how be it for this cause I obtained mercy. That's for the cause of
the glory of God and in the ministry, I obtained mercy. It wasn't that
I obtained mercy because I did, I was this or that. A sinner
needs mercy. And that's why we obtained mercy.
We're sinners who cannot save ourselves. And again, it's sovereign
mercy now. And he says, that in me first,
Jesus Christ might show forth all longsuffering. When you look
at Manasseh that I mentioned earlier and what he did, you
might look at a person, I've got this in your lesson, you
might look at a person who does some horrible, horrible crime. And you might say, why didn't
God just strike him dead? I've heard people say, you know,
when they go kinda crazy, you know, and I've heard some say,
you better be careful, God might strike you with lightning. Why
didn't God strike Saul of Tarsus with lightning? He's longsuffering to usward. Peter said this, and I've got
it quoted here, not willing that any should perish, but that all
should come to repentance. And who's he talking about there?
His elect, his sheep, Manasseh was one of Christ's sheep. Somebody said, well how could
you tell it before he was converted? You couldn't. How could you tell
it that Saul was one of his sheep? He was a lost sheep. But God
brought him to faith in Christ and repentance of dead work.
That's why God is, he's long-suffering. Long-suffering. is the fact that
God doesn't immediately destroy us in our blasphemy. And it's even applied to the
non-elect because some of them grow awful old like some of those
in the Old Testament who lived hundreds of years and then they
die. But God only shows mercy to his
people, and so he says, that might show forth all longsuffering
for a pattern to them which should hereafter believe on him to everlasting. Who's that longsuffering here
for? Those which should hereafter believe on him to life everlasting. And we know that the only way
a sinner's gonna believe on him is if God intervenes in that
life. Gives him a new heart, a new
mind. Gives him the gift of faith. Faith is a gift. It's not what
you have in you naturally. Brings him to repentance. Great
sinners obtaining mercy. Okay.