I'm reading this morning from
the book of 1 Timothy. 1 Timothy chapter 1. 1 Timothy chapter 1 and one verse
here, verse 11, Paul speaks of the glorious gospel of the blessed
God which was committed to my trust, the glorious gospel which
was committed to Paul's trust, the glorious gospel of the blessed
God, he said, the gospel, the gospel, and there is but one,
God's gospel, the gospel, is the glorious gospel of the blessed
God. It is the gospel of God's glory,
of his blessedness and how he blesses us. It is to the praise
of his blessed and glorious person and glorious work. Turn with
me to Ephesians chapter one, if you will. Ephesians chapter
one, and Paul continues this same In Ephesians 1, he says,
beginning with verse 3, "...blessed be the God and Father of our
Lord Jesus Christ, who hath blessed us," speaking, that is, to the
saints, to those in Christ Jesus, in verse 1. That's who he is
addressing, believers. "...who hath blessed us," believers,
"...with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ."
according as He, God, hath chosen us, chosen those people who are
in Christ before the foundation of the world, that we should
be holy and without blame before Him in love." That is, that we
should be considered by God holy, righteous, without blame before
Him. all in his love, due to his love
to these people. Verse 5, And he predestinated,
having predestinated us, that is, those saints, those believers
in Christ, predestinated them unto the adoption of children,
making them his children. They are not, all flesh are not
God's children. He said that in Romans 9. But
those who have been chosen by Him and adopted by Him are His
children by Jesus Christ to Himself. I continue to read, verse 5,
and it is according to the good pleasure of His will. They are
children, not of blood, not of the will of the flesh, not of
the will of man, but they're born of God, John 1.13 says. And verse 6 here in Ephesians
1 says, it's all to the praise of the glory of his grace. The glory of his grace. So he's
talking about the glorious gospel of the blessed God. The gospel
is of the glory of God's mercy. That's what God told Moses in
Exodus 33 when Moses asked the Lord, show me your glory, your
essential glory, that which makes you God, that which makes you
glorious. And God said, I will make all
my goodness pass before you. I will proclaim the name of the
Lord. I will be gracious to whom I
will be gracious, and I will show mercy unto whom I will show
mercy." I will be gracious, he said. God's grace is his glory,
but it is sovereign grace. He says, I will be gracious to
whom I will be gracious. That is what makes gives God
the glory, His sovereign grace and sovereign mercy. He says,
I will show mercy unto whom I will show mercy. And Romans 9, 16
says, It is not of him that willeth or of him that runneth, but of
God who showeth mercy. the glory of His sovereign mercy,
His sovereign grace, and yes, His sovereign love. God sets
His love, His affection on whom He will. He must do so because
none are worthy, none are deserving, none are lovely. None deserve
the love of God. No, no. But God loves those he
chooses sovereignly. He must do so. There is nothing
lovely about any human being by nature. That is what the scripture
says. They are altogether unprofitable. Psalm 14. But God, rich in mercy
and love, chose some, loves some, saves some to the praise of the
glory of His grace. That's what verse 6 there in
Ephesians 1 said, to the praise of the glory of His grace, wherein
He hath made us accepted, not we accepted Him. Nowhere in the
Bible does it ask human beings to accept Jesus, accept God,
but verse 6 says, he hath made us accepted. Human beings are
the ones who are up for acceptance or rejection by their Creator,
not vice versa. But God, having chosen a people,
predestinated them as his children, made them holy and without blame
before him in love. to the praise of the glory of
his grace, hath made us accepted." His people, those believers who
were given the gift of faith by him, it's not of yourself,
it's the gift of God, that faith. He's made them accepted in Christ
according to his righteousness, imputed to their account and
his blood shed to put away their sin. There's nothing in the creature,
not by works of righteousness which they have done, but according
to his mercy he hath saved them." All right, it is the glorious
gospel of the blessed God. Bless the Lord who chose us. Bless be God who hath blessed
us. Verse 1 of our text in 1 Timothy
says, Paul said, "...the glorious gospel of the blessed God was
committed to my trust." my trust." And again, the gospel is God's
glory. The gospel is the crown jewel
of heaven. The gospel is the sum and substance
of this book, the Bible. The gospel is that which angels
desire to look into. The gospel is the declaration
of the person and work of the triune God, His glory, the glory
of the Father, the glory of the Son, the glory of the Holy Spirit.
the glory of their purpose, the glory of their will, the glory
of their power, the glory of their work, the glory of their
saving work upon undeserving, hell-deserving creatures. The
gospel is the power of God unto salvation, the only power of
God to save and regenerate. And for these reasons and more,
the Apostle Paul says, Though I preach the gospel, I have nothing
to glory of, where necessity is laid upon me. Yet woe is unto
me if I preach not the gospel. What does this tell you about
all those who claim to be gospel preachers, yet do not preach
it? Those who claim to be sent of God and to be gospel preachers,
yet preach other things than the gospel. It tells me clearly
they weren't sent. Romans 10, 15 says, How shall
they preach except they be sent? And if they do not preach the
gospel, they weren't sent and they're not preachers. Well,
Paul says, He committed unto me the glorious gospel. The glorious gospel was committed
to my trust, Paul said. Who does God commit His glorious
gospel to? Who does he send to proclaim
this glorious gospel, to preach it? Who? Well, look at the text
here. Paul describes himself, or what
sort of person that God chooses and calls and sends with this
gospel to preach it. Verse 12 and 13, Paul says, I
thank Christ Jesus, our Lord, who hath enabled me. Christ Jesus enabled me. man, not some seminary professor. But Christ Jesus, our Lord, hath
enabled me, just like he enabled and equipped and chose and called
and gifted all of his apostles and all of his prophets. He enabled me, Paul says, that
he counted me faithful. putting me into the ministry,
counted me faithful. Does Paul mean because I was
a faithful man, he put me into the ministry? Of course not.
Paul was persecuting those who believed Christ. But he's saying
he counted me among the faithful. I was counted among the faithful. He counted me in that number
which he chose. to be in the faith, putting me
into the ministry. Who was before? Now he describes
himself. Verse 13, I was before a blasphemer,
a persecutor, an injurious. Now, let me remind you, Paul
worshiped the God of Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, David. Paul read the Bible. Paul could
quote Scripture. He was a Pharisee, a Hebrew of
Hebrews, Pharisee of Pharisees. A Pharisee, as touching the law,
he was blameless. He was a keeper of the Sabbath,
a strict keeper of the Sabbath, a strict keeper of the commandments,
yet he was lost. He was lost. He was very religious,
but he said, that was lost to me in Philippians 2, Philippians
3. You see, what things were gained
to me, I counted but lost. for the excellency of the knowledge
of Christ. And he counted all his past religion
without Christ as dung, as manure, as garbage, as wasted time. All of his religious training,
all of his religious knowledge, all of his self-righteous law-keeping. He said, thank God who chose
me. I was a blasphemer, a persecutor,
an injurious. And all those who do not worship
the true and living God in Christ Jesus are blasphemers. But he said, I obtained mercy.
I obtained mercy because I did it ignorantly and unbelief. I
obtained mercy. Paul said, I was a recipient
of mercy. I was a blaspheming sinner. So who is it that God commits
the gospel to preach? Only a sinner. can preach the
gospel of God's salvation to sinners. Only a sinner will receive
the gospel. Only a sinner needs the gospel.
Only a sinner will highly esteem the gospel. Only a sinner will
feel the power of the gospel, the glory of the gospel, the
preciousness of the gospel. And only a sinner can tell the
gospel. Angels weren't sent to preach
the gospel. What can they tell about mercy? They have never
received it. What can angels tell about grace?
They don't need grace. What can angels tell about pardon
from sin? They've never sinned. And what
can a self-righteous man tell you about
the gospel? What can a self-righteous woman
tell you about the gospel? Nothing. They can tell you what
you ought to be and how you ought to be like them, but they sure
won't point you to Christ. What can a self-righteous person
tell you about imputed righteousness? What can an un-hell-deserving,
unworthy sinner tell you about the gospel while he can tell
you of sovereign grace and mercy and sovereign love to the undeserving? How that we are justified by
faith. Tell of God's absolute sovereign
grace which saves apart from works. Only a sinner can relate
to sinners. Only a beggar can relate to other
beggars. Only one who's been in the fray
can tell you about the war. Any of you men out there listening
who were in the Army, the Air Force, the Navy, you
didn't want a leader in the foxhole with you who'd never been shot
at, a fellow who'd just done all his training in officer's
training school and read books and came out there. Oh, no. You want a man who's been in
the muddy foxhole with you with bullets flying around him, who
perhaps has been wounded himself. That's who God commits the gospel
to preach, sinners. And to whom is the gospel sent?
Verse 15 says, this is a faithful saying and worthy of all acceptation,
that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners. And Paul
says, I am the chief. Not, I was the chief. I am the
chief. Did you read that? Paul didn't say he was without
sin, never did. Oh, no. Anyone who says that doesn't know the gospel. If you
say we're without sin, you call God a liar. So the gospel is
committed to sinners to preach, and it's committed to sinners
to preach to sinners. Those are the only ones that
will receive it. The Pharisees one time saw Christ eating with
publicans and sinners and they all got all huffy. How come you're
eating and drinking wine with those bunch of sinners? Well,
they're a bunch of sinners. And he said, you know, the Son
of Man came not to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance. He
said, I'll have mercy and not your sacrifice. You go learn
what that means. If you learn that, you'll learn
the gospel. the glorious gospel of the blessed God. Until next
Sunday, may it be so with you. Amen.