When you turn back to 1 Timothy
1, while you're turning there, I guess many of you probably
already know about it, but Wilma Warda fell and she broke her
hip and her arm. And they didn't have surgery
on it for some reason, and I guess she didn't need it. But she was
planning on trying to be here tonight, and I'm glad she didn't
come. And Susan Sly had surgery to repair a hiatal hernia Monday,
and she's doing okay. I've entitled this message, do
I fit into the mold? And I want to ask myself that
question. And I want you to ask yourself that question. Do I
fit into the mold? And verse 16, Paul said, how
be it for this cause? I obtained mercy that in me first,
Jesus Christ might show forth all longsuffering for a pattern. That word is also translated
a form, a mold. It is taken from the cast or
the frame into which molten material is poured to take its shape.
Paul says, I am the pattern. I am the mold. If I'm a believer,
I will fit into that pattern and I will fit into that mold. Now I'm asking myself the question,
do I fit into this mold? And we're going to look exactly
at what he meant by that as we look at this passage of scripture.
But let me say this first. I respect and admire individuality. I really do. You know, we're
just, none of us are alike. I think it's really neat that
everybody has a different fingerprint. God made us all differently.
And we all have a gene pool, an environment, an experience,
a past that makes us all different and makes us all unique. And
I love somebody who is his own man. You do too. You respect that. You regard
that. I love somebody who thinks for
themself, someone who's not so much trying to conform, but someone
who is truly being themselves. I admire that. I respect that. Some people seem like they've
never had an original thought or an original idea. I like people
who are different, not like me. Some of y'all might not believe
that, but it's so. I like people who are not like me, who walk
to the beat of their own drum. We admire that when we see somebody
like that, don't we? Different is good. I may not see or even agree with your point
of view, but I respect you for having your own point of view.
And I believe we all feel that way towards someone who's truly
an individual. We're not alike. Different is
good. I love to see the differences
of people in this assembly. There are so many different people
and yet they all come together to hear the gospel. Now, all
that being said, there is a mold I want to fit into. I don't want
to be different. I want to be poured into this
mold and I want to come out just like Paul. I want to follow this
pattern. I want to be a cookie cutter
Christian in this sense. I want to fit into this pattern
or this mold that Paul speaks of. Now in verse 16, Paul says,
how be it for this cause? I obtained mercy. I want to obtain
mercy. Don't you? I want God to have
mercy. on me. I desperately want that. I do not want God to give me
what I deserve. I want him to have mercy on me.
Now Paul says, for this cause I obtain mercy that in me first
Jesus Christ might show forth all longsuffering. Now I want
the Lord to show all longsuffering to me don't you? Turn with me
for a moment to 2 Peter 3. Hold your finger at 1 Timothy
2 and 2 Peter 3. Verse 9. The Lord is not slack concerning
His promises. Some men count slackness, but
is longsuffering to usward. Now, the us word is believers,
God's elect. He's long-suffering to us, we're
not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance. Now, if God is long-suffering
toward you, that means he's not willing for you to perish. And
you know what? If he's not willing for you to
perish, you're not gonna perish. He's long-suffering to us, we're
not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance. A change of mind concerning who
they are, who God is, how he saves. Look in verse 15 of this
same chapter. Peter says, an account that the
longsuffering of our Lord is salvation. That's a powerful
statement, isn't it? If he's longsuffering toward
you, that means he has saved you, is saving you, and will
save you. Now, Paul says back in our text,
how did for this cause I obtain mercy that in me first, Jesus
Christ might show forth all long suffering for a pattern, for
a mold, for a form. You know a form, you form concrete. You have a certain form and the
concrete is poured in and it fits that form. He's saved me
that I might be a form, a pattern to them. That's me and you, 2012.
To them which should hereafter believe on him to life everlasting. I want to follow this pattern.
Now, Peter and Paul were very different men. There's no doubt
about that. You read the writings of Paul
and you read the writings of Peter. They're two different
men, but they were in the same form. They were cut out of the
same mold. John, the same way. He was very
different, but he was cut out of this same mold. Now it's my prayer that God will
give us the honesty to see if we fit in this form and follow
this pattern. While our experience may differ
widely in many respects, if God's done anything for us, we will
fit exactly into this form. Now, what is the form? Well,
let's begin in verse 12. Paul says, I thank Christ Jesus,
our Lord, who hath enabled me for that he counted me faithful.
putting me into the ministry. Now, the first thing Paul says
regarding his experience, I thank Christ Jesus, our Lord. Now, this is where he begins.
Who gets the credit for your salvation? From the very depths
of your heart, who gets the credit for your salvation? Now, I know
every religious person would say, well, Christ gets the credit,
but they don't mean it. And why do I say that? Well,
all you gotta do is believe in free will and you don't give
Christ the credit. You give your will the credit. If you believe
that God loves everybody, Christ died for everybody, God wants
to save everybody, is calling everybody, but salvation's up
to some kind of act of your will as to whether or not you'll be
saved, you are giving your will the credit in salvation and not
Christ Jesus the Lord. He said, I thank you. Christ
Jesus, the Lord. Now, do you fit in that mold?
Did Christ save you? Did he do it all? Now, I know this, for this man
talking to you, I thank Christ Jesus, the Lord. I fit into the
mold of this first part. I thank, from right now, I thank
Christ Jesus, our Lord. Look what he says next. Who hath
enabled, empowered me, for that he counted me faithful, putting
me into the ministry. He enabled me. Now, whatever
I do, I know this in my own experience. I'm just so sure of this. If
I believe it's because he enabled me. Don't you know that? If I
have a genuine love to God, If I have a genuine love to Christ,
it's because He enabled me. If I repent before God, if I'm
in a continual state of repentance, it's because He enabled me. I am what I am by the grace of
God. I know that. Anything that I
do spiritual, it's because He enabled me. He enabled me to
be faithful. And he counted me faithful. Why
are you faithful, Paul? Now what does faithful mean?
It means you believe and you can be believed. It means you
rely and you can be relied upon. It means you trust and you can
be trusted. Every believer is faithful in
Christ Jesus, faithful to the gospel. You see, we've been entrusted
with the gospel and we're by his grace to be faithful to that
trust. Look up in verse 11. He said, according to the glorious
gospel of the blessed God, which was committed to my trust. To
every believer, God has taken that which is most special and
glorious to himself, his gospel, and committed it to our trust. And then he gives us the grace
to be faithful and rewards us for being faithful. Isn't he
glorious? He enabled me. He enabled me. Counting me faithful, putting
me into the ministry. Now somebody told me, well, I
guess I sound like I'm tootin' my own horn. Maybe I shouldn't
be, if I am. But somebody told me this week, and it was a blessing
to me. He said, one thing I'm sure of, God put you in ministry.
And I thought, that's a blessing that someone said that to me.
I was appreciative. He put me in the ministry, but
this I know. This I know, wherever we are, it's where the Lord has
put us. We know that, don't we? Wherever
we are, whoever we are, it's where the Lord has put us. And we believe that. Now do you
fit into the mold? I thank Christ Jesus our Lord
who has enabled me, for he counted me faithful, putting me into
the ministry who was before a blasphemer and a persecutor and injurious. But I obtained mercy because
I did it ignorantly. in unbelief. Now, first of all
he says, who was before? Who was before? Before. Most folks or too many
folks don't have a before. Do you have a before? Who was
before? A blasphemer. And when he was speaking this
blasphemy, he's not talking about cursing and bad language. He
was a very religious man. But what he said regarding God
was blasphemy. Who was before a blasphemer? Who was before a persecutor? Someone who despised what they
heard to the point that they wanted to persecute those who
maintained the truth of the gospel. Who was before a blasphemer and
a persecutor? And who was before injurious,
insolent, wicked, injuring people? Now, he had it before. Some folks,
you know, they've been saved so long and they've just come
to a knowledge of the doctrines of grace as they've grown. No before. No before. Have you ever had
a before where all you were was a blasphemer, everything you
said was evil, wrong regarding God, and a persecutor and injurious? Who was before all these things
but You gotta but. But. I was all of this. But. But God, who is rich in mercy
for his great love, wherewith he loved us even when we were
dead in sins, hath quickened us together with Christ. But
Noah found grace in the eyes of the Lord. But. You gotta but.
You got a but, you got a before, who was before, and you got a
but, but God. Paul said, but I obtained mercy. Because I did it ignorantly,
in unbelief. When I was a blasphemer, when
I was a persecutor, when I was injurious, and that's what I
was, before God did something for me, But I obtained mercy
because what I did in these things, I did it ignorantly, in unbelief. Now, does that mean that somehow
Paul's guilt was not so great because what he did was in ignorance
and in unbelief? It may sound that I obtained
mercy because I didn't know any better. When I was killing Christians,
I didn't know any better. When I was in utter unbelief
and hatred of the gospel, I just didn't know any better. And that's
why I obtained mercy. Is that what he's saying? No. He's saying I was so ignorant. And this ignorant was a willing
ignorance. This they willingly are ignorant
of. It's a willing ignorance, and
that's why it's so evil and heinous, because it's willing. I was so
willingly ignorant. I was so given over to unbelief. If I'm a man that's guilty of
his unbelief, that's not that big a deal. At least he didn't
murder, at least he didn't kill. No, unbelief is the most great
of all sins. It's an attack at the character
of God. It's hatred of God is what it
is. And he says, I was so ignorant.
I was so given over to unbelief. that the only way I could be
saved is to obtain mercy. God had mercy on me. You know, I used to read that
scripture and it used to trouble me because it almost seemed like
Paul was saying, well, the reason I had mercy, cause I didn't know
what I was doing, therefore I shouldn't be held accountable and responsible.
No, no. I was so much like this. The
only way I could be saved is by the sheer sovereign free mercy
of God. Do you fit into that mold? I do. I do. That's the mold I fit into. Now,
remember, Paul says, I'm the mold. And if you're a believer,
God's done something for you, you'll fit into this mold. I
obtained mercy. I didn't earn it. I obtained
it. God had mercy on me for Christ's sake. Verse 14, and the grace of our Lord was exceeding abundant
with faith and love, which is in Christ Jesus. Now here, the word exceeding
abundant is not an adjective describing grace, but it's a
verb telling us what grace does. The grace of our Lord abounded. was exceeding abundant toward
me." Now, turn to Romans chapter 5, verse 20. Moreover, the law entered that
the offense might abound. Let's talk about the Ten Commandments.
Let me ask you a question. Are you a liar? Are you an adulterer? Are you a covetous, greedy person? Do you disrespect authority? I could go on and on with the
Ten Commandments. Do you put things before God? Have you practiced idolatry?
Have you failed to reverence God? Have you failed to rest? Have you stoled? Somebody says, well, I don't
know about that. Well, you have. That's the way
you and I ought to look at ourselves. Breakers of the law. Now somebody
says, but that's so negative. Now that's not all I'm saying
because in Christ, I haven't broken the law. In Christ, I'm
perfect. In Christ, I'm free. In Christ,
I'm without guilt. I realize that and I glory in
that and I rejoice in that and I rest in him. But it's also
true at all times when I'm looking at myself, this is me. This is
me, a law breaker. The law entered that the offense
might abound. Now, if I can look at God's holy
law and feel anything but that, I have not seen what God's law
means. Now, if you see, and if I see,
if we have fellowship with the Lord Jesus Christ, I know the
way you see you're a sinner is not by so much looking within,
but when you see the Lord Jesus Christ and you see his glory
and you see his holiness and you see his person and you worship
him, you're going to see yourself as the chief of sinners. And
if you don't see yourself that way, there's only one reason.
You don't see him. You're not walking in fellowship
with him. If you walk in fellowship with him, you're going to walk
lowly. Moreover, the law entered that the offense might abound. to where that's all you see.
Now let's go on reading. But where sin abounded. Would that be you? Would you be a place where sin
abounds? You say, no, I'm not. Well, I
can't give you this promise. But here's the promise where
sin does abound. What's the promise? Grace. Grace is for the guilty, isn't
it? Grace did much more abound that as sin hath reigned unto
death. Now, regarding this thing of
death, how much power do you have to stave it off? Do you
have any ability whatsoever to say, I'm not going to give in
to death. I'm not going there. I'm not going to die. Death's
not going to... No. You don't have any choice. Because you sinned, because I
sinned, we're going to die. And we cannot stop that. That as sin has reigned unto
death, death doesn't take no for an answer, does it? I mean,
how many times have people, oh, I don't want to die. I don't
want to die. As sin hath reigned unto death though, you can't
stop it. In the same manner that sin reigns to death, grace reigns. reigning grace, sovereign grace,
grace that will not take no for an answer. That's what he's talking
about. That is abounding grace. It's saving grace. Oh, it abounds. And look how it abounds. Verse
21, that as sin hath reigned unto death, even so in the same
manner might grace reign through righteousness. This is a righteous
grace. Understand this, the grace of
God is not some kind of excuse for sin. It's a righteous grace,
even the righteousness of the Lord Jesus Christ. It's a grace
that makes me altogether righteous. Right now, I am altogether righteous. You know, that almost seems,
what are you talking about when you're talking about being nothing
but sin? That too, that too. but grace has reigned through
righteousness. This is righteous grace. It doesn't
excuse sin. It doesn't sweep sin under the
cover. All sin is punished. Grace reigns through righteousness,
the righteousness of the Lord Jesus Christ. Grace reigns through
righteousness, nothing unjust about this, unto eternal life
by Jesus Christ our Lord. He's the author of this. He's
the one who did this. Now, do you fit into the mold
here? He talked about reigning grace. Where sin abounded, grace
did much more abound. The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ
was exceeding abundant. It overflowed. It abounded toward
me. It abounded over my sin. It abounded
over the hardness of my heart. It abounded over my inability. This is what grace does. God's
grace isn't an offer. God's grace does something. It
super abounds over all my sin. Back to 1 Timothy 1. Verse 14, And the grace of our
Lord Jesus Christ was exceeding abundant. It's super abounded. And wherever there's super abounding
grace, there's two things that go with it. Faith and love, which
is in Christ Jesus. Faith in Christ and love to Christ. Now, if I fit into the mold,
I really am Relying right now on the Lord Jesus Christ as my
salvation before God as All my acceptance as my righteousness
as my prophet is my priest is my king. I'm relying on him And I love him You know, I love
it when the Lord said to Peter those three times Peter Do you
love me? Peter denied him three times.
And he asks him three times, Peter, do you love me? Peter,
do you love me? Peter, do you love me? And do
you know the third time the scripture says Peter was grieved and he
appealed to the omniscience of Christ. He said, Lord, you know
all things. You know that I love your person. A believer can do that. You know
all things. Now, other disciples might have
questioned at the time after what had taken place. But Peter
says to the Lord, you know all things. You know that I love
you. Lord, you know all things. You
know my heart. You see right through me. You
know that I love and adore your person. And I love your people. Faith and love. The evidence
of abounding grace. Do you fit into that mold? Let's go on reading verse 15. This is a faithful saying. You can count on this. You can
rely on this. Now, I realize the word is same
word that's quite often translated word. This is a faithful word. I like the thought of the way
they translated this way that it was a saying in the early
church. It was more than just a word.
It was a saying. It was something that believers
were often heard to say. Something they repeated quite
frequently. It's something they love to talk
about. You know, actually, this verse of scripture, I was thinking
about this. I've got a lot of favorite verses.
I've got a lot of them. It is finished. Don't you love
that when the Lord said, it is finished? I love that. It just
makes me relax. It's finished. All that God requires
of me, I have. And it can't get any better.
It is finished. I like this one. He hath made
us accepted in the Oh, how I love that verse of Scripture. I love,
by grace are you saved, through faith, and that not of yourselves,
it's the gift of God, not of works, lest any man should boast.
By what offering he hath perfected forever them that are sanctified. Oh, I love it. When he had by
himself purged us of our sins, he sat down at the right hand
of the majesty on high. Don't you love those verses?
I mean, I've got a lot of favorite verses, but this is my favorite
of the favorites. It's right here. First Timothy
1 15. This is the verse that is more precious to me than any
other verse in all of the word of God. Let's read it. This is a faithful
saying, and it is worthy of all acceptation. Everybody ought to receive this.
Everybody ought to embrace this. This is the best news ever heard. It's worthy of all acceptation.
All of it should be accepted, and it should be accepted by
us all. Now, everybody in this room,
everybody in this room, this ought to be, I'm not trying to
tell you what your favorite, well, maybe I am. I'm not trying
to tell you what your favorite verse ought to be, but this ought
to be one of them, I know that. I know that. This is a faithful
saying, and it's worthy of all acceptation. Everybody ought
to receive this, ought to glory in it, ought to rejoice in it.
That's the best news they've ever heard. Now what's he say? That Christ Jesus, Christ God's
anointed, who so believeth that Jesus is the Christ, is born
of God. Do you believe that? Do you believe
he's God's anointed prophet, the Word of God? Do you believe
that he's God's anointed priest, that if he represents you before
the Father, you must be accepted? He's God's King. He's the King
of Kings and the Lord of Lords. Now unto the King eternal, immortal,
invisible, the only wise God be honor and glory forever and
ever. Amen. He's that blessed and only
potentate, the King of Kings and the Lord of Lords. That's
who He is. The Christ. Christ Jesus. Oh, how precious His name is,
Jesus. The Savior. What a name! Thou shalt call His name Jesus,
for He shall save His people from their sins. What a name!
Christ Jesus. Christ Jesus came into the world. The Word was made flesh. This is the confession of the
church. The great confession. He kept... Christ Jesus came
in the flesh. He was before He came. He came
in the flesh and He did what He came to do. Christ Jesus came
into the world. Aren't you glad He came into
the world? He walked 33 years here on this earth without ever
sinning. Christ Jesus came into the world
to save. Not to offer salvation. To save. not to make salvation available,
to save. That's why I call his name Jesus,
for he shall save his people from their sins. Christ Jesus
came into the world to save, and just imagine that you'd never
heard this verse of scripture before. Listen to it. What if you heard that maybe
you were included in the will of a multi-millionaire? How would
you listen when you heard that will being read? You know how
you'd listen? You'd listen very carefully.
You'd be listening to see if you were included in it and how
much was in it for you. That's what you'd be listening
for. And that's the way I'm to listen to the gospel. Am I in
it? What's in it for me? Christ Jesus
came into the world to save What if it said, the elect? That'd be true. But it might not be good news. I'm glad it didn't say the elect.
Although I know he did come to say the elect. What if it said
he came to say, save believers? Well, that's true. He did come
to save believers. But what if you feel like you
can't even come up with any faith? What if it said Christ Jesus
came into the world to save good people? Well, that'd leave me
out. That'd leave you out. But what's
it say? It says Christ Jesus came into
the world to save sinners. And notice there's not an adjective
to describe what kind of sinners. Just sinners. What's a sinner? He's a lawbreaker. That's the
best definition of a sinner I know. He's a lawbreaker. No excuse
for that, but sin is the transgression of the law. A sinner is someone
who breaks God's holy law. A sinner is someone who's failed
miserably in this thing of thou shalt not have no other gods
before me. He's put everything before God. That's what he's
done. He's been an idolater. He's failed
to reverence God. He's failed to rest. He's been
disobedient to authority. He's been a liar. He's been a
murderer. He's been a thief. He's been
covetous. He's been an adulterer. That's
what he is in his heart. That's what he... And notice
how Paul says this. And this is so important. This
is a faithful saying. And worthy of all acceptation
that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners of whom
I am. Notice he didn't say who I used
to be. He didn't say that at all. He
said, I'm the chief. And this is what is so amazing.
Aaron, the apostle Paul would have looked at you dead in the
eye and said from the very depths of his heart, I'm worse than
you. And you wouldn't believe it, would you? You wouldn't believe
it. He'd look at every one of us just like that and say, I
am the chief. And we'd say, no, I am the chief. That's the way every believer
feels about himself. Every believer who is looking
to the Lord. You look to the Lord, you'll
believe yourself to be the very chief of sinners. And if you
don't see that about yourself, it's because you're not seeing
him. You're not walking in fellowship with the Lord. Anybody who walks
it, what did Isaiah say when he saw the Lord? He said, when
I saw the Lord, I said, woe is me. I'm undone. I'm a man of
unclean lips. I dwell in the midst of a people
of unclean lips. Mine eyes have seen the King,
the Lord of hosts. Daniel said, when I saw him,
my comeliness turned to corruption. This is a faithful saying, and
it's worthy of all acceptation that Christ Jesus came into the
world to save sinners. Does that make you rejoice? He
came to save sinners. I'm one of them. He came to save
me. And beloved, if he came to save
me, you know what he did? He saved me. He saved me. Saved altogether. Saved from my sins. He's justified
me. Sin has nothing to condemn me
for. I got no sin. He sanctified me. He's given
me a new nature and a holy nature. You see, it's that new nature
that sees the sinfulness. And one of the amazing things
about the new nature is the new nature owns the sins of the old
nature. I can't explain that. But it's
so. It's the new nature. You know,
the old nature justifies its sins. The old nature looks for
an excuse. It's the new nature. It's the
holy nature that owns the sins of the old nature. Now, can I
explain that? No. But what can I explain? I believe
it, though. I believe it. Christ Jesus came
into this world. He invaded history. He became
flesh for this purpose, to save sinners. And if you are a sinner,
Christ Jesus came to save you. And that's what he did. Paul
said, of whom I am the chief. Now, do I fit into this mold?
I do. I do. I fit into this mold. I thank Christ Jesus, our Lord.
who has enabled me. He enabled me to be faithful
and he counted me faithful. Putting me into the ministry. I fit into that mold. And before,
before God saved me, I know this. I was a blasphemer. Everything
I said was blasphemy because I said it. I was a persecutor
and I was injurious. But, But I've got a, but I got
a before and I've got a, but, but I obtained mercy because
the only way I could be saved is because I was so ignorant
and unbelieving that the only way I could be saved is by the
sheer mercy of God. I fit into that mold. And the
grace of our Lord abounded toward me. Where sin abounded, grace
did much more abound. That is, sin hath reigned unto
death. His grace abounded me. And you
know how it manifested itself? Faith and love. Faith in Christ
right now. Lord knows whether I'm telling
the truth. Lord knows. The Lord Jesus Christ is my salvation. I am relying on Him. He only is my salvation. He only is my defense. I'm relying
on Him only. I'm not looking to myself for
a thing. I'm looking to Him for everything. I do have faith in Christ. And
I do love Him. I love all of His attributes.
I love His holiness. I love His mercy. Every attribute
of the Lord Jesus Christ, I love. I adore Him. I love Him as He
is. I wouldn't change Him if I could. This is a faithful saying
to me, and it's worthy of my acceptation. that Christ Jesus
came into the world to save sinners of whom I am chief. Now, I don't understand how that's
not somebody's favorite verse. It's mine, at any rate. I bet
it's the favorite verse of a whole lot of other people in here,
too. Maybe everybody here. It's certainly worthy of all
acceptation, isn't it? How be it for this cause I obtain mercy,
verse 16, that in me first Jesus Christ might show forth all longsuffering. What longsuffering the Lord demonstrated
in saving somebody like Paul? He was such a wicked man. So
proud, so arrogant, so self-righteous, so hateful. What longsuffering
the Lord demonstrated in saving somebody like him? And he said,
here's why. that I might be a pattern, that
I might be a mold, that I might be a form to them which should
hereafter, that's me and you, April the 11th, 2012, that's
the hereafter, them which should hereafter believe on Him unto
life everlasting. Now, I fit into that form. That's a wonderful form to be
in. Like I said, we're all different. Uh, respect, uh, individuality. We respect people who are different,
but here's a place we don't want to be different. I want to fit
into this mold. Let's pray together.