1 00:00:00,000 –> 00:00:03,860 Well, please open your Bible at 1 Timothy and chapter 1. 2 00:00:03,860 –> 00:00:10,400 Remember, the aim of our series is to discern what matters to God in a local church so that 3 00:00:10,400 –> 00:00:17,520 we may pursue what matters to Him with all the passion and all the strength of our hearts. 4 00:00:17,520 –> 00:00:22,080 And we’ve been learning together some of the distinguishing marks of a church that 5 00:00:22,080 –> 00:00:26,240 really is centered in the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ. 6 00:00:26,340 –> 00:00:31,799 We began by looking at gospel faith, which means that we would be rooted in truth and 7 00:00:31,799 –> 00:00:33,799 growing in love. 8 00:00:33,799 –> 00:00:39,779 How important it is that truth and love are bonded together in the gospel and therefore 9 00:00:39,779 –> 00:00:44,240 they are inseparable in a gospel-centered church. 10 00:00:44,240 –> 00:00:50,759 We want to be a people who are deeply rooted in the Word of God and for that very reason 11 00:00:50,759 –> 00:00:55,900 bearing the fruit of love in abundance in our lives. 12 00:00:56,119 –> 00:00:59,820 A distinguishing mark of a gospel-centered church. 13 00:00:59,820 –> 00:01:06,940 Then from verses 8 to 11 we identified a second mark that we want to be pursuing gospel freedom, 14 00:01:06,940 –> 00:01:13,599 in other words that we are people who seek to be drawn by grace, not driven by law, and 15 00:01:13,599 –> 00:01:18,220 we saw last week – you may recall – that human lives are not changed by a bunch of 16 00:01:18,220 –> 00:01:19,660 rules. 17 00:01:19,660 –> 00:01:26,540 You don’t make a bad man good by giving him a code of morality. 18 00:01:26,540 –> 00:01:31,480 What really changes a human heart is an infusion of love. 19 00:01:31,480 –> 00:01:37,599 Lives are changed by the love of Christ poured out into our hearts by the Holy Spirit, and 20 00:01:37,599 –> 00:01:43,099 we saw that love will always take you further than law, that grace will take you where rules 21 00:01:43,099 –> 00:01:44,660 will never go. 22 00:01:44,660 –> 00:01:50,739 We want, therefore, to be a church that makes much of grace, that the dynamic of our life 23 00:01:50,739 –> 00:01:56,540 will be the power of the Holy Spirit, and that the love of Christ will take us beyond 24 00:01:56,540 –> 00:01:57,820 any law. 25 00:01:57,820 –> 00:02:03,860 Well, today we come to a third distinguishing mark of a gospel-centered church, and that 26 00:02:03,860 –> 00:02:10,979 is gospel salvation, which we’ve described this way, that we are sinners who are saved 27 00:02:10,979 –> 00:02:15,039 by God’s grace through faith in Jesus Christ. 28 00:02:15,039 –> 00:02:20,320 Now, we’re in for a feast today as we’ve been sharing a feast already, because we’re looking 29 00:02:20,320 –> 00:02:25,500 at one of the New Testament’s great statements of the good news of Jesus Christ that you’ll 30 00:02:25,500 –> 00:02:27,039 find in verse 15. 31 00:02:27,039 –> 00:02:29,380 So I hope you have it open in front of you. 32 00:02:29,380 –> 00:02:33,080 And Paul kind of takes a run at it with some framing at the beginning. 33 00:02:33,080 –> 00:02:37,940 He says, here is a trustworthy saying. 34 00:02:38,139 –> 00:02:43,679 Now, he’s kind of doubly underlining the importance of what is to come. 35 00:02:43,679 –> 00:02:52,320 He says, here is something absolutely clear, solidly reliable, you can stake your life 36 00:02:52,320 –> 00:02:54,960 on this. 37 00:02:54,960 –> 00:02:56,039 Then he says something else. 38 00:02:56,039 –> 00:03:00,740 Here is a trustworthy saying that deserves full acceptance. 39 00:03:00,740 –> 00:03:06,020 Now, he’s speaking to the church, so he is saying to the congregation where Timothy is 40 00:03:06,179 –> 00:03:09,559 pastor and by the Holy Spirit saying to us. 41 00:03:09,559 –> 00:03:18,660 He is saying, I want that every person in this congregation will own this without reservation, 42 00:03:18,660 –> 00:03:21,520 without hesitation, and without qualification. 43 00:03:21,520 –> 00:03:27,440 I want everyone of us to buy in to this absolutely, fully, and completely. 44 00:03:27,440 –> 00:03:32,460 Here is a trustworthy saying worthy of full acceptance. 45 00:03:32,460 –> 00:03:33,820 What is it? 46 00:03:34,039 –> 00:03:39,899 Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners. 47 00:03:39,899 –> 00:03:42,619 Now, folks, that is the gospel. 48 00:03:42,619 –> 00:03:47,979 Paul says to Timothy, I want you to keep it front and center of the life of the church. 49 00:03:47,979 –> 00:03:54,059 I want every member of the congregation to own this, so that if you were to cut a member 50 00:03:54,059 –> 00:04:01,699 of the Orchard Evangelical free church, we would bleed gospel, that it’s our very life. 51 00:04:01,779 –> 00:04:05,979 Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners. 52 00:04:06,000 –> 00:04:11,539 We are about Jesus Christ, who came into the world to save sinners. 53 00:04:11,539 –> 00:04:18,940 And notice what is packed into Paul’s marvelous statement, He came, that is the incarnation, 54 00:04:18,940 –> 00:04:23,179 God entered this world as a man in Jesus Christ. 55 00:04:23,179 –> 00:04:26,959 And He came to save sinners, that’s the atonement. 56 00:04:27,079 –> 00:04:32,059 The Lord Jesus Christ did not come into the world to tell us how to live. 57 00:04:32,059 –> 00:04:36,160 He did not come into the world to change society. 58 00:04:36,160 –> 00:04:41,679 He came to give His life as an atoning sacrifice on the cross for sinners, and it is through 59 00:04:41,679 –> 00:04:46,940 the cross that human lives are redeemed, and never without the cross. 60 00:04:46,940 –> 00:04:48,519 We want that to be absolutely clear. 61 00:04:48,519 –> 00:04:50,140 We want that to be front and center. 62 00:04:50,140 –> 00:04:55,799 We would want that every member of this gospel-centered church would have grasped it absolutely clearly. 63 00:04:55,839 –> 00:05:00,220 We are about Jesus Christ who came into the world to save sinners, that’s the gospel. 64 00:05:00,220 –> 00:05:07,959 Now aren’t you thankful, by the way, that the gospel is good news and not good advice? 65 00:05:07,959 –> 00:05:11,440 You know when you’re in a pickle the last thing you want is 10 people lining up, giving 66 00:05:11,440 –> 00:05:12,440 you advice. 67 00:05:12,440 –> 00:05:13,700 You know, this is how I did it. 68 00:05:13,700 –> 00:05:19,119 And say, I want to know is there someone who can help? 69 00:05:19,119 –> 00:05:24,140 Thank God that the Lord Jesus Christ did not come to give us instructions on how to be 70 00:05:24,140 –> 00:05:25,700 saved. 71 00:05:25,700 –> 00:05:27,519 He came to save sinners. 72 00:05:27,519 –> 00:05:32,399 He came to save us. 73 00:05:32,399 –> 00:05:35,119 That is good news indeed. 74 00:05:35,119 –> 00:05:41,700 Now Paul wraps around this marvelous statement of the gospel, his own personal testimony, 75 00:05:41,700 –> 00:05:47,500 his own experience of God’s grace, his story, if you like, of how this salvation that Jesus 76 00:05:47,500 –> 00:05:52,380 Christ brought into the world, how it worked out in his own life. 77 00:05:52,380 –> 00:05:55,920 Now I want you to notice that Paul tells us about his sins. 78 00:05:55,920 –> 00:06:00,220 He tells us about his experience of God’s grace. 79 00:06:00,220 –> 00:06:06,899 And when he gets to the end of his own story, which is in verse 17, what you find is that 80 00:06:06,899 –> 00:06:13,500 he erupts, that’s the only way I can think to put it, he erupts in praise and joy. 81 00:06:13,500 –> 00:06:19,920 He is just overwhelmed by the marvel of what God has done for him in Jesus Christ. 82 00:06:19,920 –> 00:06:26,279 And he says, now to the king, eternal, immortal, invisible, to the only God, be honor and glory 83 00:06:26,279 –> 00:06:27,940 forever and ever, Amen. 84 00:06:27,940 –> 00:06:35,260 There’s this explosion of joy and praise that wells up from within him when he thinks 85 00:06:35,260 –> 00:06:39,579 about the salvation of Jesus Christ in his own life. 86 00:06:39,579 –> 00:06:41,239 Has that happened to you? 87 00:06:41,239 –> 00:06:42,239 You familiar with that? 88 00:06:42,239 –> 00:06:44,339 Do you know what that’s like? 89 00:06:44,600 –> 00:06:51,019 I tell you with all my heart, I would long that every person here in the Orchard Evangelical 90 00:06:51,019 –> 00:06:55,959 Free Church would know exactly what is happening for Paul here. 91 00:06:55,959 –> 00:07:01,559 We would know more and more of that joy that comes from seeing the overwhelming glory of 92 00:07:01,559 –> 00:07:07,000 what God has done for you and for me in Jesus Christ. 93 00:07:07,000 –> 00:07:12,100 And I want to suggest that the very passage that we have opened before us today, Paul 94 00:07:12,160 –> 00:07:17,500 is showing us how to get there. 95 00:07:17,500 –> 00:07:28,899 He’s beating out the path to God-exalting joy, and I want us to go down that path with 96 00:07:28,899 –> 00:07:29,959 him. 97 00:07:29,959 –> 00:07:38,380 Now, before we do, please remember that every Christian has a unique story of God’s grace. 98 00:07:38,399 –> 00:07:44,940 Your life may not have been particularly dramatic, or even spectacularly interesting, but think 99 00:07:44,940 –> 00:07:59,540 about this, however ordinary your own life may have been, if God has saved you from hell 100 00:07:59,700 –> 00:08:09,600 made you a son or daughter of the sovereign creator of the universe, and if he actually 101 00:08:09,600 –> 00:08:19,459 dwells in you by his Holy Spirit, you have an amazing story by any standards, right? 102 00:08:19,459 –> 00:08:27,299 I mean, that is extraordinary. It is of eternal significance, and if you are in Jesus Christ, 103 00:08:27,299 –> 00:08:35,840 this is the reality of what has happened in you. That is no small thing. And you have, 104 00:08:35,840 –> 00:08:42,580 therefore, an amazing story to tell that will be glorifying to God, can be helpful to others, 105 00:08:42,580 –> 00:08:48,200 and will be fruitful in your own life in the very telling of it, because if you are discerning 106 00:08:48,200 –> 00:08:53,299 your own life correctly, then to look at God’s grace to you in Christ will bring you where 107 00:08:54,020 –> 00:09:02,200 to that place of joy in Jesus Christ, and may God bring us there even this morning. 108 00:09:02,200 –> 00:09:07,580 All of this is in the passage here today. I want us, therefore, to be learning, 109 00:09:07,580 –> 00:09:13,739 amongst other things, how to give a testimony. How can you give a testimony in a way that will 110 00:09:13,739 –> 00:09:19,299 be glorifying to God and helpful to others and upbuilding in your own spiritual life? 111 00:09:19,659 –> 00:09:26,219 How can you do that? And I want to encourage you to do it this week. You may like to follow 112 00:09:26,219 –> 00:09:33,280 the example of Paul here, and to write your testimony to God’s grace. Write it out this 113 00:09:33,280 –> 00:09:39,099 week. Now, please don’t write ten pages, because if you do what will happen is you 114 00:09:39,099 –> 00:09:44,580 will get lost in the details. I counted the words in the English here. Paul writes his 115 00:09:44,960 –> 00:09:51,960 testimony in 152 words. So shoot for 150, and I want to encourage you, seriously, this 116 00:09:52,520 –> 00:09:56,940 week you write out a 150-word statement of what God has done for you in Christ. It will 117 00:09:56,940 –> 00:10:01,380 do your own soul good, it will be glorifying to Him, and it may be helpful to others. Here’s 118 00:10:01,380 –> 00:10:06,400 something else. If you’re in a life group, bring your 150-word statement to your life 119 00:10:06,400 –> 00:10:10,840 group. Share it with others. It will be a means of encouraging them. And it will be 120 00:10:10,840 –> 00:10:16,320 glorifying to God. This is one of the ways in which we encourage 121 00:10:16,320 –> 00:10:21,580 each other folks. That’s why Paul’s giving his testimony here to strengthen Timothy, 122 00:10:21,580 –> 00:10:28,580 and your story of God’s grace will be a means by which you can minister into the lives of 123 00:10:29,039 –> 00:10:32,380 others. Now, there is a three-fold pattern here, 124 00:10:32,380 –> 00:10:38,479 and it is, I think, of great significance. Number one, when you were writing your testimony, 125 00:10:38,479 –> 00:10:43,359 and indeed when you’re thinking more broadly about what God has done for you in Christ, 126 00:10:43,359 –> 00:10:49,539 remember your sins redemptively. Now, help me by completing the statement here, please. 127 00:10:49,539 –> 00:10:56,539 Jesus Christ came into the world to save sinners. So, if I do not see my own sinfulness, if 128 00:11:00,119 –> 00:11:06,960 I don’t get that, then I will never feel connected to Jesus Christ in His coming into the world. 129 00:11:07,140 –> 00:11:12,559 That will always seem out there to me unless and until I see my own sins because He came 130 00:11:12,559 –> 00:11:16,760 into the world for sinners. When I see that that’s me, then I have a connection to Him 131 00:11:16,760 –> 00:11:18,900 and do His great work. 132 00:11:18,900 –> 00:11:24,280 Now, from time to time, I have the opportunity of speaking to someone who will be really 133 00:11:24,280 –> 00:11:31,280 honest and they’ll say this, Pastor, I got to tell you I’m bored with my faith, bored. 134 00:11:31,280 –> 00:11:40,280 It isn’t doing anything for me. It’s not exciting to me. It’s flat. It’s dull. It’s 135 00:11:40,280 –> 00:11:46,679 lifeless. And I’m always grateful when someone who is in that position is really honest. 136 00:11:46,679 –> 00:11:58,099 Here is what I found. I’ve found that if I then ask that person, can you tell me some 137 00:11:58,099 –> 00:12:07,419 sins in your life that Jesus Christ has forgiven? That person is immediately in difficulty, 138 00:12:07,419 –> 00:12:16,659 can’t easily think of one. Remember what Jesus said, He, who has been forgiven much, 139 00:12:16,659 –> 00:12:25,340 loves much. If you have no awareness, if you have difficulty of thinking of a single sin 140 00:12:25,340 –> 00:12:29,219 that has actually been forgiven in your life, you can’t write it down on a piece of paper, 141 00:12:29,219 –> 00:12:34,840 you’ve got no sense of your, being a sinner in any meaningful way, then don’t be surprised 142 00:12:34,840 –> 00:12:38,960 that you don’t love Jesus much. Don’t be surprised that your faith seems flat and dull 143 00:12:38,960 –> 00:12:46,020 and boring and lifeless. Don’t be surprised that you don’t feel in need of the cross. 144 00:12:46,020 –> 00:12:55,320 Have you thought about this? Will you think about it now, what sins would be on your list? 145 00:12:55,440 –> 00:13:01,900 Remembering your sins is important because if you do not know that you are a sinner, 146 00:13:01,979 –> 00:13:06,299 you will always feel that Jesus Christ and His saving work is out there removed from 147 00:13:06,299 –> 00:13:10,880 you and your faith, whatever its content is going to be, will be flat, dull, and boring. 148 00:13:10,880 –> 00:13:16,739 It will never take you into the Christ-exalting joy that the Apostle Paul evidences for us 149 00:13:16,739 –> 00:13:21,719 here. By the way, little sidebar, since we are talking about sharing testimonies, let 150 00:13:22,059 –> 00:13:26,940 me give you this counsel with regards to sharing past sins with others. 151 00:13:29,599 –> 00:13:34,179 Some folks may be helped by knowing what you did and what you’ve being forgiven for in 152 00:13:34,179 –> 00:13:39,799 the past. Others would be better helped by not knowing what you did and what you were 153 00:13:39,799 –> 00:13:45,359 forgiven for in the past. You may choose to share some things with some people when it 154 00:13:45,359 –> 00:13:51,080 will be helpful. You will not share all things with all people. What you will do is you will 155 00:13:51,099 –> 00:13:57,419 consider the degree of trust in the relationship, the depth of that relationship and the maturity 156 00:13:57,419 –> 00:14:03,640 of the person in discerning what is best with regards to what you share. 157 00:14:03,640 –> 00:14:10,640 But of course Paul’s sins were public. Everyone knew what he had done. It was infamous. And 158 00:14:12,520 –> 00:14:19,520 Paul uses what was known here for the glory of God. And you will see that he identifies 159 00:14:19,679 –> 00:14:26,679 three specific sins. Number one, he says, I was once a blasphemer. 160 00:14:27,580 –> 00:14:34,260 That’s verse 13. Now, we get a little more of that in Acts chapter 26. 161 00:14:34,260 –> 00:14:41,020 In verse 9 of Acts 26, he says, I was convinced that I ought to do all that was possible to 162 00:14:41,020 –> 00:14:48,020 oppose the name of Jesus of Nazareth. Folks, that’s blasphemy. To oppose Jesus of Nazareth. 163 00:14:50,159 –> 00:14:57,159 That’s what it means. And Paul says, for a long time in my life I opposed Jesus Christ, 164 00:14:57,260 –> 00:15:04,280 I resisted Jesus Christ. I spoke against Jesus Christ. He says in Acts chapter 26 verse 11, 165 00:15:04,900 –> 00:15:09,700 I even tried to get other people to speak against Jesus Christ. I encouraged others 166 00:15:09,700 –> 00:15:16,200 into the same blasphemy. I brought others to be resistant to Jesus as I was. 167 00:15:16,940 –> 00:15:23,099 Now there may be many of us here who would say you know, that has to be a sin that was 168 00:15:23,099 –> 00:15:30,099 long in my life. For how many years did you resist Jesus Christ and his claims upon your 169 00:15:31,760 –> 00:15:37,719 life? You thwarted the spirit. You turned a deaf ear toward the word of God. You pushed 170 00:15:37,719 –> 00:15:45,380 him away. That’s blasphemy. To resist Jesus Christ, the Son of God. Then Paul says I was 171 00:15:45,859 –> 00:15:52,859 once a persecutor. Now there are some things, whenever we think of them in our lives, that 172 00:15:53,099 –> 00:15:59,859 will always bring us pain. And here’s one for Paul. It was like there was a stab in 173 00:16:00,059 –> 00:16:05,859 his heart every time he came to his mind, I persecuted the church. Do you remember he 174 00:16:05,859 –> 00:16:11,359 said in 1 Corinthians 59, I am the least of the apostles? I do not even deserve to be 175 00:16:11,500 –> 00:16:18,500 called an apostle because I persecuted the church of God. Oh, I persecuted the church 176 00:16:19,919 –> 00:16:26,919 of God. So not only did Paul resist Christ, he resented the church. He harmed the church. 177 00:16:28,280 –> 00:16:35,239 He injured the people of God. He said, I did that. By the way have you noticed that some 178 00:16:35,239 –> 00:16:40,239 people want to say that they love Jesus but they carry a massive resentment towards the 179 00:16:40,239 –> 00:16:47,239 church. How is that possible? The church is the bride of Christ, sometimes an unattractive 180 00:16:50,460 –> 00:16:57,460 bride, sometimes an unfaithful bride, but the church, Ephesians 5, is the bride of 181 00:16:58,919 –> 00:17:05,920 Christ. You love Christ, you love the bride. One writer I thought put this very helpfully. 182 00:17:06,880 –> 00:17:13,880 I was just reading the other week. He said, you know, if I say to you, I’m your friend, 183 00:17:16,000 –> 00:17:23,000 but then I say, I hate your wife, am I really your friend? You say, what are you saying? 184 00:17:24,479 –> 00:17:28,160 You say I’m a friend of Jesus Christ, but I’m carrying a load of resentment towards 185 00:17:28,160 –> 00:17:33,599 God’s people. In what sense, really, is one a friend of Christ if one does not love 186 00:17:33,599 –> 00:17:40,599 the Bride of Christ? Paul is confessing this sin. He’s saying not only did I resist Christ, 187 00:17:42,000 –> 00:17:47,800 but I was filled with resentment towards Christian people, the very brothers and sisters who 188 00:17:47,800 –> 00:17:54,800 I am called to love. And then he says, I was once a violent man verse 13. Some of us we 189 00:17:55,800 –> 00:18:02,800 will want to confess. On this also, behind this resistance to Jesus Christ in his life 190 00:18:05,800 –> 00:18:11,020 and behind this resentment towards Christian people, there was an anger in Paul. There 191 00:18:11,020 –> 00:18:16,339 was churning. There was a conflict going on inside him. His conscience was troubling him. 192 00:18:16,339 –> 00:18:22,699 And what happened was it spilled out and bringing injury into the lives of people God had placed 193 00:18:22,699 –> 00:18:29,699 around him. And he says I’ve wounded other people. I own it. Isn’t this a marvelous thing? 194 00:18:32,099 –> 00:18:39,099 Here is a man who is not afraid to face his past sins. See that’s what the gospel does. 195 00:18:40,780 –> 00:18:47,780 It produces honesty. It gets us out of denial. It gets us out of hiding from the past. It 196 00:18:48,400 –> 00:18:55,400 enables a man or a woman to face the truth and to stop making excuses. Now folks, when 197 00:19:00,459 –> 00:19:07,459 you remember your sins here is the really big thing. Please remember them redemptively. 198 00:19:10,660 –> 00:19:17,660 If you are taking notes triple underline as many times as you want the word redemptively. 199 00:19:18,520 –> 00:19:21,459 Because here is what will happen. We need to remember our sins. We need to remember 200 00:19:21,459 –> 00:19:26,660 that we are sinners. Otherwise we will never have any joy in Christ and faith will always 201 00:19:26,660 –> 00:19:32,640 be a big kind of thing that will be dull and boring to us but as soon as you do remember 202 00:19:32,640 –> 00:19:38,260 your sins Satan will be at your elbow and he will say yes indeed, and he will try to 203 00:19:38,260 –> 00:19:43,579 bring you into defeat. Actually that may well happen for some of us when we are in church. 204 00:19:43,579 –> 00:19:47,500 Do you find sometimes that your own sins come to your mind in church more than other times? 205 00:19:48,380 –> 00:19:53,319 That your own failures live in your memory perhaps when you are lying on bed at night 206 00:19:53,319 –> 00:20:00,699 and you can’t sleep. We need to remember our sins redemptively. 207 00:20:00,699 –> 00:20:05,979 Listen. The Lord Jesus Christ did not come into the world and hang on a cross to remove 208 00:20:05,979 –> 00:20:10,880 the condemnation of God from you simply so that you could live under new condemnation 209 00:20:10,880 –> 00:20:17,420 that you impose on yourself. There is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ 210 00:20:17,459 –> 00:20:21,040 Jesus. You say okay, now how do I do this? You are 211 00:20:21,040 –> 00:20:25,099 saying I have to remember my sins, but I am to remember them redemptively? Here is 212 00:20:25,099 –> 00:20:29,640 how Paul does it. He names his sins, and then in verse 13 he says, 213 00:20:29,640 –> 00:20:34,880 but I received what? Mercy. In other 214 00:20:34,880 –> 00:20:45,939 words, he uses the memory of his sins to magnify or to expand his grasp of the mercy of God. 215 00:20:46,079 –> 00:20:47,979 When you do that, you will be 216 00:20:47,979 –> 00:20:51,180 brought into Christ-exalting joy. He 217 00:20:51,180 –> 00:20:58,180 is remembering his sins not to come into a self-loathing. He is remembering his sins 218 00:20:59,060 –> 00:21:06,060 because in this way he magnifies the mercy of God. What otherwise would seem distant 219 00:21:07,459 –> 00:21:14,459 and remote from him lives for him when he thinks of his own sins and the mercy of God 220 00:21:14,859 –> 00:21:21,859 towards him in Jesus Christ and notice he says, I was once a blasphemer, but praise 221 00:21:24,660 –> 00:21:31,500 God, he is saying as it were, not now. I was shown mercy. The redeeming work of Jesus Christ 222 00:21:31,500 –> 00:21:38,500 has come into my life. And not only does the remembering of his sins lead him to magnify 223 00:21:39,219 –> 00:21:46,219 God’s mercy but also to a greater appreciation of God’s patience. I was shown mercy so that 224 00:21:48,479 –> 00:21:54,939 in me, the worst of sinners, Christ Jesus might display his unlimited patience as an 225 00:21:54,939 –> 00:22:00,619 example for those who would believe on him and receive eternal life. Paul is using his 226 00:22:00,619 –> 00:22:07,619 testimony here to encourage the church. Are you praying for someone right now who is rock 227 00:22:07,939 –> 00:22:14,939 hard against the gospel, utterly resistant? Well, Paul’s saying in his testimony, Look 228 00:22:17,060 –> 00:22:24,060 at me. Look at how rock hard, resistant I was and God never gave up on me. He displays 229 00:22:24,420 –> 00:22:31,420 in me his unlimited patience. Friends, the more you see clearly your own sins, the more 230 00:22:31,800 –> 00:22:38,800 you will magnify the mercy of God and the more you will appreciate His extraordinary 231 00:22:43,319 –> 00:22:48,579 patience with you and the more you will be encouraged to believe in His ability to transform 232 00:22:48,579 –> 00:22:55,579 the lives of other people as well. So, remember your sins redemptively. Let the memory of 233 00:22:56,060 –> 00:23:02,959 your own sins be something that leads you to thankfulness because it magnifies God’s 234 00:23:02,959 –> 00:23:09,959 mercy and because it shows to you His unlimited patience towards you. You will not find your 235 00:23:12,599 –> 00:23:19,599 faith dull and boring and lifeless when you’re here. This will be leading you into Paul’s 236 00:23:19,959 –> 00:23:24,380 extraordinary joy. But I want you to see that there is a second 237 00:23:24,599 –> 00:23:31,439 thing here. If you’re writing your testimony, remember your sins redemptively. Second, affirm 238 00:23:31,439 –> 00:23:38,439 God’s grace thankfully. That’s verse 14, affirm God’s grace thankfully. See faith 239 00:23:40,380 –> 00:23:47,380 sees not only our failures but also God’s grace. And notice how Paul puts it here. He 240 00:23:48,239 –> 00:23:55,239 says in verse 14, The grace of our Lord was poured out on me abundantly. Here’s what God 241 00:23:57,439 –> 00:24:04,439 has done. The grace of the Lord Jesus has been poured out on me abundantly. Now I want 242 00:24:04,439 –> 00:24:11,439 out on me abundantly. Now I want you to notice here something very important. Never think 243 00:24:16,260 –> 00:24:23,260 of God’s grace simply as a past experience, but always as a present reality in your life. 244 00:24:26,459 –> 00:24:30,859 I think there are some Christians who tend to think of grace being poured out on them 245 00:24:30,859 –> 00:24:34,420 95 years ago when they made a decision to follow Christ and, you know, my sins were 246 00:24:34,420 –> 00:24:41,060 forgiven then, but it’s all past. That’s why you are finding things dull and boring now, 247 00:24:41,060 –> 00:24:46,560 because you’re not living in a sense of the continuing grace and mercy of God being 248 00:24:46,560 –> 00:24:53,560 poured into your life at this very moment. Paul clearly has it in the present tense, 249 00:24:53,660 –> 00:24:57,900 because if you look back in verse 15 you’ll see what he says. Will you look at it closely 250 00:24:58,020 –> 00:25:05,020 with me? Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners of whom I was the worst. Is 251 00:25:08,900 –> 00:25:15,160 that what he says? Is that what he says? Is it past tense? Say it with me then. Christ 252 00:25:15,160 –> 00:25:22,160 Jesus came into the world to save sinners of whom, say it with me, I am, the worst. 253 00:25:22,160 –> 00:25:29,160 Present tense. So this grace that has been poured into my life is being poured into my 254 00:25:31,199 –> 00:25:38,199 life right now and the standing that I have with God, the peace that I have with God is 255 00:25:38,760 –> 00:25:42,959 not because of some righteousness that has been developed in me in the last week or the 256 00:25:42,959 –> 00:25:47,560 last month or the last five or ten years. It is because of the righteousness of Christ 257 00:25:47,859 –> 00:25:51,939 that covers me and clothes me now. 258 00:25:51,939 –> 00:25:58,939 Of whom I am the worst. Is Paul really serious? Present tense. The apostle? John Stott I think 259 00:26:01,780 –> 00:26:06,420 is really helpful on this. Let me read a quote that I found useful. He says, he is stating 260 00:26:06,420 –> 00:26:13,420 the obvious here. Paul had not investigated the sinful and criminal records of all the 261 00:26:13,719 –> 00:26:19,060 inhabitants of the world, carefully compared himself with them, and then concluded that 262 00:26:19,060 –> 00:26:26,060 he was worse than them all. Obvious? OK. Then Stott says this, the truth is rather that 263 00:26:27,420 –> 00:26:33,180 when we are convicted of sin by the Holy Spirit, an immediate result is that we give up all 264 00:26:33,180 –> 00:26:40,180 such comparisons. That’s helpful. Paul was so vividly aware of his own sins present tense 265 00:26:40,339 –> 00:26:47,339 remember that he could not conceive that anybody could be worse. This is the language of every 266 00:26:47,900 –> 00:26:54,900 sinner whose conscience has been awakened by the Holy Spirit. That is profoundly helpful. 267 00:26:55,719 –> 00:27:02,719 And here’s what it means folks, if we have really understood grace in the present tense 268 00:27:03,719 –> 00:27:06,439 it will mean that the message of our church 269 00:27:06,439 –> 00:27:13,439 is not Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners like you. That will not be the 270 00:27:16,119 –> 00:27:22,280 message. What will be the message? It will be Christ Jesus came into the world to save 271 00:27:22,280 –> 00:27:29,280 sinners like me. Like us. Now, you may be been in a church that sounded like, you know, 272 00:27:30,199 –> 00:27:34,780 Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners like you. You get your life sorted out, but 273 00:27:34,780 –> 00:27:39,180 if we have really grasped the gospel, and if it is front and center of the life of the 274 00:27:39,180 –> 00:27:44,599 church there will be a humility and a grace that says, Christ Jesus has come into the 275 00:27:44,599 –> 00:27:51,599 world to save sinners like me, like us, and what we have found in him we would long for 276 00:27:52,239 –> 00:27:59,239 you to find in him also. Do you see how that would shape even the culture 277 00:27:59,239 –> 00:28:06,239 of a family in the way parents seek to woo children into the gospel? Not with a condemning 278 00:28:08,699 –> 00:28:15,699 spirit about you, but, son, your dad too needs grace from the Lord Jesus Christ. 279 00:28:15,699 –> 00:28:22,699 Your dad too needs grace from the Lord Jesus Christ and stands only in grace even now, 280 00:28:27,560 –> 00:28:34,560 not in righteousness that is our own, but that our righteousness is in him. Right now 281 00:28:35,959 –> 00:28:42,959 you have peace with God because grace is being poured out on you in Jesus Christ. 282 00:28:43,880 –> 00:28:50,880 Isn’t that amazing? And not only grace but notice grace never comes singly as it where, 283 00:28:51,959 –> 00:28:58,959 grace is poured out abundantly along with the faith and love that are in Christ Jesus. 284 00:28:59,160 –> 00:29:04,000 Where did Paul’s faith come mean? He says in this very passage that he was acting as 285 00:29:04,000 –> 00:29:10,839 one who was resistant to Christ, out of unbelief. So where in the world did his faith come from? 286 00:29:10,880 –> 00:29:15,339 Well, his faith didn’t come from anywhere in the world, his faith came from Christ! 287 00:29:15,339 –> 00:29:20,400 Grace is being poured out along with the faith that is in Jesus Christ. This is Ephesians 288 00:29:20,400 –> 00:29:25,739 2.8, it is by grace that you have been saved through faith and that is not of yourselves, 289 00:29:25,739 –> 00:29:30,180 it is the gift of God. It wasn’t that Paul had an unbelieving heart and he rummaged around 290 00:29:30,180 –> 00:29:34,040 in the unbelieving heart and he suddenly came up with faith. How could that happen? No! 291 00:29:34,040 –> 00:29:38,880 Faith was the gift of God to me, he says! The redeeming gift of God, it’s His grace 292 00:29:39,040 –> 00:29:44,920 has been poured out. Now I have come to the place where I trust Christ, and I thank him 293 00:29:44,920 –> 00:29:51,839 for the fact that faith is His gift to me even now. With it love has been poured out! 294 00:29:51,839 –> 00:29:58,839 How does love get into the heart of an angry, violent man? Here is a man who is in the city 295 00:29:59,760 –> 00:30:05,599 and he is pursuing all kinds of acts of violence, how does love come into his heart? By rummaging 296 00:30:05,599 –> 00:30:11,140 around it? No it’s not there. Paul says, here is what has happened to me, the love 297 00:30:11,140 –> 00:30:16,680 that is in Jesus Christ has been poured into me, poured out upon me. That’s how it’s 298 00:30:16,680 –> 00:30:21,699 been life transforming. That’s why the gospel is good news. That is why it can do what good 299 00:30:21,699 –> 00:30:28,780 advice never can. So look at the grace of God in your life, ask the question, how is 300 00:30:28,780 –> 00:30:33,619 it that you came to trust Christ? How is it that today you have come to love Christ? What 301 00:30:33,640 –> 00:30:39,119 has happened? The grace of God has been poured out on you abundantly along with the faith 302 00:30:39,119 –> 00:30:44,800 and love that are in Christ Jesus. And when you see that you will be led into Christ’s 303 00:30:44,800 –> 00:30:52,280 exalting joy. Faith affirms what God has done and what he is doing with Thanksgiving. 304 00:30:52,280 –> 00:31:01,000 Remember how King David put it in the Old Testament, who am I, and what is my family 305 00:31:01,479 –> 00:31:07,140 should have brought me so far, he says. Or how Paul puts it in the New Testament, it 306 00:31:07,140 –> 00:31:16,680 is by the grace of God that I am what I am, and his grace to me has not been without effect. 307 00:31:16,680 –> 00:31:22,719 I live in this grace, it’s not simply out there, it’s come to be in here. It has reached 308 00:31:22,719 –> 00:31:27,880 me. It has been poured out into me. 309 00:31:27,880 –> 00:31:35,979 So remember your sins redemptively and affirm God’s grace thankfully. That will lead you 310 00:31:35,979 –> 00:31:37,280 in to God-exalting joy. 311 00:31:37,280 –> 00:31:42,839 Here’s the last thing very briefly. Pursue your calling joyfully. See this is the completion 312 00:31:42,839 –> 00:31:49,939 of a transformation of the gospel. I’m a sinner, that helps me to see God’s mercy and patience 313 00:31:50,020 –> 00:31:54,339 and leads me into joy. His grace has reach me, been poured out on me abundantly along 314 00:31:54,339 –> 00:31:58,719 with faith and love that’re in Christ Jesus. But now what’s happening, now I pursue with 315 00:31:58,719 –> 00:32:03,819 joy the work that He has called me to do. And you have that in verse 12, for Paul says, 316 00:32:03,819 –> 00:32:08,680 I thank Christ Jesus our Lord, Who has given me strength that He considered me faithful 317 00:32:08,680 –> 00:32:12,020 appointing me to his service. 318 00:32:12,939 –> 00:32:14,300 Now the evidence of your 319 00:32:14,300 –> 00:32:23,160 testimony will be seen in the way that you invest your life. The evidence of your testimony 320 00:32:23,160 –> 00:32:35,339 will be seen in the way that you invest your life. Paul having living in this grace, he 321 00:32:35,339 –> 00:32:43,119 now sees serving the Lord Jesus Christ as the great privilege of his life, living for 322 00:32:43,119 –> 00:32:51,380 Christ, as the joy of his life. He says, he appointed me to his service. It’s like he 323 00:32:51,380 –> 00:33:03,560 can never get over this. I resisted Christ. I injured Christian people and here now God 324 00:33:03,560 –> 00:33:11,459 has given me the privilege of being involved in his redeeming work in the world. He appointed 325 00:33:11,459 –> 00:33:17,479 me to service, I can’t believe I get to do this. I hope you feel that about ministry. 326 00:33:17,479 –> 00:33:22,719 I hope you feel as a part of this congregation as we seek to engage ourselves fully in the 327 00:33:22,719 –> 00:33:31,800 work of Christ. I hope that you would be saying to me, I can hardly believe I get the privilege, 328 00:33:31,800 –> 00:33:38,819 don’t we get the privilege to be involved in Christ’s redeeming work in the world and 329 00:33:38,819 –> 00:33:48,020 to live in time in a way that counts for eternity. It’s amazing that he should give that privilege 330 00:33:48,020 –> 00:33:54,920 to folks like us. Paul says I pursue that with everything that’s within me. He says 331 00:33:54,920 –> 00:33:59,400 Christ has considered me faithful which doesn’t by the way mean he’s saying I was worthy to 332 00:33:59,400 –> 00:34:06,479 be an apostle, what he’s saying is no, God views my service in Christ. See if God was 333 00:34:06,479 –> 00:34:12,300 to look at my ministry or your ministry and evaluate it as it were with a clipboard and 334 00:34:12,300 –> 00:34:19,719 on strict justice he’d find a thousand faults in my ministry and in yours. But thank God 335 00:34:19,719 –> 00:34:26,120 that’s not how he views our service. He views our service in Christ, and therefore considers 336 00:34:26,360 –> 00:34:33,179 us faithful. With all the imperfections of anything that we do. And then Paul says to 337 00:34:33,179 –> 00:34:37,719 Timothy for his encouragement that God gives him strength in this service. Here’s what 338 00:34:37,719 –> 00:34:45,560 I’ve found Timothy, this is a great principle. God gives me strength as I extend myself in 339 00:34:45,560 –> 00:34:52,939 his work. As I give myself ever more fully to what Jesus Christ is calling me to do I 340 00:34:53,239 –> 00:35:00,179 find myself energized by that. So Timothy don’t hold back, don’t you be 341 00:35:00,179 –> 00:35:06,100 afraid. Give yourself Timothy to the work that God is calling you to do and encourage 342 00:35:06,100 –> 00:35:10,899 the whole congregation to give themselves to the work God is calling them to do and 343 00:35:10,899 –> 00:35:15,780 we will find together that we prove him as we extend ourselves in his service. He is 344 00:35:15,780 –> 00:35:20,780 faithful. He gave me strength. Is this your testimony? 345 00:35:21,379 –> 00:35:27,580 Is this your testimony? Do you recognize the frame of it? 346 00:35:27,580 –> 00:35:34,580 Can you say today with joy, I trust Christ. I love Christ. 347 00:35:34,780 –> 00:35:41,780 Do you know what’s happening for Paul when he just can’t find words really to express 348 00:35:42,260 –> 00:35:47,020 the wonder of what God has done for him and he says, Oh to the King eternal be glory 349 00:35:47,080 –> 00:35:53,719 and honor forever and ever? Are you living for Christ? Are you finding joy in serving 350 00:35:53,719 –> 00:36:00,719 Christ? Is that fruit of your testimony clear in your life for anyone looking at it? 351 00:36:01,479 –> 00:36:08,479 Are these things true of you? Or are you living in a netherworld neither light nor dark hardly 352 00:36:09,219 –> 00:36:16,080 knowing whether you are Christian at all? 353 00:36:16,080 –> 00:36:23,080 For if you are, I have good news for you. Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners. 354 00:36:26,719 –> 00:36:33,719 He came to ave folks who don’t have this faith. He came to save folks who don’t have 355 00:36:34,500 –> 00:36:41,500 this love. He came to save folks who don’t have this joy. There is hope for you in Him, 356 00:36:44,959 –> 00:36:51,959 not in a bunch of instructions, but in Him. And if He could bring such life and transformation 357 00:36:54,320 –> 00:36:59,679 to the Apostle Paul, why in the world do you think He couldn’t do it for you? 358 00:36:59,719 –> 00:37:04,479 And if you do know what Paul is talking about here and in some real measure you share his 359 00:37:04,479 –> 00:37:11,479 joy, can you see with me today how this is going to be transforming for the church? Can 360 00:37:14,020 –> 00:37:21,020 you taste the joy here of a congregation remembering our past sins redemptively, affirming God’s 361 00:37:22,020 –> 00:37:29,020 grace in each of our lives thankfully, pursuing God’s calling, extending ourselves joyfully, 362 00:37:32,679 –> 00:37:38,080 counting it the greatest privilege of our lives? Folks, as we know more of this we will 363 00:37:38,080 –> 00:37:45,080 be a church full of thanksgiving and joy, and praise, and gratitude, a church energized 364 00:37:46,540 –> 00:37:47,800 in the work of the gospel. 365 00:37:48,040 –> 00:37:55,040 He gave me strength, a church confident in the ability of Jesus Christ to transform the 366 00:37:55,899 –> 00:38:02,899 most wounded life, the most broken life, the most hardened life, the most criminal life. 367 00:38:04,040 –> 00:38:11,040 And most of all we will be a church marked by doxology, by joyful praise that says from 368 00:38:12,040 –> 00:38:19,040 the heart to Him the King eternal, immortal, invisible, to the only God, be honor and glory 369 00:38:20,800 –> 00:38:24,860 forever and ever and ever and everyone who shared that joy says amen.