Remembering Why the Truth Matters

1 Timothy 1:12-17

January 24, 2010

This is truly a wonderful passage of Scripture we study tonight.

It is one that is often quoted (at least part of it)

And one that is a true joy to study.

What we have here is a sort of personal testimony by Paul.

I have a tough time reading this section without envisioning Paul

With tears in his eyes, moved with passion,

As he recounts the tremendous grace that was poured out upon his life.

And I have a tough time reading the end of this passage without envisioning Paul writing a hundred miles an hour and finishing by throwing his arms in the air similar to a calf roper who has just tied the calf.

This is one of those passages were Paul takes us inside

And we see the driving force behind the man.

I will admit that while reading through the first chapter,

It can seem as though this section is out of place.

But I don’t think that is the case at all.

Up to this point, Paul has been giving Timothy a straightforward challenge to clean up the doctrine at his church.

But notice how he closed that section.

1 Timothy 1:11 “according to the glorious gospel of the blessed God, with which I have been entrusted.”

Paul had been entrusted with the gospel by Jesus Christ Himself.

And now Paul was entrusting Timothy to carry on the cause.

And that just paints a very vivid picture for us.

Paul wasn’t writing about the teaching ministry of the church

Because national surveys, and church growth books

Endorse that a solid teaching ministry is important.

Paul was writing because he was extremely passionate

About the preservation and preaching of the gospel.

It was his calling, it was his responsibility, it was his life.

And so we can clearly see why Paul would instantly go from that statement in verse 11 into a section regarding a personal testimony.

The purpose of this passage is two-fold.

1) TO REVEAL WHY HE SO ADAMANTLY DEFENDS THE GOSPEL

Paul becomes livid when the gospel is ignored, or perverted.

After all:

Romans 1:16 “For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek.”

Without the gospel, there is no salvation.

And therefore not only must it be preached,

But it must be preserved.

Galatians 1:6-9 “I am amazed that you are so quickly deserting Him who called you by the grace of Christ, for a different gospel; which is really not another; only there are some who are disturbing you and want to distort the gospel of Christ. But even if we, or an angel from heaven, should preach to you a gospel contrary to what we have preached to you, he is to be accursed! As we have said before, so I say again now, if any man is preaching to you a gospel contrary to what you received, he is to be accursed!”

And that is also why he is so forceful with Timothy.

1 Timothy 6:20-21 “O Timothy, guard what has been entrusted to you, avoiding worldly and empty chatter and the opposing arguments of what is falsely called "knowledge" — which some have professed and thus gone astray from the faith. Grace be with you.”

2 Timothy 1:8 “Therefore do not be ashamed of the testimony of our Lord or of me His prisoner, but join with me in suffering for the gospel according to the power of God,”

2 Timothy 1:13-14 “Retain the standard of sound words which you have heard from me, in the faith and love which are in Christ Jesus. Guard, through the Holy Spirit who dwells in us, the treasure which has been entrusted to you.”

God saved Paul through the gospel.

God appointed Paul to preach the gospel.

And so he writes to remind Timothy that the preservation and preaching of the gospel is a personal issue to him.

And it ought to be to all of us.

2) TO GIVE AN EXAMPLE OF WHAT GOD LONGS TO DO IN EVERY MAN

You remember what Paul revealed in verse 5.

1 Timothy 1:5 “But the goal of our instruction is love from a pure heart and a good conscience and a sincere faith.”

The gospel is important because it is only through the gospel

That God produces genuine godly converts.

And that is exactly what God did in Paul’s life.

God made him a genuine and godly convert.

Many would argue that Paul is both

The greatest theologian and greatest missionary who ever lived.

And what God did in Paul’s life He also desires to do ours.

AND SO WE STUDY TO BE REMINDED

WHY WE PROTECT THE PURITY OF THE GOSPEL MESSAGE.

Here is what God did in Paul’s life and we easily see why he is so passionate.

6 things God did and in some cases is still doing in Paul’s life.

#1 HE STRENGTHENED ME

1 Timothy 1:12a

“I thank Christ Jesus our Lord, who has strengthened me, because He considered me faithful,”

Fresh off the statement that Paul had been entrusted with the gospel,

He immediately thanks God for allowing it to be so.

And here Paul lists one of the things Christ did in his life.

“who has strengthened me,”

“strengthened” translates ENDUNAMOO

It means “to empower”

This is one of the first things God did for Paul after his conversion.

Acts 9:17-22 “So Ananias departed and entered the house, and after laying his hands on him said, " Brother Saul, the Lord Jesus, who appeared to you on the road by which you were coming, has sent me so that you may regain your sight and be filled with the Holy Spirit." And immediately there fell from his eyes something like scales, and he regained his sight, and he got up and was baptized; and he took food and was strengthened. Now for several days he was with the disciples who were at Damascus, and immediately he began to proclaim Jesus in the synagogues, saying, "He is the Son of God." All those hearing him continued to be amazed, and were saying, "Is this not he who in Jerusalem destroyed those who called on this name, and who had come here for the purpose of bringing them bound before the chief priests?" But Saul kept increasing in strength and confounding the Jews who lived at Damascus by proving that this Jesus is the Christ.”

If you wonder why Paul has been so able to fight for the gospel,

It is because God has strengthened him to do so.

I don’t know if Timothy was doubting if he could do what Paul asked,

But here Paul reminds him that the strength to carry out the Lord’s work

Comes from the Lord.

And God has done it for him repeatedly.

2 Timothy 4:16-18 “At my first defense no one supported me, but all deserted me; may it not be counted against them. But the Lord stood with me and strengthened me, so that through me the proclamation might be fully accomplished, and that all the Gentiles might hear; and I was rescued out of the lion's mouth. The Lord will rescue me from every evil deed, and will bring me safely to His heavenly kingdom; to Him be the glory forever and ever. Amen.”

And of course one of the pinnacle statements.

Philippians 4:13 “I can do all things through Him who strengthens me.”

The question then becomes:

WHY WOULD GOD GIVE HIM SUCH STRENGTH?

“because He considered me faithful,”

Does that mean God looks down into every man and if they look faithful,

Then He gives them strength, and if they don’t look faithful then they serve God on their own? NO

God strengthened Paul because Paul faithfully served God.

Paul obeyed to take the gospel

And God never failed to give him the strength to do so.

God strengthens those who serve Him.

“Where God guides, He provides”

“God doesn’t call the equipped, He equips the called”

He Strengthened Me

#2 HE STATIONED ME

1 Timothy 1:12b-13a

“putting me into service, even though I was formerly a blasphemer and a persecutor and a violent aggressor.”

It was Jesus who put Paul “into service”

Acts 20:24 "But I do not consider my life of any account as dear to myself, so that I may finish my course and the ministry which I received from the Lord Jesus, to testify solemnly of the gospel of the grace of God.”

Galatians 1:15-17 “But when God, who had set me apart even from my mother's womb and called me through His grace, was pleased to reveal His Son in me so that I might preach Him among the Gentiles, I did not immediately consult with flesh and blood, nor did I go up to Jerusalem to those who were apostles before me; but I went away to Arabia, and returned once more to Damascus.”

And so when you take this point with the first one,

We get a glimpse as to why Paul is so passionate

About the preservation of the gospel.

God had entrusted him with it

And has furnished him the means to accomplish his task.

How could Paul even consider not accomplishing

What God had entrusted to him?

I like the quote we saw on the video last Sunday night by, David Livingston

“If a commission by an earthly king is considered an honor, how can a commission by a Heavenly King be considered a sacrifice?”

That was Paul’s thinking.

This was an honor and he was not about to dismiss it.

This honor was further impressed upon him

Because of the circumstances he was in when God called him.

Jesus put Paul into service, “even though I was formerly a blasphemer and a persecutor and a violent aggressor.”

God chose him when he was in the pit

And chose to give him the honor of proclaiming the gospel.

THIS EXPLAINS PAUL’S PASSION

And even though we may not have been persecutors

We were no more worthy than Paul was.

God did not see what great value we could be to His mission,

God saw what He could do through us

If we were first broken down and remade in His image.

Remember what Jesus said to Peter when He first met him?

John 1:42 “He brought him to Jesus. Jesus looked at him and said, "You are Simon the son of John; you shall be called Cephas" (which is translated Peter).”

I’ve always found that fascinating that Jesus called Simon a rock.

Simon was anything but a rock.

He was a wishy-washy, fickle, moody, reckless, bag of doubt and skepticism.

But Jesus saw what He would do in His life.

Jesus would turn Simon into a rock.

And that is what He did with Paul

And Paul was extremely grateful for that, as we all should be.

Jesus had strengthened Him. Jesus had stationed Him

#3 HE SAVED ME

1 Timothy 1:13b-14

“Yet I was shown mercy because I acted ignorantly in unbelief; and the grace of our Lord was more than abundant, with the faith and love which are found in Christ Jesus.”

Jesus chose Paul when Paul wasn’t worthy to be chosen.

He was a persecutor.

He was a blasphemer.

And yet Christ saved him.

Paul does reveal that he didn’t blaspheme

So as to completely seal his fate.

“I was shown mercy because I acted ignorantly in unbelief;”

Paul never rejected the full revelation of the gospel,

Because he never had the full revelation of the gospel.

But on that day on the Damascus road, Paul received a full revelation

And turned to the Lord Jesus Christ.

And I love what Paul says about the salvation he received.

“And the grace of our Lord was more than abundant, with the faith and love which are found in Christ Jesus.”

We periodically sing about “Grace that is greater than all our sin”

That is what Paul is referring to here.

Romans 5:20-21 “The Law came in so that the transgression would increase; but where sin increased, grace abounded all the more, so that, as sin reigned in death, even so grace would reign through righteousness to eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.”

Paul rejoices because the grace of Jesus was powerful enough

Even to overcome all of his sin.

And that takes some doing.

Acts 26:9-11 "So then, I thought to myself that I had to do many things hostile to the name of Jesus of Nazareth. "And this is just what I did in Jerusalem; not only did I lock up many of the saints in prisons, having received authority from the chief priests, but also when they were being put to death I cast my vote against them. "And as I punished them often in all the synagogues, I tried to force them to blaspheme; and being furiously enraged at them, I kept pursuing them even to foreign cities.”

That was Paul before the grace of Jesus.

Acts 26:19-23 "So, King Agrippa, I did not prove disobedient to the heavenly vision, but kept declaring both to those of Damascus first, and also at Jerusalem and then throughout all the region of Judea, and even to the Gentiles, that they should repent and turn to God, performing deeds appropriate to repentance. "For this reason some Jews seized me in the temple and tried to put me to death. "So, having obtained help from God, I stand to this day testifying both to small and great, stating nothing but what the Prophets and Moses said was going to take place; that the Christ was to suffer, and that by reason of His resurrection from the dead He would be the first to proclaim light both to the Jewish people and to the Gentiles."

That was Paul after grace.

The grace of Jesus was more than enough to change Paul

From the churches biggest enemy into her biggest advocate.

No wonder he was adamant about protecting the truth of salvation.

He Strengthened Me He Stationed Me He Saved Me

#4 HE SOLIDIFIED ME

1 Timothy 1:15

Here is where we really see why Paul so adamantly defends the gospel

And so harshly opposes those who pervert it.

Because Paul has become overly convinced of something.

“It is a trustworthy statement, deserving full acceptance, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners, among whom I am foremost of all.”

Because of what Christ did in his life;

Paul had no doubts whatsoever as to the intention of Christ.

Christ came “to save sinners”

Christ came to turn wicked men into righteous men.

Christ came to turn sinful men into godly men.

Christ came to turn the wicked into the holy.

Which is of course what Paul has been preaching to Timothy

1 Timothy 1:5 “But the goal of our instruction is love from a pure heart and a good conscience and a sincere faith.”

We aren’t trying to make moral men, or educated men,

Or philosophizing men, or speculating men, or religious men.

We are trying turn sinners into godly men.

That is what Christ is all about.

He came to save sinners.

And to further had proof int, Paul says, “among whom I a foremost of all.”

Paul was the worst, Paul was the most wicked,

PAUL WAS THE MOST INTIMIDATING.

Even after Jesus broke him down, Ananias still didn’t want to take over.

Acts 9:10-16 “Now there was a disciple at Damascus named Ananias; and the Lord said to him in a vision, "Ananias." And he said, "Here I am, Lord." And the Lord said to him, "Get up and go to the street called Straight, and inquire at the house of Judas for a man from Tarsus named Saul, for he is praying, and he has seen in a vision a man named Ananias come in and lay his hands on him, so that he might regain his sight." But Ananias answered, "Lord, I have heard from many about this man, how much harm he did to Your saints at Jerusalem; and here he has authority from the chief priests to bind all who call on Your name." But the Lord said to him, "Go, for he is a chosen instrument of Mine, to bear My name before the Gentiles and kings and the sons of Israel; for I will show him how much he must suffer for My name's sake."

Paul was an intimidating witness.

Ephesians 3:8 “To me, the very least of all saints, this grace was given, to preach to the Gentiles the unfathomable riches of Christ,”

But Christ saved him.

WHY?

Because that is what Christ came to do.

He came “to save sinners”

What was going on at Ephesus was all wrong.

It was not fulfilling the mission of Christ.

They were making men speculate,

Christ wanted them to leave sin and be holy.

#5 HE SHOWED ME

1 Timothy 1:16

This doesn’t mean that Jesus enlightened Paul (although He did)

This rather means that Jesus put Paul on display

To make sure everyone understood what His plan was.

“Yet for this reason I was shown mercy, so that in me as the foremost, Jesus Christ might demonstrate His perfect patience as an example for those who would believe in Him for eternal life.”

Paul said very clearly, “I AM AN EXAMPLE”

I am an example of what Christ wants to do in a life.

He took the most wicked and made him the most faithful.

1 Corinthians 15:9-10 “For I am the least of the apostles, and not fit to be called an apostle, because I persecuted the church of God. But by the grace of God I am what I am, and His grace toward me did not prove vain; but I labored even more than all of them, yet not I, but the grace of God with me.”

Paul says I want you to understand what Christ is doing.

And I want you to understand why I care so much.

Christ saves men through the gospel, one of those is me.

PREACH IT

The gospel is His means of bringing salvation to men, one of whom is me.

PRESERVE IT

If those before us hadn’t preserved the gospel

Then we would not have been saved.

He Strengthened Me He Stationed Me He Saved Me

He Solidified Me He Showed Me

#6 HE SATISFIED ME

1 Timothy 1:17

Paul ends with a doxology.

And it is a clear statement of why he does what he does.

“Now to the King eternal, immortal, invisible, the only God, be honor and glory forever and ever. Amen.”

Can’t you see Paul rising to his feet in triumph?

I picture Paul pleading with Timothy with tears in his eyes

To protect the gospel from all perversion

As he recounts what the gospel did in his own life.

And the more he recounts the triumph of his salvation

The more he is overwhelmed until he spills over in praise.

We have a word for that:

PASSION

Paul never lost sight of the fact that Jesus did the unthinkable and saved Him.

Paul never lost sight of the tremendous mercy Christ showed Him.

And because of that Paul never grew apathetic about His mission.

And so I think that is a fitting way for us to end tonight.

DO YOU REMEMBER WHAT CHRIST DID IN YOUR LIFE?

DO YOU REMEMBER THE CHANGE HE WROUGHT?

DO YOU REMEMBER THOSE WHO PREACHED THE GOSPEL TO YOU?

NOW DO YOU REMEMBER WHY THE TRUTH MATTERS?

Do you realize that there are those in this world who have never heard a full or accurate presentation of the gospel?

Some because they live in a land of darkness.

Some because they live in a land of light, but go to a church that has maligned the truth.

HOW CAN WE SIT BY AND NOT MAKE THE TRUTH KNOWN?

If what Paul says motivates you,

Then you have rightly understood the point of the passage.

His goal was to motivate us to stand up and take charge.

In fact, just look at the next verse.

1 Timothy 1:18 “This command I entrust to you, Timothy, my son, in accordance with the prophecies previously made concerning you, that by them you fight the good fight,”

Paul wanted Timothy to stand up and make a difference.

May we all be challenged to do the same.

1 Timothy 3:14-15 “I am writing these things to you, hoping to come to you before long; but in case I am delayed, I write so that you will know how one ought to conduct himself in the household of God, which is the church of the living God, the pillar and support of the truth.”