Worshiping God for His Grace Part III

1 Timothy 1:12-17:

I thank Christ Jesus our Lord, who has strengthened me, because He considered me faithful, putting me into service, even though I was formerly a blasphemer, and a persecutor, and a violent aggressor. 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. It is a trustworthy statement, deserving full acceptance, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners, among whom I am the foremost of all. Yet for this reason I found mercy, that in being the foremost, Jesus Christ might demonstrate His perfect patience as an example for those who would believe in Him for eternal life. Now to the King eternal, immortal, invisible, the only God, be honor and glory forever and ever. Amen.

Continuing on in our study, lets move along to verse 13, and our next point, where we see Paul as the Repentant Sinner.

“even though I was formerly a blasphemer and a persecutor and a violent aggressor.”

Repentance is literally defined as a change of both mind and heart, and turning away from sin. Repentance is not a one time thing that takes place, but a continual action in the life of a Christian; where we recognize our sin, and we turn away from it. In Matthew 3:8 John the Baptist tells the Pharisee’s “therefore bear fruit in keeping with repentance.”

In our verse here Paul shows us two things, he acknowledges his sins, and he changes his ways.

• “Even though I was formerly” this is a strong statement emphasizing the change. He no longer acts the way he did, which is the final outcome of true repentance.
• “A blasphemer and a persecutor and a violent aggressor” Here it is important to acknowledge Paul’s full understanding and right view of his sin. He admits that he has broken the first four commandments, as a blasphemer, and he has broken the last 6 as a persecutor and a violent aggressor.
  

When Jesus was asked what the greatest commandment was in Mark 12:28-31 He replied: “The foremost is, ‘Hear O Israel! The Lord our God is one Lord; and you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your mind, and with all your strength. The second is this, ; You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ There is no other commandment greater than these.

Notice how Paul’s confession freely admits that he transgressed in every way, he was a blasphemer, and therefore was acting out against a holy God, and he was a persecutor, and a violent aggressor, acting out against God’s beloved children. Paul’s repentance wasn’t superficial, it didn’t hide the truth, but he fully exposed his weakness before the Lord. Our repentance must be just that, completely open, completely honest, and in complete agreement with God’s righteous judgment against sin.

If we were to turn anywhere in Scripture to find an example of Biblical repentance it would be Psalm 51. Here we see David’s cry of anguish for his grievous sins of covetousness and adultery with Bathsheba, and his sins of lying and murder against Uriah, but listen to his words in Psalm 51:1-4:

“Be gracious to me, O God, according to Your lovingkindness; According to the greatness of Your compassion blot out my transgressions. Wash me thoroughly from my iniquity and cleanse me from my sin. For I know my transgressions and my sin is ever before me. Against You, You only, I have sinned and done what is evil in Your sight, so that You are justified when you speak and blameless when You judge.”

Although his transgressions were clearly against others, it was God’s heart he had offended, and God alone who could purify him. But David doesn’t stop there, he continues in repentance, for his sin nature in verse 5:

Behold, I was brought forth in iniquity, and in sin my mother conceived me.

Here David isn’t charging his mother with an illegitimate relationship, but instead is admitting what Scripture teaches over and over again. From birth we have a s sinful nature, and our hearts are inclined toward evil. In fact, right before God destroyed the earth with the flood He makes an observation that accurately describes the fallen nature of mankind, our sin nature passed down from Adam and Eve.

In Genesis 6:5 we see one of the most startling statements in the Bible:

Then the Lord saw that the wickedness of man was great on the earth and that every intent of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually.

Now this of course is before the flood, before God wiped out all those sinful people right? Certainly after Noah entered the ark and all those wretched sinners were drowned, then things would change, right? Wrong, listen to Gods words as Noah comes off of the ark in Genesis 8:18-21: S

o Noah went out, and his sons and his wife and his sons' wives with him. Every beast, every creeping thing, and every bird, everything that moves on the earth, went out by their families from the ark. Then Noah built an altar to the LORD, and took of every clean animal and of every clean bird and offered burnt offerings on the altar. The LORD smelled the soothing aroma; and the LORD said to Himself, "I will never again curse the ground on account of man, for the intent of man's heart is evil from his youth; and I will never again destroy every living thing, as I have done.

We find so many other passages that reflect this same truth, but I think none more profoundly speak about our inability to please God, or seek for Him on our own as Romans 3:10-12 does;

as it is written, " THERE IS NONE RIGHTEOUS, NOT EVEN ONE; THERE IS NONE WHO UNDERSTANDS, THERE IS NONE WHO SEEKS FOR GOD; ALL HAVE TURNED ASIDE, TOGETHER THEY HAVE BECOME WORTHLESS;
 THERE IS NONE WHO DOES GOOD,
THERE IS NOT EVEN ONE."

We learn that this sinful nature corrupts us from the start, and this corruption penetrates into the deepest part of our being. We don’t have the moral ability to choose God and His righteousness, in fact, we are incapable of pleasing God in any way on our own.

We view ourselves in light of those around us, and can confidently say “I’m not so bad, look at this guy over here, he’s a terrible person!” we know that there is always someone worse then we are, so we can’t be that bad, right? WRONG!

Without God’s intervention we cannot see our sin for what it is, which is an abomination before a holy God. We remain as enemies of God, and unless He reveals to us our horrible helpless state of sinfulness, and without a proper view of our sinfulness, we cannot repent, and as Jesus said in Luke 13:3 “Unless you repent, you will all likewise perish.”

I just want to address one other point while covering verse 13. Paul finishes the verse by stating “Yet I was shown mercy because I acted ignorantly in unbelief;”

It is important to understand that Paul was neither a Jewish apostate nor a Pharisee who clearly understood Jesus’ teaching and still rejected Him, on the contrary, Paul was a zealous passionate Jew trying to earn his salvation through works and outward righteousness, thus, like all others in any false religious system of works righteousness, he was damned.

Here Paul isn’t making a plea for innocence due to ignorance, nor is he denying his responsibility and guilt. He is pointing out that until Christ confronted him with the truth about his sin, he thought he was doing God a favor by persecuting the Christians, and therefore was ignorant of the truth.

If everyone who was acting in ignorance received mercy solely on the basis of their ignorance, then every man woman and child would receive salvation simply based on the fact that we are all ignorant before God from start to finish.

This however would violate every teaching of Christ, from repentance, to self denial, to salvation by faith in His atoning work on the cross. We also know that “the gate is wide and the way is broad that leads to destruction, and there are many who enter through it.” This of course is contrasted to the narrow gate that only a few will ever find.

Worshiping God for His Grace Part II

1 Timothy 1:12-17:

I thank Christ Jesus our Lord, who has strengthened me, because He considered me faithful, putting me into service, even though I was formerly a blasphemer, and a persecutor, and a violent aggressor. 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. It is a trustworthy statement, deserving full acceptance, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners, among whom I am the foremost of all. Yet for this reason I found mercy, that in being the foremost, Jesus Christ might demonstrate His perfect patience as an example for those who would believe in Him for eternal life. Now to the King eternal, immortal, invisible, the only God, be honor and glory forever and ever. Amen.

Our first point of emphasis today is the Truth of God’s Grace, and it all starts with the Call of God.

Before we delve into this first point I want to take a moment to emphasize two separate types of the Biblical term called, or the call of God:

• The outward, or external call

• The inward call, or drawing of the Holy Spirit

The outward or external call can easily be viewed in passages where people hear the clear presentation of the Gospel message, and reject it. The inward call or drawing of the Holy Spirit is displayed clearly in many passages, including Romans 8:30: “and whom He predestined, these He also called; and whom He called, these He also justified; and whom He justified, these He also glorified.
Jesus told a parable about a great wedding feast, and all of those invited came up with different excuses as to why they couldn’t come. He finishes the parable in Matthew 22:14 with the startling statement “many are called, but the chosen are few” This includes both those who have been called externally, by hearing the message, and those who have been called both externally by hearing the Gospel, and internally, by the drawing of the Holy Spirit. It is those who have been chosen, that are drawn by the Spirit.

Focusing on 1 Tim 1:12 “I thank Christ Jesus our Lord, who has strengthened me, because He considered me faithful, putting me into service,” I want to zero in on the fact, that in this passage, Paul is the object of Christ’s plan, and not the cause. Notice the string of actions taking place on Christ’s initiative:

• I thank Christ Jesus our Lord, who has strengthened me
• Because He considered me faithful
• Putting me into service

Just taking a forward glance into verse 13 we see that this wondrous call of God is apart from any merit of Paul, as he tells us: “Even though I was formerly a blasphemer and a persecutor and a violent aggressor.”
In fact, lets not stop there, lets go back, and see exactly where Paul was when Christ strengthened him, considered him faithful, and put him into service.
Turn with me to Acts 9:1-6. Here we read the account of Paul, or Saul’s conversion.

“Now Saul, still breathing threats and murder against the disciples of the Lord, went to the high priest, and asked for letters from him to the synagogues at Damascus, so that if he found any belonging to the Way, both men and women, he might bring them bound to Jerusalem. As he was traveling, it happened that he was approaching Damascus, and suddenly a light from heaven flashed around him; and he fell to the ground and heard a voice saying to him, “Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting Me?” and he said, “Who are You, Lord?” And He said, “I am Jesus whom you are persecuting, but get up and enter the city, and it will be told you what you must do.”

Notice the lack of choice given to Saul here, he is knocked off his horse, blinded, told where to go, and what he “must do.”

God certainly didn’t consider Paul faithful because of his actions against the Christians, on the contrary, God considered Paul faithful because of His choice for Paul’s life. In the same account of Paul’s conversion, look at verse 15 “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;”

The Greek word used here for “chosen instrument” is Ekloge: this is literally rendered vessel of election, and defined in Thayer’s Theological Greek dictionary as “the act of God’s free will by which before the foundation of the world He decreed His blessings to certain persons”

This same word is used a total of 7 times in scripture. Each time it appears, it is used to describe God’s sovereign choice in salvation.

• Here in Acts, 9:15
• Romans 9:11; 11:5; 11:7; 11:28
• 1 Thessalonians 1:4
• 2 Peter 1:10
  

Romans 9:11 defines this word perfectly: “for though the twins were not yet born, and had not done anything good or bad, in order that God’s purpose according to His choice might stand, not because of works, but because of Him who calls.”

Here we see the call of God, unaffected by our choices, works or our will. God makes the choice that affects our future, it’s not the other way around.

Worshiping God for His Grace

When worshiping God, often we find ourselves worshiping in general. There isn't anything wrong with just worshiping God, but I find in my own life, and in scripture, that praises and doxologies that focus on specific attributes for worshiping God, such as His grace, His justice, His love, His faithfulness and so on, leave a lasting impression on my heart, and my soul, and draw me closer to the most amazing display of His character of all, the cross.

There are so many things that God has revealed to us through His word, that we should worship Him for, so for the next two weeks or so, we will involve ourselves with a study, intended to focus our worship on His amazing grace.

When the “Doctrine’s of Grace” are mentioned within Christian circles, you can expect a variety of different responses. Some groups will hear the word “doctrine” and immediately disregard the conversation. Others will actively engage you in conversation and bring their views to the table. Any Protestant Reformer hearing these words will instinctively think of Calvinism and the acrostic T.U.L.I.P., where the “T” stands for the Total Depravity of Man, “U” God’s Unconditional Election, “L” Limited Atonement, or as it is better stated Definite Redemption, “I” for God’s Irresistible Grace, and “P” for the Perseverance of the Saints. I love to discuss the grace of God with others, and though, I am in the latter group that immediately associates the words “Doctrines of Grace” with Calvinism, I want to step back for just a moment and show you how every Biblical doctrine is a doctrine of Grace.

Biblically Grace is referring to the unmerited favor and kindness of God shown to the undeserving sinner. But I want to show you just how much ground that covers.

• It was the amazing grace of God to display His power, and reveal Himself through His creation.

• Psalm 19:1-2 tell us “The heavens are telling of the glory of God; and their expanse is declaring the work of His hands. Day to day pours forth speech, and night to night reveals knowledge.

• Romans 1:19-20 “because that which is known about God is evident within them; for God made it evident to them. For since the creation of the world His invisible attributes, His eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly seen, being understood through what has been made, so that they are without excuse.”

So, in this amazing act of grace, God revealed Himself to His own creation, so that in just looking at the wonders of nature, the changing of seasons, the stars in the heavens, the mighty sun lighting the earth and every facet of this marvelous earth, we can see God’s divine nature and eternal power!
How about the intimate access we have to God’s privacy, the backstage pass to see His true character as He reveals Himself to the world, through His Word. God completely discloses Himself to us in the pages of scripture, He forfeits His privacy, so that we can see who He really is. These certainly are acts of grace and mercy, because of the simple fact that we do not deserve them. God doesn’t owe anything to anyone at anytime, but in kindness, He has given so much more then we could ever think to ask for.

When you view every little thing that God has done for us as a gift of His grace, then all the more gracious and merciful salvation becomes to the sinner, who has received a full pardon from guilt, from sin, and from the divine judgment and wrath of a holy God.

Our text for this study will deal with just that, the grace of God, in the salvation of man. Please prayerfully begin reading 1 Timothy 1:12-17 as we take this journey together, and keep looking for the next post!

The Quarter

Several years ago, a preacher from out-of-state accepted a call to a church in Houston, Texas. Some weeks after he arrived, he had an opportunity to ride the bus from his home to the downtown area. When he sat down, he discovered that the driver had accidentally given him a quarter too much in change. As he considered what to do, he thought to himself, "You'd better give the quarter back. It would be wrong to keep it." Then he thought, "Oh, forget it, it's only a quarter. Who would worry about this little amount anyway, and the bus company gets too much fare already; they will never miss it. Accept it as a gift from God and keep quiet."

When his stop came, he paused momentarily at the door, then he handed the quarter to the driver and said, "Here, you gave me too much change." The driver, with a smile, replied, "Aren't you the new preacher in town? I have been thinking a lot lately about going somewhere to worship. I just wanted to see what you would do if I gave you too much change. I'll see you at church on Sunday."

When the preacher stepped off of the bus, he literally grabbed the nearest light pole, held on, and said, "Oh God, I almost sold your Son for a quarter." Our lives are the only Bible some people will ever read. This is a vivid example of how much people watch us as Christians
and will put us to the test! Always be on guard --and remember -- You carry the name of Christ on your shoulders when you call yourself "Christian." Your entire life is a worship service, and you have more opportunities than you would think, to worship Him.

June Hymn of the Month:

Lift High the Cross

By: George W. Kitchin 1887, Modified by Michael R. Newbolt 1916

John 12:32 “And I, if I be lifted up from the earth, will draw all men to Myself.”

Over the last two months, we have placed special emphasis on the amazing grace of God in salvation; about His sovereignty and divine will that is accomplished in the lives of His chosen; and the wonderful security that a true believer in Christ can have because of these astonishing truths. This month, I thought that we would move to the opposite end of the spectrum, and talk about our part, in God’s plan for salvation. John Macarthur said something once that continuously reminds me about our part in salvation. He said “any theology so focused on the sovereignty of God, that it causes the believer to stop contending for the faith, is a lopsided theology.” This statement is not only true, but I believe that it hits close to home in many of our lives.

This hymn comes just in time, as people are out enjoying the weather, taking vacations, enjoying the gift of life that God has given us. It comes in time, to remind us of our responsibility as believers in Christ, to lift His cross high, that men cannot help, but be drawn to Him. When we share the truth about Christ’s perfect sinless life, about His atoning death on the cross, His resurrection from the grave and ascension into heaven, in the light of our sinfulness, our depraved hearts, and our natural animosity toward the righteous things of God, we give those who hear the opportunity to have a real life, eternal life in Christ.

Make no mistake, God is sovereign, all of those whom He chooses will come to Him for salvation, but an amazing truth that should always be our focus is that God chooses to use His children to accomplish His sovereign will in salvation. We aren’t responsible for the outcome, we cannot make anyone believe, but God’s promise is that His Word will not come back void, it will accomplish that for which it has been sent. As it says in 1 Corinthians 1:18 “For the word of the cross is to those who are perishing foolishness, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God.” In fact, in the same letter, Paul tells us about his part in the salvation of those he preached to in chapter 3:6-7 “I planted, Apollos watered, but God was causing the growth. So then neither the one who plants nor the one who waters is anything, but God who causes the growth.

With these two truths, we should have an amazing confidence, and determination to declare God’s truth. We can have confidence, because we aren’t responsible for the outcome, only to faithfully proclaim the Word. You see, it is not you or I who wins someone over to Christ, it is God alone who gives the increase. In fact, the less of ourselves we offer up, and the more of God’s Word we proclaim, the better. It is the truth of God’s Word that draws men to Christ, not clever stories, not heart-warming melodies, not your testimony and certainly not hammering them with hellfire and brimstone. I’m not saying that these things aren’t useful, there is a time and a place for all of them, but we must remember, It is God’s Word that has the power to save.

In closing, I would like to share Romans 10:14-17: How then shall they call upon Him in whom they have not believed? And how shall they believe in Him whom they have not heard? And how shall they hear without a preacher? And how shall they preach unless they are sent? Just as it is written, “How beautiful are the feet of those who bring glad tidings of Good things! However, they did not all heed the glad tidings; for Isaiah says, “Lord, who has believed our report?” So faith comes from hearing, and hearing by the word of Christ.”
Please remember, that as a believer, you have been sent, by the Lord Jesus Himself, to share the Gospel of His cross, and of the redemption that can only be found through His name. There is nothing more amazing and wonderful than the pardon we have received through His atoning sacrifice, and there is nothing more worth sharing than this very truth.

Lift high the cross! The love of Christ proclaim
Till all the world adore, His sacred name.

Come brethren, follow where our savior trod,
Our King victorious, Christ the Son of God.

Led on their way by this triumphant sign,
The hosts of God in conquering ranks combine

O Lord, once lifted on the glorious tree
As Thou hast promised, draw men unto Thee

Thy kingdom come, that earth’s despair may cease
Beneath the shadow of its healing peace

For Thy blest cross which doth for us atone
Creation’s praises rise before Thy throne