Introduction to 1 Timothy 03/10/2024

First Baptist Church Leominster

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Be rolled back as a scroll, the trom shall resound, and the

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Lord shall descend. Well, Leo is going to come and lead us in our

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New Testament reading today, Acts chapter 7. Now, this is a longer chapter, there's what, 60 verses, something like that.

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Stephen, of course, was one of the original deacons, and he was a faithful evangelist as well.

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And on this occasion, he stood up and testified of Jesus Christ before the

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Jewish leaders. And of course, by the end of the chapter, he gets killed, and Paul was there, and apparently took a leading part in that.

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Interestingly, what transpires in Stephen's life here in Acts chapter 7 can be shown really to be a duplicate of what happened to Jesus Christ and the way they treated him.

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They treated Stephen the same way. And so he's set forth almost like an ideal disciple here in Acts 7, following his savior.

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And the main message he declared is that Jesus Christ is everything and the only hope of salvation.

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And what he argues in his sermon is that God made himself known very clearly and personally, savingly, before the law was given, before the tabernacle was built, and before the people were in the land, promised land.

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And so these things were not essential to knowing God. And this is what got him stoned at the end of Acts chapter 7.

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Thank you, Leo. And then I'll pray. And the high priest said,

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Are these things so? And Stephen said, Brothers and fathers, hear me.

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The God of glory appeared to our father Abraham when he was in Mesopotamia, before he lived in Haran, and said to him,

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Go out from your land and from your kin and go into the land that I will show you. Then he went out of the land of the

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Chaldeans and lived in Haran. And after his father died, God removed him from there into this land which you are now living.

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Yet he gave him no inheritance in it, not even a foot's length, but promised to give it to him as a possession and to his offspring after him, though he had no child.

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And God spoke to this effect, that his offspring would be sojourners in a land belonging to others and would enslave them and inflict them 400 years.

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But I will judge the nation that they serve, said God, and that they shall come out and worship me in this place.

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And he gave him the covenant of circumcision. And so Abraham became the father of Isaac and circumcised him on the eighth day.

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And Isaac became the father of Jacob and Jacob of the 12 patriarchs. And the patriarchs, jealous of Joseph, sold him into Egypt.

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And God was with him and rescued him out of all of his afflictions and gave him favor and wisdom before Pharaoh, king of Egypt, who made him ruler over Egypt and over all his household.

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Now there came a famine throughout all Egypt and Canaan and great affliction, and our fathers could find no food.

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But when Jacob heard that there was grain in Egypt, he sent out our fathers on their first visit.

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And on the second visit, Joseph made himself known to his brothers. And Joseph's family became known to Pharaoh.

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And Joseph sent and summoned Jacob, his father, and all his kindred, 75 people in all.

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And Jacob went down into Egypt and he died, he and our fathers. And they were carried back to Shechem and laid in the tomb that Abraham had bought for a sum of silver from the sons of Hamor in Shechem.

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But as the time of the promise drew near, which God had granted to Abraham, the people increased and multiplied in Egypt.

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Until there arose over Egypt another king who did not know

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Joseph. He dealt shrewdly with our race and forced our fathers to expose their infants so that they would not be kept alive.

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At this time, Moses was born and he was beautiful in God's sight. And he was brought up for three months in his father's house.

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And when he was exposed, Pharaoh's daughter adopted him and brought him up as her own son.

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And Moses was instructed in all the wisdom of the Egyptians. He was mighty in words and deeds.

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When he was 40 years old, it came into his heart to visit his brothers, the children of Israel.

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And he, seeing one of them being wrong, he defended the oppressed man and avenged him by striking down the

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Egyptian. He supposed that his brothers would understand that God was giving them salvation by his hand.

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But they did not understand. And on the following day, he appeared to them as they were quarreling and tried to reconcile them, saying,

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Men, you are brothers. Why do you wrong each other? But the man who was wronging his neighbor thrust him aside, saying,

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Who made you a ruler and judge over us? Do you want to kill me as you killed the

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Egyptian yesterday? At this retort, Moses fled and became an exile in the land of Midian, where he became the father of two sons.

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Now, when 40 years had passed, an angel appeared to him in the wilderness of Mount Sinai, in a flame of fire in a bush.

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When Moses saw it, he was amazed at the sight, and he drew near to look. There came the voice of the

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Lord. I am the Lord your God. The God of Abraham and of Isaac and Jacob and Moses trembled and did not dare look.

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Then the Lord said to him, Take off your sandals from your feet, for the place where you are standing is holy ground.

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I have surely seen the affliction of my people who are in Egypt and have heard their groaning, and I have come down to deliver them.

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And now come, I will send you to Egypt. This Moses whom they rejected, saying,

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Who made you a ruler and judge? This man God sent both as ruler and redeemer by the hand of the angel who appeared to him in the bush.

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This man led them out, performing wonders and signs in Egypt, at the

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Red Sea, and in the wilderness for 40 years. This is the Moses who said to the

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Israelites, God will raise up for you a prophet like me from your brothers.

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This is the one who was in the congregation in the wilderness with the angel who spoke to him at Mount Sinai, and with our fathers.

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He received living oracles to give us. Our fathers refused to obey him, but thrust him aside, and in their hearts they returned to Egypt, saying to Aaron, Make for us gods who will go before us.

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As for this Moses who led us out from the land of Egypt, we do not know what has become of him.

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And they made a calf in those days, and offered a sacrifice to the idol, and were rejoicing in the work of their hands.

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But God turned away and gave them over to worship the host of heaven, as it is written in the book of the prophets.

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Did you bring to me slain beasts and sacrifices during the 40 years in the wilderness,

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O house of Israel? You took up the tent of Moloch, and the star of your God, Rephin.

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The images you made to worship, and I will send you into exile beyond Babylon.

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Our fathers had the tent of witness in the wilderness, just as he who spoke to Moses directed him to make it, according to the pattern that he had seen.

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Our fathers in turn brought it in with Joshua when they dispossessed the nations that God drove out before our fathers.

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So it was until the days of David, who found favor in the sight of God, and asked to find a dwelling place for the

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God of Jacob. But it was Solomon who built a house for him. Yet the Most High does not dwell in houses made by hands, as the prophet says.

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Heaven is my throne, and earth is my footstool. What kind of house will you build for me, says the

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Lord? Or what is the place of my rest? Did not my hand make all these things?

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You stiff -necked people, uncircumcised in heart and ears, you always resist the

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Holy Spirit. As your fathers did, so do you. Which of the prophets did your fathers not persecute?

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And they killed those who announced beforehand the coming of the Righteous One, whom you have now betrayed and murdered.

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You who have received the law, delivered by angels, but did not keep it. Now when they heard these things, they were enraged, and they ground their teeth at him.

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But he, full of the Holy Spirit, gazed into heaven, and saw the glory of God, and Jesus standing at the right hand of God.

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And he said, Behold, I see the heavens open, and the Son of Man standing at the right hand of God.

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But they cried out with a loud voice, and stopped their ears, and rushed together at him. Then they cast him out of the city, and stoned him.

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And the witnesses laid down their garments at the feet of a young man named Saul.

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And as they were stoning Stephen, he called out, Lord Jesus, receive my spirit.

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And falling to his knees, he cried out with a loud voice, Lord, do not hold this sin against them.

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And when he had said this, he fell asleep. And Saul approved of his execution.

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Let's pray. Thank you, our Father, for the wonderful testimony of Scripture, of a faithful man who was faithful in proclaiming

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Jesus Christ to his generation, and he was willing to suffer the consequences for doing so.

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Help us, our God, to be bold in our witness to make very clear the teaching of your word that Jesus Christ alone is the

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Savior of sinners. And that we would present him as Lord, as King over this world, who is coming to judge this world in righteousness.

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And help us, our God, to hold forth the way of salvation through faith in him. Help us to proclaim the gospel faithfully.

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Now, Father, we ask that you would bless Pastor Jason as he opens up this portion of your word before us.

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First Timothy, we pray your blessing upon this series that he is beginning now in this pastoral epistle.

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Fill Pastor Jason with the blessed Holy Spirit. Enable him, our God, to think and speak clearly.

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May the blessed Holy Spirit take your word, our God, and we pray that you would illuminate our minds to its truth.

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Stir our hearts, our God, with its relevance and importance, and conform our wills to your will.

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For we pray this, Father, in Jesus' name. Amen. This morning we begin a new sermon series on the book of First Timothy.

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This book, along with Second Timothy and Titus, belongs to a group of letters called the

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Pastoral Epistles. These books are pastoral or ecclesiastical in nature.

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This means they contain a tremendous amount of information regarding doctrinal and practical matters pertaining to the local church.

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In fact, Paul stated this as his reading for writing to Timothy in 1 Timothy 3, verses 14 through 15.

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Paul wrote, I hope to come to you soon, but I am writing these things to you so that if I delay, you may know how one ought to behave in the household of God, which is the church of the living

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God, a pillar and buttress of the truth. At the time this letter was written,

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Timothy was serving the church in Ephesus, and this church had its fair share of problems.

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Paul had established this church years before on his third missionary journey, and upon his departure, he had given the elders a grave and serious warning.

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Acts 20, 28. Pay careful attention to yourselves and do all the flock in which the

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Holy Spirit has made you overseers to care for the church of God, which he obtained with his own blood.

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I know that after my departure, fierce wolves will come in among you, not sparing the flock, and from among your own selves will arise men speaking twisted things to draw away the disciples after them.

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This is precisely what had happened. After Paul's departure, fierce and savage wolves infiltrated the church with a twisted and different doctrine.

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Their teaching did not accord with godliness. It did not agree with the sound words of our

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Lord Jesus Christ. Some of these false teachers had risen to great prominence within the church, even being placed within the leadership.

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This was causing all manner of confusion, disorder, and disruption within the church.

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More than anything else, the church at Ephesus needed reformation. Paul's letter to Timothy was an attempt to correct these errors by rebuking the false teachers and their false teaching and returning the church to sound doctrine, to the sound words of our

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Lord Jesus Christ, and to the teaching that accords with godliness. This letter contains doctrinal matters, chapter 1, matters pertaining to public worship, chapter 2, qualifications for elders and deacons, chapter 3, warnings and moral instruction, chapter 4, social and pastoral responsibilities, chapter 5, and instruction regarding materialism, the love of money, and true contentment, chapter 6.

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Indeed, this letter provides everything that is needed for a church to behave in a manner that is worthy and glorifying to the

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Lord God. This letter provides everything that is needed for our church to behave in a manner that is glorifying and worthy of the

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Lord God. Please join with me to the book of 1 Timothy. Our text this morning is 1

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Timothy chapter 1, verses 1 and 2. Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus, by command of God our

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Savior and Christ Jesus our hope, to Timothy, my true child in the faith, grace, mercy, and peace, from God the

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Father and Christ Jesus our Lord. In this short salutation, we learn the author of the letter,

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Paul, the recipient of the letter, Timothy, and the greeting of the letter, grace, mercy, and peace.

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Let's take a look at each one of these in greater detail. Paul was the author of this letter.

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In verse 1, Paul identifies himself as an apostle of Christ Jesus by the command of God our

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Savior and of Christ Jesus our hope. At the time of this letter, false teachers had made significant inroads into the church at Ephesus.

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Many people were turning away from the truth and following their error. Many people were turning away from Paul and his teaching and following other teachers and their heretical beliefs.

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So Paul begins by establishing his own authority. He was not just another teacher.

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Paul was an apostle of Christ Jesus. Prior to his conversion,

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Paul was previously known as Saul. Saul had been a persecutor and oppressor of the church.

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He was an enemy of the church. He ravaged the church, breathing threats of violence and even murder against them.

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In Acts chapter 9, on the authority of the high priest, Paul traveled to Damascus to bind and arrest

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Christians and to bring them back to Jerusalem for their trial and imprisonment.

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Acts 9 verses 3 to 16. Now as he went on his way, he approached

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Damascus, and suddenly a light from heaven shone around him. And falling to the ground, he heard a voice saying to him,

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Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting me? And he said,

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Who are you, Lord? And he said, I am Jesus, whom you are persecuting.

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But rise and enter the city, and you will be told what you are to do. The men who were traveling with him stood speechless, hearing the voice but seeing no one.

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Saul rose from the ground, and although his eyes were opened, he saw nothing. So they led him by the hand and brought him into Damascus.

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And for three days he was without sight, and neither ate nor drank. Now there was a disciple at Damascus named

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Ananias. And the Lord said to him in a vision, Ananias. And he said, Here I am,

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Lord. And the Lord said to him, Rise and go to the street called Straight. And at the house of Judas, look for a man of Tarsus named

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Saul. For behold, 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.

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And Ananias answered, Lord, I have heard from many about this man, how much evil he has done to your saints at Jerusalem.

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And here he has authority from the chief priests to bind all who call on your name.

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But the Lord said to him, Go. For he is a chosen instrument of mine to carry my name before the

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Gentiles and kings and the children of Israel. For I will show him how much he must suffer for the sake of my name.

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Paul was a chosen instrument of the Lord God. The Lord God specifically chose

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Paul to carry and proclaim his name before the Gentiles, before kings and queens, nobles and soldiers and commoners, as well as the children of Israel.

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This determined course was not optional for Saul. It was a command.

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Paul had been set apart by the Lord God even before he was born to go and proclaim the gospel of Christ crucified among the

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Gentile nations. Paul was a divinely commissioned apostle of Christ Jesus.

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He was an official representative, one who had been given authority and sent out by the command of God our

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Savior and Christ Jesus our Savior. Now notice the source of this command.

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There were two sources. Paul was an apostle of Christ Jesus by the command of God and Christ Jesus.

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It's noteworthy that Paul joined together these two phrases. The grammatical construction of God our

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Savior and Christ Jesus our hope is significant. Paul was making a theological statement.

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He was making a Christological statement. A command from God our Savior is just as authoritative and binding as a command from Christ Jesus our hope and vice versa.

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This is the same pattern that we see in the greeting of 1 Timothy 1 -2. To Timothy, my true child in the faith, grace, mercy, and peace from God the

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Father and Christ Jesus our Lord. This blessing of grace, mercy, and peace came from God the

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Father and from Christ Jesus our Lord. This combined source of blessing stresses the equality of Christ Jesus our

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Lord and God the Father. A blessing from Christ Jesus our Lord is just as authoritative and binding as a blessing from God the

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Father and vice versa. In other words, Christ Jesus our hope is one with God our

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Savior. Christ Jesus our Lord is one with God the Father.

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Clearly, Paul is attesting to the divinity of the Lord Jesus Christ. Christ Jesus is

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God. The Baptist Catechism addresses this subject in questions 9 and 10.

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Are there more gods than one? There is but one only, the living and true

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God. Question 10. How many persons are there in the Godhead?

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There are three persons in the Godhead. The Father, the Son, and the

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Holy Spirit. And these three are one God, the same in essence, equal in power and glory.

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Christ Jesus is the same in essence, the same in substance, as the

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Lord God. Christ Jesus is equal in power and equal in glory to the

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Lord God, as is the Holy Spirit. This is referred to as the doctrine of the

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Trinity. God is three persons, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.

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Each person is fully God, but there is only one God. God in His very being eternally exists in the persons of Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.

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And yet, He is one God. The 1689

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London Baptist Confession of Faith. In Article 2, Paragraph 3 states,

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The divine and infinite being consists of three real persons, the Father, the

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Word, or Son, and the Holy Spirit. These three have the same substance, power, and eternity, each having the whole divine essence without this essence being divided.

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The Father is not derived from anyone, neither begotten nor proceeding. The Son is eternally begotten of the

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Father. The Holy Spirit proceeds from the Father and the Son. All three are infinite and without beginning, and therefore only one

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God, who is not to be divided in nature and being. Yet these three are distinguished by several distinctive characteristics and personal relations.

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This truth of the Trinity is the foundation of all our fellowship with God and of our comforting dependence on Him.

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Over the years, there has been a lot of error and misunderstanding regarding this doctrine.

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And one of the more common errors is that God, the God of the Old Testament, is different and distinct from the

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God of the New Testament. It is argued that the God of the Old Testament is a God of anger, a

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God of wrath, a God of judgment, a God of destruction. He is looking to punish and condemn sinners.

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The God of the New Testament is a God of love, goodness, compassion, and patience.

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He is looking to forgive and save sinners. Beloved, the

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God of the Old Testament is the same as the God of the New Testament. There is only one

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God, and God is immutable. God does not change.

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God is not subject to change. God does not vary. God does not differ from Himself.

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God cannot change for the better. God cannot change for the worse. God is perpetually the same.

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He is perfect in His nature and character. Malachi 3 .6,

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James 1 .16, The Lord our

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God is immutable. The Lord our God is a rock. The Lord our

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God does not change. The triune God of the Old Testament is the same triune

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God of the New Testament. There is only one God. God our

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Savior and Christ Jesus our hope. Well, why then the distinction?

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Why didn't Paul state that he was an apostle of Christ Jesus by the command of God or by the command of Christ Jesus?

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Why does Paul separate the two and make them distinct? Well, the phrase

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God our Savior seems to look back to the salvation that was accomplished through the

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Lord Jesus Christ. And the phrase Christ Jesus our hope looks forward to the day of our salvation, the day when

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Christ Jesus will return in great power and brilliant glory. It's important to remember and reflect upon both aspects of our salvation, both past and future.

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Our salvation began with God our Savior, not when we first believed, but in the past, in eternity past, long ago before the foundation of the world was even laid.

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Ephesians 1 .3, Even as he chose us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and blameless before him.

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In love, he predestined us for adoption to himself as sons through Christ Jesus, according to the purpose of his will, to the praise of his glorious grace, with which he has blessed us in the beloved.

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The Lord God chose to save us in Christ before the foundation of the world.

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Prior to the Lord God speaking creation into existence, he elected and chose us in Christ, that we should be holy and blameless.

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In love, the Lord God predestined us for adoption to himself. The Lord God predestined us to be his sons and his daughters, heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ, according to the purpose of his will.

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He delivered us from the domain of darkness, and he transferred us to the kingdom of his beloved son, to the praise of his glorious grace.

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And all of this God did fully aware of our dreadful and sinful condition.

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Ephesians 2, 1 -3 And you were dead in the trespasses and sins in which you once walked, following the course of this world, following the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that is now at work in the sons of disobedience, among whom we all once lived in the passions of our flesh, carrying out the desires of the body and the mind, and were by nature children of wrath like the rest of mankind.

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In these three verses we see a downward spinning spiral, the spiral of man's depravity.

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The reason men so desperately needed to be saved was because of their radical corruption in sin.

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Verse 1 The reason men so desperately needed to be saved was because of their bondage and captivity to Satan, the prince of the power of the air, the spirit at work in the sons of disobedience.

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Verse 2 The reason men so desperately needed to be saved was because of their sinful choices.

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All men live according to the passions of their flesh and their fallen minds, making them fit subjects for the awful and terrible wrath of God.

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Verse 3 All men are born spiritually dead. All men are born enslaved to sin, enslaved to unrighteousness, enslaved to the ruler of this world.

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All men are born into slavery and bondage, without hope and without God.

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All men are born as the recipients of the Lord God's impending anger, wrath, and judgment, the children of wrath, but God.

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Ephesians 2 .4 But God being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ.

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By grace you have been saved, and raised us up with him, and seated us with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, so that in the coming ages he might show the immeasurable riches of his grace and kindness toward us in Christ Jesus.

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The Lord God is our Savior. The Lord God being rich in mercy and rich in love, has saved sinners and raised us up and seated us with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus.

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In his commentary on Ephesians, William Hendrickson remarked, It is

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God who spared not his son, but delivered him up for us all. It is

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God who sets forth his son as a propitiation for our sins. It is he who commends his love toward us.

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It is God who blesses us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places.

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Foreknowledge, foreordination, calling, justification, and glorification are all ascribed to him.

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It is he who chose us. It is he who causes the gospel to be proclaimed. It is he who bestows his grace upon us.

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Faith is his gift. Isaiah 45, 21.

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Declare and present your case. Let them take counsel together. Who told this long ago?

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Who declared it of old? Was it not I, the Lord? And there is no other

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God besides me, a righteous God and Savior. There is none besides me.

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It is right to describe God as our Savior because our salvation is from him.

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However, it is also right to describe Christ Jesus as our Savior because our salvation is through him.

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Both of these truths are clearly seen in the third pastoral epistle, Paul's letter to Titus.

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Titus 3, 4 through 7. But when the goodness and loving kindness of God our

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Savior appeared, he saved us. Not because of works done by us in righteousness, but according to his own mercy, by the washing of regeneration and renewal of the

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Holy Spirit, whom he poured out on us richly through Jesus Christ, our

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Savior, so that being justified by his grace, we might become heirs according to the hope of eternal life.

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God is our Savior. God has saved us through the person and work of Jesus Christ, who is also our

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Savior, which is why Christ Jesus is referred to as our hope. The title

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Christ Jesus, our hope, looks forward and is pointing to the future aspect of our salvation.

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Oftentimes, especially in secular circles, the term hope refers to something that may or may not happen.

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I hope it doesn't rain today. I hope I don't get sick. In the scriptures, hope refers to something certain.

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It refers to something that is absolutely certain. Most assuredly, it will happen.

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Most assuredly, it will come to pass. R .C. Sproul, in his commentary on Romans, remarked, hope is not taking a deep breath and hoping things are going to turn out all right.

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It is assurance that God is going to do what he says he will do.

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Biblical hope is never anxious. It's never fearful. It's never worried about what may or may not lie ahead.

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Hope is confident, and it is fully convinced in what the Lord God has promised to accomplish.

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Thus, hope is not a subjective emotion. Rather, hope is a settled and objective fact because our hope is settled and centered on Christ Jesus.

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Thus, his title, Christ Jesus, our hope. Hebrews 617, so when

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God desired to show more convincingly to the heirs of the promise the unchangeable character of his purpose, he guaranteed it with an oath so that by two unchangeable things in which it is impossible for God to lie, we who have fled for refuge might have strong encouragement to hold fast to the hope set before us.

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We have this as a sure and steadfast anchor of the soul, a hope that enters into the inner place behind the curtain where Jesus has gone as a forerunner on our behalf, having become a high priest forever after the order of Melchizedek.

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As our high priest, Christ Jesus in his once offering up of himself as a sacrifice to satisfy divine judgment has reconciled us to the

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Lord God. And as our high priest, he continues to make intercession for us.

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He is our peacemaker. He is our mediator. He is our advocate.

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Christ Jesus is the anchor of our souls.

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An anchor is a heavy weight attached to a chain, fixed to a ship, and dropped overboard to keep the ship from blowing in the wind or from the drifting with the current.

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A ship without an anchor will be tossed to and fro by the current, wind, and waves.

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A ship without an anchor is in danger of shipwreck. It is in danger of sinking. However, a ship with an anchor is secure.

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It is safe. It is sound. A ship with an anchor that is secured firmly will be able to ride out any storm regardless of its severity.

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Beloved, it is Christ Jesus who keeps us from drifting away from the Lord God. It is

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Christ Jesus who keeps us from being tossed to and fro by the waves and carried about by every wind of doctrine, by human cunning, by craftiness and deceitful schemes.

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Christ Jesus is our sustainer. He is our perfecter. He is our support.

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He is our safe haven. Christ Jesus keeps us secure and steadfast amid the most violent current, wind, and waves of this world.

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He is our refuge. He is our fortress. One of my favorite

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Psalms is Psalm 91, and it speaks to this truth. He who dwells in the shelter of the

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Most High will abide in the shadow of the Almighty. I will say to the

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Lord, my refuge and my fortress, my God in whom I trust, for he will deliver you from the snare of the fowler and from the deadly pestilence.

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He will cover you with his pinions and under his wings you will find refuge.

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His faithfulness is a shield and buckler. You will not fear the terror of the night nor the arrow that flies by day nor the pestilence that stalks in darkness nor the destruction that wastes at noonday.

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A thousand may fall at your side, ten thousand at your right hand, but it will not come near you.

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You will only look with your eyes and see the recompense of the wicked because you have made the

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Lord your dwelling place, the Most High who is my refuge. No evil shall be allowed to befall you, no plague come near your tent, for he will command his angels concerning you to guard you in all your ways.

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On their hands they will bear you up lest you strike your foot against a stone. You will tread on the lion and the adder, the young lion and the serpent you will trample underfoot because he holds fast to me in love.

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And this is the Lord God speaking. Because he holds fast to me in love, I will deliver him.

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I will protect him because he knows my name. When he calls to me, I will answer him.

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I will be with him in trouble. I will rescue him and honor him. With long life

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I will satisfy him and show him my salvation. Beloved, in the midst of stormy trials, injustice, temptation, and suffering, dwell in the shelter of the

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Most High. Abide in the shadow of the Almighty. Hold fast to him in love.

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Drop your anchor and entirely place your faith and your trust in the Lord Jesus Christ.

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He will deliver you. He will protect you. He will answer you. He will be with you in trouble because he is the anchor of your soul.

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He is the anchor of your hope. He is the anchor that will not slip but will hold fast forever.

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Christ Jesus is our hope and we must set our hope on him.

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1 Peter 1 .13 Therefore, preparing your minds for action and being sober -minded, set your hope fully on the grace that will be brought to you at the revelation of Jesus Christ.

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To set your hope means to fix, to settle or secure your hope. It means to confidently and doubtlessly look forward.

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It means to rest the full weight of your hope entirely, completely, unfalteringly upon the grace that will be brought to you at the revelation of Jesus Christ.

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Set your hope on the future grace of God. Set your hope on the return of the

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Lord Jesus Christ when your hope and your faith will become a reality. At his return, the

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Lord Jesus Christ will pour out his blessing upon us and we will obtain the outcome of our faith, the salvation of our souls.

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Until then, we anxiously wait for the blessed hope. We wait for the appearing of the glory of our great

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God and Savior, Jesus Christ. Beloved, our hope in Christ Jesus, in his person, in his work, in his return is an absolute certainty.

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It is so absolutely certain that we are called to praise glory and rejoice in it, fully expecting that it will never put us to shame.

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Romans 5, 1 through 5. Therefore, since we have been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our

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Lord Jesus Christ. Through him, we also have obtained access by faith into this grace in which we stand and we rejoice in hope of the glory of God.

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Not only that, but we rejoice in our sufferings, knowing that sufferings produces endurance, and endurance produces character, and character produces hope.

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And hope does not put us to shame because God's love has been poured into our hearts through the

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Holy Spirit who has been given to us. Beloved, never doubt the hope that is found in Christ Jesus.

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It is steadfast. It is unwavering. It is the anchor of your soul.

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Thus, exalt and rejoice in it now, knowing full well that you will exalt and rejoice in it then.

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God is our Savior. Christ Jesus is our hope. And Paul was an apostle of Christ Jesus by the command of both.

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Let's take a look at the recipient of this letter. The recipient of this letter was Timothy.

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1 Timothy 1, 2. To Timothy, my true child in the faith, grace, mercy, and peace from God the

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Father and Christ Jesus our Lord. Paul considered Timothy to be his true child in the faith.

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In other epistles, Paul called Timothy his beloved child, his true child in a common faith, and his beloved and faithful child in the

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Lord. Paul and Timothy had a very close and familiar relationship. Timothy had spent 15 years with Paul as his constant missionary companion.

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And Paul considered himself to be Timothy's spiritual father. If Paul and Timothy were so close, then why such a formal title?

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If Timothy was indeed his true child in the faith, then why does Paul formally introduce himself as an apostle of Christ Jesus by command of God our

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Savior and of Christ Jesus our hope? Well, this letter was not meant only for the eyes of Timothy, but for the entire church at Ephesus.

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By using these titles, Paul was not only reminding the church of his authority, but also of the authority of Timothy, who had been left behind at Ephesus to serve the church on his behalf.

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The church at Ephesus needed to listen and submit to the ministry of Timothy because he was genuine.

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He was faithful. He was true to the gospel of the

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Lord Jesus Christ, unlike the false teachers who were sowing air, discord, and confusion amongst the brothers.

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Church reform can be a very difficult endeavor. Personal opinions, personalities, preferences, church traditions, all of these things run deep.

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Making changes in a church can be an arduous and challenging task, especially if you are young, timid, and sickly, as was

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Timothy. This title given to Timothy was meant to reinforce his authority and to bolster his standing in the eyes of the people.

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Timothy would need every possible advantage in his effort to wage good warfare as he sought to rebuke false teachers, correct errant doctrine, and shepherd the flock of God.

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But Timothy would also need three additional things. 1 Timothy 1 -2.

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To Timothy, my true child in the faith, grace, mercy, and peace from God the

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Father and Christ Jesus our Lord. In order for Timothy to accomplish his task, he would need grace, mercy, and peace from God the

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Father and Christ Jesus our Lord. Notice that this greeting in verse 2 is not the standard greeting of the apostle.

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In the book of Romans, 1 Corinthians, 2 Corinthians, Galatians, Ephesians, Philippians, Colossians, 1

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Thessalonians, 2 Thessalonians, Titus, and Philemon, the greeting is some iteration of grace to you and peace from God the

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Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. In both 1 and 2 Timothy, the greeting is grace, mercy, and peace.

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Grace refers to the unmerited favor of God. The Lord our God is a

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God of grace, and he generously bestows his grace upon us. It is the grace of God that works within us.

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It is the grace of God that enables us to walk in his works, which the Lord God has prepared beforehand that we should walk in them.

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Considering the following verses, 2 Corinthians 9, 8,

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And God is able to make all grace abound to you, so that having all sufficiency in all things at all times you may abound in every good work.

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2 Corinthians 12, 9, But he said to me, My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.

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Therefore I will boast all the more gladly of my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may rest upon me.

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1 Corinthians 15, 10, But by the grace of God I am what I am, and his grace toward me was not in vain.

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On the contrary, I worked harder than any of them, though it was not I, but the grace of God that is within me.

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If Timothy were to abound in the work at Ephesus, he would need the abounding and sufficient grace of God.

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Timothy would need to tap into the power of Christ, a power that is made perfect in weakness.

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If Timothy were to abound in the work at Ephesus, he would need to understand that success comes not from natural abilities, discipline, or determination, but from the grace of God that works within.

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Timothy would also need mercy. Mercy refers to the goodness of God towards those in distress, to those suffering, to those in despair and misery.

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Mercy commiserates with the sad and helpless condition of mankind. 1

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Corinthians 1, verses 3 through 5, Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the

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Father of mercies, and God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our affliction, so that we may be able to comfort those who are in any affliction with the comfort with which we ourselves are comforted by God.

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For we share abundantly in Christ's sufferings, so through Christ we share abundantly in comfort too.

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The Lord our God is the Father of mercies and the God of all comfort. Paul added mercy to his greeting because Timothy would need mercy.

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Timothy would need great mercy and abounding mercy. Why? Because Timothy was attempting to reform a church.

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He was attempting to reform a church that had significant and major problems.

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Ephesus had false teachers, teachers without understanding, confident teachers without understanding, teachers who had made a shipwreck of their faith.

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Ephesus had angry and quarreling men, immodest and rebellious women, unqualified elders, unqualified deacons, carnal widows, elders who were persisting in sin, disrespectful bondservants, teachers who craved controversy and quarrels, teachers who were depraved in mind and deprived of the truth, teachers in love with money, teaching for the sake of sordid gain.

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The church at Ephesus was a mess. Timothy needed great grace and great mercy if he were to fight the good fight of faith, if he were to take hold of the eternal life to which he was called and persevere in his reforming work of this unruly and wayward church.

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Lastly, Timothy would also need the peace of God. The last portion of Paul's greeting is peace, grace, mercy, and peace.

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The result of grace and mercy is peace. Peace is one of the benefits that flows from our justification.

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Romans 5 .1, therefore since we have been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our

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Lord Jesus Christ. Do you remember back in Ephesians 2, verses one and three?

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All men are born spiritually dead. All men are born following the course of this world, the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that is at work, and the sons of disobedience.

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All men are born children of wrath, the recipients of the appending judgment and wrath of God.

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Ephesians 2 .13, but now in Christ Jesus, you who once were far off had been brought near by the blood of Christ, for he himself is our peace, who has made us both one and broken down in his flesh the dividing wall of hostility by abolishing the law of commandments expressed in ordinances that he might create in himself one new man in the place of two.

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So making peace, and might reconcile us both to God in one body through the cross, thereby killing the hostility.

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And he came and preached peace to you who were far off, and peace to those who were near, for through him we both have access in one spirit to the

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Father. Christ Jesus himself is our peace. The work of the

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Lord Jesus Christ upon the cross provides believers with permanent and lasting peace, peace with one another, and peace with the

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Lord God. And because of our peace with God, we can now enjoy the peace of God.

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Peace not only refers to our position in Christ, we have been reconciled to the Lord God. It also can refer to that inward calm, that quietness of spirit, that tranquility that we have that transcends our circumstances.

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Isaiah 26, three through four. You keep him in perfect peace whose mind is stayed on you because he trusts in you.

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Trust in the Lord forever, for the Lord God is an everlasting rock. Beloved Christ Jesus is our peace.

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And the perfect peace of God which surpasses all understanding comes from confident trust in him, confident trust in his sovereignty, confident trust in his infinite wisdom, in his infinite power, in his infinite goodness, and his infinitely perfect love.

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Timothy would need to keep his mind stayed on him. Timothy would need to trust in the

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Lord God even amid the violent storms and chaos that he would encounter at Ephesus.

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Timothy needed grace, he needed mercy, he needed peace. And beloved, we need the same.

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Therefore, Hebrews 4 .16, let us with confidence draw near to the throne of grace that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need.

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Galatians 4 .7, and the peace of God which surpasses all understanding will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.

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Beloved, God is our savior. And Christ Jesus is our hope.

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And may the Lord God bless each one of you with his grace, with his mercy, and his peace.

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Let's pray. Lord God, we just thank you that you are the anchor of our souls, that all of our hope rests in you, and that it is an absolute certainty.

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Lord, we thank you that you are trustworthy. We thank you that you are a faithful God. And Lord, I pray that we would look past what's happening in our world, what's happening in our lives, and that we would keep our eyes fixed on you.

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Lord, we pray that you would bless this study of 1 Timothy. We pray that you would direct us to your truth.

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We pray that you would guide us and lead us in your truth. And we pray, Lord, that just as the church in Ephesus needed reformation, that you would reform our church.

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We pray, Lord, that you would reform each one of our hearts, that we might walk in love, that we would pursue you with all of our hearts, with all of our souls, with all of our strengths.