WWUTT 577 Of Whom I Am the Foremost?

All of us are sinners in need of the grace and mercy of God. We all acted ignorantly in unbelief, but the grace of our Lord overflowed with the faith and love that are in Christ Jesus when we understand the text.

This is when we understand the text studying God's word to reach all the riches of full assurance in Christ. Find all our videos online at www .wutt .com as well as links to follow us on Facebook and Twitter.

Here's your teacher, Pastor Gabe Hughes.

Paul’s Mercy, Ignorance, and the Foremost Sinner

Thank you, Becky. We continue with our study of 1 Timothy chapter 1. I'll start reading in verse 12 through about verse 17. The Apostle Paul writing to his servant Timothy said, I thank him who has given me strength, Christ Jesus our Lord, because he judged me faithful, appointing me to his service.

Though formerly I was a blasphemer, a persecutor, and an insolent opponent, but I received mercy because I had acted ignorantly in unbelief, and the grace of our Lord overflowed for me with the faith and love that are in Christ Jesus.

The saying is trustworthy and deserving of full acceptance, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners, of whom I am the foremost. But I received mercy for this reason, that in me, as the foremost, Jesus Christ might display his perfect patience as an example to those who were to believe in him for eternal life.

To the King of the ages, immortal, invisible, the only God, be honor and glory forever and ever. Amen. I come back to this statement here in verse 13 where Paul says, I received mercy because I had acted ignorantly in unbelief, and at the close of the devotional yesterday I contrasted that with Hymenaeus and Alexander who are mentioned in verse 20.

Paul says, I've handed them over to Satan that they may learn not to blaspheme. So here in verse 13 where it says that Paul received mercy because he acted ignorantly in unbelief, he claimed to be a believer of God, a follower of God, and was acting zealously on behalf of the law of God.

But Paul was ignorant of Christ, who he was as the Son of God, as the giver of salvation, the one who fulfilled the law and the prophets, and only he could take away sins and grant eternal life. Paul didn't know the Son.

He knew the Father and knew the law of God, but he did not know the Son. Therefore, since he did not know the Son, he did not truly know the Father either. The Father did not know him through the Son.

So everything that Paul did was in ignorance since he did not know Christ the Son. Hymenaeus and Alexander, on the other hand, it seems that they do know the Son, and yet though they present themselves as believers, they are teaching falsely.

So they claim to know the Son, they are teaching falsely and leading people astray. So as Paul contrasts himself with a person like Hymenaeus and Alexander, he is saying that he himself, Paul, acted ignorantly in unbelief, but Hymenaeus and Alexander are actually acting according to the truth of the gospel.

They have been told the truth and they know the truth, but they are teaching contrary to that truth. So a couple of individuals like Hymenaeus and Alexander are dangerously close to being cut off from the mercy of God.

If they do not realize soon the wrongness of what it is that they're doing, how they are teaching falsely and leading people astray, then though they preach the mercy of God, they're going to be cut off from the mercy of God because they have strayed from the gospel of Christ, which they have been told and which they know and are not teaching.

Paul, on the other hand, didn't know it. He acted ignorantly in unbelief, and so he received mercy. I received mercy because I had been ignorant in unbelief. Those who know what it is that they are doing, but they teach falsely anyway, they're playing with fire.

I mean, quite literally, spiritually playing with fire, because if they don't turn from this false teaching that they are embarking upon and knowing that they are teaching falsely, they will be cut off from the mercy of God.

I ache in my spirit whenever I hear another teacher give an indication that he knows the truth and won't teach it. I hurt in the sense that I hate to hear the word of God misused that way, but I also hurt for that individual because I want to grab him by the collar and go, what are you doing?

You know the truth and you won't teach it. Do you not realize that you're doing the very thing that Paul told Timothy not to do? It's the whole reason he wrote First Timothy, instructing him on how to properly teach the word of God.

And furthermore, you're a teacher and Paul gives the qualifications for the position that you hold in First Timothy, chapter three, and you're not meeting them. Paul, in his own testimony, said, God showed me mercy because I was ignorant in unbelief.

You are showing that you know the truth and you won't teach it. And I would just beg that individual if it was if I was on the level enough with them to be able to have a conversation with them, I would beg them to turn from the way that they're teaching and hold fast to the truth and teach that.

Abraham’s Faith and the Ram in the Thicket

Love the gospel. I know that this would be a little easier to understand if I were to offer an example. So this is Stephen Furtick, and it's a clip that I actually have played on this program before. It's still in my library of clips.

But this is when he was preaching from Genesis, chapter 22, where God had instructed Abraham to sacrifice his son Isaac. And what you're going to hear in this clip is that Furtick understands the gospel implications in this story, but refuses to teach it.

Instead, he wants to talk about himself. He makes the story about himself instead of about Christ.

Do not lay a hand on the boy. Do not do anything to him. Now I know that you fear God because you have not withheld from me your son, your only son. Abraham looked up and there in a thicket, he saw a ram caught by its horns.

He went over and took the ram and sacrificed it as a burnt offering instead of his son. So Abraham called that place, the Lord will provide. And to this day, it is said on the mountain of the Lord, it will be provided.

The angel of the Lord called to Abraham from heaven a second time and said, I swear by myself, declares the Lord. Who else are you going to swear by when you're gone? That because you have done this and have not withheld your son, your only son, I will surely bless you and make your descendants as numerous as the stars in the sky and as the sand on the seashore.

Your descendants will take possession of the cities of their enemies and through your offspring, all nations on earth will be blessed because you have obeyed me. Generations later, Joshua would lead the people into the land where the sun would stand still.

And it all got started because of one man's faith in the God who will provide. I want to read one more time before I pray. Verse eight and verse 14. In verse eight, before they got to the mountain where Abraham set up to give up the thing that he loved the most for the God that he loved even more, Abraham answered.

God himself will provide the lamb. God himself will provide the lamb. And then I want to look at verse 14. After God did provide the ram. The Bible says, so Abraham called that place. The Lord will provide.

And to this day, it is said on the mountain of the Lord, it will be provided. You know what? It's one thing to have faith in the God who provides on the mountain, but real faith must be demonstrated in the valley of sacrifice.

Father, we thank you for your word today. In these coming moments, take this scripture and teach us about how we are to trust you in the valley in order that you might provide for us on the mountain. Words in Jesus name, I pray and everybody at all of our locations said, amen, amen.

Like I told you, there's no way that I'll be able to do this text justice. So many things I'd love to say about it, and we don't have time today. Just know that as much as this disturbs you, it disturbs me even more.

I've been studying it. I do think it's a type and shadow of the gospel, and I do think that we should know that God never intended for Isaac to die. And the Bible actually says in Hebrews 11, verse 19, that even if Isaac had died, Abraham had the faith that God could raise the dead.

So with that in mind, I want to talk with you for just a few moments today on the subject of audacious faith and the God who provides about different places in my life where God has provided for me.

Grace, Faith, and the Law That Exposes Sin

And the kind of blessing that he goes on to talk about there is not how Christ saved him from his sin. I was once an insolent opponent. I was once a blasphemer. I once walked in my sins and my transgressions as a dead man, following the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that is now at work in the sons of disobedience.

I deserved the wrath of God, but Christ, who is merciful toward me, he saved me because I had acted ignorantly in unbelief, and he transferred me from a kingdom of darkness into a kingdom of marvelous light through Jesus Christ, my Lord, whom I now worship and whose name I will testify to my dying breath, God willing.

That's not the kind of blessing that Stephen Furtick goes on to talk about there. He goes on to talk about all of his material blessings, how he's writing the biggest checks now that he's ever written, that he even boasts about his own charity.

I'm giving more money to charity than I've ever given before. And then he makes his audience feel guilty because they're not giving with such audacious faith as he's been giving even when he was going through difficult times early in his career, his pastoral career.

So he makes the story of Genesis 22, where you can hear him talk about he knows that this is a type and shadow of the gospel, and instead he makes it all about himself. And that frightens me. Like I remember the first time I heard that sermon, and it scared me that he did that.

You know this is about the gospel. You know that. But you're making it all about you and how God made you rich because you did something faithful when times were tough and everybody else is not getting the blessing that you've gotten because they are not faithful in their tough times.

What a horrible twisting and distortion of the word. And I am fearful for him that he does not have the fear of God to handle the word of the Lord rightly, and instead would twist it in such a way that he might have mercy kept from him because of this, because he knows the truth and won't teach it.

Paul says, God showed me mercy because I acted ignorantly and unbelief. It doesn't mean that if Paul had continued on the trajectory that he was on that he wasn't going to suffer under the wrath of God.

Oh, yes, he was. But even though he was a false teacher, he had taught falsely out of ignorance. A guy like Furtick is teaching falsely when he knows the truth and refuses to teach it. And that's frightening.

And I do hope the Lord would convict his heart and drive him to repentance before it's too late, because even though it sounds like he loves the word of God and wants to teach it, what he is teaching is vanity.

It is in vain. It is not to the glory of God. And so Paul says, I receive mercy because I acted ignorantly and unbelief. And contrasting the false teachers later on toward the end of the chapter, men like Hymenaeus and Alexander, who do know the truth and instead teach falsely.

Paul goes on in verse 14 to say, the grace of our Lord overflowed for me with the faith and love that are in Christ Jesus. So again, Paul is not taking credit for his conversion that he once acted ignorantly and unbelief, and now he is acting according to the knowledge of God.

But that's not because he's smart. It's not because he possessed some knowledge that he previously didn't have. And then, oh, yeah, OK, well, I'm doing the wrong thing. Now I'm going to do the right thing.

I'm glad I figured this out. That's not the way that Paul is is offering up the credit here. He's giving it all to the Lord. The grace of our Lord overflowed for me with the faith and the love that are in Christ Jesus, because faith itself is a gift of Ephesians to eight by grace.

You are saved through faith. And this is not your own doing. It is the gift of God, not a result of works so that no one may boast. No one can claim that grace or salvation or even faith is something that they conjured up or they brought about in their own lives, for it is a gift of God that previously you were an unbeliever and now you believe God.

That is because God is the one who gave you your faith. As we read in Hebrews 12 to Jesus is the author and the perfecter of our faith. He gave us our faith and he is growing us in that faith. And as Jesus said in John six, forty four, no one can come to me unless the father who sent me draws him and I will raise him up on the last day.

So the very faith that you have is a gift that is from God. And Paul gives all praise and glory and credit to Christ for the faith that he has. The grace of our Lord overflowed for me with the faith and love that are in Christ Jesus.

Remember when we were back in verses eight through eleven, I was talking about how an awareness of the law brings an awareness of our sin. So the law says do not covet. And when we hear that in the law, in the law of God, we become aware of the sin that we have.

Suddenly we're aware that we're covetors because the law says don't covet. And yet I know that I've coveted, I've desired things more than God. There are things that I have wanted that I have put in the place of God.

So I am a covetor and in that sense, I'm also an idolater. Don't worship idols. Well, there are things that I have worshiped over God. So I'm an idol worshiper too. When we see these things in the law, it makes us aware of our sin that we have broken the law of God.

Well, Paul says in Romans chapter five, verse 20, that the law came in to increase the trespass, but where sin increased, grace abounded all the more. That doesn't mean that the law came in to make us do more sin isn't necessarily what that means, but that we would have an awareness of the trespass that we had committed against God.

And in some sense, there is an awakening of sin in the person whenever they hear the law, the law says, don't do this. And then the desire arises in your mind to want to do the thing contrary to what the law said.

An example that I've used related to this is you're walking down the sidewalk, you see a sign that says, don't walk on the grass. Well, what pops into your mind? I want to walk on the grass. You know, I want to go against what that sign says, or you go by a park bench that's got a sign on it that says caution, wet paint, and you want to touch it because you think the paint's dry.

Here, I'll prove to you that the paint is dry or that doesn't apply to me or something like that. So whenever we see the law, it awakens in us a desire to want to do what is opposite of the law. But mostly what Paul is in reference is referencing here is that when we hear in the law, do not do this, it awakens in us an awareness of that sin.

And so as we become convicted over the trespasses that we have committed against the law of God, then grace abounds all the more. We are aware of the grace of God that has forgiven us for that sin if we are in Christ Jesus.

So a love and appreciation for God and the grace that he has shown us increases when we become aware of the sins that we've committed against God. And then James puts it in James four, six, but he gives more grace.

Therefore it says God opposes the proud, but he gives grace to the humble. And Paul becomes all the more aware of this grace that God has given to him. The more he becomes aware of the sinfulness that is in his own flesh.

Christ Jesus Came to Save Sinners

So look at the next verse there in first Timothy one, 15, the saying is trustworthy and deserving of full acceptance that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners of whom I am the foremost. So we've talked about how Paul was a blasphemer, a persecutor and an insolent opponent.

He persecuted the church of God as the passage that I read to you yesterday out of first Corinthians chapter 15, Paul refers to himself as to one untimely born the least of the apostles, because previously he had persecuted the church of God.

But where he says here in verse 15 that he is the foremost of sinners, I do not believe that Paul is saying here that he is the most sinful man, because look at the way that he starts the statement. Verse 15, the saying is trustworthy and deserving of full acceptance.

So this was something that was said by many Christians, not just Paul. It's something creedal that existed in the church that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners of whom I am the foremost.

Paul doesn't know anyone else's sin. He's not familiar with anyone's sin more than he is familiar with his own. He knows exactly what he has done against God. And the more that he reads the law and sees the sinfulness of man in light of the holiness of God, the more aware he is of his fallen state and desperate need for a savior.

And that makes him appreciate the grace and love of God all the more. So to him, in his awareness of his sin, he is the foremost sinner. Nobody else's sins, at least in terms of his awareness of sin, are greater than what he has done, what he has perpetrated against the high king on the throne of all of creation.

And so this is where he comes to an understanding of God gives more grace and where sins increase, where a knowledge of trespasses increased, God's grace increased for me all the more. And he praises God for this.

The grace of our Lord overflowed for me with the faith and love that are in Christ Jesus. Is that the same for you? As you read the word of God and you hear about your sins spoken about in the law, do you become convicted over that sin and beg for God's forgiveness and you rejoice in Christ knowing of the grace that he has poured out for you?

When you read the story of Christ's death on the cross, that your sin against God was so great, it required the death of the perfect son of God in order to make you right with God. And when you read about that, it just fills you with joy and an appreciation of the love of Christ Jesus that has been poured out for you because you and I are both sinners in need of grace.

God thank you for the grace that you have shown us through Jesus Christ, our Lord. And I pray that we would preach this grace, that we would tell others about the grace of God that they need. We would help our brothers and sisters in Christ praise God all the more in appreciation for the grace that we have received through our Lord Christ.

And I pray we would also take the gospel to the nations that those who do not know this message who are acting ignorantly and unbelief would turn from sin and worship Christ the Lord as holy. And to those who are false teachers who are still blaspheming even though they know the truth.

And yet they have chosen to teach lies instead of the truth. I pray that you would convict their hearts by the power of your Holy Spirit according to what is said in your word and they would turn from this sin that they continue to perpetrate against the word of God.

And they would desire to worship the Father in spirit and in truth and lead others in that truth also. Thank you for showing us this truth through the light of your word. And we pray and ask for guidance in Jesus name.

Amen.

Thank you for listening to When We Understand the Text. Pastor Gabe is the author of several short books on the essential doctrines of the Christian faith. Topics include the Deity of Christ, Original Sin, Resurrection, Christ's Incarnation, and many more.

Find these books in our bookstore when you visit www .utt .com. Join us again tomorrow as we grow together in God's word when we understand the text. Amen. Amen.