Notes – His Grace Draws Us

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Last week we addressed an issue that is extremely controversial in the world of evangelical Christianity and that is the question of whether or not you can reconcile the gay lifestyle to Christianity. To be in line with the Word of God which is more than clear on the subject the only reconciliation can come from complete repentance and a permanent departing from that life. It is the same as any other sin. Jesus hung on a cross and sacrificed Himself so that forgiveness would be available to the convicted sinner. Jesus took the punishment that all of us have earned and He took it upon Himself setting us free. That is the essence of grace. You know I love Colossians 1:13-14.

Colossians 1:13-14 He has delivered us from the domain of darkness and transferred us to the kingdom of his beloved Son, 14 in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins.

But one thing remains consistent throughout God’s plan for redemption through His grace and that is repentance. Matthew tells us how Jesus began His ministry.

Matthew 4:17 From that time Jesus began to preach, saying, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.”

So as we were closing last Sunday we were left with the question, “How do we convince those who are in lifestyles that are in opposition to God that if they stick around the truth will become clear and the Holy Spirit will change their hearts. And with the sweep of our broadest brush we can paint in love. Love is always the answer to turning hearts away from sin and toward God. But how do we display that love of God that has so profoundly changed our lives. Today we are going to look into that and so the message is titled HIS GRACE DRAWS US. Let’s read 1 Timothy 1:12-17

1 Timothy 1:12-17 I thank him who has given me strength, Christ Jesus our Lord, because he judged me faithful, appointing me to his service, 13 though formerly I was a blasphemer, persecutor, and insolent opponent. But I received mercy because I had acted ignorantly in unbelief,14 and the grace of our Lord overflowed for me with the faith and love that are in Christ Jesus. 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. 16 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. 17 To the King of ages, immortal, invisible, the only God, be honor and glory forever and ever. Amen.

Let’s go back and break this down and discover what I believe is the method for displaying the love of God in a transformational manner to even the most adamant and dedicated sinner.

1 Timothy 1:12-14 I thank him who has given me strength, Christ Jesus our Lord, because he judged me faithful, appointing me to his service, 13 though formerly I was a blasphemer, persecutor, and insolent opponent. But I received mercy because I had acted ignorantly in unbelief,14 and the grace of our Lord overflowed for me with the faith and love that are in Christ Jesus.

The first thing we notice here is that Paul is praising God for giving him strength.

Zechariah 4:6 Not by might, nor by power, but by my Spirit, says the Lord of hosts.

2 Corinthians 3:4-5 Such is the confidence that we have through Christ toward God. 5 Not that we are sufficient in ourselves to claim anything as coming from us, but our sufficiency is from God,

In and of ourselves it is impossible to bring about any change that has any real value in drawing ourselves to God. Not in ourselves or in any one else. I love this verse in proverbs, it is kind of a conundrum in that it first appears to say one thing but on closer examination it says the opposite.

Proverbs 24:10 If you faint in the day of adversity, your strength is small.

I first took this to mean that if I failed to persevere through a difficult time that I am weak. Then it occurred to me that unless I am dependent on the Lord I will fail in trials every time. So in fact my strength is small. This verse isn’t encouraging me to buck up and get myself some mightiness about me it is saying, “Look dude you are weak so you had better quit looking to yourself and start looking to God.”

Psalm 121:1-2 I lift up my eyes to the hills. From where does my help come? 2 My help comes from the Lord, who made heaven and earth.

We must look up and get our eyes off of the circumstances that desire to bring us into bondage and truly acknowledge that it is God who works in us to bring about His plan, His desire for us.

Philippians 2:13 It is God who works in you, both to will and to work for his good pleasure.

1Timothy 1:12-14 I thank him who has given me strength, Christ Jesus our Lord, because he judged me faithful, appointing me to his service, 13 though formerly I was a blasphemer, persecutor, and insolent opponent. But I received mercy because I had acted ignorantly in unbelief,14 and the grace of our Lord overflowed for me with the faith and love that are in Christ Jesus.

So much of the world has a view of God as being just one big control freak just wanting to control us like a dictator laying down rules and regulations that are unfair and then threatening severe punishment for failure to go with His plan. Paul gives us an accurate description of the conversion of the heart and it is all about grace. Also in this couple of verses is a strong case for election and predestination. Paul said that God judged him faithful and appointed him to serve. If you know anything about the conversion of Saul of Tarsus, and I know you do because we have been over it ten ways from Tuesday, but Jesus stopped Paul dead in his tracks in the middle of his sin. Because he judged Paul faithful appointing him to His service. Jesus saw Paul the apostle not Saul of Tarsus. It is the same for you and me. God calls us out of our sin because He sees in us who He would have us to be not who we have been. That is grace, that is love.

Romans 5:8 But God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.

So then Paul categorizes his sin and it is important that we don’t generalize about our sin when we are asking for forgiveness. “Lord I am sorry I was unfair to my wife and didn’t treat her as the gift that she is.” Or even the seemingly more shameful sins, “Lord forgive me for looking at that woman with lustful thoughts, purify my mind God.”

1 John 1:9 If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.

I think John is calling for some specificity or he probably would have said, “If we confess our sin.” I want to make a comment of verse 13 where Paul says, “But I received mercy because I acted ignorantly unbelief. We can come to the altar and pray the prayer of salvation and still act ignorantly in unbelief. Because while fundamentally we intellectually acknowledge the gospel as the truth and something we need, we still want to hold on to our lives. Jesus said to be His follower we need to die to ourselves daily. We need to put to death the part of us that longs for autonomy. Unless we accomplish this verse 14 is just a fantasy.

1 Timothy 1:14 and the grace of our Lord overflowed for me with the faith and love that are in Christ Jesus.

Nothing can overflow for us if we are too full of ourselves to be filled by God. And now we are going to get to the part that addresses the question of how we are going to be so much of an attraction, put off so much sweetness that the person who is deeply committed to their lifestyle and disagrees with the Bible’s position on it, that the sweetness of our testimony outweighs their apprehensions and mistrust.

1 Timothy 1:15 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.

First we understand the depth of our previous depravity. Each of us should see ourselves as the worst sinner there ever was. Why? Because when we start judging ourselves as if there is a sliding scale, “Oh but I am not as bad as that guy!” When we begin to take ourselves up the scale we put ourselves in a position to look down on others. No, I am the worst sinner that ever lived and because I know this I am on a level playing field and the people I encounter will instinctively feel that I have empathy for them, that I don’t consider myself above anyone. This allows a person to come into church knowing he is not being judged and in that he can be convicted by the Spirit of God and the Word of God. So many times people walk into church looking for a change, looking for something good and instead they are met with a bunch of people who are sniffing around, inspecting for sin and passing silent judgment. It is very difficult for God to break through the wall that is created by our opinion and by His Spirit speak into the heart of the seeker. We must always remember that it is the Lord who judges, the heart of a person is kept hidden from us.

1 Samuel 16:7 For the Lord sees not as man sees: man looks on the outward appearance, but the Lord looks on the heart.

When we are presenting ourselves as we really are, broken, debauched, powerless to redeem ourselves Jesus is able to be fully glorified and completely magnified in us. When we are displaying all of the traits and characteristics of someone who is truly in touch with what it means to be saved that is when the light of Christ is most brightly shining. I saw an infomercial on animal rescue and they showed this dog that appeared near death. It was so emaciated that you could see every bone in its body. In its eyes there was no hope, no life. It had abandoned any idea of surviving. Then they showed the same dog six months after having been rescued. It was so full of life and the love it was showing its rescuer was incomparable. I feel like that dog and so should you. When I saw that I was deeply moved and when people see that in us they can be deeply affected. That very thought is conveyed in the next verses.

1 Timothy 1:16 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.

Here’s another little story. Dr. Harry Ironside was an incredible, evangelist, pastor and prolific author. He was in ministry from 1900 to his death in 1951. Early in his ministry the great evangelist and Bible teacher was living in the San Francisco Bay Area working with a group of believers called “Brethren.” One Sunday as he was walking through the city he came upon a group of Salvation Army workers holding a meeting on the corner of Market and Grant Avenues. There were probably sixty of them. When they recognized Ironside they immediately asked him if he would give his testimony. So he did, giving a word about how God had saved him through faith in the bodily death and literal resurrection of Jesus.

As he was speaking, Ironside noticed that on the edge of the crowd a well-dressed man had taken a card from his pocket and had written something on it. As Ironside finished his talk this man came forward, lifted his hat and very politely handed him the card. On one side was his name, which Ironside immediately recognized. The man was one of the early socialists who had made a name for himself lecturing not only for socialism but also against Christianity. As Ironside turned the card over, he read, “Sir, I challenge you to debate with me the question ‘Agnosticism versus Christianity’ in the Academy of Science Hall next Sunday afternoon at four o’clock. I will pay all expenses.”

Ironside reread the card aloud and then replied somewhat like this. “I am very much interested in this challenge…. Therefore I will be glad to agree to this debate on the following conditions: namely, that in order to prove that Mr.__________ has something worth fighting for and worth debating about, he will promise to bring with him to the Hall next Sunday two people, whose qualifications I will give in a moment, as proof that agnosticism is of real value in changing human lives and building true character.

“First, he must promise to bring with him one man who was for years what we commonly call a ‘down-and-outer.’ I am not particular as to the exact nature of the sins that had wrecked his life and made him an outcast from society-whether a drunkard, or a criminal of some kind, or a victim of his sensual appetite—but a man who for years was under the power of evil habits from which he could not deliver himself, but who on some occasion entered one of Mr.______’s meetings and heard his glorification of agnosticism and his denunciations of the Bible and Christianity, and whose heart and mind as he listened to such an address were so deeply stirred that he went away from that meeting saying, ‘Henceforth, I too am an agnostic!’ and as a result of imbibing that particular philosophy found that a new power had come into his life. The sins he once loved he now hates, and righteousness and goodness are now the ideals of his life. He is now an entirely new man, a credit to himself and an asset to society—all because he is an agnostic.

“Secondly, I would like Mr.________ to promise to bring with him one woman—and I think he may have more difficulty in finding the woman than the man—who was once a poor, wrecked, characterless outcast, the slave of evil passions, and the victim of man’s corrupt living… perhaps one who had lived for years in some evil resort,… utterly lost, ruined and wretched because of her life of sin. But this woman also entered a hall where Mr._______ was loudly proclaiming his agnosticism and ridiculing the message of the Holy Scriptures. As she listened, hope was born in her heart, and she said, ‘This is just what I need to deliver me from the slavery of sin!’ She followed the teaching and became an intelligent agnostic or infidel. As a result, her whole being revolted against the degradation of the life she had been living. She fled from the den of iniquity where she had been held captive so long; and today, rehabilitated, she has won her way back to an honored position in society and is living a clean, virtuous, happy life—all because she is an agnostic.

“Now,” he said, addressing the gentleman who had presented him with his card and the challenge, “if you will promise to bring these two people with you as examples of what agnosticism can do, I will promise to meet you at the Hall of Science at four o’clock next Sunday, and I will bring with me at the very least 100 men and women who for years lived in just such sinful degradation as I have tried to depict, but who have been gloriously saved through believing the gospel which you ridicule. I will have these men and women with me on the platform as witnesses to the miraculous saving power of Jesus Christ and as present-day proof of the truth of the Bible.”

Dr. Ironside then turned to the Salvation Army captain, a woman, and said, “Captain, have you any who could go with me to such a meeting?”

She exclaimed with enthusiasm, “We can give you forty at least just from this one corps, and we will give you a brass band to lead the procession!” “Fine,” Dr. Ironside answered. “Now, Mr. ______, I will have no difficulty in picking up sixty others from the various missions, gospel halls, and evangelical churches of the city; and if you will promise faithfully to bring two such exhibits as I have described, I will come marching in at the head of such a procession, with the band playing ‘Onward, Christian Soldiers: and I will be ready for the debate.”

Apparently the man who had made the challenge must have had some sense of humor, for he smiled wryly and waved his hand in a deprecating kind of way as if to say, “Nothing doing!” and then edged out of the crowd while the bystanders clapped for Ironside and the others.

The power of the living Christ operating by means of the Holy Spirit through the written Word changes lives. This has been true throughout history. It is a powerful proof that the Bible is indeed the Word of God.

When we take our preconceived notions about the chances of someone changing, someone who has lived a life apart from God getting truly saved, when we understand at the deepest core level that we were the worst of the worst and if God can change us He can change anyone no matter how it appears.

When we get there we are not in the way of Jesus showing Himself, His beautiful , matchless, glorious self and in fact our lives are pointing directly at Him. Remember this;

1Timothy 1:12 I thank him who has given me strength, Christ Jesus our Lord, because he judged me faithful, appointing me to his service.

I can absolutely guarantee you that there was not one single person on the earth who thought that Saul of Tarsus would become Paul the apostle. Our God is mighty to save.

Isaiah 59:1 Behold, the Lord’s hand is not shortened, that it cannot save, or his ear dull, that it cannot hear.

Jeremiah 32:27 “Behold, I am the Lord, the God of all flesh. Is anything too hard for me? “

We’ll make our last verse in today’s passage part of our prayer.

Let’s pray…

1 Timothy 1:17 To the King of ages, immortal, invisible, the only God, be honor and glory forever and ever. Amen.