Faithful to the Word, Part 2

we'd just be yielded and just relaxed and trust you.

Blessed us like to think of ourselves that way, probably. But it's the truth. We're just a mess. And even with you, Lord, the old man just keeps on trying to creep in, making a mess of us. So, Lord, help us just put on that new nature in you, Lord. You're so good, Lord. We praise you, Lord.

Lord, we're spirits. Body, soul, and spirit. You know, the deception that we can all fall into. In mercy's sakes alive, we became spiritually dead. Then you provided a way that you died for our sins and ascended up to the rise. You make intercession for us. We're yours. Now we are spiritually alive in you. And we thank you for that, Lord. We just give you praise, Lord.

Oh, the Lord Jesus, we praise you and worship you.

Philippians 2, it talks about every knee shall bow. The whole thing. Better to get ready to be praising him now. Every knee's going to bow. And confess that Jesus is the Lord. Whatever your condition. Just let Jesus have you. Thank you, Jesus. And now we pray, now as Ryan will be coming up to teach your word, that you'd anoint him by the power of your Holy Spirit in Jesus' name.

Amen? Amen. Let's have some fellowship.

Good morning.

If you could begin to locate your seat.

Grab a bulletin. We'll get ready to go over some announcements.

Welcome to Calvary Chapel. I'm glad that you have joined us this morning. A handful of things to take note of. Over on the left-hand side, as always, are the things going on throughout the week. In the middle section of your bulletin, just a handful of things to take note of. Just a reminder that the new Experiencing God Women's Bible Study is starting tomorrow evening.

If you have questions, you can talk to Elaine Phillips. I think there's still one or two spots left to sign up for that. Tonight, since this is the first Sunday of the month, is our intercessory prayer time. So if you're interested in coming out to join us for that, 6 o'clock p.m. down at the other end of the hallway. It's always a great time to lift up the prayer needs of not only the church, the community, the state,

but also everything going on throughout the world. Ladies, there's a women's breakfast coming up next Saturday at Steamy Joe's at 8 o'clock a.m. So come join the ladies for a good time for that. And then I'm looking to see if... I don't think Joe's here this morning for first service. He'll have to be second service. Okay. The second annual March Madness Night of Fun is coming up Saturday, March the 15th.

And I didn't read my text closely enough to find out all the details because someone's coming to announce for second service. But if I understood correctly, there's some sort of a chili cook-off going on. So as soon as I know, I'll send it out in an e-mail as well. But mark your calendars for that. It's in a couple of weeks. So it ought to be a good time to...

And it's a fundraiser for not only Agape Fruits Ministries, but also for the youth group going to Young Christians Weekend. So those are the things that are going on. If you would make sure that your mobile device is silenced. And for our responsive reading this morning, we are going to be in Psalm 32. Psalm 32. Looking at the New American Standard. That's not on yet.

Looking at the New American Standard so that we all sound the same. If you need a copy, there should be one in a row around you. And as you're turning to Psalm 32, if you are able, please stand in the honor of the reading of God's Word.

I will read the odd verses if you will follow along with Drummer Glenn. That feels like the right title for you. Would you agree with that? Drummer Glenn. And the even verses. Little drummer boy. Psalm 32. A Psalm of David. A mascal. How blessed is he whose transgression is forgiven, whose sin is covered. How blessed is the man whom the Lord does not impute iniquity,

and in whose spirit there is no deceit. When I kept silent about my sin, my body wasted away through my groaning all day long. For day and night your hand was heavy upon me. My vitality was drained away as with the fever of summer. Selah. I acknowledged my sin to you, and my iniquity I did not hide. I said I will confess my transgressions to the Lord, and you forgave the guilt of my sin.

Selah. Therefore, let everyone who is godly pray to you in a time when you may be found. Surely, in a flood of great waters, they will not reach him. You are my hiding place. You preserve me from trouble. You surround me with songs of deliverance. Selah. I will instruct you and teach you in the way which you should go. I will counsel you with my eye upon you.

Do not be as the horse or as the mule which have no understanding, whose trappings include bit and bridle to hold them in check. Otherwise, they will not come near to you. Many are the sorrows of the wicked, but he who trusts in the Lord, loving kindness. Amen. Kindness shall surround him. And read verse 11 with me. Be glad in the Lord and rejoice, you righteous ones,

and shout for joy all you who are upright in heart. And Father, we do praise you that you are the God who forgives us, the God who cleanses us, and the God who restores us. And so, Father, continue to do your work in our hearts through your word this morning. In Jesus' name. Amen. You may be seated. If you would, open up in your Bibles to the book of 1 Timothy chapter 1.

1 Timothy chapter 1. We said that all of the pastoral epistles really could have the title of be faithful because that's what Timothy is urging these young pastors to do and really ultimately these churches to do is to be faithful in everything that they do. And we said that in chapter 1, really the theme of being faithful was to be faithful to the word. We said that that was going to break down three things.

That was going to break down three ways in chapter 1. It was to be faithful to the truth, to the gospel, and to fight the good fight. Well, last week we looked at being faithful to the truth. And Paul told Timothy, you need to instruct them. Instruct them to stray away from strange doctrine, to stay away from the things that are strange, that don't line up with what God's word has to say,

and to avoid silly controversies. I sort of used my own words there, but to avoid silly controversies. And the point of the whole thing was love. He said the point of the commandment, not only the specific commandment, but really all of the commandments in scripture, are ultimately that we would learn to love God and to love each other. Because when we get distracted from those things,

the truth of God's word and love for each other, then we miss Jesus in all of it. And so as he was going through these things, he also told them about the purpose of the law. Because one of the things that they were getting distracted by is legalistic teachings. And he reminded them that the law is merely a thermometer. They can tell you that there is a problem,

but it's powerless to solve your problem. That's where the gospel of Jesus Christ comes in. And that's where we pick up today in verse 12, as he begins to tell us about the gospel. Notice what it says in verse 12. He says,

And yet I was shown mercy because I acted ignorantly in unbelief, and the grace of our Lord was more abundant with the faith and love which are found in Christ Jesus. It is a trustworthy statement deserving of full acceptance that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners, of whom I am the foremost of all. Yet for this reason I found mercy, so that in me as the foremost, Jesus Christ might demonstrate His perfect patience as an example for those who would believe in him for eternal life. Now to the king eternal, immortal, invisible, the only God, be honor and glory forever and ever.

Amen. He says, be faithful to the gospel. And as he tells him to be faithful to the gospel, it ultimately is Paul's recounting of the work of the gospel in his own life. Paul says, the gospel is what I was set apart for. And as he talks about this gospel, he's going to talk about two things. He's going to talk about the ministry of the gospel, and he's going to talk

about the mercy of the gospel. Paul says, as he starts talking about the ministry, he says, I was set apart to the gospel and I've been entrusted with the gospel. It's actually at the very end of verse 11, actually all of verse 11 that sort of segues us into this section on the gospel. It says, according to the gospel of the blessed God with which I have been entrusted.

And that's exactly how Paul viewed that message of the gospel. As he viewed it as a treasure that he had been entrusted with, something that God had given him to give out to the people that were around him. And he says, as I have been entrusted with this gospel, I thank Jesus Christ, my Lord, because he has strengthened me because he considered me faithful, putting me into service. He said, I'm so thankful to God. I'm so thankful to the one who

gave me this gospel because he enabled me. He strengthened me to be a minister of Jesus Christ. He strengthened me to be a minister of the gospel. And I think that that's a good point for us to start with is that the only way that you can truly minister the truth of the gospel of Jesus Christ, the only way that we can really be faithful to the gospel of Jesus Christ is if we are strengthened by the Savior Jesus Christ to give out his gospel. He says, I've been strengthened. I've been endued with strength to give out this

gospel because he considered me faithful. You know, there's really only one requirement to be used by God. And it has nothing to do with any sort of ability. It has nothing to do with any sort of talent. It has nothing to do with how strikingly good you can give out a message. It has to do with one thing and one thing only, and that's faithfulness. We judge success wrongly in our

world today. We judge success based upon the results that come about because of someone's ministry. And if someone has a great deal of success where we say, oh, look at how many people attend their church. Look at how many people attend their church. Look at how many people attend their church. Look at how many people they've led to Jesus Christ. Look at all the things that they've

done. And we use all these worldly markers to say this is what success looks like. But do you know how God defines success? God defines success as faithfulness. Are you continuing to do what I've told you to do day in and day out whether anyone ever notices it? Whether anyone's ever changed? Whether anyone even knows that you've done it except God? Because Paul said he strengthened me

because he considered me faithful. He said, I've been strengthened. I've been strengthened. I've been faithful. Somebody who continually, day in and day out, did what God called me to do. He says, in so doing, he put me into service. And as Paul talks about his ministry, you can almost sense his face turning red with embarrassment as he talks about the fact that he's been entrusted with the

gospel. He's been strengthened to give the gospel. He was faithful to give the gospel. He was put into service. Because deep down in his heart, no matter how old Paul got, the one thing he knew about himself is he had no business. He had no business with God. He had no business with God. He had no business with God. He had no business with God. He had no business with God. He had no

business with God. He had no business with God. He had no business with God. He had no business with God. He had no business with God. He had no business with God. He had no business with God. As far as this world was concerned, giving out the gospel of Jesus Christ because he knew in his heart who he really was. He knew in his heart who he really was before he came to know Jesus. And he

knew that the only reason he could stand before anyone and give out the truth of the gospel of Jesus Christ is because of the mercy and the grace of God. And so as he always does when he talks about the gospel, and as you should always do anytime you talk about the gospel, he defaults back to who he was. what God did and who he is now because of what God did. And so he starts off by saying, as he talks about this mercy of God, notice what he says.

Even though I was formerly a blasphemer, and I was formerly a persecutor, and I was formerly a violent aggressor, yet I was shown mercy. Paul says, God counted me faithful, and he strengthened me, and he gave me everything that I needed to move into this place of being someone who would give out the gospel. And Timothy, it's no different from you, but I want you to remember who I was because even though that's what God has done with me now, that's not who I was before because who I was before, and he gives himself three titles. I was a persecutor, I was a blasphemer, and I was a violent aggressor.

It's interesting how those words kind of build, right? He starts off with a blasphemer. A blasphemer is simply someone who uses words to either speak against God or against the people of God, and that's exactly what he was. He was someone who spoke against Jesus. Jesus Christ, because even as a religious man, he thought Jesus was interrupting his religion, which he kind of was

because that's kind of what Jesus does. You see, he gets in our face, and he interrupts our religion and gets us back to a real relationship, which is what he intended for us always. He goes, he interrupted my religion, so I spoke against him, and I spoke against all the people of God, and I was a blasphemer. One of the guys that I went to Bible college with, wonderful man of God who loved God with all of his heart, went on to go work for Gospel for Asia and things along those lines.

I remember him telling me about who he was before he came to know Jesus. He said, I can't even believe God saved me sometimes. He said, I remember playing basketball, and if I would miss a shot, I would literally curse God to his face. I would use God's name as a cuss word and attach other cuss words to it, and I cannot believe that God would save a blasphemer like me.

And that's what Paul says I was. I was formerly a blasphemer. Not only that, I moved into actions, and I was also a persecutor. In other words, that blasphemy, speaking against God and speaking against God's people, eventually turned into actions against God, and actions against God's people. And it escalated to the point where he became a violent aggressor.

That word violent aggressor is kind of interesting. Some of you translations probably use the word insolent, and I have no idea what that means. But I like some of these other translations that are given. Because a violent aggressor can also mean violently arrogant. That one got me the most, I think, of all the translations that I read. Violently arrogant. But the idea is this.

Someone who is lifted up with pride, who uses insulting language, and eventually begins to perform shameful acts against God's people. Lifted up with pride, speaks shameful language or blasphemous language, and eventually turns into shameful acts. Paul says with almost a red face, this is who I was. And I have a question for you this morning. Who were you? Who were you?

See, I think every now and then it's really good for us to get back to the roots of our salvation. Sometimes it's really good for us to be reminded who I was before I came to know Jesus. God never wants us to live in the past shame of our sin. But every now and then it's good for us to go back and tell somebody else, this is who I was before I came to know Jesus.

How would you define yourself? What are the words that you would use to say, God has saved me. Even though I formerly was, fill in the blank with all the things that you formerly were. Maybe for you it's just like Paul. You're a religious person, but you spoke against all the things of God. Maybe your words look very different than that, and maybe they were all defined in what we talked about with the law last week.

Immorality, impurity, murderous thoughts, murderous actions, violence, angry speech, you name it. Who were you before? Who were you before? Because who you were before, helps you remember who you are now. Because that's what Paul does. See, that's what gives us the ability to speak the gospel. It's when I remember who I was, and then I remember who I am, it gives me the grace and the patience that I need to speak that truth into someone else's life.

Because as I speak that truth into someone else's life, I don't hold it as something they can never attain. I hold it as something that I have been gifted and I want to give to everybody else around me. And he says, that's who I formerly was. But notice what he says, he says, yet I was shown mercy because I acted ignorantly in unbelief. That word mercy, of course, is not getting what you deserve.

What did Paul deserve for being a blasphemer, and for being a persecutor, and for being a violent aggressor against the people of God? Well, eternity and hell separated from God. Same thing that you deserve for whatever all those things you would have defined yourself as before you came to know Jesus. But you, found mercy. And I love the way Paul puts this,

I found mercy because I acted ignorantly in unbelief. Now, one of the things I struggled with early on in walking with Jesus is that verse. The reason why I struggled with that verse is because all I could think was, before I started really walking with Jesus, there was nothing ignorant about anything that I did. Because I grew up in the church. I grew up as a pastor's kid.

I grew up going to Christian school. I grew up memorizing Bible verses. Every sin that I committed, I committed with knowledge. The Old Testament calls that transgression. It is, if you will, a high-handed sin. That's what the word transgression means, a high-handed sin. In other words, I did it while I knew what I was doing. And I remember thinking, so what does that mean for me?

Paul says I did it ignorantly in my unbelief. I knew exactly what I was doing. Is there still mercy for me? You know, that's why I had us read Psalm 15. i had us read psalm 32 this morning you know the story behind psalm 32 psalm 32 that we that we read is that responsive reading where where david said blessed is the man whose sins are forgiven whose transgressions are covered is because paul wrote that after david wrote that after his sin

with bathsheba see after he had committed adultery and covered it with murder and he was confronted with his sin a sin that he committed knowing exactly what he was doing and god convicted him and he confessed his sin god forgave him and i remember when i was battling the most most with lord nothing i did did i do ignorantly everything that i did i did with knowledge and god said so did david and i still forgave him that was like see god can show mercy and god can show mercy to you too and maybe you're here this morning and you're a believer but you've been living in sin you're a believer but you're like man i went back to the things that i wasn't and i wasn't i wasn't supposed to go back to, and I did them all with knowledge. I did them all not

ignorantly, but knowing exactly what I was doing. I want to tell you, you can still find mercy, because God's default is mercy, and if there's any opportunity, he will always show mercy. Paul says, that's who I formerly was, but I was shown mercy. He goes on to say, not only was I shown mercy, but I was also shown, verse 14, the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ. Notice what he says, and the grace of our

Lord was more abundant with faith and love, which are found in Christ Jesus. He said, and the grace of God. Remember, mercy is not getting what you deserve, and grace is getting what you don't deserve. It's unmerited favor. He says, and the grace of God was given to me abundantly. That word abundant can either be super abundantly, or the word overflowed. In other words, when God's grace was

given, it was given in an overflowing sort of manner to him. So I want you to picture something, right? I want you to picture, well, we'll just use this cup right here. It's got some water in it. Don't worry, I'm not going to make a mess everywhere. And right now, this water's up to about right here on this cup, because it's still early in first service. And usually, that's how we view God's grace

in our life. It's God's grace in our life. It's God's grace in our life. It's God's grace in our life. It's about three-fourths full, and that's pretty good, because that's a lot of grace, right? But that's not the idea of what Paul says here when he talks about grace. You see, if I were to take a pitcher of water, and I would begin to pour it into this, this cup would begin to overflow, and it would

begin to run down the table and onto the floor, because this cup would be overflowing with water. That's what Paul says my life is with God's grace. I knew who I was formerly, but by God's mercy, he saved me, and he gave me overflowing grace. You're just like this cup, and God wants to overflow you with all of the grace that you can imagine, so much so that it spills all over the table around you and all over the people that you know, because that's what God's grace does.

You see, that's how you give out the gospel in a faithful way, is you realize that overflowing grace of God in your life, and you let it spill on everybody else around you. Paul says his grace was abundant to me, and I want you to go with me one place in Scripture. I want you to go over to the book of Romans. I want you to go back to your left. I want you to go to Romans chapter 5. I want you to look at verse 20.

I'm going to have some overflowing grace real quick. Romans chapter 5, verse 20. This is Paul writing to the Roman church early on, much before he wrote the book of 1 Timothy, and he says this. Romans chapter 5, verse 20. He says, The law came in so that transgression would increase, but where sin increased, grace abounded. All the more. You see, when we become aware of our sin, that's the law causing sin to

increase, because all of a sudden we realize how far I am from God. But as the law brings that increase of sin, where sin increases, grace abounds so much more. In other words, when I become aware of sin in my life, God pours more grace on top of it. When I become aware of the weaknesses in my life, God pours more grace on it. We call it the much more abounding grace of God. As a matter of fact, John Bunyan, who is an

amazing, amazing, amazing, amazing, amazing, amazing, amazing, amazing, amazing, amazing, amazing man of God who wrote a book called Pilgrim's Progress, one of the early books that he wrote was called Grace Abounding to the Chief of Sinners. Because that's what God has for us, is he has that much more abundant grace. Because where sin abounds, and brothers and sisters, sometimes sin abounds, right? Grace abounds much more.

So, back to 1 Timothy. He says, all of these things, the grace of our Lord was more abundant with the faith and the love which are found in Christ Jesus. And he goes on in verse 15 to say, it is a trustworthy statement deserving of full acceptance that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners among whom I am the foremost of all. Paul says, this is a trustworthy saying. It can also be translated faithful. In other words,

if you're going to believe anything, believe this. Because what I'm about to tell you, is the truest thing I've come across in my entire life. It's one of the most amazing truths I've learned in my entire life, and everyone should accept this. It is a trustworthy, it is a faithful statement deserving of all acceptance, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners. That Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners. That phrase

Christ Jesus came into the world indicates that an eternal God came down and dwelt among us. In John chapter 1 verse 14, it puts it like this, and the Word became flesh and dwelt among us. And we beheld his glory, the glory as the only begotten of the Father, full of, full of what? Grace and truth. Right? He says, this is a trustworthy saying, worthy of all

acceptance, worthy of full acceptance, that Christ Jesus came into the world. And why did he come into the world? To save sinners. We need to understand this because our culture has missed this today. We think Jesus came into the world to be a social reformer. We think Jesus came into the world to give us an example to follow. We think Jesus came into the world to show us what it looks like to be nice, to show us that he gets us. But

Jesus didn't come into the world to show us that he gets us. Jesus came into the world to show us that we didn't get him. And he came to be our Savior. You see, if what the world needed was medicine, then Jesus would have sent a doctor. If what the world needed was education, then God would have sent a teacher. If what the world needed was military training. But that is not what we needed. You see, the greatest problem that we have

is sin. So he sent a Savior. Jesus came into the world to save sinners. Brothers and sisters, the only people that can come to Jesus are the sinners. Remember what Jesus kept saying again and again to the religious leaders? He kept saying, I didn't come for the well, I came for the sick. I didn't come for the gruelы. I came for the sickness. I didn't come for the sufferings. I didn't come for the suffering. I didn't come for the emotional

health. I didn't come for the ate Battlemen. I didn't have the person assuming that everything didn't go as we like. Just the love and the faith. God was great at all times. I didn't for those who think that they're good. I came for those who know that they're a sinner. So if you think you're good, you can never approach Jesus. If you think you're a pretty good person,

you'll never be able to go to Jesus. Jesus says, I don't want anything to do with you. I don't want anything to do if you think you're good enough. Because if you think you're good enough, that's a whole other sin in and of itself. It's called self-righteousness. I hear people say this sometimes. You know, I really don't have a testimony. I didn't really do anything wrong.

And I say, well, then you better talk to God because you don't understand yet, do you? Because if you don't think you have a testimony and you don't think you've done anything wrong, that you have a major problem in your life, it's called self-righteousness. And it's time for you to abandon that so that you can come to Jesus. Because the only people that can come to Jesus are the ones who know that they are sinners.

What did God say back in the book of Isaiah? One of my favorite scriptures in all of the Bible. It says, thus says the high and lofty one who inhabits eternity, whose name is holy. I dwell in a high and holy hill. With who? With those who are holy. Of a broken and a contrite heart. In other words, the people that know they're sinners. Paul says, Jesus came into the world to save sinners.

He could have just stopped right there and everything would have been great. And we'd have gone, what a great verse. But you see, Paul with that red face of saying, I was entrusted with the gospel, had to make sure he remembered and Timothy remembered. Jesus Christ came into the world. He came into the world to save sinners. Of whom I am the foremost. Some of your translations may say,

of whom I am the chief. The idea behind the word is first in place or first in rank. In other words, I take first place when it comes to being a sinner. That's an interesting thing for us to say in our lives, wouldn't it be? Most of us are trying to get to first place and being the best, right? I am the holiest person that there is. No, no, it's okay. I have figured it out.

You don't understand. I have studied the Bible for years. Well, that's great. And if you've studied the Bible for years, then you should probably start agreeing with Paul. There's a fascinating transition that takes place in Paul's life if you were to follow his writings. In the book of 1 Corinthians, one of his earlier books, he writes, I am the least of the apostles.

The least of the apostles. When he thinks about those particular 11 men plus himself that God called out to be the first person in the world, sent out ones of God who would begin the church and who would lay out the doctrine for the church, he says, I'm the least of those guys. I am number 12 of 12. The least of the apostles. Go a little bit further in his ministry

and he gets to the book of Ephesians, which is midway through his ministry, and he says, I am the least of all the saints. He starts realizing something. It's not just that I'm the 12 of 12. When I think of everybody who walks with Jesus, man, it comes right down to it because I was a persecuted, I'm the least of all the saints. And then now towards the end of his life,

and he is nearing the end of his life when he writes this, he says, I'm the chief of the sinners. I'm the foremost of all those who have sinned. When it comes to the losers, I'm in first place, which is why Jesus came to save me. And you know, there's something about that in our lives. I don't think we should live self-deprecating lives where we never find our peace in God,

but there is a certain understanding of the longer that you walk with Jesus Christ, the more you become aware of your own mortality, the more you become aware of your own sin because you are comparing yourself more and more to the Holy One and less and less to each other. You see, when we first get saved, something amazing happens. God sets us free from sin, and we go, whew, that's who I was. Thank God that's not who I was anymore.

Ah, I'm not like that. I feel pretty good. I've been set free. And then pretty soon, you start walking with it. You're like, I've been set free, but I still struggle with sin. I've been set free, but I know what I've been set free from. And as you walk with Jesus more and more, you stop comparing yourself to other people, and you start holding yourself up to the light of God's Word,

and you start going, man, I've got a long ways to go. And I've shared it lots of times, but I'm going to share it again because I think it needs to be said. It reminds me of my really good friend Truman, who I got to be there a few days before he died. He lived in the section that I took care of. Lakeview Village. And he loved Jesus with all of his heart. He knew the Word about as well as any human being

I'd ever been around in my entire life. And about three days before he died, I went in to see him at the health care center. And he said, you know, Ryan, I am more aware now of my need for God's grace in my life than I ever have been before. You know why? Because he was getting closer to Jesus. And he knew that in himself, in his sinful state, he still needed God's grace as much

on the day that he was going to go home to see his Savior as he did the day when he came to know Jesus 55 years before. Because the closer you get to Jesus, the more you realize how much you need Jesus. Paul says this is a really trustworthy saying and it's deserving of full acceptance that Jesus Christ came into the world to save sinners among whom I am the foremost of all. He goes on to say, yet for this reason I found mercy.

So that in me, as the foremost, Jesus might demonstrate his perfect patience as an example for those who would believe in him for eternal life. Paul says, I kind of became an example to everybody around me. This is why I found mercy. Because if Jesus can demonstrate this great of patience with the worst of all sinners, then he can show that kind of patience and that kind of grace and that kind of mercy to you.

So, brothers and sisters, that's what it looks like to give out the gospel. It's not about you telling everyone how to do it right. It's about you telling everyone how Jesus did it in you. And you say, and if he can do it for me, I guarantee he can do it for you. Because if he was willing to show me patience, because if he was willing to show me grace, because if he was willing to show me mercy,

if he was willing to save me, then I can guarantee he's willing to save you. And like I said before, I know that to be true of me. Because every sin I've committed has been with knowledge. And if he can still save me, if he can still love me, if he can still show mercy and grace and patience to me, you guys are good. Because I just want to be that example of God's grace

and God's patience to the people that are around me. And that's what it looks like for you to tell somebody else about Jesus. I had somebody ask me recently, what does it look like to give your testimony? Well, you tell them who you were, you tell them who you are, and you tell them how Jesus got you there. That's all it is. And you remember in all of it that you are simply a sinner

who has been saved by grace. And I love this moment in this teaching, or in this section, because I want you to notice what he says. Now to the King eternal, immortal, invisible, the only God, be honor and glory forever. Ever and ever, amen. Paul sort of breaks out into spontaneous praise, and I want to take just a moment to look at the verse, but then I want to talk about the importance

of sometimes breaking out into that spontaneous praise, okay? So he praises God, he says, now to the King who is, first of all, eternal. That idea of eternal, the word that he uses there in the Greek indicates no beginning and no end, because that's who God is. He is the eternal God, who has no beginning and who has no end. This is part of spontaneous praise.

Part of spontaneous praise is you allow, the truth of who God is, to completely overwhelm you. He says, now unto the King who is eternal, and then unto the King who is immortal. That word means incorruptible. Incorruptible by sin, but also incorruptible by death. He is the immortal God. Not only is he the eternal, he's the immortal, but he is the invisible.

In other words, cannot be seen by the naked eye. And he is the only God. Some of your translations may say, the only wise God, but the idea is the only God. In other words, there is no other God besides him. And unto the eternal, immortal, invisible, only wise God, be glory and honor forever and ever. Amen. See, Paul takes this moment and he just, I don't think he planned to say this.

I think he just kind of burst down into praise. Because, remember, Paul's dictating this letter. He's dictating this letter to somebody who's writing it down. And you can sort of picture Paul talking and speaking. And maybe he started off sitting down as he starts off, tell Timothy this and remind him of this. And I'm just so thankful for what God has done in my life.

I'm so thankful that he's put me in this position. Because I don't deserve to be in this position. Because I used to be a persecutor. I used to be a blasphemer. I used to be a violent aggressor. But man, God showed me abundant grace beyond anything. That I could ever imagine. As a matter of fact, one of the truest things anybody could ever say is that Jesus came into the world

to save sinners of who I'm the foremost. And if anyone ever doubts the patience of God, they just have to look at me because he saved me by his mercy so that it could be an example for everyone else who would ever be saved. And as he starts thinking about who he was, who he is, and how God saved him, it's like you can just sense that he maybe started off sitting down dictating this. And then eventually, he started standing up.

And then he starts moving around. And what he finally says, because I want this to be an example for everyone who would believe in God for eternal life. And he just sort of hands lifted in the air and starts to cry out, now unto the King who is eternal, who is invisible, who is immortal, the only God, be praise and honor and glory forever and ever. Amen. Because he just breaks down

in this moment of praise. Now I want to talk to you about this for just a second. Because maybe you're new to the faith. Maybe you're newer to coming here. And you're like, why on earth do we spend so much time singing ahead of time? Well, the reason why we spend so much time singing ahead of time is not just for the late people that come in. I'm glad for some of y'all,

but some of y'all would miss the whole message by the time if we didn't do this. But that's not the only reason why we have the singing time. It's because the hope is that as you begin to meditate upon what God has done for you, and you start thinking about, how God has saved you, how God has sustained you, how God has led you, how God has sanctified you, and all of the work that he's done in your life, eventually it begins to well up in this praise where you begin to pour it out to him. And my prayer for us as a church is that we won't be a church who's content just to sit there and quietly sing the song while it's being played, but that we would be a church who gets lost in worship.

That we would be a church who gets lost in worship. That we would be lost in the truth of who God is and that spontaneous praise as we pour out our hearts to God as we think about who God is and that it's his breath that's in our lungs and so we're pouring it out to him. And as we think about who God is and as we think about what he's done for us, it just moves into spontaneous praise. But you know, you won't show up and praise God on a Sunday morning if this is the only time you praise God.

You know, there's really something to be said for you taking a little bit of time every day to allow yourself to get lost. And the truth of who God is and to get lost in praising him for who he is. I was sharing this with somebody recently. I said, you know, when I went through a really hard time of battling anxiety and depression and just trying to get to the end of it and wondering why God hadn't answered my prayer yet, sometimes I'd be in my truck and I'd just sort of yell at the top of my lungs.

Not even maybe anything. I was just frustrated, you know. You ever been in those places where life is just overwhelming and you just kind of let it all go and just sort of belt it all out as loud as you possibly can? Well, when God brought healing to me, I started doing the exact same thing, only it was in praise. And I'd be driving down the road and I'd have something playing in my truck

and man, I just belted it out at the top of my lungs. Thank God I was by myself because nobody wants to hear that, right? But there's just something to be said for being able to do that. But you know what? If you can do that when you're on your own, then it's a whole lot easier to do it in here. But if you never do that when you're on your own, you won't pour it out in here.

And if you do, it'll probably be disingenuous because it'll just be for a show. But that spontaneous praise, that just overflowing praise to God for what he's done for you, man, sometimes y'all, we just need to let it go a little bit, right? Like there's some churches that you need to be like, hey, you should back it off a little bit. Like that's not our church.

Our church right now, we need to let it go a little bit, right? It's okay. Pretend no one else is around you and just throw those hands up in the air, close those eyes and belt it out like nobody's watching. Because listen, nobody's watching, okay? I think one of the biggest things I've learned in life when I start thinking, oh no, what if somebody's watching me?

I remember somebody said, they're not. There's a whole lot more freedom in that, right? People aren't paying attention to you, they're paying attention to themselves or God. But he takes this moment just to belt it out in spontaneous praise because he is just so thrilled about what God has done for him. Well, it's time to get back to the subject at hand. He tells them to be faithful to the truth.

He tells them to be faithful to the gospel. And number three, he tells them to fight the good fight. Notice what it says in verse 18. He says, This command I entrust to you, Timothy, my son, in accordance with the prophecies previously made concerning you, that by them you fight the good fight. Keep faith and a good conscience, which some have rejected and suffered.

Shipwreck in regard to their faith. Among these are Hymenaeus and Alexander, whom I have handed over to Satan so that they will be taught not to blaspheme. Paul gets a little bit serious again. He sort of has that moment, says amen and brings it back. Okay, now it's time to go back to being faithful to God's word. He says, Timothy, I'm giving you a charge. He's going to give him a command

and he's going to give him a warning. He says, this command I entrust to you, Timothy. What command? Well, I think that the command that he, is giving to him is first of all, to warn those who are giving into strange doctrine and silly controversies. But ultimately, he's saying his command to be faithful to the word and to the gospel. He says, this command I give to you, Timothy, my son,

in accordance with the prophecies previously made concerning you, that you fight the good fight. I have to deal with this issue of the prophecies for just a minute. He says, I'm giving you a command based upon the prophecies that have been made about you. Now, we're not given a specific instance in scripture where this actually took place. We're just ascertaining from what Paul says here

what probably took place. And what probably took place is in some form of a prayer meeting or perhaps in some quiet moment, hands were laid on Timothy to pray for him and someone said, God is going to use Timothy in a powerful way. As a matter of fact, God is going to use Timothy to give out God's word. And he's going to be fearful about it. But he's going to do it with the power of the Holy Spirit.

Maybe something along those lines. That's just simply a prophecy. It's just simply speaking what God has laid on someone's heart, a word about Timothy and what God was going to do in the life of Timothy. I think I've shared this with you before, but I had two instances like this happen in my life. And I absolutely believe in the gift of prophecy for today. I think that we should test all the prophecies.

I think that we should make sure that they're of God because we don't want to be afraid of God. We don't want to become people who run around with our little prophecy notebooks just looking for the next person to speak a word of prophecy over us. That really did happen in churches at one point in time. Maybe it still does today. But I absolutely believe in the gift of prophecy.

I remember when I was not walking with Jesus, I was about 16, maybe 15 years old. I might have been a little bit older than that. We were at a church up in Wichita. I was not walking with Jesus at all. My dad led worship up there. And somebody came up to me and said, God's going to use you in a powerful way. And I was like, cool. And moved on with life. And I didn't think a thing about it.

And then, of course, a young lady that I went to Bible college with, one of my good friends out there, she wrote me a little note and said a very similar thing. She said, I want you to remember what God is doing right now because you're going to question all of this at some point in time in your life. And when you do, I want you to remember that God wants to use you in a powerful way. And it happened.

It was true. I questioned it. And God seems to be using me in a powerful way because that's who God is and that's what he does, right? And so this gift of prophecy is an outpouring. It's an absolutely valid gift. And this is what happened with Timothy. Perhaps at some point in time, hands were laid on him and a prophecy was given. And Paul says, hey, listen,

remember that prophecy that was given over you? Remember that prophecy that God was going to use you in a powerful way? Well, God wants to keep doing that. Only remember, fight the good fight. Fight the good fight. Because, Timothy, that's what you're in the middle of right now. Remember how the whole book started? Timothy, stay in Ephesus. Stay where you are.

Even though it's hard. Even though things are difficult. Stay where you are. Keep doing what God has called for you to do. Why? Because he was in the middle of a fight. And I think there's a really good lesson here for us, brothers and sisters. See, sometimes we paint walking with Jesus Christ as like, I'm walking on sunshine. Right? Like that's what it's supposed to be.

World peace in my own apartment. Like once you came to know Jesus, everything was going to be perfect. You came to Jesus because you wanted a better life. Because you wanted a better you. And quite frankly, if you really want to be fulfilled, know Jesus. And it's true. You're fulfilled. But you got into a war. You stuck yourself in the middle of a battle. Praise God you did.

Because you were in the battle. Whether you knew it or not, you were just losing. You were a captive in the battle before then. But now you're a soldier in the battle. And you need to fight the good fight. You need to wage the good warfare. Because God is calling us to fight. And you know what's going on in the church today? We're still convincing people. God wants your best life now.

No, God wants your best life in eternity. He wants you to fight now. Today what he wants you to do is to wage the good warfare. Today what he wants you to do is to fight the good fight. How do we wage the good warfare? How do we fight the good fight? He tells them to do two things. Number one, keep the faith. Keep the faith. The idea is two-fold when it comes to keeping the faith.

Number one, it means to cling to the faith. You came to faith in Jesus Christ. Hold on to the faith in Jesus. Don't let go of Jesus. You just have to keep holding on. Because there are days in life where you just have to keep holding on. Right? Where you just have to hold on as tight as you can. When I was in high school, overtime rules are way different in wrestling than they used to be.

But when I was in high school, sorry, we just had state wrestling so my mind's on it. When I was in high school, if you went into what's called double overtime, you're still tied up. You go into double overtime, they call it ultimate tiebreaker. Right? And what you had to do. Is one guy would be up, one guy would be down. And the guy that was on top just had to hold on.

He could not let go of the guy on bottom. And you had one goal in life. Hold on to that guy. Even if all you have is an ankle, you still have him. You're not going to lose. And you had one goal. Hold on tight. That's the way it is for us. You have one goal. Hold on to Jesus as tight as you can. Keep the faith. But even more than that, not only is it just holding on, clinging to the faith, but the idea is to mature in the faith.

It's great that you came to know Jesus as your Lord and Savior. Now mature in it. Now grow in it. Now get into God's word and learn what it has to say. What is God speaking to you? What does God's word have to say to you? Don't be content about it. Don't be content just to take what I have to say. Well, that's what God taught Ryan. Well, what does God have to teach me?

Because the same Holy Spirit that gives me a message to give to you guys, is the same Holy Spirit that lives inside of you and wants to teach you what this word has to say. So get into God's word. It's really hard for me to understand that you better start asking questions. You better start asking God what he has to say to you. You better start studying it for yourself.

Because brothers and sisters, we're in the middle of a fight. And if we're not holding on tight, if we're not maturing in the Lord, then we've got real problems. And he's going to explain that to us in just a minute. So if you want to fight the good fight, number one, you've got to keep the faith. You've got to cling to Jesus, and you've got to grow up. We have to mature in the faith.

Number two, he tells us that we are to keep a good conscience. To keep a good conscience. What does it mean to keep a good conscience? Well, again, I think there's two things that it means. Number one, you have to trust Christ for your past sins. Sometimes, brothers and sisters, we, like Paul, can hold on to that past. And we have to say, it's who I was. And it's who I was, but it's not who I am anymore.

And we have to trust Christ for those past sins. You know where the best place to find a good conscience is? At the foot of the cross. That's what God did for me. I was carrying a lot of guilt from past sins on me for a really long time until God showed me what it looks like to have Jesus carry my sins outside of the city and to take them all on himself and to know they are not mine.

They are not mine to hold on to anymore. Having a good conscience means trusting Christ for all of those past sins. But do you know what else it means to have a good conscience? It means to obey Christ in the present. Because that's one of the best ways to maintain that clear conscience is if you just do what you're told to do. Just obey. And if you fail, deal with it quickly.

If you fail, deal with it swiftly. There's going to come points in time in your life where no matter how hard you're trying to obey, no matter how close you're staying to God, something's going to pop up because we still live in these old bodies of flesh. Sinless perfection is not what we get to attain on this side of eternity. And so when that happens, deal with it immediately.

Just go to Jesus. It says that if we confess our sins, he's faithful and just to forgive us and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. But he says to keep that good conscience. So how do we fight the good fight? Grow up in the faith. Do what Jesus calls you to do. And then he gives us a warning. Which some, verse 19, have rejected and have suffered shipwreck in regard to their faith.

Which some have rejected. What have they rejected? Keeping the faith and keeping a good conscience. They stopped fighting the good fight because they drifted from faith and they drifted from obedience. And when they drifted from faith, and when they drifted from obedience, what happened to them? They got shipwrecked. Undoubtedly, Paul was probably thinking about his trip

from Antioch to Rome. When, because of a storm, they got off course. And because they got off course in the storm, because they drifted in the storm, their ship ran aground of a bunch of rocks and it destroyed the ship. And their ship was shipwrecked. Because that's what happens when we drift from the truth. When we drift from faith, and when we drift from a good conscience,

eventually we run into the rocks of life and we're shipwrecked. And then he gives two examples. Among these are, Hymenaeus and Alexander. It's interesting that Paul names names. That's not something we do in today's culture very much. Especially pastors. Me, even. I'm not really good at doing that. Because I try to protect people or you don't want to be the guy that calls somebody out all the time.

And everybody goes, oh no, you can't do that. You can't call them out by name. And sometimes I'm like, but Paul did it all the time. Right? He didn't say these names because they didn't know who he was talking about. I think they knew exactly who he was talking about. When he was like, among whom are these guys? And they were like, oh. Right? He'll name them again in 2 Timothy.

Because they've shipwrecked. They've gotten off course. And he needed to know that they've gotten off course. And at some point in time they went, oh. Because those were names they could attach themselves to. Those were names that they knew and understood. Those were names they recognized. And they saw that they got off course. Brothers and sisters, we need to realize something.

Getting off course is an easy thing to do. And it usually starts small. I was helping build a building one time. We were putting the ridge cap on the roof. It was a metal building. And there's these little pieces that are shaped like this. And you start going along. And if you don't pay attention to the big picture. If you don't keep yourself focused. Here's what can happen.

You get off about a 16th of an inch on each one. Well, three pieces, no big deal. You don't notice a 16th of an inch in this much of a span. Right? But you go from here to the end of the building. You get off a 16th of an inch on every single one. It's just small. It's little. Pretty soon you're laying ridge cap down on the bottom of the roof. Because eventually the whole thing starts to go like this.

And that's what we did. We're putting them on and going along. And finally we stop. Like, hey, we better check ourselves. Make sure we're right. Hey, let's go back there and start over again, shall we? That feels like the right thing to do. Let's start back over again. Because little things get us off course. I bet Alexander and Hymenaeus didn't start off thinking that they were going to get off course.

I bet you that they did not start off going, we're going to get off a little bit so that eventually we shipwreck our faith. No, it was little things. It was little decisions. It was small areas where they weren't maturing in their faith. It was small compromises that got them off of the truth. And pretty soon they were completely shipwrecked. And Paul said, I had to hand them over to Satan.

Now that sounds like a really scary thing, but let's understand what he's saying. He said, I had to give them what they wanted for a little while so that they'll understand it's not what they need. Let me give you an example. In Numbers chapter 11, I just read this the other day. In Numbers chapter 11, the riff-raff, which is what the translation that I was reading right now called it, which I thought was a great name for it.

The mixed multitude with Moses and the children of Israel. You know, they're on their wilderness journey, and they start complaining. They want meat to eat, right? They're complaining because the food that God gave them wasn't good enough. And so it's like, we want meat. We remember back in Egypt when everything was amazing. If only we could go back to Egypt.

And God said, you know what? If they want meat, I'll give them meat. I'll give them meat today and tomorrow and for the rest of the month. I will give them so much meat that it will come out of their nostrils. God's words, not mine. In other words, sometimes God gives us what we want not out of blessing, but out of judgment. So that we realize what we thought we wanted is not really what we needed.

That's the idea of what Paul says. If they want to be drifted from the faith, fine. I will set them outside of the church so that they can be drifted from the faith. So that eventually they'll say, this isn't where I want to be. I don't want to be here. I want to be back with Jesus. It's kind of like the prodigal son. It's kind of like the prodigal son who came to the father and said, I want my inheritance now.

And the father says, okay, I'll give you what you want until you realize what you need. And that's what shipwreck sometimes causes us. But it's a good thing that even in that, God is still faithful. Amen. Well, brothers and sisters, this morning is Communion Sunday. And so I want to spend just a few minutes. I'm going to invite the worship team to come back up.

And I want to spend just a few minutes talking about communion. And what a fantastic Sunday for us to talk about this as we have talked about the gospel of Jesus Christ. Because quite frankly, that's what communion is all about. And so inside of each of these trays are two elements. And those elements represent everything about who we are as believers in Jesus Christ.

There's two cups and they're stacked together. And the bottom cup has the cracker. And the top cup has the juice in it. In just a minute, these ushers are going to come down. They're going to hand it all out. But in order for us to do this properly, we need to spend just a few moments talking about it. And make sure that our hearts are right before the Lord.

On that last great night of the feast, Jesus took the bread and he broke it. And he said, this is my body which is broken for you. Take and eat. And we are reminded that as we partake of the bread, that Jesus' body was broken for us. We're told in Isaiah chapter 53 that he was wounded for our transgressions. He was bruised for our iniquities. The chastisement or the punishment for our peace was laid upon him.

And by his stripes we are healed. And that gospel, the fact that Jesus Christ came into the world to save sinners of who I am the foremost, was not a cheap gospel. Because it cost Jesus his life. And he sacrificed his body for us. And of course Jesus also took that cup. The last cup of the ceremony, the Passover ceremony had several cups that were passed. And the last one was called the cup of redemption.

He took that cup and he said, this is the cup of the new covenant in my blood which is shed for you. And as often as we do this, we are reminded that it is the blood of Jesus Christ. That purchased our salvation. The reason why we can come to Jesus is because he shed his blood for us. And so we're told, make sure you do this in a worthy manner. And that first of all means truly understanding what we're doing.

That what we're doing is we are proclaiming the death of Jesus Christ. Proclaiming the fact that the thing that brings us unity with Christ and ultimately makes us family is the blood and body of Jesus Christ and his sacrifice for us. But the second thing that it means is that if you're here this morning and you're not a believer in Jesus Christ then ultimately this meal really isn't for you. Because this is a meal for believers.

Those who have come to a place of realizing the saving faith of Jesus because you're declaring the hope that we have in Christ. So if you're here this morning and you're not a believer, then today should be your day of salvation. Today should be the day that you put your faith in Jesus. That you realize that the gospel is what saved you. And the gospel is what makes you new.

And that's what you need in your life. Is that work of Jesus Christ. But if you're here this morning and you're a born again believer and you understand what's going on then it's time to make sure that our hearts are right before the Lord. If there's been some compromises in your life. If there's been some areas where you've not kept the faith. Where you've not kept a good conscience.

Well now's a really good time to restore a good conscience. And it begins with confession. I don't want you to confess to me. I want you to confess it to Jesus. Talk to him about the things that are going on in your life. What needs to change? Where has God been speaking to you about? And you've maybe been a little bit rebellious. Well as the worship team plays this last song.

I ask that you would seek the Lord and have him point out those areas in your life. Those areas that need to be dealt with. So that you can get back on track. And we can celebrate together. And so the ushers are going to come down. They're going to hand out the elements. As you receive your elements if you would please stand. And we'll all partake together.

Father we come to you now. And Lord I just want to thank you so much for the sacrifice of Jesus Christ on the cross for us. I thank you for the gospel. Lord the good news that you came to save sinners. Lord I think we could probably all put ourselves in the running for first. So Lord I thank you for your body that was broken for us. Father that you endured so many beatings.

Lord a crown of thorns on us. On your head. Nails in your hands and your feet. A whipped back and a pierced side. All because you loved us so much. Lord I thank you for the blood of Jesus Christ that was shed for us. Lord your blood that is enough to cover our sins. Not just cover them Lord but do away with them forever. And make us as white as snow. And Lord I thank you that you endured separation from the Father.

So that we would never have to. So Lord I thank you for the sacrifice of Jesus. And Father we just thank you and praise you. In Jesus name. Amen. Let's partake. And if you would bow with me one last time. Father thank you for your word. Lord may it continue to sink deeply into our hearts. And Lord may the knowledge of who we are in you. May the knowledge of the sacrifice of Jesus Christ.

Lord continue to change the fabric of our being. As we live in response to all of who you are. So Father we thank you and we praise you. In Jesus name. Amen. Be blessed.