We can turn with me in your Bibles to 1 Timothy chapter 1, as we continue to work our way through Paul's first letter to Timothy. Our focus tonight will be verses 12 to 14. I'll read beginning in verse 1 and read the chapter to remind us of the context. So beginning in chapter 1 at verse 1,
Scripture Reading: 1 Timothy 1:1–20
Paul, an apostle of Jesus Christ, by the commandment of God our Savior and the Lord Jesus Christ, our hope, to Timothy, a true son in the faith, grace, mercy, and peace from God our Father and Jesus Christ our Lord. As I urged you when I went into Macedonia, remain in Ephesus that you may charge some that they teach no other doctrine, nor give heed to fables and endless genealogies which cause disputes rather than godly edification which is in faith. Now the purpose of the commandment is love from a pure heart, from a good conscience, and from sincere faith, from which some, having strayed, have turned aside to idle talk, desiring to be teachers of the law, understanding neither what they say nor the things which they affirm. But we know that the law is good if one uses it lawfully, knowing this, that the law is not made for a righteous person, but for the lawless and insubordinate, for the ungodly and for sinners, for the unholy and profane, for murderers of fathers and murderers of mothers, for manslayers, for fornicators, for sodomites, for kidnappers, for liars, for perjurers, And if there is any other thing that is contrary to sound doctrine, according to the glorious gospel of the blessed God, which was committed to my trust.
And I thank Christ Jesus our Lord, who has enabled me, because he counted me faithful, putting me into the ministry. Although I was formerly a blasphemer, a persecutor, and an insolent man, but I obtained mercy because I did it ignorantly in unbelief. And the grace of our Lord was exceedingly abundant with faith and love which are in Christ Jesus. This is a faithful saying, and worthy of all acceptance, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners, of whom I am chief.
However, for this reason I obtained mercy, that in me first Jesus Christ might show all longsuffering as a pattern to those who are going to believe on Him for everlasting life. Now to the King eternal, immortal, invisible, to God who alone is wise, be honor and glory forever and ever. Amen. This charge I commit to you, son Timothy, according to the prophecies previously made concerning you, that by them you may wage the good warfare, having faith and a good conscience, which some, having rejected, concerning the faith have suffered shipwreck, of whom are Hymenaeus and Alexander, whom I delivered to Satan, that they may learn not to blaspheme.
Amen. Well, let us pray.
Opening Prayer
Our Father, we thank you for this beautiful day. We thank you for the majesty of your creation. We thank you for your glory revealed to us and general revelation and what we have here in the scriptures of both the Old and the New Testaments. We pray that the Spirit of truth would guide our thoughts now, that you would cause us to reflect upon Paul's words, his commentary on that gospel that was, in fact, committed to his trust.
Forgive us for all of our sins and all unrighteousness. Give us that gratitude and that thankfulness as we ponder Christ and the gospel and cause us to reflect upon your goodness and your mercy and your gracious to us in that you have forgiven us and in that you have given us a righteousness by which we are accepted in the beloved. We ask that you would be glorified now and we pray through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.
Introduction
Well as we've seen thus far, the apostle charges Timothy, he'll do that again in verse 18, but already he's done that in verses 3 and 4. He says in verse 4 that they are to not give heed to fables and endless genealogies which cause disputes rather than godly edification which is in faith. And then he highlights a lawful use of the law in verses nine to 10. And then he says specifically in verse 11, according to the glorious gospel of the blessed God, which was committed to my trust.
And now he turns his attention to that particular gospel. It was in fact committed to his trust. He goes on to explain that gospel by rehearsing his own conversion. We see that in our text tonight in verses 12 to 14.
And then the actual content of that gospel in verses 15 to 17. So he speaks concerning that gospel that is committed to his trust. He shows that he is indeed authorized by God. He was enabled by Christ.
He was put into the ministry by the Lord of glory. And this in contrast to the false teachers, those who desired to be teachers of the law. Paul starts this epistle grounding his authority as an apostle in the will and commandment of God. In verse 1, Paul is an apostle of Jesus Christ by the commandment of God our Savior and the Lord Jesus Christ our hope.
He then authorizes Timothy as his official delegate with reference to the situation going on there in Ephesus when he says to Timothy, a true son in the faith. So this distinguishes Paul and Timothy from these false teachers who desired to be teachers of the law and that were giving heed to Jewish fables, to endless genealogies, and causing disputes rather than godly edification which is in the faith.
Overview of the Passage
And so this is a large chunk where Paul rehearses his conversion, and then he gives the specific content of the gospel. So we'll just divide it up this evening. We'll take verses 12 to 14, and God willing, next time we'll pick up at verses 15 to 17. But in verse 12, essentially what we have is the gratitude of the apostle.
And then in verses 13 and 14, we have the conversion of the apostle. And if you leave your finger in this portion of 1 Timothy and you turn back for just a moment to Philippians chapter 3, we noted there when we went through Philippians not too long ago that Paul rehearses his conversion there as well. It sounds a bit different. It's the same Paul.
It's the same emphasis on God's grace to a sinful man, but it is a bit different in terms of approach and that's owing to the context and it's owing to the specific situation that the apostle is dealing with. Notice in Philippians chapter 3 at verse 3, for we are the circumcision who worship God in the spirit, rejoice in Christ Jesus, and have no confidence in the flesh. Though I also might have confidence in the flesh, if anyone else thinks he may have confidence in the flesh, I more so. Circumcised the eighth day of the stock of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew of the Hebrews, concerning the law, a Pharisee, concerning zeal, persecuting the church, concerning the righteousness which is in the law, blameless.
So certainly he highlights the fact that he persecuted the church, but notice specifically the accent is upon his pre-conversion pedigree, his pre-conversion resume. He was a zealous practicer of Judaism. And what we find in Philippians chapter 3 is basically Rabbi Saul telling us what he was like religiously prior to his conversion on the road to Damascus. Here in 1st Timothy, to set the stage for the graciousness of God and the glorious gospel that was committed to his trust, he speaks as Paul the sinner, Paul the wretch.
Paul the violent man, Paul the persecuting man, Paul the blaspheming man. Again, the same Paul, but with different emphases. He wants to show the bankruptcy in Philippians chapter 3 of a works-oriented righteousness. He has a righteousness, not from his own law-keeping, but rather that righteousness that comes from God through faith in our Lord.
Well, in 1 Timothy, as I said, he wants to set the stage for the glorious gospel that he's going to reveal in terms of content in verse 15. Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners, of whom I am chief. So he wants to point out the chiefness of his sinfulness with reference to God's grace. And notice then in 1 Timothy chapter 1, specifically at verse 16, So essentially what he is saying is that if you're wondering whether or not you can come to Christ, perhaps you're thinking you're too sinful.
Perhaps you're thinking you're too wretched. Perhaps you're thinking you've transgressed the law so much so that there's no hope for you in the gospel. Well, the Apostle Paul says, there is hope for you in the gospel. There was hope for me as the chief of sinners.
Certainly there's going to be hope for other sinners that by God's grace come to the Lord Jesus Christ and believe. In other words, it is a faithful saying. It's worthy of all acceptation that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners. So he rehearses what he has in that gospel and what was overcome in terms of God's grace relative to the apostle's sinfulness.
So
The Gratitude of the Apostle
notice with me in 1 Timothy 1 at verse 12, the gratitude of the apostle. So as he speaks concerning that gospel which was committed to his trust, it is inevitable for Paul, as he ponders the gospel, to have a heart full of gratitude and thankfulness to the Lord of glory who saved him, and that is what he declares in verse 12. And I thank Christ Jesus our Lord. In other words, when it comes to this place of salvation, when it comes to our acceptance with God, we don't pat ourselves on the back.
We don't congratulate ourselves for our law keeping. We don't congratulate ourselves for our moral reformation or for the good path that we're on now. But rather, he thanks Christ Jesus his Lord. And then from there, he moves on to say,
Christ the Enabler of True Ministers
who has enabled me because he counted me faithful, putting me into the ministry. So the election of Paul unto salvation predates this call to the ministry. If you turn to 2 Timothy 1, he alludes to that. We call this the covenant of redemption.
Notice in 2 Timothy 1 at verse 8. Therefore, do not be ashamed of the testimony of our Lord, nor of me, his prisoner, but share with me in the sufferings for the gospel, according to the power of God, who has saved us and called us with a holy calling, not according to our works, but according to his own purpose and grace, which was given to us in Christ Jesus before time began. So prior to time, God purposed to save a great multitude that no man can number from every tribe, every tongue, every people, every nation. And the apostle Paul was one of those men chosen by God for salvation.
And then there's that movement to the covenant of grace in verse 10, but has now been revealed by the appearing of our savior, Jesus Christ, who has abolished death and brought life and immortality to light through the gospel. to which I was appointed a preacher, an apostle, and a teacher of the Gentiles. For this reason I also suffer these things. Nevertheless, I am not ashamed, for I know whom I have believed and am persuaded that he is able to keep what I have committed to him until that day." Very often in the Apostle Paul's presentation of the truth of the gospel, he uses himself as a foil. He uses himself as an example.
He uses himself as a paradigm or a pattern, again, so that sinners, when they contemplate their great sin against a holy God, can also contemplate that Paul was a great sinner against a holy God. Paul found grace. Paul found mercy. Paul found enablement such that he was a gospel minister.
So with that, hopefully, sinners conclude, there's hope for me in this gospel as well. One man has said that the Apostle Paul's presentation of justification by faith alone is really nothing other than explaining his own conversion account. He was a righteous man outwardly. He was a righteous man externally.
He was a righteous man in terms of Torah or law keeping. But he was bankrupt of any saving religion. What happened on the road to Damascus was paradigmatic. It was life changing.
It was his conversion. It was the effectual call out of darkness into marvelous light. And when Paul contemplates that reality, he can't do anything but thank God. Christ Jesus, His Lord.
Guilt, grace, gratitude. That is the threefold motif that the people of God understand. We were guilty and undone before a holy God. We received His grace.
And in a response to that, we respond with gratitude in worship and in service. So in 1 Timothy 1, 12, I thank Christ Jesus, our Lord, who has enabled me not only by saving him, but enabled him because he counted me faithful, putting me into the ministry. So the Lord, Jesus Christ, is the provider of true gospel ministers. If you go back for just a moment to Matthew's gospel, in Matthew chapter 9, you see something of this in the life and ministry of our Lord. during that earthly sojourn.
But notice in Matthew chapter 9 at verse 35, then Jesus went about all the cities and villages, teaching in their synagogues, preaching the gospel of the kingdom, and healing every sickness and every disease among the people. But when He saw the multitudes, He was moved with compassion for them, because they were weary and scattered, like sheep having no shepherd. That Pharisaic religion, that Sanhedrin religion didn't do anything to bolster the people of God or the professing people of God. It didn't help that covenant community.
In other words, it was oppressive. It was heavy. It was a burden. And so the Lord Christ looks out and he sees that and he's moved with compassion because they were weary and scattered like sheep having no shepherd.
Then he said to his disciples, the harvest truly is plentiful, but the laborers are few. Therefore pray the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into his harvest. In other words, pray to the Lord to enable men such that they become gospel ministers. Pray to the Lord that he would equip men such that they would be servants of the Most High and his church.
In the book of Acts, in Acts chapter one, you can turn there. When they're fetching or seeking a replacement, rather, for Judas, we notice specifically who they're praying to. They're praying to the head of the church, that the head of the church would enable men to take that position, enable a man to take that position of apostolic ministry. So notice in 121, Therefore, of these men who have accompanied us all the time that the Lord Jesus went in and out among us, beginning from the baptism of John to that day when He was taken up from us, one of these must become a witness with us of His resurrection.
And they proposed two, Joseph called Barsabbas, who was surnamed Justice, and Matthias. And they prayed and said, you, O Lord, who know the hearts of all, show which of these two you have chosen to take part in this ministry and apostleship from which Judas by transgression fell that he might go to his own place. And they cast their lots, and the lot fell on Matthias, and he was numbered with the 11 apostles. So Paul is rehearsing this, and again, I think, He's doing this to shut the mouths of the false teachers, these desirers to be teachers of the law.
Paul is essentially saying these guys are fakes. These guys are a sham. These guys were not enabled by Christ. These guys were not authorized by Christ.
These guys were not given this ministry by Christ, but rather the apostle Paul says that he was. So the Lord is the provider of true ministers of the gospel. The Lord is ultimately the power behind true ministers of the gospel, and the Lord is ultimately the pattern for true ministers of the gospel. That sort of emphasis that you see there in the earthly ministry, in Matthew 9, this feeling compassion, because they were like sheep having no shepherd.
And so prayer to Christ for the enabling of men to function as, in this case, apostles, but subsequent to that, ministers of the Christian gospel. So he moves on then and says, because he counted me faithful, putting me into the ministry. I don't think this is causal. I don't think Jesus said, hey, Paul's a faithful guy, so therefore I'm going to enable him to be put into the gospel ministry.
Rather, as Paul says, his faithfulness was not the cause or motive, but the fruit and effect of the grace of God in calling him to the ministry. A similar literary convention used in 1 Corinthians 7. He says, I have, Paul, no commandment from the Lord, yet I give judgment as one whom the Lord in His mercy has made trustworthy. So it's not the case that Paul happened to be a faithful guy amongst all kinds of faithless people, and Jesus says, you know, he's got a modicum of faithfulness, I'm gonna choose him, enable him, and put him into the ministry.
No, it was the enablement that brought with it the faithfulness that Paul would utilize in terms of his tireless ministry to promote the gospel of Jesus Christ. So the enablement led to his faithfulness, the enablement led to his ministry. In the book of Acts, in Acts chapter 9, the Lord Jesus says, So Christ enabled him. Christ gave him faithfulness.
Christ gave him the particular ministry that he would have. And the primary emphasis of his gospel ministry, his apostolic labors, was as the apostle to the Gentiles. He speaks in great detail about that in Ephesians chapter 3, we see it there in 2 Timothy chapter 1, we just read, as well in other places in Paul's writings. And then the enablement ultimately differentiated him from the false teachers, those who desired to be teachers of the law.
Philip Towner says where his mission and authority are under fire, for instance in 2 Corinthians and Galatians, and the church has been placed in danger of missing or distorting the truth of the gospel, Paul is not slow to put his call to apostleship and his understanding of the gospel on the line. He insists that only the gospel he endorses is true. God ordained his mission and calling, and his own experience of Christ's mercy demonstrates the power of the gospel he preaches and his authority to do so. So again, a brief statement concerning his gratitude or thankfulness to the Lord Jesus, but in the larger context, it is to silence and refute the false teachers. that are busying themselves with endless genealogies and Jewish fables and creating disharmony where there should be edification in faith.
So the apostle is thankful, and I think we learn from that. We may not be apostles. We are not going to be apostles. We may not be ministers.
But if we are recipients of the grace of God Almighty, the reflex to that is gratitude, it is thankfulness, it is being mindful of the reality that we deserve damnation. We are liable to God's just judgment, his wrath, his curse, both in this life and that which is to come. The fact that we are not only not gonna endure that, but we're also going to heaven, we're gonna ascend the holy hill of Zion, brought by our blessed Savior to stand washed cleansed and clothed in the righteousness of Jesus, that ought to promote thankfulness and gratitude each and every day. It ought to affect the way that we sing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs.
It ought to affect the way that we come to the Lord's house for public worship. This is our response to the Christian message.
The Conversion of the Apostle
He moves then secondly to his conversion, verses 13 and 14. Again, Rabbi Saul in Philippians chapter three, here the sinner, the chief of sinners. Notice,
Paul's Sinful Actions: Blasphemer and Persecutor
he speaks of his sinful actions and his sinful heart. His sinful actions, first he was a blasphemer. Notice, because he counted me faithful, putting me into the ministry, although I was formerly a blasphemer, a persecutor, and an insolent man. What a poster child for God's grace.
The function in this brief section is such that no sinner should ever think that he's outside the reach of God's grace. In Ephesians 1, verse 7, the apostle says, In Him, Christ, we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins according to the riches of His grace. The Apostle Paul would endure what John Newton would later say in his own ministry, I am a great sinner and Christ is a great Savior. That's what Paul is laying down.
That's what Paul is establishing here such that when he gets to verse 15 and when he says, of whom I am chief, you don't scratch your head and say, what's he talking about? He was a religious man. He was a Pharisee. He was zealous.
He was all kinds of energetic to promote what he believed was the Yahwehism of the Old Testament. He seems like such a great guy. He was a wretch. He was lawless.
He was sinful. He was totally depraved, totally unable. So when he mentions he was a blasphemer, he speaks specifically of his former or pre-converted state. I was formerly a blasphemer.
In its most general sense, this blasphemy means to defame, to denigrate, to demean. Obviously, in religious context, it means to speak thus against deity. And I would suggest the blasphemy was his denial of Jesus Christ. His denial of Jesus Christ.
In Acts chapter 26, in verses 9 to 11, he says, Indeed I myself thought I must do many things contrary to the name of Jesus of Nazareth. This I also did in Jerusalem. And many of the saints I shut up in prison, having received authority from the chief priests. And when they were put to death, I cast my vote against them. and I punished them often in every synagogue and compelled them to blaspheme.
And being exceedingly enraged against them, I persecuted them even to foreign cities." So it most likely was not that he was speaking ill of Yahweh. That's typically what we think in terms of blasphemy. Think of that situation in Leviticus chapter 24 where the death penalty is applied to a blasphemer. He speaks ill of Yahweh, abusive speech or demeaning speech with reference to the living and true God.
No, Paul's opposition was to Christ. Paul's opposition was to the one who claimed to be the Messiah. Paul's opposition was very much similar to those contemporaries of our Lord Jesus who Jesus describes in John 15 verses 21 and 23. They say they know God, they say they love God, they say they worship God, but they've rejected and hated the one that God sent.
And Jesus' sort of inference or implication from that is simple. If you deny the one that God sent, then you deny the sender. If you hate the sent one, then you hate the one who sent him. And so the blasphemy of the Apostle Paul was his rage and opposition against this man Jesus of Nazareth who claimed to be the Messiah.
He moves on then to say he was a persecutor. And again, there are several examples in the book of Acts on Paul's vicious, vehement, and violent opposition to the church of Christ. That road to Damascus in Acts chapter 9, when Jesus comes and Jesus says, I am Jesus whom you are persecuting. How does the chapter start?
It starts with Paul on his way to Damascus to arrest people who believed on Jesus. to arrest them, to bring them back to Jerusalem so that they could be punished. You've got the Apostle Paul at the martyrdom of Stephen. Godly, holy, faithful Stephen testifying a biblical theology of temple, God's dwelling amongst his people. He traces through the Old Testament.
He brings it to a conclusion. And what happens? They gnash at him with their teeth. They push him out of the city and they stone him to death.
And while they're stoning him to death, they take off their outer garments and they lay them at the feet of Saul of Tarsus. The Apostle Paul was a persecutor. The Apostle Paul wanted to destroy the church. First Corinthians 15.9, he says, for I am the least of the apostles, who am not worthy to be called an apostle, because I persecuted the church of God.
Galatians 1.13 and 14, for you have heard of my former conduct in Judaism, how I persecuted the church of God beyond measure and tried to destroy it. And I advanced in Judaism beyond many of my contemporaries in my own nation, being more exceedingly zealous for the traditions of my fathers. He was opposed to Christ, he blasphemed Christ, and on the heels of that, he persecuted those who gave allegiance to Christ. Galatians 1, 21 to 24.
Afterward, I went into the regions of Syria and Cilicia, and I was unknown by face to the churches of Judea which were in Christ, but they were hearing only. He who formerly persecuted us now preaches the faith which he once tried to destroy, and they glorified God in me. You see the nature of his argument? Gratitude, verse 12, for the conversion of verses 13 and 14 to set the stage for the proclamation in verse 15.
This is a faithful saying. It's worthy of all acceptance. Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners. That's his mission.
That's his focus. That's his job. And if you ask the question, well, what kind of sinners, Paul? Well, even the chief of sinners.
I was a blasphemer. I was a persecutor, and I was an insolent man. In other words, he was violent. He was outraged.
He understood the claims. He just opposed those claims. He resisted them, and he rejected them, and he turned to violence with reference to the very people of God. That's why it blows their minds, according to Galatians 1, 21 to 24.
They were hearing only, he who formerly persecuted us now preaches the faith which he once tried to destroy. And they glorified God in me. Turn back for just a moment to Acts chapter 9. Acts chapter 9.
Saul gets converted on the road to Damascus. We see in chapter 9 at verse 15, which by the way that's how the rest of the book of Acts from this point on flows. He testifies to Gentiles. He testifies before kings and he testifies before Israel because when he's arrested in Rome, according to Acts 28, there's a delegation of Jews that come to talk to him.
Why are you in jail? What's happening? What's going on? Well, he used that opportunity to preach Jesus as the Messiah, Jesus as the Christ.
So notice in 920, immediately he preached to Christ in the synagogues that he is the Son of God. Then all who heard were amazed and said, is this not he who destroyed those who called on this name in Jerusalem and has come here for that purpose so that he might bring them bound to the chief priests? They thought he was a plant, to use the common parlance. They thought he was a fed.
They thought he was going to dime them out. They thought he just infiltrated so that he could get close to them and then grab them and take them off to be punished. But Saul increased all the more in strength and confounded the Jews who dwelt in Damascus, proving that this Jesus is the Christ. Now after many days were passed, the Jews plotted to kill him.
But their plot became known to Paul. and they watched the gates day and night to kill him. Then the disciples took him by night and led him down through the wall in a large basket. And when Saul had come to Jerusalem, he tried to join the disciples, but they were all afraid of him and did not believe that he was a disciple. You get that, right?
I mean, here's the guy who had extradition papers. Here's the guy that was authorized by the Sanhedrin. Here is the guy that maybe got per diem so he could eat on the way to Damascus to go arrest Christians to bring them back to Jerusalem to deliver them up so they could be punished. And now here this Paul is preaching Christ, and here the brethren in Jerusalem are, wait a minute.
Wait a minute. I'm not sure I want to sit next to this brother. I'm not sure this man, I'm not sure I want to sit under his preaching. I'm not sure he's the legitimate heir with reference to the apostolic ministry to make known Christ and Him crucified.
So you get that. You understand that. I mean, his conversion was radical. On the one hand, he's trying to persecute.
On the one hand, he's violent. On the one hand, he's a blasphemer. And now he's the chief proponent of this Christian faith. So verse 27, Barnabas took him and brought him to the apostles.
And he declared to them how he had seen the Lord on the road, and that he had spoken to him, and how he had preached boldly at Damascus in the name of Jesus. So he was with them at Jerusalem, coming in and going out. And he spoke boldly in the name of the Lord Jesus and disputed against the Hellenists, but they attempted to kill him. When the brethren found out, they brought him down to Caesarea and sent him out to Tarsus.
You see, Barnabas did a great thing there. No, no, no, no, don't be afraid of him. I know what he was. We trust in the God of glory.
We trust in the riches of his grace. We trust in his ability to conquer even the chief of sinners and make them the chief proponent of the Christian message to the Gentiles. Barnabas paves the way for Paul in Barnabas. The brethren receive him and, of course, the rest is history.
But he's rehearsing this to set the stage for that faithful saying in verse 15. So he speaks of his actions, blasphemer, persecutor, insolent man, and then
Paul's Sinful Heart: Ignorance and Unbelief
he speaks of his sinful heart. Notice again in verse 13, although I was formerly a blasphemer, a persecutor, and an insolent man, but I obtained mercy because I did it ignorantly in unbelief. That's a difficult clause. I'm not going to lie to you.
This ignorance suggests that, you know, maybe he wasn't fully culpable. Maybe he wasn't fully responsible. Perhaps he's trying to leave the door open. You know, I wasn't that bad.
After all, I did it out of ignorance. The apostle is not denying his sinful guilt. That much we know. Somebody denying their sinful guilt doesn't turn around in 115 and say, of whom I am chief.
He's not trying to mitigate anything or hide behind something of his sinful ignorance. The apostle is not saying he obtained mercy because he was ignorant. He's saying he needed mercy because he was ignorant. And I would suggest the ignorance specifically is with reference to the identification of Jesus as the Messiah of Israel.
The Category of Sins Committed in Ignorance
I think Paul is employing biblical categories. In the books of Leviticus and Numbers, you see those sorts of sins that are purposeful and intentional, or those sins that are not purposeful. They're still sins. They're still sins if they're unintentional, but it's a bit of a different category.
The sins committed in ignorance are still sins and the sinner is liable to God's just judgment even for sins of ignorance. I would suggest, again, I don't know that I have it all figured out, but I think it probably hinges on something that Jesus says in the upper room with reference to the Jews. In John 15 at verse 22, again a context, John 15, 18 to 16, 4, Jesus is telling his disciples that they're going to be opposed. They're going to be hated.
They're going to be hated by the world. Now I know it's very commonplace for us to put Muslims in there. It's commonplace for us to put the federal government in there. It's commonplace for us to put our enemies in there.
The specific enemies Jesus is talking about in John 15, 18 to John 16, 4 are Jewish unbelievers. those who had rejected the Lord Jesus Christ. That's the opposers. That's the ones that are going to try to kill you. And in doing so, they're going to be thinking that they're doing service to God, John 16.3.
They're going to put you out of the synagogues, not the mosques. I'm not suggesting that the Muslims are our friends. I'm not suggesting that they're not opposed to the people of God. I'm not suggesting that at all.
What I'm saying is John 15, 18 to John 16, 4 is a specific reference to those Jews who denied Jesus. And again, if you denied the one who was sent, you are denying the one who sent him. And in John 15, 22, Jesus says, If I had not come and spoken to them, they would have no sin. But now they have no excuse for their sin.
I do not think for a moment that Jesus is saying they would have no sin at all. They would be tabula rasas. They would be pure slates. They would be as white as the driven snow.
No, the sin is the denial of Jesus as the Christ. In fact, John Gill says that, the sin of unbelief, in the rejection of the Messiah. Aquinas before him says, we should say that our Lord is not speaking here of just any sin, but the sin of disbelief. That is, they do not believe in Christ.
In other words, the contemporaries of our Lord Jesus, the ones he did battle with at the temple, the ones that he engaged in, the ones he called, you are of your father the devil, they were not sinning through ignorance. They were sinning in the light of the revelation by Christ concerning His identity. This was not ignorance. Arguably, for Paul, it could have been ignorance.
In fact, Paul says something in 1 Corinthians 2, in verses 7 to 8. He says, We speak the wisdom of God in a mystery, the hidden wisdom which God ordained before the ages for our glory, which none of the rulers of this age knew. For had they known, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory. Had it been demonstrated to them that Jesus was in fact the Lord of glory, they wouldn't have crucified Him.
So I think the ignorance isn't that Paul just didn't have a clue. He had a clue and he was opposed and he blasphemed, but he didn't have a clue the way that the Pharisees and the Sadducees and that first century Sanhedrin had that clue as they saw the signs and wonders, as they listened to the words of revelation, as they heard Jesus' self-identification, and as they heard Jesus on several occasions say that he had come from the Father. He was the one sent. He says to them, you search the scriptures, for in them you think you have eternal life, but these are they which testify of me.
So I don't think the ignorance is spoken of here to get him off the hook. But it's a different category, similar to be sure, but different in the sense that these Jews that saw Jesus, these Jews that witnessed the signs, these Jews that witnessed the wonders, these Jews that heard him, and nevertheless said, Away with him, away with him, crucify him. Those were not sins done in ignorance. That was active, hostile opposition to the Lord of glory.
And Towner makes a reference with reference to Paul and the false teachers. I think this is legit as well. He says, in contrast to Paul, who sinned prior to coming to faith in Christ, the false teachers are portrayed as believers, or those who profess to believe, who by their sin have rejected their faith. Paul's pre-conversion sin and that of the opponent's, though remarkably similar in preference for Torah, evident in both cases, belong to different categories.
Paul's sin predates the enlightenment provided by the risen Lord. Well, the false teacher's sin postdates their enlightenment by the gospel. The consequences of the latter are much to be feared. In other words, they made the profession that Jesus was the Messiah.
They made the profession that the identity of Jesus of Nazareth is the self-same as the one prophesied by Moses, by the prophets, and who came in the fullness of the time. They make that confession and then they turn in opposition against him. So that might be the ignorance as well. Paul acted ignorantly in unbelief when his heart was not touched by sovereign grace.
These false teachers, that they're teaching in churches, at least at some level they would have had to say, yeah, God's grace has touched my heart. But there's a marked contrast between the two. So the apostle acted ignorantly with reference to the identity of the Messiah. Once that was made known to him clearly and unequivocally on the road to Damascus, that was it.
He was conquered. He saw everything. And now he had his hermeneutical key to open up the entirety of the Old Testament. You ever think about Paul in that interim period before the road to Damascus?
I mean, Paul, he doesn't boast, but he claims and highlights the reality. He actually does boast in 2 Corinthians, boasting in himself because he knows that if he is compromised, then his message is compromised, and he will not have that with reference to the church in Corinth. But Paul tells us he knew the law. He knew the promises.
He knew the prophecies. He knew those strands of data from the proto-gospel in Genesis 3.15 to the types and the shadows. He knew the prophetic testimony. But until that road to Damascus, it was so many lines of evidence and so many lines of data.
And on that road to Damascus, it was a, oh, okay, I see now. I see he is the Genesis 315 man. I see he is that ram caught in the thicket. I see he is the Isaac up on Mount Moriah that the father did put the knife in.
I see that he is the one from Bethlehem, Ephrathah. I see that he is the one whose goings forth are from everlasting. I see that he is the child born, the son given, the one upon whom the government is laid on his shoulders. He saw it all now.
That hermeneutical key, which was in fact Jesus Christ, opened up the Old Testament for the Apostle and made everything sing. It made everything click. It made everything fall right into place so that Paul could say to the Corinthians, Jesus is the yea and amen of the promises of God most high. So
Damascus and the Hermeneutical Key
the apostle is not trying to hide behind his ignorance. He is rather saying that in spite of his ignorance, in spite of his former blasphemy, in spite of his persecution, and in spite of his insolence, the Lord Christ saved him on that road to Damascus. And notice what was operative in his heart. It was unbelief.
Paul the Pharisee was an unbeliever. Paul the Pharisee was dead in his trespasses and sins. He says this, I obtained mercy because I did it ignorantly in unbelief. We have this idea that, you know, those involved in Judaism, we've got the same God, we've got the same faith, they've just missed a few points with reference to Jesus.
Again, brethren, I encourage you to go back to John 15, 18 to John 16, 4. We're not dealing with, you know, two religions that are, you know, sort of neck and neck. We're dealing with two contrary positions, two contrary religions. One hates Jesus.
The other loves Jesus. It really is that simple. And if you reject Jesus, you reject the God who sent Jesus. That's why Jesus says, you're not God. of your father Abraham.
You are ethnically, you are by flesh, but not spiritually. You are of your father, the devil, and the desires of your father you want to do. He was a murderer and a liar from the beginning. So the ignorance in unbelief was his sinful context from which comes the blasphemy, persecution, and insolence.
And the reference here just underscores the reality that on the road to Damascus, he got a new heart. He was born again. He had been enabled now to ascend the holy hill of God most high, hand in hand with our Lord Jesus. So he moves then from his conversion to his redeemed state, or rather his pre-redeemed state, to now his redeemed state in verses 13b and 14.
Mercy and Grace in the Redeemed State
Notice he received mercy. But I obtained mercy. When you boil down Christianity, isn't it just there? at this point. How come you're a Christian?
Well, because it's a superior lifestyle. Why are you a Christian? Because it makes great sense. Philosophically, theologically, it all makes sense.
Why are you a Christian? Because it gives me emotional stability. I'm a Christian because I obtain mercy. I'm a Christian, not because I walked an aisle, not because I signed a card, not because I raised my hand, not because I responded to an altar call.
I'm a Christian because I obtained mercy. I'm a Christian because God and His grace gave me. That is, when you boil it down, that's what differentiates the Christian from the non-Christian. We've received grace.
We've received mercy. The temptation, I don't know why, seems to be there for us to want to pat ourselves on the back and say, well, you know, I did go forward. You know, I did consider. I did, you know, not that there's none of that, not that there's no consideration whatsoever.
Paul reasoned from the Scriptures, proving that Jesus was the Christ. But the bottom line is, brethren, as believers in Jesus Christ, we're here because we obtained mercy. It's beautiful. This is the characteristic of the true Christian.
It's something they have received. And it is the context of Christian gratitude. I thank Christ Jesus, our Lord, who has enabled me. And then notice he received grace, mercy and grace.
Verse 14. And the grace of our Lord was exceedingly abundant with faith and love which are in Christ Jesus. The exceedingly abundant grace for exceedingly abundant sinners. That's a beautiful sort of a situation.
We are bad. God is good. We need grace. God has infinite grace.
We are wretched and pitiable and downtrodden and degraded. God's full of mercy for such people. The exceedingly abundant grace resulted in faith and love which are in Christ Jesus. Notice, the grace of our Lord was exceedingly abundant with faith and love which are in Christ Jesus.
Mounce says the triad of blasphemer, persecutor, and insolent person was obliterated by the triad of mercy, faith, and love that Paul now possesses through his relationship with Christ. And then Poole sees a contrast between what Paul was and what Paul is. He says, he mentions faith and love, two principal graces, in opposition to the reigning sins in his unconverted state. Faith in the doctrine of the gospel, in opposition to his former ignorance and infidelity, and love to Christ and believers, in opposition to his former race. church.
Closing Prayer
We pray for churches in our association, for Reformed Baptist churches all over the earth, that you'd raise men up, that you would equip them, that you would furnish them to the churches. As Jesus ascended on high, he led captivity captive, and he gave gifts to men. And we pray that those churches, all churches, would be furnished with the things necessary for combat, for battle, to wage the good warfare, and to be a means of help, and a means of encouragement, and a means of building up the people of God in their most holy faith, so that in the midst of trial and hardship and affliction and sorrow, we can always lean on that blessed Word that you have given to us. And we ask that you would go with us now, we pray that you would watch over us in this coming week, and we pray through Christ our Lord.
Amen.