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May I turn in your Bibles to 
1 Timothy chapter 1. 1 Timothy chapter 1. I'll just pick up reading in 
verse 1. 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, I'm sorry, 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. Father, we thank you for your 
word. We thank you for this letter from Paul to Timothy and to the 
church. And we pray that you would give 
us wisdom now, that you would give us understanding that we 
would receive from this section of scripture, the encouragement 
and the help and the strength that we need. And that may we 
continue to appreciate the wonderful grace of our Lord Jesus Christ 
and the salvation of sinners. And we pray in his most blessed 
name. Amen. Well, verses 12 to 17 are a bit 
of a digression. I suspect we'll see why Paul 
does what he does in the course of our study tonight. But within 
this digression, in verses 12 to 17, there are two subsections, 
and we are going to break it up. Tonight, we're going to just 
focus our attention on verses 12 to 14, and then next week, 
God willing, we'll look at verses 15 to 17. In verse 11 in chapter 
1, notice what the Apostle says. According to the glorious gospel 
of the blessed God, which was committed to my trust, So he 
highlights his place as a steward in the ministry of the gospel. 
He calls the gospel something that was committed to my trust. 
He then goes into this section describing his thankfulness for 
the grace of God, his conversion to not only salvation, but then 
into the gospel ministry, and then his gospel. So those are 
the three sections or the three themes that he deals with in 
verses 12 to 17. the Apostles' thankfulness, verse 
12, the Apostles' conversion, verses 13 and 14, and then the 
Apostles' gospel in verses 15 to 17. In doing what he is doing 
here, showing his own life, showing his own conversion, showing his 
own experience with the gospel, he serves as a pattern for conversion. He is demonstrating, or he is 
an example of the application of Christ's redemption. And again, 
what he is highlighting and what he is bringing to the forefront 
is that sinners are saved by grace, through faith, in Christ 
Jesus. Not through a study of genealogies, 
or endless genealogies, or fables, or disputes over the law. but 
rather it is the cross of Jesus Christ alone, the glorious gospel 
of the blessed God that sinners desperately need to hear in order 
to pass from death unto life. So that's a bit of an overview 
in terms of the context. Let's look first at the apostles' 
thankfulness. Verse 12, and I thank Christ 
Jesus our Lord. We ought to expect that from 
the Apostle Paul. One commentator says, having 
mentioned the gospel that was entrusted to him, Paul does a 
natural thing for him. He bursts into thanksgiving. When we understand the gospel, 
when we understand something of what we saw this morning, 
when we understand the great lengths our Savior went to to 
save us from our sins, we can't but help express gratitude. That guilt that then God brings 
grace naturally and inevitably leads to gratitude. We express 
a heartfelt thankfulness to the Lord God Most High for His having 
saved us, for His having redeemed us, and that is essentially and 
precisely what the Apostle is doing. I thank Christ Jesus our 
Lord. The object of his thankfulness 
is specifically the second person of the Trinity. He is probably 
thinking back to, or probably has in his mind, that road to 
Damascus in Acts chapter 9. It was God the Son, it was the 
Lord of Glory that came to Saul of Tarsus. When Saul asks, who 
are you? Jesus responds, I am Jesus, whom 
you are persecuting. So it is natural for him, having 
been saved directly by Jesus Christ himself on that road to 
Damascus, to express his thankfulness. I thank Christ Jesus our Lord 
for his grace, for his mercy, for his salvation, for the every 
spiritual blessing that is mine. Now notice, specifically in terms 
of his context, the reason why he is thankful. Yes, for salvation, 
but he says, the Lord enabled me. There's a sharp contrast 
that Paul is engaged in here. You need to understand this. 
Why does Paul leave Timothy in Ephesus? He wants him to stop 
the mouths of the false teachers. He wants him to shut them up, 
those people that had given themselves to these studies of fables and 
endless genealogies, and those who desired to be teachers of 
the law. Well, as Paul is writing, as 
he includes his own experience, as he includes by way of a redemptive 
historical application of Christ's redemption, he is telling the 
church, He is telling the false teachers and he is telling Timothy 
that Paul has a right and has the authority of an apostle to 
do specifically what it is that he's doing. He says, the Lord 
enabled me. The Lord Christ promised in Matthew 
16 and verse 18, I will build my church and the gates of Hades 
shall not prevail against it. The power behind the faithful 
ministry of the Apostle Paul was divine power. It was divine 
aid. He was not a self-appointed man. 
He was not someone who simply desired to be a teacher of the 
law, but when Christ saved him on that road to Damascus, he 
then enabled him to engage in the ministry that was entrusted 
to his care. So he is an enabled man, and 
he's also an appointed man. Notice, because he counted me 
faithful, putting me into the ministry. These false teachers 
desire to be teachers of the law. I hope you saw that several 
weeks ago when we looked at the call to the ministry. A desire 
is not sufficient. A desire must be there. If any 
man desires the office of overseer, that's a good thing. But desire 
alone shouldn't open the door to gospel ministry. I think I 
mentioned that I might desire to be an astronaut, or desire 
to be a cowboy, or desire to be any sort of a thing that I 
may not be equipped for. I may desire to be a surgeon, 
a heart surgeon, but I've got the palsy shake. I'm simply not 
qualified for that task. Just because these men desire 
to be teachers of the law, they didn't have Christ enable them, 
and they certainly didn't have Christ Appoint them. Back in 
the account of the conversion of Saul of Tarsus, in Acts 9.15 
we read, Go, for he is a chosen vessel of mine to bear my name 
before Gentiles, kings, and the children of Israel. That's how 
the rest of Acts plays out from that point on. Paul then goes 
to Gentiles. Paul then goes to Kings, and 
we find Paul in a Roman prison in Acts 28, and Jews are coming 
to him to hear the gospel of saving truth. So Christ put him 
into the ministry when it speaks of his being faithful. Notice. Because he counted me faithful, 
putting me into the ministry. I don't think we're supposed 
to read that in a causal manner. In other words, Jesus saw that 
Paul the Apostle, or Saul the Rabbi, was a faithful man. And 
because of that, he then chose Saul in order to use him for 
the apostolic ministry. I don't think that's what's involved. 
I think the idea is, is that when he saved Saul, When he enabled 
Saul, when he put him into ministry, he had fit, formed, and fashioned 
him to be a faithful man of God in his particular task. There is a parallel in 1 Corinthians 
7.25. He says, I have no commandment from the Lord. There he's talking 
about mixed marriages. I have no commandment from the 
Lord, yet I give judgment as one, as one whom the Lord in 
his mercy has made trustworthy. So it was the grace of God, it 
was the enabling by Christ, it was the putting him into ministry, 
and that is the reason why he can speak of Christ finding him 
faithful. So the significance, as I've 
already brought out, the ones desiring to be teachers of the 
law are mentioned in verse 7. They are to be stopped. They 
are to be silenced. Timothy is to shut their mouths, 
not physically, but doctrinally and through preaching and teaching. 
He needs to know that Paul is the real deal. The church needs 
to know that Paul is the real deal, that he was enabled, that 
he was put into ministry. One commentator puts it this 
way. He says, where Paul's mission and authority are under fire, 
like in 2 Corinthians and in Galatians. Remember Galatians, 
Paul is fighting in that letter. It shouldn't surprise us that 
he deals with his autobiography. It shouldn't surprise us that 
he goes back to the womb. God was pleased to separate me 
from my mother's womb. It shouldn't surprise us when 
he tells us that he met with the men in Jerusalem and they 
gave him the right hand of fellowship. It shouldn't surprise us that 
he puts all this out there because he's establishing his authority, 
he's establishing the fact that his gospel is the right truth, 
and that's what sinners need to understand. So Paul doesn't 
go around saying, hey look, I'm the right reverend doctor. I'm 
Paul and everybody should bow down to me. I have a numbered 
parking spot or I have a gold placard on my parking spot. People 
ought to just fawn all over me. That is not how Paul operated. 
But when the truth of the gospel was on the line, That's when 
the apostle would highlight the reality that in Christ's redemptive 
plan, Paul played a key role. So Towner says where his mission 
and authority are under fire, 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 the 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. That's 
his thankfulness to the Lord Jesus, who saved him on that 
road to Damascus, who enabled him for the task at hand, and 
who put him into ministry, and made it such that Paul would 
carry out that ministry in a faithful, God-honoring, God-glorifying 
manner. Paul certainly had much to be 
thankful for. Brethren, we may not be enabled 
for the apostolic ministry, We may not have been put into ministry, 
but if God the Lord has saved us by his grace, through faith 
in Jesus Christ, through that suffering Savior we looked at 
this morning, through that perfect righteousness that he has accomplished 
on behalf of sinners, he has conferred that to us graciously, 
super abundantly, then we ought to be a thankful people. Let 
us join with the Apostle and thank Christ Jesus our Lord. Now notice, secondly, the Apostle's 
conversion. The Apostle's conversion. He 
speaks of his former state, and he speaks of his redeemed state. And when he tells us what a bad 
guy he was, he's not doing it to get oohs and aahs. Ooh, ah. I've mentioned this before, sometimes 
we'll hear the testimony of somebody that just lived a real profligate 
life, They were just wretched, and there's something exciting 
about that, and there's something, wow, that's amazing. And then, 
you know, somebody gets up, and they're 20, and they say, I was 
brought up in a Christian home, and I passed imperceptibly from 
darkness into light. Somehow that doesn't thrill us 
as much. We like to hear those guys that were out with, you 
know, feeding the pigs and all that sort of thing. The same 
power that saved that person that was raised in a home that 
passed imperceptibly from death into life is the same power as 
that guy who's feeding the pigs. The gospel, the effectual call 
that anyone should pass from death to life magnifies the supremacy 
and the glory of God Almighty. So Paul is not highlighting what 
he was in order for us to say, woo-wah, woo-wah. It is to magnify 
the grace of our Lord. So he speaks of his former state 
and he highlights three things about his actions and two things 
about his state. Notice first in terms of his 
actions. He was a blasphemer. This is 
an amazing admission from a rabbi. An amazing admission from an 
apostle. He says, I was formerly a blasphemer. The formerly points to that Damascus 
Road experience. The blasphemy is probably seen 
chiefly in his denial of the Lord Jesus Christ. The fact that 
he rejected Christ. The fact that he despised Christ. 
The fact that he rejected the church and wanted to destroy 
it. was an evidence that he himself was a blasphemous man. But not 
only did he himself blaspheme by his denial of Jesus, he compelled 
Christians to blaspheme. If you go to Acts 26 for just 
a moment, we're going to spend some time here to see again the 
glorious grace of God Most High. And I think that if we understand 
verse 13, when we get to verse 15 and Paul says, Christ Jesus 
came into this world, sinners to save, when he says, of whom 
I am chief, We're not going to scratch our heads. We're going 
to realize, we're going to understand, we're going to know what manner 
of man this was. And again, it demonstrates the 
grace of God. Who does Jesus employ for the 
apostolic ministry? He takes Paul, who was Saul of 
Tarsus, who hated the church and who hated Jesus. He took 
Matthew, in Matthew chapter 9, verses 9 to 13, another notorious 
sinner, a man despised, a man hated, a man that, as far as 
anybody could tell, had no hope whatsoever. Isn't it amazing 
that Christ grabs the worst and raises them up and puts them 
into service? I think Paul indicates something 
of this in his epistle to the Corinthians. He says, God has 
put this treasure in earthenware vessels. Kids, that means cracked 
pots. Is a cracked pot a good thing? 
No. You put the water in and the 
water all comes out. You want the water to stay in. 
Cracked pots are not the best thing you can use. You see, when 
God is dealing with people to preach the gospel, that's the 
best he has, is cracked pots. But that's by design. God puts 
this gospel treasure in cracked pots so that if people do get 
saved, the excellence of the power and the glory goes to God, 
not to the cracked pot. That's the emphasis in the Apostles. Notice Acts 26 verse 9, 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. amazing reality. This guy wanted 
to destroy the church. He compelled people to blaspheme 
their God. And back in 1st Timothy chapter 
1, he's going to refer to the opposition, we read it in chapter 
1 verse 20, Hymenaeus and Alexander, they were blasphemous men. Maybe there's a veiled reference 
here from Paul saying, there's hope even for you, Hymenaeus 
and Alexander. There's hope in this powerful 
gospel, even for you false teachers, even for you men that desire 
to be teachers of the law, that have not been enabled, that have 
not been put into the ministry. You need to understand this statement 
that I'm about to speak in verse 15 is worthy of all acceptance, 
even on the part of false teachers and heretics. Paul is indicating 
here that Christ's grace, Christ's power, Christ's mercy is able 
to overcome and overwhelm blasphemous sin. Notice, secondly, he speaks 
of being a persecutor. Now, if you compare this section 
with Philippians chapter 3, there Paul says, I was born the tribe 
or the stock of Israel. I was of the tribe of Benjamin. I was circumcised on the eighth 
day. Concerning the law, I was a Pharisee. 
Concerning zeal, I persecuted the Church. There in Philippians 
3, Rabbi Saul is speaking about his religious pedigree and ultimately 
telling us it means nothing. What means everything is the 
gospel of Jesus Christ. That is a context wherein the 
Apostle brings that stuff forward to show that if a man could have 
worked his way into heaven, Rabbi Saul of Tarsus could have done 
it. But obviously he did not or could not. What we find here 
is Paul the redeemed sinner. Paul the man, not that there's 
two Pauls, there's two contexts. Paul here is telling us what 
he was to demonstrate the gloriousness of the gospel. So that when we 
get to verse 15, and he says this is a faithful saying, and 
worthy of all acceptance that Christ Jesus came into the world 
to save sinners, Paul knows of what he speaks. Paul understands 
this experientially. Paul realizes what it is to be 
a vile, God-hating rebel and to have been saved by grace. This idea of persecutor, the 
word means to pursue, it means to hunt, it means to persecute 
and the action is directed toward men. The reference recalls his 
specific mission in Acts chapter 9 where he was confronted by 
the Lord Jesus. Remember, he had marching orders, 
he was going to go and arrest Christians and drag them back 
to Jerusalem. Compare other passages where 
Paul is giving his testimony and his conversion account in 
the book of Acts. He was a persecutor. He pursued men and women. He wanted them to go to jail. 
He stood by while Stephen was stoned to death. What we have 
in the life and ministry of the apostle Paul is a redeemed sinner. And then notice thirdly, he was 
an insolent man. And the word means a sadist. 
a violent person. Sadists are those kids that pull 
legs off of flies. I was trying to bring this down. A sadist likes to hurt people. 
A sadist likes to inflict pain. Now, I don't know that that means 
Paul liked to pull the legs off of flies. I think the idea here 
is that his rage against Christ and his rage against the church 
was such that he engaged in this vicious, violent pursuit. One man says it emphasizes the 
element of outrageous disregard of other men's rights. He did not care about people. He did not care about Christians. What he wanted was to destroy 
the church. Well, in his pursuit to destroy 
the Church, we see in his own recollection, in his own words, 
he was a vicious and a vile sinner against the living and true God. 
That he is converted, that he is saved, that he's been enabled 
and put into the ministry, that he says that Christ Jesus came 
into this world to save sinners. We really ought to listen to 
him. We really don't have the right to say, well, you know, 
I'm so bad, there's no way the gospel could ever save me. I 
am so wicked, there's no way that Jesus could ever save me. 
Oh, absolutely not. What we find here is the proof 
that Jesus does, Jesus has, and Jesus continues to save the really 
bad sinner. That's what Paul wants us to 
get. That's his actions. A blasphemer, 
a persecutor, an insolent man. Notice his state. Notice his 
state. But I obtained mercy because 
I did it ignorantly in unbelief. Ignorance and unbelief. The text 
reads this way. The text almost sounds causal. I obtained mercy because I was 
ignorant. That's really not how we should 
understand Paul. Does Paul ever, in any of his 
letters, in any of his writings, ever champion the idea that we 
deserve grace? that we deserve mercy? Well, 
you're an ignorant person, so God must save you. No, that's 
not what's in view here. This idea of ignorance probably 
goes back to the Old Testament. Probably that distinction between 
presumptuous sins and unwitting sins. Still sin. You still need 
to make a sacrifice. You still are judged guilty and 
culpable even for sin done in ignorance. You know, there might 
be something else in tune here. There might be something else 
on the line here. These false teachers were in 
a different position than pre-conversion Saul. You see, pre-conversion 
Saul thought he was doing God's work. Pre-conversion Saul didn't 
have the understanding of the Messiah. These false teachers, 
however, are operating in a Christian church. These false teachers, 
however, probably make a profession of faith. These false teachers 
are not acting in ignorance. These false teachers are acting 
with a rebellious spirit. So what Paul is saying is not, 
I was an ignorant man, so Jesus showed me mercy. The idea is 
I needed mercy because I was ignorant. I needed Jesus to reach 
down and save me and to deliver me. Again, Towner makes this 
statement. 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. You see, that's what's 
in view here. That's why the reference to ignorance. "...who by their sin have rejected 
the faith." Paul's pre-conversion sin and that of the opponent's, 
though remarkably similar in preference for law, evident in 
both cases, belong to different categories. Paul's sin predates 
the enlightenment provided by the risen Lord. while the false 
teacher's sin postdates their enlightenment by the gospel. 
The idea is clear. If you have heard the gospel 
explained, if you have been pointed to the Lord of Glory, if you 
have been pointed to the Lord Jesus Christ, you cannot claim 
ignorance. You cannot say, but I didn't 
know. Now even ignorant Paul or ignorant Saul on the road 
to Damascus, if he would have died in that state, this is one 
of those what-ifs that don't actually occur, he would have 
been in hell. Ignorance isn't an e-ticket out 
of hell. Ignorance is still sinful. But 
there is a contrast that I believe that Towner is right on, that 
Paul is making with himself and these false teachers. He says, 
Paul's sin predates the enlightenment provided by the risen Lord, while 
the false teacher's sin predates their enlightenment by the gospel. 
The consequences of the latter are much to be feared. That's 
that Hebrews 6 apostasy. That's that Hebrews 10 apostasy. 
who have come into contact with the preaching of the gospel, 
those who have sat under Christian exposition, those who cannot 
claim ignorance, those who are wittingly rebelling against and 
rejecting the offer of mercy and grace. Did you notice what 
he says here? I obtained mercy because I did 
it ignorantly in unbelief. The context in which his ignorance 
flourished and his blaspheming, his violence, his persecution, 
and his rage all flowed was that of unbelief. He was an unbeliever. So certainly Paul's not saying, 
because I was ignorant and because I was an unbeliever, God showed, 
you know, God owed me mercy. No, I received mercy because 
I was in that state. I needed mercy. I wasn't going 
to climb out of that state in my own strength. That's his former 
condition. That's his former state. Now 
notice finally his redeemed state. Verses 13b to 14. That finally was given for all 
of you as an encouragement. Wake up. It seems a bit, you 
know, the sun shines one day in Chilliwack and we're all sitting 
here like this, you know? We should get used to it. We 
might actually get more of these Sundays coming up. Notice his 
redeemed state. He highlights two realities. 
We've already glossed over one, but I obtained mercy. There's 
a strong adversative, the word but, or the idea but here. There's 
a strong contrast. I was this but I received mercy. I was a blasphemer, I was a persecutor, 
I was an insolent man, but I received mercy. That's what he wants us 
to understand. The verb employed is what's called 
a passive. That means it's a theological 
passive. Paul was wholly passive. He received the mercy. It was 
God who was active in dispensing the mercy. Paul didn't activate 
it. Paul didn't say, well, I'm ignorant 
and I'm unbelieving, so God, you owe me mercy. No, that's 
not the flow of the passage. He is highlighting the reality 
that God looked down in pity, that God looked down in compassion, 
that God looked down in mercy and took this blaspheming, violent, 
persecuting wretch, picked him up out of the dunghill, polished 
him off, and sent him to the Gentiles, to the kings, and to 
the children of Israel, to preach the everlasting gospel of Jesus 
Christ the Lord, so that when Paul made an impact like no other 
man ever had, and people started to get saved, and they came out 
of pagan religion, and they came out of pagan philosophy, they 
could never say, well, it was all because of that Paul. No, 
it's all because of that Savior that Paul preaches. That's where 
the stress lies in the Apostles conversion account. He received 
mercy, and notice in verse 14, he received grace. And I love 
the way that Paul coins this term. As far as I know, as far 
as my research led, the word that the Apostle uses here is 
not found elsewhere in the New Testament. I think, I won't die 
on this, but I think it's not found in any other literature. Paul basically took two words 
and put them together to highlight exceedingly abundant. I mean, 
grace is good, isn't it? Isn't grace good? Exceedingly 
abundant grace is exceedingly good. You see what he's saying? I was an exceedingly, abundantly 
sinful, wretched man. The only thing that could overcome, 
the only thing that could cleanse, the only thing that could help 
is to be overwhelmed by the graciousness of God Most High. The exceedingly 
sinful soul of Tarsus needed the exceedingly abundant grace 
of the Lord. grace overwhelmed his sin. It is a beautiful statement. 
He says, the grace of the Lord was exceedingly abundant with 
faith and love which are in Christ Jesus. In other words, everything 
necessary, everything given, everything handed over to the 
Apostle through this exceedingly abundant grace, which leads to, 
which results in this faith, this love that is in Christ Jesus. 
Everything necessary, everything requisite about being a Christian 
comes from God Most High." And if you remember verse 2, how 
does Paul start his epistle? Grace, mercy, and peace from 
God our Father and Jesus Christ our Lord. He had 
experienced that grace, he had experienced that mercy himself. In fact, William Mounds comments, 
he says, the triad, that's a big word, or not too big of a word, 
but a word we don't use a lot that means three. The triad, 
he 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 Jesus. That's what he wants us to get. So in conclusion, we see first 
the power behind the church. The power behind the church, 
and I think this is encouraging. And I think this ought to make 
us thankful. The Church, its growth, its maturation, its progress 
in the world does not ultimately depend upon men. Now certainly we need to labor, 
we need to pray, we need to do those things that the Apostle 
enjoins upon us. We need to endeavor to keep the 
unity of the Spirit and the bond of peace. Ministers need to preach 
the Word. They need to be ready in season 
and out of season. They need to convince and rebuke 
and exhort and with all longsuffering and teaching. All those things 
are true. We need to be obedient. We need to be faithful. We need 
to engage the task that is ahead of us. But we need to realize 
that ultimately it's Christ who builds his church. That's a liberating 
and a wonderful thought. It is an encouraging thing. The 
Christian ministry, just subset to this power behind the church, 
is not a popularity contest, nor is it available to anyone 
who desires it. What we learn from the Apostle 
is that Christ saved him, Christ enabled him, and Christ put him 
into ministry. These men that desire to be teachers 
of the law, it doesn't matter. The church must take the qualifications 
of eldership and use them. Christ is the head of the church. He has furnished to his bride 
a list of what a man must be if he is to occupy the Christian 
ministry. And if he is not those things, 
then he ought not to be in the Christian ministry. It is that 
simple. If he is a heretic, if he doesn't 
understand doctrine, if he can't explain the gospel, if he can't 
lead a sinner to the Lord, if he can't explain about a holy 
God and about sinful man and about the necessity of blood 
atonement, if he can't do that, he shouldn't be in a pulpit. 
He shouldn't be up there just giving inspiring thoughts. And 
some pastors today, all you get are inspiring thoughts. May I 
dare say, you don't need inspiring thoughts. You need the words 
of everlasting life. You don't need feel good. You 
don't need rah-rah. You need to come and understand 
the truth of God's whole counsel. That is where the apostle is, 
or that is what he emphasizes in this. In his autobiographic 
sketch, he is highlighting this most important truth. The ministry 
is staffed by Christ, not everyone who has an inkling to teach or 
preach the Word. Now I believe that those men 
that Christ is going to use will have a desire. And that's where 
the church steps in and takes those qualifications and applies 
it to the man or men that have aspirations to make sure that 
God's man and not a man's man gets into the ministry. Secondly, 
we learn in this brief sketch the exceeding sinfulness of the 
apostle. I always love it. Love it in 
that sort of weird way, but when people say, oh, you know, I'm 
just such a sinner. I'm so sinful. Isn't it wonderful that we have 
the most sinful man who is the champion of sovereign grace? 
Right? When you're in your workplace, 
or you're talking to your neighbor, and you say, you should come 
to church, or why don't you read this gospel tract, or why don't 
you read the Gospel of Mark, oh, I'm too sinful, I'm beyond 
hope. No, you're not. There was a man who, next to 
Jesus, was the most important man ever in the life of the church. 
You know, before he was saved, you know what he was doing? He 
was trying to destroy the church. Isn't that amazing that we tell 
people that? Jesus saves this man and uses 
him like no other man. The exceeding sinfulness of the 
Apostle then leads finally to consider the exceedingly abundant 
grace of God. That is such a great statement 
in verse 14, the grace of our Lord was exceedingly abundant. You are exceedingly sinful. You need exceeding grace. God has it. Believe on the Lord 
Jesus Christ and you will be saved. For you saints, you believers, 
rejoice in the fact that there is exceedingly abundant grace 
that has been applied to your account. That the Lord God Most 
High has overwhelmed you with his grace for his glory and for 
your eternal well-being. Well, let us pray. Our Father, 
we thank you for this account of the Apostle's life. We thank 
you for his conversion. We thank you for what it evidences 
concerning the gospel of Jesus Christ our Lord. We ask now that 
you would go with us in this coming week, that you would cause 
your face to shine upon us, that you would watch over us, and 
that you would bless us with peace and with joy in the Holy 
Spirit. We just ask as well, God, that 
we'd have opportunities to tell people about the Lord. Give us 
courage, give us grace, give us boldness to speak the glorious 
truth that Jesus Christ saves sinners. And we pray in his most 
blessed name, amen.