1 Timothy 1:12–20
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I thank him who has given me strength, Christ Jesus our Lord, because he judged me faithful, appointing me to his service, 13
though formerly I was a blasphemer, persecutor, and insolent opponent. But I received mercy because I had acted ignorantly in unbelief, 14
and the grace of our Lord overflowed for me with the faith and love that are in Christ Jesus. 15
The saying is trustworthy and deserving of full acceptance, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners, of whom I am the foremost. 16
But I received mercy for this reason, that in me, as the foremost, Jesus Christ might display his perfect patience as an example to those who were to believe in him for eternal life. 17
To the King of the ages, immortal, invisible, the only God, be honor and glory forever and ever. Amen. This charge I entrust to you, Timothy, my child, in accordance with the prophecies previously made about you, that by them you may wage the good warfare, 19
holding faith and a good conscience. By rejecting this, some have made shipwreck of their faith, 20
among whom are Hymenaeus and Alexander, whom I have handed over to Satan that they may learn not to blaspheme.
Do you believe in grace? Do you believe that you are saved by grace…that you are undeserving…that you are no different than any other sinner? Christians say that kind
of thing all the time, but do we really understand what we are saying? I recently preached the following but thought it would be a good way to stir our thoughts this morning.
Most of you will remember the infamous David Berkowitz, better known as the Son of Sam. Berkowitz murdered a number of young women and will spend the rest of his life
in prison. While there, he became a Xn. Here is part of a letter he wrote from prison: “I am thrilled to learn that you’re familiar with my testimony and the story of
our Lord Jesus’ amazing love in that He has forgiven such a wretched man as I once was. I know that if He can forgive me, He can and will forgive all who call upon Him in faith. No one is too far away that the Savior’s mighty arms cannot pull in to safety.”
In a later interview he added these words: I was involved in the occult, and I
got burned. I became a cruel killer and threw away my life, as well as destroying the lives of others. Now I have discovered that Christ is my answer and my hope. He broke the chains of sin, self-will, and depression that had me bound. He has turned me from
a path leading to eternal damnation in the lake of fire to the blessed assurance of eternal life in heaven. God has miraculously transformed the “Son of Sam” into the “Son of Hope.” He wants to perform the same kind of transformation in your heart and life
today!
Now, here is what I want you to consider: David Berkowitz, a serial killer…repents…lives his life in prison as a Xn…he will die and go to heaven…while, as far as
we know, all of his victims, those women, he brutally murdered, are lost for all eternity. A mass murderer goes to heaven, and young, everyday women, who HE killed…to eternal death.
Do you still believe in salvation by grace alone? Are you more deserving of heaven than Berkowitz? Less deserving of hell?
In this section Paul in essence is giving somewhat of a testimony. The pronoun “I” occurs eight times in these verses. In the book of Acts we have a couple of instances where
Paul tells his story and what happened on the road to Damascus.
Here, the difference is that he adds his personal evaluation of himself by referring to being a blasphemer, persecutor, and insolent, which means a rude and arrogant lack of respect
for the God of heaven.
We have to appreciate that a good Pharisee, or for that matter an everyday Jew of Paul’s world, would never refer to himself as a blasphemer…a blasphemer, according to the law,
was one of the highest forms of rebellion and punishable by death.
We don’t take blasphemy seriously in our day. People today speak against God, His attributes and what He is doing in the world for the salvation of men and women…and speak against
it all the time! Jokes, scoffing comments…movies and tv shows that we watch without consideration of what they are saying about our God…this is so normal that we hardly even notice it.
But that would not have been true of a good Pharisee. Remember, they accused Jesus of blasphemy because He said He could forgive sins and only God can forgive sins. Jesus said
he could do something that only God could do and that was blasphemous in their eyes.
The Pharisees got that one right, in the sense that someone making themselves out to be God is blasphemous…of course their mistake was that they didn’t recognize that Jesus
IS God! That is how revolutionary grace is…it takes proud, arrogant men, persecutors and even murderers, although we don’t actually know if Paul was guilty of murder or not, nonetheless…the worst of the worst, David Berkowitz type folks…and it changes them…root
and branch…totally changed…but only by a supernatural work of God.
But make no mistake about it, all of us are guilty…what did we read this morning, there is none righteous…no not one. Paul has gone from that to, what he calls a bond-servant,
the lowest form of servitude. The word refers to a slave in the galley of a ship…an under-rower…for Paul, that is not a derogatory title, to be a servant of the Lord, it is an honor, the highest of honors…to be a servant, in any way shape or form to the King
of kings.
Prayer: Father, may the encouragements that gave courage to the heart of my Savior, be for me a great boon to stay the course and finish the race. Fill me with Your
Spirit and help me to listen to Him, to adore the Savior and to walk humbly with my God. May I see clearly that I am nothing but Christ is everything. Through Jesus Christ my Lord, Amen.
Hymn: Who are These Like Stars Appearing
