Now if you would take your Bibles in hand and turn with me to 1 Timothy chapter 1; page 991 if you need to use one of the church Bibles. First Timothy chapter 1. Paul is writing to his young protege, pastor Timothy, whom he has sent to Ephesus with instructions on how one ought to behave in the household of God. Last Lord’s Day we looked at the first eleven verses where Paul sought to help Timothy stand firm in the true Gospel and deal decisively with those who were preaching error. And in our passage this morning, the second half of the chapter, verses 12 through 20, that continues really to be the burden of the apostle’s heart.
The text, you will notice, falls into two obvious sections. First, verses 12 through 17, we have what we might call an example – the example of a veteran. The example of a veteran. Paul turns from the didactic instructions he’s been giving in the opening eleven verses to tell his own story so that Timothy can see these very same things lived out in Paul’s own life. Here is the story of a seasoned veteran as an example and an encouragement to young Timothy has he begins his own ministry. Then in verses 18 through 20 – first a veteran’s example, then 18 through 20, a call to arms. “Having seen my example, Timothy, and been reminded of it, now you in turn must step forward and march into the fray and wage the good warfare.” So a veteran’s example, 12 through 17, and a call to arms in 18 through 20.
Before we read God’s Word together, let’s bow our heads and ask for the help of the Holy Spirit. Let us all pray.
O Lord our King, immortal, invisible, the only God, we bow before You and we ask You that by the prophetic Word now in our hands, the holy Scriptures, you might teach us and instruct us, that You might rebuke and discipline us, correcting us, that You might enable us to walk in new obedience and equip us for every good work. For we ask it in the holy name of Jesus and for His sake, amen.
First Timothy chapter 1 at the twelfth verse. This is the Word of God:
“I thank him who has given me strength, Christ Jesus our Lord, because he judged me faithful, appointing me to his service, though formerly I was a blasphemer, persecutor, and insolent opponent. But I received mercy because I had acted ignorantly in unbelief, and the grace of our Lord overflowed for me with the faith and love that are in Christ Jesus. 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. 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. 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, holding faith and a good conscience. By rejecting this, some have made shipwreck of their faith, among whom are Hymenaeus and Alexander, whom I have handed over to Satan that they may learn not to blaspheme.”
Amen, and we praise God that He has spoken in His holy, inerrant Word.
There’s something about a real story of quiet, costly faithfulness that makes us want to do better. Isn’t there? Think for example about Rick Rescorla. Rick Rescorla was an army veteran. He worked in the south tower of the World Trade Center. When the plane struck the tower on 9-11, Rescorla led almost 2,700 people to safety. He was last seen on the tenth floor of the south tower heading back upstairs looking for more people to save. Now you hear stories like that and we are inspired to step up, to give ourselves, to try to imitate that kind of heroism. And actually that’s very much the point of verses 12 through 17 as Paul tells the story of God’s work of grace in his own life. Here is the example of a veteran designed to inspire Timothy to new heroism himself.
You’ll notice in verse 12 that Paul starts by reflecting on his own call to the ministry. “I thank Him who has given me strength, Christ Jesus our Lord, because He judged me faithful, appointing me to His service.” As his own ministry was just beginning, no doubt Timothy is scared, daunted. The work of Ephesus will not be easy, but Paul says Christ gives His ministers strength. “I thank Him who has given me strength, appointing me to His service.” The strength in view there is not a personality trait. It’s not a feature of temperament. You can be naturally timid. You can inherit a deep-seated aversion to conflict. You can freeze up in front of people. But if the Lord calls you into His service, He will give you strength for the work, and all your native fragility and your diffidence and your timidity will be overcome in order to serve the cause of your Savior by the strength He will supply. So listen, if God is calling you into some form of Christian ministry – if He calls you to serve as an elder in this church, if He calls you to teach His Word, let’s say in a Sunday school class or in a small group, do not throw up your objections. “I can’t speak. I’m not a confident person. I’m too easily intimidated.” No, if God is calling you, His call comes with the resources of heaven to strengthen you and enable you to fulfill that call. Obey the Lord. He will give you strength.
But do notice that the strength for ministry that Paul received from Christ came to him – look at the text again – “because He judged me faithful, appointing me to His service.” The call to service does come with the strength of heaven to do the work, but no one should be admitted into any form of Christian service who has not first shown himself to be faithful. These two things always go together. There is a divine call coming with supplies of strength and grace to help us fulfill that call. But there is also a personal qualification – we must be found faithful. As I said at the beginning of the service, later this fall we are going to begin the process of electing new elders to serve in this congregation. And I want to ask you to pray with me that the Lord Jesus will call some of you to service into this vital ministry. But be clear – we are not looking for men who merely believe they are called. We are looking for men who show themselves to be faithful. Are you a faithful man of God? “Because He judged me faithful, appointing me to His service,” Paul says. There must be a divine call, but that call must be accompanied by the personal qualification – faithfulness.
But then you’ll notice Paul goes back even further behind his call to the ministry to his conversion to Christ. Do you see that in the text? Look at verse 13. “The Lord appointed me to His service,” he says, “though formerly I was a blasphemer, persecutor, and insolent opponent. But I received mercy because I had acted ignorantly in unbelief, and the grace of our Lord overflowed for me with the faith and love that are in Christ Jesus.” Here is the great change that took place in the apostle Paul’s life. There was a “formerly” and now there is a “presently.” In Paul’s life, there is a “before” and an “after.” And in between, everything changed.
Pollsters surveying the American religious landscape have charted the rise of the “nones.” N-o-n-e-s. Have you come across that phrase, “the nones”? It refers to a growing segment of our society that now claim no particular religious allegiances or convictions of any kind. It’s not that they are especially hostile, you understand, it’s just that they are nothing. They are neither here nor there. That’s not the apostle Paul. Before he became a Christian, he wasn’t a “none.” He wasn’t a “nothing.” He was a card carrying, deeply committed Pharisee whose personal religious paranoia and insecurity regularly erupted into the violent persecution of Christians. If ever there was an unlikely candidate for conversion to Christ it was Paul. “But,” he says, “I received mercy because I acted ignorantly in unbelief.”
Now pause there just for a moment. Paul isn’t saying that his former ignorance and unbelief somehow renders his violent persecution excusable. His ignorance and his unbelief do not mitigate his sin and guilt; they aggravate his sin and guilt. You remember that the apostle Paul, as a young man, was trained in the Scriptures at the feet of the great rabbinical scholar, Gamaliel. He knew the Bible backwards and forwards and he ought to have known and believed in the Christian Gospel. His ignorance and unbelief is inexcusable and it makes his opposition and hostility to Christ and the Gospel all the worse. “But,” he says, “because I was locked into this spiritual blindness of my spiritual condition, the only hope for me was sheer, undeserved mercy. The grace of our Lord overflowed for me with the faith and love that are in Christ Jesus.” “Amazing grace, how sweet the sound, that saved a wretch like me! I once was lost but now I’m found, was blind and now I see.” That’s Paul’s testimony here precisely, isn’t it?
Now the false teachers at Ephesus, so far as we can reconstruct their errors, were peddling some form of legalism, likely urging that salvation was by means of our own works of lawkeeping, of righteous effort. You can dig your own way out of your spiritual mess – that’s, in effect, what they were saying. They did not understand that it is our own deadly doing that has dug the hole we are now in. And more digging won’t do anything for us but make the pit deeper. The only way out, the only way out is rescue. We need a rescuer. “Jesus suddenly, wonderfully rescued me,” Paul is saying.
And having told his story, he does three things with it. Look at the text please. Notice the three things Paul does with his story. First, he articulates a principle for Timothy and for us to learn in verse 15. Then, he establishes a pattern that we should follow in verse 16. And then, he offers praise in verse 17. Do you see those three things? First, he articulates a principle. Look at verse 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.” So here is what Paul’s story teaches. This is the saying, the dictum, the principle he wants Timothy to embrace and cling to and proclaim in his own preaching ministry in light of what God has done in Paul’s life. “Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners – that is Jesus’ great business, Timothy. Never forget it. Saving sinners. That’s why He came. That’s what His mission was all about. Saving sinners.” “The healthy do not need a physician but rather the sick. I did not come to call the righteous but” – who? “Sinners.” Jesus came to call sinners. Jesus saves sinners.
“But pastor, I have impaled my appetites on the hook of alcohol or drugs and I just can’t shake free. And I’ve made a terrible mess of my life. He can’t save me, can He?” “I can’t stop looking at pornography and the shame is crippling me. I must be beyond saving, surely.” “I’ve wrecked my marriage on the rocks of my career and my kids won’t even speak to me now. It’s all my fault. Jesus doesn’t want me, does He?” “You don’t know what I’ve done, pastor. You don’t know how I’ve acted. You don’t know. You don’t see how low I’ve sunk.” I was talking to a man last week who is utterly convinced he can’t be saved. He is dead wrong. Listen, Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners. The only qualification you ever need in order to receive salvation from Jesus Christ is that you are a sinner. Put your hand up if you do not qualify. Jesus came for sinners.
And you’ll notice that Paul doesn’t leave this principle that he is articulating in verse 15 at the level of a mere abstract proposition. Look how he puts it again. “Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners, of whom I am the foremost.” Paul is so aware of the depth of his own sin he can’t conceive of anyone less deserving of saving grace than him. “I must be the least and the worst of men. There is no lower to go down into the depths into which I have sunk. Scrape the bottom of the barrel. You’ll find me looking up at you. I am the chief of sinners,” he says. That’s how he feels. Maybe you can relate to that. That’s how you feel. But then – now here’s the crucial move – seeing his sin, here’s the crucial move. Feeling his guilt and need, he puts himself into the category of those for whom Jesus came. “Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners, of whom I am the foremost.”
Now just follow the logic of the syllogism here carefully. It is inescapable. “Jesus came to save sinners. I am the foremost of sinners.” Where do those two premises lead you? What is the logical conclusion of that syllogism? “Jesus came for sinners” – premise number one. “I am the foremost of sinners” – premise number two. Therefore – what? “Jesus came for me. Jesus came for me.” That is the logic of the Gospel. You are a sinner. Don’t be offended. Me too. And Jesus came for me.
And along with the principle, you’ll notice Paul expresses or explains his experience and holds it up for us as an example, a pattern to follow. Look at verse 16 now. “I received mercy for this reason, that in me, as the foremost,” the chief of sinners, “ Jesus Christ might display his perfect patience as an example to those who were to believe in him for eternal life.” Paul’s story is an example to those who are to believe in Him for eternal life. If you want eternal life, here is the example. Here is how it works. Here is the pattern. You must join Paul and confess your sin. Don’t excuse it. Don’t justify it. Don’t minimize it. Confess it. And then you must make it personal. This can’t stay a general truth anymore – “Jesus came to save sinners.” That’s wonderfully true, but listen carefully, it is of no use to you whatsoever, “Jesus came to save sinners.” No use whatsoever, not while it’s a general truth. You need to do what Paul does here and make it a personal truth. “He came for me. I am the chief of those for whom Jesus came. He came for me. He wants to save me. He has a welcome for me. The mercy that saved Paul, the grace that overflowed with the faith and love that are in Christ Jesus that came to Paul, that’s offered to me, available to me.” That is the pattern you are being invited to follow today. You cannot keep Jesus at arm’s length, acknowledging Him in some very general sense as the Savior of the world. That won’t do at all. You must take Him for your own, knowing as Paul came to know that unless He rescues you from the pit of your sin you can never dig your own way out.
There’s a sense in which this text is the sinner’s Bill of Rights. It says, “You have every right to Jesus, whoever you are today. If you are in the category, “sinner,” He is for you. He was sent by the Father for sinners. He came into the world in pursuit of sinners. So you, sinner, have every right to Jesus Christ. The converse is also true of course. You have no right to refuse Him. You have no right to go to hell. John “Rabbi” Duncan, one of the great 19th century heroes of the Free Church of Scotland, once said after people hear the good news about Jesus “they cannot go to hell except over the bowels of God’s mercy. They wade to it through the blood of Christ.” He meant that Jesus has done everything necessary to save you, and so if you go to hell in the end, it will not be because there is no provision available for your escape and your deliverance. You’ll have to go to hell, he’s saying, trampling over the Jesus who came to save sinners like me and you.
He stands between us and the hell our disobedience merits and He says, “You’re just who I’ve been looking for. You’re exactly the type of person I came to rescue. You fit the bill perfectly. I’ve done all things needful to secure for you the forgiveness of God and the cleansing of your conscience and the renewal of your heart and the renovation of your life. I am the instrument of God given for your use, so that even you might have a ‘formerly’ and a ‘presently,’ a ‘before’ and an ‘after.’ Chief of sinners though you feel yourselves to be, I’ve come that you might have life. I’ve come for sinners. That means I’ve come for you. And so you don’t need to remain in your sin and guilt a single second longer, and you needn’t fall under heaven’s condemnation. You needn’t perish under the wrath and curse of God. I have borne,” Jesus says, “the wrath and curse of God in the room and stead of sinners at the cross. So delay no longer! No need to stay away a second longer. You are qualified to come. You are welcomed to come. You are commanded to come.” Come, sinner, and take Jesus for your own. “Trust in Me,” He is saying to you. “Follow the example of the apostle Paul and believe in Me for eternal life. I am for you. I am for you.”
The principle – “Jesus came into the world to save sinners of whom I am the foremost.” The pattern – Paul is an example here of those who are to believe in Christ for eternal life. And thirdly, as Paul rehearses his story and remembers what God has done for him, what He can do for you, he erupts into praise. Doesn’t he? Verse 17 – “To the King of the ages, immortal, invisible, the only God, be honor and glory forever and ever. Amen.” Do you know what an Alder Flycatcher and a Willow Flycatcher is? Or more precisely, do you know the difference between them? These are two tiny little brown birds, beautiful little birds. To all appearances they are identical, but they are actually two quite distinct species of flycatchers. And really the only way to tell them apart is by their song. You can tell them apart by their song.
And you can tell a real Christian by the focus of his praise. To whom does all the glory belong? What is the object of his heart’s delight? In whom does he really boast? His song, now that Jesus has saved him, is for the King of the ages, immortal, invisible, the only God. Almost certainly this description of God here is designed to be a contrast to contrast the living God with Artemis, or otherwise known as Diana, who was the patron goddess of the city of Ephesus, whose great temple was one of the wonders of the ancient world. But Artemis, if you visited the temple, you would look at Artemis and see her idol, a visible, static, dead thing; a mere invention of the human imagination made from blocks of stone and covered with gold. But the only God who is there, He is in fact the King of the ages, immortal, invisible, the only God. And when this God saves, Paul is saying, the old idols that once held our hearts enthrall, no longer rule. You stop singing for Artemis or for any of the other idols you have been living for – money and recognition and family and comfort and pleasure. When Jesus captures your heart you stop singing for the old idols that once ruled you. You can tell a real Christian by her song. For whom does your heart sing?
Well in order to encourage Timothy to continue with his own confidence in the Gospel and proclamation of the Gospel, Paul begins this part of the chapter by putting his own story, the story of a veteran, before his young protege. And now, in light of all of that, he turns to Timothy with some exhortations of his own. Here is a call to arms. Look at verse 18. “This charge I entrust to you, Timothy…wage the good warfare, holding faith and a good conscience.” So that’s the goal. Literally he is to “fight the good fight.” “That’s what ministry is going to look like for you, Timothy – a fight.” That’s what the Christian life is like for all of us, isn’t it? A spiritual battle. We wrestle not against flesh and blood but against principalities and powers, against hosts of spiritual wickedness in the heavenly places. The Christian life, as is the Christian ministry, it is a war. And the metaphor is meant to be sobering but not discouraging. It is meant instead to call us to step up in light of Paul’s example, to courage and new determination. Ministry is hard, certainly, no question, but it is a warfare worth waging. It is a good warfare. A good fight. “So I don’t want you to surrender, Timothy. I want you to hold faith and a good conscience with tenacity and stickability. I want you to persevere.”
And to help him do that and to help us do that, wage the good warfare holding faith and a good conscience, in addition to his own prior example, Paul gives us a positive and a negative motive. We’ll look at each and then we’re done. Look at verse 18 and consider the positive motivation Paul supplies to Timothy to wage the good warfare. “This charge I entrust to you, Timothy, my child, in accordance with the prophecies previously made about you, that you might wage good warfare.” “Remember the prophecy, Timothy. It’s going to help you wage a good warfare.” Now we need to be clear about this prophetic message. It was not just a general word of encouragement or exhortation for Timothy based on the pious impressions in the heart of a well-meaning believer. That’s sometimes what people mean today when they talk about prophecy – something like a word of encouragement based on a pious impression in a believer’s heart. And that’s not necessarily a bad thing as far as it goes, it’s simply not New Testament prophecy. Prophecy in the New Testament was direct, Holy Spirit inspired, authoritative, divine revelation. This prophecy, in other words, was the inerrant Word of God to Timothy, presumably having to do in some way with the conduct of his ministry in Ephesus.
Now direct revelation like that has ceased today along with the completion of the canon of holy Scripture. The Bible, after all, is wholly sufficient to direct us how we may glorify and enjoy God. But remember that Timothy, at the time Paul was writing to him, Timothy did not yet have a New Testament to work with and God gave the first generation of believers in the church direct prophetic guidance until the Scriptures were complete. And now that the Scriptures are complete, continued prophecy like that would be altogether obsolete and redundant. We don’t need it anymore. We have the sufficient and completed Word of God. But let’s be clear, saying that there is no continuing gift of prophecy today does not mean we have no longer any access to the prophetic word to direct us in life and ministry with all the power and authority of the living voice of God. Do you want to know how to wage the good warfare, holding faith and a good conscience? “Go back to the prophetic word, Timothy. That is you need no more equipment than the blessing of the Holy Spirit upon the book of God.”
I don’t think it’s an overreach to suggest that every time the enemy of our souls has won a victory in this or that area of sin or compromise in our lives it can be traced in some way to our neglect of, our misuse of, our failure to believe or to obey the holy Scriptures, God’s prophetic Word. The sword of the Spirit is the Word of God and you cannot wage a good warfare with a closed Bible. Remember the prophetic words. That’s the positive motivation.
Then lastly, the negative motivation to help us wage a good warfare. Look at the second half of verse 19 and verse 20. Some people, Paul says, “ have made shipwreck of their faith,” Hymenaeus and Alexander in particular among them. Apparently they have refused to wage a good warfare. They have declined to hold faith and a good conscience. And the tragic result is that Paul has had to impose church discipline upon them. Do you see that? He has excommunicated them for their abandonment of the truth. He has, verse 20, handed them over to Satan “ that they may learn not to blaspheme.” A primary goal of church discipline is the restoration of the offender. And you can see that here, can’t you? Paul really wants them to learn not to blaspheme, and so presumably after every other attempt to get through to these men in a pastoral way has failed, they have had to be put out of the visible church. This is the last tool in Paul’s ministry toolbox. It is God’s intervention plan when nothing else works.
And the intent is that out there, in the drab, cold, grey world of sin and unbelief where Satan rules, Hymenaeus and Alexander will begin to see and feel how utterly bankrupt and hollow sin and rebellion really is. And like the prodigal son eating the slops that the pigs were eating, they’ll come back to themselves and come home in repentance. But this is a sobering picture, isn’t it? And Paul is bringing it up here because he wants Timothy and he wants you and me to see how high the stakes really are. “We are not playing around here, Timothy. If life is war, you can never put down the sword, the sword of the Spirit, which is the Word of God. And you can never fall asleep at your post. Let Hymenaeus and Alexander be a cautionary tale for you and remember the enemy prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking who he may devour. There is no ceasefire possible. Yes, Christ Jesus our Lord will give you strength, having appointed you to His service. Yes, the prophetic word of holy Scripture will equip you for every good work. But Timothy” – and here today, hear God say to you, brothers and sisters – “You must wage the good warfare, holding faith and a good conscience. There is no ceasefire possible. This is a call to arms and we are to take our courage in both hands and march into the fray.”
So there’s a veteran’s example here, isn’t there, that rings with confidence in the Gospel. And there is a call to arms. We too must head into the combat zone every single day. But as we do, let’s never forget that we are armed with a message that turns the world upside-down. “Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners, of whom I am the foremost.” It turns the world upside-down. Get a hold of that good news for yourself and you will find yourself, even in the midst of the battle, singing with the apostle Paul, “to the King of ages, immortal, invisible, to the only God be honor and glory forever. Amen.” May God make it so. Let us pray.
Our God and Father, how we praise You for Your holy, inerrant Word. We beg You please not only to write it on our hearts and minds but to shape us by it. Help us, all of us, to run with confidence to Christ who came for sinners like us. Thank You that there is a welcome for us in Him. May it be that no one leaves here today still a stranger to His saving love, for we ask it in His name, amen.