Introduction. Read 1Tim1v12to17.

The verses under consideration are very encouraging because in them Paul, the chief of sinners, outlines the grounds on which his assurance of salvation is based, namely the mercy of Christ and the grace of God. It is an assurance common to ALL genuine Christians. We are united in a common dependence of Christ's mercy and God's grace.

(1) Paul's appreciation. I THANK Christ Jesus our Lord, who has given me strength, that he considered me faithful, appointing me to his service. v12.

It might help us to understand this rather clumsy statement if we think of a recruit to the British army. The recruit will be:

(a) Trained. No raw recruit is thrown into battle without training. A crack regiment like the SAS has a rigorous training program.

Paul - was given strength - he was carefully prepared for his arduous ministry. He spent 3 years meditating in Arabia after his conversion. He then went to Jerusalem and was told by the church leaders there to spend time in his home town of Tarsus. It was only after another 8 years studying and praying that he was called by Barnabas to help at Antioch. See exposition on Acts9v19to31.

I fear some young Christians are thrown into Christian service without being prepared for it. I had four years of training to become a Geography teacher whereas young people are expected to teach in Sunday school with no preparation at all.

(b) Assessed for reliability. SAS recruits will go on many demanding manouevers to test stamina and perseverance. Those that give up quickly when the going gets tough find themselves dispensed with.

Paul was considered to be faithful - loyal and reliable. In his case the long period of waiting in Tarsus to begin his ministry must have tested his resolve.

I wonder if churches put as much store on faithfulness as they should. There is a temptation to prefer the new broom over against the old brush that has done the job for many years.

(c) Sent out on active service. When Paul was ready he was finally appointed for service. He was invited by Barnabas to help in the work at Antioch and this led to his first missionary journey and his great and blessed ministry to the Gentiles.

Paul fulfilled his potential. It is very sad when Christians who have been trained and proved reliable never fulfil their promise in the service of Jesus. Perhaps they get disillusioned, weary in the work or lose too many battles.

(2) Paul's degradation. Even though I was once a blasphemer and a persecutor and a violent man, I was shown mercy because I acted in ignorance and unbelief. v13. He was:

(a) A blasphemer. Paul was a rigid Pharisee. He may have heard that Jesus did not honour the Sabbath and adopted a casual attitude to ceremonial cleanliness. As far as Paul the Pharisee was concerned anyone who did not keep the law could not be the Messiah. So he probably denounced Jesus as a cult leader and a false Messiah. His blasphemy consisted of dismissing the claims of Jesus and speaking ill of God's one and only Son.

(b) A persecutor. Luke records in Acts: But Saul began to destroy the church. Going from house to house, he dragged off men and women and put them in prison. Acts8v3. He even consented to the death by stoning of Stephen.

There was nothing half-hearted about Paul's opposition to Christianity. He saw it as a perversion of Judaism and he wanted to stamp it out. Paul has his modern counterparts - militant Imams who are happy to behead Muslim converts to Christianity.

(c) A violent man. In his unregenerate days Paul went about breathing out murderous threats against the Lord's disciples. Acts9v1. He didn't just arrest Christians but DRAGGED them out of their homes.

Through the years there have been too many violent religious fanatics. We have to admit that the history of Christianity is besmirched by horrible acts of violence. Christians should be the last people to resort to violence. They should remember it was essentially religious people who engineered the brutal crucifixion of Jesus.

The wanton violence of Paul is certainly something he should be deeply ashamed of.

A mitigating factor:

Paul claims he was shown mercy because he acted in ignorance. This probably means that Paul at the time did not know Jesus. It wasn't as if he followed Jesus, listened to him and turned away from the truth he heard - like Judas Iscariot. It is unlikely that Paul had any personal experience of Christ. He may well have been fed false information by his brother Pharisees. They were of the opinion that Jesus was an imposter and that Christianity was a serious departure from Judaism and needed nipping in the bud.

LESSON:

If we had witnessed Paul, eyes ablaze and with hatred in his heart, arresting Christians and hauling them off to prison we would never, never believe he would one day write: I consider everything loss for the sake of Christ. What is more, I consider everything a loss compared to the surpassing greatness of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whose sake I have lost all things. I consider them rubbish, that I may gain Christ and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which is through faith in Christ - the righteousness that comes from God and is by faith. I want to know Christ and the power of his resurrection and the fellowship of sharing in his sufferings, becoming like him in his death, and so, somehow, to attain to the resurrection from the dead. Phil3v8to11.

No one is so opposed to Christianity, such an enemy of Jesus, that they cannot be saved.

Dinesh d'Souza wrote in 'Conversion of a Cynic': Last December Malcolm Muggeridge — iconoclast, womanizer, and professional cynic — stunned his native England by converting to Catholicism. Muggeridge took Holy Communion in a small steepled chapel in Hurst Green, Sussex, and when the service was over he said, “It’s a particularly joyful sort of day. It’s rather like when you fall in love with a woman and ask her to marry you. You know there are no more questions to be asked.”

Muggeridge's conversion to Christianity in the late 1960s was a surprise. It would be an even greater surprise if the militant, Muslim leader of ISIS became a Christian! That would be the modern equivalent of the conversion of Saul of Tarsus to Christianity. All things are possible with God!

(3) Paul's transformation.

(a) Paul owed his transformation to mercy and grace:

He writes: I was shown mercy ... . Jesus could have left Paul in ignorance, hounding the Christians and increasingly miserable about the havoc he was causing. For Paul was miserable - kicking against the pricks of conscience. He had witnessed the martyrdom of Stephen and it had made a profound impression on Paul. It was not easy to forget Stephen's triumphant cry: "Look I see the heaven open and the Son of Man standing at the right hand of God." Acts7v56.

Whenever Jesus makes himself known and makes himself real to a gross sinner he shows mercy. The prodigal son in Jesus' famous parable was not treated as he deserved. Instead he was given the red carpet treatment and his older brother, a devotee of strict justice, was scandalised. The prodigal was shown mercy.

On the whole we prefer it when a person gets his just deserts. If God acted upon that principle there would be no hope for us but he showed mercy in sending his Son to be the saviour of sinful men.

Paul also rejoiced that the: Grace of our Lord was poured out on me abundantly. Paul was not treated as he deserved for the terrible things he did to God's children but was forgiven and given new life in Christ. He, too, became a son by adoption and an heir to eternal life.

This is something John Newton was very aware of. He was an infidel, libertine and slave trader until his conversion. He was changed by God's grace and became both a pastor and famous hymn write. He wrote his best known hymn from experience:

Amazing grace - how sweet the sound -
That saved a wretch life me!
I once was lost, but now am found,
Was blind but now I see.

Twas grace that taught my heart to fear,
And grace me fears relieved;
How precious did that grace appear
The hour I first believed.

I said to my brother afterwards, "That's no way to sell the Big Issue. He antagonised us all. If he had been pleasant and agreeable ...... ." I thought a lot about that young man during the day. It dawned on me that he needed grace. Nobody showed him grace. I didn't show him grace. Why didn't I buy a magazine? I could have made him happier and restored his faith in human nature.

When Almighty God looks on the world of men he sees that we are spoilt. We can all be quite as unlovely as that overwrought vagrant on the Northern Line. But God shows us grace. God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us. Romans5v8. God shows us such grace - why can't we show more grace to others?

(b) Paul displayed his transformation by exhibiting two graces - faith and love.

There is no doubt that Paul had faith in Jesus. He served Jesus to the end notwithstanding innumerable setbacks, difficulties and disappointments. He wrote to the Corinthians: Rather, as servants of God we commend ourselves in every way: in great endurance; in troubles, hardships and distresses; in beatings, imprisonments and riots; in hard work, sleepless nights and hunger; in purity, understanding, patience and kindness; in the Holy Spirit and in sincere love; in truthful speech and in the power of God; with weapons of righteousness in the right hand and in the left; through glory and dishonour, bad report and good report; genuine, yet regarded as impostors; known, yet regarded as unknown; dying, and yet we live on; beaten, and yet not killed; sorrowful, yet always rejoicing; poor, yet making many rich; having nothing, and yet possessing everything. 2Cor6v4to10. See exposition on 2Cor6v3to13.

There are several instances in the book of Acts where the apostle displays his great faith. Imprisoned in Philippi after a severe beating, he sings with Silas and is able to bring his jailer to saving faith in Jesus. When brought to trial before Felix and later, Festus and Agrippa, Paul boldly gives his testimony. Then, while under armed escort and on his way by ship to Rome, though caught up in a terrible storm, Paul declared that all would escape safe to land. He said: "So keep up your courage, men, for I have faith in God that it will happen just as he told me." Acts25v25.

Paul, who once hated Christians, came to love the brethren. There could hardly be a more loving minister. Paul had an intense concern for the churches. His concern for the Christians at Corinth is writ large in every line of his second letter. He rejoices when Titus brings him good news of the church there. See 2Cor7v2to16.

What a lovely little letter Paul's epistle to Philemon is. What tender solicitude he showed for both the escaped slave Onesimus and his owner, Philemon.

When Paul left Ephesus on his way to Jerusalem with the collection he had organised for the poor Christians in that city we read: They (the elders) wept as they embraced him and kissed him. What grieved them most was his statement that they would never see his face again. Acts20v18.

LESSON.

Every Christian should display the great Christian virtues of faith, hope and love. I do not face Paul's innumerable challenges and difficulties. However, my faith is tested by the long and inexorable decline of the church I attend and the church generally in Britain. As I write this I am quite depressed by the number of my old friends who are no longer able to attend church because of age and infirmity. It is especially difficult to witness the terrible toll that Alzheimer's disease is taking of some in our fellowship. I do not have much hope for the survival of my small church. I have distributed a newssheet round our village for twelve years without a single response from an unbeliever and not many from believers! I have nearly lost hope of any lasting good resulting from the seed sown. The Bible teaches that we reap what we sow - but I, and many others in Britain, have sowed and reaped next to nothing. Finally it is not easy to love those leading the few churches that sweep up the children of Christian families for miles around and leave the many small and struggling fellowships without any young people at all.

(4) Paul's assertion. Here is a trustworthy saying that deserves full acceptance: 'Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners' - of whom I am the worst.

(a) There are many popular sayings that purport to be the truth but fall well short of it. Here are some: 'You only live once'; 'You have to put yourself first'; 'Nobody does that anymore'; 'You have to move with the times'; 'Nobody has the right to tell me what to do'.

If there is a saying that I really, really detest it is, 'You only live once.' As that expression becomes increasingly common so the Christian belief in resurrection from the dead becomes virtually a thing of the past.

(b) This saying of the early church, 'Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners', is at the very heart of the Christian faith. Jesus did not come into the world primarily to: impart wise teaching, heal the sick, set a good example or show us what God is like; he came to save sinners.

This truth was made clear from the start with the angel's message to Joseph: "She (Mary) will give birth to a son, and you are to give him the name Jesus, because he will save his people from their sins." Mt1v21. It was something the forerunner, John the Baptist proclaimed: The next day John saw Jesus coming toward him and said, "Look, the Lamb of God, that takes away the sin of the world!" It was the message of Jesus himself: "I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance." Lkv32. He came to this world, with all its dangers, on a rescue mission - a rescue mission that he completed to the entire satisfaction of his Father in heaven.

There is no doubt that the glorious gospel Paul proclaimed is summed up by the well known and much loved saying of first century Christians: 'Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners.' So we sing:

Sinners Jesus will receive;
Sound this word of grace to all
Who the heavenly pathway leave,
All who linger, all who fall!

Sing it o'er and o'er again:
Christ receiveth sinful men;
Make the message clear and plain:
Christ receiveth sinful men.

(c) The ability of Jesus to save is unlimited. He was willing and able to save Paul the chief of sinners. Paul knew that he was completely unworthy of God's grace and Christ's mercy because of his history of persecuting the church. The implication is that if Jesus was prepared to save Paul he is willing to save anyone who believes in him. Wherefore he is able also to save them to the uttermost that come unto God by him, seeing he ever liveth to make intercession for them. AV. Heb7v25. My father would often say triumphantly when preaching the gospel: "Jesus is able to save from the guttermost to the uttermost."

(5) Paul's exemplification. But for that very reason I was shown mercy so that in me, the worst of sinners, Christ Jesus might display his unlimited patience as an example for those who would believe him and receive eternal life.

(a) Jesus showed great forbearance to Paul. He was the enemy of Christ and all Christ's followers. Jesus did not put an end to Paul's depredations by afflicting him with a mortal illness or a fatal accident on his travels. That might have been our preferred option!! Instead Paul was given time to reflect on his folly. After Stephen's death his conscience began to trouble him. Then on the road to Damascus Jesus appeared to Paul and afflicted him with blindness. But he was not left in the dark for long. Ananias was sent to him - to restore his sight, to impart the Holy Spirit and to baptise him into the family of God.

(b) Paul is reaffirming that if Jesus was willing to save him there is no sinner he will not save. None is beyond Christ's mercy and God's grace. Anyone who has resisted Jesus for years without number in defiance of the godly example of parents or spouse and feels that the time has long gone when they could be saved should take heart from the example of Paul who, notwithstanding his hostility to Christianity, finally believed and was born again. Furthermore the little apostle was given a wonderful ministry and the assurance of life eternal.

There is life for a look at the Crucified One,
There is life at this moment for thee;
Then look, sinner, look unto Him and be saved,
Unto Him who was nailed to the tree.

Look! look! look and live!
There is life for a look at the Crucified One,
There is life at this moment for thee.

(6) Paul's acclamation. Now unto the King eternal, incorruptible, invisible, the only God, be honour and glory forever and ever.

Paul bursts out in praise as he thinks of all God has done for him and means to him.

(a) God is the eternal king - king of kings and Lord of all. He is all a king should be!

(b) God is immortal - without beginning or end; invisible - not confined by or limited to the four dimensions; unique - the one and only God - creator of all that is.

(c) God is worthy of all honour and glory forever and ever. Men would prefer to glorify in what God has made rather than God himself. Men even prefer to honour other men - their gifts and accomplishments - rather than the king of kings. Sadly, men even prefer to worship what they have made rather than the one who made them!

God is the one all men should honour. I am afraid many of us say without much thought the opening words of the Lord's Prayer: "Our Father who art in heaven, hallowed be Thy name." We forget to hallow his name - we neglect to honour him. It was not a mistake that Paul made!