- Good morning. My name is Kevin Block. I'm a pastor of adult ministries here at Rockpoint Church. I invite you to take your Bibles this morning and turn them to 1 Timothy Chapter 1. We'll begin looking at Verse 8 this morning. You can also maybe pull out your sermon notes and a pen, and we're gonna see this morning two more qualities of what the Apostle Paul in his instructing of his protege, his mentee Timothy, two more qualities of what it means to be a healthy church. We just started a series this last week entitled, "This Is Us: A Healthy Church." And so, Paul's been teaching us, is gonna be teaching us what it means to develop a healthy church. In fact, in Chapter 3 in Verse 14, the Apostle Paul says this. "I'm writing these things to you so that you may know "how one ought to behave in the household of God, "which is the church of the living God." Paul is basically teaching Timothy, this is how you do church. Timothy is in the city of Ephesus, and Paul has left him there to serve as the lead pastor and spiritual leader of that congregation. And so, Paul now is writing to Timothy to help him to grow and to develop a healthy church. In doing this, we saw last week in Verses 1 through 7 that Paul says that in the context of where you are, Timothy, there are some false teachers. There are some people who are teaching, in Verse 3, a different doctrine. And then in Verse 4, he talks about that they're giving themselves to myths and genealogies that are leading to speculations, and not helpful for people's spiritual growth. And then in Verse 7, he notes that there's gonna be these, there are these false teachers who are misusing God's law. And we'll see later in this letter that Paul writes to Timothy that they are forbidding marriage. They were encouraging certain dietary laws to promote spirituality, all of which was false. And so, Paul writes this letter to Timothy to encourage him how to do church, how to build a healthy church. The two things that we're gonna see this morning is we're gonna see that, first and foremost, a healthy church must be gospel-centered, must be based upon the gospel. If you look in your Bible at Verse 10, he says that, I wanna make sure that you're according to sound doctrine, to this healthy doctrine. And then Verse 11, "Which is in accordance with the gospel "of the glory of our blessed God." And so Paul basically says it starting in Chapter 2, Verse 1. From everything on in this letter, he's gonna say, a healthy church is based upon the gospel of grace, the Gospel of the Lord Jesus. But the second thing that he's gonna highlight mainly from his own personal story, his own personal testimony, is that it needs to be, a healthy church needs to be led and pastored and have a growing number of people who are pursuing authentic spirituality, genuine spirituality, a spirit-filled life. So, this morning, as we look into these two things, and before we do so, I wanna just pause and pray to acknowledge our Father's presence with us this morning. And so, Father, we do ask that you would use your word this morning in our lives, in my life. I thank you, Father, that your word is true, and Holy Spirit, I just invite you to glorify the Lord Jesus this morning. Glorify the Lord Jesus as we look at who he is and what he has done for us. And so, Father, we commit this time to you. In Jesus' name, amen. So, look at Chapter 1, Verse 8, where the Apostle Paul says this. "Now, we know that the law is good if one uses it lawfully. "Understanding this, "that the law is not laid down for the just, "but for the lawless and disobedient." The Apostle Paul goes on to describe other aspects of sin and the descriptions of sin. But Paul begins by telling us that the gospel has both good news and bad news, and he begins with the bad news. The bad news is basically about you and I as people, as human beings. When he talks about this, he refers first of all in Verse 8 that God's law is good, that God's law is good because of what it does. God's law has the capacity to reveal sin in my life and your life. It reveals to us our need for grace, for God's graciousness and mercy. And so, first and foremost, Paul begins by telling us that the law is good. Now, the word good there means that it's healthful, it's useful, if you use it lawfully. The word lawfully there is the idea of correctly. And so, implied in that that there are correct uses of the law and incorrect uses of the law. And so, we're gonna look at this morning what the law can do and what the law cannot do. First and foremost, what the law can do. Number one, it reveals God's will and his ways and aspects of his character. For example, in Psalm 19, it says the law of the Lord is perfect, it's sure, it's right, it's true, it's righteous. Those are qualities of God and God's law, his commands as seen in the Old Testament. His commands reveal aspects of the character of the lawgiver, namely God himself. And so, the law does reveal aspects of God's character and his will and his ways. Second of all, the law can rightfully show us what is right and wrong. In Exodus Chapter 20, we see the 10 Commandments laid out by God, the commands of God, God's law revealed in the statement of the 10 Commandments. And in those, we see what is right and wrong. That shall not commit murder, thou shall not steal, thou shall not bear false witness, thou shall not covet, thou shall honor your Father and your mother. It shows us what is right and what is wrong, God's law does. Thirdly, the law has the capacity to protect communities, protect societies. It protects, the law, God's law protects me from you and the law protects you from me. Again, because of sin that's in our lives. If there was no sin in the world, there would be no need for God's law. If all of us had our primary purpose in life to live unto the glory of God and what is best for all of us rather than being self-centered, we wouldn't need a law. But since we don't live that way, we are self-centered and selfish, tend to hurt others for our own benefit, the law protects community and society. Romans Chapter 13, Paul goes into great detail about how God has established governing authorities with law, the rule of law, to protect society. And so, the law is good in that way. Lastly, number four, the law, and most importantly, it convicts me of my sin and sinfulness. It convicts me of my sin and sinfulness. In Romans Chapter 3, the Apostle Paul says this in Verse 20. "For by the works of the law, "no human being will be justified in his sight, "since through the law comes knowledge of sin." In that sense, God's law is like this mirror. This mirror reveals to me if I have dirt on my face. I just maybe ate some chocolate, and I have chocolate on my face. It would reveal that. Now, this mirror didn't put the chocolate on my face, where it shouldn't be. It just reveals that it's there. In a similar sense that I would not use this mirror to get the chocolate off of my face, and we'll see that in a moment, its purpose, God's law, is to reveal the messy face that I already have. And so, the law does that. It brings conviction into my heart of the sin that dwells within me and shows me that I am sinful. In Galatians, Romans 3, Paul really goes into great detail about that. Well, there's some things that the law can't do. The law can't, first and foremost, make me right with God. It shows me what's right, but it can't make me right. We see that truth found in Galatians Chapter 3 in Verses 19 to 22. Paul does a great job of describing how God's law shows me the right thing, but it can never make me right with God. It shows me, but it can never make me be right with God. The second thing that the law can't do is it can never forgive me of my sin. It can never forgive me of my sin. Hebrews 9:22 says that without the shedding of blood, there is no forgiveness of sin. The Lord Jesus came to shed his blood to take care of my sin. The law can't take care of sin. It can't bring forgiveness of sin in my life. It can't erase the sin that's in my heart and in my life, so the law cannot bring forgiveness of sin. Thirdly, the third thing that the law cannot do is it cannot change my heart. It cannot give me a personal, intimate relationship with God through Jesus Christ. It cannot enable me to know Jesus in a personal way. And so, the law can't do that. It can't change my heart. So, in Ezekiel Chapter 36 and Verse 26, God said to the prophet Ezekiel that he would bring a new covenant, which is the gospel, which we'll get to in a moment. This gospel, this good news centered in the person of Jesus which bring change to our heart through the power of the Holy Spirit. The law can't change my heart. The law cannot enable me to have a personal relationship with Jesus. Lastly, the law does not, cannot give me the ability to obey it. It actually incites me to disobey. It's interesting how the Apostle Paul talks about that in Verse 7. He says, "What then, shall we say?" In Romans Chapter 7, Verse 7, "What then, shall we say? "That the law is sin?" Is the law bad? No, the law is not bad, by no means. "Yet if it had not been for the law, "I would not have known sin." The law reveals sin. It convicts me of sin, 'cause I don't have the ability to obey it. Therefore it said it, you shall not covet, and then because it said that you should not covet, I began to covet, 'cause it doesn't give me the ability to not covet. And so, at this point, it's just important that we realize that Jesus is inviting us through the Apostle Paul's words here to Timothy to first and foremost, to get off the ladder. You go, "What do you mean by get off the ladder?" Well, what I mean is this. God gave the law to be used as a mirror, so we need to use God's law as a mirror revealing his character, revealing what's right and wrong, revealing my own sinfulness and the need in my own life for a relationship with God. But too often, and I was a great example, the Apostle Paul is a great example, is that often we use the law as a ladder, and we try to climb up to God by our own works and our own merits, trying to earn favor with God through our religiosity. And so often, people are trying to pursue God, trying to obey God, use the law to obey God to earn a merit. God says, "Get off the ladder. "My law is not a ladder. "My law is, rather, a mirror revealing sin." You know, so, the law is good, but another part of the bad news, and this is the heart of the bad news of the gospel is that mankind is not good. You and I are not good. Paul begins in Verse 9, he says in Verse 9, "Understanding this, "that the law is not laid down for the just." So, the law does not make the right with God, or just, and once I come to know Jesus, the law even doesn't help me walk closely with Jesus. "But the law is rather for the lawless and disobedient, "for the ungodly and sinners, "for the unholy and profane, "for those who strike their fathers and mothers, "for murderers, the sexually immoral, "men who practice homosexuality, "enslavers, liars, perjurers, "and whatever else is contrary to sound doctrine." Again, there's that phrase sound or healthy doctrine. Healthy churches are based upon sound or healthy doctrine. And so, those two verses, in Verses 9 and 10, Paul says that unrighteousness is the normal way that people deal with God's law. They take them, they see that they are sinful, and they take it and just wanna break that mirror in their unrighteousness, by the actions, because of sin that dwells within them reacts to what we should or shouldn't do, and we do just the opposite. He gives this whole list, 13 qualities of sin. Some would say it's not a complete list, it's just a sampling of the type of sin. Actually, when you look at those 13 things in Verses 9 and 10, it's actually a great description of the 10 Commandments. There are three pairs. The first three pairs are really talking about that first tablet that Moses wrote, the first four commands of God. Then commands six through 10 on the second tablet really is highlighted by the last statements that Paul makes there. And it's unrighteousness. Mankind is not gonna, Paul proves it. These are the things that are true of us that the law reveals that are true in our heart because of sin. But Paul goes further than that. In the next section, he reveals that unrighteousness is bad, but self-righteousness in some ways is even worse. And so, in Verse 13, he begins in his own story. He says, "Though formerly I was a blasphemer, "a persecutor, an insolent opponent." Down in Verse 15, he says that, "I was the chief of sinners." Verse 16, he says the same thing. "I was the foremost, or the chief of sinners." Paul says that in my self-righteousness, in my desire to know God and to follow God by earning and meriting favor with him, by climbing this ladder of self-righteous works, which he spells out really well in Philippians Chapter 3, Verses 4 through 6, all the things that he was doing, he was at the top of the class in terms of spirituality that is achieved through human effort. Paul says that self-righteousness is not good. In fact, I think he would say it is evil, more evil than the unrighteousness that he listed in Verses 9 and 10. And so, the bad news of the gospel is that mankind is not good. God's law is good, but I am not good. We are not good. And so, I think Jesus at this point would encourage us to have a certain perspective, and that perspective is that sin is sin. Sin is sin. Unrighteousness, self-righteousness, whatever flavor of sin that your life is maybe pronounced by, and usually, we have both of them. I do unrighteousness and I do self-righteousness. We all do that. And all of that are those categories of sin is sin, evil, an affront to our God. I know the thought that Jesus would incline us, to encourage us to have is that this belief that no one is un-saveable. No one is beyond God's mercy and grace. No one is un-saveable. The Apostle Paul says, "If God can save me," and he'll get into this in a moment. "If he can save me, he can save you." Or if he can take people who are deep in unrighteousness and rebellion against God and turn them to Jesus Christ and save their soul, then he can save you as well. I remember many years ago, there was this person in my life who I thought was un-saveable, and the Holy Spirit convicted me. "He is not un-saveable. "If I can save you, Kevin, "who was climbing that ladder in self-righteousness "and if I can change your heart, "I can change his heart as well." Well, there is good news to the gospel. The gospel, this good news, contains the bad news about us as sinners, but it contains the good news about God and his grace. The first point that Paul makes in Verses 11 through 16 is that grace is really weird and amazing. Now, what I mean by the word weird is that it's, it's bizarre. I mean, grace is bizarre. Grace is unique. It's counterintuitive. Grace is getting something that is good that you don't deserve. Now, Paul is gonna use a corollary word, the word mercy, that's kind of like the same idea, but from different perspectives. The word mercy means is not getting what you do deserve. Grace is getting what you don't deserve, mercy is not getting what you do deserve. And so, the Lord Jesus reveals to us through the Apostle Paul here in this section some really key ideas about grace and how it is truly amazing, starting at Verse, end of Verse 10. Remember, he talks about the sound doctrine, the sound doctrine in Verse 10 is based upon or built upon the gospel. And in this gospel, it reveals the glory of God. So, first and foremost, the gospel, this grace, grace displays God's glory. Grace displays the glory of God. It changed Paul's life. The word glory, there, has the idea of weightiness, has the idea of splendor, beauty. The beauty of God is seen in his grace. In Verse 12, Apostle Paul says, "And I thank him who has given me strength, "Christ Jesus our Lord, "because he judged me faithful, "appointing me to his service." So, the grace of God changed Paul's life. It displays God's glory and it deeply changes people. It put Paul into ministry. Paul once was a Christian-killer. Now he's become a Christian, and he was helping other people become Christians. It is truly amazing. Second of all, we learn that grace in Verse 13 is sovereign. And what I mean by sovereign in Verse 13 is that it is not based upon merit in our own lives, but it is based solely upon God's choice. Look at Chapter 1, Verse 13. Paul says, "Though formerly I was a blasphemer, "a persecutor, an insolent opponent, "but I received mercy." I love the word but there. But, this is who I once was, but now I have become this because of grace. "But I received mercy "because I had acted ignorantly in unbelief." Paul, as he pursued the killing of Christians, he did so because he was using the law wrongfully, and it had blinded him to his own sinfulness, which blinded him to the truth that Jesus Christ is the Messiah. He didn't deserve God's grace. Jesus pursued Paul. Paul wasn't looking for Jesus. Jesus pursued Paul. Grace is sovereign. Now, Paul agreed to that grace. He responded positively, as we'll see in a moment, to that grace, but grace is sovereign. Unearned, undeserved. Number three, we learn about grace and its weirdness and its amazingness. In Verse 14, when we learn about grace enables us to respond to the gift of God. Look at Verse 14. "And the grace of our Lord overflowed for me "with the faith and love that are in Christ Jesus." So, God's grace overflowed to me. It enabled me to respond to the good news of Jesus Christ, to the gospel of grace by loving Jesus and by trusting Jesus. God's grace enables us to respond. Ephesians Chapter 2, Verse 8, "For by grace, you've been saved through faith, "and that not of yourselves. "It's a gift of God, "not as a result of works, that no one should boast." Grace enables us to respond, to say yes to Jesus, to say yes to the gift of eternal life and the forgiveness of our sins through faith in Christ and through love in Christ. Faith and love are found in the person of Jesus. But the fourth thing that is amazing about grace in Verse 15 is that it's centered in the person of Jesus Christ. Look at Verse 15. Paul goes on, and he says, "The saying is trustworthy and deserving of full acceptance "that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners, "of whom I am foremost. "I am the chief of sinners," Paul said. The gospel is centered in the person of Jesus Christ, who he is, what he accomplished because of the work that he did. Jesus is God's eternal son who became a human being, who took on flesh like you and I, yet without sin, lived in total dependence and obedience to his Father's will all 30-plus years of his life so that he could go to the cross, and that's his work. He went to the cross, dying on the cross for your sin, for my sin, all of the sin of the world. And the Father poured out his judgment upon our sin and upon his son as our sin was laid upon Jesus. That's what Jesus did, and the accomplishment is that so that we would be saved, so that we would have eternal life, so we could have forgiveness of sins, so that we could have eternity with God, not eternal separation from God in the Lake of Fire. And so the gospel, this grace of the gospel is centered in a person, the person of Jesus. Lastly, Verse 16, we see that the gospel saves sinners. "But I received mercy," Paul said, "For this reason. "That in me as the foremost, "Jesus Christ might display his perfect patience "as an example to those who are to believe in him "for eternal life." Paul says, "I'm exhibit A. "You wanna know what grace does? "Look at my life! "I used to kill Christians. "I hated Christians. "I hated Jesus. "But now I love him. "I have been changed by him. "He has become the center of my life. "My life is found in him." The grace of God has the capacity to save sinners, to make sinners trophies of grace. One of my favorite passages in Ephesians Chapter 2, starting at Verse 4, the Apostle Paul says this. "But God, being rich in mercy "because of the great love with which he loved us "even when we were dead in our sins, "God made us alive together with Christ. "By grace, you have been saved. "And he raised us up with Christ "and seated us with Christ "in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus so that," Verse 7, "In the coming ages, "God might show the immeasurable riches "of his grace and kindness toward us who are in Christ." Paul says you and I who respond to the gospel, who will put our faith in Jesus Christ, who've gotten off the ladder, use the law correctly. I'm a sinner, I need the cross. I need the blood of Jesus to cleanse my sin. And we put our faith in Christ. When we do that, we become eternal trophies of grace for all eternity. Angels and other people will look at me, Kevin, and go like, "Look at him! "An undeserving sinner is in the presence of God "because of the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ." And I will exalt in that reality. I think the Lord Jesus is encouraging us to do something this morning, to pursue authentic spirituality. That's what I see in Verses 11 through 16. Paul, a genuine, real spirituality, and this genuine spirituality is grace-based. It's because of grace that Jesus did in his life. I don't think Paul ever recovered from grace, and I don't think Jesus ever wants me to recover from grace. He doesn't want me to ever get to the place where I have to move beyond grace. So often we think that when we come to faith in Jesus Christ, then we need to be like, get back on the law and try to please God and honor God and do the things of God. Stay off the ladder. Rather, walk in humility and dependence and surrenderness, abiding, as Jesus said in John 15, abiding in Christ, surrendering to Jesus, surrendering to the person of the Holy Spirit who lives in us. And so, he wants us to choose humility over hubris. The word hubris is pride, self-centeredness, I can handle this. I couldn't save myself. I can't live the Christian life. Jesus had to save me, forgive me of all of my sins. Jesus now also has to enable me to live the Christian life. Apart from his enabling me to live the Christian life, I can't. Only through the person of the Holy Spirit who dwells in me, who uses the word of God absolutely, who uses other people, do I have any hope of living close to Jesus. And so, I choose humility over hubris. Paul finishes this section by telling us that grace is not only weird and amazing, but Jesus, he's just simply amazing. Look at Verse 17. He says, "To the king of the ages, immortal, invisible, "the only God, the honor and glory forever and ever, amen." In the middle of this paragraph before he really launches into his answer and his instruction to Timothy, his protege, about how to develop a healthy church based upon sound doctrine, he just says, "I just have to stop and praise the Lord Jesus." Now, I think in Verse 17, he's talking about the triune God, the Father, the Son, and the Spirit. But God has most fully revealed himself to us in the person of his son, Jesus. And so, Jesus, he is the king of ages, the immortal one, the one who was invisible, who became visible, and now is in the Father's right hand. He is the one who is the only God, and to him, all honor, praise, and glory belong. And so, I think the Lord Jesus at this point would be asking us, all right, who or what am I valuing? Who or what am I prizing? What is it that I prize in my life? What is it that I dream about? What am I living for? What captures my heart and my passions and my attentions? When I daydream, what do I daydream about? Is it making another buck or getting married or doing all these other things, what are they, good things, great things! And the Lord knows those things and he wants to build those things in our life, but at the top of all of those things, or you might say even foundational to all those things, is he wants us to prize, to praise, to value, to be devoted to, to delight primarily in his son, the Lord Jesus. So, who or what am I valuing this morning? You know, Paul in this section, as we think about next steps and how it means and applies to our life, first and foremost, he says, "Personally, I want you to take stock "of how you're using the law." Are you using the law lawfully, correctly? First and foremost, if you're not a Christ-follower yet, if you don't know for sure that you're gonna go to heaven when you die, use, allow the law to show you your sin and then to turn to Jesus. It reveals the glory of the cross. Put your faith in the Lord Jesus Christ and be saved forever. Now, maybe personally, you've already done that, like I have done that a few years ago. And I need to be reminded that the law does reveal to me aspects of God's character and qualities. But more perfectly, I learn about God through his son, the Lord Jesus Christ. And so, I need to stay off the ladder. I need to say, not say, well, now I'm a Christian, now I can do all the right things, so I'm gonna do all the right things, try and try and try. No, don't go down that road of trying. Stay on the road of trusting and surrendering and submitting and yielding to the person of the Lord Jesus who lives in your heart through the Holy Spirit. Secondly, our perspective. Our perspective needs to be, do I see sin as sin? We see all these gross sins, we go, oh, I'm glad I'm not that, no. Well, my self-righteousness, that's even worse sin than unrighteousness. Sin is sin. In my own life, do I see that? Do I allow God's word to reveal sin in my life? 1 John 1:9 says, "If we confess our sins, "he is righteous and just to forgive us our sins, "and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness." So, I need to be one who is living a life of repentance, a life of confession, acknowledgment that I need his grace in all things first and foremost in my own life, seeing sin for sin, being honest with him about that. You see, when I fudge on sin in my own life, it starts me down a path of hardening my heart, starts me down a path of slowly drifting, as the book of Hebrews says. A slow drifting apart from intimacy from Jesus to where, down the road, I'm a long way away just because of some simple things that I did upstream. The third thing that Jesus invites us to do from this passage is to be pursuing authentic spirituality. Paul never recovered from grace. May I never recover from grace. May I never recover from the reality. I can't save myself, therefore I had to trust Jesus, and I cannot live the Christian life in my own strength and power. Therefore, I must continue to trust Jesus Christ and the power and the person of the Holy Spirit living in my heart who alone can enable me to walk close to Jesus. Am I pursuing authentic spirituality? Take the spiritual mask off. Be genuine, be authentic. Too often, recently I've had good conversations with people who have neglected true spirituality at their souls' own expense and the expense of others and the wake of destruction in and around them. So, I wanna pursue authentic spirituality. Healthy churches have spiritual leaders and pastors and a growing number of people in their body who are actively pursuing authentic, genuine, real Holy-Spirit-enabled spirituality. Lastly, prizing. Who and what am I prizing? Am I prizing the Lord Jesus at a fundamental, foundational level, at the apex of all that I'm about, living for his glory? I have to confess, there are times that I don't do that, a lot of times that I don't do that. And when I don't do that, it hurts me, it affects me. And so, may Jesus, may you just help me to prize you better, enable me to prize you better. Then as a church, finally, I just want us to consider as a church, are we really gospel-centered? And are we pursuing authentic spirituality? Yes or no? As a church, are we based upon God's grace, sound doctrine, healthy doctrine, which is based upon the gospel which has its foundation God's grace, that uses the law correctly? And are we pursuing authentic spirituality? I hope so. I hope that a year from now, we will be more healthy of a church because we're more gospel-centered, we are pursuing authentic spirituality in our own lives and collectively as a body, as a community, better. Let me pray for us. Father in heaven, we thank you. We thank you for being our Father this morning. Father, I thank you for the amazing grace that has been displayed and given to me through your son, the Lord Jesus, that's been given to the whole world, and having your son Jesus come and die on a cross and be raised from the dead, providing the only way for me as a sinner to receive forgiveness of all of my sins, for me to have a new heart, for me to have a new life, eternal life, only through you. So Father, I wanna pray this morning for any and every person who is listening this morning who is not yet in Christ, who has not yet made that decision to say yes to Jesus Christ to save them, to say no to their own self efforts and trying, and to say, "Yes, Lord Jesus. "I'm a sinner that needs your saving grace. "I need to believe in you, "your death and your resurrection, "and I do trust you that you did that for me. "I want to become your follower. "I want to have a new life." Father, for those of us who have done that, may we be pursuing authentic spirituality. Take off the religious mask, just be genuine, just be who we are with you. Father, you know me inside out, and in some ways, I feel really comfortable with you. May I feel that same vulnerability and that same comfortability with other people. Take off the mask of pretending and just be walking with authenticity, even as Paul does here. Doesn't candy-coat it, he just says, "This is what I was, and now this is who I am." Father, help us to never recover from grace. We ask this in Jesus' name. Amen.