God's Perfect Patience Toward Sinners

Sermon Manuscript Notes (A lengthy post)
Sermon given at Eau Clarie PCA, July 2, 2006
Copyright Dave's World Publications, 2006
Rights to reproduce this manuscript are granted providing reproduction is unaltered and proper citation of author and publisher are clearly visible on the copy.

All Scripture references are from the English Standard Version (Wheaton, Illinois: Crossway Bibles, 2002)

Please excuse the absence of grammatical precision in paragraph arrangment and punctuation. The notes, as they appear here, are arranged for the ease of presentation in a public setting. Perhaps at a later time I will be able to format these notes into the style of an essay. Until then, I hope that you find these notes useful.

I Timothy 1:12-17
God’s Perfect Patience Toward Sinners
David S. Huffman


Fred Zoeller, a member of our church in Columbia, went home to be with the Lord a couple of years ago. Years before he passed away, he drafted a pamphlet that gives an account of events leading up to his conversion to Christ in 1957. His account begins with that infamous day on December 7, 1941 when the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor. He was eighteen years old at the time and on duty in an airplane hanger when the Japanese dropped 9 five hundred pound bombs on them. He explains that at the time he “didn’t know enough about God, or care enough about spiritual things to even call on God and ask Him for His help as (they) were getting shot at and bombed.” In his own words he says,

"When the bombs exploded in the hanger, I was so close to them I didn’t even hear them go off as the concussion got to me first. All I remember was thinking-“This is it!” I found out later that I was the only one to get out of the hanger alive! "

Fred described how he grew up “believing in God, but as with most people” that was about as far as it went with him. He didn’t pay any attention to God and he wanted to live life on his own terms. And now, though badly injured in the blast, he was not moved by having come so close to death. Instead, he quickly began a drinking binge that spanned two years of his life and he consistently resisted the influence of Christians who sought to proclaim Christ to him. He seemed to always find reason to avoid regular attendance in a church and if he would attend, he eventually took offense at something said or done and would not return.

However, in 1957 he and his wife began a somewhat regular attendance in a church while he was stationed in Rhode Island. There the Lord began to break down the walls of unbelief that Fred had built in his heart. During that year he was called to temporary duty in Key West Florida, away from his wife and family, and the church they had been attending. Instead of his usual trips to the C. P. O. club to drink, he began to spend evenings quietly in his room where he would read the Bible for hours at a time. As he read, Fred’s heart was softened. He “was so convicted of (his) sin and (his) need for Christ that (he) began crying like a baby.” He said,

"I knew with all my heart that the Bible was the truth, so I got on my knees and asked God to forgive me of all my sins, and asked Jesus to come into my heart."

I tell you this story this morning because I believe it is a beautiful illustration of how perfect God’s patience is with sinners, and how he spares someone in spite of their determined hostility toward Him. More than this, this story shows God’s determination, over against Fred, to save him so that he would trust in Jesus Christ for eternal life.

However, Fred’s story, as wonderful as it is, seems but a microcosm compared to the testimony of the apostle Paul. These few verses before us tell just how far God’s patience and mercy extend by saving the worst among us. They show how Christ transforms lives that are lived to His glory and ushers forth in praise to His name.

Read the passage: 1 Timothy 1:12-17 (and prayer for God’s illumination)

Paul does not mince words, does he? Under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit he plainly and emphatically states that he is the “foremost” or “chief” of sinners.

What an astonishing claim!

As we shall see, Paul is by no means being overly dramatic here nor is he expressing some mere sentimentality about how he feels about his spiritual condition. He has good reason for describing himself this way.

Let’s take a look at Paul’s life:

As we begin, we need to keep in mind that Paul was not ambivalent or apathetic toward spiritual (or rather, religious) things. On the contrary, he was fixated on them. His whole life was engrossed in the pursuit of being a “Hebrew of Hebrews.” He owned his Jewish heritage. He took it seriously.

From Paul’s point of view, he was zealous for the things of God.

He describes himself in various places as to how determined and faithful he was in his commitment to Judaism.

In his letter to the Philippians, he explained that if anyone could boast in confidence in the flesh, he could boast a lot.

He was circumcised on eighth day (as all good Jewish boys were). He was of the nation of Israel and was born into the tribe of Benjamin. He called himself a “Hebrew of Hebrew’s. He was so attentive to the Law and its keeping that he became a Pharisee (Phil. 3:4-5).

In the book of Galatians, he describes himself as one who was “advancing in Judaism beyond many of (his) contemporaries among (his) countrymen, being more extremely zealous for (his) ancestral traditions” (1:14).

And so zealous was Paul for these traditions that he diligently persecuted followers of Christ.

Throughout the book of Acts and in several of his letters he describes his actions toward the followers of Jesus.

In Acts 22:4 he tells us that he “persecuted this way to the death, binding and putting both men and women in prison.”

In this same chapter he said that he would “in one synagogue after another . . . imprison and beat those who believed in (the Lord Jesus).” He even stood approving of the stoning of Stephen, holding the cloaks of those who did the terrible deed. (22:19, 20)

In his defense before King Agrippa in Acts 26, Paul described himself to the king,

"I thought to myself that I had to do many things hostile to the name of Jesus of Nazareth. And this is just what I did in Jerusalem; not only did I lock up many of the saints in prisons, having received authority from the chief priests, but also when they were being put to death I cast my vote against them. And as I punished them often in all the synagogues, I tried to force them to blaspheme; and being furiously enraged at them, I kept pursuing them even to foreign cities." (Vs. 9-11)

Hear again what Paul says:

“when they were being put to death I cast my vote against them”

“I tried to force them to blaspheme”

He was “furiously enraged at them.”

Similar statements can be found in his letter to the Galatians:

He attests to how well known it was that he persecuted the church of God beyond measure, that he tried to destroy it (Gal. 1:13).

In his mind he believed that he was doing what was pleasing to God. He believed, with all sincerity, that Jesus was not the Christ and that God was honored by his zealous suppression of those who believed the gospel. He most certainly thought that what he was doing would obligate God to reward him for his diligence.

But then something radically altered Paul’s life forever, turning him in a completely different direction.

Paul came face to face with the risen Lord Jesus Christ.

Acts 9 describes the occasion:

While he was on his way to participate in further acts of aggression toward Jesus’ followers Jesus spoke to him by name, “Saul, Saul, why do you persecute me?”

To which Paul responded, “Who are you, Lord?” The most unlikely response Paul could imagine came: “I am Jesus, whom you are persecuting . . . .”

Wow! What a astonishing discovery!

You know, you may go your whole life thinking you know what is right without any thought to the contrary. But then your eyes are opened, as only God can open them, and you see altogether differently. Instead of working in service to God you discover that you have actually been working against Him.

[Recall the Proverb, “There is a way that seems right to a man, but its end is the way to death.” 14:12]

Perhaps what is even more astonishing is what the Lord Jesus then said to Paul. Instead of condemnation and judgment, the Lord then tells him, to “rise” (as Paul is prostrate on the ground) “and enter the city (to which he was headed), and you will be told what you are to do.” What he was to do was to be appointed to the Lord’s service, to be God’s “chosen instrument” to carry His name “before Gentiles, and kings and the children of Israel.” In doing so the Lord foretold that He would show Paul how much he would suffer for the sake of Jesus name.

But why? Why did Jesus confront this man? Why did he call this man into service?

That is the question, isn’t it!

And, Paul answers this question for us.

First, let's consider the fact that Paul acknowledges the initiative of Jesus Christ in his calling and strengthing for this ministry he received. In verse 12, Paul first gives thanks to “Christ Jesus our Lord.” who is the source of the strength he has. Paul received it from Christ, and more than that, the affirmation of the Lord’s confidence in him to be an apostle.

Yes, Paul was declared to be faithful by the Lord Jesus. But how could he be faithful? Wasn’t he persecuting the Lord Jesus? Well yes, yes he was. But remember who it is who calls him: the one who calls him is able to make him trustworthy to carry the message. That is what Paul says elsewhere:

In I Cor. 7:25, Paul says that he is trustworthy “by the Lord’s mercy,” and in his second letter to the Corinthians, 4:1, he says that the ministry he and his colleagues have is “by the mercy of the Lord.”

Paul understood that all that he became and accomplished was by the Lord's empowering and by His mercy. Paul had nothing, indeed he was nothing, apart from the Lord Jesus Christ.

Now, let us look at how this mercy transformed his life and how it answers the question of why Paul was chosen:

First, in verse 13 Paul tells us here that he was a blasphemer (note the past tense). He is a blasphemer no more. And he is no longer a persecutor, nor an insolent opponent of Jesus and His people. This blasphemer who accused the followers of Jesus and Jesus Himself of blasphemy has come to his senses. Jesus changed Him.

Second, Paul emphasizes the extent of this mercy when he says in verse 14, “I received mercy because I acted ignorantly in unbelief.” He accents just how lost his condition was and thus how magnificent is Christ’s saving mercy toward him. (Douglas J. W. Milne)

Before Paul was converted he was ignorant of Jesus’ claims and his disbelief led him to all kinds of violence against the church. His actions, to be sure, were grotesquely sinful, and he was culpable for them, even though he did them in ignorance. God could have justly visited him with judgment. Instead, he received the Lord’s mercy.

A third effect of the mercy Paul received is that the grace of our Lord overflowed in his life. It is grace that is marked by the faith and love that are in Christ Jesus. He was becoming more and more “Christ-like” in his disposition, trusting God with his life, walking in obedience even in the face of danger and suffering, and loving the followers of Christ, seeking to build them up and strengthen them in their faith.

In fact, this very letter he is writing is to Timothy, his “true child in the faith,” that he will be strengthened and encouraged to fight the good fight just as Paul has, so that he too can carry on in laboring for Christ in the church.

This is what God's grace effects in the life of believers. Our hearts are changed so that we love God and trust Him. We come to love what God loves (and hate what He hates). And it also affects our relationship to His people. Love for fellow believers in Christ is one of the marks of true faith.

[For an extended examination of the marks of true faith, consider these verses from 1 John 1:8-10; 2:3,4, 9-11, 15, 17, 29; 5:1-5. A nice summarization of the marks of true faith being more and more evidenced in the life of those who profess Christ is this: Believing, Obeying, Loving.]

Fourth, this mercy Paul received awakened him to see just what it was that Jesus came to do:

Verse 15
“It is a trustworthy statement, deserving full acceptance, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners, among who I am the foremost.”

Paul was a sinner. He needed to be delivered from the consequences and power of his sin. As the Psalmist says, “the wicked will not stand in the judgment, nor sinners in the congregation of the righteous” (Psalm 1:5). And Paul has come to know that there are none who are righteous, no, not even one (Rom. 3:10). All have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God (Rom. 3:23).

But Paul also proclaimed what he came to know in Christ: That “for our sake (God) made him (Jesus Christ) to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.” (2 Cor 5:21).

That was Jesus’ mission. What did he say?

"It is not those who are well who need a physician, but those who are sick. I have not come to call the righteous but sinners to repentance." (Luke 5:31b-32)

The “Son of man has come to seek and to save that which was lost.” (Luke 19:10)

Paul met the great healer of our souls!

He would later say of the effect of this substitutionary atonement of Christ in his letter to the Galatians:

“I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. And the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the son of God, who loved and me gave himself for me.” (2:20)

Just as Christ suffered for the sake of people like Paul, so now Paul is willing and able, by that mercy he encountered through Christ, to identify with Christ in his death and resurrection.

He himself is made willing and able, through the strength and calling Christ Jesus gives to him to live for Him, to serve him by offering up his own life for the sake of telling the world who this Savior is.

Fifth, the mercy Paul received is very instructive for us. Remember how Paul describes himself among those lost sinners: he claims to be the foremost among them. (Some translations say “chief”)

Paul is not exaggerating here. This is not hyperbole for the sake of effect, expressing something we all might feel at times about our sinfulness. Paul is speaking to us by the Holy Spirit. This is God’s evaluation of him, not Paul’s of himself.

How might this be an accurate description of Paul? Perhaps it is because there really are no sins like religious sins. Such sins mislead and destroy people’s lives because they pervert the truth and plan of God. As we have seen, Paul was by his own admission at the head of the pack in being “a blasphemer, a persecutor and an insolent offender.” His hands were bloody, even if he never picked up a stone.

But whatever the reason for such a sweeping description of his life, there can be no mistake in its purpose:

He tells us why in verse 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 on him for eternal life." (ESV)

You see, the Lord Jesus dealt patiently with the likes of the apostle Paul for our sakes. If He does not deal with Paul as his sins deserve, being the foremost of sinners, what is His disposition to us, to all who believe and will believe on him for eternal life?

Because, Christ died for sinners like Paul, He died for sinners like you and like me.

He is perfectly patient with us. He suffers long with us, to all who will believe on Him for eternal life. As David says in Psalm 145:8,

"The LORD is gracious and merciful, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love."

If we want God to deal with sinners with the justice they deserve, who among us would be left in this room today? Again, as the Psalmist writes,

"If you, O LORD, should mark iniquities, O LORD, who could stand? But with you there is forgiveness, that you may be feared." (130:3, 4)

We need to learn from Paul here. We need to learn just how gracious and kind the Lord is to us.

He does not always deal with us as our sins deserve. He withholds His wrath and anger upon our sin, delaying His judgment that we might repent and believe.

We are not good and our hearts are sinful. We cannot save ourselves. It is God’s goodness and love that move him to compassion and longsuffering for us, that we might come to repentance. It is his kindness that leads us to repentance (Rom 2:4). Praise be to His name!

So how ought we to live in light of these things?

One, we should never be quick to judge others to the point of condemning them, marking them as beyond salvation.

Jonathan Edwards wrote,

"If men were humbly sensible of their own failings, they would not be very forward or pleased in judging others, for the censure passed upon others would rest upon themselves. There are the same kinds of corruption in one man’s heart as in another’s; and if those persons that are most busy in censuring others would but look within, and seriously examine their own hearts and lives, they might generally see the same dispositions and behavior in themselves, at one time or another, which they see and judge in others, or at least something as much deserving of censure. And a disposition to judge and condemn shows a conceited and arrogant disposition." (Charity and Its Fruits, 215-216).

If God would be so gracious to one like Paul, then He can, and will be, gracious to all who repent and turn to Christ in faith and love.

This means no one is beyond repair, at least from our vantage point. Because God saved Paul, no one can ever say that their sins are so great that God cannot possibly forgive them.

No mass murderer (such as Osama Bin Laden), no rapist, no Enron executive, nor child molester, just to name a few of the most heinous we can think of, can be refused if they repent and turn to Christ.

We know this to be the case because we have God’s infallible witness that He has already saved the worst offender of us all!

Second, we need to keep in mind that what seems impossible to us is not impossible to God.

It is hard to believe the stories we sometimes hear of some people’s conversion and repentance.
This was true of peoples response to the news of Paul’s conversion too.

For example, when a disciple living in Damascus named Ananias received a vision of the Lord telling him to go to where Paul was staying and lay hands on him so that he would regain his sight, Ananias responded:

Lord, I have heard from many about this man, how much evil he has done to your saints at Jerusalem; and here he has authority from the chief priests to bind all who call upon your name.
But the Lord calmed Ananias’ fear, and told him to go to Paul “for he is a chosen instrument of mine to carry my name before the Gentiles and kings and the sons of Israel; for I will show him how much he must suffer for the sake of my name.”

Not only is this vilest offender ceased offending, he is now going to be the instrument of God’s deliverance to millions! (Galatians 1:13-24)

Ananias was not alone in disbelief. Many of the Christian community were afraid of him, “not believing that he was a disciple” once they heard what had happened (Acts 9:28).

This is reminiscent of Nicodemus’ question to Jesus, “How can a man be born when he is old? He cannot enter a second time into his mother’s womb and be born, can he?”

Or, to put it another way, how can someone so set in his ways change? Can someone so determined and zealous in the persecution of the Lord and his people suddenly stop and now be a follower of the One he persecuted?

Can they really be changed? Can they really begin anew?

The overwhelming evidence of God’s Word is yes!

You see, it is all grace at the end of the day. We do not choose him, but he chooses us. He takes the initiative to bring us to Himself. He instills in you the very faith that cries out to Him for help. We are all impossible cases unless the Lord does something to open our eyes to see our sins and turn to Him for refuge.

God’s grace so changed Paul’s life that it was said of him, “He who once persecuted us is now preaching the faith which he once tried to destroy” (Gal 1:23) It transforms our lives too!

Finally, as we consider God’s amazing mercy and grace, as we consider how He transforms lives bent on destruction and rebellion, how he turns people hostile to Him and His purposes around to faithful service to Him, it must issue forth in this:

Praise!

As we read in this final verse of our passage this morning we see Paul’s response to God’s gracious mercy. He breaks forth in doxology,

To the King of ages, immortal, invisible, the only God, be honor and glory forever and ever! Amen. (v.17)

If you have known Christ and tasted of His goodness and mercy, do you wake up each day and close your eyes at night with His praises on your lips and in your thoughts? Do you stand in awe and wonder of just how great God’s love is to us in Jesus Christ?

Do you give thanks to Him for his great work of salvation in your own life, and in the lives of others?

Are you strengthened in light of so great a salvation to want to serve him with all your heart and to make Him known to others because you have experienced his kind mercy?

Do you long to see God worshipped unhindered, as John Piper says, “where his glory is displayed for the enjoyment of the redeemed from every tribe, tongue, people, and nation”? Do you long to see people come to know Christ and worship with you around His throne?

Do you pray to this end?

Because of Paul men and women “were glorifying God.” What greater testimony can be given of the power of God's grace and mercy! That Christ Jesus is patient with willfully disobedient, arrogant, vicious, blasphemous sinners because it was for these that He died in order that He might redeem them and save them from the penalty and power of their sins, so that they might joyfully worship God with all their being, is the most wonderful message we can hear and bring to those who are yet lost.

Hallelujah! What a Savior!

We will close our worship this morning by singing this wonderful hymn by Isaac Watts, which he penned in 1707, "How Sweet And Awesome Is the Place." We have already been introduced to it in the morning offertory. Now we have a chance to sing it ourselves together as a prayer. We shall also sing two additional verses that we did not hear earlier. They speak of what we long to see happen as God pours out his grace on the nations of the world. May this truly be our prayer.
[For those who are viewing these notes on the internet and would like to hear the common tune to this hymn, please follow this link and sing along: http://www.cyberhymnal.org/htm/h/s/hsweetaw.htm]

How sweet and awesome is this place
With Christ within the doors,
While everlasting love displays
The choicest of her stores!

Here every bowel of our God
With soft compassion rolls;
Here peace and pardon bought with blood
Is food for dying souls.

While all our hearts and all our songs
Join to admire the feast,
Each of us cry, with thankful tongues,
“Lord, why was I a guest?

“Why was I made to hear Thy voice,
And enter while there’s room,
When thousands make a wretched choice,
And rather starve than come?”

’Twas the same love that spread the feast
That sweetly drew us in;
Else we had still refused to taste,
And perished in our sin.

Pity the nations, O our God!
Constrain the earth to come;
Send Thy victorious Word abroad,
And bring the strangers home.

We long to see Thy churches full,
That all the chosen race
May with one voice, and heart and soul,
Sing Thy redeeming grace.

May the Lord bless you with all his grace and strength to draw near to Him in thankful, joyful, worshipful praise. Amen.