The Testimony of Paul — Westlake Bible Fellowship

0:00 First Timothy chapter one

First Timothy chapter one. Let's let's read the text first, and we're gonna start with verse 12. First Timothy one twelve. I thank Christ Jesus our lord who has strengthened me because he considered me faithful, putting me into service. Even though I was formerly a blasphemer and a prosecutor, persecutor.

I'm sorry. Not prosecutor. That's a lawyer. And a violent aggressor and a violent aggressor, and yet I was shown mercy because I acted ignorantly in unbelief. And the grace of our lord was more than abundant with the faith and love which are found in Christ Jesus.

It is a trustworthy trustworthy statement deserving full acceptance that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners among whom I am foremost of all. And yet for this reason, I found mercy in order that in me as a foremost, Jesus Christ might demonstrate his perfect patience as an example for those who would believe in him for eternal life. Now to the king eternal, immortal, invisible, the only God, be honor and glory forever and ever. Amen. Father, bless your word as we consider it this morning.

Pray this in Jesus' name. Amen. Amen. Well, every one of us has a story. Some of you were brought up in in good Christian homes.

Others were raised with single parents. Others have experienced divorce. Some like me grew up in the inner city. Others in the suburbs. For some of you, your homes were dysfunctional.

And and it has affected you even even now as an adult. And for some, you were verbally abused, others were ignored, and and so forth and so on. We can all stand up here and and give our story, our background, where we came from, what God did for us. What we're gonna look at today is Paul's story. This is his story.

So if you want a a quick outline, it's before Christ, his encounter with Christ, after Christ, and then his message. Alright? So pretty pretty good. Four points. Right?

So let's consider Paul and his story. Before we go into his story, let's look at his background. He was raised in a Jewish home, and he was sent to rabbi school, rabbinical school, and was a scholar. Not only was he a scholar, but he was fully convinced that he... What he was taught was the only right way to think.

He fully embraced his religion, his culture. His teachers drew it into his head that all others were dogs. You know that in his time, whoever was not a Jew and believed their religion, they called them dogs. And so that was Paul. I mean, he was like, man, all of you are lower class.

We are the elite. We got it right. Everybody else is wrong. And so he he... His system of belief was was very drilled into him, and it was deep rooted in his soul.

Well, he was such a standout scholar that they sent him to study under Gamalio. One... He was a renowned teacher of the day. And and so he was as proud as a peacock because of his scholarly mind and and his learned ability. And everybody recognized how intelligent he was and how religious he was.

He was extremely zealous for his religion, and he would become enraged if someone believed different or had a different system of belief. So then I want you to notice then, this is actually his testimony. So notice what he says in in verse 13. Even though... And I want you to notice this is before Christ.

4:17 Paul's testimony: blasphemer, persecutor, aggressor

Disrespect for guy... For God, for a divine being, for sacred things, in speech, to profane, to curse, or to be... To say impious expression. So in other words, whenever someone said, I am no longer of the Jewish religion like you, Paul, I now embrace Jesus Christ, he would curse. Oh, curse at Jesus.

And and he would say his words. So a blasphemer is someone who curses God or your religious system. Right? And so here's Paul then, so zealous, so convinced that he was right. And here comes someone that says, hey.

I'm not following Jesus. He would start to curse. And so that was his that was his life. I was I was a blasphemer. So it's...

The cursing of the name of Jesus was going on way back then. And so the second thing he says is he was a a persecutor. So what that means is is to pursue someone with with oppressive treatment because of their religious or political beliefs or their ethnic or or or racial origin, it's it's to to pursue them, to to make their life, to annoy them, to to get... To attack them, to insult them. And so not only would he would he curse the name of Jesus, he couldn't stand it when they would say that they were following Jesus.

And he would start to curse, but he would start to persecute them, make their life miserable. And then finally, he said that he was a violent aggressor, which meant what this. Hey. Guess what? I'm following Jesus.

What? He would just pop you on. You know? Yeah. That was Paul.

He would just get violent. And so you wouldn't wanna hang around this dude because if you didn't think like him, would just pop you one. Right? Boop. And so not only that, but you you can see them you can see them so enraged, so so angry that when Stephen was giving testimony of Jesus and preaching the gospel, he was the leader of the group that that took him.

They put him in the middle, and they started stoning him to death. And here's Paul just applauding. And so you can see this guy then, very religious, very trained, very convinced that what he believed was right to the point that when someone preached the name of Jesus, he would start to curse. He would start to persecute them, and and he'd become even violent. In fact, he was on his way to Damascus to find Christians to to make them recant or try to make them recant and drag them to jail, and and he would beat them or do whatever it took to get them to renounce the name of Jesus.

So so why was he so angry? Because they were saying that Jesus was the Messiah and that he was God, and they worshiped and followed him. Now he couldn't take it. How could you worship this Jesus? He's not the messiah, and it would just drive him crazy.

So he was... It it would infuriate him. He couldn't stand the name of Jesus. And so there it is then. I I thank Jesus Christ, our lord, who strengthened me because he considered me faithful putting me into the service even though this is my testimony.

8:12 Paul's encounter with Jesus

Then he met Jesus. So there he is on his way, as you know, to Damascus. He's got his group with them that are gonna help him. They're gonna go beat the Christians, and he had permission from the religious sector to go and do it. He's on his way.

He's angry. He's not seeking God, by the way. He's against God. He's against Jesus. He's on his way to get them.

And suddenly, the Lord appears to him, and he falls to the ground like a pancake, and he can't even lift his eyes. Totally blind. And Jesus... What did Jesus say to him? Paul, why are you persecuting?

Notice what he said. Me. Why are you persecuting me? Whenever you touch one of mine who I'm... Who I saved, one of my followers, and you touch one of them, you curse them, you beat them, you do anything to them, you're doing it to me.

Because they belong to me because I save them. They're the apple of my eye. They're they're the object of my affection. So Paul, what are you doing? And so you can just imagine Paul at this moment.

Right? And and he's like, oh, okay. What... What's going on? I'm on my way to to curse his name, to beat his people.

I'm I'm gonna be violent against them. I'm angry. And suddenly, Jesus appears to him. He goes, I am the messiah. I am god.

I did resurrect. I am worthy to be praised, and my servants follow me fervently. I am the one that you've been persecuting. So he's brought to his knees. And then suddenly, all his religious training and all his zeal came crashing down.

And this is what he said. Now listen. I was wrong. I was wrong. Everything I lived for, everything I studied for, everything I dedicated my life for, I I I live for my religion, and I was so zealous for it.

And I was absolutely, totally wrong. And so when he encountered Jesus, he was absolutely totally radically changed. Amen? Right? Because he came to to a personal encounter with the lord Jesus Christ himself.

It was an instant shift of loyalty from his religion to a person, the lord Jesus Christ. And he called himself from that point on, I I... He comes up a bond servant of god. And he said, I am willing to die now for this Jesus who I used to curse and whose people I would persecute him and and be violent against. I am willing to die for him now, and I wanna serve him, and I wanna do his will.

Wow. Would you consider that a a radical transformation? Yes or no? Right? It was radical.

And listen. When you come to know the Lord Jesus Christ, you cannot be the same person. How do we know someone really came to know the lord? Because you can say, this is what I was, but then I met the lord. And I want you to notice the after, the after.

I want you to notice his change, his growth, his understanding of what happened to him. Notice in verse 13. Well, actually, let's quote... Well, yeah, verse 13. Even though I was formerly a blasphemer, persecutor, violent aggressor, and yet I was shown mercy because I acted ignorantly in unbelief.

12:13 Shown mercy and God's grace

He realized at this moment, if Jesus wants to, I am dead, and I am gone. I have no reason to be shown mercy because I cursed him. I I was violent. I hated his name. And suddenly, there there I am.

I'm at his mercy. And so what did he do? He showed him mercy. To show mercy means that you... I I deserve death, Jesus, and I know I do, but you have shown me mercy.

I'm totally guilty before you. And then notice the second thing that occurs when God gets a hold of you. Not only does he show you mercy, but notice verse 14, and the grace of our Lord was more than abundant. And so when when when one gets saved, you realize automatically that God showed me mercy because I deserved the opposite. Secondly, the grace of our Lord was more than abundant.

God's grace can reach to the deepest of sinners, and we're gonna look at that in a moment. But he realized it was the grace of god that was so abundant that even though I did all of these things against him, he offered me salvation free of cost. That's what grace means. No condition, no requirements. Grace means you're you're guilty.

You deserve punishment. I'm gonna show you mercy. But not only will I show you mercy, but I'm gonna extend to you my free gift. It's called grace. Undeserved, unmerited.

I should crush you right now, but I'm gonna save you instead. Wow. That's what God does. And notice not only that, but let's continue in verse 14. And the grace of our Lord was more than abundant with the faith and love which are found in Christ Jesus.

So when I was shown mercy and the grace of God was then extended to me, I, in faith, believed it, and then the love of Christ surrounded me, encircled me, embraced me, and it transformed me. The god that I hated loved me. The god that I cursed forgave me and just showed me love. Love covers a multitude of sin. Right?

And so as he's continuing his testimony, he says, and I was shown mercy. The grace of God was more abundant than all of my wickedness. Faith and love are found in Christ Jesus. And then notice then what he says in verse 15 and... Well, let's go to 16.

And yet for this reason, I found mercy in order that in me as the foremost, Jesus Christ might demonstrate his perfect patience as an example for those who would believe in him for eternal life. So what was his message? What was his message? His message is found in verse 15. It is a trustworthy statement deserving full acceptance that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners among whom I am the foremost of all.

This is the message. This is the message. This is what the Bible teaches, that the reason Christ left heaven was to save sinners. And don't you agree as he's saying that I'm one of the worst? Don't you agree?

I I I would curse his name. I would persecute his people. I was violent against those who believed in him. Don't you agree that I was one of the worst? I was arrogant, full of religion, but I was so far from God.

I was so ignorant to how to be saved. And so he goes, this is one thing that I had to accept and realize was true, that Christ came to save sinners among whom I am the foremost of all or the worst of all, if you will, of the worst of all. And he goes, and you know why God saved me? So he can show you and me that there's no boundaries to the gospel, that God can reach anyone. Alright.

16:54 Examples of sinners God saves

There's one, two, three, four comparisons here. First of all, it's lawless and rebellious. It is ungodly for the ungodly and sinners. So it's just kind of general sweeping term. Right?

You don't have any law in you. You're rebellious. You're ungodly. You don't see God, and you're a sinner. Right?

And notice the next thing that keeps progressing. Unholy and profane. It gets a little deeper. It gets a little deeper. Unholy and profane.

And then notice, for those who kill their fathers or mothers, for murderers. Alright. Now, back when I was in Texas, we would go into the maximum security prison in Sugar Land, Texas. And so we had to get special permission and background checks to be able to get in. And so once we were there, we would form a circle, about 10 guys in each circle.

And sitting right next to me was a man. And and as he was hearing our bible study, suddenly, he repented. And you can see that, boy, he was just crying like a baby. And he repented and turned to the Lord for the salvation of his soul. And then I told him, would you write out your testimony?

We're talking about about a month or two later as we're discipling. Would you write out his testimony? And here's his testimony, the reason he was in the maximum security. He goes, not only did I kill a man, but I killed my father and my mother. I was like, oh my word.

I was sitting next to this dude. You know? Wow. Wow. I wish I wouldn't have lost it.

He wrote it for me, but that was about thirty five years back. You know? So I wish I had it with me still to show you. And I was like, oh my word. This guy killed his own mother and father.

And yet, the lord reached out to him and saved him. That's what the Bible is saying. Those who kill their father and mother for murderers. Guess what? Paul was a murderer.

Did you know Moses was a murderer and David was a murderer? Yes. See, the gospel is not limited by our sin. And so he keeps building the case. Notice verse 10, and immoral men and homosexuals.

And so not only can he reach out to to the the the grosses of all sins, someone who would go kill their own father and mother, or just someone who just murders disregard for life, But he... Somebody who's immoral that lives all kinds of perverse life in the moral aspect of it, and someone who's homosexual. Listen. That's a hot topic today. Right?

Well, guess what? The lord loves them and wants to save them. And there's no limit to his grace and to his power. In fact, two people that I talked to who were practicing this, this is what they said. I just feel that I've I've sinned so much that it's beyond what god can forgive.

I said, no. Look at the text. Look at the Bible. The Bible says that not only will he reach to to to rebellious and sinners and profane and those who kill their parents and murderers, but he's gonna reach out to immoral and homosexual. It doesn't matter how gross and how immoral it is, God loves you and will forgive you right now if you believe the gospel.

And so he keeps building the case. Notice verse 10. And kidnappers and liars, and so those who kidnap and those who are liars. And so those of you who think, well, I haven't done all that stuff, so I'm I'm pretty good. Well, you lied, haven't you?

Alright. Well, there you go. You qualify for a sinner. Alright. So so kidnappers and liars and purgers.

Look. You... Well, I'm not that bad. I just cheat on my taxes. Well, there you go.

Purgers. Right? Is that is that what that means? You know? I forgot to investigate that word more detail.

Sounds good. Okay. There you go. You qualify. Notice.

Notice. Notice how the bible leaves it open and whatever else is contrary to sound teaching. So so so there's no limit. God doesn't say, okay, I'll forgive, but if you do this, you went too far. He will forgive.

He will forgive. And his love and the gospel just said, notice what it says in verse 11, according to the glorious gospel of the blessed God with which I have been entrusted. So the glorious gospel can reach him. We must not limit God because the Bible says, this is what you need to accept, that Christ came into the world to save sinners. That's why he came.

And if you think you're not a sinner, then you you don't qualify. He can't save you unless you realize that you have sinned. And so God has entrusted to you and I this gospel. We are stewards to teach correctly and get out to lost souls and tell them, listen, there's no limit to what the blood of Christ can reach and cleanse. You think of it, he died for it and he paid for it on the cross, and you can be saved.

22:41 Those raised in church still need saving

I didn't beat anybody. I didn't, you I didn't do this. I didn't do that. And yet and yet, you you... You're absolutely lost.

See, if you don't realize that you have sinned and far short of the of the glory of God, then you don't need a savior. See, in God's sight, you're just as rotten and evil and needed to be saved as the guy who murdered or did whatever. Have you realized that? Hey, well, you need to. Christ didn't come to save righteous because there's no righteous.

We've all sinned. And so Christ saved me. He had to shed his blood just like he had to shed his blood for a drunk. I also encountered the living God, and I bowed my knee to Jesus Christ. And so if you were raised in church, it doesn't mean you're saved, but you need to realize that you need to be saved, to be born again.

And when Christ gets to hold you, you have a testimony, don't you? You have a story to say, this is what I was, then I met Christ, this is where I'm at where I'm at right now. Alright? And so most Christians raised in the Bible church struggle after salvation. Right?

And so here's what happens. You grow up in church, you hear the gospel, you're in first grade, second grade, four years old, five years old. I didn't get sick till I was 11. Started going to church when I was about five or six, right? But like, I know my kids trusted the Lord when they were four and five.

At that time, I was still sitting pretty good, right? I was doing a lot of damage, right? My parents were in damage control with us at that time. I finally realized I needed to be saved. I was 11 years old.

I understood it clearly. But here's the thing. When you get saved when you're young, you think that it's not that important, that it's not that valuable. Yes, it is, because God had to die for you just as well. Right?

And then what happens is you get saved, and then you get taught, and so you say, okay, I'm gonna get baptized and tell everybody I'm saved, and so you do that. And then something happens. You know, I call it the trigger. Sometimes all of sudden it clicks, and the Christian who got saved young, who has been going to church, all of a sudden, like, am I missing out? Is is there some fun that that I didn't get to participate in because I was raised in church, and and I didn't do all that evil stuff?

You know, is there something there? And then here comes Satan and says, yeah, you missed out. Go go and check it out. Go and look. And and and that's a temptation right there.

And the good thing about it is the Bible says that that he who began a good work in you will be faithful to complete it. See, when he saves you, he saves you knowing that after you're saved, because you were raised in church and you're going through your Christian walk, you're gonna go through moments of confusion and and saying, is this my father's faith, my mom's faith? Is it just because the church teaches it, or is it real, and is it mine? You have to embrace your faith, and you have to say, now it's mine. It's not moms and dads or my cousins or or whoever, grandmas.

It's my faith, and I'm gonna live it out. And yes, Lord, even though you saved me, and I've done a lot of dumb stuff as a believer, praise God that you don't give up on me. Amen? He keeps working. And that's your testimony.

Yes, I was saved when I was young, and and and then I got to a point where I was wondering if it was real or not, and I try to explore here and there, but I realized, no, this is real, and I'm gonna start to live it out. By the grace of God, I live it out. Right? And so that has to be your story. Everyone has a story.

God has been working in your life differently than he has in my life. Right? I have had my struggles. You have had yours. But each one of us can go to a friend that's not saved, or even to another Christian and say, hey, let me tell you what God has done in my life.

Right? This is where I was. God got ahold of me, and then I started living my life, and then I I started stumbling and wondering, but then I realized that it was real. And so we need to be willing and ready to share our story. Alright.

So what is your story? What has God done in your life? What is he doing in your life right now? Because he's always at work. Amen?

27:31 To the King eternal, immortal

All the honor belongs to him. All the glory belongs to God, who is so loving and reaches out to us. So then after he establishes this and says, okay, Timothy, now listen to what I'm gonna tell you now. Now follow me in verse 18. This command I entrust to you, Timothy, my son, in accordance with the prophecies previously made concerning you, that by them you may fight the good fight.

So what is he saying? He's saying, Timothy, you can look at that. When we get to second Timothy, you're gonna see it. Timothy, I remember when you got saved. I remember when you got saved.

Your mom and your grandmother were tremendous examples, and they brought you to a place of faith. I remember that because I see their lives, and that reflects on you now. Right? And and here's what happens, that that we saw, we can see that God has a special calling for you in your life and wants to use you for his glory. Now every one of us has been called by God for salvation, and God has a work for each one of us to do.

And he's saying to to Timothy, we prophesied about it. We we saw that God saved you and is gonna use you in a unique way. Right? Take hold of that calling and live out that calling that God gave for you. Serve them.

Serve them. And notice in the text, here's what he says, that you may fight the good fight. Now, what do you think about when you think about a fight? Right? Anybody ever had a fight here?

Yeah? You want to hear another Mexico story? Alright. I'll tell you another one real quick. So here we are visiting my cousin.

My cousin... Everyone always get in trouble if you can imagine. Right? So my my brothers were... One brother's a year older than me, one is a year younger, and the cousin is right in between the older and myself.

Right? So we're all right there. And so we're hanging out at with him at night, and he says, oh, man, here comes here comes the gang, right, from the other neighborhood. They're gonna try to, you know, strap it on with us. We're we're gonna go at it.

We're like, oh, all right, you know. And so he had a couple of his buddies there with us, and so we went to this corner, and we started putting down conditions. You know, what's the condition? Alright. Well, no no sticks or knives.

We're gonna just straight straight forward. You know, let's go for it. Alright. And so all of sudden, we started going at it. Right?

We won, by the way. All right. So a fight is not a good thing. Right? It's not a good thing.

We always get all nervous when we see a fight. But when you get saved, there's a fight and this is what you need to realize. It's a fight for your loyalty. Do you follow me? See, the lord Jesus already saved your soul.

He won that fight on the cross But now it's a fight for your loyalty. Timothy, you've been called. God wants to use you in a powerful way. You have a story to tell. God is doing a work in your life.

Fight that fight. Fight. Know, fight the enemy. Fight the temptations. And often in a fight, you get punched and you get knocked down.

But what does the Bible say? You get back up. I've been knocked down many times, but I get back up. Right? And go back at the fight.

Alright. You got me good, but I'm gonna get up and and empowered by God. I'm gonna keep fighting. So you fight the good fight. Now notice what what the text says in in verse 19.

Keeping faith and a good conscience. So last week, we looked at that, right? The good conscience. What's at stake is your faith. You have placed your faith in Jesus Christ, and you have to fight for that.

Is that the truth? Yes or no? Then if it is, fight for it. Live it. Scrap.

Fight the enemy. Fight the devil. It's it's a battle. We're in a fight, people. And it's a spiritual battle.

Yeah. The devil's not gonna come and punch you, and, you're gonna walk out, come back here next Sunday. Man, I had it out with a devil. Look at my black eye. That's not gonna be that way.

It's a spiritual battle. Right? It's a spiritual battle. And that's what's so difficult because you don't realize sometimes, you know, it's it's a spiritual battle. We need to pray, and we need to be firm in faith.

You remember powerful the fight was that Jesus said to Peter, Peter, I'm praying for you because the devil's gonna come and shake you around, and here's what I'm praying, that you won't deny the faith, that you will stand firm because we're in a battle. Keep fighting that fight and a good conscience. And then he goes on to the to the fight of wrong teaching, and he gives an example of these guys. Keep... Verse 19, keep faith and a good conscience which some have rejected and suffered shipwreck in regard to their faith.

So some people who are learning about Jesus, some false teaching came along, they embraced it, and notice what it says then. It was a shipwreck. Shipwreck means the ship sinks. So their faith sunk. It was destroyed.

Among these are Hymenaeus and Alexander, whom I have delivered over to Satan, so that they may be taught not to blaspheme. So these two guys were coming around the churches and teaching false teachings and Paul says this, this is what I did to these guys. I took em out of the church. We took em out of fellowship because they were teaching false doctrine And part of the fight is to fight for good teaching. So fight.

Fight for your faith. Fight against false teachers. Fight against the devil. We're in a battle, and you need to fight. Alright?

And so, what what a tremendous, lesson we have here. Alright. So if you want to learn how to share your testimony in simple terms, all the people going to Mexico already know it. Right? How do we do it?

Simply, what I was before Christ. Here's what I was. Boom. Alright? I was raised in a Christian home, but I was a a wicked sinner.

Amen? Right? Mom had to say no and whip you all the time. Yes or no? Right?

Okay. So, that means you were a sinner, right? I know you didn't murder and kill and all that but still, right? So, you needed salvation and then what happened? Christ got a hold of me and it absolutely transformed my life, Right?

It transformed me. I'm not the same person as I was. I shifted loyalty. And then I realized now that the grace of God. Right?

God had mercy. He showed me grace. He loved me. Right? He embraced me.

And now I start to grow in that faith, and God never gives up on the believer. Right? Amen? So what's your story? You should be really eager to share that with people, your friends, your neighbors, at work, wherever to share that story.

Right? Praise god for the gospel. That has no limits. Let's pray. Father, thank you so much for your word.

35:45 Powerful testimony of Paul

Be with us then as we go home in Christ's name. Amen. Thank you.

The Testimony of Paul — 1 Timothy 1

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The Testimony of Paul — 1 Timothy 1

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