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Bob Davis: Sinners were comfortable with Jesus. If they are not comfortable with us, we may be doing something that Jesus wasn't doing.

Sometimes as believers, we say there are some places I won't go. There are some people I just won't talk to. If you believe that, then you don't believe what God's word says because God's word says, "Go. Every one of you, go and make disciples of all people."

Guest (Male): Welcome to *Apply Within*, a verse-by-verse study of the word of God with Pastor Bob Davis of North Country Chapel. We invite you to join with us as we, by the power of God's Holy Spirit, apply His word to our own hearts as we study line upon line, precept upon precept, verse by verse through the Bible.

Our study of 1 Timothy chapter one continues in verse eight as Paul warns Timothy about the danger of Bible teachers that don't know what they're talking about. Here's Pastor Bob.

Bob Davis: Paul says the end of the commandment, the things that God wants from us, is charity out of a pure heart and of a good conscience and of a faith that is real, unfeigned. "From which," verse six, "some having swerved have turned aside unto vain jangling," empty words.

Paul is talking about those that teach other doctrine. He says this in verse seven: "They desire to be teachers of the law, understanding neither what they say, nor whereof they affirm." So many want to teach, but they don't know what God's word says. But it doesn't phase them, Paul says. They don't know, they don't understand what they're saying, and they don't know what they're affirming. They really don't know God's word or God's heart.

So we go on from that with that in mind to verse eight. Paul says these teachers don't understand, they don't really know. "But we know," verse eight, "we know that the law is good if a person use it lawfully." Now, that's a great thing for him to say, especially to Christians.

The false teachers, those who placed themselves in positions as teachers, they desire to be teachers of the law. The Old Testament is what Paul is referring to there. They want to be recognized, they want to be known as teachers of the law. If they come through town, they want you to invite them to stop at your little fellowship. But they don't really know what the law is all about. They don't really know what they're talking about.

We have an example of it. He wasn't a false teacher, far from it, but he just didn't have a real grasp. He didn't understand. He was an amazing speaker, an amazing teacher, and his name was Apollos. He comes into town and he's teaching and it was Priscilla and her husband, or Aquila and Priscilla, the couple, they took him home for lunch after church and they said, "You did a great job, but we'd like to fill you in on some of the details." Apollos didn't know about some of this stuff that Jesus had done, remember?

Now he wasn't a false teacher, but someone needed to help him to learn. He was wise enough to listen to it and learn. But the false teachers don't do that. They don't know what they're talking about. They don't understand the law.

Paul now reminds you and me so that we don't develop an attitude toward the law. Sometimes Christians have an attitude toward the Old Testament and Christians will say, "I don't even read it. There's nothing in there for me. I just read the New Testament." So they don't understand God's word. They don't understand the law and what it's really all about. The false teachers didn't. They were teaching all kinds of different doctrines.

Paul reminds us Christians here that the law is good. I don't know if you've thought about it lately, but the law is good. Paul tells the Romans in Romans chapter seven: the law is holy and just and good. I know sometimes as Christians we think we're out from under the law and we don't give that much thought. Jesus said He did not come to do away with the law, He came to fulfill the law. Jesus didn't disparage the law at all. He came to fulfill the law.

That's because the law is good. But some teachers and even some people who don't teach necessarily, but especially the teachers, use the law as a legalistic tool. It gets people in line, in shape, gets the people to follow them and to keep with them. Soon they've got their own little following and their own little group and their own little ways.

They use the law that way. Paul says the law is holy and just and good. And here he says it is good as long as it's used properly. Notice that in verse eight? They use it legalistically, and Paul says he would have nothing to do with that and that we should have nothing to do with that.

If the law is used properly, it is good. Paul himself embraced the proper use of the law. "Knowing this," verse nine, "that the law is not made for a righteous man, but for the lawless and the disobedient, for the ungodly and for sinners, for unholy and profane, for murderers of fathers and murderers of mothers, for manslayers, murderers of all sorts. For whoremongers, for them that defile themselves with mankind, for men-stealers, for liars, for perjured persons, and if there be any other thing that is contrary to sound doctrine, according to the glorious gospel of the blessed God which was committed to my trust."

He helps us to see the law is good when it's used properly. We learn again here that the law is designed to show people their sinfulness. You and I would not have known that you shouldn't steal until the law pointed it out. You may have been stealing all along and were completely clueless, but once the law said, "You will not steal, you must not steal," all of a sudden you thought, "I steal all the time. Guilty." See, the law is designed to show people their sinfulness.

So you see the law is not for those who already have recognized their sin and their need for a savior and have turned to Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of sins. Does it make sense to you? The law is not for those who walk by the spirit. The law is for those who remain unconvinced of their own sin.

As Paul gives us a list—not exhaustive—a list of sins, verse nine says, "Knowing this, that the law is not made for a righteous man, but for the lawless and the disobedient, for the ungodly—without God—and sinners. For unholy and profane, for murderers of fathers—now that's interesting—murderers of mothers, for manslayers, murderers of any kind. For whoremongers, for them that defile themselves with mankind—in other words, sexual sin of all flavors and sorts. For men-stealers, for liars, for perjured persons, if there be any other thing that is contrary to sound doctrine."

Now listen closely. As Paul gives you that list and you go back to Exodus chapter 20 and you read through what you and I call the Decalogue or the Ten Commandments, you might be shocked to notice that he basically follows the Ten Commandments there. Verse nine basically covers the first six commandments. Did you notice it? "I am the Lord your God, shall not have strange gods before me," et cetera, being holy. Remember all those through coming on down to honor your father and your mother? Well, father-murderers and mother-murderers, those aren't honoring.

He's covered the first six commandments. Verse 10, he covers the seventh through the tenth commandments. "Shall not commit adultery," and he's talking about sexual sin of all sorts and he goes on. He covers basically the basic ten, the big ten we call them. Just to show you that in Jesus Christ, in grace, you don't need to write that down for someone who recognized their sinner-need of a savior. You don't need to give them a list.

You don't need to give them a list of don'ts and you don't need to give them a list of dos because they belong to the Lord now. Think about that. You don't have to tell them how to dress. You don't have to tell them how to speak. You don't have to tell them, "Don't go look at this," or "Don't go over there." You don't have to tell them that. You don't need to give them lists because of the grace that God has given them, all of us.

In verse 11, Paul let us know that what he calls sound doctrine, according to the glorious gospel of the blessed God which was committed to my trust. All those sins, you're going to avoid all those according to the glorious gospel of the blessed God which was committed to my trust. Paul lets us know what he calls sound teaching comes from the gospel and the teaching of Jesus Christ himself, which had been entrusted to Paul, not only to Paul, but to many others and has been entrusted to you and me.

Paul then goes on. This gospel, sound teaching, comes from the gospel and the teaching of Jesus Christ of, well, he uses the term the blessed God, and all of that was committed to my trust. Anybody here, anybody listening who says, "I am a Christian," it has been entrusted to you and to me, not just Paul and not just Timothy. It's you and me and it's the sound doctrine that needs to go forth to the whole world from us, from where you work, where you go to school, where you live, all the way through, doing it just like Jesus.

You say, "I'm not sure I know how." Go back and read through the gospels and walk with him every day. Just walk with him and watch him deal with people. Sinners were comfortable with Jesus. If they are not comfortable with us, we may be doing something that Jesus wasn't doing. Because it looks to me like there was nobody that Paul wouldn't give the message to.

Sometimes as believers, we say there are some places I won't go. There are some people I just won't talk to, that's just my nature, that's just my personality. If you believe that, then you don't believe what God's word says, because God's word says every personality, go. Every one of you go and you preach the gospel and make disciples of all people, teaching them to do the things that you are doing and that you have been taught to do. So we've got a big job ahead of us.

Paul says, "I thank Christ Jesus our Lord who has enabled me." What did he just say? "I could never do this on my own." And I could say it and I think you could say it, too. We could never do this on our own. It is Jesus Christ who enables us to get through anything and to do whatever he wants us to do and to go wherever he calls us to go. I've heard it said—maybe you've said it yourself—"Man, I'm glad God called him to go there because I would never want to go out there. They've got bugs as big as your head."

Jesus enabled me. That's what Paul says. I can't do this on my own. Jesus enables me. Jesus has enabled you. You may be saying, "I'm waiting for him to do it." No, he has done that. You have been given gifts, all of us have, and he's going to tell Timothy a little bit later on, "Stir up the gift that is within you. Work it out, use it." Faith needs to be exercised and the gifts that we have, we need to exercise them as well.

He enables me, he enables you, he enables every one of us. He gives us the strength, the ability, the desire, and everything that we need to do what he's calling each of us to do. He says Jesus counted me faithful. You probably don't think that about you, but he's not just speaking about himself, he's speaking about Timothy, he's speaking about everyone that Jesus chose.

Jesus will look at you and say, "You really didn't choose me. I chose you from the foundation of the world. I chose you. You're mine, I love you, I chose you." Well, if that's true, then think about this: he counted me faithful. How did you get counted faithful, Christian? Can you remember? By grace through faith in Jesus Christ alone. That's how Paul got counted as faithful. That's how you, that's how I, that's how everybody.

We are not so gifted that since we've been saved for a while and we're getting better at it, we're indispensable. God doesn't need me. He will use me, but he certainly doesn't need me. He got along without me before he met me. He got along without all of us. The gospel was still being preached a hundred years ago before most of us were born. And God was still doing all right, he was still on the throne, he was okay.

He got along without our preaching, he got along without our worship, he got along without our praise. Yet he chose us and he counted us worthy. Paul says, "He counted me worthy. He counted me faithful, putting me into the ministry." I think that's where Christians are missing it. I think that when we think "the ministry," we think there's only a few people in the ministry. And that's not the word he uses here. The word he uses here is *diakonia*. We get our word "deacon" from that Greek word. Jesus put me in as a *diakonia*.

What does it mean? One who serves. One who executes the commands of another, of a master or a lord or a boss or a leader. That's what a deacon does. They're given the responsibilities by the lord or the leader or the boss or the supervisor or the crewmaster, whoever, and they're the ones who are going to carry it out.

That's what Paul says. Paul says, "He counted me faithful. He enabled me and then he counted me faithful by putting me into a position to serve. One who serves." So in case you didn't hear it, let me say it another way: each one of us, that includes you, not just me because you see me here and so you think, "Well, that's what he's supposed to do, that's what he's called to do. You know, that's the pastor. Couldn't get a real job, and if they ever fire him, he'll sell used cars or insurance."

In case you didn't hear it, let's say it again out loud: every one of us, every born-again believer, every one who belongs to Jesus Christ is in the ministry. The next verse says, "Who was before blasphemer," he says I was, "and a persecutor and injurious, but I obtained mercy because I did it ignorantly in unbelief. And the grace of our Lord was exceeding abundant with faith and love which is in Christ Jesus. This is a faithful saying and worthy of all acceptation: that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners of whom I am chief."

Now, you know a little bit about Paul's history. You read the book of Acts, I hope. If you haven't, read through the book of Acts and you'll see just a little bit about Saul the Pharisee who hated Jesus and hated everybody who loved Jesus because he hated Jesus. What is a blasphemer? One who curses God Almighty, one who hates Jesus Christ and speaks out venomously against him. He says, "Not only was I a blasphemer, but I also was a persecutor." One who tormented. I made people's lives painful, ugly, and miserable, and I wanted to and that was my goal.

But you know what? I obtained mercy. The Lord had mercy on me. Why? Because I did all of these things in ignorance. He knew what he was trying to do, but he was blind. He's saying, "I was lost, I had no clue. I did it all in ignorance. I did not believe."

God had mercy on me through his son, Jesus Christ, who died for my sin, paid the price for Paul's sin as well—not just Paul's but all of us. And then he says it: the grace of our Lord was exceeding abundant. That's what the grace of our Lord is for you and for me, exceeding abundant. That means it completely overflows all the ugly, it completely overflows and covers. His grace and his mercy overflow and cover.

Finally, he puts it all together when he says, "This is the truth, it's something you can count on, something you must accept." It's coming from my own mouth, he says, something you can rely on as being solid and true. And he says everyone needs to understand and accept this: that Jesus Christ, God's only begotten son—let's say it another way, God in human flesh—came into the world to save sinners.

That's why Jesus came here. And I think every one of us needs to understand and accept that. I don't think that it's so weird to teach it or weird to say it out loud. That's why Jesus came. If he would not have come here, none of us have a hope or a chance, none of us. Since he did come here, the only ones of us that have a chance are the ones that surrender to Jesus Christ. But it's because of him, not because we're so smart to catch on.

So we've got to back off a little bit because we put too much on ourselves, we take too much credit for being born again. All the credit, Paul says, goes to him. He enabled me, he chose me, he placed me into the ministry and I'm thankful. And I'm the chief of all sinners, and he did that for me and I was the worst of the worst. Everyone needs to understand that Jesus Christ came into the world to save sinners.

Now I'm going to say something that you may think is weird and you're welcome to. Jesus did not come to the world to be the greatest teacher ever known, but he was the greatest teacher ever. But he didn't come for that. And he didn't come into this world to set a good example, a moral example, even though he sure did do that. That's not why he came, but while he was here he showed us what it looked like.

He came to this world to save sinners and by the way, look around, that includes me and you, not just Paul and Timothy. But you and me, we've got a lot to be thankful for. Paul says he came to the world to save sinners of whom I am the worst or the chief. I don't think Paul is trying to use some kind of hyperbole like some people say.

I think that's exactly the way Paul still sees himself. And he says this: "I am the chief." The chief is what? The ruler, the head, the highest. If you want, you could say, "I'm the captain of this ship of fools. I'm the captain of all fools. I'm the fooliest." I don't think that most of us see ourselves that way.

We've got our flaws, but we've got people around us that are so dopey we feel better. Paul's point here, I think, is crystal clear. Timothy, you've got a job to do out there, but don't you give up on anybody. Don't you look down on anybody. If he saved me, Timothy, by his grace, his mercy, and his love, he could save you and he could save that one that you think is lost and just weird. He can save anybody, Paul says, because he saved me.

Guest (Male): Thank you for listening to *Apply Within* with Pastor Bob Davis. *Apply Within* is a radio outreach ministry of North Country Chapel. Our Sunday morning Bible studies are at 9:00 and 11:00 AM. We also have a Friday evening Bible study at 7:00 PM and a Monday evening Bible study at 7:00 PM.

You can download today's message in its entirety at NorthCountryChapel.com/studies. That's NorthCountryChapel.com/studies. If you would like a copy of today's message, write to us and ask for the message with today's date. The address is *Apply Within*, 2281 West Seltice, Post Falls, Idaho, 83854. Or call us at 1-800-572-8851. That number again: 1-800-572-8851.

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