Ira Baptist Church
May 10

      • Isaiah 40.25-26NIV2011

      • Isaiah 40.27-28NIV2011

      • Isaiah 40.29-31NIV2011

  • Higher Ground
  • You are my All In All

      • Titus 3.4-6NIV2011

      • Titus 3.7NIV2011

  • Nothing But the Blood
  • Big picture - the dangerous teaching in the church was promoting speculation rather than focusing on the stewardship of Truth that God has given to His church.
    In other words, because they had their hearts in the wrong place, the teachers were swerving into any and every manner of teaching other than the Gospel.
    They were in and even promoting scripture (the Law), but they were mishandling it.
    2 Timothy 2:15 ESV
    Do your best to present yourself to God as one approved, a worker who has no need to be ashamed, rightly handling the word of truth.
    When you mishandle the scripture and make it say what you want, you miss out on the life-giving truth of the Gospel.
    The Bible is not a magic or mystical source of truth, where just mentioning it or wafting it around or quoting from it gives your message power and authority.
    The authority and power comes from the fact that it is God’s Word. The Truth is His, and he cannot lie. The power is His, because what He says He will do.

    The stewardship of Truth is the Critical mission that God has given to the church.

    1. A Critical Condition - vs. 8-11

    Remember, Paul had said that these dangerous teachers “desired to be teachers of the law, but didn’t understand what they were saying or the things they were confidently asserting”
    They agreed with Paul on one thing - the law is good. However, where they were off was on what the law was good for, what it was intended to do.
    Law = The Old Testament, the Books of Moses, the Ten Commandments (in the context of what he is about to say, the most specific)
    Using a play on words, Paul says “The law is good when you use it lawfully”
    Like Jesus, we see here that the Old Testament and the Law are not to be done away with or despised, but rather viewed appropriately.
    Jesus said
    Matthew 5:17 ESV
    “Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I have not come to abolish them but to fulfill them.
    When Jesus was on the earth, the religious elite accused Him of being lawless - when in fact, he came to actually bring the purpose of the law to its fulness and completion.
    Paul’s teaching about the law, in ever place, picks right up where Jesus left it.
    Remember, Paul is writing a personal letter to Timothy here - a man who had been his fellow servant and traveling companion for years. We don’t get a long discussion about details here, but just a basic summary. We can glean from several other places in Paul’s writing along the way to help us.
    First thing: The law is not laid down for the “Righteous,” but for.… and then Paul gives a vice-list.
    What does Paul mean by that? Well, in the first place, when Paul speaks of the “righteous,” he is speaking of those who have been made righteous, declared righteous.
    Romans 3:23–24 ESV
    for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and are justified by his grace as a gift, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus,
    Romans 3:30 ESV
    since God is one—who will justify the circumcised by faith and the uncircumcised through faith.
    Titus 3:5–7 ESV
    he saved us, not because of works done by us in righteousness, but according to his own mercy, by the washing of regeneration and renewal of the Holy Spirit, whom he poured out on us richly through Jesus Christ our Savior, so that being justified by his grace we might become heirs according to the hope of eternal life.
    Note those words, justified, justify, justified.
    A gift, a work done by God, a work done by grace.
    “Declared righteous”
    “Made righteous”
    God did not give the law as a means for people to become righteous or establish their righteousness.
    God did not give the law as a method for guilty people to be made whole.
    Romans 3:20 ESV
    For by works of the law no human being will be justified in his sight, since through the law comes knowledge of sin.
    And that gets us into this question: then what is the law good for? Why would God give his people something like that?
    Romans 3:20 ESV
    For by works of the law no human being will be justified in his sight, since through the law comes knowledge of sin.
    The knowledge of sin
    Like a mirror. And a good one. A good mirror can show you exactly what is wrong, but it is not meant to be the means of making it right.
    It is not that it is ineffective, it is that it wasn’t meant to do that.
    Galatians 3:24–25 ESV
    So then, the law was our guardian until Christ came, in order that we might be justified by faith. But now that faith has come, we are no longer under a guardian,
    Like a school-teacher. A teacher can point in the right direction, guide, show, but a teacher cannot make a student learn.
    And so it is with the law, the law brings knowledge of our need of a savior, the Law points us to that Savior and brings us up to His doorstep - but only the savior can save.
    1 Timothy 1:9–10 ESV
    understanding this, that the law is not laid down for the just but 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,
    First three
    lawless disobedient
    ungodly and sinners
    unholy and profane
    the rest
    strike father and mother
    murderers
    sexually immoral and homosexual
    enslavers
    liars and purjers
    anything else contrary to sound doctrine
    First three, toward God
    The rest, toward others.
    Like the 10 Commandments
    First four, toward God
    Rest, toward men
    So why does Paul say that the law is laid down for people in all these cases? Because, as we already read, the law is intended to reveal unrighteousness and point to the need of a savior.
    Put simply, if you read the 10 commandments and look at them honestly, and you say “I have failed on several points and I feel guilty,” then the law has done its job.
    Even if you look at that standard, and strive with the utmost effort and attention, and get much better at conforming to it, there is still a problem - it cannot remove guilt. And there is another problem, try as you might, you and I will always fall short.
    Big Picture, use is good...
    1 Timothy 1:8–11 ESV
    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, 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, in accordance with the gospel of the glory of the blessed God with which I have been entrusted.
    Now we know that the law is good, if one uses it lawfully.… (same sentence all the way to)… in accordance with the gospel of the glory of the blessed God.
    In other words, now that Jesus has come, the lawful use of the law is always to be in conjunction with the Gospel - the good news.
    The law without the gospel, now, is not a remedy but a bludgeon.
    The law, by itself, cannot make men and women whole. Would it be a better world if everyone merely kept the 10 commandments? No doubt, in an experiential sense, the world would be better in that there would be less sin. But the point of salvation is not just less sin - it is to bring people to God. Good deeds apart from God’s Grace only lead to false hope - because by doing good deeds, the works of the law, nobody is justified in God’s eyes.
    And that is why it is a crucial message to apply the Bible rightly. If our message comes across as “do better,” then we are actually leading people further from God and deeper into their own deception.
    If our message does not find itself squarely in the Gospel, then we may be reading and proclaiming scripture, but will be distracting and promoting speculation, rather than the stewardship of God by faith.

    2. A Crucial Message - vs. 12-16

    At this point, Paul cannot help but give his testimony, and it centers around one major theological statement.
    1 Timothy 1:15 ESV
    The saying is trustworthy and deserving of full acceptance, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners, of whom I am the foremost.
    Note the force, and this is a special way of phrasing something very important.
    “The saying is trustworthy and deserving of full acceptance...”
    This is the critical message, and the critical mission.
    Luke 5:32 ESV
    I have not come to call the righteous but sinners to repentance.”
    Luke 19:10 ESV
    For the Son of Man came to seek and to save the lost.”
    Romans 5:8 ESV
    but God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.
    Back to Paul’s testimony...
    1 Timothy 1:15 ESV
    The saying is trustworthy and deserving of full acceptance, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners, of whom I am the foremost.
    This is how Paul viewed his whole life, and the reason why he could not help but give glory to God at every turn, because he came to understand himself as the sinner of sinners.
    That term gets thrown away today. It get’s laughed at or used almost sarcastically. It is a feature in popular music and artwork either as a put down against religion, or even as a badge of honor. Despite its cultural misuse and abuse, it is an important term.
    We have seen it twice now in this passage. verse 9, and now here.
    Sin is to “miss the mark” - like an archer who draws back on a target, but cannot hit the bullseye.
    Romans 3:23 ESV
    for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God,
    We often think of this in terms of comparison, but how much sin does it take to fall short of God’s glory?
    Romans 5:12 ESV
    Therefore, just as sin came into the world through one man, and death through sin, and so death spread to all men because all sinned—
    It has been said, and it is true. It is not that we are sinners because we have sinned. It is that we sin because we are sinners.
    This message in today’s time and place seems old and outdated. But it is as relevant in this moment as it was in this same building as it was preached 150 years ago, or in the open air of the Apostle’s evangelism in the first century. It is a timeless message.
    Offensive? Yes. Who wants to be told that they have missed the mark all along?
    Unpopular? Yes. Who wants to be faced with the reality of their own failures and falling.
    Necessary? Yes. The saying is trustworthy and worth all acceptance. It is worthy proclaiming in every place and time. Across geographic and cultural boundaries. To the Prince and the pauper, the young and the old, the prisoner and the little old grandma, to the famous and the infamous, to the religious and the atheist, because Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners - and everyone as sinned.
    In other words, Paul is saying - if Christ Jesus can save me, he can save whomever.
    Two things to note:
    It is not just the openly rebellious who need saving, but those who are morally upright but still without hope.
    Paul’s life was the picture of religious devotion. But he was found to be without God and in need of a savior.
    2. This same story is repeating itself all the while.
    1 Timothy 1:16 ESV
    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 in him for eternal life.
    May I ask you, today. Have you agreed with God’s law, that you are in need of a savior?
    If so, what are you waiting for?
    The message is not “do better,” but “come to me.”
    Romans 2:4 ESV
    Or do you presume on the riches of his kindness and forbearance and patience, not knowing that God’s kindness is meant to lead you to repentance?

    3. A Consistent Goal - vs. 17

    Paul ends out with a beautiful word of praise and doxology. And it lands on the purpose and application we can make for ourselves as believers.
    Right teaching leads to praise and worship and glory to God, not ourselves.
    Misuse of the scripture always ends up pointing back to us.
    Ourselves as the answer. Our works as good enough. Our trying or our intellect as the solution.
    Gospel teaching always points to God and God alone.
    King - authority, power, dominion, sovereignty
    Immortal -
    Invisible -
    The only God -

      • 1 Timothy 1:5ESV

      • Titus 2:14ESV

      • Romans 12:9ESV

      • 1 Timothy 1:3ESV

      • 1 Timothy 1:6–7ESV

      • Revelation 2:2–4ESV

      • Revelation 2:5ESV

  • Jesus Thank You

      • Numbers 6.24-26ESV

Ira Baptist Church
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