Now to the King Eternal

Okay kids, you guys can go to super church. Kind of back again. Man, that's a quick change. Good morning. Take your Bibles and turn to 1 Timothy chapter 1 this morning if you would. So good to be here this morning. So good to be able to worship. So good to

Be able to know who Christ is and who we are in Christ. It's always exciting to see a baptism and it's kind of even more exciting when you know the family, like Jethro's family is all sitting over here, large and raised your hands. It's a pretty good crew of them over here and associated large and raised your hand too. But blessed to know this family for a long time and very, very thankful for them and their witness and and everything that goes with them. So thanks, guys, for living for Jesus in so many different ways. And I'm thankful to be here with you as a church. We are blessed people, and I mean that a blessed church in some ways that we probably take for granted and in some ways that obviously we still need to grow in, but the Lord is good.

He's just really good in so many different ways. And we walk through some hard things sometimes and Our countries walk through some hard things. We've had this horrible thing with Charlie Kirk. It's a tough thing because of him being a Christian. You guys know, I am not big in the political side of things I'm not, and I'm not going to be. I don't believe the Bible would teach us to be. I'm just not going to be. But that doesn't mean it wasn't a horrible thing to see the evil perpetuated, and yet I'm thankful for a man that stood for Christ in so many different ways. There's so many different questions sometimes about things like this.

I'm not always the best at talking about these things, because honestly, I believe the Lord has a as a purpose for his church and a plan for his church, and it has to succeed or supersede the things of this world, and it does. That's what's so important for us. The Bible, God's ways, God's will, God's teaching supersedes even the evil things that we deal with, and yet doesn't mean it doesn't impact us. So sometimes I'm not the most sensitive guy, probably to you, maybe to a lot of people but I don't always have the luxury to be that sensitive sometimes because I believe God has things for us to know and things for us to hear that enable us to walk

Through things like this with perspective instead of crashing every time and instead of spinning every time and having stability in our lives is important to us as Christians. I believe it was probably important to Charlie Kirk, though I didn't know him. I probably listened to a few things since his death, but I didn't know this guy. The great thing about him, truthfully, was his testimony about Jesus Christ. That's the great thing about him. That's what makes the difference, right? That's why you and I have to focus on Christ and not on the things of this world. If we don't, we have no stability and we have no message. We have no message, right? If we focus on the wrong things, we have no message.

So my insensitivity, please don't mask my moving forward and speaking about godly things as insensitivity because it's not to me. It's not because what we still need is Christ. We need to dig into Christ no matter what we go through. We need to stand on Christ no matter what we experience. Our nation needs to turn to Christ no matter what we experience as a nation. And anybody that tells you it's less than that is insensitive and is blind. Because man Christ is the answer and he is the hope. And there's no deviating from that if you look at the Word of God. If you want your own opinions, if you want your own emotions, if you want your own ways, you can dig into whatever you want to.

But if you look at the Word of God, it continually takes us back to faith in Jesus Christ as the hope of the world. It was Charlie's faith and his hope and people lot him for that. But man, so easily sometimes people look at him go, well, that was his political views or his political, no, that's not what it was. So, man, if you're struggling with some of that stuff, you're struggling with those questions, and know that you should be struggling toward Christ, toward Christ, not toward the world, not toward worldly answers, not toward politics, not toward things that you can fix, but toward Jesus. He's the answer, He always has been. So as we read the Word of God this morning, I encourage you to listen to the Word of God and let the Word of God speak powerfully.

So first Timothy, chapter 1, verse 12. I give thanks to Christ Jesus our Lord who has strengthened me because he considered me faithful, appointing me to the ministry. Even though I was formerly a blasphemer, a persecutor and an arrogant man, but I received mercy because I acted out of ignorance and unbelief. And the grace of our Lord overflowed along with the faith and love that are in Christ Jesus. This saying is trustworthy and deserving of full acceptance Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners, and I'm the worst of them. But I received mercy for this reason. So that in me, the worst of them, Christ Jesus might demonstrate his extraordinary patience as an example to those who would believe in him for eternal life,

Not to the King eternal, immortal, invisible, the only God, be honor and glory forever and ever, amen. Let's pray.

Lord, I'm thankful today that we have a Savior. We have a King. We have one that loves us

With an unconditional, never-ceasing love. Lord, you're the best thing. that I have ever known. You are the best thing that this church has ever known. You are the best thing that our nation has ever known. And you're the best thing this world has ever known because you made it all. You created it all.

And you love us. And there is no greater demonstration of your love than Christ Jesus, the Son of God. willingly walking to the cross and becoming the sacrifice for our sins, taking the punishment we deserve and rising from the dead. You are worthy of worship. And Lord, I know people are confused today. I know the world doesn't make sense today. I know, Lord God, there's broken hearts today. I know there are people that are reeling under the evil and the confusion and the mixed messages that they hear every day from their televisions or their computers or their radios or their phones. So much, Lord God, in this world. And it doesn't make sense. It doesn't point to hope.

It just brings more anxieties, more hurt, more death. But in you, Lord Jesus, there is hope. and there is life, and there is life eternal. And I pray that as we look into your word today, you draw us to Christ, and may you be worshiped. In Jesus name I pray, amen.

So we talked last week, started going through this book last week, and we talked about the fact that, that literally, The apostle Paul was led by the Holy Spirit to write this letter according to chapter 3, verse 15, so that he would teach people how to conduct themselves in God's household, which is the church of living God. So in other words, he wrote this letter for us to know how we're to conduct ourselves within the body of Christ, and really to conduct ourselves also in the world as we walk as the body of Christ. And that's highly important to us. Because again, we have

People tugging at us from every direction, but how we should live and what we should focus on and what we should think about and what should be our securities and what should we major on and what should we take stances on? I mean, we have people calling us to every kind of different direction that you could find and yet Christ has a purpose for his church. His church, if you are a Christian, you're a part of the church universal, but you're also to be a part of a local church. It's the way the Bible teaches it, right? And so in that local church, then God Christ Jesus is the head of that church. You and I are His body.

He puts us in a church so that we will be His witnesses in this world, so that we will be the church. It stands apart from the world, unique from the world, completely sanctified from the world. We're not to be in the world and of the world. It says we are to be in the world but not of the world. We're to be different. We're to be a peculiar people. We actually have a different speech. We're actually have a different focus. We're actually have a different love. We are to learn how to conduct ourselves within the church. That's what believers do. Even though today Man is so fashionable to be independent believers, right? I'm a Christian.

I don't need to be a part of a church. I'm a Christian. I don't need to worship together as a church. I'm a Christian. I don't need to serve in the church. Those things are not found in God's Word. They're not taught in God's Word. They're contrary to God's Word. God has a purpose for His church and she's a powerful, powerful church, a powerful purpose. But man, when we live our lives, separate of that church, then man, the world, They don't see Christ like they could. And so he's written this letter for us to learn how to conduct ourselves within the body of Christ, within the church, and the thing he starts with, it may not be the most important thing, but it's obviously something really important to the Lord because he starts with dealing

With false teachers. He tells Timothy, I left you in Ephesus, so you would encourage men not to teach false doctrine, right? Because false doctrine divides the church. Matter of fact, false doctrine destroys everything. You get false doctrine going and you'll divide your family. You'll divide your marriage. You won't know how to live for Christ within your local community. I mean, you get false doctrine and you can end up anywhere you want to, and there's all kinds of false doctrines out there today that take away from Jesus Christ. True doctrine leads to worship of Jesus Christ. False doctrine leads to worship of man and man made ways, but not Christ. And he tells us, I won't go through the whole

Passage, but he tells him not to let people teach false doctrine. They're not to pay attention to myths or endless genealogies. They're not to pay attention to the things of the world. They're not to pay attention to the things that would build up men. They're not to pay attention to these things that even the law some claim to be teachers of law He says but they don't know what they're saying They don't know that they're calling people to I mean teachers of the law They say I know that this is what God says about how you're supposed to live and how you're supposed to please God on your own But even that kind of teaching takes away from Christ to be teachers of the law without teachers of the gospel lead people to self-righteousness and condemnation and lead them to death because he says the law wasn't written for righteous people, but for sinners.

And he lists off a bunch of sins that he uses as an example. And then he finishes, as we get ready for our passes this morning, and he says, and that conforms to the gospel concerning the glory of the blessed God, which was entrusted to me. In other words, he's teaching that man, this law is not what the gospel is. He's teaching that these false doctrines are not what we're doing. We're focused on. We're to oppose them. We're not to allow them to be a part of the church. We're to stand for what is true because these truths about Christ and these truths, even about the law, the law pointing to sinners as being sinful,

Conforms to the gospel. The gospel says that there's good news for sinners. The gospel says that all of us have fallen short of the glory of God. The gospel says that Jesus Christ died for us all. The good news is the gospel. And he says that conforms to this gospel concerning the glory of the blessed God. And I love that, right? The gospel conforms to the glory of the blessed God. We have a God who saves. We have a gospel that's good news. We have something that is offered to the world in the face of all the evil that we see in this world that is good for every single man and woman and boy and girl, every single one, Paul says.

And then he says, and I love this, which was entrusted to me. So the apostle Paul is telling Timothy, this is where you stand, point them to the gospel, men, the law conforms to the gospel, making people see their sin. He says, but this gospel, it was entrusted to me. It's an amazing gospel. And I'm sure he would say to Timothy, it's an amazing gospel you've been entrusted with as well, right? But then we find this unique response in this passage that we see today. because the Apostle Paul says, I give thanks to Christ Jesus our Lord, who has strengthened me because he considered me faithful appointing me to the ministry. Now, that is a crazy verse.

We talked about it last week. I mean, of all the things you would have thought that this letter would start with, you wouldn't have thought he was gonna talk about false doctrine, right? Because most of the time in the church today, we think if you're gonna associate with one another and learn how to walk together as the body of Christ, you're gonna talk about love first, or maybe you're gonna talk about forgiveness, or maybe you're gonna talk about patience, or maybe you're gonna talk about righteousness. Those are big things for us, not false doctrine.

But if you don't get the doctrine right, you don't get the other things right. And so then we come down here and you would have thought that the apostle Paul, you know, he might just start thanking God for some other things like the word of God and truth and those kinds of things. But Stacey says, I give thanks to Christ Jesus our Lord who has strengthened me. Now the first thing he says is, God has strengthened me. Strengthened me for what? Well, he says because he considered me faithful. Faithful for what?

And then he says, appointing me to the ministry. That's a crazy verse. Because today it's pretty out there and pretty common for believers to be frustrated, discouraged, overwhelmed, even angered over the fact that God would call us to serve Him. It's pretty common. People don't really wanna serve Jesus. We've talked about this before. I mean, many, many Christians today, and not all, for sure, not all, but many Christians are just consumer Christians. They just, what has the church got for me? What can I get from the church? If you don't have what I want, I'll go find a church that has what I want. It's not really about serving. It's not really about worshiping. It's not really about Christ being our Lord and our Savior.

It's about me, me, me, me. But really there's a revelation in that confession that ought to be awfully humbling to us. And the revelation in that confession that I go to church to get what I can get out of it, I don't go to church to serve. The revelation in that is, I

Don't really love Jesus. enough to actually appreciate what he's done for me in order to then serve him joyfully.

That's a pretty tough revelation, but that's true. Me, for most of us, Right, for most of us, we believe the church has no influence on our life, should have no authority in our life, should have no sane in our life, should have no calling in our life, there's no obligation to the church, there's no obligation to Jesus. I'm gonna do it my way, I'm gonna do it when I want to. I'm gonna fit God into my schedule when I can, when I can't, then man, the church isn't me talking to me about serving, there should be no sacrifice. Anybody with me yet this morning?

Is anybody with me? And again, it's not so much about this conviction of not serving, it's this conviction about who is Christ in our life, who is Christ in our life. The apostle Paul says, the truth of the gospel is a amazing truth whereby after receiving Christ as Lord and Savior, I'm now thanking him, joyfully thanking him that first of all, he would even consider me faithful, that he would strengthen me in the ministry, and that he would appoint me to the ministry. Amen. The apostle Paul, his ministry's not been cheap and it's not been easy. Right? The apostle Paul has been through some stuff. He's been arrested many times. He's been beaten many times.

He's been stoned to what they thought was death once. He's been in danger from Gentiles and danger from his own people and danger he says from wild animals. He spent the night in the deep. I mean, this guy is serving Jesus at a high, crazy high level and thanking God that God would appoint him to that kind of ministry. What that means is that Jesus

Is important to him and he loves him, right? And he explains that to us as we go through this passage. In verse 13 he says, even though I was formerly a blasphemer, a persecutor and an arrogant man. But I received mercy because I acted out of ignorance and unbelief and the grace of our Lord overflowed along with the faith and the love that are in Christ Jesus. So now we see why Paul is so thankful. Paul's so thankful because he knows who he was when Christ revealed himself to him. He knows what he was when Christ saved him. You talk about a need for us today, a need for us to realize who we really were without Christ and sometimes to realize even who we are, in Christ sometimes, right?

Paul says, I'm thanking Jesus for strengthening me, counting me faithful, and for appointing me the ministry because this is who I was. I was formerly a blasphemer. Blasphemy is simply saying lies about God. speaking against God arrogantly. What was the apostle Paul saying that was so blasphemous before he came to know Christ? Well, it's not hard to figure out. He did not believe that Jesus was God. He did not believe that Jesus was the Son of God. He did not believe that Jesus was the Messiah that had come. He did not believe that Jesus was sinful. He did not believe that Jesus died for the sins of the world. And so everything he was saying was as this guy is not true.

He's not God. He's not the Savior. You shouldn't believe in him. It's blasphemy. It was blasphemy. That's pretty, it's a pretty rancid sin to speak against God. He says that I was a persecutor and the apostle Paul not only did he speak blasphemy, but he was a persecutor of the church.

If you're reading chapter 7 of Acts, Here's the apostle Paul, right? These guys are coming after Stephen, one of the first deacons. And Stephen is standing for the truth about Jesus Christ and giving them a history of what Israel had done in rebellion to God and now they crucified the Messiah.

And they get so angry at him that they're gonna pick up stones to kill Stephen and they did. The Bible says that there was a young man named Saul who later became Paul, standing there and they laid their cloaks at his feet and he was saying, testifying, kill him.

Kill him. He deserves to die because he believes in Jesus. And then he went about, Book of Acts says, going house to house, having men and women in the way, Christians arrested, thrown in jail and even some killed. And if that weren't enough, when he was on his way to Damascus later on with papers in his hands saying he had the right to arrest Christians in Damascus and bring them back to Jerusalem, have them put in prison or killed again. That's when he was saved. He was a persecutor, not only of the church, but of Christ Jesus. And he says in an arrogant man, Then arrogant man, all that literally means could mean violent aggressor, but that arrogance literally means he was an insolent,

Arrogant man, persecuting people for the wrong reasons unapologetically. Is that a pretty picture? Is that a pretty picture of a man? It's not a pretty picture. And can you imagine on that road to Damascus, when he's walking there, persecuting the church in his arrogance, blaspheming about Christ along the way and

A bright light shones from heaven. He and his two companions follow the ground and Saul hears from heaven, Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting me? And of course he says, well, who are you, Lord?

And the voice says, I am Jesus, whom you're persecuting. Can you imagine? Do you think at that moment this man who's now thanking Jesus for strengthening him and making him faithful and pointing into this. You think that man at that time wasn't filled with the recognition that he was a filthy sinner? You think he wasn't? You think he was told some sort of casual truth by that savior saying to him, you're persecuting me, the living God, the King of Kings, the Lord of Lawrence, you're persecuting me,

I mean, here's the truth. Paul is like, I was an utter sinner. And you and I today, man, one of the scary things about the church today is that even believers don't want us to talk about sin. They don't want to talk about sin. They want people to get up and they want people to be sensitive and to help us with our struggles. I hope the gospel helps you with your struggles. It's the only thing that will.

They want us to build them up and be nice to them. and not call them sinners, tell them it's okay to be weak and sinful, it's okay to fall short, it's okay because everybody does it, so it's okay to live like that, it's okay to have opinions, it's okay to have things that are contrary to God's way, they want people, they want churches to do that, but when we do that,

What we refuse to do is to show you the beauty of a savior. The beauty of a savior is that he saves sinners. Not little sinners, capital L, or capital S, not capital L for little, capital S sinners. It's hard to get old. Real sinners. real sinners who recognize a holy God, real sinners who recognize they've persecuted the living Savior, real sinners who realize as a real God watching their lives and they're accountable to that real God and they're in trouble because of their sins, trouble.

They've offended the living God. And then we, we as Christians today, I know it's unpopular to be a Christian today, Shoot it's unpopular in the church to be a Christian today. It's harder today to be a Christian than it's ever been before, even in the church. Everything's scrutinized today. Everything's criticized today, right? Because it's fashionable in our society to criticize everything today. So if you don't do it the way they want you to do it, they criticize you. If you don't say it the way they want them to say it, they criticize you. They load you down and tell you you better conform, you better fit in, you better do this, even in the church today.

I mean, it's everywhere. But the truth be known as if the gospel is worth hearing. And the gospel is worth sharing. And we ought to be amazed at the fact that the Lord Jesus Christ would love us enough to save us to the place that He would then call us to serve Him. We ought to be amazed by that. Who would have thought that a sinner like me And we're gonna talk about this in a minute, man. I am not a casual sinner. I've never been a casual sinner. I've even had people tell me before pastor, when you talk about that, it makes us uncomfortable. Don't tell us what a sinner you are. What else do I say to you?

What else would I say to you? I know this living God that courses through my body who saved me from my wretched self. I'm supposed to tell you, I'm not. Are you supposed to tell me you're not? What a ridiculous lie. And how demeaning it is to our savior. Man, here's the apostle Paul saying, I was a blasphemer, I was a persecutor, I was an arrogant man, but I received mercy because I acted in ignorance and unbelief.

All he's saying is what the rest of us should say. I didn't know, Lord, I didn't know. I didn't know who you were till you showed me who you were on that road to Damascus. I didn't know I was sitting against you. I didn't know I wasn't believing in you. I didn't know. I was acting in this foolishness of manliness. I was acting in this foolishness of the flesh. I was like the world who does not know Jesus Christ. I was that guy. But I receive mercy. Mercy simply means when God gives you what you don't deserve. I receive mercy and that Christ came to me. Do you not know that no one comes to the Father and

Let it come to Jesus unless the Father draws him? No one. In other words, if you're saved here this morning, You've been given the mercy of God revealing Himself to you through His Son, Jesus Christ. That's a miracle in itself. You coming to know Jesus, just throw, coming to know Jesus. Man, that was because God the Father revealed the truth about Jesus to this little guy. And that little guy went, well, yep, I'm a sinner, and it's amazing that Jesus died for me, and I want to believe in Him. which is what every single sane person on earth ought to do in response to the gospel is trust Him. There is nothing better on earth than the gospel.

So Paul says, man, not only did I receive mercy because I acted out of ignorance, but the grace of our Lord overflowing along with faith and love that are in Christ. Apostle Paul says, why wouldn't I be thanking Christ Jesus? Not only did I receive mercy in Christ Jesus from God, but the grace of God overflowed. It overflowed. And some of us go, well man, when's God's grace going to overflow on me? Well, God's grace overflowed on you when you were saved. If you're saved, God's grace just washed over you. He gave you all that you did not deserve. Then, read your scriptures. The Bible says in Ephesians chapter one that in Christ we've been given every blessing in the heavenly places, every one.

It tells us that we've been seated in Christ in the heavenly places in Ephesians chapter 2. And it tells us that we have all these blessings that we have an inheritance which is imperishable and undefiled and kept for us by God until the day of our salvation. First Peter chapter 1. You think we've been given some grace? Who's been giving grace here today? Who's grace has overflowed in your life? Man, you and I ought to be thanking Jesus Christ every day. His grace is just overflowing in us every day, but so often we

Get caught up in the world, don't we? Anybody get caught up in the world? How many of you spend your days spending hours scrolling through things on the internet? How many of you spend hours watching TV, even watching the news? You know, it's always interesting to me when I go to somebody's house and they've got some news channel on them. They go, I watch this channel all day long.

Wow. Wow. Good news. Not so great. Not so great, right? Because those news channels and those things you're scrolling over, they don't show you the grace of God. It's like they suck the grace of God right out of you. Those things are about telling you about all the things that twist and destroy and rebel against God, the things that tear us up, the bad news. And I know some of you are going to go, Pastor Mike, there's really bad news in this world, but sure is, it's not just about Charlie Kirk, it's all over the place, it's everywhere, it's every day, I see it all the time, I hear it all the time, don't you? And so all of a sudden sometimes we just go, well, God wears your grace if

All this bad stuff is happening. God, where are you? How many times have you heard somebody say, where's God at in the middle of this chaos and death and loss? You ever heard somebody say that to you? Do you know the answer?

He's in Jesus Christ. He's in Jesus Christ. And he's pouring out his grace through Jesus Christ in salvation. That's our hope. It's not political fixes. It's not economic prosperity. It's not in greater comforts and greater eases. It's not in greater trips. All those things still fall short and they certainly do not deliver men and women from this evil world. It's all Jesus Christ. And if you have him, his grace has flowed over you. Far more than you and I could have ever deserved. And not only that, but he says, faith and love. Man, when he came to know Jesus Christ, he gave us faith. He increases our faith. He gives us love. He enables us to be what we can't be without him.

He's fantastic. The apostle Paul says, man, I'm thanking God. I'm thanking God. It strengthened me. That he considered me faithful. That he pointed me to the ministry because you know what he did in my life. He didn't know what he did in my life. And now he's let me. He's strengthened me to serve him. Man, if we knew Jesus the way the Apostle Paul knew Jesus, we'd be like busting out the seams to serve him. Because it's the greatest thing on earth. Serving Jesus is the greatest thing on earth. Telling people about Jesus is the greatest thing on earth. He's so good. See that good. See that good to you. Or see this heavy-handed Lord that doesn't have the right to you.

This is not heavy-handed. He's not heavy-handed. He's gracious. He's merciful. He's loving. He's strong. He's compassionate. He's sufficient. He is. Well, he goes on. I want a cool passage, man. He says, verse 15, this saying is trustworthy and deserving of full acceptance. Christ Jesus came into the world of safe sinners, and I am the worst of them. But I received mercy for this reason, so that in me the worst of them, Christ Jesus might demonstrate his extraordinary patience as an example to those who would believe in him for eternal life.

Man, he just goes on and on. I mean, here he is telling Timothy, man, I'm thrilled. I'm thanking the Lord because I've been given this gift of ministry because I was a sinner and God saved me. He poured out mercy and grace and love of faith on me. But then he says to Timothy, now just a minute, let's not miss something. It's like he says, Timothy, I want you to really pay attention to this.

If you're gonna deal with false doctrines, if you're gonna teach men and women how to walk and to associate within the body of Christ, within the church, you gotta lock this down, Timothy. This is the thing. He says, Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners.

Man, church. of all the things that we can't forget, of all the things that we can't get away from, of all the things that we ought to be celebrating, of all the things that we need to know every day. Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners. Anybody say, Hallelujah with me? I know we're Baptist, we're not supposed to do that.

But you know, start up your foot, wink and eye, twitch, wake up. I don't know. Hallelujah. Christ Jesus came into this world to save sinners. Now, I know some of us don't think we were. Now, I was love it when I tell people, men, everyone's a stinkin' sinner, and they're like, you know, I've saved not as a kid.

Oh, that exempts you, I see. And they'll say, you know, we weren't that bad. I told the story in the first one, service, I'll tell it today, you know? I've got grandkids. They're a different level. They're just a different level. They're not nearly as bad as my kids were. They aren't. Partly because they don't live with me 24-7, which makes it easier. Partly because they're way cuter. They're way sweeter. They're more precious to me. They're amazing. I'm not kidding. I love my grandkids. But what's really not fair to me is that I had seven. The second was a girl. That was pretty amazing. But then I had this string of boys. And then the last one so far.

I'm hoping for more. The last one so far is a little girl. And she is adorable. And she loves me. And you guys don't think that's true. It's true. I stopped by to get her dad the other day to bring him to a meeting. He wasn't ready yet, so I go inside. She walks over, holds her hands up. I pick her up. She lays her head on my shoulder and I say to her dad, is she tired? Nope. She's just loving her grandpa. And oh, my goodness. I'm like, thank you, Lord. If no one else in the world loves me, then no, my wife doesn't. No, my kids do, but I mean, really, love me.

Annalise loves me. And to me, she could do no wrong. She's not going to do much wrong. But then I hear stories of my granddaughter. In our nursery, in the church, right over there. Apparently, she pushes them down, other kids. Apparently, she bit somebody the other day. My granddaughter. My sweet, precious baby girl who loves, she owns me. But apparently, if you're not grandpa, you best stay out of her way.

You best leave her toys alone and you best stand down. I mean she's got three brothers, older brothers so okay, she needs a friend herself at home but, whoa, my granddaughter isn't saved yet and apparently she's a sinner and a pretty good one, right? And the apostle Paul says, man, here's a trustworthy statement that Jesus Christ came into the world to save sinners. And he said, and I'm the worst. I'm the worst, the worst sinner.

Can you believe that? A guide that if you read Philippians chapter three said, man, I was born in the right nation. I was born in the right tribe. I was circumcised on the right day, on the eighth day, man of righteousness. According to the law, I was found blameless. He was a pretty stinkin' good guy. He was misguided. He didn't believe in Jesus, but he was a really good guy. But when he saw Christ, and he realized who he was in his sin. He said, I'm the worst, the worst sinner. You and I, you and I should stand beside the apostle Paul. I'm probably ahead of him. How could he be a worst sinner than me?

I don't know anybody that's a worst sinner than me. Why do I have thoughts? Why am I impatient? Why am I overbearing? Why do I struggle to be as loving as I want to be? Why can't I understand people all the time? Why can't I give myself the way I want to? Why can't I be faithful? Why can't I? Why? Someone's sticking center. But Christ came into this world to save sinners.

Anybody want to say, Hallelujah again? We're not saved. We're not saved because we're good. We're not saved because we're even partway good. We're sinners. And though we don't like to hear that, and I certainly don't like to see that in myself, I'm still blown away by my Savior. He's the good one. He's the amazing one. He's why we ought to be thankful. It's not about us. It's about him. It's almost going to be about him. And we need him. And we should be grateful every day for who he is. When the Apostle Paul says, but I receive mercy for this reason that in me the worst of them, Christ Jesus might demonstrate his extraordinary patience as an example of those who would believe in him for eternal life.

Man, the Apostle Paul even understood why Christ saved him, though he was the worst of them. He understood that he saved that sinner, the Apostle Paul, and the reason that he saved me was to demonstrate his extraordinary patience with sinners. Do you understand? This is about what God has done for us. The church needs to be about what God has done for us. The church needs to be about what Christ has done for us. Now one of my favorite verses in the scriptures, Romans 5.8, I quote it quite a bit, but God demonstrates His own love toward us in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. That's a powerful, powerful statement. You want to know whether God loves you or not.

You have to look at Christ and see the cross and it's sacrifice that He made for us. But know this, that His love for us also demonstrates His patience toward us. Second Peter, 389 says, dear friends, don't overlook this one fact. With the Lord one day is like a thousand years and a thousand years like one day. The Lord does not delay his promise as some understand delay, but is patient with you, not wanting any to perish, but all to come to repentance. Do you think Jesus couldn't have judged us the first time we sinned? Do you think he couldn't have judged us the 10th time we sinned or the 10,000th time we sinned? Do you think he was somehow missing?

How we would offend him? How we would dishonor him? How we would rebel? You think he was missing that? No. is patiently waiting, patiently moving, not desiring that anyone should perish. So when we come to know Him is Lord and Savior, man, we have to look at ourselves and go, do you see the patience of God, the extraordinary patience of God in that He would wait for me and not judge me, in that He would wait to bring me to the truth of Jesus Christ and save me instead of condemning me? What a glorious God. I mean, here we are. If you're a believer here today, man, you should be thrilled that Jesus would save you.

You should be thrilled that Jesus would call you the ministry. And you should be thrilled that he was patient with you because, oh my Lord, none of us deserve it. Not a one. And man, the real gospel. See, this passage is about the real gospel. The first part was about false doctrine. This part is about what happens when you preach the real doctrine of salvation. The real doctrine of salvation does expose us to what we really are. We really are sinners, undeserving, wretched before a holy God. And the real gospel says,

But he loves us. And he said his son to die for us. He's been patient with us. And he wants to give us life. That's the gospel. And it's powerful. And there isn't anything on earth that's better news than that. So the Apostle Paul, he finishes this by saying, now to the king eternal, immortable, invisible, the one that God, the only God, be honor and glory forever and ever, amen. You see, that's what the real gospel leads to. The real gospel leads to seeing this God, now to the king. One king, one king, king of kings, Lord of lords, now to the king, the king, who rules over all things, Paul says, now to you, king, eternal.

Thorn who has no beginning, no end. Thorn who's hard to wrap your mind around, not to that God who has always been and always will be not to him, immortal. Of course, if you're forever and forever, then death has no play in you. Immortality is who you are, now to the immortal invisible God. The one you can't see and yet is in everything and controls everything. It holds everything together to that God, the only God. Isn't that a great description? Isn't that a great verse? How many of you got that verse memorized? You should. If you don't have a memorized, you should memorize it. There ought to be something you do every morning. By the way, I haven't got a memorized.

I need to work on it. You should get up every morning and go now to the King eternal, immortal, invisible, the only God. Lord, to you, be honor. To you, be glory forever and ever. Amen. Amen. Honor. Are you kidding me? Honor. When you think about who God is and what he's done for sinners, the only way to honor him is to get as low as you possibly can and say, Lord, what am I? And who am I that you would love me? What am I? Who am I that you would send your son for me? What am I and who am I that you would save me? What am I? Who am I that you would call me into the ministry that you would let me serve you and walk with you?

What am I? Who am I Lord? You deserve all the honor. He's weighty. He's impressive. He's not like us. He made us. He's worthy. Not only is he worthy of honor, but he's worthy of glory. He deserve all the praise you can give him. He deserves all the glory and honor we could give him. And then Paul says, forever and ever, never ending, never ending, never ending, never ending.

And that's who we ought to be as a church, shouldn't we? You want to know how to conduct ourselves in the household of God? We should conduct ourselves in the gospel, in the good news of Jesus Christ. We should conduct ourselves in thanksgiving for what Jesus Christ has done for us. We should conduct ourselves then in his pattern. in grace and in mercy and in love for one another, we should conduct ourselves in the true doctrine of what the Bible teaches of a glorious Savior who despite our wretched sin

Gave his life anyway. So how about it? Now to the king, is it to the king for our lives?

To the King eternal. Is that who we're thankful for? And all that he's done for us, wretched sinners, to the King eternal, immortal, invisible, the only God. Is that where our lives are for? Are they to Him? Are they to Him?

Are you caught up in the world and God has lessened in your eyes? and the world has risen in your eyes. I focused on the things that don't answer your broken heart. They don't answer your need for peace. They don't answer your need for life. They don't answer your need for love. Are you focused on those of the things you're looking to to comfort you? Are those of the things you're looking to to save you?

They're not enough. They're not enough. It's the King, the immortal one, the eternal one, the invisible one, the only God, the Savior Jesus Christ. He's the only one that saves.

He's the only one worthy of worship. Believer. Are you thankful the day? I don't mean a little thankful. I mean, thankful, Lord Jesus, He would save me and call me back at the be yours and serve you. Are you thankful? Because if you're not, would you return to Christ? Would you return? Would you return to Him and see Him as He is? Would you return to Him and be thankful? Would you return to Him and be renewed in His goodness and His love and His grace and His mercy that He's poured out on you and overflowed in your life? Would you return to Him?

Matthew, you're here and you've never trusted Jesus. Would you understand the goodness of this that I've shared with you today, the good news? I have nothing. I have nothing that I could share with you that's better than this, not one thing. The very best thing for you is Christ, his death for your sins, his resurrection and victory over your sins and his invitation.

To believe, to confess him as Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, the confession that would lead you to salvation with your trusting today. Let's pray. Thank you, Lord, for your word, but thank you, Lord, for the Savior it points us to. You are the king, eternal,

Immortal, invisible, the only God to you, belong all honor and all glory forever and ever. Amen. May you draw us to you. May we be thankful for what you've done. May the lost be saved today. Then we'll give you praise for it all. Then we pray as you