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Colin Smith: If we have really understood grace in the present tense, it will mean that the message of our church is not "Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners like you." That will not be the message. What will be the message? It will be "Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners like me. Like us."

Steve Hiller: Welcome to Open the Bible with Pastor Colin Smith. Colin, sounds like as we take a look at grace today, we see that grace is more than just the forgiveness of sins at the moment of salvation.

Colin Smith: Oh, thank God for that, because we live in the knowledge of God’s grace. I mean, I’m not living a perfect Christian life today. None of us are or ever will. We’re always dependent upon the grace of God. And when we arrive on the shores of heaven, we’re going to arrive there by His grace. And His grace covers us right throughout our entire Christian lives. This is what it means to be in the Lord Jesus Christ.

And I’ve been so struck by the way in which Paul puts this. He says in 1 Timothy chapter 1 and verse 15, "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." Now, it didn’t say "I was the foremost." He’s not just saying, "I used to be a terrible person who needed God’s grace, but now I’m a wonderful apostle and so you should have great respect."

No, there’s great humility here. He’s saying, "I live every day in dependence upon the grace of God." And I think when we grasp that that’s the reality of our own lives, it gives a winsomeness about the way that we try to reach out to others. Christians are not looking down our noses at other people as if they were beneath us. What we’re saying is that we live in the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ every day, and the grace that we live in is grace that is offered to you as well.

Steve Hiller: Well, let’s look at that together. We’re in the book of 1 Timothy, chapter 1, verses 12 to 20 as we continue a message called Gospel Salvation. Here is Pastor Colin.

Colin Smith: There was an anger in Paul. It was churning. There was a conflict that was going on inside him. His conscience was troubling him, and what happened was it spilled out in bringing injury into the lives of people God had placed around him. And he says, "I’ve wounded other people. I own it."

Isn’t this a marvelous thing? Here is a man who is not afraid to face his past sins. See, that’s what the gospel does. It produces honesty. It gets us out of denial. It gets us out of hiding from the past. It enables a man or a woman to face the truth and to stop making excuses.

Now, folks, when you remember your sins, here’s the really big thing. Please remember them redemptively. If you’re taking notes, triple underline as many times as you want the word "redemptively." Because here’s what will happen. We need to remember our sins. We need to remember that we are sinners, otherwise we will never have any joy in Christ and faith will always be a vague kind of thing that will be dull and boring to us.

But as soon as you do remember your sins, Satan will be at your elbow and he’ll say, "Yes, indeed," and he will try to bring you into defeat. Actually, that may well happen for some of us when we’re in church. Do you find sometimes that your own sins come to your mind in church more than other times? That your own failures live in your memory, perhaps when you’re lying on bed at night and you can't sleep?

We need to remember our sins redemptively. Listen: the Lord Jesus Christ did not come into the world and hang on a cross to remove the condemnation of God from you simply so that you could live under a new condemnation that you impose on yourself. There is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. You say, "Okay, well, now how do I do this? You're saying I've to remember my sins but I'm to remember them redemptively." Here's how Paul does it.

He names his sins and then in verse 13 he says, "But I received what? Mercy." In other words, he uses the memory of his sins to magnify or to expand his grasp of the mercy of God. And when you do that, you will be brought into Christ’s exalting joy. He’s remembering his sins not to come into a kind of self-loathing. He’s remembering his sins because in this way he magnifies the mercy of God. And what otherwise would seem distant and remote from him, lives for him when he thinks of his own sins and the mercy of God towards him in Jesus Christ.

And notice he says, "I was once a blasphemer," but praise God he’s saying as it were, "not now. I was shown mercy. The redeeming work of Jesus Christ has come into my life." And not only does the remembering of his sins lead him to magnify God’s mercy, but also to a greater appreciation of God’s patience. Verse 16: "I was shown mercy so that in me, the worst of sinners, Christ Jesus might display His unlimited patience as an example for those who would believe on Him and receive eternal life."

See, Paul is using his testimony here to encourage the church. Are you praying for someone right now who is rock hard against the gospel, utterly resistant? Well, Paul’s saying in his testimony, "Look at me. Look at how rock-hard resistant I was, and God never gave up on me. He displays in me His unlimited patience."

Friends, the more you see clearly your own sins, the more you will magnify the mercy of God and the more you will appreciate His extraordinary patience with you. And the more you will be encouraged to believe in His ability to transform the lives of other people as well. So, remember your sins redemptively. Let the memory of your own sins be something that leads you to thankfulness because it magnifies God’s mercy and because it shows to you His unlimited patience towards you. You will not find your faith dull and boring and lifeless when you’re here. This will be leading you into Paul’s extraordinary joy.

But I want you to see there’s a second thing here. As you’re writing your testimony, remember your sins redemptively. Second: affirm God’s grace thankfully. Now that’s verse 14. Affirm God’s grace thankfully. See, faith sees not only our failures but also God’s grace. And notice how Paul puts it here. He says, verse 14, "The grace of our Lord was poured out on me abundantly." Here’s what God has done. The grace of the Lord Jesus has been poured out on me abundantly.

Now, I want you to notice here something very important. Never think of God’s grace simply as a past experience, but always as a present reality in your life. I think there are some Christians who tend to think of grace being poured out on them 25 years ago when they made a decision to follow Christ and my sins were forgiven then, but it’s all past. That’s why you’re finding things dull and boring now, because you’re not living in a sense of the continuing grace and mercy of God being poured into your life at this very moment.

Paul clearly has it in the present tense because if you look back in verse 15, you’ll see what he says. Will you look at it closely with me? "Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners of whom I was the worst." Is that what he says? Is that what he says? Is it past tense? Say it with me then: "Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners of whom," say it with me, "I am the worst." Present tense!

So this grace that has been poured into my life is being poured into my life right now. And the standing that I have with God, the peace that I have with God is not because of some righteousness that has been developed in me in the last week or the last month or the last 5 or 10 years. It is because of the righteousness of Christ that covers me and clothes me now. "Of whom I am the worst." Is Paul really serious? Present tense? The apostle?

John Stott, I think, is really helpful on this. Let me read a quote that I found useful. He says—he’s stating the obvious here—"Paul had not investigated the sinful and criminal records of all the inhabitants of the world, carefully compared himself with them, and then concluded that he was worst than them all." Obvious? Okay. Then Stott says this: "The truth is rather that when we are convicted of sin by the Holy Spirit, an immediate result is that we give up all such comparisons." That’s helpful.

Paul was so vividly aware of his own sins—present tense remember—that he could not conceive that anybody could be worse. This is the language of every sinner whose conscience has been awakened by the Holy Spirit. Now, that is profoundly helpful. And here’s what it means, folks. If we have really understood grace in the present tense, it will mean that the message of our church is not "Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners like you." That will not be the message.

What will be the message? It will be "Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners like me. Like us." You’ve maybe been in a church that sounded like, "Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners like you. You get your life sorted out." But if we have really grasped the gospel and if it is front and center of the life of the church, there will be a humility and a grace that says, "Christ Jesus has come into the world to save sinners like me, like us. And what we have found in Him, we would long for you to find in Him also."

Do you see how that would shape even the culture of a family in the way parents seek to woo children into the gospel? Not with a condemning spirit about you, but "Son, your dad too needs grace from the Lord Jesus Christ and stands only in grace even now. Not in righteousness that is our own, but that our righteousness is in Him." Right now you have peace with God because grace is being poured out on you in Jesus Christ.

Notice grace never comes singly as it were. Grace is poured out abundantly along with the faith and love that are in Christ Jesus. Where did Paul’s faith come from? He says in this very passage that he was acting as one who was resistant to Christ out of unbelief. So where in the world did his faith come from? Well, his faith didn’t come from anywhere in the world. His faith came from Christ!

Grace is being poured out along with the faith that is in Jesus Christ. This is Ephesians 2:8. "It is by grace that you have been saved through faith, and that is not of yourselves, it is the gift of God." It wasn’t that Paul had an unbelieving heart and he rummaged around in the unbelieving heart and suddenly came up with faith. How could that happen? No. "Faith was the gift of God to me," he says. "The redeeming gift of God. It’s His grace has been poured out so that now I’ve come to the place where I trust Christ. And I thank Him for the fact that that faith is His gift to me even now." And with it, love has been poured out.

How does love get into the heart of an angry, violent man? Here’s a man who’s in the city and he’s pursuing all kinds of acts of violence. How does love come into his heart? By rummaging around it? No, it’s not there! Paul says, "Here’s what has happened to me. The love that is in Jesus Christ has been poured into me, poured out upon me." That’s what’s been life-transforming. That’s why the gospel is good news. That’s why it can do what good advice never can.

So look at the grace of God in your life. Ask the question: how is it that you came to trust Christ? How is it that today you have come to love Christ? What has happened? The grace of God has been poured out on you abundantly along with the faith and love that are in Christ Jesus. And when you see that, you’ll be led into Christ’s exalting joy. Faith affirms what God has done and what He is doing with thanksgiving.

Remember a King David put it in the Old Testament: "Who am I and what is my family that you should have brought me so far," he says. Or how Paul puts it in the New Testament: "It is by the grace of God that I am what I am, and His grace to me has not been without effect." I live in this grace. It’s not simply out there. It’s come to be in here. It has reached me. Been poured out into me.

So remember your sins redemptively and affirm God’s grace thankfully. That’ll lead you into God-exalting joy. Here’s the last thing very briefly: pursue your calling joyfully. See, this is the completion of the transformation of the gospel. I’m a sinner, that helps me to see God’s mercy and patience and leads me into joy. His grace has reached me, been poured out on me abundantly along with faith and love that are in Christ Jesus. But now what’s happening? Now I pursue with joy the work that He has called me to do. And you have that in verse 12 where Paul says, "I thank Christ Jesus our Lord who has given me strength, that He considered me faithful, appointing me to His service."

Now, the evidence of your testimony will be seen in the way that you invest your life. The evidence of your testimony will be seen in the way that you invest your life. And Paul having—living in this grace—he now sees serving the Lord Jesus Christ as the great privilege of his life, living for Christ as the joy of his life. He says, "He appointed me to His service." It’s like he can never get over this. "I resisted Christ. I injured Christian people. And here now God has given me the privilege of being involved in His redeeming work in the world. He appointed me to His service. I can’t believe I get to do this."

I hope you feel that about ministry. I hope you feel as a part of this congregation as we seek to engage ourselves fully in the work of Christ. I hope that you would be saying with me, "I can hardly believe that I get the privilege, that we get the privilege to be involved in Christ’s redeeming work in the world and to live in time in a way that counts for eternity." It’s amazing that He should give that privilege to folks like us. Paul says, "I pursue that with everything that’s within me."

And he says, "Christ has considered me faithful," which doesn’t, by the way, mean he’s saying "I was worthy to be an apostle." What he’s saying is no, God views my service in Christ. See, if God was to look at my ministry or your ministry and evaluate it as it were with a clipboard and on strict justice, He’d find a thousand faults in my ministry and in yours. But thank God that’s not how He views our service. He views our service in Christ and therefore considers us faithful with all the imperfections of anything that we do.

And then Paul says to Timothy for his encouragement that God gives him strength in this service. "Here’s what I’ve found, Timothy. This is a great principle. God gives me strength as I extend myself in His work. As I give myself ever more fully to what Jesus Christ is calling me to do, I find myself energized by that." So Timothy don’t—don’t hold back. Don’t you be afraid. Give yourself, Timothy, to the work that God is calling you to do and encourage the whole congregation to give themselves to the work God is calling them to do, and we will find together that we prove Him as we extend ourselves in His service. He is faithful. He gave me strength.

Is this your testimony? Do you recognize the frame of it? Can you say today with joy, "I trust Christ. I love Christ"? Do you know what’s happening for Paul when he just can't find words really to express the wonder of what God has done for him? And he says, "Oh, to the King eternal be glory and honor forever and ever." Are you living for Christ? Are you finding joy in serving Christ? Is that fruit of your testimony clear in your life for anyone looking at it?

Are these things true of you? Or are you living in a netherworld, neither light nor dark, hardly knowing whether you are Christian at all? For if you are, I have good news for you. Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners. He came to save folks who don’t have this faith. He came to save folks who don’t have this love. He came to save folks who don’t have this joy. There is hope for you in Him. Not in a bunch of instructions, but in Him. And if He could bring such life and transformation to the apostle Paul, why in the world do you think He couldn’t do it for you?

And if you do know what Paul is talking about here and in some real measure you share his joy, can you see with me today how this is going to be transforming for the church? Can you taste the joy here of a congregation remembering our past sins redemptively, affirming God’s grace in each of our lives thankfully, pursuing God’s calling, extending ourselves joyfully, counting it the greatest privilege of our lives?

Folks, as we know more of this, we will be a church full of thanksgiving and joy and praise and gratitude. A church energized in the work of the gospel. He gave me strength. A church confident in the ability of Jesus Christ to transform the most wounded life, the most broken life, the most hardened life, the most criminal life. And most of all, we will be a church marked by doxology, by joyful praise that says from the heart, "To Him, the King eternal, immortal, invisible, to the only God be honor and glory forever and ever." And everyone who shared that joy said, amen.

Steve Hiller: Amen. You’re listening to Open the Bible with Pastor Colin Smith and the conclusion of a message called Gospel Salvation. We’ve been taking a look at 1 Timothy chapter 1, verses 12 to 20 today. And if you missed any part of this broadcast or the previous one, which was the first half of this message, you can come and listen online at openthebible.org.

Well, whether you listen to Open the Bible on the radio, online, through the podcast, or however you’ve connected, it’s all made possible through your generosity. And as you give a gift of any amount this month, we’d love to send you a copy of a book by John Stott called The Incomparable Christ. And Colin, what’s the one thing that you’d like people to take away from this book?

Colin Smith: Well, Jesus once asked His disciples, "Who do you say that I am?" And that is the most important question I think that any of us could ever answer. When you settle in your mind and your heart who Jesus is, you’ve really laid a foundation for your life and for everything else. You can rest the weight of your life, your death, and your eternity on Him.

And Peter’s answer to that question, when Jesus said, "Who do you say that I am?" Peter said, "You are the Christ." Now, this book, The Incomparable Christ, really lifts up who Jesus is, how He’s presented to us in the New Testament, how He has been understood throughout the history of the church, how He’s inspired people through the centuries, and how He will be when we see Him in His power and His glory when He returns. It’s a marvelous book. I think it’s the best book you can read about Jesus: The Incomparable Christ. And I think that people will be greatly blessed by this book.

Steve Hiller: Well, we’d love to send you a copy as our way of saying thank you for financially supporting Open the Bible this month. You can call and give over the phone. The number is 1-877-673-6365. That might be easier to remember as 1-877-OPEN-365. And our website is openthebible.org. For Pastor Colin Smith, I’m Steve Hiller. Thanks for listening, and I hope you’ll join us next time. This program is a listener-supported production of Open the Bible.

Colin Smith: This is Pastor Colin, and I want you to know about a resource that will help you in your devotional life. It’s called Open the Bible Daily. My colleague Pastor Tim Augustine takes what you hear on Open the Bible and he edits it into daily bite-sized chunks that you can read in your devotional time in less than three minutes.

Every day you’ll find a verse of scripture, a short teaching from God’s Word, and an application that you can carry with you through the day. People who use this tell us that they read it every day, and I think that if you try it, you’ll love it too. For more information, visit openthebible.org/daily. That’s openthebible.org/daily.