Where Did God Find You

[00:00:00] This audio sermon is provided by AnabaptistSermons.com and may be freely copied and distributed. You may not sell or edit this sermon. Our prayer is that you would be blessed by this ministry. Good morning. Good morning. Good morning. Good morning. Good morning, children. [00:00:31] Sorry, I forgot y'all. I was trying to get at Mervin back there. Good to be here, finally, after two weeks. It is really good to be here. Man, it is really good to be here. Missed out on some wonderful messages while I was gone. and for that I am sorry that I did. I really like, I was blessed by the devotions. [00:01:14] It goes very well with what I was thinking about. and Jared's testimony goes very well with what I was thinking about. What a nice example of what I'm going to be talking about. And was it three weeks ago, I really didn't realize, I thought I knew what I would be talking about today, but it kind of changed a little bit. [00:01:45] and then I got to looking and it kind of all goes with what has been being preached over the pulpit already and I praise the Lord for that. But I like the thoughts that Dustin brought out. Who sustains you? Who sustains us? What is God doing in your life? What is He convicting you of? What for miracles is He doing? [00:02:22] What for victories is He giving you? The title of the message today, you can turn to 1 Timothy 1, verses 12 to 17. The title is, Where Did God Find You? And I don't, I wasn't really thinking of a specific location. [00:02:54] Maybe the location, not physically, but maybe spiritually. Where did God find you? Not sure how to start or where to start. Why don't we start with a word of prayer? Lord, I thank you so much for your word. I thank you for the church. I thank you, Lord, for being all-powerful, all-knowing, sovereign, all-loving, kind, and compassionate. [00:03:32] Thank you for caring about us and about, thank you for being long-suffering and yet you don't give up on us. And so I pray, Lord, that you would speak to us, encourage our hearts, convict us of sin, Lord. Pray that your power, your Holy Spirit, would be here among us, speaking to us. In Jesus' name, Amen. [00:04:08] It will definitely need to be the Holy Spirit here this morning, because I feel so unprepared and unworthy to be standing up here, breaking the Word to you. I allowed the world this week, I allowed myself to work too much and been pretty busy and went on choir again on Thursday night. So I feel a little unprepared, but hopefully the Holy Spirit can speak to us. [00:04:47] Let's read verses 12 to 17. And I thank Christ Jesus our Lord who has enabled me because he counted me faithful putting me into the ministry. Although I was formerly a blasphemer, a persecutor, and an insolent man, that would be extremely arrogant in case you were wondering what that is. But I obtained mercy because I did it ignorantly in unbelief, and the grace of our Lord was exceedingly abundant with faith and love which are in Christ Jesus. [00:05:23] This is a faithful saying and worthy of all acceptance, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners, of whom I am chief. However, for this reason I obtain mercy, that in me first Christ Jesus might show all longsuffering as a pattern to those who are going to believe on him for everlasting life. Now to the King Eternal, Immortal, Invisible, to God, who alone is wise, be honor and glory forever and ever. Amen. [00:06:03] I think that Paul here looked at this young Timothy. Some people say he was about 30 years old. Paul tells him earlier in the chapter, Hey, you stay here in Ephesus. You take care of this church here. And being 30 years old, I don't know, I would have probably been a little freaked out. Maybe he wasn't, but, and the things that he writes about all through 1 Timothy, you know, he starts out by talking about these false teachers and maybe even a rise of false doctrine. [00:06:52] In chapter 2 he's talking about maybe some disorder in worship and he was supposed to find and ordain qualified leaders. I think it's in chapter 6 he talks about materialism. And was it chapter 4? I think verse 12 where he says, Let no one despise your youth. I wonder if there were people in the church that were looking on Timothy saying, he is too young. [00:07:24] He doesn't know what he's doing. I wonder if that's what he meant. So, Paul here is probably, he's thinking that Timothy could be discouraged. Timothy could feel like he wants to leave. Timothy could feel like he's unqualified. Timothy could feel like giving up and walking away and say, I can't do this. And so right away here in verse 12, the first chapter, I think he wants to encourage Timothy. [00:07:55] Saying, oh man, look, and Paul was older, and I think Paul in a nutshell is saying, look what God did for me. Look where he brought me from. Look where God found me here as a blasphemer. And we'll look a little later in Acts 26. It's even more than just the blasphemer. But if God can do this in my life, surely he can. [00:08:32] Because he's calling himself chief of all the sinners. If he can do this in my life, Timothy, no problem for you. I think that was like, he just wanted to encourage me. Paul, man, or Timothy, don't give up. You are more than qualified. And it's not even you yourself that qualifies yourself. It's Christ. Because he starts out in verse 12, it's Christ Jesus our Lord who has enabled me. It's not even, I went to this school and, you know, I'm so smart and wise and, you know, he wasn't giving himself glory. I think he knew, Paul knew that Timothy had a lot on his plate. [00:09:18] I think he wanted to encourage him. So Paul starts out, I'm going to have to follow my notes or it's not going to make sense. So Paul uses his own life as an example of what Christ can do through his grace and power. I think that Paul was, you know, oh man, well I'll get into that later maybe. [00:10:06] Paul was saying that what Christ did in me, what Christ did to me, what Christ did for me, You know, it can happen to you too, and that's the message for me, it's a message for you, it's for, I also want to think, so as we're going through here, I want us to think about, it caused me, and even, it goes back to when choir started the whole testimony thing three weeks ago, kind of got to thinking, these men in prison, when they give a testimony, this is where I was. [00:10:40] And you know, there's such a thing, I was thinking that, okay, I'm saved from this sin. Why do I need to bring it up again? Why did Paul bring it up again? He's older than the hills here. I don't know how old he is, but I'm just thinking he's a little older. Why did he bring it up? Why is he saying, and he doesn't say, I was chief of sinners. No, he says, of whom I am chief, came into the world to save sinners, of whom I am chief. And maybe that has a lot to do with, you know, if we go back and read Romans 7, and we will. [00:11:17] But these are the lines. Where did God find you? Where were you at in sin? What did He bring you out of? What for miry clay? Or maybe it's a question of what for, what is that besetting sin that's still nagging at me, that I can't get rid of? Where am I at? What is reality? What is your testimony this morning? [00:11:51] Okay, a lot of these things are pretty plain, but I'll go over them real quick. Verse 12, why was Paul entrusted with the gospel? Well, it's because Christ enabled him. And we see there that he was thankful. He was thankful that he, you know, he was counted, he counted me faithful, putting me into the ministry. [00:12:23] And that's how we can be used by God is if we are faithful. Faithfulness made Paul usable. You know, we don't need to be smart to be faithful. That's a good thing, I'm not very smart. Or we don't have to be gifted or talented to be faithful. We hear a lot of people say in Jamaica, well, I'll go to church when I'll be faithful to God whenever I get my house built up. [00:12:54] And people are waiting to be faithful for some reason. Well, once I get married, I'll settle down, you know, and I'll be faithful then. I think we all know that doesn't work. Putting me into the ministry. And I also wanted to add in there an apostleship. You know, excuse me, he wasn't, this ministry I'm thinking of, I didn't look it up then. [00:13:25] But I'm thinking that it means just service. I don't think it was a big high end spiritual thing. I think it just means hard work and to serve. Yet, I think Paul, he obviously here, he's thankful. And so it was an honor to him that he could serve the Lord. Do I look at it as an honor to serve God? Am I thankful that He has counted me worthy? [00:13:59] Verse 13 Though I was formerly a blasphemer, a persecutor, and an insolent man I wanted to turn to one verse in Acts chapter 26 I think it's verse 11 Yeah, and I punished them, he's talking to Agrippa, King Agrippa, and he says, and I punished them often in every synagogue and compelled them to blaspheme, and being exceedingly enraged against them, I persecuted them even to foreign cities. [00:14:46] The thing that jumped out at me was he compelled other people to blaspheme. So he took the church, Christians, and he tortured them and he made them blaspheme in the name of God. So he not only is a blasphemer himself, he's causing other people to blaspheme. So when he says that he was the chiefest of sinners, I believe that he meant that with all of his heart. Look what I have done. Oh, my word. [00:15:23] Not only killed a person, but caused another person to blaspheme the name of God. We see, it's like he committed every, he disobeyed every one of God's commands. He didn't love God with all of his heart. soul and mind as Jesus commanded in Matthew. He was a murderer. [00:15:53] He hated people. He committed terrible acts of cruelty. And he didn't love his neighbor as himself. And maybe those seem pretty basic, but I think sometimes that happens in our church. We talked about it yesterday. We don't love people. Oh, wasn't that in our Sunday school lesson too, wasn't it? Do we love each other as ourselves? Love our neighbor, love our brother. [00:16:27] And it's really easy to look at Paul and say, wow, he was a terrible guy. Where are we at this morning? As it says in 2 Corinthians chapter 4, I had to ask myself, Are our minds and our eyes blinded because of the God of this age? And it's causing, it's making so that the glory of God can't shine on us, can't shine through us. Where are we at this morning? Are we dead in trespasses and sins? Maybe some of us are, but I believe that most of us aren't. [00:17:00] That makes me smile and happy. And yet I'm still saying, where did God find you? We really are no different than Paul. We have nothing to brag about. We are... I read Romans chapter 3. [00:17:36] We are wicked to the core in our flesh. but we're saved through Jesus Christ but yet Paul calls himself a sinner I'm a sinner saved by grace the key word is saved, hallelujah, you're saved don't let, you know, then he goes on in Romans chapter 8 where he says there's no condemnation to you hey, you're saved, you're in Christ Jesus, you're saved don't forget that, but yet, where did God find you? [00:18:10] That's the way that we were. Terrible sinners when God found us. I thought of a question. How bad do we want to... Maybe there's a little besetting sin that is just nagging at us. Maybe it's my grumpiness and I'm just not gentle. or maybe it's, for everybody it's going to be a little different. [00:18:42] How bad do I want to change? I thought of an illustration. Does anybody know what it's like to fast for three days? You're just drinking water and coffee. Or two days. Let's just say two days. Or even one day. Drinking water and coffee. That's it. Just water and coffee. And after three days, you come home and say, Hey, my fast is over. and there's somebody hands you, maybe your wife, hands you a saltine cracker. And you take just a little corner off of that saltine cracker and put it in your mouth. [00:19:15] Do you know what it tastes like? It is glorious. It is so good. I'm sure that lot of you know what that's like. It is so good. It just melts in your mouth. Now, let's think what that same little teensy bits of cracker tastes like after Thanksgiving dinner or Christmas dinner. [00:19:48] What does that saltine cracker taste like then? You don't want it. How bad do we want change? How hungry are we for change? How bad do we want it? Do we take our Bible and just go after God and we tell Him, Lord, I am so hungry for more of You because I want change. [00:20:22] Lord, I am serious. I will stop at nothing. and it's going to taste so good. You know, why would He give us change if we're not even hungry? It doesn't even taste good. We don't appreciate it. What does it mean to us? Nothing. He's not going to give us change. He's not going to give us redemption. He's not going to allow us to change if we're not hungry. He's not just going to give it to us without our asking, without our being serious. [00:20:57] I want a new car. I want a new car. I'm thinking of my son now. They're begging and begging. Please, can I have it? Please, please, can I have another cookie? Please, please, please. On and on and on. Okay, fine. Here you go. But when we come to God, how bad do we want change? How bad do I really want to be changed by God? Now, this really has nothing to do with Paul, but something that I thought about. Are we willing to give up ourselves? Are we willing to take our Bible and to go somewhere for three days, for two days, [00:21:36] with nothing but a jug of water, a pot of coffee, and God's Word, saying, Lord, I'm serious. I'm sick of my life. I'm sick of this little besetting sin. The sin that so easily besets us. I want you to do a work in my life. I want to be changed. I want to be used. I'm the chiefest of sinners. Am I alive? Are you alive? [00:22:12] Or are you dead in trespasses and sin? Then in verse 15, This is a faithful saying and worthy of all acceptance. acceptance, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners of whom I am chief. So that's a pre-record. If you want to be saved, if you want to be changed, you have to be a sinner. [00:22:45] As somebody mentioned in Sunday school, we have to see it first. That's the first step. You have to see it. Paul is saying, before I was saved, I was as bad as a man could get. I think he's saying he's still wicked to the core, but I'm saved. If we go to, let's turn to Romans chapter 7. [00:23:18] Just read a few verses there. We're going to do 8. Yeah, 18. For I know that in me, that is in my flesh, nothing good dwells, for to will is present with me, but how to perform what is good I do not find. For the good I will to do, I love reading these verses. For the good that I will to do, I do not do, but the evil I will not to do, that I practice. [00:23:51] Now if I do what I will not to do, it is no longer I who do it, but sin that dwells in me. I find then a law that evil is present with me, the one who wills to do good. For I delight in the law of God according to the inward man, but I see another law in my members, warring against the law of my mind, and bringing me into captivity to the law of sin which is in my members. O wretched man that I am, who will deliver me from this body of death? I thank God through Jesus Christ our Lord. So then with the mind I myself serve the law of God, but with the flesh the law of sin. [00:24:34] There is therefore now no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus, who do not walk according to the flesh, but according to the Spirit. Brothers and sisters, let's walk according to the Spirit. Why is that so hard? Man, because there's a war going on. Also in, I should have wrote this down, it's just a little verse in 1 Corinthians chapter 6. [00:25:13] Do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived. Neither fornicators, nor idolaters, pay attention to this list and don't be saying none of that's me. Neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor homosexuals, nor sodomites, nor thieves, nor covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor extortioners will inherit the kingdom of God. Of such were some of you, but you were washed. Amen, somebody. [00:25:48] But you were sanctified. Amen, somebody. This side. But you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus and by the Spirit of our God. Hallelujah. Man, that's who we were. That's where I was found in general. Where did God find you? Okay, back to 1 Timothy. [00:26:20] He says in verse 14, And the grace of our Lord was exceedingly abundant. Okay, so our sin's pretty great, but God's grace was exceedingly abundant. It's more than enough. It was enough for Paul. It was enough for Timothy. It's enough for Brad. It's enough for Dustin. It's enough for me, too. And even after he's done with me, there's even more grace that goes on down the line [00:26:50] to my children, after children, after children, after children, for everybody who wants to come to the Lord Jesus Christ. Anybody who wants to. It's exceedingly abundant. Amen, somebody. That's exciting to me. Why me? Man. It's more than enough. Where sin abounded, Romans 5, God's grace did much, much, much, much more abound. [00:27:23] The thing is here, I don't think Paul was even seeking for mercy. I think he just found Him. We don't deserve mercy, but it comes to us anyways. We don't understand it. Do you understand the mercy? I don't understand mercy, but it's ours. And then Paul says, what verse? [00:28:00] He was saved as a pattern. Oh, verse 16. However, for this reason I obtained mercy that in me, first, Jesus Christ might show all longsuffering Amen to longsuffering Does God ever get sick and tired of Why can't you get past the third grade He's longsuffering He keeps working at us All longsuffering as a pattern to those [00:28:37] For everlasting life. And this is why I want us to remember where God found us. It's for a pattern. It's for an example. I wrote down a sketch for imitation that comes from some predictionary where this word pattern here means. Was it Greek or something? I don't know. Paul again, I want to remind us, Paul is saying, if God can save me, He can and will save you too. [00:29:11] And He wants us to be saved the same way. Not that we have to be saved the same way and that we see this light walking down the road and poof, we're blind for three days, blah, blah, blah. Not in that way. But there needs to be conviction of sin and then faith in Jesus Christ. Be saved the same way. And if we don't know, if we don't remember, if we don't bring to mind, [00:29:44] if we don't remember where God found us, where did God find you? Then how can we ever share our story, our testimony? Oh yeah, I'm saved. Wow. What is that to people? What is that to the guy that you're working with? You know, I'm a sinner saved by grace. Yes, I'm saved, hallelujah, but I'm a sinner saved by grace. [00:30:18] This is where I was, dude. This wretched man, adulterer. Maybe it's hard. We can't save what we used to be. Maybe it's hard to humiliate ourselves a little bit. Maybe it's hard to shed a tear because of who we were. If people can't see what God has done for us, how has my life been changed? [00:30:58] See, a lot of people that meet me, they don't know the old me. They may not, you know, and Paul is saying here, hey, this is who I was. I was a blasphemer, formerly a blasphemer, a persecutor, an incredibly arrogant man. He lists them all. Where did God find you? What is your testimony? I hear an amen on this side. [00:31:38] How can we bring honor and praise? Why are we here? How can we honor and glorify God? And if we don't know where God found us, how can we witness? How can we show others to Christ? He wants us, He wants to put us out there as a showpiece, as a trophy. I worked hard for this thing. You know, if you get first place in whatever it is. [00:32:11] This bicycle race. My brother's got a trophy that stands about this tall, you know. For, yeah, I know you all are wondering what, just a truck show. You know, but the work, the amount of work he had to go through to get that trophy, Spitshine, that old truck, top to bottom, inside and out Proud of that thing God wants to set us out there in the world and say this is my showpiece Luke, look at this pattern And you do it This is where you were [00:32:43] Look at where you were Look at what I've done in your life Look how I changed your thoughts and your motives and your actions and your desires Amen Amen! You think about how your thoughts and even your desires have been changed, or are being changed, from a year ago. I don't care, say five years ago. Hallelujah if it's five years. At least it's five years and not six. That's alright. We are living testimonies to His life-changing power. [00:33:23] Is that your testimony this morning? Can you testify to that? Does that just kind of put a smile on your face, but yet a tear in your eye, if you know what I mean? Hallelujah! Hallelujah! We are His workmanship, Ephesians chapter 2. Matthew 5 verse 16 Let your light so shine before men that they may see your good works Why? To glorify ourselves? Yes! No! Are you kidding me? [00:33:57] And glorify our Father which is in heaven Man, that guy is weird Why is he so nice? He's different than a lot of these other guys What? You are such a good man Yeah, thanks Isn't that what we want to do? Boy, that feels good. And it should feel good. It's okay. But give the glory to your Father in Heaven. It's nothing that you did. And the cool thing is verse 17. [00:34:34] Boy, you can run through that. Oh yeah, now to the King eternal, immortal, invisible, to God, who alone is wise, be honor and glory forever. Look at what he does. All of this. He's sharing his testimony here. He's trying to encourage him. And he's saying, Okay, however, for this reason, I obtained mercy. Okay, he remembered back to where he was found, where God found him. And look what happened. [00:35:07] He says, That in me first, Jesus Christ might show all longsuffering as a pattern to those who are going to believe on Him, and it causes Him to what? Worship. It causes Him to worship. So, is that part of our problem in our praise and worship time? In our worship? Okay, worship is not just here. It's a life of worship. It's a life of praise, okay? So, do we lack in worship? Do we lack in prayer? [00:35:39] Remember, because we really don't want change, we kind of love the sin, do we? Do we hate it, but yet we live in the flesh? It can get kind of confusing, but... Do we lack in worship because we don't remember where God found us? Because Paul here goes into 17, he is praising God, he's saying, God, you are so big. So powerful. You are almighty. [00:36:11] Look at the praise and the honor that God is getting because Paul remembered where he was found. For me, that was a huge thing. You know, it's really easy for me to go throughout life and rejoice. And we should rejoice that we are saved. Hallelujah, we're saved. But at the same time, I forget what I was saved from. and I think it causes a problem in my spiritual life. That's what I think. I don't praise Him like I should. [00:36:43] I don't bring Him honor. Then I want all the honor for myself because I forget where I was. I had a bunch of verses on them. You know, God calls us in the ministry. I'm not going to go there, but let's remember. Let's remember that. I also want us to remember that God calls us into ministry. We're not talking church leadership here. We're just talking ministry. [00:37:22] Ministry. Ministry is serving. So where are you called? Young ones. Saved ones. Moms. Dads. Brothers. Sisters. What is God called you to ministry in? And we think we can't do that. I am so tired of being a mom. This is too tough. I don't care where you're at. Whatever it is. You get discouraged. And I think Timothy was getting discouraged, but we can get discouraged. [00:37:55] And I think that's why Paul says, look, God is the one that has enabled me. You know what? I'd like to really turn to those. He even says in 2 Timothy 4, verse 17, But the Lord stood with me and strengthened me so that the message might be preached fully through me and that all the Gentiles might hear. [00:38:30] Also, I was delivered out of the mouth of the lion. I'm saying, as we're called in the ministry, it's God who gives us our strength. I know we all say, even I do, I can't do it on my own, I need the Lord, I need the Lord. But what does that really mean? Do we really believe that God is standing right beside us, equipping us and giving us power and strength to go on, even to share our testimony? Oh, Lord, I'm so scared to tell this guy where I've been, and oh, I feel like an idiot. [00:39:03] But God's right there because He wants to set us out there as a trophy. This is my trophy. Look at all the hard work I put into Him. Look how I change His life. But we'll never get there if we don't remember where God found us. So may you be blessed today. May you be encouraged. If there's sin, I hope you're convicted. I pray that you're convicted. Not only convicted that, but you would give it up. [00:39:37] But I want our hearts to be encouraged and to give us strength and boldness and courage to stand up for Christ. Remember where you're from, where God found you. Because He found you, brother. You didn't even go looking for Him. He found you. He called you. not even looking for grace even while I was a sinner he died for us [00:40:08] he died for me how thankful and that just overflows in our hearts and our souls into a life of worship hallelujah let's pray Lord we cannot express our thanks and our love for you I pray, Lord, that your word would pierce our hearts, convict our hearts, Lord. [00:40:42] Open up our eyes and help us to see ourselves how you really see us. I pray that you would humble our hearts, help us to seek you, give us strength and power to live for you, to really live. Lord, I pray that you would allow us to allow you to flow from us those rivers of living water. I pray that you would continue to work on us. [00:41:13] Thank you so much for being so long-suffering and kind to us. I pray, Lord, that you would go with us today and this week. Help us to be a light and a testimony for you that your name would be honored and glorified in Jesus name. Amen.