East Cooper Baptist Church

East Cooper Baptist Church November 2, 2014

Overflowing Grace 1 Timothy 1:12-17

12 I thank him who has given me strength, Christ Jesus our Lord, because he judged me faithful, appointing me to his service, 13 though formerly I was a blasphemer, persecutor, and insolent opponent. But I received mercy because I had acted ignorantly in unbelief,14 and the grace of our Lord overflowed for me with the faith and love that are in Christ Jesus. 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. 16 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. 17 To the King of the ages, immortal, invisible, the only God, be honor and glory forever and ever. Amen.

Q. What is justifying faith? A. Justifying faith a saving grace, brought about in the heart of a sinner by the power of the Holy Spirit and the Word of God, when an individual being convinced of his sin and misery and his inability in himself and all other men and women to recover out of his lost condition not only a sense to the truth of the promise of the gospel, but receives and rests upon Christ and his righteousness, rejoicing in the forgiveness of sins and the accepting and accounting of his person righteous in the sight of God for salvation. Westminster Larger Catechism Question 72

Q. What is faith in Jesus Christ? A. Faith in Jesus Christ is a saving grace, whereby we receive and rest upon him alone for salvation, as he is offered to us in the gospel. Westminster Shorter Catechism Question 86

“[Brownlow North (1858)] self-consciously labored to speak from the heart knowledge that he was chief of sinners…I constantly forget the deep hole of depravity from which the Lord’s mighty love rescued me. Drifting does not take any effort at all; just stop cultivating the knowledge of Christ, and the evil current of secularism does the rest. All passion for the lost seems increasingly a fading memory…but North kept the memory line open to what he once was all the days of his life. This recollection was not at all crippling. His mourning over his sins, both past and present, enabled him to keep climbing down from his pedestal and walk with humble fear and trembling before the Lord and before people.” C. John Miller, The Heart of a Servant Leader, pp. 69-70

“All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned—every one—to his own way; and the Lord has laid on him the iniquity of us all.” Isaiah 53:6

“For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.” Romans 3:23

“ For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, 9 not a result of works, so that no one may boast.” Ephesians 2:8-9

“16 “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life. 17 For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him.18 Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only Son of God.” John 3:16-18 “12 But to all who did receive him, who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God, 13 who were born, not of blood nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man, but of God.” John 1:12-13

The rehearsing of the wonderful grace and goodness of Christ led Paul to a point of deep worship found in v. 17. The wonder of this is stated in the hymn: “And from my smitten heart with tears/To wonders I confess/The wonders of his glorious love/And my own unworthiness.” The wonder of the grace of the gospel of Christ is that it is never too late and no one can ever be too worthy.

Questions for Discussion: 1. What do we mean when we say that a person is “intrinsically disordered”? 2. What is the difference between saying, “I work and labor in order to earn the favor of God” and “Because of the greatness of the forgiveness of sins by the work of Christ on the cross, I live out of gratitude and joy”? Do you believe are hearts are spring-loaded to believe the former? 3. What did John Bunyan discover regarding the grace of the cross? 4. What is a “turf toe experience” and why is it good for us?