1 Timothy 1:12–17 - Only God Changes Hearts

We all have strategies for success in our lives. What do I mean?

I mean ways we go about getting the outcomes we want. Habits, methods, and systems we rely on. We have ways of doing things.

How do you keep your house clean? How do you maintain your yard?

How do you get to work on time? How do you care for your children?

How do you keep up your car or your personal appearance?

How do you get people to like you? How do you fit in within others?

How do you go about doing whatever it is you do? Strategies or plans of action.

Most of the time, they’re not written down. They're just in our heads. We’re usually open to new and better ones, though in some cases we’re very committed to our tried-and-true ways. But in areas of life where we struggle or feel ineffective or unsuccessful, we’re particularly open to new strategies.

How do you deal with unwanted thoughts, feelings, or emotions?

How do you feel better? How can you be better?

It seems like today we have more strategies available than ever before. You can watch a video, read a book or an article, talk to a counselor. You can ask AI. There are endless options for learning what to do and how to do it.

It’s often assumed that worship and preaching are just additional channels for learning effective strategies for living. You may pick up some of those, but that’s not the primary purpose. You see, worship and preaching confront and comfort you with life’s greatest realities. Here, we revisit the everlasting and abiding truths that shape the whole person.

Now it’s sometimes said that while that may be helpful, that’s not practical. Someone may ask, “Okay – but what do I do now? What are the strategies? What are the methods? How do I change, and how do I affect change in my world?” Those are good questions – questions we need to ask – but we naturally go wrong in our approach. How so?

Well, we move on from God’s great truths and rely on our own methods and strategies. But you must understand – Scripture reveals that for all the effective strategies and methods for changing our behavior or the behavior of others,
our methods cannot change the human heart. Only God can change the human heart. Only He can change what we love and desire.

In this next section of 1 Timothy, the apostle Paul speaks concisely to this reality. He describes the complete hopelessness of sinners in our natural state, but then proclaims that God shows mercy and grace to hopeless sinners. God changes hearts. He causes us to be spiritually born again, bringing us into spiritual union with Christ. And then, through that union, He accomplishes lasting heart change through the means He has ordained.

Without the change that only God accomplishes through Christ, our strategies and methods may bear some pleasant results, but they will ultimately fall short of producing the lasting change we desire.

However, as God does His heart-changing work, we will be able to discern His good will in all things. When the great truths of God inform and shape our whole lives, we will be able to choose and apply the best strategies and ways for living. And here Paul highlights three aspects of this great truth. Notice the outline. Paul tells us that:
We are, by nature, ignorant unbelievers and hopeless enemies of the one true God. (vv.12-13)
No one is beyond the sovereign God’s gracious forgiveness and restoration. (vv.14-15)
God's saving work magnifies the patience and power that He alone possesses. (vv.16-17)
These are the facts that must govern a believer’s whole life. So let’s look at each one.

In the previous section, Paul states that God gave the law because we are sinners. All of us break His moral law and stand guilty before Him. Paul speaks generally, but then gets more specific. Notice he says God’s law was given “for the lawless and disobedient, for the ungodly and sinners, for the unholy and profane, for those who strike their fathers and mothers, for murderers, [10] the sexually immoral, men who practice homosexuality, enslavers, liars, perjurers, and whatever else is contrary to sound doctrine.”

Then he contrasts all sinfulness with what He describes as, “the gospel of the glory of the blessed God with which I have been entrusted.” It may sound as though Paul is elevating himself above others. God chose to do a great gospel work through him, so naturally that might elevate the people’s opinion of Paul, and it might also elevate Paul’s opinion of himself.

But based on what Paul says next, he seems to anticipate that response, whether the thought is “He’s better than us,” or “He thinks he’s better than us.” Look again at verse [12]. He says, “I thank Him who has given me strength, Christ Jesus our Lord, because he judged me faithful, appointing me to his service.” This shouldn’t be read as Paul expressing that he deserved his role as an apostle.

Actually, Paul is amazed that Christ “considered him one useful for his purpose,” “decided to involve him in this ministry,” “chose to enable someone like him” – given Paul’s history and reputation. The Lord essentially said to Himself, “I will perform my work through this one.” Paul thanks Christ because he wasn’t able within himself to believe, much less to perform such a ministry.

Like all sinners, Paul was not morally neutral. God chose to save and sanctify Paul, he says, notice verse [13], “though formerly I was a blasphemer, persecutor, and insolent opponent.” He slandered faith in Christ. He harmed those who believed. Paul was not indifferent to the faith; rather, he was pridefully against it.

However, see the rest of verse 13, “But I received mercy because I had acted ignorantly in unbelief.” Now, this could be easily misunderstood. Paul is not saying that his ignorance somehow made him worthy of salvation or ministry. He’s not saying, “God showed me mercy because of my ignorance.” He’s saying, “Because of my ignorance, God’s mercy was my only hope.” He’s saying he could not have been saved without mercy. He’s saying, “I was an ignorant unbeliever, therefore God had to grant me
undeserved favor.”

Undeserved favor was his only hope. Like all sinners, Paul deserved judgment, but God mercifully chose not to cause that judgment to flow over him. Instead, verse [14],”...the grace of our Lord overflowed for me with the faith and love that are in Christ Jesus.”

Overflowing isn’t usually a good thing. When a river overflows after torrential rain, it’s dangerous. When the sewers overflow and fill the streets, it’s a mess. If you pour a drink or fill a bowl and you pour too much, it’s a clean-up situation. In every case, an overflow means there’s too much. There’s a super-abundance.

But here, overflow is a good thing. There was a super abundance of God’s kindness and favor toward Paul. That’s why he was saved. That’s why he was called to be an apostle. Not because God saw some small bit of righteousness in Paul’s soul, but because “the LORD is merciful and gracious, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love.”

As you choose your strategies for living, as you go about your daily life, following Jesus Christ begins with this fact: We are, by nature, ignorant unbelievers and hopeless enemies of the one true God. But we don’t stop there. Look at the beginning of verse [15]. “The saying is trustworthy and deserving of full acceptance” or “complete acceptance.”

This is a phrase that Paul uses at various times. It’s a formula. Dr. Bill Barcley says that Paul wherever employs this phrase, whatever comes next “faithfully represents the gospel message.” What follows is true to the message of Christ, and Barcley adds, “All who claim to be believers must wholeheartedly accept this saying and apply it to themselves.” Let me clarify – not only should we accept it as true, but also, true of us.

Now see the saying – “that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners,
of whom I am the foremost.” I said in my previous sermon that when we read Paul’s list in verses 9 and 10, we might feel pretty good about ourselves by the time we get to the end. You’re a lawbreaker, but you haven’t done these heinous sins on this list. But that would be delusional on our part, because while there are various sins in God’s law that you can say you’ve never committed, James the brother of Jesus writes, “Whoever keeps the whole law but fails in one point has become guilty of all of it.”

God’s moral law is not like the civil and criminal laws of the United States. If you break one U.S. law, you aren't as guilty as the worst criminal. That’s not the case with the moral law of God. Romans 3 says, “There is no distinction: for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.” Yes, earthly consequences differ. In human terms, it’s worse to kill someone than to simply want to do it in your heart. But before God, we all stand condemned.

Also notice here that even though Paul is saved and sanctified in Christ – even though he serves God and continues to grow in holiness – he’s still comfortable referring to himself as a sinner. In fact, it’s a healthy practice according to the apostle.

Paul’s letters reveal that throughout the course of his Christian life, he increasingly saw the depths of his own sin. Early in his ministry, in the book of 1 Corinthians, Paul calls himself “the least of the apostles, unworthy to be called an apostle.” Later on, during the middle of his ministry, in Ephesians 3 he says he is “the very least of all the saints.” And then here, in his later ministry, he says, “Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners, of whom I am the foremost.”

As we grow in the grace and knowledge of Christ, our awareness of our sin grows, and our wonder and amazement at God’s grace grows as well.

Were there sinners at that time that had done more heinous things than Paul? Yes, of course. He knew that. But he realized the truth: there had been no hope for him apart from the mercy and grace of God in Christ, but no one is beyond the sovereign God’s gracious forgiveness and restoration.

Do you see not only the grossness of your sin, but also the grace of the Savior?

And notice Paul’s logic in verse [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.”

Both the Old and New Testaments describe the “longsuffering” of God with sinners. He puts up with and endures the continual lawbreaking of those He later saves! Do you know how it feels to put up with someone? God puts up with us. And by saving us, Christ shows His patience with those whom the Father gives to Him. Paul recognized God’s intention to demonstrate His grace by saving and sanctifying “a blasphemer, persecutor, and insolent opponent” of Christ the Lord.

In Acts 9, when from heaven Jesus confronted Paul, who at that time went by his Hebrew name “Saul,” Scripture says “he heard a voice saying to him, “Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting me?” [5] And he said, “Who are you, Lord?” And he said, “I am Jesus, whom you are persecuting.” Was Paul pursuing Christ? Yes – to do harm. But Christ pursued Paul, not to harm him, but to heal him.

In His grace, God credits us with Christ’s righteous record and adopts us as sons. How should that make us feel? How did it make Paul feel? Look at the final verse. [17] “To the King of the ages, immortal, invisible, the only God, be honor and glory forever and ever. Amen.” Paul gives all praise to Christ. He says nothing about having chosen Christ or found Christ. He says nothing about God looking into the future to see that Paul would choose Christ.

No, Paul saw himself as a hopeless sinner in need. But Christ saved Him. God chose to turn the tables on Paul’s awful ways and reputation. God possessed both the power and patience needed to save Paul. The same is true for all those He saves through Christ. And God's saving work magnifies the patience and power that He alone possesses.

These are the greatest realities of all realities. These are the most amazing of all truths. Like the surgeon who operates so that someone may see clearly, God changes how we see our strategies. Like the surgeon and staff who perform an organ transplant, God removes the defective heart and installs a healthy one. And like the professional who gives the treatment and medicine we need to heal, God administers what produces true and lasting change within us. Human strategies can produce behavioral modification, but only God’s means of grace can generate Spirit-wrought heart renewal.

It is with this perspective – abiding in the message of Christ – that we should approach all our strategies and methods for living. Whatever it is, see it in the light of the cross. However heavy it feels, compare it to the great glory of the person and work of Christ!

May Christ be formed in you! May His strength and life flow to you through union with Him, as life and strength flows from the vine to the branch! And as His life flows to you, see what fruit is born. Then you will be able to discern His good will in all things. May this great truth inform and shape all of life. Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ today. Trust in Him and be saved. And turn from your sins to follow Jesus Christ. He will not just walk with you; He will carry on.

Let’s bow in prayer.