1Timothy 1:1-2 | 20th September 2026

Okay. Well, good morning. Good to see

you this morning. Please grab your

Bibles and open them up to First

Timothy. Please grab your Bibles and

open them up to First Timothy. It's in

the New Testament. It'll be after

Thessalonians. If you find that uh First

Timothy,

it's a new baby going to be coming

called Timothy as well. I didn't

pronounce it in the Brazilian way, but

there you go. Uh let's pray and ask the

Lord to bless his word.

Lord, we thank you for your word that we

have this morning. We pray that you'd

use it to speak into our hearts and

lives.

Help us to apply your word to our life.

We pray

we need you, Lord, to speak. And we

trust that as we read it that this is

the very word of God for our hearts, for

our lives, for our souls. It is what we

need. And we thank you Lord for giving

it to us. Pray you'd bless it to us in

Jesus precious name. Amen.

So, we are going to start First Timothy

this morning and I'm going to read to

you our entire passage for this morning,

verses 1 and two.

When we're in Job, we preached seven

chapters

at a time almost.

But in letters, sometimes you can take

smaller chunks. And that's what we're

going to do this morning. Verses one and

two. Let us listen to the word of God. 1

1 Timothy 1 · chapter mention

Timothy chapter 1 says this. Paul, an

apostle of Christ Jesus,

by the command of God our savior

and of Jesus Christ our hope.

to Timothy, my true child in the faith,

grace,

mercy, and peace

from God the Father, and Christ Jesus

our Lord.

That's God's word for us this morning.

And what you'll notice about this word

is this word is an introduction.

This word introduces us to people. And I

want you for a second this morning to

think about introductions.

When I meet people, I am not always that

good at introductions.

I might be with my wife or with my

family and I'll see a new person and

when I go to see the new person, I'll

start talking to the new person and be

all really excited about the new person,

but I will forget to do what? The

introductions.

And Steve is there as well. And he's

talking about it right now because we've

been walking in passage and I see a new

person and I'm talking to them and I

forget that Steve's even there. I forget

about the introduction. And I chat and I

chat and I chat and they go and Steve

would be like, "Be nice if you'd

introduce me.

I forget about the introductions and I'm

bad at them." Here we have an

introduction.

And what can happen I think when I when

I remember to do an introduction say

Lanna my wife is with me it's quite

important to introduce her but say I do

remember which I should and I should be

a good husband and a better one that I

am but say I remember to introduce her.

There's different ways I could introduce

her. I could say something like this.

Say I meet the guy and his name is

David. Hi David. This is Lana.

That's an introduction. It's better than

no introduction than than not saying her

name at all. It's good that I actually

got the name out and decided to

introduce her this time. But it's not

really that full of an introduction, is

it? I say this is Lana, but I say

nothing more. I just say her name.

There's another introduction that could

go like this. Hi David, this is Lanna,

my wife.

in introductions 101. That would

probably be a better way to say it. And

all I need to say is this is Lana, my

wife. And then the person can start to

know and understand a lot more things

about the person by me just adding that

simple little phrase, my wife. They can

conclude, well, he loves her.

They can conclude he's married to her.

They start asking all kinds of questions

in their head. How do they meet? When do

they meet? Oh, that's interesting. If

they like me, they will probably try and

like her. If they hate me, they might

join her and try and get her to hate me,

too. But the idea is this. If I say just

that little bit more of a phrase, this

is Lanna, my wife. It's a better

introduction, and I do that with

purpose.

As we read this introduction here, Paul,

he says names, but he adds little

phrases onto each one of those names.

And when he adds those little phrases

onto each one of those names, we're

supposed to develop a whole load of

meaning behind it.

So Paul, of course, he says two names.

He says his own name and he says

Timothy's name. And we think as we read

this introduction that those are the two

most important names. Well, who is Paul

and who is Timothy? But actually, if you

do a word count in these two verses of

the names that are mentioned more, you

will see that there are more important

names in this introduction.

Paul, he mentions himself once. So, in

the word count, he gets one.

Timothy, he mentions once. In the word

count, he gets one. But then in this

little introduction when he talks about

God, how many times is God mentioned?

In verse one, he's mentioned once and in

verse two, he's mentioned once again.

God the father is mentioned twice in

these verses. And then when you look at

the word count in just these two verses,

Paul is mentioned once, Jesus or or uh

Timothy is mentioned once, God the

Father is mentioned twice, and Jesus,

he's mentioned three times.

in verse one and in verse two.

So actually in this little introduction,

yes, this introduction tells us about

Paul. Yes, this introduction tells us

about Timothy, but it actually does more

for us than that. It tells us

about God the Father and God the Son. It

introduces us to God the Father and God

the Son. Paul when he's writing he wants

people to know that he's not writing on

his own. He's writing with a view of God

the father and and God the son. These

are the main characters in this

introduction.

So what I want us to learn from this

introduction as we see what Paul is

writing here is I want us to learn what

Christ has done for us and what God has

done for us. Because we see both of

those realities in this introduction not

just by the names but what is added to

the names. You see, when Paul gives an

introduction, he gives the proper

introduction by not just saying the

names, but adding that little important

phrase that tells us a whole lot more

about the person.

And so, first, what are we to remember

in this this introduction? We need to

remember all that Christ has done for

us.

And I think we see that in this reality

that that Christ, he changes us.

In this introduction, you see that

Christ has changed Paul's life and

Christ has changed Timothy's life. And

we know that by the little phrase that

he adds on to each of their names.

Paul, Christ has changed Paul's life.

Paul says this, Paul, an apostle of

Christ Jesus.

That's an indication that that that

Christ has changed his life. He's now

Paul, an apostle.

And when he says apostle, that is an

official title given to someone who is

sent out by God. An apostle is one who

is chosen personally by God and

commissioned by God. An apostle is one

who is an eyewitness of the

resurrection. An apostle is one who

establishes the foundation of the

church. An apostle is one whose

authority is accompanied by miracles. So

what does all of that mean? There's no

apostles like that today.

People can call themselves apostle so

and so, but there's no apostle like that

today. And so when Paul says, "I'm Paul

an apostle,"

that gives a weight of authority.

So part of what he's doing is he's

establishing his authority. He's like,

"I'm Paul an apostle." And he's not

showing off by saying that. Sometimes in

Ireland, we don't like titles because we

think people are showing off by their

titles. We barely call teachers teachers

anymore. We want to call them by their

first name.

Our doctors, we don't want to call them

doctors anymore. We want to call them by

their first name. So, we don't really

like titles.

We don't really like evidences of

titles. And that's true in Ireland. But

then you kind of go to your your GP

and when you go to your GP, what you'll

notice on the wall is often they will

have certificates on the wall, won't

they?

And in Ireland, usually we hate titles.

We hate certificates. We hate people

putting those things on walls. But when

you go to the doctor, don't you like to

see the certificates on the walls? Don't

you like to see the evidence that they

actually know what they're talking

about? I'm like, put it all over the

place. I want to see your certificates.

I want to know everything about you.

Even though we're in a culture that

doesn't tend to like that, when I go to

my GP, I want to know.

So it is with Paul. He's establishing

his authority by saying, "Hey, I'm an

apostle."

But he's not only establishing his

authority, he's showing the change.

You see, because if Paul was to write a

letter before, he would say, "I'm Paul,

a persecutor of the church."

You see, when Paul says, "I'm an apostle

of Christ Jesus," what's he saying? I've

been changed by Jesus.

I used to go out and persecute and kill

Christians.

I used to send myself out and I used to

send others to go out and persecute

Christians.

Now, I'm the apostle. I'm the sent one

of Christ Jesus because Jesus has

changed me. So Paul's introduction an

apostle tells us a lot about him that

his life has been changed

by Jesus Christ. And then he also

introduces Timothy. He says in verse two

to Timothy and he doesn't just say

Timothy what does he add to the name? He

says, "Timothy, my true child in the

faith."

You see, because before if he was

writing to Timothy, he would write to

Timothy and say, "Timothy, my enemy."

But now he is writing to Timothy and

he's saying, "Timothy, my true child."

That is a special designation that Paul

only gives to two people in the

scriptures. He gives it to Titus in in

Titus 1:4, my true child. And he also

Titus 1:4

gives it to Timothy in his first letter

to Timothy in his second letter. And

what true speaks of is is this

genuiness.

I'm like a father in the faith to you.

And what he did was he he wrapped his

arms around Timothy and he he brought

Timothy onto his missionary team. and

and in this letter, what we're going to

see next week is this idea that he he

sent Timothy and and called Timothy to

stay in Ephesus to help pastor and

protect the church. So, what he's doing

in this letter is he's writing to

Timothy his his true child. And he's

writing in a fatherly way to help

protect him.

And he's his true child in the faith.

Why?

Because Christ has not only changed

Paul,

but Christ has changed Timothy.

Christ changed Timothy, we find out in

in second Timothy through the witness of

his grandmother and mother.

The witness of their faith to Timothy

of Jesus

changed Timothy's

life.

Isn't it wonderful

when Jesus changes lives?

Jesus came into Paul's life. If you were

to look at Paul, you would say he is too

far gone. There is no hope for him. Yet,

this verse tells us that Jesus changed

even Paul's life.

And if you'd look at at Timothy's life,

his grandmother and mother would have

been praying for him. Isn't it amazing

now that Christ has changed his life?

Brothers and sisters,

pray that Christ would change people's

lives.

Maybe there's someone like a Paul in

your life and you look at them and you

say, "No, no, never."

And you don't bother talking to them and

you don't bother praying for them

because you think they're too far gone.

This verse would tell us that Jesus

changes lives.

Maybe you're a mother or a grandmother

and you think there's no way Jesus is

going to change this child's life. No

way.

Pray.

Pray for the children in this church.

Pray for the children in your life.

Pray that God would change their life

because this is what Christ does.

We have children in the womb right now

in this room.

pray now that Christ would change their

life

because this is what he does. And so we

understand about Christ. If Paul is an

apostle of Christ and Timothy is a true

child in the faith, we understand that

Christ changes lives.

And secondly, we understand that Christ,

he is our hope.

Paul says, "Paul, an apostle of Christ

Jesus, by the command of God, our

savior, and of Christ Jesus, our hope."

It is not only true to say that Jesus

changes us. It is also true to say that

Jesus, he is our hope. And you should

remember that.

Remember that Jesus is our hope. And

when I thought of this idea of of Jesus

being our hope, when I thought of this

theme of hope in the scriptures,

I started to study it this week and

realize

hope in this world

is utterly hopeless.

But hope in Christ, it is true and

certain and sure.

And that's the type of hope I want. And

so then as I started to look through

this theme of hope in the scriptures,

I started to see the contrast between

worldly hope and Christian hope. And we

see that in this verse, but you also see

it throughout the scriptures. The

difference between worldly hope and and

Christian hope. First you will see that

worldly hope it is dead.

But Christian hope it is living.

I randomly, don't ask me how I got saw

this interview, but I randomly saw an

interview

uh that Spider-Man was doing. Uh your

man um Yeah, the the Spider-Man in the

movies. Um Tom Holland. Tim Holland. Tom

Holland, right? Is he the best

Spider-Man? Who knows? No. Oh, we've got

we've got a clear No.

I saw an interview and he said this.

I believe,

this is not him as Spider-Man. This was

him as him. He said, "I believe in

manifesting.

I believe in manifesting." And it's this

idea really, if you want something, you

just determine and in your mind you'll

you'll manifest it and and one day it

will end up happening.

That is dead hope

because all we hear in that is the

success stories. Let me tell you

something. There's a lot of failure

stories of manifesting.

And manifesting could just be this.

Maybe I just had an idea that I'd do

something and I worked really hard and

then it happened. I don't have to

pretend like, oh, I'm manifesting and

somehow I'm making it happen by my

thoughts. Maybe you just work hard and

it happened.

I call that dead hope.

But Christianity, the hope of

Christianity for the future, because

manifesting is is future hope. But

Christianity for the future is not dead

hope. It is living hope. In 1 Peter 1:3,

1 Peter 1:3

it says this, "Blessed be the God and

father of our Lord Jesus Christ.

According to his great mercy, he has

caused us to be born again to a living

hope.

through the resurrection of Christ Jesus

from the dead. And as we look at this

theme of hope in scripture, we have been

born again through a living hope because

of the resurrection. So worldly hope is

dead. Christian hope is living. Worldly

hope is something we try to create.

But Christian hope is something God

gives.

Hope is like this idea of light at the

end of the tunnel. I want light at the

end of the tunnel for this situation or

for whatever is going on in my life. All

of us want a bit of hope. All of us want

a bit of light at the end of the tunnel.

What we try and do in this world is we

try and create our own hope. And we

create our own hope by saying all I need

to do is change my perspective and then

I'll have hope. Or create we create our

own hope by saying you know what I'm

just going to focus on the positives.

And if I focus on the positives that

will give me hope. Or we try and create

our hope by focusing on those who have

gone before us and done it before us.

And we try and create our hope. But

Christian hope isn't a hope that you

create. Christian hope is a hope that

God gives.

He freely gives us hope. You don't have

to create your hope. He gives it to you.

Your hope isn't dead. It is living.

Romans 15:13 says this. May the God of

Romans 15:13

hope fill you with all joy and peace in

believing so that by the power of the

Holy Spirit you may abound in hope. May

the God of hope fill you so that you may

abound with hope. Hope as a Christian

isn't something you need to create. It

is something God gives you and something

that you have. It is glorious.

Worldly hope is wishful thinking, but

Christian hope is confident expectation.

If I was to ask someone, maybe some of

you, do you think you're going to

heaven?

Someone might say, well, I hope so.

That's no hope at all. The Christian

doesn't have to say, I hope so. I I I

hope I'll get there. I hope I'll figure

it out. I hope I'll do it enough. I'll

hope I'll do enough actions or prayers

or or whatever it might be that I hope

so one day.

No, for the Christian, it's not wishful

thinking. It's guaranteed certainty

because of what Christ has done.

And so our hope is in heaven.

Romans 8:24, for in this hope we were

Romans 8:24

saved. Now hope that is seen is not hope

for who for who hopes for what he sees.

But if we hope for what we do not see,

we wait for it with patience. And what

he is talking about there is the

redemption that we are going to have in

Christ Jesus. Do you see how worldly

hope is different from Christian hope?

Worldly hope is temporary. It's only for

this world. We hope things will change.

Christian hope it is eternal. It is sure

and secure and will be finished in

heaven. But the biggest difference is

what this verse points out. Those verses

relate to the topic of hope in general

throughout the scriptures. But this

verse tells us something clear about

hope that we should all remember.

Worldly hope. It is self-centered.

Christian hope. It is Christ centered.

Notice what he says.

God our savior and of Christ Jesus

our hope.

Christian hope is focused

not upon wishful thinking or temporary

realities.

It is focused on the person and work of

Jesus Christ.

If you are lacking hope today as a

Christian,

I would guess it's because this you've

taken your eyes off Jesus.

There's some situations that we look at

and we say, "This is hopeless. This

cannot be rescued. This cannot be

solved."

No. In Jesus,

in Jesus, there's always hope.

This is who he is. So Jesus Christ, he

changes us. Jesus Christ, he is our

hope.

Lastly, we see about Jesus is that he is

our Lord. Look at what he says in verse

two. To Timothy, my true child in the

faith, grace, mercy, and peace from God

the Father and Christ Jesus our Lord.

This is a designation given to Jesus

that not only that Jesus is the Christ,

he's the Messiah, he's the anointed one,

but he actually declares

that Jesus is Lord, that Jesus is the

word there is curios.

This is who Jesus is. Now if you look at

the the um Greek translation of the old

testament there is only one who is

called chorus lord in this way and it is

yahweh

that designation is given to Yahweh.

In Isaiah um Isaiah 45 verse 21-23

Isaiah 45:21–23

it talks about Yahweh that he has the

name that is above every name that he is

the Lord of the universe that this is

Yahweh

and that to Yahweh every knee will bow

and every tongue will confess that he is

Lord

the God of salvation throughout the

whole Old Testament. He is called Lord.

But then when you come to the New

Testament, something incredible happens.

We hear scriptures like Philippians

Philippians 2:8

chapter 2 verse 8 where it says about

Christ and being found in human form, he

humbled himself by becoming obedient to

the point of death, even death on a

cross. Therefore, Christ highly exalted

him and bestowed on him the name that is

above every name, so that at the name of

Jesus, every knee should bow and every

tongue will confess

under heaven and under earth, and every

tongue will confess that Jesus Christ is

Lord to the glory of God the Father. And

that's pointing back to Isaiah 45,

which speaks of Yahweh being Lord.

That title is now given to Jesus.

And the idea is this. He's Lord of my

life.

He has all authority. He has all

control. And one day, every knee will

bow and every tongue will confess that

he is Lord.

One day your knee will bow and your

tongue will confess that Jesus Christ is

Lord.

Why wouldn't you believe that today? One

day you're going to do it willingly or

unwillingly.

And I would call on you today

to submit to him as Lord in your life.

That Jesus would be the ruler in your

life. That you would commit to him above

all else.

Bow the knee today. Confess his name

today.

Worship him as Lord today.

So

we recognize in these verses all that

Christ has done for us. Christ, he

changes us. Christ, he gives us hope.

Christ, he is our Lord. But we also see

in these verses all that God has done

for us, God the Father. And we notice

that by the little phrase he attaches to

God in these verses. Timothy or Paul, he

could just say Paul

to Timothy and he could mention Jesus

and God. But no, he adds these phrases

onto their names. And what do we learn

about what God has done in our lives?

Well, in verse one, we see Paul, an

apostle of Christ Jesus, by the command

of God, our savior.

This is who God the Father is. God the

father is our savior.

If I was to ask a Christian and come to

come to a Christian and say who is your

savior?

Who is your savior? I would say 99% of

people would say Jesus is my savior.

But our theology isn't full enough if we

don't understand this that God the

father, he is our savior.

Paul will repeat this twice more in this

letter as we go in through this letter

that God the father is our savior. And

we've seen this theme throughout the

scriptures that God is the savior of his

people. He saved his people from the

Egyptians. He saved his people from the

Philistines.

He saved his people from the Midianites.

He saved his people, his his chosen

people from the Babylonians. Throughout

the history of the scriptures, what do

we understand about God? There is a

theme that runs the way throughout the

scriptures and it is this. God the

father is a savior.

He rescues people.

And so what happens in in in the book of

psalms is this is that we are called

then to praise God the father as savior.

They they sing songs of praise to God

the Father as Savior. In the book of

Psalms,

Psalm 25:5

Psalms 25:5

says this, "Lead me in your truth and

teach me, for you are the God of my

salvation,

and for you I wait all day long."

Isn't that beautiful relationship?

You are God, my savior.

and for you I will wait all day long.

Lana was minding a baby a while ago

and the baby was standing in her house

and looking out the window waiting for

who?

Mom or dad?

Waiting all day long.

That should be our posture with God the

Father, sitting at the window, longing

and waiting all day long.

Psalm 62:2 says this, "He alone is my

Psalms 62:2

rock and my salvation, my fortress. I

shall not be shaken."

Do you praise God the Father as your

savior? you should.

And so we learn

all that God has done for us. That God

is not only the savior, but as I've

already mentioned at the end of verse

two, what does he say to Timothy, my

true child in the faith? Grace, mercy,

and peace

from God the Father

and our Lord Jesus Christ.

He is an authoritative apostle. says

this, "Grace,

mercy, and peace

from God the Father."

I'll just say this. I could say more

about this God being father, but let me

just say this.

What's the prayer that we all learned in

school when we were younger? Do you

remember the prayer that we all learned

in school? Maybe different

nationalities, but I bet you learned it

somewhere. What's the prayer? Our father

who art in heaven.

That's how Jesus taught us to pray.

When you pray, how do we pray Jesus?

When you pray, pray using these words,

our father.

And what's so difficult is that is

drilled into us from when we were very

young. Our father who art in heaven,

hallowed be thy name. And then we go to

an our father and and our father and our

father and our father. And I think

Jesus gave it to us not as a repetition.

Jesus gave it to us and as as an

example, but unfortunately in the

repetition, we've missed the

relationship.

We say our father so quickly.

But isn't it absolutely insane that the

Lord of the universe, no matter how your

father, your earthly father has ever

treated you, the Lord of the universe,

he is our father,

our loving father.

How should a son or daughter talk to the

father?

with expectation,

with love,

with unity.

That's how you should speak to your

father.

My father who's in heaven, he really

loves to hear your voice.

So, praise him as savior

and speak to him as father.

So, in these two verses, here is what we

learn. We we learn all that Christ has

done for us. Christ changes us. Christ

gives us hope. Christ is our Lord. We

learn all that God has done for us. That

that God is our our savior and that God

is our father.

But why do we learn all these things?

Why does Paul attach those little

phrases onto God and Christ?

because of how he wants to write. We are

to remember all that Christ has done. We

are to remember all that God the Father

has done.

But we're also to remember in these two

verses the command.

Listen to how Paul writes. Paul, an

apostle of Christ Jesus

by the command

of God our savior

and of Christ Jesus our hope.

When Paul sits down and he writes, Paul

is saying this, I am not writing on my

own command. I am not writing my own

ideas. I am not writing of my own

initiative, valition or will. I am

writing

by the command

of Jesus Christ who changed me. Of Jesus

Christ who is my hope. Of Jesus Christ

who gives me life. I am writing by the

command of God my savior and God my

father. This is how I write.

So what does that cause people to do who

receive the letter?

It causes them to listen.

Paul, he does everything by the command

of this Jesus Christ and by the command

of this God the Father.

He writes by command. And this phrase by

command, Paul uses it three times in his

letters.

He uses it three times in his letters.

once he uses it at the end of Romans in

Romans chapter 16 that that the gospel

Romans 16 · chapter mention

is proclaimed throughout the earth by

the command of the eternal God.

The second time he uses it is here that

he writes and when he writes he writes

by the command of God. And the third

time he uses that phrase by the command

of God is in Titus 1:3 where he says

Titus 1:3

this. In his own time he has revealed

his word in the preaching

with which I was entrusted by the

command of God our savior.

So when Paul writes, he writes by the

command of God. And when Paul preaches,

he preaches by the command of God. So

everything that Paul does, he does by

the command of God.

I think we can learn from Paul's example

that everything we do in life

should be by the command of God.

Are you listening to the commands of God

in your life? Are you submitting to the

commands of God in your life? Because if

you listen and if you submit to the ma

commands of God in your life, I do

believe your life will flourish.

I don't believe you'll be exempt from

suffering.

But I do believe you will live the life

that you are meant to live. Because if I

live my life for my creator, I'm living

my life the way I'm meant to live my

life because he created me. And so if I

live following his constructions and his

commands, I'm living my life the right

way. So are you living your life by the

command of God? Here's the command of

God. Repent and believe.

Have you obeyed that command of God?

This is what what Jesus calls us to do.

Repent and believe the gospel. Repent of

our sin. Turn away from our sin and

trust in the Lord Jesus for eternal

life. Have you obeyed the command of God

to repent and believe? Another command

of God to be baptized.

Once you repent and believe and trust in

Jesus as savior, the next step is to be

baptized and confirm that publicly. Have

you obeyed the command of God? This is

how Paul lives his life. This is how you

should live your life by the commands of

God.

Children,

scripture, what does it call you to do?

Obey your parents.

That's a command of God.

I'm not telling you to obey your parents

just so you obey them. I'm telling you

to obey your parents so that you obey

God.

Obey the commands of God.

When you're at work, the commands of God

would tell us, "Work well.

Work with all your heart is working for

the Lord and not for men."

Are you obeying the commands of God?

And finally,

I think this is the command that Paul is

fulfilling and that Paul fulfilled in

his life. This is why Paul wrote his

letters. This is why Paul preached the

way he preached because he was obeying

one of the most important commands of

God. Make disciples.

That's what we're called to do, brothers

and sisters. Make disciples.

Let us live our lives

obeying the command of God

who is our father who is our savior. Let

us live our lives

obeying the commands of Jesus

who changed us who is our hope and who

is our God.

And as we listen to this letter of Paul,

let us understand this that every word

he is writing, it's a command from God.

He's writing these words because God

commanded him.

There was this lady I was talking to

before and she was talking about first

Timothy and she loved the Lord. But she

said to me after reading first Timothy,

I don't like Paul.

Paul's a misogynist.

Because of the way that Paul writes,

some of the things that Paul writes,

some people can conclude Paul doesn't

really like women.

And we'll get to there. We'll get to

those verses.

But here's what you need to remember as

we get to those verses. And before we

do,

Paul's not writing by himself.

He's writing by the command of God.

And so we should listen to the word in

that way. Let's pray. Lord, we thank you

for these first verses that show us all

that you, God our father, have done and

all that we have in Christ Jesus.

Lord, help us remember these things.

Help us to live by the command of God.

Amen.