The NXR Podcast - November 04, 2022


DAILY TRUTH - ＂The Chief of Sinners＂


Episode Stats


Length

8 minutes

Words per minute

147.11353

Word count

1,292

Sentence count

77

Harmful content

Hate speech

3

sentences flagged


Summary

Summaries generated with gmurro/bart-large-finetuned-filtered-spotify-podcast-summ .

Transcript

Transcript generated with Whisper (turbo).
Hate speech classifications generated with facebook/roberta-hate-speech-dynabench-r4-target .
00:00:00.000 Hey guys, real quick, before we get started, I have a small request.
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00:00:17.520 Thanks.
00:00:19.680 Jesus said,
00:00:20.800 Man cannot live on bread alone, but from every word that proceeds from the mouth of God.
00:00:25.440 You're listening to Daily Truth.
00:00:30.000 Paul calls himself the chief of sinners.
00:00:32.400 He does not say, I was the chief or foremost of sinners.
00:00:37.320 Even though he certainly had a wicked past,
00:00:40.300 as we've already seen in verse 13,
00:00:42.200 a blasphemer, a persecutor, an opponent of Christ.
00:00:46.160 Instead, Paul says, I am presently the chief of sinners.
00:00:51.640 And Paul does not make this statement as a new believer,
00:00:53.900 but after, instead, after he had been faithfully serving Christ
00:00:59.500 for over 25 years.
00:01:01.200 We can actually trace a chronological progression
00:01:04.280 of Paul's statements about himself
00:01:06.460 through his epistles in the New Testament.
00:01:09.720 Notice in 1 Corinthians chapter 15, verse nine,
00:01:12.260 Paul says, I am the least of the apostles,
00:01:15.020 the worst of the best.
00:01:18.160 Apostles, not a bad group to be a part of.
00:01:22.700 I'm the least of the best.
00:01:25.380 then paul goes on a few years later he writes to the ephesians chapter 3 verse 8 saying i'm the
00:01:33.720 very least not just of the apostles but of all the saints and here even later still in first
00:01:42.600 timothy chapter 1 verse 15 our text today paul says i am the best now no longer the best i'm
00:01:50.340 I'm sorry, the worst of the best, right?
00:01:52.180 The least of the apostles or the least of the saints.
00:01:55.160 But now he's saying, no, I'm not the worst of the best.
00:01:58.860 I'm the best of the worst.
00:02:03.000 I'm the chief of the apostles, of the saints,
00:02:08.440 no, of the sinners.
00:02:10.460 Paul is saying in essence, not just I was, what I am,
00:02:13.720 I'm the worst sinner I know.
00:02:16.640 despite what our culture may tell us and what many churches influenced by our culture may tell us
00:02:24.020 today paul's view of himself is a is a view worth emulating it's a view worth modeling and his view
00:02:30.340 does not improve over time rather he progressively comes to see himself as less and less worthy of the
00:02:37.600 grace of god the closer a person walks with god the more they become aware of god's holiness
00:02:43.740 and the depths of their own sinful nature.
00:02:47.400 I like what C.S. Lewis says in purging the poison well within.
00:02:52.720 When a man is getting better,
00:02:55.240 that is when a man is being sanctified,
00:02:57.360 when a man is being formed more into the image of Christ,
00:03:00.200 he understands more clearly the evil that is still in him,
00:03:04.500 the sin which still remains.
00:03:06.880 But when a man is getting worse,
00:03:08.880 he understands his own badness less and less.
00:03:13.740 Now, that being said, there's a distinction between being discouraged and having a worse view of yourself.
00:03:24.440 See, the Christian who is being sanctified, the Christian who is maturing in Christ,
00:03:29.700 will come into a deeper and deeper understanding of their worthiness, no, their worthlessness. 0.91
00:03:37.060 The lack of their worthiness when it comes to being a recipient of the grace of God.
00:03:40.960 And yet, as you come into a deeper, more profound view of how little you deserve the grace of God,
00:03:49.560 you should not be growing in discouragement.
00:03:54.220 If that's the case, and for some of you it is, if that's the case, something is off.
00:04:00.840 Paul is not saying, I am coming into a deeper understanding of my own depravity.
00:04:05.880 I'm coming into a deeper understanding of the sin that remains.
00:04:09.460 I am being more and more persuaded that I am the worst sinner I personally know.
00:04:16.500 And at the same time, I'm also becoming chronically depressed.
00:04:22.560 No.
00:04:23.680 The apostle was filled with great joy.
00:04:26.300 Sorrowful, yet always rejoicing.
00:04:28.920 Even when he's in prison, suffering, going without food and water, he's singing.
00:04:33.880 He's laughing.
00:04:34.860 I believe that the Apostle Paul was one of the most sincere
00:04:38.540 and yet one of the most joyful, warm-hearted men
00:04:42.520 who ever walked the earth.
00:04:45.580 His view of himself is that he's the worst sinner alive 1.00
00:04:49.520 and he's the happiest man. 1.00
00:04:53.640 How?
00:04:56.920 Oh, it's the understanding, the distinction,
00:04:59.440 holding intention, the difference between
00:05:02.020 justification and sanctification.
00:05:04.860 it's understanding the law which is good if it is used lawfully it's it's being able to look deep
00:05:13.720 into the law of god see his holiness see my lack and yet not flinch even an ounce in regards
00:05:22.740 to your confidence of god's love for you
00:05:26.300 that god has forgiven you that you are a saint that you are righteous that you have been adopted
00:05:36.580 that you that you belong to him and that no one can pluck you from his hand that that nothing
00:05:42.260 you have become convinced that neither death nor life nor angels nor demons things present
00:05:47.380 or things to come that nothing can separate you from the love of god so you're able with a sense
00:05:54.440 of being fearless you are able to diligently look into the law of God not being afraid of what you
00:06:00.500 might find I'll spoil what you'll find right here and now what you will find is that God is more
00:06:07.560 holy than you previously thought and that you are more sinful and yet that should not deter you
00:06:13.300 that should not scare you because none of that has any bearing on his love for you because you
00:06:23.340 received
00:06:24.760 mercy.
00:06:27.600 Not merit.
00:06:29.800 Not a wage.
00:06:32.120 Not something
00:06:33.420 that you earned or deserved.
00:06:36.080 You received
00:06:37.880 mercy.
00:06:39.960 Don't be afraid to look in
00:06:41.460 to the holiness of God.
00:06:43.480 Don't be afraid to look
00:06:45.340 into the depravity and
00:06:47.260 sinfulness of your own heart which still
00:06:49.320 remains. None of it has any
00:06:51.340 bearing on God's love for you. His decision was made before the foundations of the earth were laid.
00:06:59.560 Your sin comes as a surprise to you, but it comes as no surprise to him. Knowing all your faults,
00:07:06.000 all your failures, the depths and the recesses of your sin, past, present, and future, he
00:07:13.720 unconditionally administered to you mercy don't be afraid of what you might find in his law and
00:07:23.040 don't be afraid of what it might reveal in your heart all it will do is further the gap between
00:07:30.340 the holiness of god and your sinfulness which means all it will do is increase your knowledge
00:07:36.840 of the depths and the heights,
00:07:39.220 the width and the length
00:07:40.820 of the love of God for sinners.
00:07:45.760 Oh, hi, I didn't see you there.
00:07:47.660 Thanks for sticking around.
00:07:48.700 I've got an important announcement to make.
00:07:50.660 That's the Theonomy and Post-Millennialism Conference.
00:07:53.840 2023, May 5th, 6th, and 7th,
00:07:57.240 Friday, Saturday, and Sunday,
00:07:59.540 Theonomy and Post-Millennialism.
00:08:01.480 We've got the speakers that we've already had lined up.
00:08:03.640 That's Dr. James White, Dr. Joseph Boot,
00:08:05.800 Dr. Gary DeMar, non-doctor, Pastor Joel Webin, but we also have a bonus speaker and that is
00:08:11.400 Dale Partridge from Real Christianity. Perhaps you've heard of him. If not, you should start
00:08:16.120 listening to his podcast. It's fantastic. Dale Partridge is going to be joining our team. We're
00:08:21.700 going to have live panels on Friday night and Saturday night where you'll be able to write in
00:08:26.300 questions and get them answered. We're also going to have a catered barbecue, Texas-style barbecue
00:08:31.200 meal on Friday that's a part of your registration fee. All that is covered. So you need to get
00:08:36.560 that. This is how you do it. Go and register right now at rightresponseconference.com. Again,
00:08:43.100 that's rightresponseconference.com. God bless.