The Christmas Message. Christ Jesus, 1 Timothy 1.15,
Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners. This is the week that over two
billion people are celebrating the birth of a man, Jesus Christ,
who was born some 2,000 years ago. Now, to celebrate his birth
is all well and good, but the question arises, who is he? That's
the issue. Who is he? Why did he come? Well, our text tells us Christ
Jesus came into the world to save sinners. Now notice verse 15, this is
a faithful saying. This is a saying that you can
rely on. This is a saying that you can count on. And the reason
you can count on it is because it is part of Holy Scripture. All Scripture is given by inspiration
of God. And this is part of Holy Scripture. You can rely upon this saying. I like the way it's called a
saying. It had reached the status of
a saying in the early church. Something often repeated. Paul tells us it's worthy of
all acceptation. Everybody in this room and outside
of this room ought to see this as the greatest thing they've
ever heard. How does this hit you? This faithful
saying that Paul says is worthy of all acceptation. Everybody
ought to embrace this. Everybody ought to love this.
Everybody ought to receive this as the best statement that they
have ever heard. Do you know that this verse of
scripture ought to be, if it's not, it ought to be my favorite
verse. And it ought to be your favorite verse in all the word
of God, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners. Christ. That means the Messiah. God's anointed, God's anointed
prophet. You know, a prophet brings us
the Word of God. He's God's prophet. And unlike
every other prophet to ever live, he never once said, thus saith
the Lord, I say unto you. That's God's prophet. I say unto
you, oh, the authority with which this man gives us the Word of
God. God's priest. such a priest that if he represents
you, you must be saved." Now, don't miss that. If he represents
you as your priest, you must be saved. You know, when he said,
father forgive them, They know not what they do. Guess what?
Everybody he prayed for was forgiven without exception because his
priesthood is utterly effectual. If he represents you, you're
saved. God's king, prophet, priest,
and king. Oh, he's like no other king because
every other king has borrowed power. He has inherent power
in Himself as King of kings and Lord of lords. Christ Jesus,
I love His name Jesus. Don't you love even the way that
sounds? Jesus, Savior. Thou shalt call
His name Jesus, for He shall save His people from their sins. prophet said, unto us a child
is born. Isaiah 9, 6. Unto us a son is
given. Now, the son was not born. The
son is the eternal son. The child was born, but the son,
the eternal son, is given. He was before he ever came into
this world. He's God the son, the second
person of the blessed Trinity. Unto us a child is born. Unto
us a son is given, and the government shall be upon his shoulders.
His name shall be called Wonderful Counselor." That doesn't mean
somebody go to try to get good counsel and advice. That means
he's the one who decrees. He's the decreeer. The Wonderful
Counselor, The Mighty God, The Everlasting Father, The Prince
of Peace. You know, the only response to
that is bow. He is God, the Son. He came into this world born
of a virgin. Isaiah 7, 14, Behold, a virgin
shall conceive and bear a son. They shall call his name Immanuel,
God with us, born of a virgin. You see, if he was not born of
a virgin, he'd be a sinner like me and you, with Adam's corrupt
seed. But he is born of a virgin, God
manifest in the flesh. Now, if he was not God, he couldn't
save me, but he is God, born of a virgin, mighty to save. mighty." Oh mighty. That means He can save you with
no help from you, with no contribution from you. He is mighty to save,
able to save them to the utter most that come to God by Him. Now Christ Jesus, our text, this
is a faithful saying and worthy of all acceptation that Christ
Jesus into the world. He came into the world. He was
before he came. He's the eternal Son of God.
But think about this. He came into this world some
2,000 years ago. He came into this world born
of a virgin. born under the law. Now, I don't know what day his
birthday is, and I don't even, I mean, there's a sense in which
the whole idea of, I hate it when people say, we're celebrating
his birthday. That's just smacks of irreverence. He's God. He's
a God of glory. Yes, he did come into this world,
but I've even heard of people having birthday cakes for him
and stuff like that. That's irreverent. Don't do anything like that.
He's God the Son that came into this world. God sent his Son
not to condemn the world, but the world through him might be
saved. He came to save. Now, our text
says Christ Jesus came into the world to save. That was his purpose in coming.
Who did he come to save? sinners. That is who he came to save. That was his purpose in coming.
Now his primary purpose, obviously, is to glorify God. We're going
to talk about that in a moment, but he came to save sinners. He didn't come to save good people.
He didn't come to save righteous people, but sinners. And I want us to notice that
there's no adjective before sinners. It doesn't say he came to save
elect sinners, though he did. It doesn't say he came to save
believing sinners. It doesn't say he came to save
repentant sinners. It doesn't say he came to save
reform sinners. It doesn't say he came to save
sinners who know they're sinners. Somebody says, at least I know
I'm a sinner. Big deal. That's like saying, at least
I know I'm an axe murderer. Does that make it okay? Of course not.
He came to save, no adjective. He came to save sinners. Where do you fall in that group
described as sinners? Well, what's meant by the term
sinner? Well, we can't understand what a sinner is unless we understand
what sin is. All have sinned and come short
of the glory of God. Anything that comes short of
the glory of God is sin. John tells us in 1 John 3 verse
4, sin is the transgression of the law. It's breaking God's
holy Law. I think of what the book of Proverbs
says, the plowing of the wicked is sin. Now, what do you think
about that? The plowing. If there's something
that seems wholesome, it's plowing. Going out on the land, plowing
food, plowing to get a crop that'll feed the hungry. Well, that seems
wholesome, doesn't it? Seems like a good thing to do.
And yet the scripture says the plowing of the wicked is sin. Why? Because of who did it. If I do it, it's sin. I don't care what it is. If I
do it, it's sin because I did it. That is the problem. You've heard. God loves the sinner
but hates his sin. Where's that in the Bible? You
can't separate the sinner from his sin. For me to understand
what a sinner is, I have to understand what sin is. Sin is the transgression
of the law. Now, let's think about God's
holy law for just a moment. The Ten Commandments. The first
commandment Thou shalt have no other God before me. A sinner
is one who puts a small g God before the living God. Are you
a sinner? Do you do that? The second commandment is the
commandment against idolatry. Making images, false ideas of
God. Have you done that? Have you concocted some false
idea of God that you felt more comfortable with? No. I haven't. Well, then you're
not a sinner then. A sinner is someone who's an
idolater. The third commandment, the commandment against taking
his name in vain. Somebody says, I haven't taken
his name in vain. Yeah, you have. Matter of fact,
every time you use his name, you take it in vain. Me too.
Because we never have the proper reverence for his holy name. A sinner is somebody that takes
his name in vain. The fourth commandment is with
regard to the Sabbath. Resting. Have you rested? Have you looked to Christ only
and rested? The fifth commandment is the
one about honoring your mother and father, respecting authority. Have you broke that? The sixth commandment, thou shalt
not kill. A sinner's a murderer. Are you
one of those? The seventh commandment, thou
shalt not commit adultery. Have you been guilty of sexual
sin in your mind, in your heart? I'm not just talking about the
physical act. I'm talking about in here. The Lord said, whoso
looketh upon a woman to lust after is in his heart is an adulterer. He's committed adultery. A sinner is a thief. Are you
a thief? Are you a thief? A sinner's a
liar. Are you a liar? A sinner's someone who covets
that which is not theirs. Are you a covetous person? Somebody
says, now I might be bad, but I wouldn't think that all I do
is break God's law. I'm not that bad. Well, okay,
congratulations, but Christ didn't die for you then. He didn't come
save for you. The only person he came to save
is someone who's identified as a sinner. Are you a sinner? I'm not asking you right now
if you're a believer. I'm not asking you if you're saved. I'm
asking you this question, are you a sinner? That means you've never kept
God's law one time. Would that describe you? You've
never kept God's law one time. You can't look down your nose
at anybody. If you sit in judgment on somebody,
you're being a hypocrite and you know it. You can't look down
your nose at anybody for anything they've done. Romans 2, 1 says,
therefore thou art inexcusable, O man, whosoever thou art that
judgest another, for you that judgest doest the same thing. Somebody says, not me. Yeah,
you do. Yeah, you do. If you're a sinner, all your
sin's your fault. You can't say, well, God sovereignly
decreed my sin. No, your sin's your fault. He's
in control of everything, but your sin's your fault, all your
fault. And you have no claims on God because of your sin. Are
you a sinner? Well, here is the Christmas message. Christ Jesus came into the world
to save sinners. Christ, God's prophet, God's
priest, God's king, came into the world. Great is the mystery of godliness. God was manifest in the flesh. He came into the world to save,
and what the Bible means by save. He came into the world to save
sinners. Thou shalt call His name Jesus, for He shall save
His people from their sins. It's salvation from sins. It
means that I'm not gonna have to pay for my sins because Christ
paid for them. It means I've been saved from
the power of sin. I've been given life. Life from
the dead. I can now do what I formerly
could not do. I can believe. I do believe. It's being saved from the very
presence of sin. That's glorification. Christ
Jesus came into the world to save sinners. And look what Paul
says next. Of whom I am chief. He didn't say I used to be chief
before God saved me. He's talking about himself, present
tense, of whom I am the chief. I am the worst man alive today. When Paul said that, he believed
it. He would look at you and he would say, I'm worse than
you are. Now what led Paul to make this
statement? Let's look in verse five of 1
Timothy chapter one. Now the end, the goal, the purpose,
the aim, of the commandment, the declaration. That's not the
word generally used to describe the Ten Commandments. That's
the declaration. That's the message of the gospel.
And aren't you glad the gospel's a commandment? God does not advise
you to believe. He doesn't give you the opportunity
to believe. He commands you to believe. If you don't believe, You're
breaking God's commandment because He's commanding you to believe.
Everybody ought to believe the truth. The gospel is a commandment. Everybody in this room, everybody
outside of this room, God commands you to believe. God commands all men everywhere
to repent. Right now. God commands you to
believe the gospel. Now the goal, the purpose, the
end of the commandment, he gives three things. Charity out of
a pure heart, and of a good conscience, and to faith unfeigned. Now this
is the goal of the commandment. Charity out of a pure heart. Now this pure heart is the heart
that God gives in the new birth. Blessed are the pure in heart
for they shall see God. And what is in that pure heart?
Love for God. Love for His people. Love for
men. Charity. out of a pure heart. That's a goal of the gospel.
And when Jesus Christ died, he makes sure that's so. There's
going to be some people with pure hearts born again by the
Spirit of God, and they're going to have true love for God, love
for his people, love for men. Charity out of a pure heart.
Second thing, a good conscience. Somebody says, well, regarding
that thing, my conscience is clear. I believe I didn't sin
at all with regard to what I did there. I've got a good conscience.
No, that's a seared conscience. It's not a good conscience. A
good conscience is a conscience that has absolutely nothing to
feel guilty about. And I'm not talking about the
conscience of a psychopath who can't feel guilt. I'm talking
about a conscience that actually has nothing to feel guilty about. And that is the fruit of justification. When Christ put away your sin
and gave you perfect righteousness, you stand before God as one who
has never sinned. You got nothing to feel guilty
about. And that's good conscience. And the third goal of the law
is of faith unfeigned. That word unfeigned means unfaked.
Unfaked. Now this is, I'm not faking.
I'm not acting. Jesus Christ really is the only
hope I have. That's no fake. That's no lie. That's not me acting things out. The only hope this sinner has
that's talking to you is that Jesus Christ paid for my sins,
that he lived for me, that he died for me, he was raised from
the dead for me, and that is all I have. Faith unfaked. verse 6, from which some having
swerved, they've left this goal of a pure heart, a good conscience,
and a faith unfeigned, they've left this and turned aside into
vain jangling, empty speech, desiring, verse 7, Desiring to
be teachers of the law, understanding neither what they say nor whereof
they affirm. Now in their desire to be teachers
of the law, it's all empty talk. They don't understand what they're
saying. They don't understand the implications of what they're
saying. Now, Paul tells us in verse eight, but we know that
the law is good if a man use it lawfully. There is an unlawful use of the
law, but the law is good. If a man use it lawfully, knowing
this first night, now this is such an important verse of scripture,
knowing this, that the law, the 10 commandments, the whole law
of God, knowing this, that the law is not made for a righteous
man, but for the lawless. and disobedient, for the ungodly
and for sinners, for unholy and profane, for murderers of fathers
and murderers of mothers, for manslayers, for whoremongers,
for them that defile themselves with mankind, for men-stealers,
for liars, for perjured persons, and if there be any other thing
that is contrary to sound doctrine." Question. Does a righteous man need law? The answer is no. Do you have to lock your door
to keep a righteous man from getting in? No. The only people who need law
are the lawless and disobedient. For murderers of fathers, murders
of mothers and on and on through that description he gives. Now here is the unlawful use
of the law. It is when we say here's law,
if you keep this, it'll make you obedient. It'll make you
righteous. That's the unlawful use of the
law. Now listen real carefully. All
the law of God does is expose sin. That's it. Anything else? Nope. It exposes
sin. The strength of sin is the law. Now know this. The law is not
made for a righteous man. And there is such a thing as
a righteous man. If I need to be under law, all I prove by
that is I'm an unrighteous man, someone who has no love for God.
Someone who has no regard for God. A righteous man doesn't
need law. The law was not made for a righteous
man, but for the lawless and the disobedient. I repeat, if
somebody's righteous, you don't have to lock your door to keep
them out from robbing you. They won't do it because they're
righteous. Now look what he says next. Well,
let's read verses nine, through 11, knowing this, that the law
is not made for a righteous man, but for the lawless and disobedient,
for the ungodly and for sinners, for unholy and profane, for murderers
of fathers and murderers of mothers, for manslayers, for whoremongers,
for them that defile themselves with mankind, for men stealers,
for liars, for perjured persons, and if there be any other thing
that is contrary to sound doctrine. according to the glorious gospel
of the blessed God which is committed to my trust. Now what is sound
doctrine? The glorious gospel of the blessed God. The gospel
literally of the glory of the blessed God. Now that's sound
doctrine. That's the doctrine of Christ. That's the doctrine
according to godliness. Sound doctrine the gospel of
the glory of the blessed God which is committed to my trust. Now the gospel is not for men. Now we benefit from it. Aren't you thankful? We are the
recipients of the benefits of the gospel. But the gospel is
not primarily for me and you. This really is not about me and
you. This is about the glory of God. The gospel of the glory of the
blessed God. God created the universe for
His glory. And everything that takes place
is for His glory. The Lord hath made all things
for Himself, yea, even the wicked for the day of evil. The gospel
is for the glory of the blessed God. Now, Christ came to save sinners, but primarily He
came to glorify His Father. Sinners are saved by that. Thank
God for that. but he came to glorify his father. He said in that great high priestly
prayer, I have glorified thee on the earth. I have finished
the work thou gavest me to do. Now, God created the universe
for his glory. That was his purpose. And he
saved sinners for his glory. Now in the salvation of the sinner,
we touched on this last week, I'm gonna touch on it again.
If I'm saved, I'm saved because God elected me before time began
to be saved. He chose me in Christ before
the foundation of the world. If I'm saved, it's because God
chose me to be saved. How? Why me? How? Is there anything I can
glory in God choosing me? Did He choose me because He saw
I'd be good? Did He choose me because He saw
I'd be a preacher? Did He choose me because I, no,
He did it to the praise of the glory of His grace. If I'm saved,
it's because Christ redeemed me. Now did He redeem me because
He saw something good about me that I would do? No. He redeemed me as a sinner who
needed his redemption. Didn't even know I needed it.
I didn't even know I needed it. That's how bad I am. How bad
you are? I didn't even know I needed it.
You know, what a blessing when the Lord shows you your need,
because we won't even know our need unless he makes it known
to us. He healed them that had need
of healing. I need his redemption, but I
know this. He didn't redeem me because of
some work I performed that caused him to respond to that. If I'm
saved, I'm justified. I stand before God without guilt,
perfectly righteous, without sin. Now, when I even think of
that, I'm so humiliated in my own mind before God about how
sinful I am. God didn't justify me because
of something in me, but because of what Christ accomplished for
me. I know this, if I'm saved, I've
been born from above. I've been regenerated. And I
know this, God gets the glory in that. He didn't ask, do you
want to be regenerated? Sure. No, no. Birthed of his
own will begat he us through the word of truth. If I persevere,
there's only one reason. It's not because of any goodness
in me, it's because He gets the glory in it. Does God get all
the glory in your salvation? Will you be a trophy of His grace
in heaven? I know this, I'll be a trophy
of His grace. I'll be the example of how much
salvation is for His glory and by His grace. According to the glorious gospel
of the blessed God, which was committed to my trust. Verse 12, and I thank Christ
Jesus, our Lord, who hath enabled me. He gets the glory in me being
faithful. He's the one who enabled me to
be faithful. I thank Christ Jesus, our Lord,
who has enabled me for that He counted me faithful, putting
me into the ministry, the ministry of the New Testament, the ministry
of His grace. Who was before, do you have a
before? Do you have a before? Paul did. Who was before a blasphemer and
a persecutor and injurious. but I obtained mercy because
I did it ignorantly in unbelief. Now, is Paul saying the reason
I obtained mercy is because I didn't know any better when I was doing
this stuff, and that's why it gave me mercy? No. Paul is saying I was so ignorant,
I was so wicked, that the only way I could be saved is if I
obtained mercy. God gave it to me. Verse 14, and the grace of our
Lord was exceeding abundant. It overflowed with faith and
love, which is in Christ Jesus. And this is what leads him to
make this glorious statement. This is a faithful saying. You
can count on this. Do you believe that? You can
count on this. And it's worthy of all acceptation. Everybody in this room ought
to count this as the best news they've ever heard. And here it is, that Christ Jesus
came into the world to save sinners of whom I am the chief. Now he came into this world. He saved sinners by his life. That perfect life of obedience
he worked out is the obedience of every sinner he saves. He
said, thus it becometh us to fulfill all righteousness. He
saved sinners by his life. You see, they have no life to
bring before God. They have nothing that God could
accept, but he worked out a perfect righteousness. He saved sinners by his death.
If all he did was live and then go back to heaven, wouldn't do
me and you any good. When we were yet without strength in
due time, Christ died for the ungodly. You see, his death put
away sin. He saved sinners by his death.
He saved sinners by his resurrection. He was delivered for our offenses
and raised again for our justification. When he was raised from the dead,
every sinner was saved that he was raised for. He came to save
sinners and I think this is so important, don't miss this. Paul
says, of whom I am, present tense, the chief. Not I was this chief before God
saved me. but of whom I am right now, present
tense, the chief." Paul is saying by that, I am the worst man alive,
the most sinful man alive. Now, somebody says, how could
that be? If God saved him, how could he
say this about himself? I know. And this fits right in with my
experience. I am, right now, as sinful as
I was before God saved me. Right now. Now, I have a new nature. I have a new heart that I didn't
have before God saved me and it has given me a new disposition.
You know, I used to have no love for Christ. I love him now and
all that's involved with that but I'm so thankful, Paul said,
of whom I am. That so lines up with my experience. I know I'm as sinful as I've
ever been. And I realize people will try to take that and try
to get all kinds of things out of it. I don't care. You can
do with what you want to with it. But I know it's the truth
according to the scriptures. I know it's the truth with regard to
me. But thank God, Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners. Are you one of those? He came. to save you. And my dear friend, if he came
to save you, you're saved. He succeeded. Now look what verse
16 says. How be it? For this cause, I
obtain mercy. Christ Jesus came into the world
to save sinners, of whom I am the chief. But for this cause
I obtain mercy, that in me first Jesus Christ might show forth
all longsuffering for a pattern to them which should hereafter
believe on him to life everlasting." Now this is talking about me
and you. Paul is saying, I'm a pattern. I'm the form, I'm
the pattern of how God saves sinners. If you're saved, you'll
be saved the precise same way I was or am. Christ Jesus came into the world,
joy to the world. I love that song, don't you?
The Lord has come. Let earth receive her King. Christ Jesus came into the world
to save. Not to try to save, not to make
salvation available, but to save. When he said, it is finished,
everybody he died for was saved. Christ Jesus came into the world
to save sinners. If that describes you, He came
to save you. Trust Him right now as your Savior,
the Savior of sinners. May God enable each one of us
to look to him only right now and not wait for anything else.
Let's pray. Lord, how we thank you that you sent your son into this
world, that he came into this world to save sinners. Lord, deliver us from false refuges. Teach us by seeing who you are
that we are sinners and cause us to find all of our confidence
in the glorious message that Christ Jesus, your blessed son,
came into this world to save, not to condemn. Lord, we were
already condemned, but to save sinners. Lord, would you, by
your grace, enable every one of us to see what we are, sinners,
and see that thy son is the savior of
sinners and to trust him completely. Bless this message for the Lord's
sake, in his name we pray, amen.