When the Apostle Paul wrote to
Timothy, he said before him three faithful sayings. And he also
wrote to Titus with another one, four times a faithful saying. This morning, with the Lord's
help, I desire to set before you the first of those faithful
sayings. You'll find it in the passage
that we read, the first epistle of Paul to Timothy, chapter 1,
and verse 15. Verse 15. This is a faithful
saying, and worthy of all acceptation. that Christ Jesus came into the
world to save sinners, of whom I am chief. 1 Timothy chapter 1 and verse 15. The first couple of verses in
this chapter are Paul's salutation to Timothy, his own son, in the
faith. He then warns him of those that
were turning away from the truth. He speaks of those that had a
faith or teaching that was giving heed to fables in verse 4, endless
genealogies, They were vain things that administered questions rather
than godly edifying. We have those also that had swerved
aside into vain jangling and he describes those in verse 7
as being teachers of the law. They were setting forth that
By the deeds of the law, man could be justified and saved. And the apostle says that the
law is good, but only if a man used it lawfully, and that the
law was not made for a righteous man, but really to rein in those
wicked and profane deeds. By the law is the knowledge of
sin. But the way men are saved is
not through the deeds of the law, but through faith in the
Lord Jesus Christ. And so he sets forth those that
are not dealing faithfully with their hearers. They're not giving
a true representation of the gospel. They're not representing
the work of our Lord Jesus Christ in a faithful and a right way. And so then he comes to himself
and he uses himself as an example of those that are saved and he
gives what is to be a counter to all of those unfaithful sayings
what is a faithful saying. And so our text says this is
a faithful saying in contrast to all of those false sayings
and worthy of all acceptation that Christ Jesus came into the
world to save sinners of whom I am chief. A saying is something
usually that is memorable, it is something that is short, that
encapsulates a truth or a teaching, advice, in just a few words. And the words of our text is
a saying that is well worth remembering and an advice that Paul, right
at the outset, writing to Timothy, after countering and setting
forth those that were giving wrong messages, gives this message,
this saying, worthy of all acceptation, that Christ Jesus came into the
world to save sinners, of whom I am chief. So in looking at this word this
morning, I desire to bring before you three points. Firstly, the
faithful saying itself. This is a faithful saying. The
faithful saying is that Christ Jesus came into the world to
save sinners of whom I am chief. Secondly, it's worthiness of
acceptation. He says, and worthy of all acceptation. And then thirdly, the example
in the Apostle Paul of a sinner saved. But firstly, the faithful
saying. What does faithful really mean? And in this context, it means
remaining loyal loyal and steadfast, true to the facts of the original. It is a faithful, a right representation
of the gospel and in this case of the work of our Lord Jesus
Christ and how sinners are saved. So the faithful say is set before
us here in this statement that Christ Jesus came into the world
to save sinners of whom I am chief. Now if we break up the
saying into several parts and pose them as questions then it
will bring us to a clearer understanding of the saying itself. And we
that are used to the Word of God, who regularly attend, we
might think, well, many things are self-evident, we don't need
much explaining. But if we were someone, and if
anyone is listening, joining with us this morning, that is
not so familiar, then each part of this we need to carefully
look at. And so firstly, who is Jesus
Christ? The saying says that Christ Jesus
came into the world. Who is this man? A question that, when our Lord
was on earth, was a very pertinent question. Who is this that was
beginning to preach and teach in Jerusalem, in Nazareth, in
the parts of Galilee? Who was he? Jesus of Nazareth,
born at Bethlehem to Joseph and Mary, and though he was Living
in Nazareth, they came to Bethlehem because of the taxing, and that
Joseph was of the house and lineage of David. So Jesus is of the
descendants of David the king, from both sides. If you traced
him back from his mother's side, you would get to Nathan, the
son of David. You trace him back through Joseph,
then you get to Solomon, the son of David. But we have him
set forth as coming to this earth, as being born, what we would
know as about 4 AD, and then living to the age of 33, dying,
being crucified as a malefactor by the Romans and brought before
them by the Jews, his own people, as an imposter. Jesus of Nazareth was one that
many hated the very name and the very person of him because
they viewed him as an imposter, because he testified that he
was the son of God. He testified that he was the
Christ that should come into the world. And the title that
is given here is Christ Jesus, not just Jesus, but Christ Jesus. And so he is set forth as the
son of the living God. He is set forth as the Christ
who should come into the world, Emmanuel, God with us. Not just a mere man, but God
also. And so we would know that though
Joseph was supposed to be his father, yet his true father was
in heaven. And so when he was 12 years of
age and he was found by his parents after they had mislaid him, as
it were, they'd been to Jerusalem, they went a day's journey and
realised he was not with them. They went back, they found him
in the temple talking with the doctors and lawyers. And they
asked him why he had dealt with them in that way. And he said,
wish ye not that I must be about my father's business. Well, he
was talking to his father Joseph, but he was talking about his
heavenly father in heaven. And so when we look at who he
was by his own testimony, his father was not Joseph, but in
heaven. And later on in his ministry,
he said to them, if you've seen me, you've seen my father also. I and my father are one. And he spoke of the glory that
he had with his father before he came to this world. The very
testimony of the many that hated him, that charged him that he
being a man made himself God, is really a testimony to how
real his manhood was, that his humanity was a real humanity,
that many only saw the man. But what they charged him with,
being a man making himself a god, was put in the wrong way, because
the truth was he was God that made himself man. And that is
why we have, and we may ask the next question, what is meant
by coming into this world? Each one of us, we might say,
come into this world by being born. And you say, well, the
Lord Jesus Christ was also born. But he came into this world in
the sense that he is the eternal God, He always existed. He spoke of the glory that he
had with his father before the world was. When we read in Genesis
of the creation of the world, we read that God said, let us
make man in our own image. And so The creation was made
by God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit. The
Spirit moved upon the face of the waters. God said, let there
be light, and there was light. The eternity of our Lord Jesus
Christ is set before us in the scriptures. He is the Lamb slain
from the foundation of the world. He is the divine and eternal
God. Before Abraham was, I am was
the testimony of our Lord Jesus Christ. And the Jews, they said,
they are not yet 50 years of age. How can they be older than
Abraham? But then our Lord also asked
them to answer a question. And he said, how was it that
David in spirit called him Lord. He said if the promised Messiah,
if the one that was to come was spoken of as being the son of
David, how is it that David called him Lord and said that thou said
unto my Lord sit on my right hand until thou enemies be made
thy footstool? If he be his Lord, how is he
then his son? And they could not answer him
in that way. Of course, the answer was that
he called him Lord because he is the eternal God. He already
existed in heaven with his father. And he came to this earth, a
body hast thou prepared me. a body in the womb of the Virgin
Mary, the Holy Ghost overshadowing her, therefore that holy thing
which shall be born of thee shall be called the Son of God. So when he came into this world
it was when God was made flesh and dwelt among us. It was when
he left his father and came into this world made under the law
and made of a woman. That is what is meant, coming
into this world. He didn't begin his existence
as you and I did when we were conceived. He always was with
the Father. And the condescension in coming
to this world is a great Testimony to the love that the Lord Jesus
Christ has to his people and for the purpose and reason of
coming as given in this short saying. Jesus Christ came into
the world. The third thing is what is meant
by sinners. If it is said here that He came
into the world to save sinners. Who is it that he came to save? What is meant by sinners? Is it meant just men? Well, yes, it is meant for men,
mankind. Curse we have set before us by
Paul to the Romans, that all have sinned and come short of
the glory of God. And then in Romans 5 and verse
12, we have again, wherefore as by one man sin entered into
the world and death by sin, and so death passed upon all men
for that all have sinned. So sin entered into the world
through Adam. Adam and Eve disobeyed God, rebelled
against him, broke his commandment, and brought upon them and all
their descendants the sentence of death. All then are sinners
through Adam in natural sin by birth and also by practice. For we come forth from the womb
speaking lies, and we are all born in sin and shapen in iniquity. So when we read here that the
saying is that the Lord Jesus Christ came into the world to
save sinners, he came to save the descendants of Adam. He did
not come for angels, He did not come for those that do not know
that they are sinners. And we must make that distinction,
we sung of it in our hymn. For though all mankind are sinners,
not all are so in their own eyes. Not all believe that they are
sinners, Not all believe that they personally have transgressed
the law of God. They do not believe that the
sentence of death is upon them, though the graves are all the
way around us, one outside this chapel, though we see countless
of our fellow mortals carried off by death. Yet there's a not
believing that the reason why they are dying is because of
the sentence that God is enacting upon men because they are sinners. Yet it is all around us. But
spiritually as well. When Adam died, he died spiritually. And that evidence is all around
us as well. Because man does not have spiritual
life. He does not believe in the God
that made him. He cannot receive the spiritual
things. He cannot understand the things
of God. He hates the things of God. And
just the ungodliness of the world testifies to the spiritual death
that man is in by nature. And it is those that are brought
by God, by his grace, to feel that they are spiritually dead,
they are ignorant of the things of God, they are under the sentence
of death, They are under condemnation already and that if there be
not a way of their being saved, they must perish eternally and
at the judgment seat of Christ that they must be judged to eternal
banishment in hell forever and forever. It is those that are
brought to know the truth that they are a sinner that this saying
is spoken to and is faithful and true too. We know that this
saying does not apply to someone like Judas Iscariot, like those
who were clearly reprobate and clearly perished in their sin. Because that which the Lord has
come to do, he has done and he will do, and he shall not do
that work in vain and there be one lost that he actually came
to save. And so I would really emphasise
this point because if God has brought you and I to feel our
sinnership, then you and I are inside this saying and this text. If we have no sense of our sinnership,
if we have no sense of our guilt and of our need of saving as
yet, we are not in this text. But do remember this, that every
one of God's children that are at last saved at one time were
unsaved and at one time did not know they were sinners, nor did
they seek nor did they value such a saying as this saying. We read of Samuel that at one
time Samuel did not yet know the Lord. And it may be there
are those of you listening this morning that do not yet know
the Lord. And you do not yet know yourselves. And you do not yet know yourselves
as sinners. It doesn't change the fact. The
fact that you're a sinner is a fact. But if you are brought
through the Word, and may it be so this morning, to fall under
the word and to know that you have sinned, that you yourself
have transgressed the law of God. You yourself are guilty
and are under condemnation. Remember the beautiful word in
Romans 8, there is therefore now no condemnation to them that
are in Christ Jesus can be put the other way around, that there
is condemnation to all that are not. in Christ Jesus. Those that are not saved by him
are lost, are under condemnation. So the sinners here are those
that are sinners but they are sensible of it, they believe
it, they know it. Many times, and my own people
know I do this, bring the illustration of Nebuchadnezzar's forgotten
dream. You remember Nebuchadnezzar,
he knew that he had a dream, but he couldn't remember what
the dream was. And he required of his wise men
that not only would they interpret the dream to him, but they would
also tell him what the dream was. And they said that it was
a thing most unreasonable, that no king would ever ask such a
thing. But he accused them of just having
lying words, that they would just make up an interpretation. And he said this, you tell me
the dream, and I will know that you can tell me the interpretation
thereof. Well, you show me a God that
can convince a sinner that he is a sinner and I will show you
the same God that will save that sinner. It takes as much the
work of God to convince us of our sins as it is to save us
from our sins. It is as much the work of God
and we need to remember that and especially this But it's
saying here that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners,
to save convicted sinners, convinced sinners, sinners that need saving from
hell, saving from spiritual death, saving from this world, saving
from Satan, saving from eternal condemnation, saving from bearing
the punishment that is due to their own sins. Well, in this saying, there is
the purpose of Jesus, of Christ Jesus coming into the world. Christ Jesus came into the world
to save sinners. This is why he actually came
into this world. We don't want to lose sight of
really the simplicity of the saying. This is the whole reason
why. Some people would say, well,
he came to give us an example. He came to teach us. He came
to tell us the way. All these things are right, but
the whole reason was to save sinners. And we have in our Lord's
beginning of His ministry in John chapter 3 and verse 17,
For God sent not His Son into the world to condemn the world,
but that the world through him might be saved. And what is meant
there by world, it is not just the Jews, it is every nation,
kindred, and tongue. Not every individual, otherwise
Judas, otherwise Demas, otherwise King Saul, otherwise Cain, otherwise
Esau, those also would be saved. This gospel is to be preached
into all the world, every nation and kindred and tongue. And no one has got to say, well,
I am not a Jew or I'm not one of mankind that comes under this
world. And so the message is very, very
clear as to why the Lord actually came into this world, the purpose
was to save sinners. Christ Jesus came into the world
to save sinners. The last point I'd make under
this first heading is how that his coming into this world was
necessary to save sinners. As we might say, you might ask,
well why, being God, could not he from his throne in heaven
save sinners? Why could not he, as easy as
he made the commands given to Adam and Eve in the Garden of
Eden, thou shalt not eat of the fruit of the tree of the knowledge
of good and evil? Couldn't he not have made the
same command or same decrees from heaven? Rather than coming
down into this world, rather than being made a man, why could
not he have just pronounced it and just pronounced that sinners
would be saved and just take away the condemnation from
them? Why was it necessary? as in this
short saying, that he came into the world. And the reason is
this, that God is faithful and God will not just take away sin
without doing it justly and rightly. It must be paid for, it must
be atoned for. And the only way that it can
be atoned for is one atoning for it of the same nature as
those that had sinned. The law says without the shedding
of blood there is no remission. And yet everyone that is born
into this world that is a sinner, there's no virtue in their blood. by their own blood, well, already
it's under condemnation. Already they're under the sentence
of death. If you came to someone on death
row and that person on death row said that I'm going to pay for someone else's sins, you'd
say to them, well, how can you pay for someone else's sins when
you're dying because you're dying because of what you've done?
You can't be of any benefit to anyone else because you're already
on death row. You can't stand in someone else's
stead. You're already condemned. And
so the vital necessity was that there should come one that was
also made under the law, made of a woman, that were of the
seed of the woman. were not like the angels that
were just spirit, they're not like an animal which is just
flesh, but the seed of Abraham which is flesh and soul, both
together. And also it had to be one that
was sinless and spotless. Job, he says, how can there come
a clean thing out of an unclean? You know, those Old Testament
saints, they puzzled how it could be that the promise should be
in the seed of the woman that should bruise the serpent's head,
when everyone that is born into this world is a sinner. How could
that be? How could? And Job, he puzzles
how this could be. And it's like Solomon, he puzzles
as well. He builds the temple, he dedicates
the temple. He says, heaven of heavens cannot
contain thee. How much less this house that
I have builted, and will God in very deed dwell on the earth? He puzzled, how could this be
the case? And yet Job as well, he says,
I know that my Redeemer liveth, and that he shall stand at the
latter day upon this earth. He liveth already in heaven,
and he shall stand on this earth. And we know that he did stand
on this earth. But he needed to come to this
world. He needed to come for two reasons,
that as a man, a real man, that he should then take and bear
in his own body the sins of his people, the sins of those that
he was to suffer for and redeem and put away, and he was to bear
their sins on the cross. The Lord says, Cursed is everyone
that hangeth upon a tree. And our Lord was hung upon a
tree to be made a curse for us who knew no sin, that we might
know the righteousness of God in him. He was to pay the debt. His sacrifice is a wrath-appeasing
sacrifice, a wrath-ending sacrifice, a propitiation for our sins. It took away the wrath of God.
The wrath of God fell on him so that it will not fall upon
a believer, upon those for whom he died. The whole purpose, our
Lord said to Pilate, for this cause came I into this world. For this reason, he stood on
the threshold of offering himself as an offering. And the second
reason is that our Lord had to come into this world that he
should live a life that his people cannot live. Our lives are stained
with sin from the time we are born to the time we die. And
if we then, even if our sins are blotted out, if we are to
be brought to heaven, what do we stand there clothed in? If we have to give an account
of how we came there, whatever is spoken of our lives is a disgrace. And if we had to think, well,
how can we ever stand and give an account? We can't. And my
trouble, many of you, as to how you can ever lift up your head
and not be in shame in heaven And the reason is because God
gives to a believer Christ's righteousness. It's just as if
the life that our Lord Jesus Christ lived here below, which
was without sin from beginning to end, is imputed, is put on
a believer. So in God's sight, when God looks
at a believer, he doesn't see They're more blackened by their
sins. He sees the perfect life of his
beloved son. And so he can say to his church,
thou art all pure. There is no spot in thee. And
the church, they say in the Song of Solomon, I am black, yet comely. Black as a sinner myself, but
in Christ, I'm comely. I'm accepted in him. And so those
two parts, we need sin put away. The blood of Jesus Christ cleanseth
from all sin. And we need a righteousness.
This is the name wherewith he shall be called the Lord our
righteousness. And this is the name wherewith
she, the Church of God, shall be called the Lord our righteousness. We need that as a wedding garment
to stand before God. We need those two things and
those two things were done and accomplished on this earth. And
they could not have been done other than Christ Jesus coming
to this earth and doing them on this earth. You and I, if
we are saved, we will be saved on this earth. In a body of sin
and death, in a world that is under the curse, where Satan
is active, That is where we will be saved by grace. Where our
Lord put away sin was in the midst of a multitude that cried,
away with him, away with him, crucify him, that hated him. And yet in that very time, that
sacrifice in the sight of his Heavenly Father was accepted.
And so on this earth, on this earth, great things are done.
On this earth, man sinned and death entered. But on this earth,
the Redeemer came, and He put away sin, and He wrought out
righteousness. And on this earth, those for
whom He died shall be born into this world. They shall be born
again of the Spirit, brought to be feelingly sinners, and
brought to faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, and saved from
their sins. Because on this earth, the Lord
put away their sin, and it is those that the Lord shall have
with him in heaven. This faithful saying, this is a faithful saying and
worthy of all acceptation, that Christ Jesus came into the world
to save sinners. It has one last part, and that
is, of whom I am chief. And I'll look at that in our
last point. But secondly, I want to look
at its worthiness of acceptation. What does worthy mean? Worthy means deserving or good
enough, suitable, suitable. Sometimes it can mean also deserving
of effort, attention or respect. These are the meanings that are
given to us just by looking up in a dictionary and it's very
helpful. I often find it very helpful to look The words that
the translators have chosen, and we can look back into the
dictionaries of the original languages and see the meaning
there as well. But were they suitable, good
enough? Perhaps to use an illustration
that all of us are used to, that we've got a car, Every year,
we've got to have an MOT or a roadworthy. A car needs to be roadworthy.
Over in Australia, that is what it was called, a roadworthy certificate. So that if we wanted to go somewhere
in this car, if it had a roadworthy certificate, then we could trust
it. We think we'd get along the road
and If we wanted to stop, the brakes would work. If we wanted
to turn, then the steering wheel would work. Then it would be
safe. We could trust that actual car. It would be suitable for us. We think of if it was a small
car that had four seats in it, and we had a family of eight,
we might say, well, the car was roadworthy, but it wasn't very
suitable because it wouldn't fit those in it that needed to
go in it. And so there's many aspects that
we would look at something in a natural sense like that and
say, is it able to do what we want to do with it? And in this
case here, this saying It's worthiness of being accepted. As a sinner,
we really want to know, should we just look at this and just
cast it aside and say, well, that's just a saying in scripture,
no use for that, or it won't help me in my case? Or is it
we say, if we are a convinced sinner, it is worth the effort
And it is worth the attention and respect of looking into it
in a more deeper way. It is worthy of all acceptation. It is worthy because it is in
keeping with the first promise that was ever given when man
first fell. The promise was that the seed
of the woman should bruise the serpent's head. And in this saying,
it is speaking of the seed of the woman, it is speaking of
the promised Christ, and in that it is worthy. It is worthy of
acceptation in this, that all of the Old Testament sacrifices,
they all were associated with sin, right from the very beginning,
where God slayed those animals and clothed Adam and Eve with
the skins. When he made it very clear, he
accepted Abel's blood sacrifice, but not Cain's because there
was no bloodshed. And then when Christ Jesus came
into the world, John the Baptist, he pointed him out and he said,
behold the Lamb of God. that taketh away the sin of the
world. Now the Jews, they knew very
well the lamb was a sacrificial lamb. That was what was used
in the ceremonial way to take away sin. And so with Jesus Christ,
John the Baptist points him out, here is the sacrifice, here is
the lamb ready for a sacrifice. There is the worthiness for this
saying to be accepted. Another worthiness is in the
very name of Jesus. In Matthew 1, we read why he
was given the name of Jesus. For he shall save his people
from their sins. That is the meaning of his name.
Not might save them, he shall. Who shall he save? His people. It tells us he has a people,
they are sinners, they have sins, and he shall save them from their
sins. It's another one of those short
sayings, a beautiful saying. His name shall be called Jesus,
for he shall save his people from their sins. So this saying
is worthy of all acceptation because of this. Also, because
we have the empty tomb, Now, Lord Jesus Christ lived on this
earth, he died, he rose again, and he ascended up into heaven.
He appeared before many witnesses, 500 brethren at once, for 40
days after he'd risen from the dead. An empty tomb, that assurance
that God has given in that he has raised him from the dead,
No one ever before has ever willingly, freely died, laid down his life,
no man taking it from him. Remember our Lord, he yielded
up his breath with a loud voice. And they wondered that he was
dead already. The thieves, they had to have
their legs broken to kill him, but their Lord laid down his
life. Crucified, yes, but yielded up
his spirit to God. and rose again by his own power. Never before was that so. And yet the sin laid upon him
was then put away. And because of that is worthy
of all acceptation. The suitability. He was a near
kinsman. Truly man, truly made like ourselves. In the book of Ruth, Boaz was
a near kinsman. He was a near relative, so he
could redeem Ruth. He could marry her and raise
up seed to her. The Lord Jesus Christ is a near
kinsman to us. Though he is not a sinner himself,
yet he is born into this world and under the law. He is suitable
because the law required the shedding of blood and the Lord
Jesus Christ provided that shedding of blood, the spotless blood
of the Lamb of God. He is suitable because he provided
in his sinless life a robe of righteousness for his people,
none other that have ever lived have ever lived a righteous life
as our Lord did. And there's a reason, as we said,
for that. He is suitable because now he
is in heaven and we are told clearly that he appears in the
presence of God for us. We have, sinners have, an advocate
with the Father He already said before he ascended up into heaven,
I will pray the Father and he will give you another comforter.
He will abide with you forever, tarry at Jerusalem until you
be endued with power from on high. On the day of Pentecost,
10 days after the Lord ascended up into heaven, the Holy Spirit
fell and they spake with tongues that all of the strangers in
Jerusalem, they recognized as their own language. Men speaking
in a miraculous, unlearned way, languages that were clearly understood. And we have 10 years after that,
the same witness when the Holy Spirit was given to the Gentiles. And so the Lord's appearance
in heaven. He is suitable to save unto the
uttermost all that come unto God by him, is suitable because
of those that he has saved. And this is where we have the
end part of this saying, this testimony. Christ Jesus came
into the world to save sinners, of whom I am chief. The Apostle Paul is the example,
and I want to speak lastly, just briefly, of him as the example. Our text stands in the middle
of his own personal testimony. He says in verse 12, I thank
Christ Jesus our Lord who hath enabled me, for that he counted
me faithful, putting me into the ministry. And then he says
in verse 13 what he was. He was before a blasphemer and
a persecutor and injurious, but I obtained mercy because I did
it ignorantly in unbelief. And the grace of our Lord was
exceeding abundant with faith and love, which is, in Christ
Jesus. He speaks of himself as an example
of the very saying that he set before us. He says, I am a sinner. I was a sinner. The Lord saved
me. And we have the account of on
that Damascus road when Saul of Tarsus is in the middle of
hailing men and women to prison who were calling upon the name
of Jesus of Nazareth. He hated Jesus of Nazareth. And the Lord appeared to him
and spoke to him from heaven. Saul, Saul, why persecutest thou
me? Who art thou, Lord? I am Jesus,
whom thou persecutest. It is hard for thee to kick against
the pricks, nor after them. Three days, and his sight was
restored to him. Then he immediately preached
Christ Jesus, that he is the Son of God, what he didn't know
before. The apostle tells us more of
his own experience in other parts. He says in his epistle to the
Romans, that when the commandment came, he said, I was alive without
the law once, a Pharisee, thinking that he was getting to heaven
by his own works, but the commandment came and I died. Under the law of God, he was
brought in guilty as a sinner, but then he was brought to see
the Lord Jesus Christ as the saviour of sinners. Now we are
told after the words of our text, the reason why the Lord's so
blessed the apostle, such a wicked sinner. And it's interesting
to look at the meaning of the word chief and in the original
languages too. It is meaning first or foremost,
first or foremost. So when he says of whom I am
chief, he says of whom I am the foremost or first. Howbeit 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. One of the strongest
things that the Lord uses in the Christian faith and the saving
sinners is personal testimony. He has ordained that those that
preach the gospel are sinners, they're not angels. They're those
like Paul who have been lost and who have known the saving
power of God in saving them and giving them faith in Christ to
trust in him and him alone. and they then are setting forth
something that they're not talking about, doesn't relate to them,
it does. Because I need that faith and
I need Christ to save me. And I believe he has saved me,
shown me my sin and shown me his grace and his mercy in what
he has done. and given me faith and trust
in what He has done. And that is why I can set before
you and set before other sinners that here is something that I
have also walked and tried and proved and trust in and one day
I shall die. And I shall die resting upon
this precious saying, this truth and this alone. And that is the
only way that you may die as well in peace with God and with
hope of eternal life. There is none other name given
among men whereby we must be saved. And so the Lord, when
he would send forth his gospel, sends it forth in the hands of
saved sinners, those who shall point to the redeeming blood
of Christ and say, behold the way to God, those who shall point
to him whom they once hated but whom they have brought to love
and to trust their whole soul, their eternal, their eternal
habitation, their eternal residence is in his hands. To be outside
of Christ is to be in eternal wrath and separation from God. To be in Christ and to be saved
by Him is to be forever with Him and to be eternally blessed. The Lord says, Those that the
Father has given the Son are those that in time He convinces
that they are sinners. And by His Spirit leads them
to view this precious truth in our text and to embrace it as
worthy of all of their trust. And that in that belief and in
that faith, not like just the simple illustration of using
a car to go from one place to another, but we can launch into
eternity and be safe. safe eternally, safe from the
wrath of God, safe from the accusations of Satan, safe eternally in the
arms of the Lord Jesus Christ. The hymn writer says, Dear friends,
may we know this saying, to be a true saying, a faithful saying,
to be a saying worthy of all acceptation and that it is a
saying that we have embraced and that we believe in the Lord
Jesus Christ and trust in Him alone, what He has done, what
He has done on this earth. God commendeth His love toward
us in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. This then is this faithful saying
and worthy of all acceptation that Christ Jesus came into the
world to save sinners. And may we, by God's grace, be
able to add the personal part to the end of it, of whom I am
chief. And we will feel that. We will
feel the chief of sinners if we are blessed in this way. But
may we be able to finish the saying in such a personal note. by the Lord at his blessing.
Amen.