Turn with me, if you would, to
1 Timothy 1, verse 15. 1 Timothy 1, verse 15. This is a faithful saying and
worthy of all acceptation that Jesus Christ came into the world
to save sinners. I've preached from this passage
twice since I have become your pastor, and I suppose that I
probably refer to this verse every time that I preach. Most
every gospel preacher does. It's a subject that can't be
exhausted. Each word in the text has great
significance. It's the heart of the gospel,
as we say. It gives us the very reason that
Christ became a man and dwelt among us. It's the greatest encouragement
given to believe the gospel, and it's the epitome and the
essence of salvation. It's the only way, and I reiterate,
the only way. There's but one way that a man
and woman can be saved. Paul says it's a faithful saying.
It's trustworthy. You can trust in this. It's worthy
of all acceptance. Every man ought to bow to it.
Every woman should accept it. It's a truth to be believed.
What is it? Well, it's a very simple statement.
Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners. Now Paul knew
something about this truth and he most assuredly did because
he claims himself to be the chief, the worst of sinners. And this
is certain, this is true, this is a trustworthy declaration. You can have confidence in it.
I want you to leave here this morning with confidence in this.
You can depend on it wholeheartedly. You can rest in it completely.
And it primarily deals with three things. The Savior, Jesus Christ,
the sinner, you and I and all who are born of woman. Man that
is born of woman is a few days and full of trouble. We're full
of trouble. What is man that he should be
clean and he which is born of a woman that he should be righteous. How then can man be justified
with God, or how can he be clean that's born of a woman? And then
thirdly, this deals with salvation. And salvation is what you and
I desperately need. We can't save ourselves. We can't. Those that are whole, those that
have no need of a physician, desperately need salvation. And it comes one way to a sinner,
and that's by the Savior. Christ came in the world not
to call the righteous. He came in the world to call
sinners to repentance. So this morning, I want us to
consider these three things that are worthy of our acceptance. And what is acceptance? Not what
a lot of folks in religion preach today. I accepted Jesus as my
personal Savior. But acceptance means the consent
to believe, to bow to what the Holy Spirit revealed to the chief
of sinners here. You know, my father always told
me that if you wanted to know how to do something, to get the
advice of an expert. And the Apostle Paul declares
himself to be the chief expert of sinners. Chief, meaning the
foremost. in time, in place, in order are
important. Chief means the ringleader. I've
been accused of being a ringleader of many things. But Paul says
he's the ringleader when it comes to sinners. He's the main, he's
the key, he's the preeminent, he's the predominant, the number
one expert for sinners. Well, listen to him. So we begin
with the first mention in the verse, and that is the Savior,
Christ Jesus. Christ Jesus came in the world
to save sinners. What does the name Christ mean?
It means the anointed one. What does the name Jesus mean?
It means the Lord of salvation. Christ is the anointed Lord of
salvation. The anointed Lord of salvation
came into the world. He became a man to save sinners. Paul said, of whom I'm chief.
You may be sitting here this morning and say, brother, you
don't know what I've done. No, God does. And he came to save
the chief of sinners. There's no sin that will keep
you out of glory. Only your righteousness will.
And that is a self-proclaimed righteousness. Christ came in
the world. He's not from this world. He
created this world. He said, I'm not of this world.
He said, my kingdom is not of this world. He came from heaven,
the very throne of God. He sat with his father upon the
throne of God and he condescended to become a man. His kingdom
is a heavenly kingdom. This anointed Lord and Savior
is God. He was not a man that became
God, but God the Son who became a man. Yes, God became a man. God came into the world to save
sinners. who being in the form of God,
thought it not robbery to be equal with God, but made himself
of no reputation, and took upon him the form of a servant, and
was made in the likeness of man. And being found in fashion as
a man, he humbled himself, in what humility it was, for God
to become a man. He humbled himself, he became
obedient unto death, even the death of the cross. Wherefore
God also hath highly exalted him, and given him a name which
is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee
should bow, and every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ
is Lord." He's the anointed one. He's the Lord of salvation. To
the glory of God the Father. Philippians 2, verses 6-11. You know, God became a nobody
What a condescension that is. What humility that is. He became
a nobody among men in order to save nobodies called sinners. He took on the form of a servant. He took on the shape, the figure
of man. He took on the nature, the features
of a servant. The very one who was and is to
be served, the one who's equal with God. One who was and is
God, He came to serve. Not to be served and ministered
to, but to minister and serve others. Isn't that amazing in
and of itself? God the Father sent God the Son
in the world to save sinners, even the chief, even the chief
of sinners. And that's good news for a sinner.
It won't be good news for anyone but a sinner. That's why it's
called the gospel. And this, my friends, is the
good news for sinners. There is no other gospel. He
was made in the likeness of men. Likeness means the shape, the
similitude of men, but he was God. God manifest in the flesh. Without controversy, great is
the mystery of God. God, God was manifest in the
flesh. Men and women make it controversial,
but it's not. It's not. The God-Man humbled
Himself. That's what servants do. The
God-Man became obedient. That's what servants are. But He became obedient unto death.
Not just a normal death, but even the death of the cross.
And God the Father highly exalted God the Son. And He gave Him
a name that's above every name. There is no other name by which
sinners can be saved. Neither is there salvation in
any other, for there is none other name under heaven given
among men, whereby we must be saved." That narrows it down,
doesn't it? And that's why every knee should
bow. Every knee should right now bow
on this earth, but not every knee will. This is why every
tongue should confess. Every tongue in this world should
right now confess Jesus Christ. But not every tongue will, not
now. But one day very soon, every
knee will bow and every tongue will confess. The scripture says
in heaven and in earth and in hell, every knee will bow and
every tongue confess that Jesus Christ, the anointed Savior is
Lord. Lord, to the glory of God the
Father. Jesus Christ is Lord. He's not
gonna be. You don't make Him Lord. He was
Lord long before you ever came into existence. He's always been
Lord. Lord means He's got the power.
He's got the authority. He's got the influence. He's
the master and ruler of heaven and earth. He's superior. He's sovereign. He's all powerful.
He's the almighty supreme Savior. the Redeemer, the Lamb of God,
the Prince of Peace, the King of Kings. And if you won't confess
Him now to be Lord, when you stand before Him in judgment,
you will. Because every knee is going to
bow and every tongue is going to confess that He's Lord. God's
glory is in his son. Moses said, Lord, show me your
glory. What did the father say? He said, I'll make all my goodness
pass before you. Jesus Christ is all of God's
goodness. God said, I'll proclaim the name
of the Lord, his name, his nature, his perfections. The preaching
of Christ is the glory of God. God said, I'll be gracious to
whom I'll be gracious, and I'll show mercy on whom I'll show
mercy. God said, I'll put you in a place
by me. Guess where that is? You don't
have to guess. It's the Lord Jesus Christ. God
said, I'll cause you to stand upon a rock. Friends, Christ
is that rock. God said, I'll cause you, I'll
put you. It's God that does the saving.
God said, no man can see my face and live. You see, only those
who see the man Christ Jesus, that one mediator between God
and man, can see the face of God and live. If you've seen
Christ, you've seen the Father. That's what He said. It's God
who puts us in the cleft of the rock. Jesus Christ, our Savior,
is the cleft of the rock. God shall cover our sin. You
ever thought about that? He covers our sin so that he
doesn't see it. Salvation really is of the Lord. That little preposition of, you
can look it up in the dictionary, expresses the relation between
two identities. The two identities are salvation
and Christ. Salvation and Christ are one
and the same. Salvation only identifies with
Christ. He is the author and finisher
of our faith. What more of a Savior could any
sinner want than Christ, who's God? Is it not He who made the heavens
and the earth able to create life and light in us? Well, absolutely. Jesus Christ, the man. He's Jesus
Christ, the Lord. He's Christ Jesus, the anointed
Savior. God has committed all things
into His hand. All things. He left His throne
to be born in a manger. He, the Infinite One, was made
an infant. What a condescension. What humility. He's the brightness of the Father's
glory. He upholds all things by His power. He by Himself purged
our sin. Why wouldn't any sinner want
Him? He came into the world to save
sinners. It's faithful saying. It's trustworthy. You can trust
it. Now the question is this. Is it nothing to you? He said,
is there any sorrow like mine? It was His Father who afflicted
Him. He did so in the day of His spirit's
anger. That anger was meant for you
and me. Christ thought it not robbery
to be equal with God because He was equal with God in every
way. God the Father, God the Son,
God the Holy Spirit. And friends, He's worthy of our
acceptance. He's worthy of our believing.
He's worthy of our bowing. He's the only one that can be
trusted to put our sin away. He's able to save to the uttermost
those that come to God by Him. The word uttermost there means
forevermore. He's able to save evermore, forever,
eternally, those that come to God by Him. And here's the reason
that it's forevermore, seeing that He ever liveth to make intercession
for us. God is on the throne right now
praying for you, Linda. He's on the throne right now
praying for sinners like us. He forever maketh intercession
for us. On the cross, our anointed Savior
groaned under the yoke of oppression. Why? Because all the sin of all
God's people throughout all time was put on Him. And you consider
the multitude of your sin alone. Well, I couldn't count all the
times that I've sinned this week or today for that matter, but
all the sin, all your sin, and then you multiply that by the
great number of all God's people throughout all time. My, what
oppression that must have been. This oppression caused him to
sweat great drops of blood. He was forsaken by all of His
friends. He went into the garden and took
some of His disciples with Him, and they fell asleep as He prayed. He said, could you not watch
with Me one hour? No, we can't. We can't. He was
mocked, despised, and ridiculed. He was beaten and scourged. His
visage was marred more than any other before or after He didn't
resemble a man. He died the death of a criminal
on the cross. And it was all for whom He came
to save. And this is the Savior of whom
our text speaks. Christ Jesus, the Savior, came
into this world to save sinners. Secondly, let us consider the
sinner. That's who Christ came to save.
A person who transgresses against God's divine law. An offender. One who's offensive to God. Did
you know that in and of yourself you're offensive to God? Sin means to miss the mark. It
means to deserve the penalty. The wages of sin is death. That's
what we deserve. Synonyms for sin are a wrongdoer,
an evildoer, reprobate, immoral, wicked, scandalous. All sin against
God. It's all against God, Psalm 51.4.
David said that we were shaped in iniquity, that we were conceived
in sin. Our parents brought forth one
of their own kind, a carnal, sinful, fleshly mind, is enmity,
hostile, that's what the word means, toward God. By nature, all of us have hostility
toward God. And a man that tells me that
they're not, a woman that tells me that they're not, have yet
to see themselves as they are, and God is who He is. Paul professed
to be the chief of sinners. You know, if Paul was the chief
of sinners, what does that make me? Look at verse 13, Paul wrote,
who's before a blasphemer, not just one who curses, but one
who curses God. That's what a blasphemer is.
You know John Newton that wrote Amazing Grace? He wrote that
after the Lord saved him. He didn't know nothing about
it before. It was said of John Newton before the Lord saved
him that he could curse for an hour and never use the same word.
But that's not what this is talking about. This is talking about
one who curses God. A blasphemer is one who speaks
irreverently of sacred things, primarily God and His Christ. Our Lord said in John 8, verse
34, barely, barely, I say unto you, whosoever committed sin
is the servant of sin. A servant of sin. Being a servant
of sin is to be biased and bent towards sin. Being a sinner is
one who gives themselves to sin. Those who sell themselves to
a work of wickedness. Those who make sin their trade
and business and employment. Those who take delight and pleasure
in sin. Those that sin has dominion over. Those who obey the lust of the
flesh. Those who are slaves to sin.
You know, this week as I was making some notes, I often get
in a hurry, and I meant to write salvation, and I wrote slaybation. Well, I thought about that, and being a servant of sin is just
that, it's slaybation, isn't it? The sin is slavation, not
salvation. That's every one of us by nature,
birth, and practice, unless the Lord divinely intervened. But
God, but God, as we looked at in the first time. All have sin,
none doeth good. Everyone comes short of the glory
of God. Everyone, all of us. Paul continues
in verse 13 and he says, I was a persecutor. That word persecutor
means double-minded. James said that one that's double-minded
is unstable in all his ways. Let not that man think that he
shall receive anything of the Lord, he said. A persecutor is
one who subjects others to hostility. Paul was that. You know his story. He held the coats of those who
stoned Stephen. He drugged men and women out
of their own homes and threw them into prison for serving
the Lord Jesus Christ. He was a persecutor. Unstable. A persecutor is one who harasses
and annoys persistently. Paul continues and says, I was
injurious. Despiteful, causing damage, hurt
and harm. One who's dangerous and destructive. That's what we are by nature.
That's what a sinner is. And that's what a sinner does.
But then Paul added, but I obtained mercy. Every believer can say
that. I was a persecutor, I was injurious,
I was blasphemous, but I obtained mercy. He says, I obtained mercy because
I was ignorant and unbelieved. You see, our sin springs forth
from ignorance. Ignorance that sin is what we
are. ignorant of God's holiness, ignorant of God's righteousness. We're poor, we're blind, we're
unbelieving, we're hardened creatures. But in spite of these things,
God in Christ has mercy on his chosen people, and it's only
in Christ. Oh, it's a faithful saying. It's
worthy of all acceptance that Christ Jesus came into the world
to save sinners. You know, Paul thought that what
he was doing was what, what he did was what he was supposed
to do. And we justify our actions so much. Well, this is what's
just doing what comes natural. That's our problem. It's our
problem. Our Lord said, they'll put you
out of the synagogues. Yeah, and the time's going to
come that whatsoever killeth you thinks that he's doing God's
work. In verse 14 here, Paul added,
and the grace of our Lord was, oh, I love these two words, exceeding
abundant. It exceeds abundance. You fill
a glass to the top and you keep pouring water into it, it overflows. That's God's mercy and grace
to us, it overflows. God's grace, mercy, and love
and faith is given to us in Christ. It can be found nowhere else.
That is who Christ came to save, sinners. He came to give sinners
who were dead, dead in trespasses and sin. Wicked sinners. Immoral
sinners. Moral sinners. Immoral and moral. Religious sinners. The chief
of sinners. Are you a blasphemer? Are you
a persecutor? Are you an injurious person?
That's who Christ came to save. What good news. What good news. Christ came to save biblical
sinners. You ever heard that term? Well,
think about it. That's the kind of sinner that
the Bible describes. Not the kind of sinner the world
defines, but a biblical sinner. The kind of sinner that God declares. Not those that are basically
good with a few faults. Not those who do the best that
they can. I can't tell you how many times I've asked a man a
few years ago now, I said, what is your hope of being saved? To have an eternal life in heaven? He said, my hope is that I do
the best I can. I just do the best I can. Well,
that's not good enough. It's got to be perfect to be
accepted. God won't accept anything less than perfection. The world
defines sinners as those who are righteous in their own eyes,
but have made some bad choices. We haven't made anything but
bad choices. Not those who treat people as
they want to be treated. That's not going to do it. But
the chief of sinners, the worst of the worst, the most wicked
and vile of sinners, those who walk in the mire of depravity,
those who drink iniquity like water, That's a biblical sinner. That's those who see that they
are what God declares them to be, and that God is who He declares
to be. Any faith, any trust, any dependence
in Christ that a dead sinner has is God that gave it to them. Look at verse 12. Paul said,
and I thank Christ Jesus our Lord who hath enabled me. for that he counted, commanded,
made, judged, made faithful, putting me into the ministry."
You see, the believers judge faithful when they're judged
in Christ. He counted us faithful the same
way he did Abraham. Abraham believed God and it was
counted unto him for righteousness. How does one who is dead believe
God? We're saved by grace through
faith. That's not of ourselves. Both grace and faith are the
gift of God. Not by our works, not by our
doing. It's not of ourselves. It's what?
It's the gift of God. Christ is the gift of God for
enlightened sinners. He will teach transgressors His
ways, transgressors His ways, and sinners shall be converted
unto Him. Psalm 51, 13. Christ didn't come
to call the righteous, but sinners, transgressors, the worst of the
worst, the chief of sinners to repentance. He was called a friend
to publicans and sinners. And what an amazing thought that
Christ was betrayed into the hands of sinners, and it was
sinners that He came to save. What a wonder of wonders. He
ate Republicans and sinners. Why? Because they were the ones
who needed a physician. They were the ones that were
sick. Those that are sick and diseased need help. Do you see
that you need help? He was holy, harmless, undefiled,
separate from sinners, and he joined himself to sinners to
save them, Hebrews 7, 26. He who endured such contradiction
from sinners came into the world to save sinners. The only qualification for grace
is need. That's it. Those that are well
have no need, but those that are sick do. Are you a biblical
sinner? Then you qualify for God's grace. Then lastly, the text tells us
of the salvation of sinners. Are you interested? Christ didn't
come into the world to love the world. He didn't come into the
world to be an example. Christ didn't come to be a worldly
king, and he definitely didn't come to make salvation possible.
Christ came to give His life a ransom for many. Not all the
world, but for many. Christ came to call sinners to
repentance, not those that are well, not those that are good
in their own eyes. Christ came to the world to save
sinners, biblical sinners. See, I was born in sin. I was
condemned, born condemned. He that believeth not is condemned
already. I was dead because of my sin and my trespasses. From
childhood to adolescence, from adolescence to adulthood, I had
one foot in hell and the other on a slippery slope, despising
God and hating Christ. But Christ came to save me, Tom,
the worst of the worst. We can by no means save ourselves.
We cannot come to Christ that we might have life, and we will
not come to Christ that we might have life. We don't have the
ability or the will that an Ethiopian might sooner change the color
of his skin than one who's accustomed to do evil can do good. For though
thou wash thee with niter, that meaning acid, and take thee much
soap, yet thine iniquity is marked before me, saith the Lord God,
how canst thou say, I am not polluted? None of us can honestly
say that. Jeremiah 2.22. And our pollution
is inward. It's not outward. Outwardly,
we're like beautiful sepulchres. That's what he said of the Pharisees.
But within, full of corruption, dead men's bones. Inwardly, nothing
but wounds and bruises and putrefying sores, oozing with corruption
that haven't been doctored, mollified, or bound up. That's what we are
inwardly. But God was pleased to lift us
up out of the dust and out of the dunghill to set us among
princes. And He makes us to inherit the
throne of God. And I emphasize that word makes.
He makes us. Who are these princes? God's
people called by grace. That's who these princes are.
Those who have been redeemed by Christ. Sons of the King of
kings by adoption. To never be anything else. God
to keep the feet of His sons. We're kept by the power of God. Our Lord doesn't do this against
our will by force. He simply makes us willing in
the day of His power. Well, you won't find anybody
going into heaven, kicking and screaming and fighting. They've
been made willing to go, humbly go. Religion has portrayed the
Lord as helpless, altogether one like unto themselves. God's
gonna reprove and set things in order. The God of the Bible
does what He wills. Whatsoever the Lord please, that
did He. Oh, I like that. That did He. He does what He wills in the
army of heaven and among the inhabitants of the earth. Is
this your God? Are you a sinner? Will you trust
His Savior? This is the issue. I recently read a little modern
day parable. Not sure who wrote it. I thought
it was pretty good. The devil and his cohorts were
devising plans to get people to reject the gospel and the
Lord's Christ. One said, let's go to sinners
and say there is no God. And silence prevailed because
every devil knew that most people profess to believe in God. You'll
be hard pressed to find someone today that says they don't believe
in God. That's not going to work. Another
suggested, let's tell them there is no hell, no future punishment
for the wicked. And that recommendation was also
rejected because religion has made men to fear hell and punishment. That's not going to work, they
said. Then came a voice from Satan himself, the deceiver,
the father of lies. And he said, go tell them there
is a God. Go tell them there is a hell.
Go tell them that the Bible is the word of God. And all the
demons of hell were surprised. And then Satan added, but tell
them that there's plenty of time to decide. There's plenty of
time to believe. There's plenty of time to come.
Their nature will cause them to neglect the gospel, to put
it off until it's too late. And all hell corrupted with ghoulish
glee, for they knew that if a sinner procrastinated to come to Christ,
that more than likely they would never come. What hinders you from coming
to Christ? Once during an ice storm, a bridge
collapsed, cars continued to travel toward the bridge and
they plunged into the icy river below. And one man stopped before
plunging over and climbed out of his car and stood on the highway
trying to stop others from plunging over. But car after car drove
by him, ignored him, unaware of the danger that lie ahead.
He'd wave and shout, the bridge is out, the bridge is out, but
none stopped. Finally, he took off his coat,
happened to be a yellow raincoat. He thought, they'll see this.
And he stood in the middle of the highway and he waved his
jacket and he refused to move. And one angry driver stopped
abruptly and shouted, what do you think you're doing? And the
man replied, trying to get your attention to escape the danger
and the death that lies ahead. That's what I'm endeavoring to
do this morning. Trying to get the lost attention.
Trying to warn the lost as to what lies ahead. The foolishness
of preaching is the means that God uses to save the lost. And
it's foolishness to all who persist on taking that broad way that
leads to destruction and plunge into the pit of not icy river
water, but the fire of hell. Our message is simple. It's a
faithful message. It's worthy of our attention,
our acceptance. Christ Jesus came into the world
to save sinners. If He'll save me, Paul said,
the chief of sinners, He'll save you. In closing, look at verse
16. Paul said, how be it for this
cause, I obtained 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." Paul said, if He
saved me, He'll save you. I'm the worst. There's no sin
you can commit other than unbelief that will keep you out of Heaven's
glory. And friends, if God saved Saul
of Tarsus, And if God saved me, none are too far gone to be saved. And I close with verse 17. Now
unto the King, eternal, immortal, invisible, the only wise God,
be honor and glory forever and ever. Amen. Okay, Miss Linda, if you would
come, let's sing a closing hymn. 310 in the handbook, if you would
please stand with me as we sing. Lord Jesus, I long to be perfectly
whole. I want Thee forever to live in
my soul. Break down every idol, cast out
every foe. Now wash me and I shall be whiter
than snow, whiter than snow. Yes, whiter than snow. Now wash me, and I shall be whiter
than snow. Lord Jesus, look down from thy
throne in the skies, sacrifice. I give up myself in
whatever I know. Now wash me and I shall be whiter
than snow, whiter than snow. It's whiter than snow. Now wash me, and I shall be whiter
than snow. Lord Jesus, for this I most humbly
entreat, I wait, blessed Lord, if Thou couldst see my greed. By faith for my kinsmen. I see Thy blood flow. Now wash me, and I shall be whiter
than snow. Whiter than snow. Yes, whiter than snow. Now wash me, and I shall be whiter
than snow. Lord Jesus, Thou seest, patiently
wait, Thine within me a new heart create. To those who have sought
Thee, Thou ne'er didst know, Now wash me, and I shall be whiter
than snow. Whiter than snow. Yes, whiter than snow. Now wash me, and I shall be whiter
than snow. Brother Glenn, would you dismiss
us in prayer, please? Hear the gospel of our Lord Jesus
Christ. Thank you for your mercy and
grace. And thank you for giving us a new heart to believe the
truth of the gospel, the true gospel of one God. I pray that
you make your word effectual. Thank you for what we heard.
I pray that you keep us this way. Keep us looking to Christ,
looking away from this world and all the the trouble in this
world. Keep our eyes fixed on him, our
only hope. In his name we pray. Amen. I'm saying it might be gross.