Turn with me, if you would, to
Acts chapter 9. Acts chapter 9. Our text will
come from the book of 1 Timothy. But before we get there, I want
to show you something factually and historically, and I pray
that it'll bring a blessing to you spiritually. I hope that getting a hold of
this physical series of events I'm about to show you will be
a spiritual blessing to your heart. This is the conversion
of Saul of Tarsus, the man also known as the Apostle
Paul. I asked our brother to read his
own account and words of it there in Galatians for us. And physically and historically,
what I want to point out is, according to the commentary writers,
this right here happened in the year 35 AD. All right, here we are in 2023.
This happened in 35. Our Lord walked this earth for
33 and a half years. And now here we are in this moment
at the year 35. And this is what happened. Acts
chapter nine, verse one, it says, and Saul, yet breathing out threatenings
and slaughter, threatenings and slaughter against the disciples
of the Lord, went unto the high priest and desired of him letters
to Damascus, to the synagogues, that if he found any of this
way, the way of Christ, whether they were men or women, he might
bring them bound unto Jerusalem. And as he journeyed, he came
near Damascus, and suddenly there shined round about him a light
from heaven. And he fell to the earth and
heard a voice saying unto him, Saul, Saul, why persecutest thou
me? And he said, who art thou, Lord? And the Lord said, I am Jesus,
whom thou persecutest. It is hard for thee to kick against
the pricks. And he trembling and astonished
said, Lord, what wilt thou have me to do? That was the year 35. Now let's fast forward 22 years
to the year 57. 57 AD, turn with me to 1 Corinthians
15. First Corinthians 15. Verse one says. Moreover, brethren, I declare
unto you the gospel which I preached unto you, which also you have
received and wherein you stand. By which also you are saved if
you keep in memory what I preached unto you, unless you have believed
in vain. For I delivered unto you first
of all that which I also received, how that Christ died for our
sins according to the Scriptures, and that he was buried, and that
he rose again the third day according to the Scriptures, and that he
was seen of Cephas, that's Peter, then of the 12. After that, he
was seen of above 500 brethren at once, of whom the greater
part remain unto this present, but some are fallen asleep. After
that, he was seen of James, then of all the apostles. And last
of all, he was seen of me also as of one born out of due time. For I am the least of the apostles
that am not meet to be called an apostle, because I persecuted
the church of God. But by the grace of God, I am
what I am. And his grace, which was bestowed
upon me, was not in vain, but I labored more abundantly than
they all. Yet not I, but the grace of God,
which was with me. After 22 years of the truth. All right. After 22 years of
being under the gospel, preaching the gospel, this is the place
that Paul had been brought to. He said, I believe in my heart. That I am the least of all the
apostles. I'm the most unworthy to be called
an apostle after everything I've done and everything I am. He said, I put all 11 of those
other men above me. They're all above me. I'm the
least of all the apostles. That's what he said in the year
57. Now let's fast forward four more years to the year 61 AD. Turn with me to Ephesians 3. Speaking of the mystery of the
gospel, Ephesians 3 verse 7 says, he said, whereof I was made a
minister according to the gift of the grace of God given unto
me by the effectual working of His power unto me who am less
than the least of all saints is this grace given that I should
preach among the Gentiles the unsearchable riches of Christ."
Four years before this, he said, I am the least of the apostles of all 12 of us. I'm the most
unworthy to be called an apostle. Oh, I'm so unworthy to be called
an apostle. Now, after four more years of growing in grace, growing
in knowledge, he said, you know what? I'm not just the least
of the apostles. I'm the least of all saints. All saints, I'm not at the bottom
of a list of 12 men, I'm at the bottom of a list of men and women
that no man can number. Of all the souls that have been
washed and cleansed and made pure in the blood of the Lord
Jesus Christ, of all of them, every righteous saint before
God that there is, he said, I'm the least of all of them. Now let's fast forward three
more years to the year 64 AD. Turn with me to 1 Timothy 1. By this point, Paul had been
in the truth for 29 years. 1 Timothy 1. Verse 15, Paul said, 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. He went from saying, I'm
the least of the apostles, to four years later saying, I'm
the least of all the saints. to three years after that saying,
I'm the least of all human beings on this earth. Of every sinner
that's ever walked this earth, he said, I'm the chief. I am
the chief sinner. I'm the chief sinner. There is
a growth that takes place in God's people as they grow in
grace, as they grow in faith, as they grow in a knowledge of
the Lord Jesus Christ and a knowledge of his truth. There is a growth
that takes place in God's people, but it is a downward growth. It is a downward growth, the
growth of a child of God He is always downward, always. John the Baptist said, I must
decrease. That's what he said. The Lord
said of those that are born of women, there's not been a greater
prophet ever to stand on this earth than John the Baptist.
And this was his message. I must decrease. That's what
must happen to me. Now, Christ is the one who must
increase. But I must decrease. As God's
people grow in Christ, they shrink in self. That's what happens. If there
is an increase in the graces and the fruits of Christ, it
is accompanied by and it is evidenced by a decrease in self. The Apostle Paul got lower and
lower in his own eyes regarding what he saw in his own flesh.
until he finally got to the place where he had to say, I'm the
greatest sinner that has ever walked this earth. Have you ever
said that? Have you ever thought that? This is the path that every child
of God follows. Every child of God. Charles Spurgeon
said, one of my greatest, my most favorite quotes by him.
Never forget the first time I read it. When I read the first line,
I thought, you better hold on now, what are you about to say?
He said, I take issue with the Apostle Paul. I have an issue with him. He
has stolen my seat as the chief of sinners. I would feign tap
him on the shoulder and say, sir, go up higher. That's my
seat. I'm the chief. I'm the worst. I'm the worst. I'm the worst. Now, what I want to say to us
is this place for God's people is a real place, this state of
loneliness, this state of awareness of our inability. God's people,
as they grow, they become more and more aware of just how unable
they are. Unable in their flesh to do anything
that God requires of us. Unable to be anything that God
requires of us. In this state of awareness of
our inability before God and our sinfulness and our wretchedness
before God as we grow in seeing that our righteousnesses really
are filthy rags. Everything we do in our flesh
really is altogether vanity before God. This is a real place that God
brings all of his people to but this is what I want to say. It
is in that very place, that low broken humbled place before God
that mercy is experienced. That's where mercy is experienced.
That's where grace is received. That's where the glory of the
gospel is declared and made known to a sinner. Down there at the
bottom, that's where hope begins. All the way down at the bottom.
Verse 15 says, 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. What causes me to believe that
Christ Jesus came into the world to save me? What causes Gabe
Stoniker to believe that Christ Jesus came into the world to
save Gabe Stoniker? It's because he said he came
to save sinners, and there's no doubt in my mind that's what
I am. No doubt in my mind, that's exactly what I am. I believe
he came to save me. Want me to give you my testimony?
We don't do that here, but I'll give you one. I believe he came
to save me. I hope in it. I cling to it because
he said he came into this world to save sinners, and there's
no doubt in my mind that's what I am. I'm a sinner before God. Turn with me, if you would, to
Luke 15. Luke 15, I love these two verses
right here. Luke 15 verse 1, it says, Then
drew near unto him all the publicans and sinners for to hear him.
And the Pharisees and the scribes murmured, saying, This man receiveth
sinners. and eateth with them." All of
the religious, all those who desired to be under the law,
that was the Pharisees and the scribes, those who wanted to
be put under the law, that was their gripe. They said, this
man receives sinners. I can't believe that. He receives
sinners. I gave this illustration to you
a long time ago. I'm gonna give it to you again
because this is such a good picture of the reality of our condition
before God. Maybe eight or 10 years ago.
A business model got very popular. Everybody went into business
doing this. You'd see signs in the windows
of storefronts. It didn't matter really what
the store sold. They'd stick a sign in their
window and people started doing home parties with this and that
kind of thing. The sign would say, we buy gold. All right, you've seen those.
They're still around. We got a whole store right there in
town devoted to it. We buy gold. What it is, is you take your
gold that has been laying around your house, your jewelry, whatever
it is that you don't want, you take your gold to them and they
test the purity of it and then they weigh it and then they give
you big, huge wads and piles of cash and you walk out with
it. That's how it works. I have personally known people
who brought their gold to one of these places and come to find
out after it was tested it wasn't real gold. They were disappointed
and it looked like gold. The owner said it was gold. Thought
it was gold, but it wasn't real gold, and it wasn't received. And they had to go away empty-handed. Why were they turned away empty-handed?
It's because they did not bring what was declared to be received. That's the whole reason why. One thing was declared to be
received. And only one thing was going
to be received. And that's how it is with our
Savior. He has declared who he will receive. He has defined who should come
running to him. and of his own announcement,
it's sinners. It's sinners. Look with me at
Luke chapter 5. Luke chapter 5 verse 30 says,
But their scribes and Pharisees murmured against his disciples,
saying, Why do you eat and drink with publicans and sinners? And
Jesus answering said unto them, They that are whole need not
a physician, but they that are sick. I came not to call the
righteous, but sinners to repentance. He said, I will not receive those
who try to bring their own righteousness to me. That will not be received. I will not accept and I will
not receive the righteousness of man's flesh. If a man or woman
tries to bring his or her filthy rags righteousness to me, goodness,
good deeds, look at me, aren't you happy? He said he or she will be turned
away. I did not come to call the righteous.
I came to call sinners, current sinners, chief sinners. He said, I receive sinners. I receive sinners. That's what his sign says. This
shall be a sign to his people. I receive sinners. Well, Gabe,
it sounds like you're promoting sin. I'm not promoting sin. I'm promoting the gospel for
sinners. Good news from God Almighty concerning
Christ Jesus, the receiver and the savior of sinners. This statement has been made
for years. It holds so true today just like it did many years ago.
Our sin will never keep us away from Christ. Our righteousness, our own righteousness
will every single time. Every time. We think, well, it
can't hurt to bring our own righteousness and to add our own righteousness
to the sin that we're gonna bring. Yeah, we're gonna bring our sin,
sure, but I mean, it couldn't hurt to add a little bit of righteousness
to that, could it? Oh, it can. Yes, it can. Our sin will never keep us away
from Christ. Our own righteousness will every
single time. If we come to Christ in the self-righteous
good deeds of our own flesh, He will in no wise receive us. But if we come to Christ in the
labored and heavy laden wretchedness of our own sin, He will in no
wise cast us out. Are you a sinner? You don't find too many of them
around here. Kingsport doesn't have that many. There may be
some in other places, but there's not a whole lot in Kingsport. But if you happen to be one of
them, if you're a wretched, low, miserable, horrible, worst of
the worst, chief of sinners, then you come to the Lord Jesus
Christ. In your heart, you come running
to him because he receives sinners. This man receives sinners. He came into this world to save
sinners. And if anyone finds themselves
saying, yeah, but I'm a wretched sinner.
I'm a wretched sinner. You don't know how bad of a sinner
I am. I'm just too sinful. I have heard that before and
I love it every time I hear that. I'm just too sinful. I'm too
ashamed to come. I'm afraid to come. I'm too sinful. If that's you, take comfort in
this, okay? That's who he promised he would
receive. It'd be just like somebody who
knew they had tried and tested 24 karat gold. It's already been tested. I know
it's 24 karat gold. It'd be just like them saying,
I'm ashamed to take it to the we buy gold people. It's just
too pure. And I have too much of it. It's gold through and through.
There's no doubt in my mind, this is gold through and through. Well, then you come on with confidence.
Approach with boldness. That's what they said they would
receive. That's what our Lord said he would receive. If all
you have in your hands is sin, all you have to bring is sin
and you come running to the Lord Jesus Christ with confidence,
you approach his throne of grace with boldness, you're the one
he came to save. You're who he shed his blood
for, you're who he covered and washed and cleansed in the blood
of the lamb. Sinners are the ones who receive
mercy. Sinners are. Sinners who don't deserve it.
Sinners who are not owed it because they have not earned it. If that's
you, then hear the word of the Lord. This is a faithful saying
and worthy of all acceptation. Christ Jesus came into the world
to save sinners. And Paul said in our text, that's
why he saved me. That's why he saved me. In closing,
go back to our text, 1 Timothy 1. He said, that's the very reason
why he saved me. First Timothy 1 verse 15 says. 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. 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. He said every child of God will
have the same experience I had. I'm a pattern to those who will
follow me. They'll all be brought to the
same place and the same position I was brought to. And that place
and position is nothing more than a sinner saved by grace. A sinner saved by grace. A sinner
saved by the mercy and grace, the blood and righteousness,
the will and the work of the Lord Jesus Christ. And to that we say, verse 17. Now unto the King Eternal, God's
people, all of their reply, now unto the King Eternal, immortal,
invisible, the only wise God, be honor and glory forever and
ever. Amen.