Good morning. If you would, let's
go back to 1 Timothy. 1 Timothy chapter 1. Recently, I overheard one side
of a conversation and the theme caught my attention. I kept hearing
phrases such as, we just don't know. How can they know? They don't
know. I don't know. Isn't that a familiar thing to
all of us? Just don't know. Then just this
past week, we've been reminded once more how swiftly our life
here changes and just how near is the day of salvation. Our
brother Roy, being saved by God's grace while he was here with
us, now knows the day of his salvation. Uncertainty, brevity, passing,
all of these things we live with every day. They're the only certainty
that all of us have. every nationality, every race,
every creed, we all have only this certainty, uncertainty,
brevity, and passing. Gabe recently brought a message
so much to be thankful for. And as he introduced his last
point, he said something to the effect that because of the frequency
of this passage's use, we don't always enter into it like he
had during his study. He was referring to Romans 8,
28. And we know how thankful I am of the certainty of God's
word. And we know that all things work
together for good to them that love God, to them that are called
according to his purpose. And before Gabe revealed the
scripture he was talking about, the scripture that's our text
this morning came to my mind. With all the uncertainty in the
world, With all the fearful news that is presented from every
side, I crave a sure, a certain, a comforting word, and this is
the passage that was laid to my heart. 1 Timothy 1.15. 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." Listen to that statement one
more time. and may God lay it onto our hearts. This is a statement, a declaration
that, as in the Old Testament, could be prefaced with, thus
saith the Lord. Christ Jesus came into the world
to save sinners. This morning, we're going to
camp in this text. This text, which some of the
old writers described as a summary of the Bible, summary of the
entire gospel, and look at this text word by word, and I pray
we will see Who it is that will receive this declaration as good
news? Sinners. Who saved us? Christ Jesus. How did He do it? He came. Where did He come to? Into the
world. And what He accomplished? He
saved us. First, let's look at who will
receive this as good news. How often have we read this verse? How often have I read this verse
and glossed over it? Read the words, their statement
of fact, By God's grace, I believe them with my whole heart. But what a glorious, profound,
and comforting statement this is. When we stop to read just
nine little words. Christ Jesus came into the world
to save sinners. Who is going to benefit and rejoice
most when they read this statement? Sinners. Sinners are going to
be those who rejoice. All right? Who is a sinner? Who are these sinners? From a very early age, all of
our children can answer this question. They're taught it in
the Sunday school classes. And they'll quickly answer. You
ask them, who is a sinner? And they're going to say, everyone. They've been taught the scriptures,
excuse me, all have sinned and come short of the glory of God.
There is none righteous, no, not one. Then does that mean, based on
those two scriptures, based on this text, does that mean that
Christ Jesus came into the world to save all that sin? To save
all who are declared to be unrighteous? Every soul on earth knows our
own conscience testifies against us that we are sinners. Hold
your place here and let's go over to Romans 2. Romans 2, we'll be right back
to 1 Timothy. Romans 2, verse 14. For when the Gentiles, which have
not the law. The law was not revealed to the
Gentiles as it was to the Jews. They didn't have God. God didn't speak to a Gentile
and give them the tablets of stone. He didn't give them the
prophets. He gave that to Israel. For when
the Gentiles, which have not the law, do by nature the things
contained in the law. These, these Gentiles, having
not the law, are a law unto themselves, which show the work of the law
written in their hearts, proving that all of us by nature know
we are sinners before God. their conscience also bearing
witness, and their thoughts the meanwhile accusing or else excusing
one another. Our conscience bears witness
against us and cries to us that we are sinners separated from
God. You can go back to 1 Timothy
now. But outside of God's grace, we
will excuse ourselves and we will change the glory of the
uncorruptible God into an image made like to corruptible
man. We will consider God to be like
ourselves. A few years ago, my boys asked,
Dad, the Bible says that Christ came into the world to save sinners. And it says all of us are sinners. So aren't we all saved? Them asking this question is
a perfect example of our natural reasoning and our fulfillment
of the scripture in 2 Peter 3.16 says in part, they that are unlearned
and unstable, that's every one of us, that have not been taught
of God, They that are unlearned and unstable rest as they do
also the other scriptures unto their own destruction. All of
us by nature take the word of God and we pick out certain scriptures
and we make that our gospel. We make that our salvation. We
make that our hope. We reason within ourselves something
like, if I can hold on to this one, if I can keep this command,
if I can believe this one little portion of scripture, then I can come before God and
rest in the fact that I didn't pick up a hammer and kill my
brother when I was mad at him. That's my hope. I'm going to
stand before the thrice holy God and hope, resting the scriptures to my
own destruction. I tried to answer that question
that the boys put to me those years ago, but I think I may
have a better answer today than I did then. The heart of the question is,
who will be saved? Just who are these sinners? We're taught, whether we remember
it or not, in our grammar school, that a noun with the ending of
er, or after the prefix of a verb, means the doer of. A sinner is
a doer of sin. But the word translated sinner
here in our text goes a little bit deeper than just that doer
of sin. This word means someone devoted
to sin, captive by sin, wicked. When we look into our own hearts,
when I look into my own heart, this natural heart that I have
outside of Christ, I see that all that I desire, all that I
long after, all that I want is wickedness. There is nothing
in me that desires God. I am the fulfillment of Ecclesiastes
7.29. Lo, this only have I found. that God made man upright, but
they, I, have sought out many inventions. That word inventions has the
meaning of a warlike machine. My carnal mind is enmity against
God. I am at war with God. I am wholly and completely devoted
to sin. Who are these sinners that Christ
Jesus came into the world to save? Are they those who testify,
well, yes, I'm a sinner. I do bad things. But I tell you
what, the good things I do outweigh my bad things. No. Those that Christ Jesus came
to save are those who have been given the testimony, I am ungodly. I am an enemy against God. I am lost. I am corrupt. I am dead. I am undone before
God. A person to whom God has revealed
that this is their state. You can't know this by searching. We can't find it out of ourselves,
but we can ask God to reveal it to us, to show us who we are
without Christ. That person God has revealed
that state to has reason to hope, for Christ Jesus came into the
world to save sinners. They'll rejoice at that glorious
declaration all the way to the chief of sinners. What is the hope of these sinners? More accurately, who is our hope? Our text answers, Christ Jesus. Christ, our Lord's office, the
anointed of God, the Messiah, God the Son, God came into the
world to save sinners. How did he come? as a man, as
the man, Jesus of Nazareth. Great is the mystery of godliness. God was manifest in the flesh. God the omniscient, omnipresent,
thrice holy God became a man." Turn over, hold your place here
and turn over to John chapter 1. John chapter 1 verse 14. And the word was made flesh and
dwelt among us. And we beheld his glory, the
glory as of the only begotten of the father, full of grace
and truth. This is another scripture We
need to pause and really take a look here. May the Lord make
it sink into our hearts. The Word, verse one says, in
the beginning was the Word and the Word was with God and the
Word was God. The Word was made flesh and dwelt
among us. God fixed his tabernacle among
us. The eternal, holy God, who is
of purer eyes than to behold evil and canst not look on iniquity,
dwelt among us. Us, whose every imagination of
the thoughts of our heart is evil from our youth. God, the Lord Jesus Christ, was
made flesh and dwelt among us. Our, we sinners, Our hope of
salvation is that God came in the likeness of sinful flesh
to save us. It is Christ Jesus who has saved
us. Back in 1 Timothy 1.15, Christ
Jesus came. What does it mean that he came? Here's a question for you. How
is it that God, who is omnipresent, always present, how can he come to where he already
is? The answer is, that a man is
not present at all times. How thankful I am that our hope
is a twofold answer. Our text doesn't say God came,
and it doesn't say that Jesus, a man, came, but it specifically
says the God-man, Christ Jesus, came. He came in a way that He
had not revealed Himself before. The Word was made flesh. Our eternal, immutable God, a
Spirit, prepared Himself a body in which dwelleth all the fullness
of the Godhead bodily. He came in the likeness of sinful
flesh. He came at the time appointed. Now once in the end of the world
hath he appeared to put away sin by the sacrifice of himself." Christ Jesus came from the presence
of the Father. He came in time once at the end
of the world. And he came into the world. Christ Jesus came into the world. He came a great distance. He came from the heights of glory.
He came from the praise and adoration of the heavenly host. He came
from the eternal presence of his father. He came into this
world of sin and shame. He spanned a great gulf to come
to where we are. He came into his creation, which
he spoke into being. He came And he made himself subject. He came into the world, which
is subject to the law he decreed. And he fulfilled that law as
a man. He came into the world. One definition is he came into
the ungodly multitude, the whole mass of man alienated from God,
and therefore hostile to the cause of Christ. He came unto
his own, and his own received him not. He came into the world of worldly
affairs. God Almighty made himself to
know what we are by becoming a man. He came into the world of worldly
affairs Hebrews 4.15 explains this. We have an high priest
who was in all points tempted, like as we are, yet without sin. The Lord Jesus Christ, God the
Son, knows what it is to be tempted. From the highest glory, our Lord
Jesus Christ came into this world, a world so foreign to the glories
of heaven, a world bound by time, a world bound by the physical,
a world of death. Just think of what little we
know of heaven in contrast to our lives on this earth. We have
read this scripture quite often here lately. And God shall wipe
away all tears from their eyes, and there shall be no more death. Death to us is as natural as
breathing. It is always so close. We're always conscious of it. It permeates everything we do
and motivates almost every decision, whether consciously or subconsciously. And God shall wipe away all tears
from their eyes, and there shall be no more death, neither sorrow."
Oh, our sorrow! We sorrow for our unbelief, for
our sin, for our doubts, our fears, for our loved ones, for
our community who know not God. Sorrow is always with us. There shall be no more death,
neither sorrow, nor crying, neither shall there be any more pain,
for the former things are passed away." Our Lord came from glory to dwell how our souls should rejoice. Christ Jesus came into the world
to save sinners. Now, when we undertake to go
on a long journey, particularly a journey that will separate
us from our friends and our family, our loved ones, we go for a specific
purpose. Whether that trip is for business
or for pleasure, we always have a purpose behind the trip. When
our Lord purposed to come and dwell among us, He had one specific
reason. Christ Jesus came into the world
to save sinners. Doesn't that cause your heart
to cry out glory to God in the highest? Christ Jesus came into
the world to save sinners. The Almighty God became a man,
became the God-man, made of a woman, made under His own law. He, God
of Spirit, was made flesh, and He knows by intimate experience
He knoweth our frame, he remembereth that we are dust. Having taken
upon himself the likeness of sinful flesh in order to save
sinners, he walked upon the earth in perfect righteousness, fulfilling
the law and the prophets. Then Christ Jesus came unto his
hour. And being delivered by the determinate
counsel and foreknowledge of God, we, by wicked hands, crucified
him. To save us ungodly, wicked, devoted
to sin sinners, God Himself made Christ Jesus, God the Son, sin
for us. Then He poured out His absolute
justice that my sin deserves upon His Son, who shed His blood
to pay the redemptive price that I owed but could not pay. He laid his life down for mine,
and God hath raised him up, having loosed the pains of death, because
it was not possible that he should be holden of it." Just how sure, how certain is
this sinner's salvation in our Lord Jesus Christ? Turn over
to Hebrews chapter 7. Hebrews chapter 7 verse 25, Because Christ satisfied and
paid in full the debt we could not pay, verse 25, He is able
also to save them to the uttermost. that come unto God by him, seeing
he ever liveth to make intercession for them." As long as Christ
is upon His throne, as long as He liveth, the sinner's salvation
is certain. What a great and glorious hope
we have in Christ! when we consider all that is
about us, be it physical, such as our bodies, the ground beneath
us, the sky above us, governments, philosophies, whatever it is,
all that we see is uncertainty and change. Part of Benjamin
Franklin's letter is often quoted where he said, in this world,
nothing can be said to be certain except death and taxes. That summarizes man's certainty. Death and taxes. No hope. No joy. Aren't you thankful that God
has given us a much more certain word than that? When we search
about, when change and decay and all around I see, may God
be pleased to draw us back to our sure foundation. Christ Jesus came into the world
to save sinners. Pray the Lord will make that
a blessing to us.