Turn with me, if you would, to
1 Timothy chapter 1. 1 Timothy chapter 1, and let's read verse 15 together. 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. This is a verse of scripture
that God's people really latch onto. All of God's people really latch
on to this verse. And the reason is because they
know that it's telling the truth about themselves. They know it
is. And the faith that God's Spirit
has given to them, God's people receive faith from God's Spirit. And that faith causes them to
believe that this verse is telling the truth about Christ. That He did indeed come into
the world to save sinners. He did not come to call the righteous,
but sinners to repentance. Our brother just read that verse
of scripture. He said, go learn what this means. I will have
mercy, and not sacrifice. I'm not come to call the righteous,
but sinners to repentance. Every child of God believes that
he or she is the chief of sinners. The longer they live on this
earth, the more they are aware of it, the more they become convinced
of it. They truly do believe no one
is worse than I am. I am the chief of sinners. I love what Charles Spurgeon
had to say about this verse. I've told it to you before, but
he said, I take issue with the Apostle Paul because he has taken my seat,
claiming to be the chief of sinners. He said, I would fain tap him
on the shoulder and say, Sir, go up higher. You're sitting
in my seat. I'm the chief of sinners. You're
not the chief of sinners. I am. If God's people really
argue over something, it's going to be over that. No, you're not
the chief of sinners. I am. I'm the chief of sinners. That's every quickened child
of God's conviction. In our Bible study just a moment
ago, we looked at the fact that Christ made Himself to be the
end of the law for us. The end of the law's dealings
with us because of our sin. You break the law, you sin against
the law, the law is going to deal with you. And Christ is
the end of the law. the end of the law's dealings
with us for our sin, and we love Him for that, and we thank Him
for that. That is what makes our gospel
to be such good news. There's only one gospel, and
it's written in this book, and it's wonderful news. Christ satisfied
the strict justice of the law for us, as us. Can you imagine being a prisoner
on death row and the news coming to you that someone has taken
care of everything, the door is open, you're free to go? That's
good news. Christ made Himself to be our
substitute. That news comes, someone has
legally, the judge says it's right, the law says it's right,
someone has legally taken your place. As our substitute, in our place,
bearing our sin, He endured everything that the law said had to be poured
out on us. Now in this message, I want us
to more deeply look at that satisfaction that He accomplished. I want
us to more deeply enter into what it took for Him to put an
end to the Law's dealings with us. That Law was coming after
us. And I want us to see what Christ had to endure for the
law to stop pursuing justice from us and say, that's enough,
I'm satisfied. Paul admits right here what kind
of sinner he is. If you look at verse 12, he said, I thank Christ Jesus our Lord
who hath enabled me for that he counted me faithful, putting
me into the ministry, who was before a blasphemer and a persecutor
and injurious. I blasphemed the true and living
God, Christ Jesus the Lord. I was a persecutor of His people. I injured them. I murdered them. He said, but I obtained mercy
because I did it ignorantly in unbelief. He said, nothing about
me was right before God. I had a man tell me one time
that he was right before God. Paul said, nothing about me in
my flesh was right before God. But he said, I obtained mercy.
That's what I had. I obtained mercy even though
I did everything that I did ignorantly in unbelief. I obtained mercy. I want us to see that mercy this
morning. I hope we really enter into what
mercy for God's people is. Verse 14, he said, and the grace
of our Lord was exceeding abundant. I obtained mercy and the grace
of our Lord was exceeding abundant. The grace that He poured out
on me was so abundant, the free gift, the act of kindness and
favor, it was just so abundant. And that's what I want us to
enter into, is that abundant grace. The tender mercy and the
abundant grace that Christ showed to His people. He said in verse
14, it was all with faith and love which is in Christ Jesus. Now last Wednesday night, A brother
read a particular psalm in my study. We meet in my study. And
a brother read a particular psalm, and as he read it, I was so struck
by it. I was just so personally struck
by it. The Lord allowed me to enter
into this psalm like I've never entered into it before. And I realized that that particular
psalm is one of, if not the clearest declarations of what Christ had
to endure to satisfy the debt of His people that is declared
in the Word of God. I want us to look at this psalm
together, and my prayer is that the Lord will let you enter into
this like He let me enter into this. After seeing this, I pray
that we will all honestly, more confidently be able to say with
assurance, this is a faithful saying. Christ Jesus came into
this world to save sinners of whom I am the chief. That's the truth. That's the
truth. Alright, turn with me if you
would now to Psalm 22. Psalm 22. This whole Psalm is
the Lord Jesus Christ speaking. This is Him putting an end to
the law. to the demands of the law. We
are going to see that this is Him not just bearing the justice
and the judgment of God for His people, but this is Him bearing
the justice and the judgment of God as His people. I mean this is true substitution. True substitution. This is the
moment that Christ saved His people. Psalm 22 verse 1, he said, and
these are holy words, he said, my God, my God, why hast thou
forsaken me? Now think about this. Do you
know that outside of Christ and His saving death that He accomplished
for His people? It is appointed unto man once
to die. Every man and woman has to die
and Christ accomplished it for His people. In Him there is no
death. He that lives and believes in
Me shall never die. Why? He already took care of
that for His people. But do you know that outside
of Christ and this saving death that he accomplished, that's
what an entire world of people are going to say when they stand
before God in the judgment. My God, my God, why hast thou
forsaken me? Outside of Christ, that's what
every soul will say. That's what we would have said,
had He not said it for us. Those are the very words we would
have said. In our place, for His people,
as His people, He cried, My God, My God, why hast Thou forsaken
Me? He said in verse one, why art
thou so far from helping me and from the words of my roaring?
That's what sinners will say in the judgment. They're gonna say, why are you
not helping me? That's what we would have said.
If you wanna see what we would have said, Had Christ not said that for
us, why are you forsaking me? Why are you not helping me? He went on to say, why art thou
so far from helping me? And from the words of my roaring,
I'm crying over and over and over. He said in verse two, oh
my God, I cry in the daytime. But thou hearest not, and in
the night season, and I'm not silent, I'm just crying and crying. Verse 3 says, But you are not
going to help me, because you are holy. God is a holy God. And if a sinner
deserves to die in his sin, then that sinner is going to die in
his sin. And even though Christ never
committed one sin, He hung there before the judgment bearing mine. He hung there before God in your
sin and in mine. If the Father put us in Him.
Therefore God the Father had to forsake him. He had to. He could not help him. He could
not and he would not answer him. The cry and the cry and the cry. He could not and would not answer
him because he's holy. And the moment that Christ made
himself to stand in my place, He had to receive what I was
owed. He just had to. Verse 3 says, But thou art holy,
O thou that inhabitest the praises of Israel. Our fathers trusted
in thee, they trusted, and thou didst deliver them. They cried
unto thee, and were delivered. They trusted in thee, and were
not confounded. Look at verse six. He said, but
I am a worm. He said, they cried out to you
and you delivered them by providing a substitute for them. And I
am that substitute. He said, look at me, look at
what I've been made to be. What have you been made to be
Lord? My people. I've been made to be what they
are. Hold your place right here and
turn over to Isaiah 41. Isaiah 41, verse 10, it says,
Fear thou not, for I am with thee. Be not dismayed, for I
am thy God. I will strengthen thee, yea,
I will help thee. Yea, I will uphold thee with
the right hand of my righteousness. Behold, all they that were incensed
against thee shall be ashamed and confounded. They shall be
as nothing, and they that strived with thee shall perish. Thou
shalt seek them, and shalt not find them, even them that contended
with thee. They that wore against thee shall
be as nothing, and as a thing of naught. For I, the Lord thy
God, will hold thy right hand, saying unto thee, fear not, I
will help thee. Verse 14, he said, fear not,
thou worm, Jacob. And you men of Israel, I will
help thee, saith the Lord, and thy Redeemer, the Holy One of
Israel. He said, Jacob, you're a worm. And all you men of Israel, you're
all worms." But He said, fear not, I'm going to help you. How is He going to do that? We
are reading about it in Psalm 22. Go with me back to Psalm
22. Verse 6, He said, I have been
made to be a worm. You talk about condescension.
You talk about humbling Himself. Christ did not just become a
man for His people. He became His people. He did not just come down to
them to pull them out. He came down to become what they
were. Verse 6, He said, But I am a worm and no man. a reproach
of men, and despised of the people. All they that see me laugh me
to scorn. They shoot out the lip, they
shake the head, saying, He trusted on the Lord that He would deliver
him. Let him deliver him, seeing he delighted in Him." That's
exactly what took place while He hung on the cross. They despised
Him. They mocked Him. They laughed
Him to scorn. They said, God's not going to
deliver him. And they were right. Thank God
they were right. So that we sinners might be delivered
from our sins. God did not deliver him. Verse
9, He said to His Father, But thou art He that took me out
of the womb. Thou didst make me hope when
I was upon my mother's breast. I was cast upon thee from the
womb. Thou art my God from my mother's
belly. He was the spotless, eternal
Son of God. He was the precious, innocent
Lamb of God, the Prince of Peace. That's who was given over to
the slaughter. Verse 11, he said, be not far from me for trouble
is near. You think about in Gethsemane,
whenever all of our sin was pressed into him, all of that Oh, everything
that we are, everything we produce, we are sin, and that produces
sins. And he said, Oh, all this is
coming upon me. Verse 11, he said, Be not far
from me, for trouble is near, for there is none to help. He was left alone. He suffered
alone. Everyone forsook him. Verse 12,
he said, many bulls have compassed me, strong bulls of Bashan have
beset me round. They gaped upon me with their
mouths as a ravening and a roaring lion. I am poured out like water
and all my bones are out of joint. My heart is like wax, it is melted
in the midst of my bowels. My strength is dried up like
a pot shirt and my tongue cleaveth to my jaws. and thou hast brought
me into the dust of death, for dogs have compassed me, the assembly
of the wicked have enclosed me, they pierced my hands and my
feet." Oh, those precious reminders. Five bleeding wounds he bears,
received on Calvary. They pour effectual prayers. They strongly plead for me. Forgive him, O forgive, they
cry, nor let that ransom sinner die. Do not let that ransom sinner
die. I paid for him. He is bought
with a price. Verse 17, He said, I may tell
all My bones. That's His people. He said, they
are bone of My bone. I may tell all My bones, they
look and stare upon Me. They're all looking to Me. They're
all hoping in Me. The One whose visage was so marred
for them. Your visage will never be marred
because he was marred like no other man. Verse 18, they part
my garments among them and cast lots upon my vesture. But be
not thou far from me, O LORD, O my strength, haste thee to
help me. Deliver my soul from the sword,
my darling, from the power of the dog. Save me from the lion's
mouth, for thou hast heard me from the horns of the unicorns."
What he's saying is, even in this, you're my only hope. You're my only hope. Now this
is what really got me last Wednesday night. In spite of everything that he's
suffering, in spite of the judgment that his own father is having
to pour out on him, he says in verse 22, I will declare thy name unto
my brethren. In the midst of the congregation
will I praise thee. In spite of all the judgment,
he cried, Amen. All of that judgment for sin
and condemnation for sin and holiness and righteousness, all
of it was coming down on sin. And even though He bore it all,
He cried, Amen. So be it. I wholeheartedly agree
with this. I praise You for this. You're
a just God. Now He says to His people in
verse 23, Ye that fear the Lord, praise Him as He's enduring all
this suffering. As He's crying, why have you
forsaken me? Why are you not helping me? Why are you not answering
me? It's because you're holy. All
my brethren, praise Him. Amen. Praise Him. Verse 23, you that fear the Lord,
praise Him. All ye the seed of Jacob, sinners,
tricksters, supplanters, every soul that I'm bearing your sins,
glorify Him. and fear him, all ye the seed
of Israel. For he hath not despised nor
abhorred the affliction of the afflicted, neither hath he hid
his face from him. But when he cried unto him, he
heard." Who's he talking about? Who did the father hear? The
sinners, he said. All who cried out to Him for
tender mercy and abundant grace. All who He sent the substitute
for. Now this is the Lord's cry to
His Father and this is the Father's cry to His Son. Verse 25, My
praise shall be of Thee in the congregation. I will praise You
in the congregation. And I will pay my vows before
them that fear Him. The meek shall eat and be satisfied. They shall praise the Lord that
seek Him. Your heart shall live forever. All the ends of the world shall
remember and turn unto the Lord, and all the kindreds of the nations
shall worship before thee. For the kingdom is the Lord's,
and He is the governor among the nations. All they that be
fat upon earth shall eat and worship. All they that go down
to the dust shall bow before him, and none can keep alive
his own soul. A seed shall serve him, a remnant,
a particular people, a chosen people. A seed shall serve him. It shall be accounted to the
Lord for a generation. They shall come and shall declare
His righteousness unto a people that shall be born, that He hath
done this." Generation to generation is going to tell of Him. One generation is going to come
along and tell the next generation. And then that next generation
is going to come along and tell the next generation. And then
that next generation is going to come along and tell the next
generation. Until the world stops turning, generation to generation
is going to tell for His righteousness sake, for His people's sake,
they are going to say this faithful saying, He hath done this. He did it all. He accomplished
it all. He hath done this. This is a
faithful saying, and worthy of all acceptation, that Christ
Jesus came into the world to save sinners, and clearly by
Psalm 22. Seeing what he endured, clearly
we can all see that I'm the chief, because of what he had to go
through. I'm the chief. Now go one more time to our text.
1 Timothy chapter 1, verse 15, it 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. Howbeit 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. What that means is He saves all
the chief sinners. He doesn't save the little sinners,
he doesn't save the half sinners, he doesn't save the no sinners,
but he saves all the chief sinners. Paul said, I'm the chief and
I'm the pattern for every person who is going to be saved. If
you are a chief sinner, If God has made you to be and revealed
to you that you are a chief sinner, if you argue with Spurgeon and
Paul and you declare, you fight for that spot that, no, I am
the chief sinner and I am in desperate need of the chief Savior. That's my only hope. That's my
only hope. If that's the case, then he said,
Christ came to save you. Christ came to save you. This
is a faithful saying, and you can believe it. It's worthy of
all acceptation. Christ Jesus came into the world
to save sinners. And Paul said, if that's what
you are, you're going to receive the same tender mercy and the
same abundant grace that I did. Now may God give us faith to
believe that. If we belong to Him, He's going
to put faith in us and we're going to say, I believe that.
I believe that. May we believe it and cling to
it. That's our only hope. All right,
let's all stand together.