Turn back, if you would, to 1
Timothy chapter 1. I have something very specific
I want us to look at today. If you couldn't tell by the songs
we just sung, our subject is sinners. And the title of this is A Message
for Sinners. 1 Timothy 1, look at verse 15. It says, this is a faithful saying. Is anybody looking for the truth? Is anybody looking for the truth? There's a lot of different opinions
out there. Does anybody want to know the truth? Look at chapter
3, verse 1. It says, this is a true saying. It's the truth. What we're about
to look at is the truth. Our text says, this is a faithful
saying and worthy of all acceptation. That means it's worthy to be
believed. You can believe this. There's
a lot of things out there you just cannot believe. But you
can believe this. It says that Christ Jesus came
into this world to save sinners. You can believe that. That's the truth. That's the
truth. I have four questions this morning. The first question is, what is
a sinner? Okay? What is a sinner? And I'm going
to tell you all of them. The second one is, who is a sinner? Alright, now the third one is,
What is a sinner's hope? And the last one is, what is
a sinner's plea? What does a sinner cry out? Alright,
here's the first one. What is a sinner? Now the more important question
is, what does this Scripture say a sinner is? Because there
could be many different opinions on what a sinner is. You go around
asking some people, what do you think a sinner is? You're going
to get a whole bunch of different answers, aren't you? How bad a person has to be in
order to be a sinner. You're going to get a lot of
opinions on that. So to find the true answer to that question,
we need to know what does the Scripture say a sinner is. What is a sinner? Turn with me
to 1 John 3. Go towards Revelation and turn
to 1 John 3. Alright, 1 John 3, look at verse
4. It says, Whosoever committeth
sin transgresseth also the law. For sin is the transgression
of the law. And that word transgression means
disobedience. Disobeying the law. Sin is breaking
the law. That's what sin is, breaking
the law. What law? God's law. What is God's law? We know what
the speed limit is, don't we? What is God's law? Does anybody
know? Well, turn with me to Exodus
20. Let's go to Exodus chapter 20. Now I encourage you, if you have
a Bible, to find this. This is important. Exodus chapter
20. Now this is God's book, and it's
full of commandments. Every page has commandments on
it. Commandments are laws. They're not options, they're
laws, commandments. Full of them. Alright, let's
just look at ten. Let's just start with ten and
see if we can handle ten. Ten commandments. Exodus chapter 20, the first
one is in verse 3. It says, Thou shalt have no other
gods before me. That's the first commandment.
No other gods. Nothing. Paul said, the enemies of Christ,
their belly is their God. That means they do everything
in this world to get things to satisfy them. Money. Things. Their belly is their
God. This is saying, worship God,
the true God, and don't worship and serve the creature more than
the Creator. Worship God. Don't bow down to
or give yourself to or your life to anyone or anything. Anyone or anything. Worship God. Alright, now let's look at the
second one. It's in verse 4. Thou shalt not
make unto thee any graven image. Now a graven image is a symbol
of worship. Symbol of worship. Something
to be worshipped. Do you guys know the story of
whenever Moses was on Mount Sinai and he was away from the people,
and the people wanted to take matters into their own hands
and they made a golden calf? Have you ever heard that story?
Is there anything wrong with a cow? Is that sin? The answer is no. But when you take that cow and
you make it a graven image, the answer is yes. There's something
wrong with that. You can't do that. So, "...thou
shalt not make unto thee any graven image or any likeness
of anything that is in heaven above. I love birds. But don't carve a dove and put
an olive in his mouth and set him out or give him to somebody
or sell him in the name of religion." Don't do it. Okay? Alright, so don't make a graven
image of any likeness of anything that's in heaven above or that
is in the earth beneath. Don't make it out of a cow. Don't take two sticks and make
a tea with them. That's a graven image. Now if you want to make a tea
out of two sticks and put a plaid shirt on him and some overalls
on him and a straw hat on him and scare the crows away, that's
fine. But don't take it and make it a graven image. Don't hang
it around our neck. Don't put it in our ears. Don't
hang it on our walls. You want to know why? If it gets
cold and we need to start a fire and there's a wooden cross right
there and you try to take it and make a fire with it, you
can buy another one. What is everybody going to do? No, that's
the cross. Don't burn the cross. You can't
burn the cross. That's a graven image. He's saying
don't do it. Worship God. Alright, now he goes on to say,
any graven image or any likeness of anything that's in heaven
above, that's in earth beneath, or that is in the water under
the earth, don't take plastic or metal and make the shape of
a fish and stick it on your trunk lid or the hatchback of your
car. It's a graven image. Okay? I'm just reading the Word. Verse 5 says, "...Thou shalt
not bow down thyself to them, nor serve them, for I the Lord
thy God am a jealous God." What happens when you stick a fish
on your car? Everybody who sees that fish
goes, that person's religious. That's a good person. I've got
something to be proud of. Me and my family, we attend church.
And we stick fishes on our cars and we hang crosses on our walls.
He said, I'm a jealous God. I'm not willing to share my glory
with anybody. "...visiting the iniquities of
the fathers upon the children unto the third and fourth generation
of them that hate Me, and showing mercy unto thousands of them
that love Me, and keep My commandments." He's saying, obey Me. Obey Me. And don't worship any other God.
Okay, now the third one is in verse 7. Thou shalt not take
the name of the Lord thy God in vain." Here's why. For the Lord will
not hold him guiltless that takes his name in vain. Don't say it. Don't text it. Don't abbreviate
it. Don't text OMG. Okay? He will not hold him guiltless
that blasphemes His name." This is scary, isn't it? Do you think
Mount Sinai was a happy place or do you think it was a scary
place? As that whole mountain burned with fire and God gave
the Ten Commandments. The whole place was on fire while
God told Moses, you tell everybody, don't take My name in vain. Alright, the fourth one is in
verse 8. Remember the Sabbath day to keep
it holy. Holy. We have no idea what the
word holy means. We can't understand the word
holy. He says, 6 days thou shalt labor and do all thy work, but
the seventh day is the Sabbath of the Lord thy God. In it thou
shalt not do any work, thou, nor thy son, nor thy daughter,
thy manservant, nor thy maidservant, nor thy cattle, nor thy stranger
that is within thy gates. For in six days the Lord made
heaven and earth, the sea, and all that in them is, and rested
the seventh day. Wherefore the Lord blessed the
Sabbath day and hallowed it. He made it holy. So what he's
saying is, keep holiness. Be holy. Be holy. And I'm just going to tell you,
I can't. I can't. Okay, the fifth one is in verse
12. Honor thy father and thy mother
that thy days may be long upon the land which the Lord thy God
giveth thee. I believe it was the Apostle
Paul said this is the first commandment with promise. Honor thy father
and thy mother and I'll let your days be long on the land. Honor thy father and thy mother.
Love them. Don't hate them. Love them. Honor them. Alright,
the sixth one is in verse 13. Thou shalt not kill. Do not murder another man. Don't
do it. Alright, number seven, it's in
verse 14. Thou shalt not commit adultery. Someone who commits continual
adultery or fornication. And every single person in here
is old enough to know what that means. There's a slang word for that
person. And it's the first half of this
scriptural word. And here's the scriptural word.
Whoremonger. Don't do it. Don't do it. Alright, the eighth one is in
verse 15. Thou shalt not steal anything. Don't steal time. Don't lay down
on the job. Time is money. That's stealing
money. Don't steal anything. The ninth one is in verse 16.
Thou shalt not bear false witness against thy neighbor. That means
don't lie. Don't lie. And the tenth one
is in verse 17. Thou shalt not covet thy neighbor's
house, thou shalt not covet thy neighbor's wife, nor his manservant,
nor his maidservant, nor his ox, nor his ass, nor anything
that is thy neighbor's. Don't covet the things of this
world. Okay? The things of mankind. That's God's law. Ten commandments.
Now, what is a sinner? A sinner is a transgressor of
the law. Can anybody in here say they
have never lied in their life? Honestly. Now, I've never physically murdered
anybody. But I actually have murdered
somebody. I, the Scripture says, all have
sinned. We all share Adam's sin. When
they took our Lord and with wicked hands led Him to Pilate and hollered,
crucify Him. I was in that crowd. And by nature, if that would
have happened today, I would be in that crowd today. By nature. Alright, now what is a sinner?
It's a transgressor of the law. Here's our second question. Who is a sinner? Who is a sinner? That's a simple one. The scripture
says, all have sinned and come short of the glory of God. Does
anybody in here believe that they've never sinned? Anybody? 1 John 1 says, if we say that we
have not sinned, then we make God a liar. Oh, I don't want
to do that. I don't want to do that. And
it says His Word is not in us. We're lying to ourselves. That's
breaking the law. We make God a liar, and it says
His Word is not in us. We don't know His Word, and Jesus
Christ, the Word, is not in us. Isn't that something? So that's
a simple question and that's a simple answer. Alright, but
for the person who's having a hard time seeing their sin. For a
person who's having a hard time getting a hold of the fact that
I'm a sinner. The person who says, I have never
worshipped Buddha or Allah. I've only worshipped Jesus. He
said, thou shalt have no other gods before me. I go to church
on Sunday. I keep the Sabbath. I always
go to church. I've never murdered anybody.
Turn with me to Matthew chapter 5. I have read this passage so many
times. And I know this. I've already
known the meaning of this. But man, I entered into this. Matthew 5 verse 17. Our Lord
says, think not that I am come to destroy the law. I didn't come to destroy the
law. When a person gets a hold of grace, they start to say,
well, that's just law. That's law. We believe in grace. And that's
true. We do. The law is good. I'm so thankful that we have
police officers. I really am. It gives me comfort
seeing them drive down the road. I'm so glad somebody's here to
keep peace. Somebody's here to keep what's
right. Somebody's here to keep justice. I'm thankful for the
police. The law is good. If a man abides
by the law. The problem is not the law, the
problem is me. The problem is I can't keep the
law. I drove down here yesterday,
and I normally do four to five miles an hour over the speed
limit. Every time. I broke the law. I ought to get
a ticket. If he caught me, I like the police,
but I ought to get a ticket, because I broke the law. Alright, so it says in verse
17, Think not that I have come to destroy the law or the prophets,
I have not come to destroy, but to fulfill. I came to do it. I came to live it. That's why
I came. Because you couldn't. I came
to do it. For verily I say unto you, till
heaven and earth pass, one jot..." You know those little four miles?
Well, everybody forgets four miles over the speed limit. No,
not God. "...one jot or one tittle shall
in no wise pass from the law." till all be fulfilled." It has
to all be fulfilled. Whosoever therefore shall break
one of these least commandments, just one little commandment,
and shall teach men so, he shall be called the least in the kingdom
of heaven. But whosoever shall do the law,
and there's only one man that actually did the law, and it's
Jesus Christ. Whosoever shall do and teach,
The same shall be called great." He's great. He can fulfill the
law. That man is great. Great in the kingdom of heaven.
"'For I say unto you that except your righteousness shall exceed
the righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees, you shall in no
case enter into the kingdom of heaven.'" You're not coming in
here. He said, "'You've heard that it was said by them of old
time, Thou shalt not kill.' and whosoever shall kill shall be
in danger of the judgment. But I say unto you that whosoever
is angry with his brother without a cause shall be in danger of
the judgment." If you ever have gotten mad at your brother, you're in danger of the judgment.
That's murder in the eyes of God because God looks on the
heart. Now murder, if I take a knife and I stab you, It started
in my heart. And then my heart evidenced itself. That's the root of it. You understand? God sees the root of it. He goes
on to say, "...whoever shall say to his brother Rekha..."
That means vain fellow. You're just a vain fellow. "...shall
be in danger of the council. Whoever shall say, you're a fool,
shall be in danger of hell fire." Have you ever thought, man, that
guy's just a fool. You know what that means to me? Our blessed
Lord, while He walked this earth, the holy God, looking at all
the foolishness and all the sin, never got angry with His brother. He never did. And He could have
told those disciples, you guys are a bunch of fools. But He
never did. He never did. Look at verse 27. You've heard that it was said
by them of old time, Thou shalt not commit adultery, But I say
unto you that whosoever looketh on a woman to lust after her
hath committed adultery with her already in his heart." If
that happens, it started right there. It goes both ways. Verse 38, you've heard it's been
said, an eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth. If you do it to
me, I'm going to do it to you. But I say unto you that you resist
not evil, but whosoever shall smite thee on thy right cheek,
turn to him the other also." I believe this with all of my
heart. When our Lord was standing before
Pilate, and they were accusing Him of everything, and they punched
Him in His face, I believe He turned His other cheek to them.
I believe He did. Verse 40, if any man will sue
you at the law. If any man takes you before the
judgment. They took him, didn't they? Took him to Pilate. And
they take away that coat, let him have that cloak also. They
parted his garments, and he let them go. They stripped him naked. Can you imagine the shame and
the humiliation of that? This is the God of glory that
made the cotton, that made the clothes, that made the men who
stole his clothes. Can you believe He let them do
that? If they take your coat, give them your cloak also. Whosoever
shall compel thee to go a mile, go with him twain. How far did he go? Lord, save
me. Come down here and save me. How
far did he go? Give to him that asketh of thee. You go to downtown somewhere,
somebody's going to come up and say, I just need two dollars.
If you've got it, give it to him. And from him that would
borrow of thee, turn not thou away. If you've got a trailer
and somebody wants to borrow your trailer, let him borrow
your trailer. You've heard that it's been said,
thou shalt love thy neighbor and hate thy enemy. But I'm telling
you, Jesus Christ says, love your enemies. and bless them
which curse you, and do good to them that hate you, and pray
for them which despitefully use you and persecute you." Why?
He's saying, because that's exactly what you did to me. That's why. I'm no better than they are. That's the truth. That's the
truth. If I think I'm something when
I'm nothing, I'm deceiving myself. Alright, now what is a sinner? It's a transgressor of the law.
Who is a sinner? Everybody's a sinner. Everybody. All of us. Here's our third question. What is a sinner's hope? Everything
I've told you so far says everybody in this room is destined for
hell. That's what it says. Is there
any hope for you and me? Really? We know we've broken
God's law. We know it. Everybody knows it.
We know that destines us for hell, don't we? Is there any
hope for you and me? Alright, let's read our text
again. Go back to 1 Timothy 1.15. It says, this is a faithful saying
and worthy of all acceptation that Christ Jesus came into the
world to save sinners. It is hard for people to get
a hold of the fact that that is who He chose to save. It's
hard. Now, I want to illustrate this
to you. He came to save sinners. Real sinners, okay? I want you to think about somebody
else. Usually I will always say, now let's think about ourselves.
Let's put ourselves into this position, okay? But I want you
to think about somebody else. Not yourself. And we're going
to read verses 8-10 here in 1 Timothy 1. It says, We know that the law
is good. If a man use it lawfully, Knowing
this, that the law is not made for a righteous man..." Now,
I want you to think of somebody else. "...but for the lawless
and the disobedient." Do you know somebody that you think
in your mind, why won't that person just obey the rules? Why
won't they just be obedient? Obey the law? Alright, he goes
on to say, "...for the ungodly." Not the good church-going person. The ungodly. And for sinners. For unholy. Not pure, not clean. Unholy. And profane. Blasphemers. For murderers of
fathers and murderers of mothers. We just saw where that says if
you hate, that's murder. But to cover all the bases, he
says for manslayers. murderers, for whoremongers,
for them that defile themselves with mankind, for men-stealers,
for liars, for perjured persons, and if there be any other thing
that is contrary to sound doctrine." Now, if that other person fits
that description, and not me, If when I read that and I hear
these things, if I think of that other person and not me, then
Christ Jesus came into the world to save that other person and
not me. Does that make sense? You ever
run into people that you think God wouldn't save them? What if God won't save me? Christ Jesus came into the world
to save sinners. Not people who say they're sinners,
but they're really not. Not people who commit the small
sins, but not the big sins. The better sinners. The white liars. Jesus Christ
came to save sinners. Now this guy over here who's
done some bad things, that's good news to him. Right? Paul said, I know this is true. He said, this is fateful. I know
that this is the truth. And I'll show you why. Go to
Acts chapter 7. Acts chapter 7. Look at verse... Acts 7.57, Then they cried out
with a loud voice, and stopped their ears, and ran upon Him
with one accord, and cast Him out of the city, and stoned Him. And the witnesses laid down their
clothes at a young man's feet, whose name was Saul. You know
who Saul is? The Apostle Paul. He's the one
who commanded that Stephen be stoned for worshiping Jesus Christ.
Look at chapter 8 verse 1. And Saul was consenting unto
his death. Paul said, I am a murderer. I really am. I really am. Alright, now look
at chapter 8 verse 3. It says, As for Saul, he made
havoc of the church, entering into every house. They didn't
let him in. He broke in. Okay? And hailing men and women. He was dragging them out of their
houses, committed them to prison. He said, I am a men stealer. When he wrote all that before
in verse 9 and verse 10, he was talking about himself. I am a
men-stealer. Look at chapter 9, verse 13.
Then Ananias answered, Lord, I have heard by many of this
man how much evil he hath done to thy saints at Jerusalem. This
man is unholy. This man is not holy, he's evil. Now go to Romans 5. I don't want
to make you turn too much, but you've got to see this. Go to
Romans 5. This is why Paul writes in Romans 5. Look at verse 6. Paul writes,
When we were yet without strength in due time, Christ died for
the ungodly. That's who he died for. Paul
said, I'm telling you the truth. I'm telling you the truth. I'm
telling you from experience. Christ died for the ungodly. He says it right there in verse
7. For scarcely for a righteous man will one die, yet peradventure
for a good man some would even dare to die. But God commendeth
His love toward us in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died
for us. Much more than being now justified
by His blood, we shall be saved from wrath, through Him. That's why I stand up and preach
Jesus Christ. It's not because I want to stand
up here and hit this and holler hell. I'm preaching Jesus Christ. That's my hope. Verse 10, for if when we were
enemies we were reconciled to God by the death of His Son,
much more being reconciled, we shall be saved by His life. This law I couldn't do, He came
and did it for me, and He gave that to me. And He took the life
I lived upon Himself. Why did Christ die? It's because
it's the only way to save sinners. That's why. That was the only
way. Save from our sins. Now, if a person is drowning. Drowning in water. If they're
drowning, it means their head's going under the water. Completely
immersed in water. Right? And they're drowning. Can't save themselves. If they
are saved from drowning, what it means is they're pulled out
of the water. They're not in the water anymore.
Do you understand that? Christ Jesus came into this world
to save sinners. It says, Call His name Jesus,
for He shall save His people from their sins. He's going to
pull them out of their sin. That's why we're so happy. He
lifted me out of the deep miry clay. And He set me among princes. That's my hope and that's what
I want. That's my desire. As long as I'm in this body of
death, I'm going to have to live with this sinful flesh. I'm still
a sinner. I'm still a sinner. I'll have
to live with these sinful deeds. I'll have to live with these
wretched thoughts. Oh, man. I have thought this thought. I
have thought things and then immediately thought, I'm so glad
I don't know anybody personally that does the things that I just
thought. I have thought that. But if Christ came to save sinners,
real sinners like you and me, One day, I'm going to get to
live in His body, bone of His bone, and flesh of His flesh. I'm going to get to live with
His righteous deeds charged to my account. His works are going to be my
works. I'm going to get to live with
His holy thoughts. Wouldn't you love to think His
holy thoughts? Wouldn't that be enjoyable? And
get rid of these wretched thoughts? Think the goodness that he thinks?
I can't wait to do that. Thanks be to God, Christ came
to save sinners. Here's why. I'm the chief. That's the fourth question. What
is a sinner's plea a true sinner is going to say every time? I'm
the chief. You are no worse than me. I'm
the chief. If he came to save doctors, then I need to go to medical
school, I need to get my degree, and I need to cry out, I'm a
doctor! But it doesn't say that. It says
he came to save sinners. So what's a sinner's plea? I'm
a sinner! If that's who you came to save,
save me! I'm the chief. There's an old
song that says a sinner is a sacred thing. Get a piece of paper and go make
a list. Go around town and see how many sinners will sign it.
A list for sinners. See how many will sign it. A
sinner is a sacred thing. The Holy Ghost has made him so.
Bring that piece of paper in here and see how many people
will sign it. If Chris puts his name at the top, I'm going to
try to get mine on top of his. A person who's gotten a hold
of religion, ask him, are you a sinner? This is what they'll
tell you. No. They'll say, I used to be. I
was the chief. Oh, you don't have any idea what
I used to do. I used to be bad. But now I'm a good person. I
gave my heart to Jesus is what I did. Yeah, I'm a good person
now. Ask a sinner whom Jesus Christ
has gotten a hold of. Are you a sinner? And not only
will he say, yes, I'm a sinner, he will cry, I am the chief. I'm the worst. I've always been the chief. And
I'm always going to be the chief until the day I die. Lord, save
me today, save me tonight, save me tomorrow. Save me, save me,
save me. Listen to some old saved sinners
and I will stop. I promise you I'll stop. A man
named Bishop Berkeley in 1670, that's the year he wrote this,
he said, I cannot pray, but I sin. I cannot preach, but I sin. I cannot administer nor receive
the holy sacrament, but I sin. He said, my very repentance needs
to be repented of. And the tears that I shed, need
washing in the blood of Christ. Amen. Jonathan Edwards said,
when I look into my heart and take a view of its wickedness,
it looks like an abyss infinitely deeper than hell. And it appears
to me that were it not for free grace, exalted and raised up
to the infinite height of all the fullness and glory of the
great Jehovah, I should appear sunk down in my sins below hell
itself. Far below the sight of everything
but the eye of sovereign grace. That alone can pierce down to
such a depth. And it is affecting to think
how ignorant I was when a young Christian of the bottomless depths
of wickedness, pride, hypocrisy, and deceit left in my heart."
That man believes he's a sinner, doesn't he? Abraham said, I'm just dust and
ashes. Job said, behold, I'm vile and
I abhor myself. Isaiah said, woe is me, I'm undone,
I'm a man of unclean lips. Daniel said, comeliness turned
in me into corruption. What I thought I was so proud
of, as soon as I saw God, and as soon as I saw me, I hated
it. The first thing that the Holy
Spirit does in this work of conversion is convinces men and women of
sin. Sin. Then, the Holy Spirit reveals
points men and women to the Savior of sinners. Isn't that wonderful? The Lord Jesus Christ. He made
Him to be sin for us, who knew no sin, that we might be made
the righteousness of God in Him. Really? Really? Is that true? Did I just lie
to you? Is that true? He took my place. All those bad things I did are
now on Him. And He has to deal with those.
And all those good things He did are now on me. And I get
to walk into heaven with those? Really? I'm telling you, this
is a faithful saying. And it's worthy of all acceptation.
Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners. Now, how can
we be assured of salvation? It's by crying at the top of
our lungs, from the bottom of our hearts, in sincerity. Out
of the depths of our souls, I'm the chief. If I am the chief,
Christ came to save me. If you're the chief, Christ came
to save you. I hope the Lord will bless that
word. I hope He will. Stand together
with me.