I want to bring the message this
morning from 1 Timothy chapter 1 verse 15 titled the message
Good News for Sinners. In 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. Paul began
by saying that this is a faithful saying, it's a true saying. It
is a faithful saying because of who it's from, God. God who
cannot lie. The testimony of the gospel did
not originate with men. Peter said, We have not followed
cunningly devised fables of men, nor did it originate with angels,
but it originated with God who alone is faithful and true. This
is the hope of every sinner, that the gospel is of God, that
He sent it, and it came from Him. God first preached the gospel
in the Garden of Eden when he said the seed of the woman would
bruise the serpent's head and the serpent would bruise his
heel. The gospel was also faithfully preached throughout all the Old
Testament in types and pictures. The Passover lamb was a picture
of Christ. The tabernacle was a picture
of Christ. The ark in which Noah was saved was a picture of Christ.
Boaz, the kingdom and redeemer, all of those pictured the Lord
Jesus Christ. It is a faithful saying because
it is founded upon the immutable counsel and promise and oath
of God that Jesus Christ came into the world to save sinners.
This is not Paul's opinion of why Christ came. It is God's
testimony as to why he came. He came to save sinners. This
saying is faithful and true to God's law. The law was magnified
and made honorable by the doing and dying of the Lord Jesus Christ
for sinners. We could not accomplish this,
but he did. It is faithful, it is true to God's justice. His
justice is satisfied through the person and work of the Lord
Jesus Christ. It is faithful, it is true to
God's promises. All the promises of God in him
are yea and amen. Not one of his promises will
fail. And it's worthy of all acceptation. Not all that men
preach is worthy of our acceptance. Not everyone who uses the name
Jesus Christ is preaching the Jesus Christ of the Bible. Paul
said some will come preaching another Jesus, another gospel,
and you're not to accept that one. But this gospel of God's
glory, of full salvation through the person and work of Christ
alone, without any works on our part, is worthy of all acceptation. None are so bad that the gospel
does not afford them a ground of hope, and none are so good
as to have any just grounds of hope without it. The Pharisee
and the harlot have the same need, Christ. There's only one
gospel for all whom God saves, and it's the gospel concerning
the Lord Jesus Christ. It's Christ and Him crucified.
And it's worthy of the acceptance of all men, rich, poor, young,
old, black, white. It's worthy of all acceptation.
It's worthy of all your trust and confidence. You and I are
the ones not worthy of acceptance. But He is. This saying, this
gospel of Christ is worthy of the acceptance of all generations.
There shall never come a generation that is above the acceptance
of the gospel. We are not growing better Every
generation is born in sin and shaped in iniquity. Time does
not make us better. It's worthy of all acceptation
because of who it concerns. Christ Jesus. Ponder that name. There is no, none other name
given under heaven whereby we must be saved. That's the only
name God recognizes. We are not talking about just
another son of Adam. We are not talking about some
martyr We are talking about the Lord of Glory, the Holy One of
Israel, the Creator of Heaven and Earth. The One in whose hand
all things have been given. God in human flesh. The Gospel
is concerning a person. This is where preachers of our
day are missing it. It's not you straighten up and
God will save you. It is not quit being an Armenian
and become a Calvinist. It's not just a change of doctrines.
It is not the Romans road. It is a real living person, the
Son of God, Christ Jesus. These two words mean anointed
Savior. The anointed Savior came into
the world to save sinners. For that is what He was anointed
to do. God the Father did not anoint Him to try to save. He
anointed Him to save sinners. It says in Matthew 121, Thou
shalt call His name Jesus. for He shall save His people
from their sins. God the Father before the world
began anointed His Son to be the Savior of sinners and He
sent Him into the world to save them. He did not come unsent
or uncommissioned. He has the full authority of
His Father to back Him up. The divine seal and approval
of the Father is on Him and Him only. No other name given. What
more of a Savior could a sinner want than a Savior's sin of God?
God Himself. God in human flesh. God Himself
has come to save us. He's come to save sinners. And
He came in the fullest sense of the word, bone of our bone
and flesh of our flesh. He was no mere imitation of a
man. He was a real man. He was subject to all the infirmities
of the flesh, hunger, thirst, weary. He knows what it is to
be human. But the reason he became a man
was to provide sinners with a righteousness that God will accept. To keep
God's law as a man and satisfy God's justice as a man. To be
a proper representative of all the sinners given to him. It
says in Hebrews, he took not on him the nature of angels,
but the seed of Abraham. It does not say the seed of Adam.
He took on him the promised seed of Abraham. As a man, as a God man, He redeemed
us from the curse of the law. There was a curse on all those
sinners whom He came to save. And notice for a minute where
He came, into the world. He came into the world. What
does that mean? He did not come to a place of honor, but a place
of dishonor. They mocked Him in Pilate's hall. They spit on
Him. to a place of ridicule and rejection. Not happiness, but
sorrow. He was a man of sorrows acquainted
with grief. Not riches, but poverty. He had no place to lay his head.
He came to a place of sin, not a place of holiness. Why did
he come? To save sinners. The people that
Christ Jesus came to save are sinners. Ungodly sinners. Not the unfortunate, the ungodly. The people he came to save are
altogether unrighteous. There is none of them good, no
not one. Collectively, there is not one
good. He came to save sinners from
the curse of the law by being made a curse for them. He came
to save sinners from the vengeance and justice of an angry God.
He came to save sinners from eternal death. He came to save
sinners from the power of Satan. He came to save sinners from
themselves. We are our worst enemies. By
what love? Love that passes all understanding
to save sinners. Christians, true Christians are
sinners saved by the grace of God. I could understand how the
God being holy would not save a wretch like me, yet the people
that he saves are wretches, good for nothing, I'm glad it doesn't
read like this. This is a faithful saying and
worthy of all acceptance that Christ Jesus came to save because
I'd be afraid that the ones he came to save would be of a character
that I could not attain to. What if he said he came to save
monarchs, kings? I'd be in trouble. But a sinner,
a sinner I am. I don't have to attain to this
character. I was born one. I love to hear who came to save
and who he came to save, sinners. It does not say that he came
to save awakened sinners, though he does or learns sinners, though
he teaches those whom he saves. It's just sinners, no more, no
less. Now this word, sinner, includes some of every kind.
Gross sinners, men given to the lust of their flesh. Religious
sinners, like Saul of Tarsus. ignorant sinners, unlearned ignorant
men, rich or poor sinners, King David, like the woman with the
issue of blood, sinners of every nation, tribe, kindred, and tongue.
It was for sinners he lived a perfect life of obedience. It was for
sinners he died as a sacrifice for their sins. It is for sinners
that he pleads now in glory. Christ Jesus came to save sinners
and that's still his business. Now in closing, how the chief
of sinners reacts to this message. It will make him thankful. Paul
said, I thank Christ Jesus. It will beget love and affection
to whom much is forgiven. He loves much. It will beget
holiness. Titus 2 says, the grace of God
teaches us to deny ungodliness. It will beget humility. When
Matthew recalls the disciples, he calls himself the publican.
Paul calls himself the chief of sinners. It will beget faith
and reverence. There is forgiveness with thee
that thou mayest be feared. It will beget assurance. But
God committeth his love toward us. And while we were yet sinners,
Christ died for us. 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. Well, I hope some sinners
this morning heard the message. Christ came to save sinners.
Look to Him.