Now, you must know by now that
the Jesus of modern day Christianity would not dare offend anybody
for anything in the world. But we have discovered in our
Bibles that the Christ of the Bible went out of his way to
offend people. And one of his greatest servants,
about whom we're about to read, Paul the Apostle, he was afraid
he wouldn't offend people. I'm telling you, if what we preach
is not offensive, then it ain't true. The truth is not readily received
except by a miracle of the grace of God. Acts 7.51, you stiff-necked
and uncircumcised of heart, in heart and ears, you do always
resist the Holy Ghost as your fathers did, so do you. Which of the prophets have not
your fathers persecuted? And they have slain them which
showed before of the coming of the just one, Christ is that
just one, of whom you have been now the betrayers and murderers, who have received the law by
the disposition of angels and have not kept it." That was their
pride and joy, we keep the law. We keep all ten of those laws. And that ain't so. And Stephen
minces no words in telling them it isn't so. And I have a suspicion that if
that's what Stephen had to preach, this is what we have to preach.
If we're too mealy-mouthed to offend anybody, then we've got
no business being in a pulpit. claiming to tell the truth about
God and about Christ. Verse 54, When they heard these
things, they were cut to the heart, and they gnashed on Stephen
with their teeth. Now, I don't mean that they actually
bit his flesh. But the garbage and words that
were coming out of their mouths, were meant for his harm in every
possible imaginable way. But he being full of the Holy
Ghost or Holy Spirit, looked up steadfastly into heaven and
saw the glory of God. Now what is that glory? None other than the Lord Jesus.
And Jesus standing on the right hand of God. And he said, Stephen said, Behold,
I see the heavens opened, and the Son of Man standing on the
right hand of God." The very same ones they crucified, Stephen
says, he's at God's right hand. Then they cried out with a loud
voice, stuck their fingers in 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, Saul of
Tarsus." Mr. Hawker says that they could not
cast the first stone until the person in charge threw the first
stone. That means Paul threw the first
one, or Saul of Tarsus. We know him as Paul now in his
Christian name. And they stoned Stephen, while
Stephen was calling upon God and saying, Lord Jesus, receive
my spirit. And he kneeled down and cried
with a loud voice, Lord, lay not this sin to their charge.
And when he had said this, he fell asleep. Now we have no way
to know this in Acts chapter 7 or 80, even in 8. But this fellow that supervised
the stoning of Stephen is a dead man walking from this moment
until we find him again in Acts chapter 9. So if you'll turn
to Acts chapter 9, We begin at verse 1. Since the
stoning of Stephen, Paul has again gone before the ruling
body of the Jewish religion, the Jewish Sanhedrin, the scribes
and the Pharisees and their powerful rule and reign. Saul of Tarsus has been obtaining
warrants for arresting people for worshiping the Lord Jesus
Christ, just like Stephen, trying to erase all mention of Christ
from the face of this globe. So Saul heads in this passage,
going down to this city called Damascus, and Saul, yet breathing
out 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, that way is 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 persecute you
me? And Saul said, Who are you, Lord? And the Lord Jesus said, I am
Jesus whom you persecute. It is hard for you to kick against
the bricks. And Saul, trembling and astonished,
said, Lord, what will you have me to do? And the Lord said unto
him, Arise and go into the city, and it shall be told you what
you must do. And the men which journeyed with
him stood speechless, hearing a voice." In the Greek, that
word is just the word for sound. Not understanding language, but
hearing a noise. And verse 8, And Saul arose from
the earth, and when his eyes were opened, he saw no man. But
they led him by the hand and brought him into Damascus. And he was three days without
sight, and neither did eat nor drink. And there was a certain
disciple at Damascus, a follower of Christ at Damascus, named
Ananias. And to him said the Lord in a
vision, Ananias, and he said, Behold, I am here, Lord. And
the Lord said unto him, Arise and go into the street which
is called Straight, and inquire in the house of Judas for one
one called Saul of Tarsus. Now look at these last three
words. For behold, he prays. Now Paul was the strictest Pharisee
of his generation. He prayed there ain't no telling
how many times a day. The law required at least three.
But the Pharisees were so proud of being Such wonderful praying
people that if they could get a few people to watch them, they'd
stop and pray right on the corner of the street. This man prayed
every day multiple, multiple times. And yet the Lord Jesus
is telling His servant Ananias this is the first time this man
has ever prayed. And you and I can pray until
the cows come home, but until we know God, It ain't worth a
hill of beans. Then, let me see, I didn't read
12, did I? Behold, he prays and has seen
in a vision a man named Ananias coming in and putting his hand
on him that he might receive his sight. Now, Ananias is not
yet convinced. Ananias answered, Lord, I've
heard by many of this man how much evil he's done to your saints
at Jerusalem. And here he has authority from
the chief priest to bind all that call upon your name. But
the Lord said unto him, Go your way, for this man is a chosen
vessel unto me to bear my name before the Gentiles
and kings and the children of Israel. For I will show him how
great things he must suffer for my namesake.' Ananias went his
way and entered into the house, and putting his hands on Saul,
said, Brother Saul." Boy, that's a new name. Brother Saul. "'The Lord, even Jesus, that
appeared unto you in the way as you came, has sent me that
you might receive your sight and be filled with the Holy Spirit.'
And immediately there fell from Saul's eyes, as if it had been
scales, and he received sight immediately, and he arose and
was baptized. And when he had received food,
he was strengthened. Then was Saul certain days with
the disciples," these are the disciples of Christ, which were
at Damascus, and straightway he preached Christ in the synagogue,
that he is the Son of God. Now you talk about a reversal,
but that's what that is. And when God saves us, I'm telling
you, that's the reversal of all reversals. It ain't something
we can do for ourselves. It ain't something my mom and
daddy can do for me, nor anybody else, especially a preacher.
It's God, the triune God, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. So Paul
bravely preached Christ in the synagogue, that he is the Son
of God. And all that heard him were amazed
and said, Is not this he that destroyed them which called on
this name in Jerusalem and came here for that intent that he
might bring them bound unto the chief priests? But Saul increased
the Moor in strength and confounded the Jews which dwelt at Damascus,
proving that this is the very Christ. And after many days were
fulfilled, the Jews had all they could stand, and they take counsel
together against him. They are going to kill him. But
their laying in wait was known of Saul, and they watched the
gates day and night to kill him. Then the disciples took him by
night and let him down by the wall in a basket. Isn't that a switch? In Acts
7, this man is supervising the stoning of Stephen. Now here
in Acts 9, he's preaching the very same gospel that Stephen
preached. Alright, I promised you one other
passage. What was it? 1 Timothy 1. Now some of you thought
I had forgotten my text, but I actually didn't. I just got
so many markers in here today. Running together, kind of. Verse 15, 1 Timothy chapter 1. Paul has now been a believer
a long time. He's already in the year A.D. 65. That means Anno Domino, the year
of our Lord, 65. He has little time left to live.
He's going to die a martyr for his faith in Rome at the hands
of the Caesar. Now, this verse, we looked at
this whole passage on Wednesday night, but I couldn't ever get
away from feeling like I had not even touched This statement
in verse 15 of chapter 1, 1 Timothy, this is a faithful saying. That
is a true saying. This is a faithful saying and
worthy of all acceptation, of universal acceptance. No matter
what country, what language we speak, nothing changes. The Lord Jesus is the only hope
of a sinner anywhere, anytime, any generation, any century. This is a faithful saying. What is that saying? That Christ
Jesus came into this world to do what? to save sinners. That's it. That's the reason
he came. To save sinners. And here is a prime example of
the kind of sinners that Christ saves. His name is Saul of Tarsus. By now, in 1 Timothy 1, he's
now Paul, the apostle of our Lord Jesus Christ. Christ Jesus came into the world
to save sinners. Paul declares, of whom I am chief,
the chief of sinners. Oh, surely a preacher at this
point in his life, he was no longer the chief of sinners.
Well, you just asked him. I didn't put it down here. That's
what he wrote. And it was divinely inspired,
and it's still readable in our own Bibles, in our own language. So my question to you, as well
as to me this morning, is this. Am I the chief of sinners? Well, preacher, I've done some
bad things and I've had some bad thoughts. Oh, phooey. What are we talking about? You
and I love the devil and hate God. We hate His Son, Jesus Christ. Until, like the apostle Paul,
we too are conquered. And without the power of that
grace in conquering us, we'll go to our graves and to eternity,
hating God and most especially hating his Christ. So Paul is transformed from Saul
to Paul. And if you have time to read
it in 1 Timothy 1 this afternoon, you go back and read it, he'll
tell you what he was before. He said, I was before a blasphemer. I blasphemed God. My soul, what
was he doing when he killed Stephen? He's blaspheming God. This man
is not telling us the truth. We have to kill him. He said, and this is in verse
13, who was before, a blasphemer, a persecutor, and injurious. And now he says, I'm the chief
of sinners. Boy, what a journey. What a journey. And that is one that every believer
should be able to follow. So why is it that we must think
such awful and terrible thoughts about ourselves in order to do
business with God? Because that's what we are. These
are not trumped-up charges. This is what actually is. We can have our own perfume that
costs a thousand dollars a bottle, but that doesn't change what
the soul is in the sight of God. No matter what clothes, whether
it's rags or riches, it doesn't make any difference. Paul is now the chief of sinners,
and if you and I are the chief of sinners, it is because we
have seen the glory and the preciousness of the Lord Jesus Christ. Now,
Paul was a hard man. I mean, he hunted Christians
like you'd hunt rabbits. He had no qualms about testifying
against them and putting them to death like he did Stephen
in Acts 7. Not only that, but because he
now sees the true sinfulness of sin. And where does he see
it? Not in his neighbor, but in himself. In himself. Thirdly, he now sees himself
the chief of sinners because he sees the infinite holiness
and spirituality and perfection of the law of God. If you'd have
asked him in Acts chapter 7, Paul, do you keep the law? Absolutely. Every single command. In fact,
he said, I go far beyond that. I give tithes of all that I possess
and all this other kind of stuff that you can read about in the
New Testament. But when he finds out, as he
puts it in Romans 7, he said, the law killed me. It slayed
me. When he found out what was really
required to keep the law, he said it killed him. It took everything
away from him. He had nothing to rest upon.
So that makes him then the chief of sinners. Now, I want to talk
to you just a little bit this morning. This was all introduction, by
the way. And I just want to take that one statement, 1 Timothy
1.15, and divide it into five little headings in that one verse. Alright, the first words that
we take are the words Christ Jesus. Jesus Christ the Lord. Christ Jesus. The God-man Christ
Jesus. When our Lord was baptized of
John the Baptist in Matthew chapter 3, when John saw the Lord Jesus,
now he didn't know who he was. Until that moment, when the Lord
Jesus came to where John was baptizing in the Jordan River,
in the backside of nowhere, the Lord Jesus came and asked John
to baptize him. And John said, no, no, not me. And the Lord said, suffer it
to be so now. And the scriptures say, well,
John the Baptist suffered him. He allowed him. He baptized him. Do you know what happened when
he came up out of that water? Beside the Holy Spirit in Wellingham
in all the fullness. And I'm here to tell you now,
I want you to understand this. There's a whole lot of people
walking around with their heads stuck up in the air, claiming
to be full of the Holy Ghost. Well, I'm going to tell you one
thing. It takes a little drop of water to fill up a thimble.
But if you're going to fill up God with the Holy Spirit, it's
going to be all the Holy Spirit. You see what I'm saying? The
Lord Jesus alone has the capacity to receive anyone equal to himself. And that dove lighted on him,
and the Spirit of God filled him. Now what happened next? God spoke audibly from heaven. This is My beloved Son. In chapter 17 of Matthew, in
verse 5, the scene is changed. The disciples are now chosen,
and our Lord chooses three of those disciples to go with Him
into the mount that has been called the Mount of Transfiguration,
which is covered in Matthew 17. So it's Peter, James, and John. And on that mountain, Moses and Elijah appeared in
the flesh, talking with our Savior, the Lord Jesus. Would you like
to guess what the subject was? They were talking to him about
the accomplishment of his decease. of what his death would purchase,
which is life, life everlasting, for a number of people that you
and I have no ability to even count. I ain't talking about
everybody. I'm talking about all of God's
children, all of God's elect that were given to Christ in
all eternity. And Peter usually spoke when
he should have been quiet, He said, Lord, it's wonderful for
us to be here. Let's build three tabernacles,
one for Moses, one for Elijah, and one for you. And when he
said that, the cloud descended on that place, and when the cloud
lifted, there was no Moses and no Elijah, just the three apostles
and our Lord Jesus Christ. And God spoke from heaven again.
He said, this is my Son in whom I am well pleased, Hear you Him. Don't worry about Moses and Elijah. You hear Him. And that's our
business, is to hear from Christ. To give Him the worship and praise
of our heart. Well, hey, let me get you to
turn to one little scripture here, if you would. Just over
to the right. One thing I dislike about...
I ought not to tell you this here, but that's the only place
I can catch all of you together, see, so I have to take advantage
of it. But one of the things that you
don't like to do on recordings that are going to go on the internet,
or whatever... I'm turning to Hebrews chapter
1, by the way. When you look up a lot of scriptures,
you use a lot of dead time. But this is where I'm supposed
to be right here. And what happens somewhere else,
I can't control that. So if you want it, this is how
it comes. If you don't, there's plenty
of others. Hebrews 1. Well, I need to read more than
just verse 8. Let me try to catch this up at
verse 3. I want you to see another thing
this morning is that the language of Scripture and the language
of our hymns is very, very similar. You can't say enough about Christ.
Let's start at verse 3 in Hebrews chapter 1. Speaking of this Son
of God, who being the brightness of his Father's glory, of God's
glory, and the express image of his person, and upholding
all things by the word of his power, Lord Jesus not only made
everything, he holds everything together. When he had by himself purged
our sins, he sat down on the right hand of the majesty on
high." Being made so much better than the angels? Ah, the way people take the angels,
they've got more of them than Carter's got liver pills. They
don't understand this statement. You can play with angels all
you want to and not know God. being made so much better than
the angels, as he has by inheritance obtained a more excellent name
than they. Now listen to this question. This is verse 5. For unto which
of the angels did God say at any time, You are my son, this day have
I begotten you? I'll be to him a father, and
he shall be to me a son. And again, when he brings in
the first begotten into the world, when Christ is in the womb of
Mary, and let all the angels of God worship him. Worship whom? Worship Christ. And of the angels, he said, who
makes his angel spirits and his ministers of angels a flame of
fire. But verse 8, this is what I was
bringing you here for. But unto the Son, he says, your
throne, O God. This is God the Father speaking
to God the Son. And if you tell me they're not
equal, I tell you you're not a believer. This triune Holy God, Father,
Son, and Holy Spirit are one. One God revealed in three persons. But unto the Son he said, Your
throne, O God, is forever and ever. That included, by the way,
when he hung on the cross. A scepter of righteousness is
the scepter of your kingdom. It is only right that you must
reign. The Scriptures speak of our Lord
Jesus as the man Christ Jesus. As the angel said to Mary, unto
you is born this day in the city of David a Savior which is Christ
the Lord. The Lord Jesus uttered these
words in the Gospel of John, I and my Father are one. God identifies himself in the
Old Testament as being the I Am God. You will remember that when
Moses was at the burning bush and the Lord had commissioned
him to go to Egypt and deliver Israel, Moses said, well, who
am I going to tell them has sent me? And the Lord answered, I
Am hath sent you unto them. You tell them the God whose name
is I Am. Now here's what I want you to
see. In John chapter 8 and verse 40,
the Lord Jesus says to these carping Pharisees in that chapter
who claimed to be so wonderfully religious, but they hated God
and hated His Christ, the Lord Jesus said, If you believe not
that I am, you shall perish in your sins. And that's just as
true today as it was however long it's been over 2,000 years
ago. I am. I am. And you must be familiar
with the other passage in John chapter somewhere Somebody moved that thing on
me. No, there it is. John chapter 18. Let me just
relate it to you. You can look it up. John 18,
verses 4 through 6. The Lord Jesus and his disciples
have just completed the Passover meal and the first observance
of the Lord's Supper. And they have crossed the Kidron
Small stream and gone to the Mount of Olives. And our Lord,
that's where He sweated great drops of blood. The disciples
could not stay awake to pray. They went to sleep, just like
you and me. So when our Lord hears the soldiers
coming, realizes that the time for His apprehension is at hand,
He goes to meet them. He said, who are you looking
for? They said, Jesus of Nazareth. And the Lord Jesus said, I am,
I am. And the whole shooting match
fell flat on their backs on the ground. They got up, came back to Him. Our Lord surrenders Himself to
them on one condition, that His disciples must go free. Which
is exactly why when He went to the cross, to His death, the
understanding is with His Father that if I die for them, then
they must be raised from the dead. So the second time, nothing
takes place. Our Lord puts no special power
of Himself in that second utterance, I am. But do you see? That to make
such a statement as that to a crowd so large of some five, six or
seven hundred people who had been gathered out of all the
rabble of Jerusalem and the soldiers and so forth to come and arrest
our Lord Jesus Christ. They could have brought a million
troops and never moved them an inch. Except he purposed himself
to give himself in our room place instead. Second phrase in our text, 1
Timothy 1.15, is not only Christ Jesus, but that Christ Jesus
came into the world. Now, none of us came into the
world. We began our existence in this
world. We had none, literally, before
that. But not so the Lord Jesus. He
came into this world. He was God before He came. He's God when He comes, and He's
God when He goes back to glory. But this is who He is, and how
wonderful and wonderful it is indeed. He came into the world. The eternal God takes on human
flesh. See how quick I made that point?
Thirdly, the third two words in our verse are the words, to
save. Christ Jesus came into the world
to save. To save. Now we're going to find
out who He's going to save in just a minute. But He came to
save. You can find this, I think it's
in Luke 19, verse 10, at the closing statement. describing
Zacchaeus' conversion and the subsequent dinner that he put
on at his house. It says, John 19, 10, I'm sure
that's right. The Lord Jesus came into this
world to seek and to save that which was lost. Well, I've got a question for
you. How many preachers have ever told you if you'll seek
God, He'll save you? That ain't so. If God doesn't
seek us first, we sure ain't going to seek Him. In Romans 10, and I'm guessing
on this one about verse 21, tells us that the Lord Jesus is found
of them who sought him not. That came from Isaiah, but Paul
used it in Romans 10. The Lord Jesus did not come to
condemn us. Adam had already taken care of
that long, long ago. He did not come to help us save
ourselves, which is what modern preachers tell sinners. God's
done all He can do, now the rest is up to you. If the rest is
up to me and you, it ain't going to happen. We'd as well pack
our bags down where it's hot instead of wonderful. The Lord Jesus did not come to
save us in part and to leave the rest to us. My memory serves me right. I was somewhere where Henry was
preaching. I don't remember if it was here
or someplace else. In this passage in Matthew 9,
Henry emphasized this thing, and boy, it hit me right between
the eyes. Let's start at verse 9. And as
Jesus passed forth from there, He saw a man. It doesn't say
the man saw him. He saw a man. His name is Matthew. Well, Matthew is his Gentile
name and Levi is his Jewish name. Sitting at the receipt of custom,
collecting taxes for the Romans. He's not very popular in Israel,
as you might imagine. And the Lord Jesus said to him,
follow me. And he arose and followed him. No debate, no argument, no convincing. Matthew, follow me. And he gets up and follows him.
Now, some of the people in the Bible were not much to call attention
to themselves, unlike our age and generation and some before
us. So we read in verse 10, Matthew
chapter 9, and it came to pass as Jesus sat at meat in the house. He's sitting or
reclining at a table for a meal in a house. Matthew doesn't tell us whose
house this is. But if you'll read the other gospel accounts,
you'll find out it's Matthew's house. But Matthew's not writing to
us about himself. He's writing to us about the
Savior. And there's a difference. Just like the difference taking
place right now this morning all over these United States
and this world. Some preachers are telling the
truth and some ain't. Some know God and some don't. But believers the world over would rather point you to their
Christ than to themselves. And when the Pharisees saw it
in verse 11, they said to his disciples, why does your master
eat with publicans and sinners? Now obviously that tells us that
the Pharisees were saying that they themselves weren't sinners.
Truth is, they're the worst kind of center there is. They're religious
centers. Spiritual centers. Why does your Master eat with
publicans and sinners? But when Jesus heard that, He
said to them, They that behold need not a physician, but they
that are sick. But go and learn what that means. They that behold do not need
a doctor. But I tell you, if you get sick
enough, you're going to look for one. I will have mercy and not sacrifice,
for I am not come to call the righteous." Well, if he ain't
come to save the righteous, who did he come to save? Sinners. Sinners. I didn't come to call
the righteous, but sinners unto repentance. The preacher, what about all
the good people? There ain't no such thing as
good people. There's a good God and bad people,
real bad. Number five, of whom I am chief, the chief
of sinners. In 1 Corinthians 15, 9, we're
not turning there, I just want to relate this to you. Paul declared himself in 1 Corinthians
15, not meet, that is, not fit to be an apostle. Well, the date
of that writing is A.D. 59. In the year 59, Paul said
he's not fit to be an apostle. In Ephesians 3, it is now in
the year A.D. 64, he says, I'm less than the
least of all the saints. Ah, but when we find him in 1
Timothy chapter 1, it's in the year A.D. 65, Paul is months
away from martyrdom, and now he says, even at that late hour,
I'm the chief of centers. Are we the chief of centers?