The Sinner's Savior

Q: What does the Bible say about sinners and salvation?

The Bible teaches that Jesus came to save sinners, not the righteous, highlighting the need for mercy rather than sacrifice. The Bible emphasizes that Christ's mission was to seek and save the lost, as noted in Matthew 9:12, where Jesus states, 'They that be whole need not a physician, but they that are sick.' This reinforces that salvation is for those who recognize their need for a Savior, not for those who see themselves as righteous. The essence of the Gospel is Christ’s willingness to associate with and save the worst of sinners, as demonstrated in His encounters with publicans and harlots, showcasing His mercy and grace towards those who are lost and broken. Indeed, He came to highlight the stark contrast between human self-righteousness and divine grace.

Q: How do we know that Christ came to save sinners?

Scripture clearly states that Christ came to call sinners, as evidenced in His words and actions throughout the Gospels. Jesus's purpose for coming into the world is explicitly stated in the Scriptures, particularly in Luke 5:32, where He declares, 'I came not to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance.' This is a fundamental truth that underscores the essence of the Gospel: that salvation is a gift for those who acknowledge their sinfulness and need for redemption. The accounts of Jesus dining with sinners and the marginalized, as described in Matthew 9, further illustrate that He actively sought out those who society deemed unworthy. His entire ministry was focused on demonstrating God's love and grace to those who were aware of their spiritual need, highlighting the scandalous nature of grace that welcomes the worst among us.

Q: Why is it important for Christians to understand their identity as sinners?

Recognizing our identity as sinners emphasizes our need for Christ and His grace, which is essential for true Christian faith. Understanding our identity as sinners is paramount for Christians because it clarifies the foundational truth that we are in constant need of Christ's redemptive grace. Romans 3:23 states, 'For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God,' signifying that no one is exempt from this condition. This realization fosters humility, acknowledging that our righteousness is not our own but is imputed to us through faith in Christ. Moreover, when we grasp the depth of our sinful nature, we come to appreciate even more the magnitude of God's grace offered to us in Jesus Christ. It prevents us from falling into self-righteousness and keeps us grounded in the necessity of continual dependence on Christ as the source of our hope and salvation.

Q: How should the understanding of being 'sinners only' affect church culture?

The understanding that the church is for 'sinners only' promotes inclusivity and humility within the church community. Recognizing that the church is a gathering for 'sinners only' radically transforms the culture within the church. This perspective cultivates an environment where individuals feel welcomed regardless of their past or present struggles. It aligns with the heart of the Gospel, which is centered on grace and forgiveness rather than moral perfection. As described in Matthew 9, Jesus did not come to call the righteous but to save sinners, thus the church should reflect this mission. Such an understanding encourages transparency, accountability, and mutual support among believers, allowing people to express their struggles without fear of judgment. Ultimately, it fosters a church culture that is reflective of Christ’s love, inviting all to come as they are, in need of healing and redemption.

for sinners only. For sinners only. What are your first thoughts
when you think about going to church? When you think about
the church, what are your first thoughts? First thoughts that
run through your mind. The average person, I believe,
thinks of church as a place where good, decent, moral, upstanding
people go. Don't they? Decent, respectable
people go. A place where you must look a
certain way, walk and talk a certain pious way. Right? You go to church,
you know. A place where you go when you
clean up your act. Get your act good and cleaned
up, you go to church, right? Kind of like a country club for
the moral majority, you know. That's the reason I want to put
that sign up. Let's work on that. Let's get us a sign and put it
up there for sinners only. Good people not allowed inside. Think about it. Who takes a bath? Any of you take a bath when you're
good and clean? You take a bath when you're dirty,
right? Who looks for food? The hungry,
right? Who goes to the hospital? Sick
folk. Who goes to church? Nice, decent,
no. sinners, no good, rotten, bad
people. Who goes to church? Bad people. The fellow preaching this message
is a bad person. You know, he don't look so bad.
I is bad. Believe me. Turn me inside out,
I look bad. And let me ask you this before
I go any further. What do you think about yourself?
Let me ask the dearest, sweetest, old, elderly lady in here. What do you think about yourself?
Pretty good? Pretty nice? A fellow talked
to one of these so-called Mormons on the phone one day. Oh, it's
the past. Now, finally, I said, now tell
me what you think about yourself. What do you think about yourself?
He said, I'm a pretty neat fellow. What I was trying to get out
of him, are you a sinner? What do you think about yourself?
I'm a pretty good person. Are you? If you are, there's the door. I'm serious. There's the door. Get out of here. We don't have
room. Hospitals don't take up borders,
do they? Anybody that wants to come in
and sleep in the hospital bed, no. You've got to be sick, right? You're just taking up space.
If you're in here and you're a pretty good person, this message
is not a fly to you. You're just taking up space.
Go somewhere else. We'll tell you what you want to hear. Christ will not take any good
people. I want you to read that article
in the bulletin when you get an opportunity by Horatius Bonar. Christ will not take any good
people. He takes only sinners. He will
not meet you, will not talk to you, will not have anything to
do with you, and certainly won't dwell with you in eternity if
you're a good person. Now, this goes so much against
our natural grain, doesn't it? But this is the way it is. This
is the way it is. I recently—listen to this. I
recently heard of somebody who was thinking about inviting somebody
to come to church here, but the person or the people that they
were thinking about inviting didn't look too good, you know,
kind of rough. I think they might have had long
hair or whatever, but they didn't dress like church folks and so
forth. It broke my heart when I heard
that. I thought, my soul, is this people's idea of what the
church is? I want you to see what the church
is made up of here in Matthew chapter 9. I wonder what the
reaction would be of the so-called church out here. You've got one
on every corner. We've got a hundred so-called
churches all over Franklin County. I wonder what the average so-called
church would do if a known prostitute or a homosexual or a wino or
somebody would walk into their auditorium. What do you reckon
their reaction would be? What would our reaction be? Get
on the back row there. That'd be a shock, embarrassment.
What's he doing here? What are you doing here? He needs
to be here. Look at Matthew 9 with me. It
was the same reaction back then. The very same reaction back then.
It always has been. You had your good, moral, decent,
religious folks, and then you had your sinners. You had your saints, and then
you had your sinners. That's the way they thought it
was back then. And that's the way people label them now. I
was listening to a fellow preach one time. We'll get to it here
in a minute. I was listening to a fellow preach one time.
He was a miserable excuse. He couldn't be. Oh, God's gracious. My daughter could preach better
than he could. He couldn't preach. But he got
up and he started talking about saints. Good Christian folk. You know, you've heard them.
Good Christian folk. Amen, brother. Praise the Lord. You know, you
ought to be serving the Lord, brother. Amen. Amen. smiling
that smile and laughing and talking to good Christian folk. And then he started talking to
sinner folk. Then he got a frown on his face.
And he went back to the concordance of his Bible and he looked up
every passage he could that had hell in it. He wasn't quoting
the whole passage, just verses. Going to hell. Start talking
about hell in reference to sinners. Don't do this, you're going to
hell. Don't quit that, you're going to hell. I almost said it. I thought he
didn't say what the Lord said. The Lord himself said, publicans
and harlots are going to get into heaven before you do. Before you good religious church
going folks. That's what Christ said, wasn't
it? He said, Christ said to the religious
folk, so-called saints, he said, the publicans and the harlots
are going to get into heaven before you do. It's a different message, isn't
it, than what you'll hear anywhere else. Look at Matthew chapter
9, Matthew chapter 9 verse 10. Look at it. As Jesus sat at meat in the house,
what house? Well, He had just called this
fellow named Matthew. Look at verse 9. Matthew. Christ
passed by and He saw a man named Matthew sitting at the receipt
of custom. Now, this fellow was a publican.
He was a tax collector. He was a notorious and wicked
and despised crooked fellow. cheated people out of money.
He worked for the Roman government, which was a corrupt government,
and he was taxing his own people, and he was pocketing the money.
He was the chief tax collector. And he was pocketing most of
the money. He was taxing the poor and giving
it to himself to be rich. A wicked fellow. A notorious
fellow. Everybody hated him. He was a
publican. And the Lord walked by and said to this fellow, this
is the power of God, and this is what he'll have to do to you.
He walked by, verse 9, and said, follow me. And the fellow got up and followed
him, as if he knew him. He didn't, but Christ knew him.
But he followed him. But here he is. Now he went down
to this fellow's house. Over in Mark chapter 2 is the
other story of this. But it says down there that when
he entered into his house, it doesn't say that he asked Matthew
if he could go to his house. It appeared that Christ just
walked down and walked in his house and sat down. At any rate,
he went to this fellow's house. Now, you can imagine what all
this fellow had in his house. Now, come on, folks, let's be
honest. This guy was notorious, wicked, hellacious. hard-living,
money-making, cheat, a scam. He was a notorious fellow, no
good, and Christ went into his house and sat down and started
eating with him. And look at verse 10, "...sat
at meat in his house, and behold, many publicans, all this fellow's
buddies, came around." These publicans were like our
politicians today. They take from the poor and make
themselves rich. Extortioners, cheats, crooked
liars, taxing their own people for their own, for a wicked government,
making themselves rich. These kind of, these fellas kind
of like pawn shop brokers. You ever been in a pawn shop?
I hope nobody in here owns a pawn, a pawn shop. You ever been in
a pawn shop? They were kind of like used car
salesmen. These public, cheat their mother. They'd sell their
mother a lemon. They'd get the commission out
of it. That's what these pelicans were like. I mean, I'm trying
to describe these fellas like they were. Bums! Everybody hated
them. No good, filthy bums. And here Christ sat eating with
these fellas and drinking with them. Drinking. Mark 2 says He
was drinking. And in the first, He said, He's
a drinker. And in another place, they called Him a drunk. He was
drinking wine. All the teetotallers out there,
he was drinking wine. Publicans. Rebel rousing. No good. Bummed. And look at
this. Verse 10. And sinners came. Here come another bunch of cruel
people. Now, I'm trying to give you the
picture of what was actually going on here. Another group
of people came in and sat down. Now these, oh my soul, these
were harlots. And their pimps were somewhere
around too. Winos, gamblers, thieves, opium
dealers. Wild-talking, hell-raising sailors. Construction workers. Railroaders. No good, low-down, cussing, stealing. Give me some more bad adjectives.
That's the way these people were. That's who was in this room here. I mean, you're talking about
a vile place. You go in an average bar down
here, or down in an average place of prostitution, that's who was
in this room. Hanging around Christ. All around
him. That's who was there. Now get the picture. And it says his disciples were
there. Now you know who those fellas
were. He'd just called these fellas.
Now they hadn't cleaned up their act yet. Peter showed that just
shortly after the Lord was crucified. He started right back to cussing,
right back where he started. These were fishermen. Gruff,
rough, I just soon thought to look at you. I mean, this soon
beat your brains out to look at you. What'd you say? Fishermen. Rough, gruff, tough fellas. Mean, bad, no good. Sinners. Let's call them all,
let's put them all under the category of sinners. You fit
in there? Come on now. I've never been
that bad. And you ain't going to eat with
Christ. And it says, Mark chapter 2 says
there were many. It doesn't say it here, but it
says many publicans, but it says many sinners, too. And it says
they followed Him. Over Mark 2.15 it says, many,
there were many, and they followed Him. Wherever Christ went, He
attracted this sinner. We've got something wrong. You
know, we've got a wrong idea of this thing of godliness over
Christ's life. Christ walked this earth, the
Holy Son of God. And who did he attract? Sinners. They flocked around
him. We're missing something, Mark.
We've got a wrong conception of something, of holiness and
of Christlikeness or something else. Sinners were attracted
to this man. They followed him. This is the
kind of crowd that Christ attracted. Thank God. These are the people
that followed Him and were drawn to Him. Do you know what this
was? Do you know what this meeting
was that I described to all those people today? Do you know what
this was? This was the first church meeting. This was the first meeting of
the church right here. For what? Yes, sir, he bowed. The first meeting of the church.
Ain't none of them had a robe on. Ain't none of them wearing
a cross. None of them. They weren't sitting
in the church house, were they? They weren't singing the old-time
gospel hymns. They was eating and drinking,
sitting around talking to Christ, or listening to him talk. Now, it could be that this even
offends your ears a little bit, but that's the way it was. This
is the actual picture of what went on here. All right? Now,
look at it. Look at verse 11. Now, when the
Pharisees saw this, the Pharisees, who were the Pharisees? Do you
know who the Pharisees were? The town's finest. Doctors. Lobbyers. Mayors. business men, good Baptists,
good Methodists, good Episcopalians, good, upstanding, outstanding,
decent, moral, religious people like that, to the Pharisees were.
Never drank, never smoked, never cussed, never chewed liquor,
never touched their lips, never. Tobacco, far be it from that. A Pharisee was man at his best
state. Man of his best days, a Pharisee. You ask anybody who the best
man, best, most decent fellow on the face of the earth, well,
they say, a Pharisee. They stood on the corners, prayed. They prayed in restaurants. Everybody
would see them praying. They wore the collars around
backwards, you know. They looked apart. They walked
the walk, talked the talk. They wouldn't be seen in any
place that sold liquor. Pharisee. Sure for heaven as
if they were already there. And they spotted Christ. Now,
they could have been out in the hallway. I don't know the exact
situation of this house or whatever. They could have been walking
by. It could have been an open door. I don't know. But they spotted
Christ. You know, where they went, they
spotted Christ with these people. They spotted Christ in their
talking, mingling, laughing, and drinking with these people.
I mean, I don't mean laughing, but he was mingling with these
people, attending their parties. And they said, verse 11, They
said it to one of his disciples privately is what they did. They
spotted Christ and they said privately to one of these people,
why in the world? Why is your master eating with
these kind of people? Well, a good Christian
wouldn't do that. How could he do such a thing?
Doesn't he know what people think? Doesn't he know who these people
are? They said this privately. Yeah, he knows who they are.
That's why he came. He foreknew them before the foundations
of the earth and set his love and affection on these old scoundrels.
Yeah, he did. He knows them. He knows everything
about them. He knows every wicked thought in their head. He knows
every wicked action they've ever committed and ever will commit.
He knows everything about them. He knows everything about you.
He knows everything you've done, everything you've thought, everything
you will do and will think. And believe me, you're going
to do some more of what you've already done. He knows you all
right. He knows their thoughts. He knows
all their sin, their wicked, perverse, wild and terrible thoughts,
their deeds. He knows them all right. And
like I said, he foreknew them. There's the key. He set his love
and affection on them. He foreloved them because he
chose them. He elected them. He covenanted
with the Father to become their surety. He told the Father, I'm
going to come down there and dwell with these sorts of people.
I'm going to come down. That's why he's here. Doesn't
he know who these people are? Why does he eat with public and
the sinner? He must! Call his name Jesus. Why? He'll
save. He came to save. Tell him, I've
come to seek and to save. Anybody need saving? No, I'm
having a pretty good time. He'll come and get you. These
folks needed it bad, didn't they? Huh? How about you right now? I'm still, maybe not outwardly
now, like I was. I'm not. Don't you forget it. But in words. I'm worse. I don't know about you. Tell
you what, you're a hypocrite. Why did Christ come? To save
sinners. He came to save sinners. I'm a sinner. And now when Jesus heard this,
look at it, verse 12. When Jesus heard that, how did
he hear that? This fellow just punched, one of these Pharisees
just punched one of his disciples. Can you imagine the din, the
noise that was going on in this room? Can you imagine the tumult?
All these people, all these rebel rousers in this room? Can you
imagine the noise and the confusion that was going on in this room?
Can you? Huh? laughing and carrying on, partying
and so forth, drinking, carrying on. Can you imagine? And one
of these Pharisees out in the hallway said, I don't know, what
does he do? Christ heard him. He heard him
all the way across the room. How did he do that? He's God. He's the ever-present,
omnipresent, all-hearing, all-seeing God. And he heard him. He heard that fellow. And he knows Pharisees. He knows these Pharisees, too,
everything about them. There's a scripture over in one
place that says it. And he knew them. Pharisees. It says he knew what was in them,
and he didn't commit himself to them. He knew them afar off. He didn't know them before he
knew them, before he loved them. Pharisees. These good folks.
He knew their hypocrisy, their trickery, their lies, their deceit,
their religious airs, their fake prayers, their fake smiles, their
greed and corruption. He knew them all of that. He
knew them. And he said he came to shed light
on them. He came to expose them. Thank
God Christ did come and expose self-righteousness, right? He
came and exposed. He said, now I've come. He said,
I've lived righteously and holy, and you don't have any covering
now, do you, boy? Light has come into this world,
and you're exposed. That's the reason the Pharisees
killed him. That's the reason they hate him. He exposed their
wicked selves. And that's all religious people
have, mostly the hypocritical coverings, the facade to hide
behind. But Christ exposes that. The
gospel, like I'm preaching this morning, exposes that. The Christ
I preach exposes that. Well, he heard these fellows.
He heard these fellows. Now, listen. He heard this fellow
talk, this other fellow. Why is he eating with public
consent? He heard him. And he took a big bite of pork
chop. Now, the Jews didn't eat pork.
He took a big bite of ham, or a slice of bacon, and he hollered
across the room at one of those Pharisees. Look at it. He hollered
across the room and said, I heard you. They that behold don't need a
doctor but the sick. sick folks. What he's saying,
this old Pharisee, is you think you're all right, don't you? You're going to find out. You
think you don't need anything, you have everything. You don't
think you can learn anything, you know everything, don't you?
You don't need any help, you're just fine and dandy, aren't you?
You don't need a doctor, you're healthy, wealthy, and wise, aren't
you? But these folks, And I'm the great physician.
And I've healed everybody that's ever come to me that's sick.
You hear that? Everyone. Everyone I've raised. You know, everywhere Christ went,
whenever there was a dead person around, He raised them. You can't have death in the presence
of life. He says, I'm the great physician.
I've never lost a patient. Never. Healed them all. Healed
them all. I went to visit Brother Todd
Nyberg in the U.K. Med Center, up there in the U.K. Cancer Center. Do you know who
was in there? Boy, I tell you, you'd break
your heart to walk through there. Cold and flu patients? People with broken fingers. Cancer patients. Have you ever
seen any cancer patients? The therapy is almost as bad
as the disease. They lose all their hair. Eyes
sunken back in their head. Pale. Gone. Thin. Dying. Two or three people died
while I was there. dying people. What if those people
heard that there was a place that they could go where everybody
that ever went there was healed? Huh? What do you think they'd do?
They'd call. They'd catch a bus. They'd let
somebody drag them. Whatever it took to get to that
place, they'd get there. Christ has never turned down
a sinner. He has saved every sin-sick soul
that's ever come to Him. Every single one of them. Every one of them. Look over at Luke chapter 9 with
me. Luke chapter 9. Every one of them. Every sinner
that has come to Christ by faith, He has saved them. every one. He said, I come to seek and to
save. Call his name Jesus, he shall
save. Luke chapter 9, look at this,
verse 10 and 11. Luke 9, verse 10 and 11. The
apostles, when they returned, they told him all that they'd
done. And he took them and went aside
privately into a desert place belonging to a city called Bethsaida. And the people, when they heard
about it, These sin-sick sinners, these poor, sick folk, they followed
him. And he received them. And he spake unto them the gospel. See that, first of all? And look
at this, verse 11. This is what I want you to see.
And he healed them that had need of healing. that had need. Now, this is what
I'm trying to get at. Everybody's a sinner. He's either
a good sinner or he's a bad sinner. He's either a religious sinner
or he's an irreligious sinner. He's either a church-going sinner
or he ain't a church-going sinner. He's a bar-hopping sinner. Everybody's
a sinner, but everybody doesn't know it or believe it. And everybody
doesn't need a Savior. They need one. They don't think
they do. The religious folk don't think they need a savior. They're
all right. They're all right. Do you need? Do you need a savior? Scripture tells me my whole head
is sick. And it is, boy, I know it is.
My whole heart is faint. It is. From the sole of my feet
to the top of my head, there's no soundness in me, no good in
me. And that's right. I sure need the great physician,
I tell you. I still need him right now as bad as the day when
he stopped me and revealed the gospel to me. I feel like I need
him worse. Well, look back at the text here.
Look at it. Do you need healing? I ask you,
somebody in here, do you need a Savior? Look at verse 13. Christ said, now you go and learn
what this means. Folks, if you learn what this
means, what He's about to say right here, you'll be saved. If you learn what He's about
to say here, you will be saved eternally. Your soul will be
saved. All right, listen. You go and learn what this means.
I wish I could learn this. I hadn't learned this to the
fullest extent. Go learn what this means!" He
hollered at these scribes who were always about learning about
the Scriptures and this and that and the other. He said, You better
learn something. You learn this, that I, God, Christ, will have
mercy and not your sacrifice. I feel like leaving it right
there. I'm going to have mercy. And I ain't going to take a thing
you've got. If you've got anything, if you're
coming to Christ with anything, anything, He ain't going to take
it. If you and I will learn what this means, we'll be saved. Saved. You're encouraging people to
live in sin, what you're saying by doing it. I feel like dusting those people
in the nose to say that. I'm trying to encourage sinners
to come to a Savior. That's what I'm trying to encourage
people to do. I'm trying to tell everybody
there's no good, rotten sinners. From the best to the worst, they're
all the same. No good. And they need a Savior. and trying to encourage people
no matter how bad they are, trying to tell all bad people, it's,
you best come to Christ. Leave your religion at home. You know, there's a lot of so-called
churches kick bad people out of their church. I wish they'd send them all down
here. We want all rejects. I think I'm going to put that,
I'm going to put an ad in the paper next week. All church rejects. We want them down here. You've
been kicked out of your church for whatever it is, come on down
here. Come on down here. We're all rejects here. But listen
to this, he says, I'll have mercy and not sacrifice Christ. Jesus
came from the Father to us because we couldn't get to God. No matter
how hard we tried, we couldn't get to him, so he had to come
to us. Christ came down here to save us, because we can't
save ourselves. I don't care how good a life
you live, you can't save yourself. You can't recommend yourself.
God's too holy. You can't get there. He's not paying attention
to what you're doing. He never will for salvation. That's why Christ came. He came to help the hopeless.
He doesn't help them to help themselves. Christ came to find
the lost, not those that are just temporarily misplaced. If
you just point me in the right direction, I'll get there. No,
the lost! Can we get that through our heads? Some have, thank God. He came to give life to dead
sinners. People can't do anything but
sin. He came to have mercy on the
guilty. You guilty? I live with a load
of guilt upon me all the time. My thoughts, my deeds, my words,
they're guilty, guilty. He came to pardon the guilty. Have mercy. You guilty? Christ
said, I took it. God doesn't hold me guilty anymore. He came to save sinners. Sinners. I just can't make it any plainer
than this. He said, I've not come to call the righteous. See
that verse there, I've not come to call righteous, good, pious,
religious folk, but everyday, ordinary, no good, no good sinners. Come forth. Is that you? Is that you? It better be, or
you're not a safe person. Do you hear me? This man receives an earring. Read the article. You don't have
anything. I don't have anything. My preaching
is not going to recommend me to God. It's going to condemn
me. If I think about it, if I hold it up there, it's going to condemn
me. My good work, it's going to condemn me. It's a judgment.
I preached in your name. You're a worker of iniquity.
The minute, the moment somebody raises up their finger to point
to something they've done or something they are, but commend!
Oh, and we've preached, we've prophesied,
we believe God's guilty to bind Him, hand and foot, and cast
Him out. But an old sinner calling it mercy. Mercy! Get up, boy. Get up, grown-up. Come on up
here. What'd you say? Mercy? It's all
right. It's all right. But to have been
a sinner, it's all right. I've been a Savior. But you don't
understand, ever thought in my head that I'd been bad? But,
ever thought in my head it was good? And I've switched places
with you. But I'm still bad. I'm still
good. And I'm still at the right hand
of the Father. Now, come to Carl the Righteous. And I tell you, anybody in here,
you trust Jesus Christ right now, and he will save yourself. Right now. Right now. That's all there is to it. I
mean, there's a whole lot more on his part. Are you a sinner? I mean like I've been describing. The cross takes the savior. Scripture
says if you trust Him, He'll save you. The Lord saved me. He saved me. Can you believe that? Help me, that's my only hope,
folks. When I'm preaching my good works,
I tell you, I just feel like I'm getting worse. I don't feel
like I'm getting any better. I feel like I'm getting worse.
I asked an old fellow, 77-odd years old, been a disciple of
Christ for many years, Cecil Rowe. I said, Cecil, I said,
buddy, do you ever seem to have any victory? Do these things,
these thoughts, sin, wickedness, ever leave you? Do you ever have
any much victory over it? Does it ever get any better?
He said, no. It gets worse. I thought, oh my, what's my only
hope? Same hope that you, when you
were first saved, Christ. Christ. Christ didn't save you
because of anything he saw in you when he saved you. All he
saw was sin. And he ain't going to keep you for anything he sees
in you, because all he still sees in you is sin. Right? Now you go learn what that means.
And I'll do the same thing. I'll go learn what this means.
I'll go learn what it means. You know, it's not—and I'll quit
here in a minute—it's not necessarily your sins that are keeping you
from Christ. Can you hear me? It's not our
sins necessarily that are keeping us from Christ. It's our goodness.
It's our goodness. Although, let me say this, the
love of sin and this world and so forth, the sinful pleasures,
it consumes people and it keeps them from having any interest
in God at all. But you go to the lowest of lows,
you go down to anybody on the street, and they've got some
hope that there's some good in them. Don't they? And I'm not as bad as some...
You know, go to a drunk lying in the street, he says, I ain't
gonna drag this old Billy Bob down there. He killed a fellow
last week. I've seen, I've heard that with
these ears before. Go to a low-down, no-good, scum-of-the-earth
fella. And he said, well, he ain't as
bad as so-and-so. Here's what they say. I ain't even going
down to church now. I ain't nothing better than a bunch of hippies.
And I want to say to them, well, come on down. There's always
room for one more. Right? One more. All right, listen to me, people young
and old. I don't care how bad you've been. I ain't going to brag on my badness.
These fellows that used to be converted drug addicts, they
like to get up and talk about how bad they were. They're bragging
on themselves, what they're doing. I ain't going to do that. I don't
know how bad you've been. I guarantee you haven't been
any worse than an average person sitting in here. Right, Joe Park?
Right, Henry? Deacons. I wound up standing
deacons in church every Sunday. And it wasn't at the Nicolaria
Chapel. I think you're a wonderful fellow. I think you're Christ-like
and all, but you know yourself, don't you? God sure knows you.
I don't care how bad you've been, where you are now. I don't care
how you look. You look better than me, probably.
You're a sinner. You need a Savior, and you best
trust Him right now. This preacher needs a Savior,
you need a Savior whether you know it or not. Now listen to
this, you don't always feel your need. Sometimes we try to wait
on this, we try to wait on the feeling our need, on a feeling. You know, one day you might be,
on Friday, you might feel real bad, feeling your need of a Savior.
Come Sunday, you ain't got a problem, if you're all right. And then
when the preacher preaches, It doesn't affect you. Feelings
come and go. Don't wait on a feeling. Believe
it. You need one now, whether you
feel it or not. You need Christ, so trust Him
now. Don't wait on a feeling. That's
bringing your feelings to us. Well, I feel real good now. I
feel real bad now. You know, like old Joe Terrell
said, he said, I had me, he'd talk about awakened sinners,
guilty sinners, talk about Law-stricken sinners talk about this. He said,
I haven't even been a good sinner. I don't know how to be a good
sinner. I don't know how to be sinful enough. I don't know how
to feel bad enough. I haven't gone through enough
guilt and shame and repentance. You don't bring your repentance
to God. He said, now I've repented enough.
No, that's the gift of God. You come to Him as you are, just
as I am. Just as I am." You come to Him
now. Don't wait on your need. You
come to Christ now. Don't wait for a feeling, because
feelings come and feelings go. The feelings are deceiving. Your only hope, your only help,
is in the Word of God right here. Nothing else is worth believing.
See, the heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked.
Who can know it? Who can know? That's the reason
we struggle all the time. Even believers struggle all the
time about whether or not you're saved or not. Because you're
up one day and down the next. One day you're real particularly
sinful, and the next day you feel pretty good. Well, what
is your salvation based upon? The way you feel? No. It's based
upon this Christ who came to save sinners. Now, you go and learn what this
means. Let's go and learn what this means. He'll have mercy and not sacrifice,
because he came to call the righteous and not to call the righteous.
He didn't come to call righteous, good, pious, religious folks. He came to call sinners. It's
that simple, isn't it, Rick? It's that simple. Yet it's the
hardest thing a man or woman will ever learn. We think we
learned it at first, and we come to Christ in the Spirit. Trust
in Christ as center, like Paul said in the Galatians. Having
begun in the Spirit, the Spirit convicts us, convinces us of
sin, righteousness, and judgment. We can begin in the Spirit, and
then we try to get perfect by the flesh, don't we? We're all gifted. It's the hardest
lesson we'll ever have to learn is just to trust Christ. He said
it. I've come to call center. I came. I'm a Savior. The only Savior,
I came down, are you a sinner?" Now, I'm not going to qualify
that. I'm not going to qualify that and say, are you a this
and that and the other kind of sinner. Are you a sinner? I mean, know it now. You know
what I'm saying. You know it. Well, you need a
Savior, even whether you feel it and know it right now or not. You see what I'm saying? You
don't even bring that feeling you're in need of a Savior. Now
if you think about what I'm saying right here, it makes sense. You
don't even bring that feeling. You're bringing a feeling. One
day you feel like you have a need for a Savior. The fact of the
matter is, you need a Savior. That's the fact of the matter.
You need a Savior. There is a Savior. One Savior. I trust Him right now. I can't.
Yeah, you can. I can't. Yeah, you can. Come
to me. I can't. Yeah, you can. Yeah,
you can. I can do all things through Christ. He said come. Well, I can't.
He said come. Well, I don't know. He said it.
Do it. You trust Christ, and you're
a saved person. You say, well, I don't feel saved.
That comes later. You trust Christ right now, and
He will bear witness with your spirit, and you'll come back
later and tell us about this feeling He gave you. Yes, that's
the way it works. That's the way it works. You
take the medicine to get the results. You see what I'm saying?
I'm not getting Arminian on us here. I'm just telling it like
Christ said it. You take the medicine, you trust
Christ, and then you experience the results. See? You're not going to feel saved
unless you are. You understand? You're not going to be born again
unless you are born again by His Spirit. And how does He do
that? You say, I just don't know how.
Believe me. Do you believe what I said about
you? About him? Hmm? I do. I do. Well, let's see here. Bye.

The Sinner's Savior

What does the Bible say about sinners and salvation?

How do we know that Christ came to save sinners?

Why is it important for Christians to understand their identity as sinners?

How should the understanding of being 'sinners only' affect church culture?

Sermon Transcript

About Paul Mahan

Comments

Joshua

Articles

Featured Authors

Podcast

Sermons

Featured Preachers

Books

Browse by Format

Music

Recent Comments

About

Legal

Subscribe

Account

Articles

Featured Authors

Podcast

Recent Comments

Sermons

Featured Preachers

Books

Browse by Format

Collections

Music

About

Legal

Subscribe

The Sinner's Savior

What does the Bible say about sinners and salvation?

How do we know that Christ came to save sinners?

Why is it important for Christians to understand their identity as sinners?

How should the understanding of being 'sinners only' affect church culture?

Sermon Transcript

About Paul Mahan

Comments

More from Paul Mahan

Related Sermons

Same Scripture

Articles by Paul Mahan

Joshua

Where this book stands in the tradition

Plato

Augustine

The Western Christian Tradition

This Book