If you would, turn with me to
1 Timothy 1. 1 Timothy 1. I'm only going to read one verse.
1 Timothy 1. And verse 15, very familiar to
you. If you remember, Joe did a message
on the three faithful sayings, at least the ones he had selected.
I'm just going to concentrate on this one. 1 Timothy 1 verse
15. 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. Faithful, that is trustworthy
or true. Acceptation, that is praise or
approval. and chief that is the prototype. This is a true statement and
worthy of all approval that Christ Jesus came into the world to
save sinners of whom I am the prototype. We have a gracious gospel statement
here and it is a statement that is true and you can count on
it. It is worthy of us giving our
praise or approval of it. And that praise and approval
goes to God. But this salvation that is done
is not just for anyone. It's not even just for any sinner. And by that I mean those that
you always hear them say, we are all sinners. Because they
are okay if everyone is in the same boat. But to have themselves
to be the prototype of a sinner, no way. And I've just basically given
you my message. That's what I want to talk about
this morning. A faithful saying, who came and sinners. So a faithful saying. As I said,
this saying is trustworthy. You can trust it. You can count
on it. It is the truth. But as we look
at this one statement, we can see that it is full of faith
on all sides, if you will. We can see the faith of Christ
Jesus, and we know these sinners have been given faith to know
what Paul admits. Because of the actual statement,
and that is that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners,
it is worthy of praise or commendation. It is an acceptable saying. Because
knowing who it is that it is mentioned here as doing something,
Christ Jesus. Here it is said Christ Jesus
and not Jesus Christ. And although either way, it's
talking about the same one, but I believe there is a reason it
is said like this. The way this statement is said,
we can also see that this was the whole purpose for Christ
to do this, because it says he came into this world to. So what is said next is what
his intentions were. So whatever is after that to
is what his purpose was for coming into this world. Why is this
saying so worthy? Because of the one who did it
and the ones he'd done it for. Who came? As I said, it says
Christ Jesus, the Messiah, the promised one, his godness, if
you will, and then his manhood. and don't misunderstand me. I
know it could probably be said another way. You cannot separate
the two. He is both God and man at the
same time. But I think it's said this way
to be sure it is known who it is that came into this world.
This one came into the world to save sinners. He did not come
to save good people because there are none, Joe. There were none
and there are none. This one, as we will see in a
moment, came into this world to save sinners. Sinners are
the only ones he came to save. It's the only kind of people
he saves, as Art Nguyen's wonder has said. So who came? Christ is the one who existed
before anything else. Christ is the one who created
all things. Let me add, he also did this
as a man as well, but I'm trying to point out who it is that this
is speaking of as Christ. He was the one where we read
at the very beginning who said, let there be light. And it was
so. Christ is the voice of God. He
is the one who came walking in the cool of the day in the garden
after Adam had failed. But let's look at who God is. If you will, turn to me with,
to Isaiah chapter six, please. And you all were very familiar
with this one as well. I wanted to find a few passages
that talks about the holiness of God, and I think this is a
real good one. Isaiah six and verses one through
five. Isaiah 6-1. In the year that
King Uzziah died, I saw also the Lord sitting upon a throne,
high and lifted up, and his train filled the temple. Above it stood
the seraphims. Each one had six wings. With
twain he covered his face, and with twain he covered his feet.
And with twain he did fly. And one cried unto another, and
said, Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of hosts. The whole earth
is full of his glory. And the post of the door moved
at the voice of him that cried, and the house was filled with
smoke. When you see who God is, then
you will see who you are, Joe. Then said I, Woe is me, for I
am undone, because I am a man of unclean lips, and I dwell
in the midst of a people of unclean lips. For mine eyes have seen
the King, the Lord of hosts. And we'll stop right there. This word holy here is derived
from a word that means to be clean, totally clean. And this
word itself means sacred or a sanctuary or holy one or saint. This God
is one who is clean. His cleanliness is said to be
whiter than snow. But as we read here in Isaiah,
his cleanness is so great, it causes any other who see him
to want to cover their face so that he does not look upon us
and see what we are. Here is what Isaiah said, oh
me, I perish. Sounds like there's a little
fear there of this one who has just seen him. Because he knows
now how clean this one is. I also looked at this word for
unclean where it says I am a man of unclean lips. This word means
foul in a religious sense. Isn't that strange? Not foul
in an immoral sense, but my religion is foul in God's sight. We know that because we're told
in scripture, this one is so clean that even our righteousnesses
are as filthy rags in his sight. Keep in mind here that the ones
who have come into knowing this God are one, angels, those angels
who have not fallen, and then a man, of course, but one who
is one of God's children. This is what they see and know
about God. Does my knowledge match that
knowledge of Him? We also see this in the New Testament,
so turn with me to Revelation chapter one, Revelation chapter
one. Revelation chapter 1 and we'll
read verses 13 through 18. And in the midst of the seven
candlesticks, one likened to the son of man, clothed with
a garment down to the foot, and girt about the paps with a golden
girdle, his head and his hairs were white like wool, as white
as snow, and his eyes were as a flame of fire, and his feet
likened to fine brass, as if they burned in a furnace, and
his voice as the sound of many waters. And he had in his right
hand seven stars, and out of his mouth went a sharp two-edged
sword, and his countenance was as the sun shineth in his strength. And when I saw him, I fell at
his feet as dead. And he laid his right hand upon
me, saying unto me, Fear not. I am the first and the last.
I am he that liveth and was dead. And behold, I am alive forevermore,
amen, and have the keys of hell and death. This Christ that came into the
world to save sinners is one that is so clean, so holy, that
those for whom he saved fall at his feet as one dead. We do
not come to Him chewing and popping our bubble gum. We don't come
up right alongside to Jesus. We are not giving this one our
heart. We are falling at His feet as
one dead. That is the one who in this passage
came into the world. But then we have Jesus, and this
is Christ manifest in the flesh. That is that one who was spoken
of in Isaiah, Isaiah 9, 6. For unto us a child is born,
unto us a son is given. And the government shall be upon
his shoulder and his name shall be called Wonderful, Counselor,
the Mighty God, the Everlasting Father, the Prince of Peace. So here we see that we cannot
separate Christ from Jesus because this one who came down is the
Son of God given to man. To what? Save sinners. So this tells us this is no ordinary
man. The scripture speaks about man
and that he is nothing and yea, less than nothing. But this man
is not nothing, nor is he less than nothing. He is wonderful. The word means a miracle. He
is a counselor. This word means to advise or
to deliberate. He is the advocate for some,
that some being sinners. He is, and see how it says it,
the mighty God. There is only one. He is not
a mighty God, but the mighty God. He has done whatsoever has
pleased him. But the beautiful thing about
it is, what this mighty one was pleased to do is to save sinners. So next we have sinners. We have passages that tell us
what sinners are. Romans has a lot of it, but let's
read just verses 20 and 21, Romans 1, 20 and 21. For the invisible things of him
from the creation of the world are clearly seen being understood
by the things that are made, even his eternal power and Godhead,
so that they are without excuse. Because that when they knew God,
they glorified him not as God, neither were thankful, but became
vain in their imaginations, and their foolish heart was darkened. Sinners are those who do not
give God the glory. They do not believe God. Being
a sinner is as simple as not believing God. That is foul religion. Because of this, it then says
this in verse 24 of Romans 1, Wherefore God also gave them
up to uncleanness through the lust of their own hearts to dishonor
their own bodies between themselves. not believing God, not giving
God the glory to whom it belongs, that is our uncleanness. And
because of that, we then begin to do the immoral things. Romans
1, 29 through 31. being filled with all unrighteousness,
fornication, wickedness, covetousness, maliciousness, full of envy,
murder, debate, deceit, malignity, whisperers, backbiters, haters
of God, despiteful, proud, boasters, inventors of evil things, disobedient
to parents, without understanding, covenant breakers, without natural
affection, implacable, unmerciful. If there is anyone who hears
this message, I just want to say, these are not good things. The way things are going today,
it would seem that some folk thinks these are some good things,
but they are not. Now turn over with me to 1 Corinthians
6. We'll read some more of this,
1 Corinthians 6. 1 Corinthians 6 verses 9 through
11. Know ye not that the unrighteous
shall not inherit the kingdom of God? Be not deceived, neither
fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor effeminate, nor
abusers of themselves with mankind, nor thieves, nor covetous, nor
drunkards, nor revilers, nor extortioners shall inherit the
kingdom of God. and such were some of you. So who is it then that this Christ
and this Jesus came to save? We will know them as this group
of people who it is said that they were these very things. But because this Christ, this
Jesus came into the world to save sinners such as them, because
of this, or because of what he came to do in this world, then
Paul is able to go on to say in verse 11, but ye are washed,
but ye are sanctified, but ye are justified in the name of
the Lord Jesus and by the Spirit of our God. because of what he did when he
came into this world. And he can then come to them
in this world and change them, making them whiter than snow
themselves in him. But our text verse goes on to
say, as I told you, there are a lot of people who will quote
and say, all have sinned and come short of the glory of God.
but they don't think they are really that bad. We at one time
didn't think we were that bad. But the fact is, we are that
bad. Every man born forth from Adam
is that bad. But the facts are that not all
of those who are born of Adam know it. But to those who this
Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners, know this very
truth, of whom I am chief, or I am the prototype. All those
sinners that Christ Jesus came into the world to save will know
themselves to be the very same prototype. Let's just look at
what Paul knew about himself, Philippians 3 verses 4 and 5.
Though I might also have confidence in the flesh, if any other man
thinketh that he hath whereof he might trust in the flesh,
I more circumcise the eighth day of the stock of Israel, of
the tribe of Benjamin, and Hebrew of Hebrews, as touching the law
of Pharisee. This is what your foul religion
is, in verse six, concerning zeal, persecuting the church. touching the righteousness which
is in the law, blameless. His foul religion persecuted
the church and so did ours. Christ told Saul, later Paul,
that he was persecuting Christ Jesus himself. This is what Paul
knows about himself and so does all other believers who God has
done this for. When we do not believe God, And
that means if we do not believe that Christ Jesus came into the
world to save sinners, and we do not know we are a sinner,
then Christ may have not died for you. Paul says to us that
he knows that he is a sinner. All of God's people know they
are a sinner. Whether anyone else is a sinner
or not, they know themselves to be a sinner. but they can
give praise to God because they know that the very purpose that
he came into this world was to save sinners, and he did. We know this is a faithful saying
because we know the one who did this work. This is the God Almighty
manifest in the flesh. Christ Jesus is the one who did
this. It was the very purpose for why
he was given. Galatians 4, verses 4 and 5,
but when the fullness of time was come, God sent forth his
son, made of a woman, made under the law, to redeem them that
were under the law, that we might receive the adoption of sons. The very God of heaven took our
place. He could have done whatever he
wanted. He could have destroyed us all.
But this one who came down, who was given to fallen sinful man
to take the place of the guilty, so that the guilty might go free.
Christ Jesus, as he has said in his word, did not come into
the world to condemn the world, but that the world through him
might be saved. He has saved from every kindred,
tongue, tribe, and nation, so He has saved the whole world.
The whole world is represented right there. But He was compassionate even
to those who would not believe on His name. He helped people. He fed people who were hungry.
He healed some of their diseases, but not all of them followed
Him. Some of those who followed him stopped following him once
he started to speak. Getting their bellies filled
was okay. But for this God, this man to
say he had all the power to save, some did not want it and some
do not want it even today. This is why he gets all the glory,
because he deserves it. It is a faithful saying because
of who he is and what he has done. But it is also faithful
because of who he did this for. He did this for sinners. Those who by nature, as they
are born from their mother's womb, hate the very God who saved
them. These sinners were the enemies
of God, but now because of his work, they are the friends of
God. These are they who are and were
not better than any other. They in fact look no different
than anyone else. But because of him, they know
themselves to be sinners. Those who hated God and persecuted
him because of their unbelief. These lawbreakers are the fountain
from which sin comes forth. There is an abundance of sin
when it comes to these who know they are the prototype. But then
we have Romans 5.20 that says this, moreover, the law entered
that the offense might abound, but, thank God for his but, where
sin abounded, grace did much more abound. Their sin is great,
but his grace is greater. in that they can rejoice. Our
Lord told us, I came not to call the righteous, but sinners to
repentance. Oh my, what a glorious gospel
we have right there. We can see this in this faithful
saying. What graciousness we can see
in this one saying, this is a faithful saying worthy of all praise,
that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners of whom
I am chief. Can you take your place there?
If you can, it is a safe place to be. It is full of salvation
and worthy of praise because of what he has done and that
he has done forever. There is no doubt that he finished
the work that he came to do because he is no longer in this world.
But he is advocating for those whom he is bringing to himself. Praise to his holy name, amen. Thank you, dear Lord God, for
once again allowing us to gather together, dear Lord. It is a
comfort to gather with God's people, dear Lord. When we can't,
dear Lord, we miss it. We miss it, but we thank you
for all your mercy and your grace, dear Lord, which can only come
from you. All these things we ask in Christ's
name, amen.