In my soul, my heart is full
of the love that I once dreamed. My soul, this cornerstone, this
solemn ground, all the wisdom found in school, what lies above,
what lives above. When tears are still, when strivings
cease, I am the door, I am the open door, In Christ I stand. In Christ alone, to confess the
fullness of God and man, His gift of love and righteousness,
So by the ones He came to save. Till all that calls as Jesus
died, The wrath of God was satisfied, For every sin on Him was paid,
I'm sorry. I'm sorry. There in the ground his body
lay, Died on the floor by darkness slain. Then bursting forth in
glorious day, Upon the grave he rose again. And as he stands
in victory, His curse has lost its grip on me. I am His and
He is mine, Lord, with the precious blood of mine. No guilt in life, no fear in
death, this is the power of Christ in me. From life's first cry
to final breath, Jesus commands my destiny. I'll never walk free from his
hand. Till he returns, or else behold,
There in the power of Christ I'll stand. you Turn with me in your Bibles to
First Timothy. First Timothy, chapter 1. I'll read you one verse here
in the beginning. And that is verse 15. Paul 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. I've been thinking about it this
week. You can go to most churches, or you can listen to most preachers, and get addressed and spoken
to as ladies, gentlemen, good people. You can be addressed as people
who just need a little encouragement or a little help. maybe even
a little instruction. You can go places where they
will recognize your positions, where preachers will honor your
titles, where they'll recognize your achievements, all these things. But when you come here, I speak to you as sinners. Sinners. And one reason is that I know
that no matter what our differences are, no matter what distinctions there
are among you. Some male, some female, some
younger, some older, some educated, some less educated. All these different distinctions
that exist and cannot be denied but that you all have one thing
in common, and that is that you're all sinners. I'm sent to preach the gospel
to sinners. The gospel is said to be good
news for some folks And they're all sinners. And knowing that you're all sinners,
eternity-bound sinners, I preach Christ as the only Savior. Now you might ask the question,
I'm sure many ask the question, how do you know I'm a sinner? Or how can you be so sure that
I'm a sinner if you don't even know me? Or if you don't know what I think,
You don't know what I do. You don't know what I feel. You
don't know what I know. And you might even say, I don't feel
like I'm a sinner. I'm not as bad as some people. But the heart is deceitful. The Bible says that it's deceitful. The very thing people say, even
of wicked people, that they have a good heart, but the Bible says
it's desperately wicked. Deceitful above all things, and
who can know it? And we're likely to make a bad
comparison, comparing ourselves with ourselves, which is just
comparing one sinner to another sinner. But the truth is, we're sinners
because God says that we are. Doesn't matter what you feel,
or what I think, or what someone else thinks, God says that we're
sinners. And he cannot lie. He's a God
of truth. He knows our heart. The Bible says that Christ did
not need for anyone to tell him anything about themselves. He knew what was in the heart. As a matter of fact, he knows
us better than we know ourselves. You remember Peter? Peter said,
Lord, though everybody else denies you, leaves you, I'm ready to
die with you. And Christ said, Peter, before the
cock crows three times, you'll deny me three times. And he did. And God, who says that we are
sinners, makes it very plain. Turn in your Bibles to Romans
3. This isn't what mom or your husband
or your wife or your best friend or The preacher or anybody else
says about you, this is what God says. In Romans 3 and verse 9, he says,
what then are we better than they? No, in no wise, for we
have proved, both Jews and Gentiles, that they are all under sin."
Doesn't matter if you're a Jew. Doesn't matter if you're a Gentile. All of the whole human race,
God divided at one time into those two groups. And he says,
irregardless Jew or Gentile, they are all under sin as it
is written. Paul quoting the Psalm here.
This is the way it's always been as far as time is concerned. That's the way it is right now.
And as it is written, there is none righteous. No, not one. There is none that understandeth,
there is none that seeketh after God." No matter what you say,
no matter if we take a vote and say that it's otherwise, this
is the truth because God says it. He says, they are all gone
out of the way, they are together become unprofitable, There is
none that doeth good, no, not one. Their throat is an open sepulchre. With their tongues they have
used deceit. The poison of asp is under their
lips, whose mouth is full of cursing and bitterness. That's because they're sinners. And as I've often said, what's
in the well is what comes up in the bucket. We speak what
we are. Our speech betrays us. And as we speak, so are we before
God. Their feet are swift to shed
blood. Destruction and misery are in
their ways, and the way of peace have they not known. They've not only not known it
among themselves, they've not known it between God and man. There is no fear of God before
their eyes. That fear of God that he says
is the beginning of wisdom. There's no fear of God before
their eyes. Now we know that what things
soever the law saith, it saith to them who are under the law,
that every mouth may be stopped, and all the world may become
guilty before God." In other words, Israel, to whom the law
was given, and so much privilege and so much opportunity, they've
proved to us and we've proved to ourselves that no person,
based on a principle of doing and obedience in themselves,
ever pleases God. Therefore by the deeds of the
law there shall no flesh be justified in his sight, for by the law
is the knowledge of sin. But now the righteousness of
God without the law is manifested, being witnessed by the law and
the prophets, even the righteousness of God which is by faith of Jesus
Christ unto all and upon all that believe, for there is no
difference. And look at that 23rd verse.
For all have sinned and come short of the glory of God. All have sin because all are
sinners. And the apostle John writes in
1 John 1, and he says, if we say that we have no sin, we deceive
ourselves and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins,
He is faithful and just to forgive our sins and to cleanse us from
all unrighteousness. If we say that we have not sinned,
we make Him a liar and His Word is not in us. If we say that we are not sinners. If we say that we have not sinned,
then we make God a liar and his word, his truth is not in us. And he says that all are sinners
because we descended from the first sinner, Adam. Look over in Romans chapter 5,
Romans 5 and verse 12. Wherefore, as by one man sin
entered into the world, and death by sin, and so death passed upon
all men, for that all have sinned." We're sinners. because of what
some have called original sin. That is, we became sinners and
we actually sinned as we stood in Adam, the first man, and as
we disobeyed God in him who was a representative of our race
when we fell in him and sinned in him. Look at verse 19. For as by one man's disobedience
many were made sinners, so by the obedience of one shall many
be made righteous. He's speaking here of the first
Adam and the last Adam. But in the first Adam, As we
find in another place where it says, in Adam all die, in Adam
all sinned. By one man's disobedience, the
many were made or constituted and viewed by God as sinners. We've been sinners a long, long
time. And that also, because of our
connection with him by nature, that makes us also sinners by
birth. Like begets like. Sheep don't give birth to goats. Cattle don't give birth to horses,
they give birth to cattle. Life begets life. And so we read
in Genesis 5, and Adam lived 130 years and begat a son in
his own likeness after his own image. whatever Adam was as our father. We became in him, and naturally,
as descendants from him, like begat like, because Job says,
who can bring a clean thing out of an unclean? Not one. And then Jeremiah asked the question
that is similar. He said that we not only are
born this way, but we cannot of ourselves change ourselves. We can't stop being sinners. He said, can the Ethiopian change
his skin? Or can the leper change his spots? In other words, what's natural
to us is impossible for us to change. He said, how much more
can man, who has done nothing but wrong and can do nothing
but wrong, how can he do that? change and make a clean thing
of an unclean thing. And not only are we born that
way, we show ourselves sinners by nature from that natural birth. David knew that was the case. He said, the wicked are estranged
from the womb They go astray as soon as they be born, speaking
lies. You see, we do. I don't know
when we'll ever learn this. We do. Men do. Women do what
they do because of what they are. Sinners. Paul says in Romans 8, he says,
but the carnal mind, that is the natural mind that we're born
with, what we call the natural way of thinking, he says, the
carnal mind is enmity against God. It is not subject to the
law of God, neither indeed can be. You don't have to teach even
the youngest child to lie. You don't have to teach them
to be jealous of their playmates. You don't have to teach them
to be cruel or mean or covetous. Nobody had to teach you to get
angry or mad with somebody or be bitter. David said, Behold, I was shapen
in iniquity, and in sin did my mother conceive me. Now he wasn't
talking there about that relationship by which he came to be born.
He was talking about the fact that one sinner is part of the
relationship, and another sinner is the other part of the relationship,
and so that gives forth to a sinner. And the Bible says foolishness
is bound in the heart of a child. Just don't have to teach them. Don't have to teach him to be
mean. Don't have to teach him to do things that you have to
whip him for. He says, foolishness is bound
in the heart of a child, but the rod of correction shall drive
it far from him. Why the rod of correction? Because
he's a sinner. He's a sinner because you're
a sinner. And when Paul writes to the believers
at Ephesus, he reminds them, he said, among whom also we had
our conversation in times past in the lust of our flesh, fulfilling
the desires of the flesh and of the mind, and were by nature
the children of wrath, even as others. He reminds them that that grace,
that they had so enjoyed in Jesus Christ. He was reminding them
from the state from which they were brought and saved, and it
was that they were even then by nature the children of wrath,
deserving of God's wrath. But not only this, but you bear
all the marks of sin in your body. Some of you I've known
for a long time. And there's not one of you that
has been without disease or sickness or pain and suffering. And as you age, hardly a day
goes by that you do not feel the consequences of sin. All you have to do is look in
the mirror. Every day we're dying. We're
just dying. You feel more aches, you feel
more pain, you feel more weakness, you feel more fear, you feel
more everything because the marks of sin in this body, they continue. And if you never, ever, if you
never confess yourself a sinner, when you draw your last breath
in death, you will confess it then by your death. Because the wages of sin is death. Men die because of sin. The soul that sinneth shall surely
die. We have prayer for people who
are dying all the time. They die around us. They die
among us. It's all because of sin. And you see sin all around you
in the world. It's obvious. You see all the
wars, you see all the conflict, you see all the wickedness, you
see all the vileness, and all these things, and all the evil
that is the result of sin, and how do you respond to it? Sinfully. Yeah. You respond to it sinfully. Because if but for a minute, you're glad you didn't do that
thing. You're glad you're not that way. And self-righteousness, which
is the very worst of sins, is manifested in your mind and your
heart before you know it. Like that Pharisee. Oh, I thank
you, Lord, I'm not like that man. I do this. I don't do that. I'm glad that it's not like that
with me. In me, we naturally think, as
a sinner, that we can do something to merit the favor of God, something
to please God, and do something to make atonement for our sins. That's what religion, false religion,
thrives on. That's what the false preacher
knows that is our desire. And that is for us to do something
to make up for our sins. To do something whereby we can
please God. To do something whereby we can
gain the favor of God. And that's the worst sin of all. Like Paul said of his own people,
They have a zeal for God, but they're blinded. They don't know
the truth. They don't know the truth about
who they are because they don't know the truth about who God
is, and so they're going about. They're busy. They're working
hard, sacrificing, giving, doing. They're going about to establish
their own righteousness. Just going about. And that was
what Paul was doing. If you look over in Philippians
chapter 3, here is Paul confessing his sin, but it isn't what you
think. He's not confessing his sin or
saying, I was once a hell's angel, or I was once a drunkard, I was
once a whoremonger, or something like that. He's confessing his
sin that he was as a self-righteous religionist. Philippians chapter
three. He says, though I might also
have competence in the flesh, if any other man thinketh that
he hath wherewith he might trust in the flesh, I more. He said, if you think that you
have a reason to trust in yourself, in your flesh, in something you
are or have done or are doing, he said, you can't even hold
a candle to me. He said, I will circumcise the
eighth day of the stock of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, and
Hebrew of the Hebrews, as touching the law of Pharisee. Man, he's got a pedigree. Concerning zeal, persecuting
the church, touching the righteousness which is in the law blameless. But what things were gained to
me, those I counted lost for Christ. Yea, doubtless, and I
count all things but loss for the excellency of the knowledge
of Christ Jesus my Lord, for whom I suffered the loss of all
things, and do count them but dung that I might win Christ, and be found in him. not having
mine own righteousness. What he's saying is there, what
I thought was righteousness was really nothing but sin. And it
was sin because it was me. It was sin because I did it.
And a sinner cannot perform righteousness. not having mine own righteousness,
which is of the law, but that which is through the faith of
Christ, the righteousness of God, which is by faith, that
I may know him, and the power of his resurrection, and the
fellowship of his sufferings, and being made conformable unto
his death." Why do you want to identify with the death of Christ
rather than the life of Saul of Tarshish. Because one is sin and one is
righteousness. You see, I know these things
not only because God says so and because it's written in the
Bible, but I know these things because I'm just like you. I'm not saying I'm better than
you. I'm saying I'm just like you.
I have the same weaknesses, the same frailties, the same unbelief,
the same sins, because I, like you, are a sinner. But only God the Holy Spirit
can convince us of it. That's right. Why is this place
not packed this morning? Why is it that you invite people
and they are not interested whatsoever? Why is it when you tell people
who are in religion that you'd like for them to come to hear
the gospel, they don't come? It's because that they're trusting
in something that they already have or are. But it's just sin. You see, this makes us to know
that sin is not just a few wrong things that we do. Sin is really
anything short of absolute perfection. People say, well, I know I'm
not perfect. Then you're a sinner. That's right. Anything short
of absolute sinless perfection is sin. That which we know to do and
do not, it's sin. If we've not kept the law in
every part, just been negligent in one part, we're guilty of
it all. We're sinners. Absolute sinners. And the reason that we are sinners
and don't know it and don't confess it is because we don't know who
God is. You see, people think that they
can commit little sins and get by with it because they got a
little God. We only have light. I was just reading it. I just
came across it reading the Psalms before service this morning.
We only have light in His light. You remember the movie. Some
of you might have seen Crocodile Dundee. When the guy pulls a
knife on the Australian. And he reaches in his jacket
and pulls out a big, long, buoyed knife. He said, now this is a
knife. We have light. We have holiness. We have righteousness. Until
God shines the light of His perfection and holiness and righteousness
on us. until the Spirit of God does
like He did Isaiah. He said, in the year that King
Uzziah died, He said, I was a man who was writing down everything
that the king did, and I was busy, and I was important, and
I had a position. But He said, in the year that
King Uzziah died, I saw the Lord. And He was high and lifted up. That's why it struck my heart
this morning when he said, when we sang, a mighty fortress is
our God. Oh. Bulwark never failing. He's over everything. He's almighty. He's all powerful. He's all gracious
and everything. But he is infinitely holy. And Isaiah said, I saw the Lord
high and lifted up, and His train, His glory, it filled the temple. And all the living creatures,
they were crying one thing about Him. Holy, holy, holy Lord God
Almighty. There ain't many preachers crying
that today. People don't see anything with
God to need a Savior, but He's still unchanging. He's the same
yesterday and today. He's the Lord that changes not,
and He is still holy, holy, holy. And Isaiah said, when I saw Him,
I said, woe is me. I'm a man of unclean lips. You say, why did he say unclean
lips? Because out of the abundance of the heart, the mouth speaketh. If you've got unclean lips, you've
got an unclean heart. And that's what our heart is,
a cesspool. Holy, holy, holy. Dare to go before God as a sinner,
clothed in your own leaves of self-righteousness like Adam
did? Care to go and stand on the basis
of your profession or your morality? Oh, don't even think about it. He said, woe is me, for I'm a
man of unclean lips, and I dwell amongst a people who are just
like Just like me. You see, I've heard a lot of
definitions for sin in my days. Missing the mark, falling short. But sin, in short, is everything
and everyone except the Lord Jesus Christ." We don't need
to have big fancy definitions. Because sin is everything but
Christ. He said, If we didn't receive it by faith,
it's sin. It is. Because God-given faith
always brings to us and us to Christ. Only Christ. Because He is perfection, and
He is righteousness, and He is the Savior of sinners. When John announced Him at His
coming, first time he laid eyes on Him, he said, Behold, the
Lamb of God taketh away the sin of the world. How is He going to take away
sin? in that sacrificial character as God's Lamb slain for sin. Taketh away sin. And that's the good news of this
text. This is a faithful saying. That's
the gospel. Worthy of all acceptation, that
Christ Jesus came into the world. If He came into the world, He
must have existed before the world. Came into the world because
in order to accomplish the salvation of His people who were sinners,
He had to have a body. He had to die for them. Couldn't
die for them as He was. And how could we ever talk about
God loving somebody without talking about the death of Christ? Paul says in Romans 8, but God
commendeth his love toward us He demonstrated His love. If we know anything about the
love of God, it's going to be associated with Christ and something
He did. But God commended His love for
us in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. He died for us. Because that's
the only way you can save a sinner. There has to be a sinless sacrifice. that's offered to God on the
behalf of these sinners. Sinless sacrifice. I heard somebody preaching this
week. They said, in order to save me,
Christ had to be what I am. Oh my, what blasphemy. If He could be just what I am
to save me, then He didn't have to come. He didn't have to take
on a body. You see, what it took to save
me was not present. He came. He came. Sinless, holy,
acceptable to God. And the only way we can see sin
or right The only way that any sinner will ever be shown what
sin is by the Spirit of God is through the preaching of Christ
crucified. We'll find out what sin is in
the cross. You'll find out what God thinks
about sin when it is charged to his son and he pays the debt
of sin. You'll find out what sin is to
God when you hear out, hear Christ say, my God, my God, why hast
thou forsaken me? Paul said, I delivered unto you,
first of all, that which I also received, how that Christ died
for our sins according to the Scriptures." Those were the Old
Testament Scriptures, and all the pictures and type of the
Old Testament show plainly that Christ died as a sacrifice for
sin, as a substitute for sinners, as a God-appointed, God-accepted,
God-approved sacrifice. Peter said in Acts, Him hath
God exalted with his right hand to be a prince and a savior for
to give repentance to Israel and forgiveness of sins. Acts 13. Be it known unto you,
therefore, men and brethren, that through this man is preached
unto you the forgiveness of sins." No other way. You see, the only way, the reason
I know you're a sinner is the same reason that I know Christ
is the only Savior of sinners. God says it. God says it. And these things, they don't
become good news to you until the Spirit of God convinces you
in your heart of hearts that you are a sinner, hell-deserving
sinner in the sight of God, and that Christ is the only Savior. You read things like this in
Romans 3, whom God hath set forth, that is Christ, to be a propitiation
through faith in his blood, to declare his righteousness for
the remission of sins that are passed through the forbearance
of God. How did God forgive Abraham?
Had he forgiven Isaac? They were all sinners. Noah,
Isaiah, you name them. Those sins that were passed through Christ, through the sacrifice
of Christ. That's the end of the way. Galatians,
Paul says, who gave himself for our sins that he might deliver
us from this present evil world according to the will of God,
our Father. He did something to accomplish
something. In whom, Ephesians 1, 7, in whom
we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins
according to the riches of his grace. How do we have it? In him, through
his death, through his sacrifice, through his payment for sin. Hebrews 1, who being the brightness
of His glory, that is the brightness of the Father's glory, and the
express image of His person, and upholding all things by the
word of His power, when He had by Himself purged our sins, that
means cleansed our sins, sat down on the right hand of the
Majesty on high. God seeded him because he successfully
did something. What was that? Put away the sins
of his people. God never makes it like his people
will not be sinners. He says that they are. He shall
save his people from their sins. Hebrews 9, so Christ was once
offered to bear the sins of many and unto them that look unto
him shall he appear the second time without sin unto salvation. So many. Hebrews 10, but this
man After he had offered one sacrifice for sins forever, sat
down on the right hand of God, put away sin by the sacrifice
of himself. He came into the world to save
sinners. And only Christ, only by His
death for sins on the cross, has ever anybody, or will ever
anybody, any sinner, be saved from their sins. And it's not Christ plus. Now, He's paid the price, but
you've got to do this or that or the other. It's in Christ
alone, as was sung. Now, if you're not a sinner, I just don't have any good news
for you. As a matter of fact, there is
no good news for you. Old Luther, whose song we sung right
in the beginning of this service, he said something like, the gospel
is good news. But there isn't any other good
news in the world. But if you're like Paul, who
says here, I'm the chief, I'm convinced that everyone born
of the Spirit of God, everyone convinced by the Holy Spirit
that they are sinners, they truly believe themselves to be the
worst sinners in the world. Because now, our sins are against
light, against grace, but they're still sin. That's my case. I can only look to Christ. I can only plead His sacrifice
of blood. I can only plead his righteousness,
believe on him. But all who trust in Christ shall
be saved because they have been saved. Because he came into the world
to save sinners. He came into the world and he
said, I lay down my life for the sheep. And what about these sheep? Isaiah
had recorded him long before, all we like sheep have gone astray. But he said, my sheep will hear
my voice. What's he saying? He came into
the world to save sinners. There was an old song. I believe
that Brother Barnard used to sing this song occasionally. He was not a real great vocalist. I don't believe, but this was
a real great song. It's called, A Sinner Like Me.
It says, I was once far away from
the Savior, as vile as a sinner could be, and I wondered if Christ
the Redeemer could save a poor sinner like me. I wandered on in the darkness,
Not a ray of light could I see. And the thought filled my heart
with sadness. There's no hope for a sinner
like me. And then in that dark, lonely
hour, a voice sweetly whispered to me that Christ the Redeemer
has power to save a poor sinner like me. I listened, and lo,
t'was a Savior that was speaking so kindly to me. I cried, I'm
the chief of sinners. Thou can't save a poor sinner
like me. I then fully trusted in Jesus,
and oh, what a joy came to me. My heart was filled with His
praises. for saving a sinner like me. No longer in darkness I'm walking,
for the light is now shining on me, and now to others I'm
telling how He saved a poor sinner like me. And when this life's journey
is over, and I, my dear Savior, shall see. I'll praise him forever
and ever for saving a center like me. Center like me. Our father, we thank you for
your mercy and grace to us. We say with David of old, that although it be not so with
our house, you made with us an everlasting
covenant, ordered in all things, ensure. Sure in Christ, and that's all
our salvation, we pray that you might cause others to see themselves
as they are. Send your spirit to open their eyes to the truth. We bear before you our children
and our loved ones, our friends, these all around us, those who listen on the internet,
wherever they be. Show themselves. their sins and this wonderful Savior. We ask it according to your will. We bow our hearts this morning
before you and can only give you thanks
for doing what you've done for us. If in your sovereign pleasure You have not willed it for any
of these. We thank you. And we praise you. Amen.