Good morning. Let's open our
Bibles to Jonah chapter 2. Jonah chapter 2. While you're
turning, our midweek service this week will be on Thursday
night. Not Wednesday night, but Thursday
night. And Todd Nyberg will be here to preach for us. So we're
looking forward to having him. And then hopeful, I know our
pastor's hopeful that he may be able to be back with us Thursday
night. And if you notice Aaron and Michelle
smiling bigger than usual, even behind those masks, it's because
they drove out and got to look through the window and see their
grandbaby last night. So Alec and Lindy and Lynn are
home. All right, Jonah chapter 2. Then
Jonah prayed unto the Lord, his God, out of the fish's belly
and said, I cried by reason of mine affliction unto the Lord,
and he heard me. Out of the belly of hell, cried
I, and thou heardest my voice. For thou hast cast me into the
deep, in the midst of the seas, and the floods compassed me about.
All thy billows and thy waves passed over me. Then I said,
I am cast out of thy sight, yet I will look again toward thy
holy temple. The waters compassed me about
even to the soul, and the depth closed me round about. The weeds
were wrapped about my head. I went down to the bottoms of
the mountains, and the earth with her bars was about me forever.
Yet hast thou brought up my life from corruption, O Lord my God. When my soul fainted within me,
I remember the Lord, and my prayer came in unto thee, into thine
holy temple. They that observe lying vanities
forsake their own mercy, but I will sacrifice unto thee with
the voice of thanksgiving. I will pay that that I have vowed. Salvation is of the Lord, and
the Lord spake unto the fish, and it vomited out Jonah upon
the dry land." Let's go to our Lord in prayer. Our God and Father in heaven,
Lord, we thank you for this day. Thank you for this opportunity
to gather together as a people. Lord, thankful that you have
brought us here this morning. And Lord, we pray You'd bless
us with Your presence. Lord, that You'd bless us with
the sound of Your Gospel. Lord, a Gospel that saves. A
Gospel that's not dependent upon man. A Gospel that is completely of
Thee. Lord, as Jonah said, salvation,
how we thank Thee that salvation is of the Lord. Lord, for those
of our number who are in a time of difficulty, in a time of trouble, Lord, comfort your people, strengthen
your people, encourage your people, and Lord, bless us in all things. Cause us to look to Thee and
rest in Thee in all things. Lord, we pray You'd continue
to be with our pastor, that You would strengthen him, and Lord,
return him to us. Pray for he and Janet. Lord,
we pray for Alec and Lindy and Lynn. Lord, as they come home,
Lord, that you would be with them in these times. Lord, bless
us. Again, be with us this morning.
Bless us with your presence. Lord, help us to, Lord, hear
thy word. Lord, be pleased to speak thy
gospel to us here this morning. Again, bless us in days to come.
Continue with us. Lord, strengthen us and be with
us in all things. Forgive us our sins, we pray
Thee for Christ's sake. Amen. Wonderful, merciful Savior Precious
Redeemer and friend Who would have thought that a lamb would
Rescue the souls of men Oh, you rescue the souls of men Counselor,
Comforter, Keeper, Spirit we long to embrace. You gave us hope when our hearts
had hopelessly lost our way. Oh, we hopelessly lost our way. You are the one that we praise
You are the one we adore You gave us healing and grace Our
hearts always hunger for Oh, our hearts always hunger for
Almighty Infinite Father Faithfully loving the lost Here in our weakness
you find us Falling before your throne Oh, we're falling before
your throne You are the one that we praise You are the one we
adore You gave us healing and grace Our hearts always hunger
for Oh, our hearts always hunger for You are the one that we praise
You are the one we adore You gave us healing and grace Our
hearts always hunger for Oh, our hearts always hunger for Thank you, boys. We're also thankful
to have Jimmy and Sarah and Amber with us this morning. So you
might notice Claire is smiling a little bigger as well. Let's
open our Bibles together to 1 Timothy chapter 1. 1 Timothy chapter 1. We're going to look at verse 15. This is a passage that really
doesn't need much explanation. It just needs to be proclaimed. Paul writing to Timothy, he said,
this is a faithful say and worthy of all acceptation that Christ
Jesus came into the world to save sinners. Paul says, of whom
I am the chief. Faithful saying. It's a sure saying. It's a true
saying. You know, much of what men say
in our time, it's difficult to know if what's being said is
true. I often think of that, whether
it's on TV or wherever it is. What they're saying, is that
true? Is that true? Because there's
always something to contradict it. But what Paul's writing here,
This is true. This is a true saying. This is
a faithful saying. Paul, writing to the Galatians,
he said, this comes from the word of God. He said that, he
said, if any man preach any other gospel unto you than that which
you've received, let him be accursed. Isaiah said to the law and to
the testimony, if they speak not according to this word, what's
written in God's word, It's because there's no light in them. To
Timothy, Paul said, I speak the truth in Christ. I lie, I lie
not. What I'm telling you, what God's
Word reveals to us is the truth, not to be questioned. And listen,
what we declare is not for personal gain. It's not for the praise
of men. We preach this gospel for the
salvation of those whom the Lord will be pleased to reveal it
to." The gospel is the truth. It's the power of God unto salvation. Paul said, my heart's desire
and prayer to Israel is that they might be saved. We declare the truth. We preach
this gospel. that men might hear it, that
men might be saved by the preaching of the gospel. And we declare
this gospel for the glory of God, to glorify Him, that God
would be glorified, not man, not this flesh, but that God
would be glorified. Over in 1 Peter 4 verse 11, turn
there with me, 1 Peter 4, Here we read 1 Peter 4.11. If any man speak, let him speak
as the oracles of God. If any man minister, let him
do it as of the ability which God hath given him, that God
in all things might be glorified through Jesus Christ. to whom
be praise and dominion forever and ever. We read this, if any
man glory, let him glory in the Lord. Let him glory in the Lord. David said, not unto us, O Lord,
not unto us, but unto thy name give glory for thy mercy and
for thy truth's sake. So when we preach the gospel,
when we declare the truth of His Word, this truth, it's for
the salvation of those to whom God would be pleased to reveal
it to. It's for the glory of God. It's
that God might be glorified in all things. And listen, it's
that we would be true to His Word. Anytime we stand in this
place, we desire to be true to God's Word, to what His Word
says. We preach the Word, the truth.
It's God's Word. It's not man's Word. Let God
be true, and every man a liar. Faith cometh by hearing, and
hearing by what man has to say, but by the Word of Almighty God. This is a Also, this is a faithful
saying. This is a sure saying. This is a true saying. It's a
statement to be believed, not to be debated. A lot of debate
going on. This word is not to be debated.
God's word is to be heard. It's not to be doubted or to
rest in what God's word said. It's not to be argued against.
It is to be believed. This is a faithful saying worthy
of all acceptation. It's to be, it's to be received. It's to be accepted as, as proof. What's here is proof of what
God has said, of what he's declared. And this saying, these sayings
concern the Lord Jesus Christ. Almighty God said, this is this
is what he said of his son. He said, this is my beloved son. He's the son of God declared
in the scriptures. God spake in Hebrews. He said,
he said that he said, Thy throne, O God, God, the father said this
to the son, Thy throne, O God, is forever and ever. John the
Baptist said this of him, he said, Behold, the Lamb of God,
which taketh away the sin of the world. Simeon, you talked about, remember
when Simeon, Simeon took him up in his arms and he said, he
said, let thy servant depart in peace. This is what he said,
Lord Jesus Christ. He said, for mine eyes have held
thy salvation. Mine eyes have seen thy salvation. Jesus Christ, he's the son of
man. He's the, he's the son of God. He is the Savior. There's no other Savior. He is
the Savior. This is a faithful saying and
worthy of all acceptation. Jesus Christ came into the world
to save sinners. Now, three things I'd like for
us to consider this morning concerning this statement. Jesus Christ
came into the world to save sinners. The first is this. What is a
sinner? What is a sinner? That's what's
mentioned here. I'm kind of interested in that.
If Jesus Christ came into this world to save sinners, what is
a sinner? Now, in God's Word, we read of
those who were known as sinners. People knew them as sinful human
beings. Turn with me to the book of Luke,
chapter 7. Beginning with verse 36. Luke 7, verse 36. And one of
the Pharisees desired him that he would eat with him. And he
went unto the Pharisee's house, and he sat down at meat. And
behold, a woman in the city, which was a sinner. When she knew that Jesus set
at meat in the Pharisees' house, brought an alabaster box of ointment,
stood at his feet behind him weeping, and began to wash his
feet with the tears, and then wiped them with the hairs of
her head, and kissed his feet, and anointed them with ointment.
And when the Pharisees, which had bitten him, saw it, then
spake they within himself, saying, This man, he were a prophet,
He would have known who and what manner of woman this is that
toucheth Him. She is a sinner. Others knew her. Everybody in
that town knew this woman was a sinner. Any doubt that Lord
Jesus Christ knew she was a sinner? We read in God's Word of those
who knew themselves as sinners. Paul in our text here this morning,
he didn't refer to himself just as a sinner, he referred to himself
as the chief of sinners. It had been revealed to him that
he was a sinner. Paul had grown up in false religion. He would no doubt have been seen
by others as a religious man, as a Pharisee. Turn with me to
Philippians chapter 3. Look, beginning with verse 4
of Philippians 3. Paul says, though I also might
have confidence in the flesh, any other man thinketh that he
hath whereof to glory, whereof that he might trust in the flesh. Paul said, I more. Circumcised
the eighth day of the stock of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin,
And Hebrew of the Hebrews that's touching the law, Pharisee. Concerning zeal, persecuting
the church, touching the righteousness which is in the law, blameless. But the things that were gained
to me, those I counted loss for Christ. Yea, doubtless, I count
all things but loss for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus
my Lord, whom I've suffered the loss of all things, and do count
them but done, that I may win Christ." Paul says, this man
Paul, he said, I am the chief of sinners. And in Luke chapter
8, I won't have you turn there, but that publican, remember that
publican praying? He wouldn't even lift up his
eyes to heaven. He smote upon his breast and
he said this, God be merciful to me, a sinner. So what is a sinner?
Listen, it's one who has broken God's law. We have broken God's
law. That transgression, the transgression
of God's law started all the way back there in the garden
when Adam broke God's law. Adam disobeyed. God. One law, just one law of every
tree in the garden. He said, you may freely eat,
but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, don't eat of
it. Don't eat of it. In the day that
you eat thereof, thou shalt surely die. And we know what Adam did,
don't we? Adam ate that fruit. Adam broke
God's law. He disobeyed God. He said what
we all say by nature. We'll not have this man to reign
over us. He disobeyed God's law. He sinned
against God. In Romans 5.19, as by one man,
sin entered into the world. Here's the second question. What
is a sinner? It's one who's broken God's law. It's transgressed
God's law. My second question is this. Am
I a sinner? Have I done that? Have I broken
God's law? Now, it would be easy for us
to sit here and say, well, I know the person sitting beside of
me has broke God's law. And I can give you a list of
people I know that are sinners. But that's not the question.
The question is this, am I? Am I a sinner? Have I broken
God's holy law? Just in one part, just in one
part. God's law requires perfect obedience. It requires something that none
of us are capable of. We may have thought that at one
time, but we're not able to obey God's law perfectly. James 2,
chapter 10, turn over there to the book of James. James chapter 2 verse 10, for
whosoever shall keep the whole law and yet offend in one point,
one point is guilty of all. We're not at liberty. We don't
have the freedom to pick and choose what laws we would like
to obey, like the Pharisees did. Isn't that what they did? Those
things that people seen, those were the ones that they kept
a pretty good handle on. But we're not at liberty to do
that, to obey one law and neglect another. The Pharisees tried this. That's
what they tried. They were outwardly moral. Our
Lord said, Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites. where
you may clean the outside of the cup and of the platter, but
within, full of extortion and excess, you're like whited sepulchers. You're like a grave. You're like
a casket. On the outside, it's pretty and
shiny, but on the inside, it's dead man's bones and all uncleanness. Turn with me just a couple of
scriptures. Turn to Matthew chapter 19. Matthew 19, look beginning with
verse 16. And behold, one came and said
unto him, good master, what good thing shall I do that I may have
eternal life? And he said unto them, why callest
thou me good? There's none good, but one, and
that's God. But if thou wilt enter into life,
keep the commandments." And he said unto him, he said, which? Which one? And Jesus said, thou
shalt do no murder, thou shalt not commit adultery, thou shalt
not steal, thou shalt not bear false witness, honor thy father
and mother, and thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself. And
the young man said unto him, boy, he was full of himself,
he said, all of these. All of these have I kept from
my youth up." Is that possible? The Lord Jesus Christ in his
Sermon on the Mount, he said, whosoever is angry with his brother
without a cause is in danger of judgment. He said, whosoever
looketh on a woman with lust after her hath committed adultery
in his heart already. And this young man says, he said,
all of these, all of these I've kept from my youth up. Now, I would say this outwardly,
not a question in my mind, outwardly, he kept them. He kept those. When people were watching, in
front of his parents, he kept them. In front of his neighbors
that mattered, he kept them. In front of the religious crowd,
he kept them. on his guard. Remember what the
Lord said to Samuel when he went to anoint David as king. He said,
look not on his countenance. Don't look on that outward appearance,
on his stature. He says, for I have refused him.
For the Lord seeth not as man seeth. That's how we see. We
see the outward appearance. God looks on the heart. He knows
the heart and thoughts of Paul writing to the Hebrews said this,
neither is there any creature that is not manifest in his sight,
but all things are naked and open unto the eyes of him with
whom we have to do. God sees all things. He knows
all things. Back to this man who said that
all these things I've kept from my youth If you're still in Matthew
19, look at verse 21, the Lord Jesus Christ, he met him where
he was. He said this, he said, if you'll be perfect. You'll
be perfect, he said, you go and sell all that you have. Give
it to the poor. Then then you'll have treasure
in heaven. Then come and follow me. When the young man heard that.
He went away sorrowful because he had great possessions and
he wasn't willing to turn loose of those things, was he? The rich young ruler, he wasn't
a sinner, was he? In his eyes, he wasn't a sinner.
He kept all those things from his youth. He didn't need Christ. His interest was in the things
of this world. Paul in Philippians, he said,
Yea, doubtless, I count all things but loss for the excellency of
the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord, for whom I have suffered
the loss of all things. He said, I count them but done,
that I may win Christ and be found in him, not having mine
own righteousness, which is of the law, but that which is through
the faith of Christ, the righteousness which is of God, by faith to
rest in Him, that I may know Him and the power of His resurrection
and the fellowship of His sufferings being made conformable unto His
death, if by any means I might attain unto the resurrection
of the dead. Am I a sinner? Have I broken
God's law? Remember to offend Him in one
point. However small we might see it
to be, to offend in one point is to be guilty of the whole
law. It's to be treated by the law
as a transgressor. We violate, we've broken God's
holy law. And listen, a sinner that's broken
God's law and helpless to do anything about it, in and of
ourselves, I can do nothing about my sinful condition. The scriptures
use leprosy and blindness and death as a picture of man's sinfulness
and our inability to do anything about it. That leper, he went
to Christ, he said, if you will, not this is what I can do, if
you will, you can make me whole. That blind man, remember blind
Bartimaeus? He said this, he cried out and
he said, Jesus, thou son of David, have mercy on me." Lazarus laid
there in the grave. What could he do? He could do
nothing. A dead man can do nothing. He
laid there in the grave, and the Lord Jesus Christ spoke in
power, and He said, Lazarus, come forth. And he that was dead
came forth. Oh, am I a sinner. Have I disobeyed
God's law? Have I broken His law? The scriptures declare this.
All, not some, not most, all have sinned and come short of
the glory of God. Daniel told King Belshazzar,
he said, and this is true of every one of us, he said, you've
been weighed in the balance. You've come up short. You've
been found wanting. Well, my third question. Who
did the Lord Jesus Christ come to save? That's what this scripture
declares. Who did Christ come to save?
He didn't come to call the righteous, did he? Look at, I won't have
you turn, but over in Mark chapter two, the scribes and Pharisees,
they saw our Lord eating with publicans and sinners. And they
said to his disciples, they said this, how is it, how is it that
this man eateth and drinketh with publicans and sinners. And
when the Lord Jesus Christ, he heard him talking, and he said
unto them, the whole, they don't need a physician. That's what
the natural man is. He does not need a physician. The whole don't need a physician,
but they that are sick. I came not to call the righteous,
but sinners to repentance. This is repeated in Matthew and
Luke. I came not to call the righteous, but sinners. Over
and over again, calling sinners to repentance. Now that doesn't
mean most, that doesn't mean a whole lot to a lot of people
in this world, does it? But I tell you who it does mean
something to. It means everything to a sinner. It means everything
to those to whom he's pleased to reveal I'm a sinner. The scriptures declare this,
that Christ is all. That's who we rest in, the Lord
Jesus Christ. He is all. And that's, listen,
that's good news. That's good news for a sinner,
isn't it? That's something we can rest in. I've told this story before,
told it to my Sunday school class, but 40 years ago, We were on
vacation. My grandparents had a little
summer home up in Athens, near a lake. And it was about, I don't
know, about a mile and a half. The place we were living in,
it had electric, had an outhouse,
and if we wanted water, we could go out in the backyard and we
could draw it up. Somehow that was all fun. But about a mile
and a half away through the woods, there was a lodge. that we'd
sneak off to every now and then. Had an indoor pool, had an arcade,
had a lot of things that young guys like. And me and my cousin,
we went. And my papa, he told us, he said,
boys, he said, you had to walk through the woods. He said, be
back before dark. One thing, be back before dark. It didn't give us any other rules. Just be back before dark. And
we took off with a pocket full of quarters and our swimming
trunks, and boy, we had a day out of it. But at some point,
we looked outside, and you know what? It's dark. It was dark. We tried to walk back to that
trail, and I mean, it was blackout. That path ran along the lake.
It was dangerous. It was cold. It was downright
scary. And we had no way home. We had
no way home, despite our efforts, despite our best efforts, no
way home. And we ended up going back to
the lodge, and I mean, we were wringing our hands thinking,
what in the world are we going to do? We're stuck, we're trapped,
we're lost. And it wasn't, probably it was
probably a lot less time than what it seemed like to us, but
my grandpa, pulled up in front of that lodge in his pickup truck,
came right to where we were, loaded us up, and took us home. He never said, much to my surprise,
he never said a word about it. You know, there were a lot of people staying
in that lodge that night. The fact that he came there and
rescued us, that didn't mean anything to them. They weren't
lost. They weren't hungry. They weren't
in need. I tell you, we were. We were.
And boy, did we, we were scared and helpless.
And like I said, nothing, nothing we could do about it. And again,
he told us one thing, couldn't even We talk about keeping
the law. Men put the Ten Commandments
out in the yard. I mean, I have nothing against
the Ten Commandments, but we can't keep them. It's good to
be reminded of, isn't it? But that's not what saves a man. And we didn't need a little help
either. We didn't need directions. We didn't need to take a first.
We needed somebody to come again. right where we were, pick us
up and deliver us. We rejoiced. He came, he came,
and he saved us. It's just me and my cousin, just
two of us. This world is filled with folks
that have no need, no need for a Savior. They need the things
of this world, but they don't need In their eyes, they don't
need Christ. They don't need a Savior. No
interest in the gospel. This word means nothing to them. If it did, if it did, we wouldn't
have an empty seat here. We'd have to blow out those back
walls and there'd be people standing in the parking lot. If men truly
knew their need of Christ. The Lord Jesus Christ He comes
to the sinner. He comes right where he's at. Many of us can speak of that,
can't we? He comes right where we're at. One poor lost sinner. And He saves us. He rescues us. He pulls us out of our self-righteousness. He pulls us out of our sin and
shame. And listen, a true sinner, oh,
when he's pleased to do that, What can we do but rejoice? What
can we do but be thankful for Him who saved us? And to the
sinner, when he does that, it means everything. Everything. Consider when the
Lord Jesus Christ, He passed through that land of the Gadarenes.
Remember that man? There he is out there naked,
running through the tombs. couldn't be bound with chains. Imagine what those people in
that community thought when they saw him running through that
cemetery. And what about those people that
were there? Because our Lord came. He came for him. He came for
him. But the people of that town over
in the Book of Luke, we read this, that the whole multitude
of the country Roundabout, they sought the Lord Jesus Christ.
Not just, oh Lord, be merciful to me. Oh Lord, save me. They sought that He would depart.
That He would depart out of their coast. The Lord Jesus Christ,
listen, He had healed that gathering man. There's no way they couldn't
see that. One minute He's out there, they're
trying to chain Him down, and He's running, you know, in that
condition that He was in. And now, after the Lord was pleased
to show mercy, he's sitting at his feet, sitting at his feet,
clothed in his right mind. And the people sought the Lord
that he would depart, that he would go away from them. What
about that gathering man? Was he saying depart? Oh, no. No, he was saying that he besought
him that he might that He might stay with Him. Oh Lord, never
go away from me, never leave me, let me be with You. Aren't we thankful? Those for whom the Lord has been
pleased to reveal Himself in mercy, aren't we thankful for
Him? Thankful that He came to seek
and to save sinners. He came to seek and to save that
which was lost. lost in the fall, lost in our
sin and shame and despair. The Lord Jesus Christ came to
seek and to save sinners. And listen, I'll say this, He
saves. He does the saving. It's His work, isn't it? Completely
of Him. He purposed and planned it before
the foundation of the world. We read He's the Lamb slain.
and before the foundation of the world. From eternity, he
purposed, he planned, he predestinated, and he brings it to pass in his
time. God hath from the beginning chosen
you, chosen his people unto salvation. And listen, he provides his salvation. We read that salvation That's what Jonah said, salvation
is of the Lord. Nothing, nothing in the center. We bring nothing. God in Christ,
he provided the lamb. He purchased us with his own
blood. The scriptures declare that when
he had by himself purged our sin, by himself, when he We can't
read over that too quickly, Campbell. When He had by Himself purged
our sins, He sat down on the right hand of God. And listen,
it's God that quickens and gives life in the sinner. He saved
us by His grace. You, you have He quickened who
were dead in trespasses and sin. It's all of Him. We're made willing. When we make a decision, we're
made willing in the day of His power. It's all of Him. Not what we've done, but what
He has done for us and in us. His salvation, it's an everlasting
salvation. Oh, it's a salvation we can rest
in. It's an everlasting salvation. never to be lost. We're preserved. That's what
the scriptures claim. We're preserved. We're kept by
the power of God. Lord, we're thankful. Aren't
we thankful? Don't we rejoice in this? That Jesus Christ came
into the world to save sinners. All right. May God be pleased and blessed.
You're dismissed.