Would you turn with me to 1st
Timothy, chapter 1, verse 15. This is a faithful saying and worthy
of all that Christ Jesus came into the
world to save sinners, of whom I am chief." I've entitled this message a
Salvation Sermon. A Salvation Sermon. And I expect the Lord to save
somebody through this message. I may not ever get to see who
it is. That doesn't matter. I do expect the Lord to save
somebody through this message. This is one of those salvation
texts. You can see that by what he says.
Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners of whom I am
the chief. Now, if you're not a sinner, I have no gospel for you. But
isn't everybody a sinner? Not really. When we see what
the Bible means by the word sinner, there'll be many people who say,
no, that's not me. But if you're a sinner, you're
going to hear the gospel. God is pleased to bless us. Now let's start in verse 5 of
1 Timothy chapter 1 and work our way down to verse 15. That means the goal, the purpose,
the end of the commandment. And remember, the gospel is a
commandment. Thou hast given commandment to
save me. God, who commanded the light
to shine out of the darkness, has shined in our hearts to give
the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face
of Jesus Christ. When the Lord Jesus called Lazarus
out of the tomb, it was a commandment, wasn't it? Lazarus, come forth. And he that was dead came forth. The gospel is a commandment.
God commands all men everywhere to repeat it. Now the goal, the
purpose of this commandment is charity. out of a pure heart. Is that what God gives? A new
heart? A pure heart that actually loves
God and loves His people? Charity. True love out of a pure
heart. And of a good conscience. Now,
what is a good conscience? Somebody says, well, I don't
feel guilty. Well, that might be just because you have a seared
conscience. That's not necessarily a good conscience. A good conscience
is a conscience that has nothing to feel guilty about. Now isn't
that what Christ does for the believer? He justifies us. I
don't have anything to feel guilty about. Now that's a hard thing
to say because I feel guilty all the time. I walk around with
a cloud in my head. You do too. But in the gospel
of the Lord Jesus Christ, I'm justified. I don't have anything
to feel guilty about. And look what he says next. The
end of the commandment is faith unfaith. You know what that is?
Faith unfaith. I love that song we just heard.
What can wash away my sins? Nothing but the blood of Jesus.
I really believe that. This is all my hope and peace.
Nothing but the blood of Jesus. This is all my righteousness.
Nothing but the blood of Jesus. That's not fake. That's phony.
That really is the only hope I have. And that's the end of
the commandment. Charity out of a pure heart.
A good conscience. Satisfied by the blood of Christ.
and defamed, un-famed. Verse 6, from which this end,
this goal of the commandment, from which some, having swerved,
have turned aside into vain, jangling, empty speech, useless
speech, desiring to be teachers of the law, and understanding
neither what they say, nor whereof they affirm. They don't understand
the implications of what they're saying, per se, but we know that
the law is good if a man uses it lawfully. You know, I love
God's holy law, don't you? I really do. I love the Ten Commandments. I love everything God says, and
here's why I can love God's holy law. I've kept the law. I don't have anything to worry
about. In Christ Jesus, I have kept that law. It doesn't condemn
me. It says it's not guilty and I'm
not afraid because of that. Don't try to keep the law. Don't
try to keep the law. You've kept it. In Christ Jesus,
you've kept it. Now, this law, he says in verse
8, we know that the law is good if a man uses it lawfully, if
he uses it the right way. Verse 9, knowing this, that the
law is not made for a righteous man, but for the lawless. and disobedient, for the ungodly
and for sinners, for unholy and profane, for murderers of fathers
and murderers of mothers, for manslayers, for whoremongers,
for them that defile themselves with mankind, for men-stealers,
for liars, for perjured persons, and if there be any other thing
that is contrary to sound doctrine. Now, you don't need a lock to
protect you from a righteous man, do you? The law is made
for wicked men. It's for thieves. You don't need
to lock your door from a righteous man. That's all he's saying.
The law is not made for a righteous man, but for wicked men. You
want to be under the law? All you say about that is, I'm
an evil man. That's all you say. Tell me ye
that desire to be under the law. Don't you hear what it says? He says, any other thing that's
contrary to sound doctrine according to verse 11, the glorious gospel
of the blessed God, which was committed to my trust. Now here's sound doctrine. The
glorious gospel, the gospel of the glory of the blessed God,
which was committed, entrusted to me. What a sacred trust that
is. To preach his gospel? I'm scared
to death to preach anything that is not exactly what he says in
his word. That's what I'm afraid of. I'm
afraid of misrepresenting God. I don't want to do that. Paul
said this is a glorious trust. Verse 12. Paul says, And I thank
Christ Jesus our Lord, who hath enabled me, for he counted me
faithful, putting me into the ministry. What a blessing. to
be counted faithful, to be caused to be faithful. He said, he put
me in the ministry. Nobody puts themselves in the
ministry. He put me into the ministry. Verse 13, who was before? Before he put me in the ministry,
before he taught me the gospel, who was before? A blasphemer
and a persecutor and injurious or insolent. But I obtained mercy
because I did it ignorantly in unbelief. Now, does that mean
Is Paul saying, because my sins were sins of ignorance and I
just didn't know any better, therefore they weren't really
all that bad, therefore God gave me mercy because of that? Is
that what that's saying? Well, if it is, it doesn't give me
any hope. What Paul is saying is I was so wicked, I was so
injurious, I was so insolent, I was so blasphemous that the
only way I could be saved is by the sheer mercy of God. That's why God gave me not because,
well, my sin wasn't that bad because I didn't know any better.
Oh, if we do know better, that's our problem. We do know better.
People know exactly what they're doing. And he said, the only
way I can be saved is by the sheer mercy of God. Verse 14,
and the grace of our Lord was exceeding, abundant, overflowing
with faith and love, which is in Christ Jesus. Now, this is
a Now this is one of Paul's four fateful sayings in these pastoral
epistles. Look in chapter four, verse seven. But refuse, reject
profane and old wise fables. I think that's interesting how
Paul terms man's religion. Old wise fables. but exercise
thyself rather unto godliness, true devotion to God. For bodily
exercise profiteth little, just for a little while. But godliness
is profitable unto all things, having the promise of the life
that now is, and of that which is to come." Now this is a faithful
saying, and it's worthy of everybody's full reception. Look in 2 Timothy
2, It's a faithful saying. For if
we be dead with Him, if we were united to Him, if we be dead
with Him, we shall live also with Him. If He died for us,
we must be saved. That's what He's saying. If we
suffer, we shall also reign with Him. If we deny Him, You can count
on this. He also will deny us. If we believe
not, yet he abided faithful. He cannot deny himself. Now,
this is a precious verse of Scripture. If we believe not, and everybody
in here knows what it means to struggle with unbelief. If we
believe not, yet he abides faithful. You see, he can't deny himself. And if I'm united to Him, I'm
Himself. Who He is, I am. He can't deny
Himself. Now that's a thankful sermon.
That's good news. Turn over to Titus chapter 3. Verse 5. Not by works of righteousness
which we have done, but according to His mercy. He saved us by
the washing of regeneration. and the renewing of the Holy
Ghost, which He shed on us abundantly through Jesus Christ our Savior,
that being justified by His grace, we should be made heirs according
to the hope of eternal life. This is a faithful saying. That's
something you can count on. And these things, what I've just
said, I will, that thou affirm constantly, preach them over
and over and over again. that they which have believed
in God might be careful to maintain good works. The only type of
way they'll be careful to maintain these good works is by the constant
repetition of these faithful sayings, the doctrine of these
faithful sayings. And then let's go back to our
text in 1 Timothy chapter 1 verse 15. This is a faithful saying. That means an utterly reliable
is something you can count on. This is not like the rhetorics
of politicians during political campaigns where they make all
kinds of promises that rarely come to fruition. This is not
like that. This is something that can be
utterly reliable. This is a thing to say. And it's
worthy of all acceptation. You know what that means? That
means I ought to embrace this as the best news I've ever heard.
I mean, you ought to embrace this as the gospel, the best
news you ever heard. This is worthy of everybody receiving
this and glorying in this and rejoicing in this. This is the
best words anybody ever heard. That's what he means by that.
This is a faithful saying. You can rely on this and it's
worthy of all acceptation. And just pretend for a moment
that you've never heard this verse before. Just pretend. Here's
this faithful saying that Christ Jesus came into the world to
save life. Would you be interested in who
he came to save? To see if you fit the description?
What if this verse said Christ Jesus came into the world to
save good people? Where would that leave you? What if it said Christ Jesus
came into the world to save believing sinners? What if it said Christ Jesus
came into the world to save repentant sinners? What if it said Christ
Jesus came into the world to save, as the Puritans used to
speak of, sensible sinners? I thought sinners were stupid. Where would that leave somebody
who is just a sinner? Thank God Christ Jesus came into
the world. I love the fact that no adjectives
are added to this word. Christ Jesus came into the world
to save who? Sinners. Whom I am. Now, here's the question I want
to ask right now. What is a sinner? It's a biblical word. You know
that publican in the temple cried out, God be merciful to me. What? The sinner. Now, what does the Bible mean
by this word sinner? Well, the sinner is the one who
commits the sin. That's simple enough, isn't it? God doesn't
put sins into hell. He puts the people who committed
those sins into hell. Have you ever heard that saying,
God loves the sinner, but he hates the sin? Ever heard that?
Tell that to the person who's in hell. He'll tell you that's
foolishness and nothing more. What is a sinner? Now, let me
give you four things. that will help us to understand
what the Bible means by this word. First, a sinner. This is the biblical meaning
of this word. What is a sinner? Because whatever
a sinner is, that's the folks Christ came to save. He didn't
come to save anybody else. He only came to save sinners. Now,
here are four things that the Bible teaches about this word
of sinner. First, listen real carefully, a sinner is somebody
who all they do is sin. Now let me back that up with
the scripture. You're familiar with this. I mean, Genesis chapter
6 verse 5, and God saw that the wickedness of man, that's me
and you, was great in the earth, and that every evil continually. Every imagination of the thoughts
of his heart was only, no good in there, evil non-stop. A sinner is somebody who all
they do is sin. Now where does that leave you?
Secondly, according to the Bible, a sinner is somebody who cannot
not sin. He cannot say, well, I'm not
going to sin there. I'm going to resist. What temptation? What
temptation have you ever seen? I'm saying no to that. I'm not
going there. I'm just going to quit. Why,
even the temptation itself, the fact that you do it, is the sin.
A sinner is someone who cannot not sin. The carnal mind is enmity
against God, for it is not subject to the law of God, neither indeed
can it. It lacks the ability. So then,
they that are in the flesh, cannot please God. Jeremiah asked this
question, can the Ethiopian change his skin? Can the leopard change his spots? How then can you do good? You are accustomed, it's the
habit of your life, to doing evil. A sinner is somebody who
all they do is sin, and a sinner is somebody who cannot not sin. Thirdly, a sinner is somebody
who has no claims upon God. No claims. They can't charge
God with injustice or unfairness. Now, what do I mean by that?
Now, we believe, I have no doubt that God elected who would be
saved. He chose who would be saved, and He passed by everybody
else. Christ Jesus died for the elect. He didn't shed his blood for
everybody and make salvation possible for everybody. He said,
I lay down my life for the sheep. Everybody he shed his blood for
must be saved. God the Holy Spirit calls the
elect. He calls those Christ died for.
Salvation is of the Lord. You believe that, don't you?
Salvation is of the Lord. Now, what if God elected everybody
but me? Would He be wrong? Would He be
unjust? What if Jesus Christ died for
everybody but me? Could I say He's wrong in that?
That's not fair. What if He passed me by? What
if God the Holy Spirit passed me by? What if He called everybody
in this room but me? Would that be wrong? Could I
say this is wrong? Not to a sinner. Not to a sinner. Every sinner knows something
about what Peter meant when he said, depart from me, Lord. I am a sinful man. I am a man full of sin. A real sinner, fourthly. First,
all he does is sin. Secondly, he cannot not sin. Thirdly, he has no claims on
God. And fourth, a real sinner cannot
set in judgment on anybody. He can't look down his nose in
moral superiority regarding anybody. He knows it would be the basis
of hypocrisy. For me, to look down in moral
superiority over anybody? Why, that's pure, unmitigated
hypocrisy. Now, let me show you a scripture
that confirms all of this. Would you turn with me to 1 John?
1 John chapter 1, verse 8. If we say that we have no sin,
now the word sin there is a noun. It's not a verb. It's not talking
about an action at this point. It's not talking about a deed.
It's a noun. It's a reference to a sinful
nature. At all times, I have this. If we say we have not this sinful
nature, what does it say? Deceived ourselves. We've told
ourselves a lie and made ourselves believe it. We've deceived ourselves. Is that possible to do? Sure
it is. Sure it is. This shows how deceptive the
human heart is. You can tell yourself a lie and make yourself
believe it. If we say we have no sin, a sinful nature, we deceive
ourselves and the truth is not in us, we've lost all credibility.
We're just hypocrites. Nothing more. I looked down in
verse 10. If we say we've not sinned, Now
there the word is a verb. It has to do with what we do,
our actions, things we do. If we say we've not sinned, we
make him a liar and his word is not in us. If we say regarding
any action, even while I'm preaching this message, when I'm praying
this prayer, anything I do, I can't say I didn't sin. If I do, I'm
lying because I did. I did. This is a verb. Now, I
was thinking about this. And Brother Tom quoted this last
night in that passage of Scripture in 1 John chapter 3. He that
is born of God does not commit sin. He's got a holy nature. He's got a holy nature that does
not commit sin. Now, how is that true in light
of this passage of Scripture? If we say we've not sinned, we
deceive ourselves. We're lying and the truth's not
even in us. How are both those things true? Because I know they're
both true. They're both true. The Bible teaches both of them.
They don't contradict each other either. How can both of these
things be true? You have a gallon of yellow paint
and a gallon of red paint and you funnel them in to another
bucket and it comes out orange, doesn't it? You put those two
paints together, it comes out orange. Now, the qualities of
that red paint didn't change. The qualities of that yellow
paint didn't change. They're still the same in that
one. You just can't see it. You can't
see it. Now, I have, if I'm a believer,
I have a holy nature. I have the Adamic nature, but
it's all funneled into one person. It's just, it's funneled into
one person and I can't see the difference. I like what Charles
Spurgeon said. He said, I can't tell the difference
between my good works and my bad works. I can't see the difference. Now, they're there. They're there.
I'm aware of that, but I can't see the difference. And as far
as what I can see, all I do is sin. Really? Really. That's what a sinner is. Notice Paul's next comment on
our text. He 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, the foremost. Paul said, I'm the worst man
to ever live. I'm the very chief of sinners. Now, I don't know if we much
believe this about ourselves. Let me tell you why. I just don't
know how much we believe this. If I say, I'm the chief of sinners,
I mean it. But if you say, I agree, I believe
you are, I'm going to be offended. Who are you to say that to me?
Who are you to say that to me? I just don't know how much we
believe that. Did you know, though, that you
can't offend the chief of sinners? Not really. It's proud, self-righteous people
that are easily offended, but not the chief of sinners. Are
you a sinner? According to this description
I've just given, do you pass these four gates? A sinner is
somebody who all they do is sin. That's it. All they do. They're not proud of that. It's
a grief to them. They cannot not sin. They have
no claims on God. And they can't sit in moral superiority
and judgment over anybody. Now that's what a sinner is.
Now if you're one of those people, Christ Jesus came into the world
to save sinners. That is who He came to save. You see, He is the Friend. Did you hear that? He is the
Friend of sinners. Now how? Christ Jesus came into
the world to save sinners. How? Christ Jesus. and the king. I love his offices,
don't you? Whosoever believeth that Jesus
is the Christ, God's prophet, God's priest, God's king, he's
born of God. Whoever believes that, they're
born of God. Jesus, that's his name, Savior. Matthew 121, thou
shalt call his name Jesus, for he shall save his people. from their sins. That's what
the angels announced at his birth. Did he do what he came to do? When he bowed his mighty head. That wasn't the last gasp of
it. When he bowed his head, giving
permission to death to come and take him. When he bowed his mighty
head and said, it is finished. You know what that means? Everybody
he died for was saved. Every single one of them. That's
exactly what he meant. But I ask again, how? How does
he save sinners? I was sitting on the back porch
last weekend with Brother Paul Mahan, and he made his statement,
and I believed it before he ever made it, but he said, if I was
only given one passage of scripture that I could preach the gospel
to somebody from, I go to 2 Corinthians chapter 5. And you know, I believe
I would have said the same thing. I know I would have, because
I thought that before. If I only had one passage of scripture that
I could preach the gospel to somebody and say they were dying.
This is the passage I go to. So this tells how he saves sinners. Would you turn with me for a
moment to 2 Corinthians chapter 5? I want to start with verse 17.
2 Corinthians chapter 5. Therefore, if any man be what? In Christ. Now, there's where we got to
begin. That is God saved sinners. It has something to do with being
in the Lord Jesus Christ. Now, what's that mean to be in
Christ? Well, there's all kinds of biblical illustrations. But
here's what comes to me first. What did it mean to be in the
house? with the blood over the door. You were safe. If you were outside
of that house, there was nothing but wrath. What did it mean to
be in the ark? That's what it means to be in
the Lord Jesus Christ. Well, how do you get there? God's
got to put you there. Of Him are you in Christ Jesus? How does God save sinners? First
of all, it has something to do with being in the Lord Jesus
Christ. Oh Lord, I love what Paul said, oh, that I may win
Christ and be found in Him. Not having my own righteousness,
which is of the law, but that which is through the faithfulness
of Christ, the righteousness which is of God, by faith. I
want to be found in the Lord Jesus Christ. I wouldn't be found
any other way, would you? I don't want to be found. I've
talked to somebody who says, well, I'd love to die in the
pool, but I suppose I would too. That sounds kind of romantic,
but I want to die in Christ. That's what I want. I want to
simply be found in Him. And look what it says next. If
any man be in Christ, he's a new creature. He's a new creation. This is a creative act of God.
Oh, how much help does man give in creation? How much? What does he contribute there?
Did God ask for your help when he created the universe? No! If any man be in Christ, he's
a new creation. Salvation is a creative act of
God. It's a miracle. The miracle of
bringing something into existence that was not there before. If
any man be in Christ, he's a new creature. Old things are passed
away. Behold, all things are become
new. My old standing before the law,
guilty, is passed away. I now stand not guilty. before God's holy law. I now have a new heart that I
didn't have before. A heart that believes. A heart
that loves God. It wasn't there before. I'm a
new creation. And look what he says in verse
18. He says, and all things are of
God. Everything in this new creation,
it's of God. Salvation is of the Lord. all things, every bit of it,
is of God, who hath reconciled us to himself by Jesus Christ,
and hath given us the ministry of reconciliation. On the cross,
he reconciled us. Let me show you a verse of scripture
in Romans chapter 5. This is a blessed scripture. Now, when He reconciled us, that
means he removed any reason for enmity. He removed any reason
for being mad at us. This is, look what Romans 5.10
says. For if, when we were enemies, we, what? Were reconciled to
God by the death of His Son. Much more being reconciled will
be saved by His life. Now, you know when I was reconciled
to God? when Christ died. When we were enemies, it says,
we were reconciled to God by the death of His Son. That's when God became reconciled
to me. Now, in my experience, it didn't happen yet, but there
it is. When was I reconciled? By the
death of His Son. That's what Christ meant when
He said, it is finished. Reconciliation accomplished for everybody for
whom I died. But we can't stop there. If we stopped there, we
would be given a warped view. Let's go on reading. Verse 18,
And all things are of God, who hath reconciled us to himself
by Jesus Christ, and hath given to us the ministry of reconciliation. That's what the gospel is. It's
the ministry of reconciliation. What do you mean by that, Paul?
Well, it's a wit. Here's what it is. reconciling the world unto himself,
not imputing their trespasses unto them, and hath committed
to us the word of reconciliation." Now, what a wonderful statement.
God was in Christ. He was reconciling the world. What's the world mean? Just what
it says, the world. Black, white, rich, poor, Jew,
Gentile, Sinners of every kind. He was reconciling the world
and himself. God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten
son. That means folks like me and
you. This is the ministry of reconciliation. God was in Christ,
reconciling the world and himself. How? By not imputing the trespasses
of sin. Now how can that be? trespasses
were imputed to the Lord Jesus Christ. He was made sin for thee. And this is the only hope a sinner
has, that God doesn't charge me with my sin. If thou, O Lord,
should mark with iniquities, O Lord, who should stand? But
there's forgiveness with thee, that thou mayest be feared. He's
not imputing the sins of everybody Christ died for. He takes their
sins and imputes them to the Lord Jesus Christ. Now let's
go on reading. To wit, that God was in Christ. Reconciling the
world unto himself, not imputing their trespasses unto them, and
hath committed unto us the word of reconciliation. That's what
our job is, is to preach the gospel, the word of reconciliation.
Now then, now here's a verse, I don't know what to say about
it. Now then, we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God did
beseech you by us. I don't really much know what
to say about that. The Holy God of Glory, the Sovereign of the
Universe, beseech you? A sinner? I wouldn't believe
that if it wasn't there, would you? But it's there. As though
the God of Glory would beseech you, by us, you'd be reconciled
to God. Now He's reconciled! You'd be
reconciled. You be friends with God. You
bow to Him before the Lord Jesus Christ. He's reconciled. You
be reconciled. 4, verse 21, He. Here's why you're to be reconciled. For He hath made Him to be sin
for us, who knew no sin, that we might be made the righteousness
of God in him. God made the Lord Jesus Christ
to be seen. What all does that mean? I don't
know. There's no way I can understand that. I can't grasp it. But I
know it's so. Whatever it means, that's what
happened. Christ knew no sin. Me and you, all we know is sin,
but he knew no sin. He's the only holy man to ever
live. He never thought a sinful thought. He could say, which of you can
convince me You know, it'd be easy to convince
me to sin. All you've got to do is talk to me for about two seconds and
we can come up with something. But not him. Not him. Yet the Word of God says he was
made to be sin. Now, does that mean he was up
on the cross having sinful thoughts and lusting and being covetous
and all? No better than that. Worse. Worse. He was made to be sin. Now how can that be? Because
the sins of the elect became his. There's only one reason
God killed him, because he was guilty. Guilty as charged. Guilty as charged. He said, my iniquities, that
is a heavy burden that have gone over my head. They're too heavy
for me. You see, God will by no means
clear the guilty. Christ Jesus was made sin and
he deserved the wrath of God. God forsook him because he deserved
to be forsaken. Now, can I understand all that?
No. Do I believe it? Yes, I do. For he hath made him to be sin
who knew no sin." Now don't forget this, that we might be made the righteousness of God in him. Now this is how God saves sinners.
He took their sin and it became Christ's. And he takes the very
righteousness of Christ, the perfect obedience of Christ, Now understand this, my righteousness
is not just like the righteousness of the Lord Jesus Christ. It's not based upon the righteousness
of Jesus Christ. My righteousness is the very
righteousness of God. Does anybody here understand
that? I believe it. I believe that having the very
righteousness of God. You know, the Lord said in Isaiah
54, their righteousness, their personal righteousness, that
righteousness, which is theirs is of me, saith the Lord. And that salvation, somebody
who all they do is sin. They cannot not sin. They have
no claims on God, and they can't look down their nose on anybody
for anything. How can God save somebody like
that? Because He takes their sin and puts it on His Son, and
it becomes His, and God kills it. God's just. He'll by no means
clear the guilt. And He takes the perfect righteousness
of His Son and gives it to them. Now that's salvation. the very
righteousness of God. Amen. Before I amen, let me say one
thing. In Acts chapter 16, verse 30, the Philippian jailer said, Sirs,
what must I do? to be saved. I wouldn't want
to conclude this message without this. What must I do to be saved? Now, some people would have said,
well, Paul should have said, you know, that's self-righteous.
You can't do anything. Shut up. Don't say things like that. But
that's not the way Paul responded to that fellow, is it? He said,
what must I do to be saved? He said, believe. on the Lord Jesus Christ and
thou shalt be saved. Rely as a sinner, as a sinner. You don't only believe on Christ
as a sinner. Rely on Him as a sinner to make
you the very righteousness of God. That's what believing is. It's relying. Relying. You believe I'm able to do this?
You just pricked on that, didn't you? You believe I'm able to
do this? Yeah, you're Lord. I believe.