Turn back with me to 1 Timothy
1. I want to concentrate this morning on
verse 15. Verse 15, 1 Timothy 1. When I study and prepare, and
when I come in here and stand before you, I hope for four things. Four things that are constantly
on my mind and in my heart. Things that I pray for. Things
that I hope for. And first and foremost is that
God will be honored and glorified in what I have to say. I can't
help if men are offended I can't help it if somebody comes in
here and knows nothing about what I'm talking about and leaves
here offended. I can't help it when people rejoice
in a false hope or any of those things. But what I do have hope
in is that God will be honored. That's my first concern, that
God will be honored with what I have to say. The reason for
everything around us is the glory of God. It's the glory of God. That's why he created the universe. That's why he created man, his
glory. Let everything that hath breath
praise the Lord. And God forbid that I should
say anything to detract from his glory. And then secondly,
I hope and pray for the ability to rightly divide the word of
God. I don't want to say things and
quote bits and pieces of verses and go away and not rightly divide
the Word of God, make the Word of God say something that it
don't really say. An example my pastor used to
give us young preachers when we attended his school, he said,
get bits and pieces, you could say this. Peter went out and
hanged himself, or Judas went out and hanged himself. Go ye
and do likewise. You can make the Bible say anything
you want it to say if you quote bits and pieces. But I want to
convey to you what I honestly believe the scriptures say. I
want to rightly divide the word of truth and I pray for the spirit
of God to guide me as he would in the word
of truth. And then thirdly, I hope and
pray that the Holy Ghost will take what I'm preaching and make
it effectual in the hearts of those who hear. I have some ability
and I give God all the glory for it, what knowledge I have
and the ability to stand and speak to people and be apt to
teach, the scripture said. Able to build one thing upon
another. But I can't make those things
affect you in your heart. I can't make those things cause
a change in you. I can't do that, that's not in
my ability. I just preach these things, teach
these things, and hope that God will. Hope that he will. Paul said this to the Thessalonians,
he said, for this cause also thank we God without ceasing,
because when you receive the word of God, which you heard
of us, you received it not as the word of men, not as somebody's
opinion, That's your opinion. I don't even want to think about
how many times people have told me that. That's your translation. Paul said, when you heard this,
the word of God, which you heard of us, you received it not as
the word of men, but as it is in truth, the word of God, which
effectually worketh also in you that believe. Peter said, this is the word,
talking about the new birth. This is the word which by the
gospel is preached unto you. And then fourthly, I hope and
pray that you'll be enabled of God to see the plight of the
sinner. Most men and women don't realize
that they're in a mess. It's just life. Crowds of people walking down
the street, crowds of people in the restaurant, families everywhere,
children, jobs, recreation, fishing. See a whole world full of that,
but we don't understand what kind of mess we're in. We're
in a mess. We're in a mess. And so I hope and pray that you'll
be enabled of God to see the plight of the sinner and the
true saving sufficiency of the Lord Jesus Christ, why he came
into this world. Who is this man, Jesus Christ?
Why did he come? And coming, what did he do? And where is he now? Where is
Jesus of Nazareth? Well, with these things in mind,
let me read my text here in 1 Timothy 1.15. Paul said, this is a faithful
saying. a right and true statement, one
you can build your faith and hope upon. And it's worthy of
all acceptation. No matter how you were raised
or what your background is, this is worthy of all acceptation,
that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners of whom
I am chief. This whole book that we call
the Bible, this whole book is about two men. It's about two
men. I don't care where you read.
You can open it up to Deuteronomy. Talk about two men. You can open
it up to Genesis. Talk about two men. You can go
over to Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John. You can go through
the book of Revelation. You're gonna find this book is
talking about two men. It's talking about the sinner
and it's talking about the Savior from beginning to end. This is
a book of redemption. It's talking about the sinner
and talking about the Savior. Well, who is the sinner? That's
every man, every woman born of Adam. By one man, the scripture
said, sin entered into the world. What happened when it entered?
Death by sin. What's the result? So death passed
upon all men, for that all have sinned. Where is the man who's
never sinned? Has there ever been a man who
hadn't sinned? No. Why does he sin? Because he's a sinner. When does he start? We came forth
from the womb, speaking lies. That's what the scripture said.
The scripture describes the sinner. We're not left to our own imagination
to try to figure out who the sinner is. God tells us who the
sinner is all through the scriptures. He tells us. We come forth from
the, we go astray as soon as we'd be born, speaking lies. By the action of our father Adam,
by one act, by our father Adam, he brought the curse of a fallen
nature upon all his seed. We all came from Adam. I get letters from ancestry.com
all the time. Somebody entered me into that
and I get letters from them all the time. This was just discovered.
You have a great uncle who was this or that. Actually, the only important
thing about it is when I get back to the beginning, in Adam
all died. Adam's our father. Every one
of us, he's our father. Our nature, everything came from
him. Came from him. Even those converted and quickened
in Christ, he said at that time, you were by nature the children
of wrath, even as others. By nature. We all have that nature,
every one of us. Every one of us. Well, what is
a sinner? Well, the scripture said he's
one that's gone out of the way. He's gone out of the way, Romans
chapter 3. He doesn't know the way, he doesn't
walk in the way, he doesn't hope in the way. The way of peace,
it says, he's not known. He knows every other way. He
knows the way down the aisle. He knows the way of decisions.
He knows the way of his so-called free will. He knows the way of
the world, but he don't know the way of God. Jesus Christ
said, I am the way. There is no other way. I'm the
way. The way of peace he's not known.
None that understandeth, none that seeketh after God. What is a sinner? A sinner is
a man with no value, no worth. He's worthless. Boy, you can't
say, you can't look yourself in the mirror and say that, can
you? You'll be able to if God ever
convinces you of sin. Worthless. Worthless. He's without value or worth.
Altogether, the scripture said, become unprofitable. What is a sinner? A sinner is
a man who don't know God. He don't know God. His God is
the God of his imagination. His God is a God of his own design,
his own limitations. His God must have his consent
to do anything. Now what the Lord said through
his prophet Isaiah, You pray to a God who he can't
save. He can't save. He can just do
what you let him do. He must have his consent and
his contribution to accomplish anything that he purposes to
do. What is the sinner? The sinner is a man without potential. There's not even a potential
in him. Nothing. Nothing in a man. He's worthless. He likens him
to a maggot that feeds on dead flesh. Man at his best state,
David said, is altogether vanity. What is a sinner? He's a man
filled with darkness. He lives in darkness. He loves
darkness rather than light. What is a sinner? He's a man
under the curse of God. Cursed is everyone who continueth
not in all things written in the book of the law to do them. What is a sinner? He's one that's
altogether shut up to the mercy and grace of God. When God convinces
a man of sin, he shuts his mouth. He has nothing else to say. When
a man is standing before you or a woman and they're, yeah,
but, yeah, but, yeah, but, Somebody told me one time, goat's butt.
Sheep's listen. He's one who's altogether shut
up to the mercy and grace of God. And no matter what he does
and how hard he tries and how much he's willing to sacrifice,
the sinner cannot climb out of the pit in which the Lord has
put him. He's like the angels. who left
their first estate bound in chains of darkness. He can't break those
chains. Shut up in the prison of his
own nature. Does man have a free will? His
will is free within the confines of his nature. He's like that man down there
in the prison. He's got a 12 by 12 area. He's free to go anywhere he wants
to go in that 12 by 12 area. but he ain't free to fly. He
ain't free to walk outside. The only way he gets a freedom
to do that is if somebody comes and turns the key. We shut up to the mercy of God.
The sinner is so weak and helpless in himself that Satan takes him
captive at his will, the scripture says. The sinner cries for his
rights, but he has none. What right does he have? God
said, get out. Put him out of the garden, get
out. And there'd be no way back in, but the Lord put an angel
there with a flaming sword to protect the way. Not to bar them
from coming back in, but to keep that way open. Open, that way
is Christ. But the sinner cries for rights
that he don't have. He pleads for his soul, but he
has no reason. He has nothing to offer God. Our Lord said, why should you
be stricken anymore? You will just revolt more and
more. The whole head is sick and the
whole heart faint. There's no soundness in you from
the top of your head to the bottom of your feet. His heart's deceitful above all
things and desperately wicked, who can know it? We say, preacher,
who then can be saved? Our Lord said, with man it's
impossible. What are you trying to tell us?
I'm trying to tell you what the Lord said, it's impossible. You
cannot save yourself. It's not gonna happen. You're
not gonna go down the road one day and all of a sudden this
big bubble comes above your head and breaks out and this holy
water falls on you and you're saved. It's not gonna happen. The only way you will ever be
saved is for God to come to you. And how does he come to you?
He comes through the preaching of the gospel. He arranges for
you to hear and arranges for a man to preach. That's what
the Holy Spirit said. How shall you hear without a
preacher? You're not going to. It pleased
God. In the wisdom of God, the world
by wisdom knew not God. But it pleased God through the
foolishness of preaching to save them that believe. And Paul said, this is a faithful
saying. Christ Jesus came into the world
to save sinners. What does the preacher have to
say? This is a faithful saying. Worthy of all acceptation. Christ
Jesus came into the world to save sinners. Sinners like I
just described to you. Helpless, hopeless sinners. We run into this phrase a lot
in scripture. Christ Jesus. Christ Jesus came
into the world to save sinners, that's what Paul said. Of him
are you in Christ Jesus, who of God is made unto us wisdom,
righteousness, sanctification, and redemption. God has saved
us, called us with a holy calling, not according to our works, but
according to his own purpose and grace, which was given us
in Christ Jesus before the world began. Well, what does the phrase
mean? Well, Christ is an office. When
you're talking about Christ, you're going to see that word.
You're going to see these manger scenes and all these things,
and people are going to be singing hymns, and they're going to be
using that word Christ. What does that word Christ mean?
It's an office. It's an office. Christ is an
office. The Christ is the promised Redeemer. To Him give all the prophets
witness. that through his name, whosoever
believeth in him shall receive remission of sin. The Christ
is he whose goings forth, David said, are from of old. The Christ is he who created
all things and for whom all things were created. He's the firstborn
of every creature. He's the head of the body of
the church, the firstborn from the dead. And every precious
promise that God has given. He's given and it's binding in
Christ. In Christ. It says, to Abraham
and his seed were the promises made. He saith not to seeds as
of many, but unto thy seed, which is Christ. So Christ is an office
and all of the appointments concerning the salvation of God's elect
were given to the Christ. And then the second part of that
name is Jesus, Christ Jesus. Jesus is the son of Mary. We're
gonna hear a lot about that this time of year. He's the son of
Mary and Joseph, but he's also the son of God. God come into
the flesh, virgin born. And Jesus is a person. And he's
the person who holds the office of the Christ. In Acts 17 it
said Paul reasoned with them out of the scriptures, opening
and alleging that Christ must needs have suffered and risen
from the dead and that this Jesus whom I preach unto you is Christ. Christ Jesus has come into this
world. He said he would and he did. In the volume of the book he
said it's written of me, I come to do thy will. Oh God. And we've seen and do testify,
John said, that the Father sent the Son to be the Savior of the
world. What's he talking about? Every
man, woman, and child? No. He's talking about the world
in the 16th century with the Jewish prejudice was talking
about the Gentiles. Up to that point, the Jews just
believed that they were the only ones God was gonna save. So when
he uses that word world, you read it in the light of Jewish
prejudice. He's talking about saving a people,
you read it in the book of Revelations, out of every kindred, tribe,
nation, and tongue under heaven. A cross section out of all humanity,
God gonna save. Not the Jews only, but also the
Gentiles, and he sent his son to be the propitiation for our
sins, that is to accomplish our redemption in such a way as God
can be just and justifier. That God will be righteous in
the remission of our sins. And Jesus is the Son of God come
into the flesh. Our federal head, our representative. Our great high priest, our king,
the one who is said to be the virgin born son of Mary is that
promised redeemer, God over all. blessed forever. And Jesus Christ,
or Christ Jesus, it means the same thing that Jesus is the
Christ. He is the Christ. Why did he call his son Jesus? Mary and Joseph didn't come up
with that. The angel of God said, you shall
call his name Jesus, for he shall save his people from their sins. That New Testament word Jesus
is the Old Testament Joshua. Who took them into the promised
land? Joshua. Who led them to victory? Joshua.
Who did they follow? Joshua. Jesus, Jesus. He shall save his people from
their sins. All right, so how shall the people
know if Christ Jesus came to save them? How does a man discover
if everything that Christ did, and I've just quoted you, I don't
know how many scriptures concerning this. How do I know that he did those
things for me? He didn't do them for everybody.
He did them for his elect, so how do I know if I'm his elect?
How do I know if Christ died for me? How does a man discover
that? How can we know if we're one
of those that he came to save? Well, here's what he said. He
said, I'm gonna send into glory. And it's absolutely necessary
that I do this. If I don't go into glory, God's
not gonna send the Holy Spirit down. But when I'm up there,
the Holy Spirit's gonna come. What's he gonna do? What's he
gonna do? He's gonna convince us, those
for whom he represents, he's gonna convince us of sin. What's gonna happen to God's
elect? They're gonna be convinced of sin. They're gonna read God's
testimony concerning them, and they're gonna say, that's me.
That's me. There's none good. That's talking
about me. There's none that understandeth.
That's me. There's none that seeketh after
God. That's me. They're all gone astray. They're
all together become unprofitable. The way of peace they've not.
That's me. I'm the sinner. I'm the sinner. He's going to
convince them of sin. Our Lord said to the Pharisees
who thought they were saved, they were saved the same way
that religion thinks they're saved. Because they decided to
be, or because their relatives were, or whatever. My son used to say, now, what
is it that we believe? I'd tell him, I said, we don't
believe anything. I can tell you what I believe.
I don't know what you believe. Yeah, faith is a private thing,
it's an individual thing. And here's these Pharisees and
they gathered around the Lord and they began to look down their
noses at what he was doing. He was dealing with publicans.
He was in the house of a publican and they were feeding him and
giving him wine and they were looking at him and looking down
their nose. He claims to be the Christ. If he knew who that woman
was and what she did, he'd never let her touch him. Here's what the Lord said. You
go learn what this means. I'll have mercy and not sacrifice. For I'm not come to call the
righteous, now listen, but sinners to repentance. Who's he gonna
call? Sinners. Sinners. That's why he was eating and
drinking with them. That's why he's talking to them. That's
why he came and preached to them. He's gonna shut their mouths,
make them guilty before God, take away all their worldly hopes
and righteousness, teach them the truth. And when a man is
stripped of everything he has, he'll be ready to hear a preacher.
Yeah, he will. When he takes away all his so-called
self-understanding and self-knowledge and self-righteousness, when
he leaves him helpless and hopeless before the Lord, now he's ready
for a preacher to talk to him. Until then, it's just another
ceremony. It's just another thing to do
on Sunday morning. Boy, when he convinces you of
sin, no, it's not. You're ready to hear, and you
don't care who it is that talks to you. When man's stripped of everything
he has, he'll be ready to hear. When he finds his righteousness
as filthy rags, he'll be ready for God's imputed righteousness
then. So long as a man can fill himself
with so-called food for the soul, he'll have no need for a preacher.
Oh, but when he finds his barrels filled with worms, now he's ready
to be fed by another. God shuts his people up to Christ
and they're brought to him as hungry just like those were in
Egypt. I love that picture of Joseph
down in Egypt. And people came and they said
to Pharaoh, we need corn. We need corn. He said, go see
Joseph. Joseph's in charge of the corn. Scripture said, when the people
hungered, they cried to Pharaoh, give us bread. And Pharaoh said
unto all them, go ye unto Joseph. What he saith to you, you do. Whatever he tells you to do,
you do. God said, this is my beloved son. Hear ye him. What's he say? That's what we
need to do. Not what religion says, what
God says. When your need overcomes your
ability, you'll go to Christ and you'll obey him and you'll
follow his commands. If he shuts you up to a preacher,
you'll hear him. And if that preacher has bread,
you'll come back and get a piece. You'll eat that bread, because
there ain't any bread anywhere else. And what I have, if I have anything
at all, it's given to me of God. And he's giving it to me to give
to sinners. Isn't that what Paul's saying
in this verse? This is a faithful saying. It's worthy of all acceptation. Christ Jesus came into the world
to save sinners of whom I am chief. And how be it for this
cause, for this cause. He extended his mercy to me.
For a pattern, for a pattern. Hopeless, helpless, lost sinners.
Sinners who have nothing and no way to get anything from God. And what I have is what they
need, Christ. They need Christ. They need bread. He's the bread. They need righteousness.
He's righteousness. They need forgiveness. In Him
we have redemption, the forgiveness of sin. They need an intercessor. He ever liveth to make intercession
for the saints. They need direction. He's the
way. They need protection. Greater is He that's in you.
than he that's in the world. They need watched over. He said,
my preachers, watch for your souls as they that must give
account. Christ came into this world to
save sinners, Paul said, of whom I am chief. And for this cause
I obtain mercy that in me first Jesus Christ might show forth
all longsuffering for a pattern. God was long-suffering with Paul.
You see Paul out here and Stephen, and Stephen preached to him,
and the mob got angry, and Paul held the coats of the men, and
they picked up those big rocks and bashed Stephen's brains out
with them. Killed him. Killed him. And in his dying
breath, he asked for forgiveness for them. Prayed for them. Prayed
for those that was stoning him to death. And Paul's standing
there holding the coats, believing he's doing God a service. He
said, he was long-suffering to me. You see, the chief of sinners
ain't down there in the bar. You ain't going to find the chief
of sinners down there. You're going to find him at the First
Baptist Church. You're going to find him at that Nazarene
Church. You're going to find him in some grace church somewhere. That's where you're going to
find him. He's a religious man, the chief of sinners, just like
Paul. Spotless, self-righteous. Everything going for him. He's
the chief of sinners. And if God'll save him, he'll
save anybody. And I feel the same way Paul
did. He saved this sinner. And if he can save this sinner,
he can save that one. He can save that one. He can
save any sinner. He extended his mercy and his
long-suffering to me as a pattern, as a pattern. And that's the
funny thing about it. When God calls a preacher, he
calls the sinner, sinner, bowed sinner, and makes him a preacher. Isn't that something, how God
does it? All right, thank you.