I invite your attention to the
first epistle of Paul the Apostle to Timothy, 1 Timothy chapter 1. My text is verse number 15, but
we shall commence reading from verse number 12. And I thank Christ Jesus, our
Lord, who has enabled me. And apart from his enablement,
there is no ability. Because he counted me faithful,
that is, not that he saw me to be faithful and considered me
to be so, but rather he put faithfulness and accounted it to me. and he
put me into the ministry. Although I was formerly a blasphemer,
because he denied Christ and spoke ill things of him, and
I was a persecutor, an opponent of those who spoke of Christ, and an insolent man, meaning
that I was violently arrogant, in my opposition to Christ, His
gospel, and His people. But I obtained mercy because
I did it ignorantly in unbelief. And the grace of our Lord was
exceedingly abundant with faith and love. When the Lord's grace
comes to you, it brings faith and it brings love. And these
are in Christ Jesus. This is a faithful saving. Paul
uses that expression about five times. Thrice in this first epistle
to Timothy, once in his second epistle to Timothy, and once
also to Titus. This is a faithful saving. And it is worthy of all acceptance
So if you've heard this saying, receive it, accept it. It's the
truth. It's worthy of your confidence.
And this faithful saying is this, that Christ Jesus came into the
world to save sinners, of whom I am chief. Christ Jesus came
into the world to save sinners. of whom I am chief. N. Burnett Magruder was a pastor of Redeemer Baptist
Church of Louisville, Kentucky. From the days of her youth, the
Lord planted that church under his ministry many, many years
ago. In the early 1990s, he was quite
advanced in age, had faithfully served that church as minister
for many years, and he was leading the church in her search for
his successor. My dear friend Todd Nyberg resided
about 70 miles away in Lexington, Kentucky. suggested that the
church contact me and consider me for her pastor. And so I received
an invitation to go to Louisville and to minister to them as they
sought for a pastor. My first time in entering that
building was on a spring Lord's Day morning in the year of our
Lord, 1993. Immediately upon entering the
church's meeting house, I looked for the tract rack. I have observed
that you can learn much about a church by looking at the tracts
that are on the rack for distribution to visitors or even in the community. And the first tract that met
my eye was one titled, This Church is for Sinners. And I observed
that the tract was written by Dr. Magruder and that the church
had recently purchased the building in which they were then meeting
and that this tract had been printed, This Church is for Sinners. The members of the church had
gone through the community, and this was their introduction to
the people in the community. They went door to door handing
out a tract that said, this church is for sinners. And I read that title, this church
is for sinners, and I thought, you know what? I just might be
able to find a home here. And they meant it. when they
said this church is for sinners. They warmly received this chief
of their sort, and they called me to be their pastor. And for
the next 15 years, we rejoiced in God's grace for sinners. We
fellowshiped in Jesus Christ, the friend of sinners. And we
delighted in the gospel of the one who saves none but sinners. Sinners. But I must here ascertain that
you understand that there are distinctions among sinners. And I must ascertain that you
know the sinner of whom I am speaking. Know first of all that
all mortals are sinners in the sight of God. For the Holy Spirit
declares that there is not a just man on earth who does good and
does not sin, Ecclesiastes 7.20. The Holy Spirit declares that
all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, Romans 3.23.
So therefore in God's sight, all are sinners. There are no
exceptions. Second, observe that not all
are sinners in their own eyes. The self-righteous boast in Jeremiah
2, 23 and 35, they say, I am not polluted. I am innocent. I have not sinned. They say that. They thereby deceive themselves
and as much as shake their fist in God's face and say, you lie
when you say all have sinned. We say we have not sinned. We
say we have no sin. So although all are sinners in
God's sight, not all are sinners in their own. But third, I want
you to note that some who are sinners in God's eyes acknowledge
themselves as sinners in their own eyes. And these are those
who will echo the words of the psalmist in Psalm 106, verse
six. We have sinned with our fathers. We have committed iniquity. We have done wickedly. The hymn writer Joseph Hart has
rightly written, though all are sinners in God's sight, there
are but few so in their own. To such as these our Lord was
sent, they are only sinners who repent. What comfort can a Savior
bring to those who never felt their woe? Now listen very carefully
to these words. is a sacred thing. The Holy Ghost
has made him so. These divinely blessed and self-confessed
sinners are those to whom we would say this church is for
sinners. I would hope that That declaration
applies not only to that church in Louisville, Kentucky, but
to this church here in Sylacauga, Alabama. This church is for sinners. Indeed, it does apply to every
church of Christ. This church is for sinners. And
we speak of those who say, not only does God recognize me as
a sinner, but I see myself as such in my own eyes. Not all churches are for sinners. Many churches are comprised of
self-righteous folks who say, keep to yourself, do not come
near me, for I am holier than you. In order to be accepted by such
churches as that, you must make yourself as self-righteous and
as self-holy as they themselves are. You may do so by getting
into their baptistry, or by observing their Sabbath, or by doing their
good deeds, or this, or that, or the other. When you meet their
qualification to become holy and righteous, then they receive
you. Until that time, Get away from
me, I am holier than thou. But be advised that God says
of them, these are smoke in my nostrils, a fire that burns all
the day. And God despises them who deny
they are sinners. In contrast to the church of
the self-righteous is the church of sinners purchased by God's
blood. God loved the church and purchased
it, redeemed it with his own blood. This is that church of
which the scriptures declare that Christ loved that church
and gave himself for her. Why? Because she was a bunch
of sinners in need of cleansing. And he gave himself for her,
that he might sanctify and cleanse her with the washing of water
by the word, that he might present her to himself a glorious church,
not having spot or wrinkle or any such thing, but that she
should be holy and without blemish. But note this well, when he came
to them, they were sinners. And he showed to them they were
sinners. And he showed to them that he
was a savior of sinners, that he came into the world to save
sinners. They acknowledged themselves
to be the chief of sinners and he saved them. And now they say to you, this
church is for sinners. I'll give you three reasons.
First of all, the God of this church is for sinners. Second,
the Lord and Savior of this church is for sinners. And third, the
gospel of this church is for sinners. The first point is this, the
God of this church is for sinners. Now, how do we know? We know,
first of all, because God demonstrates his love only for sinners, only
for sinners. Paul the Apostle declares in
Romans 5 8 that God demonstrates his own love toward us and that
while we were still sinners Christ died for us. Christ died for none but sinners. Sinners only. Furthermore God
hates self-righteous sinners. They that deny they are sinners.
They are smoke in his nostrils, meaning they irritate him. They
agitate him. They do to him what smoke does
in your nostrils. He despises them. He demonstrates
his hatred of them by giving to them what they deserve. They
want to be smoke in his nostrils, he will see that they get everlasting
smoke for all eternity in the fire that quenches love. But the sinners here blessed
by God are all who confess themselves as sinners, and they delight
in knowing that God showed his love to me, not when I was righteous
because I was not, But God saw me as a sinner and God demonstrated
that He loves sinners by sending His Son to be my Savior. This God says, I have loved you
sinners with an everlasting love. Everlasting in two different
directions. It is everlasting all the way
back into the past when God in love chose in Christ sinners
unto salvation, chose them to be holy and without blame, which
means they were sinners because they had to be chosen to be without
blame and to be holy. He set His love upon them before
the foundation of the world in an unalterable, immutable, righteous,
eternal decree put them in Christ, and loved them before time began.
In time, he finds these sinners, and he tells them, I love you.
I loved you with an everlasting love, everlastingly back into
the future, and my love for you is everlastingly into the future. This love is eternal. These sinners
whom God loves have been loved with an eternal love. A love
that is going back into eternity past. A love that stretches forth
into eternity to come. A love that transcends time. An eternal love. This love that
God has for sinners. But God demonstrated that love. It is one thing to say, I love
you. It is another thing to say, I can prove it. Young men often tell a young
lady, I love you. And she'll say, how much do you
love me? Oh, I love you so much. I would fly the highest mountain. I would swim the widest sea. I would cross in bare feet the
hottest desert. I love you that much. Well, young
man, you better hope she doesn't say prove it. Demonstrate it. Show me how much you love me.
Do those things you said you would. But God proved his love. God
took that which he loves more than anything in all this universe,
his only begotten son. And God demonstrated his love
for this sinner and for all sinners like him in that he sent Jesus
Christ to be my propitiation, to be my redemption, to be my
salvation. God demonstrated that love in
giving what was most dear and precious to him so that I could
become dear and precious to Him as well. What a demonstration
of love. Never doubt this love of God
for sinners. And I say to you that this church
is comprised of such sinners and is for them. Not only does
God demonstrate His love toward us in the death of His Son, but
God justifies sinners. And He justifies none but sinners. Jesus spoke this parable to some
who trusted in themselves that they were righteous and despised,
and he said, two men went up to the temple to pray, one a
Pharisee and the other a public donor, tax collector. And the
Pharisee stood and prayed thus with himself. Now note this very
carefully. These were Jesus's words. The
Pharisee prayed with himself, saying, God, now notice, He's
praying with and to himself, calls himself God. God, I thank
you that I'm not like other men, extortioners, unjust, adulterers,
and particularly I'm not like this publican tax collector.
I fast twice a week, I give tithes of all that I possess. Now if
you look at that prayer very carefully, he prayed with himself,
addressed himself as God, To the best of my knowledge, this
is the only prayer in all the scriptures where a man did not
ask God for anything and was not disappointed at receiving
nothing from God. Self-sufficient, self-righteous,
self-holy. And this tax collector standing
afar off would not so much as raise his eyes to heaven but
beat his breast saying, God, be merciful to me. The sinner. The Greek text has the definite
article, I am the sinner. And Jesus said, that man went
down to his house, justified, and the other did not. What does
this mean? God justifies none but sinners. None but sinners. Oh, if I can but find a center
this morning, if I can but find, is there one here? I hope I'm
not the only center here today, but if I can find a center here,
I got good news for you. God loves centers. God demonstrate his love for
centers and God justifies None but sinners. And this church
is for sinners, that kind of people. Second, observe that
the Lord and Savior of this church is for sinners. Because Jesus
Christ calls to salvation none but those who are sinners. Now
what happened is Jesus sat at the table and leave our Matthew's
house that behold, many tax collectors and sinners came and sat down
with him and his disciples. Notice, sinners came. Matthew had invited a bunch of
people to his house for a feast to meet his new savior. And whom
did Matthew invite? People like himself. Publican
tax collectors and sinners. Here's our Lord in a room full
of nothing but vile wretched sinners Trawl basin harlots and
those who frequent them These are the people Whom Jesus called
to himself and here they are in his presence and he sat down
with them they sat down with him and And when the Pharisees
saw it, they said to his disciples, what does your teacher eat with
tax collectors, publicans, and sinners? And when Jesus heard
that, he said to them, those who are well have no need of
a physician, but those who are sick. Now I know something about
what that means, because I'm a man. And men do not go to doctors
unless they need to. And a man does not need to go
to the doctor unless he requires an ambulance to take him. We
are not sick. We do not get sick. And we do
not need physicians. Our Lord said, they that are
righteous have no need of a physician. But they that are sick do. They
that are sick. Now go and learn what that means. I desire mercy and not sacrifice. And I did not come to call the
righteous, but sinners to repentance. Now, if there's a sinner here
today, I got good news for you. You are the only sort of person
Jesus Christ will call. The only one. You're the only
one who needs a physician. He's the physician, and he's
making households. Now call him. He'll come. He'll
come. The self-righteous have no need
of mercy. Jesus Christ will waste no time
calling them. He goes to those who are soul
sick. You can find a description of
them in the prophecy of Isaiah, first chapter, where the Holy
Spirit declares that from the crown of your head to the sole
of your foot, you are one big mass of putrefying sores that
have not been bound. Your heart is sick. You got heart
trouble. You are an unclean thing, a leper. You're polluted. Defiled. As despicable as you can imagine
in God's sight. You are sick and nobody can help
you. Nobody. Jesus Christ says, I
came to save none but that sort. None but that sort. And he says that there will be
more joy in heaven over one sinner who repents than over 99 just
persons who need no repentance. Oh, is there a sinner here? Is
there? I have good news for you. Jesus
came to save sinners. Jesus came to heal sinners. Jesus came to call sinners, and
he receives them and eats with them. That was a contemptuous
complaint of the self-righteous. This man receives sinners and
eats with them. What kind of sinners? Let me give you a little catalog
of them. It's in 1 Corinthians chapter 6, if you'd like to see
it. 1 Corinthians chapter 6. Verse number nine, do you not
know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God? Now do not be deceived, neither
fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor homosexuals,
nor sodomites, nor thieves, nor covetous, nor drunkards, nor
revilers, nor extortioners, none of these will inherit the kingdom
of God. So there are none of those sorts in God's kingdom. Now read the next verse. And
such were some of you. Well, he pegged me in that verse. If you know him, he pegged you
too. He described you, and such were some of you. We know what it is to be a sinner.
We know what it is to be washed, sanctified, justified, cleansed. And we say to you that this church
is comprised of that sort of people who will not inherit God's
kingdom, but they were that sort. And Christ sanctified them and
washed them because His church is full of sinners. and is for
them. Furthermore, he's a friend of
sinners. And this also was a contemptuous complaint of the self-righteous
against Jesus Christ. They were enemies of sinners.
Remember, they say, do not come near me. I am holier than thou. If you get your concordance and
look up the word holier, holier, It appears only one time in all
God's work, only once, holy earth. Many times you find the word
holy. Many times you find holy, yes,
it's always God. But only once do you find holy
earth, and the only time you find it, God says, I hate it.
I despise it. People who think they've got
such progressive sanctification, they make themselves sinlessly
perfect, or else are working on it, and make themselves a
little holier than Christ, make them when he saved them. And
God says, I hate that. I hate that. It is a smoke in
my nostril. But here's a friend of sinners, and he loves at all times. And
a friend who sticks closer than a brother. And that friend who
epitomizes the truth that greater love has no one than this than
to lay down his life for his friends. I want to be his friend. I want to be the friend of this
one. And he says, I'm the friend of none but sinners. Only sinners. A friend of sinners. Well, This church is comprised
of that sort and is for them. So we have observed that the
God of this church is for sinners, and the Christ of this church
is for sinners. Now third and last, observe that
the gospel of this church is for sinners. That's our text. Every sinner saved by Christ
will confess that this is a faithful Savior. I know it's faithful
because it's been faithful to me. This is the faithful and
worthy of all acceptance that Christ Jesus came into the world
to save sinners, only sinners, none but sinners, and he came
to save each and every one of them, and he will, and he will. He will save every sinner he
came to save. He says, I did not come to condemn
the world, but that the world through me might be saved. I say to you, O sinner, I say
to you that you are never beyond the saving power of this Lord
and Savior, this strength of sinner saving. And if you're
a sinner, I have good news for you. Come, ye sinners, poor and wretched, weak and wounded,
sick and sober, Jesus ready stands to save you, full of pity joined
with power. He is able, He is willing, doubt
no more. And I know that to be true because
this church is comprised of such sinners and his four sinners. We delight in a God who loves
sinners and proves it. A Christ who is a friend of sinners
and saves them. And we delight in this glorious
gospel that Christ saves sinners of whom I am chief and know well
These words were written by Paul the Apostle late in his ministry. He said, I am the chief of sinners. I am the chief of sinners. Well,
I know what that means, too, because I am the chief of sinners. But I've got good news. He saved
this chief of sinners. He'll save all who confess themselves
to be such. And this church is for sinners. Come to Christ.