1 Timothy chapter 1. Our message today is for sinners
only. For sinners only. And we're reading
one verse of Scripture, 1 Timothy chapter 1 and verse 15. 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." This is the Apostle
Paul writing to Timothy. For sinners only. I settled on
this title when I remembered something I heard years ago on
the radio. It was a religious broadcast. I was flipping the channels trying
to find something worth listening to. And this was a replay of
a Sunday morning service. And the preacher said, I was
planning to preach a sermon to sinners today, but I don't believe we even have
any visitors. today. He was implying that not
one of his regular congregation was a sinner. Of course, he was
using the term to describe an unregenerate person, a person
who had never been born again. And I could identify with him
because I grew up in a Southern Baptist church that with that
understanding myself that there are two types of people, saints
and sinners. And that wrought much grief in
my heart. I could not be convinced I was
a saint because I knew I had not ceased being a sinner. And I thought lots of things. I thought, how much can a person
sin and not be a sinner. But in time, the Lord taught
me through His true servants that saints are sinners too.
Matter of fact, God's children are enlightened more and more
every day we live just how great of sinners we are. Sure, our conduct has improved
a little bit and ought to, but we are more conscious than ever
of the awful corruption of our nature because of sin. That's what Paul says about himself
here. Christ Jesus came into the world
to save sinners, of whom I am chief, not used to be chief, But after many years of preaching
and following God, he said, still I am the chief of sinners. Does that mean he had done anything
so awful since the Lord had changed his life, regenerated him any
more than he might? No. It just means that he was
more conscious than ever of the corruption of sin in his own
nature, and in his own heart. And it's that way with every
child of God. And I've said this to you many
times, and I'm sure some of you didn't understand, but I've said
if you don't feel like you're the worst person here, you've
got a problem. If you knew your own heart, if
you knew your own nature, you'd be convinced there couldn't possibly
be anybody here any worse than you. So we're
calling this message for sinners only. Because unless you can
manage to put yourself in that class, this will be of no value,
this will be of no interest to you whatever. Now, Paul said
that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners. So we're going to ask several
questions about this. Number one, what is it to be
a sinner? If you ask the average religionist
if he or she is a sinner, they will usually answer something
like this. Well, I'm not what I ought to
be, but I wouldn't exactly say I'm
a sinner. I mean, I try to live right. Well, how right is right? How close are you to Matthew
5, verse 48? Be ye therefore perfect, even
as your Father which is in heaven is perfect. How close are you to 1 Peter
1, verse 16? Be ye holy. For I am holy. How right is right? It's as right
as God is. How perfect is perfect? It's
as perfect as God is. How holy is holy? It's as holy as God is. To be a sinner is to be corrupted. and eat up with the awful disease
of sin. It's not just a small matter
of conduct that you tell a little lie now and then, or that you
miss the mark now and then, but your entire being, mind, heart,
and will are by nature corrupted by sin. And apart from grace, you'd be in rebellion against
God with every fiber of your being a sinner. So no matter how much
religion you have of any kind, you have not ceased being a sinner. It is only as the Holy Spirit
quickens and makes you conscious of this. It's only then that
there's any hope for the likes of you and I. We understand clearly
we're sinners by nature, by birth, before birth. I've often said
this, baby rattlesnakes are not born with the privilege of deciding
whether they'll be rattlesnakes or copperheads or king snakes. No, it's in the nature. And so
it is with us. Sin is in our nature. The godly old prophet Isaiah
got a glimpse of just how holy God is in chapter 6 of Isaiah. And he got a glimpse of just
how unholy he was. And he confessed, woe is me,
for I am undone. I am a man of unclean lips. You say, well, what had Isaiah
done that was so awful? He wasn't referring to anything
he had done. He was referring to what he was
by nature. Sin is not what you do. Sin is
what you are. You do what you do because of
what you are. Your conduct does not make you
a sinner. Your conduct reveals that you
are a sinner. And then there's David, the man
after God's own heart. He knew this about himself. He
said, I was shapen in iniquity. In sin did my mother conceive
me. I was corrupt. I was an awful
sinner, a helpless sinner from my mother's womb. And then we
think of the Apostle Paul who said in Romans 7, Oh, wretched
man that I am. What did he mean by that? Well, that word wretched that
Paul used occurs only one of the time in the New Testament.
Revelation 3.17, Christ speaking to the church at Laodicea, who
felt they were in good shape and needed nothing. And the Lord
said to them, you don't even know that you're wretched, miserable,
poor, blind, and naked. And so Paul is saying, there's
something of that spirit in me. I'm a wretched creature. And
left to myself, I would feel self-sufficient. I would feel
that I was in control. I would live and die without
God. Left to myself, my sinful flesh
would never bow. I'd be my own God. because there's
something in me, even now, that hates God. You look at me this morning and
you say, well, there's nothing in me that hates God. You're
lying. By nature, the corruption of sin that we're all plagued
with hates God. Hates God. Oh, wretched man that
I am, he said, Who shall deliver me from the body of this death? Not the death of this body I'm
walking around in, but the body of this death I'm walking around
in. We're walking around in death,
a corrupt, sinful body that's got to go back to the dust. And
unless this morning you are brought by the Holy Spirit of God to
the fearful reality that yes, I'm like David, full of sin and
corruption even before I was born. And yes, like Isaiah, I
am undone. My lips are unclean and rotting
off with the leprosy of sin. And yes, like Paul, oh wretched
man that I am, Without this consciousness and confession in your own heart,
wrought by the Holy Ghost, you're not really a sinner, so you think. You're just a self-righteous
religionist, as certain for hell as if you
were already there. This gospel of Jesus Christ is
for sinners only. That's what I'm saying. Another
question, number two. How is it that God can save sinners? How is it that an infinitely
holy God can save such unholy creatures as ourselves. How could one like he is ever
approve of such as we are? Well, it's not that he just erases
the charges. It's not that he just wipes the
slate clean as if it never happened. A lot of people are confused
about this. A lot of people dishonor God
and His Son in this. It's not just that He wipes the
slate clean because you came down to the front and apologized
to Him and promised to do better. No. Sin has to be paid for. He doesn't just wipe the slate
clean as if it never happened. The truth is, if God ever has,
or ever will change your heart, having forgiven your sin, it
is because He put the judgment of what you are on His only begotten
Son on the cross. All who were not represented
in Christ and by Christ on that cross are certain to face judgment
for their sins. And I promise you, you are nothing,
you have done nothing, you can do nothing to appease God's wrath
against you and your sin. If it's left up to you, you'll
surely perish. How is it an infinitely holy
God can save such unholy creatures as ourselves. It's because He
judged us, not in ourselves, but in the perfection of His
Son in Christ. Another question. We've talked
a minute about what it is to be a sinner and about how it
is God can save sinners. And a third question. What kind
of sinners does God save? And the answer is simply dead
sinners. Dead sinners. Those who have no life. Those who are totally helpless
to make a move. Helpless to lift a hand. Helpless to take a step. Helpless to speak a word in our
own behalf. Oh, you just try approaching
God Almighty apart from His Son and you're in big trouble. Paul
wrote to the church at Ephesus and said this in Ephesians 2.
to the saints, to the believers. And you, you sinners, hath He,
God, quickened, which means made alive, who were dead in trespasses
and in sins. Can a dead man raise himself?
No. Can a spiritually dead man change
his nature? No. Jeremiah 13, 23 says, can the Ethiopian change
his skin? Or the leopard change his spots? Then, and only then, may ye also
do good that are accustomed to do evil. Jeremiah said if the
Ethiopian can decide he wants to be white instead of black
and make it happen, if the leopard can decide to remove his spots
and be some other animal and make it happen, he said then
you might be able to do something about your condition. But it
cannot be so. It cannot be so. Job, the patriarch,
asked the question, who can bring a clean thing out of an unclean? And he answered his own question,
not one, not one. You see, turning over a new leaf
is not the answer. You don't have a new leaf to
turn over. And your old leaf is dirty on both sides and throughout. in trespasses and in sins, as
dead spiritually as Lazarus was dead physically. You remember
that story? He was wrapped in grave clothes. He was placed in the tomb. The
stone was rolled over it. And he had been there four days.
And his own sister confessed to the Lord Jesus. By this time,
his body is a stinking. He's dead. There's no use talking
to him about making a decision for Christ. He's dead. Lazarus, why don't you just exercise
your free will that everybody's talking about. kick the lid off
that casket, roll the stone back, and come on out of there. Lazarus, we're going to sing
one other stanza just for you. Lazarus, won't you come? No, he won't come. He's dead. So what kind of sinners does
God save? dead sinners who cannot help
Him save them. That's the trouble. Somebody
says, God did His part and I did mine. Dead people don't
have a part. If you'll just take that first
step, dead people don't take a step. The old song over 50 years ago,
and songs have really messed us up. That old song over 50
years ago now, my daddy used to play on that old RCA thing,
Chuck Wagon Gang. When I looked up and he looked
down. Dead people don't look up. They
don't look at all. And then a later song. His hand
reached further down than I could reach up. Dead people don't reach
up at all. God will reach all the way or
you'll perish. The ball's never been in your
court. And you couldn't do anything with it if it was. Salvation
is of the Lord. Another question. How many such
sinners, dead sinners, will God save? Well, obviously, not all of Adam's
race. Since God alone can save sinners, and since millions have already
perished, and millions more are perishing, either this is God's eternal
purpose that it be just like it is, or He's the biggest failure
this world has ever heard of. Well, He's no failure. He's saving
all He ever purposed to save, and He's damning the rest, and
He's just in doing so. A lot of people have a problem
with this blessed truth of God's sovereign election, that He chose
to save some by His grace, but not all. And they say, but God is fair
to all men. No, He's not. If He stopped with
fairness, we'd all perish. He's gone beyond fair in that
He has chosen that not all Adam's race would be left to themselves
to perish. He chose and elect people in
His Son from eternity. Christ came into the world and
died. Not to make salvation possible
for anyone, but to make it certain for all for whom he died. We hear people pray sometimes,
Lord, save that soul that's nearest hell. Like he's doing his best
to rescue as many as he possibly can. He might have turned his
head and there might be one slipping over here that he didn't notice. May I say, not one of God's elect
has ever been within a million miles of hell. God's elect are in Christ. A lot of people say, well, I
don't believe in elections. Sure they do. Sure they do. So long as they're doing the
electing. What they have a problem with
is God doing as He wills with His own creation. They have a problem with God
saying, I will have mercy on whom I will have mercy. I will
have compassion on whom I will have compassion. It's God's right to determine
anything that men hate. Sure is. In this country, the
United States of America, every four years we have a presidential
election. And you know, well as I do, that
usually by late that night we have a president-elect. He's not the president yet, But
he's the president-elect. There is for certain to be an
inauguration day. The election has already been
held. And the president-elect will
be sworn in. He will be president. He's already
been elected, picked out, chosen, His destiny is determined. He's going to the White House.
Well, that's how God's election is. God's sovereign election
works just like that. Ephesians 1-4, a definite number
of Adam's race from every kindred, nation, and tongue were chosen,
that is, elected by God in Christ before the foundation of the
world. You see, God is not operating
on a plan-as-you-go basis. That's us, but not Him. He don't even have good days
and bad days. He's not doing anything He hadn't
always been going to do. Nobody's talking him into anything
or out of anything. He's God. How many will God save? All whom
He chose to save before He created the world. Now, this sinful, depraved nature
I've been describing won't ever give God the right to do that. but he's doing it anyway. Men want a religion that can
back God in the corner and obligate him to do this or that, but it's
not so. How can we justify Romans 9.13
with today's man-centered religion? Jacob have I loved, But Esau
have I hated. You can't justify that. But the truth of the matter is,
since none deserve salvation, and since God is obligated to
none, then he certainly is not unjust nor unfair to show mercy
to whom he will. He's God. This doctrine of election
is what Christ our Lord preached and practiced while he walked
the earth. Oh, you talk much about it, and
somebody accuses you of being a Calvinist. Oh, you believe
that old stuff John Calvin taught. Well, I will tell you, before
John Calvin was ever heard of, the Apostle Paul taught it, preached
it, and wrote it. Whole New Testament of it. And
before the Apostle Paul come along, the Lord Jesus Christ
taught it and preached it clearly. Oh, yes. Oh, yes. Lazarus wasn't
the only one buried in that graveyard, but he is the only one Christ
raised that day. John chapter five, it was election.
That's election. John chapter 5, there was a great
multitude of blind and halt and diseased and crippled folk laying
around that pool of Bethesda. Christ passed by and quickened one. One. That's election. In Luke chapter
4, the Lord Jesus preached a message on election. in his hometown
of Nazareth. And he said to him, in the days
of Elijah, there were many struggling widows in Israel in that awful
famine in the land. But Elijah was only sent the
one, and her a Gentile to sustain the meal barrel and the cruise
of oil. That's election. That's election. He went on and
said, in the days of Elisha the prophet, there were many lepers
in Israel. Many in Israel that had that
awful disease. But to none of them did Elisha
minister healing, save one. And that one was a Syrian. He wasn't even Israelite, Naaman
the Syrian. That's election. That's election. When Jesus got done preaching to his own folks, the Bible said
where he had brought up, where he was brought up, right there
at Nazareth. When he got done preaching that great sermon on
election, what did they do? Did they start shouting and jumping
benches? throwing song books in the air,
praising God, hallelujah, what a sermon. No, they didn't. No,
they didn't. They said, we'll not tolerate
this. We will not put up with this.
And they, the Bible says, were filled with wrath. They got mad
as the devil over Jesus preaching election. And the Bible says
they rose up and thrust him out of the city, and led him under
the brow of the hill, and would have pushed him over the cliff
headlong. We're not putting up with this.
No, sir. Sinful flesh hates for God to
be God. hates God's sovereign election.
But He does as He wills, with whom He wills, when He wills. Psalm 115 verse 3, Our God is
in the heavens. He hath done whatsoever He hath
pleased. Oh yes, Christ preached election. You
know, some of these supposed successful ministries today really
make the Lord Jesus look bad. I mean, he started out well with
just 12, and he attracted people, and he had a great multitude
of followers. Then he started going downhill. They started walking away. And
he wound up condemned and died alone. About all I'm hearing nowadays
in the religious world is how they're growing in leaps and
bounds. Having three services on Sunday. We're having to do this and that
and the other. just to accommodate the people.
Oh, aren't they really making the Lord Jesus look bad? They're accomplishing so much
more than He was able to accomplish. Hogwash! Hogwash! Romans 9.21, it is the potter's
right, out of the same lump of clay,
not a different lump, but of the same lump. Adam's race is
all one lump, one sinful lump. But the master potter, just because
he wills to do so, makes one vessel unto honor and another
unto dishonor. He makes the palace cookware and the pauper's bedpan out of
the same lump. All his work is glorious. He's
the master potter. Ephesians 1, 5, those and only
those whom he has chosen, he has predestinated. That is, predetermined
our destiny. unto the adoption of children
by Jesus Christ to Himself. According to what? Whether they
are good little boys or girls? No. Is that what it said? But according to the good pleasure
of His will. It is offensive to people who
do not know the Lord Religious maybe, but it is offensive to
all who do not know the Lord that everything God does, he
does simply because he wants to. No other reason. And if you have a problem with
this, you're a stranger to grace. This whole business is about
God's will. What's wrong with this generation
that we live in is that everybody has rights except God. He don't have any. He has to do, and the religious
regime has taught us, God has to do with me what I say he can
do with me, what I let him do. A stranger to grace. Then so many will explain God's
elective grace like this. He looked down through the generations
of time and saw that you would believe what you would do. And maybe you would like to be
a Christian. So he just went ahead and put
you on the list. No, that's your election, not his. His election is not based on
your will or your works. It is with us just as it was
with Esau and Jacob. Before you were ever born, having
done neither good or evil, before you were ever heard of in this
world. God either loved you and has never stopped loving you,
or He hated you and has never stopped hating you. If you're in Christ, He loves
you. If you're only in Adam, He hates
you. You say, that is so hard. That
is so hard. Well, what chance do I have to
be saved. And I hear this all the time,
I believe everybody has a chance to be saved. Nobody has ever
been saved by chance. God does it on purpose. It's
a deliberate work on His part. His eternal, unchangeable purpose. Undefeatable purpose. God's election
is not the result of our believing. Our believing is the result of
God's election. That's the order. One other question,
and we'll be through. Question five, how may I know
that I am among those elect sinners for whom Christ died, that I
am one whom Christ died to save. Well, first of all, what is it
you want saving from? That word save in our text, like
so many other places, means deliver. Deliver from what? Matthew 121,
the angel told Joseph, Thou shalt call His name Jesus, for He shall
deliver to His people a ticket to heaven. Is that what it said?
That's not what it said. Thou shalt call His name Jesus,
for He shall deliver His people from hell. Is that what it said?
Anybody in their right mind wants to escape hell. But what the
angel of the Lord told Joseph that Jesus Christ came to do, thou shalt call His name Jesus,
for He shall save His people from their sins. Nobody else
but His people. Old Roth Barnard preached a great
sermon 50 years ago now, do you want to be made like Christ? And that's the whole issue, folks. Romans 8, 29, for whom he did
foreknow, he also did predestinate. Predestinate to what? To be conformed
to the image of his Son. So Barnard was right. That is
the issue. Do you want to be made like Christ? Or do you just want a ticket
to heaven while you live like hell in this world? Romans 8.30, Moreover whom he
did predestinate, them he also called with an effectual call. There is a general call of the
gospel, which preachers preach, and you can hear it with your
physical ears. Repent and believe, but no one is ever saved. No
one is ever delivered by that general call. That's a call you can reject,
and will reject. But then there's a definite call,
an effectual call, a personal call from the Holy Spirit of
God Himself to your heart and to you alone. That call you cannot
and will not reject. There is created in your heart
a longing to know Him and to love Him, to follow Him, to obey
Him. If you have that desire this
morning, God gave it to you. Everybody don't desire that. Your heart aches, oh, I want
to be His. Everybody don't feel like that.
And your spirit cries, Lord Jesus, I want to love you. I think I
do. But I'm so ashamed. I don't love
you like I should love you. Unbelievers don't have that problem. A spiritually dead person don't
feel that way. Only quickened sinners feel that
way. You say, well, I have doubts
about my salvation. Unbelievers don't. They don't
worry about it. Let me say this, if you are a
reprobate, if hell is your lot, nothing that I say or any other
preacher says will affect you. on your merry way to the pits
of the damned. It will go in one ear and out
the other. The truth of God's grace and
the gospel of Jesus Christ will roll off of you like water off
a duck's back. It will mean nothing. So this morning, I'm not preaching
that you're big enough to leave God out. I'm preaching that He's
big enough to leave you out. But if you're here today and
truly in your heart, you want the Lord. There's but one explanation
for it. He wants you. 1 John 4.19, we love Him because
He first loved us. There's your answer. The word
because in that verse is big, it's huge. It is saying simply
this, the only way you can possibly love Him the least bit is because
He first loved you. And now I'll close with this, and you can conclude where you're
at this morning. All through the four Gospels,
Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John, good people, moral people, religious
people are left to perish in their sins and wouldn't have
it any other way. What do you have religiously?
And what have you done religiously that they did not have and do? The answer is nothing. And all through the four Gospels,
Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John, Christ our Lord goes out of His
way to great lengths to seek out sinners who know they are
sinners. like me, and I love Him for it
this morning. I'm simply saying this gospel
of Jesus Christ is most assuredly for sinners only. For sinners
only. May God stamp this truth in our
hearts, cause us to crawl off and seek Him, with all our hearts.