Would you turn with me to 1 Timothy
chapter 1? I'm just so delighted to be here. Brother Chris was at our place
last Sunday before last, and everybody enjoyed the preaching
so much. It was such a blessing. I got
to hear it. We were thrilled. Thrilled with
the gospel. I'm going to, as the Lord enables
me, pick up where Don left off. I've entitled this message a
salvation sermon. And I expect the Lord to save
somebody through this message. Why shouldn't I expect it? It's
His gospel. Wouldn't it be a blessing if
a lost sinner leaves this place a saved sinner? 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." Now, if you're not a
sinner, I have no gospel for you. But if you're a sinner,
this is a faithful It's worthy of all acceptation. Back back to verse 5, if you
would please. Let's just read this passage
of scripture that led Paul to make this statement. Now the end or the goal of the
commandment. And by commandment, he's talking
about the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ. Thou hast given
commandment, said David, to save me. For 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. Now the goal, the purpose of
the commandment You know everything God says is commandment, doesn't
it? He never advises. He commands. Now the end of the commandment
is charity out of a pure heart. That pure heart that God gives. Blessed are the pure in heart. For they shall see God. Everybody who has a pure heart
loves God. And they love their brothers
and sisters in Christ. It's real. And the goal of the commandment
is a good conscience. What's a good conscience? Is
it one that doesn't feel guilty? Not necessarily. You cannot feel
guilty because you have a seared conscience. Because your conscience
is no good. A good conscience is a conscience
that has nothing to feel guilty about. Only the blood of Christ
can give us this good conscience. I have nothing to feel guilty
about. Now, I've got a cloud of guilt
over my head all the time. I mean, I carry it with me. I
carry it with me. It's always there, but I've got
nothing to feel guilty about. That's better, isn't it? And
faith unfeigned, the end of the commandment is faith unfeigned.
Not fake faith. True faith. Genuine faith. I really believe that Christ
is my righteousness before God. I really believe that. No fake.
That's the only righteousness I have. His righteousness. Faith
unfeigned. From which this goal from which
some, having turned, swerved, have turned aside into vain jangling,
empty, useless speech, desiring to be teachers of the law, understanding
neither what they say nor whereof they affirm." They desire to
be teachers, but they don't understand what it is they're teaching,
and they don't understand the implications behind what they're
teaching. But we know, verse 8, that the law is good if a
man use it lawfully. Talking about God's holy law,
I love the law of God. You know, I don't try to keep
it, I've kept it. I've kept it. Knowing this, that the law is
not made for a righteous man. Now here's the right use of the
law. The law is not made for a righteous man. What do you
put locks on your doors for? For thieves. You don't need to
worry about righteous men, do you? If you want to be under
the law, you know what you say about that to everybody? Everybody,
watch your wallet. Watch your back. That's somebody that desires
to be under the law. All they prove is how wicked
and corrupt they are. That's it. Nothing more. 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. And what is sound doctrine? It
has something to do with the glorious gospel of the blessed
God, which is committed. to my trust, and what a sacred
trust that is. Paul goes on to say, and I thank
Christ Jesus our Lord, who hath enabled me, for that he counted
me faithful, putting me into the ministry. Who was before?
A blasphemer. Before God saved me, before God
revealed the gospel to me, who was before? a blasphemer, and
a persecutor, and injurious, but I obtained mercy because
I did it ignorantly, in unbelief." Now that verse of Scripture used
to trouble me. Does that mean his sin wasn't all that bad?
It was a sin of ignorance? And because of that, God had
mercy on him, but if there would have been more of a willfulness
in his sin and an understanding of his sin, God wouldn't have...
Is that what that means? No. What Paul is saying is, I was
so ignorant, I was so unbelieving that the only way I could be
saved is to obtain mercy. That's it. No other hope. Verse 14, And the grace of our
Lord was exceeding abundant with faith and love which is in Christ
Jesus. Now this is a faithful Now this
is one of Paul's four faithful sayings in the pastoral epistles.
Let's look at them together. Turn to 1 Timothy chapter 4. For bodily exercise, verse 8,
profit little or a little while, but godliness is profitable unto
all things, having promise of the life that now is and that
which is to come. Now that's a faithful saying.
And it's worthy of all acceptation. Everybody ought to embrace this
as the best thing they've ever heard. Turn to 2 Timothy 2. Verse 11. It's a faithful saying. For if we be dead with Him, we
shall also live with Him. You see, if Christ died for you,
you must be saved. If we suffer, We shall also reign
with Him. If we deny Him, He also will
deny us. If we believe not, yet He abideth
faithful. He cannot deny Himself. You see, if you're a believer,
you're united to Him. For Him to deny you would be
for Him to deny Himself. And that's not going to happen.
That's the security of the believer. And then in 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 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 And these things
I will that thou affirm constantly, repetitively, over and over again,
so that they which have believed in God might be careful to maintain
good works. And the only way they will is
by the continual repetition of this." Now back to our text. 1 Timothy chapter 1. Paul says this is a faithful
saying. It's an utterly reliable saying. This is not like the promise
of a politician trying to get elected and making all kinds
of big promises that never come to pass. This is a promise that
you can count on. This is utterly reliable, utterly
trustworthy. And it's worthy of everybody's
welcome reception. This is something that everybody
in this room without exception, ought to receive this as the
absolute best news they've ever heard." Now that's a high commendation,
isn't it? This is a faithful saying. And
it's worthy of all acceptation that Christ Jesus came into the
world to save. Blank. What if it said He came to save
believing sinners? What if it said He came to save
repentant sinners? What if it said He came to save
sensible sinners? What about just plain sinners? You know, I'm thankful that there's
no adjective here. Christ Jesus came into the world
to save sinners. Now here's my question. What
does the Bible mean by this word, sinner? Now if you're one of them, Christ
did, in fact, come to save you. What does the Bible mean by this
term, sinner? It's a biblical word. The publican
cried, God be merciful to me, thee, sinner. The sinner is the one who commits
the sin. God does not put sins into hell. He puts the ones who committed
the sins into hell. You've heard that statement,
God loves the sinner, but he hates his sin. Tell that to the
person in hell. He knows that's foolishness. What is a sinner? And let me
give you four things that I believe will help us to understand what
the Bible means by this word, sinner. I want to see if I can
fit myself into this group because if I'm one of these people, that
means Christ came to save me. And you know if he came to save
me, you know what that means? He saved me. That's what it means.
Now that's, you can find some assurance there. Now what does
the Bible mean by this word? First, what's a sinner? A sinner
is somebody who all they do is sin. Genesis chapter 6 verse 5, listen
to this scripture carefully. And God saw that the wickedness
of man was great upon the earth, and that every imagination of
the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually. Now that's what a sinner is.
He's someone who all he does is sin. Secondly, a sinner is
somebody who cannot not sin. He cannot not Sin. Can the Ethiopian change the
color of his skin? Can the leopard get rid of his
spots? No. How then can you do good
who are accustomed to doing evil? For the carnal mind is enmity
against God. It's not subject to the law of
God, neither indeed can be. So then they that are in the
flesh cannot, they lack the ability to please God. They cannot not
sin. Try not sinning. Everything I do is sin. Everything. But you're preaching. I'm not
taking that back a bit. Everything I do, everything I
think, and I cannot not sin. Thirdly, a sinner is somebody
who has absolutely no claims upon God. None at all. Now the Bible teaches That God
elected a fixed number of people to be saved before time began.
And that Christ died for those people. And God the Holy Spirit
calls those people. He didn't elect everybody. He
just didn't do it. Not everybody is going to be
saved. Now the Bible teaches that. Now here's how a sinner
sees that. If God elected everybody but me. If Christ died for everybody
but me. If God the Holy Spirit calls
everybody but me, I could have no complaints. I would be getting
exactly what I deserve. I couldn't charge God with injustice. I couldn't say it's not fair,
it's not right. No, it's right. A sinner has
no claims on God. And fourthly, a sinner is somebody
who cannot judge anybody. He can't look in moral superiority
down his nose at anybody. He knows it would be the basis
of hypocrisy. A real sinner understands something
about what Peter meant when he said, Depart from me, Lord. You don't want to have anything
to do with me. I am a sinful man. Now let me show you a scripture
that confirms all of this. Would you turn with me for a
moment to 1 John chapter 1. Verse 8. 1 John chapter 1, verse 8. If we say that we have no sin,
now there the word sin is a noun. It's not something we do. It's
a noun. It's talking about a sinful nature. At any time, if we say that we
have no sin, what do we do? We've deceived ourselves. And
we've lost all credibility. We're liars. The truth is not
in us. Don't trust a man like that.
Don't trust him. If we say we have no sin, at
all times I have sinned. And here in verse 10, it says
if we say we've not sinned, now they're the words of verb. That's
something we do. If we say we've not sinned, anything
I do, it's sin. Anything, everything. Everything
I do is sin. Now, how could that be true? if you've got a holy nature. How could that be true when the
scripture says, he that's born of God doth not commit sin? How could that be true? That
everything you do is sin? It doesn't seem like the two
go together to me. How are you saved if that's the
case? Saved from what? How is that? Let me try to give
you an illustration to help me to understand this. Let's say you have a quart of
yellow paint and a quart of red paint. Two different colors of
paint. If you mix them together, what
do you get? Orange. Now, did that yellow paint change
any? No. Did the, what was the other
color? Red, I'm sorry. I messed this
up, I can't get the, I did this last time. Len said, you messed
the illustration up. I'm sorry, but yellow and red. That's what we're looking for.
Okay, yellow and red for orange. You have a quart of yellow paint.
You got a quart of red paint. You pour them in together. And
what do you get? Orange paint. Now, did that yellow
paint change any? No, it's still the same chemical
makeup, but now all you see is orange. Now, when God puts His
new birth in a new man. He gives this holy nature. This
holy nature and this sinful nature is funneled into one man. One
man. So that you can't really see
anything but the orange. That's all you see. Now, notice what Paul said next. He said, of whom I am the chief. Paul said, I'm the foremost. I'm the worst man to ever live. Now, I don't know how much we
really believe that. If I say, I'm the chief of sinners,
and if you reply, yes, Todd, I agree, you are. I'll probably
get offended. I'm no worse than you. I know the way I would react,
so I don't know how much we believe this. But it's so. Of whom I am the chief. Are you a sinner? Somebody who all they do is sin. Somebody who cannot not sin. Someone who has no claims upon
God. And someone who truly can't look
down in judgment on anybody. They know it would be the basest
of hypocrisy. Now, if you're one of those people,
not everybody is, ask them. But if you're one of those people,
Christ Jesus came into the world to save you. No doubt about it. This is certain. How? How? Well, turn to 2 Corinthians chapter
5. As Brother Fortner said, I refer
to this passage of scripture so very often. I suppose in every sermon somehow
it comes up. I was at Brother Paul Mahan's
last week and we were sitting out on his back porch and he
said, if there is one passage of scripture that I was given
to preach the gospel from, it would be 2 Corinthians chapter
5. Bingo, me too. Me too. I believe that this is
a wonderful place. Let's look at it together. 2
Corinthians chapter 5 beginning in verse 17. Now this is how
God saves a sinner. Somebody that fits that description.
Let's begin in verse 17. Therefore if any man be in Christ
There's no more important words in the Bible than that, in Christ.
What's that mean? Well, what did it mean to be
in the ark? What did it mean to be in the
house with the blood over the door? There was safety and security
in there. And outside of that, there was
nothing but wrath. In Christ. In Christ. And this is where salvation begins
in the Lord Jesus Christ. This is the best place to begin.
Of Him are you in Christ Jesus. In Christ. The only hope you
or I have of being saved is by being found in the Lord Jesus
Christ. Paul said, Oh that I may win
Christ and be found in Him. That's where I want to be found. Now, I would love to die preaching
the gospel. I think, boy, wouldn't that be
great? You're preaching the gospel and it happens and you just fall
over dead. Well, wouldn't that be a great way to die? Or I'd
like to be found at least praying or reading the Bible or witnessing
or something. No, no, no, no, no. No. Only one way I want to be found.
When God comes looking for me, oh, that I might be found in
Christ. That's it. Nothing else. All
that other stuff is foolishness. Oh, that I might be found in
the Lord Jesus Christ. If any man be in Christ, he's
a new creation. He's a new creature. A new creation. You see, in Christ, I've got
a new standing before God's law. Not guilty. Justified. Perfect in God's sight. I've got a new heart. It believes
God. It believes the Gospel. It loves
the Lord Jesus Christ. I've got it. Old things have
passed away. Behold, all things have become new. This is from
this new creation. How much does man have to do
with creation? You know, that's so simple. How
much help does man give in creation? Absolutely none. I know that. I tell you what, if you're saved,
you know God saved you, don't you? You're sure of that. You
know that. God saved you. Now, if any man
be in Christ, he's a new creature. Old things are passed away. Behold,
all things are become new. And all things are of God. We
know that, don't we? Everything in this new creation,
it's of God. Even being in Christ is of God.
Of Him are you in Christ Jesus? How do you get in Christ? God's
got to put you there. Of Him are you in Christ Jesus? All
things are of God, who hath reconciled us to Himself. Who's the us mean? Everybody He reconciled. Everybody
He reconciled. He hath reconciled us to Himself
by Jesus Christ. Turn back to Romans chapter 5
for just a moment. I love this verse of Scripture. Verse 10. For if when we were
enemies, we were reconciled to God. When were we reconciled? when we were enemies. Now this reconciliation took
place outside of my personal subjective experience. Now, as
far as subjective experience, that's what makes me feel good.
That's what makes me rejoice to see this. There's our experience,
there's joy in this. If when we were enemies we were
reconciled to God by the death of His Son, much more being reconciled
we shall be saved by His life. Now, back to 2 Corinthians chapter
5. All things are of God, who hath reconciled us to himself
by Jesus Christ. That's what he did on Calvary's
tree. He removed God's reason for anger. That's what reconciliation
is. God didn't have a reason to be
mad at me. My sin was placed upon Christ. Christ bore it. He was made a curse for me. My
sins washed away. God didn't have a reason to be
mad. That's what reconciliation is. He's pleased. and had given
us the ministry of reconciliation to wit, or namely, that God was
in Christ, reconciling the world unto Himself, not imputing their
trespasses unto them." Now, every bad thing that you could say
about me is true. But here's my hope. God doesn't impute it
to me. He put it on His Son. And He takes His Son's perfect
righteousness and places it on me. That's how sinners are saved.
Let's go on reading. He's committed to us the word
of reconciliation. Now then, we are ambassadors
for Christ as though God did beseech you by us. I don't know
even what to say about that. God beseeches me. That's what
it says. That's amazing, isn't it? Now
then, we as ambassadors for Christ as though God did beseech you
by us, we pray you in Christ's name, you be reconciled to God.
God's reconciled! You'd be reconciled to Him. You
don't have any reason to be mad at Him. You've got reason to
bow down and rejoice. Verse 21, 4, He hath made Him to be sin for us. Now what all does that mean?
Does that mean that On the cross, Christ started having sinful
thoughts and committing sins. Oh, perish the thought. It's
worse than that. It's worse than that. He was
made sin. He was made the accursed thing. All the hell that is in sin was
laid upon Him. He was made sin for us. Who knew no sin, that we might
be made the righteousness of God. in Him. Now that's salvation. That is
salvation. I don't have a righteousness
that's just like His. My righteousness is not based
upon His righteousness. My righteousness is His righteousness. Now that is salvation. Christ Jesus came into the world
to save sinners of whom I am chief. Now how can I know if
I'm one of them? How can I have some assurance that Christ died
for me? Well turn with me to Romans chapter
5 once again. You know I wouldn't leave this place knowing Jesus
Christ died for me. Don't you? If I know he died
for me, everything's fine. I mean, everything's fine. It's
good. And look here at Romans chapter
5 verse 6. For when we were yet without strength. Now what's
that mean? Powerless. All you do is sin and you cannot
not sin. Talk about inability. Inability. When we were yet without strength
in due time Christ died for thee ungodly now if this is you without
strength and ungodly Jesus Christ died for you now here's God's
command to you God's command to you Believe on the Lord Jesus
Christ, and thou shalt be saved. As a sinner, believe on Him. Believest thou, he said to those
two blind men, that I am able to do this. Do you believe that He is able
to save you as a sinner? Yes, Lord, I believe. Amen.