Our text this morning will be 1 Timothy. 1 Timothy 1, verse 15. If you want to go ahead and turn there. 1 Timothy 1, verse 15.

You know, in a few days, folks around this world will celebrate a day they call Christmas. Apart from much of the foolishness associated with it, there is something truly about this time of year I do enjoy. I think most of us do. It's a time when families gather together. Some folks get a few extra days off. Kids get a couple weeks out of school. A time of giving. I'm still convinced it's a time when people are probably a little more friendlier, I'd like to think that, a little more friendlier than they are the rest of the year. And it's a time of year when regardless of what people believe or don't believe, they're faced with this truth, confronted with this truth that Jesus Christ did come into this world.

Now the Lord willing, I want to answer three questions this morning. Three questions that I wish men would ask. And the first one, let's look at this text here. I'll give you the three questions before we start. Who came into this world? When? When did he come into this world? And why? Why he came.

1 Timothy 1 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 the chief. This is a true saying. There's an emphasis placed on that, isn't there? This is a true saying. This is a saying not to be doubted. It's not to be argued. It's not to be debated. These words are true. They're to be received and they are to be believed.

What are these words? Jesus Christ came into the world. That's the first question, who? Who came into this world? Well, Jesus Christ came into the world. Look at verse, in Luke 2, in Luke 2, turn over there with me, in Luke 2. Let's take time and look at some of these scriptures this morning. Luke chapter 2. Look at verse 11. For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Savior. A Savior is born. A Savior which is Christ the Lord. Who was born? A Savior. The Savior. Christ the Lord.

Turn back to Isaiah chapter 9. Isaiah chapter 9, beginning with verse 6. Here we read this in the Old Testament. Isaiah 9, verse 6. For unto us a child is born. Unto us a son is given. And the government shall be upon his shoulder, and his name shall be called Wonderful, Counselor, the Mighty God, the Everlasting Father, the Prince of Peace. Of the increase of his government and peace, there shall be no end upon the throne of David and upon his kingdom to order it and to establish it with judgment and with justice from henceforth, even forever, the zeal of the Lord of hosts will perform this.

Almighty God took upon himself the form of a servant. He was made in the likeness of men. Unto us, a child. is born. A son given. A child is born. A man child. Made of a woman. He laid in that womb and came forth just as children are born. But his birth was a miraculous birth. Bone of our bone. Flesh of our flesh. The Lord Jesus Christ, the man, he was born of a woman and he came into this world just like every child comes into this world. A child is born and yet a son, we read there, a son is given. That son was given, sent forth from heaven. sent forth from glory. He was made of the seed of David according to the flesh and declared to be the Son of God with power."

Who came into this world? That one whose name is Wonderful. I'm guilty of this. I carelessly use that word Wonderful. But there's just one. There's just one who is truly wonderful. He alone is wonderful. His name is Counselor. You know, this world is filled with people who want to be counselors, who want to give advice. But there is but one true counselor, Jesus Christ. We're to call on Him.

Who came? Who came into this world? The mighty God. The mighty God. The disciples, they said this to Him, they said, show us the Father. Would you do that? Would you show us the Father? And our Lord replied to them, and He said, He that hath seen Me hath seen the Father. Jesus Christ is God. He's God Almighty. He's God in human flesh.

Is it any wonder, is it any wonder His disciples would ask, what manner of man is this? That even the winds and the sea obey His voice? He is the mighty God. He's the everlasting Father. Our God is one God and yet three distinct persons. I wish I could explain that. I wish I could comprehend that. God's word declares it. These three are one. I don't need any more explanation than that. These three are one.

The truth, the truth, I think sometimes we get lost in trying to explain it. Truth is simply to be declared. Jesus Christ is God. And he that hath seen the Son hath seen the Father. He's the prince of peace. He's the author of peace. Peace between God and sinful man. And before he was born, turn to Luke chapter 1. Luke chapter 1. Luke 1, look at verse 31. Before he was born, the angel Gabriel spoke to Mary and said this, look at verse 31. Behold, thou shalt conceive in thy womb and bring forth a son, and shalt call his name Jesus, he shall be great, and he shall be called the son of the highest. And the Lord God shall give unto him the throne of his father David, and he shall reign. He shall reign over the house of Jacob forever, and of his kingdom there shall be no end.

Who came? Who came? The Lord Jesus Christ. Who came? That one who shall be called Wonderful, Counselor, the Mighty God. That one who's gonna reign, reign over the house of Jacob forever. And listen, that reign, that reign of that kingdom, there'll be no end. That can't be said of any earthly kingdom, can it? Men are raised up and men fall, and others follow in their place. He shall reign forever. He was born into this world as a little child, yet he reigns forever. He reigns as King over all. That's reigning over all. God blessed forever. Jesus Christ came. He's God. And He's God over all. He rules and reigns over all.

How do you respond to that? Do you believe that to be true? Do you believe that to be true that Jesus Christ is God and that He reigns. He sovereignly reigns over all things. Turn to John chapter 10. John chapter 10. Look at verse 25 of John 10. The words, listen, these are the words of our Lord. Verse 25, then came the Jews round about him and said unto him, how long dost thou make us to doubt? If thou be the Christ, tell us plainly. And Jesus answered them, and he said, I told you, and you believe not. The works that I do in my Father's name, they bear witness of me. But you believe not, because you're not my sheep. Because I said unto you, my sheep, they hear my voice. And I know them, and they follow me, and I give unto them eternal life, and they shall never Neither shall any man pluck them out of my hand. My Father which gave them me is greater than all, and no man is able to pluck them out of my Father's hand." And when he said that, it says the Jews took up stones to stone him. And our Lord answered them. He said, many good works I've showed you from my Father. For which of those good works do you stone me? And they answered, saying, for a good work we stone thee not, but for blasphemy. Because thou, being a man, makest thyself to be God.

They wanted to stone him. Can you imagine that? We can, can't we? Listen, religious people, these were religious people, what we would call good church-going people, right? They reached down to the ground, they were so angry, so mad, so filled with wrath, they actually reached down and grabbed stones to cast at Him. They wanted to stone Jesus Christ. What did he do? What did he do to provoke that? He asked him, he said, is it for good work? People didn't have trouble with good works then and they don't now either, do they? Not for a good work. They accused him of blasphemy. They said, because thou being a man, make us thyself to be God.

They didn't believe it then, and men still don't believe that now, that Jesus Christ is God. I tell you who does and who will. God's people will, His elect will, His sheep will. You know, most will go along in this world with Him being the Son of God. Even with him being a messenger of God, a moral man, an example to be followed. But men refuse to believe that he's sovereign. Men refuse to believe that he is God. God in human flesh.

What's the word of God say? Jesus Christ is God. Isaiah 7 verse 14, behold, the Lord himself shall give you a sign. A virgin shall conceive and bring forth a son and shall call his name. There's a lot of meaning in a name, isn't there? Call his name Immanuel, which being interpreted, what is it? What's Immanuel mean? God with us. That's who came. That's who came.

Second question, when? That seems to be an important question. When did he come? Was it December 25th? Turn to Luke chapter 2. Luke chapter 2. Luke 2, beginning with verse 8. Luke 2, verse 8. And there were, in the same country, shepherds abiding in the field, keeping watch over the flock by night. And lo, the angel of the Lord came upon them, and the glory of the Lord shone round about them. And they were sore afraid. And the angel said to them, fear not. How often does the Lord speak that to his people? Fear not, don't be afraid. For behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people. For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, which is Christ the Lord. And this shall be a sign unto you, you shall find the babe wrapped in swaddling clothes, lying in a manger. And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of heavenly hosts praising God and saying, glory to God in the highest and on earth, peace, goodwill toward men.

The scriptures are clear with regard to where he was born. Many of the circumstances surrounding his birth. But it's silent. Scripture is silent on that date. Don't you know, if we knew that date, what would we do? We'd make an idol of it, wouldn't we? It'd be like having a piece of the cross or or part of the Lord's garment, men would worship that rather than Him, rather than Him that came in to the world.

Turn with me to Galatians 4. Galatians 4. You look here and God's Word will tell us when Christ was born. Galatians 4, look at verse 4. When was it? When the fullness of the time was come. You see that? Galatians 4, verse 4. When the fullness of the time was come. God sent forth his son, made of a woman, made under the law to redeem them that were under the law that we might receive the adoption of sons. When was he born? In the fullness of the time. The time appointed by the father, not a day earlier and not a day Later, that day appointed by the Father, when it was fulfilled, He sent His Son into this world. The Lord Jesus Christ, the Messiah, He sent Him into the world. Again, not a minute before.

You know, they set a date, right? Mother finds out she's going to have a child, and they say, well, this is the due date. Sometimes it's a little early, sometimes it's a little bit later, right? Our Lord came to this earth at the appointed time, the time appointed by the Father.

In Psalm 40, we read, sacrifice and offering thou didst not desire, my ears thou hast opened, burnt offering and sin offering hast thou not required. Then said I, who's that? That's the Lord Jesus Christ speaking. Then said I, lo, I come, I come. In the volume of the book, it's written to me to do thy will. Oh God, my law, thy law is within my heart. He came in the fullness of time. That time agreed and fixed upon by God and his son from all eternity. In that council of grace, the covenant of grace, That time when God would take upon himself the form of a man, that he would be made a man. That time that was diligently searched into by the prophets. That time that was revealed to those shepherds out there, out there in the field.

I wonder, you know, sometimes you see something, you make some notes about it. They didn't. That wasn't passed down, was it? But they wanted to see Him. Isn't that our desire? Not to be taken up with a date and a time, but to be taken up with Him, taken up with the Lord Jesus Christ. He came in God's time. He came according to His pleasure.

When the fullness of the time was come, God sent forth his son, made of a woman, made under the law. And listen, here's the last point. Why? Why did he come? Look at verse five of, again, there in Galatians chapter four, if you still have it, Galatians four. Look at verse five. He came to redeem them that were under the law that we might receive the adoption of sons. He came to redeem his people. He perfectly obeyed the law, every jot, every tittle. He went to the cross. He would go to the cross and suffer the penalty. of our sin. He redeemed us from the curse of the law. The Lord Jesus Christ came and He purchased our freedom. He redeemed us from the law and satisfied God's justice that we might be made, that His people might be made the sons of God.

Turn back to our text. Turn back to 1 Timothy. 1 Timothy. Verse one. This is a faithful saying. And worthy of all acceptation that Christ Jesus came into the world to save, to save sinners of whom I'm the chief. Why did he come into this world? Why did the Lord Jesus Christ come into this world? Well, according to God's word, He came, listen, we're reminded this is a faithful saying, this is a true saying. A saying not to be doubted, again, not to be argued. These are true words, they're to be received and believed. And they declare why He came. What does God's Word say? Not what man says, what does God's Word say? He came into the world to save sinners. He came to save his people from their sin, to save them by dying for them.

The angel said to Mary and Joseph, thou shalt bring forth a son and call his name Jesus, for he shall. He shall save His people from their sins. That's why God sent Him. That's why He came. To save His people.

Luke 19.10, the Lord Jesus said Himself, He said, The Son of Man is come to seek and to save that which was lost. John 3.16, that's a familiar passage of scripture. God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life, eternal life in his son.

Isaiah wrote, he said, he was wounded for my transgressions. He was bruised for my iniquities. To chastise my peace was upon him and by his stripes. We are healed.

Christ put away our sin, and he did it by the sacrifice of himself. Paul wrote in Romans 8, 34, he said, who is he that condemneth? It's Christ that died, yea, rather, that is risen again, who's at the right hand of God, whoever liveth to make intercession for us.

He came to save His people from their sin. To deliver us from the penalty of the law. To deliver us from the punishment of God. Sin must be punished. The wages of sin is death. And the Lord Jesus Christ took that upon Himself for His people. He delivers His people from the guilt and condemnation of sin. He came to save sinners, to deliver sinners. He came to seek and to save that which was lost.

He didn't come to call the righteous. I'm not making that up. That's in God's Word. He didn't come to call the righteous. He came to call sinners to repentance.

In closing, back to our original text, again here in 1 Timothy, Paul wrote this. He said, Jesus Christ came into the world to save sinners.

That's not a, in our day, men come up with like a catch phrase or a little sound bite, something that they They think about it a little bit, it sounds good, so they'll throw that out to people and see how they respond to it. Paul knew this. Paul knew this by experience.

Any question that Paul was a sinner? Any question in your mind? Listen, he hated the gospel. He absolutely hated it. He hated Christ. He hated his people. He went about putting them in prison. As a young man, he sat there and held the coats of those men that stoned Stephen. Stephen, the only thing he was doing was declaring the gospel, declaring the truth.

In these verses prior to 1 Timothy 1.15, look back at verse 12. Just quickly, look back at verse 12. I thank Christ Jesus, our Lord, who hath enabled me, for that he hath counted me faithful. putting me into the ministry. And then Paul says a few things about himself in his earlier age.

No doubt we all have regrets about our younger lives. But listen, he says this, he said, before I was a blasphemer. I was a persecutor. I was an injurious person. I hurt people. He doesn't stop there though, does he? Look what he says, but I obtained mercy. Mercy. I did it ignorantly. I did it in unbelief.

God brought a change in him, didn't he? God revealed the gospel to him. And he said, the grace of the Lord was exceeding abundant with faith and love. And where's that found? Which is in Christ Jesus. The Lord did a work of grace in his heart, didn't he?

And the Word of God, is that the only example in Scripture? God's word is filled with folks like Paul. Remember that woman at the well? She went there in the middle of the day hoping to get there without being seen by anybody. And our Lord confronted her with the truth. He said, where's your husband? She said, I don't have one. He said, you've had five, five husbands.

What about that woman who washed our Lord's feet? His feet. Took the hairs of her head and her tears and washed his feet. What do we know about that woman? Same thing everybody in that town knew about her. She was a sinner. Oh, if you knew what manner of woman this was, washing your feet, as if our Lord, as if there was anything he doesn't know, he knows all the, that's who he came to save.

That Gadarene man that cut on himself, He couldn't be bound. And he ends up sitting at the feet of the Lord Jesus Christ in his right mind. Any question, any question in your mind, these folks were sinners. We don't have to give that a lot of thought, do we? I ask you this, are you? Are you a sinner? Has the Lord, the only way you truly know that is if the Lord reveals it to you.

I tell you this, if you are, if you're a sinner, there is good news. when the fullness of the time was come. God sent forth his son made of a woman, made under the law to redeem them that were under the law that we might receive the adoption of sons. Good news. Jesus Christ came into the world to save sinners. That's what he did. He came into the world to save sinners. Who came? Jesus Christ came. Emmanuel, God with us. When did he come? In the fullness of the time. In his own time, that time determined by the Father.

Why? Why did he come? He came to save. He came to save His people. She shall bring forth a son, and thou shalt call His name Jesus, for He shall. There's no question in that word. He shall save. And who's He going to save? His people. He's going to save them from their sin. His people, a particular people, a purchased people. A people bought with the precious blood of the Lord Jesus Christ. A chosen people, chosen by his sovereign grace. He chose them. He set his love upon them. He suffered and died for them. He shall save his people.

Why did he come? Why did the Lord Jesus Christ come? He came into the world to save sinners. Aren't we thankful? Aren't we thankful that God is, that he has a people and that he's merciful, merciful to them?

All right, Isaac, come lead us in closing hymn.