Well, as everyone's probably
already recognized, things are a little different this morning,
but Miss Allison is starting to feel ill, so Jason had to
take her home. I have a couple things to give
you before I begin my message in earnest, but if you would
be turning to First Timothy, chapter one, I do bring you greetings. from your brothers and sisters
who gather at Sovereign Grace Chapel in Crow, West Virginia.
In specific, Paul and Paula Pendleton sends you their love as well. And while you're turning to 1
Timothy 1, here's a hymn. That Joe Belusik sent me yesterday
evening is found in Gadsby's Hymns, number 322, by Samuel
Medley. His title is, "'Tis All for the
Best." And of course, his text, this will be familiar, Romans
8, 28. And Medley wrote these words.
My soul now arise. My passions take wing. Look up to the skies and cheerfully
sing. Let God be the object in praises
addressed. And this be my subject. Tis all
for the best. Search all the world through.
Examine and see. And what canst thou view more
suited to thee? then this declaration in scripture
expressed that God, thy salvation, does all for the best. Though
here, day by day, his love shall see good upon thee to lay his
fatherly rod, yet be not dejected, however oppressed, though sorely
afflicted, tis all for the best. The beams of his grace are passing
all worth. The smiles of his face are heaven
on earth. When to me he shows them what
joy fills my breast, and when he withdraws them, it is all
for the best. But oh, that blessed day, and
soon it will arise, when freed from my clay, I mount to the
skies. Then gladly I'll enter my heavenly
rest, and there sing forever, tis all for the best. I thought
that was a pretty good quote. I liked that. Here's a quote. I changed it a little bit because
I thought it needed a little updating. Most professing Christians are
too busy to worship. And many church services are
so filled with man-made promotion that God is almost forgotten.
People go to church to be spectators at a religious program, not participants
in spiritual worship. They spend their time in counting,
not waiting. As long as there are results,
nobody cares whether or not God was pleased as his people gathered
to honor him and offer him spiritual worship. The missing ingredient
is worship. In other words, ascribing to
God worth rather than trying to use God to produce the results
we have already planned. How true that is in our day and
age. It's sad. One thing I did hear a dear preacher
say not long ago, what he may have said a long time ago, but
I heard it on tape not too long ago. Well, that's not true either. It's not tape anymore, either.
It's a little disc or a plug-in card or something. He said, why
in the world would you get mad at a blind man because he cannot
see? Why would we? Yet we do. We do. But I can understand why
a blind man would be mad at me when I tell him I see. Now, my
text. 1 Timothy chapter 1. Very familiar. I will read just
one verse. 1 Timothy chapter 1 and verse 15. Paul, of course, is continuing,
but he writes these words. 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. These words seem so simple. There are no great profound theological
expressions from the theological schools of modern day thought
that even would compare to the simplicity of these words. 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 and yet if we consider
where this came from, not the intermediate source, not Paul.
This came from the heart and mind of God Almighty. Through
this man, the apostle Paul, this, the creator, the king of heaven
and earth, the thrice holy God, before whose presence There are
angels that have six wings and with two of those wings, they're
holy angels. They have never fallen. They have never ceased to, since
their creation, never ceased to serve the creator. And yet
they must cover their faces as they stand before this thrice
holy God. And yet this God said, I sent
my son to save sinners. Now I say this from experience.
I'm not trying to build a straw man. I've been there. This is not secondhand knowledge.
I was born and raised in modern day fundamental soul winning
religion. I was steeped in it. And I made
my profession when I was about five years old. But I have to
say this about all that time, modern, man-centered, free will
religion has, at best, at best, and I'm trying to be generous,
and I'm not pointing my finger at them, I had to point my finger
at myself as well, I was one of them, Dave, has, at best, It's the one track mind. Let
me try to explain that. They read the word save here,
and maybe some of you are thinking the same thing this morning.
And I confess to you that at one time, this is all I understood.
When they read this word save, they think of initial conversion.
When a person gets saved, or when a person is saved. I've
thought of it this way for years. In other words, they hear the
word save in this passage, and they think of a profession of
faith. They think of going forward down the aisle, praying the sinner's
prayer, and we're on and on. Paul the apostle was never so
narrow-minded. Now granted, the super abounding
majority of times that the word save is used, it is speaking
of that initial first act of God in converting the soul through
the preaching of the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ. But if
God uses that word one time to mean anything before or after
that initial gospel conversion, then it is valid even if it's
only mentioned one time. Turn to 2nd Pantheons chapter
one. And we will see where the Apostle
Paul clearly uses this word in far more than just one narrow-minded
instance. 2 Corinthians 1, just two verses,
that we have the sentence of death in ourselves, that we should
not trust in ourselves, but in God, which raiseth the dead. My brothers and sisters, this
is applicable to both physical death and physical resurrection
or spiritual death and spiritual resurrection. But then look at
the next verse. See it? Who delivered. That's the exact same word you'll
read often translated saved or safe. Who delivered. Jason, what
tense is that in? Past tense. Do you see that?
who delivered us from so great a death and right now is presently
delivering. Do you see that? And doth save
or deliver. Do you see it? In whom we trust
that he will yet save or deliver us. So let us never be so narrow-minded. as to think of the word saved
as having to do only and specifically with our initial conversion by
the preaching of the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ. Now the
reason I emphasize that is not merely to point the finger at
someone else or at myself in the past. Our text zeroes in
on who has That's what Paul's talking about
when he says, this is a faithful saying and worthy of all acceptation
that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners. A question
I must ask myself, did he do it or did he not? That's the
question. Did he do it or did he not? You
see, in particular here, Paul is Zeroing in on that aspect
of that prior salvation, Christ Jesus came into the world to
save sinners. Consider these few following
things. Christ Jesus came into the world
to save. He did not say Christ came into
the world so sinners could be saved. He came into the world
to save. Now, you see, when I was in religion,
we didn't care what the Bible actually said, we cared what
we thought. So we would read into the book what we wanted
to read into the book to make it fit our scheme of how we were
born and raised. That's not what Paul says here.
That's not what he says. Christ Jesus came into the world
to save sinners. It's clear. This book does not
teach that Christ Jesus came into the world to reform sinners. It does not say that Christ Jesus
came into the world to encourage sinners. It does not say that
Christ Jesus came into the world so sinners could be saved. That
is absolutely false from this context. From this context. God help us to never deny the
threefold aspect of God's salvation. half delivered, doth deliver,
and shall yet deliver. As I heard Tim James once say
years ago, he said, every time I hear the gospel, God saves
me. And when I was in religion, I would not have understood that
phrase whatsoever. But I know exactly what Tim's
talking about now. Second thought, Christ Jesus
is the only source of this faithful saint. Christ Jesus came to do
the actual saving, not to enable someone or something else to
save. He himself came into the world. God the Creator, God the Son,
came into the world to save sinners. So simplistic, isn't it? And
yet so profound that the Apostle Paul is, I say, forced to write
to the inspiration of the Spirit of God, great is the mystery
of godliness. The first one is what? God manifest
in the flesh. My mind cannot wrap itself around
that statement. I am forced by the Spirit of
God, applying the truth of God's Word, to bow in my face before
God and say it's true, even though I can't wrap my arms around that. Here's a third thought. Christ
Jesus had particular objects of this salvation, of whom I
am chief. Years ago, when I thought I had
the bull by the tail on a downhill pull, I would make statements
along this line. Well, if I didn't know Paul was
inspired, I'd call Paul Lyer there, because I'm the chief
of sinners, being proud of my own ungodliness. Now, we think
of the word chief as what? Top dog, right? The head honcho. I'm the prime example. I can
relate to that. Paul's not saying he was the
worst sinner than anybody else. He said, I'm a prime example
of the kind of person Jesus Christ came to save. Now listen to me. I'm going to make a statement
here. I want to do like I sometimes do in other places that I preach. I'm going to pull out the proverbial
grenade of truth. I'm going to pull the pin. and
I'm going to throw it down at your feet and let's see whether
you run or you stay. God Almighty saved Saul of Tarsus
when he was still Saul of Tarsus and when he was still shaking
his fist in the face of the Lord Jesus Christ. He saved him when
he died on that tree. And he saved him when he stopped
him in his tracks in the very midst of rebellion. Now that
might not be the way we normally want to use the word saved because
everybody's so afraid just to turn it all over to God. And
say unless God does the saving, it won't be done. Even my brothers
and sisters, Us and our fine, strong Calvinism, and rightfully
so, I find myself flinching back from using certain words because
I'm afraid somebody will misunderstand what I'm saying. They can't understand. It doesn't matter how theologically
and mathematically and rationally it is presented. The gospel is
not instructing men or teaching men into the kingdom. It is preaching
Christ and that message gripping their souls in such a way that
they cannot escape the truth of the person and work of Jesus
Christ. I'm glad Christ came into the
world to save chief sinners, aren't you? Aren't you? There's
a fourth thought. That Christ Jesus came into the
world to save sinners, Paul here says has two unassailable facets. Basically, I want to add to the
impulsive, we don't argue about this. We don't debate about this. We don't try to reason out the
points and try to find the greater details of what proves our point. This is a faithful saying and
worthy of all acceptation. Consider it. This is a faithful
saying. That means it's a principle saying. It's a fundamental saying. I mean, there are even denominations
nowadays that don't tell men and women they're sinners. You
offend them right off the get-go. That's what they need is offending.
What I need is to be offended by the truth of God, for God
to expose me for what I really am in Adam. This is a faithful
saying. It's a principled saying. It's a fundamental saying. It's
an irrefutable saying. It's full of veracity. It's faithful. It's full of veracity. Let me
add then, never grow above or beyond this saying. If your Christianity
has ever brought you above, this is a faithful saying and worthy
of all acceptation. Christ Jesus came into the world
to save sinners. You've grown too much. You've
grown too much. But here's the second thought,
and worthy, the second aspect of it, and worthy of all acceptation. Simple enough, a saying of great
profound worth. And yet it's just so simple.
It's just so simple. This is something of great value. There are a few things in this
world that I greatly value. One is in this room here today. But this thing far surpasses
that. The relationship I have with
that woman right there will one day end completely, forever. And our relationship as husband
and wife will cease to be. But when we get to glory, even
after we have been awakened in His likeness, we will still be
crying unto God these words. Turn to Revelation chapter Even
then, I don't understand how this can be true and you not
be haunted by it. But even in glory, we'll remember
what we were, but we won't be troubled by it anymore. I don't
know how to explain that. It may not be the best way to
explain it. I do not know. But look at what the book of
the Revelation says. Chapter 5, verse 9. They sung
a new song saying, now these are exalted people in glory. Look at the context. They sung
a new song saying, thou art worthy to take the book and to open
the seals thereof, for thou hast slain and hast redeemed us to
God by thy blood out of every kindred and tongue and people
and nation. We'll never get over Jesus Christ
even He's not someone to get us to
a higher plane. He is the higher plane. He's the reward of that eternal
state. If he weren't there, it would
be useless. I had a guy at work one time.
He said, well, aren't you looking forward to going to heaven? And
I didn't even think. It just kind of popped out. I
said, as long as Christ is there. He goes, if he's not there, it
ain't gonna be worth it. and his jaw dropped and his eyes. The psalmist said, if I make
my bed in hell, thou art there. It is to be with Christ. And I wish I had the language
to express that so that every one of us here would get the
full enjoyment of that, but I can't do it. So there's two things. This is a faithful saying, and
this faithful saying is worthy of all acceptation. In other words, never underestimate
the essentiality of this saying. If our gospel ever goes beyond
this, we've lost the gospel. We've lost it. This saying never, ever, ever
loses its weight. It's as profound right now today,
some odd 2,000 years ago since Paul first penned it in the pages
of Holy Scripture. Here's the fifth thing. Here's
a question. How did Jesus Christ, when he
came into this world, how did he save sinners? Yay, the chief of sinners. In some circles, it's sad to
say, in some circles, it's actually almost a vogue thing now to say,
oh, I'm a sinner. But it's said with that attitude
of, but we're all sinners, you know. We've all messed up some. We've all come up a little bit
short. No, the book tells us Christ
Jesus came into the world to save a certain kind of sinner. Chief, right? Another place he
puts it, he calls us ungodly. Now if you and I cannot take
our place or find our place in that group, I got no reason to
believe Jesus Christ died for me or you either one. Think about it. How did he do
this? Isaiah 53. This gospel, this message of
Jesus Christ coming to save sinners, hmm, how do I put it? It's as
old as God himself. It's probably not even right
to say it was born in the mind of God. It's always been in the
mind of God, Isaiah 53. And oh God, help us just to,
let me just read the words and may God enable us to see the
words as they are on the page. Just one verse. Isaiah 53, verse
11. He shall see the travail of his
soul and shall be, what? Satisfied. So what else does
he want? If he demands anything else, how could he have been
satisfied? Somebody says, we demands faith.
No, we don't. He gives it. He gives it. He gives it. He shall see the travail of the
soul and shall be satisfied. By his knowledge shall my righteous
servant justify many, for they shall believe on him. Is that
what that says? Now that's true. Don't misunderstand
me. That is true, but that's the
who doth save us. We're talking about who hath
saved us. shall justify many, for he shall
bear their iniquities." Kind of sounds like salvation to me. Now, if you want to say, well,
I'd rather not use that word, well, go ahead, but you better
speak the truth of what this just said. Think of this, turn
to Romans 5. I've kind of mentioned this one,
but look at Romans 5. You ever had the opportunity
to speak with someone about your Lord, the subject of religion,
come up, and they seem to show at least some interest in their
own soul, maybe in the Word of God, and after you were done,
you thought, well, I've talked to that person before, and all
I did was tell them the same old thing again. You ever felt
that way? It's like if I only had some
new way to put it. There is no better way to put
it than this is a faithful saying and worthy of all acceptation.
Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners and I'm one of
the chief of them. That's good enough. If God don't
use that message to convert their soul, they're not gonna be converted
to Jesus Christ. Now look at what Paul wrote in
Romans 5, just again, one verse. For if, when, we, were, what? enemies now granted he is writing
to believers who are not enemies anymore but when is the backdrop
of this statement for 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 do you see that? sounds like salvation
to me Here's the point. When did God reconcile you if
you're reconciled? He reconciled you when Christ
died on that tree or you're not reconciled at all. And that is so simple now that
God's opened my eyes. And I love it so much now that
God's opened my heart. But when I used to read that,
I didn't see any of that. It was right there before me
in black and white in my own language, in English. But you
know what that lets me know? That's how dead in trespasses
and sins I was. I could read it right in the
pages of Holy Rite, and it just went like this. The seed fell into this heart,
and it just got trampled and choked out or whatever. Thank
God one day God said, all right, enough's enough. And he made
me new ground. And that seed then fell into
the new ground. It sprung up a fruit. I was just
laying there. I didn't do anything to make
myself good ground. I just had been made to be good ground. Now, when I read that now, Even
if I don't hear a word, I hear somebody screaming, salvation,
salvation, salvation. If reconciliation ain't salvation,
I don't know what is. Do you? Do you? Now, I'm only gonna scratch the
surface, but I still got three or four more. Turn to Hebrews
chapter one. Hebrews chapter one. And I'll preface reading that
by one statement. Pardon me for a moment. Hebrews chapter one. When Jesus Christ came into the
world, he purged our sins while he was in the world. You hear
what I'm saying? He didn't come in so our sins
could be purged later when we believed, later when we repented. He purged our sins when he came
into this world. Hebrews 1, verse 1, God, who
at sundry times and in divers manners spake in time past unto
the fathers by the prophets, hath in these last days spoken
unto us by his Son. whom he hath appointed heir of
all things, by whom also he hath made the worlds, who being the
brightness of his glory, and the express image of his person,
and upholding all things by the word of his power. And I'm thinking,
Paul, take a breath. It's tough enough for me to read
all that, and not even stop for a moment, David, take it in.
Look, though, because he's going somewhere. And the Spirit of
God is rushing to this final crescendo when
he had by himself purged our sins, sat down on the right hand
of the majesty on high." That sounds like salvation to me.
Bless God if my sins are purged, what do I have to go to hell
for? Somebody says, well, your unbelief.
Your faith don't cancel out your unbelief. If Christ didn't die
for the sin of your unbelief, you'll go to hell. And he purged
that before you ever even existed. I understand why the religious
world hears this message and says, what? Not only have they
not heard it, because it's just not out there much anymore. They're
so blind and adverse to it because by nature they don't love it
and they've been indoctrinated into thinking it's some kind
of heresy when it's the very gospel of the blessed God himself. We're not preaching do, we're
preaching done. It's done. It's done. If my sins weren't purged when
he died on that tree, my sins still remain on me in the sight
of a holy God. And I know he did it when he
was back there, when he came into the world, was that he sat
down on the right hand of the majesty on high. Now turn to
Colossians chapter two. Colossians chapter 2. We'll make
this statement and we'll read the verses. Jesus Christ nailed
that which was contrary to us to his cross by his very cross
work. Colossians 2 verse 13. And you, now he's writing to
believers. These are believing men and women
from the city of Colossae. But look at the time frame of
which he's writing to them about, and you being dead in your sins
and in the uncircumcision of your flesh. This was when you
was unregenerate. This was before you was ever
converted by the gospel. Do you see that? That's what
he's talking about. Look, hath he quickened together, notice
the language, not by Christ, though that's true too. In time,
there comes a time when I'm quickened by Christ. But here's Paul talking
about being quickened with Christ. How many times is Christ quickened? He dies no more. He needs no
more quickening. You see it? And you, being dead
in your sins and the uncircumcision of your flesh, has he quickened
together with him, having past tense. Is that what that says?
having forgiven you all trespasses. Now, you didn't know it, but
bless God, it was done. Blotting out the handwriting
of ordinances that was against us, that was contrary to us,
and took it out of the way, nailing it to his cross. When he came
down off the cross, they took him off there. All of that stayed
right up there. All of that stayed right up there.
And I'll tell you why, that's why if you ever find that stick
of wood, you best burn it, because you don't want it around you.
He took in his own body our sins on the tree, and he completely
satisfied a thrice holy God on our behalf. Having and having
again. Remember the language. Don't
let your flesh rob you of the joy of this by trying to apply
this to your initial conversion. And having spoiled principalities
and powers, he made a shoe or a show of them openly. Look at
it, look at it, triophy over them in it. That sounds like
salvation to me. That sounds like salvation to
me. One last one, Hebrews chapter 10. Oh, if God would just open up thousands of hearts and
minds in Wheelersburg, Ohio. And this message could be heard.
Men and women would be running to the feet of Jesus Christ in
their hearts. They'd be believing the record
God gave of his son rather than believing the lying testimonies
of false preachers in our day. Hebrews chapter 10. A few more
verses on this one. But let's look at verse 7. This
is speaking of Christ, of course. You're going to see that in the
context later. Then said I, lo, I come. In the volume of the
book it is written to me. This whole book is about Jesus
Christ. It's all about Jesus Christ.
Then said I, lo, I come, and the volume of the book it is
written of me, to do thy will, O God. Above, when he said sacrifice,
and offering, and burnt offerings, and offering for sin, thou wouldest
not, neither has pleasure therein, which were offered by the law,
which Hebrews says clearly they never took away one sin. That
gallons and gallons and trainloads of blood that was spilt throughout
the Old Testament Levitical system never purged one sin, even if
we could say the smallest, never purged one sin, which are offered
by the law. Verse nine, then said he, lo,
I come to do thy will, O God. He taketh away the first that
he may establish, not offer, not make available, do what?
establish the second look, by the which will we are sanctified
through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all. That sounds like salvation to
me. If a man or a woman is sanctified in God's sight, don't you think
that's sanctified in God's sight? Now they may not be sanctified
in their own sight, may not be sanctified in my sight, may not
be sanctified in your sight, but bless God all for whom Christ
died, they were sanctified in his sight when Christ died on
that tree. By the which will we are sanctified
through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all.
And you think, Lord, what a blessing to give us that good news. I'm not quite done yet though,
look. And every priest standeth daily, ministering and offering
oftentimes the same sacrifices, which can never take away sins,
remember that, but this man. After he had offered one sacrifice,
four sins, forever sat down on the right hand of God. So this
took place when? When Christ Jesus came into the
world. You see it? But this man, after
he had offered one sacrifice, four sins forever, sat down on
the right hand of God from henceforth expecting till his enemies be
made his footstool. And let me summarize, Hebrew
says, for by one offering, he has perfected forever them that
are sanctified. That sounds like a pretty good
salvation to me. Sounds like a pretty good salvation to me. If anyone who hears what I have
just proclaimed, if they want to say that these very God-ordained,
obedient acts of Jesus Christ are not salvation, then you step
out on that limb by yourself. I will not dare do so. I will
stand with every breath God puts in my soul as long as He gives
me the grace to say that everything Jesus Christ was from eternity,
was in time, and will be into eternity is the saving of my
soul. He is my salvation. Now turn to 1 John chapter 5.
I'll close this down. First John chapter five. So I
think it is of importance to ask the question. I hear what you're saying, preacher,
but how can I know if this has anything
to do with me? Do I have a part in that or not? I know the religious
world said, don't worry about that. You better worry about
that. This is one of the problems they're
doing. As that said, they're not weighing.
They're counting up all the things they've done for Jesus. They're
talking about all the stuff they're doing for Jesus. I know I've
gotta be saved. Did he do even one thing for
me? Because if he did this one thing for me, he did it all for
me. So how do I know if I have any
kind of relationship to this? First John chapter five. Verse
nine. If we receive the witness of
men, we do, don't we? We do, don't
we? Penny, where was it? Well, I
guess it was even yesterday. Took this little thing out here,
and I hit that thing called maps. I found an address, and I typed
it in that address, and I hit that button, and it starts telling
me where to go. And I just turned when it said turn. I stopped
when it said stop. I moved left when it said move
left and wouldn't question it whatsoever. Huh? If we receive the witness of
men, the witness of God is greater. That gal on this thing has told
me wrong before. It takes me a turn or two to
realize she messed up. God don't mess up. We receive
the witness of men, the witness of God is greater. For this is
the witness of God, which he hath testified of his son. This
whole book, my brothers and sisters, everything. This is the testimony. He testified of his son. Look,
he that believeth on the Son of God hath the witness in himself. You, if God's opened your eyes,
you're like that one old blind man. He said, I don't know much.
Whether he's even a sinner or not, I don't know much. But this
one thing I know, I was blind. I'm ad libbing it, but bless
God, now I see. I know I see now. I know God is real down
in here now, when before he was just a profession. Now I've been
able to lay hold on eternal life. He that believeth on the Son
of God hath the witness in himself. He that believeth not God hath
made him a liar. Now here it is. Because he believeth
not the record that God gave of His Son. So quit trying to figure it all
out and just believe the record. Quit trying to worry whether
somebody else is going to understand you when you just believe the
record. And this is the record that God
has what? Given to us eternal life. And this life is in His Son. All right, brother, you wanna
have a closing song? Then after Mike is done with
the closing song, I'll have a prayer and then we'll be dismissed. Let's stand and sing 199, 199. Alleluia. Alleluia. Alleluia. He will. ? Christ, we sing of thee ? ? We
sing of thee ? I stand, even clinging to things
from all song. Sadder still, it's last demand. ? Have sinned for me ? And the
way there is clear and plain ? Christ, receive us, sinful man ? Christ, receive us, sinful
man ? Even me, with all my sin Christ receive. Heavenly Father, we come, Lord,
seeking to exalt your name, holy, righteous King of heaven and
earth. Lord, forgive us of our sins, our poor choices. Lord,
overrule in spite of us. Lord, lead and guide and direct
our hearts by the power of thy spirit and the instruction of
thy word to seek Christ's face. Help us to walk worthy of the
vocation wherewith we are called. Bless the people here and others
that are beginning to wind down their services. Lord, may it
be that these things encourage us just to keep persevering forward.
Resting in Christ and trusting him, in Christ's name, amen.
All right, we're dismissed.