Ok now, 1st Timothy, 1st Timothy
chapter 1. 1st Timothy chapter 1, and I
may bring a series of messages from 1st Timothy. I'm not sure
about that. But this morning, 1st Timothy
chapter 1 verse 15 is our text. This is a true saying. This is a faithful saying. Worthy of your attention. Worthy of you hearing it, receiving
it, believing it. That Christ Jesus, the Messiah. Christ is the Messiah, the Anointed,
and Jesus is the Savior. He's the Anointed Savior. He
came. He came in the fullness of time. God sent forth His Son. He came
into the world to do something, not to attempt to save, not to
make salvation a possibility, not to do the best He could,
not to put a down payment. He came to save. He came to save
sinners. And then Paul said, He came to
save me. He came to save me. He came to
save the chief. The chief of sinners. I am, with
Paul, the chief sinner. I'm entitling the message from
that text, The Lord Jesus Christ Came to Save Sinners. He is what
He's called. He is the Savior. The messenger
from heaven called His name Jesus. He shall save His people from
their sin. He is the Savior who saves completely,
totally, sovereignly, always, eternally by His grace. What a glorious thought! What
a glorious thought! God Almighty, the Lord Jesus
Christ took to Himself our humanity made of a woman, made under the
law. The Word was made flesh and dwelt
among us. And in the fullness of time,
being made a man in the flesh, In the fullest of time, He died
in our room and in our stead with our sins charged to Him. Now think about that. God made
Him to be sin for us who knew no sin, that we might be made
the righteousness of God in Him. What a Gospel! What a Gospel! He did this for His covenant
children. He made full, complete satisfaction
for their sin. He put away their sin by the
sacrifice, not of bulls and of goats, but His own blood. He obtained for us eternal redemption
with His own blood. He accomplished all of our salvation
by Himself, with Himself, the just dying for the unjust, that
He might bring us unto God. Now that's good news. Good news
that the Lord Jesus Christ accomplished all our salvation. obtained for us eternal redemption,
and brought in for us eternal righteousness. And all this,
verse 11, 1 Timothy... After 1, verse 11, all this is
according to the glorious gospel. It's a glorious message. God
forbid we should glory save in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ.
This is a glorious gospel, and it's the glorious gospel of the
blessed God. Some of the old timers like to
switch this around and call it Blessed gospel of the glory of
God. Either way, both is good news. Both is good news. God is determined
to show mercy to sinners through the Lord Jesus Christ. Paul said,
"...which was committed to my trust." The message of the gospel
is committed unto His people. We must not change it or improve
it. We must not alter it or modify
it. We must at all costs do one thing,
preach it. Preach it. I'm determined as
Paul to know nothing among you but Jesus Christ and Him crucified. We must not change it, alter
it, improve it, modify it. We must at all costs preach it,
promote it, defend it. We must never trim it. Compromise
it, or play it down, or be ashamed of the gospel of Christ. As Paul
said, I'm not ashamed of the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ,
for it's the power of God and the salvation to everyone that
believes. You remember from our study in
2 Timothy chapter 1, you can turn there if you want to. 2
Timothy chapter 1, when he writes from prison, unto young Timothy,
he says in verse 7, God hath not given us a spirit of fear,
but of power, and of love, and of sound mind. Be not thou therefore
ashamed of the testimony of our Lord, nor of me his prisoner,
but be thou a partaker of the afflictions of the gospel according
to the power of God who saved us. He called us with a holy
calling, not according to our works, but according to His own
purpose and His grace, which was given us in Christ Jesus
before the world began. The gospel of God is an eternal
gospel. It's much older than creation. The gospel is as old as God Himself. That is, it's an eternal gospel. committed to our trust. The Lord
will bless the preaching of the Word of God. Because, because,
he says, all scripture, all scripture is given of God by inspiration. God will bless the means he's
ordained. Faith comes by hearing and hearing
by the Word of the Lord. It pleads God through the foolishest
of preaching to save them that believe. All Scripture is given
of God by inspiration and is profitable for doctrine, for
reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness. Therefore, we say, I charge thee
before God and the Lord Jesus to do what? Preach the Word. Not debate it. Not explain it. Declare it. Preach it. Preach
it, preach it over and over and over again. Now, in verse 12
and following, the Apostle Paul gives us the testimony of how
God revealed the Gospel to him. And he says, I thank God. Now, every believer can say,
I thank God. I thank God who caused me to
believe the Gospel. I thank God who crossed my path
and called me by His grace. I thank God. I thank the Lord
Jesus Christ who He enabled me to hear, He enabled me to believe,
He enabled me to repent, for he counted me faithful. That
is, he made me faithful. He made me faithful. He gave
me faith, putting me into the ministry. Every believer has
been put into Christ by the grace of God, but of Him are you in
Christ Jesus. We call that God's electing love,
electing grace. He chose a people unto salvation,
put us in Christ, and in time He crosses our path with the
gospel, calls us out of darkness and His marvelous light, and
then He puts every believer in the ministry. If you're a believer,
you're in the ministry. Now you may not have a pulpit
ministry, but every believer is part of the body of Christ.
And being part of the body of Christ, we all minister unto
the Lord by serving one another, and by serving one another, we
serve Him. He counted me faithful, that
is, He made me faithful, and He put me into the ministry. Now, we know the story of Saul
of Tarsus. We know his story, don't we?
He wasn't seeking mercy, he was seeking murder. He went about
not only persecuting believers in Jerusalem, but he went into
Damascus persecuting believers. He says in verse 13, who was
before, Before, he said, I was a blasphemer. Saul of Tarsus,
he was a strict religious Pharisee. He thought he was doing everything
right. He thought he had all of his
ducks in a row. He thought everything was right.
But after he learned the gospel, he said, I was a blasphemer.
He called the Lord Jesus Christ a devil and an evil man. He said,
I was a blasphemer. I was a persecutor. He hated
the Lord Jesus Christ and hated everybody that called upon the
name of the Lord Jesus Christ. He went out and arrested believers,
putting them in jail. And when they were sentenced
to death, he said, Amen. Let me do it. Let me have a part
in it. Verse 13, I love that word, B-U-T,
but God. But God. Paul was on his wild
Damascus journey, hating God, hating the Lord Jesus Christ,
hating believers, but something happened. He met the Lord. But
I obtained, I obtained mercy. Mercy is something that we obtain
by His grace. Mercy is not something we merit. He says this twice in these few
verses. Look at verse 16. Howbeit for
this cause I obtain mercy, that in me first Jesus Christ might
show forth all longsuffering for a pattern to them which should
hereafter believe on Him to life to life, believing on Him to
life, and life in Christ is eternal life, everlasting, everlasting
life. I obtain mercy. I obtain mercy. Mercy is not merited. Mercy is
not earned. Mercy is given because the Lord
delights to show mercy. Now hold your place there and
turn just a few books over. Find Titus chapter 3. He writes about it in the same
way here in chapter 3 of Titus, verse 3. We ourselves also were
sometimes foolish, disobedient, deceived, serving divers' lusts,
pleasures, living in malice, envy, hateful, hating one another. Well, that's the flesh. That's
the way of the flesh. after that kindness and love
of God our Savior toward man appeared, not by works of righteousness
which we have done, see verse 5, but according to His mercy,
He saved us. Salvation is according to His
mercy. He saved us by the washing of regeneration and renewing
of the Holy Spirit which He shed on us abundantly through Jesus
Christ our Lord. But God, I obtained, I obtained
mercy. I obtained mercy, but God. Now it reminds me of another
scripture, you can turn with me if you want to, Ephesians
chapter 2. Whenever I see that word B-U-T, I'm reminded of this
verse found in Ephesians chapter 2. Ephesians chapter 2. Verse 1, and you have be quickened
who were dead in trespasses and sin, where in time past you walked
according to the course of this world, according to the prince
of the power of the air, the spirit that now worketh in children
of disobedience, among whom also we all had our conversation in
time past in the lust of the flesh, fulfilling the desires
of the flesh and of the mind, and were by nature children of
wrath, even as other, but God. Now who made the difference but
God, who is rich in mercy for his great love, wherewith he
loved us even when we were dead in sin, hath quickened us together
with Christ, By grace are you saved, and raised us up together,
and made us sit together in heavenly places in the Lord Jesus Christ,
that in the ages to come He might show the exceeding riches of
His grace and His kindness toward us through Jesus Christ. But
I obtained mercy. I am what I am by the grace of
God. Look at verse 14. And the grace
of our Lord The grace of our Lord was exceeding abundant. Now what kind of grace does it
take to save a sinner? Exceeding and abundant grace. Sovereign grace. Eternal grace. Fetching grace. Redeeming grace.
Calling grace. And the grace of our Lord Jesus
Christ was exceeding abundant with faith and love which is
in the Lord Jesus Christ. Now I love those four words.
Mercy, grace, faith, and love. These are all the gifts of God's
grace to us. I obtain these things by the
exceeding abundant grace. You remember the scripture in
Romans? Where sin abounded, grace does much more abound. Abundant
grace. Saving grace. Fetching grace. Calling grace. With faith, when
we have exceeding abundant grace, we have faith in the Lord Jesus
Christ. Saving faith is always looking,
not in here, Saving faith is always looking to Christ, the
Lord Jesus Christ. Saving faith is objective faith.
It looks out of self into and to the Lord Jesus Christ, looking
unto Him who's the author and finisher of our faith. And then
He gives us love, mercy, and grace. And then He gives us faith
in our Lord Jesus Christ. It's called the precious gift
of faith, and that causes us to have this love of God that's
shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Spirit. Saul of Tarsus
hated the Lord Jesus Christ. But after this exceeding grace
and love and faith was given to him, he became a lover of
the Lord Jesus Christ. He said, nothing can separate
me from the love of God, which is in the Lord Jesus Christ.
Love is the fruit of the Spirit. The fruit of the Spirit is love,
joy, faith. Loving the Lord Jesus Christ,
we only love Him, we know, because He first loved us. He earned
His love, not that we loved Him, but He loved us and sent His
Son to be the sacrifice for our sin. And we only believe Him
and love Him because of this exceeding abundant grace. You know the grace of the Lord
Jesus Christ that though He was rich, yet for your sakes He became
poor, that you through His poverty might be made rich. 2 Corinthians
8-9. The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ
was exceeding abundant. I am what I am. You can say with
the Apostle Paul as a believer, I am what I am by His grace. By His grace. His grace alone. Now that gets us down to verse
15. This is a true saying, worthy of all acceptation, that Christ
Jesus came into the world to save sinners, of whom I am chief. Now, if the Lord will bless His
Word to your heart and cause you to look at this, to read
it, to hear it, to receive it, believe it, It will be a blessed,
blessed, blessed time. We have here the summary and
sum and substance of the Gospel of God given by God the Holy
Spirit. Martin Luther said and called
this verse the condensed version of the Bible. This is the whole
Bible in one verse. Christ came to save sinners. The whole book tells us about
that. Starting way back in Genesis. The seed of the woman. that would
accomplish our salvation. The condensed version of the
Bible in one verse. It's all the counsel of God,
how God saves sinners in the Lord Jesus Christ. The gospel
of the Lord Jesus Christ is a faithful, true saying, worthy of our attention,
worthy of our devotion, worthy of our commitment, worthy of
our believing, because He is worthy, remember, worthy is the
Lamb that was slain to receive all honor, glory, blessings,
and power both now and forever. This gospel is a faithful gospel,
true to the Word, true to the character of God, honoring the
law of God and all of its precepts and penalties, true to all the
promises of God in Him, are yes, and in Him, and amen, and to
the glory of God. Think about this. Of all that
God has promised, and He made a lot of promises, of all that
God has promised, Not one word will fail. I'm fully persuaded,
like Abraham, of all that God has promised, He is able to perform. He says in Psalm 57 that He performs
all things for me. Aren't you glad? He performs
all things for us. The Gospel is faithful. Faithful. Faithful. Now, I want to look
at three things. Three things and I'll let you
go. Three things I see in the last part of verse 15. The Savior,
Christ Jesus, and then secondly, salvation by the Savior. He came
to save sinners. And then thirdly, salvation for
who? Who's salvation for? He said,
I didn't come to call the righteous, but sinners. Sinners to repentance. Salvation is for sinners. Salvation
is for the ungodly. Now, let's look at those three
things. He is the Savior of sinners. The Lord Jesus Christ came into
this world to save sinners. He is called God our Savior. Did you notice that in 1 Timothy
1? Paul, an apostle of Jesus Christ,
by the commandment of God our Savior, Lord Jesus Christ, our
hope. Who is the Lord Jesus Christ?
He's God, our Savior. God, our Savior. He's the Savior
of sinners. If we miss who He is, we'll miss
the glorious mystery of the Gospel itself. For it's who He is that
gives eternal merit and value to what He did. Who is this One
called Jesus Christ? He's God. Manifest in the flesh. Look right across the page in
1 Timothy chapter 3 verse 16. One of the clearest statements
about the deity of the Lord Jesus Christ. Who he is. 1 Timothy
3 verse 16. Without controversy, great is
the mystery of godliness. God was manifest in the flesh. Think of it. God, who inhabits
eternity, inhabited a body of a man. He said, when you've seen
me, you've seen the Father, I am my Father, I am one. God was
manifest in the flesh, justified, vindicated by God the Holy Spirit,
seen in angels, preached in the Gentiles. Believed on in the
world and received up to glory. When He by Himself purged our
sin, He sat down on the right hand of God. Who is Jesus Christ? He is God our Savior. God our Savior. When He came here, He came as
the King. You remember the wise man said,
Where is he that is born King? He was God when He got here,
lived as God. As the God-Man Mediator died
for our sin, as the God-Man Mediator ascended to glory, and He occupies
the throne of glory for us. Notice His name. He's the Christ. He's the Christ. He's the Anointed
of God. He's the Anointed. And what does
Jesus mean? That name means Savior. He's
the Anointed Savior. who came to save his people from
their sin, came into the world to save sinners. Even in his
name, we have his office as the Christ and his person described
as the savior of sinners. As the Christ of God, he's anointed
prophet, priest, and king, prophet to reveal, priest to redeem,
and King to reign over us. He is the Savior of our soul. He is our Savior. Jesus Christ,
He came in the fullness of time. God sent forth His Son. The Word
was made flesh and dwelt among us. And He came into the world,
secondly, to do something. He came into the world to save. Now who needs to be saved? Lost
people need to be saved. He came to save sinners. Sinners. Sinners. The Lord Jesus Christ
did not come unsent. He was given of the Father. God
so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever
believeth on Him should not perish, but have eternal life. He came
for a specific purpose. He came to save. his people. And he did so by honoring the
law of God, by satisfying every precept and every penalty of
that law. He said, I didn't come to destroy
the law, I came to honor it. He came to seek and to save the
lost. Turn back here to Luke 19. Remember
the story of Zacchaeus? He was another publican, like
Matthew. And when Jesus came, verse 5
of Luke 19, when Jesus came to the place, he looked up and saw
him, and he said unto him, Zacchaeus, remember Zacchaeus had climbed
up the sycamore tree to see the Lord Jesus Christ as he passed
that way. And the Lord looked up and saw
him and said unto Zacchaeus, make haste and come down, for
today I must abide at thy house. And he made haste. And he came
down, and he received him joyfully. And when they saw it, they all
murmured, saying, that he's gone to be a guest with a man that
is a sinner. You remember what we read earlier?
This man receiveth sinners, and eats with them. And Zacchaeus
stood and said unto the Lord, Behold, Lord, the half of my
goods I give to the poor. If I have taken anything from
any man by false accusation, I restore in him fourfold. The
Lord said, This day is salvation come to your house for as much
as he also was a son of Abraham,
that is a covenant child, old Zacchaeus. For the Son of Man
has come to seek and to save The lost. He didn't come to call
the righteous sinners unto repentance. Turn over here to Romans chapter
5. Do you remember this scripture? Romans chapter 5, verse 6. For when we were yet without
strength, When we were yet without strength and due time, Christ
died for Romans 5, verse 6. Look at it carefully. He died
for who? Good folks, church folks, righteous
folks, moral folks. He died for the ungodly. When
we were yet without strength, According to the time, Christ
died for the ungodly. For scarcely for a righteous
man will one die, yet perventure for a good man some would even
dare to die. But God commends His love toward
us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. Much more then, being now justified
by His blood, we shall be saved from wrath through Him. 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. And not only so, but also joy
in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom we have now received
atonement, reconciliation. God was in Christ reconciling
us unto Himself. He came to seek and to save His
children, His people. How did He accomplish it? By
the sacrifice of Himself for our sins. The sin of God's elect
were charged and laid upon Him, and He made complete satisfaction
for them unto God. God said, when I see the blood,
I'll pass over you. He didn't come, the Lord Jesus
Christ didn't come to make salvation a possibility. He didn't come
to put us in a savable state. He didn't come to help us save
ourselves. He came to save us from our sin. By His own blood. Justified them by His grace. You remember that scripture?
Justified freely by His grace through the redeeming blood of
the Lord Jesus Christ. Now lastly is this. For whom
did He come to save? He came to save sinners. Who
is salvation for? Sinners. David says more than
one time, I am poor and needy, yet the Lord thinketh upon me.
Poor and needy, sinners, bankrupt, guilty sinners who have nothing,
are nothing, and know nothing. Those who are righteous do not
need a Savior. Those who are sinners do. Knowing the Lord saves sinners,
the question for all of us to consider right now is this. Am
I a sinner? Am I a sinner? I didn't ask you,
have you done sinful things? I'm asking you if you are sinful. If you are a sinner, born that
way, shaped in that way, come forth from the womb speaking
lies. Does the description of the promise fit you? To save
sinners of whom Paul said, I am the chief one. I am the biggest
sinner. That is the opinion that every
sinner has of himself before God. There's none as vile and
wicked as me. Does that description fit you? Does it fit me? Can I say, can
you say with Paul, I'm a sinner. Remember what he said in Romans
chapter 7, O wretched man that I am, not that I was, I am. Who shall deliver me from this
body of death? I thank God through Jesus Christ
our Lord. God had promised to save sinners. You remember what the publican
in the temple cried? God, be merciful to me, thee
sinner. Remember what the Lord said of
him? That man went down to his house justified rather than the
other. Who was the other man? The other
man was the Pharisee who said, God, I thank you. I'm not this.
I'm not that. I'm not like that man. I'm a
little better than that man. The Lord said that man went down
to his house condemned. But the man who condemned himself,
The Republican who condemned himself was justified. The man
who justified himself was condemned. That's the way of grace. God,
be merciful to me, the sinner. Now, who gets the glory in all
this? Notice verse 17. 1 Timothy chapter
1 verse 17. Who gets the glory for saving
sinners? God forbid us the glory saved in the cross of Christ.
Now unto the King Eternal, Immortal, invisible, the only wise God,
be honor and glory forever and ever. Amen. He's worthy of it,
isn't he? One more time. This is a faithful
saying, worthy of all acceptation, Christ Jesus came into the world
to save sinners, of whom I am the chief one.