Okay, so we're looking at 1st
Timothy chapter 1 verse 15. And this is, look at it carefully,
this is, right here, this is a true saying. This is a faithful
saying. And it is worthy of you hearing
it, It's worthy of you receiving it. It's worthy of you believing
it. Worthy of all acceptation. That, here it is, that Christ
Jesus came into this world, into the world, to save sinners. of whom he says, I am the chief
sinner. Now Paul has got competition.
I can compete with him because I feel like I am the chief of
sinners. I have to get him out of the
way and say, Paul no, you're not, I am. I feel that way truly
and sincerely I do. Now I'm entitling the message from this verse Christ came. Thank God He came. What did He
come to do? He just didn't come down here
and perform a few miracles and turn around and go back to glory.
What did He do? He accomplished salvation. He
came to save somebody. He came to save sinners. Now
what a glorious thought. Think about it. He came to save
the likes you and me what a glorious thought God Almighty the Lord
Jesus Christ took to himself our sinless humanity apart from
sin and in the fullness of time the Lord Jesus Christ stood with
our sins charged to him He bare our sin in His own body
on the tree. He redeemed us from the curse
of the law, being made a curse for us. The Lord Jesus Christ
as a sinner's substitute, Savior, mediator, He made full and complete
satisfaction for them. He appeared once in the end of
the age to put away sin by the sacrifice of Himself. John said
He was manifested to take away our sin. And in Him is no sin. This is the Lamb of God that
God from all eternity purposed. that would come, purpose that
would save according to the blood atonement of Christ. For indeed
the Lord Jesus Christ took unto Himself our sin, and He redeemed
us with His precious blood. The Lord Jesus Christ accomplished
all our salvation. The Lord Jesus Christ obtained
for us eternal redemption. The Lord Jesus Christ brought
in for me what I must have. I must have a justified righteousness
before God. The Lord Jesus Christ brought
in everlasting righteousness for His people. Blessed is the
man to whom the Lord imputeth righteousness without works. Now, let's go back to 1 Timothy
chapter 1. We'll begin at verse 11. According, this is all according
to the blessed gospel, the glorious gospel, or the blessed gospel
of the glory of God. God's purpose to save is all
according to the glory of God. which was committed to my trust,
the blessed gospel of the glory of God, or the glorious gospel
of the blessed God." This message of the gospel of the Lord Jesus
Christ, the Apostle Paul said, which was committed to my trust. The gospel of God concerning
the Lord Jesus Christ is all about His glory. Not about my
glory. It's about His glory. The message
of the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ, the Apostle says is committed,
was committed to my trust. We must not change the message
that's been committed to the church. The Lord said unto his
people, Go unto the world, all the world, and preach the gospel
to every creature. We must do so, but we must never
change the message We must never alter the message or modify the
message. We must preach Christ and Him
crucified. We must preach it at all costs,
promote it at all costs, and defend it with our very life.
knowing that we are set for the defense of the gospel. We must
never trim the message down to take off the offense. We must
never compromise the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ. We must
never downplay it as to think, well, it's not really necessary
to salvation. And certainly we must never be
ashamed of the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ. Turn just
to 2nd Timothy, 2nd Timothy chapter 1. You remember from Romans chapter
1, the apostle Paul said, I'm not ashamed of the gospel of
Christ, for it is the power of God and the salvation to everyone
that believeth. 2nd Timothy chapter 1, look at
verse 8, Be not thou therefore ashamed of the testimony of our
Lord, nor of me his prisoner, Paul was in prison at Rome when
he wrote back to young Timothy, but be thou a partaker of the
afflictions of the gospel according to the power of God, for it is
God who saved us, and God who called us with a holy calling,
not according to our works, but according to God's own purpose
and grace, which was given us in Christ Jesus before the foundation
of the world." There we see that salvation, of which every believer
is not ashamed, and every believer is saved by the grace of God,
by the purpose and grace of God, and His purpose and grace is
an eternal purpose. which he purposed in the Lord
Jesus Christ. The Lord Almighty, the Lord God
Almighty will bless the preaching of His Word, therefore we must
not Compromise. We must preach the gospel. On
over here in 2 Timothy chapter 4, remember what the Apostle
Paul writes before he is executed for the gospel. He also writes
back to the young preacher in chapter 4 verse 1, 2 Timothy
4 verse 1, I charge thee before God and the Lord Jesus Christ
who shall judge the living and the dead at the appearing of
his kingdom preach the Word, preach Christ, be ready, be instant,
in season, out of season, reprove, rebuke, exhort with all longsuffering
and doctrine. We're to preach the gospel of
the Lord Jesus Christ without compromise. Now look at verse
12, 1st Timothy 1 verse 12, and Paul says, I thank Christ Jesus
our Lord. Thanks be unto God for His unspeakable
gift. Everything I have, He gave me. Everything I know, He taught
me, everything I ever will be is by His purpose and grace.
I thank Christ Jesus, our Lord. In everything give thanks, for
this is the will of God in Christ Jesus, who hath given you all
things. I thank Christ Jesus, our Lord,
who, it's the Lord who enabled me. Now how did this man that
was full of hatred, full of spite, a rebel against God, receiving
special orders to travel to Damascus to persecute believers unto death, how was this man enabled to believe
the gospel? It certainly wasn't by nature,
was it? Man has no ability to come to God. Man has no ability
to believe the Gospel. Listen to the Scripture. Our
Lord said in John 6, No man can come to Me except the Father
which sent Me. Draw him. You see, it's God who
enables us to believe the Gospel. We believe according to the working
of His mighty power. It's God who enables us to repent,
for repentance is the gift of God. It's God who enables us
to see Him by revelation of His grace. God who commanded the
light to shine out of darkness has shined in our hearts to give
us the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face
of Jesus Christ. Man left to himself has no ability
to believe the gospel, no ability to keep the law, no ability to
come unto God. He must be enabled by God. Enabled by Him is what we call
irresistible grace, irresistible power. Thy people shall be willing
in the day of God's power. So you who believe, we say with
the Apostle Paul, I thank God. I thank God. who enabled me he
enabled me to believe the gospel he enabled me to serve the Lord
and then he said last part of verse 12 for that he counted
me faithful that is he made me faithful he enabled me to be
faithful and he put me into the ministry now I'm asking a question
how did you get in Christ Well preacher, you know I walked an
aisle and made a decision. That's not how a sinner gets
in Christ. How does a sinner get in Christ? Please tell me.
I want to know. In Christ is life and salvation
and forgiveness. How does a sinner get into Christ? Do you want to know? Do you want
to know the answer? I have the answer. It's right here in God's
Word. First Corinthians chapter 1 verse
30 says, But of him are you in Christ. That's the answer right
there. How does a sinner get in Christ?
Chosen in Him before the foundation of the world. How does a sinner
get in Christ? But of Him are you in Christ,
who of God is made unto us wisdom, righteousness, sanctification,
and redemption. That, that, verse 31, 1 Corinthians
chapter 1, verse 31, that He might receive all the honor
and glory. He put me in Christ, and then
He put me in the ministry. Now, if you're a believer here,
resting in the Lord Jesus Christ for all of salvation, did you
know that you too are in the ministry? Say, preacher, I'm
not in the ministry. Yes, you are. If you're a believer,
you're part of the body of Christ, members in that body, and the
members of that body, what do they do? They serve Him. And
they serve Him by serving one another. Yes, you are in the
ministry. Every believer is in the ministry. Well, how'd you
get in the ministry? He put me in it. You see that? That's what he's saying. Now
look at verse 13. Here's a disclaimer. Here's a
disclaimer. Who was before? Who was before? One who was a
blasphemer. Now, one time Saul of Tarsus,
according to his testimony in Philippians chapter 3, you remember
he said, before the law I was blameless? That's in his self-righteousness
and that's in his conceit. His conceited self-righteousness. He said, I was blameless. But
when God taught him the gospel and revealed unto him that he
was the chief of sinners, he said, I was before a blasphemer. Now what is a blasphemer? It's
one who speaks evil against God. It is one who speaks contrary
to the word of God and the will of God. This man was a, he called
himself Saul of Tarsus, you remember Jerry, his testimony? Pharisee
of Pharisees. Exceeding zealous of the tradition
of the fathers. Oh, he thought he was somebody.
But now that he's taught of God, do you know what he says of himself?
Blasphemer. evil evil not only that and and
I was a persecutor remember when the Lord came to
him we read it there in Acts chapter 9 he was persecuting
believers but when the Lord came to him he said he said why do
you persecute me You see, when you persecute a believer, because
that believer is vitally united and one with the Lord Jesus Christ. When you persecute a believer,
you persecute the Lord Himself. He said, I was a persecutor.
I was one not only, and, you mean there's more? Is there more? No wonder he called himself the
chief of sinners. And, injurious. Now what does that mean? He was
actually one who caused injury that resulted in death. That's
pretty gruesome, isn't it? How many people did he murder?
I think he murdered hundreds. I think he went everywhere he
could, knocked on every door. Are you a Christian? Yes, I am. Death, death, death for you. And I think he knocked on a lot
of doors. He was exceeding zealous of his heir, who was before a
blasphemer, a persecutor, one who was a murderer. But, you see that word right
there? Take your pencil and put a circle
around that. But, but, but, Thank God for
that little word, but. If you read Ephesians chapter
1 and chapter 2, when it describes everything we are by nature,
children of wrath, even as others, and then it said, 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 Jesus. Now notice
he said, I obtain mercy, and again down in verse 16, how be
it for this cause, the cause of God and his truth, isn't there
a cause? Yes, the cause of God and His truth, His glory. Howbeit
for this cause I obtain mercy. Now mercy is not something that's
merited. Now you've worked all last week
and you probably got a paycheck on Friday. If you called in sick
every day and had no sick leave and no vacation pay, if you missed
every day of work last week and the week before, when it came
payday, what would your check say? Zero. But if you worked
40 hours or 80 hours for a two-week pay, they would have paid you
what you earned. You earned it, didn't you? And
they paid it. That's not mercy, is it? That's
what you've earned. Now, if you called in for two
weeks and had no sick leave, had no vacation, and on payday,
they paid you anyway, what would that be? Well, that'd be mercy,
wouldn't it? You see, Paul said, I don't deserve
mercy. Mercy is God not giving me what
I do deserve. Well, preacher, what do you deserve? The wages of sin is death. Preacher, you're not a sinner.
Yes, I am. I'm a vile, wretched, guilty
sinner. How'd you get that way? Born
in sin, shaping an inequity. Preacher, you don't commit sin
every day, every moment, everything I think, do, and say is permeated
with sin, because that's what I am. I am a sinner. You say, well, that just doesn't
sound right. We've been taught wrong. If we
say we have no sin, this is the scripture, 1 John chapter 1.
If we say we have no sin, notice it doesn't say sins. If we say
we have no sin, that is sin nature, that's corrupt and vile, evil. If we say we have no sin, we
deceive ourselves and the truth is not in it. If we say we've
not sinned against God, you know what God said? You called Him
a liar. You see, we've all sinned and come short of the glory of
God. Now, fess up. You don't have to fess up to
me. I won't do you any good. I can't help you. Confess your sin before God. You see, you've sinned against
Him. I've sinned against Him. But
I obtained mercy. God who is rich in mercy for
his great love wherewith he loved us. I quoted that a minute ago,
I'll quote it again. But God, you see I am what I
am not because I deserve mercy. I don't deserve mercy. I don't
deserve grace. Grace is the free sovereign favor
of God. I don't deserve mercy. I don't
deserve His grace. He freely gives that to whom
He will. Look at the next verse. He said,
I obtained mercy even though I was ignorant, even though I
was in unbelief, even though I was a persecutor, even though
I was injurious, and the grace of our Lord. You see that? We
believe through the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ we shall
be saved. And the grace of our Lord was
exceeding. You see that word? The grace
of our Lord was exceeding grace. You see, this grace of our Lord
Jesus Christ is what we call sovereign grace. It's what we
call irresistible grace. It's what we call electing grace. It's what we call fetching grace. Go fetch it. That means go get
it, bring it. That's exactly what the grace
of God does. It fetches sinners and brings
them unto the Lord Jesus Christ. And the grace of our Lord Jesus
Christ was exceeding abundant. Abundant grace. Now you know
what this sinner needs? I need abundant grace. I need
abundant grace. Apart from the abundant grace
of God, this sinner has no hope of salvation. You see, it's by
grace alone that God saves sinners. And the grace of our Lord was
exceeding abundant. And this exceeding abundant grace
gives us two things that we must have. You see those two things
in verse 14? It gives us two things that we
must have. Faith and love. Faith and love. Now by nature
we don't have faith, do we? By nature all we have is unbelief.
By nature we don't love God. You know what the scripture says?
By nature we love darkness, not light. John 3, 19. The scripture
says the carnal mind is enmity against God. What does that word
enmity mean? You know what I mean? Deep-rooted
hatred for the true and living God. You see, man by nature doesn't
have faith. Faith is a gift of God. Man by
nature doesn't even love God. You see why we need exceeding
grace? Apart from the grace of God, I'd never believe the truth.
Apart from the grace of God, I'd never love Him. You see,
we love Him only because He first loved us. This love is a gift
of God. This faith is the, for by grace
are you saved. Through faith and that knowledge
of yourself, it is a, it is a, what's that word? Gift of God. It's a gift of God. Not of work,
lest any man should boast. and the grace of our Lord was
exceeding abundant with faith and love." Now watch this, faith
and love in Christ. You see faith is not just, this
faith is not some just historical thing. Well, oftentimes we see
on the news when a tragedy happens, they say, oh, how'd you get through
this? The newscaster will stick that
microphone in the mouth. How'd you get through that? Well,
my faith brought me through. Well, that's not saving faith. You see, saving faith is peculiar
faith. Saving faith in Scripture is
called precious faith. You see, saving faith, that's
called precious faith, has an object of faith. The object of
faith is not my feelings. The object of faith is not my
deeds. The object of faith is not my
church membership or my water baptism. The object of faith
looks back to the author of faith, and the author and giver of faith,
you know where it comes from. Every good gift and every perfect
gift comes from God. Faith is a gift of God. Faith
in the Lord Jesus Christ. Faith in Christ, not faith in
my church, not faith in my doctrine. Faith in Christ. You see, saving
faith, looking unto Jesus, the Lord Jesus Christ, who's the
author and finisher of faith. Now, I said all that to get to
verse 15. This is a faithful sign. Now,
you can take this to the bank. Or you can count on it. You can
bank on it. This is true. This is true in
all of God's Word. This is a faithful saying. And it's worthy of your attention.
It's worthy of you digging into and finding out about. It's worthy
of your time. It's worthy of your attention.
It's worthy of your commitment. It's worthy of your faith. It's
worthy to be believed, and heard, and received, and accepted without
question. Without question. Don't ever
put a question mark on this. Never. For a preacher, what do
you believe? Everything that's written in
this book. Everything. What does every believer believe?
Everything that's written in this book. Every word is God-inspired,
God-given. This is a faithful saying. That, here it is, that Jesus
Christ, Christ Jesus, He came into this world to save somebody who are nobody's. He came to
save sinners. And Paul said, I'm the chief.
I'm the chief one. I'm the chief sinner. Now, we
see three things in verse 15. At least these three things.
We see the Savior, who He is. We see that salvation is by the
Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ. And thirdly, we see that salvation
is for Sinners, I don't know if it's for you Are you a sinner? Hmm as the
old boy said let's shut right down to the cob Let's get right
down to the nitty-gritty. I don't know that Christ died
for you But I do know that it's scripture said he died for the
ungodly now if I can identify with that that gives this sinner
hope I Because I'm ungodly. I'm a guilty, vile sinner. Salvation
is for sinners. So let's look at these three
things. Here we see the Savior of sinners
is the Lord Jesus Christ. And in this name we see who He
is and what He did. He is the Lord. God had made
that same Jesus whom you crucified, both Lord and Christ. He's not
Lord by something we do. He's not Lord by something we
say. He is Lord by God's decree. The Lord Jesus Christ is God. And He's the only King, the King
eternal, immortal, invisible, the only wise God. He is the
Christ of God. He is the anointed of God. The
Lord Jesus Christ came into this world to save sinners. He is
called in this chapter, chapter 1, He is called God our Savior. God our Savior. If we miss who
He is, we'll miss the glorious mystery of the gospel itself.
Or it's who He is that gives infinite, eternal merit and value
to what He did. God bought us with His own blood. Who is the Lord Jesus Christ? Who is He? Well, let's find out. Look at chapter 3, 1 Timothy
3, verse 16. The Word was made flesh and dwelt
among us, and we beheld His glory, the glory as of the only begotten
of the Father, full of grace and truth. 1 Timothy 3, verse
16. Without controversy, without
debate, great is the mystery of godliness. God was manifest
in the flesh. Who is Jesus Christ? He's God.
God incarnate, God manifest in the flesh, justified or vindicated
by God the Holy Spirit, seen of angels, preached unto the
Gentiles, believed on in the world, and received up in the
glory. He came back. He went back from
where he came. He came from glory. He accomplished
his salvation, salvation for his people, and he went back
to glory, seated in the heavenly. The Lord Jesus Christ is the
God-Man Mediator. Look at chapter 2, 1 Timothy
chapter 2. I'm saying that He is fully and
totally a real man and fully and totally God. He's the God-Man. Had to be both to be our Savior.
He's got our Savior. God cannot suffer, man cannot
satisfy, but the God-Man Mediator And one person did both. Look
what it says in verse 5. For there is one God and one
mediator between God and men, that's the man Christ Jesus. The Lord Jesus Christ is our
God and Savior. His name Jesus is the name of
His humanity. Call His name Jesus, He shall
save His people from their sin. He is the anointed of God in
all of his offices, prophet, priest, and king. He came to
save sinners. Now, because of who he is, he
cannot fail. He cannot fail. Was his mission
successful? Did he actually accomplish what
he came to do? Absolutely. For he said at Calvary,
when he bowed his head, he proclaimed, when he died for the sin of God's
people, he said, it is finished. It's accomplished. The Lord Jesus
Christ didn't come unsent. He was sent of God. He was sent
of God. He came for a specific purpose,
to save sinners. Now, I want you to turn in your
Bible with me. It says the Lord Jesus Christ
came. He came into this world in the
fullness of time. God sent forth his son made of
a woman, made under the law to redeem them that were under the
law. The Lord Jesus Christ came to save sinners. Now, let's find a couple of scriptures
and let's see if we can help ourselves here. For whom did
he come to save? Turn to Matthew chapter 9. Matthew
chapter 9. The Lord passed by in verse 9
and he saw a man named Matthew sitting at the receipt of customs
and he said unto him, follow me and he arose and followed
him. Matthew 9, 9, you got it? And it came to pass that Jesus
said to me in his house, behold many publicans and sinners came
and sat down with him and his disciples. And when the Pharisees
saw it, they said unto his disciples, Why eateth your master with publican
and sinners? And the Lord heard it, and said,
They that behold need not a physician, but they who are sick. Go ye,
learn what that means. I will have mercy, I will have
mercy, not sacrifice. I don't need your sacrifice.
I'm going to provide a sacrifice. For I'm not come to call the
righteous, but sinners to repentance. Sinners to repentance the Lord
Jesus Christ turned to Matthew 18 if I can find this scripture
Matthew 18 verse 11 Matthew 18 verse 11 for the Son of Man is
come to Save to seek and to save that which is lost That's what
he said to Zacchaeus remember in Luke 19 and He came to save
sinners. He came to seek and save the
lost. Now, did the Lord accomplish this? He did. By the sacrifice of Himself for
our sins and the sins of God's people that were charged to Him,
laid upon Him, He made complete satisfaction for them. When He had by Himself purged
our sin, He sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high.
He obtained for us eternal redemption with His own blood. Now listen
to this. The Lord Jesus Christ did not
come to make salvation a possibility. Did he? He did not come to make
salvation a possibility for all men. He came to make salvation
an absolute certainty for those for whom he died. He did not
come to put man in a savable state or in a savable condition
hoping that they would meet certain conditions and thereby earn salvation. That's not so. The Lord Jesus
Christ came to save sinners, His people, from their sin. He
didn't come to help us save ourselves, did He? No, He came to save His people
by Himself with the blood sacrifice of Himself. When the Lord Jesus
Christ died for His elect, died for His people, He justified
them from all their sin debt. He accomplished their salvation. That's why it says in Romans
chapter 8, There is therefore now no condemnation, no judgment
to those who are in Christ. Who can lay anything to the charge
of God the elect? It is God that justifies. Who
is he that condemneth? It is Christ that died. Yea,
rather, it is risen again, who is even at the right hand of
God, who also makes intercession for us. The Lord Jesus Christ
came to save sinners. Christ died when we were yet
without strength and due time. Christ died for the ungodly. In closing, let me give you this.
And I've said this over and over in this message and it's a repeated
question. Who is salvation for? For the
poor and needy. David said, I am poor and needy,
yet the Lord thinketh upon me. Salvation is for bankrupt, guilty
sinners who have nothing, are nothing, and know nothing. Salvation is by God's grace. Those who are righteous don't
need a Savior. Knowing that the Lord saves sinners,
the question for all of us to consider right now personally
before God is, am I a sinner? Am I a guilty sinner in need
of God's grace? Am I a mercy beggar before the
throne of grace? You see, the Lord Jesus Christ
justifies the ungodly. You remember those two men that
went to the temple that day? The Pharisee and the Publican.
The Pharisee prayed in himself, with himself, and he said basically,
thank God I'm not a sinner. That's what he said. I didn't
do this, I didn't do that, I didn't do the other. The other man smote
his breast and said, God be merciful to me, the sinner. And then the Lord said, one of
those two men was justified before God. Now, who would you think
that God justified by His grace? It wasn't the Pharisee. It was
a publican who said, God be merciful to me, the sinner. Now, does that description fit
you? Does it fit me? Can you find any harmony with
what the Apostle Paul says, that I'm the chief offender? That I'm the chief sinner? before God. As someone said years
ago, to obtain the promise of God you must to some degree fit
the character of the promise. The promise of God is salvation
for sinners. Now, do you fit the character
of the promise? Are you a sinner? Are you a sinner
before God? Well, this is a faithful saying
and worthy of all acceptation that the Lord Jesus Christ actually
saves sinners by His grace and His grace alone.