Now, if you'll find 1 Timothy
again, chapter one, let's read verse 15 one more time. This
is, this is, this is a faithful, faithful, faithful saying. Well,
it has to be, it's given of God, it's God-given. Therefore, it's
worthy, worthy of your hearing, worthy of your time, worthy of
you receiving this as God's truth. Here it is, that Christ Jesus
came. came into the world to save sinners,
to actually accomplish their salvation. I'm entitling this
message simply this, Jesus Christ came to save sinners. Jesus Christ
came to save sinners. What a glorious thought. What
a glorious thought. God Almighty God our Savior,
the Lord Jesus Christ, took to Himself our sinless humanity,
and in the fullness of time, being sin of God, died in the
room instead of God's elect, with their sin charged to Him. Read about that in Galatians
chapter four, in the fullness of the time. God sent forth His
Son, made of a woman, made under the law to redeem them that were
given to him. The Lord Jesus Christ as God
our Savior made full and complete satisfaction for those people
given to him in that covenant of grace. He says, all that the
Father has given to me, they will come to me. He made full
and complete satisfaction for them honoring God's law. It says
in Isaiah 42 verse 21, the Lord is well pleased for his righteousness
sake. He will magnify the law and make
it honorable. The Lord Jesus Christ made full
and complete satisfaction for the sins of God's covenant people.
He put away their sin, not by the blood of bulls and goats,
but he put away their sin by the sacrifice of himself. It
says in Hebrews, He appeared once in the end of the age to
actually put away sin by the sacrifice of Himself. We are
redeemed with the precious blood of Christ as the Lamb without
blemish and without spot that was foreordained before the foundation
of the world. The Lord Jesus Christ accomplished
all that God gave Him to do. He said, my meat is to do the
will of him that sent me and to finish his work. He prayed
in John 17, Father, I've glorified thee on the earth. I've finished
the work you gave me to do. He actually accomplished our
salvation. Now, contrary to what a lot of
religious people say, I've heard a lot of people, religious folks
say, well, you know, I'm trusting the finished work of Christ.
You know, that's not a good saying. The truth of the matter is the
believer is trusting Christ, the Lord Jesus Christ, who finished
the work for us. He accomplished and performed
all salvation for us. He obtained eternal redemption.
He accomplished and brought in an everlasting righteousness
for his covenant people. That's the gospel. It's according
to what it says in verse 11. This is according to the glorious
gospel of the blessed God which was committed to my trust. The glorious gospel. It's a glorious
gospel, is it not? It's about the glory of God. And it's a blessed gospel, is
it not? This is all according to the
Blessed gospel, someone said, the blessed gospel of the glory
of God. And that is so. It's a blessed
gospel. It's about the one who is blessed,
the Lord Jesus Christ. And it's all about the glory,
the glory. Who gets the glory in saving
sinners, huh? Who gets the glory? Does the
creature share a part in the glory and the accomplishment
of salvation? Or is it all due unto the Lord
alone? You see, He gets all the glory.
You ever read that scripture over in 1 Corinthians chapter
1 where it says, but of Him, but of Him, Him are you in Christ
who of God is made unto us wisdom? righteousness sanctification
and redemption That according as it is written he that would
glory let him glory only in the Lord With glory in him and then
Galatians chapter 6 verse 14 said God forbid God forbid we
should glory save in the cross and Saved in the substitutionary
satisfying sacrifice and the death of the Lord Jesus Christ.
This is the message of the gospel that's committed to our trust.
We must never change it. We must never change it. We must
declare it. We must never alter it or modify
it or trim it down. We must at all cost preach the
gospel of God's grace in Christ Jesus, promote it, and defend
it to death if need be. We must never trim it, alter
it, compromise it, play it down, or be ashamed of it. Can't you
say with the Apostle Paul, you who believe, I'm not ashamed
of the gospel of Christ, for it is the power of God and the
salvation to everyone that believes, to the Jew and to the Gentile,
for therein in that gospel is the very righteousness of God
revealed from faith to faith in that gospel. Believer is not
ashamed to own this message, this Lord, this Gospel of Christ. The Lord has promised to bless
the preaching of His Word. This sound doctrine. The Lord
will bless the preaching of His Word. Turn over here to 2 Timothy. I quoted a portion of this just
a moment ago. 2 Timothy chapter 4. All Scripture
is given by inspiration of God, right? It's profitable for doctrine,
for correction, for instruction in righteousness. And then he
says in chapter 4, verse 1, I charge you before God and the Lord Jesus
Christ, who shall judge the living and the dead at the appearing
of his kingdom, to preach the word, preach God's truth, be
instant, ready, in season, out of season, reprove, rebuke, exhort
with all long-suffering and doctrine, for the time will come When folks
will not endure sound teaching, sound doctrine, but after their
own lust shall they heap to themselves teachers having itching ears. They shall turn away their ears
from the truth and be turned unto fables. I tell you, we're
living in that day. We're living in that day. The Lord will bless
the preaching of the gospel. Let's continue to do so. Whenever
the Lord opens the door, whenever the Lord gives us opportunity
and liberty to preach the gospel, let's go preach Christ, Christ
and Him crucified, who He is, what He did, why, and where He
is now. Now, look back at the text again.
According to the glorious gospel or the blessed gospel of the
glory of God which is committed to my trust, Now in these next
verses here, verses 12, 13, 14, the Apostle Paul gives us his
testimony, his conversion story, how the Lord called him and justified
him and used him as a pattern of mercy to undeserving sinners.
Look at verse 12. He said, I thank Christ Jesus,
our Lord. Every believer can identify with
the Apostle Paul when he says, I am what I am by the grace of
God alone. I thank Christ Jesus, our Lord. Reminds me of this scripture.
Turn back to Colossians, the book of Colossians and find Colossians
chapter one. I thank Christ Jesus, our Lord,
who enabled me. He enabled me to believe. He
enabled me to preach the gospel. He enabled me to repent. He enabled
me to bow in submission of Him. He enabled me. For He said, no
man can come to me except the Father which sent me draw him.
He enabled me. Therefore, we give thanks unto
God. Colossians chapter 1, look at
verse 12, giving thanks unto the Father. who hath made us
meet, and the word there is fit, to be partakers of the inheritance
of the saints in Christ, in light Christ, who hath delivered us
from the power of darkness, and hath translated us into the kingdom
of God's dear Son, in whom we have redemption through His blood,
even the forgiveness of sin. He enabled us to believe the
gospel. Thank God. He enabled us to repent. He enabled us to believe the
gospel. I thank Christ Jesus, our Lord,
who enabled me, for that he counted me faithful. Now watch this. He counted me faithful, putting
me, putting me into the ministry. This is true of all believers
justified in Christ Jesus. They have by God electing grace
from all eternity. They have been put in Christ
Jesus. We are bound to give thanks to
God for you, brethren, beloved of the Lord, because God hath
from the beginning chosen us in Christ Jesus. He hath put
us in the Lord Jesus Christ in that eternal covenant of grace,
but he has also put us, each one who believes, in the ministry. Now, wait a minute, preacher.
If you're a believer, you're in the ministry. Did you know
that? What is this ministry? It is for each and every believer
to serve God's purpose. Whatever that purpose may be,
God has put us in Christ Jesus to serve His purpose. God saves sinners by purpose,
not accident. God who saved me and called me
according to His own purpose and grace, given us in Christ
before the foundation of the world. He put us in Christ and
He put us in Christ to honor Him, to serve Him, to glorify
Him. He put me in a ministry. He saved
us. He taught us. He blessed us.
all according to his own purpose and grace. God never saved a
sinner by accident. It's no accident you bumped into
the gospel. God sent you a gospel preacher.
And you heard, God gave you ears to hear the gospel. God gave
you love in your heart for the true Christ of God. And you fell
in love with him. Therefore, you love to tell others
about the one whom God has revealed to your heart. He hid these things
from the wise and prudent and revealed them unto babes, even
so, father, for so it seemed good in his sight. Now look at
verse 13. Paul said, I didn't deserve this.
I didn't deserve this. Who was before? before a religious
blasphemer. He was a Pharisee. Read the record
of Philippians chapter 3 and other places. Paul the Apostle,
before the Lord did the work of grace in his heart by his
own admission, was a blasphemer, hating God, hating the gospel
of Christ, and hating those that named the name of Christ. He
said, I was a persecutor. He wasn't satisfied persecuting
believers there in Jerusalem. He had the desire, and he had
a desire to persecute believers outside of Jerusalem, to go clear
to Damascus to persecute. He heard about some believers
up there who loved the Lord Jesus Christ. He said, I'm going to
put an end to that. No, the Lord put an end to him, made him a
new creature in Christ Jesus. When the Lord met him on that
road to Damascus, the Lord unhorsed him, put him in the dust and
made him cry out, Lord, what would you have me to do now? who was before a blasphemer,
a persecutor, one who caused insulting injury. But he says
here, but God, but I obtained mercy. I was an ignorant unbeliever. Now this is my testimony, is
it not yours? I was a religious, self-righteous,
ignorant, blasphemer, and an unbeliever. But God, who is rich in mercy,
for his great love wherewith he loved us, even when we were
dead in trespasses and in sin. I obtain mercy. Now get a hold
of this. Our sin, though it is exceeding
black and ugly, though our sin is against God Almighty, our
sin does not hinder the Lord's sovereign fetching mercy. If you're His, He'll fetch you.
He said, I obtained mercy. He says this twice here. In verse
13 and again, verse 16, he said, I obtained mercy. I obtained
mercy. You understand that mercy is
not something that's merited, is it? Mercy is something that's
not earned. Mercy is given. A lot of folks
have the opinion if they clean up their act and dress up their
act and perform certain religious duties that the Lord will be
merciful. No. Mercy is not earned or merited. Mercy is given because of one
reason. One reason. You know what that
reason is? God delights to show mercy. And you know he delights to show
mercy to whom he willed. He said, I will have mercy on
whom I will have mercy. Therefore, it's not of him that
willeth, nor of him that runneth, nor of him that seeketh, but
it's of God that would show mercy. It's what it says in Romans chapter
nine. You see, it's of his fullness
have we all received grace for grace. The only reason for grace
is grace itself. Of his fullness have we all received
grace for grace. I obtained mercy. Isn't that
your testimony? I obtained mercy. Saul of Tarsus
wasn't seeking mercy on the road to Damascus. He was seeking murder. Murder was in his heart. Murder!
However, mercy was seeking him. Mercy found him and arrested
him, broke him, put him in the dust. You see, the Lord Jesus
Christ was on the trail of one of his sheep, given him in that
covenant, and the Lord ran him down. The Lord arrested him,
put him in the dust, convicted him of his sin, and made him
a new creature in Christ Jesus. Read about it in Acts chapter
9. At one time, he's breathing out slaughter and threatening
against the disciples, and later on, a few verses down, the folks
in that city were amazed and said, isn't this the man that
came to persecute us? Now he's preaching the gospel
he once hated! How do you account for such transforming
grace? How do you account for such transformation
in a man? It wasn't that Paul just turned
over a leaf and reformed himself. Something happened to that man.
God got a hold of that man. God invaded his heart. God changed his mind, his affection. gripped him, broke him, and made
him anew in Christ Jesus. That's what happens. You see,
salvation is just not walking an aisle, making a decision for
Jesus. All that is is just religious
Tommy Rock. That's all it is. When God does
a work in the heart of a sinner, as old Rock Barnard and Brother
Mahan used to say, it'll leak out on you. You don't have to
beat it out of a fellow. When the Lord does a work of
grace in the heart, You'll tell somebody about it. The Lord's
been merciful to me. Now look at verse 14 in our text. What a testimony is the grace
of God. I obtained mercy. I was an ignorant
blasphemer, an evil man, a persecutor, ignorant, unbeliever, but I obtained
mercy. And the grace of our Lord was
exceeding and abundant. with faith and love, which is
in Christ Jesus. What a testimony to the grace
of God. I obtain mercy. I obtain, you
know, grace is like mercy. It's not something that's earned,
deserved. Here's the reason why he obtained
mercy. The exceeding and abundant, exceeding
abundant grace with faith and love. You remember the scripture
in the book of Romans where sin abounded? Where sin abounded,
grace does much more abound. This abounding grace in us and
toward us produces in us the fruit of the Spirit. The fruit
of Spirit is love, joy, peace, long-suffering, gentleness, meekness,
temperance. What's the last one? Faith! The
gift of God, isn't it? This exceeding, overflowing,
abundant grace is transforming grace, regenerating grace, renewing
grace, teaching grace, fetching grace. And it comes with faith
and love. You see that in the text there?
Faith and love. Paul, instead of unbelief, now
he's granted faith. You see the extreme opposite?
Unbelief, he said, now faith. Paul, where'd you get that faith? Well, you know, I worked up to
it. Oh, no. Didn't the scriptures
teach us that faith is a gift of God, not of works, lest any
man should boast? For we are his workmanship, created
in Christ Jesus unto good works. as the fruit of salvation. This
faith here is the gift of God. It's the gift of God. It's not
something that's in us naturally. What's in us naturally is unbelief
and darkness. This faith here is something,
oh Arthur Pink said, it's exotic. It's something completely outside
of us that the hand of God's sovereign mercy implants within
the heart. It's the gift of God. You know,
faith is called, in 2 Peter, it's called precious. Precious
faith. I tell you, it's precious. Precious faith that looks to
Christ for all things and salvation. And not only faith, but love. Paul, instead of unbelief, he
was granted faith. Instead of rage toward God, was
granted repentance toward God. And faith in the Lord Jesus Christ.
Instead of hating believers, They heard of this man Saul of
Tarsus, and they knew why he came to town. Instead of rage
and hatred toward believers, now he in love with Christ and
in love with the family of God. Our Lord said, by this shall
all men know that you're my disciples, that you love one another. That
you love one another, the gift of God. Now, look at verse, I
said all that to get to verse 15. This is a faithful sign. This
is a faithful sign. Worthy of all acceptation that
Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners. Here we have
a sum and summary and substance of the gospel of Christ given
to us by God the Holy Spirit for all scriptures given of God.
Martin Luther called this verse, verse 15 in our text here, Martin
Luther called this the condensed version of the Bible. It's the
whole sum and substance of the Bible. I believe it's given in
nine words. Christ Jesus came into this world
to save sinners. That's the whole message of this
book. From Genesis all the way to the Revelation. That's the
message of this book. It's about the Lord Jesus Christ. The gospel of the Lord Jesus
Christ is a faithful and true saying, worthy of our attention,
worthy of our devotion, worthy of our commitment, worthy of
our faith, worthy of believing. We say with Paul, I know whom
I have believed and I'm persuaded he's able to keep that which
I've committed unto him. What have you committed unto
him? Everything, everything. I thought you did a part and
he did a part. No, he did it all. The gospel of the Lord Jesus
Christ is not due. The gospel of the Lord Jesus
Christ is done. D-O-N-E. He done it all. He performed. It says in Psalm
57, remember from our study, Psalm 57 verse 2, He performs
all things for me. This gospel is a faithful gospel,
true to the word of God, true to the character of God, honoring
to the law of God and all precepts and penalties, true to all the
promises of God, for in him are yes, all the promises of God
in him are yes and amen. All that God has promised, not
one word of all that God has promised. Now he's made a lot
of promises in this book. How many promises has God made
in this book? Why can't he begin to count them?
But I know this, of all the promises that he had made, not one word
shall fail. Matter of fact, I'm persuaded,
as Abraham of old, that all that God has promised, I'm persuaded,
he's able to perform. He is able to perform. For he
has performed all things for us. Oh, this is a faithful gospel,
isn't it? For we serve a faithful Lord.
We serve a faithful Savior. I've got three points to this
message. Well, I thought you already preached the message.
Well, I'm getting to it. The first point is this. The Savior,
Christ Jesus. The second point is this. Salvation
by the Savior. He came to save. The third point
is this. Salvation's for somebody. What
does it say there? He came to save sinners. You know, there's not many of
them around anymore. A few of them. The old songwriter said,
I don't remember who it was, maybe it was Bunyan, a sinner
is a sacred thing. The Holy Ghost has made him so.
Not many sinners around. Bonafide, genuine sinners, born
in sin and shaped in iniquity. If I can ever find a sinner,
I've got good news for him. Christ died for the ungodly.
We read it a moment ago. He justifies the ungodly. Well,
let's look at point number one, and I'm not trying to keep you
too long, but we've got over an hour before that next service
starts. The wedding's not going to start till 8 o'clock, so I've
got another hour I can preach. The Savior of sinners. You know,
the Lord Jesus Christ is actually the Savior who actually saves. You know, He is exactly what
He's called. He is the Savior of sinners. The messenger from
the throne of glory, the angel of God, was sent unto Joseph
and Mary to name the incarnate God, called His name Jesus. Why? He shall save somebody,
His people, from their sin. Did He do it? Absolutely. He came into this world to save
sinners. He is a Savior of sinners. He
is a Savior who really saves. He's got our Savior as we read
in verse 1. Now, if we miss, if we miss who He is, who He
is, we've got to start out with who He is. Because who He is gives eternal
value to everything He did, everything He said. Who is He? Who is this One? He's God our
Savior. If we miss who He is, we'll miss
the glorious mysteries of the gospel itself. For it's who He
is that gives eternal merit to what He did. God bought the church
with His blood. own blood. That's who He is.
He's God Almighty, manifest in the flesh. We have it right here,
one of the clearest statements in scripture. Who is the Lord
Jesus Christ? Right here in 1 Timothy chapter
3, look at verse 16. This is without debate. This
is without controversy. Great is the mystery of godliness. God was manifest in the flesh. How can that be? It says in Isaiah
57 that God inhabits eternity. God who inhabits eternity from
everlasting to everlasting, thou art God. Yet, He inhabited a
body prepared of God. He's the God-man mediator. Explain that. I can't. Proclaim
it and believe it. I do. God was manifest in the
flesh. The Word was made flesh and dwelt
among us. The wise men came and asked,
where is he that's going to be king someday? No, where is he
that's born king? You see, he was king when he
got here. He was king before he got here. Born king of kings
and Lord of lords. You see in this text here, we
see who he is. He's Christ Jesus. He's the Savior. That's His name, Jesus, His name
of humanity. Unto us a child is born, a son
is given. His name shall be called Wonderful
Counselor of the Mighty God, the Everlasting Father, the Prince
of Peace. Here we have His humanity, Jesus,
Savior, And here we have his deity as well. He's the Christ
of God. The Christ of God. The anointed
of God in all of his office. He's anointed of God as the prophet
that God said to Moses. God's gonna raise up a prophet
one of these days. Moses, you're all right, and you'll do for
a while, but one of these days I'm gonna send the prophet. And
you're gonna hear him. And those who refuse to hear
that prophet, God said, I've required it in your hand. The
Lord Jesus Christ is that prophet sent of God to reveal who God
is. He said, you've seen me, you've
seen the Father. I am the Father of one. The Lord Jesus Christ
is the anointed of God. He's the prophet, but not only
the prophet, He's the priest. The prophet reveals who God is. The priest redeems. That's what
the priest of old in the Old Covenant. He was a priest who
brought an atonement before the Lord. Picturing the Lord Jesus
Christ who made atonement for us with His own blood. He is
the priest of God to actually redeem us. For He obtained eternal
redemption for us with His own blood. And He is the King to
reign over us. He's the prophet, priest, and
potentate. Don't ever call a man the multi-potentate. That's evil, blasphemy. Look
over here in 1 Timothy 6, verse 15. He's prophet, priest, and
potentate. He's the king, eternal, immortal,
invisible, which in his times he shall show, verse 15, Who
is the blessed and only Potentate? Capital P. Now don't ever call
any man a Potentate. I know those Shriners do that. They call somebody in their club
the Potentate. That's evil. That's like calling
some man Reverend Jones. Don't ever call me Reverend.
You'll get a frown on my face because Holy and Reverend is
his name. You see, he's the potentate.
The Lord Jesus Christ is King of kings and Lord of lords, who
only hath immortality, dwelling in a light to which no man can
approach unto, no man has seen nor can see, to whom be honor,
power, and everlasting. Our Lord said no man can come
to the Father but by me, by me, by me. You got point number one? Who this Savior is? He's God,
our Savior. He is the Lord Jesus Christ,
fully and totally man and fully and totally God in one blessed
person. The old timers referred to that
as the God-Man Mediator. The God-Man Mediator. Here's
the second point. The Lord Jesus Christ didn't
come unsent. Christ Jesus came into this world
to save sinners. He came to save sinners. He was
given of the Father for that purpose. God so loved the world
that he gave his only begotten Son that whosoever believeth
on him should not perish but have everlasting life. God loved
His own in this world and therefore He gave His Son as a sacrifice
for sin. The Lord Jesus Christ came for
the specific purpose to save those given to Him in the covenant
of grace who had fallen in Adam. And Adam all died. In Christ
shall all be made alive. He came to actually save and
secure and accomplish their salvation. He came to seek and to save.
The Lost. How did He accomplish this? How
did He save us? Was it just by some miracles
He did? You know, turning the water into wine? Did He save
us by those miracles? My friend, He saved us by His
death. He justified us by His blood. How did He accomplish our salvation?
By the sacrifice of Himself. The sin of God's elect were charged
to Him Laid upon Him, He bare our sin in His own body on the
tree and made complete satisfaction for the sin of God's covenant
people. Now, I can show you that in Scripture. Turn to Hebrews chapter 1. Hebrews
chapter 1, look at verse 3. Hebrews chapter 1, verse 3. Who
being the brightness of His glory, the expressed image of His person,
upholding all things by the word of His power, when He by Himself
purged our sin, He sat down in the right hand of the throne
of God. He did it by Himself, with Himself, actually put away
our sin. Look at Hebrews 2 verse 17. He took not on him the nature
of angels, but he took on him the seed of Abraham, God's elect. Wherefore, in all things, it
behooved him to be made like unto his brethren, that he might
be a merciful and faithful high preacher, and think pertaining
to God, to make reconciliation in the word here as atonement
for the sins of the people. Definite article. The people. Who are these people? those given
to Him in that covenant of grace. Turn over here to Hebrews 9.
Excuse me. Hebrews 9 verse 11. But Christ, being come a high
priest, a good thing to come, by a greater and more perfect
tabernacle, not made with hand, that is to say, not of this building.
Christ is our high priest, neither by the blood of goats and calves,
but by his own blood he entered at once into the holy place,
having obtained eternal redemption for us. I definitely preach and
believe particular redemption, definite atonement. The Lord
Jesus Christ did not die for all the sins of all men, that's
a lie. He died for the sins of those
people given to him in that covenant of grace. Look what it says in
Hebrews 9, verse 26. But now once in the end of the
world, the end of the age, hath he appeared to put away sin by
the sacrifice of himself. Did he get the job done? Look
at Hebrews 10, turn over there. He said, and their sins, verse
16, this is a covenant that I'll make with them. We've got to
go back to verse 14, for by one offering he hath perfected forever,
by one offering he perfected forever them that are sanctified,
set apart to that offering. Wherefore the Holy Ghost also
was a witness to us for that after he has said before this
is a covenant that I will make with them after those days Say
it the Lord. I'll put my law my principles
of the gospel the principles of grace into their hearts I'll
write them in their minds. Will I write them and their sins
and their iniquities? Will I remember no more? Did he get the job done God Almighty
and said, their sin is no more. He put sin away, the sin of His
covenant people. Now, listen to me carefully.
He did not come to make salvation a possibility for all men if
they meet certain conditions. The Lord Jesus Christ did not
come to put us in a savable state. He did not come to help us save
ourselves. The Lord Jesus Christ came to
actually accomplish our salvation. When the Lord died for His elect,
He justified them by His blood. We read that in Romans chapter
5. He actually justified us with His own blood. Turn to Romans
again. Look at Romans 8 this time. He
that spared not his own son. God be for us, who can be against
us? If He's for us, isn't that covenant of grace? If He's for
us as a Savior who died to put away our sin. If God be for us,
who can be against us? Romans 8 verse 32, He that spared
not His own Son, but delivered Him up for us all, who is us
all? For whom He did predestinate
to be conformed to the image of His Son, read the preceding
verses, His elect, those called according to God's purpose, He
that spared not his own son, but delivered him up for us all,
how shall he not with him also freely give us all thing? Who
shall lay anything to the charge of God the let? It is God who
justifies. God's not gonna punish my sin
and my substitute, and then turn around and punish me for my sin.
There is no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus. Who
can lay anything to the charge of God the elect? It is God that
justify. Who is he that condemneth? It's
Christ that died. Who died? Well, a man, you know,
a Jewish man over there, he died. It's just not some mere Jewish
man died. The one who died is the sacrifice,
sin of God, the Christ of God. It is Christ that died, yea rather,
that is risen again, who is even to the right hand of God, who
also You need more? Who also maketh intercession
for us? Now, who can separate us from
the love of God which is in Christ Jesus? Now, look back at the
text. Here's the third point. This is a faithful saying now.
This is worthy of all acceptation that Christ Jesus came into the
world to save sinners. He came to save sinners. You know, I'm glad it doesn't
say in that text that the Lord Jesus Christ came to save Tom. That's my name. There may be
10,000 other people named Tom. But I can identify with this
word sinner. I'm a sinner. How about you?
The Lord Jesus Christ came to save sinners. Who's salvation
for? We've seen it over and over again
in our studies of the book of Psalms. The poor and needy. I
am poor and needy, yet the Lord thinketh upon me." Sinners, bankrupt
sinners, guilty, vile, wretched sinners, who are nothing, have
nothing, and know nothing. Totally depraved, guilty sinners. You see, those who are righteous
don't need a Savior. That's what the Lord said. When
He called Matthew, He went home with Matthew the publican, a
notable sinner, and the Pharisee said, why does your master hang
out with those folks? And the Lord overheard what they
said and said, the well don't need a doctor. Go learn what
that means. I'm not come... I will have mercy,
not sacrifice. I'm not come to call the righteous,
but sinners unto repentance. Sinners unto repentance. Those
who are righteous in themselves don't need a Savior. That's what
they think. They in reality do need one,
but they don't think so. Now knowing this, that the Lord
saves sinners. The question for us to consider
is this. Am I a sinner? Am I a sinner? Died in the war. I said, well,
that's what I used to be. I'm living above sin now. I heard one preacher save another
preacher in a Bible conference. He was staying in a motel. It
was a two-story motel, had one ground level and a level above. And this was in a grace conference. One preacher said about the other
preacher, said, you know, I'm finally living above sin. For
he had a room above the preacher that was below. And he said,
now I'm finally living above sin. We are sinners. We are sinners. If we say we have no sin, if
we say we have no sin, notice that singular, if we say we have
no sin, we're deceived and the truth's not in us. If we say
we have no sin nature, no sin principle, if we say we're not
fallen and guilty and wretched and vile by nature without God,
without hope and without Christ, I tell you, salvation for sinners,
isn't it? In Romans chapter 5 it says,
He justifies the ungodly. In Romans 5-6 it says that Christ
died for the ungodly. God who is rich in mercy for
His great love wherewith He loved us, even when we were dead in
sin. Now, does that description fit
you? I'm a sinner saved by God's grace. I like what old William
Huntington, I believe it was William Huntington, who when
he would sign his letters, sign his letters at the bottom, S
period S. William Huntington, sinner saved. by His grace. I tell you, if
you know just the first part, sinner, the second part is close
behind, saved by the grace of God. Paul said there, I'm the
chief. I'm the chief of sinners. Well,
Paul, I've got news for you, pal. I'm the chief of sinners. I'm the chief of sinners. Don't
you feel that way about yourself? vile and wretched and miserable
sinner. That's me. But I obtained mercy. I obtained mercy. I obtained
mercy.