I want you to turn in your Bibles
this morning to the book of 1 Timothy. I'm going to be speaking from
1 Timothy 1, verse 15. And here's my subject. I could
call this message several different things, but I believe I'll call
it a summary of God's grace. A summary of God's grace. I'm
just going to use one verse of Scripture. Very familiar, very
wonderful. Oh, what a verse. What a tremendous
summary of God's grace, God's goodness, and God's mercy. And
listen, what a clear declaration of the gospel of our Lord Jesus
Christ. Let's learn. Let's learn something
today. When I finish this message, I
hope that you'll have received by His grace some understanding
of the goodness of God and the mercy of God in Christ our Lord. Listen to the text. 1 Timothy
1.15, you probably could quote it. This is a faithful saying
and it's worthy of all acceptation that Jesus Christ has come into
this world to save sinners of whom I am the chief." Now, let's
begin with the first line. I'm going to just one verse,
but like I said, oh, what a verse. What a tremendous declaration
of God's goodness. What a summary of the grace of
God. Take one line at a time. Now
look at the first one. This is a fateful saying. What does that
mean? It's a true saying. What we read here and what I'm
about to declare unto you is the Word of God. It's faithful.
It's true. It's not my words. This is not
my doctrine. This is His Word and His doctrine
and how important it is that I preach His Word. His Word. And that you hear His Word. Do you know why? Do you know
why it's so important that I preach God's Word. Paul said, Timothy,
preach the Word. Preach the Word. It's so important
that I preach the Word and that you hear the Word. You know,
a lot of people comment about this little notebook that I have
in my hand. And they make a comment once
in a while about a lot of preachers just walk around, they don't
have any notes or any outline or anything like that. Let me
tell you something. I'm not just preaching my words,
I'm preaching His words. I'm not teaching you what I think.
I'm teaching you what He says. And in this little notebook,
there's 45 years of study and prayer and seeking God's message
for you and for the people to whom I preach. And I know what
I'm going to try to say here. I've studied the Word, prepared
it for you. This is a faithful saying. This
is not something off the top of my head. This is not some
kind of vision or dream I've had. This is His Word. We're
to study the Word of God. We're to preach the Word of God.
Why? Well, by the Word of God, we find out who God is. God is
revealed in His Word. That's how He reveals Himself
to us, by His Word. Secondly, by the Word of God,
we learn about our fall and our sin and our condition. How do
I know about myself and what God Almighty's attitude is toward
me? except I read his word. What
does God say about himself and what does God say about us? By
the word of God, the spirit quickens sinners. You know, the scripture
says, of his own will begat he us with the word of truth. We're
born again, not of corruptible seed, but incorruptible seed
by the word of God, which liveth and abideth forever. By the preaching
of the word of God, men are saved. That's what Paul said in 1 Corinthians. He says, it pleased God by the
foolishness of preaching to save them that believe. The preaching
of what? Experiences? Stories? No, the
preaching of His Word. His Word. His Word about Himself. His Word about us. His Word about
Christ. His Word. This is a faithful
saying. This is a true saying. This is
God's Word. And by the Word of God, Faith
is given. Faith comes by hearing and hearing
by the Word of God. And then by the Word of God we
grow in grace. Peter said, desire the sincere
milk of the Word of God that you may grow thereby. You grow
by the teaching of the Word. Not promotions, personality and
psychology and philosophy. The Word of God. What sayeth
the Scriptures? What frightens me is that I see
these fellows walking around and talking, but I don't see
them teaching the Word of God. And the people know nothing about
the Scriptures. By the Word of God, we're comforted.
By the Word of God, we have assurance. This is a faithful saying because
it's God's Word. And I must preach it, and you
must hear it. Now look at the next line. This
is a faithful saying. And it's worthy of all acceptation. It's worthy of acceptation by
all. By all. This is not to be doubted. It's not to be debated. I hear
people debating the Scriptures. There's no reason to debate the
Word of God. This is not to be doubted, argued,
or to debate it. It's to be accepted. It's to
be received. All who hear are to receive it.
I am to study the Word of God. Prepare to come and teach you.
Take these verses one at a time, each line, line upon line, precept
upon precept, word after word. I'm to study, give my time to
prayer and study and teach you, and you are to hear it and receive
it as the Word of God. Let me give you, let me give
you five directions for hearing the Word of God when it's preached.
Five directions. Now this is important. You listen
to it or else jot it down. Take heed how you hear. That's
what our Lord said, take heed how you hear. Now I'm going to
tell you how to hear, how to hear the Word of God. So as to
profit, to gain by it, to be blessed by it. Number one, hear
the Word of God with a hungry heart, with a needy heart. The scripture says, blessed are
they that hunger and thirst for righteousness they shall be filled. People who are really hungry
and needy, like David kept saying, I'm poor and needy, poor and
needy. If a man comes to the scripture with a hungry heart,
with a needy heart, it'll be filled. God will teach him. And
I'll tell you this, people who are really hungry are more interested
in the food than they are in the dishes or the containers. They're not much taken up with
the containers, they're taken up with the message. Not with
the messenger, but with the message he brings. We have this treasure
in earthen vessels, that the power might be not of us, but
of God, and that your face should not stand in us, but in him.
So you hear the word of God with a hungry heart and a needy heart.
Now watch this. Secondly, you hear the word of
God as it is the word of God. Not the word of man, the word
of God. Paul wrote to the Thessalonians,
listen to this, 1 Thessalonians 2, 13. He said, when you receive
the word of God, which you heard from me, Paul preached to him. He said, now, when you receive
the word of God, which you heard from me, you received it, not
as the word of men, but as it is in truth, the word of God. which worketh effectually in
you that believe." Now, that's the way to hear. Hear it with
a hungry heart. Not to be entertained, but to
be instructed. Not to argue, but to be blessed. And hear it not as the words
of a man, but as the Word of God. This is a true saying, and
it's worthy of your acceptation because it's the Word of God.
Now, thirdly, Hear the Word preached for yourself. Don't hear it for
somebody else. People are always saying, well,
I surely do wish so-and-so could hear this message. You hear it. It's for you. It's for me. I
surely do wish so-and-so had been here. That was a great...
He certainly could have used that. No. You can use it. It's God's Word for me and for
you. When Nathan came to David and
told him about That story about the traveler coming to visit
and the man had plenty of lambs and he went out and stole his
neighbor's lamb. The neighbor only had one. He
stole it and slew it and fed his visitor the lamb from his
neighbor's house. And David got so angry, he said,
you show me that man and I'll deal with him. And Nathan said,
David, King David, you're the man. You're the man. And that's
the way to hear the word preached. Hear it as the Word of God for
me and for you. Hear it for yourself. And fourthly,
hear the Word of God in faith. In faith. Without faith, it's
impossible to please God. Believe what you hear. You know,
I don't have to understand everything that's written in the Word of
God. I can't understand everything that's written. It's impossible.
Martin Luther said one time, I don't need a God I can understand. If I have a God that I can understand
and I can comprehend, then He's no bigger or greater than I am. I hear the Word of God with faith.
With faith. It's full of mysteries. Mysteries. The secret things belong to God.
The revealed things belong to us. So we hear the Word of God
with faith. We believe it. Why? God said
it. You know, when God called Abraham out of Ur of the Chaldees
and told him to go to a land, He would show him. He didn't
know where he was going, but he believed God. And when Abraham
was a hundred years old, his wife was in her nineties, and
God told them that they were going to have a son. He didn't
know how, but he believed God. And when God told him to sacrifice
his son on that altar, he didn't know why. He couldn't understand
why, but he believed God. God told him that boy would be
his heir, so he just believed, well, God will raise him from
the dead. If I kill him, God will raise him. He believed God.
And that's what I'm saying. The Word did not profit Israel,
Hebrews 4, 2 says, not being mixed with faith in them that
heard it. Believe. Teach me, Lord, I believe. Reveal Thy Word to me, I believe.
I believe it because You said it. That's sufficient for me.
It's got to be sufficient for you. And fifthly, I'll tell you
how to hear. Hear the Word of God fully intending
to obey it, to walk in it. You know, when
Cornelius sent for Peter, God told him to send for Peter, and
Peter preached the Word to him. The apostle Peter is my servant,
and he'll come down and preach the Word to you. You send for
him. And so Cornelius sent some fellas up there and told Peter,
asked Peter to come down and preach to him. And he gathered
his family together and his friends and the people that worked for
him and they all sat down in a room and the apostle Peter
came in and said, why have you sent for me? This is what he's
saying. Acts chapter 10. He says, now
we're all here present before God to hear all things. God's commanded you to speak.
That's a way to hear and be blessed. This is a faithful saying, and
it's worthy of your acceptation. But I tell you, you've got to
hear it with a hungry heart. You've got to hear it as it is
the Word of God. You've got to hear it for yourself.
And you've got to hear it by faith, not by understanding,
not by intellect, and not by argument and debate. Faith. And you've got to hear it fully
intending to do something about it. Listen, listen, listen. All right, let's go on here.
This is a faithful saying. It's the Word of God. It's worthy
of your acceptation. Now look at the next line. Jesus
Christ. Jesus Christ came into this world. That's a faithful saying. Who
is this Jesus Christ? Who is Jesus Christ? The one
that came into this world. Well, listen. Well, he's the
son of the Virgin Mary. That's right. We know that. This
Jesus Christ is a son of a virgin. He had no human father. Way back
in Isaiah, Isaiah 7, 14, God said that this man would come
without a human father. The only person ever born into
this world without a human father. Only one. And God said way back
yonder in Isaiah 7, 14, listen, Behold, behold, listen, listen,
attention, behold, God himself will give you a sign. A virgin
shall be with child and you'll call his name Immanuel, God with
us. Jesus Christ has come into this
world. You didn't come into this world.
You were born into this world. He came into this world. He was
born as a man, but He Himself, who lived from everlasting, came
into this world. He decided to come. He planned
to come. He purposed to come. He chose
His mother. He chose the day He'd be born.
He chose the place He'd be born. He chose the family in which
He'd be born. He chose the way He'd live and
the way He'd die, and raised Himself from the dead. This man
is Jesus of Nazareth. Who is he? He's the Son of God.
When Mary was pregnant, having no husband, the angel said, That
holy thing which shall be born of thee shall be called the Son
of God. Who is this Jesus Christ? He's the Son of God. He's the
Son of the Virgin. And He's the Son of God. The
Son of God. The only begotten Son of God. The well-beloved Son of God.
The only man in whom God said, I'm well pleased. He's Emmanuel,
God with us. And He's the Son of Man. That's
right, He's the God-Man. Jesus Christ is God as if He
had never become a man. In essence, in power, in purpose,
in holiness, in righteousness, in every attribute. equal with
God in every attribute. He thought it not robbery to
be equal with God. He said, you've seen me, you've
seen God. He's expressed image of the Father. He's exact likeness of the Father
by whom He made the worlds. And yet, He's a man as if He
had never been God. Now you explain that, of course
you can't do it. Because Paul said in 1 Timothy
3, great is the mystery of godliness. What is the mystery of godliness?
Without controversy, great is the mystery of godliness. What
is it? God was manifest in the flesh. Seen of the angels, vindicated
by the Spirit, preached to the Gentiles. Believed on in the
world. Died on a cross. And was received
up into glory. Mystery of mysteries. Jesus Christ. The Lord Jesus Christ came into
this world. Oh, me. Acts 20, 28, Paul said,
feed the church of God which he purchased with his own blood. God's blood. God is spirit. God became a man and shed his
blood. That's right. 2 Corinthians 5.19,
God was in Christ, reconciling the world to Himself. God was
in Christ. Hebrews 1.8, to the Son He saith,
Thy throne, O God, is forever. And Thomas summed it all up when
he fell at His feet and said, My Lord and my God. Oh my, this is a faithful saying.
This is the Word of God, and it's worthy of your acceptation,
your reverence, receiving it, loving it, believing it. Why
did He come into the world? Listen, Jesus Christ is coming
to the world to save sinners. He didn't come to set up a kingdom,
or He got a kingdom. His kingdom is not of this world,
or He didn't come into this world to set up a kingdom. He didn't
come to organize a religious movement. This world was religious
enough without another movement. He was steeped in religion. Religion
hated him. Religion crucified him. He didn't
come to heal sick people. He healed some. But that's not
why he came. He could have done that without
coming into the world. He could have done that without
becoming a man. He made them. He that made the eye can make
it see. He that made the ear can make
it hear. He that made the legs can make
them walk. He who said, I kill and I make
alive, can do either one. He didn't come to show us the
way to live. We knew that in our consciences.
He came to save sinners. That's what it says here. Christ
came into the world to save sinners. The Scripture is so clear on
this. Our Lord Jesus Christ came into the world to save sinners.
He said, I didn't come to condemn the world. The world was already
condemned. I came to save sinners. We're
lost. He said, I came to seek and to
save the lost. We're separated from God. He
died for the unjust to bring us to God, who were separated. We're dead. He said, I came that
you might have life. We're unholy. He chose us in
Him that we might be holy. We're unclean. His blood cleanses
us from all sin. We're unrighteous. He who knew
no sin was made sin for us that we might be made the righteousness
of God in Him. By one man's disobedience, we
became sinners. By another man's obedience. One man's disobedience condemned
us. Another man's obedience redeemed
us, made us righteous. We were enmity. The natural mind
is enmity against God. He's our peace. He made peace
through the blood of His cross. We're ugly. He gave us beauty
for ashes. We're sad. He gave us joy unspeakable. We're without strength. I can
do all things through Christ who strengthens me. We're without
hope. That's what it says, without
help, without God, without hope. He's our hope. We're like the
restless troubled sea. He said, you come to me and I'll
give you rest. We're dying creatures. And he said, I'm the resurrection
and the life. And he that believeth on me shall
never die. We know that if this earthly
house of our tabernacle be dissolved, we have a building of God, a
house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens. And in this body
we groan, desiring to be clothed upon with our body which is from
heaven." He... This is a true saying. It's God's Word, God's promise.
And it's worthy of your acceptation with full faith and confidence
that Jesus Christ, God's Son, came into this world to save
sinners. Now watch it. Listen. "...of
whom I am the chief." He came into the world to save real sinners,
the chief of sinners. My friends, now listen carefully. Will you listen to me a moment?
Somehow, somewhere, sometime, people got the idea that God
loves and saves nice people. Well, nice people don't need
saving. If there were any nice people, but they're not. There's
no nice people. They think they're nice, but
you cross them. And you'll find out that they're just like everybody
else. Somehow, somewhere, sometime
people got the idea and preachers maybe carried it on that God
loves and saves good people. That heaven's built for good
people. That's not so. Because God says there's none
good, no not one. There's none righteous, no not
one. There's none that understand
it. There's none that seek after God. They're all the same, fallen,
depraved, corrupt, deceitful, sons of fallen Adam. Our Lord
came into the world to save sinners, real sinners. I have a preacher
friend, pastor of the church up in West Virginia. And he went
by a tavern down in Alabama. They used to call them Honky
Tonks. Up here, they call them beer joints or whatever. Well,
he went by one of these places and got him a Coca-Cola. And
while he's in there, the owner of the business establishment said to
my preacher friend, said, who are you? And my friend said,
I'm the pastor of this church down the road here. Said, why
don't you come and hear me some Sunday? Why don't you come down
there to the church and hear me preach? The man said, you
don't want folks like me down there. Those good people down
there don't want a fellow like me in that building. And my preacher
friend said, my friend, you are the very fellow I want down there. You're a sinner. And my Lord
came into the world to save sinners like you and me. And don't you
let those good people bother you. You come and listen to the
gospel. There are no good people. Didn't
come to save nice folks, or good folks, or religious folks, or
righteous folks, because they're all liars. They're pretending
to be what they're not. Our Lord came to save sinners. Not awakened sinners, sinners.
Not interested sinners, sinners. Not pretty good sinners, sinners.
Bonafide, genuine, lost sinners, of whom I'm the chief. Come ye
sinners, poor and needy, weak and wounded, sick and sore. Jesus
ready stands to save you, full of pity, love, and power. Come you weary, heavy laden,
bruised and mangled by the fall, if you tarry till you're better,
you won't come at all, because you'll never be any better. He
makes you better. It's His blood that cleanses.
It's His grace that saves. It's His mercy that receives.
It's His mediator. work and intercession it presents
us to the Father. He's the Savior. You don't get
all fixed up and then come to Christ. You come to Christ like
you are. Let not conscience make you linger, nor fitness fondly
dream. All the fitness He requires is
to feel your need of Him. This is a faithful saying. True,
sure, certain. God's Word. It's worthy of your
acceptation, the acceptation of all men, that Jesus Christ,
God's Son, Lord and Savior, came into this world, and He came
for one purpose, to save sinners, of whom I and you and all the
rest of you folks out there are cheap. Are you a sinner? A sinner
is a sacred thing. The Holy Ghost hath made him
so. My Lord came to save them. If
I can find a sinner, I'm going to tell him something. Christ
died for you. He died for sinners. All right,
here's my message, a summary of God's grace. A summary of
God's grace. And on the other side of this
message is one I brought last week on what the rich man discovered
in death. Here's the address. If you don't
have any money right for this tape, we'll send it to you. If
you do have some money, send two dollars and it'll help us
put out some more of them. If you want the tape, write for
it. Till next week, may God bless you, everyone.