Christ Saves Sinners

Well, brothers and sisters, first of all, it is great to be back with you. Thank you for giving me the time away at Capitol Hill Baptist. That time was fruitful, it was edifying. I've left that place encouraged, but also excited to be back with you and minister here. Before we dive into our sermon text this morning, I'd like to tell you the story of a man named John. John was born in 1725 in London. His mother was a strong Christian who taught him the Bible faithfully, but when he was only seven years old, his mother died. He was then raised by his father, who is a sea captain and much less religious. Accompanying his father on sea voyages, John was exposed to negative influences which led him into sin. Though initially he would soon repent, his resistance weakened over time, and eventually he fell headlong into unrepentant smoking, swearing, and lustful indulgence. He even blasphemed God and turned others away from following Christ. He had multiple near-death experiences, including one in which he nearly drowned, yet even so he persisted in his ungodly lifestyle. One night he had a dream in which he was given a valuable ring, but he was mocked for it and he took it off and he dropped it off the side of a boat he was on into the ocean. And this dream was seared into his memory because he knew that that's what he had done with God's truth and the offers of mercy God had given him. And even after that, he continued in unrepentance. As he grew older, he pursued wealth and worldly influence, and he went into the transatlantic slave trade, participating in that cruel, dehumanizing endeavor. But in 1748, so he was about 23 years old, he was aboard a ship, a slave ship called the Greyhound. And his ship encountered a violent storm. He was awakened from sleep in the middle of the night by water flooding his cabin. And so he rushed out thinking that the boat was sinking and almost immediately one of his fellow crewmen was swept overboard by wave and drowned. John then spent all night bailing water as the hull was beginning to come apart and all the sailors were frantically trying to keep the ship afloat. And this storm continued for days. And at some point John was summoned to steer the ship. He was too exhausted to do anything else. And yet he goes up there and he's literally tied with rope to the helm and for 11 hours he stood there attempting to steer the ship through this raging storm. And it was during this time that his thoughts turned to God. Of course he knew that this may be when he needed to prepare to meet his maker. And he began to think back to the scripture he had memorized so long ago. And one of the passages that came to his mind was Proverbs chapter 1, verses 24 to 31. And it is a striking passage. I'm going to read a section of that now. So God is speaking and he says, because I have called and you refused. Because you have disdained all my counsel and would have none of my rebuke, I also will laugh at your calamity. I will mock when your terror comes, when your terror comes like a storm and your destruction comes like a whirlwind. Then they will call on me, but I will not answer. They will seek me diligently, but they will not find me. because they hated knowledge and did not choose the fear of the Lord." Now, if you're John, can you imagine being reminded of that, reading that, and being confronted with the righteousness and the justice of God? I mean, here is John, a man who has refused to listen to God during all the times of ease. So why then should God listen to him in his time of trouble? John had no one to blame but himself. He'd spurned the godly instruction he'd been given. And he knew that if he were to die and go to hell, God would be perfectly right to do it. And yet, as John is there steering the ship, it seems that the waves sway the ship and cargo shifted. The hole in the hull was plugged. The boat didn't sink. And John had on board a New Testament, and he began reading it. And as he read, he began to read about the grace and the mercy of God. He was struck in particular by the mercy God showed to the Apostle Paul. And in time, John himself came to trust that even though he had refused God for so long, that in Christ, God would not refuse him. John later wrote about his conversion experience in a song. In fact, it's the song we just sang. Amazing grace, how sweet the sound, that saved a wretch like me. I once was lost, but now am found. was blind, but now I see. Twas grace that taught my heart to fear, and grace my fears relieved. How precious did that grace appear the hour I first believed. Through many dangers, toils, and snares, I have already come. Tis grace hath brought me safe thus far, and grace will lead me home. John Newton survived the storm, became a minister of the gospel, and also came to repudiate the slave trade he had once participated in. And then as he grew close to death, at age 82, his memory began to fade. But near the end of his life, he said, my memory is nearly gone, but I remember two things, that I am a great sinner. and that Christ is a great Savior. Now friends, I share that story with you because I wonder near the end of your life or when your memory begins to fade, what two things will you remember? What truth do you cling to through the storms of life? What truth anchors you when you're confused about what to think or who to trust? And what gives you hope even in the face of death? Well, friends, God in His kindness and His wisdom has not only given us His Word, all of which is perfectly true and reliable, but even within His Word, He has given us certain trustworthy sayings. Sayings which capture truths we can cling to as anchors for our souls. And over these next five weeks, we'll be looking at five of these trustworthy sayings. The first of which is found right here in 1 Timothy chapter one. So if you haven't already, please open up your Bibles to the passage Cheryl just read for us. 1 Timothy chapter one, verses 12 through 17. It's on page 991 of your pew Bibles. In the light of the things we have just been saying, let me reread these verses. Paul writes to Timothy, and I thank Christ Jesus, our Lord, who has enabled me, because he counted me faithful, putting me into the ministry. Although I was formerly a blasphemer, a persecutor, and an insolent man, but I obtained mercy because I did it ignorantly in unbelief, and the grace of our Lord was exceedingly abundant, with faith and love which are in Christ Jesus. This is a faithful saying. and worthy of all acceptance, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners, of whom I am chief. However, for this reason I obtain mercy, that in me first Jesus Christ might show all longsuffering as a pattern to those who are going to believe on Him for everlasting life. Now to the King eternal, immortal, invisible, to God who alone is wise, be honor and glory forever and ever. Amen. Now friends, as we approach this text, one of the things about it is that everything Paul is saying is very interconnected. It's hard to pull out any one thing without pulling everything else out with it. And so, and another thing about it is it's very important in order to understand what he's saying here is to understand why he's saying it to Timothy, what the setting is, which he explains some in the beginning half of chapter one. And so what we're gonna do is not just work sequentially through the text, but I want us to really look at three aspects of the gospel. And we're gonna see three different contrasts. between the teachings of these false teachers and the gospel of Christ, which Paul is explaining to Timothy. And so the first aspect of the gospel that I want us to spend some time thinking about is its simplicity and certainty. The simplicity and certainty of the gospel. We've been talking about storms, confusion and chaos. And Paul's writing this to Timothy because there is confusion going on in the church in Ephesus. If you look at verse 3, Paul says, As I urged you when I went into Macedonia, remain in Ephesus that you may charge some that they teach no other doctrine, nor give heed to fables and endless genealogies which cause disputes rather than godly edification which is in faith. Paul's writing to Timothy. Paul has gone into Macedonia. Timothy is left in Ephesus. And Paul's telling him, Timothy, I want you to charge some who, growing discontent with the solid, stable, trustworthy, robust teaching of Christ, are wandering off into speculations, are more interested to speculate about myths and fables and genealogies. It's like they're people looking for secret codes and hidden knowledge. And what this is leading to is disputes rather than godly edification, which is in faith. People can't agree because it's unclear and it's confusing. And then Paul continues, and if you look down in verses six and seven, he says, they've turned aside to idle talk, desiring to be teachers of the law, understanding neither what they say nor the things which they affirm. So not only are the teachers confusing other people, but they've confused themselves. They don't even understand the implications of what they're saying, and they're turning to wanting to become teachers of the law. Yes, yes, there's grace, there's grace, but then we want to be experts in the law. We want to go back to the Old Testament. We want to study how we can be really ceremonially righteous, and how we can impress others with our law keeping. And Paul wants Timothy to understand, first of all, how absurd this is, and second, how contrary to the gospel it is. And so he goes on and he responds, if you look in verses 8 through 11. He says, we know that the law is good if one uses it lawfully. Knowing this, that the law is not made for a righteous person, but for the lawless and insubordinate. for the ungodly and for sinners, for the unholy and profane, for murderers of fathers and murderers of mothers, for manslayers, for fornicators, for sodomites, for kidnappers, for liars, for perjurers, and if there is any other thing that is contrary to sound doctrine, according to the glorious gospel of the blessed God, which was committed to my trust." In other words, what he's saying is, look, there's good purposes of the law. The law convicts of sin. You know, the law helps us understand what consistency with the gospel looks like, what right from wrong is. But the law cannot forgive. The law cannot give you the ability to obey it. And the law certainly cannot be used as some means of impressing God or impressing others. He's kind of saying the law is really a lot more like a crutch than a beautiful robe. You know, you have these teachers that think, oh, I'm going to keep the law and everyone will be impressed with me. And Paul's saying, no, no, no, the law is not for righteous people. You know, if you have a pure heart and a good conscience and a sincere faith, you're walking before God in blamelessness. That's acceptable to God. God is not impressed by you or anyone else. To think that the law is there for people, which would include us many times, who don't know right from wrong, who are weak, who are prone to sin. It's like a crutch. And yet, what Paul is doing is he's saying, the law, it gives way to the greatness of the gospel. And he turns and he begins to speak about God's grace and about His glory. And what I want to focus on first is the simplicity and the certainty of the gospel. You know, in contrast with the confusion and uncertainty and the speculation, Paul turns in verse 15, and he says, this is a faithful saying, and worthy of all acceptance, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners. This is something you can build your life on. This is truth you can be sure of. This should be the theme of your ministry. This should be the foundation of your hope. And friends, this message is beautifully simple. If you are here this morning and you're not a follower of Christ, you're not a Christian. The good news of the gospel is that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners, even the foremost. You and I and every other person on this world, on the face of the earth, have sinned. We've fallen short of the glory of God. We deserve to die because of our sins. And there's nothing we can do to save ourselves. You can try with all your might to do good deeds, but it will not atone for your sin. But the gospel is that God the Son became a man. He stepped down into the world. He came into the world. to save sinners. He is the spiritual physician who didn't come to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance. He's the shepherd who came to seek and save the lost. He's the Savior who came not just to save the best of sinners, but the worst, to save every kind of sinner. And He did it by living a perfectly obedient life to God the Father, and then going to the cross and taking all the sin of all of His people on His own back and being crushed under the wrath of God to pay the price that justice demands. And then he rose from the dead. Friends, that's the gospel. And if you believe, you turn from sin and trust in him, you will be saved. We cannot sum it up any better than John Newton. We are great sinners. Christ is a great savior. That is certain and that is faithful. Well, let's look at a second aspect of the gospel. So we've considered the simplicity and certainty of the gospel. Let's now consider the grace of the gospel. Let's consider the fact salvation is by grace, not by works. As I mentioned before, in contrast with these false teachers who are quick to turn to works of the law, They want to be teachers of the law, they want to advance beyond the gospel, they want to merit for themselves some higher righteousness that comes through law keeping. Paul is urging Timothy to be a preacher of grace. And he does this by sharing and reminding Timothy of his own testimony, how Paul was saved. Look at what Paul says, he says, and I thank Christ Jesus, our Lord, who has enabled me, because he counted me faithful, putting me into the ministry, although I was formerly a blasphemer, a persecutor, and an insolent man. Paul calls himself, in verse 15, the chief of sinners, the worst of sinners. He was a blasphemer, that is, he spoke evil of God. He was a persecutor, that is, he attacked God's people. And he was an insolent man, rude, arrogant, offensive to all. It's how he describes himself. And yet, this man obtained mercy. God chose to save Paul. Now, why would he do that? Well, look in verse 13. He says, although I was formerly a blasphemer, persecutor, and insolent man, I obtained mercy because I did it ignorantly in unbelief. Now, a lot of commentators look at that phrase and they think, You know, they try to kind of interpret what is Paul getting at and basically they say, you know, what Paul is really saying is that I obtained mercy, God had mercy on me because I was wrong and I did these sinful things, but at least I was sincere. I was ignorant, I didn't know any better. I genuinely thought that the Christians were opposed to God and that's why I was persecuting them. And so God looked at me and because of my ignorance, because I was an ignorant sinner, unlike those knowing sinners, God had mercy on me. But I don't think that way of reading it fits the context. Because if Paul is contrasting himself as an ignorant sinner with knowing sinners, then how is he the chief of sinners? How is he the pattern for all who would believe? So, and then secondly, if we think Paul is talking about his ignorance in some sort of sense that would mollify his guilt, we need to ask the question, what sense was Paul ignorant? I mean, he certainly was not like, you know, the guy on the island who's never seen a Bible before. You know, Paul was a guy who, if anyone should have been able to recognize the Messiah, it was him. He was a Pharisee of Pharisees. He was a student of Gamaliel. I mean, he knew Scripture backward and forward. He probably had the whole Bible memorized. And he had heard the Gospels. Remember, Stephen had preached the gospel to Paul and others, and was murdered for it. Paul heard that and responded by approving of the stoning and murder of the man who believed those things. So Paul's ignorance was not innocent. It was a blind and unteachable ignorance rooted in sinful unbelief. So I think the key to understanding what Paul is saying in verse 13 is to connect it with verse 14. Listen again, Paul says, but I obtained mercy because I did it ignorantly and unbelief and the grace of our Lord was exceedingly abundant. You see, the emphasis is on the grace of our Lord. You know, Paul's ignorance and unbelief, if anything, what that's talking about is his helplessness. And the reason he received mercy is he's saying, I was sinful. I was a blasphemer, a persecutor, and an insolent man. But I received mercy because in my helplessness, The grace of our Lord swept over me. The abundant, exceeding abundance of the grace of God overflowed with faith and love which are in Christ Jesus. And like this rushing, mighty torrent, it swept me up and it carried me along. And it took me from blindness to faith, from hardness of heart to love, from death to life, from darkness to light. The grace of God came about, came upon me and delivered me. That's what he's saying. You know, it reminds me of the hymn, the deep, deep love of Jesus. Oh, the deep, deep love of Jesus, vast, unmeasured, boundless, free, rolling as a mighty ocean in its fullness over me. Underneath me, all around me is the current of thy love, leading onward, leading homeward to thy glorious rest above. What Paul is saying is that he was saved sheerly by the grace of God. I mean, even faith came from the grace of God. The grace of God came upon him with faith and love, which are in Christ Jesus. You know, Paul's saying, I wasn't out there seeking him. In fact, we know, by the way, Acts 9, what Paul was doing when he was converted. He was on his way to persecute and imprison Christians. He was on the way to Damascus. It even says, breathing murderous threats against Christ and his people. Here's a man filled with rage and hatred on his way to find Christians and imprison them. And while he's going, the Lord Jesus confronts him. And the blinding light appears. And Jesus says, Saul, Saul, Paul's name before he became Paul, why are you persecuting me? And he responds, who are you, Lord? And he says, I am Jesus whom you are persecuting. It is hard to kick against the goats. And with the grace of God, Paul is completely transformed. He is changed. So what does this mean for us? What does this account of Paul's salvation and his testimony, how does that apply to us? Well, he goes right into verse 15, and he generalizes it, right? He makes very clear, this is the point, Timothy. Just like I was the chief of sinners and God had grace, this is the faithful saying worthy of all acceptance, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners of whom I am chief. And then look at verse 16. However, for this reason I obtained mercy. Why would God pick me the chief of sinners? Well, the amazing thing is He did it not just for Paul's sake. He did it for our sake. Look at verse 16. However, for this reason, I obtained mercy that in me first, Jesus Christ might show all long suffering. Or perfect patience. As a pattern or an example to those who are going to believe on him for everlasting life. The grace Paul received, that is the pattern for you and for me. And so first of all, if you believe, know that it was the grace of God, the exceeding abundance of the grace of God with faith and love, which brought you into Christ Jesus. It wasn't because you chose God or sought Him, it was because God opened your blind eyes. Like John Newton says in his hymn, I was blind, but now I see. It was the supernatural grace of God working in your heart and your life to draw you to Himself. Second, if you believe, know that God's grace is wholly sufficient. I mean, if God's grace is sufficient to save Paul, and Paul's saying, God is holding me up as an example for all who would believe. then His grace and His patience is sufficient enough for you. Friend, it does not matter what sins you've committed. You may have committed the most atrocious of crimes. You may be filled, you may have been filled with the most cruel hatred, the most gross and perverted sexual immorality. You may have spoken the most twisted lies. Yet Christ is sufficient. You and I do deserve to die. That is the point. But Christ died for us so that we might be freely forgiven. And friend, understand you are forgiven. If you are believing in Christ, God's grace has abounded to you. Your sin is gone. It has been washed away. And you are holy and beloved in the sight of God. And if you're here and you do not believe, You do stand condemned. Because outside of Christ. You stand before God with nothing but your own sin. And your sin will condemn you, but friend know this. The only sin that prevents you from being forgiven is your continued unwillingness to repent and believe in Christ. It does not matter what you have done. It does not matter how sinful you are. None of that sin prevents you from being forgiven, except right now your unwillingness to repent and believe. And that offer is extended to you even now. The Lord says in Isaiah 55, ho, everyone who thirsts, come to the waters. And you who have no money, come buy and eat. Yes, come buy wine and milk without money and without price. Seek the Lord while he may be found. Call upon him while he is near. Let the wicked forsake his way and the unrighteous man his thoughts. Let him return to the Lord and he will have mercy on him and to our God and he will abundantly pardon. And you think, no, that can't be. How could I believe that? Well then, God says, for my thoughts are not your thoughts, nor are your ways my ways, says the Lord. For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts. Friends, the good news of the gospel is that God does not think like us. He does not act like us. He is the God of all grace, and he will abundantly pardon. The invitation is to all, whether you are the chief of sinners, and if you don't think you're a sinner, know that you are, because God is holy, and he commands even you to come to Christ. Well, let's consider, thirdly, the fruit of the gospel. So we've considered the simplicity and the certainty of the gospel. We've considered the grace of the gospel. And thirdly, let's consider the fruit of the gospel. Now, as we briefly saw before, the fruit of the false teaching was disputes. Confusion. Boasting and self-righteousness. What's the fruit of the gospel? Well, look again first at verse 12. Paul says, and I thank Christ Jesus, our Lord, who has enabled me, because he counted me faithful, putting me into the ministry, although I was formerly a blasphemer, a persecutor, and an insolent man. You see, the fruit of the gospel is that the chief of sinners can be transformed into the choicest of saints. That a man like Paul, a blasphemer, persecutor, and an insolent man can be forgiven, can be transformed with faith and love which are in Christ Jesus, can be commissioned, put into the ministry, and then enabled to serve Christ, being counted faithful as an ambassador of God, or even as verse 11 says, be entrusted with the glorious gospel of the blessed God committed to his trust. I mean, think about the fruit of the gospel, that God would look down and pick the chief of sinners and say, this is going to be my chosen vessel to bear my everlasting salvation to the ends of the earth. To be an apostle for my namesake. That my grace is so abundant and the power of the gospel is so great that I'm going to take this man who is blind, who is ignorant, who is unbelieving, who is full of hatred and rage. And I am going to so fill him with faith in me and love for me and love for the world that he is going to go forth and present the gospel to all people. I'm going to entrust him with that responsibility. It's amazing. And that doesn't stop with Paul. In fact, this whole section Paul is writing to Timothy. Why? Because Timothy is being entrusted in a similar way. Look at verse 18, right after our section. Paul says, this charge I commit to you, son Timothy, according to the prophecies previously made concerning you, that by them you may wage the good warfare, having faith and a good conscience. Timothy, you too are receiving this charge. And he mentions this charge also in verse five, where he says, now the aim of our charge is love from a pure heart, from a good conscience and from sincere faith. And friends, this does apply especially to those who are pastors like Timothy. But this does apply to each and every one of us. Because every single Christian, every saint whom God calls, he not only forgives, but he commissions you to serve him, to represent him, to be messengers of the gospel and witnesses of his grace to the world. And so I would encourage you, I would challenge you, consider how are you being a witness of the gospel of Christ? How is your life being invested in a way that you are making this gospel known? That you are testifying to the fruit that the gospel bears in taking great sinners and displaying the greatness of their Savior? And maybe that's intimidating for you. Remember the simplicity, the certainty. This isn't complicated. What's needed is faithfulness and patience. You know, it's about doing those little things that point others to Christ. Daily, doing them often, doing them repeatedly. It's about being one who shares with others what you've been reading in the Bible that morning. That asks others how they're doing spiritually. that shares honestly about your own sins and struggles, and yet confesses your confidence that Christ is a sufficient Savior. Friends, I would encourage you, come on Wednesday nights. We gather for prayer to depend on the Lord, to acknowledge our dependence on Him alone. He must enable us as He enabled Paul. Come, be present for that. Invite, another thing you can do is be hospitable. Be reaching out to others in the body. Show the love that you have by inviting people into your home, especially those who are fellow members of the church that you don't know well. Ask others how you can be praying for them. Express gratitude regularly for Christ's faithfulness. And as I said, be patient. These things will not just change instantly. There's a reason the false teachers were so quick to turn to the law, to turn to these speculations. They lacked confidence in the power of the gospel to bring about real fruit. But will we be a church that's centered on the gospel, has confidence that simply being faithful to the gospel will bring about abiding fruit? And notice a second aspect of the fruit of the gospel. So we've seen how the gospel takes the chief of sinners and transforms him into the choices of saints. But secondly, notice that the fruit of the gospel is the glory of God. Look at verse 17. Paul says in response to all that he's been saying before, now to the king eternal, immortal, invisible, the only God, be honor and glory forever and ever. Amen. And friends, as we're called to be ministers of the Gospel, keep in mind, it's all about Christ. It's about God and His glory. It's not like these false teachers are thinking about presenting yourself as some supremely righteous person. It's not about being clever and ingenious enough to think of new things. It's about trusting in Christ and being faithful to proclaim the simplicity of the Gospel. And that's why we do things that, frankly, if you're here and you're not a Christian, may seem very strange. For example, we had a prayer of confession. And there are not a lot of places in this world where people gather together to acknowledge how bad they all are. But we do that because it's all about Christ. And we're willing to be honest about ourselves so that we can be, we can proclaim the greatness of our Savior. We say, yes, we are great sinners, but Christ is a great Savior. And we confess our sins because we want Him to have all the glory. And what we want is not glory for ourselves. We want to know Him more. We want to draw near to Him because He is glorious, and He is good, and He is kind, and He is the King eternal, immortal, and invisible. Think about that. Christ Jesus is the holy, transcendent God who is eternal, immortal, and invisible. And through Him, we can know Him. We can know God as our Father. That is the great joy of the Christian life. It's to be free from the pride and the self-seeking and the man-centeredness of this world, and to know the God who has created us, to know that we have forgiveness through his blood, and that through Christ we can know God, the one who is eternal, who never changing, the one who is immortal, who will never die, the one who is invisible, who is that spiritual being, the one we can be with forever. Well, friends, we should conclude. We've seen today that amidst all of the confusion and storms of life, this is a faithful saying that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners, of whom I am chief. We've heard about how God saves great sinners like Paul, like John Newton. And in just a moment, we are going to hear about how God has saved two more sinners. in Abigail and Danny, as they will be coming to share their testimonies and be baptized and profess their faith in Jesus Christ. And friends, how can we better sum it up than to say, we are great sinners, but Christ is a great savior. Let's pray. Oh, Father, We thank you so much for the gospel. We rejoice in the knowledge that we can build our lives on your truth and on the knowledge that Christ Jesus did indeed come into the world to save sinners, even the foremost. Oh God, we praise you for your grace. We pray that in response you would help us to offer our lives back to you for you're worthy. And we pray all these things in Jesus' name, amen.