Well, today as you know, December 8 is the second Sunday of Advent season. Advent meaning the coming or the arrival and it is therefore the time that we especially remember the arrival of Jesus Christ into this world.
And so throughout the month of December, we focus upon the incarnation of Christ. 2.9 that tells us that within him dwelt all the fullness of the Godhead bodily. And today we come to another incarnation text, this time from 1 Timothy chapter 1 and verse 15. Another one from the Epistles, another text which is primarily doctrinal as opposed to prophetic or historical, but a wonderful Christmas text about the incarnation of Jesus Christ.
The gospel in a nutshell. Some think this verse, verse 15 of 1 Timothy 1, which says 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. And there are some who believe that this is a credal statement that was already being spoken frequently by the early first century Christians.
That concept is picked up in my translation by the word saying. This is a faithful saying. We use that word to talk about a proverb, something that is commonly said, a saying, and that very likely is what this was, something that was already being spoken by the Christians of that day. And Paul takes it up under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit of God and incorporates it into the scriptures to make that common saying a divine saying, and he adopts it as his own testimony of what Christ has done for him. And so it is the gospel in a nutshell. Some have likened it to John 3.16. As I consider that comparison, I found it a rather unequal comparison because John 3.16 contains quite a bit more information about the coming of Christ than this one does. But this statement is less than half the length of the one we find in John 3.16, so of course it couldn't include as much doctrine as we find in that glorious statement. But Paul is writing to Timothy in this first epistle in defense of the gospel, and after talking about the need to defend the gospel, he said in verse 3, Don't let people get sidetracked from the gospel, Paul is saying. And then he says, here's the gospel in a nutshell. Here it is, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners. That's the gospel in its most concise and condensed form.
And so Paul affirms this early church saying and makes it his own, his testimony we might say, and may God make it your testimony and my testimony today as we consider it together. I will examine this text in three parts. First, the nature of this declaration. Second, the contents of this declaration. And third, the response to this declaration. The nature of this declaration. Before giving us the saying, the creedal statement that was common in that day, namely that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners, Paul prefaces that by these words. This is a faithful saying and worthy of all acceptance.
What is he saying about this declaration, the nature of this declaration? He's saying, number one, that it is reliable. Number two, that it is extensive. And number three, that it is compelling. This is reliable.
You can count on this. This is a faithful saying, a trustworthy saying, a reliable saying. Faithful is the saying, literally faithful the word.
Pistas la lagas, faithful the word. A statement, that phrase, faithful is the saying, that is found five times throughout the pastoral epistles. Three times in Timothy, 1 Timothy, one time in 2 Timothy, and one time in the book of Titus. And wherever that statement is found, it is pointing to a particular truth that is of momentous importance. Everything, of course, that God gives us in his word is of great importance. But even the word of God itself points out particular statements as being of even greater importance.
They are highlighted in a special way. I suppose we could make a series out of the five times that the Bible says this is a faithful saying. This is the first of the five, and therefore to follow.
And I don't intend to make that a series at this particular time, but it would be worth considering. But nevertheless, this is a faithful saying. Here we find a statement that is absolutely infallible, absolutely true, absolutely without error, and is filled with gospel truth that all of us need to comprehend. It is a concise statement of the gospel. It faithfully represents the gospel message.
Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners, exclamation point. But not only is this statement reliable, it is also extensive. This is a faithful saying, and now these words, worthy of all acceptance.
Worthy. The Greek language that underlies our translation worthy has the idea of weighty. This is a weighty statement. It is worthy of everyone's consideration. But exactly in what way it is weighty and worthy of all acceptance, all consideration, is not clear.
It could be taken in either one of two ways, or I think very, very accurately both possibilities are so obviously true that we could take both of them and look at them separately. So in the first place, this statement may be talking about the extensive nature of this statement. It is worthy of acceptance everywhere by all people. It is an extensive statement that goes out to the ends of the world and needs to be embraced by all. This is a statement worthy of acceptance. It is deserving of full acceptance by all.
It is for all the world. Or this statement worthy of all acceptance can be intended to mean it is worthy of full acceptance by everyone who hears it. In other words, it is not only an extensive statement, but it is a compelling statement that deserves to be embraced fully and unreservedly. Worthy of complete acceptance. All who claim to be Christians must accept this statement fully, completely without hesitation or reservation. It must be accepted totally.
It must be accepted immediately. It must be accepted with full confidence, not with lingering doubts. Everyone ought to rest upon it with undiminished faith, trust, and confidence. And those who do receive the benefits of this wonderful declaration that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners, and those who fail to receive it comprehensively, compellingly in this way, will fail to receive the wonderful truth which this concise gospel statement contains, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners. But now we move from the nature of the declaration to the contents of this declaration, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners. Ten short words in the New King James translation, only eight words in the Greek New Testament.
It is a very short statement, but it contains two things that are of utmost importance. Number one, the mystery of the Incarnation, Jesus Christ came. And number two, the purpose of the Incarnation, to save sinners. Jesus Christ came into this world, the mystery of the Incarnation. And why did he come? He came to save sinners.
Understand that and embrace it with all your soul. Jesus Christ came. Who came?
Jesus Christ. How did he come? He came in human flesh.
What did he come to? He came into the world. Jesus Christ, or as our translation puts it, the reverse order, Christ Jesus. We are much more inclined to say Jesus Christ.
I think that's very common among believers. That is very common throughout the New Testament Scriptures, but interestingly in the pastoral epistles, 25 times we have this word order, Christ Jesus with Christ first. Only six times do we have the more common to us word order, Jesus first and Christ second. But what are these two terms? Well, Christ, as you probably know, is a title.
It is the identification of an office. It is parallel to, say, the word prophet. If a man holds the office of a prophet, he is a prophet. It's similar to the title king.
If a man is sitting upon the throne, he is known as a king. And there are various individuals who have been prophets. There are various individuals, many really, prophets, many kings, but only one person who has ever and whoever could hold the office of Messiah. For that office, there could only be one. That office was empty for hundreds of years as God's people who had the promises of the many, many, many prophets who foretold the coming of the Christ.
You can put the article in front of that term. You would not normally say the Jesus because Jesus is a personal name. But the Christ, you can say, because that's a title, like you would say the prophet, the king, and so forth, the Christ.
And for many years, that office remained vacant. There was no Messiah. There was no Christ. Promised, yes, but he had not come. And God's believing people waited and longed for his coming, prayed for his coming, looked for his coming. And the years rolled on.
The decades turned into centuries and the centuries turned into millennium. The first promise of his coming goes all the way back to the Garden of Eden, you remember. There will come one who will crush the serpent's head.
Oh yes, he will be bruised, but he will crush the serpent's head. That promise of a Messiah who would come and conquer Satan, conquer sin, be victorious over this world now cursed by sin after Adam's fall. That promise of a coming Messiah, Savior, anointed one, goes all the way back to the Garden of Eden. And so the years rolled on and on and on and on and God's people looked and they waited and they wondered and they speculated. I wonder if the people of God in those passing centuries, in a fashion similar to the people of God today looking for the second coming, I wonder if they said, I think I see the signs. I think he's almost here.
It's got to be very, very soon. And then another hundred years goes by and he had not come and so forth. It may have been rather similar, you see. But God had an appointed time. In his calendar there is no equivocation. He had appointed the time and we must wait for his appointed time. But in the fullness of time, when that time was come, the Bible tells us, God sent forth his son, made of a woman, made under the law to redeem those who were under the law that we might receive the adoption of sons. And so the world that had the scriptures looked and longed and waited for someone to come and take up the duties of the Messiah, to fill the office of Messiah, someone who was able to save that which the Messiah had been promised to do when he would come.
And this one finally came and who was he? Jesus Christ or Christ Jesus. Christ the anointed one, the one and only Messiah, but he came as a man. His name is Jesus. That's a human name. You shall call his name Jesus because he will save his people from their sins. That's what the angel said.
Some in our day sort of play with those words. He will try to save his people from their sins, but he will fail in some cases. No, he's not going to fail in any case. He is eternal deity who comes as a man. The babe named Jesus by the instructions of the angel named Jesus as he lay in the manger. When he comes, he will not try to, he will infallibly save every one of his people from their sins. Obviously not the Jewish people.
He didn't save all of those. His people, who are they? The ones that the father has given to him before the foundation of the world. He will save his elect people from their sins.
So said the angel and so it has come and is even now coming to pass. And so this one came, Jesus the man who was in fact the eternal son of God as that somewhat parallel text, that fuller text John 3 16 tells us. For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son. When Jesus was conceived in the womb of the Virgin Mary, he had already been given by the father. He had to exist before then.
God can't give one who does not exist. But he gave his son who eternally existed with him in heaven above and he gave his only begotten son. And so the eternal son of God now voluntarily and obediently surrendered to taking upon him the form of a servant and coming in the likeness of men. That's how he came. He came as one born. That's how he came. He came as a man, a boy of course at the beginning.
That's how he came. He came in human flesh and so as a man he ate as we do and slept as we do. And walked upon the earth as we do and talked with others as we do and was tempted like we are. And became weary at times as we do and experienced all the normal aspects of human life and yet never one time sinned.
You say how is that possible? He is the sinless lamb of God. It not only is possible but it is necessary that he not sin because otherwise he could not be the lamb of God, the spotless, the spotless, sinless lamb of God who can die vicariously for the sins of others. So who came? Christ Jesus, the eternal son who came as a man. How did he come? He came as a babe in human flesh. What did he come to? He came to the world.
That Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners. He came into the world that he himself had created. It existed because he made it and he came into that world. He came into the world of human limitation. He who is unrestricted deity, who is omniscient and omnipotent and who is greater than the whole universe that he created.
This one came into the world as a man with the kinds of limitations which we have. He who in his deity fills the universe was now confined to one location at one time. If he was in Galilee he was not in Judea. If he wanted to go to Judea he had to walk those 80 or 90 miles in order to get there. If he was in Judea he was no longer in Galilee because he left there. He came and confined himself to the limits of human condition.
And this coming represents for him a change of both location and station. Can you imagine the splendor of the glory which was his location until he was conceived of the Virgin Mary in the womb. And then he came into this world, sinful, dark, ugly, rebellious, that kind of a world.
And his station was changed from unrestricted deity to very restricted humanity. And he came into this sinful darkness of sinful humanity. Came into the midst of those who were blind and lost and condemned and filled with sin and eternally and spiritually dead.
And that's what he came to. The mystery of the incarnation, we'll never understand it fully, but why did he come in this way? Why did he come to this place? And the text tells us. He came into the world, why?
To save sinners. Here's hope. Here's joy.
Here's prospect. Here's the answer to all of the injustices and inequities and puzzling elements of this world. It shouldn't be this way. Let's change it. It shouldn't be that way. Let's change it. It shouldn't be this way. Let's change it.
Good luck if you can, but you are limited not only by the human condition, humanity, but by the sinful human condition which makes the changes. We're able to see a glimpse of how things ought to be. And yet we are confronted with the reality of how things are.
And only if we understand and believe the word of God do we really have an explanation for this. There shouldn't be inequality. There shouldn't be inequity. There shouldn't be all these injustices that we have so much of and see so clearly in the world around us.
Let's roll up our sleeves. We can change it. We can change it. We can change it.
Good luck. You can't. He can. And he came into the world to save sinners. The reason we have all these problems is because we are sinners.
If we're not willing to acknowledge the reason, then we'll never understand the solution. We are sinners. All of us are sinners. It's not we who have righteous concepts of how things ought to be.
If we could just get everybody else to understand that, then we could change everything. No, you are as sinful as the people you're looking at that you think are sinful. You are just as sinful as they are. We are sinners.
But Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners. Sinners. In the Greek construction, sinners is emphatic. It's in the emphatic location.
It comes before the verb. Sinners. Jesus came to save sinners.
Let that emphasis, that emphatic emphasis find its way into the deepest recesses of your mind. And he came to save sinners, to rescue sinners, to deliver sinners, to restore sinners to what they were created to be without sin. And let's be very clear about this because there are many who misunderstand and maybe even deliberately alter the truth which the Bible teaches us about the reason for Christ's coming, namely to save sinners. Jesus Christ did not come merely to set an example for how we ought to live.
If that's all he did in coming, we're still doomed. We're still lost because we're still sinners. He did not come as an illustration of the demonstration that he cared for sinners and he loved sinners.
That obviously it does demonstrate that. But if that's all that is intended by his coming, then we're still lost because we haven't been saved. We're still sinners.
Thank you for caring, but that doesn't save us. He did not come, mark it down, to persuade sinners to save themselves because we can't. He didn't come to help us save ourselves.
He didn't even come to enable us to save ourselves again because we can't. He came to do everything necessary to effect a complete rescue for sinners, to deliver sinners from guilt, from bondage and the consequences of sin, to rescue sinners from death and darkness and judgment and hell. He came to save sinners, sinners unable to save themselves. If we could save ourselves, then why did he die on the cross? Why did God give his son to such a terrible fate as to be treated in such a shameful and painful way and to die on the cross? If there was any way to enable sinners to save themselves, there is no way.
He came to save sinners who were unable to make ourselves acceptable unto God. We couldn't do it. We can't do it.
We'll never be able to do it. If it is left to what we are able to do, we shall all go to hell. But if there is a divine Savior, if there is an appointed and anointed Messiah, if there is one who steps out of the glories of heaven and eternity past into the realm of time and space and sinfulness and darkness of this world and will deliver sinners out of our impossible condition, then and only then there is good news. Then and only then is there truly a gospel.
Then and only then is there joy at this time of year. He came to save sinners and he will accomplish what he came to do. To save sinners. And if we are going to be delivered from our sinful condition, we must see ourselves as sinners.
We are. That's offensive to some, isn't it? It was offensive to all of us before we were saved. What?
Me a sinner? How dare you say something like that? I didn't say it. I'm just quoting it. God said it.
You must agree with him. Jesus came into the world to save sinners. To the Jews in the first century, it was common to think of the Gentiles as sinners, not themselves. Jews weren't sinners. Gentiles were sinners. Jews were God's people. Jews were part of the Mosaic covenant. Part of the covenant that God made with Abraham. They belonged to that covenant by descent from Abraham and by their adherence to the law.
And they were quite certain, therefore, that they were not sinners. Only the Gentiles outside that community, that covenant community of Jews were where the sinners were to be found. In other words, Jews saw the whole world in two categories. Themselves, righteous, and that's category number one, and sinners, category number two. But the Bible commands us to see, at least in the beginning, before Jesus brings salvation, to see only one category. All are sinners. All have sinned and come short of the glory of God. There are no righteous people in themselves. There are no righteous people according to bloodlines or according to human works, according to religious connections.
There are no righteous people. All have sinned and come short of the glory of God. There is no hope for mankind except if there's a Savior who saves sinners. We're all sinners. But Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners.
I tend to think in contemplating the meaning of this text that probably the greatest sin before God is self-righteousness. We see that in the life of Christ. He went about rescuing sinners in his day. Who did he rescue?
Those that society considered to be great sinners. He rescued those who had fallen into deep immorality, who wept because of their sins and came to Jesus. He saved them. He saved those who had been disloyal to the Jewish nation and had sold out to the Roman government, who were considered to be the worst scoundrels on the face of the earth to those who would not sell out to the Roman government. But all of those who came to Jesus found forgiveness for their sins. He came to save sinners from their sins. But those who would not acknowledge their sinfulness and their self-righteousness because they looked down upon others, he didn't save. There was no hope of salvation for them. Jesus put it this way, remember, two men went up to the temple to pray.
One was a Pharisee and the other was a publican, a tax collector, one of those traders to the nation of Israel who had sold out to Rome. And the Pharisee lifted up his eyes to heaven and he prayed like this, I thank you, God, that I am not a sinner. I thank you, God, that I live a righteous life. I thank you, God, that I keep the law. I thank you, God, that I tithe of all that I possess. I thank you, God, that I am a righteous man.
Oh, Lord, I thank you that I'm such a good man. Can you imagine anybody praying that way? And the publican wouldn't even raise his eyes to heaven. He just looked down and said, Lord, be merciful to me, a sinner. And Jesus said, that's the one who left the temple righteous that day. The self-righteous one, he went away in his sins. The sinful one who acknowledged his sin and pled for mercy, he walked away cleansed. On another day, Jesus talking about this same issue said, doctors, physicians don't come to treat people who are healthy.
They come to treat people who are sick. He said, I didn't come to call the righteous. I came to call the sinners to repentance.
Now, we understand from what we've already seen today. In fact, there is no righteous person. All are sinful. All have sinned and come short of the glory of God. There's none righteous, no, not one.
But the problem is there are many people, sometimes a great host of people, who think themselves to be righteous. And as long as you put yourself in that category, there's no hope of salvation for you. But as soon as you acknowledge that you belong in the category of sinners, then I have good news for you. There's a Savior who came into the world to save sinners.
Ah, praise God. Those who refuse to acknowledge their need will never be saved. But those who take the sinner's place, that's what we mean when we use that phrase. Take the sinner's place. You take the category, you take the spot where sinners are. And you say, that's me.
I'm one of those. And those who take the sinner's place qualify for salvation. But we move on thirdly. What have we considered so far? The nature of this declaration and the contents of this declaration. We come thirdly to the response to this declaration. This is a faithful saying and worthy of all acceptance that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners.
And how did Paul respond to that truth? Of whom I am chief. Among whom I am foremost of all. This is the proper response to this declaration. We could also call this the effect of this declaration when the truth of it strikes your soul. That Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners. We could also say, this is what is necessary to appropriate the truth of this declaration. If you would appropriate the salvation which Jesus came to bring, you must, like Paul, see yourself as a needy sinner. So what is the proper response to this declaration? Number one, humility and number two, gratitude. Humility.
Paul said, I am chief. Jesus came into the world to save sinners. That's the category I belong to. In fact, I'm somewhere near the bottom of that category. I belong to the group which consists of foremost sinners. Our natural pride doesn't like to say that. But the gospel humbles proud sinners. The gospel, if it will save, must humble proud sinners. No one who is unwilling to be humbled will ever benefit from this glorious truth. In our stubbornness and our natural pride, we want to think of ourselves as worthy.
I'm good. I'm worthy of God's favor. Like Paul the Pharisee, or Saul the Pharisee, before he met Jesus on the Damascus road. He was filled with self-righteousness. He considered himself to be worthy. He considered himself to be a leader among the Pharisees who were the most righteous people of his day in their minds.
And they convinced a lot of other people of the same thing. But something has changed. Paul is no longer the proud Pharisee beating his own chest and placarding his own goodness. And working hard, very hard, to make sure that he rises through the ranks of Pharisees. And is acknowledged to be in the chief place among those zealous law keeping, works doing, righteous Pharisees.
But now something has changed. And Paul says, Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners, and I'm the chief. I'm the worst one of all. Paul, how can you say that? You're an apostle. I'm the chief of sinners.
How can you say that? You are working hard to serve the Lord. I am the chief of sinners.
Paul is no doubt thinking about his guilty past. Just a verse before. Verse 13, he says, although I was formerly a blasphemer, that's one who speaks against God. A persecutor, he persecuted the church, put people in jail and even to death. And insolent, that describes his attitude toward God. All the while he thought he was serving God. All the while he thought he was in a good condition with God. He was actually in insolent rebellion against God.
He now sees that was the truth, but he didn't see it then. And the truth is that every one of us in our past were sinners, sinners, sinners. If we compared ourselves to other human beings, we might say, well, I'm not as bad as a lot of sinners. You are, come on, let's see it from God's perspective. You are a sinner, a bad sinner, as all have sinned and come short of the glory of God. That certainly is your past, but what's interesting is that Paul doesn't put this in the past tense. He didn't say Jesus Christ came into the world to save sinners of whom I used to be the chief. He said Jesus Christ came into the world to save sinners of whom I am, present tense, the chief. For Paul recognized that even though he is now forgiven of his sins, even though he has now been redeemed, even though the great work of sanctification has begun and made progress in his soul, he is still a great sinner.
Even though he's serving Christ as an apostle, he's still a great sinner. Because the truth is that the more light one has, the more dirt one sees. You let somebody clean a room in the house with almost no lights in the room.
They think they've done a pretty good job. Yeah, just turn on the lights and we'll find out. Uh oh, look at all that dirt you missed. And when you don't have the light of God's truth in your soul, you think you've done a pretty good job as a human being before God. But let the bright light of God's holiness and truth shine into your soul and you see what a great sinner you are. And then as you progress in sanctification and grow in grace and knowledge and come closer and closer and closer to the light that is God who is light and in him is no darkness at all, the closer you get to him, the more sin you see, more dirt that you didn't even realize was there.
It's there. I am not was. I am the chief, says Paul. Someone asked John Newton late in life how long he planned to continue to preach. And here's what he said, and I quote, as long as I know that I am a great sinner and he is a great savior.
Do you know that today? That you are a great sinner, but Jesus is a great savior. And so this is designed to produce humility of whom I am chief. This is designed to produce gratitude, humility and gratitude with an accurate view of ourselves. You can almost hear people responding to Paul's words.
Christ came into the world to save sinners of whom I am chief. Wait, wait, wait, wait, wait. Paul, you need somebody to build up your self-esteem.
You aren't thinking about this right. You need better self-image. You need restored self-esteem. You need to think of yourself better than that. While you go around thinking of yourself as a hell-deserving sinner and you're not going to achieve anything in life.
Well, that's strange. I've got about 25 churches planted all over the Roman Empire. But I didn't do that. Christ did that working through me.
I take no credit for that. But I don't think I needed a lot of self-esteem to get great things done by the power of God. But I needed the crushing of my self-esteem to get an accurate view of who I am so that I could receive the power of God in my life. And so this message, properly understood, brings us to humility, to suppress our pride, not build it up in self-esteem, and gratitude to give thanks to God. Why do we have such an entitled generation in America today?
Because about 30, 40 years ago somebody decided that the next thing we needed to do was to stroke, stoke the self-esteem of all of our children. Now, how's that working out? Now we've got more problems than ever. What do we need? More self-esteem!
No. We need more gospel. Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners. Take the sinner's place.
Stop stroking your self-esteem, your pride, but acknowledge that you are a hell-deserving sinner. And that gratitude will cause us to worship Him, not self, in our human sinfulness. Frankly, we worship ourselves.
We don't think of it that way, but that's what we're doing. But when this truth comes to our souls, we worship Him, not self. When this truth comes to our souls and we embrace it for salvation, we serve Him.
We do not expect to be served by Him. I'm a Christian so that I can pray and God will give me whatever I want. That's the religion, the Christian religion of a lot of people. But no, we don't come to Christ in order for Him to serve us. We come to Christ for Him to save us so that we are now able to serve Him and to serve others.
We don't expect others to serve us. We, like our Savior, came to serve others, not Himself. When this truth gets ahold of our hearts, we come to work for Him, not to build up our own little kingdom, as is our propensity and our prideful sinfulness. And therefore, an understanding of this text produces hope and love and joy, all the things we talk about at Christmas.
It produces hope. If Christ is this patient and long-suffering with the chief of sinners, then no one is beyond the reach of His grace, neither myself, if there's someone here who thinks that you are too sinful to save. Remember, He saved the chief of sinners. He will save you, too, if you'll go to Him in repentance and faith. Nor is it impossible for Him to reach our loved ones, whom we fear maybe have gone too far. But He saved the chief of sinners. Surely He can save the second-foremost chief of sinners, if that be one of our loved ones.
Of course He can. It produces hope. It produces love. If Christ so loved us, then we can love others. We can learn to by His grace. If Christ loved the chief of sinners, He can enable us to love the unlovely, those people that are so hard to love, but He loved the hardest to love.
His people, therefore, can learn to love those who are hard to love. This produces hope and love and joy. Joy has dawned upon the earth, promised from creation. God's salvation now unfurled hope for every nation, not with fanfare from above, not with scenes of glory, but a humble gift of love, Jesus, born of Mary. No wonder we sing joy to the world. The Lord has come.
What a statement. What a gospel. 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. Can you say that today?
Have you said that? Have you been saved by the Savior of sinners? Shall we pray? Father, thank you for the truth of this concise gospel text. Apply it to every heart, every ear, every one who hears this message, we pray in Jesus' name. Amen.
