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"TO SAVE SINNERS"
First Timothy 1.15
INTRODUCTION:
1. Please find First Timothy 1.15 in your Bible. The question before us this evening is "Why?" Why did Jesus suffer His creatures to do to Him what we did to Him? And why did God the Father do to Him what He did to Him?
2. These questions (this one question, really), is answered in our text, First Timothy 1.15. If you’ve found that verse please stand with me for the reading of God’s Word: "This is a faithful saying, and worthy of all acceptation, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners." Let’s stop there.
3. The focus of our attention is on that last phrase, which reads, "to save sinners." The "Why?" behind the doing and dying of Jesus Christ can be explained in this one simple phrase.
4. Notice, if you will, the components of this phrase.
1A. FIRST, THERE IS THE PREPOSITION
1B. We Read The Word "To." The Word "To" Shows Us That There Was A Purpose To Jesus Christ’s Coming Into The World. And By His Coming Into The World Is Meant All That He Purposed To Do, Culminating In His Crucifixion, The Shedding Of His Precious Blood, His Burial, His Resurrection, And His Ascension Back To Heaven.
2B. You See, Jesus Christ’s Coming Was No Accident. It Was No Afterthought. It Was No Chance Occurrence. Remember, He Is The Lamb Slain From The Foundation Of The World. We Never See God In Any Way Responding To An Unforeseen Turn Of Events Or Striving To Recoup After A Setback. So, Jesus Christ’s Coming Was No Accident.
3B. Go Back To Daniel 9.25-27 And You Will Clearly See That The Precise Time Of Messiah Jesus’ Coming To Jerusalem Just Prior To His Crucifixion Was Predicted. Predicted More Than Six Centuries Before The Prophecy Was Finally Fulfilled. The Purpose Of His Coming Was Explained In Isaiah Chapter 53. While The Stunning Details Of His Crucifixion Are Found In Zechariah 12.10: "and they shall look upon me whom they have pierced, and they shall mourn for him, as one mourneth for his only son, and shall be in bitterness for him, as one that is in bitterness for his firstborn."
4B. But When Did Jesus Decide To Do What He Did? When Did He Plan And Purpose To Come And Offer Himself A Ransom For Sin? When Were These Things All Worked Out In The Counsel Chambers Of The Triune Godhead? "Known unto God are all his works from the beginning of the world," James Tells Us In Acts 15.18.
5B. So, Jesus Came Into The World "to save sinners." His Coming Was Not Something Sudden. His Coming Was Not A Reaction By God To An Unanticipated Rebellion By First Satan And His Angels And Then Adam And Eve. No. His Coming Was Something That Had Always Been In The Mind Of God, And On The Heart Of His Son, Jesus.
2A. NEXT, THERE IS THE VERB
1B. There Are Certain Words That Mean More To Some Folks Than To Others. And Those Words Mean More At Certain Times In History Than At Other Times. Such A Word Is The Word "Save." Because There Is So Much Confusion About Words These Days I Usually Make It A Point, When I Am Counseling Sinners, To Ask Them What They Think The Word "Save" Means. You Would Be Flabbergasted How Many Times People Just Shrug Their Shoulders And Say, "I don’t know."
2B. Let Me Tell You Something. People Who Are Dug Out From Under An Avalanche Of Snow By The Ski Patrol Know What The Word "Save" Means. The Swimmer Who Gets Caught In An Under Tow And Panics, And Then Is Pulled To Safety By A Life Guard, Knows What The Word "Save" Means. The Little Girl Who Slipped Down An Old Pipe In Texas Some Years Back, Who Was Pulled Up After Being Trapped For Days, Knows What The Word "Save" Means. The Soldier Who Was Wounded When He Stepped On A Land Mine In Viet Nam, Who Was Then Picked Up And Carried To Safety Under A Withering Barrage Of Machine Gun Fire, By Then Captain Norman Schwartzkopf, Knows What The Word "Save" Means.
3B. My Friends, There Are Times When You Are In Trouble. Your Life Is In Danger. And If Someone Doesn’t Come Along And Pull You To Safety, If Someone Doesn’t Come Along And Lay Hold Of You To Pull You Up From The Quicksand, Or To Lift You To Safety Off The Face Of That Cliff, Or To Snatch You From That Burning Automobile, Or To Reach Down Into The Water To Hoist You Up Where You Can Breathe, You’re Going To Die. Yes, There Are Times When You Are In Danger Of Losing Your Life And You Find Yourself In Need Of Saving..
4B. In The Same Manner Does Jesus Save. Here You Are, Helpless And Hopeless, In A Canoe On A Rapidly Flowing River With No Paddle, Heading For A Thundering Waterfall, About To Be Plunged Over And Dashed Onto The Rocks Below. The River Is Sin, That Sweeps You Along No Matter What You Do. The Waterfall Is God’s Unavoidable And Certain Judgment.
5B. My Friend, When It Comes To Salvation , You Don’t Need Jesus To Help You. Help Implies That You Can Do Part Of The Saving Yourself, And You Cannot. You’re Standing At The Edge Of A Cliff After A Volcano Erupts. And All Around You Is Red Hot Lava, Moving Toward You Inch By Inch. To The Front Of You, To The Left Of You, To The Right Of You Is Molten Lava. And Behind You Is A Cliff. You Don’t Need Help. You Need Deliverance. You Need Rescuing.
6B. Only With Jesus The Saving Isn’t Salvation From Physical Danger. It’s Not Even Salvation From Hell. What You Need, And What Jesus Provides, Is Salvation From Your Sins. Oh, My Friend, Don’t You Want To Be Saved From Your Sins This Evening? That’s Why Jesus Came. To Save From Sins.
3A. THIRD, THERE IS THE NOUN
1B. "Sinners" What Is A Sinner? A Sinner Is A Person Who Sins, By Doing Things That Are Wrong.
1C. It is wrong to lie. It is wrong to cheat. It is wrong to steal. It is wrong to have sex to someone you are not married to. It is wrong to think sinful thoughts. It is wrong to hate someone. It is wrong to treat your mother or your father dishonorably. It is wrong to do what your parents tell you not to do. It is wrong to take the name of the Lord in vain. It is wrong to drink liquor, beer and wine. It is wrong to take illicit drugs.
2C. And it is wrong to encourage others to do wrong. It is wrong to get others to commit sins and to encourage them to commit sins with you. It is wrong to dress immodestly. It is wrong to be worldly, to appear to have the values of a Christ rejecting world. It is wrong to have the appearance of evil. It is wrong to do what God doesn’t want you to do. A person who does these things is a sinner.
2B. But That’s Not All A Sinner Is. A Sinner Is Also A Person Who Sins By Not Doing Right.
1C. It is wrong to not love God. It is wrong to not love your neighbor. It is wrong to not do your best in school. It is wrong to not give tithes and offerings to God. It is wrong to not love your wife. It is wrong to not submit to your husband. It is wrong to not serve God in your Church. It is wrong to not attend Church. It is wrong to miss the communion service.
2C. It is wrong to not read your Bible. It is wrong to not hide God’s Word in your heart. It is wrong to not witness to the lost. It is wrong to not bring the lost to Church. It is wrong to not spank your children when it’s needful. It’s wrong to not train your children to be servants. It’s wrong to not break your willful child’s will. A person who does not do these things is a sinner.
3B. But Even That’s Not All A Sinner Is. You See, A Sinner Is Not Only One Who Does Wrong And Who Does Not Do Right. A Sinner Is Also One Who Is Wrong.
1C. Quite aside from your actions, your behavior, your impulses, your deeds, your thoughts, your motives, and your aspirations being onerous to God, being unpleasant to God, being irritable to God, being noxious to God, being vile to God. It just so happens that you are onerous to God. You are irritable to God. You are noxious to God. You are unpleasant to God.
2C. And if you examine the problem of sin carefully in God’s Word, you will see that the fundamental issue that separates you from God, that alienates you from God, that outrages God, isn’t as much what you do as what you are.
3C. For you see, just as Jesus is holy, harmless, undefiled, and separate from sinners, you are unholy, harmful, completely defiled and you actually are a sinner. If ever a human being deserved the wrath of God, it’s you. If ever a person’s nature warranted the flames of God’s vengeance, it’s you.
4C. And what compounds your wickedness, your guilt, your culpability, is your self-righteous and hypocritical insistence on comparing yourself with other people, your despicable efforts to justify yourself by saying "Well, at least I’m not as bad as . . . ." "Comparing themselves among themselves," you are not wise.
5C. Yes, you are a sinner. You are as guilty as guilty can be, as deserving of Hellfire as any man or woman who has ever lived. As well, you are the kind of person Jesus Christ came into this world to save. Yes. You are the kind of person Jesus Christ came into this world to save.
4A. WE CLOSE WITH A LOOK AT THE ADJECTIVE IN THIS PHRASE
". . . to save sinners"
1B. Adjectives, Of Course, Are Words That Modify Nouns. Adjectives Are Words That Set Limits And Boundaries On Nouns. Adjectives Are Words That Inform Us What The Limitations And The Scope Covered By Nouns Are. Take A Close Look At This Phrase Which Comprises Our Text And Take Note Of The Adjective. ". . . to save sinners."
2B. Have You Noticed That There Is No Adjective Here? That’s Right. There is No Adjective
Modifying The Noun In This Phrase. There Is No Adjective Telling Us What Kind Of Sinners Jesus Saves.
3B. Think About That. No Adjective! The Word "Sinners" Is Not Modified In Any Way. What Can That Mean?
1C. It means that Jesus Christ came to save you. You see, if an adjective had been used to modify this word "sinners," then the scope of Christ’s mission would have been limited. He would then
have come to save only certain kinds of sinners, such as blue sinners or great sinners or tall sinners or Jewish sinners or pretty good sinners. But that’s not what we have here at all. There is no adjective like blue or great or tall or Jewish or anything else like that here.
2C. That means, Jesus came to save you. Even if you are not a penitent sinner, Jesus came to save you. "Oh, pastor, I don’t feel bad enough about my sin." Though all sinners should feel bad about their sins, you can still get saved if you don’t, because Jesus didn’t come to save penitent sinners. He came to save sinners.
3C. It also means that Jesus came to save you, if you are not an awakened sinner. "Oh, pastor, I don’t feel spiritually awakened to my sinfulness." Though it would be good for sinners to be spiritually awakened, you can still get saved if you’re not, because Jesus didn’t come to save awakened sinners. He came to save sinners.
4C. It also means that Jesus came to save you, if you are not a grieving sinner. "Oh, pastor, I don’t grieve over my sinfulness." Though it would be good for sinners to grieve over their sinfulness, you can still get saved if you don’t grieve, because Jesus didn’t come to save grieving sinners. He came to save sinners.
CONCLUSION:
1. When I deal with sinners I usually try to persuade them to come to Jesus immediately. But frequently they won’t unless they are more penitent, or unless they are more awakened, or unless they are more grieved, or unless they have something else.
2. When I see that’s the case I try to get them to become a bit more of what I think will be helpful to them in their particular case. But understand this: All that’s really needed to be saved by Jesus is to be a sinner.
3. If you know you are a helpless, hopeless, Hell-deserving sinner, no matter how you may feel about yourself, Jesus will save you. I declare this on the authority of God’s Word, which says that Christ Jesus came to save sinners.
4. Are you a sinner? Then come to Jesus, my friend, and do not delay. March right upstairs when Dr. Hymers tells you to, and do what your pastor tells you to do. Can you be saved tonight? Of course you can. You’re a sinner aren’t you? And didn’t Jesus come to save sinners?