In the year 1666, John Bunyan, who was an English Puritan, wrote an autobiography whilst he was in prison entitled, Grace Abounding to the Chief of Sinners. In this autobiography, he recalls his conversion to Christ and the subsequent call then to the ministry. The very title of this book itself gives us an insight into what John Bunyan thought concerning himself. He believed himself to be the chief of sinners. In this autobiography he said, and I quote, They bring afresh into my mind the remembrance of my great help, my great support from heaven, and the great grace that God extended to such a wretch as I." We understand from that the idea that John Bunyan rightfully had of himself before God, that he was, as the hymn writer said, amazing grace, how sweet the sound, that saved a wretch like me. Now, lest we think that this is some puritanical way of thinking about our, pardon me, our great sinfulness and misery and so on, if we look again to the passage of Scripture that we read this morning, Paul himself confesses that this is a faithful saying and worthy of all acceptation, that Christ Jesus came into the world to see his sinners, of whom I am chief." Paul himself used that, well, he was the one that gave us that language, but he had that similar way of thinking of himself, that he was the chief of sinners, that he was guilty before God, and this sin had brought only into his life misery and that which was worthy of judgment. But again, in case we think that this is something that is only in the writings of the Apostle Paul, if we read in Matthew chapter 5 in the verse number 4, the Lord Jesus Christ himself said, Now he's talking here about those who are entering in and have entered into the kingdom of God. And what are these people mourning over? They're mourning over their sin. They're mourning over the guilt that they have, having violated and broken the law of God. But there is a blessing here. For as they mourn over their sin, a mourning that's bringing about repentance of heart, a turning to God and faith, they shall be comforted. They'll be comforted in the gospel itself. They'll be comforted with the promises of this kingdom. that if we are truly saved, we shall be forgiven. Now, though the dread of guilt and fear of punishment may be removed, And it is, it's promised to us that it will be removed in the life of those who have trusted in the Lord. The sense of the awfulness of our sin and what our sin deserves often stays with the believer throughout their life. So one hand, they recognize that there is that dread of guilt, that dread of punishment, which in Jesus Christ has been removed. For there is now therefore no condemnation to them that are in Christ Jesus. But at the same time, when we think back to what we were and how we lived and the things that we had done against the law of God, we still feel the sense of shame. We still feel the sense of regret. We still have that mourning over our lives that in any way we had offended a holy and just God. In many ways, every believer thinks of themselves as the chief of sinners. If there was one place that I had to disagree with the Apostle Paul, and I don't disagree with him at all, but it would be here, I would say, no, Paul, you're not the chief of sinners. I am the chief of sinners. I am the chief of sinners, and you perhaps would feel the same this morning. Just as John Bunyan wrote, he felt the same thing. Having looked at his sin, that deep sense of sinfulness was there. Now this sense of sinfulness, this sense of misery is contrary to the philosophy and the psychology that is often preached to us by our culture. We live in a day and age that from the moment we're born, we're told that we are special. And we are told that any sense within us that would be doubting ourselves, or we're thinking negatively of ourselves, is not to be thought upon, but rather we are to affirm ourselves. And so people today are encouraged to speak to themselves. Wake up in the morning, look in the mirror, speak to yourself and affirm yourself. You say perhaps to yourself, I am confident. I am strong. I am successful. I am good. My friends, such a practice is contrary to the gospel. Such a practice actually doesn't lead you out of that sense of insufficiency and so on. It actually only increases it. Because the reality is you're not good. The reality is you have nothing to be confident in other than the work of Jesus Christ. The reality is that you're not strong, you're weak. And the gospel does not try to encourage the individual to lift themselves up. It encourages the individual to look away from themselves, to the one who is sufficient, to the one who is able to see, to the one who never sinned, but in everything was perfect before the Father. Let me ask you this morning, as we get in really to the mean bulk of our message, have you that sense? that understanding that you are a sinner before God. Have you ever come to that understanding that you've broken the law of a holy God? And as a result of that, you deserve punishment. Has there ever been the feeling coming upon you, the sense of conviction of sin, that feeling of misery and of guilt, knowing that you deserve wrath and judgment at the hand of God? Let me say to you this morning, that if there is no sense of sinfulness in your life, then you are not a Christian. I say that not on the authority of some reformed tradition. I say that not upon the authority of any one idea of any preacher. It's upon the authority of Scripture itself, because those who are in the kingdom of God are mourners. And they mourn over their sin. And so if there is no concept this morning, no acceptance within your heart and your mind that you're a sinner before a holy God, then you are not in God's kingdom. You're not in God's kingdom. Again, I stress to you that this is missing today in evangelical Christianity. There is this reluctance to acknowledge our sinfulness. And there is this distortion of the gospel, that the gospel is only there to fix the problems of your life. That the gospel there is to answer every worry, every fear, and so on. No, the gospel comes to deal with your sin. The gospel comes to deal with the fact that you deserve wrath. Jesus Christ, as we will come to see today in his missional statement, came into the world to save sinners. And I pray that you would see the very central aspect of the gospel. It's not so that you have some God in heaven that you can just, you know, in a sense, come to and, oh, I'm worried about this or I'm worried about that. No, it's to bring you into a saving relationship with him. Yes, that he might be your father. Yes, that you might pray to him, but that your sin might be dealt with. That you might be justified in his sight, but also as well that you might be saved from its power and dominion. I believe that there would be greater happiness in the lives of people today if they understood the very essence of this. that happiness and holiness go hand in hand. And people today, they're trying to pursue happiness in this and that and the other thing, not understanding or not acknowledging that the source of all misery is sin itself. And you need to have your sin dealt with in order to be truly blessed. As the Psalmist would say, blessed or happy is the man whose sin is forgiven. As we think about this subject this morning, if I can borrow the title from John Bunyan, Grace Abounding to the Chief of Sinners, there's four things that I want you to see today as we consider this passage of Scripture. First of all, there is a recognition of personal guilt. There is a recognition of personal guilt. Then secondly, there is a recognition of Christ's sufficiency. Then thirdly, there is a recognition of grace that abounds. And fourthly, there is a recognition of divine glory. Recognition of divine glory. Notice with me first of all here, this recognition of personal guilt. Paul in verse number 12, which is really the section that we're dealing with from verse 12 to 17, Paul is recounting how the Lord had enabled him, strengthened him, and the Lord had placed him into the Christian ministry. that he who was once a blasphemer and persecutor had been saved by the grace of God and had been called into the service of God. But as Paul begins to give his testimony, as he begins to recall the transformation that had taken place in his life, I want you to see here that there was a recognition of his sin. There was a recognition of personal guilt and of a personal debt that he owed to the law of God. Now, where did this idea come from that Paul had this debt? Where did it come from that Paul was guilty before this God? Well, it came from the law. Unfortunately today, in evangelicalism, cliches have arisen concerning the law of God. One of those cliches is now that the Old Testament was all law, but now we are in a time of grace. And let me say to you that there can be no understanding of grace without the law. And the law of God simply did not start when the book of Matthew began. The law of God continued. Of course, there were certain aspects of the Old Testament law that were fulfilled in Jesus Christ, such as the ceremonial law, that, yes, came to an end. We were no longer obliged to fulfill that ceremonial law. There was aspects of the national law given to Israel that expired along with that nation state. But the moral law continued. The moral law continues even to this day, because the moral law is an expression of the righteous character of God. And so there can be no end to it. Now, as we think about the law, we see that Paul is dealing with some within the church here, as Timothy was at, who were distorting the use and the application of the law of God. And let me just walk you through this very briefly, as I show you how the law of God exposed the sin within Paul's life. In verse 4, it says, So he instructs Timothy here. Don't get involved or don't get carried away with these false teachers that are bringing in these endless disputes about the lineage of so-and-so and all of these questions that we do not have the answer to. Don't get distracted, Timothy. And he gives to Timothy a charge. He gives to Timothy a commandment in verse number five. He says, What was that charge given to Timothy? Well, it's reiterated in verse number 18. And so, when we think of that term, commandment, We often think about the Ten Commandments, but that's not what it's speaking about. It's speaking here about a charge that is given by a superior to an inferior. A charge given by Paul, the apostle, to the inferior, the elder Timothy, and a charge that was to instruct the people of God in true religion. Religion that is not just crossing the T's and dotting the I's, but religion that grows out of loving God and loving our neighbor, religion that produces a good and a clear conscience, and a religion that has a sincere true faith. That's what he's instructing Timothy to do, the goal of this instruction. Timothy, the goal of your ministry ought to be these three things, as laid out in verse 5. But in verse number 6, he then says that some have swerved away. They have turned aside from the simplicity of gospel ministry. And they are now introducing desiring to be teachers in verse number 7. they are introducing these genealogies and fables and so on. It says in verse 7, "...desiring to be teachers of the law, understanding neither what they say, nor whereof they affirm." And so here, more than likely, it was the Judaizers again, just as in the case in the book of Philippians, just as in the case of Galatians and so on, they were trying to bring the church under parts of the ceremonial law that were not applicable to them. And Paul was saying that, listen, they're using the law, but they are not using it lawfully. They have a bad and a poor application of the law of God to the people. Now immediately Paul defends himself in verse number 8. He says, but we know that the law is good. if a man use it lawfully. Paul anticipates the reaction he's going to get where they accuse him of somehow disregarding the entirety of God's law. And Paul is saying, no, no, the law is good, the law is profitable, but only if it's used lawfully, only if it's applied in the right manner and in the right way. As Paul will go on to show, that the law here was not made for the righteous man, but for the unrighteous man. And so as he begins to unfold here from verse 9 to 10, what's the main essence? What's the main purpose of the law of God? It's to show us our sin. It's to show us that we're not righteous. It's to show us that we're unrighteous. And you might read that this morning and say, well, the law was made for, or not made for the righteous man. It was made for the unrighteous. See, the law is made for bad people. But remember what Paul would say in the book of Romans, chapter 3 and verse 10. There is none righteous, no, not one. And so, yes, the law was not made for the righteous man, but for the unrighteous man. But all of us are unrighteous. All of us have broken the law of God. All of us live in sin and in misery. Only Christ was ever perfectly righteous. Even Adam, who had a righteousness there in the Garden of Eden, still had the potential to fall. Only Jesus Christ was the one, the perfect righteous Son of God. So this law, what does it do in its moral essence? It shows to us our sin. It highlights to us that we are lawless and disobedient, that we are ungodly, that we are sinners. And again, notice, as Paul would say, he's the chief of sinners. Notice again, the application of the law to sinners. for unholy and profane, for murderers and fathers and murderers of mothers, for manslayers, for whoremongers, for them that defile themselves with mankind, for men-stealers, for liars, for perjured persons, and if there be any other thing that is contrary to sound doctrine." So Paul, having established that the law is good, that the law, rightfully applied, exposes that there is none righteous, no not one, begins to recall his own unrighteous condition. In verse number 13, he says he was before a blasphemer. He thought he was serving God. He thought he was serving the true God. He thought he was carrying out God's purposes and that he was fulfilling God's purposes, but actually he was a blasphemer. And there is a warning to everyone here today, that much like the Apostle Paul, you could have been raised in the faith. You could have been raised in the things of God. You could have been taught the Scriptures from your very earliest of years. And yet, if your life is not in accordance with Scripture, And if you're not actually serving and living for the God of Scripture, then all that you are is a blasphemer. Paul's good intentions did not matter. Paul's desire and thinking that he was right did not matter. He was a blasphemer. He violated the first and the third commandment. He was also a persecutor. We know how horribly he treated the Christians as he persecuted them. He was a violator of the sixth commandment. And he was injurious. Again, he injured them, he hurt them. Again, a violation of the sixth commandment. Then he says, "...but I obtained mercy, because I did it ignorantly in unbelief." What does that phrase mean, that he did it ignorantly in unbelief? In other words, Paul was saying that he was not doing these things against the conscience that he had. He thought he was doing right. He thought he was doing right. And he is making a difference between somebody who has received the truth and yet sins against that light, and somebody who does it in ignorance. There is a difference. Now, he's not saying here that somehow his sin was less of a problem, or that his sin was less severe. No, he's fully acknowledging here that his sin made him guilty before God, that it made him a sinner, even the chief of sinners. But he's acknowledging that there's mercy. There's an understanding of the difference of degrees of sin that one would even commit. And so, through the law, The sin in Paul's life was exposed. And my friend, the right and the proper and the good application of the law of God to our hearts today is to expose us of our sin. In Romans chapter 3 and verse 20, it says in that portion of Scripture, Romans 3 and the verse number 20, Therefore by the deeds of the law shall no flesh be justified in his sight, for by the law is the knowledge of sin. And so the law of God gives to us a knowledge that we are guilty, that we are sinners, that we deserve His wrath and His punishment. And also then, not just is there the effect of knowledge, but there is also then, by the Holy Spirit, the effect of conviction. In John's Gospel, chapter 16, in the verse number 8, When he has come, that's the Holy Spirit, he will reprove the world of sin and of righteousness and of judgment. The Holy Spirit, using the law of God, convicts us of our sin and our guilt before God. My friend, this is what takes place in conversion. This is what takes place when men and women are born again. The Spirit of God brings a conviction of sin, brings an understanding that we are guilty before God, deserving of His wrath and punishment. And I wonder as you're sitting here this morning, if your heart is open and the Spirit of God is moving upon your heart, is there an acknowledgement today that you are a sinner? Is there an acknowledgement in your heart today as you compare yourself to the standard of God, the 10 commandments that you have sinned? You might say this morning, well, I look at the 6th commandment, thou shalt not murder. I've never murdered anybody. But the 6th commandment, my friend, it encompasses hatred. It encompasses not just the things that we don't do, but the things that we have failed to do. And so whenever we're not preserving and bettering the lives of our neighbor, we're violating the second commandment. You might look at the seventh commandment and say, well, I've never committed adultery, never cheated on my partner or my spouse and so on. But has there been lust in your heart? Even prior to your marriage? Even in your marriage? Has there been a looking away to another husband? Who perhaps you think, well, if I was married to him, he could give me more, he could provide to me more. What's that? Adultery of heart. Men, is there a looking away to another woman? Looking at her body and her form and shape and saying, I wish I could have her. What is that? It's adultery of heart. Such things are a violation of the law of God. What about the ninth commandment? Thou shalt not bear false witness. We forgive ourselves very easily for our little lies. We have an aim even for them. We call them little white lies. Oh, they're not as bad as the black lies. My friend, God does not distinguish it like that. Sin is sin. And although there are degrees of sin, sin is still sin. What about the first table of the law? Remember the Sabbath day to keep it holy? Often whenever the commandments are quoted, you even see this with some well-known people and they're quoting the commandments of God, they somehow never quote the fourth commandment. And yet, my friend, if you do not keep in the new covenant, the new day, the new Sabbath day, the Lord's day as a holy day, you're sinning against God. That's a serious thing. You don't get to make up what you do in the Lord's day. You don't get to say, well, I'm going to go to church today and not go to church next week. No, it's His day. It's His day. And any entertainment of your own self or your own thing on God's holy day is a sin against the Holy God. What about the third commandment? We take the name of God in vain. I pray that you do not do that. I pray that you would never, Christian, take the name of Jesus and use it in a light way. I hope that whenever you're watching something and you hear it, that it grieves you. I pray that you would never take the name of God and use it in a light and frivolous manner. I pray that it would grate upon you when you're working with somebody and they would take the name of God in vain. As Christians, we never should say, oh my God, that's blasphemy. It's blasphemy. I don't care if you're a Christian and you don't intend it to be blasphemy. It is blasphemy. My friend, we could go through many more of those commandments. But as you hear the law of God being preached to you today, is there a humble acknowledgement that you have sinned? That you're guilty before a holy God? That you need Jesus Christ to save you? You see, unless you acknowledge that first that you are a sinner, then there can be no salvation. Unless you first acknowledge that you have broken the law of God, then you'll never be brought to Christ. For the law was our schoolmaster, our teacher. to bring us to Christ. There might still be that hesitation in your heart, I am not a sinner. My friend, it doesn't matter what you think. God says that for all have sinned and come short of the glory of God. Are you a mourner in Zion today? Are you someone that is truly mourning over your sin? Yes, the sense of punishment has been removed. Yes, we have that wonderful truth, no condemnation, now I dread in Christ. But dear Christian, do you remember the sins of the past? Does it grieve you? We ought never to boast of them. We ought never to brag about them. They ought to grieve us. And if there is that sense of regret, that sense of, oh, why did I ever disobey or break the law of God? Well, let that even be an encouragement to you this morning, that that is a sign of grace within your heart. That is a sign that the Spirit of God is working and has moved upon your heart. That you have truly mourned. and therefore you shall be comforted." But notice here, secondly, he also recognized Christ's sufficiency. In verse number 14 and 15, "...and the grace of our Lord was exceeding abundant with faith and love which is in Christ Jesus." This is a faithful saying and worthy of all acceptation that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners. He recognized, in light of his sinfulness, in light of his personal guilt, that he could do nothing to save himself, that he could do nothing to deliver himself from the wrath of God. But Christ was completely and totally sufficient to deliver him. He recognized, first of all, Christ as the Messiah. He uses the word Christ in verse number 15. It's the New Testament equivalent of the Old Testament term of the Anointed One or the Messiah. And so he's acknowledging here, this man, Jesus, who came into the world, was the one promised of God of old, was the one who was promised to come in and to deal with our sin, to bring the law of God into our hearts, and to completely and totally forgive us through faith. He also then recognized his mission. He came into the world to save sinners. He's speaking there about his incarnation. Christ was God manifest in the flesh. And he came into this world for a single purpose, to save sinners. Perhaps you look at the life of Christ and you say, well, he's an example, a moral example for me. And that's true. Christ did live perfectly. But His main purpose was to save people from their sins. And if you reject today the knowledge of sin, if you reject the guilt that is yours today, then what you're actually doing is this, you're rejecting Christ. And you're rejecting His mission. And you're rejecting His person. And you're saying for the sake of your own pride, I will not acknowledge that I am a sinner. I will not do that, and I will not have this man to be my Savior. Jesus Christ came into this world, He went to that cross, and upon that cross He died, the just for the unjust. He became our substitute when all of our sins and guilt was laid upon Him. And the Father looked toward the Son as the one who was guilty. And He who knew no sin had become sin for us, that we might be made the righteousness of God in Him. God commended His love toward us in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. Through His death, forgiveness, salvation. My friend, through the atoning work of Jesus Christ, forgiveness today you can receive. He died for sinners. And the only recognition that you need today is to acknowledge that you fit that category. That you yourself are a sinner, guilty before a holy God, deserving of nothing but wrath and mercy. But believing this, that Christ is sufficient. That He has died for sin. And that His blood is able to atone for the worst of sins that you have committed. Notice here, as he recognizes Christ's sufficiency, what motivated Christ to do this. In verse number 14, "...and the grace of our Lord was exceeding abundant." It would have been sufficient, I think, to have used the word abundant. He didn't do that. The Holy Ghost added the term exceeding abundant. This is grace that is just overflowing. This is grace that cannot be contained. This is grace that cannot be restrained. This is grace that is shown in its fullness, in its absolute maximum, to every single individual who would come to Jesus Christ in faith. They receive that grace that abounds. Perhaps as you are here this morning, there is a recognition of your personal guilt. There is a recognition this morning that you are guilty before God, and if you were to die today and stand before God, that your mouth would be stopped. Romans 3 verse 18, you would be guilty before God of violating His law, and that just and holy God would bring down the entirety of His wrath upon you for your sin, and it would be just and holy and good for Him to do so. But my friend, let me remind you that with all of your sin, that there is grace to cover it that is sufficient. There is grace that is able to pardon your sin, and the sin that you have committed can never outspend the riches of his grace. He died to save the chief of sinners. My friend, that means he can save every sinner. All those who come to Him today in faith and in repentance can know this wonderful, rich grace and be forgiven. Notice, and we'll make this point brief, but we'll tie it in with verse 16. I want you to see here that there was a recognition of a divine pattern. There was, yes, this grace that abounded, but it carried on and it set for us a pattern in verse 16. How do I know? How do I know that Christ today will save you? How do I know today that Christ will save you with all of your sin, known and unknown? How do we know today that Jesus Christ will save the worst of sinners? Because Paul, by the Holy Ghost, tells us so. Paul was saved to demonstrate God's patience. to demonstrate His long-sufferingness. To demonstrate and to set a pattern that all who believe, irregardless of their sinful condition, can be saved. That's the divine pattern that is set. And I ought to encourage you today, come to Jesus Christ. Oh, you feel the weight and the guilt of your sin upon you. And perhaps that sense of sinfulness would cause you to be like Adam and Eve and run from God. Oh my friend, don't do that this day. Let this be an encouragement to you to run to God and find in Him grace sufficient, grace for all of your sin. But then finally, there was a recognition of rightful glory. There was a recognition of rightful glory. Paul makes a pivot in case anything could be ascribed to him of honor and of glory and of praise. He pivots immediately after his testimonial account and says, Immediately in case people would look to Paul and say, what a testimony! That must be a special thing done for that special man. Oh, maybe there was something that Paul did or had achieved in all of this. No, immediately he pivots the minds of the reader and the hearer to look to their King, to look to the one who deserves that glory, who deserves that honor. Dear Christian, this morning, as you recall how Christ had delivered you from your guilt and from your misery, it is imperative on us that we would always be giving the glory to God alone. For all that your sin did, all that it did was bring shame and grief and the deserving of God's wrath. But Christ in His grace has saved you. It is all of Him. It is completely all of Him. And so it is right for us to give Him the honor and glory for which He is due. You see, the one today, the one today who would say that they're not a sinner, The one today who would say, I don't need a savior. What they are in fact doing is this, they are lifting themselves up. They are putting themselves in the place of God. And they are saying that I will receive this glory for the good person, for the righteous person that I have. And what are they doing? They're taking God away from his rightful place. They're putting themselves at the very center and they're exalting themselves above God himself. Blasphemy. Pray that you would come today acknowledging your sin, accepting of your guilt. But my friend, that for every one look to yourself, take seven looks toward Christ, and look to Him in all of His sufficiency, and see the promises of His gospel, that if you come today and believe in Him, you will receive life everlasting. That is the pattern, that is the promise that God has made for you today. Believe in Him and life everlasting will be yours. The dread of punishment can be removed. The sense of condemnation can be lifted. Christ is an abundant Savior, but He is also a willing Savior, willing to pardon, willing to save. I pray that you would come to Him today be saved, even through Him.