I'd ask you to turn with me this morning to 1 Timothy 1, verse 15. The first epistle to Timothy, chapter 1, verse 15. Let's go before the Lord in prayer before we read our text. Father, I ask for Your mercy this morning. Lord, I pray that Your Spirit will come and teach us. Lord, that the unfolding of Your Word would give understanding to the simple. Lord, that You would glorify Your Son, Jesus Christ, in our minds and hearts. Lord, cause us to love Him more. Cause us to know Him more. That we may walk straighter in Your commandments. Lord, that we may press into Your love. And by Your grace, stay faithful to the end. I ask this in Christ's name, Amen. 1 Timothy 1 verse 15 It is a trustworthy statement deserving full acceptance that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners, among whom I am foremost of all. Now we have before us this morning a very simple statement. Indeed, it is just one sentence, but it is absolutely jam-packed with the wisdom of God. One sentence that is the mission statement of the Lord Jesus Christ. One sentence to encapsulate the work of the most important man to ever walk on the earth. One sentence that is to be believed about the Son of God, the Alpha and Omega, the One who is the beginning and the end. One sentence to say exactly what He did that makes men, women, and children obey, worship, and believe in Him. He came into the world to save sinners. Our verse begins with these words. It is a trustworthy statement. Or this is indeed a faithful saying. This is a certainly true saying. This is like in the passages in the Gospels where the Lord Jesus, before He says something, says, verily, verily, or amen, amen. What I'm about to say to you cannot be false and will never be false. Take it to the bank. I'm as sure of this as I am that two plus two equals four. This is a trustworthy statement. And then he goes on to say, deserving of full acceptance. This fact deserves or is worthy of full acceptance. Unlike many other things the Apostle Paul mentions previously in this epistle. If you would glance up to verse 3. At the latter end of verse 3 in chapter 1 there, it says, instruct them not to teach strange doctrines. Or in verse 6, men have turned aside to fruitless discussions. Unlike these fruitless sayings, this statement is worthy and it deserves all of our attention. The work of Jesus has been so plainly laid before the eyes of the world. The gravity and seriousness of this act of the Son of God demands that each man, woman, and child face it, believe it, and no one can simply ignore it. It deserves or is worthy of full acceptance, meaning that this fact is not something to be pondered over in the mind from afar off. The life, death, resurrection, and ascension of the Lord Jesus is not an intellectual hobby or a pastime or something to study on the side. Tons of books have been written pondering the man Jesus Christ and they're helpful, but the fact when beheld so changes sinners that they cannot remain the same. This is when he says it's worthy of full acceptance. It will change you. Either you will fall before Jesus in saving faith, or you will go away hardened in your sin, hating Him. And this full acceptance goes beyond a mere mental assent. You cannot see the crucified Lamb of God and simply nod your head in agreement. We must believe it, yes, but that is only a part of full acceptance. It's only a part. This truth must go from the head to the heart, where we say, yes, it's true, He came to save sinners, and then go on to say, yes, it's true that He came to save me, that I number myself amongst the sinners that He came to save. You must fully accept this. Indeed, it is worthy of such acceptance. Turn with me to Romans chapter 10, or I will read it. And this illustrates the full acceptance. Romans chapter 10, verse 8 through 11. But what does it say? The Word is near you in your mouth and in your heart. That is the word of faith which we are preaching, that if you confess with your mouth Jesus as Lord and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved. For with the heart a person believes, resulting in righteousness, and with the mouth he confesses, resulting in salvation. For the Scripture says, whoever believes in Him will not be disappointed. Whoever believes will not be disappointed. It is a trustworthy statement deserving full acceptance. Now to the statement itself. Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners. So this man that saved sinners is Christ Jesus. Jesus is the Christ, or in Greek, the Christos, meaning the anointed one. God's Anointed, The Anointed One with a capital O. In Hebrew language, Anointed Mashiach, we say Messiah. The Anointed One. The big guy. The one that the entire Bible points to. The Christ is the Son of God and the Son of Man. He's the seed of the woman that crushes the head of the serpent in Genesis 3.15. He is the seed of Abraham. He is the Lamb that God provided as Abraham went to sacrifice his son Isaac. Behold, John the Baptist said, the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world. In John 1 verse 29. He is the promised Son of David, the better and true King of Israel. He is the promised prophet, better and truer than Moses. He is the promised high priest, better than the Levitical line, better than Aaron, after the order of Melchizedek. He is the Child born to us, the wonderful Counselor, mighty God, everlasting Father, Prince of Peace, as in Isaiah chapter 9. This Jesus Christ is written of in John chapter 1. I'll read those very familiar verses. John chapter 1 verse 1 through 5. We're examining just who is this Christ Jesus that comes into the world to save sinners. In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things came into being through Him, and apart from Him, nothing came into being that has come into being. In Him was life, and the life was the light of men. The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not comprehend it. or as the ancient Nicene Creed says, Jesus is God of God, light of light, very God of very God, begotten, not made, being of one substance, with the Father. Now that is who Christ Jesus is. And now our verse says, this Christ Jesus came into the world. He came from eternity. The Word was with God. Prostantheon, with God, toward God. He was in the bosom of the Father as a face-to-face perfect communion. In His mercy and grace and love, He came from the realms of glory. For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son that whoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have eternal life. And this is of a necessity that the Lord Jesus Christ come into the world. That He comes to us. Throughout the history of the world, people with their darkened hearts and minds imagined that God was not so distant away from them. And we've imagined that we're really not that evil, that we can do this or do that or think this way, and we could somehow go up to God or climb up to Him rather than God come down and reveal Himself to us. Absolutely not. They were grossly mistaken about God and grossly mistaken about themselves. Whoever believed that. God is holy, completely unique, and distinct from all else in perfect righteousness. He is thrice holy, three times holy. Isaiah saw the Lord lofty and exalted in the temple. And he wrote in Isaiah 6, verse 2 and 3, that the seraphim, the angels, stood above him, each having six wings. With two he covered his face, with two he covered his feet, and with two he flew. And one called out to another and said, Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of hosts. The whole earth is full of His glory. He's so holy that the angels hesitate to look directly upon the Lord. His holiness will not allow wickedness in His presence. And men are so blind as to think that we can ascend His holy mountain and all will be well. The Lord came to meet with Moses in the Old Testament at Mount Sinai. And the Lord instructed the people to put up bounds around the mountain, that no person nor animal could come near the mountain. If they went near it, they were to be put to death, and you were to throw stones or sticks, not even kill them by hand, and leave them there. I'm illustrating that it is necessary for Jesus Christ to come into the world to save us, rather than us climb up by some means. It's impossible for us as sinners to approach Him in His glory. It says He came into the world. Christ Jesus Himself came, not merely a new philosophy, not merely a teaching, not another prophet with another message, but the Word of God Himself came and took on flesh and dwelt among us. His condescension, His humiliation, His leaving His glory is the act of the Son of God taking up flesh. He took on a human body, a true human body, born of a woman to bear the wrath of God in His flesh for your sins and die a sinner's death upon the cross. And this is laid out in Philippians 2, if you'd like to turn there with me. Philippians 2. Philippians 2, verse 5. The Christ Jesus, the Son of God, came into the world. Philippians 2, verse 5. Have this attitude in yourselves, which was also in Christ Jesus, who although He existed in the form of God, did not regard equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied Himself, taking the form of a bondservant and being made in the likeness of men. Being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross. For this reason also God highly exalted Him and bestowed on Him the name which is above every name, so that at the name of Jesus every knee will bow of those who are in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and that every tongue will confess that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of God the Father. He came to save sinners. Well, what is sin exactly? 1 John 3, verse 4 says, Everyone who practices sin also practices lawlessness. And sin is lawlessness. We have not done what the Lord commanded us to do, and we have done what He told us not to do. That is sin. And one sin, you get the name for yourself, a sinner. 1 John 1, verse 8-10 If we say we have no sin, we are deceiving ourselves and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sin, He is faithful and righteous to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. If we say that we have not sinned, we make Him a liar and His Word is not in us. So let none of us imagine this morning in our hearts that we are not so bad that God would not send us to hell apart from the work of Jesus Christ. If anyone is guilty of breaking any one law of God, he is rightly and justly called a sinner, as we see in our verse. Just one law broken. And this is an either-or situation. You are either righteous or unrighteous, holy or sinful in the eyes of God. Once the law is broken, the penalty is death, and there is no remedy apart from Christ Jesus. The Lord said in Ezekiel 18, the soul that sins shall die. In an illustration, imagine you have a pretty balloon that is your righteousness, and your one sin is the poke of the needle into the balloon. It pops. The one needle has the same result as a thousand needles poking the balloon. It results in the same thing. The balloon is popped. James said, whoever keeps the whole law and yet stumbles at one point has become guilty of breaking the entire law. And the reality is that we never had a good balloon to begin with. Being born in sin, guilty with our first parent, Adam. Romans 5.12, Therefore, just as one man sin entered into the world, and death through sin, and so death spread to all men, because all sinned. So we have established all our sinners, and Christ Jesus came into the world to save us. Born of the Virgin Mary under the law, He kept the law perfectly and was killed on the cross, bearing in His body the penalty for our sins. And we must simply believe in Him that God raised Him from the dead for our justification. And we are counted righteous by faith in Jesus Christ. God sees us righteous as God counted Christ a sinner on the cross. 2 Corinthians 5.21 He made Him who knew no sin to be sin on our behalf so that we might become the righteousness of God in Him. Romans 4 verse 3-8 For what does the Scripture say? Abraham believed God and it was credited to him as righteousness. Now to the one who works his wages is not credited as a favor, but as what is due. But to the one who does not work, but believes in him who justifies the ungodly, his faith is credited as righteousness. Just as David also speaks of the blessing on the man to whom God credits righteousness apart from works. Blessed are those whose lawless deeds have been forgiven and whose sins have been covered. Blessed is the man whose sin the Lord will not take into account. Note now how the Apostle Paul ends our verse. Christ came to save sinners, among whom I am foremost of all. Paul here counting himself among sinners uses the word protos, I think that was the word that was referred to as Peter, was the first of the apostles. Paul here uses the word protosses, and I'm the chief, I'm the leader of the sinners. The first in preeminence, the first of many. Some translations read he was the chief of sinners. And Paul has wrote as much in other places. For example, in 1 Corinthians 15, He wrote, for I am the least of the apostles, not fit to be called an apostle because I persecuted the church of God. Ephesians 3.8 To me, the very least of all saints, this grace was given to preach to Gentiles the unfathomable riches of Christ. And when he says, I am, in the Greek he says, ego eimi, the double emphatic. It's like saying, I, I am myself. Something like, I myself. The same ego, a me, used by Jesus when He said, I am, and the men fell on the ground. He is for sure the chief of sinners with the emphatic, I am. And should we not feel something like this when we behold the Lord? When we see the holiness of God in the face of Jesus Christ, We are immediately overtaken by how evil we are and how filthy we are. We saw in Isaiah 6 when the angels covered themselves and cried, Holy, Holy, Holy. What does Isaiah say after that? He says, Woe is me, for I am ruined, because I'm a man of unclean lips and live among a people of unclean lips. For my eyes have seen the King, the Lord of hosts, If by God's grace you know you are a sinner, the good news is that Christ Jesus came in the world to save you. Among whom, Paul was foremost to set an example of the patience of the Lord in saving sinners. I'll read this passage from Luke 18 about the man who smote upon his breasts and wouldn't even set his eyes toward heaven. Luke 18, verse 10. Two men went into the temple to pray, one a Pharisee and the other a tax collector. The Pharisee stood and was praying this to himself. God, I thank you that I'm not like other people, swindlers, unjust, adulterers, or even like this tax collector. I fast twice a week. I pay tithes of all that I get. But the tax collector, standing some distance away, was even unwilling to lift up his eyes to heaven, but was beating his breast, saying, God, be merciful to me, a sinner. I tell you, this man went to his house justified rather than the other. For everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, but he who humbles himself will be exalted. What Paul is saying here in that he was the chief of sinners is that God is mighty to save. Sin is not something that blocks our way to come to Jesus, but the opposite. Sin is the very prerequisite to come to Jesus. Jesus said the healthy have no need of a physician, but the sick and the dying have need of the physician. Confess your sins to the Lord and be saved. If God can save Paul, the chief sinner, He could save you. Charles Spurgeon, the Prince of Preachers said, If God can get the elephant into the Ark of Noah, He can have no problem getting the ant into the Ark. No matter how stained your life is with sin, the blood of Jesus is more powerful and strong enough to wash away your sin and making you white as snow. If God can get Saint Paul into heaven, the persecutor of the church, He can surely get you into heaven. This is also why God saved Paul to make the most hostile enemy of the church in that day into one of the most effective apostles of the time. So we here this morning can have no hesitation in going to the Lord Jesus Christ for our salvation. And we will close and read these last two verses of verse 16 and verse 17. Yet for this reason I found mercy that in me As the foremost, Jesus Christ might demonstrate His perfect patience as an example for those who would believe in Him for eternal life. Now to the King eternal, immortal, invisible, the only God, be honor and glory forever and ever. Amen. Let's pray. Lord, we thank you for your word, and we thank you for your testimony of the Apostle Paul. Lord, we thank you for giving the account how he was knocked down to the ground and blinded. Lord, that you intervened into his life, that he did nothing to make himself ready for your conversion. Lord, but You came to save him as he was indeed persecuting Your flock of sheep. And Lord, by Your Spirit, will You draw us that every hindrance will be removed, that we could go to Your Son for salvation and see in Paul what You can work in us even this day. I ask this in Christ's name, Amen.