Chapter 1, 1 Timothy chapter 1, and you'll be thinking, why isn't it Matthew? And I will explain that in a few moments. 1 Timothy chapter 1, verses 12 through 17. After the reading of scripture, we'll sing together the Gloria Patri. Please stand together for the reading of God's holy word. I thank Christ Jesus, our Lord, who has given me strength that he considered me faithful, appointing me to his service. Even though I was once a blasphemer and a persecutor and a violent man, I was shown mercy because I acted in ignorance and unbelief. The grace of our Lord was poured out on me abundantly, along with the faith and love that are in Christ Jesus. Here is a trustworthy saying that deserves full acceptance, Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners, of whom I am the worst. But for that very reason, I was shown mercy so that in me, the worst of sinners, Christ Jesus might display his unlimited patience as an example for those who would believe on him and receive eternal life. Now unto the King, eternal, immortal, invisible, the only God, be honor and glory forever and ever. Amen. And God will add his blessing to this reading of his word. Amen. Please be seated. I am departing from the series on Matthew for a few weeks. to consider the faithful sayings that Paul gives us in his pastoral epistles. The first one that we're going to look at today is 1 Timothy 1.15. There are five of these faithful sayings, and as I began to work on this particular one, I looked back on some previous studies I'd done. I did a study at the prison on 1 Timothy 1 years ago, and I'd encountered the fact that there were five of these sayings, but it really never sunk in to me that there were five of these until a couple months ago I was reading a sermon by B.B. Warfield where he, in just a marvelous way, drew out the significance of these five faithful sayings. And all of a sudden it clicked. There's things here that we can benefit from and profit from. And so I want to take a sidestep from Matthew and over the next five weeks to cover these five faithful sayings. There's actually a lot more written on it than I ever thought. There's an OP minister, George Knight, wrote an entire book on the five faithful sayings. titled The Faithful Sayings in the Pastoral Letters. And so we're going to look at these, the five sayings. I'm going to introduce you to the five or at least show you where the five are, and then we're going to come back and spend some time particularly with this first one. Literally, the wording faithful saying or the NIV trustworthy saying, literally it's a faithful word. The word for faith and the word for word, a faithful word. The King James Version translates it faithful saying, the NIV translates it trustworthy saying. These five and two of them have the added phrase as in our one today, and worthy of all acceptance as though it's sort of underscoring the importance of the faithful saying. Of these five, it's interesting that three of them, the marker, this is a faithful saying, comes before the saying. And in two cases, the saying comes first and then Paul concludes by, this is a faithful saying. These faithful sayings apparently were very common notable truths, notable biblical truths that were well known in the early church and had come to have almost a creedal, catechetical, confessional sort of status so that he could say, this is a faithful saying and everybody would know exactly what he was talking about and underscore his authority as an apostle and the authority of what he's about to say. So the first one is in this particular passage, 115, the faithful saying that deserves full acceptance, Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners. Paul's added statement isn't a part of the faithful saying, and we'll understand the importance of what he says. The second one, just to take you to these so you see them, And then we'll come back to the first one. The second one is in 1 Timothy 4.9. Excuse me, 1 Timothy 4.9, 1 Timothy 4.9. So you're in this book, 1 Timothy 4.9. We have the statement, this is a trustworthy saying or a faithful saying that deserves full acceptance. But the faithful saying comes just before it. The faithful saying is really verse 8. For physical training is of some value, but godliness is value for all things, holding promise for both the present life and the life to come. You know, I skipped one. So I'm going to take you backwards. The second one actually is 1 Timothy 3.1. I just skipped over it in my notes here. 1 Timothy 3.1, where it says, here's a trustworthy saying, if anyone sets his heart on being an overseer, he desires a noble task. I gave you the third one. The fourth one is in Titus. So if you look at Titus 3.8, The statement of this trustworthy saying is verse 8, this is a trustworthy saying. And in this case, the trustworthy saying comes before it. There's a little debate on which of the, what of the trustworthy saying it is, but it begins, many think it begins at verse 4, so it's a little longer one. It could be verses 5 through 7, but when the kindness and love of God our Savior appeared, he saved us not because of righteous things we had done, But because of his mercy, he saved us through the washing of rebirth and renewal by the Holy Spirit, whom he poured out on us generously through Jesus Christ our Savior, so that having been justified by his grace, we might become heirs having the hope of eternal life. That is the trustworthy saying. And then the last one is in 2 Timothy 2, 2 Timothy 2 verse 11. Here is a trustworthy saying, a faithful saying, if we died with him, we will also live with him. If we endure, we will also reign with him. If we disown him, he will also disown us. If we are faithless, he will remain faithful for he cannot disown himself. And as a way to show the unity in these and all that they're communicating, I'm titling them all with the word grace in them because it's grace that unifies everything, ties us all together, ties all these gospel truths together. Today we're looking at grace in saving sinners. Next time, grace in a noble work. The third one is grace in a disciplined life. The fourth one is grace in the work of the Holy Spirit, or it could be grace in regeneration. And the fifth one is grace in God's faithfulness. It's the only five places in the entire Bible where that phrase, trustworthy saying, is used. So it's notable for us to think about it and pay attention to it. The only other near type of word is in Revelation, turn to Revelation 21 verse 5 for just a moment. There's a similar phrase, it's not the same wording. But in Revelation 21, verse 5, he who is seated on the throne said, I am making everything new. And then he said, write this down, for these words are trustworthy and true. Or literally, these sayings are faithful and true. And the other one that's very similar, Revelation 22, verse 6. The angel said to me, these words are trustworthy and true. The NIV likes to use trustworthy instead of faithful, but at any rate, trustworthy and true, the Lord, the God of the spirits of the prophets sent his angel to show his servants the things that must soon take place. And both of these have reference to the new heavens and the new earth. I may add those on to the end. We'll see how it's going and how you're tolerating this departure from Matthew. But at any rate, these faithful sayings are significant gospel biblical truths And Paul introduces them with that statement as sort of an alert to you and to me to pay attention, to mark this down. It was perhaps a way to substantiate his own authority. As a reminder, this is apostolic authority. I'm giving these things to you. But it also, particularly this first one in the context of 1 Timothy, one of the things Timothy and the church at Ephesus was struggling with was false teachers. And in this first chapter, as you read through it, you realize he's contradicting the falsehoods of these false teachers. And it's as though Paul is saying, you're hearing these false teachers teach this error. Here is a trustworthy saying and worthy of all acceptance. This is what you need to listen to. This is what you need to pay attention to. And the trustworthy saying that's worthy of all acceptance is that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners. And it's almost undeniable that it would have been a building on statements of Jesus Christ if you turn to Matthew chapter 9 verse 13. In Matthew 9 verse 13, and there are repetitions of this in all the synoptic, well, all the Gospels, particularly the synoptic Gospels. In Matthew 9 verse 13. Jesus said, go and learn what this means. I desire mercy, not sacrifice, for I have not come to call the righteous but sinners. And there's a repetition again of that same statement in Mark 2 and in Luke 19, that Jesus Christ came into the world not to call the righteous but sinners. And so there are four elements to this faithful saying that are very important for us to pay attention to and wrap our minds and our hearts around. And the first element of this faithful saying is Christ Jesus. We have a statement through these two wonderful names of the glory and honor of the second person of the Trinity, the Lord Jesus Christ. the exalted person of the Son of God. And these two particular names, the first is Christ, or the great version of the word Messiah. It's a word that reminds us that Jesus Christ, the Messiah, came in fulfillment of the will of the Father. He came in fulfillment of all the hopes and the promises and the desires and the needs of God's people from creation on. all through the history of the nation of Israel, they longed for the coming of the Messiah. Since the first gospel promise in Genesis 3.15, they were longing for the one, the Messiah, the Christ, the anointed one who would come. And here he's told, Christ, Jesus, is going to come into the world. And that second name, that wonderful name, Jesus, A name that represents the character of his work, that he came to be the Savior. Remember the angel's message to Joseph, don't be afraid to take home Mary as your wife for what is conceived in her of the Holy Spirit. And she will give birth to a son and you are to give him the name Jesus for he will save his people from their sins. This name not only exalts Jesus Christ, the second person of the Trinity, the Godhead, in his person, but in his work. And throughout scripture, we're directed to think about this. Remember Paul's words in Philippians chapter two, have this mind in you, which was also in Christ Jesus, who being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be grasped, held on to at all costs, but made himself, he emptied himself, he made himself nothing, taking the form of a servant. But he begins as this exalted person. And we see the exaltation of this person, Jesus Christ, in his name, Christ, and in his name, Jesus. The second element of the faithful saying that's crucial and crucially important is that Christ Jesus came into the world. There's an implication here, a presupposition here of his preexistence. That Jesus Christ, we know from the scriptures, he has existed from all eternity. He is the eternal God, and he came from His existence as the eternal God and to come into another existence as the God-man and being born of a woman. He entered into this world. There's a necessary, perhaps not completely necessary connection to his coming as God becoming man, but it's there in the scriptures. Turn to John, the Gospel of John, John chapter 16. Verse 28, we have a statement regarding this coming. John 16, 28, Jesus says, I came from the Father and entered the world. That's what Paul, that's part of the faithful saying. Now I'm leaving the world and going back to the Father. He came from being with the Father, and he came into the world, and now he's going to return. And then go backwards to John chapter 1, in John chapter 1, verses 9 and 10. He was in the world, and though the world was made through him, the world did not recognize him. Excuse me, back up, I read verse 10, verse 9. The true light that gives light to every man was coming into the world. So he was the light and he was coming into the world and the world is darkness. And he was in the world and though the world was made through him, the world did not recognize or did not know him. He's coming into the world. He came from the Father into the world. His incarnation is all what this is directing our thoughts to. Christ Jesus came into the world. And he came into the world not just as a change in location, but there's also a reflection or a thought in this, particularly with the word world, with the ethical or the situational character in which he came. which was a great surprise, which is a great amazing thing. He's the light and he's coming in to darkness. He was the one that is holy, holy, holy. That's Jesus sitting on the throne. And he's coming now into this world corrupted by sin, and he's rubbing shoulders with sinners. And in the text, not our English text so much, it highlights the nature of the world in which he came because of the way the words are connected. Christ Jesus came into the world, sinners to save. So the word world and the word sinners are together. The character of the world is that it's the place where sinners dwell. and where sinners live. And it's a surprising thing, it's an amazing thing, and it's a shocking thing that the pure Son of God would do such a thing. B.B. Warfield in his sermon on this talks about how if you were as a Christian, and using his, this is the turn of the 20th century terminology, if you as a Christian were to go see, walking along the street and see your fellow Christian standing in the midst of a drinking saloon, We'd use the word bar, but if you see him standing in the midst of a drinking saloon, you would ask the question, what are you doing there? Why are you there? It would be a shocking thing. This is Christ Jesus, the Holy One, who comes into the world. This is a shocking thing. What are you doing here? Why have you come? Well, that leads us to the third element. Christ Jesus came into the world to save. This is the main thought. Gordon Clark writes, the main thought of the saying is not the historical event of his coming, but its purpose. Jesus, why are you here? I'm here to save. That's why I have come. And B.B. Warfield says the essence, this is the essence of the whole declaration, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save, to save sinners. That's the fourth part, we'll get to that. Jesus Christ came into the world not to make salvation possible, not to give men the opportunity to be saved, He didn't come into the world, as some theologian might say, to be an example of a sacrifice. He didn't come into the world to teach us what it's like to be a good person. He didn't come into the world to reform society and create a new social order. He didn't come into the world as a healer to save us from pain. He came into the world to save sinners. To redeem them from the penalty of sin, and the power of sin, and ultimately the presence of sin. He came to save a people. To redeem a people. This is the message of the gospel. And I'd like to read you a paragraph of Warfield as he talks about this. He says, and that means that Jesus came into the world to save, and that means that it is not the primary function of Christianity in the world to educate men, though we shall not get along without teaching, or to ameliorate their physical and social condition, though we shall not get along without charity. but to proclaim salvation from sin. The church exists in the world not for making men wise, not for making them comfortable, but for saving them from sin. That done, and all is done, each result following in its due course. That not done, Nothing is done. All the wisdom of the ages, all the delights of life are of no avail so long as we are oppressed with sin. The core of the gospel is assuredly that Christ Jesus came to save sinners. This is a trustworthy saying and worthy of all acceptance. And again, it's what's encompassed, one more paragraph from him, regarding the word save. We must take the great declaration in the height and depth of its tremendous meaning. Jesus did all that is included in the great word save. He did not come to induce us to save ourselves, or to help us to save ourselves, or to enable us to save ourselves. He came to save us. And it is therefore that His name was called Jesus, because He should save His people from their sins. The glory of our Lord surpassing all His other glories to usward is just that He is our actual and complete Savior, our Savior to the uttermost. Jesus, why are you here? He is here to save. The fourth element is He came, Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners. The object of his work was not those who merit his favor, it's those who have merited really the opposite of favor. He came to save sinners, disobedient, unrighteous, alienated from God under the power and the dominion of sin. Those who were his enemies, he came to save. Those who did not deserve the least of His concern, He came to save. Those who are helpless and hopeless, He came to save. This is the glory of the gospel. This is the faithful saying and worthy of all acceptance. Turn in your hymnals to hymn 455. We may sing this here in a moment. There's a specific verse that I want to direct your thoughts to. It's Charles Wesley's great hymn, And Can It Be. And all the verses are particularly wonderful, but verse 4 highlights this particular point of who are we? Why in the world would Jesus come for who we are? He writes, long my imprisoned spirit lay, fast bound in sin and nature's night. See, that's who we are without Christ. Thine eye diffused a quickening ray. I woke the dungeon flame with light. My chains fell off, my heart was free. I rose, went forth, and followed Thee. Amazing love, how can it be that thou, my God, shouldst die for me?" It's preaching, throwing a life preserver to a drowning man, hoping he'll grab the life preserver and be pulled to shore. No, preaching the gospel is throwing a life preserver to dead men who have no strength to reach out and grab the life preserver with the prayer and the hope and the expectation that God will bring a resurrection. And they will be given new life. And in response to the hearing of the gospel, they will be rescued and brought to safety. This is the faithful saying and worthy of all acceptance. Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners. Now, Paul adds his personal testimony when he says, of whom I am chief. And there may be some who think it's part of the faithful saying. It's not. I'll just say that categorically, it's not, but it is his personal testimony. And this is not Paul just bad-mouthing himself. What this is, is this is Paul recognizing how undeserving he is of God's mercy and grace that he's been talking about in this particular passage. As Gordon Clark says, this is an expression of Paul's own gratitude for grace. And each of us must regard himself as the chief of undeserving sinners and praise God's mercy and grace. It's Paul recognizing how undeserving he was. It's Charles Wesley in this song. Amazing love, how can it be that thou, my God, shouldst die for me? It's John Newton in this hymn. Amazing grace, how sweet the sound that saved a wretch like me. It's an amazing thing. This is the testimony of every believer. Because every single one of you can and should say, I'm the worst of sinners. Other people have sinned, but not like me. Not like me. Because we understand our own sinfulness when the gospel hits us. When the grace of God hits us, we understand our own sinfulness. We understand how truly needy we are. So the response to this faithful saying, on the one hand, is humility, an acknowledgement of our need, acknowledgement of the grace of God and his mercy. And the other response to this is rejoicing. When Paul gets to verse 17, he's been talking about grace and how God's grace has been poured out in his life. And he reaches a point, and it's very common with Paul, and it's very common for all believers, he reaches this point where he can't say any more. He has to sing. He has to rejoice. He can't give you any more theology. He's done giving you theology. He's talking about the grace of God. His heart is just so full, it bursts out, unto the King eternal, immortal, invisible, the only wise God, be honor and glory forever and ever. Amen. Now you think that he's doing that to teach you something. He's not doing that to teach you anything. He's doing that because he can't help it. He can't help praising God when he truly understands the mercy of God to him. And this, beloved, is our own response to God's grace. And we don't live in this arena all the time, but there are times in your life, maybe when you're reading scripture, maybe in worship, maybe another time you're driving along and all of a sudden it hits you. God had mercy on me. Praise God. And you sing a hymn or you say a verse, you come out in rejoicing the Lord. Well, this is the faithful saying and worthy of all acceptance that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners. So the two questions for you and for me is, have we accepted and do we embrace that faithful saying? And then secondly, have we experienced it? Is that a statement that's true in our own lives? And if it is true in our own lives, then our response is one, humility. Lord, I don't deserve it, but I'm so thankful for it. And then rejoicing. God has had mercy on me. This is what this faithful saying brings us to. May we be overwhelmed with humility and overcome with joy. at this faithful saying, amen. Let us pray. Father in heaven, we do thank you for the glory of your truth. May you enrich us in every way with this truth and may we know the power of the gospel in our own life that is revealed in this wonderful statement that Paul has given us and that you have given us through him. Give us a great rejoicing in your grace, we pray in his name, in Jesus' name, amen.