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WEEKLY
Volume 2 Number 30
23 December 2007
Jesus Christ Came to Save
Sinners
(Message
delivered by Rev Hien Nguyen at the Sunday Worship Service, 2 pm, Dec
16, 07)
Text:
1 Tim
1:15
We must thank God and praise Him for giving
and sending His holy, glorious and dearly beloved Son, the Lord Jesus
Christ, to this cursed world of darkness and sin to save sinners like
you and me! Although the 25th of December is not the exact
Birthday of Jesus Christ, His first coming (incarnation) is a true event
recorded in the Holy Scriptures (Matt 2, Luke 2) and in human history,
dividing the world timeline: BC (Before Christ) and AD (Anno Domini: in
the year of the Lord). Then, what did Jesus Christ come into this world
for? Satan is using worldliness, materialism and pleasures to lure many
away from the Lord Jesus Christ, the Centre of Christmas. Many just
celebrate Christmas without any concern for who Jesus Christ is or what
He came for. They enjoy themselves and indulge themselves in worldly
gatherings, parties, pleasures and entertainments instead of coming to
worship Jesus Christ, the King of kings and the Saviour of the world.
How about you and me?
The apostle Paul shared his testimony,
“This is a faithful saying, and worthy of all acceptation, that Christ
Jesus came into the world to save sinners; of whom I am chief” (1
Tim 1:15). How about your and my testimony?
The Word of God: True, Sure, Faithful,
Trustworthy
“The word of God is quick (living) and
powerful” (Heb 4:12) and
effectually works in those who reverently accept it and believe it,
“For this cause also thank we God without ceasing, because, when ye
received the word of God which ye heard of us, ye received it not as the
word of men, but as it is in truth, the word of God, which effectually
worketh also in you that believe” (1 Thess 2:13). Therefore, Paul
tried his best to persuade readers to receive God’s Word with faith and
without any doubts or questions in order to get all the blessings from
the Lord. Sadly, many so-called “Christian leaders” nowadays are
spending their time and efforts in questioning, criticizing, and casting
doubt on God’s Word! Their conscience is so dull that they do not see
that doing such wicked thing is really damaging God’s Word, shaking the
faith of young believers, and confusing many!
Here we see, to confirm God’s trustworthy
Word, Paul used the phrase “This is a faithful saying” five times
in his pastoral epistles (I Tim 1:15; 3:1; 4:9; II Tim 2:11, Titus 3:8).
The term faithful is from the Greek word
pistós,
which means faithful, trustworthy, true, sure, believable; and
the term saying is from the Greek word logos, which John
used to refer to the living Word of God, the Lord Jesus Christ, “In
the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was
God” (John 1:1), and to the written Word of God, the Holy
Scriptures, “Sanctify them through thy truth: thy word is truth”
(John 17:17; cf. 10:35). Then, “let God be true, but every man a
liar” (Rom 3:4) because “For ever, O LORD, thy word is settled in
heaven…Thy word is true from the beginning” (Ps 119:89, 160), and
“the word of God, which liveth and abideth for ever” (1 Peter 1:23),
and “We have also a more sure word of prophecy” (2 Peter 1:19),
etc. Dear friends, would we not rather listen to God’s sure, true,
faithful and trustworthy Word than human words?
And Paul continues,
“This is a faithful saying, and worthy of all acceptation.” The term
acceptation (apodochē)
has only two occurrences (the other is the same statement in 1 Tim 4:9),
denoting acceptation with ready or willing acknowledgment and
approval. Then, if a person receives God’s Word with “all
acceptation,” there will be no room in his heart for any doubts. How
about you and me? Do we have any doubts when reading, preaching, or
accepting God’s faithful, true, sure, and trustworthy Word? Let us
remember that doubt is not of faith, and “whatsoever is not of faith
is sin” (Rom 14:23).
The
Purpose of Jesus Christ’s Coming: To Save Sinners
To Save Sinners:
“This is a faithful saying, and worthy of all acceptation, that Christ
Jesus came into the world to save sinners.” Our Lord Jesus Christ
came into this world with His purpose of saving sinners; and to fulfill
this purpose, He finished His Father’s work, glorified His Father, and
obeyed His Father’s will unto death (John 17:4; Phil 2:8). To save
sinners, our Lord had to keep His life holy and righteous in order to
die for sinners as a perfect Substitute. He overcame Satan’s temptations
luring Him away from this purpose with the lust of the flesh, the lust
of the eyes and the pride of life (Matt 4:1-11; 1 John 2:15-17). He even
ignored the challenges of religious leaders asking Him to come down from
the cross (Matt 27:41-42). Dear friends, if we have been saved by God’s
grace, we should have the same purpose as our Lord’s. May God use our
lives to continue fulfilling His purpose of saving sinners. And to be
used by God, we are to submit to Him and His Word. There is no other
way!
To Save Repentant Sinners:
Our Lord Jesus came to save sinners, but not all sinners will be saved,
only those who acknowledge their sins and return to Him from sins in
repentance, but the corrupt texts omit the word “repentance” in Jesus’
statements, “I am not come to call the righteous,
but sinners to repentance” (Matt 9:13), and “They
that are whole have no need of the physician, but they that are sick: I
came not to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance”
(Mark 2:17), and even omit this whole sentence, “For
the Son of man is come to save that which was lost” (Matt
18:11). A patient who refuses or does not submit to the instructions and
treatments of a doctor cannot be cured. It is worse if he does not
believe in the doctor’s diagnosis or warnings, assuming that he is
healthy without any illness or disease! Likewise, God loved mankind and
sent His dearly beloved Son, the Lord Jesus Christ, into the world to
save sinners, but many do not come to Him nor submit to Him and His
Word, thinking that they have no serious sins or that there is no Hell.
Then they can never blame God if they perish and are condemned to Hell!
God’s Word confirms, “For all have sinned, and come short of the
glory of God” (Rom 3:23) and, “If we say that we have no sin, we
deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us” (1 John 1:8). How
about you and me? Have we acknowledged our sins and our hopeless
condemnation to Hell and then come to the Lord Jesus Christ in sincere
repentance and full submission?
To Save Repentant Sinners to the
Uttermost: Our Lord Jesus
Christ came to save repentant sinners perfectly to the uttermost as He
is ever living, making intercession for them, “Wherefore he is able
also to save them to the uttermost that come unto God by him, seeing he
ever liveth to make intercession for them” (Heb 7:25). The term
to the uttermost (pantelēs) means
completely, wholly, always, forever. Then, by His death,
resurrection and intercession, the Lord Jesus Christ has power not only
to forgive our sins but also to deliver us from the power of sin and the
power of darkness of Satan (Acts 26:18; Rom 7:24-25; Col 1:13) and to
keep us secure unto the end (John 10:28-29). Then, a believer who is
once saved by the Lord will be forever saved by Him. Praise the Lord! Do
you and I have this assurance of our “eternal salvation” in the
Lord Jesus Christ (Heb 5:9)?
Moreover, as Paul is “a pattern” or
an example (1 Tim 1:13-16) of God’s love, grace, longsuffering and power
to save and to transform him from a sinner, a blasphemer, a persecutor
and a violent man unto a humble, gentle, godly and faithful servant of
God, let us commit our lives totally to the Lord as the clay in the
Potter’s hands so that God may mould, refine,
sanctify and use our lives for His purpose and glory.
The Proper Attitude toward God’s Grace:
Humble Submission, Thanksgiving, Praise
By God’s Grace Alone:
“Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners,” and it is by
God’s grace through faith alone that we are saved with our sincere
repentance and humble submission to the Lord and His Word. Paul said,
“And the grace of our Lord was exceeding abundant with faith and love
which is in Christ Jesus” (v 14).
That is God’s irresistible grace (Calvin’s
TULIP) that, by His great love and His election of grace, He has drawn
us to Himself (John 6:44, 65), quickened us together with Christ (Eph
2:1, 5), delivered us from the power of darkness and brought us His
kingdom (Col 1:13), even granted us faith to believe and to be saved
(Eph 2:8) and be justified and sanctified (Acts 26:18; Rom 3:24). Dear
friends, it is by God’s grace alone, so we have nothing to boast of
ourselves except to humbly give all thanks, glory and praise to the
Lord.
Humble Submission:
As “God resisteth the proud, but giveth grace unto the humble”
(James 4:6), the proper attitude to receive God’s grace is humility and
submission. When meeting the Lord Jesus Christ on his way to Damascus
and realising that he was persecuting the Lord, Paul “trembling and
astonished said, Lord, what wilt thou have me to do?” (Acts 9:6)
This shows his fully humble submission. Paul also gave his testimony,
“But when it pleased God, who separated me from my mother’s womb, and
called me by his grace, To reveal his Son in me, that I might preach him
among the heathen; immediately I conferred not with flesh and blood”
(Gal 1:15-16). Paul did not confer or consult with flesh and blood
(human beings). Sadly, many professing Christians, even leaders,
nowadays let themselves be influenced and misled by human ideas or
unbiblical doctrines from ungodly “scholars” who arrogantly preach or
write against God’s perfect Word without any submission to the Lord and
His Word at all! How about you and me? Shall we say to Jesus Christ,
“Lord,” not just on our lips but from a fully submissive heart,
“what wilt thou have me to do?” without any consultation with human
ideas, mindset, or thinking except God’s will and Word alone?
Moreover, after many years of faithful and
fruitful service to the Lord, Paul confessed, “Christ Jesus came into
the world to save sinners; of whom I am chief” before he was about
to be executed (2 Tim 4:6-8). Truly,
the more we know God and the more we know
ourselves, the more we shall humble ourselves. This is true. Let us have
a look at the life of the apostle Paul. In his first epistle to the
Corinthians written about A.D. 56, Paul compared himself with other
apostles and confessed, “I am the least of the apostles, that I am
not meet to be called an apostle” (1 Cor 15:9). Then in his epistle
to the Ephesians written about A.D. 60, he compared himself with other
believers and said, “Unto me, who am less than the least of all
saints,” (Eph 3:8). And here in his first epistle to Timothy
written about A.D. 65, he compared himself with sinners and confessed,
“Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners; of whom I am
chief” (1 Tim 1:15). Paul used the simple present tense “am”
to denote his humble every-moment need of the Lord Jesus Christ and His
grace. It is safe and wise for you and me to have the same humble
attitude, always realising our need of the Lord and His grace, His life,
His Word, His wisdom, His guidance, His holiness, His righteousness, His
protection, His strength, His love, His mercy, His peace, His joy, His
comfort, etc. This will help us look unto the Lord, our All and in All,
with our full trust, dependence and submission.
Thanksgiving and Praise:
Paul said, “And I thank Christ Jesus our Lord, who hath enabled me,
for that he counted me faithful, putting me into the ministry…
Now unto the King eternal, immortal, invisible, the only wise God, be
honour and glory for ever and ever. Amen” (vv 12, 17). Truly
enjoying God’s eternal salvation by grace through faith in Christ Jesus
alone while we only deserve condemnation to Hell, we shall humbly give
thanks, honour, glory and praise to the Lord alone; and by God’s
sufficient grace we may press on and persevere even in difficulties,
temptations, trials, persecutions, giving thanks to Him in all things
with a submissive heart to God’s sovereignty and His will, “In every
thing give thanks: for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus
concerning you” (1 Thess 5:18).
Conclusion
Dear friends, Jesus Christ came into this
world to save repentant sinners. That is the good news for all mankind.
By His death, resurrection, and intercession, He is able to save you and
me completely and forever by His grace alone. May God help us humbly
receive His faithful, true, sure and trustworthy Word without any doubts
or questions no matter what sinful human beings may say, and then submit
to Him and His Word with our full trust and submission, giving thanks,
glory and praise to Him in all things, and sharing this good news to
others until our Lord comes back again. Amen.
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