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Good evening to everyone. It's 
good to be back in the house of the Lord. You can turn in 
your Bibles with me to the book of 1 Timothy, Paul's first epistle 
to his son in the faith, Timothy. We want to look at a sure and 
proven creed from 1 Timothy 1.15 tonight. My memory serves, I 
don't believe I've ever preached from this passage before, although 
it is one that I often cite. in preaching, Jim as well, one 
that we often rehearse in corporate prayer. It is one of those verses 
that brings an encapsulated message that contains within it the Bible. Spurgeon preached a sermon on 
this particular passage called the whole Bible in one verse. The whole gospel in one verse, 
I think it was, in fact. And that's what we have, surely, 
in 1 Timothy 1.15. But we want to read the context, 
and so we'll begin reading in 1 Timothy 1 at verse 1. The word 
of the living and true God. Paul, an apostle of Jesus Christ, 
by the commandment of God, our Savior, and the Lord Jesus Christ, 
our hope. To Timothy, a true son in the 
faith, grace, mercy, and peace from God, our Father, and Jesus 
Christ, our Lord. As I urged you when I went into 
Macedonia, remain in Ephesus, that you may charge some that 
they teach no other doctrine, nor give heed to fables and endless 
genealogies, which cause disputes rather than godly edification 
which is in faith. Now the purpose of the commandment 
is love from a pure heart, from a good conscience, and from sincere 
faith, from which some, having strayed, have turned aside to 
idle talk, desiring to be teachers of the law, understanding excuse 
me, neither what they say nor the things which they affirm. 
But we know that the law is good if one uses it lawfully, knowing 
this, that the law is not made for a righteous person, but for 
the lawless and insubordinate. for the ungodly and for sinners, 
for the unholy and profane, for murderers of fathers and murderers 
of mothers, for manslayers, for fornicators, for sodomites, for 
kidnappers, for liars, for perjurers, and if there is any other thing 
that is contrary to sound doctrine, according to the glorious gospel 
of the blessed God, which was committed to my trust. And I 
thank Christ Jesus our Lord who has enabled me, because he counted 
me faithful, putting me into the ministry. Although I was 
formerly a blasphemer, a persecutor, and an insolent man, but I obtained 
mercy because I did it ignorantly in unbelief. And the grace of 
our Lord was exceedingly abundant, with faith and love which are 
in Christ Jesus. This is a faithful saying and 
worthy of all acceptance, that Christ Jesus came into the world 
to save sinners, of whom I am chief. However, for this reason, 
I obtained mercy that in me first, Jesus Christ might show all long 
suffering as a pattern to those who are going to believe on him 
for everlasting life. Now to the King eternal, immortal, 
invisible, to God, who alone is wise, be honor and glory forever 
and ever. Amen. Well, let's again go to 
our Lord in prayer. Let us pray. Heavenly Father, 
we pray now that you would bless this gathering as we engage in 
this act of worship, the preaching of your holy word. We do pray 
that you would cause us to be edified by your spirit and for 
your glory and the things of Christ Jesus, the things of your 
truth. And we do pray that you would arouse the souls of your 
gathered saints, that they might be well-equipped, rejoicing in 
Christ Jesus to go out into this upcoming week reflect upon his 
riches and his excellencies, and to live in light of a manner, 
in a manner worthy of the gospel of Christ. And we do pray again, 
as my brother Pastor Butler prayed, that you would come upon the 
wings of amazing grace and save sinners in our midst tonight. 
We pray that those who entered in these two doors outside of 
Christ would leave by your grace, singing the glories of our blessed 
Redeemer. And it's in the name of Jesus Christ we do pray, amen. Well, this is the first, 1 Timothy 
1.15. This is the first of Paul's faithful 
sayings. There are five of them in 1 and 
2 Timothy and in Titus. The others are 1 Timothy 3.1, 
1 Timothy 4.9, 2 Timothy 2.11, and Titus 3.8, where Paul uses 
this language, a faithful saying worthy of all acceptance. Now, 
all of Scripture, of course, is faithful. All of the words 
of God are faithful sayings worthy of all acceptance But you see 
the Apostle Paul uses this language in order to to draw attention 
if you will to what he's about to say perhaps as well we have 
in view things that were actually, you know operative sayings in 
the life and the times of the early Christian church here, 
but we have this first saying and in this first saying, or 
this first saying comes in a section of First Timothy where the Apostle 
Paul is seeking to exhort Timothy and giving him pastoral instructions, 
specifically here against these errorists and heretics who were 
seeking to propagate fables and endless genealogies and wrong 
doctrine concerning law and gospel. And so he delivers a concise, 
a succinct summary of the gospel. If someone was to ask you, give 
me the message of your high and holy religion, Christianity, 
in ten words or less, you could come with them, you could come 
back to them with this, Christ Jesus came into the world, sinners 
to save. Spurgeon was right, this is the 
whole gospel in one verse. And so we want to look at this 
text now, marveling at its content in its succinct presentation, 
nevertheless marveling in our Christ and in his gospel. We 
want to look at it under three headings this evening, like we 
do very often. And those three things are simply 
this, the introduction to the creed, the creed itself, and 
the demonstrable confirmation of the creed. And so first, That's simply seen and this is 
a faithful saying and worthy of all acceptance. That is the 
introduction to the creed that follows. I prefer the language 
of the King James at this point. This is a faithful saying and 
worthy of all acceptation. Something about that word that 
just sounds better than acceptance. Both words are good. but I like 
the King James here, but this is the introduction to the creed. This is a faithful saying and 
worthy of all acceptation. What a nice, what a glorious, 
what a blessed introduction to a creed, and it draws the mind, 
it draws the ears, it draws the reader to consider with great 
seriousness and sobriety that which follows. This is a faithful 
saying and worthy of all acceptance. It brings forth two things in 
the very least, the first of which is the Creed's truthfulness. This is a faithful saying. What follows by the pen of the 
apostle Paul is true. There is truthfulness. There 
is veracity. There is certainty to what Paul 
will write in the creed that follows. This is a faithful saying. And is this not the nature of 
the scriptures themselves? The Scriptures come to us, the 
Scriptures come from God to us, from God and His divine superintending 
of human authors, but nevertheless from God to us, and it comes 
to us in the flavor of a faithful and error-free document. It is 
inspired, it is inerrant, it is infallible, it is comprised 
of faithful sayings, faithful words. The nature of the Scriptures 
themselves, no doubt, can be in view when we come to the Apostle 
Paul's words and we read, this is a faithful saying. His own 
apostolic authority, no doubt, as well, is in view. Remember, 
he is an apostle of Jesus Christ by the commandment of God, verse 
1 says. And notice what we find in 1 
Timothy 2. If you flip a page to the right, we have in 1 Timothy 
2, 7, the reality of the faithfulness 
of the words of the Apostle Paul in this epistle. Notice verse 
7 of 1 Timothy 2, for which I was appointed a preacher and an apostle. I am speaking the truth in Christ 
and not lying, a teacher of the Gentiles in faith and truth. We come to the Holy Scriptures 
and we come to God's revelation to men in the 66 books of the 
Old and New Testaments, and we have a faithful word. We have 
the truth given to us from on high. It is a faithful saying 
worthy of all acceptance. We are never let down when we 
come to the Scriptures. The words of men, the words of 
the sages throughout the ages do not have the marks of inspiration, 
inerrancy, and infallibility. But God gives us His revelation, 
and we are never let down by what He discloses to us. It is 
always truth. It is always given in spirit 
and in truth. We have under its truthfulness. Remember, this is a faithful 
saying, the nature of scripture itself. We also should observe 
the historicity of the Creed's content. Kids, if you've been 
here for a long time, you've probably heard that word before, 
historicity. What does that mean? It means 
the certain truthfulness of the history that is presented. When 
we come to the Bible, we don't have a fictional account. We 
don't have a once upon a time in the land of Palestine. We 
don't have a once upon a time in Jerusalem after the manner 
of a fictional narrative, but rather a true story and a glorious 
true historical account. The coming of our Savior, the 
Lord Jesus Christ, and His doing and His dying and His rising 
again. The historicity of the Creed's content. We're going 
to get to the Creed in a moment, but we know this glorious history 
and this glorious truth. Christ Jesus came into the world, 
sinners to save. Of all of the histories of civilizations 
and of all of the narrative accounts of things that have occurred 
in this lower world, never is there a greater story than Christ 
Jesus coming into the world. Sinners to save. the historicity 
of the Creed's content, Jesus Christ did come into this world, 
sinners to save. The Son of God, the second of 
the blessed triune, being very and eternal God, the brightness 
of the Father's glory and the express image of His person, 
came in the fullness of the times, born of a woman, born under the 
law, to redeem those who are under the law. What a blessed 
story we have in our Bibles. We'll note later, brethren, we 
come to the Scriptures and we don't come to something that 
is boring and mundane. It's not a dusty tome of antiquated 
truths that we just need to set aside and follow after modern 
and new things. We have God's word to men and 
the revelation of Jesus Christ and the story is marvelous and 
it is true and it is marked by veracity, the historicity of 
this truth that Christ Jesus came into this world, sinners 
to save. It is a faithful saying worthy of all acceptance. Why? 
Because it's true. Because it's true. Christ died 
for our sins according to the Scriptures and He rose again 
the third day according to the Scriptures. In that 1 Corinthians 
15 account, what does Paul then say? He was seen by many witnesses. He was seen by over 500 witnesses. Before that, he was seen by the 
12. He was seen by Paul as one born out of due time. the truth 
of the account, the historicity of this creed. I want to remind 
you of some things that we have in our Bible that speak to this 
blessed truth. Because you see, we have many 
enemies that oppose the veracity of the Holy Scriptures and the 
account of Christ. Oh, they're nice tales. They're 
nice stories that we can read to children and avail of some 
of the morals and some of the things. No, it's the Word of 
God and the story of Christ is true. Luke 1. You've heard the reading 
of this text so many times, but as we're reading it, I want you 
to listen to the words speaking to the historicity, the certain 
truthfulness of the history. Notice that Luke doesn't begin 
his gospel by saying, once upon a time in the land of rainbows 
and unicorns. He doesn't say once upon a time 
where the bluebirds circle the mystical. Look at the language 
that we have here. In as much as many have taken 
in hand to set in order a narrative of those things which have been 
fulfilled among us, just as those who from the beginning were eyewitnesses 
and ministers of the word delivered them to us, it seemed good to 
me also, having had perfect understanding of all things from the very first, 
to write to you an orderly account, most excellent Theophilus. that 
you may know the certainty of those things in which you were 
instructed." See the historicity of the Creed's content, that 
Christ Jesus came into this world, sinners to save. What follows 
Luke's words here? But the champion, the redeemer 
of men, the king of kings, the captain of our salvation, his 
doing, his dying, his burial, his rising again, and his glorious 
ascension. What a blessed truth we have 
in our Bibles. Kids, adults, come to your Bibles 
often. Come to your Bibles always and 
find therein the historical account of our blessed, redeeming King. veracity, this language of historicity, 
this language of truthfulness and certainty and glorious surety. 
His opening to his second volume, the book of Acts, he writes, 
the former account I made, that's the book of Luke, O Theophilus, 
of all that Jesus began both to do and teach until the day 
in which he was taken up. after he through the Holy Spirit 
had given commandments to the apostles whom he had chosen, 
to whom he also presented himself alive after his suffering by 
many infallible proofs, being seen by them during forty days, 
and speaking of the things pertaining to the kingdom of God." Presented 
himself alive after his suffering by many infallible proofs. You 
see, Christianity is not Islam. It's not Mormonism. We don't 
have to rely on the meanderings and the ravings of lunatics who 
say they were visited by an angel in a cave all alone and received 
revelation. No, we have one who made himself 
known, who presented himself alive after his suffering by 
many infallible proofs. He didn't just appear to the 
12. He appeared to over 500 brethren at once. The time of the writing 
of 1 Corinthians, some of those who doubted could have gone to 
those because many were alive at that time. Some had fallen 
asleep. Some had died. Many were alive. They could have 
gone and asked, I heard that you saw the resurrected Lord. 
Yes. I saw the glory of my resurrected 
Savior with the print of the nails in His hands and in His 
feet, and the mark of the spear in His side. I saw Him eat broiled 
fish and honeycomb. I saw our King, our Jesus. The historicity of the Creed's 
content. The blessed truth. We come to our Bibles, we come 
to the words of Paul to Timothy, and we have certainty. We have 
veracity. We have the truth of our Blessed 
Christ, the Bible is no fairy tale. Contrary to the naysayers, 
contrary to the revilers, contrary to the cynics, the Bible is no 
fairy tale. The Bible is truth. Peter writes, 
we did not follow after cunningly devised fables when we made known 
to you the power and the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, but 
were eyewitnesses of his majesty. It is a faithful saying. Thirdly, 
under its truthfulness, we would want to note the proven reality 
of the Creed's content. Sinners have actually been saved. The statement comes and we read 
Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners. That's true. 
Timothy was a minister and a pastor in Ephesus. He had visited other 
churches, but he was stationed in Ephesus. He would have come 
across sinners saved. Remember what was going on in 
Ephesus. They were crying out in their 
worship to the three-breasted Diana, one who fell from the 
sky. Great is Diana of the Ephesians. 
Great is Artemis of the Ephesians. They'd have their magical books 
and their incantations. Paul comes by the power of God 
in preaching the gospel of Jesus Christ and the forgiveness of 
sins by a bloody Redeemer, a resurrected Redeemer. And by the grace of 
God, some believe, and they cast their incantations into the fire, 
and they depart from the madness of the idolatry of the worship 
of Diana, and they say, great is Jesus Christ. Great is the 
Lord my God. Great is Father, Son, and Holy 
Spirit. Sinners are saved. The faithful 
saying is proved by the reality of the Creed's content. Sinners 
actually were saved by God's grace and for His glory. Timothy 
knew many who would have come from the madness of their idolatry 
to the right-mindedness of faith in the King of Kings. It's a 
faithful saying. Secondly, it's trustworthiness. Remember, we're looking at the 
introduction to the Creed and we've already noted its truthfulness. 
We want to remark after its trustworthiness. This is a faithful saying and 
worthy of all acceptance. You see, this creed is introduced 
in this two-fold manner. It's truthfulness, it's a faithful 
saying, and it's trustworthiness. And trustworthiness doesn't do 
enough justice, really, to that statement, but hopefully we'll 
spend a little bit of time on it. But it's trustworthiness, 
it's worthy of all acceptance. These things that are true, these 
things that have been written, these things that have taken 
place, These things that you've seen with your own eyes, these 
things are worthy of all acceptance. These things that have been recorded 
by those who have seen them with their own eyes, though even you 
haven't, are worthy of all acceptance. It speaks to the fact that these 
things are to be believed and they are to be highly regarded. This creed that follows is to 
be believed and it is to be highly regarded. It's a terrible thing 
when someone rejects the blessed truth that Christ Jesus came 
into the world, sinners, to save. It's the height of rejection, 
the height of folly, the height of madness to reject, to not 
regard highly, and to not believe the truth of truths. Christ Jesus 
came into this world, sinners to save. This is a saying that 
is worthy of all acceptance. language that we have in 1 Timothy 
3 speaks to this as well. We have noted this in previous 
occasions, but turn there. It's in the same book that we're 
at here, 1 Timothy. A little bit to the right, we 
find in chapter 3, Beginning in verse 14, these things I write 
to you, though I hope to come to you shortly. But if I am delayed, 
I write so that you may know how you ought to conduct yourself 
in the house of God, which is the church of the living God, 
the pillar and ground of the truth. Now notice the language 
that follows here now, and without controversy, great is the mystery 
of godliness. God was manifested in the flesh, 
justified in the spirit, seen by angels, preached among the 
Gentiles, believed on in the world, received up in glory. 
This is introduced by these words, and without controversy, It is 
believed by all. There is no arguing and contesting 
over matters that are up for grabs. It is believed by all, 
by common confession, without controversy. There is no contestation 
to the fact that follows. God was manifested in the flesh. Christ, the Son of God, came. 
He was manifested in the flesh. He was justified in the Spirit, 
seen by angels, preached among the Gentiles, believed on in 
the world, received up into glory. These things are beyond contestation. It's by common confession that 
these things are believed. The people of God everywhere 
rehearse these things, and they are worthy, therefore, of acceptance. 
It's a faithful saying, and it's worthy of all acceptance. What 
is this to do? What are some things that we 
can take from this? The first thing that we ought 
to take is that we are to give heed to this saying. We're gonna 
get to that creed, that saying in a moment, but this language, 
this introduction brings this reality to us, that we are to 
give heed to what it says. It's a faithful saying, and it's 
worthy of all acceptance. So we are to give heed to it. Giving heed, kids, simply means 
that we give careful attention to it, we have a regard for it, 
we pay attention to it. We give it regard, and we give 
it focus, and we give it our eyes, our ears. You know, there's 
so many sayings that are out there in the world. This is a 
faithful saying worthy of all acceptance, but there's so many 
sayings, there's so many words, there are so many people who 
want to get our attention with the words that they say. There's 
so many sayings out there that are not faithful. We ought not 
to give heed to. Follow your heart. It's probably 
not the wisest counsel that one should give. The heart is deceitful 
above all things and desperately wicked. Who can know it? Don't 
follow after your heart. Follow after Jesus. Follow after 
God. Follow after His Word. The report 
of Christians or the description of Christians in the book of 
Revelation is not, these are they that follow their hearts 
wherever they go. These are they that follow the 
Lamb wherever He goes. Don't listen to anyone who says, 
follow your heart. Follow after the Word of God 
and the words of Christ, that one who only ever spoke verity. 
You'll never be disappointed. Some other sayings that we're 
probably familiar with, you can do anything you put your mind 
to. No, you can't. If I spent a lot of time and 
really tried to diligently learn bridge engineering, I'd never 
get to the point where any of you would ever want me to build 
a bridge. I really don't think I'd have that capacity or the 
ability to put my mind to it. Math and physics, I can add, 
I can subtract, I can multiply, I can divide, I could probably 
do a little bit of introductory algebra, but nothing past that. And he asked me to do physics, 
and I know gravity. I know a fulcrum and a lever, 
but that's about it. Nothing is impossible. There's 
another saying. It's unfaithful. It's not a faithful saying. Kids, 
don't climb up to the second level. Go on the porch and tie 
a towel around your neck and try to jump off and fly. We heard 
a report by Pastor Martin's brother down at his memorial recounting 
some good stories with his brother. Lamar, his brother, was preaching 
at his memorial. He remarked that Pastor Martin 
in his youth tied a towel around his neck and got up to the porch 
and tried to fly. And we all know it didn't work. 
We know that much about physics and the body of laws and principles 
that govern the physical world. You can't fly. Nothing is impossible 
is not a faithful saying. There are a lot of impossible 
things. There are some sayings that we have, though, that are 
true. that don't come from the Bible. There are true things 
that aren't necessarily in the Bible. You miss 100% of the shots 
you don't take. That's Wayne Gretzky. Anybody 
ever played hockey? You probably heard your coach 
tell that to you. You miss 100% of the shots you don't take. 
That's a true saying, but you see, it doesn't bring the weight 
of eternal things. It doesn't bring the weight of the salvation 
afforded by Christ perfectly through His shed blood and His 
perfect works. All of that to come back to this, 
there are no other sayings that are faithful and true. The words 
of the Bible, the words of our Savior, these things are faithful 
sayings and they're worthy of all acceptance. Spurgeon in one of his sermons 
on Galatians 6.14, I believe it was, remarking about Paul, 
he says something to the effect that Christ to Paul was more 
than all the sayings of the sages. What does that mean? It means 
you could gather together the sayings, the writings, the words 
of all the sages, all the apocryphal sages, all those extra-biblical 
writers who put together things, the philosophers, the Greco-Roman 
scribes, all of these people. You could put their works all 
together. Christ was more to Paul than 
all the sayings of the sages. Why? Because he came into this 
world, sinners to save, and that's a faithful saying. worthy of 
all acceptance. Christians, you are to take confidence 
in these things. Have a full and unwavering trust 
in these things. Know assuredly that this is a 
faithful saying and worthy of all acceptance that Christ Jesus 
came into the world, sinners, to save. Let's get to that creed 
now then. The introduction to the creed, 
having been observed, we now move to the creed itself. the creed itself, Christ Jesus 
came into the world to save sinners. You see, this is the stuff of 
verse 11, the glorious gospel of the blessed God. Isn't that 
a wonderful description? The gospel of Jesus Christ, it's 
the glorious gospel of the blessed God. Christ Jesus came into this 
world, sinners to save. It is the same thing, this glorious 
gospel of the blessed God that was committed to Paul's trust. 
That thing that he railed against, that thing that he fought against, 
that thing that he would spend physical and mental energy and 
anguish as a raving unbeliever to try and squash and extinguish 
and put to an end. Now this side of amazing and 
victorious grace, he goes out valiantly to propagate it. It 
was committed to his trust by the commandments of his God, 
this glorious gospel of the blessed God. And now he brings it in 
this succinct and simple statement, yet a glorious creed, Christ 
Jesus came into the world to save sinners. We want to note 
three things as we move along here, and those three things 
are these. The champion of the creed, the 
champion's coming, and the champion's consummate work. Notice the champion 
of the creed. There are two parties in this 
creed. Christ Jesus and sinners. We need not guess as to who the 
champion of the creed is. It is Christ Jesus. Christ Jesus 
came into the world to save sinners. He's the champion of the creed, 
the victor, the glorious one who came into this world to perfect, 
to complete, to perfectly execute the will of the Father in bringing 
many sons to glory. It's perfect saving work. The 
champion of this creed is Christ Jesus. And those words, remember, 
ought to be more than just words and names to us. Christ Jesus. As we read through the Bible, 
hopefully whenever we see those words, those words elicit reflections 
upon what they mean. The rich, rich meaning to simply 
those two words. Christ. He is the Messiah. the anointed one, the promised 
one of the old covenant. Why do the nations rage and the 
peoples plot a vain thing? The kings of the earth set themselves 
and the rulers take counsel together against the Lord and against 
His Christ. And this Christ is the one who 
is set as the the king upon Mount Zion, the king who comes and 
saves his people from their sins, but that same king who squashes 
those who would oppose him, who dashes to pieces like potter's 
vessels those who would oppose him, the Christ of Isaiah, this 
promised suffering servant, who comes in the fullness of the 
times to give his life for guilty sinners, This Christ of Psalm 
22, who cries out, my God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me? 
Yet, as he cries out his last, he also cries, it is finished, 
it is done, I have done it. This Christ that's promised in 
type and shadow and prophecy and promise, this Christ is the 
one spoken of here, who came into the world, sinners to save. Blessed Christ, blessed Messiah. the anointed one and the promised 
one of God, Jesus. Remember that. We ought not just 
to say, yeah, that's the man from the Bible, and then move 
on to the next portion of the creed, came into the world, Jesus. 
We read that this morning. You shall call his name Jesus, 
for he will save his people from their sins. Whenever you reflect 
upon the name of your Savior, don't just stop at Jesus as if 
it's just a name and then move on to other reflections, but 
pause and consider the meaning of the name. He will save His 
people from their sins. Yahweh saves. Yahweh is salvation. This language speaks as well. Wrapped up in Christ Jesus is, 
of course, what we know of the person of Christ. He came into 
the world. Christ Jesus is very God and 
very man. Remember that language in Matthew 
1, the language speaking of Jesus, this one who would be born. It 
also says after, His name will be Immanuel, which is translated 
God with us. When we come to Christ Jesus, 
we don't just come to consider a man. We do come to consider 
a man, but we come to consider the God-man, fully God and fully 
man, yet one Christ, the Redeemer of guilty sinners. The champion 
of the creed is Christ Jesus the Lord, and He is our one and 
only champion, our blessed Redeemer. The champion's coming then. Notice, 
this is a faithful saying and worthy of all acceptance that 
Christ Jesus came into the world. The champion's coming. This isn't 
language that is simply language of human birth. This sort of 
language isn't used of human birth coming into this world. 
This language has back of it the incarnation and the eternal 
pre-existence of the Son of God. The Son of God came into the 
world. Sinners to say, brethren, came into the world is not just 
a language of His human birth by His Mother Mary, but rather 
it is the glorious doctrine of the Incarnation. The Son of God 
took to Himself man's nature. The Son of God assumed to Himself 
our own nature. He took upon Himself Our nature, 
with all the essential properties and common infirmities thereof, 
yet without sin. Whenever you hear that, don't 
just think that we're just rehearsing a creedal data from the 17th 
century. A blessed doctrine. The Son of 
Man, the second of the blessed triune, being the brightness 
of His Father's glory, took to Himself man's nature in the fullness 
of the times. With all the essential properties 
of humanity, and the common infirmities of humanity, yet without sin, 
gave his life for guilty sinners." What a blessed truth. He came 
into Brethren, what condescension? You've heard the word condescension 
a lot. Sometimes it carries with it 
negative connotations. You're speaking condescendingly. 
You see, it carries glorious connotations and glorious meaning 
when we are applying it to the Lord Jesus Christ. It means that 
he voluntarily assumed something inferior to him in order to execute 
a certain task. He came to a place of inferiority. Being a superior, He descended 
to a place that was below Him. And that's what we have in this 
language. Christ Jesus came into the world. 
We should never be the lot and the sort, because I don't believe 
any Christian can, who would say, well, of course He came 
into the world. I'm here. You know what? He came into the 
world. And you should remark that it's amazing that He came 
into the world because you're here. Because sinners were here, 
He departed the height and the pinnacle of glory to come to 
our lower ignominy. That just means shame. Whenever 
you hear that word, it's an old way of speaking of the shame 
of a thing. He came from the pinnacle of 
glory to our lower ignominy in order to save guilty sinners 
from their sins. The height of condescension. 
In our studies in Christology, we noted the words of the old 
bishop, Bishop Ryle, speaking about the condescension of Christ. 
And he says something like this, it would have been still the 
height of condescension if Christ departed from the pinnacle of 
glory and came and dwelt in a mansion in the hills of Jerusalem. That 
wouldn't have been pretentious. That still would have been the 
height of condescension, when the creator of all things and 
the upholder of all things departs from the pinnacle of glory to 
come to a place of ignominy, to dwell in a mansion in the 
hills of Jerusalem. But you see, he didn't do that, 
did he? He went to the height of, or to the height, to the 
lowest point of humility. It's a babe wrapped in swaddling 
cloths, lying in a feed trough reserved to feed livestock. Blessed condescension. Whenever 
we read Christ Jesus came into the world, we shouldn't pause 
at the simplicity of the language and just think of Christ coming 
in a general sense, but rather Christ coming in a glorious sense, 
descending from so great a height. It is to cause us to marvel. Hopefully, kids, you marvel at 
the story of Christ. We can give heed, speaking of 
giving heed, We can give heed to stories that carry no eternal 
weight. We can give our heed to lesser 
stories and all the while give a pittance of time to the greatest 
story ever told. This is marvelous, Calvin says, 
and I'm paraphrasing, but at this point, this is a marvelous 
thing. That the Son of God descended 
from heaven in such a way that without leaving heaven, He willed 
to be born in a virgin's womb, to go about the earth, to hang 
upon a cross. Yet He filled the heavens and 
the earth, even as He had done from the beginning. The doctrine 
of the Incarnation, study it. What a blessed thing. Again, 
we can give our ears and our eyes and our time to stories 
of lesser and a fictional value. And all the while, again, only 
give a pittance of time to the greatest story ever told. When's 
the last time during the week between Sundays you stopped, 
you paused, and you reflected upon Christ Jesus coming into 
the world, sinners to save? A glorious truth. The champion's 
coming. precious Savior came into this 
world. God was manifested in the flesh. Christ came for us men and for 
our salvation down from heaven. Lastly, under the creed itself, 
we want to note the champion's consummate work. The champion's 
consummate work. Notice what the text says. This 
is a faithful saying, worthy of all acceptance, that Christ 
Jesus came into the world to save sinners. That's the mission 
of Christ Jesus. That's the mission of the King 
of Kings and Lord of Lords. He came into this world to save 
sinners. The champion's consummate work 
is just that. He came sinners to save. You 
know that you're a sinner. You're a believer here tonight. 
You know. You know, again, that Spurgeonic language. You've perused 
the diary of your memories and you have found time and again, 
the witnesses of your guilt having faithfully recorded their names. 
You've sinned against a holy God. What is sin? We hear that 
word a lot. Sin, sinners. Sin isn't some 
sort of infectious black ooze that just blows through the air 
and infects people and causes them to do bad things. Sin is 
lawlessness. So the Apostle John defines it. 
Sin is lawlessness. Shorter catechisms ask the question, 
what is sin? And the answer is something such 
as sin is a lack of conformity unto or a violation of the law 
of God. And we know we're all guilty. 
We know we're all guilty. And if you're a Christian here 
tonight, you have the peace and the joy and the reality that 
in Christ Jesus now, therefore, there is no condemnation. He 
came into the world, sinners to save. You're a believer in 
this blessed Savior, and you need not worry about judgment 
and condemnation, because Jesus paid it all. Jesus paid it all. You see, if you're here tonight, 
you need to be confronted by the reality of this being a faithful 
saying, worthy of all acceptance, if you're outside of Christ. 
You need to fear the reality that Christ is called the one 
who is faithful and true. He's faithful and true to those 
who believe in Him, and it's the blessed joy and peace of 
all those who believe in Him that there is no condemnation 
for sin because we've been saved perfectly by Christ Jesus, the 
Lord. But if you're outside of Christ, 
it's a terrible, terrible place to be. Sin is grave. Sin is a weighty matter. We are not to think of sin lightly, 
a violation of the law of God. Not loving the Lord our God with 
all our heart, mind, soul, and strength. Not loving our neighbors 
as ourselves, a two-fold summary of the Decalogue, the Ten Commandments. We are idolaters. We are profaners 
of the Sabbath day. We're disobedient to parents, 
we're murderers, we're adulterers, we're liars, we're thieves, we're 
covetous. And yet, Jesus Christ came into 
the world, sinners to save. You go on a walkabout throughout 
the four corners of the earth and you try to find a religion 
like Christianity. And you try to find faithful 
sayings worthy of all acceptance outside of the safe and wholesome 
and glorious confines of this revelation. He'll be colossally 
disappointed. What a beautiful thing we have 
in Christ Jesus coming into the world, sinners to save. And we 
need to remark that that statement is faithful and true. He saved 
sinners and he saves sinners. We don't have a Christ who fails 
to do that which he was sent to do. That promise in Matthew 
is really echoed right here. You will call His name Jesus, 
for He will save His people from their sins. Christ Jesus came 
into the world, sinners to save, from the lips of Christ Himself. 
He proclaims that his saving work is not one of perhaps, it's 
not one of maybe. Christ did not come down into 
this lower ignominy in order to inaugurate the possibility 
of salvation, in order to inaugurate some economy whereby we must 
somehow contribute and merit. add to the perfect work of Christ, 
but rather look at the words of the Lord Jesus Christ himself 
in Luke 19.10, where he speaks, you don't have to turn there, 
but you know these words, for the Son of Man has come to seek 
and to save that which was lost. The simple, glorious words of 
our Lord here, who only ever spoke truth. He says, the Son 
of Man has come to seek and to save that which was lost. The champion of our salvation 
and his consummate He Himself declares that He came down from 
heaven not to do His own will, but the will of the Father who 
sent Him, and He does that. He perfectly completes the work 
of salvation. I love the language in the book 
of Hebrews as we move towards a close here. Again, the preacher's 
promise, but we are moving towards a close. The language of the 
certainty of the finished and saving work of Christ. Brethren, 
it's late on a Sunday night. It's five after six if the clock 
is right. You've been in church once already 
today. Hopefully, you found that a joy. You've done, hopefully, 
lawful things on the Sabbath after you left the Lord's Day 
morning service. You've come back tonight. It's 
the end of a long day, but brethren, hopefully these things warm your 
heart and cause your heart to skip with joy when we rehearse 
these truths. Kids, if I was to say, if I was 
to say that the Sadeen twins are coming in about 10 minutes, 
you'd probably see some of your mouths crescent into a smile 
and you'd be excited and you'd go comb your hair to make sure 
you look proper. Or if I said, I don't know, Steph Curry was 
coming, any basketball fans out there. He's coming in 10 minutes. 
He's going to pop in that door and you'd be excited. You'd be ramped up. Rinaldo's 
coming. He's going to do a juggling demonstration 
in the back foyer there. Man, that would be amazing. Christ 
Jesus came into the world, sinners to save. There's the excitement. Where's the joy? It's the proper 
parameters of Christian order and proper worship that you probably 
don't do backflips in the pews right now. That wouldn't be too 
bad. Nevertheless, hopefully these 
things are cheering your heart. These blessed truths. If the 
Siddhins coming in there warms your heart, hopefully Christ 
Jesus, the Lord coming into the world, sinners to save, warms 
your heart infinitely greater than that silly thing. Rehearsal 
of these things is not the stuff of skittles and hockey and baseball 
bats. It's the stuff of glorious revealed 
truth. Christ Jesus came into the world, 
sinners, to save the certainty of that work. Some of the verses 
in the Bible we come to, I would submit that there are none that 
surpass a verse such as this in Hebrews 9-11, but Christ came 
as high priest of the good things to come with the greater and 
more perfect tabernacle, not made with human hands, that is, 
not of this creation, not with the blood of goats and calves, 
but with His own blood He entered the most holy place once for 
all, having obtained eternal redemption." You see, when Paul 
says, this is a faithful saying worthy of all acceptance, this 
is the stuff that's in view. Christ obtained eternal redemption. That's a faithful saying worthy 
of all acceptance. We need not be brought to loss 
and to worry and to doubt. We ought not to have, we will 
have our assurance in diverse ways shaken, but we ought not 
to when we have this truth set before us that our Savior obtained 
eternal redemption. You need not be disappointed. 
You need not fear. We have a blessed assurance in 
the Lord Jesus Christ and the perfection of his work. Calvin 
writes this, Whenever any doubt shall arise in our mind about 
the forgiveness of sins, let us learn to repel it courageously 
with this shield, 1 Timothy 1.15, that it is an undoubted truth 
and deserves to be received without controversy. Let there be never 
any controversy that you have the forgiveness of sins, perfect 
salvation, and everlasting life by virtue of the person and the 
work of Jesus Christ, the redeeming King. Never a controversy. Let it never rise up in you to 
doubt the perfection of the work, Christ Jesus the Lord. Lastly, then, as we look to close, 
the demonstrable confirmation of the creed. Notice what we 
have back in 1 Timothy. The demonstrable confirmation 
of the creed. What does that mean? Well, we'll 
tell you in a moment. This is a faithful saying and 
worthy of all acceptance that Christ Jesus came into the world 
to save sinners of whom I am chief. The demonstrable confirmation 
of the creed, that simply means that the certainty of the gospel 
and its saving realities are proven by the life and times 
of the Apostle Paul. You want manifest evidence of 
the perfect salvation of Christ. You want manifest evidence of 
the amazing and victorious grace of God. You need look no further 
than the Apostle Paul. That's why he writes, of whom 
I am chief. You see, he's not saying that 
he was the first chronologically in the line of sinners. He's 
not saying he's the chief and prominent apostle of those who 
were saved. He's saying that he is the chief 
of sinners. He is the protoss of sinners. He is the most famous of sinners. 
He is the most notorious of sinners. He is the worst of sinners. He 
is of the highest rank of those who transgress the law of God. 
He himself speaks concerning this in this epistle. When he 
writes, I thank Christ Jesus our Lord who has enabled me, 
because he counted me faithful, putting me into the ministry, 
although I was formerly a blasphemer, a persecutor, and an insolent 
man. He dragged men and women from 
their houses to go off to prison. He stood approvingly complicit 
in the murder of godly men. He watched the robes of those 
who had to disrobe in order to be more mobile to crush the head 
of Stephen with large rocks. And he loved it. He was bloodthirsty. Cast his eyes upon that bloody 
spectacle, as Matthew Henry said, in hopes that it would put an 
end to Christianity. And yet grace comes. Victorious 
grace comes by God through His Christ. He's brought from darkness 
to life. He's a sinner saved. If anyone 
doubts the salvation of Christ, they can look at the Apostle 
Paul and see the greatness, the salvation of our God and of His 
Christ. Is there anybody here tonight who thinks their sin 
too great? The Savior can't save them. I'm here to tell you That's 
wrong. That is to think of sin lightly 
and to think of the Savior lightly. Christ Jesus saves to the uttermost 
all those who come nigh by His blood. Christ Jesus, the Lord, 
who saved Paul, can save the worst of sinners. This is a demonstrable 
confirmation of the Creed's truthfulness. When we read Christ Jesus came 
into the world, sinners to save, we know that's true because Paul 
was saved and he is the chief of sinners. Again, Calvin on 
this. He writes, For when he who had 
been a fierce and savage beast was changed into a pastor, Christ 
gave a remarkable display of his grace, from which all might 
be led to entertain a firm belief that no sinner, how heinous and 
aggravated so ever might have been his transgressions, had 
the gate of salvation shut against him." Isn't that blessed truth? Paul was saved, the guiltiest, 
the worst, the most blasphemous of sinners is brought from deadness 
to life. If you're here tonight and you're 
outside of Christ and a burden is on your back, you've walked 
a long way, you've traversed the path of life with the burden 
of sin upon your back, thinking nothing could relieve you from 
that burden, know this, that Christ Jesus relieves you of 
that burden. Believe on Him and you will have 
everlasting life. Brethren, three quick things 
in two minutes and 37 seconds and we close. If you're an unbeliever 
here tonight, take heed the words of the Apostle Paul. It's a faithful 
saying, worthy of all acceptance, that Christ Jesus came into this 
world, sinners to save. Know for a surety, for a certainty, 
that it's a faithful saying, worthy of all acceptance as well, 
that if you do not believe in the Lord Jesus Christ, then you 
shall not see life, but the wrath of God abides on you. You violated 
the laws of our holy magistrate, the infinite, eternal, and perfect, 
glorious God, whose infinite, eternal, and unchangeable, and 
His holiness and justice must punish sin, those who have violated 
His holy precepts and His statutes, and yet He sent His Son, the 
Son of His love, into this lower shame, sinners to save. Believe 
on Him and you will have everlasting life. Take heed and take fear 
if you're outside of Christ, but have great hope. He saved 
the greatest of sinners. He's absolutely, perfectly able 
to save you from your sins. Believer, have hope. It's a faithful 
saying worthy of all acceptance that Christ Jesus came into this 
world, sinners to save. Are you struggling with doubt? 
struggling, you're looking inwardly at the working of the Spirit 
on your soul. Are you seeking for evidences? 
Are you seeking for assurance, rather, in your own doings and 
in your own putting-offs? Or are you finding and seeking 
your assurance in the Lord Jesus Christ, the only Savior for sinners? The only one who could obey God's 
law perfectly, the only one who could offer a sacrifice for sin, 
the one who died and rose again for sinners, are you putting 
your trust, are you finding your assurance solely in Him? Do not 
look inwardly at your own bosom for the motions of the Spirit 
upon your heart as the ground of your assurance. Look to the 
one and the only, the Lord Jesus Christ, the Savior of sinners, 
and seek to live in a manner worthy of that blessed gospel. 
Lastly, I want to close with just a brief comment upon these 
words. This is a faithful saying. Never 
count words as small things. This is a faithful saying, worthy 
of all acceptance. We come to this church, and it's 
not the most marvelous spectacle of architecture. It fits the 
task. It fits the job, though, doesn't 
it? You see, there are so many things out there that pleases 
the eye, that satisfies the eye and the ear. But in the Christian 
religion, in the church of the Lord Jesus Christ, you are confronted 
with, by the commandment of God, faithful sayings. Don't count 
the preaching of the word a day of small things. Come to church. Relish in the word proclaimed. Relish in words spoken. This 
is a faithful saying. If Jim and I ever come up here 
and say we'll be right back and we go into that room and we put 
on white paint and black suits and white gloves and come out 
and do a mime show, I'm giving the deacon sanction to come up 
and to tackle us and to drag us out of the church. This is 
a faithful saying. The spoken word. Here's another 
unfaithful saying. A picture is worth a thousand 
words. No, it's not. A couple words fitly spoken are 
worth a thousand pictures. This is a faithful saying, worthy 
of all acceptance, that Christ Jesus came into the world, sinners 
to save. You know, when churches are great, 
they're great because they have faithful sayings from a pulpit 
that flames with righteousness. That was the observation of a, 
if it's true, if it's apocryphal, I hope it's true, but there was 
an old fellow back in around 1696-ish who traveled from France 
and came to visit America, a French delegate. He wanted to see why 
America, this young fledgling nation, was prospering so well. 
He comes and his report, and I'm paraphrasing, but his report 
is something like, I came to America and I saw her purple 
mountain majesties and her waves of amber grain and I saw her 
marketplaces and I saw her buildings of commerce, I saw her colleges 
and her institutes for higher learning, but it wasn't until 
I went into the churches of America and saw her pulpits flame with 
righteousness that I understood the reason for her greatness. 
You see, a nation is great, a church is great, a people is great, 
insofar as there are faithful sayings being proclaimed by cracked 
pots, proclaiming the riches and the excellencies of Christ 
Jesus the Lord, that Savior who came into this world, sinners 
to save. Believer, rejoice. Leave this place rejoicing in 
the glorious gospel of the blessed God. Unbeliever, believe in this 
One who came and who died and who rose again for guilty sinners. 
You will never be ashamed, and you will never be disappointed. 
Let us pray. Heavenly Father, we thank you 
for this time in your word, and we thank you for this time in 
worship. We do pray that you'd help us now to reflect upon these 
things, this faithful saying that's worthy of all acceptation, 
that Christ Jesus came into the world, sinners to save. Cause 
us to rejoice, cause us to reflect, cause us to find great things 
to marvel in, in this true story of our blessed Redeemer. We do 
pray that you would strengthen saints here tonight, cause them 
to leave this place singing your praises. We do pray, God, that 
you would save sinners tonight, that this would be a night of 
salvation, Those who entered in these two doors in unbelief 
and outside of our blessed Redeemer would leave singing along with 
all your saints. Hallelujah. What a Savior. And 
it's in the name of Christ Jesus that we do pray. Amen.