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welcome to everyone just two brief announcements the youth night on friday night pastor Porter should be sending out an email soon concerning that and then the annual general meeting here on the 27th at 7pm well for our call to worship this evening you can turn to Psalm 100 Psalm 100 beginning in verse 1 a psalm of Thanksgiving make a joyful shout to the Lord all you lands serve the Lord with gladness come before his presence with singing know that the Lord he is God it is he who has made us and not we ourselves we are his people in the Sheep of his pasture enter into his gates with Thanksgiving and into his courts with praise be thankful to him and bless his name where the Lord is good his mercy is everlasting and his truth and doors to all generations amen well please turn in your Trinity hymnal to him number 81 him number 81 will stand as we sing together you let us pray for gracious God and Father we come again on this lord's day into your house and it is a great joy and a privilege for us to be found in the place where the Lord God most high dwells we thank you for your grace and your mercy and the gospel of our Lord Jesus we thank you for the sovereign grace that you've poured out upon us that you have opened our eyes you've opened our hearts to receive with Thanksgiving the word of truth and we thank you for the gifts of faith and repentance so that we may come to the Lord Jesus Christ we thank you that we have life and we have it abundantly we thank you that we have a pardon for our sins from all of our transgressions and unrighteousness we thank you for that righteousness that you have given to us the righteousness of Jesus Christ that is received by faith alone we pray that as we gather together this evening we pray that as we sing and as we hear the the Holy Scriptures read and preached that you would be honored and glorified you would be enthroned upon the praises of your people here that God you would be well pleased to to cause us to know your nearness and your presence for this is our good we ask that you would look with favor upon each and every one in this local assembly we thank you Father for the kindness that you show us on a daily basis the psalmist says and we can testify to that daily you vote us with benefits we thank you God for these mercies and we thank you God for these good gifts and we pray that you would continue to watch over us we pray for our brethren that struggle with physical challenges and trials we commit them to you into the word of your grace and they each and every one be reminded that though the outer man decays day by day the inner man is being renewed that all of us are being more and more conformed unto the image of the Lord Jesus Christ through those things that you you have for us and I pray God that you would encourage those who are suffering we ask our father that you would be with each and every one and church that is suffering spiritually God we all faced many trials and many difficulties and many temptations we have remaining corruption and so many things that would attack us we pray for the indwelling power of your Holy Spirit that we may pursue those things that are pleasing in your sight this Jesus taught us to pray we ask that you would protect us she would lead us not into temptation but you would in fact deliver us from the evil one we ask father that you would look with favor upon those in our midst that are expecting little ones we thank you we know the Scriptures declare the children are a good gift from the Lord God most high we pray for each of these ladies and we pray for each of these babies she would watch over them that you would give them health and strength we pray for Melissa Vischer that all would go well for her tomorrow we ask odd that you would just bless her and cause this to be a wonderful experience and we pray for this little one that in your time and in your mercy this little one would come to know the Lord Jesus Christ we do pray for all of our children and for all of our young people this is a day and age and which men are commonly calling good evil and evil good and we pray for these young ones we ask that you would just set a hedge about them that by your grace they would remember their Creator in their youth that they would call upon you that they would seek you that they would know the Lord Jesus Christ as their Lord and their Savior we pray that from our young men you'd raise them up to preach the gospel and to be missionaries and to be servants of god most high for all of them we pray that they would be faithful and diligent and the things of god that you would be pleased to bring honor and glory to your name through the young people in this congregation we pray our Father for other churches here in chilliwack we thank you that we're not alone we thank you Father that there are other places where the gospel is proclaimed and we pray your richest blessings would be upon them and we pray that you would bless that word that goes forth from the pulpits in this city that you would be merciful to save more and more people in this community she would turn them for their idols to the true and living God and that you would be glorified and honored in this we ask that you look with favor and with mercy upon those and in high places the governing authorities we know that the the King's heart is in the hand of the Lord God most high and in this we greatly rejoice we do pray that the fear of God specifically faith in the Lord Jesus Christ would be embraced by those in high places that they might rule and govern according to equity in courting to righteousness and those things that are pleasing in your sight they do not submit to the Lord Christ if they do not bow to the king of kings we do pray that you would nevertheless restrain them from being more corrupt or being more wicked or more evil God when we consider the sins in our nation when we consider abortion and sodomy and euthanasia certainly our God we can only cry to you that in your wrath you would remember mercy and that through the preaching of the gospel you would turn men's hearts to you you would cause them to see that these are abominations that there would be a crying out to you on behalf of these of these ones and our Father we pray now that you would bless our brother bless pastor Porter as he comes to preach the word we pray that the Spirit of God would would use him to communicate to us the word of truth and do forgive us now for all of our sins and all of our unrighteousness we come into the presence of a holy God we are keenly aware of our unholiness and we cry with the Prophet woe is me for I am undone thank you that there is atonement for sinners like us and even now we pray that you would cleanse us in the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ and we pray in his Most Blessed name amen well you may turn to the back of the hymn book to be thou my vision it should be taped into the 11 of the back pages be thou my vision when you find that you can stand and will sing together you may turn in your Bibles to the prophet Ezekiel we're reading a zekiel chapter 5 this evening in this particular section Ezekiel the Prophet is prophesying proclaiming concerning Jerusalem's condemnation the fact that they are under the judgment of God most high and they will be visited with wrath from on high beginning in chapter 5 at verse 1 a new son of man take a sharp sword take it as a barber's razor and pass it over your head and your beard then take scales to weigh and divide the hair you shall burn with fire one third in the midst of the city when the days of the siege are finished then you shall take one-third and strike around it with the sword and one-third you shall scatter in the wind I will draw out a sword after them you shall also take a small number of them and bind them in the edge of your garments then take some of them again and throw them into the midst of the fire and burn them in the fire from there a fire will go out into all the house of Israel thus says the Lord God this is Jerusalem I have set her in the midst of the nations in the countries all around her she has rebelled against my judgments by doing wickedness more than the nations and against my statutes more than the countries that are all around her where they have refused my judgments and they have not walked in my statutes therefore thus says the Lord God because you have multiplied disobedience more than the nations that are all around you have not walked in my statutes nor kept my judgments nor even done according to the judgments of the nations that are all around you therefore thus says the Lord God indeed i even i am against you and will execute judgments in your midst in the sight of the nation's and I will do among you what I have never done and the like of which I will never do again because of all your abominations there or father shall eat their sons in your midst and son shall eat their fathers and I will execute judgments again among you and all of you who remain I will scatter to all the winds therefore as I live says the Lord God surely because you have defiled my sanctuary with all your detestable things and with all your abominations therefore i will also diminish you my i will not spare nor will i have any pity one-third of you shall die of the pestilence and be consumed with famine in your midst and one-third shall fall by the sword all around you and I will scatter another third to all the winds and I will draw out a sword after them thus shall my anger be spent and I will cause my fury to rest upon them and I will be avenged and they shall know that I the LORD have spoken it in my zeal when I have spent my fury upon them moreover I will make you a waste in a reproach among the nations that are all around you in the sight of all who pass by so it shall be a reproach a taunt a lesson and an astonishment to the nations that are all around you when I execute judgments among you in anger and in fury and in furious rebukes I the LORD have spoken when I send against them the terrible arrows of famine which shall be for destruction which I will send to destroy you I will increase the famine upon you and cut off your supply of bread so I will send against you famine and wild beasts and they will believe you pestilence and blood shall pass through you and I will bring the sword against you I the LORD have spoken amen will let us pray father we see your wrath and fury against sin and sinners and we pray Almighty God she would grant us grace to do those things that are pleasing in your sight help us is a local church to be what we are called to be in the scriptures help us as individuals to be what we are called to in the scriptures we pray God that your Holy Spirit would dwell in us he would guide us and help us in these things for it is not our nature it is not what we we long to do to pursue holiness but we thank you that by your grace we have that that desire we have that zeal so we pray it would be strengthened and that we would seek to be pleasing in your sight Most High God we do thank you for the gospel we thank you for our Lord Jesus we thank you that ultimately he bore the wrath and the curt's and the fury that was due for us we thank you for his life and his death and his resurrection we praise you for his current session and the fact that he will return again in glory to judge the living in the dead and her heart's desire and our earnest please that any and all here this evening we do not know the Lord Jesus Christ as Savior that by your grace they would come they would believe they would know the joy of being found in him and we pray through Christ our Lord amen well you may turn with me finally in your Trinity hymnal to number 216 him number 216 again will stand as we sing together you sorry oh good evening to everyone it's good to be back in the house of the Lord can turn in your Bibles with me to the book of 1st Timothy Paul's first epistle to his son in the faith Timothy want to look at a sure and proven Creed from 1st Timothy 115 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 gym 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 the Bible Spurgeon preached a sermon on this particular passage called the the whole Bible in one verse a whole gospel in one verse i think it was in fact and that's what we have surely in first Timothy 115 but we want to read the context and so will begin reading in first Timothy one 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 caused 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 man Slayers 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 ignorant ly 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 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 beyond her 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 soles of your gathered saints that they might be well equipped rejoicing in Christ Jesus to go out into this upcoming week to reflect upon his riches and his Excellency's 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 pray 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 gracing the glories of our blessed Redeemer and it's in the name of Jesus Christ we do pray men well this is the first first Timothy 115 this is the first of Paul's of Paul's faithful sayings there are five of them in first and second Timothy and in Titus the others are first Timothy 3 1 1st Timothy 49 second Timothy 2 11 and Titus 38 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 and 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 1st Timothy where the Apostle Paul is seeking to exhort Timothy and giving him pastoral instructions specifically here against these error wrists 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 a give me the message of your high and holy religion Christianity and 10 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 in its succinct presentation ever tha less marveling in our Christ and in his gospel we want to look at it under three headings this evening like we do very often than those three things are simply this the introduction to the Creed the Creed itself and the demonstrable confirmation of the Creed and so first the intro simply scene and is a faithful saying and worthy of all acceptance that is the introduction to the creed that follows I i prefer the language of the 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 accrete 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 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 as in view remember he is an apostle of Jesus Christ by the commandment of God verse 1 says and notice what we find in first Timothy 2 if you flip a page to the right we have in first Timothy 27 the reality of the faith fullness of the words of the Apostle Paul in this epistle notice verse 7 of 1st 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 two 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 as 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 the 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 in his dying and his rising again the historical the historicity of the Creed's content we're going to get to the Creed in a moment but we know this glorious history in this glorious truth Christ Jesus came into the world sinners to say of all of the histories of civilizations and of all of the 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 centers to sinner's to say that the Son of God the second of the Blessed triune being very an 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 a blessed story we have in our Bibles well 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 two men in 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 say 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 first Corinthians 15 account what does Paul then say he was seen by many witnesses he was seen by over 500 witness is that what before that he was seen by the twelve 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 in the account of Christ oh they're nice tails they're you know they're nice stories that you know we can read to children and a veil of some of the morals and some of the things that no it's the Word of God and the story of Christ is true Luke 1 verse 1 you've heard the 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 a upon a time you know where the the Bluebirds circle the mystical he look at the language that we have here in as much as many have taken in hand to set an 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 creeds content that Christ Jesus came into this world sinners to say what 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 a blessed truth we have in our Bibles kids adults come to your Bibles often come to your Bibles always and find their in historical account of our Blessed Verde mean King Luke doesn't stop there with this language of 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 Oh Theophilus of all that Jesus began both to do and teach until the day in which he was taken up after he threw 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 40 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 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 men infallible proofs he didn't just appear to the 12 he appeared to over five hundred brethren at once the time of the writing of first Corinthians some of those who doubt it 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 have 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 and his side I saw him eat broiled fish and honeycomb I saw our King our Jesus the historicity of the Creed's content is 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 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 know 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 in a pastor in Ephesus he had visited other other churches but was stationed in 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 it have their magical books and their incantations Paul comes by the power of God in the preaching the gospel of Jesus Christ and the forgiveness of sins by a bloody Deemer 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 greatest Father Son and Holy Spirit sinners are say the faithful saying is proved by the reality of the Creed's content centers actually we're 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 its 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 twofold manner it's its truthfulness it's a faithful saying and its trustworthiness it's worthy of all and trustworthiness doesn't do enough justice really to that statement but hopefully we'll spend a little bit of time on it but its 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 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 worthy of all acceptance 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 what it's the height of rejection the height of folly the 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 first 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 first Timothy a little bit to the right we find in chapter 3 beginning beginning in verse 14 these things i write to you though i hope to come to you shortly but if i am delayed i right 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 there is no arguing and contesting over you know 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 what is this to do what 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 same we're going to get to that Creed that's saying in a moment but this language this introduction brings this reality to us that we art to give heed to what it says it's a faithful saying and it's worthy of all acceptance so we are to give heat to it there's so many giving heed kids simply means that we give careful attention to it we we have a regard for it we we pay attention to it and we give it regard and we give it focus and we we give it our eyes our ears you know there's so many sayings that are out there in the world this this is a faithful saying worthy of all acceptance but there's so many sayings or 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 were probably familiar with you can do anything you put your mind to know you can if I spent a lot of time and really tried to diligently learn you know 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 at the ability to put my mind to math and physics I can 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 you asked me to do physics and you know i know gravity i know a fulcrum and lever but that's about it nothing is impossible there's another saying it's on faith well it's not a faithful saying kids don't jump 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 down by Pastor Martin's brother down at his memorial recounting some you know good stories with his with his brother Lamar his brother was was preaching at his memorial and he remarked that pastor Martin and 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 you know the the body of laws and principles that you know 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 a hundred percent of the shots you don't take that's Wayne Gretzky anybody ever played hockey they probably hurt you probably heard your coach tell that to you you miss a hundred percent percent of the shots you don't take that's a true saying but you see it doesn't bring the weight of eternal things doesn't bring the weight of the salvation afforded by Christ perfectly through his shed blood and his perfect work 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 Christ our Spurgeon and one of his sermons on Galatians 6 14 i believe it was remarking about paul he says something to the effect that christ T'Pol 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 of 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 nurse to save and that's a faithful saying worthy of all acceptance Christians you are to take confidence in these things have a fallen and unwavering trust in 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 say 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 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 the glorious gospel of the Blessed God Christ Jesus came into this world sinners to save it is the same thing this glorious gospel the blessed God that was committed to Paul's trust that thing that he railed against the 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 propagated it was committed to his trust by the commandment 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 champions coming in the Champions consummate work notice the champion of the Curia there are two parties in this Crede 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 perfect to to complete two perfectly execute the will of the Father and bringing many sons to glory it's perfect saving work the champion of this Creed is Christ Jesus and those words remember ought to we ought to those words ought to be more than just words and names to us Christ Jesus so we read through the Bible hopefully whenever we see those words though those words that elicit reflections upon what they mean the rich rich meaning to those simply those two words Christ he is the Messiah The Anointed One the promise the Promised One of the Old Covenant why do the the nation's rage in the the people's plot a vain thing the kings of the earth set themselves and the rulers take counsel together against the Lord and against his Christ this Christ is the one who has 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 dashes to pieces like potters 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 as 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 promised this Christ is the one spoken of here who came into the world sinners to save blessed Christ blessed Messiah The Anointed One in the Promised One of God Jesus remember that we ought not just to 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 savory 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 the person of Christ he came into the world Christ Jesus is very God and very man remember that language in Matthew won the language speaking of Jesus this one who would be born it also says after his name will be Emmanuel which has 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 or blessed Redeemer the champions coming down noticing this is a faithful saying and worthy of all acceptance that Christ Jesus came into the world the champions 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 in 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 that's not whenever you hear that don't don't just think that we're just rehearsing a you know creedal data from the 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 it what a blessed truth he came into the world and brethren this is what what condescension kids maybe it maybe I mean you've heard the word condescension a lot sometimes it carries with it negative connotations you're speaking condescendingly but 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 that's what we have in this language Christ Jesus came into the world we should never 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 never 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 our studies in christology we noted the the words of the old the old Bishop Bishop rile 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 pin 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 her 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 you know 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 the story of Christ you know we can give heed speaking of giving heed we can we can give heed to 22 stories that 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 he 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 years in our eyes in our time 22 stories of lesser and a fictional value in 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 you and you reflected upon Christ Jesus coming into the world sinners to save the glorious truth the champions coming our 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 champions consummate work the champions 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 champions 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 thats per g onic 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 it what is sin we hear that word a lot sin sinners and you know it sin isn't some sort of infectious black ooze that just you know 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 a 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 profane errs of the Sabbath day were disobedient to parents we're murderers were adulterers were Liars were thieves were 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 you'll be colossally disappointed what a beautiful thing we have and 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 he 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 loop 1910 where he speaks that 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 work 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 a language in the book of Hebrews as we move towards a close here and that's again the preachers promise but we are moving towards a close the language of the certainty of the finished and saving work of Christ and 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 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 to skip with joy when we rehearse these truths kids if I was to say if I would maybe that if I was to say that the sedin twins are coming in about ten minutes probably see some some of your mouths present into a smile and you'd be excited and you go comb your hair to make sure you look proper if i said i don't know steph curry was coming at any basketball fans out there it's coming in 10 minutes he's going to pop in that door and get all you'd be excited he'd be ramped up Ronaldo's coming going to do a juggling demonstration of the back four yay there 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 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 he's blessed truths if the Sedin is coming in there warms your heart hopefully Christ Jesus the Lord coming into the world sinners to save warms your heart infinitely greater than than that silly thing rehearsal of these things is not the stuff of 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 be brought to loss and to worry into 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 where for whenever any doubt shall arise in our mind about the forgiveness of sins let us learn to repel it courageously with this shield first Timothy 115 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 first Timothy the demonstrable confirmation of the Creed what does that mean well will 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 Cree that simply means that the certainty of the gospel and it's saving realities are proven by the life and times of the Apostle Paul you want manifest evidence of the perfect salvation of 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 the most you know 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 us at 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 here's 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 anyone doubts the salvation of Christ they can look at the Apostle Paul see the greatness the salvation of our God and of his Christ is there anybody here tonight who thinks their sin too great 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 lately Christ Jesus Saves to the uttermost all those who come nigh by his blood Christ Jesus the Lord save 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 burdens on your back you've walked a long way you've traversed the path of life with the burden 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 in his holiness and justice must punish sin those who have violated his holy precepts in 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 and 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 are you struggling you're looking inwardly at the you know the working of the Spirit on your soul are you seeking for evidences are you seeking for assurance rather in your your own doings and in your own pudding 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 the motions of you the Spirit upon your heart is the ground of your assurance look to the one and the only the Lord Jesus Christ the Saviour of sinners and seek to live in a manner worthy of that bless of 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 the worthy of all acceptance we come to this church and it's not the most marvelous spectacle of architecture it fits the task if it's the job though doesn't it see there are so many things out there that pleases the eye that satisfies the eye in 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 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 60 96 issue traveled from France and came to visit America French delegate he wanted to see why America this young fledgling nation was was prospering so well he comes in his report and I'm paraphrasing but his report is something like I came to America and I I saw her her purple mountain Majesties and her waves of amber grain and I I saw her marketplaces and I saw her buildings of Commerce I saw her colleges and her Institute's 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 say believer rejoice leave this place rejoicing in the glorious gospel of the blessed of God unbeliever believe in this one who came and who died and who rose again for guilty sinners you will never be ashamed a near Annette 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 and worship we do pray that you'd help us now to reflect upon these things this faithful saying that's worthy of all acceptation Christ Jesus came into the world sinners to save cause us to rejoice cause us to reflect that 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 that 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 well Lucas if I could request a doxology from him 35 if we can all stand together and sing the stanza one of him 35 Oh the Lord bless you and keep you the Lord make his face shine upon you and be gracious to you the Lord lift up his countenance upon you and give you peace amen we'll have a brief time of prayer you may be seated when the piano is finished playing you're free to leave you