The Saviour of Sinners

This transcript has been automatically generated

The reading is from the first letter of Paul to Timothy and the first chapter, starting to read at verse 12 and finishing at verse 17. The first letter of Paul to Timothy, chapter 1, verse 12.

I thank him who has given me strength for this, Christ Jesus our Lord, because he judged me faithful by appointing me to his service, though I formerly blasphemed and persecuted and insulted him.

But I received mercy Because I had acted ignorantly in unbelief. And the grace of our Lord overflowed for me with the faith and love that are in Christ Jesus.

The saying is sure and worthy of full acceptance, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners, and I am the foremost of sinners.

But I received mercy for this reason, that in me as the foremost Jesus Christ might display his perfect patience for an example to those who were to believe in him for eternal life.

To the King of Ages, immortal, invisible, the only God, be honour and glory forever forever and ever. Amen.

Can I invite you to pray with me? Let us pray. Heavenly Father, we thank you today for the freedom we have to serve you, to come to hear your word. We pray that you’ll make us a responsible people who act rightly with this freedom. By serving you wholeheartedly.

For Jesus Christ’s sake. Amen. The Lord’s Prayer. Our Father, who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name. Thy kingdom come, thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven.

Give us this day our daily bread and forgive us our trespasses as as we forgive those who trespass against us. And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil. For thine is the kingdom, the power, and the glory, forever and ever. Amen.

Can I say how good it is to be back again in St. Helen’s? If my memory serves me correctly, I was with you on the Tuesday before Christmas. And if my memory does serve me correctly, and in that regard it does, we had just thoroughly beaten you on several occasions at cricket. I took the opportunity to tell you on that occasion that I would say nothing about it. Can I say on this occasion I would deem it a great honour and privilege if you would reciprocate.

We recently had a tour of the Parker Pakistani team and they beat us on every occasion. Every single match we were beaten. Can I say, never was an Australian so welcome in Pakistan. Again and again and again they warmly welcomed me and told me how good their cricket team was.

I think at the present moment it is beyond to say that Australia is not very good at cricket. I think that is a factual statement. I saw Geoff Lawson on the station at Ipswich the other day coming back from Lowestoft, and I did him the honour of not recognising him on that occasion.

I thought I’d leave him in supposed obscurity. It is a true saying that we’re not much good at cricket. But you know, that’s not a universal state. You know, there are some people who don’t even know what cricket is. I know you’ll find that difficult to believe.

When the Billy Graham team was in Australia last, Charlie Riggs, who works with them, said to me, John, you think you could take me and show me cricket being played? Well, I took him along and, you know, have you ever tried to explain the game to anybody? It’s terribly difficult. We were going along, we I was just settling back. We’d been there for about an hour and a half and I was just beginning to enjoy it.

I look around, I see him fidgeting all around. He says, it’s a fairly slow game, John, isn’t it?

I said, well, I suppose it is really. I’ve never thought about it. He said, how long does it take to finish a match?

I said, well, 6 days.

He said, 6 days? It’s about as interesting as watching grass grow.

So if it is a true saying that Australia is not much good at cricket, I can tell you right now it’s not a universal saying. But Paul in the letter that was read to us today in the Bible reading says, here is a true statement of universal significance. It’s a true statement and it’s a good statement for everybody. And this is the statement, hang on to your hats: Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners. He says this is a true saying and worthy of full acceptance that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners.

3 things I want to say about it. First thing is, it’s a true saying. It’s not a fairy tale. If you had been there in 1st century Palestine, you could have seen Jesus Christ. He lived.

He was there. St. John says when he writes his letter in the last— towards the end of the Bible, I’m telling you about somebody I saw, I’m telling you about somebody I heard. I’m telling you about somebody in whose presence I lived. It’s not a fairy tale, it’s a true saying. If you’d been there in first century Palestine, you could have seen him.

You could have seen the miraculous deeds which are recorded for us in Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John. It is a fact that he was executed under Pontius Pilate. And it is a well-attested fact that He rose again from the dead. I am not talking about something which is like Hans Andersen’s fairy tales. He is not like Rumpelstiltskin.

And that is why faith is possible. You can put your confidence in what we are talking about. I am not asking you to put your brains in the wastepaper basket. And take a leap out into the dark. My experiences of those who leap into the dark is that they arrive in the dark.

What we are talking about is something which is true. He says, it is a true saying that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners. A sane, sober action is what we’re asking people to take. To make up their mind on certain pieces of factual information. Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners.

The second thing I want to draw to your attention about this saying is that it’s universal. He says it is a true saying, it’s a true saying and worthy of full acceptance. That is, it’s good for you, it’s good for me. Why? Because he said Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners.

That’s why it’s good for me because I am one. That’s why it’s good for you because you are one, a sinful person. Now I do not know any word in English usage which is more misunderstood than the word sin.

I remember romping home in the full flush of my 17th year And I said to my father, I’ve just been converted. You’re a sinful man. You need to be converted too.

He said, speak to me like that again, I’ll smack your head up against the wall.

I’m sure on reflection that he had misunderstood what I meant.

Let me say that when I say to you, you are a sinful person, if you feel touchy now, you don’t know what the word means.

When the Bible says that we are all sinful, it takes the point of view that at some stage in our life, if not at the present, at some stage in our life, all of us have said to God, I will not have you to be God over me. We have said, I will not have the Lord Jesus to be the Master of my life. We say, I will run my own life. I will be my own authority. I will say what is right for me and I will do what I say is right for me.

In fact, we say, I will be God at least over my own life. And so we say, as it were, to the Lord Jesus, please stay out of my life. Or at best we say, stay at the periphery of my life. If I need you, I’ll tell you, and when I tell you is when I’ll need you, and then come quickly. And you will see from that who is God and who thinks they’re God.

It is that attitude of independence from the living God which the Bible calls You can be a thoroughly fine sinful person or you can be a wretched rat of a sinful person and the fineness of character has nothing whatever to do with the rebellious heart.

You can be a fine person and say, I will not have God to rule over me. You can be a derelict and say, I will not have God to rule over me. But it is that attitude which causes this statement to be of universal significance: Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners. You, me. It is this attitude of independence from God which the Bible says brings us into a threefold slavery.

First of all, we become slaves to the worldview of what life is about. That is, we can’t actually put our finger on what life’s about. It’s elusive. If I were to say to you, what are you living for? Are you able to finger that easily?

It’s not all that easy, is it? You think you’ve got your act together, you think you know where you’re going, and suddenly the kids go off the rails. And you say, what is it all about? If when you get home tonight your wife says to you in troubled tones, I’ve just come back from the doctor. He says I’ve got leukaemia.

It’s a bad prognosis. Do you know what life is about now?

Is what you thought it was about able to sustain you now? An aspect of our rebellion, the Bible says, is that we’re lost in the life situation. We don’t really know what it’s about. The second aspect of the slavery to sin is that we become slaves to our own desires. That is, we can’t actually control ourselves.

Now isn’t it a fact that often you’ve said to yourself, I’m not going to do that again. Only to discover that you really are incapable of doing that. So again you make a resolution. You say, I’m not going to let that happen again, only to discover that you are a slave to your own desires. Last Thursday night was a balmy night.

I wandered downtown, I just went for a walk, and I kept walking and kept walking. Here in the city, and I came across a man with a little loudspeaker at an open-air meeting. He was there giving out— he was there speaking, and his friends were giving out tracts to passersby. And it wasn’t a bad message either. I stopped and listened.

I was preparing a sermon. I thought I might have got a better one than the one I was at.

While I was there, a fellow countryman came up and greeted me. He didn’t know I was an Australian. He wouldn’t have cared who I was. He walked up and said, could you give me 10p, mate, for a drink? I said, no, you’ve already drunk too much.

Oh, gone, he said, mate, gone. I said, no. He put his hand in his pocket, he pulled out 3 containers of pills and shook them at me. He said, I’ll sell them to you, mate. I’ll sell them to you for 10p.

I said, put them away. He said, they’re no good for now, mate. They’re only good for the morning. Oh God, I need a drink, mate. Give me 10p, will you?

Now I tell you, he is at the extremity of the people who’ve lost control of themselves. You wouldn’t have to convince him that he was a slave to his own desires. Dear ladies and gentlemen, it’s you I have to convince of that, isn’t it? You say, I’m not like that poor wretch. But I’ll find somewhere along the spectrum where I could finger you if I was God, where you know as well as I that you cannot control yourself.

I was greatly moved recently. A young man said, told us how he became a Christian. He said, I’ll tell you what worried me most before I became a Christian. He said, I was absolutely incapable of stopping myself from hurting the ones I love most. Do you not know it?

You know it. The Bible says the second aspect of our sinfulness is we become slaves to our own desires. And the third thing, it describes it like this, that we become slaves to the evil power in the world The devil. Thank goodness we’ve passed through that dopey phase where people kept talking about the fact that they didn’t believe in the devil. Can I say, if you don’t believe in the devil, you’re both blind and out of date.

Blind because how do you account for evil on its wide scope in the world? You think that’s simply done by selfish people? It’s too grand for that. It is diabolical. And if you’ve been lucky enough to miss out either on your kids or their friends who’ve been caught up with the Satanist movement, you’re lucky.

I was in Karachi this time last week and I met a young man there in the OM team. I said, how’d you become a Christian? He said, I became a Christian by being taken out of the Satanist movement. The devil is there and he is real and the Bible says we have become slaves to him. We find ourselves on the wrong side in the great cosmic battle.

We find ourselves in the collision course with the living God and consequently we are under God’s judgement.

And we’re slaves and we can’t get out. We don’t want to get out unless God does something.

It’s a true saying and it’s an applicable saying that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners. Well, it’s about time we got to something good, isn’t it? It’s been a fairly gloomy day. Did they bring you along to get cheered up today? Bad news before the good news.

Here’s the good news: Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners. Do you know, because being saved is at the very heart of true Christianity, you can be sure that’s where we’ll be mocked. You might have a go at it yourself. Go back to the office and say, haha, I suppose you’re saved, are you? I remember soon after I became a Christian, I had a little red badge and on it had written, Jesus saves.

I don’t think it’s an all that good way to witness and I don’t do it now. My father called it the fireman’s badge. One of the boys in my class looked at it one day and he read it aloud. He said, oh, he saves, does he, chapo? Well, that’s not a bad idea.

I ought to be thrifty too.

Can I say that that’s devilish in my opinion? Because it diverts us away from the fact that we do in fact need to be rescued. I don’t know how to say this and not be impolite, but if today you are not saved, not rescued by Jesus, if your sins have not been forgiven, you are under the judgement of God. And if you continue like that, you will be separated from God in hell. For eternity.

That’s the bad news. But the good news is that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners like us. How did he do it? 3 things. First of all, he lived the perfect life.

Again and again the voice said from heaven, this is my beloved Son in whom I am well pleased. He never exercised authority against the Father unlike us. He never sinned. Second thing, he died on the cross and took the punishment which my sins deserved. It was said of Jesus, behold the Lamb of God who bears away the sin of the world.

Jesus said of himself, I have come to give my life a ransom for many. This is my blood, Jesus said, which is shed for you for the forgiveness of sins. St. Peter says Jesus bore our sin in his own body on the cross. Jesus said, I am the Good Shepherd. The Good Shepherd lays down his life for the sheep.

Right at the very heart of the great rescue operation is that Jesus Christ died in our place. He took the punishment which my sins deserved. He took the punishment which your sins deserved so we can be forgiven. Do you understand that? God has loved you so much that He sent His Son to die in your place.

So that you might be set free from the threefold bondage. And not only did Jesus live the perfect life and die a sin-bearing death on our behalf, but in a marvellous demonstration of his power over sin and death, he rose again from the dead. He is alive and can come to you today in your life situation. And rescue you. And the rescue is threefold.

He rescues us from our wrong view of life. He changes our thinking and gives life its new aim of serving God and serving our fellow men. He rescues us from the slavery to ourselves With Him we are able to enter into a new liberty where there is power over our overruling desires so that with a free heart you can say, that is the last time. He frees us from the slavery to the devil and judgement. He gives us a free pardon.

Total forgiveness from all our sins, a place in heaven, and a new freedom to serve Jesus as Lord. That’s what the rescue operation is about. It is a true saying, it is a universal saying, it is a great saying that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners. Can I ask you today, in the matter of sin and judgement and eternity, where have you got your trust pinned? Supposing you were to die tonight and you stood in the presence of God and he said to you, why should I let you into my heaven?

What answer would you give to that?

Whatever answer you give will show exactly where your confidence is pinned.

So, well, lived a fairly decent life, that’s where your confidence is pinned. I went to church every once in a while, that’s where your confidence is pinned.

So, had an uncle who was an archdeacon.

Archdeacon’s not all that bad. Some of my finest friends are archdeacons. What is the answer? Why should I let you into heaven?

The true Christian person says, because Jesus Christ died for me. That is where my trust and confidence is pinned.

Can I say, if today is the day, do you know anything about being freed from the slavery to the world thinking? Do you know what it is to be freed from the slavery to yourself?

Do you know what it is to be freed from the slavery to the devil and your own sinfulness?

Supposing on the way back to the office you’re knocked over and you find yourself at judgement. Will it go well for you in the presence of God or will it go badly?

It’s a true saying, it’s worthy of full acceptance that Christ Jesus came into the world to save you.

Now you will know where you stand with God and I don’t, but you do. And if you know perfectly well that you’re in no fit state to meet God, wouldn’t today be a great day to throw yourself on his mercy? And say, Christ Jesus, if you came into the world to save sinners, have mercy on me and save me. No man, no woman throughout the whole history has ever done that and been turned aside. For the person who says, have mercy on me and save me, He will know what it is to come into living fellowship with the living God.

When you came in today, you were handed a card which said, Welcome to St. Helen’s. You got your Welcome to St. Helen’s? I wonder if you’d like to get that out just before I close in prayer. I want to draw your attention to something on it.

It would be a true statement that none of us in the building are in exactly the same position. There’ll be some of you in the building, you’ve been here the first time maybe, and you say, well, look, the whole of the thing’s all a bit confusing to me. I don’t know where I am. Can I say, whatever you do, don’t step backwards from today. There’ll be others of you in the building who’ve known what it is to be in a living relationship with Christ.

Don’t step backwards. Thank Him for what He’s done to you. Press on in obedience. There’ll be those of you who know that Jesus is Lord. You know you need to be forgiven.

You’ve never taken any action on that. Don’t step back today, step forward. I’ll suggest a course of action. This church has organised all sorts of things to help you. Can I just draw your attention to them?

With the boxes there, it says on the first one, I’m not a Christian, but I’m interested to find out about a personal faith. You might be in that category. Let me say, take a step forward, tick the box, write your name and address, somebody will contact you. One thing you can be absolutely certain of in this congregation, you never get conned. We’re not interested in that.

We’re only interested in helping people. But you may well be in that situation. You say, I’m confused, I don’t know what a Christian is even. I say, why don’t you tick the box? I’ll show you where to put it in a jiffy.

You might be the person who says, I’ve recently become a Christian and I’d value some basic teaching. If you’re in that situation, tick the box, good teaching available. Third one, I’ve been a Christian for some time but would value some teacher training, teaching and training, or I am a churchgoer But I want to be more sure about my faith.

Now, if any of those fit you today, let me urge you to tick the box, write your name and address. There are some ice— they look like ice cream containers, I don’t know what they are. If they were in Australia, that’s what they were. They’re Plazo boxes. I’m sorry, I do, do beg your pardon, plastic boxes at the door, and drop the card in.

And whether you fill it in or not, it’d be helpful for us if you dropped it in. But whatever you do, don’t step back. It’s a true saying, Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners. Now I want to address myself specifically to that category of people who say, I’m not right with God, I’m sinful the way you say I am, I’m in need of forgiveness, and I intend to throw myself on Jesus for that forgiveness today. A simple prayer: Christ Jesus, have mercy on me and save me.

I’m going to pray the prayer, and I’m going to invite you to pray to God inside your own heart. Let us pray.

It is a true saying, and worthy of all men to be received, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners.

Here is a prayer: Christ Jesus, have mercy on me. And save me.

Amen.