1 Timothy 1:15 This is a faithful saying, and worthy of all acceptation, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners; of whom I am chief. The person of the Saviour is to be considered; and "what think ye of Christ?" In the text, it is true, He is described by terms especially significant of His mediatorial character and work — He is called "Christ," — a title of office, significant of the proper designation of the world's Redeemer by the Father, to the distinct and essential offices of Prophet, Priest, and King — the Anointed, the Great Teacher; and who teacheth like Him? the anointed High Priest and the great High Priest who hath offered Himself a sacrifice, once for all, in His own body on the tree — and the anointed King in Zion who sits upon His throne, who rules in the midst of the earth — rules for the subjugation of His enemies, and for the protection of His friends! His advent into our world is here announced. "He came" — but the very language supposes His pre-existence — He necessarily was before He "came" into the world — yes, pre-existing with the Divine Father from everlasting; for "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God." He came into our world after He had been promised, in the earlier periods of time, to the patriarchs — and this promise they saw, and this promise they believed, and this promise they embraced, and they died in the faith of the Redeemer that should come. He curse into the world after He had been shadowed forth by the various types and symbols which marked the Mosaic Institute; and at last, "when the fulness of the time was come, God sent forth His Son, made of a woman, made under the law," to redeem them that were under the law. "Christ Jesus came into the world." And what a world, my friends! Not a world prepared to greet and hail Him as its Lord — not a world prepared to receive and welcome Him, no! a world of rebels, a world of sinners — a fallen world, a guilty, perishing world, a world that was going down to ruin; and to ruin it inevitably would have gone, had it not been for the intervention of this high, this almighty Deliverer! What, then, was His errand in coming into our world? When God becomes incarnate there must be some mighty object to achieve — there must be some great end to accomplish to justify such an interposition. To this inquiry the text furnishes the answer, "Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners." This was the great object. He came to procure salvation for us — He came that He might bestow salvation upon us — the former in order to the latter. Still, however, though our sin is atoned and salvation procured, an unapplied remedy, you know, is of no service. It is not enough that the ransom has been paid; we must be liberated and share the blessings of freedom. If it be true that Christ has come to procure salvation for us, by His meritorious obedience unto death, then is it equally necessary that He should be exalted to bestow it. He saves from the power of sin by the power of grace richly communicated to the heart of the believer — a power that overturns the power of sin! Yes; and "sin shall not have dominion over you," says the apostle; "for ye are not under the law but under grace." He saves from all the condemnation and defilement of sin, by the cleansing virtues of His blood, by the healing power of His grace. Still, however, the salvation of Jesus Christ is not merely a negative thing — it consists not merely in deliverance from the guilt and positive evils to which, by sin, we are exposed. He walks in the light of God's countenance, he derives comfort from the great Fountain of all Consolation; now it is that the Word of God is the rule, now it is that the love of God is the principle, now it is that the glory of God is the grand end of all his actions! But then, we have to leave this world — this is not our home; here we have no continuing place of abode; and we want not only saving while we live, but when we die. The salvation of Jesus is commensurate with all our necessities, it is adequate to all our demands, it contains all that our circumstances require; and He who saves us in life will not abandon us in death! Welt do I remember — never, while memory holds her seat, shall I forget — what was spoken to me by the late Mr. Robert Spence, of York. Passing through that city, I had once an opportunity of calling upon that excellent man, who had himself been a preacher of righteousness for more than half a century; and said he, "I thought, ere now, that I would have been at the end of my journey — that ere now I should have arrived at my Father's house; but it has pleased the Heavenly Grace to spare me a little longer, and I feel considerably stronger than I was. But when I came into this room and happened to pass that glass, I caught a sight of myself — I was struck," said the venerable man; "I thought what a little, old, infirm creature I had become — a mere remnant of myself; but instantly," continued he, "I lifted up my heart to the Lord, and I was favoured with such a manifestation of His grace and love that, though alone" — but he was not alone, for God was with him — "I said, 'Well, welcome, old man! welcome, infirmity! welcome, death! and welcome, heaven!'" Yes; and the religion of Jesus can make him rejoice in the midst of affliction, and welcome infirmity, welcome old age, and welcome death; because death, to the Christian, is but the gate of life. Then, though the body go down to mingle with the clods of the valley, the ransomed spirit wings its etherial flight to the regions of eternal day! The body, too, is to be saved! One said to me lately, "Oh, never mind the body!" but Jesus Christ remembers the body. He is the Saviour of the body as well as of the soul; and we look for Him in this way we look for Him that He may "change our vile bodies and fashion them like to His own glorious body, according to the working of that mighty power whereby He is able to subdue all things unto Himself." II. WHAT IS THE LIGHT IN WHICH MANKIND OUGHT TO REGARD THIS SAYING? First, as "a true saying"; and then, as "worthy of all acceptation." Let it be remarked, then, that those whom it pleased God to employ in order to propagate this saying, in the first instance, always affirmed that it was true. Besides, the God of essential and eternal truth has been pleased to affix His broad seal to this saying. He could not give His seal to a lie. How is this? Why, He enabled those men to perform miracles in order to attest it. How do you prove, inquired another, that what you declare is true? Bring hither yon leper, excluded from all intercourse with his fellow beings, standing afar off, bring "him" hither to me, and in the name of this Jesus, and to prove that He "came into the world to save sinnners, I pronounce the word, and his leprosy shall immediately depart from him!" And it was so! The saying again is pronounced and the question is repeated. Bring hither the dead body, says an apostle, you are about to cast it forth into the tomb; but no, bring it hither; I pronounce the word, and that dead body shall start into life! And it was so! There is another way, however, in which the truth of this saying is to be ascertained, and it is, of all others, the most satisfactory and consoling. It is in the way of experiment, bringing this truth to trial, to the test. How is this? Why, here is a man, and I have now present in my mind's eye a case which, I suppose, twenty years ago actually occurred — here is a man who in early youth begins to think it would be to his credit to begin to evince independency of mind, to throw off all the fetters of education and early impressions, and to think for himself. He associates with those who speak with great disrespect of this Divine volume, who begin to sneer, or have been in the habit of sneering, at all serious religion and serious Christians: by and by he begins to imbibe their spirit, and to acquaint himself with all the objections urged against revealed religion; by and by he begins also to sneer and laugh at the Bible, he casts off fear and plunges headlong into infidelity; he is then, perhaps, admired as a man of liberal mind, of genius, and of intelligence; and the individual I refer to was a man of fine understanding and cultivated mind; but by and by disease marked him out as its victim, he saw some of his companions in infidelity die; not one of them died comfortably — some of them died most awfully; he began to consider with himself, Whither, after all, am I going? I never disbelieved the Being of a God; but then, although I have always regarded Him as a good and benevolent Being, have I acted as I should, as a creature — as a dependent being, sustained by His power and bounty? Have I always revered and loved and served Him as I ought? This I have not done! What have I done? I go to my natural religion, as it is sometimes called; I study moral virtue, I endeavour to do good, and thus endeavour to recommend myself to this benevolent Being. But in natural religion he finds no relief for a troubled mind, no balm for a guilty conscience. What, thought he, shall I do? I will have recourse once more to the Bible, I shall begin to read it seriously. He did read it, the more he read it the deeper was the impression on his mind, that this is no human fabrication, in this book surely God has spoken: he read, and on every page he saw something of this Saviour and about this salvation. The thought flashed upon his mind, and he exclaimed, Oh, that this were but true! Oh, that I could believe this! I should find relief immediately: here is a system adapted to my condition. Oh, if it were but true, that "Jesus Christ came into the world to save sinners," make an atonement for sin, and procure salvation for me! Here is a System that suits my case and provides for my necessities! Oh, that it were true! At last he resolved to make the experiment: he read this book, and sincerely prayed to God to teach him what is truth. I believe he read this very text, "This is a faithful saying, and worthy of all acceptation, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners." Is this the saying, and is this Jesus the Saviour of sinners? Oh, help me, he prayed, to believe this, teach me to believe this, I desire to believe this, I would believe this! Lord, I believe this — help Thou my unbelief! I venture my soul on this Saviour — I cast myself on this atoning sacrifice. What happened? "His chains fell off — his heart was free!" His load of guilt was removed, his misery was banished; icy and peace and love unspeakable sprang up in his heart, and his soul began to exult, disburthened of its load. Not many days had elapsed before he met one of his old companions, who had grown gray in infidelity. What is this, he inquired, that I hear of you? I hear you have become a Christian! How do you know that there is a word of truth in the whole affair? How do you know that such a being as Jesus ever existed? Know! was the reply, know! I know it by an argument of which you never were the master, I know it by a process to which you are a total stranger, I know it is true that "Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners," for Jesus Christ has saved me! Well, then, but it is not only "a true saying" and worthy merely of all attention, examination, and observation, commending itself to the approbation of every well-regulated mind, but it is also "worthy of all acceptation." It is worthy of acceptation because of its truth; if not true, it could have no just claim upon — it would be unworthy our acceptation. It is worthy of acceptation, again, because it is so vitally interesting. A thing may be true and yet not interesting to me; but here is a saying which is proved to be true, and which is surpassingly interesting to all the children of men. What so worthy the acceptance of the diseased man, as some sovereign specific which shall not only remove the malady but restore to health and vigour his emaciated frame? The saying has been accepted by the great, the wise, and the good, in different countries and ages of the Church; yes, and some of the greatest and wisest of men that ever lived, of learning, too, various and profound, have received this saying — have stedfastly believed its truth and realized its power. And who art thou who art giving thyself credit for having superior lights and superior intellects? But not only is this saying worthy of acceptance, but "of all acceptation" — of the acceptance of all. If, in the next place, any portion of our race in any part of our world, could be found, who were absolutely and irrevocably excluded from all interest and benefit in this saying, I honestly confess to you, that I see not how such a portion of our race could regard this saying as worthy their acceptation. That is not, that cannot be worthy my acceptance, in which I cannot, by any possibility, have any interest. And not only is this worthy the acceptation of all, but of the highest acceptation of all. As though the apostle had said, This is no ordinary saying; it is a message from the throne — a message of mercy from the throne; oh, hail it, welcome it, receive it as coming from the throne, "Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners! " And having thus realized the truth and power of this saying ourselves, let us do all that we can to circulate it — let us always speak well of this Jesus, and endeavour to recommend the Saviour to all our fellow creatures. (R. Newton, D. D.) Parallel Verses KJV: This is a faithful saying, and worthy of all acceptation, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners; of whom I am chief. |
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