The BEST SINNER In The World S17e2 1tim1:15

I am the #1 sinner in the world.  So says Paul.
But, Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners.
So, I guess that makes me (Paul and all the other #1s out there) #1 on His list.

A big powerful God is necessary for this. We cannot do it ourselves. It was good of Him to come. He loves this world enough to come and then do what only He could do: RESCUE all those #1 sinners out there.

I HOPE you are one of the desperate, grateful, humble #1 sinners out there today! Here is what to do tomorrow: have signed up today at bewithme.us so tomorrows 7 minute ideas come automatically.

Transcript

Michael Smith: 0:01

Good morning, my brothers and sisters on this beautiful morning. Hey, it's episode two of season 17. We've been just starting the book of First Timothy. Today we're going to focus in on one passage, I'm going to read just the verse that we're going to major on today. This is verse 15. From chapter one, the saying is trustworthy and deserving of full acceptance, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners, of whom I am the foremost. So my title today is I'm the best center in the world, because that's what Paul says, and reminds Timothy, that that's what Paul says about himself. All right, so we're in the section where he's going to fight, you know, bad, bad doctrine. And we're going to get to this verse in this section, where he's going to talk about his former life. So let me start in verse 12. I thank Him who has given me strength, Christ Jesus our Lord, because he judged me faithful appointees, me to the to the cert to his service, though formally I was a blaspheme or persecutor insulin opponents, but I received mercy because I had acted ignorantly in unbelief. So he's going to talk about belief here. So hang on to that thought, verse 14, and the grace of our Lord overflowed from me with the faith and love that are in Christ Jesus. And then here's verse 15, that we just did. The saying is trustworthy and deserving of full acceptance, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners of who am I in the foremost. But I received mercy for this reason that in me as the foremost Jesus Christ might display His perfect patience as an example to those who were to believe in Him for eternal life, to the king of ages, immortal, invisible, the only God honoring Glory forever, amen. All right, let's break this down Christ Jesus came in the word came into the world to save sinners. So this is something that only God could do. It's above the pay grade of human because a perfect substitutionary sacrifice is going to be necessary. And assessing what is needed to save sinners is going to be beyond our capability. So let's say we gathered you know, we can gather like, you know, the world's best football team, into a into a city. And let's say we gathered, the greatest people that have ever existed. First of all, put your mother in the in the group, and maybe your pastor and your priest, mother, Teresa, Billy Graham, George Washington, you pick them, you pick the team of people that you that you think are the best of human history. And then we're gonna give them a charge. And we'll say, Okay, we're going to, we're going to ask you guys, to open the doors of eternity for human beings, and we'll be back, we'll come back tomorrow morning, or whatever. And we came back the next day, we be faced with utter disappointment. And these people best as good as they are, would fail. Because we require a person quote, unquote, a divinity that is beyond us to in the act, powers that are beyond us, to help us in our time of need. The powers of divinity are going to be necessary to enact a plan. So the way I like to phrase this is that spiritual furniture is going to have to be moved, and it can only be moved by God who's acting on our behalf. Or that's the first thing so Christ Jesus came into the world. And he comes into the world. Well, we have a special name for that. It's called the manual. And he could have had all the powers of divinity and kept left him in his heavenly garage, but he bothered to come. So he lays aside some characteristics are you certainly humbled himself because he had to come as a human so he comes poor, he comes to an unwed mother, he comes to homelessness. He comes to a Roman occupied country, they didn't even own their own country. He comes born far from home, he's exiled from his family, what the heck is he doing in an in an EN, rather than staying with the family that Joseph had and in Jerusalem or Bethlehem. So of course, there's trouble here. That's the point. He comes to a world of trouble. And then sort of a parallel passage as John 316 You may be familiar with it. For God so loved the world, that He gave His only Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have eternal life. Very similar passage. But in that one, we we learned that the motivation for him coming to the to the world is love, For God so loved the world. That's the engine of the motivation, His love for us. Okay. Back to our verse here today that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners to save this make no bones about that this is a rescue mission mission. He didn't come down here to Pat us on the back and say, Hey, you guys have successfully achieved eternal life by doing the law or something else or being nice people, are you eating right? No, he can't. This is a wreck a rescue mission. This was something that we couldn't do independently, there's no such thing as self saving. Yeah, he and he has to be done for others. You know, it's like no one ever goes to a funeral and says, Hey, this guy met the, the, the, the criteria for eternal life, which was is perfection. I was at a funeral one time No kidding. I heard somebody say, He says, Yeah, this this, it was either this death, or prison. And now many years later, 20 years later, here's what I'm saying. I'm responding that I'm saying, or there's a third choice, which is rescue. And that's what the Lord is saying here today. So we're in a place that we shouldn't be death, tears, rebellion, sin transgression, were these were enemies of God. And there's definitely something for us to be saved out of. That's why we need to be rescued. All right, that Christ came into the world to save sinners of whom I end the foremost so sinners, CS Lewis said, No man knows how bad he is. Till he has tried very hard to be good point is okay, just try to be sinless until dinnertime tonight, you're not going to be able to do it. So we all totally agree that sin exists. But usually it's in somebody else. So so we all agree that there's sin and my parents are sending my spouse or sin and my children, you know, the world is full of, oh, wait a minute, what about me, a sinner. So here's what Paul says, I am the foremost I am the best sinner in the world, I'm than I am the number one sinner in the world, the Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners, comma, of whom, of the centers I am the foremost I am number one. And then the good. The good news here at the very end Is he is he says in the next first actually, that Christ might display His perfect his patience as an example to those who were to believe in Him for eternal life. So that's the rescue here. That's how we get attached to his rescue. rescue plan is by belief, believing in Him for eternal life. If you haven't done it today, please do it. Jesus, I believe in you. And if you have done it, Let's appreciate this rescue mission. Because Paul, like you, like me is the best center in the world. Thanks for listening.