Christmas: 1 Timothy 1:15

0:02 Looking at our world from a theological perspective. This is the Theology Central podcast making Theology Central. Good afternoon, everyone. It is Tuesday, December the twenty fourth, twenty twenty four. It is currently twelve thirty eight pm Central Time, and I am coming to you live from the Theology Central studio located right here in Abilene, Texas. So I guess I can say this. I think it's appropriate. Right Happy Christmas Eve. I don't know what you're doing right now. I don't know if you're really busy. There's a high probability a lot of people who typically listen aren't even listening right now. You're busy, Maybe you're shopping, maybe you're getting things ready, maybe you're traveling. Maybe you've already traveled and you're at someone's house right now. Whatever you may be doing today, if you're listening to me, well, welcome and thank you. If you're listening to me, to me later and you're listening to this, I don't know, three four or five days from now, well, I hope it was a wonderful, happy Christmas Eve for you and for your family. I hope it was a wonderful Christmas.

1:15 I hope it's been a great holiday. I hope everything has gone really really well for you and for your family. Now, A lot of times I turn on the microphone and I talk a lot about the you know, a lot. I like to talk to those who it's not such a wonderful time and it's kind of it's very depressing and discouraging, and I definitely like to do that. But for now, for this particular episode, I'm just gonna say Happy Christmas Eve to everyone, and we're just going to move forward, because I do believe I don't know how this is going to go. This is going to take some twist and turns. But when I hope where it ends is with a verse that I think is very important for this time of year. I think I think this verse maybe because it may have become it may be becoming. I don't like to say I have a life verse or a key verse, but I think this verse is really becoming very important to me in my life.

2:19 Slowly but surely, this verse is kind of becoming more and more important to me. And so here's what happened. I was looking going, Okay, what do I do today? Do I even broadcast? I mean, there was a big debate with myself do I even broadcast? I mean, it's Christmas Eve. The reality is most people are not going to listen to anything on Christmas Eve. They're going to be doing other things. Now, maybe tonight on the sermon's two point, oh, app there's going to be a lot of webcasts with a lot of churches doing their Christmas Eve service. I think we may see a lot of that tonight. It would be interesting to look at the numbers to see how many people are watching, but I think there should be a lot of that happening. But at this time of day or now twelve forty one Central time, Christmas Eve, I mean, people are really busy and doing a lot of different things. So I don't know how many people will actually hear this, but I think whenever you hear this, whenever you hear this, I'm hoping that where this entire discussion ends, it ends back on a verse that I hope will become very important to you, even if it's after the fact that this verse, maybe it will just become important to you moving forward into twenty twenty five and by next Christmas, the verse maybe maybe the most important to you as it's becoming more and more important to me. So wherever, however this all works out, I do hope that this verse becomes maybe more meaningful to you. Maybe it will be meaningful to many of us who question and struggle, and just

3:52 maybe for those of us who have more of a difficult time, this verse will be more important to us. I don't know where you fit in, But so what I was trying to say, what I was going to say. I know I was saying a lot of different things there, but I was trying to figure out do I even record? Do I even record? Do I even record? Do I even record? So I grabbed the sermons two points. Oh. I was just looking and I saw at the very top a Christmas sermon. A Christmas sermon. I'm like, okay, yesterday we talked about Christmas sermons, so maybe I could use a little bit of this. We were going to talk about the chrystological heresies. I've got pages of notes on the five biggest Christological heresies in church history. I was going to do that, but then I noticed for this Christmas sermon, I noticed the passage of scripture, and it happens to be this verse which I alluded to just a few seconds ago, a few minutes ago, about how it's becoming more and more like the verse for me, and I think it could be helpful to everyone. So I thought about, well, just forget the sermon. Let's just go to the verse, and then I can break the verse down. I have the contextual background for the verse.

5:09 I have the key phrases within the verse and their meaning. I have the philological themes within the verse. I have practical applications from the verse, have questions for further study and reflections, have additional cross references, and I have a summary. I have it all broken down. I'm ready to go. I can take this verse apart. But I'm like, well, I could do that, but since I found this verse on the sermon's two point oh app in relation to this sermon, and we're doing the sermon's two point oh app sermon challenge, let's review at least some of this and then we'll as long as we end up at the verse, then it'll be it'll be a beneficial thing.

5:50 So I hope this all works out. I hope this works out. I know it was a little a little scatter brained right there. Maybe you could say you need it. I know I already got some criticisms on YouTube about the way I tend to present things. But yeah, I mean, I guess what this what you're hearing and trying to explain all of this is just I am a little conflicted on what to do today, right, I just am conflicted. It's Christmas Eve? Right? Are people going to be listening? Are they not going to be listening? Do I? What do I do on this particular day? So I say we're going to spend some time and because I guess my real goal here is to get to the verse. I really want to just talk about the verse, and but we'll let the sermon get us there and then maybe this will all make sense.

6:42 So does that? Does that work for everyone? I guess I don't know why I'm asking you because I can't hear you, I can't see you. I'm just sitting in an empty room. So so from this empty room, let's see if we can get to a verse that I think is maybe more important. And well maybe I don't know, Maybe you won't see it as important as I do. Maybe I'll be able to explain. Here we go. Chiez, not Cady, uesy Lord for lo. Not Tod's Road. Grace Church would like to invite you to listen to a summon by our pastor Todd and Ibert.

7:28 We are located at forty one thirty seven Todd's Road, two miles outside of Mana War Boulevard. Sunday services are at ten thirty am and six pm. Bible study is at nine forty five am. Wednesday services are at seven pm. Nursery is provided for all services. For more information, visit our website at Toddsrodgracechurch dot com. Now here's our pastor, Todd Niberti. That's a really good idea for churches who post their sermons online, and if especially if you're going to have them sent out to all the different podcasting apps, have all of that information at the beginning, right promote your church.

8:09 If you're posting your sermons online, promote a lot of people just think, well, they're going to find the sermon, so they'll see all the information. You don't know, why are that sermon is going to show up? So have that little intro at the beginning. I think that's a good idea. So that's well done, very professional. Love it, love it all churches should learn from that. If your churches have sermons online, but there's no intro. Have a pre recorded intro that can be put together, that can be added to all of your messages, so that all that information is there so that you can help people find your church. I think that's a great idea, but that's not what we want to talk about. We want to get to this is a Christmas servant. It looks like when I watched a little bit of the video I didn't like I was just kind of just trying to get an idea. It looks like this was just recording.

8:53 He went to the church and just recorded it from the church. I don't think there's anyone even in the sanctuary, maybe other than the people the person and feeling it. So it may have just been like wanted to put a special thing out, which is really cool. I love when churches use their technology. If you've got the equipment, you can be posting stuff literally twenty four hours a day, seven days a week. There's nothing stopping how much content you can produce. So I love when they're doing something above and beyond. So but again, we want to get to a. Verse entitled this Morning's Message a Christmas sermon. My text is found in verse Timothy one, verse fifteen.

9:37 Now, one Timothy one, p. Fifteen. That that's what got my attention. That's it wasn't the fact that this was a Christmas sermon that kind of got my attention a little bit. But when I saw first Timothy one to fifteen, let me read it from the new King James. One Timothy one to fifteen. 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. Let me read that to you one more time. One Timothy one point fifteen. 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. That verse has become more and more important to me than maybe at any time in my Christian life, because there's so much about Christianity, so many philosophical questions and issues about God and why God does this or doesn't do this, and pain and suffering and the never ending arguments amongst Christians and nobody can agree on any interpretation, and just on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on and Christians constantly acting like that. When you become a Christian, you basically stop sinning and just all of the craziness within the world of Christianity. But here is the Apostle Paul saying, just look at this. This is a faithful saying. Look,

11:07 there's a lot of things about Christianity I can't understand, but this is a faithful saying worthy of all acceptance. There may be a lot of things I'm never going to figure out. There may be things that's going to bother me for my entire Christian life, but I can grab onto this that Christ Jesus came into this world two save sinners, of whom I am chief. Paul does not say I was, but he's saying I am. And Paul's current condition he realized he was the chief of sinners. And I wish all Christians that we would not stop with this. I used to be. You are a sinner.

11:52 I am a sinner. I wish we could all be so broken and humbled that we could look at this time of year and go, this is what Christmas is about. Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners, and I I am, you are we are the chief of sinners. We are still sinners. We almost like when you become a Christian. Christ came to save those people, not us. Because we're all good, We're still sinners. You need to be reminded of the Gospel every single day because you need the Gospel preach to you every single day. It's not just for the loss, it's for you and I because we're still sinners. Positionally we're perfect. Practically we are still sinners. All right, Let's see what he does here.

12:45 Paul says, this is a faithful saying and worthy of all acceptation, that Christ, Jesus came into the world to sinners of whom I am the chief. Now, this is the week that over two billion people are celebrating the birth of a man, Jesus Christ, who was born some two thousand years ago. Christmas is thought to be his birth day. Now, to celebrate his birth is all well and good, But the question arises, why did he come?

13:43 It's incumbent upon us to know the answer to that question. Why did he come? Well, Paul tells us why he came. He says in verse fifteen, this is a faithful saying, and it's worthy of all acceptation. You and I have every reason to jump for joy at this statement. That Christ, Jesus Christ, the Messiah. That's what the word means, the anointed one, the prophet, the priest, the King Christ, Jesus, his name means savior. He is the anointed prophet, Savior.

14:38 He is the anointed priest Savior. He is the Anointed King, Savior Christ. Jesus came into the world. Unto us, a child is born, unto us, a son is given. He came into the world. He was before he came into this world. You see, he's God, the Son, the second person of the blessed Trinity, one God in three distinct persons. Jesus Christ is God. I love to say that Jesus Christ is God, Immanuel God with us. Now he came into the world. He was before he came, as the eternal Son of God, the creator of the universe. But he came into this world born of a virgin. Isaiah seven fourteen says, behold, a virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and his name is Immanuel God with us.

16:01 Unto us, a child is born. Unto us, this son is given. The son wasn't given. The son is the eternal son. But he became man, and to us this child was born Jesus, Christ, the God Man, was born of a virgin. Now somebody says, why do you make a point of that, Well, if he was not a virgin, he was not God. And if he's not God, he cannot save near you. But he was born of a virgin miraculously. Because he is God and he is mighty to save, He's able to save to the utter most them that come to God by him. You see, you can't be too bad, you can't be too far out to not be saved. If he's pleased to save you.

16:57 He is mighty to save. Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners. That's what our text says. Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners. He did not come to save good people. He did not come to save righteous people. He said, the whole need not a physician, but they that are sick. I came not to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance. He came to save sinners. And I love that. There's no adjective in front of the word sinners. It doesn't say believing sinners, it does not say repentant sinners. It does not say reformed sinners. It just as sinners. Are you a sinner?

18:06 I'm not asking you if you're a Christian. I'm not asking you if you're saved. I'm asking you this question. Are you a sinner? Sinners? Are those Christ came to save? Now, what is meant by the term sinner. It's very important for you not understand that because Christ, Jesus came to save sinners. I got to see if I understand what a center is, what is meant by the term sinner. Well, we can't answer that unless we understand what sin is sin?

18:49 What does the Bible call sin? How does the Bible define sin? Well? Were read in First John chapter three, verse four, that's sin is the transgression of the law, God's holy law. We read in Romans chapter three, verses twenty two and twenty three. All have sinned and come short of the glory of God. There's no difference, Paul says, you know, there's no difference between me and you. We're equally sinfle.

19:30 I like to say sin is any is any transgression of God's law in thought, word, deed, or desire, internally or external. Any transgression of the law where when God says to do, be holy as He is holy. If you transgress that law of being holy in your thought and your word, and your deeds and your desires, whether internally or externally, you have s in falling short of God's glory. If we just fall short of that standard, which is perfection, and falling short, whether in thought, word, deed, action, or desire internally or externally, you are a sinner. We are a sinner if we transgress the law in any thought, word, deed, desire, internally or externally, or if we fall short of the perfection of the law of perfection and thought, word, deed, desire, action, internally or externally. So whether we fall short or whether we transgress, we sin. Therefore we are sinners. And we are sinners because our nature itself falls short of God's perfection, and our nature itself is sinful, so it transgresses the law.

20:49 We are guilty before we even do anything, and we sin continually. We are in a perpetual state of sin. Ladies and gentlemen, because you are perpetually transgressing God's law, whether in thought, word, deed, desire, action, internally or externally, you're falling short of God's law, whether internally externally thought, word, deed, desire, action. You're getting the idea. But here's the faithful saying. Christ came into the world to save sinners, which includes you and me, includes everyone who you go to church with, people you don't go to church with, because you know what, in church, outside of church believing, not a believer, we're all sinners, and we're all sinning in some way, shape or form.

21:41 Uh. I don't care if you're talking about the most moral religious person or the most degraded debauch person. Really, in God's sight, there's no difference between the two of them. All have sinned and come short of the glory of God. Sin is coming short of the glory of God. Why the Bible even declares that the plowing of the wicked is sin. Now that's a strange concept, going out and plowing that's a sin? How could that be a sin? Because of who does it? The plowing of the wicked is sin? If I'm a sinful man, that makes everything I do sin. A sinner is the one who commits the sins. I've heard it said God loves the sinner, but he hates a sin you won't find that in the Bible. You cannot separate the sinner from his sin.

22:37 God does not sins to hell. He sins the people who committed those sins to hell. You cannot separate the sinner from his sins. Now, sin is the transgression of the law, the tingermandments. Thou shalt have no other gods before me a sinner. Just make sure we understand. It's the transgression and the falling short of You can fall short, you transgress. You are a sinner. You are a sinner. You are and no matter what we do, we are a sinner. I want to make it clear. Everything we do is impacted by sin because we are sinners because of our sinful nature.

23:18 We sin because of what we are. We did not become sinners by doing sin. We sin because we are already sinners. We are already fall in short of God's glory in our nature, and we're already transgression, transgressing the law and our nature itself. Therefore, that produces sin. So whatever we do, no matter how good it even may appear, we tend to do it for selfish reasons, for corrupted reasons. Sometimes our worship of God is sinful. Because we're really doing it for selfish reasons, our own selfish reasons. We can sometimes confess our sin to someone simply because we want to make ourselves feel better. We're just doing it for our self. So even our most righteous deeds are nothing more than filthy rags.

24:10 And there's somebody who has God, small g gods before the living God. The second commandment is against idolatry. A sinner is someone who's an idolator. The third commandment is about taking the name of the Lord in vain being forbidden to do it. A sinner is an irreverent person who takes the name of the Lord in vain. The fourth commandment is about remembering the Sabbath to keep it holy, to do no work. A sinner is someone who knows nothing about resting in Christ in his finished work. The fifth commandment is about honoring your father and mother. A sinner is someone who has no true respect for authority, most especially the authority of God, and they don't respect the authority of those who have authority over them. And the sixth commandment is thou shalt not kill. A sinner is a murderer. The seventh commandment thou shalt not commit adultery.

25:11 A sinner is someone who's guilty of sexual sin. The eighth commandment is thou shalt not steal. A sinner's a thief. He might not go shoplifting, but he robs God of glory, giving himself a glory. The ninth commandment is thou shalt not bear false witness. You're not gonna lie. A center's a liar. Thou shalt not covet. A sinner's a covet this person. Now that's somebody says, well, I'm not like that, then you're not a sinner. A real sinner breaks God's holy law. Sin is the transgression of the law. Now, well, I think I know what he's trying to say there. But if you say you don't do those things, you're a liar. Because you do those things, you are a sinner. I am a sinner. Are guilty of those things, whether in thought, word, deed, or desire, internally or externally, we are guilty of those things. We are in a perpetual state of sin. But here is the faithful saying.

26:15 Here's the faithful saying, Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners. If you see what you are before God's law. You know that you have broken every commandment all the time. You've never kept one commandment one time. You are completely unqualified to sit in judgment on anybody because all you're sin is your fault and anything you judge anybody else for if you have any honors, do you know you've done the same thing? Well, oh, man, I wish Christians would understand that. Christians really mean that is so well said. We do all these things. We're constantly guilty of all of these things.

27:05 We're in a perpetual state of guilt. But we love to go whoa, whoa, Well, you committed that, and you committed that, and you committed that, and this person did this, and this person, and especially if it's someone popular or famous and they commit a sin, all Christians come are, oh, they did this, and they're horrible and they should never be heard from again, and they should never be seen from again. And oh, here's the person we're going to listen to. Here's the person we're going to support. As if that person is not a sinner just like the other person, they just haven't committed the same sin, or their sin is just as much present. It's so weird the way we do. So we're like, oh, wait, they committed this sin, that's the end. Well wait a minute, whoever else now you're propping up, and whoever else, and now you're supporting, and now whoever else you're promoting. You don't think they're just as much a sinner as the person who now has been publicly shamed and is silenced and has to go hide somewhere for the rest of their life and it's to never be heard from again.

28:02 Because they were a sinner. The person you're supporting is just as much a sinner. It's just a different sin. I wish we could be I wish Christians for five seconds we could truly see ourselves in light of God's law and be like, well, I'm a sinner. I'm the chief of sinners. Romans two to one says, therefore thou art inexcusable, Oh man, whosoever thou art, the judges for you, the judge do the same things. And if you're a sinner, you know you have no claim on God if he sends you to hell, just and holy is his name? Are you a sinner? Somebody says, now, I'm not that bad. Well, okay, but Christ didn't come to save you. He only came to save sinners. If you are a sinner, you are the person Christ came to save. Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners, to save them, to save them listen carefully, Not to make their salvation possible, Not to make salvation available to them if they only reach out and take it. Not to make salvation of possibility.

29:31 He came to save sinners, not simply to make them savable if they do their part. He came to save sinners, he said in John chapter six, verses thirty eight and thirty nine. I came down from heaven not to do my own will, but the will of Him that sent me. And this is the Father's will which has sent me. That of all which He hath given me, I should lose nothing but raise it up again at the last day. He came to save sinners. Question did he do what he came to do? In John chapter nineteen, verse thirty, just before he died, he cried.

30:13 It is finished. Every sinner he came to save he saved. It is finished. Remember. On the opening chapter of the New Testament, we have this verse, thou shalt call his name Jesus, for he shall save his people from their sins. And when he said it is finished, his people were saved from their sins. Now, notice what Paul says at the end of this verse, Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners, of whom I am the chief. Now Notice he didn't say I used to be the chief before God saved me. He's talking about right now, present tense in his own experience. He says, I am the very chief of sinners. I am the worst man walking this planet, the most sinful man to ever live.

31:27 Now, what's funny is Paul tells everyone that he's the chief of sinners. But the way Christians are like no, no, no, no, no, no, no no, Paul was just very sensitive. I mean, he wasn't really committing this sin or this sin or this because we can't accept the fact that the apostle Paul could be committing this sin or this. No. No, We're like, no, he can't. Because in the modern evangelical world, when you become a Christian, well you become a new creature. Old things have passed away, all things have become new, and we believe that that happens practically, it doesn't happen practically. That happens positionally. Positionally, I'm a new creature, old things that are passed away, all things have come new. Practically, I am still a sinner. And guess what. Paul declared himself to be the chief of sinners, So guess what he knew he was a sinner. He knew he was sinning.

32:12 I know you don't want to believe that. I know that goes against your theology. But if you can say whatever you want, you can't speak for the apostle Paul. You can try to water it down, you can try to correct it and say, well, Paul would have never done this, he wouldn't have been doing this. You can whatever makes you feel better so that you can play church. But the reality is is the Apostle Paul told everyone, he confessed to the world that he was the worst of sinners. He was the worst of the worst of the He was the head of the table when it comes to sinners, he was the chief of all of them. Now, you can try to make that send, you can make it sound good for church, but I think it's it's amazing that he was saying, not that I used to be, not that I was, but I am the chief of sinner.

33:00 His present state was he knew he was a sinner and was the most sinful of sinners. Here's the glorious statement, faithful saying, worthy of all acceptation, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners, of whom Paul says, I am the chief. Now, let's see in this passage of scripture. What led him to make this glorious statement. This is the true Christmas message.

33:41 Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners. Now what led Paul to make this glorious statement. Well, in verse five of chapter one, he says, now the end of the commandment, and that word commandment is the charge, the declaration, declaration of the Gospel, the message of the Gospel. The great end or purpose of the commandment is threefold charity out of a pure heart. Now what is this pure heart? This is the heart he gives in the new birth, what the Lord spoke of when he said blessed or the pure in heart. And that pure heart, that new heart he gives in the new birth loves God.

34:31 Okay, Now this is where I'm going to disagree. This is where I'm going to disagree because if that is true, If now we get a pure heart, then where does our sin come from? How could Paul say I have a pure heart that now loves God, but I'm the chief of sinners. See now you have to kind of water it down where he doesn't really mean he's the chief of sinners. If we have a pure heart, ladies and gentlemen, then we should not sin because sin originates in the heart. No, no, no, no, no, no, no no. The purpose of the commandment is love from a pure heart. That's what the commandment calls for. The commandment calls for love from a pure heart. You are supposed to love God from a pure heart. But you know what, that commandment's going to show you that you don't do it.

35:15 And that's why you need Christ to come into the world that save sinners, because you don't. You don't truly love God the way you're supposed to. And you should know that. Loves God as he is, as he's revealed in his word. He loves men charity out of a pure heart. Secondly, a good conscience. Now what is a good conscience, Well, it's not the conscience of the psychopath who doesn't feel guilty. About anything he does. It's a conscience that has nothing to feel guilty about. Now, somebody says, how could I have a conscience like that. It's called in the scriptured justification it is who is he that condemneth? Who shall lay anything to the charge of God's elect God justified them.

36:09 You see on the cross. Christ took away my sin, and he justified me so that I have nothing to feel guilty about because I have no sin. Now that is true. Positionally, Positionally I can have a good conscience because I have no sin. But practically I'm a sinner. That's why Paul said he is the chief of sinners. Practically we still have sin. If I'm assuming he's going to acknowledge that, right, I have no sin Positionally. I stand before God without guilt because of what Christ did for me. That's the end of the message of the Gospel, the Great Charge. And then thirdly, he said, and to faith unfeigned, faith unfaked. Here's what that means.

36:58 I really do look to Christ as the only hope I have. I'm not just saying it because I know it's the right thing to say. I really do believe. I really believe I'm a sinner, and I really believe the only hope I have is that Jesus Christ live from me and died from me. Now, Paul goes on to say from which some having swerved, this great end of loving God with a pure heart and a good conscience and faith unfained from which some have swerved and have turned aside, unto vain, jangling, empty, meaningless words. Desiring, he says in verse seven, desiring to be teachers of the law. Oh, I want to be a teacher of the law. And Paul says, in doing this, they understand neither what they say, nor whereof they affirmed. They do not understand what they're saying nor the implications of what they're affirming. Now, Paul makes this remarkable statement in verse eight.

38:07 But we know that the law is good. He's talking about the Ten Commandments. We know that the law is good if a man use it lawfully. Now there is an unlawful use of the law. The law's good if a man use it lawfully. Knowing this verse nine that the law is not made for a righteous man. You see, a righteous man does not need law. He's righteous. Why do you put a law on a door to keep a righteous man out. No to keep a robber out.

38:50 A righteous man does not need law. If you are using the law to persuade me to keep it so that they might become righteous, that is an unlawful use of the law. You see this. Right. You don't give the law so that people can keep it. You give the law to demonstrate that they can't keep it. In fact, the law demonstrates you do not have a pure heart. In fact, the law will reveal that you are the chief of sinners. We're not giving a pure heart. I don't know why he went there. It was so weird he said that, and then he completely is ignoring that, Hey, you're given a pure heart. But then he seems to go onto the idea that we send sin sin sin, sin sin sin. Well, how do we sin? If we have our pure heart? We are declared to be pure by faith in our position, but practically we still have a sinful nature. We still have a sinful heart, and therefore we still sin.

39:45 Strength of sin, Paul said in one Corinthians fifteen is the law. Now look what he says in verse nine, knowing this that the law is not made for a righteous man, but for the lawless and disobedient, for the en godly and for sinners, for unholy and profane, for murderers of fathers and murderers of mothers, for manslayers, for hormongers, for them that defile themselves with mankind, for menstealers, for liars, for perjured persons, and if there be any other thing that is contrary to sound doctrine. Now somebody says, what in the world is sound doctrine, Well, he identifies sound doctrine the doctrine of Christ, the doctrine of the Gospel.

40:34 In the next verse, if there's anything that's caught, any other thing that's contrary to sound doctrine, according to the glorious Gospel of the Blessed God. Now in that verse, glorious is not an adjective, it's a noun, and it can read just as accurately. According to the Gospel of the Glory of the Blessed God. Now there we have sound doctrine, the Gospel of the Glory of the Blessed God.

41:14 Now the Gospel is for the glory of God. Now men have a tendency think, well the gospels for us, well, we benefit from it. But the Gospel is for the glory of the blessed God. God created the universe for his glory, and everything that takes place is for his glory. The scripture says, the Lord hath made all things for himself, yay, even the wicked, for the day of evil. And in the salvation of the sinner. And remember that's why Christ came. Christ came into the world to save sinners. In the salvation of the sinner, God gets all the glory. And if you were saved, who gets the glory. It's the credit in your personal salvation. Listen to what David said in Psalm one fifteen one. David, the man after God's own heart, said, not unto us, o Lord, not unto us, but unto thy name, give glory for thy mercy and for thy truth's sake. You see, if you and I are saved, it's because He saved us by his grace, by grace, or you saved Efesians two eight through faith, and that not of yourselves. It's the gift of God, not of works, lest any man should boast and say I've done this. Even the faith you have is His gift.

42:43 It's not the product of your free will. If you have it, if you have it. You know that it's the gift of God by grace? Are you saved? Now in every aspect of salvation. Salvation is by His grace for His glory. Now you're it's because God chose you to be saved before the foundation of the world Ephesian's one force, as according as He hath chosen us in him before the foundation of the world. Now, God didn't choose you because of any merit or goodness in you. He chose you simply because he would because you were in the beloved, accepted in the Beloved. You get no credit for that. If you're redeemed, there wasn't anything good about you that caused him to redeem you. He redeemed you because of how evil you were, and it would glorify him to put away your sin. If you're justified, you don't get any credit for that. He made you righteous.

43:49 He took your sin in his own body on the tree, put it away, and gave you his righteousness. How much credit can you take in that? He gets all the glory in that. If you're born again, how much glory do you have in that? You have as much to do with your new birth as you did with your old birth, which is nothing. Nobody said, do you want to be born? Sure? No, this was You were passive in this thing, and all of a sudden, there you were. It's the same thing in the new birth. Now Here you'll have to hear the gospel. But even hearing the gospels, because he's given you life, you're unable to hear or believe, or love or repent except he gives you life if you persevere, and you must persevere to be saved. The only reason you persevere is because he enables you to.

44:35 He gets all the glory. Now let me say two things about that number one. Now he's saying some really good things. A lot of deep theology there that's being alluded to. That is called a Christmas sermon. You can find it on the sermon's two point zero app Todd, Nibert, n ib E Rt. You should look it up. Listen to the rest. It's almost over. But I want to get back to first Timothy one fifteen, for Timothy one to fifteen, because this is the At the beginning, I may have sounded a little like, wasn't you know, summarizing everything clearly may not have been as precise as I would have liked to begin at the beginning, which is perfect because I wasn't precise.

45:19 I was not perfect in my speech at the beginning. Right kind of started one direction and they kind of went a different direction. I wasn't precise. I fell short of being perfect in my introduction. I transgressed what would be considered the rules for a perfect introduction to a podcast episode. Right, I failed. Well, that's what I do every single day in life, and that's what you do every single day in life. And there's a lot of things in Christianity that everyone wants to argue. There's a lot of things in Christianity but everybody wants to debate. But here is what we can know. And I'm gonna break this verse down one Timothy one to fifteen. Are you ready? Let's break this down first, This is a faithful saying. This is a faithful saying. Depending on the translation you're looking at, it can read that this is a trust worthy saying. Hey, this is a formula that Paul uses to emphasize the importance and reliability of a statement.

46:16 When Paul wants us to know that this statement is important, when he wants you to know that it's reliable, he will use this formula of being trustworthy, or, as it says in the New King James, this is a faithful saying. He uses this in First Timothy chapter three, verse one, First Timothy chapter four, verse nine, and Titus chapter three, verse eight. It reflects an early Christian tradition or a creed It's almost like a cradle statement. It's almost like a this is a trustworthy saying. This is a saying that you can hold on to all right. He goes on to say in One Timothy one, p. Fifteen, this is a faithful saying, Like I'm going to give you a saying that is faithful. It's almost like a creedal statement. Right, and this statement is worthy of all acceptance. This means it indicates a universal relevance and applicability, not limited to a particular audience. Every Christian should wholeheartedly embrace this truth. So, while Paul is saying, here is a faithful saying, right, here is a faithful saying. Here's a credle statement that you should write down and memorize and everyone should accept it.

47:30 What is this faithful saying that is worthy of all acceptance? Are you ready here? It is christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners. Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners. If you want to break this down, the first part of this creedal statement is Christ came into the world. That's what you're supposed to be thinking about on this Christmas Eve, going into Christmas came into the world, all right. This emphasizes the incarnation that the divine Son entered into human history as Jesus of Nazareth.

48:11 It underscores God's intentional action to address humans. Humanity's needs, or are the needs of all humans. We have a need, there's a problem, and Christ came into the world. That's what it's about. Christ came into the world to do what to save sinners. The ultimate goal was to deliver people from the penalty and presence of sin. Some may argue the power of sin, but he came to save us from sin. And I think this is important. Positionally, eternally, practically, we will still sin, but we are saved from it. Okay, so I think that's important. He came to save sinners.

48:56 This is the idea that anyone who is a sinner he came to save. How we can get into particular redemption we can get I don't want to get into all those arguments. It's the creedal statement is easy. It's a faithful saying that's worthy of your acceptance. Christ came into the world to save sinners. Are you a sinner? Do you transgress the law and thought word, deed, desire, action, internally or externally? You do? Do you fall short of God's perfect standard, which is be holy as He is holy, be perfect? Does you, havingly Father is perfect? Do you fall short and thought word, deed desire, internally or externally?

49:39 I know you do. Therefore we are sinners. But then Paul goes on, and I think this should be a part of the creedal statement for all of us. Let me read it again. This is a faithful saying and worthy of all acceptance. Christ came into the world number two to save sinners. Number three, of whom I am chief. Some translations have it this way, of whom I am the foremost. Paul calls himself the worst sinner. He is the worst, and he uses the present tense I am. It shows Paul's ongoing awareness of his sinfulness, even as a redeemed believer. He knows it so this is the statement. Look, Christianity can be confusing, it can be maddening. Christians can say whatever they want to say. Here is the truth, Here is the creed, Here is your Christmas creed. Christ came into the world two save sinners. You and I are the chief sinners. We are the foremost sinners. And everyone can say that. Everyone can say they're the chief of sinners. Everyone can say that the worst sinner. You know why, because we all are in a perpetual state of sin. Twenty four hours a day, seven days a week.

51:07 You transgress the law and thought, word, indeed and action, internally and externally. You fall short of the standard. The standard is perfect, be holy as He is perfect. You transgress that. You don't reach it. You're in a perpetual state of sin. Every human being, all that we do is tainted by sin. Even our good things are tainted by sin, even our best intentions. When we love others, we love in a sinful, self seeking way. It's all about us. We worship ourselves, we care about ourselves, we think about ourselves. It's all Everything we do is tainted by sin. Christmas is the Christmas creed. Christ came into the world, to save sinners, and I am the chief of sin. You are now, you were, you are present tense.

52:09 The Christmas Creed should one make us so grateful that Christ came into the world to save us, that it should make us look, no matter what else is going on in our lives, no matter what else, we can grab onto that and be like, Christ came into the world to save a sinner. That is amazing. To save sinners, I should say, And we should rejoice in that and find hope in that, And that's wonderful. And at the same time we should be humbled because he came to save sinners and I am the chief, and I'm still a sinner. We should be humbled, We should be broken. We should not be condescending, arrogant, judgmental, and not seem to have any empathy for anyone who sends. We shouldn't be always pointing our finger at everyone else tell it, declaring everyone knows what they can and no longer can do.

53:02 We're all in the same boat, the Christmas Creed. Christ came into the world to save sinners, and I am the chief sinner. That needs to be your creed today, needs to be your creed tomorrow. Needs to be your creed going into twenty twenty six, twenty twenty five, twenty twenty six, twenty twenty seven, twenty twenty eight, and just if you need a reminder, look today, I don't even know what you're doing today. I get you've already sinned today. You have. You may have already gotten frustrated, yelled at your kids, grapped at your spouse. You may have already been frustrated, irritated, your selfishness may have already shown up your bitterness. Who knows what things have already shown up inside of you today?

53:53 Trust me, I know they have, and they're going to show up again tomorrow. Christ came into the world to save sinners, and you and I are the chief of sinners. Use this podcast. Go back to my introduction. Did everything I say at the beginning make sense? Did it flow perfectly? Did I seem to kind of go in a direction then got distracted, kind of went a different direction than circled back around a little scattered? Yes it was. It was in perfect fell short, it transgressed the standard of perfection.

54:40 Now that seems insane, and it may appear to be insignificant. I understand that, But let me make it, make it very clear to you. Every transgression, ever falling, ever situation where you fall short, you have sinned against a holy God. There is no small transgression because you have sinned against a holy God. Now it may look different than my transgressions. My transgressions may be a thousand times worse than yours, but you still have your own. And other people have transgressions a thousand times worse than mine, but I still have mine. The Christmas message should be like praise God. We can all say Christ came into the world, Amen, to save sinners. Amen, and we are the chief. We should be broken and humbled, and we should stop. It should change our entire perception about everything. There's nothing else I may be able to understand. But this is the faithful saying. This is a trustworthy statement that is worthy of my acceptance. This is the creedal statement. Let this be the creed that you recite the rest of today, maybe from now to the end of twenty twenty four.

55:57 Thanks for listening, God bless