Welcome to the Understanding God’s Great Salvation Podcast. This is episode #80.
I am your host, Daniel Whyte III, president of Gospel Light Society International. This podcast is designed to explain what it means to be saved from sin and from the punishment of sin through Jesus Christ. This podcast is primarily for non-believers and some new believers and it will help you understand what it means to be saved from hell and have a home in Heaven as well as the blessings of the abundant Christian life.
God made salvation simple. However, down through the years many people, including some preachers and other Christians, have made the matter of salvation complicated and confusing. I know from my own experience that many people would get saved if someone would sit down and share with them straightforwardly from the Bible what it really means to accept Jesus Christ as their Saviour. That is what I intend to do with this podcast.
Let’s start out with the Word of God. The Bible says in I 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.”
Today’s God’s Great Salvation quote is from Horatius Bonar. He said: “Grace burst forth spontaneously from the bosom of eternal love and rested not until it had removed every impediment and found its way to the sinner’s side, swelling round him in full flow. Grace does away the distance between the sinner and God, which sin had created. Grace meets the sinner on the spot where he stands; grace approaches him just as he is. Grace does not wait till there is something to attract it nor till a good reason is found in the sinner for its flowing to him… It was free, sovereign grace when it first thought of the sinner; it was free grace when it found and laid hold of him; and it is free grace when it hands him up into glory.”
Our topic today is The Whole Gospel in a Single Verse (Part 1) from the book, “Salvation Crystal Clear” (Book 1) by Curtis Hutson.
Occasionally in reading through the Bible you read a verse that seems to have in it the entire Gospel.
Martin Luther said of these verses. “They are little Bibles or Bibles in miniature.” First Timothy 1:15 is such a verse:
“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.”
In reading condensed notes, one usually misses the soul and marrow of a sermon. Sermon outlines usually have a few thoughts, but you yourself must put the meat on the bones. I have never been able to use another’s condensed notes. To me they just do not convey the thought of the writer.
But in my text there is nothing left out. It is as if you had taken the great truths of the Gospel and pressed them together with a hydraulic ram. “This is a faithful saying, and worthy of all acceptation, that Christ Jesus came…to save sinners; of whom I am chief.”
Here is:
OUR NAME, OR A BROAD WORD OF DESCRIPTION
I suppose one of the most important questions that could be asked would be, “For whom is salvation meant?” In this text the Holy Spirit gives the answer: “This is a faithful saying, and worthy of all acceptation, that Christ Jesus came…TO SAVE SINNERS.”
Jesus Christ came to save sinners of all sorts, not certain kinds of sinners but just sinners; not respectable sinners but sinners; not proud sinners but sinners—drunkards, thieves, adulterers, liars, murderers, whoremongers—He came to save them all.
It matters not what form your sin may have taken, you are still a sinner. I trust I am speaking to a congregation that recognizes you are sinners. If there be any here who do not feel that you are sinners, then I have no message for you. Furthermore, if there be any here who feel that you are not a sinner, then the Bible has no message for you, because “Christ Jesus came…to save sinners.”
Jesus said, “I am not come to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance” (Matt. 9:13). “The Son of man is come to seek and to save that which was lost” (Luke 19:10).
A man had been in prison for a crime he supposedly had committed. After serving some time, it was discovered that he was innocent. And the Queen insulted him by giving him a free pardon. A pardon for what? He wasn’t guilty.
If Jesus Christ offered pardon and mercy to a man who thought he was innocent, it would be an insult to that man. Pardon and mercy are not for the innocent but for the guilty. Salvation is for sinners. “This is a faithful saying, and worthy of all acceptation, that Christ Jesus came…to save sinners.”
If the word “sinner” fits you, then you are included. If it does not fit you, then you are excluded by the fact that you have failed to admit that you are a sinner. No one goes to Heaven except he who recognizes that he fits in this category—sinner. Your sin may have taken a different form than the other fellow’s, and you may not be as vile as some, but you are a sinner nonetheless. He came to save moral sinners, immoral sinners, respectable sinners—all kinds of sinners.
On our next broadcast, we will continue this topic, “The Whole Gospel in a Single Verse.”
Let’s Pray —
As we close today, let me leave you with these words from Hebrews 2:3: “How shall we escape, if we neglect so great salvation…” I encourage you to not neglect the salvation and grace offered by God. He sent His Son, Jesus Christ, to die on the cross for our sins and take the punishment that we deserve upon Himself. Romans 5:8 says that “God commendeth his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.”
If you do not know the Lord Jesus Christ as your Savior, and you want to get to know Him today, here is how.
Please believe “that Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures; and that he was buried, and that he rose again the third day according to the scriptures” and you will be saved. The Bible states in the book of Romans 10:9, 13: “That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised Him from the dead, thou shalt be saved. For whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved.”
Pray and ask Him to come into your heart and He will. It’s just that simple.
Until next time, my friend, thank God for His simple, great salvation. God bless you!
Understanding God's Great Salvation 