1 Timothy 1:15–16

The apostle gives us part of his reason for putting the divine stamp of approval on this saying: "This is a faithful saying. This is worthy of all acceptation." I always feel inclined to interpret that in two ways. First, it deserves wholehearted, absolute acceptance — not ninety-nine per cent, but one hundred per cent. But it is equally true if you take it in this sense: it is worthy of everybody's acceptance.

It will not deceive or disappoint you. It is true, it is faithful. You have heard and believed thousands of false sayings from the lips of men in your time; your readiness to believe in that respect is amazing. But here is a saying from the lips of God, and it is not false but true, and it is as good as it is true.

He is God, the Creator: eternal in being, almighty in power, infinite in wisdom. And He came into the world to save sinners. Long ago, God sent two angels to judge and destroy the corrupt and guilty cities of the plain. When rebellious men needed rebuke for their sins, He sent His word by holy prophets. But now the time had come — not for judgment, nor for rebuke, but for salvation. Neither angels nor prophets were equal to this great work.

The gospel of the grace of God is the revelation of the glory of God in the person and the work of His Son Jesus Christ. The word that is "true and worthy of all acceptance" is this: "Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners." The only ground on which God addresses man in the ministry of reconciliation is that he is a lost sinner.

In reading 1 Timothy 1:15, we are not to think of the feelings of man. We are to think of the record of God, which declares that Paul was "chief of sinners." God says this of no one else. No doubt, in a secondary sense, every convicted heart will feel and own itself the guiltiest it knows of. But this is quite another matter. No matter how bad anyone may be, Paul could say, "I am chief." No matter how far from God a person feels, no matter how deep in the pit of ruin, a voice reaches him from a deeper point still: "I am chief."

In vain do men seek to limit either "sinners" on the one hand, or "chief" on the other. His very aim is to sweep away all comparison, to overturn all self-righteousness, and to meet all despair. It lays man in the dust and exalts only the Saviour who abased Himself.

It is a present sense: what he was accounts for his sense of it.

He says to the legalists, "You will have to give it all up and let Jesus save you." And he says to the poor despairing sinner, "You may be sinner number two, friend, but you cannot be number one." I was sinner number one, and Jesus saved me. You and I may be numbers two and three, but we cannot be chief. There are not two chiefs — and Paul says, "sinners, of whom I am chief." If number one has been saved, then there is hope for you.

This was not only a question of mercy in saving the foremost of sinners. There was also a purpose of grace toward others. Nothing could be stronger than the way Paul puts it. How the Lord will use the story of his conversion to win the hardened Jew in a day to come! And how He turns it to good account for any miserable sinner now!

We might expect to find the chief of sinners among the openly evil and vile... But no. Here is a man whose conduct was beyond blame. As to "righteousness under the law," he was "blameless" (Phil. 3:6). And yet writing under divine inspiration, he could declare himself to be the chief of sinners. So it seems we must look for the chief of sinners in places thought to be holy. He is not among murderers and thieves, not in prisons and jails.

We said "all the patience," because that is more exact than the older English translation. Does anyone ask what all the patience was? Paul's own life at that time explains it. He sums it up in three telling words: "a blasphemer, persecutor, and insolent opponent" (1 Tim. 1:13).

Grace was greater than the sin. The patience of God was more perfect than the persistence of man's hostility. Man's hostility was limited by how small man is. God's patience has no limit in His nature except His own sovereign will. The chief enemy, the most active and the most stubborn of all, was the best and most powerful witness that the grace of God abounded over sin, and that the work of Christ was perfect to put sin away.

First, it was Christ who sought him, not he who sought Christ. On his way to Damascus he was full of hatred toward Jesus of Nazareth. He aimed all the force of his determined will at wiping the name of Christ off the earth. Christ went out from the glory itself to meet His persecutor, and by His grace brought him down at His feet. As a pattern convert, he is a huge encouragement to every sinner on earth who feels his guilt — an encouragement to trust the heart of Christ, whose patience can never run out while the day of grace lasts.

Others may not look like such clear "black and white" cases of conversion. Yet the same principles are at work in every case, whether we see them or not... Every true conversion is just as real as Paul's, even if its circumstances are less striking. His served better as a pattern because it stood out so clearly.

The chief of sinners is in Heaven. How did he get there? By the blood of Jesus alone. And more than that, he is Christ's "pattern" man. Anyone may look at him and see how they too must be saved... The grace that reached the chief can reach all. The blood that cleansed the chief can cleanse all. The title by which the chief entered Heaven is the title for all. No sinner this side of hell's door is beyond the reach of the love of God, the blood of Christ, or the testimony of the Holy Spirit. That is true of the person who has drifted away from God, and of anyone else.