As we cover this passage tonight, I am going to be using verse 15, these precious words, as the lens for focusing this sermon tonight. 

This trustworthy saying is worthy of full acceptance. It’s such a pure, distilled gospel text. Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners.

And we’ll see that Jesus Christ came into the world to save sinners and transform them. That sentence makes up our three points: (1) Christ came into the world (2) to save sinners (3) and transform them.

1. Jesus came into the world

First, I want us to notice that Jesus came into the world. Jesus came. Where did the church get this faithful saying? Who used this language to describe Jesus’ work? Our Lord himself:

Mk 2:17 I came not to call the righteous, but sinners.

Luke 19:10 Came to seek and to save the lost

You see Jesus using this language especially in the Gospel of John. In John 12:46 he says, “I have come into the world as light, so that whoever believes in me may not remain in darkness.” John himself says “The true light, which gives light to everyone, was coming into the world. He was in the world, and the world was made through him, yet the world did not know him” (1:9-10).

Jesus came into this world as light. To save the world. But here’s what we also learn from John. “The world” is not just referring to “planet earth”. The world does not recognize Jesus, does not know him, does not acknowledge him; in fact the world, humanity in its fallen rebellious state, hates Christ, because its deeds are evil and Christ exposes it.

So how great a wonder it is that God the Son, who as Paul says in 1:17, is the immortal, invisible, only God, who as Paul says at the end of this book, dwells in unapproachable light, that he would come into this world as a man. Would come among us.

He doesn’t need to. It’s the natural human tendency to avoid the bad side of town if you can, to avoid going to the parts of cities and towns where you’re more likely to have a crime committed against you. But God is God and not a man, and he does come into the world. He comes to the bad side of town. And not with a bullet-proof car or a fleet of heavenly bodyguards surrounding him. He takes our flesh, with all its natural human weaknesses, surrounds himself with friends who abandon him, and has the worst crime possible perpetrated against himself.

All because he came into the world to save sinners.

2. Jesus came to save sinners

Which leads us to our second point. Christ’s purpose in coming to this world is specific. He comes to save. And to save sinners. How much better off would we be if we always had this truth emblazoned on our minds. He came to save sinners.

You may have grown up in a church, and not remembered a day where you didn’t know God as your God, Christ as your savior. Praise God! He works through his covenant people to gently draw covenant children to know him. — That’s more or less my own story. Or you may have been saved out of the world but lived as a Christian for many years. Praise God for that too. But friends, the difficulty of being a Christian for so long, or of never knowing a day without Christ as your savior, is you might forget this: Christ came to save sinners.

And that means you.

It’s telling that the person in scripture who claims the title of the foremost sinner – it’s not Zacchaeus, a greedy tax collector. It’s not the multiple divorcée woman at the well. It’s not Rahab the prostitute. It’s Paul – the god-fearing Pharisee, who knew his Bible and was zealous to keep God’s law. That’s who calls himself the foremost sinner.

He recognizes that he is the object of God’s grace. He had been a blasphemer, a persecutor, an insolent opponent. Paul had been leading the charge in locking up and killing Christians. Paul says in Acts 26 “I punished them often in all the synagogues and tried to make them blaspheme, and in raging fury against them I persecuted them even to foreign cities.”

And when Jesus came to him on the road to Damascus, and stopped him dead in his tracks, shining a light upon him, Jesus says to him “Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting me?” And [Saul] said, “Who are you, Lord?” And he said, “I am Jesus, whom you are persecuting.” Paul calling himself a persecutor here isn’t him pulling words from thin air. He heard Jesus say to him, “you are persecuting me.”

He had acted ignorantly in unbelief. He was full of hatred and malice towards God’s true people, which meant he was full of hatred and malice towards God himself.

The same spring of polluted water that flows from the heart of the godless men and women you meet about town, flows from the heart of the unregenerate child of the church.

You see, I think when we read verse 16 and see that Jesus saved Paul to make him an example of the extent of Christ’s patience and the greatness of his mercy, we go to the list of “top 10 sinners” in our heads — hardened atheists, extremists who persecute Christians.

That’s no doubt true. But He’s just as much an example for church kids who think in their heart of hearts that they’re better than other kids; for long-standing members who have depths of pride that could drown the world twice over.

My friends, if Christ had not opened my eyes to the depths of hatred he had in his heart for fellow Christians, and brought him to see himself as a terrible sinner, and Christ as a great savior, I might still be in the pews, knowing my Bible, loving theology, and hating Christ.

Do you see yourself in that word, “sinner”? Do you say, “Christ came to save sinners, so Christ came to save me. That’s me.” Christ Jesus came to save sinners.

Christ Jesus came to save sinners. You see Paul’s testimony to Jesus’ saving power in his life in verse 14. Despite him being such a sinner, “the grace of our Lord overflowed for me with the faith and love that are in Christ Jesus.”

There’s a word in greek for “overflow.” That’s not actually the word Paul uses here. He takes that word and intensifies it. God’s grace “super abounded” to him.  It over-overflowed. That’s the kind of grace that Christ pours out when he saves a sinner. My friend, there’s no sinner who can say, “God’s grace needs to just flow enough to cover over some of my bad spots.” It over-overflows. It superabounds.

And that’s the kind of grace he has. Christ has abundant grace. And you see, it gives you everything you need. What do you need to be saved? You need to believe in Christ savingly. You need faith. And with that faith, there must be a resulting change in your heart – a heart that loves God.

And Christ’s grace overflows with that faith and love. He gives you all of it. His grace enables your faith. His grace enables your love. It’s all from him.

That’s what it means for Christ to save sinners. He gives us everything. He does it all. He doesn’t just make salvation possible. He saves. He doesn’t enable you to save yourself. He saves. Christ saves sinners.

3. Jesus came to transform sinners

And lastly, Christ transforms all those he saves.

Christ saving sinners is more than a bare grabbing us from the fire. He’s not just a collector of sinners. He’s a refurbisher of sinners. A remodeler of sinners. He repristinates sinners. Do you know that word? It means to make something new again. To re-make something pristine. That’s what Christ does to us.

You see some of what Christ does to redeemed sinners through Paul’s example here. And this is our application this evening. 3 things you see Christ doing as he repristinates sinners.

First we see he makes us into thankful servants. You see that in verse 12. Paul begins by thanking Christ who strengthens him. Paul thanks Christ for entrusting Paul with the gospel. For giving him such a precious ministry. He’s astounded that such a sinner as he was counted faithful. This isn’t Paul saying God thought he was so good and faithful that he gave him his ministry. No, it’s all about Christ strengthening him. I think Augustine put it well: “God does not choose a person who is worthy, but by the act of choosing him he makes him worthy.”

Now none of us have that kind of ministry Paul was given. But we all are called to serve Christ. As mothers, as fathers, in our work place, in all our spheres of influence, we get the privilege of being about his work. And this is a true mark of a Christian, when he’s serving Christ thankfully. Paul says in Col 3:23-24 Whatever you do, work heartily, as for the Lord and not for men, 24 knowing that from the Lord you will receive the inheritance as your reward. You are serving the Lord Christ. Every Christian has valuable service in the church.

I was texting with someone recently who said they felt like they were at a place where they were only able to ask for help from people, like they were not able to contribute. But I told them, “You’re actually encouraging the body of Christ. Because you’re enabling other Christians to serve you; that’s fostering love in the body of Christ.” Did you know that? Humbly receiving help where you need it – that is serving Christ and serving his church?

And we do it thankfully. That’s hard. But it’s something that Christ gives us, that is so good to cultivate. It’s not yet November, but let me encourage you, take the whole month of November to think about cultivating Thanksgiving, not just a couple of overly busy days. Just try to write down 1 thing a day or three things a day you’re thankful to God for.

See for Paul this whole passage is thanksgiving. He’s thankful for what Jesus saved him out of. Thankful that Jesus saves sinners. Thankful for the service he’s been given. Thank God for the service he’s given you. And serve him faithfully.

Second, you see Christ makes people trophies of grace. You see Paul in verse 16 say “this is why he saved me. Because I was so bad. So he wanted me as an example, that he can always hold out others, to say ‘Look: even Paul. Why not you?’

Paul was a trophy of Christ’s grace that pointed others to that superabundant grace that can be found in Jesus. Because he’s Paul. Because he has a claim to some heinous sins. He really can claim to be a “foremost sinner.”

That’s Paul. And he’s a trophy of God’s grace. And every Christian is similarly a trophy of God’s grace. You’re a trophy of God’s grace. You can say to people, “Well he saved me, so I know he can save you.” God loves me. God is repristinating a proud, arrogant, grump of a man. You don’t think he can do the same to you? His grace towards me is limitless. It’s overflowing. He has that same grace for all who come to him.

You are a trophy of God’s grace. Your life is meant to point to his greatness, his patience with you, his perfect love for you. Make much of Christ with your life.

Lastly, Christ makes people true worshippers. You see how Paul ends this section, in verse 17: “To the King of the ages, immortal, invisible, the only God, be honor and glory forever and ever. Amen.” We’re in chapter one and Paul is already writing doxologies. He’s praising God. There’s no more natural response to God’s grace than worship. That’s what we were made for. We were made to be centered around God, to be God-focused.

We’re made for his glory. Worship is the end goal of this repristination project. Worship is not just a couple hours you sit through on a Sunday. It is God’s gift to us of drawing us out of ourselves and into communion with the Father through the Son by the Holy Spirit.

Are you a worshipper? Is the language of praise, the language of verse 17 foreign to you? My friend, one of the truest testaments to the serious state that sin has brought us into is that we tire so easily of praising God. And so few Christians are adept in the school of praise. And those who are might rub us a bit wrong. Seem a little fanatic. A little odd. Maybe even a little annoying. I know I’ve thought that, to my shame.

But this is the testimony of someone who knows he is a trophy of God’s grace. Your life is not about you. It’s about him. You were made and remade to make much of him. To glorify him and enjoy him. And to enjoy him by glorifying him.

All glory to God. All honor to God. He is the King of ages, the immortal God; the invisible God; the only God. And he came into this world to save sinners. Amen.