“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.”
--- 1Timothy 1:15 (NKJV)
Who
is He? (v15b)
ii.
Jesus
– Savior
Jesus is not only the promised Messiah but the next word says He
is “Jesus.” This name is given to Him by an angel in
Matthew 1:21, since before Jesus was born! It is a Hebrew word meaning ‘God
saves,’ or ‘God is Savior.’ The angel explained why He should be given that
name, because “He shall save His people from their sins!” Saved from
what? Sin. What is a sin? Sin, in a simple sense,
means – not reaching the standard of God!
Would God consider yourself a perfect, good, righteous person?
(Forget about God,) even you yourself know you are not a good person! How many
lies have you spoken? How many times have you spoken bad words? You may say, “I
have done a lot of good things!” However, God is not going to judge according
to your standard! He is going to judge as He is, and He requires righteousness,
perfection.
So,
everyone failed the standard of God, including Adam, Noah, Abraham, Moses,
Paul, Peter, Mary and Joseph. We all are sinners! The word of God said very
clearly in Isaiah 64:6,
“But we are all like
an unclean thing,
And all our righteousnesses are like filthy rags;
We all fade as a leaf,
And our iniquities, like the wind,
Have taken us away.”
All our seeming righteous deeds are as filthy as rags before the
holy and righteous God. God cannot tolerate sin! The logic is simple: if you
love a clean room, surely you will not want to dirty it or put a filthy rag;
you would put the waste to waste-bin or put on the fire to be burnt! Exactly that is the picture.
Sinners can never be in the presence of God. In fact, sinner
himself will not be comfortable in the presence of God, just as a pig would
want to roll back to muddy water!
The consequence of Sin is separation from God to eternal hell,
where God will punish the sinners. You cannot undo sin so; the punishment is
eternal. Eternal separation from God is not just the physical pain in the fire, but the pain of guilt. You may not be
feeling guilty, but the verdict is ‘guilty!’ You will be brought to your sense
there! You regret and regret but no chance to redo! How does it feel to be
guilty?
Separation from God is also the shame you face like a naked person; all your sins and
wickedness are exposed to all! And above all, it is where the wrath of God is
fully expressed! I dare not meet even an angry school principal, I can’t
imagine meeting God if I refuse to accept
His Gospel and choose to accept His punishment, which would be the greatest
insult to His greatest gift!
Jesus the Savior is born to save us from that guilt of sin, that
consequence of sin, that penalty of sin. His name means God provides a way to
save you!