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“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” (1 Timothy 1:15).
In the first chapter of this epistle to Timothy, Paul is reminding Timothy of his (Paul’s) past, before he was saved. Paul had been a wicked man, for he had been persecuting Christians. Some he had put in prison, and others he had killed. It is true that he had done it ignorantly, thinking he was doing the right thing. But because he had committed this awful sin, he could rightly call himself “the chief of sinners”. Yet the grace of God was able to save him, and make him into a preacher of the gospel. Paul was really saying to Timothy, “If I can be saved, anyone can be saved!”
This is true, and for this reason we can preach the gospel to all the world. Yesterday we mentioned men like Hitler and Stalin, who were each responsible for the deaths of millions of people. Yet if they had turned to Christ, there is enough power in His blood to wash away the sins of even all those murders. Truly the gospel we can preach today is “the glorious gospel of the blessed God” (1 Timothy 1:11).
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