Saviour of Sinners by Parks

The Saviour of Sinners

1. Jesus condescended to sinners – for “Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners” (1 Timothy 1:15).  God’s divine and sinless Son came from heaven to earth “in the likeness of sinful flesh, on account of sin” (Romans 8:3).

2. Jesus identified with sinners – for Jehovah says, “He was numbered with the transgressors, and He bore the sin of many” (Isaiah 53:12).  Jesus was treated as a sinner (Mark 15:28), and died as the substitute for many sinners (Isaiah 53:4-8).

3. Jesus sought sinners – as when “He needed to go through Samaria” in order to save an adulterous woman (John 4:4ff).

4. Jesus called sinners – for He said, “I did not come to call the righteous [such as self-righteous pharisaical people], but sinners [including the worst of them], to repentance” (Mark 2:17).

5. Jesus forgave sinners – such as the notoriously sinful woman who came and showed to Him kindness in the house of a certain Pharisee (Luke 7:36ff).  Jesus said to her, “Your sins are forgiven. ... Your faith has saved you.  Go in peace” (vv.48-50).

6. Jesus justified sinners – such as the tax collector despised by Pharisees, who cried “God, be merciful to me the sinner!”  Jesus then said, “I tell you, this man [the humble sinner] went down to his house justified rather than the other [the proud Pharisee]; for everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, and he who humbles himself will be exalted” (Luke 18:9-14).

7. Jesus welcomed sinners.  Jesus is like the father of the prodigal son who repented of his sin and returned home (Luke 15:11-24): “But when [the prodigal] was still a great way off, his father saw him and had compassion, and ran and fell on his neck and kissed him. ... the father said to his servants, ‘Bring out the best robe and put it on him, and put a ring on his hand and sandals on his feet.  And bring the fatted calf here and kill it, and let us eat and be merry; for this my son was dead and is alive again; he was lost and is found.’  And they began to be merry.”

8. Jesus received sinners – for when “sinners drew near to Him to hear Him ... the Pharisees and scribes complained, saying, ‘This Man receives sinners and eats with them’” (Luke 15:1f).

9. Jesus befriended sinners – for Pharisees called Him “a friend of sinners” (Matthew 11:19), a term of derision Jesus wore as a badge of honor.

10. Jesus saved sinners – for this is Paul the apostle’s testimony regarding himself in our present text (1 Timothy 1:15).  Therefore, sinner, be assured that if you come to Jesus in repentance and faith, He will welcome and save you.

– Daniel E. Parks