1 Timothy 1:15 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. It was a characteristic of the religion of Paul, that it was eminently personal and practical. The idea, therefore, to which we direct your attention is this: That true religion, and great experience in it, cause the believer to regard himself peculiarly a sinner. We have several considerations to prove this. I. THE VIEW WHICH A BELIEVER HAS OF HIS OWN HEART IS MORE MINUTE, AND MORE EXTENSIVE ALSO, THAN ANY VIEW HE CAN TAKE OF ANOTHER'S. He cannot draw upon another's memory as he can upon his own. His quickened recollections furnish him with many a dark chapter, as his mind roves back upon forgotten years; and there is a vividness and freshness in the recollection of what a sinner he has been, which throws over his own experience an aspect of peculiarity, he can number his own sins as he cannot another's. He can recollect the smallness of temptation, and the tender, and touching, and terrible motives which would have restrained him from his sins if he would only have felt them. Conscience, with an eye of fire, will look into his soul, and the aggravations of sin, which arose from a thousand circumstances of his condition and God's forbearance toward him, will seem to invest his sinfulness with a criminality and an abomination beyond anything that he will dare to attribute to other people. II. VERY MUCH IN PROPORTION TO THE EXTENT OF A BELIEVER'S GRACIOUS ATTAINMENTS IS PURE CONSCIENCE BROUGHT INTO EXERCISE. We mean by this pure con science an exercise of that faculty as such, in its own nature and for its own ends, not mingled with other affections. And one great difference betwixt the convictions of a believer and the convictions of an unbeliever consists simply in this; the different impressions they have of the mere wrong of sin. A believer sees that wrong as an unbeliever does not. In sin itself he sees an evil which an unbeliever does not. III. THE RULE OF CONSCIENCE IS NOT A THING WELL UNDERSTOOD BY AN UNCONVERTED SINNER IN HIS ORDINARY FRAME OF MIND. The deceptions of sin have been flung over it. But when the Holy Spirit justly convicted him, he saw sin in him self that he never saw before, and hope died within him. He discovered what God's law meant and where it applied. Law reigns; and now, better and better under stood, sharper than any two-edged sword, a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart; it is no wonder that every just conception of God's law should tend to make the grace-enlightened believer conceive of himself as the chief of sinners. He sees that that code of spiritual purity has strange applications to his erring soul. His very spirit cannot hide from it for a single moment. It pursues the soul every where. IV. THE RELIGIOUS ATTEMPTS OF A BELIEVER CONSTITUTE ANOTHER CONSIDERATION. They have been many, and he is fully conscious that they have sometimes been sincere and earnest; but oh! how often have they been baffled! What vain purposes! How little his strength! How many sinful desires! He utters the deep-toned cry, Chief of sinners! Chief of sinners! V. THROUGHOUT ALL THE SUCCESSFUL ATTAINMENTS OF GRACE, A BELIEVER IS INVARIABLY BECOMING BETTER ACQUAINTED WITH GOD. The knowledge he has of the Divine character constitutes one of the most efficacious aids and impressive influences. The better he knows God the better he knows himself; and while his knowledge of God increases both his reverence and his attachment, his knowledge of himself fills him with humiliation and shame. Sin appears worse and worse to him as he knows God better. VI. A CHRISTIAN, ESPECIALLY AMID HIS ATTAINMENTS IN GRACE, IS A CREATURE OF NO LITTLE REFLECTION. His knowledge increases, especially his knowledge of himself; and amid reflections and increasing knowledge in Divine things, again and again he is surprised and disappointed in a most painful and humiliating manner. Sometimes he is astounded, and disheartened, and driven to prayer by a wave of despondency that rolls over his soul. His reflection discovers sin as he did not expect, discovers it wherein he had little suspicion of its existence. He finds the imperfection of his repentance, that his very repentance (according to the graphic description of the apostle) needs to be repented of. VII. THAT PROCESS OF SANCTIFICATION CARRIED ON IN A BELIEVER'S HEART BY THE OMNIPOTENT POWER OF THE HOLY SPIRIT IS VERY MUCH CARRIED ON THROUGH THE INFLUENCE OF TWO SPIRITUAL OPERATIONS "first, the discovery of sin, and second, faith in the Redeemer of sinners to procure pardon and justification unto life eternal. There is the combined influence of compulsion and attraction; of violence and persuasion. The believer is driven off from himself at the same moment he is drawn toward God. But this process and these affections are some times interrupted. His soul wanders from God. And that it should ever wander seems to him one of the strangest anomalies in the universe! The conclusions from this subject are worthy of remembrance. 1. Never despair. There is mercy for the chief of sinners. 2. Never seek hope, consolation, or any comfort or encouragement to your soul by diminished ideas of sin. 3. Never judge of your Christian condition by the smallness of your humiliating convictions. Rather judge of it by the magnitude of them. 4. Never allow pride to have any place in your religion. Self-complacency all rests on ignorance and deception. 5. Never imagine that a deep sense of sin and all the humiliating ideas that grow out of it, are things of unhappiness and gloom. Quite the contrary. They are matters of peace and joy to a believer. (J. S. Spencer, D. D.) Parallel Verses KJV: 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. |
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