Five times in the Scripture the Apostle Paul says, “This is a faithful saying”. Now the Bible tells us that:

2 Timothy 3:16-17 All scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness: 17 that the man of God may be perfect, thoroughly furnished unto all good works.

ALL Scripture is God breathed (theopneustos), and is profitable. This means both the New and Old Testaments. The Bible is true in all that it affirms, and true in all that it reports. None of the Scripture is disposable.

Proverbs 30:5 Every word of God is pure: he is a shield unto them that put their trust in him.

So why did Paul speak of “faithful sayings”? These are, I believe, catechisms or teachings of the early Church that highlighted important aspects of our faith. One commentary suggests that the early Church began to develop short, creed like phrases to help people remember the Gospel. I thought I would talk about these “faithful sayings” tonight.

1. Jesus Christ Came To Save Sinners

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.

Word Study πιστός λόγος {pistos logos}, literally means “Faithful is the Word”. This is an interesting phrase for, as you know, “The Word” is another name given to our Lord Jesus Christ.

John 1:1-4 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. 2 The same was in the beginning with God. 3 All things were made by him; and without him was not any thing made that was made. 4 In him was life; and the life was the light of men.

The Word, Jesus Christ, “came into the world”. Prior to His incarnation, the taking on of human flesh, Jesus was with the Father and the Spirit from eternity past.

John 12:44-46 .. Jesus cried and said, He that believeth on me, believeth not on me, but on him that sent me. 45 And he that seeth me seeth him that sent me. 46 I am come a light into the world, that whosoever believeth on me should not abide in darkness.

John 3:17 God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world through him might be saved.

Jesus Christ “came into the world”, sent from the Father, sent through a virgin, made of the Holy Spirit of God. Jesus Christ is the “seed of the woman” prophesied in Genesis 3:15. Christ the Creator and Director of Creation stepped onto the stage He made. He enter history with His Story. Jesus Christ came to save sinners.

The Church often forgets this great truth. We get settled into our pews, our comfortable padded chairs, and focused on the nice buildings we are in. If a visitor comes in who is different, perhaps dirty, perhaps with different customs, sometimes we inadvertently and perhaps even unconsciously stand back from them. But the first and greatest creed of the Church is …

Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners

Jesus did not go through all the prophetic trouble that He went through to save “good people”. Jesus told the Church of His day, a Church run by Pharisees, Sadducees, Scribes, and Herodians:

Matthew 9:13 … I am not come to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance.

I have heard some outside the Church speak somewhat smugly as to why they never assemble with the Church. “The Church is filled with hypocrites and people, many of whom are worse than I am”. I agree with you. But Beloved, what did you expect? Jesus Christ came into the world to save sinners. Those who are found in Church assemblies will always be sinners, broken people.

If you’re staying away from Churches because sinners are in them, that’s as foolish as staying away from the hospital when you’re sick because
“there’s sick people in them”!

If you think you’re too good for Church, you don’t need to go anyway. If you think you’re good enough to go to Heaven, then Jesus isn’t for you. But Beloved, the Bible says “all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God” (Romans 3:23). The Bible says:

Romans 3:12 … there is NONE that doeth good, NO, NOT ONE!

Jesus came into the world for sinners, just like you and I are. The message of the Gospel is to repent and believe, to turn to Jesus as your Savior and Lord. The Apostle Paul was at one time as self righteous as YOU are. He went about capturing and killing Christians at the behest of the Sanhedrin. But then Saul met Christ on the Damascus Road, and Saul turned into Paul. Even as an Apostle, Paul says “I am the chief of sinners”.

Are you a sinner? Then turn to Jesus. “Repent ye therefore, and be converted, that your sins may be blotted out, when the times of refreshing shall come from the presence of the Lord” (Acts 3:19). Jesus came for you, no matter what sin you committed. He came to save you, just as He saved me. Blessed be the Name of the Lord!

2. Our God Is A God Of Order,
Hence The Church

Salvation of the sinner is the first faithful saying. The second faithful saying deals with the Church. We read:

1 Timothy 3:1 .. This is a true saying, If a man desire the office of a bishop, he desireth a good work.

Word Study Though the King James translate this text as “This is a true saying”, the Greek is still πιστός λόγος {pistos logos}, literally meaning “Faithful is the Word”. In 1 Timothy chapter 3 the Apostle speaks of the qualifications of Bishops and Deacons in the Church.

I am always amused when people speak against what they call “organized religion”, and then sneer at the Church. Some may even talk of being “non-denominational” as if that makes their group better than the other groups. When I hear the foolish talk about “organized religion” I say, “So you are for DISORGANIZED religion?” Our God is a God of order. You see this in creation. His hand is on every tree, every blade of grass, every animal. The Bible declares:

1 Corinthians 14:33 God is not the author of confusion …

When God created man and woman, He used order. The Bible says:

Ephesians 5:22-25 … Wives, submit yourselves unto your own husbands, as unto the Lord. 23 For the husband is the head of the wife, even as Christ is the head of the church: and he is the savior of the body. 24 Therefore as the church is subject unto Christ, so let the wives be to their own husbands in every thing. 25 Husbands, love your wives, even as Christ also loved the church, and gave himself for it;

The God Who created order in marriage, also created order in the Church. Christ gave Himself for the Church. God has always reached out to the world through groups of people. In the Old Testament, Christ reached out through Israel. In the New Testament He reaches out through His Church. If you are saved by faith in Christ, you are to belong to a local congregation called “the Church”. As Peter preached the Gospel, the Scripture says:

Acts 2:47 … the Lord added to the church daily such as should be saved.

The Lord “nourishes and cherishes His Church” (Ephesians 5:29). Christ is the Head of His Church (Colossians 1:18). Nearly every New Testament writing is addressed “to the Church”. There is no Christianity without the Church. The two go hand in hand.

3. The Christian Is Called To Be Godly,
Not Worldly

1 Timothy 4:6-9 If thou put the brethren in remembrance of these things, thou shalt be a good minister of Jesus Christ, nourished up in the words of faith and of good doctrine, whereunto thou hast attained. 7 But refuse profane and old wives’ fables, and exercise thyself rather unto godliness. 8 For bodily exercise profiteth little: but godliness is profitable unto all things, having promise of the life that now is, and of that which is to come. 9 This is a faithful saying and worthy of all acceptation.

Usually when I head to Church meeting with my wife on Sunday mornings, I will pass two or three runners, out exercising themselves in the cool morning air. There’s nothing wrong with bodily exercise. I need to do more bodily exercise. However,

Godliness – being like God in thought and deed – is always profitable.

How does one become “godly”? We do so by feeding our souls the Word of God, the Holy Bible. We read, study, and meditate on it’s words, words of God. A Godly person does not rely solely on the Sunday morning sermon or Sunday School to be blessed. Just as you eat daily (or I assume you all do), we must feed on the Word of God daily. Jesus said:

Matthew 4:4 … Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God.

Many professing Christians are today unable to contribute anything of kingdom value to American society because they feed their souls

profane and old wives’ fables

supplied by godless television … and yet spend little time reading or meditating on the Word of God. There is an old computer term called GIGO. This means, GARBAGE IN, GARBAGE OUT. What you feed your soul makes a difference. The Apostle tells us that the Christian is called to:

Romans 12:1-2 … present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service. 2 And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God.

It is valuable to attend Church services, to hear the sermons, the Bible teaching, the Sunday School and Training Union classes. But you must also spend time in the Word of God yourselves if you are to grow spiritually. You must actually HEAR the Word, then DO what you have been told. God has given to each Christian

2 Peter 1:3 … all things that pertain unto life and godliness, through the knowledge of him that hath called us to glory and virtue

Godliness is actually devotion to God IN ACTION.

We are to walk with God on a daily basis, seeking to be pleasing to Him in our lives. Godliness is not just a warm fuzzy good feeling. It is like Enoch, who walked with God, pleasing Him (Hebrews 11:5). The devoted Christian will practice the Presence of God where ever he or she goes. Church of England priest William Law stated:

“Devotion signifies a life given, or devoted to God. He therefore is the devout man, who lives no longer to his own will, or the way and spirit of the world, but to the sole will of God, who considers God in everything, who serves God in everything, who makes all the parts of his common life, parts of piety, by doing everything in the name of God, and under such rules as are conformable to his Glory.” (from A Serious Call To A Devout And Holy Life)

Godliness is a habit developed over time, each day walking more and more with God. Some walk with an idolatrous god, a little ‘g’ god that is not reflected in the Scripture. Many young Christians, brought up by “Baby Boomers”, today see God as just some wizened old man up above. As John Murray wrote in Principles of Conduct:

“The fear of God is the soul of godliness.”

When the Apostle spoke of ungodly mankind, he said “there is no fear of God before their eyes” (Romans 3:18). If you are a Christian you need no longer fear the wrath of God (1 John 4:18), but as a Child of God you can be disciplined for walking in ways that displease the Father. This is why the Bible says:

Philippians 2:12-13 … work out your own salvation with fear and trembling. 13 For it is God which worketh in you both to will and to do of his good pleasure.

As God’s Children, we want to please our Heavenly Father. When we displease Him, he can and does punish us (Hebrews 12:7-8). To be Godly is to be Christlike, to imitate the Father. Too many today believe in a God of Love, but do not realize that this same God is also a Holy God, a God of Wrath. As Navigator Jerry Bridges notes:

“The love of God has no meaning apart from Calvary. And Calvary has no meaning apart from the holy and just wrath of God. Jesus did not die just to give us peace and a purpose in life; he died to save us from the wrath of God. He died to reconcile us to a holy God who was alienated from us because of our sin. He died to ransom us from the penalty of sin—the punishment of everlasting destruction, and of being shut out from the presence of the Lord. He died that we, the just objects of God’s wrath, should become, by his grace, heirs of God and co-heirs with Christ.”

Godliness is profitable because it blesses our lives. Jesus said:

Matthew 7:24-27 Therefore whosoever heareth these sayings of mine, and doeth them, I will liken him unto a wise man, which built his house upon a rock: 25 and the rain descended, and the floods came, and the winds blew, and beat upon that house; and it fell not: for it was founded upon a rock. 26 And every one that heareth these sayings of mine, and doeth them not, shall be likened unto a foolish man, which built his house upon the sand: 27 and the rain descended, and the floods came, and the winds blew, and beat upon that house; and it fell: and great was the fall of it.

4. Our God Is Always Faithful
And Will See Us Through This Life Into Glory

2 Timothy 2:11-13 It is a faithful saying: For if we be dead with him, we shall also live with him: 12 if we suffer, we shall also reign with him: if we deny him, he also will deny us: 13 if we believe not, yet he abideth faithful: he cannot deny himself.

The day that every Christian is saved, that believer surrenders his or her life to God, in exchange for the life of Christ. We believe that He died for us. Repenting of our sin and self service, we bow the knee to Calvary. The Bible says:

Galatians 2:20-21 I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me. 21 I do not frustrate the grace of God: for if righteousness come by the law, then Christ is dead in vain.

My righteous standing before God does not come because of any good works that I do, but based on the good work of Christ on the cross. The old me died on the day I received Jesus as Lord and Savior. I now belong to Jesus. The old David is dead, thank God! The Scripture says:

Colossians 3:1-3 If ye then be risen with Christ, seek those things which are above, where Christ sitteth on the right hand of God. 2 Set your affection on things above, not on things on the earth. 3 For ye are dead, and your life is hid with Christ in God.

I no longer own me. Jesus owns me. He is in charge of my life. I am His son and servant. And He will keep me until the end.

The Apostle told the Corinthian believers:

1 Corinthians 6:19 What? know ye not that your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost which is in you, which ye have of God, and ye are not your own?

The day I was saved, I gave Christ title to my life. And He will be faithful to deliver me at the end of this life into glory everlasting. As the Apostle said in another place,

2 Timothy 1:12 … I know whom I have believed, and am persuaded that he is able to keep that which I have committed unto him against that day.

As one pastor put it, “Christ did the most for us at salvation. Will He abandon us now that we have been purchased by his blood? No!”. Our Lord is faithful.

5. Christians Are Not Saved By Works,
But If Saved, Will Do Good Works For God

Titus 3:4-8 But after that the kindness and love of God our Savior toward man appeared, 5 not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to his mercy he saved us, by the washing of regeneration, and renewing of the Holy Ghost; 6 which he shed on us abundantly through Jesus Christ our Savior; 7 that being justified by his grace, we should be made heirs according to the hope of eternal life. 8 This is a faithful saying, and these things I will that thou affirm constantly, that they which have believed in God might be careful to maintain good works. These things are good and profitable unto men.

No Christian is saved by works. But once we are saved, we WILL work for God. We WILL be good citizens of the Kingdom of Light. The Apostle said in another place:

Ephesians 2:8-9 For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: 9 not of works, lest any man should boast.

Salvation is an entirely free gift from God. But note the very next verse in Ephesians:

Ephesians 2:10 For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them.

Saved by faith, the Christian is a new creature in Christ: old things are passed away, behold, all things are new (2 Corinthians 5:17). The person who says “I am saved” but walks as an unbeliever walks IS A LIAR. These are not my words, but Scripture’s words. The Apostle said:

1 John 2:3-5 And hereby we do know that we know him, if we keep his commandments. 4 He that saith, I know him, and keepeth not his commandments, is a liar, and the truth is not in him. 5 But whoso keepeth his word, in him verily is the love of God perfected: hereby know we that we are in him.

Jesus said, “he that follows Me shall NOT walk in darkness, but shall have the light of life” (John 8:12). The Apostle said, “you were at one time darkness, but now you are light in the Lord: walk as children of light (Ephesians 5:8). And John again said:

1 John 1:5-7 This then is the message which we have heard of him, and declare unto you, that God is light, and in him is no darkness at all. 6 If we say that we have fellowship with him, and walk in darkness, we lie, and do not the truth: 7 but if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship one with another, and the blood of Jesus Christ his Son cleanseth us from all sin.

You cannot be saved, and be the same as you were before. Jesus changes you. If you know Him,you know these five sayings to be true. And if you do not know Him, today would be a great day to call upon the name of the Lord.

For whosoever calls upon the Name of the Lord shall be saved!

May God touch your hearts with His Word and His Spirit. Amen and Amen!