Daily devotion – Christ came to save sinners
1Timothy 1:15 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.
The many varied responses to the birth and coming of Jesus Christ were made not only by the Shepherds, the Magi, Herod and other immediate actors of the drama, but continue on until today.
The Apostle Paul told us that the reason Jesus was born that first Christmas was to save sinners and Paul included himself in that number giving himself the title of being the worst sinner in the world.
Paul tells us that his statement about Christ’s coming, his statement of the Gospel (the good news) is reliable, “a faithful saying”, universal it deserves “full acceptance”, historical “Christ Jesus came into the world”, liberating (he came to “save sinners”), and personal (“I am the chief”, because once the Holy Spirit convicts us of sin, we give up all odious comparisons.
A man by the name of Thomas Bilney, “little Bilney” as he was called on account of his small stature. Elected in 1520 a Fellow of Trinity Hall, Cambridge, was a man searching for peace but could not find it. But at last he wrote the following:
“I chanced upon this text of the Apostle Paul – this one sentence, through God’s instruction and inward working…did so exhilarate my heart, being before wounded with the guilt of my sins, and being almost in despair, that even immediately I seemed unto myself inwardly to feel a marvellous comfort and quietness, insomuch that “my bruised bones leaped for joy” – Psalm 51. After this, the Scripture began to be more pleasant unto me more than honey or the honeycomb.”
Bliney’s most notable convert was Hugh Latimer, who later became the popular preacher of the English Reformation. Latimer greatly admired the courage with which Bilney went to the stake for his evangelical faith, he referred to him in his sermons as “Saint Bilney.”
Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners – this is a most amazing statement, and it reveals to us that only those who hearts recognise and admit their own sinful condition, bear the soil that is ripe for harvest and are able to receive with joy the seed of the Word of God.