Turn with me, if you would, to
Luke chapter 15. Luke chapter 15. I have wonderful news. I have wonderful news. I have,
I believe, a very brief, simple, straightforward message, and
it's wonderful news. I think all the time about in
preaching the gospel, I think of this illustration pops into
my mind of the paper boy standing on the street corner, hollering,
extra, extra, read all about it. Read these headlines. It is wonderful news. It's good
news. Great news. It's in the middle
of verse 2. Luke 15 verse 2, the middle of
that verse says, This man receiveth sinners. This man receiveth sinners. That's worthy of a headline,
isn't it? That's worthy of the front page. This man receiveth sinners. Inside this book is good news
and bad news. Inside this book, good news and
bad news. And all of the good news is for
sinners. All of it. Every stitch of it. The gospel is for sinners. The gospel is for sinners. Now, here's one question for
all of us. In our hearts, let's give a one-word
answer. We can only give a one-word answer.
These are our options. Yes, no. All right, here's the
question. Are you a sinner? Am I a sinner? If the answer is no, I don't
have one word of good news for us. Not one word. But if the answer is yes, then
I want to show you the greatest news you'll ever see in your
life. Starting right here, this man receiveth sinners. This man receives sinners. Salvation is for sinners. Let me show you that in Mark
chapter 2. Mark chapter 2, verse 15, it
says, And it came to pass that as Jesus sat at meat in his house,
Levi's house, this man Levi, it came to pass that as Jesus
sat at meat in his house, many publicans and sinners sat also
together with Jesus and his disciples, for there were many. and they
followed him. And when the scribes and Pharisees
saw him eat with publicans and sinners, they said unto his disciples,
How is it that he eateth and drinketh with publicans and sinners? When Jesus heard it, he saith
unto them, They that are whole have no need of the physician. But they that are sick, I came
not to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance. I came not to call the righteous,
but sinners to repentance. Now, some may believe that he
is saying the righteous don't need repentance. Some may believe
that he's saying, I didn't come to call the righteous to repentance
because they don't need repentance, they're righteous. I came to
bring the sinners up to their righteous level, to make everybody
else on equal terms. That is not what
he's saying. That's not what he's saying.
He told a multitude of people in Matthew 5. That's his sermon
on the mount. He stood up and he preached to
a great multitude of people. And he said in Matthew 5, except
your righteousness shall exceed the righteousness of the scribes
and Pharisees, you shall in no case enter the kingdom of heaven. He said it must exceed their
righteousness. All of these scribes, they were
Bible translators. They wrote the Bible all day.
They just wrote the Bible all day long. And these Pharisees,
these religious leaders, he said it must exceed the righteousness
of these famous preachers. Because their righteousness is
not good enough. They will never make it in on
their own righteousness. Their good deeds and their religious
character is not good enough. If that's all that they have,
they'll never make it in. No man, no woman will enter the
kingdom of heaven based on his own good deeds or her own good
deeds. No man, no woman. They're not good enough. They're
just not good enough. That good church going way that
everybody knows and talks about and tries to put on for each
other. That good church going way is
not good enough. It's not good enough. No one
will enter the kingdom of heaven because they are, as the world
says, a fine Christian person. That's a fine Christian man right
there. That's not good enough. She is a fine Christian woman. It's not good enough. That's
not good enough. We know well the parable that
the Lord gave in Luke 18 of the Pharisee and the publican, the
center, the Pharisee and the center that went into the temple
to pray. Two men went into the temple
to pray. It says there that the Lord gave
that parable because there were certain there which trusted in
themselves that they were righteous. That's why He gave that parable.
Because there were certain in the presence that trusted in
themselves that they were righteous. I hope no one is here right now
trusting in himself or herself that he or she is righteous.
I hope no one is in this room right now trusting that he or
she in himself or herself is righteous before God. Because
the Lord said in that parable, that man or that woman will never
be justified in my eyes. He or she will never enter in,
never. The one who was justified was
the one who smote upon his breast, crying, God, be merciful to me. I'm the center. You see me in
that man right there. The first one said, do you see
me in that man right there? Oh, I'm nothing like him. The
second one said, do you see me in that man right there? Oh,
I'm nothing like him. I'm the center. I'm the sinner,
and God said, that's the one who went home justified. Our
Lord said right here in Mark 2, he referred to himself as
the physician. And he referred to all those
that he came to save as the sick. He is illustrating salvation
as a hospital. It's a hospital. He said, those
who are well don't need a hospital. and they won't be admitted into
the hospital. You don't admit a person who's
well. You don't admit a person who
is well. You admit a person who's sick. And I mean sick. You don't admit
a person who needs to be given an aspirin and sent on his way.
You admit a person You prepare a place for a person. The physician operates only on
the person who is sick, truly sick. Hospitals are for the sick. Here's the declaration. Hospitals
are for the sick. And salvation is for sinners.
It's for sinners. Now, let me ask our question
again. Are you a sinner? Am I a sinner? We need to make
sure. We need to make sure because
the call of salvation is for true sinners. Not part sinners. Not half sinners. Crown of the head to sole of
the foot sinners. I mean sinners. Back in Leviticus,
God gave his commandment concerning leprosy. He said, if a man has
one little spot on his flesh, if he has just one little spot
on his flesh, pronounce him unclean and cast him out. But he said, if he's covered
from the crown of his head to the sole of his foot, with the
evidence of this horrible disease, pronounce him clean and welcome
him into the city. Now why would God say it that
way? Because He's God and He can do as He pleases. It's a
dangerous, dangerous thing in our own eyes to be little sinners. And that's what most people believe
they are, little sinners. Yeah, oh yeah, I'm a little sinner.
I tell a little white lie every now and then. It's a dangerous,
dangerous thing to be a little sinner. Mostly righteous, just
a little sin. Dangerous thing. Christ does
not receive those who trust in themselves that they are at all,
at all righteous. This is our only hope. Get rid
of all self-righteousness. get rid of all self-righteousness,
and come before Him as a head-to-toe, inside-to-out, through-and-through
sinner." A sinner. Are you a sinner? Are you a sinner? I mean a real sinner. If so, the news gets better.
All right? I have good news and it gets
better. Go with me back to the text. Luke 15. The middle of verse 2 says, This
man receiveth. This man receiveth. That's present
tense. That means right now. Right now. Thank God that does
not say this man received sinners. There was a time when this man
received sinners. He is right now receiving sinners. Right now. Are you a sinner? Today is the day of salvation. Somebody is going to hear this
and they're going to say, I know that this is so. I know that
today is the day of salvation. Yeah, I know that. I hear that
and I know that today's the day of salvation, but I'm such a
sinner. I am such a sinner. You don't
understand what kind of sinner I am. I would love it if somebody would
say that. I'd love it if I'd said that.
You just can't enter into what kind of sinner I am. I understand
he came for sinners, but Sin has never been so great as it
is in me. If that's the case, that ought
to give us all the more confidence to come. That ought to give us assurance
like no other. If that is the case, that is
exactly who he said he receives. Had it said, this man receives
the righteous, then you might want to back up from coming to
him. You might want to think twice about that. Because there's
none righteous, no not one. If that was the case, then I
wouldn't come to him at all. Because all of our righteousnesses
are filthy rags before him. We would come in filthy rags,
but that's not what it says. It says, this man receiveth sinners. The more confident that we are
in our sin, the more assurance that ought to give us to go. I've seen signs in the windows
of jewelry stores and pawn shops in different places. And the
sign says, we buy gold. Seen those signs? We buy gold. Everybody wants to buy your gold.
And people get all excited. They got a whole bunch of jewelry
they don't wear anymore. So I'm going to go round up all
my old jewelry, get all that gold or whatever it is I have
that I don't want, and I'm going to take it to them. And they'll
give me a big pile of cash, and I'll be on my way. I've known
people who have rounded up all their gold, and taken it to those
places, and after they test it, come to find out it's not pure
gold. In some cases, it's not gold
at all. And do you know those stores
will not receive it? They will not receive it. If
it's not pure, they will not receive it. And they end up walking
away empty-handed, disappointed. The more confident that a person
is when they go to those places, the more confident they are that
this is pure gold, the more assurance that ought to give them to go.
This place receives gold. The same thing applies for our
sin. The more confidence we have in our sin, the more awareness that we have
of our sin, the more assurance we ought to
have to go. This man receives sinners. He receiveth. Right now. He is right now receiving
sinners. Let's go to Him. In our heart. Everything is in the heart. Let's
go to Him. Right now. Come to Him. Right now. Just
as you are. Just as I am. Somebody will say, but I haven't
cleaned up anything yet. Don't you think I ought to clean
up first? Absolutely not. Absolutely not. The more you
clean it up, the less assurance you can have of being received. Fall on your heart's knees. This
is what I need to do. This is what we all need to do.
Let's fall on our heart's knees. Crying, Lord, I am a sinner. I hear your call, so I'm coming
to you. I'm coming because of your blood.
I'm coming because of your mercy. I'm coming because you receive
sinners. This is why I come. Why come
to the Lord Jesus Christ? Why come? Because he receives
sinners. I'm coming because you receive
sinners. And that's what I am. After Noah
finished building the ark, He and his family sat inside that
ark for seven days. They sat there seven days with
the door wide open. The door to that ark was wide
open. For seven days, any soul who needed salvation from the
destruction to come could enter into that ark. The hardness of man's own heart
would not enter in. Would not enter in. And after
God shut the door, it was too late. At that point, it was too
late. Even though that wooden ark,
that wooden boat only received eight souls, there was a moment
when it was said, this ark receiveth sinners. This ark is receiving
sinners. Are you in need? This ark is
receiving right now. Concerning us and our sin, Christ
is that ark. Christ is that ark and that time
is right now. This man. This man, Christ Jesus,
the God man. You know, it wouldn't be a shock,
it wouldn't be a great wonder at all if the announcement was
the adversary receiveth sinners. It shouldn't be a great shock
at all if the announcement was other sinners are right now receiving
sinners. But it says this man This spotless, holy, sinless
man. Why would this man receive sinners? The song says, for he alone is
able to save. That's why. He's the only one
able to save them. That's why he receives sinners. Call his name Jesus. For he shall
save his people from their sins. For this cause came he into the
world. He came to break his body. He
came to shed his blood that he might deliver his people from
all their sin. A man saved us. This man. Not a doctrine. A man. Not a decision. A man. unto him, unto him that loved
us and washed us from our sins in his own blood. Behold the
man. Come see a man. Don't you love
that story of the woman at the well crying, Come see a man.
Come see a man. This man receiveth sinners. Sinners, the Lord Jesus will
receive. How glorious is it that this
is the message right now. On that day that he returns,
the door will be shut. It's open right now. Sinners,
the Lord Jesus will receive. Sound this word of grace to all
who the heavenly pathway leave All who linger, all who fall. Sing it over and over again. Christ receiveth sinful men. Make the message clear and plain. Christ receives sinful men. He receives sinful men. Sinful
men. All the good news is for sinners. All the good news is for sinners. That means all the good news
is for us. That's what we are. If you're a sinner, just like
me, run to Him. If you're a sinner, and you've
heard this a thousand times before, here's a thousand and one, run
to Him. Run to Him. Run to Him in the
heart. Lord Jesus, I come. I come. Run to Him. He will receive you,
and He will in no wise cast you out. No whys. All right, let's
all stand together.