From the book of Luke, if you
want to turn to Luke chapter 15. Luke chapter 15. This is a place where the Lord
Jesus Christ has just come from the house of a man who was a
publican. A publican is like a politician
or a tax collector. Somebody that most people don't
like because they're always taking money from people. They were
people that lied in order to get money. They tricked people.
They took their money and they were not liked. at all, really. Nobody really liked publicans,
these politicians who collected taxes and did so in order to
make themselves rich. They were called covetous people
because they wanted things for themselves. They didn't care
about others. They didn't care if they were poor. They would
take the money anyway. These are the kind of people
that people liked. to hate. They didn't like them.
So we're going to read about some of these people called publicans
today in Luke chapter 15. Before we do, I want to ask the
Lord to help us. Let's pray. Dear Father, we pray
that you would help us as we read your word. We pray that
you would open it to us as your children, as the sheep of the
Lord Jesus Christ. Make it real to us. Teach us
the truth. We pray in Jesus' name. Amen.
In Luke chapter 15 and verse 1, I'm just going to read the
first seven verses of Luke 15. Jesus is in a place and it says,
"...then drew near to Him all the publicans and sinners for
to hear Him." Publicans, they were sinners. All these people
came near to the Lord Jesus Christ to hear Him. They wanted to be
with him. And the next verse says, And
the Pharisees and scribes murmured. To murmur means to complain,
show that you don't like what's going on. And the Pharisees and
the scribes were the Jewish leaders and teachers who thought that
God loved them and approved of them because of what they did.
And these Pharisees and scribes complained because the publicans
and sinners came to Jesus. But this is why they mostly complained.
It says, this man, Jesus, receives sinners and eats with them. So they were complaining because
the Lord Jesus allowed sinners to come to Him. In fact, he liked
to have sinners come to him. That's what he wanted. That's
what he had told them. He said, and the threat of God's punishment
because of our sin. And they came to Him in order
that they might find acceptance with God from the Lord Jesus
Christ. These sinners came to Him for
that. But the Pharisees and scribes, they complained about that and
they accused Jesus of something. They said, He receives sinners.
He's the friend of sinners. In Matthew 11 verse 19 it says,
He is the friend of sinners. And they thought that would be
a reproach to the Lord. They thought that would make
Him feel ashamed because they said, you receive sinners. But
actually, that wasn't for His reproach, that was for His honor. Because He came into the world
for this purpose, to save sinners. In 1 Timothy 1 and verse 15 it
says, this is a faithful saying, that Christ Jesus came into the
world to save sinners. And the Apostle Paul said, of
whom I am chief. So a preacher of the gospel,
the Apostle Paul said, I'm the chief of sinners. But these men,
they didn't like it that sinners came to Jesus because they thought
they were better. They weren't sinners. They didn't
think they were, but they were. But they didn't come to Jesus
because of that. But it was the reason the Lord Jesus came into
the world to save sinners. Now, do you want to be one of
these kind of people? Would you want to be the publicans
and the sinners here? Or would you want to be the scribes
and the Pharisees? The publicans and sinners came
to the Lord Jesus Christ. Why did they come? They came
because they were sinners. They came because they needed
a Savior who could save them from their sins. Their sins made
them the object of God's judgment. There was only one way out. One
way to be free from their sins. One way to be free from the judgment
of God. That was through the Lord Jesus
Christ. And so the Lord Jesus is going to speak a parable.
He's going to teach them something. And in verse 3 it says, And he
spake this parable to them, to the scribes and the Pharisees.
I have a story to tell you. I'm going to teach you something.
And this is what he said. What man of you, having a hundred
sheep, if he lose one of them, does not leave the ninety and
nine in the wilderness and go after that which is lost until
he find it? So here's the story. If you had
a hundred sheep, Jesus said, and one of those sheep was lost,
wouldn't you go and find your sheep? In verse 5 he says, And
when this man who had a hundred sheep and one was lost, when
he had found this lost sheep, he lays it on his shoulders rejoicing
he was so glad that he found his sheep. Rejoicing means to
have great gladness and joy. And it says, And when he comes
home with his sheep on his shoulders, he calls together his friends
and neighbors, and he says to them, Rejoice with me, for I
have found my sheep which was lost. Now, this story is meant
to teach these men who complained and tried to bring reproach on
Christ because he received sinners. He told them this story so they
would understand this is why he came. Just like a man who
had a hundred sheep and one was lost, who would go out and look
for his sheep, find his sheep, and put it on his shoulders and
then bring it home. So the Lord Jesus Christ came
from heaven. He is the Son of God. He is God
Almighty. He knows all things. He can do
anything. And He chose in His desire of
His heart to come into this world to be born as a baby. God came
and was born as a baby, the Son of God. And He took our nature
and He grew up. He became a man. And as a baby
and as a man, all that God is, He was. And he did that in order
that he might come to save one lost sheep. How would he do that? Well, we know from other places
that he himself bore our sins in his own body, so that he might
bring us to God, removing our sins from us, in order that we,
like the publicans and sinners, might be accepted by God. And
every Republican and sinner who hears this good news, they come
to the Lord Jesus Christ. They're glad to be able to come
to Him. And He's even more glad to have
them come to Him. Why is He more glad? Because
this is why He came. He loved to save sinners. And
so verse 7 says, I say to you, This is the Lord Jesus talking
to these men. He says, Now I say to you, listen carefully, that
likewise, just like this man who found the one lost sheep
and brought it home and all of his friends were gathered together
to have a huge celebration because of the lost sheep that was found.
He says, Likewise, joy shall be in heaven over one sinner
that repents. more than over 99 just persons
which need no repentance. Because the scribes and the Pharisees
didn't think they needed to repent. They thought, we're good enough.
We don't need a savior because we're not really that bad. But these others, they were so
bad, they knew there was only one way to be accepted by God. Someone else had to save them.
And that someone else is the Lord Jesus Christ. And He came
into the world to do that. He took our place. before God. He substituted himself. He bore the sins of his sheep
as his sins before God, and then he endured all the punishment
we deserve for those sins in his own body on the tree. That's
why he was crucified. And after he was crucified, they
buried him. But because he put away our sins,
therefore God raised him from the dead. because he was perfectly
righteous before God. Not only did he rise from the
dead, but all those whose sins he bore were raised with him.
God justified them. And so these men came to the
Lord Jesus. Jesus said that there's more
joy in heaven over this one sinner that repents than over 99 just
persons or righteous persons, people who think in themselves
they're righteous, that need no repentance. So now the question
comes, which one of these people are you? Which one am I? Well, I want to be one of those
saved by the Lord, don't you? Because my sin is something too
great for me. I can't come to God with my sin. I can't take it away. I can't
make myself better. God has to do something. Notice
Jesus said here that they were rejoicing over one sinner that
repents. How did this sinner repent in
this parable? Well, it's interesting. The sheep
was the one who was lost. The lost sheep went astray. That's
what sheep do. They get away from where they
ought to be and they're lost. They don't know how to get back.
That's what we are. The Lord compares himself to
a shepherd and he compares his people to sheep. And he says,
we are like those who go astray from the shepherd, the one who
takes care of us and feeds us, clothes us and waters us, and
makes sure that nothing hurts us. That's what the shepherd
does. But when the shepherd went after the sheep, now the shepherd
is the one who found his sheep missing. The shepherd went out
and found that sheep and put it on his shoulders and brought
that sheep home. How did the sinner repent? It was the work
of the shepherd. Do you see? The shepherd actually
went after the sheep and brought the sheep home. So the sinner
who repents turns in his mind, because that's what repentance
means. It means to have a change of mind. To change our minds. But we can't change them. And
in the Old Testament it says, can the leopard change his spots? Can the Ethiopian change his
skin? Well, then no more can you, who
are accustomed to doing evil, change, because you're sinners.
God has to do something, and the Lord Jesus Christ did that.
When He came and He took the sins of His people, He washed
those sins from them before God, made them clean, and then He
sent His Spirit through the preaching of his word to call them, and
he calls them with an irresistible call. So they come to him, and
they're glad, like these publicans and sinners. These publicans
and sinners were rejected by men. Men took God's word, and
they used it as a weapon to beat these publicans and sinners.
They took God's law, which was meant to show them that they
were sinners, And they thought, well, we have no problems. So
they used it in order to compare themselves to others and find
problems with them so they could feel good about themselves. But
they didn't understand that God's word is meant to expose us as
guilty before God and helpless to do one thing about it. And
so that we need a savior. And then he shows us the Lord
Jesus Christ. And then like these public and
sin sinners, We come to Him and we hear His words. Notice, that's
what it says, they came to, they drew near to Him to hear from
Him. Why did they want to hear from
the Lord Jesus? Because what He spoke to them was the best
news they had ever heard, that God receives sinners. How? By the Lord Jesus Christ,
the substitute for sinners. Jesus came into the world to
save sinners. He had to be born. He had to
become a man. He had to become a man in order
to bear the sins of his people as his own sins and then die
as a man with those sins under the wrath of God in order to
take God's wrath away from us to satisfy his justice. And that
was an obedience that he rendered to God so holy, so complete,
that he established an everlasting righteousness in his work on
the cross. And then he clothes his sheep with that robe of righteousness,
and God receives them for Jesus' sake. That's the only reason
God will accept a sinner. I don't want to be like the scribes
and the Pharisees, do you? But that's what we're like by
nature. By nature, we naturally judge other people. Look at that
man over there. He's got problems that I don't
have. He has habits I don't have. He must be a sinner. Oh, He is. You can bet that He is. But so
are you. In fact, the Lord Jesus says
there's joy in heaven over one sinner that repents. More than
over 99 that don't need repentance. At least they don't think they
do. Because there's no joy in heaven over the 99. Because they
never saw themselves as sinners. They never came to the Lord Jesus
Christ to be saved by His grace alone. By His work alone. They thought all the time, I've
got to make myself better. I've got to keep all these rules
and regulations. I've got to get myself right
with God. And they didn't realize that God's word is not meant
for us to make ourselves right with God. It's for us to see
that God, by his son, has made his people right with himself.
God, it says in Romans 5.10, has reconciled us to himself
by the death of his son. He made peace with us by the
death of his son. Now that's a love we can't understand,
is it? Can we understand that love?
I can't. I can barely understand it. God
has to give it to us. The way he does is he breaks
us down. He shows us you're helpless. You are a guilty and helpless
sinner. And you have only one hope. Look
to the Lord Jesus Christ. Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ. Aren't you glad for the Lord
Jesus Christ? Aren't you glad that God had enough wisdom and
that he had enough grace that he sent his only begotten son
into the world that we might live by him? If this is the delight
of your heart, if you see in Christ coming and sinners coming
to Him, you see the compassion of the Lord Jesus Christ, and
you're drawn to Him as a sinner, you have to have Him. You have
to have Him to save you, and you are glad that He saves without
your help, but by His grace alone. Then you're a sinner for whom
Christ came. You're one. of these publicans
and sinners drawn to the Lord Jesus Christ. Let's pray. Dear Lord, thank you for sending
your only begotten son into the world. Thank you for giving him
up for us who are guilty and helpless in our sins. Thank you
that his power and his power alone can save us from all that
we are by nature. And bring us to yourself, even
though you're holy, he's removed every barrier. And he can give
to us this repentance and this faith that we need to know you
and love you in our heart. We pray, Lord, you would write
upon our heart your grace in the Lord Jesus Christ, our only
Savior, and you would cause us to delight in him and see that
he rejoices because this is the joy of his heart. Thank you for
these you've gathered here today. Lord, I pray you'd give them
grace to hear your word and in their hearts be drawn to the
Lord Jesus Christ that they want to hear from him. In Jesus' name
we pray, amen.