Good morning. I invite your attention to the
gospel according to Luke, chapter 15. The gospel according to Luke,
chapter 15. The chapter has been read in our
hearing already this morning, and the three parables that were
read to you explain one truth, and that one truth is our Lord's
answer to those scribes and Pharisees who murmured and complained This man receives sinners and
eats with them. That's the title of my message.
This man receives sinners. It was said on the occasion when
publicans or tax collectors and sinners had drawn near to him. These were the people who were
attracted to our Lord sinners. And the worst epithet that his
enemies could raise against him was, this man receives sinners. He takes their term of derision
and turns it into a badge of honor.
This man receives sinners. If you're a sinner, that's good
news for you. Hope I can find one this morning. I hope and pray that I'm not
the only sinner in this building this morning. I've got good news, but it's
only for sinners. And my good news is this, it
is the complaint and the murmur of his enemies, this man receives
sinners and beats with them. Let's just take this phrase and emphasize the various words
in it and let it more or less explain itself. Let's emphasize
that word, sinners, first of all. This man receives sinners. Now, what is a sinner? That's
one with sin. This is one who has sin, is sin,
and does sin. Sin is any lack of conformity
to the holy and righteous law of Jehovah. Sin is either in
act, or disposition, or state. Sin is what you do, and how you
think, and what you are. And all are sinners because God's
Word declares that all have sinned. Now, Christ receives none but
sinners, but He does not receive all sinners. He did not receive the Pharisees
and the scribes who here rejected Him. He did not receive those
that were too holy and too righteous to approach Him and saw no need
to approach Him. Our Lord received only those
sinners who, here according to the text, drew near to Him. They drew near to Him. He received
them. Now let me describe for you the
various kinds of sinners that our Lord receives. First of all,
our Lord receives nationally repugnant sinners. These are those who are repugnant
to good national people. There is a class of people in
every state, in every country, and in every nation that is repugnant
to the patriotic of that place. In World War II, there were people
confined to camps merely because they were associated with the
country with which this country had gone to war. They may have
been as patriotic as anyone else among us, but because their facial
features were different, they were considered unpatriotic. There is in every such society
of people whom the patriotic consider not as good as the rest
of us, they say. In ancient Judea, these were
the publicans, or tax collectors. The Romans ruled Israel, had
conquered Palestine, and they wanted taxes from their subjects. Romans were not only great in
military mind, they were astute politically as well. They collected high taxes from
Israelites, but they did not employ Romans to do it. They
employed Jews to collect taxes from the Jews for the Romans. And furthermore told them, you
are to get this much tax from this place and whatever else
you get, we'll turn a blind eye to that, that's yours. And these
men, these tax collectors or public figures were called publicans. They were hated because they
were Jews employed by Romans to take advantage of Jews. And
they were paid handsomely for it. They were rich. They were
not known for their honesty. And yet our Lord calls such nationally
repugnant sinners unto Him. There's Matthew or Levi, the
tax collector. There's Zacchaeus, the chief
tax collector. And there is that tax collector
who was too afraid to even look God in the face, who prayed in
the temple one day, God, be merciful to me, the sinner. The Lord received
him, because this man receives sinners, nationally repugnant
sinners. And our Lord receives socially
immoral sinners. These were those sinners who
drew near to Jesus. These are sinners whom we are
told will never inherit God's kingdom otherwise. We read that
these include fornicators, idolaters, adulterers, homosexuals, sodomites,
thieves, covetous, drunkards, revilers, and extortioners. Folks,
these are the dregs of society, and our Lord receives them. How
do we know? Because those words were found
in 1 Corinthians 6 verse 9, and Paul quoted them in describing
the worst sort of people there are. And then he said, and such
were some of you. He tagged me. He tagged you. These were the
immoral people that the Lord receives. And such were some
of you. Our Lord receives spiritually
dead sinners. And the scribes and Pharisees
complained against His disciples, saying, Why do you eat and drink
with tax collectors, publicans, and sinners? And Jesus answered
and said to them, Those who are well have no need of a physician,
but those who are sick. So our Lord receives Sick sinners. I know something about what it
is to not go to the doctor because I'm a man and men do not get
sick. We do not need doctors. Most
of us men are convinced that a man does not need a doctor
until he requires an ambulance to take him. then perhaps he
needs a doctor. Only sick people go to doctors.
We just don't go. We're not sick. But we all are
sick. We were born with leprosy, spiritual
leprosy. We are all like an unclean thing,
lepers. And our sickness, if left untreated,
is always fatal. Some are spiritually numb, so
numb as to be insensitive to their sickness. And others use
home remedies, such as self-righteousness and self-wholeness, in the hope
that it will go away. Some resort to charlatan selling
snake oil, in the hope that the bite and the venom from the serpent
will depart. But this disease is always fatal
if left untreated. And the only remedy is found
in the great physician. And no one goes to him except
those who are sick. And all who are sick and go to
him are received by him because this man receives sinners. spiritually sick sinners. This
man receives totally unrighteous sinners. He says, I have not
come to call the righteous but sinners to repentance. And although
no man is righteous in God's sight, because there is none
that is righteous, no, not one, there are many who are self-righteous,
boasting of their filthy rags. boasting of their personal righteousness. Well, I say to you that if you
have the least shred of personal righteousness, Jesus Christ did
not call you. He did not come to call the righteous. He came to call sinners. Now, if I can find an unrighteous
sinner this morning, If I can find someone who says there is
nothing at all righteous about me, I have never performed a
righteous deed, I have never uttered a righteous word, I have
never imagined a righteous thought, everything about me is unrighteous,
I've got good news for you. That's the only kind of people
Jesus calls. The only kind He receives. He
receives totally unrighteous sinners. Our Lord saves and calls and
receives grace-needing sinners. In John chapter 6 we read that
many followed Jesus out of curiosity because they desired miraculous
healing or food. Religion picked up on that, knows
that if you feed people and perform miracles or whatever, they'll
flock to you. Well, Jesus was feeding them, and Jesus was healing
them, and they were following Him. And then He sat down to preach
the gospel to them. He spoke to them of the inability
of their will, the absence of their free will, and the necessity
of God's sovereign grace and salvation. He said, this is the
work of God that you believe in Him whom He sent. Lord, I
think believing is our part. No. This is the work of God that
you believe in Him whom He sent. God must do it all. This is the
work of God, he says. Now he's got their attention.
He declares, all that the Father gives to me. He's talking about sovereign
election, folks. All that the Father gives to
me will come to me. That sounds like an irresistible
call. And the one who comes I will
by no means cast out. Sounds like eternal security
to me. No one can come to me unless
the Father who sent me draws him. Sounds like inability of
the man to me. Therefore, everyone who has heard
and learned from the Father comes to Me. It is the Spirit who gives
life. Your flesh profits nothing. The
words that I speak to you are Spirit and they are life. And
therefore, just in case you missed it the first time I said it,
let me repeat. I have said to you that no one
can come to Me unless it has been granted to him from My Father. Well, folks, he has preached
the gospel now about as clearly as it can be preached. He has
set forth the inability of man. He has declared God's free and
sovereign grace and salvation. He's declared sovereign election. He's declared a definite atonement
and irresistible call and a perseverance and a preservation. And many
of his disciples said, this is a hard saying. Don't think we wish to follow
you anymore. And off they went. Folks, there evidently were thousands.
Our Lord had just fed thousands. Now He looks and they're all
walking away. There's only 12 left. Out of
a thousand, only 12. He looks and says, well, would
you like to leave also? It won't hurt me. You go ahead. And Peter says, Lord, to whom
shall we go? You have the words of eternal
life. Here is a man who knows he needs
grace. And he can obtain it nowhere
else. And our Lord receives that kind of man, that kind of woman. Our Lord receives grace-needing
sinners. These were the sinners who drew
near to hear Him. These are all who were drawn
by God's free and sovereign grace to His Son, Jesus Christ, and
He receives them. Now let's look at that word receives. Second point, emphasize receives. This man receives sinners. Now this word in the original
text and the language in which it was written, it has a meaning
that is considerably more than merely receiving. Our Lord does
receive. But the language in which our
New Testament was written is the most precise language known
to man. And this word means to not only
receive sinners, but it indicates a welcoming or an appropriating
reception. He not only receives sinners,
he welcomes them. He greets them warmly. This is the word that is used
to describe the attitude of ancient saints who looked for redemption
and were waiting for the kingdom of God. They not only looked
for it and waited for it, they welcomed it and longed for it
deeply and intently. This word is used of present-day
saints who are looking for the blessed hope and glorious appearing
of our great God and Savior. We're looking for, same word,
looking for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ unto eternal
life. Our Lord not only receives sinners,
but He's looking for them and welcomes them and receives them
warmly. I say to you, You come to Christ
and you'll receive a welcome like you never received in your
life. The meaning here is that our
Lord not only receives sinners, but He looks forward to their
coming to Him. His attitude is described by
the Father in the third parable in the chapter of the Father
who's had a son who's run away left home and this father is
looking for his son to return and will have welcomed the boy
received when his father received him. I had a son who ran away. I know the broken heart of a
father and of a mother whose son has run away from home. I have seen a mother spend hour
after hour in front of a window looking out the front waiting
for her boy to come home. I have been the father whose
son sent word home, wanted to know if he could come home. And I'm the father who told,
sent word to his son, you'll be received like you never were
received. Come home. Come home. And there's that old father on
top of that Israelite house, and he looks
down that road. Someone is plotting home. It's not the same footstep that
was light and airy when it left. Someone is trudging down that
road. I'm not sure, but that looks
like it might be my boy. Does it look like him when he
left? Looks like a bunch of tattered rags. I believe that's my boy. And that father runs out of that
house like that mother would have run from her window to receive
her boy come home. That father ran out and he received
that boy. Oh, he did more than receive
him. That boy received a welcome like he never received anywhere
else. That's the way that Jesus welcomes
sinners when they come home. Oh, he receives you alright. He looks forward to your coming. He longs for his children to
come home. And when they do, He receives
them like they never will be received anywhere else. I say
to you, sinner, sinner, come home. Come to Christ. He Himself declares that my angels will rejoice when
my son, when my daughter comes home, and I'll receive them.
I'll receive them. And the angels around God's throne
will shout. And there will be joy in heaven,
more joy in heaven over one sinner who repents and comes to Christ
than over 99 just persons who need no repentance. Now come,
sinner, come. I tell you, this man receives
sinners. I mean receives sinners. Third, this man receives sinners. This man. We will contrast this
man to that other Jesus, if you will. That other Jesus does not receive sinners. That
other Jesus receives only the self-righteous. In order to be
received by that other Jesus, you must qualify yourself with
your pharisaical self-righteousness. And that other Jesus receives
those who do what He requires. I say that other Jesus, there
are multitudes of them. But in one sec, they say, our
Jesus receives the Sabbath-keeping. Our Jesus receives the circumcised. Our Jesus receives the law-observing. Our Jesus receives the baptized. Our Jesus receives none but those
good folk who are qualified to join our religion. That's how
you get into their churches. You qualify yourself, and when
you do, their Jesus receives you. I say to you that this Jesus
does not receive that sort. These come without condition. These come unqualified. This
Jesus that I preach to you, this man receives sinners. They come
to him without money, without price, without condition, without
qualification. They come to Him for salvation because
they do not deserve it, cannot earn it, and will not merit it. And that's the only kind of sinner
this man receives. That other Jesus does not receive
sinners, but rather that other Jesus rejects them. And we know
that by the conduct of that other Jesus' disciples. We see them hurling their disparaging
epithets against sinners at the clinics. There are medical clinics
those folk don't like, so they do protests against them and
hurl epithets, calling them murderers and such names as that. They go to stores that sell literature
that they don't like and call them sinners inside and looking
around. They protest against businesses
they consider sexually immoral and say, you need to be good
like us and stop this stuff that you're doing. They do their protests,
and their marches, and their crusades. Those of that Jesus. This Jesus that I preach to you,
never participated in a protest march. Never protested in any moral
business. And they were all around Him.
All around Him. He never talked about the immorality
of his rulers, though immoral they were. He did not go on moral crusades
and pass around petitions against this and that. He didn't do it.
He did not hurl the epithet, sinner, at people. Rather, he
told them, sinners come, come to me. I receive your sword. That other Jesus rejects them.
This one receives them. Not only does he receive them,
but he washes them, sanctifies them, justifies them, saves them
and makes them glorious even in his own sight. But now wait a minute, creature,
does he never criticize anyone? Does he not have epithets against
anyone? Yes, he does. Why does he not hurl his epithets
against sinners? Because he hurls his epithets
against the self-righteous and the self-holy. Woe to you, scribes
and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you shut up the kingdom of
heaven against men, for you neither go in yourselves, nor do you
allow those who are entering to go in, but I will receive
every reject you can turn my way." This man receives sinners. Fourth and last, this man receives
sinners And observe this, he eats with them. He eats with
them. He eats with them in their houses. There's Levi, tax collector. He has a booth on the highway. He's assessing the goods that
go up and down that highway in the caravans. He's charging tax to use the
road. He's assessing those goods and
charging tax. And he's probably crooked like
all the rest of those publican tax collectors. Jesus walked
up the highway one day and looked at Levi, said, you sir,
you come with me. And Levi did, and Jesus received
him. Levi, or Matthew, was so excited
at being received by this man that he made a feast and invited
a bunch of other sinners, like himself. Made a great feast for
them, and they came. And the Pharisees and scribes
all gathered around and they criticized because this man has
gone to the house of a tax collector. Here's another one. Down in Jericho,
a chief tax collector, a very rich man, and he's heard that Jesus will
come through Jericho. As a matter of curiosity, he
wants to see Jesus. He's too short, so he climbs
a tree. He's up there hoping to get a
glimpse of Jesus, and unbeknownst to him, Jesus has come to town
just for him. He's looking for him. Looking
for whom? The chief tax collector. And Jesus looks around and doesn't
see Zacchaeus. But he's looking for him. Because
the Son of Man came to seek and to save that which is lost. And there he's spying. The man
he has never seen before, except from eternity when God identified
him to it. Zacchaeus! I'm looking for you. Come on down." And he came down. Lord, what would you want to
do with me? I came here so I could eat in your house today. And
I'm receiving you. And he did. And they said, he's
gone to the house of a tax collector, a publican. Does he not know? Yes, he knew. Because that's
the kind of people he came to save. And he eats in their houses. And then he eats with them in
his own earthly house, his church. These sinners are saved and added
to his church. It is the house of God. And they
gather at a table periodically to dine on him, to eat his flesh,
and to drink his blood. And he says, and where two or
three are, I am there. And they commune with him, and
he with them, because he eats with them in his house. Furthermore, he will eat with
sinners in his heavenly house. He says, Blessed are those servants
whom the Master, when He comes, will find watching. Assuredly,
I say to you that He will gird Himself and have them sit down
to eat, and will come and serve them. He eats with sinners in their
houses. He eats with sinners in His earthly
house. And he will eat with sinners who no longer will be sinners
in his heavenly house. And the Master will feed them. And he will eat with them. Sinners. Oh, can I find a sinner today? Is
there a sinner here today? Religion will reject you until
you're good enough to join them. Jesus receives religions rejects. Jesus receives sinners. Jesus receives the most immoral
people you can find. such as sinners. Jesus receives
the most dishonest people you can find, such as publicans and
tax collectors. Jesus receives the chief of sinners. And I know because He received
me, this man receives sinners. Now, come to Christ.