William Cooper is how you pronounce
his name. The man talks about sinners plunged,
guilty, dying thieves. There may I, though vile as he,
though vile as he. Present tense, he wrote that. Only sinners Appreciate the gospel. And I want the sinners to write
good hymns. Luke chapter 5. This is going to be a very, very
simple, very basic message. Our visitors are not here, Mindy.
It never fails. People call and tell you they're
going to show up. And I think about them while
I'm preparing a message, you know. I think they need to hear
this. This will be good. Just what
they need to hear. And they don't show up. I'm telling
you, 100 out of 100 times, that's the way it happens. So it must
be for somebody else. I'll tell you who it's for. This
message is for an old sinner. So there's one of those in here.
And it's simple. Anybody can understand this message.
Very, very simple. Let's read these verses again,
all right? Now, let's read verse 29, Luke
5, 29. Levi made him a great feast,
made Christ a great feast in his own house. And there was
a great company of publicans and of others that sat down with
them. And their scribes and Pharisees
murmured against his disciples, saying, Why do you eat and drink
with publicans and sinners? And Jesus answering said unto
them, They that are whole need not a position, but they that
are sick. I came not to call the righteous,
but sinners to repent." Last week we looked at this fellow
who was a publican, Levi, Matthew. A publican we saw was a As a
rotten fellow, I mean no good. Rotten to the core. They extorted
money from their own people. They got rich off of their own
people. Nobody liked publicans. Nobody
liked publicans. They were kind of like politicians. Nobody liked the publicans. They
had to have them. Kind of like I said, politicians.
Kind of like lawyers. Worse yet, kind of like preachers. Publicans. They likened publicans. They grouped publicans. When
they talked about a publican, they said publicans and sinners. One and the same. Almost like
publicans are the worst. Republicans and even harlots
talked about them in the same sentence. Republicans and harlots
and sinners. Well, when Christ called this
fellow Levi, it says in verse 28 and 29, he left all. He left
everything. He rose up and followed him,
followed Christ. And it says, Levi, this publican,
made him a great feast. in his own house. A great feast
had a huge eating in his own house. And there was a great
company, the Scripture said, of publicans and others. Publicans and others. You can't
imagine what the others were like. Here's this big group of,
you see, Levi was He was rotten, and he invited all his rotten
friends. Everybody in this place was a
bad apple, and others. A great company of them. This
whole house was full of these despicable, lowlife people. Can
you imagine what a crowd this was? This was not a group of
people that you'd want. This was not a party, a place
that you'd want to go or have your daughter or son go. That's right. And yet Jesus Christ was sitting
right in the middle of eating and drinking wine. And the religious people, these
religious people saw this and they just, they couldn't believe
it. They could not believe this.
that this was happening. Now I'm talking Jesus Christ,
the holy. Listen to me now. Jesus Christ,
the holy, righteous. God manifest in the flesh. God
who loveth righteousness and hateth iniquity. It absolutely
repulses his nature. God, the holy, righteous, sinless
Son of God, was sitting right in the middle of this group of
people. I mean, a place, right now, you wouldn't much want to
be within this crowd. I'm just being honest with you.
I wouldn't, probably. The conversation that was going
on, just back to you. Kind of like going to M. Dudley's
stand. Kind of like going to M. Dudley's. That's exactly what it was like.
Did you know this is where you'd find Christ every time? If you wanted to find the Lord
Jesus Christ, you'd find him sitting in the middle of a bunch
of people like this every time. Now, listen to me now. That means that holiness must
be something different than what we think it is. That means Christianity, being
a good Christian, must be something different than what most people
think it is. True religion must make a man act somewhat
different than most people think it makes him act. Am I right? I'm talking about
the Holy Son of God right in the middle of these people. You
say, well, he came to save them all. No, no, he didn't either.
He didn't come to save them all. He came to save, but not all
of them. There's another scripture that
I love and another fellow in here loves. a great deal, it says, common
people heard him gladly. Common people heard him gladly. Who's common people? Well, that'd
been construction. Back then, that'd been construction
workers, construction workers, blacksmiths. Anybody, you ever
met a blacksmith? It's a machinist. That's what
it is to him. It's a machinist. spittin' and a cussin' and a
chewin' and, you know, just mean as snakes. Chew nails. Blacksmith. I know one fella
that does my shooin' for me. I wouldn't want to go to a party
with him. I'm tellin' ya, I wouldn't want to sit down and eat with
him. He can shoo my horse. But I don't want to eat with
him. That's who it was, construction workers, common people. Blacksmiths, fishermen, longshoremen as teamsters. That's who that is, Joe, teamsters. Is there one out of a hundred
that you go home with, teamsters, truckers? Is there? They're a
rotten bunch, aren't they? Turn on your CBs. He says they
heard him gladly. They loved to hear him preach. That means preaching must be
something different than what fellows are doing today. They
love to come hear Jesus Christ preach. Blacksmiths, construction
workers, let's go hear the preacher. He must be saying something that
other people aren't saying. You follow me? Not me. Follow him. They love to come
here. He must be saying something different
than what the average preacher. I'll tell you what happened here.
When Christ would preach, this is what would happen. Religious
people, good man, hated it. Religious people. I mean good,
Sabbath-keeping, respectable Religious people hated what he
had to say. And common people, boy, I like
that. Yes, sir. Oh, man, you've got stuff to
share. It must be something different,
then, than what our generation's doing. Right? Going to church
and a preacher and preaching and all that must be... People do something wrong, aren't
they? They're doing something wrong. Well, here Christ sat right in
the middle of this crowd, a lowlife. And look at verse 30. It says,
Their scribes, he sat down with these publicans and others, and
their scribes and Pharisees murmured, Their scribes, Theirs. Every
one of them had a preacher. They were all religious. Publicans
went to church, too. Their scribes. You see that,
John? their preacher, their priest, their rabbi, their rector, their
reverend. He says they murmured. Read on. Their scribes and Pharisees murmured
against his disciples. You see, they couldn't answer.
They were afraid of him, Christ. They couldn't answer him. They
didn't deal with him. They murmured against them. They
went to them. You notice that? to them murmured against said
something to them. If they said something to him,
he put him to shame. Well, evidently, you see, his disciples were right
here with them, weren't they? You see that? Priest, you see
that evidently? Well, Levi was there. We know
that. And evidently, his disciples were right in the middle of this
group with Christ, sitting with these publicans and sinners,
eating and drinking. And these religious fellows murmured
against things. Have you ever heard this murmuring?
I've heard it. I hear it all the time. Can you believe that? I cannot believe that. Did you
see that? Can you believe it? They murmured. They're supposed to be Christians.
Look what they're doing. Look where they're at. Can you
believe that? And they said to them, they talked
to the disciples, verse 30, they said to them, why are you eating
and drinking with publicans and sinners? Talking to the people,
to these disciples. Why do you eat and drink with
publicans and sinners? Huh? Who else are you going to eat
with? Huh? When it comes right down to it?
You can eat with no good better sinners or church-going sinners,
you know, but they're all sinners. Really, if you think about it,
who else are they going to eat with? Even if a man ate alone, he's
allowed to eat alone. He's eating with a sinner. He's
eating with the most rotten, the chief of sinners. And you
know, this is what many religious groups do, though, you know,
they try to separate themselves from this world of sinners. Many
religious groups of people live to themselves or think they are.
And when they're, when really they're the worst, that's the
worst sort of sinners, these separatists. It's another word
for self-righteousness. God hates that word. Can I be very blunt here? Our
Lord did. God hates it worse than prostitution. I'm not condoning that. Goodness,
that's a vile, despicable thing, but Christ said that publicans
and harlots will get into the kingdom of heaven before Pharisees
and scribes. Christ answered for these fellows. They talked to the disciples,
and Christ answered for them. Now, right there is a good lesson,
isn't it? Isn't that a good lesson, John?
The Word answered for you. They can't stand up to the Word.
They can put you down. They can make you, you know,
belittle you and make you ashamed and leave you without answers,
but not the Word. in their folly. Well, Christ
answered them, verse 31. Jesus answered and said unto
them, They that are whole need not a physician, but they that
are sick. They that are whole need not
a physician, but they that are sick. In other words, in modern
language, people that are healthy and well, don't need a doctor,
only the sick. Now, if I announced this morning, if I stood up and announced this
morning that there is a physician, there is a physician, just one,
but there is a physician who heals leprosy. I mean, completely heals all
leprosy. All right, there's a physician
who heals smallpox. Completely gets rid of smallpox.
Who's interested? There is a physician, there's
only one, but there is a physician who heals completely, eradicates
completely healed, makes completely healthy all who have tuberculosis. Bubonic plague. You know, if I told his name,
everybody in here would forget it. The fellow named George Simonovich
heals leprosy. All lepers, completely healed.
George Simonovich. Thirty minutes later, you will
have forgotten, totally forgotten his name. Right? You don't have
leprosy. You don't have tuberculosis. Right? Well, if I announced there was
a physician who cures cancer Now, as some people might get,
would get real interested, right? As some people, if they even
heard the mention that there's a cure for cancer, whew, man,
they'd clamor to get here. I'm going to announce this morning
that there's a cure for cancer. I'm going to announce this for
the whole world. You'd think this bill, this county wouldn't
hold the people. Right? AIDS there's a position
is one position. Who can absolutely eradicate
AIDS completely totally. And his name is. People would
just be dying to hear his name would be clamoring to hear his
name to get to and I say where is that. That nobody in here is interested. What if I said that every one
of us had cancer? We do. Everybody in here, young and
old, has AIDS. We do. Yes, we do. Cancer is a eating thing. It consumes flesh
until it kills you, destroys you. AIDS is where your immune
system, you're totally, it's totally broken down. You can't
fight off anything. We got it. We have it, young
and old. Cancer, it's called sin. And it's eaten, we're eaten up
with it. And if somebody doesn't do something
about it, it's going to kill us. God's going to kill us. And
AIDS, we have an acquired immune deficiency syndrome. We're not
immune to any temptation, anything of the flesh. We acquired it
from Adam. You young people, just say no. Well, you know, that's good advice.
Just say no to drugs. But I'm telling you, unless God
does something for you, you can't say no. You can't say no. And even if you do say no to
drugs, you can't say no to the temptations of sin. You can't
do it. And you'll fall in a gutter that you may never get out of
unless somebody picks you out of. I don't know. I'm telling you
from experience. This world. See, I'll never fall
prey to this world. You know, I'll never, you know,
young girls, I'll never, I'll never, I'll never that, you'll
never what? By the grace of God, you'll never.
And but by the sovereign grace of God, when he plucked you as
a bran from the burning. That's the only way. Well, it says that only the sick
need a physician. You know, there may be somebody
in here with physical cancer and doesn't know it, right? Experts say that there are literally
millions who have AIDS and don't know it. You know, the symptoms haven't
started showing themselves yet. They said they're millions. They
have AIDS, a fatal disease you're going to die from. They don't
know it. That's the way it is with sin,
too, you know. You know, most people don't know it. Most people
don't know it. They don't know it. Well, all
right, look over at Revelation 3 with me, Revelation 3. Our
Lord said only the sick need a physician. Only the sick. Revelation 3, you know this is
a mercy of God to show a man, show a woman, show a young person
just how sick they are, sin sick. Revelation 3, and here's a great,
here's a real, here's the problem. Our Lord says in Revelation 3
concerning some that don't know they are this way. Look at verse
17. You got it? Revelation 3, verse
17. It says, Because you say, I am
rich and increased with goods and have need of nothing. And
no, it's not. You don't know that you're wretched,
miserable, poor, blind, naked. Because you say you're rich and
increased with goods and have need of nothing. Now here's the
problem. Here's the problem. People don't know they have this
deadly disease called sin, because they're rich in precious goods.
Number one, material goods. Material goods is material good. This generation,
this is the most affluent generation ever. You can talk about Rome,
you can talk about ancient Athens, Greece and these societies Persians
and so on with all their affluence, never, never has there been a
generation like the United States of America that's more affluent.
And I'm talking about us. That has more things, rich and
increased with goods. And so, who has time for God? Ain't nobody
got time for God. Too much to see, too much to
do, you know. Life's a game, and he who ends
with the most toys wins. Life's a game. Rich increase
with goods. Never been a people with more
riches, yet poorer toward God. Listen to this. Listen to this
riddle from the Proverbs. See if you understand what this
riddle means. Solomon, the wisest man who ever lived. gave this
riddle. He said, There is he which maketh
himself rich, yet hath nothing. And there is he which maketh
himself poor, yet has much riches. Material things, rich and increased
with good, moral goods. Scripture talks about He says,
rich and increased with goods, material goods and moral good.
People who have a personal goodness, self-righteousness. The radio
message this morning was on that subject. People going about to
establish their own righteousness, Romans 10. And there's never
been a more religious generation than this one, has there? There's
never been a more affluent. materially wealthy generation,
there's never been a more religious generation than this one. Look
at the church houses, so called. Every corner, literally on every
corner. Never been a more religious generation
than this. A zeal for God and Jesus. Never
been more zeal in the name of Jesus, going about to establish
a righteousness. Yet they know not, Revelation
3 says, they know not that they're wretched. Wretched. Miserable. Miserable. Don't know they're
miserable. Say they're happy and jealous. My pastor always
says that most people have just enough religion to make everybody
around them miserable and make themselves miserable, you know. know not that they're wretched,
miserable, poor, blind, and naked. They know not. They know not.
They know not. They know not. Our Lord said, and I'll go back
to the text there. He said the well don't need a
physician, but they that are sick. We don't go to a doctor
unless we're sick, do we? I mean, really sick. Who was
that doctor, Mindy, that said, told us this? Some doctor we
knew said that, he said this, he said after treating all these,
you know, thumb nails, hang nails and sore throats and sprained
ankles and, you know, all these serious problems that people
would come to him for, he said he was tempted, he said he was
tempted one time to To go out there in the waiting room and
say, is there anybody out here who's really sick? I mean, really
sick. I see you. Everybody go home. Take two aspirin. Now, that was back when they
weren't so money-hungry, you know. That was back when. Now,
they want to see everything mailed. Thirty-five dollars. Thirty-five.
Seventy-five dollars a plate. Unless you have insurance, then
it'll be 35. Unless you don't have insurance, it'll be 35.
Well, it says they don't know. Don't know. My parents raised
us in our family that they just did not take us to the doctor
unless, you know, unless our arm was hanging by one ligament. Severed. Practically severed. Even then, they tried to doctor
it first. And that's just so. And so if
you people, if you call me up, I want you to understand, when
you call me up sometimes trying to get my sympathy for whatever,
you know, I'm not going to, you know, I'm this. And if I don't
react just as, if I don't empathize with you the way you think I
ought to, understand it's my mother's fault. It's my father's
fault. We just didn't go to the doctor
unless it's. Let me tell you about my doctor. This is true. This is true. My family doctor
growing up. As a strong leader in our church. He was his doctor, too, and he
went to him one time and had a knot on his neck. He had a knot on his neck and
he said to the doctor, he said, He said, Dr. So-and-so, he said,
I'm concerned about this knot on my neck. He said, let me look
at it. And he looked at it, and he said, well, I'll tell you
what. He said, you go home, he said, and you come back. He said,
if it gets to the point where everybody's asking you, what's
that knot on your neck? Come back and show me, and we'll
cut it. That was my family doctor. If
it gets to the point where somebody asks you, what's that knot on
your neck? Then come on back. So, you know, we only went to
the doctor if it was serious. And all kidding aside, all joking
aside, all that aside, this gospel is serious. This is serious. This gospel is for sinners. I'm not talking about people
who have marital problems. Marital problems. I see that
all the time. People want my advice and so
forth. One young couple came to me.
They were wanting to get married, and they said, We want to have
a Christian marriage. Well, that's good. I'd like for you to have
one, too. But I told them, I said, You've
got to be a Christian before you can have a Christian marriage. And both of them, I said, I was
just blunt with him. He said, neither one of you know
Christ. How are you going to have a Christian marriage? I
said, I'll tell you what. I said, this Wednesday night,
I said, I'll marry you if you keep coming. If you keep coming
to hear the gospel, I'll marry you. If you keep coming to hear
the gospel and hope the Lord will save both of you, make you
a husband, make you what a husband ought to be, make a wife what
a wife ought to be. Christian. true wife or true husband there
is. You keep coming to hear the gospel. We're going to have a
service this Wednesday night. That was on a Tuesday. We'll
have a service Wednesday night. You come and you keep coming. Show me you're really interested
in having a Christian marriage. Is that hard? Was I being hard
on? You reckon they were there Wednesday
night? No, sir. They weren't serious. Are they
still married? They got married anyway. Are
they married now? No, sir. It lasted about six
months. This is serious. Oh, preacher,
I've got marital problems. Well, come to church. Go to a marriage counselor. I've got financial problems.
Well, there's a loan officer down in First Virginia that'll
get you on a budget, you know. I've got drinking problems. AAA has a meeting down at the
basement of the Lions Club every Thursday night. Go there. I hear
they're doing great things. I'm a sinner. I can't do anything
but sin. Hey, I've got good news. You see,
this gospel is for sinners. Now, I'm talking about religious
or irreligious, and persons that realize they
have a sin problem. Romans 7 centers, that's what
I'm talking about. You know what a Romans 7 center
is? Let me tell you what a Romans 7 center is. I'll quote Romans
7 for you, all right? Here's a Romans 7 center, or
a Psalm 38 center. You know what a Psalm 38 center
is, John? You sure did. You quoted it, didn't you? Here's a Romans 7 sinner who
says, I'm sold under sin. That which I do, what I do is
what I don't want to do. And what I would, what I want
to do, I can't seem to do it. What I hate, that's what I do. He says, I in me dwelleth no
good thing. Oh, wretched man that I am. Here's a man who knows he's wretched,
miserable, poor, blind, and naked. Preacher, I don't understand
the Bible. I'm hearing this over here. I'm
hearing that over there. I don't see. I don't understand. I'm blind. We've got a serious center here,
don't we? And there's none so blind
as religious blindness. Our Lord said, because you say
you see. Religious people have got all
the answers, don't they? All these people have asked me
questions. They're not asking for information. They're not
asking me questions for information. They want to trip me up and want
to tell me something. But for a serious seeker, a serious
sinner, blind, wretched, and you know who it takes to make
a man wretched in his own eyes, miserable, poor, poor in spirit,
blind? I don't understand. I just don't
understand. Naked, naked takes the Spirit of God, that's
it. There's an old wise preacher of the gospel once said this.
See if you can understand that. He said, A sinner is a sacred
thing. The Holy Spirit hath made him
so. Do you understand what that means? A sinner is a sacred thing. The Holy Spirit has made him
so. John 16, 9-11 says when he comes,
he'll convince of sin. Righteous judgment. Well, you
know, like I said, religious and irreligious. Christ said
he didn't come to call the righteous. Look at the next verse. He said,
I didn't come to call the righteous, here in Luke 5, verse 32, but
sinners to repentance. Sinners to repentance. Not the
righteous, self-righteous, that is. There's none righteous. Scripture
says there's none righteous, doesn't it? Doesn't it? Huh? That's what it says, Psalm 14,
Romans 3. It says there's none righteous.
No, not one. There's none that do it good.
No, not one. Well, Christ said the incumbent
is called the righteous. Well, there are no righteous.
Well, there's some who think there are. We said, I didn't come to call
them that think they're righteous, but sinners, those who know themselves
to be nothing but sinners. And do you know, a man can sit,
a man can be self-righteous sitting on a bar stool as much as he
can sitting in a church house. I'm not just talking. I've run
into them. I've run into them. I've heard
them, you know. slobbering and slurring their
speech, saying, I'm just as good as those down at that church
house. Yeah, granted, yes, you are. Have you ever seen any of those?
They're just as self-righteous, huh? I'm just as good as they
are. That's right. It's no good. No, there's nothing good, huh?
That's like that fellow told his wife one time. She wanted
him to go to church with her. I ain't going down there with
those bunch of hypocrites." She said, well, come on, one more
hypocrite won't hurt. Come on, one more won't hurt. You know, God looks on every
human being, whether they're sitting in a pew or sitting on
a bar stool, there's no good in themselves. Is that too hard? There's none righteous, no, not
one. God said, that says in Psalm
14, look down upon the children of men to see if there were any
that did seek after God. He said, they're altogether become
filthy. The word means stinking. There's
none that doeth good, no, not one. There's none righteous,
he said, not one. So a man can be self-righteous
on a bar stool or in a church house. And salvation is when
God makes a man realize this. This is what salvation is. God
makes a man realize that they aren't worth saving, whether
they're religious or irreligious. God makes a man realize that
they're no good. They're just no good, whether
they're dressed up no good or dressed down. No matter where
they're sitting, they're no good. Whether she's on the street or
in the pew, God makes them realize there ain't no good. This gospel talks about mercy.
This gospel is the reason this building is not falling. This gospel talks about mercy.
What's mercy? Well, there's people on Bethel
Road right now that love to have some mercy. They know what mercy would be
if Governor Jim Gilmore would say, we've decided to have mercy
and pardon you. You're going to die today at
7 a.m. But, Governor Jim says, Governor
Jim who's rich in mercy says, set him free. and you who were dead and trespassed
in sin, but God who is rich in mercy." Mercy is for the guilty. This building is not full because
there is nobody guilty. This gospel talks about grace.
What is grace? It is a handout. That is a good
definition of grace. It is a handout. God, everything about us, is
a handout. Comes from his hands. Like his grace, isn't it? A man
can receive nothing except that it be given him. We're charity
cases. Yes, sir. Grace, grace. People don't like that. It's
the independent society, you know. I don't dig This gospel is for helpless,
no-can-doers, no-can-doers, not-do-gooders, no-can-do-gooders. That's who
this gospel is for. And so, consequently, the building
is not full. Peace. The gospel talks about peace.
Peace, peace, peace. God hath said peace. Let peace toward John. What's peace for? Who's peace
for? Let's ask Mephibosheth. That name ring a bell? Let's
ask this fellow named Mephibosheth. Now, he's the son of Saul. And
there's a fellow named David sitting on the throne. David,
the rightful king, God's king, God's anointed, God's elect,
sitting on the throne. There was this fellow named Saul,
who was a rotten, no-good bum. God killed him. who thought he
was king. Everybody followed him. Saul,
Saul, Saul. Well, God killed him. God hated
him. God despised him. Well, Saul had a son. His name
was Mephibosheth. And every time a king got on
the throne, he just wiped out everybody that was in that other
king's family. Just killed them all. Couldn't
have insurrection, you know. Couldn't have somebody rising
up and wanting to be king. Kill them all. Kill them all.
David did. Killed every one of Saul's sons, but one. An old lame fellow sitting down
in a shack, name of his ship. King sent two of his trusty servants
down and said, go down and apprehend, lay hold on him, carry him all
the way up here to the house, sit him right beside me at the
table. I got some good news for him. And boy, when they got a
hold of him, Mephibosheth, he thought, I'm done. I'm done. I'm King Saul's son. He's going
to kill me like he did my brothers. And they brought him up there,
and he thought, surely he's going to slay me. King David's going to slay
me. He is. He wants to see me. He's going to cut my head off.
And King David said, Mephibosheth? He said, yes. He said, I'm going
to have mercy on you for John's sake. That's the kind of sinners God
has sent. Peace. Mephibosheth, peace toward
you for the blood of Jonathan's sake. Look at this, look at what
our Lord says, "...that came not to call the righteous, but
sinners to repentance." Here's repentance. Here's repentance. Mephibosheth said, well, somebody
finally gave me my due. Somebody finally recognized me
for what I'm worth. He loved me because I ought to
be loved. I love myself. Huh? After all there's some good
in me and I just need to be brought out, you know. I just need to
be reformed. Oh yes, I can add something to
King David's court. I have something to add. Here's what my fifth chef said.
Who am I? That you should show such mercy
to a dead dog. I'm roadkill. That's what he
said. Dead dog. Didn't he say it? He stopped on the side of the
road and picked up this dead dog. Go learn what that repentance
is. That's repentance. That's repentance. And, you know,
let me say this, too. I've got to say this. That's
realizing what you are. That's, that's, that's repentance.
That's when God, the Holy Spirit, makes a man or woman realize
what they are. And he has to do it for you,
whether you're in the gutter or whether you're in the pew.
See, I, let me give you an example of this. My sister and I were
poles apart growing up. My sister, when she became a
teen, she was a model child. My sister was a model child.
I mean, just, just, everything admirable in a young girl or
daughter and just obedient and respectful and disciplined and
responsible and just everything. She won everything, award in
school and obedient to the parents, loved them, a dutiful daughter
and all that. services every time she could,
you know, raised up sitting in a pew and just a fine, fine girl. But one day, through the preaching
of the gospel, God convicted her of her sin. See, her sin
was she thought she was a fine girl. She thought because she...