Thank you, Dr. Bell. If you want to turn with me to my
text, you'll find it in Luke's Gospel, Chapter 15. Luke's Gospel, Chapter 15. Good
to see you. Appreciate the Lord's traveling
mercy for all of us. Let us gather tonight as we are.
Luke chapter 15, this is probably the deepest subject I've ever
tried to preach on. And I hope when I announce my
title you don't laugh because I'm serious. This is a subject that the world
knows nothing of. Only faith can enter into this.
And I pray tonight as I try to enter into it and preach on it
that God will give me utterance and he'll give you a heart to
hear and understand. You'll find my text and my title
in verses 1 and verse 2. Luke's Gospel 15. Then drew near
unto him all the publicans and sinners for to hear him. And the Pharisees and the scribes
murmured, saying, This man receiveth sinners, and eateth with them. And my title is found here in
verse 2. This man receiveth sinners. Now I am certain that not only
myself, but no preacher here tonight, has ever preached the
Lord Jesus Christ like he preached himself. I have found through
the years in my preaching that one here and one there, very
few, as I preach draw near to the Savior. But when Jesus Christ
preached Himself, it was said here that all the publicans and
sinners came to hear Him. Oh, that I might, that you might,
preach Jesus Christ in such a way that poor publicans and sinners
would draw near unto Him. The Lord Jesus Christ, the Son
of the blessed God, He comes down here from heaven and joins
Himself to our humanity, never ceased to be what He was before
He left heaven, just as holy in our humanity as He was when
He was there, harmless, undefiled, separate from sinners. And yet
sinners were attracted to him and his message. Isn't that wonderful? Isn't that a mystery? You and
I would be naive, brothers and sisters, to think that these
publicans were good people. They weren't good people. They
lived off of the backs of their Jewish brother. The more they
collected, the more they made. They were dishonest men. They
intimidated men. They defrauded men. That's why
they were despised of their Jewish brother. And these sinners were
not told what kind of people they were here, but were told
elsewhere in the Scripture. They weren't your Miss Chitties
down in Dodge who just kept a few call girls, but she had a good
heart. One of these women that drew
near to the Lord Jesus had seven devils. What was that woman like? You wouldn't have wanted her
around your sons. One man that came to the Lord Jesus had a
legion of devils and lived in the cemeteries naked. One woman had five husbands and
was living with one then that wasn't hers. You wouldn't trust
her around your husband. These weren't decent people.
They were ungodly people. Many of them were open and profane. As you read the epistles, you
find murderers, and thieves, and drunkards, and idolaters,
abusers of themselves with mankind. And yet these same ungodly sinners
and publicans drew near to the Lord Jesus Christ. Now that's a mystery. That's
a deep, deep mystery, is it not? What a mystery. Here's the great mystery of it. They drew near to the one that
would put a stop to their sinful lifestyle. Isn't that a mystery? These publicans had lived in
sin all of their lives and they loved it. They lapped up iniquity
like a thirsty dog would lap up water. And yet they approached
unto the one that would put a stop to their sinful life. That's
a mystery. They drew near Jesus. And the Bible says He received
them. This man receiveth sinners. I want you to look where it began.
Luke tells us, but I want you to look in Matthew chapter 9.
You can leave Luke if you like, and look in Matthew chapter 9. I doubt seriously when these
Republicans first came to hear of the Lord Jesus that they had
an interest in Him at all or what He was saying. We're told
here in Matthew chapter 9 why they came to begin with. The
Lord Jesus had just called Matthew, Levi. He was a publican. And
look here in verse 9. And as Jesus passed forth from
Thames, he saw a man named Matthew sitting at the receipt of customs. He was a publican. And he said
unto him, Follow me. And he arose and followed him. And it came to pass, as Jesus
said it meet, and Luke says it was in his house, Matthew's house.
Behold, many publicans," Luke says, a great company of publican
senators, came and sat down with him and his disciples. Why did they come there? Well,
just to eat. Just to socialize. They had a
friend, a publican brother, that said, come and eat dinner with
us. I've got a fellow I want you to meet. And they said, well,
since you've got a meal, we'll come there and eat with you.
But while they were there, they began to hear something that
they had never heard from the Pharisees before. Something that
struck up something, a note, a tune in their conscience. It
got their attention. And you better bet when they
left there, they began to think of what Jesus of Nazareth said.
When He spake, He spake with power. He spake with authority,
not as the scribes and the Pharisees. And when you came to Him, when
you sat under His ministry, you didn't remain indifferent. You
either began to listen to Him and think about it, or you got
mad and went away. And here's what He said in verse
11. And when the Pharisees saw it,
they said unto His disciples, Why eateth your Master with publicans
and sinners? But when Jesus heard that, He
said unto them, They that behold need not a physician, but they
that are sick. But go you and learn what that
meaneth. I will have mercy, and I've not
come seeking for a contribution. I don't want to sacrifice. I've
come to have mercy. For I am not come to call the
righteous, but sinners to repentance." Now that's the first thing they
heard. And I just know for certain that message began to get into
their conscience. And they began to think about
this. I can almost imagine a conversation between these publicans as the
days passed by. They meet out on the street,
a couple of them does, and one begins to look around and says,
can I talk to you for a minute? What's going on, man? He said,
I've just not been feeling right lately. I tell you, I don't know
what's going on in my heart, but I'm just getting sick of
my life. I've lived all my life against
God. I'm not right with Him. And my
conscience is eating me up. I can't sleep in the night. I
just don't know what to do about it. And the other one says to
him, you know I've been feeling the same way. I've been miserable. I am a miserable man. I went
over and met with a Pharisee to talk to him about it, to see
if he could help me. And he told me what I need to
do is start fasting often. And I need to start paying my
tithes and be more like him. Well, did you do it for a couple
of weeks? But it didn't help me. As a matter of fact, I'm
more miserable now than I was before. And in the first one
he says this, you know I'm sick and you're miserable. But I remember
the words of Matthew's friend. I remember what he said, they
that are whole need not a physician, but they that are sick. I think
he has the remedy for me. And you're miserable. And He
says, I came to have mercy. Mercy will relieve you of your
misery. Here's what we need to do. We
need to go hear Him again. And what do you find your Matthew
chapter 15? Luke chapter 15. They drew nearer to hear Him. The message had begun to get
through. They wanted to hear more of Him.
So now they come, not to eat a meal, not to socialize, but
they want to hear Jesus of Nazareth. They want to hear the gospel
as He preaches it. And boy, they heard something
here in Luke chapter 15 that encouraged their afflicted conscience.
This man receiveth sinners. This man receiveth sinners. You say, yes, but Bruce, that's
what his enemies said about him. Yes, but he didn't deny it. And that thrilled them. As a
matter of fact, he confirmed it. He told them this parable
about this shepherd losing his sheep. And he left the 99 and
went out in the wilderness to find this one lost, straying
sheep. And when he found it, what did
he do? He laid it on his shoulder. And he carried it back to the
fold. He found this sheep that was lost. Then he told him about
this coin, this old dead, unfilling coin that was lost. And this
woman lit a light and searched and swept the house until she
found her coin. And she rejoiced when she found
her coin. But I bet you the third parable
that he told him got to him. There was this wretched boy,
left his father's house and wandered off and squandered all of his
living with harlots. Wound up in the hog pen. But
he comes home. And what happens when the father
sees him? Well, he runs. This rich man, this famous man,
this man of great dignity and worth in the community, he runs! And he falls upon the shoulders
and the neck of this boy. And the Bible says he received
him. This man received a sinner. And
he received him not only into his house, not only to his family,
but into his heart. He received him. I love to watch the progression
of these publicans. We're told in Luke chapter 5,
that they came there for a meal. I imagine they were light-hearted.
Can you see them joking? They weren't thinking about hearing
the gospel. The next time you see them, if
you're in Luke chapter 15 and they're drawing nigh, they've
gotten more serious. And where's the next time you
read about a thug? He's standing up in the temple.
He's beating on his chest, saying, God be merciful to me, a sinner. Why did he say that? That's the
first message he heard. I come to have mercy. So what does he do? He pleads
it. God be merciful to me, a sinner. Can you see that man standing
there? Boy, it's countless his fault. I tell you that was so
foreign to that man to be in such a disposition. Those publicans,
they had to be strong-willed. They had to have a disposition
they could look you right in the eye and intimidate you and
never blink. They threatened people. But here
was one boy, he was humble. His whole disposition had changed.
What happened to him? He had heard the Savior. He needed
mercy. He needed to be received. And
he was received. And the Lord Jesus said, now
listen to this, listen to this. Here was a publican, an ungodly
man that had cheated people, sinned against God all of his
life. Now he stands here beaten up on his chest. And the Lord
Jesus Christ said, that man went down to his house justified. All the sin that he had ever
committed in his life, The sin against God, the sin against
the law of God, the sin against the Spirit of God, sin against
light, sins of ignorance, willful sin, every sin that he had committed
in all of his lifetime, it was all forgiven. He went down to his house justified
from all things. Isn't that a mystery? This man
receiveth sinners. He receiveth sinners. There was a time in my life I
didn't believe that. I had some sort of a notion that
Jesus Christ was the Savior, but I didn't believe at all that
He'd receive sinners. I thought that He might receive
former sinners. I thought that He might receive
men who had fallen, but had lifted themselves up. I thought that He might be a
Savior that would forgive sins once you quit your sinning business. And then came to Him. And I tried all my teenage years
to make myself fit to come to Him. That's what I'm saying.
This is a mystery to me, brothers and sisters. What I'm telling
you is foreign to me. I tried all my teenage years
to prepare myself to come to the Lord Jesus Christ. I never
could get good enough. Until finally the blessed Holy
Spirit opened my heart to see. He must receive you just as you
are. But how was I? I was stolen.
I was guilty. I was vile. Okay then. He receives you that way. Or
he receives you not at all. And the instant I saw that, I
was overwhelmed. I was amazed. I was so amazed
I could hardly believe it. And to this day, I can't retain
it. I get just a thought of it. Oh, it just flashed, just a flash.
It enters my mind and my understanding. I say, yes, there it is. This
man received a sinner, but then it's gone. I can't retain it. This is a mystery. This is a
mystery you have to be taught from heaven. There's something that's ingrained
in me. I want to see this story about
the prodigal son like this. I want to imagine it went like
this. This suits me better. The prodigal son comes up to
the gate and the father points at him and says, don't you enter
that gate. I want you to go around back
to the servant's quarters. I'm going to put you on probation
for a while. You've got to earn your way back
into my favor. And I'll keep my eye on you.
And I'll watch you. And when I think you're ready,
then I'll welcome you back in my house. That's the way I think
it ought to go. But no, that's not the way the
story went. No. The son came smelling like a
hog. He didn't stop and take a bath
on his way. He didn't stop and steal some
clothes off the line. He didn't come dressed up and
smelling good. He came just like he was. Filthy,
vile, and the father fell upon his neck, put the best robe upon
him, and received him safe and sound. I read the other day where one
commentator says, the Lord saves us and puts us on probation.
Do you know what probation is? That's part of your punishment
for sinning, for your crimes against humanity. The Father
put him on probation? No. He received him. The danger was over. Safe and sound. I want you to look in Romans
15. If you and I could ask the Lord Jesus today why He receives
sinners, Romans 15 and verse 9, I imagine He would tell us
many, many reasons. But I think this is probably
the chief, Romans chapter 15 and verse 9. Verse 7. Look in verse 7. It's
verse 7. Wherefore receive ye one another,
as Christ also received us to the glory of God. Why does Christ receive us to
the glory of God? Let me tell you one thing that
means. I have a knife, a little three-inch long and half-inch
wide, two-bladed knife, a little Case Double-X. And I told the
church the other day, I said, I've got something that you pool
all your money together and you can't buy. That's that little
knife. That's that little knife. Three
inches long, yellow handle, Case Double-X. And you know why you
can't buy it? You pull all your money together
and bring it to me?" And I said, no way. And you know why? You know why that knife's not
for sale? You know why I put it in my drawer and every once
in a while I'll take it out and look at it? You know why I put
it where it's safe and sound? My father gave me that knife. I remember the day he gave me
that knife. He said, son, I want to give you something. I want
to give you this. I've had this a long time, and
I want you to have it. All my children, I want you to
have this knife. You can't buy that knife game. You know why the Lord Jesus received
sinners? Because the Father gave them
to Him. They're not worth anything in
and of themselves. The Bible says they're less than
nothing. In and of yourselves, you're
worthless. But your value lies in this. Who gave you to the
Son of God? That's your value. And He values
you so greatly that He would never refuse or reject one elect
soul that comes to Him for mercy. All that the Father gives to
me, all that He has given, He still gives. Election's not something
old. It's old, but it's always fresh
in the Father's mind. I've chosen you and I've yet
to choose you. And all the Father giveth to me shall come to me. And him that comes to me, I'm
going to receive him. I'll in no wise cast him out. I came down from heaven not to
do my own will, but the will of him that sent me. And this
is the will of him that sent me, that of all which he hath
given me, I should lose nothing. Nothing. Can you imagine the
Lord Jesus rejecting one elect soul? No, He'll never do it. He'll never do it. He'd be despising
His Father's gift. He receives us for the glory
of His Father. And I tell you, when He does,
He puts us in a safe place. Your life is headed with Christ
in God. Christ receiveth sinners. Look over at Hosea chapter 14.
This is my second point. I'll deal with this quickly. Those that the Lord Jesus Christ
receives, He will always receive. Those that He receives, He will
always receive. If you go to Ezekiel and turn
back to your right, you'll find the book of Hosea and look in
verse 1. This has to do with God's people,
Israel. Oh, Israel. Oh, Israel. God's elect people. God's redeemed people. But they're
backslidden. Fallen. Someone asked J.C. Philpott one time, he said, do
you believe in the saying of backsliding? And he said, if
I didn't, I'd believe a heresy. Do we backslide? You better bet we backslide. Sometimes it's open, isn't it?
Mostly it's in our hearts, where nobody can see it but us. And
what happens when we do that? We feel the Father's chastening
hand upon us, don't we? He chastens those He loves. And
then what happens to us? We get shy. We get shy. We don't want to return to Him
with all our hearts. We want to wait until the guilt
subsides. Till the memory of our fall and
our backsliding is lost. Till we're feeling better. Then
when we feel better, then we'll return to Him. Then we'll go
seeking Him with all our hearts. Why do we do that? I'll tell you why we do that.
I'm telling you, this is a mystery, brothers and sisters. I ask myself,
do I believe it? Do I believe that Jesus Christ
receives sinners? If I believe that, then why do
I delay when I fall? Why do I delay to go to Him when
I'm backslidden in my heart? When I've got cold and hard and
indifferent? Why do I delay to go to Him until
I feel better? I don't believe it. I don't believe
there's grace enough in his heart to receive somebody like me. How could I have did what I did
anyway? After he loved me and received me to begin with, how
could I have gone astray? How could I have did that? This
is what these four verses are about. And look what he says,
they're wonderful verses. All Israel, my people, my redeemed
people, my family, my loved ones, Return unto the Lord thy God. Look at this. For thou hast fallen. What a reason to return. Because you've fallen. You're
sinners. You've fallen by your iniquity.
Take with you words. And turn unto the Lord and say
unto Him, take away all iniquity and receive us graciously. Receive us. Does he receive backsliding
sinners? Yes, he does. Do you have a backslide? Yes, you do. God helps us when
we do, don't we? And Lord, if you'll do that,
we'll render the praises of our lips. A serious shall not save
us. We will not ride upon horses,
neither will we say any more to the works of our hands. You
are our gods, for in thee the Father must find mercy. And what does the Lord say? I
will heal their backsliding, and I will love them freely,
for my anger is turned away from Him. He used the plural. I will heal their backsliding.
I'll love them because my anger is turned away from Him. I wonder
if that's speaking of Jesus Christ. You remember, I guess the man's
name was Asap. Psalm 73, I don't know if Asap
wrote this or David wrote it for Asap, but it's got Asap's
name attached to it. Psalm 73, you remember this.
He starts out by saying, My feet was almost gone. My steps had
well nigh slipped. I was ready to fall and do myself
untold damage. They said, what was the matter
with you? Well, I'm hesitant to even tell you. I'm embarrassed
about this. I'm ashamed of what I was thinking.
You talk about an awful attitude. I've got it myself in an awful
fix. Well, what was going on? I was envious at the foolish. I saw the prosperity of the wicked. Everything he touched, he prospered
in. He's not in trouble like everybody
else. There's not even any bands in his death. He curses God and
man. And he's healthy and wealthy. He's got it made. And man, I
was in trouble every day. I was plagued all the day long. Everything I tried to do, even
for God's glory, was burned in ashes at my feet. Every morning
I got up, I felt my Lord's chastening hand upon me. Man, how did you ever get out
of a condition like that? Well, he said, this is what I
did. I just kept on going to the worship. I kept on going
where the gospel was preached. I was thinking, if I ever get
out of this mess, the gospel will have to get me out of it.
And one day I was in the sanctuary, and the preacher got up to preach,
and lo and behold, his subject was the end of the wicked. And then I saw what I never saw
before. My understanding returned to
me. And I saw that God had set him in some slippery places.
Even their prosperity was like ice they were sliding and skipping
around on. But lo and behold, they were
ready to fall through. I thought the Lord was just blessing
them and paying no attention to them, but it was like He was
asleep. But when He awoke, He will despise their image. And He's going to destroy them
in a moment. They're going to be brought into
these horrors. There may not be any bands in their death,
but one moment after they die, that's when their hell will start.
That's when God will punish them. You know how Asap felt about
himself? He went to the Lord in prayer
and he said, Oh, I've been like a fool. I've been like a beast
before you. Just a raging beast. Ungrateful,
wretched beast. Boy, I bet you're lost again,
A$AP. Lost again. Why, yeah. You're having a fall
back then, thinking like that. You must be lost again. What
did A$AP say? When he went to the Lord in prayer,
what did he say? Nevertheless, I am continually
with Thee. My changing doesn't change my
standing with the Lord. I am continually with Thee. And
he said, Lord, I know now why I didn't fall. Because You upheld
me with my right hand. You got Your omnipotent hand
in my hand and You upheld me. And here's what he said. You're
going to guide me with Your counsel and afterwards, When I leave
this life, when I breathe my last, you'll receive me unto
glory. What's your hope of being received
unto glory? Are you any better than he was?
Don't you struggle with sin all your life? Don't you pray against
a hard, unbelieving heart? Can't you say with Abraham, I'm
nothing but dust and ashes? Or with Jacob, I am unworthy
of the least of your mercies. Don't you know something about
what Solomon was talking about when he said he knew the plague
of his own heart? Did you sit down and identify
with David when he said, I was shaping an iniquity and sin did
my mother conceive me? You know what Job was talking
about when he said, I'm vile. And Peter said when he prayed,
depart from me, Lord, I'm a sinful man. Then how in the world can
you have any hope of leaving this life and being received
up into heaven? This is your hope. This man receiving
sinners. Does anybody here think you're
above sin? Talking with a man one time, he said he hadn't sinned
in, I forgot how many years. That's not reality. Here's the
reality. You were born in sin. You lived in sin and was the
servant of sin until Jesus Christ saved you, and now you're a sinner
saved by grace. And if a man says he has no sin,
he's deceived himself. And we'll die sinners. This is
our hope. This man receiveth sinners. Old Stephen had preached the
gospel to those Jews, and man, they got mad at him. They gnashed
upon him with their teeth, and they started picking up these
huge rocks. and throw them at him. A huge
one hit him in the stomach, knocked the breath out of him. Then one
knocked his front teeth out. Then one hit him in the eye and
blinded him. You say, Bruce, do you know that?
What do you think happened when they stoned people? They killed them. They beat their
body to death with stone. And the heavens opened and he
saw the Lord Jesus Christ standing on the right hand of the Father.
And it says that he knelt down and he was calling upon God saying,
Lord Jesus. He was calling upon God saying,
Lord Jesus. He believed the same thing about
Jesus that we do. Receive my Oh, brothers and sisters, this
man received a century. He receives them in this lifetime,
and when their life is over, he'll receive them into glory.
There's an old preacher, I forgot his name, his name escapes me,
there somewhere in England, in the 1800s. An old faithful pastor,
and he was dying, and a friend went to see him. And the old
pastor laid there with his eyes shut, listening to him while
he talked to him, and tried to encourage him. And he said, Dear
Pastor, You're going to receive your reward. And the old pastor
opened his eyes and looked up at him and said, Dear brother,
I'm going to receive mercy. Looking for the mercy of the
Lord Jesus Christ. Are you getting a hold of this?
This man received it himself. Lastly is this. This is my last
point. One more thing. about him receiving sinners.
One more step. I don't want to die suddenly.
I think of this often. I want to get sick and linger
just a little bit. Think about dying. I really do.
I'm not like the old fellow that wants to get sick and linger
and linger and linger and get well. But I do want to linger
a little bit. I'll tell you why. I've got some
things I want to tell this old boy. Because he's scared to death
about dying. David often talked to himself,
talked to his soul. Soul, why are you cast down?
Hope thou in God. He's the help and the health
of your countenance. Oh my soul, I'm going to talk
to my body. And I've been rehearsing some
things that I'm going to say to my old body. When I'm laying
there, maybe in my last hours, and I'm going to talk to him
something like this. I'm going to say, I tell you, he's close to Kim,
aren't we? The soul and body, man, they're united. They're
precious one to another. It takes God to separate them.
And I'm going to say, my dear brother, you and I have been
together all of these years. And it's time now that we're
going to separate. And it's going to be well with
me. Because I'm going to depart and
be with Christ, which is far better. But listen now, I'm going
to tell you something. You're going to have to exercise
some patience. Because I'm going to tell you
what's going to happen when I depart from you. First thing they're going to
do is put a machine on you and suck the blood out of your body.
Now wait a minute, don't get scared. Brother, listen, don't
get scared. It's alright. It's alright, you'll
be sleeping. You won't feel this. Hope. Rest in hope. And the next thing
they're going to do to you, somebody's going to wash you, and they're
going to put clothes on you, and they're going to bring you
down front, and all your friends, they'll come, and some will be
sad and some will be happy. And then, they'll take you out,
and they'll put you down in the cold, dark, damp ground. Listen, don't be afraid. You
won't know a thing. You're resting. You're sleeping. Oh, well, for you to say, look
at you. Look how white you are. You've
been washed. And look at that robe that you
got on that was given to you, just as beautiful now as it was
when He gave it. Oh, you can say that. Can you
give me any assurance that it's going to be well with me? That
I can lay down and rest in hope and not be afraid? Yes, I can. And I'm going to. And I want
you to get a hold of this, my dear brother. You believe in God. Believe also
in me. In my Father's house are many
dwelling places. If it were not so, I would have
told you. And my Father is going to have
all of those dwelling places full, they reserved. If it were
not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you,
and if I go and prepare a place for you, I'll come again and
receive you unto myself. Oh, it's God's will, my dear
brother, my dear body, that we be separated for a time, but
not forever. The Lord Jesus is coming and
He's bringing me with Him. And though your body is vile,
look at it, it's vile, and it's weak and soon it will be corruptible,
yet, dear brother, He's going to change your vile body. and
fashion it like unto His glorious body. He's going to raise your
corruptible body and He's going to make it incorruptible just
like His. And He's going to bring me and
you together and unite us for all eternity and we'll forever
be with the Lord. Why? Because this man received
a sinner. That's it. Isn't it not? Is that
your hope? If you've entered into what I'm
saying this evening, you won't retain it long. You'll lose it
just in a second. God help us. God help us to lay
hold upon it. This world knows nothing about
it. The wise of this world can't enter into it, but I'll tell
you what can enter into it. A simple, jaw-like faith. That can do it. God bless you. Lord Jesus, receive me. Please
receive me. I'm certainly a sinner. Certainly
a sinner.