If you like to follow along I'm
gonna be reading in verse excuse me Luke chapter 15 verses 1 &
2 Luke chapter 15 This is a glorious
scripture They're all glorious, but you know This one just really
gets me Luke 15 verse 1 then drew near unto him and Speaking
of Christ all the publicans and sinners For to hear him to hear
him and the Pharisees and scribes murmured saying this man received
sinners and Edith with them And I'm just gonna stop right there
for this I All, and I mean all, error in
theology comes from two sources, or two ways. An attempt to make
God less than he is, or an attempt, or maybe and an attempt, to make
man more than he is. Henry Mahan wrote that. I wish
I'd have wrote it. I will add this, though. All
error in theology comes boldly from the heart of man. Man has made and is making, trying
to, cast aspersions upon the word of God. I mean some of them
in a very organized and orderly manner They are attacking this
book they are attacking the Source of this book in the Greek and
in the Hebrew And yet they've been doing this
for hundreds of years thousands of years Origin started in Alexandria. I know of I don't know who else
did it before him. I'm sure somebody else has but yet Here it is We
still have it by God's grace. We still have his word Hmm That's wrong To try to change
the Word of God to suit your theology is wrong And that's
just all you can say about it other than the fact I can say
this, it's a sin. It's a sin. Because the scripture
is our only authority. It's the only authority. But here in Luke 15, we see, then drew near unto him
all the publicans and sinners for to hear him, and the him
is Christ, But here's the question I want
to ask. Who draws near under Christ Jesus?
Well, it tells you right here, publicans and sinners. Understand,
Pharisees and scribes were there, but they didn't draw near. Isn't that something? Sinners, publicans. Now you understand,
a publican was a tax collector for the Romans. In World War II, they called
them collaborators. They worked with the enemy. They
were French people that worked for the Germans. And after that
war was over, some bad things happened to those people. That's what these publicans were
to the Jews. Republicans were traitors But
they drew near to Christ they drew near to Christ To the Jews
sinners were beneath them But they drew near to Christ they
drew near to Christ Understand that Christ himself
said I am come to preach the gospel to the poor That's what
he said. Now, when we think of poor, we
think of monetarily poor. We think of people that don't
have money, beggars and such. They came, too. But you understand,
like I said, Matthew said, blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs
shall be the kingdom of God, the kingdom of heaven. The publicans
were not monetarily poor, but they were poor in spirit. And these publicans and these
sinners drew near unto Christ. And these publicans and these
sinners were looked down upon and hated by the Pharisees and
the scribes. These are people the religious
of the day didn't want to have anything to do with. You were
supposed to stay away from them. They drew near to Christ. All the publicans and sinners
draw near unto him. The outcasts of Jewish society
drew near to Jesus. Those that were shunned and hated
by the religious society of the day drew near to Jesus. You understand, I'm saying I'm
one of those people. I'm one of those people. And they drew near to him. This
is the wonderful thing too. They drew near to him for a reason.
What's it say? They drew near unto him all the
publicans and sinners for, for to hear him, to hear him. He had just been telling them
a parable in the previous chapter, and now he's getting ready to
tell them some more, or another one. And here's the thing that people
will not get. These publicans, these sinners,
these outcasts that drew near to hear him. The Lord of glory
spoke to publicans and sinners. He preached to publicans and
sinners. Oh my. The creator of heaven
and of earth speaks to sinners. That's grace, folks. That's grace. They came to hear him. And he
spoke to them in parables. Before this, he spoke of a man,
well, it was verse 30 of chapter 14, began to build and was not
able to finish. And then he told them about,
what was the other one before that? No, I'm gonna talk about
that later. Sorry, I don't wanna get into
that. And he told them, so likewise, whoever he be of you that forsaketh
not all that he hath, he cannot be my disciple. Salt is good, but if the salt
has lost its savor, wherewith shall it be seasoned? It is neither
fit for the land, nor yet for the dunghill, but men cast it
out. He that hath ears to hear, what, let him hear. And what happened? And the publicans
and the sinners drew near to him for to hear him. I like that. I like that. You understand, because when
Christ really speaks to you, you're gonna hear. And one of
the, here's the other thing. You're gonna wanna draw near
for to hear him. You're gonna come to hear him. Oh, I know, I know. We're surrounded
by places. And they'll go to church, as
they call it, and they'll come out saying, wasn't the choir
lovely today? I just dearly love that song. They couldn't tell you what the
man's message was that preached to them if their life depended
upon it because they weren't listening. And that's okay. in this manner, in this way,
because he probably didn't say anything worth hearing. But Jesus Christ's words are
always worth hearing. And guess who knows it? Sinners. Only sinners know. Because here
it says, he came, and what they came to
hear him and he spake this parable unto him, and he spoke the parable
of the lost sheep, of the lost coin, and the lost son, the prodigal
son. Oh my. Walter, he preached irresistible
grace. You know, some people hate that
term. You know why? Because they hate the doctrine. And if you're gonna hate irresistible
grace, you're hating Christ. Because I'm gonna tell you something,
that sheep didn't have anything to do with being found. That
sheep didn't have anything to do with coming back into the
fold, and that sheep doesn't have anything to do with staying
in the fold. But Christ rejoices, and there's
rejoicing in heaven over one soul that comes to him, home. He told him the good shepherd
will find his sheep. And the Pharisees and the scribe
murmured. Now notice when the Pharisees
and the scribe murmured. They murmured right after publicans
and sinners came near to him to hear him, to hear him. And
the Pharisees and scribe murmured. Let's be clear here, folks. Murmuring
is never good in the scriptures. They did it to Moses. They murmured against God in
the wilderness. And here, these Pharisees and
scribe are murmuring. And the word, you look it up
in the Greek, you know what the word means? The word means complained.
They complained. They complained because people
came to hear a preacher. They complained because the people
didn't come to hear them. Oh, I don't want you to come
here to hear me. I want you to come here to hear
Christ preached. That goes for the streaming.
That goes for the television. We're not here to be somebody. We're here to preach somebody.
And that somebody is Jesus Christ. And sinners will draw near unto
him to hear him. They didn't like it. And it tells
you exactly why they didn't like it. They didn't like This man receiveth
sinners. This is the difference between
the publicans and the sinners and the Pharisees and the scribes.
It's not that the Pharisees and scribes were real religious and
the publicans and sinners weren't. That's not the difference. That's
not the difference. Because let's be clear, the Pharisees
and scribes were here too. They were here. But it doesn't
say they drew near. It doesn't say they drew near.
And you want to know why? Because they didn't. They didn't. They did come, but sinners came
for to hear Him. The Pharisees came, and the scribes
came. Why? Look back at chapter 14, Luke
chapter 14 and verse one. And it came to pass as he went
into the house of one of the chief Pharisees, this is Jesus
Christ, went into the house of one of the chief Pharisees to
eat bread on the Sabbath day, that they watched him. They weren't there to hear him.
They didn't invite him in to hear him. They invited him in
to watch him on the Sabbath day. And behold, there was a certain
man before him which had the dropsy. And Jesus answering,
spake unto the lawyers and Pharisees saying, is it lawful to heal
on the Sabbath day? And they held their peace. They
held their peace. And he took him, and he healed
him, and he let him go. And he answered them saying,
Which of you have an ass or an ox fallen into a pit and will
not straightway pull him out on the Sabbath day? Verse six,
and they could not answer him again to these things. Understand the Pharisee, the
publicans and the sinners came to draw near unto him and to
hear him and the Pharisees and the scribe came to watch him.
That's what they were there for. I listened to a message this
morning from Henry Mahan on the way up here, and he talked about
it's just as important why you do something as what you do. Yeah. What did Christ say? He says, don't give your alms
as to be seen of men. Because if you do, you won't
get any reward from heaven. Matter of fact, they told him,
that's your reward. Woo, men got to see ya. That
and a dime will get you a cup of coffee 40 years ago. Or 100
years ago, whatever it was. No, do it in secret and the Lord
which seeth in secret will reward you. It's the question of why
do you do things? And the publicans and the sinners,
what? Came for to hear him. And the scribes and the Pharisees
didn't. And that's just the facts. That's
just the facts. It comes out in their attitude. He ate bread, chapter 14 and
verse one. He came into the house and ate
bread with the chief Pharisee and they watched him. They didn't
hear him, they didn't listen to him. Now I'm sure he spoke
and they heard it. But it doesn't say that they
heard it. It says they watched him, they watched him. And they
wanted to catch him doing something wrong. That's what they wanted.
Oh my. They wanted to catch him committing
a sin, Mason. They were wasting their time
looking for the Lord of glory to see him. But they didn't know
who he was. I remember, Walter, when you
said it, when John the Baptist told him there's one, he's here
now among you. The Christ of God is here. Not
a one of the scribes and Pharisees asked where he was. You know
why? They didn't wanna know. They
didn't wanna know. They thought they knew better
than God's prophet. John the Baptist was a prophet.
They were wrong. And they're wrong here. They
didn't wanna hear him because they didn't believe him. And
they watched him. Sometime in the future some of
these fellas here might have been the ones that tried to stone
him. I Don't know But why did the Pharisees and
scribes hate Jesus I already said it why did they watch him? This man receive a sinners This
man receives sinners I I don't see an account anywhere
in the scriptures here where Jesus sent anybody away, like
get away from me. Never happened. This man laid
hands on lepers and made them whole. Not just
healed them, made them whole. Oh my, the worst of the disease. Look at the scriptures. Read
of who Christ spoke to and who he walked with Who he went out
of his way to see What do you tell his disciples one time I
must needs go to Samaria Now Samaria is a place you don't
go not if you're Jewish you weren't supposed to go there Not only did he go, he spoke
to a woman who had been divorced four or five times and now was
living with a man who wasn't her husband. And he stayed there two or three
days and Samaritans, what? Sinners, believed on him, believed
on him. He received, actually went out
of his way to go see, but he received and spoke with a man
who had been blind from birth. And before he spoke to the man,
his disciples asked him, who sinned? This man's parents or
this man himself? And Christ said, neither, but
that the power of God could be seen. He went to this man and he healed
this man's blindness. And he sent that man on his way.
And he went and saw, guess who? Some Pharisees. Yeah, and you
know what they did? They talked to him for a little
bit, then they tried to throw him out of the synagogue. But I like this man, this blind
man who could now see, because he looked at those fellas. He
said, whether this man be sinner or no, I don't know. But here's
one thing I do know, and I love this part because I took, he
says, I know whereof I was blind, but now I see. And you can throw me out of the
synagogue, but you can't take that away from me. You can throw rocks at me, but
guess what? By God's grace, I still see. And Jesus Christ came back to
that man after this, the man who could now see, and revealed
himself to him. It's in John 9. You wanna look
it up? It says, do you believe on the
Son of God? He says, who is he, Lord? My
eyes are open, I can see now, where is he, Lord? He says, it's
he that's talking to you, and that man worshiped him. That's what it said, he worshiped
him. Well, Jesus never said he was the son of God. Well, there
he did, he just told a blind man. But most people are too
blind to see that. Luke 19, I'm not gonna turn there,
but it says, when Jesus came to the place, he looked up and
saw him. Who'd he see? Zacchaeus. Make haste and come down, for
today I must abide, abide, at thy house. Who's Zacchaeus? He was one of the chief publicans. Now there was a mob there. Zacchaeus
had to climb a tree because he was short so he could see. And the one person Christ talked
to that we know of was a publican. What? And a sinner. You know
how I know he's a sinner? Well, A, he was a human being.
and B, they told us. I will read that part, hang on,
just so I don't say it incorrectly. He told, Jesus came to the place
and looked up and saw him and said, unto him, Zacchaeus, make
haste and come down, for today I must abide at thy house. And he made haste and came down.
Isn't that amazing? And received him. joyfully and
When they saw it they all what murmured complained murmured
saying that he was gone to be the guest with a man that is
a sinner and yes, he did and Guess what that sinner? Received
him joyfully Understand There's something wrong with
you If you don't like someone that receives the Lord joyfully
oh Now is that bad? It's true. It's true. I If you're complaining about
who God has deigned to save, there's something wrong with
you. And I'm gonna tell you what's wrong with you. If you're that
way, it's because you don't know Christ. And that's just the truth
of it. I am happy anybody sees my Lord. Anybody wants to know my Lord. Oh my, this man receives sinners. This man receives sinners. Today
I must abide at thy house. So you know what's gonna happen,
right? Today he was gonna abide at Zacchaeus' house. Those men complained because
they didn't understand. And here's what they didn't understand.
This man receives sinners and they receive him. Joyfully, joyfully. Oh my, I like that, I do. I do. And you know this, one other
thing I'll tell you? Sinners followed him. Sinners
followed Christ. And it came to pass afterward,
this is Luke chapter eight verse one, that he went throughout
every city and village, preaching and showing the glad tidings
of the kingdom of God, and the 12 were with him, his disciples.
And, verse two, certain women, which had been healed of evil
spirits and infirmities, Mary called Magdalene, out of whom
went seven devils. And Joanna, the wife of Chusa,
Herod's steward, and Susanna, and many others which ministered
unto him of their substance. Sinners follow Jesus Christ. Now is that too simple? It's
so. I like that. That's the center,
folks. Mary Magdalene, who had seven
devils in her. There's the Gadarene demoniac. Went to the land of the Gadarenes,
and that fellow was running around in the tombs. He abode in the
tombs. What was he doing? He was living
with the dead. Folks, that's us. That's what
we were. What did God do? What did Christ
do? He didn't bind the man. They
tried to bind him, but they couldn't. They could bind him for a minute,
but he'd break the fetters. And besides that, what good is
a bound demonic person anyway? No, Christ cast out the devils,
recalled legion, for they were many, and set him free. Oh my. The truth shall set you
free. And that fellow who had been
possessed of many, many devils, the next time you see him, he's
seated in his right mind, sitting and talking with the Lord. And
you know what happened? He wanted to go with Christ.
Christ said, no, you're gonna follow me by going home. What? You're not gonna follow me. He
said, go home. And he published abroad and published at his home
the great and wonderful things what this man who received sinners
had done for him. It's an amazing thing, you know? Women with issues of blood that
shouldn't even have been there, we talked about. They weren't
supposed to be with the congregation if they had an issue of blood.
You're unclean, you're supposed to be gone. And there he is touching
the hem of his garment. And he healed her. It's amazing the things that
go on that the religious do not want to know. But publicans and
sinners draw near unto him for to hear him, for to hear him.
But not only does he receive sinners, what's it say? Eats
with them eats with them This man broke bread with sinners
sinners This man Jesus Christ, but the
righteous Accepted the company of sinners He ate with them and
drank with him. Now you understand, they didn't
think it was strange that he went to one of the chief Pharisees
and broke bread with him, ate bread with him. But if you do it with publicans
and sinners, there's something wrong with you. Christ said no,
no, no, no, no. I didn't come to call the righteous.
I came to call sinners to repentance. And if you draw near to him to
hear him, you're gonna hear about repentance. You're gonna hear
about turning to God from idols. He spoke to them and they listened. They came to him and he ate with
them. He ate with them. The God of all grace invites
sinners to his table. He invites sinners to his table.
Oh my, if they draw near to him, to hear him, he eats with them. I like that. Now understand,
this is the way it works. Christ may be at your house,
but he's the one that's gonna break the bread. I remember that
sermon, Walter. Christ was on the road to Emmaus
and talking with Cleopas and the other fella, and he sat down,
they asked him to sit down and eat with them. He took the bread
and he broke it and gave it to them. He was their guest. He was eating with them, but
he took the bread and he broke it and he passed it out. You
understand? You're not gonna have anything unless Christ gives
it to you. And if Christ gives it to you,
you got all you need. He's gonna break the bread and
he's gonna give the bread. Because understand, this is a
gracious thing. Christ ate with them. Ate with them. You understand?
It's not surprising that they would eat with him. The surprising
thing is that he ate with them. And I suppose, if you know the
condition of man, it's not surprising that the Pharisees didn't like
it. The amazing thing is, he eats
with them. See, the Pharisees thought it
was a sign of sin, in Jesus or on Jesus, and that's wrong. This is a sign of grace. This
is a sign of grace. and the Pharisees and the scribes
had no understanding at all of the grace and the mercy of God
in the face of Jesus Christ. The God of all glory receives
and eats with sinners. The God of all grace receives
and eats with sinners. God manifest in the flesh receives
and eats with sinners. That's grace. That's grace. Well, here's another one. Think
of this now. The king of kings and the Lord
of lords eats with sinners. He brings them and he sustains,
he feeds his sheep. And there's only one thing to
say to that, I shall not want. The Lord is my shepherd, I shall
not want. Now the question is, are you
a sinner or a Pharisee? Do you want to draw near to him
or do you just want to watch? There's way too many spectators
in religion. They just wanna watch. They wanna
see the show. And that's what some churches
are putting on, is a show. It's entertainment, you gotta
bounce around, you gotta do stupid things. No, no, I do stupid things
anyway. But I try not to do stupid things
here. I got enough problems behaving
myself somewhere else. I just wanna preach this gospel
here. And this man receives sinners and he eats with them. But do you wanna draw near to
him or do you just wanna watch? This is his commandment, that
we love one another. Now he doesn't say, I want you
to love one another where you're socially acceptable. No. He that is begotten loves those
that are begotten of him Do you love the people of Christ do
you love the people who love Christ? Do you love one another
look at this Luke 14 again, I'm gonna close with this Verse 15 and when one of them
sat at meat with him this is in a before and heard these things,
he said unto him, blessed is he that shall eat bread in the
kingdom of God. Then said he unto him, a certain
man made a great supper, and bade many, and sent his servant
at suppertime to say to them that were bidden, come, for all
things are now ready. And they all, with one consent,
began to make excuse. The first said unto him, I bought
a piece of ground, and I must needs go and see it. I pray thee,
have me excused. And another said, I have bought
five yoke of oxen, and I go to prove them. I pray thee, have
me excused. And another said, I've married
a wife, and therefore I cannot come. So that the servant came
and showed his lord these things. Then the master of the house
being angry, said to his servant, go out quickly into the streets
and lanes of the city and bring in hither the poor and the maimed
and the halt and the blind. And the servant said, Lord, it
is done as thou hast commanded, and yet there is room. And the
Lord said unto the servant, go out into the highways and hedges
and compel them to come in that my house may be filled. For I
say unto you that none of those men which were bidden shall taste
of my supper. The Lord Jesus Christ bids many
to come, but they won't. He came unto his own. and his
own did not receive him. But, ah, but, to as many as received
him, to them gave he the power, the right to be a son of God. The Lord's gonna have his great
supper, Walter. Paul, the Lord is going to have
his great supper, whether you're there or not. And that's just
the way it is, folks. He's gonna have his great supper.
And if you don't want it, more for me. I don't know. Like that second son, or the
first son, Mason, and the prodigal son that he's gonna tell them
about. They're having a feast and he's mad, because he never
got to have a feast. Listen, buddy, if the father
has a feast, I wanna be there. Now, does it matter who else
is there? No. You know why? It's the Lord's supper. It's
his great supper. And if you don't wanna be there,
don't be there. Because I don't want you to be there if you're
gonna be grumpy. And you ain't gonna be there
if you're gonna be grumpy. This is the Lord. He's asking
you to eat at his table. He's bidding you come. And publicans
and sinners drew near for to hear him. And this man received
sinners and eats with them, eats with them. I like that. Does
it matter who the other guests are? It really shouldn't. It really shouldn't. And I'm
gonna tell you this, if you know him, it doesn't. It doesn't. Because I'm gonna tell you something,
if you come to Christ, it's because he came to you first to show
you you were a publican sinner. And you know, in your heart of
hearts, down deep inside, you're not better than anybody else.
We're all sinners. That is true. But I know like
Paul, I feel like Paul saying I am the chief of sinners. Y'all
don't know how bad I am. And I'm gonna do my best to keep
it that way. But I know how bad, I think I
know how bad I am. But I don't. I don't. But God knows how bad I am. Jesus
Christ knows how bad we are. And yet he says come. Oh my. And guess what, this is all in
the present tense. Jesus Christ today still receives
sinners and eats with them. And sinners will draw near to
him when he draws them to him. No man cometh unto the Father.
No man cometh unto me except the Father which hath sent me
draws him. Oh, but he doesn't stop there.
Him that cometh to me, I will in no wise cast out. Who shall lay anything to the
charge of God's elect? Nobody. Not even God. Not even God. Because in Christ,
in Christ, oh, We have all spiritual blessings. Sinners will draw
near unto him to hear him and to eat at his very table. Why? Because this man receives
sinners. Are you a sinner? Are you? Come. And if you just wanna watch,
watch. But please leave me alone. I'm going to eat at his table
if I can. Heavenly Father, we are thankful
again for this time and this place and for your son, our Lord
Jesus Christ. Oh Lord, you have given us everything
when you've given us your son. Wisdom and righteousness, sanctification
and redemption and goodness and graciousness and mercy and love. Thank you. Be with Walter, Paul,
as they come and speak your word. In Christ's name we pray.