We are delighted this evening
to have Moose and Sandy Parks with us. Moose is a missionary
stationed in St. Croix in the Virgin Islands and
other places he travels around the Caribbean. And this I know
about Moose Parks. He works tirelessly in the service
of our Savior. I get emails with his bulletin
and schedule and sitting in my study reading his schedule just
exhausts me. I just, I don't know how you
do it. But the Lord has given him the grace to, for the work.
And as if to prove me right, not only is he going to preach
for us now, he's going to sing. So I guess don't let us know
you've got talent and willingness or we'll put you to work. So
Moose, you come sing for us and you preach the message the Lord's
laid on your heart. And when they had come to the
place called Calvary, there they crucified Him. Behold Him crucified, On Calvary,
Jesus by many nights. there on a tree. Friends have defected him. Fools have rejected him. God has forsaken him. On Calvary Behold my substitute
On Calvary God did my sin impute there on a tree. God made him to be sin, though
he had none within. He died for worst of men. On Calvary Behold the Lamb of
God On Calvary Suffering God's righteous wrath there on a tree. Hear low as it indots, see justice
as it smots, and see wrath as it struts. On Calvary Behold
Him in His death On Calvary Watch now His final breath there on
a tree. Behold him as he dies, looking
into the skies. It is finished. He crashed on Calvary Behold
what he has done On Calvary He has the victory won there on
a tree. Justice is satisfied, God has
now justified, all for whom Jesus died on Calvary. Good evening to all. First time I met most of you
was in 1984, 30 some years ago. And you are as dear to me now
as you were then. You were young. We all were young
once, weren't we now? We are blessed to be here tonight.
Thankful for the kind invitation. I invite your attention to 1 Timothy
1. 1 Timothy 1. Verse 15. My message is titled Jesus Christ and sinners. I suppose I have preached from
this text more than from any other. I love this text. It talks about me. And it talks
about my Savior. And after preaching it, On this
occasion and on that occasion, I've come back in a few months
and looked at the text again and realized I missed something. Every time I have preached it,
I missed something and there's another message from the same
text. I suppose on this subject of Jesus Christ and sinners,
we can never exhaust it. Jesus Christ and sinners. My
text reads, This is a faithful saying. That means that you can
put your stock in it. It's worthy. You can trust what
is here said. This is a faithful saying and
you can come to this faithful saying full of faith. It's reliable. It's reliable. What is this faithful
saying? Well, it is worthy of all acceptance. You may reject everything you
hear in religion. But you can accept this. This
is acceptable. What is acceptable? That Christ
Jesus came into the world to save sinners of whom I am chief. Christ Jesus. Jesus is his name. His name means Jehovah is salvation. It was the name given to him
at his birth. For he shall save his people
from their sins. And he did. He did. Nary a single solitary sinner
for whom Jesus died will perish. He saved every single solitary
one of them. He will save his people. Christ
is his title. It means Messiah, Anointed One,
God's Son. He's the subject of whom tonight
we will preach. God willing, this one who is
Jehovah is salvation sent to save God's people from their
sins and will succeed because he is Jehovah's anointed and
his only begotten son. Christ Jesus came into the world. Not the party. Not to engage in politics. not on a moral crusade, not to
conduct a war, not to give good advice. He came to save sinners. He came on a mission of mercy
and grace to save sinners. I'm so glad that's why he came. Nothing else nor anyone else
can save them. I'm glad he did. Christ Jesus
came into the world to save sinners and I know he succeeded because
he has already saved the worst of whom I am chief. What is a
sinner? A sinner is anyone who is less
than perfect in God's sight and according to God's standard.
Less than perfect. That's putting it mildly, folks,
less than perfect. But then again, that includes
every one of us, you and me. My father was a faithful minister
of the gospel for many years. I was the oldest of six children. We were catechized every morning.
He read the scriptures and taught us. from the time I was wee small,
I knew all are sinners. I knew that all have sinned and
fallen short of the glory of God. I knew that there is not
a just man on the earth who does good and does not sin. I could
quote the scriptures to you. I knew from earliest days that
all are sinners. But oh, what a day it was when
I realized that I was a sinner and became convinced of it and
knew that I was a sinner in need of a savior. I was 27 years old
by the time I learned of that. I was so glad to learn that someone
came to save sinners. Did you ever notice the way Jesus
treated sinners? Quite unlike the way that they're
treated by religionists. Jesus did not despise sinners. Many people in religion despise
sinners. Pharisees, we read, trusted in
themselves that they were righteous and despised others, despised
sinners. Anybody not as good as a Pharisee,
according to the Pharisees barometer, was despised, despised. Jesus despised no sinner. Think
about it. Despised no sinner. I'm glad
of that. Surely he would have despised
me. Jesus did not shun sinners, did not shun them. He did not
cross the street in order to try to avoid having to make them,
did not shun them. He never said, keep to yourself,
I am holier than thou, never did. He welcomed them, come to
me. Oh Lord, you just do not know
how wicked I am. Yes, I do. Come to me. You do
not know how unholy and how sinful I am. Yes, I do. Come to me. He never shunned them. He never
castigated sinners. I was schooled in a fundamentalist
school, I say to my shame. And I've heard many preachers
in pulpits talking about sinners and deliberately using derogatory
terms to describe them. You ever noticed Jesus never
did? Never did. In fact, the only people he castigated
were scribes, Pharisees, hypocrites, brood of bibers. Sinners come. Jesus welcomes you. I'm so glad. Jesus welcomes sinners, but I
get ahead of myself because tonight I want us to look at this subject
of Jesus Christ and sinners. I want you to consider the way
that Jesus treated sinners. This one who said, harlots will
enter my kingdom before you self-righteous people do. I came to save sinners. First of all, Jesus condescended
to sinners. Here it is. Christ Jesus came
into the world to save sinners. Whence did he come? He came from
heaven. Where was he in heaven? On Zion's
hill. In one moment, he's on the throne
of the universe. On Zion's hill. And the next
moment, he's sitting in the dunghill of sin and shame. looking for
sinners, maggots and worms, left the company of angels in heaven
to live among maggots and worms. No man ever condescended to sinners
like this one did. Leaving the loving embrace of
his father in order to endure the rejection of sinners, he
condescended. Never a man condescended to anyone
like this man did. Some may brag about stooping
down to the lowly. He demonstrated it and showed
that none ever did like he did. He came down to your level, your
level. He came down to dwell among the
worst types of people on this earth, sinners, sinners. You do not find him in the palaces
of the high and mighty. No, you find him in hell holes.
You find him where sinners are. He condescended to sinners. What
love is this? Second, Jesus identified with
sinners. We read that he was numbered
with the transgressors. They nailed him between two thieves
to show that he was the worst of the three. And they did it
because he was numbered with the transgressors, the scriptures
say. But he did more than that. He was numbered with worse sinners
than those two on that cross. What is the worst kind of sinner
you can think of? How about a harlot? He's numbered
with those. Rahab for one. He numbered himself
with Rahab. Drunkards, he numbered himself
with them. Every kind of sexually moral
person you can think of, he numbered himself with them. People engaged in relationships
of the same sex, he numbered himself with them. Murderers,
You cannot find a sinner with whom Jesus would not number himself. He was numbered with the transgressors,
not only by those who nailed him to the tree, but by himself. He's there on that cross as the
substitute for murderers, rapists, wife beaters, children abusers. That's him. He's numbered with
the worst kinds of sinners you can imagine. And I'll tell you
what, that's good news for me. That's good news for this sinner.
He's numbered with the transgressors. He bore the sin of many. Number
three, Jesus sought sinners. He went looking for them. He
had to take a trip one day from Galilee, where he lived, down
to Jerusalem in the southern part of the land. And in order to get from Galilee
to Jerusalem, if you went the direct route, you had to go through
Samaria. Good Jews didn't do that. That's
unholy ground. That's where Samaritans live.
So a Jew would, from Galilee, Travel due east, cross the Jordan
River, go down on the west or on the east bank of the Jordan
River until he had gotten past the unholy land and then come
across at Jericho and make it to Jerusalem. So Jesus must go
to Jerusalem. How's he going to go? The scriptures
declare he must needs. He had to go through Samaria. Why? There's a woman in Samaria. Oh, not just any woman. Not just
any woman. A very immoral woman. But she's one of his. She's one
of his. He knows where she's going to
be at high noon. Which well she's going to be
at. And there he is to meet her. He came looking for her. He comes
looking for lost sheep. It is not enough that he sits
somewhere and maybe hope they will come to him. No, no, no.
He goes looking for them. I'm so glad. I never would have
found him. I never would have found him.
But Jesus came looking for sinners and he sought them. And he came
looking until he found me. I'm so glad Jesus seeks sinners. Fourth, Jesus beckoned sinners. He said, I did not come to call
the righteous or self-righteous, pharisaical people. I came to
call sinners to repentance. Sinners to repentance. I rejoice
in that too. I have known what it is to be
self-righteous. Do not know that I've completely
gotten over it. But I've known. But I am so glad
I was finally taught and learned from God's word that all my righteousness
is worth filthy rags. And then I heard Jesus call.
Not until I knew what a sinner I was and made myself devoid
of all my self-righteousness, then I heard that sweet voice.
Because he never calls self-righteous people. He's calling sinners. I didn't come to call the righteous.
They need no possession. I came looking for sick people,
sinners. I'm so glad of that. This sinner
is glad to hear that Jesus calls sinners to himself. Number five, Jesus forgave sinners,
forgave them. I mean the worst kinds of sinners,
he forgave them. There's a man named Simon invited
Jesus to his house one day for a meal and Jesus went. There
was a woman in the neighborhood and she walked by the house,
saw Jesus in there. This woman came in to the place
where Jesus was. She got down and began to weep
at his feet. And the tears from her eyes bathed
his feet. She took her hands and washed
his feet and took the hair of her head and dried his feet. Nothing was said. Jesus watched
and Simon watched from his chair. And he said to himself, Simon
did If this man were a prophet like he claims, he would know
what kind of woman this is. I mean, those hands that are
handling his feet? Well, she had them wrapped around
some man's head a few moments drawing him to her embrace. That
hair that she's using to dry his feet? Some man, some immoral
man had his hands going through that hair just a few moments
ago. That fragrance she's using to anoint his feet. She used
that just a few moments ago to anoint her bed. For some man,
if this man only knew, this Jesus, if he only knew about those hands
and that hair and that fragrance and this sinful woman. Well,
Jesus had been listening to Simon's thoughts the whole time, though
Simon knew it not. Simon, I came into your house. You gave me no water to wash
my feet. You gave me no towel to dry them. And this woman came in, this
sinful, This wretch of a woman has come in and bathed my feet
with the tears of her repentance and has now washed them and made
them clean and anointed them. And he looked at the woman, this
sinful woman, and he said to her, your sins
are forgiven. Your faith has saved you. Go
in peace. He did not say that to Simon.
He said it to a wretched sinner. Jesus forgave the worst of sinners. I'm so glad if he forgave her,
he can forgive me. He can. He forgave her. If he
forgave me, he can forgive you. This is what he does. Our Savior
forgives sinners and delights to do it. Number six, Jesus justified
sinners. There's a man, he's gone to the
temple to pray. He looks for the most holy article
of furniture that he can find in the most conspicuous place.
And there he brags on himself about how much better than others
he is. And then when he's done, there's
a poor tax collector whom the Pharisee has just castigated. And that Pharisee or that Republican
would not so much as lift his eyes to heaven, afraid that he
might look up to heaven and see God looking at him, would not
so much as lift his eyes to heaven and smote his breast and said,
God, be merciful to me, the sinner. And Jesus said, that man went
down to his house justified rather than the self-righteous man.
Whom did Jesus justify? None but those that needed it.
Those that boasted of having self-justification and righteousness,
leave them alone. But Jesus says, you showed me
a sinner, I'll justify him. I will declare him righteous.
That's what he came to do. He justified sinners. Number
seven, Jesus welcomed sinners. Jesus welcomed sinners. I have two children. They're
grown now. Turned out to be delightful children. Turned out to be a great blessing
to us. Oh, in their teen years, they
sure did try our patience. Our son and our daughter both
have run away from home. I think both of them more than
once, not at the same time, run away from home, just took off. And the first time it happens,
you have to really, it's grievous. You're concerned for them. You
love them. You wonder what's happening.
And here a father goes, he's everywhere he can think of where
they might be looking for them. And there's a mother. She's left work, come home early.
Everything else is forgotten. She's sitting there in front
of that window in the living room, waiting for my boy to come
home. Where's my boy? Where's my daughter? Where are you? Sit there for
hours. Where's my boy? Jesus knows what that is all
about, too. Yes, he does. He tells a story
of a man whose son came to him and said, Father, I want whatever
you're going to give me when you die. I want it now. Well, if it had been me, I'd
have said, well, you ingrate, you're getting nothing. But no,
the father of this one said, OK, you get it. I know what you're
going to do with it, but you get it. Gave it to him. And the
young boy went off and wasted it in riotous living. Ended up
quite literally and physically in a pigsty. and realized the
pig said it better than he did. He said, I'm going to go home.
I'm going to pray my father will receive me. And he recited his
prayer all the way home, what he was going to say. Maybe, maybe
my father will receive me. And the old man's been waiting
every day for that boy to come home. Lord, bring him home. Bring him home. One day, the
old man looks down the road. That's the size of my son, but
he doesn't walk right as tall and upright as my son. He's kind
of dragging himself along a little bit. Does not look like the clothes
he left home with. It looks like my son. Can that
be my son? That's my son. And up the old
man gets and runs down the road. And this boy's got a prayer to
recite. And before he can get it out,
the father embraces him. He's got the smell of pigs all
over him. The odor of perspiration. He's
filthy. He's dirty. from that pigsty
where he had been living, and the father embraces him and kisses
him and says, welcome home. I recall the day my son came
home. What a sweet day it was. What
a sweet day. It is amazing what all you can
forget. when your son or your daughter
comes home. Things in the past? No, he's
home. Get the best robe out. Put a
ring on this boy. He's no longer a servant. Put
shoes on his feet. This is my son. Was lost and
has now come home. And that's the way Jesus receives
sinners. I know that's the way he received
me. No one here is too vile. for
him to receive. He receives me like that all
the time. The wretched sinner that I am,
Jesus delights in welcoming sinners and receiving them. Number eight,
Jesus accepted sinners. For when sinners drew near to
him to hear him, the Pharisees and scribes complained, saying,
This man receives sinners, and he eats with them too. Yeah,
he receives sinners. I'm so glad. He receives them
warmly. He beckons them to come. And
when they come, he never turned a single sinner away, never did. He welcomes them and accepts
them And he befriends them. Number nine, for he is a friend
of sinners. A friend of sinners. A feast is made by a tax collector
named Levi Matthew. And he invites sinners. Sinners. Immoral people. people despised
by religionists, and they sit down and Jesus talks with them
and eats with them. Strangest religious leader this
world ever knew. Never was there one like this
one. And one more, number 10, we'll close. Jesus not only condescended
to sinners, identified with sinners, sought sinners, beckoned sinners,
forgave sinners, justified sinners, welcomed sinners, accepted sinners,
befriended sinners, but he saved the chief of sinners. What is
the chief of sinners? What is the chief of sinners? Oh, let's see. That's got to
be a murderer. Man, that's pretty bad. Wife, beater, yep, that's bad. Drunkard, yep, that's bad. Addict,
yep. They're all bad. Would you like to know what the
chief of sinners is? Saul of Tarsus says he's me.
He's a self-righteous sinner. The only thing that will ever
prevent you from coming to Christ is your own righteousness. Your
own righteousness. As long as you think there is
something good about me, at least something, you'll never come
to Christ. And it means you've got a righteousness
of your own. That's what prevents people from
coming to Christ. It's their own righteousness.
And Saul of Tarsus had to be knocked from his high horse in the middle of the day and
to grovel in the dust and say, Lord, who are you that just did
this to me? I am Jesus. What would you have
me to do? Self-righteousness is gone. He's
no longer bragging about how good he is. He's bragging about
how great Jesus is. Christ Jesus came into the world
to save sinners. You know, I got good news, but
it's only for sinners. If I could just find a sinner,
if there's one here tonight, I got good news and I hope I'm
not the only sinner here tonight. I've got good news for sinners.
Christ receives sinners and saves them and blesses them. And before you walk out that
door tonight, be sure you've come to Him. He'll
receive you. Amen. God gets lost for our sake this
morning. Oh, but if we're a sinner, he
saves. That's such good news. Moose,
thank you. Thank you.