Turn, if you will, tonight to
Luke's Gospel, Luke chapter 15. Very familiar passage of Scripture. Verse 1, Then drew near unto
him all the publicans and sinners for to hear him. And the Pharisees
and scribes murmured, saying, This man receiveth sinners, and
eateth with them. We've all heard the expression
that a picture is worth a thousand words. Indeed, this is a picture
in verse one that a thousand words wouldn't come close to
describing. What a wonderful picture this
is. And of course, our Lord is surrounded
by publicans and sinners. Can you picture that in your
mind's eye? Can you visualize that? There's
our Lord and Savior, He who did no sin, in whom was no sin, surrounded by publicans and sinners,
just pressing in upon Him. And standing further off outside
this circle of sinners are the Pharisees and the scribes. Can
you picture them, too? They look down their self-righteous
nose and they say, look at this. Caleb, can you imagine this? This man actually associates
with publicans and sinners. But in this picture, of course,
the center of attention is Jesus Christ himself. And that's as
it should be. John said, that's as it should
be. He must increase, but I must decrease. He's the main attraction. And I pray that he will be during
these next three days in our hearts, that he'll be the main
attraction. In the Song of Solomon, the bride
was asked, what is thy beloved more than another beloved? What makes him so special? And
she said, oh, there's none like him. There's not another like
him. He's special. He's the cheapest
among 10,000. As a matter of fact, He's altogether
lovely, altogether, in every part. No matter how you view
Him, He's perfect, perfect God and perfect man. He is altogether
lovely. And in Him, in Him, and in Him
alone can this be said. Mercy and truth are met together. Righteousness and peace have
kissed each other. Mercy there by him. Mercy there was great. And grace
was free. The Old Testament prophet said,
or rather in Isaiah, God said, look unto me. Look unto me. Nowhere else. The none other. Why pray ye to a God? Doesn't
this sound familiar? Why do you pray to a God that
cannot save? Don't do that. God in grace and
mercy says, look unto me. Look unto Christ. He receiveth
sinners. Look unto me and be ye saved,
for I am God. I am God, a just God, a Savior,
and besides me, there is no other. This is my beloved son, God the
Father said, in whom I am well pleased." Yes, he indeed is the
center of attraction, is he not? Simeon said, after seeing him
as a babe and taking him up in his arms, He said, well, got
nothing left to live for. Let me die. Lord, let me now
depart in peace. Why? Why? Because I've seen. I've seen your salvation. And he was in the temple at the
time. But you know what he was gazing at? You know what he was
beholding? The center of attraction. God's
Son, the only substitute for sinners, the Savior of sinners. Simeon said, I see Him. Now I'm ready to die. Surrounding our Lord here, we're
told in verse 1, all the publicans and sinners. Isn't that a wonderful
picture? Isn't that a wonderful picture?
Christ receiveth sinful men. That would be a good caption
under this picture, wouldn't it? Christ receiveth sinful men. But take him out of the picture. Take Christ out of the picture.
And all you have left are the publicans and the sinners. Without Christ, without Him,
what's left? The crowd's still there. The
publicans, the sinners are still there. There's the scribes and
the Pharisees. But without Christ, you have
only sinners without a Savior. Only sinners without hope. Without Christ, you have dying
sinners, but without the Great Physician, He alone that can
cure the disease of their sins. You have lost wandering sheep
without the Great Shepherd. See how entirely different the
picture is without Him? Entirely different picture, isn't
it? Sinners standing there, Alone. Alone. Think of that. Sinners standing alone. Sinners that will soon stand
before God Almighty. the absolute just and righteous
judge of all the earth. Sinners that will soon, in a
very brief time, just as we gathered here, will stand before God Almighty,
who declares the soul that sinneth must die. Sinners standing before
Him, because it's appointed unto men, all men, wants to die. But after this, what does the
Scripture say? After this, I'll float around
the hospital room and look down on my corpse? No. Or I may be
in a tunnel of a bright light and then come back and write
a book about it? No. It's appointed unto me and wants
to die. And after this, the judgment,
the judgment, standing before God Almighty without Him, without
Christ, Without a mediator. Oh, imagine that. Oh, what a
vastly different picture this is. Without Him. Without Him. Standing before
God Almighty without a mediator. Between a holy God and my sinful
soul with nothing between. Without Him. What a horrible
picture that is. There is one God and one mediator
between God and man. And it's not the priest, is it,
Pastor? And it's not the Pope? And it's
not the preacher? And it's not the Baptist, David?
There's only one mediator between God and man, and that's the man. The man Christ Jesus. Oh, yes. He's altogether lovely. Oh, he's precious because he
mediates between a holy God and this sinner. And he does so successfully. Remember those many that we read
of in Matthew chapter 7. Our Lord said, in that day, in
that day, When all men are ushered into the presence of God Almighty,
many shall stand before Him in that day and say, you remember
us. You know us. We did many mighty
works. We did many great works. And
we did them in your name. And their mediator, they thought,
The grounds of their acceptance before God, they thought, was
their own works. Imagine that. Standing before
God with nothing else. Standing before God alone. Our Lord said, in that day, it'll
be that way. standing before Him with nothing,
without a mediator. And of course, the only result
can be, depart from me. Depart from me. Your works aren't
enough. They're not enough. Depart from
me into outer darkness. He's the reason the picture here
in Luke 1, 15 and 1 rather, is so wonderful. because he himself
is wonderful. The prophet said, unto us a child
is born, unto us a son is given, and he shall be counselor, the
mighty God, the prince of peace, and he shall be wonderful. Wonderful in His person. Wonderful
in His work. Wonderful in His accomplishments. Wonderful as the Savior of sinners. Wonderful as the Great Shepherd
of the sheep. Indeed, He's wonderful. Remove Him, and you take away
the only hope for helpless sinners. Take Him out of the picture.
And you take away hope. Oh, you still have the scribes
and the Pharisees there. Oh, yes. And they'd be more than
happy to take these poor sinners and bind them with their traditions
of don't touch this, and don't go there, and don't wear that,
and don't taste the other, and make them twofold more the child
of hell than they are themselves. But without Jesus Christ, who
said, I am the light, I am the light, we abide in darkness. Without him who said, I am the
resurrection and the life, without him, there can only be death. Unless he who said, I am the
resurrection, comes to the tomb, Darwin, of my cold, depraved,
dead heart, and speaks life into me, I remain in that condition. Oh, he indeed is wonderful, is
he not? Turn back, if you will, to Matthew
chapter 9. Here we have Matthew. hosting a great feast in our
Lord's honor, because he walked by and said, Matthew, follow
me. And he did. And again, on this
occasion, you have the scribes and the Pharisees standing by.
Verse 10 of Matthew 9. And it came to pass, as Jesus
said it, meet in the house. Behold, many publicans and sinners
came and sat down with him and his disciples. And when the Pharisees
saw it, they said unto his disciples, Why eateth your master with publicans
and sinners? The same thing they said in Luke
15. Look at our Lord's answer. But when Jesus heard that, he
said unto them, They that behold need not a physician, but they
that are sick. But go and learn what that meaneth. I will have mercy and not sacrifice. For I am not come to call the
righteous, but sinners to repentance." Go and learn what that meaneth. Have you learned that? Have you
learned what the Lord meant there? I'll have mercy. Have you learned
that old hymn, the truth of that old hymn? Could my tears forever
flow? Could my zeal no lanker know? All these for sin could not atone. Thou, thou Lord Jesus. thou great shepherd, thou must
save, and thou alone." Our Lord said, go and learn what that
means. Again in Luke 15, verse 1, the
publicans and the sinners crowd around Him. They press upon Him. Why? Look what we're told. For to hear Him. For to hear
Him. That's what we want, don't we? That's what we need more than
anything else, to hear Him, who speaks as never a man yet spake. Oh, to hear Him. You'll hear
Don and David and myself these three days. Oh, but to hear Him. Because only He is full of grace
and truth. He alone has grace, as we sang
a moment ago. That's greater than all my sin. Listen to what it says of Him.
The psalmist said in Psalm 45, Thou art fairer than the children
of men. Speaking of our Redeemer, grace
is poured into thy lips. John said, we saw him, the only
begotten of the Father. And he's full of grace and he's
full of truth. All the grace that a sinner can
ever need. All the grace required to take
him out of the depths and the pit of his sin all the way to
glory. Grace that is greater than all
of his sin. Grace is poured into his lips,
all that he might speak. that he might speak grace to
our hearts. Grace is poured into thy lips.
Therefore, God have blessed thee forever. Gird thy sword upon
thy thigh, O Most Mighty, with thy glory and majesty. And in
thy majesty ride prosperously, because of truth and meekness
and righteousness, and thy right hand shall teach thee terrible
things. Thine arrows are sharp in the
heart of the king's enemies, whereby thy people fall under
thee. Thy throne, O God, is forever
and ever." Oh, that we would hear from him who said, I am
the way. I am the way. There's not another. I'm the way, the truth, and the
life. No man cometh to the Father but
by me. Noah didn't do it. Abraham didn't
do it. They came the same way that Peter
and Paul came. No man's ever came to God except
through the Lord Jesus Christ. He's the only avenue. A couple
of weeks ago, I went up to Hendersonville, North Carolina. Don and two other
brethren were preaching there, so I went to be in service with
them. When I left Thursday, I think
it was, I have a GPS in the car, so I just listen and do what
it says. It took me right through Atlanta.
Man, what a mess. Eight lanes of traffic, and I'm
busting at her, the GPS. Was there not a bypass around
it? Did we have to come through this
way? God Almighty says, you can't
come to me and bypass Jesus Christ. There's not a bypass to me. This
is my son. You've got to hear him. To come
to Me, you've got to come through My Son." Would you be accepted
before a holy God? Would you be accepted before
Him who demands perfection? Would you have the smile of God
Almighty shed abroad in your heart? Then look to Christ. Christ says, come unto me. Oh, hear Him. Grace is poured
into His lips. Come unto me, all ye that labor
and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Oh, sweet rest. Sweet rest. Oh, it's so sweet. to trust in
and to rest in the Lord Jesus Christ, just to fall down on
Him. Oh, and just to rest right there. Will the storms blow? Well, most
certainly. Will the waves arise? Most certainly. But on Christ a solid rock? They'll
never be one of His sheep ever washed away because they're on
that one certain sure foundation of the church, Jesus Christ Himself,
that He might speak, that we might hear from Him. He said,
as the Father hath life in Himself, even so has He given to the Son
to have life in Himself, that whosoever hears His voice, hears
his voice, shall live, shall live. It's impossible otherwise. You remember that time the disciples
watched the conversation between our Lord and the rich young ruler
in Luke 19, I believe it is. And he sent him away sorrowful. And he said, how hardly it is
for those that have riches to enter into the kingdom of God.
And disciples, obviously impressed with this rich young man, said,
who then can be saved? Who then can be saved? You remember
what our Lord said. With men, it's impossible. Now, all over this area, This
Sunday, all over this country, men will stand up and tell poor
lost sinners, it's easy as ABC. It's just as easy as repeating
a prayer. It's as easy as moving from there
to here. It's just easy being saved. Our
Lord said it's not easy. It's not easy. It's impossible. Oh, it's not hard to repeat a
prayer. Someone put words in your mouth.
It's not hard to walk up an aisle. Oh, but to be raised from the
dead, to walk in newness of life, that requires nothing less than
omnipotence, and you don't have it. You don't have it. Oh, but
the Great Shepherd does. He's the mighty God. He has life in Himself and He
speaks life into the souls of all His people. Who then can
be saved? It's impossible with man, but
not with God. It requires a miracle. Salvation
requires a miracle and you can't perform it. Oh, but God can,
and He does. Oh, to hear His voice, to hear
His voice. What happens? What happened that
day? Four days after the death of
Lazarus, and our Lord comes to Bethany, and Martha takes Him
out to the tomb. Roll away the stone. Lord, He's
been dead four days. It's too late. He's been gone. He's been gone four days. Take
ye away the stone. Oh, another wonderful picture,
is it not? There stands the God-man. There he stands. And the stone
is rolled away. Lazarus is dead as dead can be. And when He who is the resurrection
and the life speaks these words, Lazarus, come forth, my soul. Would you look at that, Don?
Here comes Lazarus shuffling out of that grave. Here he comes,
bound with grave cloths, and our Lord says, Lucy, take those
off of him. They're not fit for a living
man. Take those grave cloths off of him. When He says, live,
God's people live. When He says, Lazarus, come forth,
He comes forth, and so will you. So will you. If you're here tonight
and you don't know Christ, or may He be pleased, it's up to
Him. It's all up to Him. You're harboring
a delusion that it's up to you. No, it's not up to you. It's
up to Him. It's all up to Him whether you
live or not. You're in His hands. And it's
up to Him whether He gives you eternal life or not. It's up
to Him whether He speaks salvation to you or not. It's all up to
Him. Oh, but you know what? He delights
to show mercy. He takes great joy, as He said
in this parable, over one sinner that repents. Great joy when
He finds that one lost sheep and puts it on His shoulders
and takes it all the way home. Oh, if He comes and speaks to
you, You'll live, you'll live. Oh, that he might speak, that
we might hear him as they crowded around that day to hear him.
When a leperous sinner falls at his feet and says, if you will, if you will, You can make me
clean. I'm unclean. God's law has pronounced
me unclean. The priest says I'm unclean.
I'm an outcast. My case is completely hopeless. But if you, if you, if you will, you can make me
clean. He said, I will, I will be thou
clean. And he was made perfectly whole. When he speaks, I will be clean. And the result is this, the result
is this, but ye are washed. Be ye sanctified, be ye justified
in the name of the Lord Jesus and by the Spirit of our God. Oh, to grace, how great a debtor! If any blind beggars cry, if
any blind beggars cry, Jesus, have mercy on me. Is there one
here? Is there one here? Is there a
blind, poor beggar before the throne of mercy, seeking grace? Is there one here? Oh, listen,
listen. Blind Bartimaeus sat by the wayside. Turn over just a few chapters
in Luke 18. Let's remember when this took
place. In Luke 18, verse 31, He took unto Him, that is our
Lord, took unto Him the twelve, and said unto them, Behold, behold,
we go up to Jerusalem, and all things that are written by the
prophets concerning the Son of Man shall be accomplished." I
like that word, don't you? Accomplished. For he shall be
delivered unto the Gentiles, and shall be mocked, and spitefully
entreated, and spitted on. And they shall scourge him, and
put him to death. And the third day he shall rise
again." That's where he's going at this very time. He's going
up to Jerusalem. He's going up there to obtain
the eternal redemption of all His people. He's going up there
to make atonement for the sins of all those the Father gave
Him before the world ever was. He's going up there to redeem
those that God Almighty put in His hands as our surety. He's on His way to accomplish
that. And he does. Bless his name,
he does. And that's why he cries, it is
finished. And as he's going, can you imagine
this? As he's going, there sits in
his rags a beggar, a blind beggar. What's the noise? What's the
commotion about? And someone says, Jesus of Nazareth
is passing by. And that beggar begins to cry
out, Jesus, thou son of David, have mercy on me. And they say, shh, be quiet.
You beggar, you bum, he doesn't have time for you. He doesn't... Who do you think you are? You
come here every day. You're here every day. You're
sitting in your poverty, begging in your darkness. And He ignores
them. Thank God for constraining grace.
He ignores them. Jesus, have mercy on me. Don't you love this? Isn't this
a glorious picture? The Son of God stands still. He stops. He stops. He heard this Bartimaeus sitting
in his darkness and in his rags. have mercy, and my soul." He
stopped. This man receiveth sinners. That was one accusation the Pharisees
leveled at our Lord that was right. He pled guilty too. Guilty as charged. And he gave
the parable to illustrate it. And Jesus Christ is the same
yesterday, and today, and forever. Oh, I'm so thankful for that,
aren't you? And that's why we sing, don't we? We sing, dear
dying lamb, thy precious blood shall never lose its power. No, no, no, no. Until all the
ransomed Church of God be saved, the sin no more. Perhaps, perhaps the Lord of
glory before these services are over, may speak words like these
to a broken-hearted sinner, like he did that woman in Luke 7.
And you know where he spoke these words? Right in the house of
a Pharisee. She comes in, and just like these,
he looks down his nose, Simon the Pharisee. Who does she think
she is? Who invited her in here? How
did she get in here? And look what she's touching
him. That proves he's not a prophet. If he was, he would know what
kind of woman this is, and he wouldn't allow her to touch him.
Oh, yes. The only ones that do touch him
are sinners. Are sinners. And he spoke these
words, thy sins are forgiven. Thy sins are forgiven. Imagine that. Thy faith has saved
thee, he said. Go in peace. Therefore, being
justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus
Christ forever, forever, for he is our peace. Perhaps the
great shepherd of the sheep who said, I've come to seek and to
save that which was lost will do that very thing here. Did
He not Himself say, all that the Father giveth Me shall come
to Me? And Him that cometh unto Me I
will in no wise cast out. For 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 of all, all, all that
He giveth Me, I should lose none. In verses 4-7, Our Lord says to the Pharisees,
yes, I'm guilty as charged. In our Lord's answer, he replies
to them, more than just receiving sinners, he tells them, I go
out on purpose. I go out deliberately to find
them. And I keep seeking until I find
them. The search won't stop, he says in verse 4, until I find
them. Which of you have read the verse
5? He says to you, 99 self-righteous Pharisees that have no need of
the great physician, I'll leave you where you're at. I'll leave
you in your self-righteousness. But oh, for that one lost sheep,
I'll go out And when he had found it, verse 5, he layeth on his
shoulders rejoicing. He says, I'll search until I
find it. I'll seek that one. The search won't end until he
finds that one lost sheep. Aren't you glad? Aren't you glad
he did? Aren't you glad he didn't cease
the search until he found you? That's why he must go through
Samaria. That's why he must cross over the sea to the country of
the Gadarenes. And when he had found it, verse
5, what then? What then? When he had found
that sheep, what then? What does he say? I've done all
I can, Caleb. Now it's up to you. Oh, thank
God that's not true. Peter, we crossed the sea. We came over here and found this
demoniac in these caves. But now we can't do anything.
He won't cooperate. He won't take the first step.
Oh, no. The great shepherd says, I come
and seek and save. He searches till he finds it,
and when he finds it, what do we read? He lays it upon his
shoulders. He takes it all the way home,
from the gutter most to the uttermost, all the way home. You see, the
sheep, the salvation of the sheep is his responsibility. He carries
them on his broad shoulders of omnipotent grace. What do the
sheep do? What do the sheep do? What part
do they play in it? They're carried. They just rest
there in His everlasting arms, secure, secure, resting in the
arms of their shepherd for everything, trusting Him
for everything. And it feels so good. It feels
so good. Just the rest in Him. They're complete in Him. Not long ago, I went back to
Danville to visit my grandchildren. Took them out to eat. Before
we left the house, I asked them, where would you like to eat?
And they said, we don't care where we eat, Pawpaw, as long
as it's a buffet. As long as it's all we can eat. Oh, we have here in our Great
Shepherd a buffet of grace. Because in Him, God has made
Him to be unto us wisdom and righteousness and sanctification
and redemption. We're complete in Him. Oh, thank
God for the Great Shepherd. Verses 6 and 7, we'll read them
together and we'll wrap this up. It says, And when he cometh
home, he calleth together his friends and neighbors, saying
unto them, Rejoice with me, for I have found my sheep, which
was lost. And I say unto you that likewise
joy shall be in heaven over one sinner that repenteth more than
over ninety and nine, like the Pharisees, just persons they
thought themselves to be, which need no repentance. Notice, And when he cometh home,
not if he cometh home, But when he cometh home, all the way to
glory, remember that night, just before he was arrested, just
before Judas came to the garden with the mob, our Lord prayed,
Father, I will, I will that all those whom you had given me be
with me where I am. I want them home with me. in glory." Turn, if you will,
to Revelation chapter 15. This is exactly what we have
here. Revelation 14, we have the Lamb,
but He's not alone. The Lamb and His company. Verse
1, And I looked, and lo, a lamb stood on the mountain Zion, and
with him a hundred forty and four thousand, God's elect, every
one of them, having his Father's name written in their foreheads. This is why he endured the cross,
for the joy that was set before him. And look down at verse 3. And they sung, as it were, a
new song before the throne and before the four beasts and the
elders, and no man could learn that song but the hundred and
forty and four thousand which were redeemed from the earth.
These are they which were not defiled with women, for they
are virgins. These are they which follow the
Lamb whithersoever he goeth. These were redeemed from from
among men, being the firstfruits unto God and to the Lamb. And
in their mouth was found no gall, for they are without fault before
the throne of God." Amazing grace. Without fault
before the throne of God. Thank God, yes, this man, this
man receiveth Amen. God bless you.