I want you to turn with me this
morning in Luke's Gospel, chapter 15. Luke's Gospel, chapter 15, and
Luke in verse 1. all the publicans and sinners,
for to hear him. And the Pharisees and the scribes
murmured, saying, This man receiveth sinners, and eats with them. And he spake this parable unto
them, saying, What man of you have in thine hundred sheep,
if he lose one of them, doeth not leave the ninety-nine in
the wilderness, and go after that which is lost, until he
findeth And when he hath found it, he laith it on his shoulders
rejoicing. 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. I say unto you
that likewise joy shall be in heaven over one sinner that repenteth,
more than over ninety and nine just persons which need no repentance."
Then drew near unto him all the publicans and sinners." Well,
I read this and I thought I need to apologize to you that I preach to so many
years now that I haven't preached the Savior as loving and as appealing
and as attractive as I ought to have preached it. And I don't
know how to preach him any better than I preached him, but I know
this much. When he preached himself, the results were very different.
When these publicans and sinners heard him preach, they were very
attracted to him. They grew nearer unto him to
hear him. The Son of God came down from
heaven. And we know his nature, we know
his character. Never has there been a man holy
as he, without blame as he, tempted and yet without sin, and yet
sinners were attracted to this man. Now, you and I would be
naive to think that these publicans and these sinners were decent
people. They weren't decent people at
all. Let's don't try to make this attractive. Let's don't
try to make it romantic. These were sinners. These publicans were Jewish tax
collectors that were deceitful people. They were, for the most
part, rich people who got rich on the backs of other poor Jews. They would lie on them. They
would falsely accuse them. They were defrauders, lying,
conniving, sneaking men. And most of them were rich. You
remember Zacchaeus, the publican? He was rich. And the way they
got rich was defrauding their brethren, their Jews. And these
sinners that were told here in verse 1, they weren't good little
sinners. They weren't little sinners who
told little white lies. They were some wicked, depraved
men and women, and we're told about them in the Gospels. We're told about one who had
seven devils that came to the Lord Jesus. What kind of devils
did she have? We're not told. But can you imagine
having seven devils? Black, fallen, wicked, unclean
spirits to rule in your heart? The person was a wicked person,
possessed of devils. We're told about a woman who
was taken in adultery, and the Scripture says the very act. There was a lady who was laying,
having wicked fornication with another woman's husband, and
there was no doubt about it, they caught them in the very
act. And she came to the Lord Jesus
Christ. She was a sinner. There was another
time, though the lady is never mentioned by name, she is simply
called a sinner in the town. If you lived in that city, you
knew this woman, and you knew the kind of character she was.
She came to the Lord Jesus Christ. Thieves came to Him. Adulterers
came to Him. Drunks came to Him. Idolaters,
liars, came to the Son of God. They drew near to him. I'll tell you one of the amazing
things about this. They knew when they drew near
to him that their sins were threatened. I mean, they lived in sin. They loved their sins. They served
their sins. They were in bondage to their
sins. But they knew this. And here's the amazing thing
about them. They knew that when they drew near to Him, He was
going to put a stop to their sinning. And yet they drew near. Now, that's amazing, isn't it? But here's the very thing that
makes the Lord Jesus Christ so attractive, even to sinners. And He must become attracted
to sinners, or sinners will never come to Him. But with something
like this, if you can imagine this, if you can imagine a conversation
among these publicans and the sinner. When they came here to
hear him, can you imagine this conversation between these people
and among these people? Can you imagine one saying this? I don't know what's going on
inside of me, but I'm becoming sick of sin. That which I used to love, which
I used to delight in, I'm beginning now not to delight in it anymore. I'm becoming sick in my soul. It's not just not wanting to
die in my sins. I'm tired of living in my sins
against God. I'm tired of living with a burdened,
guilty conscience. I am sick of my sins. And so, what did they do? They
drew near. They drew near to hear him. You take a publican and a sinner
who is sick of sin, and I tell you this much, he is apt to be
attracted to a Savior, even though the Savior is going to put a
stop to his sin. They drew near to him. But you know something? I doubt
when these publicans and sinners first came to hear the Lord Jesus
Christ that they were in this sin-sick condition. I want to
show you that over in chapter 5 of Luke. Luke has a lot to
say about publicans and sinners. Look back over in chapter 5 of
Luke and look in verse 27. There was a time when these publicans
and sinners began to come to hear the Master. But they didn't
come to hear Him at first. They come because a friend of
theirs had heard Him and been converted by Him. And he had
this great feast and he invited all his publican friends to come
to his house and eat dinner with him and meet the Lord Jesus Christ. Look at it here in chapter 5
of Luke, and look in verse 27. Luke chapter 5 and verse 27,
And after these things the Lord Jesus went forth, and he saw
a publican, that's that tax collector, named Levi, that is, Matthew. And he was sitting at the receipt
of customs where he collected his taxes. And the Lord said
unto him, Follow me. And he left all, rose up, and
followed him. And Levi made him a great feast
in his own house, and there was a great company of publicans
and others that sat down with them." And you'll notice in verse
30 that the scribes and Pharisees, they murmured against him just
like they did in my text. This man receives sinners and
eats with them. Now what were they doing here
at Matthew's house? Matthew invited them there. They
came to eat dinner with Matthew. But lo and behold, when they
got there, Matthew had a guest. It was the Son of God who had
come down from heaven. He was a wonderful, great preacher. And while they were there, he
began to preach to them. You say, Bruce, how do you know
that? Well, we're told something about what he said to them. Look
on down here in verse 31. When these Pharisees and scribes
murmured in verse 30, why do your master eat with publicans
and sinners? Look what he said. They that are whole need not
a physician, but they that are sick. I came not to call the
righteous, but sinners to repent them. That's some of the message that
he preached to them while they were sitting there
at that dinner. Now, I'm not going to be naive
enough to think that as soon as the Lord made that statement,
all of these publicans and sinners were changed. But I tell you
what they heard that day began to eat away at them. There was
something in that message that was appealing to them. And you
can almost imagine this happening. When the Lord Jesus began to
preach, they were somewhat careless. They were there to eat. They
were there to fellowship with Matthew, their fellow publican.
They weren't interested much in what the Son of God had to
say. They didn't know who He was, and maybe most of them could
cure less. They were somewhat flippant.
They just came into the service, their mind was all blocked, and
they left and never gave much thought about it. Have you ever
seen people do that? Oh, there's multitudes that come
to the service and they never hear a thing. But when they leave,
the message goes with them. There's some seeds sown in their
heart. And can you imagine this happened
to these publicans? They had to go back to work the
next day and hear a thought comes to them. What does he mean? They that are whole need not
a physician, but the sick. What does that mean? Well, I'm
not physically sick. I haven't been to the doctor.
I'm not on any medication. I'm a healthy fellow. What's
he talking about? They that are sick. Am I sick? No, I'm not sick. But then he
begins to think, wait a minute. Wait a minute. I'm not sick physically. But what about my soul? What
about my heart? Is it sick? Could I be sick? If I'm sick, how sick am I? Could
I be dying and not even know it? Then after a while, he turns
these things over, and he can't sleep. He becomes restless. And
what does he do? Well, we find him in my text,
don't we? Drawing near. I've got to hear more about this.
I want to know about this physician healing the sick. If I'm sick,
will he heal me? I've got to hear more. And then, look in chapter 18
of Luke. I love the way Luke tells us
about these publicans, and he just tells us more and more and
more, and he brings us here to the climax of it all in Luke
chapter 18. Look at Luke chapter 18. And
look in verse 10. I love how he does this. He tells
us over there in chapter 5 that Matthew had this feast and invited
all of his publican friends. And they began to hear this message
about being sick and about the physician healing them, bringing
them to repentance. And then they began to draw near
to hear him, listen to him. And then watch the climax. Look
here in verse 10. Two men went up into the temple
to pray, the one a Pharisee and the other a publican. And the
Pharisee stood and prayed thus with himself, God, I thank Thee
that I am not like other men are. I am not an extortioner,
unjust, adulterer, or even as this publican. I fast twice a
week. I pay tithes of all that I possess.
And look at this fellow who had been drawing near to hear the
Son of God preach. And the publican standing afar
off, would not lift so much as his eyes unto heaven, and smote
upon his breast, saying, God be merciful to me the sinner."
Here's the climax of it all. We find this publican in the
temple, but he's not up front. He's standing back in the corner,
and he's beating on his chest. Why is he doing that? That's
where his problem is, you see. He's sick in his soul, and he's
acknowledging it. He found it out. So what does
he do? Oh, heal me. Be merciful to me,
the sinner. I just said a minute ago, it's
an amazing thing how these publicans and sinners came to the Lord
Jesus knowing that he was going to put a stop to their sin. Well,
here he just put a stop to this fellow's sin, didn't he? And
brought this thorough confession out of him. God be merciful to
me, the sinner. What's he saying? What's he saying? You know what he's saying. Heal
me of my sin sick soul. Take this sin away from me and
take me away from this sin. Be merciful to me, the sinner. Wash me. Save me from my sin. And boy, here in the last portion
of verse 14, I want you to look how this affected this man. If
you was a publican, you had to be somewhat strong-willed. You
had to be assertive. You couldn't be timid and be
a tax collector. That intimidates you to death.
If you were going to rob people and lie on them and everything,
you had to be a pretty strong, hateful, stubborn, self-willed
person. But I want you to notice what
the Lord Jesus says in the last portion of verse 14. For everyone
that exalteth himself shall be abased, and he that humbles himself
shall be exalted." Notice the change in this man. He is proud,
faithful, self-willed, assertive, cheating, conniving, extortion. How is he now? He is back there
in the corner, beating on his chest, humbling himself, not
even worthy to come up front in the worship service. God be
merciful to me, this publican. I'd have loved to have followed
these fellows from chapter 5 of Luke on through chapter 15, and
then see it climax in Luke chapter 18. Wouldn't you? Just watch
how the Lord works. I love to see the Lord breaking
people. We love that, don't we? We love to see the proud stoop
under His gracious power. And if you'd have been watching
these fellows, you'd have saw them stooping. Their countenance
was changing. And it was all because they were
drawing near to Him. You and I want people to come
to Christ. We want people to be saved from their sins. We
want to see publicans and sinners come to Christ. Get them under
the gospel. Start telling them about the
Lord Jesus Christ. And I tell you, when they begin
to hear about Him, this sickness that is already in their soul.
Oh, they will begin to see it and they will begin to feel it.
And before it is over with, there will be a beating on their chest,
suing for mercy. God be merciful to me, the sinners. If there is anyone here this
morning that feels no attraction to the Lord Jesus Christ, and
you have no felt need of Him and desire to hear Him, Look
here again at verse 14. Look here at what he says. Do
you think this isn't attractive to publicans and sinners? Look
in verse 14. I tell you, this man, who was
this man? He was a publican, but a cheater. Built a fine mansion on the back
of poor Jews. Defrauding people. Had them whipped
and some even killed, maybe. This wretched, wretched public. This man that's standing here
beating on his chest, suing for mercy. I tell you, this man went
down to his house justified. Isn't that attractive? Oh, no
wonder sinners draw near to your hymn. because of this wonderful
message. He takes sin-sick sinners and
He heals their soul. And He justifies them. Every
sin that this publican had committed in his lifetime, he was cleared
of. Heaven never brought a charge
against him anymore, here in this life or in that life to
come. Oh, can you see him skipping
his way home? Can you see him rejoicing in
his heart? Singing, nevertheless, nevertheless. What a sinner I've been! Oh,
against God and against my fellow man! What a wretch I've been! But nevertheless, he saved me. Oh, they drew near. He went down to his house justified. Justified. Does that attract you? I want somebody
to finish this sentence for me. Do you think it's attractive
just to hear the Lord Jesus say, He went down to his house justified?
Listen to this. And you finish this sentence
for me. Those whom he justified, them he also glorified. You know where this old publican
is today? He's in the presence of God,
of Christ, glorified spirits, and those holy elect angels.
He's in heaven. And what's he waiting for? To
be glorified. Is that not appealing? Ain't
that enough to make you draw near? Heaven is populated with
publicans and sinners waiting for the day that they'll be glorified.
I find that awful appealing myself. And any poor sinner begins to
hear the truth of this gospel when he hears the voice of Jesus
Christ in the gospel. You know what he'll do? He'll
draw near. He'll draw near. He can't help
it. He can't help it. Jesus Christ is irresistible
when He speaks to you. When you hear His voice in the
gospel, we've often said it, you listen to me, you listen
to one of these other brethren, and you just hear our voice.
But when you hear His voice through this gospel, He'll be so attracted
to you. He'll become irresistible. It'll
be like when Joe first saw me. That's what it'll be like. Look here in verse 2 of my text. Look in chapter 15 in verse 2. Look at this. And the Pharisees
and the scribes, they murmured. Who were these Pharisees? We
know who they were. They were the strictest religious
group of people in their day. And they made sure you knew it.
They fasted twice a week and they made sure you knew it. Because
they disfigured their faces so you'd know they fasted. They
paid tithes of everything that they possessed, and they made
sure you saw them when they brought the tithes. Because a lot of
times they'd have somebody to go in front of them with a trumpet
blowing it. They were a praying bunch of
people. They prayed all the time. But they prayed publicly. They
got up in front of the congregation and they prayed. They stood on
the street corner and they prayed. They went down to the widow's
houses and they prayed. just to be seen of men. They wanted everybody to know
they were religious. And everybody was looking at
them saying, if anybody goes to heaven, surely that man will. Who were the scribes? They copied
the Scriptures. They were the theologians. You
ask them where Scripture was, and they didn't have to go look
it up. They knew. They memorized the Scriptures. And look at these
fellows. They murmured. They murmured. Does that surprise us? Does it
surprise you that Billy Graham hates people like us? Does it
surprise you that Robert Shuler, who is dead and gone now, he
despises people like us? Does it surprise you the religious
world despises the poor little church of God who believes that
poor, miserable sinners have free access into the person of
the Lord Jesus Christ, the cause of His grace and mercy? You know
what they murmured? They said these publicans and
sinners, they have too free access into His presence. And that made
them mad. They have no business coming
into his presence. He comes down from heaven, he
says. He says that he's the Son of
God, that God has sent him. He says he's come to do the will
of his Father. And what's he doing? Receiving
these sinners and eating with them? And oh, they despised him
for it. If he's going to fellowship with
anybody, it ought to be people like us. We good religious people. This man receiveth sinners, and
eateth with them. You know, sometimes the enemies
of the Lord preach His gospel more clearly than true preachers
do. Ain't that strange how that happens?
We get up, you see, sometimes, and we think we have to clarify
everything. I want to make this perfectly clear now. These sinners, yes, but they
were broken sinners. Yes, they were repentant sinners.
Yes, they were believing sinners. And we go off and clarify everything. But I like the way they said
this. How did His enemies say this? Oh, here's the gospel.
This man receiveth sinners. And I tell you, a more glorious
truth has never been preached than that. This man receiveth
sinners. And plain evidence is right there
in front of your face because that's what he's doing. He's
receiving these publicans and sinners. These publicans and sinners that
were so covetous, extortionists, oppressors, hateful. And now
Jesus had freely received them, justified them. and his chief
enemies bore witness to it. This man receives sinners. But you know, not just receive
them into his presence. He just didn't say, fellas, come
on in and sit down and look. That's not what that means. It
means more than that. What does it mean when he says
he receives sinners? He receives them into his heart. He receives them into his affection. He received them into His open
love. Oh, my soul, He received them.
He received them. Is this not great encouragement,
brothers and sisters, for us to believe that Jesus Christ
still does and will receive sinners? Do we still believe this? Everything
he did, he did for sinners. He came to save his people from
their sins. He bore our sins in his own body
on the tree. He's done saved a man that professed
to be the cheapest of sinners just to make him an example for
other sinners to encourage them to believe. What's he doing in
heaven? Making intercessions for transgressions. Look over here in Romans chapter
15. And I'll hurry along. Look in Romans chapter 15. And look in verse 7. You and I often
quote that scripture, as many as receive Him. And we do. We receive the Lord Jesus Christ.
We're always receiving. We receive in His fullness. unto
our emptiness, His salvation unto our condemned soul, His
garments to clothe our shame, His blood to wash us. We receive
in everything He is into everything we are. He is mine. We receive
Him. We are like poor old Zacchaeus.
We make haste and come down and receive Him joyfully. But you
know there is something as important as that, if not more important?
And that's Him receiving us. Look here in verse 7. Look at
this. Wherefore receive ye one another,
as Christ also received us to the glory of God. Christ received us. He just didn't receive Sinners
and publicans, when he was here, he's yet receiving sinners. You know what Paul had been saying
all through the book of Romans? There's none righteous, no, not
one. And he turned right around and
said, nevertheless, he's received us. You know that whatsoever
things the law says, it says to them who are under the law
that every mouth may be stopped and the world become guilty before
God? Nevertheless. Christ has received
us. Isn't that wonderful? You know
He's still receiving sinful men. Still doing it. He received you,
didn't He, Clarence? He's still in the business of
receiving sinful men. And you know something else?
He's still rejecting the Pharisees and the scribes. You know why? They're not sick. They're not
sick. He come to save sick people.
He come to heal them kind of people. Defrauders, wretched,
vile, contemptible. Are you like that? Oh, not outwardly? I know you're
not like that. If you were like that outwardly,
and I was like this outwardly, they'd probably have us in jail.
I wouldn't keep company with you. Would you keep company with
a liar? With somebody that was defrauding
you? Would you keep company with a drunk? Would you think you
were like Mary Magdalene when she was running around with seven
devils ruling in her? No, you can't see this outwardly
yourself. But what do you see when you
look within? What are you inside? What do you think of yourself?
Are you a sinner? I mean a real sinner. Christ receives sinful men. Isn't that the message? Listen to this. Sinners, Jesus
will receive. Sound this word of grace to all
who the heavenly pathway lead, all who linger, all who fall,
saying it o'er and o'er again, Christ receiveth sinful men. Make the message clear and plain,
Christ receiveth sinful men. Come, and he will give you rest.
Trust Him, for His word is plain. He will take the sinfulest. Christ
receiveth sinful men. Now my heart condemns me not.
Pure before the law I stand. He who cleanseth me from all
spot, satisfied the last demand. Christ receiveth sinful men,
even me, with all my sins. Purge me from every spot and
stain. Heaven with Him I'll enter in. Sing it over and over again. Christ receiveth sinful men. Make the message clear and plain.
Christ receiveth sinful men. Do you qualify? Anybody here
qualify? You're looking at one that does.
And I tell you, you can't see it outwardly, because I keep
it hidden. And God helped me to keep it
under subjection. But I'm still a sinful man inside. And it delights me to know that
my Savior, Jesus Christ, has not changed. He received sinful
men when he was here, and he's still receiving them today as
he sits on the throne in heaven. And he says to this poor sinner,
go down to your house. I've justified you. Ain't that
wonderful? You'll not find any better news
than that. And that's why sinners draw near to town. Bypass me, bypass our deacons,
bypass this church, and go to Him. Go to Him. Oh, our Lord Jesus, the Son of
God, who is very God of very gods, our triune God, our great
Savior, the Shepherd of your sheep, the Good Shepherd who
gives His life, the Great Shepherd who has power to go and find
your sheep. and bring them back home to yourself.
Oh, Lord, we praise You this morning for this Word. And we
feel ourselves in great need of it. I'm happy to read that
You receive sinful men. And we come this morning before
You, have nothing to bring. In our hands, no price we bring.
You'll find sin and corruption mixed with anything we could
bring. We are in poverty. We are sick. We are poor sinners. Our great joy is this morning
that you do indeed receive sinners. Oh, we bless you for it. We will
be a sinner to the day we die, and then we will trust that you
will save us from even the presence of sin. Thank you for this day. Thank you for this dear people
that is gathered here. Thank you for the fellowship
of the Holy Spirit. Thank you for the Spirit of grace.
Thank you for your presence. Thank you for the food that your
ladies have prepared today. And as we eat and fellowship,
O Lord, we thank you for it. And let us return this afternoon
to worship you again, for you are so worthy. Amen.