The Saviour of Sinners

Q: What does the Bible say about Jesus dining with sinners?

The Bible illustrates that Jesus came to call sinners to repentance, emphasizing His role as the Savior of sinners. In Matthew 9:10-13, Jesus demonstrates His mission by dining with publicans and sinners, which offended the Pharisees. He explains that those who are well do not need a physician, but rather, it's the sick who require healing. This underscores the truth that His purpose was to save and show mercy to sinners, not to affirm the righteousness of the self-proclaimed righteous. Jesus’ actions reveal that He is the Savior of sinners, highlighting how much He values those who recognize their need for Him.

Q: How do we know Jesus is the Savior of sinners?

Jesus is acknowledged as the Savior of sinners through His teaching and the fulfillment of Scripture stating He came to redeem the lost. Scripture consistently reveals Jesus as the Savior of sinners, particularly through verses like Romans 5:8, which states that God demonstrated His love by having Christ die for us while we were still sinners. His life and ministry were marked by acts of mercy toward those in need, like the incurable leper and the woman with the issue of blood. Additionally, Matt 1:21 confirms that He is to save His people from their sins, reinforcing that His mission was specifically aimed at redeeming those who were lost and aware of their spiritual need.

Q: Why is recognizing our need for Christ important for Christians?

Recognizing our need for Christ is vital as it leads us to seek Him for our salvation and continual spiritual healing. Recognizing our need for Christ is fundamental for Christians because it aligns with the reality that we are spiritual beings in need of redemption. As Mahan highlights, it is the sickness of sin that draws us to Christ, much like a sick person seeks a physician. When we acknowledge our sinfulness and inability to save ourselves, we come to Christ wholeheartedly, relying on His mercy and grace. This acknowledgment encourages ongoing reliance on Him for strength, support, and healing in our daily walk of faith.

Q: What does Isaiah 53 teach about Christ's purpose?

Isaiah 53 portrays Christ as the suffering servant who bears our iniquities and is wounded for our transgressions. Isaiah 53 provides profound insight into the purpose of Christ's coming and His atoning work. The chapter articulates that Christ was wounded for our transgressions and bruised for our iniquities, emphasizing the substitutionary nature of His suffering. It confirms that the punishment that brought us peace was upon Him, highlighting how through His stripes we are healed. This passage reassures believers that Jesus was sent to take upon Himself the sins of the world, demonstrating God's mercy and justice in salvation.

Here's our text today, Matthew
chapter 9, Matthew the 9th chapter. I'm going to read verses 10 through
13. Now, the subject, the Savior
of sinners, the Savior of sinners. In Matthew 9 verse 10, the Scripture
says, It came to pass that as Jesus sat at meat in the house
having dinner, Behold, many publicans and sinners came and sat down
with him and with his disciples. And when the religious leaders,
the Pharisees, saw the master sitting and having dinner with
publicans and sinners, they said to his disciples, Why does your
master eat and socialize with publicans and sinners? And when
the Lord Jesus Christ heard this, He said to these religious leaders
and Pharisees, now listen, they that be whole, they that be well,
do not need a physician, but they that are sick, sick people,
need physicians. Now you go learn what that means. You go learn what that means.
Here is the lesson you need to learn. that I will have mercy. I came to show mercy. I came
to save. I came to redeem. I came to forgive. I came to show mercy and not
sacrifice and not receive from you sacrifices and offerings
and gifts. I came to give. The Son of Man
came not to be ministered to, but to minister. and give his
life a ransom for many. I didn't come to receive sacrifices
and offerings and service. I came to save. I came to have
mercy. I'm not coming to this world,
listen, to call the righteous, the religious people. I am come
to call sinners to repentance. Now, you go learn what that means.
I've come to call sinners. Why do I eat with publicans and
sinners? because I've come to call publicans and sinners. Why
do I eat with publicans and sinners? Because the world do not need
a doctor or a physician. It's sick people that need doctors. Now, you go learn what that means.
Jesus Christ came into the world, Paul said, to save sinners, of
whom I'm the chief. The angel said to Joseph, call
his name Jesus, for he shall save his people from their sins.
That's why he came. He said, Come unto me, all ye
that labor and are heavy laden. Who? Ye that labor and are heavy
laden, and I'll give you rest. Ho, everyone that thirsteth,
come to the water and drink. I've come to seek and to save
the lost. My dear brethren and my dear
friends, if there's one truth, one single truth established
in this Bible, it is this, that salvation is for sinners. that
Jesus Christ is the Savior of sinners, that He's the sinner's
Savior, that He came to redeem the lost, if there's one truth
in this Scripture. It is not your sins that keep
you from Christ, it's your righteousness. It's your sins that make you
a candidate for salvation. It's the well, it's the sick
who need the doctors, it's their disease that makes them a candidate
for the medicine, for the healing. Isaiah 53 says, he was wounded
for our transgressions. He was bruised for our iniquities.
The chastisement of our peace was laid upon him by his stripes.
We're healed. Oh, we like sheep have gone astray. We've turned everyone to his
own way. And the Lord hath laid upon him
the iniquity of us all. Peter wrote, Christ died, the
just for the unjust. For whom did Christ die? The
unjust. Paul said, In Romans 5, he died
for the ungodly. He said in Romans 5, when we
were yet sinners, God committed His love toward us in that while
we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. He who knew no sin was
made sin for us that we might be made the righteousness of
God in Him. Yet, this seems to be the one
thing that the Pharisees could not understand. They just could
not understand. These religious men, they were
religious men. They were outwardly moral men. Inwardly, they were like any
other man, but outwardly, they were very moral. They were devoted
to their religious traditions. They were dedicated to their
customs. They were separated to their
laws and regulations, and yet Christ avoided them. He wouldn't
have anything to do with them. He called them whited sepulchers.
He called them Vipers He had all these harsh
words for them who were clothed in their religious veneer He
avoided them and ate with publicans and sinners and they could not
understand that Just couldn't do it. You see You see their
religion Like most religious religion is of the outward variety
That's right. Their religion like most religion
was of the outward variety In other words, if you read Matthew
23, you'll read the charges that our Lord brought against these
religious lost people with their outward veneer of religion and
righteousness while inside, He said, they're full of dead men's
bones. He said to them, these are the charges He brought in
Matthew 23. He said, you say and you do not. You say one thing,
you do another. That's hypocrisy. You command
people to do one thing. You put on them burdens that
you want back. You do your works to be seen
of men. You pray publicly. You don't
do much praying privately. When you do a good work, you
toot your horn and sound the trumpet and want everybody to
know about it. When you have an experience with the Lord or
when you fast or pray, you tell everybody about it. You wrinkle
up your face and when you're in great spiritual conflict and
fasting instead of washing your face and combing your hair and
appearing not to men to fast, you do your works to be seen
of men. You call me Lord with your lips and your hearts are
far from me. Your hearts are on the world
and the things of this world. But you talk about how dedicated
you are to God with your mouth. He said you like to be called
by religious titles, master and father and rabbi and bishop and
doctor and all these things. And you clean up the outside
of the cup. On the inside, you're like a whited sepulchre. You're
full of dead men's bones. He said, I'll tell you something
else about you. Matthew 23. Religion. Outward religion. And most of it is nothing but
outward moral farce and hypocrisy. And he said, I'll tell you another
thing about you. You brag on dead prophets. and you kill living
prophets. You brag on Moses and Abraham
and Isaiah and the apostles and those fellows, and you deny the
very thing that those men preached. And these men totally missed
the person and work of Christ. And when our Lord sat here and
talked to these sinners and publicans, it upset these men, and they
didn't understand. And He told them why. He said,
The well do not need a physician, but they that are sick. He's
the Savior of sinners. He's not the Savior of good men.
He's the Savior of sinners. Do you understand why the Father
sent the Son into the world? Do you? Do we understand why
the Father sent His Son into this world? Do we understand
why the Son became a man, born of a woman, born under the law,
who was tempted and tried and tested in all points as we are? yet without sin. Do you know
why he walked that road? Why he became a man in the flesh?
Do you know why? Was it to call good people, religious
people? Was it to put his approval on
this religious farce that goes on in his name? Do you understand
why the son had to die on the cross? Why he suffered and agonized
in that ignominious, shameful death and died under the wrath
of God Almighty? Do you understand why He laid
in a grave for three days and three nights? Why He arose from
that grave? Do you understand why as our great high priest,
He had to go into, not the holy place made with hands, but into
heaven itself with an atonement? Why the Son of God had to come
into this world and die on a cross and with His own blood go into
the presence of God to make an atonement? Do you know why? Do
you understand why the Son of God right now has to intercede
for us, that we have to have a high priest, a mediator, an
advocate, an intercessor? Paul said, Who can condemn me?
It's Christ that died. Yea, rather, is risen again,
who is also at the right hand of God, who even maketh intercession,
ever liveth to make intercession for us. Oh, I tell you, do we
understand The Pharisees didn't. The religious people, he was
in the world and the world knew him not. He came unto his own,
to his own temple, to his own people, to his own prophets,
to his own law, to his own sacrifices, to his own holy place and mercy
seat. They didn't know him. And here
he is sitting here talking to people, sinners that need him
and people that are That a sinner is that need God's grace. And
they said, what's he doing that for? That's why he came. That's
why he came. That's why he died. That's why
the atonement must be made. Atonement at one month. Reconciled. God was in Christ reconciling
the world to himself. Taking away the wrath, taking
away the enmity, taking away the curse of the law. Cursed
is everyone that continueth not in all things written in the
law to do them. But Christ hath delivered us
from the curse of the law, being made a curse for us." He's the
sinner's Savior. Now, to help you and me to understand,
better understand the mission of our Master, the Savior of
sinners, I want you to listen while I read three scriptures,
three short scriptures. Now, you listen. And listen carefully,
three short scriptures. Matthew 8, verse 1 through 3. When Jesus was come down from
the mountain, great multitudes followed Him. And behold, there
came a leper, a leper, an incurable leper, unclean leper, and fell
down and worshiped Him, saying, Lord, if You will, You can make
me clean. And Jesus said to him, I will
be thou clean. And immediately his leprosy was
cleansed. All right, here's the second
one, Matthew 9, verse 20. And behold, a woman which was
diseased with an issue of blood twelve years, she came behind
him and touched his garment. For she said, If I may but touch
his garment, I shall be whole. And the Lord said, Woman, be
of good comfort. Thy faith hath made thee whole.
Now here's the third one. Matthew 20 verse 30. As the Lord departed out of Jericho,
great multitudes followed Him. Two blind men were sitting by
the wayside. When they heard that Jesus of
Nazareth was passing by, they cried out, saying, Jesus, have
mercy on us, O thou Son of David. Jesus, have mercy upon us, O
thou Son of David. And Jesus stood still, and he
said, What will you that I should do for you? And they said, Lord,
that our eyes may be opened. that we may see. He touched them
and they received their sight. Now here's a leper, an incurable
leper. Here's a woman bleeding to death
whose blood was flowing out of her body. She was dying. Here
were two blind men. What did they all have in common?
What did they, they were from different walks of life, different
ages, different sex, different backgrounds, but they all, they
had something in common. What did they have in common?
Well, you say, they all heard of Jesus Christ. They knew who
he was. That's right. They all called
him by name. The leper said, Lord, if you
will, you can make me whole. The blind men called him the
son of David. They'd heard of him. This woman
had heard of him. All right, secondly, they all
believed he could do it. that he could do mighty works.
The leper says that, if you will, you can make me whole. The woman said, if I can, but
that's real faith now, and just touch his garment. I don't even
have to get his eye, just touch his garment, he made whole. The
blind man said, we want to see. Has it ever been heard that a
man restored the sight of a blind man? Nope. So they had that in
common. They had heard of Christ. And
they knew He could do it. Thirdly, they came to Him. Every
one of them, they came to Him. They didn't come to His disciples.
They came to Him. I caution you here now. They
didn't come to the temple, to the church. They came to Him.
They didn't come to the altar. They came to Him. They didn't
come to His mother. They came to Him. They didn't come to the
law. They didn't turn over a new leaf. They came directly to Him. To Him. Nobody in between. To Him. Fourthly, they also knew
that the healing was by His will, not theirs. That's right. This leper said, Lord, if you
will, you can make me whole. He asked the blind men, what
do you want? They said, we want to see. Well, see. No, you got
to make us see. It's by your will. We want to
see. It's by your will that makes us whole. But one thing, I want
you to listen to this. There are many things they had
in common, but here's the one thing they had in common. One
singular, important, simple thing. The thing that brought them to
Christ. What was it that brought these people, all these people,
to Jesus Christ? What was it? Their belief? Yes. No, here's the main thing. They needed Him. They needed
Him. These Pharisees stood around
and criticized Him. He sat there eating with the
publicans and sinners. These people, he was sitting
to eat, and they came to him. They gathered around him. They
gravitated to him. They crowded about him. The Pharisees
got further away. These people needed him. The
leper came because he needed him. The woman came because she
needed him. The blind men were in darkness. They needed him. That's why they
came. They needed him. Do you have
any idea of the dreadfulness the hopelessness, the despair
of leprosy back then. This man needed Christ. Oh, how
he needed Christ. And I'll tell you, the Bible
calls sin leprosy. It's a leprosy of the soul. It's
incurable. And that's what brings me to
Christ is my need. I'm a leper. I need Him. Lord, if you will, you can make
this leper whole, this outcast, this unclean person. He needed
Christ. You need Christ if you're a sinner.
The woman had a disease of blood, incurable. Her blood was bad.
It was destroying her, her nature, her whole being. She needed Christ. Our nature's bad. We're bleeding
to death. Death is certain. Death is sure.
Judgment, eternity without God. We need a change. We need a new
heart, new blood. We need a new nature. We need
a new spirit. We need a new regeneration. These
men were blind. They were walking in total darkness.
Who can make the blind to see? Only Christ. Do you understand
that? That's what brought them to Christ. And that's what he's
telling these religious fellows. Why does your master eat with
publicans and sinners? Because the well don't need a
physician. Why do men not come to Christ? They don't need Him.
Why do women and young people not flee to Christ, seek the
Lord, search the Scriptures, seek the kingdom of God, seek
healing? They're not sick. They're not. What brings a man to the well?
Thirst. What brings a man to the table?
Hunger. What brings a man to the doctor? He hurts. I went to see my doctor
this week. I don't go to the doctor very
often, but I did go. Why did I go? I like my doctor,
yes. I believe he's got great talent
and ability, yes. But chiefly, I'll tell you why
I went to see him. And I wouldn't have gone otherwise. I needed
him. I heard. I needed help. And that's why I went. And he
helped me. In a short time, I found rest.
and comfort and healing. He helped me. I needed Him. That's
what brought me to Him. That's what brought me to sit
in the office and wait on Him and then patiently go in when
my time came to see Him and do what He told me to do because
I needed Him. You understand that? Now, if
you ever, if you ever, by God's grace, come to that point spiritually,
when you're sick and you hurt, like this leper or this woman
dying, or these blind men in darkness, and you need the great
physician, the Lord Jesus Christ, then you'll come, and you'll
close your mouth, and you'll patiently wait, and if He's pleased
to see you and to help you, you'll just be mighty glad, mighty,
mighty glad. Lord, if you will, you can make
me whole. The well don't need a doctor,
and they don't frequent the doctor's office. The doctor doesn't even
know them by name, and they don't know the doctor. But sick people
know their doctor, and they love him and appreciate him, and they
go to see him, and they're healed. And sick people need Christ,
and they go to Christ. Christ means nothing to those
who have not felt their woe. You see, a sinner is a sacred
thing. The Holy Ghost hath made him so. That's right. Are you
a sinner? You say, well, everybody's a
sinner. I don't know about that. Ask them. A sinner is a sacred
thing. The Holy Ghost hath made him
so. The Pharisees said they weren't sinners. We be not sinners. We
be not born in sin. That's what they said. Most people
do not regard themselves to be sinners. I read one time about
a preacher. He's preaching in a little country
church one evening. And he closed his message and
he looked down at on the front row at a gentleman that was sitting
there on the front row, and he asked him this question. He said,
My friend, do you believe that God sent
the Lord Jesus Christ into the world to save good people or
bad people? The man thought for a moment,
and then he replied as I suppose most people would reply. He said,
Well, I suppose, priest, that He came into the world to take
good people to heaven. And the preacher replied, then
my friend, what's to become of you and me? What's to become of you and me?
You're not good and you know it. I'm not good and I know it. I'll tell you this, Jesus Christ
came into the world to save sinners, lost people. And if I can find
one, I'm going to tell him the good news. Christ died for the
ungodly. God commended His love toward
us in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.
Do you believe that? But God, who is rich in mercy
for His great love wherewith He loved us even when we were
dead, dead in trespasses and sin, quickened us together with
Christ Jesus. Now I've got a few more minutes,
and I want to talk to you about something that's very, very,
very important. along this line. I want you to
listen to me. Pull up a little closer and listen to me. Most
preachers don't know what I'm talking about here. At least
they don't ever mention it. Now, Jesus Christ, as far as
a sinner like me and like you is concerned, Jesus Christ is
the chief issue. He's the chief subject. He has
the preeminence. He's the one great subject because
of our one great need. He came to save sinners. Call
His name Jesus. He'll save His people from their
sins. I need Him. You need Him. You who are wise
know you need Him. You need Christ. You need the
Redeemer. You need the blood to cleanse
you. You need the righteousness to cover you. You need His holiness
to sanctify you. You need Christ. You need Him
now. Every morning you wake up saying,
Lord, keep me from sin. Every night you have to fall
on your face and say, Lord, through the blood of Christ, cleanse
me of my sins. You need Him. But Jesus Christ,
while He's all important to you and to me because we need Him. I'll tell you this, He's all
important to me and you because God needs Him too. God needs
Him. I need Christ and God needs Christ.
What do you mean, preacher, God needs Christ? Well, I know why
I need Him. Do you know why you need Him?
Yeah, I'm a sinner. I need Christ because I'm a sinner. You need
Christ because you're a sinner. God needs Christ because God's
holy. God's holy. And God Almighty,
being holy, cannot receive you, the sinner, unless Christ does
something for you and enables God to be just and justifier. You see what I'm saying? Now
listen to me. God's law demands obedience. And He can't take
you to heaven and disregard your disobedience. That's why Christ
came down here and obeyed the law for you. And in Christ, you
have an obedience with which God is satisfied. God's justice
demands death. God's justice says the soul that
sinneth, it'll surely die. And God Almighty cannot forgive
us. He cannot set us free at the
expense of His justice. So He sent Christ down here,
the just, to die for the unjust, that He might bring us to God
justly, that God might look on us and receive us and His holiness
and justice be honored." Romans 3, 24 said, God sent forth Jesus
Christ to be a propitiation for sins that He might be the just
and justifier of them that believe on Christ. I need Christ because
I'm a sinner. I broke the law. I'm the one
that sinned. I'm the one that deserves to
die. I'm the one that deserves to go to hell. I need a Savior.
I need a righteousness. I need justice done for me in
my stead. I need someone to pay my debt.
My debt is heavy, too heavy for me to bear to pay. I need someone
to pay it. But Almighty God must have an
atonement. He must have a sacrifice. He
must have a payment. God can forgive sin only on the
basis of that sin being satisfied and paid for by the blood of
Christ Jesus. So He can take you to heaven
and still be God. So you see, I need Him, and God
needs Him. I need Jesus. And the holy law
and the justice of God needs Christ, too. He's essential. That's the reason He said, I'm
the way, the truth, and the life, and no man cometh to the Father
but by Me. Christ, the center Savior. Would
you like to have this tape? Send two dollars, we'll mail
it to you. I have two messages on this tape, one I brought last
week on For the Sake of Love. And this one today on the Savior
of sinners from Matthew chapter 9, 10 through 13. Send two dollars, we'll mail
it to you. Till next week, at this same time, God bless you,
everyone.

The Saviour of Sinners

What does the Bible say about Jesus dining with sinners?

How do we know Jesus is the Savior of sinners?

Why is recognizing our need for Christ important for Christians?

What does Isaiah 53 teach about Christ's purpose?

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About Henry Mahan

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The Saviour of Sinners

What does the Bible say about Jesus dining with sinners?

How do we know Jesus is the Savior of sinners?

Why is recognizing our need for Christ important for Christians?

What does Isaiah 53 teach about Christ's purpose?

Sermon Transcript

About Henry Mahan

Comments

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