This Man Receiveth Sinners

Now the enemies of our Lord,
and the enemies of our Lord were the religious people, the religious
leaders, the Pharisees, Sadducees, the Scribes. The enemies of our
Lord thought that they would brand him with shame when they
called him the friend of sinners. They thought to hold him up to
ridicule. They thought to hand his name
down to everlasting shame by calling him the friend of sinners. They continually repeated it.
Let's look at a few verses. Matthew chapter 9. I want you
to go with me to these verses because I'm laying the foundation
for what will follow. Matthew 9 verse 10. They continually
repeated this. Matthew 9 verse 10. And it came
to pass, as Jesus sat at meat in the house, behold, many publicans
and sinners came and sat down with him and his disciples. Now,
these were not acceptable people. These were not religious people.
These were publicans and sinners, just what Scripture says. And
when the Pharisees saw it, now these were religious people,
these were moral, clean-living people, these were folks that
attended the synagogue on the Sabbath day. When they saw it,
They said to his disciples, why? Why? Eateth your master with
publicans and sinners. All right, turn to Matthew 11.
Matthew 11, verse 19. The Son of Man, Matthew 11, 19. The Son of Man came eating and
drinking, and they say, what do they say? They say, Behold,
a man gluttonous and a wine-bibber, a friend, a companion, a friend
of publicans and sinners, but wisdom is justified over children.
Now turn to Luke 19, verse 7. Now, this is when our Lord spoke
to Zacchaeus. He passed under the tree, and
Zacchaeus was a notorious sinner. And our Lord passed under the
tree and told him to come down. He was going to his house to
have dinner. And when they saw it, chapter
19, Luke, and when they saw it, they all murmured, saying that
he was gone to be the guest, that he was gone to be guest
with a man that is a sinner. Oh, how short-sighted are the
enemies of God! How short-sighted are the enemies
of grace! Our Lord said, My thoughts are
not your thoughts, and my ways are not your ways. And what they
meant to be slander, what they meant to be shame, what they
intended to be ridicule, proved to be his greatest glory. proved to be his chief glory.
Now, Paul rejoiced that Christ received sinners. He said, this
is a faithful saying. It's worthy of acceptation by
all that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners, of
whom I am the chief. John rejoiced in that Christ
received sinners. He said, if any man says he has
no sin, he's a liar, and the truth's not any If any man says
he has no sin, he's made God a liar and he's deceived. But
if we confess our sin, he's faithful and just to forgive us of all
sin, to cleanse us from all sin. Turn to Psalm 51. David certainly rejoiced that
our Lord is the friend of sinners. In Psalm 51, he said, verse 1,
have mercy upon me. Have mercy upon me, O God, according
to thy lovingkindness, according to the multitude of thy tender
mercies. Blot out my transgressions. Wash
me throughly, wash me throughly from mine iniquity. Cleanse me
from my sins. Acknowledge my transgressions,
my sins are ever before me. No one, no one is too sinful
to be saved. Some are too good to be saved. No one is too sinful to be saved.
Our Lord is the friend of sinners. Our Lord came to redeem sinners. It's no shame gospel that we
preach. This troubles me. I have people
write to me. I got a letter today. And it
troubles me greatly. I think, what am I preaching?
What are people, what are they hearing? Is the message not coming
through? Are our people as blind as those
from whom I hear on the television? A man wrote today, and he wanted
to talk to me about being saved, and he said in his letter, Now,
I haven't been what you'd call a bad fella. I attended church,
I attended the old regular Baptist church, and I've always done
the best I could, and of course I realize that there's a heaven
and a hell, and I don't want to go to hell, I'd like to go
to heaven if you'd write me and tell me how to be saved. But
I want you to understand, preacher, that I'm not a bad fellow. Well,
I don't have anything to write him, because if I'm truthful
with him, God won't save him, Lord. Not with that attitude,
not with that conviction, because our Lord died for sinners. He
said, I'm not come to call not bad fellows, I've come to call
sinners. I'm not come to call the righteous,
I've come to call sinners. I'm not come to call the religious,
I'm sent to redeem sinners. This is no sham gospel we're
preaching. It is good news to sinners. Christ
received sinners when our Lord was walking on this earth. Now
you think for a moment. When our Lord was here on this
earth and he was called a friend of sinners, And he was talking
with sinners, and eating with sinners, and preaching to sinners.
And over here were the religious folks, the synagogue attenders,
and doctrinal teachers, and theologians, and all these people, and they
were murmuring and pointing and saying, he eats with sinners,
he's a friend of sinners, he goes to be the guest of sinners.
Which group would you have been with? Troubles need to know end. We're not preaching a reward
for mortals dressed in their fig leaf aprons of self-righteousness. We're preaching a ransom for
sinners. We're not preaching a reward
for people that have done the best they can and they merit
God's good graces. We're preaching redemption for
sinners. I don't know whether that's dawned
on our folks or not. We're preaching good news of
mercy. And the only person that needs
mercy is a guilty person. We're preaching mercy to people
who are nothing and have nothing and can do nothing. Listen to the angels describe
the mission and ministry and message of our Lord. The angel
came to Joseph and said, don't be afraid to take Mary to be
your wife. Holy thing which is conceived
in her is of the Holy Spirit, and she shall bring forth a son,
and thou shalt call his name Jesus. For he shall gather all
the good people around him, and take them to heaven when they
die. Our Lord, you shall call his name Jesus, for he has come
down here to look for people that have always done the best
they could. been raised in a good home and
a good Christian mother and daddy and gone to church and never
have tasted a drop of liquor and never did do this, never
did do that. He's going to get them all together
and they're so good and they've merited God's recognition and
God's reward. He's going to take them to heaven.
And they're going to live forever, and down there in hell are going
to be all the harlots, and the drunkards, and the thieves, and
the blasphemers, and the profane swearers, and the evil imagination,
and all those folks that we wouldn't have nothing to do with, you
know. They're going to be in hell. Us good folks are going
to be in heaven. That's not what's said. Thou shalt call his name
Jesus, he shall save his people from their sin. Listen to the Lord describe his
mission. Turn to Luke 4. Let's let him
do the talking. What did he come down here for?
Why did he come? What was his mission? What was
his message? What was his ministry? Let him
speak. Luke 4, verse 18, he said, "...the
Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he hath anointed me to
preach the gospel to the poor." That's not talking about folks
that hadn't got two suits and two pair of shoes and two cars.
That's talking about the poor in spirit. Poor in spirit. The gospel is the gospel. Good
news to the poor. Blessed are the poor in spirit.
He hath sent me to heal the brokenhearted. That's not folks that are crying
because someone died. That's folks that are crying
because they're sinners. He sent me to preach deliverance
to the captives, captives of sin, captives of Satan, captives
of lust and evil and corruption. He sent me to recover sight to
the blind, spiritually blind, set at liberty them that are
bruised. You come in there anywhere? He
said the Son of Man is come to seek and to save that which was
lost. Turn to Matthew 9. I want you
to listen to what he said to these folks that were so critical
of his association with sinners. In Matthew 9, verse 11, they
said to the disciples when the Pharisees saw him go there to
be the guest of sinners and talking to them, and they said in chapter
9 of Matthew 11, they said, Why does your master eat with publicans
and sinners? And when Jesus heard it, When
he heard what they said, he said to them, Now listen, they that
behold need not a physician, but they that are sick. Who needs
a physician? I needed Andy Moore down in Mexico
and he didn't believe me. I was with him for, he's sitting
back there reading what I'm saying, we was together four days down
in Mexico. Sunday, Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday,
and Thursday. Five days. He's my personal physician. I said, Andy, my tooth's beginning
to hurt. He said, oh, you just imagine that. I said, I think
it is. He said, does it hurt much? I
said, no, it just feels like it's going to hurt. He said,
let me see. And he wiggled it. He said, that's
firm. That's good. I'm going to lose you some business.
All right. He said, that's all right. So
we tried it another day. And I flew home from Mexico.
He stayed down there in Houston. And Friday night, he got to throbbing. And he got to hurting. And I
needed Andy badly. And I got on the telephone and
called his is receptionist, and she said, well, you just get
down to the office. Now, I'll tell you this, when
you're hurting, and you're hurting bad enough, you're going to find
your physician, or somebody can relieve the pain. And I went
down there, and they relieved the pain. Now, this is what our
Lord said, you know the folks that go to the doctor's office
are those who need him, need him. And I'll tell you, there's
no happier sight than his face when you're in trouble. and when
you need it. All right, read on. They that
behold don't need a physician, but they that are sick. Now look
at verse 13. Now you go and learn what that
means. I will have mercy and not sacrifice. I'm not come to call the righteous,
but sinners. Sinners. That's who I've come
to call. You know the people who need the blood? Sinners.
You know people who need mercy? Sinners. You know people who
need Christ? sinners. You know people who
need forgiveness, sinners. That's what Christ is saying.
Folks that aren't sick don't need a doctor. Folks that are
well do not need a doctor. Folks that are hurting, folks
that are sick. And our Master said, that's describing
his ministry, he said, I am come to call sinners to repentance. And I'll tell you another story.
I was down there and The lady down there gave me some medicine,
some antibiotics and a pain pill. I got the prescription pill.
That was on Friday night. I came over here to the church,
and I was working. The work had stacked up while
I was gone, and I had a desk full of work, so I took some
of the medicine and got busy working, you know, and ten o'clock
rolled around. Cecil was over here, and I said,
take me home. He said, okay, I didn't have
a car, and I left my, when I went home, I left my medicine sitting
right on the desk. I left the antibiotics, and I
left the pain pills and everything on the desk, and I went home.
That awful snow, you remember, didn't have a car. Went home,
and that night, I got in bed about midnight, and I thought,
I forgot that medicine. It's over there on that desk.
But I thought to myself, now I'll make it through the night,
you know. Everything will be all right, and I'll get it tomorrow,
and I'll go back taking it. About five o'clock in the morning,
boom, boom. That's the earliest I've been
up in a long time. And that's the earliest I've
been over here in a long time. You'll go to your medicine if
you're hurting bad enough and if you need it badly enough.
I thought, well, I'll just lie here a little bit. No, you won't
lie there. I got up and shaved and dressed and came right over
here at six o'clock in the morning and took my medicine and the
pain went away. This is what our Lord is saying here. If we
need him, you talk about trying to get folks to come to church
and hear the gospel? When they need Christ, they'll
come. You talk about trying to get somebody to read God's Word
and find the way of life? When they need him, they'll read
it. Trying to get people to seek
the Lord? When they need him, they'll seek him. Oh, I'll tell
you, I got up out of that bed Saturday morning, put my clothes
on that tooth throbbing, and I walked through the snow up
to my up to my knees nearly, walked over here to church, I
was glad to get it, didn't even feel the cold, you know, I opened
that door and walked in, picked up that medicine and took some,
and the pain subsided. I hear people say, well, I'd
come to church to preach to you, but you know we had company Sunday,
and I'd come, but you know it's so far to go, I'd come, but it's
so cold, I'd come, but it's so wet, If your medicine's over
here, you'll come get it. Ah, boy. The only thing that'll
give you relief, the only thing that'll give you peace, the only
thing that'll give you rest, the only thing that'll give you
comfort, the only thing that'll meet your needs, you'll come
get it. Ah, boy. I tell you, that's right.
You ever get in trouble, you'll go to him. You'll go to him. So tonight I come to you who
see and who feel and who know your sin to talk to you about
this good news over here that these fellows spoke in ridicule
and mockery and shame and seeking to add to his humiliation. This
man receives sinners! Yeah, he sure does. He sure does,
and I'm going to show you tonight from his word, just briefly,
drawing this to a conclusion, six proofs of his love for folks
like you and me. The first one is this. Our Lord
proves his love for sinners by his incarnation. Our Lord proves
he loves sinners, sinners, self-confessed, unadulterated, unadorned, guilty
sinners. He loved sinners. You know how
I know he loved sinners? Because he left the majesty of
his Father's house, indescribable riches, indescribable glory,
indescribable beauty, and came down here to this indescribably
sinful world. That's how much he loved sinners.
Our Lord left his Father's house and came to a manger in Bethlehem. Our Father left his sinless glory
and came down here to a sin-filled world. What better proof of his
love could he give than his willingness to take upon himself the likeness
of sinful flesh? Turn to Philippians 2, verse
6. And let's read this, Philippians
2, verse 6, "...who, being in the form of
God, thought it not robbery to be equal with God, but made himself
of no reputation." They said, while we know who this is, this
is Joseph's son. We know his mother, Mary, we
know his brothers and sisters, we know who that is. Do you know
the folks that were in his bloodline? You know, we're always trying
to go back and trace our family trees. Do you want to trace his
family tree? Do you know who was in his family
tree, in his bloodline? Rahab the harlot. She was Boaz's
mother, in the line of Christ. Then there was Tamar, who had
twin sons of her father-in-law. And then there was David and
Bathsheba. You know who their son was? Solomon. That's the bloodline of our Lord.
It's not a very attractive bloodline, it's the bloodline of sinners.
Our Lord's bloodline is the bloodline of sinners. He proves his love
by being identified with sinners, by being numbered with a transgressor. The Ancient of Days came down
here and became an infant of days. The King of Glory became
a servant of men. He said, I am among you as him
that serveth. The great lawgiver was born under
his own law, under his own law. Then secondly, he proves his
love for sinners by association. Now, this is something we need
to learn. You don't find the Redeemer standing at a distance
from sinners preaching down to them. You don't find the Redeemer
standing at a distance from sinners issuing his laws and his commandments,
but you see him coming down among the defiled, eating with them,
walking with them, weeping with them, and someone says, up to
his neck he thrust himself in among us. He reclines at the Pharisee's
table while a harlot washed his feet. That's right. He sits at a well and talks person to person, freely,
openly, so that his disciples marvel that he spake to that
woman. He sat there and talked openly
with a woman, a weak woman, a woman of great guilt and great sin. He walked under a tree when it
was unpopular to do so and looked up into the face of a man whom
everybody despised, Zacchaeus, a tax collector. And these tax
collectors were crooks. They padded their purses by robbing
from the people. They would collect the state
taxes and then their own cuts. And he walked underneath the
tree where that tax collector was, surrounded by the religious,
surrounded by the powerful, surrounded by the popular, surrounded by
the influential, surrounded by the leaders. And he looked up
and said, Zacchaeus, Zacchaeus, you come down. I'm going to your
house. Oh, that went over. That's when
they said, why is this man going to be the guest of a man that's
a sinner? Why didn't he go home with me?
Why didn't he go home with Lord so-and-so, or Earl so-and-so,
or Lady so-and-so, or Reverend so-and-so, or Bishop so-and-so?
Zacchaeus! Come on down. I'm going home
with you. These Pharisees, these religious
fellows, they actually found a woman in the act of adultery. And they grabbed her up, and
they said, this is our opportunity. We're going to expose this fellow
Jesus once and for all. Now, we found her committing
sin. And they grabbed her up, and
they began to look for him. There was a whole gang of them,
and they began to look for him, and they found him over there
teaching. And this is their chance. They're going to expose him.
They're going to bring him out in the open. They're going to
expose him for being the friend of sinners. So they brought this
woman, dragging her through the street, the mob, and they pushed
everybody aside and threw her down at his feet. And he turned
and looked at them. And one of them said, All right,
Jesus, we found her in the act of adultery. Now, Moses' law
says she was to be stoned. What do you say? And our Lord, you know what the
Scripture says? That he stooped down, here they
were all standing, and he was eye-level with them, and she
was down there alone on the ground. humiliated, shamed, he stooped
down there where she was, and he began to write in the same. Then he looked up and he said,
the one here that's without sin,
let him cast the first stone. They had stones in their hands.
And then he stooped down and began to write again. I don't
know what he wrote. My guess is he wrote some names
and places and dates that wouldn't mean anything to you or to me,
but it meant something to those fellows standing there with a
stone. And they began to walk off from the oldest to the youngest. And he kept writing in the saying,
a few moments he looked at the woman and he said, Woman, where
are your accusers? Does no man accuse you? She said,
No man, Lord. He said, Neither do I. Go and
sin no more. Go and sin no more. Our Lord erected a cross one
day on which he died, on which his greatest glory was accomplished.
on which he fulfilled the eternal purpose of his father. He erected
a cross one day on a hill, a hill prophesied and foretold for centuries,
to perform a work that had been typified and symbolized for centuries,
a work talked about by Moses and Abraham and Isaiah and Jeremiah. And he erected that cross between
two thieves. between two feet. Our Lord, you read your Bible,
you buy your Bible and get acquainted with it, our Lord never spake
so kindly as when he was talking to a sinner. Our Lord never spake
so harshly as when he was talking to a religious moralist. He proves his love for sinners
by his incarnation, by his just coming down here, by just being
associated, identified, numbered with transgressions. He proves his love for sinners
by association. Where are you going to find him?
You're going to find him with sinners. Because he said, I came
to save sinners. I didn't come. I'm a physician.
Sick people are my patients. Sick people are my patients.
I'm a Savior, lost people are my people." And then he proved
his love for sinners in his sermons, hearing him talking about a lost
son. Joy in the presence of the angels
over a sinner that repented. Hearing that the last day as
he stood, those people had come to Jerusalem to the feast. And
they had gone through all their religious motions, all their
religious ceremonies and their rituals. They'd been up there
at Jerusalem for days. They'd listened to the Pharisees
with their babble and their talk and they'd offered sacrifices. They'd done all these things.
Now they were packing up and they were going home. They came
empty and they were going home empty. And our Lord stood and He looked
at that crowd, John 7, 37 and 38, as they were leaving the
city of Jerusalem. They come up there. to meet God,
and they hadn't met him. They'd come up there to hear
about God, and they hadn't heard about him. They'd come up there to
worship God, and they hadn't worshipped him. They'd gone through all
these religious ceremonies. He watched them go, and he spoke
up, and he said, Ho! And I'm sure they turned, and
he was standing there on Solomon's porch, and he stretched forth
both hands. He said, Ho! Everyone that thirsted,
let him come to me. And out of his belly shall flow
rivers of living water. If any man thirst, let him come
to me." At the last supper, he said to
his disciples, take this bread, it's my body, broken for you. Take this wine, it's my blood,
shed for the remission of sins. Hear him from the cross as he
looks down at that crowd and says, Father, forgive them Everything
our Lord said in his messages had to do with the forgiveness
of sin, not the reward of righteousness. Mercy for sinners! He proved
his love for sinners in his prayers. He went to the Father in prayer,
and he was pleased to take our polluted names on his lips. He
said, Peter, you'll deny me. You'll curse and swear that you
don't know me, but Peter, I prayed for you." That's love. I prayed for you. He said, Father,
I pray for them which thou hast given me, that they may be with
me where I am. It says in Romans 8.34, He ever
liveth to make intercession for us. He proved his love for sinners
in the 5th place in his death. I want you to turn to John 13
and look at one verse of scripture. I looked at this a long time
this morning, John 13, verse 1. Listen to this. Now, John
13, verse 1, Before the feast of the Passover, when Jesus knew
that his hour was come, that he should depart out of the world
unto the Father, having loved his which were in the world. He loved them to the end, having
loved his own, having loved his own. He always has loved them. There never was a time when he
didn't love them. His love is an everlasting love.
His love is an unchanging love. His love is an infinite love,
having loved his own, having already loved them. those which
were in the world." Now watch this, "...having loved his own
which were in the world." And we were, we walked according
to the course of this world, according to the Prince of the
Pioneer. We were dull of hearing and void of understanding. We
loved the world. We didn't love him. We were in
the world. And he, "...having loved his
own which were in the world." He loved them to the end, to
the end of shame and humiliation. to the very end of suffering
from Gethsemane to the cross, to the very end of loneliness,
deserted even by the Heavenly Father, to the very end of hell,
for he made his soul an offering for sin. When I survey the wondrous
cross on which the Prince of Glory died, my richest gain I
count but loss, and pour contempt on all my pride. Forbid it, Lord,
that I should boast, saith in the death of Christ my God, All
the vain things that charm me most, I sacrifice unto his blood. See from his head, his hands,
his feet, sorrow and love flow mingle down, did as such love
and sorrow meet, or thorns compose so rich a crown. Were the whole
realm of nature mine, that were present far too small. Love,
love, having loved his own, he loved them to the end. Love so
amazing, so divine, demands my soul, my life, my all. It was on that cross he bled
and died. He was there, he was crucified,
but he rose again, and he lives in my heart, in the heart of
a sinner, where all is peace and perfect love. Last of all,
turn to John 14, and I close. He proves his love for sinners
by coming back for them. He said in John 14, verse 1,
Let not your heart be troubled. You believe in God, believe also
in me. In my Father's house are many
mansions. If it were not so, I would have
told you. I go to prepare a place for you, and if I go and prepare
a place for you, I will come again. and receive you unto myself,
that where I am, there ye may be also. One great old writer
years ago wrote these four little stanzas to a hymn, O Love that
will not let me go, I rest my weary soul in thee. that follows
all my way, I yield my flickering torch to thee. O joy that seeks
me through my pain, I cannot close my heart to thee. O cross
that lifteth up my head, I dare not ask to fly from thee." Aren't
you glad he's the friend of sinners? Aren't you glad that the Lord
Jesus Christ received its sinners? Aren't you glad that the Lord
Jesus Christ came to save sinners? If he came for any other purpose,
if he came for any other person, how many of us would be left
out? Our Father in Heaven, we thank
Thee for the good news. We thank Thee for the gospel.
We thank thee for the glorious good tidings that our Lord receiveth
sinful men. Make us to feel like Paul with
the chief of sinners. Make us to be able to say from
our convicted hearts, O wretched man that I am. Make us to be
able to cry with David from real experience, My sins are ever
before me. Make us to be able to say with
Isaiah, Woe is me. I am a man of unclean lips, and
I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips. And Lord, give
us that heart cry of the publican and the temple, who beat upon
his breast and cried unto thee, Lord, have mercy upon me, the
sinner. For our Lord receiveth sinful
men. He cleanseth sinful men. He maketh
atonement for sinful men. And he will come and receive
unto himself and make perfect those who have been sinful men. It is in his wonderful and gracious
name we pray and for his sake.

This Man Receiveth Sinners

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This Man Receiveth Sinners

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