Chapter 15, verse 2. The Scripture
says, And the Pharisees and scribes murmured, saying, This man receiveth
sinners. Now that's my text, and that's
my topic. This man receiveth sinners. One
of the blessings which we take for granted, I do, I think most
of you do, would overwhelm us if we really considered it carefully.
I wonder a moment ago when I called on Brother Cecil Roach to lead
in prayer, did anybody here besides myself, and the only reason that
I thought about it was because that's my subject tonight, because
often I've gone to God in prayer and didn't think about it, did
any of you think tonight how marvelous it is that we can approach
the Heavenly Father, that we can walk right into his holy,
divine, sovereign presence and talk to him. One blessing which
we have, which we take for granted, that would absolutely overwhelm
us if we thought about it a little while, is what? The approachableness
of Christ. The fact that folks like you
and me can come into the presence of the living God, and we can
talk to him. We can because he said, Come
unto me, all ye that labor and are heavy laden, and I'll give
you rest. We can because he said, Come, let us reason together.
Though your sins be as scarlet, I shall make them white as snow.
We can because Once when the disciples tried to keep the children
away from the busy master, our Lord said, Suffer these little
ones to come to me, and don't you forbid them, for such is
the kingdom of heaven. In fact, the most sinful, depraved,
despised of all nations can come boldly into his presence. The
ignorant, the poor, the lonely, the old, the rich, all men Our
Lord is willing that at any time and at all times you may call
on him. Now, that's not true of the kings
of this world. Try to get you an appointment
with Mr. Ford and see how he is surrounded by guards, security
men, all manner of barriers, all manner of protocol. Well,
you can't get to the rulers of this world. You can't even get
in their presence. You can't even get to see them.
It's difficult enough to even get to see the mayor of a little
town like this. And yet our Lord, the King of
kings and the Lord of lords, whose courts are far more splendid,
whose person is infinitely greater, whose throne is infinitely powerful,
leaves his door wide open." Isn't that wonderful? And he says,
"...everyone that asketh, receiveth." and he that seeketh findeth,
and to him that knocketh it shall be opened." Now we take that
for granted, but there isn't a greater blessing outside of
the redemption of our souls and the forgiveness of our sins than
the privilege of coming into the presence of God. And I tremble
about it And this matter of public prayer
and private prayer and calling on the Lord and using the name
of the Lord, I tell you, the older I get and the more I realize
and recognize God's holiness and sovereignty in my own sinfulness,
the more awed I am, the more overwhelmed I am at this thing
of talking to God. And then this approachableness
of Christ. It's not even true of the philosophers
of our day and the professors. They demand great seclusion.
Someone said the philosophers and professors and teachers of
our day sit on lofty seats of self-conceit. And they consider
it beneath them to even exchange a greeting with the illiterate
of this world. It may be difficult for you to
get into the presence of the president of Ashland Junior College,
a pretty smart man, or perhaps the president of Armco
Steel Mill, or perhaps even the general manager, or perhaps even
your general superintendent. But these men are fools compared
to Christ. Someone said, the philosophers
of this world belong in asylums for the mentally incompetent
compared with Christ. Their greatest wisdom is foolishness. His lips are pearls and his words
are diamonds of infinite value, and yet they say, don't bother
me. And Christ says, come to me.
And he says, if you abide in me and my words abide in you,
you shall ask what you will, and it shall be done. The approachableness
of Christ. And you know, even great so-called
great religious leaders stand apart from the people. They're too holy to be stained
with the company of the defiled. They're too righteous to sit
in the presence of sinners. They're too learned and too orthodox
to discuss their theology with beginners. And yet our Lord,
who is the very fullness of God, our Lord, who is the very holiness
of heaven, our Lord, who is the very righteousness of God, the
Scripture says, then drew near unto him publicans and sinners."
And these old Pharisees murmured about it. These scribes murmured
about it. These religious leaders murmured
about it. And they said, look at that.
That man received sinners. They thought it was awful. I
think it's the greatest gift of God. This man received sinners. And that proud religious leader
who sat in his home that day when Christ was sharing a meal
with him. And the harlot came in off the
streets, bathed his feet with tears and dried them with the
hair of her head, kissed his feet and anointed them. That
proud religious leader said, If this man, if this man were
a prophet He would not let this woman touch him, for she is a
sinner." Now that's the way he felt, and that's the way most
religious leaders feel today. They're too holy to be stained
with the touch of sinners, let alone the company of the defiled.
But our Lord says, come unto me. Come ye sinners, poor and
needy. weak and wounded, sick and sore,
Jesus ready stands to receive you, full of pity, love, and
power. Don't take that for granted.
Come ye thirsty, come and welcome. God's free bounty glorify true
belief and true repentance, every grace that brings you nigh. Come
ye weary, heavy laden, lost and ruined by the fall, if you tear
it till you're battered, you'll never come at all. Let not conscience
make you linger, nor of fitness fondly dream. All the fitness
he requireth is to feel your need of him. I will arise and
go to Jesus. He will embrace me in his arms,
in the arms of my dear Savior, Oh, there are ten thousand children,
and you're invited. I have five things that I'd like
to present tonight. I'll call them five important
arguments for the approachableness of Christ. The approachableness
of Christ. First of all, His offices. And
there's so many of them that I couldn't deal with all of them
by any means. I don't even know all of them.
I don't understand all of them, but I can deal with two or three
of them. His offices reveal his welcome. His offices. What are his offices? Well, first
of all, the Scripture calls him our Mediator. Turn to Galatians
chapter 3, verse 20. Now, the Bible says there's one
God and one Mediator between God and men. And that's not Mary,
and that's not your pastor, and that's not a patron saint, and
that's not Saint Jude, that's Christ the Lord. There is one
God and one Mediator between God and men. Now then, look at
this. In Galatians 3, verse 20, it tells us this, a Mediator
is not a Mediator of one, A mediator is not a mediator of one. He
must be accessible to both parties if he's going to be a mediator.
How do I know that Christ is approachable? How do I know that
a sinner like I am and you are, that we can come into his presence?
Well, first of all, this office, the mediatorial office, tells
me at once that I may come to Christ, because a mediator is
not of one. In order to be a mediator, he
must be accessible to both parties between whom he mediates. Now, I know that he's approachable
by the Father. I know that he is one with the
Father. The Scripture says, I and my
Father are I know that the Father hath revealed all things to the
Son. I know that the Son is in complete
communion with the Father. Now that God is one. Christ is one with the Heavenly
Father. But now He's a mediator between
God and me. So in order to be a mediator,
a bridge between heaven and earth, that bridge has got to reach
both sides. How can He intercede for me?
How can He represent me? How can He plead for me? How
can He be my mediator if He is not approachable?" And then the second office, turn
to Hebrews 10. Christ's office, His mediatorial
office, tells me that I may come to Him, for a mediator is not
of one. a mediator represents and is
accessible to both parties for whom he mediates. And then Hebrews
chapter 10 verse 21 tells me, he's not only my mediator, but
he's my priest, my priest. Now that word's fallen into awful
bad company in this day and has for many years, but don't be
afraid of It says in Hebrews 10, 21, and having an high priest. We have a high priest. We have
a high priest over the house of God. Now, my friends, listen
to me. There is a preparation for coming to God. We talk about
coming to the Father. Christ said no man can come to
the Father but by me. Why not? Well, first of all,
You, my sinner friend, cannot come to God without a perfect
righteousness. God can't do business with you.
In order for you to approach the Heavenly Father, you must
have a perfect righteousness. There must not be in you or on
you or about you any stain or any fault or any sin. And then in order to approach
the Heavenly Father, you must come not only with a perfect
righteousness, but you must come with a suitable sacrifice, a
suitable atonement which your hands cannot bring and which
your person cannot provide. But now if you've got a high
priest who can offer in God's presence for you a perfect righteousness,
If you have a high priest who can offer unto God a suitable
atonement, you can come through that high priest, but no other
way. And that's the reason Christ said, no man can come to me except
my Father drawing, and no man can come to the Father except
by me. You see that? any preparation
that God the Father demands of me, Christ provided. For he of God is made unto me
wisdom, righteousness, sanctification, and redemption, and we are accepted
in the Beloved." Now, the third office, he's our mediator. That tells me he's approachable.
A mediator is not of one. In order to be a mediator, he's
got to be accessible to both parties for whom he mediates. He is my great high priest. We
have a high priest over the house of God, let us draw near. Having
a high priest, let us draw near. Without a high priest, don't
you draw near. God will blot you out. God will
consume you with the fiery indignation of his wrath. Don't you come
to God without Christ. And then he's our Savior. How
can he be our Savior if he's not accessible and approachable
to those who need saving? He is Jesus Christ, our Savior. He said himself, the well do
not need a physician, but they that are sick. The physician
would be no physician if he closed his doors to the lame. The physician
would be no physician if he closed his doors to those that are sick.
The very ability he has to heal and his willingness to heal makes
him a physician. His ability to heal. His power
to heal and His willingness to heal make Him a physician. And
Christ Jesus' ability to save and His willingness to save and
His power to save make Him a Savior. The second argument, quickly,
His offices reveal His approachableness. Don't take it for granted. Let
it overwhelm you. Let it excite you. Let it fill
you with awe and fear and reverence. To call on God to be able to
come into the presence of the Lord of glory is a blessing given
to few men. And then His names reveal His
welcome to sinners. What's He called? When He walked
up to the shores of the Jordan River, John the Baptist pointed
to him and said, Behold the Lamb of God. There's not a child in this building
tonight who's afraid of a lamb. Rather, anyone who sees a lamb
wants to do what? Reach out and put his hand on
him. O Lamb of God, a common word, but my ears delight to
hear. There's a sweet gentleness in
that lamb that bids my soul draw near. I'm not afraid. He's the
Lamb of God." And then he's not only called in the Word of God
the Lamb of God, but he's called the Shepherd. Now, I've never
traveled in the Holy Land or in the what they call the Holy
Land, what they call the Far East. I've never traveled in
that part of the world, but if I were over there walking out
in the desert and I saw some Arab bandits, I'd be, I'd have
cause to fear. If I saw some armed soldiers
with their pistols and rifles and swords, I'd have cause to
fear. But if you and I were walking
out there in that eastern country, and we saw a shepherd standing
on a hillside tending his sheep, would you be afraid? I wouldn't. I wouldn't be afraid at all to
walk right up to him and engage him in conversation, because
people just don't fear shepherds. The Lord's my shepherd. I shall
not want, I shall not fear. And then another name he chose.
Turn to Proverbs 17. Proverbs chapter 17. The name
Lamb of God reveals his welcome to sinners. The name Shepherd
reveals his tenderness, his care, his welcome to sinners. And then
he's called Our Brother. Our Brother. Solomon wrote in Proverbs 17,
verse 17, "'A friend loveth at all times, and a brother is born
for adversity.'" I wouldn't hesitate one moment to take any trial
to my brothers here in the Church. I wouldn't hesitate to take my
knees even my failures to my brothers here in the Church.
And I would expect from them understanding and help and compassion,
for a brother is born for adversity. And why would I be timid about
approaching my brother Christ Jesus? Let us be plain and simple
with him, not backward, stiff and cold. as though our Calvary's
mountain could be what Sinai was of old, he's our brother. And being our brother, he is
approachable and he is accessible. And then the third argument,
his words reveal his welcome to sinners. Are you a sinner?
Christ said, Oh, everyone that thirsteth, come to the water. Again he said, Come, my feast
is ready, my fattening is slain, my dinner is prepared, all things
are ready, come. Again he said, The Spirit and
the bride say, Come, and let him that heareth say, Come, and
let him that is athirst come, and whosoever will, let him come.
Take of the water of life. Again he said, O Jerusalem, Jerusalem,
thou that killest the prophets and stonest them that are sent
unto thee, how often would I have gathered you unto myself as a
hen doth gather her brood, but you would not. All of the words
of Christ send forth a welcome to sinners. Welcome, sinner,
welcome. And then his actions all the
way through the New Testament reveal his welcome. The sinners
see him as he sits down at the well near Samaria. The disciples go on into town
to get some food, and our Lord sits there on the well. And a
woman comes to the well alone. Someone said there are several
reasons for her coming alone, one was to avoid the gossip,
the eyes of people, because she was considered by her neighbors
to be a fallen woman. She had been married Five times
she was living with a man who was not her husband. At noon,
in the heat of the day, not in the morning when women usually
draw water, but in the noonday sun, she came to this well. No
one there but her and the master. And he said to her, Give me a
drink of water. And she said, Why is it that you, a Jew, ask
water of me, a Samaritan? Don't you know that Jews have
no dealings with the Samaritans? Our Lord talked with her, and
then he said to her, If you knew who it is that speaks to you,
most religious leaders would not have spoken to her. They
would not even have engaged her in conversation They would not
even have acknowledged her presence there. But our Lord said to her,
"'If you knew who it is that speaks to you, you'd ask me and
I'd give you living water, and you'd never thirst again.'" Zacchaeus. Zacchaeus was really a traitor
to his nation. He was a tax collector. And these
tax collectors were malicious people. They were people who
not only collected the taxes, but collected a whole lot more.
They were able to keep all that they collected over what was
due the government, and they oppressed the people, robbed
from the poor and the widows. Zacchaeus, this really wicked
man, climbed up in a tree in order to see the master. He was
a short man. couldn't see over people's heads,
and he climbed up in a tree. And Christ walked by, and there
were thousands of people about there. There were political leaders,
religious leaders, philosophers, professors, professional people. And our Lord stopped under that
tree, and he looked up where this man Zacchaeus sat, and he
said, Zacchaeus, you come down. I must abide at your house this
day." Then the woman taking an adultery, then the harlot who
bathed his feet, and then Peter, James, and John, the fishermen,
common, ordinary fishermen. Have you ever been to a fishing
camp? Have you ever been to a seashore
and seen the type of people, have you seen the type of people
who fish for a living? What type of people they are,
and yet our Master walked by them and he said to them, not
to the PhDs in the religious hierarchy, but to fishermen.
Not to the recognized pastors of the leading churches in his
day, but to the fishermen. He walked by and he said to these
fishermen, to these common, calloused hand, rough, tough fishermen,
mending their nets, grinding with the salt water and the salt
air, burned with the burning sun. He said to these fishermen,
you follow me. You didn't choose me, I chose
you and ordained you that you should go and bring forth food.
You follow me, I'll make you fishers of men. Now you turn through the New
Testament And find me any time in the New Testament that our
Lord had rebuking hard words for sinners. You won't find it.
Our Lord's rebukes were always for religious, proud, hypocritical,
pharisaical, self-righteous people. Always. Our Lord would stoop
beside the woman found in adultery, and he would say to her, Doth
no man condemn thee? She said, No man, Lord. He said,
Neither do I go and sin no more. And yet turn right around and
go into the tabernacle, into the temple where these religious
leaders were making merchandise of the souls of men, where they
had turned the house of God, the house of prayer, into a den
of thieves, where they had made money, the very object of their
ministry. And he took a whip and planted
it and drove them out in the streets and said, get out of
here. My house shall be called a house of prayer and you've
made it a den of thieves. Our Lord would allow some harlot
to wash his feet with the tears from her eyes and dry them with
the hair of her head and turn right around when Nicodemus,
the religious Pharisee, came to him and tell him, ìNicodemus,
if I talk to you about earthly things and you canít understand
them, why should I talk to you about heavenly things?î You wouldnít
understand that either. You must be born again. Our Lord's hard words were for
self-righteous religious Pharisees who sought to attain acceptance
with God by their own merit, goodness, and righteousness,
and not the merit, righteousness, and mercy of Christ. Our Lord
holds open house for sinners. He closes his doors to the self-righteous. I had rather in the judgment
stand before God Almighty and be accused by the angel who keeps
the books, if there is such a person, of murder or most any other crime,
than to stand before God Almighty and be accused by that keeper
of the books of self-righteousness. Because I know murder cannot
send a man to I know that theft cannot send
a man to hell. I know that even swearing and
covetousness will not send a man to hell. But I know there will
not be one self-righteous person in heaven." Now, that's right,
because you cannot trust Christ in yourself. You cannot depend
upon his righteousness in your own. You cannot depend upon your
works and his You cannot depend both upon your religion and Christ's
death. You can't do it. Our Lord holds
open house for sinners, and he's going to save every sinner. He died for sinners. There's
not a sinner that the Lord's not going to save. He's going
to save them all. He came to save the lost. You
say, well, preacher, everybody's lost, aren't they? I tell you
this, I don't find many lost people. Do you know anybody that's
lost? Come on now. Who do you know
that's lost? Do you know any sinners? I wish
you'd find me some to preach to next Sunday. Boy, I sure,
I have to go up to Lucasville, Ohio to preach to sinners. I
can't find any in Ashland. Everybody I know in Ashland is
a good person. Pray for my boy preacher. He's
a good boy, but he's not saved. Pray for my husband, preacher,
he lost, but he's a good man. He's not a sinner? Well, no,
he's not a bad sinner. There's no other kind. Everybody's good. Nobody's lost,
nobody's a sinner. Now, if you ever get lost, if
you ever, like Psalms 107, if you ever lost, wandering in the
wilderness in a lonely way, having no city in which to dwell, hungry
and thirst in your soul fainteth within you." You call on the
Lord and He'll deliver you out of your distress. That's what
it says. You ever been lost? Perhaps that's
why you've never been found. You've never been lost. If you've
ever been a sinner, I mean a bona fide sinner, I mean a self-confessed
sinner, I mean a broken, stripped, hell-deserving sinner. Have you
ever been a sinner? Perhaps that's why you've never
been saved. You've never been a sinner. Christ died for sinners. Have
you ever been ungodly? Huh? Without hope, without help,
without strength, without God? You ever been there? Perhaps
that's why you've never been brought to Christ. The little girl told Brother
Barnard, she said, I've always been a Christian. He said, that's
too long. Nobody's always been a Christian. There was a day
when you were lost. There was a day when you had
no hope. There was a day when you soothed for mercy. There
were the days when you said, Lord, save me or I'll perish!
Huh? Wasn't it? All of Christ's actions, all
the way through the New Testament, all of his actions were to reach
out and lift the fallen. And every time he reached out
to lift one, some religious, self-righteous Pharisee would
say, look at him. He picks corn on our holy day.
Look at him. He breaks the Sabbath. Look at
him. He eats with sinners. Look at
him. This man received sinners. Look at him. If this man were
a prophet, he'd know that woman's a sinner. Look at him. And then when they crucified
him and nailed him to a cross, they took him outside the city
walls to keep from defiling their holy city. And they took him
down from that cross on Friday night to keep from defiling their
holy day. And here's the crowning argument,
number five. Will Christ receive a sinner?
We've looked at his office We've looked at his name, we've looked
at his words, and we've looked at his actions, and all of them
say, come, sinner, come. But here's the crowning argument.
Look yonder on that cross. Why are you afraid to come and
to tell Christ all your case? He will not pronounce your doom.
He will not frown you from his face. Will you fear the Lamb
of God? Will you dread the Lamb of God,
who to save your soul from sin has shed His precious blood?
Will you fear Him? Hear Him pray for you. Father,
forgive them. See Him die in your place. See
Him take your guilt and shame and sin. See Him hang between
the thieves, identified with the outcast. His death has come. and receive mercy. Now then,
in closing, let us not only openly approach our Lord in true repentance,
acknowledging our sins. I don't think we ever ought to
approach him without acknowledging our sins. Even when the elders
of the Church are commanded to pray for the sick, they are commanded
to confess their sins. Let us openly approach Christ
in repentance, and not only in repentance, but faith. He that
cometh to God must believe. Don't you go home and say, well,
now, I'm going to take a shot at this, at what that preacher
says might be so, and I'm going to take a shot at it. Not that
way you don't. He that cometh to God must believe. Believe that he is, and believe
that he's the reward of them that diligently seek him, and
we have his word which cannot be broken. Come, sinner, come! Oh, the approachableness of Christ! Oh, the accessibleness of Christ! Oh, the privilege of coming to
Christ! King of kings, Lord of lords,
wisest of the wise, holiest of the holy. how easy it is. Now then, my brethren, and I
would say to my preacher brethren who will hear this broadcast
later this week, and to Sunday school teachers and deacons and
professional men and physicians and professors and lawyers or
whoever may be listening, let's try to be like Christ. These
lofty airs which men assume are satanic. How approachable are you? Huh? How tender is your heart? How
open is your door? How far-reaching is your hand?
You claim to know Him? How in the world could my door
ever be closed when the door of my Lord is always open? insignificant
nothing that I am. How could I ever have any kind
of egotism? How could I have any kind of
pride that would prevent me from being accessible and approachable
even to the lowest wretch and ragged bum that ever lived on
this earth, huh? How could I think that that at
any time, any place, that I'm any better than any fallen creature
that ever lived, huh? I don't know. I don't know. I do know this. I do know that
pride goeth before destruction, and the Holy Spirit before a
terrible fall. I do know that six things, yea,
seven things God hates, and the first one he ever listed was
a proud look. There are men who are proud of
their race, they are proud of their face, they are proud even
of grace, God help them. We should pray that God would
strip our hearts of all, not only self-righteousness, but
pride, which falls in the same category. Why would I ever take
upon myself to call on the King of Kings if people couldn't call
on me? Huh? Make me, O Lord, an approachable
person. Our Father, we are awed as we think about this
privilege, this sacred, holy privilege, how lightly we take
it. Sometimes we bow our heads and
we say words, and our minds are way off somewhere. We flippantly
and in a sinful, familiar way come into thy holy presence.
And we're talking to somebody else while we profess to be talking
to thee. Thou who art holy, thou who art
sovereign, thou who art almighty, O Lord, forgive us in that we have
blasphemed thy name and thy presence. We have handled so lightly these
blessings we say at the table, these little repetitious prayers
that we've uttered, these ceremonial prayers that
we go through, saying the same things, uttering the same words,
sinful O Lord, let us live in a continual
attitude of prayer. Let us be inspired of thy Holy
Spirit, but let us not take lightly this holy, sacred privilege of
coming into thy presence. It's in Christ, it's through
Christ, and only through Christ. Disturb us, awaken us, deliver
us from ourselves, from ritual, falling into the pit of presumption,
calling ourselves God's people, when we are not in fear and awe
in the presence of God. Grant, O Lord, unto us humility, contrition, and a broken heart. For Christ's sake we pray. Amen.