Let's turn back to Matthew 11,
please. Now, my subject tonight is in
the form of a question, and the question is, why is salvation
only for sinners? Why is salvation only for sinners? Now, you might feel that this
is an easy question to answer, and on the surface I suppose
that it is. Why is salvation only for sinners? And the answer naturally comes
back, well, all men are sinners. If God's going to save anybody,
it'll have to be sinners, since all men are sinners. And secondly,
only sinners need saving. Only people who need salvation
are those who are sinners. And then you could give many
verses of scripture to confirm this argument. Scripture says,
all have sinned and come short of God's glory. The word of God
says, every imagination of man's heart is only evil continually. And then the Bible says in Romans
3, there's none that doeth good, there's none that understandeth,
there's none that seeketh after God, not one. So in answer to this question,
why is salvation only for sinners, the average person would come
back and say, well, that's obvious. All men are sinners. And consequently,
if God's going to save anybody, you have to save sinners. But
it goes much deeper than that. Much deeper than that. And if
we can find the answer to this question tonight, I believe we
can learn something about the gospel. In the first place, all
men do not take the name sinner. All men do not admit to being
sinners. You remember the Pharisees of
old said, we be not sinners. They asked the disciples, why
does your master eat with sinners? And then one of the Pharisees
who had invited Christ to his house for supper said, when the
woman bathed his feet with tears and dried them with the hair
of her head. If he were a prophet, he'd know that this woman is
a sinner. And then when Zacchaeus came
down the tree in response to the Lord's command, and the Lord
Jesus told him that he must dwell at his house that day, they murmured
because he had gone to be the guest of a man who was a sinner. In fact, a sinner is hard to
find, to be perfectly frank with you. One old hymn writer many
years ago said a sinner is a sacred thing, a rare and valuable jewel. The Holy Ghost hath made him
so. The average person, according
to our Lord, is neither good nor bad, in his own estimation. Ask them. They're not holy, they'll
readily admit that. There's nobody here who will
take the name of a holy person. But they're not wicked either.
There are not but a few here who would take that term, wicked,
ungodly. I was reading Spurgeon this week
and he told about a man who was talking to two or three of his
friends and he said, I'm a worse offender than Judas. And one
of his friends says, that's right. He said, what did I ever do to
make you say that? He said, I didn't say it, you
did. But he said, you didn't have to agree with me. The average
person is not good and he's not bad. He's not holy, but he's not wicked. And they'll quickly say, well,
I'm no saint, but I'm no sinner either. This is what Christ is
saying. Turn to Matthew 11, verse 16. Now, if you've never understood
what the Master is saying in Matthew 11, 16 through 19, this
is what he's saying. They're neither good nor bad.
They're neither saint nor sinner. They're neither holy nor wicked. I don't know what they are, but
he says in verse 16, But whereunto shall I liken this generation?
What are they like? What's this generation like?
And it's true of this generation, too. Well, the Master said they're
like children sitting in the markets and calling to their
fellows and saying, We've piped to you and you have not danced.
In other words, we've made merry sounds We've presented a happy
atmosphere, but you've just sat there. And then we have mourned
unto you, but you have not lamented. No matter what we do, we don't
affect you at all. Whether we make merry sounds,
you don't dance, and whether we make mournful sounds, you
don't cry or weep or lament. Now look at verse 18. For John
came, neither eating nor drinking, Now what's he saying here? John
the Baptist came preaching. And John the Baptist was a separated,
sanctified man who totally disassociated himself from the world. John
the Baptist lived among the animals. John the Baptist lived in the
desert. John the Baptist lived among nature and flowers. John
the Baptist walked in the wilderness with God. He did not walk their
street. They went out there to hear him. He didn't come to them.
He was what they call a holy man, a holy prophet, separated,
sanctified, disassociated totally from the things of the world
and the people of the world, and yet they said he had a devil.
They couldn't identify with his ministry. He was too sublime,
too heavenly, too holy, too much beyond their reach. They couldn't
associate or identify with His ministry. Then read the next
verse. The Son of Man came, the Lord Jesus. And He came eating
and drinking, conversing, making Himself available to all men.
He walked their streets. He went to their banquets. He
went to their weddings. He went to their funerals. He
did all of these things, and they said of him, a gluttonous
man, a wine-dibbler, a friend of publicans and sinners. Neither
John nor Christ pleased them. They couldn't identify with this
holy man. They couldn't identify with this
separated man. They couldn't identify with this
man who was out in the wilderness yonder, living among the flowers
and the trees and the animals. But neither could they identify
with this message for sinners. They were neither good nor bad.
And that's what the Lord is saying here. Had they been holy like
John the Baptist, they would have identified with him. If they had been sinners and
guilty and needing a substitute, needing a savior, they would
have identified with Christ's message. But they couldn't identify
with him either. And the same thing is true today. If a preacher lives totally separated
and apart from the people and goes into the pulpit, he's out
of touch with the people. They can't identify with him.
If a minister walks and talks among the people, then he's too
worldly. He's gluttonous and a winebibber,
and they can't identify with him either. Because, see, they're
not sinners. They're neither good nor bad.
They're neither saint nor sinner. They're neither holy nor evil.
And then the Lord, in verse 20, announces judgment on these people. He began to upbraid these cities
wherein most of his mighty works were done, because they didn't
repent. He announced judgment on them, wrath on them. They
received not his message. They believed not his words.
They received him not as Messiah. And he singles out the city of
Capernaum. Here in Capernaum, our Lord healed
a centurion serpent. Here in Capernaum, he healed
Peter's wife's mother. Here in Capernaum, he raised
Jairus' daughter from the dead. Here in Capernaum, he healed
a woman who had the issue of blood. It was in Capernaum that he opened
the eyes of two blind men, and yet all of these mighty works
had no effect on these people, and they repented not. And so
our Lord came down to this verse 23, and he says, Thou Capernaum,
which art exalted unto heaven, a visitation from God himself,
robed in human flesh, wherein most of his mighty works were
done, thou shalt be brought down to hell, For if the mighty works
which had been done in thee had been done in Sodom, if Sodom
had the light that you have, if Sodom had heard the words
that you've heard, if Sodom had seen the miracles which you have
seen, knowing themselves for what they were, they would have
remained, it would have remained, and they would have repented. And it'll be easier, milder in
the judgment for the cities of Sodom because they hid not behind
a cloak of self-righteousness." Now verse 25. At that time, you
see as he moves along on the same subject from step to step,
first of all he likens this generation to people who are neither good
nor bad, neither holy nor evil. And then he begins to upbraid
these cities where he had preached done these mighty works. And
then he lifted his eyes to heaven, and he prayed in verse 25. And
he said, I thank thee, O Father, Lord of heaven and earth, because
thou hast hid these things from the wise and the prudent, and
hast revealed them unto babe. What are these things? Thou hast
hid these things. For these things are the doctrines
of the gospel. These things are man's guilt
and man's need and man's inability. These things are the grace of
God and the mercy of God to the guilty. These things are the
suretyship of our Lord and Savior. These things are his sacrifice
for sin, his intercession, his priesthood, These things are
his mighty office work, prophet, priest, and king. And these things
are hid from whom? They're hid from the wise and
the prudent, these who have no guilt and can see no reason for
grace. These who have no sin and consequently
need no Savior. These who already have a righteousness,
therefore they do not need one. And these things are hid from
them. And he says in the latter part of verse 25, and thou hast
revealed them unto babes. Who are the babes? One writer
said these babes are those who are helpless, ignorant, and impotent,
powerless to do anything spiritually good. And God in his mercy lifts
the veil of darkness and removes it from their eyes. spiritual
sight is given to them, so that they can see not only their guilt,
but God's grace, so that they can see not only their sins,
but God's mercy. And these things are set before
them, and they see in all these things the glory and beauty and
power and truth of their blessed Lord. Now look at verse 26, Even
so, Father, or so it seemed good in thy sight." Now verse 27,
all things, all things are delivered unto me of my Father. All things
here relating to God, relating to salvation, relating to eternal
life. All things are in Christ, and
these things are revealed by the Son to sinners. Look at it. who are made conscious of their
labor and of their heavy burden. Look at verse 27 and 28 carefully
now. All things are delivered unto
me of my Father, and no man knoweth the Son but the Father, neither
knoweth any man the Father save the Son, and he to whomsoever
the Son will reveal him. And verse 28 tells us those to
whom the Son will reveal them. Come unto me, all ye that labor,
and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. The empty are
invited to be filled, the blind are invited to receive sight,
the weak to be made strong, the dead to receive life, the lame
to walk and the naked to be clothed, the guilty to receive forgiveness,
the ugly to be made beautiful, and the sinner to be made holy. Now then, why is salvation only
for sinners? You can see it goes much deeper
than the statement, Well, all men are sinners. Christ proved
that they're not. That is, not in their own eyes.
They're neither good nor bad. They're neither holy nor evil.
And these cities wherein his mighty works were done, and people
to whom his gospel was preached, at the judgment they shall feel
his wrath. But he has been pleased, according
to his own words, according to the good pleasure of God, to
reveal himself to sinners." Now, why? Well, there are four reasons
that I have jotted down, the first of which is this. Salvation
is only for sinners in order that God might display his mercy. Turn to Titus chapter 3. Titus
the third chapter verse 5. Titus 3 verse 5. It is not by works of righteousness
which we have done, but according to his mercy. according to His
mercy, He saved us by the washing of regeneration and the renewing
of the Holy Spirit. Now another verse, Romans 9,
15. It is by His mercy that He has saved us. Now Romans chapter
9, verse 15. For He said to Moses, I will
have mercy on whom I will have mercy, and I will have compassion
on whom I will have compassion. So then it's not of him that
willeth, nor of him that runneth, but of God that showeth mercy. Salvation is according to His
mercy. Redemption is according to His
mercy. We are redeemed according to
His mercy. Now look at Romans 15.9, and
here's the verse that I was coming to. That the Gentiles, Romans
15.9, might glorify God for his mercy. God is righteousness and God
is truth, but God is also, thank God, mercy. His grace to the
undeserving is a display of his mercy. When men deserve death and God
gives them life, that's mercy. When men deserve wrath and God
gives them love, that's mercy. When men deserve hell and God
gives them heaven, that's mercy. And salvation is for sinners,
the chief of sinners, in order that the mercy of God might be
displayed. In order that men might glorify
God for his mercy. Now then, suppose that I have
an enemy, and he is a very strong enemy,
much stronger than I, much more powerful than I, and I forgive
him. Well, that's fear. That's not
mercy. That's fear. The person may claim
that that's mercy, but it's not mercy. I'm forgiving that enemy
because I'm afraid of him. He's stronger than I am, he's
more powerful than I am, and so I dare not cross him. And
so I say, well, I'm going to forgive him. Well, that's fear.
Suppose I have an enemy who is very wealthy and very influential,
and my job depends upon him. My food and clothing depend upon
him. My family My dwelling depends
upon him, and I forgive him. That's not mercy. That's compromise. Suppose I have an enemy, and
I need his help. I cannot get along without him.
He's done me wrong, but I need his help. I need his assistance,
and I forgive him. That's blackmail. But suppose
I have an enemy who is much weaker than I. Suppose I have an enemy
who is totally broke and bankrupt and can do me no good. Suppose
I have an enemy that is sick and lame. Suppose I have an enemy
that has no influence but rather is an outcast from society. Suppose
I have an enemy and I have, there's nothing he has that I need. Nothing
he can contribute to me in any way. And he's done me severely
wrong and I forgive him. That's mercy. That's mercy. And that's what God does in saving
sinners. And that, first of all, is the
reason why salvation is only for sinners. It's only for the
weak. It's only for the empty. It's
only for the lame. It's only those who have nothing
to contribute and nothing to give. It's for sinners. And thereby
God displays, God puts on display for all of the universe to behold
and to exclaim over His mercy. Total undeserved mercy. Complete and absolute mercy. That's why it's for sinners.
That's why it's for the helpless. That's why it's for the bankrupt.
That's why it's for the man who is stripped and is nothing and
has nothing. And that's why God will share
it with no one else. Because it's a display of His
mercy. Now turn back to Romans 9. The second reason why salvation's
for the sinner is not only that God might display his mercy, but secondly, to display his
power and his glory. Romans 9 verse 21, "...hath not
the power over the clay of the same lump to make one
vessel under honor and another under dishonor? What if God,
willing to show His wrath and to make His power known, endured
with much longsuffering the vessels of wrath fitted to destruction,
and that He might make known the riches of His glory on the
vessels of mercy? which he had aforeprepared unto
glory. Why did he save sinners? Why
did he save the helpless? That he might show forth and
put on display his power and his glory. Now let me use an
illustration. There are men in the circus who
tame wild animals. It takes a special knack, it
takes a special concentration, it takes a special ability to
take a wild, rebellious beast, for example a lion, and tame
it where you can get in the cage with it and it follows your orders
and obeys your every command. And often times these men, after
they go through their routine and their show, they'll walk
up to one of those fierce jungle kings a lion and take that lion's
mouth and open it and put their head inside that lion's mouth. What are they showing? They're
showing the people how a wild and rebellious jungle beast has
become obedient and tame under the power of their influence. And every believer, every child
of God, is a trophy of the conquering power of Jehovah. Every child
of God, every believer, is a trophy to the glory of God and his power
to tame the wild and rebellious heart. Let me give you a few examples.
John Newton, who wrote that great song Amazing Grace, was once
just a horrible blasphemer. He said he could speak for an
hour and not utter the same curse word twice. Once a slave trader,
an ivory hunter, the wildest of rebels, and God tamed him
by his mercy and made him a sweet poet of grace. John Bunyan, who
wrote Pilgrim's Progress, who was one of England's greatest
preachers, of whom the great John Owen said, If I could preach
like that tinker, I'd give all my learning. John Bunyan was
a drunkard. John Bunyan spent every Lord's
Day out on the bowling greens of England, filling the air from
his foul and filthy mouth with all kind of blasphemy against
God Almighty. But God conquered him. And God
made him a bondslave of Jesus Christ and revealed his power
and his glory. The Apostle Paul was a stoner
of Christians. The Apostle Paul was a blasphemer
of the Lord Jesus Christ. The Apostle Paul did everything
within his power to destroy Christ's influence and Christ's name.
And God chose the most unlikely and God chose the most unfit
and made them willing, obedient bond slaves that no flesh should
glow in his presence. That he that glory, let him glory
in the power of God to tame the wicked heart. I'll show you another
example from the scripture of this that's one of the most beautiful
examples of God's power in providence and grace. When Israel was growing
numerically and in strength, Pharaoh thought that the way
to destroy Israel is to destroy all the male children. That's
the way I'll destroy Israel. I'll destroy all the male children
that are born and gradually this nation will dwindle down to nothing. So one of the Hebrew mothers,
in trying to protect her son Moses from the command of Pharaoh
to kill all the male children, took that boy down to the river
and put him in a basket and pushed him out into the water. Pharaoh's
daughter came down there to take a bath, and her servant found
this little male child in the basket. Pharaoh's daughter had
compassion on him. and took him to Pharaoh's own
home. And there the deliverer of Israel
was brought up and fed by Pharaoh, and nourished by Pharaoh, and
clothed by Pharaoh, and educated by Pharaoh, and robed by Pharaoh. And the very instrument that
he thought would be the destruction of Israel was the salvation of
Israel. God can take the wrath of man
and turn it completely around and accomplish his eternal glory. And that's what the Lord God
does. He takes the most unlikely, the
most unfeared, and he makes them to be trophies of his power and
of his grace and of his glory. Now the third reason. Why is
salvation only for sinners? First of all, to display His
mercy, His mercy. Secondly, to display His power
and His clothing. And then thirdly, to receive
from those whom He saves, loving obedience. Now the Lord said,
to whom much is forgiven, he will love much. to whom little
is forgiven, he will love little. Suppose, let me give you this
to think about. Suppose after the prodigal son
had come back from the far country, down there in the far country
he had spent everything that he had, he'd wasted his health
and his money and everything, and he came back home, broke
and hungry homesick and weary and tired, willing to take the
place of a servant, willing to be a slave and not a son. And his father went out there
and met him and embraced him and put a ring on his finger
and shoes on his feet and a robe on his back and took him back
into the home and made him a son. Suppose that the prodigal father,
a few weeks later, had a special errand for somebody to run. It
was an errand that required that the person who accomplished it
take a large sum of money, that the person who went on this errand
be a trusted man, be a dependable man, be a man that would stand
and accomplish what the father wanted done. Which do you think
of the sons would be the most likely one to sin? Huh? and to
trust, while the one who had received mercy, the one to whom
the Father had given his kindness, the one to whom the Father had
displayed his love. For our Lord said, To whom much
is forgiven, he will love much. And so the gospel is put into
the hands of those who have really partaken of that gospel grace. The man who has done business
in deep waters knows how to talk about it. The man who has received
great mercy knows how to tell about it, and the man who has
been saved by the gospel of grace can be entrusted with it. Half-hearted ministers usually
reveal the same type of experience. half-hearted ministers usually
reveal the same type of salvation. And then the last thing in answer
to this question, why is salvation only for sinners? To reveal God's
mercy, to reveal God's power and glory, in order that God
might receive loving service, and then last of all, to encourage
all who need mercy. Our Lord said, Come unto me,
all ye that labor, and are heavy laden, and I'll give you rest. God has saved great sinners.
Why not you? Why not me? God Almighty has
moved over the desert and made it blossom like a rose before.
Why not now? God has sent revivals and refreshing
to those who do not deserve it. Why not to us? Every gospel invitation
in the Bible is directed to sinners. Isaiah said, come, let us reason
together. Though your sins be as scarlet,
I'll make them white as snow. Oh, everyone that thirsteth,
come to the water. Come and buy wine, milk, without
money and without price. Come unto me, all ye who labor
and are heavy laden, I'll give you rest. Come, for all things
are ready. My feast is prepared, my oxen
are slain, my table is ready, come and dine. Our Father, we
thank Thee that mercy and grace is for the guilty. We thank Thee
that the table of mercy has been spread for all who are hungry.
We thank Thee that Thy love and Thy grace is not extended to
the deserving because we would not be permitted to come. We
thank Thee that our Lord came not to call the righteous but
sinners to repentance, for if only the righteous could come,
we would not enter into Thy mercy and Thy love. We pray that Thou
would anoint Thy word tonight and this message with a visitation
of Thy Holy Spirit and of Thy power. Teach us, O Lord, these
things. Let them not be hid from us,
let us not be called the wise and the prudent, but vague, ignorant,
without strength, impotent, powerless to help ourselves, powerless
to bring any glory to Thy matchless name. O God, anoint us with Thy
Spirit, send forth Thy grace and love into our hearts. Bless,
we pray Thee, our missionaries who were so faithful in preaching
Thy word under such trying circumstances. We ask Thee to give them the
power of Thy Spirit and the direction of Thy Spirit as they labor in
Thy kingdom. Forgive our sins. Bless the radio
message tomorrow, the television ministry on the Lord's Day and
the services here and everywhere Thy gospel is preached, for we
ask it in Christ's name. For his sake. Amen.