I invite your attention back
to Matthew chapter 11, to the words of our Lord Jesus
Christ. The title of my message this
morning is A Man, A Friend. A Man, A Friend. Now these words spoken by our
Lord Jesus Christ that we've read here in verse 19 are about
the childish and trite religionists who have rejected the messages
of both the Lord Jesus Christ and John the Baptist. Our Lord
said, they say of me that I am a gluttonous man and a wine-bibber. They say of me that I am a friend
of publicans and sinners. That's what they said of Christ.
Now they said this in disdain and hatred for the Lord Jesus
Christ. They said these things in disregard
for the forerunner of Jesus Christ, John the Baptist, and for Christ
himself, the Prince of Preachers. And they made these remarks after
they had heard these two preach. They didn't care much for either
one of them. And these infantile religionists
attacked the message of John by saying he's a hard man. a rigid man, a tough man. He comes out of the wilderness,
not a social creature. He doesn't come to our house.
He doesn't sit down. He doesn't drink. He doesn't
eat. He just comes out of the wilderness, dressed in that camel's
hair, locust honey dripping down from his lips, and lays it to
us, and we don't much care for that. And they said of the Lord
Jesus Christ, He comes preaching this message of mercy and grace
for sinners. And it sounds to us like it's
a little guy playing on a flute. Kind of a little sermon ditty, if you
will. And that's what they said of
Him in their messages. They were enemies of Christ. And they were talking about the
two sides of preaching the gospel. The gospel will both convict
you and comfort you. It will show you what you are
and show you who is your only hope. They said of Christ who
spoke of mercy and grace, we're not going to dash to your tune.
They said of John the Baptist who was rigid and strict, we're
not going to mourn when you preach. We're not going to do that. As
often is the case, these things spoken by the enemies of the
Lord Jesus Christ are the very things that end up glorifying
Him the most. They say I'm a winebibber and
a glutton. They say I'm a friend. of Republicans
and sinners. They called him a glutton because
he wouldn't openly fast with them. You see, they fasted in
order to be seen of men. They fasted, not in secret, but
in public. When our Lord says, when you
fast, don't do it in public. Don't let anybody know you've
done it. Go into the washroom and wash your face and comb your
hair and change your clothes and come out acting like you're
just as happy as a lark. Because fasting is between you
and God and not to be an open thing. But they did what they
did to be seen of men. So men would reckon, oh, there's
a holy fellow because he fasts. Our Lord wouldn't fast. So what
did they say? He's a glutton. He's a glutton. Our Lord went into the house
of people and sat down with them and had dinner and had wine. And they called him a wino. That's what the wine bibber means. It don't mean Welch's grape juice
bibber. Because I've drank a ton of Welch's
grape juice and it's never made me drunk. They called him a wino,
wine. because he sat down with people
and socialized with them, especially the worst kind of people. Not
the best kind of people. It is the best kind of people
that are saying these things, bad things about him. It is the
good people of the world, the religious people of the world
that are saying these things about him. He did not bend to
the social and regional taboos so that religion sets up. So
they said, he's a wino. He's a wino. And with these words,
the enemies of Christ who are seeking to defame him are unknowingly,
they speak some of the sweetest language that ever fell on the
ears of lost sinners. Behold a man, a friend of publicans
and sinners. Behold a man, a friend of publicans
and sinners. And it's important to remember
that these words spoken in hatred reflect the true heart of false
religion. Religion is for good people. It's for folks who've straightened
out their lives. These words, when considered
in grace, reflect the heart of true religion, true salvation
for sinners. Every word of this phrase is
music to the sinner's ears. If you're a ruined sinner in
this world, who has no hope in himself, in what he does, I have
some good news for you. If you believe that you can look
at your life and find something worthy of praise, worthy to stand
before God on his own, then I have nothing for you this hour. But
if you're that sinner, behold, A man, the friend of publicans
and sinners. Behold, a man, a man. That is the epitome of hope for
the destitute sinner. Jesus Christ is God Almighty. Jesus Christ is Emmanuel, God
with us. He's the Almighty God, the Everlasting
Father, the Prince of Peace. The government is upon His shoulder. He's the Counselor. He is God. And He's a man. How can that be? Don't ask me.
I don't have a clue. Without controversy. Great is
the mystery of godliness. manifest in the flesh. How can
that be? I don't know. I don't know. It's a wonder. But He is as much
man as if He were not God, and He is as much God as if He were
not man. He is both God and man in one
being. In one being. But these words,
Behold a man, places the Lord Jesus Christ squarely in the
realm of humanity, and thus approachability. He's a man. Our Lord Jesus Christ
was a man and is a man. Friend of sinners and publicans
is a title given to him, and he was not an anomaly among the
numerous things that men called Christ. This was not a strange
thing. This was a common title for Christ
upon the practitioners of false religion. The Pharisees, when our Lord
sat down and ate with publicans and sinners, thought it was a spectacle. And
they took aside His disciples in Matthew chapter 9 and said,
Why does your master eat with this kind of people? Why in the
world would he eat with this kind of people? And our Lord
heard them and looked at them. And here's what he told them.
I did not come to call the righteous, but bring sinners to repentance. I did not come. The whole need
not a physician but them that are sick. I will have mercy and
not your sacrifice. You go home and learn what that
means. Now, if you understand scripture at all, you know he
looked at those righteous men in their robes who lived a very
religious existence, who did what they did so men would see
that they were religious, and he says, I did not come to save
you. That's what he said. I came not
to call the righteous. but sinners to repentance. When
that harlot came into the Pharisee's house, and our Lord was laying
there on the ground as they did eat in those days, and a big
cloth was laid in the bottom of a tent or a house, and they
laid down on it and they were eating, and the Pharisee would
sit in the highest place. He had sat up on a stool above
everybody else so he could judge them, which he did with the Lord
Jesus Christ. This harlot came in, and unbraided
her hair, and fell down at our Master's feet, and began to kiss
them. And she began to weep. She wept
in so much tears that she washed the dust off his feet. This Pharisee,
who was a religious man, he had offered no such courtesy to Christ.
But this whore did. She wept on his feet until his
feet were clean and she unbraided her hair and dried his feet with
her hair. And then she began to kiss his
feet. And the word there in the original is that she just kept
on kissing his feet. And the Pharisee looked down
on her. And then looked down on Christ.
He said, this guy is supposed to be a prophet? And he lets
this kind of person touch him? You see, religion in reality
has no use for sinners. It simply doesn't. It doesn't
have any use for sinners. Oh, don't be seen with that fellow. Don't be seen with that one.
Don't be seen on the street talking to that fellow. We're going to
have to call the deacons and have you straightened out. Religion
has no use for sinners, but Christ is the friend the friend of sinners. Our Lord Jesus Christ is a man
and His humanity is our salvation. His humanity is our substitution
for sin. I know it's difficult for us
to consider Christ as a human being. It's because we start
at the wrong end of the spectrum. We turn the telescope around
the wrong way. We put the big end up in our eye and we look
and see Christ is small if He's a man. But that's not what that
means. Don't look at yourself and say,
Christ is a man. Answer that thing before somebody
dies. We don't look at ourself and
say, Christ is a man. We look at Him and say, I'm a
man. He's the measure of manhood.
He's the measure of what it is to be a man. We are fallen creatures. Don't look through the wrong
end of the telescope. Turn it around. Put the little end to your eye
and see Christ as great. You want to know what humanity
is supposed to be like? Don't look around you. We're
failures. We don't do a good job. We're
mutants. We're sinners by nature, practice
and by choice. Don't look at yourself. You want
to know what humanity is and what humanity is supposed to
be? You look to Jesus Christ. Behold the man. That's what humanity
is. What's the measure of it? He
was a servant of the Most High God. He was a man who went about
doing good. He was a man who was selfless,
never even pleasing himself. He was a man who loved enough
to die for his friends. You want to watch humanity, that
is it. It ain't throwing a couple coins
in the Salvation Army basket when you go through a Christmas
time. Salvation, or humanity, is Jesus Christ. Behold the man. But it's good news. Because there's
one mediator between man and God, the man, Christ Jesus, according
to 2 Timothy, or 1 Timothy chapter 2, in verse 5. Why is this good
news for men? Because a man sinned against
God. Our federal head, Adam, in the
Garden of Eden, rebelled against his maker. He rebelled against
God. He sinned against God and plunged
the whole human race into sin. In Adam, all died. All died. A man got us into the
fix that we're in. A man must pay for sins. Because
the man is guilty of sins, and you and I are guilty of Adam's
sin. That's what it says in Romans
5.12. Sin into the world, and death by sin, and so death passed
upon all men in whom all sinned when Adam sinned. We're guilty
before God at birth. At birth. What are we going to do? Well,
I know this, some man has got to die, because the wages of
sin is death. Nobody can pay our debt but another
man. Christ is said to be the last
Adam, the last representative of humanity, and the second man. Behold the man, the man. Man has sinned against God, therefore
man must be punished for sin. As a man, Christ went to the
cross as our substitute. He's the mediator of the new
covenant, the eternal covenant of grace, and as such, He fits
the bill to pay the sin debt of His people. And He's the only
one who does, because He was born without the taint of Adam.
He was the seed of woman, not the seed of man like you and
I are. He can lay a hand on God. Think about this. This man, this
man whom Job said, Oh, then we had a daisman, a referee, an
advocate, somebody that could stand between me and God. God
is infinitely holy, and I am foul and unclean. God's eyes
are too pure to behold evil. Before him the sun, moon, and
stars are not purely sight. I am a worm, a maggot on a dungheel. How in the world can I have anything
to do with God? How can God have anything to
do with me? Behold, a man! A man who can reach up and touch
God because he's also God, and can reach down into the slough
of Despond, to the maggot on the dunghill, into the foulness
of the fowl, and grab me by the nape of my neck, and jump me
out and set my feet on the rock Christ Jesus. Only one character
in all of human history can touch God and touch man. The man. Behold the man. Behold the man. And he's a friend. A friend. That's a title that most of us
understood to some degree. But religion really never gets
this. But every lost and ruined son of Adam needs and wants a
friend. A real friend. A true friend. Jesus Christ is the friend of
publicans and sinners. The original language, the Greek
word for the word friend is philos. Philos. And it means friend. It means to be friendly. It means
to associate with someone. It means he who associates familiarly
with one. It means a companion. All these words are blessed titles
as they apply to our Lord Jesus Christ. They are blessed because
they must be viewed in the context of who Christ is a friend to. Also, the context sets forth
this truth in contrast with false religion. Both of these aspects
must be considered in order to get the full import of this wonderful
truth, Jesus Christ, the man, is the friend of sinners and
public Now, our Lord had something to say about these religious
people who mocked Him. He actually said God had made
it so they could not see who He was and what the value was.
Down in verse 25 of the same chapter, our Lord lifted His
eyes to heaven and said, I thank Thee, O Father, Lord of heaven
and earth, that Thou hast hid these things from the wise and
the prudent and has revealed them unto babes. Even so, Father,
for it seemed good that I said, No man knoweth the Father but
the Son, and no man knoweth the Son but the Father, and he to
whomsoever the Son will reveal him. These folks are lost and
they don't know it. They have no idea. They're goners. God's hid the Gospel from them.
They can't ever see it. And they can look at Jesus Christ
and John the Baptist and say, I wouldn't do it in people. Poor
sinners ain't that way. Poor sinners who the Holy Ghost
has taught them what they are, they say, I want something to
do with Christ. I want to hear the message of John the Baptist.
I want to hear the message of the Lord Jesus Christ. Concerning
false religion, these words express the self-righteous attitude they
possess concerning Christ and those with whom He associates. He's a friend of publicans and
sinners. Now, we've lost a lot of the
understanding of those two words in this day in which we live.
A publican was a tax collector of the Jewish community who not
only collected taxes for the Roman government, but also took
a piece for himself. He made money as a tax maker.
He's a usurper. And so he worked for the Roman
government and put the squeeze on his own people.
That's a publican. A sinner is a rebel against God. Now, for the religious, a sinner
is someone who did things or did not do things or that sort
of thing, had to do with acts. But sinners in Scripture, those
whom God saves, it's more than just the acts we do. It's what
we are inside. That's our problem. See, you
really, our Lord made clear to these kind of folks that you
can't do something from the outside and defile yourself. You can't. Sir, what if I take drugs? That
doesn't defile you. What if I drink alcohol to excess? It does not
defile you. That which goes into the mouth
is cast out the draft, the Lord said. That which proceeds from
the heart, that's what defiles a man, Mark chapter 7. Hatred, murder, thievery, these
things are from inside. You see, if you go and steal
something, that doesn't make you a thief. You realize that? You steal that because that's
what you are. When you pull a gun out and murder
somebody, that doesn't make you a murderer. You pulled out the
gun and murdered somebody because you're a murderer. That's what
our Lord is saying. What defiles a man comes from
the inside, not from the outside. I know we like to put things
in boxes and bottles and name them and tell them this is sin
and that is sin. You and I are sin. Religion is interested in social
image and reputation. Religion is embarrassed to be
seen with sinners. Why do you suppose that is? Because
down deep inside, religion believes itself not to be sinful, and
therefore deems any contact with sinners as tantamount to being
tainted. Read the Scriptures. Our Lord said that to the very
men that he's speaking to here. Religion can't be friends with
sinners and thus cannot accept the possibility that Christ could
be friends with sinners. This reveals that they have no
knowledge of what sin is. Clearly, the context declares
that they believe that sin is about doing, drinking, eating,
hanging around with certain people. That's sin. That's what they
believe sin is. To religion, sin has nothing
to do with condition or state of being. With sin firmly ensconced
in a box or a bottle or in a tube or on a computer, religion has
a very easy measure of what a sinner is and who would associate with
such. Though they may preach of sinners
and give long invitations for sinners to come down the aisle,
once that simple plan of salvation is accomplished, they believe
that Christ's association with them is dependent upon their
personal righteousness. And that's not the case. Our
righteousnesses are as filthy rags, saith the Scripture. Our
best works are filthy, minstreless rags, cursed and must be atoned
for, saith the Scripture. That's why people come up with
little things to say to their children. I've heard mothers
and fathers say this, and sometimes I just want to throttle them
when they do it. I really do. They'll look at a child who's
misbehaving and say, well, Jesus wouldn't like you doing that.
Jesus wouldn't like you to do that. Jesus would like you if
you did that. What are you saying? What are you saying to that?
What are you teaching that child? Jesus likes good people. That's
what you're teaching him. Christ is the friend of sinners
and publicans. What do you reckon is what would
Jesus do come from? WWJD. I saw people wearing braces
and all that garbage bumper sticker religion. What does that really
mean? What does that really mean? Gotta
be good. Gotta be good. You do. But you gotta be perfectly good
to stand before God. Anybody want to raise their hand
and say they've made that? I've reached that high. I tell you
what, I am a perfect man. I say to you this morning in
Jesus Christ, because of what He's done on Calvary's tree before
God, if you're not perfect, you can't get in. You better be perfect. How do I do that? You don't.
You can't. He did. By one sacrifice, Hebrews
chapter 10, He hath perfected Forever, them whom He sanctified. Perfected forever. What does
that mean? That same word He used on the
cross, teleo, when He said, It is finished. Perfect! I made them perfect and they
can stand before God. This man is a friend of sinners. He's a friend of sinners. A friend of sinners. Religion
does the same thing to these infantile adult toddlers in this
day. It does so by comparison of works
as the determining factor in Christ's pleasure with them.
If you do certain things, God will like you. If you don't,
God won't. Outside of Christ, God don't like you anyway. The love of God is in Christ
Jesus, Romans 8.39. That's where it's at. It's in
Christ Jesus. God's love is never general anywhere
in Scripture. You find me where it's a general
aspect. It's never general. Always had to do with a specific
person or group. Always. And it's always in the
past tense. It's never loving. It's loved.
He hath loved us and sent His Son to die for us. He has loved
us. Let me tell you. Salvation is
by grace and grace alone. Nothing you do or don't do makes you recommended to God. Understand that? What if I pray? You ought to pray. But know this,
that the prayer you pray has enough of you in it and enough
of sin in it to send 10,000 worlds to hell. Your prayer. Your obedience. These things
have no value in your salvation. None whatsoever. They may be
of value in your relationship with your Savior. Your relationship with Him. Not
His with you. Yours with Him. But they have no value in salvation.
Salvation is by unmerited favor. By grace you are saved, through
faith. And that faith itself is not
of you, it's a gift of God, not of works, lest any man should
boast. We are His workmanship created in Christ Jesus of two
good works, which God hath before ordained that we should walk
in them, saith the Scripture. Don't go comparing yourself,
and don't allow men to do it either, because they build these
straw men, straw men, that don't exist. I believe in the grace of God,
in the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ. I believe I was, I know
I was saved by grace because I know me, there wasn't no other
way. Had to be by grace. When I preach grace, a lot of
people say, well, you're anti-law or you're antinomian. Well, I
don't believe you preach grace right or believe grace right
until they say that about you. But they will raise up a straw
man and say, well, you're telling me this fellow over here who
goes to church all the time and prays all the time and reads
his Bible all the time and gives to the church, is always there,
is helping people. There's no difference in him than this old
fellow's laying in the gutter drunk. I tell you, the gutter drunk
probably has more hope than that guy there does. He probably does. But I really never met those
people anyway. I never met those people. But that's the kind of
comparisons they make. You want to compare yourself
to somebody? Compare yourself to Christ. Because I know this
about everyone here this morning, including myself. If I'm going
to compare myself to somebody, I'm going to pick somebody I
think is lower than I am. That way I'm going to come out
smelling like a rose. It always works that way. That's the way
human beings do. You want to compare yourself?
Look at Jesus Christ. who was perfectly righteous as
a human being. Perfectly righteous. You say,
boy, he must have been, you know, lifted up, and glowing, and like
them pictures paint him, and kind of separate, and separate,
and, you know, oh, holy, he's holy, he's righteous. Look around
his feet. Nothing but vile, off-scouring
of the universe, publicans and sinners. They're not afraid of
Him. They're latching on to Him. They're
latching on to Him. Behold the man, the friend of publicans and sinners. These hateful words of religion
are a harmonious melody to poor publicans and sinners. Those who are rejected by kith
and kin and society, they love Christ. What does it mean to
be a sinner? It means that Christ is my friend.
That's what it means. Now, I'm not talking about, when
I say sinner, I'm not talking about, well, you know, I'm not as, I know I'm not perfect. That's baloney. I mean someone
who knows that in his heart, were it not for a grace of God,
that he would poke his finger in God's eye and jerk him off
the throne and put himself in his place. The carnal mind is
at enmity with God who is not subject to the law of God, neither
indeed can be. What does enmity mean? It means
you won't kill him. You won't kill God. That's what
a sinner is. I don't want him messing with
me. I will not have this man reign over me. I want him out of my
life and out of my business. No God for me. No God for me.
That's what it is to be a sinner. A real sinner. who is drawn to Jesus Christ. God shows you that, what you
are. You'll cry, save me, or I'll
perish, because there's no hope in me. What does it mean to a sinner
that Christ is his freedom? First of all, it means that Christ
laid down his life for him. That's what it means. Our Lord
said, I lay down my life for the sheep. No man hath greater
love than this, that he lay down his life for his friend. Lay down his life for his friend.
Secondly, it means that Christ loved him. Hereby perceive we
the love of God, 1 John 3, 16. Hereby perceive we the love of
God, that he laid down his life for us. For us. Thirdly, it means that
the sinner and his Lord have a close relationship. I am the
vine, and ye are the branches. Abide in me, and I in you, and
ye shall bring forth fruit, and it shall remain. Because the
children are of flesh and blood, Jesus Christ partook of the same
to destroy death and the fear of death. One of the most intriguing
and engaging aspects of this title given to our Lord is that
it sets forth our Lord as friendly to publicans and sinners. Friendly. If a man is to have friends,
Scripture says, he must show himself to be friendly. Our Lord
showed himself to be friendly to sinners. This means approachable. I want you to think for a moment. Two things. Religion and Christ. I just had a thing here on reservation. vote for the whole outfit about
liquor at the casino. I was contacted by several churches
to take some position on this and I listened to what the people
had to say. They're liquor sinful and they're all about getting
people drunk and all this stuff. I tell you what, I didn't want
to get near them people. I'll be honest. I'll be honest. Never heard the mention of Christ.
Never really heard the mention of what a true sinner was. But
I heard a lot about things. And I heard it from preachers
who were holy. I'm not doing that! Well, okay. Is that who you want? Is that where you
want to be? Are men going to judge you on
every activity you do? Or are you going to fall at the feet
of the merciful Savior as a sinner in need of salvation? Because
this one's friendly. Not so much. Not so much. This one's friendly. I've been
to churches where I walked in there and everybody was reading
their Bible and down like this and when I said hello to somebody
it was like I didn't stay long. I didn't
stay long. Listen to me. Holiness and righteousness
are not affectations. They are not things people can
see. You understand that? How do I know? Jesus Christ was
the only righteous man and holy man who ever walked on this earth.
The only one. who in and of himself was perfectly
righteous and holy and without sin. Think about this. I know
it's hard to think about it because our minds are sinful and it's
hard to even imagine such a thing. Nobody knew it to start with.
His brethren didn't believe him. Those who walked around him didn't
say, Oh, he's a righteous man. Oh, there's a holy man. There's
a holy man. They said, That guy's a wino.
He's got the devil. He's drunk. He's a garden! That's what they said. You mean
people can't see holiness? If they can, it ain't holiness.
It's self-righteousness. The perfect man. The perfect
man. Nobody knew that he was perfect. Don't expect people to look at
you and say, ah, there's a holy man. Because if they do, you're
doing something wrong, not something right. You're projecting an image. a religious image that people
want to show people to think you're something you're not.
I know what you are. You can't lie to me because I
know what I am. And we're cut from the same cloth. We're dead
from the same lump of clay. And Christ is friendly to us. He's friendly. He's approachable. He can be touched. This intimates
welcome. There's something wonderful about
our Savior. Our Lord doesn't intimidate sinners. He doesn't. Religion does. Religion intimidates and judges.
Not Christ. O ye that labor, and are heavy
laden, I'll give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn
of me, for you shall find rest unto yourself. My yoke is easy,
and my burden is light. Our Lord, on the other hand,
though He didn't intimidate sinners, He did intimidate religion. Didn't
He? Everywhere he went, they picked
up rocks and wanted to kill him. Everywhere he went. Every religious
person he met wanted to kill him. To sinners, Christ is imminently
approachable. And this is not only a blessing
to us, it is also a lesson for us. If our understanding of grace
does not cause us to be approachable to those who know not Christ,
We are missing the meaning of grace. Sinners ought to be free
to come to us. They ought to feel free to approach
unto us. There ought to be something about us that makes a sinner
welcome. And if we were ever a real sinner, saved by grace,
they will be welcome to us. I never will forget many years
ago, a fellow was thrown out of a church up in the And I won't tell you the pastor's
name. He's dead now, so I won't speak ill of the dead. But anyway,
that pastor said, you go up there to Tim James, he'll take anybody. Yes, sir! A church that is not a hospital
for sinners is a religious organization of no value in this world. Behold, a man. Sinners felt comfortable around
our Lord, the only holy and righteous man on earth. And I know this
to be true. This may shock you, but I'm going
to tell you anyhow. True righteousness is not an intimidation to sinners. Self-righteousness is. True righteousness
is not. Behold, a man, a man who is a
friend of publicans and sinners. I spend my life looking for a sinner. There's so very few of them today.
There's just few and far between. You just don't keep finding them. Everybody's right. And if they
ain't right, they're going to show you they're right. They're
going to be right or bust a gut trying to be right. If I could
find some old gutter-wallowing, God-hating, vile worm of the
dust who has lost all hope in himself, and everybody else. I'd say, let me tell you about
my friend. He loves and welcomes and embraces
and associates with sinners and publicans. To God be the glory. Father, bless us for understanding.
Pray in Christ's name. Amen.