Christ Receives All

• The Looks

• The Money

• The Intelligence

• The Courage

• The Personality

• And was a perfect gentleman in every way

She said, "The man I marry will have everything!"

The lady she was talking to said, "If you are going to wait to marry a man that has all of that, you will never get married!"

She was not trying to be unkind, but she knew the facts of life, THERE ARE NO PERFECT MEN OR WOMEN. Some know that better than others.

Illus: At a party, one lady said to another lady, "Aren’t you wearing your wedding ring on the wrong finger?" She replied, "Yes, I am, I married the wrong man."

Illus: A friend was admiring Mrs. Smith's wedding ring. "What a beautiful diamond!" Mrs. Smith smiled and said, "Thank you. It's a family heirloom, but it comes with a curse." The friend said, "Oh really? What's the curse?" Mrs. Smith said, "Mr. Smith."

Illus: After a quarrel, a husband said to his wife, "You know, I was a fool when I married you." She replied, "Yes dear, but I was in love and didn’t notice."

Illus: A lady advertised in the classifieds: "Husband wanted." The next day she received a hundred letters. They all said the same thing: “You can have mine.”

Sometimes we do have a difficult time finding all the traits we would like to find in each other.

But when it comes to the Lord Jesus, we could talk all day about the many wonderful traits we can find in Him, and still not exhaust the subject.

Illus: Years ago, we used to sing a song that said, “Isn’t He wonderful, wonderful, wonderful, isn’t Jesus my Lord wonderful!” The words to that song are so true!

For example, in our text we can see that Jesus loves everyone, regardless of their SOCIAL LEVEL.

This passage reveals three things to us.

I. THE PUBLICANS AND THE SINNERS

We read in verse 1, "Then drew near unto him all the publicans and sinners for TO HEAR HIM."

Notice, the PUBLICANS and the SINNERS drew near to the Lord.

We do not have to wonder WHY they drew near, because the scripture tells us. The Bible says, “...for TO HEAR HIM."

WHY DID THEY WANT TO HEAR HIM?

Because, each one of them knew that there was something different about Him. They did not know what it was; they just knew that He was not like others they knew.

WHAT MADE THEM CURIOUS ABOUT HIM?

For us to understand what stirred their curiosity, we have to consider Luke 14, the chapter that precedes this account.

WHAT WAS HE TALKING ABOUT IN CHAPTER FOURTEEN?

He was talking to the multitudes about the COST and CONDITIONS OF DISCIPLESHIP.

From what they could hear, they figured out that here was a man who desired followers, and He was going about it differently than anyone else. And perhaps they thought He was going about it in the wrong way.

WHY WOULD THEY THINK HE WAS GOING ABOUT IT IN THE WRONG WAY?

He told the potential followers that if they were going to be His disciples, they were going to have to LOVE HIM MORE than they loved their MOTHERS, FATHERS, WIVES, BROTHERS, SISTERS, AND EVEN THEIR OWN SELVES.

Now, you have to admit that is asking a lot of someone.

The Lord deliberately listed the ones who are dearest to us, and said we had to love Him more than we love them.

Also, notice this, he really struck a nerve when he said they had to love Him more than, EVEN THEIR OWN SELVES.

WAIT A MINUTE! THAT IS ASKING A LOT! This was something they had never heard before.

During those days, there were many religious leaders who were trying to recruit followers, in the same way that many of these religious leaders today are trying to recruit followers.

The Lord said before He returned for the church, it would get so bad that they will tell people whatever they want to hear, to get them to follow them.

Look at 2 Timothy 4:3, we read, “For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine; but after their own lusts shall they heap to themselves teachers, having itching ears.”

HAVE YOU EVER HAD AN ITCHING EAR? It itched so bad that you went and got a Q-tip, and slid it down into your ear where it was itching, and it FELT SO GOOD!

These Elmer Gantries today that you see on television, know that we are living in the last days. It is a time when men and women have itching ears, and they tell them exactly what they want to hear.

IT SOUNDS SO GOOD TO THEIR EARS!

When the Lord was here, there were many who were trying to recruit followers. They knew exactly WHAT TO SAY, and WHAT NOT TO SAY!