Christ Receiveth Sinful Men
Luke 15:1-2
Seeing the vilest of Jewish society coming to Christ, the enemies of our Lord muttered "This man receiveth sinners." What they meant as an insult in these words was in reality the highest tribute to the Lord and the greatest message to every one of us. Erdmann Neumeister wrote in 1718 the words to a hymn that echoes this glorious and eternal truth.
"Sinners Jesus will receive; Sound this word of grace to all
Who the heavenly pathway leave, All who linger, all who fall.
Sing it o’er and o’er again: Christ receiveth sinful men;
Make the message clear and plain: Christ receiveth sinful men!" :
I. Christ’s desires to receive sinful men.
A. Men are sinful and separated from God
1. Romans 3:23"All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God"
2. Man was created to have fellowship with God; but, because of his stubborn self-will, he chose to go his own independent way, and fellowship with God was broken. As a result man by nature is sinful and is separated from God.
3. Isaiah 59:2 "But your iniquities have separated you from your God; and your sins have hidden His face from you, so that He will not hear."
B. Good works will not provide access to or acceptance by God
1. Access to God cannot be attained through ministers, priests, Mary, angels, reformation, church membership, sincerity, good works or tears.
2. Isaiah 64:6 "But we are all as an unclean thing, and all our righteousnesses are as filthy rags; and we all do fade as a leaf; and our iniquities, like the wind, have taken us away."
3. Ephesians 2:8-9 "For it is by his grace that we have been saved through faith, and this faith was not from you, but it is the gift of God, Not of works, lest anyone should boast."
4. Romans 5:1, 2 "We have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ: by whom also we have access"
5. Our legal right to approach unto God is found alone in the merits of Christ - C Arthur Pink, Access to God
C. Christ desires all men to come to Him
1. 2 Peter 3:9 "The Lord is not slack concerning His promise, as some men count slackness; but is longsuffering to usward, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance."
2. 1 Timothy 2:3-6 "For this is good and acceptable in the sight of God our Savior; Who will have all men to be saved, and to come unto the knowledge of the truth. For there is one God, and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus; Who gave himself a ransom for all, to be testified in due time."
3. Matthew 11:28 "Come unto me, all ye that labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest."
4. O perfect redemption, the purchase of blood,
To every believer, the promise of God;
The vilest offender who truly believes,
That moment from Jesus a pardon receives.- Fanny Crosby, To God be the Glory
D. Christ welcomes all who come with open arms.
1. Luke 15:2 "And the Pharisees and scribes murmured, saying, ’This man receives sinners, and eats with them.’"
2. Receive - ¨Prosdechomai" - expectant looking-for-and-waiting to receive in a personal (open) manner.
3. We find all through his life that he always received sinners, and never rejected any one¡It might always have been said of him, "This man receiveth and welcometh sinners." His motto was, "Whosoever will, let him come." (C. H. Spurgeon, Welcome! Welcome, The Metropolitan Tabernacle Pulpit, Pilgrim Publications, 1973 reprint, vol. XXVII, pp. 581-582).
4. John 6:37 "Him that comes to me I will in no wise cast out."
5. "God loves you. It doesn’t make any difference who you are. You can’t keep Him from loving you. Now you can get into a place where you won’t experience the love of God. When you put up an umbrella of sin, the sunshine of God’s love sure won’t fall on you. But it’s still there for you." - J. Vernon McGee, Book of Nahum
6. "When man sinned, he was separated from God. God wanted that fellowship restored, but He could not do so unless His justice was satisfied. God’s mercy said that He wanted to forgive man, but God’s justice said that man could not be forgiven unless a suitable sacrifice was found. Christ offered Himself as that sacrifice, which means that the sacrifice of Christ as the as the Lamb of God was the only way that God could be merciful and just. It was the only way that God, within His righteousness, holiness and justice could receive man back to Himself. Since God wanted man’s fellowship more than more than man wants God’s fellowship, then Christ first died FOR GOD. It is often said that Christ died for us, but the main thing was that Christ died FOR GOD in order that God could accept us back, for Christ and Christ alone satisfied the righteous and holy demands of God!" -Jack Hyles, Meet The Holy Spirit
7. "Him that cometh unto me I will in no wise cast out." No, though your sins are very great, the kind Redeemer will not cast you out; even if that were true which you sometimes think, that you are the greatest sinner who ever lived upon earth, he will not cast you out. "His blood cleanseth from all sin." It is as easy for him to save a great as a small sinner. No one was ever saved because his sins were small; no one was ever rejected on account of the greatness of his sins. Where sin abounded, grace shall much more abound. If your guilt is very enormous, the greater honor will redound to that Deliverer who plucks such a brand from the burning. "Though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be white as snow; though they be red like crimson, they shall be as wool." - Archibald Alexander, founding professor of Princeton Theological Seminary, Sinners Welcome to Come to Jesus Christ
II. Christ receives sinful men who come to Him repentantly
A. Mark 8:34 "And when he had called the people unto him with his disciples also, he said unto them, Whosoever will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow me."
B. You don’t go to Heaven because God loves you, nor because you love Him. You don’t go to Heaven because you amend your sinful ways or clean up your act. Turning over a new leaf is rehabilitation, which is not salvation. Education is not the answer. Reformation is not the answer. Legislation is not the answer. My friend, the answer is REGENERATION! - David J Stewart, God Loves People
C. Isaiah 1:18 "Come now, and let us reason together, says the LORD: though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they be red like crimson, they shall be as wool."
D. Acts 17:30 "God is now declaring to men that all people everywhere should repent..."
E. Repentance means a sincere turning away, in both the mind and heart, from self to God through Jesus Christ. It is recognizing that our sin is offensive to God
F. Samuel Colgate, the founder of the Colgate business empire, was a devout Christian, and he told of an incident that took place in the church he attended. During an evangelistic service, an invitation was given at the close of the sermon for all those who wished to turn their lives over to Christ and be forgiven. One of the first persons to walk down the aisle was a well-known prostitute. She knelt in very real repentance, she wept, and she asked God to forgive her. Then she stood and testified that she believed God had forgiven her, and wanted to become a member of the church. For a few moments, the silence was deafening. Finally, Samuel Colgate arose and said, "I guess we blundered when we prayed that the Lord would save sinners. We forgot to specify what kind of sinners. The Holy Spirit has touched this woman and made her truly repentant, but the Lord apparently doesn’t understand that she’s not the type we want him to rescue. Immediately, a motion was made and unanimously approved that the woman be accepted into membership in the congregation. God accepts us as we are. There’s not a sin too black, not a deed too awful, not a thought too horrible for him to forgive. (Larry R. Kalajainen, Extraordinary Faith For Ordinary Time, CSS Publishing Company, Inc.)
III. Christ expects sinful men who come to Him to live changed lives
A. 2 Corinthians 5:17 "Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new."
B. We cannot expect a person to live as a Christian when they have little or no relationship with Jesus Christ? But we can and should expect people who are Christians to live differently than those who have no relationship with Him... changed hearts live differently - Homer Larsen, Christian Crusaders
C. When Gipsy Smith was in South Africa, a Dutchman came into his service, and God laid His hand on him and convicted him of sin. The next morning the man went to the beautiful home of another Dutchman and said to him, "Do you recognize that old watch?" "Why, yes," answered the other. "Those are my initials; that is my watch. I lost it eight years ago. How did you get it, and how long have you had it?" "I stole it," was the reply. "What made you bring it back now?" "I was converted last night," was the answer, "and I have brought it back first thing this morning. If you had been up, I would have brought it last night." - from Gipsy Smith, The Bible Friend
D. Two cars are waiting at a stoplight... the light turns green, but the man in front doesn’t notice it. A woman in the car behind him is watching traffic pass around them. The woman begins pounding on her steering wheel and yelling at the man to move. The man doesn’t move. The woman is going ballistic inside her car, ranting and raving at the man, pounding on her steering wheel and dash. The light turns yellow. The woman begins to blow the car horn, flips him off, and screams curses at the man. The man, hearing the commotion, looks up, sees the yellow light and accelerates through the intersection just as the light turns red. The woman is beside herself, screaming in frustration as she misses her chance to get through the intersection. As she is still in mid-rant, she hears a tap on her window and looks up into the barrel of a gun held by a very serious looking policeman. The policeman tells her to shut off her car while keeping both hands in sight. She complies, speechless at what is happening. After she shuts off the engine, the policeman orders her to exit her car with her hands up. She gets out of the car and he orders her to turn and place her hands on her car. She turns, places her hands on the car roof and quickly is cuffed and hustled into the patrol car. She is too bewildered by the chain of events to ask any questions and is driven to the police station where she is fingerprinted, photographed, searched, booked and placed in a cell. After a couple of hours, a policeman approaches the cell and opens the door for her. She is escorted back to the booking desk where the original officer is waiting with her personal effects. He hands her the bag containing her things, and says, "I’m really sorry for this mistake, but you see, I pulled up behind your car while you were blowing your horn, flipping that guy off, and cussing a blue streak at the car in front of you. Then I noticed the "Choose Life" license plate holder, the "What Would Jesus Do?" and "Follow Me to Sunday School" bumper stickers, and the chrome plated Christian fish emblem on the trunk, so naturally I assumed you had stolen the car." Christians are supposed to live different, and brothers and sisters, genuine Christians DO live different. James 2:26b says, "Faith without works is dead." - Chris Mueller, Christians Live Differently
E. Colossians 1:10 "Walk worthy of the Lord"
IV. Christ commands that those who have come to Him to bring other sinful men to Him
A. The church too often has the wrong focus. We need to be reminded that we are not called upon to spread Christianity, but to proclaim the gospel. We are not called to fill pews but to publish the Good News.
B. Mark 16:15 "And he said unto them, Go ye into all the world, and preach the gospel to every creature."
C. We are to bear witness to everyone of the Good News that Jesus Christ is the Savior of all who will receive Him.
D. When we share Christ we have no idea how much God will use those words:
1. A business man in Wales spoke to his office boy about his soul, and from that word a work began that won his entire office force to Christ.
2. A merchant in England determined that no day should pass without his speaking to someone about Christ; in one year he had led scores to the Master.
3. An invalid Christian woman in Australia, for thirty years unable to put her foot to the floor, by means of her pen and prayer led forty people to Christ in a single year.
4. A Christian gentleman spoke to his servant while they were walking together; the boy became a Christian and later a minister of the Gospel.
5. A Sunday School teacher took one of her class of boys for a walk on Sunday afternoon when the session of the school was over; she told him of her concern that he should become a Christian, and had the joy of seeing him take his stand for Christ. - Selected
E. 2 Corinthians 5:19-21 "And all things are of God, who hath reconciled us to himself by Jesus Christ, and hath given to us the ministry of reconciliation; to wit, that God was in Christ, reconciling the world unto himself, not imputing their trespasses unto them; and hath committed unto us the word of reconciliation. Now then we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God did beseech you by us: we pray you in Christ’s stead, be ye reconciled to God. For he hath made him to be sin for us, who knew no sin; that we might be made the righteousness of God in him."
F. Our mindset, motive and message should be: "Christ receiveth sinful men!"
Sinners Jesus will receive;
Sound this word of grace to all
Who the heavenly pathway leave,
All who linger, all who fall.
Sing it o’er and o’er again:
Christ receiveth sinful men;
Make the message clear and plain:
Christ receiveth sinful men!
