The Savior, The Sinners, and The Sermon
Notes
Transcript
Introduction
Introduction
15 And it came to pass, that, as Jesus sat at meat in his house, many publicans and sinners sat also together with Jesus and his disciples: for there were many, and they followed him.
16 And when the scribes and Pharisees saw him eat with publicans and sinners, they said unto his disciples, How is it that he eateth and drinketh with publicans and sinners?
17 When Jesus heard it, he saith unto them, They that are whole have no need of the physician, but they that are sick: I came not to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance.
In this passage today, we see Jesus offering forgiveness to the publicans, or tax collectors, and sinners of his time.
Have you ever wondered if you were good enough for God?
Many people stay away from God because they are just not good enough for Him, and if you’re thinking in terms of performance, you’re exactly right! God is perfect, God is holy, none of us measure up to His standards.
We all sin and come short of His glory!
But what if God isn’t interested in performance? What if God is interested in something else, like relationship? That changes things doesn’t it?
What if you don’t have to be good enough for God, what if God called sinners to Himself rather than perfect people?
That’s what this passage of Scripture is talking about…Jesus calls sinners, and that’s good news for us!
I want to focus on three subjects found in these three verses. The Savior, The Sinners, and The Sermon...
Notice with me first:
I-The Savior
I-The Savior
The word sinner is found four times in these three verses…it’s actually mentioned in every verse of the text today.
The most amazing thing about this is every time you find the word sinner, it’s linked with the Savior!
Let me explain...
In verse 15, Jesus is sitting with sinners.
In verse 15, Jesus is surrounded by sinners.
In verse 16, Jesus is seen with sinners.
In verse 16, Jesus is having supper with sinners.
In verse 17, Jesus is searching for sinners.
This passage teaches us that Jesus loves sinners!
Verse 15 finds Jesus in a setting that few so-called good people would have been. When you think about the people who were invited to that dinner, you get an idea of the atmosphere.
There were tax collectors and rank sinners there, and where you have sinners, you have the potential for sin.
Jesus did not partake of their wicked ways, but He did not isolate Himself from sinners either. He spent time with them in an effort to win them.
What a contrast to the church! We build our buildings, erect our walls, put up our signs and sit back and wait for the lost to come in. That is not what Jesus did! He went where the lost where. He won their confidence and He changed their lives.
You see, we really aren’t carrying out the Great Commission when we build a church and start having services.
We are carrying out the Great Commission when we take the Gospel into “the highways and the hedges” and “compel” the lost to come to Jesus.
May the Lord help us all become more like Jesus! May He give us a heart to win the lost at any cost! May He help us to go to the lost, where they are and take the Gospel to them, so that some may be reached for Jesus!
Jesus didn’t just love sinners, but He died for sinners!
7 For scarcely for a righteous man will one die: yet peradventure for a good man some would even dare to die.
8 But God commendeth his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.
God’s love is a love beyond even the best love among humans. A good man might die a noble martyrdom for the right kind of person such as a righteous man or a good man, but Jesus died for those who were neither righteous or good!
Every man, woman, boy, and girl is a sinner...
10 As it is written, There is none righteous, no, not one:
23 For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God;
We were all born in sin...
5 Behold, I was shapen in iniquity; And in sin did my mother conceive me.
Spurgeon wrote, “If Christ died for the ungodly, this fact leaves the ungodly no excuse if they do not come to him, and believe in him unto salvation. Had it been otherwise they might have pleaded, ‘We are not fit to come.’ But you are ungodly, and Christ died for the ungodly, why not for you?”
We see the Savior in these verses, but we also see:
II-The Sinners
II-The Sinners
Notice in verse 15, we find sinners searching...
Mark 2:15 (KJV 1900)
15 ...and they followed him.
They are searching for help, searching for answers, searching for someone who cares about their need!
In verse 16, we find sinners being scorned...
16 And when the scribes and Pharisees saw him eat with publicans and sinners, they said unto his disciples, How is it that he eateth and drinketh with publicans and sinners?
The term “sinners” in the Gospels, was a term generally used for people who were considered sinful by Jewish leaders.
They were alienated and rejected.
These are people who needed God’s grace and knew it. They were no doubt stunned that the famous young Rabbi would share table fellowship with them. And they weren’t the only ones: the religious leaders shared their amazement.
While the “tax collectors and sinners” were humble and thankful, the religious hypocrites were offended and angered.
Religion hates sinners.
Religion looks down on sinners.
Religion has no time for sinners.
Religion doesn’t want to be seen with sinners.
I’m here to tell you today that sinners don’t need religion; they need the Savior!
In verse 17, we see sinners who are sick...
Mark 2:17 (KJV 1900)
17 ...They that are whole have no need of the physician, but they that are sick:...
Sinners are sin sick and soul sick.
Sinners need a physician!
Jesus tells His critics that He is like a doctor. He is treating the sick and trying to help them get well. What kind of a doctor refuses to help sick people?
The scribes and Pharisees are like a lot of religious people in our day. They were willing to sit back and wait for the lost to come to them for help. Jesus, on the other hand, was making house calls! He went to where the sick were; He reached out to them!
That is just what He did when He came to me! It is also what He did when He came to you!
I was sick and diseased; my life was ruined; I was terminally ill. In fact, I was already dead when He found me. But, Jesus loved me in spite of my condition! He came to where I was and gave me blood transfusion! He applied His blood to my life, washed my sins away and saved my soul. He removed my heart of stone and gave me a heart of flesh.
He made me well because He is the Great Physician! He specializes in healing the greatest disease known to men.
He specializes in healing sin-sick souls!
This chapter proves who the Great Physician is!
5 When Jesus saw their faith, he said unto the sick of the palsy, Son, thy sins be forgiven thee.
8 And immediately when Jesus perceived in his spirit that they so reasoned within themselves, he said unto them, Why reason ye these things in your hearts?
9 Whether is it easier to say to the sick of the palsy, Thy sins be forgiven thee; or to say, Arise, and take up thy bed, and walk?
10 But that ye may know that the Son of man hath power on earth to forgive sins, (he saith to the sick of the palsy,)
11 I say unto thee, Arise, and take up thy bed, and go thy way into thine house.
Jesus’ answer was both simple and profound. Jesus was the physician of the soul, and it made sense for Him to be with those who were sick with sin.
Jesus is the perfect doctor to heal us of our sin.
He is always available.
He always makes a perfect diagnosis.
He provides a complete cure.
He even pays the doctor’s fee.
We see the Savior in these verses, we see the Sinners in these verses, and then we also see:
III-The Sermon
III-The Sermon
17 When Jesus heard it, he saith unto them, They that are whole have no need of the physician, but they that are sick: I came not to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance.
The sermon here is just one word, and it’s the last word of the text...
The sermon is repentance! This is the sermon for every sinner!
I know it’s not popular among the modern day church, the emerging church, or some of the megachurches, but the word repentance is found over 100 times in the Bible.
The message of John the Baptist was repentance!
The message of Jesus Christ was repentance!
The message from Hell in Luke 16 was repentance!
The message of Peter at Pentecost was repentance!
The message of Paul the Apostle was repentance!
The authority of God commands repentance:
30 And the times of this ignorance God winked at; but now commandeth all men every where to repent:
The goodness of God leads to repentance:
Romans 2:4 (KJV 1900)
4 ...the goodness of God leadeth thee to repentance?
The compassion of God waits for repentance:
9 The Lord is not slack concerning his promise, as some men count slackness; but is longsuffering to us-ward, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance.
The grace of God grants repentance:
18 When they heard these things, they held their peace, and glorified God, saying, Then hath God also to the Gentiles granted repentance unto life.
The love of God rejoices over repentance:
7 I say unto you, that likewise joy shall be in heaven over one sinner that repenteth, more than over ninety and nine just persons, which need no repentance.
Conclusion
Conclusion
When William Booth, the founder of The Salvation Army, felt the call of the Lord to go into the streets of London and begin ministering to street people, he stood in a Methodist Conference meeting and requested permission from the presiding bishop to be released from his church to go into the streets and preach. The bishop heard the request and denied it telling Booth that they would not waste a man of his education and talent on the people of the streets. Upon hearing this, Booth sat down, resigned to defeat.
His wife was seated in the balcony, because women were not allowed on the first floor. She stood up and leaned over the rail. She called to her husband and told him to listen to God and not to man. She vowed to stand with her husband against every foe. She came down from the balcony, Booth took her by the arm and they left the building to go into the streets to win people to Jesus. He was ready to quit, but his wife, a lady who usually stayed in the background, stepped out of the shadow of her husband to hold up his arms at a critical time in his life!
Many souls were saved and lives changed in England and around the world because William Booth and his wife were willing to cross the line to reach the lost.
I praise the Lord that Jesus crossed the line for me!
Praise His name that He loved me enough to die for me on the cross!
Friend, He crossed the line for you too!
If you have never been saved, but you see your need, come to Jesus and He will save your soul!
Maybe the Lord is calling you to cross the line to reach someone for His glory. Today would be a good day for you to get busy doing what He has called you to do! He wants His Gospel taken out of the church into the places where the lost live.
He wants us to reach out to them where they are.
Maybe you have been guilty of judging others by your own standards. Isn’t it time you started reaching out to sinners and stopped looking down on them? Isn’t it time you repented of your own hypocrisy and asked the Lord to give you a heart like His?
If there are needs, this altar is open. Jesus is still the Friend of sinners. If you need a Friend like Jesus, then you come to Him right now!