The Great Heart of God for Sinners

As a church we’ve been praying that the Lord would save many people this year. We’ve been praying that this year we would see unprecedented conversion growth. But it would be a tragedy if for all our praying, we were unwilling ourselves to move toward anyone to tell them the gospel.

How do we ensure that we engage in evangelistic action for the glory of God? You can’t program that. It must flow from a true heart of love for people. It happens when our heart aligns with God’s heart -- when our loves match his loves. The love of God transforms us.

We need a greater grasp of the love of God. This is what Paul prayed for in Eph 3:18 - that we would have the “strength to comprehend with all the saints what is the breadth and the length and the height and the depth, and to know the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge.”

I want to pull out of Mark and take a look at the heart of God. Last week, we saw that Jesus is calling all humanity to repentance. But I want to see God’s heart behind that.

What do you believe God is like? Do you believe God desires to save sinners?

Luke 15:1-7.

The Crowd

Now I want you to notice that in this parable, both types of people are present. You have “tax collectors and sinners” there in verse 1, and “Pharisees and scribes” in verse 2.

Let’s notice the first group. Tax collectors were some of the most despised people in Israel because they had basically sided with Rome for monetary gain. They collected taxes from the Jews to pay Rome, and when they did, they usually took extra and bagged it for themselves. They were outcasts. The word “sinners” is a more general description for lowlife people. This would include prostitutes and drunkards and lawbreakers -- a general word for the scum.

The second group consists of Pharisees and scribes. Perhaps there couldn’t be a more stark contrast between these two groups. These are the honorable of society. These are the religious elite. These were disciplined, hard-working, Jewish leaders. They had spent much of their life mastering not only the law but also the layers upon layers of rules that they had placed upon the law so as to make sure they wouldn’t sin.

So you have all gathering around Jesus those honored by the society and those outcast by it; those respected and those reviled; you have leaders and lowlifes, you have the high profile and the nobodies. Like I said before: you have rule keepers and rule breakers here.

Both groups have a certain approach to Jesus. The sinners draw near to hear. Jesus is giving something that interests them, he’s teaching something that appeals to them. And remarkably, Jesus is so approachable that even the worst sinners feel they can approach him. He’s not turning them away, he’s not separating from them.

The Pharisees and Scribes, the religious elite, the honored and dignified ones, they have an entirely different approach. They see Jesus surrounded by tax collectors and prostitutes and drunkards and gamblers and addicts and outcasts, they see Jesus receiving them, speaking with them, and going beyond that, sharing the fellowship of a meal with them, and they are critical. They grumble and accuse.

Listen to their accusation: “This man receives sinners and eats with them.” It was something a dignified Pharisee would never do. They were too holy for that. They had developed such elaborate systems to help them avoid anything unclean, and that included unclean people. A Pharisee didn’t allow himself to be under the same roof as these kinds of sinners, let alone to eat with them.

Why did it upset them? Why not let Jesus do things his way while they do things their way. It’s because the Pharisees had a tidy equation that worked for them. To make it simple, their fundamental belief went something like this: my hard work, plus my discipline, equals my favor with God. If I work hard to study all the laws, and if I am diligent to keep them, then God will favor me. In fact, that’s the unbendable equation: God must favor me. God is obligated to favor me. I do this, God must to that.

And here comes Jesus just obliterating their equation. Jesus, speaking on behalf of God, is favoring sinners who have not done their part of the equation! Jesus- you can’t favor these people, they haven’t put in their hard work and discipline. He just accepts them as they are?

And Jesus tells these stories that absolutely drove them mad because the math just doesn’t work to them. Like the laborers in the vineyard in Matthew 20. At the beginning of the day, the master hires laborers who agree to work all day for a denarius (a day’s wage). Later in the day he hires more laborers, who work even less hours. And then, the final hour of the day he gets even more laborers and hires them, and they only work one hour. And when he goes to pay them he starts by paying the people who worked the least. And he pays them a denarius. And the laborers who worked all day must have been thinking, “Oh, if he got a denarius for one hour, I wonder what he’ll give me for working the whole day!” And then, he pays them the same, a denarius. And they get angry, even though it was exactly what they agreed on.

The math isn’t adding up. I worked all this time, all day, and I got the same as the guys who hardly worked at all? And the master says, “What, you don’t like that I’m generous?”

That’s what Jesus is doing. He’s giving people who do not deserve his attention, not only his attention but his welcome, his care, his time, his teaching, even his food.

Self-righteous people can’t stand grace because it upsets their system. They can’t rejoice in good things happening to people who don’t deserve it. Here is Jesus receiving the undeserving, and they’re over there complaining because it’s just not right. We worked hard all day to earn God’s favor, and here you are receiving them? It’s unfair!

That’s the crowd. The undeserving being welcomed by Jesus while the upset, legalistic, self-righteous Pharisees stand and criticize the fact that he is showing them grace.

The Parable

The crowd that Jesus addressed then is not unlike any crowd that gathers in any church on Sunday. I wonder if, this morning, some of you are more like the Pharisees. You disassociate yourself with sinners. You don’t feel you’re one of them. You like yourself, you don’t feel any sense of need to change.

And I wonder if others of you are more like “tax collectors” and “sinners.” You know yourself to be desperate, weak, and needy. You know yourself to need forgiveness. Jesus intrigues you.

Both have issues with the love of God. Sinners rebel against God’s rule because they think it’ll be restrictive and suffocating. It’s a doubt of his love. Self-righteous people don’t believe God could possibly love them without apart from their efforts, and so they work extra hard in religious duties, and fail to see that God loves people apart from anything they do. Both need to be taught what God’s love is like.

3 So he told them this parable: 4 “What man of you, having a hundred sheep, if he has lost one of them, does not leave the ninety-nine in the open country, and go after the one that is lost, until he finds it? 5 And when he has found it, he lays it on his shoulders, rejoicing. 6 And when he comes home, he calls together his friends and his neighbors, saying to them, ‘Rejoice with me, for I have found my sheep that was lost.’ 7 Just so, I tell you, there will be more joy in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine righteous persons who need no repentance.

Notice a few things:

First, how he draws in his listeners. “What man of you” -- he forces a question upon them, which is always a forceful way to teach. He’s forcing them to make a judgment about what they would do if they lost one of their sheep.

Second, he raises an easy ethical question: if your sheep is lost, do you go find it, or do you let it die in the wilderness? This isn’t a hard question. It’s an obvious one. It’s a rhetorical question because of course, any one of us would go find the lost sheep. If you left your child at the mall, would you go back and get him. I hope you would!

He brings their attention not only to the right-ness of the shepherd finding his sheep, but also to the heart of the shepherd, he rejoices and invites others to rejoice.

That’s the point of this: verse 7: “Just so, I tell you, there will be more joy in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine persons who need no repentance.”

This isn’t merely referring to the reality that God saves sinners. It goes beyond that. It points to the heart of the Savior, the joy of God, who delights, who rejoices in saving sinners.

On a personal note, this theme of God’s delight in saving sinners is one of my favorite themes of Scripture. I enjoy talking about ecclesiology, the doctrine of the church. I like thinking about church planting, church revitalizing, leadership development, discipleship. That gets me excited. But those topics don’t touch my soul like this topic does. The love of God for sinners -- there’s really nothing like it in all the world. The heart of God for sinners has a way of melting me down, humbling me, and stirring my affection for God like no other reality can.

Here is a truth that cuts right into my heart: and the truth is that our God is a Savior. By his very nature he is compassionate, he is merciful, he is forgiving, he is gracious, he is patient, he is kind, he is longsuffering. God, though blazingly holy, is deep with mercy. He is just, and he is a justifier. He demands perfect righteousness, and he gives it freely to those who trust him. He promises death to those who sin, and tastes death for us that we might live.

Really -- what do you think of God’s love for you? Does it change? Is your God more like Zeus, prone to mood swings and unapproachable?

What this parable teaches is the great heart of God to save the worst of sinners, those who cannot save themselves.

If you have thought that God is reluctant in giving his love, that God holds back; if you’ve been suspicious of the depths of the love of God, you’ve begun to believe a Satanic lie: that God is a withholder. But Scripture is always painting a picture of the extravagant love of God for us, even as sinners.

Psalm 105:43, speaking of how God delivered Israel in the Exodus: “So [God] brought his people out with joy his chosen ones with singing.” As God is delivering his people, he is rejoicing, he is singing!

Isaiah 62:4 “You shall no more be termed Forsaken, and your land shall no more be termed Desolate, but you shall be called My Delight is in Her, and your land Married; for the Lord delights in you, and your land shall be married…” vs. 5b “and as the bridegroom rejoices over the bride, so shall your God rejoice over you.”

That’s extravagant love -- young, exuberant, marital love is the picture of God’s love for his people. He rejoices over us, and the honeymoon never ends. His infinite enthusiasm is for the redemption of those who don’t deserve it. He doesnt’ do you good begrudgingly, there is a kind of eagerness to his goodness. God is not a bully who loves to show his strength by knocking weaker people down; he’s a hero who delights to show off his greatness by lifting the weak.

Zephaniah 3:17 is almost unbelievable when it says “The Lord your God is in your midst, a mighty one who will save; he will rejoice over you with gladness; he will quiet you by his love; he will exult over you with loud singing.” God will sing over me? Yes! With all his heart and with all his soul, the Creator whose speaking brought a universe into existence will sing over his precious redeemed people!

God finds so much joy in the redemption of sinners. He is not coerced to do it, it’s his delight.

Bible teaches that God does not delight in the destruction of the wicked. Ezekiel 33:11 “As I live, declares the Lord, I have no pleasure in the death of the wicked; but that the wicked would turn from his way and live; turn back, turn back from your evil ways, for why will you die O house of Israel?”

God takes no delight in the death of the wicked. He will be just, and he will do what is right in condemning the wicked, but it does not delight him the same way saving the wicked does. He is a God that does not desire that any should perish. God desires all people to be saved.

When God’s Spirit inspired the prophet Jeremiah, Jeremiah wept for wayward Israel. When the Holy Spirit inspired Paul to write his letter to the Romans, he spoke of his great sorrow and unceasing anguish over lost souls. And when Jesus himself saw his unrepentant people, he wept over them. “O Jerusalem, Jerusalem...How often would I have gathered your children children as a hen gathers her brood under her wings, and you were not willing.”

No one forces God to save, it’s what he loves to do. And that’s what this parable is showing us: there is joy in heaven every time a sinner repents because God loves to save sinners.

The sinners need to hear this, because it means they are free to come to him. The self-righteous need to hear this, because it exposes how far they are from the heart of God.

A Word for Sinners

I want to speak to those of you who, when you look back at your life you feel the sting of regret. I want to address those of you who, when you look within, you recoil at the harem of sin remaining there. I want to speak to those who when you consider the future, you are fearful of the appointment you have with God, because you know yourself to be guilty.

To you, I want you to see that Jesus receives sinners and eats with them. The insult couldn’t be more true, gloriously true. Jesus is a safe haven for sinners to run to. Jesus receives people like you. Jesus welcomes them and fellowships with them.

The parable shows that God receives sinners, rescues sinners, redeems sinners, and rejoices over sinners. And if you see yourself as a sinner, if you see yourself as undeserving, if you see yourself as guilty, then listen, you are the type of person Jesus saves.

In verse 2 we see that Jesus receives sinners, but the parable shows more -- it shows a savior who seeks, who finds, who rescues, who carries, who heals, who restores. You might say, “Oh, I’m too lost to come to him” but here it shows that he comes to you.

We’ve sung that old hymn here, “Near the cross,” and I can’t get over that line: “Near the cross, a trembling soul, Love and Mercy found me.” That line nearly always makes me weep in gratitude. I know if he had not found me I would have never been found. If he did not come for me I would have never come to him. It was omnipotent love and divine mercy on an unstoppable mission to save me.

If you’re a sinner and you haven’t trusted Christ, all your life has led up to this moment. You have sinned greatly, but today you encounter a God who loves to forgive the biggest sinners -- the bigger, the better, because it highlights the magnitude of his grace. You may feel filthy and unclean, and today you encounter a Savior who delights in welcoming the unclean into arms, into his house, and then cleanses them with his blood. You may feel lost, and today you encounter a finding God.

Today is the day of salvation. This day, Jesus is offered to you, the friend for sinners. He has come for you, to take you home. He rejoices to save the worst.

Do you worry he has enough grace to forgive your sins? Are you timid in coming to him? Do you think he won’t save you? Do you think he can’t save you?

He created a universe with a word, and he can’t save you? His sovereign hand rules the universe, and he can’t redeem you? He saved Paul, who was the worst of sinners, of course he can save you. You’re like a fish in the ocean wondering if there’s enough water to drink, or a tiny mouse in vast wheat fields wondering if there’s enough grain. An ant in the Sahara Desert wondering if there’s enough sand.

O sinner - there’s a universe of grace to forgive all your sins and love you eternally. Drink up all the grace you’ll ever need! For every sin, for every failure, there is free unearnable grace.

He will not cast you out, you who come to him. You say, “Oh but I’ve sinned too greatly, he will punish me.” No, that’s why he died on the cross, to take your punishment from you. “Oh, but I don’t have any righteousness!” Yes, but he offers the robes of his perfect righteousness to you, and you can wear them! “But I will fail him!” But he loves to show his strength by holding you fast. “But I’m weak” -- but his power is made perfect in weakness.

Let me pause for a second: I’m speaking to the sinners. The real sinners. Not those who say they’re sinners just to agree with some doctrinal statement but then try to posture themselves as if they’ve got their lives together. I’m speaking to those whom Jesus called, “The poor in spirit” -- those who see themselves as abjectly poor and completely dependent on the generosity of someone else. Jesus called them the ones “who mourn” -- brokenness of their own failures and sin. Jesus called them those who “are meek,” that is they see themselves as the lowest of the low. These are the people Jesus came for.

Jesus said, “I came not for the righteous, but to call sinners to repentance.” I’m speaking with the ones who know they’re sinners. They don’t feel offended for one second that I address them as sinners. To the sinners I say, “Come, the door is open, Jesus is there ready and willing to receive you.” There is no cost of admission. Christ is yours, God is yours, forgiveness is yours, cleansing is yours, heaven is yours -- all free in Christ. That is, if you’re a poor, mourning, meek, sinner who hungers and thirsts for righteousness.

A Word to the Self-Righteous

This is the portion of the sermon that everyone thinks is for someone else. Proud people never think they’re proud and self-righteous people never know they’re self-righteous.

There are some here who, upon hearing the description of the sinner, immediately feel certain they are not the ones being addressed. These are the self-righteous. Jesus describes them as the 99 sheep who never left; these are the people who “need no repentance.”

Which are you? Are you a good sheep who needs no repentance?

This might sound startling, but if you are among those who “needs no repentance,” you have no share in God’s kingdom at the moment. You see verse 7? God’s joy is over saving “sinners”, not over these people who suppose they’ve got their lives together and need no repentance.

Luke 5:31-32 “Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick. 32 I have not come to call the righteous but sinners to repentance.”

Jesus did not come for the righteous, that is, for the ones who feel no need to change anything about their lives. He came for those who are sick, he came for sinners. You know your soul is in a dangerous place if it’s unwilling to adopt the title “sinner.” If you refuse that label, you’re refusing to take the label that renders you the kind of person Jesus saves.

1 Corinthians 1:27: “But God chose what is foolish in the world to shame the wise; God chose what is weak in the world to shame the strong; 28 God chose what is low and despised in the world, even the things that are not, to bring to nothing the things that are, 29 so that no human being might boast in the presence of God.”

To be the kind of person who God saves you have to be okay with these labels: foolish, not wise. Weak, not strong. Low and despised and nothing, not something. If you can’t take those labels, you’re not the kind of person God saves.

None but sinners come to Jesus. No one except the foolish, no one except the weak, no one except the lowly and downcast.

Perhaps you have only felt contented about your life, about your character, about your accomplishments, about your habits. And perhaps you have never felt the slightest need of repentance. You have not felt yourself to be a fool, you have not thought of yourself as weak, you are not nothing, but something.

I would plead with you to do everything you can to come to a more accurate view of yourself before the Holy God who made you.

I would remind you that everything you have was given to you by God, as a gift to be returned to him in worship. To be praise-less and thankless is a devastating sin.

I would remind you that everything you are is because God made you that way, and therefore to act as if it is your doing is to steal glory from God.

I would remind you that God does not care about your accomplishments, no matter how great they are, as long as your heart is far from him.

I would remind you that one day you will be stripped of all your strength, all your accomplishments, and all your worldly glory and stand before your judge, and he will judge the secrets of your heart.

And I would beg you to lower your view of yourself. See yourself as the lost sheep, and be saved.

To the Church

Here is the heart of God to save sinners. He welcomes them and eats with them. He seeks them out, he brings them home. He rejoices over their salvation -- however messy they are.

Do you share God’s heart? Do you welcome sinners, knowing you’re one too? Does your heart go after the lost? Does your heart break over them? Have the years hardened you?

What kind of God to we serve? He is a Savior. He is merciful. He is compassionate. He is generous. He is forgiving. He is patient. He is gracious. May we love as he loves.