This Man receiveth sinners (Quality: Average)

[0:00] Gospel according to St. Luke, chapter 15, and a part of the second verse.

[0:16] Luke's Gospel, chapter 15, a part of verse 2. So, this man receiveth sinners, and eateth with them.

[0:44] In which words are conveyed unto us the sense of the wondrous condescension of the most glorious God, that He should come in the flesh, and that He should sow to run amongst men, as to be identified with them in their needs, that He might abundantly supply those needs, and that He might bring them home unto the Father.

[1:29] Truly, it is a wondrous mystery, the truth of the Trinity, the triune Jehovah, Father, Son, and Holy Ghost, yet in this chapter we have that glorious fact plainly brought before us in the teaching which is given here.

[1:58] And we must remember that every person in the Godhead is co-equal. There is no difference between them and that wherein they are all in the divine essence, that they are all eternal, that there can be no cessation of that which relateeth unto their work and their will.

[2:27] when we consider the greatness of eternity and all that is contained within it, then we shall perceive a little of how life down here is but vanity.

[2:43] It is like a puff of smoke that soon passeth away. We are here, as it were, one day, and we are gone tomorrow.

[2:58] And what are we going to enter into but a ceaseless, timeless eternity?

[3:09] How essential it is that we should know that we are prepared for that time. How essential it is that we should know the one in whom all our hopes are placed for eternal life.

[3:27] How essential it is that we should know the one in whom all our hopes are placed for eternal life. That we may indeed be made possessors of that portion which God in His infinite love as the Father has provided for us in His Son, and which the Spirit so communicates unto us.

[3:52] Yes, this man receiveth sinners and eateth with them.

[4:05] And this man was always a mystery. He was always a wonder unto the people. They never could grasp nor comprehend the meaning of Him.

[4:19] And they certainly could not grasp the meaning of all that He was doing. His very character was beyond them.

[4:32] They had never met an individual like this, so unique in himself, one who could turn and say to others, Which of you convinces me of sin?

[4:44] So holy, so sinless, so blameless, in everything that He did and everything that He said.

[4:59] Truly an enigma unto the world. It is beyond them. They cannot grasp the significance and the wonder of it.

[5:11] And it's always been the same, and it always will be until the end of the ages. Many of them souls are all mistaken.

[5:23] They are. They are. They wonder, as it were, in their ignorance and in their blindness, because they do not recognize this man.

[5:36] They do not know nor understand the mystery and the wonder of this man. Because this man is so beyond them, although they do not want to confess it.

[5:50] Oh no, they would rather delegate him unto a foreign theory of position. And yet they always have the consciousness of the something in this man that seems as it were to be out of this world, supernatural, that which dominates their feelings and oftentimes makes them to wonder.

[6:16] Yes, in and of ourselves, we can never enter into the mystery of this man. With all our own natural abilities and all our intellects, as it were, and the strain after these things, man at the end shall but be filled with folly.

[6:37] He shall have to own that he knows nothing in and of himself for the wonder of this man. And you know we have here that wherein the Pharisees and the scribes are murmuring about him.

[6:54] They couldn't understand if he was what he professed to be, why he did not consign all his labors unto them, why he did not give himself freely to their service.

[7:08] Oh, they have heard that wherein he had, yea, Sabbath after Sabbath, entered into the synagogue, and had taken place in that which related unto the reading of the Lord, and so forth.

[7:24] But, oh, he had always gone beyond it. He had always exceeded that which was relative unto their own form of worship.

[7:34] He had introduced into their synagogue something that was extraordinary. Yes, and they couldn't understand it in consequence.

[7:48] Why, there is a man here, and the Lord heals him. There is a woman here who has been bound for many years by Satan, and the Lord loses her.

[8:02] Have you ever read in the Gospels how that nearly every time he went into the synagogue there was some significant feature about him that, as it were, was entirely away from that which was normal and formal and natural, and therefore they couldn't understand him?

[8:27] You know, if he came this morning and worked a miracle within one of your hearts, if he came and in the power of his grace visited you, and so made known his healing power and his energizing grace, there would be many that wouldn't understand you.

[8:52] They would see it, but they would not be able, as it were, to get to the bottom of it. They can't understand it. Oh yes, although I seem to divert here, don't wonder if you are misunderstood.

[9:11] Don't wonder if you are healed by him, if there shall indeed be raised at you not the finger of the world, but the finger of professing Christians who should know better.

[9:27] Always ready to condemn that which is not in accordance with their own formal worship and their own traditions. Now everything must go on, as it were, in that placid, complacent, apathetic state in which things have always gone on.

[9:49] They must never be changed, but when the Lord comes, he changes it. When the Lord comes, he autos things. Our old things then pass away and the new things come in.

[10:04] And by that, not the new things that the world would introduce, but that wherein his love and his grace and his mercy shall be abundantly displayed in the conversion of sinners.

[10:18] And these Pharisees and these scribes, why this was all together outside their own thinking, in that wherein he so brings before us these parables, he shows how that they were luckily out of sympathy with his own divine heart.

[10:40] No, they wanted to keep it all to themselves, and they wanted him so to show his loyalty and his fidelity if he was what he professed to be by remaining likewise.

[10:56] And he didn't. And that was where the Pharaoh was. And that was where they were continually arguing with him.

[11:07] and that is why they pastored him and marmed about him and tried to discredit him wherever he went and whatever he did. They were at him all the time.

[11:21] And they thought that this was, as it were, one type of that which would expose his hypocrisy. That this man would receive his sinners and eateth with them as though he's not one of us with the Pharisees and the scribes.

[11:43] He's one of them, one of those sinners that unwashed to that unkempt crowd that never darkened the temple doors.

[11:54] They never come into the courts. We never see them. And yet he who does come in when he goes out behold how the populace go after him.

[12:07] They don't come into the house to hear that wherein the law is read. They don't attend unto our customs and our practices but see that wherein when he is without the common people hear him gladly.

[12:23] Why, see how they follow him in drogues down the road. Yes, there is a difference, isn't there? my friend, we want to be very careful that we don't get into the position of the Pharisees and the scribes.

[12:40] And we want to see to it that that which relates if unto our own characters is not in that which answer if unto the requirements of men but in that which answer if unto the requirements of God.

[12:54] for Jesus was doing the will of his Father. He was obedient unto that wherein he had been called unto this work by his Father.

[13:09] And therefore in all that he did and said amongst sinners you have the transcribing of the will of God that wherein there is the dictating out unto us of the purpose and the will of God to work for sinners that this man receiveth sinners and he tith with them.

[13:36] But are we going to put all the blame as it were upon the Pharisees and the scribes relative to this appropriate remark that they intended it to be and have made?

[13:52] You know there may be many that are without that have no connection with that which is relative unto the temple and yet in themselves are so sure of themselves they are so self-satisfied so self-contained so wrapped up in the sense of their own goodness and their good works and all the rest of it that they despise these sinners they look upon them with scorn I would never do a thing like that I would never be guilty of doing such there's plenty of nominal Christians above there are plenty who are always ready as it were to pass judgment upon others they have no need they're all right what need a day of repentance what need had they that they should so be down numbered amongst this people who obviously have as it were gone outside the law oh no this man receive if sinners and eateth with them are you one of those nominal

[15:29] Christians you don't see much in him yea I was going to say he doesn't convey any wonder unto you your heart has never known what it is to bow down before him and to worship him there is no beauty in him that you should desire him why because you're perfectly all right in your own opinion you're so perfectly sure of yourself why even when he bids you yea in that wherein you have so heard the word of the gospel so to come unto his supper oh you refuse because you say other things in light demand your attention what are you saying jesus on another occasion was asked by the disciples about this matter you know the pharisees on that occasion turned to the disciples and they said how is it that you must treat with publicans and sinners and the lord said they that are whole need not a physician but they that are sick but go ye and learn what that mean that he required of mercy and not sacrifice yes this man receiveth sinner but there are people who are brought to love and admire and to see the beauty and the wonder of this man who are they well let the lord answer the question he that hath ears to hear let him hear have you in ear to hear the wonders that are so spoken concerning this man and in the hearing has your eye been opened to discern the glory of the one who have done these things and in beholding the glory of that one have you known what it is to believe on him

[18:04] I think of that wherein our lord met with that man who had been excommunicated from the temple service and how that our lord meeting him and he was outside the temple and the lord came to him and he said dost thou believe on the son of god I said the man who is he that I may believe on him and the lord said thou have both seen him and it is he that hath spoken unto thee and the man said lord I believe and he worshipped him now this is what I am hoping for today that our eyes may be opened unto the dissonment of the wonders of him who is so set forth before us in these words they contain a glorious truth though they come from a strange source they contain within themselves that which is all sufficient for our salvation and eventual glorification for all is contained in him who receiveth sinners then may

[19:31] God graciously grant unto us that I so that we may indeed behold the wonders of him who even at his present time sitteth in the glory he who is the Lamb of God and yet the King of Kings and Lord of Lords the same man who will eventually come again and every eye on that occasion shall see him and when he comes he will come without sin he will come in all the glory of the accomplishment of his own glorious work of redemption and his glory shall shine forth and you know the three disciples had a glimpse of it when he was here upon us the curtain as it were was drawn aside for a little while they had only seen the outside that which related unto this blessed man but when the curtain as it were was drawn aside the veil was drawn aside on the

[20:49] Mount of Transfiguration and then his face it shineth the sun and his clothing was as white mighty hearer there is a glimpse of the holiness the glory of this man yes after it was over they saw no man save Jesus only Elijah Moses have gone they have spoken of him his glory is the end of all that the prophets and all that the gospel has to proclaim unto us glory and where is this glory it is in this man this man this man he receiveth sinners and eateth with them look then at this man not with bigotry not with bias but in that wherein we hope that our hearts have been instructed to hearken to hear what he has to say unto us to draw near unto him to have that ear opened not to what man may have to tell us not to what our own hearts may have to tell us but opened unto the truth as it is in

[22:47] Jesus this man it is only as we know the wonder of this man that we can see the wonder that wherein he receiveth sinners so let us look at him God opened arise by his Holy Spirit who is this man here is the image of the invisible God yes great is the mystery of godliness God he is he is not the he is the exactness the express image the brightness of his glory this man see where he is look at him as he is now a man amongst men see him as he is found as that individual as it were with men oh there is no seeming greatness about him unto the eye of a natural man but see him in the wonder of the condescension of the greatness of the grace whereby

[25:01] God hath in mercy visited men that they might have this knowledge of himself for since the fall man hath thoroughly said within his heart all through the ages of history there is no God he has ignored God he has put God out of it yes in all his religions and everything else God is exempt he only comes in sometimes as an after port ah but here is one who is amongst men who is very God and very man and all that we can ever know of God is to be found holy and solely in this man you are never found it anywhere else you are never realized the reality of

[26:02] God in your own heart save as you know what it is to receive the truth of this man Christ Jesus the image of the invisible God no man has seen God at any time the son which is in the bosom of the father he hath declared him it is only through then that declaration that we can know God to this end this man is the word of God in the beginning was the word and the word was with God and the word was God and here is God in this man and here is the putting forth in this man of the purpose and the will and the thought of

[27:03] God the father the son and the holy spirit have all been conjoined in that wherein there has been a glorious covenant of grace drawn up and it requires that that covenant of grace that has been decided upon and that which is to be fulfilled should be sealed with blood that it should be made sure through the death of the testator unto all them whose names are written therein that all the blessings and all the riches and all the inheritance might indeed be given unto them and here it is in this man what did he say concerning himself when he was here when he was speaking unto the people yea and the Jews when they were as it were seeming to contradict everything that he said ah he said this is the will of my father the reward that he hath given me

[28:13] I should lose nothing but should raise it up again at the last day yes the will of my father and the will of God is recorded in that wherein there is the expression of the thought the expression of the thought is discerned in that which is spoken and the thoughts of God are to all generations and in God those thoughts come to us and they find that wherein the supreme reality of all those thoughts doth consist in him who is the man the man who being one with God took that which was relative unto his right for glory and that wherein all the angels of

[29:15] God worshipped him and he laid it all on one side and he came down at the express will of his father and in accordance with his own delight with the sons of men and he took upon himself that nature which had been prepared for him by the Holy Ghost and hearing God the eternal son so drills and abides amongst us as Emmanuel God with us and he speaketh unto us the words which he has heard with his father he doeth that which he hath seen with his father is all going to be sealed and ratified and made sure and where is it ought to be found the very essence of it the very basis of it the very foundation of my faith and of my hope it is in this man who receiveth sinners and eateth with them and not only is he put before us here as the word who have years to hear let him hear but it is in that wherein he is the treasury of

[30:49] God the treasury is containing within himself all the riches there was no inner side when he came from heaven of that which was relative to all the divine excellences they were still his but he came down here and humbled himself he was made flesh he was made in the likeness of sinful flesh for the sake of those whom his father loved like he did the prodigal yea were the prodigal loved he determined to say that was it he saw me lost and ruined in the fall yet loved me not with standing all when like the prodigal I went to fire hope and I said I'll have no more of it

[31:49] I'll have no more of him or of religion yet he's brought me back yet he's made me to see the loveliness of this man and not only to see it but to realize how the God stretches out in this man and taketh me in and receiveth me and eateth with me this man in whom all the riches of the divine love in all its excellency of all the divine grace and the divine mercy and the divine compassion and goodness cometh down unto us this man this man none of a would owe he is the only object of faith the only place for your trust this man receiveth sinners and eateth with them well leave the subject here for the time being but oh may you this afternoon as you may think upon these things know what it is to prove your reception by him even as he entereth into you and you enter into him in a blessed communion whereby and everlasting grace oh this is a true and a faithful thing worthy of all accept

[33:36] Christ Jesus came into this world to save sinners of whom I am the chief lo glad I come and thou blessed lamb shall take me to thee as I am this man receive of sinners and eat with them amen ú God I will give to useful for to a Viktorенным을iov