"THIS MAN RECEIVES SINNERS!"
Luke 15:1-2

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"Then all the tax collectors and the sinners drew near to Him to hear Him. And the Pharisees and scribes complained, saying, 'This Man receives sinners and eats with them.'"

I. "This Man receives sinners." Sin is any lack of conformity unto the law of God, either in act, disposition, or state – not being or not doing what God requires. All are sinners, for "all have sinned" (Romans 3:23). However, Christ does not receive all sinners. For example, He did not receive the Pharisees and scribes who here vilified Him for receiving sinners. Rather, Christ receives only those sinners who draw near to Him, including:

1. nationally repugnant sinners. In every nation there is a class[es] of sinners especially repugnant to the patriotic, usually aliens or countrymen sympathetic to a national enemy. In Judea this class was that of "tax collectors" or "publicans" (KJV). They were Jews employed by the Romans to collect taxes, and therefore considered by their countrymen as willing tools of their oppressor. They were notorious for making themselves rich through extortion, considered by their countrymen as traitors and apostates, and classed with sinners, harlots, and the heathen Gentiles (Matthew 9:11; 21:31; 18:17). Nevertheless, Jesus received a number of them, including Levi, who became Matthew the apostle (Luke 5:27f / Matthew 10:3), Zacchaeus, a chief tax collector (Luke 19:2f), and the tax collector who was justified in the temple when an illustrious Pharisee was not (Luke 18:9-14).

2. socially immoral sinners. Such were these "sinners" who here drew near to Jesus. These include "fornicators, idolaters, adulterers, homosexuals, sodomites, thieves, covetous, drunkards, revilers, extortioners" (1 Corinthians 6:9f) – the kind of people Jesus has received (v.11).

3. spiritually sick sinners (Luke 5:29-31 / Matthew 9:9-12 / Mark 2:15-17a): "And their scribes and the Pharisees complained against His disciples, saying, 'Why do You eat and drink with tax collectors and sinners?' Jesus answered and said to them, 'Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick.'" Every man is by nature sick with spiritual leprosy (Isaiah 64:6a): "we are all like an unclean thing" (cp. Leviticus ch.13). Our sickness if left untreated is always fatal. Some are so spiritually numb as to be insensitive to their sickness, while others ignore it in the vain hope that it will go away. The self-righteous try to cure it with a home remedy called self-holiness (Isaiah 65:5). But the only remedy is found in Christ the Great Physician. None are healed except those sick sinners who draw near to Him in saving faith, and He receives all who come.

4. totally unrighteous sinners (Luke 5:32 / Matthew 9:13b / Mark 2:17b - texts immediately following those of the preceding point): "I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners, to repentance." No man is righteous in God's sight (Romans 3:10-12): "There is none righteous, no, not one." But many are self-righteous, vainly boasting of the "filthy rags" of their personal righteousness (Isaiah 64:6b). Christ did come to call them to repentance, and will receive none of them as long as they hold onto even the least tattered thread of self-righteousness. Rather, He will pass them by in order to call those sinners who acknowledge their complete lack of any personal righteousness, and will trust only in the imputed righteousness of Christ (Romans 3:21ff; Philippians 3:10). These unrighteous but trusting sinners He will receive.

5. grace-needing sinners (John ch.6). Many followed Jesus out of curiosity or because they desired miraculous healing or food from Him (vv.2, 26). But they did not like what they heard from Him regarding the inability of their own freewill in salvation and the necessity of God's sovereign grace: "[v.29] This is the work of God, that you believe in Him whom He sent. ... [v.38] All that the Father gives Me will come to Me, and the one who comes to Me I will by no means cast out. ... [v.44] No one can come to Me unless the Father who sent Me draws him .... [v.45] Therefore everyone who has heard and learned from the Father comes to Me. ... [v.63] It is the Spirit who gives life; the flesh profits nothing. The words that I speak to you are spirit, and they are life... [v.65] Therefore I have said to you that no one can come to Me unless it has been granted to him by My Father. [vv.66-68] From that time many of His disciples went back and walked with Him no more. Then Jesus said to the twelve, 'Do you also want to go away?' But Simon Peter answered Him, 'Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life.'" Peter represents grace-needing sinners, "the sinners [who] drew near to Him to hear Him", all who are drawn by God's sovereign grace.

II. "This Man receives sinners." Our English word "receives" fails to convey the full meaning of the Greek word in the original text (dechomai), which indicates "a welcoming or an appropriating reception". It is the same Greek word used to describe the attitude with which ancient saints "looked for redemption" (Luke 2:38) and were "waiting for the kingdom of God" (Luke 23:51), and the attitude with which present-day saints are "looking for the blessed hope and glorious appearing of our great God and Savior Jesus Christ" (Titus 2:13) and "looking for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ unto eternal life" (Jude v.21).

The meaning in our present text is that Jesus Christ not only receives sinners, but looks forward to their coming to Him and welcomes them when they come. His attitude in receiving them is aptly described in the context under the figure of the father who anxiously waited for his lost son to return home and joyfully received him when he did indeed return (vv.20-24).

O sinner, doubt not the glorious reception you will receive if you draw near to Jesus in repentance. He Himself declares, "I say to you that likewise there will be more joy in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine just persons who need no repentance. ... I say to you, there is joy in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner who repents" (Luke 15:7, 10).

III. "This Man receives sinners." We here contrast this Jesus to "another Jesus whom we have not preached" (2 Corinthians 11:4), the "Jesus" of Pharisaical churchianity.

1. That "Jesus" receives not sinners, but the self-righteous. In order to be received by "that man", one must qualify himself by some work of Pharisaical self-righteousness. And that qualifying work of righteousness differs from sect to sect. We may hear his various sects saying: "Our Jesus receives the law-observing!" / "Our Jesus receives the sabbath-keeping!" / "Our Jesus receives the circumcised!" / "Our Jesus receives the baptized!" / "Our Jesus receives none but those good folk who join our religion!"

Contrary to "that man", that "other Jesus", this Man, Jesus of Nazareth, receives none but those sinners who, without any other qualification, draw near to Him to hear Him (Isaiah 55:1-3).

2. That "Jesus" receives not sinners, but rejects them. This we conclude by the conduct of his disciples. We witness them hurling their disparaging epithets against "sinners" outside abortion clinics, stores selling pornographic materials, businesses catering to the sexually immoral, and even in their political rallies.

Contrary to "that man", that "other Jesus", this Man, Jesus of Nazareth, never participated in such conduct against sinners in His earthly ministry. Rather, as we have already observed, He reveals Himself as willing and ready to receive them, and joyfully receives all who come, and washes and sanctifies and justifies them (1 Corinthians 6:9-11). However, He hurls His own damning epithets against the self-righteous who would exclude such sinners from His kingdom (Matthew 23:13): "But woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you shut up the kingdom of heaven against men; for you neither go in yourselves, nor do you allow those who are entering to go in."

IV. "This Man receives sinners and eats with them":

1. in their houses. When Jesus called Levi the tax collector to Himself, this sinner celebrated with a great feast to which he invited many other sinners, and Jesus dined with them – and many other tax collectors and sinners afterward followed Him (Matthew 9:9-11 / Mark 2:14-16 / Luke 5:27-30). When Jesus called the chief tax collector Zacchaeus to Himself, He then invited Himself to the sinner's house for a meal (Luke 19:1-7). O may He dine with us sinners in our houses!

2. in His earthly house (Matthew 26:26-28). All sinners who come to Jesus are added to His church (Acts 2:47b), the house of God (1 Timothy 3:15). In this house, and in His presence in the ordinance of the Lord's Supper, they partake of His body and blood in the sacred symbols of bread and wine.

3. in His heavenly house (Luke 12:37): "Blessed are those servants whom the master, when he comes, will find watching. Assuredly, I say to you that he will gird himself and have them sit down to eat, and will come and serve them."

Yes, "This Man receives sinners and eats with them!" Will He receive you and eat with you? Or will you reject Him?

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