"The Son of man is come eating and drinking; and ye say, Behold a gluttonous
man, and a winebibber, a friend of publicans and sinners!" Luke 7:34.
Every Christmas I have a little habit that I enjoy. On Christmas day
I take some remembrances, presents and maybe some fruit and candy down
to our Rescue Mission. I spend an hour or so with these fellows. We just
gather around, have a few games, chat, talk about their past, their lives
and their children, etc. A few years ago when I was at the Mission at Christmas
something was said that I haven't forgotten. I spent a little while with
the men. As I recall, we had a little question-answer game. If they got
the question right, they got a certain gift. As I left the Mission, one
of the fellows who had been there for awhile told one of the new men, "That's
Brother Hyles. He's our friend."
I got to thinking about that as I drove home. I believe I'd rather have
had him say that than, "He's our pastor," or "He's our preacher." He's
our friend. I am your friend, fellows, because I too am a sinner and Someone
Who never sinned offered his friendship to me.
Think about this for a minute. Our Lord, until His birth, had never
been around sin. Only one time had anybody ever sinned in the presence
of our Lord. That was when Satan sinned before the world was created, and
he was cast with his angels out of Heaven. Our Lord had never before been
around a sinner. he fellowshipped with the Father. He had had nothing to
do with sinners. In John 17:5 He spoke to the Father, "Glorify Thou Me
... with the glory which I had with Thee before the world was." What was
it ? The fellowship with the Father. He was ministered to by the angels
and praised by the saints in Heaven. He had seen sin only once. From eternity
past, to the foundation of the world, until Bethlehem, Jesus had seen sin
only once. Then strangely and suddenly, He was thrown into sin. I mean,
He lived with sin, though He never sinned. His entire life was occupied
with sin from Bethlehem, and it will be so until the rapture. Think of
it! He, through Whose lips never came a bad word, into Whose mind never
lingered an evil thought, Whose feet never trod a sinful path, Whose eyes
would not even as much as look on sin, and Whose fellowship had been only
with the Father and with angels, suddenly is thrown into an occupation
dealing with sin. That biography of our Lord, from Bethlehem to the rapture,
divides into three distinct eras.
I. He Was Numbered With the Transgressors.
This part of Jesus' life started at Bethlehem and ended at Calvary.
At His birth He was numbered with the transgressors. Mary, His mother,
and Joseph, His foster father, were coming to Bethlehem. Why were they
coming to Bethlehem? They came to register their names. A census was being
taken. It says in the English language that they were going to Bethlehem
to be taxed. That is not quite correct. A census was conducted and each
person had to go to his own capital city. Jesus in His birth was registered
in Bethlehem. He was numbered with sinners.
The very fact that He was circumcised numbers Him with sinners. Circumcision
was a rite administered to people because of their sins, admitting that
one was a sinner. Forgive me for being a bit blunt here, but the clipping
of the wasted skin pictured that the Christian ought not to have sin in
his life. We ought to be circumcised from sin, if you please. He was numbered
with the transgressors. Our Lord, by the fact that He was circumcised,
showed the race that He was identifying Himself with us: Jesus, a friend
of sinners.
In Luke 5:27-29, Matthew, the tax collector, had just been converted.
He decided that he wanted everybody to hear about his new-found faith in
Christ and about his new-found Saviour. So Matthew had a meal and called
all the publicans and sinners together. He said, "Folks, I want you all
to know that I am resigning my position. I am leaving everything to follow
Jesus Christ. I want you to know Jesus." Jesus was there at that feast
with a crowd of the most motley people you ever saw in your life. There
is Jesus sitting there, perhaps, at the head of the table.
"Well," said the Pharisees, "He's a friend of sinners. He eats with
sinners!"
I am glad He is. I am glad He does. I am glad He was willing to eat
with sinners. Our Lord said, "The whole hath no need of a physician. The
sick people need a doctor. I am the Great Physician. Here are the sinners.
They need Me." Our Lord defended the fact that He was a friend of sinners.
In Luke 7:36 Jesus went to the house of a Pharisee to eat. The Bible
says while He was there a woman, "which was a sinner," came to the house
and brought an alabaster box of ointment. She took that expensive ointment
and anointed the Saviour. You recall that Judas Iscariot said, "Wait a
minute! That could have been sold for a great price and could have been
given to feed the poor."
Our Lord said, "The poor you have with you always."
I want you to notice that our Lord was eating in the house of a Pharisee
and was defending a lady whom the Bible says was a sinner.
In Luke 15:2 again Jesus was accused of being a friend of sinners. Our
Lord tells the parable of the lost coin, the parable of the lost sheep
and the parable of the lost boy. He said, "If a lady has a coin and she
loses it, she will look until she finds it. If a shepherd has lost a sheep,
he will leave the ninety and nine and go out into the highways and hedges
and find the one and bring back the lost sheep. If a son goes off and is
away in sin, when he comes home, the father will say, 'Oh, kill the fatted
calf. Put a ring on his finger, shoes on his feet, and a robe on his back.
My son who was gone has now returned. He was lost but now is found!" The
one son who was home, got mad and said to his dad, 'You never did pay me
that much attention, and I never did leave.'" Jesus was simply showing
that He was a friend of the fallen one.
Jesus was a friend of the blind Bartimaeus beside the road, a Nicodemus
at midnight, a fallen lady at noon day, and Zaccheaus, with whom He went
home to eat.
In John 4, the disciples were out to MacDonalds to get some Kosher hamburgers.
(They had sold only about one million back in those day.) Jesus said, "I
think I'll sit here on the well." A little lady who was living in adultery
came to the well. She was living with a man to whom she was not married.
She had had five husbands. Jesus sat on that well and talked to her. Oh,
Jesus was a friend of sinners. He loved her. He cared for her. Criticized
though He was, He was always helping sinners.
Even when He was on the cross, suffering as no man has suffered, He
saved a thief. He was numbered among the transgressors, dying between two
thieves. He said, "Today shalt thou be with Me in Paradise."
That is why we have our rescue mission. We want to be like Jesus, a
friend of sinners. That is why we have a class for retarded children. That
is why we have buses. Many of these bus kids who come from far and near
have never been to church before. They don't know how to behave. When they
come up here to the baptistry and I'm going to baptize them, some of them
are almost doing the breast stroke while are coming in the water. As I
start to baptize them, I go back and they go forward. I have to grab them
quickly and take them backward. They do not know how to behave. All over
this building, while we are here in this auditorium, hundreds of bus kids
from over here in Chicago are here. I know some are little hoodlums. I
know what they do. Thirteen of them got into the ladies rest room and locked
the door. Some say words they should not say. I know that we sometimes
have to disarm them. In some departments there are crayola marks. Once
I thought, "Oh my, I'm embarrassed!" Then I thanked God and said, "No,
I'm not embarrassed! Thank God, this church is a friend of sinners!" I'll
tell you what. I know how we can have a real nice church. I know how we
can have it so that no one will pull a switchblade knife on a Sunday school
teacher and nobody will lock himself in the rest room. I know how. We can
do just like most churches do and not be a friend to sinners.
Dwight Moody went to Chicago and started a Sunday school class of poor
kids. One day he was walking down the street and saw a kid that had been
absent for a few weeks. Mr. Moody said, "Hey, kid, you weren't there last
Sunday." The boy ran down the street and Mr. Moody pursued. The fellow
ran down the street and opened a door of an apartment house and ran upstairs.
Mr. Moody got there just before the door went shut. He ran in the door
and ran up the stairs. The little kid opened the door of his apartment
and ran inside. Mr. Moody went into the apartment before the door shut,
but the young fellow crawled under the bed. Mr. Moody got him by the foot
and pulled him out from under there and said, "You didn't come to Sunday
school last Sunday. I want to see you." About that time the father came
in.
He said, "What's going on here?"
Mr. Moody said, "My name is Dwight Moody." "Oh," he said, "you must
be 'crazy Moody!" Why was he crazy? He ran after sinners! Other churches
did not want their carpet dirty. Other churches did not want their walls
soiled. I know of churches who never have a sinner kneel at the altar,
drunkards made sober, harlots made pure or bus kids made right. Do you
know that we have about a dozen of our bus kids studying right now for
the ministry? We have many of our little bus kids in Christian colleges.
They were little urchins like a lot of the rest of them are.
I want there always to be at least one church in the Chicago area where
people are friends to sinners, to the down and out, the high, the low,
the rich, the poor. Look at the crowd this morning. I wish you could stand
here. There are people out here that run great businesses, and there are
people out here that don't know how they're going to get home after church.
We have folks here that will drive home in Cadillacs, and we have folks
here in this room who do not have a way to get home. We have little ladies
who will walk through slush and snow for miles because they don't have
a car. We have folks who will go home today and will eat a turkey dinner,
and we have folks here this morning who will go home and sit down to an
empty table. We have folks in this building who are PhD's. yet, we have
people here this morning who when they sign their names, have to sign it
with an "X". We have all kinds of people here in our church. One of my
greatest blessings has been when I stand here in the pulpit on Sunday mornings
and look at the altar. One morning I noticed a deacon beside a poor little
bare-footed fellow. That deacon is one of the vice-presidents of the Conrad
Hilton Hotel chair. There was a deacon who owns a realty company kneeling
beside some little poor girl that had long, straight, limp hair and wore
dirty clothes and tennis shoes. I watch men of all walks of life, these
deacons of our church, as they deal with these poor little boys and girls.
None of them felt the task was beneath their dignity. I have thought so
often, that is what the Saviour did. That is what it's all about!
Some little ones were brought to Jesus, and the disciples said, "We're
not going to run a bunch of bus routes here in Jerusalem."
Jesus said, "Don't keep little children away."
"But they'll mess up our service."
"Let the little children come on."
Our Lord is a friend of sinners.
"I know, but He eats with sinners. He runs with Pharisees. He has been
to Zacchaeus' house. Look at Him with Matthew and all those dirty publicans.
He eats with sinners!"
Our Lord says, "Yes, I am numbered with the transgressors."
II. He Bore Our Sins.
The second part of His life started at Golgotha. He had been beaten
so that you could not even tell that He was a human being. He was bearing
His cross up the hill of Calvary. When he got to the top of the hill, they
put His body on the tree. They put nails through His hands and feet. Jesus,
the perfect, sinless, spotless, lamb without blemish, was nailed to the
tree. Why? To show us how to die? No! No! To show us how to be a pacifist?
No! No! Why was He nailed to the tree? He died to bear the sins of many.
Remember that fallen woman at the well? Jesus took her adultery off
her and put it on His record. Remember that publican, Matthew? Jesus took
the sins of Matthew and put them to His own record. He took the robbery
of the dying thief and entered robbery on His own record. The pride of
the Pharisee was put on His own record. Jesus, Who never had a dirty thought,
became an adulterer. He, Who never took one thing that was not His, became
a thief. He, Who never had mistreated anybody or pulled a wicked deal,
became an extortioner. He was the humble, meek, lowly one of Galilee.
With your sins and mine on His own body, against His own record, I think
He said, "There is one place where I can look. My own family has forsaken
Me; My own race has forsaken Me; My own synagogue has forsaken Me; My own
disciples have forsaken Me; My beloved Peter has forsaken me; Judas, the
treasurer, has forsaken Me; man has forsaken me, but there's One Who will
not forsake me-the Father. He always looks down and smiles upon Me." Jesus
looked up to see the Father, but there was no smile on His Father's face.
In fact, His Father wasn't even looking at Him. All He could see was the
Father turning away. Jesus said, in so many words, "Father, I expected
My nation to forsake Me; I expected My synagogue to forsake Me; but Father,
my God, my God, why has Thou forsaken Me?"
Do you know why? It was for sinners! Jesus of Bethlehem, Who had never
sinned, suddenly became numbered with transgressors. He died for sinners.
He paid the penalty for you and me. He paid the price for your wicked sins
and mine. He became our substitute for sin on the cross.
III. He Began to Make Intercession for Sinners.
Jesus is back in Heaven. He is now where no sin ever enters. He is back
where He doesn't have to be associated with sinners anymore. He is back
with the Father. He has sat beside the well with a fallen woman. He has
eaten with a Pharisee. He ate with Zacchaeus. He was a friend of sinners
and He was numbered with the transgressors, but now He is back in Heaven
again. He will not have to be bothered about sin, but He is! He is interceding
for sinners. He sits on the right hand of the Father.
You have heard me tell the story about the little boy who went to church
and heard his dad preach. He came back home and said to his father, "Isn't
God wonderful?"
The father asked, "Why?"
"Because He's left-handed and does everything with His left hand."
"Who said that?"
"You said it in your sermon."
"What? I said that God does everything with His left hand?"
Yes, Jesus is sitting this morning at the right hand of the Father.
Dr. L. C. Stuart is a preacher who was wronged by the courts of our
land and wrongfully indicted for murder. They tried him and gave him fourteen
years in the penitentiary. We appealed the case. Our church raised over
$25,000 to employ a famous attorney to represent Dr. Stuart. They told
me that this attorney had lost only four cases in his career. We felt so
confident.
I was in a motel room in Wichita, Kansas, when they called long distance
and said, "The trial is all over and we lost. Dr. Stuart is back in prison."
I went outside and wept. Then suddenly I clapped my hands and jumped
up and down and said, "Praise God!"
You say, "Why?"
The Attorney Who represents this sinner has never lost a case! Jesus-my
attorney, my lawyer, my advocate, my daysman, my intercessor, my mediator-has
never lost a case! He is at the right hand of the Father and is pleading
for sinners.
Let me see if I can show you something this morning . Once a year in
the life of Isreal, in the seventh month of the year, the tenth day of
the month, there was what was called the "Day of Atonement." It is near
our October 10. Annually the high priest would take off his royal garment
and sacrifice an animal. Then he would take the blood of that sacrifice,
walk inside the Holy of Holies (where no one else could go but he, and
he but once a year), and sprinkle that blood on the mercy seat. Then he
would come out and shout, "It is finished!" What did that mean? It meant
that the high priest had laid aside his royal rode and had offered a lamb
for the sins of the people. He had gone in to pay the penalty for the sins
of his people. Then he came out and announced that God had accepted it.
That is what Jesus did. He laid aside His royal robe of Heaven. He Who
was never around sin, He Who was in the image of the Father, He Who was
the fullness of the Godhead bodily, laid aside His royal robes and took
upon Himself flesh like ours. He walked with sinners. He became a lamb,
and on the cross He became that lamb offered upon the altar. He took His
blood and sprinkled His blood on the mercy seat in Heaven. Then on the
cross He said, "It is finished!" Sin had been paid for!
Someday when Jesus comes again, He will put on His royal robe as King
of Kings and Lord of Lords. What is it all about! Jesus-our High Priest,
our Lamb, He Who never heard a sinful word, He Who never spoke an evil
word, He Who never thought an evil thought, He Who never trod an evil path-suddenly
gave His entire life for sinners. He was a friend of sinners. He died for
sinners. He intercedes for sinners.
When I came to Hammond, I was apprehensive. The first day I was in my
office, the secretary called me on the telephone and said, "Someone wants
to see you." I invited the man in. He was the most obnoxious man I have
ever seen. I have never seen anybody as dirty and as filthy. He walked
in and I talked with him. I told him about Jesus and knelt to pray with
him. As I knelt to pray, I saw Psalm 8:4 on the wall of my study, "What
is man, that thou art mindful of him? and the son of man, that Thou visitest
him?" That poor old bum off of the street received Christ. I wondered if
he were sincere, but I took it as a lesson from God that He wanted me to
work with sinners while I was here.
A few weeks and months passed. David and I went to a rescue mission
one night to preach. (I think David was six years of age at the time.)
Right before I preached, a man stood up and played the guitar and sang
a solo. I knew I had seen the man somewhere. They introduced him as the
Assistant Superintendent of that rescue mision. I had seen him somewhere.
Suddenly it dawned on me! That was the man who came to my office the first
day I was here. I had won him to Christ. I had given that man a suit of
clothes; he had on the trousers that I gave him. He was Assistant Superintendent
of that rescue mission. Months had passed and he was still serving God.
I preached that night on Psalm 8. I went home, and David went to bed.
I was
sitting in the living room. I heard a call: "Dad? Hey, Dad? Could I
talk to you?" (The lines of communication have always been open between
David and me.)
I said, "Sure, son."
Dave came down to the living room and said, "that was a good sermon
tonight, Dad."
"Thank you, son."
"Wasn't it good about that man that got saved?"
"Yes, it was."
"Dad, I want to be saved too."
I won David to Christ that night. There was a rescue mission man and
my own six-year-old boy, both sinners, both needing the same thing. That's
what you need. Jesus is the friend you need.
Jesus is the friend you need, Such a friend is he indeed; He Who noteth
every tear, He will banish every fear; Jesus is the friend you need.
"What a Friend We Have in Jesus." "There's no Friend to me Like Jesus."
He is a friend of sinners!
