HE CAME TO SAVE SINNERS

“And when the Pharisees saw it, they said unto his disciples, Why eateth your Master with publicans and sinners? But when Jesus heard that, the said unto them, They that be whole need not a physician, but they that are sick. But go ye and learn what that meaneth, I WILL HAVE MERCY, AND NOT SACRIFICE: for I am not come to call the righteous but sinners to repentance.” Matthew 9:11-13. KJV

It is a fact that all have sinned and fallen short of God’s will, and that God loves everyone, John 3:16. Jesus came to fulfill his Father’s purpose. What he taught, and who he taught, was his Father’s will. It is the will of the Lord God that all have an opportunity to receive the forgiveness of sins. That is the background and reason for the great commission of Matthew 28:19.

But, he not only commanded us to go to all nations, but he set the example himself. Isaiah, prophesied, “And leaving Nazareth, he came down and dwelt in Capernaum, which is upon the sea coast, and the borders of Zabulon and Nephthalim: that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by Isaiah the prophet saying, The land of Zabulon, and the land of Nepthalim, by the way of the sea, beyond the Jordan, Galilee of the Gentiles, the people which sat in darkness saw great light; and to them which sat in the region and the shadow of death light is sprung up.” Matthew 4:13-18. Where he went, and as he went, he spoke to the people. Recall, his conversation with the Samaritan woman at the well in Samaria. More than once he went to the aid of the Romans. The Pharisees hated both of these peoples and avoided all contact with them they could. Not once do we ever see him turning anyone away because they were sinners; not the woman taken in the act of adultery, not Matthew the tax collector, not Judas the betrayer. No sin was too evil for him to be filled with compassion for the sinner. Why was that? That was because sins do not come in degrees of evil in God‘s sight. All have sinned. There are no black lies and no little white lies. We are told that there will be no liars enter into heaven. As Paul said “of such were some of you.” There are no social drinkers, and no alcoholics, the statement is that there will be no drunkards, and probably none of us can be certain that we would not abuse that addiction, thus it is safer not to place that burden of decision upon ourselves. The same could be said of Marijuana, crack, painkillers, or whatever. I choose to under-medicate on any medication or perscription so long as it accomplishes the purpose.

But we are off the subject, Jesus did not avoid sinners, they were everywhere, and they needed him the most. Likewise, since all have sinned, and if they have not accepted the Lord and been obedient to him in repentance and baptism, they are our challenge. We rub shoulders with them every day. The vital words of the great commission are “as you go, teach.” It is part of living to go. Jesus asked the woman at the well for a drink of water. He was breaking several “No, No’s” in doing that. This was a woman, she was a woman of bad reputation, she was a Samaritan, and they were alone in a remote place. A present-day setting could be, a woman, a prostitute, a woman of a different race than our own, late at light on a dark street corner. Now Jesus would not have us deliberately put ourselves in such a setting, but what is he saying, is “As you go, teach, all nations whatsoever I have commanded you, baptizing,” and he set the example by doing what he asked that we do. Let us not be so concerned about whether they believe or not that we forget it is we who have been sent. We are just the messenger, the carrier of good news. He came to save sinners. Let us go for the same reason. Only we have the light that can take away the darkness.