LESSON THIRTEEN
JESUS IS THE SINNER’S FRIEND

Matt. 11:19 The Son of Man came eating and drinking; and they say, Behold, a gluttonous man and a drunkard, a friend of tax collectors and sinners. Yet wisdom is justified by her works.

In the Gospels, the Lord Jesus is presented as the Friend of sinners, for historically He was found, first of all, moving among men as their Friend before He became their Savior. But do you realize that today He is still in the first place our Friend, in order that He may be our Savior? Before we have reached the point where we are willing—or indeed able—to receive Him as Savior, He comes to us as a Friend, so that personal encounter is not debarred to us and the door is held open for us to receive Him as Savior. This is a precious discovery.

Since I saw the Savior as the Friend of sinners I have seen many unusual and difficult people brought to the Lord. I remember how in one place a young woman came and attacked me, saying that she did not want to be saved. She said that she was young and intended to have a good time, and did not want to have to leave her ways and become sedate and sober, for then there would be no joy in life. She said she had no intention of forsaking her sins and had not the least desire for salvation! It transpired that she knew quite a lot about the gospel, for she had been brought up in a mission school, and this was her reaction against it. After she had more or less raved at me for a while, I said, “Shall we pray?” “What should I pray?” she replied scornfully. I said, “I can’t be responsible for your prayer, but I will pray first and then you can tell the Lord all that you have been saying to me.” “Oh, I couldn’t do that!” she said, somewhat taken aback. “Yes, you can,” I replied. “Don’t you know that He is the Friend of sinners?” This touched her. She did pray—a very unorthodox prayer—but from that hour the Lord worked in her heart, for in a couple of days’ time she was saved.

LEADING PEOPLE TO MEET HIM

Too often those who have been saved merely through knowledge developed big heads. They progress without seeming to feel much need of God. They know it all and they even feel qualified to criticize the preacher’s presentation of facts. But when it comes to a crisis in which they lose their known bearings and have to trust the Lord over something, they cannot do so. They are not in living touch with Him. Yet there are others, who may know very little but have come out of themselves, and have touched the living God, who develop and grow in faith even through the severest trial. That is why our first object must be to lead people to meet Him.

It is the living Lord who becomes our Savior. Jesus is no longer the crucified but the reigning One, and today therefore we go for salvation not to the foot of the cross but to the throne, to believe in Him as Lord. Perhaps we need to see more clearly the difference between redemption and salvation. Redemption was secured by the Lord Jesus on the cross two thousand years ago. Our salvation rests today upon that redemption, accomplished once for all in time.

SALVATION AS A PERSONAL AND A SUBJECTIVE EXPERIENCE

It comes to this, that salvation, which is a personal and a subjective experience, may be said to rest rather upon the Lord’s resurrection than upon His death. The death of Christ was necessary for atonement objectively before God. But for salvation the New Testament lays emphasis upon our faith in His resurrection, for the resurrection is the proof that His death has been accepted. We believe in the Lord Jesus Christ, personally risen and ascended to glory, and we seek to bring sinners now into immediate contact with Him.

Salvation is not even a question of understanding or of will. It is, as we have seen, a question of meeting God—of men coming into firsthand contact with Christ the Savior. So what, you ask me, is the minimum requirement in a man to make that contact possible?

For my reply I would turn you to the parable of the sower. It seems to me that here we are plainly told the one thing that God does demand. “That in the good ground, these are such as in an honest and good heart, having heard the word, hold it fast, and bring forth fruit with patience” (Luke 8:15). What God demands of man is “an honest and good heart.” It does not matter if a man wants or does not want to be saved, it does not matter if he understands or does not understand; provided that he is prepared to be honest with God about it, God is prepared to meet him.

The basic condition of a sinner’s salvation is not belief or repentance, but just the honesty of heart towards God. God requires nothing of him but that he comes in that attitude. Into that spot of straightforwardness that lies in the midst of much deceitfulness, the good seed falls and brings forth fruit. Of the two thoroughly dishonest thieves crucified with the Lord, there was in the one a little bit of honest desire. The publican who prayed in the temple was a crooked man, but in him too there was that honesty to acknowledge his sinfulness and cry to God for mercy.

As several of the incidents recounted earlier have indicated, we should encourage every sinner to kneel down with an honest heart and pray, telling the Lord frankly where he stands. As Christians we are told that we must pray in the name of the Lord Jesus (John 14:14; 15:16; 16:23, 24), by which, of course, we understand not a mere formula of words but an act of faith in Him. But with sinners it is different, for there are prayers which God will hear that are not uttered in the name of Jesus. In Acts 10:4 the angel says to Cornelius: “thy prayers and thine alms are gone up for a memorial before God.” If there is a sincere cry from the heart, God hears. A sinner’s heart can touch God.

THE LORD NEAR AT HAND

In the words of Joel, quoted by Peter: “Whosoever shall call on the name of the Lord shall be saved.” How is this possible? Because God has fulfilled the other promise (quoted by Peter from the same prophecy) that: “I will pour forth of my Spirit upon all flesh” (Acts 2:17, 21). Because the Holy Spirit has been poured out upon all mankind, a cry is enough.

I always believe that the Holy Spirit is upon a man when I preach to him. I do not mean to say that the Spirit is within the hearts of unbelievers, but that He is outside. What is He doing? He is waiting, waiting to bring Christ into their hearts. The Holy Spirit is waiting to enter the heart of the hearer of the gospel. He is like the light. Open the window-shutters even a little and it will flood in and illumine the interior. Let there be but a cry from the heart to God, and at that moment the Spirit will enter and begin His transforming work of conviction and repentance and faith—the miracle of new birth.

Oh, it is wonderful what our God can do! He is a living God, ready to act in mercy. Even if men could be a little better than they are it would not help matters, and if they were much worse it would not hinder. All He looks for is “an honest and good heart.” And never forget that the Holy Spirit is present in power to move men’s hearts to God. (What Shall This Man Do? pp. 30-31, 36-41, 45)

References: What Shall This Man Do? ch. 3; A Word of Love to the Co-Workers, Elders, Lovers, and Seekers of the Lord, ch. 2.