On hearing this, Jesus told them, “It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick. I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners.”When Jesus heard it, he said to them, “Those who are healthy have no need for a physician, but those who are sick. I came not to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance.”When Jesus heard it, he saith unto them, They that are whole have no need of the physician, but they that are sick: I came not to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance.And when Jesus heard it, he saith unto them, They that are whole have no need of a physician, but they that are sick: I came not to call the righteous, but sinners.
3 sermons cite this verse
Some years ago as a church, we took as a statement of purpose the ten words to see unbelieving people become committed followers of Jesus Christ. And we have tried as best we can to keep that before us, not simply by keeping it in print, but also in approaching all of the opportunities and responsibilities that we have as a church in light of the awareness of the fact that Jesus, in leaving his disciples behind, promised them the power and authority of the Holy Spirit so that they might go out into the world and proclaim the good news of Jesus, baptizing people, making disciples, and establishing the work of the kingdom. And as much as we pay lip service to that, we recognize that there is an inherent danger in thinking that just because that is the phrase that we are able to rehearse and repeat, that somehow or another that may actually be happening, when in point of fact it might not. And one of the great questions that is before us as a church is to look around and to see just how seriously we believe it is important for us to take the command of Jesus to go out into the world and to make disciples. In other words, we face the risk that after a relatively short period of time, the comfortability of being in the companionable relationships with one another may dim our vision, may dent our enthusiasm, for seeing unbelieving people become the committed followers of Jesus. …
Sermon #2889, Volume 50—CHRIST RECEIVING SINNERS] to meet Jesus at his house. And I am sure that where my Master went, I never need be ashamed to go! I have gone into some persons' houses, before I came to London, that I should have felt ashamed to enter if they had not invited me on a Sabbath. I have stepped in there for the purpose of giving them religious advice. Some have said, "What? Going into thathouse?" Yes, and quite right, too! "They that are whole have no need of the physician, but they that are sick." I have gone after "the lost sheep of the house of Israel," and I have won their hearts because I went there. I have talked to them of their sins but, had I stayed away, there would have been something of this spirit, "Stand by, for I am holier than you! I cannot enter your house because you chanced, on such-and-such a day, to sin." But when I go and talk to a man and lay my hand on his shoulder and ask him questions, he does not mind telling out his state of mind when I am under his own roof—and when I am gone, he says, "That man is not ashamed to speak to his fellows, after all, though he is a preacher." Make feasts of charity, sometimes, and invite the poor to them. I will tell you the best dinner party that you can have. If you have "the poor and the maimed, and the halt and the blind," sitting around your table, you do more honor to your dining room than you would by having a company of princes and nobles! …
Oh, yes, there is a present pardon! But what I want to say most emphatically is that there is a present pardon for you. "Who is that?" you ask. Oh, I am not going to pick and choose from the midst of you. Whoever among you will come and trust Christ, there is present pardon for you! What? That gray-headed man there, 70 years old in sin? Yes, blessed be the name of the Lord, if he this night should rest in Christ, there is instantaneous pardon for him! Is there a harlot here? Is there a drunk here? Is there one here who has cursed God? Is there one here who has been dishonest? Is there one here over whom all these sins have rolled? Why, if you believe, your sins, which are many, are all forgiven you! And though there should be brought before us one so guilty that we might well stay away from him, yet if he can but trust Christ, Christ will not stay away from him, but will receive him! Oh, was not that a wonderful moment when the Savior wrote on the ground as the woman taken in adultery stood before Him—when all her accusers, being convicted by their own consciences, went out, leaving the sinner and the Savior alone together—and when Jesus Christ, who hated all kinds of sin, but who loved all kinds of sinners, lifted Himself up and said, "Neither do I condemn you. Go and sin no more"? Ah, poor Sinner, Jesus Christ does not condemn you! If you condemn yourselves, He will never condemn you. He will only condemn your sin, for that is what He hates, but He does not hate you. If you and your sins part, Christ and you shall never part! If you will but trust Him right now, you shall find Him able to save you even to the very uttermost from all these sins of yours which have become your plague and your burden! God help you, then, to trust Him at once and to find this present pardon—this pardon which will last you forever—and which you may have right now! …