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"Christ Receiveth the Sinful" "This man receiveth sinners," (Luke 15:2b) In the 15th chapter of Luke, just listen to that bunch of nasty ole Pharisees and Scribes. I imagine they found their statement here about Jesus Christ amusing, but really, is that the best accusation they can come up with while they sit around all day long with nothing better to do but murmur about the Messiah? With all of their formal education and religious training, couldn't they think up something better than, "This man receiveth sinners." Why, that's the very thing that draws us to Him!Of the countless souls who looked to Jesus for deliverance, I want to look at three accounts in the Gospels how, "This man receiveth sinners" and what happened to those three who were what I call HOPELESS, HAUNTED, AND HELPLESS.First, take a good look at that one who was HOPELESS in Mark 2. This man was paralyzed, but that guy had four buddies who each grabbed a corner of the stretcher he was laying on and hurried him to a crowded house in Capernaum where our Lord was teaching one day. I believe that quartet of faithful friends had heard about Jesus and went singing as they journeyed that glad song of, "This man receiveth sinners."Well, we all know how that story turned out for the HOPELESS man don't we. This man who came to Jesus with his back on a bed, now leaves with his bed on his back! Yes Pharisees and Scribes, "This man receiveth sinners."Next, see Jesus on another day in Luke 8 as He arrives in the country of the Gadarenes to see a man who was HAUNTED. For a long time, this poor soul had been haunted and hounded with devils. When Jesus saw this fella, he found that he had been running around naked all the time, living in the land of the dead instead of the land of the living, and was often driven into the wilderness bound with the unclean spirit's chains and fetters. When he saw Jesus, those demons who were the cause of his madness, didn't want anything to do with Him screamed, "What have I to do with thee, Jesus, thou Son of God most high?" I beseech thee, torment me not." Jesus asked him his name. The haunted man replied, "Legion: because many devils had entered into him."Now how did that story turn out Rev. Pharisee and Dr. Scribe? Well, the Lord Jesus sent that pack of tormentors into a herd of swine who were feeding on a mountain and with a Word, off they go lickety-split down the mountain and probably oinking all the way and finally end up choking in the lake below.What about the HAUNTED man? What happened to him? How did he turn out? The Bible tells us exactly what became of him, "Then they went out to see what was done; and came to Jesus, and found the man, out of whom the devils were departed, sitting at the feet of Jesus, clothed, and in his right mind: and they were afraid." Yes, Pharisees and Scribes, "This man receiveth sinners."Then we see a HELPLESS man in John 9 who couldn't see because he was blind. His blindness wasn't the result of some accident. nor did it come upon him gradually over a period of time. No, the Bible tells us he was born blind. Imagine never seeing a sunrise or a sunset. Imagine what it would be like to never gaze upon all the beauties that God had created nor ever see what other human beings looked like. Does not your heart ache for this poor man who had been born into this world and was seemly doomed to a lifetime of darkness?Hear the disciples chime in with a question of their own, "And his disciples asked him, saying, Master, who did sin, this man, or his parents, that he was born blind?" Then hear the answer Jesus gave, "Jesus answered, Neither hath this man sinned, nor his parents: but that the works of God should be made manifest in him."How did it turn out for this HELPLESS man? After our Lord had spoken a few words, he spat on the ground and mixed the spittle with the dirt of the earth and made clay with which He anointed the eyes of the blind man.With the clay upon his eyes, the blind man obeys the Word of the Lord and washes in the pool of Siloam, which means sent, and he went his way and washed and came seeing. What a wonderful picture of our own salvation when we heard and then obeyed the Word of God which was sent from above and are now washed from our blindness and come seeing.Oh, Pharisees and Scribes still among us in 2023, take a look at the present-day testimonies of the HOPELESS, the HAUNTED, and the HELPLESS and the many other cases whom Jesus hath received.Friends, this life-changing work of God has been the same from the beginning of time, "This man receiveth sinners."