Jesus Loves Sinners: The infectious righteousness of Jesus Part 1

The most important message we can share with others, both Christians and non-Christian is this … Jesus is not repelled by your sin. Our natural bent is to feel that our sin keeps God away from us. If we strive to be good so that Jesus can stand to be around us, we miss out on the simple truth of Jesus’ heart. Jesus loves sinners. I can prove it. But God demonstrates His own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us, Romans 5:8. He loves sinners, among whom I am foremost of all. 

 

Your sin, as bad as it may be, is the reason He is moving toward you, not away from you. Jesus loves sinners. Jesus saves sinners. Every other religion tells you that you must attain a certain level of righteousness in order for God to draw near to you. Not with Jesus. Self-righteousness repels Him. A sinner crying for help attracts Him.

 

Let this truth sink in. Jesus is not repelled by your sin, anguish and pitiful life; He is drawn to it. Jesus is a Savior. He is mighty to save. He actually goes toward sinners so He can do what He loves to do; He loves to save sinners who are asking for help.  

 

Noble physicians don’t run from the sick, they go toward them. Jesus is the great Physician. He goes toward sinners.

 

Covid-19 has reminded us of a simple fact; contagious diseases require that the healthy stay away from those who are sick. The healthy are vulnerable around the sick. The sick infects the healthy. We stay away from the sick so that we are not infected. 

 

The Pharisees applied the same principle in their religion of self-righteousness. They believed that sinners would infect them; make them unclean. They advocated quarantining themselves from sinners. Jesus took the opposite viewpoint.  

 

During the Covid-19 pandemic the sick infects the healthy. But what if there was one healthy person who transferred healing to those with the virus? In this case, the healthy one infects the sick with healing, and not the other way around. How cool would it be if the healthiness of one person healed the infected one and made them well?  

 

If there were such a person, he would be very popular and in much demand. Every sick person would go toward him so they could be healed of the virus. Rather than the sick infecting the healthy, this one would bring wellness and healing instantly to every infected person he touched. 

 

If such a person existed, and he had a good and kind heart, he would be drawn to the sick in order to heal them. Actually, he would want to go, with great joy, to the ICUs and be around the sickest. His greatest joy would be to bring instant healing to those who were at the point of death, the sickest of the sick. The scene would look something like this: 

 

While the sun was setting, all those who had any who were sick with various diseases brought them to Him; and laying His hands on each one of them, He was healing them. Luke 4:40 

 

The Sinner’s ICU 

 

The Pharisees believed that Jesus was being infected or tarnished by hanging around the worst of sinners. The opposite was actually happening. Jesus was not being infected; He was infecting the sinners with His righteousness. Jesus would go to the sinner’s ICU, the place where the tax-collectors, the prostitutes and thieves congregated together, because it brought him the most joy to save the worst of the sinners.

  

Your sin, your deepest and darkest sins, do not repel Jesus. Instead, your sin attracts Him to you. He runs toward you in order to heal you. He pushes the ‘holier than thou’ out of the way to get to you. He has a heart to heal your sin; He has a heart to repair your brokenness; He has a heart that is mighty to save! 

 

He sides with you against your sin, not against you because of your sin.  

Gentle and Lowly, by Dane Ortlund. page 71. 

 

Have you ever felt like Jesus could never forgive you? It’s time to put those feelings behind you. It’s time to draw near to Him, not run from Him. It’s time to say to Jesus, help me, forgive me, save me. 

 

Father God, break down all of our wrong thoughts about who You really are. Even as Christians, we fall in the trap of thinking You are repulsed by us, that You don’t want to be with us when we fail. We sometimes feel like You hold your nose when we approach you in prayer. You do none of that. Yes, we know that those who utterly reject you will be punished. But for those of us who have asked for your forgiveness, you have given it; fully and completely from Your heart. In Your own words (Exodus 34:6,7) You have said that you are compassionate and gracious, slow to anger, and abounding in loving-kindness and truth. Amen!