“And the Pharisees and scribes murmured, saying, This man receiveth sinners, and eateth with them,” Luke 15:2. 

We continue our study from where we left off last Thursday.

THAT WHICH HE DID NOT DO TO DRAW SINNERS TO HIM

1. People did not flock to hear the Lord because of any exciting ceremonies. 

The Saviour did not put on displays of His power. The Lord Jesus was plain in His appearance and in His speech, so plain His enemies used it against Him, Matthew 13:54-58. 

Think of the miraculous healing of the blind man in Mark 8:23. “And he took the blind man by the hand, and led him out of the town.” No publicity sought.

Think also of the feeding of the multitudes, Matthew 14 & 15. Few would have seen or known of the miraculous way they had been fed. The Lord Jesus did not ostentatiously perform miracles to entertain. He refused Herod’s desire to see a miracle, Luke 23:8.

The prophet Isaiah said of Him: “He hath no form nor comeliness; and when we shall see him, [there is] no beauty that we should desire him,” Isaiah 53:2. Only the believer’s eye could see His beauty.

2. People did not flock to hear the Lord because He preached smooth things. 

That is what the ungodly want to hear. Isaiah 30:9-10. The Saviour spoke plainly about man’s sin, Matt 15:19-20.

3. People did not flock to hear the Lord because the Saviour had what men considered an attractive personality. 

“He shall not cry, nor lift up, nor cause his voice to be heard in the street,” Isaiah 42:2. He was not seeking popularity. That was evident on many occasions. “And from thence he arose, and went into the borders of Tyre and Sidon, and entered into an house, and would have no man know [it]: but he could not be hid,” Mark 7:24.

“When Jesus therefore perceived that they would come and take him by force, to make him a king, he departed again into a mountain himself alone.” John 6:15.

Trying to make the gospel popular with sinful men requires a diminishing of it, a removing of Christ from it!