Tag Archives: sinners

Bible Gleanings, devotions

The Friend of Sinners | Bible Gleanings | December 28-29, 2024

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Blasphemer. Drunkard. Glutton. Servant of Satan. King of the Jews. The negative nicknames hurled at Jesus during His earthly ministry dripped with scorn. But one rose above the rest—a name intended as an insult, but embraced by the Savior who came for sinners: “a friend of tax collectors and sinners!” (Matt. 11:19b).

Jesus shared supper with social outcasts, misfits, and rejects on multiple occasions. Once, after answering the call to follow Jesus, Matthew (also called Levi) held a banquet for His Lord and invited all kinds of sinful folk (Luke 5:29). Reclining at the dinner table were gamblers, moneylenders, thieves, prostitutes, and the worst of them all: tax collectors. “Has He lost His mind?” the scribes and Pharisees must have wondered. After all, this was not the best approach for gaining street credibility for a newly-launched ministry. Dining with such detestable delinquents would actually destroy His ministry—that is, if His ministry was focused on numbers and fame instead of sinners who need grace and mercy.

Therefore, the religious leaders questioned, “Why do you eat and drink with tax collectors and sinners?” (Luke 5:30b). Ask and you shall receive, and they received quite an answer, as Jesus wisely responded, “Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick. I have not come to call the righteous but sinners to repentance” (Luke 5:31-32). In other words, Jesus was saying, “The kind of people you criticize and despise—I came for them. The people that make you shriek in your phony piety—I came for them. The people you believe the world would be a better place without—I came for them.” Jesus came to seek and save the sin-sick, not the self-righteous.

The lesson Jesus taught by eating with evil people is that all sinners are invited to His table. And if you consider yourself to be one, there is good news: Jesus welcomes you to His table of salvation, where you may feast on the blessings of redemption freely. He has saved a seat for every repentant sinner, especially “the poor, the crippled, the lame, [and] the blind” (Luke 14:13). The banquet of everlasting life is not for great saints—it is reserved for great sinners who recognize Christ as a great Savior. Jesus is a Friend and Savior to those who see themselves as God’s enemies in need of salvation, not those who falsely presume that they are on “good terms” with God and do not need saving.

The devotional column above is taken from my newest book, 40 Days with Jesus, which is a forty-day daily devotional focusing on the life, teachings, and miracles of Jesus. This book is available in hardcover on Amazon:

Brandon is the pastor of Bandana Baptist Church in Bandana, Kentucky, where he lives with his wife, Dakota, and their three dogs, Susie, Aries, and Dot. Brandon and Dakota are also foster parents through Sunrise Children’s Services of Kentucky. Brandon is also a published author and a religious columnist for the Advance Yeoman newspaper in Ballard County, Kentucky. He is also a devotional contributor for Kentucky Today, a news publication of the Kentucky Baptist Convention. His columns are also featured in the Times-Argus newspaper of Central City, Kentucky, West Kentucky News of western Kentucky, and the online blog, Reforming the Heart.

Bible Gleanings, devotions

Beggars | Bible Gleanings – Sept 3-4, 2022

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A proficient painter once sought to portray the Bible’s “prodigal son” in a pastel painting. He searched every asylum, prison, and soup kitchen to find a man ragged enough to embody the prodigal, but he was unsuccessful. One day, as he was walking home he encountered a poor beggar curled up on the street. The man was disheveled, dirty, and destitute—the ideal candidate for the painting. The artist approached him and offered payment in exchange for being painted as a model, and the beggar agreed.

When the day came, a clean-shaven man in a crisp suit and tie stood in the studio. When the artist asked who he was, the stranger reminded him, “You made an appointment with me, remember?” “Sir, I’ve never seen you before in my life,” replied the painter. “Yes, it’s me!” said the man. “You wanted me to meet you here at ten o’clock!” To which the painter explained, “You must be mistaken; I was to see a beggar here at this hour.” “I am he!” said the man, “I just thought I would dress myself up a bit before I got painted.” And the painter said, “No, no, no! I didn’t want you dressed up and perfect; I wanted you just as you were.”1

And the same can be said of the God who painted the constellations upon the canvas of the heavens. God does not command us to “clean up” and make ourselves presentable before we approach Him. He does not expect us to come to Him adorned in the polished suit of religious works. The Lord doesn’t want you to be embellished in religious makeup or doused in the perfume of piety. He calls you to come to Him just as you are, as a bankrupt beggar in need of the riches found in Christ Jesus.

We have all wallowed like swine in the mire of iniquity, and we reek of sin’s stench. Even so, God urges us to come to Him in repentance to be washed in Christ’s blood and clothed in His robes of white (cf. Luke 15:15-22; Revelation 3:5). Our account of righteousness doesn’t contain a penny of God-glorifying works, either (Matthew 5:3). And yet, Jesus calls us to bring Him an empty cup so that He may fill it with the “unsearchable riches” of His gospel (Ephesians 3:8). The Lord’s invitation to all spiritual beggars is this: “Come, everyone who thirsts, come to the waters; and he who has no money, come, buy and eat! Come, buy wine and milk without money and without price . . . Seek the LORD while he may be found; call upon him while he is near; let the wicked forsake his way, and the unrighteous man his thoughts; let him return to the LORD, that he may have compassion on him, and to our God, for he will abundantly pardon” (Isaiah 55:1, 6-7).

  1. D. L. Moody was the first to tell this story. 
Bible Gleanings is a widely-read weekend devotional column, written for the Murray Ledger & Times in Calloway County, Kentucky.

Brandon is the founder and main contributor to Brandon’s Desk, the blog with biblical resources from his ministry. He pastored the family of believers at Locust Grove Baptist Church in Murray, Kentucky for six years. He and his wife Dakota live there with their three dogs, Susie (Jack Russell), Aries (English Shepherd), and Dot (Bluetick Beagle).

Bible Gleanings, devotions

A Safehouse for Sinners | Bible Gleanings – July 10-11, 2021

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They were sanctuaries for slaves—homes that made history. Lionhearted abolitionists all across the North volunteered their homes as safehouses for slaves seeking freedom prior to and during the Civil War. Homeowners from Indiana to New York partnered with antislavery activists like Harriet Tubman in a secret network known today as the Underground Railroad. They worked together to provide pathways to freedom for exhausted slaves. And over time, many of these homes were awarded landmark status because history happened within their walls.

When visiting places like the Johnson House in Philadelphia or the Levi Coffin House in Fountain City, one is filled with awe and humility because lives were transformed there. The hardwood floors are not divine. The brick walls are not holy. There is no mystical aura surrounding these historical sites. They are sacred sanctuaries because of what happened there: weary captives were liberated from slavery. 

The same can be said of any biblical church that faithfully preaches the gospel of Christ. A church that proclaims “repent and believe in the gospel” (Mark 1:15) is a holy sanctuary, not because the carpet and stained-glass windows are sanctified, but because enslaved sinners are set free within their walls. It makes no difference if your church is massive or miniscule; what matters is whether miracles happen within its walls. God wants our churches to be “safehouses” for sinners—places where they can be emancipated from spiritual slavery. He wants our churches to be places where hopeless sinners can experience the reality of Romans 6:

“But thanks be to God, that you who were once slaves of sin have become obedient from the heart to the standard of teaching to which you were committed, and, having been set free from sin, have become slaves of righteousness” (vv. 17-18).

Jesus came to release men, women, and children from spiritual bondage to sin, the devil, and the world. He said it Himself: “The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me to proclaim good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim liberty to the captives and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty those who are oppressed, to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor” (Luke 4:18-19). Such exhilarating freedom comes to weary sinners when they hear and believe the truth about Jesus: “And you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free” (John 8:32). And it is the duty of every disciple to declare the gospel truth so people can believe it by faith. As God said in Isaiah, “[Say] to the prisoners, ‘Come out,’ to those who are in darkness, ‘Appear.’” (Isaiah 49:9b).

Does your church have “landmark status?” Is it a place where history is made, where sinners are redeemed from spiritual slavery? Is it a safehouse for sinners?

Bible Gleanings is a weekend devotional column, written for the Murray Ledger & Times in Calloway County, Kentucky. In the event that the column is not posted online, it is be posted for reading here.
Brandon is the founder and main contributor to Brandon’s Desk, the blog with biblical resources from his ministry. He is proud to be the pastor of the family of believers at Locust Grove Baptist Church in Murray, Kentucky. He and his wife Dakota live there with their three dogs, Susie (Jack Russell), Aries (English shepherd), and Dot (beagle).