Matthew chapter 9 tonight, beginning at verse 9, and this follows the account here of Jesus healing the paralytic. This is really the calling of Matthew, and we'll read verses 9 through 13 of Matthew chapter 9, that's page 1034 in your pew Bible. As Jesus passed on from there, he saw a man called Matthew sitting at the tax booth. and he said to him follow me and he rose and followed him and as jesus reclined at table in the house behold many tax collectors and sinners came and were reclining with jesus and his disciples and when the pharisees saw this they said to his disciples why does your teacher eat with tax collectors and sinners but when he heard it he said those who are well have no need of a physician but those who are sick go and learn what this means I desire mercy and not sacrifice for I came not to call the righteous but sinners may the Lord bless the hearing of his word years ago Martin Lloyd-Jones told a story of a woman who in one of the chapels in Wales had attended his church, this church, for about 30 years. She had been a long-time church member there in Wales. And after the pastor who had been there a long time, a new pastor came in, and she was greatly disturbed with this new pastor. I'm not equating that with me, by the way. I hope you're not disturbed. I didn't make that connection when I was thinking about this. But anyway, she was disturbed by this new young pastor, and Jones asked her, he said, well, why are you leaving the church? She was going to leave the church, and her response really moved Martin Lloyd-Jones. She said, this man preaches to us as if we're sinner. Jones writes, she liked general preaching that challenged her a little. That's what he says. But when she was confronted with preaching that struck her in a direct, personal way, she didn't like it. There's two kinds of preaching that way. There's preaching that kind of hits the surface and doesn't really get anywhere, and it just, it's nice, it's kind. Then there's preaching that hits. And when it hits, it hits. Because you're feeling like the pastor's really preaching at you. I had a pastor tell me last week that someone walked up after his sermon and said, you know, this is exactly what we don't need. You hit us hard today about sin, and hey, we're Christians, you know. We've made the commitment. We're here, and you're hitting us. Why are you doing that? The pastor needs to think through that argument a little bit. He needs to think through that, and Christians need a good amount of encouragement. And maybe that's a little bit of the struggle tonight, you know, so many stay home to watch the Super Bowl. Do we really want to hit you guys with sin tonight when you actually counted the cost and came to worship, you know? Christians need encouragement, don't they? I wonder how comfortable we would be with the preaching and the teaching of Jesus had we been under His earthly ministry and followed Him. He was constantly doing things and saying things that were really offensive. And the offense wasn't always to the larger masses, if you will. It wasn't really to the Gentile world. The offense struck really hard, and he was an outcast among his own people. I wonder what we would have done under that. How would we have responded? He hated cold formalism, hated it. Had a whole testament that he was interacting with to prove it. He was constantly exposing the heart and looking right on into it and exposing exactly what was going on there. So much so that by the time he was done in John 6, he had shrunk his church by 5,000 people. They all left. They didn't want to listen to that. One of the statements that I think must have caused the greatest amount of offense is found in Matthew chapter 9. The greatest amount of offense. I don't know if when we read this, we read over these things so much that maybe it loses its real import and impact. But think about this statement at the end of verse 12. I didn't come to call the righteous to repentance, but sinners. Wait a minute. You have a whole Old Testament that said God loves the righteous. What is this man saying? How could you say you haven't come for the righteous? Do you know how offensive that is? Who are the righteous? Who are sinners, right? As we anticipate coming to the Lord's table next week, I thought it would be good to reorient us as to why the Lord came. And I say that because most of us probably think tonight, well, we know why the Lord came. But I ask the question, do we really know why the Lord came? Or have we forgotten? a little bit why the lord came it's an easy thing to do and i want us tonight excuse me to remember as we look at this that jesus is is repeatedly showing us what kind of response he is after from people he's showing us in the gospels the kind of response that delights him what he's after that that we as god's people would remember that this is a lifelong response and what this should look like is beautifully set before us tonight in Matthew chapter 9. So let's look at this briefly tonight. The scene is a fascinating one. I've always thought that there's too much separation in what comes before this. There's a real good connection here that shows a development of what Jesus is doing, really culminating in this point he makes in verse 13, which is sort of the climax the the really hard-hitting truth that i that i quoted you remember this account at the beginning of chapter 9 because this paralytic was brought to him lying on a mat and remember he was lowered down through the house jesus had been teaching in the house the multitudes had were gathered around listening to jesus and this man couldn't even speak and jesus amazingly looks right into this this man's heart and you know far beyond the physical miracle jesus said something that was yes it would be directly provocative to the religious community but he said something that was absolutely astonishing he looked at this man and he said son forgiven are your sins he declared it he just wiped out he totally let go this man's sins once and for all now i don't know how much you you make of that um but here it had caused an uproar and a huge uproar immediately the scribes are sitting there and they're sitting in judgment with the pharisees and and the thing that they say is well hey this this man blasphemes no one can forgive sins except god alone which they were absolutely right which should have made them think a little bit about who this is and so the whole issue becomes a question of authority and a power and that those are the words that are employed there the question is is whether jesus has the power and i i would rather translate it power than authority but absolute power to do this and jesus um responds why do you speak evil in your hearts for which is easier to say your sins are forgiven you or to say arise and walk what's easier we should know what's easier but that you may know that the son of man has power authority on earth to forgive sins he said to the paralytic arise take up your bed and go to your house jesus just plainly set before them that the the greater issue that he had come to deal with was not just physical sickness that that would come in the resurrection of the body the greatest issue here that he's dealing with is the forgiveness of sins it's a spiritual issue and that the fact that that that that men mankind has have a corrupt heart and that they need to be washed and forgiven here's the scene multitudes are marveling at this the word choice is interesting at the very end in verse in verse eight they marveled that god had given there's the word again power given such power to men and it's very provocative because the question you should be asked well what kind of power are they talking about we know jesus is thinking about the power to forgive sin they're thinking only in physical terms aren't they it was an amazing miracle the guy got up but jesus is showing us and demonstrating for us in what follows that people had missed the fundamental reason that he had come he was not just a belly filler remember john 6 he was not he warned sign seeker So here's the scene, they've seen this and they've not understood his mission. And all of this lack of understanding, all sorts of questions are being asked. The question really being, how can this Jesus interact with sinners? They're unclean. From the Pharisees, this man was completely unclean and Jesus had just come into contact with a man who was defiled. And in this context, we now have something that I believe demonstrates in beauty the gospel and demonstrates in beauty his desire. And we need to remember this. His desire to forgive sin. This is why he came. This is what he's here for. Look at verse 9. As Jesus passed on from there, he saw a man. Verse 9. As Jesus passed on from there, he saw a man called Matthew sitting at the tax booth. And he said to him, follow me and he rose and followed him now this is matthew matthew obviously is thinking a little bit here about his own conversion isn't it it's a it's an amazing account but he wants us to see something there's something beautiful about this it's very simple there's not a lot said about matthew but jesus is passing by this tax office and he pauses and he sets his eyes on matthew and And what does Matthew here emphasize is that he himself was sitting in the tax office. Now, this would have been on a major roadway. But we have to really think a little bit about how tax collectors were viewed in this society. I don't know if we've understood how low the tax collector was. They were hated as tax collectors. They were under the umbrella of Roman protection so they could get away with a lot. and they were constantly extorting way more than they should have for their own payoff. They could tax almost anything. They had road taxes. They had taxes for crossing bridges. They had taxes for entering towns. They had taxes for using harbors. They had taxes on animals, wheels, and carts. I mean, just endless. It just dawned on me it sounds a little bit like the United States, doesn't it? Then on top of this, they had amassed so much wealth for themselves in the process that they were taking bribes from people and falsifying taxes and they were hitting the middle class. I mean, it's a very interesting study in the tax collector or the publican as we know him. Fortunes were being made. There were two kinds of these publicans. There were one group known as the Gabai and they were basically the ones who did taxes on land and property and income. The second was another group of publicans, if you will, and they were unlimited on what they could tax. They taxed almost every single activity and good. They were hated. And Matthew would have sent delegates out at the tax office to do all of his dirty work. So this kind of person was one of the most despised and hated persons in the region. Add to this, on the religious front, he was totally unclean. the Jewish law forbade tax collectors to even enter the synagogue. They couldn't have entered worship. And if you read Levitical law carefully enough, I believe you can make the case that it was these kinds of prostitutors of the people that were to be cut off. The Orthodox were totally forbidden to have any interaction with these kinds of people. They could not journey, they could not talk to, they could not interact with, they could not touch these people because they would be defiled. They were reckoned as unclean, on par with the pigs, the publican being the worst. Who's involved in this kind of work today? Who would we think about today? I have some good ideas. There's some really rotten people out there, aren't there? Would I dare mention Hugh Hefner from this pulpit? Would I dare mention somebody like, well, he's dead now, but Michael Jackson in Neverland? Perverse. This is how the Jewish community viewed the tax collectors. Now keep in mind, Jesus has just healed one of the people who they perceived to be a bad sinner because he was sick and he's come into contact with him. And you're feeling the rage already from the community after that event. And at this point, notice what's happened. Jesus has now brought into his own fold, one of his own disciples, this kind of person. It's devastating to the community. And the point that Matthew is making and what's really being driven home here is the very simple message that this is who Jesus came for. Who do you think Jesus would come for today? Would he really be around a bunch of people who if you said hey how are you doing who said hey i'm doing well who never want to talk about their struggles who constantly hide their lives who never want their lives exposed who get angry when when the preacher confronts sin who are troubled when they're called to turn from worldly ways do you think jesus would come and interact with people like that who would he be around his burden was to bind up who the brokenhearted to heal the afflicted that was the acceptable year of the lord that was to be proclaimed that isaiah and the prophets all had announced when he would come i want you to notice something here jesus stoops low here and he says to matthew follow me now think about this little language of this this word choice of power he has the power to forgive and here was jesus now looking at a man who was considered one of society's worst and he looks at him and he gives a command follow me and matthew the imagery that we have is he cannot get up fast enough there's no language there's no hey let me first go bury mom and dad and you don't have any of that language this powerful calling has come jesus spoke in power and authority and he immediately gets up and at a great cost to himself you couldn't go back to the tax office after this you were one of the the wealthiest of society he leaves it all he leaves it all and he follows jesus and this present here is really emphasizing this was a continual following there was no going back in a moment you had demonstrated upon jesus's powerful call repentance and so matthew all we have recorded is he arose and he followed now i like to make the connection. Notice this power. Seeing the deep sense of one's sin. Feeling that, experiencing that. Matthew feels the weight of that and that's the thought that comes to mind is that he was burdened by the life that he was in and he was ready to get up. He was ready to flee it at a moment at Christ's call when the Good Shepherd called. And I ask the question tonight, what is our attitude? when the Lord is exposing the depths of the heart and exposing the sin that we hide and exposing what's going on. I say that because when I read through the past and I read through the greats, as we call them today, there was one continued thread. If you look through the course of their life and you look through the things that they would continually say about themselves, you would often hear the very same thing. Augustine, Lord, save me from that wicked man, myself, John Knox. In youth, in middle age, and now after many battles, I find nothing in me but corruption. Augustus Toplade, oh, that such a wretch as I should ever be tempted to think too highly of myself. I am nothing but sin and weakness in whose flesh dwells naturally no good thing. Apostle Paul, for I know that in me that is in my flesh nothing good dwells. I am the chief of sinners. You ever notice when you read these people, this is exactly what they're saying they've learned about life. And not just about life, but about themselves. And sanctification, you would even say, is a growth in that. That's what sanctification is. And that's why this whole picture of following is an understanding of that, that Matthew was here, left all, and he's continuing to follow. Luther would say this all the time. Martin Luther would say that the whole of the Christian life is that we learn to say, I am a sinner, and likewise, he says, never stop saying it until Christ returns and makes it no longer true. Now you say, well, is that really what we need to go on saying? And I say there's something vital to a healthy Christian life knowing that, seeing that, growing in that. Because daily we're cast on Christ. Daily we're brought to the fountain. Daily we come to Him. And it is there that the greatest satisfaction, the greatest joy, the greatest filling is given. And so as the sinner is constantly being cast upon him, as he goes through life, burdened on the inside, Christ is giving that call, follow me. And the sinner gets up and he comes and he keeps coming and he keeps experiencing and receiving from the Lord's gracious hand forgiveness, washing, cleansing, and confidence. Boldness. And there's something beautiful about that. There's something victorious about that. The old Reformed theologians used to talk about a daily conversion. We don't talk about it a lot. Luke's Gospel says Matthew left everything behind and he rose and he began to follow. It was a new beginning and the Lord's power held him. So I want you to notice. Notice in both cases here, I'm building to something and you'll see this hopefully in a minute. In verse 5, The paralytic is on his bed, incapacitated. Physically, he can't get up. He can't even speak. Christ says, arise and walk. And now in verse 9, it's the same thing. Matthew is seated in the tax office, and Christ says, arise. It's complete reversal. When Christ calls, there's a powerful reversal in somebody's life. There's a turning in somebody's life. And the beauty of this is, it's not that he calls and leaves it up to us. This is the power he has come with. Sometimes I think we think that. We hear all these calls, follow, follow hard, come. And we think that's left up to us. The imagery we're given here is this is the authority that Jesus has been given. This is the power that Jesus has been given. This is why he has come, to bring sinners to himself that they would repent and find life. Now, I say all this tonight. I rehearse all of that because there's an important question that we ask at this point. Do you think we forget this about the Christian ministry? Is this one of the greatest things we've forgotten about the Christian ministry today? That this is Jesus' desire to do this and that this was the mission he came. This is why he came. The text is building to this. Notice this. It starts up with a physically messed up man. Jesus forgives him. That's the issue. And he heals him. Pharisees are furious. Scribes are furious. This man blasphemes. Next scene. Jesus now walks up to one of the worst. And this man gets up and Jesus brings him into his own intimate circle. Now, if that's not bad enough, I want you to look at verse 10. And as Jesus reclined at the table in the house, behold, many tax collectors and sinners came and were reclining with Jesus and his disciples. Did you just see how this whole thing grew and was building to this climaxed moment of a great feast? And Jesus is the imagery here reclining at the table. This is what the Romans did. and he's reclining at the table, and he's reclining, and he is pouring the wine with these people. Matthew threw a feast. Matthew got really excited about this, by the way. Matthew said, wow, this Jesus is willing to associate with sinners. Everyone needs to know about this. So he goes out, and he gathers all of his tax-collecting buddies. And he starts bringing in all the bad sinners into the house. And this is a grand merry feast. Matthew was wealthy. Matthew had a nice house. And here he brings them all in. And there they are. Banquet hall is full. Dining with Jesus. Sitting at the table. Who's sitting there? Well, you're not going to believe who I saw sitting there. I saw Ted Bundy sitting there. And is that who I think? Is that Bin Laden? Couldn't be. I can't express enough how inconceivable a scene this is to Israel. It's unthinkable for them. Would it be for us? Jesus is dining with the Gabai, the publican, the robbers, the murderers, the drunkards, the thugs, and they're lifting up the cup together and Jesus is forgiving. this is why he came I can't imagine sitting there that day and can you feel the excitement in these people who were gripped in the burden of their sin and as the son of man spoke power is coming and it's breaking into those hard hearts and he's saving oh it earned him a good reputation among Israel you know what the reputation was look the son of man has come eating and drinking and you say look a glutton and a winebibber a friend of tax collectors and sinners that was jesus's reputation and you see now the whole thing moves on to get to the heart of the matter in verse 11 the pharisees shoot out they said to the disciples why does your teacher eat tax collectors do you see what he's doing tax collectors and sinners they're sitting there in judgment over his word and judgment over his actions and did you see something in this i wonder if it motivated a little parable that would later be told about a young prodigal who had run off to another country and squandered everything and then one day he came back and the father runs out to greet them and the father throws a robe on him and the father's just thrilled and he kills the fatted calf and they're eating and they're drinking and they're making merry and lo and behold guess who's standing outside the house the older brother he won't come in and they come out the father comes to come in son come into the house here's the house house would have been open there's jesus with the bad sinners the door's wide open for them they're standing on the outside can you believe this i can't even fathom that this man is doing this and you guys are identifying with him i'm most moved with tonight who's standing outside the house i'm most moved with who's standing outside the house and the thing that i can't get over is how in the world could the people of israel have missed the straightforward teaching in the bible that there is not a just man on earth who does good and does not sin. How? And they just couldn't get it because they were so convinced, and notice the blinders here, they were so convinced of their own righteousness, their own mortality, and all of the external benefits that they had that they could not see anything inherently wrong with their own hearts. And Jesus gives a blow. this is what i said this is the kind of stuff that drives out people when jesus heard that he said to them those who are well have no need of a physician but those who are sick you know in those days patients didn't go to doctors doctors would make house calls to the patient and can you imagine how much this must have infuriated them jesus said something like this you guys are so healthy you don't need any help from me you don't need a physician what kind what kind of doctor would make house calls to the healthy but you see i as the great physician this is what earned him the title great physician i as the great physician have come to people like this because you see they see their sickness and they see their their misery and they feel the burden of their sin and i've come to release that which was subject to bondage all their lifetime i've come to give mercy so you think your life is so together says jesus you're so righteous in keeping god's law well then i ask the basic question why do you need me i've come for people who see this who know their misery and who want release and i desire to give it what doctor goes to the healthy let me ask this what message would have satisfied the Pharisees? You ever thought about it in reverse? What message would have satisfied the Pharisees? If they hated hearing this, what would they have loved to hear? Well, you guys are doing really well. You know? Let me encourage you a little bit. I want to build up your fine life. You've made such progress. You've made such advancement in the law of God. Good job. I have some ideas for you to do a little bit better. Let me give you a few ideas to do it just a little bit better and that you can become a better you. The message they would have loved was, wow, thank you, Jesus, for validating me. You know, in 1922, Machen wrote that book, Christianity and Liberalism, and one of my favorite statements is in that book. And he said this in 1922. I always thought, what an amazing statement. He says, the fundamental fault of the modern church is that she is busily engaged in an absolutely impossible task. What is it? She is busily engaged in calling the righteous to repentance. Modern preachers are trying to bring men into the church without requiring them to relinquish their pride. They're trying to help men avoid the conviction of sin. Preacher gets up in the pulpit, opens the Bible, addresses the congregation somewhat as follows, you people are good, such as modern preaching. It's heard every Sunday in thousands of pulpits. Even our Lord did not call the righteous to repentance. And probably we shall be no more successful than he. Remarkable statement. Get it? The church today has one of the greatest tasks, seemingly impossible tasks, of calling the righteous to repentance. And yet, that's what's going on in the Gospels where Jesus has come not just for the morally upright. Sure, he came for Nicodemus and he brought out a Pharisee. But we see where he goes with this. In verse 13, he gives something to ponder. Notice what he says. Go learn what this means. I desire mercy and not sacrifice. You doctors of the law, go learn this. You good understanders of God's law, you who have memorized 613 commandments, I want you to go and learn something that the Old Testament taught. I desire mercy and not sacrifice. That comes out of Hosea. And do you know what was the context of Hosea? Hosea was addressing an apostate nation of God's people. And guess what they were doing? They were following to the letter of the law the worship of God, the sacrifices. They followed the regulative principle. All of that was put in place. All the forms were read. Everything was right down to a T. They didn't miss a beat. And yet they had abandoned the heart of the law. What was that? Well, Jesus said it. You guys tithe, dill, mint, and cumin, but have left undone the weightier matters of justice, mercy, and truth. So then you say, well, what does it matter if we go through all of this and we do our acts of worship and we fulfill our own righteousness without ever seeing the need, continued need of forgiveness it just turns into dead ritualism this is isaiah one and jesus is saying your actions to the pharisees are exposing something terrible you would show listen this is so important you would show that you are right with god if you shared in my mission and had compassion on the lost. You would show. It's where the heart of it will be seen. So there it is. You're able to diagnose everyone's sin. I'm pretty good at diagnosing sin. But don't you care to give the remedy? Won't you care to help people? Don't you care about their healing? Go learn what God is really after. Isn't this moving? This is what your God is after. I desire mercy and Christ is saying I'm showing it and so he concludes in verse 13 but I think one of the most jolting statements in the Bible I did not come to call the righteous but sinners what a statement what a statement because you think you're righteous and have no need for help I didn't come for you so this is what it comes down to tonight this fundamental issue and this is what the scribes and the pharisees and this is what jesus was dealing with in his earthly ministry and this is why it was such a battle they saw their lives as hallmarks of fine upstanding folk and they hated hearing that they were no better than the publicans i think this is exciting i think this is the most exciting message unless of course i'm holding a little bit tight to my own righteousness then it's not so exciting but this is the most exciting message for those who said lord i see i see what i am i'm a mess and i come to you for washing and renewal and strength and the lord is telling you tonight i love to give that i love to forgive i love to wash Next week we get to come to a great feast. It's the Lord's Supper. And the Lord told us tonight, you know what? I recognize I will go to the bottom of the barrel to pull out the greatest of the sinner. But you need to realize you're at the bottom of the barrel. And when you see that and you understand that, Jesus says, I want you to know that I will come and I will dine with you. and I will forgive your sins, and I will love you, and my powerful word of forgiveness, my powerful calling on your life will not be taken from you. It's that powerful. And that's the promise that he gives all who look to him in true faith. I'm excited to come next week. Let us remember that that table is for sinners only. Let's pray. Oh Lord, our God, we are thankful that you care to help us in our weakness. and that when we, Lord, initially were called, we came by your power. We confessed our need and we turned to you. And tonight we confess that we need to continually do that, that we need you every step of the way, and that every step we take in following is a result of your mighty, powerful calling in our lives. Thank you that you're doing this. Thank you that you care to do this. and that if we're still here in this late hour you're continuing to save give us all in the Escondido United Reformed Church the kind of hearts that share in that mission that delight in that mission that love that mission because we know what we have been saved from forgive us all of our sins and keep us as we look forward to communing next week at your feast in Jesus name we pray, amen Thank you.