Please turn with me in your Bibles to Matthew chapter 9. It's not a mistake. We are going to look at Matthew chapter 9 this morning. In our study last week, as we finished up chapter 19, verses 23 to 30, we focused, or we noticed rather, the apostles' question in verse 25.
In chapter 19, after Jesus indicates that it's difficult for a rich man to enter the kingdom of heaven, the disciples then ask, who then can be saved? sought to explain a bit about the Christian gospel and I thought by way of extended application we would look at the conversion of Matthew this morning, something we have considered in the past obviously, but hopefully by way of reminder for the people of God and encouragement for those who are not the people of God to see what genuine conversion looks like, to see what salvation by grace through faith in our Lord Jesus Christ does indeed look like. So I want to read beginning in Matthew chapter 9 beginning in verse 1 and we'll read to verse 13. So he got into a boat, crossed over and came to his own city. Then behold, they brought to him a paralytic lying on a bed.
When Jesus saw their faith, he said to the paralytic, Son, be of good cheer. Your sins are forgiven you. And at once some of the scribes said within themselves, This man blasphemes. But Jesus, knowing their thoughts, said, Why do you think evil in your hearts?
For which is easier, to say, Your sins are forgiven you, or to say, Arise and walk? But that you may know that the son of man has power on earth to forgive sins. Then he said to the paralytic, arise, take up your bed and go to your house. And he arose and departed to his house.
And when the multitude saw it, they marveled and glorified God who had given such power to men. As Jesus passed on from there, he saw a man named Matthew sitting at the tax office. And he said to him, follow me. So he arose and followed him.
Now it happened as Jesus sat at the table in the house, that behold, many tax collectors and sinners came and sat down with him and his disciples. And when the Pharisees saw it, they said to his disciples, why does your teacher eat with tax collectors and sinners? When Jesus heard that, he said to them, those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick. But go and learn what this means.
I desire mercy and not sacrifice. For I did not come to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance. Amen. Well, let us pray.
Our Father in heaven, we thank you for the word of the living God. We thank you for the gospel of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. And I pray now that by your spirit, we would have ears to hear and hearts to receive the truth. I pray that believers would be encouraged afresh at what Christ has done on their behalf.
And I pray that unbelievers would be encouraged to flee to the Lord of glory, to that one alone in whom there is forgiveness of sin and the righteousness that avails with you. Our Father, may the Spirit truly guide us and direct us and illumine minds and hearts. May you now forgive us for all of our sins and unrighteousness. Help us to take every thought captive to the obedience of Jesus Christ. and help us, God Most High, to think your thoughts after you.
And we pray these things through Christ our Lord. Amen.
Introduction: Who Then Can Be Saved?
Well, as I said, we're going to look specifically at the conversion of Matthew, the author of our particular letter. under that consideration of who then can be saved. Oftentimes when we talk about salvation, or we talk about faith, or when I preach, believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, sometimes persons don't always know what that means. And so this morning is an attempt to try and flesh that out. What does conversion look like?
What did it look like in the life and context of Matthew, this evangelist who gave us the first gospel. As well, what ought it to look like in our lives and how ought we to respond to the Lord of glory and to the preaching of his most holy word. The larger, broader context in chapter 9, what we find in chapters 5 to 7 is that Jesus taught as one having authority. His doctrine was not like the scribes.
Remember the Sermon on the Mount? The end of chapter 7, that's what's highlighted. He taught them not as one, or he taught them as one having authority. And then in chapters 8 and 9, what we see is the deeds of Christ, or the power of Christ, or the ability of Christ.
Essentially, after teaching in 5 to 7, He goes about healing in chapters 8 to 9. He goes about engaged in miraculous deeds. And one of the conspicuous elements in chapters 8 and 9 is the display of the power of our Lord Jesus Christ. So both in His doctrine and in His activity, what we see is that Jesus Christ is indeed the Son of God Most High.
So let's look specifically at verses 9 to 13 under three considerations. In the first place, the call to discipleship in verse 9. Secondly, the supper at Matthew's house in verse 10. And thirdly, the confrontation with the religious leaders in verses 11 to 13.
Then we will try and tease out some implications or applications concerning this particular subject.
The Call to Discipleship
Note in the first place the call to discipleship in verse 9. As Jesus passed on from there, he saw a man named Matthew sitting at the tax office and he said to him, follow me. So he arose and followed him. Now, the other gospel writers tell us that Matthew's name was Levi.
This was not uncommon for a man to have two names. Think of Simon Peter or John Mark. In this instance, we have Matthew alternately called Levi by the other gospel writers. And notice his particular occupation.
He is sitting at the tax office. The reason I read the first section in verses 1 to 8 is simply this. There is a strong connection between 1 to 8 and 9 to 13. In 1 to 8, we learn that there is a problem that surpasses paralysis.
There is a problem that exceeds what physical difficulties or challenges one might have. In verses 1 to 8, we have the account where the paralytic is lowered down into the midst of where our Lord Jesus Christ is teaching. And the Lord Jesus Christ, when he sees this man, says to him specifically, Son, your sins are forgiven you. This sends the scribes and the Pharisees into a bit of a tizzy.
They start to imagine, or they start to think, or they start to contemplate. Who but God alone is able to forgive sin? Jesus knew precisely what their thoughts were. Jesus knew the heart of man.
He knew their evil machinations, to use an older word. And so Jesus asks this question, which is easier, to say your sins are forgiven you, or to say, arise, take up your mat, and walk? Well, it's easier to say your sins are forgiven you, because we can't verify whether or not that takes place. I may say to God, or I may say to Michael, or I may say to anyone, your sins are forgiven you.
We can't objectify that, or we can't quantify that with the naked eye. So it is easier to say to the paralytic, your sins are forgiven you, than to say, arise and take up your mat and walk. That we can see. If I say to Dot or I say to Michael, take up your mat and walk, I'm proved to be a fake within 30 seconds.
Notice what Jesus then says. But that you may know that the Son of Man has power on earth to forgive sins. He says to the paralytic, take up your mat and walk. What's the point?
The point is that Christ uses the taking up the mat and walk as a proof or a confirmation or an affirmation or illustration that He is indeed the one who has power to forgive sins. You know, men in our day come to this passage and the healers and the health, wealth, prosperity guides preach, you should never hobble, you should never be crippled, you should always be healed in Jesus. And they come to passages like these and they tell people, take up your mat and walk. Brethren, we've missed the significance if we focus on the reality that the man picked up his mat and walked.
The reality is that that man now had forgiveness of sins, that he was heaven bound, going to be with Jesus. That was just illustrative of the reality that the Son of Man has power on earth to forgive sins.
Matthew: A Notorious Sinner
Now enter Matthew. What kind of sinners does God have power to forgive? What kind of sinners does Christ have the ability to forgive? He has the power to forgive notorious sinners.
Really bad sinners. Horrible sinners. It always amazes me how persons outside the church look at the church and they say things like, well, you know, I don't belong there because those are respectable people. No, we're not.
We are hell deserving, wrath of God deserving sinners against the high and holy king of heaven and earth. The only reason we are in the church is because of grace alone, because of the blood of the gospel. I've learned when I go to these old people's homes, that doesn't sound politically correct, does it? Of course, as I'm getting closer to being an old person myself, I don't think it will ever bother me to be called an old person.
You're old! Sorry, it's a matter of being able to read clocks and calendars. You are old. One of the things I've noticed that the saints of Christ there respond well to hearing about sin.
You treat these old dolls like they're blue-haired, innocent persons that have never done a thing, and you're not treating them biblically. All of these old dolls have a wretched past. All of these old men have a wretched past. And Matthew illustrates for us the kind of power that Christ has to save sinners.
So on the one hand, verses 1 to 8 underscore the reality that Christ has that power. Verses 9 to 13 underscore the reality that it's a power that saves the wretched. Matthew's a tax collector. Matthew's a horrible person in the first century.
Matthew is a wretch. Not for only the obvious reasons. Certainly, persons hate tax collectors because tax collectors take their money. There were several reasons why tax collectors were looked down upon in this context.
In the first place, they collaborated with Gentiles. Secondly, they handled currency with pagan inscriptions and iconography. Thirdly, they took money from fellow Jews to give to the magistrate who oppressed them. And in the fourth place, they were often greedy and corrupt.
This is just simply the reality of it. Consider the fact that they are linked with sinners in 910. They are linked with heathen Gentiles in 1817. They are linked with harlots in 2131 and extortionists, unjust and adulterous men in Luke 1811.
You see, what we need to appreciate and what you need to appreciate if you're here this morning and you're not saved, you've not been forgiven. You can never, ever, ever argue that I am too sinful to be forgiven by God. I am too wretched to be cleansed in the blood of Jesus Christ. There is no hope for me whatsoever.
Oh, there's hope in the Christian gospel. There is great hope in the glory of the Savior. The blood of Jesus Christ, His Son, cleanses us from all sin. The prophet Zechariah foretold a day when there will be a fountain open for sin and uncleanness.
The hymn writer says, and sinners plunge beneath that flood, lose all their guilty stains. It truly is good news. It truly is gospel. In this instance, our Lord, to demonstrate the power that He has, comes to this notorious sinner.
Frantz says, for Jesus to call such a man to follow him was a daring breach of etiquette, a calculated snub to conventional ideas of respectability, which ordinary people, no less than Pharisees, might be expected to balk at. He says fishermen may not have been high in the social scale, but at least they were not automatically morally and religiously suspect. Matthew was. He's a wretch.
He's a sinner. He's a bad man. He's a horrible specimen of a human being. He has sinned against a holy God.
So in order to underscore the power to save, it's as if Matthew says, not only does the Son of Man have power to save on earth, but look at the kind of a wretch that He saved. Look at the kind of a monster that He saved. Look at the kind of a beast that He saved. And He gives us this snapshot into His own conversion and to how, by God's grace, He came to the Lord Jesus.
Notice, Jesus sees him sitting at the tax office, and he said to him, follow me, so he arose and followed him. The tax collector here didn't wait, did he? The tax collector didn't say, you know what, I'm going to think about this, I'm going to ponder my options. I suspect, and I fear at times, within this place, so many people hear the gospel every Sunday, and instead of coming to Jesus, they say, well, I'm just going to wait.
I'm just going to put it off. Just going to think about other things. I'm young. I want to go out and do my thing.
And then I might come to Jesus Christ. Note what Matthew does. And he's sitting at the tax office. He's sitting with his sin.
If he is a covetous man, if he is a greedy man, if he is a money-grubbing man, he is sitting with the very idols that captivate his heart. And yet when Jesus, who has the power to enable compliance with the command, commands him, follow me, Matthew gets up immediately and he follows after Jesus Christ. Have you done that? Have you followed?
Again, we're going to tease that out in a bit. I realize it's hot. I realize it's a difficult time to receive certain things from the Word of God. But just consider, some, at least, like to go sit in the sun.
If it's not in the church, they like to go sit in the sun. It baffles me. I don't understand it. The idea being that if I can see a body of water, somehow it's okay to sit in the sun.
And I thought about, maybe you should just put a picture of a body of water on your phone and you can look at that when it gets overwhelmingly hot in here. But then I thought, no, we'd probably click on a YouTube video of a cat jumping in a lake. And I don't want you to do that. One of the things that's difficult for gospel preachers is when they go after sinners.
They come to a place like this, they got a lot of things fighting against them. Yes, the heat. Yes, time. Yes, the desire for comfort.
But a real devil, a real Satan, a real foe that is seeking to snatch up seeds planted, lest sinners hear and believe and are saved. Pay attention this morning. Please. We got maybe 30, 40 more minutes.
Don't think about, oh, 40 minutes, just pay attention. If you followed Christ. Can you see with that bride in the song? He is altogether lovely and chief among ten thousand.
I would rather be a doorkeeper in the house of my God than dwell in the tents of wickedness. What a Sabbath ethic that is, isn't it? Oh, the Sabbath, what a drudgery. Not for the psalmist.
He would rather be a doorkeeper in the house of God than dwell in the tents of wickedness. Have you followed? Have you taken up the cross and walked the Jesus path? Have you denied yourself?
Have you sought by the grace of God to pursue those things which are pleasing to our blessed Lord? Matthew did. He followed Him immediately. Calvin says the custom house has usually been a place noted for plundering and for unjust exactions, and was at that time particularly infamous.
In the choice of Matthew out of that place, not to be admitted into the family of Christ, but even to be called to the office of apostle, we have a striking instance of the grace of God. Matthew stood up and he followed him, intriguingly as well. It says, So he arose and followed him. Luke fleshes this out for us in a little bit more detail.
In Luke 5.29, it says, then Levi, remember that's Matthew, I'm sorry, so he left all, rose up and followed him. He left all. He left all. Matthew doesn't tell us that himself.
Luke, however, tells us that he left all. Why does Matthew leave that out? I don't know particularly, but perhaps the idea is this. He didn't want to draw any attention to himself.
He didn't want persons to say, you're such a great man, you left it all. You don't want to go on the testimony circuit and point himself or portray himself as this majestic specimen of a human being. You know, you hear testimonies in the life and context of the church. You don't know whether to praise God or congratulate that sinner because he's done such a splendid job.
Matthew wants that. Matthew's not going to say, guess what, I left it all for Jesus. He just did. Remember last week we considered that reality?
Jesus is infinitely worth everything. It's no sacrifice to leave earthly all for the glory of Jesus Christ our Lord. Matthew did what is fitting in light of such a great Savior.
The Supper at Matthew's House
Now notice, in the second place, the supper at Matthew's house, verse 10. Now it happened as Jesus sat at the table in the house, that behold, many tax collectors and sinners came and sat down with him and his disciples. The location, it is Matthew's house, Luke 5, 29. Then Levi gave him a great feast in his own house.
What does Matthew do? He leaves his loot. He leaves his idols. He follows the Savior.
And if we were to interview him and we asked him, how has your life fundamentally changed? Oh, I've lost everything. I've given up everything. No.
Matthew wants to celebrate. He calls together a feast. He invites the tax collectors. He invites the sinners.
He invites those like himself. to be recipients of God's grace. We ask, why, Matthew, do you do this? It's a time to honor the Lord Jesus, isn't it? I mean, if somebody does a great thing for you, don't you want to take them out for lunch?
Imagine if I pushed you out of the way of a speeding bus. You'd probably want to take me over to Chili's and have some spicy food. Right? It's legit!
We can't pay back! It's not somehow greasing the wheel, but it's a sign and a token and a symbol of our appreciation and our gratitude. He saved me from my sins. I want to gather people together.
I want to honor Him. I want to celebrate in His presence. And I want everybody to know what great things this Jesus has done for me. As well, there's an evangelistic angle as well.
What happens? Matthew invites fellow sinners. Many tax collectors and sinners sat down with him and his disciples. So Matthew comes to thank and praise the Lord.
He comes to celebrate and rejoice in the goodness of his God. And in the third place, he is there to evangelize his fellow sinners. I love the way Spurgeon captures it. He says, the new convert most naturally called in his old friends that they might have the advantage of our Lord's teaching.
They would come to a supper more readily than to a sermon. And so he gave them a feast and thus attracted them to the place where Jesus was. And it is an intriguing guest list, isn't it? Many tax collectors and sinners came.
France again says, the attentive reader of the gospel might recall the vision of the messianic banquet in 8, 11, and 12. That's when many from outside, many from east to west, would come and sit down with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. He says, here as there, the guest list is not at all what most Jews would have expected. Jesus doesn't care about what you think is good.
Jesus doesn't care what you think is acceptable. Matthew says, tax collectors and sinners come and eat with me and Jesus because I want you to make contact with this man who is able to save to the uttermost all who draw nigh unto God through him. It's interesting to look at the text. Verse 10.
Now it happened as Jesus sat at the table in the house that behold, That's one of Matthew's words. I mean, it's a Greek word. Matthew just uses it a lot. This, behold.
What he's saying is, pay attention to this. See. Look. It's underscoring something.
Matthew throws the feast and behold, Matthew invited many tax collectors and sinners to be in the presence of our Lord Jesus. Now certainly, this caused a bit of problem.
Confrontation with the Religious Leaders
And that brings us in the third place to see the confrontation with the religious leaders. Notice the nature of the complaint in verse 11. And when the Pharisees saw it, they said to his disciples, why does your teacher eat with tax collectors and sinners? These are cowardly men, aren't they?
They're cowardly men. They would fit well in the 21st century. If you have a question for Jesus, ask Jesus. Don't ask His disciples.
Don't whine to His disciples. Don't play your political games. If you have a concern or you have an issue with somebody, go to that somebody. And they're not seeking information.
They're not genuinely curious about this guest list. Does he see something in them that we've perhaps overlooked? This is a mask to cover their grumbling and their whining and their complaining. Why does your teacher eat with tax collectors and sinners?
They're cowardly men and they're men who are holding the Lord Jesus in contempt for this choice of dinner guests or for the fact that he is present with such scoundrels. Carson explains the question this way, the Pharisees question, put not to Jesus but to his disciples, was less a request for information than a charge and contemptuously it lumped together tax collectors and sinners under one article. You know, this is a blessing. The Psalter, it says that the wrath of man praises God.
Isn't that amazing? The wrath of man praises God. If you ever wonder what that means, read the gospel accounts. The wrath of man in this instance praises God.
Why? Because the nature of the complaint serves as the foil for our Lord Jesus to respond to the complaint. And when Jesus responds to the complaint, essentially He is identifying for His audience the very purpose for which He came into this world. So while they're complaining, and while they're whining, and while they're grumbling, and while they're saying, why does your teacher eat with such low lives like these?
Jesus uses the opportunity to underscore that these are the sorts of low lives that Jesus came to seek and to save. It's beautiful. Even the wrath of man shall praise God.
Jesus' Three-Part Response
Notice Jesus' response. Three Ps. His role as a physician, his appeal to the prophet, and his statement of purpose. Note in the first place, when Jesus heard that, he said to them, those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick.
Everybody understands that, don't they? When do you go to the doctor? When you feel well? No, when you're sick.
When do you need an ambulance? When you're just walking the dog and everything is cool? No, when you've been hit by a car. Jesus uses this simple proverb for simple men so that they can understand that the nature of their complaint is completely unfounded.
Why does your teacher eat with tax collectors and sinners? Jesus' first response, those who are well have no need of a physician but those who are sick. To whom else should the Savior go? To whom else should the doctor visit?
To whom else should the healer approach? It's a no-brainer, isn't it? This is why I said earlier, don't ever say, oh my sin is so bad he can't ever fix me. Jesus is the divine healer.
Jesus is the divine physician. One touch from Jesus and you'll be made whole. Belief on the Lord Christ ushers in the forgiveness of sins. That's the blessing and the beauty.
Appeal to the Prophet: Hosea 6:6
Notice in the second place his appeal to the prophet. In case they miss that easy statement, those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick, but go and learn what this means. I desire mercy and not sacrifice. Now there's a bit of a cut here, a bit of a reproof, a bit of a dig.
Now the gospel writers indicate to us that Pharisees and scribes were present. because of the heat and because I want to spend a little time teasing this stuff out. We're not dealing with every jot and tittle or every detail. The Pharisees and the scribes are who? They're the religious teachers in Israel.
They are the men that should know the law of God. They are the men that should know the prophets. They are the men that love to stand on the street corner and they love to pray when everybody can see them. They are the sorts of men that wear phylacteries and they have scripture all over them.
These are the sorts of men that look askew at others who do not know the law as they do. So for Jesus to say to them, but go and learn what this means. In many respects, it was a dig from a rabbi to fellow rabbis who should have already known. This is not an obscure text.
It's not an obscure lesson. It's not something that is cryptic. It's not esoteric. It is not hidden away from the rank and file and only available to the few.
It's Hosea 6.6. For I desire mercy and not sacrifice in the knowledge of God. more than burnt offerings. Of course they knew the text. Of course they had recited the text.
Of course they had probably given lessons on the text in the synagogue. They didn't learn it. They didn't know it. They didn't understand it.
They didn't realize that they themselves in the first century were acting just like the persons that Hosea was preaching against. The sorts of persons that prided themselves on going to the temple, and on bringing the sacrifice, and on tithing, and on all those fastidious obediences to the external requirements of the law, and yet they did it without a heart. They'd walk by some poor man lying on the street and say, well, I can't be late for the Sabbath service, I can't be late for Temple. I see that you're bleeding out of the eyes, but I can't defile myself on the Sabbath day, you know, and pick you up.
That's the sort of things that was going on or were going on in Hosea's day and in the history of Israel at most of its junctures. And this is precisely what the scribes and the Pharisees are guilty of. He says, go and learn what this means. It's our mercy, not sacrifice.
He's not saying no sacrifice ever. It's an idiom, to be sure. Certainly God told Israel, yes, I want you to have your heart right. When your heart's right, bring the sacrifice to the Lord God Most High.
Kind of like us. You know, we go through these religious motions. We say that we love Jesus. We go to church.
Our minds are a hundred miles away. We're at family devotions, our fathers opened the Bible, our minds are a hundred miles away. I realize there's a struggle and I realize there's a battle and I realize that difficulty is harder as the temperature increases. But if the fundamental defining aspect of your life is to absent your mind when the Word of God is proclaimed or taught, you've got big problems.
If you are content with the externals of Christianity, but you are not a worshipper and a lover of the Lord Jesus Christ, then you don't know Christ. It's just that simple. I was reading the prophet Jeremiah this morning, and I thought, wow, wouldn't this be wonderful if this was all of us? And again, allowing for the struggle, allowing for the difficulty, allowing for the trials, and allowing for the fact that there's an ebb and flow in the Christian life.
Is this you? Your words were found and I ate them. And your word was to me the joy and rejoicing of my heart. For I am called by your name, O Lord, God of hosts." That's not a man committed only to the externals.
I was thinking about something else this morning, too. When I was a kid, I played baseball. And sometimes the encouragement from the stands, whether it be the parents or the coaches, was to look alive out there. Do you realize to be good at baseball, all one has to do is look alive?
That's incredible, isn't it? Talk about a lowering of the bar. I don't follow professional sports, but if I did, it wouldn't be a sport that the only requirement or one of the requirements is to look alive. Brethren, in the Christian church, there's a sense where we need to look alive.
Remember one of those challenges I said when a preacher comes and he knows he wants to plead with sinners to be reconciled unto God. One of the things that at least creeps up in my mind is if I was a sinner and I was unconverted and I saw a lot of professing people of God around me and they weren't receiving the word, they weren't happy about the word, they weren't joyful about the word, I would wonder why I need to be. If they can't look alive, then why must I? There's a lot of things militating against the salvation of a sinner.
Let it not be the case that our half-heartedness when it comes to the reception of God's Holy Word, which as the Puritans and the Reformed saw was a violation of the third commandment, is to dishonor God's name when we don't open our ears to God's Word. There's an externalism that paralyzes the professing people of God. Your kids look good, you show up at the right place, you do the right things, but is there a heart for Christ? Is there a love for the Savior?
I'm not saying it has to be this mystical turn-off and tune-in experience. But can you say, praise God Almighty that He has saved my guilty soul? Now notice, in the third place, His role as a physician, his appeal to the prophet,
Christ's Statement of Purpose
notice his statement of purpose. I did not come for, he says, this is a reason, for I did not come to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance. Isn't that beautiful? The Pharisees rumble, the scribes complain, Jesus preaches the gospel.
You see a similar instance in Luke's gospel, 15-2. All the sinners drew near to him, and the Pharisees and the scribes, they grumbled, saying, this man receives sinners and eats with them. You know how Jesus answers that? He says, I most certainly do.
I do it like a man who seeks out his one lost sheep. I do it like a woman who finds her one lost coin. I do it like the father who receives back home his dead son. Christ is about saving sinners.
Christ is about saving sinners. I did not come to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance.
The Authority of Jesus
Well, in terms of some concluding thoughts, in the first place, we cannot miss the authority of Jesus here. The authority of Jesus. No other religion has Jesus. No other religion provides forgiveness and a righteousness that avails with God.
No other religion has a savior. Christianity in the first place is a redemptive religion. It's not a list of how-tos. It's not a list of go-do-better.
It's not a list of principles to have a better existence. It is the message of Christ crucified and resurrected. And all those who by grace look to that Christ will have redemption. They will be bought out of the slave market of sin.
They will be washed in the precious blood of Jesus. They will be given a righteousness that avails with God. And in that light, when by God's grace they are redeemed, that blessed Savior points us back to the law, as Pastor Cam alluded to, as Mike mentioned this morning, or stated this morning, the law then serves to instruct us on how we are to pursue our beloved God.
Marks of True Discipleship
In the second place, what are some lessons that we can draw out of this passage concerning discipleship? We're going to illustrate with other portions in Matthew's Gospel as well. In the first place, Matthew believed on the Lord Jesus Christ. Matthew believed on the Lord Jesus Christ.
Remember that Shema in Deuteronomy 6.4? Hear, O Israel, the Lord our God, the Lord is one. You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, mind, and strength. Matthew 16.16 is a bit of a new covenant Shema, a confession, the central confession of the new Israel's faith.
When Peter says to Jesus, Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God. What does Jesus then go on to say? Blessed are you, Simon Barjona. Flesh and blood did not reveal this to you, but my Father who is in heaven.
He has revealed this to you. Faith in Christ. You are simply not a Christian unless you believe the Gospel, unless by the grace of God you trust in Jesus, you believe in Him, you follow Him. That's involved in that whole idea.
What does the Confession say concerning belief? Our Confession of Faith, when it teases out the doctrine of saving faith, talks about what saving faith looks like in a whole bunch of ways, and then it says this in 14 too. But, the principal acts of saving faith have immediate relation to Christ. Accepting, receiving, and resting upon him alone for justification, sanctification, and eternal life by virtue of the covenant of grace.
So if anyone ever says to me, what does faith look like? In the first place, faith has, as its principal concern, the person and work of Jesus. I want you to believe that there was an ancient Hittite civilization. I want you to believe in the fact that Egypt was indeed an oppressor of God's people.
I want you to believe in how many cubits the east wall of the temple or tabernacle was high. I want you to believe every jot and tittle of God's holy word that the principal act of saving faith is to locate Christ and to believe on him. That's the first.
Repentance as Consequence, Not Condition
The second is that Matthew repented of his sin. Now I need to clarify something I just said that was a bit of a misstatement. I want you to pay attention here with me. Look alive.
I said that belief includes the following of Jesus. No, the belief will lead to the following of Jesus. See, salvation is by grace alone through faith alone. We need to get this.
I fear that sometimes preachers preach repentance as a work. You repent and then you will be saved. No. Because who gets credit in that arrangement?
I repented and God saved me. Faith is that aspect that is definitional for justification. Justification by faith. Now, genuine biblical faith, again, as our confession states, Faith, thus receiving and resting on Christ and His righteousness, is the alone instrument of justification, yet it is not alone in the person justified, but is ever accompanied with all other saving graces, and is no dead faith, but worketh by love." Let me explain it this way.
It's a difference between a condition and a consequence. Again, look alive. You know, every Sunday morning, or at least every alternating Sunday morning, from 9.30 to 10.30, we take pains to explain this confession of faith. So that we'll be smarter than the Arminians?
Yeah, that's a good idea. So that we'll know more than the Hyper-Calvinists? Yeah, that's a good idea. But we'll know what God's Word says concerning these most crucial issues.
I am going to cite something from our confession in a few minutes that I challenge you to find a modern devotional manual that contains as rich and practical soul-stirring, comforting Christianity as what this old dry, stodgy document from the 17th century does. We've lost our way. We look at these old confessions and say, well, it's old. If it can't be modernized, then we don't want it.
You know, maybe these men were more brilliant than we are. Maybe they made nuances and qualifications so that we didn't preach repentance as a work. That goes on all the time, brethren. Repent and you will be saved.
Believe and repent are the response to the gospel, to be sure. But it's because of God's grace They're not the condition for salvation, it is the consequence of God's gracious giving to us. God gives faith and repentance and we respond by grace to Him. It's very important and you may not think about it now, think about it someday.
There's a big difference between a condition and a consequence. I challenge you to think through that someday and understand that what we at times think are conditions are actually consequences, and if we botch that, we're going to send sinners into a tailspin. The bottom line, that was for the Christians who've looked alive, thankfully, the non-Christian. What does it look like?
Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ. And repent from your sin. What's repentance? What is repentance?
In the first place, it's a change of mind. So we look at somebody and say, wow, he stopped going there. He repented. We look at somebody and we say, oh, he stopped smoking that.
He repented. Or he stopped looking at porn. He repented. Those are the fruits of repentance.
But repentance begins in the mind. It's a change of perspective. It's a change of view. Belief on the Lord Jesus Christ will always usher in alongside of it repentance.
Because when we walk to Jesus, guess what we're leaving behind? I've said it before, when a man has walked down this aisle to marry his newly beloved bride, in my history of marrying people, I have never seen a man bringing his girlfriend along with him. I've never seen a woman with her boyfriend as she's come to meet her new bridegroom. Never seen that.
Faith and repentance. We leave, or we flee to Christ, we leave our sin. It's a very basic, simple test. What do I think about sin?
Does it still hold me? Does it still captivate me? Does it still enamor me? Is it still that which I pursue with all my heart, soul, mind, and strength?
Do I want my loot? Do I want my drugs? Do I want my sex? Do I want my whatever?
You know, not just bad things can be idols. Good things can be idols. Family can be an idol. Children can be an idol.
We don't ever want to disrupt the delicate psyche of our children. Brethren, disrupt them and bring them to church. Teach them that God's more important than they are. It's a good lesson to impress upon your dainty little ones.
Repentance, a forsaking of, a leaving of, a turning the back on. See, sometimes people say, well, it seems so confusing the way... I don't think it's confusing at all. You come to Christ, you stop your sin.
Is that hard? Really? At least conceptually, it should be easy. Practically, man, a man would rather swim through the fires of hell to pursue his lust than to come after the Lord Jesus Christ.
So faith, repentance, coming to Christ, leaving sin. In this instance, what does Matthew do? He immediately follows Jesus and he leaves his idols.
Kingdom Priority and Sanctification
In the third place, he pursues the kingdom first, Matthew 6.33. Seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness and all these things will be added unto you. You know, one of the men made a good observation. The fishermen could and did return to their trade, didn't they?
After the resurrection of Jesus, what are the fishermen doing? They're fishing. Do you think Matthew could return to his tax house? Do you think the Internal Revenue Service or Revenue Canada would be happy with the fact that he got up and left piles of loot unattended?
Matthew probably became public enemy number one in terms of the revenue of Israel's service at that particular time. They're not going to give him his job back. He sought first the kingdom of God and his righteousness and realized all these other things will be added to him. That's a kingdom priority.
It's another good sign. What comes first in your life? I'm sure we've told you at our home, at least when the kids were little, if I got my food, we'd call it IGM. You know, honey, let's pray, because that means I got mine.
I got mine. I know that most of you ladies here who have little children, you eat cold food, you eat after everybody else because your husband maybe doesn't have it as professed as I did, but an IGM attitude. I got mine. There's stuff we like and there's stuff that we hold to and there's stuff that we're attached to that gets in the way of this kingdom priority.
Where's your priority this morning? Is it Christ? Is it His kingdom? Is it the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ?
Is He the priority? Look alive, brethren. If He is, your life will manifest. In the third place, he sees Christ as altogether lovely and chief among ten thousand.
A terrible thing has occurred in the last generation or two. Persons have taken the Song of Solomon and turned it into a sex manual. That's not what the Song of Solomon is about. The Song of Solomon shows God's covenantal love for His bride, Israel.
The Song of Solomon shows, in typical manner, Christ's love for His bride, the Church. And you know how the Church sees her bride according to Solomon's song? which is the chief of his songs, by the way. I mean, Solomon was no slacker. This man wrote songs.
He wrote a lot of songs. His arm hurt because he wrote so many songs. But this is the song of songs because it extols the glory of God. And the bride says to her bridegroom, you are altogether lovely and chief among ten thousand.
See, that's how the saint sees Christ. The saint doesn't always see Christ that way, and the saint needs to work on seeing Christ that way. But the saint wants to see Christ that way, doesn't he? The saint strives to have that mindset.
The saint wants to know Jesus as the altogether lovely and chief among 10,000. He wants to pursue the Lamb wherever he goes. He wants to be about putting off sin, killing unrighteousness, and doing those things which are pleasing to his beloved. That's what Matthew has in this instance.
And then in the fifth place, and there are other things we could say to be sure, but in the fifth place, he takes seriously the doctrine of sanctification. He seeks to live in a manner that is pleasing to his Lord. So again, I don't think these concepts are difficult conceptually. Sometimes you kid, I don't really understand what it is to be a Christian.
Believe on Jesus and stop being sinful. Is that hard to understand? I don't think it is. In fact, I know it's not.
Here, it's hard when we want to sin. It's hard when we want to do things that are ungodly. The saint takes seriously the doctrine of sanctification.
Challenges Facing Disciples
In the third place, I want to highlight some challenges that face disciples. Do you think Matthew just skipped away from that tax office and never had a bad thought for the rest of his life? He doesn't tell us he did, but if he's like every other Christian that's ever lived, he most likely did. You see, when we are converted, it doesn't mean that everything just magically changes.
We're new creatures in Christ Jesus. All things are new, but there is something continuous in us. With the first Adam, we have remaining corruption. The second Adam has saved us.
He has redeemed us. And there is a time when he will transform our lowly body. But up until that time, we have remaining corruption. Romans 7, Galatians chapter 5.
There is a struggle in the Christian life. So do not take these five things that I've said and say, well, everybody always does all of these things all the time. No, they don't. Believers struggle with reference to faith.
Believers get battered. Believers get tried. Believers struggle. Believers don't always manifest repentance as they ought.
Yes, they should have a change of mind, and yes, they should leave off those horse, and they should pursue only their bridegroom. But you know what? They oftentimes stumble. Brethren, the remaining struggles for a Christian are manifold.
There are many. Remaining corruption is one of the chief among them. Take the illustration of the conquest of Israel. They went into the Promised Land.
What did God say to them? Dispossess the land of the Canaanites. Did they always successfully dispossess the land of the Canaanites? No, they did not.
There were these remaining Canaanites in the land. We have that. There's struggle. I mentioned earlier that our confession deals with this sort of thing.
Again, if you have the idea that this document is simply to promote a highfalutin orthodoxy that has no concern for anything practical, it is this that drives practical religion. Again, what manual on modern devotions ever say this? And though they may, talking about believers, through the temptation of Satan and of the world, the prevalency of corruption remaining in them and the neglect of the means of their preservation, fall into grievous sins and for a time continue therein. whereby they incur God's displeasure and grieve His Spirit, come to have their graces and comforts impaired, have their hearts hardened and their consciences wounded, hurt and scandalize others, and bring temporal judgments upon themselves. I produce or I promote this statement of faith for the practical encouragement and comfort that it affords God's hurting people.
How many times I've heard brethren say, man, this is me, I'm struggling, I'm hurting, I'm falling, I've got corruptions, I still have this sin, I'm hurting my family, I'm hurting my people. This confession then goes on to say, Yet they shall renew their repentance and be preserved through faith in Christ Jesus to the end. May I suggest, not only chapter 17, but chapter 13, 2 and 3, and chapter 18, 4 on assurance. In fact, assurance.
True believers may have the assurance of their salvation. Diver's ways shaken, diminished, and intermitted. It's a struggle. Don't ever go from your, oh, he preaches, believe on Jesus and repent from your sin.
Your life will just be filled with smiles. No, I don't. I don't think I've ever preached that. Benny Hinn will preach that.
Joel Osteen will preach that. But I doubt you've ever heard it in this pulpit. We don't preach the version of the old World War II song. I mentioned this, I think, on Wednesday night.
Put your troubles in your old kit bag and smile, smile, smile. That's not Christianity. Christianity is the Psalter 42 and 43. Why are you cast down, O my soul?
Hope thou in God. Christianity is the prophet Jeremiah crying over the abominations that are done in his nation. Christianity is the suffering and the travail and the trial that oftentimes happens with the people of God. Amazing, beautiful thing, even in the midst of those there is that joy, that peace which does surpass all understanding.
I just wanted to at least allude to 18 there. We need to understand, brethren, that there are struggles and trials in the Christian faith with remaining sin. There are struggles and trials in the Christian faith that aren't necessarily sin. We backed up a little bit in chapter 8.
Remember when the disciples are on the boat with Jesus? What happens? There's a storm. The Bible doesn't teach that when Jesus is in your life, you'll never have difficulties.
The Bible teaches just the opposite. We've seen that in our studies in 1 Samuel. As soon as the Spirit comes upon David, guess what happens to his life? He becomes a man on the run, hunted, like a dog.
The Spirit comes and the troubles begin for David. I mean, at least in the shepherd's field, all he had to deal with were lions and bears. Now he's got to face this nine-foot monstrosity named Goliath, and then he's got to face a king who wants to kill him for, you know, no reason whatsoever. So there is difficulty.
One of the final challenges that a disciple faces, and again, these are just a sketch. You ought to be thankful we're not going to flesh this whole thing out. He will never be in this life what he ought to be, but should always be thankful that he's not what he once was. Listen to what Newton said, I am not what I ought to be.
I am not what I want to be. I am not what I hope to be in another world. But still, I am not what I once used to be. And by the grace of God, I am what I am.
Doesn't that capture for the Christian where he's at? So yes, we tease out what faith, what repentance looks like in those who profess the saving faith so that unbelievers here this morning will hear the call and look and live. But we flesh out to believers that life as Christians often times is like this. Often times it's two feet forward and five back.
You get up to go back. You get up to go back. You get up to go back. And by the grace of God you go forward a little bit.
You praise Him and you adore Him and you love Him and you thank Him for that. So for unbelievers flee. Believers continue to hold to Christ.
Closing Prayer
Let us pray. Father, we thank you for your word and we thank you for your grace and we thank you for every spiritual blessing that is ours in Christ Jesus. I pray that you would give us ears to hear and hearts to receive these things and I pray for sinners this morning. They may feel picked on, God.
I hope that's not the case. I hope they know that this is born out of love and a desire to honor God with the truth and to see sinners saved by grace through faith. I pray that they would believe the gospel. We live in a wretched, wretched world.
We are filled with wretched, wretched sin and the only hope is in the Savior Christ. By your grace and for your glory, Lord God, draw men and women and boys and girls unto yourself and demonstrate in our midst that Jesus Christ has power to forgive sin. And we pray these things in Christ's name. Amen.