Look at the conversion of two sinners. This morning, we're looking at the conversion of Matthew, the author of the first gospel record that bears his name. And then tonight, God willing, we'll look at the conversion of Rahab the harlot in Joshua chapter two. So I wanna read chapter nine of Matthew's gospel, verses one to 17, and then we'll pray and then begin.
So Matthew chapter nine, beginning in verse one. 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. Now 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. Then the disciples of John came to him saying, why do we and the Pharisees fast often, but your disciples do not fast? And Jesus said to them, can the friends of the bridegroom mourn as long as the bridegroom is with them? But the days will come when the bridegroom will be taken away from them, and then they will fast.
No one puts a piece of unshrunk cloth on an old garment, for the patch pulls away from the garment, and the tear is made worse. Nor do they put new wine into old wineskins, or else the wineskins break, the wine is spilled, and the wineskins are ruined. But they put new wine into new wineskins, and both are preserved. Amen.
Well, let us pray. Our blessed God and Holy Father, we thank You for this opportunity to gather together for corporate worship. We pray now that Your Spirit would be active in our midst, that He would give us understanding to the Word of Truth, that You would bless and strengthen our hearts, that You would build up Your people in their most holy faith. And God, may You call sinners out of darkness into marvelous light, that they may confess faith in our Lord Jesus Christ and know the joy of being found in Him. not having their own righteousness which is from the law, but that righteousness which is from you and received through faith alone.
Forgive us now for all sin and everything that darkens our minds, our hearts, our understanding, and grant us a great joy and gratitude as we come to the Holy Scriptures now. And we pray through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.
Introduction
Well, last time I preached, I'd been away for the month. It was a good time to get some rest physically. It's good to be back in our church, to be back in the house of God with brothers and sisters that we know and love. It's a great joy to see everybody.
The last time I focused at the end of chapter nine. That was the day that we ordained Ryan and sent him. to Vernon to plant the church, the Reformed Baptist church there. And in chapter nine at the end, we see that Jesus had compassion on the multitudes because they were like sheep having no shepherd. That's not just theory in the mind of the Savior, but we see it with reference to his activity in the passage that we read.
He's about salvation. He's about bringing sinners to himself. He's about that forgiveness of sins and a conferral of a righteousness that avails with God. And we see that most wonderfully here in the account of the salvation of Matthew, the apostle.
The Call to Discipleship
I want to look first at the call to discipleship in verse 9. Secondly, the feast at Matthew's house in verse 10. And then thirdly, this confrontation with the religious leaders in verses 11 to 13. They always seem to be on his heels.
They always seem to be there complaining and grumbling and whining at the demonstration of the mercy and the grace of God Most High. Now, in this particular section of Matthew's Gospel, there's not only those who receive the truth, but there is or are those who despise it and reject it. Look, for instance, in chapter 9, specifically at verse 34. But the Pharisees said he casts out demons by the ruler of the demons.
So there is this sort of mixed reception concerning Jesus and his ministry. Those who receive him, those who come to him, they have everlasting life. But those who reject, those who despise, those who forsake, will end up in hell for eternity. So Matthew, of course, is one of those who, by grace, came to the Savior.
So let's look first at the call to discipleship. Notice the setting. Verse 9. As Jesus passed on from there, He saw a man named Matthew sitting at the tax office.
He's also referred to as Levi in the parallel accounts in Mark 2 and in Luke 5. It was common for there to be two names. We have two names typically, and then our last name. We have Simon Peter, we have John Mark, here we have a Matthew Levi.
Now
Matthew's Occupation and Reputation
notice the occupation that he had. He saw a man named Matthew sitting at the tax office. He was sitting there because he worked there. Look at chapter 10 and verse 3.
Jesus calls the apostles to himself to function as servants. Notice, Philip and Bartholomew, Thomas and Matthew, the tax collector. He likely knew the four disciples that were present at this particular time because he charged them taxes. Probably they were a bit curious.
They were much like us. If I were to ask you, name your five favorite people groups on the earth today, would any of you suggest that Revenue Canada or the Internal Revenue Service would be on that particular list? Of course not. We don't like tax collectors.
They didn't like tax collectors in their generation as well. But tax collectors were notoriously wicked. Perhaps when I called out this morning, or just a little while ago, that we're gonna look at the conversion of Matthew this morning, and then the conversion of Rahab the harlot this evening, you might be tempted to think, well, Rahab the harlot is pretty notorious. Rahab the harlot is pretty wicked.
So is Matthew. And all of this demonstrates what we see previously in chapter 9 at verse 6. But that you may know that the Son of Man has power on earth to forgive sins. Not just sins in the generic sense, but particular evils, transgressions of God's law, lacks of conformity unto that law, notorious, hell-deserving sinners.
Now, they were tax collectors despised because of their occupation. One commentator, Chamblin, gives us four reasons why tax collectors were specifically looked down upon in society at that time. In the first place, they collaborated with the Gentiles. Not a good thing if you're part of the covenant community.
Second, they handled currency with pagan inscriptions and iconography. Thirdly, they took money from fellow Jews to give to the magistrate who oppressed them. So, most likely, this man, well, he was a Jew, and he's working for the Roman government. He takes taxes from other Jews and turns it over to the Roman government.
And then, as well, they were often greedy and corrupt. It was part of the job. It was part of the perks. It was part of the benefits.
You skimmed a little bit for yourself. Now, Jesus links tax collectors with sinners in Matthew 9, 10. He links them with heathen Gentiles in Matthew 18, 17. He links them with harlots in Matthew 21, 31, and with extortioners, unjust, and adulterous men in Luke 18, verse 11.
RT France 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. What's he saying? He's saying that this is not the likely candidate for salvation in God's kingdom. And yet we see that this is the very purpose for this particular account.
The crescendo comes in verse 13 when Christ gives us the nature of His mission. I did not come to call the righteous because there aren't any, but I came to call sinners to repentance. And so Christ is showing and demonstrating that he has power on earth to forgive sins, not just generally, but specifically in the case of notoriously wicked and despised sinners that lived amongst the Jews in the first century. France goes on to say, fishermen may not have been high in the social scale, but at least they were not automatically morally and religiously suspect.
Matthew was. He was a wretch. He was a sinner. He was a man in Adam.
And again, we see that connection with reference to the previous section. Verse 4, knowing their thoughts, he said to them, 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? The particular account is when those men open up the roof and they lower down their friend, and when Jesus lays eyes on him, he can certainly see that he's paralyzed, he can certainly see that he's got a handicap, but he pronounces the forgiveness of sins upon him.
And that causes the Pharisees, it causes the scribes to scratch their heads and say amongst themselves, who but God alone is able to forgive sins? So Jesus says, which is easier, to say to the paralytic, your sins are forgiven you, or take up your bed and walk? Well, it's easier to say, your sins are forgiven you, because we don't know if it actually takes place. But if I say to you, take up your bed and walk, I will show myself a falsehood and a fraud if you don't take up your bed and walk.
And that's why Jesus then says to the paralytic to take up his bed and walk. Why? Because if Jesus can do that, then he can certainly bring that forgiveness of sins, and that's the point of the passage. But that you may know that the Son of Man has power or authority on earth to forgive sins.
And so we might then say, well, okay, we've got this concept, we're not a good people, we're not the best people, but we're not the most wretched people on the face of the earth either. But what about God's grace? God's grace goes to the most wretched. And brethren, we are the most wretched.
This idea, this, oh, they're much worse than I. Now, Paul Pott and Joseph Stalin, in terms of their external crimes against humanity, were horrible men. Thankfully, none of us are following in their train. But in terms of our estrangement from God Most High, we have all sinned against God.
There is none righteous, no not one. All we like sheep have gone astray, and we're liable to God's curse, both in this life and that which is to come. And so it is a very wonderful demonstration of the power of Christ's grace to bring salvation to this Matthew, to this sinner, to this man who was an offender against God's holy law.
The Effectual Call: Follow Me
Now notice the call. Very simple. Jesus says to him, follow me. That's it.
The tax collector, well first of all, he says to him, follow me. Look back in chapter 8 at verse 22. A lot of lessons about discipleship in this particular section. Notice in chapter 8 verse 22.
But Jesus said to him, follow me and let the dead bury their own dead. He issues the same call to Matthew in this particular instance. Now, when Jesus issues this call, follow me, Jesus has the power to enable compliance on the part of the person commanded. Let me just restate that.
It's not free will that reigns supreme. Matthew is not to be commended because of his good decision that day. Matthew is not to be commended because he raised his hand when every eye was closed and every head was bowed. Matthew is not to be commended because he walked the island, came to the altar, and he said the sinner's prayer.
No, Jesus Christ has the power to enable compliance of the dead sinner. By the Spirit, He awakens them. By the Spirit, He makes them alive. By the Spirit, they receive the truth and they respond.
There's a great illustration of this in the physical realm at Lazarus' grave in John 11 at verse 43. Jesus says, come forth. Brethren, if you and I said that, there is no dead person on the face of the earth that would ever be able to comply. We're not the Son of God.
We're not the second person of the Trinity. We are not that one who has the ability in the giving of the command to enable compliance with the command. And so Jesus does this in the instance of Matthew. And
The Immediacy of Matthew's Response
now notice the actual salvation. Notice what happens after Jesus issues this call, follow me. It says in verse 9, so he arose and followed him. There's two things to observe here.
First, the immediacy of it. Notice that Matthew doesn't say, you know, Jesus, I might consider this in another 20 or 30 years. You know, a full life, I got lots of money based on my particular job. I've been prospered well.
So, you know, when I'm older and when I'm grayer and when I'm facing that 11th hour, then I'll make my peace with you. I think that's the mindset of a lot of, at least young people today and probably middle-aged and older people. They always think there's gonna be a tomorrow. They're always convinced there's another five or 10 or 20 years that they can close with Christ.
And so they delay, they put it off. In the reading today, and this was not by design, but in Psalm 96, what do we see the emphasis? He is coming for judgment. And then in Hebrews chapter 9, it's appointed for men to die once, and then what?
And then comes judgment. Brethren, we are not guaranteed tomorrow. We're not guaranteed this afternoon. We're not guaranteed another breath.
God Most High is sovereign over these things. And so immediate closure with Christ, immediate response to the gospel, immediate belief on Him is the one thing needful. Today is the day of salvation. Don't tarry, don't wait, don't delay.
Notice what Matthew does. He got up and he followed him, just like the paralytic in the previous account. Notice, Jesus says in verse 6, Arise, take up your bed and go to your house. Verse 7, And he arose and departed to his house.
The same emphasis in this instance. Calvin made the observation. He 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 only 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.
So Christ says, follow me, and immediately Matthew follows him. Don't wait. Don't delay. Don't tarry.
Don't reason in your mind, well, I've got lots of other times to hear the gospel. I've got lots of other times to close with Jesus. I'm just a young person. I've got many years ahead of me.
James countenances that mindset in his epistle. Those who boast and those who in their pride say, we're gonna go to such and such a city, we're gonna profit there, we're gonna sell our wares, we're gonna do all those things. No, if the Lord wills, you will do that. Your life is a vapor.
It's here for a time and then it vanishes. Brethren, as Jonathan Edwards famously said, there are innumerable ways of wicked men going out of this world. Do not despise the call of God in the gospel of salvation. But notice as well, we see with reference to the implications.
There would be financial repercussions of this for Matthew. Now the fishermen will return to their nets. But I suggest that Matthew walking off of his post at this particular instance, that immediately, I mean, did he put all the money in the safe? Did he return it?
It doesn't say, it just simply says, so he arose and followed him. One dictionary says, Jesus summons a tax collector to join him, must have outraged and bewildered public opinion. For Matthew himself, the call of Jesus entailed great sacrifice. He left everything.
Fishermen could return to their boats, but a tax collector who gave up his occupation had no prospect of another job, even with the skills that he undoubtedly possessed. Not a lot of transferable skills when your life has been extortion, when your life has been selfishness, and when your life has been antagonistic to the people you dwell amongst. What kind of transfer do you have there? But then as well, notice what the text says here.
So he arose and followed him. Luke gives us another vantage point for our consideration. In Luke 5, 28, it says, so he left all, rose up and followed him. He left all, not some, not just a little bit, but he left all.
And we might ask the question, why does Luke say this and Matthew doesn't? Because Matthew doesn't probably want people fawning all over him. Wow, what a wonderful guy, you gave up everything to follow Jesus. No, when we follow Jesus, there's no giving up of anything.
We are only gainers. We are only benefactors. We are only inheritors. We only receive blessing.
So Matthew doesn't indicate that he left all. Luke, however, tells us this would cost Matthew everything. He left all to follow our blessed Savior.
The Feast at Matthew's House
Now notice secondly, the feast at Matthew's house in verse 10. We know it's Matthew's house because Luke tells us, Luke chapter five, verse 29, then Levi gave him a great feast in his own house. Notice 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.
Now, why would he do this? Why do you think Levi, Matthew, would have had a feast in terms of this response? Well, I would suggest there's three reasons. The first, to honor Christ. to honor the Savior, to give glory and praise to the One who had in fact called him out of darkness into marvelous light, who had given him the forgiveness of sins, who had given him a righteousness wherein now Matthew could enter into God's kingdom.
That is a reason for us to honor the Savior, to glorify His great name. The second aspect is gratitude, guilt, grace, gratitude. What happens when you're convinced of your sin and misery and your shame and depravity? God's grace comes to you and it rescues you, it delivers you.
What's the response from the people of God? Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ. We respond with gratitude. We respond with thankfulness.
We praise God that we're no longer hellbound. We praise God that we're now included in that blessed lot from every tribe and tongue and people and nation that will be assembled in the presence of God Almighty. So he does this to honor Christ, he does this to show his thankfulness and gratitude to Christ, but he also does it to evangelize his friends. Notice the guest list, notice the attendees at this feast.
It says that, behold, Matthew himself is calling attention to this, that behold, many tax collectors and sinners came and sat down with him and his disciples. This is a great expression of what happens to those who are conquered by sovereign grace. What do they in turn want to do? They want to tell others about the Lord Jesus.
They want to teach transgressors God's ways. And that is precisely what we find in this guest list. Spurgeon said, 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 that guest list would indeed shock a multitude. It shocked, obviously, the scribes and the Pharisees, which we'll turn to presently, but it shocks many today as well. Have you ever mentioned to somebody that you're a Christian and they say, well, I know you, that doesn't seem fair.
Well, no, it's not fair. It's grace. It's mercy. It's God's loving kindness.
We hear about notorious sinners in history that have been saved, and it rises up in us to say, well, you know, that doesn't seem quite fair. We're thinking not gospel-ish. We're thinking in terms of law. The gospel is not fair.
It's the good news that Christ Jesus came into this world, sinners to save. He demonstrates his own love toward us and that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. It is a most blessed arrangement. It's not the case that any of us are going to heaven because of our good deeds.
It's not the case that any of us are going to go to heaven because we stopped being tax collectors. because we stopped being harlots, because we stopped smoking crack, because we stopped engaging in those sorts of sins. We're going to heaven based on what Paul says in Hebrews 9. He secured for us eternal redemption through his blood. In Hebrews 9.22, it says, without the shedding of blood, there is what?
There is no remission for sins. It is that once for all sacrifice of our blessed Savior, wherein we are forgiven of our sins. And it is that life of Jesus taken in its totality that is then given to us in terms of the righteousness. It's imputed to us so that we may enter into the presence of God Almighty.
So this particular guest list, these attendees scandalize the Pharisees and the scribes in that generation. And it no doubt scandalizes the Pharisees and the scribes in our own generation. Well, that doesn't seem right that so-and-so is going to heaven. Brethren, it's not right that any of us are going to heaven.
It's grace. It is mercy. It is loving kindness. It is the doing, the dying, and the rising again of our blessed Lord Jesus Christ.
If we want fair, The wages of sin is death. That is legit. That is right. That we are liable to God's wrath, both in this life and in that which is to come, is perfectly just in terms of who God is.
But with reference to gospel, God demonstrates his own love toward us in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.
Confrontation with the Religious Leaders
Now notice thirdly, the confrontation with the religious leaders. First, look at the nature of their complaint, verse 11. And when the Pharisees saw it, scribes are with them also, according to the parallel passages. When the Pharisees saw it, they said to his disciples, why does your teacher eat with tax collectors and sinners?
Now, brethren, we might be inclined to read through the gospel narratives with our own sort of mental equipment based on our cultural dealings. We might look at the Pharisees and see them as kind of bullies. They're bullies. I mean, these are the guys that kind of rain on everybody's parade.
Don't dare have any fun. They're kind of akin to the political left in our own generation. They love pain, misery, and destruction for everybody that's not them. But with reference to these men, they're not only bullies, but something else that we see in our own cultural dealings is that bullies oftentimes are cowards.
Kind of an interesting juxtaposition. A bully that is a coward. They don't go to Jesus. They don't express their discontent or their animosity to the one they've got a problem with.
Oh no, that just will not do. We're going to complain to his disciples. just like in chapter 9 and verse 3 after Jesus says son be of good cheer your sins are forgiven you and at once some of the scribes and said within themselves this man blaspheme blasphemes man up go to Jesus take your complaint to him now Later they do, increasing tension, increasing opposition. It ends up to the place where they cry out, away with him, away with him, crucify him. But in this particular instance, they're cowards.
They're cowardly bullies that are hiding behind their own ineptitude and they're going to the disciples and this is the nature of their complaint. Look it. Why does your teacher eat with tax collectors and sinners? Now, the specifics of the complaint, we can surmise what they thought of tax collectors and sinners.
They were not fans of tax collectors and sinners. They were not champions of the tax collector and the sinner. But the nature of their complaint, the target of their complaint, rather, is Jesus himself. Why does your teacher?
See, they're all about exposing Jesus as a fraud. They're all about exposing Jesus as a sham. They're all about exposing Jesus as one who is not interested in the salvation of sinners. He's not interested in the law of God.
He's not interested in any of that stuff. He's got his own sort of mindset, and we just want to neutralize this potential threat. So they whine about Jesus. and they do it in a most sanctimonious way. They are smug, they are hypocritical, they are better than everyone.
Again, there is connection with the political left today. There are Pharisees in the church today, brethren, but we have a grand example in the prime minister's office of sanctimony, lecturing, scolding. We're not as good as he is. That's the mindset of these scribes and Pharisees relative to our Lord.
Who does he think he is? Just like in the previous account. Who does this man think he is? He's blaspheming.
Only God alone can forgive sins. So hiding like little girls, speaking to his disciples, they express the content of their heart. They're upset with the attendees or the guest list at this particular banquet. The idea sure seems to be if he knew what manner of men these were, he would want nothing to do with them.
We know that from Luke's gospel. Simon the Pharisee invites Jesus over and a woman, which was a sinner, comes into that meeting place. She falls at the feet of the Lord Jesus. She weeps over his feet.
She pours out perfume on it. She takes the hair of her head to wipe up the feet. And what does Simon the Pharisee muse in his heart? He says, if this man were a prophet, certainly he would know what manner of woman she is.
Brethren, this is dangerous business when we get into the business of judging others as less sanctified as we are, as less holy than we are, as less godly than we are. The better posture is the man in Luke 18, God be merciful to me, the sinner. When we are saved by God's grace, it's not an award for our good behavior. It is a display of that grace.
We are conquered, we are blood-bought, we are trophies, and we are simply to reflect the glory and the goodness of our blessed God and not exalt our own righteousness. Now notice Jesus' response to the complaint in verses 12 to 13. It's a three-pronged response. He first speaks of his role, he then makes an appeal, and then he describes his mission.
Notice his role. Look at what he says in verse 12. When Jesus heard that, he said to them, those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick. Now again, this connects with the previous statement.
The paralytic was lowered through the roof to come to Jesus. Why? Because the friends of the paralytic knew or understood that Jesus had the power to heal him. Jesus uses a truism.
He uses a reality that even scribes and Pharisees could have gotten. The doctor doesn't go after healthy people. When you're healthy, you don't make an appointment with your doctor simply to chat and tell them how good things are. You go to the doctor when you're sick.
You go to the doctor when you break a limb. You go to the doctor when you got some, you know, niggling pain. You go to the doctor when there's a precise need. So Christ says that.
Look it. Those who are well have no need of a physician but those who are sick. The tax collectors and the sinners who came and sat down with him. They need Jesus.
They need the physician. They need healing. They need forgiveness. They need a righteousness that avails with God.
They are the ones that Christ came after.
Christ's Appeal to Hosea
Notice his appeal to the prophet Hosea, verse 13, but go and learn what this means. Before we proceed, consider what an indictment this was to the religious leadership. You don't think they had read Hosea? You don't think they knew the minor prophets?
You don't think that they had understood this particular verse in Hosea 6, 6? Go and learn what this means. It underscores this harsh reality. Persons can read scripture.
Persons, even devils, can quote scripture, but that doesn't necessarily mean accurate. It doesn't necessarily mean they understand it. It doesn't necessarily mean they comprehend it. And so when Christ does this, it's an indictment upon the leadership of his generation.
And it's a leadership that is similar in nature to Hosea's generation. Remember, Hosea is given that strange command by God to take a wife of Harlotry, to take Gomer unto himself. What's the point behind that? It's an analogy.
Hosea and Gomer are Yahweh and Israel. Hosea and Gomer are Yahweh and Israel. Israel was like Gomer. She was unfaithful.
She was a harlot. She had been given the covenant. She had transgressed that covenant. She had lacked conformity unto the law of God.
And so at the time of the prophet Hosea, Hosea is dealing with the same sort of people. And so Christ not only wants them to understand that God desires mercy over sacrifice, but he wants them to also see they're aping, they're imitating, they're just like the times of the prophet Hosea. First century Israel was a cesspool. It was not good.
That's why we have the cleansing of the temple at the outset of Jesus' ministry and at the end of Jesus' ministry. Why is he cleansing the temple? Because it was perverse, because it was wrong, because it was wicked, because the people of God, the professing people of God, professed and had their external religion, but they didn't have the heart. And that's what Christ is condemning with these particular persons.
Go and learn what this means. I desire mercy and not sacrifice. Davies and Allison say, cultic observance without inner faith and heartfelt covenant loyalty is vain. It's just like in Malachi.
Malachi was later than Hosea. Hosea was an eighth century prophet to the northern kingdom. Malachi was a post-exilic prophet to the southern and only remaining kingdom. But remember in the time of Malachi, what the people of God were doing at that time.
They were going to the temple, they were bringing their sacrifices, but their sacrifices didn't cost them anything. Their sacrifices were blind, their sacrifices were lame, their sacrifices were mangy, their sacrifices weren't going to sell at the market anyway. So go ahead, son, grab that one who lost in the fight and let's bring him to the service of Yahweh. And what's worse is that they actually stole sacrifice on the way to the temple to present that to God.
So they thought external commitment to this covenant is all that's required. As long as we dot our I's and cross our T's in the external, it really doesn't matter where our hearts are. And again, this is something parallel in our own generation. Christianity is not just a list of rules and do's and don'ts.
It's the message of Christ and Him crucified and raised from the dead. It is the message that if by grace you believe on Him, you will have everlasting life. And then you are to let your conduct be worthy of that gospel. So you're not just externally compliant to the things that God has said, but from the heart, because of the Holy Spirit, you comply happily.
You comply obediently. And when you don't, you cry out to God, please forgive me. But with reference to these persons in Hosea's age and with reference to these persons in Jesus' age, Jesus says, go and learn what this means. I desire mercy and not sacrifice.
Again, not that sacrifice is unimportant, not that we dispense with sacrifice, but it's an idiomatic way of saying. It's not only the external, but you need to bring the heart. It's not only the formal, but it's also what goes on in the inner man. And so Christ says this in an indicting way to these people.
I desire mercy and not sacrifice. In the context, brethren, mercy for tax collectors. Mercy for sinners. That woman which was a sinner in Luke chapter 7.
If this man were a prophet, he'd know what manner of woman she is. Brethren, we ought to have compassion on sinners. We ought to have a desire to see them saved. We ought to have that firm conviction that if God is able to save a wretch like me, He's certainly able to save from every tribe, tongue, people, and nation.
He's able to save those who have gone astray. He's able to save those sheep who have not followed the shepherd. And we ought to have a compassion. Again, look at the end of the chapter.
Verse 37, then he said to his disciples, the harvest truly is plentiful, but the laborers are few. Therefore, pray the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into his harvest. This idea that Christ came just to save a handful, just to save a few, just to save the frozen chosen, that's not biblical. Later on in Matthew 26, at the inauguration of the new covenant, in his blood, he says that he does this for the remission of the sins of many.
There is a whole multitude that no man can number, according to Revelation 7, from every tribe, every tongue, every people, and every nation. Compassion befits the people of God, and these men were destitute of it. Therefore, it reveals they're not the people of God. They've got externals, they've got formalism, but they have no internal heart religion relative to our blessed Savior or to his kingdom.
Christ's Mission: Calling Sinners
And then notice his mission. That's the lesson that he brings home in 13b. Notice, for I did not come to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance. I did not come to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance.
Now, if we ask the question, are there any righteous? No, there's not any righteous. Romans chapter three, there are none righteous, no, not one. Why do you think Paul says no, not one?
Because you could probably foresee, or forehear, there is none righteous, except for me, of course. There's none righteous, and then we say, but me, of course. There's none righteous, but me, of course. That's how bad we really are.
There is none righteous, no, not one. Put your hand down. Don't exalt yourself. Don't parade yourself as being righteous.
It is not a righteous people that Christ comes to avoid. It's the self-righteous. It's the sanctimonious. It's the smug hypocrite.
It's the one in 1125. You can turn there. At that time, Jesus answered and said, I thank you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, that you have hidden these things from the wise and prudent." Now, the hiding of these things in context is gospel truth. So the Lord Jesus is extolling the absolute and utter sovereignty of God Most High.
He not only hides gospel truth, but he also reveals it. And in this instance, he hides it from those who are prudent, or the wise and the prudent. And in our passage in 9.13, he speaks of them as righteous. Again, they're self-righteous.
They're the deluded. They're the ones who think that I've got my act together. I'm not a bad guy. I've never killed anyone.
I've never committed adultery. I've never embezzled millions of dollars. I've never committed bank robbery. I'm pretty good after all.
We don't see your need for Christ when you live like that. The Heidelberg Catechism says, how do you know your sin and misery? The law of God shows me. It shows me I hate God, and it shows me that I hate man.
And instead of deluding myself, instead of fooling myself, instead of trying to parade myself as something I am not, I do much better to take the tact of that man in Luke 18, not even look up into heaven, but to beat my breast and say, God be merciful to me, the sinner. So Christ does not come to call the righteous as if there's this body of righteous people out there that don't need redemption through his blood. He is speaking condemnatorily of these persons who thought that they were altogether good. They were altogether ready and prepared to go meet God in heaven.
Christ says that's not the nature of my mission. I came for Matthew. I came for tax collectors. I came for Rahab the harlot.
I came for the wretches. I came for the wicked. I came and I did and I had my being such that I could deliver them from the power of darkness and translate them into the kingdom of the Son of God's love. I didn't come to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance.
And that echoes Matthew 1, 21. You shall call his name Jesus, for it is he who shall save his people from their sin. He delivers them from their sin, not to continue in it, not to continue to transgress God's law, not to continue to lack conformity unto it, but he does deliver us from sin. And so here he emphasizes the same thing.
I did not come to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance. Look back to Matthew 11, we saw 25, notice the end of verse 25, and have revealed them to babes. Even so father, verse 26, for so it seemed good in your sight, for thus it was pleasing in your sight. Verse 27, all things have been delivered to me by my father.
And no one knows the son except the father, nor does anyone know the father except the son and the one to whom the son wills to reveal him. Now notice in verse 28, come to me all you who labor and are heavy laden. Now the labor and the heavy laden there isn't because they had a hard work week. 60 hour days, 70 hour days, 80 hour days, they were schlepping heavy bales of hay all the time and doing that and they were just labored and heavy laden. He's talking about sin.
He echoes the psalmist in Psalm 130, out of the depths I have cried to thee, O Lord. What's the nature of the psalmist's distress? He indicates it in verse 3. If thou, Lord, should mark iniquities, O Lord, who could stand?
But there is forgiveness with thee that thou mayest be feared. The sorrows that the psalmist found himself in, the heavy laden and burdened and laboring sinners that Jesus speaks to in Matthew 11. They're not just hard workers physically. They're under the burden of Pharisaic religion where there is no gospel. and they're under the burden of their own sin, which is a harsh taskmaster, which is a life indeed of slavery and depravity.
And then verse 28, come to me all you who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls, for my yoke is easy and my burden is light. or the lesson punctuating the account of Zacchaeus and our Lord Jesus. Remember, Jesus is passing through Jericho. More about Jericho tonight in Joshua chapter 2.
But Jesus is passing through Jericho and Zacchaeus is a wee little man. You probably sang that song when you were in Sunday school. Zacchaeus was a wee little man. He couldn't see because of the press of the crowd.
So what does he do? He climbs up into a tree so that he can see the Savior. And lo and behold, the Savior stops at the foot of the tree and tells Zacchaeus, make haste, come down, because I'm going to have dinner at your house tonight. So what happens?
Everybody grumbles. Everybody complains. Human nature isn't different. There is nothing new under the sun.
We'd be right there at the base of that tree going, that's not fair. I pay my taxes. I cut my lawn. I do my thing.
And yet he's never offered to come to have dinner at my house. Why is he going to Zacchaeus' house? What's the point? The son of man has come to seek and to save that which is lost.
Luke 15, the scribes and the Pharisees, they murmur, they complain, they grumble. Why? Because all the tax collectors and sinners drew near to hear him. And so they say, this man receives sinners and eats with them.
I suggest, brethren, that every sinner there had their ears pointed to Jesus to hear how he's going to answer that charge. Does he receive sinners? Does he eat with them? Yes, he does.
He's like the shepherd who loses the one sheep and he goes and he finds it. He's like the woman who loses the one coin and she goes and finds it. He's like the father who receives the prodigal unto himself and confers upon him benefit and blessing and good provision. Christ does receive sinners and he eats with them.
And that's the point here in Matthew chapter 9 as well. Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick, his role. But go and learn what this means. I desire mercy and not sacrifice, his appeal to the prophet.
And for I did not come to call the righteous but sinners to repentance. The underscoring or the highlighting of His mission in terms of the salvation of all that the Father had given Him, such that they would end in everlasting life.
Marks of True Discipleship
Now, in conclusion, just a couple of thoughts. And as I said, we have in the passage around us various lessons on discipleship. So I want to kind of cull some of that together quick. We're not going to be here much longer, but bring that together in terms of the disciples of Christ.
So one of the emphases in this section of the gospel narrative, again, to show the divided sort of reception or rejection of our Lord Jesus, you got the scribes and the Pharisees, and then you got the tax collectors and the sinners. But as well, to underscore what it is to be a disciple. What does it mean to be a disciple? I think at times we get this wrong.
Go out and obey, and then God will save you. Now that's every other religion under the sun. The religion of Christ is by grace, believe and you will be saved based on what Jesus has done. And then you live in a manner that is according to that.
But
Believes the Gospel
in the first place, the disciple of Christ, I'm using he. If that triggers you and you wanna cry, then go do that elsewhere. He is encompassing of he and her. He believes on the Lord Jesus Christ.
That's what it means to follow in the context. Follow me. Matthew had a revolution. Matthew had a radical reorientation.
Matthew went from his stacks of money on the table, no doubt some which was earmarked for his own benefit, to following Jesus. The disciple is one who by grace has believed the gospel of Jesus Christ our Lord. So God willing, as long as this pulpit is in place, you will not hear, do this and you will live. That was the demand of the covenant of works that Israel was placed under.
In the new covenant, Christ did this such that we may live. It is most blessed. Believe on him and you shall be saved. So the disciple is one who believes the gospel.
Repents, Rejoices, and Pursues the Kingdom
Secondly, he repents of his sin. Matthew 4, 17, Jesus announces the coming of the kingdom and he says, repent for the kingdom of heaven is at hand. Now, certainly Matthew immediately responds. He left all, Luke 5, 28, and now he follows the Lord Jesus Christ.
So there's faith in Christ and there's repentance unto life. Thirdly, he rejoices in the Savior. Now, brethren, this may not be as sort of symptomatic of your response as perhaps it could be. You know, sometimes we struggle perhaps with expressing that joy and gratitude and thankfulness at what God has done in our lives.
If that is the case, we need to change. We need to get better at it. We need to join David and say, bless the Lord, oh my soul, and all that is within me, bless his holy name. Bless the Lord, oh my soul, and forget not any of his benefits.
We need to be a grateful people. Fourthly, he pursues the kingdom first. You see that in Matthew 6.33. Seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and then these things will be added unto you.
Again, just some marks of a discipleship as we see them in Matthew's gospel. Fifth, he sees Christ as altogether lovely and chief among 10,000. It's the language that the bride uses of her man in the Song of Solomon. It's, again, typical of what we find in Yahweh and Israel and in Christ and His church.
She calls him altogether lovely and chief among 10,000. Turn over to the parables of the kingdom in Matthew chapter 13 to see this emphasis on calling him altogether lovely and chief among 10,000. 1344, again, the kingdom of heaven is like treasure hidden in a field, which a man found and hid. And for joy over it, he goes and sells all that he has and buys that field. Again, the kingdom of heaven is like a merchant seeking beautiful pearls, who when he had found one pearl of great price, went and sold all that he had and bought it.
In other words, Christ is everything. Christ is altogether lovely, chief among 10,000. Look at 17.5, the father echoes this. 17.5, while he was still speaking, behold, a bright cloud overshadowed them. And suddenly a voice came out of the cloud saying, this is my beloved son in whom I am well pleased, hear him.
Brethren, if we've been conquered by the grace of God in and through our Lord Jesus Christ, applied by the Holy Spirit, then we're going to be a happy people, a joyful people, and we're going to see Christ as altogether lovely and chief among 10,000. But as well as we consider the surrounding context in Matthew's Gospel, we notice sixthly that he still experiences hardship in this life. You know, there's something called the health, wealth, and prosperity gospel. It's not gospel.
It is not gospel at all. It does not jive with the teaching of the Bible. It does not jive with the reality that Jesus, though a son, learned obedience through suffering. It does not jive with the experience of the apostle Paul.
It does not jive with the experience of probably most of the apostles. It doesn't jive with the experience of God's people. Life today is not all health, wealth, and prosperity for God's children. He still experiences trials even though Jesus is with him.
You see that previously in Matthew chapter 8. Remember, Jesus is in the boat. along with the disciples, Jesus is asleep in the boat, while the disciples are fearful at the waves and the tumult that they're going to perish, they're going to die, they're going to suffer. What does that show us? That even if Christ is in the midst of the boat, there's still trouble.
This idea that we're going to walk through life unscathed, that we're going to march through this lower world without any problems, it's not biblical. There's heartaches, there's hardship, there's trial, there's affliction. We read about several in the prayer meeting this morning. Again, the emphasis is typically now on government oppression of religious people.
The government is making things very difficult for God's people in this world. So when we respond, when we see that, we're not to lose our minds, we're rather to find our help in God Most High. As well, he still struggles with remaining corruption. Later on in Matthew chapter 26, Peter swears his fealty to the Master.
I will follow you, I will go, I will die with you. In the next scenario, at the end of the chapter, Peter is denying the master to a slave girl. 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. And here I quote John Newton, the man who wrote Amazing Grace, how sweet the sound that saved a wretch like me.
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. Amen. That is most excellent, most blessed. And finally, in terms of discipleship,
Perseveres to the End
he follows Christ perseveringly until the end. So he doesn't say to Matthew, follow me. And when things get tough, when things get difficult, when afflictions come your way, Matthew, you go ahead and go back to your money in the tax office. Following Jesus is a lifelong pursuit and a most blessed one.
Again, altogether lovely, chief among 10,000. We press on by the grace of God. We press on by the presence of the Spirit in us. We do what God calls us to do, not perfectly, not beautifully, not magically, but perseveringly.
I think our confession has a wonderful statement on perseverance. Those whom God has accepted in the Beloved, affectionately called and sanctified by His Spirit, and given the precious faith of His elect unto, can neither totally nor finally fall from the state of grace, but shall certainly persevere therein to the end, and be eternally saved, seeing the gifts and callings of God are without repentance, whence He still begets and nourishes in them, faith, repentance, love, joy, hope, and all the graces of the Spirit unto immortality. And though many storms and floods arise and beat against them, yet they shall never be able to take them off that foundation and rock which by faith they are fastened upon. The power isn't in us.
The power is in the rock. Notwithstanding through unbelief and the temptations of Satan, the sensible sight of the light and love of God may for a time be clouded and obscured from them. Yet he is still the same. And they shall be sure to be kept by the power of God unto salvation, where they shall enjoy their purchased possession.
They being engraven upon the palm of his hands and their names having been written in the book of life from all eternity. Praise Almighty God that he who begins a good work in us shall complete it unto the day of Christ. And if you're not a believer here this morning, I leave you with verses 12 and 13. Christ's function, Christ's role.
He doesn't come to call or he doesn't come to heal the well. He comes as a physician to sin sick souls. If you are a sin sick soul today, look unto the great physician. He wants us all to understand He desires mercy over sacrifice.
He wants us to have a compassion and a desire to see man rightly connected to God through faith in our Lord Jesus. And let this resonate with you over lunch today, over this afternoon, and God willing, in the coming week. The Son of Man came. to seek and to save that which was lost. The Son of Man did not come to call the righteous, but rather sinners to repentance.
If you're a sinner, listen to Joseph Hart and take it to heart. He says, comet ye sinners, poor and wretched, weak and wounded, sick and sore. Jesus ready stands to save you, full of pity joined with power. He is able, he is able, he is able, he is willing, doubt no more.
Blessed be God for the great mercy that we have in the gospel. And that mercy is available to sinners who by grace call upon him in faith.
Closing Prayer
Well, let us pray. Our Father, we thank you for your word. We thank you for the clarity of this particular account and how it demonstrates the power of Jesus in the forgiveness of sins. And as sinners, we rejoice.
We are thankful. We want to express even more gratitude for what you have done in our lives, not only forgiveness, but a righteousness that avails with you. God bless the preaching of the gospel today, may it run swiftly and be glorified, and may it accomplish the purpose for which you sent it, the salvation of sinners, the edification of saints, and ultimately the glory of God most high. And we pray in Jesus' name, amen.
Well, let's stand and sing the doxology in praise to our God, number 568 in your hymn book. ♪ Praise God the Lord, all blessings flow ♪ ♪ Praise him, all creatures, give thee love ♪ ♪ Praise him, God of peace ♪ Praise God whose Son and Holy Ghost. Amen. May the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ and the love of God and the communion of the Holy Spirit be with you all. Amen.
Father, help us to glorify you today. Give us grace to rejoice in the goodness of our God. And may we bring glory to your great name. Bless this local church, bless all of our brothers and our sisters and be glorified in our midst.
And we pray through Jesus Christ, our Lord. Amen. Well, please be seated for a brief time of meditation.