I'm gonna ask you to take your
Bibles and turn with me to the book of Matthew chapter nine.
Matthew chapter nine. The scripture declares, Matthew
9.9, and as Jesus passed forth from
thence. He saw a man named Matthew sitting
at the receipt of custom, and he saith unto him, follow me. And he arose and followed him. Now, I'd like for us to deal
for just a few moments tonight with this passage of scripture. that sets forth the omniscience. God knows everything. The omniscience, the distinguishing
mercy, and the irresistible power of the Lord Jesus Christ in the
calling out of his sheep. God has a sheep. He's got a people. They're in
this world. The Lord knows them, and he's
going to call them. All that the Father giveth me
shall come to me, and him that cometh to me I will in no wise cast him out. So our passage,
I'm going to look at a couple of others here, but this is the
passage I want to look at for this evening. As Jesus passed
forth from thence, he saw a man named Matthew. He was sitting at the receipt
of custom. That's what he was doing for
a living. He was a tax collector. And the Lord saith unto him,
follow me. Now, I looked at this passage
of scripture in this chapter nine, and I looked back a little
bit in chapter eight as I was contemplating where to go, where
to look tonight. My heart settled on Matthew 9,
9. But as I was looking, I was looking around at what had happened
concerning this event in verse nine. Just before, This event,
as recorded in the scriptures, is declared that the Lord had
delivered. Now, look at this, chapter eight,
verse 28, says, when he was come to the other side into the country
of the Gergeshenes, there met him two possessed with devils,
coming out of the tombs, exceeding fierce, so that no man might
pass that way. And behold, they cried out, saying,
what have we to do with thee, Jesus, thou son of God? Art thou
come hither to torment us before the time? And there was a good
way off from them, and heard of many swine. So the devils
besought him, saying, if thou cast us out, suffer us to go
away, into the herd of swine. And the Lord gave them leave.
He said there were two men. That's what the Lord says. One
account said there was a man that was possessed with the devil.
So you know what actually happened? Whatever the Lord said happened.
That's what happened. Someone says, explain that to
me. I said, I can read it for you. This is what happened. One
account said that there was a man, another account said there was
two men. So what was the way? It was the way the Lord said
it was. That's the way. That just settles my heart. We're
not here for debate of the scriptures. We could sit here and argue and
say this, that, and the other. Uh-uh. No, sir. No. The Lord had just, he had just
cast out some demons. I know that. And then right after
that, according to these scriptures, as these scriptures are written,
he had healed a man sick of the palsy. I may, Lord, I may preach
on this part of it this Sunday, maybe, maybe. I struggled with
where to go in this part right here. I didn't know exactly what,
my heart settled on Matthew 9, 9 for tonight, I might look at
this other part. But anyway, this is what Scripture
says concerning the Lord healing a man sick of the palsy. Matthew
9, verse 1, he entered into a ship, passed over. He was coming from
where? Obviously, from where he had
cast his demons out. And he left that place. They
wanted him to leave. That's what Scripture says. They
told him, they besought him to leave that place. They didn't
want the Lord around. He left, and according to the
Scriptures, the way the Scriptures are reading, he entered into
a ship, passed over, came into his own country, and behold,
they brought to him a man sick of the palsy, lying on a bed,
and Jesus seeing their faith. This is an amazing passage. This
is an amazing passage. Listen to exactly what's said.
Verse two, and behold, they, Obviously some people, some men
that were there had had a friend here that was sick of the palsy.
He had maybe some kind of epilepsy. There was some kind of, there
was something wrong with him and kind of a paralysis type
disease. And they brought this sick man,
sick of the palsy, lying on a bed and Jesus seeing their faith. the faith of the men that brought
him. The Lord saw their faith. And
Jesus, seeing their faith, said unto them, or said unto him,
Son, be of good cheer. Thy sins be forgiven thee. So this is what happened. The
Lord had cast out some demons, and then after he cast out these
demons, he entered a ship, came over, the other side, and he
healed a man that was sick of the palsy. And amazingly, amazingly,
the Lord is getting ready to now do what we're gonna look
at tonight, verse nine of chapter nine. But before we do, before
we look at that, the man who penned these scriptures that
we're looking at in this book, man's name was Matthew. This
is Matthew, Matthew chapter nine, verse nine. That's where I plan
to be tonight. Matthew is the one who penned the book. And the man's name, Matthew,
that was his name. There's something that's amazingly
wonderful about that man's name. His name was Matthew. That's
where it was a given name by his mom and daddy. It was his
name, Matthew. The Lord had changed it and began
to speak of him as Levi. I looked that up to find out
what was the difference. Matthew was his Greek name. That
was the name given him. Levi is a Hebrew name. Hebrew name, Levi. And here was
this man, his name was Matthew from birth. But the Lord began
to refer to him as Levi, that was God's name for him. And I
looked at the instances where those names were used and Mark,
now Matthew wrote, penned this book and referred to himself
as Matthew. the name given him from birth,
Matthew. Matthew referred to his name
as Matthew. But when Mark wrote about him,
Mark said this, Mark chapter four, I'll just read this for
you. Mark chapter two, verse 14. And as he passed, he saw
Levi, the son of Alphaeus, sitting at the receipt of custom. The Lord moved a man named Mark
to not refer to Matthew as Matthew, as his given name. Matthew referred
to his given name as Matthew, but Mark referred to him as Levi.
And Luke did the same thing. Luke chapter five, verse 27,
after these things, he went forth and saw a publican named Levi
sitting at the receipt of custom. Matthew was his name by birth. Matthew held that name as saying,
this is what I am, this is what I am by birth. I was born a sinner,
I am a sinner, I'm nothing but a sinner. He referred to his
name that was given to him from birth, but not the other apostles. In fact, whenever the writers
of the Holy Scriptures was moved by the Spirit of God to list
the name of the apostles. That was found in Matthew chapter
10, verses two and three. All the names of the apostles,
this is in Matthew, for sake of time, I won't read them all,
but all the names of the apostles were listed. And in the book
of Matthew, this is in Matthew 10, verses two and three, all
the names of the apostles were listed. And with Matthew, who
was pinning Matthew, 10, two to three, he was writing, when
he got to his own name, he listed his name as Matthew the Publican. Oh, the humility that is exhibited
by those that know something of God's grace. Every time Matthew
spoke of himself, He always spoke of himself in a mean and a lowly
way. He didn't exalt himself. That's
what he was doing. He was abasing himself before,
wouldn't even list himself as being anything worthy of being
mentioned. Oh, how true this Scripture set
forth by the Lord, I will be gracious to whom I'll be gracious. I'll show mercy on whom I'll
show mercy. And Matthew was one that had
received the mercy of God. But Matthew, even in his writings,
never exhibited that spirit of loftiness and prideness in him. Matthew, the publican, the unworthy
sinner, saved by the grace of God. So here is this man back
in Matthew 9, 9. That's where I want to be for
a few minutes. The Lord has cast out those demons. He's healed
that man with the palsy, sick of the palsy. And verse 9 says,
and as Jesus passed forth from thence, he saw a man named
Matthew. sitting at receipt of custom,
and he saith unto him, follow me, and he arose and followed
him. Now, I love looking at these scriptures. The longer I looked at these
scriptures, started yesterday, started looking at these, and
this afternoon when I was still looking at them, trying to just
look at the words, my eyes fell on this word, saw, S-A-W. Verse nine, and as Jesus passed
forth from thence, he saw a man. He saw a man. Now just get this
picture. The Lord has cast out those demons,
got in a boat, he came across to the other side of the sea.
He's come over that other side Friends bring a buddy of theirs,
this man sick at the palsy, and the Lord sees their faith and
heals this man, tells this man, thy sins be forgiven thee. The
Pharisees, the religious rulers say, this man blasphemes. Who
can forgive sin but God? And the Lord begins to deal with
him, and Lord willing, we'll look at that time, this next
time. And then after that, it says that after that event, that
the Lord saw, the Lord saw a man named Matthew as he passed forth. He was passing on. He saw a man
as he was passing on. I just tried to get it in my
mind. How was this? He had done those things, demons,
Healed the man, sick of the palsy, and he's passing on. He's going
out. He's walking out. That's what
it meant. As Jesus passed forth from thence,
he's leaving. He's leaving. He's leaving this
place. Now get this in your mind. He's leaving, passed forth, and
as he was passing forth from thence, he saw a man. saw this man, and I looked those
words up. He discerned. He's passing forth,
but he discerns a man. He discerns him. Here's another
one. He paid attention to. Here's
another one. He had regard. Here's another
one. I love this one. He cherished. He was leaving. He was passing
through. He was going on. He's coming
to his own city, Capernaum, and he's going on. But there's a
man sitting there, a man named Matthew, a man the Lord had referred
to as Levi, God-given name. And this man, as the Lord was
passing through, he saw this man. And this obviously was more
than just a casual glance. From what we're about to look
at for a moment, here was one that surely the Father had given
Him before the foundation of the world. The Lord had always
seen Him in mercy, compassion, and grace. And here was one that
the Father in everlasting, eternal election had given the Son to
redeem. And God sees him. He looks at
him. Beholds him. He cherishes him. There's Matthew.
Matthew just sitting there just dealing with money, doing his
thing, just doing whatever. And the Lord looks at him. Sees
him. No mention that Matthew saw the
Lord. Doesn't say that. The Lord saw
him. Matthew didn't see anything.
No mentions made of Matthew seeing him, seeking him, no indication
that there was any conviction. Matthew was doing his job, that's
all he's doing. Matthew the publican, Matthew
the tax collector. Scriptures declare that this
eternally loved but spiritually dead sinner was doing nothing
profitable for his eternal soul. There was the Lord of glory himself. And there was nothing about him,
the scriptures declare in Isaiah, that would draw the attention
of men to look at him as being someone marvelously wonderful. There was nothing about his appearance. But he saw Matthew. He looked
upon Matthew in love and compassion. He knew him. Matthew could not
have cared less. Scripture declares in Romans
3.11, there's none that understandeth. There's none that seeketh after
God. Luke 19.10 says, for the Son
of Man has come to seek and to save that which was lost. Matthew
was just doing his job. And but for the grace of God,
this man right here, Matthew, he'd have died, but for God's
grace. He'd have died, we'd have never
heard of him. But for the grace of God, he'd
be in hell today. But for the grace of God, he
would have left this world a rebel against God, but God. Oh, when it pleased the Lord. Remember, as far as everything
appeared at that time, Matthew was just a despised publican,
hated by the Jews. Usually these publicans, Tax
collectors, they were Jews, just sold out for the Roman government,
doing the bidding of the Roman government. He collected taxes,
take a lot for themselves, skim a lot off the top, and he's sitting
there. And while this man, this publican,
Matthew, while he's sitting there, time is going by. He's a dying
man, like all of us. And the scripture says, while
he was sitting at the receipt of custom, he saith unto him, the Lord saith
unto him, follow me. And he arose and he followed
him. When it appeared as though that
there was nothing going on except Matthew's job. The Lord passed
by, saw him, and said to him, follow me. You follow me. He
spoke to Levi. He spoke to Matthew. Not anybody
else. Nobody else is spoken to here.
Matthew was spoken to. Salvation is a personal matter
between God Almighty and His people. As far as we know, nobody
else was spoken to that day. As far as we know. Nobody else
said this. He was the only one, Matthew
was the only one that the Spirit of God mentioned. That the Lord
saw him, the Lord spoke to him, the Lord called him. Called him
out of the crowd. That's what you call distinguishing
grace. Personal distinguishing grace.
Grace. Powerful. Grace. Follow me. Follow me. This man was a vessel of God's
mercy, and he surely heard the voice. I thought so much about
that, that passage of scripture. My sheep hear my voice. The more I think on that, the
more mysterious it becomes. And I personally, I've said this
myself, we hear the Lord's voice in the scriptures, but you know, anybody can read
the scriptures. If you can read English, you
can read these scriptures. We hear his voice in Providence. We hear his voice in heart. I can't explain to you how we
hear his voice. My sheep hear my voice. My sheep hear my voice. There
were people there that heard the Lord Jesus Christ speak. A lot of them heard him speak
and reprimanded him for what he said. This man had said nothing to
the Lord. The first words that were spoken
was the Lord's word to him. And this is what he said, follow
me. I read that again today and I
thought there was no explanation as to what he would be doing. No detailing of anything. This man, he's busy. He's got
a job to do. He's got responsibilities that
needs to be done. And the Lord said to him, follow
me. And I love this, this is what
he did. And he arose and followed him. That's you going with him. Where's
he going? I don't know. He's going, I'm
going. That's what I want to do, that's
what I want to do. I want to follow him. The Lord calls by
grace. God's people hear. My sheep hear
my voice. I know them and they follow me. How do they follow him? I got
a simple answer. By faith. Can you explain that? No. No. Where are you? You that know
him. Where are you going tomorrow? Wherever he leads. Where are
you going to be doing? I don't know. Don't you think
you need some kind of an explanation? No. No, I don't. I believe that he rules in the
army of heaven and among the inhabitants of the earth. He
orders the steps of a good man. Where are you going to go? Wherever
he leads me, that's where I'm going. Follow me. And Matthew
got up and followed him. The Lord spoke to Matthew as
he speaks to all of his elect. When he's pleased to call them,
he speaks with authority. He speaks according to the will
of his father. That's what I like. What an invitation. We're going
to give an invitation. God doesn't give invitations.
He says, follow me. That's not an invitation, that's
a command. That's a big difference. One of them's up for debate,
the other one's not. Follow me. He came to finish the work of
his father. While I was just saying that,
I was thinking to myself, coming up about almost 22 years ago, I came to Katie Baptist Church.
You know why I came? Because I had to. I had to. I had to come here. Why did you come? Because he
called me. What did he say? He said, go to Katie. How did
it sound? I don't know. I don't know. I
can't explain that. But this is where I go. So what
do you do? Well, we follow him. We go where he says. How do we
know that the word of the Lord Jesus went forth in power? How
do we know that? How do you know? I'll tell you
how I know. It's what scripture says. The
Lord said, latter part of verse nine, follow me. And here's how
I know that it went forth in power. And he arose and followed
him. Got up and he left. Luke, account Luke 5.27 says
of this account right here. And he left all. Rose up and
followed him. Followed him. I want to go in
the direction he's going. That's where I want to go. What
if it's not pleasant? He knows that. He's already promised
me there's going to be trials and tribulations. And you're
going to go anyway? Yep. What I want to do, it's what
I have to do. I must go. The Lord asked his disciples
one day, when many of them, many in that crowd, had left and they
wouldn't hear him anymore. It was a hard saying. The Lord
asked him, he said, will you go away also? Where are you going
to go, Neil? Where are you going to go? Lord,
where shall we go? Thou hast the words of eternal
life and we're sure that you're the Christ. Matthew's heart was turned by
the grace of God and it was settled. by the Lord who rules. God Almighty. In closing, Hebrews
4, 12, it says this, the word of God is quick, sharper than any two-edged sword,
piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit, of
the joints and marrow and is a discerner of the thoughts and
intents of the heart. Beloved, this is the God that
we follow. This is the God we love. This
is the God we obey. And I pray that the Lord might
be pleased to call out His own, just like He called Matthew.
Matthew wasn't looking for it. No man seeketh after God. That's
what scripture says. The Lord called him, Matthew
heard him, Matthew followed him. I love it. I pray God bless these
words to our heart for Christ's sake.