Let us turn this morning to Matthew
chapter 9. Matthew chapter 9 and beginning
in verse 1, I'm going to read down through verse 13. And he entered into a ship, and
passed over, and came into his own city. And behold, they brought
to him a man sick of the palsy, lying on a bed. And Jesus, seeing
their faith, said unto the sick of the palsy, Son, be of good
cheer, thy sins be forgiven thee. And behold, certain of the scribes
said within themselves, This man blasphemeth. And Jesus, knowing
their thoughts, said, Wherefore think you evil in your hearts? For whether it is easier to say,
Thy sins be forgiven thee, or to say, Arise and walk? But that
you may know that the Son of Man hath power on earth to forgive
sins, then saith he to the sick of the palsy, Arise, take up
thy bed, and go unto thine house. And he arose and departed to
his house. But when the multitude saw it,
they marveled and glorified God, which had given such power unto
men. 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. And it came to pass, as Jesus
said it made in the house, behold, many publicans and sinners came
and sat down with him and his disciples. And when the Pharisees
saw it, they said unto his disciples, why eateth your master with publicans
and sinners? But when Jesus heard that, he
said unto them, they that be whole need not a physician, but
they that are sick. But go you and learn what that
meaneth. I will have mercy and not sacrifice,
for I am come to call the righteous, not the righteous, but sinners
to repentance. I want us to look today at the
calling of Matthew, the Lord Jesus Christ calling Matthew. And in this call, this call of
Matthew, we have a demonstration of what we refer to as irresistible
grace or God's effectual call. And this is just another way
of saying that salvation salvation for sinners, salvation from sin,
that salvation is of the Lord. Salvation is of the Lord in its
planning. God planned it before the foundation
of the world. Salvation is of the Lord in its
purchase. The Lord Jesus Christ purchased
salvation for his people. some 2,000 years ago on the cross,
and salvation is by application. God the Holy Spirit applies salvation
to his people. Now here are four truths I want
to bring out to us about this call of Matthew, this effectual
call, this irresistible grace. Remember the scripture says,
no man can come to me except my father which has sent me draw
him. It's impossible for man, apart
from the grace of God, to come to Christ, to believe in Christ,
to trust in Christ. No man can come to me. It doesn't say no man may. I
think sometimes people, in their mind, they just understand that
word can by the word may. The invitation, if we can call
it that, is come, whosoever will, let him come. Come, take of the
water of life. But the problem is man's depravity,
man's deadness in sin. No man can come to me, except
the Father, which hath sent me, draw him, and I will raise him
up. at the last day. Yes, no man
can in and of himself come to Christ. That's the reason we
believe the scriptures teach this effectual call, this irresistible
grace. God has a people in this world,
a people that He chose, a people that Christ died for, and each
and every one of them is going to be drawn, be brought to Christ. We have a beautiful example in
the Old Testament of a man named Mephibosheth, don't we? David,
when he was put on the throne, he said, is there any of Jonathan's
house still alive that I may show them mercy, may show grace? And one of his servants said,
well, there's a man by the name of Mephibosheth, and he's lame
on both of his legs. And he became lame in a fall.
What a picture, right? That's the way that you and I,
that all men became spiritually dead in the fall. In the fall, in the Garden of
Eden. And so what did David do? He wanted to show kindness unto
that son of Jonathan because there was a covenant between
David and Jonathan. Fetching. That's the word of the king.
Fetching. And in the word of a king, there's
power. Fetching. They said, well, what
if he didn't want to come? He wanted to come. When the king
sent word down there. But the thing is, and you know
this story. And this isn't in my notes. I
don't know how it got here. The first thing Mephibosh, first
thing David said to Mephibosheth was, fear not. And Mephibosheth
confessed his recognition that David was being gracious unto
him, that he was nothing better than a dead dog sinner. And yet David had mercy on him,
set him under his table, set him at his table, his feet under
his table and made provision for him for the remainder of
his life. Well, here's four things about
the call of Matthew. First of all, the Lord's call
is a gracious call. It may well be, we don't know
for sure, but there are those who believe this, that Matthew
was the last man that the Lord Jesus called to make up his twelve
apostles. Now, if that is the case, then
who would have expected that the last man, there's 11 apostles,
11 disciples, there's one more to make up this number. Now,
who do you think it will be? None of us would have ever thought
it's going to be a publican. It's going to be a publican.
You see, publicans, they were official Roman tax collectors. But in the eyes of their countrymen,
they were the lowest and the basest of society. And you see
even in this passage here that these Pharisees or Sadducees
said, why does your master, they asked the disciples, why does
your master eat with publicans and harlots? Publicans and sinners. Even the Lord Jesus Christ connected
those two terms together. when he spoke about publicans
and harlots entering into the kingdom of God before the self-righteous
religious crowd. Being a tax collector, we can
understand why the Jews hated a tax collector for a foreign government. We can understand that. But being
a tax collector allowed a man to steal. It allowed a man, he
had an office that allowed him to use extortion and thievery
to take from people. Now, what would cause a man,
stop and think about this, a man like Matthew, I assume he was
given a pretty good job working for the Roman government, an
official. Had a pretty good paycheck, no
doubt. But what would cause a man in a position like that to go
beyond and to steal, to extort? What would cause, what would
provoke a man to do that? Well, you know the reason. The
Lord Jesus Christ tells us the reason. It is because man comes
into this world with an evil heart. Look with me in Mark chapter
7, just a moment. Mark chapter 7, beginning in verse 20. Our Lord is teaching His disciples,
and He said, that which cometh out of the man is what defiles
the man. For from within, out of the heart
of men, proceed evil thoughts, adulteries, fornication, murders,
Thefts, there it is, thefts, covetousness, wickedness, deceit,
lasciviousness, an evil eye, blasphemy, pride, foolishness. All these evil things come from
within and defile the man. Now religion always starts on
the outside. It always tries to clean up the
outside. Put on a new suit of clothes.
Get your hair cut. walk this certain way. But the
problem is not on the outside. And all of us can look good one
to the other, but the problem that man has, and all of us inherit
this problem, we have an evil heart. And from within, out of
the heart, proceed these things. And the only cure, now listen,
the only cure is a new heart. a new heart. That's what is promised
in the covenant of grace, that God will give a new heart. And it is in this effectual call,
this irresistible grace, that a man or a woman is born again,
and in that new birth receives a new heart. Now, that doesn't
mean that they'll never have those evil desires again, does
it? Of course not. Why? Because the old heart is
not eradicated. That old nature is not eradicated. But there is a new nature, a
principle of life that cannot sin. That's what John, it cannot
sin. But still, we're living in this
body and we still have that old nature. And so there's a struggle
that goes on between a believer. I remember, and I doubt very
few believers here today have not had this same experience,
but a brother years ago, the Lord saved and he came to me
about a week after the Lord had saved him and he said, I thought
I wouldn't have any more sin in my life. I thought I wouldn't
have any more evil thoughts. Well, he had to learn, didn't
he? And the Lord taught him. And the Lord teaches us. But
this is the problem. Man has an evil heart by nature. And Matthew had an evil heart.
And this heart, this call, this effectual call, this sovereign
grace call, it's a gracious call. The scripture here says that
Lord Jesus saw a man named Matthew. Now what did he see in Matthew?
Well, he saw a publican. He saw a publican sitting there
with a heart out of which proceeded covetousness, thievery, evil
thoughts, all of those things. Now the Lord who saw Matthew
is the same Lord who once said this unto Jerusalem. under an
image. Thy birth and thy nativity is
of the land of Canaan. Thy father was an Amorite, and
thy mother an Hittite. As for thy nativity, in the day
thou was born, thy navel was not cut, neither was thou washed
in water to supple thee, thou was not salted at all, nor swaddled
at all, None I pitied thee to have compassion upon thee, but
thou was cast out into the open field to the loathing of thy
person in the day that thou was born, and, now listen, and when
I passed by. That's what's happening here. The Lord Jesus Christ is passing
by, and here's Matthew sitting at the receipt of custom. This
call is a gracious call. When I passed by thee, and saw
thee, now listen, polluted in thy blood, I said unto thee,
when thou wast in thy blood, live. In other words, when you
were lost, dead, in your blood, polluted, I passed by, and I
said, live. Did you notice that the Lord
said that two times? That he spoke when the baby was
polluted in his own blood. The Lord called Matthew when
he was polluted in sin, polluted in his own blood. His life actually,
the life of Matthew, was so much worse than the birth of that
Amorite. But the Lord's call is a gracious
call. It has nothing to do with being
worthy. That's one of the things that
all of us must be taught. We're not always taught this
immediately either. We always seem to want to look
within and say, well, what is it in me that caused the Lord
to call me? Or why would God call me? Why
would he call me in the first place? And as long as you're
looking within, You'll never have any peace. You'll never
have any joy. Because this is a gracious call. And if God's call is based upon
something He sees in us, some merit He finds in us, it's no
longer grace. Now it's justice. This is a gracious call. And
I'm so thankful. Look down in verse 13. The Lord
said, I'm not come to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance. That's the reason I'm here. That's the reason I came into
this world. This is the reason I was made flesh and came into
this world as a man, not to call the righteous, but to call sinners
to repentance. It's a gracious call. Number
two, The Lord's call is a purposed call. The scripture here says
the Lord Jesus saw a man named Matthew. Let me ask you something. Do you think that was the first
time the Lord saw Matthew? If we read this scripture, it
seems like he was just passing by and the Lord saw Matthew.
That's what it says. Do you believe this is the first
time that the Lord saw Matthew? Well, of course not. Of course
not. Before the foundation of the
world, before there was ever a star sparkling in the universe,
before the sun was ever shining, before the foundation of the
world, the Lord saw this man, Matthew. He saw him because Matthew
was given to him as one of his sheep. Matthew was given to him
as a spiritual member of his body, of whom Christ is the head. Oh no, this was not the first
time that he saw Matthew. He saw him from old eternity. And I'll tell you something else.
He saw him sitting there at that receipt of custom, and that's
the reason he came by. It was a purposed call. God purposed it. Those whom God calls, He purposes
to call. You've heard people, people have
told me, well I believe God gives everyone a chance. Salvation
is not by chance. It's not. Now it may seem like
it is to us, I remember that story that Spurgeon told, I didn't
hear him tell it, but I've read it, about those three young men
that were playing outside a church building in England years ago.
They were probably playing soccer or something, out there kicking
a ball around, and I said, what time is it? Well, I don't know.
Well, there's a clock inside that building there. Go in there
and see what time it is. Well, you go in. No, you go in.
No, you go in. So finally, I guess the smallest
one there, they said, you go in. And he ran in and looked
up at the clock, but he heard something. That seemed so, so
much by chance, doesn't it? But he never came back out. He
stayed and he listened to the message of the word of God. And
the Lord eventually saved the man. It may seem like that to
us and it's by chance, but oh no, no, no. Salvation is on purpose,
God's purpose. This was a purposed call. In
the prophecy of Isaiah, we have the Lord calling his people and
he said, I was found of them that sought me not. I was found of them that sought
me not. I was made manifest unto them that asked not after me."
There's no indication at all that Matthew was seeking the
Lord. Now, we don't know what was going on in his heart. I
recognize that. But there's no indication here
that Matthew was seeking the Lord before this time. But listen
to the Lord's words concerning another publican whom he also
called. This publican is named Zacchaeus. And this is what the Lord said
about him. The Son of Man has come to seek
and to save that which is lost. That's why he came. Like an old
preacher I heard years ago say, he's going to seek until he finds
each and every one. each and every one of his sheep.
May have 99 in the fold, but there's one missing. He's going
to seek until he finds that sheep. The third thing about this call,
it was a particular call. Gracious call, a purpose call,
a particular call. He said unto him, he spoke to
Matthew. Now, just above this we see there
was multitudes that marveled when he gave that man his strength
to walk the paralytic. But this call, and there probably
were a number of people around the Lord Jesus Christ, but this
call was a particular call. Yet, no matter how many people
there were that day, In the way, as the Lord was passing by, this
call was particular. It was to Matthew, to Matthew. It was to him alone that he said,
follow me. God calls his people through
the preaching of the gospel. We know that. Of his own will
begat he us with the word of truth. God uses the word, the
seed, in calling his people and bringing his people to the Lord
Jesus Christ. And though you hear the voice
of a man, when it's God's purpose, you
hear the voice of the shepherd. I don't understand that. I really
don't. But I know it's so because I've
experienced it. And I know it's so more than
that because that's what the word of God declares. He calls
his people. You may be the only person here
today. You may be calling someone here today. You've never heard
his voice before. No one around you knows anything
that's going on in your heart, in your thoughts. But the Lord
may be speaking to you. I pray it so. I pray it so. And he said, my sheep hear my
voice, and they follow me. That's the fourth thing about
this call. It's a powerful call. Scripture
said he arose and followed him. Luke tells us a little bit more.
He tells us that he left all. I assume he had some money there
on his table and had some receipt books or whatever you would use
in doing that type of work. But when the Lord called him,
he left all, rose up, and followed the Lord Jesus. I doubt he ever
looked back. I doubt he ever looked back.
You know that verse in Hebrews 11, speaking of those old patriarchs,
you know, if they had had a desire to go back, they would have had
opportunity. God's people, I don't have any
desire to go back to you. When the Lord saves a person
out of the hog pen, out of a hog pen. You don't have any desire
to go back, do we? Not hardly. He left it all. And this is what
the Lord Jesus Christ taught about being one of his disciples.
He said, if any man will come after me, let him deny himself,
take up his cross daily, and follow me. This call is a powerful
call because it allows a man, it enables a man to deny himself. First of all, his sinful self.
That's what we call repentance, isn't it? Repentance is a turn. It's a change of mind. And because
of a change of mind, a person turns. We deny ourself, our sinful
self. That lifestyle that we have followed
up to this point, whatever it is, the sinfulness of it, we
want to turn and go the other way. And not only deny sinful
self, but deny righteous self. Everything we had thought was
good works and made us acceptable somehow unto God, we recognize
the very best we've ever done is nothing more than filthy rags
in the sight of God. Paul said, I count it all but
done that I may win Christ. Alright, let's look for just
a few minutes at the sequel to this call. First of all, notice
in verse 10, if you will, it came to pass as Jesus said it
made in the house. Now, whose house was he in? Whose table was he sitting at
eating? Well, you know Matthew, he doesn't
tell us, but Luke does. Luke does. It's Matthew's house. It's Matthew's house. And you
know, here's something interesting. In Matthew, Mark, and Luke, we're
given a list of the 12 apostles. But in Mark's gospel and Luke's
gospel, they mention Matthew or Levi, but they do not mention
that he was a publican. But Matthew does. Look in the
next chapter, Matthew chapter 10 and verse 2-4 where we have the list
of the apostles. It says now, Matthew 10-2, Now
the names of the twelve apostles are these, the first, Simon,
who is called Peter, and Andrew his brother, James the son of
Zebedee, and John his brother, Philip and Bartholomew, Thomas
and Matthew the Publican. Who's writing this? Matthew.
Matthew. Matthew the Publican. You know, an effectual call, like we see
in Matthew, it produces a spirit of humility, doesn't it? Blessed
are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of God. He's got
nothing to say about his house, and he's not going to brag on
himself. Well, I took him home. I had a big feast made for him.
Look at me, everybody. I'm somebody. No, I'm Matthew
the Publican. That's who I am. Saved by the
grace of God. The second thing, it says many
publicans and sinners came and sat down with him. Well, whose
guests are these? Who invited them? It had to have
been Matthew. I'm not going to invite someone
over to somebody else's house for lunch. You know, you just
don't do that, do you? No, it was Matthew. It was his
house, his food, and he's the one who invited the guests. And
who did he invite? Well, he invited those that were
Closest to him, probably. Probably the only ones who'd
have much to do with him at all. Publicans and sinners. Matthew, you see, was like that
man we looked at last week, out of whom the Lord cast a legion
of demons. He began, we're told, to speak
of the great things Jesus had done for him. And that's the
same thing Matthew's doing. Matthew may have been like Philip. You know, when Philip found Nathanael,
Nathanael had some objection, and Philip said, well, come and
see. Come and see. That's all he could
say. And what better? What better
could we say? When we invite sinners, when
we invite friends and people, come and see. Oh, they're all
a bunch of hypocrites down there at that church, or any church. Come and see. They may all be,
but they preach a person who is the greatest friend of sinners. They speak about, come and see,
just come and hear, just come and hear the message. I'll tell this story. I shouldn't
probably, but bear with me. When Brenda was a teenage girl,
she invited Ray to come to service. Brother Drew Garner was her father
and pastor. And he came and then he invited
someone, one of his friends, and he said, Man didn't want
to come. Young man didn't want to come
because he'd been in services before and been embarrassed,
something like that. And Ray said, well, I guarantee
you he won't single you out and embarrass you. He won't have
everybody stand and turn around and shake your hand and all of
that. And they don't pass an offering
plate either. Well, wouldn't you know, this
man came and the day he came, Drew recognized him. Did he ever come back again?
No, never came back again. Oh my. Come and see. That's what Ray said. Come and
see. Come and see this man. And it was a little bit different
than what Ray had said. But listen. Come and see this
man. Come and see Christ, the friend
of sinners. You won't be disappointed. Come
and hear about him. And number three, the Pharisees
found fault with the Lord eating in Matthew's house with publicans
and sinners. You know, we never read of the
Lord Jesus Christ refusing to eat at any table to which he
was invited. And that's the reason some called
him a glutton, a wine-bibber. He never refused to go to a house.
He went to the house of Simon the Pharisee. And it was there
that that woman came in, remember, and she bathed his feet in her
tears. And the Lord Jesus Christ spoke
to her and said, Thy sins be forgiven thee. He went to the
house of Zacchaeus. He was another publican. He came here as he told his disciples,
My meat is to do the will of him that sent me and to finish
his work. Okay, what should you and I take
away from this history? Two things. Number one, God's
saving grace is undeserved grace. Don't ever forget that. Don't
ever forget that. God's grace is undeserved grace. And number two, those who have
experienced his gracious call, we should look for opportunities
to serve him. and do so. Scripture says if
it's just given a cup of cold water in his name to one of his
disciples, you will receive your reward. Well, I pray that the
Lord will bless this word.