turn with me to the book of Matthew
chapter 9. Matthew chapter 9. I'd like to look at verses 9
to 13. Before I begin, I want to say
that this passage of scripture is one that sets forth two marvelous
truths. Number one, the certainty of
the distinguishing grace of God. And God's grace is distinguishing. And secondly, it declares the
power and the evidence of God's quickening grace. The surety
of distinguishing grace and the surety of God's power in the
giving, granting, bestowing of that grace. Now let's consider
the certainty of God's distinguishing grace. And when I say distinguishing
grace, you know what that means. The Lord told Moses, I will have
mercy on whom I'll have mercy. And I will have compassion on
whom I'll have compassion. Now this passage of scripture
is actually the testimony, the personal testimony of this man,
Matthew. Matthew was a recipient of the
grace and the compassion of Almighty God. But here's what I want to
know. How do we know that this man
was a vessel of God's grace? How do we know? How do we know
that Almighty God eternally loved this man? How do we know that? Well, I can tell you this, it
has something to do with what the Lord said to him and then
what he did. Now let's look at this passage. Matthew 9, 9 to 13. 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. 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 behold, need not a physician, but they
that are sick. Go ye, but go ye, and learn what
that meaneth. I will have mercy and not sacrifice,
for I am not come to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance."
Now the writer, the one that penned this book, is the one
being spoken of, Matthew. And here this man declares that
Almighty God came and looked upon him. Verse 9, and as Jesus
passed forth from thence, he saw a man named Matthew. But what would give us any idea
Again, that this man was one that the Lord beheld in love. What makes us think that this
was one that the Lord eternally had delight in? That this man
was part of the Lord's mystical body. A particular man that Christ
ever knew in mercy. How would we know? That He was
chosen by the Father from before the foundation of the world.
That He should be holy and without blame before God in love. How
do we know He's one of the sheep? How do we know God's sheep? What is the mark? What is the
sign? What is that characterizes the
sheep of God? Well, the first thing I know
is this. Matthew was not seeking the Lord. Romans 3.11 says there's none
that seek after God. The Lord was the one doing all
the seeking. The Son of Man, the scripture
says, has come to seek and to save that which was lost. And
there's no mention that Matthew was under any deep conviction
of sin or even being aware of his need of Christ. That's how
God Almighty finds his sheep. They're doing just exactly what
Saul of Tarsus was doing. Rebelling. Going in the opposite
direction. Resisting. And the scripture
declares that this spiritually dead sinner was doing just exactly
what he was hired to do. He was sitting at the receipt
of custom, a place of unjust transactions. But the scripture
says as Matthew was sitting there, the Lord Jesus passed forth He
did just exactly what, for Matthew, what he did for that woman at
the well, the woman of Sychar. He must needs go through Samaria.
Why? There was a woman there that
the Lord was going to show mercy, call her out of darkness. So
here the Lord, He passed forth and He came right by this man. Sitting there and the Lord said
unto him, follow me. He spoke to one man. One man
in particular. Salvation is a personal matter
between God Almighty and His people. The Lord did not say
anything to the crowd. He did at one time. He cried
in that last day of the feast, that great day, If any man thirst,
let him come unto Me. Out of his belly will flow rivers
of living water. If you thirsty, come. Oh, but
now here, that general call, not this one. He came by this
man and he said to Matthew, follow me. And the words of the Lord to
Matthew were very revealing because those particular words revealed
the Lord's attitude toward Matthew. Those specific words, follow
me. Hold your place right there and
turn to John 10. John chapter 10, verse 1 to 4. The Lord said, Verily, verily,
truly, truly, I say unto you, he that entereth not by the door
into the sheepfold, but climbeth up some other way, the same as
a thief and a robber, He that entereth in by the door is the
shepherd of the sheep. To him the porter openeth. This is sheepfold. Actually, when you look at that
word sheepfold, it's the yard. It's the yard. Just a yard. They'd have these sheepfolds
in these cities, and all of the shepherds would all bring their
sheep. They'd all be in there. It'd all be that particular shepherd's
sheep. And they're running around. They're
all in there. They're all mixed up. This is a sheep. It's a yard. It's a holding pen. That's what
it is. It's just a holding pen. And all the sheep look like all
the sheep. They look like, you know, they're
just like sheep. But then something happens when the shepherd, he
comes in. He enters into that sheepfold. into that yard, he comes into
this world, into this yard that's a holding place. And all of the
mixed up, he's got some sheep in the midst of him. They look
just like anybody else. They've got the same attitude
as anybody else. They're all fallen creatures
of the dust. But something happens when he
calls and he calls in particular When he calls his sheep, all
of a sudden, you begin to see that sheep that recognizes the
voice of his master. He that entereth in by the door
is the shepherd of the sheep. To him the porter openeth, and
the sheep hear his voice. And he calleth his own sheep
by name, he leadeth them out. And he put forth his own sheep,
he goeth before them, and the sheep follow him. They know his
voice. His voice are these words right
here. And when the sheep hear the gospel of God's free grace
preached, they recognize the voice of the Master. And this
sheep right here was sitting there. And the Lord walked by
him, this one of his sheep. And he says to one of his sheep,
follow me. Look at verse 27 of John 10.
I know, I know, he said, my sheep hear my voice and I know them.
He's always known them. And they follow me. That's the characteristic of
a sheep. They follow him concerning His
Word, concerning His will, concerning His purpose. They follow Him. He's here to get His sheep. That's
what He's doing. Look at John 6. John 6, 37 to
40. John 6. We read this so many times. that the Father giveth me shall
come to me, and him that cometh to me I will in no wise cast
out. For I came down from heaven not to do mine own will, but
the will of him that sent me. And this is the Father's will,
which has sent me, that of all which he hath given me I should
lose nothing, but should raise it up again at the last day."
So here Matthew is sitting at the receipt of custom, doing what He's doing, just like
all of us, that's what we were doing. Just doing our jobs, going to
our little places, you know, worship. Some of us from this
place, some of us from that place, but when it pleased God, the
Spirit of God was pleased, He put His sheep under the sound
of the gospel and sent them a faithful preacher. a preacher that God
had taught something, a preacher that knows something of himself,
just an earthen vessel, but there's a treasure in that earthen vessel. And he preaches the message,
the message of Christ. In the Spirit of God, when it
pleases Him, they hear the Master say, through the preaching of
the Gospel, follow me. And when God is pleased to call
them, They hear, give some ears to hear, eyes to see, and the
scripture says this is exactly what this sheep did. The scripture
says, and he arose and followed him. Luke's account, Luke 5.28,
it says he left all, rose up, and followed him. Left what he was doing, abandoned
it. When it comes to a place in a
man's life, I told you, Walter Groover told me this one time,
never forgot this. I remember where I was when he
told me this, exactly where I was. I asked him, Walter, what will
cause a man to give up? Walter was very successful. He
was an engineer there in Texas, oil, gas industry. I said, what
will cause a man to give up what he's doing? Successful job. livelihood for his family. What
would cause a man to leave that and go to Mexico and go through
all of that you've gone through? He said, when it becomes more
important than what you're doing. I thought that's it. The Lord
called Matthew. He said, follow me and I'll tell
you what was more important to Matthew than collecting taxes. To follow Christ. follow after
Him. Now that word came to this vessel
of God's mercy, not as a suggestion, not as an invitation, not as
a request. This word was from the mouth
of Him that said, let there be light. And there was light. Light was. That word the scripture
says from His mouth is, according to Hebrews 4.12, it's quick. It's alive. And when God is pleased
to call one, they move. They hear. They obey. It's alive being from Him who
is life and it's powerful. What does that mean? Brother
Scott used to say it gets the job done. Able to accomplish
or produce the will and purpose of the Lord. And it's sharper. This so intrigued me. I was looking
at these words and it said, it's sharper than any two-edged sword. And I just had to look that up,
Neil, and just see what exactly is that? I've read that scripture
so many times. What's it saying? Sharper than
any two-edged sword. Able to cut, devour, and penetrate
even the dead and cause those in a state of depravity by the
impartation of life to hear. Saul, Saul, why persecutest thou
me? What was Saul doing? He was persecuting
God's people. That's what he was doing. And
the Lord took it personally. You're doing this to me. You
do this to the least of one of these my brethren. You did it
to me. The scripture says that the word
of God is piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul and
spirit and of the joints and marrow. Able to penetrate to
the dividing line between the breath of physical life and immortal
spirit. Now how close is that? Where is that line? Able to reach
to the most intimate and accurate knowledge of man's most hidden
parts, feelings, thoughts. distinguishing what is spiritual
from what is just carnal and animal in a man. I mean, we've
got a life, a spirit, and when we die, that animal spirit is
gone, but that soul is still alive. The Word of God is quick,
is powerful, sharper than any two-edged sword, and is a discerner
of the thoughts and intents of the heart. It's a discerner of
the thoughts and the purposed intents of the heart. And they're
brought to view by the word of God. What am I thinking? God knows. And He knows my intent too. So
I'm not hiding it. You may not know it, but He does.
What am I purposing? He knows. Where is that dividing
line? I don't know, but he does. This was and is the power of
the word that came from the mouth, the heart of the Lord Jesus Christ
to Matthew and to every one of the recipients of his mercy and
compassion. He saith unto him, follow me,
and he arose and he followed him. made willing in the day
of God's power, with that word, that power and authority from
God, quickening power, spiritual life that was lost in the garden. God instantaneously gave him
a new heart. Just changed him. Almighty God
gave him a new spirit and a will, an old stony heart was removed
He did the only thing he could do. He followed the Lord. Followed after Him. What are
we going to do? I'll show you. Providence will
dictate. Just wait. Wait on the Lord.
In one moment, a spiritually dead sinner raised to spiritual
life in Christ, made to be a partaker of the first resurrection, that
is, Regeneration. That's the first resurrection.
Raised to life. One moment he was blind, now
he'd see. One moment he was deaf, now he
can hear. What he couldn't see or hear
before because of sin's dominion, now he hears. He hears the voice.
And he hears the voice as every regenerated sinner does. He hears
the voice of the master every time the gospel is preached.
They hear it every time. And it's just they recognize
it and they're listening for it and they're watching for it. They don't want to hear the voice
of a stranger. Don't tell me God's trying the
best He can do. Don't tell me that God will accept
the best I can do. Don't tell me that. That's not
the voice of the Master. You tell me what He's done. Tell
me what He's done for this needy sinner right here. Tell me what
he's done for one that could do nothing for himself. And I'm
telling you, this man instantaneously fell in love with the Master. We think that thief thought when
God opened his heart. One moment he's railing on the
Lord just like the other one, and the next moment, bam! He
looks at that other one and he said, wait a minute, don't you
fear God? We're getting just exactly what
we deserve. This man's done nothing. Nothing amiss. Lord, when you
enter into your kingdom, and you think, you know, we're
gonna be doing that pretty quickly. We're gonna be leaving this world.
Is that the desire of your heart? I pray it is mine. Lord, when
you enter into your kingdom, would you remember me? Lord,
would you remember me in your everlasting covenant of grace?
Lord, have mercy on me. Lord, don't leave me to myself.
Lord, I'm so proud and arrogant. I just, Lord, please forgive
me. And then scripture says, having
been the recipient of the mercy of the Lord Jesus Christ, the
scripture says that verse 10, it came to pass as Jesus said
it meet, In the house, behold, many publicans and sinners came
and sat down with him and his disciples. Now this was at Matthew's
house. The reason I know that holds
you in place. Luke 5, 27, this particular account,
Luke 5, 27, tells us exactly where it was and who gave the
feast. Luke 5.27, after these things,
he went forth and saw a publican named Levi sitting at the receipt
of custom, and he said unto him, follow me. And he left all, rose
up, and followed him. And Levi made him a great feast
in his own house. And there was a great company
of publicans and of others that sat down with them. So immediately,
what Levi, Matthew, did was he threw a feast. The Lord had called
him out of darkness, and Matthew had a big dinner, and he wasn't
ashamed of his association with Christ or his disciples. He asked
them, you know, before he didn't want to have anything to do with
them. Cut them off. Don't be with them. And all of
a sudden now, y'all come on over. Come on over to the house. The
Lord had delivered him out of the bondage of sin, called him
by power and grace to leave his former vocation. And now Matthew
makes a great feast. It's a beautiful picture. marvelous
marriage feast of the Lamb. God inviting His guests and those
that be like Himself. He needed to hear from the mouth
of that conquered rebel. He heard of His love and affection
for the Lord and for His people. Now, isn't that the desire of
the sheep? We know that the Lord has an
elect, but we don't know who they are. The Lord commissioned
His disciples He's going to all the world and preach the gospel
to every creature. Matthew threw a big feast, wanted
to tell his friends, some publicans. That's who he invited, that's
who he invited. The dregs of society, you know,
came to pass. Behold, many publicans and sinners
came, sat down with him and his disciples. Now Matthew's wanting
them to hear. I want y'all to hear. Like that
woman at Sychar. After the Lord revealed Himself
to her and she went back into the city and told the men, she
said, come see a man that told me everything ever I did. Is this not the Christ? Matthew
had this great feast and all of those that were like himself,
he knew what he was by nature and he sat down. Just a bunch
of sinners. This is what we are. We're just
a bunch of sinners that God has been pleased to show mercy to
whomsoever He will. That's what, what do we have? What do we have that the Lord
has not given us? To give us this blessed privilege
to be able to meet here on a Wednesday night, as I've said before, who
would come and take a Wednesday night and just come to hear somebody
say basically the same thing they've heard him say for 16
and a half years. Who would do that? Only those
that want to hear the voice of the master one more time. Just
tell me once again what he's done for me. But as the case
often is, where the Lord's mercy has been shown as opposition
to the giver of life and his gospel and his people, Look at
verse 11, when the Pharisees saw it, they said unto his disciples,
boy, this is real revealing right here, why eateth, now look at
the wording, your master. Why eateth your master with publicans
and sinners? These Pharisees didn't consider
themselves to be part of that lot. They are the ones which
are spoken by the Spirit of God in Isaiah 65 5 which say, Stand
by thyself, come not near me, I'm holier than thou. Don't associate with me, that's
just a bunch of sinners over there. This is the heart, the scripture
says, of a Pharisee. Two men went up into the temple
to pray, the one a Pharisee, the other a Republican. The Pharisee
stood and prayed thus with himself, God, I thank Thee that I'm not
as other men are. You know, isn't that revealing?
I'm just not like everybody else. Aren't you glad that God has
shown us what we are by nature? I'm not an extortioner. I'm not
unjust. I'm not an adulterer, I'm not
even like this publican. He just gave all of his credentials
of how self-righteous he was, how holy he really was. And the
publican standing afar off would not lift up so much as his eyes
unto heaven, but smote upon his breast, saying, God, be merciful
to me, a sinner, a sinner. What a title. Somebody said,
I know I've told some of you this, I had an uncle in Louisiana
and he came up to me one time and he told me after he heard
a man preach the gospel, he came up to me and he said, I will
never come back here again, never. He called me a sinner and I'm
not a sinner. Well, you just disqualified yourself
from any mercy from God, because that's who Christ came to save.
He came to save sinners. But scripture says concerning
that Pharisee and that publican, one of them went down justified. The other one didn't. In verse
12, but when Jesus heard that, why eateth your master with publicans
and sinners? But when Jesus heard that, He
said unto them, They that behold need not a physician, but they
that are sick. You notice that the Pharisees
were speaking, they were actually speaking to the Lord's disciples,
but the Lord heard it. Why? Because He's God. He's omniscient. That means He knows everything.
Peter, lovest thou me more than these? Thou knowest all things,
Thou knowest that I love Thee. These men were speaking, and
they didn't think that God heard. They didn't think He was God.
They think that their comments against the Lord, against His
gospel, against His people, they think they're private. They think
they're secret. They think that they're hidden
from any knowledge, but the Lord knows and hears, and they're
revealed. And hearing their comments, he
rebuked them. He told them, he said, they that behold those
who trust in themselves that they're righteous. You don't need me. You don't
need me. You don't need a physician. Not
only was his word to the Pharisees a rebuke for their arrogant thoughts,
but it was a word of comfort and instruction to the publicans
and sinners there. those that were made to realize,
I need a physician. Now, let me ask you something. We who know the Master, we who
have cast ourselves upon the Master for life, do we still
need the physician? Right now. Right now. Lord, forgive me. Lord, help me. Guide me. Lord, keep me. They that are
sick, they need the physician. They're sensitive of their guilt,
their need of deliverance, and they know they can't help themselves.
That's the ones, I said a moment ago, the ones that Christ came
to save. You know, a proper place, I've
been in the hospital now for the last three days. Last three days. And you know,
I'm going to tell you, there's two different kinds of people
there. There's some sick ones, and there's some there that are
doing their job to help those that are sick. This is what it's
all about at that hospital. There's no art shows going on
there. Didn't see one. But I'll tell
you what it is. There's a lot of people working
together trying to help some sick folks, trying to find out
what's going on, a proper place for a physician would be where
sick folks are. The Lord said, those that are
well, you don't need a physician. As far as I know, right now,
as far as I know, I don't know of anything right now that's
wrong with me. That doesn't mean it's not, that
there's not something wrong, it just means I just don't know
it. But I'm telling you, When something manifests itself and
I think, you know what, I better go check that out. You know where
I'm going? I'm going to a doctor. I'm going to go to a doctor.
That's what I'm going to do. And I want to go get checked
and I want to find out what is this. Tell me what it is because
you might as well go ahead and tell me because I'm going to
assume the worst. That's what I'm going to do.
So let's go ahead and just get it out. So here's the Lord. He's coming to the place where
there's some sick folks. Those that are whole, you that
are well, you don't need a physician. But those that are sick, they
need a physician. But go ye and learn what that
meaneth. You go learn what it means for
the physician to be gracious to come where sick folks are.
You learn what that means. I will have mercy and not sacrifice. For I'm not come to call the
righteous, I'm not come to call those that can save themselves,
those that have free wills, that can exercise those wills and
by their own works think that they can justify themselves before
God. I'm not come to call those righteous,
I'm come to call sinners to repentance. He quoted that from Hosea 6.6,
that passage of scripture. that the Pharisees all claimed
to know and understand, and the Lord revealed the true meaning
of that passage. He said, to have mercy upon sinners
is a work more pleasing to God than the offerings and performances
of religious duty by those that trust in those performances. The truth of the Lord Jesus Christ
being the only physician for those that are spiritually sick,
those that see themselves as not being whole before God and
must be made so by the grace of God, that's those for whom
Christ came. Righteous activity without mercy,
the Lord said, is nothing more than hypocrisy. Follow me. And that man got up left all
and followed him. I pray that God bless these words
to our heart for Christ's sake.