Turn with me to the book of Matthew,
chapter 9. Matthew, chapter 9. I'd like to look at verses 9
to 13 tonight, and I've entitled this message, The Reason Christ
Came. The Reason Christ Came. Before
we read, let's ask our Lord's blessing. Our Father, we thank You that we can call
upon You and we know that You hear. That Lord, by the precious blood
of our Savior, He who has opened unto His people the very Holy
of Holies, that we can enter in and to your presence in his
name by his blood with assuredness that we are heard and accepted
in the beloved. We ask you this evening, Lord
would you bless your word and help us to worship, help us to
hear, help us to be thankful, help us to remember. We thank
you. And as we shall be remembering
our Lord in the eating of this bread and the drinking of this
cup, bless our hearts to see Him this evening for Christ's
sake. Amen. Matthew chapter 9, and I'd like
to start by reading verse 9. And Scripture says, 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 rose and followed him."
Now, there he is in that Scripture right there. The establishment. The setting
forth. of the distinguishing grace of
Almighty God, the effectual calling of Almighty God, and the absolute
response of those that He calls out of darkness. The Lord passed forth absolutely directed by the Spirit
of God to be in that very spot at that moment that that man
would be sitting there. The Lord saw a man, it said,
a particular man, even named him Matthew, one that the Lord obviously had
always known. He said, I know my sheep. Isn't
that comforting? That He absolutely knows in particular
those that are His. The Father gave them to Him in
electing grace. This was His. It's like that
woman at the well. The Lord said, I must, needs
go through Samaria. He must needs be exactly. This was Matthew's time. This
was the time of love. As he passed by, the Lord saw
him, called him, Matthew followed. The thing I notice is that Matthew
wasn't seeking the Lord. The Lord saw him. Matthew was a publican. He was
a tax collector, sitting at the receipt of custom. That's what
the Scripture says, just a dead sinner. And the Lord, in mercy, grace,
passed by him, saw him doing his job, called him, follow me. And he rose and he followed him.
particular call. He saw Matthew, called Matthew,
and Matthew followed. Isn't it marvelous when you see
how the Spirit of God brings to our attention and to our sight
God's power, God's will, God's mercy. Oh, the obvious effect of regeneration. Matthew wasn't ashamed. of his
association with the Lord Jesus Christ. The Scripture says in
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. Luke's account says that Matthew
made a great feast. So the Lord is at Matthew's house. He invited, asked, beckoned the
Lord to come with him. Come to his house. And he invited
other publicans and sinners, people that he associated with,
people that he knew, people he wanted to come and hear. I want
you to come hear a man that called me today. Gave me a heart to
go after Him. Revealed to me, obviously, this
is the Christ. As the Lord Jesus said at meet
in the house, many publicans and sinners came and sat down
with Him and His disciples. You know, the evidence that you'll
find of God's people is that they want to be where the Lord
is. They want to be where He's honored. And they want others. to hear what they've heard. Don't
you? Don't you? Don't you want your
family to hear? Don't you want your friends?
You know, there's no greater joy that a believer would have
than to have family members, those that know not the Lord,
that they could truly sit down and fellowship with them. I've
got members in my family, and I wish I could do that. In my
immediate family, in my family, I'm not talking about my kids,
but in my family, just me, I've got one I can fellowship with
my mama. That's the only ones that I really
feel comfortable with, that I can talk to, fellowship with. He invited them to come. But as often the case, you are
going to find that where the Lord's mercy has been shown,
there is opposition to the giver of life. The Scripture says in
verse 11, when the Pharisees saw it, they saith unto his disciples,
Why eateth your master? Notice their wording. your master. Why eateth your master with publicans
and sinners?" Boy, that question right there evidences a dead
heart. These Pharisees did not consider
themselves to be in that lot. Why does your master eat with
the likes this motley crew that you've invited today, of which
you're one of them. Scripture says in Luke 18, 10
and 11, two men went up into the temple to pray, 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. Extortioners, unjust, adulterers
are even as this publican. Boy, you know the lot of God's
people and their assessment of themselves. This is what you're
going to find a believer say of himself. Oh, wretched man
that I am. Who shall deliver me from the
body of this death? When I try to think or pray,
sin is so evident to me. Sin is so prevalent as far as
I can tell of myself. But in answer to that arrogant
question, our Lord gave this statement. of His mercy. Verse 12, But when Jesus heard
that, you know the amazing thing about
this? If you look and see what verse 11 says, When the Pharisees
saw it, they said unto His disciples, Why eateth your Master with publicans
and sinners? And the Lord heard it. You know, men may think that
we're absent or that he's absent from
our conversation. I was talking to someone the
other day and we were discussing a matter that gravely concerned
both of us. And I told him, I said, you know,
the thing that we need to stop and realize here, number one,
as we consider this situation as it is. While we're talking,
just you and I right here, it's not just you and I. It's just
not me and you. I said, the Lord's listening.
And He hears just exactly what we're saying. I said, the best
thing that we'd do, we'd make this a matter of prayer, the
best thing that we could do is to pray about this situation.
That's a fact. We think that we can say things
and our Lord doesn't hear. They talk, the Scripture says,
to the disciples, but when Jesus heard that, he said unto them,
They that behold need not a position, but they that are sick. Mr. Spurgeon said one time, health
is a great blessing. The only greater blessing is
sickness. You know that's so. Now, physically,
I know that we all would desire, if you ask
anybody, you know, if you had your druthers, you know, what
would you pick? Well, you say, well, I think
I'd pick health. That's right. Well, first of all, because we're
selfish. That's just the way it is. If we just had our druthers,
we'd just say, I'm going to be healthy and I'm just going to
live. And everything's going to be
fine. And I'm going to have a lot of money. That's our selfishness. That's just the way we are. But
when it comes, to the realization of our spiritual sickness. Our Lord answered, They that
be whole, those that think themselves to be spiritually whole. They
don't need a physician, but they that are sick. David said in
Psalm 119.71, It's good for me that I've been afflicted. Did he mean physical affliction
he may have, but I'll bet you that the deeper meaning of this
is spiritually afflicted. That the Lord would bring me,
cause me to realize the affliction, the cause of sin. Surely, we
learn much as the Spirit of God teaches us that sin is the sickness
of the soul. Sinners are spiritually sick. And all those that see themselves
as whole, those that are whole, they that be whole, need not
a position. Let me tell you those that see
themselves as whole. It's those that trust in themselves
that they are righteous. Those that reject the gospel
of free grace and see no need to bow to Him who is life itself,
they are whole. Those that are whole are those
that think themselves to have strength in themselves to prevail
with God by their own self-righteous works. They don't need a physician
because they can cure themselves. You know, you think about physical
sickness. If you're sick, you don't have
the ability. I mean, if you're really sick,
you don't have the ability to cure yourself. You don't. You think you do. Men think they
do. Well, I'll beat this. I'll beat
this. God's people are not in a battle. If our Lord shows a man that
he's sick, spiritually sick, that man's already been healed.
If Almighty God shows a man what he is, makes him sensible of
his guilt, his depravity, and his helplessness before Almighty
God, If the Lord makes him aware, then that man is aware that there
is a position for a case like this. He hears the voice of the
Savior. He knows the Lord's voice. Almighty
God gives His people in time a knowledge that they're sick
and that they need Him He knows that he needs a physician because
he can't deal with his problem. What am I going to do? I can't
even keep my thought processes right before him. I told you
that before. And the reason I tell you that
is that I know this. You're just like me. There's
no difference between me and you. We try to be honorable. You try to pray. Let me tell you, Brother Henry
Mahan made this statement. I thought this was good. He said,
A sinner is most near the Savior when he sees his inability and
his frailty and his need of Christ. A sinner is most near the Savior
when he beholds the effects of the presence of sin. And it grieves
Him. You're closest right then. That's
when you're closest. When you see the grieving effect
of the presence of sin, and it truly bothers you because of
that sickness, the sin that still
resides within the old man. That's when you're the closest.
And the farthest away when it doesn't bother you. They that are whole, they don't
need a position, but they that are sick. And lastly, he told
those Pharisees, Go, but go ye and learn what that meaneth.
I will have mercy and not sacrifice. For I have not come to call the
righteous, but sinners to repentance. This truth obviously was one
that had to be taught. It was one that obviously they
were ignorant of because He said, Go ye and learn what that meaneth.
You see, the Lord was talking to those that thought they knew
it all. You know, isn't that obviously
often the case? A religionist is one that thinks
he knows it all. He just, what can you tell me? The Lord had quoted Hosea 6.6,
for I desired mercy and not sacrifice, and the knowledge of God more
than burnt offerings. He told them that they did not
know the meaning of the Scriptures that they claimed to understand.
You read these. It was Old Testament. Hosea,
one of the prophets. They wrote it. These Pharisees
found great delight in knowing the Scriptures. The Lord told
them. He said, you search the Scriptures. And in them, in your
searching and in your knowledge of that which you think you know,
you think you have life. And they are they that testify
of me. And he revealed to them the meaning
of the Scripture that he had exposed their ignorance by. Go
ye and learn what that meaneth. I will have mercy and not sacrifice. And he gave them the explanation.
He said, I'm not come to call the righteous, but sinners to
repentance. To have mercy on sinners, mercy
on those that cannot help themselves, is a work that's more pleasing
to Almighty God than the offerings and the performances of religious
duties. Men are taken up. with trying
to establish a standing before God based on their own ability. And the Lord said, I will have mercy. I'll sacrifice. Not your works. Religious activity
with no love or evidence of mercy is hypocrisy. You're standing
on shifting sands, miry clay, sandy soil. He didn't come for
those who are righteous in themselves, but those who are sinners. Those that have no confidence
in their flesh. Those that have no confidence
in their ability. I'm telling you, false religion
will tell a man that he has the ability to reconcile himself
back to God by doing A-B-C. Something. Something. That's
not true. That's not true. If you think
that you can do something to heal yourself, then you think
yourself to be whole. They that are whole, they don't
need a physician. You've got it licked, you think. But those
that are sick, those that are helpless, those are the ones
that Christ came to save. My question is this. Am I a sinner? Am I a sinner? Has the Lord given
me a heart to see myself as needing Him? Is He all of my hope? Is He everything? Is all of my
salvation Him? Is there anything that I'm standing
or resting in save the Lord Jesus Christ? If there's anything,
If I think that I've added to His work, His merit, His accomplishment of salvation,
if I think I've added anything to it, then I have something
to boast in. And I'm bold then, because in
my mind, the Lord and myself, we've worked this thing out. But if He's shown me that I am
a helpless, outside of His mercy and grace, hopelessly lost sinner,
then He's done something for me. And I have life. Because when
He reveals that to me, He's opened my eyes to see what I am by nature. That's by grace. Those that have
been made to see their sickness in closing, number one, know
that they're helpless to do anything about it. They know they are.
Secondly, they know that there's only one physician, and I'm not
it. Lastly, they never forget who
made them whole. They don't forget. They're kept
by the power of God through faith. God keeps them. This evening,
we've come to remember Him who makes sinners whole, who saves
sinners. Brothers, God said that's a precious
thing. There's just not that many of them. But you find a
sinner, one that truly needs a Savior, and that's who you
want to be around. That's who I want to talk to.
I want to talk to somebody that just honors Him and exalts Him
and talks about what He's done for them. That's a precious sound. I'll ask the man to feel comfort.