Once more, coming to you in dependence
upon the Lord for all needed help, I'd like you to turn to
the chapter that we read together in the Gospel according to Matthew,
chapter 9, and the text is in verse 9. Those of you who were with us
this morning will notice very obviously that the text is very
similar to that in what we spoke about. This morning, the Lord
Jesus Christ walking along the seashore comes and he finds Simon,
Peter and Andrew casting their nets into the sea because they
were fishermen. And he called to them and he
said, follow me. and I will make you fishers of
men. And he walks further along, along
the seashore, and he sees James and John, his brother, and he
called us to them. And we would say that we would
believe that he used the same language, follow, follow me. And as Matthew continues to write,
he begins to speak about himself and the experience that he had
while he was at work one day. The scripture tells us that he
was a publican, a tax collector, and these were men who were despised
by the rest of the Jews as almost traitors, men who would not be
spoken to, men who would be passed by, men not really accepted by
the Jewish society, men who had sold themselves to the Roman
government to work on behalf of the Roman government to collect
taxes. Matthew was one of these. In
the other Gospels he's sometimes referred to as Levi. And so he
would be working for the Roman government and he would have
an allotted amount of money to raise in taxes. We said maybe
50,000 a month or something like that.
That is what he would be commissioned to pay to the Roman government
every single month. But he was able to raise those
taxes, and anything that he earned above the 50,000 was his own. And so they were known for corruption,
and swindling their own people, and siphoning off money in order
that they themselves would get rich. And you can see why such
a person would be not thought well of. A crook, we might say. But Jesus did not pass by him. Jesus spoke to him. After he
had forgiven the sins of the man who was paralysed, after he had given him the ability
to walk, he continues on his journey and he comes to this
man, Matthew. And he says to him, follow me.
And he arose and followed him. Similar, isn't it, to the call
of the men that we spoke about this morning. They were at work. going about their daily business,
going about that thing that occupied them every day of the week. And
then Jesus says, follow me. And they immediately drop everything
and they go. We know that words of themselves
have no effect upon people. Words without the spirit may
enter into the mind, may be thought about, but then they go away. But the word applied by the spirit
enters into the heart and transforms that person. Think of the multitudes
who Jesus spoke to and his word really had no effect upon them. Although they could confess never
a man spoke like this man, yet It had no effect upon their hearts.
They were not changed. They were not worked on by the
Spirit of God to break open their hard hearts. And the word of
the Lord Jesus Christ that is spoken went forth into the hearts
of these men and broke them and caused them to completely change.
that they would get up and follow the Lord Jesus Christ. You think
Matthew, he seems that he made a meal for the Lord Jesus Christ
and he invited his friends. And it came to pass, as Jesus
sat at meat in the house, behold, many tax collectors and sinners
came and sat down with him and his disciples. And when the Pharisees saw it,
they said unto the disciples, why did your master with publicans
or tax collectors and sinners? You see the effect that it had
on Matthew and the change in which took place within his life. And he became a follower, an
apostle of the Lord Jesus Christ. But this change that took place
you would think would be something to rejoice over, but not for the Pharisees. The Pharisees didn't like the
fact that Jesus was mixing with people that they despised. They
didn't like the fact that Jesus was associating with people who
they deemed to be unclean or not worthy of the things of God. And so they complained to the
disciples of the Lord Jesus. And the Pharisees saw it, they
said, unto his disciples, why eateth your master with publicans
and tax collectors? But when Jesus heard it, or heard
that, he said unto them, they that are whole need not a physician,
but they that are sick. But go ye and learn what that
meaneth. I will have mercy and not sacrifice. For I'm not come
to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance. And so we see
that the Pharisees deemed themselves as suitable company for the Lord
Jesus Christ. They saw no fault in themselves. When they looked at other people
they thought that those people were not suitable to associate
with the Lord Jesus. And if the Lord Jesus associated
with those types of people then he could no way be who he said
he is. And so he reminds them, it is
those people who are sick who have to go to the doctor. Not
those people are well. The Pharisees thought they were
well. They thought they were righteous. But Matthew had seen
that he was not righteous. Matthew had seen that he was
sick and needed a physician, which was the Lord Jesus Christ.
And he desired to follow him. In an instant, he forsook all
and followed him. It's quite amazing, really, the
variety of people that the Lord Jesus Christ dealt with and still
does deal with. You look through church history
and the variety of sinful people that Christ brings to that point
in their life where they say, forget all and follow the Lord
Jesus Christ. It's not all pristine church-going
people, but it's a complete mixed bag of sinful people who naturally
would think were not worthy to be associated with the Son of
God. But that makes the gospel more glorious. That makes salvation
more wonderful. That makes the Lord Jesus Christ
more amazing because he chooses the foolishness, the foolish
things of this world, the unclean things of this world, the base
things of this world, and he raises them up. He brings the
beggar from the dung hill. and he puts him around about
his throne. And Matthew was one of those.
Everybody else passed by him. They despised the fact that they
had to pay taxes to him. But the Lord Jesus Christ did
not despise him. He felt pity upon this man and
he says to him, follow me. And I thought of the woman at
the well, the Samaritan woman, how that she, being a Samaritan, was isolated
from the Jews, despised from the Jews, by the Jews. Remember the other Samaritan
lady who, when Jesus speaks to her and he says that the that
the dogs eat the crumbs that fall from the master's table.
And we know that the Jews looked at the Samaritans and thought
that they were dogs. They were not worthy of anything.
And if they passed through their villages, or if they had to pass
through their villages, they would bash off the dust from
the feet. Or worse comes to the worse,
they would walk around the villages so that they wouldn't even go
through the unclean place. But the Lord Jesus Christ did
not have that mindset. The scripture tells us that he
went there, that he must, needs go, or he needed to go through
Samaria, not to meet a lovely righteous woman, a lovely God-fearing
woman, no, but to find a sinful woman. A woman who was isolated
by her community, having to go to Jacob's well at midday in
order to fetch water by herself. Having come from Kenya, the time
of fetching water is in the morning and in the evening. And the women
and the girls go together, talking to each other, laughing and joking
and singing. They go together. But this woman
is there at midday, and she's by herself. And Jesus needed to meet her.
He needed to meet her because he was going to reveal himself
to her. Although, yes, she had had five
husbands, and the one that she had now was not her husband,
yet he exposed to her her sin, He revealed himself to her and
she goes and she says, come and see a man that told me all the
things that ever I did. Is not this the Christ? She had a desire to go and tell. She had a desire to bring others
to see the Lord Jesus Christ. She had a desire to follow the
Lord Jesus. The same desire, the same power
in the word of God had an effect upon her heart. The same spirit
which worked upon Peter and Peter and Andrew and James and
John, the same spirit that worked upon Andrew was the same spirit
who was working upon this lady, an outcast of society yet but
not too far gone for the Lord Jesus Christ. She was not too
sinful for the Lord Jesus Christ. I remember when we used to work
with Sam in Kenya. There would be those people who
would come to the mission and they would say they've got a
cold or they've got a bruise or they've got a little cut and
it didn't challenge him in any way. He said, you know, it's
strange, but paramedics like to like to have some gruesome
accident in which we can put our skill to the test. It shows, it gives them a challenge
to heal somebody in such a way. And people are amazed when things
take place, aren't they? When the doctors are able to
heal someone who's had some horrific accident. Brings them glory. People wonder, it's amazing what
they can do nowadays. And so it is with Christ, although
every sinner saved is a wonder, but those who are pulled from
the bottom of the pit and lifted up bring glory, greater glory
to his name, a revelation of his grace and of his mercy. he must needs go to Samaria. Why? To find a lonely woman at
a well who was a sinner. What about the Apostle Paul?
The variety of people you see. A fisherman, a tax collector,
an adulteress. The Apostle Paul. a murderer,
a hater of Christians, a man that people would think, no way
would he ever be saved. No way could ever God deal with
this one. And even when he was converted,
the church were worried about him, were surprised that one
who persecuted the church was enabled now to preach the very
things that he hated. And yet the same spirit that
worked in all of the others is the same spirit that worked on
the Apostle Paul. He was adamant in his destruction
of Christianity. Even today, the Jews hate Christians. They say that we are idol worshippers,
that we have set Christ up in the place of God That's what the apostle thought.
Eradicate them. Get rid of them. Idle worshippers. But he was stopped in his tracks. Saul, Saul, why persecutest thou
me? He said, who art thou, Lord?
And the Lord said, I am Jesus, whom thou persecutest. Is it
hard for thee to kick against the pricks? And he trembling
and astonished said, Lord, what wilt thou have me to do? And
the Lord said to him, Arise and go into the city and it shall
be told thee what thou must do. And we know the story. He was converted. The spirit
opened up his heart. transformed that heart of stone,
that religious pharisaical mindset, broke it open and used him greatly
for the advancement of the gospel. With the same zeal that he persecuted
the church, it's the same zeal that he preached the gospel.
Not worried about pain, not worried about persecution, not worried
about hardship, But he delighted to preach the gospel of the one
who he once persecuted. See a variety of people. All
manner of people Christ has saved. You go on to what we looked at
probably this time last year with Lydia and the jailer. Lydia, a seller of purple. A rich lady. but saved by the
grace of God. She hadn't done anything of herself
worthy of salvation, but the same spirit opened up her understanding
to lay hold of the teachings of the Apostle Paul. And she
attended to the things that were spoken of by Paul, the hardened
jailer, the same spirit working in him, the man who beat Paul
and Silas, His heart is changed and he washes their stripes,
the stripes that he did. The wounds that he inflicted
is now changed and is transformed in a moment. What must I do to
be saved? Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ
and thou shalt be saved and thy house. And they spoke unto him
the word of the Lord and all that were in his house. And they
took him the same hour of the night and washed their stripes.
And he was baptized, he and all his straight away. You see? Follow me. And when the same Spirit attends
the Word in any manner of person, no matter how sinful or how religious
they are, when that Holy Spirit of God attends the Word of God,
no matter how hard the flesh and the mind is, it is broken
in a moment. And that person who was once
hard and carnal and worldly is transformed into a new man, a
new creation in Christ Jesus, a babe of Christ. They are born
again of the Spirit. And the book of Revelation tells
us what heaven will be like. Revelation 7, and John has that
glimpse up into glory. Verse 9, After this I beheld,
and lo, a great multitude which no man could number, of all nations,
and kindreds, and people, and tongues, stood before the throne,
and before the Lamb, clothed in white robes and palms, in
their hands and cried with a loud voice saying salvation to our
God which sits upon the throne unto the Lamb. A great multitude which no man
can number of all the nations and kindreds and people and tongues. A great variety of people. It's not contracted to a certain
denomination or to a certain tongue, a certain language, or
to a certain country, but it is of every nation and of every
kindred and people and language, all manner of people. And what
those people have in common is this. is that all of them were
sinners, but they have been saved by the grace of God. They all
heard the voice of the Lord Jesus Christ speaking to them and saying
to them, follow me. They may not have heard it in
English, they may have heard it and they would have heard
it in all the different languages there are on the face of the
earth, because God is the creator of language. But he speaks through
his word, by his spirit, breaking open a heart and drawing people,
men, women and boys and girls, to himself. That same voice that
created the heavens and the earth, right at the beginning of time,
is the same voice that speaks through his word and creates
a new life into one and another. Think of Lazarus when he had died and he had been laid in the grave and the Lord Jesus delayed his
coming and the disciples were wondering And when Jesus arrives, they
find that he had been dead for some days already. And Jesus comes to the grave. He asks, where have you laid
him? They said unto him, Lord, come
and see. Jesus wept and they said, the Jews behold how he
loved him. And some of them said, could
not this man, which opened the eyes of the blind, have caused
even this man should not have died? And Jesus, therefore, again
groaning in himself, cometh to the grave. It was a cave, a stone
laid upon it. Jesus said, take ye away the
stone. Martha, the sister of him that was dead, said unto
him, Lord, by this time he stinketh, for he has been dead four days.
Jesus said unto her, said, said I not unto thee, that if
thou wouldst believe, thou shouldest see the glory of God. And they
took away the stone from the place where the dead was laid.
And Jesus lifted up his eyes and said, Father, I thank thee
that thou hast heard me. For thou always hearest me, and
because of the people which stood by I said it, that they may believe
that thou hast sent me. And when he had thus spoken,
he cried with a loud voice, Lazarus, come forth. And he that was dead
came forth bound hand and foot with grave clothes, and his face
was bound about with a napkin. Jesus said unto him, Loose him,
and let him go. the same voice that created the
heaven and the earth, that divided light from darkness, that separated
the sea from the land, brought the plants and the animals and
even man himself, that same voice, that same voice who raised Lazarus
from the dead, who cries, Lazarus, come forth. is the same voice
that cries to Matthew, follow me. The same voice that appeared
to Paul on the road, Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting thou
me? And they'll follow the same pathway. and he arose and followed him. To follow someone is really an act of faith. You
normally follow somebody because you don't know, say this morning,
don't know where you are going. And you put all your trust into
that person, that they know where they're going and you are going
to follow on behind them. You put your trust in them as
they know the way and you are led to that place where you want
to go. But as you put your trust in
them, that takes away some of the pressure from yourself. Because
your hope is there in front of you and all you have to do is
follow. If you've ever been on a journey
and you get lost, And it is quite stressful. It causes conflict
between husbands and wives. When one says, we need to go
this way, and one says, we've got to go that way, and it's
quite intense. No one knows what to do. But
when somebody knows the way, then the pressure and the intensity
of the situation is immediately relieved. I often wonder if these
people who who come to that conclusion in their life that they're going
to immigrate abroad or they're going to do a big business venture. And they make that decision based
upon what they want and what they believe is better for them
without any guidance of God. And they say, well, we've decided
to immigrate to America for a better life or to Australia and such
like. And they're not following anybody. are just following their own
thoughts and what they deem to be better. There's a lot of pressure
and there's a lot of weight that they may make the wrong move,
they may make a mistake. But when you are following Christ
and you're going where he wants you to go, you're being placed
where he wants you to be placed, that pressure has been handed
over to him and you walk behind him by faith on the narrow way
that leads to life. You have committed your life
into his hands and you say, as he said, not my will but thy
will be done. And with Matthew, he arose and
followed him. It's no easy thing. to get somebody
to pack up their business or pack up their life and just to
go. But Matthew in a moment packs
up everything and follows the Lord Jesus Christ. Same as the apostles, packs up it all. and follows
the Lord Jesus. If you've ever been in a maze
and you're wandering this way and that way and you don't know
where you're going and somebody comes and they're able to lead
you out, it brings a relief. and every believer, they have the Lord Jesus Christ.
They are following him. Although life might seem like
a maze, going this way and that way, if you're following the
Lord Jesus Christ, that pressure, it is relieved. That anxiety
is relieved because you are following somebody who knows the way. following
somebody who knows the end from the beginning. And if he wants
you to get up and to forsake all, you do so. If he wants you
to stand still for a little while, you do so. If you want, like
the apostles, he says to them, come and rest a little while,
you do so. because you are committed to
following the Lord Jesus and walking in obedience to the Lord
Jesus Christ. And all of those, those great
variety of people, they're all lined up behind the Lord Jesus,
all manner of people, but they all have the same testimony.
that one day I was living this way. One day I was going about
my own business. One day I was running from God. One day I was on the broad road
that leads to destruction. But then the Lord Jesus Christ,
he spoke to me and he forgave me and he said, follow me. And
I arose and I followed him. They all have that same testimony,
they've been forgiven the same way. It doesn't matter if you're
a multi-millionaire, or you're the king of England, or you live
in a cardboard box, or a mud hut in Kenya. If you've come
to faith in Christ, you've come to Him through the same way.
The rich don't get a special privilege, a bypass card. The religious don't get a special
privilege or a bypass card. They don't get to climb up some
other way. All must come through the Lord
Jesus Christ, the narrow way that leads to life. All must
come and have their sins forgiven at the cross of the Lord Jesus. All must come to that point in
their life of having no hope, and their only hope is to be
found in the Lord Jesus. All must come and hear that voice. Follow me. And all must respond with a step
of faith. And he arose and followed him. When they arise and they follow
him, they're all brought to the same, into the same body. The same body, which is his body. They're brought into the same
church, which is the one true living church. They're all brought
into the same building, that living building, that lively
building made up of living stones. There is no separation within
that church. There is no body, as it were,
the body of Christ for the Presbyterians, and one over here for the gospel
standards, and one over there for the great Baptists, and one
over there for the evangelicals, and one over there for the charismatics. There's only one. church, one
building, one body, but made up of many members, a great variety
of people, all who have been saved by the grace of God in
Christ Jesus and have nothing to boast of any works, of anything
of themselves, but they will look to the head that is the
Lord Jesus Christ. First Corinthians, although there
are many verses that we could look at, First Corinthians chapter
12 and verse 11. But all these worketh that one
self, same spirit, dividing to every man severally as he will. For as the body is one, and hath
many members, and all members of that one body being many are
one body, so also is Christ. For by one spirit are we all
baptized into one body, whether we be Jew or Gentile, whether
we be bond or free, or have been made and have been made to drink
of into one spirit. For the body is not one member
but many. And it goes on to describe the
body, the human body, and spiritualising it to the body of the Lord Jesus
Christ. That within that one body of people it is made up
of many members and a great variety of people. that the Lord Jesus
Christ has specifically chosen individual people to be brought
into his spiritual body that they may be used for the benefit
of each other This is interesting because if
you look at the apostles of the Lord Jesus Christ you see a variety
of people And even if we just look at Matthew, having Matthew
to be brought into apostleship, those other Jews would have had a problem. And
they would have to get over that problem, that Matthew was once
a tax collector. And those people of Samaria and
others would have had to get over that problem, that that
woman was an adulteress. They would have to get over the
fact that her previous life, she was sinful. And those who
met with the Apostle Paul and knew about him, they would have
had to get over the fact that he murdered the church and he
put people in prison, the jailer. People would have to get over
that fact that that is what he was. But he's not anymore. He'd been saved by the grace
of God. And this is one of the hardest
things that we as believers try to understand, that we love to
remember the sins of people's past. We cannot comprehend that
Christ is able to forgive somebody completely of every single sin
that they have ever committed and every single sin that they
will commit. They're wiped clean. The scripture
says we have been justified by his grace. And if we are honest
with ourselves, we wouldn't want people to know
really what we were like or even what we still are like. But Christ
knows us inside out and he accepts us as his own people, as his
own children. And he still delights in us. We don't delight in each other. that the mind of Christ dwell
in us. Yes, there are times when believers
have to be rebuked because of their sin. Yes, there are times
when church discipline has to take place as it did in the Corinthian
church and people to be excommunicated. But we are to find in our hearts
that when those come back in repentance and have a desire
to be restored that we are to be like Christ and to accept
them on confession of their faith and their repentance. As the
apostles had to get over those individual people that Christ
chose, so we also have to not be pharisaical and to say, well,
Christ could never save such one as that. Christ would never
save such one as them. the worst sinner. The hymn says only the vilest
sinner out of hell who lives to feel his need is welcome at
the throne of grace, the Saviour's blood to plead. May he be welcome
at the throne of grace. Is he welcome? Is he welcome
at our meal table? Is he welcome into our chapel? Would we have a Matthew? A tax
collector? A crook? Would we have the woman
at the well? Would we have the woman who washed
the feet of the Lord Jesus Christ? Or would we say, pass on, go
to another place? You're not welcome here. Well,
Jesus said, follow me. And he arose and followed him. Amen. Our closing hymn is hymn number
1138. Now may he who from the dead bought the shepherd of the
sheep, Jesus Christ our king and head, all our souls in safety
keep. Hymn number 1138, tune 485. Jesus Christ, our King and Lord,
Lord of souls and Saintly King, May He teach us to forgive, ? Perfect us in all his will ?
? And preserve us day and night ? ? Till our dear Redeemer's
grace ? ? Ne'er the cup of sin ? Almighty God and loving Heavenly
Father of Thy people, we thank Thee for thy word that thou hast
given to us, we thank thee for the gospel of the Lord Jesus
Christ. We thank thee that before the foundation of the world thou
didst choose people and we thank thee for the wonderful gospel
which continues to go forth, that continues to snatch brands
from the burning, which continues to redeem most unworthy and sinful
people. We pray that we may see in our
day a moving of thy spirit and one and another being snatched
as a burning and brought safely into the sheepfold of the Lord
Jesus Christ. We pray Lord that thou be with
us now as we sit around thy table. do join in and bless us. Do remember
those who will go home also and do bring us back together again
on Friday if it could please thee. And now may the grace of
the Lord Jesus Christ and the love of God the Father, with
the fellowship and the communion of the Holy Spirit, do rest abide
with us each now and for evermore. Amen.