I'm going to read from Isaiah
11. Isaiah 11. And I'm going to start
at verse 10. And then I'll read through to
the end of chapter 12. Isaiah 11, verse 10. And in that day there shall be
a root of Jesse, which shall stand for an ensign of the people. To it shall the Gentiles seek,
and his rest shall be glorious. And it shall come to pass in
that day that the Lord shall set his hand again the second
time to recover the remnant of his people, which shall be left
from Assyria, and from Egypt, and from Pathros, and from Cush,
and from Elam, and from Shinar, and from Hamath, and from the
islands of the sea. And he shall set up an ensign
for the nations, and shall assemble the outcasts of Israel, and gather
together the dispersed of Judah from the four corners of the
earth. The envy also of Ephraim shall depart, and the adversaries
of Judah shall be cut off. Ephraim shall not envy Judah,
and Judah shall not vex Ephraim. But they shall fly upon the shoulders
of the Philistines toward the west, they shall spoil them of
the east together. They shall lay their hand upon
Edom and Moab, and the children of Ammon shall obey them. And
the Lord shall utterly destroy the tongue of the Egyptian sea.
And with his mighty wind shall he shake his hand over the river,
and shall smite it into seven streams, and make men go over
Drishad. And there shall be a highway
for the remnant of his people, which shall be left from Assyria,
like as it was to Israel in the day that he came up out of the
land of Egypt. And now chapter 12 is a description
of the joy in Christ for the believer. And in that day thou
shalt say, O Lord, I will praise thee. Though thou wast angry
with me, thine anger is turned away, and thou comfortest me.
Behold, God is my salvation. I will trust and not be afraid,
for the Lord Jehovah is my strength and my song. He has also become
my salvation. Therefore with joy shall ye draw
water out of the wells of salvation. And in that day shall ye say,
Praise the Lord, call upon his name, declare his doings among
the people, make mention that his name is exalted. Sing unto
the Lord, for he hath done excellent things. This is known in all
the earth. Cry out and shout, thou inhabitants
of Zion, for great is the Holy One of Israel in the midst of
thee. Let us pray. Our heavenly and merciful Father,
we thank you for this great, great blessing which you have
given us as a small flock, a small gathering of believers in this
area to have this great blessing where you have sent a man, a
pastor, to us Father, we are completely unworthy that you
would do this, but Father, will you give us true thankfulness
and give him what is necessary, Lord, in his great work. We thank
you for these messages that you have given him for us. Father,
bless them to our hearts. all of us together, especially
those that cannot be here today. Some are struggling with hidden
crosses and burdens, with health and various other things. Father,
that we may look unto Thee for all things necessary. Bless our
worship service for Jesus' sake alone. Amen. Morning. All right, our text
is going to be in Mark 2, Mark chapter 2, verses 13 through
17. Mark 2. I'm going to read the
text. And Jesus went forth again by
the seaside, and all the multitude resorted unto him, and he taught
them. And as he passed by, he saw Levi,
the son of Alphaeus, sitting at the receipt of custom, and
said unto him, Follow me. And he arose and followed him.
This is Matthew, Levi or Matthew. And it came to pass that as Jesus
sat at meat in his house, many publicans and sinners sat also
together with Jesus and his disciples. For there were many, and they
followed him. And when the scribes and Pharisees
saw him eat with the publicans and sinners, they said unto his
disciples, How is it that he eateth and drinketh with publicans
and sinners? When Jesus heard it, he saith
unto them, They that are whole have no need of the position,
but they that are sick. I came not to call the righteous,
but sinners to repentance. In Mark, what we've seen up to
this point is that Jesus is indeed the promised Christ. He's the
one that God promised to send to put away the sin of his people. And we saw the Lord bear witness
or bear testimony that this is Christ at his baptism. When the
Father, you know, they heard the voice of the Father speak,
they saw the Spirit as a dove descend and light upon him and
now up to this point we've seen it declared and shown in the
miracles which Christ has done. He's been healing the sick and
those that are diseased and possessed with devils and by the authority
with which he speaks. He speaks as one having authority
and the people never heard anyone speak like they heard Him. So
Christ is, you know, what we've seen so far is He's healing those
that are diseased and have illnesses and sicknesses and we've seen
how it's a picture or a type of sin and that we ourselves
are soul sick. We have a sickness that's unto
death and we have need of being healed It pictures the corruption
that we have in our hearts and the darkness that we are by nature
that we come forth in when we are born of our natural parents. This calling of Matthew, what
we see is that sin is in every one of us and it comes in all
different forms and manifests itself very differently because
Matthew was a publican. His occupation was one that collected
taxes from the people and of course that was a despised profession
among the Jews because he was working for the Romans that were
occupying their country and were collecting taxes to pay for the
Roman government and army and what the Romans wanted to do.
And the Pharisees, we see that though they had very strict practices
in their religion and what they followed, we see their depravity
as well because the Pharisee doesn't even know that he's a
sinner. He thinks that what he's doing is pleasing to God and
that he doesn't see sin in himself, he doesn't see the sickness that
he has within him and his need of Christ. So that's his sin
as well. And so our title will be Religious
Depravity, Religious Depravity. depravity, we'll have three divisions,
sinners called by grace, and then we'll see the religious
stumble when they stumble over Christ, and then we see Christ
declares that he alone is the salvation of his people. All
right, so Christ at this time, his popularity was growing, right?
With all the miracles he did, with the things that he said,
his popularity was growing and the people were beginning to
seek him out. And when they found him, they were following, they
were staying with him and following. And it says in verse 13, he went
forth again by the seaside, right, from Capernaum and all the multitude
resorted unto him and he taught them. So, you know, to this point,
we don't even know, like, the way that Mark is just handling
the gospel is, in Matthew, we've already seen some of what, or
heard what Christ preached. We have the Sermon on the Mount,
you know, verses five through seven, among the gospel of what's
recorded among all the miracles that he did, but Mark is very
succinct in what he does, and he's just capturing just these
miracles and showing just very discreetly, very succinctly,
that this is indeed the Christ, the one whom God said that he
would send. And now what we see, you know,
he's been healing people and, you know, he's declared that
the kingdom of God is at hand, repent and believe the gospel,
but that's all that we have. And now what we have here with
Matthew's calling is the Lord's displaying that his grace is
a distinguishing grace. He determines whom he's going
to call out and serve and worship him, who's going to serve and
worship the Savior. He calls Matthew, and it says
in verse 14, as he passed by he saw Levi, or Matthew, Levi
the son of Alphaeus. And I never actually caught that,
but just a side note that James, the son of Alphaeus, would be
his brother, likely his relation. And Judas was another one, not
Judas Iscariot, but the other Judas was also a brother. So
this was a religious family, and yet here's a black sheep
in Matthew, who's a publican. Brethren were probably a religious
family. I think their dad was Cleopas, which is where you get
the name Alpheus from. And so they were a religious
family. I think Cleopas was a uncle probably of Peter and Andrew. So there's a relation there.
But here's Levi, this black sheep, off doing worldly things, making
a name for himself and gathering wealth by being a tax collector
and not with his other brethren. It was probably a shame to the
family, if you will. But he's sitting at the receipt
of custom. He's there where he does his employment. And the
Lord said to him, follow me. And he arose and followed him. Now, what's amazing is that in
verse 13, we saw how all these people are following the Lord.
They're all resorting unto him and are following him and they're
demonstrating or showing, hey, We believe that you're the Christ
and they're going after him and Christ chooses none of them and
yet he goes where he goes by the seaside there where the booth
of customs was to collect the taxes from the shipments coming
in in the dock and he calls that one. He calls Levi or Matthew
who wasn't even seeking him and it shows the power and the authority
that Christ has because Matthew wasn't even involved in what
his family was involved in. He wasn't seeking the Lord. He
wasn't trying to make himself seen of the Lord and he figured
I'm just a sinner and then there comes Christ and by his power
and authority he calls him and saying follow me and he gets
up and he leaves everything. His very good job, his well-paying
job to follow the Lord Jesus Christ. So we see how that God
is a God of election. He calls his people out. He's
the one who separates a people unto himself. Turn over to Romans
9, Romans 9 in verse 10, and we'll pick up at the word Rebecca.
Romans 9, 10, Rebecca also had conceived by
one, even by our father Isaac, for the children being not yet
born, neither having done any good or evil, that the purpose
of God according to election might stand, not of works, but
of him that calleth. It was said unto her, The elder
shall serve the younger. As it is written, Jacob have
I loved, but Esau have I hated. So we understand and see here
that God really does save by grace. It's not by works. Matthew did no work worthy of
Christ calling him. He was actually doing works that
should have prevented Christ from calling him and not even
considering him. He had no seeming interest at
all in the Savior, and yet the Lord calls him to follow him
and to serve him and be one of his disciples. And in Romans
9, 25, and 26, it says, as he saith also in Hosea, and we see
this in Matthew, I will call them my people, which were not
my people, and her beloved which was not beloved. And it shall
come to pass that in the place where it was said unto them,
ye are not my people, there shall they be called the children of
the living God." So Matthew wasn't even following the Lord like
the multitudes were following him, and yet Christ still came
and sought him out and called him to himself. What shall we
say then? Romans 9, 30 through 32. that
the Gentiles, which followed not after righteousness, and
Matthew here would be a picture of that Gentile, they followed
not after righteousness, have attained to righteousness, even
the righteousness which is of faith. But Israel, which followed
after the law of righteousness, hath not attained to the law
of righteousness. Wherefore, because they sought
it not by faith, but as it were by the works of the law, for
they stumbled at that stumbling stone. So Matthew found grace
in the eyes of the Lord, though he sought it not, though he wasn't
looking to be saved, he wasn't looking at anything he did or
trusted in his works, he was given faith and by the grace
of God was called to serve and worship him. So the beauty, you
know, people get offended by grace, that salvation is by grace. This offends them, but grace
doesn't shut anyone out. If it weren't for grace, no one
would be saved. There would be no one that would
be saved or covered by the blood of Christ. Because we see, and
we'll see it in this passage, and we see it throughout the
scriptures, and we see it in our own hearts, and we see it
in those of others, that no man desires or seeks out the salvation
that God has provided in the Son. That there's nothing we
can do. And though it's a free and a
full salvation, no man desire. No man wants it. Every man wants
to do for himself what he can do and save himself and trusts
in his own works and not in the works that Christ did for his
people. So grace doesn't shut anyone
out. Grace opens the door of mercy
and brings in sinners who would otherwise never seek the Lord
and never desire him. That's what we see there. Now,
the next thing is the religious stumble. The religious stumble. So Matthew was very moved by
what the Lord did in calling him. He was clearly very much
moved by the grace and the mercy that was shown to him of the
Lord. And so he throws this feast. He throws his feast and he invites
all these guests to be with him. And, you know, and of course,
all naturally all these guests are, they are they're able to,
they come, and it's all the publicans and the sinners, because that's
the people that Matthew knew. Those are his friends, and those
are the people that he hung out with and talked to. And so he
invites all of them, and trusting and hoping that the God who had
mercy on him would have mercy on them as well. But apparently
it was open to everybody, because even the scribes and the Pharisees
were there. They were there among what was
going on. And we see in verse 15, it came
to pass that as Jesus sat at meat in the house, many publicans
and sinners sat also together with Jesus and his disciples. For there were many, and they
followed him. It's just amazing how that the
publicans and the sinners, how relaxed they were, that they
would, that they felt comfortable to be in the presence of the
Lord. And we know that there's no sin
in him. No sin whatsoever. There's no
darkness. He never spoke an ill word. And
yet here's these publicans and sinners content to sit in his
presence. And what does that say for us
and how we should behave? Because as religious people often
do, they feel like they have a mission to correct and to tell
people what they should be doing and how they should be living
their lives as if that's somehow going to affect a righteousness
in them, right? They think that that's their
mission, that they need to be telling people, you know, you
shouldn't be doing that, you know, or if they meet somebody
or hear somebody in the family that became pregnant, they feel
like they have to tell them, now you know that what you were
doing was wrong and they go out of their way to correct and to
charge people with sin as though God was going to do something,
use that for his glory. And all that ends up doing is
putting the emphasis, it doesn't communicate the gospel, it tells
them instead that there's something they need to do to provide a
righteousness for themselves. It doesn't help, it doesn't comfort
anybody, it just takes the focus from being on Christ in the gospel,
and it says, well, you know what, you can do things, and you should
do things, and you should correct these things and make it better.
But the Lord didn't correct these scribes, didn't correct the publicans
and the sinners, because they were comfortable sitting with
him, and just eating with him, and rejoicing in his presence. So the scribes, you know, one
of the other things that it teaches us is that when you feel comfortable
to correct somebody and to tell them, point out their sins to
them, they're just coming over to hang out with you and you
feel like it's your duty to start pointing out their sin, what
that says is that you're comfortable with where you are. You're comfortable
with the righteousness that you've attained unto because you think
that your behaviors and your practices and what you do can't
be called into question. And that's just, you know, that's
just being a Pharisee because that's exactly how they were.
They clearly felt comfortable and confident in their works
because they could accuse others of sin and wrongdoing. They could
point out these are Republicans and sinners and the Lord is sitting
with them so he also must be a sinner in what he does. So
it's that, that's what that's saying. You know, those in glass
houses shouldn't throw stones. That's where it comes from, because
we're all sinners in need of His grace and His mercy. And
it also shows that they really believed in their heart. They
believed that salvation was by works. It was by their works. And the reality is that salvation
is in a person. It's in the Lord Jesus Christ.
And we need to always remember to point people to Christ. Everyone's
a sinner, and they all need the mercy and the grace that's provided
in the Lord Jesus Christ alone. So that's who we should be directing
people to and declaring what he has done for his people. So, you know, my whole confusion
growing up, and I think it's so with all of you, but the confusion
that we all had is because We heard of Christ, but we still
were always looking at our works and looking at what we were doing. or weren't doing to get a temperature
reading of whether or not we were saved and how well we were
saved and how confident we were that we were saved. We were always
looking at our works and not at the work of the Lord Jesus
Christ. So that's where all that confusion
comes from. You hear that Christ is a merciful
Savior, a gracious Savior, He saves the uttermost, and then
you get told to look at your works and clean up this mess
and start doing this and start doing that. And I'm not promoting
sin. I don't want to promote sin.
The spirit in me hates the sin that I see in me. It grieves
me because my Savior died for that sin. He shed his blood to
put away that sin. And that's what broke the fellowship
that we had with God in the garden and what we do to ourselves in
breaking that fellowship. not that God leaves us, not that
he abandons us, but we see in ourselves that we ourselves are
sinners because of it. So we hate our sin because of
what it does and what it shows. And so when we're in the presence
of others, we're not looking for sin, we're not looking for
opportunities to say, ah, you know what, you need to stop doing
that and you should come to the church, you know, because Christ
came to put away that sin, and so you need to stop doing that.
But rather, we want to seek to be gracious. We don't necessarily
want to join in with them, but we should be gracious, especially
amongst brethren, because I know I'm not looking for sin in you,
and we want to be gracious, because I know you're being gracious
to me, because I know that we all sin, we all offend so easily
in many ways, and so I'm trusting you're forgiving me when I say
something stupid or do something that maybe is maybe not the way
you would do it and you might get offended I don't know you
know like all different people we have different ways of doing
it but I trust you're you're being gracious to me and so I'm
being gracious you know to you because we just want that peace
and that fellowship that the Lord brings So the only time
that we really want to address sin is if it's being a distraction
to the gospel, right? If someone's doing something
that others are going to say, you guys accept that there, and
you put that there. Not everything that they say,
but if there's something egregious that clearly is a distraction
from the gospel that has to be addressed, then sure, you address
it, but you do it in a spirit of humility and gentleness and
fear, knowing that you yourself are a sinner and somebody could
point out your sin. As Paul said, Brethren, if a
man be overtaken in a fault, ye which are spiritual, restore
such in one in the spirit of meekness, considering thyself,
lest thou also be tempted. So the scribes and the Pharisees,
what they were so you know, what they didn't like and they saw
in Christ is that he was there fellowshipping with publicans
and sinners rather than joining himself to them who were so perfect
and holy and righteous. And you know, that if he was
righteous, he'd be hanging out with them and firing off, you
know, hatred and pointing out the sins of others like they
were doing. So they were, they didn't, they didn't believe it
was the Christ because he ate and he drank with publicans and
sinners. And when they came to the disciples,
it wasn't that they were looking out for their good. They weren't interested in showing
the disciples of Christ how one is saved and how one's sins are
put away. That wasn't their motive in pointing
out what they did of Christ when they said, you know, they said,
how is it? They came in there with the seat.
and poison under their tongue. They were trying to sow discord
and suspicion in the mind of the disciples of Christ. And
they said, well, how is it that he's so comfortable just sitting
there with publicans and sinners? That's the Christ? You sure about
that? And they didn't want the disciples to come over to them. They would have rejected them.
They would have thrown them out. They didn't even receive Judas, who
betrayed Christ. When Judas came seeking some
comfort, they didn't say, you know what? What you did was right,
though. What you did was right. Calm down. It's OK. It'll be
all right. You did the right thing. No, they said, see to
it yourself. That's your problem. Go deal
with it yourself. So the scribes and the Pharisees
weren't interested in comforting anybody and giving anybody salvation. They were just interested in
just shutting down any hope in Christ and belittling Him and
shaming Christ and shaming the disciples for even believing
or hoping that this was the Christ, the promised one of God. You
know, when you see it throughout, they called him a friend of publicans
and sinners. Later on in the ministry, so
it's all throughout the ministry, later on they murmured saying,
this man receiveth sinners and eateth with them. So they were
always trying to to sow that discord and sow corruption in
the hearts and in the minds of the people that they would forsake
him. And all they proved is they were
just living proof that the law doesn't save anyone. It doesn't
turn anyone's heart. It doesn't make anyone's heart
soft and kind and merciful and gentle. All the law does is say,
holy or unholy. It's all it can do is just point
out the fact of what is or isn't. It just shows it doesn't convert
the heart. Christ is the law that converts
the heart. He's that perfection of God that
converts the heart, but the law itself is just hard and cold
and just says yes or no. Perfect imperfect. That's all
that the law does and that's all they look to, that's all
they were trusting in, and so that's why they were just hard
and vicious and cruel. and unforgiving and ungracious
in how they spoke to people and of the Lord. So their zeal was
in justifying themselves by the law and yet in their zeal to
justify themselves by the law they broke it over and over and
over again because all they did was accuse and condemn people
rather than loving them and being kind and gracious to them. And
in 1 John 2 10 it says, he that loveth his brother abideth in
the light and there is none occasion of stumbling in him. So that's
where we should be is loving our brethren and loving those
who need to be loved and be forgiven and shown kindness and mercy.
And they rejected Christ's righteousness because they believed that their
righteousness was sufficient, that everything was all right.
And that's really what people are doing when they reject Christ
and when they make light of him and say, I don't need that. They're
just saying, I don't have any need. Maybe I have some needs,
but I can take care of all those needs myself. I don't need what
he has to give. I don't need salvation by Christ,
and that's exactly what the Pharisees were doing. They were satisfied
with their own righteousness, with their works, and they had
no fear or worry. But he that despiseth me, Christ
said, despiseth him that sent me. And so Christ, Peter said,
Christ was to these Jews a stone of stumbling and a rock of offense,
even to them would stumble at the word being disobedient, whereunto
also they were appointed. And so that right there, what
Christ said, that he that despiseth me despiseth him that sent me,
he's pointing out and he's showing that there's not many ways to
the Lord. We can't work out a righteousness
and come to Christ. You can't be a Buddhist and go
to Christ or a Mormon or Jehovah's Witness or all these other things
where they're trusting in works. There's one way to the Lord and
that's through the Lord Jesus Christ. It's only through him
because if you reject Christ, you're rejecting the God who
sent him. So there can't be other ways to God because he's provided
that one way in his son, saying, you men and women, you can't
make yourselves righteous. You can't do any work that's
going to please me. I've provided the one that pleases
me in the Son, the Lord Jesus Christ. All right, now our third
point. Christ declares that he alone
is the great physician. He's declaring that he alone
is salvation for his people. So whether the disciples came
and told Christ what was going on, or he started hearing this
whisper come over the crowd, or if he heard it specifically
being said by the Pharisees isn't necessarily clear, but in verse
17 it says that when Jesus heard it, he saith unto them, so he
says it out loud again, They're a distraction to the gospel.
They're saying that righteousness is by the works that we do, and
you can't be saved by this one. So they're a distraction to the
gospel. So Christ publicly addresses it right in the hearing of everyone.
And he says unto them, they that are whole have no need of the
physician, but they that are sick. I came not to call the
righteous, but sinners to repentance. So Christ is declaring that sinners
are sick. They are soul sick, in need of
healing, in need of balm, in need of ointment, in need of
salvation, and that he alone is the physician that heals his
people. He's the one that heals the sin sick soul. And our problem
is, and the reason why We don't hear this, is that we're dead
in trespasses and in sins. We have no hope outside of Christ. When Adam sinned in the garden,
we all fell in him. Death came upon everyone. when
he sinned so that spiritually we die and that physically it
was determined we would definitely die at some point but we already
lost that fellowship, we were already spiritually dead when
he ate that fruit that God said don't eat of it. Paul says it
this way, wherefore as by one man sin entered into the world
and death by sin and so death passed upon all men for that
all have sinned. We died in our rebellion and
we lost that fellowship with God so that we, that's why we
can't save ourselves. We don't have the means within
us to save ourselves. And we know that corruption and
we see that lust in us that still works in us so that we desire
those things that are not profitable and won't help anybody, least
of all, don't even help us. And so we see that heart in us. We understand that. Even when
I try my best, I still fail and come short of the glory of God.
I'm a sinner just like everyone else. And so that's what we see. That's what I see in my heart.
I know it. I am convinced that I can't save
myself because I can't work a righteousness that God will receive. And that's
why my hope and why we declare the hope is in Christ. He is
the righteousness that God accepts. And we come to God in the Lord
Jesus Christ, covered in his blood, rejoicing in what he did
for us, because he wove and worked that robe of righteousness whereby
we can stand before God, trusting and not worrying about what I
just did or didn't do that I should have done. We don't look at those
things. I mean, we feel them, we spark
for them because the spirit allows us to feel that grief and that
pain and that sorrow so that we don't go off just living in
sin. He chastens us and deals with
those things, but that doesn't determine that we are cut off
from him. If you feel no sorrow for your
sin, if you could just sin without remorse and say, I don't care,
that's what Christ died for, that's not a good thing because
the Lord will chase in his people. He'll keep them, but it's going
to come by his correction and leading and direction. He'll
lead you and gather you to himself, but you'll feel it. You'll know
that what you've done shouldn't be. be doing, he'll deal with
you in his time. He doesn't even necessarily deal
with every sin right away, but you know when he's dealing with
something in particular because you'll feel it every time that
you do it because he chose to deal with that one in particular
and draw you from it. There are sins that we don't
even understand or know that we do are an offense until God
makes it known to us and determines that he's going to deal with
it. Otherwise, his grace is sufficient for those things in all things. So there's two kinds of sinners
now. There's sensible sinners. There's
ones who have been made to know that they can't do anything.
And I feel like I already I went over that well, but sensible
sinners know that they can't save themselves. They're not
content with their works. They're not pleased in looking
to those things. They're made to see that they
have no righteousness of their own and that God has provided
the righteousness that we need in his son, Jesus Christ. We
confess like what it says in Isaiah 1 6, from the sole of
the foot even unto the head there is no soundness in it but wounds
and bruises and putrefying sores that have not been closed up,
neither bound up, neither mollified with ointment. So the Lord allowed
many of us to go and we turned to many different physicians,
many different churches with many different doctrines and
we heard this and we heard that and nothing healed us. Thankfully,
we weren't turned aside. Nothing healed us. And only Christ,
only a sovereign Lord who sovereignly saves his people was sufficient
for us, was able to heal us and deliver us from the pain and
the suffering that we were in. So that he taught us to say,
like Job, all you physicians, you're forgers of lies. And you're
physicians that cannot heal. They don't heal. And he showed
us that. He convinced us of that. Otherwise, we wouldn't be sitting
here in this little ragtag group, you know, we'd be, you know,
doing some other thing, you know, if at all. So the Lord brings
his people to see that, you know, when we're made like that publican,
where we stand afar off, and we won't even lift up our eyes
in the heaven, but we beat upon our breasts and say, Lord, be
merciful to me, a sinner. He brings us to see that. That's
a sensible sinner who sees that they have no righteousness and
they can't do anything to change that of themselves. So, when
they hear Christ and that Christ is a successful Savior, they
rejoice. As the Lord lays it to the heart
and applies that blood and applies that life and that healing to
them, they are made to rejoice and don't want to go back. That's
when they can drink poison, you know, drink those harmful things,
that's when they can hear that lie again and say, that's a lie
and it doesn't harm them, it doesn't sweep them away in that
wind of false doctrine and they get taken away and corrupted
like the world. But instead, they're able to hear that and
say, that's not the truth, that's just man's works, I ain't listening
to that, I want nothing to do with that anymore. The Lord does
it. He says, they that behold me,
not a physician, but they that are sick. So, if the Lord shows
you that you're a sinner, that you have a sickness in your soul,
that you are cut off from the Lord, He says, knock, and it'll
be opened unto you. Seek, and you shall find. Ask,
and it'll be given unto you. He's a merciful and a gracious
God and a gracious Savior. He saves His people. to his enemies,
though, he says, you know, but go 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. So they look to their sacrifices,
their ardent focus on the law and how stringent they followed
it and how perfect they were and how exacting they were for
themselves and for others, and yet they couldn't see how far
short they were coming up of the righteousness that God requires,
and all they're doing is just denying their depravity. They're
denying that they're unable to work a righteousness, and they're
trusting in their works. That's exactly what the other
type of sinner's doing. They don't see that they're sinners,
and they don't see how they've fallen short. And they're like
that Pharisee that stood and prayed thus with himself, God,
I thank thee that I am not as other men are. Extortioners,
unjust, adulterers, or even as this publican, I fast twice in
the week, I give tithes of all that I possess. And the Lord
says that one didn't go down to his house justified, but that
one who confesses, they're a sinner. They don't have it together.
They don't have any righteousness of their own, but they trust
Christ and His righteousness. They're just looking to the Lord
to save them and have mercy on them and to give them the righteousness
that they need because they just don't have it in themselves.
Christ says that one goes down to his house justifiably. God
will feed that one because he's worked that in them. He's given
them that heart and he'll cause them to hear that gospel. He'll
cause them to hear that Christ is a successful Savior and they'll
believe it. They'll hear what the Spirit
is saying to the churches. So brethren, salvation is in
a person. It's in the Lord Jesus Christ. And so we're to encourage sinners
to look to Christ and to Christ alone because he is the remedy
of sin. It's not anything that we do.
Like the Pharisees being exacting in how they were and they did
many sacrifices but they showed no mercy to sinners. You either measured up to their
line that they made artificially that they make for you. You either
measure up to it or you don't. And all they want to do is just
glory in your flesh and really they're not even interested in
you. tell you that's your problem. You go figure it out. I did my
job. I told you that you're a sinner. You go figure it out." So they
have nothing. There's no healing, no balm, no nourishment for the
one who's weary and sick and hungering and thirsty. And today,
that's how the Pharisees were back then, and today, they're
still Pharisees, though they've altered their message, and some
of them keep the message exactly that way. They give you the sheep
food and promise you life in Christ, and then they slip you
the goat food as soon as you come in and start telling you
the law and what you need to be doing. Not all that is is
just goat food, but others, you know, they speak of love and
mercy and forgiveness, and they empty the gospel of the offense.
because they don't even know why they're believing on Jesus.
They're just believing Jesus because they feel sorry for him
because he died for some reason and they're just supposed to
love him because he loved them. And so they don't even know that
they're sinners. They don't even know. And so what they're doing
is the same exact thing. They're still trusting in the
work that they did for the Lord. They're still trusting and putting
their confidence in a decision that they made the aisle that
they walked in their baptism or something like that, they're
still trusting those things rather than trusting the person, the
Lord Jesus Christ who alone saves the sinner. So both are capable
of whipping up the flesh They both can whip up the flesh, they
can be motivational speakers, and they can really get in your
head and get you going and chanting and singing and praising and
lifting up your hands, but you don't even know why. You just
think that this is how you're saved and that you've worked
it from yourself, so you still don't know that you're sick or
that you're dead and can't do anything to save yourself, but
the thing is that Sinners need a Savior. They need the Great
Physician. Christ alone is that Physician. He's the one who heals the sick. He's the one who forgives the
sinner who is made to look to Him and to Him alone and not
to anything they've done. This Jesus of Nazareth is declared
to be the Son of God, the Christ, the Son of the Living God. came
into this world to put away the sins of his people, and he accomplished
that. He did that. If God has shown you that you're
a sinner in need of salvation, don't be like those Pharisees.
There's nothing you can do about it, but look to the Savior. If
he gives you that look, if he gives you that faith to trust
Christ, that he puts away sin, he saved those who trust in Christ
and look to him alone. Christ says in Revelation, to
those who hear this message, to those who, you know, some
of you have heard it long and often and many times, and he
says, Behold, I stand at the door and knock. If any man hear
my voice and open the door, if they hear the voice, that's because
he's given them life to hear it and to see that they're sinners
and that he alone is the one who can heal them. and they hear
the voice of the Savior, they'll open the door to Him and He says,
I will come in to Him and will sup with Him and He with me.
Just like He supped with those publicans and those sinners.
He ate with them. He receives sinners. He is a
gracious and a faithful Savior worthy of your hope and your
love and your adoration because He did not fail. He is the salvation
of His people and I pray the Lord will help you to hear His
voice and cause you to hear your need of Him and that He is indeed
salvation for His people. Let's pray and then we'll take
the Lord's Supper together. Our gracious Lord, we thank You,
Father, for Your mercy that You've provided in the Son, Jesus Christ.
Lord, help us, help me, Lord, just to be able to declare plainly
and simply and help the people to hear plainly and simply that
Christ and Christ alone is salvation. Lord, we pray that you would
give us life, that we would hear the voice of the Son of God speaking
to us, that we would hear him knocking and his voice as he
comes to each of his people, each of those who he's laid down
his life for and that they would be given faith and open that
door, and Lord, that we would have fellowship and life in you
evermore. We pray this in Jesus' name,
our Lord and Savior. Amen. All right, so we're going
to take the Lord's Supper, and this is for believers. Don't
feel obligated just because you're here to take the Lord's Supper,
but those who have no hope But in Christ, who aren't looking
to their works and know that they're sinners and know and
are convinced that Christ is salvation, those take the supper,
take the wine and the bread and rejoice in Christ your Savior.
But if you're not sure, if you don't know if Christ is who we
say he is, don't take No one's judging you or looking to you.
We want to be gracious and kind and merciful, and we're glad
you're here, but don't feel obligated to take the supper if you don't
believe, but keep on coming until the Lord gives you faith and
a hope in Him and does that work in you. So, all right. So we'll
have Scott and Levi, if you guys can come up. Levi, I mean, Scott,
we had you pray last time, so Scott, we'll have you pray. this
time and then I'll read, well I'll let you guys hand it out
first. So pray and then hand it out. Father again we come to you thankful
today for our time together, for fellowship and to hear the
gospel. Father we're thankful for your
son that you sent to save a people, and Father for raising up a church
in a very dry, deserted place. Father, we ask that you just
watch over and care for us in Christ's name. If you want to turn there before
your hands are full, I'll be in loop 22. I'll be in loop 22. Is this mic coming on? Is this
mic on now? Yeah. I mean, it'll come over
the thing. I have it on. All right, so in Luke 22, and
we'll pick up in verse 14 and read down through verse 20. And
once I'll, I'm just going to read it all. And then we'll take
the bread and the wine together. I'm just gonna go and sit down
after I'm done reading it and just take, you know, as long
as you want, 10 seconds, a minute, whatever you want, and then just
come up and close this in that final hymn. All right, so Luke
14, Luke 22, verse 14. And when the hour was come, he
sat down and the 12 apostles with him. And he said unto them,
with desire, I have desire to eat this Passover with you before
I suffer. For I say unto you, I will not
any more eat thereof until it be fulfilled in the kingdom of
God. And he took the cup, and gave thanks, and said, Take this,
and divide it among yourselves. For I say unto you, I will not
drink of the fruit of the vine until the kingdom of God shall
come. And he took bread, and gave thanks, and break it, and
gave unto them, saying, This is my body, which is given for
you, this do in remembrance of me. Likewise also the cup, after
supper saying, this cup is the new testament of my blood which
is shed for you. If we can, we're gonna have our
closing hymn. Standing, 125, Jesus paid it
all. Jesus paid it all, 125. I hear the Savior say, Thy strength
indeed is small. Child of weakness, watch and
pray. Find in me thine all in all. Jesus paid it all, all to Him
I owe. Sin had left the crimson stain,
He washed it white as stone. For now, indeed, I find Thy power
and Thine alone Can change the leper's spots And melt the heart
of stone. Jesus paid it all, All to Him
I owe. Sin hath left the crimson stain,
He washed it white as snow. For nothing good have I Whereby
thy grace to claim I'll wash my garments white In the blood
of Calvary's Lamb Jesus paid it all All to Him I owe Sin hath
left a crimson stain, He washed it white as snow. And when before
the throne I stand in incomplete, Jesus died my soul to save. mine lips shall still repeat. Jesus paid it all, all to Him
I owe. Sin hath left a crimson stain,
He washed it white as snow.