Turn with me, if you would, back
to Matthew chapter 9. Matthew chapter 9. Continuing our study through
Matthew, We're going to look at a wonderful
portion of scripture this morning. This is truly amazing to me.
It's just amazing. I have enjoyed this so much.
There's, there is a point that I want to make through seeing
what's written right here. There's something that I really
want us to get ahold of and we'll see what it is come the end of
this message. But I'm going to set it up and I'm going to tell
this story as we go through the verses. All right, let's read
verse 9 and then I'll expound on it a little bit and we'll
go from there. Matthew 9 verse 9 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 arose and followed him. Matthew is the penman of this
book. This is called the gospel according
to Matthew. And this is actually the gospel
according to God's Holy Spirit. But he used a man named Matthew
to write it down. He is the penman of this book. And in these particular verses
that we're going to look at this morning, he is telling his own
account of how the Lord called him. He's writing down his own
experience of how the Lord called Matthew to himself. And as we
look into this, we're going to see that Matthew went by two
names, just like some of the other apostles did. Peter went
by two names, Simon, Peter. Well, Matthew went by two names.
He went by Matthew and he went by Levi. Mark's account and Luke's
account both refer to him as Levi, it's the same person. All
right, turn with me over to Mark chapter two. This is Mark's account of our
text. Mark chapter 2 verse 14 says, And as he passed by, he saw Levi,
the son of Alphaeus, sitting at the receipt of custom. And my center margin right there,
if you have one in your Bible, it may say the same thing, but
for the receipt of custom, mine says, at the place where the
custom was received. He was sitting at the place where
the custom was received. Why was he sitting there? Turn
with me to Luke chapter five. This is Luke's account. Each
one of these, He expounds a little bit more on what's taking place.
Luke chapter 5, verse 27, and after these things, he went
forth and saw a publican named Levi sitting at the receipt of
custom. Levi was sitting there because
he was a publican. That's the reason he was sitting
there. He was a publican. The old commentary writers like
John Gill and men like that said that sitting at the receipt of
custom translated sitting among the toll gatherers. or among
publicans. Matthew was sitting among publicans. He was sitting among toll gatherers
at the place where toll gatherers sit, at the place where publicans
sit. The point being, more than likely,
he was not alone. I've always envisioned Matthew
sitting at a table alone. Every time I've thought of this,
this account, the Lord passed by, saw Matthew and called him. I've always had it in my brain
that he was sitting there alone. Apparently he was sitting in
the place where publicans sit. Sitting among publicans. Now,
what was a publican? A publican was a Jew who worked
for the Romans. The Romans were in control at
this time. Our Lord was crucified on a Roman
cross. That was a Roman execution. We just heard that it was considered
the worst form, but that was brought in by the Romans. And
the Romans were hard taskmasters on the Jews. They were in control,
and they were very hard taskmasters. They taxed the Jews for everything,
not just standard taxations, like how much money you made,
and if you owned your own business, or who knows what. They taxed
them for everything. I was reading accounts, and it
said that they would set up on each end of bridges, and if they
crossed a bridge, they had to pay a tax. taxed them for everything. They taxed and taxed and taxed. And the Romans hired the roughest,
meanest Jews that they could find to enforce these taxes. Publicans, that's what they called
them. They were Jews who taxed other Jews for everything. Just everything. And then when
they got this money from the Jews, they turned around and
gave it to the Romans, but their enforcement didn't
stop with the Roman taxes. They would demand more money
than the tax really was. If the Romans demanded a Jew
to pay $100, they would say, well, the tax is $150. And then
they'd take their 50 off the top and pay the Romans their
100, and the Romans were satisfied, and they had extorted money into
their own pocket that way. And they did this with everything. It was nothing but corruption
with them, and they enforced their corruption through violence. So if a man was a publican, he
was hated by the Jews. He was just hated. The Bible
dictionary says that publicans were a class of people detested,
not only by the Jews, but by other nations also, both an account
of their employment and of the harshness, greed, and deception
with which they did their job. They were hated by everybody
for what they did and how they did it. They were hated by everybody. They were the mafia. I've told
you that before, but I've even studied it a little bit more
this week and seen it more clearly. They were the mafia. They were
the mafia. It was organized crime, organized
by the Romans. It was all set up. They had this
little system. It was organized crime. I can envision now after reading
what I've read, I can envision this receipt of custom at the
end of a bridge leading in or out of town. It doesn't matter
where it was, wherever this place was, I can envision All of these
rough mafia publicans sitting around as people go in and out,
making up in the moment any tax that they think you can pay. If you came in with nice clothes
on, I'm sure the tax went up. Well, for you, it's gonna be
making up whatever tax they wanted to make up. And I can also envision,
you know, they ruled by fear. violence. I can also envision
if you did not want to pay the tax, there were plenty of mafia
publicans there to make the beating as severe as it needed to be
for you to pay that tax and for others to say, okay, I'm going
to pay the tax. These were the worst of the worst. I mean the worst of the worst.
And they ruled through fear and violence and oppression. And our Lord walked right into
the middle of this toll house. All right, He walked right into
the middle of this mafia lair and He looked one mafia publican
right in the eye named Matthew and he said, follow me. Right here, Luke 5 verse 27 says,
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. Verse 28 says, and he left all,
rose up and followed him. Now again, I used to envision
that word all to mean all the money. He left all the money, he had
all that money. And he left all that money. I envisioned this
man being all alone. This is what I had in my brain.
I envisioned him being all alone at a table with a big pile of
money on it, just an accountant, just doing his job. This was
just a man. His job was to take the toll and he'd set the money
there and then take the next toll. No. Now, I'm sure he did
leave all the money. I'm sure that he did walk away
from all that money. But this is saying right here
that he got up and left all the other publicans. Christ looked him right in the
eye and said, follow me. And he rose up and left the mafia. He rose up and followed him. Verse 29 says, 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. Matthew's
account calls them publicans and centers, just like the next
verse right here says verse 30. But their scribes and Pharisees
murmured against his disciples saying, why do you eat and drink
with publicans and centers? Now I wanted to stay here in
Luke five and read that verse because it specifically says
eat and drink with publicans and centers. Why do you and why
does your master eat and drink with publicans and sinners? Go
with me back to Matthew 9. To give an understanding of this
environment, all right, and why these religious Pharisees are
saying what they're saying right here, why they're saying this
and responding this way. From way back when, even in the
days of our Lord, taverns, bars, were owned and operated
by publicans. And they called them public houses. And it's where we get the name
pub from. If you were going to eat and
drink with publicans and centers, you did that down at the pub. You went to the pub for that.
Now, even though Matthew made this feast at his own home for
our Lord, all of the guests were straight out of the pub. Does
that make sense? All of the guests were publicans
and sinners, and the self-righteous Pharisees were saying, honestly,
that's where you're going to have dinner? That's who you're gonna eat with?
That's who you're gonna choose to eat with? Look with me at Matthew 11, verse
19. Matthew 11, verse 19. It says, the Son of Man came eating
and drinking, and they say, Behold, a man gluttonous and a wine-bibber,
a friend of publicans and sinners." They said, you're going to eat
pub fare? You're going to drink pub drink? How could you do that? How could
you do that? How could you associate with
them? How could you number yourself
with them? One report that I read said,
and I don't want this to be a history
lesson, I want this to be the gospel, but this blessed my heart. This has really blessed my heart.
One report that I read said that publicans could only find companions
among other publicans. Everybody was afraid of them.
People were just afraid of them. They were afraid to be associated
with them. They were afraid of being locked
in with them. Like associating with the mafia.
You think about it. Think about associating with
the mafia. You better be careful because if they get control of
you, there's no getting out. If you're going to associate
with the mafia, then you better be okay with becoming a member
of the mafia. So this report said that publicans
could only find companions among other publicans or from within
the criminal element. So. Association with a publican
automatically cast suspicion on a person's reputation. If
you associated with them, you were willing to be identified
with them. You were willing to be counted
as one of them. This is the amazing part of the
gospel. Our Lord numbered Himself. with the transgressors. He counted himself among the
transgressors. Why would he do that? Why would
the Lord do that? If we see what I'm hoping we
will see come the end of this, we will understand that this
man is the savior of publicans. Why would the Lord do that? It's
because this is the Savior of publicans. That's who He came
to save. You know, we say that He came
to save sinners, but then we get it in our mind, well, we're
all sinners, and y'all are nicely dressed sinners and pleasant. Y'all come in with smiles on
your faces, and we hug, and I get it. I see why He'd save y'all
sinners. He came to save publicans, people who do what publicans
do. This is what he told the Pharisees.
If you look back at chapter 9, Matthew 9, verse 9 says, As Jesus
passed forth from thence, he saw a man named Matthew sitting
at the receipt of custom, and he said unto him, Follow me. And he arose and followed him.
And 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. And when the Pharisees saw it,
they said unto his disciples, why eateth your master with publicans
and sinners? But when Jesus heard that, he
said unto them, they that behold need not a physician, but they
that are sick. He said, I came for the sick. I came for the ruined. I came
for the vile. You know what he said over in
Romans 5 through the Apostle Paul? He said, I came for the
ungodly. Does that hit us? I came for
the ungodly. That's who Christ came to save. He did not come to save those
who don't need saving. Oh, that God would put us in
a position where we have to cry out to Him, save me right now,
like Peter walking on the water. When he was going down, Peter
didn't say, save me in 20 years, save me tomorrow. I need you
to save me right, please save me right now. Our Lord did not come to save
those who don't see themselves as having any sin or not even
not having much sin. Christ came to save vile, wretched,
miserable sinners. Sinners. This is who Christ came
to save. Sinners. He did not come to receive
sacrifices from the self-righteous. Well, this is what I'm gonna
do for God. And this is what I'm gonna stop doing for God.
I'm gonna sacrifice that. And I'm gonna give this, I'm
gonna sacrifice that. He did not come to receive sacrifices
from the self-righteous. He came to show mercy to sinners. I'll just go ahead and tell you,
I'm a sinner. And therefore, that's good news
to me. I hate to tell you that. Really do. But I'm a sinner. No matter how nice my suit is. I'm a sinner. Verse 13, Matthew 9, verse 13
says, 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." What does that mean? Really? Really? What does he mean by
that? What is he saying in that? He's
saying, I did not come to receive a sacrifice from man. I came to make a sacrifice for
man. I came to shed my blood for sinners
who need it. I came to shed my blood for sinners
who need it. Concerning publicans, I read
that they were considered by society to be beyond hope, and not worthy of forgiveness. Christ said, that's exactly who
I came for. That is exactly who I came for.
I came for those who see themselves to be beyond hope and not worthy
of forgiveness. You know, All I truly desire
in the preaching of the gospel is to cross paths with a sinner. I'm looking for a sinner. And I love it whenever people
come to me just scared to death saying, what do I do? Because
I see myself as beyond hope, not worthy of forgiveness. Well,
that's a blessing to my soul because I get to say you're the
very candidate Christ came for. But you know that's a rare thing
to find? You know how rare it is to find
somebody who actually says, not with lip service, but from the
heart, I see myself to be beyond hope, not worthy of being forgiven. You know how rare that is to
find? I need mercy. I need mercy. That's what I need is mercy.
I've told you before about that man who was standing in the courtroom
with his son who had just been sentenced to prison. And in about 10 or 15 years,
I'll tell you who it is. But his son was sentenced to
prison. And the man asked if he could say something to the
judge before they hauled him off. And the judge permitted
him to. And he said, Your Honor, is there any room for mercy?
And the judge said, based on what your son has done, he doesn't
deserve mercy. And he said, that's true, Your
Honor. But if he deserved it, it wouldn't be mercy. Mercy is for those who are beyond
hope. who do not deserve mercy. That's
the very person that mercy is for. Mercy is for those who don't
deserve it. That's what I want us to get
a hold of. Find somebody out there in the world who you believe
in your heart does not deserve God's mercy and then go preach
the gospel to them. That's what we're called on to
do. The Lord said, that is exactly
who I'm going to give my mercy to. That's who I came to shed
my blood for and that's who I'm going to call to myself and receive
to myself. And I'm so glad the Lord said
that because I'm a publican. That's what I am. I'm a publican.
I'm no better than a publican. In my heart, And in my mind, and in my deeds,
in every fiber of my being, I'm a publican. Lord, I'm a publican. Even me, even me, let Thy blessing
fall on me. I'm a publican. I need the Savior of publicans. That's the Savior I need. The
Savior that actually saves publicans. Thank God that's the Savior that
you are. It blessed my heart so much to
look up in the Scripture and to realize just how many publicans
the Lord saved throughout His three and a half years in His
ministry on this earth. Matthew, you know the story in Luke 18
of the publican in the temple? There was a Pharisee and a publican. Zacchaeus, it says he was the
chief publican and he was rich. What that means is all the other
publicans were filtering money. They were scraping theirs off
the top and then a scrape had to come off of theirs to the
next guy and a scrape had to come off of that to the next
guy and everybody was filtering up to Zacchaeus. He was rich. He was the chief publican. He
was the head of the family. And God said, you come down.
I'm coming to your house. I thought about it. It'd be like,
you know, Joel Osteen and Billy Graham and just start naming
all these famous religious Pharisees. And the Lord walking straight
up to Al Capone and saying, I'm coming to your house. And they
look at him and say, You know what this is? This is
grace. This is grace. This is unearned
favor and merit from God Almighty on a filthy, rotten, undeserving
sinner. This is God's sovereign will
to show mercy to whoever He's pleased to show mercy to. Thank
God. He said He'd show it to somebody
just like me. And just like you, I know you,
you're not that good. He said He'd show mercy to us. Throughout the Scripture it says
many, it constantly says many publicans, many publicans. Don't turn. But Luke 15 verse
1 says, Then drew near unto Him all the publicans and sinners
for to hear Him. Think about that. Why would all
the publicans draw near to Him? Because He called them by His
Spirit. He's the Savior of publicans.
This man gave His life and shed His blood to put away the vicious
sins of all the publicans and sinners that His Father gave
to Him. And amazingly, they're put away. They're put away. Because of His stripes, this
publican was healed. You too. You too. If we are sinners, and I don't
mean just little regular sinners, but I mean publican sinners,
a publican sinner in need of His sacrifice of mercy, then
let's draw near to Him. If we're publicans, let's draw
near to Him. He will identify Himself with
us, and He will identify us with Him, and the great physician
will make us whole. He'll make us whole. He will
wash us. He'll cover everything that we've
done wrong. Everything that we've done wrong,
He'll cover it in His own blood. And He'll prepare a place for
us, and He'll feast with us, and He'll grant us a heart of
repentance toward Him. He'll grant us a heart that no
longer looks to ourselves, but looks to Him alone. That's what
repentance is. It's a change of mind about who I need to look
to for my salvation. Not me any longer, Him alone.
He will grant repentance toward the Lord Jesus Christ. And He
will, all that He does that for, He'll give them a heart that
never forgets what the Lord did for them. He will give them a
heart that never forgets the pit he pulled them out of. I'm
gonna leave you with this, okay? This is just so sweet to me. In the next chapter, Matthew
chapter 10, Matthew is called on by the Holy Spirit to write
down who the 12 apostles were at the beginning of the Lord's
ministry. He listed them, and this is what Matthew wrote. Look
with me at Matthew 10, verse 1. It says, And when he had called unto him
his twelve disciples, he gave them power against unclean spirits,
to cast them out, and to heal all manner of sickness and all
manner of disease. Now the names of the twelve apostles
are these. The first Simon, who was called
Peter and Andrew, his brother, James, the son of Zebedee and
John, his brother, Philip and Bartholomew, Thomas and Matthew, the publican. James
the son of Alphaeus, Labaius, whose surname was Thaddeus, Simon
the Canaanite, and Judas Iscariot, who also betrayed him. These
12 Jesus sent forth. He listed all those men, and
he said, Matthew the publican. In humility and thankfulness,
he never forgot what the Lord did for him. Never. And God's
people don't. They just don't. Those who have
received mercy, plead mercy, and declare mercy. They say,
not have I gotten, but what I received. Grace has bestowed it and caused
me to believe. Boasting excluded, pride I base. I'm only a sinner saved by grace. That's it. Thank God for His
mercy and His grace on sinners like us. All right, Brother Eddie,
you come.