Come back to Matthew chapter
9. Matthew chapter 9. I titled this message, A Savior
for Sinners. A Savior for Sinners. I sure need one, and I'm looking
at some places that need one. Our Lord had been in the land
of the Gergesenes, and they told him to leave. After
he healed that demonic, they asked him to leave their coast,
and he did. And he went back to his hometown,
his home city, Capernaum. That's where he went back to.
There were some sinners there that he's going to save. He's going to have mercy on.
Everywhere he went had a purpose to it. And sinners were going to be
saved. He came to save sinners. Sinners are going to be saved.
He did not come to try and save some sinners that would let him.
I thank God. I don't need a God that will
let me. I need a God who will do it and
not ask. That's what I need. That's what
you need. And so he's coming back to his
hometown and he's going to save a sinner and he's going to call
a sinner. Now we notice here, it says,
he entered into a ship and he passed over, came into his own
city. And behold, they brought to him
a man sick of the palsy, a paralyzed man, lying on a bed. And Jesus, seeing their face,
said unto the sick of the palsy, Son, be of good cheer. Thy sins be forgiven thee. The first thing that jumped out
at me here were these friends. Over in Mark it says he was born
of four. Four men carried him to this
place. And over in Mark it says they
climbed up on the housetop because they couldn't get close to him
because of the crowd. And they climbed up on this housetop
and they tore the roof up. They didn't ask the man who owned
the house if they could do it. They were in desperate need of
getting this friend of theirs to the Lord Jesus Christ, and
they tore a hole in that roof, and they let him down right into
his presence. And I thought, these are true
friends. Now this is a true friend. True friends bring their friends
to hear the gospel, to where Christ is. It says they brought
him over a mark, it says they carried him. They believed in
their hearts, because it says the Lord recognized their faith.
They believed in their hearts that the Lord could heal their
friend, like that woman with the issue of blood. She said,
if I can but touch the hem of his garment, I will be made whole. Not I might be. I hope to be. She believed she would be made
whole. And these men here, and I believe this paralyzed man,
they believed if they could just get to him, if they could just
get to him, He'll be made whole. This problem
will be taken care of. This young man was paralyzed. He had the palsy. Paralyzed.
He could not come of himself. And I thought as I read that,
sin has paralyzed all men and women. It's paralyzed us. Shut us down. Tell men and women
to come to Christ. Tell them to come to the Master.
He is salvation. He's everything. Everything we
have, He's given us. And they won't do it. Not unless
He draws them. Not unless He brings them. That's
how sin has paralyzed us. We've been shut down spiritually.
It takes a work of grace. It takes a real work of grace
to bring a sinner to the Lord Jesus Christ. It takes a work
of grace. Now it says, Jesus seeing their
faith, not just the outward act of it, but He saw the heart.
He saw the faith in their heart, that inward belief that they
had Him in Him. They believed He could do it.
And note here, note what our Lord took care of first. The
first thing our Lord did was take care of the real problem. He said, Son, Be a good cheer. This is a happy day for you,
son. And he called him son. He rightly called him. He called
him son. This is a good day for you. Be
a good cheer. Here's the reason why. Not because
I'm going to heal you and you're going to walk out of this place.
That's not the reason for being a good cheer, even though that
I'm sure made him happy. Oh, here's the reason for good
cheer. Thy sins Thy sins be forgiven, be forgiven thee. Thy sins be forgiven thee. He took care of the real problem
first. He took care of the sin problem
first, the root of all our problems. What is the root of all our problems?
It's this, it's sin. It's the very root of all the
agony and the problems and the heartaches that we go through.
It's sin. And our Lord took care of this sin problem first. Christ
did not listen. The Lord Jesus Christ did not
treat the symptoms. That's what doctors do. They
give you drugs and treat the symptoms. He took care of the
disease. He treated the disease. He went
to the very heart of the problem. That's what he did. He went to
the very heart of the problem. He treated sin. He took care
of that matter first. If we ever have, if a person
ever has this sin issue dealt with and taken care of, all other
problems will pale in comparison. If he says, son, thy sins be
forgiven thee. False religion treats symptoms. That's what they don't treat.
Christ treats the disease. The very root of this man's problem
was sin, original and actual. And the Lord took care of that
first. Sinners do not need to straighten up. I heard that a
lot younger. Sinners don't need to straighten
up. Sinners need a Savior. Sinners need someone, and that
someone is Christ, to save them from their sins. That's what
sinners need. They need to be saved from sin.
And it's not physical healing that we need. It's spiritual
healing that we need. That's what I need. That's what
you need. And the first thing our Lord
Call this man and this is reason for good cheer. Here's reason
for good cheer. The first thing is because he
called him son. So son of God, now are we the
sons of God? Son, son of God, son of Abraham,
son of promise. A son. Oh, he speaks to him like a father
would speak to his son. He didn't speak to him harshly,
roughly. He spoke to him tenderly. This
is the Father speaking. Not just the Son of God speaking,
but this is the Father speaking. He says, Son, be happy today. This is a good day for you. Be
of good cheer. Thy sins be forgiven thee. All
thy sins. Not just the sin that may have
caused this problem, but all thy sins. or to be forgiven of all thy
sins." Past, present, and future. They're all taken away. Gone. They're gone. Thy sins, he said,
be forgiven thee. And the scribes complained about
this. They were upset. They said, who? This man, and of course that
word man is a added by the translator. It says this. They didn't even
know what they called it. They were so mad. They said,
this, this, this upstart, this blasphemer. Oh, they were upset that he should
tell this man that his sins are forgiven. And he said, no one
can forgive sins but God. Well, you're right. You're right, but you don't know
how right you are. I've heard people say right things,
but they don't know it. They said, no one can forgive
sins, but God, you're right. And the one standing before you
is God, the creator of heaven and earth. He's our creator. They got upset. They complained
about it, but that paralyzed man didn't complain. You didn't hear him complain
because sinners don't complain about grace. No, they don't complain
about grace. They do not complain about forgiveness. A guilty man doesn't complain
about pardon. Not at all. He didn't complain. This is false religion here.
They complain. Here in verse 3, And behold,
certain of the scribes said within themselves, This man blasphemeth. He's a blasphemer. Instead of rejoicing? Oh, what
a rejoicing should have happened here. There was some rejoicing. That paralyzed man was rejoicing.
The four that brought him were rejoicing. But instead of rejoicing
over this healed sinner, they were angry. Oh, that's false
religion for you. That is the face of false...
That's a commentary on false religion. Angry at God's mercy. Angry at grace. But it says here,
the Lord knew their hearts. He knew their thoughts. You see,
they were over there. Within themselves, they said,
this man is blasphemous. This man is not of God. And he read their hearts. Christ
is the great heart reader. He knows every thought that's
ever been thought. He knows every thought that's
ever been thought. And he knew their thoughts. No thoughts,
Scripture says, can be withheld from him. And he asked them this
question. Why think ye evil in your hearts? Why are you thinking such evil
in your hearts toward me? What evil have I done? What evil have I done? If you
knew me, you wouldn't say this. Or if you knew. If they knew
who He was, God in flesh, they would not think so evilly of
Him. Our Lord says to them, which
is easier to say? He says, now which is easier
to say? Why think evil in your hearts? Which is easier to say?
Thy sins be forgiven or rise up and walk? Well, both are easy
to say. Both are easy to say. Anybody
can say it. The greatest fool in the world
can say it, but neither are easy to do. It takes divine power. It takes
the divine power of God to make a man who's paralyzed to just
get up, take his bed, and walk off and go home. But it takes a proper atonement
to say, Thy sins be forgiven thee. And he has both. He's the sacrifice, his blood
is the atonement for our sins, and he is God. Now, which is
easier to say? Well, they're both easy to say,
but they're impossible to do. Except he be God. And he's God. He said, But I said, Thy sins
be forgiven thee, so that you would know. This is why I said
this. I said this so that you would
know that the Son of Man, the one you are looking at, the Son
of Man has power on earth. He has power. He has the right.
He has the authority on earth, the same that he has in heaven. Same power. He has the same power
on earth that he has in heaven to forgive sins. This one has
the power and the right to forgive sins. No one else has that. The
Pope cannot dissolve your sins. No one can do that but Christ. He has the power, the right,
the authority, the blood of atonement. He has the right sacrifice. He
has all that's needed. to say, Son, thy sins be forgiven
thee. He has it. I thought last night as I was
going over there, I thought, does anyone need their sins forgiven? Well, there is one who can do
it. There's one who can wash away sin. The Lord Jesus Christ. Now, after Christ took care of
the real problem After he took care of the man's real problem,
then he said, rise up and walk. You see, he took care of the
real problem first, sin. Then he took care of this man's
physical problem. Then he said, rise up and walk
and go home. Go home. The problem was not
in his physical body. He exposed the real problem.
He said it's sin. and sin, and he took care of
it. If you and I get that taken care
of, if we get that taken care of, get this sin issue taken
care of, then we can rise up and walk with God like Enoch
did. And he commanded him to rise
up and walk, listen, and go home. Go home. Go home first. Listen, go home first and make
them happy. Make them happy. That had been a sad place. That
had been a sad place. He was paralyzed. And you know,
being paralyzed, especially in that day, had been tough. But can you imagine when he walked
into his house, a new man? He walked right into his house.
No doubt, greeting probably his wife and family. Can you imagine
seeing that? You walk, you go home, like he
told that man who was possessed of the devils. You go home and
you tell them what great things the Lord has done for you. You
go home and do that. Oh, what a happy day it was in
his house. You go home and you do that.
And he went. He did as the Lord had told him. He went. He obeyed his master. The Lord said, you go home. And he picked up his bed, threw
it on his shoulders and walked off completely healed. And the multitudes, it says,
marveled. They marveled. They marveled
and they glorified God. Never seen such a thing. To marvel
is one thing. That's one thing. but to believe
is another. To believe God is another. To be astonished is one thing,
but to bow at the feet of the Lord Jesus Christ is another. They gave God the glory for giving
such power to men. That multitude did not recognize
the God of glory in Christ standing in their presence. But that man did. There was one
there that did. Then our Lord leaves that place.
He came. He preached the Word. You'll
remark, he says he was preaching the Word when this happened.
He was preaching the Word in this house. And they brought
in this man, laid him down through the roof. He heals this man,
and then he leaves. He's going out of town. And on
his way out of town, he calls another sinner. Oh, he's looking
for sinners. He's on the trail of his sheep.
He's going to save sinners. You can just bank on that. That's
what he came to do, and he's going to do it. And he calls
Matthew. You go over in Mark, and it gives
a list of the names of the apostles. or the disciples. Matthew calls
himself the publican. Matthew the publican. Humble. He didn't exalt himself. He called
himself the publican. Never got over it. Sinners never
get over it. Who they are, what they are,
and what God has done for them in Christ. They never get over
it. Never. Now he goes and he calls Matthew. Matthew was not looking for him. Matthew is a publican. He's a
tax collector. He worked for the IRS, basically,
and you know how that goes. He worked for the Roman government
collecting taxes from the Jews to pay the Roman government.
Everybody hated publicans. They were normally extortioners.
You know, they were cheats. And the Lord walks by and here's
this publican sitting in his booth. They built booths that
have a bridge that go across the river or a boat or something. Well, there'd be a booth there.
And they would sit in that booth and they'd collect taxes. You
had to pay toll. You had to pay toll. Well, he's
sitting there taking it and the Lord walks by, looks at him and
says, follow me. He never said that to a multitude,
did he? All the multitudes that followed him, he never looked
at a whole multitude and said, follow me. He looked at individuals.
Christ saves individuals. He doesn't save groups. He saves
individuals, sinners. And he looked at him and he said,
follow me. And he wasn't expecting it. He
wasn't looking for it. He wasn't looking for the Lord.
Not at all. His interest was in It was in
his business that he had as a tax collector. And the Lord called
him, sought him out purposely and called him. And when he called
him, listen, there was power with that call. That is what
you call an effectual call. He said, Matthew, follow me. And Luke says he left all. He
left all and he followed the Lord Jesus Christ. He left. That's power now. That's power. Now I can stand here and talk
all day long. And it won't affect you at all.
In fact, if I talk that long, you'd shoot me. But the Lord just says a word.
What was that centurion said? Lord, speak the word only and
my servant shall be healed. My servants shall be healed."
You know, when you bring somebody to hear the gospel, it's not
that they're going to be impressed with the preacher or even what
he has to say, but it's that the Lord will speak the word
over them and heal their souls. Now, he called Matthew to follow
him, and he left. He left all, and immediately
he followed the Lord Jesus Christ. There was no begging service
going on, begging him to follow, begging him to accept. No, he
just got up. He left that booth and followed the Lord. But you
know what he did after that? He followed the Lord. And then
he invited the Lord to his house for supper. It says in verse 10, And it came
to pass, as Jesus sat at me, In the house? Well, that was
his house. That house was Matthew's house.
That was the publican's house. And he was invited to come over
to his house. And you know what he did? He
invited all his workers, all the people he worked with, all
the other publicans and all the other sinners that he knew, all
the other lowlifes that he knew. He said, I want you to come over
and hear this man. I want you to meet the Lord Jesus
Christ. I want you to meet this man.
He invited him to his house for dinner and he invited all his
friends for a feast with his Lord. My, what grace does. Grace will not only open your
heart, it will open your home. It will open everything you have.
It will. Grace will move you to bring
others to hear Christ. You had a great ailment, and
you found a doctor that could take care of it? Well, if you
know someone else that has that ailment, I guarantee you, you're
going to say, you need to go see this one. You need to go
see this one. That's what he did. He got all
his friends to come over to his house. Grace in the heart is
not ashamed of the Lord Jesus Christ. But here's the amazing
part of it. Here's the amazing part. Christ
is not ashamed of us. He's not ashamed to call them
brethren. He's not ashamed to call them
tax collectors and no sinners, my brothers. Matthew was not
an influential person. He's not someone that John McCain
or Barack would have on their political party representing
them. He was not an influential person
to have to follow you, especially if you wanted to win the Jews.
This is not a man you want to follow. He was a publican, a tax collector. But Christ identified with him. He identified with him. He went
home to eat with him. This is one of mine. This publican. is one of my sons. I came to
save sinners. I came to save them. And our
Lord goes to his house and he goes there and identifies with
them. He sits down and he eats with
them. Now think about it. This is the
God of glory. This is the God that no man can
comprehend. This is the one who said, let
there be light and there was light. This is the one who created
all things. This is the one with whom we
have to do. And he went home to his house. That's what Zacchaeus
did when the Lord saved Zacchaeus. He invited him to his house.
He said, you come to my house. You come to my house. And he
went to his house and he ate. He sat down and ate in fellowship
with publicans and sinners. The Pharisees saw that and they
got upset. You know what the Pharisees saw?
Publicans and sinners. You know what the publicans and
sinners saw? Their Savior. They saw the Lord. Now listen. True fellowship. starts with the Lord Jesus Christ. True worship starts with the
Lord Jesus Christ. He's the object of it. He's the
center of it. He's the center. And Christ is the true physician
of souls. When He heals, He heals. Paul said this, over in 1 Timothy
1.15, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners. He said, of whom I'm chief. This is why he came. This is
what the Pharisees and the Sadducees and all that religious garb that
was going on at that time missed. They missed it. He came to save sinners. They
said, we'd be not sinners. Didn't they say that? We'd be
not sinners. We're sons of Abraham. Well, then this message is not
for you. The message is for sinners. It's for those who need mercy.
Those who need Christ. Christ came to save sinners. Now note what the Pharisees said
here. Why Edith? Your master with publicans and
sinners. Why does he eat with publicans
and sinners? Well, the first thought that
hit me when I read that was this. That's the only homes he's welcoming.
The only home he's welcoming is the home of the sinners. But
the Lord heard them and he said, and he gave the answer. He gave
the right answer here. The whole need not a physician.
Those who justify themselves. And they are they who justify
themselves, those Pharisees and Sadducees, the scribes. He said, they don't need a physician.
You don't go to the doctor when you're healthy and well, do you?
You say, I don't need one. But the sick do. The whole need
not a physician, but the sick. The sick. What he's saying here is, I came
to save sinners in need of mercy, in need of grace. I came to save
sinners. Now he says something here to
them, and I'll wind this down. Go and learn what that means. Go and learn what that means.
Now let me read you something, because he's speaking here to
the scribes here. Let me read you something out
of Hosea chapter 6 verse 6. Because this is what he's talking
about and this is what he's referring to when he says this to those
scribes. For I desired mercy and not sacrifice,
and the knowledge of God, that is the knowledge of God in Christ,
more than burnt offerings. I desired that. Go learn. He says to these scribes,
these Pharisees and the self-righteous, go learn that God delights in
the exercise of mercy more than burnt offerings. He said God delights in the exercise
of mercy. Turn over to 1 Samuel. Let me
read you a couple of scriptures, and the scriptures will explain
this far better than I can. Over in 1 Samuel, In verse 22, 1 Samuel 15, and Samuel
said, Hath the Lord as great delight in burnt offerings and
sacrifices, as in obeying the voice of the Lord? Behold, to
obey is better than sacrifice, and to hearken than the fata
brain. Now turn over to Mark chapter
12. Mark chapter 12. Let me begin
reading in verse 28. And one of the scribes came.
having heard them reasoning together, and perceiving that he had answered
them well, asked him, Which is the first commandment of all?
And Jesus answered him, The first of all the commandments is, Hear,
O Israel, the Lord our God is one Lord, and thou shalt love
thy neighbor, and thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all
thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind, and with
all thy strength. This is the first commandment.
And the second is, Namely this, thou shalt love thy neighbor
as thyself. Therefore there is none other commandment greater
than these. And the scribe said unto him, Well, master, thou
hast said the truth. For there is one God, and there
is none other but he. And to love him with all the
heart, and with all the understanding, and with all the soul, and with
all the strength, and to love his neighbor as himself is more,
is better, and all hold burnt offerings and sacrifices. And when Jesus saw that he answered
discreetly, he said unto him, Thou art not far from the kingdom
of God. Our Lord says God delights in
the exercise of mercy more than the burnt sacrifices and the
rituals, even though he instituted them, that pointed to Christ.
He delights in mercy. The scripture says he delights
to show mercy. That's why I'm here. I'm here
because God delights to show mercy to sinners. This is why
I'm dying. This is why I'm shedding my blood.
This is why I'm going to the cross. Because God delights to
show mercy to sinners. He delights in mercy more than
all the ceremonies and rituals performed by men. He delights
in it. See, they were always offended
that Christ was messing up their day. They're just messing up
our service. On the Sabbath day, He's picking
corn. He healed on the Sabbath day.
He's just messing it all up. No, He's not. He's showing us
what a mess we are. He delights to show mercy. He
delights. What Christ was doing in eating
and fellowshipping with these sinners was far more important
than keeping up with the rituals and the ceremonies. He said this
is far more important, to show mercy. Oh, to show mercy. The physician is needed by the
sick, not the healthy. If we learn what this means,
he said to those scribes who studied the scripture, If we
learn what this means, we will have learned the gospel. We will
have learned the gospel of God's grace. Okay, Mark.