Matthew 9, 9, 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. Our Lord has revealed to us in
Matthew chapter 8, that all he need do is say the word and all
of his pleasure is done. When he passes forth from thence,
in this verse here that we just read, thence being Capernaum,
he does so having shown us while he was there that he has power
on this earth to forgive sins. At his sovereign discretion and his merciful will, sins are
taken away. And we begin to see who this
Jesus Christ is, with whom we have to do. Only God has power to forgive
sins, and yet this one who referred to himself there as the Son of
Man, has this power to forgive sins. His name shall be called Emmanuel,
which being interpreted is God with us, God with us. He could have forgiven Judas'
sins if he had wanted to. You say, but Chris, Judas was
a devil from the beginning. Yes, and what did Christ do when
he saved you? But change a devil into a son.
He could have passed by the gathering possessed with the legion of
devils and left him in his sins. But he wouldn't. He could not. But he could not
only because he loved him. And had committed himself from
the beginning. having chosen him to salvation from the beginning,
having chosen that horrible, pathetic wretch to salvation,
he went where he was and cast out the demons. And now as he
passes forth from one place, I think about this, he passes
forth from Capernaum, having had mercy on one man, and having
spoken forgiveness to one sinner, he passes forth from thence,
and on his way from having had mercy, and on his way to having
mercy on someone else, in between mercies, he has mercy on a publican
named Matthew. You see, that's what one who
sits at receipt of custom, a tax collector, That's what a publican
is. And we find here in this chapter,
chapter nine, our Lord having mercy on the way to having mercy. We find that he not only has
power to forgive, but he delights to do it. He's not only able
to show mercy to whom he will, but he's plenteous in mercy. How true what King David said
in Psalm 103 8, the Lord is merciful and gracious, slow to anger and
plenteous, plenteous in mercy. Lamentations 3 21. Listen to
that. Turn there with me real quick.
We won't be long this morning. I want you to look at this passage
of scripture. Lamentations three and verse 21. Because I think
this will be a blessing to the Lord's people this morning. May
you be able to say what Jeremiah is saying here in Lamentations
3.21. Look at what he said there in
verse 21. This I recall to my mind, therefore have I hope. You know
what it is to recall something to your mind? It's to remember.
Like our Lord said, as often as you do this, as often as you
eat this bread and drink this cup, remember me, recall to your
mind. And this man says, this I recall
to my mind and it gives me hope when I do. It is of the Lord's mercies that
we are not consumed. The reason I'm able to go about
my business today and God doesn't throw me in hell is because he's
merciful. Because his compassions fail
not. Mine do, yours do, but his don't. They are new every morning. Did you wake up this morning
in the mercy of God? Did this thought cross your mind,
how new? Every morning are his mercies
unto me. I wake up in the morning in Christ. and I go to bed at
night in Christ. And all through the day I walk
in Christ. Great is thy faithfulness. Now
Matthew was a publican. Those who sat at the receipt
of custom, these were collectors of the taxes and not like we
pay taxes, it's not like He was a representative of the Jewish
government. He collected the taxes that the
Romans had imposed upon the people of the land of Israel, whom they
had conquered. You think about this, the Romans
were tyrants, they were ruthless tyrants. They came and took over
nations just because they felt like it. And then they imposed
a tax, said you've got to pay us for taking over you. and for
the privilege of living under our heel, you gotta pay for it.
And Matthew, these men called publicans, they were men whom
the Romans hired to do their dirty work for them. They collected
the taxes that the Romans imposed upon the people. And they were
called publicans. If you didn't know and you read
the scriptures and you saw this word publican and you didn't
know what they were, you might think, that it was something
like a drug dealer or some other scum of the earth, the way that
they're referred to in the Word of God. Notice in verse 10 how
that the Word is synonymous with the most notorious of evildoers.
They're grouped together. And they're talking about not
just people that have done some bad thing. When they're saying,
this man eateth with publicans and sinners, Many publicans and
sinners sat down to meet. And in verse 11, why eateth your
master with publicans and sinners? They said, why is he having dinner
with such notoriously evil people? That was the question. Publicans
were grouped with them. These men who were Jews, Matthew
was a Jew, but he collected taxes for the Romans. These men were
considered traitors to their own country. And they did this
for one motive, to get rich. Not only were they enticed into
doing this for the Romans against their own people, but they were
notorious for collecting more than the law required and pocketing
the difference. And they were considered traitors
and the vilest of infidel. Think about the Jews, the Jews'
religion was so integral to their nationality that it wasn't just
a, an unpatriotic thing to do. They were considered infidels
against God for being traitors to their nation. Matthew 18,
15, listen to the language here. Our Lord said, moreover, if thy
brother shall trespass against thee, go and tell him his fault
between thee and him alone. If he shall hear thee, thou hast
gained thy brother, but If he will not hear thee, then take
with thee one or two more, that in the mouth of two or three
witnesses every word may be established. And if he neglect to hear them,
tell it unto the church. But if he neglect to hear the
church, let him be unto thee as an heathen man and a, you
guessed it, a publican. Let him be like a publican to
you. It's irreconcilable. He's wronged you and doesn't
give a hoot, doesn't care anything about you. He's shown openly
that he despises you and is not gonna make things right. Think
of him as you would a publican. In Matthew 21, 31, our Lord said
to the Pharisees, the publicans and the harlots will enter the
kingdom of God before you. Publicans and harlots. And notice
this here, Matthew, in the book of Matthew, writes, our Lord
passed by one sitting at the receipt of custom named Matthew. He doesn't try to hide what he
was. He doesn't just say, there sat
a man working and the Lord passed by and said unto him, follow
me. He said, there sat one at the receipt of custom. There
sat there one of these ones that everybody, the Romans didn't
think anything of him either, and the Jews despised him. And
there sat one of them fellas, and the Lord came by and said,
follow me. Matthew didn't try to hide it. Did you know that
in some hymn books, the words of the hymn Amazing Grace are
changed from Amazing Grace, how sweet the sound, that saved a
wretch like me. There are some fine, upstanding
church folk that can't sing that. They sing instead, amazing grace,
how sweet the sound that saved a soul like me. Or that saved
one just like me. The word wretch is too strong
for them. The truth of the matter is the
word wretch don't even begin to describe us. There's no language. There's
no human tongue that can begin to describe the foulness. And
our Lord here, now up until now in the book of Matthew, we've
seen so many pictures, illustrations, types, revelations of how He
saves a sinner. And up until now, He's shown
our sin nature, hasn't He? In leprosy, by healing that leprous
man. Our soul's disease. is shown
forth and how he has the power, how he's not only able but willing
to save sinners that come unto him by faith. I like what that
song said, by faith I cling, faith from above. God given faith. By faith he's able and willing
to save those who come to him by faith. We saw our dangerous,
our dire, vital need of salvation in the storm. We're going down
and experienced sailors as we are, we're going down and can't
do anything about it. And we see the ones sick of the
policy, helpless, hopeless, without any cure, unable to do anything
for themselves. But here in Matthew, we see that
not only are we sinful by nature, but we're sinful by choice. Nobody
forced him to do what he did for a living. He wasn't born
a publican. We choose that which is advantageous to us, that'll
make us wealthy and prosperous and prominent and comfortable
and happy in this life and to hell with everybody else and
everything else. And let me tell you something,
if you can't sing Amazing Grace, God saved a wretch like me. I'll tell you this, if he didn't
save a wretch when he saved you, then he hadn't saved you yet.
And my prayer is that he who has power to forgive sins will
come where you are this morning, where I am, and save a wretch.
He's still saving me. How about you? He's still saving
me. And I'm still a wretch. Matthew
wrote, when Jesus passed forth from thence, He saw a man named Matthew. He
doesn't just say he saw a publican. And he doesn't just say he saw
Matthew. But he saw Matthew sitting at
the receipt of custom. And he saith unto him, follow
me. And without a question, without
asking who are you, follow you where? To do what? How long? Why? No, immediately. He arose and followed him. Of
all of the fine, upstanding citizens our Lord could have called to
preach his gospel. You think about it. And of all
the men that he had to choose from, any of the scribes and
Pharisees would have been better qualified, wouldn't they? They
were so familiar with the scriptures, surely they would be the right
ones to come and do the Lord's bidding, to come and preach the
gospel, to be one of his laborers. They had memorized much of the
scripture, if not all of it, and they were well-respected
in the community. They'll be well-received. This
publican, nobody's gonna listen to him. I'll tell you who will
listen to him. Every child of God, all that
the Father giveth me shall listen to him. All that the Father giveth
me will hear his voice. And not just Matthew's voice,
but the voice of the one who sent him. And they shall follow,
just like Matthew did. Our Lord doesn't do things that
way. He doesn't pick the ones that make sense. He does things
in such a way that he receives all the glory. That's the way
our Lord does things. You see your calling, brethren,
don't you? Now that not many mighty, not many noble, Not many
wise men after the flesh are called. My calling, sure enough,
shows that. Not many noble, but God has chosen
the foolish things of the world to confound the wise. The Pharisees
were confounded, I'm sure, that the Lord would handpick fishermen
and publicans, these ones that It's confounding, isn't it? Why?
They don't know anything. Nobody's going to listen to them.
Nobody's going to care what they have to say. And the base things
of the world. Foolish and base. Can you own
up to it? Can I? And the things which are
despised. There's a whole lot more people
in this world that hate me than otherwise. And you. if they have any idea who you
are. The things which are despised
hath God chosen, yea, and things which are not. Are you content to be nothing?
You might as well get used to it, because that's what you are.
That's what I am, nothing. To bring to naught the things
that are. Why does he do things that way? Why did he pick Matthew? Why this one, this publican sitting
there, a cheat, a liar, a coward, a traitor, a despised fool, mocked no doubt by the Romans
and despised by the Jews, that no flesh should glory in his
presence. Oh, God forbid that I should
glory in his presence. God forbid that I should glory
save in the cross. of our Lord Jesus Christ. Never,
never, God, never let us glory in anything we've done, but let
us glory in what you did, in who you are and what you've done
for us. Have you ever heard that song? The words are like that.
I won't sing it this morning, but the words go like this. Once
my soul was astray from the heavenly way and I was wretched and vile
as could be. But my Savior in love gave me
peace from above when he reached down his hand for me. When Christ
Jesus reached down for me. When he reached way down for
me. I was lost and undone without
God or His Son when He reached down His hand for me. He reached
way down for Matthew, and He reached way down for me. How
about you? Verse 10 back in our text, Matthew
9, 10, And it came to pass, as Jesus said at 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? Paul just said he chose such
as that to confound such as these Pharisees. And it did, didn't
it? It confounded. Why would he do that? Why? But when Jesus heard that, He
said unto them, and have you ever noticed how the Pharisees
always snuck up and questioned the disciples? They were scared
to death to ask the Lord anything. One time he answered one of their
questions and it says they didn't dare ever ask him another question
after that. And they didn't much like it
before that. But they'd sneak up and ask one of his disciples
like a coyote looking for the weakest one in the herd, you
know. But when Jesus heard that, He
answered for them. He's going to answer for me,
too. When I don't have anything to answer, He's going to answer
for me. They that behold need not a physician,
but they that are sick. We've been saying all through
now, the book of Matthew, that when our Lord healed these sick
people, that what he's showing is our nature, our sinful nature,
and how he's able to forgive sins. Well, he's fixing to say
it right here. He uses that very illustration here. They that
behold need not a physician, but they that are sick. You go
and learn what that means. You think about what that did
to these ones who felt like they knew more than everybody else.
And they hated this Nazarene and they hated the ones that
followed him. And he's eaten with publicans and sinners like
him. And he said, you need to go learn
some things. That's what you need to do. You
need to go learn. I will have mercy. And not sacrifice. Not sacrifice. That's not what
it is. It's not what you do. Them offering
the sacrifice, them keeping the ceremonial law, that wasn't what
recommended them to God. That was a picture of God's mercy
in Christ Jesus. The reason sacrifice was to be
offered at all was to show how that God has mercy on sinners
by the blood of his precious son. And they use the sacrifice
to recommend themselves to God, to establish their own righteousness
before God. He said, that doesn't mean anything
to me. I came to have mercy. For I'm not come to call the
righteous. but sinners to repentance. Music to a sinner's ear. Music
to how sweet the name of Jesus sounds in a sinner's ear. Up until now, our Lord has healed
and helped a leper, a paralytic, one sick of a fever, those in
danger of shipwreck, men possessed of devils, and those like them.
These are physical conditions of disease. or danger, but now
in chapter nine with his first words to this man who was sick
of the palsy, he said in chapter nine, he said something that
must have shocked and it confounded them there too, didn't it? It
confounded the wise in their own conceit. He said to this
man who was sick of the palsy, Thy sins be forgiven thee. And
with his calling of this publican, and by the nature of his eating
companions, he shows us what all of these other conditions
picture. We're publicans and sinners. We're vile, repulsive,
by nature and by choice, sinners. That's what we are. This is what
the Pharisees needed to go and learn. And this is what no sinner
can or will learn without a gracious revelation from God of our true
condition and our true need by nature. The Lord here equates
the fact that publicans and sinners are keeping company with him
with the relationship between a doctor and sick people. What a clear and beautiful illustration of what he was doing in this
world. This is what our Lord had been doing in all of these
various places. He was the great physician, and
he is yet today, this morning, the great physician. In Matthew
8, 16, it says, when the even was come, they brought unto him
many that were possessed with devils. We read about two of
them in Matthew 8 there. Yeah, in Matthew 8. And one in particular is pointed
out in Mark's account of that. But there were many that were
possessed that they brought to him to be cured of that. And
he cast out the spirits with his word and healed all that
were sick, all that were sick. You can imagine when word got
around of what he was able to do physically. You can imagine. And he healed them all. He healed
all that were sick. that it might be fulfilled, which
was spoken by Isaiah the prophet, saying, himself took our infirmities
and bear our sicknesses. And here he shows by what he
said to these Pharisees who objected to his keeping company with such
evil people, such despised, vile individuals. He's saying about
what he said to them. He's showing, revealing the true
spiritual nature of what he came to do. I'm eating with publicans
and sinners because sick people need a doctor. Because the leper
needs to be healed. The one possessed with devils
needs them cast out. Because the one sick of the palsy,
he can't do anything for himself. He needs mercy. The righteous
don't, but sinners, sinners need mercy. And that's what he showed
here, the spiritual nature. And he came not just to heal
the body of physical infirmity or invasion by devils, but to
heal the soul of the sickness of sin. We're rotten from the
inside out like the leper. We're paralyzed and incapable
of serving God or helping ourselves like the palsy victim. We're
possessed of a satanic spirit, like the madman of Gadara. But
our condition being a spiritual one, we don't need just a miraculous
physical cure. We need a sin offering. We need
a sin offering. We need one who has power, not
just to heal the body, but to forgive sin. And as we saw last
time, he has power to forgive sins because all sins are against
him. All sin is against God. Only
God can forgive. If you do something wrong, dear,
to Tommy, I can't forgive you. I can't forgive you for that,
but Tommy can. Tommy can if he wants to. God
only can, for he has power. He is the authority, the right.
to forgive sin. And only Christ, the Son of Man,
can forgive sins because only He can make satisfaction for
sin. He's the only one that can pay
for them. And having done so, for all of his people, for all
eternity, by one offering, he hath perfected forever them that
are sanctified. That's why he can say to that
one, son, thy sins be forgiven thee. You're one of the ones
that were perfected forever by the sanctifying power of my precious
blood. Some would say, well, how can
he forgive sins? He hadn't gone to the cross yet. My Lord is
not limited by time. His blood is everlasting blood.
Sins are only forgiven based upon that blood that was shed,
but it wasn't shed yet. That's because he's the lamb
slain from the foundation of the world. I need somebody who
has power to forgive sins. I need that kind of doctor. A
Pharisee doesn't, but I do. I do. We will be clean. We will be clean, but only if
he's willing. Lord, if you will, you can make
me clean. We will rise and minister, but
not until he gives the word. We will experience the peace
of God, which passeth all understanding, but not until he says, peace,
be still. We will sit down and put some
clothes on and start thinking right, but not till he casts
the demons out. Paul said in 1 Corinthians 2
16, we're in our right mind. He said it a little different
way, didn't he? He said, we have the mind of Christ. Why? Because he cast the devils
out of me. That's why. Not until he comes
with power, not until the stronger comes and casts out the strong
man and takes up residence in my very heart. Now notice here that our Lord
speaks of the righteous and sinners. Well, you know, I didn't think
there were two categories. I thought there was nothing but
sinners. We're all sinners, aren't we? He's not speaking of those
who are righteous and sinful by nature. By nature, there's
none righteous, no, not one. Romans 3.10, as it is written,
there is none righteous, no, not one. There's never been plainer
language ever spoken or written. Our Lord here is not talking
of those who by nature are righteous and those who by nature are sinners.
Our Lord here is talking about those who are righteous in their
own estimation. and those who know that they're
base and foolish and weak and vile and nothing. Turn to Luke
18, and we'll close with this. Luke 18 and verse 9. Luke 18,
9. Here's who he's talking about
when he says the righteous. So I didn't think there were
any righteous. Here's who he's talking to right here. He spake this
parable unto certain which trusted in themselves that they were
righteous. That's pretty clear. That's who
he's talking about. He said, I didn't come to call
them. I didn't come to call them. And despised others. And here's what he said to them.
Two men went up into the temple to pray. Two men. And they're the same two he's
talking about in our day, righteous and sinners. There's a righteous
one and there's a sinner. Two men went up in the temple,
the one a Pharisee and the other a what? The Pharisee stood and
prayed thus with himself. The Pharisee doesn't really need
God to even be in the equation. He's just praying with himself.
He's just praying to make himself feel better. He uses the name
of God. He gives God honorable mention in his prayer. But it's
the heart that's the problem. You see, he sounded pretty good,
really. He said, Lord, I thank you that
I'm not like that. I thank you. Religion would have
thought, that's a pretty good prayer, you know. Others like
him would have said, boy, he's so spiritual, he knows how to
pray. But remember what our Lord said, they trust in themselves,
in themselves, in themselves. On the outside, he's saying,
thank you, God. On the inside, he's saying, look
how good I am. Look how good I am. God, I thank thee that I am not
as other men are. I thank you. Well, doesn't the
Lord make a difference between his people and others? Yeah,
but our Lord's already told us what's on the inside. There are
some who talk a pretty good game. And I'm not saying his language
even was right. It wasn't good compared to what
the public had said. But what's on the inside was
what was wrong with him. He trusted in himself that he
was righteous. This is what Paul said about
his countrymen. The Jews in general, he said,
oh, they have a zeal of God, but they don't know anything.
and not submitting themselves to the righteousness of God in
Christ, they go about to establish their own righteousness. And
here, our Lord's speaking to some that had gone about to establish
their own righteousness, and in their own estimation, they'd
done a pretty good job of it. I thank you that I'm not like
other men are. I'm not an extortioner. You reckon
he knew that publican could hear what he was saying over there
when he said that? I'm not an extortioner. I don't steal people's money
in the name of authority, unjust, adulterers, or even like this
publican. Here's what I'm like. I fast
twice in the week. I give tithes of all that I possess. I got a feeling that wasn't all
that he prayed, but we're spared the rest of it. You know what
the rest of it is? Blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. That's what it is. We've heard
it all before, haven't we? And the publican standing afar
off, would not lift so much as his eyes unto heaven. We're never told what's in his
heart, but we got a pretty good idea, don't we? He wouldn't lift his eyes to
heaven, but he smote upon his breast. He knew what the problem
was. When Moses, the Lord said, put
your hand in your bosom, He pulled it out, and it was leprous. That's
where our problem is. Moses, as Moses, pulls his hand
out of his bosom, and it's defiled because his bosom is defiled.
But Moses, standing as the deliverer of God's people, the Lord Jesus
Christ, puts his hand in his bosom. It comes out clean. But
this publican beat upon his breast, saying, God, be merciful. He didn't have a whole lot to
say, did he? God be merciful to me, the sinner. That word there is
the, and there's a reason it's the. We don't just believe in the
sinfulness of man. That's not repentance. Oh, I
believe in the doctrine of total depravity. Good. But have you
ever owned your depravity, your depravity, your depravity before
God? Have you ever said, be merciful
to me, the sinner? Not just one of the objects of,
you know, total depravity, the sinner. And that's all he said. And we're not told anything else
about what was inside his heart or anything else that he said.
But we are told this about him. God said he went down to his
house, justified, not guilty, not guilty. Oh, can you hear
our Lord? He says, I tell you this. Oh, does that make your ears
perk up? When the Lord Jesus Christ says, I tell you this,
this man went down to his house, justified. He owned his sin before
God and cried out for mercy. Every one of us, in a little
while, we're going to dismiss here. We're going to eat together,
most of us, and have some fellowship. The Vincents will go down to
their houses. Take them a little longer than
it will us to go down to our houses. But we're all going to
go down to our house, won't we? How wonderful it would be if
we might go down to our house by the almighty grace of him
who has power to forgive. If we could go down to our house
without any sin, without any sin, our Lord has
power. It's His prerogative to forgive.
May He cause us to own our wretchedness in His sight and plead for mercy. He's never turned a sinner away
yet.