We turn back to Mark chapter
two. Let's read this scripture again,
beginning in verse 15. And it came to pass that as Jesus
sat at meat in his house, in Matthew's house, Matthew was
having a banquet after the Lord had made himself known to him.
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 publicans and sinners, they said to his disciples,
how is it that he eateth and drinketh with publicans and sinners?
When Jesus heard, he saith 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. If I told you that there is a
doctor that developed a cure for every form of cancer there
is. There are two different ways
of listening to that. One is someone who doesn't have
cancer. And you may think, well, that's good if I ever need it.
Or even apathy. I don't have cancer. Or you could hear that as one
who has cancer. How differently will you hear
that message? All the difference in the world. Perhaps you've just been diagnosed
with cancer. You hear the C word for the first
time and you're interested in this doctor. Or perhaps you're
dying and you want to hear because this man can heal anybody of
all cancers. Now, if I tell you about a savior,
who saves all sinners. There's two different ways to
hear that. One, well, that's good to know if I ever need that. Or you could hear as a sinner
and everything that that means, how differently you'll hear that
message. Now, the passage of scripture,
I've entitled this message, Who needs a physician? And this passage
of scripture is foundational to an understanding of the gospel.
That is how important this is. There's not a more important
passage of scripture in all the word of God. Now it begins with
Matthew. Sitting at the receipt of custom,
we considered this last week and as he passed by, he saw Levi. I love to think of that. Lord
saw one of his elect. The Lord saw one who he had loved
for eternity. The Lord saw one who he would
die for and he saw it. And sitting at the receipt of
custom and said unto him, follow me. He couldn't have said no. It's just the call of irresistible
grace. Follow me. And he arose and followed him. I love thinking of Matthew that
morning. He woke up, he had no idea what
was getting ready to take place. He was going to meet the Lord
of glory. And we read in verse 15, and
it came to pass that as Jesus said at meet in his house, We
know from Luke's account that he had a feast. He had a banquet. This was a joyous occasion. This was a happy occasion. He
was glad. I think of Zacchaeus, when the
Lord called him, Zacchaeus, make haste, come down, for today I
must abide at thy house. He made haste and came down and
received him, what? Joyfully. joyfully. Oh, what a joyful thing it is
to be privileged and allowed by grace to follow the Lord Jesus
Christ. And he had this banquet at his
home. And there were many publicans
and sinners there. Look in verse 15, it came to
pass as Jesus said at meeting his house, Publicans and sinners
also sat together with Jesus and his disciples. Tax collectors
employed by the Roman government to take up taxes for the Roman
government and to skim more money for themselves. And they were
enriching themselves at the expense of their Jewish brethren. They
were hated. Many publicans and many sinners,
bad people. Immoral people. People who were
evil. People who did bad things. People
who all they did was sin. They didn't know anything but
sin. And they were people who they couldn't look down on anybody
because of their life. They were unable to do that. Sinners. And they sat down with
the Lord Jesus Christ and his disciples. They saw Matthew following
him and they joined in suit. I love thinking about that. The
Lord says, follow me. His buddies see him follow the
Lord Jesus Christ and they follow him as well. Wouldn't you love
for the Lord to cause you to follow him and other folks follow
him through seeing you follow him? I think every believer desires
that. I have no doubt about it. But
there was a bunch of people and they sat down and ate and drank
with the Lord and his disciples. They felt comfortable. They didn't
feel threatened. They didn't feel judged. They
enjoyed sitting here at this banquet. And I love the way People
like this could feel comfortable around the Lord. Now, Pharisees
didn't feel comfortable around him. You know, not everybody
felt comfortable around him. As a matter of fact, Pharisees,
you can bet they were nervous. He exposed them so many times,
and they felt very uncomfortable. And they were sitting on the
outskirts at this time, watching what was going on. This man, this was the criticism
in Luke 15. It's the same thing here. This
man receives sinners and he eats with them. Now, you'll notice they ask the
question, how is it that he eateth and drinketh with publicans and
sinners? And this was by way of criticism. How is it that he eats and drinks
with such moral reprobates? How can that be right? Well, let me say, before I go
on considering that, Christ can save people like that. And that's
the only type of people he saves. Christ Jesus came into the world
to save sinners, of whom I am the chief. And the Pharisees
didn't like this. The word Pharisee means a separated
one. Something that they had done,
so they thought separated them from other men, much like the
Pharisee in the temple. Lord, I thank thee. that I'm
not as other men are. But they were looking at these
publicans and sinners sitting around the Lord, and they were
comfortable, and they were thinking, well, the Lord ought to be rebuking
them for their life. He ought to be exposing their sin. He's
showing approval of what they're doing. This is not right. And I would agree, sin is never
right. But this attitude exposes something about these men. By this attitude, all they demonstrated
was they had no understanding of their own sin. That's it. They didn't know anything about
what Paul meant when he said, we know that the law is spiritual,
but I am carnal, sold under sin. They didn't know what that meant.
They didn't have any idea of how bad they were, how sinful
they were. They felt like they were better than these people.
And they felt like the Lord should be rebuking them for this awful
immorality that they were guilty of. These were indeed bad people. You know that phrase, the offense
of the cross, it's where we get the word scandal from. Scandal. The biggest scandal there is,
is that I would be saved. That's the biggest scandal there
is. Scandalous. These fellas didn't feel that
way. And notice they addressed the
Lord's disciples. I think this is interesting.
They wouldn't ask the Lord about this. You know, the Lord had
already made them look real bad just a couple hours before that
or however long it was when he said, they said, who can forgive
sins but God only? And he said, why are you raising
this in your heart? What's easier to say? Your sins are forgiven or rise
up and walk? What's easier to say? Your sins are forgiven.
And then he looked at that man and said that you may know that
I have authority on the earth to forgive sins. Rise up and
walk. Made them look like a bunch of
fools, didn't he, when he got up and walked and they saw that
he had power, authority to forgive sins. And I think they were a
little nervous about talking to him, so they talked to his disciples.
I thought, well, we can talk to them. How is it that he eateth
and drinketh with publicans and sinners? When Jesus heard, He hears everything. He hears everything. He knows
every thought that's going on in my mind and your mind and
my heart and your heart right now. There's nothing He does
not see. When Jesus heard, He saith unto
them, They that are whole have no need of the physician. I like the way he used the definite
article there. He is the physician. 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. Now the word whole
is generally translated able. It has to do always with strength
and ability. They that have any strength,
they that have any ability need not the physician. You know, all you have to have
is free will and you have some ability. You have some control
over your circumstances. There's something you can do
to get yourself out of the mess you're in. If you have any spiritual
ability of your own, you will not come to the great position. Now, let me repeat that. If you
personally have any spiritual ability at all. You will not
come to the great physician. You do not need the great physician. Now, the difference between the
saved and the lost is that of need, what you need. You know, the
saved aren't any better than the lost in and of themselves.
I love what Paul said in Romans chapter three, there's no difference.
You know, me and you, we might have a lot of differences, but
there isn't any difference between any of us. We're like all the
other seven or eight billion people on this planet. There's no difference. No difference between a Pharisee
and a publican in God's sight. There's no difference between
the moral man and the immoral man in God's sight. There's no
difference. You believe that? There's no
difference. All have sinned and come short
of the glory of God. The only difference between someone
who goes to the great position and someone who does not go to
the great position is need. Some perceive their need. Others do not perceive. their
need. Now, you know, the reason the
one perceives his need is because God has revealed it to him because
Christ has made it known, but one's not better than the other.
I think of the gospel. Do you know If someone
is not blinded by prejudice and preconceived notions of certain
things and they're willing to look and see what the Bible actually
says, you can convince them that the Bible actually teaches that
God is God. He's sovereign. I mean, that's
what the Bible says. Somebody has a problem with that,
they have a problem with the Bible. I can teach a man. You can teach
a man. You can see in the scriptures
that the scriptures actually teach that men cannot save themselves. that they're dead in sins, that
they have no ability, that they're totally depraved, totally unable.
You can see that in the Scriptures. Yep, there it is. No man can
come to me except it were given him from above. There it is.
I can't deny that. You can show a man, a lost man,
that has reasonable intelligence. The Bible does teach that God
elected a people before time began to be saved. It's there
in plain letters. You can show a man that the Bible
teaches that Christ died for sheep. He said, I pray not for
the world, but for them what you've given me. You can demonstrate
how his death is successful. Everybody he died for is saved. They're perfected forever. You
can teach a man that God's grace actually saves. It's invincible
and irresistible. Every man that has heard and
learned of the Father cometh to me. You can teach a man that,
and that it's necessary. The Bible teaches you have to
persevere all the way to the end. If you don't go all the way to
the end, you won't be saved, and the only way you'll be that
way is if God preserves you. Now, you can teach a man that,
and he can say, yep, I see that. I see the Bible does teach that.
And do you know it has no bearing on his salvation at all? It's just an assent to some things. It's, yep, I see, I can't deny
it. I remember one time I was actually trying to show a man
that was a preacher, the doctrine of election in the Bible. This
has been years ago, and he said, well, I see, but that doesn't mean
I like it. Well, okay, you know, you can, I'm glad for his honesty,
but the point is, you can give assent to the truth and it has
nothing to do with saving faith. What's the difference? Need. Need. I need. for God to be absolutely sovereign
and as an act of His own will, will my salvation. I need that. I need God to choose me before
time began, because if He waits till after time, He won't do
it. And if He doesn't choose me, I won't choose Him. I know
myself enough to know that that's so. I need. See, this is the
difference. Need. The whole need not a physician,
but they that are sick. I need Christ to actually take
my sins upon Him and do something about my sins. Take them off
me and take them to Himself. And put them away. I need Him
to do that. I need His death to be completely
successful. Because if it's not, that means
there's something I need to do. I need God's grace to be invincible
and irresistible and give me life and save me. Need. I need thee precious Jesus for
I am full of sin. My soul is dark and guilty. My
heart is dead within. I need the cleansing fountain
where I can always flee. The blood of Christ most precious. The sinner's perfect plea. Without a need, you can give
a scent and agree. Yeah, I see it teaches that,
but you can generally listen to something else. Won't bother
you that much because it's not that important to you. But oh,
if you have a need. I love that scripture in Luke
chapter nine, verse 11. He healed them. that had need
of healing. Lord, that's me. I'm one of them. The whole, those who have ability,
and that's all that word means, they have some ability. The whole
need not a physician, but they that are sick. And this word,
there's several different words translated sick in the New Testament. This means evilly sick. The word evil is actually in
the word. My sickness is evil. I'm not
a victim. My sickness is evil. My sickness is my fault. My sickness
was passed upon me genetically through Adam. And my sickness
is my fault. We're sick by nature. We're born
sick. We're sick by choice. We're sick
by practice. And we have no strength. That's
the sick person. No strength. He needs the great
physician. Hold your finger there, Mark,
and turn to Matthew's account, Matthew chapter nine. Matthew
gives us a detail that Mark doesn't. Verse 12, but when Jesus heard,
he said unto them, they that behold need not a physician,
but they that are sick, but go ye and learn what that meaneth. I'll have mercy and not sacrifice. And this is a direct quote from
Hosea chapter six, verse six. For I desired mercy and not sacrifice
and the knowledge of God more than burnt offerings. Now, they
knew they needed to bring the right sacrifice. They didn't
bring the sacrifice. They didn't bring pig's blood
or anything like that. They brought the blood of the
lamb. They knew it had to be presented by the priest. It had
to be slain on the altar. They knew all the right things. And the Lord said, I'm not interested
in your sacrifices because he knew they didn't know what they
meant. I desire mercy. In that statement, we have how God saves, mercy, and how
we're to live, merciful. In that simple statement, I'll
have mercy. and not sacrifice. Now, if you
bring the right sacrifice, follow all the rules, and bring the
right burnt offering the right way, and are ignorant of your
need of mercy, and you yourself are an unmerciful person, your
religion is offensive to God. I desire mercy and not sacrifice. Our doctrine is the mercy of
God, not by works of righteousness, which we have done, but according
to His mercy, He saved us. but God who is rich in mercy.
Now mercy, mercy, mercy, mercy. Let me say this about mercy. Mercy is sovereign. And you know,
I've been thinking about this. We talk about sovereign mercy
and sovereign grace. And I'm in such a habit of doing
it for years. I don't know if I can break the
habit, but to put an adjective, before mercy or grace, it's kind
of like putting the adjective imputed before righteousness.
It's almost like there's sovereign grace and there's regular grace.
Or there's sovereign mercy and there's regular mercy. No, if
it's mercy, it is sovereign. If it's grace, it is sovereign
by definition. It's nothing but that. Here is
our message, salvation by mercy, the mercy of God. I will have
mercy on whom I will have mercy. And here's our method. Blessed are the merciful. for
they shall obtain mercy. That's our practice. May the
Lord make us merciful, men and women. Mercy, our doctrine and
practice. Now go back to Mark chapter two.
I wanted to point that out because Matthew brings that out. Verse 17. When Jesus heard, he saith unto
them, they that are whole, They that have ability have no need
of the physician, but they that are sick, evilly sick. And then he identifies his mission. This is the mission statement
of the Lord Jesus Christ. He said, I came. Well, that's glorious, isn't
it? The fact that he came. I came. What's that passage of
scripture? First John chapter three. He
that confesses that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is of God. He that confesses not that Jesus
Christ has come in the flesh is not of God, but is of that
spirit of Antichrist. Now he came. He came in the flesh. That means three things. It means,
first of all, He was before He came. He's the eternal Son of
God. He never had a beginning. He's
God. He's God. He came in the flesh. Great is the mystery of godliness. God was manifest in the flesh. He came in the flesh. And He,
thirdly, did what He came to do. Thou shalt call his name
Jesus, for he shall save his people from their sins. And beloved,
that's exactly what he did. When he said it is finished,
every single one of his elect, they were saved from their sins.
Listen to this. You've already been saved. I
know you have to persevere to the end. I realize that. But
you will. He'll cause you to. And you have
already been saved. He came. He came. Why did he come? I came not to call the righteous. He tells us what he did not come
to do. I came not to call the righteous. Now, if you have any
personal righteousness, you know what that means? That
means he didn't come to save you. It's over for you. If you
have any, right now, I don't care what kind it is, if you
have any personal righteousness, any, he did not come to save
you. You're gonna hear those words,
depart from me, ye that work iniquity, I never knew you. You see, the personal righteousness
that you may suppose you have It's the biggest lie that there
ever was. It's not righteous, not before God. Oh, what is it
that keeps you from Christ? Your righteousness. That's it. That's what'll keep you from
Christ. And if you go to hell, if I go to hell, it's gonna be
because I refuse to look to His righteousness only as my only
righteousness before God. Now, do you ever get tired of
hearing that? Do you ever get, think, well, let's go on to something
else? No, no. I, you know, most preachers never
even raise the issue of how can God be just and justify the ungodly.
Not if the issue's not even raised. Nobody ever even thinks about
this. They say, what? Wouldn't even know what you're talking
about. But oh, this is something that I have to, my righteousness
is no good. It's filthy rags. It's a lie. It's not real. Anybody that has
it, they've deceived themselves. He said, I did not come to call
the righteous, but why did he come? I came to call sinners
to repentance. He came to call sinners. This is a faithful saying, worthy
of all acceptation, that Christ Jesus came into the world to
save sinners. Paul said, of whom I am the chief. Romans 5, 6 says, for when we
were yet without strength, not just weak, without strength,
in due time, Christ died for the ungodly. Now let me ask you
a real simple question. Are you a sinner? I'm not asking
you right now if you're saved. I'm not asking if you know you're
one of the elect, or you know you've been born again, or you
know Christ died for you, are you a sinner? That's a simple
question that you can answer. Are you a sinner? Somebody that
is nothing but sin in and of yourself? If you are, I can guarantee
you Christ died for you. Christ Jesus came into the world
to save sinners. Now if you're not, I'm sorry,
there's no gospel for you. But if you are, if you're a sinner
without strength and ungodly, Christ died for you. When he
said it is finished, your salvation was accomplished. I came not to call the righteous,
but sinners to repentance. Now this, like about everything
else, is one of the most misunderstood things in the world. Because
what do most people think when they think of repentance? Well,
you need to repent of your sins. You need to repent of your sins.
Well, what's that mean? Well, that means you're sorry
for them and you stop committing them. That's what repentance
is. You're sorry for them. Oh, I regret doing that. And
you don't commit them anymore. Now, if that is what repentance
is, Nobody in this room or outside of this room will be saved. That
is not even what the word means. Now, don't misunderstand me. We ought to be sorry for our
sins. They're against God. And we ought
not commit any sin ever again. Isn't that so? These things write
unto you that you sin not. But repentance means simply this,
a change of mind. The first time the Lord used
the word was here in Mark chapter one. We looked at it a month
or two ago. Repent ye and believe the gospel. Change your mind
you don't believe. Change your mind and believe
the gospel. Now that's what repentance is.
You change your mind. You change your mind about God.
I think of all the thoughts I've had of God. He didn't like His
holiness. Scared me. Too strict. Thought
the demands of His law were too great. I didn't like His sovereignty
because I saw no safety in that. If He's sovereign, that means
I don't have any control in this thing. I mean, I'm totally in
His hands. My salvation's up to Him. I don't see any safety
there. I didn't like election, it didn't seem fair. And once
again, that took salvation out of my hands. The fact that Christ
died for the elect, once again, there's something else that takes
salvation out of my hands. I got no control in this. I don't
like this. I do now. My mind has been changed. That's
why I've changed my mind. My mind's been changed and I
changed my mind. I am thankful that Christ's death
is completely sufficient for my salvation. I'm glad God is
sovereign in salvation because if he left me to myself, I wouldn't
be saved. I'm sure of that. I have a repentance,
a change of mind concerning myself. You know, I used to, I used to
really believe that if the circumstances were just right, I could change
things. Things would be better. It's
all going to stay this way forever. One of these days, I'm going
to get it right. No. I've changed my mind. My mind's been changed. I know
that in and of myself, I know that in me, that is in my flesh,
dwelleth no good thing. And I'm completely dependent
upon His grace. I've repented regarding salvation. Christ is all in salvation. I
like it that way. I like his righteousness being
the only righteousness there is. He came to call sinners to repentance,
a change of mind. And this is so important. I know it's simple. It's something
we always need to have in front of us, though. How many times
do you read repentance and the remission of sins put together
in the scripture? Quite often. Quite often. As a matter of fact,
when the Lord gave his disciples their marching orders in Luke
chapter 24, before he sent it back to heaven, he said that
repentance and remission of sins should be preached in his name.
Now, what repentance is more than anything else? is a change
of mind concerning the remission of sins. Everybody by nature
thinks there's nothing, something I gotta do to get my sins remitted. I need to believe, I need to
repent, I need to stop this sin, I need to start doing this good
thing, I need to try harder, and I'll be given the forgiveness
of sins. No, no. I'm given the complete forgiveness
of sins for Christ's sake. And you repent of anything that's
contrary to that. Now, remember in Mark's account
where it said, go and learn what this means. I mean, in Matthew's
account where he said, go and learn what that means. I'll have
mercy and not sacrifice. Turn to Matthew 12. Verse one. At that time, Jesus
went on the Sabbath day through the corn and his disciples were
hungered and began to pluck the ears of corn and eat. But when
the Pharisees saw it, they said unto him, behold, thy disciples
do that which is not lawful to do upon the Sabbath day. But he said unto them, have you
not read? I love it when the Lord says that to the Pharisees.
You know, they've read all kinds of times. This is kind of a dig.
Have you not read? You guys must not have ever read
the Bible. Have you not read what David did when he was in
hunger and them that were with him? How he entered into the
house of God and did eat the showbread which was not lawful
for him to eat, neither for them which were with him, but only
for the priests? Or have you not read in the law
how that on the Sabbath day the priests in the temple profane
the Sabbath and are blameless? But I say unto you that in this
place is one greater than the temple. But if you had known
what that meaneth, evidently they didn't learn. I will have
mercy and not sacrifice. You wouldn't have condemned the
guiltless that the son of man is Lord, even of the Sabbath
day. Let's pray. Lord, how we thank you for your gospel. And Lord, we
need you. We need every aspect of your
gospel. We need, oh Lord, how we need
you. We need you to will our salvation. We need you to choose us, Christ
to die for us. We need the Holy Spirit to give
us life. We need to be preserved so that
we'll persevere. Lord, we need your righteousness. We need your mercy. We need your
grace. We need your presence. We need your kindness. We need
communion. We need your reigning grace. We need to not be left to ourselves
in any way. Bless this word for your glory
and for our good. In Christ's name we pray. Amen.
Dwayne, come lead us in closing hymn, please.