WEBVTT 00:00:01.700 --> 00:00:08.500 Well, it is Sunday, December 5th, which means that the Christmas season is officially upon us. 00:00:09.680 --> 00:00:17.300 And somewhere in the midst of all of the lights and Christmas trees and cookies, decorative sweaters, we're 00:00:17.300 --> 00:00:20.620 going to celebrate the greatest gift that this world has ever seen. 00:00:22.020 --> 00:00:25.920 We're going to celebrate the coming of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. 00:00:26.580 --> 00:00:27.980 So today I thought I'd give a Christmas message. 00:00:28.980 --> 00:00:30.890 But this isn't going to be a typical Christmas message. 00:00:32.020 --> 00:00:37.100 I say it's not going to be typical, because I'm not going to focus on the events surrounding the birth of Jesus. 00:00:37.520 --> 00:00:45.300 I'm not going to focus on Mary and Joseph and the shepherd and the manger and all that stuff, but rather why Jesus 00:00:45.520 --> 00:00:52.840 was born, why the one true God would come down into human history and live a perfect and sinless 00:00:52.840 --> 00:00:59.100 life, and ultimately to be nailed to a Roman cross as a sacrifice for sinners. 00:00:59.220 --> 00:01:06.560 And the Bible tells us that he came for his enemies, for the ungodly, as Paul says in Romans five, so 00:01:06.560 --> 00:01:08.680 that we may be made right with God. 00:01:10.080 --> 00:01:17.940 And as I was thinking about this on my way to work one day this week, I heard a Christmas song come on the radio, a 00:01:17.940 --> 00:01:21.820 song that beautifully communicates the main idea and the point that I want to make today. 00:01:23.420 --> 00:01:29.490 And because I'm tone deaf, as Carol would say, I'm not going to sing it for you. 00:01:30.440 --> 00:01:35.440 I'm just going to read it so you can sing along in your own mind if you want. 00:01:36.560 --> 00:01:36.960 Hark! 00:01:36.980 --> 00:01:38.290 The herald angels sing. 00:01:38.480 --> 00:01:39.640 Glory to the newborn King. 00:01:40.420 --> 00:01:42.340 Peace on earth and mercy mild. 00:01:42.980 --> 00:01:44.340 God and sinners reconciled. 00:01:46.240 --> 00:01:53.520 You see, I believe that these words capture the heart of the Christian gospel and gives meaning behind why Jesus was born. 00:01:54.200 --> 00:02:01.320 And this is a substance of the Christmas season, which is to make peace and in mercy reconcile sinners like us to 00:02:01.320 --> 00:02:01.620 God. 00:02:03.440 --> 00:02:09.360 You know, there's a passage of Scripture that I think exemplifies this teaching, and it's found in the Gospel of Matthew. 00:02:10.320 --> 00:02:13.140 So if you have your Bibles, please open with me to Matthew. 00:02:14.080 --> 00:02:15.280 We're going to be looking in chapter nine. 00:02:17.480 --> 00:02:23.040 And today we're specifically going to be looking at verses nine through 13, which is the call of Matthew, the tax collector. 00:02:26.080 --> 00:02:27.540 And we're going to get there in just a minute. 00:02:28.360 --> 00:02:35.920 But in order to get our minds from 21st century America and into first century Israel, let's 00:02:36.000 --> 00:02:37.810 go through a little bit of background and context. 00:02:39.440 --> 00:02:46.340 So Matthew, the writer of this gospel, is trying to showcase to us that Jesus is the promised Messiah. 00:02:47.380 --> 00:02:49.820 He's the fulfillment of Old Testament prophecy. 00:02:50.460 --> 00:02:54.600 And Matthew's doing this under the divine inspiration of the Holy Spirit. 00:02:55.060 --> 00:02:57.780 And he's trying to show us this in every possible way. 00:02:58.580 --> 00:03:02.580 He goes through the lineage, the Old Testament prophecies, etc. 00:03:02.580 --> 00:03:07.620 and then as we get into chapters eight and nine, he starts to focus in on the miracles of Jesus. 00:03:08.660 --> 00:03:10.030 And these aren't just random miracles. 00:03:10.920 --> 00:03:18.080 These each have been purposely selected because these miracles teach us something about the character and nature of 00:03:18.080 --> 00:03:18.180 Jesus. 00:03:19.600 --> 00:03:26.780 For example, if you recall, he cleanses a leper and he heals a centurion servant who is paralyzed, showing 00:03:26.780 --> 00:03:32.920 that he has a power over the physical body, disease, pain, and sickness. 00:03:34.020 --> 00:03:41.040 He calms a furious storm while in the boat with his disciples, showing that he has the power over the natural 00:03:41.040 --> 00:03:43.860 elements, nature, the wind, and the sea. 00:03:46.360 --> 00:03:53.460 He drives out demons of two possessed men into a herd of pigs, showing that not only does he have power over 00:03:53.460 --> 00:03:58.160 the physical realm, but he has power over the spiritual and even the demonic realm. 00:04:00.500 --> 00:04:04.110 Then we get to the miracle that's directly relevant to the text that we're going to be looking at today. 00:04:04.640 --> 00:04:06.380 And it starts at the beginning of chapter nine. 00:04:07.740 --> 00:04:11.680 And this miracle is going to help us see a transition into the call of Matthew. 00:04:16.420 --> 00:04:23.250 And starting in verse one it says, and getting into the boat, he, meaning Jesus, crossed over and came to his own city. 00:04:23.620 --> 00:04:27.300 And behold, some people brought to him a paralytic lying on a bed. 00:04:28.980 --> 00:04:34.110 And at this point, Jesus ministry is becoming well known in all the land, and he's drawing huge crowds. 00:04:34.960 --> 00:04:42.020 And in Mark's account it says that the crowds even got so large that his friends had to climb over and get up on the roof and dig 00:04:42.020 --> 00:04:46.100 a hole so they could lower their friend down to get to Jesus. 00:04:47.940 --> 00:04:55.260 And it says, When Jesus saw their faith, he said to the paralytic, take heart, my son, your sins are forgiven And 00:04:55.260 --> 00:04:59.200 behold, some of the religious people said to themselves, this man is blaspheming. 00:05:00.700 --> 00:05:04.560 And again, in Mark's account, it adds, for who can forgive sin, but God alone? 00:05:05.540 --> 00:05:09.680 Which is another testament of the divinity, the deity of Jesus. 00:05:11.520 --> 00:05:12.040 And it goes on. 00:05:12.480 --> 00:05:16.400 But Jesus, knowing their thoughts, said, why do you think evil in your hearts? 00:05:16.760 --> 00:05:22.200 For which is easier to say, your sins are forgiven, or to say, rise and walk? 00:05:23.420 --> 00:05:28.020 But that you may know that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins. 00:05:28.540 --> 00:05:31.900 He then said to the paralytic, rise, pick up your bed and go home. 00:05:32.620 --> 00:05:33.720 And he rose and went home. 00:05:34.580 --> 00:05:39.880 When the crowd saw it, they were afraid, and they glorified God who had given such authority to men. 00:05:41.740 --> 00:05:48.860 You see, this group of men, the friends of this paralytic, cared about him so much that they went to Jesus the 00:05:48.860 --> 00:05:51.060 healer, and they dropped him down in there. 00:05:51.060 --> 00:05:53.180 Jesus said, your sins are forgiven. 00:05:53.180 --> 00:06:00.080 But then he proved it to these crowd around him that he had the authority to do this because he healed the paralytic. 00:06:02.160 --> 00:06:04.490 Jesus has the power to forgive sin again. 00:06:05.640 --> 00:06:09.020 Miracles they always show, always show us something about the nature of Jesus. 00:06:10.860 --> 00:06:16.420 Here it shows his deity and his power to forgive sin, but also notice the response of the religious people. 00:06:17.560 --> 00:06:18.560 They begin to grumble. 00:06:19.000 --> 00:06:23.680 And this is going, all of this stuff's going to carry forward as we look at the conversion of Matthew. 00:06:25.060 --> 00:06:31.080 But for now, Jesus has the authority to forgive sin, and he demonstrates this by his healing power. 00:06:32.020 --> 00:06:35.220 But now the question becomes, just how far will Jesus go to forgive? 00:06:36.300 --> 00:06:37.580 Whose sin does he forgive? 00:06:38.700 --> 00:06:40.740 And how does a person receive this forgiveness? 00:06:42.440 --> 00:06:46.860 Well, this now leads us into the focus of today's text. 00:06:46.920 --> 00:06:47.490 In verse nine. 00:06:49.700 --> 00:06:52.340 It says, as Jesus passed on from there. 00:06:52.720 --> 00:06:54.480 Meaning from this event that just took place. 00:06:54.580 --> 00:06:57.070 And you can imagine the crowds were probably pretty big. 00:06:58.140 --> 00:07:05.260 And he was most likely at Peter, the disciples house, and they began walking along the shore 00:07:05.260 --> 00:07:07.240 of Galilee, the Galilee Lake. 00:07:08.220 --> 00:07:10.680 And he saw a man called Matthew sitting at a tax booth. 00:07:10.700 --> 00:07:12.320 And he said to him, follow me. 00:07:13.320 --> 00:07:15.140 And he rose and followed him. 00:07:16.420 --> 00:07:18.400 You know, this is the conversion story of Matthew. 00:07:19.800 --> 00:07:23.850 And I've been a Christian now for a few years. 00:07:24.080 --> 00:07:29.340 And one of the things that just never gets old is to hear people's conversion stories. 00:07:30.700 --> 00:07:37.720 You know, one of my greatest joys that I've seen in my walk with God is to see somebody that has just encountered 00:07:37.720 --> 00:07:39.740 the true and living God. 00:07:40.640 --> 00:07:40.940 Amen. 00:07:41.460 --> 00:07:42.180 Amen. 00:07:42.520 --> 00:07:45.740 I mean, it's one of the most amazing things that you'll see. 00:07:45.740 --> 00:07:46.890 You see that transforming power. 00:07:47.580 --> 00:07:49.560 But here we see in verse nine the conversion of Matthew. 00:07:50.660 --> 00:07:53.660 It says that he saw a man called Matthew sitting in a textbook. 00:07:54.140 --> 00:07:55.040 And he said to him, follow me. 00:07:55.080 --> 00:07:56.060 And he rose and followed him. 00:07:56.520 --> 00:07:57.280 That's all it says. 00:07:57.800 --> 00:08:00.740 This is the entire conversion story of Matthew that we get in the accounts. 00:08:01.700 --> 00:08:04.430 Matthew doesn't go into a lot of details. 00:08:05.320 --> 00:08:12.560 I'm sure there was other conversation that took place, but something that this tells us about Matthew right off is that Matthew 00:08:12.560 --> 00:08:13.630 was a humble person. 00:08:15.600 --> 00:08:17.200 He knew how bad off he was. 00:08:18.420 --> 00:08:22.780 And what mattered is that when Jesus said, follow me, he went. 00:08:24.280 --> 00:08:25.110 He knew that he was broken. 00:08:26.020 --> 00:08:29.180 He knew that he was separated from God, and he knew that he needed a Savior. 00:08:31.160 --> 00:08:37.640 God had prepared Matthew's heart, but still, the person that was most shocked by this was probably Matthew. 00:08:38.500 --> 00:08:44.970 I mean, can you imagine this Jewish rabbi walking around and he approaches Matthew? 00:08:45.420 --> 00:08:52.660 This is so shocking and just unthinkable to the Jewish mind Mine is scandalous beyond comprehension because a tax collector 00:08:52.660 --> 00:08:54.440 was the worst of the worst. 00:08:55.080 --> 00:08:58.300 A tax collector was the dregs of human society in Israel. 00:08:59.850 --> 00:09:06.960 Now, when you and I think about tax collectors, we may think of an IRS agent or an auditor 00:09:07.490 --> 00:09:11.860 or someone who likes to take your money, or a person that you just avoid at all costs. 00:09:13.540 --> 00:09:18.540 You know, most people today still have a negative perception of taxes in general. 00:09:18.560 --> 00:09:21.600 Tax collectors just get lumped into that because of the nature. 00:09:22.720 --> 00:09:26.040 But a tax collector in Christ's day was way worse. 00:09:27.700 --> 00:09:29.840 They were downright despised and hated. 00:09:31.540 --> 00:09:36.880 Now we know that Matthew was a tax collector because it says that he was sitting at the tax booth. 00:09:38.140 --> 00:09:45.520 And the way the tax system worked was Rome, which pretty much dominated everything 00:09:45.520 --> 00:09:52.600 in that time by sheer force and Power offered tax franchises and they were sold to the highest bidder. 00:09:53.500 --> 00:10:00.100 So you had, first of all, you had to have some money to get one, but once you got one, it was a way for you to make a bunch of money. 00:10:02.040 --> 00:10:09.160 Now, most scholars also agree that Matthew was Jewish, which makes things even worse for 00:10:09.160 --> 00:10:16.280 Matthew, and even more despised because not only was he a tax collector, but he basically sold his 00:10:16.280 --> 00:10:20.500 soul to the Roman government in order to extort money from his own people. 00:10:21.120 --> 00:10:22.290 He was a traitor in their eyes. 00:10:23.700 --> 00:10:27.700 You know, the Romans were also despised by the Jews because they were Gentiles. 00:10:28.080 --> 00:10:29.260 They were pagans, they were unclean. 00:10:30.100 --> 00:10:32.340 And Matthew is now in league with these guys. 00:10:33.880 --> 00:10:36.860 He switched teams, and now he's getting money from the Jewish people. 00:10:39.180 --> 00:10:43.080 You know, you see the disdain for tax collectors throughout the Bible. 00:10:43.100 --> 00:10:50.600 But one historian says in the Mishnah and the Talmud, though written later, registered 00:10:50.600 --> 00:10:55.740 scathing judgments on tax collectors, lumping the tax collectors with thieves and murderers. 00:10:57.080 --> 00:11:01.120 The touch of a tax collector would render a house unclean. 00:11:02.320 --> 00:11:05.990 This is kind of the mindset that people had for tax collectors. 00:11:07.860 --> 00:11:14.900 You know, we're going to we're going to take this thought just a little bit deeper and see what kind of person Matthew was and what a tax collector 00:11:14.900 --> 00:11:16.300 meant to these people. 00:11:16.980 --> 00:11:20.340 And I got some of this stuff from John MacArthur, which I think is just fascinating. 00:11:22.380 --> 00:11:26.820 It says he meaning Matthew is sitting at a tax booth. 00:11:26.840 --> 00:11:28.100 Now, what does that tell us? 00:11:29.280 --> 00:11:36.320 Well, in that time, there was sort of a complex system of taxes and sort of like there is 00:11:36.320 --> 00:11:36.700 today. 00:11:36.700 --> 00:11:39.860 There's many, many taxes, all sorts of taxes out there. 00:11:41.520 --> 00:11:44.580 But the bottom line was Rome established a certain Amount. 00:11:45.980 --> 00:11:49.740 And you as a tax collector, as long as you paid Rome that amount, whatever you got. 00:11:49.760 --> 00:11:52.030 Beyond that amount was yours to keep. 00:11:54.440 --> 00:11:59.360 And so this literally opened up the door for every kind of corruption imaginable. 00:12:00.920 --> 00:12:06.720 It became sort of like a Galilean mafia made up of tax collectors and their thugs. 00:12:08.200 --> 00:12:12.700 It involved crime, larceny, extortion, exploitation and so on. 00:12:13.360 --> 00:12:20.480 It was a totally corrupt system, and all the tax collectors and all the people who worked with them, 00:12:21.260 --> 00:12:22.950 and these guys were barred from the synagogues. 00:12:23.400 --> 00:12:23.950 They were unclean. 00:12:24.820 --> 00:12:26.940 They couldn't testify even in a court of law. 00:12:27.920 --> 00:12:32.240 They were lumped with murderers and robbers, except for they were thought to be worse because of their treason. 00:12:34.140 --> 00:12:39.180 Now there was two kinds of tax collectors, because there was two kinds of taxes. 00:12:41.300 --> 00:12:48.500 The first kind of tax collector collected a general tax and this would come down to land 00:12:48.500 --> 00:12:54.560 tax, property tax, income tax, state tax, those kind of things that we're familiar with still today. 00:12:55.560 --> 00:12:56.600 But then there was other taxes. 00:12:57.000 --> 00:12:57.960 These would be duties. 00:12:58.740 --> 00:13:00.080 We're familiar with that too right. 00:13:01.100 --> 00:13:03.040 We would pay an estate tax when we die. 00:13:03.600 --> 00:13:05.280 We pay income tax every year. 00:13:05.840 --> 00:13:07.180 We pay property tax. 00:13:07.380 --> 00:13:10.200 And these all go under the general category of fixed taxes. 00:13:10.540 --> 00:13:12.500 They had a set amount to them. 00:13:12.960 --> 00:13:18.260 And the people that collected these taxes were called the gabbai gabbai. 00:13:20.080 --> 00:13:21.580 And they collected the fixed taxes. 00:13:22.920 --> 00:13:25.800 But then in addition to the gabbai. 00:13:26.240 --> 00:13:29.040 There was also another group of tax collectors. 00:13:29.340 --> 00:13:31.610 And these tax collectors were called the Mochis. 00:13:33.500 --> 00:13:34.620 And they put tax on everything. 00:13:35.520 --> 00:13:43.020 They taxed import export, they taxed transport, they put tolls on the number of wheels you had on your cart, the 00:13:43.020 --> 00:13:45.600 weight of your cart, the animals, the packages, the letters. 00:13:46.540 --> 00:13:47.560 Kind of like today, right? 00:13:47.560 --> 00:13:49.040 I mean, you just tax everything. 00:13:51.060 --> 00:13:52.580 And that's how it was back then. 00:13:52.800 --> 00:13:53.810 It was nothing new. 00:13:55.380 --> 00:14:01.100 And these guys were the worst because their taxes weren't fixed. 00:14:01.720 --> 00:14:04.960 The taxes that they collected were flexible taxes. 00:14:06.140 --> 00:14:12.720 And the criminal element found its way into this tax group very quickly into the mochas group. 00:14:14.340 --> 00:14:19.290 The mochas, we learn, had no regard whatsoever of what people thought of them. 00:14:19.480 --> 00:14:23.860 They had one goal and one goal only, and that was to take people's money. 00:14:25.000 --> 00:14:28.860 And if you had the right kind of thugs, you could get it out of people. 00:14:29.520 --> 00:14:32.880 You could get it out of them through intimidation or physical harm if need be. 00:14:34.580 --> 00:14:42.010 But these people reaped the hatred, the vitriol, the scorn of the people in that society. 00:14:42.680 --> 00:14:43.940 They despise these people. 00:14:45.460 --> 00:14:52.500 Nobody in their right mind would be associated with someone from the tax collector group, let alone the moca's tax 00:14:52.500 --> 00:14:52.600 collectors. 00:14:55.040 --> 00:14:55.900 But Jesus did. 00:14:57.460 --> 00:15:01.180 He called a moca's named Matthew to be his disciple. 00:15:02.500 --> 00:15:04.830 Matthew was this kind of tax collector. 00:15:04.880 --> 00:15:05.620 He was a tax collector. 00:15:07.580 --> 00:15:08.020 He was hopeless. 00:15:08.700 --> 00:15:11.040 He was doomed, and he was on a pathway to hell. 00:15:11.960 --> 00:15:14.680 But God gave Matthew a new heart. 00:15:16.380 --> 00:15:20.000 In that moment, Matthew needed forgiveness and he knew it. 00:15:21.360 --> 00:15:23.100 And all Jesus had to say was, follow me. 00:15:23.800 --> 00:15:28.120 And he got out of that tax booth so fast, Jesus came along. 00:15:29.360 --> 00:15:30.080 He said, follow me. 00:15:30.640 --> 00:15:32.780 And that's the words that Matthew was waiting for. 00:15:32.780 --> 00:15:34.520 That's the words that Matthew wanted to hear. 00:15:37.860 --> 00:15:40.880 You know, in that moment when Matthew heard those words. 00:15:40.880 --> 00:15:41.280 Follow me. 00:15:42.600 --> 00:15:45.200 Everything that had power over him had lost its grip. 00:15:46.140 --> 00:15:47.950 Money had no more meaning. 00:15:48.460 --> 00:15:49.080 The power. 00:15:49.900 --> 00:15:51.560 The world lost its grip. 00:15:51.580 --> 00:15:53.440 The old ways had lost their charm. 00:15:54.200 --> 00:15:56.610 Under conviction, all he wanted was forgiveness. 00:15:57.280 --> 00:15:59.640 And Jesus was the one that could provide it. 00:16:00.440 --> 00:16:03.780 He had a new heart, a new mind, new longings, new desires. 00:16:04.100 --> 00:16:05.320 And Matthew never looked back. 00:16:06.580 --> 00:16:11.280 Matthew the trader, the extortioner, the robber, the outcast, the greedy, abusive sinner. 00:16:13.200 --> 00:16:17.990 He became a disciple, an apostle, and he became a writer of the history of Jesus. 00:16:19.480 --> 00:16:21.130 You know, there was no waiting period here. 00:16:21.860 --> 00:16:24.160 There was no getting his life cleaned up first. 00:16:24.920 --> 00:16:25.100 No. 00:16:25.100 --> 00:16:29.340 Jesus called the worst of people and the worst of circumstances. 00:16:31.020 --> 00:16:34.550 And that's an amazing encouragement for me and for us and for the people. 00:16:35.900 --> 00:16:38.310 Because you don't have to have your life together. 00:16:40.140 --> 00:16:41.130 You don't have to be super religious. 00:16:42.380 --> 00:16:43.250 You don't have to be super talented. 00:16:44.100 --> 00:16:45.870 You don't have to have a good reputation even. 00:16:47.640 --> 00:16:50.360 But Jesus calls those that the world casts off. 00:16:51.400 --> 00:16:53.630 He calls those with broken and messy lives. 00:16:54.880 --> 00:16:56.960 He calls those who don't have it all together. 00:16:58.140 --> 00:16:59.560 And those who can't do it on their own. 00:17:01.040 --> 00:17:08.310 You know, as is the case with Matthew, the amazing thing about this conversion story is that Matthew woke up that morning, 00:17:08.920 --> 00:17:12.619 the most hated of all sinners and pursuing the things of this world. 00:17:14.500 --> 00:17:21.140 But he went to bed that night, wrapped in the love of God and fellowship of Jesus as a redeemed apostle. 00:17:23.319 --> 00:17:25.500 You know, but the story doesn't end here. 00:17:26.780 --> 00:17:34.080 And because, like so many new believers, so many people that have been changed by Christ, that have encountered the living God, the first thought 00:17:34.080 --> 00:17:37.380 that Matthew had was to go win his friends to Christ. 00:17:38.900 --> 00:17:45.800 And this carries us on to verse ten, where we see the call of Matthew now leads to the community of sinners. 00:17:51.660 --> 00:17:59.000 And as Jesus reclined at the table in the house, behold, many tax collectors and sinners came and were reclining 00:17:59.000 --> 00:18:01.100 with Jesus and his disciples. 00:18:05.340 --> 00:18:13.420 Now Matthew is filled with gratitude, and he's thrilled about what the Lord has done with him, and 00:18:13.420 --> 00:18:15.280 he's going to have this lavish banquet. 00:18:15.280 --> 00:18:20.010 He's going to invite over all of his friends, and he's going to put on a feast. 00:18:20.860 --> 00:18:27.920 Now, the point of this feast is to honor Jesus, to hear the story of forgiveness, and to have Matthew share Jesus with 00:18:27.920 --> 00:18:28.400 his friends. 00:18:29.940 --> 00:18:35.260 You know, the party consists of all the dishonorable, despised rejects of Galilee, because that's all that Matthew knew. 00:18:35.540 --> 00:18:37.290 That's all that he was associated with. 00:18:39.320 --> 00:18:40.880 It uses the broad term sinners. 00:18:42.060 --> 00:18:49.220 What it's talking about is all the thugs, all the sideline professions of crime, prostitution, all the things that you can think of. 00:18:50.520 --> 00:18:54.140 But then it also pulls out tax collectors and it pulls out tax collectors. 00:18:54.260 --> 00:19:01.500 It says tax collectors and sinners, because tax collectors were considered worse and because 00:19:01.500 --> 00:19:02.180 of the case of Matthew. 00:19:02.740 --> 00:19:09.840 Here, the Mishnah, which is a Jewish book written a little bit later, it defines sinners as 00:19:09.840 --> 00:19:14.240 this gamblers, moneylenders, dove, erasers, whatever that means. 00:19:15.140 --> 00:19:18.320 Sabbath violators, law breakers, shepherds. 00:19:18.840 --> 00:19:20.580 Shepherds were considered filthy as well. 00:19:21.500 --> 00:19:25.000 Tax collectors, thieves, thugs, enforcers, drunkards, prostitutes. 00:19:25.600 --> 00:19:26.830 All the dregs of human society. 00:19:27.580 --> 00:19:30.780 It literally the word that they use for them meant the people of the dirt. 00:19:31.840 --> 00:19:33.380 The people who would never get to heaven. 00:19:34.480 --> 00:19:38.870 But through Jesus they did, and the religious people did not. 00:19:39.860 --> 00:19:47.000 The lesson for us here in this community of sinners is this don't confuse separation 00:19:47.000 --> 00:19:48.220 with isolation. 00:19:50.560 --> 00:19:57.620 You know, it's true that as Christians, we've been called to be separate from the world, that we can't engage with the wicked deeds of others, but we must not 00:19:57.620 --> 00:19:58.600 isolate ourselves. 00:19:59.560 --> 00:20:04.140 Sure, if a brother is erring, we could withdraw ourselves from that brother. 00:20:04.340 --> 00:20:06.720 But we can't withdraw ourselves from the world. 00:20:08.120 --> 00:20:15.160 While not of the world, we have been sent into the world, and we've been called to be a light in 00:20:15.160 --> 00:20:15.710 darkness. 00:20:16.840 --> 00:20:24.120 This doesn't mean that Jesus or us as Christians, we condone sin in any way, or that we embrace sin 00:20:24.600 --> 00:20:26.340 or that sin is minimized. 00:20:27.080 --> 00:20:34.080 It simply means that we go like Jesus into the world, and we reach the people who 00:20:34.080 --> 00:20:41.980 are broken, who are afflicted with the words of hope, with the good news of the gospel, that Jesus is 00:20:41.980 --> 00:20:44.100 the friend of sinners as he was called. 00:20:45.500 --> 00:20:51.120 This brings us to the last point, which is the opposition of the religious people and Jesus. 00:20:51.340 --> 00:20:53.520 We've seen now has the authority to forgive sin. 00:20:53.980 --> 00:20:58.080 He calls sinners wherever they're at, no matter how messy their lives are. 00:20:58.860 --> 00:21:02.580 And the natural tendency of many new Christians is to win their friends to Christ. 00:21:03.880 --> 00:21:07.880 But now we see the opposition Christians face opposition. 00:21:09.220 --> 00:21:10.920 That may come as a surprise, I don't know. 00:21:11.580 --> 00:21:16.570 You know, we see a lot of people teach that you accept Christ and your life becomes perfect. 00:21:17.980 --> 00:21:19.800 I don't see that anywhere in the Bible. 00:21:19.800 --> 00:21:21.840 What I see is opposition. 00:21:23.020 --> 00:21:30.200 And here we see the opposition of some religious people that come to the party that Matthew is putting on for Jesus and his gifts. 00:21:32.120 --> 00:21:37.580 And so you look at this party, and Jesus and his disciples would have been there the sixth that he had already called. 00:21:37.840 --> 00:21:42.040 And now you have Matthew to the mix and maybe other followers in the group as well. 00:21:42.060 --> 00:21:44.430 And then you had all of the outcasts and dregs of human society. 00:21:45.380 --> 00:21:51.740 And the common description here is that they were all following Jesus because he was the friend of sinners. 00:21:54.860 --> 00:21:57.040 These people had never known anyone like Jesus. 00:21:57.480 --> 00:21:59.480 There was nobody in that culture like him. 00:22:00.540 --> 00:22:08.160 There was nobody that would bring to the broken, to the sinners a message of reconciliation, a message of hope, and 00:22:08.160 --> 00:22:13.540 a message of healing rather than a prideful, condemning and judgmental heart. 00:22:14.640 --> 00:22:17.020 Religious people couldn't deal with this, and they couldn't let it go. 00:22:18.040 --> 00:22:19.680 And you see this all over. 00:22:19.680 --> 00:22:20.890 They wouldn't leave Jesus alone. 00:22:21.180 --> 00:22:23.200 And they were absolutely relentless to him. 00:22:26.720 --> 00:22:31.000 And it says, and when the Pharisees saw this. 00:22:31.000 --> 00:22:36.520 They said to his disciples, why does your teacher eat with tax collectors and sinners? 00:22:37.520 --> 00:22:39.370 You know, this was the scandal in their mind. 00:22:40.740 --> 00:22:42.100 They were just shocked beyond words. 00:22:42.100 --> 00:22:42.490 They were stunned. 00:22:42.740 --> 00:22:48.460 They couldn't believe that Jesus would be eating with tax collectors and sinners. 00:22:49.460 --> 00:22:50.600 And so they asked him why? 00:22:51.200 --> 00:22:54.120 You know, because in that culture, eating symbolized acceptance. 00:22:54.340 --> 00:22:56.160 Welcome even more. 00:22:57.280 --> 00:22:57.920 It symbolized friendship. 00:22:58.900 --> 00:23:03.600 You had meals with people that you wanted to associate with, people that you were friends with. 00:23:06.840 --> 00:23:13.880 Their question why does your teacher eat with tax collectors and sinners was intended to be a stinging 00:23:13.880 --> 00:23:17.300 rebuke to Jesus, an indictment of Jesus's ministry. 00:23:17.920 --> 00:23:26.020 But really, what this did was it exposed the distinction between all false religion and the true gospel, the 00:23:26.020 --> 00:23:32.000 gospel of conflict between Race and all other religions which are a form of law. 00:23:32.940 --> 00:23:40.340 Faith and all other religions which are a form of works, divine accomplishment, and all other religions which 00:23:40.340 --> 00:23:42.860 are a form of human achievement and a means of salvation. 00:23:44.520 --> 00:23:48.140 Paul says that God justifies the ungodly. 00:23:49.840 --> 00:23:53.700 And that while we were still dead in our trespasses and sins, Christ died for us. 00:23:54.440 --> 00:23:56.010 Not the people who earned it, not the self-righteous. 00:23:57.280 --> 00:23:59.500 And this is the scandal of grace. 00:24:00.400 --> 00:24:05.860 It's offered to sinners everywhere who repent and believe in faith. 00:24:07.480 --> 00:24:13.940 You know what is the response of Jesus to these party crashers? 00:24:15.140 --> 00:24:16.700 Well, it gets really interesting here. 00:24:16.700 --> 00:24:21.280 And this drives home the point of what the message is about. 00:24:22.620 --> 00:24:23.400 So we're going to end here. 00:24:23.420 --> 00:24:31.080 We'll read this, and then we're going to break down the response that Jesus gives to the religious people, he says in verse 12 and 13, those 00:24:31.080 --> 00:24:35.240 who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick. 00:24:36.060 --> 00:24:37.350 Go and learn what this means. 00:24:37.800 --> 00:24:43.460 I desire mercy and not sacrifice, for I came not to call the righteous, but sinners. 00:24:46.400 --> 00:24:48.580 Jesus gives here a threefold answer. 00:24:49.760 --> 00:24:53.760 First, he answers these guys from analogy. 00:24:55.640 --> 00:24:59.920 He says those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick. 00:25:00.920 --> 00:25:03.540 You know, the analogy that Jesus is giving is simple. 00:25:04.200 --> 00:25:06.740 Doctors can be expected to go to sick people. 00:25:07.620 --> 00:25:15.060 So a forgiver, a healer should be expected to go to people that need forgiveness, that 00:25:15.060 --> 00:25:15.660 need healing. 00:25:16.780 --> 00:25:17.120 Sinful people. 00:25:18.440 --> 00:25:21.080 And his defense to the religious people is simple. 00:25:22.240 --> 00:25:24.380 He went to the people with the deepest need. 00:25:26.060 --> 00:25:31.240 The problem with the religious people is they couldn't see their own need because their sin was pride. 00:25:31.460 --> 00:25:32.780 It had blinded their eyes. 00:25:34.820 --> 00:25:39.500 And pride, as we learn, is probably the most dangerous sin of all. 00:25:40.620 --> 00:25:43.890 Jesus wasn't saying that they were okay and that these guys weren't. 00:25:44.900 --> 00:25:46.660 He was acknowledging that they're sinners. 00:25:47.100 --> 00:25:48.800 But the Bible tells us that we've all sinned. 00:25:50.020 --> 00:25:53.800 That there is none righteous and that nobody seeks after God. 00:25:54.160 --> 00:26:01.200 The reality is that Matthew and his friend recognized their need, and they embraced the offer of grace 00:26:01.920 --> 00:26:07.170 through Jesus, where the religious people didn't see that and they didn't embrace it. 00:26:08.080 --> 00:26:10.280 So first, Jesus answers with an analogy. 00:26:10.360 --> 00:26:12.060 Second, Jesus answers with Scripture. 00:26:13.360 --> 00:26:15.040 He says, go and learn what this means. 00:26:16.020 --> 00:26:18.980 I desire mercy and not sacrifice. 00:26:20.720 --> 00:26:25.980 You know this statement go and learn as you study the rabbinical writings and Jewish tradition. 00:26:26.700 --> 00:26:33.760 It's a statement that rabbis would say to someone when that person wasn't getting it, they had gotten off track 00:26:33.760 --> 00:26:40.900 somewhere, and it would be the modern equivalent of you're having a conversation with someone and you tell that person, look, you 00:26:40.900 --> 00:26:42.310 need to go check your facts. 00:26:42.440 --> 00:26:45.240 And then when you do the research, come back and then let's talk. 00:26:46.240 --> 00:26:47.380 This is what Jesus was saying here. 00:26:47.660 --> 00:26:50.500 He was saying that you've gotten off track. 00:26:50.500 --> 00:26:53.700 You need to go back to the writings and reform your thinking. 00:26:53.700 --> 00:26:57.820 And when you understand what this means, I desire mercy, not sacrifice. 00:26:57.880 --> 00:27:04.360 Come back because Jesus here quotes from Hosea six six in the Old Testament prophet. 00:27:05.380 --> 00:27:12.500 And if you read the context of that, God is saying there that he's not concerned with ritual, he's concerned with a 00:27:12.500 --> 00:27:13.420 merciful heart. 00:27:14.660 --> 00:27:18.010 Jesus is telling these guys, look, you're doing all this stuff. 00:27:18.400 --> 00:27:22.020 You're attending all these activities, you're doing these ceremonies. 00:27:22.280 --> 00:27:24.500 You're outwardly doing all the right things. 00:27:25.120 --> 00:27:26.540 But where's your compassion? 00:27:26.680 --> 00:27:27.390 Where's your heart? 00:27:28.860 --> 00:27:31.960 How do you respond to those that are tangled in sin? 00:27:33.580 --> 00:27:35.340 Jesus says the same thing in the Beatitudes. 00:27:36.220 --> 00:27:38.780 He says, blessed are the merciful, for they shall obtain mercy. 00:27:40.780 --> 00:27:47.860 All of the Old Testament sacrifices the systems, the commandments, the ceremonies, all of that stuff was 00:27:47.860 --> 00:27:51.740 intended to show the people of Israel their need of a Savior. 00:27:52.500 --> 00:27:57.900 It was intended to show the holiness of God and their dependence on him. 00:27:59.060 --> 00:28:03.140 They were never intended as a way of earning their own righteousness or salvation. 00:28:05.700 --> 00:28:09.960 So the religious people didn't understand this point, and Jesus tells them to go and learn what this means. 00:28:12.380 --> 00:28:14.360 So first Jesus answers them with an analogy. 00:28:14.480 --> 00:28:16.640 Second, he answers them with Scripture. 00:28:17.400 --> 00:28:20.120 And thirdly, he answers with authority. 00:28:21.420 --> 00:28:24.660 He says, for I came not to call the righteous, but sinners. 00:28:25.360 --> 00:28:27.750 And in Luke's Gospel, he adds at the end of that to repentance. 00:28:30.020 --> 00:28:34.880 So how do you tell a person who thinks that they're righteous, that they are in need of grace? 00:28:35.960 --> 00:28:43.400 I mean, how do you tell a person that it's not about what you're doing, but it's about what Christ did for 00:28:43.400 --> 00:28:43.580 you? 00:28:46.000 --> 00:28:53.360 Paul, who became another apostle, probably exemplified this better than anyone in the Bible. 00:28:54.380 --> 00:28:59.320 And Paul had all the credentials that these guys did or any other religious person. 00:29:01.240 --> 00:29:08.200 He shows that he came from the right lineage, that he had a zeal, a true zeal for God, that he obeyed the commandments better than most. 00:29:08.860 --> 00:29:12.500 But when he encountered Christ, everything changed for Paul. 00:29:14.240 --> 00:29:19.840 He said that he considered all of that garbage in comparison to knowing Christ. 00:29:22.240 --> 00:29:29.340 And it's funny because you see these nicknames, these titles that are being given the religious 00:29:29.340 --> 00:29:37.080 people gave the title to Jesus, the Friend of Sinners, but Paul nicknames himself the chief of sinners. 00:29:39.360 --> 00:29:42.640 The truth is that we're all sinners. 00:29:44.100 --> 00:29:45.050 We're all in the same boat. 00:29:45.300 --> 00:29:53.960 Whether you're leaning toward the way of Paul, wrapped up in your own pride and self-righteousness, or you're like Matthew, where 00:29:53.960 --> 00:29:57.320 you've pursued the things of this world and lived a self-centered life. 00:29:57.980 --> 00:30:03.440 God offers everybody an invitation into his kingdom by grace alone, through faith alone. 00:30:05.220 --> 00:30:06.060 Why did Jesus come? 00:30:07.360 --> 00:30:09.360 Well, he came to reconcile sinners to God. 00:30:10.600 --> 00:30:13.580 And just how far will Jesus go to forgive? 00:30:14.580 --> 00:30:15.700 He went all the way to the cross. 00:30:17.740 --> 00:30:20.040 And whose sin does he forgive? 00:30:20.520 --> 00:30:24.160 Well, he forgave the worst of sinners, Matthew. 00:30:24.920 --> 00:30:27.420 He forgave Paul and he forgave me. 00:30:30.460 --> 00:30:32.430 How does a person receive this forgiveness? 00:30:33.920 --> 00:30:41.040 Well, forgiveness comes to those who recognize that they're sinners, and they put their faith in the finished work of Jesus Christ and 00:30:41.080 --> 00:30:41.940 what he's done for him. 00:30:43.840 --> 00:30:51.060 And I'm going to end by reading a parable and against the backdrop of everything that we just looked at here, just 00:30:51.060 --> 00:30:52.370 listen to the words of Jesus. 00:30:54.040 --> 00:30:54.940 And it's in Luke 18. 00:30:57.940 --> 00:31:05.360 It says he also told this parable to some who trusted in themselves that they were righteous and treated others with contempt. 00:31:06.340 --> 00:31:10.940 Two men went up on a temple to pray, one a Pharisee and the other a tax collector. 00:31:12.000 --> 00:31:18.540 The Pharisee, standing by himself, prayed thus God, I thank you that I am not like other men extortioners, Shares. 00:31:18.540 --> 00:31:21.900 Unjust, adulterers or even like this tax collector. 00:31:23.700 --> 00:31:24.900 I fast twice a week. 00:31:24.940 --> 00:31:27.600 I give a tithe of all that I get. 00:31:29.000 --> 00:31:33.160 But the tax collector standing far off would not even lift up his eyes to heaven. 00:31:34.120 --> 00:31:38.300 But he beat his breast, saying, God, be merciful to me, a sinner. 00:31:39.940 --> 00:31:44.300 I tell you, this man went down to his house justified rather than the other. 00:31:44.840 --> 00:31:51.180 For everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, but the one who humbles himself will be exalted. 00:31:54.760 --> 00:31:59.640 Jesus did not come to make bad people good or good people better. 00:32:00.300 --> 00:32:02.900 He came to put broken people back together. 00:32:03.720 --> 00:32:07.580 He came as a friend of sinners to reconcile us to God. 00:32:08.380 --> 00:32:10.560 He came to make dead people live. 00:32:11.880 --> 00:32:14.960 This is the heart and soul of the gospel message. 00:32:15.840 --> 00:32:17.420 And this is the reason for the Christmas season. 00:32:19.520 --> 00:32:19.940 Let's pray. 00:32:22.140 --> 00:32:29.220 God, we're grateful that you've left us with a witness that we can 00:32:29.220 --> 00:32:30.020 know you. 00:32:31.100 --> 00:32:33.850 And, Lord, we're grateful in this Christmas season that you came. 00:32:35.100 --> 00:32:37.100 That you left your throne on high. 00:32:37.120 --> 00:32:38.820 That you humbled yourself as a servant. 00:32:39.920 --> 00:32:43.100 And Lord, that you weren't ashamed to associate yourself with sinners. 00:32:44.280 --> 00:32:47.380 And God, we are grateful for that. 00:32:48.380 --> 00:32:53.010 And we pray that as a church family, that we can go out to the people that are hurting. 00:32:53.120 --> 00:33:00.410 To the brokenhearted and share the change that God has done within us, and that we can bring hope 00:33:01.620 --> 00:33:04.040 to the people that need it most. 00:33:04.840 --> 00:33:12.040 Lord, that we could follow in your footsteps, that we too could be known as a friend of sinners. 00:33:13.140 --> 00:33:14.540 And Lord, we pray these things in your name. 00:33:15.380 --> 00:33:15.880 Amen.