Disclaimer:
Due to the large amount of sermons and topics that appear on this site I feel it is necessary to post this disclaimer on all sermons posted. These sermons are original to the author and the leading of the Holy Spirit. While ideas and illustrations are often gleaned from many sources including those at Sermoncentral.com, any similarities and wording including sermon title, that may appear to be the same as any other sermon are purely coincidental. In instances where other minister’s wording is used, due recognition will be given. These sermons are not copyrighted and may be used or preached freely. May God richly bless you as you read these words. It is my sincere desire that all who read them may be enriched. All scriptures quoted in these sermons are copies and quoted from the Authorized King James Version of the Holy Bible.
Pastor James May
Matthew’s Call
Matthew 9:9-13, "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. And it came to pass, as Jesus sat at meat in the house, behold, many publicans and sinners came and sat down with him and his disciples. And when the Pharisees saw it, they said unto his disciples, Why eateth your Master with publicans and sinners? But when Jesus heard that, he said unto them, They that be whole need not a physician, but they that are sick. But go ye and learn what that meaneth, I will have mercy, and not sacrifice: for I am not come to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance."
Matthew had one of the most hated jobs in all of Israel. He was considered as a traitor and sinner who had sold out to the Roman Occupational forces because he was ordered to collect taxes for Rome from his own countrymen. When Jesus found Matthew, he was in the Custom House collecting taxes as he was assigned to do. Jesus saw something in Matthew that no one else in Israel saw.
Jesus called to Matthew was simple but the call was powerful and Matthew answered quickly as he heard the Lord say, “come, follow me”.
The greatest life we can live is a life dedicated to Christ. It is so very sad to see many who will hear the call just as Matthew did, and then they will not arise and follow Him.
How many blessings do we miss? How far will we stray before turning back to God?
Matthew was so very grateful for the call of God upon his life. He made a great feast in honor of the Lord and his disciples. The problem was that the only friends and acquaintances that Matthew could invite were in the same social circle as he was.
They were all considered outsiders, sinners and traitors for they were the only Jews who would even associate themselves with the likes of Matthew, the Tax Collector.
Some of them were very likely Gentiles, from other Roman cities who had moved into Jerusalem to work for the Roman Government. As such they were considered heathens and unholy by the religious hierarchy of Israel.
The Pharisees were offended by the fact that Jesus and his disciples went into the feast with these heathens. The Pharisees view of righteousness was completely centered upon the Law of Moses and had no consideration of the Spirit of that Law, only its legalistic terms and ordinances. They weren’t saved themselves but thought they were. The Pharisees lived strict laws, claimed to have a special relationship with Yahweh but had little love or tolerance for anyone who disagreed with them or who seemed to disobey the Law.
These Self-righteous Pharisees could not see their own sin. They did not know that they were without God and they could see no other means of reaching God but their own.
Their thoughts were that anyone who really was righteous had no right to associate with heathens unless business required it. They never realized that Jesus was doing the Father’s business and that required Jesus to go to Matthew’s house.
Jesus knew their thoughts and heard their self-righteous indignation. We may fool ourselves; we may fool the world; but we cannot fool God. He knows where we are and the very thought of our heart and mind.
His words to them were cutting and to the point. Jesus has no patience and will not stop at pointing out the cold, hard truth to those who claim to be righteous but are not. Jesus’ words proclaimed that His purpose, His business was to be the Great Physician to a sin-sick and dying world. For that purpose He born, for that purpose He lived and for that purpose He would soon die upon the cross.
Before Jesus can heal the sinner’s heart, that sinner must come to the realization that he needs God. He can nothing within himself; his self-righteousness is as filthy rags; his life is meaningless; he has nothing to offer; and so he must throw himself upon the mercy of God or face eternal punishment.
Man must come to that realization before the healing process can begin. How can Jesus save a man who thinks he is saved already? That has ever been man’s problem.
Man tries to find his own way to God without coming the way that God demands. Man has always tried to save himself.
He has created vast numbers of rules, regulations, guidelines, creeds, prayers, educational processes, liturgies and penances for his sin.
He has created religions, built idols and confessed that he can bring about a utopian society without the help of Almighty God.
Man has fooled himself into believing that education alone is the key to man’s salvation.
Man refuses to accept that he can do nothing within his own power, to obtain salvation.
There is no price you can pay, no deeds you can do, no good life that you can live, and no obedience to the Law that can be sufficient to save you.
Salvation is through faith in Christ and the grace of God that is given in His mercy and nothing we do can earn that gift of Grace.
The entire sacrificial system of the Law of Moses was meant to do one thing. The blood was representative of the blood of the Lamb of God, his Son, Jesus Christ. Those sacrifices only showed us that we could never kill enough lambs, sacrifice enough bulls, or shed enough blood to earn our righteousness. Those sacrifices point us to the Cross of Christ and his shed blood as the one and only propitiation for our sins.
Those Pharisees could not or would not accept the fact that their self-righteousness was not sufficient. They could never believe that their sacrifice of self in the work of the Jewish religion was not sufficient; neither were all the prayers they memorized or the rituals they observed with absolute faithfulness. It is a hard thing for anyone to fall down on his face and admit that he is a sinner. That is an uncomfortable position to be in when we realize that we are but a sinner in the hands of Holy God and that all we can do is beg for mercy.
Jesus said, “I am not come to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance”. The call was for Matthew and for all of us who are in the condition of Matthew down through the centuries since the Crucifixion. Jesus is still calling to you and I today, “Come, Follow Me!”
Come – leave your life of sin and separation behind
Come – learn of me and I will give you a new life worth living
Come – be my disciple, duplicate my attitudes, my love, my mercy, and my concern for lost souls
Come – join me as a brother or a sister
Come – why tarry, why wait, come now and begin right now to experience the presence of God in your life.
Come – for the time is so very near to my soon return
Come – while there is still time
Come – with your sin and your failures, repent and be washed clean and made righteous through my sacrifice for you
The Call of Matthew is the same Call for each of us right now!
Never mind the taunts of Satan that you aren’t good enough! He is the father of lies!
Never mind the jeers of the crowd that scream at you! The crowds won’t be in Heaven!
Never mind your own heart that doubts and fears but is still reaching out to God! God will give you a new heart!
Never mind your loss of friend who won’t want to follow you as a Christian! They aren’t real friends or they would still remain loyal to you, and besides, Jesus will replace them with other friends who will encourage you in your walk with the Lord!
Have you heard the Call of Matthew?
Has God called you by name? If you are reading this, or listening to this, and you don’t know Christ as your Savior, then understand that you are getting the Call from God and the Holy Spirit is tugging at your heart right now!
Satan will try every trick in the book to stop you but nothing can stop you from coming to Christ if you will just rise up and follow Jesus!
