WEBVTT 00:00:10.360 --> 00:00:15.500 We'll read through just a few verses here. Let's 00:00:15.500 --> 00:00:20.420 pray, and then we'll get started. God, we come 00:00:20.420 --> 00:00:23.239 to you tonight, and we thank you that we have 00:00:23.239 --> 00:00:26.179 the freedom to come into your house. God, your 00:00:26.179 --> 00:00:28.519 word is good, and I pray that you would help 00:00:28.519 --> 00:00:31.480 us to grow in it tonight. I pray that your Holy 00:00:31.480 --> 00:00:35.219 Spirit would just help our minds to listen to 00:00:35.219 --> 00:00:37.939 you tonight. that you would help us to pay attention 00:00:37.939 --> 00:00:40.820 and to be free of distractions and worries. God, 00:00:40.939 --> 00:00:42.759 I pray that you would be with me, that I would 00:00:42.759 --> 00:00:45.679 be able to preach and teach in a way that brings 00:00:45.679 --> 00:00:48.700 glory and honor to you, dear Lord. There is no 00:00:48.700 --> 00:00:51.780 good word I can say if you do not speak, dear 00:00:51.780 --> 00:00:53.799 Lord, through me. So I pray that you are the 00:00:53.799 --> 00:00:56.259 one who does the talking tonight, that you would 00:00:56.259 --> 00:00:59.399 lead us and just give us a good night in your 00:00:59.399 --> 00:01:04.659 word. In Jesus' name I pray it. Amen. This is 00:01:04.659 --> 00:01:07.359 close to the beginning of Jesus' ministry when 00:01:07.359 --> 00:01:10.180 we see these events take place. When we get into 00:01:10.180 --> 00:01:12.260 the book of Mark, Mark really just kind of hits 00:01:12.260 --> 00:01:14.459 the ground running. There's a lot of these stories 00:01:14.459 --> 00:01:17.459 that Mark doesn't give a lot of details on. A 00:01:17.459 --> 00:01:19.319 lot of the things that we see in Mark chapter 00:01:19.319 --> 00:01:23.280 1 are just very briefly gone through. Now we 00:01:23.280 --> 00:01:25.900 see... More details of these things in some of 00:01:25.900 --> 00:01:28.859 the other gospel accounts. But Mark is, of course, 00:01:28.920 --> 00:01:31.400 a much shorter book than the others. And part 00:01:31.400 --> 00:01:34.560 of that is because he doesn't go into a lot of 00:01:34.560 --> 00:01:38.120 detail. At this point in Jesus' ministry, he 00:01:38.120 --> 00:01:41.180 has been going around and he has been doing a 00:01:41.180 --> 00:01:43.780 lot of work, a lot of casting out demons we see 00:01:43.780 --> 00:01:46.500 toward the beginning of Mark, a lot of healing 00:01:46.500 --> 00:01:49.540 the sick, and the crowds are just flocking to 00:01:49.540 --> 00:01:52.280 him as he's doing the work. And he's out and 00:01:52.280 --> 00:01:54.760 he's trying to preach and teach to people. And 00:01:54.760 --> 00:01:56.980 the people recognize that there's something different 00:01:56.980 --> 00:01:59.819 about Jesus, that he is one who preaches with 00:01:59.819 --> 00:02:02.650 authority. That not only does he preach with 00:02:02.650 --> 00:02:05.609 authority, but his very words have authority. 00:02:05.950 --> 00:02:08.990 That those who have been possessed by demons 00:02:08.990 --> 00:02:11.949 that have likely been this way for years, when 00:02:11.949 --> 00:02:15.610 Jesus comes onto the scene, he is able to free 00:02:15.610 --> 00:02:18.789 them of that instantly. And so as the crowds 00:02:18.789 --> 00:02:23.169 begin to see Jesus' preaching and the miracles 00:02:23.169 --> 00:02:27.150 that he's doing, The crowds begin to follow Jesus. 00:02:27.349 --> 00:02:31.090 And as Jesus is beginning his ministry, we see 00:02:31.090 --> 00:02:33.449 as he begins to call these different people to 00:02:33.449 --> 00:02:37.569 come alongside him. These are his disciples or 00:02:37.569 --> 00:02:40.569 his apostles. And in this passage that we read 00:02:40.569 --> 00:02:44.990 tonight, we see when Jesus called Levi or Matthew, 00:02:45.090 --> 00:02:47.669 same person, might be a different name, different 00:02:47.669 --> 00:02:51.620 books. Go by a different name. It's okay. We 00:02:51.620 --> 00:02:53.900 can understand. Sometimes even people we know, 00:02:53.979 --> 00:02:56.099 they may have multiple names that people know 00:02:56.099 --> 00:02:58.460 them by. And so when you hear Levi or Matthew, 00:02:58.520 --> 00:03:01.819 it's talking about the same person. Verse 13. 00:03:03.060 --> 00:03:06.599 Then Jesus went out again beside the sea. The 00:03:06.599 --> 00:03:09.840 whole crowd was coming to him, and he taught 00:03:09.840 --> 00:03:14.319 them. Then moving on, he saw Levi, the son of 00:03:14.319 --> 00:03:17.680 Alphaeus, sitting at the tax office. And he said 00:03:17.680 --> 00:03:22.210 to him, Follow me. So he got up and followed 00:03:22.210 --> 00:03:26.409 him. Now, Jesus had a similar experience to when 00:03:26.409 --> 00:03:30.050 he called Simon Peter. He called Simon Peter 00:03:30.050 --> 00:03:32.009 and Andrew, and he told them the same thing. 00:03:32.289 --> 00:03:35.050 Y 'all follow me, James and John. Y 'all come 00:03:35.050 --> 00:03:37.889 on and follow me. And Mark doesn't give many 00:03:37.889 --> 00:03:40.550 details other than that they followed him, that 00:03:40.550 --> 00:03:43.069 they left their livelihoods behind, that they 00:03:43.069 --> 00:03:45.530 left their fishing boats behind, or in this case, 00:03:45.879 --> 00:03:49.280 their job at the tax office behind, and followed 00:03:49.280 --> 00:03:53.460 Jesus. Now, I believe that Jesus knew what he 00:03:53.460 --> 00:03:55.960 was doing here. Now, we don't know much about 00:03:55.960 --> 00:03:59.659 Matthew, but we know that Jesus called him, so 00:03:59.659 --> 00:04:01.659 there's a pretty good chance that Matthew was 00:04:01.659 --> 00:04:05.240 a godly man. But there was another issue with 00:04:05.240 --> 00:04:09.060 Matthew that was a big issue, and that was that 00:04:09.060 --> 00:04:13.919 Matthew was a tax collector. Now, notice when 00:04:13.919 --> 00:04:16.459 Jesus picks his disciples, when you read through 00:04:16.459 --> 00:04:19.660 the Bible, Jesus doesn't go to the synagogue 00:04:19.660 --> 00:04:23.639 and pick the chief priest. He doesn't pick the 00:04:23.639 --> 00:04:26.639 highest officials and the authorities within 00:04:26.639 --> 00:04:32.300 the synagogue. Instead, Jesus picks normal people. 00:04:32.720 --> 00:04:35.899 He picks fishermen and he picks tax collectors. 00:04:36.259 --> 00:04:39.079 And of all the people to pick, why would you 00:04:39.079 --> 00:04:44.620 pick a tax collector? We're not very liked, and 00:04:44.620 --> 00:04:47.560 even we can relate to that today. Show of hands, 00:04:47.740 --> 00:04:50.500 does anybody in here enjoy paying taxes to the 00:04:50.500 --> 00:04:53.240 IRS? Raise your hand. We have one person that 00:04:53.240 --> 00:04:55.980 enjoys paying taxes. No, I don't. Oh, you don't? 00:04:56.019 --> 00:05:03.519 Oh, okay, you don't. Let's try this again. If 00:05:03.519 --> 00:05:07.180 you enjoy paying taxes to the IRS, raise your 00:05:07.180 --> 00:05:10.399 hand high. All right, for everybody listening 00:05:10.399 --> 00:05:13.100 online, there's no hands raised this time. We 00:05:13.100 --> 00:05:16.220 don't like paying taxes. Even if the IRS agents 00:05:16.220 --> 00:05:19.439 that we know are the most friendly, nicest Christian 00:05:19.439 --> 00:05:22.480 people in the world, we don't want to pay taxes. 00:05:23.220 --> 00:05:26.819 But the problem is, especially when we look at 00:05:26.819 --> 00:05:29.860 these tax collectors in the Bible, is that they 00:05:29.860 --> 00:05:34.459 weren't always the best guys. They did a job 00:05:34.459 --> 00:05:37.279 that nobody liked, which was bad enough. But 00:05:37.279 --> 00:05:39.459 then on top of that, they would take a little 00:05:39.459 --> 00:05:42.779 off the top. So it would be something like this. 00:05:42.879 --> 00:05:47.779 So Rome would say, you need to collect $100 from 00:05:47.779 --> 00:05:50.540 every person and bring back to us. And so it's 00:05:50.540 --> 00:05:53.639 the tax collector's responsibility to make sure 00:05:53.639 --> 00:05:56.120 that they bring back $100 from every person. 00:05:56.720 --> 00:06:00.379 But the tax collector, as long as he got $100, 00:06:00.600 --> 00:06:02.860 well, if he got a little extra, guess whose pocket 00:06:02.860 --> 00:06:05.579 that went into? That went into his pocket. So 00:06:05.579 --> 00:06:09.500 if he can get $120 from everybody, he gets $20 00:06:09.500 --> 00:06:12.420 from everybody he collects taxes from. So he 00:06:12.420 --> 00:06:14.120 goes to you and he says, hey, your taxes are 00:06:14.120 --> 00:06:17.459 $120. And he pockets the $20 and he gives the 00:06:17.459 --> 00:06:19.959 $100 to Rome, and Rome doesn't really care as 00:06:19.959 --> 00:06:21.899 long as they get their share. They don't really 00:06:21.899 --> 00:06:25.149 care about what the tax collector's doing. And 00:06:25.149 --> 00:06:27.730 so tax collectors did not have a very good reputation 00:06:27.730 --> 00:06:30.610 because they were known for cheating people. 00:06:30.769 --> 00:06:35.089 You may recall the story of Nicodemus, not Nicodemus, 00:06:35.110 --> 00:06:37.569 Zacchaeus, the wee little man who wanted to see 00:06:37.569 --> 00:06:40.129 Jesus and he was too short and he climbed up 00:06:40.129 --> 00:06:43.709 a tree. He was the chief tax collector. And when 00:06:43.709 --> 00:06:46.430 he had this encounter with Jesus, and Jesus obviously 00:06:46.430 --> 00:06:48.810 changed his heart, and he said, I'll give away 00:06:48.810 --> 00:06:51.670 half of what I own, and if I've defrauded anyone, 00:06:51.870 --> 00:06:54.170 I'll pay back four times what I've taken from 00:06:54.170 --> 00:06:58.129 them. And so tax collectors weren't really the 00:06:58.129 --> 00:07:01.250 best of people. And of all the people for Jesus 00:07:01.250 --> 00:07:05.449 to pick to serve, to be one of his 12, I mean, 00:07:05.449 --> 00:07:09.470 these were the guys that Jesus was going to pour 00:07:09.470 --> 00:07:13.529 into. to really teach them, to really lead them, 00:07:13.589 --> 00:07:16.129 to really show them the example, so that when 00:07:16.129 --> 00:07:19.850 he was gone, it was going to be their job to 00:07:19.850 --> 00:07:24.050 lead other people toward Jesus, to make sure 00:07:24.050 --> 00:07:26.050 the gospel was going to hit the ground running. 00:07:26.149 --> 00:07:28.910 These are the people that Jesus picked, and one 00:07:28.910 --> 00:07:33.850 of them was a tax collector. Now, Jesus was probably 00:07:33.850 --> 00:07:36.550 somewhat strategic in doing this. Jesus probably 00:07:36.550 --> 00:07:40.720 didn't do this by coincidence. Perhaps Jesus 00:07:40.720 --> 00:07:44.360 did this to remind us that the kingdom of God 00:07:44.360 --> 00:07:48.160 is for everybody. The kingdom of God is not made 00:07:48.160 --> 00:07:50.959 up of the religious. The kingdom of God is made 00:07:50.959 --> 00:07:53.819 up of the righteous. The kingdom of God is made 00:07:53.819 --> 00:07:56.500 up of those who have faith in him, who come from 00:07:56.500 --> 00:07:59.660 all walks of life, whether Jew, whether Gentile, 00:07:59.680 --> 00:08:02.439 whether priest, whether tax collector, whoever 00:08:02.439 --> 00:08:05.519 you may be, the determining factor is not your 00:08:05.519 --> 00:08:09.189 job. The determining factor is... Do you have 00:08:09.189 --> 00:08:12.550 faith in Jesus Christ? And when he comes and 00:08:12.550 --> 00:08:15.810 when we hear of Jesus Christ and we know of Jesus 00:08:15.810 --> 00:08:18.769 Christ and the words of Scripture and the Holy 00:08:18.769 --> 00:08:23.069 Spirit says, follow me, do we get up and follow 00:08:23.069 --> 00:08:28.670 Jesus? Now, the apostles did. We see here that 00:08:28.670 --> 00:08:32.549 Matthew did. Maybe sometimes we do. Maybe sometimes 00:08:32.549 --> 00:08:35.669 we don't. Maybe there are some things that Jesus 00:08:35.669 --> 00:08:37.610 calls us to and we get up and we're ready to 00:08:37.610 --> 00:08:40.450 go. Maybe there are other things and we kind 00:08:40.450 --> 00:08:42.769 of drag our feet. We're not quite so excited 00:08:42.769 --> 00:08:46.470 to get up and follow Jesus. But Matthew did. 00:08:47.210 --> 00:08:50.210 And praise the Lord that Jesus uses ordinary 00:08:50.210 --> 00:08:53.250 people. That's good news for us. That we don't 00:08:53.250 --> 00:08:55.350 have to be anything spectacular because we are 00:08:55.350 --> 00:08:59.309 not. But Jesus is spectacular. And our faith 00:08:59.309 --> 00:09:02.679 in him. is what allows Jesus to do a mighty work 00:09:02.679 --> 00:09:05.500 in us, not on our own because of who we are, 00:09:05.559 --> 00:09:09.159 but because of who he is. And so in verse 15, 00:09:09.460 --> 00:09:13.299 while he was reclining at the table in Levi's 00:09:13.299 --> 00:09:16.700 house, many tax collectors and sinners were also 00:09:16.700 --> 00:09:19.759 guests with Jesus and his disciples because there 00:09:19.759 --> 00:09:23.419 were many who were following him. So not only 00:09:23.419 --> 00:09:26.570 did he get Matthew to follow him here, But it 00:09:26.570 --> 00:09:28.909 appears as though he goes back to Matthew's house, 00:09:29.009 --> 00:09:31.690 and there in Matthew's house would have been 00:09:31.690 --> 00:09:33.570 the people that Matthew would have typically 00:09:33.570 --> 00:09:36.289 hung out with, which would have been other tax 00:09:36.289 --> 00:09:39.210 collectors. And it says sinners here. It doesn't 00:09:39.210 --> 00:09:43.210 specify what these sinners were, but the sinners 00:09:43.210 --> 00:09:46.049 that's being talked about here, we see in the 00:09:46.049 --> 00:09:49.009 verses to come that it's the religious group, 00:09:49.110 --> 00:09:52.169 the Pharisees and the scribes of the Pharisees 00:09:52.169 --> 00:09:55.210 that call out these sinners. So whatever they 00:09:55.210 --> 00:09:58.539 did, No matter how bad it may or may not have 00:09:58.539 --> 00:10:01.840 been, they were certainly labeled by these Pharisees 00:10:01.840 --> 00:10:05.620 as sinners. And here Jesus is, the Son of God. 00:10:06.039 --> 00:10:08.759 He's going around and he's doing all these wonderful 00:10:08.759 --> 00:10:12.000 things. But there's a certain group of people, 00:10:12.039 --> 00:10:14.580 a lot of the religious crowd, are just really 00:10:14.580 --> 00:10:18.580 having a hard time accepting Jesus. And this 00:10:18.580 --> 00:10:21.620 didn't help him. When Jesus called Matthew to 00:10:21.620 --> 00:10:25.799 follow him, and then Jesus, who was coming and 00:10:25.799 --> 00:10:28.139 preaching and doing all these things in the name 00:10:28.139 --> 00:10:32.580 of God, when Jesus went before these tax collectors 00:10:32.580 --> 00:10:35.840 and sinners, well, this was a big problem for 00:10:35.840 --> 00:10:39.519 the religious crowd. Obviously, we learn a little 00:10:39.519 --> 00:10:43.559 bit about them in that they probably didn't go 00:10:43.559 --> 00:10:46.600 to this crowd. They had issue with this crowd. 00:10:46.740 --> 00:10:51.460 That's what we see in the next verse. When the 00:10:51.460 --> 00:10:54.059 scribes of the Pharisees saw that he was eating 00:10:54.059 --> 00:10:57.299 with sinners and tax collectors, they asked his 00:10:57.299 --> 00:11:00.440 disciples, why does he eat with tax collectors 00:11:00.440 --> 00:11:04.779 and sinners? So they took some offense to this. 00:11:05.100 --> 00:11:08.120 Now, they themselves should have been trying 00:11:08.120 --> 00:11:11.419 to reach these same people. They should have 00:11:11.419 --> 00:11:13.500 been telling them about the word of God. They 00:11:13.500 --> 00:11:15.600 should have been a good example to them, but 00:11:15.600 --> 00:11:17.539 it appears as though they were keeping their 00:11:17.539 --> 00:11:20.620 distance from them, and they were offended that 00:11:20.620 --> 00:11:25.899 Jesus would associate with such people. Obviously, 00:11:25.899 --> 00:11:28.720 this religious group, these scribes of the Pharisees, 00:11:28.720 --> 00:11:30.639 and in other gospel accounts, it mentions the 00:11:30.639 --> 00:11:34.700 Pharisees themselves. Obviously, they didn't 00:11:34.700 --> 00:11:38.379 like what Jesus was doing here. And so they questioned 00:11:38.379 --> 00:11:42.460 the disciples. Why is Jesus doing this? Why is 00:11:42.460 --> 00:11:45.480 he eating with this filth? Why is he associating 00:11:45.480 --> 00:11:49.049 with these people, these lowly people? The religious 00:11:49.049 --> 00:11:52.029 people must have had a little higher view of 00:11:52.029 --> 00:11:53.929 themselves than they should have, and that's 00:11:53.929 --> 00:11:56.629 a real problem with religion that we have to 00:11:56.629 --> 00:11:59.409 be on guard for. Sometimes we can fall into that 00:11:59.409 --> 00:12:02.070 trap. We can fall into that holier -than -thou 00:12:02.070 --> 00:12:05.230 trap. Boy, we think we're doing good, and it's 00:12:05.230 --> 00:12:07.350 so easy for us to look at other people, and we 00:12:07.350 --> 00:12:10.250 think we are all that and a bag of chips and 00:12:10.250 --> 00:12:12.669 all these other poor sinners and tax collectors 00:12:12.669 --> 00:12:14.690 and all this riffraff. We don't want to have 00:12:14.690 --> 00:12:17.110 anything to do with them, and we have to be careful 00:12:17.110 --> 00:12:19.700 because These are the very people that Jesus 00:12:19.700 --> 00:12:23.500 calls us to minister to. And Jesus says so in 00:12:23.500 --> 00:12:28.000 the next verse. Verse 17. When Jesus heard this, 00:12:28.039 --> 00:12:32.259 he told them, Those who are well don't need a 00:12:32.259 --> 00:12:36.159 doctor, but the sick do need one. I didn't come 00:12:36.159 --> 00:12:40.279 to call the righteous, but sinners. Now, isn't 00:12:40.279 --> 00:12:43.700 that a beautiful, simple thing that Jesus lays 00:12:43.700 --> 00:12:48.809 out? Jesus says, these people are lost. These 00:12:48.809 --> 00:12:53.049 people don't know God. The Pharisees, at the 00:12:53.049 --> 00:12:55.789 very least, they knew of God. Perhaps some of 00:12:55.789 --> 00:12:58.509 them genuinely did follow God and seek to follow 00:12:58.509 --> 00:13:01.850 his will and live according to his word. But 00:13:01.850 --> 00:13:04.250 as we see throughout the life of Jesus, there 00:13:04.250 --> 00:13:06.389 were plenty of them that didn't too. There were 00:13:06.389 --> 00:13:08.389 plenty of them that headed up the group that 00:13:08.389 --> 00:13:10.769 was going to get Jesus nailed to the cross. So 00:13:10.769 --> 00:13:13.779 they knew about God. But there were plenty of 00:13:13.779 --> 00:13:16.360 them who didn't know God. But at least the Jews 00:13:16.360 --> 00:13:19.200 had some exposure to the Word. At least they 00:13:19.200 --> 00:13:22.120 had exposure to the Old Testament. The Gentiles, 00:13:22.179 --> 00:13:24.460 they didn't grow up following the Word of God, 00:13:24.519 --> 00:13:26.159 hearing the Word of God. Maybe they had heard 00:13:26.159 --> 00:13:29.519 some here and there. But Jesus says, these people, 00:13:29.679 --> 00:13:33.039 these sinners as you call them, these tax collectors, 00:13:33.340 --> 00:13:35.919 the ones that you don't want to spend any time 00:13:35.919 --> 00:13:39.519 associating with, these are the people who are 00:13:39.519 --> 00:13:42.799 sick. That's how Jesus refers to them. He said 00:13:42.799 --> 00:13:46.559 they are sick. Now, when you and I get sick, 00:13:46.740 --> 00:13:49.659 where do we go? We go to the doctor's office. 00:13:49.919 --> 00:13:52.740 We go to the hospital. Why? Because that's where 00:13:52.740 --> 00:13:55.320 the doctors are. When I get sick, I don't go 00:13:55.320 --> 00:13:58.600 to the Tasty Freeze. Why? Because it's just some 00:13:58.600 --> 00:14:00.440 people up there, and they make a good hamburger, 00:14:00.539 --> 00:14:02.879 and they make a good milkshake, and I like going 00:14:02.879 --> 00:14:05.039 there, but I don't go there when I get sick. 00:14:05.820 --> 00:14:07.860 When I get sick, I don't go to the bowling alley. 00:14:08.379 --> 00:14:12.419 When I get sick, I go to the doctor. I go to 00:14:12.419 --> 00:14:15.299 the hospital. Why? Because that's where the doctor 00:14:15.299 --> 00:14:20.919 is. And sick people go to the doctor. So Jesus 00:14:20.919 --> 00:14:24.600 said, look, I go to these people because the 00:14:24.600 --> 00:14:28.620 sick people need a doctor. And he continues on. 00:14:28.840 --> 00:14:32.519 I didn't come to call the righteous, but sinners. 00:14:33.539 --> 00:14:36.320 Jesus acknowledged that there were some. who 00:14:36.320 --> 00:14:37.980 were righteous. There were some who were doing 00:14:37.980 --> 00:14:39.840 right. There were certainly some who were self 00:14:39.840 --> 00:14:41.360 -righteous, who thought they were doing right. 00:14:41.559 --> 00:14:43.779 There were others who really were righteous and 00:14:43.779 --> 00:14:47.240 really were seeking God. And Jesus said, this 00:14:47.240 --> 00:14:49.779 group knows. They know the word of God. They 00:14:49.779 --> 00:14:52.360 know the commands of God. But it's my job to 00:14:52.360 --> 00:14:55.480 go out here and reach the lost. And this has 00:14:55.480 --> 00:14:58.039 not changed for you and I today. This example 00:14:58.039 --> 00:15:02.799 that Jesus gives us has not changed. We are called 00:15:02.799 --> 00:15:06.100 to... reach the lost. Now, it is good. It is 00:15:06.100 --> 00:15:08.940 so good. We come together as brothers and sisters 00:15:08.940 --> 00:15:12.360 in Christ. We come together and we have eatings 00:15:12.360 --> 00:15:15.259 and we have all these get -togethers. And a lot 00:15:15.259 --> 00:15:17.600 of times at our get -togethers, it might be predominantly 00:15:17.600 --> 00:15:20.639 brothers and sisters in Christ or maybe 100 % 00:15:20.639 --> 00:15:22.919 brothers and sisters in Christ sometimes. And 00:15:22.919 --> 00:15:25.399 there may not be any lost people in the bunch. 00:15:25.679 --> 00:15:27.799 And that's good that we do those things. It's 00:15:27.799 --> 00:15:30.039 good that we associate and we praise God together. 00:15:30.159 --> 00:15:34.379 But our real mission Our real call is that we 00:15:34.379 --> 00:15:37.820 get out among the sinners and the tax collectors, 00:15:38.120 --> 00:15:41.340 the people that we really don't want to go see. 00:15:42.100 --> 00:15:43.659 Now, there's some people that we say, oh, yeah, 00:15:43.700 --> 00:15:45.440 I'm going to talk to them. They're not a believer, 00:15:45.539 --> 00:15:48.539 but they're okay. I don't mind going to talk 00:15:48.539 --> 00:15:51.220 to them. But what we really need to think about 00:15:51.220 --> 00:15:53.360 is you need to think for a second and think about 00:15:53.360 --> 00:15:55.159 that person that you really don't want to go 00:15:55.159 --> 00:15:57.639 talk to. That person is pretty bad and pretty 00:15:57.639 --> 00:16:00.500 nasty and pretty dirty and pretty sinful. The 00:16:00.500 --> 00:16:03.419 ones you really don't want to go talk to, well, 00:16:03.440 --> 00:16:04.960 those are the ones that's being talked about 00:16:04.960 --> 00:16:07.340 here. Those are the people that we need to try 00:16:07.340 --> 00:16:09.500 to reach. Those are the ones that we can make 00:16:09.500 --> 00:16:11.500 all kinds of excuses as to why we don't want 00:16:11.500 --> 00:16:13.259 to go see them or why we don't want to associate 00:16:13.259 --> 00:16:17.360 with them. But Jesus says, In Matthew chapter 00:16:17.360 --> 00:16:20.080 18, when he's talking about dealing with a brother 00:16:20.080 --> 00:16:22.039 that sins against you, he says, go to him. If 00:16:22.039 --> 00:16:23.759 he still won't listen, take another and go to 00:16:23.759 --> 00:16:27.019 him. And you present it before the church. And 00:16:27.019 --> 00:16:29.700 Jesus says something interesting there. He says, 00:16:29.779 --> 00:16:33.379 if this person refuses to listen and repent of 00:16:33.379 --> 00:16:37.000 their sinfulness, he says to treat them like 00:16:37.000 --> 00:16:41.220 an unbeliever and a tax collector. Now, isn't 00:16:41.220 --> 00:16:44.100 that interesting? Jesus says one who professes 00:16:44.100 --> 00:16:46.299 to be a brother but continues to live in sin, 00:16:46.460 --> 00:16:49.240 he says treat them like a tax collector. Why 00:16:49.240 --> 00:16:52.299 is that? Because a tax collector, in this case, 00:16:52.299 --> 00:16:54.679 kind of using the same idea here, is one who 00:16:54.679 --> 00:16:58.200 is sinful, one who needs to hear the good news, 00:16:58.240 --> 00:17:01.779 one who needs to be taught what is right. And 00:17:01.779 --> 00:17:04.200 that's what Jesus calls us to do. If there's 00:17:04.200 --> 00:17:07.579 a brother who strays, then hey. We need to treat 00:17:07.579 --> 00:17:09.660 them like an unbeliever and a tax collector. 00:17:09.900 --> 00:17:11.740 We want to tell them the truth of the gospel. 00:17:11.839 --> 00:17:13.819 We want to say, hey, you're sick. I want to show 00:17:13.819 --> 00:17:16.099 you who the doctor is. When we encounter people 00:17:16.099 --> 00:17:18.380 on the street or friends or family or whoever 00:17:18.380 --> 00:17:20.940 it may be, we want to be those who say, look, 00:17:21.099 --> 00:17:24.619 I want to teach you and preach to you and show 00:17:24.619 --> 00:17:28.259 you the gospel of Jesus Christ. And that's what 00:17:28.259 --> 00:17:30.839 Jesus calls us to do. We do that in a variety 00:17:30.839 --> 00:17:33.660 of ways. It may not always be words we say. It's 00:17:33.660 --> 00:17:35.920 not like we have to sit down and preach a sermon 00:17:35.920 --> 00:17:38.880 to everybody that we see. But our very actions 00:17:38.880 --> 00:17:42.420 may be enough to lead someone to Christ. The 00:17:42.420 --> 00:17:44.559 love that we show, the compassion that we show. 00:17:45.220 --> 00:17:47.519 You never know the little actions that you do, 00:17:47.579 --> 00:17:49.220 what kind of difference they're going to make 00:17:49.220 --> 00:17:52.559 in people's lives. And so Jesus says, this is 00:17:52.559 --> 00:17:55.759 what I've come for. I've come to reach the lost. 00:17:57.339 --> 00:18:00.220 The sick. And Jesus didn't shy away from that. 00:18:00.500 --> 00:18:02.440 Yeah, he spent time in the synagogues. He spent 00:18:02.440 --> 00:18:04.720 time with the religious people. And some of them 00:18:04.720 --> 00:18:06.960 got it and some of them didn't get it. But Jesus 00:18:06.960 --> 00:18:09.500 said, look, I've come to do the work of the Father. 00:18:09.680 --> 00:18:13.380 I've come to teach people the truth. And I have 00:18:13.380 --> 00:18:15.859 come to save sinners. And praise God for you 00:18:15.859 --> 00:18:19.619 and I that he did. Because that's us. Praise 00:18:19.619 --> 00:18:22.440 God that Jesus came to our table. When we were 00:18:22.440 --> 00:18:25.079 nothing more than a bunch of sinners. Just like 00:18:25.079 --> 00:18:28.509 those tax collectors. And that Jesus chooses 00:18:28.509 --> 00:18:32.289 us. Not because we're awesome. Not because we're 00:18:32.289 --> 00:18:34.089 so amazing. Not because he looks at us and be 00:18:34.089 --> 00:18:36.690 like, man, you are such a godly person. I'm going 00:18:36.690 --> 00:18:41.250 to pick you. He picks us in spite of us. He picks 00:18:41.250 --> 00:18:43.329 us if we just have faith. If we're just willing 00:18:43.329 --> 00:18:45.589 when he comes and says, follow me. If we are 00:18:45.589 --> 00:18:49.569 just willing, he picks us. And he makes us into 00:18:49.569 --> 00:18:51.690 the men and the women that he wants us to be 00:18:51.690 --> 00:18:55.680 to follow his example. Let's pray. God, we thank 00:18:55.680 --> 00:18:57.519 you for your good word, and I pray that you would 00:18:57.519 --> 00:18:59.700 help us, dear Lord, not to fall into that trap 00:18:59.700 --> 00:19:02.859 to think we are ever holier than thou, dear Lord. 00:19:03.559 --> 00:19:07.000 We want to try to be obedient to you and follow 00:19:07.000 --> 00:19:09.940 your word and follow your example, dear Lord, 00:19:10.019 --> 00:19:12.339 and listen to you, and sometimes maybe we do 00:19:12.339 --> 00:19:15.279 a better job of that than others. But, dear Lord, 00:19:15.359 --> 00:19:17.140 we never want to think that we're better than 00:19:17.140 --> 00:19:20.619 anyone else, dear Lord. We are sinners and tax 00:19:20.619 --> 00:19:23.630 collectors in this room tonight, dear Lord. But 00:19:23.630 --> 00:19:26.210 we thank you that Jesus came to die for us. We 00:19:26.210 --> 00:19:29.250 thank you that Jesus calls us tonight. Just as 00:19:29.250 --> 00:19:31.329 he called his disciples all those years ago, 00:19:31.369 --> 00:19:33.329 dear Lord, through your word, through the Holy 00:19:33.329 --> 00:19:36.910 Spirit, Jesus still calls to us today if we would 00:19:36.910 --> 00:19:39.950 just follow him. And I pray that we would, dear 00:19:39.950 --> 00:19:42.470 Lord. I pray that we would follow him. I pray 00:19:42.470 --> 00:19:45.410 that we'd follow every example, even when it 00:19:45.410 --> 00:19:49.750 means going to reach to those that may be tough. 00:19:50.549 --> 00:19:52.960 It may be hard for us to want to... I want to 00:19:52.960 --> 00:19:54.759 go out to some people, dear Lord, but let us 00:19:54.759 --> 00:19:57.819 not turn a blind eye to them. But let us be faithful 00:19:57.819 --> 00:20:01.759 to love others just as Jesus has loved us. And 00:20:01.759 --> 00:20:04.299 I ask these things in Jesus' name. Amen.