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It's great to be back in this series that we have started in the book of Matthew and

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if you have your Bibles with you this morning we will be in the text quite a bit.

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And it is great to be back in this series because we've been following the miraculous

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healing ministry of our Lord Jesus.

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And if we think back to where we've been so far, from the beginning of chapter 8 we've

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seen Jesus cleanse a leper with just the word of his mouth.

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We've seen him heal a man that he never met with just the word of his mouth.

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He healed an entire town with just the word of his mouth and even command nature and demons

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to flee with just the word of his mouth.

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However things really ramped up just a couple of weeks ago when we got into the chapter

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that we have before us this morning in which Jesus had a paralysed man set before him and

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with just the word of his mouth he forgave the man of his sin.

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And just so there was no confusion for those who were questioning the legitimacy of what

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was going on with Christ's claim, Jesus then told the man to pick up his mat, walk home

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as proof of his authority that he could really forgive sin.

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Every step of the way as we've been studying the word of God together we have seen a great

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emphasis in an ascending series of events in which Jesus is being shown over and over

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again to have the same power as God himself.

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And that's actually where we left it last time.

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We left a stunned crowd there in verse 8, marvelling and glorifying God because they

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recognised that God had given such power to this man, to this Jesus of Nazareth to which

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our local theologian Tom Richards helpfully pulled back the curtain to show us that God

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the Father really was at work with God the Son through God the Holy Spirit in bringing

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glory to himself in these events.

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This brings us to the passage that we have before us this morning in which we're going

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to see that Jesus not only can forgive sinners like you and me but actually wants to forgive

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sinners like you and me as he has a great love for the lost and the outcast to the point

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that he invites us all to be his disciples and belong to him forever no matter who you

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are or what you've done.

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And we'll be looking at this wonderful truth in two halves this morning.

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First verses 9 through to 13, we'll look at how Jesus called Matthew to be his disciple

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and then rebukes the Pharisees for not understanding the heart of God and then the second we'll

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look at verses 14 through to 17 and we'll look at how Jesus answers some of John's disciples

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about how we Christians are to foster biblical maturity in our discipleship.

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But before we get into any of this this morning I would ask that you please join me in prayer

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in asking our Father to help us this morning understand his word.

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Would you please pray with me?

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Father we are so thankful for your word and we ask this morning that your promise is made

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true in our midst that your word never comes back void.

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We ask that you would pierce our hearts that you would show us Christ and transform us

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by the power of your Holy Spirit.

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We ask for this in Jesus name.

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Amen.

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If you have your Bibles look with me at verse 9.

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We read as Jesus went from there he saw a man named Matthew sitting in a tax collectors

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booth.

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Okay so the first thing that I want you to see here is the wonderful grace of our Lord

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Jesus Christ and this comes to light when we notice that this Matthew was a tax collector.

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Now that might not mean much now in this day and age even though none of us really are

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big fans of paying taxes I presume but back in this context locals hated these guys as

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it would have been Matthew's job to collect the incredibly high import and export fees

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that were put on goods by the government while also keeping tabs on who paid the tribute

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tax to Rome for living in their occupied territory.

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Now paying taxes to governments and fees to regimes wasn't anything new for the Jews but

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the locals despised tax collectors for a couple of different reasons.

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First they were notoriously dishonest and greedy with the money that they collected

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but second they were Jews themselves.

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Let me explain what I mean by that.

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You see Rome had come into Israel and oppressed the Jews and one of the ways that they did

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that was through heavy taxation laws which were designed to keep the Jews financially

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under their iron fist and so if we think about it Matthew was working for the enemy, working

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for a regime that was there to cripple his own people while also stealing from them to

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line his own pockets.

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So you can imagine it right, Matthew would have been particularly unpopular with the

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locals as he and his colleagues were seen as traitors to their own nation.

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So what we see here, what we see here next is absolutely incredible.

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Jesus sees him at work in the midst of working to rip off his own people and he comes to

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him and he says follow me.

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We read that Matthew got up and followed him.

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Incredible grace and I say that because notice the language in all of this.

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Notice Matthew didn't go seeking Jesus.

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Jesus saw Matthew.

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Jesus comes to Matthew.

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He says follow me.

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Now knowing what we know about Matthew already no one would have thought that he would make

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a great disciple.

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I mean it wasn't like some of the other disciples who at least had some interaction and ministry

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from John the Baptist before they met Jesus.

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We simply don't have that information about Matthew.

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All we know is that he worked for the nation that occupied his and he was in a line of

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work where he would rob from the poor to steal for the rich.

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I mean we're not even sure if he heard any of the sermons of Jesus in and around Capernaum

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but none of that mattered to Jesus.

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Jesus saw something in this man.

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He came to where he was.

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He called him and we see that Matthew left everything to do so.

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Church if we pause here for just a moment and look at just these first few verses that

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we have before us.

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We should again be struck with the grace of our Lord and his love for those on the outskirts

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of society.

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And struck with his power to change impossible situations.

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We saw it with the leper.

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No one would go near him.

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Jesus did.

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Jesus healed him.

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We saw it with a sick old woman.

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Jesus saw her.

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He goes to her.

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He heals her.

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We saw it with this paralysed man.

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He was brought to Jesus.

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And Jesus forgives his sin and heals him in a way that no one could have possibly have

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imagined.

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And now here Jesus goes to a self-inflicted outcast.

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A man with a crippled diseased heart and Jesus he turns him into a disciple.

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Brothers and sisters nothing is impossible for our Lord.

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He is the one who can and does transform the lives of those whom he comes in contact with

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and all those that follow him know that truth.

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I mean we all know what it was like to be lost and then Jesus came into our lives to

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rescue us and call us to himself.

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He still does that.

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He still pursues sinners in that he still summons sinners to himself through the gospel.

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In as many words follow me.

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And like you and me in this very room, like the fisherman we read about in chapter four,

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like dear Matthew here we heard the call.

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Matthew heard the call.

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He experienced the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ.

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He knew the kindness of the Lord which came to him that day.

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He knew something was transforming and he wanted others to experience it as well.

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And I say that he wanted others to experience what he had because of the very next thing

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we read in verse 10.

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We read while Jesus was having dinner at Matthew's house many tax collectors and sinners came

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and ate with him and his disciples.

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See what Matthew did is the very first thing after following Jesus.

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The very first thing he did was host a party so that others could meet Jesus as well.

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And I love this scene.

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I absolutely love it because that's such a natural reaction to experiencing such a life

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changing event.

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I don't know if you've been around someone who's had a life changing surgery because

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they'll usually speak and go on about how great their surgeon was.

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If you've been around someone who their team has won the grand final they'll usually want

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you to know all about it.

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And don't get me started on people that have found that special someone and have fallen

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in love.

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Very much in the same way.

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Matthew knew that something life changing had happened to him.

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That something had changed and that this Jesus was someone that others had to meet.

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That his friends, his work colleagues had to get around.

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So Matthew arranges this get together to get people around Jesus.

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It's beautiful.

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It's a beautiful scene.

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Matthew was so impacted by the grace of our Lord that he wanted others to come to know

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what he had come to know.

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And if we think forward a little this morning church that's exactly what Matthew would do

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for the rest of his life as an apostle and as an evangelist.

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Think about it.

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He's even testifying to us here this morning.

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Two thousand years later as we study these inspired God breathed words.

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This account from this tax collector who was made into a testifier.

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From this sinner made into a saint.

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Church we must never underestimate the power and the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ.

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And how he comes to change someone.

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To change people like you and me.

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Matthew was a man that was seen as a disgusting traitor to his own people.

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A filthy defiled wannabe Gentile maybe even by our Lord's very disciples.

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Yet Jesus went to him.

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Jesus called him.

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Everything changes.

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What we have here is a beautiful picture of Israel's King coming to the lost.

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Coming to the outcast and inviting him to belong.

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To belong to him to be his disciple.

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And what a beautiful picture of a follower of Jesus who wants all their friends to come

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to know Jesus as well.

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It's a beautiful picture.

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But there's something else that we see here and it's tragic.

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Because not everyone was impressed with what had happened in their city that day.

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We see it there in verse 11.

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When the Pharisees saw this they asked his disciples, why does your teacher eat with

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tax collectors and sinners?

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We know the scene.

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We've seen a man who has experienced something life changing.

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He invites Jesus to be with the kind of people that he hangs out with.

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The outcasts of society.

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But then the theological elite of the day, the pastors and teachers of the town, they

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see what's happening and a God smack that Jesus would spend time with these sorts of

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people.

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So much so that they start to undermine the very work of God that's happening in their

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city.

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How do they do that?

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How do they try and undermine the very work of God?

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Well you notice it.

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That they don't go to Jesus.

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We see that in our text.

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They go to his disciples.

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As his disciples were probably even themselves a little taken back by what they were witnessing

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themselves.

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And I think they do that because they want to turn his disciples against him.

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They want to play to the Jewish tradition that these men had grown up with and make

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them doubt Jesus and start questioning his ministry among them.

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You can imagine it.

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You can imagine these guys coming up and saying you left us to follow this guy as your rabbi?

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If he's really of God why would he ignore the first psalm which says blessed is the

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man who doesn't sit and stand with sinners.

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This guy is laying with sinners.

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He's eating with the scum of the city.

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Why would you want to follow him?

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Why would you want to be like that?

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What a tactic.

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They don't go to Jesus to challenge him like the snake in Eden.

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They go to his friends.

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To his disciples because they were hoping to cause them to stumble, to turn and doubt

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the work of God that they were witnessing for themselves.

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They may have even been hoping that they would abandon Jesus and come back to their pharisee

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to call way of doing things.

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But as all of this was going on we read that our Lord overheard this conversation and he

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responds with an incredible rebuke.

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He says it's not the healthy that need a doctor but the sick.

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Go and learn what this means.

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I desire mercy not sacrifice for I have not come to call the righteous but sinners.

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Verses 12 and 13.

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I want to break down for you why this rebuke was so intense because he's basically saying

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to the theologians, to the pastors, to the teachers of the city that they don't have

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a clue what the law and the prophets stood for.

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They don't understand the word of God.

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First he says it's not the healthy who need a doctor.

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It's the sick.

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In other words Israel always expected that God was going to send them a saviour to save

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them from their sin.

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To rescue his people from their sin.

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We studied that last week in the book of Isaiah.

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And so Jesus is saying sinners, well they're the ones that need to be saved.

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So where on earth do you think a saviour would be hanging out?

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Where on earth do you think God would be ministering?

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The sick need a doctor.

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And so why would a doctor not go to where he is needed?

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That's the first thing.

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The Pharisees thought that they had this deep understanding of sin.

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And so our Lord basically says you don't understand sin because if you understood it and what

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it did to people then you would be doing everything humanly possible to make the least amount

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of people not understand and know the grace of God.

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Instead of looking down on them, instead of casting them out, you would be looking for

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ways to get among them and show them God's mercy and grace.

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Second not only have they misunderstood God's wisdom and plan for sin but they've totally

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missed the point of the law.

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That's why he quotes Hosea.

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He says I desire mercy not sacrifice.

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You see so many people they try to play God against himself in the Bible.

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They say things like I can't take the God of the Old Testament but this Jesus guy I

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think he's a much better example.

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But you run into incredible problems with that kind of thinking.

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When you think through the law, sorry you read through the law and see how the theme

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of mercy and compassion comes up over and over and over again.

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Even the ritualistic worship given to Israel was never to take priority over God's people

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showing mercy and compassion to others.

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And that's what Jesus is pointing these so-called teachers back to.

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He's saying that the law it leads you to God, leads you to his holiness and it demands at

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its very core, very hard, mercy and compassion towards others.

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So second and in so many words Jesus is saying to the Pharisees that they don't just not

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understand sin and God's wisdom but they don't even understand the law as the law teaches

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that we're to be compassionate towards those who are spiritually blind and dead.

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And that's certainly a theme that runs all throughout the prophets as well which they

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totally misunderstand.

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We see that in how Jesus ends what he says here.

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I've come not to call the righteous but sinners.

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This is a huge theme in the prophets, a huge theme in that they were sent to call people

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back to repentance.

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A work that Jesus the Messiah had come to do as well.

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That's why he had come to those who had gone astray, come to gather the wandering sheep

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and would ultimately shed his blood on the cross and give his life for them.

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And that's just something the Pharisees didn't get.

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No they concentrated on the letter of the law, on the rituals and the external works

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and so when Jesus came along, came along and he's living out the heart of the law, the

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mission of the prophets in the wisdom of God right in front of them, their hearts were

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hardened.

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Their hearts were offended at him.

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Brothers and sisters there is such a huge warning in all of this because when we ourselves

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begin to think that we're not in need of Jesus and that other people are worse than ourselves

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then be warned because we are showing the signs that we have fallen into the phariseetical

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mindset.

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When we begin to think of ourselves as without fault having arrived and only others as those

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who are in real need of forgiveness then beware because we are showing the heart of the Pharisees.

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His words of Jesus were just as much for them as those he was eating with.

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And may that never be the case for Grace Christian Church.

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May we never be a people that are so consumed with our religious routine with protecting

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our way of doing things that we turn a deaf ear to the outcast, to the downtrodden and

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to those that our city would label as sinners.

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No, may we like our Lord here love sinners, love prostitutes, love drug addicts, love

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alcoholics, love the prisoner, love the rebel, the murderer, the sexually impure in our city.

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May we love sinners knowing that we were once dead in our sins and only by the grace of

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God that we are still not in rebellion to Him and on the way to hell.

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Church, may we never lose sight of that.

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May we, may that never be the culture of Grace Christian Church.

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That doesn't mean that we need to approve, affirm or celebrate the sinner and their choices.

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No way.

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The reality is that the gospel invites us to come as we are.

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But notice it, it never invites us to stay as we are.

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It's not the healthy who are in need of a doctor, but the sick.

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Sinful people, they need a rescuer.

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They need a redeemer.

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May we never become a stumbling block to those who God wants to reach in our city.

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May we never turn from His mission to reach out to the sinners of this city with the gospel.

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It's why our Lord, it's why He quotes from Hosea.

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It's to make crystal clear that He had come to change sinners' hearts.

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He didn't come to puff up people in their religious tradition, their ritualistic worship

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or denominational heritage.

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No, Jesus came to change sinners' hearts by and through the gospel.

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And this city needs disciples of Jesus to hear these words.

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We have a gospel message to share with our city, that there is no sin so deep that it

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puts anyone beyond the reach of their creator.

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A message that says that there is no sin which disqualifies us from the pursuit of God's

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love.

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A message that proclaims that there's no sin which separates us from the ability of our

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Lord's power and grace to reach and love people and transform them, no matter who they are

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or what they've done.

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These are the words of the living God this morning.

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I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners.

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I have come to call sinners.

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Jesus came for us, dear ones.

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He came for sinners like you and me.

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He came for the city of Armidale.

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And if you're here this morning and you'd say that you have a sense that you've rebelled

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and you've turned every which way from God and you know that you're in need of His forgiveness,

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then the Lord Jesus Christ says to you this morning, I came for you.

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I came for you.

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If that's you this morning, please make that known.

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We want to speak to you.

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We want to pray with you.

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We want to help.

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Jesus is the one who came to sinners.

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He embraced sinners.

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He ate with sinners because He wants us to be transformed.

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He wants us to experience the grace and love of God.

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He came so that sinners would know what it is to have a real, living and loving relationship

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with their Heavenly Father.

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Our Lord wants His disciples to have the same heart that He has for those who have gone

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astray because He wants them brought back.

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He wants them to sit at His table, at the marriage supper of the Lamb where we will

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all know and glorify our God and praise His holy name forevermore.

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We just briefly think on verses 14 to 17, but we read in verse 14, John's disciples,

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they came and asked, how is it that we and the Pharisees fast often, but your disciples

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don't fast?

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Notice here that the disciples of John, they don't do what the Pharisees did.

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They go to Jesus because they're curious about the pattern of discipleship that they were

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seeing Him do ministry with.

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They and the disciples of the Pharisees were used to doing the religious life a certain

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way.

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It seems that they had strict regulations with fasting, and yet Jesus was doing something

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different and they wanted to come up and find out about that.

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Now this isn't to say that Jesus' disciples didn't fast at all because if we read back

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in Matthew 6, Jesus says, when you fast, don't make it a show for all of those around you.

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We don't know, but whatever the case may be, Jesus replies with an absolute knockout statement

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about His own identity and mission.

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We see it in verse 15, He says, how can the guests of the bridegroom mourn while He's

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with them?

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He'll be taken away and then they'll fast.

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See what Jesus is saying here, He's saying that He's the groom of Israel, which has these

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humongous messianic overtones that we won't go into here this morning, but He's saying

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in as many words that the groom of Israel has arrived and you don't fast for a wedding.

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What do you do?

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You feast.

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It's a time of joy and blessing and celebration.

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And see, even though John's disciples had done the right thing in coming to Jesus, even

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though they followed a righteous man and what Jesus would say is the greatest, He was the

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greatest prophet to ever come to Israel, there's a rebuke here.

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And we see that because John obviously demanded a lot from those who followed Him.

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Because like the Pharisees, they were observing and doing things that the Bible didn't actually

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demand of them.

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That's right, you'd be hard pressed to find anything demanding people to fast outside

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the day of atonement, which we find in the book of Leviticus.

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That's not to say you couldn't, but it was left to the freedom of the believers and their

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conscience as to when and how.

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And so our Lord reminds John's disciples that though it might be a good idea to practice

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this act of worship, and it looks like they did it a couple of times a week, two times

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a week, it's not going to bind the conscience of His disciples.

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And church, that's a great reminder to us to not impose our way of doing ministry on

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others where there's no biblical warrant, no matter how useful and practical something

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might be.

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We're not just a reformed church, we're a reformed church that keeps reforming, reforming

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back to the Word of God.

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And so if the Bible is silent on something, we must never demand it and impose it on another

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disciple's conscience.

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The Word of God is a lamp unto our feet.

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And though our traditions can be good and very helpful, the Word of God is never at

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the mercy of our tradition, our denomination or confessions.

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It's a subtle rebuke, but it's a rebuke nonetheless.

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Jesus was saying that He wouldn't impose on His disciples something that seemed like a

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good practice on His people.

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Because God's Word didn't demand it in the first place.

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No, the new understanding that He's bringing in the light of the new covenant as illustrated

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by patches and wine there in verses 16 and 17, the light of the new covenant won't be

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something that will be constrained by the regulations and rituals of the Pharisees or

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even John's disciples.

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Now what Jesus was bringing in with His ministry, no man-made regulations could foster that

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work.

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Put it simply, the work of the living God was in their midst.

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The old was passing away and the new was coming in.

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And it was right there in front of them in the person of Jesus Christ of Nazareth.

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Church, we have a God who came to save sinners.

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A God who became flesh to dwell among us.

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And when He was with His people, when He was with His people, when He is with His people,

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when He will be with His people forevermore in eternity, there is great cause for joy

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and celebration.

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Our joy is always, always connected with His presence.

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And that's the reality and hope of every single disciple of Jesus Christ right here and forevermore.

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To be severed from Him, to be separated from the living God is to have no hope.

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Not now, not in eternity.

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And that is why Jesus came to us.

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That's why Jesus came to give sinners hope, to give people like you and me hope because

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in the Lord Jesus Christ we have at this very moment, because of His life, death and resurrection,

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at this very moment, the love of God.

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No one, no one is beyond the reach of that love.

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Would you pray with me?

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Father, we thank you for these words.

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We thank you for not just the Word, but the Word became flesh and dwelt among us.

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We thank you, Father, that you have not left us as orphans, but that you have given your

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Holy Spirit to your people.

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That you've washed us clean, that you are leading, that you are guiding and that you're

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building your church.

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Father, we thank you for the many men and women that have heard the words of the Great

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Commission and didn't hear, stay and make disciples, but go and make disciples.

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And from their labour and their love and their obedience that the gospel was brought to us

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and that we have been born again and that we have eternity in your presence to look

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forward to.

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Father, we ask that you would use this congregation in the city of Armidale as a light set on

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a hill.

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That we would be a people that not just speak truth, but live the truth, your truth and

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that disciples would be made here.

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Fools not of us, but of you, for the glory of God and for the sake of Christ.

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We ask for this in Jesus' name, Amen.