Matthew 9:1-13

Our text is Matthew chapter 9 verses 1 through 13.

Matthew 9:1–13

! A couple stories, miracles, one miracle, one call of a disciple.

! And with the direction of Christ's family church, where we're going with community groups,

and being on a schedule and wanting to serve and reach out to our community, and where my family is headed to a city, an urban setting,

in Memphis, where we have to live a specific way, not like the city, but intentional and serving and loving people that we're not connected with.

I thought, plus based on what God was teaching me, that this would be very practical for all of us this morning, this set of verses, this text.

So let me read it, and then I'll pray and we'll get started.

Starting in verse 1 of Matthew chapter 9.

Matthew 9 · chapter mention

And getting into a boat, he crossed over and came to his own city.

And behold, some people brought to him a paralytic, lying on a bed.

And when Jesus saw their faith, he said to the paralytic,

Take heart, my son, your sins are forgiven.

And behold, some of the scribes said to themselves,

This man is blaspheming.

But Jesus, knowing their thoughts, said,

Why do you think evil in your hearts?

For which is easier to say,

Your sins are forgiven, or to say, Rise and walk?

But that you may know that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins.

He then said to the paralytic,

Rise, pick up your bed, and go home.

And he rose and went home.

When the crowd saw it, they were afraid,

And they glorified God, who had given such authority to men.

As Jesus passed on from there,

He saw a man called Matthew sitting at the tax booth,

And he said to him,

Follow me.

And he rose and followed him.

And as Jesus reclined at table in the house,

Behold, many tax collectors and sinners came

And were reclining with Jesus and his disciples.

And when the Pharisees saw this,

They said to his disciples,

Why does your teacher eat with tax collectors and sinners?

But when he heard it, he said,

Those who are well have no need of a physician,

But those who are sick.

Go and learn what this means.

I desire mercy and not sacrifice.

For I came not to call the righteous,

But sinners.

Let's pray together.

Father, I ask that your will would be done this morning.

That you would teach us through your word.

And that you would use me.

That you would,

I ask,

That your word would come alive to us this morning.

That we would see this miracle and this calling in a different light.

Because you have shown it to us.

Not because of a different perspective.

God, we ask that you would be gracious to us this morning.

That you would speak to us and we would be,

We would hear and be moved to action.

That you would bless the hearing of your word.

That we would leave this place and walk out of these doors.

Looking for people to,

To share life with.

Looking for people that we can invite into our lives.

And looking for God sized opportunities for you to work.

We ask this all in your son,

Jesus' name.

Amen.

So,

This story,

These two stories are also found in Mark chapter 2 and Luke chapter 5.

Mark 2 · chapter mention Luke 5 · chapter mention

If you know anything about the gospels,

Luke is very detailed.

So he gives you a lot more details.

Mark is almost just like Matthew on the telling of this story.

So what I want to do this morning is just kind of walk through some observations that I see in this text.

These 13 verses.

Kind of walk through it.

And hopefully allow God to speak to all of us this morning.

And speak through me.

So,

As we walk through,

The first thing I want to point out is that Jesus saw their faith.

Verse 2.

I'll just start reading verse 1.

Let's go ahead.

And getting into a boat,

He crossed over and came to His own city,

Which is Capernaum.

And behold,

Some people brought to Him a paralytic lying on a bed.

And when Jesus saw their faith,

He said to the paralytic,

Take heart,

My son,

Your sins are forgiven.

Now,

Jesus is not talking here.

Matthew is not describing Jesus seeing the paralytic's faith.

It's the guys who are carrying His bed.

It's His buddies.

It's His friends who have gone out of their way

To carry this man.

Now,

In Luke,

We have more details.

And if you know the story,

You know that they raised this man,

Tied to a bed,

Up onto the roof.

They broke the roof apart,

And they lowered him in to the building or the house where Jesus was.

A lot of work.

And Jesus sees their faith,

Sees their willingness to carry their body.

And Matthew makes note that He sees their faith.

Now,

The fact that they had strong faith,

The fact that they had this bold faith,

That they were willing to go crazy,

And open up a roof and lower a guy in,

Didn't save,

Didn't heal this man.

What healed this man was Jesus saying,

Your sins are forgiven.

Get up and walk.

But Jesus saw their faith,

And their faith was in Him,

Was in Jesus.

They believed,

That if we did this,

If we got this man close to Jesus,

That He would heal them.

And so,

They had this strong faith,

This focused faith,

This faith was,

Lasered in on Jesus.

It wasn't on,

If we can do this,

Then maybe,

Possibly this might happen.

No,

They were saying,

If we can do this,

Jesus will heal this man.

So,

I want to point that out to you.

I also want to point out,

That this man was,

Paralyzed,

And he could not help himself.

This man,

Could not help,

Himself one bit.

He couldn't get out of bed.

He needed somebody else,

To help him.

He needed guys,

To carry him to Jesus.

Now this is important.

Number one,

Because,

As Christians,

And as sinners,

Before Christ,

And after Christ,

We could not help ourselves.

Right?

There's nothing,

There was nothing in us,

That could save us.

There was nothing in us,

That could be,

Good enough,

To earn,

God's love.

God,

Reached down,

God blessed,

God forgave,

God saved us,

On his own,

Work,

And out of his own grace,

Not anything,

In us.

So,

Like,

The paralyzed man,

We too,

Are paralyzed.

We cannot help,

Ourselves.

But also,

It's important,

The fact that he couldn't help himself,

Was the fact that his buddies,

Had to carry him,

Like,

The burden that we sometimes,

Are half,

Or,

Commended to,

There's no sometimes about it,

We are commanded,

To carry the gospel.

We are commanded,

To share the gospel.

We are commanded,

To reach out to those,

Who don't know Jesus,

And share the truth,

Of the gospel.

These men,

Carried,

This paralyzed,

Buddy of theirs,

To Jesus,

So that he can be healed,

So that he can be,

His sins,

Can be forgiven.

Now,

Of course,

The men didn't know,

That was going to happen.

Nobody knew,

That was going to happen.

So,

It's important,

That we understand,

That the paralyzed man,

Could not,

Help himself.

And as,

As these men,

Carried,

The paralyzed man,

I wish I could just,

Name him,

Let's just name him,

Sam.

As he carries Sam,

Instead of saying paralyzed man,

Or paralytic,

They carried him,

As we share the gospel,

And we will carry the gospel,

To those around us,

What happens?

Sins,

Are forgiven.

And this man's sins,

Were forgiven.

So,

The paralytic man,

Oh Sam,

Was,

At the mercy,

Of who would carry him.

At the mercy,

Of who would love him.

At the mercy,

Of who would,

Heal him.

Now,

Here we come,

To verse 4,

5,

And we get the Pharisees,

And the scribes,

Being Pharisees,

And scribes,

Just being,

Snot nose,

Snobs,

They say,

They say,

This man,

Is blaspheming,

How could he say,

That he has forgiven sins,

He is just a man,

Talking about Jesus,

And of course,

They have,

All the religious badges,

And all the,

Patches,

And everything,

They have their book,

The Bible,

Their holy scribes,

All marked up,

And,

I mean,

They are super religious,

And they,

They can make this stance,

And they can say,

How,

This man is blaspheming,

And they think,

They have something to stand on,

And Jesus,

Knowing their thoughts,

He says,

Why do you think evil,

In your hearts?

For which is easier to say,

Your sins are forgiven,

Or to say,

Rise and walk?

But that you may know,

That the Son of Man,

Has authority on earth,

To forgive sins,

And then what does he do?

He heals the man,

And tells him to rise,

And walk.

Now,

Which is easier to say,

Jesus says,

Which is easier to say?

And if we get caught up,

On this question,

In this verse,

We'll lose the point.

Jesus isn't making,

A bold statement here,

He isn't making something,

Saying something,

That is hidden up underneath,

And we just kind of dig for it,

He's saying,

Which is easier?

Well,

They're both easy to say.

What I'm saying,

Isn't,

Important to you right now,

What I've done,

Is important.

And,

He's making a point,

Saying,

I have healed this man,

Or I'm going to heal this man,

And I have forgiven his sins,

And he's showing the world,

And he's showing the scribes,

And he's showing the Pharisees,

Who he is.

That he is,

God.

Now,

This week,

I will not name any names,

But my son,

So that's down to two,

Has,

Lied,

To,

His mom.

And I made him,

Of course he has punishment,

And you want to ask him about punishment,

You can ask him,

He's not happy about it,

So that's a good punishment.

But I made him go,

And apologize to,

Jamie.

Because he lied against Jamie,

He sinned,

Against,

Jamie.

We can't forgive,

Unless it's,

It's something done to us,

Right?

Like,

I can't forgive Jed,

Oh,

I named him.

I can't forgive Jed,

For lying to Jamie.

I can say,

Man,

That was horrible.

Like,

I can punish him,

I can,

I can let him have it,

I can talk to him about it,

But I,

I can't forgive him,

Because it wasn't towards,

And against me.

Jesus,

Can forgive sins,

Because he is God,

And because,

It is sin,

Against God.

Psalm 51,

It's a psalm that David writes,

Right after,

Nathan talks to him about David,

About him and Bathsheba.

And what does he say?

Against you,

Oh Lord,

Have I sinned.

Only,

Against you.

Big deal.

And so,

Jesus,

Forgiving sins,

The Pharisees,

And the scribes,

Have something to stand on.

Like,

This guy is just a man.

No,

Jesus is God.

And this is important for us to understand as Christians,

That Jesus is God.

He can forgive sins.

He can heal the paralyzed man.

He can make the blind see.

He can make the dead alive.

This is Jesus.

So the truth that,

Here in this story,

That Jesus forgives sin,

And that Jesus heals the paralyzed man,

Both prove,

To me,

And to all of us in here,

That he is God.

And we all shake our heads,

Yes,

Yes,

Jesus is God.

Jesus forgives sin.

Jesus

Is

God.

Psalm 103,

12 tells us,

And reminds us that,

As far as the east is,

As far as the east is to the west,

So our transgressions are removed.

God removes our transgressions,

Not us.

God forgives us of our sins.

And so Jesus is God.

Jesus is the Messiah.

And that's the point of Matthew.

That's why Matthew writes this gospel,

And the way that he writes it,

He wants to show his audience,

The Jewish people,

That Jesus is the promised Messiah.

So when they read this story,

And they see these miracles,

And they see,

Jesus forgiving sin,

They say,

They should,

One plus one equals two,

They should end up with the,

Well Jesus is God,

And he is the Messiah.

He is the promised Savior.

That's the point,

That Matthew tries to make,

In writing this book.

Verse 8,

He heals the man,

The man gets up and goes home,

And in verse 7 and 8,

He says,

And he rose and went home.

When the crowd saw it,

They were afraid,

And they glorified God,

Who had given such authority,

To men.

And here's what I want to point out here.

We as Christians,

And I am guilty of this,

I will pray a prayer,

God help us to glorify you.

God, I want to glorify you,

With my life.

God is most satisfied in us,

When God is most glorified in us,

When we are most satisfied in Him.

John Piper,

The Westminster's Confession,

Chief end of man,

To glorify God,

And enjoy Him forever.

Well we repeat this,

My kids repeat this,

I repeat this.

We have to have a right understanding,

A proper view of who God is,

If we're going to glorify Him,

If we're going to magnify Him,

If we're going to worship Him.

And so here,

Verse 8,

Says,

The crowd,

They were afraid,

And they glorified God.

Now this is not a magical equation,

I just think this is just a reminder.

This is just,

We have to understand who God is,

That He is Creator,

That He heals the blind,

That He heals the paralyzed man,

That He forgives sin,

That He makes the dead alive.

This being,

This God,

This is who He is.

And when we think of these things,

And when we grasp it,

And we have a right perspective,

Then we are automatically moved to fear.

And not the Scooby-Doo shaking in our booth sphere,

But just awe,

And amazement,

And right order,

That we are created under the Creator,

Created by the Creator.

And so when we have that right perspective,

We then are moved to worship,

We are moved to glorifying Him,

And getting it,

And living it.

So we have to understand,

And have a proper perspective,

Of who God is.

So we fear the Lord,

We acknowledge His greatness,

And then we glorify Him.

So that's the first,

And we'll come back to that,

In just a few minutes.

But now we have,

Where Jesus calls Matthew,

And moves right into it.

So starting in verse 9,

As Jesus passed on from there,

He saw a man called Matthew,

Sitting at a tax booth,

And he said to him,

Follow me.

And he rose and followed him.

And as Jesus reclined at table in the house,

Behold,

Many tax collectors and sinners came,

And were reclining with Jesus and His disciples.

And when the Pharisees saw this,

They said to His disciples,

Why does your teacher eat with tax collectors and sinners?

But when he heard it,

He said,

Those who are well have no need of a physician,

But those who are sick,

Go and learn what this means.

I desire mercy and not sacrifice,

For I came not to call the righteous,

But sinners.

So observations through this story.

First of all,

Jesus doesn't give Matthew any details,

Does He?

He doesn't say,

I need you to pack this,

And I need you to pack up this,

And roll your sleeping bag up,

Because you're going to need it,

And get some deodorant,

Because we're going to be on the road for quite a while,

And doesn't say anything,

He just says,

Follow me.

Doesn't tell them where they're going,

Doesn't tell them any details,

Just says,

Follow me.

And Matthew gets up and follows him.

What if we had that same obedience as Matthew?

What if instead of saying,

God, I need some details.

God, I,

How am I going to get there?

God, it's going to cost $3,000.

How?

Instead of,

Instead of,

Talking ourselves out of things,

What if we just obeyed?

What if God said to you,

Go to India.

What if we did that?

Okay, that's,

That's,

That's happening in this,

In this room in three weeks,

Or four weeks.

What if God said,

I want you to go speak to that guy about,

About,

About me.

Ask him,

About Jesus.

Ask him,

And share the gospel with him.

No, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, God.

No.

And this sounds very elementary,

And this sounds very just,

Surface level Christian,

But why do we all struggle with it then?

What if we had that same obedience as Matthew,

And Jesus says,

Go,

And we say,

Okay.

What if we had the,

What if we said to God,

Let's flip it.

What if we said to God,

I'm available,

I will go anywhere.

I will follow.

It doesn't matter.

To follow Jesus,

Requires,

Sacrifice.

It requires,

It requires,

Dying to our plans,

And dying to our,

Air quote,

Dreams.

It's a total sacrifice.

And,

Matthew,

Not knowing anything,

Not knowing what his life would be like,

Follows him.

Now,

It's important to point out who Matthew is.

Yes,

We got the book of Matthew opened up right in front of us.

And he's the author of this book.

Yes,

We have,

Matthew the disciple.

One of the twelve.

One of the eleven,

Who obeyed and followed.

But,

Matthew is also a tax collector.

Matthew is put in the category here,

As the Pharisees said,

Eating with tax collectors and sinners.

Matthew is a thief.

Matthew is an enemy to his people.

His people do not like him.

This is Matthew.

And so,

On one hand,

At the beginning of Matthew's story,

Matthew is a thief,

A tax collector,

An enemy,

A hated man.

And he follows Jesus.

And what is he now?

A disciple,

A follower of Jesus.

A lover of God things.

Not a lover of man things.

It's important to see that God,

Jesus calls a sinner.

Jesus calls a tax collector and an enemy.

So,

When we're moved,

To talk with somebody.

When we're moved,

To go somewhere,

And we say,

I can't do that.

That's,

Impossible.

There's no way,

He's going to be used.

I know there's people in this room,

Who thought,

There's no way,

God would ever save me.

That's not our place.

It's not our place to say.

It's not our place to make that decision.

Our place is to obey.

And Jesus calls.

And when he calls,

And when he leads,

And when he commands,

We go.

So,

Matthew,

Is now a disciple,

Instead of a thief,

And a tax collector.

So,

Now we have,

Verse 10,

And Jesus reclined at table in the house.

Behold,

Many tax collectors and sinners came,

And were reclining with Jesus,

And his disciples.

In Luke,

Basically,

We get the details of Matthew throws a party.

And Matthew invites as many people as he can,

Happens to be all sinners,

And they come,

And the Pharisees throw their hands up and say,

What is this guy doing?

What is he doing?

He is eating with sinners.

I would never do that.

I can't do that.

Because I live right.

Jesus,

As Matthew is trying to prove,

The Messiah,

Is eating,

And dining,

And partying,

With sinners.

How

Could he do this?

So the question for us,

Is do you surround yourself with tax collectors and sinners?

Do you surround yourself with tax collectors and sinners?

Now students,

Being in a classroom with people doesn't count.

Adults,

Being at a company or a job with other people doesn't count.

Do you surround yourself,

Are people close to you,

Tax collectors and sinners?

Sinners?

It's a tough question.

Do you throw parties?

Now this one's going to get me in trouble,

I know.

We should throw the best parties.

As Christians.

We should throw the best parties.

We have far more to celebrate.

Celebrate.

And we should invite,

Tax collectors and sinners,

Lost people into our lives,

And party,

And celebrate.

Celebrate life.

Celebrate just events of life.

Celebrate what God is doing,

And put them together.

For example,

You have a child that is born.

You celebrate.

You have a party for the new birth of your child.

Wait a couple months,

Or your wife will kill you.

But,

That's just a little commercial break for you.

You have a party,

And you celebrate the birth of a child.

And you invite your neighbors,

And you invite lost people.

And they say,

Man, you got a child.

You got another child.

What?

And you say,

Yeah,

I don't know how I'm going to do it.

God is going to have to work,

And He's going to work through me.

And He's going to make this possible,

Because I don't know how I'm going to do it.

You've merged.

Life event,

And you've merged.

God working together at a party.

We've got a lot to celebrate.

And we should throw the best parties.

Everybody in here has a brain.

Everybody has a conscience.

Let's put that conscience umbrella up,

And let's not go crazy on that statement.

You know what I'm talking about.

If you have a home,

If you have an apartment,

If you're going to have a home,

Are tax collectors,

Are sinners,

Are lost people,

Welcome in your home?

Are they?

You say,

Yeah,

The Jehovah's Witness come once a year.

Well,

That doesn't work.

That doesn't work.

Are you inviting people?

Are you being hospitable?

One of the qualifications of an elder is hospitality.

And that doesn't mean that we invite church people to come over and have lunch with us.

That means we're surrounding ourselves with lost people.

And we're inviting them into our home.

And we're giving them a bed.

And we're,

Whatever the case.

Whatever the need.

So,

Young people,

When you guys have a home,

Be hospitable.

Invite lost people into your home.

Tax collectors and sinners.

Like Matthew.

Now,

Who knows how long?

These events were really quick.

So,

Matthew might have just been,

Maybe a few hours of being a disciple of Jesus.

Nonetheless,

He invited sinners and tax collectors into His home to party.

And Jesus came and showed up.

And was there.

And ate with,

Ate with them.

Excuse me.

So then,

We have Pharisees again.

And as I said,

You know,

They threw up their hands and said,

What is this guy doing?

He's eating with sinners.

How could he do this?

Now,

One of the reasons they were upset,

The Pharisees were upset,

Is they thought that they had earned His visit.

They thought they had earned His attendance.

They thought that they had been good enough,

That this teacher,

Who teaches truth,

Who teaches scripture,

Could come and share with them.

And Jesus kind of throws that idea on its head.

It says,

Those who are well have no need of a physician,

But those who are sick,

I always got to add,

Do.

Helps me with the grammar.

Those who are well have no need for a physician.

That's a no brainer statement.

Right?

I mean,

Unless you got a broken arm,

You don't need to go to the ER.

Unless you got a big cut,

You don't need to go.

Unless you're sick,

Really sick,

In my case,

On my deathbed,

I don't need to go to the doctor.

Well people don't need the physician.

Sick people do.

And,

They're saying how,

You know,

Jesus should have come to them,

Or,

How dare he be over there,

When we're over here,

And we're good people.

Isn't that like us,

Isn't that how we think,

Sometimes?

For example,

I feel God's love,

When I do good things.

Right?

I feel God's love,

I feel him close,

When I'm doing things,

That are godly.

Or,

I feel God is close,

When?

Fill in the blank.

Or,

I don't know God,

Or feel God,

But I'm working on it.

I'm working towards that.

I'm trying to do,

And achieve good things,

So that God would,

Attend,

Visit with me.

Being good.

Doing religious things.

It's one of our fears,

At Christ Family Church,

When we,

When we do the Lord's Supper,

Every Sunday.

Is we don't want it,

To be a religious activity.

We don't want it to be,

Dogmatic,

And just a ritual,

That we do,

Because that's what we do,

Here at Christ Family Church.

We want everyone in this room,

And all of us,

To be moved to worship,

When we reflect,

And we look,

And see,

What Jesus has done.

But it becomes,

And it can become,

Just this religious activity.

And so,

You know,

If we're trying to be like a Pharisee,

We mark it up,

And say,

I did the Lord's Supper on Sunday.

I prayed.

I listened very attentively,

To the sermon.

However good or bad it was.

I did those things.

And we think,

That we know Jesus.

We think that He should be with us,

And in us.

But that's not the case.

What does the Bible say?

Repent and believe.

It takes Jesus,

Working in us,

For salvation.

And then we,

Repent.

We acknowledge who God is.

We believe,

And we live it out.

Just like the paralytic.

Just like Matthew.

Jesus called him,

And he followed.

Jesus healed him,

And he was healed.

So don't get caught up,

On these religious activities,

And things.

Because they're good,

But,

If you're not a Christian,

They're damning.

Verse 12.

I was just at verse 12.

Verse 13.

We'll do 12 too.

Those who are well,

Have no need of a physician,

But those who are sick,

Do.

Go and learn what this means.

I desire mercy,

And not sacrifice,

For I am not,

I came not to call,

The righteous,

But sinners.

Jesus' mission is,

To heal the sick.

That's what he came here,

On earth to do.

And I'm not talking,

Physical sick,

I'm talking spiritual sick.

Dead.

Ephesians 2.

Dead.

Colossians.

Dead.

This idea,

That we cannot help ourselves.

This idea,

That the picture,

Of the paralyzed man,

Gives us.

He could not help himself.

Jesus came,

To heal the sick.

And he,

Is the physician.

And here's the great news.

That he can diagnose,

He can,

He can treat,

And he can heal,

All at the same time,

All by his word.

So he says to Matthew,

Follow me.

Diagnosed,

Treated,

And healed.

The sick,

Are in need of a physician.

We,

Were in need of a physician.

Or,

In this room,

Are in need of a physician,

Right now.

Spiritually.

See,

We have,

Humans,

Mankind,

Us in this room,

Have tried everything.

We've tried,

It all.

Just look through our history.

In this room,

We've tried,

Thinking positively.

Being good.

Just,

Being good,

And doing good things.

We've tried,

Being religious.

We've tried,

Even talking,

Religious.

The sanctifying work,

Of Jesus.

Is amazing.

And,

Glory be to God,

For,

We know a lot of doctrine.

We know a lot of truths.

In this room,

We've,

We've learned that stuff,

But let's,

I'm tall,

I'm big,

If I put my arms up like this,

And if I wave like the wind is blowing me,

Like a tree,

Does that make me a tree?

If I place some leaves on my arms,

And stand up here,

Am I still a tree?

No.

If I dress up in complete brown,

And have a green head,

With a big huge,

Am I a tree?

No.

I'm not a tree.

I can try,

And I can work at it,

And I can do everything I can,

But I'm still not a tree.

I'm a man.

Likewise,

We try,

To do religious things.

We try,

To fix and heal ourselves,

But we can't.

We can't do it.

We need a physician.

We need a healer.

We need Jesus.

And so,

If you're in this room,

And you don't know Jesus,

He wants to heal you.

He wants to save you.

He wants to tell you,

I love you.

Your sins are forgiven.

Follow me.

I can't help myself,

And you can't help yourself.

And just like,

The tax collectors,

And the sinners,

Jesus partied with,

They can't help themselves.

Just like,

The lost people,

Around us.

Those who are not Christians.

Those who don't know Jesus.

Just like those,

In this room,

Who don't know Jesus.

Can't help yourself.

You can't.

And it's dangerous,

Dangerous,

Dangerous,

To think,

That you can.

So how about,

Those people,

That you're inviting,

Into your life,

That you're inviting,

Into your home,

That you're inviting,

To your dorm room,

Your apartment,

And you're sharing life,

And you're sharing the gospel.

They can't help themselves,

Either.

And so we are commanded,

To share.

We are commanded,

To live,

In such a way,

Where we,

Invite them,

Into our lives,

To share the gospel.

To our community group,

To our community group,

To our community group,

are as important as our Sunday gathering.

Invite people into the community groups.

Join us and don't just invite Christians.

Invite lost people.

Invite people who need to hear the Gospel,

who cannot help themselves.

In verse 13, Jesus says,

Go and learn what this means.

Now Jesus is speaking to the scribes and the Pharisees.

The educated guys.

Those who should know what this means.

Those who know the Scriptures.

Go and learn what this means.

I desire mercy and not sacrifice.

And he's quoting from Hosea 6.

And the Hebrew word for mercy,

you can write a paper on it,

you can write a dissertation on it,

but the bottom line is mercy means steadfast love.

That's it.

God, steadfast love.

Mercy.

That's the definition.

So Jesus says, quoting from Hosea,

I desire mercy.

I desire steadfast love and not sacrifice.

He's saying this to the Pharisees,

saying that I don't want your religious activities.

I don't want your worship.

I don't want your baptisms.

I don't want those things.

I want your heart and I want your love

and your desire to follow me.

Jesus, God, is about the heart.

We read this in Isaiah.

We read this every time Jesus talks to the Pharisees.

Jesus is about the heart.

And so here, he wants steadfast love,

not sacrifice.

Don't bring your sacrifices to me

when your heart is not right.

When you don't even love me.

Finally, in verse 13,

I came not to call the righteous,

but sinners.

Now there must come a point in your life

and in my life where

we admit our sinfulness.

We have to.

That's part of the Gospel.

We admit our need for a physician,

our need for a Savior.

Now, Jesus kind of confuses us a little bit here

when he says,

I came not to call the righteous,

but sinners.

Now this righteous is different

than the righteous you're thinking of

that Jesus makes us before God.

This righteous is made right in man's power.

So we're striving to be good.

We're striving to be religious.

We're striving to earn God's love

and His favor.

And so, Jesus is saying,

I didn't come for those who think they're right.

I didn't come,

but I came for sinners.

Those that would admit they're sinners.

Those that would admit their need for a physician.

So we have to and must admit

our need for our Savior.

To be righteous in your own eyes

means that you think that nothing's wrong.

That there's nothing wrong with me.

I'm okay.

And that, as I said a second ago,

that is a dangerous line to walk.

So, in your ministry,

in your life,

do you have the type of faith?

Do you have the type of faith

that the buddies of the paralytic man

carried up on a roof,

up a ladder, a bed?

Now some sort of,

the guy's laying down,

he's paralyzed.

They carried him up onto the roof

and then they lowered him down into,

removed the roof

and then lowered him down in.

Do you have that kind of faith

believing that Jesus was going to heal that man?

Does your ministry have that kind of faith?

Does your community group believe

that God is going to do big things?

Do you believe God can use you?

Do you believe that you could be one of those guys?

Do you think God could use you?

Do you believe you could be Matthew?

Or are you paralyzed with fear of the unknown?

Fear of failure?

Fear of persecution?

Repent of that fear.

Repent and ask some buddies to carry you.

Ask some guys to help you.

Tell them.

Are you intentional with who you spend your time with?

Are you intentional with the group of people

you spend time with?

Are you inviting tax collectors and sinners

into your home?

These are some of these questions

we've already touched on.

Are you making disciples?

Lost people converted?

Are you willing

to repent of not sharing

and not inviting people into your life?

The end of verse 13 tells us,

For I came not to call the righteous,

but sinners.

Let's stand on that verse.

Let's treasure that verse.

Jesus came not to call the righteous,

but sinners.

If you're a Christian,

you're a sinner.

If you're not a Christian,

you're a sinner.

And Jesus came to call you this morning.

Let's pray together.

Thank you.