Jesus' Heart for those Far from God

Our reading comes from Matthew chapter 9.

Matthew 9 · chapter mention

Please follow along on the screen in your bulletin or your own Bible.

In Matthew 9 verse 1, we read,

Matthew 9:1

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.

Then the disciples of John came to him, saying,

Why do we and the Pharisees fast, but your disciples do not fast?

And Jesus said to them,

Can the wedding guests mourn as long as the bridegroom is with them?

The days will come when the bridegroom is taken away from them,

and then they will fast.

No one puts a piece of unshrung cloth on an old garment,

For the patch tears away from the garment,

And a worse tear is made.

Neither is new wine put into old wineskins.

If it is, the skins burst, and the wine is spilled,

And the skins are destroyed.

But new wine is put into fresh wineskins,

And so both are preserved.

Amen. This is the word of God.

Great. Good morning, everybody.

And wonderful to see you.

Thank you, Karen and Pui, for reading God's word to us.

And welcome, all watermarkers and those that may be visiting.

If you're a guest of ours, so great to have you with us today.

A warm welcome to you.

If you don't know me, my name is Kevin.

I'm one of the elders and the pastors here.

And it is great to be able to look at God's word together this morning.

I wonder if you'll join me as we pray together.

Let's come before our Father, the Lord Jesus Christ,

the Holy Spirit, and pray for a few minutes now.

Let's pray together.

Heavenly Father, Lord Jesus Christ, Holy Spirit,

the Triune God,

we come before you this morning,

not in any sense of self-sufficiency or self-righteousness.

We've come, God, very aware of our own depravity and our brokenness.

We've come, God, very aware of our need for you,

our foulness and our finiteness.

That you are God and we are not.

And, Lord, we really do come with a sense of need for you.

Come and speak to our hearts.

Come and encourage us.

Come and minister to us this morning.

Not just in the sermon,

but, God, as we sing these songs of worship and devotion to you,

I pray that you, the Spirit of God, will stir our hearts to see you freshly this morning.

God, we pray that as we come to your word in Matthew 9,

that it will be you that is speaking to us.

God, your word is not just pages on a screen.

It's living and active.

We need it, God, to come speak to our hearts,

to cut open to our hearts, Lord,

and to really speak to the depth of us.

And so we ask you to come and have your way as we look at your word.

God, come and show us more what Jesus is like,

what the gospel is like, we pray.

But we also just pray for every watermarker,

those maybe that are watching, those who maybe aren't,

those that are going through a difficult time.

You know where all our hearts are at.

You know where our lives are at.

You know the pains we face, the struggles we endure,

the difficulties we're going through.

We pray for your grace to really minister to us this morning and this week, God.

Come and minister to us, we pray, God.

Lord, we also pray, won't you send us out.

As we look this morning at this passage,

we see your heart, God, for people that are far from you.

We pray, God, for us as a church.

Won't you make us like you, Jesus.

May you send us out into the city, God.

May Hong Kong be better off because there is a simple church called Watermark Church here

that is participating in your kingdom come adventure of being salt and light in the city.

And so we pray, God, may we become more like you, Jesus.

May we love and serve those that are far from you.

May we also this morning recognize our own need for the gospel.

Come speak to us, we pray.

God, we also just this morning want to pray for our city, Hong Kong,

that's going through so many changes and so much that's going on,

both here at home in Hong Kong and across the world.

We pray, God, won't you come and lead in, guys.

We pray for our leaders, our political leaders, God.

We pray that they will serve the citizens of Hong Kong with fear and trembling,

that they will do what is good for the people of our city.

We do just pray for our city and all government officials.

We pray for peace in our times.

We pray for flourishing.

We pray that people's lives will be lifted up, God.

We pray for the poor and the marginalized,

that policies will be put in place and the church will respond in a way that serves our city.

God, we bring all these things before you and you're wonderful in your gracious name.

Amen.

Amen.

Okay, well, we are looking at this passage in Matthew chapter 9.

Matthew 9 · chapter mention

We're working through Matthew's gospel for a couple of weeks and months.

And seeing what does it mean to follow Jesus in all of life.

And today, in our passage, the passage that we look at, if you've got a Bible in front of you,

is often broken up into two sections.

There's verses 1 to 8, and then there's verses 9 and onwards.

And in most Bibles, this is divided into two sections.

And we can tend to think of this as two separate incidences.

But I think actually Jesus wants us to see this as one holistic picture.

And the reason is twofold.

The first reason is because in all of the Synoptic Gospels, Matthew, Mark, and Luke,

these sections where Jesus heals the paralytic and where Jesus calls Matthew actually go together.

And I think the Holy Spirit has done that for a reason.

He wants us to read these two incidences as one flow of thought.

But the second reason is because there's a clear link.

There's a theme that is linking them.

In both Jesus' healing of the paralytic and his call to Matthew,

Jesus is comparing physical health with spiritual health.

Or maybe you could say he's using physical health as an analogy,

an illustration of what spiritual health and vitality looks like.

And so Jesus wants us to look at this section together.

Additionally, you may have seen when we read this,

when Priya and Karen were reading to us,

that in the three sections in the passage today,

Jesus responds to three objections or challenges.

In each one of these, somebody comes up to Jesus with a challenge.

And Jesus responds.

In the first one, some scribes come to Jesus and say,

Jesus, who do you think you are?

How can you say that?

That's blasphemy.

In the second one, some Pharisees come to Jesus and they say,

how on earth can you eat and feast with such scoundrels, such sinners?

And in the third passage, John's disciples come to Jesus and they say,

Jesus, all the devout Jews are fasting.

You and your disciples are not fasting.

What's wrong with you?

And in each one of these, Jesus responds to these misunderstandings,

these misconceptions of who he is.

And today, what we're going to see is three ingredients

that are absolutely essential to have genuine faith in Jesus.

Three things that you must know about Jesus if you're going to be a Christian at all.

If you take out any one of these three ingredients,

you will never really get to know the life transforming power of the gospel.

Take out any one of these ingredients and forever,

your Christianity will feel like a duty or a dry religion.

But that's not what Jesus has for us.

And so this morning, we're going to look at these three things.

We're going to look at his identity, who Jesus is,

his mission or his purpose, why he came,

and then his call, what it means to follow him.

Okay, so let's dive in the first one, who Jesus is.

Look at the first passage with me in Matthew 9, verses 1-8.

Matthew 9:1–8

Now, we looked at this briefly last week.

So let's look at it briefly again this morning.

Jesus is back in Capernaum.

That's his hometown.

It's not the town where he grew up,

but it's kind of his adopted hometown during the time of his ministry.

It's where he often retreats after going out to ministry,

comes back to Capernaum, his adopted hometown,

and some people bring to him a paralyzed man on a stretcher.

They've heard of the miraculous power of Jesus.

They've heard of what he does.

And so they come to Jesus with a clear request.

They want Jesus to heal their friend.

But Jesus doesn't do for them what they initially expect.

Look at what he says.

Jesus simply says,

Take heart, my son.

Your sins are forgiven.

Now, that really upsets the religious leaders.

And you can understand why.

To heal someone of their paralysis,

that's the realm of doctors and miracle workers and wise sages,

religious leaders, possibly.

But to forgive someone of sins,

that's the prerogative of God alone.

Only God can do that.

Remember in Psalm 51,

that amazing Psalm in the Old Testament,

King David has committed this outrageous sin.

He's committed adultery with Bathsheba.

And he's challenged on this.

And he writes this incredible Psalm of confession and repentance,

Psalm 51.

And what he says there,

he says,

God, against you and you only have I sinned.

Now, obviously,

David did sin grievously against other people,

right?

Bathsheba,

her husband.

But David knows that primarily sin is vertical before it's horizontal.

That whenever we sin,

God is the offender,

the agreed party,

primarily.

And so,

when Jesus says,

I forgive you of your sins,

to the Pharisees,

this is blasphemy,

because Jesus is taking on the prerogative of God himself.

But look at Jesus' response.

He wants them,

but he also wants us to know,

to be absolutely clear on who he is.

And that's why he does two miracles.

He does a visible one and an invisible one.

Look at what he says.

He says in verse 6,

that you may know that I have the authority to forgive sins.

Then he says to the man,

rise,

pick up your mat,

and go home.

Jesus visibly heals this man of this paralysis,

because he wants everyone to know he's not just a wise teacher.

He's not just a sage of religious genius.

He's not just a compassionate miracle worker.

Rather,

he's nothing less than the one who hung the stars in space.

He's nothing less than the one who knit this man together in his mother's womb.

He's nothing less than the one who with a word can give life and take life away,

because he's nothing less than the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob,

the God of their forefathers that they worshipped and endured.

He is God coming to them in human form.

And that's why throughout the Gospels,

Jesus is constantly drawing the anger of the crowds, of the people.

They want to throw him off the cliff.

They want to crucify him.

They want to murder him.

They come to plot to destroy him.

Jesus is constantly drawing the ire and the irritation of the people,

because he's constantly making claims that make no bones about it,

the fact that he is God.

And Jesus says he's not just one of a plethora of gods.

He's the one true God.

He is on par with Yahweh himself.

He is the one true God,

the creator of heaven and earth,

along with God the Father and the Holy Spirit.

This is who he is.

Now, simply knowing who Jesus is,

his identity is not enough.

If all you know about Jesus is that he's God,

that he's divine,

that he has authority,

you still don't know him very well.

We saw this last week in the passage preceding this.

Jesus, remember, he gets off the boat in the area of the Gadarenes.

And two men that are demon-possessed come up to him.

And the demons speak to Jesus through the men.

And this is what they say.

They say,

What have you to do with us, O Son of God?

They know exactly who he is.

They know that he is God himself,

the Son of God,

the divine second member of the Trinity.

But that doesn't help them very much.

Simply knowing who Jesus is,

his identity,

is not enough to make you a Christian.

And it's not enough to help you understand

or encounter the life-transforming power

of the gospel.

In order to really understand who Jesus is

and know him,

in order to really encounter his grace,

you need to know not just who he is,

but why he came.

Why he came.

Now, in almost nowhere in all of scripture

is this more beautifully portrayed

than in our passage there.

And it's so rich,

we could spend hours on it.

And we're not going to do that.

You'll be pleased to know.

But in this passage,

in Matthew chapter 9,

Matthew 9:9–13

verses 9 to 13,

we see this incredible picture

of not just who Jesus is,

but why he came.

Matthew shares the story

of what happened in his own house.

And Matthew is a tax collector.

We'll talk about that in a minute.

He's recently become a follower of Jesus.

And he throws this massive get-together banquet party

for Jesus with all his friends,

his cronies,

at his house.

Now, in ancient times,

houses were fairly open affairs.

They weren't behind gated communities.

You didn't have security guards at the front.

They were fairly open.

Everyone could see into the house

and see what was happening.

Many times,

you could actually kind of walk through

the outer perimeters of the house,

the portico,

and actually even interact with people

on the outskirts of the house,

or the property.

And so,

Jesus is here

at Matthew's house.

Everyone can see

in what's happening.

And to the horror

of the religious leaders,

there is Jesus

with his disciples

in the midst

of this great big get-together

with all the people in society

that you would not want

to be seen with.

Jesus is there

in the middle of the party.

And look at what Matthew says.

He's there with tax collectors

and sinners.

Many of us will know

that tax collectors

were the most hated members

of Hebrew society.

And the reason is

because they were Jews

that were collecting taxes

from the Jewish people

on behalf of the Roman government.

And so,

in many ways,

they are seen as traitors.

They are those

that have colluded

with the enemy

to tax their own people.

But more than that,

in ancient Israel,

there was no regulation

to how the taxes

were collected.

It was very just open

to interpretation.

And so,

one day,

you set up your tax booth

on the toll road

and you've got your license

and one day,

you charge 10 denarii

for anyone that's passing through.

And the next day,

maybe you charge

12 or 13 denarii.

And then,

the next month,

maybe the tax collector,

it's his son's birthday

and he wants to buy his son

a very special present.

And so,

for a week,

he charges 20 denarii.

It was very arbitrary.

And so,

what happened,

what that meant

was the tax collectors

were not only traitors,

they were extortionists.

They were those

that were robbing

their own people

to line their own pockets

and to aid

and facilitate

the foreign government.

The Mishnah

and the Talmud,

these ancient rabbinic documents,

lumped tax collectors

together with murderers

and thieves.

Tax collectors

were not allowed to witness

in a court of law.

They were not considered

trustworthy or honest enough.

Their testimony

was considered meaningless.

And so,

in some ways,

think of a Jewish person

sidelining or informing

the Nazi German government

in World War II

how to capture other Jews.

That's kind of how

Israel felt about tax collectors.

Not only have they turned

their back on their own people,

they've sought to live for themselves

and for their own pleasure.

And so,

in this close-knit,

family-orientated,

unashamed culture,

this is the ultimate act

of betrayal

and unfaithfulness.

And here is Jesus.

Jesus.

This popular teacher

who crowds are attracted to Him.

And He's in the middle

of this great big

get-together party

with tax collectors

and other sinners.

That means prostitutes

and pimps

and murderers

and thieves.

And He's not preaching at them.

He's eating with them.

He's feasting with them.

About a year ago,

I was down in Central

on the corner of

Peter Street

and Queens Road.

You know,

where the new decathlon is.

Now,

I'm on the street corner there

and I see a man

with a loud hailer,

a megaphone.

And he's standing

on the street corner

shouting out,

Repent!

You sinners!

Repent, Hong Kongers!

I think that's what the Pharisees

wanted Jesus to do

at this party.

But that's not what Jesus

is doing at all.

He's not preaching at them.

He's not scolding them.

He's not rebuking them

and telling them

what dirty rotten scoundrels

they are.

He's eating with them.

He's eating pork chops

and bacon, probably.

He's drinking Gentile wine.

Jesus is doing

the very thing

He's not supposed to do

with the very people

He's not supposed to be with.

And why is He doing it?

Well, He tells us.

Look at verse 12 and 13.

Jesus says,

Those who are well

have no need of a physician

but those who are sick.

I came not to call the righteous

but I've come to call sinners.

I've come not to associate

and hang out with those

who got it all together.

My purpose for coming

was to call people

who are far from God

back into relationship

with God.

That's what He means

when He says,

Go and learn what this means.

I desire mercy,

not sacrifice.

It's a quote from

Isaiah chapter 6

Isaiah 6 · chapter mention

where Jesus is saying,

What I desire

is covenant relationship.

That's what mercy means.

Like I said,

covenant relationship

with people.

I want to be really nice.

I want people that are far from me

to come back

and experience my love

and my mercy.

I'm not just interested

in religious devotion

and practices.

I'm not interested

in people feeling entitled.

I want covenant relationship.

I've come to call people

back to God.

Douglas O'Donnell says this,

Christ stands close

to those who know

they are far from Him.

Why?

Because that's why He came.

He came to call sinners.

Not after they've shown

interest in Him

or cleaned up their act.

But while they are still

10 feet deep

in their sins.

Friends,

at the heart of Christianity

is this claim

that all of humanity,

all of us,

Jews and Gentiles,

rich and poor,

educated and uneducated,

Hong Kongers,

mainlanders,

Malaysians,

Koreans,

South Africans,

Australians,

all of us,

face a massive problem

that we cannot solve

on our own.

And that is that

as a result of our sin,

which is really

us turning our back

on God

and living for ourselves,

we are under God's judgment.

We are alienated

from the life

that God has

destined us for

and the love

that He's designed us

and made us to experience.

And there's no way back.

We cannot buy

our way back.

We cannot earn

our way back

with good behavior.

We cannot merit

our way back

with religious devotion

and duty.

All of us have

turned our back on God.

We've gone our own way.

In a sense,

we are our own

tax collectors

and sinners.

And so Jesus Christ,

God Himself,

God in human form,

the greatest physician

ever has come to us

to bring healing

and redemption

and reconciliation.

Jesus has come

to call us back

to Himself,

to make a way

for men and women,

people like me

and you,

to be reconciled

to God.

This is who Jesus is

and this is why

He has come.

If you look again

at the first pericope,

the first story

of Jesus healing

the paralytic,

Jesus says to the paralytic,

I've got good news.

Take heart, my son.

Your sins are forgiven you.

And Jesus challenged,

how can you say that?

And so look what He says

in verse 6.

He says,

that you may know

that I,

the Son of Man,

have authority

to forgive sins.

And He turns to man

and says,

pick up your mat

to rise and walk.

Jesus is doing more

than merely proving

His credentials.

He's doing more

than merely proving

that He's God.

Jesus is making the point

that more important

than a renewed body

is a renewed heart,

a renewed soul.

Jesus is making the point

that He hasn't just

come to improve our lives,

He's come to solve

the deepest problem,

which is the problem

of sin in our hearts,

the cancer of sin.

Jesus is demonstrating

that merely healing

this man's body

would have been wonderful,

but insufficient.

To restore His health

would perhaps save Him

from a couple of decades

of suffering,

but to restore His soul,

to restore His heart,

to restore relationship

with God,

that's going to save Him

from an eternity

of suffering and damnation.

Friends,

Jesus says in verse 2,

His declaration,

that the forgiveness

of sins may not have been

what the paralytic

wanted to hear,

but oh,

it was what he needed

to hear.

And friends,

that's true for you

and I as well.

One of the most important

scriptures in the whole

of the Bible,

and I want to encourage you

to memorize this scripture,

learn it off by heart,

is this,

1 Timothy chapter 1.

1 Timothy 1 · chapter mention

The Apostle Paul,

the great Apostle Paul,

writes this.

He says,

this saying is trustworthy

and deserves full acceptance.

That means this is absolutely true

and you can bank your life on it.

Jesus Christ came into the world

to save sinners.

And then he adds this amazing line,

of whom I am the foremost,

of whom I am the very worst.

Friends,

remember we mentioned it last week,

the angel Gabriel comes to Mary

and she says,

Mary,

you are going to be with child

and the child within you

is going to be called Jesus.

God saves,

for he is going to save his people

from their sins.

Right at the beginning

of Jesus' earthly ministry,

his disciples come to him

and say,

Jesus teaches how to pray.

And Jesus teaches them famously

the Lord's Prayer.

And right at the center of that

is,

forgive us our sins

as we forgive those

that have sinned against us.

At the end of his life,

Jesus,

the night before he goes to the cross,

he's having a meal

with his disciples

and he grabs a glass of wine

at Passover meal

and he says,

this is the blood of my covenant

which is poured out for you

for the forgiveness of sins.

Friends,

Jesus,

the next day,

he's hanging on the cross,

nails smashed to his hands,

he's struggling to breathe

as his body is weighed down

and he dies of asphyxiation

and he cries out

with his dying breath,

Father,

forgive them.

They know not what they do.

Friends,

Jesus rises from the grave

and he's walking on the road

and he meets two disciples

on the way to Emmaus

and he says to them,

this it was written,

that the Christ should suffer

and on the third day

rise from the dead,

that repentance

and the forgiveness of sins

should be proclaimed

in his name

to every corner

of the world.

Friends,

this is the heart of Christianity.

This is what the entire Bible

is about

from beginning to end.

This is what Christians worship.

This is why we sing songs

of adoration and glory.

This is why we rejoice

in who God is.

This is why we sang

like we did this morning.

This is why we live

with hope in our hearts

because though our sins

are red as crimson,

friends,

though our sins are as many

as the sand on the seashore,

though our sins are as high

as the skyscrapers of Hong Kong,

Jesus Christ came into the world

for people like you

and people like me

to take our sins upon himself.

Jesus says,

those who are well,

those who are perfect,

have no need

for a physician.

I've come

not just to do religious duty.

I've come not just

to bring a new religious system.

I've come not just

to start a new religion.

I've come to call sinners

to myself.

Now,

in one sense,

the religious leaders

in Jesus' day,

they would not disagree with this.

They would acknowledge

this is what all prophets do,

all wise men,

religious men,

all the prophets in Israel

were constantly calling Israel

back to God,

to repentance

for their sins.

But in another way,

they completely miss Jesus.

They see it,

but they don't see it.

And they miss Jesus.

And they miss Jesus,

I think,

for three reasons.

And it's the same three reasons

that we miss Jesus.

Friends,

my guess is that

for many of us this morning,

this scripture

where Jesus said,

I came to call sinners,

is probably not new to us.

But we miss it

for three reasons.

The one reason is this.

We tend to think of

other people

as the sinners

that Jesus came for.

The scribes

and the Pharisees

in Jesus' day,

they would nod their heads

and say,

that's very good.

You're right,

we need to call sinners

to repentance.

But it was those people

out there.

It was the tax collectors.

It was the prostitutes

and the sex workers.

And friends,

we can do the same.

We can think

it's those drug dealers

out there on the streets.

It's those ladies

that work in the red light district.

It's those Wall Street bankers

that are greedy

and full of greed.

It's those people

that we need to organize

a mission

to go out there

and save them.

We need to send

some church planters

there to go and speak

to those people.

And yet we miss

the fact that Jesus

has come for us.

For us.

Here's another way

that we miss it.

We tend to think

of ourselves as sinners

but in a generic sense.

We kind of tend to say,

yes, yes, it's true.

We all sinners.

I too am a sinner.

And when we tend

to think of our sins

as things like,

you know,

six months ago

I lost my temper

in the traffic

and I swore

at another car

when he pulled

in front of me.

And it's true.

I shouldn't have done that

and I'm glad

that Jesus came

for my swearing.

I really need Jesus

to help me

with my road rage.

Or we tend to say

things like,

I guess I haven't

really read my Bible

so much

in the last month

and that's true.

I really should

do a better job.

I should be more committed.

So we tend to think

of ourselves

as we all kind of sinners

in a very generic sense.

But we don't see

what's really going

in our hearts.

We don't see

the anger

in our hearts.

We don't see

the self-righteousness.

We don't see

that when people

challenge us

the anger that rises

is not merely

because they're

challenging us.

It's because of

a sense of self-righteousness

in our hearts.

Friends,

I've got to tell you

that happens to me

so often.

People challenge me

and correct me

and I don't take it

very well.

I don't like

to be challenged

because my heart

is bent into myself.

I like the Pharisees.

I've turned away

from God

and I want

to live for myself.

I want to be

my own God.

There is a God

that sits

on the throne

of my life

and his name

is Kevin.

And I constantly

want to be

my own God.

I find ways

to prop up

the idolatry

of my own heart.

And I'm a sinner

and I need Jesus.

But I don't like

to admit that.

So it's easier

to compare myself

to others

and think of

those people out there.

But here's the third

way to do it.

Sometimes think of

ourselves as

Jesus came to save us

from our sins

but it happened

a long time ago.

Back in 1978

God radically

saved my life.

I was a drug dealer.

I was doing this.

I was doing that.

And God saved me.

And you know

he really revolutionized

my life.

Yeah yeah

40 years ago

God came

and saved a sinner

like me.

But notice

what Paul says here.

Paul says

this saying is

trustworthy

and deserving

of full acceptance.

That Jesus came

to the world

to save sinners.

He says

of whom I am

present tense.

Of whom I am

the very worst.

Jesus is not

Paul is not just saying

you know

I was really bad.

Long time ago

when I was a Pharisee

I was so bad.

He's saying

right now

the current reality

of my heart

is I'm the worst

sinner I know

and I need

Jesus grace today.

John Newton

was this

amazing man

who

well he was actually

a dreadful man

when he first

first half of his life

he was a

a ship captain

in the

transatlantic

slave trade

used to captain ships

that went along

the coast of Africa

Sierra Leone

and other parts of Africa

capturing

men and women

tying them up

and then

selling them as slaves

to the new

colonies in America.

He was a slave trader

and he

encounters the gospel

he encounters Jesus

his life turns around

a couple years later

he leaves shipping

he then becomes

a pastor

and many years later

he writes this amazing

amazing hymn

Amazing Grace

how sweet the sound

that God could save

a wretch like me

I once was lost

now I'm found

was blind

but now I see

but towards the end

of his life

John Newton

says these amazing words

he says

though I am an old man

now and my memory

is failing

two great things

I shall never forget

I am a great sinner

and Christ is a great savior

my dear friend

do you know that

Jesus is a great savior

and that he came

for you

he didn't just come

in a generic sense

for the sins of the world

he didn't just come

for those scoundrels

out there

he came for people

like me

and he came for people

like you

friends

Jesus came

for us

and you know why

because of his

unquestionable love

for us

because of his love

for you

and his love

for me

it wasn't the nails

that hung Jesus

on the cross

it was his love

for us

Jesus came

for us

and that leads us

to the third

and final thing

which is that

if you want to know

who Jesus

if you want to really

experience the life

transforming power

of Jesus

you've got to not

only know who he is

not only know

why he came

you've got to know

what it means

to follow him

look at the third

story in our

passage today

this time

it's not the

Pharisees

but it's

John

disciples

who come

to Jesus

and they ask

him a question

and they say

to him

why is it

that neither

you nor

your disciples

fast like

the other

rabbis

and the

Pharisees

now what's

going on

here is

that in

first century

Israel

all devout

Jews

fasted twice

a week

on Mondays

and Thursdays

why Mondays

and Thursdays

I'm not too

sure

that was just

the custom

Mondays

and Thursdays

all devout

Jews

would fast

but Jesus

and his

disciples

are not

fasting

in fact

we can't

prove it

but I

like to

imagine

that Jesus

is at

Matthew's

house

having this

great big

feast

this get

together

on a

Thursday

night

and so

all the

other

devout

Jews

are

fasting

and they

are

devout

and they

are hungry

and here's

Jesus

and these

other Jews

when everyone

else should be

fasting

and they're

feasting it

up

and so

they come

to him

and they

say

Jesus

it's

Thursday

what are

you doing

why aren't

you guys

fasting

and Jesus

gives them

three mini

parables

and essentially

what he says

is this

if you try

and add me

or squeeze

me onto

your religious

system

it's not

going to

work

you can't

have your

religious system

and just

try and tag

me on

like a piece

of cloth

either you've

got to

follow me

or reject

me

you've

got to

orientate

your whole

life around

me

or you've

got to

discard me

you can't

just admire

me

and you

can't

just

add me

onto your

life

so the

disciples

John's

disciples

the Pharisees

are coming

saying

Jesus

we can

see you're

a good

man

you're a good

teacher

you can do

miracles

we see

you're

following the

traditions

of our

fathers

etc

why don't

you

fast

like the

others

and Jesus

says I

haven't

come just

to join

your

system

I've

come to

completely

overhaul

it

either you've

got to

follow me

or reject

me

but don't

just

admire

me

and Jesus

gives you

three

parables

and let's

just look at

two of

them in

modern day

context

imagine

this

imagine you

engage

to be

married

and you're

trying to

find a

wedding date

and your

fiancee

comes to you

and says I've

got great

news

the venue

that we

wanted

and the

date that

we wanted

works

we've got

our wedding

venue on

our wedding

date

and you

look at

the date

and you

say oh

love

I've got

bad news

I've just

started this

this new

diet

and according

to my

new diet

I'm going

to be

fasting

on that

date

do you

think we

can find

another day

for our

wedding

friend your

fiancee is

going to

either slap

you or

kick you

out

she's going

to say

listen it's

either the

wedding or

your diet

right

don't

just

attach me

to a

little part

of your

life

you either

take me

or you

take your

life

but I'm

not just

an add-on

that you

can attach

to your

life

your wedding

takes preference

over your

eating habits

imagine this

Jesus says

you go down

to the

IFC mall

and you

see this

you've got

this old

jacket on

that your

dad gave

you

or your

mom gave

you

or some

special

person

gave you

and you

love this

jacket

but it's

getting a

bit old

it's got

a few

tears

but it's

got sentimental

value

and you

see in the

shop window

this new

jacket

and it's

beautiful

lovely cloth

and fabric

just the

color you

want

and you

think oh

I should

get that

but you

don't let

go of

the sentimental

item of

clothing that

you have

and so you

think I

know what

I'll do

I'll cut

off the

sleeve of

the new

one

I'll sew

it onto

this one

and then I

can have

the best

of both

that'll

work

no friends

that's not

going to

work well

at all

you either

wear the

new one

or the

old one

but you

can't try

and merge

them together

do you see

what Jesus

is saying

he's saying

either you're

going to be

my follower

or you've

got to

reject me

but you

can't simply

add a little

bit of me

to your

life

you can't

simply patch

me onto

your life

you need to

reorientate

your entire

life around

me

you need to

choose your

wedding or

your diet

you need to

choose the

old jacket

or the

new one

you need to

choose whether

you're going

to follow

me or you're

going to

follow yourself

remember two

weeks ago

some man

comes to

Jesus

and says

Jesus

I'm going

to follow

you

I'm with

you

just give

me a few

months

I just

need to

tie up

some loose

ends

I've got

a big

inheritance

that's coming

in

just let

me type

some things

then when

everything's

sorted

I'll come

and be

with you

Jesus

says let

the dead

bury the

dead

you come

and follow

me

and sometimes

we say

well you know

Monday to

Friday is

a prioritized

work

Saturday it's

the kids

Saturday night

it's friends

and Sunday

morning if I'm

up to it

Sunday morning

I'll give to

Jesus

Jesus

no no no

you orientate

your entire

life around

me

you follow

me or you

follow yourself

you can't

just add a bit

of me here

and there

now as we come

to a close

in verses 8

and 9

Matthew shows us

two responses

one negative

and one positive

to show us what it

means to follow

Jesus

let's look at the

negative one

verse 8

look what

happens here

Matthew writes

this

this is after

Jesus heals

the paralytic

right

verse 8

when the crowd

saw it

they were afraid

that means they

were filled

with awe

and they glorified

God who had

given such

authority

to men

now at first

this seems like

a wonderful

response

the crowd

see what

Jesus do

and they say

brilliant

this is amazing

they glorify

God

but actually

unfortunately

that's all

that they were

they were

they were

honored

they were

amazed

but they never

came to Jesus

for more than that

why do I say that

a couple of chapters

later in chapter 11

Jesus says this

about the very people

in Capernaum

he says

you Capernaum

will you be exalted

to heaven

no no no

you'll be brought

down to Hades

for if the mighty

works that I had done

in you

had been done

in places like

Sodom and Gomorrah

they would have

repented a long

time ago

I tell you

it'll be more

bearable in Sodom

and Gomorrah

on the day of

judgment

than it will be

for you

what's Jesus

saying

Matthew's warning

us against

following the

crowds

in Matthew's

gospel

like in life

and particularly

in a digital

world

social media

the crowds

are always

deceptive

Jesus is never

without a crowd

the crowds

are always right

there

they're

howling

they're

cheering him

on

they're applauding

him

they're loving

what he's

doing

but these

same crowds

are never

described as

following him

with faith

and repentance

they may be

amazed

they may

say generic

platitudes

of praise

and wonder

but they may

even be

grateful for

who Jesus

and what he

does

but they

never turn

to Jesus

in faith

and repentance

they never

come to

Jesus

for forgiveness

of sins

and they never

experience the

life transforming

power of his

grace

the

crowds

of Capernaum

they see

Jesus

in flesh

and blood

more than

anyone else

Jesus

considers

their city

his hometown

the crowds

hear his

sermon

live and

in person

they witness

his miracles

with his

own eyes

they are

amazed

they are

astonished

they are

filled with

awe

but friends

are never

filled with

faith

and they

never

follow him

and they

never

experience

his

life

transforming

power

of the

gospel

contrast

that with

verse 9

Jesus

is walking

along the

roads

and he

sees this

man

called

Matthew

Matthew

is a

tax

collector

one of

the most

hated

men

ancient

Israel

society

but don't

feel sorry

for him

he's chosen

that job

because it's

well paying

he makes

a lot

of money

Matthew

may not

have respect

of society

but his

bank balance

is pretty

good

Jesus

comes up

to him

and he

says

follow me

and Matthew

gets up

and he

leaves

everything

behind

and he

follows

him

Matthew

doesn't

say

you know

geez

I've

got a

big

bonus

coming

in

Matthew

doesn't

say

just give

me a

couple

of

months

I just need

to tie up

some family

deals

some loose

ends

in the

ancient

world

tax collectors

that often

paid up

front a

license

to collect

taxes

they paid

a big

sum up

front

and then

they could

collect the

taxes

retrospectively

Matthew

walks away

from all

of it

he says

Jesus

you have

my

life

friends

can I

ask you

this

morning

are you

one of

the

crowd

or are

you

like

Matthew

are you

one of

those

that have

in some

part

inspired by

Jesus

you're

encouraged by

the

testimonies

you're

wired by