The King of Mercy

All right, y'all, Well, today's scripture reading is coming out

of Matthew Chapter 9. Matthew Chapter 9.

Matthew 9 · chapter mention Matthew 9 · chapter mention

If you're using the Bible in the seat in front of you, it's on

page 763. We're starting Matthew Chapter

Matthew 9 · chapter mention

9, starting in verse 9. 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. This is God's word.

Good morning Port City family and friends.

How are we doing? Good.

Well, my name is Ron. I am one of the pastors here and

it is a delight for me to be able to walk with you and and to

teach guys Word this morning. I want to start off with the

question, have you ever had sort of an experience that turned out

completely different than what you thought?

One of those moments where something happens and you're

like, well, that's not at all what I thought would happen.

Well, I had one of those moments recently.

I had a, an appointment at the cardiologist.

So my primary doctor wanted me to go to the cardiologist

because when I'm sleeping, sometimes my heartbeat is goes

under 40 beats per per minute. All right.

And so they wanted me to just check it out, make sure

everything was good. And so I am in the cardiologist

appointment and I'm there and the nurse comes in and she says

we're going to do an EKG. And I had heard that, but I had

no idea, no concept of what that meant.

So I began to prepare for the absolute worst.

And so she begins to like clip all of the put all these

stickers and these clips on my chest and I'm like, I'm about to

be in like shock and like all kinds of pain.

I am nervous. And then she like clips, clips,

clips. And then as soon as she gets

done, she's like, all right, we're done.

I'm like, wait, what? Like you spent all this time

clipping me, putting all these stickers and the moment she got

done, I mean, it was over. And I'm like, wow, that was not

at all what I thought it was. B No shocks, no pain, no

nothing. All right, maybe you've had a

similar experience where you've gone to a restaurant that you

heard was really, really good and you got there and you're

like, Nah, this isn't it. This is not what I heard.

It was going to be like, or, or maybe you tried something new

for the first time and it was like it, it, it was better than

you thought. You're like, man, I, I could do

that again. Well, in our passage today,

there's certainly a similar experience where there is the,

the Pharisees, they, they certainly had an idea of what

the Messiah would be like and what his mission was.

And so there was this moment where really what they saw was

very different than what they saw Jesus do.

In other words, his, their expectations of who he was and

what he would do, it shattered what he actually, well, what he

did actually shattered those expectations.

And so as we are taking notes here, here's sort of the main

idea for our text. It says the main idea is that

the King of Mercy calls sinners, communes with sinners, and

cleanses sinners. Now I chose to use the word

sinners because the text does. I I understand that, you know,

for for many of us, maybe if we are don't have a church

background, to be called a Sinner is maybe abrasive and and

what we're going to talk about that.

But so to define sinners as the Bible does it just to be a

Sinner just means that your, your life misses the mark.

It misses the mark of God's standard of perfection.

And so rather than living in God's world his way according to

his will, according to his sort of standards and character and

demands, you sort of choose to live your own way.

And so Matthew Chapter 9, verses 9 through 13.

Matthew 9:9–13

What it does not do is it does not create a category of good

people and a category of bad people, but rather what it does

is it shows us that God's mercy desires to reach all of those

people, especially those who recognize their need.

Because we're going to see that there's going to be some people

who did not think that they were in need.

And I bet there's some people in here today that they think their

life is pretty good. I know if I'm being honest,

sometimes I struggle to get a sense of my need for God.

And so my hope is that by looking at Matthew's call by

Jesus that we would see that God, he really is not building a

Kingdom based on status and performance, but rather on mercy

and grace. And so if you are in here and

maybe you're like, Nope, I actually, I sense my need.

Maybe you're feeling broken. Maybe there's some difficult

things that you are walking through this morning.

I hope that you would be encouraged because God desires

to extend his mercy, his grace, his love to you for whatever it

is that you are in and walking through.

And so before we continue, let's let's just pray together and

let's dive into the text. Father, what?

What we are not. Father, would you make us?

Would what we have not? Father, would you give us what

we know not? Father, would you please teach

us? And Father, would the words of

my mouth and the meditations of my heart, Father, would it be

pleasing and acceptable to you? God, you are our rock, You are

our Redeemer, and we need you. This morning it's in your

beautiful name we pray. Amen.

Hey, so if you are new with us, we've been walking through this

series for the last seven weeks called The Authority of the

King. And so up into this point we

have seen Jesus. He has displayed his authority

over disease, over demons, over even nature.

And so last week, Pastor Will, he walked us through the

beginning of Chapter 9 and we see that Jesus healed A

paralytic man and forgive, forgave him of his sin.

And so that is where we find ourselves today.

So first point that we are going to see is the mercy the King of

mercy calls sinners. So looking at verse 9, it says

as Jesus passed on from there, he saw a man called Matthew

sitting at the text booth and he said to him, follow me, and he

rose and followed him. And so as we look at these

verses, we see Jesus begin to do something that was completely

unexpected, just like my experience at the cardiologist.

It wasn't what I thought it would be.

Jesus's actions here is not what the people thought he would do.

See, because Jesus was a rabbi, he was that means teacher.

And so somebody in his position it, they would look after or go

and find people that were the most gifted, right?

So rabbis, they were looking for the most skilled, sort of the

brightest apprentices to follow them because they're following

would say something about them, right?

And so they were looking for the elite, all right.

And so to follow a rabbi really was based on being selected.

It was based on it was being earned based on sort of your

skill, All right. And Jesus does the complete

opposite here. In calling Matthew, Jesus wasn't

concerned about his reputation, but rather about what he was

going to do in his life to clean up their reputation.

So the first person we see Jesus call is a guy named Matthew.

Matthew. Matthew is a Jewish tax

collector. And so tax collectors are seen

as hated. They are greedy traders because

it is their jobs to collect taxes from their very own people

on behalf of the Roman Empire, the very people that were

oppressing them. And so many times these tax

collectors would be stationed along trade routes and people

would come and they would not only tax them, but they would

overtax them. And so in order to make money,

all right, And so these people were seen as greedy.

They would again betray their own people for the sake of

wealth, for the sake of, yeah, getting getting rich.

And so to society, these tax collectors were despised.

They were certainly unclean because of their dealings with

Gentiles. They were unfit for for worship.

And so again, this goes against all eyes, right?

God calling this type of person was certainly not what the

Pharisees or anybody at that time would have thought that

Jesus would have called. But God didn't see them in their

circumstances. God didn't see just their

reputation as they were. God saw beyond that.

He saw beyond and really not just he didn't just see a cheat,

but he saw somebody who would be changed by his grace, what he

would do in their lives. And so Matthew calls them that

word calls means to summon, to invite into sort of a

relationship. And so these were the very

people that were outcasts, but Jesus sees them again.

I love that. He said he saw that he saw them

and he invited them. He called them, He said follow

me. See, his call showed that sin

didn't exclude any exclude them from God's Kingdom.

It was the very reason that he came.

So Jesus is redefining what it means to be called by God

because the Pharisees in the religious elite, they thought,

you know, those who were true to, to God would be those who

were doing all the things they thought the the ones that would,

you know, that were worthy of being followers of God, of Jesus

would be those that were the elite.

And so I, I don't know about you, but I remember when I was

young and you know, I was playing kickball or, or

dodgeball. I know I hated to be picked

last. Like I just, you know, I, I, you

know, I'm like, man, I know my arm's not that strong, like I

can't throw it, but please don't I, I don't want to be the last

one picked in sort of that type of environment.

Often I was, but nevertheless, right, you know, in in this

situation, right, Matthew being picked last.

Imagine sort of, you know, you're the weak link and the the

person comes up to you says, hey, you know what, you're the

captain now you get to pick the team.

You know, that's kind of what we see here.

Like Matthew was the last person that anyone would have thought

that Jesus would have called to follow him.

But yet Jesus does and again, it is to communicate, to convey, to

show us that Jesus Kingdom is not about recruiting the most

impressive. It is about redeeming those that

are outcast, redeeming those that are not fit for the the the

job. So if you again, if you are

thinking to yourself like I'm not, maybe I'm not the, the the

most eloquent or, or I can't, you know, there's things I can't

do or, or you know, I have insecurities of my own.

What whatever those things are, God, you know, when we consider

Matthew's story, God certainly would choose someone who the

world despises again, and he does this all throughout

Scripture. We see God delight in choosing

people that the world discards. Again, the world does it prizes

success and status and performance.

And again, we, if we're not careful, we can begin to desire

and to look at people in light of those same, you know,

definitions. But you know, he call somebody

who seemed least deserving, and that's what he does in his

mercy. And so again, I love the way

first Corinthians 127 it reminds us that God uses the the what

the world considers foolish or weak to shame the strong and the

wise, revealing that his Kingdom is not built on merit or

achievement, but on grace alone on grace alone, regardless of

what we we've done last year, last month, last night, like he

our past does not qualify us from God's grace.

And and we see that in Matthews story again we see Matthew

responding by just following him.

He he leaves his tax booth and he immediately follows Jesus.

And so, you know, again, I think you know, for us, right,

repentance means again, following God, beginning to

agree with with God about who we are with about God as it relates

to our sin. And I love again, Matthew's

response is immediate, right? There was no tryouts, no resume,

no conditions, qualifications, none of that.

He just enters life with God, not by his effort, but by God's

calling. And he is just obedient to that.

And that term to follow is a it's a present imperative, which

just means continue following, right?

And so again, this call to follow was not like a A1 time

decision, but it was a lifelong commitment, a lifelong

allegiance to follow, follow Jesus.

And that's important for us because the call for the

believer is the same call every single day.

It's to take up our cross and to follow Jesus.

Again, having a moment is is great, but to truly walk with

God, it requires a daily recognizing who God is in

submitting to his reality. And so you know, the question of

whether or not we are following is is not the question is not

whether or not we are following. It is what we are following who

or what we are following right. We we all are following someone

somewhere. The question really is, is based

on what we're following, where is it taking us?

I, I was thinking about a couple months ago when we were going to

shop for our kids for the start of the school year, we were

going to go to Once Upon a Child and we were going to go to this

new location. And because we hadn't been there

before, so we put it into the GPS and we followed the

directions and it takes us to the middle of nowhere.

And I'm like, there's no what's upon a child.

That's why we had never been there, because it didn't exist.

And so, you know, again, the reality is, is like we are

following something. And the thing that we're

following, we think is going to lead us to something.

That's how sin works. It promises arrival to a

destination, but yet it leads to emptiness over and over and over

again. And so again, the question is

again, who am I following? What am I following?

Only following Jesus leads to life, only following Jesus least

to life. Let's continue on in verse 10 it

says and as Jesus reclined at the table in the house, behold,

many tax collectors and sinners came and were reclining with

Jesus and his disciples. I love that Matthew meets Jesus,

gets this invitation to follow him and throws a party, invites

everybody all this tax collectors and friends and he he

throws this party. I thought this was was really

cool. We, we, I want to throw up a

picture. This idea of reclining at the

table was is different than just having somebody over for a meal.

I need you to see these brothers are laying down while they I

like to lay down and eat too. And you know, they're laying

down there. I mean, on one arm they're

reaching and and sharing food and there is a very intimate

sort of time like, you know, this, this is a intimate

experience. So to recline at the table in

the 1st century, it's, it's sort of a big deal, right?

It means you can go and take that, that picture down now, you

know, to, to recline at table really does.

It's a sign of friendship, of deep fellowship, of acceptings

of belonging. And so again, Jesus is, you

know, didn't just call him, but he communes with the tax

collectors and the sinners. And again, it just shows that

God's, you know, his, his Kingdom is open to the very

people that everyone else had written off.

Everyone else had. Again, it showed a love, a care,

a concern. Jesus is, you know, he is

fellowshipping with them it there there's a bit of an

agreement when they are together and the Pharisees they see this

and they have their like this is not what I thought moment all

right, this is not what I thought was going to happen.

And how did they respond? They were outraged.

They they in verse 11 it says when the Pharisees saw this,

they said to the disciples notice they didn't go directly

to Jesus right. Why does your teacher eat with

the tax collectors and sinners? Because this was an offense to

the Pharisees, Because this was sort of shattering the the

religious culture that they were trying to create.

These people were morally corrupt.

They were jacked up. They were the ones most unlikely

to be used. Why is Jesus communing with

them? See, the Pharisees, you know,

they expected that the Messiah would be ones who would

separate, who would maybe crush the sinful and support the

righteous. Their view of holiness means

meant to stay away from the unclean.

But Jesus revealed that true holiness meant moving toward the

broken. He didn't come to protect his

purity from the sinners, but he came to share his mercy with

them. And every person at the table

was undeserving, every single one of them.

And yet every single one of them was invited.

That's what the King of Mercy does.

He welcomes the unworthy, the Pharisees.

They wanted a party of the elite, the best of the best, the

cream of the crop. But Jesus wanted his table to to

look more like a family reunion. Awkward conversations, messy

people, someone always asking some dumb questions, right?

But that's where his grace shines the brightest.

It is in the middle of the mess. And see the Pharisees, they

measured righteousness by sort of a distance from sin, but

Jesus measured it by compassion towards sinners.

Again, the Pharisees, they measured righteousness by

distance from sin, but Jesus measured it by compassion

towards sinners. And they could not imagine a

Messiah like this that that would commune with the least of

these. And but that's what he came to

do. And so this again, tension sort

of sets up the the heart of the gospel.

See, Jesus, he is not defiled by imperfect people, but he

cleanses them by his presence. The Pharisees couldn't

understand him. So Jesus went on further to

explain his mission point #3 the King of mercy cleanses sinners.

Verses 12 and 13. 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. See, Jesus continues to.

He's explaining his missions to the Pharisees with a clear

analogy of the physician and the sick.

A doctor doesn't, you know, get repulsed or avoid the sick.

He goes to them and that's in the physician is the person who

heals, the one who brings about wholeness and restoration.

And the sick is those who are bad off, who are ill, who are in

distress, who are in need. And Jesus says I am the

physician of souls. I came to those for those who

know that they are sick guys, remember the the you know the

story that about the cardiologist.

Well, when I was at that, when the doctor finally did come in

with my EKG results, he, he was real casual.

He asked me a bunch of questions like you got this and this and

this and he like ratted them off real quick.

I was like Nope, Nope, Nope, Nope, Nope.

And he was like not concerned at all.

And he's like, man, I don't even feel the need to like run any

tests. I'm sure he would have responded

differently had I said yes to all those questions.

But you see, you know, again, those who are sick, the, the

doctor moves toward them. But he's like, man, you're,

you're fine. You know, like I, I hear you've

been running a lot. It's common for runners to, you

know, their heart rate to be low.

But you know, so he was not concerned.

And so the Pharisees, you know, they were sitting in the waiting

room kinda like, I'm fine, like I'm good.

I don't really need, like, I'm not in need.

But they were everything but. And Jesus as the great

physician, he was ready to heal them, but they refused to admit

that they were in need. And again, this is back to kind

of the the fact that this can be offensive because most people

are fine admitting that they need a little help.

Most people are fine with admitting they need a little

coaching. But the idea that they are sick,

that they are maybe beyond that, like dead in their sin, it can

be hard to swallow. And it certainly was for the

Pharisees. See, they thought they were

healthy, they thought they were righteous.

They were fine because of their adherence to the law, but Jesus

tries to, you know, even extend grace and mercy to them by going

to Hosea 6HE quotes Hosea 6/6 and again, they knew they knew

the, the, the word. They knew the, the Old

Testament. And so he quotes Hosea 6 says he

says, I desire mercy and not sacrifice.

See, in a Hosea's day, they were keeping all of the rituals, but

yet their hearts were far from God.

They performed a lot of religious activity with no

compassion. And that's exactly what the

Pharisees were doing. They were keeping the law but

missing God's heart and God isn't he's not impressed by our

spiritual checklist, our church attendance, our spiritual

disciplines. Those things matter.

Don't don't mishear me, but without hearts of mercy.

Jesus is saying you've studied, you know all of these things,

but you have missed the point. I love Jesus response.

You know, just real petty like you, you know all of these

things. You you, you might have

memorized the tour by that time you were 12, but you missed the

whole point of the scriptures. He says go and learn y'all

again, it is it's possible for for us to miss again.

It's not again they thought based.

This is what the the Pharisees got right.

They got right that Jesus's standard was perfection.

So they were trying to live up to the law.

They thought and they thought that they could obtain it.

They but they got it wrong because they thought they could

obtain it based on how they lived and and didn't need His

grace and mercy. Friends, God is not impressed by

outward religion if it lacks inward compassion.

He wants a heart that reflects mercy.

The Pharisees, they weren't truly righteous, they just

thought they were and so Jesus reminds them in US why he came.

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

Again, He is not saying you are righteous.

No, He is actually saying This is why I came.

I came to save those who knew that they or who knows that they

are sinners. The Pharisees, again, they did

not think that they need it mercy.

They thought they could earn it. They didn't think that they

could that they need it. Grace they thought they could

earn based on their performance. And this is the heartbeat of the

Gospel. The king of mercy didn't come to

congratulate the righteous. He came to rescue the guilty,

and his rescue mission would lead him all the way to the

cross. See, when Jesus called Matthew,

he knew what it would cost. The king of mercy would have to

bear the penalty of sin so that he could be set free on the

cross. The sinless King took the place

of the guilty, and so he was the one who was cast out so we could

be brought in. He was the one who absorbed our

sickness so that we could be healed.

He was the one who endured rejection so that we could be

treated as the sons and daughters of God.

And so in this passage we meet a Savior who turns, who uses mercy

to turn the world upside down. He calls the unworthy, He

fellowships with the unclean, He heals the broken with his

presence. He extends mercy to all who need

it. So as we seek to begin to apply

this passage to our lives, here's here's a couple things

that we can. Here's how we can apply it.

Friends, remember where he found you.

We must not forget where he found us.

Like Matthew, like we were all sitting in our own text booth,

whatever that might be for you of sin and shame.

I know for me it was just a very prideful thinking that I could

be good enough on my own. Or maybe it was a lifestyle of

sin that just if you know, this is what the good life is.

But Jesus, he saw us, he called us and he made us his own.

And you know, I love, you know, Matthew's response, even what it

says, it says and he rose, right, That that that word rose

is the exact same verb that was used to describe Jesus's

resurrection. There was a resurrection that

happened. There was a new life that was

sprung forth when Jesus called Matthew and he responded in

obedience. And so that is again, we're

going to be celebrating A baptism even today.

And, and again, that is what baptism shows.

It shows that, you know, when we, when we agree with God about

our sin, when we confess it, when we place our faith in him,

the old man is gone, the new has come.

And so baptism, when you go under and come up, it symbolizes

this reality that has happened. A new there's a new creation, a

new creature is being formed by the Spirit.

And so other ways we can apply this.

Believers, let's share the table.

Share the table. The mercy we've received should

reflect, be reflected in how we treat others, especially the

ones that the world overlooks. Also, let us reflect his heart.

If our King desires mercy and not sacrifice, then his Church

should be marked by mercy and our words and our actions and

our attitudes. We should reflect His

compassion. We should be friends of sinners,

not arrogant, prideful people who judge others because of what

they're going through or walking in.

It should be our desire to connect imperfect people to our

great Savior, as He has been to us.

Should we be to others. See, Matthew begins the story by

sitting alone in a tax booth, and he ends the story sitting at

the table. I love that.

That's what mercy does. It moves us from isolation to

invitation. See, my, my heart, when I went

to the cardiologist, it was fine.

Y'all, don't be worried. My heart's good.

It's pumping fine, all right. But even though it's physically

fine, it's spiritually sick. As is the diagnosis for all of

us. Because I know the evil in my

own heart. And we are.

Our hearts are deceitful, they are wicked, they are sick, Yet

the King of mercy, He moves toward the sick and not away

from them. He didn't come for people who

think that they are fine. He came so that they could

experience His grace and mercy. And His mercy is still the cure

today. Don't think that you got to

clean yourself up in order to come to Goddess.

It's it's almost like trying to, you know, perform your own

surgery after watching a YouTube video like I'm, he's like, put

the scalpel down. No, don't do it.

I got you. My mercy.

God calls, he calls imperfect people.

And even in our walk with Christ, I want to say this

because I, I feel this is important.

You know, even in our walk with Christ, we remain imperfect.

It's often times we, you know, the ones who've been walking

with God, try to maybe hide our imperfections.

Oh, we try to act as if we got it all together.

No, that's not at all. Listen, if you are Christian and

you're still struggling with XI need you to know that's why he

came. Yeah, he he didn't, he didn't

abstract you from. You're not going to walk

perfectly with him. You might still be struggling

with X sin for the rest of your life, but he can handle it.

He's more powerful than the sin that you are struggling with.

And so don't think to yourself, well, I again, I need to get rid

of this before I can actually be used by God.

Now, of course, this isn't a pass to say, Hey, continue in

your sin. There is a, a way to sort of,

you know, be a Christian and be a hypocrite that is

intentionally trying to live a double life.

But that is not to say that you can't struggle with sin.

We are, you know, there is no good people and bad people.

There is bad people in Jesus and we're going to struggle with sin

until he comes back. And so again, let us be freed.

You know, like if there is sin that we need to confess, do

confess it. There is power in forgiven or in

confession and He works and heals us through that.

But also don't get it twisted that don't think that because

you are struggling with eggs, you are disqualified.

Again, He's not called you because you were ever qualified.

You're not qualified, never will be qualified, but He desires to

use you. And so again, the King of mercy,

he is calling us, and his call is not to the righteous, but

it's the sinners. By his grace, Jesus calls

sinners not to clean themselves up, but to come as they are.

And one day the King of mercy will sit at an eternal table,

the merit supper of the Lamb. And so let's throw our mercy,

throw ourselves upon the mercy of God today.

Will you guys pray? Pray with me, King Jesus.

God, I thank you that you are the King of mercy.

You are the one who calls God. You are the one who heals.

You are the one who invites us to your table.

God forgive us for the times that we have acted like

Pharisees, that we didn't need you.

Instead of following your heart, we sought to try to earn

acceptance based on our performance.

God make us a people who desire mercy, desire to reflect mercy.

God give us compassion for a broken world.

God help us to to know to see our need is great, but to see

that our Savior is even greater. Father, I pray for those of us

who got it as we have listen, maybe there are sins that have

come to mind that have not been confessed.

Lord, I do pray that we would find a brother or sister and

that we would confess. But God I, I, I pray that that

that, that that would not lead us to shame or to guilt, but it

would to just allow us to be throw ourselves upon the mercy

of God, knowing that that is why you came.

And that God you, you meet us where we are, but you don't, we

don't stay there. God you, you change us.

God you, you make us more and more like Jesus by the power of

the spirit. And so, Father, I pray that we

would lean into that and God, I pray that as as a church port

city, God would we be ones who reflect the mercy of God and our

relationships with coworkers and friends and neighbors.

Father, would we not be one that look at people's sin and say how

could you or how could they? But God would.

We would look upon them with compassion and God that we would

seek to connect them to our Savior.

We love you, we praise you, sing your beautiful name.

Amen.