The Scandal of Grace
Notes
Transcript
Sermon Introduction
Sermon Introduction
Good Morning Church.
Today’s message is called “The Scandal of Grace.”
We will be focusing on the process of Grace.
We are continuing our study of the Gospel of Mark.
So, please turn your Bibles to Mark chapter 2.
We will be examining verses 13 through 17.
From these passages, we find the Process of Grace:
Step 1: Hearing
Step 2: Calling
Step 3: Healing
Opening Prayer
Opening Prayer
Before we consider the text, please join me in prayer...
Opening Illustration
Opening Illustration
In an article titled, “The Scandal of Sheer Grace” by Trevin Wax, Christian author and Senior Vice President of Theology and Communications at LifeWay, said:
“Consider the example of Jeffrey Dahmer, the notorious serial killer who murdered and dismembered 17 men and boys.
His crimes are the most horrifying things you can imagine.
They defy comprehension.
Dahmer was captured in 1991 and imprisoned.
He died in 1994 when a fellow inmate beat him to death.
But before he died, when he was in prison, it is said he repented of his sinful past and put his faith in Christ.
Could it be possible that Jeffrey Dahmer, one of the most evil men to ever live, was granted eternal life?
And could it be possible that a sweet old lady who never trusts in Christ would face judgment?
If that scenario bothers you (because you think the awful criminal deserves eternal judgment, but the kind, decent woman deserves eternal life), you haven’t truly grasped just how radical the gospel of grace is.
It means that, deep down, you still think good people go to heaven and bad people to go hell.
But the gospel shatters that whole way of thinking.
Scripturally speaking, there are no good people.
We all have sinned.
We have turned away like sheep and gone astray.
We all have raised a fist toward our Maker to say, “I want my life my way!”
The radical message of the gospel is that our problem—sin—is worse than anything we could ever imagine.
But also that the solution—grace—is better than anything we could ever deserve.
Through repentance and faith, any sinner no matter how great the offense receives access to God through the cross of Jesus Christ.
Hell is full of people who think they deserve heaven.
Heaven is full of people who know they deserve hell.”
Reading of the Text
Reading of the Text
Mark 2:13-17
13 He went out again beside the sea, and all the crowd was coming to him, and he was teaching them.
14 And as he passed by, he saw Levi the son of Alphaeus sitting at the tax booth, and he said to him, “Follow me.” And he rose and followed him.
15 And as he reclined at table in his house, many tax collectors and sinners were reclining with Jesus and his disciples, for there were many who followed him.
16 And the scribes of the Pharisees, when they saw that he was eating with sinners and tax collectors, said to his disciples, “Why does he eat with tax collectors and sinners?”
17 And when Jesus heard it, he said to them, “Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick. I came not to call the righteous, but sinners.”
Step 1: Hearing
Step 1: Hearing
Verse 13: He went out again beside the sea, and all the crowd was coming to him, and he was teaching them.
The first step is always hearing.
This is why the preaching and teaching of the Gospel is essential.
Romans sums this up perfectly for us:
13 For “everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.”
14 How then will they call on him in whom they have not believed? And how are they to believe in him of whom they have never heard? And how are they to hear without someone preaching?
15 And how are they to preach unless they are sent? As it is written, “How beautiful are the feet of those who preach the good news!”
16 But they have not all obeyed the gospel. For Isaiah says, “Lord, who has believed what he has heard from us?”
17 So faith comes from hearing, and hearing through the word of Christ.
So, we see that for a person to have faith, they would have needed to hear first.
Step 2: Calling
Step 2: Calling
Verse 14: And as he passed by, he saw Levi the son of Alphaeus sitting at the tax booth, and he said to him, “Follow me.” And he rose and followed him.
The call of Levi is presented in its barest essentials.
Mark records his name, his occupation, the word addressed to him and his response.
No attempt is made to identify him further.
These facts indicate that Mark is concerned to illustrate the radical character of Jesus’ call, and that it is the nature of the call, rather than the name of the one called, which is of primary importance.
Levi, better know as Matthew, was a tax collector.
As a tax collector he could be either an independent contractor with the Roman government, who paid a fee to Rome to obtain the right to extract taxes from the people in a certain area, with an added fee for the collector and his employees; or he might have also been a toll collector for Herod Antipas as Matthew is as recorded in our passage.
Capernaum was an area with a high traffic of people and merchants.
Often, these people were either corrupt or perceived to be corrupt in that they would collect more than was necessary and pocket the extra themselves.
So, Matthew, being a tax collector, would have been a very unpopular individual and would have been considered to be a Roman-sympathizer, a traitor to the people of Isreal.
Additionally, a Jew who collected taxes was disqualified as a judge or witness in court, expelled from the synagogue, and a cause of disgrace to his family.
Jews were forbidden to receive money and even alms from tax collectors since revenue from taxes was deemed robbery.
Jewish teachers even told fellow Jews that they could lie to tax collectors without sinning.
Tax collectors were a reminders of Roman domination so they where utterly detested.
The touch of a tax collector rendered a person unclean.
Remember the Pharisee's prideful prayer in Luke 18:11:
11 The Pharisee, standing by himself, prayed thus: ‘God, I thank you that I am not like other men, extortioners, unjust, adulterers, or even like this tax collector.
This makes it all the more remarkable when we see Jesus’ personal call to Matthew.
The simple action of Matthew following Jesus signified an extraordinary event.
This signified his conversion.
His immediate response indicates that Matthew was already convicted of his sin and recognized his need of forgiveness.
The word for “follow” (Akolouthein in the Greek) is used in the Gospels only of Jesus’ disciples, never of those who oppose him.
Occurring nineteen times in Mark, “following” is a term that describes the proper response of faith, and is practically synonymous with faith.
“Following” is an act that involves risk and cost; it is something one does, not simply what one thinks or believes.
This personal call, in a lot of ways, is very much similar to the calling forth of Lazarus from the grave:
43 When he had said these things, he cried out with a loud voice, “Lazarus, come out.”
Not everyone will respond to the Gospel:
57 As they were going along the road, someone said to him, “I will follow you wherever you go.”
58 And Jesus said to him, “Foxes have holes, and birds of the air have nests, but the Son of Man has nowhere to lay his head.”
59 To another he said, “Follow me.” But he said, “Lord, let me first go and bury my father.”
60 And Jesus said to him, “Leave the dead to bury their own dead. But as for you, go and proclaim the kingdom of God.”
61 Yet another said, “I will follow you, Lord, but let me first say farewell to those at my home.”
62 Jesus said to him, “No one who puts his hand to the plow and looks back is fit for the kingdom of God.”
Jesus makes it clear, only His sheep will recognize His voice.
He already knows them and has a relationship with them.
They are the one’s who will follow Him, which is essential in order to be a genuine Christian:
27 My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me.
10 For the Son of Man came to seek and to save the lost.”
Followers of Jesus must also be His servants:
26 If anyone serves me, he must follow me; and where I am, there will my servant be also. If anyone serves me, the Father will honor him.
One can’t claim to follow Jesus and live a hypocritical life.
9 Everyone who goes on ahead and does not abide in the teaching of Christ, does not have God. Whoever abides in the teaching has both the Father and the Son.
So, How does He already know them, His sheep, before they even respond to the Gospel?
How does He have a relationship with them before they even know Him?
His sheep where known before the foundations of the world.
Let us look to Romans once again:
30 And those whom he predestined he also called, and those whom he called he also justified, and those whom he justified he also glorified.
Before all creation, God had a plan for His sheep.
He is the one who calls us.
He is the one who first loved us based on nothing that we would or wouldn’t do.
But not only this.
Those whom are called will also be justified in the Father’s eyes.
But not only this.
Those whom He justifies will also be glorified in Heaven.
This is the hope that is set before up.
These are the unwavering promises of God as it says in Romans 8:28:
28 And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose.
Step 3: Healing
Step 3: Healing
Verses 15-17: And as he reclined at table in his house, many tax collectors and sinners were reclining with Jesus and his disciples, for there were many who followed him. And the scribes of the Pharisees, when they saw that he was eating with sinners and tax collectors, said to his disciples, “Why does he eat with tax collectors and sinners?” And when Jesus heard it, he said to them, “Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick. I came not to call the righteous, but sinners.”
It is important for us to understand the significance of eating a meal in the 1st century Jewish culture.
This activity of participating in a meal was significant and often communicated the agreement between the dining parties.
Jesus’ actions where controversial and shocking.
In other words, it was scandalous.
But look at Jesus’ response to His critics.
The NLT translates the last part of this passage as, “I have come to call not those who think they are righteous, but those who know they are sinners.”
And this really captures the thought of what Jesus was saying.
We need a Physician to heal us.
And that Physician is Jesus Christ.
But He does not only bring us from death to life, He continues to heal us.
All genuine believers experience a process of sanctification.
The process of Sanctification in the life of a believer is best described by the following verses:
20 I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. And the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.
In order to be born again, we must first die to this world.
We no longer are spiritually dead, being lead by the flesh.
But we are reborn, becoming spiritually alive, and are now lead by the Spirit.
18 And we all, with unveiled face, beholding the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from one degree of glory to another. For this comes from the Lord who is the Spirit.
We are made Christ-like by power of the Holy Spirit.
We should also go back to Romans and realize what we have been predestined to become:
29 For those whom he foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, in order that he might be the firstborn among many brothers.
So, we are predestined from an eternity past, to be conformed to the image of Jesus Christ.
This is why a genuine follower of Christ, over time, becomes more Christ-like.
What does becoming Christ-like look like?
22 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness,
23 gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law.
Closing Illustration
Closing Illustration
An old Native American chief, after living many years in sin, was led to Christ by a missionary.
Friends asked him to explain the change in his life.
Reaching down, he picked up a little worm and placed it on a pile of leaves.
Then, touching a match to the leaves, he watched them smolder and burst into flames.
As the flames worked their way up to the center where the worm lay, the old chief suddenly plunged his hand into the center of the burning pile and snatched out the worm.
Holding the worm gently in his hand, he gave this testimony to the grace of God:
“Me … that worm!
Closing of Service
Closing of Service
Remember, by God’s standard, regardless of your past, regardless of your merits, you are guilty.
9 What then? Are we Jews any better off? No, not at all. For we have already charged that all, both Jews and Greeks, are under sin,
10 as it is written: “None is righteous, no, not one;
11 no one understands; no one seeks for God.
12 All have turned aside; together they have become worthless; no one does good, not even one.”
13 “Their throat is an open grave; they use their tongues to deceive.” “The venom of asps is under their lips.”
14 “Their mouth is full of curses and bitterness.”
15 “Their feet are swift to shed blood;
16 in their paths are ruin and misery,
17 and the way of peace they have not known.”
18 “There is no fear of God before their eyes.”
Only He can soften your heart.
Only He can call you to life.
So, surrender to Him.
Beg Him to change your heart.
Repent of your sin.
Repent of your wicked life.
And turn to the only one who can save you from the full wrath of God.
Turn to Jesus.
Paul said:
15 The saying is trustworthy and deserving of full acceptance, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners, of whom I am the foremost.
So, you are never too far gone.
Just remember:
12 And there is salvation in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved.”
All the Glory to God.
Amen.