Forgiveness Envisioned

Psalm of the Day: Psalm 109:1-15

Scripture Reading: Isaiah 43:25-26 (Alan)

Isaiah 43:25–26 ESV

“I, I am he who blots out your transgressions for my own sake, and I will not remember your sins. Put me in remembrance; let us argue together; set forth your case, that you may be proved right.

Sermon

Good Morning Church! I was Glad when they said to me let us go and worship in the House of the Lord!

Well today we turn our attention as we are moving through the book of Matthew, in fact, if you are counting along with me this is the 21st sermon in our series through the book of Matthew. And we have made it to Matthew 9:9-13 this morning. And these verses, these 4 verse here are unique and very interesting in terms of the scope of all scripture.

many of us, if I were to ask you, and for many of you I have had this conversation, but one of the things that I find myself asking often as a pastor, maybe just getting to know people, or possibly on a membership application or in the interview, we ask: What is your testimony? and after years of asking that question what I have learned is that there are really two ways that people answer it. the first type is the ones who answer, Oh, I remember when I was saved like it was just yesterday. It was a cold and rainy Saturday March 28th 1998. I was in Such and such a church sitting in the fourth row six seats from the left. I remember the sermon word for word I remember walking forward. Some people are particular ad remember in great and vivid detail the moment that they were called and the moment they responded to that call to find forgiveness of sin and follow Jesus. The second way people answer, well this is the group I fit into. I couldn’t tell you a specific time or moment. Growing up baptist then spending some time in an assemblies of God church there were countless altar calls throughout my life where i felt guilt, probably, shame, most likely sometimes, and the leading of the Holy spirit, I would say yes. And So i responded to them. there have been many moments laying in bed or hunched over my desk in the dorms reading scripture or in a time of prayer and feeling pressed and drawn to respond to and move towards God. But to tell you just one moment, well, I don’t really have that. And as a note, there is nothing wrong with being in either group. Sometimes being in the vague details group we get a little jealous, but in reality there is nothing wrong with saying: the move in my life from death to life has been a journey. The change from darkness to holiness, the responding to a the call of Jesus on my life has been a long journey and I can’t really tell you the exact moment I started, but thank God, by the grace of God Here I am today.

Well Matthew, if We were to ask him his testimony, he would be in the first group, the “I know the exact time and place” group. And the reason I know that is because the passage we are reading today, and what makes it unique in many ways in all of Scripture, is because this is, in some sense Matthews Testimony. It is Matthew writing about the time when Christ would call him. It is a beautiful wonderful section of Matthew. Some of these you have heard before, it will close with a famous phrases spoken by Jesus, but all of it will be nourishing to our souls this morning.

So with that being said, lets read our passage in its entirety.

Matthew 9:9–13 ESV

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.”

These are the words of the Lord for us this morning. Lets begin with a word of prayer.

PRAY

So Matthew you here shortly and quickly gives us his testimony. He is sitting in a tax booth, Jesus comes and Jesus says “follow me” Matthew says OK and then he invites Jesus to dinner and then the rest of the story unfolds. And that's really it on a surface level reading that is even truly what is happening on a deeper level. but as always, we cannot forget and must remember the context because it is very clear and important for us to see what exactly Matthew is doing. Why did he put this, his testimony right here in the book?

If we remember back to last week we reached the culmination of the six miracle narratives, each one building upon the thought that Jesus has authority. And we ended on this thought: Jesus has the authority to forgive sins! Jesus has the authority to look at a paralytic man and say: your sins are forgiven. This shocked the world. changing that mans life, changing in a real way, for all of eternity all those who would hear those blessed words: your sins are forgiven. and so here, at this moment, upon reflecting on the authority of Jesus to forgive sins, Matthew gives us a beautiful and perfect picture of what that forgiveness looks like. He wasn't us to SEE forgiveness as he knows it best, in his own life

Forgiveness is seen in a ...

It is not just that we go around saying “Jesu forgives sin.” He does forgive sins. but here Matthew looks deep into his own heart and deep at his own life and says I can tell you exactly what that feels, looks, sounds like. He is going to tell us, fist hand what forgiveness is. Straight from the mouth of one who has experienced it. so on the biggest level Forgiveness is seen in Matthews testimony.

In this story of how one man, one man named Matthew, who would hear a call form Jesus that would so profoundly change his life that he would move from being an outcast for God’s people. A rebel against his ow people, working for the evil roman empire, abusing, more than likely, his power. taking advantage of the situation that he found himself for his own greed and gain. He wold move from being a person who was a rebel and outcast to being called, moved and moved into being one of God’s people.

And Matthew was not just, and we need to be careful when we say this, for “the first shall be last and the last shall be first” and we know that when saved we are made a part of a kingdom and nation of priests unto God the Father” Galatians 3:28

Galatians 3:28 ESV

There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is no male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus.

so at a foundational level we are all equal. But I think it is fair to say that Matthew, as one of the disciples, Matthew as one who wrote Scripture under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, as one who witnessed who Jesus was, who talked to him in the flesh, he is in a high and lofty position even among the high and lofty position which is being one of God's people. And so Matthew wants to communicate to us what it means, what it looks like, what it feels like, how can we see what this forgiveness that Jesus offers looks like. And for Matthew it happens short and sweet. Verse 9.

Jesus is passing on from there - here they are in capernum, jesus base of operations for most of his ministry and he is passing on from there and Here is Matthew. sitting in his booth. Probably where he spent each and every day. Probably in a prominent place in the city. a place among all the merchants and traders, at the center of commerce wall street if you will. He had to be where the action was so he could make sure he was taxing every possible thing he could. and Jesus looks at this man sitting in a booth, probably sitting there counting all his ill gotten gains and Jesus simply says “follow me” and Matthew, hearing that call, rose and followed him. then off to dinner Jesus, and his new disciple, and the friends and colleges of this new disciple. and really that is it. the testimony of Matthew. But what is he communicating with this? a whole lot. there are really two main points I would like to make here this morning.

The first thing we see about forgiveness is that it is a SOVEREIGN CALL

… SOVEREIGN CALL …

It is worth noting and thinking through, once again, that we have to understand that this call, the call give to Matthew to come and experience forgiveness, the call to come and follow Jesus was a call given to him by his sovereign Lord. This becomes a key to understanding just about everything. We start here, the call to come taste forgiveness that emanates from the mouth of Jesus.

If you were to step back and think: how does Gods forgiveness work? or ask, more to the point, how do we, people appropriate the forgiveness of God. We might start, appropriately and scripturally, by saying that we get it “by grace through faith.” Ephesians 2: for you are saved by grace through faith this is not of works lest anyone should boast.” over and over again so that you cannot miss this. By grace you are saved through faith. But how do we get there? what is the impetus moving us to that point?

And what we see faithful in Scripture is that it is a sovereign call given by God. We noted this actually this last week in grace group. Like last week, when he just looks at the paralytic and forgives him, or here he just walks up and calls Matthew. It feels like Jesus is breaking all the rules of how forgiveness should work. How do we get God’s forgiveness. Well usually we say: you gotta feel guilty. you gotta feel some remorse, some sense of feeling bad, then you repent, THEN you respond to an altar call that some pastor gives, you gotta come to the front, you get prayed for and THAT is how you get forgiveness. But NONE of that is here for Matthew.

Matthew, by all accounts, was sitting there minding his own business, probably counting his money, either content with those gains, or looking for other places that he could, by any means he could think of, ethical or not, right or not, get more money. So just so we are all on the same page about how tax collectors worked back in the day. Based on what we know of Roman tax collectors. Matthew would have done VERY well for himself. Matthew would make his money by OVER taxing the people and keeping the proceeds. Rome would come to Matthew and say: you need to collect for us AT LEAST “x” amount of Money. and so Matthew would go to different places, different people and say” you need to give me all the money due”. and any money collected over and above what Rome said they needed He would get to keep. and it was a lucrative business, because you were doing this, but Rome was your goon squad. Rome backed you. they said, yes you get to collect that money, and so if you messed with Matthew, if you didn’t cooperate, then you got to deal with Rome.

So the case was now that there was this Jewish guy, Matthew, working for the enemy, Rome. Rome is the one that backs him up, facilitates and enables him to treat his ow people like dirt. Really thinking of it in terms of modern day wall street is a little helpful, because the things that are happening might not be illegal, in fact they might be perfectly legal, but at best they are hugely unethical. And really Rome is probably more happy the more wormy Matthew was because that keeps the people low, keeps them oppressed, keeps them mad at Matthew, and so the chances of rebellion are much less.

And so THAT is Matthew, sitting in his booth, minding his own business, and here comes Jesus. Matthew has probably heard of Jesus, Jesus fame has probably spread, but he has most likely not given much more thought to Jesus than, I wonder If i can figure out a way to tax that healing stuff. Yet sitting there, in his booth he hears a call, it is a call from his savior. “Follow me”. And while Matthew doesn’t get into the detail. We don’t know how it felt in the moment when the proverbial scales fell from his eyes, we don’t know exactly what brewed in his heart, but this we do know: he hears the call and he rises and follows Jesus.

We know for certain that he abandoned everything. Because Matthew who wrote this also wrote just one chapter ago, when two men wanted to follow jesus and came with the I will follow you BUT… will follow you wherever you go, BUT that who having no place to lay my head,, giving up the creature comforts, I wont do that. I would follow you BUT my father might not approve, I might forfeit the right to inherit all that money, so I will follow BUT… and Matthew has NONE of that. Matthew hears the call to abandon all and follow Jesus and Matthew responds! He rose and he followed him.

The call that comes from Jesus, is one that shakes us to our very core. when you hear the call to respond to the forgiveness available in Jesus Chrsit there is but one response: FOLLOW HIM. Forgiveness is shown in Jesus, the sovereign savior walking by this man’s tax booth and saying you! follow me!. among the however many tax collectors there, and however many people were clamoring ad crowding around Jesus it was Matthew that Jesus looked to and said follow me. And Matthew did. He responds to the call of his savior. Not because he was such a great person. Because he was not. Not because he was so righteous that Jesus desperately wanted Matthew to be a part of his crew, He was not. In fact, NO ONE wanted Matthew in their group. But simply because Jesus wanted him, Jesus called him. Matthew follow me.

Forgiveness is first and foremost seen in a sovereign call. but they very fact that Jesus would ever make this call is what makes the heart of this passage so beautiful. What is the real point of this passage? Every week I do a worksheet to help prepare my heart and mid for each passage and there is a question: what is the main idea or aim of this passage. Answer this in one sort sentence. And here I would say that it actually really easy to answer. the main idea or aim is given us in verse 13. Really the second half o verse 13. When Jesus says this: for I cam, not to call the righteous, but sinners.

Forgiveness is seen in a sovereign call. Jesus came to call, not the righteous. but it is a call given to sinners.

… given TO SINNERS !

first and foremost this is seen with Matthew. He is a tax collector, that's a bad job. But if you just read and understand what is being said. Matthew the tax collector is called. And remembering that you will be judged by the company you keep, this is very telling. They head on over to Matthew’s hose and who is there? Matthew 9:10

Matthew 9:10 ESV

And as Jesus reclined at table in the house, behold, many tax collectors and sinners came and were reclining with Jesus and his disciples.

but with context and what we know about How tax collectors were viewed we really could read this verse like this: Jesus came and reclined and behold, many sinners, and other sinners were reclining with Jesus. wretched people that NO ONE wants to deal with. you don;t dine with tax collectors, they are the jerk enemy, they are outcast. we don’t like them. they are rebels and traitors, not just to us, but to God’s people as a whole. they are awful people. and then, once you are an outcast like a tax collector who are you going to hang out with? other outcasts, other sinners. Most likely prostitutes, criminals. people who no one else wants to spend time with, no one else wants to talk to, that who Jesu doesn't just talk to, he has dinner with them! Jesus goes and gives this call to people such as this.

And the religious elite, this bothers them. Deeply. Jesus this supposed teacher. This one who is claiming to be able to forgive sin, well he is himself sinning (not truly, but in their minds) for he is eating with these vile wretched people. How dare he! and thy don;t even have the guts to go to Jesus, so they go to his disciples, to James and john or whoever and they say just so you know, this guy you call rabbi this one who you call Lord and teacher, the one claiming to forgive sin, I don;t know if you know this, but he is eating with vile sinful people. He is guilty by association.

Jesus hears this rumbling and says: you have got it all wrong. The call to find forgiveness is given to sinners. And just logically if we think about it it makes sense, because only sinners need forgiveness. If you have never sinned, you don;t need forgiveness for anything. So Jesus goes to the people that desperately need forgiveness and he offers it to them He goes to the spiritually sick and dying. he says, people who are healthy they don;t go to the doctor. we don;t do well visits, we don’t do yearly checkups. we just go to the doctor when yo are sick, so if you know me that is the David healthcare plan. it is a metaphor, and you get it the sick are the ones that need the doctor. Sick people, dying people, they need the dr and that is who I came for. Jess came for sick and dying sinners. and to them he offers the greatest gift the universe has ever known. He offers them mercy., he offers them grace he offers them healing he offers them a new life. The chance to move from being a tax collector who will die in obscurity, just one of the many nameless tax collectors in Roman history, this man Matthew moves from being that to being one of the 12. one who wrote words that echo through all eternity. He is now a part of the foundation of the Church! In a very real and tangible way we are here today because Jesus forgave Matthew.

When the call to be forgiven is given sovereignly by our Lord, those who hear, those who respond are changed profoundly. It is new Life. You become a new creation.

2 Corinthians 5:17 ESV

Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come.

You move from being a wretched sinner, rightly deserving that label, to being one who can proclaim “there is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Chrsit Jesus” We move from being objects of wrath, objects of divine wrath and anger, to objects of Love imputed with the righteousness of Chrsit o that we are now viewed as holy. It is all of this and more. But the only ones who hear this call, the only ones who receive that call are the ones that know they are sinners.

This is what we miss in ll the thought exercises, and we take apart this verse, “I came not to call the righteous but sinners” but here is the truth, Paul teaches it clearly, All have sinned and fall short of the Glory of God.” “No one is righteous no not one, no one seeks God.” “we all like sheep have gone astray”All of us are rebellious awful sinners. and so ultimately what Jesus is saying, I came for those who know they are sick, but in truth you are all sick and dying. I came for those who realize they are sick because in truth you are all sick and dying and in desperate need of this forgiveness. I cam for the ones who will realize the weight of the guilt of their sins and will then cast that upon Jesus. Finding there full pardon, full forgiveness offered at the foot of the cross. it is right there.

I don’t run form the title sinner, because that is who jesus came to save. sinners like me. Sinners like all of us. we need to be reminded from time to time how great our savior is, because he saved me. You have all heard me say a million times and at the risk of being redundant, I will say it a million and one. there are I believe, tow things that we could never ever, ever, overstate. 1) we can never overstate how great and lofty our position is in Chrsit. We could never exaggerate how wonderful it is to be a child of God. AND 2) we can never ever overstate just how sinful and wretched we were before We were saved.

Because what happens when I realize just how awful my sins was and I realize just how incredible my call is, these two things grow vastly further apart. One is infinity high, one is woefully low, and what bridges the gap between where I was and where I am going is my perfect savior. We must understand forgiveness is seen in a sovereign call given to sinners such as you and me. We must hear and like Matthew rise and follow him.

Lets Pray