This morning we come to a short portion of Matthew's gospel with a peculiar point of difference. That point of difference is that Matthew breaks, and of course with all the license that he needs, what is the cardinal rule that every preacher ought to follow, and that is to never include oneself in illustrations.

But Matthew sees an opportune moment at this time to personalise his record, his testimony of the life of Jesus Christ.

And I'll suggest to you that this passage is actually unlocked by the key that Matthew leaves hanging on the front door for us, which is a testimony of his own conversion, we would think, and following the Lord Jesus Christ.

But why does Matthew choose this particular moment to insert himself into the story? Why not, for instance, leave out his testimony and perhaps include it later on in chapter ten when we have a statement of the twelve apostles of Christ named?

Why now? You see, in all that has come before in the context, Matthew has a twofold opportunity here to link his wider concern and the immediate account of the paralytic we looked at last week into his story of how it was that Jesus saved him.

So this is Matthew's version of Paul's statement in one Timothy 1:15: "Christ came into the world to save sinners, among whom I am foremost of all."

You see, remember that Matthew's wider concern is about the authority of Jesus as the Messiah king. I need not go over them again in detail for you, but we've seen that Jesus has authority over death and disease, over nature itself, over the demonic realm, authority to forgive sins; and now through Matthew's inclusion of his own testimony, we see that Jesus' authority even extends over the lives and souls of men to call whom he will.

You remember to the leper he said, "Be cleansed." To the centurion he said, "Go." To the storm he said, "Be still." To the demoniacs he said, "Go." To the paralytic he said, "Get up." And to Matthew himself, Jesus says, "Follow me." The authority of Christ, and that theme continues this morning.

And so the theme continues as Matthew, the apostle of Christ, is called and the author of this gospel that we have been unpacking. And in the immediate context, Matthew also appears to insert himself because his own testimony speaks to the forgiveness of sins that Jesus pronounced to the paralytic in verses one to eight that we considered last time.

Matthew is in a way putting up his hand in the air, and he's saying, I, the apostle himself, I too am a forgiven man. I too was like that paralytic lying on the bed helpless, requiring Christ's word of salvation, Christ's word of healing. Matthew identifies himself in this same story of redemption. He says, I too met the Saviour who granted to me forgiveness of sins and called me to follow him.

So this morning as we begin, the theme at the heart of this text is concerning Jesus' mission. And specifically, we want to see how Jesus' calling of Matthew, the tax collector, reveals his mission to save sinners. Okay? So that's where we're going. And we see this in verse twelve: "It is not those who are healthy who need a physician, but those who are sick."

Three headings before us. First, the tax collector's calling. Second, the Pharisees' complaint. And thirdly, the Saviour's compassion.

The Tax Collector's Calling

Look at Matthew's brief yet profound recollection of the day that Jesus called him. Verse nine, read again. "As Jesus went on from there, he saw a man named Matthew sitting in the tax collector's booth, and he said to him, "Follow me." And he got up and followed him."

Firstly, you should know that Mark and Luke in their descriptions of this calling of Matthew, Matthew was referred to by his Hebrew name, and his Hebrew name is Levi. Okay? So if you've picked that up and you're reading, that's why. But this is the same person, and Matthew uses his Greek name here in his own account. The underlying Greek term that we pronounce as Matthew. So this is the summoning of the apostle himself.

It's a very call of a man who at the time could not possibly have imagined all that the Lord would have in store for him after this simple act of following Jesus.

Tradition tells us that this Matthew who was receiving his calling here would go on to become a martyr of Christ, and some understand that this took place in Ethiopia. We're not sure exactly. As he went on teaching the things concerning what he witnessed and the power of God and Jesus Christ and his gospel.

Matthew could not have begun to even imagine the things that would follow in his life after these words came to him: "Follow me." Nor would he have the capacity to comprehend that it would be he chosen by God to pen the first of the gospels; this definitive Jerusalem account of the Messiah's life and ministry.

Now you'll see that Matthew describes his former life as a tax collector. You will have heard me say at different times that shepherds in the ancient world and ancient Egypt, as we see in Genesis, were odious by occupation. And so too in Jesus' time, shepherding was considered a lowly occupation.

Well, a tax collector in Israel at this time was an even more despised class of people among the Jews. Tax collectors make one's ears prickle if you have the perspective of the ancient reader. You see, a tax collector collected taxes for various economic activity on behalf of the Roman state.

The Jews would tithe ten per cent of their profits to God, and then on top of that, they paid tribute to the Roman powers occupying their land at the time. And they hated Rome. They hated not having their own sovereignty, and so they hated those Jews who joined the ranks of the Romans, so to speak, to collect taxes from their own countrymen. That's who a tax collector was.

Thus, Matthew would, not from what we know, even be permitted to enter the Jewish synagogue. He would be cut off almost from Jewish religious life. This is who Matthew is, and Jesus finds him in his little tax booth.

Now for sure, we do not know, but Matthew is undoubtedly already aware of Jesus. This is Capernaum after all. Maybe even interacted with Jesus, but nonetheless here is the definitive call.

And something worth noting too is that Matthew undoubtedly was a wealthy man. Tax collectors took their share of the taxes collected from the people. So it was, some for Rome, some for me; some for Rome, some for me. They were hated even more for that, and some of them would act fraudulently and take more than they were permitted.

We see that he owns a home. He puts on a great banquet that occurs following his call to discipleship. Luke even says it was a great feast. And notably, especially as Luke also records in Luke 5:28, when Matthew was called, he left everything behind, he says, and got up and followed him. Matthew left it all behind when he followed the Lord. His income was gone. His opportunity to return would have been forfeit too. Fifty men, a hundred men would have been ready to take the place of Matthew because of the wealth that it would provide, even if they were despised by their fellow countrymen. He left it all behind to follow Jesus.

But the main thing we need to see here is the sovereign call of Christ to summon whom he wishes to discipleship; the authority of the call of Jesus that Matthew so plainly leaves for us in his word.

One commentator says here, "In the great readiness and eagerness of Matthew to obey, we see the divine power of the word of Christ. In this man, Christ intended to give a remarkable example that we might know that his calling was not from man." And Jesus even makes this explicit to the disciples themselves in John 15:16. He says, "You did not choose me, but I chose you and I appointed you."

"Follow me," Christ says to Matthew, with all the authority of God. "Follow me."

This is what it means to be a Christian, friends. To be summoned by Christ, to leave your former life, into his light, out of darkness into light. He called us dead in our trespasses and sins, enemies of God, hating God, Paul says. And yet as in one Peter 1:3, "according to his great mercy, he has caused us to be born again."

The authority of God even over the lives of man.

Paul speaking to the church at Corinth reminds them of this divine origin of our calling, divine summons to follow Christ. 1 Corinthians 1:30, it says, "But by his doing, you are in Christ Jesus who became to us wisdom from God and righteousness and sanctification and redemption."

If you're a Christian this morning, Jesus has said to you as well in mercy, "Follow me." He has tugged at your heartstrings, and we have gotten up and followed.

And he calls still. He calls still to those who are still far off. His call to Matthew is unique only in the sense that this was a call to the office of apostleship as part of the inner twelve. But generally, his call is now the same universally. It is issued to all men: repent and believe upon Christ for the forgiveness of sins and follow me. Christ still says today.

And yet Christ makes to Matthew what we call an effectual call. Jesus said in Matthew 22:14, "For many are called but few are chosen." There is the general call that goes out in the world, but there is this effectual call that Matthew hears: "Follow me," and he gets up and he follows.

So do you hear the voice of Christ in your conscience this morning? Will you not leave the world as you are in it if you know not Christ and now follow and run after Christ? This is precisely what discipleship is, you see. It's not only this initial action of coming to Christ at his sovereign call, but it's following him thereafter. It is active following of Christ. A disciple day by day is that our condition this morning? Disciples Sunday by Sundays are no followers of Christ. Followers of Christ are those who follow him as he leads day by day.

Christ in John 21, revealed to the apostle Peter that Peter's own coming death was going to be one of crucifixion. Yet Christ still says to him, John 21:19, "Follow me." This is the kind of death you're going to die, Peter. Follow me. Follow me. Follow me. Discipleship demands everything of you, you see, Christian. You must leave the tax collector's booth if that's where he finds you and follow Jesus.

There Is a New Life In Store

This applies in a few ways. Here's one way this applies to us. For all God's people, once they encounter Christ, there is a new life in store for each one of them. There really is. It reminds me of the story when the Lord first gripped the heart of young Charles Spurgeon as a teenager. He turned into a small Methodist church on a snowy day as a young man, and he found himself hearing the preaching of a man who wasn't even the minister. Supposedly, the minister couldn't make it that day because of the snowstorm, and a tailor or a shoemaker, as Spurgeon recalled, he thought he was, was standing in to preach that day. This nameless preacher said to Spurgeon directly in his sermon, "Young man, you look so miserable. Young man, look to Jesus Christ. Look. Look. Look. You have nothing to do but look and live." Spurgeon was gripped by the heart.

Who could have known what God would do with young Spurgeon? The influence that God would use him to have on the English-speaking world. What will he do also with you and the life that Christ has for you?

Now you might say to me, "I'm too old and I'm just about expired. I'm of little use to the kingdom." Nonsense. Moses was forty years in Pharaoh's court, forty years, and Midian. He didn't lead Egypt until he was eighty years old and led Israel for another forty years after that. Perhaps the issue is that you have stopped asking God what's next. And so you think you're expired, but you've simply stopped asking.

Maybe it's not really a matter of your age, but a heart growing cold, thinking along earthly terms, thinking that God can only use the young and the strong, forgetting that this is a spiritual work we are involved in.

If you believe you're of an age where perhaps you have five, maybe ten years of life left, then start to wonder what the Lord still might have in store for you. What new life? What new venture might he have? What person might he call you to start praying for earnestly every day? Start walking in that light. Start to press on for Christ. Matthew's life transformed. Charles Spurgeon's life transformed. What of yours?

A Radical Call To Self-denial

A second application is this. You should see here, secondly, that to follow Jesus is not a halfway house kind of life, but a radical call to self-denial and surrender to Christ. Even this week in sharing the gospel with a friend of mine, he balked at the idea that his life must be forfeit to be saved by Jesus. The idea of a u-turn on his life is something that he doesn't want. He does not yet see the beauties of Christ; that all else is truly vanity compared to knowing Christ. You see, if we're not willing to say in faith that he who calls, I will follow, then we're still of this world.

For this call to all who will believe will resonate so deeply as with Matthew that it will only ever produce the fruit of faith and surrender, because Jesus is now the brightest object before us when we hear that call: "Follow me."

Matthew would have had to leave his booth and never to return. He was to become a new man, a new creation. There was no room for the old self left. In Matthew 16:24, it says, "If anyone wishes to come after me, he must deny himself, take up his cross, and follow me."

Jesus was what we call a peripatetic teacher. I think it was R.C. Sproul who said that Jesus was to the Jews what Aristotle was to the Greeks. You see, he would travel from place to place. Matthew would have had to follow him wherever he went, and it's going to be the same for us. We follow as we go day by day.

Existing Company Into Evangelism Opportunities

Our third and final application on this first point is that we see here that Matthew immediately turns existing company into evangelism opportunities. At this banquet, there were many other tax collectors, it says. Verse ten: "Many tax collectors and sinners." Spurgeon says here, "The day you are converted, try to talk with those who were your schoolmates. Were you converted in the factory? Do not hesitate to speak to your fellow workmen. Are you a person of position? Do you occupy a high station in the fashionable world? Do not be ashamed of your master, but introduce Christ into the drawing room and let him have a footing among the highest of the land." In other words, Matthew seizes upon this opportunity and his calling to bring others like him into the fold, to the same Saviour that he met.

If you're a dairy farmer this morning, at the meetings you're attending, the different dairy farming conglomerates where the farmers come together, there's opportunity to be known as a Christian, who knows who the Lord might bring to you along the way. It's the same for all of us and all that we do, all that we're involved with, the different clubs, the different groups. Make use of where God has placed you as Matthew did.

The Pharisees' Complaint

Let's move on to our second heading, a briefer heading: the Pharisees' complaint. Look at verse nine and eleven again, verses ten to eleven. "It happened as Jesus was reclining at the table in the house, behold, many tax collectors and sinners came and were dining with Jesus and his disciples. When the Pharisees saw this, they said to his disciples, 'Why is your teacher eating with the tax collectors and sinners?'"

Matthew swiftly moves us into what we surmise as a banquet in Matthew's own home. Luke says it was a great feast, as I mentioned earlier. And here, this call of Matthew materialises with a lesson that Jesus gives again in response to his detractors. You remember last week in the previous section, it was the scribes who had a complaint, and this week, it's the Pharisees, a religious class. The Pharisees are respected authorities on all things Judaism and Israel. But as we see in the gospels, the Pharisees were the purveyors of a false gospel. They put people running on that hamster wheel of the law, not resting in faith.

So the Pharisees you'll see have taken note of Jesus' company, among whom was Matthew, this tax collector. They see that Jesus' company is not fit for one called a rabbi, a teacher. Hence, they come to the disciples. You see Christ was found predominantly not among the ivory tower elites, but among the commoners, among those who, for different reasons, were considered outsiders to the Pharisees.

In fact, in the Jewish Mishnah, which is a third century rabbinic document, it recorded this, and I quote, "If tax gatherers entered a house, all that is within it becomes unclean." That was their perspective. That's how they viewed these whom Jesus is associating with. They would become ceremonially defiled before God in their view. That was their thinking. If we associate with these people as Jesus is, I will be ceremonially defiled before God. How wrong they were.

The Saviour's Compassion

Now see thirdly, the Saviour's compassion. Verse twelve: "When Jesus heard this, he said, 'It is not those who are healthy who need a physician, but those who are sick. But go and learn what this means. I desire compassion and not sacrifice. For I did not come to call the righteous but sinners.'"

There are two simple parts here to Jesus' rebuke of the Pharisees. Firstly, in verse twelve, he tells us of his purpose to rescue the sick; that is, the spiritually sick. You see, the prevailing and wrong idea was that when the Messiah came, there would be a kind of political or military triumph, but Rome was not Israel's greatest problem. Our greatest problem, is that we have the sickness that Jesus refers to here, and we are under a sentence of condemnation. You see, there was no place else, no other people, that Jesus desired to be around, but those who needed him, because he was the one who through death would conquer death.

He does not deny that these people were sinners and in need of grace. We all are. The Pharisees were. But he says he is right where he needs to be among them. Spurgeon again puts it this way. I cannot word it better myself. He says, "Our Saviour King has come to save real sinners. He deals not with our merits, but with our demerits. There would be no need to save us if we were not lost. The Son of God does no unnecessary work, but to those who need repentance, he has come to bring it."

A second part to what Jesus says in verse thirteen. The first explained why he came, implying that he is the "physician". In verse thirteen, he quotes from the Old Testament in Hosea 6:6. And his point is essentially that the Pharisees are false shepherds. If they really knew God, if they truly knew the Lord, they would not hide behind their outward facade of holiness that they maintain to keep up appearances. If they knew God and if these tax collectors and sinners did not know God, they would be wanting to lead them in the way as a shepherd would, lead them through the sheep gate. But they did not. False shepherds of the sheep.

Herman Ridderbos puts it this way: says Jesus brings "a condemnation of a religion of which only the external phenomena, cultism, and ritual have been retained, and in which the heart is absent."

What is the point of application here for us? You see, the point is actually in the irony here. The irony is that Jesus is in no way saying that the Pharisees were not in need of forgiveness of sins. Rather, he's made his place among those who are ready to acknowledge their need for forgiveness of sins; something the Pharisees thought that they did not need.

So when Jesus says, "I did not come to call the righteous but sinners," he's not saying the Pharisees are already righteous. He's saying, "I come to call sinners, and if you're not willing to see yourself as such, then you are the self-righteous."

So where do we stand? Those in the world without Christ are always in their own ways like the Pharisees; not concerned for their own souls. Like the Pharisees, they do not think harm will ever come to them. They think they're already on the right side.

And so I think how this applies is perhaps with this analogy of the insider's perspective verses the outsider's perspective. If we're going to live like Pharisees, it means we're going to have this outsider's perspective, and we're going to look at all that Jesus is, and what he's done, and we're going to see ourselves as merely observers. Oh, "here's some things that happened", but not see ourselves from the insider's perspective as those who actually need what can be observed. So the Pharisees are there observing. They're watching. They're seeing Jesus, but they considered themselves above him.

So they remained at a distance from Christ, observing only. But friends, we must put ourselves on the inside. We must desire that Christ associate with us. We are those sinners, and Christ has come for us.

We Are Never So Far From Him As We Cannot Be Saved

Here's my final point of application. It is because Jesus has come to save sinners; it means that not one of us, no matter what sort of lives we've had in the past, no matter how sinful, no matter how disobedient, we are never so far from him as we cannot be saved. Coming to Jesus is not like getting a new job where extensive background checks and history come into play; proof of prior performance. Christ doesn't ask those questions. Jesus already knows that we don't measure up and this was why he's come.

Romans 5:6 says, "For while we were yet hopeless at the right time, Christ died for the ungodly."

The words as I was preparing the words of that hymn came to mind: "earnestly, tenderly, Jesus is calling; calling, oh sinner, come home." And you don't have to look far to find him because he came among us. And he dwelt in our homes. He walked on our planet, and he associated with the lowly and the outcast and sinners such as we.

Come home to Jesus. Hear the call that came to Matthew: "Follow me." Get up and follow, should you hear his voice this morning.