So we've been moving through, we've been seeing the beginning of Jesus' ministry.
He comes out, he's in Galilee, he's been baptized, he begins establishing his authority as he's tempted
! and establishes his authority over Satan, as he drives out demons, as he heals paralytics and cleanses lepers.
We saw in the beginning of chapter 2 that he has returned to Capernaum. For a while he was out in desolate places because of the healing of the leper.
He's returned back to Capernaum and now here at the beginning of our story we see him again back out beside the sea.
Now Capernaum is located close to the sea. It's a port town and the Sea of Galilee is on the northwest.
Capernaum would have been on the northwest side of the Sea of Galilee.
And so that's where he is back out by the sea and there's again a massive crowd that's following him.
We've said repeatedly that this crowd was not necessarily following him from genuine faith.
In fact, more than likely not.
We see a very, very few faithful followers of Christ after his crucifixion.
As they're waiting for his resurrection, the number we count in the beginning of Acts is 120.
And here we see thousands and thousands of people following him.
More than likely because of the miracles.
Because he was doing something fantastic and they wanted to see it.
Or they themselves had some infirmity that they wanted healed.
So again we see a crowd following him.
And I'll just point out to you once again his ministry.
The ministry that God gave him of teaching.
So he's teaching them we see at the beginning of verse 13.
Verse 13.
Remember the very thrust of Jesus' teaching.
Even as we get further into the Gospel of Mark and we begin to study the parables and all these different facets of what he's teaching.
Remember the primary thing that he's teaching is the coming of the Kingdom of God.
Right?
Back in chapter 1, verse 15.
He says that he came out of Galilee, into Galilee, proclaiming the Gospel of God and saying,
The time is fulfilled and the Kingdom of God is at hand.
Repent and believe in the Gospel.
So we can, with surety, say that in some way he was teaching this very same thing.
As we see him here walking alongside the seashore and teaching this crowd.
And in verse 14 we see that he passes by a man named Levi.
Levi.
Now it's interesting, the record here is that he's Levi, the son of Alphaeus.
We know that the Apostle James was also the son of Alphaeus.
So would this be then James' brother Levi?
And who is this Levi?
He's not listed in the account of the Apostles in other places in the Gospels.
And there's a bit of debate about this, but most people agree that this Levi is the Apostle we know as Matthew.
Now I won't get into the argument.
I thought about it.
It's not worth the time.
Because most people agree that this is in fact Matthew.
One author said that much ink has been spilled over determining if this is in fact Matthew.
I like the way J.C. Ryle put this.
He's a well-respected 19th century evangelical Anglican bishop and commentator.
He said,
The person who is called Levi at the beginning of this passage is the same person who is called Matthew in the first of the four Gospels.
Let us not forget this.
It is no less an apostle and an evangelist whose early history is now before our eyes.
So I think with fair certainty, we can't say definitively, but with fair certainty we can say that this is Matthew.
In this day, most people had some form of nickname, often a Hebrew name and a Gentile name, which would have been sort of a nickname for them.
For example, Simon Peter.
Jesus gave him the name Peter.
His name was Simon and he was sometimes called Cephas.
If you recall, he was mocked a bit by Paul using that name.
His Greek slang name being Cephas.
And so the probability here is that this is in fact one of his other names of the apostle that we know as Matthew.
Matthew.
So let's assume that together.
That's what we're looking at.
And he was a tax collector.
We see that he was sitting at the tax booth.
And some of your translations may say toll booth by the seashore.
So he was likely collecting admission for passengers headed to Capernaum.
So who were landing on the seashore, had sailed across the Sea of Galilee and headed into Capernaum.
He was charging them a toll.
And he would have been doing this as an agent of the Roman Empire.
Collecting money for Rome.
For their governance.
For their war effort.
You know Rome marched themselves across the known world conquering people.
And that's what these dollars were going to.
These men were crooked in nature.
The tax collectors.
The toll collectors were.
Because the way they were paid is they were allowed to exact a charge above and beyond the actual toll charge.
Rome didn't care as long as they got the cut that they had required of that particular trade route or port.
They could collect above and beyond that.
And so these men lined their pockets by charging more than was necessary.
That was the arrangement that they had.
Furthermore, having been working for Rome, he would have been absolutely despised by most Jews.
Remember, Rome was ruling over them.
So he was a traitor in their sight.
The tax collectors, you see them commonly named amongst sinners throughout the New Testament.
Because they were very, very disliked.
Notice here that as he's traveling along, it says,
And as he passed by, he, being Jesus, saw Levi sitting at this booth.
It doesn't say that Levi was following him.
It does not say that Levi sought him out.
But here we see our great Lord seeking out Levi.
Luke 19, 10.
Jesus says of his ministry that what he came to do was to seek and to save the lost.
Jesus seeks out and finds his lost sheep.
And the sheep follows him.
John 10, verse 27 says,
My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me.
So we have to pause at this and look at the efficacious call of our Lord.
The Lord calls and Levi responds.
He simply says to him,
Follow me.
He works in him the ability to do so.
And Levi gets up and follows.
And I love Mark's punctuality at this point.
We've talked a bit about how he's so brief.
And he runs us through stories so quickly.
And in this case, I absolutely love.
Jesus says, follow me.
And the record is, and he rose and followed him.
He left behind his profession that he was doing quite well at.
Any of these men would have been incredibly wealthy doing this service for Rome.
And he stands up and he walks away from it.
Remember who this person is.
This Matthew leaves everything to follow Jesus.
Some 60 years or so later, writes the Gospel of Matthew.
Follows Jesus to the grave.
Experiences all of this.
Writes the Gospel of Matthew.
And is later, we think, martyred in Ethiopia.
That's the prevalent rumor that he was martyred in Ethiopia.
He leaves behind fame, success, fortune, and follows Christ.
And this is a great work of grace in his life.
You don't see a record here of him debating this.
He doesn't go, this man seems pretty amazing.
Healing people.
And I'm kind of liking his teaching.
I'm going to follow him around a little while and get a feel for what he's got going on.
I'm going to have a chat with him and see what he may promise me if I follow him.
If this is the Christ, the one who's come to reign, I want a prominent place in the kingdom.
Let me go see if I can get on board with what he's doing.
He had, by the world's measure, everything he could want.
And Jesus walks by and says to him, follow me.
And his heart is turned.
And he does just that.
What a precious view of the sovereign work of grace in a person's life.
And so it would seem, we find in verse 15, that we see the record that Jesus is now reclining in his house.
At table, it says.
And so it's likely that as he followed him, he said, please come to my place.
I have a house.
And we can fill it with people.
We see that many tax collectors and sinners were reclining with Jesus and his disciples.
For there were many who followed him.
And again here we see some debate.
It could be that these tax collectors and sinners were those who followed Jesus.
Or they were ones who followed Levi.
Levi.
Right?
That he was already working as an evangelist.
Right?
We don't know exactly who this pronoun applies to.
But all the same, we see them have a feast together at this table.
And the record is that we find him at home with Levi reclining at table.
Now, just to explain to you a little bit, tables of this day, they would have been low tables.
People would have sat on three sides of them.
One side was left open conveniently for serving at the table.
Servants would bring food to the table and you didn't have to reach over somebody's shoulder.
It would be kind of nice this day, wouldn't it, if we had the opening at the end?
Maybe like our booths, our modern day booths.
People can serve food in that way.
And they reclined on couches that were at about a ten degree angle.
And they actually sloped in towards the table.
And they laid with their heads towards the table.
And it was proper for them to prop themselves up on their left arm so they could use their right hand to eat.
This seems like a miserable way to eat to me.
This sounds so uncomfortable.
I can't tell you the last time I laid on my stomach.
No, thank you.
Right?
But this is the way they spent time together.
They reclined together in this way.
And the significant thing about the fact that he's in this place,
this was the normal way that they ate food,
but the fact that he was doing this was an intimate thing.
You reclined at table with people that you had relationships with.
And this is where we find our Lord.
The one, Jesus Christ.
The one who is without sin.
Who does he choose to spend his time with?
He spends his time with tax collectors and sinners.
That he might advance the gospel.
The one who is without sin.
Now there's a sort of common phrase.
I actually hope some of your minds were drawn to it immediately as I made that point about Christ.
And people pull this phrase from John chapter 17 and they say,
we're called to be in the world, but not of the world.
Are you familiar with that?
We're called to be in the world, but not of the world.
And admittedly, this is something I have used as well.
And I think the person who probably coined this, the language is incredibly close to what's happening in John chapter 17.
The high priestly prayer did so with the best of intention and probably meant the right thing as they coined it.
However, I think most people fall off one of two sides when they think in these terms.
As living in this world as a redeemed person, they think I'm supposed to be in the world, but not of the world.
And they either take it too far into licentious living, right?
I'm supposed to be in the world, but not of the world.
That's the way they tend to treat that, right?
I'm supposed to hang out with sinners and in the act of doing so,
they are continually worked into a more intimate relationship with these people who influence them and they themselves then sin.
It's the end result of this action together.
And then there are others who say, yeah, we're supposed to be in the world, but not of the world.
We're not supposed to be of the world.
And they therefore cut themselves off altogether from those who don't know Christ, right?
They create these small little cultural subgroups.
I actually think this is the side that we err to more often as evangelical believers.
And we quit associating altogether with the world.
And so there's a tightrope as there is with so many things here to be walked.
How is it that we are meant to follow Christ into his ministry,
the way in which he ministered to those around him,
as those who have been called to carry out his mission in this world?
Look at John chapter 17.
I should have go there with me.
We've got a couple of verses to look at, so it would be of benefit to us all to be there together.
I want to revise this common phrase this morning.
Whether or not you actually say it differently, that's okay.
But that you think of it rightly is my hope in making a revision to it.
John chapter 17, beginning in verse 14.
This is the high priestly prayer.
This is the prayer that Jesus prays on the behalf of his apostles
and the disciples that would follow preceding his crucifixion.
This is Jesus praying to God,
I have given them your word,
and the world has hated them because they are not of the world,
just as I am not of the world.
There's the language.
Not of the world.
Verse 15.
I do not ask that you take them out of the world.
There's the in the world part.
But that you keep them from the evil one.
They are not of the world,
just as I am not of the world.
Sanctify them in the truth.
Your word is truth.
As you sent me into the world,
so have I sent them into the world.
And for their sake,
I consecrate myself,
that they also may be sanctified in truth.
So we see him very clearly say,
they are not of the world,
just as I am not of the world.
But recognize that in this prayer,
this is not the destination.
He's not saying to God,
make them not of the world.
And now let's talk about the means by which that happens.
The primary point of him saying this
is to say,
they're not of the world,
therefore,
they're being sent into the world.
Right?
You see that?
Verse 17.
Sanctify the truth and the word of the earth.
As you sent me into the world,
so have I sent them into the world.
Right?
Luke chapter 19, verse 10.
For the Son of Man came to seek and to save the lost.
So this is the very reason
for which we are left in the world.
As those not of it,
we are sent into it.
And then his prayer for them
is that we will be spared
from the sin that we'll be exposed to.
That we'll be sanctified
or perfected in the truth.
Right?
That we will remain
not of the world
as we're in the world.
So let me suggest to you
that we change the phrase
in the world but not of the world
to not of the world
but sent into the world.
Right?
This is the calling
of our lives.
So,
we've been set free
from the passions of the world.
The slavery of sin
that controls sinful man.
And we've been given freedom
in order to serve the world
to the glory of God.
Right?
Look at what Jesus did
with his time.
Right?
He's confronting here
in chapter 2
in a number of ways
the religious culture.
And that's what we're going to get to here
in just a moment.
The scribes of the Pharisees
are all kinds of offended
by this.
Right?
This Jesus in their minds,
if he was the teacher
he said he was,
if he was in fact
the Son of God,
should have spent
all of his time with them.
Right?
That's where he should have dwelt.
Sitting around
having high-minded conversation
with the scribes
of the Pharisees,
the great theologians
of the day.
But he instead
finds himself
reclining at table
with tax collectors
and with sinners.
Now this has all kinds
of implications
in our life.
And in the time we have,
I couldn't even possibly
work it out.
And I don't even know
that I've completely
worked it out
in my day-to-day.
What does it look like
to spend time
with sinners
in this way?
But we have to
engage this world
with the gospel of Christ.
There's no debate
in that part.
Right?
We're not supposed
to get in huddles
and avoid the world
altogether.
Right?
We're victorious
because what of Christ
has done for us.
We're sent
into the world.
The gates of hell
will not stand
against the advance
of the kingdom
of God.
That is what we are
called to do.
To go in
and to take over
for the glory of God.
And so many believers
have their little rites
and their rituals
and their schedule
and they include
the lost world
all together
in the things of God.
This is not
our calling, beloved.
Galatians 5.13
says,
For you are called
to freedom, brothers.
Given freedom.
Only do not use
your freedom
as an opportunity
for the flesh
but through love
serve one another.
Paul is saying
to us here
that our freedom
is meant to be used
to serve the world.
Right?
Not to live
in licentiousness.
Right?
Not to run off
hanging out
with all of our pals
and living however we might
because of grace
but in order
to serve the world.
Again,
a warning
just as you're thinking about
how do I engage
a culture?
How do I get involved?
How do I recline
at table
with those
who are sinners?
1 Peter 2.11-12
Peter says,
Beloved,
I urge you
as soldiers of exiles
to abstain
from the passions
of the flesh
which wage war
against your soul.
Which wage war
against your soul.
Keep your conduct
among the Gentiles
honorable
so that when they
speak against you
as evildoers
they may see
your good deeds
and glorify God
on the day of visitation.
So there you see
that tightrope line
of walking
that we keep
our conduct
honorable
but that these people
do in fact
see our good deeds.
That they actually
know who we are.
They can observe
the work of God
in our lives.
And I hope this morning
that we'll take a cue
from Christ
here as we see him
reclining at table
with the tax collectors
and the sinners.
Verse 16
we see the scribes
of the Pharisees.
Some of your translations
may say scribes
and Pharisees.
You can insert
at this point
we talked a bit
about who these
people were
specifically
last week
but just insert
at this point
these were the
this was the
legalistic
religious culture.
These men
were certainly
apostate
but they didn't
think that they were.
They thought
that they kept
God's law
to a T.
But they had
failed to
understand the
point of God's law.
So they were
self-righteous
they were built up
they were holy
in their own minds
and they asked
this question
to the disciples
why does he eat
with tax collectors
and sinners?
Now you remember
the reason
that Jesus
was crucified
was the charge
of blasphemy.
Because Jesus
had said
that he himself
was God.
And certainly
that would be
blasphemy
if he wasn't.
If he wasn't God
that would be
the case.
And so the
constant effort
of the scribes
the Pharisees
the Sadducees
was to prove
him to not
be God.
Because then they
had him
on the charge
of blasphemy.
He said it
and he said it
again and again
and again
that he was
the son of God.
And so they
continued to do this
and they did so
by accusing him
of things
that they
thought were
wrong.
By their own
set of rules
that they
thought God
had commanded.
And so here
we see this
this charge
being railed
against him
that he would
stoop so low
to associate
with these
unclean men.
They had clearly
categorized themselves.
They were so
much better
as keepers
of the law
versus those
that collect
taxes and sin.
And sinners
is just a general.
There are tax collectors
and a bunch
of other
sinners
is all that's
being said
in this case.
And so this is
their attempt
to continue
to build
evidence
against him.
Why is it
that he is
not the son
of God?
Because look
at the sin
he lives in
and Jesus
in all of his
wonderful
profundity
hears what
they say
and responds,
those who are
well have no
need of a physician
but those
who are sick.
I came
not to call
the righteous
but sinners.
And I love
that he doesn't
actually address
the charge.
He doesn't
even give them
the time
of day
but says to them
this is why
I came
to come
into this world
to save
sinners.
Now you see
these two groups
we see those
who are well
and the righteous
we can think
of those
as one.
He says
basically the same
sentence twice
to give us
more explanation
of what he
means by this.
Those who are
well have no
need of a
physician but
those who
are sick.
So these would
have been
people who
would have
been well
in their
own minds.
Jesus here
introduces himself
as the great
physician.
Certainly he's
healed people
who are sick.
He could take
that title
for this reason
but here he's
speaking specifically
of being a
spiritual healer
of making
people's
souls
right.
So just
think about
our day
of modern
medicine.
I'm sure
you're thinking
more about
that these
days than
maybe other
days you
might.
But how
many people
act and
think as if
they're well
and they're
not?
Because the
reality of it
is that none
of us really
are well.
We may not
be in the
hospital or
necessarily need
a doctor at
that time
but you're
all falling
apart.
The degradation
is happening.
Maybe the
little guys
are still
getting bigger
and growing
up but
those of you
who understand
what I'm
saying right
now, you
are falling
apart.
We're all
in some
way sick.
How many
of you have
a very
stubborn
relative,
maybe a
dad or a
grandpa,
that will be
so sick
and will
just refuse
to believe
that they're
sick?
That person,
that's somebody
who's like,
it sounds like
they're going
to turn
inside out,
they're coughing
so hard and
you say,
why when you
not go to the
doctor and say,
I'm not sick,
this is just a
little cough.
Do you know
those people?
I do.
These are the
type of men
who certainly
were soul
sick,
certainly were
sinners,
but not in
their own
mind.
You see them
constantly comparing
themselves.
They knew
that they were
flawed,
they knew
that they
weren't keeping
the law
perfectly,
but they
were constantly
comparing
themselves,
high-minded,
setting themselves
apart from
everyone else.
We're not
like them.
There's some
6,000 Pharisees
at this time,
and they were
so much
better in
their own
minds that
they had
earned this
type of
righteousness.
It's a
self-given
righteousness,
an outward
righteousness that
they appeared
to be doing
quite well.
We can be
that way
sometimes.
They trusted
in themselves
for righteousness.
righteousness.
In Matthew
chapter 23,
verse 27
and verse 28,
Jesus hands
out quite the
indictment to
the scribes
and the
Pharisees.
He says,
Woe to
you,
scribes
and Pharisees,
hypocrites,
for you are
like whitewashed
tombs,
which outwardly
appear beautiful,
but within are
full of dead
people's bones
and all
uncleanness.
So you also
outwardly appear
righteous to
others,
but within you
are full of
hypocrisy and
lawlessness.
righteousness.
Woe to
you if you
think that
you can look
to yourself
for righteousness.
If you think
that you have
any good
in and of
yourself,
right?
You are like
these Pharisees
and hypocrites.
You are a
whitewashed
tomb,
right?
You've made
yourself up
all neat
and pretty
on the outside,
but inside
you're full
of death.
That's what
Jesus is saying
here.
And these are
the men that
deliver this
accusation.
How could
he possibly
eat with
these men,
these sinners,
these unclean
ones?
So we must
recognize our
sin,
our sickness
to see our
need of a
physician.
I think a lot
of you know
that on Tuesday
I threw my
back out of
place.
My lower
back is one
of the most
miserable
experiences of
my life.
I'm still,
I'm rocking a lot
today because
I'm still a little
uncomfortable as
a result of it.
I stayed
bent in half
for about 20
minutes before
I could even
straighten.
Spent just a
couple of days
laying on a
heating pad.
There was
absolutely no
avoiding the
fact that I
was in pain.
I couldn't go,
I'm alright,
things are good.
I wanted to
throw up.
I cried once.
I sneezed,
and it made me
cry because it
hurt so bad.
There was no
doubt of this,
and so the
very day I did
it, I went to
the chiropractor.
There was no
question in my
mind.
Like Sam
suggested it,
I didn't go,
well, I don't
know, let's
wait and see
how this goes
for me.
I went,
okay, alright,
I'll make the
call right now.
I did, and I
went, and it
helped.
It certainly
moved me along.
We must
recognize our
need of the
great physician.
We must
recognize that
we have a
sickness that
we cannot
heal ourselves.
We must be
humble in this
way.
We must
recognize that
we have no
good in us,
nothing at
all.
And this is
the great
sickness of
our soul.
And that if
we're to stand
right before
God one day
in judgment,
if we're to
have any
joy in life
now, that
we need
Christ's
righteousness.
That our
source of
health must
come from
someplace else.
Remember
Jesus'
gospel call
to repent
and believe
in the
gospel.
Repentance
is carried
along by
humility.
A proud
person never
asks for
forgiveness,
never admits
they're wrong.
Right?
You must be
humble in
order to
repent.
And this is
the very
thing that
Jesus Christ
is calling
us to.
To recognize
who we are
apart from
him and
respond in
faith to
the grace
that he
lavishes on
sinners.
Because that
is who he
came to
save.
We were
all once
like Levi.
You might
say,
well, I
haven't been
rich.
You've been
successful.
You've had
what this
world can
offer to
you.
And you
were happy
to have
it.
And one
day Jesus
came along
beside you
and said,
follow me.
And by the
spirit working
in your life,
you said,
yes, sir.
And you
got up and
you followed
him if you
were found
in him.
And now he
has sent us
into the
world the
way he
went into
the world.
You know,
Paul gives
us a little
more severe
example of
this idea
of sickness
and health.
There's a
bit of an
implication here,
and I'm not
saying that
Jesus was
flawed in
his presentation
at all,
but there's a
bit of an
implication that
if we're
sick,
maybe there's
something we
can do for
ourselves.
Maybe it's
possible that
we could do
this for
ourselves.
And I'll
draw you
back again
to my
back example.
I was not
popping my
own back
that morning.
I needed
a physician.
Many places
in the
scripture that
we see that
we're actually
dead.
This is the
example given
to us.
This is what
we see as
Jesus brings
out this
indictment to
the Pharisees
that they're
full of
dead people's
bones.
In Colossians
2,
verse 13
and 14,
Paul writes,
And you who
were dead in
your trespasses
and the
uncircumcision
of your flesh,
God made
alive together
with him,
having forgiven
us all our
trespasses,
by canceling
the record of
debt that stood
against us
with its
legal demands.
This he set
aside,
nailing it,
to the cross.
These scribes
of the Pharisees,
or the scribes
and Pharisees,
stood in this
very same place,
dead in their
trespasses,
in the
uncircumcision
of their
hearts.
And they
desperately needed
a physician.
Desperately.
But they were
not willing to
be humble.
And we get
to see that
record all
throughout the
Gospels.
All over the
place we see
scribes and
the Pharisees
hearing the
Gospel message
and rejecting
it and
rejecting it
and rejecting
it because
they were
so proud.
For those
of us who
are in
Christ,
we can rejoice
this morning
and see that
the record of
debt was
canceled that
stood against
us with all
its legal demands,
meaning our
eternal punishment.
Like what was
properly would
have been given
to us for our
infinite sin was
infinite death.
Right?
But this was
set aside and
nailed to the
cross and we
can rejoice
in that great
truth.
And now the
response to
that is to
recognize that
just as Jesus
came into the
world to seek
and to save
the lost,
he has sent
us into the
world as
high priestly
!
Prayer,
and therefore
we go and
we share his
goodness to us
in Christ.
I hope you
find yourself in
that place this
morning, that you
can rejoice
alongside me,
that you can
rejoice new
alongside me,
that you're not
sitting there
saying, I've
heard this
before.
Yeah, I'm a
redeemed one,
good for me.
This should warm
your heart,
to remember who
you once were,
Levi, Matthew,
sitting here
successful, happy
as he could be,
and then his
world got flipped
upside down and
he discovered
true joy in
Christ.
To the point of
death, he
discovered true
joy in Christ.
You may find
yourself this
morning not in
that place,
having some doubt
of that,
finding that
maybe you
have built
your righteousness
on the things
that you do,
that you come
to church,
that you live
in the south
and grew up
in a Christian
home.
Most of us
did.
That you have
a Bible and
you read it
occasionally.
That when things
are going real
crummy in your
life, you pray.
Right before
finals, lots of
prayer happens.
things.
Right?
And you hang
your goodness
on that.
Right?
And not that
bad.
Right?
You hold
yourself up to
other people.
You guys all
have friends and
co-workers that
are way worse
than you in
your mind.
Right?
Horrible messes.
And so you're
doing so much
better.
There's not a
scale that will
be judged upon.
Right?
You don't get up
there and God
says, eh, you're
good enough.
I'm going to tip
it that direction.
Come on in.
Right?
You're either in
Christ or you're
not.
Right?
You're in
Christ.
He sees Jesus'
righteousness.
Perfect righteousness.
That's what's
required of us to
stand in his
presence.
If you're not,
the little bit,
little pilfy
righteousness of
your own is not
nearly enough to
pay the infinite
debt of your
sin.
That's why,
that is why
Christ bore the
wrath for us
that we might
trade these two
things.
Martin Luther
called it the
great exchange.
He took our
sin.
He gave us his
righteousness.
This is what
happened on the
cross.
He perfectly
suffered for the
sins of the
church.
For those that he
would efficaciously
call, effectively
call, is what that
means.
Right?
Our sin has been
expunged from the
record.
It's been cast as
far as the east is
from the west.
Let us rejoice in
that great truth.
And let us be active
sharing that great
truth with this
world.
We take the Lord's
Supper together every
Sunday here.
And we do it as a
climactic point.
I hope it's that for
you.
We really work at
leading you up to
it.
Right?
To stop and pause
and think about this
work of Christ on
our behalf.
His body broken,
his blood spilled.
There's symbols
here.
We don't believe in
transubstation.
We don't believe this
actually becomes the
body and the blood
of Christ.
Right?
We don't believe that
this is in some way
goes into your
righteousness purse
and you gain a little
bit as a result of
taking the Lord's
Supper together.
Right?
That's heresy.
But what we do
believe is it's a good
practice.
It's as a symbolic
thing for us to
participate in
together to
remember the work
of Christ on our
behalf as well as
the things he's
promised to do and
complete finally and
fully.
And that's why we do
it together.
It only makes sense to
take the Lord's
Supper together
though from a pure
place, from a clean
heart.
Right?
If you harbor sin in
your heart in light of
these great truths,
what business do you
have celebrating the
death and the
resurrection of Christ?
It makes no sense.
But if you're going to
actually celebrate what
he's done on your
behalf, you ought to
also ask that the
Spirit would examine
your life.
Shed light in the dark
corners, which we all
have, that you might
repent and believe once
again.
Turn from your sin and
turn to God and take
the Lord's Supper
together with us.
So I'm going to pray,
men who are going to
take the Lord's Supper,
if you'll go ahead and
move to those as I'm
praying.
As we do before, we'll
have our station set up
and I just ask as you're
prepared, come take the
elements and partake of
the Lord's Supper.
Let's pray together.
together.