Our reading comes from Matthew chapter 9.
Please follow along on the screen in your bulletin or your own Bible.
In Matthew 9 verse 1, we read,
And getting into a boat, he crossed over and came to his own city.
And behold, some people brought to him a paralytic lying on a bed.
And when Jesus saw their faith, he said to the paralytic,
Take heart, my son, your sins are forgiven.
And behold, some of the scribes said to themselves,
This man is blaspheming.
But Jesus, knowing their thoughts, said,
Why do you think evil in your hearts?
For which is easier to say,
Your sins are forgiven, or to say, Rise and walk?
But that you may know that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins.
He then said to the paralytic,
Rise, pick up your bed, and go home.
And he rose and went home.
When the crowd saw it, they were afraid, and they glorified God, who had given such authority to men.
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.
Then the disciples of John came to him, saying,
Why do we and the Pharisees fast, but your disciples do not fast?
And Jesus said to them,
Can the wedding guests mourn as long as the bridegroom is with them?
The days will come when the bridegroom is taken away from them,
and then they will fast.
No one puts a piece of unshrung cloth on an old garment,
For the patch tears away from the garment,
And a worse tear is made.
Neither is new wine put into old wineskins.
If it is, the skins burst, and the wine is spilled,
And the skins are destroyed.
But new wine is put into fresh wineskins,
And so both are preserved.
Amen. This is the word of God.
Great. Good morning, everybody.
And wonderful to see you.
Thank you, Karen and Pui, for reading God's word to us.
And welcome, all watermarkers and those that may be visiting.
If you're a guest of ours, so great to have you with us today.
A warm welcome to you.
If you don't know me, my name is Kevin.
I'm one of the elders and the pastors here.
And it is great to be able to look at God's word together this morning.
I wonder if you'll join me as we pray together.
Let's come before our Father, the Lord Jesus Christ,
the Holy Spirit, and pray for a few minutes now.
Let's pray together.
Heavenly Father, Lord Jesus Christ, Holy Spirit,
the Triune God,
we come before you this morning,
not in any sense of self-sufficiency or self-righteousness.
We've come, God, very aware of our own depravity and our brokenness.
We've come, God, very aware of our need for you,
our foulness and our finiteness.
That you are God and we are not.
And, Lord, we really do come with a sense of need for you.
Come and speak to our hearts.
Come and encourage us.
Come and minister to us this morning.
Not just in the sermon,
but, God, as we sing these songs of worship and devotion to you,
I pray that you, the Spirit of God, will stir our hearts to see you freshly this morning.
God, we pray that as we come to your word in Matthew 9,
that it will be you that is speaking to us.
God, your word is not just pages on a screen.
It's living and active.
We need it, God, to come speak to our hearts,
to cut open to our hearts, Lord,
and to really speak to the depth of us.
And so we ask you to come and have your way as we look at your word.
God, come and show us more what Jesus is like,
what the gospel is like, we pray.
But we also just pray for every watermarker,
those maybe that are watching, those who maybe aren't,
those that are going through a difficult time.
You know where all our hearts are at.
You know where our lives are at.
You know the pains we face, the struggles we endure,
the difficulties we're going through.
We pray for your grace to really minister to us this morning and this week, God.
Come and minister to us, we pray, God.
Lord, we also pray, won't you send us out.
As we look this morning at this passage,
we see your heart, God, for people that are far from you.
We pray, God, for us as a church.
Won't you make us like you, Jesus.
May you send us out into the city, God.
May Hong Kong be better off because there is a simple church called Watermark Church here
that is participating in your kingdom come adventure of being salt and light in the city.
And so we pray, God, may we become more like you, Jesus.
May we love and serve those that are far from you.
May we also this morning recognize our own need for the gospel.
Come speak to us, we pray.
God, we also just this morning want to pray for our city, Hong Kong,
that's going through so many changes and so much that's going on,
both here at home in Hong Kong and across the world.
We pray, God, won't you come and lead in, guys.
We pray for our leaders, our political leaders, God.
We pray that they will serve the citizens of Hong Kong with fear and trembling,
that they will do what is good for the people of our city.
We do just pray for our city and all government officials.
We pray for peace in our times.
We pray for flourishing.
We pray that people's lives will be lifted up, God.
We pray for the poor and the marginalized,
that policies will be put in place and the church will respond in a way that serves our city.
God, we bring all these things before you and you're wonderful in your gracious name.
Amen.
Okay, well, we are looking at this passage in Matthew chapter 9.
We're working through Matthew's gospel for a couple of weeks and months.
And seeing what does it mean to follow Jesus in all of life.
And today, in our passage, the passage that we look at, if you've got a Bible in front of you,
is often broken up into two sections.
There's verses 1 to 8, and then there's verses 9 and onwards.
And in most Bibles, this is divided into two sections.
And we can tend to think of this as two separate incidences.
But I think actually Jesus wants us to see this as one holistic picture.
And the reason is twofold.
The first reason is because in all of the Synoptic Gospels, Matthew, Mark, and Luke,
these sections where Jesus heals the paralytic and where Jesus calls Matthew actually go together.
And I think the Holy Spirit has done that for a reason.
He wants us to read these two incidences as one flow of thought.
But the second reason is because there's a clear link.
There's a theme that is linking them.
In both Jesus' healing of the paralytic and his call to Matthew,
Jesus is comparing physical health with spiritual health.
Or maybe you could say he's using physical health as an analogy,
an illustration of what spiritual health and vitality looks like.
And so Jesus wants us to look at this section together.
Additionally, you may have seen when we read this,
when Priya and Karen were reading to us,
that in the three sections in the passage today,
Jesus responds to three objections or challenges.
In each one of these, somebody comes up to Jesus with a challenge.
And Jesus responds.
In the first one, some scribes come to Jesus and say,
Jesus, who do you think you are?
How can you say that?
That's blasphemy.
In the second one, some Pharisees come to Jesus and they say,
how on earth can you eat and feast with such scoundrels, such sinners?
And in the third passage, John's disciples come to Jesus and they say,
Jesus, all the devout Jews are fasting.
You and your disciples are not fasting.
What's wrong with you?
And in each one of these, Jesus responds to these misunderstandings,
these misconceptions of who he is.
And today, what we're going to see is three ingredients
that are absolutely essential to have genuine faith in Jesus.
Three things that you must know about Jesus if you're going to be a Christian at all.
If you take out any one of these three ingredients,
you will never really get to know the life transforming power of the gospel.
Take out any one of these ingredients and forever,
your Christianity will feel like a duty or a dry religion.
But that's not what Jesus has for us.
And so this morning, we're going to look at these three things.
We're going to look at his identity, who Jesus is,
his mission or his purpose, why he came,
and then his call, what it means to follow him.
Okay, so let's dive in the first one, who Jesus is.
Look at the first passage with me in Matthew 9, verses 1-8.
Now, we looked at this briefly last week.
So let's look at it briefly again this morning.
Jesus is back in Capernaum.
That's his hometown.
It's not the town where he grew up,
but it's kind of his adopted hometown during the time of his ministry.
It's where he often retreats after going out to ministry,
comes back to Capernaum, his adopted hometown,
and some people bring to him a paralyzed man on a stretcher.
They've heard of the miraculous power of Jesus.
They've heard of what he does.
And so they come to Jesus with a clear request.
They want Jesus to heal their friend.
But Jesus doesn't do for them what they initially expect.
Look at what he says.
Jesus simply says,
Take heart, my son.
Your sins are forgiven.
Now, that really upsets the religious leaders.
And you can understand why.
To heal someone of their paralysis,
that's the realm of doctors and miracle workers and wise sages,
religious leaders, possibly.
But to forgive someone of sins,
that's the prerogative of God alone.
Only God can do that.
Remember in Psalm 51,
that amazing Psalm in the Old Testament,
King David has committed this outrageous sin.
He's committed adultery with Bathsheba.
And he's challenged on this.
And he writes this incredible Psalm of confession and repentance,
Psalm 51.
And what he says there,
he says,
God, against you and you only have I sinned.
Now, obviously,
David did sin grievously against other people,
right?
Bathsheba,
her husband.
But David knows that primarily sin is vertical before it's horizontal.
That whenever we sin,
God is the offender,
the agreed party,
primarily.
And so,
when Jesus says,
I forgive you of your sins,
to the Pharisees,
this is blasphemy,
because Jesus is taking on the prerogative of God himself.
But look at Jesus' response.
He wants them,
but he also wants us to know,
to be absolutely clear on who he is.
And that's why he does two miracles.
He does a visible one and an invisible one.
Look at what he says.
He says in verse 6,
that you may know that I have the authority to forgive sins.
Then he says to the man,
rise,
pick up your mat,
and go home.
Jesus visibly heals this man of this paralysis,
because he wants everyone to know he's not just a wise teacher.
He's not just a sage of religious genius.
He's not just a compassionate miracle worker.
Rather,
he's nothing less than the one who hung the stars in space.
He's nothing less than the one who knit this man together in his mother's womb.
He's nothing less than the one who with a word can give life and take life away,
because he's nothing less than the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob,
the God of their forefathers that they worshipped and endured.
He is God coming to them in human form.
And that's why throughout the Gospels,
Jesus is constantly drawing the anger of the crowds, of the people.
They want to throw him off the cliff.
They want to crucify him.
They want to murder him.
They come to plot to destroy him.
Jesus is constantly drawing the ire and the irritation of the people,
because he's constantly making claims that make no bones about it,
the fact that he is God.
And Jesus says he's not just one of a plethora of gods.
He's the one true God.
He is on par with Yahweh himself.
He is the one true God,
the creator of heaven and earth,
along with God the Father and the Holy Spirit.
This is who he is.
Now, simply knowing who Jesus is,
his identity is not enough.
If all you know about Jesus is that he's God,
that he's divine,
that he has authority,
you still don't know him very well.
We saw this last week in the passage preceding this.
Jesus, remember, he gets off the boat in the area of the Gadarenes.
And two men that are demon-possessed come up to him.
And the demons speak to Jesus through the men.
And this is what they say.
They say,
What have you to do with us, O Son of God?
They know exactly who he is.
They know that he is God himself,
the Son of God,
the divine second member of the Trinity.
But that doesn't help them very much.
Simply knowing who Jesus is,
his identity,
is not enough to make you a Christian.
And it's not enough to help you understand
or encounter the life-transforming power
of the gospel.
In order to really understand who Jesus is
and know him,
in order to really encounter his grace,
you need to know not just who he is,
but why he came.
Why he came.
Now, in almost nowhere in all of scripture
is this more beautifully portrayed
than in our passage there.
And it's so rich,
we could spend hours on it.
And we're not going to do that.
You'll be pleased to know.
But in this passage,
in Matthew chapter 9,
verses 9 to 13,
we see this incredible picture
of not just who Jesus is,
but why he came.
Matthew shares the story
of what happened in his own house.
And Matthew is a tax collector.
We'll talk about that in a minute.
He's recently become a follower of Jesus.
And he throws this massive get-together banquet party
for Jesus with all his friends,
his cronies,
at his house.
Now, in ancient times,
houses were fairly open affairs.
They weren't behind gated communities.
You didn't have security guards at the front.
They were fairly open.
Everyone could see into the house
and see what was happening.
Many times,
you could actually kind of walk through
the outer perimeters of the house,
the portico,
and actually even interact with people
on the outskirts of the house,
or the property.
And so,
Jesus is here
at Matthew's house.
Everyone can see
in what's happening.
And to the horror
of the religious leaders,
there is Jesus
with his disciples
in the midst
of this great big get-together
with all the people in society
that you would not want
to be seen with.
Jesus is there
in the middle of the party.
And look at what Matthew says.
He's there with tax collectors
and sinners.
Many of us will know
that tax collectors
were the most hated members
of Hebrew society.
And the reason is
because they were Jews
that were collecting taxes
from the Jewish people
on behalf of the Roman government.
And so,
in many ways,
they are seen as traitors.
They are those
that have colluded
with the enemy
to tax their own people.
But more than that,
in ancient Israel,
there was no regulation
to how the taxes
were collected.
It was very just open
to interpretation.
And so,
one day,
you set up your tax booth
on the toll road
and you've got your license
and one day,
you charge 10 denarii
for anyone that's passing through.
And the next day,
maybe you charge
12 or 13 denarii.
And then,
the next month,
maybe the tax collector,
it's his son's birthday
and he wants to buy his son
a very special present.
And so,
for a week,
he charges 20 denarii.
It was very arbitrary.
And so,
what happened,
what that meant
was the tax collectors
were not only traitors,
they were extortionists.
They were those
that were robbing
their own people
to line their own pockets
and to aid
and facilitate
the foreign government.
The Mishnah
and the Talmud,
these ancient rabbinic documents,
lumped tax collectors
together with murderers
and thieves.
Tax collectors
were not allowed to witness
in a court of law.
They were not considered
trustworthy or honest enough.
Their testimony
was considered meaningless.
And so,
in some ways,
think of a Jewish person
sidelining or informing
the Nazi German government
in World War II
how to capture other Jews.
That's kind of how
Israel felt about tax collectors.
Not only have they turned
their back on their own people,
they've sought to live for themselves
and for their own pleasure.
And so,
in this close-knit,
family-orientated,
unashamed culture,
this is the ultimate act
of betrayal
and unfaithfulness.
And here is Jesus.
Jesus.
This popular teacher
who crowds are attracted to Him.
And He's in the middle
of this great big
get-together party
with tax collectors
and other sinners.
That means prostitutes
and pimps
and murderers
and thieves.
And He's not preaching at them.
He's eating with them.
He's feasting with them.
About a year ago,
I was down in Central
on the corner of
Peter Street
and Queens Road.
You know,
where the new decathlon is.
Now,
I'm on the street corner there
and I see a man
with a loud hailer,
a megaphone.
And he's standing
on the street corner
shouting out,
Repent!
You sinners!
Repent, Hong Kongers!
I think that's what the Pharisees
wanted Jesus to do
at this party.
But that's not what Jesus
is doing at all.
He's not preaching at them.
He's not scolding them.
He's not rebuking them
and telling them
what dirty rotten scoundrels
they are.
He's eating with them.
He's eating pork chops
and bacon, probably.
He's drinking Gentile wine.
Jesus is doing
the very thing
He's not supposed to do
with the very people
He's not supposed to be with.
And why is He doing it?
Well, He tells us.
Look at verse 12 and 13.
Jesus says,
Those who are well
have no need of a physician
but those who are sick.
I came not to call the righteous
but I've come to call sinners.
I've come not to associate
and hang out with those
who got it all together.
My purpose for coming
was to call people
who are far from God
back into relationship
with God.
That's what He means
when He says,
Go and learn what this means.
I desire mercy,
not sacrifice.
It's a quote from
Isaiah chapter 6
where Jesus is saying,
What I desire
is covenant relationship.
That's what mercy means.
Like I said,
covenant relationship
with people.
I want to be really nice.
I want people that are far from me
to come back
and experience my love
and my mercy.
I'm not just interested
in religious devotion
and practices.
I'm not interested
in people feeling entitled.
I want covenant relationship.
I've come to call people
back to God.
Douglas O'Donnell says this,
Christ stands close
to those who know
they are far from Him.
Why?
Because that's why He came.
He came to call sinners.
Not after they've shown
interest in Him
or cleaned up their act.
But while they are still
10 feet deep
in their sins.
Friends,
at the heart of Christianity
is this claim
that all of humanity,
all of us,
Jews and Gentiles,
rich and poor,
educated and uneducated,
Hong Kongers,
mainlanders,
Malaysians,
Koreans,
South Africans,
Australians,
all of us,
face a massive problem
that we cannot solve
on our own.
And that is that
as a result of our sin,
which is really
us turning our back
on God
and living for ourselves,
we are under God's judgment.
We are alienated
from the life
that God has
destined us for
and the love
that He's designed us
and made us to experience.
And there's no way back.
We cannot buy
our way back.
We cannot earn
our way back
with good behavior.
We cannot merit
our way back
with religious devotion
and duty.
All of us have
turned our back on God.
We've gone our own way.
In a sense,
we are our own
tax collectors
and sinners.
And so Jesus Christ,
God Himself,
God in human form,
the greatest physician
ever has come to us
to bring healing
and redemption
and reconciliation.
Jesus has come
to call us back
to Himself,
to make a way
for men and women,
people like me
and you,
to be reconciled
to God.
This is who Jesus is
and this is why
He has come.
If you look again
at the first pericope,
the first story
of Jesus healing
the paralytic,
Jesus says to the paralytic,
I've got good news.
Take heart, my son.
Your sins are forgiven you.
And Jesus challenged,
how can you say that?
And so look what He says
in verse 6.
He says,
that you may know
that I,
the Son of Man,
have authority
to forgive sins.
And He turns to man
and says,
pick up your mat
to rise and walk.
Jesus is doing more
than merely proving
His credentials.
He's doing more
than merely proving
that He's God.
Jesus is making the point
that more important
than a renewed body
is a renewed heart,
a renewed soul.
Jesus is making the point
that He hasn't just
come to improve our lives,
He's come to solve
the deepest problem,
which is the problem
of sin in our hearts,
the cancer of sin.
Jesus is demonstrating
that merely healing
this man's body
would have been wonderful,
but insufficient.
To restore His health
would perhaps save Him
from a couple of decades
of suffering,
but to restore His soul,
to restore His heart,
to restore relationship
with God,
that's going to save Him
from an eternity
of suffering and damnation.
Friends,
Jesus says in verse 2,
His declaration,
that the forgiveness
of sins may not have been
what the paralytic
wanted to hear,
but oh,
it was what he needed
to hear.
And friends,
that's true for you
and I as well.
One of the most important
scriptures in the whole
of the Bible,
and I want to encourage you
to memorize this scripture,
learn it off by heart,
is this,
1 Timothy chapter 1.
The Apostle Paul,
the great Apostle Paul,
writes this.
He says,
this saying is trustworthy
and deserves full acceptance.
That means this is absolutely true
and you can bank your life on it.
Jesus Christ came into the world
to save sinners.
And then he adds this amazing line,
of whom I am the foremost,
of whom I am the very worst.
Friends,
remember we mentioned it last week,
the angel Gabriel comes to Mary
and she says,
Mary,
you are going to be with child
and the child within you
is going to be called Jesus.
God saves,
for he is going to save his people
from their sins.
Right at the beginning
of Jesus' earthly ministry,
his disciples come to him
and say,
Jesus teaches how to pray.
And Jesus teaches them famously
the Lord's Prayer.
And right at the center of that
is,
forgive us our sins
as we forgive those
that have sinned against us.
At the end of his life,
Jesus,
the night before he goes to the cross,
he's having a meal
with his disciples
and he grabs a glass of wine
at Passover meal
and he says,
this is the blood of my covenant
which is poured out for you
for the forgiveness of sins.
Friends,
Jesus,
the next day,
he's hanging on the cross,
nails smashed to his hands,
he's struggling to breathe
as his body is weighed down
and he dies of asphyxiation
and he cries out
with his dying breath,
Father,
forgive them.
They know not what they do.
Friends,
Jesus rises from the grave
and he's walking on the road
and he meets two disciples
on the way to Emmaus
and he says to them,
this it was written,
that the Christ should suffer
and on the third day
rise from the dead,
that repentance
and the forgiveness of sins
should be proclaimed
in his name
to every corner
of the world.
Friends,
this is the heart of Christianity.
This is what the entire Bible
is about
from beginning to end.
This is what Christians worship.
This is why we sing songs
of adoration and glory.
This is why we rejoice
in who God is.
This is why we sang
like we did this morning.
This is why we live
with hope in our hearts
because though our sins
are red as crimson,
friends,
though our sins are as many
as the sand on the seashore,
though our sins are as high
as the skyscrapers of Hong Kong,
Jesus Christ came into the world
for people like you
and people like me
to take our sins upon himself.
Jesus says,
those who are well,
those who are perfect,
have no need
for a physician.
I've come
not just to do religious duty.
I've come not just
to bring a new religious system.
I've come not just
to start a new religion.
I've come to call sinners
to myself.
Now,
in one sense,
the religious leaders
in Jesus' day,
they would not disagree with this.
They would acknowledge
this is what all prophets do,
all wise men,
religious men,
all the prophets in Israel
were constantly calling Israel
back to God,
to repentance
for their sins.
But in another way,
they completely miss Jesus.
They see it,
but they don't see it.
And they miss Jesus.
And they miss Jesus,
I think,
for three reasons.
And it's the same three reasons
that we miss Jesus.
Friends,
my guess is that
for many of us this morning,
this scripture
where Jesus said,
I came to call sinners,
is probably not new to us.
But we miss it
for three reasons.
The one reason is this.
We tend to think of
other people
as the sinners
that Jesus came for.
The scribes
and the Pharisees
in Jesus' day,
they would nod their heads
and say,
that's very good.
You're right,
we need to call sinners
to repentance.
But it was those people
out there.
It was the tax collectors.
It was the prostitutes
and the sex workers.
And friends,
we can do the same.
We can think
it's those drug dealers
out there on the streets.
It's those ladies
that work in the red light district.
It's those Wall Street bankers
that are greedy
and full of greed.
It's those people
that we need to organize
a mission
to go out there
and save them.
We need to send
some church planters
there to go and speak
to those people.
And yet we miss
the fact that Jesus
has come for us.
For us.
Here's another way
that we miss it.
We tend to think
of ourselves as sinners
but in a generic sense.
We kind of tend to say,
yes, yes, it's true.
We all sinners.
I too am a sinner.
And when we tend
to think of our sins
as things like,
you know,
six months ago
I lost my temper
in the traffic
and I swore
at another car
when he pulled
in front of me.
And it's true.
I shouldn't have done that
and I'm glad
that Jesus came
for my swearing.
I really need Jesus
to help me
with my road rage.
Or we tend to say
things like,
I guess I haven't
really read my Bible
so much
in the last month
and that's true.
I really should
do a better job.
I should be more committed.
So we tend to think
of ourselves
as we all kind of sinners
in a very generic sense.
But we don't see
what's really going
in our hearts.
We don't see
the anger
in our hearts.
We don't see
the self-righteousness.
We don't see
that when people
challenge us
the anger that rises
is not merely
because they're
challenging us.
It's because of
a sense of self-righteousness
in our hearts.
Friends,
I've got to tell you
that happens to me
so often.
People challenge me
and correct me
and I don't take it
very well.
I don't like
to be challenged
because my heart
is bent into myself.
I like the Pharisees.
I've turned away
from God
and I want
to live for myself.
I want to be
my own God.
There is a God
that sits
on the throne
of my life
and his name
is Kevin.
And I constantly
want to be
my own God.
I find ways
to prop up
the idolatry
of my own heart.
And I'm a sinner
and I need Jesus.
But I don't like
to admit that.
So it's easier
to compare myself
to others
and think of
those people out there.
But here's the third
way to do it.
Sometimes think of
ourselves as
Jesus came to save us
from our sins
but it happened
a long time ago.
Back in 1978
God radically
saved my life.
I was a drug dealer.
I was doing this.
I was doing that.
And God saved me.
And you know
he really revolutionized
my life.
Yeah yeah
40 years ago
God came
and saved a sinner
like me.
But notice
what Paul says here.
Paul says
this saying is
trustworthy
and deserving
of full acceptance.
That Jesus came
to the world
to save sinners.
He says
of whom I am
present tense.
Of whom I am
the very worst.
Jesus is not
Paul is not just saying
you know
I was really bad.
Long time ago
when I was a Pharisee
I was so bad.
He's saying
right now
the current reality
of my heart
is I'm the worst
sinner I know
and I need
Jesus grace today.
John Newton
was this
amazing man
who
well he was actually
a dreadful man
when he first
first half of his life
he was a
a ship captain
in the
transatlantic
slave trade
used to captain ships
that went along
the coast of Africa
Sierra Leone
and other parts of Africa
capturing
men and women
tying them up
and then
selling them as slaves
to the new
colonies in America.
He was a slave trader
and he
encounters the gospel
he encounters Jesus
his life turns around
a couple years later
he leaves shipping
he then becomes
a pastor
and many years later
he writes this amazing
amazing hymn
Amazing Grace
how sweet the sound
that God could save
a wretch like me
I once was lost
now I'm found
was blind
but now I see
but towards the end
of his life
John Newton
says these amazing words
he says
though I am an old man
now and my memory
is failing
two great things
I shall never forget
I am a great sinner
and Christ is a great savior
my dear friend
do you know that
Jesus is a great savior
and that he came
for you
he didn't just come
in a generic sense
for the sins of the world
he didn't just come
for those scoundrels
out there
he came for people
like me
and he came for people
like you
friends
Jesus came
for us
and you know why
because of his
unquestionable love
for us
because of his love
for you
and his love
for me
it wasn't the nails
that hung Jesus
on the cross
it was his love
for us
Jesus came
for us
and that leads us
to the third
and final thing
which is that
if you want to know
who Jesus
if you want to really
experience the life
transforming power
of Jesus
you've got to not
only know who he is
not only know
why he came
you've got to know
what it means
to follow him
look at the third
story in our
passage today
this time
it's not the
Pharisees
but it's
John
disciples
who come
to Jesus
and they ask
him a question
and they say
to him
why is it
that neither
you nor
your disciples
fast like
the other
rabbis
and the
Pharisees
now what's
going on
here is
that in
first century
Israel
all devout
Jews
fasted twice
a week
on Mondays
and Thursdays
why Mondays
and Thursdays
I'm not too
sure
that was just
the custom
Mondays
and Thursdays
all devout
Jews
would fast
but Jesus
and his
disciples
are not
fasting
in fact
we can't
prove it
but I
like to
imagine
that Jesus
is at
Matthew's
house
having this
great big
feast
this get
together
on a
Thursday
night
and so
all the
other
devout
Jews
are
fasting
and they
are
devout
and they
are hungry
and here's
Jesus
and these
other Jews
when everyone
else should be
fasting
and they're
feasting it
up
and so
they come
to him
and they
say
Jesus
it's
Thursday
what are
you doing
why aren't
you guys
fasting
and Jesus
gives them
three mini
parables
and essentially
what he says
is this
if you try
and add me
or squeeze
me onto
your religious
system
it's not
going to
work
you can't
have your
religious system
and just
try and tag
me on
like a piece
of cloth
either you've
got to
follow me
or reject
me
you've
got to
orientate
your whole
life around
me
or you've
got to
discard me
you can't
just admire
me
and you
can't
just
add me
onto your
life
so the
disciples
John's
disciples
the Pharisees
are coming
saying
Jesus
we can
see you're
a good
man
you're a good
teacher
you can do
miracles
we see
you're
following the
traditions
of our
fathers
etc
why don't
you
fast
like the
others
and Jesus
says I
haven't
come just
to join
your
system
I've
come to
completely
overhaul
it
either you've
got to
follow me
or reject
me
but don't
just
admire
me
and Jesus
gives you
three
parables
and let's
just look at
two of
them in
modern day
context
imagine
this
imagine you
engage
to be
married
and you're
trying to
find a
wedding date
and your
fiancee
comes to you
and says I've
got great
news
the venue
that we
wanted
and the
date that
we wanted
works
we've got
our wedding
venue on
our wedding
date
and you
look at
the date
and you
say oh
love
I've got
bad news
I've just
started this
this new
diet
and according
to my
new diet
I'm going
to be
fasting
on that
date
do you
think we
can find
another day
for our
wedding
friend your
fiancee is
going to
either slap
you or
kick you
out
she's going
to say
listen it's
either the
wedding or
your diet
right
don't
just
attach me
to a
little part
of your
life
you either
take me
or you
take your
life
but I'm
not just
an add-on
that you
can attach
to your
life
your wedding
takes preference
over your
eating habits
imagine this
Jesus says
you go down
to the
IFC mall
and you
see this
you've got
this old
jacket on
that your
dad gave
you
or your
mom gave
you
or some
special
person
gave you
and you
love this
jacket
but it's
getting a
bit old
it's got
a few
tears
but it's
got sentimental
value
and you
see in the
shop window
this new
jacket
and it's
beautiful
lovely cloth
and fabric
just the
color you
want
and you
think oh
I should
get that
but you
don't let
go of
the sentimental
item of
clothing that
you have
and so you
think I
know what
I'll do
I'll cut
off the
sleeve of
the new
one
I'll sew
it onto
this one
and then I
can have
the best
of both
that'll
work
no friends
that's not
going to
work well
at all
you either
wear the
new one
or the
old one
but you
can't try
and merge
them together
do you see
what Jesus
is saying
he's saying
either you're
going to be
my follower
or you've
got to
reject me
but you
can't simply
add a little
bit of me
to your
life
you can't
simply patch
me onto
your life
you need to
reorientate
your entire
life around
me
you need to
choose your
wedding or
your diet
you need to
choose the
old jacket
or the
new one
you need to
choose whether
you're going
to follow
me or you're
going to
follow yourself
remember two
weeks ago
some man
comes to
Jesus
and says
Jesus
I'm going
to follow
you
I'm with
you
just give
me a few
months
I just
need to
tie up
some loose
ends
I've got
a big
inheritance
that's coming
in
just let
me type
some things
then when
everything's
sorted
I'll come
and be
with you
Jesus
says let
the dead
bury the
dead
you come
and follow
me
and sometimes
we say
well you know
Monday to
Friday is
a prioritized
work
Saturday it's
the kids
Saturday night
it's friends
and Sunday
morning if I'm
up to it
Sunday morning
I'll give to
Jesus
no no no
you orientate
your entire
life around
me
you follow
me or you
follow yourself
you can't
just add a bit
of me here
and there
now as we come
to a close
in verses 8
and 9
Matthew shows us
two responses
one negative
and one positive
to show us what it
means to follow
Jesus
let's look at the
negative one
verse 8
look what
happens here
Matthew writes
this
this is after
Jesus heals
the paralytic
right
verse 8
when the crowd
saw it
they were afraid
that means they
were filled
with awe
and they glorified
God who had
given such
authority
to men
now at first
this seems like
a wonderful
response
the crowd
see what
Jesus do
and they say
brilliant
this is amazing
they glorify
God
but actually
unfortunately
that's all
that they were
they were
honored
they were
amazed
but they never
came to Jesus
for more than that
why do I say that
a couple of chapters
later in chapter 11
Jesus says this
about the very people
in Capernaum
he says
you Capernaum
will you be exalted
to heaven
no no no
you'll be brought
down to Hades
for if the mighty
works that I had done
in you
had been done
in places like
Sodom and Gomorrah
they would have
repented a long
time ago
I tell you
it'll be more
bearable in Sodom
and Gomorrah
on the day of
judgment
than it will be
for you
what's Jesus
saying
Matthew's warning
us against
following the
crowds
in Matthew's
gospel
like in life
and particularly
in a digital
world
social media
the crowds
are always
deceptive
Jesus is never
without a crowd
the crowds
are always right
there
they're
howling
they're
cheering him
on
they're applauding
him
they're loving
what he's
doing
but these
same crowds
are never
described as
following him
with faith
and repentance
they may be
amazed
they may
say generic
platitudes
of praise
and wonder
but they may
even be
grateful for
who Jesus
and what he
does
but they
never turn
to Jesus
in faith
and repentance
they never
come to
Jesus
for forgiveness
of sins
and they never
experience the
life transforming
power of his
grace
the
crowds
of Capernaum
they see
Jesus
in flesh
and blood
more than
anyone else
Jesus
considers
their city
his hometown
the crowds
hear his
sermon
live and
in person
they witness
his miracles
with his
own eyes
they are
amazed
they are
astonished
they are
filled with
awe
but friends
are never
filled with
faith
and they
never
follow him
and they
never
experience
his
life
transforming
power
of the
gospel
contrast
that with
verse 9
Jesus
is walking
along the
roads
and he
sees this
man
called
Matthew
is a
tax
collector
one of
the most
hated
men
ancient
Israel
society
but don't
feel sorry
for him
he's chosen
that job
because it's
well paying
he makes
a lot
of money
Matthew
may not
have respect
of society
but his
bank balance
is pretty
good
Jesus
comes up
to him
and he
says
follow me
and Matthew
gets up
and he
leaves
everything
behind
and he
follows
him
Matthew
doesn't
say
you know
geez
I've
got a
big
bonus
coming
in
Matthew
doesn't
say
just give
me a
couple
of
months
I just need
to tie up
some family
deals
some loose
ends
in the
ancient
world
tax collectors
that often
paid up
front a
license
to collect
taxes
they paid
a big
sum up
front
and then
they could
collect the
taxes
retrospectively
Matthew
walks away
from all
of it
he says
Jesus
you have
my
life
friends
can I
ask you
this
morning
are you
one of
the
crowd
or are
you
like
Matthew
are you
one of
those
that have
in some
part
inspired by
Jesus
you're
encouraged by
the
testimonies
you're
wired by
the
miracles
you're
grateful
for his
grace
but you're
not really
willing to
follow him
completely
who are you
like Matthew
one who has
seen your
need for
Jesus
that Jesus
came
not just
for the
sinners of
the world
but he
came for
you
he came
for me
friends
have you
like Matthew
completely
orientated your
life around
him
friends
you'll never
know him
you'll never
experience the
life transforming
power of
his gospel
and his grace
unless you come to
him and know
who he really
is that he is
God almighty
he's not just
one of many
gods
he's not just
one religious
leader
he is the
one true
God
heaven and
earth
true king
friends
you'll never
experience the
life transforming
power of
the gospel
unless you
come and see
why he
came he
came for
people like
you and
people like
me
friends
you'll never
experience the
life transforming
power of
the gospel
until we
completely orientate
our whole lives
around him
until we
follow him
and say
Christ have
your way
in my life
let's pray
together
Lord Jesus
Christ we
do come before
you this
morning
and we are
deeply challenged
by this
passage God
Christ
when we have
eyes to see
it we have
to acknowledge
that our
own hearts
God are not
that far from
the tax collectors
and the
sinners we
might look
respectable on
the outside
but father in
our heart of
hearts we
too have
turned our
back on
you we
wanted to
serve ourselves
and our
own interests
Jesus thank
you that you
came for
sinners like
us thank
you that you
came to
redeem us
and rescue
us to
bring us
home
thank you
Jesus that
you you
didn't just
come to
deal with
sin as
an a
generic
debt but
you came
for sinners
for people
like us
people like
watermark
people like
us in
Hong Kong
Jesus you
you came to
set us
free
father I
pray won't
you send
your Holy
Spirit to
open the
eyes of
our hearts
to see
and understand
the gospel
to see
you God
for who
you are
to see
you for
why you
came and
to give us
the faith to
turn our
lives towards
you to
orientate our
entire lives
around you to
not just
trying to
attach you
onto our
lives as
one more
piece of
our already
busy schedule
but to say
Jesus come
and have
your way
Christ give
us the
faith to
do that
we pray
come and
have your
way
in your
wonderful
name
Amen