CHRIST CALLS SINNERS!
Rev. Mark F. Bartels
Epistle Lesson; Ephesians
2:4-10
Old Testament Lesson; Ezekiel
2:8-3:11
Sermon Text; Matthew
9:9-13
Imagine, this morning, that we have three men standing up here. One of the men has a brief case. And, in his brief case there are a billion dollars! The next man standing up here has a few small coins in his hand. And the third man who is standing up here has nothing in his hands except for some big bills that he owes.
Let us imagine that the man with the billion dollars holds it up to the other two men and makes a wonderful offer to those men. He says, "This is my billion dollars. But, I want to use it to help you, in whatever way I can, in whatever way you need help."
Now, let’s suppose that the man, who has a few coins in his hands, is a proud and arrogant man. He thinks to himself, "I would like that billion dollars. I deserve those billion dollars. I am going to show that billionaire that I deserve the billion dollars."
And so, he takes his three little coins, goes up to the billionaire, and says, "Look at these coins. The coins are mine, but I will give them to you. With those coins, I will purchase from you, that billion dollars. Now, I expect you to give me the billion dollars, because I just purchased it from you, with my coins."
How do you think the billionaire would feel about that? Don’t you think that he would be sad that someone had that kind of heart and attitude?
Now let’s suppose that the other man also wants the billion dollars. But he knows that he doesn’t deserve any of it, even though he needs it. So he comes before the billionaire, with his head down, and says, "I don’t have anything to offer you. I don’t have anything to give to you. In fact, all I have are huge bills. And if I don’t pay these, I am going to lose my job, my family, my house, everything. I know that you have offered me the billion dollars. And so, I plead with you…
I beg you…
if you would be so kind and gracious…
if you would just pay my bills…
and if you do this,
I will be indebted to you
for the rest of my life!"
What do you think the heart of the billionaire would be toward that man? Don’t you think he would be happy?
The reason I tell that little story, that little parable, is because the billionaire, of course, stands for Jesus. Jesus is the one who, with His holy precious blood, (which is worth more than a billion dollars and all creation), has purchased our salvation and Heaven itself, for us! And, He offers it to the world!
The man with the three little coins stands for the Pharisees in today’s scripture reading. You see, the Pharisees were people who were proud and arrogant. They wanted the eternal salvation that God offered. But, they thought that by trying to follow God’s Law, by being good, and with their good deeds, they could take their ‘three little coins’, give it to God and say, "God, I have earned your salvation. I deserve it. I give you my good works, and in return I expect you to give me salvation."
Maybe they were people who even said, "I know I need to be forgiven. But, I know that your forgiveness is not enough. Your ‘billion dollars’ are not enough. I have to add my ‘three cents’. Once I have added my ‘three cents’ to that ‘billion dollars’ that will be enough to give me salvation."
That was the heart that the Pharisees had. It is a heart that we still find today. There are many in Christendom (maybe even our own hearts), which try to go to God with our good deeds, our good works, and say to God, "I am worthy. I am worthy of your forgiveness. I am worthy of Heaven, because I have been a good person. I have done good things." And, we try to purchase salvation from Jesus, our Savior.
The man who had huge bills to pay, of course, represents the people in today’s scripture reading, which were termed the taxed collectors and the ‘sinners’. These were people, like Matthew, who had fallen into sin. They had fallen into terrible sins. Some were tax collectors, who robbed from other people, to make a living. Others were prostitutes, as well as other kinds of sinners. These people knew that they didn’t have anything to bring to God. There was no way that they would be worthy of Jesus’ salvation. All they had to bring to Him were bills, huge bills, and debts.
I want you to see what happens in today’s scripture reading. I want you to see how the Pharisees treat the other people. The Pharisees, who thought that they were worthy of God’s salvation, wanted them to be very aware, "You are not worthy of God’s salvation. God would be indignant, if you came to Him as a huge sinner, and expected that He would give you anything, let alone His salvation." And, so the Pharisees came to Jesus’ Disciples, when Jesus was eating at the house of ‘sinners’, and said to them, "Why does your teacher eat with tax collectors and ‘sinners’?" In other words they were saying, "Those people aren’t worthy. They are not worthy to go to Jesus, to go to God Himself."
You know that there are still people today, (maybe in our church) who may give people that impression. What a mistake that would be, if we ever gave anyone the impression, "You are not good enough. You are not good enough to come to Jesus. You have not lived a good enough life. Why would Jesus ever want you to come to Him? He would be indignant if you came to Him." What a mistake that would be!
Today’s sermon is for anyone who is out there, anyone out there who has gotten the impression that you are not good enough, that you have fallen so deeply into sin that you are absolutely unworthy, and that Jesus would never accept you. Today’s sermon is for you, if you are out there. Ultimately, however, it should be for each one of us, because none of us are at all worthy to come to Jesus, our Savior.
The wonderful thing about scripture is that the New Testament, from the very beginning to the very end, every last page drips, it exudes the teaching that Jesus came for those who are unworthy!
Jesus came for sinners.
There is no one so bad, so evil, so wicked, that Jesus didn’t come for him or her. Look at the beginning of Jesus’ ministry, in today’s scripture reading. What does He do? To the alarm of the Pharisees, who thought that they had to earn God’s favor, Jesus calls Matthew, a tax collector, a ‘sinner’, to be His disciple!
Jesus came for sinners.
To the alarm of the Pharisees, Jesus goes, sits, and eats with open ‘sinners’, people who had fallen deeply.
Jesus came for sinners.
He tells the Pharisees,
"It is not the healthy who need a doctor,
but the sick.
For I have not come to call the righteous,
but sinners."
We go all the way through Jesus’ ministry, in the New Testament, and it exudes the teaching that Jesus came for sinners. That is exactly who Jesus came for!
Even in His death on the cross, to the alarm to anyone who thinks they can earn their way to Heaven, Jesus turned to that thief on the cross who had been mocking Him. In the last minute, the thief pleaded for Jesus’ mercy. And to the alarm of anyone who thinks they earn their way to Heaven, Jesus said to that sinner on the cross,
"Today,
today
you will be with me,
in paradise."
There is no one for whom Jesus is unapproachable. If you cannot deny that you are a sinner, then you cannot deny that Jesus came to save you! Scripture says,
"Christ Jesus
came into this world
to save sinners."
Martin Luther, in explaining Galatians 2:20 which says,
"He loved ME and
gave Himself up
FOR ME",
says we should say the words "me" and "for me" with great emphasis. "He loved ME and gave Himself up FOR ME."
Those words aught to be in huge, capital letters. Martin Luther goes on to explain a passage in the book of Isaiah, "The LORD has laid on Him, (Jesus) the iniquity of us all." Martin Luther says, "What does that mean? God is not joking in the Bible passage. What does it mean that the LORD has laid on Jesus the sins of us all?" He goes on and explains that it means that the Father went to His Son and He said to Jesus, "Son, I lay on you the burden of all their sins. You are Eve, who ate the fruit in the garden. You are Rahaab, the harlot. You are Peter, the denier. You are Paul, the persecutor, the blasphemer. You are David, the adulterer. You are Judas, the betrayer."
The LORD
has laid on Him
the iniquity of us all."
God has laid our sins on Jesus, and He sees them nowhere else, but on Jesus.
And then God said to Jesus, the Father said to His Son,
"Scripture says,
‘The soul that sins,
it shall die.’"
The curse of sin has been laid on you, Jesus. And now the curse of sin comes upon you. And so, you must and you shall die. You must suffer for the sins that were laid upon you."
There on the cross, the Father poured out His wrath against His Son, against the one who claimed to be the sinner of all. And there we were purged of our sin. There we were cleansed. Scripture says,
"God was reconciling the world to Himself,
in Christ,
not counting men’s sins against them."
God does not count the sins of any one of us against us anymore, because they are all laid upon Jesus. That is the message of scripture. No matter how far you have fallen. No matter how great your sins may be. There is no one for whom Jesus is unapproachable. All of us, no matter who we are, and how far we have fallen, should know, from the blessed words of scripture, that when I come to Jesus, who wants me to approach Him, I don’t come and lay something before Him to say that I am worthy. Rather, I come before Jesus and lay all of my bad deeds before Him, whatever they are. I lay them all in front of Him. I say to Jesus, "Jesus, you forgave Rahaab, the harlot. You forgave David, the adulterer and murderer. You forgave Peter, who denied you. You forgave Paul, who persecuted you and blasphemed against you. And, dear Lord Jesus you delight, you delight in saving huge and giant sinners. Jesus you have not changed."
"Scripture says,
‘Jesus Christ is the same yesterday,
today
and forever.’"
"So that means you still delight in saving huge and giant sinners. And so, I lay all my debts before you. I trust your Word in scripture that says,
‘There is more rejoicing in Heaven
over one sinner who repents
than over ninety-nine righteous persons
who don’t need to repent.’"
Jesus rejoices, and the angels with Him, when sinners, whoever they are, no matter how far they have fallen, come to Him to find free and full forgiveness. Jesus will not forsake those who come to Him. Jesus says in scripture,
"Whoever comes to me,
whoever comes to me,
I will in no way cast out."
Jesus is approachable by all, no matter who we are, no matter how far we have fallen, no matter what we have become. Jesus will not drive us out. He wants to be approached by us. He wants us to come to Him.
And then, He sends us to our homes, justified. And, He goes along with us! Our Savior is not ashamed to be with sinners. He is not ashamed to go with you to your house, all you who come to Him with your burdens, trusting that your sins are forgiven. No matter how lowly your house may be. No matter how little the bread on the table. Jesus is not ashamed to come to your house and bless your bread. No matter whether you have no other friends, Jesus is not ashamed to be your friend. He says,
"I will never leave you.
I will never forsake you."
No matter whether you are persecuted by the whole world, Jesus is not ashamed to stand by your side. No matter whether you lie on your deathbed. Jesus is not ashamed, no matter whom you are, to stand beside you and say,
"Fear not.
Fear not for I am with you.
Be not dismayed,
for I will uphold you
with my righteous, omnipotent hand."
And when you close your eyes for the last time, and go to stand before the Judgment Seat of the Father, Jesus will not be ashamed of you. He will put His arm around you and say, "Let me go with you and be your advocate." There He will stand before the Father unashamed of you and say, "This is my Mark. This is my David. This is my Rahab. This is my Matthew. I paid for their sins and they are forgiven."
How that ought to change our hearts! Jesus has come, to call sinners. That means, He has come to call me!
There was a famous Russian author by the name of Dostoievsky. When he was a young man, he was arrested for a crime. The leader of Russia, the Czar, thought he would teach Dostoievsky a lesson. So, he had Dostoievsky put in prison and bound. He had Dostoievsky brought to trial, where he was found guilty. He sentenced him to be executed by firing squad and then sent him back to prison to suffer.
Dostoievsky was petrified. Then, one day the executioners came. They walked into Dostoievsky’s cell, and bound his hands. Next, they put a white shroud over his head, (the shroud of death) and tied it around his neck. He was trembling, as they got him up, walked him out to an open field. There they tied him to a post.
Dostoievsky was still trembling, as he heard the commander say, "Ready."
He heard the guns go up in the air.
Then he heard the commander say, "Aim."
He heard the hammers of the guns click back.
And, with that, a voice shouted out, "Stop!" and Dostoievsky was released.
He said that from that day forward, his life was absolutely changed. It was absolutely changed, because it was only grace that let him go.
It is only grace that let us go. It is only grace that has snatched us from the fire. It is only grace that has snatched us from darkness, and brought us into light. How our lives should be changed. How Matthew’s life was changed, from that of a tax collector, to someone who was eager to share Jesus with others. He invited sinners to his home. He dedicated his life to telling others about Christ. Through divine inspiration, he wrote one of the books of the Bible, which still brings people to Christ today. That was his mission in life, having been saved by Jesus.
That is our mission if life too, having been saved by Jesus. Let us dedicate ourselves to praying for the lost. Let us dedicate ourselves to giving, so that lost all over the world may hear about Jesus, their Savior. Let us dedicate ourselves, like Matthew did, who invited people to his house to meet with Jesus, the friend of sinners.
This is our house. This church is our house, where we meet with Jesus. Let us dedicate ourselves to inviting sinners here, to come and meet with Jesus, the friend of sinners.
Amen.
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