"Jesus Calls Matthew"

This is on Solomon and I like to welcome you to our program today. You know it's a tremendous honor to God is given to us to be on stations all around the nation bringing the truth of God's word as it is uncompromising and straightforward and I'm so glad you tuned in to listen and be part of that. Thanks again for your support and your generosity that keeps us on the radio and now let's get to the word of God. I went to college out of University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill and when I was a freshman there I decided to join a social fraternity. What I actually ended up joining was called Thailand to five and it was about 80 guys 50% Jewish and 50% non-Jewish and 100% degenerate. We were everything that the movie animal house for trade and much worse. I wouldn't even want to go into some of the things that went on in my fraternity house I got heavy into drugs. In 1967 in 1968 looking for some answers to life and in the process I turned on to drugs. A large number my fraternity brothers trying to convince them that some of the answers might be found in drugs, then in the spring of 1971 I found Jesus Christ or maybe to be a little more theologically accurate.

He found me and suddenly I had all the questions answered to my life that all the questions I've been asking were answered. I found the joy in the piece in the supernatural wholeness for my life that I've been looking for. But I never found in drugs, but I found in Jesus Christ and immediately I made it my goal to go back and tell all 80 some of my fraternity brothers about what I have found in Jesus Christ. Before I left Chapel Hill. That was my goal Jesus Christ to change my life and made me whole, and I wanted other people to share in that I wanted them to experience what I've experienced. Now it was, like, you win. The publishers clearinghouse. You know what I mean, I knew that something it happened to me in 1971 that was better than winning the publishers clearing. I knew that and I did want to keep quiet about it. I want to tell everybody I could find people on the street people. My fraternity house everywhere I went I wanted to help me know in our passage for this morning were going to see a fellow named Matthew find Jesus Christ just the way I do and were going to see him try to do for his friends exactly what I tried to do for mine for some great lessons in our passage this morning about Matthew and how he responds to Jesus Christ and I hope God will use the passage were going to study this morning to touch your heart the way he did mind this past week. Let's look at it together. It's in Luke chapter 5, beginning in verse 27 it says after this, Jesus went out and saw a tax collector by the name of Levi. This is the same fellows Matthew sitting at his tax booth follow me. Jesus said to him now. Matthew was a tax collector. He was a public it is the word the King James were used to translate this the most despicable occupation you can think of what whatever it is I guarantee you none of it even compares to how the Jewish people of Jesus's day felt about people like Matthew about tax collectors and let me explain to you why you see at this time the Romans controlled the land of Palestine and they texted heavily but they didn't collect the taxes themselves. What they did is they took each district and they set an amount that they wanted in taxes and then they farmed it out to some local Jewish person was the highest bidder and that Jewish person had the responsibility of collecting the taxes and paying off the Roman authorities.

But the deal was that whatever he collected over and above the amount that he owed the Romans he could keep her and sell and Romans didn't care how much he collected over and above what they were due. As long as they got what they were due.

They were happy he could assess anybody any amount without any regard to fairness or equity or anything else he could do whatever he wanted to and people were completely helpless against the tax collector because as I said he was backed up by the Roman army.

So what could you do tax collectors were not even allowed to enter the synagogues in Israel, tax collectors could not even give testimony in court and their testimonies were inadmissible in court. In fact, the rabbis taught the Jews were not even allowed to ask a tax collector for change if they met the ministry. Matthew was one of these tax collectors that Jesus passes Matthew sitting at his tax collecting booth and he says to him, follow me is the Matthews tax booth was set up down by the sea so that he could catch incoming ships and get all the taxes that was due and many times. Matthew must've sat in that booth and he must've listen to Jesus as he taught the crowd right down there on the seashore near Capernaum Matthew and have lots of time to hear Jesus's words had to think about Jesus's words and Jesus had passed them before. I don't believe this is the first time he's walked past Matthew but now it's time for Matthew to make a decision and Jesus calls him and says Matthew you listen long enough, you can follow me archer verse 28 and Matthew got up immediately and he left everything and he followed Jesus Christ. Verse 29 then Matthew held a great banquet for Jesus at his house and a large crowd of tax collectors and elders were eating with them. I love this part. You see, Matthew wasn't just interested in getting up and following Jesus himself no more than that.

He wanted all of his friends to experience the same joy and the same fees and the same forgiveness of sin and the same life changing salvation that he and found in Christ you want to tell all his fraternity brothers what happened. Matthew gathered the hardest parts and all Israel together to hear Jesus Christ, but Matthew realized that hardhearted people didn't need condemnation they needed Christ just like softhearted people, and he realized that there wasn't any heart anywhere so hard that God couldn't touch because God touched his heart and at some point during this party Matthew Rose to speak and maybe to begin. He told a few tax collector jokes. I don't know.

But then he got very serious and he said now friends the reason I invited you here is because something happened in my life a few days ago that has totally revolutionized my life. I committed my life to Jesus Christ.

I embraced him as my Messiah. I've given up being a tax collector.

God's given me a whole new life and the reason I invited you here tonight is because I want you listen to his Jesus rose to speak.

I guess those tax collectors probably brace themselves expecting to hear some more of the same rejection and threats and deprecation that the rabbis poured on him, but that's not what Jesus said it all. Jesus got up and told him about how much God loved and he told him about how much God wanted to forgive the many told him about the new life that God wanted to give in the Bible never tells us how many of them are how many of the ladies with them that evening made the same decision is Matthew would made but I'll bet we get to heaven working to find a whole lot of tax collectors. There that were discarding that night at Matthew's house. I believe Bible doesn't tell us for sure about that, but it does tell us how the rabbis were feeling. Let's go on verse 30 it is with the Pharisees and the teachers of the law who belong to their sex complained to Jesus's disciples and they said, why do you eat and why do you drink with these kind of people and why does your leader hang out with this, riffraff with tax collectors and sinners with the dregs of society with the Altair finger bones no matter Jesus heard about it and look what he said. Verse 31. He said it is not the healthy who need a doctor but the sick.

I have not come to call righteous people, but I came looking for sinners to call them to repentance. I love what Jesus said here Jesus just draws on simple human logic to make his point. He said a lot. A doctor specific people right. Doctors on for well people, doctors of the sick people. I came as a doctor for sinners and Obama doctor for sinners. It only makes sense.

I go over my patients are now in presenting himself as a doctor, or we would even say is the great physician. What distinguishes a good Dr. number one a good doctor really cares about people who were sick, a good doctor is really available. He's really interested.

He's a man or a woman of compassion number two. A good doctor accepts his patients right where they are