Matthew 9:9-13
The Calling of Matthew
9As Jesus went on from there, he saw a man named Matthew sitting at the tax collector's booth. "Follow me," he told him, and Matthew got up and followed him.
10While Jesus was having dinner at Matthew's house, many tax collectors and "sinners" came and ate with him and his disciples. 11When the Pharisees saw this, they asked his disciples, "Why does your teacher eat with tax collectors and 'sinners'?"
12On hearing this, Jesus said, "It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick. 13But go and learn what this means: 'I desire mercy, not sacrifice.' For I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners."
Sinners have much hope...The ones who think they are righteous do not have much hope...The most remarkable Man to ever walk the earth did not come for those who think they are good, the righteous ones...He came for sinners...
We learn three things here...God wants us to be good...However, we can be the most courteous person to walk the earth and be righteous, but this does not automatically earn us a blessing from God...That is because no one is good, but God alone...We learn He came for sinners...He did not come for the most courteous person who was walking the earth...He was not looking for the courteous, at all...He was looking for sinners...Jesus came to call sinners...
Secondly, the LORD is our God of mercy...We must all go and learn about what He means when He says, I desire mercy, not sacrifice...
Thirdly, He and others who teach the gospel came and come for the sick...We have to know that we are sick, to reach Him and to be called...If we do not know we are sick, He is not going to be with us...The Pharisees did not know they were sick with sin... You have to step back and look at yourself...We have to realize God wants us to be perfect, holy, just, and good...Man is flawed and there is a paradox here...This is the fundamental problem with mankind...We want to be perfect, we can't be perfect...We want to be holy, we can't be holy...We want to be just, we can't be just...We want to be good, we can't be good...But He is the only One who is perfect, holy, just, and good...When we realize this, we know we are sinners...But this is not a bad thing...We are sinners, and this is why He came and who He is calling...We sinners are who He came for...Hallelujah!!!...
God loves sinners...God loves those who know they are sinners...If we are sinners and believe in Him, He comes to save us...God so loves the world not to condemn it, but to save the world through Him...Whoever, who believes in Him, is not condemned, but whoever does not believe stands condemned already because he has not believed in the name of God's One and Only Son (John 3:17-18)...