Jesus, the Friend of Sinners - Old to New - Matthew S4E1

And I wish I had a cool accent like that. I'd sound so much smarter. Hey, it's good to be with you tonight. My name is Matt Carter. I'm one of the pastors here at Church 1122, just give you some context about this last week in Easter because, you know, Pastor Trey just threw that number out there like it was no big deal. Y'all, we had 600 and something people get baptized last week at our church. Now, yeah, listen, let me tell you, give you some context. My wife and I pastored, my wife didn't pastor, I pastored a church in Austin. We planted it together in Austin back in 2002. I pastored it for almost 20 years. Largest church in Austin, Texas, one of the fastest growing churches in America. Our greatest year of baptisms was 363. This church had 600 and something last week alone. There's a name for that. It's called Revival. It's called Revival. And how cool is it that we get to be alive when God is choosing in His goodness to pour out His Spirit on us? Let's not take it for granted. Open up your Bibles tonight to the book of Matthew. For continuing through the text, we're going to be in Matthew chapter 9. We'll start in verse 11 here in just a second. But Matthew 9, I've been studying for this moment for a while. I preached through Matthew back in the day, and for whatever reason, I missed this text. Another pastor in the church preached it. And so this was a brand new sermon for me, and I jumped into it. And man, honestly, I'm not just saying this because I'm a pastor and it's what I do, but this text in chapter 9 has been blowing my mind.

It's a really cool part of the book of Matthew, and here's why. Because Matthew, the guy that wrote the book of Matthew, is going to describe for us tonight in one verse the day or the events of the day that he met Jesus for the first time. And it's this moment where this guy, who was a tax collector, everybody hated his guts. Everybody thought he was a sinner. He's going to meet Jesus. He's going to walk up to him, and y'all, it is going to change his life forever, the moment that he meets Jesus. And he's going to describe that moment to us. But I want to kind of jump in and ask you a question. Why do you think Matthew waited nine chapters to tell us his story? Have you ever thought about that? I mean, why does he wait nine whole chapters to begin to write the part of the story where he gets changed by Jesus? I mean, think about it. Luke talks about himself in the first five verses of chapter 1 of Luke's gospel. John mentions himself. He's like, hey, everybody, I'm the disciple that Jesus loved. Just want to let you know that. And he talks about that in, I believe it's verse 15 of chapter 1 of his gospel. But Matthew doesn't talk about himself at all until he gets to chapter 9. You ever wonder why? I mean, here's the thing. When you're talking to a group of people, when you're writing to a group of people for the first time, you typically start off by letting everybody know why you're qualified to talk to them about the subject, right? I do it all the time. I have the privilege of going to different places around the country and preach and that sort of thing. And I especially like to give my credentials when I go to really super redneck places around

the country, right? I start off, especially when I'm in a redneck place, when I'm in a country place, I always start off with why I am uniquely qualified to preach to a group of redneck men. I'll give you an example of what I'm talking about. I was in southeast Georgia about a month ago. Now listen, church, man, I grew up in east Texas, and so I know what country is. And we're in Florida, and so I know what country is. But y'all, I had no idea what country was until I went to southeast Georgia. It's like a whole nother level of redneck. And so I'm preaching. This is one of those Pastor Joby Martin backup preacher jobs where they wanted him, but he was busy, so they sent me. And I go, and y'all, I land like in Atlanta, and I drive for like four hours in the middle of nowhere. And I get to a barn, and there's places just filled with men. And I walk up and I'm like, okay, where I'm in this barn filled man. I'm like, hey, where am I preaching? And they say yeah, y'all see that. He said you see that boat over there. You're gonna stand in that boat And preach y'all think i'm kidding. I got a picture check this out. That's me on a boat church That's a rock boat I'd never even heard of a rock boat They're so redneck. They have different kinds of boats that none of us have ever heard of true story I texted pastor jobey and I said pastor jobey check out this picture I'm, I I preached from a boat and he just wrote back. I am so jealous right now Here's the story So I stand up I preach Before I preached in the boat guy gets up Gives my bio And he lets all these folks from southeast georgia know that I planted a church In austin, texas and that kind of got all their attention, right?

Because they're like they're like wait a minute austin Texas this guy like some liberal hippie that listens to justin bieber in his spare time. Like who who is this guy? So when I when I stand up in the rock boat to preach What do you think the very first thing I told them? I'm talking about the first thing out of my mouth Here's what I told them. I said, hey everybody Using my best east texas accent. Hey everybody. Just want to let you know That I work on staff at the church of 1122 And I preach sometimes for pastor joe b martin And I kid you not every one of those redneck dudes They were kind of leaning back listening guy. I think I listened to justin bieber. They kind of sat up in their chair and they're like Dadgum that boy preached for joe b martin and then they listened to me because that's what you do You start off by giving your credentials, but matthew doesn't he waits nine chapters To tell his salvation story and here's here's two quick reasons why he does it. Here's the first one Because when jesus saves matthew matthew was a hated tax collector i'll tell you about that in a second And when he saves matthew, listen, don't miss this Jesus was revealing something through matthew's salvation something powerful about the heart of god and the purpose of the messiah That the jewish religious elite had completely missed And here's what the jewish Religious elite had completely missed Is that the primary purpose of the messiah was not to kick rome out of israel? And to establish, you know, uh israel back to its glory. No But the bible is very very clear all throughout the messianic prophecies that one of the primary purposes of the messiah. Don't miss this Was to bring salvation to really really messed up broken sinful people And that makes sense to you and me but but the pharisees just completely missed it And jesus just comes out and and matthew 9 After he saves matthew and he looks the pharisees in the eye and he tells them that let's check it out Look at matthew 9 9 11

matthew 9 11 So we're going to jump back in a second to go To when matthew saved but understand that matthew was a tax collector. Everybody hated his guts Jesus walks by calls him to himself matthew leaves the tax booth. He follows jesus Jesus goes home with the tax collector to eat dinner with him The pharisees which were the religious leaders of the day heard that jesus was eating with the tax collector and they just flipped him out Watch this verse 11. He says when the pharisees saw this They said to jesus disciples Why does your teacher eat with tax collectors and sinners But when he heard it in other words jesus heard him say that He said listen carefully. He said those who are well Have no need of physician But those who are sick and this next part in verse 13 is honestly one of the funnier parts of the bible Jesus says go and learn what this means Translation jesus just said y'all need to go home and go study your bible pharisees He said go and learn what this means boys go study your bible and then he quotes hosea 6-6 hosea and he says Boys need to go study your bible quotes. Hosea. He says I desire Mercy And not sacrifice He said for I came came to this planet Not to call the righteous But sinners And church that moment Right there

Where jesus has chosen? To save one of the most hated men that anybody knew who that moment right there would give Jesus a name, and he would become known after that moment by the name Friend of Sinners. And y'all, it's good news that our Lord and Savior is a Friend of Sinners, amen? And so he gets the name Friend of Sinners, and also, listen, that was the event that revealed to the world that Jesus was the fulfillment of the Messianic prophecy of Hosea 6.6, and by the way, do you know what Hosea is about? Hosea is one of the craziest stories in the Bible. Hosea is the story of God coming to this guy and saying, hey man, check it out, God didn't talk like that, but you get the idea. He's like, hey man, see the prostitute over there? I want you to go marry her. And he does, and she cheats on him over and over and over and over and over again. And every single time, God says, you go after her, and you keep loving her, and you keep pursuing her. Why was that in the Bible? Because Hosea is a picture of Jesus Christ's love for you and for me. It's because we're the prostitute, we keep leaving him, we keep cheating on him, we keep trying to run away from him, and he will not let us go.

The saving of Matthew was a living, breathing picture that Jesus was the fulfillment of the Messianic prophecy in Hosea 6.6, church, listen, which teaches us something so powerful about the heart of our God to us. And here's what it is, don't miss this. Here's what it teaches us, the salvation of Matthew. That there is no sin, there's no sin. Believer, I'm talking to believers here. There is no sin of your past, there's no sin of your present, and there is no sin of your future that is powerful enough to separate you from the love of God through Jesus Christ, our Lord. That's what the salvation of Matthew teaches us. And he waits nine chapters because we're about to see. That's the perfect moment to tell this story because Jesus was revealing to the world, I am the fulfillment of Hosea. Second reason Matthew waits nine chapters, listen carefully, listen carefully. Ties back to Pastor Joby last week. Jesus saving Matthew was an answer to a burning question that Jesus just put in everybody's mind after he healed the paralytic that his boys lowered through the ceiling because they couldn't get to Jesus, okay? Look at Matthew 9-9, we'll jump in. This is the sentence that Matthew talks about himself where he tells the story of the day that he meets Jesus,

but he gives us an important little data point here. Matthew 9-9, let's read it. Matthew starts off and he says, as Jesus passed on from there, all right? So where did Jesus just pass on from? Well, Jesus just passed on from the place Pastor Joby was talking about last week. And if you didn't miss it, number one, you ought to listen to it. But here's the Cliff Notes version because it's super important to understand what Jesus is doing with Matthew. Last week, there was a paralytic, okay? And he could not walk. And he's got four buddies and they're like, hey, we're gonna take you to Jesus because we hear this guy can heal people. And so they put that dude on a mat and they carry him to where Jesus was. Problem was, there's a big crowd around Jesus, they can't get to him. So they get up on top of the roof, cut a hole in the roof, and they lower their buddy that was paralyzed down to Jesus. And Jesus, in that moment, does something that makes everybody in the rooms jaw drop. Here's what he does. Look at Matthew 9, two. And behold, some people brought to him a paralytic lying on a bed.

Now watch this, watch this. It said, when Jesus saw their faith, when Jesus saw their faith, he said to the paralytic, take heart, my son, your sins are forgiven. Okay, Pastor Joby talked about that at length. It was an incredible sermon, but here's the thing I want you guys to know. That before Jesus heals the guy of his paralysis, and he does, and it's amazing. But before, and everybody check this out, this is huge. Before he heals the guy of his paralysis, he looks at the paralyzed guy and his buddies and it says he saw their faith. And the first thing he did after he saw their faith was not you're healed, he said he saw their faith and he forgave their sins. And church, listen, most people don't realize it, it's one of those things you just breeze past, but listen, I cannot convey to you the importance of that moment in history. And I'm gonna tell you why, that moment right there where Jesus looks at a paralyzed guy who had faith and came to Jesus and said when Jesus saw their faith, he forgave their sins. Here's why this is one of the most powerful moments in the course of history. It like literally changed the course of history. Here's why, because how did the Jewish people up to that moment think that their sins were forgiven? That whole crowd was a bunch of Jewish folks.

And up to that moment when Jesus said those words, he saw their faith, he gave their sin, how did you have your sins forgiven? How did you get reconciled back to God? You knew you broke the 10 commandments, you knew that's not good, and you knew that you were now, your relationship with God was broken, he told you to obey him, you didn't do it, so how did you get the forgiveness of your sins? Well, every Jewish person knew that how you got your forgiveness of sin is you carried you and your family up to Jerusalem, and you got there and you spent money and you bought a lamb. And it had to be a spotless lamb without blemish. And then you killed the lamb. And you shed the lamb's blood. And in doing that, you offered a sacrifice, that's a key word there, you offered a sacrifice to God, and God would see the blood, and it would be a temporary atonement for the sin of you and your family, okay? That's how everybody's sitting there listening to Jesus, that's how they thought their sins were forgiven. And so how crazy is it that God comes down through the roof and Jesus looks at him and says, I see your faith, your sins are forgiven, here's why that changed the entire course of history, here's why, church, because it's the very first time in the New Testament

where Jesus publicly forgives someone's sins, not based on a temple sacrifice and killing of a spotless lamb, but it was the first time in the New Testament where Jesus forgave someone's sins solely on the basis of their faith. It's the first time, it's the first time Jesus literally just forgave someone's sins by grace, through faith, it was a gift of God so that no one should boast. How'd you get your sins forgiven, former paralytic guy? I don't know, I just had faith in Jesus and he just forgave me of my sins, it was a gift. Y'all, it's called grace, it's called grace. That changed the course of history, first time publicly Jesus forgave someone's sins based on their faith. Do you remember the crowd's response? You remember the crowd's response when Jesus did that? They just know he's like a miracle worker, they think maybe he's the Messiah, a lot of them are probably there to check it out, but that dude looks at a paralyzed guy and said, hey man, I see your faith, I forgive your sins. Watch what their response was, Matthew 9, 8. When the crowd saw it, they were afraid, but then watch this, it says they glorified God who had given such authority to men. Now there's a little nuance there in the text that I think we missed, check it out.

Listen carefully, it says they glorified God who had given authority to Jesus. Translation, they recognized that Jesus was the Messiah. We realize that number one, Jesus just healed that guy so he's got some power, but we figure if he's forgiving sins, then the only reason he can forgive sins is God has given him the authority to forgive sins, which he is, means he's the Messiah, he's the chosen one, he's the one that we've been hearing about forever. Now listen carefully, here's the point. That moment. That put a question in everybody's mind. Everybody that was in the crowd just kind of watching that happen, where this guy not only heals a paralyzed guy, but forgives their sins based on faith, doesn't make them go to the temple, just forgives their sins. That put a question in everybody's mind. I guarantee you this was the question. If Jesus is willing to forgive that guy's sins based on faith alone, then how bad of a sinner can you be and Jesus still forgive you based on faith? And I say that because Pastor Jobe mentioned it, I don't know if you caught it. People thought people were paralyzed because of sin. If you were paralyzed, people back then thought, well, that dude must be dirty if he was paralyzed,

or his parents at least are dirty. And so they would look at a paralyzed guy, man, that dude's a sinner. And Jesus just forgives him based on faith. And so I'm telling you, that's what they're thinking. They're like, you're kidding me. Jesus doesn't make him go to the temple. He just forgave that guy. And so if Jesus is willing to forgive that guy, then how big of a sinner can you be? And you come to Jesus in faith and he still forgive you. And church, listen, to answer that question, how big and how bad and how nasty and how much of a big fat sinner can you be and walk away from all of it, just come to Jesus, come to heaven in faith, and he'll just forgive you of your sins. And to answer that question, Matthew tells the story of the worst sinner anybody ever knew that Jesus forgave and his name was Matthew. Let's jump in, almost like, let's check it out. He says it, check it out. He says, when the crowd saw it, verse eight, when the crowd saw it, they were afraid, they glorified God, given such authority to men. In the very next verse, as Jesus passed on from there, he saw a man called Matthew sitting in a tax booth. And he said to him, follow me.

And he rose and he followed him. Now church, how many times have you read that sentence in your Bible study or heard, you know, maybe heard it or heard somebody preach about it and really didn't give it a second thought? As Jesus passed on from there, he saw a man called Matthew sitting in a tax booth. He said to him, follow me, and he rose and follow him. But listen, I'm gonna tell you something, that sentence is absolutely full of some incredible characteristics and things that you and I have to know about God's heart for us. And so very quickly, application. I'm gonna give you three things that Matthew just taught us about the friend of sinners and his heart for you and for me. Here's the first thing we just learned in that sentence of Matthew's salvation. Here's kind of point number one that Matthew just dropped on us. Matthew just let us know through that one sentence that no one is too far gone to be saved by Jesus. He just taught us that. I'm gonna tell you why in just a second. He just dropped that on us. He's like, man, if he can save me, he can save anybody. That's point number one. There are some of you in the sound of my voice right now. And maybe you have not surrendered your life to Jesus.

You haven't gone all in. And the reason that you haven't is because you're one of these people that's like, man, folks don't know what I've done. And I've kind of gone down some roads and been a part of some things that I don't think that God could ever love me. If that's you, point number one's for you. He's about to tell us no one is too far gone to be saved by Jesus. Let me show you why. Look at nine. He says, as Jesus passed by from there, watch what it says. He saw a man called Matthew sitting in a tax booth. Now, again, we know Matthew was a tax collector, so we don't think twice about that. But what we don't realize is that was Matthew admitting to a group of people he was writing to about Jesus, a really scandalous part of his former life. He was admitting it. He was owning it. Hey, y'all, when Jesus was walking by, he saw me and I was in a tax booth. I was still in a tax booth. I'm gonna tell you why that's scandalous because I've shared it briefly to the Jewish people. There was not a more foul, disgusting, traitorous, sinister man than Jesus. on the planet than the guy sitting in the tax booth.

There was not a more foul, disgusting, sinister man than Jesus. And I'm not gonna go into all of it, I've studied it actually at length, it's legit, There was not a more foul, disgusting, but here's why, here's this really short version of why. The Jews hated the Romans, they hated the Romans because the Romans had occupied Jewish land which they knew God had given to them, so they hated the Romans. And the only person that they hated more than the Romans was the Jewish tax collector who took money from the Jewish people and gave it to the Romans, y'all with me? We'd hate them too. And so if you go walk around any time during that day, you tap any Jewish guy or woman, tap them on the shoulder and go, hey, who is like the biggest sinner in this whole city? They go, tax collector, man, he's horrible. You messed up. So I don't know about y'all, but if I'm writing to a group of Jewish people, which Matthew is, trying to prove to them that Jesus is the Messiah, which he was and is, I might leave that part out, amen? I'm gonna leave it out. Matthew doesn't, he says that Jesus passed on from there, he saw a man called Matthew, he was sitting in the tax booth, he owns it.

It reminds me of that joke, one of my favorite jokes and I can't tell all of it. It reminds me of that joke about the pastor that was doing like a confession service on Sunday night, and it was kind of a small church, about 70 people in there, and he's like, hey, we're gonna have a confession service, I want you to tell it all. And this guy stands up and says, pastor, pastor, I said a curse word. And pastor says, tell it all, brother, tell it all. And this other guy over here stands up and says, pastor, I stole the candy bar from the convenience store. Pastor says, tell it all, brother, tell it all. Other dude sits back in the corner and says, back in the corner, says, pastor, I had an affair with my wife. He says, tell it all, brother, tell it all. And this one guy up at the front stands up and just says something really super vile, and the pastor goes, dang, brother, I don't know if I'd have told that. That's kind of what's going on here, is I don't know that I would have told that. It would be the modern day equivalent of somebody coming to 1122 to give their testimony, walking up on the stage and starting their testimony by saying, hey, everybody, just want to let y'all know I used to be an HOA president. We'd be like, whoa, man, whoa, ho, ho, ho.

I don't know, a little Pastor Jobe joke there. I don't know if I would have told that. I'm joking, what it really is, it would be the equivalent of like a slave owner walking into a room of former slaves. And saying, hey, I just need to let you know, I used to be the guy that kept you in bondage before Jesus found me. Why? Why does Matthew own it? Why does he tell it? And it's, and here's why he does it. He does it because Matthew is intentionally, don't miss this, he's intentionally anchoring the moment of his salvation to the place of his greatest sin. Why? Because Matthew was conveying something really powerful to you and to me. He was conveying to us that if you're the kind of person that thinks you failed so badly or fallen so far that God cannot love you, Matthew was saying, I wanna let you know that that is a lie from the pit of hell. Because I was sitting in ground zero of my culture's worst sin. And when I had done nothing to deserve it, Jesus walked up and he saved me. Listen, no sinner, no sinner is too far gone to be saved by Jesus. Here's number two, it's kind of the second thing we see.

Right here, we're only at three, we're done. Second thing right here we see, where Jesus is a friend of sinners. This is awesome. And I need, all right, there's some folks in here that you have, you're not a believer and you're thinking no way God loves me. There's a lot more people in here. You are a believer. And you have sin in your life that you're wrestling with. And you're kind of getting to the place where you're wondering if God loves you. The second point that Matthew just dropped on us, and this is crazy, I did not know this, like this text and what it's saying until I studied in depth. And I literally started yelling out loud at the table when I caught it. Point number two. Jesus knows every detail about your life before he saves you. You're like, where do you get that? Let me show you. Matter of fact, let me just tell you a story real quick. I'm gonna show you in the text where it says that, but he's saying Jesus knew everything about you before he saved you. I wrote, my last book I wrote, I've written a few, and the last one I wrote was right before COVID. It's called The Long Walk Home.

And it's about the prodigal son. And it's a favorite book I've ever written. I put a lot of time into it and they released it about two weeks before COVID hit. And so bottom line, nobody read the book. But in it, I did a bunch of research on why millennials at the time were leaving the church in droves. And millennials were, man, they were leaving the church in droves. And I'm not gonna, there was four reasons and I'm not gonna go through them because I'm running out of time. But number three, number three reason that millennials in this massive study I looked at that were leaving the church in droves was because of the shame of the failure of their sin. They were leaving the church because of the shame over their sin. They had sin in their life. They felt all this shame and they walked away. And you know, you think about it. Listen, shame is one of the most powerful tools Satan has in his tool belt. Jesus called Satan two things. Number one, he called him the father of lies. That's what Satan will do. He'll come to you and he'll lie to you to tempt you to get you to sin. Oh man, you should do this. You're missing out.

All you gotta do is look at Adam and Eve. Man, God, what did God really say? He lies to you. He lies like a dog. Jesus said, it's in his nature. He's incapable of not lying. He lies to you and so you go, okay. And you sin and then he takes the liar deceiver hat and he turns it around and he starts living out the second thing that Jesus said he does, which Jesus called him the accuser of the brethren. And so after you sin, fall short of the glory of God again when you know better, he takes the hat around, puts on the accuser hat and goes, oh, I thought you were a Christian. You're gonna sin again? Didn't you know better? How many times are you gonna do that? Man, I think maybe you're getting just this close to God wiping his hands of you. Matthew is about to absolutely dismantle that lie. Watch what he says in verse nine. Check this out. I'm gonna have to go fast. Listen, as Jesus passed on from there, two words right there, he saw a man called Matthew. If you got a Bible, I want you to underline those two words. He, that's Jesus, saw. He saw. I looked it up.

There's three primary words in the Greek in the New Testament for the word saw. First one's blepo. It means to notice or to glance. First time I ever saw my wife was in history 102 class at Texas A&M. I walk in, first day of class, I look up and I saw her. I noticed her. I'm like, praise God. There are some fine women at Texas A&M. We say fine back in the 90s. Some fine women at Texas A&M. I noticed her, blepo. The other word is theore. It means to observe at a distance. And so I looked at her once. I'm like, praise God. And then I looked back down at my textbook and I knew that the Bible probably said somewhere back in the day when I was 19, you're not supposed to look at a girl twice, but I couldn't help it. So I looked at her again and I did the second word. Theoro, to observe at a distance. I observed her and I realized she was wearing a Fellowship of Christian Athletes t-shirt and she was really pretty and I praised God again. Like, praise God. There are some fine godly women at Texas A&M. Now I was dating another girl at the time, right?

And so I couldn't date her. True story. A few weeks later, that girlfriend breaks up with me. I walk back in to the room and I see this girl, the future love of my life, mother of my children. And I put the swerve on her, y'all. And she's sitting right down there in the front row. Listen, here's the thing. Yeah, praise God. Here's the thing. Here's the thing. Been married 30 years this summer. And listen, shared with y'all last time I preached, we went through some stuff, man. We're laying in bed the other night, just looking at each other, talking. I knew this was coming, and it just hit me. I'm like, man, this is really different than the day I just saw her for the very first time, right? I know everything about her life. I know the good. I know the bad. I know everything. And here's the thing. That's the third word, horaho. It's a Greek word that means to fully know, to recognize and fully know. And church, can you believe that that's the word that Matthew uses? Listen to it one more time. Matthew 9.9. He says, as Jesus passed on from there, he saw a man called Matthew sitting in the tax

booth. It literally means that as Jesus was walking by, he didn't just glance at Matthew. He didn't just kind of stop and study Matthew. It's literally a word that as Jesus walked by, that somehow in his fully man and fully God, he knew everything about Matthew. And if you're like, there's no way that can mean that. He uses the exact same word when he calls Nathaniel, go look at it. Jesus sees Nathaniel and just starts dropping all these data points about Nathaniel's life. And Nathaniel's like, how in the world do you know me? And Jesus says, because I saw you in that word. Here's the implications of this, y'all. We see it in Psalms 139.16. It's all through the Bible. The psalmist says, your eyes saw my unformed body all the days. How many of the days? Half the days, days before Christ. No, all the days were ordained for me were written in your book before one of them came to be. Literally what that verse is saying is that when Matthew was still in the tax booth, when he was still in his sin, Jesus knew everything and he still called him. But y'all listen, that word right there, it's not just talking about your past, it's talking about your whole life. Can I just get really, really honest for a second? I mean, let's just get honest. If you've been married longer than two days, you might judge me, but God will show you it'll happen sometime. But you know, you love your spouse more than anything in the world. You would give your life for them and thank God got us healed, Jennifer, our marriage. We are so much more in love than we've ever been in our life. We're like teenagers.

We just stare in each other's eyes, laying in bed. It's awesome. But you go back to like the worst fight of our marriage and both of us are looking at each other thinking the same thing, man, if I knew it was going to be this hard, I don't know if I would have done this. Isn't it unbelievable that Jesus never thinks that about you? That is what the Bible is saying, that Jesus never has that thought. He knew all the ways that you would hurt him. He knew all the ways that you'd fail him. He knew all the ways that you would fall short of the glory of God and my goodness, he walked up and called your name anyway. That's good news. Last point. Matthew just taught us that when the world sees our failure, Jesus sees our future. Y'all, this is really cool and listen carefully because you've got to listen. He just taught us through that text that when the world sees failure, Jesus sees our future. Watch this. Watch this. He taught us that when Matthew was sitting there in the tax booth, that his name was Levi. Did you know that? He's in the tax booth. Before he meets Jesus, his name is Levi. Don't have time to get into it, but Levi, that was what Leah named one of her sons that she dedicated to Jacob who did not love her and she named him Levi, which means striving to be attached to my husband. He dedicates Levi, literally names him, I'm working really hard to be attached to your love. It's the name in the Old Testament that most closely is associated with religion, with the sacrificial system.

Who ran the sacrificial system where you had to kill things to earn your way back to God, the Levitical priests. He's sitting in his sin, the tax booth. His name is Levi. I'm not gonna read him, but Luke describes that moment. He says, when Jesus went by there, he saw a man named Levi. Mark says, when Jesus walked past there, he saw a man named Levi. But I want you to watch what the man himself said about that moment. Look at Matthew 9-9 one more time. He's sitting in the booth. His name is Levi. It means attached, trying to strive to work my way to God. Matthew 9-9, it says, and Jesus passed from there, and he saw a man called Matthew. You know what Matthew means? Gift of God. Grace. Matthew does that super intentionally. His point, y'all, is that when he was still in his sin, when he was still in his tax booth, when all the world could see was Levi, before he was saved, Jesus saw Matthew. When the world saw a hated traitor, Jesus saw a beloved disciple and apostle of the church. When the world saw a man that was still in his sin, Jesus saw one of the writers of the Holy Spirit-inspired word of our God.

His point is that when we are at our worst, and the world, and we define ourselves by how the world views us, and we think nobody could ever love us, Jesus sees us for who he is transforming us to be. And that is really, really, really good news today. Church, if you're a believer, you need to let that sink in. When he sees you, he doesn't see all the stuff you've messed up. None of that takes him by surprise. He knew it. He sees who he is transforming you to be. And the last time I read the scripture, the Bible says that he's transforming us to be something pretty amazing. It says, he who began the good work in you will be faithful to complete it until the day of Christ Jesus. That's the promise, and our God is a promise keeper. And so if you're here tonight and you're like, man, I just, God is like this close to letting me go because of my sin, and I'm thinking about running away. You never let your sin cause you to run from Jesus. Listen, you're fighting a battle that's already been won. It's why it's called the gospel. It means you and Galion, a battle that's already been won. Tetelestai, it's finished, not partly finished, but completely finished. So when you sin, you don't run from Jesus,

you run to Jesus because he's already paid the penalty. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Man, I'll end with this. Nobody, nobody is too far gone for Jesus to completely change your life, nobody. Jesus knows everything about your life, and he never once has the thought, man, I don't know if I'd do that again. He knew all of it before he saved you, and he still calls your name. And when Jesus looks at you, when God looks at you, you didn't see a failure. He sees a beloved child of God, a son or daughter that's been made righteous by the blood of Jesus, that he will spend forever in eternity with. Let's pray. Father, this verse messes me up. I pray that you would see and know everything about me and you would still call me, God. Blows my mind.

And so I beg you, God, if there's anybody in this room walking in shame, that they're thinking about running away, God, not because they don't believe in you, but because God, they think you don't believe in them. Lord, I pray that the Holy Spirit-inspired word of God would sink deeply into their hearts tonight. that you love them more than their wildest imagination. And so if they're gonna run, God, I pray they would run home to you. There's any here that have never surrendered their life to Jesus, they're still in the tax booth tonight. I pray that you would reveal to them powerfully that there is a Savior that died and took their place to call them a son or daughter of God. Lord, we love you and we praise you and it's in Jesus' name that we pray in the body of Christ together said, amen, amen. Church, let's stand together. We're gonna respond to God's word tonight. And listen, hey, check this out, check this out. Listen, my friend and pastor, Joby Martin is often compelled to make this statement that if the tomb is empty, anything is possible, amen? Now listen, our God is not dead. He's not in the tomb, he's alive. He's sitting at the right hand of the throne and we just learned, man, he loves us more than anything in the world

that compels us to respond. And so we're gonna sing. And I chose this song for a reason. We're gonna sing. And some of y'all need to sing it to your soul tonight. You need to sing it to your soul to remind you. Some of you need to sing it to Jesus and here are the words we're gonna sing. I know who I am because I know who you are. The cross of salvation is only the start. Now I am chosen, I'm free and I'm forgiven. And guess what? I have a future and it's worth the living. Why? Because I wasn't made to be tending a grave. I was called by name, born and raised back to life again. I was made for more. So I'm not gonna make a bed in my shame when a fountain of grace is running my way. I know I am yours. I was made for more. You sing it to your soul. You sing it to Jesus. Some of you need to sing it to Satan tonight. You need to remind him, no, not tonight, Satan, I was made for more. So we need to come forward. We got lots of carpets down here. You've been running from God and you heard tonight. You may be running from God, but he's not running from you.

He's running after you. Safety tip, he'll never let you go. You're wasting your time. You come forward, you get on your face and you tell Jesus, I'm coming home. And guess what? You'll find he's waiting there for you. So we're gonna sing, we're gonna worship, we're gonna party, we're gonna come forward, we're gonna pray. Church, we love you. Let's sing together because our God is faithful, amen.