For our scripture reading this morning, we turn to the gospel according to Mark chapter 2. We'll read the first 17 verses of Mark chapter 2. Mark chapter 2, and again he entered into Capernaum after some days and it was noised that he was in the house. And straightway many were gathered together insomuch that there was no room to receive them, no, not so much as about the door. And he preached the word unto them. And they come unto him, bringing one sick of the palsy, which was born of four. And when they could not come nigh unto him for the press, they uncovered the roof where he was. And when they had broken it up, they let down the bed wherein the sick of the palsy lay. When Jesus saw their faith, he said unto the sick of the palsy, Thy sins be forgiven thee. But there were certain of the scribes sitting there and reasoning in their hearts, why doth this man thus speak blasphemies? Who can forgive sins but God only? And immediately when Jesus perceived in His Spirit that they so reasoned within themselves, He said unto them, Why reason ye these things in your hearts? Whether is it easier to say to the sick of the palsy, Thy sins be forgiven thee, or to say, Arise, and take up thy bed, and walk? but that ye may know that the Son of Man hath power on earth to forgive sins. He saith to the sick of the palsy, I say unto thee, arise and take up thy bed, and go thy way into thine house. And immediately he arose, took up the bed, and went forth before them all, insomuch that they were all amazed, and glorified God, saying, We never saw it on this fashion. And he went forth again by the seaside, and all the multitude resorted unto him, and he taught them." And now the text that we consider this morning. And as he passed by, he saw Levi, the son of Elphias, sitting at the receipt of custom, and said unto him, Follow me. And he arose and followed him. And it came to pass that as Jesus sat at meat in his house, Many publicans and sinners sat also together with Jesus and His disciples. For there were many, and they followed Him. And when the scribes and Pharisees saw Him eat with publicans and sinners, they said unto His disciples, How is it that He eateth and drinketh with publicans and sinners? When Jesus heard it, He saith unto them, They that are whole have no need of the physician, but they that are sick. And I came not to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance. Thus far we read the Word of God considering verses 14 through 17 as the text this morning. Maybe you already made the connection between the theme that was published in the bulletin, The Doctrines of Grace with the Canons of Dort. In case you have not, let me make that connection for you. In 1618, the great Synod of Dort convened 401 years ago. In 1619, that great Synod of Dort adjourned 400 years ago, making this, as you know, I think, the 400th anniversary of the Canons of Dort. Those Canons of Dort are not the only gift of God through the Great Synod to the Reformed Churches, but I think that I can safely say they are the greatest gift of God through that Great Synod to the Reformed Churches for 400 years. Yet, today, We have three great Reformed confessions that, as Protestant Reformed churches, we subscribe to and are bound to. We have other ancient confessions to which we hold, the Apostles' Creed, for example, and the Nicene Creed. We know of and highly honor other Reformed confessions. If you have been reading Prof Kaminga's series in the Standard Bearer and the Second Helvetic Confession of Faith, you recognize that is also a great Reformed confession, but we do not officially subscribe to that confession. And we are also aware of and highly respect the Westminster standards that our brothers in the EPC of Australia hold to. But in this Christian church, we believe and are bound to confess the truths of the Belgic Confession written in 1561, the Heidelberg Catechism written in 1563, and the Canons of Dort written in 16, 18, and 19. And while we must always honor and hold in high esteem each of those three forms of unity in a special way over the next several weeks, let us celebrate through this series of sermons the Canons of Dort. And the theme we take is the doctrines of grace we love. the doctrines of sovereign grace. We confess them and celebrate them. And that's the theme because the canons of Dort cover the doctrine of salvation. The doctrine of salvation by grace alone. And I'm pointing out there that the canons of Dort do not cover all of the teachings of Scripture the way that the Belgic Confession or the Heidelberg Catechism do. Rather, the canons of Dort were, as you know, the response to the Arminians or the Remonstrants. who raised five points of objection to the teachings of the Reformed faith, the teachings especially of the Belgic Confession and the Heidelberg Catechism. And the Canons of Dort, that great synod wrote the Canons of Dort to respond to those five objections in the area of the doctrine of salvation so that we have the five great chapters or heads of doctrine in the canons of Dort. And they all have to do with the doctrines of grace. Now, we know the five heads or the five points using that memory device, the word tulip. T, and hopefully the young children can say it with me in their heads, is for total depravity. U is for unconditional election. L is for limited atonement, I is for irresistible grace, and P is for the perseverance of the saints. Now I point that out not to now give any reasons for why I'm doing this, but I want you to know that the canons of Dort follow a different order than Tulip. But we are going to follow that order of TULIP which is well known to us. That's why this morning we begin with the consideration of the doctrine of total depravity. Now before we move on to that, we speak of the canons of Dort and the doctrines of grace taught by the canons of Dort. We speak of TULIP in the five points of Calvinism. And I want to point out at the very beginning of this series that there is a charge, an objection to the five points of Calvinism, to the teachings of the canons of Dort, that runs like this. This all has to do with human thinking and human logic. And if you read the Canons of Dort, what you find is sort of a scholastic document where men run wild with their logical thinking and deductions. And if you know anything about John Calvin, the same thing is true of him. He is a very logical, rationalistic thinker. And the charge is this, you people who confess the five points of Calvinism, in doing so are confessing a man-made doctrine or man-made doctrines. Those five points, their charge is this, do not come from the word of God and therefore do not come from God. That charge is false. You and I, as Reformed believers, may have the confidence that we do not believe these doctrines of grace, which we do love and which do bring us great comfort, because these were things that came out of the mind of a man like John Calvin. Or these were things that came out of the minds like Bogerman and Gomaras and other great theologians at the Synod of Dort, which I wish we knew their names as well as or better than we knew the name Arminius. No, we believe these five points of doctrine because they are the truths of God and of His Word. We may have that confidence and that comfort as we consider these five points. Now this morning, I'm not going to go through and prove that about each one of the five points, but simply point this out. As we consider the truth of total depravity this morning, we open the word of God. And the sermon is based not on the canons of Dort, but on the word of God. Here in Mark chapter two, verses 14 through 17, where the testimony concerning Matthew, Levi, Matthew, the publican, publican, a great public sinner, a man whom everyone knew was a worthless sinner, There we see the Bible pointing us to the truth that salvation is for totally depraved sinners. And then that's not enough. The text points us to this scene at Matthew's house. Many, many publicans and sinners. And not a good thing could be said about them by nature. Dead, depraved. Salvation is for totally depraved sinners. That's the teaching of the Word of God. Matthew, first of all, the many sinners, publicans and sinners second of all, but then thirdly, who is Jesus? What kind of a Savior is Jesus Christ? You know this well, but I point it out again in the light of this passage that we consider this morning. The doctrine of sin, the biblical doctrine of sin, is so important, this text shows us, because what the church says, what you and I confess about sin, says everything about our Savior too. If the doctrine, the biblical doctrine of sin is blurred, minimized, denied, necessarily the truth about Jesus Christ will be blurred, minimized, denied. In any religion, and notice I don't say Christian religion because any religion that teaches this isn't worthy of the name Christian. If in any religion man is said to be partly good, and the depravity, the total depravity of man is denied, if the teachers in that religion speak highly of Jesus Christ and his power, the reality is They deny Jesus Christ is powerful. At least they deny that he is as powerful as portrayed in the scriptures. For in the scriptures, Jesus Christ isn't portrayed as a partially powerful Savior who saves partially good men. But the truth before us is, man is totally depraved and therefore must be and is saved by an almighty Savior, Jesus Christ. This is the truth of the Gospel according to Mark. that we consider here in this passage before us. Jesus is the Almighty Savior of sinners. Or we take as our theme this, the Savior of totally depraved sinners. We're going to notice in the first place the very simple fact Looking now at Matthew and at the publicans and sinners at Matthew's house. Secondly, we will consider the explanation for this Jesus word in verse 17. And then thirdly, we will look at the calling Jesus came to call sinners to repentance. This morning as we consider anew the truth of total depravity and the salvation of totally depraved sinners, let us recognize what this passage is setting before us, that this is a stunning truth. And while we look at the Pharisees and have reason this morning to shun them, to criticize them, shun their thinking anyway and to criticize them, let us note their shock and amazement as they're looking at this scene. Jesus Christ, the man claiming to be the Messiah, the fulfillment of all of the Old Testament, is in this home with publicans and sinners, and they are shocked. This is who he came to save? These kinds of people, now their shock leads to disgust. They find this to be scandalous. Their reaction to this is anger, rage. The denial of Jesus Christ, scorn for Him. But, even though the passage doesn't convey that maybe quite as clearly as it does about the Pharisees, do you think that Matthew Levi was any less stunned. And do you think that these other sinners were any less stunned? And let this live in my heart and mind and in your hearts and in your minds too this morning. This is a stunning thing. These kinds of people are saved by Jesus Christ. Now, what that requires of you and me this morning is that we very sharply and clearly understand the biblical truth about sin. This may not be softened. This may not be blurred or blunted in any way. And that means that even when we look now at ourselves, but also when we look at others, We need to be realistic about what we say about man as he appears before God. And we know that the Pharisees, they were right about Matthew. He was a sinner. They were right about all of the other people, the publicans and sinners, the other tax collectors, the harlots, maybe the people that Matthew invited from gambling houses, wherever he went to invite people to come to his house, they were right to say, Jesus Christ is sitting there eating with sinners. But they were wrong about Jesus' attitude. Their thinking was Jesus must be tolerant of sin. He must be soft on sin. The reason that he's able to do this, to go to this house, to sit down with these people, to converse with them, to let them touch him and to be close to him is because Jesus Christ has a very low or very easy view of sin. The Pharisees would not eat with these people. The Pharisees would not be in the house with these people. And they're recognizing Jesus Christ is different. He's different from us, and the difference must be due to this. We really take sin seriously. We really take the holiness of God seriously. And we really look at people who don't measure up to that holiness of God, and we really see how horrible and miserable they are. But this Jesus Christ, He must not understand these things or care about these things. To put it into today's context, the Pharisees would look at Jesus and say, here's a man who has an ecumenical spirit. Maybe he's a reformed man, evangelical man, who is willing to get along with Catholics. Let's meet together, and let's pretend to be brethren, and let's not talk about our differences. Let's have a spirit where we say, you're okay, and I'm okay. Or, to make it a little bit more personal, Jesus is like that man or that woman who says, let's have a family gathering, and never mind that that sister is living with her boyfriend, never mind that that brother is on his third wife, never mind that that cousin hasn't darkened the door of a church for many years, And there are people who do that and they do have a low or a soft view of sin. And the Pharisees are thinking, Perhaps that this is characteristic of Matthew too and the other people in Jesus' house. Now, the text doesn't point to them, but let's think about them for a moment. Would you say that Matthew is a man who has determined, I'm a tax collector and I have been stealing, cheating people, and that his attitude in having this party and inviting people to his house is, this Jesus is great because he accepts me as I am. He's great because He loves me unconditionally and tolerates even my sin. And do you think that's why Matthew went to his fellow publicans and harlots and say to them, you need to come to my house and meet this Jesus because Yes, you've been living in sin, stealing from others, committing fornication, but He will accept you as you are, and He won't judge you. You understand if this is true, then Jesus Christ isn't really a great Savior from sin, and He doesn't have to be. If we adopt that humanistic perspective that sin really isn't so bad and human beings really aren't so bad, they're basically all good, Well, then the Pharisees would be right to condemn Jesus. And if there's any church, and there are churches like that, and if there's anyone, and there are people like that, who thinks this way? Sin really isn't so bad. Human beings really are pretty good. Well, that would be contrary to scripture and something that we need. to confess. And so let me examine myself and let each one of us examine ourselves. Let us examine our relationship with each other in the congregation. Let's examine our relationships in our homes and our families too. Let me examine the way that I look at my own sin. Am I being easy on the sin that I see? Let me examine the way that I look at the sins of others and deal with them as a pastor, as a father. Let's look at that and let's not be a people who have a tolerant view of sin. Sin is evil, deplored by God. And Jesus Christ was not at all having fellowship with sinners with a tolerant attitude. When he said to Matthew in verse 14, when he went to that toll booth, to that tax house, and said, follow me, Jesus Christ knew that he was going to a sinner. And he knew that this was all planned. So that God could make plain that he brings salvation to sinners, but not in a way that compromises or tolerates sin at all. Now it's hard for us to understand exactly what it means to be a publican or a tax collector in that society. But what you have to understand is, that for a Jewish man, and that's what Matthew was, he was a Jewish man, to accept this position to work for the Romans, to collect taxes for that hated Roman government, that was almost like a declaration of, I am a sinner, and I am a godless man, and I am an irreligious man. And we can explain it that way because these Jewish people knew, if I take a job as a tax collector, the leaders are not going to allow me in a synagogue. They're not going to allow me in the... I will not be part of the worship of God. It'd be kind of like a person today saying, I will willingly accept a job where I have to work every Sunday and I will never be part of the worship of the church on Sunday. Because that person knows this. The elders aren't going to let me be a member of the church in that way. That would be a declaration of that person saying, I am not interested in the worship of God. I'm not interested in religion. I am a sinner. So Jesus Christ goes to that man, and I believe God had this planned and that Jesus did this deliberately. And I'll explain it this way. What if in Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John, all we ever read was that Jesus went, and let's say it's not to high and lofty people in society, let's even take the lowly fishermen and shepherds. All he did was he went to them. And while we might say those are lowly people and isn't it a wonderful thing that Jesus saves also the poor people, those were men of respectable professions, they were men of respectable work. Maybe, maybe we would conclude that Jesus really did come only for a certain kind of person, a certain kind of person who was good enough, who was worthy enough for Jesus. But here in Mark 2, First of all, there's this paralytic that we read about. He can't do anything. There's a testimony to the fact that man is totally depraved, a worthless sinner. But that's not enough to emphasize that even further. Here's Jesus going, and he's going to go to this. hated publican, this man who has publicly declared that he is a sinner. Now you know I'm not saying that I approve of the Jews banning tax collectors from the synagogue or from the worship of God, but this man took the job knowing that, and now Jesus goes to that man to say, follow me. And no one could say, Jesus said to this man, follow him because he's a pretty good man. No one would be able to say, this man has done some good works. If you look at his behavior, he's been a pretty good man. No, apparently Matthew has been notorious, not only as a tax collector serving the Romans, but as a cheat and a thief, charging more than he should for taxes to keep some for himself. And when Jesus said to him in verse 14, Follow me. Well, what do you hear when Jesus says that to you? Yes, the positive is emphasized. Follow me, follow my word, follow my law, follow my will. But Jesus also was saying to Matthew, Stop following sin. Stop following your own sinful desires and will. Stop following that way of greed and selfishness. That way of hatred against God and against the neighbor. That way of stealing from others. Now, follow me. Jesus didn't come with a kind of weak and watered-down gospel. And a watered-down gospel, understand, is no gospel. But there is that watered-down gospel that doesn't condemn sin, that comes and says, you're not so bad. Jesus will accept you as you are. No, Jesus came with a glorious gospel. A gospel that exposed Matthew's sinful way of life up to that time. A gospel that came to Matthew saying, to Matthew, you need the full forgiveness of your sin and guilt. And not only do you need that kind of forgiveness and salvation, but you need a salvation that will bring about a radical change in your life. You don't just need a little help, a little education. You need a Savior who can recreate you, renew you, raise you from the dead, give you a new birth so that you will have a new spiritual direction for your life. And Matthew, we must see here, is just one example of how everyone that the Lord saves is a totally depraved, helpless sinner. What about these other people? Many publicans and sinners that Matthew went out and invited to his house. And then you ask the question, why didn't he invite the Pharisees? He didn't know them. He knew that they wouldn't have anything to do with him. He went to his friends, his acquaintances, the people he knew. Other people who were living in sin. And he preaches to them. And He didn't say to them, come as you are. He didn't go to them with the message of tolerance. Don't worry. Jesus doesn't care that you've been sleeping with other men. Don't worry. Jesus doesn't care that you've been stealing money from widows and from poor people as well as from rich people. Don't worry. You can come as you are. No. No, he comes to these people and he understands them. Perhaps he sees that they are like me. They found themselves in this sin and this sin has had disastrous consequences for them. They may be even ashamed. Maybe he's talking to some women whose husbands died and they didn't have any means of support so they began living in adultery as prostitutes. and they're ashamed, they feel worthless, and they need this hope. When Matthew comes to them, I know that your life is a mess. I know that you're dealing with great guilt and grief and the consequences of your sin. You need to come and you need to see this Jesus Christ. This great Savior who says, believe in me and thou shalt be saved. What good, I ask you, can you find in Matthew? What good can you find in the prostitutes? And you understand it's not just that their behavior is bad so that nobody could say, well, I see some civil good in what they've done. And it's not only that their affections have been totally depraved. They've loved sin. They haven't loved God. But it's their will too. These are people who are addicted to sin. These are people who are in bondage to sin. No one could say these are people who have a neutral will. They could choose to do good or to choose evil. No, these are people who have been enslaved to choosing sin and serving the devil. And the attitude of the Pharisees, sinful as it was in their judgmental way, and we may never, never think like the Pharisees, looking at the sins of others and then comparing ourselves to them to make ourselves look better. Nevertheless, the judgment of the Pharisees that these are worth less sinners highlights very clearly That Jesus, who saves these people, saves totally depraved sinners. That's the simple fact. Matthew is saved by Jesus. These other publicans and sinners, many of them are saved by Jesus. He saves destitute, dead sinners. Does that humble you? It should. It should humble me. The point here is not to stand back like the Pharisees and say, those people aren't like me. The point here is to identify ourselves with them and to ask the question, what good have I done to make myself worthy of God's love? What affections? Can God look at my heart and say, ah, I see a perfect love for me and for righteousness. And have I, by the exercise of a free will, chosen? No. I too am a slave and addicted to sin. But this also ought to give us confidence. Maybe you don't have to say That you are a public sinner like a publican or a prostitute. But if God has given you the grace to look into your heart and see the depravity of your nature so that you say, I'm the chief of sinners. Mark 2 says you don't have to ever say Jesus Christ couldn't have come to save me. I'm too desperate a sinner. No. He came to save the worst of sinners. Tax collectors, harlots, and sinners like me. You can say that. Now that's the fact. Jesus shows by his deeds, by the saving of Matthew and these many sinners, that he saves the worst of sinners. But then he explains that in his beautiful word in verse 17. They that are whole have no need of the physician, but they that are sick, I came not to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance. This is a beautiful scene. Think about Jesus Christ for many hours, sitting with, talking to, maybe even embracing these worst of sinners. Speaking to them the word of forgiveness. Speaking to them, I do not condemn thee, and neither does my Father. I will give my life to save you from your sin. He is not concerned. Thank God what others think. And don't think of it this way, wow, what a wonderful thing that Jesus Christ wasn't afraid to talk to that harlot or to that tax collector. And what a wonderful thing that Jesus didn't say, because of what those people might think of me, I'm not going to talk to them. But think of it this way, what a wonderful thing that Jesus Christ will never say because of what other people might think. that he refuses to have anything to do with me, the sinner that I am. And then we think about how often we are controlled by the fear of man, asking what other people think. And we recognize here that Jesus Christ is saying to us, this is how you should look at other people. Look at them with compassion and mercy. Look at the need that they have and reach out to them in mercy and don't think about what others will say. And then Jesus Christ, with that compassion and mercy, finds out what the Pharisees have been saying. Now earlier, in Mark 2, it says that they were reasoning within themselves, and Jesus knew what they were thinking. Here, it seems that Jesus hears it. Somebody comes from the outside, because the Pharisees won't come in and talk to Jesus. He's with these publicans and sinners. But somebody comes from the outside and reports, and Jesus determines, I'm going out there to talk to them. and to explain this to them. The Pharisees are saying, Jesus is in the wrong place. If Jesus really is the Messiah, the Son of God, He wouldn't be there with those sinners. And Jesus goes out to them to explain to them. This is exactly where I need to be. This is exactly where God sent me to be. This is exactly where I want to be. And he gives them an explanation using the figure of a physician, a doctor. They that are whole have no need of the physician, but they that are sick. And I ask you, when was the last time that you were in a shopping mall and you see all of these people vigorously walking, looking around, shopping? When was the last time that you saw hordes of doctors there trying to get a hold of these people and say, you need help, you need some medicine, I need to take care of your knee? Or what if you would go to the YMCA tomorrow, some other fitness center, and you see all these healthy people lifting weights, exercising, you'd be shocked. It wouldn't make sense if you saw a doctor there. Why would he be here? Where do you find him? You go to the hospital, there are rooms full of sick people. There, there are many doctors and medical personnel. That figure is very clear and very simple. Those who are righteous, who are right before God, who have a right to eternal life, they don't need Jesus Christ. But those who are sick, who are guilty sinners, who are the righteous that Jesus mentions here, who don't need Him. Are they those who can stand before the law of God and say, I haven't committed any sin? And on the basis of my own righteousness, I'm not going to hell, I'm going to go to heaven? Can we say that about the scribes and Pharisees? Does that match with what Jesus teaches about them or says about them in other places in Scripture? And the answer is no. You turn to John chapter 8 and you find Jesus in verse 44 telling them, And he charges them. You're guilty of the sin of lying and of murder. You have broken the commandments of God. You're unrighteous. And then Romans 3 gives the testimony, the whole chapter really, concerning every single person, that all are guilty, all are unrighteous before the law of God. So Jesus cannot mean here that there are some who are righteous and don't need His saving work as the great spiritual physician. What we have here is some sarcasm in the Word of God. What we have here is Jesus Christ saying, there are those who think that they are righteous, They're sick. They think that they are righteous. I did not come for them. They don't see their need for a Savior. And then you say, but isn't this true of every person in the world? The knowledge of sin is spiritual knowledge after all. And the carnal mind will not receive the spiritual things of God. And if we, by nature, are dead in sin, we think we're righteous. We think we have no need of Jesus Christ. And that's true. But what Jesus is explaining here in this passage is this is the way that he brings salvation to his people. They are the ones who, through his work of grace on their hearts, become knowledgeable of their sin. And they say, I know how great my sin and misery is. And then they know themselves to be sick. to be deplorable, to be horrible, and they're the ones who need the physician and His Word to come to them, to assure them daily, not just for the first time, but daily of forgiveness. They need the word of instruction. They need that word that will give them the mind of Jesus Christ, because Jesus says, follow me. He doesn't merely say, believe in me for the forgiveness of sins, but he says, you need to live a whole new radical life and go in a different direction, and you need to be with me. Without me, you can do nothing, he says. You need to be in contact with me. You need me to touch you. You need me to embrace you with my grace and with my Word and my Spirit. Those who do not confess sin, who have not been given that grace to know, to say, I'm guilty. There's nothing I can do to save myself. The gospel says Jesus didn't come for that kind of person. There's no salvation in that way. But those who see it, because the great physician has given them the diagnosis. And beloved, he's the doctor. He knows. Why did you bring your little one to the doctor to look at that bone? Why did you bring yourself to the doctor to look at that spot? Why did you go to the doctor and say to the doctor, you look in my ears, or you run the scan and you tell me what the scan says, because you don't know. You don't have the expertise. You and I don't know. what sin is. We don't know what our condition is. Jesus comes and he says, you have been doing things that I don't approve. You have a sinful heart. I know your heart. And then he speaks in a way that we hear his voice, we believe, and then the gospel can say to you and me who believe, Jesus came to call you, to give you salvation. And so the Pharisees are saying, Jesus, you are where you do not belong. If you were the Messiah, if you were truly the Savior, you wouldn't be there. Jesus is saying, no, no. If you really know who God is, and you really know the salvation that He gives to His people, you know that I am right where He sent me to be and where I need to be. And Jesus was there in that house with Matthew. and those publicans and sinners, and he's here in his church. And now, the thing to note here is, he's not out in the world with those people who are unbelieving and don't think they have a need for Jesus, but he's also not in every church that claims to believe in Jesus. Where is he? He is in that church where the members of that church know their need of him. and are able to say we're not any better than anyone else. That's not why we're the church and why we're saved. We're nothing but dead, guilty sinners. And this too is part of the offense of the Christian religion. Jesus is teaching us here that although he's not using the word Christian religion yet, that would come later, the Christian religion is a sinner's religion. And if you think about that in comparison to all of the other religions of man, you can't compare them really, they're incomparable. But if you compare the Christian religion to all the other religions of man, when it comes down to it, you have to say about all those other religions, salvation there is for the good people. But when you're a member of the church of Jesus Christ, you have to say, salvation is for us sinners, the ungodly. And Jesus is here revealed to be the savior of sinners. He calls sinners to salvation. And he's making a statement here when he says he came to call sinners to repentance. about his cross. Why did Jesus come? We have one of those great passages explaining that to us this morning. And ultimately He came to die on the cross. And why did He come to die on the cross? To save sinners, to pay for sins. If God only wanted to give salvation to good people, there would be no death of Jesus Christ on the cross. So that through this word and through the cross of Jesus Christ, the testimony of God to us is, This is exactly why He came. To save the worst of sinners. And that is all to the glory of God and of Jesus Christ. That perhaps is the most important thing about the truth of total depravity. If there is something good in you and me and our behavior or our minds or our wills, Part of the glory of our salvation goes to us. But the canons of Dort and our great Reformed creeds on the basis of Scripture teaches to say, All glory to God through Jesus Christ. He came not to make salvation possible, not to cooperate with us to accomplish that salvation, but he came to save sinners. And do you hear him calling you this morning? Matthew heard it. Jesus went to him and he said, follow me. You hear it this morning. You hear it through the preaching of the gospel, the word of Jesus Christ. It's a call to repentance to everyone who hears outwardly with their ears. And it's a call that comes to unbelievers too. Perhaps for the first time, Jesus may speaking not only to the ears, but through his spirit to the heart of an unbeliever. Stop walking in your sinful way, like Matthew. Turn, believe in Jesus Christ, and live a life as one of His disciples. But it's a call that comes repeatedly to believers to live daily in repentance, and I want you to notice that this morning. It's not a Protestant Reform thing. It's not a Reverend Sprunk thing. It's not a thing of the elders or of the parents and the older members of the church. In this church, we like to hammer on sin. total depravity, but this is the word of Jesus Christ. This is Jesus Christ coming to his people saying, no, I don't approve of it if you walk in sin. I don't approve of it if you cheat your neighbor. I don't approve of it if you live in fornication. And even if he isn't, I should say if I am not now, pointing out the particular sin that you have been dealing with this past week or even today, Jesus in this Word is calling to you. Don't continue in that. Stop that. Don't follow that kind of a lifestyle. Follow Me. Follow Jesus in His Word. Not sin. Love God and the neighbor. And when He calls, He calls. to the heart. Jesus says, I am the great physician. I know that you have a desperately wicked heart. I call you to renew your mind, to renew your heart. This isn't just a change of behavior. Religion isn't, as it was for the Pharisees, merely to be a matter of outward conduct. It's to be a matter of what you think about, what you set your heart upon on a daily basis. And Jesus says, Set your heart upon me. And that will have a big impact on your behavior. If you're following Jesus, you're going to say, I'm not going to do sinful things not only, but there are many things that I won't do because when I'm thinking about doing this, I know I'm not following Jesus. I'm following me, my desire, and what I want. I'm going to follow Jesus from the heart and with my life. And then do you hear Jesus Christ calling you through Matthew now? to spread the hope, to tell others. about this great Savior from sin. How different Matthew is from the Pharisees. The Pharisees don't know sin, don't know the grace of God and the kindness of God towards them, and therefore they have no kindness in their hearts towards these other sinners. But Matthew knew sin. He knew the grace and the kindness of God towards him. And what was his spontaneous reaction? I'm going to go. and I'm going to tell others, invite them to my house, have this great feast to introduce them to Jesus Christ." Well, that's characteristic of sinners who know their salvation, who know the problem of sin, who don't ignore it. No, they know the diagnosis. The great physician has said, this is your need, this is the need of your neighbor too. All of the other problems you see in your neighbor's life, they all come down to this, don't they? It's rooted in sin and the need for salvation from that sin and the knowledge of Jesus Christ. I want him, I want her to know sin the way that I know sin. So that he, so that she can know the Savior Jesus Christ. And then the attitude is, never mind. What kind of adultery or iniquity? Never mind how far they've fallen into sin. Never mind how great the consequences of that sin has been in their lives. I know that I'm a great sinner. And the great Savior Jesus Christ, that He is able to save me and to save him or her. And God puts us in positions where we are to call others to follow Jesus, not just the pastor or the other older members of the church. But if you know your sin and salvation, you are to tell others. Let's pray for others. Talk to them and thank God For Jesus Christ, the great Savior, the almighty Savior of great sinners. Amen.