Matthew

turn to Matthew chapter 9 Matthew chapter 9 we're going to continue our series on the dirty dozen talking about the 12 apostles and how God could use men like this and how through their lives we can understand that God can use you and I as well and so today we're going to look at uh one of the other Apostles I wanted to wait a little longer uh to look at this Apostle but uh I I had to do him now and and that is Matthew I wanted to wait till April 15th to do him because Matthew was a tax collector you know there's just certain certain jobs that have a bad rep you know for example you get a politician that says I'm here for you uh we don't believe them when you get a dentist that says it won't

hurt a bit they're lying okay and when you get a when you get a t a guy from the IRS that calls you up and says I'm here to help you you don't believe that either uh Tax Collectors are not our favorite people IRS agents are not our favorite people but that's who Matthew was Matthew was a tax collector uh look at Matthew chapter 9 beginning with verse number n it says as Jesus passed forth from V he saw a man named Matthew sitting at the receipt of custom and he saith unto him follow me and he rose and followed him and it came to pass as Jesus sat at meat in the house behold many publicans and sinners came and sat down with him and his disciples and when the Pharisees saw it they said un the

disciples why eateth your Master with publicans and sinners but when Jesus heard that he said unto them they that behold need not a physici but they that are sick but go ye and learn what that methi will have mercy and not s not sacrifice for I am not come to call the righteous but the Sinners to repentance you know Matthew was called a Publican uh that was a tax collector now they were it's a little bit different back then that is now none of us really like the IRS and like having to pay taxes but back then the people that PID taxes they were contracted to do that and they didn't get paid by the government what they would do is they would take more than the taxes from the people and they

would get to keep the extra and so some of them were really cheats and they would take a lot more than was uh authorized from the people around them and so they were hated they were not liked at all in fact you see here that uh the the Pharisees said that he sits with publicans and sinners in Matthew chap 21 and verse number 32 it says for John came unto you in the way of righteousness you believed him not but the publicans and the harlots believed him and ye when you had seen it repented not afterwards that you might believe him you see the the publicans were were Sinners they were the worst of the Sinners they were compared to harlots in their sin uh they were not popular people at all and

and so if a republican to get saved uh people were really skeptical of that and because this was the worst of the worst in first Timothy CH 1 and verse1 15 Paul wrote this this is a faithful saying and worthy of all expectation that Christ Jesus came into the world to save Sinners of whom I am chief uh Paul said I'm the chief of Sinners but most people that day would think that Matthew was the chief of Sinners he was the worst of the worst you know sometimes what we have to do is we have to real realize how bad we really are I want you to put a marker in Matthew chapter 9 turn over to Luke chapter 18 Luke chapter 18 and beginning with verse number n Luke chapter 18 and beginning with verse

number n we need to understand that we are also the worst of the worst and we need to understand how bad we really are and in Luke 18 beginning with verse number n it says that he spake this Parable unto certain which trusted themselves that they were righteous and despised others two men went up into the temple to pray the one a Pharisee a religious man and the other a Publican the Pharisees stood and prayed thus with himself God I thank thee that I'm not as other men are extortioners unjust adulterers or even as this Publican last I fast twice in the week I give ties of all that I possess and the publicans standing far off would not lift up so much of his eyes unto heaven but smoted upon

his breast saying God be merciful to me a sinner I tell you this man went down to his house Justified rather than the other for everyone that exalts himself shall be AB base and he that humbles himself shall be exalted you see when we come to God we need to realize how unworthy we truly are we need to realize how bad we truly are we like to think of ourselves as good people as religious people as people that try to do the right thing and you may try to do the right thing but the Bible says that all have sinned to come short of the glory of God and every one of us not just the publicans not just the tax collectors but every one of us are sinners that we need to acknowledge that before God you

see religion is not good enough uh this man stood up and he prayed to himself the Bible says and and what he prayed was uh I thinkk the not as other men he came there with this idea that that he was so good himself he was dependent on his own righteousness he was dependent on his own uh way of doing things and and we need to realize that we cannot depend upon our own righteousness the Bible says in Titus 3:5 is not by works of righteousness which we have done but according to his Mercy has saved us in Ephesians chap 2: 8-9 it says for by grace are you saved through faith and then not of yourselves it's the gift of God not of works let amen shos this man was a religious man this man was a man

that gave his tithes and and did supposedly all all the right things but yet he was not right with God because he didn't understand that he was a sinner and his righteousness was not good enough that he needed the righteousness of God through Jesus Christ he needed to call upon God's mercy and God's grace the the Publican he prayed out and said God be merciful to me a sinner and he called upon the mercy and the grace of God in Hebrews chapter 4 and verse number 16 the Bible says let us therefore come bold onto the throne of grace that we may obtain mercy and find Grace in help to help in time of need we don't deserve to be overcome before God as Sinners but in his grace and his Mercy he has

opened up his throne and calls us to come directly to him and humble ourselves and call upon him for his grace and his Mercy you know what's interesting is this Publican after he got saved the first thing he wanted to do is reach the rest of his friends go over to Luke chapter 5 Luke 5 and look at verses 27- 29 Luke 5 and beginning with verse number 27 it says and after these things he went forth and saw a Publican named Levi which is Matthew's other name sitting at the receipt of custom and he said unto him follow me and he left all rose up and followed him and Levi made him a great feast in his own house and there was a great company of publicans and of others that sat down with him him

you know right after he got saved right after he found Jesus Christ he said I want all of my friends to come to know the Lord and and he threw a great party to invite them all to come you know this kind of a reoccurring themes with the with the apostles you got Andrew who first found this brother Peter you've got Phillip that went out and found his best friend Nathaniel you've got Matthew who who invited a whole crowd of people to come and and we need to invite others to come to Christ look at Luke chapter 14 Luke 14 and veres 21- 24 Luke 14 beginning with verse number 21 it says so that servant came and showed his Lord these things and the master of the house being angry said to his

servants go out quickly into the streets and Lanes of the city and bring in hether the poor and the maame and the Halt and the Blind and the servant said Lord is done as thou has commanded and yet there is room and the Lord said to the servant go out to the highways and hedges and compel them to come in that my house may be full filled for I say unto you that not none of these men which were bidden shall taste to my supper he he provided a great supper he invited all to come and none came and he said I want you to go out and I want you to invite compel them to come in I want you to go out and find them and bring them to me and folks that's our job as Christians that's what God has called us

to do when we get saved God gave us the the responsibility to go out and to reach our friends friends and reach our family reach our co-workers and invite them to come to Jesus go over James chapter 2 James chapter 2 one of the things that you see with Matthew is that the Pharisees thought he wasn't worthy they thought that he should not have been uh brought in that he should not have been called by Jesus uh they didn't like like publicans and thought they couldn't get saved in James chapter 2 and beginning with verse number one the Bible says my brother have not the Faith of Our Lord Jesus Christ the lord of Glory with respect to persons what that verse means is that you and I we cannot

look at people's hearts we cannot look at what's going on inside of them and and we tend to judge people by what we see on the outward appearance but God he says listen you can't see their hearts then verse number two for if there come into your assembly a man with a gold ring and goodly apparel and there coming also a poor man in Vile reignment and you have respect to him that wearth the gay clothing and say unto him sit thou here in the good place and say to the poor stand thou there or sit here under my foot stol then I want just skip down to verse number 8 and N if you fulfill the Royal law according to scriptures Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself you do well but if you have

respect to persons you commit sin are convinced of the law as transgressors we need to realize that there are people out there that need to hear the gospel and you and I look at them and say that person can't get saved and that person's not good enough but God says you can't see their heart and God has called us to go out and invite them to compel them to come in and we ought to every week try to invite people to church and we ought to every week be reaching out with the gospel to those around us and and tell him about Jesus how he's changed our lives the other thing about Matthew that's interesting is that he knew the scriptures in in uh 2 Timothy chap 2 and verse1 15 it says study to show

thyself approved done to God a Workman that need not to be ashamed rightly dividing the word of Truth you know we've got the four gospels Matthew Mark Luke and John and Matthew quotes the Old Testament 99 times 99 times he quotes the Old Testament that's more than Mark Luke and John together Matthew knew his Bible and we we need to know we need to study the word of God we need to know the word of God as Christians as well now Matthew as I said earlier was a tax collector and we've got coming up here in just a couple of months uh not even two months now we're going to have to pay our taxes let me ask a question how many here like paying taxes raise your hand uh I didn't think there was get a

lot of hands up how many of here have already done your taxes raise your hand you're the people the rest of us hate okay how many are probably not going to do your taxes till April 15th in the evening raise your hand all right you procrastinators yeah I understand what that's like uh you know taxes are not fun to do but you know a lot of Christians they find the Christian Life taxing they find the Christian Life taxing I want you to look at Luke Chapter 20 Luke Chapter 20 and beginning with verse number 21 Luke chapter 20 and beginning with verse number 21 Luke Chapter 20 and verse number 21 the Bible says and they asked him saying Master we know that thou sayest and teachest rightly neither

accept us thou person of any but but teaches the way of God truly is it lawful for us to give tribute or taxes unto Caesar or no but he perceived their craftiness and said to them why tempt you me show me a penny whose in the subscription hath it then answered and said Caesars he said unto him render therefore unto Caesar the things which be Caesars and unto God the things which be God's and they could not uh take hold of his words before the people and they marveled at his answer and held their peace now Jesus said listen uh you need to pay your taxes now I don't like that I wish that wasn't the scriptures I wish I didn't have to pay my taxes I I hate paying taxes I feel like I'm being

robbed half the time when I'm paying taxes and and I hope we get some tax cuts this year but you know the the truth is none of us like paying taxes but that's something we have to do but you know unfortunately a lot of us we see the Christian Life like paying taxes well I don't like it but I have to do it and that's not the way God wants it to be you see in 2 Timothy chapter 3 and verse number five the Bible says having a form of godliness but denying the power thereof from such turn away see a lot of us as Christians we try to live the Christian Life like we're filling out a form you know with taxes you've got all these different forms you got the 1040 you got the 1040A the 1040 easz which

by the way is not easy uh you got the schedule a and the schedule C and the schedule X Y and Z and then you got Hawaii's you know the n11 and all the rest of them did you know there are 850 federal tax forms 800 50 different federal tax forms and in state of Hawaii there are 187 different forms that's amazing and you got to get all these forms you got to fill out this form and you got to fill out that form and and and and and you know a lot of us we kind of live the Christian Life the same way it's like we go down this checklist I've got to do this and I've got to do that and I've got to do the other thing and that's not the way God wants us to live our life he doesn't want us to have a form

of godl now when you're doing your taxes you got to make sure you're doing right so you got to kind of check the book to make sure I'm I'm doing everything right in John chapter 5 and verse number 39 the Bible says search the scriptures for in them you think you have eternal life and they are they which testify of me I do my own taxes I don't know if you do or not but I do my own taxes and when I do my taxes one of the things I want to make sure is is am I doing it right because I don't want to be audited I don't have to go back and pay more taxes and penalties later on so I always go back and say okay what does this mean and what does that mean and try to make sure I I I I'm doing it right

you know one of the things I think most of us fear is being audited you ever been audited don't raise your hand on that one but you ever been audited by the yours uh we we've gotten audited by for our state taxes one time and we end up owing a lot more money uh it is not a pleasant thing when you get a call or letter in the mail that says IRS up in the top leftand corner it's not a pleasant thing when you get a call for an IRS agent saying I'm I'm from the IRS and I'm here to help you they are not here to help you and and you get audited and when you get audited then you're in trouble right in Revelation 20 and verse number 12 the Bible says and I saw the dead small and great stand before

God and the books were opened and another book was opened which is The Book of Life and the dead were judged out of those things which were written in the books according to their works you know there somebody once said there's only two things in life that are sure and that's uh death and taxes now the Bible says that appointed a man once to die but after this the judgment and when you die you will be audited you will be judged and the Bible says here that you'll stand before God and the books are opened and one of the books that will be opened is the word of God and that's why Jesus said search the scriptures for in them you think you have eternal life do you know that the IRS tax code book

is 6,800 pages long think about that 6,800 pages long the average Bible depending on the size of the print is about 2,000 pages long and the Bible's a lot easier to understand it's the Us treasury's official interpretation of that tax code is 75,000 pages long so the tax code itself is 6,800 pages and then the interpretation of that is is 75,000 pages long let me read you part of the tax code every person liable for any tax imposed by this title or for this collection thereof shall keep such records render such statements make such returns and comply with such rules and regulations as the secretary May from time to time prescribe whenever in the Judgment of the secretary is necessary he may

require any person by notice served upon such person or by regulation to make such returns render such statements or keep such records as a secretary deemed sufficient to show whether or not such a person is liable for tax under this title did you understand that I'll tell you what I when I'm reading that taxt book I I don't understand it but you know what I'm thankful for folks is when I read this book it's a lot simpler you know what this book says Romans 10:13 for whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved that's simple that's easy to understand God has made salvation so simple that even anybody can understand it taxes I'll never understand and I don't think there's

anybody that will ever truly understand taxes you know uh you can call the IRS up and ask them a question and if they give you the wrong answer you're going to be penalized did you know that if they give you the wrong answer it doesn't mean that you're okay I'm so thankful that God has given me the answers to Salvation in 1 John 5: 12- 13 it says he that hath a son hath life he that hath not the Son of God hath not life these things have I written unto you that believe on the name of the son of God that you may know that you have eternal life that you may believe on the name of the son of God listen a church can't give you all the answers a pastor can't give you all the answers your parents

can't give you all the answers but God can God can and he has given us the answer and the answer is Jesus Christ I want you to turn over to First Corinthians chapter 2 1 Corinthians chapter 2 and look at verses 11 11 and 12 1 Corinthians 2: 11- 12 for what man knoweth the things of man save the spirit of man which is in him even so the things of God knoweth no man but the spirit of God now we have received not the spirit of the world but the spirit which is of god that we might know the things that are freely given to us of God look at verse 16 for who had known the mind of the Lord that he may instruct him but we have the mind of Christ remember what it said in 1 John 5:12 he that hath the

son hath life when you have Jesus Christ you have the Holy Spirit within you and he is the one that can help you to understand all of living the Christian life but you need to have him as your savior you need to call upon him you see you're not saved by keeping all these rules and regulations with taxes you've got a lot of rules and regulations you got to follow but with God you just need to trust Jesus Christ as your savior you see the Christian life is not a form that you check off it's a formula see we want to have this checklist in the Christian Life I did this I did that I did the other thing I didn't do this and so I'm good with God but it's not a form you check off it's a formula that

you live by in 2 Timothy CH 1: 13- 14 it says hold fast the form of sound Words which thou has heard of me in faith and love which is in Jesus Christ that good thing which was committed unto thee keep by the Holy Ghost which dwelleth in us God says listen I I don't want you to live a a checklist life in the Christian life I want you to have this formula I want you to learn how to live the life and it's a very simple formula turn over to Matthew chapter 22 Matthew chapter 22 it's a very simple formula to liveing the Christian Life Matthew chapter 22 and begin with verse number 36 Matthew chap 22 and verse number 36 Master which is the great commandment in the law Jesus saith un him Thou shalt

love the Lord thy God with all thy heart with all thy mind with all thy soul with all thy mind this is the first and great commandment and the second is like unto Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself on these two Commandments hang all the law and the prophets folks that's what God wants from us God wants us to love him with all of our heart God wants us to love others as we love ourselves that's the formula for the Christian Life God's made it so simple did you hear that somebody one of the politicians wants to simplify the tax code it's just one line or two lines actually first line says how much did you make last year and the second line says send it in that's the new simplified tax

code but you know what God has made the Christian life so simple love me and love others that's the formula and when we love God and we love others we don't have to worry about this checklist we got to go through I don't know about you but when tax season comes and I'm going through that form that's the time I wish I wish we voted when we did our tax return if we voted when we filled out our tax return we'd kick them all out I mean when I when I'm filling out that tax form I have to really pray a lot because my Christian Life is challenged because it's all these things did you do this did you do that you got to go through this whole checklist of things and I don't understand half of it so

I'm so thankful that God just said to me listen love me and love others and that'll take care of it all and that's what God wants from us you see I pay my taxes because I have to I give because I want to turn over to First 2 Corinthians chapter 8 second Corinthians chapter 8 I'm not really given a choice whether I pay my taxes or not they take it out of my salary if I don't pay it they're going to come looking for me but you see God has given us a choice not because we have to because we want to in 2 Corinthians chapter 8 beginning verse number one it says moreover brethren we do you to wit of the grace of God bestowed on the churches of Macedonia how the great trial of affliction the

abundance of their joy and their deep poverty abounded unto the riches of their liberality for to their power I bear record yay and beyond their power they were willing themselves praying with us with all with much with much praying us with much intreaty that we receive the gift and take Upon Us The Fellowship of the ministry of saints and this they did but not as we hope but first gave their own selves to the Lord Not To Us by the will of God see these were people that didn't didn't live the Christian life because they had to it's because they wanted to they wanted to be in church they wanted to read their Bible they wanted to pray they wanted to give they wanted to serve it's not a have to

it's a want to so let me ask you a question the Bible says that one day when we die we will stand before God and the books are open and we'll be judged out of those books and one of those books will be The Book of Life that will tell about your life but the other book is the book of the Bible and God's going to ask you according to this book have you've been saved have you trusted in Jesus Christ as your savior that's called the Great White Throne judgment and that's when people will be judged if they have not receive Christ if they've not called upon the name of the lord they're going to be cast into hell for eternity but there's also another judgment it's called the Judgment seat of Christ

and this is when you and I as Christians will stand before God to be judged not whether we go to heaven or hell because that's already decided when you trust Christ as your savior but it's a judgment of how we've lived our life for God it's an audit it's an audit and I wonder are you ready for that audit Romans chapter 14 and verse2 says so that every one of us shall give account of himself to God one day we will be audited and give account of ourselves if you get a letter from the IRS they're going to they're going to audit you they want you give an account why did you take this deduction why did you do this and what about this salary where did you get this money from and they're going to

go through all of those things and God also is going to audit Our Lives how we've lived for him again not whether we go to heaven or hell that's decided by whether we trusted Christ as our savior but we will be audited in a complete way in 2 Corinthians 51:11 it says for we must all appear before the judgment to Christ that everyone may receive the things done in his body Accord that he done whether it be good or bad knowing therefore the terror of the lord we persuade men but we are made manifest un God and I trust also are made manifest to your conscience most of us will never go through an IRS audit because most of us don't make enough money that they really don't care about us but every

one of us as Christians will stand before God to give account of how we've lived this life we will be a for our works in 2 Corinthians 3:8 it says now he that planteth and he that WTH are one and every man shall receive his own reward according to his own labor in verse 13 it says every man's work shall be made manifest for the day shall declare it because it shall be re revealed by fire and the fire should try every man's work of what sort it is one day God's going to audit what you've done in this life and how you've lived this life and the works that you've done and God is going to audit that whether it's good or bad and what's bad is going to be gone only what's good is left the Bible

also says he'll be auditing our words in Matthew 12:36 but I say unto you that Every Idle word that men shall speak they shall give account thereof in the day of judgment Every Idle Word that you speak one day you'll answer before God about but not only that in 1 Corinthians 4:5 it says therefore judge nothing before the time until the Lord come who do who both will bring bring to light the hidden things of Darkness it will make manifest the counsels of the heart and then shall every man have Praise of God he's going to audit our very thoughts that you and I have had every thought will be audited before God is it isn't that amazing to think about and not only that our motivation in

Philippians chap 1 and verse 10 that you may approve things that are excellent that you may be sincere and without offense till the day of Christ in Philippians 2:16 holding forth the word of life that I may rejoice in the day of Christ that I've have not run in vain neither labored in vain folks you and I as Christians one day will stand in judgment before God again not whether we go to heaven or hell because that's decided by Christ as our savior but we will be judged for our works our words our thoughts our motivation whether it's good or bad see a lot of Christians got this idea when I stand before God is going to go bad boy bad girl but he's going to reveal all these things and he's

going to ask you why did you do that why didn't you do this the tears are not wiped away until after the Judgment seat of Christ and I believe many of us will stand before God in tears you know when I got that letter from the IRS and they pointed out hey you didn't pay taxes on this when they told me how much I had to pay I cried a little bit I wasn't happy about that so you say Pastor what can I do about that well how about filing an amended return in second Corinth 1 Corinthians chap 11:31 for if we would judge ourselves we should not be judged you know what the blessing is if I take care of it myself then God does not have to judge it later 1 John chap 1:9 says if we confess our sins he

is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from own righteousness whatever I confess whatever I judge in my own life and say that was wrong and get it right then God says then that'll never be brought up again so this is a good opportunity for us to think about about our works and our words and our thoughts and our motivations and to judge ourselves to say you know what I need to make some changes that audit I got I had heard from somebody else earlier on that hey you're going to get trouble for this if you don't take care of it but I kept procrastinating put it off and because I didn't take care of it myself if I had done it myself I wouldn't have been been audited I

wouldn't have any penalties but because I waited made them come to me all of a sudden it cost me more and the challenge is today for those of you that are Christians is to Bow your head and your heart to God and say God I don't want to have to stand before you to give account I want to do it now I want my Works to be good works I want my words to be the right kind of words I want my thoughts to be the right thoughts I want my motivations and just to amend that return that's what David did in Psalms chapter 51 he had sinned he realized it he went before God and said God I messed up and I want to get it right with you Matthew was a tax collector he was one of the worst of the worst and yet God

saved him and you know what God can save you too if you're here today and you've never trusted Christ as your savior don't depend upon your religion to get you into heaven because it won't the simple message of the Bible is this whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved if you've never called upon him you can do that today and make sure that one day when you stand before God you will not be judged and cast in hell for all eternity but you go go to heaven but as a Christian remember that God still expects us to live the right way he expects us to do the right Works to have to say the right words to have the right thoughts to have the right motivation and when we don't we have that opportunity to judge ourselves and confess it and get it right so it doesn't have to be judged later on