036 Does Imputation Work?
Romans 5:12-21
March 11, 2018

As you know, we’ve been discussing the doctrine of SOLUS CHRISTUS,
Namely that salvation is in Christ Alone.

And namely that has been a study of what Christ did FOR us.
• We say that He Lived FOR us. (active obedience)
• We say that He died FOR us. (passive obedience)

And we have even said that He is the only One to ever do that.

But there is a deeper issue at stake.

Our doctrine of SOLUS CHRISTUS
Stands or falls on the doctrine of imputation.

We have no doubts that Christ lived an obedient life.
We have no doubts that Christ died a submissive death.

The question is:
DO WE REALLY BELIEVE THAT WHAT HE DID CAN BE IMPUTED “transferred” TO US?

• Can the actions of 1 man 2,000 years ago really affect each of us in such a
significant fashion?
• Can it be that my sin really can be imputed to Christ?
• Can it be that His righteousness really can be imputed to me?

It sounds good, frankly, it almost sounds too good to be true.

Even Solomon wrote:
Ecclesiastes 8:14 “There is futility which is done on the earth, that is, there are righteous men to whom it happens according to the deeds of the wicked. On the other hand, there are evil men to whom it happens according to the deeds of the righteous. I say that this too is futility.”

DOES IMPUTATION WORK?

To answer that question, we turn to a very important passage of Scripture
We’ve already looked at part of it back in our study of SOLA GRATIA.

But I think it is one of the most important passages
(and sadly most neglected) in the whole Bible.

It is the passage in which Paul reveals the doctrine of imputation.

3 main points
#1 UNVEILING ADAM’S SIN
Romans 5:12-14
FIRST OF ALL – this section is difficult because it contains a parenthetical statement that is a little hard to notice unless you’re reading the KJV.

In verse 12 Paul says, “Therefore just as through one man sin entered…”

When someone says to you, “just as” or “in the same way”,
You naturally expect them to list both items they are comparing.

If I say, “Just as this pulpit is brown”
You automatically expect me to say, “so is the Lord’s supper table”

BUT PAUL SEEMS TO LEAVE US HANGING
He gives us the “just as” in verse 12 but doesn’t finish the statement.

He does finish it, but not until verse 18.
Romans 5:18 “So then as through one transgression there resulted condemnation to all men, even so through one act of righteousness there resulted justification of life to all men.”

So to help you understand the flow of his writing,
Circle the “just as” in verse 12, and draw a line to the “so then” in verse 18.

The reason they are so far apart
Is because Paul inserts this PARENTHETICAL STATEMENT.

Verses 13-17 make up this statement.
THEY ARE A COMMENTARY OF VERSE 12.

THIS PARENTHETICAL SECTION IS THERE TO ANSWER THE QUESTION:
Is it is really possible for a deed which occurred 2,000 years ago to affect us today?

Paul answers “yes” and he bases it upon the sin of Adam.

Paul will prove that one act of Jesus can affect us all,
By revealing that the death of Jesus isn’t the first time
That all men were affected by one act.

Before the Second Adam (Jesus) died on a tree,
The first Adam was eating from one, and it powerfully affected us.

LET’S LOOK AT ADAM’S WORK

“Therefore just as through one man sin entered into the world”

SIN WAS NOT ALWAYS IN THE WORLD.
When God created this world, He did not put sin in it.
Genesis 1:31 “God saw all that He had made, and behold, it was very good. And there was evening and there was morning, the sixth day.”

Sin was not in the world.

UNTIL
Genesis 3:1-7 “Now the serpent was more crafty than any beast of the field which the LORD God had made. And he said to the woman, “Indeed, has God said, ‘You shall not eat from any tree of the garden’?” The woman said to the serpent, “From the fruit of the trees of the garden we may eat; but from the fruit of the tree which is in the middle of the garden, God has said, ‘You shall not eat from it or touch it, or you will die.'” The serpent said to the woman, “You surely will not die! “For God knows that in the day you eat from it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.” When the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was a delight to the eyes, and that the tree was desirable to make one wise, she took from its fruit and ate; and she gave also to her husband with her, and he ate. Then the eyes of both of them were opened, and they knew that they were naked; and they sewed fig leaves together and made themselves loin coverings.”

And sin entered into the world
And thanks to him, sin entered God’s creation.

AND SIN BROUGHT DEATH
“through one man sin entered into this world, and death through sin”

Sin has a very intimate friend, and he never travels without him.
THE SIDEKICK OF SIN IS DEATH.

James 1:15 “Then when lust has conceived, it gives birth to sin; and when sin is accomplished, it brings forth death.”

And certainly Adam learned this.
Not only was the serpent doomed to lick the dust…
Not only was the woman doomed to pain in childbearing…
Not only was creation doomed to futility…

BUT DEATH WAS NOW UPON US.
Genesis 3:17-19 “Then to Adam He said, “Because you have listened to the voice of your wife, and have eaten from the tree about which I commanded you, saying, ‘You shall not eat from it’; Cursed is the ground because of you; In toil you will eat of it All the days of your life. “Both thorns and thistles it shall grow for you; And you will eat the plants of the field; By the sweat of your face You will eat bread, Till you return to the ground, Because from it you were taken; For you are dust, And to dust you shall return.”

And this much we all probably understand.
But it’s the next point that Paul wanted to make sure we get.

ADAM’S SIN AFFECTED US ALL
“and so death spread to all men, because all sinned”

Now it is very easy to read that text as though when men were born,
We just made the same mistake of Adam, and that is why we die too.

While we do all sin, THAT IS NOT WHAT PAUL IS SAYING HERE.

We covered this already, but it doesn’t hurt to do it again.

Romans 5:1 “Therefore, having been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ”

The word “justified” there
Was in the AORIST, or the POINT tense.

That meant Paul was NOT speaking of an ongoing event,
But rather one event that took place at one instance in the past

At one point, we were instantly and permanently made right with God.

I remind you of that, because
That is the exact same tense that Paul uses here.

When he says that “all sinned”,
HE IS NOT referring to the weakness of mankind to give in to sin.
HE IS explaining something that happened at one point in the past.

There was an exact point in the timeline of history,
That “all sinned”.

That point was that when Adam sinned
It totally infected everyone who would come after him with sin.

ADAM’S SIN & CONDMENTATION WAS IMPUTED TO US

Paul will say it a little clearer later in the chapter.
Romans 5:18a “So then as through one transgression there resulted condemnation to all men…”

Romans 5:19a “For as through the one man’s disobedience the many were made sinners…”

What Adam did affected the entire human race,
Because the entire human race came from him; WE WERE IN ADAM.

John MacArthur wrote
“[Adam’s] sin became mankind’s sin, because all mankind were in his loins.”
(MacArthur, John; The MacArthur New Testament Commentary: Romans 1-8 [Moody Press, Chicago, Ill; 1991] pg. 296)

This is why David said
Psalms 51:5 “Behold, I was brought forth in iniquity, And in sin my mother conceived me.”

Psalms 58:3 “The wicked are estranged from the womb; These who speak lies go astray from birth.”

This is why when Jesus showed up He said:
John 3:3 “Jesus answered and said to him, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born again he cannot see the kingdom of God.”

He’s already condemned, born in Adam.
He needs to be born again of the Spirit.

BUT WE WERE ALL CONDEMNED IN ADAM.

And to prove it Paul gives evidence.
(13)“for until the Law sin was in the world, but sin is not imputed when there is no law.”

Paul says that ever since Adam sin was present.
YOU MAY OR MAY NOT AGREE.
You may choose to say, sin didn’t show up until I sinned.

“BUT sin is not imputed when there is no law”

WHAT DOES THAT MEAN?

It means, if there is no law against an action,
You cannot be held under punishment for violating it.

Now, after the law is clear and posted, you are accountable.
Therefore, after the time of Moses,
We understand why people are in such trouble.

BUT BEFORE MOSES THERE WERE NO COMMANDS.
(Adam had the only one)

HERE IS THE POINT
In between Adam and Moses there was no Law,
And therefore there is no way that man could have been punished for breaking it. God had no way of condemning mankind.

verse 14, “Nevertheless death reigned from Adam until Moses, even over those who had not sinned in the likeness of the offense of Adam, who is a type of Him who was to come.”

IF ADAM’S CONDEMNATION DIDN’T SPREAD, THEN WHY DID PEOPLE BETWEEN ADAM AND MOSES DIE?

BECAUSE ALL MEN HAD BEEN DECLARED SINNERS IN ADAM
AND ALL MEN HAD BEEN CONDEMNED WITH ADAM.

While Paul’s point is hard to swallow,
It has no small amount of evidence to enforce it.
What Adam did brought death to us everyone.

Adam’s one act of disobedience
Was powerful enough to condemn the world.

But that reality is actually GOOD THING FOR US because:
Adam was a picture:
“who is a type of Him who was to come.”

#2 UNDERSTANDING ADAM’S SYMBOLISM
Romans 5:15-17

We all know what a “type” is.
It is a foreshadowing. It is a picture.
The Old Testament is full of them.

The Passover Lamb is a type or picture of Jesus the Sacrifice.
Melchizedek is a type or a picture of Jesus the High Priest.
Manna is a type or a picture of Jesus as The Bread that comes from heaven.

Here Paul says that Adam was “type of Him who was to come.”

Adam is a type of Jesus, in that the way Adam affected all men
Is a picture of the way Jesus would affect all men.

Just as Adam’s one deed spread to all men,
So also Jesus’ one deed spread to all men.
In that sense, Adam is a “type” of Christ.

However, we don’t need another Adam like the first Adam.
And so while Adam is a “type”,
Paul now wants to show you that Adam is the “Anti-Type”.

They are similar in that their deed affects all men,
They are different as to how their deed affects all men.

So now that you understand that one man’s act can affect all men,
Paul will show you how they affect all differently.

You need to know that Adam is a type, but you also need to know that he is an anti-type.
• For on one hand you need to know that in one sense they did the same thing.
• On the other hand you need to know that what Christ did is more powerful than what Adam did.

There are 3 major differences
Between the work of Adam and the work of Jesus.

1) DIFFERENT IN PERSONALITY (15)

“But the free gift is not like the transgression”
We know what “the transgression” is.
ADAM’S SIN

BUT WHAT WAS “THE FREE GIFT”?
It is Christ’s atoning work.

Romans 3:23-24 “for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, being justified as a gift by His grace through the redemption which is in Christ Jesus;”

Paul echoed this sentiment to the Ephesian church.
Ephesians 2:8 “For by grace you have been saved through faith; and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God”

So while the transgression is the willful sin of Adam,
A deed which spread to all men,
The gift is the redemptive work of Jesus,
A deed which also spread to all men.

BUT THAT IS WHERE THE SIMILARITIES STOP.

For Paul unequivocally says, “The free gift is not like the transgression.”

Paul wants you to know that when he used Adam as an example to illustrate what Jesus did, IT DOES NOT MEAN THEY ARE THE SAME.

And so here Paul gives the first way
In which the work of Adam and the work of Jesus are different.

“For if by the transgression of the one the many died, much more did the grace of God and the gift by the grace of the one Man, Jesus Christ, abound to the many.”

Paul’s point is that they are different at their very core.
Their PERSONALITY is different.
Their nature is different.
LOOK AT ADAM
“by the transgression of the one the many died”

Adam committed an evil deed that NEGATIVELY affected us all.

LOOK AT JESUS
“much more did the grace of God and the gift by the grace of the one Man, Jesus Christ, abound to the many”

Jesus committed a righteous deed that POSITIVELY affected us all.

ADAM BROUGHT SIN; JESUS BROUGHT SALVATION

ADAM BROUGHT THE CURSE; JESUS BROUGHT THE BLESSING

ADAM BROUGHT DEATH; JESUS BROUGHT LIFE

ADAM BROUGHT CONDEMNATION; JESUS BROUGHT JUSTIFICATION

So while Adam is an illustration of Jesus, he is an opposite illustration.

They are different in personality.
2) DIFFERENT IN POWER (16)

Here Paul says it again. (He really wants to drive this point home to you)
“The gift is not like that which came through the one who sinned”

And so here he gives the SECOND WAY in which they are different.
“for one the one hand the judgment arose from one transgression resulting in condemnation, but on the other hand the free gift arose from many transgressions resulting in justification.”

Obviously there, Paul reiterates the point made in verse 15.
He again reminds that they are different at their very core.
You STILL SEE the negative from Adam and the positive from Christ.

From Adam “judgment arose resulting in condemnation”
From Jesus “free gift arose resulting in justification”

But there is another major difference that Paul introduces here,
AND THAT IS BY WAY OF POWER.

The KEY IS FOUND by noticing the numerical value Paul speaks of.
Circle the word “one” – And circle the word “many”

“judgment arose from ONE transgression”
“the free gift arose from MANY transgressions”

WHAT DOES THAT PROVE?

Well, LET’S ASSUME that Adam and Jesus were exactly equal in power.
LET’S ASSUME that neither was stronger than the other.

Then for one act of righteousness would nullify how many sins? – ONE
Then two acts of righteousness would nullify how many sins? – TWO

BUT
Jesus offered one act to cover all sin.
JESUS’ ONE ACT IS MORE POWERFUL THAN ADAM’S ONE ACT.

So Paul wants you to know that Jesus is more powerful than Adam.

This is also clearly seen in all the miracles of Jesus.
Matthew specifically lines them out.
• Power over sickness
• Power over fallen creation
• Power over demons
• Power over sin
• Power over death
• Power over Satan

So they are different in PERSONALITY They are different in POWER
3) DIFFERENT IN PERMANENCE (17)

Here Paul lists the third way in which the work of Adam
And the work of Jesus are different.

Since Jesus has more power…
Then we make a theological application.

“For if by the transgression of the one, death reigned through the one,”

And that is exactly what it did.
But if death reigned through Adam,
And Jesus is more powerful than Adam…

“MUCH MORE those who receive the abundance of grace and of the gift of righteousness will reign in life through the One, Jesus Christ.”

Key word here is “will reign”
As in Christ’s gift will reign over Adam’s blunder

HERE IS THE POINT
Death reigned over us, because it was more powerful than us.

Everyone died.
And for all general purposes Adam’s sin seemed permanent.
It appeared to be something we were going to live with forever.

Death reigned over us because it was more powerful than us,
BUT Jesus is more powerful than Adam and death.

SO FOLLOW THE POINT.

Paul said Christ died for us all and reconciled us to God.
IS THAT POSSIBLE?

1) Well, Adam sinned for us all and Adam is a type of Christ (even if he is an anti-type)
2) So if Adam can sin for us all, then surely Christ can be righteous for us all.
3) If Adam can bring condemnation to us all, then surely Christ can bring eternal life to us all.

So now, after the parenthetical statement, let’s see Paul get back to the point.
#3 UNDOING ADAM’S SENTENCE
Romans 5:18-21

As we mentioned earlier,
This is the completion of the statement Paul began in verse 12.

TAKE OUT THE PARENTHESIS

“12Therefore, just as through one man sin entered into the world, and death through sin, and so death spread to all men, because all sinned…18beven so through one act of righteousness their resulted justification of life to all men.”

You can see how (after the parenthetical statement is removed)
This passage makes sense.

We realize that Paul is comparing the work of Jesus to the work of Adam.

(18) “So then as through one transgression their resulted condemnation to all men, even so through one act of righteousness there resulted justification of life to all men.”

Now first, don’t let the “all men” throw a kink in your theology.
This is not promoting universalism.

Paul already made it clear in verse 17 who we are referring to.
“THOSE WHO RECEIVE the abundance of grace and of the gift of righteousness”

This verse doesn’t mean that it is automatically applied to all men,
But rather that it is available to all men.
There is unlimited sufficiency in this offer.

THE POINT IS:
HIS RIGHTEOUSNESS IS YOURS, just as Adam’s sin was yours.

Because we were born in the flesh,
We inherited the condemnation of the flesh.
But when man is born again,
He receives the justification of the new spirit.

1 Peter 1:23 “for you have been born again not of seed which is perishable but imperishable, that is, through the living and enduring word of God.”

John 1:12-13 “But as many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God, even to those who believe in His name, who were born, not of blood nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man, but of God.”

When a person dies to self, and trusts in Christ,
The Bible says they are “born again”

2 Corinthians 5:17 “Therefore if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creature; the old things passed away; behold, new things have come.”

We are born again, and now we are no longer in Adam.
The person who was in Adam died. His condemnation is over.

Now, we are in Christ.
We are “in Him”.

And because we are “in Him”
All the blessings that are His, are ours.

2 Corinthians 1:19-22 “For the Son of God, Christ Jesus, who was preached among you by us — by me and Silvanus and Timothy — was not yes and no, but is yes in Him. For as many as are the promises of God, in Him they are yes; therefore also through Him is our Amen to the glory of God through us. Now He who establishes us with you in Christ and anointed us is God, who also sealed us and gave us the Spirit in our hearts as a pledge.”

Just as we inherited sin, death, and judgment “in Adam”
Now, having died to ourselves and having been born again
In Christ, we inherit life, blessing, and justification.

Just as being a child of Adam caused the curse of Adam to spread,
So being a child of God causes the blessing of God to spread.

It comes to us in the exact same way.

Now, we know it spreads to us, the same way, but HOW?
IMPUTATION

(19) “For as through the one man’s disobedience the many were made sinners even so though the obedience of the One the many will be made righteous”

Just as Adam transgressed and spread it to us all.
“even so” (in the exact same way)

Through Christ’s obedience, both active and passive,
The many are made righteous.

It worked in Adam, it works in Jesus

And because Jesus is more powerful it works regardless of all the sin that has transpired since the days of Adam.

Which is Paul’s next point:

“The Law came in so that the transgression would increase; but where sin increased, grace abounded all the more.”

Even when the Law finally did come and exponentially increased the amount of sin, even that could not stop the work of Christ.

JESUS UNDID IT ALL

“so that as sin reigned in death even so grace would reign through righteousness to eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.”

THE POINT: Adam ruined us but Jesus rescued us

His righteousness and His life spread to us,
Just as Adam’s sin and death spread to us.

So the answer is “Yes”
IMPUTATION DOES WORK
• Christ can die FOR us.
• His righteousness can be imputed to us.
• Our sin can be imputed to Him.

And He does this for all who are “in Christ Jesus”

Another great truth we’ll examine next time.

The Only Savior
Acts 4:12
March 4, 2018

We are currently in that 4th SOLA known as SOLUS CHRISTUS
And we have been talking about what that means.

Primarily it is a study of what Christ did FOR us.
• It focuses mostly on the reality that Christ did not come to make me righteous but to BE my righteousness.

• It is a doctrine which emphasizes that the salvation which I enjoy was provided for me solely by Christ apart from any assistance from me.

• It is not what Christ did IN me, but what Christ has done FOR me.

And the first question we answered was:
WHAT DID CHRIST DO FOR ME?
• We saw that in His ACTIVE OBEDIENCE He lived a perfectly righteous life
and perfectly fulfilled God’s righteous requirement.

• We saw that in His PASSIVE OBEDIENCE He died a sacrificial death and
perfectly satisfied God’s divine wrath.

And since His righteousness is imputed to me
And my sinfulness was imputed to Him,
Then we say that Christ did both of those things FOR me.
He lived for me and He died for me

And now, having been clothed in His righteousness by faith
I am counted justified before God.

It has nothing to do with any good works I did
It has nothing to do with any punishment I have taken

Jesus paid it all.

That is really the heart of the doctrine of SOLUS CHRISTUS
But as we have also said from the beginning
There are certainly OTHER ELEMENTS included.

The most popular (and indeed the one most people think of)
Is the reality that CHRIST IS ALSO THE ONLY SAVIOR

We answered the question: What did Christ do for me?
Now we are asking the question: DID ANYONE ELSE DO IT TOO?

Certainly if we understand anything in our CONSUMER DRIVEN MARKET of America we know that there is always more than one option.

It doesn’t matter if I’m buying shoes or tools or milk or an electrician
There are always multiple options.

Our question tonight is: Is that true in regard to salvation?
We know what Christ did, but was He the only one to do it?

Now first let me tell you why people would even ask that question.
Let me explain why people would care.

And it really boils down to our consumer mentality.

If you need a new pair of shoes
• The most basic need is for something to protect your feet.
• So in that sense it really doesn’t matter.

However people don’t just say get me a pair of shoes and expect that we’re all going to want the same thing. We want options.

What are some of the factors that determine which shoes we buy?
• Comfort – Do I like the way they feel?
• Style – Do I like the way they look on me?
• Function – Do they achieve what I need from them?
• Cost – Are they worth what I have to pay?

Well all of those also explain why people desire more than one Savior.
• Comfort – Do I like the way this Savior makes me feel?
• Style – Do I like the reputation that comes from following this Savior?
• Function – Does this Savior save me in the way I want to be saved?
• Cost – How much will it cost me to receive this Saviors salvation?

So if there are options then I get to shop around
And find the Savior that best suits my needs.

This explains why people so badly want there to be numerous Saviors.
It allows me to be in control and to dictate my terms of salvation.
We get to apply the “Customer is always right” mentality.

BUT WHAT IF THERE IS ONLY ONE?
• If there is only one, then the consumer is no longer in charge.
• The consumer is faced with a “take it or leave it” dilemma.

When I went to see the surgeon about having my gallbladder removed:
• He told me it needed to come out.
• I agreed.
• He sent me in the other room to schedule when.
• The lady said, we need “X amount” of money paid in full before we will do this.

And I instantly had no power. It was “take it or leave it”
• I didn’t get to select the color of my hospital gown
• I didn’t get to select the temperature of the operating room
• I didn’t get to haggle the price

He was my only option, and I had to consent to his terms.

Typically we don’t like that.
We want the control.
We want the options.

That same mentality is why our world fights so strongly for PLURALISM
You know the whole “many roads up the same mountain” theology.

We like the freedom to choose the Savior which best fits our desires.

Well, part of SOLUS CHRISTUS is to remind us that
Apart from Christ there is no other Savior.

And I don’t know of any verses that state it better than Acts 4:12.

Acts 4:12 isn’t the only verse that says it.
John 14:6 “Jesus said to him, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life; no one comes to the Father but through Me.”

1 Timothy 2:5 “For there is one God, and one mediator also between God and men, the man Christ Jesus,”

But neither of those verses says it any better than Acts 4:12
So that is the one we look at.

First, a little context.
• Shortly after Pentecost we have Peter and John still in Jerusalem.
• One day, while heading into the temple, Peter healed a crippled man.
• When this miracle occurred the Peter started flocking to Peter for the same reason they would typically flock to Jesus – they also wanted healing.
• Peter took the opportunity to preach to the crowd regarding their rejection of the One who really healed this man.

Acts 3:13-16 “The God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, the God of our fathers, has glorified His servant Jesus, the one whom you delivered and disowned in the presence of Pilate, when he had decided to release Him. “But you disowned the Holy and Righteous One and asked for a murderer to be granted to you, but put to death the Prince of life, the one whom God raised from the dead, a fact to which we are witnesses. “And on the basis of faith in His name, it is the name of Jesus which has strengthened this man whom you see and know; and the faith which comes through Him has given him this perfect health in the presence of you all.”

• And of course Peter demanded again repentance and faith.

Acts 3:19 “Therefore repent and return, so that your sins may be wiped away, in order that times of refreshing may come from the presence of the Lord;”

• Well, in the middle of this sermon the priests and the Sanhedrin show up. This was the Jewish mafia family (Annas and Caiaphas and you know the crew)
• And these men surround Peter and try to bully him to stop preaching
• But Peter simply turned and started preaching at these men too.

Acts 4:8-12 “Then Peter, filled with the Holy Spirit, said to them, “Rulers and elders of the people, if we are on trial today for a benefit done to a sick man, as to how this man has been made well, let it be known to all of you and to all the people of Israel, that by the name of Jesus Christ the Nazarene, whom you crucified, whom God raised from the dead — by this name this man stands here before you in good health. “He is the STONE WHICH WAS REJECTED by you, THE BUILDERS, but WHICH BECAME THE CHIEF CORNER stone. “And there is salvation in no one else; for there is no other name under heaven that has been given among men by which we must be saved.”

And it is this last verse we want to specifically focus on tonight.
There are two main points I want you to see from this verse.
And we’re actually going to look at the end of the verse first.

#1 THE NECESSITY OF SALVATION
Acts 4:12

In particular I want you to recognize that
Peter ends that verse with the statement, “we must be saved.”

This is a very important truth to learn, and even in those 4 words
There are some very important truths revealed.

I would look at those 4 words and first remind you of this:
1) THE NEED OF SALVATION IS UNIVERSAL

Peter doesn’t say, “You must be saved” or “They must be saved”
But “WE must be saved”

It is that very important reminder that
The fall of man is a universal condition.

We read from Paul about what Adam did to us.
Romans 5:12 “Therefore, just as through one man sin entered into the world, and death through sin, and so death spread to all men, because all sinned”

We are familiar with Paul’s famous monologue in Romans 3
Where he reminds us that “there is none righteous; not even one”

We are familiar with that great summation verse in:
Romans 3:23 “for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God,”

We understand that all men are sinful.
Very early in the Bible we are approached with this understanding.

In Genesis 6 God makes this assessment of all humanity.
Genesis 6:5-7 “Then the LORD saw that the wickedness of man was great on the earth, and that every intent of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually. The LORD was sorry that He had made man on the earth, and He was grieved in His heart. The LORD said, “I will blot out man whom I have created from the face of the land, from man to animals to creeping things and to birds of the sky; for I am sorry that I have made them.”

We could listen later as the prophet Ezekiel recorded:
Ezekiel 22:30 “I searched for a man among them who would build up the wall and stand in the gap before Me for the land, so that I would not destroy it; but I found no one.”

And it is not just the worst among us, it is all of us.
Romans 3:12 “ALL HAVE TURNED ASIDE, TOGETHER THEY HAVE BECOME USELESS; THERE IS NONE WHO DOES GOOD, THERE IS NOT EVEN ONE.”

There is a universal need here.

Also implied by Peter is this:
2) THE NEED OF SALVATION IS REAL

Peter says “we MUST be saved”

• He doesn’t hold up salvation as something you might want to look in to.
• He doesn’t advertise salvation like a new pair of shoes that you might really enjoy if you are so inclined.

THIS IS A NECESSITY

Jesus told Nicodemus
John 3:7 “…you must be born again.”

There is in that an implication.
Man is in grave danger and must have salvation.

Well that promotes a couple more questions.
• SAVED FROM WHAT/WHO?
• WHY DO WE NEED TO BE SAVED FROM IT/THEM?

These are important questions
And some that have even become blurred in recent years.

I’ll never forget as a young aspiring minister in Stephenville
I would go to Brownwood on Tuesday nights with our church’s youth minister to sit and listen to a retired preacher named Richard Jackson.

In many ways it was a very beneficial time of learning
The practical responsibilities of ministry.

But there was one thing he taught that messed up my theology for many years, and one which God had to straighten out.

He was talking about the necessity of salvation (which he certainly proclaimed) however when asked: What does man need to be saved from? His answer was “Sin”.

To which he said, “Jesus didn’t come to save you from God, as though God is up in heaven shooting at us, Jesus came to save you from sin.”

Now, in one sense there is some truth to that.

After all the angel Gabriel did tell Joseph:
Matthew 1:21 “She will bear a Son; and you shall call His name Jesus, for He will save His people from their sins.”

But Richard Jackson was applying that verse
In a way in which Gabriel certainly did not intend.

According to Jackson God is not angry, God is not “shooting at us”,
It’s just that sin has made such a wreck of the human condition
That Jesus must come and save us from it.

That is not what Gabriel meant.
Gabriel knew that we must be saved from our sins
Because of what our sins bring with them.
They bring with them nothing short of the very wrath of a holy God.

Psalms 5:4-6 “For You are not a God who takes pleasure in wickedness; No evil dwells with You. The boastful shall not stand before Your eyes; You hate all who do iniquity. You destroy those who speak falsehood; The LORD abhors the man of bloodshed and deceit.”

Psalms 7:11 “God is a righteous judge, And a God who has indignation every day.”

Even listen to Paul at Athens:
Acts 17:30-31 “Therefore having overlooked the times of ignorance, God is now declaring to men that all people everywhere should repent, because He has fixed a day in which He will judge the world in righteousness through a Man whom He has appointed, having furnished proof to all men by raising Him from the dead.”

There is no doubt what we are being saved from and it is a “WHO”.
• Sinful man must be saved from God.
• They must be saved from His wrath and full fury.

And let me even take it a step further to remind you.
• It is not simply God’s wrath on sin.
• It is God’s wrath on the sinners who commit that sin.

As R.C. Sproul so profoundly put it.
“Men say God hates the sin but loves the sinner. But God doesn’t send the sin to hell, He sends the sinner there.”
https://youtu.be/DXX0r8enBdY?t=2m16s

Proverbs 6:16-19 “There are six things which the LORD hates, Yes, seven which are an abomination to Him: Haughty eyes, a lying tongue, And hands that shed innocent blood, A heart that devises wicked plans, Feet that run rapidly to evil, A false witness who utters lies, And one who spreads strife among brothers.”

Psalms 11:5 “The LORD tests the righteous and the wicked, And the one who loves violence His soul hates.”

To claim merely that man only needs to be saved from sin,
Or that God is only angry at the sin and not the sinner
Is a HUMANISTIC GOSPEL.

And certainly that is a popular false gospel proclaimed today.

We like to say,
“God loves you just like you are, and He has such a wonderful plan for your life, and He is so grieved that sin is keeping you from that plan, and He so badly wants to remove that sin so that you can enjoy the good life He intended for you to have.”

THAT IS NOT THE GOSPEL MESSAGE OF THE BIBLE

The gospel message of the Bible is:
• The creature has infinitely offended the Creator by reason of their rebellion against the Creator’s righteous standard.
• Because of this rebellion the Creator has determined to crush and destroy sinners.
• He did it first by the flood
• He’ll do it again by fire
• Because of this sure and certain judgment of the Creator, the creature is in desperate need of salvation.

In fact “we MUST be saved”
We must be born again.
We must be delivered from the wrath of God.

So if you want to know what does man need to be saved from it is this.
MAN NEEDS TO BE SAVED FROM GOD.

WHY?
Because man has offended Him.

To refer again to a favorite R.C. Sproul quotation.

When asked: “If God is slow to anger and patient, then why when man first sinned was His wrath and punishment so severe and long lasting?”

Sproul responded:
“Time out… that God’s punishment was so severe? This creature from the dirt defied the everlasting holy God; after that God had said “The day that you eat of it, you shall surely die”. And instead of dying, “Thanatos”, that day, he lived another day and was clothed in his nakedness, by pure grace, and had the consequences of a curse applied for quite some time, but the worst curse would come upon the one who seduced him whose head would be crushed by the seed of the woman. And the punishment was too severe? What’s wrong with you people? I’m serious. This is what’s wrong with the Christian church today. We don’t know who God is and we don’t know who we are. The question is why wasn’t it infinitely more severe? If we have any understanding of our sin; any understanding of who God is, that’s the question, isn’t’ it?”
https://youtu.be/iP4A3C3E4Cs

Man has defied the God who created Him.
This is why God is angry and this is why man must be saved from Him.

Have we so quickly forgotten Romans 1?
Romans 1:18-21 “For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men who suppress the truth in unrighteousness, because that which is known about God is evident within them; for God made it evident to them. For since the creation of the world His invisible attributes, His eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly seen, being understood through what has been made, so that they are without excuse. For even though they knew God, they did not honor Him as God or give thanks, but they became futile in their speculations, and their foolish heart was darkened.”

Because of this we read 3 times in Romans that “God gave them over…”
To various sins and the just consequences of those sins.

If you follow that thought on through into the next chapter we find:
Romans 2:5-6 “But because of your stubbornness and unrepentant heart you are storing up wrath for yourself in the day of wrath and revelation of the righteous judgment of God, who WILL RENDER TO EACH PERSON ACCORDING TO HIS DEEDS:”

And on that note we would do good to
Remember the words of the writer of Hebrews who wrote:
Hebrews 10:30-31 “For we know Him who said, “VENGEANCE IS MINE, I WILL REPAY.” And again, “THE LORD WILL JUDGE HIS PEOPLE.” It is a terrifying thing to fall into the hands of the living God.”

Man must be saved from God
Because man has offended God and He is angry.

But there is even another implied truth
That Peter gives us here in these last 4 words.

Certainly we understand the universal need of salvation. “we”
Certainly we understand how much salvation is needed “we must”
3) MAN IS HELPLESS TO SAVE HIMSELF

Peter said “we must BE SAVED”
That is not an active verb that is a passive verb.

Man is not commanded to save himself,
But is instead instructed that he needs someone to save him.

This past week I spent some time reading the 78th Psalm.
• I’ve always called it “Israel’s sin Hall of Fame”
• It is certainly a record of the continual and repeated failures and rebellions of Israel.

We don’t have time to go read it all,
But I can quickly give you the sense of it.

Psalms 78:17 “Yet they still continued to sin against Him, To rebel against the Most High in the desert.”

Psalms 78:21-22 “Therefore the LORD heard and was full of wrath; And a fire was kindled against Jacob And anger also mounted against Israel, Because they did not believe in God And did not trust in His salvation.”

Psalms 78:32 “In spite of all this they still sinned And did not believe in His wonderful works.”

Psalms 78:34-37 “When He killed them, then they sought Him, And returned and searched diligently for God; And they remembered that God was their rock, And the Most High God their Redeemer. But they deceived Him with their mouth And lied to Him with their tongue. For their heart was not steadfast toward Him, Nor were they faithful in His covenant.”

Psalms 78:40-41 “How often they rebelled against Him in the wilderness And grieved Him in the desert! Again and again they tempted God, And pained the Holy One of Israel.”

And that isn’t close to all of them.

And for years I saw this as a Psalm of ISRAEL’S STUBBORNNESS.

What is really is, is a Psalm of ISRAEL’S WEAKNESS.
They didn’t ever do right because they couldn’t ever do right.

That is why Psalm 78 ends with the promise of God choosing Judah.
Psalms 78:68-69 “But chose the tribe of Judah, Mount Zion which He loved. And He built His sanctuary like the heights, Like the earth which He has founded forever.”

This is the prophetic picture of choosing Jesus…why?
To be the Savior of all those who could not save themselves.

AND AGAIN THIS IS IMPORTANT.
• We have talked a lot about the sovereignty of God throughout this study,
• And most of you are well aware that the great argument against these doctrines is the common argument of man’s “FREE WILL”

Let me again explain free will to you.

Reformed theology does not deny that man has FREE WILL.
• Obviously man has freedom to choose.
• Man makes choices all of the time according to what he wants.
• He chooses according to the inclination of his nature.

So we definitely say man is VOLITIONALLY FREE
To choose whatever he wants.

The problem is that MAN IS NOT MORALLY FREE to choose what he should.
• He is bound in sin.
• He is held captive to sin.
• And because of that, he cannot choose what is right.
• He is a captive to his own sinful nature and in need of divine regeneration.

That was the problem with Israel.
It wasn’t a knowledge problem, it was a heart problem.
They couldn’t do right.

This is why God promised the New Covenant in which He would change their heart and write the Law on their heart.

AND THIS IS MAN.
He cannot save himself.

He is like a man drowning in the river and your solution is to yell at him and say, “Hey get yourself out of there!”

He can’t. He needs to “be saved”
And He needs to be saved from God’s wrath.

Now, that is just the foundational backdrop to salvation.
We still haven’t answered the question yet.

After seeing that man needs to be saved WE UNDERSTAND THAT JESUS DID THAT.
• He lived that righteous life.
• He died that atoning death to save us from God’s wrath.

Jesus is in fact a savior exactly like what we need.
Our question was, IS HE THE ONLY ONE?

I mean
• This Jesus is going to ask us to deny ourselves.
• This Jesus is going to require us to repent of our sin.
• This Jesus is going to require us to take up our cross.

Those are steep conditions.
So, before I run to this Jesus for the salvation I need,
I want to know if there are any other options.
(That’s the world’s thinking)

Peter is answering that question here.

First we saw the Necessity of Salvation
#2 THE NARROWNESS OF SALVATION
Acts 4:12

Well there is you answer about as clearly as it can be given.
“And there is salvation is no one else; for there is no other name under heaven that has been given among men”

• No one else ever lived a life which satisfied the righteous requirements of God.
• No one else ever died an atoning death fully bearing God’s wrath.

Well how do we know that Jesus actually did those things?

Acts 4:10 “let it be known to all of you and to all the people of Israel, that by the name of Jesus Christ the Nazarene, whom you crucified, whom God raised from the dead — by this name this man stands here before you in good health.”

Because God raised Jesus from the dead.

Acts 2:32 “This Jesus God raised up again, to which we are all witnesses.”

Listen to Paul again in Athens:
Acts 17:30-31 “Therefore having overlooked the times of ignorance, God is now declaring to men that all people everywhere should repent, because He has fixed a day in which He will judge the world in righteousness through a Man whom He has appointed, having furnished proof to all men by raising Him from the dead.”

• Only Jesus was raised by the Father.
• Only Jesus satisfied His righteous requirement.
• Only Jesus satisfied His terrible wrath.

And no one else ever did that.
That means He is the only Savior.

Peter even gives another important criteria:
“for there is no other name under heaven that has been given among men”

Jesus “has been given”

This indicates that only Jesus
Was first given to us by the Father

He was not a Savior of our own election.
He is not a Savior of our own pleasing.
HE IS A SAVIOR WHO IS PRE-APPROVED BY THE FATHER.

And since it is the Father whom we must appease,
Then certainly we must run to the Savior who comes from Him.

And this was a point Jesus routinely made:
John 5:36-37 “But the testimony which I have is greater than the testimony of John; for the works which the Father has given Me to accomplish — the very works that I do — testify about Me, that the Father has sent Me. “And the Father who sent Me, He has testified of Me. You have neither heard His voice at any time nor seen His form.”

John 6:44 “No one can come to Me unless the Father who sent Me draws him; and I will raise him up on the last day.”

John 6:57 “As the living Father sent Me, and I live because of the Father, so he who eats Me, he also will live because of Me.”

John 8:16 “But even if I do judge, My judgment is true; for I am not alone in it, but I and the Father who sent Me.”

John 8:42 “Jesus said to them, “If God were your Father, you would love Me, for I proceeded forth and have come from God, for I have not even come on My own initiative, but He sent Me.”

John 12:49 “For I did not speak on My own initiative, but the Father Himself who sent Me has given Me a commandment as to what to say and what to speak.”

The implication here would be.
• That man who is drowning in the river in need of someone to save him.
• God throws that man a life preserver, but the man rejects it in favor another
option.

But there is no other option.
If salvation is to occur, it will only occur
Through the One whom the Father gave.

No one else ever provided salvation.

And I realize that for a SUNDAY NIGHT CROWD
This is probably obvious to most of you.

Jesus did for us what no one else could do for us.
This not only makes Him a Savior, but the only Savior.

What I also hope you gained tonight however
Is a clarity of the gospel which we must preach.

I think the church is terribly distorting the gospel when we say things like:
• “God loves you and has a wonderful plan for your life.”
• “God isn’t angry, He just wants you to have the abundant life.”
• “I just want you to accept Jesus so He can fix your life”

And put in there any other of the common clichés we hear today.

The reality of the gospel is this.
• God created man in His own image.
• Man then rebelled against the Creator thus incurring His wrath (see the flood)
• In order to be reconciled to God, God in His mercy sent a Savior to deliver sinful man.
• God then commanded men to submit to this Savior that they might be forgiven of their rebellion against Him.

The gospel isn’t an optional message
The gospel isn’t a recommended message.
It is a command

And it is absolutely exclusive for there is salvation found nowhere else.
You must be born again, You must be saved

And Jesus is the Only Savior who can accomplish it.

The Foolishness of Legalistic Religion
Luke 5:33-39
March 4, 2018

Well, if you’ve been with us the last couple of weeks you know that
Jesus is having another one of those amazing days.

We already saw that one amazing day in Capernaum
• Where he first cast out a demon,
• Then healed Peter’s mother-in-law,
• And ended by healing as many people as came to Him in Peter’s house.

Well, this day is pretty spectacular in its own right.
• On this day Jesus was preaching in an undisclosed city in Galilee.
• The Pharisees had shown up in force to evaluate Him
• The crowd was so big no one could get into the house, not even 4 men carrying their paralytic friend.
• Those friends tore a hole in the roof and lowered their friend down and Jesus pronounced him forgiven.
• Then to prove his forgiveness told him to get up and walk; which he did.
• Jesus left there and set His gaze on the local tax collector named Levi and called him into service.
• Levi jumped at the offer and then threw a party for Jesus in his house.
• To the surprise of the religious elite, Jesus went to the party.

Incidentally, that decision by Jesus to eat with Matthew
Would earn Jesus the degrading title of “Friend of Sinners”.
It is a celebrated title today, but it was first use a term of reproach.

But in both of those incidents that have occurred on this day
Jesus has managed to reinforce the truth of why He came.

He revealed to His hometown synagogue in Nazareth that
He came to save sinners and that is exactly what He is doing.
• He is reaching out to the poor, the guilty, the blind, the burdened, and the
wicked.
• He is calling them to repentance.
• He is granting the forgiveness of their sins.

And because of that He is starting to get some OPPOSITION.

The Pharisees scoffed at His claim to be able to forgive sin
And they scorned Him for His decision to eat with those tax collectors.

Yet both times Jesus silenced their argument.
• His claim to be able to forgive was no idle claim, He proved it by making the paralytic walk.
• And His decision to eat with sinners only made perfect sense since it was sinners He came to save.

The Pharisees keep attacking and coming up empty handed.

Well this morning we see yet another attack and this time it is regarding Jesus refusal to jump through the legalistic hoops of tradition.

I don’t know if the show caught anyone else’s attention,
But for the past 6 weeks I have watched the show “Waco”.
It was a six-part miniseries about the standoff between the FBI and the Branch Davidians under David Koresh in Waco back in the 90’s.

In addition to watching the show, I’ve researched it a little
Because it was most certainly a peculiar event.

I was mostly curious as to why so many people
Would follow David Koresh into that compound.

• The place had no running water.
• Koresh was a pedophile who was certainly guilty of statutory rape.
• If you did go in there with a wife, she would cease to be your wife and Koresh
would take her as his.
• It was a dump with really nothing sensual to offer at all.

Now look, I understand why people go to Joel Olsteen’s church.
I understand the sensual attraction to the prosperity gospel Olsteen preaches.

But why a person would willingly take their family into a trashy compound
With no running water to have this man claim your wife as his own
Was peculiar to me.

Until I found out what made it all tick.
• Koresh was a Seventh Day Adventist (granted an extremist) but that speaks
volumes.
• That is a religion based on legalistic achievement.
• People in that religion please God through their adherence and obedience.
• People grow in favor with God even through their suffering.

Koresh wasn’t selling physical comfort at that compound.
Koresh was selling favor with God.
If you’ll come suffer here,
If you’ll come sacrifice your wife here,
If you’ll do what no one else is willing to do for God
Then you’ll be acceptable
Whereas everyone else who lives in their comfortable homes will not.

IT IS THE LIE OF LEGALISM.
And once a person falls into that scheme,
THERE IS NO LIMIT TO THE REQUIREMENTS.
There is always someone who is willing to sacrifice more than you,
And thus you are always challenged to prove yourself even more to God.

And under the mentality people have submitted themselves to all types of self-inflicted punishment throughout the centuries.

The tragedy is that it doesn’t work.
It doesn’t please God, namely because it is never enough.
All of our righteous deeds are nothing more than filthy rags before God.

• Jesus came to break that cycle.
• Jesus came to save sinners.
• Jesus came to take those people who were overcome with burden by those legalistic and ritualistic commands and to set them free by fulfilling God’s righteousness for them.

But He most certainly did not come to push them to be more legalistic
And that is the point of Luke’s story this morning.

There are 3 things here we see in our text this morning.
#1 THE ACCUSATION
Luke 5:33

“And they said to Him, “The disciples of John often fast and offer prayers, the disciples of the Pharisees also do the same, but Yours eat and drink.”

If you read that same account in Matthew’s gospel it reads as though it is John’s disciples who came asking that question.

If you read it in Mark’s gospel it reads as though John’s disciples and the Pharisees came together and were both asking.

And when you read it here it reads as it is a third party asking the question with regard to the disciples of John and the disciples of the Pharisees.

What that indicates to us is that this became
A very buzzing question that everyone wanted Jesus to answer.

I don’t know who asked it first (I’d guess the Pharisees)
• But what most likely happened then was that John’s disciples chimed in and said, “Yeah, why do we fast and Your disciples don’t?”
• And then someone in the crowd chimed in and said, “Hey, that’s right, why do both of their disciples fast, and Yours don’t?”

This was a major point of contention with Jesus
And one that was clearly a matter of public curiosity.

WELL FIRST we need to point out that they could accuse Jesus’ disciples of not fasting or praying but they could not accuse Jesus of not doing it.

Luke 4:1-2 “Jesus, full of the Holy Spirit, returned from the Jordan and was led around by the Spirit in the wilderness for forty days, being tempted by the devil. And He ate nothing during those days, and when they had ended, He became hungry.”

Luke 5:15-16 “But the news about Him was spreading even farther, and large crowds were gathering to hear Him and to be healed of their sicknesses. But Jesus Himself would often slip away to the wilderness and pray.”

Obviously Jesus did this quite a bit.
This accusation is regarding what He taught.

In the Sermon on the Mount Jesus told us that
You spot a false prophet by the fruit they produce.

It seems as though the Pharisees are using that truth against Jesus.

What kind of a Rabbi would train his disciples to “eat and drink” with sinners instead of to fast and pray?

And this isn’t the only time they go after Him in regard to the questionable behavior of His disciples.

Matthew 15:1-2 “Then some Pharisees and scribes came to Jesus from Jerusalem and said, “Why do Your disciples break the tradition of the elders? For they do not wash their hands when they eat bread.”

The view was that Jesus ordained licentiousness and worldliness.
• His followers weren’t devout.
• They loved the world.
• And they weren’t committed to the truly religious practices.

We are not surprised to find the Pharisees here.
Some have wondered at why John’s disciples are joining in on the debate, but I don’t think that’s all that far-fetched either.

FIRST, you must recognize that at this point John the Baptist should no longer have disciples.
• John told his disciples to follow Jesus.
• John was now in prison.
• These men had latched on to the sacrificial life of John, but had obviously failed to get the message.

They were people who loved the feeling of superiority
That comes from the legalistic lifestyle
And on this day they are even willing to unite with the Pharisees
In order to keep that superior feeling.

And this is just something you have to understand about legalism.

THOSE WHO ARE IN LEGALISM
THRIVE ON THE CONDEMNATION OF THOSE WHO ARE NOT.

Remember what Paul wrote to the Colossians?
Colossians 2:16-23 “Therefore no one is to act as your judge in regard to food or drink or in respect to a festival or a new moon or a Sabbath day — things which are a mere shadow of what is to come; but the substance belongs to Christ. Let no one keep defrauding you of your prize by delighting in self-abasement and the worship of the angels, taking his stand on visions he has seen, inflated without cause by his fleshly mind, and not holding fast to the head, from whom the entire body, being supplied and held together by the joints and ligaments, grows with a growth which is from God. If you have died with Christ to the elementary principles of the world, why, as if you were living in the world, do you submit yourself to decrees, such as, “Do not handle, do not taste, do not touch!” (which all refer to things destined to perish with use) — in accordance with the commandments and teachings of men? These are matters which have, to be sure, the appearance of wisdom in self-made religion and self-abasement and severe treatment of the body, but are of no value against fleshly indulgence.”

That is a great example.
• Some legalistic group was actually condemning the Colossians
• And guilting them into all sorts of religious practices like fasts and festivals and self-abasement and severe treatment of the body and many other things.

Paul said that was pointless and that the Colossians should resist them.

But you understand the accusation.
They are accusing Jesus of teaching worldliness because His disciples eat and drink with sinners while the Pharisees disciples are committed to fasting.

That is the accusation.
#2 THE ANSWER
Luke 5:34-35

So Jesus obviously answers here in defense of His disciples.
And He should.

After all, WE KNOW WHY THEY ARE CELEBRATING.

Luke 5:27-29 “After that He went out and noticed a tax collector named Levi sitting in the tax booth, and He said to him, “Follow Me.” And he left everything behind, and got up and began to follow Him. And Levi gave a big reception for Him in his house; and there was a great crowd of tax collectors and other people who were reclining at the table with them.”

As we said last week,
• It’s just like that man who found his lost sheep
• Or that woman who found her lost coin
• Or that father who found his lost son.

They are celebrating because the Savior is here.
They are celebrating because sinners are being forgiven.
THAT CERTAINLY INS’T A REASON TO MOURN!

What is more, forcing someone to fast
When their heart is celebrating is pointless.

And that’s really the point of Jesus here.
(34-35) “And Jesus said to them, “You cannot make the attendants of the bridegroom fast while the bridegroom is with them, can you? “But the days will come; and when the bridegroom is taken away from them, then they will fast in those days.”

Right now the “bridegroom is with them”
In a sense the marriage is happening!
Sinners are being saved.

That is a happy occasion,
And it would be absolutely stupid to go mourn right now.

Now certainly the day is coming when He will leave and fasting will be called for and “they will fast in those days.”

But not now.
I think there is a real sense here in which Jesus answered the question of the crowd by saying, “Because that would be stupid!”

There is no reason for fasting over this.

It is also important to remember that fasting is not commanded.
It is implied and expected, but it is not commanded.

And while it is true that a worldly person never fasts,
You cannot peg a person as being worldly just because you don’t see it.

There are times when even the most spiritual person
Should not be fasting, but should be celebrating.
Like when Levi got saved.

So, why aren’t they fasting?
Because that would be dumb, it’s not the time for fasting.

Now, in that answer,
I hope you pick up on the implied return question of Jesus.

They said, “We fast, but Your disciples don’t, why?”
Jesus said “Because fasting right now is pointless.”

Do you pick up on the implied question?
SO WHY ARE YOU FASTING?

Well, we know why don’t we?
Matthew 6:16 “Whenever you fast, do not put on a gloomy face as the hypocrites do, for they neglect their appearance so that they will be noticed by men when they are fasting. Truly I say to you, they have their reward in full.”

It is like what we read in Isaiah:
Isaiah 58:3-5 “Why have we fasted and You do not see? Why have we humbled ourselves and You do not notice?’ Behold, on the day of your fast you find your desire, And drive hard all your workers. “Behold, you fast for contention and strife and to strike with a wicked fist. You do not fast like you do today to make your voice heard on high. “Is it a fast like this which I choose, a day for a man to humble himself? Is it for bowing one’s head like a reed And for spreading out sackcloth and ashes as a bed? Will you call this a fast, even an acceptable day to the LORD?”

What you have is a people stuck in a legalistic rut.
They are convinced that their traditions and their religious ordinances
Somehow make them more pleasing to God.

I mean surely a person who fasts has more favor with God than a person who doesn’t right?

That has been some of the most deadly logic
To ever hit the religious world.

That’s the kind of logic that drove people to go live with the Branch Davidians in Waco.

• Surely people who will give up running water for God are more acceptable than
people who don’t?
• Surely a man who will give up his wife is more acceptable to God than a man
who won’t?

Do you see how far this type of thinking can carry you?

Now granted fasting can be a very good thing.
• Fasting is anytime the spiritual takes precedent over the physical and there are definitely times when fasting is called for.

But fasting as a means of earning God’s favor is NEVER the goal.
And that is where the Pharisees and John’s disciples and even this crowd
Were so far off the mark.

There is no level of religious work that can make a man pleasing to God.

I mean, think about it.
• How many hours of fasting do you think are required to enter heaven?
• What foods do you think should be fasted from in order to enter heaven?

Watch the Catholic world right now participating in Lent,
Or watch many of the other Catholic requirements for penance.

Those are religious traditions
Meant to make a person more acceptable to God.
And all they do is puff a person up to trust in their efforts.

Listen to what Paul wrote to the Galatians.
Galatians 3:1-5 “You foolish Galatians, who has bewitched you, before whose eyes Jesus Christ was publicly portrayed as crucified? This is the only thing I want to find out from you: did you receive the Spirit by the works of the Law, or by hearing with faith? Are you so foolish? Having begun by the Spirit, are you now being perfected by the flesh? Did you suffer so many things in vain — if indeed it was in vain? So then, does He who provides you with the Spirit and works miracles among you, do it by the works of the Law, or by hearing with faith?”

For the Galatians it wasn’t fasting, it was circumcision.
Either of which can be fine in the right setting,
But NOT as a means of making oneself pleasing to God.

That sort of theology is actually demonic.

1 Timothy 4:1-5 “But the Spirit explicitly says that in later times some will fall away from the faith, paying attention to deceitful spirits and doctrines of demons, by means of the hypocrisy of liars seared in their own conscience as with a branding iron, men who forbid marriage and advocate abstaining from foods which God has created to be gratefully shared in by those who believe and know the truth. For everything created by God is good, and nothing is to be rejected if it is received with gratitude; for it is sanctified by means of the word of God and prayer.”

Somebody should have read that passage to David Koresh.

The mentality that says you will be more pleasing to God
If you forbid yourself from having certain things is a demonic doctrine.

Now look, we AREN’T SAYING you should just go about
And drink up the world, obviously not.

A believer should understand the danger in excessive and worldly living.
Even Paul spoke of not eating meat if it caused his brother to stumble.

I’m just pointing out that
Fasting because your spirit is intent on seeking God
Is entirely different than fasting as a means of manipulating God.

That was legalism and it was the very yoke of Judaism
That Jesus came to break.

So why don’t they fast?
• Because that would be dumb and pointless.
• The real question is why are you fasting?

The Accusation, The Answer
#3 THE ANALOGIES
Luke 5:36-39

Here we have three analogies and they all deal with the same criteria.
• We are dealing with something that is “old”
• We are dealing with something that is “new”
• And we are dealing with the idea that “no one” would do these things.

Although the specific symbolism is not defined by Jesus,
The context makes the parable very understandable.

• The “old” represents the legalistic tradition based religion of the Pharisees.
• The “new” represents the gospel of Jesus Christ.

And let’s look at what He says.
(36) “And He was also telling them a parable: “No one tears a piece of cloth from a new garment and puts it on an old garment; otherwise he will both tear the new, and the piece from the new will not match the old.”

Obviously in a natural sense you understand the absurdity.
No one would sew new cloth on an old garment for numerous reasons.
1. Why would you ruin a new garment to fix an old one?
2. Even if you would be willing to do that, it won’t work.

That old cloth is already shrunk, and the new cloth has yet to shrink.
That fix is only going to work temporarily
And then you will have two garments that are useless.

That fits the implied rebuke of Jesus
Who is pointing out how dumb
The legalistic behavior of the Pharisees is.

And in this case Jesus is saying:
IF YOU TRY TO ADD THE GOSPEL TO YOUR LEGALISTIC MINDSET,
IT WON’T FIX YOUR RELIGION AND IT WILL ONLY RUIN THE GOSPEL.

Then comes the second analogy:
(37) “And no one puts new wine into old wineskins; otherwise the new wine will burst the skins and it will be spilled out, and the skins will be ruined.”

There again the point is obvious and absurd.
If you try to add the new (the gospel) to the old (tradition)
You’re going to end up ruining the old and wasting the new.

And it’s the same point.
IF YOU TRY TO CONTAIN THE GOSPEL INSIDE THE LEGALISTIC TRADITIONS YOU’RE GOING TO END UP LOSING THE GOSPEL.

And I hope then you get the point that is being made.

You have two totally opposite religious systems here.
• You have the system of works based righteousness
(through fasting here)
• You have the system of grace based righteousness
(through Christ alone)

If you try to save any part of the old system and just add Jesus to it.
YOU’LL TRASH THEM BOTH.

MORE TRAGICALLY YOU’LL LOSE THE GOSPEL.
The gospel only operates under the premise
That MAN BRINGS NOTHING TO THE TABLE.
• Man has no merit upon which he rests.
• He solely resides upon the work of Christ for salvation.

Even if you love Jesus and believe in Jesus and accept Jesus
But you try to maintain even one small area of legalism,
Then you are not trusting in Jesus alone
And you have lost the gospel completely.

Again, listen to how Paul stated it to the Galatians.
Galatians 5:2-4 “Behold I, Paul, say to you that if you receive circumcision, Christ will be of no benefit to you. And I testify again to every man who receives circumcision, that he is under obligation to keep the whole Law. You have been severed from Christ, you who are seeking to be justified by law; you have fallen from grace.”

Paul was saying there the same thing Jesus is saying here.
You cannot have it both ways.
Legalism and the gospel are absolutely incompatible.
They are oil and water.

If you try to maintain even the slightest thread of legalism you will ruin the gospel and waste it totally.
• It is the equivalent of Christ being of no benefit
• It is the equivalent of falling away from grace

And incidentally, those of you who have been studying with us on Sunday nights about the 5 SOLAS of the Reformation.

This is why we are Protestant (Protest-ant)
• We protest any system that gains it’s authority anywhere other than Scripture.
• We protest any system that maintains that salvation is an earned state.
• We protest any system that maintains that man is justified by any type of work.
• We protest any system that maintains that human achievement is part of salvation.
• We protest any system that allows for man to get any glory for the salvation he enjoys.

That is why we are Protestant.

BUT NOT EVERYONE IS.
(39) “And no one, after drinking old wine wishes for new; for he says, ‘The old is good enough.'”

This DOES NOT MEAN that the old system is good and acceptable
For those who aren’t interested in the gospel.

Jesus is NOT ENDORSING the old system
As an acceptable form of salvation.
He IS LAMENTING that those who are entrenched in the old system
Very rarely are willing to leave it.

People who have grown accustomed to legalism
Have a very difficult time accepting the freedom of the gospel of grace.

WHY? Because they have to admit that everything they’ve worked for their entire life was of no value.

Could you imagine what those Branch Davidians would have to swallow in order to believe the gospel?
• Those men would have to own up to the fact that they moved their family into
that compound and gave up their wife for nothing.
• Those women would have to consent that they raised their babies in that place
for nothing.

And people aren’t easily willing to do that.

That’s why (as we learned last week with Matthew) it is so much easier
To save sinners than it is to save righteous people.

Because people who are accustomed to that old wine
Aren’t willing to just throw it aside for the new.

SO, WHAT’S THE POINT…WHAT DO WE LEARN HERE?

1) We are reaffirming the ministry of Jesus which is to save sinners, not to enforce traditions.
• That is obvious isn’t it?
• Over and over and over, He came to save sinners.

2) We are forced to measure our own doctrine/salvation and ask ourselves: “Why do I think I am acceptable to God?”
• Do I think I am acceptable because of something I have done?
• Do I trust in my own works as that which grants me favor with God?

If I do, I must repent and leave the old wine for the new
Because salvation is found in Christ Alone.

3) What sort of message do I preach to people?

The church has a tremendous reputation for being Pharisaical.
• We love to get people to conform to our standards of righteousness.
• Talk a certain way
• Dress a certain way
• Attend an acceptable amount of times
• Participate in certain ministries

And people who do that, we say, “Now they’re a good Christian”
People who don’t, we murmur, “I don’t know if they’re saved at all”

As if our activities had anything to do with earning our favor before God.

Here is the fact of the matter.

Jesus is brining glorious new garments of His righteousness
And He is offering to us that we might be clothed in His righteousness.

But instead there are many who, instead of wearing Christ’s robe,
Only want to borrow it a minute and cut a patch out of it
To use it to patch up the robe they’ve been making.

• They recognize their need for help from Christ.
• They sure need a patch cut from His robe.
• But they don’t think they need the whole robe.

NO! Jesus didn’t come to patch your robe.
Jesus came to clothe you in His.

Remember the PARABLE OF THE WEDDING BANQUET and the man who though his robe as good enough?

Well that’s what legalism thinks.
They think surely my robe is acceptable.

But listen to Jesus;
Luke 18:9-14 “And He also told this parable to some people who trusted in themselves that they were righteous, and viewed others with contempt: “Two men went up into the temple to pray, one a Pharisee and the other a tax collector. “The Pharisee stood and was praying this to himself: ‘God, I thank You that I am not like other people: swindlers, unjust, adulterers, or even like this tax collector. ‘I fast twice a week; I pay tithes of all that I get.’ “But the tax collector, standing some distance away, was even unwilling to lift up his eyes to heaven, but was beating his breast, saying, ‘God, be merciful to me, the sinner!’ “I tell you, this man went to his house justified rather than the other; for everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, but he who humbles himself will be exalted.”

It’s the same message over and over and over
• You don’t have enough goodness to be acceptable to God.
• I don’t care how much you’ve fasted
• I don’t care how long you’ve prayed
• You garments are not acceptable.

Friend, you have to give up on your own efforts as a means of pleasing God and you have to trust totally in the work of Christ.

• He alone satisfied God’s righteous requirements.
• He alone endured God’s just wrath.
• He alone can clothe you in His salvation.

Trust in Him and enter the celebration.
Quit patching your old garment and trade it in for His.

Christ’s Passive Obedience
1 Peter 2:22-24
February 25, 2018

We are currently in our discussion of SOLUS CHRISTUS
Namely the understanding that our salvation is IN CHRIST ALONE

More specifically what we are trying to understand is that
Our salvation is not about what Christ has done IN us,
But rather what Christ has done FOR us.

We have also simplified this understanding by saying,
“Christ did not come to make me righteous, but to be my righteousness.”

And really as a pinnacle verse here to understand that we have often returned to:
2 Corinthians 5:21 “He made Him who knew no sin to be sin on our behalf, so that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.”

And in that one verse is really contained
All of the depth of what Christ did for us.

I suppose you could say that as we have embarked upon this journey to understand SOLUS CHRISTUS
Our first course of business has really been to answer the question:

WHAT EXACTLY DID CHRIST DO FOR US?

And we have broken that down into two categories.
1) We spoke of His ACTIVE OBEDIENCE

Christ fulfilled the positive requirements which God set forth in His Law.
• These were God’s righteous expectations which we have failed to keep.
• Christ came and kept them for us that He might then impute that righteousness
to us.

And we looked specifically at Hebrews 10
And how instead of giving God sacrifices,
Jesus was given a body in which He lived a perfectly obedient life.

That is really the first thing Jesus did for us.
He lived a perfectly obedient and righteous life.

Tonight we move on to the other thing Jesus did for us.
2) That would be His PASSIVE OBEDIENCE

Not just that Christ actively fulfilled
Our righteous obligations before God.
BUT CHRIST ALSO PASSIVELY ENDURED
OUR RIGHTEOUS PUNISHMENT FROM GOD.

We are talking now about His atoning work.

This concept is far more familiar to most of us than that of His active obedience,
But it is still so rich and so important
That it absolutely bears us examining it again.

For after a life of deliberate and faithful obedience to God
This Christ then offered Himself up in submission
To receive punishment which He did not deserve.

We are talking about His substitutionary atonement.

Now to be sure we have already discussed this some in our study.
If you remember our study of SOLA GRATIA we talked about
The concept of Limited Atonement or Particular Atonement.

We examined His death on the cross and noticed that what was happening there most certainly was NOT POTENTIAL.
• Jesus was actually bearing the wrath of God on the cross.
• We saw the darkness at noon (picturing the day of the Lord wrath)
• We heard Him cry, “My God, My God, why have You forsake Me?”

We know that Jesus was actually bearing the wrath of God on the cross.

The question we want to more definitively answer here is: WHY?
• Why was Jesus bearing the wrath of God on the cross?
• Was it for something He had done?
• Of was there a different reason?

And of course you already know
That central to the Christian faith is the belief that
On the cross Jesus bore the wrath which was due to the elect
For He had no deserved wrath on His own account.

• We believe that He submitted Himself to our punishment.
• We believe that He bore our sin and the wrath that abides on it.
• We believe that He suffered as though He had lived our life.

And that is what we want to examine even more here tonight.

To do so, we are looking at a very popular text in Peter’s first epistle.
To be accurate, it is a text which is really a mere illustration to Peter’s main point.
• Peter’s epistle is about the suffering and how believers should endure it.
• In the immediate context Peter is addressing SUFFERING UNDER UNJUST
PERSECUTION.
• Peter’s request is that instead of rebelling true believers should patiently
endure suffering as Christ did.
• Peter’s point is that as followers of Christ we should passively endure and
obey.

And then Peter gives us the example of Christ’s PASSIVE OBEDIENCE
As the example we should follow.

Tonight, we are just going to look at that example
As Peter gives us the glorious truth of what Christ endured for us.

There are three points we want to make.
#1 CHRIST’S SINLESSNESS
1 Peter 2:22

Here Peter quotes directly from Isaiah 53:9
Isaiah 53:9 “His grave was assigned with wicked men, Yet He was with a rich man in His death, Because He had done no violence, Nor was there any deceit in His mouth.”

And in quoting this text
Peter makes two very definitive statements about Christ.

1) HE COMMITTED NO SIN
“who committed no sin”

This of course refers to the fact that
Jesus never did anything in violation of the Law of God.

This does not so much speak of His fulfillment of the things God requires
(as we spoke of in His ACTIVE OBEDIENCE)
As much as it reveals that Christ never violated anything God forbid.

He never broke one of those “Thou Shalt Nots” we read of.
He never offended God through rebellion or disobedience
Or transgression of any kind.

Now IF YOU WILL REMEMBER, this was one of the main goals of the religious leaders of His day; to prove that He did.

He was constantly being accused of violating God’s Law
And thus making Himself deserving of wrath.

They accused Him several times of violating Sabbath Law.

TURN TO: MATTHEW 12:1-14

There are two incidents in which Jesus was accused of breaking the Sabbath.
• One for His disciples picking grain
• The other much more bold when Jesus specifically healed on the Sabbath

But in both cases the issue was NOT that Jesus broke the Sabbath,
But rather that the religious leaders
Did not understand the Law they claimed He broke.

• The Sabbath Law never forbid deeds of necessity (eating…see David, vs. 3-4)
• The Sabbath Law never forbid deeds of worship (see the priests, vs. 5)
• The Sabbath Law also didn’t apply to God (see Jesus, vs. 6)
• The Sabbath Law also didn’t forbid mercy (see sheep in a ditch, vs. 11)

The issue there
(as in all other times they accused Him of breaking the Sabbath)
Was not His rebellion, but rather their ignorance.

But Sabbath Law wasn’t all they accused Him of breaking.

Other times they accused Him of violating dietary restrictions.
Matthew 15:1-2 “Then some Pharisees and scribes came to Jesus from Jerusalem and said, “Why do Your disciples break the tradition of the elders? For they do not wash their hands when they eat bread.”

Jesus first rebuked them and then responded:
Matthew 15:10-11 “After Jesus called the crowd to Him, He said to them, “Hear and understand. “It is not what enters into the mouth that defiles the man, but what proceeds out of the mouth, this defiles the man.”

The issue there being that they again
Didn’t understand the purpose of the Law.

TURN TO: LUKE 11:37-41

Jesus there revealed that the issue wasn’t His violation of the Law,
But again their misunderstanding of it.

They assumed all of those commands were merely external,
Jesus revealed otherwise.

God wasn’t worried about clean hands or clean stomachs,
God was concerned with clean hearts.
JESUS NEVER VIOLATED THOSE COMMANDS.

The point being that Jesus was not guilty of violating God’s Law…EVER
• He “committed no sin”
• Not once, not ever.

The other point Peter definitively makes is
2) HE NEVER LIED ABOUT WHO HE WAS
“nor was any deceit found in His mouth;”

Trying to prove Jesus violated the Law was only one tactic.

THE OTHER (as we have been seeing in Luke on Sunday mornings) is that
They tried to prove that His power was really from Satan and not God.

They repeatedly accused Him of blasphemy because of what He said,
Thus trying to prove Him to be a liar.

TURN TO: JOHN 5:8-18
• There again they start by being angry because of another one of those Sabbath healings,
• But they end up chasing a different rabbit into the bush.
• They decide instead to try to nail Him as a liar because He called God His Father.

We don’t have time to go through the entire response,
But the basic response of Jesus was this:

(READ 36-39)
• I’m not lying about who I claim to be, My works prove that.
• The only reason you can’t see it is because you are ignorant.
• The Father has clearly testified of Me,
• It’s just that you don’t know the Father and you can’t hear or understand His word.

Jesus didn’t lie about who He was, they just couldn’t comprehend it.

And of course there are other accounts of this same sort of thing:
John 8:48-49 “The Jews answered and said to Him, “Do we not say rightly that You are a Samaritan and have a demon?” Jesus answered, “I do not have a demon; but I honor My Father, and you dishonor Me.”

Or
Matthew 12:24-26 “But when the Pharisees heard this, they said, “This man casts out demons only by Beelzebul the ruler of the demons.” And knowing their thoughts Jesus said to them, “Any kingdom divided against itself is laid waste; and any city or house divided against itself will not stand. “If Satan casts out Satan, he is divided against himself; how then will his kingdom stand?”

Obviously Jesus was not demon possessed.
• Why would Satan drive his own army out?

Jesus was exactly who He said He was,
The Son of God who had authority over evil spirits.

And then of course there were just those BLANKET ACCUSATIONS.
John 18:29-30 “Therefore Pilate went out to them and said, “What accusation do you bring against this Man?” They answered and said to him, “If this Man were not an evildoer, we would not have delivered Him to you.”

Or
John 8:46 “Which one of you convicts Me of sin? If I speak truth, why do you not believe Me?”

Or
John 18:23 “Jesus answered him, “If I have spoken wrongly, testify of the wrong; but if rightly, why do you strike Me?”

Their accusations were totally baseless.
They were never able to provide one single piece of evidence
To prove that He was anything other than who He said He was.

And that is what Peter wants you to know first about Christ.
HE WAS INNOCENT OF ALL WRONG DOING

“who committed on sin, nor was any deceit found in His mouth”

Jesus was exactly who He said He was and He never did anything
To deserve one single drop from the cup of God’s wrath.

He did not deserve the cross.

It was as Peter preached at Pentecost
Acts 2:22-23 “Men of Israel, listen to these words: Jesus the Nazarene, a man attested to you by God with miracles and wonders and signs which God performed through Him in your midst, just as you yourselves know — this Man, delivered over by the predetermined plan and foreknowledge of God, you nailed to a cross by the hands of godless men and put Him to death.”

(You can see why Peter uses Jesus as an example of unjust suffering)

That was Christ’s Sinlessness.
#2 CHRIST’S SUBMISSION
1 Peter 2:23

One thing we know about humanity is that
Very few submit to suffering that they do deserve,
But I don’t really know of anyone
Who willingly submits to suffering that they don’t deserve.

That was one of the things that made His death so peculiar, and so emboldened His enemies.

• The fact that He would submit to this death on the cross without kicking and screaming only served to prove to His enemies that they were right about Him.

Isaiah said it years before:
Isaiah 53:4 “Surely our griefs He Himself bore, And our sorrows He carried; Yet we ourselves esteemed Him stricken, Smitten of God, and afflicted.”

They just thought that He was suffering for His own sin.
But Peter ALREADY reiterated that He didn’t have any sin to suffer for

THIS WAS NOT A MAN WHO SUFFERED JUSTLY.
THIS WAS A MAN WHO SUFFERED WILLINGLY.

“and while being reviled, He did not revile in return; while suffering, He uttered no threats, but kept entrusting Himself to Him who judges righteously;”

Instead of complaining about His predicament…
Instead of threatening those who accused Him…
He “kept entrusting Himself to Him who judges righteously”

That is to say He just kept putting His fate in God’s hands.

Did we not see that over and over and over?

Go to the garden:
Matthew 26:39 “And He went a little beyond them, and fell on His face and prayed, saying, “My Father, if it is possible, let this cup pass from Me; yet not as I will, but as You will.”

See Him when the soldiers arrived:
Matthew 26:51-54 “And behold, one of those who were with Jesus reached and drew out his sword, and struck the slave of the high priest and cut off his ear. Then Jesus said to him, “Put your sword back into its place; for all those who take up the sword shall perish by the sword. “Or do you think that I cannot appeal to My Father, and He will at once put at My disposal more than twelve legions of angels? “How then will the Scriptures be fulfilled, which say that it must happen this way?”

See Him before Pilate
John 19:8-11 “Therefore when Pilate heard this statement, he was even more afraid; and he entered into the Praetorium again and said to Jesus, “Where are You from?” But Jesus gave him no answer. So Pilate said to Him, “You do not speak to me? Do You not know that I have authority to release You, and I have authority to crucify You?” Jesus answered, “You would have no authority over Me, unless it had been given you from above; for this reason he who delivered Me to you has the greater sin.”

See Him on the cross
Luke 23:46 “And Jesus, crying out with a loud voice, said, “Father, INTO YOUR HANDS I COMMIT MY SPIRIT.” Having said this, He breathed His last.”

“but kept entrusting Himself to Him who judges righteously”

He put His life in God’s hands at every turn.
He was submissive.

And as we said at the very beginning of our study a few weeks ago,
This was NOT JUST AN ATTITUDE HE EXHIBITED AT THE END.

His PASSIVE OBEDIENCE is characteristic of His entire life.
• He submitted to the incarnation
• He submitted to the manger
• He submitted to human parents
• He submitted to earthly struggles
• He submitted to human persecution and hatred

His whole life was passive obedience.
Philippians 2:5-8 “Have this attitude in yourselves which was also in Christ Jesus, who, although He existed in the form of God, did not regard equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied Himself, taking the form of a bond-servant, and being made in the likeness of men. Being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross.”

And those aren’t all.
The Psalms give particular interest to Christ’s PASSIVE OBEDIENCE
And His willing submission to the Father.

TURN TO: PSALMS 16
(You’ll recognize this one as the often preached Psalm by the apostles)

• See Jesus in the Garden, ministered to by angels, faithful to the Father (1-4)
• See Jesus looking past the cross to the reward (5-6)
• See Jesus confidence while facing hostility and even death (7-11)

TURN TO: PSALMS 118
Another Psalm of His passive obedience to the Father

• See Him in the Garden (5-7)
• See Him before Pilate (8-9)
• See Him on the cross (10-14)

And we didn’t even look at the famous Psalm 22
Which details His crucifixion.

The point that is being made is simply that
In His suffering it was NOT because He did something wrong.

He was bearing the wrath of God not because He was guilty
But because He was submissive.

So we are already answering that question as to
Why He was bearing God’s wrath on the cross.

We can clearly say that it wasn’t because of something He did.
• He was innocent
• He knew He was innocent
• And He knew that God knew He was innocent and would vindicate Him

So why was He suffering?

#3 CHRIST’S SUBSTITUTION
1 Peter 2:24

What a wonderful and yet gut-wrenching answer.
“and He Himself bore our sins in His body on the cross”

He wasn’t being punished for His sins,
He was being punished for our sins.

Isaiah 53:1-6 “Who has believed our message? And to whom has the arm of the LORD been revealed? For He grew up before Him like a tender shoot, And like a root out of parched ground; He has no stately form or majesty That we should look upon Him, Nor appearance that we should be attracted to Him. He was despised and forsaken of men, A man of sorrows and acquainted with grief; And like one from whom men hide their face He was despised, and we did not esteem Him. Surely our griefs He Himself bore, And our sorrows He carried; Yet we ourselves esteemed Him stricken, Smitten of God, and afflicted. But He was pierced through for our transgressions, He was crushed for our iniquities; The chastening for our well-being fell upon Him, And by His scourging we are healed. All of us like sheep have gone astray, Each of us has turned to his own way; But the LORD has caused the iniquity of us all To fall on Him.”

This is the reality of what was happening on the cross.
He was suffering for the way I have lived my life.

2 Corinthians 5:21 “He made Him who knew no sin to be sin on our behalf, so that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.”

Or listen to Paul when he wrote to the Galatians.
Galatians 3:13 “Christ redeemed us from the curse of the Law, having become a curse for us — for it is written, “CURSED IS EVERYONE WHO HANGS ON A TREE”

When Paul speaks of the “the curse”
He is referring to the penalty for breaking any of God’s righteous commands.

Deuteronomy 28:15-20 “But it shall come about, if you do not obey the LORD your God, to observe to do all His commandments and His statutes with which I charge you today, that all these curses will come upon you and overtake you: “Cursed shall you be in the city, and cursed shall you be in the country. “Cursed shall be your basket and your kneading bowl. “Cursed shall be the offspring of your body and the produce of your ground, the increase of your herd and the young of your flock. “Cursed shall you be when you come in, and cursed shall you be when you go out. “The LORD will send upon you curses, confusion, and rebuke, in all you undertake to do, until you are destroyed and until you perish quickly, on account of the evil of your deeds, because you have forsaken Me.”

That is what Christ was taking on the cross.
He was taking the punishment for God’s elect
Who had failed to keep their end of the bargain.

He took that curse upon Himself.
He willingly and submissively endured that punishment.

That is why when we are talking about SOLUS CHRISTUS and salvation in Christ alone, we are NOT TALKING ABOUT what Christ did IN us.
WE ARE TALKING ABOUT WHAT CHRIST DID FOR US.

So what did Christ do for us?
1) He actively fulfilled our righteous obligation before God.
2) He passively endured our just punishment from God.

We didn’t do that, He did that.
He didn’t just do most of that, He did ALL of that.

• We don’t present any mixture of our own righteous deeds up with His as our offering to God.
• We don’t endure one stroke of punishment as payment for our sin before God.

Jesus paid it all
Jesus achieved both

Romans 8:1 “Therefore there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.”

That is the verse that speaks to the greatest fulfillment of
THE PASSIVE OBEDIENCE OF CHRIST.

If you want to use a word for what Christ’s active obedience means,
That word is FREEDOM (we are freed from the Law)

If you want a word for what Christ’s passive obedience means,
That word is NO CONDEMNTATION. (there is none left)

This is what Christ did FOR us.

And tonight I just think it’s fitting to rest in that before we go any further.
And so we’re going to partake of the LORD’S SUPPER tonight.

I need our deacons to come and pass out both elements tonight.

NOW, LOOK AT THEM FOR A MOMENT.

In one hand you have the bread which represents His body.
Hebrews 10:5 “Therefore, when He comes into the world, He says, “SACRIFICE AND OFFERING YOU HAVE NOT DESIRED, BUT A BODY YOU HAVE PREPARED FOR ME;”

• It was in this body that He fulfilled your righteous obligation.

In the other hand you have the juice which represents His blood (His death)

• It was through this death that He satisfied the wrath you had earned.

He came to this earth and lived a righteous life
And then died a sacrificial death.

We partake in this as an acknowledgement
That what He did, He did for me.

1 Corinthians 11:23-25 “For I received from the Lord that which I also delivered to you, that the Lord Jesus in the night in which He was betrayed took bread; and when He had given thanks, He broke it and said, “This is My body, which is for you; do this in remembrance of Me.” In the same way He took the cup also after supper, saying, “This cup is the new covenant in My blood; do this, as often as you drink it, in remembrance of Me.”

And now let’s just stand and sing.

Eligible For Salvation?
Luke 5:27-32
February 25, 2018

This morning we approach the story of Matthew’s calling.
Matthew of course was one of the 12 disciples,
And even the man who wrote the gospel that bears his name.

And while that story is certainly an important one,
It is actually the debate that broke out after Matthew’s salvation
That leaves the most memorable mark.

It is in response to this debate that Jesus makes that famous statement, (32) “I have not come to call the righteous but sinners to repentance.”

The startling thing that must first be recognized in that statement is that Jesus there revealed not only the type of people He calls to salvation,
But also the TYPE OF PEOPLE HE DOES NOT CALL.

According to Jesus there are people who are eligible for salvation
And there are people who are not.

You might find that reality a little shocking, but it is true.
I know our world likes to tote a Jesus with arms open wide
Who accepts everyone, but that just isn’t true.

• There ARE people that the Lord does not accept.
• There WERE people that the Lord did not accept.

And here in Luke’s gospel
Jesus gets extremely plain as to who those people are.

We are talking then about BEING ELIGIBLE FOR SALVATION.

Have you ever considered that question?
• Am I eligible for salvation?
• Do I meet the requirements?
• Am I one of the ones that the Lord is willing to save?

I can’t think of a more important eligibility based question than that.
Well this morning Jesus answers the question.

Here Luke gives us yet another CLASH between Jesus and the Pharisees.
• This is certainly one of many as they continually try to prove that Jesus did not receive His authority from God.

But it is also another story from Luke about the necessary attitude of salvation.
• Luke brings it out over and over, and this morning we see it again in this familiar story.

Let’s just break it down into 3 main points.
#1 A STRANGE CHOICE
Luke 5:27-28

Now after reading those two verses
There are MORE THAN A FEW PEOPLE in our world
Who SPOT A STRANGE DECISION that was made there.

However, I would also say that most people in our world
Would be wrong about the decision they picked to be the strange one.

MANY WOULD THINK it strange that Matthew would be willing to just get up and leave “everything behind” to follow Jesus.

But that’s not the strange decision.
If you know the truth about Jesus,
That’s about the most obvious decision that could have been made.

The strange decision in these two verses
Is the decision Jesus made to choose Matthew.

“After that He went out and noticed a tax collector named Levi sitting in the tax booth, and said to him, “Follow Me.”

Now because Rebecca loves it so much when we talk about tax collectors, we certainly have to make sure we all UNDERSTAND THE ISSUE.
(But take heart Rebecca, Jesus chooses tax collectors)

Probably easier than telling you about the office of tax collector,
I can read you an excerpt about them from a commentary I read.

The Roman occupation of Israel involved more than just a military presence; the nation was also subject to Roman taxation. The taxes in Galilee, for example, were forwarded by tax collectors to Herod Antipas, and by him to Rome. Antipas sold tax franchises to the highest bidder, and such franchises were lucrative business. Tax collectors had a certain amount that they were required to collect, and whatever they collected beyond that they were permitted to keep (cf. Luke 3:12-13). In addition to the poll tax (on everyone, including slaves), income tax (about 1 percent), and land tax (one tenth of all grain, and one fifth of all wine and fruit), there were taxes on transport of goods, letters, produce, using roads, crossing bridges, and almost anything else the rapacious, greedy minds of the tax collectors could think of. All of them left plenty of room for larceny, extortion, exploitation, and even loan sharking, as tax collectors loaned money at exorbitant interest to those who were unable to pay their taxes. Tax collectors also employed thugs to physically intimidate people into paying, and to beat up those who refused.
All of that was anathema to the Jewish people, who believed God was the only one to whom they should pay taxes. Tax collectors were viewed as traitors to their people, were classified as unclean, and were barred from the synagogues. They were also forbidden to give testimony in a Jewish court, because they were considered to be liars. Repentance was deemed especially difficult for tax collectors.”
(MacArthur, John [The MacArthur New Testament Commentary Series; Luke 1-5; Moody Press, Chicago, IL, 2009] pg. 330)

I think that spells it out.

Even in our day we tend to classify out our sinners.
For Example:
• In west Texas we’re known for the “Good Ol Boy”. This is the type of unredeemed sinner we still tend to love and trust. They are obviously immoral in areas but because they hold the right kind of manners and ethical code we don’t mind being around them.

• But then we have the “thug” kind of sinner. And this is the guy who not only does things we don’t approve of, but they do them with such audacity and vileness that we don’t even want to be around them. They just rub us the wrong way.

In Israel that thug was the tax collector.
The fact that he would have the audacity to extort his own people on behalf of the Roman government was just unforgivable.

The scorn they received is made pretty evident by the fact that they weren’t allowed in SYNAGOGUE nor allowed to TESTIFY at a trial.

Now think of a person you know who is so vile
You don’t want them to come to church
And you wouldn’t trust them to testify under oath
Even if they were the only eye-witness to a crime.

Now you’re beginning to grasp the tax collector’s reputation.

And here we have “Levi sitting in the tax booth”

Now it is true that nothing immoral or dishonest
Is ever listed about Levi’s tax collecting practices.

Luke doesn’t give you all those harsh details,
• But in reality he doesn’t have to.
• The only way Matthew could have even become a tax collector was if he
secured the job by being the highest bidder.

No one made him do it.
He chose to do it, and he paid money to do it.
Furthermore his only income was the “extra” he received.

Luke doesn’t have to tell you what kind of a guy Matthew is,
Because the fact that he is in this position
Tells you everything you need to know.

No one wants Matthew around.
EXCEPT JESUS…

“He said to him, “Follow Me.”

It actually says that He “AFTER THAT He went out and noticed a tax collector named Levi”

• Jesus just healed that paralytic in the crowded room.
• The crowd was overcome with amazement and fear.
• The Pharisees were a little shell-shocked because Jesus had just silenced them in regard to His authority to forgive.

Can you imagine how many of the people in that crowd were now following Jesus as He left that room?

And Luke says, “After that He went out and noticed a tax collector named Levi”

“noticed” is a word that actually means “gazed intently at”

The point being made here is that
After Jesus revealed that He indeed has the authority to forgive,
He walked right out of that house and right up to this tax collector.
This isn’t random, this is intentional.

Jesus just proved He had authority to forgive,
Now He’s about to prove how powerful His forgiveness is.

He’s about to extend it to the vilest person in the area.
He’s about to offer it to the tax collector sitting outside.

Jesus tells Matthew “Follow Me”

It’s one thing to forgive that paralytic,
• For all we know he could have been like the man who was born blind. There were a lot of people who even thought that that man was born blind as a result of his parent’s sin, not his own.

• There would have been plenty of people rooting for that paralytic’s forgiveness, certainly the fact that 4 men would go to such lengths to get him to Jesus reveals how loved he was.

BUT OFFERING FORGIVENESS TO MATTHEW?
This is beyond belief.

Now I do want to make sure everyone understands THE INVITATION here.

• The call of Jesus here is not a call to “go to heaven”
• The call of Jesus here is not a call for “life abundant”
• The call of Jesus here is not a call for “your best life now”

The call of Jesus is a call to follow Him.

And incidentally to follow Him wherever He goes.
Jesus’ road would be Matthew’s road
Jesus’ work would be Matthew’s work
Jesus’ popularity would be Matthew’s popularity
Jesus’ scorn would be Matthew’s scorn
Jesus fate would be Matthew’s fate

And Jesus makes this clear on more than one occasion.

Saying to a would-be follower:
Luke 9:57-58 “As they were going along the road, someone said to Him, “I will follow You wherever You go.” And Jesus said to him, “The foxes have holes and the birds of the air have nests, but the Son of Man has nowhere to lay His head.”

Saying to His disciples:
Matthew 16:24 “Then Jesus said to His disciples, “If anyone wishes to come after Me, he must deny himself, and take up his cross and follow Me.”

Or we read the story of Peter a couple weeks ago
John 21:18-19 “Truly, truly, I say to you, when you were younger, you used to gird yourself and walk wherever you wished; but when you grow old, you will stretch out your hands and someone else will gird you, and bring you where you do not wish to go.” Now this He said, signifying by what kind of death he would glorify God. And when He had spoken this, He said to him, “Follow Me!”

There are many people in our world today that assume
That all Jesus wanted to know from people
Was if they wanted to go to heaven or to hell when they die.

But that wasn’t what He went around asking.

He asked people to totally abandon their own lives and to make His life their priority.
• He asked people to leave their family
• He asked people to leave their occupation
• He asked people to leave their wealth
• He asked people to leave their land
• He asked people to leave their safety
• He asked people to leave their reputation

And He asked those people to then put a cross on their back
And follow Him up the hill for the world to nail them to it.

Please don’t miss that.
The call of Jesus does NOT include the “saved but not committed” option.

When Jesus approached Matthew here, the stakes were clear.
Jesus said, “Follow Me.”

At this point Matthew will either follow or he won’t.
But Matthew DOES NOT HAVE THE OPTION of being a “Private follower”
Who gets to keep his tax booth.

That isn’t an option here.

SO PLEASE UNDERSTAND WHAT JESUS IS ASKING,
Because this is the call of salvation.

Matthew 16:24-26 “Then Jesus said to His disciples, “If anyone wishes to come after Me, he must deny himself, and take up his cross and follow Me. “For whoever wishes to save his life will lose it; but whoever loses his life for My sake will find it.”

Luke 14:25-27 “Now large crowds were going along with Him; and He turned and said to them, “If anyone comes to Me, and does not hate his own father and mother and wife and children and brothers and sisters, yes, and even his own life, he cannot be My disciple. “Whoever does not carry his own cross and come after Me cannot be My disciple.”

I certainly want you to understand that.
Do not assume that you can be a saved follower of Jesus
If you are not following Him.

But THE POINT you really must see is the peculiar decision that:
JESUS CHOSE MATTHEW

OF ALL THE PEOPLE Jesus had at His disposal to call into service and eventually to entrust with His message of salvation,
This tax collector would have been the least obvious candidate.

• This is a man who is already banned from the synagogue.
• This is a man who already has a reputation for not telling the truth.
• This is a man who is already not welcome in a single home in Galilee.

IN OUR DAY modern evangelism says Popular Athletes and Movie Stars
Have the biggest opportunity to impact the kingdom.

But Jesus passed all the athletes and movie stars by
AND ENLISTED THIS GUY.
That is what you call a strange choice.

But it was a choice meant to demonstrate the power of His forgiveness.
He had the authority to forgive even tax collectors.

And since that is the case, all of a sudden
Matthew’s decision doesn’t seem all that strange.

(28) “And he left everything behind, and got up and began to follow Him.”

Can I make an obvious point here?
Matthew just made a decision of which there is no reversal.

We know that Peter, Andrew, James and John all left their nets to follow Jesus
• They did it in Matthew 4.
• They did it again in Luke 5
• They did it again in John 21

Point being that they, at least for a time, always had fishing to fall back on.

When Matthew left this booth, there was no going back.
He had to pay a large sum of money to get that job,
And there would be no getting it back.

WHY WOULD MATTHEW LEAVE ALL OF THAT?
BECAUSE HE GAINED CHRIST!

Remember the parables we have so often talked about?
Matthew 13:44-46 “The kingdom of heaven is like a treasure hidden in the field, which a man found and hid again; and from joy over it he goes and sells all that he has and buys that field. “Again, the kingdom of heaven is like a merchant seeking fine pearls, and upon finding one pearl of great value, he went and sold all that he had and bought it.”

Neither one of those men where honorable men.
• One was digging for treasure in a field he didn’t own, and when he found it,
instead of informing the land owner, he took advantage of the owner’s
ignorance and bought the field for a price less than it was worth.

• The other had only one goal, and that was to make money, for he was a
merchant, and he found a good deal. He knew the pearl was worth more
than the price it was being sold for.

Those were men who were only concerned about getting more.
THE ONLY THING that could have caused them to give up all that they owned
Was if giving up all that they had would allow them to secure even more.

Jesus said the kingdom of heaven is like that.
Matthew is proof.

Matthew left a lucrative tax-collecting business
Because he saw the value of Jesus as greater value.

What is said about Moses in the book of Hebrews could also be said of Matthew here.
Hebrews 11:24-26 “By faith Moses, when he had grown up, refused to be called the son of Pharaoh’s daughter, choosing rather to endure ill-treatment with the people of God than to enjoy the passing pleasures of sin, considering the reproach of Christ greater riches than the treasures of Egypt; for he was looking to the reward.”

Matthew understood value.
• And he recognized more value in forgiveness than in wealth,
• So when Jesus came calling, Matthew followed.
• This filthy tax collector did what a young wealthy synagogue ruler will later refuse to do. (Aka: the rich young ruler)

Matthew’s choice isn’t the strange one…his is obviously a good deal.
The strange choice is that Jesus would choose Matthew.

So right off the bat, WE’RE TALKING ABOUT being eligible for salvation
And we find out that Matthew the tax collector was indeed eligible.

We might not have guessed that by looking at him, but Jesus said He was.

A Strange Choice
#2 A SHOCKING CELEBRATION
Luke 5:29-30

Here again there are some parts of this story that aren’t shocking
And there some parts that are.

It is certainly no shock to us what Matthew does.
“And Levi gave a big reception for Him in his house; and there was a great crowd of tax collectors and other people who were reclining at the table with them.”

THAT IS NOT SURPRISING.
Matthew just received the greatest offer of his life,
Certainly he is going to share what he has found with his friends.
MATTHEW IS CELEBRATING!
Why wouldn’t he?

Remember the man who lost a sheep?
Luke 15:5-6 “When he has found it, he lays it on his shoulders, rejoicing. “And when he comes home, he calls together his friends and his neighbors, saying to them, ‘Rejoice with me, for I have found my sheep which was lost!’”

Remember the woman who lost here coin?
Luke 15:9 “When she has found it, she calls together her friends and neighbors, saying, ‘Rejoice with me, for I have found the coin which I had lost!’”

Remember the father who lost his son?
Luke 15:32 “But we had to celebrate and rejoice, for this brother of yours was dead and has begun to live, and was lost and has been found.'”

That is why Matthew is rejoicing.

And can we also again just point out that
A FRUIT OF TRUE REDEMPTION IS EVANGELISM.
No one who has the light hides it under a bushel.

If you’ve got the light, you shine the light.
That is what Matthew is doing.

Furthermore we just realized that perhaps Matthew wasn’t as unlikely of an evangelist as we first thought.

• Matthew wasn’t welcome in a synagogue, but he didn’t go to the synagogue.
• Matthew wasn’t welcome in court, but he didn’t go to the courthouse.

Matthew was a tax collector and that is who Matthew went for.
And he invited all of these tax collectors to his house.
Luke says he also invited “other people”
Which seems rather nice since Matthew actually called them “sinners” in his gospel. (A title which the Pharisees obviously agree with)

This was no upstanding gathering.

The shocking part is that Jesus attended.
• These men were considered unholy
• These men were considered unclean
• These men were considered defiling
• And yet Jesus is in that house eating with them

(30) “The Pharisees and their scribes began grumbling at His disciples, saying, “Why do you eat and drink with the tax collectors and sinners?”

Well, we obviously see the mentality of the Pharisees.
They had no compassion whatsoever.

In fact, Matthew’s gospel includes a statement that Luke does not:
Matthew 9:13 “But go and learn what this means: ‘I DESIRE COMPASSION, AND NOT SACRIFICE,’ for I did not come to call the righteous, but sinners.”

These Pharisees didn’t care at all about these tax collectors
Or these other people as Luke calls them.

They were useless leaches to society that had no benefit,
And therefore it is a complete and total waste of time
For anyone who seeks to be near God to even associate with them in the least.

And yet here, Jesus is eating with them.

I THINK IT’S IMPORTANT TO ZOOM IN A LITTLE MORE ON THIS.

From my perspective it seems to me that
Christians are all over the place on this concept.

It seems to me that the pendulum often swings to one far side or the other, without very often landing where Jesus walked.

ON ONE HAND we have the crowd of Christians who, like the Pharisees, have no compassion.
• They seem to forget that we were left on this earth for the purpose of reaching even the vilest of sinners.
• They would rather stay in their social circle of Christianity with their Sunday suits and Easter dresses, but never be forced to come in contact with the “unclean” of this world.
• They live in fear of defilement
• They live in fear that their reputation might be harmed
• They live unconcerned about the wrath that abides on the wicked of the world.

That is a social “club like” form of Christianity
That was nothing like the Christianity of Jesus.

• Jesus dwelt among lost people.
• Jesus entered a world full of lost people.
• He walked our filthy earth and rubbed elbows with the most vile among us.

You are going to have a tough time being like Jesus
If you circle never leads across the path of the sinful and the wretched.

Consider what Paul said in that famous passage about church discipline:
1 Corinthians 5:9-10 “I wrote you in my letter not to associate with immoral people; I did not at all mean with the immoral people of this world, or with the covetous and swindlers, or with idolaters, for then you would have to go out of the world.”

And yet there are a great many professing Christians
Whom Jesus saved out of sin,
Who now turn a deaf ear and a blind eye to the people that are still there.

That is obviously not like Christ.

ON THE OTHER HAND We also have a form of Christianity today that has made friendship with sinners the primary and really only goal.

They drip with compassion it’s just that they lack conviction.

They are so concerned with maintaining a friendship with sinners
That they are also content to let the sinners remain sinners
So long as the friendship stays intact.

The first group would not have gone to the party Matthew threw.
The second group would have gladly gone, but they would have only gone to eat and laugh.

That is also not what Jesus did.
• Jesus went, but this wasn’t a social visit.
• Jesus went, but this wasn’t just about making new friends.
• Jesus went, but this wasn’t about learning to identify and meet people where
they are.

In fact, in verse 32 Jesus explains exactly WHY He went to that party,
And that was “to call…sinners to repentance.”

You must understand something about the work of Christ.
He is called the friend of sinners.
But He did not come just to make friends.
He came to reconcile sinners back to God.

He couldn’t do that by avoiding sinners
And He couldn’t do that by just befriending them.

When we lack COMPASSION we fail to be like Christ.
When we lack CONVICTION we also fail to be like Christ.

The Pharisees obviously fell into the first group and that is why they couldn’t believe Jesus would attend that party.
• They are the people who wouldn’t rejoice with the man who found the sheep.
• They are the people who wouldn’t rejoice with the woman who found the coin.
• They are the brother who wouldn’t rejoice with the father who found his son.

They are totally ignorant of God’s redemptive heart.
And so they ask why Jesus would attend this banquet.

A Strange Choice, A Shocking Celebration
#3 A SOBERING CORRECTION
Luke 5:31-32

You just have to marvel at the simple wisdom of Jesus
To answer even the most controversial question.

WHY WOULD YOU GO ASSOCIATE WITH THOSE SINNERS?

And Jesus responds:
“That’s like asking a doctor why he associates with sick people.”

(31) “And Jesus answered and said to them, “It is not those who are well who need a physician, but those who are sick.”

Imagine getting sick and calling your doctor…
• The receptionist answers and says, “How can I help you?”
• And you say, “I don’t feel good, I’d like to make an appointment.”
• And the receptionist responds, “I’m sorry Dr. so&so doesn’t see sick people, call us when you feel better.”

That’s absurd!
Well, then you understand the mission of Jesus.

Luke already revealed to us that Jesus is the One who can:
• Give grace to spiritual beggars
• Give forgiveness to captured criminals
• Give sight to the spiritually blind
• Give rest to the religiously burdened
• Give salvation to sinners

So what good would it do if Jesus refused to associate with blind criminals or with burdened beggars or with tax collectors and sinners?

From Jesus vantage point
The Pharisees just asked a really STUPID QUESTION.
And Jesus makes them look foolish with His answer.

And then He continues:
(32) “I have not come to call the righteous but sinners to repentance.”

This is the spiritual reality behind the analogy He just gave.

Jesus didn’t come for the physically sick.
• He is called the Great Physician, but that has to do with His ministry of healing
men of sin, not His job to stop all physical infirmities.

Jesus came for sinners.
• He came to lead sinners to repentance.

And certainly that should clarify our calling
We are called to do the same.

But there is one more thing that is important to see here.

Had Jesus only said, “It is those who are sick who need a physician, I have come to call sinners to repentance.”

Then we would just understand that Jesus is clarifying His calling.

BUT THAT IS NOT ALL JESUS SAID.
He also threw in there a jab.

He added “It is not those who are well who need a physician…I have not come to call the righteous”

Jesus didn’t just reveal who He came to save,
But He also went out of His way to purposely reveal
Who He DID NOT come to save.

He included not only those who are eligible for salvation,
But He also revealed those who are ineligible for salvation.

According to Jesus who is ineligible for salvation?
“those who are well” or “the righteous”

Now you must UNDERSTAND THE SARCASM that Jesus is using here.
For Jesus knows full well that there is none who is righteous, not even one.

Jesus is revealing that while He is more than willing to save sinners
THERE IS A GROUP THAT HE WILL NOT SAVE
And that is those who don’t think they need it.

It is those who trust in their own righteousness.
We call them the self-righteous.

It is people like those in Nazareth who after Jesus insinuated that they were blind in need of salvation responded by saying, “Physician, heal Yourself!”

It is men like these Pharisees who in John 9 argue with Jesus that they most certainly are not blind.

John 9:40-41 “Those of the Pharisees who were with Him heard these things and said to Him, “We are not blind too, are we?” Jesus said to them, “If you were blind, you would have no sin; but since you say, ‘We see,’ your sin remains.”

People who refuse to see their own sinfulness
And who insist upon their own righteousness as adequate for salvation are ineligible for the salvation of Jesus.

It is only the poor in spirit who are eligible.
• If you come to Jesus in humility He will save you regardless of your sin,
• But if you approach Him in pride you will walk away empty handed.

Jesus just revealed that here.

SO LET’S JUST MAKE SURE WE GET THE POINT
• Jesus came to save repentant sinners regardless of their level of sin.
• Jesus saves those repentant sinners by leading them out of their sin and after Himself.
• His salvation of sinners is not just a promised tolerance of their sin, but rather a repentance of and a deliverance from that sin.

On the other hand
• Jesus refused to save sinners who would not repent.
• Their lack of repentance is EITHER because they loved their sin, OR because they refused to acknowledge that their sin was real.
• Either way, sinners who refuse repentance are ineligible for salvation.

Those people are like a sick man who refuses to go to the doctor,
Insisting that he is fine on his own.

Jesus came “to call…sinners to repentance”
Let that sink in.

• Jesus didn’t come to make you feel loved…
• Jesus didn’t come to just coddle you in your sin…
• Jesus came to reconcile you to God.

He came to lead you to repentance.
• Upon your repentance He came to grant you forgiveness of that sin.
• He then came to pay the penalty your sin has earned.
• And He came to give you His righteousness in return.

But if you won’t acknowledge you are a sinner or you won’t repent,
Then Jesus has nothing for you.
That is when you are rendered an ineligible candidate.

This morning I simply encourage you to leave it behind and run to Jesus.