From Matthew 9:9-13 – Calling all sinners – It seems virtually baked into all religious thought (uninformed rightly by the Bible) that God saves good people only. It is a pervasive undergirding thought in almost all. And so it is most religion aims at making us acceptable to God by virtue of doing and being good. Living up to some imagined or codified standard somehow mitigates our sin, and weighed in these self-contrived balances, as along as we’ve done more good than not – God is OK with us. And nothing could be further from the Gospel .

In this short passage recording Matthew’s call to follow Christ, and the events immediately following with Jesus reclining with a host of that era’s religious outcasts, the Gospel is seen in its clearest relief against religiosity. Jesus came to call sinners, not those who considered themselves righteous.

Note this first then: If you will not reckon yourself a sinner, sick with that deadly disease and in need of a Savior and that all is lost apart from Him – you cannot be saved. If you know you need mercy because you know your own guilt, you are of all men most blessed – for He delights to show it. But if all you want is relief – you may just get it: But it may be all you get.

And this is what leaves the religious still dead in their trespasses and sins; they will not think of themselves as sinners in need of mercy. And such cannot be saved; because they will not be saved; because they will not admit that only mercy can save them.

Lord help us to know our sin.

Not only does false religion lead people to rely upon their own goodness, it feeds into their self-perception as good. Not as ruined. Not as guilty. Not as lost. Not as undone. Not as acceptable as they are, but as deserving salvation in some way.

Note second: That though He receives sinners, He does not justify them as they are. He does not eat with them as though all is well. By His own words, He clearly announces that they are NOT OK as is. No, they need mercy. They are guilty and need to be rescued from their guilt.

Yes, it is true Christ accepts us as we are. But He never leaves us as we are. Praise God! He has mercy on us. He deals with our sin, but does not leave us to it or justify it in any way. We need mercy. Because we are guilty. And it is only the guilty who can be and are saved.

If you would know salvation, you must know and own your guilt first. And for all who do, and look to Him as the only means to become not-guilty, justified before God, there is rescue. This, is the Gospel. This is the glory of our Christ.