Being a Witness for Christ with Compassion — Zac Poonen

Matthew 9: Jesus Calls Sinners and Eats with Them

I'd like to begin with a word in Matthew's gospel in chapter 9. Can you hear me all right? Okay. Here we read about the call of Matthew. Matthew 9 verse 9. Jesus went from there and called Matthew, who was sitting in a tax collector's booth, and he said to him, follow me.

And he got up and followed him. Verse 10. It happened that as Jesus was reclining at the table in the house, behold, many tax collectors and sinners came who were dining with Jesus and his disciples. The tax collectors were the biggest financial crooks in Israel.

And Matthew was one of them. But he got converted and decided to follow Jesus. And this feast mentioned in verse 10, if you turn to Luke 5, you read there, the same incident is given with a little more detail.

Verse 27 onwards, Jesus called Levi, who was Matthew, and he left everything behind. And immediately imagine, while he was writing his accounts, he was so gripped by the call of Jesus, he must have heard Jesus somewhere earlier.

He just dropped everything and followed him. He didn't even complete the day's work. And this Matthew verse 29 gave a big reception, verse Luke 5, 29, in his house. And there was a great crowd of tax collectors and other people.

See, these are people whom Matthew was gripped by the truth and he wanted to invite all his friends, all his fellow tax collectors. And there were a lot of other people who were just maybe a lot of immoral women who these tax collectors were fooling around with.

And they were all at the table. And Matthew had a great burden that these people should hear the gospel that he had. I've seen very few people like this. There are some who, you know, are saved from a life of sin and shame and they are immediately gripped to reach out to the same message to all the others who are their colleagues and friends.

So that's exactly what Matthew was doing. And these others were there to criticize them. They didn't have the same burden which Matthew had. Why did Matthew invite all these sinners? Because he knew what a sinner he was and he was converted.

And the Pharisees looked at this. Turn back to Matthew 9. The Pharisees saw this and they said to his disciples, why is your teacher eating with tax collectors and sinners? They were concerned about that.

And then Jesus heard this. He immediately rose up to the defense of Matthew. It's amazing to see how the Lord stands up for his children. I mean, Jesus knew why Matthew had invited all these people. Because he wanted them to be changed by the same gospel that had changed him.

And Jesus came to earth for sinners. But people who have no burden to reach the lost feel happy only if they're in a meeting where everybody's a believer or they're all decent, upright people. But it's amazing how Jesus was so often with people who are despised and sinners because he wanted to reach them.

I find a lot of believers there, when they get converted, they seem to lose their burden to reach the lost. I mean, there are a few, very, very few who continue to have that burden. I believe that every Christian should have a burden to reach those who are unconverted.

Just like Matthew had. As soon as he was converted, he immediately thought, let me have a big feast here for all my unconverted colleagues. Let me invite Jesus to speak to them. I very rarely found people who have that burden.

For example, if Matthew had told all those people, listen, we're going to have a meeting, all your tax collectors and sinners come, nobody would have come. But he arranged a feast. Everybody loves to go to a feast.

And at the feast, he gets Jesus to speak to them. What a wonderful way to reach the lost. As I said, very, very, very few believers I've met who have that type of burden to even arrange a feast to reach the lost.

And then the Pharisees are like some believers who are lost. Why are you having meetings with these people? Why are you inviting these people? Why don't you have a feast for all the believers? But Jesus defended Matthew.

Matthew's decision was right. And we, if you are in the same spirit of Christ, we will see the same thing. Jesus said, all those healthy people whom you invite to a feast, they don't need a doctor. It's not the healthy people who go to a hospital.

It's the sick people, verse 12, who need a doctor. And there are many, many sick people around us. They need a doctor. And as we have opportunity, we should seek to witness to them, invite them to our meetings.

You think of when was the last time you invited an unbeliever to a Christian meeting? I think of some of the children I know back home in our Bangalore church who invite some of their schoolmates to come for a meeting.

And I know two families that are very active members in CFC today in Bangalore who the initial contact was to one of the schoolchildren who passed it on to a friend who was from an unconverted family.

So you see how the burden that Matthew had as soon as he was converted, he's the same night, he's converted in the morning, the same night, he has a great feast. And he says, this gospel has changed me.

I must pass it on to others. You know, it's like a person who discovered a cure for some terrible sickness he had. And some doctor of some medicine, the doctor prescribed, and he knows others who have the same sickness.

And he wants those people to meet this doctor. I mean, we would do that if it was a physical sickness. I wonder if we feel that way about the spiritual state we were in, from which the Lord saved us to have that burden.

Witnesses for Christ Through the Holy Spirit

Now, I know there are some people who are gifted to be evangelists. Not everybody is an evangelist. It says in Ephesians 4 that some are called to be evangelists. I don't deny that. And naturally, those evangelists will have a much greater burden to reach the lost.

And I'm not talking about full-time evangelists. We believe that every Christian must be a full-time witness for Christ. But in Ephesians 4 and verse 11, it speaks of the five main gifts in the church.

Apostles, prophets, evangelists, pastors or shepherds, and teachers. And when it comes to apostles and prophets and teachers, everybody recognizes we can't be that. The same with evangelists. Not everybody can be an evangelist.

It's a unique gift. But Jesus said that we are all to be witnesses. There's a difference between being a witness, sharing what the Lord has done, and being an evangelist. And there's only one thing that prevents us from being witnesses, and I want to be very frank.

I'll tell you what it is. We're not filled with the Holy Spirit. Acts chapter 1 verse 8 says, let me read to you, Acts 1 -8. You will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you. And not you should be.

I mean, if it says you should be, that would be like an exhortation. It's like telling people you should be witnesses for me in different places. But that's not what he says. You shall be means it'll be automatic.

When the Spirit comes upon you, you'll be impelled or propelled to go out and be a witness. And it won't be just in your own little circle of Jerusalem. It'll spread from there. It'll start in Jerusalem, like Matthew started with his own little group of immediate friends who were tax collectors, all his fellow sinners.

He started there. But then it'll spread in concentric circles to Judea and Samaria and the outermost parts of the earth. So that's a burden that everyone in this church must have. If you recognize that you are a rotten sinner whom Jesus picked up from the gutter and brought salvation to, and then you know there are a lot of people around you who are in that same gutter.

Now, I realize we need to have a lot of wisdom. The Holy Spirit gives us wisdom. We're not to make ourselves offensive in the way we present the gospel. But there must be a burden. And let's start with the burden.

To me, every ministry comes out of a burden. I see a burden like a mother carrying a baby in her womb. I remember when I first got converted way back in 1959, I hadn't even read through the Bible once.

It was one of the first things I did was to read through the whole Bible. I was just 19 and a half. And in six months, I read through the whole Bible. As I said, I want to complete the Bible. I'm a Christian now.

To tell you honestly, I find lots of Christians who haven't read through the Bible even once. I would ask all of you listening to me today, ask yourself one question. How long have you been converted?

More than one year? And you haven't read through the Bible once? Two years? And you still not read through the Bible once? I would suggest that you go before the Lord and confess your sin. It is a sin.

That you have despised his word. There's one letter that God wrote from heaven for man. Supposing you were a faithful wife and your husband is far away. And he sends you one letter. And you just read one page or something and toss it there.

You have no time to read it. It's too long a letter. But the husband took such a lot of trouble to write that letter to you. Wouldn't you read through every sentence of it? Even if there were things you didn't understand.

I did not understand 90 of what I read. Except the stories. But I read through the whole thing. To me that was an expression of my valuing the fact that God Almighty decided to give me his word in my own language.

And I respect that and I value it. And therefore I'm going to read it. Even if I don't understand it. I'm going to read through the whole thing. And then after that I read slowly, slowly, slowly and understood more and more and more and more.

So what it says here is when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, you will be my witnesses. Not you should be. Please remember this. What I'm telling you now is you should be witnesses. That's not what the Lord says.

The Lord says when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, you will be propelled. It's something like you light a match to a jar of oil or petrol or something. You don't have to tell that. Now you've got to burn.

You don't have to tell that oil to burn. It's just automatic. You light that oil, it burns like anything. You light that gas stove, immediately it burns. There's no need of exhortation. That's exactly to me.

That's how I see the Holy Spirit coming like a fire and just puts a burden. So that's what happened to me. I remember those days. It's such a burden to share this wonderful gospel that it saved me way back in 1959.

Then I began to fill my pocket with tracts. I didn't always do it wisely. But when I got an opportunity, I'd have something with me to give to someone. Say, would you like to read this? Things are a little different now.

We had to be wise in giving because a lot of people, Christianity has brought so much offense. And many people are not interested and they'll think you're just being a nuisance by trying to convert them.

But I'm thinking now not of just going around giving tracts to everybody you meet in a bus or on the road or anything. No, I'm not talking about that. I'm talking about the people you know really well.

Matthew didn't go out and call everybody from the streets, come to my house. No. But his fellow tax collectors, they were not interested in the gospel. But he had a burden for those he was working with who were his colleagues who he knew very well for many years perhaps.

So think of people whom you know very well for many years. Let's start with that circle and say, Lord, please fill me with the Holy Spirit in such a way that I can be a witness to them, not in an offensive way.

I felt this very strongly when I was working in the Navy, whether I was on a ship or a base, naval base. I said, Lord, I'm not going to go around everywhere preaching. No, I couldn't do that. In fact, in the military, you can't go around doing it.

But I said, I must try and make it obvious to everyone that I'm a different type of Christian than the average Christian they have met. How you do that is up to you. But one of the ways we can do is to pray to the Lord to give an opening.

It's one of the things I do. Lord, you see, even where I'm living right now, I say, Lord, give me an opening with somebody here. Give me an opening. I'm available. I'm sitting in a plane sometimes. I don't preach to the person sitting next to me automatically.

He may just get offended and want to turn away. But I say, Lord, if you give me an opening, I'll witness. Give me some opening with anybody, anywhere, my place of work or somewhere. I want to be. I'm available.

I want the Holy Spirit to always push me to be a witness. That's what I see in Pharisee's burden. But there will be people to criticize. And who are the people who are criticizing Matthew here in Matthew chapter 9?

Those who have no burden for the lost. So you can be sure that when you try to witness to somebody and maybe you make a mistake, they'll criticize you. See, we told you that you shouldn't do it like that.

And what do they themselves do? Nothing. It's better to do something and make a mistake rather than sit back and just find fault with others who are trying to be a witness for Christ. So I want to encourage you, brothers.

I'm not trying to say you should be witnesses. That's not what I say. All I say is seek God for a genuine baptism in the Holy Spirit and fire. Then you won't need any exhortation from anybody. That promise will be fulfilled.

The Holy Spirit will come upon you. And whether you like it or not, you will be witnesses for me. First in your immediate circle, Jerusalem, then Judea, then Samaria, and then finally to the outermost parts of the earth.

Maybe God perhaps wanted to widen the circle of some of you much wider than what it is right now to be his witnesses. But you did not allow the Holy Spirit to make you a witness in the small circle that you're in.

And therefore it doesn't never expand. Imagine going through years and years and years and years and years, and God never expands the circle of your witness when it could be so much more. You say, well, I'm not an apostle or a prophet.

No, you're not even an evangelist. Fine. But what about being a witness? That is for every single Christian. You shall be my witnesses. Go into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature. That's a command given to us just as much as the command which says don't lust after women or the command which says don't get angry.

Husbands, live in an understanding way with your wife. Yeah, that's a command. You shall be my witnesses to the outermost parts of the earth. It's God's will. It's a promise that, see, we don't seek for the power of the Holy Spirit unless we have a sense of need.

Need is the way by which God propels us to seek God, seek him for something. It's just like you go to a doctor only if you know you're sick. If you're sick and you don't know it, you won't go to the doctor.

If you're ignorant of your sickness, you may be terribly sick, but you don't go to the doctor until you're aware of it. And I wonder if you're aware that the lack of a burden to be a witness for Christ is a defect.

It's a sin. I see it like that. And I'm not judging anybody. I want to judge myself. I say, Lord, make me more fervent to be a witness for you, not in an offensive way. It's like when Jesus said that your light so shine before men.

Light doesn't make a lot of noise, but you can go into a room and you know immediately whether there's light or not. And if someone is working with you in an office or your relatives who frequently associate with you, they must see clearly that you are a different type of Christian than the average Christian they have met.

That's very, very important. And it's a good thing for every one of you, my dear brothers and sisters, to ask yourself, your immediate circle first. Remember Jerusalem first. You shall be witnesses to me in Jerusalem.

In the immediate circle of people who know you, your family members and your office goers whom you've been with for a long time. Do they know that I'm a little different from all the others? Do they know that I'm the type of person who will not laugh at their dirty jokes and that I'm a little clean and upright?

And not only clean and upright, which is a little easier to be, but considerate about others in the office who may be in need. Very often the Lord reminds me of Joseph in the prison. The way he got out of that prison, you know the story.

Compassionate Concern in Everyday Relationships

It started by an act of being considerate towards two discouraged prisoners sitting there. Joseph saw two discouraged prisoners, Pharaoh's baker and cupbearer, sitting there and sitting maybe with their head in their hands discouraged.

Now Joseph himself had enough problems. He had been in the prison for so long and he'd been falsely accused and his parents were far away and his family members were far away. He could have sat down and worried about his own problems, but he was concerned about these other guys.

And he goes up to them and says, why are you looking so sad? That one sentence was what opened the door for him to get out of prison. You read that story. If he had not said that, he'd have been in prison continuously.

One sentence out of a concern, a burden. These guys are looking so sad. Let me go and ask them why. You know the story. They told him what happened. They had some dreams that discouraged them. And so he explained the dream to them.

And that's how later on when Pharaoh's cupbearer went before Pharaoh, he could tell Pharaoh, hey, I know somebody who can interpret your dream. And that was what opened the door for Joseph to go into Pharaoh's palace and become the second ruler in Egypt.

So it's that concern that I see there, which made him a witness and then a witness further in a much wider circle in Egypt to others. So that's what I see here in Matthew. It's a great example. As soon as he was converted, he wanted to call his colleagues.

You see something similar also in John's gospel. In John's gospel, you read about, you know, John preaching to his disciples. And it says here in John chapter 1 and verse 35, John was standing with two of his disciples.

And he looked at Jesus and said, there's the Lamb of God. The two disciples heard John speak and followed Jesus. And they went with Jesus and they spent the day with him. And one of the two, verse 40, was Andrew.

He first went to his own brother. He said, my brother's got to hear this. And he said, we found the Messiah. And, you know, if you read the other places where Peter was fishing and all, he was not immediately responsive, as I understand, to what Andrew said.

Probably a bit questioning, is it really so? But he came along and he turned out to be the greatest apostle of all. So think of what would have gone wrong, what would have been missed there if Andrew had not done that.

He went and told Simon, he didn't go to preach to the world. He said, my brother, he's next to me. I know we are good friends. Let me tell him. And then the same way. When you read about another disciple was John 143.

The next day he promised to go and he found Philip. And Jesus said to him, follow me. And Philip, it says in verse 45, he said, hey, I've got a friend called Nathaniel. Nathaniel is a bit skeptical of all these people who claim that they have found the Messiah.

He said, we found him whom the prophets spoke of. And then he said, no, no, no, no, it can't be. So Philip said, no, don't just say that. Come and see. And he got converted immediately. As soon as he brought him to Jesus.

So we find something about these early disciples. They immediately said, hey, I found something in the Lord. I've got to pass this on to others. I know we have all found something in Christ. Do you feel that it is such a tremendous value that we got of healing from some incurable sickness?

And around us are people who have got that same incurable sickness. Do we have a burden for them? That's the question. So coming back to Matthew chapter nine. We saw the same thing that Andrew did, the same thing that Philip did.

And as a result, some others became, Nathaniel became a disciple of Jesus. That's how the early apostles were, not just that Jesus went and called them. Jesus called one and that chap would go and call another.

And that chap would go and call another. That's how these, those first 12 were not all direct contacts of Jesus, as you can see here. So when Matthew did this, you see the Pharisees criticizing this and saying, hey, why?

We are all holy people. Why does your holy leader sit with tax collectors and sinners? And look into Jesus. Look at Jesus reply in Matthew chapter nine and verse 12. That's the other thing we need to bear in mind.

One is that God wants to empower us by the Holy Spirit so that we become his witnesses to others in the circle we are in. Not in an offensive way, but to our immediate circle. All these folks, whether it's Matthew calling his immediate circle, Andrew calling his immediate brother, Philip calling his immediate friend Nathaniel.

It's that the ones who are closest to us are family members. Let's have a burden to share with them, even if it means some reproach comes on you. There is a reproach. I know I have suffered a lot of reproach by seeking to be a witness for Christ to family members.

So what? I mean, I continue to love them and act in a humble way towards them and help them. And they gradually have come to respect me, even if they don't turn. I'm hoping that they will turn before they die and leave the earth.

But I don't want to be responsible for having failed the Lord when he saved me of not doing my part of being a witness to those whom the Lord wants to reach through me. You heard me once mentioned in one meeting.

Oh, there's a young brother in one of our village churches who doesn't speak a word of English. He doesn't know English, but he's never learned. Now you may have learned a little bit being attending a lot of my meetings.

But he wants to remember him testifying in a meeting, which I'll never forget. He quoted John at the end. It was a testimony meeting at the end of the conference where he said, John 316 says, God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son.

Whoever believes in him should not perish, but have everlasting life. That is for the whole world of millions of people. But he said, in my case, I have a small world. A small world around me, he said, of my immediate relatives and colleagues.

Place of work, etc. And that's the world into which God has sent me his beloved son. He's referring to himself. God has sent me God's beloved son into this small world of very, very few people. The circle of people I know.

And God so loved all those people. God so loved that little world in which I'm in. He loves that little world also of the people who know me. And that's why he sent me his son into that little world so that some might come to everlasting life.

And God sent his son into the world, Jesus into the world. And how many people have come to everlasting life? Not even 10%. 90 are lost. We know that. So it doesn't matter if 90 of the people you are in touch with are lost.

But at least there will be a 10%. There'll be a remnant. It's always a remnant that reaches out. And sometimes you'll be surprised to see people whom you least expect to turn to the Lord. And just because your light shone there, they got drawn to the Lord.

And maybe on their deathbed, they will turn remembering that they knew one man who knew the Lord. If you're really a wholehearted Christian, really sincerely, not seeking to be preached in an offensive way.

I don't believe that. But living in such an upright way and sharing when you get opportunity. Or, by the way, by your light, first of all. And then I believe this, that a true Christian, one who's truly following the Lord, they will never forget you.

They will remember you all their life. I remember once I met a naval officer who was an admiral, a colleague of mine, 40 years earlier. And he came up to me at a retired naval officer's meeting and said, Zach, I can never forget you.

They remembered that I was different from the average person. I wouldn't drink along with them. I wouldn't be dancing there with all the others. That I was different. And that's all. I mean, I didn't go around preaching.

But people knew what I stood for. If I had a table in some office, if I worked in that, we all use a Bible that I keep there so that people know that I'm a Christian. In some way, I don't. I can't preach.

But nobody can stop me from keeping a Bible there. And in Indian, many Indian offices, they permit you to have a calendar on the wall. I would put a calendar with the Bible verse on the wall. In some way, without causing offense, to just make it known that Jesus Christ is my Lord.

I'm not the usual run-of-the-mill Christian. I'm a little different. And there will always be people who criticize. There are Pharisees. All these 2 ,000 years, there have been Pharisees who find fault with you.

Just shut your ears to what they're saying. Then Jesus said, it's those who are healthy, who are sick, who need a physician. And listen to these words. Very, very important words. Matthew 9, 13, that he speaks to those who are legalistically minded like the Pharisees.

Phariseeism, Doctrine, and the Danger of Legalism

Let's think of that also. Because there can be a tendency towards Phariseeism in all of us. See, the Pharisees, I read a little bit about how they started. I think it was around maybe 200, 300 years before Christ's time.

Sometime after the time of Malachi. Between Malachi and Christ, there are about 300 years. And during that period, you know, you read Malachi chapter 1, and you see Israel had drifted away tremendously.

And at that time, there were a group of sincere people who wanted to restore the truth. And, you know, just like we in CFC have come out of dead churches and tried to stand up for the truth in all of you in RLCF.

So this group of Pharisees came out trying to stand for the Lord and started out very well. Like all good movements, God-fearing people start out very well. And then over a period of time, like in every movement, decline comes in.

They still hold to these doctrines. The doctrines the Pharisees held 300 years later in the time of Jesus was the same as the doctrines there the founders 300 years earlier in Malachi's time held. But the life was very different.

Those people who first started were because they wanted to have a concern that God's people are drifting away. We want to stand up for the truth, just like CFC or RLCF is standing today. But over a period of time, decline came in and there was a doctrine that was more important to them and not the life.

That's what happens in every movement, whether it's Methodist, Baptist, Pentecostal, Brethren, anything, the doctrine becomes important. And they evaluate people by the doctrine and not by life. And that's why very often such people, one mark of such people is they despise people in other Christian groups.

They say there can't be any Christians in other groups except in ours. That's a mark of a Pharisee. I've come to see some very good Christians in other churches who are much better than some CFC Christians.

I just face up to it. They love the Lord. They seem to be witnesses for Christ. So the Pharisees became like that. The doctrine was right. Look at the two certificates that Jesus gave to the Pharisees in Matthew 23.

Matthew 23, by the way, is probably the one chapter. It reminds me of Isaiah chapter 5. In Isaiah chapter 5, when you get time, you can look at it. Isaiah said, woe unto this group, and woe unto this group, and woe unto this group, and woe unto this type of sinner, that type of sinner, the other type of sinner.

Isaiah chapter 5 is full of that. And Matthew 23 is also like that. Jesus said, woe unto you for this, woe unto you because you do this, woe unto you because you're like this, woe unto you because you're like the Pharisees.

But in the midst of all the condemnation of the Pharisees, where he finally said that you will not, Matthew 23, 33, you will not escape the damnation of hell. In the midst of all that, he pointed out two good things about the Pharisees.

That's one thing about Jesus. Even among the worst people, he could find something good. And sometimes you can be so prejudiced against some group that you never find anything good in them. See, for example, the Roman Catholics.

You may find there's nothing good, and there are some good things in them. Sometimes many of them stand more for the truth of the Bible than many so-called Protestants. Yeah. And they have a strong stand against many things that some Protestants don't have a strong stand against.

So Matthew 23. Number one. Jesus approved of the letter of their doctrine. The letter which they thought, according to the letter of the law, they were right. See Matthew 23. He told his disciples. Verse three.

Matthew 23. Everything that they tell you to do, do. Do you think Jesus would say that about the Roman Catholics today? No. Everything they tell you to do, do. Definitely not. He will not approve praying to Mary or praying for the dead.

Would he say that about the Jehovah's Witnesses? Would he say that about the Methodists who practice infant baptism? Everything that they tell you to do, do. Yeah, he's saying 100 of their teaching is correct.

How many Christian groups do you think today Jesus could give that certificate to? 100 of their teaching is correct. That's the certificate he gave to the Pharisees. Now you may say in RLCF, 100 of the teaching is correct.

Good. But you could still be a Pharisee. Because the same certificate Jesus gave to the Pharisees. And one more, one more thing. Second certificate. Matthew 23 and verse 25. You clean the outside of the cup and the dish, but the inside is full of self-indulgence.

So in a cup there are two parts, outside and inside. That speaks of outer life and inner life. And he says your inner life is full of corruption. Corrupt. It's like a full of dead man's bones, he says in verse 27.

But what about the outer life? Good. You clean the outside of the cup. What a certificate to get from Jesus. Your doctrines are all 100 right. Your external life is absolutely upright. There are many Christians, even their external life is not upright.

They cheat. They tell lies. Forget about their thought, life, attitude, motives, and all that you can't see. That's the inside of the cup. The outside of the cup. They speak graciously when they are with others.

The outside of the cup is clean. And we can be like the Pharisees. The doctrine, 100 right. External life, 100 right. And yet a thorough Pharisee. I wonder if all of you dear brothers and sisters who have chosen to be with RLCF because of its values, because of the doctrines it preaches.

Do you feel possibly that you could be a Pharisee? Do you ever think like that? That with all my correct doctrines and a very good external life that others appreciate. After all, remember, all the people in your church can only see your external life.

They don't know what your thoughts are like. Even your wife doesn't know. They don't know what your inner attitudes are towards people. They don't even know the motives with which you do some good things.

What do they see? They see your doctrine. Praise God. Here's a church that has the right doctrine. And they look at your life and say, what a good life. But it may be only on the outside. I'm pointing that out to say that in the best of churches, there can be Pharisees who don't even realize they're Pharisees.

So if you see the danger that you and I face of being a Pharisee, then you'll be alert to it. The greatest danger is the one you're not aware of. Or you think, no, no, no, I'm not dangerous. Supposing someone were to say to you, brother, sister, do you consider the possibility that you could be a Pharisee?

Would you turn around and say, no, no, no, no, I'm not a Pharisee. I'm a humble follower of Jesus. Really? Yeah. And here's one mark of the Pharisees. Let's get back to Matthew 9. Jesus told the Pharisees, go and learn this lesson.

What is that lesson? I want you to have compassion. Not all these sacrifices you make. Now, sacrifice is good. The Lord calls us to sacrifice. And we follow the Lord. We have to sacrifice. But the Lord says, more than all that, I want you to have compassion because I did not come to call the righteous people but sinners.