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Their anchored goals. Live event on yesterday. Another stellar event. Man so proud and grateful for them. Well, let's go to the word of God. We're in part 10 of a series on Jesus called Goaded. Jesus is the greatest of all time. And we're gonna be looking at Matthew, chapter nine, verse nine. And it reads like this from the new international version. Scriptures are on the screen. It says, as Jesus went on from there, he saw a man named Matthew sitting at the tax collector's booth. Follow me, he told him. And Matthew got up and followed him. And while Jesus was having dinner at Matthew's house, many somebody say, many, many tax collectors and sinners came and ate with him and his disciples. But when the Pharisees saw this, they asked his disciples, why does your teacher eat with tax collectors, Sinners? That's how they said it. On hearing this, Jesus said, is it not the healthy or it is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick? But go and learn what this means, since you know so much. I desire mercy, not sacrifice, for I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners. This ends the reading of God's word. I want to tag this title of this text. I want to talk about Medicine from the Master. Medicine. I'm going to give him a title again. And then I want y'all to clap like we Baptist, because that's a Baptist title right there. I want to tag a title to this text, Medicine from the Master. Several years ago, my wife on Christmas gave me at that time, the most current iteration of a video gaming console. It was the Xbox One. And I was grateful for this gift. God spoke to her and told her to release this gift and sow it into the man of God's ministry. And I wanted to be a good steward of the gift. So I played that game until times got better. Played it in the morning, played it at the noonday, played it at a midnight hour. I played that game. I played Madden on that game. I played 2K on that game. I played Assassin's Creed on that game. I played Call of Duty on that game. I played that game, played it until times got better. And one day I walked into my oldest son's room, and he had that same console. And I noticed he had the controller in his hand. But he wasn't playing a game. He was watching a show. So I looked at him. I say, seth, how you do that? He say, how I do what? How you watching TV with the Xbox controller? He said, I'm watching TV on my Xbox. I say, what? What Are you watching? He said, netflix. I said, on the Xbox. He said, dad, you can do more than play games on the Xbox. You can watch shows on the Xbox. So he took his controller and proceeded to show me how I could go and download an app and watch a show on what I had just been playing games. I had an epiphany at that moment. I realized I had received a free gift that I wasn't fully using. That someone who loved me purchased a gift for me. And I freely received what I wasn't fully using because it took somebody to teach me how to fully use what I already had. And some of you may be wondering how this story is salient to this sermon. And I want you to know that what happened with the game, with me, happens with God with some. And that is there's a gift they freely received. It's a gift called salvation. But many of us have freely received something we're not fully using. There has been the underutilization of salvation because there's been a misunderstanding of what salvation actually is. And many of us are just playing the game when we could be watching the show. That salvation is more than a one way ticket to heaven. Salvation includes a benefit package on earth. I'm gonna say that one more time. And many, many of us, many of us have benefit packages we don't fully use because it is not just a one way ticket to heaven. It's a benefit package on earth. Salvation isn't just one thing. It's one word used to describe many things. Did you hear what I just said? Yeah. When I get salvation, I don't just get salvation. When I get salvation, I get justification. What's justification? It's a legal term. It is a declaration of innocence. Somebody should have said amen right there. It is a divine acquittal. It isn't that you didn't do the crime. It's that God dropped the charges. I was guilty, but though my sins were as scarlet, he washed me whiter than snow. Salvation isn't just salvation. Salvation is regeneration. This is a supernatural rebirth of our spirit. God doesn't just make bad people good. He brings dead people back to life. I've been born again. Salvation isn't just salvation. Salvation is redemption. Redemption means to be bought back. It is when someone reacquires what they previously possessed. It's when one recognize that what has you doesn't own you. It may have you, but it doesn't own you. And redemption means to buy back what always belonged to me. And I don't know about you. But I found myself in some seasons and situations where some things had me that didn't own me. Depression had me, anxiousness had me, people pleasing had me. Am I talking to anybody that's ever been in the hands of a wrong thing? But Jesus paid it all. All to him. I owe. He redeemed me, bought me back. Salvation isn't just salvation. Salvation is sanctification. This is the lifelong process of being transformed into the image of Jesus. Listen to me, family, listen to me. I get saved a moment, but I get shaped over a lifetime. Hallelujah. Did you hear what I just said? So salvation is a singular word that describes a comprehensive gift. And many are experiencing the underutilization of their salvation because they fail to see that God doesn't just give the gift of salvation to make you right. The text teaches he gives the gift of salvation to also make you well. And if I'm settling for being right and not taking advantage of the opportunity to be well, I'm just playing the game when I could be watching the show. This text exposes us to this reality. This text allows us to peek in from a peripheral on an experience that Jesus has with a man named Matthew. This book of the Bible is called the Gospel According to Matthew. It is the good news about Jesus life and ministry from the perspective of a person that walks with him. And this particular text introduces us to how Matthew gets introduced to Jesus. I hope you're ready for this. It says, as Jesus went on from there, he saw a man named Matthew sitting at the tax collector's booth. And Jesus walked over to him in the middle of his work, looked at him and said, follow me. The man is on the clock. The man is handling his business. The man is at work. And Jesus walks over to him and says, follow me. If you want to be used, you must be willing to be interrupted. Hallelujah. Am I talking to anybody that can look back over your life and say if I experienced some divine interruptions? You were sitting at your own metaphor, local tax booth, and God said, I want you to stop doing that and start doing this. Here's what Matthew teaches us. What you willing to leave determines where you able to go. What you're willing to leave determines where you're able to go. Because after Jesus said, follow me, the text says, matthew got up and followed him. I'm gonna say that one more time. Matthew got up, followed him. Matthew got up and followed him. If you're gonna follow him, you got to get up. He got up and followed him. He didn't Just leave that tax booth. He left everything that came with it. He left on a follow me. And Jesus didn't even tell him where we were going. That's the kind of trust I want to have in this season. I want to be able to go on a follow me. I don't even know where we going, but if I'm going with you, I want to go watch what's happening. So he's having dinner at Matthew's house. Do you see it? Am I in the book? He's having dinner at Matthew's house. So something happened in the text we can't ignore. Text says Matthew gets up and follows him. But at some point he follows Matthew to his house. Matthew gets up and follows him, but at some point he follows Matthew to his house. Matthew gets up and follows him. But then at some point he follows Matthew to his house. Matthew got up and sought him first because he followed him first. Eventually Jesus followed him to his house. Matthew sought the king first, and then eventually the king entered, ended up at his house. And maybe you're processing what I'm saying because you're wondering whether or not you want him to show up at your house. But I believe I got some people in the room, some people that are watching online. I'm going see if I got some old school churchgoers here. Your testimony is, come by here, my Lord, come by here. Somebody needs you, come by here. And when he's there having dinner, the Pharisees saw this and they asked his disciples, why does your teacher eat with tax collectors? Now, I don't have an issue with the question. I have an issue with the spirit behind it. And I won't unpack this because I took too long and the other three services unpacking this. But if I had time to unpack it, I would explain to you who the Pharisees were. Because sometimes the issue with the question isn't what's asked, it's who's asking. They're not asking because they're curious. They're asking because they have this contentious relationship with Jesus and they're always trying to discredit his ministry. And so they're not asking out of curiosity, they're asking out a cynicism. They're actually making an accusation. They aren't saying, why is Jesus eating with tax collectors? They're saying, why is Jesus eating with tax collectors? Now here's my question. Why are you asking the disciples and not asking Jesus? Because they all at the same table. So if you close enough to ask the disciples, then you close enough to ask Jesus, don't ask them about me, ask me. Let me go to this side over here. You asking them? Ask me. I'm right here. You asking about me when you can be asking me. But you're trying to sow seeds of discord, and you're trying to discredit me in the eyes of those that are connected to me. And if I had time, I would. If I had time, I would show you in the Bible where if their allegiance to you can be swayed by the opinions of others, they were never assigned to you. I got Bible. Wait a minute. I got Bible media. I need you to give me. See, some of your issue is we gotta stop settling for these convenient commitments. Mm. Yep. Mm. Give me First John, chapter two, verse 19. Yep. If their opinion. If their allegiance to you can be swayed by other people's opinion about you, they were never assigned to you. I got Bible, first John, chapter two. Look at verse 19. Here's what it says. I want y'all to put this on the screen because they don't believe me. They went out from us, but they did not really belong to us. For if they had belonged to us, they would have remained with us. But the going showed that none of them belonged to us. Y'all missed it. And some of us have to get to a season where you start believing what people's behavior is showing you. I don't hear anybody talking to me in this room. You are not in a season where you have to. Where you have the luxury and the time to have to keep proving yourself to people who should be partnering with you. At this point, y'all aren't talking to me. Even Jesus got to a point in his spiritual journey with his disciples where he had to check that relationship. Who do men say that I am? And then he asks, who do you say that I am? Because we've got to a point in our journey that we can't go forward. If you're not clear on who you walking with, I want to know, who do you say that I am? In spite of who they say I am, Your experience with me should have more influence than their opinion of me. I want to know, who do you say I am? So they ask. They say, why does he eat with the sinners? And I love Jesus. This is third way. And most people not ready for third way. I get that. Because here he don't act like he didn't hear what he heard. They didn't ask him. They asked the disciples. But the text says, am I in the book, verse 12. On hearing this, Jesus said, so you just want me to sit here and act like I don't know? Let's talk about it. Let me go to this side. I feel my realness right over here today. All this dancing around, tiptoeing around the tulip. What you got to say? Let's talk about it. What we doing? We grown. We got kids. We got bills. We got responsibilities. This is not elementary school, and we are not at recess. Stop playing games. What's up? What we doing? On hearing this, Jesus said, it's not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick. I want you to see how he flips their framework. He's talking to the Pharisees. Now. This is this. This religious sect of Judaism that had strict adherence to the written law of Moses, which I have no issue with, but they also had equal adherence to the oral tradition of the law and to what was the commentary of on the law. So you have what was written in their version of the Bible. Then you had what people said that was passed down from generation to generation. Then you had commentary on what was written that was passed down from generation to generation. And the Pharisees treated all three of these things as equal. Does that make sense? Does that make sense? So they treated their commentary, which would be their interpretation of the law of Moses, with the same weight as the law of Moses. Did y'all catch that? They treated their interpretation of the Bible with the same weight as the Bible. They confused their interpretation of the word with the word Jesus Christ dangerous. And they belittled, they bullied, and they judged anyone who didn't do it the way they did it. And I'm going to tell you something. Jesus loved this group of people, but he didn't like their ways. You do know Jesus can love people and not like the ways he held his harshest criticisms for this group. So when you look at who Jesus was, the most direct with, the harshest with, it was not first way, it was second way. It wasn't culture, it was church. It wasn't the world. He said they doing what they do. They all the way them. They never said they was inside. They said we outside. So the world is worlding. They wrong, but they consistent. They wrong, but at least they got integrity about where they actually are. He says, y'all on the other hand, watch this now watch this. He says in Matthew 23, he says this. He says, woe to you teachers of the law, you Pharisees, you hypocrites. This how he feels about Pharisee. He says, woe to you, Woe to you, teach of the law. He said, you teaching, but woe to you. You a hypocrite. This word doesn't mean imperfect. The Greek word for hypocrite is the same word they use to describe theatrics, people who wore a mask, fake. It is a portrayal of something that you're not. Hypocrite is not imperfection. Everybody's imperfect. You become a hypocrite when you act like you're not. Oh, my, they're wearing a mask. He says, you Pharisee. You hypocrite. He says, you shut the door of the kingdom of heaven in people's faces. When they don't do it like you, you shut the door. You yourself don't enter, nor will you let those who enter. Let those enter who are trying to. Then he says again, woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees. Then he tells them again, you hypocrites. He's like, I didn't stutter. He stands 10 toes down. He said, I said what I said. And I'm not saying it to shame you. I'm saying it to help you see you that I don't see you the way you see yourself. He says, what are you, teachers of the law of Pharisees? You travel over land and sea to win a single convert. And when you have succeeded, you make them twice as much a son of hell as you are. He said, you say, you making disciples, but what kind am I making? Sense. So, Jesus. See, here's what we got to be careful and conscious of. Lord, please help me not to carry the spirit of a Pharisee. Because I want you to do more than love me. I want you to like me. I know you love me. I want you to like me. See, this word here represents people who carry certain traits like. So when we say the spirit of a Pharisee, we mean someone who carries the trait of legalism. It's adherence to the law, to the letter of the law, not the spirit of the law. Ritualism. There's an emphasis on religious routines and ceremonies without genuine heart engagement. So they care whether or not you're wearing white gloves with communion than whether or not you got a right heart. Yes, separatism. This is the practice of isolating from those who are deemed less holy. Is salt that want to live in the salt shaker. Judgmentalism, the tendency to condemn others based on external standards. And then there's elitism, the belief in one's religious superiority over others. The Pharisees saw themselves as spiritually elite. And it's an illogical elitism. Because if you look in the text at verse 13, here's what you'll see. You'll see that the Bible says that. He says, go and learn what this means. I desire mercy, not sacrifice. He's saying, since you. He says you don't even know what you think you know. When he says I desire mercy, not sacrifice. He's closing. He's quoting Hosea 6, 6. He's saying, you don't even know this the way you think you know this. And he's like, you're not exegetically astute enough to be this arrogant. He said, if you're gonna be arrogant, at least be good. Let me go this. So now that you know who these people are, how you think they ask that question? How do you think they said, why does your teacher eat with text? How do you think they asked that question? And watch out, Jesus. Real messy, right? Watch how Jesus flips it. He says, is it not the healthy who need a doctor? Then he says, but the sick. For I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners. So I want you to see he positions himself as a doctor and frames salvation healing. He connects. Watch this righteousness to wellness. It's like he's saying, included in your benefit package of salvation is healing. Pastor, where's healing? I don't have time to unpack it. It's in sanctification, because informing you into Christ, he has to form you out of your crisis. God Almighty. You can't get. Are you hearing me? In some areas, you can't get right until you get well. As a matter of fact, the word salvation comes from a Greek word, soteria. There's a stream of thought in systematic theology called soteriology, which is the study of salvation. And this word soteria has some linguistic and etymological connection to the same word we use in the English language called salve. And salve used to be used as a healing ointment. Salvation included in salvation is healing. Salvation doesn't just break you free from sin, it heals what sin broken you. And if I'm just being broken free from sin, but not allowing Jesus to heal what sin broken me, I'm playing the game when I could be watching the show so good. When I break God's law, the law breaks me. When I go against the grain, I get splinters. Gosh. Some of you have seen products, right? You bought a product and then there's been an instruction manual with it that instruction manual will tell you what not to do with it. It'll say, don't wash this in hot water or something. Does that make sense? Don't put the iPhone in the microwave. I don't know. Right here it is. That is manufacturer's instruction to protect the longevity of the creation. So when you ignore manufacturer's instruction, you are bringing injury to the creation. So when God says, don't do this, don't do that, it is the equivalent of a manufacturer saying, don't wash this in hot water. Am I making sense? So when we break God's law, God's law breaks us. And where does that brokenness show up? It shows up in a part of you called your soul. What is your soul? In the Greek, it's psyche suche. It comes from this idea of psychology. Mind, will, emotions, imaginations, and affections. So when you see soul in the Bible, it's used interchangeably, sometimes with spirit. But generally speaking, when you see the word soul in the Bible, it's referring to your mind, your will, your emotions, your imaginations, and your affections. Now, we're going to talk about this scripture in a couple weeks, but now let's think through what Jesus said when he said, what does it profit a man to gain the whole world and to lose his mind, his will, his emotions, his imagination, and his affection? I got the bag, but I lost my mind, I lost my will. I messed up emotionally, and my affections are attached to the wrong thing. I got affections attached to what you can decide to take from me. So this brokenness in the soul is what I would call soul wounds. And what are soul wounds? They are injuries to our innermost being that occur as a result of negligent acts of omission and harmful acts of commission done to us or by us. I want you to see the first one. Negligent acts of omission. It means that there are some things that have wounded my soul. Not because somebody did something wrong, but because somebody didn't do enough of what was right. Did you hear what I just said? So there are some holes in my soul, not because somebody talked down to me, but because nobody ever talked up to me. Acts of omission, negligence by others. And watch this. There's some holes in my souls not because others were negligent in managing me, but but also because I was negligent in managing me. Negligent in setting boundaries. Left a hole in my soul. Making investment before I did Discernment. Investing your time, your emotions. Come on here. Right Investment before investigation. When the Bible says no man should build a tower without counting the cost, what is this decision going to cost me? What is this relationship going to cost me? And is it going to make me emotionally and spiritually bankrupt? Acts of commission, omission and harmful acts of commission done to us or by us? Commission. This is what people did to us. Betrayal, lying, exploitation, manipulation. Leave a hole in your soul. Now, here's the issue. Soul wounds are one of the most difficult wounds to identify because it doesn't show up always feeling like pain. So you don't even know you hurt because you're not hurting. Watch this. Soul wounds don't always get in the way. You winning? Get in the way of you winning because you can be winning and still wounded. Have you ever seen somebody who's super prosperous and super petty? It's like how you. Both of them, they winning, but they still wounded. It's like how you got all of this and you still unhappy. Why you competing with me? I'm not competing with you. I'm not even. Come on. It's whole. So it doesn't show up in pain always. It shows up in personality traits. And what happens is you can have the trait so long, you can attach your identity to it and you can start saying things like, this is just how I am. And it's not that. That part isn't true. What the. The question is, what made you who you are? Was it the potter or was it your pain? It shows up in personality traits, and it shows up in patterns of behavior cycles that we can't stop. So you go to the altar, lord, I mean it this time. And what nobody taught you is you probably did mean it. You just didn't know that the badness was tied to brokenness. And until you fix the brokenness, you can't stop the badness. We done, Tara? We're done. We done. We done. We're done. We're done. We done. When we are not taught this, we either ignore soul wounds or we try to address soul wounds the wrong way. And there are three ways to do anything. Culture's way, way of the world, church's way, the way of religion, king's way, the way of the rabbi, the third way. And when it comes to healing soul wounds, culture's got a way. Culture's way acknowledges pain, but pursues earthly solutions that numb rather than spiritual solutions that heal. It focuses on symptoms, not the source, offering relief without restoration. It settles for distractions instead of pursuing deliverance. It creates new problems by trying to solve Old problems the wrong way. So it uses workaholism, rebound relationships. You know, you don't like them like that. Illicit acts of intimacy, they got a good smile, they got. They got a good smile. It's funny, but it's true. Workaholism people throw themselves into work rebound relationships. People throw themselves into relationships that don't meet their standard. But it's a distraction. It's not somebody you love, it's somebody you feel safe with. Illicit acts of intimacy, substance abuse, nights out on the town, and achievement become attempts to self medicate pain that only the great physician has a prescription for. So after you stayed out all night, after you tried to drink the sorrows away, after you tried to find the answers in relationships, you still got to look yourself in the mirror and the hole in the soul is still there. Then there's the church's way, which unconsciously conflates modifying behavior with mending the soul. It often emphasizes legalism, making people believe that outward righteousness can override inward brokenness. And as a result, many people suffer in silence, feeling the weight of guilt and shame as if their wounds are proof of weak faith rather than an opportunity for God's power. Those struggling are told just pray about it or have more faith. Offering spiritual bypassing instead of biblical soul care. It is a reflection of what God corrected through Jeremiah when he said in Jeremiah 6:14, they dressed the wounds of my people as though it were not serious. Peace, peace, they say when there is no peace. Peace, peace. Church colloquialisms, religious rhetoric. How you doing? I'm blessed. When sometimes the real answer is how you doing? Mad, broken, confused, hurt, tired, disappointed. You're hiding what needs to be healed. He only consumes the sacrifice you put on the altar. He turns mourning into dancing, not fake happiness into dancing. Peace. Peace. When there is no peace, then there's the king's way. It confronts pain with truth, not avoidance. It doesn't treat symptoms, it heals the source. It doesn't always remove the pain, but it gives it purpose. It turns the mourning into dancing, the ashes into beauty, the despair into praise. What was meant for evil is turned for good. It feels the pain, but forgives the perpetrator. See? Second wake wants to forgive after you're healed. Third way forgives to be healed, fully embraces Jesus as the one who not only deals with my badness, but the one who deals with my brokenness. And if I'm chasing after being right and not chasing after being well, I'm playing the game when I could be watching the show and God wants you to watch the show. When Apostle John is writing his epistle in third John, he greets those he is writing to with this greeting. Beloved, I wish above all that you prosper and be in health. Watch this. Even as your soul prospers, God wants to prosper my soul, but I've got to deal with my soul wounds. And if you'll come back next week, we'll use the word of God to show you how. As we close the day, remember this. Your wounds may shape your past, but they don't dictate your future. What will determine your tomorrow isn't what happened yesterday. It's the patterns you established today. Salvation comprehensively isn't just about forgiving your sins. It's about healing your soul. Jesus didn't come just to make you right. He came to make you whole. The question is it can God heal you? The question is, are you ready for healing? I don't want to just play the game. I want to watch the show. I don't want to just act happy. I don't want to just act content. I want to be content. Because Godliness with contentment is great gain. There's a hole in my soul. And Dr. Jesus wants to make you whole. Father, today would. Would you give us eyes to see? Give us a heart that's ready to receive the healing of the soul that you want to bring to your people in Jesus name. Amen. Clap your hands 130.