What kind of people does God use? Stained glass saints? No. Vile, wretched, rotten sinners, the most despicable people in society who are willing to be forgiven.
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excerpts taken from:
The Master's Men Part 3: Matthew and Thomas
Matthew 10:3b
John MacArthur
Grace to You sermon archive
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Matthew
Matthew is mentioned in every list, always in the same group, but nothing is ever said about Matthew and nothing is ever said by Matthew except one tiny little thing. And look in Matthew 9:9 and that's where you find it. Mark and Luke both allude to the same thing in just the same few words and that is the extent of everything we know about Matthew.
"And as Jesus passed forth from there He saw a man named Matthew sitting at the tax office and He saith unto him, Follow Me. And he arose and followed Him."
And when Matthew puts his name in the list in chapter 10 verse 3 he says: "Matthew the tax collector." And may I hasten to add that no other disciple in the list is ever associated with his job. Why does Matthew say - Matthew the tax collector? I mean, that's not something you're proud of. No. A tax collector was the most hated, despised, despicable human being in the society of Israel. And Matthew is showing us his genuine humility and sense of sinful unworthiness.
"And as Jesus passed forth from there He saw a man named Matthew sitting at the tax office and He saith unto him, Follow Me. And he arose and followed Him."
And when Matthew puts his name in the list in chapter 10 verse 3 he says: "Matthew the tax collector." And may I hasten to add that no other disciple in the list is ever associated with his job. Why does Matthew say - Matthew the tax collector? I mean, that's not something you're proud of. No. A tax collector was the most hated, despised, despicable human being in the society of Israel. And Matthew is showing us his genuine humility and sense of sinful unworthiness.
*What a man. A criminal, an outcast, the most hated of men, he was utterly convinced of his sin and when given an opportunity to believe, he believed and he followed. He became a man of quiet humility who loved the outcasts, who gave no place to the religious establishment, a man of great faith, a man of total and utter surrender to the Lordship of Jesus Christ and a man who knew the Old Testament and a man that God used to write the gospel. One writer calls it "The glorious unconventionality of the Lord Jesus Christ. He chooses the most unlikely people."
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Thomas**
"Eight days after," verse 26 says, "the disciples were inside and Thomas was with them. Jesus came, the doors being shut." I like that. Just rearranged the molecules in His body and came through the wall. And always He says when He does that, "Peace be unto you." It's understandable. It seems a fitting greeting, doesn't it?. .to the chaos that must have occurred.
And then He zeros in on this dear soul that loves Him enough to die with Him and is utterly depressed and shattered. He said to Thomas, "Thomas, reach here your finger, behold My hands, and reach here your hand and thrust it into My side and be not faithless but believing." Did Thomas do that? It doesn't say he did it. It just says immediately, without doing anything, "He answered and said unto Him, My Lord and my God." The greatest single confessional ever made. He affirmed the deity of Jesus Christ. He affirmed the Lordship of Jesus Christ. He affirmed that He was God.
You know, he wanted that so bad. Jesus was back. And Jesus said. "Thomas, because you've seen Me you believe." And you're not alone, the rest of them had the same basis. "Blessed are they that have not seen and yet believed." You know who that is? Everybody who came after that. That's you and me. We've never seen but we believed. "Blessed are they."
Thomas - yes he was melancholy, he was moody, pessimistic, comfortless, shattered, but when he saw the Lord Jesus Christ, "o my, he gave the greatest testimony ever given. And you know what? In that one little statement Thomas gave the speech that literally destroys every lie that has been told about Jesus not being God that has ever been uttered in the history of man. It is a monumental statement - My God, - he said. The isms and chisms and spasms and Yogi's and all the rest that come and deny the deity of Christ are put to silence by Thomas. Learn a lesson. Jesus wants you to be sure. Surety most frequently comes when you hang around other believers. It does not mean that Christ cannot come to you in a solitary place. But more likely does He appear among those who are His own.
Thomas - tradition tells us a lot about him, preached... some say he went as far as India preaching. And one tradition says that he died in a very special way. They took a spear and rammed it through him. Because of his faith in Christ, it would be kind of fitting climax for one who was told to reach forth his hand and feel the spear mark in his own Lord.
What kind of people does God use? Vile sinners like Matthew. Tender-hearted, moody, melancholy pessimists like Thomas. You name it, they're all unique and He can use you too.
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Matthew 10
http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Matthew+10&version=NIV
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Grace to You
http://www.gty.org/
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