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Narrator: God can even use tax collectors. Let's talk about it on Key Life.

Narrator: This is Key Life. We are here to let you know that because of what Jesus has done, God will never be angry at you again. Steve invited our friend Jerry Perries to do the teaching this week. Jerry is a pastor, an author, and has served in ministry for more than 35 years.

Steve Brown: Thank you, Matthew.

Steve Brown: Hey, Jerry.

Jerry Parris: Hey, Dr. Steve, how are you, sir?

Steve Brown: Dr. Jerry is one of the voices of Key Life. And for my sake, he comes in and teaches every few weeks. And you know, I have learned so much from you.

Steve Brown: I am going to have to start giving credit where credit is due.

Jerry Parris: Oh, man, you really.

Steve Brown: And you know, we do not agree on anything politically.

Jerry Parris: No.

Steve Brown: But we love each other. That is a good thing.

Jerry Parris: Absolutely.

Steve Brown: And listen, it is your birthday.

Jerry Parris: Yes. Hey.

Steve Brown: Happy birthday.

Jerry Parris: Thank you very much. I I was walking past the mirror this morning and said, you are getting old.

Steve Brown: I have looked this way since I was 30. I am just now looking the way I really am.

Steve Brown: Old and decrepit.

Jerry Parris: Amen.

Steve Brown: At any rate, we are going to talk about.

Jerry Parris: You are looking good though, you are looking good.

Steve Brown: Yeah. We still getting out of bed is a major accomplishment.

Jerry Parris: Yes, indeed.

Steve Brown: Dr. Perries is going to spend this week introducing us to a friend of his, who wrote one of the gospels, the synoptics, the Gospel of Matthew.

Steve Brown: And you are going to love what you are going to learn this week. Before we do that, let us pray and then we will get down.

Steve Brown: Father, we come into your presence, amazed that we are here. They told us about being religious and getting our act together and reading the Bible and praying and stuff. And we tried, but it was so hard.

Steve Brown: That we turned away and that is when we heard your voice, "Welcome, child. Welcome." And we came running.

Steve Brown: Father, thank you for your grace, your mercy, your love and for your truth. You know everyone who is listening to this broadcast. You know the hard places and the soft places. And we rejoice in the fact that you are a sovereign God over both.

Steve Brown: Father, we give this broadcast to you. We ask that we would see Jesus in Jesus' name. Amen.

Jerry Parris: Amen.

Steve Brown: You are going to introduce us to Matthew.

Jerry Parris: Yes, I am excited about it.

Steve Brown: He is kind of different, is he?

Jerry Parris: He is, he is.

Steve Brown: Listen, let me read, let me read the call of Matthew. This is in Matthew 9:9-13. And once we dive off that diving board of this Scripture, we are going to learn some good things about this man.

Steve Brown: The Scripture says, "And Jesus went from there, and he saw a man named Matthew sitting in the tax collectors' booth. Follow me, he told him. And Matthew got up and followed him. While Jesus was having dinner at Matthew's house, many tax collectors and sinners came and ate with him and his disciples. When the Pharisees saw this, they asked the disciples, 'Why does your teacher eat with tax collectors and sinners?'"

Steve Brown: On hearing this, Jesus said, "It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick. But go and learn what this means. I desire mercy, not sacrifice. For I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners."

Jerry Parris: Wow.

Steve Brown: You know, I almost speak in tongues just for reading that Scripture. That really is a wild passage, is it?

Jerry Parris: That really is a wild passage, because Matthew, is it not amazing that Jesus found people that are busy and are doing something, whether it is wrong or right? He found people that are doing something.

Jerry Parris: And called them to ministry, because he did not use lazy people. He used people that are out there doing it, you know, and they may be wrong as they could be, but he can change their wrong into right, and that is what he did with Matthew.

Jerry Parris: Oh yeah. It is really a great, great story. Matthew is the first book of the New Testament. And Matthew's gospel emphasized Jesus as the promised Messiah and focused on his fulfillment of the Old Testament prophets. Now, that is important, because it is important when you read Matthews to understand how Matthew is writing.

Jerry Parris: I got in trouble for saying this to a pastor, that Jesus preached law. He did not preach grace. He demonstrated grace, but he did not preach grace.

Steve Brown: He was clear on the truth about the law.

Jerry Parris: He was true, clear on the truth about the law. And that Matthew is preaching or Matthew is writing about Jesus fulfilling the law.

Jerry Parris: He is fulfilling the law. And while he is fulfilling the law, if you are not a Bible student, you take some of the things that Matthew wrote as some things that God is asking you to do today. And so you want to be very careful that when you are reading Matthew, that you understand it and put it in his proper context.

Jerry Parris: But here is the thing that I like about this particular story. Matthew starts off in the book chapter one, and he goes through the lineage, the ancestors of Jesus. And as we were talking about this, here is, here is, here is the message I got out of that first chapter is that, and we are going to be talking about, by the way, some of my favorite. There is no way we could take the whole, whole book of Matthew.

Steve Brown: No, I cannot even pronounce half of the names.

Jerry Parris: Yeah, yeah. But but we are going to look at certain key passages of Matthew that that just just jumps out.

Steve Brown: Yeah, yeah.

Jerry Parris: And and and but the lineage of Jesus jumps out for me, because not only did Jesus choose Matthew as a tax collector, as a sinner, and then hang out with sinners, and hang out with people that were not church defied. And the people and the people that had a problem with Jesus was the church folks, was the Pharisees, you know, because he was hanging with people. And Jesus says, "I have come to call the sinners to righteousness, not called those of you, if you are sick, you need a doctor."

Jerry Parris: And so that is the great thing. But when you read the lineage of Jesus, he comes across, he uses some shady people.

Steve Brown: He really does.

Jerry Parris: And and that is good news because if you are in a situation where you know that you have not been the best, you know that you have not been all that God has called you to be. You know that you have messed up. You know that, you know what, can God really use me? The answer to that is yes. Because he can use anyone that will yield their life to him and say, "Father, here I am, use me."

Jerry Parris: And that is what the lineage of Jesus shows you. He used Abraham. Abraham, you know, had a handmaiden and got another woman pregnant.

Steve Brown: I do not know. If I do not know if I included Abraham in this list.

Jerry Parris: No, not at all. Oh, but but here is what, how about Jacob?

Steve Brown: Oh.

Jerry Parris: Jacob. This, this is who Jesus' bloodline is. It is in Matthew's one. Jacob stole his brother's birthright.

Steve Brown: Why would God put that in the Scripture?

Jerry Parris: Right. Right. Why would he?

Steve Brown: Give us heroes that do it right all the time.

Jerry Parris: That is correct. You know, and that, and, and, and then Rahab, you know, a prostitute. And David's grandmother. You know, it is like, Jesus, are you not going to put some people in here that got it straight? That that got it right. You know? And so when we look at all of these people who are are part of Jesus' bloodline, he puts that in there for a reason.

Jerry Parris: To let us know that no matter how bad you have been, you still can be chosen and used by God.

Steve Brown: It is amazing. One time Paul Tournier was a Swiss Christian psychiatrist. And God used, he wrote a book called Guilt and Grace, which is really significant to me.

Steve Brown: But at any rate, one time he was doing question and answer, and he said, somebody asked him, "Dr. Tournier, do you know of people who proclaim the Christian faith but do not live it?" And Tournier smiled and said, "Yes, I do, me."

Steve Brown: So God uses, in fact, God did not have much of a choice. You know, these Pharisees and the church people, it was not that they were better than the tax collectors, it is just they would not admit it.

Jerry Parris: That is correct. Oh, that is so good. That is so good. And you know, one of the one of the people that God really used was King David, who was a murderer, an adulterous. And, and this, this blew me away, Steve.

Jerry Parris: He has a baby with Bathsheba, and then God, of course, takes the baby. But then God allows that David had many wives, that that were legal, that was right. But he turns around and used Bathsheba to bring Solomon.

Jerry Parris: Is not that crazy?

Steve Brown: It really is. You know, I I say to God often, "What are you doing? This does not seem right. This is wrong. You know, have you not read the Scripture?" And God laughs and says, "I use you and I use Jerry too." And that means that I can use anybody.

Jerry Parris: Yes, sir.

Steve Brown: We are going to talk more about this tomorrow. But right now, you think about that. Amen.

Narrator: Thank you, Steve and Jerry. That was Steve Brown and our dear friend, Jerry Perries. All this week, we are taking a sweeping look at the book of Matthew. It is the start of a four-part series that will revisit periodically throughout the end of the year.

Narrator: More tomorrow from Steve and Jerry. Do not miss it.

Narrator: We are in the family, and we cannot be cast away. How many times have your children done things that were not pleasing? You may have been disappointed in their decisions, but you did not throw them away or kick them out of the family.

Narrator: Your heavenly Father will not put you out of the family, no matter what you do. That excerpt is from an article by the aforementioned Cherry Perries. And you can find it in our new digital Summer Magazine. You will also enjoy articles from Steve, Justin Holcomb, and Chad West. Get all of it on demand for free right now at keylife.org/magazines.

Narrator: And before you go, if you have been blessed by the work of Key Life, would you help share that blessing with others through your financial support? Giving is easy, just charge a gift on your credit card or include a gift in your envelope. Or you can simply text Key Life to 28950. That is Key Life, one word or two, it does not matter. Text that to 28950.

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Narrator: Thanks.

Narrator: Key Life is a member of ECFA in the States and Force in Canada, and Key Life is a listener-supported production of Key Life Network.