The Call of Christ
A Sermon on Matthew 9:9
Originally preached Sept. 23, 1956
Scripture
9¶ And as Jesus passed forth from thence, he saw a man, named Matthew, sitting at the receipt of custom: and he saith unto him, Follow me. And he arose, and followed him.
Sermon Description
What does it mean to be called by the Lord Jesus Christ? In this sermon on Matthew 9:9 titled “The Call of Christ,” Dr. Martyn Lloyd-Jones looks to the example of Matthew, a tax collector whom Jesus called one day. Matthew responds to this call by leaving his old sinful life behind and committing himself to Christ. This demonstrates that the call to be a Christian is a call to leave behind the old way of living and to seek Christ Jesus and His kingdom. It is an uncompromising commitment to love God and follow His commandments, not out of self-preservation, but out of a new love for God and neighbor. To be a Christian is to follow Jesus and to obey His commandments. This is done first and foremost by believing in His gospel and the fact that He is the Savior sent from God. How does this apply today? Being a Christian in modern times is fundamentally the same as it has always been because it is about following Christ and believing in His gospel. It is about trusting in Jesus in the midst of suffering and persecution, and pursuing God in all aspects of life. The call to be a Christian is one that all must accept because it is the only way to eternal life.
Sermon Breakdown
- Jesus calls Matthew, a tax collector, to follow him.
- The call of Jesus is a totalitarian call that demands a response and will change your whole life.
- Jesus calls us to follow him in our thinking, willing, and living.
- Jesus' thinking is supernatural, profound yet simple, practical and theoretical. We must become like little children to understand.
- Jesus talks about God, our souls, life, death, eternity, and judgment.
- Jesus calls us to follow him in righteousness, holiness, perfection, and love.
- Following Jesus may lead to persecution, trials, suffering, and death to self.
- Following Jesus leads to God, forgiveness, new life, companionship, and eternal life.
- We must follow Jesus all the way, not just believe in parts of who he is or what he did.
- We should follow Jesus because there is no one else who can help us, he is the Son of God, his character is perfect, he died for us, and he leads to eternal life.
Other Sermons
Dr. Martyn Lloyd-Jones
Dr. Martyn Lloyd-Jones (1899-1981) was a Welsh evangelical minister who preached and taught in the Reformed tradition. His principal ministry was at Westminster Chapel, in central London, from 1939-1968, where he delivered multi-year expositions on books of the bible such as Romans, Ephesians and the Gospel of John. In addition to the MLJ Trust’s collection of 1,600 of these sermons in audio format, most of these great sermon series are available in book form (including a 14 volume collection of the Romans sermons), as are other series such as "Spiritual Depression", "Studies in the Sermon on the Mount" and "Great Biblical Doctrines". He is considered by many evangelical leaders today to be an authority on biblical truth and the sufficiency of Scripture.