i

August 1 Daily Devotional

I AM NOT COME TO CALL THE RIGHTEOUS BUT THE SINNERS TO REPENTANCE

Henry T. Vriesen

Matthew 9; Luke 5

Matthew, also called Levi, was the son of Alphaeus, who probably lived at Capernaum. He was a publican (tax collector). One day Jesus met him. He saw him sitting at the receipt of custom and said to him, “Follow me.” He arose and followed him. And it came to pass, as Jesus set at meal in the home of Matthew, many publicans and sinners came to sit down with him and his disciples. And when the Pharisees saw this, they said to the disciples, “Why eateth your Master with publicans and sinners? But when Jesus heard that he said unto them, They that be whole need not a physician, but they that are sick. But go ye and learn what that meaneth, I will have mercy, and not sacrifice: for I am not come to call the righteous, but the sinners to repentance.”

Matthew is the author of the first book of the New Testament. He emphasized that, “The scripture hath to be fulfilled.” Again and again he quotes from the Old Testament. The following he quotes from Isaiah, “That it might be fulfilled which was spoken by Esaias the prophet, saying, Behold my servant, whom I have chosen; my beloved, in whom my soul is well pleased: I will put my spirit upon him, and he shall show judgment to the Gentiles. He shall not strive, nor cry; neither shall any man hear his voice in the streets. A bruised reed shall he not break, and smoking flax shall he not quench, till he send forth judgment unto victory. And in his name shall the Gentiles trust.”

And they said unto Jesus, “Why do the disciples of John fast often, and make prayers, and likewise the disciples of the Pharisees; but thine eat and drink? And he said unto them, Can ye make the children of the bridechamber fast, while the bridegroom is with them? But the days will come, when the bridegroom shall be taken away from them, and then shall they fast in those days.”

And he spake also a parable unto them, saying, “No man putteth a piece of a new garment upon an old; if otherwise, then both the new maketh a rent, and the piece that was taken out of the new agreeth not with the old. And no man putteth new wine into old bottles; else the new wine will burst the bottles, and be spilled, and the bottles shall perish. But new wine must be put into new bottles; and both are preserved. No man also having drunk old wine straightway desireth new: for he saith, The old is better.”

And a great multitude of people out of all Judea and Jerusalem, and from the sea coast of Tyre and Sidon, came to hear him, and to be healed of their diseases; and they that were vexed with unclean spirits were also healed. And the whole multitude sought to touch him, for there went virtue out of him, and healed them all.

For further information on this resource, click here.

 

CONTACT US

+1 215 830 0900

Contact Form

Find a Church