Home / Posts tagged 'Matthew 9:13'

• Go and Learn What Jesus Desires

  In Faithful, SeriousFaith, Teaching / 26 August 2009 / 0 comments

  Matthew 9:13 But go and learn what this means: ‘I desire mercy and not sacrifice.’ For I did not come to call the righteous, but sinners, to repentance.” (NKJV)Jesus commanded the prideful, religious hypocrites to “go and learn” what this means: “I desire mercy not sacrifice”. For those of us guilty of pride or hypocrisy at times, perhaps we should go and learn this too.First, it helps to put the statement into modern context. We would be more likely to understand if it were stated, “I desire mercy over acts of religion”. But wait! Doesn’t Jesus desire, even command us to do certain “religious” things? At the time Jesus spoke these words, wasn’t it God’s law that the Jews sacrifice (a religious practice of giving [...]

   

• Sinners Only Please

  In Faithful, SeriousFaith, Teaching / 26 August 2009 / 0 comments

  Matthew 9:13 But go and learn what this means: ‘I desire mercy and not sacrifice.’ For I did not come to call the righteous, but sinners, to repentance.” (NKJV)On the surface it seems odd that Jesus wants the sinners instead of the “good” people. Aren’t good people the type who want to follow God and believe in Jesus? Aren’t Christians the “good” people?It is very common to hear today that a person will “go to heaven” because they are good. If you ask most non-Christians they will tell you that God is going to accept them in heaven because they are nice to their friends, help people and don’t do anything extraordinarily wicked. After all, a loving God doesn’t send people to hell and you [...]