I Have not Come to Call the Righteous but Sinners

In this part of the sermon: Martin introduces Luke 5:27-32, where Jesus declares His mission: 'I am not come to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance.' He emphasizes that this is Jesus's own clear…

Martin imagines pastors conducting a religious poll at malls, asking shoppers if Jesus lived and what His mission was. This illustrates the widespread belief in Jesus's existence but profound confusion about His purpose, setting up the need for Jesus's clear mission statement.

To repentance. Now this morning I want you to imagine with me that several months ago an announcement was made in this assembly on a given Lord's Day, morning and evening. And the announcement was this, that your pastors would like to conduct a religious poll at some of the area malls. And to that end they would like 100 volunteers to invest one evening of a designation, a designated week, in order to take that poll.

1:36 - 2:11 Read in full sermon

In this part of the sermon: Martin sets the historical context of Jesus's call to Levi, highlighting Jesus's preceding miracles and authority. He then details Jesus's 'regal grace' in going forth, beholding…

Martin explains why tax collectors like Levi were despised by Jews: their association with pagan Rome and their reputation for dishonesty. This highlights the depth of Jesus's grace in calling Levi.

Levi would know immediately from the stories he had heard, the reports he had heard, that Jesus was an ordinary Palestinian Jew reared in Nazareth. A young rabbi about whom everyone was speaking. And Levi would have known that Jesus knew very well how the average Jew regarded Jesus. A tax collector.

21:57 - 22:26 Read in full sermon

In this part of the sermon: Martin describes the Pharisees' and scribes' indignant murmuring against Jesus's disciples for eating and drinking with tax collectors and sinners. Their disapproval highlights…

He describes the Pharisees as ultra-conservative, separated ones who constantly sought to find fault with Jesus, either as a renegade Jew or a disruptive Roman citizen. This illustrates their legalistic and critical spirit.

Well, they weren't invited to the feast. They wouldn't go near this scoundrel. He was unclean because he was a tax collector hobnobbing with the Roman government and with Roman officials. So these Pharisees and their scribes, they were the ultra-conservative separated ones in Israel who, when we read the Gospel records, were always going around squinty-eyed and with their hands cupped behind their ears trying to find something Jesus would do or see something that He did that they could twist.

34:15 - 34:47 Read in full sermon

In this part of the sermon: Martin describes the Pharisees' and scribes' indignant murmuring against Jesus's disciples for eating and drinking with tax collectors and sinners. Their disapproval highlights…

Martin uses the image of Pharisees peeking through windows at Levi's feast to vividly portray their judgmental and gossiping nature, observing Jesus's interaction with sinners.

Something that He would say they could twist and either present Him as one who was indifferent to the law of Moses or someone who was violating the law of Rome. They were always trying to nail Him. Either as a renegade Jew or as a disruptive Roman citizen or a disruptor of Roman rule and government. And so these Pharisees, maybe they were looking in the windows.

34:47 - 35:14 Read in full sermon

In this part of the sermon: Martin describes the Pharisees' and scribes' indignant murmuring against Jesus's disciples for eating and drinking with tax collectors and sinners. Their disapproval highlights…

He explains that eating and drinking together in Eastern culture signified an unwritten covenant of friendship. This clarifies why the Pharisees were so offended by Jesus's fellowship with sinners.

And you know what that meant to eat and drink in that eastern setting? That meant you were making an unwritten covenant of friendship. To invite someone to your table is to invite them into an unwritten covenant of friendship. That's why Jesus can say in Revelation 3.20, if any man hear my voice, I will come in and do what? I will sup, I will eat with him and he with me. Why do you, and then in the parallel passage, in Matthew, it was not just the disciples, it was their master. He said, why does your master eat and drink with publicans and sinners?

36:08 - 36:50 Read in full sermon

In this part of the sermon: Jesus directly answers the Pharisees' criticism with a common observation: 'They that are in health have no need of a doctor, but they that are sick.' He then makes a glorious…

Martin uses the humorous example of wanting a doctor as a golf buddy, not for medical help, to illustrate that healthy people don't need a doctor in his professional capacity, reinforcing Jesus's point about the sick needing a physician.

Yeah, that's right. Very obvious. Healthy people don't need doctors. Now, if the doctor may be your friend, you want to go play golf with him.

39:22 - 39:28 Read in full sermon

The point: Recognize that the first step to heaven is acknowledging you are on your way to hell.

Martin quotes an 'old writer' who said, 'the first step to heaven is to come to the knowledge that you're on your way to hell.' This stark statement underscores the necessity of self-awareness of sin for salvation.

Only those who know and feel themselves to be the sinners they are will ever be saved by Jesus. One old writer said it this way, the first step to heaven is to come to the knowledge that you're on your way to hell. The first step to heaven is to come to the knowledge that you're on your way. I see some of you with a look on your face to say, I'll never admit that.

50:15 - 50:51 Read in full sermon

The point: Do not delay in coming to Christ, regardless of your past sins or resistance, because He welcomes all sinners.

He retells the story of the prodigal son, emphasizing the father's running to embrace his son before the son even speaks. This illustrates God's eager welcome of repentant sinners, contrasting with the self-righteous elder brother (Pharisees).

He says, you don't understand God. God is like that father in this story. The son gathers his inheritance. He goes out in the far country, blows it, defies all that was noble and upright in his father's training and his father's desires. When you read the passage, it's moving. As soon as the son come over the brow of the lane that leads to the house, and it doesn't say that the son opened his mouth and began to, hey, dad, will you take me back? It says the father ran to him, and the father put his arms around him, and the father kissed him. Then and only then does the son speak. Jesus said, th...

60:00 - 61:02 Read in full sermon

The point: If you feel your spiritual sickness, apply to Christ for relief without delay, for He is the physician you require.

Martin quotes Bishop Ryle, who states that feeling spiritual sickness and applying to Christ for relief is the beginning of real Christianity, reinforcing the sermon's central theme.

words of the old bishop of Liverpool, Bishop Ryle, commenting on this passage. Have we ever felt our spiritual sickness and applied to Him for relief? We're never right in the sight of God until we do. We know nothing right in religion. If we think the sense of sin should keep us back from Christ, to feel our sins and know our sickness is the beginning of real Christianity. To be sensible of our corruption and abhor our own transgressions is the first symptom of spiritual health. Happy indeed are those who have found out their soul's diseases. Let them know that Christ is the very physician th...

65:17 - 66:05 Read in full sermon