The Call of Levi

Introduction and Prayer for Understanding

0:02 This sermon was preached on Sunday morning, May 20th, 1984, at the Trinity Baptist Church in Montville, New Jersey.

0:14 Now may I encourage you to turn in your own Bibles to the second chapter of Mark's Gospel, the Gospel according to Mark, and follow as I read this second major incident recorded in the second chapter of Mark's Gospel, the incident which begins at verse 13 and concludes as a unit of narrative with verse 17. Mark chapter 2, beginning with verse 13. Speaking of our Lord, Mark writes, And he went forth again by the seaside, and all the multitude resorted unto him, and he taught them. And as he passed by, he said, And he saw Levi, the son of Alphaeus, sitting at the place of Toll, and saith unto him, Follow me. And he arose and followed him. And it came to pass that he was sitting at meat in his house, or reclining to eat in the house of Matthew, and many publicans and sinners sat down with Jesus and his disciples, for there were many, and they followed him.

1:33 And the scribes of the Pharisees, when they saw that he was eating with the sinners and publicans, said unto his disciples, How is it that he eats and drinks with publicans and sinners? And when Jesus heard it, he saith unto them, They that are whole have no need of a doctor, but they that are sick. I came not to call the righteous, but sinners. And now let us once again, seek the help of God as we attempt to understand and feel the weight of this portion of the word upon our consciences.

2:14 Let us pray.

2:20 Our Father, it is indeed with great thankfulness that we come again to your holy word. How we thank you that it is a lamp unto our feet and a light to our pathway. And as we have already pleaded in the singing of this portion of the 119th Psalm, that you would give us understanding in your precepts that we might know and do your will. So we again now plead with one heart and soul, O God, open our eyes, that we may behold wondrous things out of your law, that we may not carelessly and with our minds running off in a hundred directions, merely occupy time. Amen. With your word opened and your word explained. But may every mind and heart, from the youngest to the oldest, from the most, the one with the least amount of knowledge, to the most knowledgeable amongst us, O God, bring us with one heart and soul to undivided attention to this portion of your truth.

3:33 Come by your spirit and instruct us, we plead, through Jesus Christ, our Lord. Amen.

The Special Significance of Mark 2:13-17

3:42 Now, since the Bible tells us that all Scripture is given by inspiration of God and is profitable, all Scripture should be prized by the people of God. However, especially prized and cherished should be those portions of the word of God in which our Lord himself declares in simple, unambiguous terms, some dimension of the glory of his person or the essence of his work and of his mission. Now, one such passage of Scripture is the one that has been read in your hearing this morning. This paragraph, beginning with verse 13 and concluding with verse 17, or possibly two paragraphs, is one of those in which the Lord, the Lord himself is recorded as telling us precisely why he came. For it concludes with his words, I came not to call the righteous, but sinners. And if we add the witness of Luke, I came to call sinners to repentance.

5:05 And so this passage does indeed contain one of those statements that ought to be especially prized by all the people of God. By all who are concerned to know why it is that Jesus Christ appeared in time upon this earth. But he did not speak those words in a vacuum. They were spoken in a very distinct context and setting, a setting which is described by Mark through the inspiration of the Holy Spirit.

Understanding the Publicans and Pharisees

5:41 And by way of introduction, let me briefly, describe the two groups who are prominent in this portion of the Word of God read in your hearing. First of all, there is this group called the publicans, or tax collectors. One of them was Levi, or Matthew, who is introduced to us in verse 14. He is introduced as one who is sitting upon his toll booth, or his place of collection, collecting taxes.

6:16 And then later on in the passage you will notice that it says that many publicans, or tax collectors, were there in the feast that was held in Matthew's house. And then the complaint of the scribes and the Pharisees focused upon this fact that he was eating with sinners and publicans. So if we are to understand the passage, we must have some feel for the precise, identity of a publican, or a tax collector at that time in Israel. Now as we attempt to grasp the significance of the presence of these people called publicans, or tax collectors, we must remember that Palestine at the time of our Lord was under Roman rule. And the two great constant reminders of Roman rule, were, number one, the presence of Roman soldiers, and the presence of tax collectors, or publicans, who collected taxes, or tolls, on behalf of Rome. And perhaps the best thing I can do in giving you a distillation of precisely how they function, is simply to read, first of all, a more lengthy statement from Alexander's commentary on the Gospel of Mark,

7:44 and then a very succinct statement from the Zondervan Pictorial Bible Dictionary. Commenting on this passage, Alexander writes, While our Lord claimed an authority above that of any prophet, he consorted with the most notorious violators of the law, who were excluded by all strict Jews from their social and their church communion. These publicans were excluded, from the privilege of attending the synagogue, and they were excluded from even common social intercourse such as you would have when you have a group of people in your home for a meal. Our Lord did so even with publicans whose very name was a proverbial expression for the lack of character and standing in society. This excommunication of a whole class or profession arose from the specific political condition of the Jews at this time. The Romans, to whom they had been virtually subject since the occupation of Jerusalem, and particularly since the coronation of Herod as King of the Jews by order of the Senate, with their usual wise policy, allowed them in most things to govern themselves. They were under Roman rule, but there was an element of self-government in order to keep them happy.

9:12 The two points in which their domination by Rome was most visible were the military occupation of the country and the oppressive system of taxation. This branch of the imperial revenue was farmed out to certain Roman knights and by them to several gradations of subordinate collectors, each of whom was required to pay a stated sum to his superior, but with the privilege of raising as much as he could for his own benefit. You get the picture? You had sort of a pyramid system.

9:50 And the man at the top said, from say half a dozen inferiors, each of you must give me so many thousand dollars a year, however you raise it, I don't care, just make sure I get it. They in turn would have people under them and they would say you must give to each of us so much per year, how you get it, we don't care, and there was this gradation of a structure of tax collectors. That was present there in Palestine. To this was added in the case before us the additional reproach of being instruments and tools not merely of a foreign despotism but of a gentile or heathen power.

10:29 The odium thus attached to the office of a publican or Roman tax collector prevented any Jews from holding it except those of the most equivocal and reckless nature. Those of the most reckless character who being thus excluded by their very occupation from all respectable society were naturally thrown into the society of wicked and disreputable men. In other words, they formed sort of a Palestinian mafia. Thus a business not unlawful in itself and only made oppressive by the greed of those engaged in it came by degrees to be regarded by devout Jews as intrinsically evil and gave rise to that familiar but without reference to these facts unintelligible combination, publicans and sinners. You find that combination here and often you find harlots, publicans and sinners. There was no slight analogy between this moral degradation and the physical debasement of the leper and the same curiosity may have been felt as to the way in which our Lord would treat it. And then in the shorter statement in the Zondervan Pictorial Bible Dictionary under occupations

11:55 so you can find this for yourself you come under alphabetically to publican and this is what you read. An under collector of Roman revenue of these there appear to have been two classes the chief of the publicans of whom Zacchaeus is an example he's called a chief publican and then secondly an ordinary publican the lowest class of the servants engaged in the collecting of the revenue and of whom we have an instance in Levi who was afterward named the Apostle Matthew. The publicans were hated as the instruments by which the subjugation of the Jews to the Roman Empire was perpetuated and the paying of tribute was looked upon as a virtual acknowledgement of the sovereignty of Rome. They were noted for their imposition their extortion they were sort of like loan sharks would be in contemporary terminology to which they were tempted to oppress the people with illegal taxes that they might more quickly enrich themselves. The publicans of the New Testament were regarded as traitors and apostates defiled by their frequent intercourse with the heathen and willing tools for the oppressor. Hence they were classed with sinners harlots and the heathen.

13:19 Now that's just a little bit of information but if you ever get weary of getting that kind of information then you're weary of having an accurate understanding of the Bible and it's the job of a preacher to impart knowledge for God has promised in the New Covenant to give them shepherds who will feed them with knowledge and with understanding. And we cannot understand this passage unless we have that basic feel for the significance of a publican and a group of people called publicans. And then of course the second group and we'll have more occasion next week to consider them and they are central to this passage in fact this entire second chapter the scribes of the Pharisees that is those who were identified with the Pharisaic party the strictest sect of the Jews the separated ones and the scribes were those who were engaged not only in transcribing the scriptures but they also became the official teachers of the people teaching alas not only scripture but often more frequently the vicious legalistic traditions of the rabbi. They were noted for their religious externalism their self-righteousness and their hypocrisy and if you have any question about that just read Matthew 23

The General Setting of Levi's Call

14:47 and our Lord's indictment of scribes Pharisees whom he calls hypocrites. Well so much of that brief introduction of these two groups now consider with me in verse 13 the general setting of the call of Levi. The general setting of the call of Levi. Mark tells us that he went forth again by the seaside and all the multitudes resorted unto him and he taught them.

15:22 Here Mark gives us a general description within which the specific dealings of our Lord with Levi or with Matthew occurred. Our Lord who has been in his own house in Capernaum or the house of Andrew and of Peter or some other house but that particular house in Capernaum where we found him in the first 12 verses of Mark's gospel he now leaves the house and makes that short trip down to the very shore of the sea of Gennesaret otherwise called the lake of Galilee. And the scripture tells us that in so doing he was going to a place where he had been before. He went forth again by the seaside. And it probably has reference back to verse 16 and passing along chapter 1 passing along by the sea of Galilee he saw and then we have the record of his calling of these four fishermen into this deep sea to deeper this more intensive attachment to himself. So once again we must picture our Lord leaving all of the peculiar relationships and domestic intimacies and comforts of that home in Capernaum

16:49 making the brief journey to the seaside. Now why did he go there? We don't know. Perhaps he went there for retirement.

16:57 Perhaps he enjoyed seeing the majesty of that lake and drinking in the beauty of his own handiwork. For scripture tells us by him and for him were all things created. But be that as it may when the multitudes hear that he is by the seaside they voluntarily come in groups in order to hear the words of life and salvation from his lips. For the text says and all the multitudes or the crowds were continually exhorting unto him and he was continually teaching them.

17:39 So the picture is that one group after another would come and they would hear the words of life from our Lord and leave and then another group would come and he would continue to teach and as the crowds came as a pattern of behavior so the Lord taught them as a pattern of ministry. And remember it was the same Lord who taught with authority and not as their scribes. The Lord whose teaching at this time is probably best summarized in the Sermon on the Mount. He is stripping through all the rabbinic traditions.

18:17 He is teaching that the kingdom of God is near and that that kingdom of grace cuts through all ritual and form and lays bare the hearts of men and demands poverty of spirit and produces holy mourning for sin and sets people hungering and thirsting for righteousness and brings them to a pattern of evangelical law keeping in which they are concerned about their hearts and when they do their religious service they are concerned about the eye of God and not the eyes of men as their religious leaders had taught them by precept and example. And it is in this setting that our Lord by the seaside is continually teaching the multitudes that come to Him. Now why does Mark mention this as the setting for the call of Levi? Well most likely though we cannot dogmatize it is strongly to suggest to us that when we read that our Lord Jesus passed by and saw Levi that Levi had much previous exposure both to the reputation of our Lord and to the actual preaching of our Lord. And Mark is careful to give us this brief description

19:43 of the setting of the calling of Levi at least to suggest to us that Levi, Matthew had this previous exposure both to the mighty words and to the mighty deeds of our Lord Jesus. In fact there is something to suggest in the subsequent context with the abruptness with which Levi was able to leave his tax booth that he may have been one of these in an intermediate position of authority and had others under him and perhaps there were days when he even knocked off for the afternoon and left the toll booth to the care of others that he might go out with the multitudes and hang upon the world and the words of Jesus. But whether that is so or not we do know that the Spirit of God inspired Mark to tell us that the call of Levi occurred in geographical proximity to this profuse teaching ministry of the Lord Jesus that involved the multitudes. And if Levi himself was not part of the multitudes the very nature of his work and the very position of his toll booth would have put him in contact with multitudes who were passing through that specific geographical area. If you look at a map of Palestine in Bible days in the time of our Lord

21:13 you will notice if you have one that outlines the main roads that there was a main road coming down from Damascus up in the northeast right down through into the Capernaum right to the edge of the Sea of Galilee and then proceeded off in several directions you could go down to the seashore in the Mediterranean to Caesarea or some of the other major seaports. And so it's known that Capernaum was a strategic place in terms of what we would call a main highway or caravan of travel and of commerce. And it's precisely because of that fact that this tax booth this toll booth is set up where it was. So whether there was direct contact with our Lord or the indirect testimony of the multitudes coming and going for remember again our Bibles have told us that His fame spread throughout that entire region it is very unthinkable that Levi's first contact with Jesus directly or indirectly was the encounter described in verse 14. Well having looked then at the setting of the call of Levi now notice the specific details of the calling of Levi as we find them in verse 14. The specific details of the calling of Levi.

The Specific Details of Levi's Call

22:40 And as he passed by that is our Lord he saw Levi the son of Alphaeus sitting at the place of toll literally sitting upon the tax booth.

22:57 And we'll try to explain what that may mean in a little bit. And he said unto him follow me and he arose and followed him. Now according to Matthew 9, 9 the man named Levi in Mark's gospel and again in Luke's gospel chapter 5 and verse 27 is none other than Matthew eventually one of the 12 apostles and the author of the first gospel. Now all kinds of questions are raised by the scholars.

23:29 Why did he have the name Matthew? Why was it changed? And frankly I think it's a bunch of nonsense to even worry ourselves. The Bible is clear that dual names were common and that often upon receiving a new calling a man received a new name.

23:48 And as far as I'm concerned that's enough for me to know that much and I'll not weary you with all the stuff that I've read of the various theories. But by comparing scripture with scripture there is no question that the Levi of Mark 2 is the Matthew of Matthew 9, 9 as well as the Levi of Matthew of Luke 5 and verse 27. Well try to live the picture and the manner in which Mark wrote presses us to do this. You will find in many of the gospel records but particularly in Mark he moves from using what we would call the past tense describing something that happened to a present tense so that the reader is actually forced to put himself right into the situation and try to relive it in his mind's eye. In that setting in which the multitudes are coming and going and the Lord Jesus is using the seaside as his platform of ministry and proclamation and teaching on a given day perhaps passing by the very seat of toll and it may have been a raised platform somewhat like the platform on which this pulpit rests and I saw something similar to this in the town court in Pakistan. There would be a raised platform and the men who were the lawyers and judges would sit cross-legged on that platform

25:16 and people would come before them in the open bazaar in the open marketplace to have their legal problems sorted out. So it may well have been that there was a raised platform perhaps with a little canopy to protect from the burning Palestinian sun and we can picture Levi sitting there cross-legged as the chief honcho of that particular toll operation and this given day the text says that as Jesus passed by the first thing he did he saw Levi the son of Alphaeus. Our Lord engaged him with his eyes. With more than a passing glance with more than a mere surface observation our Lord saw Levi son of Alphaeus. And having seen him our Lord obviously stops in his journey to or from the seaside with his preaching to the multitudes plants himself directly in front of Levi and there is no record that he said anything more than this. He may have and all that he said may have led up to this but all that we know for certain that he said on this occasion was this simple word of imperative follow me. Now imagine

26:43 what this must have meant to Levi to his associates. He's heard these stories about this young rabbi who's come up from the southern part of that area and now is preaching with power and casting out demons and causing such a stir throughout all of that part of Galilee and now this one perhaps the very one he's knocked off afternoons of work to go and hear and with others has wondered at the gracious words that have proceeded from his lips. This one plants himself in front of him and says follow me. With regal imperative he simply demands of Levi that he give himself up to a life of unquestioned attachment to himself. Follow me. And the text says that rising up he followed him. And Luke adds another interesting stroke rising up he left all and followed him.

27:57 Now there's the simple account with the specific details of the calling of Levi. All of the initiative came from Jesus. He was passing by in the will of his father. He saw him.

28:14 He stood. He commanded. But now the response was one of conscious activity on the part of Levi. He rose up.

28:26 He left all and he followed him. Now then what does all of this say to us? Well in the time that remains this morning I want to set before you three vital truths contained in this account of the calling of Levi. Now whatever there may have been of an element of a first stage in the call to apostleship that ultimately resulted in Matthew being an apostle the primary emphasis of this passage is not the uniqueness of an attachment to Christ for apostleship for as we shall see next week the critical issue is bound up in verse 17. I came not to call the righteous but sinners. Luke adds the word sinners to repentance. The primary emphasis of this passage is to teach us the mission of the Son of God not in calling some saved sinners to be apostles but in calling the worst of sinners to become saints and believers.

The Unmistakable Individuality of Christ's Call

29:36 That's the main thrust of the passage and therefore it is proper for me in my extraction of the principles for application to put the focus where the passage itself places it. And what does this teach us then about the truth of what it means to be converted? What it means to be a Christian to be a child of God to be a true disciple? Well it teaches us at least three very vital lessons.

30:05 Number one it teaches us the unmistakable individuality of the call of Christ in the Gospel. The unmistakable individuality of the call of Christ in the Gospel. Notice the contrast. He is called He went forth by the seaside and all the multitude were continually resorting unto Him and He was continually teaching them at this stage Jesus was multitude oriented.

30:39 Day after day great crowds were coming. Day after day He is speaking to the crowds and teaching to them and only someone who knows a little bit at least of what it is to teach and preach knows anything of the tremendous drain upon the mind and soul in speaking to multitudes. I have found in my own limited experience, the larger the congregation, the more is the drain upon the mind and the spirit to engage the minds and spirits of that larger crowd. And here our Lord, day after day, is acclimated to that ministry to the multitude, seeking to engage them as individuals in the great crowd. No easy thing in preaching. It's an easy thing in preaching to crowds, simply to preach to foreheads, but to engage people's eyes and seek to see through the eye, as it were, the window of the soul, what's really going on, and truly to engage them is a tremendously draining thing. And yet in the midst of that crowd-oriented ministry, there's this beautiful, contrast. And as he passed by, he saw Levi. Preaching to the crowds, yet he saw Levi.

32:04 And he said to Levi, follow me. And here is a beautiful illustration of the unmistakable individuality of the call of Christ in the gospel. When Jesus looked at Levi and said, follow me, he was engaging him so directly that Levi had no conversation with him. And he said, follow me, and he said, follow me. And he said, follow me, and he said, follow me. And he said, follow me, and he said, follow me. And he said, follow me, and he said, follow me. And he said, follow me. And he said, follow me. And he said, follow me, and he said, follow me. And he said, follow me. And he said, follow me. And he said, to whom our Lord was speaking. He didn't say, me? You know, sometimes in a little group of people, you point to someone and they say, you mean me? No indication that Levi said, oh, you mean me? He so engaged him as an individual that there was no question in his mind that the words, follow me, were addressed to one person in the universe at that point, and that person was Levi. And as with Levi, so it is with every single person who is effectually called by the gospel of Jesus Christ. Christ often begins his work to us

33:03 and in us in the midst of a gathering of people, most frequently in the gathering of his own people where his word is preached. And as perhaps Levi was part of those crowds and began to have his thinking turned in the direction of the mind and will of God in the message of Christ. Perhaps as he sat in the multitudes and saw the Lord Jesus tearing off all of the layers of religious encrustment that had surrounded God's law in all of its purity, he began to hear with the crowds the nature of the kingdom of God, that it was a spiritual kingdom, and that one needed spiritual eyes and spiritual perception in order to be a part of that kingdom. Perhaps that previous work. He had begun to dispose his mind and his spirit and had begun to create in him a hungering and a thirsting after righteousness. But the moment of truth came when whatever previous knowledge he had received directly from the preaching of Christ or by the reports about him, now there was an element of intense individuality that he could not evade. Now the Son of God

34:23 stands before him and says, Follow me. And no one ever becomes a Christian until in a real sense there's only two people in all the universe, Jesus Christ and me. Until in my own spiritual world there's only two people that matter, Jesus Christ and me. And he says to me, not audibly, not in terms of some claim to direct revelation, but in terms of some claim to direct revelation. And he says to me, not in terms of truths that hitherto I have heard as general truths. Oh yes, the whole world is full of sinners, and I'm part of a crowd of sinners. Oh yes, I accept all of that. Every truth that Christ articulates to the multitudes I embrace. But the moment of truth comes when he says to me,

35:17 You, by name, follow me. All of my claims now funnel down upon your will. All of my claims now funnel down upon your will. All of my claims now funnel down upon your will. All of my claims now funnel down upon your will.

35:28 All of my teaching about the human heart funnels down upon your heart. All of my teaching about sin funnels down upon your sin. And all of my teaching about grace funnels down upon you in your need. And so I say this passage sets before us the unmistakable individuality of the call of Christ in the gospel. Let me ask you as you sit here this morning, do you know anything of that? Have you ever been brought to the place where the only two people in the world, Jesus Christ and you, your sin in the presence of his holiness, your need in the presence of his grace? Have you? Don't answer audibly, but answer inwardly.

36:21 Have you ever been brought to that place where you have known experimentally that individuality of the call of Christ in the gospel? The scripture says, Other sheep I have which are not of this fold, them also I must bring. And how does he bring them? He says this, They shall hear my voice. They shall hear my voice. And though he does not come physically and speak audibly, he speaks nonetheless individually and powerfully in the gospel and says to us, Follow me. And the second great principle that's here in the call of Levi is this, we see not only the unmistakable individuality of the call of Christ in the gospel, but the gracious sovereignty of the call of Christ in the gospel. The gracious sovereignty of the call of Christ in the gospel. First of all, it was a gracious call. It was a gracious call.

The Gracious Sovereignty of Christ's Call

37:31 Remember what publicans were? They were excommunicated from the society of Israel. They were cut off from the formal congregation of Israel. They were classed in the minds of Palestinians as the riffraff, the Palestinian mafia.

37:49 They were in the moral and ethical realm what the lepers were in the physical realm. If you had leprosy, you were unclean and cut off. If you were a Republican, you were unclean and cut off. And I can just see the Lord Jesus almost, may I say it without attributing anything carnal to our blessed Lord, almost gloating in the opportunity to stick it to these Pharisees.

38:14 Hear the separated ones stand back, proud that they would never be defiled with intimate contact with publicans. And what does Jesus do? He's walking by one day and he stops right in front of a publican's booth. And he looks a publican straight in the eye and he says, I want you to know something.

38:34 I am not at all embarrassed to have the likes of you found in the closest proximity to me. Follow me.

38:42 That's a call of grace. Levi, I don't care what you know the religious leaders of the day think about you. I don't care what they may think about you being found attached to me. But I'll tell you something, Levi.

39:00 My heart is a heart of grace that reaches out to sinners, even the worst of sinners. Levi, follow me. What a gracious call. The Savior.

39:11 The Son of God takes the initiative. And in compassionate, condescending grace that was verbally, precisely what his touching the leper was physically. You remember a few weeks ago as we studied that healing of a leper, how everyone must have stood with bated breath. And when Jesus reached out and did what would make him ceremonially unclean, he touched a leper.

39:35 They all would have gasped. One can only imagine. Because we see in the subsequent context. They gasped.

39:43 Because he not only called one of these. He was then found later with a whole bunch of them. The whole local union of them. And he was eating and drinking with them.

39:52 A sign of friendship and identification. What a beautiful picture of the graciousness of the call of Christ. My friend, listen, listen. Jesus Christ calls sinners as sinners.

40:07 Jesus Christ died for the ungodly. He doesn't call those who've made themselves good. He calls sinners to himself. Just plain old ordinary sinners.

40:23 And if it were otherwise, it would not be a gracious call. If you carry to your better, you will never come at all. Not the righteous. Not the righteous.

40:35 Sinners. Jesus came to call. But it was not only a gracious call. It was a sovereign call.

40:44 In gracious but regal authority. He does not plead with Levi. He commands him. It's an imperative.

40:53 In fact, it's a present imperative. That literally rendered to feel the force of it would be this. Begin here and now and continue as the pattern of your life to be following me.

41:06 Yes, there was grace. I'm not ashamed to be identified with the likes of you, Levi. But, Levi, I speak to you not as a peer, but as your sovereign. Follow me.

41:19 Be identified with me, yes, but not in the relationship of a peer, but in the relationship of a subject to a gracious sovereign. Follow me. Follow me. From henceforth, everything about your career, everything about your possessions, everything about your reputation, your associations, your plans, Levi is...

41:42 Levi is... Are you prepared to let it be there?

41:48 Follow me. And he didn't hand over a 14-page little contract telling him what it would involve. He was saying, in essence, do you see in me as the gracious Savior, that which draws forth your trust, your confidence, so that you are prepared to own me as your sovereign, and from henceforth to let me make your plans and call the shots, and do what I will with your career and your possessions and everything else? It was a sovereign call, as well as a gracious call.

42:27 And as then, so now. When Christ calls in the gospel, it's always a gracious call. If it were not a call of grace, what in the world would he have to do with the likes of us? He would avoid us, for he, like no fellow human being can ever discern, knows all of the interests...

42:48 intricacies of the windings of our foul and wretched hearts. He saw clean through to the depths of all that Levi had been by nature, and all that he had apparently been by practice as a publican. There's nothing to indicate that he may have been one of the few righteous and upright publicans. And there's everything to indicate that Jesus chose him to be in a peculiar way a monument of the grace that...

43:18 saves the vile. He will have in the college of his apostles, not merely fishermen who ply a noble trade, but he'll have a publican who's called out of the Palestinian mafia to be one of the cornerstones in his church. Blessed be God for the call of grace. So if you sit there this morning and say, why would Jesus stop by me and call me to repentance and faith?

43:47 If he knew what I was, my friend, he knows what I was. He knows what I was. He knows what I was. And there's nothing you have ever done or nothing you are that has gone beyond the power of his grace to forgive and to transform.

44:01 But that gracious call is a sovereign call. He doesn't call you to play games. He calls you to stack arms and to capitulate.

44:12 To stop running your own life, making your own plans, hedging all your bets, and say, Lord Jesus, lock, stock and barrel, live or die, sink or swim. You've called me. I'm yours. He rose up and he followed him.

The Unqualified, Whole-Souled Response to Christ's Call

44:30 It was a gracious sovereignty in that call of Christ. And it is today. And then thirdly and finally, we see in this detailed, or the details of the call of Levi, the unqualified, whole-souled response of Levi to the call of Christ in the gospel. The unqualified, whole-souled response of Levi to the call of Christ in the gospel.

45:01 When he heard the words, those words that said, follow me, he could not escape the fact that they were addressed to him individually, that they were the very revelation of grace and of sovereignty. We read that he rose up, he left all, and he followed. And the word for leave all is exactly the same word used in the New Testament quoting from Genesis. A man shall leave his father and mother and cleave to his wife.

45:33 What's a young man do when he leaves father and mother?

45:37 Well, there is a radical cleavage from that sphere of authority which they've exercised, from the emotional attachment being primarily one to father and mother. Many things are involved in that leaving. Well, that's the word that's used here. He rose up and he left.

45:53 Left all. Now, it doesn't mean that he relinquished title to everything he possessed. For a little bit later, we find him having a feast in his house.

46:03 But it does say he left all.

46:06 And it doesn't say he left some things and that he was in the posture where he dickered with Jesus. No, there was an unqualified, whole-souled response of Levi to the gracious but sovereign call of Christ in the gospel. And Jesus said that is the unchanging bottom line of the condition of true discipleship. Whosoever he be of you that forsaketh not all that he hath, he cannot be my disciple.

46:36 Luke 14 and verse 33. Now, let me press it on your conscience this morning. Do you claim to be a Christian? Do you claim to be saved by the grace of Christ?

46:47 Then I ask you this question. Do you know anything of unqualified, whole-souled response to the call of Christ in the gospel? Now, I didn't say perfect response. I didn't use the word perfection.

47:01 I've chosen my words carefully. Unqualified, whole-souled response to the call of Christ in the gospel. And what is that call? It is not only a call to throw upon him the full weight of your guilty, sin-sick soul.

47:20 Come unto me, all ye that labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. In the work that we read about in our scripture reading this morning, his dying on our behalf is the ground, the basis of God being able to forgive and pardon all of our sins. And his perfect obedience constitutes the fabric of the robe of righteousness with which we are clothed. And you only use the word perfect when you speak of Christ and his work, not our response to him.

47:55 His work is perfect and constitutes the basis of our pardon and our acceptance. But, the Bible teaches with equal clarity, whenever the eye of a sinner has been opened to perceive something of the glory of God in the face of Christ crucified, the response of that enlightened mind and heart is always an unqualified, whole-souled response to Christ so that we not only lean the whole weight of our guilt, the guilty soul upon him for pardon and forgiveness, we consciously and joyfully bend the whole under his yoke. And to change the biblical imagery, we joyfully take up not a third of the cross or two-thirds of the cross, but we take up a cross to follow him. We say no to self,

48:56 of self, of running,

49:06 there is an unqualified,

49:11 and from henceforth we're prepared, to have Jesus tell us the next morning whether or not we go back to our toll booth. We're prepared to have Jesus tell us whether we ever imply the trade of a tax collector. We're prepared to have Jesus tell us whether we relinquish title to all that we have. There is an unqualified, whole-souled response to Christ in the call of the gospel that not only brings us to rest in Him for peace and pardon, but to bow to Him as Sovereign and Lord, prepared to obey Him no matter what the implications of obedience are.

49:54 Now, my friend, do you know anything about that?

49:57 Do you know anything about that? Do you personally know anything about the thing that Levi knew? Rose up, left all, and followed Him. Can that be said of you?

50:13 If that's what being a Christian is, an awful lot of people bear the name of Christ who are never going to be owned by Christ in the last day.

Application: Do You Know This Call and Response?

50:27 Multitudes who say, oh yes, I've heard the gracious word of Christ, but they do not understand that it is a gracious but sovereign word. The very word by which He comes to us in mercy is the word by which He subjugates us to His gracious rule and sovereignty. There is no separation in the Bible between Christ as Savior and Lord, becoming a believer and becoming a disciple. That's why I'm convinced that Mark tells us that the setting of the call of Levi is one in which Jesus was frequenting that very area and teaching perhaps day after day, because later on in the Gospel of Luke, Jesus says, I do not want hastily unthought out responses of discipleship when great multitudes were running after Him, and it was popular. He stood and faced the crowd and said, back off! Wait a minute! Count the cost!

51:32 Luke 14, 25 and following. And if the Lord Jesus operated by His own principles, then I'm convinced Levi had indeed heard much previous teaching. The issues had become crystal clear, and now the time, the moment of truth was there. Look, Levi, you don't need any more light.

51:51 You've been listening to my preaching amidst the multitudes. You know the broad outlines of the nature of the kingdom, I've come to establish. You know that the religion I come to implant is heart religion. You know that I've come to make men right with God, and to bring them to know Him as Father Levi.

52:09 You know enough now! The time has come! Follow me! And oh, I would say to some of you here, some of you on the threshold of your adult lives, some of you who are beneath that threshold, some far beyond it, some of you on the threshold of your own age, and you know enough from the teaching and preaching you've heard in this place, and from your mom and your dad, you know enough of the broad outlines of the truth of the gospel, human sinfulness, human depravity, divine anger against sin, the cross of Christ, God's answer to the dilemma of how He can be just and justify sinners.

52:53 You know faith and repentance are essential. You've had all of those outlines etched before you again and again. It comes to you in the gospel this morning, says you know enough. Now, follow me!

53:17 Turn from your sins! Turn from your pride! Turn from your self-righteousness that says, I've got to get better! You see, if God gave you that desire and you've got better, then you despise the gospel, because you wouldn't need righteousness!

53:35 Turn from the subtle blaming of God! I'm waiting for something more! I'm waiting for something to hit me! My friend, go on!

53:42 That way, and what will hit you is the unleashed fury, and you'll sink into hell as a Christ despiser and a gospel rejecter. No, Christ comes to you this morning in the word of the gospel and says to you as He says to Levi, follow me. I'm not ashamed to be found identified with the likes of you. Will you be ashamed to be identified with the likes of me? That's what Christ is saying in the gospel. Isn't He? You remember what He said? Whosoever shall be ashamed of me, and of my words in this adulterous and sinful generation, of Him will the Son of Man be ashamed when He comes in His glory and with the glory of His Father. Christ is not ashamed

54:33 to come in the gospel to the vilest sinner in this place. Who are the publicans amongst us? Who are you? Where are you?

54:41 Jesus comes, and in grace He says, I'm willing to be identified with you. Are you willing to be identified with me? Will you up and leave your sins and self-will and your own plans and your own notions? And will you become attached to me in bonds of faith and love and obedience?

55:07 Then this morning, dear man, woman, boy or girl, may it be said of you as was said of Levi, rising up, He left all, and He followed Him. Oh, happy day that fixed my choice on Thee, my Savior and my God. Well may this glowing heart rejoice and tell its raptures all abroad. Happy day! Happy day! When Jesus washed my sins away. Oh, may it be that happy day for you. And dear child of God, who has been able to say as I've asked the questions and pressed them upon the conscience, yes, I know something of that unmistakable individuality of the call of Christ. I

55:56 can remember when all that was general became particular. All that was out there in terms of a nebulous cloud of Christian truth, out of it came flashing light and arrows to my own heart. And there was only me and the God of the universe and the Savior hanging upon a cross. Pastor, I know something of that unmistakable individuality.

56:23 Yes, I do know something of the gracious sovereignty of the call of Christ. How I can remember when the truth gripped me for the first time that He was willing to receive even me. And in that discovery I did hear His sovereign call and counted it my joy to render to Him that unqualified whole soul. Hold response, my friend, if that's true.

56:50 Then with Levi you and I must fall down at the foot of sovereign mercy. For you see, it was the very voice that called him that subdued him. Or he would have looked at him and said, what? Wait a minute. You want me with no explanation of any further terms to get up from the thing that is my livelihood, the only thing I've done and know how to do in which is bound up all my security and my identity? And with no explanation of the future and all the rest, just to attach myself to you? Are you crazy, Mr. Teacher? That's what human logic would have said. But divine grace so subdued the pride, the rebellion, and the questions of nature that He said, I will follow. And if you followed, it's only because the same grace has reached you. That's all.

Concluding Prayer and Exhortation

57:46 And you must fall at His feet and say, Lord Jesus, it was the same love that spread the feast that sweetly drew me in else I had still refused to come and perished in my sin. Blessed be God that though He's at the right hand of the Father and no longer walks by the Sea of Galilee, in His gospel He walks in places like Megalopolis, northern New Jersey, and every place where His word is preached. And He calls the riffraff through Himself. Blessed be God for such a Savior. Let us pray.

58:37 Oh, our Father, we thank You for the call of our Savior in the gospel. We thank You that for many of us it has been an efficacious call, a conquering call, a pride subduing and a rebellion subduing call. And oh, how we long, Lord Jesus, that this day, this very hour, You will come to the Levites in this congregation and extend Your gracious call. Oh, may some this day from the heart say, I will follow Jesus.

59:20 I will trust Jesus. I will submit to Jesus. Oh, God, may we not have set forth, Your truth in vain, but may it bring forth fruit now and even unto everlasting life. Hear us and answer us for the sake of Your beloved Son, in whose name and by whose righteousness we venture to plead these things before You.

59:49 Amen.