A Sequel to the Call of Levi

Introduction: The Rising Opposition to Christ and the Call of Levi's Sequel

0:03 This sermon was preached on Sunday morning, May 27th, 1984, at the Trinity Baptist Church in Montville, New Jersey. Now let us turn together to the second chapter of Mark's Gospel, the Gospel according to Mark, and the second chapter, and follow as I read verses 13 through 17. Mark chapter 2, beginning with verse 13. Writing with respect to our Lord, Mark tells us,

1:13 that he was sitting at meat, or better translated, reclining at table in his house, and many publicans and sinners sat down or reclined with Jesus and his disciples. For there were many, and they followed him. 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?

1:48 And when Jesus heard it, he said 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. Now let us again ask the help of God as we seek to understand his own holy and infallible word.

2:17 Our Father, we come again in the posthumous, the posture of dependence, the posture of confessed need and ignorance,

2:27 and we pray with the psalmist of old that you would open our eyes, that we might behold wondrous things out of your law. We pray for any who may be simply here this morning to pass time, to please a relative, a loved one, a father, mother, son or daughter, for any who may be here, simply to salve their consciences that they've done their religious thing for the week. Oh, may your word come and arrest every such person and cause them to know that whatever their evil motive may have been in coming here today,

3:12 that you brought them here for purposes of grace. We ask for all of your true people who come hungering and thirsting for a fresh, fresh sight of the glory of Christ. Oh, Holy Spirit, do not disappoint their eager and waiting hearts, but reveal Christ to us, we pray. Amen.

3:44 Now, we return this morning to this section of Mark's Gospel in which, as we have previously seen, the organizing principle is the rising tide of opposition to our Lord and to his ministry, culminating in the statement of chapter 3 and verse 6, and the Pharisees went out and straightway with the Herodians took counsel against him how they might destroy him. In chapter 2 and on into chapter 3 and verse 6, Mark uses as the organizing principle under the guidance of the Spirit

4:24 this account of a rising tide of opposition to our Lord and select incidents which precipitated that opposition. In our initial consideration of the passage read in your hearing a few moments ago, we examine together the general setting of the call of Levi, or as he is described in the Gospel of Matthew, Matthew himself, and that general setting of the call of Levi is one in which our Lord, having made a call to him, made his retreat again to the seaside, that is, to the Sea of Galilee, is teaching and preaching

5:08 the Word of God. And Mark apparently gives us this little statement of the general setting that we might assume that Levi was exposed to some of this public ministry of our Lord prior to his specific call by the Lord Jesus as given to us in verse 14. So having examined last Lord's Day the general setting of the call of Levi in verse 13, we then looked at the specific details of the call of Levi as given to us in verse 14 and concluded our study by drawing out some of

5:50 the vital truths contained in the call of Levi. And we looked at three of them. The call of Levi, first of all, underscores the unmistakable individuality of the call of Christ in the gospel. From the multitudes resorting to him again and again, he comes and speaks to Levi with an intense personal call. We saw in the second place

6:19 something of the gracious sovereignty of the call of Christ in the gospel. And we looked at the call of Levi as given to us in verse 14 and concluded our study by drawing out some of the local details of the call of Christ in the gospel. Christ took the initiative. There is no indication that there was anything in Levi that precipitated this call. It was a sovereignly gracious call of Christ. And then we saw

6:41 that the response of Levi was that whole-souled response to the call of Christ, which is the only saving response to the call of Christ. Now today we move on to examine verses 15 through 17, in which we have that which I've entitled A Sequel to the Call of Levi. As Mark has set before us the setting of Levi's call, the specific details of that call, he now gives us the record of the sequel to the call of Levi.

The Basic Facts of the Sequel: The Feast, the Guests, and the Accusation

7:24 And let us first of all seek to grasp the basic facts of this sequel to the call of Levi. And they come to us fundamentally in four categories. And then we will seek to extract the abiding message of this passage. We have first of all a record of the feast prepared, 15a. And it came to pass, that is, sometime subsequent

7:53 to his call, that the call of Levi was to be prepared. And it came to pass, that is, sometimes subsequent to his call, perhaps not immediately, possibly immediately, but in comparing the other gospel accounts of this same incident, probably a period of time passed between Levi's call and this sequel to his call, we find that Levi was preparing a feast, or did prepare a feast for our Lord, and that our Lord is there in the house of Levi in the house of his call. that Levi was preparing a feast, or did prepare a feast for our Lord, and that our Lord is there in the house of Levi in company with others, enjoying this feast. Now, the text in Matthew simply says it came to pass that he, that is Jesus, was reclining

8:36 at table in his, that is, in Levi's house. Now, why do I use the terminology, the feast prepared? Well, for the simple reason that in Luke's Gospel, chapter 5 and verse 29, we read that Levi made Jesus a mega-feast, a great feast in his house. In other words, it was a special banquet that Levi prepared, and the Lord Jesus himself was the honored guest.

9:10 Yes. Now, the indications, of course, are that Levi owned or rented a large house, that within this house there was a large banquet room, that he apparently was in charge of many servants who could both prepare and serve such a meal. So all of the indications are that at the time that our Lord called Levi, he was a wealthy man, and that subsequent to his call. Though he left all and followed him with respect to his business as a publican, he did not relinquish title and use of all of his possessions, at least in this stage of

9:55 our Lord's dealings with him in preparation for further ministry as an apostle. And so we have the simple record of the feast prepared by Levi in honor of the Lord Jesus. And then in the second place we have the guest described in 15b. The guest described.

10:20 Who was there? Well, the text says that many publicans and sinners sat down with Jesus and his disciples, for there were many, and they followed him. So those present at this feast are obviously the Lord Jesus. The Lord Jesus is the Lord Jesus.

10:40 The Lord Jesus is the Lord Jesus. The Lord Jesus is the Lord Jesus. The Lord Jesus is the Lord Jesus. The Lord Jesus is the Lord Jesus.

10:43 The Lord Jesus is the Lord Jesus. And then next to the Lord Jesus, and for the first time we have them referred to in this way, his disciples, probably referring to the four fishermen who had previously been called from their life as fishermen into this more intensified attachment to the Lord Jesus. The record of that of course found in chapter 1 of Mark.

11:11 So there's the Lord Jesus, the guest of honor, probably reclining near him, these four, Peter, Andrew, James, and John. And then the text tells us there was a great crowd of publicans and of sinners.

11:33 Now we know who the publicans were. Being guilty of extortion, guilty of dishonesty, guilty of gross injustice, they were excommunicated from the religious and social life of Israel.

12:16 Their very name became synonymous with Gentile. Let him be unto you, Jesus said, like a heathen or a publican, speaking of the excommunicated person. Well, in this particular banquet where Christ was the guest of honor, and his disciples were near him, there were many of these publicans and another group called sinners. And we learn from other passages in the Word of God that this term was used to describe what we would call the low-life crowd of the first century.

12:54 People who had earned the reputation for being unusually abandoned and profligate. Harlots. Would be called sinners. People who were known to be extortioners and utterly indifferent to all the laws of common decency would be classified as sinners.

13:16 But we also know that the Pharisees classified anyone who wouldn't keep all of their meticulous, legalistic ritual as sinners. So it's difficult to ascertain precisely who these sinners were. I think the whole passage...

13:33 Especially when we come to the closing words, would indicate that they were sinners in the former sense. That since the publicans had been cut off from the common social and religious life in Israel, they sought identification with someone, and it was only the low-life people who would be comfortable with the publicans, and with whom the publicans could have some bonds of social interaction. So picture the scene. Not sitting about a big banquet table as we do in our present social situation, but there are some six Greek words in the New Testament to describe this oriental fashion of eating.

14:16 Mark uses five of them in his gospel, and all of them have this in common, that it gives the picture of people eating in the oriental fashion. They would be stretched out in a semi-prone position on what, perhaps the closest thing we have, is a rather high couch. And they would lean upon the left elbow this way, and with the right hand they would eat while they were gathered around these tables. And the picture here is of this great dining hall in the house of Levi.

14:52 And there the Lord Jesus is found, probably in some place of prominence, his disciples near him, and then the rest of the complexion is very clearly given to us, us as comprised of publicans and of sinners. It was a motley crowd feasting that day in the house of Levi. So much then for what the text tells us about the feast prepared. The guests at the feast now notice the accusatory question which is raised in verse 16. The accusatory question that is raised

15:35 verse 16. And the scribes of the Pharisees when they saw that he was eating with the sinners and publicans said unto his disciples and you'll notice in the old 1901 that the words how is it are in italics they are supplied. To make it a proper question how is it that he eats and drinks with publicans and sinners. We could render it more literally he eats with publicans and with sinners. But when we turn to Mark's to Luke's gospel we know that the

16:15 words were said in an accusatory form because Luke tells us in Luke 5 30 that the Pharisees were murmuring when they asked the question of the disciples how is it that he eats and drinks with publicans and sinners. Now you see why I used the term an accusatory question because there are two ways basically in which people can ask questions. Someone can come up to someone else and say excuse me sir. I'm sure there must be an explanation for what you're doing. Would you mind telling me what you're doing. You can tell me what you're doing. I'm sure there must be an explanation for what you're doing. Would you mind telling me what you're doing.

16:57 come to the same person in the same set of circumstances and say, what in the world do you think you're doing? Now, you see the accusatory element in the second question. Well, that's the flavor of this question. They're not coming with what we would call an honest question waiting for an honest answer because there is a legitimate area of perplexity in their mind saying to the disciples that we're sure there must be a good reason for this, but we can't quite fit the pieces together. Would you tell us why is it that your master is

17:35 eating with publicans and sinners? Oh, no. They've already sent the case out to the jury and conceived their own verdict. And in a real sense, what they are probably trying to do is even undermine the confidence of the disciples in their master.

17:54 How can you follow such a master? Look to him as an authoritative religious teacher and he has no more sense about what it is to be truly religious than to be found eating with the lowlifers, with the riffraff. For remember again, in eastern countries to eat

18:20 is the symbol of friendship, of voluntary identification. It's the symbol of the impunity. If any man open the door, I will come in to him and sup with him and he with me and you see this is the thing that galled this particular group of people. The people who raise this accusatory question were the scribes of the Pharisees called in the parallel passages, the Pharisees themselves, this group of the separated ones who felt that the only way to maintain a relationship with the Lord is by doing the Quran. And they were always

18:56 doing it on a regular basis. So the fato is that they are not meeting each other, and then again, To maintain the cause of righteousness was to be utterly excluded from everything that would cause defilement. Listen to these two very significant statements in Luke's gospel about this crowd, the scribes and the Pharisees. Luke 16, verses 15 and 16.

19:19 Luke 16, 15 and 16. And he said unto them, You are they that justify yourselves in the sight of men. Verse 14 says, These words are spoken to the Pharisees. But God knows your hearts, for that which is exalted among men is an abomination in the sight of God.

19:42 The Pharisees were continually seeking to demonstrate that they were righteous before the eyes of men. And then chapter 14. After 18 and verse 9 of Luke's gospel, he spoke also this parable unto certain who trusted in themselves that they were righteous and set all others at naught. And then he gave that well-known parable of the Pharisee and the publican.

20:13 So you, I hope, can feel something of the spirit of those who raise this accusatory question. Since they would never be found eating with publicans and sinners, and since we learn from the previous context that they were present at the healing of the paralytic let down by four, they probably saw the crowd going to Levi's house. And when they saw the basic complexion of the crowd, they began to stew within themselves, and perhaps they even peeked in the window of that house if there were windows that opened in to the banquet, and they began to grow all the more furious.

20:57 And then as the banquet broke up, they approached the disciples, and they come with their accusatory question to the disciples, not directly to the Lord. They didn't have the courage to face him directly, but they come to his disciples, and the heart of their accusatory question was, Why is it that he eats and he drinks? Why is it that he eats and he drinks with sinners? How is it that he can be found a promoter of righteousness in such intimate companionship with the unrighteous?

Jesus's Response: A Self-Evident Fact and a Glorious Proclamation

21:36 Doesn't your master know that the only way to promote the cause of righteousness is to put a tremendous distance between unrighteous and the righteous? They themselves are righteous, and set all others free. This is why there is a question that we must answer when we seek to embrace the Lord, and we must ask him, and we must ask him, and we must ask him, and just seeking to grasp the facts now, the response given by our Lord. The response given by our Lord.

22:11 The accusatory question is raised, now our Lord takes over for the disciples and answers, and when Jesus heard it, that is, their accusatory question, he said unto them, They that are whole have no knowledge, no need of a doctor, but they that are sick. I came not to call the righteous, but sinners. When our Lord becomes aware of those accusatory questions, He takes over to speak for Himself, and His response has two parts. Number one, a self-evident fact based on common observation.

22:51 May have it been a contemporary proverb. A self-evident fact based on common observation. And here it is. Strong people have no need for a doctor, but only those who are sick.

23:07 A self-evident fact based on common observation. None of you Pharisees is ever offended when you see a physician getting close enough to a sick man in order to diagnose his sickness and to prescribe and apply a remedy.

23:29 Sick people get better is not when physicians stand off at a distance and point a finger at them and say, You're sick! Shame on you!

23:42 He says, Sick people need a doctor. And doctors get into close proximity to sick people, not to contract their sickness, but to heal it. That's a common observation. A self-evident fact. Then our Lord moves from this self-evident fact based on common observation to a different

24:03 divine revelation. The divine revelation is a divinely revealed fact constituting a glorious proclamation. Here's this divinely revealed fact. He's going to say something about Himself that constitutes a glorious proclamation. I came not to call the righteous, but sinners.

24:25 Jesus drops all analogies, all similes, all inferences, and He makes this plain statement

24:33 that I am come in my person and mission. I am come not to call righteous ones, not to

24:44 call those who in their own eyes and in their own estimation are righteous, but I have come to call sinners, those who have been brought to own the reality of their tragic state as

25:00 being alienated from God. As being polluted and condemned by their sins, and in desperate need of something more than more rules and regulations, they need a Savior. And I have come to call just such sinners. I came not on a mission to those already righteous. Rather, I've come to call the likes of Levi,

25:33 the likes of Levi's former friends and those whom you Pharisees call sinners. Rather than

25:41 being offended that I, the heavenly physician, am found in close proximity to them, your hearts should rejoice if you're truly concerned about righteousness, because I have come to take sinners and to constitute them righteous before the bar of my Father's justice. I am I have come to live the life that sinners did not live. To die the death they deserve to die. I have come to provide a righteousness which, imputed to sinners, will stand the test of my Father's eye and my eye in the day of judgment.

26:22 You Pharisees have a righteousness that passes the test of your own eyes. But God knows your heart. He sees that you're full of dead men's bones and all uncleanness. But at least the riffraff and the lowlifers who sit about me in this banquet house, they know something of the reality of their state, and they're welcoming me as the heavenly physician.

26:48 I've come not to call the righteous, but sinners. I am so committed to righteousness that I am prepared to come from the immediate presence of the Lord Jesus Christ. I have come to serve my Father by way of a virgin's womb, to a state of self-imposed humiliation. And in that state I am prepared to go steadily to the cross until your rejection of me will result in my being impaled upon a Roman gibbet.

Abiding Message 1: The Clear Statement of Jesus's Mission

27:19 But I am come to call sinners unto myself. Well, basically, those are the facts of the passage. Now then, what is the message of all of that to us? Let me suggest three lines of its abiding message.

27:38 First of all, it comprises this passage, the sequel to the call of Levi. It comprises one of the most pointed, simple, and clear statements of the mission of Jesus to be found anywhere in the Bible. It comprises one of the most pointed, simple, and clear statements of the mission of Jesus to be found anywhere in the Bible.

28:12 One marvels at men's perversity, dullness, and determination to twist Scripture in the face of such a passage as this. Why did Jesus come? He tells us, I came not to call the righteous. That is, I did not come on a mission to those who think themselves all right, to those who've declared themselves righteous.

28:41 Now we know from Scripture that none in themselves are absolutely righteous, for all have sinned and come short of the glory of God. He's speaking to the Pharisees in their own language. They were righteous in their own eyes. And he says, I did not come to nice religious people who've got their act together, who live respectable lives, simply to give them a new dimension to life.

29:09 He said, I did not come to call the righteous, but I came to call sinners, those who are conscious that they stand in that awful position of guilt. They stand in that position of helplessness. And our Lord says, I have come to call, such to myself. Now in the light of such a plain and simple statement, do you not see how utterly groundless it is for people to be confused about the basic mission of Jesus?

29:52 Rarely do we find in any part of Scripture a more explicit statement of the purpose of the mission of Jesus. I came not to call the righteous, but sinners, to repentance. He says, in essence, I am not ashamed to be found eating with sinners.

30:14 And as then, so now, he says, behold, I stand at the door and knock. If any man hear my voice and open the door, I will come in to him and sup with him, and he with me. Oh, dear people of God, never weary of hearing the essential elements of the heart of the message, that the Bible brought home to your ears again and again. How is it that this morning, great buildings have been erected, and within those buildings across our land and across the world, literally thousands and millions of people will sit,

30:58 and religious language, much of it even biblical language and biblical ritual and ceremony will be undergone, and people don't have a clue of what, what it's all about. It's because simple statements like this have never come home to their hearts with power by the Holy Spirit. The Christian faith is essentially and fundamentally and centrally a religion for sinners. For sinners, this is a faithful saying, worthy of all acceptance, Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners.

31:42 And it's not just sinners who in some abstract or notional way admit, oh yes, everybody's got ears, everybody's got a nose, everyone's a sinner. He was talking to people who knew and felt something of the reality of their sinnerhood. That's why they welcomed Jesus. While the Pharisees are going around constantly spying on Him, trying to catch Him in His words, hear the needy, the broken, the battered, the outcast of Israel, they're welcoming Him because they saw in Him a reflection of the heart of Almighty God, which was a heart

32:26 moved with compassion to sinners, a heart large towards sinners, a heart determined to make sinners righteous through the work of the Lord Jesus. And so I say, the abiding message of the passage is first of all one that gives us one of the most pointed, simple and clear statements of the mission of Jesus to be found anywhere in the Word of God. Are you clear on that point? Why did Jesus Christ come to earth?

33:02 Can you say not because it's something you learned by way of your parental instruction or general instruction from other sources, but something you've learned by the Spirit through the Word? He came to save sinners. He came to save the likes of me. I trust that's a matter of deep, inward, personal and burning conviction.

Abiding Message 2: The Blinding Power of Self-Righteousness

33:29 But then secondly, this sequel to the call of Levi comprises one of the most sickening illustrations of the blinding power of self-righteousness. To be found anywhere in the Word of God. Not only one of the clearest statements in all of Scripture of the mission of the Lord Jesus, but one of the most sickening illustrations of the blinding power of self-righteousness to be found anywhere in the Bible. These so-called defenders and teachers and promoters of religion are found opposing the ministry

34:12 of our Lord, which lies at the heart of true religion. Few things are a greater enemy to the cordial reception and joyful proclamation of the Gospel than is this curse of self-righteousness. If I'm talking to men and women and boys and girls in this building who've not welcomed the Gospel, in many cases the reason lies right here. You've never seen yourself to be what you really are.

34:45 You think yourself to be something you're not. You think you have a righteousness that will commend you to God, a righteousness comprised of your good bloodlines, of your good breathing and training and knowledge and your religious deeds. Remember that Pharisee. He stood thus by himself and said, I thank You, God, I'm not one of the lowlifers.

35:11 I'm no junkie. I'm no lecture. I'm no whoremonger. know too that I am not like the rest of men. And if there's any holes in the fabric of the

35:24 righteousness comprised of what I am and what I'm not, I plug up those holes. I take the needle and thread of my religious deeds and I darn those holes until they're all fixed. I fast. I tithe.

35:38 This is what I do. So my good breeding, my whole religious life, plus my distinct and specific religious activities, oh God, they comprise a righteousness with which I dare to stand before you, the Holy One of Israel. What a fool. What a fool. You begin to see what you are by nature

36:05 in Adam, what you are by virtue of what you became in your mother's womb, what you are from the time you came forth from your mother's womb, born speaking lies, and what you are under the eye of a God. Who knows every thought and motive of your heart and who has marked every deviation from his holy law in thought, word, and deed for every second of your life. You begin to see that and you won't dare to come strutting into God's presence, bragging about your righteousness. You'll take

36:41 the place of that publican who beat upon his breast and said, oh God, be merciful to me, the sinner.

36:52 Calvin, commenting on this very passage, wrote so perceptively, it is clear from Christ's answer that the scribes had sinned on two points. They had not taken account of Christ's mission. He came to save sinners. And though they spared their own vices, they proudly looked down upon all others. And we have to note that this has always been a widespread sickness. Hypocrites,

37:23 sated and drunk with windy confidence of their own righteousness, never think over the purpose of Christ's mission to earth. The depths of the labyrinths of evils into which the human race is plunged, the dread wrath of God and the curse which lay over all, the chaotic aggregation of vices which load us down, none of this do they acknowledge. They're insensitive to man's woes and they take no heed for his cure. They satisfy their own interests and will not wake up to reality and deed. They take it as insulting when they're

38:07 ranked with sinners. Here Christ tackles that second error when he replies that the well do not need a physician. The admission is ironical, by which he tells them that the reason for their being offended at the sight of sinners is that they're seeming to be righteous themselves. Because you're well, he says, the sick are objects of scorn to you. You find them distasteful. You're troubled to look their way. But the doctor must take quite

38:38 a different approach. Then he demonstrates the role of physician which he must undertake, for his father has sent him to call sinners. May I ask you a very pointed question? Do you sit here this morning?

38:57 As a self-righteous sinner, do you sit here fondly cherishing the delusive notion that there is anything in you by nature or anything effected by you in your own life history that can really, in any way, commend you to God? If so, then you're not there in that room with Jesus, his disciples, publicans, sinners. You're outside with the squint-eyed, jaundiced-eyed Pharisees, and you feel uncomfortable

39:39 with a religion that's always talking about sin and always talking about the grace of God in the gospel. You get weary with a religion that has so much to say about the foul sink of iniquity that is the human heart, and you get weary of this pulling back the veil and probing, the conscience, and you get weary of being told that Christ and Christ alone is God's provision for sinners. You'd like a few more jokes, and you'd like a few more, quote, irrelevant applications of things coming back to the issues of sin and grace and the human heart and God's provision

40:22 for sinners. You're weary of that. Why? Because you're wrapped about in your own flimsy rags of your own self-righteousness.

40:33 Righteousness is a sickening thing. To feel one's sins and to know one's sickness is the beginning of true religion in the soul. Let me repeat it. To feel our sins and to know our sickness is the beginning of true religion in the soul. And if you've never felt and

41:00 known your sin, you know nothing of true religion. You're like those poor Pharisees, of the poor Pharisees, of the infirm and the sick. But you're the one that's in the problem. And the problem is the problem—a sickening spectacle of self-righteousness. And Jesus will have nothing for you

Abiding Message 3: A Mirror for Our Reactions to Jesus's Mission

41:19 except judgment if you continue in that state. But then, thirdly, this passage constitutes a mirror in which to see reflected our own reactions to the saving mission of the Son of God. This passage constitutes a mirror in which to see reflected our own reactions to the saving mission of the Son of God. This passage constitutes a mirror in which to see reflected our own reactions to the saving mission of the Son of God. Why did Jesus come? He tells us, I came not to call the righteous,

41:48 but sinners. What kind of sinners? Lowlife sinners. Perhaps some of the harlots, some of those who belong to the local 652 of the Palestinian street walkers were there that day. Fellow publicans

42:06 were there. The lowlifers, the outcasts. And yet, as Jesus shows mercy to them, they're eating with them not to absorb their lifestyle, but to neutralize it by the power of his grace. The religious Pharisees stand outside and find nothing but discomfort and fuel for criticism.

42:33 And this marked them again and again. You remember what precipitated the three parables of the lost cross? The lost cross. The lost cross. The lost cross. The lost cross. The lost cross. The lost

42:38 cross. The lost cross. The lost cross. The lost cross. The lost cross. The lost cross. The lost cross. The

42:38 lost cross. The lost cross. The lost cross. The lost cross. The lost cross. The lost cross.

42:38 The lost sheep and the lost son in Luke 15. Same thing. Luke 15 in verse 1. This is what offended them. All the publicans and sinners were drawing near to hear him. And both the Pharisees and the

42:53 scribes murmured saying, this man receives sinners and eats with them. You see, whenever Jesus does what he came to do, it's a great mirror of the state of your own heart.

43:10 Now, let's get it right down where the rubber meets the road, all right?

43:14 How do you feel when God brings into our midst someone whose past life has been pretty checkered,

43:27 morally, ethically, come amongst us as those who've blown their minds on drugs and strung out on booze, maybe bring with them the fruits of their illegitimate sexual activity in terms of physical diseases, illegitimate children, shattered marriages? How do you feel when God brings such people into our midst?

43:54 You draw back a little bit and say, well, I better shield my children from someone who's here.

44:01 How do you feel? Come on now, get honest. How do you feel? What's your reaction?

44:09 Do you rejoice because you see Jesus doing what he came to do? You see, when Jesus does what he came to do, to call sinners, and in the setting of this passage, first of sinners, obvious sinners, we're all sinners, but sinners whose sin has become a matter of common observation and general reputation, whenever the Lord begins to put forth the arm of his power and save sinners of that strife, it's a mirror of the state of our own hearts.

Embracing Sinners: A Call to Congregational Compassion

44:44 Can we rejoice? And from the depths of our being, say, thank God Jesus is turning this congregation into something that looks like Matthew's. In this banquet house, it's going to be a gathering of a bunch of ex-lowlifers.

45:02 May God have mercy on us if we ever begin to approach unto the earned reputation of being a gathering of nice, polite, lovely, middle-class suburbia.

45:17 May God blast the nothing! If that's what we become, our pair of people, broken, shattered, sin has done its devastating work. Though they may not know themselves to be sinners in the biblical sense of standing before God with a full-blown, pressured conscience under the verticalism of real guilt, they know that they've tried everything. There's no sensuous delight they have not indulged.

45:59 There's no means of sin available that they've not, toyed with, and they're left burnt and broken and the wrecks of humanity. And the Lord Jesus has come to save sinners. And oh, may God grant that for us as a congregation, when the Lord begins to lay hold of those who when they come amongst us may still look like hookers looking for business, that we do not draw back like the Pharisees, afraid we'll be defiled. Unexpectedly.

46:36 We don't expect people to come showing the power of the gospel in their dress until the gospel has changed their hearts. We may have women begin to find their way into this place who look like hookers out for business. Draw back? Oh, how be defiled!

46:54 Jesus didn't draw back. He reclined at meet with them. Calvin again saw this in his day as a wise pastor. In commenting on this he said, Though Christ starts with the words of rebuke, we who wish to advance in his teaching must give first place to what he put second.

47:22 Namely, he came to revive the dead, to justify the guilty and convicted and cleanse the foul and filthy livers, to rescue the perishing from hell, to dress in his glory men who are covered with uncleanness, to renew to blessed immortality those who were wasted with the stench of vice. If we consider this was his mission. This was the object of his coming. If we take to heart that for this reason he put on our flesh, shed his blood, fulfilled the sacrifice of death, went down to the depths beneath.

48:00 It will never seem to us out of place that he draws to the embrace of salvation the very dregs of humanity. People entirely swamped in the morass of their sin. Does this man you detest? Seem unworthy of the grace of Christ?

48:18 Then why was Christ himself made a propitiation and a curse? Unless it was to stretch out a hand to accursed sinners. If we feel with some insinuation of disgust that the sacraments bring us into association with unclean persons. That is, we sit at the Lord's table with those whose past is so evidently marred by gross sins that their company seems in some way to stain us.

48:45 We should at once look into ourselves and mercilessly examine our own evil deeds. Such a scrutiny will readily bring us to let ourselves be washed at the same spring as the most foul. In case we should cast away the righteousness which he offers to all the godless without discrimination. And the life he offers to the dead.

49:11 And the salvation he confers. Upon the desperate. Oh dear people of God at Trinity. If you've got anything that borders on pharisaic fastidiousness in your spirit.

49:26 Pray God to burn it out of you. We're crying to God to use us to reach this generation. To fill that building under construction with the needy of our own generation. And vast majorities of them will come amongst us.

49:43 And everything about us. And everything about them will scream of the worst sort. Tongues may be so conditioned by such a lifestyle that their first expressions of gratitude to God may be with curse words. I hope you won't get strung out and all unstrung I should say and upset.

50:07 And there may be times when we'll have to gulp. And how some people show up amongst us dressed who don't know any better. And patterns of life. Which have had no contact with living Christianity.

50:22 May God grant that such people will never sense a subtle unspoken but very real rejection by the people of God in this place. Now I don't know that any such thing exists. I'm not giving corrective medicine. I'm trying to give preventive medicine from this passage.

50:46 So that sinners of any stripe from any background. Whose very being and bearing. And bearing reach of their enmeshment in a life of sin. Will sense in this place two things.

51:01 They believe in a savior who can change sinners. And they draw near in his name. And seek to bring you to him. You see when the Lord begins to draw the low lifers.

Personal Identification with Sinners and the Church's Reputation

51:19 It's a mirror in the hearts of the other religious people who see it. And if you want a nice polite middle class church. Where nothing's ever upset. By low lifers whom God saves.

51:35 You better start looking elsewhere. Because sitting here this morning. And standing before you in the pulpit. Is one who though kept from an outward life.

51:48 Of a low lifer has seen his own heart. And there's no sinner. No sinner on the face of the earth. Towards whom I can point and say.

52:01 Look at him. Jesus came not to call the righteous but sinners. And if he's pleased to own the ministry of this place. He's going to call sinners.

52:15 If he's called you. He called you because you were a sinner. And rejoicing in the wonder of his grace. Let us pray and labor together.

52:23 And when the Pharisees look in. And we'll have them. We'll get the reputation that Jesus had. That he was not very discriminating in his social contacts.

52:34 Hallelujah. I'm so glad he wasn't. Or I wouldn't be here today. Neither would many of you.

52:43 And if we have to bear the reproach. Of proper upright snobbish religion. That we're a gathering of riffraff. Then let's glory in our shame.

52:55 And pray that God will ever make us. To be instruments in his hands. Through which the mission of Jesus is accomplished. Namely saving sinners.

Prayer for Humility and a Welcoming Spirit

53:07 By the power of God. By the power of his grace. Let us pray. Our father what thanks can we give you.

53:21 For the gift of your beloved son. That he came. Not to call the righteous. But sinners.

53:31 To repentance and to himself. And to the wonder of his own. Imputed righteousness. May this your own holy word be written upon our hearts.

53:44 For any who have never seen their hearts. And therefore despise. The righteousness that is in Christ. Oh God show them their hearts.

53:55 Until they cry out my leanness. My leanness. And may they be led. To embrace your dear son.

54:03 Take from us Lord. Every last vestige of the Pharisee. Oh God. Purge from the life of our congregation.

54:12 Anything that you see. That in any way is reflective. Of that spirit. That would put us at a distance from sinners.

54:21 Oh Lord have dealings with us. In your grace and mercy. May your gracious spirit. Continue to attend the word.

54:32 Continue to be with us. In the further opportunities of fellowship. And ministry this day. May the benediction of your grace.

54:41 Rest upon us with power. We plead in Jesus name. Amen. Amen.