I Have not Come to Call the Righteous but Sinners

Introduction: Jesus's Mission Statement

0:03 Now let us again turn to our Bibles this morning, to the chapter of the Gospel of Luke, the promise to preach the second of those twin parables that I made last Lord's Day morning, God willing will be fulfilled next Lord's Day morning. But this morning we turn to the Gospel of Luke and chapter 5.

0:29 Will you follow as I read verses 27 through 32? Luke, having described some of the intense activity of the Lord Jesus, then records,

1:04 There was a great multitude of tax collectors and of others that were sitting at meat with them. The Pharisees and their scribes murmured against his disciples, saying, Why do you eat and drink with tax collectors and sinners? And Jesus answering said unto them, They that are in health have no need of a doctor, but they that are sick. I am not come to call the righteous, but sinners.

1:36 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.

2:12 So on the designated Friday, the 100 members and friends of the church meet here at the church building at 6 p.m. in order to receive instructions for conducting this religious survey. You were told to make a gracious effort to secure the response of a broad spectrum of all kinds of shoppers, men, women, boys.

2:39 You were told to make a gracious effort to secure the response of a broad spectrum of all kinds of shoppers, men, women, boys. If at all possible, from different ethnic and racial backgrounds and styles of living reflected in the way they dress and adorn themselves with or without ear and nose rings and other body piercings, it's to be a good cross-section of the kind of people that shop in our malls. A special notebook was put in the hands of these 100 people. They were then divvied up into four groups.

3:10 One group was going to go to the Rockaway Mall, another to the Livingston Mall, another to Willowbrook, and another to the mall at Paramus.

3:21 Then they go and start at 7 o'clock, and people are in an unusually good mood that night, and they have very few people that tell them, get lost, anything to do with religion. My father told me never talk about religion and politics. Beat it. But that night, everyone seemed to be unusually compliant.

3:38 And as they're taking their survey, they're being very obedient to the directives given. They are to ask only two questions and then record the responses along with the age of the person, the sex of the person, the person's ethnic, racial background, some very basic data about the various people, and then to ask two questions of each one. Not three, not four, not one, but two. Question number one, and they're to very carefully tabulate the responses, the yes or no question.

4:11 And the question is, Do you believe that the person called Jesus of Nazareth actually lived on planet Earth as reported in the Gospel records? Do you or do you not believe that the person called Jesus of Nazareth actually lived on planet Earth, might add to the question, for 33 years, as recorded in the four Gospels? Yes or no? If you answer yes, then please respond to the second question.

4:48 In three sentences or less, state what you believe was the mission or the central purpose of the life and ministry of Jesus of Nazareth. What do you believe, in three sentences or less, was the mission or the central purpose for Jesus of Nazareth living on planet Earth for 33 years? Now imagine with me that the hundred have spent their two hours from seven to nine o'clock, gathered the data, and then have reconvened back here at the church, and we're going to collate and tabulate the responses to the two questions. What do you think we would discover with, with respect to question number one? What do the rank and file of people who shop at the malls in the greater New York, New Jersey metropolitan area have to say about whether or not they believe that a person called Jesus of Nazareth actually lived on planet Earth for 33 years, as it is recorded in the Gospel records? Well, we would discover that far more than a bare majority would answer an unqualified question, than an unqualified yes to question number one.

6:10 In fact, the vast majority would answer yes to question number one. How do I know? Because such surveys and polls are continually being taken. So that's not my idle personal notion.

6:26 Overwhelming, the response, yes, such a person actually lived on planet Earth. Do you have any idea what it would be like to try to tabulate and collate into some kind of consistent categories the answer to question number two? In three sentences or less, state what you believe was the mission or the central purpose for Jesus of Nazareth living on planet Earth for 33 years. I'm absolutely confident that it would be well nigh impossible to find any kind of consistent categories under which to organize the responses. I believe most of us would be surprised, shocked, grieved, and occasionally made giddy with the thrill of delight as the various answers to question number two were read off by our 100 survey takers. Diversity, ignorance, pathetic confusion,

7:44 and yet the ignorance, the confusion, the diversity is absolutely unnecessary. Uncertainty and misunderstanding and confusion as to the purpose of the coming of Jesus into this world is inexcusable because the very Bible that records the fact that he came tells us why he came. It not only underscores that there was and is such a person, but the purpose of his mission is set before us in the clearest terms. Therefore, any portion of God's word in which the purpose of the mission of Jesus is stated succinctly and clearly ought to be the constant companion of our faith. Thank you very much. of everyone and anyone who has any concern that who Jesus is and what Jesus has done and its reference to him or to her, such passages ought to be, I say, constant companions

9:02 and ought to be mastered as to their content and their personal significance. And we're going to look at just such a portion today. For we have Jesus himself telling us what his mission is. Isn't that what he does in verse 32?

9:22 I am not come, that's the negative statement of my mission. I am not come to call the righteous. Do you want to understand my mission? Let me tell you, first of all, what it's not.

9:36 I did not come to call the righteous. Now, I'll tell you positively, but I am come. Verb being understood, to call sinners to repentance. You want to know what my mission is in less than three sentences?

9:53 I'll give it to you in one. I am not come to call the righteous, but I am come to call sinners to repentance. Do you see that with your own eyes in your own Bibles? This is not some imposition of some religious wackos who like to turn sales.

10:13 Then go around with big Jesus saves buttons the size of a dinner plate and a strange far away look in their eyes and come up and say, are you saved?

10:26 This is Jesus, the one of whom we read in Philippians 2, who sharing in the very essence of Godhead takes to himself a true human soul and body, comes into our existence and voluntarily subjectively, directs himself to a death in which he was stripped of every last vestige of human dignity. And he is telling us why he has come. You don't go out this one day and let me read with that preacher. No, my friend, have the moral courage to say, I reject what Jesus says about why he came.

11:06 You'll destroy yourself, but at least you'll be honest in the process. He tells us in this passage, in plain language, I am not come to call the righteous, but I am come to call sinners to repentance. But you see, those words weren't spoken in a vacuum. Jesus didn't just get up one morning, scratch his head and say, now, I've got to give a nice, succinct summary statement of why I'm here.

Scene 1: The Activity of Jesus in Calling Levi

11:32 Everyone, listen up. In case you don't know it, I'm not come to call the righteous, but I'm come to call sinners to repentance. No, the Lord Jesus spoke those words in a very specific, historical setting. And I want us to take a few minutes to look first of all at the facts of this record of the conversion of this man called Levi, for it is in the setting of the conversion of Levi, his call into the fellowship of Christ that is the setting in which these words were spoken.

12:07 And as we look at the facts of this record of the conversion of Levi, I want us to do so, thinking of it as a one act, real-life drama with four scenes, all right? A one-act drama with four scenes, and that will help us to unpack the facts surrounding this statement of our Lord Jesus. Scene number one focuses on the activity of Jesus, verse 27. And after these things, he, Jesus, went forth and beheld a publican named Levi sitting at the place of toll, and he said unto him, Follow me. Here in scene one, the floodlights all fall on the activity of Jesus. First of all, we are told something about the backdrop of this activity of interaction with this man named Levi. The text begins with the words, And after these things.

13:13 What things? Well, if we were to take the time and read the immediately preceding paragraph or two, we would find that it is after Jesus had healed man of leprosy, verses 12 and 13 of this passage. And we read in verse 15 that because word spread of his mighty healing power, so much the more went abroad the report concerning him, and great multitudes, came together to hear and to be healed of their infirmities. But he withdrew himself in the deserts and prayed. This is a period in our Lord's ministry of tremendous popularity. Word spreads that with his word and with his touch, crooked limbs are straightened, deaf ears are opened, blind eyes are given sight, lepers are cleansed of their foul disease, and multitudes, born of small teeth, that are among Rome and oil and poison the soul. The great fry of their primo Facebook page was lately heard for Impfose. When open eyes, easily undismalised, lay poor and sl type words as they must before or after humor, alsoêmeal is a movement that was built to give kindness to the Bible. What does that mean to him in itself?

14:42 Verse flip 5. refreshing of these seasons of intimate communion with his Father. And then, in verses 17 to 26, we see that he exercises his power not only to heal a man, but to forgive his sins. Verse 20, and seeing their faith as they let down this man into his presence, man, your sins are forgiven you. And he said it publicly.

15:10 And this offended these Pharisees, these religious leaders. And Jesus said, all right, you want to know that I have this authority? I'll show you. And then he heals the man.

15:20 And it's in this setting, in which there is this electric current going through all of that part of Galilee, that this Jesus of Nazareth speaks with power and with authority like none of their official religious teachers. That he heals the sick, he's even raised the dead. And, wonder of wonders, he absolves people of their sins. Now, our text says, after these things.

15:50 Now, what's significant about that? Well, put yourself back in that setting. If somewhere in your neighborhood, in the next town or two, someone were performing miracles like this, would not word spread? And would not your interest and curiosity be excited?

16:08 Who is this one who does these marvelous things? And this man, Levi, we are told, was one who was sitting at his tollbooth. He was by some main thoroughfare, where people would have to pay a tax for the goods that they carried over that section of a Roman road. And you can imagine, as he listened to them going and coming, and the talk was all centering on this Jesus of Nazareth.

16:34 He's the one who heals lepers. He's the one who cures all manner of diseases. He's the one who speaks with unusual power. He's the one who speaks with unusual authority and power.

16:43 And we have heard that he even forgives sin. And there you are, listening to this, as travelers come and go, and your curiosity is being awakened. There in scene one, we have the focus on this activity of Jesus that forms the backdrop. And now, note the specifics of his activity in relationship to Levi.

17:10 And after these things, he went forth. Three verbs. Beheld a tax collector named Levi sitting at the place of toll, and said unto him, follow me. He went forth, he beheld, and he said.

17:30 You see that again, in your own Bible. We have visitors among us. I don't know what you're used to preachers doing. We want our people to be convinced of things, because they see it with their own eyes in their own Bibles.

17:40 And the task of the preacher is not to impose his notions. On the Bible. But to help those who sit under his ministry to see what is there in the Scriptures. Jesus, it is said, did three things.

17:54 He went forth, he beheld, and he said. He went forth. Why did he go forth at that time in that direction? Well, verse 32 is going to tell us.

18:07 He went forth with purpose. He went forth with a determination. That he would confer his grace. And call into the fellowship of himself, this man, Levi.

18:20 He went forth, and he beheld. He saw him, and then seeing him, the Scripture says, he spoke to him. He said unto him. And what he said was very simple.

18:35 He simply said to this man, follow me. There is no record that Jesus paused and started conversation. On neutral ground. And said, hey, your name, sir?

18:49 Oh, Levi, my name is Jesus of Nazareth. Beautiful day today, isn't it? I wonder if we are going to get our early rains or our latter rains. Such and such a time.

18:58 And by the way, do you know what place the Yankees are right now? And how the Mets are doing? It is legitimate sometimes when meeting people for whom we have gospel designs. To start talking about innocent, innocuous, neutral things.

19:13 Like Jesus did with the woman at the well. Get me some water. But apparently, if Jesus did that, it isn't important because the biblical writers didn't tell us that. He simply goes forth, sees Levi, comes within earshot of Levi and says, follow me.

19:34 And the Spirit of God is seeking to highlight for us that those were words of what I like to call regal grace. What is regal pertains to royalty. And to kingship. What is gracious pertains to the undeserved favor and mercy of God to the ill deserving.

19:57 And these were words of regal grace. Remember the setting, the backdrop. Jesus has been talking to demons and causing them to leave those whose bodies and personalities they possessed. He has been speaking into the midst of the world.

20:17 The midst of death and conquering death with his word. He has been pardoning sin by his word. And now this king of grace stands before this man Levi and says, follow me. There is no dickering.

20:38 There is no discussion. There is no negotiating. He simply says, follow me. Align yourself with me.

20:47 And as I ponder those words and try to think, how did the Lord say it? Speaking no doubt in Aramaic, that kind of diluted form of Hebrew that was the language of the people after the captivity and the return to Palestine. How did the Lord say it? Did he say, follow me?

21:10 Did he say, follow me? I wonder what the tone in his voice was. I wonder what the look in his eye was. Levi was able to be exposed to it all.

21:25 But regardless of what the tone was and the look was, that word came with the authority of the king of grace. When he is effectually calling a sinner, his invitation to follow is an invitation that is embraced from the heart. Follow me, Levi. But it was not only a word of regal, royal, kingly authority, but a word of grace.

21:57 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.

22:26 They despised these tax collectors, though they were their fellow countrymen. And that for two reasons. These tax collectors bargained with the Roman authorities for the right to operate one of the toll booths along their roads. And so the very presence of one of these toll collectors was a constant, irritating reminder that the Jews were a nation under the authority of God.

22:53 The authority of pagan Rome. So when you saw a tax collector, a publican, you were seeing an undeniable reminder of the fact that you are a nation under the rule of another. And that association with the Romans would, by the strictest of the Jews, these Pharisees, be considered utterly defiling. Rendering you ceremonially unclean.

23:22 And in many of the synagogues. In the various communities, they would actually excommunicate a tax collector. He would be cast out of the fellowship of that synagogue and of that community. So they hated these tax collectors, the Jews did, because of their association with Rome.

23:41 And secondly, because of their earned reputation for being a bunch of scallywags when it came to the matter of honesty in their dealings. Many of them had the habit of saying, All right, two shekels for Rome and one for me. In addition to what they received or paid out, I'm sorry, in the contract, there was not that kind of close scrutiny that would have encouraged a greater level of integrity and honesty. So they were known to be, in some senses, sort of the Palestinian mafia in that day.

24:13 And they were hated and they were despised. Now put yourself back in that situation. Along comes this now emerging, famous rabbi, Jesus of Nazareth. A Jew to his core.

24:29 And he looks upon this notable tax collector. This one in association with Rome, perhaps even an excommunicated member from his local assembly, his local synagogue. This one who is associated with those of dishonesty and graft. And he says, Follow me.

24:53 You see, that's not only a regal word, but it's a gracious word. Jesus is saying, All of your fellow countrymen may keep you at arm's length as though you'd been doused in skunk oil. But I'm not ashamed to have you seen with me. Follow me.

25:13 Become a tax to me. To my person. To my teaching. To my direction.

25:20 And I don't care who sees you with me. For I am not come to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance. And as we shall see, what does repentance do? It lands you in personal union, fellowship, and communion with Jesus Christ.

25:38 And when he says to a publican, Follow me. Those are words not only of regal authority, but of regal grace and mercy. And Levi knows immediately, Yes, what I've heard about him, that he even forgives sin, must have some connection with how he's treating me. He's welcoming me into fellowship with himself.

26:05 And those who say that this is not a call to discipleship and salvation, but a call to a potential apostleship, that's nonsense. For Jesus himself comments on what he's doing. He said, I'm showing you what I have come to do in my mission. And that is not to call the righteous, but to call sinners to repentance.

Scene 2: Levi's Response of Obedience and Gratitude

26:28 So that's scene number one. Scene number two, more quickly. What is the response of Levi? Verses 28 and 29.

26:37 And he forsook all, that's Levi, and rose up and followed him. And Levi made him, that is for Jesus, a great feast in his house. And there was a great multitude of tax collectors and of others that were sitting at meat with them. All right.

27:00 Scene one focuses on the activity of Jesus. The backdrop of the previous paragraphs, his mighty works, his healing, his forgiving of sin. Then, that threefold action, he goes forth, beholds, and he says, now this focuses, scene two, on the response of Levi. And here again, look at the four verbs.

27:26 What does it say? And he forsook all, and rose up, and followed him, and made a great feast. That's scene two. Forsook, rose up, followed, made a feast.

27:44 Now you can go out and preach this, you see. It's all right there in your Bible. It's right there in the language of the text. And here we see, if we reduce it down to its irreducible minimum, the obedience of faith and the expression of gratitude and love.

28:04 First of all, the obedience of faith. Jesus says, follow me. And now we read, he forsook all, rose up, and followed him. And I don't know what else to call that but the obedience of faith.

28:20 He must believe that Jesus has the right to call someone into radical association with himself with no indication of any promise of what he'll give him, what he'll do for him. He simply says, follow me. There must be some confidence that he is indeed a gracious one. That he would welcome such into his fellowship and not, when he gets to know him more fully, cast him off.

28:50 And so there is a response that I don't know what else to call, but the obedience of faith. And look at the strange way it is described. We would have written it, and he rose up, forsook all and followed him. But look at the order in the text and it reflects the order in the original.

29:05 He forsook all and rose up and followed him. You see, the forsaking all is fundamentally and primarily an issue of the heart. It's an issue of the heart. Follow me!

29:23 And Levi gets the message. This one who speaks with regal authority but with regal grace is calling me to commit myself unto him lock, stock and barrel and inwardly he forsakes all and as the outward expression of it he rises up and he follows. Now does that mean he did not take the time responsibly to dispose of his toll booth and his employee's ease that he had? No, no.

30:02 God doesn't call us to do impolite, irresponsible things. But the Spirit of God is focusing upon the issue that is vital to understanding. Verse 32. What's it mean to be called to repentance?

30:19 As we shall see, it means at the voice of Jesus saying, Follow me! There is an internal divorce from anything, anybody that would rival, utter, unquestioned commitment and devotion to Jesus Christ. He forsook all. Forsook all!

30:43 It's an inward disposition of the heart. He rose up and followed. His bodily actions followed his heart. When he forsook all, his heart was joined to Jesus.

30:57 When he rose up and followed, his outward demeanor, physical actions indicated he was joined to Jesus. And then you have this expression of his gratitude and of his unashamed attachment with Christ. Notice verse 29. Levi made him a great feast in his house.

31:18 Levi goes to his home. This shows that he didn't dispose of all personal property and all titles to lands. No, no. He had a big house.

31:29 And obviously, he had a bunch of servants. He didn't get rid of all of them. You see, the forsaking all is an issue of the heart. And he goes to his house and says, I want our best ten-course banquet to be spread.

31:44 He gathers his servants together and gets the chief cook. He says, this is what I want. What are we doing this for? We're doing this in honor of Jesus of Nazareth.

31:53 He came by my cold booth and in words of grace and regal grace, he called me to himself. Me, the publican, the outcast, the sinner. He's called me into fellowship with himself. And I'm utterly unashamed of his identification with me and mine with him.

32:11 We're going to have us a party. So it says that he made a great feast. Feast isn't enough. A great feast.

32:20 A mega feast. I mean, this was some feast. And why does he do this? He does it out of the twin motives of joy that he's been called into the fellowship of Christ.

32:32 And he obviously desires that some of his fellow sinners know the grace that he has found in Christ. Because in the passage it says, and there was a great multitude of tax collectors and of others that were sitting at meet with them. Now I know that in Acts chapter 1, 120 people are called a great multitude. So it doesn't mean he had a banquet house that sat 5,000.

33:00 But it was more than six or seven. It was more than a dozen. It's called a great multitude. He had a network of associations among his fellow tax collectors.

33:10 And it says others. And the others were not the highbrow of society. Because when the Pharisees see the people that are in that banquet, they get ticked off to the core. They said, what in the world are you doing eating and drinking with the tax collectors and what?

33:29 What does it say? And sinners. Sinners. People notorious for their indifference to God's law.

33:38 Openly profligate. Maybe it was the local union of street walkers. For often they put the terms together. Publican sinners.

33:46 Sinners and harlots. So scene number two is the response of Levi. The obedience of faith. He forsakes all, rises up and follows.

Scene 3: The Reaction of the Pharisees and Scribes

34:00 Then the expression of gratitude. He makes a mega feast and has a multitude who come. Now look, scene three is the reaction of the Pharisees and their scribes. Where were they?

34:15 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.

34:47 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.

35:14 Remember, Pella and Anderson and all the rest weren't manufacturing windows back then. So there were some open places. Maybe these fellows, when they saw the crowds of the publicans, the tax collectors, said, what in the world kind of bunch is gathering there? And then others, notorious sinners it says, maybe they stayed off in the shadows as it were and waited until everyone then sneaked up and started to peek over the top of the ledges of the windows and they'd get their little caucus together.

35:56 Do you read the Bible with imagination? Look what it says. The Pharisees and their scribes murmured against His disciples saying, why do you eat and drink with publicans and sinners? That means they had to see them eating and drinking.

36:08 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?

36:50 They were disgruntled, irritated. Why in the world, if you're going to have a religious leader, why do you associate with one who hobnobbs with these compromised Jews, these tax collectors, and other notorious sinners? That's what Gauls did. Had Jesus, had Jesus been up on a central table with a scroll from one of the prophets, condemning every kind of sin, and hurling out thunderbolts of wrath over the heads of all of these gathered sinners, the amen corner outside the window would have busted loose with, hallelujah, Jesus, give it to them, give it to them. That crowd needs it. But what Gaul then was, why do you and your master eat? You see that in the text?

37:44 Why do you eat with publicans and sinners? He's showing himself a friend of the riffraff. The riffraff needs to be preached into hell, not wooed into heaven. They're not fit for heaven.

38:02 If he came from heaven, he'd know it. And if you knew who he really was, you'd know it, and yet you're his disciples. Why do you, why do your master eat and drink with the publicans? With the publicans and sinners.

Scene 4: Jesus's Answer – The Physician and the Sick

38:18 That's scene three. Now we come to scene four. Jesus becomes aware of their question. How?

38:24 We're not told. We read the parallel accounts in Matthew and in Mark. We're not given any specific details, but Jesus becomes aware of their question, and he answers it. And notice how he answers it.

38:36 And Jesus, verse 31, answering. They ask the disciples. Jesus steps in and says, I'll take care of this, boys. You leave this to me.

38:46 You leave this to me. Jesus answering said unto them, They that are in health have no need of a doctor, but they that are sick. I am not come to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance. In scene four, Jesus answers, first of all, with a common observation, and then with a glorious comparison and proclamation.

39:10 First of all, he answers with a common observation. Healthy people have no need of a doctor. Anyone here want to disagree with that? See, any old nut knows that.

39:22 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.

39:28 That's fine. But you don't need him in his capacity as a doctor. You want him as your golf buddy. Go out and hit that silly thing around and cuss when you don't hit it right and come home with blood pressure up to 180 over 10 because you exceeded your expected.

39:45 Silly game. I don't touch it. If you like it, fine. To each his own.

39:50 All right. Now that I've knocked golf, we'll come back to where we are. Healthy people who are doing something other than sailing or hitting a golf ball with a doctor, they don't need a doctor. We all agree.

40:01 Healthy people have no need of a doctor. But there are some people that do need doctors. That's real, sure enough, sick people. Temperature's up at 105.

40:15 You've got the shakes. Cold sweats. Hot sweats. Weak.

40:21 Vomiting. Diarrhea. Intense pain. Some place or another.

40:26 You're sick. And you know the answer. It's not in your ibuprofen in the medicine chest or in your aspirin or in your Aleve. You need something more that's in your medicine chest.

40:34 You need a sure enough, bona fide practitioner of medicine so you get on the phone and say to the secretary, the one who organizes the schedule, I am sick. Sick. Sick. Sick.

40:44 Sick. Sick. Sick. Sick.

40:48 Sick. Sick. Sick. Sick.

40:52 Sick. Sick. Sick. Sick.

40:56 Sick. Sick. Sick. Sick.

41:00 Sick. Sick. Sick. Sick.

41:04 Sick. Sick. Sick. Sick.

41:09 Sick. Sick. Sick. Sick.

41:14 Sick. Sick. Sick. Sick.

41:18 Sick. Sick. Sick. and medicinal remedies isn't sufficient.

41:24 You've got to go out of yourself to a practitioner of medicine. That's what Jesus is saying. They that are healthy have no need of a doctor, but they that are sick really do. And how do they know they're sick?

41:37 The thermometer, 105.

41:40 Ten blankets around me and I'm shivering. Wearing out my shoe leather, running to the little room. The bucket next to my bed. You know you're sick.

41:52 That's what he's saying. People that are sick and know they're sick, they go for doctors. Healthy people don't. You say, all right, you beat it thin at the edges enough.

42:01 Listen, Jesus took the most simple thing and he drove it home in those very, very simple, straightforward words. That was his response. First of all, a common observation. Then notice what I am calling, in addition to the common observation, a glorious comparison and proclamation.

42:21 I am not come to call. The righteous, but sinners to repentance. As the doctor comes and ministers to the sick, or the sick one goes and lays his case before the bona fide practitioner of medicine. So I have come as the only true physician of souls.

42:44 I am come to call the truly spiritual sick, not those like these Pharisees who are righteous in their, in their own eyes. Not those who in their own eyes are healthy. They would pass anyone's physical. They're in the peak of health in their own eyes.

43:06 He said, I did not come to call such. I have come to call sinners to repentance. Sinners sick with the malady of sin. I have come to call them to a change of mind and heart and a change of.

43:24 Status and position before God and in relationship to sin and to self and to righteousness. I've come to call them into spiritual health as the great physician of souls by my person and work to make them healthy. Well, that's the four act, four scene, one act drama in the text. I hope you see the basic stuff of it.

43:53 You can throw out some of the adornment. Adornment of my imaginative embellishments. That's not the word of God, but every one of those verbs and the connection with the actions. That's what God has set before us.

Truth 1: Only Sinners Who Know Their Need Will Be Saved

44:07 Now, then what in the world does that say to us sitting here?

44:13 The beginning of what people call the 21st century. Some of us still stubbornly say we ain't there yet, but here we are 2000 years after this incident. And I've labored for the last 35 minutes to try to bring you into that scene, to feel something of the electric current of the resentment and the questions and something of the wonder of that regal grace. What in the world does that say to you and say to me sitting here 2000 years after the fact, what's it say to us?

44:53 Well, in the time that remains, I want us to focus on several things. It says to us, first of all, it says this, it says that only those who know and feel themselves to be the sinners that they are will ever be saved by Jesus Christ, only those who know and feel themselves to be the sinners that they are will ever be saved by Jesus Christ. How do we know it? We've got his word.

45:27 Here's my mission. I'm not. Come to. Call the righteous Jesus saying there are actually some people who are inherently righteous.

45:35 No, that would contradict the whole teaching of the word of God. It would contradict the teaching of Jesus. Several weeks ago, we looked at John three, verse eight, that which is born of the flesh is flesh and the flesh is enmity against God, blinded to the things of God. Jesus said, if you are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children.

45:54 No, Jesus is here in this context talking about these Pharisees and their scribes in their eyes. They are righteous. They are Pharisees, the separated ones. They are the ones who were continually washing themselves when they were out in the marketplace for fear.

46:12 Some gentile dog 100 yards away might have sneezed a little bit of his vapor got on their skin and they'd be rendered ceremonially unclean. The separated ones, they fasted twice in the week. Read about one of them who goes into the temple not to pray, but to bring his fake feathers, like a peacock in the presence of God. Oh, I thank thee, Father, I'm not like the rest of men.

46:34 I do this, I do that. And then he gives his clincher, and not like this publican, this taxidermist. Jesus said, I have nothing to do for those who don't see their need for me to do what only I can do. I came not to call the righteous.

46:55 I came not to call those right in their own eyes, acceptable to God in their own eyes. I have come to call sinners, sinners who are sinners, and sinners who know themselves to be sinners. Levi, he's heard, this one forgives sin. This one says, follow me.

47:20 This one invites me in fellowship with him. He must be a receiver of sinners. Yes, this man does receive sinners and eat with them. Luke 15.

47:32 The thing that precipitated the parables. Of the lost sheep, the lost coin, and the lost son, with this same problem, that he receives sinners. You see, the Scripture says very clearly, Thou shalt call his name Jesus, for he shall save his people from their sins. Matthew 1.21.

47:52 1 Peter 1.15. This is a faithful saying, worthy of all acceptance. Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners.

48:01 You see, when we get uncomfortable with the word sinner and saved, we're going to be uncomfortable with Jesus. Because you don't understand his mission without the reality of sinner and save. You shall call his name Jesus. Jehovah, our salvation, or Jehovah saves.

48:20 That's what the word means. Call his name Jesus, for it is he who will save his people from their sins. If you're uncomfortable with save and sin, you'll be very uncomfortable with the Jesus. Jesus of the Bible.

48:36 You'll have to make Jesus into some psychological guru. Some New Age mystic who has some good vibes about how to get in touch with ultimate and universal reality and all that other nonsense. But when you begin to take seriously the word sin, in terms of what it means to you, then the word save or rescue will be very precious. And the only one who can save and rescue will be Jesus.

49:07 And the only one who can save and rescue will be more precious yet. That's what happened to Levi. And he hadn't been around long enough to know that if you love the Lord and you want to show it, you don't have a banquet, you go out in the street corner and pass out tracts. In the flush of his newfound relationship to Christ, he took what he had in hand, his big home and his banquet hall and all of the chickens running around in the backyard whose heads could come off very quickly and get plucked very quickly.

49:39 And could be made into a sumptuous banquet. Why? Because as a sinner, he had been called into the fellowship of the Savior. That's it.

49:50 You want to know what's going on here? I, the true physician, have come and I have applied the balm, the healing balm of my grace, to this sinner named Levi. This banquet is a celebration of his coming to know why I am here. Here on earth, I came not to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance.

50:15 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.

Truth 2: Jesus Christ Alone Can Save Sinners

50:51 My friend, your admission or non-admission doesn't change reality for the wages of sin is death. But there's a second thing we learn from this word of Jesus and it is this, that Jesus Christ alone can save sinners from their sins. We learn that in the text. Jesus Christ alone can save sinners from their sins.

51:16 Where do we see that? Look at the text. I am not come to call the righteous, but I am come to call sinners to repentance. And in those words, I am come, is a world of rich biblical theology.

51:33 It points to the uniqueness of his person. He said in John 6, I am come down from heaven, not to do my own will, but the will of him that sent me. I am come. You and I can say, I was born.

51:47 He says, I am come. He came from that world of pure light and glory and the immediate presence of his father. And by way of Mary's womb, took to himself a true human soul and body, so that the one who stands before Levi is God with authority to forgive sin, is true man who goes and seeks one of his kind, Levi the sinner. And this is the Gospel, that Jesus Christ alone can save sinners from their sins.

52:25 He points to the uniqueness of his person. I am come, and these words point to the uniqueness of his mission. I am come to call not the righteous, but sinners to repentance. I have come on a saving mission.

52:41 And that mission is accomplished in my person. And as the scripture unfolds, on the basis of the work he would accomplish when he set his face like flint to go to Jerusalem and there bore our sins in his own body up to the tree and underwent nothing less than the vicariously born wrath of God that wrung from his holy soul the cry, My God, my God, why have you forsaken me? But then, thirdly, these words tell us that Jesus Christ saved sinners by calling them to repentance. Again, it's right there in the text.

Truth 3: Jesus Saves Sinners by Calling Them to Repentance

53:24 I am not come to call the righteous, but sinners to what? To a renewed assessment of their self-worth. That's the so-called gospel preached by many in our day. You know why you're burdened down?

53:41 You know why you have a bad conscience? You've got a horribly distorted self-image.

53:48 And Jesus will help you get your self-image all sorted. He has come to take bruised, twisted self-image and sort it out. No, my friend, Jesus said, I'm come to call sinners to repentance.

54:03 Not to patching up their bruised self-image. Not to come and help them to grab on their bootstraps with a little more strength and pull themselves up to God. He said, no, I'm come to call sinners to repentance. Repentance, a change of mind, a radical change of mind affecting the world.

54:22 The totality of life, a change of mind about God. Whereas you may have looked upon God as harsh and cruel and narrow-hearted, repent of that. I've come to reveal Him as the gracious Father who cares for the very number of the hairs of your head. If you're one of His children, you're of more value than the lilies of the field and the sparrows of the air.

54:48 Repent of hard thoughts of God. Repent of silly notions that you, who can do this, this, and this, this activity and that activity, and then present them as a bunch of brownie points to God and earn His favor. God is infinitely holy. Far beyond being impressed with your brownie points or mine.

55:08 I've come to call men to repent, to see the living God as the gracious Father who welcomes prodigal sons and daughters, to see Him as the Holy One of Israel whose wrath and anger cannot, in any way, be placated by your brownie points. It will demand the shedding of my own precious blood. I've come to give my life a ransom for many. This cup, we will say tonight, is the new covenant in my blood which is shed for the remission of sins.

55:41 He's come to call us to a change of mind, a radical change of mind about God Himself, about our sin. Instead of looking upon sin as, well, it's sort of like, you know, a little mini-epidemic of the measles. It goes through the school. It goes through the neighborhood.

55:59 I got the measles. You got the measles. What's the big deal? I hear people talk that, well, you know, nobody's perfect.

56:06 You know, we all are flawed.

56:10 Don't get too upset with what the president does in the Oval Room in his spare time and on company time. We're all flawed.

56:19 We're more than flawed.

56:22 We're defiled. We are enmeshed in this horrible, this vortex that pulls us downward and inward to its center called sin. Whoso commits sin is the bond-slave of sin. The wages of sin is death.

56:41 Christ is calling to repentance, a change of mind about sin, to see it as odious and filthy and vile in the sight of God, wrath deserving, hell deserving, that wretched moral principle that binds us, a change of mind about sin, a change of mind about sin, a change of mind about God, about sin, about righteousness. Except your righteousness shall exceed that of the scribes and the Pharisees, you shall not enter the kingdom. The only righteousness upon which God can smile is His own righteousness. And there's only one place for that to be found for sinners.

57:17 That's in Christ. And we have a change of mind about righteousness. We see it as something so infinitely perfect if it's to be acceptable to God that the only way to have it is in Jesus Christ. Jesus Christ, the righteous one.

57:31 What the Scripture says of God, He has made unto us wisdom, righteousness, sanctification and redemption, is to have a change of mind about how we're going to relate to others. No longer am I at the center of every relationship and every reaction. No, no. A change of mind about what I'm willing to do to have my way at the expense of others.

57:56 Repentance is this all-pervasive change of mind Repentance is this all-pervasive change of mind Repentance is this all-pervasive change of mind about God, sin, righteousness and others. about God, sin, righteousness and others. And Jesus has come to call sinners to that repentance that will bring them to faith in Him that will bring them to faith in Him as the only Savior. A deep heart repudiation of their sins A deep heart repudiation of their sins and a commitment to a life of righteousness.

Truth 4: Jesus Welcomes the Vilest and Neediest Sinners

58:20 and a commitment to a life of righteousness. And then the final note that I want to sound as we close. The fourth thing we see in this passage The fourth thing we see in this passage not only that we must see the Lord and own ourselves to be sinners if we're to be saved by Christ Christ alone, Christ himself is the Savior Christ alone, Christ himself is the Savior Christ saves sinners by calling them to repentance But Jesus Christ saves the vilest But Jesus Christ saves the vilest and the neediest of sinners who will come to Him. He wasn't embarrassed to be found a friend of Levi All of his past reputation notwithstanding All of his past reputation notwithstanding Jesus welcomes sinners Jesus welcomes sinners would hold, Jesus was neither shocked nor repulsed that the guests were fellow publicans, fellow tax collectors, and notorious sinners. May I say it this way to maybe have a little bit of healthy shock effect? Jesus was blissfully comfortable in the presence of sinners. He was not comfortable in the presence of self-righteous hypocrites. He called them whitewashed sepulchers. He called

59:36 them a brood of snakes. He used his strongest language for self-righteous hypocrites. But what does he do in the presence of sinners? He says to the woman taken in adultery, neither do I condemn you. Go, sin no more. The Pharisees are upset that he's receiving sinners.

60:00 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, that's the God I've come to reveal, who runs to sinners, throws his arms around their neck, and kisses them, and says, put on them the best of the roses and the finest of the ring, and break out the best calf, and bring the band. We're going to

61:02 have us a holy hold down. And that elder brother, representing the Pharisees, who are upset with a God like that. Sees all the dancing and the celebration in his self-righteousness. I've always served the father. Never gave me the fatted calf. Never had a holy hold down for me. He didn't feel comfortable around sinners. The father did. Now don't mistake me. He hates sin. He'll judge sin. He'll send sinners into everlasting burning. But the point I'm making that is here in the passage, Jesus is comfortable with sinners.

61:49 They know themselves to be sinners and they're ready to embrace him in his grace. My unconverted friend, you need not delay one millisecond going to Christ wondering, will he take a sinner like me? I've resisted his truth for years. Preacher, you don't know what I've done. You don't know where I've been. You don't know the hell of the memories of all that I've done and been. No, I don't. But Jesus does, and he says, I've done and been.

62:19 says, welcome, come, come. I've come to call sinners. I've come to call sinners. I'm not uncomfortable with sinners. Come. Ah, yes, buts. No, no, no, yes, buts. If anyone could have the yes, buts, Levi could have. Follow me. Yes, but Jesus. Do you know? Yes, I know.

62:40 I know all the times you've juggled the books. I know all the times that you've filled your own pockets with someone else's. I know, I know, I know, I know, but I still said, follow me. There's nothing about you that I don't, I know more about you than you know about yourself. And yet I say, follow me. I welcome sinners. My friend, can you picture the Lord Jesus standing before you in all the nakedness of your sinfulness and saying, follow me. Yes, but Jesus, yes, I know all about it, but follow me. My grace and the virtue of my death and all of the glory of the righteousness that I provide for sinners, it more than takes care of all that you are and all you've done. Come follow me. Yes, but Lord, I, I said,

63:30 stop all that nonsense. Come follow me. Follow me. Follow me. Jesus welcomes sinners. Jesus delights to save the vilest and the neediest of sinners. And the one thing that keeps you from him is your stubborn pride. Go to him. Go to him. Go to him now. Go to him where you

64:01 stand. And dear child of God, when your own failures and your own inconsistencies and your own sins rise up at times and point one big accusing finger at you and then the echoing voice of the enemy, how can you be a Christian? Come back to text like this and say, Lord Jesus, I take the posture now I did at the beginning just as I am without one plea, but that your blood was shed for me. Amen.

64:31 Amen. you bid me come to thee, O Lamb of God, I come. You don't grow away from that simple, penitent grasp of a merciful, welcoming Savior. You grow in it until sin is no more, and we see the Lamb in the midst of the glory, and we shall be like Him, but we shall see Him as He is. Until that day, today, we need a Savior who is comfortable, not with sin. Don't anyone go out and say, I said He's comfortable with sin. I said with sinners. Do you know Him? I close with these

65:17 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 they require, and let them apply to Him for relief.

66:05 His final two words, without delay, I came not to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance. Let's pray. Our Father, what thanks can we render to You that You would record for us in the pages of Holy Scripture such an incident in the life and ministry of our Lord Jesus. And we thank You that what He was to Levi, then He is to everyone.

66:42 He is the one who will know that His reaction has not come to us but to the righteous. We root for you and we supplicate You, Lord, to believe clearly in theTERRORS of every sin and in every sinner who will obey His regal, royal, gracious call, follow ME. We pray, Lord Jesus, that in this place, this day, some would find their hearts like Levi, forsaking all, rising up to follow You. All these things are the reason that we are praying for the victory of our Lord Jesus and for the glory of Jesus Christ, for the glory of the holy God, who is in heaven now and for the glory of every sinner who will obey His regal, royal, gracious call, follow ME. We pray, Lord Jesus, that in this place, this day, some would find their hearts like Levi, forsaking all, rising up to follow glory of your son that he may receive another measure of the reward of his sufferings seal your word thank you that you are able to take the one who even now finds our praying and irritant to his or her heart's desires oh god soften that proud stubborn heart humble the proud and bring many broken in faith to the feet of our lord jesus hear our prayers and answer us for his praise amen