LUKE 5:27-32 JESUS CALLS SINNERS2011 Teaching by Jerry B Simmons

Teaching Transcript: Luke 5:27-32 Jesus Calls Sinners

00:00
You are listening to FerventWord, an online Bible study ministry with teachings and tools to help you grow deeper in your relationship with God. The following message was taught by Jerry Simmons in 2011.

00:13
Today as we look at Luke chapter 5, if you want to later on check out the parallel passages that record the same account, you can look in the Gospel of Matthew chapter 9 as well as Mark chapter 2 and see Matthew and Mark's accounts and reading of the passage we're looking at today and the things that took place. But here in Luke chapter 5, I want to share with you the fact that Jesus calls sinners.

00:40
He calls sinners to follow him. He calls sinners to be with him. He also calls sinners to repentance, as we'll see. And there's four things I'd like to share with you about Jesus calling sinners. The first thing that we see is found in verse 27 and 28, and that is that Jesus calls sinners to follow him. Check out verse 27. It says this,

01:03
Jesus now is walking around. He's passing by and there happens to be a tax office there and he sees Levi. We also know him as Matthew. It's the same person but sometimes called Levi, sometimes called Matthew.

01:31
He sees Levi sitting there at the table at the tax office, and he says, hey Levi, come and follow me. Does that shock you? Of course it doesn't shock us. We're pretty used to and comfortable with this idea that Jesus called Levi to come and follow him. But you know, in that culture, in that day, this would have been something that was very surprising, even as we'll see in a couple of verses in the response of the Pharisees.

01:59
The reason why it was shocking to them was because tax collectors were a hated group of people. They were notorious for being greedy and wicked.

02:11
They were a class of people that were despised and detested because of their line of work, the harshness, the greed, the deception which they had, which went along with the job that they had. Because in those days, tax collectors were quite different than tax collectors today. The way it would work in those days was Rome, the government of the day, would give these tax collectors a quota.

02:38
And they would say, you need to bring in this amount of money or collect this much money from each person, each resident. But nobody else knew the quota that Rome had given to them.

02:51
And they were allowed to charge above and beyond the quota that Rome had given. So here you are, it's time to pay your taxes. And Levi comes to you and says, all right, fork it over. It's time to pay your taxes. And he says, here's your amount that you owe. This is what you owe. You got to pay this to me right now. Now they went in the authority of the Roman government and what they required was enforceable by the law.

03:18
And so you had to, it wasn't a choice, it wasn't an option, you had to pay the taxes.

03:24
But the reality was the tax collectors, because they were allowed to charge above and beyond, they would basically charge whatever they wanted to or whatever they could get away with. And so they would make a huge profit by deceiving the people and saying, look, I got to pay Rome, you know, you got to give this to me. And so they would force the people to pay them much more than was actually owed. And that's how they were able to make a living, but also to go above and beyond that.

03:52
And so, as you could see, they would be, you know, very greedy and wicked and deceptive to the people that they were collecting taxes from. Well, Matthew, or Levi, as he's called here, was one of these guys. And I was trying to think of, you know, what would be a similar profession today that is that despised? And I didn't want to get into it too much because I don't want to offend anybody if you happen to be in that profession. But

04:19
There was an article that was released last year that talked about, it did a survey of the 10 most hated professions worldwide. I'm not going to go through all of them, but just here's a couple of them. PR people is one of those professions that's hated. Dentists, I think we could all agree with that. That's a profession, not just because they charge a lot, but they hurt you. You know, they charge you a lot to hurt you.

04:42
Bankers was one of the list and I like the way the article put it. It was the glorified art of gambling. That's what bankers is. And so telemarketers...

04:51
Rob here is with us, so he could testify to that. Telemarketers, I mean, who enjoys, you know, you really look forward to that evening phone call right in the middle of dinner, you know, wanting to sell you something. That's one of the hated professions. Politicians, lawyers, traffic officers, you know, the list goes on and on, and you could probably think of your own. But as I was thinking about these, none of these really fit. And so I have another suggestion. This is, you know, made up. It's not for real. But imagine for a moment if...

05:20
Airport security had some additional liberties. Already airport security, none of us, we don't look forward to getting felt up as you go through, getting checked out, having your underwear spewing all over the place as they check your bags and stuff. Already there's a lot of discontent when it comes to airport security. But what if they were allowed to, by law, take whatever they wanted to from your luggage or from your person,

05:50
to keep for themselves. How much more would...

05:54
that line of work be despised and be detested? I mean, already it's pretty bad, but how much more if they could just say, hey, nice watch. I think I'll take that. I was just looking for a present for my wife. And so, yeah, hand it over and thank you very much. And what if that wasn't allowed by law and we were required by law to give them whatever they wanted as we pass through airport security? That would be a similar type of role or position as the tax collectors of that day.

06:24
And so this is the kind of guy that Levi was. This is the profession that he was in. And so you could understand why it would be a little bit of a shock to have Jesus walk by and say, hey, come and follow me. Jesus told this guy, Levi, this greedy guy, this extortioner, to come and follow him. Can you believe that? Can you believe that Jesus would do that?

06:52
We saw earlier in chapter 5 when Jesus called the fishermen, Peter, James, John, Andrew. And you know, it's one thing to call uneducated fishermen to follow you. You know, they're kind of a clean slate. You can build on top of them. They don't have an education. You can, you know, structure it and build them up the way that you want to. But corrupt tax collectors? Why would Jesus call this guy to follow him? Well, understand, first of all,

07:23
Jesus would call perfect people if he could find any. He'd be glad to. Yeah, come follow me. But the reality is there's no such thing as a perfect person. And so instead he calls people like Levi. He calls you. He calls me. He calls us as sinners. And he says, follow me.

07:43
You see, it's not so important the state that we were in when Jesus calls us. The real important thing is, will we respond to his call to follow him? The reality is, every one of us, we have sinned and we fall short of the glory of God. That's what the Bible teaches.

08:02
And so we like to kind of compare, well, hey, I'm not as bad of a sinner as George is. You know, I'm not as bad of a sinner as that person. I don't sin that much. And we like to kind of try to rate ourselves, you know, put ourselves on a scale and, oh, yeah, I'm better than that person. Or sometimes people go the other way and say, oh, yeah, I'm so terrible. God could never want me. You know, I'm way worse than Chico, you know, and God would never call me to serve him. But the reality is, as sinners, we all start at the same place.

08:30
And to each of us, Jesus calls us and he says, follow me. And so it doesn't so much matter where you start from and where it is you are when Jesus calls you. He doesn't say, you know, all right, Matthew, go clean up your life, go fix everything and then follow me. He says, no, follow me.

08:51
The starting point is not so important. What's really important is how do you respond? And we get to see Levi's response here in verse 28. It says, so he left all, rose up, and followed him. This is how Levi responded to Jesus's call. As a sinner, as a man who is in a profession that was known for its greed, for its wickedness, and that was hated by the people,

09:17
None of that really mattered. What really mattered was that when Jesus said, follow me, he left all, he rose up, and then he followed Jesus. And really, we see in his example the requirements to follow Jesus. This is what it takes. We see Levi goes on to stick with Jesus and to become one of the 12 disciples, the 12 apostles that are sent forth into the world after Jesus ascends to the Father. And so it leads me to ask you this question.

09:49
Are you a disciple of Jesus? Have you followed Levi's example in leaving all, rising up, and follow him? Let's break it down briefly. It says that he left all. We saw that earlier in chapter 5 with Peter. How he left that big catch of fish. He left the boats. He left the nets. He left the family business. And he followed Jesus. For Matthew, he was there in the tax office collecting taxes.

10:21
And he left the tax office. He left his occupation. He left that line of work to follow Jesus. He left it all behind. And that's what it takes to follow Jesus. If you want to follow Jesus, you have to leave it all behind. Now, not everybody has to quit their job in order to follow Jesus. But you know what? Some people will.

10:46
Not everybody will have to leave their family. And by family, I don't mean your spouse and your kids. I mean your extended family. Not everybody has to leave their family, but some will. Some will be required to that. Not everyone will have to move away to another city or country, but some will. Really, leaving all is a state of our heart. It's a condition of our heart.

11:15
Where we're willing to cut the ties and not be tied down by things in this world and things in this life. Whether it's possessions or money or occupation or family or whatever it is. That we put Jesus first. That He is the first priority. And that we're willing to leave those things behind if He calls us to. For Matthew, it meant he had to walk away. And so he left all. To follow Jesus, we must leave it all behind.

11:47
In Luke chapter 14, Jesus will go on in that portion to talk even more about what is required to be a disciple. But he says in Luke 14, 33, he says, whoever of you does not forsake all that he has cannot be my disciple. That's a requirement to follow Jesus, to be his disciple. You must be willing to forsake everything to follow him. You must be willing to let it go. The ties have to be cut in your heart.

12:17
That doesn't mean you can't, you know, continue your job necessarily. God probably has called you to that. But if he says you need to leave it, then you need to leave it. That doesn't mean you have to cut all the ties to your family. But if he says you need to cut those ties for now, then you need to cut those ties.

12:33
It's an attitude, a state of our heart where he's first and everything else is second. And we're obedient to him when he calls us to leave all and follow him. And so to follow Jesus, first of all, we must leave it all behind. But the second thing we see here that Levi does is he rises up. He rose up. He got up from the table. He took action.

13:00
Leaving all, as I said a moment ago, is often a condition of the heart where Jesus must come first. But now rising up is the proof of what has taken place in our heart. It's the outward expression that this is a reality in my heart, that I've left those things behind, that Jesus is first. And as proof of that, I'm taking action. I'm rising up to follow Jesus. It's easy for us to claim that we have left all.

13:34
We often do so. In fact, we sing songs like we just did a moment ago. I surrender all. I'm giving it all away. And those are great songs to sing. But is that the reality of our hearts? Is that true? And if it's true, where's the proof? Where's the action that corresponds with or proves that we've given it all away, that we've surrendered completely to Jesus? Oh yeah, we often claim that we've left all.

14:03
But then we won't rise up and put it into action. This is why James talked about the difference or the necessity of faith and works. And he explains in James chapter 2 that faith without works is dead. Because if your faith is not producing action in your life, it's not real faith.

14:29
Sometimes we as Christians, we claim to have left all. We claim, yeah, I'm surrendering to Jesus. I'm giving it all away. But then our actions don't demonstrate that and it proves that that's not the reality. There has to be action to follow up, to show, to demonstrate and prove it. To follow Jesus, we must take action. Well, the third thing we see that Levi did is he followed Jesus. He went where Jesus went. He was with Jesus.

15:05
That means that Jesus determined the course and he went along. He was with Jesus. There's an account in John chapter 7 where Jesus ministers to a Samaritan woman as he's passing through Samaria. Now normally a Jewish person

15:28
would not go through Samaria. Samaria was kind of right in the middle of Israel and there was the northern part on top of it, the southern part on the bottom of it. And so if you wanted to go from the north to south, Samaria was in the middle and they didn't like the Samaritans. They had...

15:44
some things against them. So normally the Jewish people, they wouldn't go straight through, straight down through Samaria because they wanted to avoid them. So they would cross over the Jordan River, go all the way down south. Then they would cross back over the Jordan River to get to where they wanted to go. But Jesus went through Samaria and Matthew went with him.

16:05
Now maybe for many of the disciples, they'd never taken that route before. They'd not gone through Samaria. But where Jesus goes, when you're following him, you follow. He determines the course. That means that we may not always be comfortable with the course that he sets. We may not always be comfortable or be excited about the direction he's going. Even if we don't like the direction, if you're following Jesus, you go with him. This means we need to be submitted to his leading.

16:34
We must remember that it's not your own life anymore. You've been bought with a price. You gave your life to the Lord. And so you need to follow him and follow his direction. You don't get to choose. Instead we say, I go where you go, Jesus. And so to follow Jesus, we must submit to his leading. We must follow him. And so Levi says,

17:03
Left all. He rose up and he followed Jesus. Have you done the same? He calls you. You're a sinner, yes. But we all start there. That's not the real important thing. The real important thing is how will you respond to his call? Will you leave all? Will you take action and submit to the leading of the Lord and follow him? Are you a disciple of Jesus?

17:30
Well, as we continue on in verse 29, we now see the second thing in regard to Jesus calling sinners. And we see here in verse 29 that Jesus sits with sinners. Here Jesus sits with sinners. Consider that for a moment. In verse 29 it says this, Then Levi gave him a feast in his own house, and there were a great number of tax collectors and others who sat down with them.

17:56
So now Levi has left everything. He's risen up. He's following Jesus. And he decides, I'm going to throw a big feast. And I'm going to invite some people so that they can come and meet Jesus. This is something that happens when God works in your heart.

18:17
You want to tell people. You want others to know who this Jesus is and what he has done. And so he gathers his friends together in order to share Jesus with them. I like the way that J. Vernon McGee puts it. He says, he was a rich publican or a tax collector. So he gave a dinner and invited all his rascal friends to it so that they could meet Jesus Christ. He invited all his rascal friends. He invited all his

18:44
His buddies. Now, who do you think were the friends of tax collectors? Certainly not the people that he was collecting taxes from. So who was the friend of Levi? Well, his friends were other tax collectors. Other rascals, other scoundrels, other people who were despised in society. He throws a party.

19:11
So that his friends, these rascals, can meet Jesus. I think it's important for us to consider at this point. Have you ever thought about throwing a party so that people can meet Jesus? Having a feast so that people have the opportunity to get to know Jesus? I would ask you, I would encourage you to consider it. Maybe you have a birthday coming up. And you know birthdays, some people like to celebrate them, some people don't.

19:42
And I'm not saying that it's wrong to celebrate and have a birthday, but maybe it's time that you plan a birthday party for yourself that doesn't involve you getting a lot of gifts or doesn't involve you doing what you want to do. But what if you planned a party for your birthday which gave people an opportunity to meet Jesus? This is what Levi does. He throws a great feast in his own house.

20:10
At his own expense, he says, come on, I want you guys to meet Jesus. And he gives them an opportunity to do so. Maybe it's not a birthday party, but maybe it's a funeral. I just want you to know, this isn't my plans. I don't anticipate anything. This isn't a word from the Lord. But listen, if you're involved in planning my funeral, listen, don't talk about me. Don't worry about me. I'm with Jesus. I'm fine. Talk about Jesus.

20:41
Call people to Jesus. That's the important thing. As I shared last week, it's a great opportunity because people are right there facing eternity and dealing with questions they don't normally like to deal with. No, no, no. Present the gospel, not just once, but ten times. Give people opportunity to know the Lord, to meet Jesus. I remember the time that Sherry Sousa, her husband, went to be with the Lord a few years ago.

21:06
And at the funeral service, she gave us full go-ahead green light. She said, I want you to share the gospel. Not only do I want you to share the gospel, but I want you to give an invitation there at the funeral service, an altar call there at the funeral service. Can you imagine that?

21:24
And I love it when families do that, when they give us that liberty because we have the support of the family. You know, we're not trying to offend anybody and overstep our bounds. But when they give us the authority, we'll bring the gospel message. And man, God did a great work. We've seen more people, you know, get saved at that event than any other single event. People responded. They had an opportunity to meet Jesus.

21:53
As I was thinking about this as well, as we were preparing for the outreach yesterday at the park, and I was thinking, you know, maybe some of us need to consider, maybe God would have us to do that same type of thing, but in our front yard. You know, kind of have like a little block party to invite our neighbors. Now, I know some of you, you don't want your neighbors to know that you're a Christian, but that's kind of defeating the purpose. We need to spread the gospel and share the news and shine the light of Christ.

22:22
And so maybe we need to do something like that. Maybe God would put that upon your heart. You know, we'll set up some face painting and set up a jumper and grill some hot dogs and invite the neighborhood and have the church there to share Jesus with people as they come. I think that maybe God would lead you to do that. If he does, then great, let's do it. But however God wants to work. We see here, Levi throws a great feast and invites all of his friends. I think this next one maybe will cause some people to struggle. But what about a wedding?

22:54
I know, you know, your wedding, you'd like look forward to it, you plan it, you know, since you're six years old, you're dreaming of this great wedding. But what if you designed your wedding so that it was an opportunity for people to meet Jesus? Maybe that's part of leaving it all and rising up and following him for you. Now again, weddings aren't bad, birthday parties aren't bad, you know, these things are not bad and I'm not condemning anybody for doing whatever you want to at, you know, your gatherings.

23:21
But what if you as a Christian, as a follower of Jesus Christ, you said, you know what? I want to do something where I can invite people over and they can meet Jesus. They can have the opportunity to get to know him, to experience his love. That's what Levi does here. He sets a great example for us. As he follows Jesus, he gives opportunity for his friends to come to know the Lord as well. Well, as he throws this great feast...

23:48
It says that a great number of tax collectors and others. Who are these others that are also there? Well, Matthew and Mark recorded as tax collectors and sinners. So whatever their occupation is or whoever they are, they're sinners. And Pharisees will go on in the next verse to say that as well. Tax collectors and sinners. It's kind of like rice and beans. They just, they go hand in hand. They go together, tax collectors and sinners. They're all together here at this feast.

24:20
And it says that Jesus is sitting with them. He's spending time with them. He's sitting down with a bunch of thieves and sinners. Would you do that if you were God? Would you, you know, hey, I can't wait to sit down with a bunch of scoundrels and tax collectors and thieves. Would that be something that you would participate in? But Jesus does because he loves the people. And he's not partial. He doesn't show favoritism.

24:58
What did Jesus have in common with these people? Well, you could look at their occupation, you could say, not very much. But it wasn't really about what they had in common so much as that Jesus loved them. He wanted to talk with them and share with them and get to know them. He wanted for them to have the opportunity to receive forgiveness, to hear the truth. And so he sat down with tax collectors and sinners, with thieves, with people of bad reputation. Again, Jesus sets a great example for us and if we're going to follow him,

25:38
I think we need to be willing to sit down with sinners. Now, I'm not suggesting, I'm not saying that we should put ourselves in dangerous positions, you know. So, don't walk down the dark alley at night by yourself, you know, so that you can hang out with tax collectors and sinners. I'm not saying you should purposely put yourself in harm's way. Sometimes God will call us to that like he did with the Apostle Paul and calling him to Jerusalem. But generally, unless the Lord overrides and tells you very clearly, use wisdom,

26:08
Obey Jesus and love the people. And take opportunity to sit down with those who are sinners. To give them an opportunity to meet Jesus. Because Jesus loves people. All shapes, all sizes, all professions, all backgrounds. Jesus did not show any favoritism ever. Not even once. And he still doesn't. He doesn't prefer one person over another. He doesn't love good people more than bad people.

26:42
Because the reality is we're all bad people. There's none of us who are good. Not even one, the scripture says. Jesus does not love religious people more than atheists. He loves each person completely, fully, perfectly. And so he sits down with sinners because he loves them. And you and I, yes, we can recognize, yes, I am a sinner. But Jesus loves me. And he wants to be with me. And he's willing to sit with me. He's willing...

27:17
and invites me to be with him. And so we see here that Jesus sits with sinners. Well, while he's doing this, there's some complaints that are floating around. There's some grumbling that is going on. And we see the third point this morning is that the religious complain about the sinners. Look at verse 30. And their scribes and the Pharisees complained against his disciples, saying, why do you eat and drink with tax collectors and sinners?

27:48
And so here we're introduced to these scribes and Pharisees. We talked about them last week as well.

27:53
These were the religious leaders of the people. They were very religious outwardly. They followed the law of God outwardly, but as Jesus will deal with them throughout his ministry, he reveals that their hearts were far from God. They weren't really interested in knowing God. They were just interested in following rituals and being religious and doing things outwardly so that people would look at them as being very religious and holy. And so these religious leaders, these

28:24
Jesus calls them because their hearts were far from God. They're looking at this situation. They're seeing Jesus with this big crowd of tax collectors and sinners. And it says that they complain. It could also be translated they mumbled or they grumbled. They're upset. Why is this guy sitting with them? Why is he? That's disgusting. How could he sit with those people? They're saying.

28:54
How could he be like that? And so in contrast to Jesus who's there with them because he loves them, here you have the scribes and the Pharisees grumbling and complaining that he's there with them. Listen, for us, I think this needs to be a very big heart check. Do we grumble about sinners? We need to be very careful about this. Do we grumble about sinners? We have to be careful that we do not set up, you know, a nice Christian club here at the church.

29:29
Where the ushers check you at the door. Hey, are you a Christian? I don't see your Christian badge. If you're not a Christian, you're not allowed. You can maybe sit outside. That's where all the non-Christians sit. I see you guys through the window there. We need to be careful. It's not, you know, hey, no unbelievers allowed. We're not going to post a sign, you know. You have to be a Christian to enter. No. One of the major reasons why we're here is

30:06
is to give opportunity for unbelievers to meet Jesus and to receive the life that He has to offer, the forgiveness that He offers.

30:15
Pastor Chuck tells the account of the early days of Calvary Chapel Costa Mesa. It was during the Jesus movement and all the hippies were coming and they had just moved into a new building that they had built and there was new carpet, of course, there in the building. And so, you know, the people of the church were excited. But one of the warnings that the person who laid the carpet gave them was,

30:37
hey, you probably shouldn't have bare feet on this carpet because it's really going to ruin it. It's not going to last long. And so the elders of the church were really concerned about that carpet. And so that Sunday they posted a sign that says no bare feet allowed. You have to wear shoes to enter in. Well, most of the hippies would come in barefoot. That was how they lived. That's how they were. And so Pastor Chuck shares how he came early that Sunday. He saw the sign. He got rid of it. He tossed it.

31:05
Because he didn't want anything like that. Like, hey, you have to meet this criteria. You have to meet this standard. You have to be like this. Otherwise, we reject you. He wanted people to be able to come in and hear from Jesus and meet Jesus. He had a meeting later. You've heard the story, I'm sure. They said, let's just pull up the carpet then if that's so important. And we'll just have cement. And that way people can come barefoot. Because we want to minister to the people as they are.

31:35
Jesus doesn't tell us, hey, you're a sinner. Go fix your life. Go clean up everything. And then you can come and talk to me. That's what the religious leaders would have wanted. You go clean up your life, clean up your act, and then you can come and participate. Then I might hang out with you. But that's not what Jesus required. He sat down with them and they were sinners. They were tax collectors. And he was there because he loved them. And so who are you more like?

32:05
Jesus or the Pharisees? Are you more like Jesus, loving people that God brings, that God has set before you, that God has brought into your life, or grumbling about the sinners that are there? You see, when we grumble about sinners, we're being like the Pharisees, religious and self-righteous. Not actually righteous, just self-righteous. And that's a very dangerous thing. We need to have the heart of Jesus.

32:44
The religious grumble and complain while the real work of God is going on. Let that one sink in for just a moment. The religious grumble and complain while the real work of God is going on. We need to be careful. If you find yourself grumbling and complaining, you better check your heart. Make sure that you have the heart of Jesus and not the heart of the scribes and the Pharisees. Well, we see here Jesus hung out with tax collectors and sinners.

33:17
Now there's a kind of a mindset that's going around these days. This is a little bit of a s*** note, but it's taking place where there's this, those that have called themselves discernment ministries or they're referred to as discernment ministries and they kind of call out and they see issues in the church and so they call out people and they call out people like Pastor Chuck, like Pastor Greg Laurie, these other guys, Billy Graham, so on and so forth.

33:43
And the technique that they use to evaluate and determine whether these guys are, you know, teaching the Bible or if they're really men of God, the technique that they use is what I refer to as guilt by association. And they suggest, hey, this person is hanging out with that people, this guy went to that conference, this guy had this person over, you know, to his fellowship. And so they must believe the same, they must think the same, they must teach the same. And

34:11
So therefore, these guys, they've gone astray. They need to be rebuked and corrected and they need to repent. But following that same type of technique, that same type of reasoning, if you look at this account here, as Jesus hung out with tax collectors and sinners, you would come to a big problem because then you would be accusing Jesus of being like they are. Guilt by association is not a biblical thing. It's very unbiblical actually.

34:39
Jesus was with these tax collectors and sinners, but big distinction, he didn't behave like them. And so he's at the feast. It doesn't mean that he's getting drunk and having a wild time. He's there to love the people, to minister to them. He's not behaving like them, but he's willing to connect with them and to be with them.

35:02
And so don't conclude that people are guilty of the same things of those that they associate with just because they're there with them or they have them over or they're friends with them. If you're behaving in a way that's unbiblical, that's a whole different story. But just to be with them, to have an opportunity to share with them the love of Christ, let's not consider or call them guilty because of that.

35:30
And so we see that the religious are those who stand off to the side. They're the ones complaining about the sinners while Jesus is calling them to follow him. He's calling them to sit with him, to share with them, to get to know them, to spend time with them. And finally, the fourth thing we see is that Jesus calls sinners to repentance.

35:51
I'm not sure what happened to the screen. But Jesus calls, there you go. Jesus calls sinners to repentance. Look at verse 31. It says, Jesus gives us a little illustration or example.

36:14
Here's these guys complaining, hey, how come Jesus is hanging out with all these sinners? That's disgusting. I can't believe he would do that. But Jesus says, those who are well, those who are healthy, they don't need a physician. Who are the people who need physicians? Those who are sick. So right now with my broken foot, I've had many occasions to visit the orthopedics department of Kaiser there in Riverside.

36:47
And every time I go, you look around as you're in the waiting room for a long time, and you see crutches, casts, wheelchairs. Everybody who's there has some type of broken bone or issue with their bones. Why? Well, because it's the orthopedics department. You don't go to the orthopedics department if you have healthy bones. You go there because, well, something's broken or not well. That's the whole purpose of it.

37:22
Jesus, that's what Jesus is saying. It's those who are sick, those who have something broken, those who are in need, those are the ones who go to the doctor. Those are the ones who need the doctor. Now, if the doctor said, I only want to see healthy people, what good would that be? That would be useless. All right, well, get your temperature down, get your cough under control, and then you can come visit me. That's opposite of what the doctors are called to do. Jesus then relates that to himself.

37:55
He says, look, I didn't come to call the righteous, but sinners. Jesus says, it's the sick people, the broken people, the sinful people who need help. They're the ones that I came for. I didn't come to hang out with religious people. I didn't come to hang out with self-righteous people, with those who think that they're okay. I didn't come because, you know, I wanted to spend some time with everybody who is perfect. Jesus says, look, I came because

38:28
Because there's a lot of people who are in a condition of sin. And they need someone to help them. They need to know that I love them. Jesus says, that's why I came. So he says, I've come not to call the righteous. Now, just to be clear, the Pharisees were not actually righteous. They were self-righteous. They thought they were righteous. They convinced the people that they were righteous.

39:02
But their hearts were far from God. And we'll see that later on as Jesus deals with the Pharisees throughout this book. Their hearts were far from God. And so they weren't actually righteous, but they thought they were righteous. And so Jesus says, look, I didn't come to hang out with the righteous. I came to hang out with sinners. Now that would be them too if they would just admit that they were sinners. But they were insisting, we're righteous. We're holy. We keep the law. We do what's right. God loves us. I can't believe you're hanging out with those sinners.

39:36
I like what J. Vernon McGee says. He says, the great physician can do nothing for those who think they are not sick. Like the Pharisees, they thought, wait, we don't need any help. We're fine. We're good. And so, the great physician, God can do nothing for them because they won't look to him for help. But those who need help, those who will recognize and admit, I'm sick. My life is a mess. I'm a sinner. I fall short. My heart is messed up.

40:13
Those who will admit, those who will recognize that they need help, that they need a Savior, those are the ones that Jesus came to save. Those are the ones that Jesus is able to deliver and to pour out His grace and mercy and love upon them. If you don't think that you need help, well then Jesus cannot help you. But if you know you need help, then I would call you to look to Jesus because He's the only one who can help you. He's the only one.

40:48
who can deliver you. Well, he calls sinners, we see here, but there's an important phrase at the end of verse 32. He calls sinners to repentance. So we need to understand, he doesn't call sinners to just continue on, just keep on going as you are, just keep living your life, just keep involving yourself in the sin, just continue on.

41:19
No, He calls sinners. He loves us. He died upon the cross for us. He paid the price to spend time with us so that we could have salvation. But it's not to leave us in the same condition that we are. It's so that we will repent. To repent means a change of mind or a change of direction. And again, it's like faith without works is dead. It's not just something that happens internally, but there has to be action that goes along with it.

41:53
And so if you're involved in lying, to repent is not just to stop lying, but to turn around and now start telling the truth. It's not just to stop doing wrong, but to start doing right. To go in the opposite direction. It's not just the about face, but it's moving in that opposite direction. And so if the issue in your heart is materialism or greed, it's stopping that, but then now pursuing the things of God.

42:26
If it's adultery that's going on within your heart, it's stopping that, whether it be internally or physically, stopping that, but then now pursuing the things of God, being faithful to the Lord, to your spouse, and so on and so forth. And so he calls us to repentance, to turn from those issues and areas of sin in our life.

42:53
To turn around and to go in the opposite direction and draw near to God. To change. He calls us to change. He gives us the strength and he helps us to change, but we have to change. He calls us to repentance. We cannot continue on in the same condition. And so we see here that Jesus calls sinners. He calls us to follow him. He calls us to be with him. He wants to sit with us, to spend time with us.

43:25
But he also calls us to repentance. To not continue on. To not stay in that state of sin and rebellion against God. But to turn, to repent. To leave those sins behind. To rise up and to pursue him and the things of God. To walk in obedience. As we finish up our time this morning, I would ask you, are you following the example of Levi?

43:57
Leaving all behind, rising up, and following Jesus. Are you responding to Jesus' call? He calls us to follow Him. It means we have to let go of those things in our heart that hold us back, that keep us from being wholehearted in our relationship with God. It means that we have to leave behind our sin, and we can't continue to practice those things that are not of God. Are you following the example of Levi? Are you a disciple of Jesus?

44:35
Are you leaving it all behind and putting Jesus first? Listen, He loves you. That's why He came. He came because we need Him. He came because we cannot have life without Him. We'll be miserable without Jesus. And you and I have all experienced that. But He came to bring life, to bring forgiveness, to bring grace. And so He reaches out to us even though we're sinners. And He calls us to follow Him. He calls us to repent.

45:20
Ronnie's going to come up and lead us in the last song. As he does, I would encourage you to just allow God to work in your heart. After the song, there's going to be some of us up here. If you need to get right with God today, if you want to receive Jesus and the forgiveness that He offers, if you want some help in answering that call to follow Him, we're going to be up here. We'd love to help you with that.

45:43
If you need prayer for anything else after this song, you can come on up as well. We'd love to pray with you. But during this song, just allow God to search your heart. Allow God to speak to you. As we sing, I give it all away. Let God challenge you. Is that a reality? Is there things in your life that you're holding on to that you need to let go of in order to follow Jesus? And so let's just take this time to respond to His call, to follow Him, to repent, and to pursue.

46:15
A relationship with God through Jesus Christ. Let's worship the Lord together.