"Jesus, the Friend of Sinners" 02/19/2023

First Baptist Church Leominster

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Christ and how the animal sacrifices of the Old Testament ceremonial law pointed to Christ.

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They were insufficient to bring about true forgiveness of sin. The chapter ends, however, with an admonition, again the writer was addressing professing

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Christians who are Jewish that they had to cleave to Christ, continue in faith for salvation.

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God does not promise salvation to temporary believers, but true believers are those who persevere in faith throughout life, even unto the end.

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And so there's a word of admonition. And so when we get there and it talks about sinning willfully, we all sin willfully, truth be known, but here in this passage sinning willfully is intentionally purposing to reject

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Jesus Christ and walk away from him fully and finally to apostatize.

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And there's no salvation for the one that does that. Hebrews chapter 10, for the law having a shadow of the good things to come and not the very image of the things, can never with these same sacrifices, which they offer continually year by year, make those who approach perfect.

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For then would they not have ceased to be offered, for the worshipers once purified would have had no more consciousness of sins.

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But in those sacrifices there is a reminder of sins every year, for it is not possible that the blood of bulls and goats could take away sins.

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And therefore, when he came into the world, he said, sacrifice and offering you did not desire, but a body you have prepared for me.

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And burnt offerings and sacrifices for sin you had no pleasure. And then

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I said, behold, I have come in the volume of the book it is written of me to do your will,

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O God. Previously saying, sacrifice and offering, burnt offerings and offerings for sin you did not desire, nor had pleasure in them, which are offered according to the law.

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And then he said, behold, I've come to do your will, O God. He takes away the first that he may establish the second.

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And by that will we have been sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all.

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And every priest stands ministering daily and offering repeatedly the same sacrifices, which can never take away sins.

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But this man, after he had offered one sacrifice for sins forever, sat down at the right hand of God from that time, waiting till his enemies are made his footstool.

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For by one offering, he has perfected forever those who are being sanctified.

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But the Holy Spirit also witnesses to us for after he had said before, this is the covenant that I will make with them after those days, says the

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Lord, I will put my laws into their hearts and in their minds, I will write them. Then he adds, their sins and their lawless deeds,

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I will remember no more. And now where there is remission of these, there is no longer an offering for sin.

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Therefore, brethren, having boldness to enter the holiest by the blood of Jesus, by a new and living way which he consecrated for us through the veil that is his flesh, and having a high priest over the house of God, let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water.

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Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering for he who promised is faithful.

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And let us consider one another in order to stir up love and good works, not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together as the manner of some, but exhorting one another and so much the more as you see the day approaching.

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For if we sin willfully after we've received the knowledge of the truth, there no longer remains a sacrifice for sins.

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But a certain fearful expectation of judgment and fiery indignation which will devour the adversaries.

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Anyone who's rejected Moses's law died without mercy on the testimony of two or three witnesses.

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Of how much worse punishment do you suppose will he be thought worthy who has trampled the son of God underfoot, counted the blood of the covenant by which he was sanctified a common thing, and insulted the spirit of grace?

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We know him who said, vengeance is mine, I will repay, says the Lord, and again the

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Lord will judge his people. It's a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God.

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Recall the former days in which after you were illuminated you endured a great struggle with sufferings, partly while you were made a spectacle both by reproaches and tribulations, and partly while you became companions of those who are so treated.

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For you had compassion on me and my chains and joyfully accepted the plundering of your goods knowing that you have a better and an enduring possession for yourselves in heaven.

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Therefore do not cast away your confidence which has great reward. For you have need of endurance so that after you've done the will of God you may receive the promise.

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For yet a little while he who is coming will come and will not tarry. Now the just shall live by faith but if anyone draws back my soul has no pleasure in him.

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But we are not of those who draw back to perdition but of those who believe to the saving of the soul.

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What a wonderful passage. Let's pray. Father we know that we're saved by your grace through faith and that even the faith we have is due to your grace working in us.

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Faith itself our God is your gift, we know that from the scriptures. And we ask our

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God that you would sustain us in that faith. We pray our God that you would help us turn away from anything in our lives that would diminish that faith or cause us to become indifferent or hardened toward you.

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In other words our God we ask for persevering grace may you enable us to cleave to Christ closely and never depart from his side.

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Now father as we open your word back in Luke's gospel we pray that you would instruct each of us, inform us, reinforce for us the truth that's in Jesus Christ.

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We pray for anyone here that may be a stranger to Christianity, a stranger to Christ that you would reveal that to him or her.

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And we pray that this would be a day of new beginnings for that soul. As we go forth from here we pray that every one of us our

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Lord would be a believing person, believing on Jesus Christ as the only hope of sinners, the

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Lord and Savior in whose name we pray, amen, amen.

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Let's turn in our Bibles to Luke chapter 5 and we want to consider today verses 27 -32.

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Not a long passage but substantive. The story before us sets forth

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Jesus as a friend of sinners, wonderfully. There are actually two parts to this episode.

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First in verses 27 and 28 we read of the call of Jesus to Levi to become his disciple.

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Levi of course is named Matthew elsewhere.

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And second in verses 29 -32 we read of the festive meal that Levi dedicated to Jesus inviting his friends.

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The feast not only reflects Levi's joy and his desire to honor his new master but the meal is also an evangelistic effort to bring his friends to see and hear

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Jesus. And so in this account we see that though the

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Lord speaks a command of just two words in verse 27, Luke does not record any words of Levi, he just describes

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Levi as acting, responding to Jesus' command. Levi responds in immediate obedience and then

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Luke recorded the conversation between the disciples of Jesus and the Pharisees and their scribes.

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And Jesus' concisely worded response to their challenge concludes the short exchange.

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So here's the passage. After these things he, Jesus, went out and saw a tax collector named

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Levi sitting at the tax office and he said to him, follow me. And so he left all, rose up and followed him.

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And then Levi gave him a great feast in his own house and there were a great number of tax collectors and others who sat down with them.

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And their scribes and the Pharisees complained against his disciples saying, why do you eat and drink with tax collectors and sinners?

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And Jesus answered and said to them, those who are well have no need of a physician but those who are sick,

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I have not come to call the righteous but sinners to repentance. This event is recorded not only here in Luke but also in the other two synoptic gospels of Matthew and Mark.

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And if we were to consider those three accounts side by side we would see great similarity of course but a few divergent details.

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In Matthew's gospel his account refers to himself by his Christian name Matthew. Here Luke of course refers to him as Levi, Mark does as well.

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It would seem that Matthew wanted to identify himself foremost as a Christian in the gospel that he authored.

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Matthew was his Christian name, Levi was probably his birth name. Second, Mark's gospel shows

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Jesus is teaching the multitudes when he stopped and took time and made effort to call Matthew or Levi unto himself.

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And then third, here in Luke's account the nature of discipleship of Jesus is emphasized. All in those two words, follow me.

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And also Luke includes the detail that Levi was leaving everything to follow

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Jesus. Luke also adds the phrase to Jesus' words, I've not come to call the righteous but sinners and he adds his prepositional phrase to repentance.

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That's Luke's emphasis. This is a theme greatly pronounced in this gospel also in the book of Acts, repentance from sin, turning from sin unto

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God through Christ. Luke records Levi as the originator of the feast in order to show forth his joy and his desire to glorify

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Jesus. The Holy Spirit guided the writers of these three gospels to highlight emphases and to convey certain truths or principles in order to communicate their message to their readers.

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Well now let's consider Luke's account and the points of emphasis, the points of emphases that Luke provides.

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First we have the call of Levi in verses 27 and 28. We read, after these things he went out and saw a tax collector named

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Levi sitting at the tax office and he said to him, follow me. And he left all, rose up and followed him.

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Luke opens this episode with the words, after these things he, Jesus, went out. In the previous episode we read of the authority of Jesus to forgive sinners of their sins.

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We dealt with that last week and now in this episode it's revealed to us the kinds of people that Jesus came to save from their sins.

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He has the authority to forgive sins and who is he looking for? He's looking for sinners.

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Jesus forgives sinners of their sins, that is needy sinners who repent of their sins and follow him as his disciples.

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And we might just say at the outset here, a true Christian is a true disciple of Jesus Christ.

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If you're no disciple of Jesus, follower of Jesus, you're not a Christian regardless of what you claim.

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Now Jesus had been ministering in the towns of Galilee but here he went out of the city, probably

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Capernaum, and there he saw a tax collector named Levi. The Greek word translated saw is a strong form which suggests that Jesus singled out

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Levi particularly. He saw Levi. Here we have the

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Lord Jesus as the good shepherd seeking his lost sheep. Jesus sought out Levi, found him, calling him into his fold.

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Some have suggested that the name Levi reveals that he was of the tribe of Levi which of course was the tribe from which priests and other temple workers were drawn.

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And further some have suggested that Levi in his gospel, the gospel he wrote, the gospel of Matthew, betrays religious training suggesting that this

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Levi had been in training for the priesthood perhaps but then forsook the privilege of his birth when he became a publican, a tax collector for Rome.

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Now this is speculation but there is some evidence pointing in this direction. However Matthew's gospel does betray an intimate first -hand knowledge of the

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Jewish people and their religious practices as well as their messianic hope and Matthew sent forth his gospel to Jewish readers principally.

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Luke probably to Gentile readers principally, Matthew to Jewish readers principally, setting forth

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Jesus as the promised son of David, the Messiah of Israel. Here in Luke's account we read that Levi was sitting at the tax office.

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Levi was sitting at a public place in an official capacity to exact fees and taxes from those who passed by him.

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There was a well -traveled road that passed through Capernaum on the western shore of Galilee. This would have been the major trade route on which

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Gentile travelers traveled from Syria to the north and Egypt to the west.

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And on this road many goods from the lands of the Gentiles came into the kingdom of Antipas, here at Antipas.

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It was an international highway. Rome exacted tolls and tariffs from the commerce and so here at or near Capernaum outside the city was one of the most suitable places for a tax collector to do his work.

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Levi would probably have purchased the position as tax collector on behalf of the

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Roman leader having won a bid for an annual fee. People bought the office, it was so lucrative.

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And the Jewish populace viewed these Jewish tax collectors with great disdain and animosity.

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Tax collectors, Republicans, were regarded as betrayers of their people who had abandoned the faith in order to enrich themselves through the exploitation of their people.

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The Jews regarded Levi as a great sinner and as such he was disenfranchised from the religious community of the

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Jews. He was an outsider, a great sinner. He was viewed with disgust and despised by most.

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Again, he was viewed as a traitor. He had bartered the love for his countrymen, the love for his

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God for the sake of money and collecting taxes for Rome. But the primary reason

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Levi was ostracized from the worshiping community was that his business brought him into continual contact with Gentiles which would have rendered him unclean.

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And so he was barred from involvement in the synagogue, but also he was not allowed to participate in the services of the temple in Jerusalem.

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He was clearly an outsider. And here we see him at his appointed place probably on the main highway between Syria and Egypt collecting taxes of Gentile traders passing through the land.

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And it is to this one, an object of disgust to the Jews who knew him, that Jesus sees and calls to become one of his disciples.

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Amazing. Matthew Henry wrote, it was a wonder of his grace that he would call a publican from the receipt of custom to be his disciple and follower.

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It was wonderful condescension that he should admit poor fishermen to that honor, men of the lowest rank, but much more wonderful that he should admit publicans, men of the worst reputation, men of ill fame.

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And in this Christ humbled himself and appeared in the likeness of sinful flesh. By this he exposed himself and got the invidious character of a friend of publicans and sinners.

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We then read of Jesus addressing Levi, he said to him, follow me. And Levi responded immediately and decisively.

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Now we can probably assume that Levi knew of Jesus before Jesus singled him out and called him to be one of his disciples.

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All in this region knew of Jesus. Perhaps Levi had personally heard Jesus teach or witnessed his miracles.

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But what is set forth is that Levi responded to Jesus' call to follow him as really the ideal and fitting response when

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Jesus calls anyone unto himself. And why would anyone hesitate?

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Why would anyone not respond to Jesus through whom life is truly and fully experienced and through whom eternal life is fully and freely offered?

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To follow Jesus is to enter the pathway to every blessing in this life and the life to come.

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To follow Jesus as his disciple is to enter the narrow gate and to travel the narrow way that leads on to eternal life.

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So you might be a sinner who is far from God. Perhaps you view yourself as having forsaken early privileges and opportunities, perhaps having been raised in a

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Christian home. You now feel yourself so estranged from God that you forfeited any opportunity for recovery and forgiveness, yet alone a place of useful service.

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To such ones as was Levi, Jesus, who is very merciful and gracious, says, follow me.

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He's looking for sinners. We might say a couple of things about this call of Levi and what it tells us about the ones mentioned first.

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Of course, Jesus calling Matthew underscores the biblical truth that the ways of God are clearly not the ways of the world.

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God's work is done differently than man's work. There is a total disregard for worldly wisdom and the manner of Jesus' calling and the people whom he chooses.

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Had Jesus been instructed in the ways of modern marketing and gaining influence, he would not choose as one of his representatives one who would arouse the prejudice of the people he desired to influence.

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No, God's calling is not as we would call. So look about and consider one another and then consider the word that describes us.

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For you see, you're calling brethren. Paul was writing to the church. Not many wise according to the flesh, not many mighty, not many noble are called.

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There's a few, but not many of us. But God has chosen the foolish things of the world to put to shame the wise.

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God has chosen the weak things of the world to put to shame the things which are mighty and the base things of the world,

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Levi, and the things which are despised, Levi. God has chosen and the things which are not to bring to nothing the things that are so that no flesh should glory or boast in his presence.

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But of him you were in Christ Jesus, it's of sovereign grace, who became for us wisdom from God and righteousness and sanctification and redemption, that as it is written, he who glories let him glory in the

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Lord. You give God all the credit, none for yourself.

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Now thankfully God is not a respecter of persons. There's nothing about a person that endears him or her to God.

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That's what that means. God is not a respecter of persons. There's nothing you can do, should do, might do, want to do, that commends you to God.

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You're a sinner, you're guilty, you're under his wrath outside of Christ. God's choice of people is a matter of his sovereign grace.

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That is, he sets his love upon those he chooses, not because of anything good, desirable, attractive, preferable in them.

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And so the Bible teaches clearly that God's purposes in grace is according to his unconditional, and that's what that means.

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It's not conditioned on you. His unconditional election, as we who are reformed call it.

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Luke's account is consistent with this biblical teaching. God chose in eternity the ones through whom he would glorify himself in bringing them salvation.

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God the Father chose them in eternity, the Bible teaches us. He gave them to his

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Son in eternity. God's Son in eternity, purpose to become one of them and with them in order to redeem them from their sin.

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We read that in Hebrews 10. The Holy Spirit in eternity, before creation, purpose to bring those chosen ones to faith in Jesus Christ, giving them the gift of repentance from sin so that they would willingly, of their own will, free will.

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Nobody comes to Christ unwillingly, but God in his grace changes the willer, doesn't he?

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And so we're willing in the day of his power. The Holy Spirit does that so that we willingly come to Jesus as our

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Lord and Savior. Otherwise, we never would. And so God shows no respect to persons.

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And yet, how often do we see persons who are esteemed to be great in the eyes of man, particularly entertainers or sports figures, who upon making a profession of faith are paraded in evangelistic meetings or whose books are promoted to commend

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Christianity to the world. Do not be enamored by people in high places who make some show of Christianity.

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Oftentimes they prove to be scandalous. And do not present them in a manner to commend the

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Christian faith to others. Look how great this guy plays basketball and he says you should be a

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Christian. And that gives weight to the testimony. No, we are to present

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Christ. Christ will not disillusion or disappoint people when they look past them or us to him, for he is the friend of sinners,

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Christ alone. Well, secondly, this event reveals that there can be an abruptness in God's call, his call of sinners unto

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Jesus Christ. It can happen suddenly. Jonathan Edwards once gave a sermon on this subject out in Northampton of sudden and surprising conversions of sinners unto

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Jesus Christ. His sermon was entitled Divine and Supernatural Light, in other words, an understanding, immediately imparted to the soul by the

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Spirit of God, shown to be both scriptural and rational doctrine. It's reasonable too.

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They had long sermon titles. By a divine and supernatural light,

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Edwards was speaking of spiritual knowledge and understanding of God and the way of salvation in Jesus Christ.

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And so Edwards was teaching that the Holy Scriptures speak of the sudden illuminating and converting work of the

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Holy Spirit in sinners. And the passage that Edwards was expounding was our

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Lord's response to Peter after Peter confessed that Jesus was the Christ, the Son of the living God. Jesus responded to Peter saying,

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Blessed are you, Simon Barjona, flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but my Father who is in heaven.

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See there, they're revealed as the light being turned on. This is what enabled Peter to recognize and confess

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Jesus as Christ, the Son of God. So here are a few of Edwards' words regarding the light, that is the divine knowledge that God imparts to people in their salvation.

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And this is what is needed with respect to every sinner. That lost one for whom you are concerned, this is what is needed, isn't it?

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A divine light revealed. Edwards wrote, And this light and knowledge is always spoken of as immediately given by God.

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At that time Jesus answered and said, I thank thee, O Father, Lord of heaven and earth, because thou hast hid these things from the wise and prudent, and has revealed them unto babes.

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Even so, Father, so it seemed good in thy sight. All things are delivered unto me by my

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Father, and no man knows the Son but the Father. Neither knows any man the

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Father save or except the Son, and he to whomsoever the Son will reveal him.

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Here this effect is ascribed alone to the arbitrary operation and gift of God, bestowing this knowledge on whom he will, and distinguishing those with it that have the least natural advantage or means of knowledge, even babes, when it is denied to the wise and prudent.

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And the imparting of the knowledge of God is here appropriated to the Son of God as his sole prerogative.

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Again, 2 Corinthians 4, 6, For God, who commanded the light to shine out of darkness, referring to Genesis 1, has shined in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.

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A sinner coming to Christ is a new creation. The same power that God employed in Genesis 1 to create the physical universe, the physical world, he employs that same power to convert a sinner to salvation in Christ.

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This plainly shows that there is such a thing as a discovery of the divine superlative glory and excellency of God in Christ, and that peculiar to the saints, and also that it is as immediately from God as light from the sun, and that it is the immediate effect of his power and will, for it is compared to God's creating the light by his powerful word in the beginning of the creation, and is said to be the spirit of the

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Lord in the 18th verse of the preceding chapter. God is spoken of as giving the knowledge of Christ in conversion, as of what before was hidden and unseen in that.

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Galatians 1, 15, But when it pleased God, who separated me from my mother's womb,

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Paul writing, and called me by his grace to reveal his Son in me, not to me, in me, it was transformative.

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The scripture also speaks plainly of such a knowledge of the word of God as been described as the immediate gift of God.

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Psalm 119, Open thou my eyes, that I may behold wondrous things out of thy law.

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What could the psalmist mean when he begged of God to open his eyes? Was he ever blind? No.

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Might he not have resort to the law? In other words, the scriptures, and see every word and sentence in it?

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What it pleased? What he pleased? And what could he mean by those wondrous things?

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Was it the wonderful stories of the creation, deluge, and Israel's passing through the Red Sea and the like?

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Were it not his eyes open to read these strange things when he would? In other words, he could do that anytime in his own power.

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Doubtless by wondrous things in God's law, he had respect to those distinguishing and wonderful excellencies and marvelous manifestations of the divine perfections and glory that there was in the commands and doctrines of the word and those works and counsels of God that were there revealed.

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And so the scriptures speak of the knowledge of God's dispensation and covenant of mercy, the way of grace toward his people, as peculiar to the saints, in other words,

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Christians, and given only by God. The secret of the Lord is with them that fear him, and he will show them his covenant.

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Levi had no idea what was going to happen to him that day. He encountered

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Christ, or rather Christ found him. Christ isn't lost. We don't find

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Jesus. He finds us. And the whole direction of his life was radically and forever altered.

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God gave Levi understanding as to the identity of Jesus of Nazareth. God gave

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Levi the desire and willingness to respond to the summons of Jesus to follow him.

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And Levi was an object of God's sovereign grace. Levi made choices all through his life, turning away from God and God's people.

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The Lord had chosen this man. Passed by many others, he saw Levi. And purposed that this man would become his follower and a recorder of his words and works.

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He would write the Gospel of Matthew, first book of the New Testament. And so sometimes

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God arrests people suddenly in this fashion. You see, one day a man is one way, you see him the next day, he is a different man, a new man.

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Saul of Tarsus is a good example. One day he's a blasphemer, a murderer. The next day he's a preacher of the

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Gospel. There's a great display of God's power when this occurs. It stuns everybody.

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They didn't want to accept Paul, the people in Jerusalem. Well, we heard about this man. They thought it was a ploy for him to arrest them.

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The fact is we should expect to see such things and we should pray that God do such things in people about us.

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Unless the Lord turns on the lights, there goes continuing darkness. And so we thank

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God that we've seen and do see this great work in bringing sinners to himself and salvation. Third, we have illustrated in Matthew's response to Jesus the manner that we all should respond to Jesus and his word.

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We read in verse 28, So he left all, rose up, and followed him. The call that's abrupt within our story.

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The response of Levi was immediate. Levi left all and began to follow Jesus. The tense of the

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Greek word, the katalipon, which is translated in the clause, so he left all, is what is known as an aorist active participle.

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That's the form of the verb of the participle. The ESV translates the word in this clause in leaving everything.

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He rose and followed him. The tense of this participle conveys the finality of his decision.

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He left it all once and forever. That was a thing of the past. He left everything behind him.

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And after having left everything, Luke declared that Levi rose up and followed him. The word, the

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Greek word for follow, the word is a translation of the Greek verb, which is an imperfect tense verb, not aorist tense, but imperfect tense.

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The idea being conveyed is that Levi began and thereafter continued to follow Jesus. I .H.

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Marshall wrote of this sentence of verse 28, Luke's phrase rather stresses his decisive break with his old life, followed by his continued life of discipleship.

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Well, a true disciple of Jesus Christ, that is a true Christian, everyone who has salvation in Jesus Christ has in the same way abandoned all in order to follow

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Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior. Jesus himself spoke of this necessity to abandon all in order to follow him, as did, as his disciple, unto full salvation.

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Luke 14, we'll eventually get there. We're in Luke 5 now. Jesus, we read, now great multitudes went with him.

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And there are great multitudes going with Jesus today. There are churches all over the land filled with people who claim they're following Jesus.

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And Jesus turned and said to them, if anyone comes to me and does not hate his father and mother, wife and children, brothers and sisters, yes, his own life also, he cannot be my disciple.

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Jesus has to be loved first and foremost. And Jesus said it in a way to get people's attention.

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They couldn't miss his meaning. He has to be first. Someone might say, well,

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I already hate my father and mother, so that's no problem for me. But what he's saying, of course, is that we are to love him most.

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And the one who loves Jesus finds himself loving his wife, loving his children more than he ever did before.

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It says everything right. And then Jesus went on to say, whoever does not bear his cross and come after me cannot be my disciple.

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Becoming a disciple is becoming a true Christian. For which of you intending to build a tower does not sit down first, count the cost, whether he has enough to finish it.

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Lest after he's laid the foundation and is not able to finish, all who see it begin to mock him, saying, this man began to build and was not able to finish.

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Or what king going to make war against another king does not sit down first, consider whether he's able with 10 ,000 to beat him who has comes against him with 20 ,000.

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Or else while the other is still a great way off, he sends a delegation and has conditions of peace.

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So likewise, whoever of you does not forsake all that he has cannot be my disciple.

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That's a true Christian. Every true disciple of Jesus Christ breaks with his former ways.

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That is, every true Christian comes to the place where he repudiates his former way of living and resolves to become a disciple of Jesus Christ.

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And there's no salvation for anyone who refuses to follow Jesus in this manner.

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No, our Lord does not call everyone to quit their present occupations like he did

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Matthew. No, but our Lord does call everyone to turn from their former self -directed, self -governed existence and begin to order their lives according to the lordship of Jesus Christ.

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There's room in this universe for only one God, and it's not going to be you or me. Jesus is

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Lord. And Paul wrote the same truth in different words. And so the

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Lord Jesus demands that he will be preeminent in the hearts and lives of his people. A believer's baptism is a confession of his faith and resolve that he's died to his former existence as a non -Christian, which was a life primarily for himself, and that he's committed to live out the rest of his life in faith, following his

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Lord and Savior through life. And that's what is confessed in baptism. Every Christian is to confess his faith by his baptism in obedience to his

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Lord. However, we can probably assume that the

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Lord had been doing a work of preparation in Levi for some time before this day.

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It's not a stretch. Matthew was not merely a disciple. He was later made an apostle of the

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Lord Jesus, one of the 12, who would lay the foundation of the New Testament church.

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And as we had surmised earlier, Peter and his brother Andrew, James and John, the two brothers.

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So probably Levi was earlier baptized in the Jordan River by John the Baptist, because we know when they selected a man to replace

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Judas Iscariot in Acts chapter 1, that was one of the requirements to become an apostle.

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He had been following us since the baptism of John. They were all baptized by John the

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Baptist. And so he was earlier baptized in the Jordan River by John the

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Baptist while confessing his sins. Acts 1 tells us that. Perhaps Levi, therefore, had previously repented of the sins that characterized publicans when he was baptized by John, because John baptized people as they confessed their sins.

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And perhaps then he began to order his business according to John's instruction given to tax collectors who came to him.

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Luke 3, 12 and 13. I can imagine Levi hearing this on the shores of Jordan.

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Then tax collectors also came to be baptized and said to him, Teacher, what shall we do?

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He said to them, collect no more than what is appointed for you. Levi very likely heard these words of the

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Baptist. I don't think that's too speculative. God had prepared Levi for the time when

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Jesus would summon him to follow him. And it's then that Levi made the formal break with his occupation in order to follow

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Jesus. Well, let's now consider the feast for Jesus in verses 29 through 32.

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Levi gave a great feast primarily for Jesus. It would seem that all the rabble of Capernaum were invited.

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A group which in some ways may resemble our own church potlucks. All the rabble. A crowd of sinners who come together to enjoy one another's company and dine with Jesus.

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Here's the feast. Then Levi gave him a great feast in his own house. And there were a great number of tax collectors and others who sat down with him.

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And their scribes and the Pharisees complained against his disciples saying, Why do you eat and drink with tax collectors and sinners?

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They were doing as Jesus was. Jesus answered and said to them, Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick,

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I've not come to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance. Well, what does the feast teach us about Levi and Jesus?

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Well, this feast teaches some things about Levi and his encounter, experience, and meeting and following Jesus Christ.

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First, this feast reflects the joy which Levi experienced upon becoming a disciple of Christ.

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He wanted to have a feast. The gathering and celebration was like a jubilee feast.

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Celebrating his emancipation, his release from bondage into the state of liberty.

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And there's no liberation like being freed from the condemnation and domination of sin.

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That was one of my first subjective experiences becoming a Christian. I felt wholly clean and free.

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And coming out of great conviction of sin, it was liberating. This man had been estranged from God and his people, but the

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Lord Jesus sought him, singled him out, setting him free, gave him a whole new life before him.

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But this feast also reveals, secondly, Levi's loving concern for his friends. Levi was filled with joy over his new life.

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But he was also filled with concern for his old friends. He wanted others to experience what he had witnessed.

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He wanted them to meet his master. And a banquet was a fitting way for this to be done.

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So in this way, Levi would gain a hearing for them, so that he, Jesus, may have opportunity to meet his friends.

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That he, Jesus, may have opportunity to show mercy on them also. He was creative in the way he was going to do some evangelistic work right at the outset.

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Levi must have felt a sense of responsibility to do what he could to reach his friends and acquaintances for Christ.

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When we experience the mercy and grace of God in Christ, it's only right that we would want others to receive the same.

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We were like those starving lepers who had gone out from Jerusalem under siege to discover the

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Syrians had abandoned their camp, left their food and goods free for the taking. And as they were gorging the food and they were hiding the treasures they came across, they were struck with conviction.

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We need to make this known to others. We read about it in 2 Kings. When these lepers came to the outskirts of the camp, they went into one tent, ate and drank, carried from it silver and gold and clothing, went and hid them.

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Then they came back and entered another tent, carried some from there also, went and hid it. And then they said to one another, we're not doing right.

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This day is a day of good news. And we remain silent. If we wait until morning light, some punishment will come upon us.

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Now, therefore, come, let us go and tell the king's household. They're back there starving. Our friends, former friends are starving without Christ.

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Sometimes when we first come to Christ, we might wrongly assume that because we were so relieved and happy to have come to know

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Christ that others would think and feel similarly if they but heard the good news. I remember that's how

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I felt. Well, this is so wonderful. I want to tell my friends.

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And when I did, I couldn't understand why they suddenly, you know, were cursing me and rejecting me. Becoming a

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Christian does not mean that we must reject your friends, by the way. They may reject you.

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In fact, this had occurred to a new Christian to whom Peter had written. Peter told of their experience with their former friends.

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By the way, it's been shown that a new Christian usually has about 18 months where they're still interacting with the former crowd.

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And then they become more and more connected to the Christian people. And they begin to hang more with them.

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But becoming a Christian does not mean that we must reject our friends. Again, they may reject you.

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Peter wrote, therefore, since Christ suffered for us in the flesh, arm yourselves also with the same mind.

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In other words, to be able to be ready for persecution. For he who has suffered in the flesh has ceased from sin.

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That he no longer should live the rest of his time in the flesh for the less of men, but for the will of God. For we have spent enough of our past lifetime doing the will of the

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Gentiles. When we walked in lewdness, lust, drunkenness, revelries, drinking parties, and abominable idolatries.

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In regard to these, they think it strange that you do not run with them in the same flood of dissipation.

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Speaking evil of you. They will give an account to him who's ready to judge the living and the dead.

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Old Norm Thurston. I went away to college and he was my roommate.

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And we had a one -year drinking party. It was wild. And I went home.

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Two hours at home. After I got kicked out of college for bad grades. It's still on my transcript.

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And I was converted. About six months later, Norm came into town.

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He looked me up. Found me in the store where I was working. He wanted to go out partying that night. And I couldn't do it.

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And when I told him, he had this puzzled look on his face. And then later, I heard he was with some of my former friends.

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And they were talking about, you know, he got religion. My own brother didn't attribute it to the grace of God in Christ.

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After I was converted, my brother said Mary ruined him. That's the opinion of the world.

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When my dad died, I witnessed my brother. My brother became a Christian. But that was his first reaction to me.

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I was ruined. I used to be. And my other brother said, I thought

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Lars was so smart. I mean, you got to be stupid to become a

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Christian. That's just the attitude of fallen people. Mercy. When you become a

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Christian, your interests become different than they were before. You no longer delight in the things that continue to bring your former friends pleasure.

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And as a result, they may malign you. But becoming a Christian does not mean that you need to stop seeing them.

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Now, true, as Christians, you're not permitted to enter binding relationships with unbelievers. Because we operate, make decisions based on different principles.

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But we're not to alienate ourselves from the world when we come to Christ. And go off into our little enclaves and live in Christian communities.

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We're to have an impact upon the world. We live and operate within the world.

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But we're not of the world. And then third, the feast records Levi's effort to bring others to Christ.

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Levi wanted others to experience what he had experienced. He wanted to introduce others to this rabbi whom he knew to be the

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Messiah. He wanted to gain a hearing for them that Jesus would have opportunity to meet his friends and speak to them.

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Then, of course, the feast reveals some things about our Lord Jesus. First, our Lord would go anywhere, see anyone, in order to present himself to them and restore them to God his

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Father. He'd go among sinners. Our Lord would not restrict himself to the synagogues only, but he would go to the highways and hedges looking for souls.

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We ought to do more evangelism than just what we do here on Sunday morning in this building. He'd go wherever sinners were gathered and wherever they might have been dining.

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Jesus was a physician moving among his patients as a physician would today visit a hospital to see his patients.

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Now, the physician might enjoy seeing his patients, and certainly if the doctor is a caring person, there'll be a sense of his compassion.

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They never arise to the level of nurses, though. I've noticed that over the years, how different a bedside manner is between a physician, generally speaking, and a nurse, generally speaking.

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He's given them compassionate souls. Our Lord moved among sinners, he ate and drank with them, certainly enjoyed being with them, we should think, but at the same time he was wholly innocent and undefiled.

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The things that caused his dinner companions to laugh must have caused him to grieve inwardly. He desired to save them from their sin, calling them out and away from the fallen world in which they moved.

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He was a friend of sinners. And that our Lord attended this feast reveals that our Lord enjoyed people.

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Now, I can well imagine our Lord was cut to the heart by some of the attitudes he witnessed, and perhaps by some of the language and topics of conversation that were conducted.

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The foul language, crudeness, is a grief to people who are sensitized to holiness.

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But although he could be grieved by what he witnessed, he could enjoy them for themselves. Christian is not to love the world.

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Scriptures tell us, do not love the world. To love the world is to be an enemy of God. And so we repudiate the sinful pursuit of power, pleasure, possessions of the world.

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No, we don't love the world, but we ought to have genuine love for worldly people. We should genuinely love their souls and desire their temporal and their eternal good.

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And third, our Lord treated people with dignity. Nothing is as revealing and alienating to people of the world than a patronizing spirit.

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Except for hypocrisy. They picked that out quicker, I think. Jesus was not looking down on these people, nor did they sense any kind of spirit of the sort.

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People were created in the image of God, and therefore, even what some would consider these people to be the most despicable people in their behavior,

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God would have us treat them with respect and dignity. Every human being. This is not an approval of their sin, which the world expects and is imposing upon us today, which we cannot and will not do.

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But we should have the highest regard for people everywhere. They are the image of God.

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They have the capacity and capability of bringing much glory to God. All human beings, rich or poor, male or female,

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Jewish or Gentile, educated or illiterate, should be regarded as possessing dignity because they are the creation of God.

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And then fourth, our Lord was willing to encounter rejection in his efforts to bring others to himself.

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And so this brings us to the charge of the Jewish religious leaders. We have to pick up our pace here.

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We see the scribes and Pharisees were present, verse 30, and the scribes and the Pharisees complained against his disciples.

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Why do you eat and drink with tax collectors and sinners? Scholars are agreed that there were two major scandals that Christ and the early church had to deal with.

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And the first one is here, is his association with sinners. Jesus was said to have been a wine -bibber and gluttonous friend of sinners.

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This was a scandal in the eyes of the Jewish religious leaders of the day. But it was a charge that Jesus did not deny.

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In fact, he seemed to have gladly affirmed. And so where people would have condemned him for eating and drinking with sinners, it gives us hope, doesn't it?

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This is a positive thing. He's a friend of sinners and publicans. The second scandal had to be dealt with by the early church.

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This was a scandal of how could the Jewish people regard Jesus as the promised Messiah who died in the manner of a criminal, cursed of God on a cross.

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And the answer, of course, is the cross became the very symbol of the gospel that Christians proclaim to the world.

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That sinners may be saved from their sin, come into the favor and blessedness of God through faith in him who was crucified in their place.

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Now these scribes and Pharisees were disgusted by this behavior of Jesus, of dining with sinners. To them, for Jesus to go into the midst of scandalous persons and eat with them was to render him unclean in the sight of God.

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But these scribes and Pharisees were either too cowardly or too good in their own estimation to approach

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Jesus directly, so they came to his disciples. And so frequently people will not criticize you to your face, but rather come to the back door, as it did here.

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Now clearly the New Testament says that we're not to associate with some kinds of people. And I gave some passages there that speak about that.

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We're to use wisdom, be wise in this. Basically, we're not to associate with people if their behavior will corrupt us and lead us to follow them.

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And secondly, we're not to associate with people, but rather to confront them with their sinful behavior so as to lead them to repentance.

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But where the New Testament teaches us that we should not associate with some kinds of people, it does affirm that we are to penetrate the world with our message and lives.

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And we have the supreme example for us in this incident in the life of our Lord. Well, we read of the response of our

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Lord to the Pharisees. Jesus answered, said to them, those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick.

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I have not come to call the righteous but sinners to repentance. The charge was given to his disciples, but perhaps in the hearing of our

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Lord. And so our Lord responds with several statements, apparently directly to the Pharisees.

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Our Lord justified his behavior, first by expressing his proper concern for the sick. And then he stated he was being true to his mission.

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First, his concern for the sick. Jesus spoke directly to his detractors. Jesus answered them and said, those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick.

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And it suggests the helpless state which sinners find themselves. They are unable to remedy themselves of their condition.

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They need a physician to do a work upon them and in them, or they will most certainly perish.

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And so it was with due concern for their helplessness that Jesus was moved to be among sinners.

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And then the second reason our Lord gives is a big biblical truth, describing the manner in which

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God deals with sinners. It was the nature of Jesus's mission. I've not come to call the righteous but sinners to repentance.

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He was feasting with tax collectors and sinners because that's where the prospects were. He said that he did not come to invite the righteous, which we should understand as self -righteous.

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Jesus did not come to invite self -righteous people to partake of salvation. They're on their own.

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Now, in one sense, the gospel, of course, is to all indiscriminately. The gospel is to be preached to all humanity, to every creature, to all the world.

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Everyone. And all people everywhere are commanded to repent and believe in the gospel.

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But in another sense, the gospel is always restricted. The last chapter of the

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Bible, the Spirit and the Bride say, Come, let the one who hears say come.

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Let the one who is thirsty come. Let the one who desires take of the water of life without price.

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Here we see only those who hear, thirsty, and desires are invited. Come. There's no invitation given to the self -righteous.

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Those who do not hear, those who are not thirsty, those who did not desire. Jesus did not come to call them.

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I came not to call the self -righteous. Jesus came to call sinners.

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And so, did Jesus come to save everybody? Is God trying his best to save everybody in the world?

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Never think that. God doesn't fail at anything he attempts to do. He did not come to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance.

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But are not all sinners? Well, yes and no. Jesus came to call self -confessed sinners, that is, people who knew they were sinners and who own up to it.

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Of course, only those who have had a work of grace done in their hearts to reveal to them and their sinful condition confess themselves to be in such a state as an old hymn.

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Spurgeon used to quote it. A sinner is a holy thing. The Holy Ghost hath made him so. I was reminded the other day of a preacher named

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Henry Mahan. Ross mentioned him over lunch at NERF the other day. He had read a sermon by him.

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I had heard him a number of times in the past. He was very enjoyable, funny to listen to, but he was good.

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Boy, he was good. I remember him talking about, there are not many sinners.

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Go find a sinner. It's a scarce thing. You can't hardly find a sinner.

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And he was talking about self -confessed, humble sinners who want to be delivered from their sin.

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He also spoke about people with compassion. If you want people to be compassionate toward you, don't go to the church.

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Go down to the bar. You're going to find sympathetic people down there, but oftentimes not in the church. There's a measure of truth in that,

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I'm afraid. But Mahan had quite a clever way with words when preaching. He once related that he had gone to the hospital to visit the husband of one of his church members.

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Henry knew him, but this man did not attend church and was no professing Christian. And apparently he was dying.

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Henry Mahan said he walked into the hospital room with his big Bible in his hand. He opened his Bible and told

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George that he had come to speak to him about his soul, about the Lord Jesus. The first thing he said to George was something like this,

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George, it's very important for you to see that you're a sinner. George, are you a sinner?

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Well, I'm not a perfect man, but no, I cannot say I'm a sinner. Henry then said to the man, well then

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George, I've got nothing for you. This book is for sinners. He closed his Bible, turned around and walked out of the hospital room.

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And it was a couple days later, George was calling him, you know, Pastor Mahan, I'm a sinner. Come talk to me.

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He was in his own understanding. But it's critically important for us to know and affirm that Jesus did not come to simply forgive sinners of their sins.

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And all too often I hear a gospel preached, this is how you can have your sins forgiven. Anybody and everybody wants their sins forgiven.

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But when you add the message you have to turn from your sins, you have to repent. That's when they stop coming.

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Luke recorded this important matter of repentance. Jesus came to call sinners to repentance. And that's what coming to faith in Christ involved.

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Turning from sin onto God is how it's described in the book of Acts. And we emphasized the nature and role of importance just a few weeks ago, so we'll not do so here.

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But Jesus came not only to forgive sins, but to heal sinners of their sinfulness. Forgiving and cleansing them of their sins.

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Let's not offer a gospel that says people can have forgiveness of sin and yet continue to live in their sin.

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There's no promise of salvation. It was William Booth, founder of the Salvation Army in the 19th century, said the greatest danger to the church in the next century is the promise of salvation without repentance.

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And he was prescient in that assessment. In conclusion, this episode reveals that the

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Lord knew at this early stage of his ministry that there would be a continual conflict with no hope of reconciliation with many.

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And so it is with us. And we don't have conflict with Judaism as did our

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Lord. Although some in the world do have, some Christians. But we do have conflict.

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We recognize the faith we have and the life we attempt to live is totally incongruent with the ways of this world.

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We know they're gonna react to us. And oftentimes it silences us.

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And it shouldn't. We often are governed by the fear of man. How do you overcome?

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Basically the fear of man is I'm concerned how this one thinks of me. That's the fear of man.

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And there's no way you can get away from the fear of man. It's there. In fact, in some ways it's healthy.

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We wouldn't have a civil society if it were not for the fear of man. I'm gonna do what I want to do and I don't care what anybody thinks.

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Okay, that reveals a lawless society. But how do we overcome the fear of man?

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The only way is you have to have a greater fear of God. And whenever I have been fearful about witnessing,

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I ask myself the question, am I more desirous of this man thinking better of me by keeping silent or am

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I more concerned about what God thinks of me by speaking up? And whenever I pose that to me,

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I found myself with some courage and boldness to speak up to that soul.

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The fear of God. There's no common ground outside of Jesus Christ. We're going into enemy territory, snatching souls and bringing them out into the kingdom of Christ.

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And that brings great conflict. Sometime we'll get that in Luke's gospel. It's a point of violence, bringing people out of the kingdom of the devil into the kingdom of God.

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And we're employed to do that. Like Bunyan in Pilgrim's Progress, talking about that pilgrim slashing with the sword, working through that crowd, keeping them out of that palace.

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And that's what people do when they're coming to Christ. They have to fight against all kinds of obstacles and people, parents, spouses, you know, the world, the culture.

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You know, but we want Jesus above anything and everything.

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And so we'll do whatever he enables us to do to get to him. Amen? And stay with him. Let's pray.

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Thank you, Father, for this brief word we have in Luke 5. Help us, our God, to be as Jesus, looking for, seeking out sinners.

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And we pray, our God, you would just manifest your great grace in calling ones such as Levi, who were opposers of your people and kingdom.

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And yet they come to be promoters of your gospel. True disciples of Jesus, our