But folks, this is talking about
the time of storm between our flesh and our spirit. You know what I'm talking about
there? Sin. I'm talking about the sin that
is within this flesh that we walk in. We've got no place to
turn to. We've got no strength within
us. The only place we have is our shelter of the Lord Jesus
Christ. Open your Bibles once again to the book of Luke if
you would. Luke chapter 5. Make sure I make that cup last
all the way through. I'm tempted to just grab it and
gobble it every time I grab a hold of it. Before we Before we look at our text here
in Luke chapter 5, I want to read the scripture on the front
of today's bulletin. Do you have the bulletins with
you? In Psalms 5, verse 5 through 8, we read these words. The foolish
shall not stand in thy sight. Thou hatest all workers of iniquity. Thou shalt destroy them that
speak leasing. That word leasing, I felt the
need to express what that means. That means falseness. That means
untruth. That means an outright lie. Thou
shalt destroy them that speak lies. The Lord will abhor the
bloody and deceitful man. That means those who are deceitful
to themselves, those who have been left to believe a lie. But
as for me, writes David, I will come into thy house in the multitude,
the multitude of thy mercy. And in thy fear will I worship
toward thy holy temple. Lead me, O Lord, in thy righteousness
because of mine enemies. Make thy way straight before
my face. I will come into thy house and
the multitude of thy mercies. Someone once said something a
little bit like this, where are all the sinners? Not many sinners
around here, is there? Today, this house, right here,
is for sinners. Do you need saving? If you do, I've got some good
news for you. Some folks want to believe that we get better. They call it progressive sanctification.
You get better, you get more hope. You quit smoking, you're
more holy than you were yesterday. You quit drinking, you're more
holy than you were the day before. You quit cheating. You quit lying
on your taxes. You quit this, you're getting
more holy. That's what the Pharisee that
stood before the people was saying, thank you God that I'm not made
like others. A true child of God. will always
be on their knees. I know. Some of us have quite
a bit left to live, don't we? Some of us not so much. Some
of us less than others. That's a long time to be on your
knees. Thank God I'm on my knees. Because I could be left just
like that Pharisee. You see, being on your knees
is a good thing. People want to say, oh, is that such a sad
thing to be over in the corner always crying for mercy? No,
it's a good thing. Because if it wasn't for us being
there, we would be as the Pharisee without God. You get the picture of grace
and mercy here? I will come into thy house in
the multitude of thy mercy. Do you need saving? 1 Timothy
1 verse 15, we read this, this is a faithful saying. God has
inspired Timothy to write these words to you and I, to his people,
to those that he has called out of the world of darkness into
the light of his temple, Jesus Christ the Lord, putting the
Lord in their new heart. This is a faithful saying to
you folks. those that he has loved from
before the world was, and worthy of all expectation that Christ
Jesus came into the world to do what? To make people walk
better? To wait around for somebody who's
decided, you know, I'm tired of being the way I was. I want
to be something different now? No. It says he came into the world
to do something. He came into the world to save,
not to try. Oh, how it disgusts me for people
to talk about a God who can't do something. God is sovereign in everything.
Nothing is out of his realm to be done. He could make rocks
get up and preach the gospel if that was his will. He made
an ass talk one time. A donkey turned around and said
something to the guy behind him who was beating him. What are
you beating me for? That's the God of scriptures.
That's the one who deserves the title God. Came to save sinners,
and then Paul says this, speaking to Timothy, of whom I am chief. Paul? The apostle Paul? Chief of Sinners? He didn't say,
I was. I am. Right now. Paul was just like that man over
on the side crying out for mercy the very day that he wrote this
letter. I am today the Chief of Sinners. It doesn't take long
for us, does it, folks, to go out that door. And sometimes
we don't even have to be out the door. We'd be sitting in
our chair right here and, oh, what was I thinking then? How
could that come to my mind in a place like this? But it does. Are you with me in the book of
Luke? In verse 27 of Luke chapter 5, we read, and after these things. This is to set us up for what
is to come. So let us begin with considering
what these things are to put our text for today's message
in context. In verse 1 of chapter 5, the
people were pressing hard upon our Lord. Many were sick, and
the fame of His healing had gone out across the land. His healing
had gone out across the land of this man who healed the sick
and the lame. When he began to teach, he taught
with actions, in miracles and in wonders. He told the fishermen,
he said, cast out your nets into the deep. Remember that one?
We talked about it? If you fish before you know it,
fishing out in the deep is very rarely anything. You want to
catch fish that's got closer to the banks. You see bass fishermen,
they're always around the bank fishing. He told them to go out,
drop their nets in the deep. Cast out your nets in the deep.
And when they did, their nets were full. He then said, fear
not, from henceforth thou shalt catch men. That's over in verses
10 and 11. And they left all that they had, and they followed
him. And then he demonstrated his authority, his power to forgive
sins by healing a man who was sick with palsy. That's in verse
24. So we see this one who is so powerful. He's doing things
nobody else has ever done. Even the wizards, even the wizards
of the land couldn't do what he was doing. We see this one who is so powerful
he can heal the sick simply by his word. Now with that in mind,
let's look at our text, shall we? Would you join me in reading
verses 27 through 32 of Luke chapter 5. And after these things, he went
forth and saw a publican named Levi. Now, that's Matthew. I
just want to stop you there for just a moment. That's the man,
Matthew, who wrote the book of Matthew. So we know that the
Lord is speaking of one he is going to save here. And he saw
a publican named Matthew sitting at the receipt of customs And
he said unto him, follow me. So Matthew, who was quite wealthy,
who was collecting taxes, and in those days, it was common
for the tax collectors, and I don't think they can get away with
it in our country, but I'm sure there's countries where they
still do, where the tax collectors take a little bit off the top
for themselves. And they end up to be quite wealthy. So here
we got a man who has everything he needs. He's got plenty of
wealth, he's not a poor man, and the Lord speaks to him. That gives me hope. Blessed are
the poor. What do you think made Matthew
poor? Who is it that makes us to differ?
Matthew had to be made poor in spirit. He may have had much
of what the world had to offer, but he had to be poor in spirit.
And he said unto him, follow me. And he left all. He left
all that riches behind and rose up. And followed him. And Levi
made him a great feast in his own house. And there was great
company of publicans and others that sat down with him. Publicans,
folks, there were three classes of people in the Jewish nation. And you had the Jews, the chosen
of God. You had publicans, who were still
Jews and chosen of God, but they were the ones who acted on behalf
of the Gentile rulers and took all the taxes from them. So you
have the Jews, you have the tax collectors, and then you have
the Gentiles. The only thing below a tax collector was being
a Gentile. So here we see Levi made him
a great feast in his own house, and there was a great company. There was a whole bunch of them.
And of others that sat down with him. Verse 30. But their scribes
and Pharisees murmured against his disciples saying, why do
you eat and drink with publicans and sinners? And Jesus answered
and said unto them, they that are whole need not a physician. But they that are sick, I came
not to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance. A house
full of sinners. Is there any difference in what
we have right here this morning? A house full of sinners. People who have left the world
behind for just a moment. Who have come out of the world,
the valley of the shadow of death. And it's only a shadow of death
to you and I. Our Lord has taken our death
for us. what you and I deserve in that death, our Lord took
upon himself. So here we are, come out of the
world for a moment. To put all the chaos of the world,
but not just the chaos of the world, the trouble of the heart. the sins that we've committed
throughout this week. Lord, I need a Savior. I need
a Savior right now. I need a Savior when I go home.
Do you need a Savior? Are you a sinner who needs a
Savior? Only the sick have a need for a physician. Are there any
sinners in need in this house this morning? Are there any who
are completely destitute in the realm of righteousness? Do not
be deceived. God requires perfection. That's
righteousness. There is no such thing as a little
bit of righteousness. Either we are righteous or we
are not. What did we read just a moment
ago in the fifth Psalm? The foolish shall not stand in
thy sight. Thou hatest all workers of iniquity. Thou shalt destroy them that
speak lies, leasing, and the Lord will abhor, abhor the bloody
and deceitful man. If you think you have a little
bit of righteousness in you, then God has not done a work
in your heart, and you call God a liar. What did you just say? What did you just say about me,
John? I said this. If you think you have a little
bit of righteousness, you call God a liar. Listen to the words
of Mark, chapter 10, verse 18. There is none good but one. Are you talking about my grandmother?
Yes. Are you talking about my little
baby boy? Yes. God's Word says there is
none good but one. And that is God. That's His Word. You want to argue about that?
You go argue about it with God. Romans 3, verses 10-12, as it
is written. In other words, as it was written
before the apostles wrote the books of the New Testament, as
it is written in the Old Testament, way back when by the prophets,
there is none righteous, no not one, there is none that understandeth,
there is none that seeketh after God, they have all gone out of
the way, they are together become unprofitable, there is none that
doeth good, no not one. If the Lord has healed you of
your pride and your self-worth, then you'll see yourself in those
words that I just read for you. Being brought to an understanding
of your condition before God, you will cry out, Lord, have
mercy on me, a sinner. And here's the good news. Look
at verse 32 of our text. It declares this, I came not
to call the righteous but sinners to repentance. The Lord came. He came here to this world. He
came here to this earth. God was manifest in the flesh. He didn't have to. He's God. He could have recreated everything
all over again. But it was His plan to do so. It was his purpose
to do so. People want to think, oh, God
created everything perfect, and he did. And oops! Adam came out and sinned
against God. Oh, plan B. What are we going
to do now? There is no plan B. This is plan A. This is God's
purpose right here, right now, and everything up to this point,
and everything until the day He comes back and destroys everything
that there is. Everything will burn in fire.
This is plan A. This is His purpose. He was known
and called the Lamb slain from before the foundation of the
world. That's what it says in Revelation. He had determined
and purposed to save a people for himself before anything was
ever created. This is the good news. I came
to call the right, not the righteous, but sinners to repentance. He
came. He's God, folks. This is not
plan B. This is the faithful saying and
worthy of all acceptation that Christ Jesus came into the world
to save sinners. God became flesh. Why? Because
he had to die. The wages of sin is death. Somebody's
got to die for our sins. Somebody's blood has to be shed
for the sins that you and I commit. And Jesus Christ died for his
people. He shall be called Jesus, for
he shall, not maybe, he shall save his people. Is that good
news to you? If the Lord has shown you that
you're one of His people, that's great news. If you're begging
for mercy, that means He's going to give it to you. Isn't that
wonderful that He is merciful? That He is gracious? He didn't
have to be. He didn't have to be. You see,
God is Spirit. There's always been God the Father,
God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit. Always. Jesus Christ
was known as the Son of God before the world began. Yet he wasn't
always man. He wasn't always flesh. He had
to become flesh. In order for Jesus Christ to
fulfill all the perfection that God the Father required, he had
to become flesh and walk perfectly in this world, fulfilling every
job, every title of the law. Everything had to be done just
right so it was acceptable to God. Going to the cross and laying
down His perfect blood in our stead had to be done and it could
only be done in the flesh of the Son of the Lord Jesus Christ.
The God-Man, Christ Jesus, the Son of the Living God. He came
to fulfill the law. He came to establish righteousness.
He came to lay down His perfect life. He who knew no sin was
made sin for us that we would be made the righteousness of
God in Him. He came to pay the ransom price,
to redeem His people. a people chosen from before the
world was created. Listen to Ephesians chapter 1
verse 4. It says this, according as He hath chosen us, as God
hath chosen us in Him, His Son, before the foundation of the
world, that we should be holy, holy and without blame before
Him. There's the good news. There's
the good news. How are you going to be holy
before God? Look at your bulletin again if you would. How are you
going to be holy before God? On the inside page, just below
the listing of hymnals and schedules, you see an article there written
by Pastor Todd Nyberg. It is Christ that died. Brother
Todd writes this who Christ died for is an issue because Christ
makes it an issue. He says I am not sent But to
the lost sheep of the house of Israel Another part of scripture. He says I lay down my life for
the sheep Another part. He says Christ loved the church
and gave himself for it In John chapter 17. He says I pray not
for the world, but for them which thou has given me. I That being
said, writes Todd Neirich, the greater issue is who died. The
one who died is incapable of failure. What he intended to
do, that is precisely what he did. To think of the atonement
of Christ in any other way than absolute success is to fail to
believe who he is. We're not ashamed to say he died
only for the elect. But the most important aspect
of his atoning death Who is it to die? It is Christ that died. Because of who he is, all that
he died must be saved. To say that he can pay for somebody's
sins, and they can still go to hell, is degrading to and falsely
presenting the person of Christ, and is a denial of the justice
of God. And to falsely presenting the
person of Christ, and if Christ paid the debt, if Christ paid
the debt, the sinner he died for will never have to pay it
again. How can I be holy before God
if I'm in Christ? If I was in Christ when he walked
this earth and walked it perfectly? If I was in Christ when he went
to that cross and was hung on the cross? If I was in Christ
when he was buried in the ground That's what baptism is, is a
picture of it, right? We don't get saved by being baptized,
you know that, right? We are declaring to those who
are witnesses of it, we are declaring that Christ Jesus died for me. We're declaring that Christ Jesus
was buried for me, that I was in him, my sins were in him. And we're declaring that He has
arose from the grave and sits on His throne right now. That's
what baptism is all about. It's like coming to the table,
that doesn't save us, but we're declaring who it is that did.
We're declaring that it was His blood, His body that was broken,
His blood that was shed for us that saves us. If Christ died
for you, these words, a true sinner desires most. A true sinner
will look to Christ and Christ alone. As Moses lifted up the
serpent in the wilderness, so must the Son of Man be lifted
up, and only God can deal with the hearts of men. Lifting up
His Son in our hearts is the work of God. This house, this
building, God has provided for sinners who have had and are
having the work done in our hearts. Ezekiel 36 26 we read these words
a new heart also will I give you a new heart and a new spirit
will I put within you and I will take away the old stony heart
out of your flesh and I will give you a heart of flesh. Folks, we come together to lift
up our Savior. We come together to feast upon
Him, to feast upon our Savior, to worship our Lord in spirit
and in truth. We worship Him because He first
loved us before the world was ever created. Everything that
is created was created for you and I, for God's people. that we would come to Him in
the day of His love and worship Him in love because He first
loved us. We worship Him for manifesting Himself in the flesh
in perfection, fulfilling the law that we could not. We worship
Him for providing Himself our sacrifice, our blood offering,
our atonement. We worship Him for the perfect
blood offering that God accepted as payment for our sin. God the
Father accepted it. He'll never accept one who is
not in Christ. We worship Him as the risen Savior
sitting upon His throne, making intercession on our behalf, working
all things out according to His purpose and His own will. It
says in our text of Luke chapter 5, I came not to call the righteous,
but sinners to repentance. With the understanding sinners
have no righteousness, Christ came to call sinners to repentance.
Look again, verses 27 through 28. And after these things, he
went forth and saw a publican named Levi, sitting at the receipt
of customs. And he said unto him, folks,
this is what God does. He speaks to his people. The
first time we hear with ears of the heart, the first time
we hear the gospel with the heart of Christ is when the preaching
of His gospel is brought to us by God's ministers. How are you going to call on
somebody you've never heard of? How are you going to believe in somebody
you... How are you going to call on somebody you've never believed
in? How are you going to believe in them if you've never heard
of them? Our Lord saw a publican, a sinner, and he named him. His name is Levi. He saw a sinner,
one that belonged to him, and his name is John. And he said unto him, he said
through the preaching of his word, follow me. You've heard me say this before,
but when Christ called Lazarus from the grave, power of God
was in the voice of Christ. He is God. Every grave would
have opened up if he had not used the name Lazarus. That's
the power of God. When He calls a person, they
come, not kicking and screaming. He makes us willing in the day
of His love. When you see the grace of the
Savior for what it is, and you've been shown what you are, so undeserving,
so unworthy, Where else could you go? What
else could you do but to call upon him? And he left all and rose up and
followed him. Our Lord was calling that man
to repentance. The word repentance means reversal.
Reversal of what? It's a complete reversal of our
way of thinking of all that is. Remember what it was like before
the Lord called you out of darkness? Remember when you used to walk
through the world and you could... It was... I'll bet I can take
care of that. I'll bet I can fix that. Go about
fixing things. Some things we just shouldn't
try to fix. Go about fixing things. It's
a complete reversal of how we see the world. Instead of the
power being in man, which is what we all used to see it as,
we see the power being in God, in God alone. Only God can make
a heart see that. We see a complete reversal of
the way of thinking of all that is. Here we see the power of
Christ's grace and effectual calling. Here is the publican
called by the Son of God. And as soon as he was called,
he willingly left all and followed Christ. Jeremiah 31, 18, we read
these words. I have surely heard Ephraim bemoaning
himself thus. Thou hast chastised me, and I
was chastised as a bullock. accustomed to the yoke. Turn
thou me, and I shall return for thou art the Lord my God. Reverse
me. Turn me, O Lord, from the ways
I used to think, and draw me nearer to you. Lamentations 5.21,
it says this, Turn thou us unto thee, O Lord, and we shall return. That's a confession. You know,
you're sitting at a light, you've been going down the street, and
you've hit every red light for the last ten minutes. Lord! That's a confession right there.
Of who He is. It's a confession that he is
Lord, Lord of all. We come into this house, this
house right here where sinners come to be turned again and again
and again and again. Our walk in this world is full
of trials, trials of our faith, trials of sin that plagues our
flesh and battles with our spirit. I need saving. I have been saved,
I am being saved, and I will be saved. My God does not fail. This is what I need to be turned
to. I'm a sinner. I can do nothing. I have nothing.
Lord, turn me to you. Lord, call me to repentance. Robert Hawker wrote this. What
a lovely view. to behold the great Redeemer
encircled at Matthew's table. He comes to our table. He makes
his table ours. What a view. What a view to a
sinner. In Matthew 18, 21, after the Lord had called Levi
out of darkness and regenerated his soul, Matthew wrote these
words. He recorded these words of Christ speaking, for where
two or three are gathered together in my name, there am I in the
midst of them. Turn your Bibles over to Ephesians
chapter 2. I know these are words that can
be used in every single message. These are words that bless the
hearts of sinners. In Ephesians chapter 2, beginning
at verse 1, and you hath he quickened, gave life to, who were dead in
trespasses and sin. Where in times past ye walked
according to the course of this world, according to the prince
of the power of air, the air, the spirit that now worketh in
the children of disobedience, among whom also we all had our
conversation in times past. Lord, turn me. Turn me, and I
shall be turned. In the lust of our flesh, fulfilling
the desires of the flesh and of the mind, and were by nature
the children of wrath, even as others but God." It was rich. Rich enough for us. He is able
to save to the uttermost. Oh, folks, that's good news to
a sinner. He was rich in mercy, for his
great love wherewith he loved us, even when we were dead in
sins, hath quickened us together with Christ by grace ye are saved. and hath raised us up together
and made us sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus. We sit in Christ Jesus right
now. We're in Him right now as He sits on His throne making
intercession for us. I paid that debt. There's therefore
now no condemnation to this one. that in the ages to come, verse
7, he might show the exceeding riches of his grace and his kindness
toward us through Christ Jesus. For by grace are you saved through
faith, and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God, not of
works. Thus man should boast. Amen. Are there sinners here today?
I'm here. I'm with it. There's two, there's
three. You know what that means? That
means Christ is with us right now. Causing us to sit with him
in heavenly places. Amen.