And the Lord Jesus Christ said,
I am the way. May the Lord teach us that. Everything that the Lord said
in his ministry on this earth pointed sinners to himself. Come
unto me, I'll give you rest. I'm the door, I'm the way, I'm
the life, I'm the truth. Paul said we preach Christ and
Him crucified. Even the law was a schoolmaster
to bring us to Christ. That's what we're learning. We've
been learning it ever since we've known Him. And we're still learning that
Christ is all. The simplicity Paul spoke of,
the simplicity the all-inclusiveness that's in Christ. May He teach
us His way this morning, which is Christ. Luke chapter 5 verse
27. Luke 5 27 and after these things he went
forth and we'll see in a moment what these things he's referring
to. After these things our Lord Jesus went forth and saw a publican
named Levi sitting at the receipt of custom and he said unto him
follow me and he left all rose up and followed him. And Levi
made him a great feast in his own house. And there was a great
company of publicans and of others that sat down with them. But
their scribes and Pharisees murmured against his disciples saying,
why do you eat and drink with publicans and sinners? And Jesus answering said unto
them, you notice that they didn't have the guts to even address
the Lord. They talked, they asked his disciples.
Why do you eat with these wretched people? Why would you even be
associated with sinners like this? But the Lord answered them. May he always answer for us. Even when it's us talking now,
even when it's me talking, may he answer for me. May it be him
talking. And Jesus answering 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. Now just a few thoughts this
morning on this, and let's think of it this way now. A sermon,
you know, three points in a poem, people talk about. But there's
a little bit of truth to that in this. We think, we have to
think of things one at a time, don't we? Let's get this one
at a time and see what the Lord is teaching us here. It's not
complicated. It's very simple and clear. They
were eaten with some bad people. And the religious holy rollers
didn't like that. Why would you even associate
with people like that? And the Lord said, well, because sick
people need a doctor. And that's what I came for. I'm
the doctor. I'm the physician. And these
are the sick people. What are you doing here? What are you doing here? Which
is the question, the title of our message this morning. Are
you sick? Are you sick? If not, what are you doing here? And I think here's the first
thought. Let's think this now. Our Lord in the previous two
passages, this passage refers to after these things, what things?
Well, in the previous two passages of this chapter, he has healed
a leper. a wretched, vile, disgusting,
nobody wants to be anywhere near him, leper. A person considered incurable
and hopeless. The only thing to do with him
is just get rid of him, get him out of our society. And then
he healed a man that was paralyzed, that was carried around by four
people on a bed that couldn't even move. And now in our text this morning,
He's sitting and eating with a bunch of perfectly healthy
people. And when the question is asked
why he was keeping such unsuitable company, he says, in effect,
because only sick people need a doctor. Why would he talk about
sick people now that he's sitting with a bunch of healthy people?
You see the significance of the context after these things. What
sick people? There are no lepers at the table.
They wouldn't have been allowed to sit there and eat with them.
There are no paralytics there. There are no blind men mentioned
in the text. Looks like just a bunch of healthy
people with a healthy appetite. He didn't make this statement
about who needs a doctor while he was in the presence of all
those many diseased people in the previous chapter, Luke chapter
4, when he was at Simon's house. And it says, Now when the sun
was setting, all they that had any sick with diverse diseases
brought them unto him, and he laid his hands on every one of
them and healed them. And devils also came out of many,
crying out and saying, Thou art Christ, the Son of God. And he
rebuking them, suffered them not to speak, for they knew that
he was crying. But it's when he's with healthy
people that he mentions, I'm here for the sick. That's why
I'm eating with these people, these wretches. Because they're,
they're diseased. They're leprous, they're lame,
they're blind. They're full of devils. Didn't look like it though. Lame, diseased, blind, leprous,
demon possessed, paralyzed, deformed, He healed them all everywhere
he went. But when he makes this statement about why, being a
doctor, he needed to be around the particular people that he
was with when he said it, none of these people seem to have
any health problems at all. How beautifully and how powerfully
and how clearly and how simply our Lord teaches us here that
these ones, these perfectly healthy people to the outward appearance,
these ones with a perfectly good appetite, eating and drinking
and enjoying themselves, they're the paralytics. They're the blind
ones. They're the deaf ones. They're the lepers. They're the
lame. They're the diseased. May God give us grace that when
we go to the grocery store or the mall and we see normal people
carrying on with their normal lives in a normal way, we see
by God's grace what our Lord sees. And when we look in the
mirror, most importantly, we see what our Lord sees, see the
desperation of their case, of our case, see how horribly consumed
with corruption we are by nature. We are described as dead in trespasses
and sins when our Lord heals. In the book of Isaiah, we are
described, God's people are described as from the head, the crown of
their head to the sole of their feet being covered with wounds
and bruises and putrefying sword. You know what that is? That's
a leper. That's the way God describes us spiritually. Well, Chris,
you look like a pretty good fellow. I'm a leper. by nature. I'm lame, I'm deaf, I'm blind. Why aren't we crying out for
mercy? Why are we carrying on as if
everything's okay? These people sitting at dinner
with the Son of God, they weren't crying out like blind Bartimaeus
did, they were just enjoying, they were saying, pass the mashed
potatoes. Why? Because they don't know yet that
they're sick. They're not begging as the woman
of Canaan for mercy. Why not? Our Lord said these
are the sick ones who are in desperate need of the physician. You will notice the word need
in our text. They have the whole don't have
any need of a doctor, but these ones here do. But they weren't saying so. Why
not? Well, the answer is simple and
obvious. They didn't know yet they were sick. Do you know? Do you know what you are before
God by nature? I hate going to the doctor. I
hate it. Many of you know this about me.
And there are several reasons for this. They make appointments
that they don't keep, that they don't ever have any intention
to keep. They routinely don't keep them. They're very expensive
and if you dare ask what something's going to cost, they're offended
by that and act like, you know, it's a scandalous thing for you
to even ask what something might cost. If I've told you, I've told some
of you, but if I told you all this morning how many times,
just in my experience, I don't go to the doctor, I don't never
have liked to go. But just in the few times that
I've gone in my life, if I told you how many times they've been
wrong, it would probably scare you to death. Except that you've
probably experienced much the same thing. All in all, throughout
my life, I believe that my health and my health care would have
been better if every medicine known to man was just on a shelf
at Walmart with a description of what it's for, with no doctor
involved whatsoever. I sincerely believe that. But
you know why I think that? Because I've never really ever
been sick. I've never really been sick. I've had the flu a couple of
times. But you know what I'm gonna do
if I ever get really sick? I'm gonna go, I'm gonna find
me a doctor. I'm gonna try to find me one that knows what he's
doing. These people our Lord was eating
with they weren't there because they needed him. Here's another
thought. There's another thought. They didn't come to that supper
because they needed the Lord, but he was there because they
needed him. You think about that now. That's my testimony. What about you? I was sick, desperately and incurably
and horribly sick. All of the pictures here, you
notice our Lord never did, he never did remove splinters for
people. Everything that he dealt with
was incurable. You don't take a pill when you're
blind. What you need is a miracle. Incurably, horribly sick. Here's
my testimony. Not I went to the doctor. The
doctor came to me. Why are you eating with them?
Because they need me. That's why. You think about that.
Is that your testimony? He came to me and he showed me
the problem. He showed me what I am. He taught
me right here in this passage and all through this book. What
my problem is that it's incurable. There's not anything I can do
about it. But he can. And that's why he came. That's
why he came. And he came right on time. He
kept an appointment. He was right on time. He always
is. Notice the word need again in
our text. Here's another word, just a thought
at a time there, a thought at a time. Our Lord didn't prescribe things
for the common cold or things like that, remove warts or anything
like that. He saw only hopeless cases. And so again, I'll ask you, are
you sick? Are you really sick? The woman with the issue of blood
had already seen all of the doctors. You reckon she hated doctors?
I speculated about that. This is just me speculating now.
She went to every doctor she could find and it says she spent
every penny that she had. That's not surprising, is it?
And she was only worse. You think she hated doctors? But our Lord, he's always right
on time and he doesn't charge a thing. And he knows exactly
what's wrong with us. He's never wrong. We have one
need. And it is a need. This is not
cosmetic surgery. The whole have no need, but the sick do. The sick do. And you know this book teaches
us that there's just one thing needful, and it's the Lord Jesus
himself. Notice that in the language of
our text. It says, what do the sick have need of
in our text? He doesn't just give us what
we need. He said it exactly right in the text. The sick have need
of the physician. That's who we need. That's what
we need. We need Him. Our story this morning begins
with our Lord passing by and seeing a publican. A tax collector. A disreputable, criminal, universally
hated man. Publicans. There isn't anything
worse you could call somebody than a publican. Publicans made
their living by cheating people out of their money and doing
it with official authority. And everybody knew about it.
Everybody knew what they did. Everybody knew they were dishonest.
But I want you to notice something, the next thing. Think about this.
The mutual reaction involved in this meeting. First of all,
it says our Lord saw him. He wasn't the only person there.
Nobody else saw him, I'm sure. Nobody else noticed him. He was
there and he wasn't invisible, but nobody really saw him. It's
kind of like if I asked you this morning, did you see that tree
on the way to church this morning? You'd say, what are you talking
about? I'd say well it was right there by the road you didn't
see it was right there in plain you didn't see that tree well
I guess not but our Lord saw him the word
saw here means and there are a lot of different words in the
scripture for this word see or saw this one means to behold
and to look upon attentively to take notice with admiration
Why would our Lord look at a publican like that? Same reason he was eating with
these wretched people, why in the world would you eat with
those people? David asked it this way, what
is man that thou art mindful of him? Why would you look at
us? Why would you notice us? Why
would we get your attention? Well, this was one of God's elect
and we know that. This is Matthew. He's called
Levi here. It's Matthew, one of his chosen
twelve. This is somebody that our Lord
loved before the foundation of the world. His love is eternal. He didn't start loving anybody. He loved Levi before there was
a Levi. That's why he saw him. This is
an object of his grace and love. This is why he came. He said,
I came to seek and to save that which is lost. This is who our Lord's seeking.
And look at Levi's reaction. It was a mutual thing, wasn't
it? The Lord said two words to him. Here's a man well established
in his career, had a lucrative career. These fellows did pretty
well because they were skimming off the top for a living. Our Lord said, follow me. And
he left his job, his livelihood, his life's work, all of his ambitions. And followed Christ. This is an irresistible call
of grace. When our Lord said, let there
be light, there was light. When he said, rise up and walk,
lame men did. When he said to Thomas be not
faithless, but believing Thomas said my lord and my god When
he says follow me he said in john chapter 10 my sheep hear
my voice And they follow me Levi didn't need to hear a lot
of reasons He didn't need to be talked into
he didn't need to be begged All he needed to hear was the voice
of the Son of God. Done. My sheep hear my voice. And by
the way, in John chapter 10, he said to the Pharisees, the
same ones that had a problem with our Lord eating with these
sinners, he said to them, the reason you don't believe on me
is because you're not my sheep. My sheep hear me, they follow
me. You don't, you won't, because you're not my sheep. It's pretty
simple, isn't it? Well, how does that fit in with
this idea that God has done all that he can do and now it's up
to you? It don't. It don't. That's a false God.
It don't fit with that. God's not hoping that sinners
will come to him. This meeting between the Lord
Jesus Christ and this wretched publican is one of mutual desire
and love and attraction. And I'll tell you this, we know
this from this book too, Levi loved him because Christ first
loved him. This meeting, this Christ looks
upon us and he sees what nobody else sees. What do you see? A
publican, a wretched vile. These publicans, why would you
eat with them? Why would you notice them? Why would you look
upon one like that with affection? Well, he sees what nobody else
sees. Everybody else sees a dishonest, disreputable, deceitful, despicable,
undesirable wretch. You know what he sees? I know what he said about Job,
one of his chosen. He said to Satan, have you considered
my servant Job a perfect and an upright man? and one that
fears God and hates evil. He said of the centurion in Matthew
chapter 8, I have not found faith so great in all of Israel. He said of Nathanael in John
1, behold an Israelite indeed in whom is no guile. The Lord
doesn't see iniquity in his people because he sees them in Christ.
Blessed be the God and father of our Lord Jesus Christ because
he had chosen you from the beginning In Christ chosen in Christ from
the beginning Through sanctification of the spirit and belief in the
truth you suppose our Lord When he said to Nathanael behold an
Israelite indeed in whom is no guile you think he was making
specific reference to Psalm 32 to a Blessed is the man unto
whom the Lord imputeth not iniquity, in whose spirit is no guile. And the Lord said, there's one
of them right there. There's one of them. There are those to whom the Lord
imputeth not their iniquity. The Lord imputeth not his iniquity
to his elect, to his chosen, to his sheep, because the Lord
Jesus Christ took all of their iniquity upon himself and was
punished for all of their sins and put them all away by the
sacrifice of himself, Hebrews 9.26. So Christ looked upon Levi
and saw somebody worth dying for. Why would you eat with these
people? This is what I came for. I came for them. I came for sinners. I came for
worthless people. I came for hopeless and helpless,
leprous, defiled, wretched in the sight of God, sinners. Is
there anybody like that here this morning? Or are you a pretty
good fella? If you're a pretty good fella
this morning, the Lord said, I'm not here for you. I'm not
here for you. He said to a bunch of pretty
good fellas in Matthew chapter 7 I believe, I never knew you
get away from me. Levi was worthless. He wasn't
worth dying for because of any intrinsic value within himself.
But he was an object of divine, infinite love, and love is what
determines the value of somebody. And what did Levi see? Somebody
worth leaving everything for. Levi was that merchant man seeking
goodly pearls. He didn't even know it yet, but
he was. who when he had found that one
pearl of great price went and sold all that he had and bought
that pearl. And our Lord went home with Levi
and sat down to eat with a whole room full of tax collectors and
notoriously sinful people and the Pharisees had a problem with
it. Now why did the Pharisees have a problem with the Lord
associating with sinners? Very simple, because they themselves
were better than that. We wouldn't associate with anybody
like that. What's this fellow who claims to be the Son of God?
He claims to be holy, you know. Why would he associate? We wouldn't
associate with anybody like that. And again, there's a mutual relationship. They despised the Lord Jesus
Christ because he was not up to their standard. He wasn't
who they thought the Son of God should be. And our Lord had no
interest in them either. Is that what he said? Boy, that's offensive, isn't
it? That's what he said. I didn't
come for you. I didn't come to call the righteous. It's mutual. These are the ones
represented by the Pharisee in Luke chapter 18 verse 11. The
Pharisee stood and prayed thus with himself. God, I thank you
that I'm not like other men. I'm not as other men are, extortioners,
unjust, adulterers, or even as this publican. There was a publican
there in the temple praying too. And this Pharisee said, I'm not
like him. This is the same fellows that
said I wouldn't eat with them. Why would you eat with them?
Why would you associate with them? We're not like them. I fast twice in the week. I give
tithes of all that I possess. And the publican, standing afar
off, would not lift up so much as his eyes unto heaven. You
know why? Because he's ashamed of himself. But smote upon his
breast. Why did he do that? Because he
knew what his problem was. It's not what I've done. It's
what I am. I'm the problem. It's my wretched heart. We're not sinners because we
sin we sin because we're sinners And he said this god be merciful
to me the sinner Not god take into account all the good that
i've done because i believe my goods outweigh my bad Not god
look it look i'm not like everybody else i tithe and i fast and i
do all these religious god have mercy on me That's who our Lord
has mercy on. And the Lord said, I tell you,
this man, this publican, went down to his house justified,
not guilty, free of sin before God, rather than the other. The Pharisee went down to his
house sinful in the sight of God. For everyone that exalteth himself
shall be abased, and he that humbleth himself shall be exalted.
Anybody sick this morning? This is the testimony of every
spiritual Pharisee. I'm different from sinners, and
what distinguishes me from them is what I do. I tithe. I fast. I do this. I do that. That's
what they said. He said, many will say unto me
in that day, Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in thy name?
Have we not cast out devils in thy name? Have we not in thy
name done many wonderful works? And I will profess unto them,
I never knew you. Depart from me, you that work
iniquity. You see, we call our works good.
He calls them sin. Our good works are sin. You're not going to be saved
on the basis of anything you do. If anything you do is taken into
account, the best, if God only took into account the best thing
you ever did, He'd have to put you in hell for it. Salvation
is by grace, through faith, and that's not of yourself, that's
the gift of God, not of works lest any man should boast. If
you believe on him, it's because he gave you faith in his son.
No man can come unto me except the Father which hath sent me
draw him. You're not gonna get any glory in it, is that all
right with you? Anybody that sick? Anybody that sick this
morning? The Lord came not to call those
who are righteous in their own eyes, which we all are by nature. We're all Pharisees by nature.
The Lord has to come and show us the problem. Those our Lord
came for, he shows them their disease. Has he done that for
you? He tells us there is no difference
in any of us by nature. Romans chapter three, there is
no difference. Is that offensive to you? Do
you think there's any difference between you and Hitler? Do you
think there's any difference between you and Charles Manson?
If you do, you're wrong, according to God. There's no difference. All have sinned and come short
of the glory of God. The Lord is the one that makes
the difference. When our Lord shows us our need
and we see that what we do is not the remedy, what we do is
the problem. The more I do, the more I sin.
The more religious I am, the more wretched I am in his sight.
The most religious people of his day, the scribes and the
Pharisees, he pointed to them and said to his disciples, do
not be like them. Don't do anything like they do.
They're the blind leading the blind. They're both going to
fall in a ditch. Leave them alone and don't dare
do anything like they do. What we do is the problem and
we do what we do because of what we are, what we are. Our Lord
makes the clear and direct comparison here between the well and the
sick and sinners and righteous. This is a picture, an illustration
of our problem. All the sick people that he healed
are showing us our spiritual problem. We're blind by nature. We can't even see God. What did
he say to Nicodemus? They which are born, you must
be born again. Only if you're born from above,
born of the Spirit of God, can you see the kingdom of God. There's
that blind man. He healed that blind man in John
9. They said, no, it's never been heard from the beginning
of the world that anybody healed one born blind. That's because
you hadn't heard of him yet. He heals blind people every day.
We can't see God. We can't see his kingdom. We
can't enter into his kingdom. We're lame in that we cannot
follow God by nature. Religious preachers talk about,
you take the first step, you know, and God will meet you halfway.
How's a lame man going to do that? If you've taken the first step,
you're not sick enough yet. He didn't come for you. The good Samaritan wasn't waiting
for that man bleeding out in the ditch to take a step, was
he? He went right where he was and did everything necessary
to save him. That's my Savior. We're leprous in that we're vile
and wretched and hopeless in our sin. We're repugnant and
legally exiled from the presence of God. Under the Old Testament
covenant the leper was legally exiled from the very presence
and all the benefits of the covenant. Paul said we're dead in trespasses
and sins. We're dead. What's the remedy
to our disease? We need the physician. That's
what our text says. Are you blind? He's the light.
He's the light of the world. Are you lame? Can you not do
anything? Can you not follow God? Can you
not work for God? Can you not serve God? Christ
is our righteousness. His very name is the Lord our
righteousness. Are we lepers? Are we vile and
repugnant to God? Christ is holy. Are we dead? I am the life, he said. Are we deformed like that man
with the withered hand? He's perfect. He's perfect. How does the great physician
heal us? How does he heal us? It's him that we need. That's
clear from the scripture. He said it. Even the Old Testament
prophets all wrote of me, he said. How does he do it? How does he
heal us of our disease? He takes it upon himself. He takes our disease and gives
us his life. He takes our vileness and gives
us his righteousness. We receive his virtue. When that
woman with the issue of blood touched him, he said, I perceive
that virtue has gone out of me. Where did it go? It went into
her. Where did her disease go? He had taken all of our diseases
and healed us of them. He bears our sins in his own
body on the tree, the scripture says. He dies under the burden
of our sin and under the wrath of God against our sins. And
we are made the very righteousness of God in Him. What is this like
in our experience? How do we experience that? Notice
the last phrase in our text. I came not to call the righteous,
but sinners to repentance. You know what repentance is? It's just a change of mind. That
sounds simple, doesn't it? That sounds simple. Just change
your mind. The thing is, we can't do that. God has to grant you
repentance. Paul said to Timothy, teach those
that oppose themselves so that if God, peradventure, might grant
them repentance unto the acknowledgement of the truth. That's why we preach. I'm not preaching this morning
to try to get you to do something for God. I'm preaching with the
prayer and the hope that God might do something for you. We need God to do something for
us. He don't need you. You need Him. Our Lord just changes our minds.
That's the experience. Now, when you come really sick,
when you come helpless and hopeless, and the Lord heals you freely
and fully, that'll change your mind about some things. I used
to think I was a pretty good person. I don't think that anymore. Do you? I used to think my good outweighed
my bad. I don't think that anymore. You
know what I think now? Here's what I think now, that in me,
that is in my flesh, dwelleth no good thing. Even my good is
bad. Christ is my goodness, or I don't
have any. I used to think that salvation
was up to me. There are a lot of people saying
that. I don't think that anymore. I
think that God saves whom he will. He said, I'll have mercy
on whom I'll have mercy. The Lord Jesus Christ said, as
the father hath power in himself to quicken to give life, even
so has he given authority to the son to give life to whomsoever
he will. I see in the word of God and
so my mind has changed and I think, you know what I think now? I
think the Lord wades through a crowd of wretched sinners and
picks out one and says, will you be made whole? And even when
that man ain't got sense enough to say yes, I'd like to be made
whole, he still heals him. That's what I think now. And if when we ever do, if and
when we ever do have sense enough to desire Him, to need Him, to
want Him, to come to Him, it's because He first came to us.
That's what I think now. You know why I think that? Because
that's what God said. By God's grace, I love going
to the doctor now. I have ever since he came to
me. He came to me and now I come
to him. And he's healed me through and through. He's healed me of
all my diseases, my soul's diseases. He's cured my blindness. I can
see God by his grace. I see, I was blind but now I
see. He's healed my sickness. I can walk. I can hear. Are you hearing what God said?
You know what our Lord said to his disciples? If you can hear,
blessed are your ears. It was given unto you to know
the mysteries of the kingdom of God. To them it's not given,
but it's given to you. Can you hear? Only the good physician can make
that happen. I can walk. I can follow him
because I've heard his voice. He said to Levi, follow me. That's
all it takes now. All it takes for there to be
light in your wretched, dark soul this morning is for the
God of creation to say, let there be light. And there will be. And you know, he said it pleased
God by the foolishness of what we're doing this morning, preaching
to save them that believe. He may just do that. He might
just save somebody. But you know, I'm still coming
to the doctor because I'm still in this body of sin. This body
still suffers some of the symptoms of the disease that he took away.
My sins are gone in the sense that I'm free from the power
of sin. He said sin shall not have dominion over you. And that's
the truth. I wouldn't be here this morning if it did. Not for
the reason I'm here, not doing what I'm doing. Neither would
you if you're here to worship him. And I'm free from sin in
the sense that I'm free from the penalty of sin. Paul said,
there is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus.
He said, who shall lay anything to the charge of God's elected
is God that justify. Who is he that condemneth? It
is Christ that died. I'm free from the penalty of
sin. I will never suffer for my sin. And my doctor assures me that
one day soon I'll be free even from the presence of sin. And by his grace I trust him.
This is one doctor that I trust. Maybe there's an appointment
this morning. Maybe you have an appointment
with him this morning, maybe. I hope so. He's always on time. He'll save you just on time if
he's going to save you. He knows exactly what's wrong
with you. He knows it better than we ever will. And he himself is the cure. May the great physician Have
mercy on sick people this morning. Are you sick? If so, he came. He came to save
you. May it be true of everyone in
this place this morning. Let's pray together.