Mark chapter 2. We've been studying
in 1 Corinthians about the simplicity of the Gospel, about simply preaching
Christ and Him crucified without wisdom of words. I want to try
to do that this morning. I want to preach what Christ
declared here, very simply what He declared. Let's look at Mark
2 verse 14. As Christ passed by, He saw Levi. This is Matthew, the Apostle
Matthew. He saw Levi, the son of Alphaeus,
sitting at the receipt of custom. Men would come in from wherever
they had been and they'd come into a city or a place and there'd
be a booth there called the receipt of custom. You had to pay a tax.
It's kind of like coming in or out of New Jersey. You've got
to pay a tax. And then once you get in, you've
got to pay a tax. If you stand up, you've got to
pay a tax. If you sit down, you've got to
pay a tax. If you buy, you've got to pay a tax. If you sell,
you've got to pay a tax. And Matthew was the one to collect
the taxes. And for every dollar he got for
the civil rulers, he kept two for himself. He was a thief. He was the worst kind of sinner,
the sickest sinner there is. He was covetous, a thief, a robber. Making plenty of money. Setting
his nest on high. No reason whatsoever to turn
from what he was doing. Because he had it made. He was
wealthy and he was provided for. And he thought he was secure.
Everything was going his way. Watch this. And Christ said unto
him, follow me. And he arose and followed him. Now what do we just witness right
there? With two words, with two words, Christ the preacher made
Levi leave everything. With two words, he made him whole
from his sickness. With two words, he made a disciple. Just speaking two words, follow
me. And Christ made this man a new creation. Christ is the
physician. He's the physician. He's the preacher. He's Jehovah
Rapha. I am the Lord that healeth thee. If he speaks like that today,
through this gospel, you'll be healed. And you'll follow Him. You'll leave everything else
and follow Him. He said, the Holy Spirit is upon
me. He said, God has anointed me
to preach glad tidings. He preached when He walked this
earth, He's preaching now. And He says, and He's anointed
me to bind up the broken hearted. Not just those that have a sentimental
broken heart, not just those who have broke up with their
loved one, those that have a heart crushed in sin. He came to send
me to heal those that cannot heal themselves and know they
can't heal themselves. That's who He is, the Physician.
It says here, He passed by. When He passed by, He saw Levi. Now, every step Christ took when
He walked this earth was a step toward one of His chosen people. He didn't take any steps in vain.
He never went one way and said, well, I guess I should have went
the other way. Everywhere He went was a step toward passing
by one of His children and saving one of His children. I want you
to look now back there at Mark 1 and look at verse 16. It says, as he walked by the
Sea of Galilee, this wasn't just a stroll by the seashore, he
had a purpose. He saw Simon and Andrew. They
didn't see him, he saw them. He came to where they were. It
says there, verse 17, And Jesus said unto them, Come ye after
me, and I will make you become fishers of men. You see, that's
life. Remember Peter said, you have
the words of eternal life. Peter experienced those words
of eternal life. When he speaks those words, he's
not just making a suggestion to you. When he speaks those
words, with those words come the life and come the spirit
and the power and the strength to obey what he says. And you
won't do otherwise. Watch what happened. Straightway
they forsook their nets. and followed Him. You know what
it was to forsake their nets? What's your most prized possession
that you think, I could not give this up? That's what their nets
were to them. That was their livelihood. That
was their business. That was their way they were
going to feed their families and feed themselves and provide
themselves with things. Christ made them leave it just
like that. Just by speaking. Look at this. And when he had
gone a little further, knew right where he was walking, right where
he was headed, he saw James, the son of Zebedee, and John,
his brother, who also were in the ship, mending their nets.
And straightway he called them, and they, look at this now, they
left their father in the ship with all the hired servants and
went after him. Now look on down then. He came
to a man with an unclean spirit, verse 23. He came into the synagogue. There's a man in the church house
and this man's there and he's got an unclean spirit. Possessed. He cannot free himself. Every
sinner lost in sin has got an unclean spirit. And you can't
free yourself from it. Now watch this. There was in
their synagogue a man with an unclean spirit and he cried out,
said, let us alone. That's a devil saying that. Let
us alone. What have we to do with thee?
Jesus of Nazareth knew who he was, didn't he? Art thou come
to destroy us? I know thee who thou art, the
Holy One of God. The devils know, and they believe,
and they tremble. They know and tremble. And Jesus
rebuked him, saying, Hold thy peace, and come out of him. And
when the unclean spirit had torn him and cried with a loud voice,
he came out of him. And they were all amazed. This
is Christ we're talking about. Then on purpose, He's God. Scripture says He's God the Father.
Remember that in Isaiah? He's the Father, the everlasting
Father. Christ said, All the Father giveth me are going to
come to me. I'm going to draw them, He said. Now look here,
he drew this leper in verse 40. There came a leper to him. Now look how he came. He came
beseeching him, kneeling down to him, saying unto him, If thou
wilt, thou can make me clean. He didn't say anything about
his own will. He didn't say anything about how he was going to let
Christ do something. He said, if you will, you can
make me clean. This man had a need, didn't he?
This man was sick. Look here. Both those men were. That one he cast the spirit out
of and this one here too. And look. And Jesus moved with
compassion and put forth his hand and touched him and said
unto him, I will be thou clean. He cleansed him. Cleansed him. On purpose, he passed into Capernaum. And he drew men that were carrying
a stretcher that had a man sick with a palsy, paralyzed man,
on that stretcher. And he draws those men to him.
And he says there, he said to that man, chapter 2, verse 5, he said,
Thy sins be forgiven thee. He's the only one that can say
that. And they didn't believe He could forgive sins. They said
nobody can forgive sins but God. He's God and He's the atonement. He's the sufficient atonement
to forgive sins. So to prove it to them, look
down here. He said, verse 10, but that you may know the Son
of Man hath power on earth to forgive sins. He said to the
sick of the palsy, I say unto thee, arise and take up thy bed
and go thy way into thy house. And immediately he arose. He
healed those people just by speaking to them. These men that were
fishermen, sick, wrapped up in their work, wrapped up in their
employment, wrapped up in their earthly ties to their father,
that man who is sick with the spirit that had him possessed,
that man sick of leprosy, this man sick of palsy, he healed
all those men. Then he comes to this man sick,
sitting at the receipt of customs. No way that man would have ever
left where he was. No way he would have ever believed
on Christ or believed God or followed after Christ. He'd have
never even seen his need of Christ had Christ not passed by him.
But Christ passed by him. He passed by him and with two
words, follow me. Follow me. He healed that sinner
Levi. And Luke says, he left all. He left all. In his heart, without
removing a muscle, he left all. And then he arose and he followed
Christ. Then Levi, this is Matthew, he
made a feast. Now he wanted all his former
friends, All these publicans that he rubbed shoulders with,
was friends with, and all these other sinners and harlots that
he knew. He just dwelt with folks who
were the basest, most awful people on the planet. That was who Levi's
friends were. I mean bad folks. I mean evil
folks. I mean wicked, horrible, well-known
sinners. That's the only people Levi hung
out with. When you're in His trade, that's your friends. And
that's who He hung around with. And He invited those people into
His house. And He had a big house because
He made lots of dough. And He invited them to His house
to sit down at His table and have a meal because He wanted
them to meet this one who made Him whole. He wanted them to
meet Christ. So they sat down. Now look at
verse 15. It came to pass that as Jesus said at meat, In Levi's
house, many publicans and sinners sat also together with Jesus
and with His disciples. For there were many, and they
followed Him." These are well-known despised sinners. Well-known harlots and publicans. The two most despised people
on the planet. And they sat right at the same
table, right beside the Son of God, and ate. And He ate right there, sitting
beside Him, with Him, and all His disciples. You see, everybody
that He sought was a sinner. Everybody that He drew to Him
was a true sinner. And everybody that came to Him
a sinner, seeking mercy, He healed them. He never turned one of
them away. He sat there with these sinners.
That's who He associated with. Not to condone their sin. Not to follow them in their sin.
To save them out of their sin. Now look at this. There was somebody
watching though. And they didn't like this. Look
at verse 16. And when the scribes and Pharisees
saw him eat with publicans and sinners, They said unto his disciples,
How is it that he eateth and drinketh with publicans and sinners? These were well-known folks too.
Scribes and Pharisees, they were well-known people too. But they
were well-known for being always in the synagogue. They never
missed a church service. They were well-known for always
doing good religious works. They were well known for being
the very most righteous and moral and upstanding citizens there
were. That's what they were known for. I wonder how they said this.
I wonder how they said this. It seems like it turned their
stomachs almost. How is it How can he stomach
to sit there that close with these publicans and sinners? Perhaps they said it like this. How is it he can let himself
be seen in public with these publicans and sinners? And I
know it's certain they meant this. How is it that He prefers
to sit with those awful sinners and publicans rather than with
holy and righteous people like we are. You know how God says
He regards that spirit? Now let me tell you something.
You may not be religious and you may hate my gospel. And when
you sit back and say something like, see there, That one that
professes to be a believer, he messed up. He got angry. Look
how he talked to his wife. Or, he stumbled and did this
sin or that sin. Look, I knew what he was like.
You're saying the exact same thing. This is what we are by nature,
these scribes and Pharisees. Self-righteous, haughty, arrogant, looking down our nose, do-gooders,
by nature. Every time you see somebody in
the media do something and you say, I wouldn't do that. Every
time you see somebody in the media say, how dare they do something
like that. We ought to protest that. That's
just not right. And go down the road and five
minutes later do the same thing they did. God said this, they
say, stand by thyself, Come not near me, for I am holier than
thou. Men are always talking about
how you can get holy, and a little more holy, and a little more
holy. That's the one place you're going to find in Scripture, God
speaking of becoming a sinner, becoming holy, or a little holier,
or a little holier. And it's not to say that it can
be done. It's to condemn those who say
they do it. It's to condemn those who say,
I'm holier than you are. God said this, these are a smoke
in my nose, a burning, stenching smoke in my nose, a fire that
burneth all the day. And you know what he's talking
about? When they didn't have garbage dumps like we have and
all the civilized ways of taking care of the waste, they just
took it out there and burned it. And it's all that stinking
waste being burned that just stinks. Like he said, that's
what that smells like to me. Try to put your... Now look here,
look what the Lord said. I want you to see what the Lord
said now. Mark 2, 17. I got to hurry. Jesus heard and He said
to them, they that are whole, now pay close attention to this,
verse 17, they that are whole have no need of the physician,
but they that are sick. I came not to call the righteous,
but sinners to repentance. Now I want you to try to put
yourself in a particular place. I want you to imagine right now,
It may be a little difficult. It's early in the morning. But
try to do this. Try to put yourself in this place. Imagine right
now, you know you have a fatal disease. And you're on your deathbed.
And you're just a few breaths away from finding out whether
my gospel is true or not. You're just a few minutes away
from meeting God in judgment. Would you need Christ? All the other things that are
so important right now to you, would they be important? None
of that would be important. You'd have one need, and that's
Christ. One need. If Christ were to speak
to you through my gospel, if He called me to your bedside,
and it's Christ speaking to you in your heart, Would you hang
on every word of my gospel? Would you hang on every word
coming out of my mouth? Now listen to me carefully. That's true
of everybody here right now. You have a fatal disease. It's
called sin. And you are on your deathbed.
It's just a few short breaths and you're going to meet God.
There's no doubt about that. Do you know what the problem
is? You don't believe that. We don't believe that. We're
healthy, so we think, we've got plenty of time. I read this yesterday. Somebody sent me this. Good health
is merely the slowest possible rate at which one can die. You're going to die. I'm going
to die. But the one reason men don't
cry out to Jesus Christ right now for mercy is this. They have
no need of Christ. To have no need of Christ. Only
true sinners need Christ. There's very few true sinners
in the world. Oh, everybody's a sinner. But only very few that
know, I'm a true sinner. I'm a sinner. Christ says, they
that are whole have no need of the physician, but they that
are sick. Whole people don't go to a doctor.
Whole people don't need a physician. It's just people that are sick.
Think about churches today. Be honest with me. Think about
this. I hate this. All these gimmicks and all this
junk that churches are using to try to get people in the pews
and to keep people in the pews. You ever seen an emergency room
use any tactics like that? Have you? They don't have to.
You know why? Sick people seek a physician. Sick people know, I've got to
have the physician. That's why. Now the reason so
few need Christ is most think they're whole. Most think they're
righteous. Most think they don't have a need. But now hear Christ. He said, I didn't come to call
them. You mean Christ didn't come to
save everybody? That's what he said, I did not
come to call those who think they're righteous. I came to
call sinners to repentance. Now, first of all, let's look
at that first part right there. I didn't come to call the righteous.
He was saying that to these self-made religious men who thought they
were righteous because of something they had done. They were self-righteous,
self-wise, self-holy, and they wouldn't come to Christ because
they didn't need Christ. If men say they're sinners, which
very few will, but if they do say they're sinners, they don't
mean what the Scriptures means by sinners. Let me tell you what
the Scripture means by a sinner. A sinner is somebody that cannot
give themselves spiritual life. A sinner is somebody that cannot
make themselves believe whenever they choose. A sinner can't do
it. A sinner cannot make themselves
holy. simply by changing their outward
behavior. Holiness is a heart work. Holiness
deals with a new nature, having a new nature. A sinner can't
make himself more and more holy by his outward works. A sinner
is somebody that can't make himself righteous by obeying the law
of God. In fact, he can't even obey the law of God. A sinner is somebody who cannot
even make him believe. He can't make himself believe.
Most people though, they just need Christ to make up for their
shortcomings. That's all. That's not a sinner. That's not a sinner. Those are
vain thoughts. Men that are like that are not
sinners and they don't need Christ. I'm telling you the truth now.
They don't need Christ. They don't need Him. They're
whole and they don't have a need of the physician. Alright, look
at this next part. Christ says here, I came to call
sinners to repentance." Who has a need of Christ? They that are
sick. True sinners. He said, go ye
and learn what that meaneth. And He's talking about an Old
Testament Scripture. And He said, I will have mercy
and not sacrifice. because I came to call the righteous,
not to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance." Christ
didn't come to merely help righteous folks complete their righteousness. He didn't come to help folks
who are making sacrifices and trying to buy their way and earn
their way into heaven. He didn't come to make up for
what they can't do. He didn't come to do that. Not
at all. Mercy means salvation must be
entirely of God. It must be entirely of the Lord
Jesus Christ. We can't add any sacrifices,
we can't add any work, we can't add any merit, or it ceases to
be mercy. Scripture says this, if it's
by grace, then it is no more of works. Otherwise, grace is
no more grace. So when it comes to saving a
sinner, Christ means He came to save the lost, the dead, the
helpless, those that cannot do anything for themselves. Not
now, not tomorrow, not the next day, not after He converts them,
not 20 years down the road, not when they face their deathbed,
not ever! They can't save themselves. That's
a sinner. That's who He came to save. This
is a faithful saying and worthy of all acceptation. Christ Jesus
came into the world to save sinners. And Paul said, and I'm the chief.
Did you say I'm the chief of sinners? You're not a greater
sinner than I am. I can tell you that. I told Brother
Scott going out of here Thursday night, if I fall away and prove
to be a castaway, I'll be the last one to be surprised about
it. Because I know I'm a chief of
Senate. It wouldn't surprise me in the least. A true sinner
in every way is helpless to help himself. He's unholy, he can't
give himself life, he can't give himself a new nature. He's unrighteous,
he can't keep the law, he can't justify himself from his sins.
He's in bondage. He can't even give himself the
desire to want to bow to Christ. He can't give himself the desire
to want to hear the gospel or to hear the gospel. He can't
do anything. The natural man receiveth not
the things of God because they're foolishness to him. He doesn't
think he needs Him. It takes Christ to redeem. Levi
couldn't leave that place. Levi couldn't let go of what
he was doing. Levi couldn't give himself a new heart. It took
Christ coming to him and bringing him out of that bondage. He's
the Redeemer. A true sinner needs Christ to
be all in all. All in all. All. Mercy means Christ came to be
the only and all our wisdom. He came to be our only righteousness
and all the righteousness of His people. He came to be the
only sanctification and all the holiness of His people. He came
to be the only Redeemer and all the redemption of His people.
He didn't come to be part and you part. He came to be all.
He's all in all those He saves. As by one man's disobedience
many were made sinners, so by one man's obedience shall many
be made righteous." Now listen to this. I'm out of time really. I got about three minutes. Let
me say this. Everything about mercy exalts
God. Now do you hear me? Everything
about mercy exalts God. Listen to this. I will be merciful
to what? Their unrighteousness. And their
sins and their iniquities will I remember no more. You see how
that exalts God and it abases the sinner. That's what men don't
like about mercy. Mercy gives God all the glory
for salvation and it makes us to know that the only thing we
contribute is sin. That's it. Listen to how grace
to the guilty exalts the Son of God. The law entered that
the offense might abound, but where sin abounded, grace did
much more abound, that as just like sin reigned unto death,
even so might grace reign, mercy reign, through righteousness
unto eternal life, and that by one man, the God-man, Jesus Christ
the Lord. Do you see how it exalts Christ? It's by Him. Now listen to this,
it excludes all merit, it prohibits any goodness in the object, Christ
is a fountain. Open. Open. But He's not open
for you to come and just dip your big toe in and wash it off
and cleanse it. He's not open for you to come
and just dip your elbow in and get a little dirt off your elbow.
Christ is a fountain open for sinners who from the sole of
their foot to the top of their head, they're nothing but wounds
and bruises and putrefying sores that they cannot cleanse themselves. But He says, come to Me. Come
to Me. And He says, though your sins
be red like scarlet, though you are one big open wound from head
to toe, you'll be white as snow. He cleanses everything. Listen
to this, eternal life is given to spiritually dead sinners.
Spiritual sight, given to spiritually blind sinners. Spiritual hearing,
given to spiritually deaf sinners. Liberty given to those in prison,
in bondage. You see what I'm saying? It's
not partial you and partial him. It's all him. He's all in every
part of salvation. Now, listen to this. This is
so critical because men don't do this today. Men don't preach
this today. They'll say, okay, now we'll
give him the fact that he has to call you. The truth, we'll
give Him that. We'll give it to Him that He
has to be your righteousness. We'll give it to Him that He
has to create a new heart in you. But now, when it comes to
being holy and growing and becoming more holy, you've got to do that.
You've got to go back to the law. No, sir. We do not come
to Mount Sinai to Christ for redemption and then go back to
Mount Sinai for sanctification. We go to Christ and rest in Christ.
He's the author and finisher of our faith. He's the beginning
and the end, and all points in between. When He says, come unto
Me, all you that are heavy laden, He doesn't say, I'll carry part
of your load, part of the weight, and you can carry part of the
rest of the weight. He says, come unto Me and I will
give you rest. He's carrying you, your load,
and everything about you. And you're not carrying anything.
And the moment we look from Him to ourselves, we have ceased
resting in Christ. We're trusting ourselves. But He's not going to let His
child do that. He's going to save His child even from that.
Because He's going to make us see we're saved by His life,
not our life. Look at Romans 5. I'm going to
end with this. Romans 5 and verse 6. I want you to hear what he
says here now. This is so. Romans 5, 6. When we were yet without strength...
What does without strength mean? That's not a brain teaser. It
means what it means. We didn't have any strength.
Christ died for the ungodly. Look down at verse 8. God commended
His love toward us in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died
for us. Much more than being now justified
by His blood, we shall be saved from wrath through Him. Now that
we're justified by His blood, by His death, We're going to
go back to trusting ourselves? No, we're going to be saved from
wrath by Him. Look, for if when we were enemies, we were reconciled
to God by the death of His Son, much more being reconciled, we
shall be saved by His life. It's Him beginning to end. It's
Him beginning to end. Now, with doctors, you've got
some who specialize in the brain and some specialize in the hand
and some specialize in the foot. You've got different specialists. No man can know every part of
the body and work on it all. Christ is the physician who heals
the whole part. He knows every ailment, every
problem, and He's the cure for everything. His precious blood,
His righteousness, His holiness, He's the cure. Now let me ask
you this. Which one are you? Are you righteous? Or are you a sinner? Are you whole? Or are you sick? If you can do anything to save
yourself, if you can add anything to your salvation from the first
hour to your deathbed to the day you meet God in glory, if
you can add something to it to help Christ out, you don't need
Christ. You're not a sinner. Now understand
what I'm saying. You need Him and you are a sinner,
but you don't know you need Him and you don't know you're a sinner.
But if you can't do anything, if you can't do anything, if
it's Him that has to even give you the understanding of your
need, you're a sinner. And Christ said, I came to call
sinners to repentance. Repentance from what? From you. From that ignorance you thought
was wisdom. From those self-righteous works
you thought was righteousness. From that self-sanctifying work
you thought was holiness. From that bondage you called
liberty. Repentance from you to faith
in Him. Rest in Him. And don't look anywhere
but Him. Believe on Him and rest in Him.
I tell you this, if you know your sinner, he's already calling
you to repentance. Rest in Him. Amen. Let's stand together, brethren. Father, thank you for your Word.
Make us to know. Pass by, if you will. Make us
to know, if you will. Make us to see our need. And
make us whole. We're whole when we're joined
to you and resting in you. Thank You, Father, for all this
glorious Word and for showing us Christ. We pray that You make
it stay with us now. Forgive us of our sins, Lord,
we ask it in Christ's name. Amen.